Blueprint! Ma Hongjun's Ideas!

Ma Hongjun had been listening from the side without rushing to speak.

Once everyone had more or less finished sharing their thoughts, he cleared his throat and said, "Teacher, I have a few immature ideas. May I say them?"

Flender glanced at him. "Go ahead."

Ma Hongjun stood up, walked over to the sheet of white paper, pointed at the items recorded on it, and began laying out his ideas.

"As for the academy walls, building them from stone is right, but they can serve more than just as walls. We can build a track along the inside of the walls for regular endurance and speed training. In special situations, the walls can become defensive fortifications."

Flender's pen paused, but he did not interrupt.

"A grand academy gate is also right, but it cannot just be for show. We can build two small guard towers on either side of the gate. They may not be useful in ordinary times, but if the academy holds an event and many people come, people can be stationed in the towers to maintain order. Once the academy grows larger in the future, those two towers can become permanent gate guard posts."

Zhao Wuji's expression turned serious. He realized that the boy was not simply talking big; every word had its reasoning.

"Paving the training grounds with stone slabs is right, but I suggest we do not pave all of it," Ma Hongjun continued. "Stone surfaces are suitable for most training projects, but some training—such as wrestling, flexibility training, and real combat sparring—will be too dangerous on stone. It is easy to get hurt when falling. We can reserve an area and lay down fine sand or soft wood chips, specifically for close-combat training."

Flender set down his pen, crossed his arms over his chest, and listened intently.

"As for training equipment, besides what Teacher Zhao mentioned, I suggest adding a few more things—climbing frames, balance beams, and obstacle-course facilities. These are not for cultivating Soul Power, but for training bodily coordination and reaction speed. A lot of the time, when you cannot defeat an opponent, it is not because your Soul Power is insufficient. It is because your body cannot keep up with your mind."

"We do not need to buy all the equipment at once, but we should reserve the space. Once we have more money in the future, we can add things gradually."

"As for the dormitories, it should not stop at replacing bed boards and adding mattresses. Every dorm room should ideally have a small stove or some kind of heating device—winters are too cold, and this place has no underfloor heating or anything like that. The coal smoke problem is easy to solve. Just leave a ventilation opening in the room."

"And the bedding should come in two sets. One set can be washed while the other is used, keeping everything clean and sanitary."

Ma Hongjun spoke smoothly. These ideas had been stored in his mind for a long time.

The military-themed works he had watched in his previous life, the facilities of modern schools, and the design concepts of various training bases had all been absorbed and digested by him. Then, based on the actual conditions of the Douluo Continent, he had adapted them to local circumstances.

"As for classrooms, besides the usual desks, chairs, and blackboards, I suggest placing a large sand table or a large map at the front. When teaching tactics, it is difficult to understand without a physical demonstration. Rather than having teachers draw all over a whiteboard, it is more intuitive to look directly at a sand table."

"The library cannot just contain books. Put in a few comfortable chairs, and use good bookshelves so materials are easy to find. The lighting needs to be bright, so reading at night does not strain the eyes."

"It would be best to add a small discussion room beside the library as well. A few people can sit together and discuss problems without disturbing anyone else."

"The medical room is not only for treating bruises and injuries. It is the most important part of our logistical support. The medicine cabinets need to be stocked with common medicinal herbs. Doesn't Teacher Shao Xin know how to brew medicine? In the future, the herbs for medicinal baths can be prepared in advance in the medical room, rather than being mixed fresh every time."

"The medicinal bath room is the same. Building several large wooden tubs is not impossible, but if conditions allow, it would be better to build several permanent medicinal bath pools. The bottoms can be paved with stone slabs and heated from below. The temperature of the medicinal broth can be controlled, unlike wooden tubs, where once it cools down, you have to boil more water and add it in again."

Ma Hongjun explained each point one by one, while Flender wrote down every word.

The white sheet had already been covered in densely packed small writing, and there was barely any room left around the edges.

Zhao Wuji leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped behind his head as he looked at Ma Hongjun with entirely new eyes.

"Hongjun, where did you learn all this?"

Ma Hongjun scratched his head. He had already prepared an excuse.

"I read some of it in books, and I usually think about these things too. Our academy's conditions were poor before, so many ideas could only be kept bottled up. Now that we have the means, I want to make everything I can think of a reality."

Zhao Wuji fell silent for a moment, then turned to Flender.

"Headmaster Flender, where did you pick this kid up?"

Flender did not answer, but he could not suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth.

After Ma Hongjun finished speaking, the office fell silent for a while.

Flender picked up the densely written sheet of paper and read it from beginning to end, then read it again.

"We'll do as Hongjun says." He made the final decision. "Zhao Wuji, you'll be responsible for overseeing the academy construction. You know the foremen well, so do not let them cut corners."

Zhao Wuji nodded.

"We'll handle these items in the first phase of construction. If we do not have enough money, we'll deal with that later." Flender folded the sheet of paper and put it into a drawer. "With Hongjun's blueprint and materials, the construction period should be considerably shorter than expected."

By the time everyone dispersed, it was already late at night.

Ma Hongjun did not hurry back to the dormitory. Instead, he sat alone in the courtyard, gazing up at the starry sky.

Moonlight flowed like water over the dilapidated academy walls that were about to be renovated. He recalled the first time he had read Douluo Continent in his previous life, and the impression Shrek Academy had left on him—poor, but full of love. Seven people crammed into rundown dormitories, eating Oscar's Sausage and Teacher Shao Xin's coarse-grain porridge, training together and growing together.

Those days had been among the warmest moments in the original story.

But things were different now.

In this life, Shrek Academy would no longer be poor.

There would be stone walls, a grand gate, stone-paved training grounds, comfortable dormitories, a bright library, warm stoves, and clean beds...

But those were only outward things.

What truly mattered was that those people were still here.

Flender, Zhao Wuji, Shao Xin, Li Yusong, Lu Qibin—these teachers had endured poverty their entire lives in the original story, yet they had never abandoned a single student because of money.

That was the soul of Shrek.

The uniforms, the academy walls, and the training grounds were merely external manifestations of that soul.

Ma Hongjun stood up and dusted the dirt from his clothes.

He remembered a saying he had seen online in his previous life: Returning home in glory is not as good as offering help in a time of need.

The villagers' one hundred Gold Soul Coins meant more than anything.

He remembered Uncle Li's reddened eyes when he had visited Old Li's home that afternoon. The feeling of being remembered and repaid was far more important than the money itself.

In this life, he would make Shrek Academy into a different kind of place.

Not a place that laughed through hardship in poverty, but one that stood openly and proudly at the peak of the continent.

It would have the best people, as well as the best conditions.

Every student who came here would be able to grow without distraction, without worrying about going hungry, being cold, or sleeping poorly.

That was the future he wanted.

He turned and headed toward the dormitory, his steps light.

Tomorrow would be another new day.

Training, studying, earning money, building houses, making uniforms...

There was much to do, but every task was something to look forward to.

This time, Shrek's story would unfold on an entirely different stage.