Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao, the villain from a parallel world

He was eleven or twelve years old, dressed plainly, but his expression was much more composed than most of the children who came to take the test.

He didn't say much, but simply pulled one out of the stack of blank forms on the corner of the table and handed it over.

"Here you go. Fill it out and give it back to me. I'll arrange an assessment for you."

Huo Yuhao took the form, picked up the pen on the table, and quickly filled in the information one by one.

The name, age, and soul power level were written in neat handwriting without any pauses.

After he finished writing, he handed the form back to Xuan Ziwen.

Xuan Ziwen put down the pen he was using to do calculations and took the table, glancing at it casually.

Eleven years old, level eleven soul power, no soul master level.

If this level were applied through legitimate channels, it wouldn't even qualify for registration.

He expressionlessly placed the form on top of the stack of documents on the corner of the table and stood up.

The storage ring on his finger flashed, and he waved it toward the empty table in front of him.

In the blink of an eye, ten pieces of metal, each with a different shape and color, were neatly arranged on the table.

Each piece exudes a completely different aura; some gleam with a faint, cold light, some have fine electric sparks flowing across their surface, and some are entirely crimson, as if they were just taken out of a furnace.

“Choose the metals you need from these ten pieces,” Xuan Ziwen’s voice remained in that indifferent tone, “and then design a working soul-guiding array based on the properties of the metals.”

Huo Yuhao's gaze swept over the ten pieces of metal, without any surprise in his heart.

The special examinations at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy are conducted with multiple sets of questions, one of which is randomly selected by the examiners.

He didn't draw this set in his previous life, but he understood the essence of this test perfectly.

The test doesn't assess basic skills, but rather creativity.

His gaze eventually fell on one of the pieces of metal.

The piece of metal was about the size of a palm, with a soft, silvery-white luster and a smooth, mirror-like surface.

But if you look closely, you can catch wisps of pale blue light flowing like swimming fish deep within it.

Its aura was not domineering, but rather very restrained, like an ordinary silver ingot.

Silver is a rather rare energy storage metal.

It has a natural affinity for soul power, and can absorb and store a large amount of soul power like a sponge absorbs water, and release it slowly when needed.

However, this metal has extremely poor conductivity, and once soul power enters it, it is very difficult to guide it out.

Therefore, in the conventional creation of soul tools, Ghost Silver is usually only used as an auxiliary material and is rarely used as a core material.

Huo Yuhao reached out and picked up the piece of luminous silver.

The moment he made this choice, a barely perceptible ripple flashed in Xuan Ziwen's eyes.

The Radiant Silver is the most difficult of these ten metals to control because its properties are too unorthodox and have a very low compatibility with conventional offensive and defensive formations.

Of all the trainees who come to take the exam, nine out of ten will choose metals like thunder crystal or fire copper, which have distinct characteristics and are easy to produce results.

He'd been sitting here for years and had hardly seen any students who dared to touch the Ghostly Silver.

"Teacher," Huo Yuhao turned to Xuan Ziwen, "could you lend me a carving knife?"

Xuan Ziwen didn't say anything, but took out an ordinary carving knife from his storage ring and handed it to him.

The handle is smooth and the blade is sharp; it is a standard, basic carving knife with nothing special about it.

Huo Yuhao took the carving knife, placed the piece of shimmering silver flat on the table, and took a deep breath.

Unlike the other students, he did not first draw a draft of the formation on the metal, nor did he stop to repeatedly consider the layout of the formation.

The hand holding the carving knife was as steady as a scale. The moment the blade touched the surface of the shimmering silver, a smooth and precise arc extended from the tip of the knife.

The movements were fluid and seamless, without the slightest hesitation or pause.

In his hands, the carving knife seemed no longer to be a tool, but rather an extension of his fingers, with each stroke and turn precise to the extreme.

The tip of the knife glided across the silvery-white metal surface, carving lines as fine as hair yet each one distinct, with the depth of each line just right.

If it goes any deeper, it will penetrate the metal and affect the structure; if it goes any shallower, it will be unable to support the flow of soul power.

Dozens of lines seemed to come alive under his blade, intertwining and echoing each other, gradually converging into an exquisite and complex array pattern.

Xuan Ziwen was just watching casually at first, but before long, his gaze was drawn to the movements in Huo Yuhao's hands.

His brow twitched slightly, and his previously nonchalant expression quietly faded, replaced by a deep, focused concentration.

He had witnessed too many students' assessments, and most of them could skillfully depict formations.

But he had never seen anyone as composed as the boy in front of him.

However, he had indeed seen people with such skills, but they were all veterans who had been immersed in Mingdetang for many years.

For a freshman taking the entrance exam to use such methods is already quite remarkable.

Huo Yuhao continued wielding his blade, and the core nodes at the center of the formation took shape one by one under his blade, each node positioned with unparalleled precision.

The entire formation progresses layer by layer from the outside in, with the outer layer being the input circuit that guides soul power and the inner layer being the energy storage core.

This structure, which separates input from storage, is not common in conventional soul-guiding arrays.

But Xuan Ziwen immediately saw that this method of processing perfectly matched the characteristics of the Ghost Silver.

Soul power is introduced through an external circuit, allowing the natural energy storage properties of the Ghostly Silver to concentrate and exert their effects at the core.

Xuan Ziwen's expression changed again. He subconsciously leaned forward, lowering his arms that had been crossed over his chest.

Huo Yuhao made the final cut and gently placed the carving knife on the table.

The whole process took less than two minutes.

“Teacher, I’m finished,” he said calmly. “Thank you for your carving knife.”

Chapter 33 Becoming an Apprentice (Please continue reading!)

Without saying a word, Xuan Ziwen took the piece of shimmering silver from his hand and held the metal plate with the engraved array in front of his eyes.

He wanted to see for himself what kind of formation this kid had carved.

Mastering the technique is one thing, but if the formation design doesn't suit the characteristics of the Ghostly Silver, he still won't approve it.

His gaze fell on the formation, and he studied it carefully for several breaths.

Then, his pupils suddenly contracted.

He had never seen this formation before.

It's not the kind of "innovation" that involves minor modifications to a classic formation, nor is it the kind of "design" that pieces together two or three existing formations.

This formation, from beginning to end and from the outside in, shows no trace of any existing formation.

It was completely different from any soul-guided array system he was familiar with, as if the boy had created it out of thin air by his own efforts.

The ingenious structure and the rational layout made him increasingly amazed as he looked at it.

Xuan Ziwen unconsciously softened his breathing and subconsciously injected a wisp of soul power into the formation.

A soft glow shone from the silvery-white metallic surface as soul power flowed slowly into the core of the formation through the input circuit.

stopped.

That wisp of soul power remained steadily at the energy storage core in the center of the formation, emitting a faint glow, without any sign of spreading outwards.

Even if the metal is ghostly silver, which has a strong ability to retain soul power, it is impossible for not a single bit of soul power to leak out.

Xuan Ziwen stared at the steady light, his eyes widening to their maximum.

Soul power is preserved; this formation achieves the preservation of soul power.

He knew better than anyone what this meant.

Throughout the thousands of years of development of soul tools, ensuring that soul power remains stable and does not dissipate after it is released from the control of the soul master has always been a difficult problem that has troubled countless soul masters.

Any existing soul tool must be activated by the soul master injecting soul power at the moment of use.

Once soul power leaves a soul master's body, it will dissipate completely in a very short time.

Being able to retain soul power within an array means that soul power can be stored for a long time after being charged, and then used by anyone at any time.

Xuan Ziwen suddenly raised his head, his wide eyes staring straight at Huo Yuhao, his gaze filled with disbelief.

The indifference and nonchalance on his face had vanished without a trace, replaced by an expression that could almost be described as "horrified".

"Did you design this formation?" he asked, his voice rising half a tone and his speech increasing by a third.

Huo Yuhao couldn't help but smile as he looked at him.

The reason he chose to design this formation during the assessment was because he knew how much Xuan Ziwen valued energy storage formations.

In his previous life, he discovered in the academy that Xuan Ziwen had been researching how to stably preserve soul power in an array, but he had never found a breakthrough.

Later, when Huo Yuhao showed him the energy storage array he had designed, Xuan Ziwen was excited for several days.

His surprised and delighted expression was completely different from his usual aloof demeanor.

This formation is called the Energy Storage Formation.

Its function is to ensure that soul power can still be stably stored inside the soul tool after it has escaped the control of the soul master.

Unlike all previous soul tools, it does not require the soul master to personally inject soul power at the moment of use.

If this formation were made into a complete soul tool, and then combined with an activation circuit...

At that time, as long as the device is fully charged in advance, whether it is a Soul Master or an ordinary person without any Soul Power, they can use the Soul Guidance Device directly by pressing the activation device.

This kind of soul tool, which can be used by ordinary people, is undoubtedly a groundbreaking revolution for the entire Douluo Continent.

"That's right, I designed it," Huo Yuhao said frankly.

In his world, as Xuan Ziwen's disciple, he had seen many of Xuan Ziwen's research results on the preservation of soul power.

His teacher had devoted decades of his life to energy storage arrays and accumulated a large number of research manuscripts, but he had never been able to find that key breakthrough.

Huo Yuhao drew upon Xuan Ziwen's research to design a complete energy storage array.

Strictly speaking, this achievement is actually the result of the combined efforts of the master and apprentice.