I Happen to Know a Little

"Name?"

"Wang Nan."

"Age?"

"Ten."

"Martial Soul?"

"Coiling Dragon Staff."

"Here, place your hand on this and test your soul power."

The teacher handling freshman registration took out a crystal ball, similar to the one used during Martial Soul awakening but slightly larger.

A deep blue light radiated from the crystal ball. The registration teacher glanced at it, then checked again.

"Are you really ten this year?"

"Mm." Wang Nan nodded.

"Not bad. Soul Power Level: twenty-six."

The registrar had seen quite a few geniuses over the course of the day, but Wang Nan's talent still made him take a second look. Rank twenty-six at ten years old—he would likely break through to three rings before turning twelve. Even at Shrek Academy, that counted as top-tier talent.

"Take your form to the assessment area in the back, Arena One. Someone there will handle your entrance assessment."

Wang Nan also knew what the entrance assessment entailed: actual combat. According to Shrek Academy, all written information was pale in the face of real battle. He was not surprised by such an assessment method in the slightest.

Though it was called the assessment area, it was actually the academy's Soul Fighting Zone. Several arenas had been newly set up there, and quite a few students were already fighting atop them.

There were far fewer people around Arena One. Wang Nan had no idea whether the students taking the test there were too weak, or whether the proctor struck too ruthlessly, but each fight ended much faster than those on the other arenas.

"Hello, Teacher, I—"

"Come on, get up here first." Before Wang Nan could finish, the proctor took the registration form from his hand, gave it a glance, set it aside, then turned and leaped onto the arena.

Wang Nan did not stand on ceremony. He had undergone plenty of real combat since childhood and was thoroughly familiar with it, so he copied the proctor and jumped to the other side of the arena.

"My name is Sun He. Just call me Teacher Sun. The entrance assessment is quite simple. Winning or losing won't affect the outcome—we mainly want to see how you perform. Understand?"

"Under—" Before Wang Nan could finish saying "understood," he saw Sun He charging straight at him from across the arena.

Huh? That's not right, is it? A teacher ambushing a student?

Though Wang Nan complained inwardly, his hands did not slow. With a sweep of his right hand, the Coiling Dragon Staff appeared in his grip. Two Yellow Soul Rings emerged alongside it, one of them a deep shade of yellow. Though it was only a hundred-year Soul Ring, it was on the higher end of that range.

In that brief moment, Sun He had already reached Wang Nan. He showed no mercy just because Wang Nan was young, swinging his left hand toward Wang Nan's eyes while his right struck directly at his chest.

Wang Nan did not dare to be careless. He immediately unleashed a Soul Skill, using its enhancement to swiftly tilt his head aside and evade Sun He's left hand. At the same time, he held the Coiling Dragon Staff horizontally before his chest to block the other blow. Though Sun He had not summoned his Martial Soul, his physical strength alone still left Wang Nan's hands numb from the impact.

Sun He pressed his advantage, closing in as both hands repeatedly struck toward Wang Nan's body.

Wang Nan did not dare to take the blows head-on. He could only borrow their force to deflect Sun He's attacks to either side. Even so, he was driven back step by step.

Yet in Sun He's eyes, although Wang Nan was retreating, his footwork showed no sign of panic. Sun He quietly slowed his attacks, leaving Wang Nan an opening to counterattack.

"You're handling this pretty well. Have you fought in real combat before?"

Wang Nan said nothing, afraid that the instant he opened his mouth, Sun He would seize an opening. From that first palm strike alone, he knew Teacher Sun was stronger than his father. With such a vast gap in soul power, he could not afford even the slightest distraction.

However, since Sun He had taken the initiative to speak, the speed of his attacks slowed somewhat. Wang Nan stopped retreating, shifted the Coiling Dragon Staff in his hands, and brought down Cleave Mount Hua from above toward Sun He.

Sun He wanted to test Wang Nan's strength as well, so he crossed his arms to receive the staff strike. But the moment his arms touched the Coiling Dragon Staff, he sensed something was wrong. Even a two-ringed Soul Grandmaster should not have had such little strength.

Sure enough, in the next instant, Wang Nan bent his arms and drew the Coiling Dragon Staff against his body. Then he retracted its upper end and thrust out the lower end, driving it straight toward Sun He's lower abdomen.

Although Wang Nan had caught a slight opening, he did not believe Sun He would leave such an obvious flaw exposed. This opportunity might well have been a trap deliberately set for him. Thus, the downward strike had only been a feint; the true attack came from the other end of the Coiling Dragon Staff.

Seeing the direction of Wang Nan's attack, Sun He did not dare to take it head-on. He reached down with his right hand to block Wang Nan, but Wang Nan's Second Soul Ring flashed. He exerted force with both hands and forcibly shoved Sun He backward.

Second Soul Skill—Mountain Topple.

Wang Nan's Second Soul Skill was similar to his First Soul Skill: both were support-type skills that enhanced himself. This one mainly amplified his strength, and it came from an eight-hundred-year Scaled Demonic Crocodile. That was right—the very same kind of Scaled Demonic Crocodile Shrek used to make soup, though this one had undergone a slight mutation.

"Good, good, good." As a teacher of Shrek Academy, Sun He had been caught off guard by Wang Nan's strike, but he quickly steadied himself and praised him three times in a row. "You've passed the assessment. Now you'd better be careful."

As he spoke, soul power flowed around Sun He's body. A golden abacus appeared in his hand, and six Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, and two black—rose around him.

As expected of Shrek Academy. Any random teacher they pulled out was a Soul Emperor, and he even had two Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings. But isn't it a little unreasonable for a Soul Emperor to summon his Martial Soul just to bully a Soul Grandmaster like me?

Sun He, however, showed no awareness whatsoever that he was bullying the weak. He let out a somewhat sly laugh. "Today, Teacher Sun will teach you your first lesson. It's called: even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit."

Click— This was the sound of Sun He flicking the abacus. Though it was only a slight movement of his fingers, the sound echoed across the entire arena.

Click, click— Sun He's fingers moved continuously, and the beads on his Martial Soul shifted without pause. Listening to the collisions of the abacus beads, Wang Nan inexplicably began to feel agitated.

Is this a mental attack?

There were countless types of Martial Souls, and the Soul Skills they could possess were even more numerous. Although Wang Nan had Past Life Memories, he knew far too little about Martial Souls, so he could only make a rough guess.

But when it came to attacks targeting the mind, Wang Nan happened to know one or two methods himself.

Wang Nan stowed the Coiling Dragon Staff at his waist and sank his consciousness into his Spiritual Sea. The formerly tranquil lake surface rippled under the influence of Sun He's Soul Skill. He ignored it and instead directed his consciousness toward the Luminous Orb suspended in midair...

Eh? What's going on with this kid?

Sun He, standing nearby, sensed that something was wrong. Wang Nan's resistance to his First Soul Skill was far stronger than expected. Moreover, judging from their earlier exchange, Wang Nan did not seem like the type to stand still and wait for death. He was likely preparing some sort of counterattack.

With that thought, Sun He rushed toward Wang Nan, raising the abacus in his hand to smash it down. No matter what Wang Nan was preparing, Sun He had no intention of letting him use it.