Blue Silver Grass Strategy (Douluo Dalu Fiction)

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Year 2598 of the Douluo Calendar, September 1st.

In the eastern part of Wood Plant City, the Green Leaf Junior Soul Master Academy opened its doors.

There were six grades and six classes, with each class having about thirty to forty students. The total number of self-funded and work-study students in the school was roughly two hundred.

To be honest, this number of students was quite small.

Even so, the Green Leaf Junior Soul Master Academy had the second-highest number of students among the four primary Soul Master academies in Wood Plant City.

In the capital of the Waterwood Principality, Wood Plant City, over the past six years, there had been fewer than a thousand children born with innate Spiritual Power, excluding those from noble or Soul Master families.

Based on past experience, out of these nearly a thousand children, fewer than half would be able to cultivate their Spiritual Power to the tenth level and obtain their first Soul Ring, thereby becoming Soul Masters.

Among these, only a fraction, less than one-third, would be able to advance further to the twentieth level and become two-ringed Great Soul Masters!

If one considered those who died during soul hunting from soul beasts, those assassinated by other Soul Masters, and those killed due to conflicts... out of the Soul Master candidates born in the past six years, only a handful would successfully cultivate to the Soul Venerable level and become new nobles a few decades later.

The Waterwood Principality had been established for less than a century. Most of the current nobles were descendants of the families that had followed Duke Mu Xiao. Only a small portion were new nobles who had emerged from the Waterwood Principality in the past few decades.

The Martial Soul system of the Douluo Continent was heavily dependent on lineage and innate qualifications. The probability of a high-quality Martial Soul emerging through mutation was no less unlikely than winning a lottery jackpot in Ling Yi's past life.

Well, the chance of winning small prizes of a few dollars, tens of dollars, or even hundreds of dollars was relatively higher with a large enough sample size. However, when it came to an individual, the probability was still pitifully small...

For this reason, in primary Soul Master academies, unless a student awakened a high-quality Martial Soul or had high innate Spiritual Power from the start, they would generally not be courted or supported by nobles in advance.

Instead, it was more common for self-funded students to bully and harass work-study students, who were often from families with modest means and had varying degrees of Soul Master backgrounds. These self-funded students would often target work-study students with ordinary or even low qualifications.

In their minds, the presence of work-study students took up part of the resources that should have been available to self-funded students. This included educational resources from teachers and assistance provided by the school during unified soul hunting, which were diluted by the work-study students.

These conflicts accumulated year after year, eventually leading to a tradition of opposition between self-funded and work-study students.

Of course, whether certain nobles were behind this was unknown.

After all, according to Ling Yi's knowledge, most nobles had their own methods for teaching the Martial Souls suitable for their family's inheritance. Once their children reached a certain age and strength, they would be sent directly to advanced Soul Master academies. This was to obtain resources that the family could not provide, such as 'Mimetic Training Environments' and high-year Soul Rings. Additionally, it allowed them to meet peers of similar or higher status, expanding their family's social network.

If they could find a talented and well-qualified partner and marry them, it would be even better, as it could lead to the birth of a better Martial Soul lineage...

Let's return to the Green Leaf Junior Soul Master Academy.

Through various channels, including teachers, work-study classmates, and some self-funded classmates with better dispositions, Ling Yi initially understood the subtle relationships within the school and formulated a series of strategies for his future academic life.

...

In the days leading up to and after the start of the semester, a piece of gossip quietly spread through the Green Leaf Junior Soul Master Academy.

"Did you hear?"

During a break, a boy with prominent ears turned around and asked the girl with buck teeth sitting behind him.

The girl looked at the boy curiously, a bit puzzled. "Hear what?"

"Hehe~" The boy looked around first, then lowered his voice, his face beaming with excitement. "This year's freshmen include someone who has become a disciple of one of the 'Three Great Blacksmith Masters,' Master Jin. I don't know whether to say he's lucky or has fallen from grace..."

"Master Jin? The Master Blacksmith Level Master Jin?" A boy with a side part asked from the side.

The boy with prominent ears glanced at him, nodded, and said, "Yes, that Master Jin~"

"Tsk~" The boy with the side part smacked his lips, shook his head, and said, "I heard Master Jin is over seventy years old. It's hard to say how much of his Soul Venerable-level strength remains. Is that guy really going to learn blacksmithing?"

"What's wrong with blacksmithing?"

Suddenly, a tall and sturdy boy who had appeared beside them spoke up. "If he really becomes a Master Blacksmith, he could become a significant figure in the principality..."

As he spoke, the boy with prominent ears, the boy with the side part, and the buck-toothed girl, who had been listening quietly, noticed that a group of seven or eight classmates had gathered around them. These were children from local merchants and small families, all self-funded students at the academy.

The one who had spoken was the son of an ironmonger from the eastern part of the city. His father was also a disciple of Master Jin and was now just one step away from becoming a Senior Blacksmith. If it weren't for his age and limited potential, even becoming a Senior Blacksmith wouldn't guarantee him the status of a Master Blacksmith, but he still hoped to achieve something by being Master Jin's thirteenth direct disciple.

"Pfft—" The boy with the side part glanced at the tall boy. "Is it that easy to become a Master Blacksmith?"

"I haven't heard that any of Master Jin's twelve direct disciples have advanced to the Master Blacksmith Level—"

"Ha!" The tall boy sneered. "James, I heard your father's battle saber was forged by Master Jin's fifth disciple, the Senior Blacksmith Master Wang..."

James's father was a twenty-seventh-level Great Soul Master with the Martial Soul 'Iron-Backed Baboon Soul Power,' making him the strongest among the parents of the students in their class.

With that battle saber forged by a Senior Blacksmith, James's father could fight a twenty-ninth-level offensive-type Soul Master on equal terms, or even suppress a similarly ranked beast-type Soul Master who was fighting bare-handed!

Hearing the tall boy's words, James opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing. While he genuinely believed that Soul Masters were more noble, he wouldn't dare to offend a Senior Blacksmith lightly.

If his words were overheard, his father would likely beat him and then take him to apologize to Master Wang.

After all, weapons forged by blacksmiths, unlike Martial Souls, could wear out.

What then? They would have to find a blacksmith to repair it, or if conditions allowed, have it reforged into a stronger weapon when the blacksmith's skills improved or better materials became available!

If he offended Master Wang, he could always find another Senior Blacksmith, right? With money, he could always find a blacksmith willing to work...

Ha, if James had spoken out of turn just now, he wouldn't just be insulting one blacksmith, but the entire profession.

While he did think this way, and many of the other students might share the same view, even the tall boy and his father believed that Soul Masters were more noble.

If there was a chance, they would still hope that their son would become a Soul Master. If that didn't work out, he could always return home to inherit the ironmonger's shop and become a blacksmith.

After all, a blacksmith's path to becoming a Soul Master depended on luck, but a Soul Master could easily become a blacksmith.

Just the Spiritual Power-enhanced strength alone was far superior to the physical strength that an ordinary person could achieve through hard training.

Moreover, Spiritual Power could enhance one's senses, which was a significant advantage when learning forging techniques.

Unfortunately, most Soul Masters preferred to devote all their time to cultivating Spiritual Power, studying Martial Souls and soul beasts, and honing their combat skills.

Blacksmithing?

Too much of a waste of time!

As for blacksmithing to build physical strength?

Was it better than the enhancement provided by a beast-type Martial Soul? Was it better than the soul skills granted by a Soul Ring? Was it easier to improve physical attributes through the refinement of Spiritual Power as one's strength increased?

Becoming a blacksmith was only a choice for those who had little hope of becoming a Soul Master!

This was the general perception on the Douluo Continent. It was also the reason why blacksmiths had a somewhat awkward status.

However, to become a high-level blacksmith, one had to be a Soul Master.

Otherwise, ordinary people could not forge or shape materials that could resist the power of Soul Venerables and above.

(End of Chapter)