"Hello, students. Today is our annual opening ceremony. Next, let's welcome Dean Yu to give a speech."
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. Amid the students' many gazes, Yu Zhen walked onto the stage.
"Hello, students. It's time for our annual opening ceremony again..."
Yu Zhen was an excellent speaker. Even without a script, he spoke with such passion and expression that he went on for nearly twenty minutes.
Long Yuan watched in amazement. As expected, leaders were good at giving speeches. If it were him, he'd probably have shut down after a minute.
Before long, Yu Zhen finished his speech. Next came the most important part of the opening ceremony: class assignments.
Under their teachers' guidance, the Advanced Division students returned to their campus. The upper-year Intermediate Division students who weren't being assigned to new classes also began to disperse. Only after everyone had left did Yu Zhen explain the class assignment rules.
At Eastsea Academy, the lower a class's number, the better its students were. The academy assigned students based on the information they'd provided when enrolling, recommendation letters from their junior academies, and a comprehensive assessment of factors such as their talents and levels.
Of course, thanks to the farce on the first day of school, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Zhou Changxi, and Yun Xiao had all been tossed into Class Four. It was a tacit secret among the academy's higher-ups.
After explaining the class assignment rules, Yu Zhen spoke loudly. "All right, we'll begin the assignments. First, the students in Class One. When I call your name, step forward."
"Class One, Gu Yuena..."
At the sound of that name, Long Yuan looked toward Class One's group. Sure enough, a girl with silver hair and violet eyes stepped forward without hesitation.
Since she was the first student called, nearly every new student looked her way. They were all captivated by Gu Yuena's appearance.
"She's so beautiful..."
Tang Wulin was no exception. But when he saw her long silver hair, he felt a little dazed...
"Could that be Na'er..."
No, no. Tang Wulin shook his head, dispelling the unrealistic thought.
What am I thinking? Na'er doesn't even have a Martial Soul. How could she possibly come to Eastsea Academy and get assigned to Class One?
"Tang Wulin, are you all right?" Beside him, Xie Xie gently poked his shoulder and asked in a quiet voice.
Yesterday, he'd caught Tang Wulin at the school gate as Tang Wulin was preparing to return to the Blacksmith Association. Xie Xie had always been arrogant, and he still couldn't accept having been chased around the dormitory by Tang Wulin, so he'd challenged him to a fight at East Sea Park.
Then Tang Wulin had taught him a painful lesson: the natural enemy of an agility attack Soul Master really was a power attack Soul Master.
He had no idea how to describe the feeling when he saw sparks fly as his Light Dragon Dagger struck Tang Wulin's right hand.
Tang Wulin shook his head. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. Maybe it's because I stayed up late practicing blacksmithing yesterday."
"Class Five... Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Zhou Changxi, Yun Xiao..."
While the two of them were talking, the class assignments had been completed.
There were 109 students across the entire year group, and Class Five had only twenty. They all looked listless, with an air of low self-esteem.
Several homeroom teachers thought the opening ceremony was over and were just about to lead their students back to their classrooms when Yu Zhen suddenly announced, "Teachers and students, today I'd like to introduce a new teacher at the academy: Long Yuan, Teacher Long."
As he spoke, Yu Zhen gestured toward Long Yuan. Long Yuan didn't mind the attention. He calmly walked onto the stage under everyone's curious gazes.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Long Yuan. Though I'm not a homeroom teacher, you're welcome to come to me with any questions."
Yu Zhen added at just the right moment, "Don't let Teacher Long's youth fool you. He's a bona fide Soul Emperor at level sixty. Be sure to take him as your role model, understood?"
"Understood!"
Quite a few of the new students had been inspired by Yu Zhen's speech, and they shouted their reply in perfect unison.
Not bad. They're already at the level where they could crew a warship.
"All right, that's the end of the ceremony! Homeroom teachers, please lead your students back to the teaching building and help them get familiar with the academy."
A teacher who looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight walked to the front of Class Five.
Long Yuan glanced at him. The signature lake-blue hair that fell to his waist and the classic white trousers made it obvious: this was their Teacher Wu Zhangkong.
Long Yuan looked away and turned his attention to Class One.
As it happened, Gu Yuena was also looking at him. Their gazes met in midair—one second, two...
Facing Long Yuan's placid gaze, Gu Yuena was the first to surrender. Her cheeks flushed, and she lowered her head.
Nice try. You can't beat me when it comes to having a thick skin.
People like him, who'd been bombarded with modern information, had the thickest skin. He wasn't afraid of awkwardness. After all, as long as he wasn't embarrassed, everyone else was.
Next was Class One's homeroom teacher, Ye Yingluo. While Long Yuan observed her, she was staring intently at Wu Zhangkong.
Ye Yingluo's secret crush—no, her openly declared love—for Wu Zhangkong was common knowledge. Though he'd turned her down many times, she still refused to give up. Perhaps that was the work of the great God of Love. It was also a classic specialty of the Douluo Continent.
Then there was Class Two's homeroom teacher, Xu Jie. His Martial Soul was a White Armored Fish Dragon, and he was a Soul King. Notably, this honest-looking, middle-aged man was a Sea Soul Master. Even in Eastsea City, which was close to the sea, Sea Soul Masters were exceedingly rare.
More importantly, his Martial Soul had a trace of Dragon Clan blood. Long Yuan silently made a note of it.
Class Three's homeroom teacher was Ye Yingrong, Ye Yingluo's younger sister. She was also a Soul King, had some kind of plant-type Martial Soul, and was also in love with Wu Zhangkong. But her affection was a true secret crush. She was quite restrained about it and even tried to stop her older sister, though it didn't do much good.
Class Four's homeroom teacher was Kong Hanwen, a Soul King whose Martial Soul was a sword. There was nothing special about him, so there was no need to say more.
Now that everyone had dispersed, Long Yuan had no reason to stay. He turned and headed for his office.
Before long, someone knocked on the door.
"Knock, knock, knock—"
Long Yuan set down the book on blacksmithing he was holding. His divine sense had already told him who was outside. "Come in."
The door opened softly, then closed just as softly. A bright-eyed, beautiful girl now stood by the doorway, tucking her hair back.
"I'm here."
"You shouldn't have come..."
"Huh?" Gu Yuena's amethyst eyes widened.
"Ahem, I was joking." Long Yuan gave an awkward laugh and pointed to the chair opposite him.
Gu Yuena sat down across from him and studied him with her beautiful eyes. After a long while, she finally asked, "Have you... come back to life?"