Want for Laziness

Karni saw that they're doing Mecha Engineering and made an important decision. He spotted a cosy corner, laid down and asked Siduo to wake him up when the exam began.

Li Tai and Yu Tian looked at Karni in absolute horror. This is Shrek! This guy's sleeping on the recovery time of the Shrek Exam!

Siduo ordered them not to interrupt him. She didn't explain anything outside of: "It's what he needs right now."

Karni fell asleep… in approximately 30 seconds. It was a skill that belonged to his Panda, though he was a skillful sleeper before he figured out things about his bloodline. His muscles relaxed. His mind relaxed. It was a great way to recover his mental powers. It simply suited his nature. Martial Souls truly were a window into one's soul.

An hour passed and Siduo shook Karni awake. His eyes felt heavy. "Could use two hours more if I'm being honest."

"Yes, yes, sunshine, come on."

Karni didn't argue. His mind was a bit absent, but enough to function.

They entered the next exam area. Four tables for four people, all the proper tools needed on the walls. Whether it be carving tools, hammers, metals, blueprint paper, drawing pens, even calculators. Everything needed was here.

Karni absentmindedly went to the blueprints and picked out a few papers as well as a single Designer Pen.

The teacher at the other end looked amused. They were simply required to oversee that students wouldn't cheat. Appraisal would happen by the committee at the end. Students weren't told any details on what the Soul Tool should be.

The school wanted the children at their best. The best way to do that was to let them be free. At the same time, those that never specialised in anything, might had found themselves in a slight problem, not really having their own best.

Karni had yet to become a 5-Star Mecha Designer, but he considered himself as one. Ever since his Augmented Reality Goggles project through the Star Luo Continent he had comprehended many things. The 5-Star level "clicked".

The teacher also rightfully gave Karni an odd look. Karni didn't take anything other than papers and pencil. Was he really that absent minded? No geo-triangles? Compasses? Not even a calcu- Oh. Karni went back to grab a calculator.

The other three took to their professions as well. Siduo took some 4th rank Blueprints to manufacture. She had yet to reach her next level. The last year was mostly spent on other training for her. Karni was the one who focused heavily on his second profession.

Yu Tian took out a personal hammer and gathered the metals offered. He was the only blacksmith amongst them.

Li Tai was a Manufacturer like Siduo. He mostly made Soul Tools with his Cloud Sword.

Karni brought out his Martial Soul and activated his 3rd soul ring. His very first action was to send a little soundwave into his head. A terrifying, earraping screech only he could hear. His whole body shook and shoulders tensed. His eyes gained complete clarity. He felt like spitting—as if he just tasted something bitter. A great wake up device.

Then he closed his eyes. He released a soothing, focused melody in his immediate area. He didn't know if anything else would be considered cheating, but he was sure this wasn't. It was just a process of creating he always went through. Everyone had their own way.

It was both to calm his mind, but most importantly, he needed to set his rhythm. He closed his eyes to feel the sound. After 10 seconds, he opened them and started to work.

He tapped and drew onto the paper in the surrounding rhythm. First he drew an arm on one paper, then a few close ups and explanations surrounding the main design. Parts of the important functions were connected by numbers to others. He marked the main paper as zero.

He then put this on the side and took another one. He marked it as 1. Paper 1 had only the design of the shoulder and the connections towards the rest of the mechanic arm. His blueprint was going to be of his main specialisation. Prosthetics. He began from the top of the arm and made his way downwards.

He made the design from three different perspectives, as well as a 3D view with all sides visible to a degree. With the general shape completed, he started drawing in the details.

His tapping-drawing intensified, the rhythmic music switched up in slight intensity. He made a few perfect circles where needed without a compass. Then he connected them up as necessary. It was the inside of an arm. He was creating a Soul Array, an incredibly complex one at that. This one was previously used in the AR Goggles on a much smaller scale. This was the most important part of this mechanical arm. It connected the entirety of the Soul Tool to the human body through nerves as well as spiritual property, the latter of which was the focus of his research with AR Goggles.

There were a few reciprocators drawn. Tiny reciprocators that would stab into the body, but would not injure it. The rest of their function was connected to the array. They received Soul Power from the user, which was used to connect part of the nerves.

This was done through a 3 into 1 Soul Array system. 2 supporting Soul Arrays on the side and another big soul array behind the main one. The first two regulated everything to flow naturally between the giant array and the one behind. The main Soul Array on the other hand, worked as a pathway for the nerve system from the front part of the body to the rest of the arm. It was a coordinator of nerves and connections.

So many Soul Arrays just at the shoulder part of the arm. All drawn in a free hand. Prosthetics have been a long time study for him, so he was progressing with fluidity and didn't have any trouble integrating AR Goggles technology to it where it was suitable. A 4-Star Prosthetic was something he could design in half an hour. He has drawn many blueprints for the Tie Family over the years.

The original 4-Star had a 2 into 1 Soul Array system at the forefront. Those were for recognising and sending Soul Power and then organising and translating that into nerves.

The reason for the new part was his new study. Spiritual sensors were a very different field to Soul Power. The "3" in the 3 in 1 was exactly the balance for the added perception of Spiritual Intention. Thoughts would help in how the arm would move.

It was but one of many improvements over the original 4-Star Design.

When he finished with the shoulder, he took another blueprint and wrote the number 2.

… … …

Siduo was creating an energy core from a particularly complex blueprint that she took from the wall. In ways she was even improving it. The core designs Karni used in his blueprints were researched extensively by Siduo. He added those based on Siduo's field of research as a Mechanic.

Siduo's usual field of research were power cores along with physical fluidity of Soul Tools. A very "Tang Sect" type of research. It all connected to another little research she's been cooking up. Vehicles. All types of vehicles. Though Karni has never actually seen any of Siduo's vehicles.

He didn't know whether they were cars, motorbikes, or something else. The most he's seen her use the study was upgrading some aspects of Tie Kexin's wheelchair. 

Thankfully, they let the manufacturers use their own blueprints which they were used to designing, though they had some options for those who didn't bring any as well. Siduo chose to design one of Karni's blueprints which was created based on her knowledge of energy cores.

In another corner Li Tai was creating a protective Soul Tool of the 3-Star rank. A suitable tool for his own combat style. A close-combat protective Soul Tool. One that would protect a person for a single important instance. It was his family's design, suitable for a sword wielder.

On the other hand, after about half an hour, Yu Tian was attempting Thousand-Refinements, but he seemed to be having some trouble. He was technically a 3-Star blacksmith, but his success rate of Thousand-Refinements was rather low. With his previous injuries, his chances weren't looking too good.

… … …

Karni finished paper number 2. It was the middle part of the arm, recreating muscles with the proper metals described on the side. The metal was twisted into fiber in the design. Alongside it was a nerve system that led to the hand: the only part left to design.

The hand was similar in complexity to the shoulder, just less demanding in terms of technology. However his previous project has gotten him a great understanding of how to put Soul Arrays into small places. Goggles didn't have a lot of space for complex Soul Arrays.

Each joint in the fingers and the hands had multiple small, but simple Soul Arrays drawn on them, connected through partially overlapping bigger arrays. There was a central array connecting everything inside the hand itself.

As for the way joints themselves were made, they were made specifically with Tang Sect design techniques. Complex use of gears and springs has been a staple for Tang Sect since Tang San introduced them into the world through hidden weapons.

He needed a total of 2 hours to create everything. He was the last one to finish. Many eyes were looking at him, including the teacher.

The teacher looked at the design.

"A 5-Star soul tool!" She was impressed. He wasn't the first to achieve this, but this prosthetic was big, and was definitely a quality 5-Star Soul Tool.

Karni could now truly, officially, be considered a 5-Star Mecha Designer. The AR Goggles project took him two years. Now that he had the understanding, he managed to complete a familiar design and upgrade it to 5-star in 2 hours. An impressive feat.

Karni looked at the others. They all had satisfied expressions. All except for Yu Tian.

Siduo gave Karni a peace sign; she created an improved version of a generator core they once designed: it reached a high 4-Star rank.

Meanwhile Li Tai created an eye pleasing design of a protective 3-Star Soul Tool.

3-star rank was needed for full points. Yu Tian failed at Thousand-Refinements and in a bad way as well. He only got 4 points on the exam. The others got 10.

They had another little break. It's actually been multiple hours since the start of the exam, though it didn't feel that way. They've taken 4 full breaks due to one of them being hurt or some other reason. That alone mounted to 4 hours. This test alone took them 2—mostly due to Karni. They've been at it for a total of 7 hours by now.

They started in the early morning at 6. It was now after midday at 13.00.

They had 5 more exams. The exam would end at 8 in the evening. They had to pick and choose when to rest.

Thankfully, none of them needed to rest for long after this exam. They took a 10 minute break and continued.

The next room… had a pleasant smell. The room was full of food! Good! Steamed buns, the air permeating the whole room was truly something that made one's stomach growl.

They stopped for a split second. It was suspicious when thinking about it. The exam had a bunch of medical examiners here. The first one to have that.

The sixth trial most likely wasn't as simple as it seemed.

The trial was explained in great detail. Explained not by a teacher, but a sign.

To get a passing score, they had to eat 15 buns! Additional 5 buns would raise the grade by one, 5 more by another one. They needed to eat 35 buns for a full score! All the while, they were going to be watched by examiners: they were not allowed to use Soul Power.

The four looked at each other with worry. None of them were foodies, not in quantity at least. Karni had good digestion, but he had limits! And they only had 30 minutes for this!

Interestingly, Siduo looked the most worried. She had to admit, her stomach was not big at all.

But she was also the first Siduo to take a bite, starting her timer. She was by far the most opposite thing to a foodie. She enjoyed good food; tasting new food; but not a lot of it! She still had nightmares from watching Tang Wulin eat! Speaking of, that bastard would enjoy this for sure!

Karni was the second to take a bite, but he took it slowly. Then he bit again and soon, the first bun was eaten. Slow, big bites. His stomach was warm. He took about 10 seconds to eat a single bun. Despite the slow bite, this was him hurrying. It felt unnatural to eat so fast.

He took the next one. The later ones will take longer and his digestion needed to be put into overdrive from the beginning, he knew his Martial Soul. The Panda. Time after food was a time to rest. He needed big bites at the beginning.

He preemptively lay on the chair, looking relaxed, but his eating was anything but relaxed.

In a minute, he managed to down 5 steam buns. Siduo has just finished her second. But Karni could tell she wasn't enjoying it. She was far from being full, but to eat so fast? It was uncomfortable. Karni sympathised. Everyone did, in fact. Li Tai and Yu Tian had also finished their second round.

In the second minute Karni slowed down. He could only eat 3 buns. A total of seven, he was almost halfway there for a passing score. His belly was already becoming full. For a regular teenager, 15 buns—the passing score—was already dangerous if they weren't used to eating. Hence the medical team on the side.

Karni ate 12 buns. It has now been a total of 5 minutes already, his eating speed really fell. 4 buns in three minutes. He glanced quickly at the others. Siduo was at her 7th bun. So was Yu Tian. On the other hand, Li Tai was lacking behind, his stomach was clearly full already, but he only ate 5 buns so far.

Karni has been eating well during his stay with Hu Jie. His blood was clearly enjoying the rich feeling back then, but it took a while to digest.

His blood was boiling, but he didn't circulate it. If he digested everything at once, there would be consequences. He knew from his time with Hu Jie. Unless thoroughly used up, food wasn't particularly useful with his blood essence full. If anything it might further bloat him.

Though it made him worry. Time after this exam was going to be… exhausting.

He came to the 15 buns mark. 9 minutes have passed. His belly was truly full right now. But he could feel that his bloodline was enjoying this feeling, despite starting to bloat. There was a reason he always filled himself up when hungry, but he wasn't bottomless. Now the true battle would start.

Slowly, every now and then, he started circulating his bloodline. Without the use of his Soul Power, it wasn't as efficient as it would be otherwise.

They kept on eating. Karni has gotten up to 20 steam buns, it has been 15 minutes by now. He was slowing down, at this pace, he'll slow down so much he won't get full points. And more than that, the consequences started to hit, now that all the nutrients were getting absorbed. His movements slowed down along with his eating speed.

He was reminded of a certain foodie. The one he'll have to compare to for the rest of his life. Not because others would do so, but because he would. He had to keep up with that monster no matter what. For the sake of his future. His own future.

He had to eat a bun a minute if he wanted to get full marks. He had to!

His speed increased again. Out of pure willpower, he pushed on.

25 buns. 20 minutes have passed. Karni was breathing heavily. His blood was now struggling to keep up with the digestion, but it seemed like the blood was being tempered as well. His bloodline wasn't developed at all. He only knew some of its basic effects due to Hu Jie's training.

26, 27, 28, 29, 30… 25 minutes have passed. And now, even the slight circulation was becoming a problem. Recetion. His body was rejecting more food! Everything in him screamed: just go sleep, you're a panda, sure you can eat, but go be lazy! A whisper in his mind tempted him: you deserve it.

He really wanted to, but even with his own body fighting against him, the digestion was still working full throttle. It was clearly a bit better than the beginning, but was showing signs: it was getting lazy, just like him.

Karni wouldn't let it. 1, 2, 3, 4 buns. But he was too slow. He only had 30 seconds to get that last bun. His breathing was heavy. This was what a battle was. A battle with food!

"Fuck it." He said and just forcefully put the whole bun into his mouth…

He gagged, but held back the urge to puke. After the forceful intake, he just lay on the chair, watching the ceiling for the remainder of those 10 seconds. He didn't even know how the others did—how Siduo did.

He only heard the results.

Li Tai got the least: he barely reached 15 buns. Siduo who had a similar bodily disposition got 20. It wasn't that her body was much different, she simply had higher willpower, the very thing this trial tested—though they didn't know that.

Yu Tian also got 20; to be exact, he got 21. He tried to continue, but couldn't. Yet he was clearly less full than Siduo. He didn't have as much willpower.

The points they got were the following. "Li Tai, 6. Yu Tian and Wu Siduo, 7. Val Karni, 10."

With this, Karni was the only one who had a perfect score on all trials. For now. Siduo was a bit sad, but she really had no chance with this particular trial, no matter her Soul Power.

They took a short rest, but they didn't want to take too long.

They arrived at the next trial. It was a track field. A teacher approached from the side. Karni was walking on autopilot, still holding his belly. He was examined by the medical team before he continued. They said he was going to be fine.

"You have no limit on when you complete this trial. You must do a 10-kilometre run, squat fifty kilograms one thousand times and one thousand chin-ups. That is all for a passing grade. If you want full points, do it all in under an hour."

The group looked at each other, their faces lighting up. This will truly help with their food digestion. The only one with a sour expression was Karni. He disliked working out, especially in this manner. He liked to laze around! He comforted himself that this would speed up his digestion.

Despite him not working out regularly, his body was incredibly well developed. Every one of them here was the athletic type. Karni's bloodline has given him a very durable and flexible physique, even if the Panda martial soul wasn't developed yet. Karni's techniques were also a reason for his physique. They were intense on the body, but those techniques didn't feel like working out to him.

Best part of all, they could use Soul Power during this trial. There was no question about it: all of them are getting full points.

First, they ran. They could ingest the food with the help of Soul Power and complete the trial all at the same time. Karni circulated his bloodline with Soul Power.

Siduo and Li Tai completed the trial in 10 minutes and 11 minutes respectively. Both of them were Agility Soul Masters, Siduo was just a bit faster. Karni didn't take that long either. He used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track in its purest form—his Drunken Ghost Dance was a movement technique, not a speed technique, even more than the Tang Sect technique. He took about 15 minutes. Yu Tian was the slowest. While he was very fit, he wasn't fast, nor did he have any techniques. He took 20 minutes in total.

They continued to the next trial. The squats with 50 kg weights were next.

Siduo did it without any trouble. She was both an Agility System Soul Master and an Assault one. The White Tiger had great strength! She managed to finish the squats in just 12 minutes.

Li Tai lacked in this aspect, but he still had no trouble completing this workout. He needed about 20 minutes in total.

Yu Tian almost caught up to Li Tai. He completed his trial in 15 minutes. Karni took almost the same amount of time—he was a minute faster. His constitution was very similar to Yu Tian. His legs were especially well developed; it was the only thing giving him an edge.

The last trial was chin ups. Siduo did them in 16 minutes. Her legs were better developed than her upper body. She needed a total of 38 minutes to finish everything.

Karni needed 13 minutes instead. His body core was incredibly well developed due to his original movement technique, once known as Drunken Dancing Movement. He needed a total of 42 minutes to finish.

Yu Tian needed just a bit more than Siduo. He came in at 17 minutes. His total was 52 minutes.

Finally there was Li Tai. He needed the most amount of time, 23 minutes to complete his last trial. His total came in at 54 minutes. In the end, he was slower than Yu Tian. If not for his speed in the first round, he might've not even gotten all of the points.

They all had perfect scores this time around. And the one who had all of the perfect scores, Karni, was feeling miserable right now. He wanted to rest. Every inch of his body wanted to lay down in shade and just… sleep. His Martial Soul was begging him to go and stop functioning this very minute.

Never has he experienced this feeling to such a degree before. He was somewhat expecting it after the food… but this was on a whole other level.

He couldn't stop. He had but a 10 minutes rest right now before they continued on with the next trial.

He swore: the day after the exam, he'll be the most unproductive human being on the face of Douluo Planet. He'll enjoy a tree, a shade, and a bamboo stick.