Academy Life

The next day, the Shrek teachers and students had already left the Star Dou Great Forest. At last, it was time for the daily sign-in again.

Discovered character Zhao Wuji. Sign in? The system's voice appeared in his mind.

Sign in...

Soon, a translucent panel that only Zhao Zilong could see appeared before him:

Character: Zhao Wuji, Vice Dean of Shrek Academy;

Age: 46;

Martial Soul: Great Vajra Bear (High-Rank Martial Soul);

Innate Soul Power: Level 7;

Soul Power: Level 76;

Sign in with Zhao Wuji and strip away 0.5 levels of his Innate Soul Power...

Stripping successful. The host's current Innate Soul Power is Level 3...

When the system's voice in his mind fell silent, Zhao Zilong said, a little disappointed, That's it...

Still, 0.5 levels of Innate Soul Power was better than what he'd gotten from Li Yusong. With Li Yusong, he hadn't just stripped away 0.5 levels of Soul Power.

With insufficient Innate Soul Power, cultivating Soul Power was very difficult. It was just like Zhao Zilong now: although he appeared to be Level 32, his Innate Soul Power was a mere Level 3. If he couldn't strip away more Innate Soul Power, Tang San and the others would soon overtake him, since they were all geniuses.

After returning to the academy, Zhao Zilong went with Oscar and Xiao Wu to the Spirit Hall Branch in Suotuo City to update their Soul Power records.

Since Zhao Zilong had never registered with the Spirit Hall in the first place, he could only tell them that he had lost his Martial Soul Handbook, and had them issue him a replacement.

He also collected a subsidy of twenty Gold Soul Coins. However, this subsidy was only available to Soul Masters under the age of twenty-five; those over twenty-five could no longer claim it.

At that moment, several dozen kilometers from Shrek Academy, in the back hills, the Eight Spider Lances appeared behind Zhao Zilong. He immediately felt every function of his body improve.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Several slashes from the Eight Spider Lances swept past, cutting down several trees in an instant. Purple venom corroded the trunks, sending up wisps of purple smoke.

As expected of something the system gave me for free. It's fused perfectly into my body, just like my hands and feet, and it's so sharp, too... As he spoke, Zhao Zilong reached out and touched the tip of an Eight Spider Lance. It felt completely like metal.

He looked at the panel before him: External Soul Bone: Eight Spider Lances. Soul Skill: Enhance (increases all attributes by 50). Soul Skill: Devour (devours the opponent's Soul Power and replenishes the user's Soul Power consumption by 100%, with poison as an additional effect).

The Soul Skills were exactly the same as Tang San's. With these Eight Spider Lances, combined with the Tang Sect Hidden Weapon Techniques, he might not be able to defeat Soul Masters above Level 40, but Soul Masters at Level 30 should no longer be a match for him.

Over the next few days, everyone trained freely. Apart from some running exercises every morning, they spent most of their time cultivating on their own.

After all, that was how Shrek Academy worked. From the very start, it accepted only students whose talent stood at the peak of the pyramid. Students with that kind of talent cultivated Soul Power very quickly, even without a teacher's guidance.

Many Douluo fans in his previous life had mixed opinions about Shrek Academy. As for Zhao Zilong, he had looked down on it a little.

In twenty years since its founding, it had accepted only forty-two students, and in the end, just fourteen had graduated. Those who didn't graduate had either died at the hands of Soul Beasts, dropped out partway through, or left for some other reason. Because the academy lacked resources, it hadn't officially registered as an academy with any country. Yet every one of its graduates had been a genius who made a name for themselves across Douluo Continent.

When they achieved success, it was because Shrek Academy had taught them well. When students died or dropped out, it was because they weren't capable enough. At first glance, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with that. But if those students who dropped out or died had gone to other academies, they might have received better educational resources, such as a Simulated Training Environment. Perhaps they wouldn't have died, or perhaps they might have achieved something of their own on Douluo Continent.

This reminded Zhao Zilong of the top schools in his previous life. At those top schools, teachers taught students as if they were teaching little birds to fly: first, spread your wings, then do this and that. If you accidentally fell to your death, then you were just too useless and deserved it. But if you managed to fly, it was because the school had taught you well: Look, I taught it how to fly! When in fact, the little bird had known how to fly all along.

As long as someone was a genius, whoever taught them, they were destined to shine in the future.

Of course, that had been Zhao Zilong's view in his previous life. To the Zhao Zilong of today, Shrek Academy was still a pretty good place. At least its teachers were all strong enough. If he needed to hunt Soul Beasts, even Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts later on, they would be able to help him. Besides, Zhao Zilong himself was now a member of Shrek, after all. One's position determined one's perspective.

Meanwhile, at the academy, Tang San had spent the past few days holed up in his room cultivating Soul Power, except when he went to eat. Perhaps because his Soul Power had dropped by one level, he was even more eager to recover it quickly. The others, whenever they had nothing to do, went to Suotuo City to have fun.

Over the past few days, Zhao Zilong had also "signed in" with Flender, stripping away 0.5 levels of his Innate Soul Power. His Innate Soul Power was now Level 3.5. He had also "signed in" with Lu Qibin, stripping away 0.5 levels of his Soul Power; his Soul Power was now Level 32.5. Of the five teachers at Shrek Academy, only Shao Xin remained.

However, a few days earlier, Flender had sent Shao Xin and Li Yusong out to buy supplies such as rice, vegetables, and flour. Since Flender was famously stingy and wanted things both cheap and good, he had sent the two of them directly to buy from the farmers, cutting out the middlemen.

Before, there had only been three students, and Dai Mubai often went out to eat, hardly ever eating at the academy. But this year there were eight students, and Meng Yiran would be joining before long, making nine. Naturally, they would need to prepare a few more dishes for meals. Later, he could also revise the school rules and make them all eat at the academy every day. That way, he could make another profit.

Several days had passed since Zhao Zilong had returned from the Star Dou Great Forest, but he still hadn't seen Yu Xiaogang show up. At this point in the original story, Yu Xiaogang should already have arrived at Shrek Academy, but he still hadn't appeared.

Yu Xiaogang had surely noticed his Soul Power decreasing, too. He must be at a loss about what to do now!

Today, Shao Xin had finally returned with Li Yusong. Zhao Zilong immediately went to find Shao Xin, who was reporting to Flender at the time.

"Teacher Shao Xin, Dean," Zhao Zilong greeted the two of them when he came over.

Discovered character Shao Xin. Choose to sign in? Sure enough, the system's mature-sounding voice appeared again.

Flender looked at him and said, "Oh, Shao Xin, Zilong has been looking for you these past few days. He said he wanted to taste what your Martial Soul, Sugar Bean, was like, so make him a couple."

Shao Xin readily agreed to this request. "All right, Dean."