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At the Mingdu Junior Soul Engineer Academy, there weren't many guys who could become friends with Meteor without feeling overwhelmed by his talent and strength.
There used to be Xu He and Xiao Hongchen.
But now, one's dead, and the other has graduated. As for guys who could talk to him as equals—none left. The rest were just casual acquaintances he barely interacted with.
Some of them didn't even count as friends.
Guess this is what they mean when they say, "The dragon doesn't hang out with snakes." When the gap in talent and power is too big, it's hard for most people to stay chill. Most just can't handle it.
It's like a math problem—some people rack their brains and still can't figure it out, while others glance at it and instantly know the answer.
That's exactly the kind of gap between Meteor and the rest of his classmates now.
It wasn't just a matter of soul power level—it was also about their martial souls, soul skills, and combat talent. Meteor and his crew were way ahead in every aspect.
In regular class sparring, they were on a whole different level. They could only spar among themselves. Sparring with others wasn't good for either side—it was just unfair.
Their homeroom teacher, Chen Wenwen, could only sigh. Geniuses were always like this—the better they got, the lonelier they became.
Thankfully, this year, there were quite a few geniuses.
Nana, wanting to keep up with them, had been secretly grinding behind the scenes. Good thing her talent wasn't bad. While she couldn't quite match Ye Guyi or Xu Tianzhen, she was still in the top tier.
After school, the six of them headed to Luan Yu's villa. Of the group, only Nana didn't live in the central district of Mingdu.
If training ran late, Nana could just stay over. They'd just send someone to inform her parents so they wouldn't worry.
Nana had already told her parents about her friends. They also knew it was these same friends who had helped their family out in the past.
So, letting Nana stay at a friend's house? Totally fine with them.
"Auntie! We're back! Tianzhen and the others came too. Hurry and show us what you've been working on!"
Meteor pushed open the villa door and shouted as he entered.
"I'm in the training yard. You guys come over."
Luan Yu's voice came from above. The group looked up—it was coming from a soul communicator mounted on the wall.
It was a special kind of soul tool communicator that Luan Yu had recently developed based on Meteor's suggestion. It could detect, transmit visuals, and relay sound. The downside? Its range was only a few hundred meters—not great for long-distance comms or video.
Still, it was impressive enough to leave Xu Tianzhen, Nana, and Ye Guyi marveling over it.
Even Gu Yuena couldn't help but take a closer look.
Only Meteor and Liu Ying weren't surprised. Not only had they known about it beforehand, but this idea actually came from them—they were the ones who gave Luan Yu the inspiration.
And in their original world, the kind of communication tech they had totally outclassed this.
For Luan Yu, a rank-nine Soul Engineer, the tech wasn't the hard part—she could just research and figure it out. The real treasure was inspiration. And when it came to inspiration, Meteor and Liu Ying—literal aliens—had a whole warehouse full in their heads.
The large soul tool Luan Yu was working on now? Yep, also based on ideas from Meteor and Liu Ying.
In front of them stood a small metal room with glass walls.
Gu Yuena frowned. "This is what you meant by the gravity room?"
Meteor nodded.
Luan Yu placed a small black cube at the corner of the wall outside the room, then clapped her hands and looked at Gu Yuena with a smile. "You must be Gu Yuena—the only one who can actually go toe-to-toe with my two little monsters. Gotta say, you're a real beauty."
Gu Yuena's face darkened. This human… kinda pervy, huh?
Luan Yu tapped the glass wall, eyes full of excitement. "Yep, this is the gravity room. I based it off the gravity control soul skill and built it into a soul tool. This is just the first version—it goes up to 10 times gravity. Should be more than enough for you kids to train in."
"The gravity level can be adjusted—just change the soul power output. More output, higher gravity. But when you start, better keep it at just 1x."
"For real? I wanna try it!"
Xu Tianzhen was pumped. The whole concept sounded awesome, and she was itching to see what it could do.
Luan Yu grinned mischievously and opened the glass door. "Alright then, ladies first."
"What do I need to do?"
Xu Tianzhen, super curious, walked straight in. Once the glass door shut, her voice came through the little black cube Luan Yu had just set down. Turns out that was another communicator.
"Ready? I'm turning it on."
Inside the gravity room, Xu Tianzhen tensed up, her body bracing instinctively.
Then a flash of light appeared, and BAM—an invisible force came crashing down on her. Her knees buckled, and she fell straight to the ground, arms spread to support herself.
"Ugh—so… heavy…" she groaned from the floor.
Outside the room, Gu Yuena's eyes sparkled. "Ah, I see now. This uses gravity to apply pressure across the entire body—muscles, organs, everything. What a brilliant training method."
Meteor grinned proudly. "Thanks for the compliment."
Gu Yuena looked at him in surprise. "Wait, you came up with this?"
Meteor shamelessly nodded. "Yep, yours truly—the genius himself."
Liu Ying rolled her eyes and shot him a look. Sure, Meteor came up with it here, but she knew full well this wasn't originally his idea.
Ye Guyi didn't care who invented it. She just lit up and said, "This method's way better than running or weighted training. If I train in the gravity room every day, I bet my physical strength will skyrocket in no time!"
But Luan Yu shook her head. "Don't overdo it. Gravity training is super effective, but if you stay in too long, it can damage your internal organs—even your heart. So you have to control your training time."
"After each session, you'll need to take body-repairing meds, and sometimes even get healing from a support-type soul master—otherwise you could end up with lasting injuries."
Everyone nodded. The gravity room was amazing, but it came with a price. You'd need specialized healers and medicinal cooks to support the training—that's not something most families could afford.
But for Meteor and his crew?
No problem at all.
"....."