Engraving life skills into a Soul Bead—throughout history, Wang Lan might have been the only one capable of such a feat. But regardless of how preposterous the task, it didn’t change the fact that Wang Lan had successfully engraved skills, and moreover, he had engraved them within a Soul Bead. How should one put it? If we were to assign levels to the discipline of Spiritual Engraving, the first level would be to display one’s own memories through a mirror image for others to see. The second level would be to show one’s own techniques and skills to others. The third level involves transmitting memories through spiritual power into someone else’s mind, and the fourth level is about engraving one’s own mastered skills into another’s mind. And Wang Lan had engraved his skills into a Soul Bead, which belonged to the sixth level. The sixth level was equivalent to a professional Spiritual Engraving Master. As a required course at the Star Martial Academy, Spiritual Engraving demanded every student to reach a fourth-level standard. In other words, they could graduate once they passed level four. Even so, every year many students repeatedly failed the course. They struggled from their junior to senior years, and even if they were interning in their final year, they still had to come back for retakes. The reason students must pass level four is simple: to facilitate the convenient dissemination of Star Martial Skills. If you can’t even pass on your Star Martial Skills to others after graduation, what use are you to the nation? But Wang Lan, in less than two months since the start of school, had gone from a beginner straight to level six. What did that mean? It meant he had completed in a little over a month what others needed three years of effort to achieve. If this got out, Wang Lan could charge admission for people to come see him. Such an extraordinary, unscientific being deserved proper admiration. "A genius..." After a long while, Professor Zheng Gong, finally regaining his senses, convulsively grabbed Wang Lan’s shoulders, his eyes so bloodshot they looked as if they might bleed. "A genius... a true genius... Hahaha... Heaven has not been unkind to me... To think that in my lifetime, I would actually meet a student with the potential of a ninth-level Spiritual Engraving Master... Hahaha... "I will immediately apply to the academy to have you as my assistant student... I will train you with all my might. Child, you must strive to excel! I truly wish to witness the day you become a ninth-level Spiritual Engraving Master with my own eyes. You must work hard..." These words left Wang Lan utterly confused. Wang Lan had actually wanted to keep a low profile. If he hadn’t, why would he have claimed he could only engrave B-level skills? Silver truly represented A-level Star Martial Skills. But it seemed that what he thought was a low-key performance had once again inadvertently become high-profile. A genius? Truthfully, Wang Lan didn’t see what was genius about it. "Professor Zheng, the Dean won’t agree," Sun Li said calmly as she looked at Professor Zheng Gong, who was clearly showing signs of an epileptic fit. "Why not?" Professor Zheng Gong turned his head sharply, staring at Sun Li with a look of surprise. "You should have read Wang Lan’s profile, right? The academy’s evaluation of his potential was that it could rival the Five Emperors. How could they possibly let such a student spend his time studying Spirit Engraving?" Follow current novels on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚫𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵 "Why not? Jade Country now has only one ninth-level Spiritual Engraving Master, who is one of the Five Elders, Elder Ci. She also hasn’t personally engraved any Star Martial Skills in nearly thirty years. How much influence does a ninth-level Spiritual Engraving Master have on Jade Country... no, I should say the entire world? It’s no less significant than that of the Five Emperors." "But Spirit Engraving is only an auxiliary profession. Right now, the Demon Clan is stirring, and the predicted all-out invasion by the Demon Clan is still thirty years away. In thirty years, Emperor Bai of the Five Emperors would be over sixty years old; Qing Emperor, Xuan Emperor, and Ming Emperor would all be nearly fifty. Even the youngest, Flame Emperor, is already in his early forties this year. In thirty years, can we expect the elderly Five Emperors to go to battle once again? Jade Country urgently needs a new generation of leaders. At the very least, not limited to Five Emperors, there had better be ten Emperors, a hundred Emperors! As a closely monitored talent of the new generation, how can we just watch him go and cultivate Spiritual Engraving?" "But Spiritual Engraving can change the strategic reserves of Jade Country! The lineage of ultra S-level Star Martial Skills is almost severed! Elder Ci can no longer perform Spiritual Engraving, and the existing ultra S-level Star Martial Skills are unique, single copies. If we can’t copy and engrave them, who would dare to learn the ultra S-level Star Martial Skills? The Flame Emperor was able to learn the Phoenix Form because Eld Di risked his future to bet on Wang Ling. The Flame Emperor lived up to expectations and successfully mastered the Phoenix Form. However, Jade Country’s reserve of the Phoenix Form is now gone. If anyone else wants to learn the Phoenix Form, they can only rely on the Flame Emperor to teach them personally. As for the other ultra S-level Star Martial Skills, Jade Country’s reserves only have two or three left. If Jade Country can produce a ninth-level Spiritual Engraving Master, this dire situation would completely improve. Each generation produces dazzling talents, individuals who can represent their era as leaders. But a transcendent genius with the potential to become a ninth-level Spiritual Engraving Master is a once-in-a-century rarity." After Professor Zheng Gong finished speaking passionately, Sun Li also fell into thought. Although Wang Lan’s talent could undoubtedly make him a pillar for Jade Country within ten years, his gift for Spiritual Engraving seemed even more precious. To have one such talent would be enough to become the darling of an era, yet this Wang Lan fellow actually possessed so many talents in one? At that moment, Sun Li even wondered if this guy was God’s illegitimate son. Wang Lan, who was being praised to the skies by the two, felt somewhat uneasy; it seemed this Professor Zheng was trying to lead him down a road of no return. Suddenly anxious, Wang Lan blurted out, "Professor Zheng, please listen. I actually still wish to follow the traditional path of a Star Martial Warrior. Spiritual Engraving is purely a hobby... a sideline..." No sooner had his words landed than he was met by Professor Zheng’s predatory gaze. "What do you mean? Do you lack the awareness of a Star Martial Warrior? What is a sideline? What is a primary occupation? Anything that contributes to the legacy of human civilization and benefits humankind is a primary occupation. However glorious a powerful Star Martial Warrior may be, what is their ultimate mission? To protect human civilization. Where you can make the biggest contribution, that is your primary occupation. There are plenty of combat-proficient Star Martial Warriors; we’re not lacking one like you." This is escalating quickly, isn’t it? The words that had almost slipped out caught in his throat, and he forced them back down. "Professor Zheng, I’ll study normally and ensure I don’t impede my progress in learning Spirit Engraving. Is that acceptable? But to ask me to abandon everything else solely for Spiritual Engraving—please forgive me, but I cannot comply." "Can you guarantee that without focusing all your energy on one subject, you’ll be able to make progress to my satisfaction?" "When it comes to studying, I’ve never backed down from a challenge." "Alright! Out of consideration for your feelings, I’ll observe you for one year. By the end of the first semester next year, if your progress hasn’t reached a satisfactory level, you’ll obediently study Spiritual Engraving. How does that sound?" Wang Lan’s brows furrowed tightly. In principle, as long as he insisted on not specializing in Spiritual Engraving, Professor Zheng couldn’t really do anything to him. But Wang Lan knew this might brand him in Professor Zheng’s mind as someone lacking proper conviction, an impression he wished to avoid. However, the demand Professor Zheng put forth wasn’t difficult for Wang Lan to meet. His current mastery of silver-level Spiritual Engraving far exceeded Professor Zheng’s estimations. If future assessments were to become significantly more difficult... would it be anything that a few more skill points couldn’t solve? After a moment of contemplation, Wang Lan nodded and agreed. Professor Zheng departed, satisfied, leaving Sun Li and Wang Lan in the office. Facing Sun Li’s playful gaze, Wang Lan hesitated for a moment before bowing slightly. "Mrs. Sun, I’ll take my leave then..." he said, turning to depart. "Wait! Don’t you want Universal Decomposition? What, you don’t want it anymore?" "Mrs. Sun, are you willing to teach me?" Wang Lan asked in surprise. "Originally... I didn’t want to teach it to you. But seeing your high talent in Spiritual Engraving, even if you can’t master the skill, you’ll be able to engrave it in the future. So, I’ll teach it to you after all." "Thank you so much, Mrs. Sun." Just as Wang Lan finished speaking, Sun Li suddenly extended a finger and tapped him between the eyebrows. Instantly, a stream of information rushed into Wang Lan’s Spiritual Sea of Consciousness. "A Star Martial Skill is available for learning. Would you like to spend one thousand skill points to learn it?" Wang Lan showed a content smile after successfully learning the skill by spending one thousand skill points. "Thank you, Teacher." "Work hard. I have high hopes for you." It was rare for Sun Li to speak so earnestly. After bidding farewell to Sun Li, Wang Lan left the medical department. Having previously learned a vast number of Basic Skills, and now Universal Decomposition, Wang Lan’s reserve of skill points in the system was nearly depleted. Aside from the last class which was new, Wang Lan had self-studied all the other elective courses for the afternoon. Thus, after obtaining Universal Decomposition, Wang Lan headed straight for the library once again. Detoxification was a very practical skill. Wang Lan had even mastered ordinary detoxification techniques, so there was no reason he shouldn’t be able to trigger the ability to neutralize Star Martial Toxins. He felt his theoretical knowledge was already sufficient to meet the trigger requirements. He had even learned Universal Decomposition, which could extract the fundamental elements of all things. Having met even this condition, there was no reason it shouldn’t trigger. Arriving at the library, Wang Lan once again picked up the book on the elemental deconstruction of Star Martial Toxins and their corresponding counter-elements—a book he had flipped through several times already. The book clearly explained Star Martial Toxins from a microscopic perspective. Under microscopic elemental arrangements, the action of Star Martial Toxins was related to their sequence of arrangement. Once their arrangement sequence was altered to complete a self-contained rotational cycle, the toxin would lose its corrosive properties. In layman’s terms, immunity! The conventional treatment was: if a Star Martial Warrior was poisoned by a certain Star Martial Toxin, they would be injected with another perfectly antagonistic Star Martial Toxin. This process would continue until the toxins neutralized each other, becoming harmless. This meant the more severe the poisoning, the greater the dosage of the counter-toxin required. Wang Lan disagreed with this ’fight-fire-with-fire’ approach to treatment. His ideal solution was to develop a vaccine: one injection for lifelong immunity. Perhaps it was this ideological conflict that prevented him from triggering the skill he most desired? With that thought, Wang Lan sighed, placed the book down, and slid it back onto the shelf. Out of the corner of his eye, huh? How did this book end up here? "Ms. Wang Qi and the Theoretical Analysis of Her Biological Genetic Coding Formula" This book belonged upstairs in the Genetic Bioengineering section; some careless student had probably misplaced it. Out of a sense of orderliness, Wang Lan pulled out the book, intending to return it to its proper place later. But now that it was out, might as well take a look...