-----
-----
When the Masked Douluo heard that even the Grand Elder had gotten involved in this matter, his heart sank. The Sect Leader might not kill him, but the Grand Elder? That's another story. That old lady was notoriously moody—if he messed up something important to her, even as a Rank 91 Titled Douluo, he'd be lucky to survive without shedding a layer of skin.
Besides, on the Douluo Continent, any female soul master was bound to be at least decent-looking. With his strength, he could have just about any woman he wanted.
Over the years, the number of female soul masters he'd tortured and killed—if not a thousand, then definitely close to it. Sure, none of them were Titled Douluos, but that didn't mean he wouldn't get the chance eventually.
The Mingdu Elementary Soul Engineer Academy was located in the eastern district of Mingdu. It was the best elementary-level academy in the city and had produced a ton of outstanding students who later went on to attend the prestigious Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
In the Sun Moon Empire, soul engineer academies were divided into three tiers: elementary, intermediate, and advanced. As long as someone had awakened their martial soul and possessed soul power, they could apply to an elementary academy. The course lasted three years, after which they could test into an intermediate academy.
Intermediate academies offered six years of education. Of course, most students wouldn't actually stay the full six years. Only those who had no hope of getting into an advanced academy would stick around that long, then head straight into society upon graduation—they wouldn't even bother with the higher level.
Advanced academies, like the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy and the Mingdu Soul Engineering Academy, were considered elite institutions. They had powerful instructors and were known for producing top-tier soul engineers. And out of all of them, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy was the cream of the crop—the Empire's undisputed number one school.
To get into an advanced academy, applicants usually had to be between eleven and twelve years old with a soul power of at least level 15. The Sun Moon Imperial Academy was even stricter—you needed to be both a Level 1 Soul Engineer and have at least level 15 soul power. If you weren't a soul engineer? Then your soul power had to be over level 20 to qualify.
Why? Because learning to be a soul engineer required so much time and focus—studying basics, researching soul tools—that meditation and soul cultivation often took a back seat. So having lower soul power early on was expected. But if you weren't a soul engineer, then your cultivation needed to make up for it.
For those born with level 5 innate soul power or higher, meeting these requirements wasn't all that hard. Six years to gain ten levels? Most could manage that.
The real challenge was becoming a certified Level 1 Soul Engineer. If you couldn't manage that, then your soul power had to exceed level 20. And for a lot of soul masters, that was no small feat.
Of course, for geniuses, these rules might as well not exist.
In the Sun Moon Empire's soul engineer academies—whether elementary, intermediate, or advanced—students could choose between the Soul Tool Department and the Practical Control Department.
The Practical Control Department used to be known as the Martial Soul Department. It focused on training students to become powerful soul masters. But in this area, the Sun Moon Empire lagged behind. The soul masters they trained were no match for the traditional ones from the original three Douluo nations—same level, but weaker. That really disappointed the higher-ups.
On the Douluo Continent, martial souls were inherited through bloodlines. When it came to martial soul strength, the original three nations had the Sun Moon Empire beat by a mile. They had all kinds of top-tier martial souls that could rival the three royal bloodlines of the Empire. Meanwhile, truly powerful martial souls were rare in the Sun Moon Empire.
The strength of a soul master heavily depended on the quality of their martial soul, and in that area, the Empire was at a natural disadvantage.
Outside of a few elite cases, most people in the Empire only had mid-to-high-tier martial souls. And in the original Douluo nations, those kinds of martial souls weren't anything special—common, even.
Between their weaker martial souls and inferior training methods and resources, the so-called Martial Soul Department was honestly a joke.
That's why the Sun Moon Empire decided to scrap the Martial Soul Department altogether and launched the Practical Control Department instead. The idea was to let soul masters with strong martial souls—who weren't good at making soul tools—learn to use tools that suited them, closing the power gap with traditional soul masters.
The Empire's leadership saw real potential in the Practical Control Department. They threw in a ton of resources and eventually started producing soul engineers who could actually put up a fight.
They still couldn't completely overpower traditional soul masters from the Douluo nations, but at least they weren't getting stomped like before. They could finally fight back.
That's why, when Meteor and Firefly enrolled in the Mingdu Elementary Soul Engineering Academy, they chose the Practical Control Department.
Sure, they were both super interested in soul tools, but getting deep into the research side? No, thanks.
They hadn't even figured out all the secrets of their own martial souls yet, and most of their time was spent cultivating. Where would they find the time to learn how to build soul tools?
Unless they wanted to start popping pills or cut back on their training time—which they absolutely wouldn't do. Unless it was some rare treasure with no side effects, they weren't touching any cultivation-enhancing drugs. That would just burn through their future potential.
Luan Yu and the Fire Phoenix Douluo wouldn't let them do that either. Even though both of them were soul engineers, they understood the power of traditional soul masters. Once a traditional soul master got their hands on a soul tool that truly matched them, their combat strength could skyrocket. That's exactly what the two mentors were planning for Meteor and Firefly.
With their top-tier martial souls and custom-built soul tools, Luan Yu and Fire Phoenix believed that once the kids grew up, each of them could take on an entire soul engineer battalion alone.
Keep in mind—even in the original Douluo nations, a Super Douluo wouldn't dare go head-to-head with a full Sun Moon Empire soul engineer battalion.
But Luan Yu and Fire Phoenix were confident that Meteor and Firefly could do it—solo.
The key, of course, was having soul tools tailored to them. And with their insane martial soul potential, the whole would be way more than just the sum of its parts.
And no need to rush the soul tools. That part was Luan Yu's responsibility—she was a Level 9 Soul Engineer. Having someone like her personally create tools just for you? That was insanely rare in the Empire, let alone in the original Douluo nations, where there wasn't even a single Level 9 Soul Engineer.
Meteor was super into unique and exotic soul tools, while Firefly had a thing for offensive ones.
Laser cannons, soul bombs, soul cannons, shock blasters, thunder cannons, high-explosive rounds, incendiary grenades—you name it, she was into it. She'd seen a bunch of those weapons lying around in Luan Yu's lab.
She couldn't help but fiddle with them whenever she got the chance. If it weren't for the risks of messing around in Mingdu, she'd probably have tested their firepower herself already.
"....."