Taking Another Leave!

"You'd like to audit other classes."

The office of Vice Dean Hu Gan was spacious and bright, piled high with files and books. He sat behind a large desk, his hands clasped together, his sharp eyes scrutinizing Huo Yuhao standing in front of him.

"It's not just about auditing other classes." Huo Yuhao stood ramrod straight, his voice clear and firm. "I still have many questions about the Jia Nan Academy, and I hope you can allow me to actively observe."

"Oh----" Hu Gan leaned back in his chair, "What questions do you have?"

"It's hard to explain in a short time." Huo Yuhao did not answer.

Hu Gan's gaze lingered on Huo Yuhao's face for a long time, seemingly assessing the sincerity and purpose behind his words.

The office fell silent for a moment, with only the faint chirping of birds coming from outside the window.

"If that's what you're saying, it's a pity—" Hu Gan's small eyes darted around, his voice drawn out as he kept a close eye on Huo Yuhao's expression.

Huo Yuhao's expression remained unchanged, maintaining basic politeness, and he even showed a slight smile.

After a moment, Hu Gan suddenly laughed, "Interesting, then I have no choice but to agree."

"Thank you, Vice Dean!" Huo Yuhao bowed slightly.

"Don't rush to thank me." Hu Gan picked up a quill and began to write in a flowing, elegant style on a specially made piece of parchment. "I have two requests."

Please speak.

"I saw your class advisor's report today. The reward of your Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills has been given to you, right?" Hu Gan down his pen. "I hope you can master those three volumes of Dou Technique within two months. How about it?"

"OK."

He nodded Hu Gan satisfaction and handed the written parchment to Huo Yuhao. "Take this. Aside from the core forbidden Library Pavilion, with this pass you can enter any area of the academy and audit classes of any grade."

This applies to any instructor's course. I hope your observations will be fruitful. My second requirement is that after you finish your observations, you submit a report outlining what you observed.

Huo Yuhao solemnly accepted the pass bearing the vice dean's unique mark. "Thank you, Vice Dean!"

Huo Yuhao's first stop was Class 7 of the freshmen, which was under the supervision of mentor Ruolin.

When he appeared silently at the edge of the training field, he saw Instructor Ruolin directing the new students.

A basic test. A group of freshmen are running breathlessly on the designated track, carrying heavy sandbags on their backs.

"Weighted running?" Huo Yuhao was very surprised to see something familiar again. He had thought that Jia Nan Academy did not have this program.

"It's just an endurance test; there will be other tests later." Instructor Ruolin explained without turning her head, holding a notebook in her hand, her eyes fixed on the field, occasionally jotting things down in her notebook.

"So that's how it is!" Huo Yuhao breathed a sigh of relief, genuinely somewhat frightened.

Recognizing the voice as somewhat familiar, Instructor Ruolin turned around. The moment she saw Huo Yuhao, her face instantly filled with astonishment. "Huo Yuhao? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Profound Class One? Could it be—could it be that Instructor Huo De kicked you out?!"

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her anger flared up instantly. She made a move to drag Huo Yuhao away to demand an explanation. "He's getting more and more outrageous! Come on, let's go find the vice dean!"

Huo Yuhao quickly explained, "Teacher Ruolin, please don't get agitated! I wasn't kicked out, I just asked for leave!"

"A request for leave?!" Instructor Ruolin seemed to have triggered something, her voice suddenly rising, her long hair almost standing on end. "Huo Yuhao! You promised me you wouldn't take leave! This is only the first day! You—"

"It's not what you think!" Huo Yuhao said, both amused and exasperated, and quickly explained in detail the "observer" status and pass specially approved by the vice dean.

Ruolin, the instructor, took the pass with some skepticism, carefully examined the vice dean's seal, and then breathed a long sigh of relief. Patting her chest, she said with lingering fear, "That scared me to death! Next time, can you get to the point first? I thought you were going to—"

She rolled her eyes at Huo Yuhao, her tension finally fading.

Huo Yuhao quietly stayed on the sidelines and watched all the tests for Class 7 of the freshmen: endurance test, Dou Qi accuracy test, strength, speed, agility, and so on. For each test, Instructor Ruolin would record a lot of information in their notebooks.

After the test, Huo Yuhao walked up to his mentor Ruolin, and asked, "Mentor, may I borrow your notebook to take a look?"

"Why are you looking at this?" Ruolin, the tutor, asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry, we definitely won't use the students' physical data to do anything bad!" Huo Yuhao said with a smile.

"All right."

After receiving the notebook, Huo Yuhao glanced at a few pages and his eyes revealed genuine admiration.

These records go far beyond the results; they also include details of the process and the uncovering of potential problems, almost outlining each student's current physical fitness, Dou Qi control level, combat instincts, and personality traits. Some details hidden beneath the surface data, such as a student whose endurance seemed good but Heart Force was insufficient, leading to postural distortions, or a student Dou Qi was accurate but whose spellcasting had an excessively long cast time, were all keenly captured and recorded by Instructor Ruolin.

"Professor Ruolin is indeed one of the most responsible teachers I've ever met." Huo Yuhao closed the notebook and handed it back to Professor Ruolin.

"By the way, do other teachers also keep such detailed records as you do?"

"Well—" Instructor Ruolin smiled, "Of course, everyone is very responsible."

Is that so? Huo Yuhao nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

The second stop was during the meditation time of Profound Class One. Huo Yuhao and his classmates went to the academy's public Meditation Area.

Pushing open the heavy stone door, an energy aura several times stronger than the outside world rushed out. The spacious Meditation Area was divided into many rooms, each door marked with its attribute.

To Huo Yuhao's surprise, there wasn't a single pattern resembling an array at first glance. Furthermore, the energy concentration in this Meditation Area was far lower than he had expected.

This is a very limited improvement compared to Mimicry Cultivation. Could it be that the formation hasn't been activated yet? Huo Yuhao's spiritual power spread out, penetrating into every brick and tile of the entire Meditation Area, trying to find traces of a formation.

After a moment, Huo Yuhao frowned slightly. These Meditation Room did contain quite a few Magic Core, but they were all just naturally emitting energy and not being utilized at all.

"Brother Huo Yuhao, I don't think the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi here is very abundant." Xiao Yi Xian was a little puzzled. Although she could also use her spiritual power, she couldn't "see" the energy between heaven and earth like Huo Yuhao.

To gain a direct understanding of this, one must either reach the state of Heaven-Human Unity or break through to the level of Dou Wang.