Academy Insights

Life was like using the toilet; time was like a flushed toilet, rushing away in an instant.

Ling Yi had seen this line in a novel in his previous life. He had merely laughed it off at the time, but now he was filled with emotion.

It had already been three days since he reported to Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy.

Over those three days, Ling Yi had visited every part of the academy, except for the two dormitory buildings for self-funded students.

As one of the four elementary soul master academies in Mu Zhi City, the capital of the Waterwood Principality, Green Leaf Elementary Soul Master Academy was not actually very large. It was mainly divided into the Main Teaching Building to the east, the training ground in the center, the self-funded student dormitories in the north, the work-study student dormitories in the west, and the faculty housing courtyard area in the south.

As for the academy cafeteria, it occupied a separate area on the second floor of the Main Teaching Building.

The academy also had a Library... well, it would be more accurate to call it a book storage room. It was located on the top floor of the Main Teaching Building. The number of books inside was rather pitiful~

Through politeness, good behavior, and a sweet tongue, Ling Yi—with his bright eyes, white teeth, and handsome features—learned more insider information about the academy from several approachable teachers.

The academy had only one headmaster, named Mu Yunfu. His martial soul was "Green Vine," and he was a Level 41 Control System Battle Soul Ancestor!

Below the headmaster were Director of Studies Liu Mingzhao and Director of External Affairs Ye Jincang, one handling internal affairs and the other external matters. Both were high-level Soul Elders. The former possessed the "Water Cloud Shield" martial soul and was a Defense System Battle Soul Master, while the latter possessed the "Purple Eye Lynx" martial soul and was an Agility Attack System Battle Soul Master.

Beyond that, the six grades had only six classes, with one homeroom teacher for each class. These homeroom teachers taught different subjects and also taught the corresponding classes in other grades. There were another nine subject teachers responsible for teaching their respective courses.

The academy mainly offered five subjects, which students studied from basic to advanced according to their grade level.

These five subjects were "Types and Attributes of Martial Souls," "Types and Ages of Soul Beasts," "Soul Power Cultivation Techniques," "Practical Combat," and "History of the Continent."

Clearly, the fifteen teachers had overlapping specialties, but their roles did not conflict. Some focused on theoretical knowledge, some followed the Support System path, while others were practical-combat specialists who followed the Battle Soul Master path.

Yet for nearly all students, the academy's mechanized approach meant teachers taught while students simply went with the flow—attending class, leaving class, and broadly swallowing the knowledge the teachers crammed into them without truly digesting it.

Having learned this much, Ling Yi had to admit that when it came purely to martial soul theory and soul beast knowledge for low-level soul masters, the original work's Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang could probably crush over ninety percent of Douluo Continent's academy-trained teachers.

It was not because he was especially good at teaching disciples, but because the information he possessed was simply too extensive and could accommodate the cultivation needs of most low-level soul masters.

Whether it was mastery and cultivation of martial souls, the development of their attributes, or the selection of suitable soul beast types and ages for Soul Rings, Yu Xiaogang—who had access to the two great treasure troves of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and Spirit Hall—was blessed beyond compare!

So how could ordinary commoners compare to those nobles?

Inside Building No. 3 Room 304, Ling Yi stood in the innermost corner. He circulated the Soul Power within his body and fed it, thread by thread, into a pale-blue sprout that had just broken through the soil. After transferring roughly one percent of his total Soul Power, he removed his finger from the sprout and reached toward another one beside it.

Ling Yi's movements were gentle and orderly. Feeling the four or five gazes directed at him from behind—some strange, some curious—he continued analyzing the situation in his heart.

Leaving aside the protagonists on the grand stage, even here in the principality, those noble children not only have an innate advantage in their martial soul bloodlines, but receive dietary supplements in their daily lives. Even their later education follows specially tailored advancement paths, with one-on-one elite instruction...

At this thought, Ling Yi narrowed his eyes, suddenly recalling some rather unpleasant memories.

"How could ten years of studying compare to three generations of their family doing business? Much less to their old man carrying a gun..."

"If you reached the heavens in one step, where would that leave their family's generations of hard work?"

Those two lines were sharp and cold enough to make Ling Yi of his previous life give up for a time and simply drift through life.

But life still had to go on. If he could not compete, then he would not. At the very least, making his own comfort zone a little more comfortable was always a good thing...

Now that he had come to this extraordinary world, where class divisions were even more rigid, he possessed both the knowledge accumulated from another world and foreknowledge of this one.

Ling Yi felt as though he were a character in a rebirth novel from his previous life, returned to the opportunities of the early century. He had to seize the moment and stage his own version of "with a favorable wind to lend me strength, send me soaring into the blue clouds," fighting for his place in the cast upon this stage called Douluo Continent.

For now, I may only be one string of numbers on the background board, one person among however many people in some eastern principality... Ling Yi rose to his feet. Though only thirty percent of his Soul Power remained, leaving him with a sense of emptiness, his eyes shone as he looked with satisfaction at the "Blue Silver Grass" seedlings, whose growth was visibly accelerating.

From a background extra, to an unnamed passerby, then a named bit player, then a minor supporting character with a few lines of description, a major supporting character with a substantial role, an important supporting character with my own side plot... until I finally stand at the center of the stage and become the protagonist... or perhaps, the final villain?

Picking up a watering can, Ling Yi slowly watered every stalk of "Blue Silver Grass" as he silently murmured in his heart:

Whether you can accompany me and witness the journey ahead will depend on your talent and fortune~

Just as he needed to improve his own foundation and standing upon the stage, these "Blue Silver Grass" plants could only gain recognition from the world by breaking free from the shackles of their innate talent and reaching a leap in age—becoming hundred-year, thousand-year, or even ten-thousand-year king-level "Blue Silver Grass." Only then would they no longer represent waste martial souls, no longer be weeds discarded like worn-out shoes~

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of "Blue Silver Grass" really were nothing more than the most ordinary little blades of grass.

They sprouted in spring, flourished in summer, withered in autumn, and shed their grass leaves in winter, leaving only their roots buried in the soil.

Grasses spread across the ancient plain, withering and flourishing once each year.

Wildfires could not burn them all away; when spring winds blew, they grew anew.

Some "Blue Silver Grass" stored their vitality in their roots, waiting for the winter to pass before breaking through the soil once more, repeating the cycle again and again.

Until one day, the limits of their vitality were reached, neither increasing nor decreasing. Then one day, their roots would completely wither and die.

Of the plants Ling Yi had seen so far, the highest such threshold was ten years.

A year ago, the three thousand "Blue Silver Grass" seeds Ling Yi had Zhang Lei select had long since been planted and successfully grown.

With the mana and health restoration boost from Deep Sleep, Ling Yi used the weak Soul Power in his body to accelerate the growth of three thousand "Blue Silver Grass" plants tenfold.

After one year, 2,796 plants had grown to the equivalent of three to ten years before their vitality stopped accumulating. Their potential had clearly been exhausted, and they could no longer continue growing.

The remaining 204 "Blue Silver Grass" plants, however, could still absorb Ling Yi's Soul Power and continue growing.

The problem now was that after a year of testing, Ling Yi had found that for "Blue Silver Grass" under ten years old, he needed to infuse Soul Power into them roughly once every three days to ensure optimal Soul Power absorption and growth efficiency. For those above ten years, he could inject more Soul Power at a time and extend the interval to around ten days.

And Ling Yi had already been away from Shan Hai Village for four days~

Thanks to fellow reader Tai Yi Wei Yi for the reward, thanks to fellow readers Wu Shi Shui Jing and 20200411110011695 for the monthly tickets, and thanks to all readers for your recommendation tickets and following reading. Thank you! (^o^)/~