(Fan art of Tang Ya)
Lin Ye closed the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and took a deep breath.
He opened the system panel:
[Current Draws: 1]
"Draw!"
A colorful wheel appeared on the screen, its pointer spinning rapidly.
Red, yellow, purple, gold... The kaleidoscope of colors made his eyes swim.
Lin Ye stared at the wheel and silently chanted, Give me something good, give me something good...
He willed it to stop.
The wheel slowed, ticking past one slot at a time.
At last, the pointer came to a gradual stop.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! You obtained the Soul Tool: Micro Restroom!]
A small white cube appeared out of thin air in front of Lin Ye.
Lin Ye froze for a second.
"Huh? A restroom???"
What kind of weird prize was this?
[Spatial Soul Tool!]
[Inject Soul Power to enter it]
[A must-have for traveling]
Lin Ye turned the little cube over and over in his hands, examining it.
What... What was he supposed to do with this?
He could live without divine weapons or miraculous medicines, but why had he drawn a toilet?
He grumbled, but still tried injecting it with Soul Power.
A flash of white light—and he vanished.
The next second, Lin Ye found himself standing in a... well, rather luxurious restroom.
The floor was paved with nonslip jade tiles, and the walls were a pale silver. A large bathtub stood in the corner, with a separate shower beside it.
The sink was made from a single slab of marble, and the mirror gleamed.
There was even a faint fragrance of incense in the air.
Lin Ye stood before the mirror and fell silent for a moment.
All right, he admitted it. The place did have a certain flair.
Then he thought it over.
The dormitories at Shrek Academy had no private bathrooms. There were only two public restrooms on each floor.
That meant four hundred people fighting over one toilet!
With this...
No more waiting in line. He could go whenever he wanted.
He could even take a bath.
Lin Ye rubbed his chin.
Maybe... this wasn't so bad?
With a thought, he stepped out of the Micro Restroom.
He found a corner and set the little white cube down.
It didn't take up any space.
Perfect.
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao had found his dormitory.
Following the directions of the old dorm supervisor, he wound his way through the halls and finally stopped at the end of a corridor on the first floor.
He took out his key, stuck it in the lock, and struggled to turn it until the door finally opened.
The moment he pushed it wide, an indescribable stench hit him.
It smelled like a moldy mop had been soaked in sour water, then left to stew for three months.
Huo Yuhao nearly passed out.
He took a closer look.
This wasn't a dormitory at all. It was a storeroom.
Broken brooms and rotten mops were piled in the corner, along with several metal buckets from who knew what era.
A layer of dust covered the floor. Every step left a footprint.
And best of all, there was only one rickety wooden bed.
Huo Yuhao: "..."
Was this the treatment he got for earning admission through the Tang Sect's exemption?
Teacher Xiao Ya, was the Tang Sect's standing... really that low?
He sighed and accepted his fate.
He opened the window to air the place out.
The conditions were a little rough,
but this was still the first place in his life that truly belonged to him.
No more cold stares from the Duke's Mansion, no more bullying from the servants.
From today onward, he was an official student of Shrek Academy.
At the thought, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
Not bad.
But just then,
the system panel popped up.
[Ding—]
[Received C-rank task: Do not clean your dormitory or wash up today]
[Time limit: Today]
[Task reward: Mysterious Heaven Skill advances by one stage!]
[Failure penalty: Unable to learn the Mysterious Heaven Skill!]
Huo Yuhao's expression froze.
He wasn't allowed to clean?
He looked down at the filthy, cluttered dormitory: dust deep enough to bury his feet, junk piled into mountains, and the sour stench hanging in the air.
He wasn't allowed to wash up?
He lowered his head and sniffed the sweat he'd accumulated over several days on the road. It was rank enough to knock him out.
What kind of ridiculous task was this?!
Wasn't this forcing him to live like a wild man?
But then he looked at the reward: advance the Mysterious Heaven Skill by one stage.
That was one of the Tang Sect's core techniques. Senior Brother Beibei had said it took a long time to make a breakthrough.
Then he looked at the penalty: he wouldn't be able to learn the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and quietly put the broom back in the corner.
Emma, this task was really sweet!
He rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining.
With my system, I'm getting stronger at an incredible pace!
Huo Yuhao plopped down on the dusty, splintered wooden bed, with its nails sticking out, and didn't even feel the discomfort.
Steady by nature, he began to mull over the system.
The tasks were certainly a little strange...
But they were easy to do, and the rewards were incredibly powerful!
Could I really be the "child of fortune" the system talked about?
He thought again of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, whom he had encountered while obtaining his First Soul Ring.
A million-year-old soul beast had sacrificed itself to him so easily.
Maybe I really am the child of fortune!
Didn't that make me a winner in life?
Looks like I could become a god, just like Tang San did ten thousand years ago!
No!
He clenched his fists, his eyes burning.
I have to become even stronger than Tang San!
I'll make the world worship me!
But soon, he calmed down.
He couldn't celebrate too soon.
The key was to use the system and grow steadily!
Huo Yuhao brought up the system panel and stared at the screen, silently repeating each word in his mind:
"Jiahao System, as long as you can make me stronger, I'll do any task."
He paused.
"I'm willing to be your dog!"
At that moment, Dai Yuhao displayed the servility he was born with to its fullest.
After a while, Huo Yuhao started to feel hungry.
He went out and asked for directions to the cafeteria, then bought the cheapest food basin from the student supply shop and headed there.
Each year had its own cafeteria, located behind the dormitory area.
Huo Yuhao was surprised when he entered the first-year cafeteria.
There weren't many people inside, and the place seemed quite spacious.
There wasn't a single table or chair. It was completely open space.
There was only a sink on one side for washing up and cleaning utensils.
On the inside was a row of service windows where they sold meals, with prices posted outside each one.
There were eight windows in all, each offering different dishes. The prices grew higher from right to left.
They didn't even have a place to sit and eat in the cafeteria?
A sign by the entrance read: All food must be eaten inside the cafeteria.
After his brief surprise, Huo Yuhao went to the far-right window, the cheapest one, and bought a meal.
Stir-fried greens and white rice.
Even though it was the cheapest meal, he ate with relish.
Having something to eat was already good enough.
And it was cheap, too. It cost only two copper coins.
With the one Gold Soul Coin he could receive each month, he'd have enough to eat if he was careful.
As he ate, Huo Yuhao observed the cafeteria.
He noticed the meals at the most expensive window were priced in Gold Soul Coins.
As the child of fortune, sooner or later, he, Huo Yuhao, would eat from that window too!
After finishing his meal quickly, Huo Yuhao went straight back to the dormitory.
He sat cross-legged on the hard wooden bed and soon entered a meditative state, beginning to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
Since switching to the Mysterious Heaven Skill, he could at least feel himself improving every day. That was already much better than before.
And after several days of cultivation on the road, all of his originally mixed and impure Soul Power had been converted to the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
The Soul Power produced by the Mysterious Heaven Skill had one effect that worked especially well for him: as it circulated, it naturally nourished his meridians.
Once he completed this task, his Mysterious Heaven Skill would advance to the next stage!
Then his cultivation speed might rival Beibei's!
The more Huo Yuhao thought about it, the more excited he became!
"Mm, this technique really is good. It suits your current condition quite well. You humans really are capable!"
Before you continue