Karni knocked on a door. It was Shen Yi's office. No one answered. Did she already leave when she sent them away? He moved a room over. Wu Zhangkong's office.
With Karni was Siduo. Right now they were trying to contact the teachers to see if they could get the blueprints and Soul Tools they created during the exam. They wanted to bring those to Mo Qing so he could look them over. Unfortunately, this meant they would be very, very late. They needed to make this detour back to Shrek after their successful cocoa search. They already knew they were going to get a scolding.
Wu Zhangkong opened his office. Shen Yi was also inside. Both of them wore serious expressions.
Karni started. "Um. If you don't have the time that's fi-"
"No. That's okay. What is it?" Wu Zhangkong was firm, but quick. He would hear them out, but his presence alone told them they needed to be quick about it.
Karni could feel winter in those words. "We were wondering if we could get the blueprints and Soul Tools we made during our fifth exam. My blueprint and Sisi's Soul Tools-" He interrupted himself. "Oh, we're Val Kar-"
"Val Karni and Wu Siduo. Yes I am aware. And the reason?"
"We're about to visit our teacher for Mecha Engineering and want his opinion on our products, since they're one of our best."
Wu Zhangkong turned towards Shen Yi, who nodded. "That should be doable. Senior brother, let's continue our discussion while we fetch the students' exam results."
Wu Zhangkong agreed. "We'll be quick. You may wait here."
And so Siduo and Karni waited. Not for long—the two teachers returned in merely 5 minutes.
"Are these the ones?" Shen Yi handed over the blueprints and Soul Tools. The two nodded, thanked the teachers, but before they could leave, they were stopped.
"Did you meet Tang Wulin before?" Wu Zhangkong questioned.
The two nodded. Karni answered first. "In Eastsea City. We were going on a cruise and happened to bump into each other."
Siduo nodded with a good amount of anger. "He made us pay for his breakfast."
Wu Zhangkong's mask of ice broke for just a split-second when Siduo said that.
"I told you you'd regret it back then." Karni nudged Siduo. Which Siduo begrudgingly accepted as criticism.
Wu Zhangkong raised his eyebrows with that statement, but let the kids go. He likely recognised that they seemed to be in a rush.
… … …
The two entered Tang Sect headquarters. Mo Qing told them to meet him here. It was quite easy to find the Tang Sect here, since Shrek City was the only place on the continent where the sect's headquarters were out in the open.
Mo Qing already waited for them with oozing impatience. Though that quickly changed to excitement when he saw them.
He rushed to them. "You guys have grown in more than just size eh? Congratulations on entering Shrek Academy."
Well that was weird. Mo Qing not mad for the two of them being this late? Either there was a plot brewing, or something genuinely good really happened. He only led them to a rented room where they could be alone with a constant smile. A normal smile. Now that… that… is really weird.
"Before we get to the topic of why I called you in, I want to see how you've grown." He opened his arms, as if to say they should showcase their new powers now.
It's been a while since he'd actually seen their abilities. While he's been getting updates from Teacher Ye—he'd guessed the two had become Soul Ancestors already—he had to see how they progressed. When the two returned, his niece had been oddly secretive about their progress.
Siduo was the first to make a presentation similar to one she made in the Shrek Exam. Fusing her Martial Souls, their abilities, her new abilities. Mo Qing got a good shock when he saw her Black Soul Ring. Where did she get that? Was it from the Royal Family in Star Luo Continent? She had a Soul Bone as well? Wait. Two?
Karni's turn exhibited a similar reaction from Mo Qing. It was a similar presentation of Sound and Bloodline. Mo Qing noticed the effect that the music had on him. Karni's ability really was perfect for Designing. No wonder the boy grew so much after he broke through to Soul Elder. Wait, he had a black soul ring as well? Teleportation? He also had a Soul Bone?
Mo Qing was left speechless. His head actually ached. These two. They really fit the motto of Shrek. Only Monsters. Compared to when he last saw them in Star Luo City. Well, it would be almost sinful to compare.
"How many points did you get on the exam?" He had to know. If they didn't get a high score then, just how strict was Shrek really?
"100."
"93."
Mo Qing was speechless again, yet some part of him relaxed. Then he tensed up again. Karni got a hundred? Siduo didn't. Did he really surpass her in terms of overall talent? He had to admit, throughout the years he taught them, he always put Siduo just a bit above Karni in terms of talent. The Self-Fusion alone should have put her above him. Yet he truly doubted himself now. There was a quality to Karni that Mo Qing never realised. And he still wasn't sure what that was.
Then it clicked. These two, should they have to face each other… he imagined it. A stalemate. Both were superb in attacking and dodging. But Karni could stalemate Siduo who had self-fusion. It was Karni's comprehension. That was what gave Karni the edge. Oh Siduo was an expert at combining those Soul Skills in her Self-Fusion form, but in terms of foundation? Comprehension truly was… above almost everything.
Then he doubted himself again. Siduo's eyes were always above people her own age in regards to maturity. And he had an inkling that a single Shrek Exam would be unable to get such a point across. But then… he looked at the two fighting like kids… he might also be completely off mark.
He breathed out. "Good. If you've progressed this far, this next part should be even easier to explain to the higher ups." The two looked at him with confusion.
"The reason I called you here is that the Tang Sect wants to invest in you and put you in our Science Division. Think of it as an investment. They were impressed with your invention and the precision of its creation."
The two were quiet. The Tang Sect was impressed with their creation? Karni breathed out. His creation. The Goggles!
"Karni. You just created a new piece of technology. You used some of our already existent technology and transformed it and used it in a way that hasn't yet been thought of before. Do you realise how important that is?"
Karni didn't really know how to answer. He got it… but… it was just how to comprehend such a thing.
"Not only that, but Tang Sect wants to buy the rights to produce your Augmented Reality Goggles. You would be getting royalties in contribution points of our Tang Sect for each one created, as well as its future iterations. Of course, those royalties would be smaller, since they'd be different, but that could be changed if you directly contribute to the future designs. Hence, early Science Division. A chance for you."
Siduo raised a question at this point. "Teacher, are you sure I should be getting into the Science Division? I only manufactured these. I wouldn't be very useful in their future design."
"That's true, but they've been thinking of getting you in there even with your other research. Vehicles and power sources correct? You also help Karni with prosthetics. You two have been collaborating for quite some time in terms of that. In fact, I've noticed Karni has been added to our Tang Sect project already in the Star Luo Continent. We could use you as well, since you're both pushing those aspects of research further right now. You two alone managed to bring the cost of those Soul Tools down, yet also bring the efficiency up. And furthermore," Mo Qing turned to Karni.
"The AR Goggles are a pathway to further the prosthetics, am I correct?"
Karni nodded. That was correct indeed. They were made for researching Spiritual Connection, though he also wanted to broaden his field of research with them. It was the next step to human-machine connection, particularly focusing on signals of the body. He already included it in the new prosthetic he made in the exam, now that he got the theory down. The Tang Sect was rightfully impressed with him.
"So, what do you two say? You only need to say yes and I'll take care of the rest."
Was there any reason to say no? This was a great opportunity for both of them. They absolutely had to take this opportunity.
"Oh!" Karni now remembered, "Teacher, we also brought the designs and Soul Tools we created during the Shrek Exam."
"Oh? Do show, do show." Mo Qing was eager.
He saw Karni's blueprints. The boy already joined together his research from the AR Goggles and Prosthetics! He did this during a test? And Siduo. That was an incredibly compact power source. It could power a 5-Star Soul Tool. The potential of this research… Yet again, the only word he could think of was "Monsters."
"Good. This will be very good during the meeting. You already have proof of a practical use of your research. This will give you even more power in the meeting. Come now."
Up an elevator they went. Usually, Tang Sect went underground with their facilities. They did so here as well, actually, though offices were above-ground. Something they did only in Shrek City here on Douluo Continent.
They entered a fairly large office space with a single person inside. Karni raised an eyebrow. Weren't there supposed to be multiple higher ups?
"Mo Qing, come in. Are these the two?" The man asked and Mo Qing nodded.
"Mm. Nice to meet you. The name's Guo Xiaoxiu. I believe you've been told about the fact the Science Division is scouting you."
The two nodded.
"Good. Now, for starters, I'm not overseeing that, I've only been in contact with Mo Qing because he claims the two of you have talent. I am to present that to those that truly have decision making power in regards to our Science Division. For now, though, show me what you have so that I can see what I can argue in your favour."
The two showcased their designs, the theories behind them, as well as the intended direction they wanted to take them in the future. They presented Augmented Reality Goggles, Prosthetics and Power Sources. Siduo could have actually presented another field, but she believed it wouldn't have helped her. That was Vehicles. Tang Sect already had a lot of research in regards to that. If anything, she would rather use this chance to learn more here in Tang Sect.
"Hm. Good. With that, I should argue that your AR Goggles as they are, when manufactured, should bring you 20 contribution points with every creation. And don't worry, this isn't little. We're thinking of sharing this product across the whole continent, once we refine the design a little.
"Speaking of refining the design, this brings me to the second point. Once the design is refined, the creation of that product will bring you less points, most likely only about 5. More if it diverges less, less if it diverges more. Every iteration after will remove the amount of royalties you'll receive until you will only get 1 contribution point per design. This would happen if you never contribute to the design hereafter.
"Which brings me to my last point. If you do help with the refinement of new designs— and this is why it's important that you join the Science Division as recruits— you may still get 20 contribution points with each product manufactured, maybe even more, depending on how much influence you had in refining the design."
Karni sat in silence a bit, calculating how much he'd get and… gods. This was a decent number even if he'd be getting a single contribution point per manufacture. They were planning to spread this throughout the Tang Sect on the continent! That was thousands of members. And once the AR Goggles spread to the other continents?
"You… You're planning to put this to all members?" Karni had to ask.
Guo Xiaoxiu smiled. "Yes. Once the design is completed, we're thinking of implementing this similarly to the current Sect Tokens, maybe even replacing them. It would greatly help in spreading information around the Tang Sect, and there is also potential for greater safety and security. So even outer disciples like you would get one like this."
Karni smiled. A smile of barely hidden greed. He couldn't help it. This would just smooth out so much of his future development as a Mecha Designer. "I'll be happy to help in any way I can."
Guo Xiaoxiu nodded, laughing to himself. "Good. In that case, you should wait until tomorrow and come again then. Everything should be in order by that time. Mo Qing, if you will."
Mo Qing nodded. "Thank you branch master. Come, Val Karni, Wu Siduo."
The two bowed slightly and said goodbye.
As they were going back to their rented private room, Karni wondered out loud. "Teacher, could you also help us with something else? Shrek is going to start teaching us Battle Armour design. We'd like to get a bit of a head start."
Mo Qing was thoughtful for a split second. "Hm. I suppose it is time. I didn't think you'd reach 5-star rank as a Designer so soon. I was supposed to teach you when you were still 4-Star ranks. Come with me. I'll teach you."
They brought out a variety of previous Battle Armour blueprints and the first thing Karni noticed was that it was oddly similar to his prosthetic designs.
"I suppose you've noticed already." Mo Qing started. "Yes. They are indeed similar to prosthetics. The only difference is that you're not augmenting the body, but the Martial Soul. The fact it gives you greater defence of the body is somewhat of a side effect of its nature. The only exception to that might be Strength Type Soul Masters and Defence Type Soul Masters, where they should make the defence of an armour a key part of their armour."
Mo Qing pointed at a few designs. "As for how you actually put an armour on your Martial Soul itself, well." He moved his finger to the centre of a blueprint. A single core, with a bunch of inscriptions and receptors to what Karni recognised as both Soul Power and… something else?
"This is the core of the whole armour. The one that interacts with your Martial Soul, connects with your Soul Power and so on. As for the differences you saw in the design of the other parts of the armour, they are made so they can connect to this core. That single inscription that you're confused about is the key component. This will be the first thing I will teach you. Everything else will come to you naturally.
"You must understand, while you want to increase the potential of battle armour functions with inscriptions, some of the most important parts will include the materials used. Your inscriptions should focus on channelling the effects of the material, which should be at a minimum Thousand-Refined Metal. Obviously, those attributes should complement your Martial Soul.
"I do want to warn you," he glanced at Karni. "Unlike Siduo, you haven't developed your second Martial Soul yet. You should consider what path you want to take with it, before you finalise your design. Alternatively, since it is a panda, you could make a rough guess about strength and defence being the focus, and create a general design for your staff, leaving some room open for future edits."
Mo Qing smiled. "Before you have time to worry about all that though, the basics."
Karni smiled at Siduo, who returned a grin. The basics.
… … …
The next day. They were back at Tang Sect. The classes today were worse than yesterday when it came to learning Battle Armour. It was the exact same thing Mo Qing just told them. A bit less actually, since they had to explain things for all professions, including blacksmiths. This was good. They were already in front in terms of knowledge.
They saw Mo Qing waiting for them in the sect again. This time, he wasn't alone. There was a middle-aged man here as well.
Mo Qing waved at them and introduced them to the man. "This here is Jin Zirui, the head of the Shrek City Tang Sect Science Division. Since the two of you are in Shrek, you can't go to the true headquarters of the Science Division and you'll be staying here."
Jin Zirui nodded, a bit disgruntled. "Something which our Science Division headquarters didn't appreciate, mind you. They almost called Shrek to negotiate and bring you to the main division."
Jin Zirui looked at them. "But nevermind that. For the most part, you'll still be staying under your teacher, since he's a valuable member of our Science Division as well. For today though, I would like to get familiar with you two myself." There was both eagerness and scepticism in Jin Zirui—one of a true scientist.
IEverything was approved of. Karni would now be getting regular royalties in contribution points in the sect.
Jin Zirui led them to the underground section of the headquarters.
Karni and Siduo were awed into silence. The machinery, the size, the technology. It was like a giant stadium of research. Rows upon rows of Mechas.
Jin Zirai led them to a table full of tools for both design and manufacturing. "Here. I'd like you to recreate your original blueprint, while explaining as you go. I want to hear your thought process behind every detail, so I can get the idea of what to improve and how." There was a slight tone of arrogance in the man's voice. Was he intentionally instigating them?
He gave the space to Karni and noticed the boy took out his Martial Soul and activated his third Soul Ring. Wait, he had four and one was black? Impressive. A soft music started to play, one that was constant and relaxing, yet filled with focus.
Jin Zirai felt like he couldn't step in that area anymore, for the fear of disturbing the youth. But the youth didn't even know how to use all of the tools here. Karni would still need rulers, geo triangles, compasses and so on. And calculators. Everyone should use calculators.
Karni only sat on the chair and grabbed the standard pencil to draw blueprints. Perfectly straight lines were drawn. Perfect circles. But how was he calculating it all? Was the boy a maths genius as well? Gods. He was a monster- Oh wait. He just grabbed a calculator. Jin Zirai actually let out a sigh of relief. At least something was normal.
Karni started to explain the first function, the music resonating with his very voice. Jin Zirai didn't speak himself, lest he should disturb the resonance. He only listened, nodding or frowning based on what he thought of the design.
In about an hour, a replica of the original AR Goggles design was completed. Only after this could Karni explain all the connections between the individual designs that formed a whole.
Finally finished with all that, Karni asked. "Is it okay if I already suggest some improvements?"
Jin Zirai hid a smile, satisfied by the kid's initiative. "Go ahead."
"First of all, since this isn't for general use anymore but for Tang Sect specifically, we can remove a decent number of features that won't be needed, making future improvements easier." Karni circled all the useless functions and wrote what their original purpose was.
"Second, we can connect the goggles directly to the Tang Sect token for both security and functionality. It could be an outsource program, to give even more space to the goggles. Stuff like information processing, messaging programs, as well as the general function of connectivity, could all be moved. Though… it would definitely cost the Tang Sect to change the tokens.
"Finally, the goggles are eye-catching, which I'm guessing the Tang Sect wouldn't really like. They could be changed into glasses, except all of the receptors for Spiritual Power would have to take up the space around the glasses, and why I suggested moving a lot of the processes to the token.
"Overall, since it's for the Tang Sect, some of the space we saved with the first change could be replaced with private channels, hierarchy options, general massage boards and so on. In the future, it could even bring an additional layer of security when one would need the glasses to not only access but also see the information that, say, the contribution shop provides… it could be a centralised tool for everything Tang Sect related… Though I realise how ambitious that sounds."
Jin Zirai was speechless. He thought the boy would suggest changes in optimisation, but everything Karni considered was in fact, for the good of the sect, something that most of the higher ups haven't even started thinking of since they first wanted to refine the design. This was knocking out two birds with one stone.
"Write what you said down on a list. I'll give it to the chief to judge it, but I would warn you that for starters, optimising will come before drastic changes you suggested."
Karni nodded. "Of course. This is the most I can do right now, since I barely developed this a month or so ago, but the one thing that the Tang Sect should be able to upgrade immediately with its knowledge is probably the space analysis function. I made three layers for analysis, which is quite inefficient and based somewhat on my own Soul Skills."
Jin Zirai nodded. "That was indeed the first thing I noticed too. Good. Now let's go through it all again. Explain it all again, though this time I'll be giving suggestions on the fly."
Jin Zirai stopped himself for a second. "And before I forget. Afterwards, I'll lead you to our Human Augmentation project, since I noticed you're already part of it. You'll be introduced to the team there."
… … …
Karni and Siduo were yawning as they entered the classroom. They were up past midnight yesterday, staying in the Tang Sect, because they had to get familiar with everything.
Now they were lacking sleep, though Karni didn't find it as bad as his final hours of the exam. In fact, Karni was better off still, since his sleep would always be of higher quality to other people. Oddly, he still slept more than most people. A weird quality of the panda.
Shen Yi entered and before she even announced the beginning of the class, she announced: "Today, we'll be choosing the representatives of the class."