Gu Yue Na's Dream

"Keep observing them, especially Chen An. We do thirst for talent..."

"But we can't nurture even Evil Soul Masters. If he shows the traits of an Evil Soul Master, then..."

The elderly man at the head of the meeting spoke slowly, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.

The others all agreed and began discussing how to determine whether Chen An was an Evil Soul Master.

Once they had established a standard for judgment, the meeting came to an end.

Chen An had no idea that he and Gu Yue Na had sparked a meeting among the higher-ups.

After dinner, he returned to his room to cultivate.

The rooms provided for Red-Level Students all contained special Soul Guidance Arrays that aided cultivation.

This meant they could accelerate their cultivation without needing to visit the cultivation rooms.

After cultivating for a while, Chen An found that the speed increase was roughly ten percent.

He was fairly satisfied with such a boost.

Over the next dozen or so days, both Chen An and Gu Yue Na had plenty of free time.

Enrollment would continue for half a month, and classes would only begin after it ended.

They had no lessons during this period and could arrange their time freely.

Chen An kept himself fairly busy every day, sparring with Di Tian to improve his combat experience and techniques.

He also visited the academy library to read all kinds of material and cultivated.

During this time, he also figured out roughly what they would be doing after school began.

Besides their normal lessons, there would be a freshmen competition one week after the start of term.

Its primary purpose was to assess the strength of each student.

There would also be a competition at the end of the term, meant to evaluate each student's improvement over the semester.

The competitions would be divided into several categories: pure soul master battles, Soul Engineer battles,

and contests involving secondary professions. The specifics were not fixed.

Naturally, Chen An wanted to participate in the pure soul master battles.

He had continuously sparred with Di Tian during this time and felt that he had improved considerably.

It was time to test the results against others and see where he stood among people his own age.

He also found time to have a blood test done, wanting to know whether there was anything wrong with his blood.

The answer was that it was normal human blood, though its vitality was somewhat strong.

This result allowed Chen An to breathe a slight sigh of relief, free of lingering concerns.

The first day of school soon arrived, and nearly a thousand freshmen gathered in a hall.

As Red-Level Students, Chen An and Gu Yue Na were seated in the first row.

Six others sat in the first row with them. There were only eight Red-Level Students among this year's freshmen.

Gu Yue Na sat there bored, paying no attention to the people around her.

Chen An, on the other hand, looked around, focusing especially on the others in his row.

His senses were not bad, and he could tell that the fluctuations of Soul Power from these people were far stronger than his own.

These people have probably all reached Soul Elder.

Chen An made a bold guess. Those classified as Red-Level Students were certainly extraordinary.

He silently calculated, wondering whether these people were among those mentioned in the novel.

In the novel, Tang Wulin and the others had come to challenge Sun Moon Royal Academy.

Sun Moon Royal Academy had sent several people their age to face them.

Tang Wulin had seemed to be around thirteen or fourteen at the time, while he was only a little over nine now.

Those few should also have been only a little over nine, which did not match the ages of these people.

The people around him appeared to be around twelve or thirteen.

There were both boys and girls. Four of them carried an air of nobility between their brows, clearly indicating extraordinary backgrounds.

The other two seemed more ordinary, without that innate arrogance.

Once all the students had taken their seats, the academy leaders stepped onto the stage one after another and sat down.

Identity plaques bearing each person's name and position rested on the tables before them.

The elderly man seated in the center held the highest status: Xu Lin, the principal of Sun Moon Royal Academy.

The hall quieted down, and everyone's gazes focused on the leaders onstage.

Principal Xu Lin was the first to speak, welcoming the new students with fairly formal remarks.

Applause rang through the hall, and Chen An and Gu Yue Na followed the crowd in clapping as well.

Several more procedures followed, steadily raising the atmosphere in the hall.

Principal Xu Lin's speech in particular was extremely inspiring, stirring everyone's desire to cultivate.

As Chen An listened, he pondered the principal's background.

The surname Xu was rather significant. The Sun Moon Imperial Family from ten thousand years ago had also borne that surname.

The current Federation, meanwhile, was formally known as the Sun Moon Federation, and its predecessor had been the Sun Moon Empire.

It was worth mentioning that people from the other two countries usually called the Sun Moon Federation the Douluo Federation.

Quite a few people within the Federation called it the Douluo Federation as well.

These people had once belonged to Star Luo, Heaven Soul Empire, and Dou Spirit Empire. They were unwilling to acknowledge the name Sun Moon.

Calling it the Douluo Federation was also a small form of psychological comfort for themselves.

According to historical records, several thousand years ago, after the Sun Moon Empire unified the continent,

the Sun Moon Imperial Family had been forced to agree to abolish the imperial system and establish the Federation Government under the collective petition of its ministers.

This was equivalent to relinquishing the throne themselves; the sacrifice was no small one.

The imperial family must have secured sufficient benefits for themselves at the time.

Even without the throne, they could still prosper for a thousand years, or even ten thousand years.

The academy had quite a few statues of former principals, inscribed with their names, deeds, and contributions.

Without exception, every principal's name from several thousand years ago onward bore the surname Xu.

It seemed that ever since the imperial system had been abolished, Sun Moon Royal Academy had remained in the hands of the Xu Family.

Sun Moon Royal Academy also served as a training institution for Federation officials.

From that point alone, it was clear that the Xu Family was still one of the top great families.

As for just how influential the family was, that was impossible to know for now.

The opening ceremony lasted for over an hour before everyone left in an orderly fashion.

The next day, the term officially began, and Chen An and Gu Yue Na had classes.

Their class had forty students in total. Besides the eight Red-Level Students, the other thirty-two were all Black-Level Students.

This was Freshman Class One, the best class.

The teachers assigned to it, along with all manner of educational resources, were the finest.

Their homeroom teacher was an eight-ringed Soul Douluo who looked fairly amiable.

Their first class was taught by this homeroom teacher, Li Guang.

Rather than beginning formal instruction, he chatted with the students about their dreams.

"Let's start with the Red-Level Students. Gu Yue Na, you go first."

Li Guang looked at Gu Yue Na, who was seated beside Chen An.

Gu Yue Na was only a little over eight years old, the youngest and shortest person in the class.

She was like a little girl who had slipped into a class of teenagers, utterly out of place among those around her.

Of course, she was also the most mature one in the class. From the moment she entered, she had simply sat there in silence.

She looked rather aloof, but in truth, she simply could not be bothered to pay attention to anyone else.

Gu Yue Na glanced at Li Guang. Under her gaze, Li Guang instead felt a little awkward.

He suddenly began to wonder whether he should not have called on this little girl first.