Return to Shrek, Flender's Shock

After wandering about along the way and spending half a month, Oscar and Zhao Wuji finally returned to Shrek Academy.

The round trip had taken nearly a month, leaving Oscar less than two months away from his ninth birthday.

Yet, not even nine years old, he was already a Level 22 Soul Master. There were still nearly thirty-eight months left before the goal he had set for himself: breaking through to Level 30 before turning Twelve Years Old.

He was still eight levels away from Level 30. Averaged out, he only needed to advance one level every 4.75 months—nearly five months—to achieve that goal before turning twelve.

But judging by Oscar's current cultivation rate of one level every three to four months, he might be able to break through to Level 30 at around eleven years old.

Of course, Soul Masters cultivated more slowly the further they progressed, but Oscar would never slacken in his efforts. Even so, barring unusual circumstances, he would still be able to reach Level 30 before turning twelve.

Don't think that was exaggerated. After all, the current Oscar was different from the one in the original story. Although the original Oscar had been a genius for reaching Level 30 as a Food System Soul Master at Fourteen Years Old, he had been nowhere near as hardworking as Oscar was now.

Oscar now spent almost all of his nights cultivating. During the day, he trained his Physique in various ways and studied all kinds of knowledge, but whenever he had time, he cultivated as well.

As a Super Genius with Innate Full Soul Power, the future remained uncertain, but at this stage, Oscar encountered almost no bottlenecks in cultivation because his upper limit was already there.

Even without any Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure to further increase his cultivation speed, as long as he continued cultivating diligently, his soul power would keep improving.

This was undoubtedly something worth celebrating for Oscar. It meant he did not need to waste time desperately searching for treasures to improve his talent like the protagonists in novels.

After all, while his talent was not the strongest on the continent, as a Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power—and a Food System Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power at that—his talent was already practically unbeatable at this stage.

As for the later stages, if the continent did not undergo any major changes, Tang San would come to Shrek Academy just as he had in the original plot. When that time came, Oscar only needed to build a good relationship with him, just as in the original story.

That kid might not treat outsiders very well, but honestly, he was pretty good to the Shrek Seven Devils and the teachers.

As for the issue often mentioned online—"Yao Lao exists in the Endless Flame Domain, yet Yu Xiaogang does not exist in the God Realm"—Oscar felt there was more to it than that.

So, Oscar would not comment on it too much.

Besides, while Oscar had no intention of sucking up to Tang San, he did not particularly dislike him either. After all, that had only been a novel, while he had actually come to this world.

And precisely because of that, Oscar discovered that there was still a difference between novels and the real world.

Novels were written from the protagonist's perspective, with little attention given to other characters. That was why the real world was more exciting.

Soon, Oscar shook his head and stopped thinking about it. No matter how much he thought about it now, it was all just speculation. Everything needed time to prove itself.

That was why Oscar worked so hard. What if Tang San did not come to Shrek? What if he came but did not give him Immortal Herbs? Oscar understood these possible accidents perfectly well. If something as bizarre as his transmigration could happen, then it was only natural for plotlines absent from the original story to appear.

Zhao Wuji led Oscar toward Flender's office. When he suddenly saw Oscar shaking his head, he asked, "What is it, Xiao Ao?"

Oscar merely smiled. "Nothing, Teacher Zhao. I was just thinking about Hongjun. I haven't been around these past few days, so that kid has probably been slacking off. I was just thinking about how to 'bully' him, but then I remembered that he's been quite hardworking these past few months, so I decided to let it go."

Hearing Oscar's words, Zhao Wuji chuckled. "You really are something. You're not even nine, yet you're already so mature. If you didn't still need us old men from time to time, I'd think you were one of Shrek Academy's teachers!"

Oscar smiled faintly. "Well, isn't that what a student should do? Besides, I'm the oldest at the academy now. As the academy's Big Brother, it's only right that I keep an eye on the younger students."

Zhao Wuji smiled approvingly. "Xiao Ao, you are the most mature and steady student Shrek has had in the more than twenty years since it was founded. If you could inherit the academy in the future..."

At that point, Zhao Wuji glanced at Flender's headmaster's office, which was already right in front of them. He leaned close to Oscar's ear and whispered, "You'd definitely do a better job than that guy Flender."

Oscar smiled. "Teacher Zhao, you're teasing me again. If our esteemed headmaster hears that, I'm afraid your already meager salary will suffer again."

Zhao Wuji's expression abruptly changed. "Hey, you brat! Old Zhao has always treated you so well, and now you're thinking of setting me up?"

Just then, the door to Flender's headmaster's office suddenly opened. Flender stood there holding a thermos cup, still wearing his black-rimmed square glasses, his expression calm.

The old man opened the door and immediately saw Oscar and Zhao Wuji standing before it. A flash of hidden delight vanished from his eyes as he asked, "How were the gains this time? How much did Xiao Ao improve?"

When Zhao Wuji saw Flender emerge, he gave Oscar a look before walking up and putting an arm around Flender's shoulders, guiding him back into the office. "Boss, Xiao Ao's luck was truly outrageous this time. We'll tell you all about it slowly."

At those words, delight surfaced in Flender's eyes once more. He stared at Oscar as though he were looking at hope itself.

"Tell me."

Zhao Wuji then told Flender about Oscar's Second Spirit Ability and his External Soul Bone. After hearing it all, Flender's whole person froze in place, even the teacup in his hand seeming to stand still.

Then, excitement visibly appeared on Flender's face. Setting aside Oscar's External Soul Bone, his Second Spirit Ability alone was already incredibly heaven-defying.

Not only could it remove poisons of the same level, it also granted five minutes of immunity to negative effects—and that immunity had no level restriction.

That function alone meant that when facing this type of Soul Master, Oscar's Second Spirit Ability could absolutely be used as a trump card.

There were hundreds of thousands of Soul Masters on the continent, with all kinds of martial souls. Among them were quite a few disgusting martial souls whose abilities could inflict numerous negative effects on others.

One could imagine that if Oscar's Second Spirit Ability were put up for Auction, the results would definitely be astonishing.

After all, besides fighting their enemies, many Soul Masters also ventured into Spirit Beast Forests. Within the Spirit Beast Forest, this immunity to negative effects was even more necessary.

However, Flender was not that shallow. What truly excited him was Oscar's External Soul Bone.

He had lived for nearly fifty years. It was not as though he had never seen a Spirit Bone before, but this was his first time seeing an External Soul Bone.

Moreover, he knew the special nature of External Soul Bones. It was a special Spirit Bone separate from the six main Spirit Bones, one that could evolve along with a Soul Master's strength.

If the Soul Master was powerful enough, it was not impossible for an External Soul Bone to grow to the Hundred Thousand Year Level.

Thus, External Soul Bones had earned a title: the foremost Spirit Bone beneath a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, second only to a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.

Most importantly, External Soul Bones were rarely coveted by others. Once fused with a Soul Master, they became part of that Soul Master. Killing someone to take their bones simply did not apply to External Soul Bones.

Of course, if your External Soul Bone was too heaven-defying and wicked people learned of it, they might still kill you to prevent you from growing stronger.

Fortunately, although Shrek Academy was made up of a group of strange people, they truly treated their students well. For the time being, Oscar had no worries in that regard.

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