Six Years Later

Six Years Later, Eastsea Academy

Eastsea Academy was a large institution equipped with the qualifications to run both intermediate and advanced divisions. One must never think that intermediate and advanced were only a step apart; the intermediate division was compulsory education and charged no tuition.

Eastsea Academy was a soul master academy. The intermediate division occupied two-thirds of the area, but its essence was the advanced division, which took up the remaining third.

As long as one was a soul master within Eastsea City and its surrounding subordinate town regions, and possessed a recommendation letter from a primary academy, they could come here to enter the intermediate division and receive a soul master's education.

The intermediate division had a three-year system. When graduating from the third year, those who could truly enter an advanced soul master academy to study definitely did not exceed one-tenth.

The advanced division was no longer compulsory education; rather, one had to pass a series of strict exams to have a possibility of admission. Those who managed to get into the advanced division were the true elites.

Eastsea Academy

Liu Tianran looked at the sign in front of him. When choosing an academy a month ago, he had ultimately chosen to come to Eastsea Academy for a stint.

Wu Changkong had been teaching here for several years. It seemed the story of the Legend of the Dragon King was also about to begin.

Coming to Eastsea Academy at this moment was to see if he could harvest some good materials and facilitate the collection of energy.

Liu Tianran was currently a student in the first year of the advanced department.

His soul power had also already reached rank thirty-eight. As a healing system soul master, this cultivation speed could be considered a genius level. This was also the result of Liu Tianran's deliberate control.

He did so to project an image of someone who was a genius, yet not dazzling enough to draw excessive attention.

His first spirit soul was the thousand-year spirit soul Lightfeather Pegasus, which bestowed upon Liu Tianran three soul skills: Healing Light, Holy Light Purification, and Holy Light Protection.

During fusion, Liu Tianran had intentionally reinforced the Lightfeather Pegasus and his martial soul attributes, making Liu Tianran's healing capability no less than that of a Spirit King.

As for its age, although Liu Tianran could also use the Sea of Consciousness Space to directly raise the spirit soul's age, doing so would definitely attract the attention of others.

Consequently, in order to legitimately raise the spirit soul's age in the future and to provide clone materials for contacting higher-quality geniuses, Liu Tianran had already joined the Spirit Pagoda.

Moreover, because of his outstanding talent, he was already an object of key cultivation for the Eastsea Spirit Pagoda.

At the academy entrance, a majestic gatehouse built from giant boulders stood tall, exuding an imposing aura.

It was just that their learning time was longer. Eastsea Academy was the only large-scale academy in Eastsea City, featuring intermediate and advanced departments.

The intermediate division belonged to compulsory education, with completely free tuition and no threshold for admission, similar to middle school in his past life; the advanced division required selection and admission through a series of exams, similar to high school in his past life, only with a longer academic system.

Walking into the academy, green trees provided shade, as if shrouded in a verdant hue. A wide avenue before his eyes extended to the left and right, and directly ahead, a primitive bluestone slab path rushed to meet him.

Liu Tianran walked toward the academic affairs office. Using his previous intermediate department graduation certificate and recommendation letter, he smoothly completed the enrollment procedures.

He casually collected two sets of first-year uniforms and a dorm key from the academic affairs office.

Naturally, he was assigned to Class One, the very best class.

Liu Tianran bypassed the teaching building and arrived at the dormitory building in the rear.

The dormitory building was as tall as the teaching building, with a total of twelve floors, and his dorm was room 213 on the second floor. During the past few days of reporting and enrollment, the hallways were bustling with noise and people coming and going.

Liu Tianran followed the crowd to find dorm 213, discovering that there were already three people inside; he was the last one to arrive. Pushing open the door, a standard four-person dorm came into view.

Inside the room sat two bunk beds, beside which were two rectangular desks with four matching chairs, and two cabinets stood against the wall. Although the space was not large, it looked exceptionally neat.

When Liu Tianran stepped into the dorm, he saw three people busy with brooms and rags, and the finishing work was about to be completed. The floor was spotless, the tabletops were wiped bright, both bottom bunks had already been occupied, and their luggage was arranged in neat order.

Hello, I suppose I'm the last one. Liu Tianran greeted with a smile.

"Classmate, you're here. We've already cleaned the beds and agreed that each person will clean the dorm one day at a time." A busy person replied.

Not fighting right off the bat, this start was not bad.

One person per day? Sure, I have no objections. My name is Liu Tianran, what about you guys? Liu Tianran said as he walked toward the remaining empty bed.

Seeing that the bed had already been cleaned thoroughly, he reassuringly placed the items he collected from the academic affairs office and the luggage from his storage soul tool onto the bed one by one.

Wu Lang was holding a garbage bag, preparing to head out. Hearing this, he laughed heartily, raised his chin, and said, "My name is Wu Lang, the bed on the left belongs to Fu Hongtao, and the one on the right belongs to Zhang Yong. Welcome, from now on we're roommates!"

Wu Lang radiated a forthright vigor throughout his entire body. He had a tall figure, and even though everyone was fifteen or sixteen years old, he looked twenty-five or twenty-six, with a stubble of beard sprouting on his chin.

Liu Tianran clicked his tongue inwardly. Even if soul power had the effect of promoting physical development, this effect was simply too exaggerated. There was no need to grow up so anxiously, right? Compared to Wu Lang's striking appearance, Fu Hongtao and Zhang Yong seemed utterly ordinary.

The two of them had average builds and unremarkable facial features, making it hard for them to be noticed at a glance in a crowd.

Liu Tianran neatly tidied up his bed, raised his wrist to check the time, and found that it was already mealtime. He turned to look at his roommates and warmly invited them, "I plan to go eat and check out how the cafeteria food is. Why don't we go together?"

The three of them nodded successively to express their agreement, as it indeed was time to eat lunch.

"Then let's go together!" Wu Lang said with a smile, his face overflowing with warmth. The four of them walked out of the dorm together, striding shoulder to shoulder toward the cafeteria.

Soon, they arrived at the advanced department's restaurant.

It was a three-story small building adjacent to the main teaching building and possessed quite a scale. The food aromas drifting from the first floor were the first to drill into everyone's nasal cavities; this was the dining place for first- and second-year students. The windows of the second floor emitted bright lights—that was the cafeteria for the third- and fourth-year students. As for the third floor, it was the exclusive dining area for the fifth- and sixth-year students.

There were only tables in the Eastsea Academy cafeteria, supposedly to enhance a sense of urgency.

Liu Tianran furrowed his brow slightly. Could this rule have been learned from Shrek Academy? Besides, they've abandoned this routine nowadays anyway.

There were a total of three service windows in the cafeteria, supplying meals according to grades. C-grade meals were free and consisted of ordinary food; B-grade meals were half-price with slightly better ingredients; A-grade meals were full-price with the optimal ingredients, mostly soul beast meat. A single A-grade meal cost one thousand Federation Coins, a price that was truly not low.

Liu Tianran walked toward the A-grade meal window. Wu Lang directly followed Liu Tianran toward the A-grade window, while Fu Hongtao and Zhang Yong exchanged glances and also followed toward the A-grade window.

The ingredients used in Eastsea Academy's A-grade meals were extremely exquisite, featuring quite a bit of artificially raised hundred-year soul beast meat, as well as marine soul beasts just hauled up from the sea. Thanks to Eastsea City's coastal location, marine resources here were very abundant. The chefs possessed superb culinary skills and delicate processing techniques, and the food they made naturally tasted fantastic.

The four of them stood in the cafeteria, eating while complaining about Eastsea Academy's strange rule of eating while standing, and shared their respective experiences and knowledge. Back and forth, they quickly gained a preliminary understanding of each other.

Wu Lang and Liu Tianran were locals of Eastsea City, while Fu Hongtao and Zhang Yong came from surrounding towns.

No wonder that when ordering, Wu Lang and Liu Tianran unhesitatingly chose Meal A, while Fu Hongtao and Zhang Yong hesitated for a moment before following suit.

The atmosphere among the few of them also grew increasingly lively.

Liu Tianran wolfed down a portion of Meal A like a storm sweeping away clouds, then went to get two more.

Liu Tianran usually maintained a normal appetite, nor did he expect to intake excessive energy from food. Yet even so, the amount he ate in a single meal equaled the appetite of two people.

Just as Liu Tianran returned to the table carrying two portions of Meal A, Zhang Yong, who was usually taciturn, suddenly wore an expression of infatuation and slowly spoke.

Zhang Yong's eyes shone, his face bore unconcealed excitement, and his voice involuntarily rose. "I heard there are tons of beauties among the junior female students at our academy! Ouyang Zixin, the top campus belle of the intermediate division—I happened to catch a glance of her before, and good lord, she is truly drop-dead gorgeous!"

Liu Tianran inwardly mocked, Good grief, this guy looks so honest, yet he's secretly such a pervert. You really couldn't tell when he wasn't talking. The topic instantly veered off course, but the four of them grew even closer as a result, chatting and laughing in a warm atmosphere.

Seeing that they were almost finished eating, Liu Tianran picked up a cup of fruit juice and smiled. "I wish us all a bright future!" The other three responded.

After the meal, the four of them genuinely could not think of anything else at Eastsea Academy worth touring, so they decided to head back to the dorms together.

At night, lying in bed, Liu Tianran thought about how Tang Wulin should have just arrived in Eastsea City this year, and the plot was about to begin. So, with what attitude should he himself treat Tang Wulin?

As for Liu Tianran himself, he could not be said to hate Tang Wulin the protagonist all that much; on the contrary, he even felt a bit of pity for him.

This son of a God King, the so-called "protagonist," had his entire life merely turned into a puppet show meticulously arranged by his divine "father."

From birth, his own "father" stuffed a time bomb inside him. For the rest of his life, he was pursued and coerced by the countdown of this "bomb," plunging into life-and-death situations countless times, all just to survive.

Throughout his life, he experienced the departure of his parents, the betrayal of his lover, and the loss of friends, bearing one responsibility after another that others had forced upon him.

Yet in the end, when he thought fate was finally willing to pity him and grant him a happy family, that "father" used practical actions to tell him otherwise.

His entire life was nothing more than a carefully arranged farce.

He was merely a tool to catalyze and domesticate the new "God God," nothing more than a puppet with a rather heavy role in the "ten-thousand-year grand plan."

The stripping of the Golden Dragon King divine core and the birth of the new Dragon God turned every tear of blood he shed while risking his life to break seals into a joke.

Perhaps the happiest time of his life was back in Aolai City, when he was a carefree youth without those crushing pressures, able to spend time with his true parents.

The only thing that deeply disgusted Liu Tianran was the lack of firm political stance; in his youth, he professed a desire to become a Federation soldier to protect his country, yet when his homeland went to war with an enemy nation, he instead helped the hostile country fight against his own motherland. Such traitorous behavior was truly unacceptable.

However, the current Tang Wulin's worldview and values were still relatively...

Whatever, those who submit to me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish. As long as he doesn't hinder my growth, screw him.

Besides, actually wanting to kill him isn't easy; that "Old Tang" on him is not to be trifled with.

I am not yet strong; once I am strong, changes will come.

From now on, I'll just let him and my clones attract the attention of the three continents in front of the stage, while I quietly build up my strength.