A Fight Forged Friendship, the Friendship of Youth

Xiao Hongchen was not a Spirit Master with a spiritual attribute, so there was naturally quite a gap between his spiritual power and Xu Tianming's.

Cool spiritual power flowed from Xu Tianming's fingertips into Xiao Hongchen's brow, immediately easing his dizziness.

With a shudder, Xiao Hongchen came to his senses and swiftly retreated, opening up the distance between himself and Xu Tianming.

"So? The greatest genius of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy isn't going to refuse to admit defeat, is he?"

Xu Tianming stood with his hands behind his back, smiling at Xiao Hongchen.

Xiao Hongchen's expression darkened. At that moment, the words Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy in Xu Tianming's mouth sounded like a joke to him.

"I lost!"

After taking several deep breaths, Xiao Hongchen withdrew his Martial Soul.

"To defeat me with just a first soul skill... I, Xiao Hongchen, acknowledge you as the strongest at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy."

Xiao Hongchen was no fool. The other party had used only a single first soul skill to completely restrain him where he stood, leaving him unable to do anything.

If this had been a real match or a battlefield, he would have been dead beyond doubt.

"This is what I lost to you!"

With obvious reluctance, Xiao Hongchen took out the Soul Forging Secret Silver and tossed it to Xu Tianming.

"A man keeps his word when he loses a bet!"

Xu Tianming caught the Soul Forging Secret Silver and felt its light weight. He could not help giving Xiao Hongchen a thumbs-up.

Compared to Shrek Academy, which cheated in competitions for victory and some damn ten-thousand-year honor, Xiao Hongchen's conduct truly improved Xu Tianming's opinion of him.

"You may have won this time, but one day, I'll reclaim my title as the Sun Moon Empire's greatest genius!"

Xiao Hongchen raised his chin and snorted.

For some reason, Xu Tianming sensed an even stronger fighting spirit from him than before.

"That's the spirit!"

Xu Tianming nodded at Xiao Hongchen.

"Didn't you say you were an assault-type Spirit Master?"

Xiao Hongchen, standing beside him, asked Xu Tianming sweetly.

"But the soul skill you used just now was clearly a control-type skill!"

Xu Tianming turned to glance at Meng Hongchen and smiled.

"I am indeed an assault-type Spirit Master... at the very least, my attacks are far stronger than my control."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen exchanged a look, surprise visible in both their eyes.

Xiao Hongchen especially understood this well. Having been struck by Xu Tianming's first soul skill, he had experienced its control capabilities firsthand.

Not only had he been trapped in an inescapable daze, but even the soul skill he had been casting had been forcibly interrupted.

"Xu Tianming... Xu Tianming..."

Meng Hongchen softly repeated Xu Tianming's name several times, her gaze lingering on his handsome face.

"Your surname is Xu. Are you a distant relative of the imperial family?"

Xu Tianming nodded slightly. There was no need to hide his identity.

"My father is Xu Xiang, the City Lord of Dongyang City."

"The City Lord of Dongyang City?"

Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen were both stunned.

Naturally, they knew Dongyang City, the important hub city on the empire's northern border. But this was the first time they had learned that the person stationed there was actually a member of the imperial family.

From this alone, it was enough to show that Xu Xiang truly understood the art of keeping a low profile.

"Since you're a distant relative of the imperial family, I suppose we can call this friendship forged through a fight."

Xiao Hongchen familiarly draped an arm around Xu Tianming's shoulders, with none of the gloom he had shown when losing the Soul Forging Secret Silver.

"You're a new student, so you probably don't know much about the academy yet."

"We were just heading to the cafeteria. Come on, let's go together."

Xiao Hongchen truly was a rather emotional person.

When faced with a Spirit Master of his own age who was stronger than him, he only thought about surpassing him and had none of those other messy thoughts.

"Uh... all right."

Seeing how enthusiastic Xiao Hongchen was, Xu Tianming found it hard to refuse. Xiao Hongchen simply slung an arm around his shoulders and led him toward the cafeteria.

Meng Hongchen followed her brother with a helpless smile.

As the Sun Moon Empire's premier academy, bearing the imperial name and in no way inferior to Shrek Academy,

the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy's cafeteria was naturally luxurious and spotless.

It was nothing like the cafeteria across the way at Shrek Academy, which even had the inhumane rule requiring students to eat standing up.

The Xiao siblings were immensely famous within the academy. The moment they appeared in the cafeteria, they attracted the attention of quite a few people.

The siblings were clearly already used to such stares.

But before long, those gazes shifted to Xu Tianming, who stood between them.

Friendships between young people always warmed up quickly.

"Come to think of it, Tianming, you don't have an academy card yet, do you?"

Ignoring the gazes around them, Xiao Hongchen suddenly seemed to recall something and asked Xu Tianming.

"An academy card... what's that?"

Xu Tianming asked curiously.

"The academy card is the most important thing for students at our academy."

Before Xiao Hongchen could explain, Meng Hongchen spoke up first.

"Whether you're eating in the cafeteria, receiving cultivation guidance, or exchanging for high-grade rare metals and Soul Tools, you need an academy card."

Xu Tianming's eyes lit up slightly at those words.

This was quite similar to the universities from his previous life.

At that, Meng Hongchen took a golden card engraved with a sun and moon from her Storage Soul Guidance Device and waved it before Xu Tianming's eyes.

"All academy cards can be used for free meals in the cafeteria. There is no charge."

"However, students must pay for medicinal cuisine with special effects themselves."

"New students like you can generally only receive a white academy card, and white academy cards give a ten percent discount when purchasing medicinal cuisine."

"As for the cards my brother and I have, they're gold cards. All purchases in the cafeteria come with a fifty percent discount!"

How should he put it? Xu Tianming could understand it, actually.

Medicinal cuisine made with soul beast flesh and heavenly treasures usually had extremely high costs, so it was impossible to provide it for every student.

Thus, it was perfectly reasonable to give priority discounts to geniuses like Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.

At the very least, ordinary meals at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy were free.

"Consider today our treat."

Using their golden academy cards, the Xiao siblings received three portions of medicinal cuisine from the cafeteria at half price.

Though the Sun Moon Empire was far inferior to Shrek Academy in its research into Martial Souls,

the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy clearly surpassed Shrek Academy in its understanding of various medicines and heavenly treasures.

After all, the Sun Moon Empire had always had a tradition of taking pills.

As the saying went, long illness made a good doctor. The Sun Moon Empire had gained experience from taking so many pills.

"You two are being generous, so I can't be stingy either."

Looking at the dish before him, prepared from high-grade soul beast meat, Xu Tianming reached into his Storage Soul Guidance Device and took out his wine gourd.

"This is Hundred Fruit Brew, made by a senior using several rare medicinal ingredients. It has remarkable effects for tempering the body and refining Soul Power."

As he spoke, Xu Tianming poured each of them a full cup.

"I won Brother Hongchen's Soul Forging Secret Silver in our bet today, and now you two have spent so much on me. I'm rather embarrassed."