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"Brother Su, how do you think Soul Tools first began to develop?"
Su Wen was momentarily stunned by Lin Tian's counter-question. How did Soul Tools develop? That was something he couldn't possibly know. Left with no choice, Su Wen simply shook his head with a look of bewilderment.
"It is much like Soul Masters," Lin Tian explained. "Cultivation is divided into levels, and every ten levels, a new title is established because every ten levels represent the addition of a Soul Ring. Across various establishments on the continent, the classification of power is often segmented. The most common method of differentiation is based on colors equivalent to Soul Rings: white, yellow, purple, black, and red."
At this point, Lin Tian's hint was already quite obvious. A look of sudden realization dawned on Su Wen's face. The moment Soul Rings were mentioned, everything clicked into place for him.
"I see. What Brother Lin means is that the initial development of Soul Tools was actually based on Soul Rings—or rather, they were developed with Soul Skills as the reference point. The purpose of a Soul Tool was to allow a Soul Master to master even more Soul Skills."
Lin Tian did not offer any rebuttal to Su Wen's explanation. In truth, the records of how the earliest Soul Tools were developed had long since been lost to time. However, Lin Tian and his particular faction of Soul Tool engineers firmly held this belief: that Soul Tool technology was originally birthed to grant Soul Masters access to additional Soul Skills.
Naturally, the standards referenced by Soul Tool creation were the standards of Soul Skills themselves—which is to say, the age and quality of the Soul Rings.
Su Wen murmured to himself, "So, the Core Arrays of Soul Tools are actually divided into multiple levels as well. There are those equivalent to the effect of a ten-year white Soul Ring, those at the level of a hundred-year yellow Soul Ring, and even extending to purple thousand-year, black ten-thousand-year, and red hundred-thousand-year levels..."
Lin Tian greatly admired how quickly Su Wen had grasped the clear distinctions between the stages of Core Arrays. However, when Su Wen mentioned the black ten-thousand-year and red hundred-thousand-year levels toward the end, Lin Tian's expression became somewhat unnatural, and a flicker of awkwardness passed briefly across his face.
Su Wen noticed it, but he didn't call the man out on his embarrassment then and there.
While Su Wen didn't claim to possess heaven-defying genius, the combination of living two lives, the empowerment of his Book Martial Soul, and his years of theoretical research gave him unparalleled achievements in learning and study. It could be said that on the current continent, if Su Wen ranked second in his capacity for learning and research, no one could claim to be first. This wasn't just a gap in ability, but a gap in foundation; Su Wen's baseline was simply too profound.
Naturally, Su Wen didn't stop his train of thought just because of Lin Tian's hint.
Linking this to what Dugu Bo had said regarding the power of Soul Tools and his own observations since arriving here, he drew several conclusions in his mind: The current Sun Moon Continent likely hasn't mastered Core Arrays at the level of ten-thousand-year Soul Skills yet.
Or rather, they didn't possess a "pure" version of that technology, even if they could achieve those results through specialized, unorthodox means. If they had, there wouldn't be a separate classification for "Super Soul Tools" and "Peak Soul Tools." If they weren't utilizing a standardized method to exert that level of power, then any Soul Tool that theoretically should reach the might of a ten-thousand-year Soul Skill remained just that—theoretical.
Su Wen began to map out the correlations. Primary Soul Tools had three stages and corresponded to Soul Masters at the Soul Elder level or below. Therefore, there was a high probability that the Core Arrays were divided into three grades: ten-year, hundred-year, and thousand-year.
As for Intermediate Soul Tools, because they were utilized by Soul Ancestors and Soul Kings—and since the vast majority of Soul Kings on the Sun Moon Continent only possessed thousand-year Soul Rings—it was likely that there wasn't a fundamental leap in the essence of the Core Arrays within the Intermediate rank. They were likely all variations of the thousand-year Soul Skill level array structures.
Regarding Advanced Soul Tools, Su Wen speculated that this was where the pursuit of ten-thousand-year Soul Skill effects began. It seemed they had achieved it, but the method of enhancement differed from the previous arrays, leading to results that failed to meet the theoretical standard of power.
Thinking of this, Su Wen felt a surge of interest in the theories and data regarding Advanced Soul Tools. After all, he had already seen the Core Arrays for the ten, hundred, and thousand-year levels on the blueprints for Primary Soul Tools. He had yet to witness the arrays that represented the ten-thousand-year level of Advanced Soul Tools.
Seeing Su Wen lost in thought, Lin Tian began to provide a more detailed explanation of the classifications.
"The reason Primary Soul Tools are called such is that, although they involve three different levels of Core Arrays, they are the most fundamental. Even a Primary Core Array with power reaching the thousand-year level is still a basic type. They can be mastered through 'practice.'"
"Oh?"
Hearing Lin Tian say this, Su Wen carefully recalled the many blueprints he had studied. He realized that they could indeed be mastered through brute-force repetition and practice. Of course, that "practice" would likely burn through a staggering amount of rare metals.
"Starting from Intermediate Soul Tools, techniques such as pattern layering, modular units, combined overlapping, and even collinearity come into play. These cannot be successful simply by tracing the patterns. They require the Soul Master to coordinate their own Soul Power during the carving process. You should be able to understand the specifics once you've looked through the Soul Tool theories," Lin Tian said, not going into further detail. He instead pulled three volumes of material from his storage Soul Tool.
These were the introductory theories for Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced Soul Tools.
"These are some of my personal summaries. You can take a look. The Pavilion also has more comprehensive and systematic data, which you, as an honored guest, have the right to consult."
Su Wen accepted the three volumes and tucked them into his storage device. "What about Advanced Soul Tools?" he asked, still curious.
Lin Tian smiled and replied, "The creation of Intermediate Soul Tools actually serves as a foundation for Advanced techniques. Those advanced skills become like the basic units of a Primary Soul Tool once you reach the Advanced level—they are seen everywhere."
Su Wen wanted to ask more detailed questions, but Lin Tian clearly had no desire to continue the lecture. After all, Su Wen was still a newcomer to Soul Tools. Even if Lin Tian felt the lad had talent, he wasn't going to waste time explaining the deep complexities of Advanced Soul Tool knowledge.
Teaching the finer details of Advanced Soul Tools to a beginner who hadn't even read Primary theory yet? That would be foolish. It wasn't just a matter of wasting time; providing high-level knowledge too early can actually hinder a newcomer. While seeing the view from the summit provides motivation, knowing too much too soon often breeds intimidation.
Su Wen chatted with Lin Tian for a few more moments before taking his leave. He was in a hurry to return and study the materials he had just acquired.
"The function and classification of Core Arrays..."
Su Wen first went through the basic materials Lin Qingyue had found for him. Thanks to the boost from his Martial Soul, his learning capacity was borderline monstrous. In just half a day, he had understood and digested all the basic information.
Once he had finished digesting the basics, he turned his attention to the three volumes Lin Tian had given him: the introductory theories for the three grades of Soul Tools, containing Lin Tian's own insights and summaries.
(End of Chapter)