13.11 – As long as he put it on, he would be his
translator: xiin
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug
The nurturer's appearance was very cute, and the baby fat in his cheeks hadn't faded away yet, giving him much more of a 'cute nurturer' look than Xue Ling. In a way, this was the second protagonist of the story, and also the protagonist gong's younger brother, Mo Lan.
Compared to the protagonist, Mo Lan's basic conditions seemed to be much better. After all, he was a nurturer, and although he was weak during childhood and had therefore been unable to enter Class S after awakening his spiritual powers, he was at the top of Class A. He had already taken the promotion test countless times in order to get into Class S, but had always failed.
He was truly an indomitable person. He continuously persisted and finally achieved his wish, managing to barely cross the required threshold to enter Class S. And the one time he was successful was when he took the test along with the protagonist.
Which was exactly this particular test.
In the original story, Hao Songle had raised his spiritual powers to a certain level by virtue of the space he had obtained, and also took the test to enter Class S. It was exactly because they were tested together that Hao Songle met Mo Xi, who was still a Major in the First Fleet.
Mo Lan and Hao Songle became very good friends, and the story mentioned the person that he liked countless times, but he had always wanted to reach a certain status before confessing to the other party, and even by the time story ended, he seemed to have never achieved his goal.
And the person who Mo Lan had always liked, was Yin Jia.
Xue Ling obviously felt Mo Lan’s closeness to himself, but the reason why he didn’t want to talk about it at all was very simple.
Pay attention to him? Wasn't it just another person who wanted to be his father? Ha-ha.
Mo Lan was not an overly familiar person. Since Xue Ling ignored him, he brought his attention back to his own hands and began to prepare for the next promotion test.
He was one year older than Xue Ling and would reach adulthood next year. He hoped to work with the First Fleet when he became an adult, but the first prerequisite for becoming a Sculptor for First Fleet was that they had to graduate from Class S. There were many rounds of selection after that, and if he couldn't even enter Class S, he would have no hope of getting in at all. That was exactly why Mo Lan had been persisting for so many years.
He raised his head to look at the audience who were watching the test. His gaze swept around, and finally landed successfully upon a certain person's figure…
He was here this time. Mo Lan needed to grasp this opportunity to successful enter Class S. At the very least, he needed to leave a better first impression as that would help him with the implementation of his future plans.
Xue Ling had never once looked towards the auditorium. After the signal came to indicate that he could begin choose ores, he started to make his selection.
He remembered that there was a detailed description of this test in the original story. In order to set things up for the protagonist, one of the ores in this round contained an SS Grade energy crystal. The protagonist's ability was not completely up to par; although he had managed to see the peculiarities in this ore and selected it, he had been unable to fully make the most out of the purity of the energy crystal during the purification and sculpting process. This was the main reason for his point deduction, but also the reason he was given extra points.
But, due to Xue Ling's interference and existence, the protagonist never made it to this test. These stones were all judged by Xue Ling's eyes, and in his gaze, the shape, size and purity of the energy crystals in these ores was very clear. So, the selection process did not take him too much time. He merely swept his glance over the entire scene, and then selected a few of the best ones.
He first picked up the ore that contained the SS Grade energy crystal. He planned to use the three energy crystals to build a set of things for Yin Jia, so he had chosen excellent materials. The remaining two stones were the ones with the highest level of purity amongst S Grade, and their shapes coincided with what Xue Ling wanted. After choosing the ores, he placed them into the grinding machine according to the regulations. By the time he turned to enter the second room, Mo Lan had only chosen one ore.
Xue Ling looked back at him, and Mo Lan met his gaze with a lovely smile that wasn't lethal at all. Xue Ling raised his eyebrows before going on ahead. This child was not some powerful rival, and wasn't much different from those on the Star Net who tried to please him in order to become his mother except that he was more inclined towards doing practical things, and had been working hard to be worthy of that person.
Xue Ling wanted to laugh when he thought about it, and finally looked up towards the place where Yin Jia sat in auditorium. Unexpectedly when he raised his head to look over, Yin Jia was also looking over. Xue Ling was dazed as he fell into that pair of deep eyes, and it took a lot of struggle to recover. He stuck his tongue out at Yin Jia, harrumphed, and then brought the energy crystals that had been processed.
With Yin Jia’s observation powers, he would be able to see everything clearly even from even further away. He had seen very clearly that the little nurturer had stuck his tongue out at him. His nose wrinkled in the process and he looked extremely cute. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Mu Xi leaned in from beside him and asked, "Marshal, how much did you displease the little cutie? Look, he has never given you any positive expressions at all."
Yin Jia felt that this child did not necessarily dislike him; he was just overly awkward. He shook his head but didn't reply, and continued to watch Xue Ling’s test.
On the other hand, the people who watched the live stream through the Star Net saw the little interaction between the two people thanks to the little recording robots. For a while, the female fans filled the entire screen with "AHHHHHHHHHHHH", once again blocking the faces of the two people from view.
Another group of people whimpered and cried that the Lord Marshal was so indulgent, they also wanted to be the Marshal's child! They wanted to know if the Marshal's Palace still needed animals or pets, the type that could change forms.
Xue Ling was totally unaware of the bloody storms taking place in the outside world. He was purifying all three energy crystals and, because of his own high requirements, he even directly purified the other two S Grade energy crystals into SS Grade energy stones. He did not have any intention of hiding his ability behind clumsiness during this test, nor did he plan to hide the space from Yin Jia. His relationship with Yin Jia was still fragile and weak, and Xue Ling was prepared to use the existence of the space in order to strengthen the relationship between them.
With a little secret that was only shared between the two of them, their relationship would naturally improve, and he would be able to take things slowly. In any case, the only nurturer who could get close Yin Jia right now was him. If Yin Jia didn’t like him, where else would he find someone to like?
At the end of purification process, Xue Ling submitted the three energy crystals that had already taken on an approximate shape of what he wanted for evaluation.
After the machine displayed its mechanically calculated score, most people were no longer surprised. After all, Xue Ling had already showed them all how a genius was born, so now they would not be surprised no matter what kind of energy crystals Xue Ling produced.
As if!!!
Those were SS Grade energy crystals!!! They had been S Grade just now!!! They had already felt that the school had really outdone themselves this time, but Xue Ling had the ability to turn these crystals into SS Grade through purification!!! Could something like this even be learnt!!! Did he still need to transfer classes!!! He could straight up open a studio and not have to worry about anything for the rest of his life!!! He was absolutely at the Master level!!!
Because it was for Yin Jia, Xue Ling did not hold back at all. This time, Xue Ling no longer left the purity at 95% on purpose, but purified it straight to 99%. Using the system for support, as well as his one-month study of the inheritances left in the space, Xue Ling's golden finger was now fully operational.
He did not intend to become a genius that slowly made his way up. He wanted to be a demon; the kind that was so powerful, nobody could stand up and doubt him. With strength and a powerful background, he would not have to worry about the future at all, and could move straight to his next goal and make a move on Yin Jia.
The entire Star Net was shocked numb by this set of data. They had no doubt that the final energy utilization rate of Xue Ling’s final product would reach 99%. After all, these three rounds of tests had already shocked them too much.
Xue Ling had already made plans for these three sculptures during the past month. These were stones that he had specifically prepared for Yin Jia. The biggest one was a brooch, and the second was a ring. The remaining energy crystal would be sculpted into an ear stud for Xue Ling. Although it was part of the set, Xue Ling was preparing to wear it himself.
Although he couldn't make a pair of matching rings right now, he could still make an ear stud first to satisfy his own possessive desire. As long as Yin Jia put it on, Xue Ling would determine that this person belonged to him.
Because he had already completed the design, Xue Ling began sculpting very quickly. This set of patterns was something he had practiced at home the most, and compared to the previous sculptures, it was also his favorite. Based on his current strength, these items were already at the limit of his sculpting ability.
He was currently still unable to sculpt SSS Grade energy crystals. On one hand, they were rare and extremely difficult to obtain. On the other hand, the teachings inside the golden finger space basically stopped at SS Grade. The carving of SSS Grade energy crystals obviously required Xue Ling to explore by himself and make use of his own personal sculpting techniques.
Spiritual power wrapped around the three energy crystals, and the energy crystal's internal structure was presented in front of Xue Ling. When he began, he showed no hesitation at all, and those melon-seed eating spectators on the side were shocked, their scalps going numb, fearing that these pieces of energy crystals would be completely wasted if his hand slipped.
When he reached the last stage, Xue Ling's spiritual strength had basically been exhausted. Although he had an external plug-in, it couldn't always be made use of like this; after he successfully completed the last step, his face had already turned pale, but he still managed to complete all three sculptures.
The set of three was sent up for grading. The school provided the original ore, but the final product belonged to the student. The price of these ores was included in the fee for the test when they originally signed up. After grading, the school would arrange for someone to pack these things up and send them to the students.
Xue Ling passed the final round with full marks. People had already begun to offer sky-high prices in the live stream room for these pieces of jewelry, and many people expressed their willingness to buy them, but others spoke out to sober them up, "Come on, this Young Master is not short of money. He'll definitely keep this for himself. He has no reason to sell it."
After completing the test, Xue Ling met the headmaster again. Yin Jia was right behind him, and he was pulled into his arms to check over whether or not he was feeling any discomfort. The headmaster laughed as he said, "Congratulations to the Young Master for passing all the tests. There is absolutely no problem with transferring classes. In the future, the Young Master will be attending Class S-1. Your teacher has already contacted us, hoping to give you separate, individual guidance at a more senior level. I hope the Young Master can free up some time to talk to the teacher about this in detail. That person is a senior elder, and one of the peak Masters amongst the Sculptors. I can affirm that he is be the most suitable teacher for the Young Master."
Xue Ling pushed away the hand that Yin Jia had placed on his head and nodded. "Okay. I'll contact the teacher."
Yin Jia frowned and said, “We have to go back first. Your spiritual power has been overused, you need to rest properly."
When the headmaster heard these words, he nodded his head and said, “In that case, the Young Master should go back and rest first. We won't disturb you any further."
Xue Ling had no chance to say any more before he was once again brought away by Yin Jia in front of a crowd. Only, the gazes people used when they looked at him were no longer filled with strangeness, but worship.
The system expressed that its host was very good at putting on an act. Xue Ling ignored it, and then fell asleep on Yin Jia’s shoulder on the way back. It seemed that he was really tired out this time.
Yin Jia somewhat helplessly cuddled the sleeping figure in his arms, and continued carrying him in his arms even when they got off the aircraft, personally bringing him back to his room. Mu Xi watched the Marshal's behaviour with a gratified expression on her face, delighted that the Marshal seemed to have learned a little about how to care for others.
Excessive use of spiritual power required proper rest. Xue Ling woke up from his deep sleep and discovered that he was much more energetic. After getting out of bed and washing up, he went downstairs to ask Mu Xi about today's sculptures.
Everything had been placed in the living room, in front of where Yin Jia was currently sitting. It seemed that he had been sitting there all afternoon, constantly looking at those things. When Xue Ling approached, he discovered that the packaging for these things was also very beautifully done.
Xue Ling first gave the three piece set made out of A Grade energy crystals to Mu Xi. "This is for Sister Mu. You don't usually wear hair ornaments, so it's okay if you want to keep them for decoration or give them away. They are designed like ornaments from ancient times. I looked up a lot of information about them, and designed them accordingly." There was no such thing as hairpins and hair crowns in this world. Xue Ling had crafted this set with the intention that they would be put on display; he had noticed that Mu Xi was very interested in ancient culture, so he had done some research and made this set for her.
Mu Xi was so touched that she almost hugged Xue Ling to give him a few kisses, but because Yin Jia was also present, she could only restrain herself and press him against her chest, almost suffocating him.
Xue Ling’s entire face was flushed thanks to Mu Xi's actions. After being released, he took several deep breaths before bringing out two sculptures from the other set and placing them in front of Yin Jia. "This is for father."
He had already changed out of his school uniform and wore a simple white dress shirt. His hair was still somewhat mussed from sleep, a simple, innocent smile on his face. When he offered up the gifts in his hand, it made Yin Jia's heartbeat speed up in an instant, so quickly he almost lost himself.