The First Lesson

After testing bone age, innate soul power, and martial soul, Lu Lin silently walked to the other side.

Naturally, his Pure Fire Green Lotus martial soul, in the eyes of the female soul master in charge of enrollment assessment, could only earn an unremarkable evaluation.

Lu Lin didn't mind this—after all, who could blame him for his innate soul power level being far too low?

Regardless, Lu Lin still met the admission standards for Shrek Academy's Outer Court.

The next person to be tested behind Lu Lin was Qin He.

The test began with bone age again. Qin He extended his wrist, and the female soul master lightly scanned it with a soul tool before nodding: "Bone age under twelve, meets requirements."

After speaking, she pushed over the crystal ball for testing innate soul power, letting Qin He test his. The next moment, the blue crystal ball blazed with light, nearly filling the entire ball with radiance!

This was... innate soul power at level nine and a half.

Lu Lin was secretly astonished.

This youth named Qin He actually had innate soul power half a level higher than Dai Xichen.

Dai Xichen, still at the back of the line, furrowed his brow slightly again.

This youth named Qin He, just like Lu Lin beside him, was equally unexpected.

The female soul master was also greatly surprised. Innate soul power at level nine and a half—an absolute Inner Court seed.

It had to be said, the quality of students applying to the Outer Court this year was the highest of any year.

She calmed herself slightly, put away the crystal ball for testing soul power, and looked at Qin He. "Now release your martial soul so I can see it."

Qin He grinned, opened his right hand, and a pill about the size of a pigeon egg, with an ancient and restrained design and black-and-white mysterious patterns, leaped into his palm:

"Teacher, my martial soul is called the Taotie Xuanwen Pill. I am a Food System Soul Master."

Qin He released his martial soul, but saw the woman staring fixedly at it without looking away. His heart jumped in alarm, and he said nervously:

"Ah, teacher, is there something wrong with my martial soul?"

He didn't know that what was on her mind had nothing to do with any problem with his martial soul. Instead, she was thinking that with innate soul power nearly maxed out and being a Food System Soul Master, she had to report this to the Inner Court immediately...

"Nothing wrong. Welcome to Shrek Academy."

She composed herself and smiled.

"Pretty good talent, huh, buddy?"

After the test, Qin He slipped back over to Lu Lin, one hand on his hip, looking proud.

Lu Lin was extremely surprised when he heard this.

It wasn't the other's talent that shocked him, but Qin He's attitude.

Now that his true background was completely exposed, Qin He still treated him the same as before.

If it had been anyone else, upon learning that Lu Lin's innate soul power was only level 4, they would have already turned and walked away.

"Impressive. You'll have to look out for me from now on!"

Lu Lin casually gave a thumbs up.

Qin He chuckled and returned the thumbs up:

"You've got innate level 4 soul power and still managed to cultivate to level 17 this fast—that's way more impressive than me. Maybe I'll be the one relying on you later."

Hearing this, Lu Lin just smiled and didn't take Qin He's words seriously.

As the two talked, another wave of exclamations rose from the crowd.

It was now Dai Xichen's turn for testing.

Just as he had said, his innate soul power was indeed level nine.

Combined with his outstanding bearing, appearance, and that iconic White Tiger Martial Soul, it stirred all kinds of shock from the people around him.

But none of that had anything to do with Lu Lin.

In this era, the admission process for Shrek Academy was both difficult and simple.

Difficult because it required a recommendation letter, soul power, and age—none of which could be missing.

Simple because as long as these three conditions were met, barring extremely rare exceptions, one could basically enroll normally.

Lu Lin naturally encountered no problems.

However, he didn't yet know that the three recommendation letters he had submitted would soon be passed up to the higher-ups in the Inner Court, stirring up some ripples...

After enrollment registration came trivial matters like paying tuition, picking up uniforms, and getting dormitory keys. Shrek's student dorms were also two-person rooms, which Lu Lin found quite satisfactory.

Qin He was deeply regretful that he hadn't been assigned to the same dorm as Lu Lin.

Lu Lin casually said a few comforting words, finding it amusing.

Perhaps because he found Lu Lin agreeable, Qin He dragged Lu Lin along for everything during those first few days of enrollment, saving Lu Lin quite a bit of trouble.

Worth noting is that these past few days, Lu Lin had been the only one in the dorm.

This new roommate of his seemed mysterious to the extreme—ever since Lu Lin moved in, he hadn't seen the guy show his face even once.

Though puzzled by this, Lu Lin didn't dwell on it.

Classes officially began only after enrollment ended.

Shrek Academy's annual enrollment drive lasted several days.

In the Outer Court's teaching buildings, grade levels were divided by soul ring colors, with the white building naturally serving as the first-year freshmen's classroom.

Given the current yearly intake of nine hundred to a thousand students, such a massive number meant the first grade had the most classes—a full ten of them.

This day marked Lu Lin's first class at Shrek Academy.

On the platform stood a middle-aged man around Liu Yanchi's age, but judging by the soul power fluctuations emanating from him, he was at least a Soul Emperor-level powerhouse.

This was the difference between graduating from Shrek and merely dropping out.

Lu Lin sat upright below, yet inwardly sighed at the thought.

Beside him, a lively, handsome young man shook his head and craned his neck, looking left and right as if afflicted with hyperactivity, unable to stay still for a moment.

This person was none other than Qin He.

And it wasn't just him—Dai Xichen was also in the same class as Lu Lin. Lu Lin had no idea what he'd done to deserve studying in the same classroom as these two geniuses.

On the platform, that Soul Emperor-level teacher wrote his name on the blackboard—Xiao Jin.

Then he turned around and said calmly, "My name is Xiao Jin. I'm your homeroom teacher. Welcome to Shrek."

After a brief pause, Xiao Jin continued:

"Since you've all made it here, you must know that Shrek is a monster academy. So for this first lesson, I'll only talk about two things."

"First, I don't care how many levels of soul power you have now. In half a year, I want to see you all reach Level 20."

"This place has the best resources on the continent. If you can't meet my requirements, it only means you're not fit to stay at Shrek."

The moment Xiao Jin finished speaking, the room erupted in murmurs.

Lu Lin didn't find it particularly surprising. As Xiao Jin had said, this was Shrek after all—wearing the crown of the continent's top academy, strict demands were only natural.

But others didn't see it that way.

Though everyone admitted here had exceptional talent, quite a few had just barely crossed the line at Level 15. This requirement hit them like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

Xiao Jin paid no mind to their reactions and pressed on:

"Second, our class needs to elect a class leader and a vice class leader."

"The selection method will be actual combat."

"In a moment, I'll draw lots to pair you up. The winners advance to the next round."

"The final victor and their opponent will become our class leader and vice class leader."

As soon as Xiao Jin said this, some students below grew restless: "Teacher, that's not fair. I'm an auxiliary system soul master—I have no combat ability."

Without so much as blinking, Xiao Jin replied calmly, "On the battlefield, will the enemy spare you just because you're an auxiliary system soul master? Besides, who says auxiliary system soul masters have no combat ability at all?"

"If anyone objects to this selection method, you can drop out right now."

After Xiao Jin's words, the room fell into dead silence.

Only Qin He beside Lu Lin wore a bitter expression.

He had no interest in becoming class leader, but the problem was that he was a Food System Soul Master—utterly lacking in combat ability.