What is an Excessive Request?

Jiang Ming glanced at Zhou Yi's retreating figure, pinching the golden card in his hand, and felt deeply moved.

Ten thousand Gold Soul Coins—even for a teacher at Shrek Academy, the number one Soul Master Academy in the world, it probably wasn't a small sum.

Besides, the Gold Soul Coins Teacher Zhou had won in her bet with that teacher from Class Five actually didn't have much to do with him.

As for Teacher Zhou saying this was the reward for winning the Freshman Assessment championship, Jiang Ming didn't quite believe it. This was probably just an excuse Zhou Yi had come up with. Otherwise, she should have mentioned it before the Freshman Assessment began.

"Thank you."

A grateful smile appeared on Jiang Ming's face. Then he placed the golden card into his Storage Soul Tool.

He would use these ten thousand Gold Soul Coins somewhere suitable.

When the time came, he would give Teacher Zhou a surprise!

Thinking this, Jiang Ming strode toward the Soul Tool Department.

He still had the last few parts to assemble.

Fortunately, over the previous few months, he had already finished engraving the Core Magic Arrays and all the other components. Now only the assembly work remained.

At the same time, in the Outer Court's Infirmary, three of the four semifinal teams were receiving treatment from a Soul Saint-level Healing Soul Master.

There were still three matches in the afternoon to decide the top three. Their condition had to be fully restored in advance!

Originally, Jiang Ming's team was also supposed to receive unified treatment and recovery, but Jiang Ming refused on his own behalf and let Ling Luochen go recover instead. He had only used two soul skills, and he didn't have any injuries or any major consumption.

As for Ling Luochen, aside from some Soul Power consumption, she only had a few scrapes that couldn't even be considered light injuries. In just a few minutes, she was back at full strength.

That afternoon, Jiang Ming arrived at the final Assessment Area glowing with energy.

The Freshman Assessment was about to end. After winning the championship, there would definitely be a good reward. Add in the ten thousand Gold Soul Coins Zhou Yi had given him, his agreement with the little beauty Ling Luochen, and Teacher Fan Yu's channels—he had an idea he could put into action!

And that wasn't the only thing worth being happy about.

After finishing the match that morning, he had gone to the Soul Tool Department and assembled the remaining parts.

After several months, all the parts in his hands had become soul tools one after another!

Aside from Fan Yu, no one knew that there were now several Fixed Soul Cannonballs hidden inside Jiang Ming's Storage Soul Tool.

Even Fan Yu wasn't entirely clear. He could only make a rough judgment based on the amount of materials.

"Phew! I can rest for a bit now."

Jiang Ming walked to the edge of the competition field, took out a drink and some snacks, and started eating.

Although lunch had been pretty filling, dessert after a meal was indispensable. This was life.

"You look like you're in a good mood?"

A cool voice sounded by his ear. Jiang Ming didn't even turn his head. He reached to his waist, and with a brush of his hand, a drink appeared in his grip. He handed it straight over.

Ling Luochen didn't stand on ceremony either. She very naturally took the drink from Jiang Ming's hand.

"Once today afternoon's matches are over, the Freshman Assessment will be finished. After a while, we'll be able to go on break, so of course I'm happy. And there's only one match left—then you'll have lost. Don't forget the wager!"

Jiang Ming said with a light laugh, in an excellent mood.

Hearing this, Ling Luochen froze. Her motion of sipping the drink stiffened, and she bit down hard on the straw with her pearly teeth.

That was right. With the current momentum, as long as they finished fighting Dai Yueheng's team, they would directly take the Freshman Assessment championship.

And with the strength Jiang Ming had shown in the earlier matches, steamrolling this match would be no problem at all.

In other words, she was definitely going to lose!

One request that wasn't excessive... What kind of request would he make?

Ling Luochen's heart instantly became a mess. Her mind started running wild, and the more she thought, the more crooked her thoughts became.

By the time the Referee Teacher called them onto the field, Jiang Ming noticed that Ling Luochen's originally cool face had become somewhat flushed.

"What's wrong? Did you catch a cold and get a fever?"

Jiang Ming frowned and subconsciously tried to reach out to touch Ling Luochen's forehead to check her temperature.

"No! Let's hurry onto the field. The match is about to start!"

Ling Luochen quickly stood up and entered the field. Her face seemed even redder now, the flush spreading all the way to her earlobes, making Jiang Ming a little worried.

He hurriedly chased after her and said with a serious expression:

"Why don't you rest down there instead? I can handle it alone."

Although without Ling Luochen, fighting one against three would be a little troublesome, it wasn't as if he couldn't win. It would just be somewhat annoying.

"Oh, come on! I already said I'm fine! Hurry up and focus on the match!"

Ling Luochen jumped straight onto the competition field. Seeing this, Jiang Ming followed her up.

Inside the competition field, roommates who had not seen each other in a long time met again—but this time, they were already opponents!

"Dai Yueheng, long time no see!"

Since they were roommates, Jiang Ming greeted him directly and warmly the moment he came up.

Dai Yueheng's gaze was solemn, but he likewise returned a smile and said softly:

"Yeah, it's been a long time. You grind king really have gotten even scarier!"

He was one of the few people in the academy who knew Jiang Ming had Twin Martial Souls.

Before this, he had thought Jiang Ming's martial soul was the one with three purple Thousand-Year Soul Rings. But when Jiang Ming released his martial soul during the match, he had been utterly stunned!

Twin Martial Souls!

Jiang Ming actually had Twin Martial Souls!

A top-tier martial soul, Twin Martial Souls, soul rings that surpassed the limit, training with Soul Tools on top of that, and he was a damn grind king too!

Honestly, after Dai Yueheng saw Jiang Ming's Golden Heart martial soul, his fighting spirit had been doused for a time.

How was he supposed to compete with a freak like that? He couldn't!

But Dai Yueheng was, after all, the eldest son of the White Tiger Duke. In terms of willpower, he was still far tougher than his peers.

After a brief adjustment, he managed to steady his mindset.

It didn't matter if he couldn't beat him. At the very least, he had to know how big the gap was.

During this time, Jiang Ming had secretly worked hard behind his back, but he had secretly gone off to train extra too!

Now he wanted to see exactly how large the gap between him and Jiang Ming was after one or two months of grinding!

As for winning... Dai Yueheng really hadn't thought about it.

It wasn't as if he hadn't watched Jiang Ming's previous matches, especially the last one.

Once Jiang Ming activated his Third Soul Skill, that amplification was even more outrageous than his own Third Soul Skill, White Tiger Adamant Transformation! It had even instantly reached the aura of a Soul King!

If he could win against that, then ghosts must exist!

On the high platform, Dean Yan Shaozhe, Director Du Weilun, and several other teachers were all watching, ready to witness the birth of the top three in the Freshman Assessment.

Beside Yan Shaozhe stood an old man dressed sloppily, holding a large chicken leg in his left hand and a wine gourd in his right.

He glanced at the two teams below the stage, and a faint smile appeared on his aged face.

"Little Zhou Yi, this is your first year leading freshmen in the Outer Court, yet you've brought out the top two teams in the Freshman Assessment. Not bad at all!"

When Zhou Yi heard the scruffy old man's words, she immediately straightened up. Her normally forceful temperament vanished completely in front of this old man, and she replied with great respect:

"It's all because the students are talented and train hard. I've only taught them for three months. For them to achieve such results is still their own merit."

Mu Jin, who was standing to the side, gave a very unconvinced snort.

"It was nothing but good luck!"

After all, she had just won ten thousand Gold Soul Coins from the other party, so Zhou Yi wasn't annoyed. Instead, she said with a beaming smile:

"Luck is part of strength too!"

Last night, I had a dream and figured something out.

There was no need for me to get hung up on these unimportant details at all. The setting of this book itself is seven years before the original timeline. And with the protagonist's involvement, many things will definitely differ from the original plot and level settings, so why would I get tangled up over that? These things can be brushed over with one sentence about the butterfly effect. I should be focusing on the plot and the satisfying moments instead.

Sigh, I really am too adorably stupid after all.