"Hahaha, I have you to thank for this."
Lin Yuan stepped forward and smilingly patted Ye Luochen on the shoulder.
"You're now Mingde Hall's hottest prospect. Countless eyes among the academy's upper ranks are fixed on you.
And because I handled your entrance assessment back then, the academy and the hall master favored me on your account and promoted me two ranks. The job of leading the team also fell to me."
Leading a team out to compete sounded like a tough assignment.
After all, the burden of the entire team rested on one person. The team members' food, lodging, travel, and every other arrangement all had to be handled by the supervising teacher.
But anyone with even a little knowledge of the business would scramble for this job.
After all, an all-expenses-paid business trip might be tiring, but it was also a very lucrative posting.
The whole team was traveling out—there had to be funding, right? Authority had to be delegated, right? Allowances had to be provided, right?
Every single one of those came with plenty of room to maneuver.
What was more, this was a team competing in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament.
Though it was only the reserve team, it still bore the name "Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy."
The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy never lacked money!
As long as he put in even a little effort during this trip, the gains would probably exceed what he could earn from scheming in the admissions office for several years.
How could Lin Yuan not be delighted?
After exchanging pleasantries, they returned to the matter at hand.
The seven students lined up in a row.
"The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament will begin soon.
And you, as members of the academy's reserve team, will travel alongside the main team to compete."
"By convention, reserve teams usually go to familiarize themselves with the arena beforehand and broaden their horizons. In most cases, the reserve team will not be needed on the field."
"But it is better to be safe than sorry.
If anything unexpected happens to the main team, you will need to step in."
Standing opposite the seven of them, Lin Yuan swept his gaze across them as he spoke.
"Therefore, to prepare for such contingencies, I need to understand each of your specific abilities.
Likewise, as teammates, you need to know something about one another."
"Starting from the left, give a detailed introduction of yourselves in order."
No one present objected to Lin Yuan's words.
Although none of them had actually participated in this tournament before, they all had a basic understanding of its format.
Individual matches, three-versus-three, seven-versus-seven...
The competition formats were extremely varied.
Only by thoroughly understanding every team member's situation could they make the best tactical arrangements.
Very soon, the first team member spoke.
"My name is Mu Yan. I'm nineteen years old, an assault-type Soul King, and a fifth-class Soul Engineer."
The second followed.
"My name is Lu Chen. I'm nineteen years old, an agility-type Soul King, and a fifth-class Soul Engineer."
"My name is Jiang Yue. I'm nineteen years old, a control-type Soul King, and a fifth-class Soul Engineer."
"My name is Zhou Xiaowan. I'm nineteen years old, an agility-type Soul King, and a fifth-class Soul Engineer."
After the first four members introduced themselves one after another, Ye Luochen could not help feeling somewhat surprised.
The first four were all Soul Kings, and all of them were fifth-class Soul Engineers!
Although they were not young anymore and had just barely met the age limit for the competition rules,
such cultivation was undeniably formidable. On other teams, they would have been more than qualified to serve as starting members of the main lineup.
Yet here, they were merely reserve team members!
More importantly, Ye Luochen did not even need introductions for the next two. He already knew them very well.
Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.
They were another two Soul Kings and fifth-class Soul Engineers.
And they were both only fifteen years old.
This meant that, unlike the earlier reserve members who were already close to the age limit, the Hongchen siblings could still compete in the next tournament.
And after another five years of growth, just how far would their strength have advanced by then?
It seems the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy is far, far stronger than the outside world—especially the Original Three Kingdoms—believes...
That was Ye Luochen's only thought at that moment.
In the eyes of most people in the Original Three Kingdoms, the Sun Moon Empire's teams consisted mainly of members with weak martial souls who could only take shortcuts by relying on Soul Tools. They could hardly pose a threat to the teams of the Original Three Kingdoms.
The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, which had risen to prominence in recent years, was somewhat stronger, but only because it had gone further down the shortcut of Soul Tools.
Yet no matter how far a shortcut went, it could never compare to the great path of cultivating martial souls through painstaking effort, as practiced by the Original Three Kingdoms.
Shrek's constant position at the pinnacle of the pyramid was the best proof of that.
In fact, Ye Luochen had thought the same way before.
But after nearly a month of contact, coupled with the introductions from the reserve team members before him,
Ye Luochen's thinking had now completely changed.
As someone from Shrek, he knew perfectly well that on the path of Soul Tools, Shrek would likely be unable to catch up to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy even in another hundred years, much less the other three kingdoms.
Yet on the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy's side, it seemed they had already caught up considerably in the path of martial souls.
The two sides' rates of progress and growth were simply not on the same level.
Under such circumstances, how long could the advantage the Original Three Kingdoms had always firmly believed in continue to last?
As Ye Luochen's thoughts churned, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen had also finished their introductions. It was now his turn, the last one.
After clearing his throat, Ye Luochen spoke.
"Ye Luochen, fifteen years old, assault-type Soul Ancestor, third-class Soul Engineer."
Upon hearing Ye Luochen's words, the first four people slightly turned their heads toward him.
Ye Luochen's name had now become widely known within the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.
His feat of advancing from nothing to a second-class Soul Engineer in half a month after enrolling was known to almost everyone.
But only a few days had passed, and he had already advanced another level to become third-class?
No wonder he had been admitted to the reserve team despite being so far below them in rank.
Such talent was truly terrifying.
It was only natural that the academy valued him.
However, unlike the others, whose attention was focused on Ye Luochen's newly advanced title of third-class Soul Engineer,
Jing Hongchen and Meng Hongchen were more concerned with the term "Soul Ancestor" that Ye Luochen had used.
The two of them had experienced the failure of the Soul Hunting Operation with Ye Luochen only days ago, and they knew that Ye Luochen had not obtained his Fourth Soul Ring.
Without obtaining a Fourth Soul Ring, even if one's Soul Power Level had reached level forty, one could not be called a Soul Ancestor.
This was a universally recognized rule in the world of Soul Masters. Ye Luochen could not possibly have been unaware of it.
Yet he had still used the term Soul Ancestor.
That meant that during the days the siblings had been recuperating, Ye Luochen had successfully absorbed his Fourth Soul Ring.
Thinking of this, Meng Hongchen immediately turned to Ye Luochen and asked curiously,
"Can you show me your Fourth Soul Ring?"
Before you continue