46 Craft Tests

"Hey! Wake up!" Someone pushed Xueqin waking him up. As Xueqin opened his eyes, he could see that the culprit was Lizhi.

"If you don't wake up now we will be late" Lizhi warned.

"Okay, okay. I'm up" Xueqin yawned still a little sleepy, standing up from the bed. The dormitory was a big room with two single rooms and a minimum of furniture. It seemed a too big room only for Xueqin and Lizhi, feeling a little empty as more than 6 beds could easily put inside.

Xueqin went to the bathroom and cleaned himself. Then, he wore the academy's uniform. It wasn't very pretty with that strange green color but whatever.

Once he was ready and left the room, Lizhi was waiting in the corridor for him. They went towards the cafeteria that was already full of other years students.

The cafeteria was common for all the outer students including us, so it could be found people of every grade, from 30 years old to them as the youngest.

They took some food, Lizhi taking the service of 5 people and Xueqin of 3, and sat over an empty table, calmly eating their food.

As they were eating, Weilan, Wuhua and Yinglan came "Good morning!" shouted Wuhua excited sitting over the table. The other girls also greeted the boys, but Yinglan was calmer and Weilan was still sleepy, never having been a morning person.

They started eating their breakfast while chatting between each other.

"So how are the classes at Shrek?" Xueqin asked. Today would be the first class, Xueqin's first spirit master class over his life. He was a little nervous and curious.

"At morning they are quite normal, theoric clases like any other academy" Yinglan was the one that answered "Maybe, a little more advanced than usual but not much. On afternoon is the physical training, we usually start doing laps and finish fighting between us. Shrek heavily focus on the practical part, so it put a lot of emphasis in the fighting progress."

"Yeah, even support like us are not excempted from it" Wuhua interjected "When we need to fight against teacher Shen, it's truly scary" Wuhua trembled remembering.

"Don't worry too much, with your strength it would be easy for you" Yinglan calmed him.

"I am more worried about the theorical part if I say the truth" Xueqin scratched his head "I didn't really studied much as Mucheng's teaching were more spartan."

"You surely will keep up quickly if you put all your effor, brother" Weilan said without looking at him.

"At your age and with the strength that you showed yesterday, it won't be too much of a hassle to even become a inner student" Weilan said.

"Inner students?" Mumbled Xueqin "What are their advantges and how someone turn to one?"

"Inner students are able to live in their own room at the Sea God Lake's shore that is considered the best place to cultivate. They also have access to the best resources and they don't need to assist classes. They can spend the time as they want." Weilan explained

"But the best would be the teachers. Becoming part of the inner student grants you access towards the people leading Shrek Academy, some of the most powerful people over the world." Wuhua interrupted. "If you are lucky and strong, they might even accept you as their disciple, being taught by true titled douluos powerhouses."

"Not like it's important to me as I already have Grangran teaching me" Weilan said, making apparent that she preferred the no class part. She turned to Yinglan "You also don't require it, no?"

Xueqin turned to Yinglan who seeing his curious look had no other option than answer "After returning from the Sword Douluo Festival, I was accepted as the direct disciple of one of the elders of the Sea God Pavilion, the Light Sword Douluo, Guang Liang."

"The only reason that sister Yinglan is not at the inner court is because she needs to finish the middle academy" Lizhi explained "Once we finish this year, she would become one."

"Let's all put our best effort and become inner students all together next year!" Weilan shouted excitedly.

"Let's do it!" Everyone shouted, even Xueqin was absorbed by the euphoria.

As it was already time for class, they all stood up and returned to the where their dormitory was. Xueqin had discovered that the old building from where Lizhi, Weilan and Yinglan left was their dormitory but at the same it had also the classes. That building could be considered the private of the middle class, only them approaching it.

As they entered the room, Shen Yi was already waiting for them.

"As today is Xueqin first day, we would make a little of recordatory" She stated "First of all, do you know what makes Shrek Academy the strongest? It due to their perfect enviorenment and teaching methods focusing on actual battle. Other academies teach people to become some low jobs but we only train to reach the top, heavily focus on battle armors that are the peak of strength."

At that moment Weilan lifted her hand. Shen Yi glanced at her madly "I already know about lady Ning, but she is a special case. Nobody has been able to replicate such a mecha" She continued the talk "With the perfect enviorenment and help, focusing over the character of people, Shrek had kept generations of students in it, not wanting to leave and making the academy even stronger."

"To fully graduate from Shrek Academy, you should pass every year's exam and reach the qualifications. For the outer court students, they need to become one-word armor masters by the age of 35." Shen Yi looked attentively at all of them "This is not important for any of you. You should strive to become inner students, never have such a low objective."

"To graduate from the inner court, you should become a two-words armor master before the age of 30 and it that case you would be able to choose joining as part of it rather than as student" Shen Yi explained "Like you could see, Xueqin. Shrek Academy puts a lot of effort into battle armor, the strongest weapon and the represantition of the peak. For that you would require to have a sub-profession of it as you need to know about your own armor, being part of the process when making it."

"Teacher Shen" Xueqin lifted his hand "I already know about that and I already studied sub-professions."

"Oh, really?" Shen Yi blinked surprised "Sorry, I thought that having reaching the Sword Domain Realm at your age, you would have put all your effor into the sword, completely discarding anything else. What is your profession, Manufacturer?" Shen Yi took it for granted that Xueqin was a Manufacturer. It was normal, most sword users were as even if it was a considered high grade technique, the sword arts could be used when making the mecha, even carving it using a sword.

"The truth is that I studied all of them" Xueqin scratched his cheek "Manufacturer, Designer, Mechanic and Blacksmith."

"Ah, so you only had studied about them" Shen Yi thought that it was the case "You should focus on one of them, the one that feel more familiar for you."

"I practised the four of them" Xueqin said "It would be better to say the three as Mechanic, I haven't done anything different."

"Are you saying that you have reached rank 1 in every craft?" Shen Yi asked shocked, not really believing it. It was a thing for Manufacturers and Designers, but to also add Blacksmith. Blacksmith was the most difficult to start, making the most unpopular job and at the same time the one more sought after as there was always lack of refined materials. Being a rank 1 Blacksmithat the age of 9 would make him a genious, summing the other jobs and his sword cultivation would make him a monster over all mosters!

"I don't really know about the ranks, so I don't know in what I am now. But I am sure that I would be at least rank 1 or my master would have forced me to quit it" Xueqin explained.

Shen Yi made a thoughtful look. He didn't know if he was saying the truth or if he was lying or simply had a distorted image of reality. "Let's make a test for all the class" She finally decided to check it out "That way, I would be able to see the class advances and classify Xueqin's rank."

"Let's start with the designer one" Shen Yi made the students move to the next class who was full of designing tools and wide tables. She gave every student some papers and tools with the exception of Yinglan as she was a Manufacturer. On the other hand, Weilan and Lizhi were Mechanics and Wuhua was a Designer.

Xueqin looked at the test and found that it was a simple question of finding were the error in the design was and a bigger question to design your own mecha, using all the knowledge that he wanted while keeping some restrictions.

Xueqin started without falter. He was able to quickly find some errors in the design, some more evident than others. For the second part, he draw the design that he had worked with during Mucheng's teachings. It was a low sized mecha that resembled a battle armor but without the specific characteristics.

Once the time finished and everyone had given the exam, Shen Yi started examining it. She was a Designer herself and was very qualificated to mark their work, being a 6-rank herself.

She quickly inspected the test of her familiar students "Good job everyone. I can see that you didn't idle during this time. Especially you, Wuhua. You have already reached rank-3, but you are only at the start, you should continue practising to completely attain it."

Wuhua brimmed happily, clenching her hands. She really wanted to improve her designs to help her big brother who was a great Blacksmith.

Shen Yi turned to look over Xueqin's test "This is?" she was shocked about it. He had found most of the errors, showing that he was at least a rank-2, but what it was most surprising it was the design. This was an almost perfect and operative model that could be produced in large scale with a better output than the actual one. If he was able to finish it and he was every close, this could take out of all of the white mecha from the market, affecting even at the yellows!

It was clear that he had reached at least rank-3 and that his techniques and knowledge were at the peak of it, having a very uncommon use.

"How did it go?" Xueqin asked curiously.

Shen Yi looked at him still recovering from her shock "You should be a rank-3 Designer."

"He had surpassed me?!" Shouted Wuhua "I won't lose next time!" Her spirit flamed, a red aura seemingly to appear around her.

"Next we will test the Manufacturers" They moved to another room, this one was wider and had all kind of carving tools.

Shen Yi prepared four yellow square materials, one for each of them with Wuhua's excemption "You should make this soul circuit" She gave the students some papers with an actual design of herself. To complete it perfectly, they would require to be rank-5, but she would be able to see how near they are. Shen Yi only had basic knowledge of manufactering, but she would know if her designs are made accordingly.

Xueqin turned to look at the others. Yinglan invoked her Stargod Sword and started slashing at the material, being the first one to start. Weilan and Lizhi started later, they took a chisel, hammer and some other soul tools and started carefully carving the material, much slower than Yinglan.

Xueqin approached his material "Clank! Clank!" He clapped it 'It's a very low quality material, not unfit for any actual use. But I suppose that for a test is fine' He turned and focused on Yinglan as she was carving with her sword, her movements were elegant, swift and precise.

"Let's try it" Xueqin invoked his spirit, his Elemental Twin Spirit appearing over his hands. He started slashing over the material carving the given circuit, with a mix of his swordmanship and his blacksmithing techniques. His move were quick and precise but lacked Yinglan's elegance and swiftness.

Once everyone finished, Shen Yi started inspecting them "Lizhi, Weilan you did a good job, qualifying as rank-2 Manufacturers. Plus your result at the Designer test, you are qualified as rank-3 mechanics. You should be able to start learning Mechanic only techniques from now on."

Shen Yi turned towards Yinglan's material and she nodded at it "You really had improved, even mastering the use of the sword in your work, making your future growth faster. With this you are already at the peak of rank-3, only needing a light step to reach rank-4. Once you are able to input your Intent over the material, you will be able to reach rank-5.

Finally, she turned towards Xueqin's material. She had seen him also using his swords, but his result wasn't as shocking as the last. His work was inferior to Yinglan and even to Weilan and Lizhi.

"You are using swords, but you need to work harder to master the use of them. This could only qualify as a low rank-2" This didn't mean that it was. A nine years old rank-2 Manufacturer was a genious, but not a monster.

"Yeah, it's not my best work" Asnwered Xueqin "But I really wanted to try sister Lan method. I had always used a chisel, barely using my sword as they were too unsuitable. Now that I have my twin swords that are thinner, I wanted to try it."

"Are you saying that this was your first time?" Shen Yi asked shocked, Xueqin nodding at it "Would you want to try it again with your usual tools?" She was really curious about his true rank and what other wonders he would be able to show.

"There's no need. I liked the feeling of doing with the sword, I will keep continuing doing with it, so there's no need for using other tools. For now, I would be a low rank-2 Manufacturer." Xueqin answered.

Shen Yi nodded in comprendation "We don't have the necessary tools to measure your Blacksmith rank. You should go to the Shrek Blacksmith Assossiation" Shen Yi turned towards the others "Why don't you guide him towards it, I don't really want to go" She said in low voice the last part remembering all the fights between the leader of it and her master "The classes would be finished for today once you finished."

"Great!" Weilan jumped over, dragging everyone outside, taking the front as she guided them towards their destination.

"What a monster" Shen Yi sighed.