They came here to study, but they couldn’t understand—why would someone bring a loudspeaker to school…?

This was simply too bizarre, too much of a twist. Especially since the sound from that loudspeaker was thunderously loud, everyone was left dumbfounded, even David Clark was completely stunned, unable to help glancing several times at the exaggerated loudspeaker in Brian Brooks’s hand.

Brian Brooks looked on with satisfaction at the scene, calmly stuffing the loudspeaker into his small bag. This was one of his treasured possessions that he always carried with him. As someone well-versed in the autobiographies of high officials, he knew very well that a powerful loudspeaker could make a huge difference during campaign speeches.

Seeing that everyone was intimidated by him, Brian Brooks held his head high and walked forward. When he saw David Clark, David Clark hesitated for a moment, glanced again at Brian Brooks’s small bag, and then waved him over.

“This David Clark is a good guy,” Brian Brooks’s eyes lit up, and he hurried over to sit down.

It was only at this moment that the rest of the students in the classroom finally recovered. One by one, they immediately became furious and were just about to retaliate when a bell sounded. An elderly man, thin and dressed in black Daoist robes with a head of white hair, slowly walked in.

His expression was cold and unapproachable, naturally exuding an oppressive aura that made every student in the classroom shudder involuntarily, fall silent, and quietly watch as the black-robed elder walked to the podium.

Brian Brooks also quickly looked over.

The black-robed elder swept his gaze over the crowd and spoke indifferently.

“The Department of Magical Arms has three main classes: Spirit Stone Studies, Rune Studies, and Spirit Blank Studies. As for me… I am one of the five instructors of Spirit Stone Studies, William Harris.”

“The stone wall beside me is the Spirit Stone Studies’ Magical Arms Ranking. I hope that one day, all of you will have your names on it.”

“Class begins now! But before learning how to refine spirit stones, you must first understand one thing: why… do we refine spirit stones? Why does everyone practice the Spirit Nurturing Technique?” As he spoke, the elder casually raised his right hand and, with a simple grasp, a milky-white stone the size of a fist appeared out of thin air in his hand.

This scene immediately shocked many students again. David Clark, who was knowledgeable, took a breath beside Brian Brooks and spoke in a low voice.

“Mr. Harris has a storage artifact!”

Brian Brooks also widened his eyes. Although he had heard of storage artifacts, he had never actually seen one. They weren’t available on the market at all—he’d only occasionally seen them mentioned in the news, appearing at major auctions, and each one fetched a price beyond his imagination.

As for that milky-white stone, all the students were familiar with it. It was the blank stone required for refining spirit stones.

“Thirty-seven years ago, with the arrival of the Sword of the Starry Sky, a new energy suddenly appeared in this world—spiritual energy! The spiritual energy was incredibly abundant, but since it had never existed before, according to the Federation’s research, if spiritual energy continues to nourish the land for hundreds of years, it will affect jade and eventually form spirit stone mines!”

The black-robed elder spoke calmly. At the same time, the white stone in his hand was emitting an increasingly intense glow. One could vaguely see the space around the elder distorting slightly, as if invisible spiritual energy was being manipulated by him, drawn and merged into the stone.

“But now, it’s only the thirty-seventh year of the Spiritual Era, far from the time needed to form spirit stone mines. If we want spirit stones, they must be artificially made. That’s why all factions promote the Spirit Nurturing Technique as a universal practice—to turn everyone into miners, producing spirit stones to serve as currency, so that the quantity of spirit stones becomes vast enough to supply the world’s cultivation needs.”

“And because everyone’s affinity with spiritual energy and other factors differ, the purity of the spirit stones each person refines also varies. That’s where the concept of aptitude comes in. For example, to qualify for admission to White Deer Dao Academy, you must be able to refine a spirit stone with at least seventy percent purity. My Misty Dao Academy’s requirement is a bit lower, but at the very least, you need fifty percent purity!”

His words and the transformation of the blank stone left everyone in the classroom amazed. This was so different from what they usually heard, and the elder’s ease in refining spirit stones was equally astonishing.

“Everyone is a miner… able to talk and refine spirit stones at the same time…” Brian Brooks’s heart was pounding wildly. He could also refine spirit stones, but every time he had to focus all his attention—if he got distracted, he would fail.

The black-robed elder paid no mind to the students’ shock, calmly continuing to refine the spirit stone as he spoke again.

“Now a new question arises: is there really only one part to the Spirit Nurturing Technique?”

“I can tell you with certainty: what everyone learns is the first part, Spirit Absorption, which strengthens the body and allows spiritual energy to enter. However, it cannot be stored inside the body—like wind passing through a hall, it quickly dissipates. But if you hold a blank spirit stone and control it with your mind, your body acts as a medium, and you can refine a spirit stone. Spirit stones are also classified: lower grade, middle grade, upper grade, and… the ultimate seven-colored spirit stone!”

“As for the second part, only magical arms refiners can access it, because the sword hilt fragment containing the Spirit Nurturing Technique was originally… about magical arms refining! It’s just that the first part’s incidental function of refining spirit stones led to its spread and universal practice.”