The Tournament Ends and the Rewards

Early the next morning, Shrek Plaza.

Three hundred First-Year Students had gathered here because today was the day the Freshman Assessment Tournament rewards would be announced.

Yesterday afternoon, the championship match and the third-place match had concluded.

Just as in the Original Work, Huo Gua and Wang Dong had defeated Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu's Hell White Tiger with their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Golden Road.

The difference was that Huang Chutian, Lan Luoluo, and Lan Susu's team, originally the third-place finishers, had been defeated by Zhou Huan and two others.

The battle itself had not been complicated. Wen Xiaoshuai had unleashed his usual violent offense, fighting Huang Chutian, who was also from the Power Attack System.

Knowing long ago that the Lan sisters possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Zhou Huan had not given them a chance to make contact at all. While Wang Qingya held Lan Luoluo back, Zhou Huan eliminated Lan Susu with lightning speed.

Of course, that was also because the Lan sisters could not possibly use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill right from the start.

Thus, the two young girls had lost miserably before they could even unleash their ultimate move.

Without the Lan sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill, the remaining two were simply no match for Zhou Huan and two others.

And so, Zhou Huan and two others had taken third place in this tournament.

Zhou Huan was actually quite satisfied with that result. It was neither too conspicuous nor too poor, perfectly in line with the Way of the Dog.

Although he had shown a few flashes of brilliance during the matches, people were left with more of the impression that "this guy has absolutely no shame." It had nothing to do with standing out from the crowd, especially with Huo Gua and the other two stealing all the limelight ahead of them.

At this moment, Du Wilun, director of the Martial Soul Department, and several other teachers had already arrived on the stage at Shrek Plaza.

"Alright, quiet!" Du Wilun's steady voice instantly spread across the entire plaza.

Once the students immediately stopped talking, Du Wilun nodded in satisfaction and continued, "This year's Freshman Assessment Tournament has concluded successfully. You all did very well."

"Next, I will announce the tournament rankings and rewards."

"Fourth place: Huang Chutian Team. Huang Chutian, Lan Luoluo, Lan Susu."

"Third place: Zhou Huan Team. Zhou Huan, Wen Xiaoshuai, Wang Qingya."

"Second place: Dai Huabin Team. Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, Cui Yajie."

"First place: Wang Dong Team. Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, Huo Yuhao."

"Alright, give them a round of applause!"

"Clap, clap, clap—!"

As everyone applauded enthusiastically, Zhou Huan looked toward Huo Gua in the distance.

Sure enough, Huo Gua's expression was extremely unpleasant.

Of course, that was only natural. Anyone who had endured so much hardship to reach this point, only to have their efforts ignored, would find it hard to accept if they were a normal person.

Because anyone who knew the inside story understood that the difference between "Wang Dong Team" and "Huo Yuhao Team" was far more than just one missing word.

It showed that the academy recognized Wang Dong, not Huo Yuhao, even though they had competed under the name "Huo Yuhao Team."

At this moment, Wang Dong was somewhat at a loss as she tried to comfort Huo Yuhao.

That made Zhou Huan sigh inwardly. The Protagonist's path was usually not an easy one. Even though Huo Gua would soon become a Core Disciple of the Soul Tool Department, he was probably feeling awful right now. Perhaps this was also a form of spiritual tempering for the Protagonist.

No wonder Rong Nianbing would later pass the Deity of the God of Emotion to Huo Gua. Even if he knew there might be a certain God King's scheme behind it, he did not care.

After all, Rong Nianbing was going to leave the God Realm and roam the universe. What did the affairs of the God Realm have to do with him? Were his wives not sweet enough?

Shaking his head, Zhou Huan stopped thinking about such random matters.

At this point, Du Wilun began announcing the assessment rewards. "Each member of the top four teams in the Freshman Competition may request that the academy help them obtain the best possible Soul Ring the next time they acquire one."

"Furthermore, due to the outstanding performance of this year's freshmen, the academy has decided to award Outer Court Core Disciple positions. Those becoming Outer Court Core Disciples are: Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, Zhou Huan, Wen Xiaoshuai, Zhou Sichen, Cao Jinxuan, Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng."

"There are also several other students whose current strength is still insufficient for them to become Outer Court Core Disciples. However, due to their excellent performance, they may temporarily receive Core Disciple treatment. They are: Huo Yuhao, Wang Qingya, Cui Yajie, Huang Chutian, and Nanmen Yun'er."

Upon hearing that, Zhou Huan could not help frowning.

Qingya had actually failed to become a Core Disciple. Food Type Soul Masters already found it more difficult to increase their Soul Power than other Soul Masters, and Wang Qingya reaching Level Nineteen Soul Power at the age of twelve was already outstanding.

Yet she had still failed to become an Outer Court Core Disciple.

She was someone who could fight Ning Tian on even terms with a Level Two Soul Tool!

Sure enough, was it both her success and her failure because of Soul Tools?

The Martial Soul Department of Shrek really was prejudiced against Soul Tools.

Still, Zhou Huan currently had no ability to change such things. When he looked at Wang Qingya and found that she did not seem disappointed at all, he felt much more at ease.

Thinking about it, Wang Qingya was different from Huo Gua after all. Huo Gua had suffered bullying since childhood and struggled every step of the way to reach this point, while Wang Qingya came from a good family and had been treated like a little princess since she was young.

Would someone worth tens of billions really rush to a supermarket to fight over discounted cabbage?

The analogy might not have been entirely accurate, but that was roughly what he meant.

Besides, if Wang Qingya had not teamed up with two Soul Grandmasters, Zhou Huan and Wen Xiaoshuai, and if Zhou Huan had not convinced her to pick up a Soul Tool, then as merely a Food Type Soul Master, she could never have achieved such a good result as third place.

Not to mention receiving Core Disciple treatment or anything like that.

Therefore, Wang Qingya herself felt that this result was already very good.

As for Zhou Huan, he actually cared even less about the identity of a Core Disciple. If possible, he would have preferred to trade with Wang Qingya.

Because among these rewards, only the treatment given to Core Disciples was useful to Zhou Huan. Naturally, that included eating in the cafeteria for free, and every meal there was quite expensive. That was what Zhou Huan wanted most.

After all, he was poor!

As for obtaining the best possible Soul Ring, there was no way Zhou Huan would let the academy teachers help him with that.

Afterward, Du Wilun announced that the championship team also had a special reward, which they could collect from his Office after the meeting.

Of course, Zhou Huan knew what the special reward was: a Soul Bone, the Void Spirit Demonic Leopard Left Leg Bone. It would most likely go to Wang Dong in the end.

To be honest, Zhou Huan was a little envious. But accepting a Soul Bone from the academy was basically equivalent to becoming a true Shrek person, not merely an ordinary student or even an Outer Court Core Disciple.

Zhou Huan had not yet made up his mind about that.

Even if he wanted to keep lying low in Shrek forever, even if he entered the Inner Court in the future, Zhou Huan was still unwilling to accept such a huge favor as a Soul Bone.

While Zhou Huan was lost in thought, Du Wilun had already begun assigning classes.

The First-Year Students were divided into four classes. Class One focused on power attacks and control, Class Two on agility attacks and defense, Class Three was for the Support System, while Class Four included Food Type, Healing Type, and students with some special Martial Souls.

Wang Qingya was not assigned to Class Four. Instead, she was also placed in Class One.

There were two reasons. First, she had taken third place in the tournament and was qualified to enter the strongest Class One. Do not think that a mismatch in specialization meant staying in a mixed-bag class like Class Four was truly better than being in Class One. After all, actual combat was the most important thing for a Soul Master.

Second, Wang Qingya, a One-Ring Soul Master, was an extraordinary girl who could wield a Great Sword and fight a Three-Ring Soul Elder!

Although the Martial Soul Department did not like Soul Tools, it certainly would not forbid students from using them. Otherwise, why would Shrek even have a Soul Tool Department?

Thus, Wang Qingya might instead become an observation subject, commonly known as a lab rat.

And at this moment, the lab rat, having finished the reward ceremony, was leading Zhou Huan and Wen Xiaoshuai toward the cafeteria to sample the Core Disciples' meals. After standing around all morning, they were starving.

Please bookmark and recommend.

A quick note: since this is a fanfiction, a small portion of the settings will differ from the Original Work. Please do not flame it.