Tang Wulin was no longer surprised by Xu Yuan's ability to gather intelligence.
After doubting him so many times, he had grown used to it.
Gathering intelligence through illusions?
The class president's illusion techniques were truly astonishing.
And yet, he still humbly claimed his skills in illusions weren't that advanced.
"The Eight Great Heavenly Kings—Dragon King Long Yue is the strongest. Don't assume just because his name includes 'dragon,' you'll be able to suppress him. From Dai Yun'er's subconscious memories, I learned that his bloodline strength is extremely high. Setting that aside, his soul power level alone already surpasses the gap you could bridge with your own bloodline," Xu Yuan said, looking at Tang Wulin, who seemed overly confident, and felt the need to remind him. "His soul power has already broken through the 60th rank, and his soul rings consist of three purple and three black."
"What?!"
Everyone gasped in shock.
Even Cai Yue'er revealed a trace of astonishment, feeling for the first time a sense of respect for this Monster Academy.
Were they really cultivating monsters?
To reach the Soul Emperor level before the age of twenty was an incredibly exaggerated rate of cultivation. Aside from Xu Yuan, no one in the room was confident they could break through to the Soul Emperor level before turning twenty.
"He should also be a two-word battle armor master, though I'm not entirely certain about that."
Xu Yuan dropped another bombshell.
Two-word battle armor?
Cai Yue'er's gaze sharpened as she stared intently at Xu Yuan.
A Soul Emperor combined with a two-word battle armor master?
Even Shrek Academy hadn't produced such a monster in a long time.
Cai Yue'er looked at Xu Yuan, Wu Siduo, and the others, her eyes still filled with shock.
If not for these two recent cohorts, could it be that Shrek Academy was actually falling behind this Monster Academy in cultivating prodigies?
At twenty years old—a Soul Emperor and a two-word battle armor master? And they would likely achieve this even before the end of their second year in the third grade.
Tang Wulin and the others were even more shocked.
Cai Yue'er was considering the difference in training levels between the two academies.
But Tang Wulin and the others were purely focused on raw strength.
How terrifying was a two-word battle armor master? Just look at Wu Zhangkong.
And now, in the upcoming Youth Soul Master Tournament, they would have to face such an opponent?
Seeing everyone take this seriously, Xu Yuan nodded.
"I'll handle this Long Yue. Your task is to deal with the others. The Monster Academy's Heavenly King Team consists of the Eight Great Heavenly Kings. Aside from Long Yue and Dai Yun'er, there are others."
Xu Yuan shared some basic information he knew with the group.
This gave the Shrek delegation a foundational understanding of the Monster Academy's Eight Great Heavenly Kings.
"The tournament hasn't officially started yet, and since we were invited to participate, we can skip the preliminary elimination rounds and directly enter the round-robin stage. We still have some time to prepare."
Xu Yuan looked at everyone.
"Our current strength isn't enough to confidently face the Eight Great Heavenly Kings. So during this time, focus all your efforts on crafting battle armor. Ye Xinglan, you should first create battle armor up to the maximum your current soul power can support. Then, fully dedicate yourself to crafting battle armor for Wulin. Le Zhengyu, you're already a fifth-rank mech builder, right? You've probably made quite a bit of progress on your battle armor. Hurry up and complete your own set, then move on to crafting battle armor for Wu Siduo. As for me, I'll directly work with Yuanen. I'll help her finish crafting her battle armor first, aiming to complete as much as possible before the finals."
Xu Yuan looked at everyone, assigning tasks one by one.
Including himself as an all-rounder, there were two fifth-rank blacksmiths and three fifth-rank mech builders present.
In terms of mech design, Xu Yuan was fully capable of designing dual-soul battle armor for Yuanen Yehui. Moreover, Yuanen Yehui already had an outline prepared, as mech repair specialists weren't completely ignorant of mech design.
As a small team, Gu Yue had already designed everything for Tang Wulin in advance.
Ye Xinglan's battle armor blueprints had been completed earlier by Xu Yuan.
Le Zhengyu, as the heir to the Holy Angel Family, was far from short on resources. His battle armor designs had been commissioned long ago.
It could be said that Xu Yuan's arrangements took into full account the conditions necessary to quickly complete the crafting of battle armor.
---
"You're not going to craft your own battle armor first?" Yuanen Yehui frowned.
Xu Yuan was already a Soul King, meaning he should theoretically be able to bear a full set of single-word battle armor. If he could obtain a set, it would be their greatest advantage.
Xu Yuan shook his head.
"My battle armor has higher requirements. The spirit-infused alloys I need—I can't forge them yet."
Hearing Xu Yuan's explanation, everyone was slightly shocked.
He couldn't forge them?
They were somewhat aware of Xu Yuan's forging abilities.
"Big Brother Xu, what level of spirit-infused alloy does your battle armor require?" Tang Wulin couldn't help but ask.
He had heard more than once about Xu Yuan trading with 90% fusion-rate jade-silver as if it were nothing more than cabbage.
"All the metals in my mech have already been replaced with god-tier alloys." Xu Yuan glanced at Tang Wulin and said only this.
Tang Wulin sucked in a sharp breath.
All god-tier alloys?
"For both the mech and the battle armor, I've hit a bottleneck. My forging skills aren't keeping up, so I can't make them right now. That's why I'm prioritizing crafting yours first."
Xu Yuan was already a Soul King, and in mech manufacturing and design, he was capable of upgrading his mech to the purple-grade level.
Unfortunately, starting from the purple-grade level, Xu Yuan didn't plan to continue using pure jade-silver for construction.
He intended to start incorporating various types of spirit-infused alloys.
Preferably all god-tier alloys.
Tang Wulin and the others were speechless.
The class president operated on his own unique system of logic.
Oh well, they decided to follow his arrangements for now.
Le Zhengyu and Yuanen Yehui, the two second-year seniors, also expressed no objections and agreed to follow Xu Yuan's plans.
---
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Palace
Only Dai Tianling and En Ci remained.
"Teacher, do you think we can win this tournament?"
They had already secured an age advantage. If they still couldn't win, Dai Tianling couldn't imagine how disappointed the people across the continent would be in the Monster Academy.
In the Heavenly King Team, aside from Dai Yun'er, the others were all close to twenty years old—the perfect age for participating in the Star Luo Continent's Youth Soul Master Tournament.
As for Shrek Academy, according to Dai Tianling's knowledge, the oldest among them was only seventeen.
And there were only two seventeen-year-olds; the rest were at most fifteen.
"Your Majesty, your mind is unsettled," En Ci said calmly.
"Shrek is still Shrek. Losing to them isn't shameful—they have a legend spanning twenty thousand years."
"By inviting them to compete, if we win, it will be a great morale boost for our people. If we lose, it will serve as pressure for the youngsters in the Monster Academy."
After En Ci's explanation, Dai Tianling calmed down and felt the pressure ease.
"That Xu Yuan… I don't know how he trains, but his spiritual power and soul power cultivation are both so monstrous—he's even a mech pilot." Dai Tianling suddenly asked, "Teacher, what do you think about Xu Yuan's progress with his battle armor?"
En Ci had previously mentioned that Xu Yuan's soul power fluctuations suggested he had reached the Soul King level.
Did this mean he was already a single-word battle armor master?
"It's uncertain, but it's highly likely. He has the energy to create such an advanced mech—it wouldn't make sense for him not to craft his own battle armor."
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