The next morning, Mingdu, at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.
Although it had been nearly half a month since the start of the school year, the academy was still accepting transfer students. Thanks to its relatively accommodating conditions and abundant resources, every year during enrollment, this academy seemed to have more applicants than its gates could handle.
Still, there had to be a cutoff date. Today was the last day for transfer student admissions. Anyone who arrived later might not be able to keep up with the courses, which were about to begin.
The sun had just risen, and everyone in the admissions office was in high spirits, ready to tackle the last workday of the enrollment period. Only one person looked listless, standing out like a chicken in a flock of cranes.
"I wonder what Grandpa was thinking."
The silver-haired boy with mismatched eyes slumped over the admissions desk, looking from afar like a giant Persian cat. A teacher beside him tactfully reminded him, "Young Master Xiao, we already have a student here. You should mind your image."
"Oh." The boy called Young Master Xiao replied carelessly. He managed to sit up a little, then propped his head on one hand, as though it would hit the floor the moment he let go. His blue-green eyes swept over the first student to report in with an air of arrogance. After only a brief glance, he looked away.
"Nothing special." He sighed lazily. "I don't understand why Grandpa asked me to help with admissions. Is there anyone here worth paying attention to?"
Anyone who didn't know him would have thought those words outrageously arrogant. He was only a child himself, after all. But if they knew his name was Xiao Hongchen, they wouldn't have found it strange at all.
Who was Xiao Hongchen? The grandson of the current Hall Master of Mingde Hall. At fourteen, he was close to becoming a Five-Ring Soul King, and he was already a bona fide Level 4.5 Soul Engineer. The teachers believed that before this year's Soul Fighting Tournament for Advanced Soul Master Academies across the Continent began, he would reach the five-ring level and advance to Level 5 Soul Engineer.
Those students who had only just met the admissions requirements were hardly worth mentioning to him.
"I'm so sleepy." He patted his head. "I want to go buy a soda."
"No!" The teacher beside him immediately stopped him, though he didn't dare scold him too harshly. He was in a difficult position. "The Hall Master told us you have to work properly today. You can't just leave whenever you want."
The teachers had been having a hard time with this little troublemaker. Before enrollment began, Jing Hongchen, the Hall Master of Mingde Hall, had deliberately sent Xiao Hongchen to work with them, so the boy could get a taste of what it was like to have a job.
Everyone knew the reason. With Xiao Hongchen's talent, he was certain to become the successor to Mingde Hall. Hall Master Hongchen had probably wanted to give him some early training and broaden his horizons beyond the academy.
But children of this age rarely had the patience to sit still, and Xiao Hongchen was only well-behaved when he was cultivating or making Soul Tools. He didn't want to spend even a second working there.
Xiao Hongchen sulked back into his seat, his gaze as lifeless as stagnant water as he looked over the students reporting in one by one. Suddenly, his eyes brightened slightly, and he looked up at the person currently introducing herself.
"Wang Dong, a Level 32 Agility Attack System Battle Soul Elder. My Martial Soul is the Light Goddess Butterfly."
The teachers' eyes lit up even more than Xiao Hongchen's. A Level 32 Soul Master with such a powerful Martial Soul had come to apply to a Soul Engineer Academy! This was the sort of student for whom the academy would draw up a special training plan.
But Xiao Hongchen looked away again. "Wang Dong, huh?" He repeated the name. "Not bad, I suppose. Hmm? The next one looks pretty good too."
The blond girl in line behind Wang Dong stepped forward. "Chi Qiu, a Level 38 Power Attack System Battle Soul Elder. My Martial Soul is the Golden Dragon."
As soon as the girl finished speaking, the entire admissions office erupted in commotion. Two Soul Elders in a row!
Yet Xiao Hongchen remained as he was, barely moving as he leaned back in his chair. Still, he had already committed those two names to memory.
After the girl was admitted, the black-haired boy in plain clothes behind her stepped forward.
"Huo Yuhao, a Level 25 Control System Battle Soul Master. My Martial Soul is the Spirit Eye... and the Ice Jade Scorpion."
The final few words came out with a hint of hesitation. The teachers in the admissions office were already staring blankly. When they heard "Twin Martial Souls," they wondered if they were hallucinating or dreaming.
Given the Sun Moon Empire's limited research into Martial Souls, they didn't even know that the Ice Jade Scorpion was inevitably an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul. But there were hardly any Twin Martial Soul users in the entire Sun Moon Empire!
And now, a child with Twin Martial Souls was standing right in front of them.
The three who had come in a row... were all little monsters.
While the teachers were still reeling, Xiao Hongchen, who had been watching coldly from the side, suddenly spoke.
"Your name is... Huo Yuhao, right?"
"Yes." Huo Yuhao nodded at him. He was a little surprised, though. The silver-haired boy in front of him was clearly about his age, yet he was already sitting at a desk and deliberately speaking to him in a pompous, old-fashioned manner.
"Your Spirit Eye Martial Soul," Xiao Hongchen said. "It has a Mental Attribute?"
"Yes." Huo Yuhao nodded again. "You know about it?"
Though they were the same age, Huo Yuhao decided it would be more prudent to address him respectfully in this setting.
"Just a guess." Xiao Hongchen still sounded casual, but the sleepiness had vanished from his mismatched eyes, which now shone brightly. "Spirit Eye—it's related to the eyes. It's a Body Martial Soul, and it's so close to the brain. There's a good chance it's mental-type."
Then he curled his index finger and tapped his knuckle lightly against the desk. "Would you mind showing me your Soul Skill? Just don't overdo it. My Sea of Consciousness is very precious, you know. It belongs to the mind of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy's greatest genius."
Huo Yuhao smiled faintly. To be honest, he rather liked this sort of thing.
"It's fine. The Soul Skill I want to show you won't hurt you, but it'll feel like it did."
As he spoke, a white ring flashed beneath his feet, and Spiritual Detection Sharing activated.
As a Level 4.5 Soul Engineer, Xiao Hongchen had cultivated some spiritual power of his own. When the sharing reached him, he instinctively resisted, but soon allowed Huo Yuhao to proceed.
When the other teachers saw two white rings rise beneath Huo Yuhao's feet, they felt a little regretful, thinking that this little boy with Twin Martial Souls had thrown away his future. But the Sun Moon Empire had no shortage of medicines to boost cultivation. A student with Twin Martial Souls could be force-fed all the way to Soul Saint, even with two white rings.
Only Xiao Hongchen, connected to the Spiritual Detection Sharing, parted his lips slightly. He looked around in disbelief at how completely different everything seemed to him. After a while, he slowly managed to utter a few words. "You... are good."
"So, did I pass?" Huo Yuhao asked.
"Of course." Xiao Hongchen quickly returned to his usual carefree self. "Who could stop a student I, Xiao Hongchen, wanted to admit? All right, from now on, I'm your senior. Work hard. When it comes to Soul Tools, you've got heaven on your side."
"Really?" Huo Yuhao's eyes shifted slightly. He really was interested in Soul Tools.
"Why haven't you gone to get your room key, map, and uniform yet? Don't just stand there. There are still people behind you waiting to be interviewed." Xiao Hongchen gestured toward the line of applicants behind Huo Yuhao.
"Right, I'll go now. Thank you, senior."
Watching Huo Yuhao disappear into the crowd after catching up with Wang Dong and Chi Qiu, Xiao Hongchen sank back into his seat. All the other students had faded into insignificance in his eyes.
"Wang Dong, Chi Qiu, Huo Yuhao." He repeated their names to himself once more, then said to the teacher beside him, "I'm stepping out for a bit. I'm going to talk to Grandpa."
The final member of the protagonist group I wanted to write about has finally made his grand entrance—
Xiao Hongchen's ending in the original story left me feeling terrible, so I've made plenty of plans for him in this work.
Before you continue