Shrek Academy.
Tang San and Xiao Wu stared at the nearly deserted entrance,
both of them completely baffled.
"Brother, wasn't today supposed to be the day Shrek was recruiting? Why is nobody here..."
Tang San shook his head.
Just then, a passerby hurried past.
Tang San quickly called out to him,
"Hey, young man, aren't you here to apply to Shrek?"
The passerby glanced back at Shrek's sign and spat.
"Pah! That dump of an academy doesn't deserve anyone! Isn't the Amphoreus Academy next door much better?"
As he spoke, he shook off Tang San's hand and walked away without looking back.
Tang San was stunned by what he'd heard.
Amphoreus Academy?
Xiao Wu came over, wrapping both arms around Tang San's.
"Brother, what's this Amphoreus Academy? Is it better than Shrek?"
"I'm not sure, but our teacher must have had his reasons for sending us to Shrek Academy. We should hurry to the registration desk up ahead."
Xiao Wu nodded.
"Okay."
The two turned and headed toward Shrek's registration desk.
Behind them, a chestnut-haired woman with exquisite features and an otherworldly bearing had overheard their conversation. Her eyes shifted as she considered it.
"Amphoreus Academy? I've never heard of it. Is it better than Shrek?"
The woman hesitated for a moment, then turned and followed the direction the passerby had gone.
The woman's name was Ning Rongrong.
She passed through a grove of trees and soon spotted a long line of people.
At the end of the queue stood an unremarkable little building. A table and chairs had been set up in front, with a sign beside them that read:
"Amphoreus Academy Admissions Office. Location: within Suotuo City."
There was also an artist's rendering of the academy, elegant and magnificent, grand beyond compare.
After seeing the picture, Ning Rongrong nodded.
The school was inside Suotuo City? The facilities looked pretty good.
Ning Rongrong had become interested in this academy called Amphoreus.
She glanced toward the admissions desk. It was still empty; clearly, the teacher in charge of recruitment hadn't arrived yet.
So Ning Rongrong turned and walked to the end of the queue.
Just as she was about to join it, she heard two men near the front talking.
One man turned to look at the man behind him.
"Oh, so you're here too..."
The man behind him helplessly waved a hand.
"That Shrek place doesn't treat people like human beings. I heard this academy wasn't charging an application fee, so I came here instead."
The man in front glanced over the long queue.
"Exactly. Just the fact that they don't charge an application fee makes them better than Shrek next door. But I heard they're only accepting one person."
"No way. Seriously?"
At that, Ning Rongrong's brows drew together.
"Only one? Doesn't that mean..."
Her eyes lit up.
"With my talent, wouldn't that spot be mine for the taking?"
Thinking this, Ning Rongrong promptly joined the queue and waited quietly.
But before long,
a commotion broke out at the front of the line.
Someone shouted,
"The door's open! It's open!"
Ning Rongrong hurriedly looked ahead.
Sure enough, someone had opened the door of the unremarkable little building.
The moment the crowd saw the door open, they erupted into a frenzy,
surging forward all at once.
But the next second, four students in matching uniforms came out and blocked everyone.
Right after that,
a gray-haired man in a white robe slowly stepped out of the building.
When Ning Rongrong got a clear look at his face,
she froze.
"Ye Qiong?"
The man called Ye Qiong hadn't noticed Ning Rongrong.
Looking at the excited crowd before him, he let the corner of his mouth curl into a faint smile.
"Looks like the publicity worked."
The man came to the table and greeted everyone with a smile.
"Good morning, parents and students. I'm Ye Qiong, the dean in charge of recruitment."
The dean? He was so young?
The crowd looked from the four students blocking their way to him, all of them astonished.
Was he really the dean? He looked only two or three years older than them.
At the back, Ning Rongrong watched Ye Qiong, just as puzzled.
"Wasn't he at the sect? Why did he come to start an academy?"
Ye Qiong was the most outstanding disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. At just sixteen, he had already broken through to the Soul Emperor rank.
With talent that exceptional, he was also the cherished disciple of the sect's two Douluo.
When they were children, the two Douluo had doted on her most.
But ever since this Ye Qiong had appeared,
the two Douluo had seemed bewitched.
They cherished Ye Qiong even more than they cherished her.
Not only that, her father, Ning Fengzhi, had even declared that Ye Qiong was to become her fiancé.
It had deeply repulsed her.
Watching Ye Qiong, Ning Rongrong scoffed inwardly.
"He could've stayed at the sect, but instead he came to this backwater to start some shabby academy and make a fool of himself. What a joke."
Suddenly, Ning Rongrong's eyes shifted as she thought of a clever way to embarrass Ye Qiong.
She would pretend to apply, then reject the offer in front of everyone after she was selected.
Seizing her chance, she slipped in from the outside and joined the crowd.
Ye Qiong, standing at the front, hadn't noticed Ning Rongrong's little maneuver.
He gestured for everyone to form a line, then sat down at the table.
"For this recruitment, Amphoreus Academy will accept only one person. The best candidate will be admitted."
As soon as he said this, everyone present snapped to attention.
They all wanted to show themselves at their best and improve their chances of getting into the academy.
Seeing how spirited everyone looked, Ye Qiong smiled. He beckoned to the only girl among the four students.
"Jiang Zhu, help me take notes."
"Yes, teacher."
The girl called Jiang Zhu immediately trotted over and sat down beside Ye Qiong, picking up a pen and paper.
Unlike Shrek Academy, Ye Qiong didn't reject applicants on the spot.
He carefully interviewed every student and had Jiang Zhu record their information.
When it was Ning Rongrong's turn, Ye Qiong saw her lift her chin with an air of pride, and his heart gave a jolt.
"Ning Rongrong? According to the story, shouldn't she have gone to Shrek?"
Ye Qiong kept his expression calm, but his mind raced.
He remembered the entire story,
from Tang San's previous life, when he leapt off a cliff to prove his resolve, all the way to what happened after he became a god.
That was because he wasn't from this world.
When he had transmigrated here ten years ago, Sword Douluo had found him and brought him back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Back then, he'd thought he was about to become the protagonist.
But when his Martial Soul Awakening came, all he awakened was an ordinary baseball bat.
Fortunately, he had Innate Full Soul Power.
So he stayed at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and cultivated. He kept at it for ten years.
After reaching the Soul Emperor rank at sixteen,
he should have started taking part in the sect's affairs and become one of its pillars.
But at just that moment, he had to leave the mountain and take a path no one thought much of:
establishing an academy.
It all started two months ago.
[Ding! Otherworldly Academy Construction System activated.]
Ye Qiong, who had been cultivating, froze.
"What? An academy construction system? What am I supposed to do with that?"
[The host can grow stronger by building an academy, and may even transcend the Douluo Plane.]
At that, Ye Qiong stood up at once.
The Douluo Continent was nothing more than a tiny, isolated planet.
Since he'd transmigrated, his future should lie among the vast sea of stars.
"How do I transcend it? Explain."
[The stronger the students the host trains, the greater the rewards the host receives, and the stronger the host can become.]
"I see. Can you give me a detailed rundown of your functions?"
[Ding! The host must complete the novice task to unlock all basic functions.]
Ye Qiong frowned at that.
Why did even the basic functions of this system need to be unlocked through a task?
"What a hassle. Fine, what's the task?"
[Establish Amphoreus Academy and recruit five students. Task reward: Novice Pack.]
"Amphoreus?"