Exam

As Huo Yuhao left the Soul Guidance classroom, he still didn't understand what the teacher had meant by those words. Still, he had managed to complete the assignment. When the teacher saw the melted material, he understood that the student had already finished the basic training. Even if an unworked piece of metal was Rare Metal, it wouldn't change much when Soul Power was infused into it—unless it was one of those priceless treasures that would be destroyed by the process.

Only when a Soul Guidance Matrix was engraved on the metal was there a chance it would melt. That meant the student had mastered the matrix; all that remained was improving his precision and success rate. Huo Yuhao had successfully engraved a matrix on metal in his very first lesson, which meant he had already grasped the basics. He was a little genius, at the very least. There was no need to make things difficult for him. Denying him a high score just because he hadn't turned in an intact piece of metal would be far too petty.

A student like this might even join the Soul Guidance Department. The teacher had already taken note of Huo Yuhao, though he hadn't let it show. That had left Huo Yuhao feeling a little uneasy. In the teacher's years of experience, Huo Yuhao was sure to be unpopular. He hadn't spoken to anyone since entering the classroom. Another detail was his choice of seat: people who knew one another usually sat together, but Huo Yuhao had immediately picked a seat in a remote corner, with no one on either side.

None of his classmates chose to sit beside him, either. They picked other seats, only settling near Huo Yuhao when there was nowhere else to sit. The teachers noticed these things. Every year, some students ended up isolated. There were many reasons for it, but as a mere subject teacher, he had little power to change the situation.

All he could do was teach students who wanted to learn about Soul Tools everything he knew, to the best of his ability. Some teachers were talented themselves, but that didn't mean they knew how to teach. Still, the shortage of staff had brought things to this state.

The Soul Tool teacher put the thought aside and silently committed Huo Yuhao's name to memory. He would look out for the boy during his lessons and when students chose their departments, so that this little genius wouldn't go unnoticed.

Huo Yuhao listened to his homeroom teacher's lecture, lost in thought. He wasn't as nervous as he had been at the start of the term, and he often found himself spacing out in class. Someone with his level of mental strength shouldn't have had this problem. Huo Yuhao had once asked Tian Meng, worried, if there was something wrong with him. In the end, Tian Meng had assured him that everything was fine.

Huo Yuhao's lack of focus had to do with his Sea of Spirit. His repeated outbursts had caused damage to it, some minor and some severe. Normally, this would have been a difficult problem to solve. But Wang Yi was also in Huo Yuhao's mind, and he'd volunteered to tackle the problem head-on. Later, he brought Tian Meng along to help.

Repairing the cracks in the Sea of Spirit was difficult to explain. In the end, Wang Yi's imagination had turned the scene into one man and one bug dangling from safety harnesses as they painted the walls of the Sea of Spirit.

Wang Yi used Tian Meng's body as a brush to smear the cracks. The plan went ahead despite Tian Meng's vehement protests and futile resistance from someone who didn't know his own limits. Wang Yi could have done it alone, but progress would have been slow. With Tian Meng helping, they could work much faster. They would finish painting in less than a year. There wasn't much they could do about the fact that they might not finish before Huo Yuhao reached level twenty.

The Green Aura could work much faster if it moved on its own. But after spending all this time with it, Huo Yuhao and Wang Yi had figured out a few things about how to use it. One rule was that it only moved when it had energy. Without enough energy, it couldn't move at all. Every use consumed a great deal of energy. Huo Yuhao couldn't think of any way to supply it except by eating.

That meant they needed money to buy food. As was only natural, Huo Yuhao had no money, just like most people in the world. So the plan to quickly repair the Sea of Spirit had to be postponed indefinitely, until it recovered on its own.

The side effect was that Huo Yuhao sometimes couldn't concentrate. At this point, it was hardly a problem. Several great beings lived in his Sea of Spirit, and they had made an enormous contribution to keeping it stable. Asking how the damage had happened would have been rather impolite.

As Huo Yuhao drifted off, imagining what his future might hold, he suddenly felt a piercing gaze land on him. He jolted upright and cautiously scanned the room to see who was watching him. Cold sweat poured from his skin, making him feel chilled. Sure enough, Zhou Yi was staring at him. Who else in the classroom would be watching him during a lesson besides the homeroom teacher?

Only after Huo Yuhao came back to his senses did Zhou Yi look away. She paused, then began talking about something else.

"Make a note of this, everyone: we'll have a placement exam on Sunday. It'll test what you've learned these past few days. You'll have exams like this often from now on. Once you make it through the elimination rounds and reach the upper years, there won't be many more. But at this stage, you need to review properly. Don't hold the class back."

All the students shifted restlessly at the news. An exam so soon? A flood of questions came to mind, and they wanted to ask Zhou Yi for the details.

"Quiet down." The homeroom teacher's stern voice rang through the classroom, silencing the restless students. There was something magical about homeroom teachers. In the early years of school, almost every student feared them. Only after getting used to their temperament and rules did students gradually loosen up, until eventually they weren't afraid at all. Homeroom teachers accompanied students through their entire education.

"This exam will have a written test and a martial arts competition. The exact rules haven't been decided yet, but however difficult or varied the written test is, it'll be based on what you've learned these past few days."

"The rules of the martial arts competition don't matter. If you're the strongest, no one can stop you. Just focus on making yourselves stronger these next few days. Absolutely no underhanded tricks. Understood?"

The students answered in unison that they understood, and Zhou Yi nodded in satisfaction. She hoped none of them would ignore her warning, go down the wrong path, and ruin their bright futures. There was nothing anyone could do for students like that except wish them well and try to understand.

Seeing that it was about time and that the students had no desire to keep studying, Zhou Yi dismissed the class.

"Huo Yuhao, stay behind." She added a few words afterward. Being kept behind by the homeroom teacher wasn't something to be happy about, and many of his classmates looked on with schadenfreude.

Huo Yuhao had a pretty good idea that it was because he'd been spacing out in class. Reluctantly, he walked over to his homeroom teacher.