First Upgrade

The little girl who had spoken up at the start shrank her neck after being shouted at, but there was no way she could back down now. In the end, she spoke again.

"But, Teacher..."

Zhou Yi immediately pressed her with her Soul Power, giving her no chance to speak. Pointing at the little girl, she calmly delivered her cruel verdict.

"You're expelled. Get out of my class!"

"I—"

"Get out!"

Chu Mo quietly watched the spectacle from the side. Zhou Yi was truly unreasonable, abusing her authority to bully others. Thank goodness she was only a little Soul Emperor.

Suddenly, someone stood up and spoke righteously.

"Teacher, we're support-type Soul Masters. Running won't improve us at all. I don't think this is a test. You're just making things difficult for us."

Whatever the reason, the little girl was still deeply moved to hear someone speak up for her.

Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh? It won't improve you? Doesn't increasing your movement speed count?"

"But we're support-type Soul Masters. Do you expect us to fight on the front lines too?"

"Heh. Do you think the enemy will spare you on the battlefield just because you're a support-type Soul Master?"

Zhou Yi had said something without thinking it through.

At first glance, it did sound reasonable, and the support-type Soul Master who had questioned her hesitated.

But that was only how it seemed at first. Watching this, Chu Mo felt completely exasperated. What she'd said was just plain wrong.

Leaving aside whether improving their running speed would let them outrun an enemy's agility-type assassin, or whether running so many laps would cause irreversible damage to their bodies—

She was sending support-type Soul Masters to the front lines in the first place. What more was there to say? Wouldn't that just lead to a crushing defeat?

Bang!

Zhou Yi stomped again. Several Spirit Rings appeared above her, revealing the full might of a Soul Emperor!

"If you know they won't spare you, then hurry up and get out there and run!"

Her temper was explosive. She was definitely going through menopause.

"And the one I expelled—get out of my class!"

The other students trembled with fear. Their teacher was really expelling someone. They'd thought she was only trying to scare them, but they'd never expected her to actually do it. Everyone looked terribly upset as they watched the little girl get driven out.

The green-haired little girl beside Chu Mo was trembling too.

Feeling her shake, Chu Mo gently took Xiao Xiao's quivering hand.

Creak, creak!

After their initial shock, quite a few students came to their senses and hurried out of their seats, afraid they'd be the next ones expelled.

Chu Mo gave Xiao Xiao an encouraging smile, then stood and headed outside as well.

When they reached the plaza and began running, some passing students stared at them curiously, while the older students looked at them with sympathy.

Chu Mo ran quietly. Thanks to the body-tempering pills, he was still able to finish the run despite being a support-type Soul Master.

Bored, he opened the chat and saw that Wang Dong'er had already started complaining.

[Dong'er is Not a Girl: This homeroom teacher is seriously crazy. We have to run 120 laps around Shrek Plaza. Even with my Radiant Butterfly Martial Soul, I'm not sure I can finish.]

[Ice Frog is Stronger than Poison Frog: A butterfly Martial Soul in the agility attack system? It might be a bit demanding, but that seems normal.]

[Dong'er is Not a Girl: It's the same for support-type Soul Masters.]

[Ice Frog is Stronger than Poison Frog: ...]

[Dong'er is Not a Girl: She kept saying stuff like, "On the battlefield, the enemy won't spare you just because you're a support-type Soul Master." How is running supposed to improve our chances of escaping?]

[Revenge Girl: She really said that? If support-type Soul Masters are sent to the battlefield without anyone protecting them, and then expected to run away while being hunted, is that a training exercise, or have all their teammates been bribed?]

Chu Mo couldn't help giving the reply a thumbs-up. No wonder she'd become the future Empress. That was a sharp analysis.

[Dong'er is Not a Girl: She really did! Why would I lie? She also said, "Those who don't dare cause trouble are good-for-nothings." Since we hadn't picked fights with our classmates after signing up, we were good-for-nothings and trash for not daring to cause trouble, so she punished us by making us run laps.]

[Ice Frog is Stronger than Poison Frog: 666]

[Revenge Girl: 666]

[Ya: Sigh, just do what she says. Her menopause is really bad. Better that than getting expelled. Did she expel anyone to make an example of them?]

[Grilled Fish Girl: She really did expel one person.]

[Ya: Xiao Yu'er, stop chatting and focus on running. You're not very fit to begin with, so be careful she doesn't catch you out.]

[Dong'er is Not a Girl: Yu'er, can you finish? Do you need me to help you?]

[Grilled Fish Girl: I'll try my best not to hold everyone back.]

Watching their chat, Chu Mo suddenly remembered that the phrase "Those who don't dare cause trouble are good-for-nothings" had been said by Flender.

Maybe he hadn't meant anything by it beyond trying to stand out and attract students to his Shrek Academy.

But who would've thought that even ten thousand years later, someone would still be teaching that obviously wrong statement as if it were a famous saying?

Did having the bigger fist make you right and just?

Just as Chu Mo was about to tell them a piece of gossip, he noticed that his status showed he'd been muted. Even the group owner had been muted!

That could only mean the Chat Group itself had muted him. The next second, a notification popped up.

[System upgrade. Muted for 10 minutes.]

[System notification: The Group Chat has been upgraded to Level 2. The group will invite two new members.]

[System notification: Upgrade rewards will be distributed through a lottery.]

[First prize: A Titled Douluo-level Demon Puppet servant.]

[Second prize: (Immortal Herb) Lovesick Heartbreak Red.]

[Third prize: (Immortal Herb) Forget-River Autumn Water Dew.]

"These rewards aren't bad."

Looking at the three rewards, Chu Mo finally understood why they'd been muted. If they hadn't been, the chat would probably have been flooded with messages.

The rewards were far better than he'd expected. The Titled Douluo-level Demon Puppet alone was already excellent, and there were two Immortal Herbs as well. He didn't care about them much, but the other five girls would find these rewards irresistible.

[System notification: (Enter the lottery) Three winners will be selected at random. Entries close when the mute ends.]

From the notification, it seemed only the six of them could enter. Three prizes for six people meant their odds were already pretty good.

Just as Chu Mo expected, the others were stunned when they saw the rewards.

Although they didn't understand what a Titled Douluo-level Demon Puppet was, they'd all heard plenty of rumors about the two Immortal Herbs.

Especially Meng Hongchen, who didn't have classes that day.

Bored in her room, she'd been doing yoga, stretching her legs and twisting her waist. When she saw the rewards, her eyes lit up. She took her hands off her hips, sat up straight, clasped her hands together, and rocked them up and down as she muttered under her breath,

"Please let me win! Please let me win!"

No matter which prize she won, she could show off in front of her brother, grandfather, and classmates.

Ju Zi, who was studying Soul Tools in the research lab, was much the same.

An Immortal Herb could defy fate and change one's life. She wasn't asking for much—just one Immortal Herb.

Tang Ya's beautiful phoenix eyes widened as she stared intently at the screen, wanting to see whether her name was among the winners.

The other two girls were still running. They didn't show much outwardly, but the smiles on their faces proved they were looking forward to winning a reward.