The First Lesson of the School Year

The clanging sound echoed throughout Shrek Academy. In an era where soul guidance devices were becoming widely popularized, Shrek still maintained such a retro way of signaling the start and end of classes. Perhaps they would be forced to follow the times in the future, but that was a matter for a long time from now. The noisy sounds gradually subsided, and the chaotic footsteps slowly diminished. The campus seemed to fall silent for a moment, and then the uniform sound of lessons beginning displayed the vitality of this academy.

Huo Yuhao found his classroom full of anticipation. Arriving at a room that looked extremely high-end, he wondered, Is this where I will be attending classes from now on? At this moment, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but compare this classroom to the small house he had studied in since he was a child, and a sense of nervousness and inferiority unconsciously grew in his heart.

He followed the crowd into the classroom and felt a bit at a loss. Seeing that most people were just sitting wherever they pleased, he followed suit and found a corner to stay in, keeping away from the majority of the others. Most people were doing the same; they avoided contact unless necessary. Unless there was no other way, they wouldn't stay with others.

Once the room was full, a stern teacher walked in. This kind of teacher was someone a student knew was formidable the moment they saw them; it was an indescribable aura that one understood after spending enough time in school. It was very lucky to encounter such a teacher. They were generally very responsible, and the grades of a class under them were usually a bit better than others, but being under their thumb was quite a trial. The grades were condensed from countless drops of sweat and nearly incomprehensible rules.

However, these children didn't understand this yet. Everyone was looking forward to their glorious Shrek life, wondering what kind of classmates they would meet and what kind of grades they would achieve. These things were too far off; they should be thinking about how to deal with the homeroom teacher in front of them.

"Hello everyone, I am your homeroom teacher for these three years. After three years, you will be divided into the Soul Guidance Department and the Martial Soul Department. By then, I won't be able to manage you, and I don't know what kind of madness the dean will have, but for these three years, you will all be under my command. I hope everyone will be well-behaved, study hard, and our class must be number one." Following the homeroom teacher's authoritative statement, the proud geniuses below were a bit unsure of what to make of it, so they suppressed their restless moods and gradually settled down. It had to be said that this method was old, but it had its reasons for being passed down; it was definitely useful.

"I will state a few red lines that must not be crossed. First, students are not allowed to fight privately. Duels must be conducted during class with a teacher present, or in professional venues like the Soul Fighting Arena. Anything else will result in expulsion. Second, you must pass the final exams. Those who fail will also be expelled. Don't think that just because you've entered Shrek Academy you can rest easy. We will expel students who fall behind. If you cannot adapt to Shrek, then leave."

"Finally, my name is Zhou Yi. This name will accompany you for three years, please remember it well." She ended her introduction by stating her name.

Huo Yuhao, feeling a sense of awe without knowing why, subconsciously puffed out his chest, and the surrounding students did the same. Then came the introduction to the various rules and living methods of the academy. For these people, learning was not a problem, but daily life was a major difficulty that caused many problems every year. It couldn't be ignored because Shrek was a boarding school; everyone had to live on campus, and no one would go to another school because of this. So, they had to take care of themselves.

This group of freshmen with no life experience could only be taught by the academy, and this heavy responsibility fell upon the homeroom teacher. Most people didn't want to do this teaching task; it was very annoying. Thus, someone with a very clever method came up with a good idea: since these teachers liked tasks related to teaching and cultivation, why not combine the two?

The teacher was willing to teach, and the students had to learn. It was a path of mutual effort.

"Alright, I will now take you to familiarize yourselves with the campus and basic living methods." After saying this, Zhou Yi led the class out to walk. At first, Zhou Yi's speed was normal, and she introduced the scenery along the way, but gradually the situation changed. Her speed became faster and faster, and many people could only manage to keep up with her pace by running.

Thus, they ran to the cafeteria in this strained manner. Ignoring the students' panting, Zhou Yi began to introduce the cafeteria on her own. There was a free food window here, which made Huo Yuhao heave a sigh of relief; the problem of eating could be solved for the time being. However, it seemed he couldn't just eat this kind of low-energy food. He still remembered Wang Yi's warning, which had played a huge role in his battle against Dai Huabin. Without the support of those high-energy meals, Huo Yuhao would not have had the ability to recover his body in a short time; no matter how strong the green aura was, it had to rely on Huo Yuhao's own energy. Thinking of the most expensive food stalls, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Just thinking about it was unbearable, so he quickly reined in his thoughts, not wanting to make a fool of himself.

After quickly explaining the rules here, Zhou Yi didn't stop for a moment and started the next leg of the journey. The students who hadn't rested enough didn't dare to speak and could only follow along while running. This little bit of time was not enough to recover to their best state. For a time, most people had resentment in their hearts but no one dared to say it out loud, so they could only complain internally.

However, complaining couldn't slow down the homeroom teacher's speed and pace. In the end, everyone used all their strength to keep up. Huo Yuhao was also struggling; his body was poor to begin with, and compared to these people, he was even worse. He wanted to use his soul power; it would be much easier if he did. This devilish thought kept tempting Huo Yuhao's young heart, but no one around him was using soul power, and Huo Yuhao wasn't sure if it was allowed. He was itching to do it but didn't dare. It was very contradictory. Everyone else was waiting for a "bird that sticks its head out" to appear, as the first one might leave a bad impression on the teacher. So, they just dragged on like this.

Thanks to the endless, flowing power of the Mysterious Heaven Technique, Huo Yuhao managed to distribute his strength evenly, and he was forced to the point where the green aura emerged to start driving his blood flow. This immediately calmed his breathing, but this was just drinking poison to quench thirst; this method of operation still consumed soul power. Huo Yuhao's soul power had always been a sore point, and now he could only take it one step at a time.

At this moment, the first person to use soul power appeared. Naturally, it was someone from the support system. He was falling further and further behind the main group because he couldn't keep up. Too anxious, he couldn't care about anything else; keeping up with the group was the most important thing. His speed increased instantly, and he even ran to the front.

As they ran like this, the vast majority of people stopped suppressing themselves and started using soul power. Huo Yuhao didn't want to be too conspicuous, so he followed suit and used his soul power, while secretly letting the green aura drive his blood flow to save his strength.

They continued the introduction with stops and starts. Most people had no strength left, and the person who had used soul power first was no longer in sight. Now, the most relaxed ones were those from the agility-attack system; speed was an innate ability for them. Even so, a portion of them started using soul power.

By the end, a large portion of the students had fallen behind. Huo Yuhao had also reached his limit, and the taste of rust kept rising in his mouth. His soul power was at the bottom, and now he was relying entirely on willpower. His body began to ache; the previous injuries were healed on the surface, but in reality, there were still hidden wounds. These all required the green aura to constantly absorb energy to repair, and the high-intensity running now hindered this progress. The only way now was to stop and rest, but Huo Yuhao was unwilling when he saw so many people still following; he didn't want to be inferior to them, so he just gritted his teeth and pushed on.

In the end, he still stopped; he couldn't keep up. It was too difficult for him to compete in speed with the agility-attack system. Being able to keep up for so long was already a decent performance. In fact, when Huo Yuhao, the last support-type student, fell, Zhou Yi's speed began to increase rapidly. She began the training for the remaining students.

By the time Huo Yuhao caught up with the team, it was already noon. He had searched for a long time and thought he had gone in the wrong direction. At this moment, Huo Yuhao didn't want to say a word. His whole body felt limp. Those who had kept up were no better off. The intensity varied throughout, and this journey was ultimately just running training.

This was the good method that genius had thought of: introducing the academy while simultaneously checking the students' quality. Perfect!