On the third day after Zhu Ziyang returned to Shrek Academy from the Sun Moon Empire, he attended the opening ceremony for this year's Outer Court freshmen at Cai Meier's invitation.
This opening ceremony had been proposed by Cai Meier three years ago and approved at the Heavenly Origin Pavilion meeting. This year marked its inaugural session, solely because it held special significance for Shrek Academy.
Six years ago, Shrek Academy established its first Heavenly Origin Academy. Now, six years had passed, and the first batch of Heavenly Origin Academy students had graduated. Many outstanding graduates had successfully advanced to Shrek Academy, becoming this year's Outer Court freshmen.
Because Shrek Academy had publicly declared its neutral stance, coupled with the continent's current state of war, this year's incoming class numbered only a little over four hundred, the lowest in a century.
However, the Outer Court's senior staff, led by Cai Meier, were not worried in the slightest. Instead, they were delighted and excited. Of the more than four hundred freshmen, fewer than fifty had entered through the recommendation letter system. The remaining three hundred-plus had all graduated from Heavenly Origin Academies. This meant that the Heavenly Origin Plan had begun to show results.
Among these three hundred-plus freshmen from different Heavenly Origin Academies, half had awakened their Martial Souls at Heavenly Origin Academy. Basically, they could enroll the moment they awakened a Martial Soul and possessed Soul Power. This had greatly prevented talented individuals from being overlooked, and it was also the confidence that allowed Shrek Academy to make its stance completely clear and sever ties with the nobles of the former Three Douluo Kingdoms.
They now had a stable source of students. What Shrek Academy had once lost was returning, and the noble coloring that clung to Shrek Academy