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Chapter 58: False Data
According to Lin Jiayi's explanation, soul master evaluations and soul engineer evaluations were scored separately at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy.
Take Bai Chen as an example.
His soul master score would undoubtedly be a perfect score.
However, that portion only accounted for 50% of the total grade.
If his soul engineer performance turned out to be terrible, it was entirely possible for students with weaker combat ability to surpass him overall.
In other words, at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, anyone without talent in soul tool engineering would immediately lose half of their potential score.
Of course, the academy didn't completely abandon students who excelled only as soul masters.
Once they reached higher grades, they could choose the Practical Control Soul Tool Department.
In simple terms, that meant becoming a soul master who specialized in using soul tools rather than building them.
A typical example was the famous Sword Maniac Ji Juechen.
However, that option only became available several years later.
At the lower grades, learning soul tool theory remained extremely important.
After hearing Lin Jiayi's explanation, the students in the class regained some of their enthusiasm.
After all, this was the Sun Moon Empire.
Talent as a soul master wasn't everything.
As long as someone could create powerful soul tools, even a weak martial soul could reverse the gap in strength.
Seeing their spirits lift, Lin Jiayi smiled.
"Since the physical tests are finished, please proceed to your classroom for your first lesson."
"Your classroom is at the other end of this building floor. Just walk straight after exiting."
"The teacher responsible for your class is already waiting there."
"Okay!"
Following his directions, the students noisily left the testing room and headed toward the classroom.
Lin Jiayi, however, remained behind.
He stared thoughtfully at the test results recorded in his notebook.
After a moment, he turned and walked toward the headmaster's office.
At the moment, only Jing Hongchen was inside the office.
Seeing Lin Jiayi enter, he looked slightly surprised.
"What's wrong, Jiayi? If I remember correctly, this should be the time for the new students' orientation."
"It ended early."
Lin Jiayi walked straight to the desk and placed the notebook down.
"Hall Master, please take a look."
"Oh?"
Jing Hongchen stopped what he was doing and began flipping through the notebook.
Soon, he understood what Lin Jiayi meant.
"This Bai Chen's data… is quite impressive."
"Yes," Lin Jiayi replied.
"And when we tested his physical data, the machine malfunctioned for the first time."
"I suspect the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect installed some kind of anti-detection device on him, which caused the equipment to display false data."
After thinking it over repeatedly, Lin Jiayi had concluded that the Level 42 body strength reading must have been fake.
In his mind, the machine must have malfunctioned.
This wasn't an unreasonable assumption.
Anyone normal would reach the same conclusion.
Who could possibly believe that a Level 16 soul master truly possessed Soul Sect-level physical strength?
That would be beyond the limits of humanity.
And the machine had malfunctioned only two seconds after displaying the data, making his judgment even more reasonable.
"I see."
Jing Hongchen chuckled and set the notebook down.
"In that case, give him more benefits."
"Try to win him over to our side."
In Jing Hongchen's eyes, Bai Chen's abnormal data wasn't particularly alarming.
After all, once the suspicious body strength value was ignored, the rest of Bai Chen's numbers were merely good, not extraordinary.
The academy's evaluation system used ordinary soul engineers as the standard.
That meant Bai Chen's strength was only equivalent to that of a Level 22 soul engineer.
For someone at Level 16, displaying the power of Level 22 was impressive.
But compared to the truly exceptional geniuses, it wasn't that shocking.
For example, when Jing Hongchen's grandson and granddaughter were at Level 16, their strength had already exceeded Level 25.
And neither of them were even strength-type soul masters.
What Jing Hongchen didn't know was that Bai Chen had shown only a fraction of his true strength.
If he knew Bai Chen's full power could approach that of a Soul Emperor, he would never remain this calm.
Compared to the strength data, Jing Hongchen was actually more curious about how Bai Chen reached Level 16 at such a young age.
But considering the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had existed for over ten thousand years, possessing a few unique cultivation secrets wasn't surprising.
As for winning Bai Chen over?
In Jing Hongchen's eyes, that wasn't difficult at all.
Bai Chen was only six years old, the age when one's worldview was still forming.
Subtle influence over time would be enough.
After all, how mature could a six-year-old child really be?
And Bai Chen would be studying at the academy for five full years.
With enough rewards and incentives, it would only be a matter of time before the boy could be won over.
"I understand, Hall Master."
Lin Jiayi nodded and left the office.
He deliberately waited until Bai Chen's class had finished before calling him over.
With a gentle expression, he said,
"Bai Chen, I showed your physical test results to the headmaster."
"He believes a talent like you deserves greater resources."
"Starting today, your laboratory's rare metal allocation will double."
"Really? Thank you, Director Lin!"
In front of Lin Jiayi, Bai Chen continued acting like an innocent child.
Seeing his delighted expression, Lin Jiayi smiled in satisfaction.
"No need to thank me. You should thank the Hall Master."
"He appreciates your talent, which is why he granted you such treatment."
"Work hard from now on and don't disappoint his expectations."
"I will!"
Bai Chen nodded enthusiastically and watched Lin Jiayi leave the classroom with a bright smile.
Only after Lin Jiayi completely disappeared from view did Bai Chen finally relax.
It seemed his disguise had worked.
If he had acted too weak, they might suspect he was hiding something.
But if he had revealed too much strength, they might see him as a potential threat.
What he needed was to display himself as a normal genius.
In that situation, Jing Hongchen wouldn't treat him with hostility.
Instead, he would attempt to recruit him.
"Still… I really can't rely solely on the teachers here."
The Young Masters Class consisted of children only six or seven years old.
Naturally, the lessons taught by the instructors were very basic beginner knowledge.
For Bai Chen, this knowledge had long become useless.
If he wanted to improve, he needed someone far more advanced to teach him.
"Since that's the case…"
Bai Chen muttered softly.
A name appeared in his mind.
The future chief researcher of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy—
And the man who would later become Huo Yuhao's teacher in soul engineering.
Xuan Ziwen.