School of His Dreams

The sky over Eastsea City was a deep blue. Sunlight pierced the thin clouds, spilling across the metal dome of the Soul Guidance Car station and reflecting a blinding glare.

Situ Xuan's steps were steady, every one as precise as if measured, landing neatly between the seams of the platform's stone tiles.

His figure stood out sharply among the crowd—at five foot seven, with broad shoulders and a stern face, he made nearby pedestrians instinctively step aside.

"Situ Xuan!"

Tang Wulin called from behind. Situ Xuan's brow furrowed slightly, but he did not stop walking.

He did not dislike this overly sunny classmate, but right now, he only wanted to find the shuttle to Eastsea Academy as quickly as possible. He had no interest in wasting time on meaningless small talk.

"Situ Xuan! Wait for me!"

Tang Wulin panted as he caught up, his small hand grabbing the hem of Situ Xuan's clothes. His large eyes were filled with excitement and a trace of unease, clearly nervous from traveling far from home for the first time.

"Great! I didn't expect you to be registering today too!"

Tang Wulin beamed. "We can take the academy shuttle together!"

Situ Xuan turned his head, his gaze lingering on Tang Wulin's face for a second.

The black hair on the boy's forehead was soaked with sweat and plastered against his skin. He had clearly run here in a hurry. His backpack was stuffed full, and several bread wrappers could even be seen through the gaps.

"Mm." Situ Xuan responded flatly and turned his attention back to the station exit.

Tang Wulin seemed long accustomed to Situ Xuan's coldness. He followed beside him without minding it, though his mouth never stopped moving. "I saw Eastsea City's promotional video on the train just now. The seafood here is supposed to be especially famous! And that biggest building—they say it's the Eastsea Federal Government Office. My dad said Soul Masters above the seventh ring are stationed there!"

Situ Xuan did not respond, but his ears twitched slightly.

—Seven-ring Soul Masters.

In a second-tier city like Eastsea City, seven-ring and eight-ring Soul Masters were probably already top-tier combatants.

If he had the chance to fight someone that strong...

The corner of Situ Xuan's mouth curled up almost imperceptibly.

The moment they left the station, noisy voices and the sound of wheels rolling over stone roads rushed toward them.

Eastsea City's Soul Guidance Car station was several times larger than Aolai City's. The plaza before it was packed with all kinds of Soul Guidance vehicles, including private hovercars and public Soul Guidance buses.

Situ Xuan swept his gaze over the square and quickly spotted a dark blue Soul Guidance bus in the temporary parking area to the right. The words [Eastsea Academy] were painted on its side in white.

"Over there." He spoke quietly and walked toward it.

Tang Wulin followed his gaze and immediately cheered. "Really! We're so lucky—the shuttle is right here!"

As they approached, they saw a sign with a white background and blue lettering standing there. It bore four large words: Eastsea Academy.

Tables and chairs stood beneath the sign, with several young men and women who looked seventeen or eighteen seated behind them, dressed in blue sportswear.

Tang Wulin ran ahead first. A delicate-looking girl stepped forward and asked him with a smile, "Little brother, are you here to enroll at Eastsea Academy?"

Situ Xuan walked up to another senior student. The young man noticed a shadow looming over him, looked up, and visibly froze when he saw Situ Xuan.

"You're... a new student?"

The young man looked Situ Xuan over from head to toe and asked uncertainly.

Situ Xuan said nothing. He simply took out the recommendation letter from his pocket and handed it over.

The young man accepted the letter, opened it, and glanced through it. His eyebrows shot up. "Recommended by Red Mountain Academy in Aolai City... Situ Xuan?" He looked at Situ Xuan again. "How old are you?"

"Ten." Situ Xuan answered blandly.

Ten years old, my ass?!

The young man's expression grew even stranger.

A ten-year-old kid looked like this?

He hesitated, but ultimately did not ask further. He merely nodded. "All right, get on. The bus leaves in half an hour."

With the new student metal badges Liu Yuxin had given them and the recommendation letters from Red Mountain Academy, the two completed registration and received two sets of uniforms each.

"My dorm is 208."

Situ Xuan looked at Tang Wulin, who was following closely behind him, clicked his tongue, and stated it simply.

Tang Wulin, who understood Situ Xuan fairly well by now, knew that his old classmate was annoyed that he kept following him.

"Oh, oh! I-I'm in 205. Want to get dinner together later?"

Tang Wulin clearly pretended not to hear him, trying to muddle through it.

Situ Xuan stood still and silently looked at Tang Wulin, seemingly answering him through his actions.

"Uh... I'll go make my bed first. I'll come find you later."

Under Situ Xuan's stare, Tang Wulin felt waves of cold creep over him for no reason. Still, his unfamiliarity with and resistance to the new environment made him hold himself back. Avoiding Situ Xuan's answer, he quickly headed in the other direction.

Shaking his head, Situ Xuan clicked his tongue again and headed toward Dormitory 208.

When Situ Xuan pushed open the door to Dormitory 208, the laughter and chatter inside came to an abrupt stop.

The three metal beds against the wall had already been made. Three boys sat cross-legged on their respective beds, chatting.

When they saw the tall figure standing in the doorway, all of them stiffened at once—this boy, who was at least eight inches taller than them, did not look like a freshman their age at all.

On the lower bunk by the window, a skinny boy with glasses instinctively gripped the bed rail. Beside him, a brown-haired boy's mouth hung half open, and the cookie he had broken in half fell onto his blanket.

On the upper bunk at the very back, a curly-haired boy in a plaid shirt silently pulled his legs back onto the inner side of the bed.

Situ Xuan's gaze swept across the three of them, and the air seemed to freeze for several seconds.

"My name is Situ Xuan."

His voice was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the silent dormitory.

The three boys swallowed at the same time. None of them dared speak first.

Walking to the only empty lower bunk, Situ Xuan set down his luggage bag. He swiftly spread out the blue bedsheet issued by the academy, patting its four corners until they were as sharp and crisp as a military blanket. Several changes of clothes were neatly folded into the bedside cabinet, producing a faint rustle of fabric.

Throughout the process, the only sounds in the dormitory were the occasional creak of the metal bedframe and the distant commotion from the sports field outside the window.

"From now on, you'll take turns handling dorm cleanliness according to the duty roster."

Situ Xuan straightened up and ran a finger over the surface of the bedside cabinet, confirming that there was no dust. "I don't want to see this place dirty or messy."

His gaze passed over each of his three roommates in turn. Three heads immediately bobbed like pecking chicks.

"If there are any objections, bring them up now."

Situ Xuan added.

The boy with glasses opened his mouth, but in the end, he only shook his head hard. Behind his lenses, his eyes blinked uneasily.

The brown-haired boy quietly gathered the fallen cookie crumbs into his palm, moving as stiffly as if he were dismantling a bomb.

The curly-haired boy on the upper bunk had already pressed himself entirely against the wall, as though trying to merge with the wallpaper.

Situ Xuan nodded almost imperceptibly and turned toward the door. As he grasped the handle, a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz came from behind him. "Um... the duty roster..."

"Make it yourselves."

Situ Xuan did not look back. "Just don't include me."

The moment the door closed, three sighs of relief rang out in the dormitory. Then came the brown-haired boy's hushed cry. "Good lord, I thought some upperclassman had gone into the wrong dorm!"

"Is he really in our year?"

The boy with glasses pushed up his frames, his voice still trembling. "Couldn't that punch kill a cow?"

Rustling came from the upper bunk as the curly-haired boy poked half his head out. "We're going to be in the same class as him, right?"

In the hallway, Situ Xuan did not pause. He headed toward the stairs, but at that exact moment, a figure flew out through the door of Dormitory 205. The figure quickly scrambled to his feet and charged back inside.

"Bastard!"

Tang Wulin's furious roar rang out, brimming with rage.

Not long afterward, another figure flew out.

This time, however, it was not Tang Wulin, but another guy who looked rather full of himself.

"Tut, tut, tut."

Watching the scene before him, delight flashed through Situ Xuan's eyes. He knew he had come to the right school!

Look at that—someone was already fighting on the first day of school. Wasn't this exactly the school of his dreams?!

Looking at the four boys being led away from Dormitory 205, Situ Xuan could not help sighing. "Why does no one ever come pick a fight with me?"

Every new student passing by stared at him in shock, their expressions seeming to say, Who would be suicidal enough to pick a fight with someone like you?