First Day of School

The first day of school was destined to be a chaotic mess, a day where nothing of substance would be learned.

In the morning, Zhang Yang was woken up by the teacher on duty.

Stretching his limbs, Zhang Yang opened his system to check the time.

07:30.

Seeing the time, Zhang Yang enjoyed a wonderful, long stretch.

This was the first time in two months that Zhang Yang had been able to sleep in.

Then, like a little duckling, Zhang Yang was herded by the teacher on duty to get up, wash, tidy his bed, and line up to head to the academy cafeteria for breakfast.

After breakfast, the teacher on duty herded Zhang Yang and the others like ducks once more, pushing them to the first floor of the teaching building into a tiered classroom designated for the first years.

Inside the tiered classroom, Zhang Yang met his first-year homeroom teacher, Clyde, a man who was already balding at the age of forty.

At this moment, Clyde was calmly watching his teaching assistant register the new students one by one.

From time to time, school staff would bring over new students who had wandered off from their groups for unknown reasons.

Once all the new students had signed in and were sitting obediently in their seats, Clyde straightened his posture and walked onto the podium with a steady gait.

Then...

"Long-Armed Ape, Martial Soul Possession."

A brown radiance suddenly erupted from the podium. Clyde spread his arms wide, his muscles swelling instantly, stretching his previously well-fitted clothes to their limits.

At the same time, his arms elongated rapidly, instantly reaching the floor when they had previously barely passed his crotch.

A patch of pure white mutton-chop whiskers suddenly sprouted across his clean-shaven cheeks.

Beneath his feet, three shining rings rose in succession, hovering quietly—two yellow and one purple. As the soul rings pulsed, the surging soul power brought a sense of oppression to every new student in the classroom.

"Whoa~~~"

Seeing someone on the podium suddenly undergo a spontaneous transformation, the new students in their seats gasped in astonishment.

Seeing the students so cooperative, Clyde couldn't help but feel a bit smug, his voice amplified by his soul power as it echoed throughout the classroom.

"Students, let me introduce myself. My name is Clyde, a level thirty-seven agility-attack system battle Soul Elder, and I am your homeroom teacher."

"From now on, I will be the one teaching you how to become a Soul Master."

"To become a Soul Master, you must first understand what a Soul Master is..."

On the podium, Clyde, maintaining his Martial Soul Possession, became the visual center for the new students below, which resulted in an unusually high level of focus from the class.

Clyde first explained the definition, types, and classification methods of Soul Masters, as well as some basic common knowledge regarding soul power, before deactivating his Martial Soul Possession and beginning to teach the students how to cultivate soul power.

This was almost the first lesson at every primary Soul Master Academy across the continent.

Soul power was the foundation of a Soul Master's strength; the sooner students learned to cultivate, the sooner they could realize their own potential.

"Soul power is the foundation of a Soul Master's strength. Students, remember the four key points I just mentioned. I hope that by the time we break for noon, I will see that half of you have learned how to cultivate soul power."

"Alright, students, let's begin practicing soul power cultivation. Everyone, close your eyes."

By now, Clyde had gained a fair amount of trust from the new students. At his command, many of them eagerly squeezed their eyes shut and began to work hard at practicing their cultivation.

Seeing this, Clyde nodded with satisfaction.

Most of the new students were quite easy to manage; this was a very good start.

Seeing the students below close their eyes and begin to diligently cultivate, Clyde stepped down from the podium to patrol the room, answering questions for those who had yet to grasp the technique.

Zhang Yang looked left and right, and seeing that everyone had their eyes closed, he followed suit.

Of course, Zhang Yang wasn't closing his eyes to cultivate soul power; he was preparing to enter the system to run a few rounds.

For Zhang Yang, entering a map was cultivation, and the efficiency was off the charts.

Besides, hadn't Clyde already said it? He hoped to see half the students learn how to cultivate before noon.

That meant he could play games to his heart's content all morning without distraction.

Although Zhang Yang had been entering the maps to hunt for treasure for at least eight hours a day for the past two months and was feeling a bit weary of it, the thrill of treasure hunting during class time more than made up for it.

Right now, Zhang Yang's interest in entering the maps to hunt for treasure was exceptionally intense.

Enough talk, "Heding City Academy-Classified," initiate!

"...Alright, try it again," Clyde said softly.

Seeing this new student close his eyes and begin to struggle to enter a meditative state, Clyde stood up, his gaze drifting unconsciously toward Zhang Yang's direction.

As one of the few high-level teachers in the Heding City Martial Soul Branch Hall, it had been many years since Clyde had led a class of new students.

But who could help it when this year's freshman class included a student like Zhang Yang?

The son of the deputy hall master of the Heding City Martial Soul Branch Hall—this alone made the class's prestige significantly higher.

Clyde walked over to Zhang Yang and saw that he had already closed his eyes, appearing to be immersed in cultivation.

Clyde couldn't help but nod.

As expected of that lord's child; although his talent is average, his foundation is quite solid.

Thinking this, Clyde did not linger by Zhang Yang's side any longer, continuing to patrol the classroom to answer questions for the other students.

It wasn't until near noon that Clyde channeled his soul power and said, "Alright students, that will be all."

As the soul power spread, the freshmen in the classroom gradually opened their eyes.

Zhang Yang was no exception.

As long as soul power affected Zhang Yang, or someone touched him, he could sense it while tomb raiding in the map, temporarily exiting the system to open his eyes and react.

And the most praiseworthy point was that when Zhang Yang opened his eyes, the in-game time was paused.

After all, it was a single-player game; it was only reasonable that the in-game session could be paused.

"Students, this morning's class has ended. I know many of you have not yet learned how to cultivate soul power. It's alright, go eat first. I will be here waiting for you this afternoon, and we will continue to learn how to cultivate soul power."

Having said that, Clyde looked toward the classroom door: "Take the children to the cafeteria."

The teachers on duty today nodded and herded the 200 freshmen toward the cafeteria like ducks.

Life led by school staff like this would last for a total of one week.

It would only end once these six-year-old freshmen knew how to "go to the teaching building for class," "end of class," "go to the cafeteria to eat," and "return to the dormitory to sleep."

At 9:00 PM, the freshmen, urged by the duty teachers to finish washing up, climbed into their beds early.

However, none of the freshmen went to sleep; instead, under the supervision of the duty teachers, they sat cross-legged and began their own meditation practice.

The freshmen were not allowed to sleep tonight; they needed to cultivate soul power throughout the night.

In the words of Teacher Clyde, this was to "consolidate what they had learned."

Seeing that everyone had entered a state of cultivation in a decent manner, the duty teacher nodded and left the dormitory.

At 1:00 AM, the duty teachers, having finished their casual card game, each picked up a notebook and walked into the freshman dormitories they were responsible for.

Inside the freshman dormitory, the vast majority of the students were still sitting cross-legged, immersed in meditation.

Only a scattered few children had already crawled under their covers, sleeping soundly.

The duty teacher did not wake them up, but instead found their names on the tables at the foot of their beds and recorded them in the notebook.

These children were either not listening to the teacher or had not yet learned how to meditate; in any case, they would require Clyde, their head teacher, to put in some extra work.

After noting down these few freshmen, the duty teacher took another lap around the room. Just as he was about to push the door open to leave, his footsteps paused, his gaze landing on a freshman near the door.

This freshman was still sitting cross-legged, seemingly in the middle of meditation.

But upon closer inspection, one would notice his head was drooping, his mouth slightly agape, and his breathing slow and long.

"This..." The duty teacher was torn between laughter and tears: "Falling asleep while sitting up, too."

After recording this child's name as well, the duty teacher laid the child down and gently covered him with the quilt.

As soon as the quilt was pulled up, the child immediately twisted his body comfortably and habitually stuffed his little hand into his mouth.

"Sigh..."

The duty teacher shook his head helplessly, took one last look around the dormitory to ensure there wasn't a second little bean sprout sleeping while sitting, and then quietly took his leave.