Augmented Reality Glasses

Tang Wulin and Wu Siduo stood side by side in the teacher's office. Wu Zhangkong looked over the papers in his hand. They were written and signed by both sides. An agreement to disband the group and form new ones.

Siduo's new group consisted of herself as the leader, accompanied by Luo Guixing, Yang Nianxia, Zheng Yiran, Xu Yucheng, Li Tai, Yu Tian, Wen Bao and Liu Liu. A total of nine members, some included more for their power than their skill in the second profession.

On the other hand Tang Wulin was the leader of his group, as he was previously, joined by Gu Yue, Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan and finally, Val Karni. Five members in total, though Tang Wulin mentioned he had two more people in mind to help in the future.

Karni could guess who they meant. Xu Lizhi and Ye Xinglan, though he couldn't say he knew, since he never met them before.

Wu Zhangkong nodded at the two, though he did question the last name on Wulin's list. Why did Val Karni stay with Tang Wulin? Was there a fall out or was the guy an opportunist. Maybe a little bit of both? If he knew that this was a 'game' that Val Karni and Wu Siduo were playing with them a bit, he'd probably have a crack in that icy expression.

"Mm. We'll allow it, since everything is in order." Shen Yi looked from the side at the list. She was the actual authority on this more so than Wu Zhangkong. This would turn into a battle for the leaders of the class.

With that out of the way, Tang Wulin and Wu Siduo silently walked together back to the class.

Val Karni still sat at the same place, as did Wu Siduo. It's not like they were actually fighting, and even if they were, they didn't feel like changing the seats. Unfortunately for Karni, right now he was being bothered by one of the genius youth ranking people. Zheng Yiran specifically.

"You're a traitor. The only one on our level who didn't join the team. So why are you sitting among us? Since you like those guys so much, why don't you move to the first row? That way I can sit here."

Karni just sighed. "You really don't know how Sisi is, do you? You do realise you'll probably get some additional training right? Based on those scratches on you, you've already gotten a beating yesterday, so why exactly do you want more?"

Zheng Yiran felt insulted, because Karni was speaking in a manner-of-factly voice. "Luo Guixing, why aren't you getting rid of him? Why are you okay with him still being here."

Luo Guixing made a fake smile of kindness. "Because our fearless leader doesn't want us to."

"So what? We'd be doing her a favour."

"I am in-between you two, you do know that right?" Karni felt exasperated.

"You shut up. You don't get a say in this." Zheng Yiran hissed. She really did feel like her Martial Soul. The Jade Phosphor Snake.

Karni just stared. "If anyone's gonna make anyone shut up it will be me, since I can take away your voice. So how about you stop acting so tough?" This chick was really getting on his nerves.

"Kiki? Why are you threatening my teammates."

"Sister Siduo!" Zheng Yiran smiled. "I was just teaching this guy that he shouldn't act so familiar with you anymore, since he betrayed us."

Siduo returned the smile. "If he stops being familiar with me because of you, I'll probably 'train' you everyday from now on."

Zheng Yiran's face turned pale.

"Now get back in line and let me talk to my best friend you fucking moron." Siduo shooed Zheng Yiran away, who didn't dare to talk back anymore.

Siduo sat down, satisfied. "Kiki, if she bothers you again, just say so, I'll give her extra training for it."

Karni smiled. "No worries. I can handle her myself anyway, if she keeps on yapping, I can always just make her stop doing that."

"I know you can, and I'll allow you to, but tell me anyway, since I want to keep them in check."

Luo Guixing who was listening in felt shivers down his spine. He made the correct decision to not go along with Zheng Yiran.

Another person was looking at them, utterly confused. It was Tang Wulin. Did those two really have a fight? If anything, they seemed exactly like they were before. Gu Yue was also looking at them weirdly, then again Karni did say that the two were very close. One disagreement wouldn't destroy a close bond.

Shen Yi stood atop the lectern. "Before we begin with today's lesson, we have new students joining us. Please welcome Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi."

New student a month into the semester? Luo Guixing was interested, Shrek wouldn't approve of just anyone at such a weird period.

A girl with blonde hair and sharp, uninterested eyes entered, as well as a chubby boy with an excited smile. Tang Wulin from the front waved at them, which made Luo Guixing smile. An idea for a sneaky plot. 

Karni whispered to him. "Give up on it. Sisi won't be interested, and those guys know each other already."

Luo Guixing glanced at him, but didn't answer; though he did take his words to heart. Karni didn't seem the shrewd type to him. That was something Luo Guixing guessed wrong. Karni did love to mess with people as long as he had someone to do it with. Though unlike Siduo, he preferred to do it light-heartedly. The current situation was a bit different, since he wanted to help Siduo.

Xu Lizhi and Ye Xinglan sat in the first row, left of Tang Wulin's team. The two waved back at Tang Wulin.

After class was over, he approached them. Karni could discern from a distance that they were talking about joining the team, though Ye Xinglan didn't seem to care.

"Kiki, I'll go practice with the team and discuss our situation. See you later in the sect?"

"Mm. See you later." Karni waved her goodbye. "Oh and Sisi, those two will make it even harder for you to win."

Siduo smiled. "I did say I wanted a challenge."

Karni focused back on the conversation between Tang Wulin and Ye Xinglan. Once Tang Wulin mentioned Battle Armour, he finally caught her attention. In another minute, they were already approaching the group.

"Val Karni, these two are Ye Xinglan and Xie Xie, the other's have met them already."

Karni simply nodded at them with a smile and smiled especially widely at Xu Lizhi, since the guy seemed relaxed. He felt like he'd find a friend in him. A kindred soul of Martial Souls.

"Who's the main designer? Gu Yue?" Ye Xinglan looked at her, but Gu Yue shook her head.

"It's Val Karni." She answered herself.

Karni waved at Ye Xinglan again. "I'll show you some of my early designs later so you can get used to my style, though we'll have to change them later, because of Tang Wulin's plans."

"Hm. If I can't understand your plans from the beginning, then they're probably not that good."

Karni just smiled back. "You'll understand them, don't worry."

The girl raised her eyebrow. "What rank are you?"

"5th."

Now Ye Xinglan's eyes went wide.

"And you?"

"Also 5th."

Karni just smiled back. He didn't really seem surprised. Ye Xinglan couldn't help but shrivel back at that.

"With that we have three 5-star professions!" Xie Xie was happy.

Karni was also happy. "Indeed, so get stronger so you learn to hold your own weight." Since he's going to be the villain of the group anyway, might as well embrace it a little. Then again… Xie Xie was an easy target.

"Huh? You wanna go at it?"

"Actually? I wouldn't mind? I haven't truly fought you guys yet. I'm interested."

Xie Xie stared at him. "Good! Let's go right now."

Tang Wulin sighed. "One fight. After that, we have to discuss our plans."

… … …

"Ye Xinglan, here, take a quick look while we spar." Karni took out his blueprints for the Battle Armour he had designed so far. Ye Xinglan accepted them, but her thoughts were a bit different. Karni felt extremely confident about his win, telling her to get a quick look.

Xie Xie already stood on the field impatiently. Karni finally moved up to the field, his Bo Staff out. He directly put it in the drumstick form.

Tang Wulin moved to the centre. "Begin!"

Karni started the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer. Five seconds to get to 9 hits. Xie Xie rushed in and reached him in only two seconds, but Karni didn't forget to use his first Soul Ring. He used the Drunken Ghost Dance to smoothly dodge Xie Xie, but Xie Xie wasn't your run of the mill Agility Type Soul Master either.

He quickly caught up with Karni before a single second passed. Xie Xie's first Soul Ring lit up and a blade of light attacked Karni while Xie Xie's third Soul Ring shone as well. Karni had to use Vision Bestowal fast to dodge through the clones that appeared. Xie Xie slowed down Karni's build up of Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer too.

With Vision Bestowal and Golden Insight working together with the Drunken Ghost Dance, he found many gaps to squeeze through Xie Xie's clone attacks. Finally, he reached the 8th hit in the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer and Xie Xie sped up, knowing that Karni had been learning the technique. He knew how Tang Wulin used it; from the 9th hit on, Karni would become dangerous.

Xie Xie activated his second Soul Ring, though there were two activated at the same time. The Light and Shadow Dragon Storm came to be, and Karni didn't see an escape point before he could get the 9th hit in. His Black soul ring shone and he used the already rotating drumstick to Shift out of the encirclement. Xie Xie hit nothing.

In that instance, Xie Xie heard the melodic 9th hit and was shaken by the sound.

Karni hit it again and at the 10th hit immediately sent it at Xie Xie's direction who tried to intercept it with the still ongoing Light and Shadow Dragon Storms. The drumstick bounced back, but one of the storms was interrupted.

The drumstick returned before the remaining storm hit Karni. Karni spun the 11th hit back at the remaining ability, the sound and force becoming ever stronger. The remaining Dragon Storm and the drumstick clashed. The Dragon Storm was destroyed again.

Karni used the spinning of the returning drumstick to Shift close to Xie Xie, who just got knocked out of the Dragon Storm. He stabbed him in the abdomen with the drumstick he held in his hand, while behind him, the other drumstick was slowly turning to go towards its partner.

Xie Xie vanished, poofing into thin air. It was one of the clones. From the side, the real Xie Xie approached him with speed, and Karni moved away with the Drunken Ghost Dance.

Xie Xie was faster though, he quickly reached Karni and… then got hit in the face. The drumstick flying around decided to return, but hit Xie Xie's face beforehand. Karni only thought of using it as a surprise attack at the last second.

Xie Xie was on the ground and Karni stood above him, still building up the hits.

"Ugh. I give, you win."

"It was a good fight." Karni cancelled the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer and helped Xie Xie up.

"Next time, be more of a pest, it's one of your strong points."

"What?!" Xie Xie was bewildered. He already lost. Did Karni have to trash talk as well?

"No, no, I don't mean it in a bad way. I mean you should overwhelm your opponent with a bunch of constant attacks, not letting someone else breathe. If you would've done that storm attack from the beginning I'd have a lot more difficulty." Then again, Karni was waiting to use his bloodline as well, but did not get the chance.

"Oh."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I just want to try something out real quick." He had some new ideas on how to use his version of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer.

He stepped to the field alone and started up the technique. At the 9th hit, he sent it in the distance, while at the same time, Shifting on the other side of the drumstick. Instead of the drumstick circling back to him, it now continued straight in his direction. The 10th hit soon sounded and he turned it back to where it came from, then Shifted again with the fourth soul ring.

11th hit came. He smiled. Yes. This was another way of building up the Stacks while moving around constantly.

"Excuse me."

Karni stopped the technique and looked at the person who approached him. It was Ye Xinglan. Right. He gave her the designs as well.

"How did you design these? I can literally feel how I should carve this out. How did you do it?"

"It's a side effect of my martial soul."

"Since you're talking already," Tang Wulin interrupted the conversation, "let's go somewhere private and fully disc uss our plans.We're finally a team of seven, I'll register you guys later on."

… … …

"When are you creating your first piece? I already finished two, you know?"

"Probably this week. I just finished with the plans for one of Tang Wulin's pieces. It took a bit longer since it was my first time, though I also didn't expect it to take me a whole month. I only hope that Ye Xinglan is strong enough to actually carve it out. She might be a 5-Star Manufacturer, but she still has three rings."

"That girl is more talented than me huh. I guess Gu Yue did find someone better." Siduo sighed. Right now, the two were in an elevator, going down to the Science Division of the Tang Sect.

"Don't say that. You're a 4-star both in Manufacturing and Mechanics, you've got more research to cover. Besides, if everything goes well today, it's graduation to fifth rank for you no?"

"If. I still can't believe they're letting us lead the final improvement on AR technology."

"I'm feeling a bit giddy about it actually." Karni smiled cheerfully. "If we succeed today, we'll bring in a standardised change to the Tang Sect. Think about it, Sisi. This will be on us. Aren't you excited?"

Siduo was a bit quiet. "Honestly, I was originally thinking of rejecting this opportunity. It would be better if they bring someone better so they don't have to update the design for a while."

"That's exactly why they're doing it though. If we lead this, they'll have permanent design leads for the future through us. Maybe even for a century"

Siduo chuckled. "If we live that long there is. Well, I'm going to give it my all anyway."

Karni grabbed her shoulders, and released his Relaxing Aura. She once told him not to do it next to her, but back then he had no control. Now he knew how to just… make her relax without any weird things.

Siduo couldn't help but release a sound of pleasure. As if she just went through a massage. "Thanks, Kiki."

The elevator stopped and the two stepped out into the field of metal and mechas. They turned left to a certain section. In two months since they sold the technology to the Tang Sect, they've gotten their own department here. They weren't the leaders of it, but they were among the design leads. A total of five design leads for the AR Glasses Project.

This was more impressive than what Karni achieved in the Augmented Human project, since there, he was just one of the many researchers for now still. He was climbing up the ranks slowly there, and likely won't climb higher until he's older.

Speaking of, Karni turned to look. Was that technology they were researching right now… the one they used in Star Luo Continent to imitate his Bloodline? He'd have to go and check it out after this.

Mo Qing welcomed them. He's also become one of the design leads, along with Jin Zirui, who was the branch leader of the Science Division here in Shrek City. Originally, Jin Zirui wasn't part of this, but as the project gained importance, he became one of the leads.

Human Augmentation didn't have such importance in this branch, because that project was primarily being developed on the Star Luo Continent, with Hu Jie leading it himself.

The fifth design lead of the AR Glasses was not in this city, but in the true headquarters of the Science Division, and was in fact, the leader of the Science Division as a whole. She was someone who was part of every project as an overseer. Though in the case of AR Glasses, they mostly got notes from her, usually about something they had to fix. Even Hu Jie over in Star Luo Continent was overseen by her to a certain degree.

Unfortunately, Karni and Siduo couldn't meet her, nor knew who the woman truly was. Karni knew her from the novels, but he couldn't for the life of him remember her name these days. Overall, the woman was important later in the story, but wasn't featured as much as some other people.

"Are you two ready to finalise everything? As soon as this is finished, we can get into mass production for the sect. We'll be replacing the tokens with these."

Karni sighed when he heard this, because originally, he gave the idea of connecting the two together. Tang Sect found that as unsecure and the leader gave them the order to integrate the token's designs into the glasses. No connections that could be intercepted, even at such close distance, were worth the risk.

With today's session, they were trying to connect everything. They've been on this since they came to Shrek. They had to include functions like: the higher one's rank, the higher authority the glasses would have, the better metal they would be made out of, while keeping many of the previous functions. These would also be Blood Sacrificed to truly bind them to the users. Much like the tokens, the glasses needed places where they could be personalised and identified.

This meant they had to adapt technology to suit the binding as well. Not all types were suitable for that. There was a reason Karni originally wanted to keep the tokens. He didn't want to deal with such headaches. The Tang Sect had its own ideas, however.

Thankfully, with two incredible Mecha Engineers: Mo Qing and Jin Zirui, Karni and Siduo progressed smoothly in their research. There was a lot of new material they got to know during this time.

The four sat down together. Around a single sample of the glasses. The first thing they had to finalise was the glass part of the glasses. If they finalised that, they only had to test if it was finally suitable for blood binding. Those would be the final hurdles.

Karni took the blueprints in hand and stepped next to Siduo. He would mostly lead her, while she would do the actual creating part. He simply didn't have the same level of skill as her in that. He was still a 3-star Mechanic and he's been barely progressing lately in that field. In fact, Siduo seemed to have taken up the job for the both of them in terms of their once planned middle ground.

Siduo grabbed an almost translucent white powder and put it into electrolyte water on the side. She then tipped the pen for drawing Soul Arrays into the water and put it on the glass.

For a split second, one could see the array in the making, before turning invisible. If one looked closely, they could see her Purple Demon Eyes active along with her eyes turned into slits.

At the same time, Karni had his third Soul Ring activated, serving as a helping guide while he physically showed her how to draw parts of the arrays.

Overall, the whole array on the glass was tiny, yet great in its complexity. They've transformed the technology so much, that the whole UI, sensors and the communication parts were now centred around this array. No longer did they need three oddly big speaker-like sensors. Everything was done through a single analysis, focusing everything in the array at the end.

That particular technology was developed by Mo Qing, or at least he helped develop it. Spatial Analysis worked smoothly now. Mo Qing did have a specialty in the research of Spatial Technology. Karni realised this only about a month ago.

There was also a special powder provided by the Tang Sect that could be on glass and stayed invisible, not harming any vision. It could only be seen at the original time of carving. Before blending in completely with the glass. The one who taught them how to use this resource was Jin Zirui. He had the most experience with it. 

In fact, the glass itself was also a specially refined mineral that turned see through. It served as a catalyst to connect the different arrays. The glass had two layers, on which the arrays lay. One array close to the eyes, then the array in the middle between the two glass layers and finally one on the outside.

Siduo finished the inside. The one that directly connected the Spiritual Power and vision, though sensors were still put on the other parts of the Soul Tool. This was now the conjunction of them.

Then she pulled the two glass panes apart, carving parts of the whole array on one of them, while the other half on the other. She carefully put the glass together, forming a complex yet tiny array between the two glass parts.

This one focused on the UI as well as analyses and the visual aspect of everything the user would see. If this was web development, Karni would refer to this as front-end, as this was what the users actually directly interact with.

Finally, she moved to the outside, the music switching tone once again to form a different guide for Siduo. This was the perceptive part of the glasses, the one that saw the outside and transmitted the transformation to the middle array. This part once had a three part program. Seeing the 2D aspect, the 3D aspect and finally the interactive aspect. Now this was transformed into a true Space Analysis array. With the help of Karni's new comprehension of space as well as Mo Qing's guidance, they managed to complete it.

Siduo drew the final part of the array, connecting it to the rest of the glasses, then wiped her forehead. She finished. She held hope it would work.

"Now, one of you can have the honour of testing it out."

"Sisi" "Kiki" They said at the same time.

Siduo laughed. "You're the one who designed them and will know how to test out any weird parts."

"Fine, fine." Karni took the glasses and pinched himself with a needle to draw blood. First things first. To see if the blood binding worked.

The glasses absorbed the blood. Karni put them on. They were light.

He could see writing on it. "Val Karni's blood confirmed. Registering user to the database."

They could see him physically swipe a few things before a radiant smile showed up. "They work! They finally work!"

Only they knew how many iterations the AR Glasses they actually went through. Actually, they didn't. They lost count throughout the two months.

Mo Qing sighed in relief. "Now to create another full pair and send it to the leader. If she binds them and is satisfied with them…"

"She'll be satisfied this time. She hasn't given us a requirement to fix things in a week. She usually stops giving orders when she's sure that the final product is close. Though, of course, we'll still be developing it, but this should be approved for mass production." Jin Zirai comforted them.

"Well, then." Siduo sighed. "I guess it's time to make another pair of glasses." She was tired, but she still had to do this.

"No." Mo Qing stopped her. "Don't worry, you might make a mistake if you do it in your current state, leave this to me. Also, here." He gave her a badge, not that of the Tang Sect, but of the Mecha Manufacturing branch.

Siduo took it and a radiant smile showed up on her face. She looked at Karni and hugged him. She finally became a 5-Star Manufacturer. She had a harder time than Karni. Karni only had to do research. In terms of skill and drawing, he had his Martial Soul to cover him. She truly had to develop her whole profession. Precision, decent understanding, technique with her claws, penmanship. That along with her research of mechanics, made her progress a lot slower than Karni's, who's been focusing on design since before they went to Star Luo Continent.

They were about to leave, but Karni stopped and checked the Human Augmentation Project. He told Siduo to wait for him, they would have a little celebration later.

He looked at the group gathering around a Soul Tool. It was the last prototype they made in Star Luo Continent. He even heard them say that they just got it from the other continent and were ordered to figure it out.

He joined in. One of the senior developers looked at him. "You should go practice, this is for the experienced. Don't be impatient."

"But I know this effect, it's based off of-"

He was cut off. "Look. We just got acquainted with this. Don't lie to us. Don't be impatient."

Karni looked back, calm. "It's not that. I originally joined it because of my-"

"Val Karni. You're a bright kid. I saw you just succeeded with the AR Glasses. Don't be greedy."

Karni stared at the man. That was the general manager as well right? He sighed. It didn't matter. He just bowed. He wouldn't let today be ruined by someone who doesn't even want to give him a chance because of assumptions.

He returned to Siduo and smiled. Actually, he liked that the guy was stubborn. He could have more free time that way.

… … …

The next day, they returned and got the message from their leader. Jin Zirai opened it and smiled. "We got approved."

Karni and Siduo hugged in happiness, before parting awkwardly.

"Mo Qing, you tell them about the other thing."

"Can I?" Mo Qing smiled and turned towards Siduo and Karni, who were now confused. "The two of you are getting Delta clearance on information about the AR Glasses."

"Wait, that's for the Outer Sect information no?"

"Yes. Outside of the branch masters, who also have the same clearance, you can see all the other people's information in the sect. This is the authority the sect is giving you. In the next month, also look forward to a large deposit in your contribution points."

… … …

The two merrily chatted with their glasses on. Siduo got a pair immediately as a gift. It really was fun playing around with something you created, without playing around for the sake of testing it. When everything finally worked, it was a blissful feeling.

Past them, Tang Wulin's group along with Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi went by. Tang Wulin stopped and waved. "Have you gotten the message from the sect? Want to come with us?"

He looked at Wu Siduo as well. At the end of the day, they were still classmates and Tang Wulin didn't want to disturb that because of a disagreement. Especially because Karni and Siduo were close. He still hoped that they could end up as friends. Siduo was terrifyingly talented.

"No worries." Karni was the one who denied the offer. "Look forward to a pair of new glasses though."

The group was a bit confused, then they looked at the glasses they were wearing. "Those?"

"Mm. You'll see." Karni then turned to Ye Xinglan. "Oh and Ye Xinglan, what do you say about attempting to create a piece tomorrow? Have you studied it enough?"

Ye Xinglan glanced at Wu Siduo. She knew they were rivals in the fight to come.

Wu Siduo began. "I've already made two pieces. You guys should hurry up already. I'm looking forward to a good fight." She felt genuinely friendly.

Tang Wulin was a bit surprised. Was this a sign that she didn't want too much bad blood between them? He thought about it a bit. At the end of the day, her main problem was Gu Yue, not with them as a team.

Ye Xinglan finally answered, since Wu Siduo was so open, she'd return the kindness. "I've studied it closely. We can do it tomorrow."

Karni smiled. "Good. We'll discuss things tomorrow. Enjoy your new glasses."