Food Reserve: Xiao Wu

Nuoding Junior Academy's cafeteria was divided into two floors.

The First Layer was where commoner students and work-study students ate; the Second Floor was reserved for noble students and academy teachers.

"Why don't we go to the Second Floor?"

Having learned from Wang Sheng that the food upstairs was better, Xiao Wu was puzzled.

"We can't afford to eat on the Second Floor."

Wang Sheng pulled a long face. He suddenly realized that Xiao Wu seemed to know nothing about certain things. "On the First Layer, one Copper Soul Coin can buy three filling meals. But on the Second Floor, one Copper Soul Coin can buy, at most, one meal."

"The price difference is that huge?"

Tang San was surprised.

"There's probably Soul Beast meat." Zhou Qing guessed, "I read in a book that some Ten-Year Soul Beasts can be tamed and raised, like Azure Feather Chickens. This kind of Soul Beast gave up individual strength in favor of continuing its bloodline. For the survival of its species, it has an extremely high egg-laying capacity, and its meat is delicious too."

"There really is." Wang Sheng said that he had been to the Second Floor himself, but it was far too expensive. One Azure Feather Chicken egg cost five Copper Soul Coins, while one Azure Feather Chicken cost two Silver Soul Coins!

It was not that they truly could not afford it, but work-study students usually did not have much income. Spending a day's or even a week's worth of money just to eat an egg or a chicken was simply not worth it.

Tang San now understood just how great the expenditure of a Soul Master's cultivation was.

Food alone had already created a gap between commoner Soul Masters and noble Soul Masters.

Noble Soul Masters had plenty of money to buy Soul Beast meat, and Tang San had already experienced the benefits of Soul Beast meat back in Holy Soul Village.

That Great White Carp's meat was not only delicious and nutritious, but could also improve Qi and Blood. If one ate it over a long period, it might even speed up the cultivation of Soul Power.

It was just that there had only been one Great White Carp that had become a Soul Beast in that stream.

However, as the Spirit Rhyme Turtle grew, its spirit-gathering effect would continue to strengthen. In the future, there should be more Great White Carp in that stream transforming into Soul Beasts, right?

And at the moment, neither he nor Zhou Qing lacked money.

Still, they had to eat their first meal on the First Layer. Before understanding Nuoding Academy's specific situation, they needed to follow the principle that wealth should not be flaunted.

Zhou Qing thought the same way.

However, after everyone lined up and bought their food from the window, several upperclassmen, swaggering with their heads held high and standing over 1.6 or 1.7 meters tall, walked in from outside.

When the students eating on the First Layer saw them, they all lowered their heads to eat. Even their voices dropped several degrees, and none dared meet their eyes.

"Who are those people?"

Xiao Wu frowned. "They look pretty arrogant."

"That's Xiao Chenyu. He has always done whatever he pleased in the academy, and he has already obtained a Spirit Ring. He's an eleventh-level Soul Master." As Wang Sheng spoke, his expression was grave, though he was not afraid.

"Well, if it isn't Wang Sheng?"

Xiao Chenyu spotted Wang Sheng and walked over with his lackeys behind him. He swept his gaze over the work-study students, lingered on Xiao Wu for a moment, and sneered. "There's actually such a cute little loli this year?"

"What did you say? Looking for a beating?" Xiao Wu dared not let anyone call her a "little loli." She set her tray on the table, clenched her fists, and wanted to teach Xiao Chenyu a lesson.

An eleventh-level Soul Master?

She was not afraid of him!

If she had not condensed her First Spirit Ring, how would she have dared leave the Star Dou Great Forest?

"Tsk."

Xiao Chenyu was disdainful, but he had no intention of causing trouble in the cafeteria. He merely said to the lackeys behind him, "Come on, let's go up. My treat today!"

"Long live Boss Xiao!" The lackeys behind him cheered, mocking Wang Sheng and the others for never being able to afford Soul Beast meat in their lives.

"Damn it! Who do those guys think they're looking down on?!"

Xiao Wu was furious and was about to go after them.

Soul Beast meat...

Xiao Wu was somewhat unhappy about that point, but what upset her even more was that they had actually said she could not afford it?

What a joke!

Back in the Star Dou Great Forest, she had eaten plenty of bird-type Soul Beast eggs. A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit had not grown up eating vegetables!

And she had seen the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Azure Bull Python eat plenty of low-level Soul Beasts before reaching the Hundred-Thousand-Year level!

"Forget it."

Wang Sheng hurriedly stopped Xiao Wu, his face filled with panic. "You can't fight in the cafeteria. If the teachers find out, you'll be punished."

"So that means we can fight outside the cafeteria?"

Zhou Qing's train of thought was rather unusual as he asked.

"Uh... as long as it's not in the teaching building, cafeteria, or places like that, you can fight elsewhere." Wang Sheng said, "And the academy doesn't interfere with sparring between students, as long as no one is crippled."

Wang Sheng did not understand any deeper reasoning.

But Zhou Qing understood that this was intentional on the academy's part. They called it sparring, but the greater purpose was likely to let students gradually understand the cruelty of the Soul Master World.

After all, groups hunting Soul Beasts could fight viciously to the death over a single Soul Bone. If one was not good at fighting, then upon entering the true Soul Master World in the future, being sold off and still helping count the money might even be considered a relatively good outcome.

A world like this...

Zhou Qing fell silent in thought.

"What's wrong?" Tang San asked with concern when he saw that Zhou Qing seemed slightly downcast.

"Nothing. I just caught another glimpse of how cruel the Soul Master World can be." Zhou Qing shook his head and shared his thoughts on why the academy ignored "sparring" between students, though he put it in a more tactful way: it was for both sides' mutual improvement!

Wang Sheng and the others were stunned, never having imagined such an explanation.

"That may be true, but it still feels a little wrong." Xiao Wu objected. "Isn't that just bullying?"

"It really is bullying."

Zhou Qing agreed with Xiao Wu's view. Nor was he surprised that she thought that way. After all, her Work-Study Student slot had taken the place of one from another village, so she had likely been influenced by the local villagers. Those villagers were the ones who had taught Xiao Wu the most basic principles of how to behave. "Perhaps the academy's intentions are good, but when it comes to actually carrying them out, things become something else entirely. Still, the bigger reason is probably that this is only a junior academy. Its scale is relatively small, and the teachers have difficulty keeping an eye on everything."

"That has to be the reason." Wang Sheng nodded vigorously.

After the meal.

Wang Sheng and the others went off to complete the work the academy had assigned to its Work-Study Students. It was an opportunity for them to earn money.

As a Work-Study Student, Xiao Wu had naturally been assigned work as well.

But she did not want to do it, so she said to Zhou Qing and Tang San, "You're regular commoner students, so you don't have any work to do, right? How about you do mine for me?"

Tang San refused outright. "No time."

The reason he had not become a Work-Study Student was so that he could have plenty of time to study, cultivate, and research Soul Tool Core Formations—not to help others with their chores.

"What about you, Zhou Qing?" Xiao Wu looked at him, her big watery eyes wide. "Can you help me?"

"I can, but the compensation the academy gives will be mine too." Zhou Qing naturally did not care about such a small payment, but he could not let Xiao Wu develop the bad habit of expecting clothes to be handed to her and meals served to her.

While she was still "young," her understanding of how to conduct herself had to be cultivated from an early age.

And besides!

It would be far too much of a waste to let a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast like her roam free. Zhou Qing was already thinking about how to prepare her as "reserve food."