She said, "From now on, we'll increase the Spiritual Attack and Defense courses by two sessions each day."

Ji Jue's eyes nearly popped out of shock, "Isn't... that a bit unnecessary?"

"No, it's necessary, very necessary."

Professor Ye glanced at his hands, "At the very least, not until you can fully control the Non-attack. Do you think when Saints roll up their sleeves they have two big flowery tattoos? It's an eyesore just to look at."

"Ah... this..."

Ji Jue wanted to speak but halted. He always felt that Professor Ye's dislike wasn't limited to such tattoo-like markings; it seemed she was also not too fond of the Non-attack technique.

But he dared not continue asking such life-threatening questions and could only change the subject, "Do I need to learn boxing as well?"

"There's no need," Professor Ye shook her head, "We're not without guns, just learn the necessary handling techniques, that should be enough for inconvenient situations. If it really comes down to hand-to-hand combat, you might as well accept death."

"But..."

Ji Jue pondered for a moment and asked doubtfully, "What if we encounter situations where guns are useless?"

After all, High-rank Chosen Ones being bulletproof was pretty much standard practice.

The killing power driven by gunpowder was ultimately limited.

Facing the likes of Mr. Lou, a warrior with federal coins, fully equipped with Shields, one was bound to suffer.

"The conflict of spear and shield is endless."

Professor Ye gave him a meaningful look, "If the opponent's defense is too strong, think of a way to make an even stronger and more powerful gun yourself, or perhaps, try to be an academic Chosen One, learning to be kind to others, avoiding conflict... which choice will you make?"

Without hesitation, Ji Jue earnestly replied, "Of course, the latter!"

With that, Professor Ye nodded in satisfaction.

"A student worth teaching."

Indeed, he was a student she had taught herself.

On this issue, he made the same choice as her... whether or not he could create guns was another matter, but at least in terms of keeping up appearances, she had no concerns.

"What's next, any thoughts?"

She asked casually, "When to start the courses, there are a ton of them waiting for you besides the Dissociation Technique, Ji Jue, don't think that life as a graduate student will be leisurely."

"Ah... this..."

Just a few days ago he was struggling between life and death in the Crack Realm, and now back in Cliff City, he was about to revert to being a study machine with daily classes—a strikingly disjointed life indeed.

However, for Ji Jue, it was rather a delightful hardship.

Learning! His mind was filled with nothing but study! Studying made him joyful!

"But, before that, I have some thoughts I'd like to ask for your guidance on..."

After catching his breath, he weakly pulled out a notebook from his bag and after some searching, found his messy notes and hand-sketched diagrams.

Just by looking at the notes, one could only say they were very characteristic of a craftsman; thoughts hastily scribbled on paper, a hammer here, a mallet there—chaotic, with various jargon and numerical calculations mixed in.

Even more outrageous than a doctor's prescription, which at least could be understood by a professional.

However, although messy and painful to the eyes, Professor Ye could at least make out what he had written.

It was a design schematic.

Although some parts had not been empirically verified and were purely conceptual, from a practical standpoint, they were not difficult to realize.

"Hmm?"

Her finger tapped on her knee, she subconsciously sipped her tea, put her glasses back on, and took out a pen from her pocket. After a moment of thoughtful silence, she began to make direct corrections.

Under her revised pen, a whole set of lightweight design for power-assist braces, electromagnetic muscle bundles, and cushioned joint combinations started to take shape on the paper.

Much of the data that required calculation and verification was directly concluded without going through the verification steps.

"There's no problem with stability; it's conventional. With designs that already have many mature examples, the last thing you want to do is haphazardly add components without restraint; being conservative is correct."

Her pen did not stop. Beyond mechanical design, she added references for alchemy treatments and in her final comment noted, "Having returned from a trip to the Crack Realm, I thought your attitude might be sky-high by now, but it seems you're still down to earth."

"Ah, thank you, Teacher!"

Ji Jue held the notebook, smiling broadly from ear to ear.

Professor Ye did not ruthlessly modify his design but instead, continued with the original concept, making slight additions that transformed the design's feasibility and practicality, almost letting it skip the lengthy process of trial and error to be produced directly as a final product.

Furthermore, she provided further simplified ideas based on the original lightweight concept and even suggested directions for replacing some module functions with Ji Jue's own alchemy creations.

"Overall, there's somewhat of an idea, but not much, plus, it's too crude and lazy—"

The professor finally asked, "Why did you only design the leg parts and not the full set?"

"Because it's not necessary."

Ji Jue chuckled, "The friend in need only has a problem with his right leg, and it's too inconvenient to always use crutches, so I thought since I have the ability, I would start by making a more convenient tool for him."

"..."

Professor Ye didn't say another word.

In her silence, she looked at the student before her and, after a long while, let out an almost self-mocking, silent sigh.

"Teacher?" Ji Jue was puzzled.

"It's nothing."

She rose slowly and said, "Let's go, the Melting Furnace happens to be free right now, and I can let you use it, but don't expect me to help with the practical work.

Have you thought about what materials to use?"

"Since it's for daily use, there's no need for expensive materials or overly complex treatments," Ji Jue replied fluently, "I'll use basic materials such as composite aluminum and tungsten alloy, and for the rest of the toughness and strength requirements, I'll use alchemy to adjust."

"What about the joints?"

"I'll use the template from the planetary gear paper I gave you this morning, modified and miniaturized."

"Have you considered the braking problem? There's no such part in your design."

"I want to try replacing it with an Entropy System's magnetofluidic diversion method, not sure if that's feasible."

"That's indeed a good approach, but it's a high difficulty for an apprentice—if you want to try, I won't discourage you," Professor Ye replied, touched, "You seem to have considered pretty much everything."

"Yeah, I've been pondering over this whenever I had the time."

"Then give it a try, get what you need from the warehouse, but don't think you can fool me with trash on your first independent creation," Professor Ye instructed in conclusion, "If it really doesn't work out, go back and diligently relearn the basics."

"Alright."

Ji Jue nodded, gazing at the glowing furnace, unable to restrain his smile.

Since becoming a craftsman apprentice, his very first alchemy work creation...

Was finally about to begin!

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