Chapter 66: Yuanen, Played by Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen, Sinking Deeper and Deeper

Moonlight fell like silver gauze, outlining the girl's undulating curves, the cotton white tank top clinging tightly to her full chest line.

As chestnut-red hair swept across the nape of her neck, the faint blue veins on her shoulder blades appeared and disappeared, like the intertwined branches and vines of dark night roses.

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen followed Yuanen Yehui into the room; the environment of the working student dormitory could not even be called simple, it could only be described as dilapidated.

The wooden house leaked wind from all four sides, the soul tool lamp hanging from the roof flickered from time to time, giving a sense of déjà vu from a supernatural world; a small bed and a wooden table and chair were the entire dormitory's furniture.

"Sorry, Boss, the dormitory conditions are limited."

Yuanen Yehui's pretty face showed embarrassment; asking for help without providing decent conditions was indeed unreasonable.

"No matter."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen had expected this; after all, the East Sea F4 of another timeline were even worse, two men and two women squeezed into a small wooden house, with only a curtain pulled in the middle to separate them.

Yuanen Yehui at least lived in a single dormitory; the room was clean and tidy at this moment, obviously not a messy girl, and Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen could smell a pleasant fragrance, the scent refreshing and heart-soothing; pretty girls seemed to smell good.

"Give me the blueprints."

"Mm."

With a sweep of his palm across her slender waist, a stack of blueprints appeared in Yuanen Yehui's hand.

A One-Character Character Character Doukai could by no means be clearly drawn by a single blueprint; it was divided into multiple components such as chest armor, arm guards, and headbands.

The top-tier Character Character Doukai possessed eleven parts, each part requiring separate detailed design; the mecha designer needed to draw the core formation as well as the connections and soul power channels... complex parts required multiple blueprints to be drawn completely, thereby reducing the manufacturing difficulty for mecha craftsmen.

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen sat at the wooden table, spread the stack of blueprints flat on the surface, and began to flip through them one by one.

Yuanen Yehui quietly poured a cup of hot water for him, then suddenly remembered something; her boss came from the Spirit Tower, usually drank various kinds of spirit tea, and the coffee in the Xuanlong Coffee Shop also contained a small amount of spirit materials, widely sought after by Shi Shi Laike Academy students.

With this thought, Yuanen Yehui reached into her storage soul tool and rummaged for a long time, finally finding half a bag of treasured crushed tea leaves; her jade fingers picked up a clump of dark green tea leaves and sprinkled them evenly on the water surface, adding a thread of color to the plain boiled water.

The working student dormitory had only one wooden chair; Yuanen Yehui stood silently behind Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen, her beautiful eyes gazing at the cold and capable young man studying the Character Character Doukai design blueprints.

After carefully reading through the blueprints once, Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen returned to the first overall design sketch, took out a pencil, and began to draw and mark.

When an expert makes a move, one knows their capability; Yuanen Yehui was a Level 4 mecha repairman, and mecha repairmen involved knowledge from both the mecha design and mecha manufacturing professions, counting as a half-baked mecha designer.

After obtaining this One-Character Character Character Doukai blueprint, Yuanen Yehui had privately studied it; she roughly managed to understand it, but there were a few places that were obscure and hard to comprehend; seeing Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen's modification marks, her heart suddenly became clear, and she secretly rejoiced in having such an excellent boss.

Two and a half hours passed quickly; the two sat and stood, one drawing and one watching, until all the blueprints were circled; Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen rubbed the center of his brow and turned his head to look at the red-haired girl beside him.

Water mist floated upward; Yuanen Yehui held that cup of hot tea, releasing soul power from her palm to maintain the temperature so the tea wouldn't cool down. From Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen's angle, he could just see the moonlight gathered in the girl's collarbone hollow gently rippling, like wine too full to be held, swaying along her exquisite curves.

Seeing Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen finish reading, Yuanen Yehui hurriedly handed over the hot tea and eagerly said, "Boss, how are the Character Character Doukai blueprints? Can they be used directly to manufacture the Character Character Doukai?"

"Mm..."

Focusing entirely on studying the design blueprints was extremely draining on the spirit; Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen first took a sip of the tea; bitterness mixed with a wood-chip flavor rushed into his mouth; he swore he had never drunk such terrifying tea in two lifetimes; his handsome features twisted in distress, and he sincerely sighed:

"What a cruel way to treat a guest!"

Yuanen Yehui was stunned, then walked to the side, silently and painfully throwing the treasured crushed tea leaves of many years into the trash can, and changed it for a cup of plain boiled water.

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen nodded in satisfaction, waved his hand to condense a stone chair, signaled Yuanen Yehui to sit beside him, unfolded the entire Character Character Doukai sketch, and said:

"This Character Character Doukai design blueprint has many flaws; I will explain them to you point by point.

It is obvious from the Character Character Doukai that one thing: you have twin martial souls; one martial soul is a strength-type beast soul, with a strong physique, good at close-quarters combat. The other martial soul is of the dark and evil attributes, proficient in both long and short range, possessing curse erosion abilities..."

Yuanen Yehui nodded repeatedly; she had only gone to the Xuanlong Coffee Shop to work and earn money, had not revealed her twin martial souls to Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen, and the two had never sparred or fought; it had always been a relationship between a rich boss and an excellent employee.

It was not surprising that Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen spoke the truth in one sentence; because the Character Character Doukai must fit the soul master themselves, a high-level mecha designer could completely analyze the martial soul characteristics of that soul master at a glance through a single Character Character Doukai design blueprint.

For instance, this One-Character Character Character Doukai design blueprint brought forth by Yuanen Yehui contained two core ideas: strengthening the ferocious power of the Titan Giant Ape and amplifying the evil abilities of the Fallen Angel.

"You have twin martial souls, so the problem arises," Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen continued, "For the same One-Character Character Character Doukai, the design difficulty for a single martial soul and twin martial souls is incomparable.

The Character Character Doukai design for twin martial souls is much more complex, especially for a genius like you with twin supreme martial souls. If one wants to design a One-Character Character Character Doukai that perfectly fits you, it probably requires a mecha designer close to Level 6, yet that designer seems to be only Level 4."

"She is already the highest-level mecha designer in our class..." Yuanen Yehui sighed.

"Perhaps limited by design skill, this blueprint is far from perfect, and there are still many places I think can be improved."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen pulled out the right arm guard blueprint and said, "For example, judging from that designer's Character Character Doukai design logic, after the martial soul manifests, your body will undergo huge changes, with the fists used for attack expanding drastically.

Therefore, the extensibility of the hand guards is very important; a transformation formation should be added to the palm; no matter what changes occur to your fists and forearms, the Character Character Doukai can continue to cover them.

The core formation on the back of the hand is best used to enhance your blood and qi power and amplify soul power; it is best designed as a dual-loop formation..."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen explained the design problems to Yuanen Yehui; his modification suggestions hit the nail on the head; the latter listened as if intoxicated, immersed in the power of the future One-Character Character Character Doukai, and finally couldn't help but say, "Boss, can you help me perfect the Character Character Doukai design blueprint?"

"I can."

Under Yuanen Yehui's hopeful gaze, Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen nodded lightly, then shifted the topic, looking serious and said:

"But, we need to add money."

Yuanen Yehui almost fell headfirst onto the table; with a bitter expression on her pretty face, she said, "Is it a 40% discount this time?"

"Don't rush to bargain."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen looked at the poor girl with a smile and leisurely said, "This One-Character Character Character Doukai still hides a fatal flaw; I think you need to consider it seriously."

"Boss, tell me." Yuanen Yehui's spirit perked up.

"The forged metal."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen spoke directly: "Thousand-forged metal is the foundation of the One-Character Character Character Doukai; most One-Character Battle Armors choose thousand-forged metal.

However, your situation is quite special; the difficulty of designing a One-Character Character Character Doukai for twin martial souls is almost no less than a conventional Two-Character Character Character Doukai; thousand-forged Grade 1 metal can only barely carry the two martial souls.

It would be better to use spirit-forged metal to manufacture the One-Character Character Character Doukai, allowing the One-Character Character Character Doukai to truly merge with the soul master, eliminating the wearing process in one stroke, becoming an extension of the soul master's body.

Even more extravagantly, you can directly use spirit-alloy to manufacture the One-Character Character Character Doukai; the two spirit-forged metals used in the alloy respectively adapt to the twin martial souls.

Spirit forging evolves into soul forging; thousand forging cannot evolve into spirit forging; this is the difference between a One-Character Character Character Doukai and a spirit-forged Character Character Doukai.

In this way, the One-Character Character Character Doukai achieves a near-perfect fit, and upgrading to a Two-Character Character Character Doukai in the future will not require repeating the four major steps of the One-Character Character Character Doukai."

Yuanen Yehui fell into thought, her pale hand rubbing her Bai Xi and smooth chin; the more she thought, the more she felt Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen's words made sense.

The drawbacks of ordinary One-Character Battle Armors are too great; just the wearing process itself is fatal; moreover, thousand-forged metal cannot advance to spirit-forged metal, which is equivalent to spending money to buy spirit-forged metal again when forging a Two-Character Character Character Doukai, and hiring a mecha designer and a mecha craftsman to complete the design and manufacturing.

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen waited calmly for Yuanen Yehui's decision; she was a smart person, also a soul master pursuing strength, and there was simply no second choice.

The little monkey could in no way escape the five-fingered mountain of the True Buddha... the True Boss!

As expected, Yuanen Yuhui's expression gradually grew resolute, and she said in a deep voice, "Boss, I want to forge a Spirit-Infused One-Word Character Character Doukai using Spirit-Infused Alloy!"

"I support you."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen chuckled lightly, then struck Yuanen right where it hurt: "By the way, what materials do you plan to use for the Spirit-Infused Alloy? Do you have a channel? Is your savings enough?"

Death Triple Combo!

Yuanen Yuhui leaned back tactically, her already tall and full chest becoming even more upright.

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen pursued the attack: "Switching from Thousand-Forging to Spirit-Forging will drastically increase the design and manufacturing difficulty of the One-Word Character Character Doukai. I'll have to raise my prices too."

Critical Hit!

Yuanen Yuhui was struck as if by lightning, instantly brought back to reality. She had been so focused on how to amplify the One-Word Character Character Doukai that she forgot her own house was bare of walls!

Shaking her head, Yuanen Yuhui looked at the warm, jade-like young tycoon before her and tentatively asked, "Boss, if I buy Spirit-Infused Alloy from you, plus all design and manufacturing fees, approximately how many Federation Coins in total?"

"Use my channel..."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen took out his Soul Tool communicator, opened the calculator, and started tapping away: "Let me calculate. Spirit-Infused Alloy isn't cheap; the price depends on the fusion rate. Ninety percent and sixty percent are worlds apart.

Calculating the fusion rate at seventy-five percent, the alloy type is mid-to-high tier, eleven parts for the battle armor, plus my labor fee...

Oh my, that's quite a long string of numbers without me noticing. Let me count them for you.

One zero, two zeros, three zeros, four zeros, five zeros..."

"Stop reading, Boss, stop reading!"

The black-hearted boss calculated the price meticulously; every zero was like a long spear, piercing Yuanen Yuhui's heart hard, causing her angina to nearly flare up. She interrupted Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen with a face full of pain.

"So, are you still doing the Spirit-Forged One-Word Character Character Doukai?"

"Yes!" Yuanen Yuhui declared resolutely.

Once one has seen the vast ocean, other waters seem pale; after Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen's analysis and her own reflection, Yuanen Yuhui was determined to forge the Spirit-Forged Character Character Doukai even if she had to sell her pots and pans!

"How much savings do you have? Is it enough?"

"This topic is a bit sensitive. I can only say that my accumulated Contribution Points over these years are between ten thousand and one million." Yuanen Yuhui felt somewhat guilty and chose to give a vague answer.

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen pondered for two and a half seconds, then asked, "So, is it between twenty thousand and one million?"

Yuanen Yuhui: Σ(°△°|||)︴

Oh no, he's figured me out completely!

The exchange rate between Shi Shi Laike Contribution Points and Federation Coins is roughly one to one hundred. Yuanen Yuhui held multiple jobs over three years; after deducting daily expenses for a working student, she saved over ten thousand Contribution Points, which is just over one million Federation Coins.

At first glance, it seems like a lot, but in reality, a white ten-year Spirit in the Spirit Pagoda sells for one hundred thousand Federation Coins. Over one million can't even buy a high-quality hundred-year Spirit, let alone a Spirit-Forged One-Word Character Character Doukai. Yuanen Yuhui was still as poor as a church mouse.

Wicked capitalists! A single coin can bring down a woman as mighty as a giant ape!

"Boss, I'll write you an IOU. Can I work off the debt slowly?"

Tempted by the Spirit-Infused One-Word Character Character Doukai, Yuanen Yuhui voluntarily got on the black car, completely unguarded.

"I actually have another idea."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen revealed his true intentions, his deep, abyss-like black eyes staring fixedly at Yuanen Yuhui: "Join the Spirit Pagoda and become my direct subordinate.

You won't obey the Pagoda Master's orders, only mine. From now on, I will be responsible for your forging metals and battle armor. If you want to fuse any Spirit, just speak up.

How about it? Consider it?"

Yuanen Yuhui possessed exceptional talent, and since it concerned opening the door to the Demon Hell, Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen decided to cultivate her by his side. Moreover, the Yuanen family was powerful; the clan leader, Yuanen Zhentian, had the aura of a God, and Yuanen Tiandang could also achieve the Limit Limit Douluo realm.

The Yuanen family, like Yuanen Yuhui, was poor. If the following four points were met—building a good relationship with Yuanen Yuhui, securing the Demon Hell, killing Second Ming in advance, and promising benefits like battle armor—this group of Titan Giant Ape Soul Masters would be top-tier enforcers.

"The Spirit Pagoda..."

Yuanen Yuhui was conflicted. Unlike in another timeline, she was an employee of a core disciple of the Spirit Pagoda and had not joined any faction.

Having known each other for three years, Yuanen Yuhui had an excellent impression of Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen. She believed in her boss's Still Noble Character; the Spirit Pagoda would certainly not treat her poorly.

"I... am willing to join the Spirit Pagoda."

She was a girl who appeared cold on the outside but was gentle within, unwilling to owe favors. If she didn't join the Spirit Pagoda, she would owe Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen far too much. Yuanen Yuhui made up her mind, resolutely throwing herself into the Spirit Pagoda, shedding the identity of a poor girl!

"Welcome."

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen breathed a sigh of relief; these three years of effort were not in vain!

His mood was as pleasant as the evening breeze. Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen smiled and said, "Yuanen, since you are willing to join the Spirit Pagoda, naturally I will not treat you poorly.

Don't use that battle armor design anymore. I will design a new set of Spirit-Infused Character Character Doukai for you."

"Really?" Yuanen Yuhui's eyes lit up.

"Of course. Before formally designing the battle armor, I need to understand you deeply."

"I understand."

A mecha designer is not a dreamer. Yuanen Yuhui understood that Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen's knowledge of her abilities was limited to that battle armor design; he needed to truly encounter her two Martial Souls.

"Boss, let's go out and fight!"

Yuanen Yuhui's battle intent surged, and she eagerly said, "I've wanted to challenge you for three years!

A real battle will also make it convenient for you to get to know my Twin Martial Souls!"

Zhao Zhao Xuanzhen readily agreed: "Granted. Let's go."

(End of Chapter)