There was no way this was possible!
Cai Yue'er couldn't believe it. She could sense it clearly: Arthur wasn't using any soul power or martial soul techniques at all. This was pure, unassisted fishing.
And not just that.
With every flick and reel of his rod, fish after fish came up on the line.
No gaps between catches.
Not a single one.
It was like he was pulling them out of inventory.
"How are you doing this!" Cai Yue'er, utterly unable to make sense of it, had begun questioning her entire outlook on life.
"Simple. Luck." Arthur said cheerfully. Watching Cai Yue'er's composure crack completely, he strolled off thoroughly satisfied.
That's right, the entire reason he'd come here was to annoy Cai Yue'er on purpose.
That little tuft of yellow hair held grudges like nobody's business.
Back at the dorm, Arthur found Tang Wulin waiting for him, along with a young man standing beside him.
"Hm? What's going on?"
Tang Wulin hurried forward. "Arthur, bro, this is Yuanen, a second-year senior. He wants to have a pair of gauntlets forged."
"A pair of gauntlets?" Arthur asked, puzzled. "Why come to me for that? Don't you know how to forge too?"
Tang Wulin scratched his head. "Senior Yuanen's martial soul causes his body to grow larger. To make gauntlets that fit him and can grow along with his body, we'd need spirit alloy."
"Heh heh, thing is, I don't know spirit forging yet."
Spirit forging fused metal directly into a person's body, so that no matter how much the body changed afterward, the metal would change right along with it.
But Tang Wulin, having lost the Golden Dragon King, still had a long way to go before he could manage spirit forging.
"I see." Arthur rubbed his chin, his gaze settling on the young man.
Yuanen's gauntlets.
Arthur tilted his head and asked, "Yuanen Yehui?"
The young man's breath caught. He couldn't stop himself from glancing down at his own body, wondering how on earth he'd been recognized.
Tang Wulin's eyes went wide too. Arthur had mentioned that same name just yesterday, referring to the waitress girl.
"You, you, you!" Tang Wulin stared at Yuanen Yehui, stammering, unable to get the words out.
This young man and that beautiful girl from yesterday were the same person?!
Yuanen Yehui's expression darkened slightly, eyes turning cold and hard. "How did you figure it out?"
"Take a guess." Arthur smiled. "Spirit-forged gauntlets, right? I'll take the job. Pay whatever contribution points you like."
"No. Never mind." Yuanen Yehui shook her head and turned to leave. Right now she felt deeply unsafe.
Under the gaze of those holy azure pupils, she felt as though she'd been seen through completely, stripped bare.
"That Fallen Angel martial soul must be causing you a lot of pain. I can help you resolve it."
Yuanen Yehui's footsteps paused. She left behind only one line: "I don't need it."
Then she kept walking, leaving.
Watching her retreating figure, Arthur fell into thought.
The key to winning over the Yuanen family lay entirely in that Fallen Angel martial soul.
Right now, the Yuanen family's greatest fear was that once Yuanen Yehui cultivated her way to Titled Douluo, her Fallen Angel martial soul might summon the Demon Gate and connect their world to the Demon Plane.
And the Yuanen family's hatred for the Demon Plane ran bone deep. It was a hatred carried by the entire clan.
If Arthur could resolve that problem, winning their loyalty would be effortless.
Conveniently enough, Arthur genuinely could resolve it.
Demon Plane, huh. When the time came, he'd just clear the whole thing out with a Light Cannon barrage.
If they dared to invade, he'd make sure they went home in complete defeat!
Beside them, Tang Wulin, who'd listened to the entire exchange from start to finish, thought back to Yue Zhengyu's insistence the day before and muttered to himself, "Fallen Angel..."
"This doesn't seem good. Is she really an Evil Soul Master?"
"Eh, not exactly." Arthur corrected him earnestly. "Tang Wulin, remember this: there's no such thing as an evil martial soul. Only evil soul masters."
"Right, right?" Tang Wulin looked utterly bewildered. Somehow that line coming out of Arthur's mouth felt indescribably awkward.
The next day, in class.
"Today we're electing class officers." Wu Changkong said coldly, scanning the whole class as she explained. "In total, the class officer positions include one Class President, two Vice Presidents, one Forging Officer, one Design Officer, one Fabrication Officer, and one Maintenance Officer. These correspond to the four major sub-professions."
"Candidacy is voluntary. Selection will be based on ability and peer recognition. We begin now." The moment Wu Changkong finished speaking, the classroom fell silent for exactly two seconds, then erupted into a buzz of chatter.
At that moment, Arthur walked up to the podium.
The whole reason he'd come to Shrek was to recruit talent, so becoming Class President was a given.
He glanced at the students below, all staring up at him with a mixture of shock and uncertainty, and felt a small pang of sentiment. These were all future top-tier talent, and someday they'd all be working for him.
Arthur leaned against the edge of the podium, his holy azure pupils sweeping across the room, his tone carrying an air of absolute, unquestionable authority. "I'll be Class President."
"Who's in favor, who's opposed?"
The statement instantly silenced every murmur in the room. The new students exchanged glances, clearly at a loss for what to do.
They'd actually already noticed Arthur before this. He was the one who'd scored their entrance trials.
And on top of that, he was ranked second on the Genius Ranking.
And now it turned out he was their classmate?!
How were they even supposed to contest this? One guess and it was obvious Arthur had to be some young master with earth-shattering connections behind him!
"I object!"
An angry shout shattered the silence. Someone shot up out of their seat, eyes burning with defiance. "What gives you the right to just declare yourself Class President? An election is supposed to be based on ability and recognition. You haven't given a single reason. Why should everyone just accept you?"
Instantly, nearly every classmate turned to look at him with expressions full of admiration.
Now that was a real man!
The student himself looked a bit bewildered, unsure why everyone was suddenly looking at him like that.
In truth, he'd gotten into the academy through the specialist track for sub-professions. He didn't follow the Genius Ranking and had never even seen Arthur before.
"A reason?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. Rather than offering any kind of proof, he simply turned to Shen Yi and said, "Write his name down. Give him a demerit."
Arthur was about to start throwing his authority around, ruthlessly.
Authority existed to be used, after all!
Shen Yi looked utterly stunned, eyes darting toward Wu Changkong.
Wu Changkong kept right on pretending she hadn't seen a thing.
Left with no choice, Shen Yi, face flushed red, pulled out the student roster and wrote: "Lin Hao. Openly, o, openly defied a class officer candidate, disrupted classroom order. One formal warning recorded."
Dark. This was way too dark.
"Actually, never mind, don't record it. Lin Hao, don't let it happen again, alright."
Arthur's tone shifted abruptly, amusement gleaming in his eyes as he patted the podium. "I was just joking around a second ago. Can't go handing out demerits just like that."
"I don't even have that kind of authority anyway."
Who did he think he was fooling?!
Since when did a teacher play along with a "joke" like that?
Lin Hao stood frozen in place, his face flashing between red and pale, unsure whether he should be angry or relieved.
"Alright then, does anyone else have objections?"
The classroom fell dead silent. No one dared speak.
Na'er sprang to her feet in an instant. "I'm in favor!"
She proceeded to spout bald-faced nonsense with total confidence. "After spending so much time together, everyone's seen firsthand how outstanding Arthur is. I've always felt he's the class's rightful, undisputed choice for Class President!"
Spent how much time together, exactly?
Hadn't school just started?!
Someone silently rolled their eyes. Na'er's flattery was way too obvious.
But with Na'er taking the lead, the other new students quickly chimed in one after another.
"In favor!"
"Senior Arthur as Class President, no objections here!"
"The will of the people!"
"Alright, alright, I appreciate everyone's confidence in me." Arthur raised a hand, quieting the cheers.
Now that he'd shown off a bit of authority, it was time to hand out a little sweetener.
He pulled out his Level Six Forging Master badge and pinned it to his chest.
"Since I'm your Class President now, from here on out, if anyone runs into any trouble with Battle Armor materials, feel free to come find me for help."
The Level Six Forging Master badge gleamed blindingly.
The classroom erupted into a chorus of sharp, collective gasps.
A Level Six Forging Master?!