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"Hey Meteor, who was that girl who came in with you just now? She's so pretty!"
Xu Tianzhen poked Meteor with her finger like a curious little kid.
"Her name's Gu Yue Na. I met her on the way here with Liuying."
Meteor told Xu Tianzhen and Ye Guyi how he ran into Gu Yue Na. Honestly, there's no denying she was really pretty—like a porcelain doll. Even at her age, she already outshined Ye Guyi in looks.
And to Meteor, that silver hair was a big plus.
But if he had to choose, he'd still say Liuying was prettier—and definitely cuter.
"Hi! I'm Nana. My spirit is Ghost. What about you guys?"
Right then, the girl with dark red hair sitting in front of Liuying turned around, looking curiously at the group. She held up a small white translucent figure in her hand—her spirit. Seeing how everyone else was chatting and sharing about their spirits, she couldn't resist joining in too.
After all, for kids their age, seeing different spirits was super exciting.
To Liuying, going to school and making friends was exactly the kind of life she always dreamed of. So of course she was happy to talk with new classmates.
"Hi! I'm Liuying. My spirit is the Molten Knight."
As she spoke, her right hand became encased in a silver-white mecha gauntlet.
The smooth, metallic armor gleamed with a cool shine, looking super tough—Nana's eyes lit up at the sight.
"Wow, that's so cool! Way better than my Ghost."
Nana said this with envy. Ever since she awakened her Ghost spirit, a lot of kids started avoiding her and wouldn't play with her anymore.
That's why she was really looking forward to school life—hoping her future classmates wouldn't judge her spirit and would still be willing to be her friends.
Ye Guyi frowned slightly. Ghost spirits were generally considered on the darker side, and her first instinct was a little rejection. But she wasn't the kind of narrow-minded person who looked down on others just because of their spirit.
"I'm Ye Guyi. My spirit's the Holy Angel."
"I'm Xu Tianzhen, and my spirit is the Sun!"
"I'm Meteor. Same as Liuying—my spirit's also the Molten Knight."
None of them had any problem making new friends.
Nana froze for a second, then instinctively shrank back a little. Now she was starting to regret speaking up. Even she knew that spirits like Angel and Sun were kind of natural counters to her Ghost.
She wanted to cry—just her luck to end up surrounded by her spirit's nemeses.
"It's okay! We're classmates, not enemies. No one's gonna hurt you."
Meteor quickly noticed Nana getting nervous and jumped in to reassure her. He didn't want to scare her off the second they met.
"Okay… I'm really happy to meet you guys."
Nana nodded and managed to stay brave—no running away. I mean, looking at Ye Guyi and Xu Tianzhen, they didn't seem like the type to bully her.
"By the way, Tianzhen, why are you in the Practical Soul Device class? Weren't you supposed to be in the Soul Engineering department?"
Meteor suddenly remembered—why was Xu Tianzhen here? She should've gone into Soul Engineering, right?
Xu Tianzhen put her hands on her hips and announced proudly, "Hmph! I've already made up my mind. I'm not gonna be a soul engineer anymore—I'm gonna be a practical-type soul engineer! My brother supports me too!"
Meteor nodded. Not too surprising. To be a practical-type soul engineer, you needed a stronger-than-average spirit. And Tianzhen's Sun spirit was top-tier. Sticking to regular soul engineering would be kind of a waste.
Unless she ended up like Meng Hongchen, doing both soul engineering and soul mastering at the same time. But from Meteor's perspective, with Meng Hongchen's talent, even dual cultivation probably wouldn't be enough to surpass her grandfather. She'd be better off picking one path and going all-in. Her brother, Xiao Hongchen, was a bit stronger—he might actually have a shot at surpassing their grandpa.
But whatever the case, that was their family's plan and their personal choice. Meteor wasn't about to butt in. When it came to soul masters and soul engineers, he definitely didn't know more than the Dean of Mingde Hall. Maybe the old man had his own ways to help his grandkids.
Both paths—soul master or soul engineer—took serious time and energy. Unless you had a crazy amount of lifespan to burn, only super-talented freaks could pull off dual cultivation without slowing their progress.
Meteor figured if he ever wanted to become a soul engineer, he'd wait until he hit Titled Douluo level. With hundreds of years of life ahead, he could focus on soul tool research then. It'd be way more efficient that way. A high-level soul master picking up soul tool crafting would learn way faster than a low-level one.
And besides, with Xu Tianzhen's hyper personality, locking her in a lab all day as a soul engineer? Might as well kill her.
Her brother, Xu Tiannan, originally wanted her to enter the regular soul engineering program. For royalty in the Sun-Moon Empire, becoming a soul engineer was seen as the "right" path.
Practical-type soul engineers were a new thing in recent years. Promising? Sure. But they still hadn't produced many who could match a rank-nine soul engineer. To the people of the Sun-Moon Empire, traditional soul engineers were still the best option.
You could tell just by looking at their class. Only about twenty students. In a city like Mingdu, with millions of people, and this being the top beginner academy, the fact that the practical soul engineer class only had twenty students said it all.
Practical soul engineers still didn't have the same status as traditional ones.
Meanwhile, Gu Yue Na sat at her desk looking cold and distant. Her whole vibe said, "Don't come near me." Totally different from how she acted when she was talking to Meteor just now.
A few boys nearby had wanted to chat her up, but her aura scared them off before they even got close.
She glanced toward Meteor and Liuying, then lowered her head slightly. Her eyes narrowed.
"So it really is divine life energy... but is it coming from Liuying?" she thought to herself.
Gu Yue Na felt a bit puzzled. Both Meteor and Liuying had traces of divine life energy, but Liuying's was much stronger. She couldn't tell for sure who the true heir of the Life Goddess was.
But whatever. It didn't really matter.
Even though it was the goddess's energy that triggered her awakening, her main goal right now—having taken on a human form while still badly injured and sneaking into Mingdu—was to learn about the current state of humanity.
Originally, she had planned to wait until she was fully healed before reappearing and leading the soul beasts to rise again. But things were way worse than before. Compared to ten thousand years ago, when the battle between the three gods woke her up, the soul beasts were practically extinct. Their numbers had dropped massively, while humans just kept getting stronger.
If she went back to sleep for another ten thousand years, there might not be any soul beasts left to save.
Besides, the divine power of the Life Goddess could help her heal. If she could get her hands on it, maybe her wounds would recover faster.
But given her current condition, she wasn't confident enough to make a move against the goddess's successor just yet.
Better to wait and see for now. Gu Yue Na's eyes flickered with determination.
"....."