Chapter 203: Soul Compatibility
Within the cave, there was nothing noticeable being changed from the other side of the gates. Kou Changkong and the other elders were left with nothing but confusion as they waited for Bai Yunfei.
“Three hours have passed already, why has Bai Yunfei not returned yet? Has something happened to him inside?” Huangfu Nan couldn’t help but ask as he stared at the gate.
“There shouldn’t have. You should know as well that there is no real danger in that space….” Kou Changkong shook his head to reject Huangfu Nan’s response. Though, he too was curious as well, “But still, it has been far too long. There is only a ‘test’ and ‘refining’ period in there, nothing more. There shouldn’t be anything else to be done. Perhaps he has some reason for staying in there?”
“It can’t be for greed. Does he think he could stay in there for another chance to repeat this ‘chance’?” Huangfu Nan asked.
Kou Changkong shook his head, “We’ll see. If he doesn’t come out in half an hour, I’ll shut the doors and forcibly recall him.”
……
Ten minutes later.
From beyond the gates, the sounds of footsteps could be heard. In the next few seconds, the calm-faced Bai Yunfei could be seen stepping on through.
What everyone saw shocked them all. Bai Yunfei had made a drastic change in attire–he had a bracer on both arms, the right hand wore the Ardent Sun Gloves, and even the Fire-tipped Spear was clenched tightly in his hand rather than being stored away in his space ring.
Walking up to Kou Changkong, Bai Yunfei bowed respectfully to him. “Master, your student has done you well and forged my own soulbound armament!”
Despite his curiosity on the reason why for Bai Yunfei’s change in attire, Kou Changkong decided not to question it. Instead, he nodded his head. “Yes, very well. My eye wasn’t wrong to see that you weren’t too far away from Zhiqiu in talent….”
Beckoning to Ye Zhiqiu, he then spoke, “Zhiqiu, come forward.”
Ye Zhiqiu took a position next to Bai Yunfei’s side with a nod and a bow of the head to him.
“Say what you experienced in the cave and what you gained from it.”
“Yes!” Ye Zhiqiu spoke in affirmation. Shaking his right hand, the azure colored blade he picked earlier appeared in it. An azure light flowed from the blade with a faint amount of elemental wind accompanying it. “Your disciple fought off six waves before forging my own soulbound armament. It has increased to a mid-heaven tier!”
With a push of his soulforce into the blade, the sword began to hum and vibrate with a faint ringing sound. The azure light around it intensified in intensity as it began to show off the might of a mid-heaven tier sword.
One by one, the elders there had a look of surprise on their face. It was Huangfu Nan however who laughed first, “Haha! Very good! Even Fei Nian was only able to last five rounds…but you lasted six, very good!”
Kou Changkong nodded his head in satisfaction as well before turning his attention to Bai Yunfei, “Yunfei, what about you?”
He hesitated to respond for a second before finally deciding to speak up out loud, “Your disciple underwent nine waves and turned two soul armaments into soulbound armaments. The two soul armaments given to me upon entry to the Crafting School weren’t reforged, but they increased in strength as well!”
Without hesitation, Bai Yunfei pressed his soulforce into his equipment so that the two bracers, the Ardent Sun Gloves, and the Fire-tipped Spear appeared in its full glory to represent itself to the people in front of him.
“This….”
Once again, everyone was stunned, even the normally quiet first elder. In his stunned daze, his eyes looked to Bai Yunfei with shock.
“Low-heaven tier!” Kou Changkong gasped at the Fire-tipped spear in Bai Yunfei’s hand before his eyes flickered over to the Flameblade Bracer, “High-earth tier….two soulbound armaments!”
The first elder glanced at the Ardent Sun Gloves and the Returner Bracer observantly, “That bracer was a mid-earth tier one, and that glove was a low-heaven tier item that you recently got, but….they’re now high-earth tier and mid-heaven tier!”
Aghast, Huangfu Nan could only voice his questions aloud to Bai Yunfei, “How is this possible?”
Whilst the three elders were staring at Bai Yunfei in shock, Song Lin and Li Tiechui were also staring at Bai Yunfei with a strange look. Neither of the two could hardly believe their eyes at what they were seeing, but the four soul armaments in front of them were undeniable proof in saying what they saw was true…
……
This was the decision Bai Yunfei made!
He worried in the past that he’d not be able to explain the mystery behind the Flameblade Bracer and the Fire-tipped Spear after making it to the Crafting School. The students wouldn’t be able to notice, but should an elder take note of him using it, there’d be no hiding of it. For the sake of security, Bai Yunfei had sealed the two away in his space ring beforehand.
But when this ‘chance’ came, Bai Yunfei decided to seize the chance without any underhanded tricks! The boost the Flameblade Bracer gained wasn’t as strong as the ‘connection’ the Fire-tipped Spear gained with him, but it was still a lot stronger than what it was before. And so with this ‘chance’….Bai Yunfei could upgrade the Ardent Sun Gloves and the Returner Bracer while pointing the cause at it!
He didn’t know how ridiculous this excuse might be, but it was necessary to do for the future. He couldn’t exactly hide the two item’s new strength always. If he could use today’s events as his scapegoat, it’d save him a lot of trouble.
Judging by the expressions of the three, their reactions were still within the acceptable range of belief. And so, Bai Yunfei let out an inward sigh of relief….
……
“Such a golden opportunity, and you’ve missed it! You idiot! With such a strong amount of power to fuel so many soul armaments, why didn’t you focus on one single one!” Unexpectedly, the next thing to come out of Huangfu Nan’s mouth wasn’t a compliment like Bai Yunfei thought, but a rebuke.
He had a grieving expression on his face before shaking his head to lament, “Such avarice, avarice indeed! Why did you choose to reforge four soul armaments? If you were to focus on one alone, who knows just how much stronger it would’ve gotten with his soul compatibility! Senior, you’re to blame here too! I told you we should explain things to the students, but you just had to make things even more complicated than it should be. Why let them try to understand it by themselves, look at this! Yunfei has lost out on this golden opportunity now!”
“Uh…..” Slightly distracted, Bai Yunfei could just barely understand that he was being blamed for using up all that power on multiple soul armaments. But…..what was this ‘soul compatibility’?
Snapping back to reality thanks to Huangfu Nan’s words, Kou Changkong’s face was slightly abashed. He coughed once, “It was a lack of consideration on my part, I didn’t think that….”
It never occurred to him that Bai Yunfei would have this much strength, but the thought was moot now that it passed. Thinking for a moment about what to do, he said, “But then again, this works out as well. If Yunfei really did use all of that power into one soul armament, who knows what accident would’ve happened? This isn’t too bad of a case, as long as he focuses on strengthening his soul compatibility bit by bit, it’ll work out….”
Still absolutely mystified by the topic regarding him, Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but speak meekly, “Master, what is this ‘soul compatibility’?”
“Soul compatibility denotes the degree of compatibility there is between you and the soul armament. When used for a long time, the soul armament starts to feel ‘familiar’ to the user. Usage becomes easier, and the soul compatibility reaches a very elementary level. We of the Crafting School have a greater understanding of soul armaments than any other due to our association with them. Our school has a secret that allows us to increase the soul compatibility between the soul armament and the user. When it reaches 50%, it becomes a soulbound armament. By using this secret when one reaches a Soul Sprite, one is able to create a soulbound armament. By nature, this is a complex situation to understand, but there is some special circumstances regarding your situation. There wasn’t a need to explain to you about the soul compatibility before, so I didn’t say too much about it before. But in any case, you’ll come to understand it soon enough.”
“Oh….” Bai Yunfei nodded his head. He understood what was being said just slightly, so he didn’t ask any more.
Kou Changkong gave Huangfu Nan a look and a nod of his head before taking out a red scroll from his space ring to give to Bai Yunfei.
“Take this back with you. I’ll give you a month to learn it, and after a month, you’ll be taught the art of crafting by me personally!”