Douluo Continent
Spirit Pagoda Headquarters
Fan Lin was repeating the same sentence to Gu Yue while waiting for her agreement.
He knew that since she hadn't cut the call till now, he had a really high chance of securing her answer and finally she said yes and cut the call on her own.
Fan Lin also put the soul communicator in his belt and looked at the visitor in front of him, also the reason why he had to repeat his sentence three times.
He hadn't gained the answer from Gu Yue and cutting the call would have made it harder to talk later as Gu Yue wasn't going to pick his call later on. He had gotten a chance with quite some difficulty and Gu Yue wasn't the type to keep repeating her mistakes.
He couldn't use some seductive words(not in any sensual way) to reign her in due to the visitor in front of him and had to continue the conversation while repeating the only sentence that she would understand due to the understanding between them.
Fan Lin observed the handsome middle-aged man who was looking around his room.
"What does the President need from me?"
He asked, neither too polite or humble but not rude or impolite as well.
Qiangu Donfeng looked at Fan Lin and took out a small box from his storage soul guide.
"I have seen the reports of your works and truthfully I am thankful to you."
"The world has been near the brink of destruction due to the greed of mankind who had nearly depleted the resources of the Douluo Continent."
"But even then, no one seems to be listening to the warnings or trying to understand the impact that it would have on the future."
"However you did. Not only you decided to use your precious cultivation time to replant the land but you are also donating a tenth of your earnings to the Spirit Pagoda to provide poor Soul Masters their first Spirit Soul for free."
"I, as the President of the Spirit Pagoda, and as a Soul Master, am grateful of you and your actions."
"Today I am here to congratulate on your efforts and to present a small gift to you. After seeing the benefits of the restored area on the environment and the people's reactions to it, we have decided to declare each place that you will restore as a protected site by the Spirit Pagoda and Federation. Now those areas will be conserved by both our forces. "
"The Federation has already rewarded you and hopes that you will continue your work."
"And this, is a small gift from us. We have read your file and contemplated that it was a great tragedy for you that you lost all your previous soul skills after the self fusion soul skill."
"You are an important asset of our Spirit Pagoda and your safety is important to us."
"This here, is a ten thousand year old right arm spirit bone of the Lightning beast that are renowned for their attack."
Qiangu Donfeng showed the spirit bone to Fan Lin who stared at it silently for a full minute.
Qiangu Donfeng didn't know of the mistake that he had made when he showed the spirit bone to him that time.
Fan Lin looked at him calmly and gently shook his head with a smile.
"I am sorry President but I can't accept your gift since I have already prepared a full set of spirit bones for myself according to my physique and need."
Fan Lin lied in a relaxed tone. Qiangu Donfeng looked at him and then realised that Fan Lin was the kid who had a complete set of three word Battle Armor before he was a Spirit king.
He also seem to be the type of person who would prepare for his future and considering all that, it wouldn't be too far off if Fan Lin really had prepared a full set of spirit bones for himself and was waiting for the opportune time to absorb them.
"Then it seems we made a mistake on our part. We are deeply ashamed for that."
Qiangu Donfeng packed the small box and stored it in his storage ring. He was unfazed by the situation.
"I am sorry about this as well. I should have explained that in my file. And I truly appreciate the help of the Spirit Pagoda and Federation in conserving the restored land. I am deeply grateful for your all as well."
Fan Lin said in a sincere tone.
"You don't need to be humble. If you need anything from the Spirit Pagoda, you can tell us and we will do our best to fulfill your requirements."
Qiangu Donfeng politely said and talked about a few more things like how Fan Lin liked his stay in the Spirit Pagoda and if he wanted a better room or any type of other facilities or permissions before leaving.
Fan Lin saw him off the door and the sincere tone in his eyes changed into one of pure hatred.
Every person has things that they didn't like. Fan Lin had many of these things.
Talking bad about his wife was one such thing. Killing animals for game or fun was another.
Playing with his emotions was also another one. Trying to feed him nonveg is also a no-no.
"Just how many did they kill to obtain that Spirit bone?"
The door closed on him as darkness slowly enveloped his body. He had turned off the lights.
....
The same day at night.
Fan Lin reached his small shop and saw Gu Yue sitting inside while drinking tea. The Handler and her friends seem to be serving her.
He entered the shop and took a seat opposite her. No one offered him any tea.
"So what's your answer?"
He asked her and got a gaze that seemed to convey 'stupid' in it.
"I wouldn't come here just to say no."
Gu Yue said while drinking her tea.
"Considering how you act, I won't be surprised if you did that though. Let's go then."
Fan Lin gave a retort and signalled her to follow him after taking some sheets of the 'list' from the Handler.
They took a cab to the soul station, with both of them being silent throughout the way.
"You could have just asked me to come to the soul station, would have saved both our time. The herbal tea wasn't tasty as well. Why is it the bestseller of your shop?"
Gu Yue said after getting off the one hour cab ride to the soul station.
"I didn't know if you actually agreed. If you didn't come then I would have just taken the list and returned to the Spirit Pagoda."
Fan Lin justified his actions but Gu Yue didn't believe him one bit. She knew that Fan Lin knew that she had agreed.
She also knew that he knew that she knows about him knowing her answer beforehand.
So why make excuses?
But Gu Yue was wrong at this point because Fan Lin really thought that Gu Yue might just not come after she had gone to Shrek and contemplated his words some more.
To Gu Yue, she just needed to leave the academy and the meeting point was directly in front of the academy, but for Fan Lin, he needed to take a long ride of two hours to reach the shop and then another two hour trip to the Spirit Pagoda.
Gu Yue had the accessibility and reasons to just suddenly cancel the plan and return to Shrek.
Fan Lin didn't have the luxury of that. It was time consuming for him to travel all that.
Like suppose he told her to meet him at the soul station and she didn't came but he went there to meet her.
Now he would have to take another cab to come to the small shop in front of Shrek and then another cab to return to the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.
"How much time it would take?"
Gu Yue asked him while getting on the soul train. Fan Lin slowly turned his head and looked straight in her eyes without answering. After some silence, he spoke.
"Is that even a question? We would be there in less than an hour."
23 hours later.
Fan Lin got out of his flying soul car with his clothes burnt and his skin torn in multiple places. Gu Yue silently got out of the car as well and wobbly walked while glaring at him with rage written on her face.
She had been sitting in the flying soul car for the past 23 hours.
That's nearly a full day!
During the whole journey, whenever she asked Fan Lin how far the destination was? His reply was always an hour.
So when he finally stopped the vehicle and said," Go and pick some flowers and it would take another hour."
She just couldn't control herself and attacked him with her seven elemental burst, destroying half his body and the complete flying soul car in rage.
Fan Lin then calmly took out another flying soul car and some fruits to replenish his body while gesturing for her to get in.
Then an hour later, he stopped the car and now to the present time.
"I told you, one more hour. So unreasonable."
He calmly mumbled while giving her some fruits which she didn't take.
"Get the car out of my sight, I don't want to see this thing for a moment longer."
She coldly said as her legs had turned jelly and she couldn't walk around the car to see the forest but she did feel the intense vitality that was released from the area and wanted to see the situation by her own eyes.
"Yeah yeah."
Fan Lin stored the flying soul car and looked at his forest that was the same as before.
He gently picked up Gu Yue in her astonished eyes and took her forward slowly.
"I have spread the hallucinogenic around the area hence you won't be able to see it."
Fan Lin said to her. The hallucinogenic he was talking about was the red toxin leaf vial that he spread during his previous time.
The Hallucinogenic would make anyone who came near here see the illusions of nothing, will erase the memories of the past few minutes and will make them instinctively make them avoid this area.
Fan Lin thought that Gu Yue was also affected by the Hallucinogenic and was carrying her inside the land area to find a place to give her a temporary antidote.
Gu Yue internally gulped when she heard his words because she was Gu Yue and she can see the forest right in front of her.
The hallucinogenic had no effect on her and she was thankful that she hadn't exclaimed anything about the forest that may have given her condition.
If Fan Lin got to know that his current poisons had no effect on Gu Yue, then he will realise that she was acting the previous time where she saw him bathing in his own blood and then was drugged and dragged on the ground by him.
It would also mean that he will realise that Gu Yue knew about his weird liquids and that could be a troubling situation.
Previously Fan Lin needed her but after seeing the area in front of her that was full of vitality and life.
Now she needed him for the forest and she didn't wanted to destroy their current partnership, at the least until she had a way to do what he can or when he had done what she wanted him to do, also the thing he desired.
To create a new and better Starduo forest, now she wanted that as well.
Hence she remained quiet and let him carry her a few hundred metres from their vantage point.
He carefully put her down and broke a small vial with teal green colour near her. The vial disappeared and Gu Yue felt refreshed and reinvigorated by the teal smoke/wisp/mist around her.
She looked at him waiting for him to explain to her but he just pointed at the forest behind her.
'I already saw that now tell me about the vials that you used on me.'
Gu Yue thought while turning to look at the plants and trees in the rejuvenated area before her eyes focused on a small group of beetle worms that were running in circles in the area.
"Huh?"
Gu Yue looked at the Demonic sandbugs and felt the changes in them. She then looked and sensed the whole area in awe and wonder.
She wasn't just a normal being and even in her long life, she had never seen a forest that could be created so easily by just a few weird liquids stored in some weird containers.
She could perfectly sense the newborn vitality of the area in front of her. She sensed each plant, flower, blade of grass to herbs, trees and even the moss that was growing on it.
This was nothing sort of a miracle, it was even beyond that.
Fan Lin was observing the changes of her facial expressions and nearly flooding emotions in her eyes with a smile. She was acting like a little girl who had seen something new.
'Wait, she is a little girl.'
He looked at her wandering and touching different things and didn't disturb her. He took out some fruits and threw them at the direction of the Demonic sandbugs who began to chomp down on it in relish.
'Who named them sandbugs when they look like plump fat beetle worms, closer to centipede or moths?'
Fan Lin thought as he followed Gu Yue.
Meanwhile Gu Yue inner thoughts were the opposite of a little girl as she was carefully and precisely checking the difference between the plants that were planted by Fan Lin to the normal ones that could be find at other places.
'It's the same as the previous time.'
The difference once again astonished her as the plants that were planted by Fan Lin was far more resilient and had better potency than the normal ones.
Just the vitality of the plants here was ten of times that of the normal plants.
As she continued to see and feel the various plants around her, she began to unknowingly giggle at the sights in front of her.
The resurgence of the soul beasts was possible! Now that they have a way to create a forest anywhere they want, they could just shift the remaining soul beasts to a new area that was far away from the control of the humans without causing any skirmishes.
She knew that the current strength of the humanity was too much for the remaining soul beasts to fight against. If they really went to a war, then even if they won, only the strongest of the soul beasts will survive while the rest of them will perish.
Now they had a solution to that. They can safely shift the young ones here while the old ones will protect them.
Just this thought made her beyond happy as the hope for the survival of the soul beasts had increased by a lot from this small piece of area.
Half an hour passed in their exploration of the area.
Gu Yue finally calmed down and returned to her cold, calm state while looking at him.
"What did you do with those?"
She seriously asked while pointing at the Demonic sandbugs that were strolling the area or playing among each other.
Throughout their exploration, she had seen hundreds of them but they all acted docile and either ran away in fear or tried to scare them. That wasn't the usual behaviour of this species.
"You know them?"
Fan Lin innocently asked while trying to feign ignorance.
"I taught you about the soul beasts."
Gu Yue said while not allowing him to divert the topic.
"Then you must know about their past as well."
Fan Lin said while giving her some grapes and Oran fruits (sweet seedless fruits that he regularly gave her.)
(I know where I took the name from. Don't need to remind me.)
She ate some of them while recalling how he always gave her something to eat whenever he needed her for something.
"Demonic Sandbugs are a very abhorrent type of soul beast. They suck away the fluids of other living creatures for sustenance, as well as to support them in their cultivation, and they target both animals and plants." [Gu Yue]
"These Demonic Sandbugs are largely responsible for why the desert is constantly expanding. They're constantly devouring the plants on the borders of the deserts and leading to desertification on the same level as humans." [Gu Yue]
"They weren't always like that but mutated into their current abhorrent versions after the humans tested their Level 12 soul missiles in this area." [Gu Yue]
"I reversed their mutation and made them vegetarians." [Fan Lin]
"Oh." [Calm Gu Yue]
Gu Yue calmly answered as she looked at him. If this guy can plant a forest in a few weeks since she had not seen him, he could change the soul beasts as well.
She chose to ponder over this topic later on.
Plus she had already observed the changes through her spiritual power and it was indeed as he said.
"I have a vast amount of knowledge in genetic restructuring and living things(how they can be destroyed)." [Fan Lin]
"I am not that knowledgeable about the soul beasts or Spirit souls though." [Fan Lin]
"And... I don't think there is someone else who can surpass your knowledge of soul beasts. So wanna collab with me and create an artificial ten thousand year old spirit soul." [Fan Lin]
"After that humans would have no need for the soul beasts and neither will they be able to use excuses like experimentation on soul beasts was a requirement of the future development of humans." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin said. Gu Yue looked at him and asked.
"Are you gonna use me again and leave me after you are done?" [Gu Yue]
"Yeah, I will. I am too much of a danger to those around me if I lost control of myself, especially humans. Nature is impartial, so is my true self." [Fan Lin]
"Sometimes, I just want to hit you on the face really hard." [Gu Yue]
"You will just hurt your hands." [Fan Lin]
"I agree in our small cooperation then. How did you create the forest?" [Gu Yue]
"The moon is beautiful today. Time to get to work." [Fan Lin]
"..."
"You could just say no if you don't want to tell. Why do you always change the topic?" [Gu Yue]
"Unreasonable woman." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin audibly whispered while leaving the area.
Gu Yue followed him while holding the grudge against his words. Soon they reached the end of the area and Fan Lin turned to her.
"Don't tell about this to anyone."
His Boundless Ring rose up from his body as his Battle Armor enveloped his body.
All his soul skills got upgraded and he raised his hands, as if on cue, the land around his area began to rise up hundreds of metres above the ground as green crystalline plateaus lifted them up in the air.
But that wasn't all, a big dome rose up from the ground and covered the whole area.
From far away, the surroundings hundred kilometres of the area was lifted up by his Crystallokinesis which turned into a complex grinder that began to knead the sand, rocks and the bottom most water rich soil that was uplifted from hundreds of metres beneath the ground level into a mix.
His Superior Energy body skill activated and all the pieces of the crystals around him began to absorb the soul energy in the surroundings at a rapid rate while the crystal dome seemed to act as an energy barrier.
No soul power can be sensed outside it.
The absorbed soul power was then infused into the soul and after some minutes, the new soil was slowly spread around the whole area as the green crystalline plateau slowly receded. So did the crystal dome.
Gu Yue looked looked at everything in surprise and she wasn't the only one at that.
Fan Lin looked at the newly mixed land. He took out his poison suitcase and threw out the multiple new vials in the new land.
He looked at the nearly empty poison suitcase and put it inside the storage soul guide.
'I need to create more.'
"In a few minutes, Grass will cover this land, by tomorrow morning, the land will be full of plants and in a few days, a forest will be seen in this area. That's your answer."
Fan Lin said as he saw the new land with his eyes.
For his restoration job, the Federation had rewarded him 100 kilometres of land in the western region when they got to know that he wanted to buy more of the western deserts to grow plants in it.
So the land that he just prepared belonged to him and now his forest had spread more than a hundred kilometres in area.
"You could have just said so, why the roundabout words?" [Gu Yue]
"I thought you would understand." [Fan Lin]
"Now who's is being unreasonable?" [Gu Yue]
"What do I name this place?" [Fan Lin]
"Why are you asking me?" [Gu Yue]
"I can't think of any?" [Fan Lin]
"Hmmm... What about Moon Forest?" [Gu Yue]
"Okay." [Fan Lin]
"What about those vials?" [Gu Yue]
"We are quite late. Let's go." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin calmly took out his flying soul car while gesturing her to sit.
"Now you are changing topic." [Gu Yue]
She said while getting in the Flying soul car. Fan Lin just smiled a little at her statement and released a higher amount of red toxins into the air.
"Wanna come a month later to see the forest." [Fan Lin]
"I will try to free my schedule." [Gu Yue]
She said while looking at the Moon Forest.
"Now you believe my words when I said that I will create a better Starduo Forest." [Fan Lin]
"Starduo Forest was more than twice the size of the western region. How?" [Gu Yue]
She asked him and got a wide smile in return. His smile made her a tad bit uncomfortable as she wasn't used to it.
"Don't worry about it (it's just land that will be emptied soon)." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin said and got into the Flying soul car.
"Also, I have lied to the Spirit Pagoda that I can't use my previous soul skills and my Boundless Ring has given me a soul skill that raised the growth of the plants." [Fan Lin]
"You could have tell the same to me." [Gu Yue]
"You are different." [Fan Lin]
"I will keep it a secret." [Gu Yue]
"You have friends now?" [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin taunted. She shook her head as she recalled the previous he time he said that.
"You can show your true self to me. Don't need to act like this." [Gu Yue]
"I have two true selves. Both are me and the same." [Fan Lin]
"Then why are you showing your true side to me?" [Gu Yue]
"Because you won't tell anyone. And even I am not sure which one should I trust." [Fan Lin]
"Can you stop talking like this? It's irritating." [Gu Yue]
"Don't you think that's the reason why I am talking like that?" [Fan Lin]
"I know that you talk like this to hide what you don't want to tell." [Gu Yue]
"... yeah." [Fan Lin]
And the next twenty three hours was spent in boredom and talking as they reached the city near Shrek and spent another hour in a train ride to Shrek City then another hour in a cab to reach Shrek Academy.
Gu Yue steadily got out of the cab with him and looked at the Shrek Academy. She wasn't wobbly feet now as she meditated and used her soul power to wring out her fatigue from her journey.
"Is there no other way of transport?" [Gu Yue]
"I can install external pair of wings in my Battle Armor and carry you the next time." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin suggested although he wasn't too keen on the idea.
"The current method is good." [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue answered without hesitation. She knew him and knowing his antics, he might just grab her by the waist and flew off into the air without caring for the air resistance on her face or body.
He was the person who dared to drag her for half an hour on the ground. He could clearly do that.
"Yeah. That's why I didn't install the wings." [Fan Lin]
Fan Lin calmly said while telling her about the various inconveniences of carrying people while flying and how he never installed the external wings due to that. A tick mark seemed to appear on her forehead at his words because it felt like he was targeting her with words like fat, inconvenience, burden and problematic because he can fly and she couldn't.
They both arrived at his small shop. The Handler and her friends saw him with her after two whole days and their eyes turned weird.
They ignored them as Gu Yue left for the Shrek Academy in a hurry while Fan Lin took a few more lists from the handler and left for the Spirit Pagoda as well.
Fan Lin's former cultivation area.
Gu Yue was sitting in the place of Fan Lin and looking at the plants in the area.
By her side, Di Tian and Bear Lord were silently standing.
"Bear Lord knows the location of the Moon Forest. Go and observe it for a week then report your observation to me. Take the Myriad Demon king with you as well. He can stay there and guard it."
"He did say that he had his own methods of protection and that nobody will come near it but just to be sure."
Gu Yue ordered Di Tian and sent him to the newly created Moon Forest.
Di Tian adhered to her words and disappeared with the Bear Lord.
"He desires to create a forest for the soul beasts."
Gu Yue had just returned from her long journey and her astonishment hasn't decreased even a bit from what she had seen.
But it all raised a really big question in her mind.
Why is he creating a forest for the soul beasts?
Why did he hate humans?
Why did he want to protect the soul beasts?
What was he thinking?
And lastly, what is he going to do after that?
"I need to know. I need to know everything about him."
Gu Yue gazed at the direction of the Spirit Pagoda tower and whispered to herself.
She called her Master and agreed to have Fan Lin as her Mecha Designing teacher.
...
Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.
President's office.
"How's the progress?"
Qiangu Donfeng asked his subordinate on the other side of the intercom.
"We will be done in around two months, My Liege."
The subordinate answered, a small area filled with vegetation and trees could be roughly seen behind him.
If Fan Lin was there, he would have recognised the place as one of the places that he replanted.
"What about the others?"
Qiangu Donfeng continued while looking at some reports on his table.
"They will also be finished by the end of the year."
The subordinate answered. Qiangu Donfeng continued to look at the reports in his hands.
"Any information on the 'mysterious death'?"
He asked while looking at the other reports.
"No sir, we still haven't been able to get any clues regarding the perpetrator/s. The cases are random, the symptoms and time frame of death is too fast for people to take actions and our current staff isn't enough to monitor the situations in the whole Douluo Continent as the magnitude of the phenomenon is quite large."
The subordinate answered.
Qiangu Donfeng looked at all the papers on his desk. All of them stated the same thing, their illegal experimental facility staff has been killed and the experimental facility has become useless.
"Continue on your work and inform me if you got anything."
Qiangu Donfeng ordered his subordinate while cutting the video call. He slowly got up from his chair and looked at the entirety of the Shrek City.
"Who is it?"
He whispered to himself while thinking of the past year.
In just a year, more than 149 experiment facilities were shut down due to the deaths of their staff.
The others had cut their connections to the Pagoda and either became underground or ran away.
Due to this, three of the research teams that were researching the way to create artificial ten thousand year old spirit souls had to disband and return to their former posts.
He knew that whoever the mysterious death perpetrator was, they were targeting the Spirit Pagoda in particular while slowly taking out their connections and resources.
He had tried to find the source of the problem but failed and now the research had been put off.
But Qiangu Donfeng wasn't a man who will be put down by a small setback. While the mysterious deaths were killing his facilities, he was thinking of plans to either take it out or just hide from it.
And just when he had reached the end of this vain solutions, Fan Lin's replantation project was pushed forward by the Vice President, Leng Yaozhu.
He had just read it as he knew about Fan Lin from both Shi Yuan (the former helper of Fan Lin that betrayed him and got killed by Qiangu Donfeng thinking he was talking BS) and his subordinates.
He also knew that Fan Lin was a Three Word Battle Armorer and possessed a hundred thousand year old spirit soul.
Driven by his interest in Fan Lin and what project he wanted to do, Qiangu Donfeng read the project and decided to use it for his own benefits.
When he read the project of Fan Lin, he realised that most of the areas that he was planning on planting trees and plants could be used by him.
He could create underground research facilities in those areas while using the planted land as a cover up for his facilities.
And then as if gears began to run in his mind, the idea became more concrete and well planned and he didn't waste a single second to implement it.
He immediately approved Fan Lin's project and contacted his men in the Federation to put the restored land under the conservation area of the Federation.
After that he convinced the Spirit Pagoda's council of this as well.
Now all the area that Fan Lin had restored or is going to restore will be protected by the Spirit Pagoda and Federation officials or Qiangu Donfeng's men.
Since his subordinates were the ones to guard it, he can safely and successfully complete his new facilities under the eyes of everyone since no one would be aware of it.
Even the mysterious death.
Fan Lin would have never guessed that he himself will become the solution to the problem that he created for the Spirit Pagoda.
In the same way, Qiangu Donfeng didn't understand how Fan Lin would take the situation when he knows about it.
But that's for the future, onto the present.
"I wonder when he will replant the other areas, especially the ones in the major cities."
"Should I propose a plan to raise some low level soul beasts in the conservation areas, that could be used as a justification if something went wrong in the facilities or someone were to ask the need for the use of manpower to guard those areas."
He thought as he peered at Shrek Academy. He sincerely thanked the Shrek for leaving a godsend opportunity like Fan Lin for the Spirit Pagoda/him.
...
A week later.
Fan Lin completed the last batch of the special herbal products that was going to be delivered in the Eastern and Southern coasts of the Sun Moon Federation.
His preparation was on full swing.
Knock knock knock
Someone knocked at his door. He got up from his chair and tiptoed his way around the grass and leaves that were spread accross his room lying here and there.
He had no fear that someone would see his room filled with leaves and grass that could be found anywhere and think he was creating poison.
If there really was a person like that then they would be sick in their head.
He opened the door and it was Gu Yue.
"My teacher asked you to teach me Mecha Designing. Teach me."
Gu Yue said while looking at him. Fan Lin tilted his head to the side just a little bit at her words and nodded.
"Oh. Ohh. Ohkay~."
Gu Yue didn't even need to think twice to realise how eager Fan Lin had been to teach her because he totally wasn't.
She was sure that his three words displayed his reluctance, unwillingness and acceptance of his fate of teaching her.
"You don't need to teach me if you don't want to." [Gu Yue]
Gu Yue said as she saw him salvaging his room to make space for her sit.
"if I don't teach you, I wouldn't get the price for teaching you. Come here and let's start. What rank are you?"
He signalled for her to sit opposite him while taking out some rough paper.
"If you say so."
She said, she herself reluctant to learn from Fan Lin as well but begger's can be choosers. She needed to know his intentions whether he tell her own his own or she finds out about it on her own.
She also needed to learn about Mecha Designing as well.
Three of her friends already had a single piece of One word Battle Armor and were preparing to create the second piece, whereas the other were preparing for the first piece.
In their regular chatting with Yuanen Yehui, her classmates realised that Fan Lin had a three word Battle Armor and also the fact that he was a Peak rank 6 Mecha Designer.
This was a completely unrelated topic until Gu Yue asked her Master, Leng Yaozhu, on her returning time and got no specific time of her return.
Leng Yaozhu's project also had to shut down due to the sudden mysterious death phenomenon and she had gone to the other continent for now.
Now she will need half an year at minimum to do her research and then head back to the Douluo Continent.
Yeah, Leng Yaozhu was also indirectly affected by a certain Fan Lin's mood killing.
Now Gu Yue was struck with Fan Lin and she was going to use this time to the fullest.
[Don't take it the wrong way.]
An hour later.
Gu Yue presented her design to Fan Lin and Fan Lin was silently observing her design.
He squinted his eyes and silently glanced at Gu Yue.
'She is a talent! Protagonist level talent!'
Fan Lin could be considered a genius as well but his case was different.
Fan Lin's mastery over the Mecha Designing came from his trap making in his past life.
Since he had to take a lot of things in account before making a trap and the fact that he had been doing and learning that for more than half his previous life, his trap making in the forest was like an instinct to him.
Fan Lin triumphed over the Mecha Designing occupation since it was the similar to trap making. He wasn't an actual genius in the Mecha Designing occupation.
He was just using his past life knowledge and adaptability to rise through the ranks.
Gu Yue was different in a sense that her design...
Let's take Fan Lin's design as an example.
His traps were made to trap humans, not animals and were designed in such a way that anyone who will be caught will die a gruesome slow death.
A constant suffering.
His designs were made like that and the soul power would be continuously connected to the soul power pool of the soul master, replenishing itself directly from the soul power pool of the person on its own.
Since the connection was constant, usage of soul skills and soul power was extremely smooth and congruent in his designs, increasing the effects of whatever he wanted to increase while minimising wastage of soul power.
Gu Yue's design however had a circuit system like a glass full of water. The user can drink however much he liked/wanted while leaving the rest.
No wastage of soul power, gradual recovery and possible enhancements were possible without much interventions between the soul circuits.
A clean and concise design.
She was qualitative ahead of Fan Lin by leaps and bounds.
In simpler words, Fan Lin, due to his trap making, can create millions of different designs on the same topic without much trouble.
On the other hand, Gu Yue's design were better in quality wise.
It wasn't that Gu Yue's was a better Mecha Designer than Fan Lin.
It meant that Gu Yue's Rank 5 design had a higher quality than Fan Lin's rank 5 design since both focused on different aspects.
Gu Yue looked at him staring at her for quite some time before saying this as his assessment to her design.
"I could have secured all of them if I followed your design."
'But since I made the traps to kill them in the first place, there's no difference.'
"Are you daydreaming?"
She blankly asked while taking her design draft.
"Nothing. Let me show you mine."
He took out another paper and create a new design in five minutes.
Speed was his speciality or he wouldn't have been able to make hundred thousands of designs in just 365 days while attending classes, doing cultivation, learning and other things.
(Just an example. If he did 1 design in 10 minutes, that would be 6 design an hour, 144 designs a day, 52,560 designs a year, which was nearly a third of his designs sold to the Mecha Designing association and Designing association.)
(Adding to the fact that he was of a lower rank at that time and obviously didn't work day and night on the creation of the designs, he would have obviously need to speed up his designing.)
(Wait a second, why am I arguing about something I wrote myself?)
"You are fast."
Gu Yue observed the design draft that he created while commenting on his speed.
[I told you, don't take it the wrong way]
"I can be faster than that. That's my speciality."
[I repeat]
He said while seeing her study his designs.
"So that's why you said that."
She saw his unruly and wild design that seem to cling onto the user while providing them constant support.
The design in her hand was for a support type spirit master and it had the function of using the soul power to keep the body in their peak state with ease of movement and instant burst acceleration to escape from getting one shot KO.
"I hate the fact that you can understand half of me."
Fan Lin nonchalantly said while taking out more rough paper. She looked at him and ignored his words.
By this time, she had realised one thing. Talking back to Fan Lin was useless.
Not because he was a king of arguments and retorts. He clearly wasn't.
But because he didn't even let a proper conversation happen between two parties.
In simple terms, Fan Lin would kill the conversation before you even began the argument. There would not be a chance to talk since the topic had either shifted or you have found a new topic argument from the new topic and it continues on.
But it wasn't that Fan Lin was completely invincible in conversation.
Gu Yue had realised that Fan Lin was open to direct assaults and whenever you feel like you don't like his words, just attack him with any of your elements and he will change to a much lighter topic after understanding your intentions loud and clear.
This was also the method that she used when teaching him about the various soul beasts.
"What's your rank?"
He asked again.
"Rank 5."
She replied while looking at the heaps of grass and leaves in his room.
"That's quite commendable. You are the same age as Wulin, right?"
He said with sincerity.
"You are also the same age as me but you are Rank 7, I think you are the one who is commendable."
Gu Yue said in return. Fan Lin glanced at her but said nothing about his actual age and started to impart his knowledge to her.
She also began to listen to him as he practically demonstrated the different design ideas by drawing it directly in front of her in mere seconds. He explained her about the different design changes in Mechas, Battle Armors and other devices and their variables that required Mecha Designing.
....
Shrek Academy.
Gu Yue returned to Shrek after Fan Lin finished teaching for the day.
She slowly walked towards the working students dormitory and bypassed it, continuing on her way to small forest that surrounded the working students dormitory.
She finally stopped at a small clearing that was unusually full of thick thickets and shrubs everywhere the eyes could see.
This was the training area that Fan Lin used to train or meditate in.
She observed the place and sat on her regular spot.
A few moments later, a handsome middle-aged man appeared beside her along with a tall and muscular man.
"What's your thoughts on the Moon Forest?"
She asked the Handsome middle aged man with golden eyes, aka Di Tian.
"Nothing short of a miracle! Even I was having difficulty believing you and the Bear King when you described the forest and the changes in the soul beasts but after observing them for a week, I don't have words describe my feelings."
"It should have been impossible to create something like that with some little vials of liquid that aren't some kind of God blood or spiritual panacea... It's incomprehensible! Humans have truly advanced far more than we thought."
Di Tian answered while recalling the sight he saw with his own eyes.
One week ago.
When Gu Yue had agreed to Fan Lin's request. Di Tian was really opposed to sending Gu Yue alone with Fan Lin since he was one of the few who knew how Fan Lin treated humans in all his spying.
He also witnessed the disgraceful act of Fan Lin towards Gu Yue on that fateful night.
However awed might be of Fan Lin, he absolutely disapproved to send the weakened Gu Yue to the blackmailing and scheming psycho like Fan Lin who would mind control anyone he wanted to.
Di Tian wanted to personally escort Gu Yue to the destination but could not because he had to stay and observe Na Er in the Inner Court.
Hence, he found the Bear Lord and entrusted the task of the protection of Gu Yue to him. Gu Yue still had some ways to protect herself but humans are vile and cunning and they all knew just how reasonable Fan Lin was.
So when Gu Yue came to Fan Lin's small shop to go with him, she wasn't alone. The Bear Lord, a hundred thousand year old Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear soul beast in human form, was escorting her since Gu Yue had become weaker due to [foreshadowing].
In the journey, the Bear lord was sure that he would have likely entered Nirvana as he was able to drive down the urge to mush Fan Lin for 'his one more' line that he repeated more than 20 times!
The Bear Lord saw everything along with Gu Yue and was completely surprised of the strength and weirdness of Fan Lin.
He had witnessed how Fan Lin created the crystal dome, restricted the soul power leakage and kneaded the sand with rock and soil then returning everything to normal as if nothing happened.
That was hundreds of kilometres of land!
He still remembered his words when he said that a forest will grow at the kneaded land in a week.
He then returned with Gu Yue and Fan Lin.
Fan Lin went towards his Spirit Pagoda and Gu Yue came to his cultivation area to sit on his regular spot.
He followed her.
Then came Di Tian and they told him about what they saw and what Fan Lin said about the land.
Gu Yue then ordered Di Tian to check the Moon Forest himself while placing someone to guard it since she didn't know exactly what Fan Lin had done to stop the humans
Di Tian slightly nodded his head in apprehension and immediately left for the Moon Forest along with the Bear Lord and Myriad Demon king the same night.
With their speed, they needed only a few hours to reach the Moon Forest and in their eyes came a 200 kilometres wide grassland filled with many small plants and short trees with 15 kilometres wide thick forest at the north.
Di Tian and the Myriad Demon king sensed the area and then looked at the Bear Lord.
"This the same area but the grassland wasn't here yesterday, only the forest filled with Demonic sandbugs was. The rest of the area was filled with newly mixed soil."
The Bear Lord said while observing the situation in confusion.
It couldn't be that fast, right?
Di Tian and Myriad Demon King slowly landed on the area the Gu Yue and Bear Lord stayed at.
Both of them turned to look at each other and decided to observe the situation in the meantime because they might have struck a jackpot.
A week later, an astonished Di Tian left the sight of a 200 kilometres of dense forest and returned to the academy. The Bear Lord followed him while the Myriad Demon king stayed there to further observe and protect the place in case something unforeseen happened.
Cut to the present.
"I personally wouldn't have believed your words as it was too bizzare and weird on how humans are able to create unbelievable things with their so called 'science' and 'technology'."
He exclaimed to Gu Yue.
"En. Start the migration of the weaker spiritual plants. Inform the Myriad Demon king to be on the lookout. Wait at least for the forest to develop by a few more kilometres, then distribute the area of the soul beasts while migrating the important ones."
Gu Yue ordered Di Tian and the rest of the Great Beasts.
The Starduo Forest in the present was under the lockdown of the Spirit Pagoda and was severely monitored by all sides.
The Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect were also too close to the Starduo Forest. If the Soul beasts dared to try anything funny, it wouldn't even take a few minutes before they will be surrounded on all sides by the top three forces of the Douluo Continent.
The Great Beasts were strong, quite strong but that also meant that if a battle occurred even if they were able to stand on equal grounds on the humans, the fight would most likely destroy the remnants of the Starduo Forest.
The Starduo Forest has shrunk down too much and it was the last safe place of the soul beasts. The humans realised that as well and hence were doing however they see fit.
What could they do?
Fight?
Friendly fire would harm them more than the humans.
But it all changes if they have another base of resistance. One that was really far away from the humans as well. Even the fastest forces would require a few hours in the least to reach the Moon Forest from the Bright City.
And the soul beasts don't even have to wait for the forces to arrive to intercept them in the Moon Forest.
They could take the first step and intercept the humans before they reach the Moon Forest. They was no chances of the friendly fire or the need to hold back as the western region was just sand and desert.
They could go all out. But that was only in a case of a full blown war and the soul beasts planned to avoid it in the meantime and trust the creator of the forest to deal with it.
Because according to Gu Yue, Fan Lin had promised to take care of the humans. They wouldn't have trusted him before but... they feel like they can trust him a little now.
They all heard about the weird human who is too weird even in the aspects of soul beasts.
"Won't he be suspicious about the sudden appearance of the spiritual plants? Will he even allow it?"
Di Tian asked while thinking over the ridiculous but obviously sinister behaviour of Fan Lin.
"He will. He is planning on planting some plant type soul beasts by himself on his next visit."
She said calmly. Her eyes firm. The Bear Lord also clenched his fist. The faster they start with the migration of the Starduo Forest, the sooner they will have their chance of the upheaval of the humanity.
"Then we will proceed as you said."
Di Tian said and disappeared. So did the Bear Lord.
Only Gu Yue remained in the cultivation area and thought about the future.
"Why does he wants to create a forest?"
She whispered to herself but shook her head as it was too late to ask him of that.
....
The Bear Lord is a Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear, which is often recognized as an exterminator of forests and a destroyer in the world of spirit masters. It's ranked sixth among the Ten Great Savage Beasts. It is appropriate to call him the number one bear in the history of the Douluo Continent. Di Tian is the only one in the Great Star Dou Forest who could tame the Bear Lord.
The Bear Lord looks like a middle aged muscular man. He is 2.4 meters tall, and his muscles are extremely well-developed with extremely broad shoulders. His face is manly and cold, while his skin is tanned. It feels like his body is covered in an alloy, and his eyes seem like emotionless yellow crystals. When he lifts his hand, the terrifying, sharp, dark golden blades extended out.
Myriad Demon King is ranked fifth among the Ten Great Savage Beasts. He is a Demoneye Tree. According to the legends, the Myriad Demon King ruled over all the plant-type soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest.
He was a middle-aged man. He isn't particularly handsome, and his face is slightly pale. His eyes are a deep jade-green that could penetrate through one's soul. A jade-green glow shines amidst this depth and serenity, but this glow is starkly different from the elegant jade-green that Bi Ji emitted. He isn't considered very large, but he is extremely slender. He is wearing a long, dark-green robe. It moves even without any wind, fluttering slightly to and fro. His hair is also dark-green, but it is a little too long. It is more than ten meters in length as it flowed behind his back.
Di Tian is the last Golden Eyed Black Dragon King. He is the publicly known strongest Spirit Beast in the world.
He is a handsome middle-aged man in a black robe with golden lines who possesses black hair with one golden strand hanging, sharp deep golden pupil eyes, with an at least 2 meter height body and broad shoulders.
Couldn't post it sooner due to a blackout and no wifi in my area.