A Smooth First Victory

Since the Support System's contestants were drawn from within the same system, there weren't many strong fighters. In this match, Huo Yuhao needed to consider how much effort to expend to secure a win. No one could stay at their peak indefinitely, so he had to manage his strength carefully.

If Huo Yuhao wanted to win the next two matches, he had to take this one easily. The exam schedule wasn't fixed; it all depended on the luck of the draw.

Once your name was drawn, you had to compete. It was possible for someone to be drawn three times in a row without a break, though that was an extreme case. If the teachers noticed, they would usually make allowances and give the student some time to rest. But there was nothing they could do about serious injuries. Those required the very best healing-type Martial Souls, as well as healers with extraordinary cultivation and stamina. With so many injured students, they simply couldn't treat everyone in time.

So what could they do? Treat everyone equally by offering no treatment and letting them fend for themselves. That was the fairest approach, and it allowed them to identify the true geniuses. It was easy enough for children from wealthy families to call on their family connections and resources for help. Commoners, on the other hand, had no such opportunity.

That was why all the Individual Battles had to be settled in a single day. Each system was divided into several groups, with the matches for each group held over the course of several days.

Huo Yuhao took his place in the arena and waited for his opponent. After a while, the student drawn to face him finally stepped onto the stage. He was a boy dressed in plain white. As soon as he approached, Huo Yuhao sensed a scholarly air about him. That kind of bearing really could make someone unforgettable. It was clear this boy had read a great many books and was well-educated.

A bookish aura seemed to spread from the boy and fill the space around Huo Yuhao. It was like the scent of books piled together. Having hardly read anything since birth, Huo Yuhao felt somewhat inferior.

But that useless feeling lasted only an instant. Young as he was, Huo Yuhao had already been through plenty. Months of constant training—and even life-or-death battles—had helped him grow and given him the courage to face life's difficulties on his own. His fight with Xu Sanshi had been little more than a scuffle. He needed to build a sound system of combat and develop a proper sense of battle. That didn't mean he would need it in a fight to the death. His old way of fighting wasn't suitable for surviving in society. Always striking to kill might seem like cheating, and doing it once or twice was one thing, but if he kept it up, it would become a genuine measure of his strength.

Huo Yuhao was also trying to gradually adapt to this way of life and stop putting killing his opponents first. His opponent was innocent; there was no need to kill him.

Just as Huo Yuhao was calming himself and preparing for battle, his opponent suddenly greeted him, nearly breaking his concentration.

"Hello, I'm Wen Yifei, a Two-Ring Soul Master. Please guide me."

"Oh, right. I'm Huo Yuhao, a One-Ring Soul Master. Please guide me."

After that, the proctor promptly announced the start of the match. There were clearly fewer proctors here than in the other areas. The Support System wasn't much of a threat at this stage, so there was little point in watching closely. The proctor only needed to declare a winner or a draw once someone was knocked down.

Two yellow Soul Rings appeared around Wen Yifei. When he saw Huo Yuyao's white Soul Ring, he clearly froze for a moment, but soon recovered his polite smile. He was the very picture of a refined scholar.

"Martial Soul: Book."

Did people really tell their opponents their Martial Soul? And what use could this Martial Soul possibly have? A few questions popped into Huo Yuhao's mind. In the end, he still lacked experience. This was his first proper match, after all. A few more battles would give him a better feel for things.

Without thinking, Huo Yuhao replied, "Martial Soul: Spirit Eye."

Wen Yifei froze again, then muttered excitedly to himself, "A Body Martial Soul! How rare. This is the first time I've ever seen one." Even as he spoke, he kept moving, quickly retreating to put some distance between himself and Huo Yuhao. It was a textbook Support System Soul Master's strategy. But was that really necessary in a one-on-one match between support fighters?

Huo Yuhao was a little unsure what to make of his opponent's actions, so he let Wen Yifei retreat and cautiously watched him. He didn't dare attack rashly and risk messing up.

After retreating far enough, Wen Yifei saw that Huo Yuhao hadn't followed and breathed a sigh of relief. His Martial Soul and Soul Skills needed a lot of time to prepare at this stage.

First Soul Skill: Knowledge Manifestation. It had no offensive power. It simply manifested knowledge from his mind as a book on his Martial Soul. It consumed little Soul Power, and the book lasted about a week. It was a very practical Soul Skill in everyday life.

But this was Shrek Academy. How could anyone get by without combat ability? At that point, his second Soul Ring flared brightly.

Second Soul Skill: Knowledge Possession. It let him imbue himself or someone else with knowledge from a book, allowing the target to master a skill in a short time. Their proficiency might not match that of someone who had trained since childhood, but it was more than enough to deal with a half-trained amateur. If the person receiving the boost already knew how to use the skill, they could master and wield it even more proficiently.

To a certain extent, the combination of this Martial Soul and these Soul Skills could produce an enhancement effect similar to the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda's, though only to a limited degree. It was useful at this stage, but the farther one progressed, the more it fell short of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda's terrifying, all-around enhancement. Still, being able to reach even part of its level at the first stage was already incredible. After all, it was the strongest Support System Martial Soul to have ever produced a god. Other Support System Martial Souls might be able to rival the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, but the Pagoda's divine legacy had secured its place as the best. The Sausage Martial Soul had never been passed down as a family legacy. One reason the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda had secured its standing was the stability of its inheritance and the size of its following. There were simply too few Food System Soul Masters, and their Martial Souls were too difficult to pass down.

By then, Wen Yifei had already mastered a defensive movement technique. He continued to imbue himself with various abilities, including offensive ones.

Huo Yuhao was starting to realize something was wrong. His opponent had already released his Martial Soul and kept using Soul Skills, but still hadn't attacked. What was he doing? Even if he was a Two-Ring Soul Master, he couldn't keep using century-old Soul Skills like that. If he ran out of Soul Power, how would he fight?

But no student who made it to the Shrek Academy exams was a fool. Wen Yifei must have been preparing to take Huo Yuhao down. Huo Yuhao couldn't wait any longer and began to attack.

But it was already too late. Wen Yifei had had plenty of time to make himself as well-prepared as possible. Among Support System Soul Masters, he was one of the best. Comparing him with Power Attack System Soul Masters would be unfair. The gap in experience was already apparent. The compatibility between Wen Yifei's two Soul Rings and his Martial Soul was beyond what ordinary people could figure out through trial and error. The First Soul Ring had no effect on its own; it only underwent a qualitative change when paired with the Second Soul Ring. How could ordinary people know that? And even if they did, how many would dare take the gamble? If they did, how would they hunt the Spirit Beast that could provide such a Soul Ring? There were obstacles at every turn.

Perhaps Wen Yifei's words and actions had just been unconscious habits, but adults had passed those habits down through various methods. They had surely been refined over generations into the best possible behavior. Huo Yuhao had been born into the Duke's Mansion, yet he hadn't received that kind of education. The difference in their starting points was clear.

But every cloud had a silver lining. He had missed out on a head start, but he had also escaped its restraints. Once he reached the top, he would climb faster.

Now, the first signs were already showing. Wen Yifei followed his routine too rigidly. What would he do when faced with a freak? The experience his father's generation had gathered and passed down was suited to most situations, but a few of the situations he encountered would catch him off guard. Shrek had no shortage of freaks.

As the two were about to collide, they both began making small moves out of habit. Huo Yuhao used Mental Attack together with Purple Demon Eye, the combination that had tripped up Xu Sanshi. Wen Yifei used the Soul Power he had left to apply Knowledge Possession to Huo Yuhao. Most people couldn't withstand knowledge being directly forced into them without warning. Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection and Sharing also caused side effects for those it was used on. If a Soul Skill had side effects, why not use it against an enemy?

Both launched Soul Skill attacks at the same time. What a coincidence. Mental attacks were rare, so few people would warn children about the danger of using them this way. When you attacked someone, you left an opening in yourself as well. An attack went both ways.

When you attacked someone, your Sea of Spirit inevitably helped power the attack. The moment your spiritual power flowed out, it opened a small gap. That gap lasted only a brief moment, but it was possible to catch the opening—just as it was now.

The two reckless boys had both opened a gap for the other by using Spirit System Soul Skills. Knowledge Possession was essentially a brief boost to someone's spiritual power. Used as an attack, the clash came down to whose spiritual power was stronger and which Soul Master was more focused.

If you were careless and didn't take it seriously, the enemy's attack would be countered as soon as it reached your Sea of Spirit. But it would still have reached the Sea of Spirit, the most vulnerable part of the body. Without some stroke of luck, it could leave a hidden injury.

Fortunately, Tian Meng had placed a restriction on Huo Yuhao earlier that let him unleash his full attack without worrying about it rebounding on him. A powerful clash of spiritual forces erupted without warning.

Both of them were caught off guard and briefly lost consciousness, their minds going blank. Their bodies collided hard from the force of their momentum, then fell to the ground and lay motionless.

The proctor was at a loss at this turn of events. Unless someone specialized in spiritual power, there was no way to judge what had happened. The proctor had never encountered a situation like this. Neither of them had even been hit, yet both had fallen. The match could be called a draw.

After thinking it over, the proctor decided to wait. The students were already in this condition, and there was no one who could provide the right treatment. If they didn't recover, they wouldn't be able to compete in any more matches anyway. Giving one of them another full-point win might increase the number of students advancing from an already small Support System group. With that in mind, the proctor decided to wait a while. The first to get up would win. If neither rose after too long, the match would be a draw.

Just as the proctor reached that decision, Huo Yuhao staggered to his feet. He nearly fell, but in the end, he managed to stand steadily on the stage.

Most of the spectators found the match baffling, but it had actually been extremely dangerous. Huo Yuhao's Mental Attack shattered the largely non-offensive Second Soul Skill right away, then followed its path straight toward the Sea of Spirit. If it had made it inside, one of them would have gone insane—and Huo Yuhao's spiritual power was unquestionably dominant.

Without outside intervention, Wen Yifei would certainly have ended up in a psychiatric hospital. But Tian Meng had come to clean up the mess again. The clash in the Sea of Spirit had startled him awake, and he had stopped the attack before it could make contact.

If the collision had gone all the way, Huo Yuhao would have suffered too.

Still, the result was good. Huo Yuhao had won the match steadily, without much loss.