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A Real-Combat Soul Engineer is someone who can push their soul tools to the limit—or even beyond—using soul power to unleash effects that surpass the tool's normal capabilities. But they go a step further: they use soul tools to enhance their martial soul and soul skills to the max, achieving battle power that exceeds their natural limits.
Most Real-Combat Soul Engineers only use a handful of soul tools. That's very different from regular soul engineers, who usually carry eight to ten pieces of equipment—or even more. Some go overboard and carry hundreds of different kinds.
To put it simply, Real-Combat Soul Engineers are like traditional soul masters who just picked up a weapon—like a god pulling out their divine artifact.
They're basically building on their own power with external tools.
In general, Real-Combat Soul Engineers are stronger than regular soul engineers, and sometimes even stronger than traditional soul masters. That's why the Sun-Moon Empire started experimenting with them as a way to counter traditional soul masters. It might not be super obvious now, but once the first generation of Real-Combat Soul Engineers matures, they're bound to surprise those traditional masters.
Actually, it's pretty easy for a traditional soul master to switch to being a Real-Combat Soul Engineer. All they need is someone to custom-make a few soul tools for them. After they get used to using them, boom—they're qualified.
Even those support-type soul masters with zero combat ability can suddenly gear up with some buffing soul tools, grab a pair of soul-powered blades, and slash their way from Star Luo to the Sun-Moon Empire, no problem.
Just look at the first Douluo Dalu series—didn't the main character do exactly that? He was a soul master using hidden weapons to beat way stronger opponents. Soul tools are basically upgraded versions of those hidden weapons. That's part of the reason why the famous Tang Sect declined.
Of course, from Meteor's point of view, the fall of the Tang Sect wasn't just because of soul tools. They had a bunch of internal issues too.
"Have you picked out the soul beasts you want yet? If not, I'll choose for you."
Luan Yu closed her book and looked at Meteor. She and her sister were pretty confident in training soul masters. Even though they were soul engineers themselves, and their own Fire Phoenix Sword and Ice Phoenix Sword hadn't reached full potential, they still had a decent amount of experience in nurturing talent—being Titled Douluos gives you that kind of perspective.
Based on Luan Yu's travels and her observations of top sect disciples across the continent, most of them tend to follow a consistent path. If they inherit the same martial soul, the soul skills they get from soul rings are often similar.
This is the result of thousands of years of knowledge passed down through the sects. They know which soul beasts produce the best soul skills for their martial soul. That mainly applies to the first few rings, though.
After that, it all depends on luck. High-level soul beasts are just too unpredictable—if it fits, it fits; you can't afford to be picky.
After watching Meteor and Liuying, Luan Yu and Fire Phoenix Douluo both agreed: for the first few soul rings, they should aim for soul beasts that grant buff-type soul skills. Once you reach Titled Douluo level, those early rings with weaker soul skills won't keep up in a fight—they're basically useless. But if those early rings give buff skills, they'll still be valuable even at higher levels.
In Douluo Continent, fire-type soul beasts are easy to find. But destruction-type beasts? Not so much. The Sun-Moon Empire has fewer soul beasts overall than the original three kingdoms of Douluo, and destruction-type beasts are super rare.
Getting one of those depends purely on luck. Fire-type beasts, though, are more available—they live in the Evil Demon Forest and the Mingdou Great Forest, both within Sun-Moon Empire territory.
As for the famous Star Dou Great Forest, that's way too far. It's located at the border of the original three kingdoms, so people from the Sun-Moon Empire can't exactly waltz in and hunt there.
At Meteor and Liuying's current level, they don't need to go all the way to the Star Dou Forest anyway. Low-year soul beasts can be found closer. Later on, if they need high-end soul beasts with top bloodlines, then yeah, it might be worth making the trip. The Star Dou Forest has the best selection of high-bloodline beasts.
Same deal with the Mingdou Great Forest. It's at the border between the Sun-Moon and Star Luo Empires. Both sides have troops stationed there and occasionally get into skirmishes. If they bumped into Star Luo soldiers while hunting, that'd be a huge headache.
That's why the Evil Demon Forest—just outside Mingdu—is the best option. It has the largest number of soul beasts in the Sun-Moon Empire, and there's definitely something suitable for Meteor and Liuying's first soul rings. Sure, it's dangerous—the forest is home to some of the strongest beasts in the entire empire, including the infamous Evil Emperor, ranked second among the Ten Great Beasts, who once fought the Beast God Ditian and walked away alive.
But Meteor and Liuying only need soul beasts up to a thousand years old. Beasts like that usually live on the outskirts of the forest. And with Luan Yu—a Level 9 Soul Engineer—leading the hunt, they'll stay in the safe zones. As long as their luck isn't absolute garbage, they won't run into any 100,000-year soul beasts.
Safety's pretty much guaranteed.
Having a Titled Douluo help you hunt for your first soul ring? That's a luxury even most heirs of top sects can't dream of. Even princes and princesses from the four empires rarely get this kind of treatment.
Meteor and Liuying were insanely lucky. Thanks to Luan Yu's kindness, they went from commoners to nobles overnight.
Fire Phoenix Douluo had to stay behind to oversee the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Corps. Without a direct order from the emperor, she couldn't leave Mingdu. That's one of the restrictions that come with joining the Empire. If you're getting their support, they expect you to be around when they need you.
That's also why Luan Yu never joined the Empire. She prefers the freedom to explore and see the world.
Since she doesn't hold any official position, she can leave Mingdu whenever she wants. So she's the one taking Meteor and Liuying to get their first soul rings.
The Evil Demon Forest is located in the southern part of the Sun-Moon Empire, not far from Mingdu. Just pass through a city called Risheng, and you're there.
After saying goodbye to Fire Phoenix Douluo, Luan Yu took Meteor and Liuying south, heading out through the city's southern gate.
When they reached the checkpoint in the south district, they spotted Shangguan Wei'er and Ye Guyi already waiting near the road. With them was none other than the heir to a noble house, Xu Tianran, chatting and laughing with Shangguan Wei'er. Xu Tianzhen was also there.
Meteor wasn't surprised to see them. After he and Liuying awakened their martial souls, both Xu Tianran and Shangguan Wei'er looked into them and found out they had innate full soul power.
Not a shock—Xu Tianran is the son of a powerful duke, and Shangguan Wei'er is a Level 9 Soul Engineer who controls all of Mingdu's entertainment industry and a big chunk of its food business. Of course they had access to that info.
As it turns out, both Xu Tianzhen and Ye Guyi also had innate full soul power. Since they awakened their martial souls at the same time as Meteor and Liuying, they were also about to go get their first soul rings. So Shangguan Wei'er reached out to her old classmate, Luan Yu, and asked her to bring Ye Guyi along too.
"....."