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Time flowed on.
More than half a month after the class officer elections, Xu Yuan received news from Xu Shengqun.
Afterward, he buried himself in intense cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
"Two months, and finally, my spiritual power growth has slowed down," Xu Yuan remarked, feeling the changes in his spiritual energy. He nodded slightly.
Ever since absorbing the Phantom Beast's spirit soul, Huan Xing (Phantom Star), Xu Yuan's spiritual power had been skyrocketing. Over the course of a year, it increased by more than 2,000 points, averaging close to 200 points per month.
Now, this rate of growth had finally begun to taper off.
"Eight thousand one hundred points—still 2,000 away from ten thousand—and already I'm starting to feel restricted?"
However, Xu Yuan understood his current situation with his spirit souls. The load on his spiritual power simply couldn't keep up anymore.
There was no helping it; his spiritual power was at the Lingyuan Realm, capable of handling red or orange spirit souls at its limit. With one red or orange spirit soul as a base, the remaining slots could hold spirit souls equivalent to the Linghai Realm—one black, three purple, or five yellow spirit souls. Without a red or orange spirit soul, he could carry up to five spirit souls of any color.
In other words, the upper limit allowed for five black spirit souls or one red and one orange spirit soul combined.
For now, Xu Yuan only had one ten-thousand-year spirit soul—Huan Xing—and two thousand-year spirit souls—Jue and Yao Yao. Out of these, only one was a ten-thousand-year spirit soul, so naturally, the burden on his spiritual power wasn't sufficient for Lingyuan Realm cultivation.
Based on past experience, Xu Yuan would typically go to the Spirit Ascension Platform to enhance the age of his spirit souls.
"My current physical condition can handle three additional ten-thousand-year spirit rings, though it'd be somewhat taxing. Still, it should be possible."
But then, which spirit soul should he enhance?
Jue? Or Yao Yao?
Moreover, elevating a spirit soul to ten-thousand-years was no small feat—it couldn't be achieved through the Spirit Ascension Platform alone. It required the soul master's own opportunities and resources.
"Therefore, the best option is still to use the Spirit Ascension Platform to enhance Huan Xing."
Boosting Huan Xing's age would also serve as an added weight to bear.
However, advancing a ten-thousand-year spirit soul was far more challenging. The primary Spirit Ascension Platforms struggled to provide enough spiritual energy, while the intermediate platforms required multiple visits, each lasting about a week.
"I'll wait a little longer. In four months, after absorbing the Paper Spirit Soul, I'll head to the Spirit Ascension Platform."
The slight slowdown in his spiritual power growth was also a form of pressure, pushing him to refine his cultivation methods for spiritual power as quickly as possible.
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The Spiritual Sea
Xu Yuan gazed at the starry expanse above the lake-like manifestation of his spiritual power.
"The refining effects of stellar energy on essence, energy, and spirit are unparalleled."
Using stellar energy to refine soul power or blood essence was relatively straightforward, and the results improved as he became more adept at manipulating and refining stellar energy. However, refining spiritual power required special techniques.
Over the years, Xu Yuan had devoted significant effort to constructing this stellar map within his Spiritual Sea. Using stellar energy, he simulated countless stars from the night sky, constantly bathing his Spiritual Sea in their radiant light.
Now, this stellar map was nearing completion.
Once fully solidified, it would form a self-sustaining cycle, endlessly renewing itself without requiring Xu Yuan to expend large amounts of energy daily to maintain it.
Still, there were many details left to perfect.
The movement of stellar energy needed to form a complete system to create a cycle. Each star's framework had to be stable, and multiple stars had to balance harmoniously.
Xu Yuan still had some way to go.
A year ago, he was similarly "almost there."
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Finishing Cultivation
After completing his cultivation, Xu Yuan headed to the Outer Court.
Every day, attending classes and cultivating left him feeling incredibly fulfilled.
Student life was pure and unburdened, free from excessive worries. He could pour all his energy into self-improvement.
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Grade 1, Class 1
"Class Monitor, how far along are you with your mech construction?" Wu Siduo greeted Xu Yuan while asking the question.
Xu Yuan glanced at Wu Siduo.
This Wu Siduo was quite persistent, asking about his mech construction every single day.
Luo Guixing leaned over.
"Class Monitor, what kind of mech are you building? Given that all four of your secondary professions have reached Level 4, shouldn't two months be enough to finish it?"
Building their own mechs was the semester-long task assigned to Grade 1, Class 1. Two months ago, after the class officer selections ended, Wu Changkong announced the assignment.
Theory always needed practical application. Without practice, further improvement was extremely difficult—a fact Xu Yuan understood well.
Aside from blacksmithing, most of the other three secondary professions originated from mech construction. To advance in level, participating in actual mech production was inevitable.
Xu Yuan had been doing this for a long time, but students like him were few and far between. Others, such as Wu Siduo and her group, merely studied the theory of secondary professions during their spare time, barely managing to reach Level 3.
They lacked hands-on experience.
Wu Changkong's assignment was clear-cut: to have every student personally participate in the entire process of mech construction, thereby gaining practical experience and improving their secondary profession levels.
Such a demanding task also served to unlock potential.
At the same time, it forced the students to focus on improving their secondary professions rather than solely concentrating on increasing their soul power.
Level 3 practitioners in secondary professions could participate in mech construction. As for battle armor, theoretically, they could attempt it, but progress would come gradually. By the time they succeeded, they'd likely already be Level 4 professionals.
Xu Yuan cultivated all four secondary professions simultaneously, reaching Level 4 in each. Constructing a mech should have been a breeze for him.
Yet, two months later, it seemed Xu Yuan hadn't finished?
"My mech is… uh…" Xu Yuan paused, organizing his thoughts. "It's rather special. I'm planning to further refine it, so I can't rush the process."
"Huh?" Wu Siduo looked stunned, her mouth agape.
You're still planning to specialize in mech construction?
Class Monitor, don't you have too much energy?
"Class Monitor, you're not building a Yellow-Rank mech, are you?" Luo Guixing asked, astonished.
Given what Xu Yuan had said, plus the fact that it had taken him two months and he still hadn't finished, it had to be at least Yellow-Rank, right?
Most of their classmates were still busy with White-Rank mechs.
Even among Shrek's students, once they understood mechs, no one underestimated them.
At the very least, the early-stage power of mechs was undeniable.
The ability of mechs to utilize external energy sources meant they weren't constrained by the operator's soul power level. The theoretical burst limit of a White-Rank mech could even rival that of a Soul King.
A Yellow-Rank mech, theoretically, could surpass a Soul Emperor, though it still fell short of a Soul Sage activating their True Body.
In other words, a Yellow-Rank mech, if operated by a skilled soul master, could rival a One-Word Battle Armor Master.
The only limitation was that mechs were cumbersome. Reaching such a high level of proficiency was exceedingly difficult!
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