Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Gods

He gripped the carving knife, placing the tip at the starting point of the main path, and his soul power seeped into it along the tip.

The core array diagram provided by Elder Gu was not complicated, consisting of a main circuit with a branch, and the pattern was clear.

The main loop wasn't long; he finished carving it in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. He stopped to take a look and found the lines smooth, the depth consistent, and there were no problems.

But when it came to the branch, he hesitated. The inscription path provided by the martial spirit was not the straight line with a corner left by Elder Gu, but an arc that smoothly extended from the starting point of the branch to the end point, smoothing out the corner.

The arc was automatically generated in his mind, and the position of every point was calculated clearly.

He could even sense that if he followed this arc, the flow of soul power within the branch would be smoother and the loss would be less.

"Elder Yi, can you sense my second martial soul talent?"

"No, but your current ability is probably related to the strength of your mental power. Your mental control has improved a lot this week, and your mental power has also become stronger. Deduction requires sufficient mental power to support it."

"When I entered your sea of ​​consciousness, I sensed the presence of the spirit of the plane. It stayed here and left some things behind. Your martial soul's deductive abilities are inextricably linked to this. It wasn't me who chose you; it was it that chose you."

Yun Qinglin paused for a moment, but didn't press the matter. He knew Electrolux wouldn't lie to him about this, but deeper questions were unlikely to be answered even if he asked.

Is it a sense of dimension?

"Your martial spirit relies heavily on mental power," Electrox continued. "You were able to deduce that arc today because your mental power was pure enough and your detection was detailed enough."

The stronger your mental power becomes, the more obvious its advantages will be. Detection range, deduction accuracy, and the amount of information processed simultaneously are all linked to mental power.

Therefore, you cannot stop training your mental strength; keep practicing to control distractions. The more information you have in your mind, the more accurate your deductions will be.

Yun Qinglin responded, gripped the carving knife tightly, and cut along the arc with the tip of the knife.

When he finished carving the last dot, he put down his carving knife and picked up the core blank to take a look. The main path was straight, the branch curves were smooth, and the intersection of the two lines was perfectly aligned, even better than he had expected.

"Mr. Gu, I've finished carving."

Gu Qinghong walked over, took the core blank, and examined it against the light.

His gaze shifted from the main path to the branch, and his brow furrowed slightly. The branch's direction was different from the original diagram; it wasn't a corner, but an arc.

He thought Yun Qinglin had carved it crookedly, and was about to speak when he took another closer look.

The start and end points of the arc are correct, the depth is uniform, and the lines are smooth. It doesn't look like it was carved crookedly; it looks like it was deliberately made this way.

Without saying a word, he turned around, took a case and several parts from the shelf, and began assembling them on the spot.

He moved quickly, his fingers flying across the keyboard, and in just a few breaths he had assembled the soul guide ray.

He picked up the short, thick metal tube and strode into the adjacent testing room.

Xu Jiujiu had been watching from the side, still holding a hammer in his hand, and had already chipped half of the metal sheet in front of him.

Hearing the sounds coming from the testing room, she put down the hammer and leaned close to Yun Qinglin, whispering, "Qinglin, did you succeed with your core magic array?"

"It should have succeeded, right?" Yun Qinglin said uncertainly. Why did Old Master Gu leave without saying a word?

The sound he just heard was the sound of a test target being hit, but he had no idea how powerful it was or whether there was any problem.

He glanced in the direction of the testing room; the door was open, and the room was dimly lit, making it impossible to see what Gu Qinghong was doing.

Before the two could react, Gu Qinghong rushed out of the testing room.

He took long strides and reached Yun Qinglin in just a few steps, then squatted down and placed his hands on Yun Qinglin's shoulders.

He was quite strong, and Yun Qinglin was pushed back slightly, but Gu Qinghong immediately loosened his grip a little, keeping his hand on Yun Qinglin's shoulder.

"Child, who taught you this core magic array?" His voice was half an octave higher than usual, and he spoke much faster.

Yun Qinglin was stunned for a moment as he pressed his shoulder: "No one taught me."

"No one taught you?" Gu Qinghong's voice rose a little more. "Then how did you come up with this arc?"

"I just felt that this route would be smoother when I was carving it," Yun Qinglin said truthfully. "This path came to mind, so I carved it accordingly. I just felt that this way of engraving would be better."

Gu Qinghong stared at him for several seconds, then released his shoulder, stood up, and held the soul-guided ray in front of him.

"Do you know how much more powerful this soul-guided ray is than normal? Ten percent." He held up a finger and waved it in front of Yun Qinglin.

"The level one soul-guided ray has been increased in power by ten percent. It's not a problem with the materials; it's the branch you modified. An arc has reduced the loss of soul power in the core by ten percent."

What about level two? What about level three? If all the core magic arrays could be modified in this way, even if each one was only improved by half a percent, how much would that add up to?

However, he didn't say it out loud, as it would put too much pressure on a child; perhaps he just made this decision on a whim.

Gu Qinghong's excitement subsided somewhat, but his eyes remained bright. He looked at Yun Qinglin as if he were seeing the child for the first time.

"Did you come up with this yourself?" he asked again, his tone more composed than before.

"Yes," Yun Qinglin said.

Gu Qinghong nodded: "Child, you are a genius of soul tools."

He didn't ask how he came up with the idea; he just stood there, looking at the core blank on the table, and remained silent for a while.

Then he turned around and took a few more blank blanks from the shelf, placing them in front of Yun Qinglin. His movements were a bit heavier than usual, and the blanks made a crisp sound as they landed on the table.

"Take your time carving these pieces. Don't follow the original design; just follow the path in your mind. Show them to me when you're done."

Yun Qinglin responded and put the clay blank away.

Gu Qinghong didn't leave. He tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice, as if he was thinking about something. Then he spoke, his voice lowered, but his tone was more serious than before.

"Qinglin, if the core array is inscribed according to your method and its power continues to increase, you will receive 30% of the profit for every unit of the first-level soul guidance ray produced by the Star Luo Soul Guidance System that is sold."

Yun Qinglin was taken aback. "Old Gu, this..."

"It wasn't given to you for free." Gu Qinghong raised her hand to interrupt him. "The line you modified was worth the price."

"Soul tools aren't just a one-person project. A good design can benefit everyone. You've put in the effort, so you deserve this compensation." He paused, his tone softening slightly. "Don't worry, this isn't meant to put pressure on you."

Take your time to study it. Change it if you can, and it's okay if you can't. As for the 30% profit margin, that's my decision.

He had been watching from the side for a long time, having long since put down the hammer in his hand.

Her eyes lit up when she heard that the power had increased by 10%.

After Gu Qinghong returned to the testing room, she leaned close to Yun Qinglin's ear and whispered, "Qinglin, was Old Master Gu agitated just now? I've never seen him like that before."

Yun Qinglin glanced at her but didn't say anything.

"He said you're a genius." Xu Jiujiu lowered his voice, but there was a smile in his tone. "I heard from Grandma Manyi that Old Master Gu has hardly ever praised anyone in his life. The way he was acting just now, it was almost as if he was saying that you are the hope of the Star Luo Soul Tool."

"Don't talk nonsense." Yun Qinglin lowered his head and carefully put away the blank blanks on the table.

"I'm not making this up." Xu Jiujiu picked up the hammer again, tapped the metal sheet in front of him with a crisp clang, and said, "I heard everything he said."

"Just follow your example," he said, somewhat amused. "You're almost finished and you're still daydreaming."

"Hmph, is it wrong to praise you? I won't praise you next time. Remember to treat me to a big meal since it's a 30% profit."

Yun Qinglin couldn't help but laugh at her smug little face: "Okay, no problem."

After a long while, he was finally satisfied. He picked up the hammer again and tapped the iron sheet with a crisp clang: "That's more like it."