Blue Silver Grass Strategy (Douluo Dalu Fiction)

In the eastern part of "Mu Zhi City," the "Green Leaf Junior Spirit Master Academy" has officially commenced its academic year.

Six grades and six classes, with each class consisting of approximately thirty to forty students. In total, the academy hosts around two hundred students, including both fee-paying and working students.

In truth, this number of students is quite small.

Yet even so, the student body of the "Green Leaf Junior Spirit Master Academy" ranks second among the four junior spirit master academies in "Mu Zhi City."

Within the capital region of the "Waterwood Principality," over the past six years, there have been fewer than a thousand children born with innate spirit power, excluding the progeny of nobles or spirit master families.

Based on past experiences, out of these nearly thousand children, perhaps not even half will successfully cultivate their spirit power to the tenth level and obtain their first spirit ring to become spirit masters.

Moreover, even fewer can advance to the twentieth level to become a two-ring Grand Spirit Master, likely less than one-third of those reaching the tenth level.

Taking into account those who perish while hunting spirit beasts, those who fall victim to attacks from other spirit masters, or those caught in personal vendettas... In a span of six years, only a handful might progress to become Spirit Elders, earning the status of new nobles, a number that could be counted on one's fingers.

The "Waterwood Principality" has not yet reached its centennial mark. Most of today's nobility are descendants of the original followers of Duke Mu Xiao, with only a few new families emerging from the land over the past decades.

The spirit power system of the Douluo Continent heavily relies on bloodline aptitude. Achieving a high-quality spirit aptitude through mutations is as unlikely as winning a large jackpot in Ling Yi's previous life's lottery—a meager chance indeed.

Win a few yuan, dozens, or even hundreds in small prizes, and the chance is relatively larger across a substantial population. However, when narrowed down to the individual, this chance becomes abysmally small...

Consequently, in junior spirit master academies, unless one's spirit quality and innate power are notable from the start, they are rarely scouted and befriended by noble families ahead of time.

Many of the self-financed students, taking advantage of their privileged backgrounds and soul master lineage, would often bully and humiliate work-study students, who were of ordinary or even lower aptitude.

In their eyes, the presence of work-study students deprived them of resources, be it the educational resources from the teachers or the support provided by the academy during the unified soul hunting expeditions.

These resources were seen as being diluted by the presence of the work-study students.

Over the years, this conflict had brewed into a tradition of animosity between self-financed and work-study students.

Whether some noble families played any part in exacerbating this divide remained unclear.

After all, as Ling Yi understood, the majority of nobility had their own teaching methods tailored to cultivate their family’s inherited martial souls.

Once their children reached a certain age and capability, they were sent to advanced soul master academies.

There, they could obtain resources unavailable at home, such as "simulated cultivation environments" and long-term soul ring acquisitions.

Additionally, they could meet peers of similar or higher status, thereby broadening the family's network.

Finding a talented partner to marry and enhancing the family's martial soul bloodline was always seen as ideal.

Returning to the Green Leaf Junior Spirit Master Academy, through consulting with teachers, fellow work-study students, and some well-meaning self-financed peers, Ling Yi had begun to unravel some of the academy's intricate relationships.

This insight helped him devise a series of strategies for his academy life ahead.

In the days surrounding the start of the new school term, a rumor inadvertently began circulating around Green Leaf Junior Spirit Master Academy.

"Have you heard?"

During a break, a curious young boy with oversized ears turned to the girl with the rabbit-like teeth sitting behind him, asking.

A little girl looked at the boy with some confusion, her curiosity piqued, “What did you hear?”

“Hehe~” The boy first glanced around, then lowered his voice with a flamboyant expression, “This year’s batch of freshmen includes a guy who got accepted as a disciple under Master Jin, one of the ‘Three Great Craftsmen.’ I don't know if he should be considered lucky or if he’s just wasting his talents...”

“Master Jin? You mean the blacksmith Master Jin?” A boy with side-swept bangs chimed in.

The boy with oversized ears heard him, looked at him, and nodded, “Yes, that Master Jin~”

“Tsk~” The boy with the side-swept bangs clicked his tongue dismissively and shook his head, “I heard Master Jin is over seventy now. Who knows how much of his Soul Expert level strength he has left? That guy couldn’t really be there just to learn blacksmithing, could he?”

“What’s wrong with blacksmithing?”

Suddenly, a burly boy who had approached the group spoke up, “If you truly become a blacksmith of Master Jin’s level, you could become a prominent figure in the duchy...”

This speaker was the son of a blacksmith shop owner from the east side of town. His father was once an apprentice under Master Jin and was just one step away from becoming an advanced blacksmith. Age and limited potential were the only barriers preventing him from aspiring to be one of Master Jin’s thirteen direct disciples.

“Pfft—” The boy with side-swept bangs cast a sidelong glance at the burly boy, “Becoming a master blacksmith isn’t so easy, is it?”

“As far as I know, none of Master Jin’s twelve direct disciples have advanced to the blacksmith master rank—”

“Ha!” The burly boy scoffed, “James, isn’t it true that the sword your father uses was crafted by Master Jin’s fifth disciple, Master Wang, an advanced blacksmith?”

James' father was a twenty-seventh level Grand Soul Master, whose Martial Soul was the ‘Iron-Backed Baboon’. Among the parents of students in their class, he was the strongest.

With the crafted sword in hand—crafted by a high-tier blacksmith—James' father could face a twenty-ninth level battle-oriented spirit master without falling behind. He might even suppress an unarmed spirit beast master of the same level!

Upon hearing the tall boy's words, James opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing in rebuttal. Although he believed deep down that spirit masters were more noble, he was not foolish enough to offend a high-level blacksmith recklessly.

If his words were to spread, James' father might give him a thrashing and then drag him to Master Wang to apologize.

It's important to know that forged weapons are different from tool spirits—they wear out over time.

What happens when they wear out?

Naturally, you seek a blacksmith for repairs. And if you have the means, you can even have the weapon reforged into a stronger one once the blacksmith's skills have improved or if better materials become available!

Someone might argue, "What if you offend Master Wang? Just find another high-level blacksmith. With enough money, wouldn't you be able to hire one?"

Heh, if James had spoken out of turn just now, he would not have been disrespecting just one blacksmith, but the entire profession.

Although he truly thought so in his heart, it wasn't just himself; many of the present students harbored similar thoughts.

Even the tall boy and his father believed spirit masters were the more prestigious.

If there's a chance, they still hoped for their son to take the path of a spirit master. Only if it truly didn't work out would he return to inherit the blacksmith shop and become a blacksmith.

Mind you, becoming a spirit master from a blacksmith requires fate, but switching from a spirit master to a blacksmith is much simpler.

Simply relying on the power augmented by soul energy easily grants someone greater strength than what ordinary people achieve through physical training.

Furthermore, soul energy can enhance one's five senses, offering significant advantages when learning forging skills.

Unfortunately, most spirit masters prefer devoting all their time to cultivating soul energy, studying martial souls and spirit beasts, and honing combat techniques relevant to their training.

Blacksmithing?

What a waste of time!

As for blacksmithing as a way to strengthen the body?

Can it compete with the augmentation of a beast martial soul? Can it match the enhancement of soul ring abilities? Does it have the convenience of soul power cleansing the body after increasing one's strength?

Being a blacksmith is seen only as an option for those without much hope on the path of a spirit master!

This is the common perception across Douluo Continent today, and it explains the awkward status of blacksmiths.

Yet, to become a high-level blacksmith, one must be a spirit master.

Otherwise, ordinary people cannot refine or forge materials that can rival the power of spirit masters above Spirit Elder level.

(End of Chapter)