The forging preparations were proceeding in full swing. After Huo Yuhao provided the Bear Lord and his kin with some basic forging methods and the logic behind achieving "Thousand-Forging," less than ten days had passed before the dozen or so Darkgold Terrorclaws Bears with over ten thousand years of cultivation had completely mastered the forging of Thousand-Forged metal.
Among them, Bear Lord was even working bit by bit toward the direction of Spirit-Forging, following the feasible concepts provided by Huo Yuhao.
It was worth mentioning that, perhaps due to the unique nature of Thousand-Forged metal or the fact that the Darkgold Terrorclaws Bears used their own hands as forging hammers, those ten-plus high-level bears clearly felt their "Terrorclaws" merging slightly with the metal being forged.
Even their attributes, which were already infinitely close to Ultimate Gold, seemed to undergo a slight transformation. This greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the Darkgold Terrorclaws Bears. They all strove toward the higher level of "Spirit-Forging" in hopes of completing their own evolution.
Bear Lord, for his part, had become uncharacteristically quiet. He spent all day pondering how to forge and had even begun taking notes to record his forging insights!
The other Ferocious Beasts were left utterly stunned by the sight.
"This is the first time I've ever seen that fellow Bear Lord start reading books..."
Watching Bear Lord in the distance—who was seriously reading a book titled Properties and Transformations of Metals—the Myriad Demon King couldn't help but feel an odd sense of sentimental wonder.
The world is truly changing fast; even Bear Lord is reading now...
"Perhaps this is what Elder Yi called 'the changing of the times.' Swept up by the era, everyone—even soul beasts—must make changes to adapt."
Hearing the philosophical words of the Scarlet King beside him, Myriad Demon King unconsciously looked back: "You haven't started reading books too, have you?"
Scarlet King nodded:
"Recently, the Auspicious Beast has been staying at the Lake of Life, so I've been free and have a lot of time to myself."
Change is contagious.
For soul beasts, especially Ferocious Beasts like them, the past tens or even hundreds of thousands of years were spent living almost the same day over and over. Everything was immutable.
Even if they grew weary of this monotony, they had no choice but to endure it silently until they eventually became numb.
However, since Huo Yuhao and Electrolux stepped into the Core Zone, a different feeling had begun to spread.
To these soul beasts, this change was so conspicuous and different that they unconsciously wanted to try it for themselves.
Admittedly, Scarlet King used to be hostile toward humans... and he still mostly is, but the difference now is that since Electrolux began holding classes to guide the soul beasts, Scarlet King realized he had truly wasted a vast amount of time.
After just a few lessons, he stopped relying solely on his innate talent and instead began actively taking control of his own power. This caused his combat strength to undergo a earth-shattering transformation.
Conservatively speaking, the current him could fight two of his past selves.
When he asked Electrolux why this was the case, Electrolux simply answered with one word: "Knowledge."
Thus, Scarlet King began to delve into books from the human world and various texts Electrolux extracted from his memories for the soul beasts to read.
"Haven't you noticed?" Scarlet King suddenly asked.
"What?"
"Now, none of the Ferocious Beasts above the hundred-thousand-year level in the entire Star Constellation Great Forest dare to go to sleep."
Myriad Demon King fell silent.
Indeed, in the past, deep slumber was their normal state. No matter what happened in the outside world, to them, it was just a matter of taking a nap.
Their long lifespans brought a slow pace of life. Even if a dozen Level 99 Limit Douluos suddenly appeared outside, the beasts only needed to sleep once, and those Limit Douluos would all be swept into the dustbin of history.
But now, with the appearance of Huo Yuhao, they truly didn't dare to sleep at all.
The era is changing too quickly—so fast that what might be a short nap to them could result in the world becoming unrecognizable when they wake up.
"I think I understand why the Lord chose that human," Myriad Demon King said, looking at Huo Yuhao, who was conversing with Electrolux in the distance.
"Why?"
"Probably... it's exactly this sense of bringing change and hope..."
...
In the distance, by the shores of the Lake of Life, Huo Yuhao was discussing the matter of artificial soul bones with Electrolux.
"...So, Elder Yi, your meaning is to give up on artificial soul bones?" Huo Yuhao's expression was a bit strange.
"Not to give up, but to change based on that foundation," Electrolux said calmly.
"In truth, since I first encountered the system of this world, I felt the Soul Master system was somewhat deformed. Breakthroughs require hunting soul beasts to obtain soul rings, and there is a certain chance of obtaining a soul bone after the kill.
"Both soul rings and soul bones come with attached skills. This allows humans to stop thinking about honing their own crafts and instead pursue more efficient, easily obtained soul rings.
"This directly leads to a lack of profound techniques in this world; in fact, the vast majority of techniques are very primitive.
"And the soul beasts, as the source of soul rings and soul bones, naturally became the antagonists of humanity.
"It is as if the rules of the world drive humans to oppress soul beasts until their extinction. If it weren't for the 'Artificial Soul Ring Device' you created, Yuhao, the Soul Master system would likely have vanished along with the soul beasts in the future once the source of soul rings was lost."
Electrolux shook his head, offering his critique of the deformed Soul Master system. After a brief pause, he continued:
"Both soul rings and soul bones are, in a sense, external objects that do not belong to the body. While these objects provide great power in the early stages, if one wishes to reach a higher level, these things will become constraints.
"For instance, the artificial soul rings you researched are essentially energy constraining energy.
"Although soul rings absorbed this way are indeed purer than those from hunting soul beasts, they still mix in the Power of Faith to derive soul skills. The end result isn't much different from a soul ring obtained by killing a beast.
"Similarly, mass-breeding Soft-Boned Rabbits to devour Blue Silver Grass of various attributes—allowing their skeletons to accumulate elemental energy—and then killing them to extract 'Artificial Soul Bones' isn't much different from normal soul bones.
"These two types of 'external objects' provide assistance, but they also become shackles.
"Instead of spinning a cocoon to imprison yourself, my suggestion is: just as you self-condensed your soul rings, you should go and self-condense your soul bones!"
"Self-condensed soul bones..."
Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered as his line of thought was instantly blasted open.
Researching alone always leaves blind spots. Huo Yuhao was once a Soul Master; thinking from that perspective, he naturally assumed soul rings and soul bones were necessities.
This led naturally to the creation of artificial soul rings and his request for Elder Yi to research artificial soul bones.
But now, Elder Yi's words had awakened him.