In the freshman dormitory, Bai Chen and Ning Tian had already finished making their beds.
However, the atmosphere between them felt a little awkward.
Because Lin Jiayi had arranged for them to stay in the same dormitory.
Obviously, this wasn't Lin Jiayi's own decision.
The person who had specifically instructed him to do this was Ning Jingchen.
In truth, Bai Chen and Ning Tian were only six years old, so children sharing a room was perfectly normal.
It also made it easier for Bai Chen to take care of Ning Tian.
But more importantly…
Ning Jingchen had already begun to see Bai Chen as his future son-in-law.
For a once-in-a-generation genius like him, even if Bai Chen and Ning Tian were already eighteen years old, Ning Jingchen might still have thrown them into the same dormitory if the opportunity arose.
Bai Chen himself didn't care much.
When he looked at Ning Tian, he simply saw a younger sister, nothing more.
But Ning Tian seemed a bit embarrassed.
She kept avoiding his gaze subconsciously.
Seeing this, Bai Chen felt rather helpless.
He had heard that people in the Douluo Continent matured early, but he didn't expect them to mature this early.
Normally, six-year-old children were still mostly oblivious to the idea of gender differences, weren't they?
Staring awkwardly at each other in the dormitory wasn't going to help.
It would be better to go out and explore the campus.
With that thought, Bai Chen stood up.
"Should we take a walk around the academy and familiarize ourselves with the environment?"
"Ah… okay."
Ning Tian paused before nodding softly.
"And… you don't have to call me 'Young Mistress' anymore."
"Just call me Ning Tian."
"Alright."
"Then let's go, Ning Tian."
Bai Chen smiled gently and walked toward the door.
Ning Tian watched his back as he left.
She bit her lip slightly.
What Bai Chen didn't know was that her embarrassment wasn't really because of boys and girls sharing a room.
It was because she understood why her father had arranged it this way.
As the heir of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Tian had received strict education since childhood.
She clearly understood her future responsibilities.
Her mission was to learn business management, expand the sect's influence, and eventually marry a talented soul master.
Together, they would lead the sect toward a stronger future.
Thinking about everything that had happened recently, she could roughly guess her father's intentions.
Strangely enough—
Although she felt embarrassed…
She didn't feel repulsed.
If it's him…
That might actually be alright.
With that thought, Ning Tian followed Bai Chen out of the dormitory area.
As the second-ranked academy on the continent, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy was enormous.
Its architectural style was noticeably different from the cities of the Douluo nations.
The buildings had a strong mechanical aesthetic.
Dormitories, teaching buildings, laboratories…
Even after wandering around until evening, the two of them still hadn't fully explored the academy.
Fortunately, classes hadn't started yet.
There was no need to rush.
More importantly, while exploring, Bai Chen had also gathered some useful information.
Perhaps because he looked cute and harmless, most older students were quite friendly toward him.
According to them, the academy's official admission standard was the same as Shrek Academy:
Students usually enrolled at eleven years old.
However, unlike Shrek, the academy also had junior classes for children under eleven.
Students in these classes were usually children of powerful families or influential factions.
Because of this, some students jokingly called these classes the "Young Masters' Class."
Bai Chen and Ning Tian were about to enter one of those classes.
Even though they were technically junior students, the Young Masters' Class had better conditions than many regular students.
For example:
Every two students shared one laboratory.
If they were willing to pay extra, they could even have a private lab.
In the original story, even students from Xuan Ziwen's class had to share laboratories.
That showed just how luxurious these conditions were.
Of course, that was only natural.
These children were paying huge sums of money to study here.
For example, Bai Chen and Ning Tian had already indirectly contributed to a deal worth over one hundred million gold soul coins with Jing Hongchen.
Compared to that tuition, this level of treatment was practically nothing.
After learning this, Bai Chen immediately took Ning Tian back toward the administration building they had visited earlier.
He went to Lin Jiayi to request the key to their laboratory.
Lin Jiayi didn't think much of it.
He had planned to arrange it the next day anyway.
Since Bai Chen had come early, he simply completed the task ahead of schedule.
Holding the key Lin Jiayi had given him, Bai Chen opened the door to the laboratory.
After registering both his and Ning Tian's identities, he let out a long breath.
Compared to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's workshop, this laboratory wasn't very large.
But it was extremely clean and well-organized.
The instruments all looked high-end, clearly expensive soul tool equipment.
Ning Tian looked around curiously.
For now, she knew very little about soul tools, so this field felt completely new to her.
Bai Chen walked to the workbench and inspected it.
Soon, a smile spread across his face.
The workbench actually came equipped with several basic metals.
Beside them was a small card listing the monthly quota of free metal the lab could receive.
The amount wasn't large.
And the metals weren't especially rare.
But for Bai Chen, that didn't matter.
Right now—
As long as there was metal, it was enough.
He opened the drawers beneath the workbench.
Just as he expected, he quickly found various basic tools for soul tool production.
Naturally, the most commonly used engraving knives were there.
More importantly—
There was also a forging hammer.
That meant everything he needed was now ready.
Seeing Bai Chen's excited expression, Ning Tian couldn't help asking:
"Bai Chen, what are you smiling about?"
"Nothing."
Bai Chen straightened his expression and took a deep breath.
Then he looked at Ning Tian seriously.
"Ning Tian."
"What you're about to see must remain a secret."
"You absolutely cannot tell anyone else."
"Can you promise that?"
"Well… I can promise…"
Ning Tian looked confused.
She had no idea why Bai Chen was suddenly so serious.
What she didn't know was—
What Bai Chen was about to show her was technology from ten thousand years in the future.
According to Duan Xuan, the Douluo Era 3 Bai Chen was actually the least suited for forging among the three versions of himself.
In terms of attributes, he couldn't match his Douluo Era 1 self.
In terms of raw strength, he couldn't match his Douluo Era 2 self.
And recently, the other two versions of himself hadn't had access to metal or forging tools, forcing them to endure their curiosity.
As a result—
Bai Chen had already been itching to try forging again.
Now he wanted to see something.
Just how far his current self in this era could go.