Mindset Wavering

It's also common for older students to bully younger students.

They call it the "law of the jungle," "survival of the fittest," and the academy doesn't care; as long as no one dies, they pretend they didn't see anything.

Some teachers even believe that this can cultivate students' character and practical skills.

Exercise my ass.

Those two upperclassmen yesterday, weren't they just bullying the freshmen because they were of higher rank?

If the college were stricter, would this have happened?

To put it bluntly, it's about indulgence.

The college believes that being bullied is because you are weak, and weakness is the original sin.

If you're powerful, you can bully others too.

Only Shrek could spout such fallacious logic so convincingly.

And the food in the cafeteria is expensive, unpalatable, and the portions are small.

If you want some nutritious soup, you have to pay extra.

The dormitory conditions are so-so, several people crammed into one room, drafty in winter and hot in summer, and they still have the nerve to call it an elite academy.

It seems to me that all the money has been spent on appearances. The statues are all made to look grander than the last, and the gates are all built to look more magnificent than the last, but very little of it actually goes to the students.

After all, only by creating a good public image can they attract more children from wealthy families and collect more tuition fees.

They've got a very clever plan.

Oh, and there's that so-called credit system, which sounds pretty fair—the more you work, the more you earn.

In reality, the good tasks have long been snatched up by those with connections, leaving only tiring, dangerous, and low-credit jobs for ordinary trainees.

Want to get ahead by completing tasks? It's as difficult as climbing to the sky.

Most people who manage to graduate don't accumulate many credits, and with only a mediocre amount of Soul Power and the empty title of "Shrek graduate," they step into society.

As Xiao Xiao read the daily entries in her diary, she couldn't help but recall her time when she first entered Shrek.

Their dormitory was indeed quite ordinary, and the food in the cafeteria wasn't particularly good either, but since everyone was together and it was lively, they didn't feel the hardship.

Looking back now, the reason they could focus on their cultivation without worrying about tuition and resources was because of her outstanding talent. But what ordinary students had such opportunities?

"So... there are so many people who are having such a hard time?"

Xiao Xiao murmured softly, she used to only care about her own life and that of her friends, and had never paid attention to those ordinary students.

She always thought Shrek was very fair, and that hard work would be rewarded.

I only realized now that many people have to exert all their strength just to even touch the threshold of hard work.

The Far North.

As for Snow Empress, there seemed to be no surprises.

"Wherever there are people, there are social classes, and academies are no exception."

She said calmly, "It's just that other colleges hide their hierarchical structure underneath, at least on the surface, to maintain fairness."

Shrek, on the other hand, directly talks about 'talent above all else' and puts the law of the jungle on the table, which makes them seem more 'open and honest'."

To put it bluntly, it means having to both take responsibility and maintain a facade.

While advocating for fair competition, they presuppose resource allocation bias and class stratification.

Ice Empress scoffed, "A bunch of hothouse flowers, indoctrinated with the law of the jungle by the academy. If they really went to the battlefield, they'd be the ones dying the fastest. The real law of the jungle is far more brutal than those petty squabbles in the academy."

Let's summarize after saying all that.

Shrek Academy, stripped of its "top university" aura and filter, is essentially an elite club that excels at marketing, is highly competitive, and serves only a few geniuses and the powerful.

Its excellence has never come from how powerful the academy itself is, how well the teachers teach, or how advanced the system is.

Its awesomeness stems from the awesomeness of the First-Generation Seven Monsters, the awesomeness of Tang San, and the fact that Tang San became a god and became Shrek's backer.

It has benefited from the Seven Monsters its whole life, and from Tang San's whole life, and it can probably continue to do so.

After all, with Deity endorsement, who wouldn't give them face?

People from all over the world are scrambling to get in, thinking that entering Shrek is like getting a ticket to becoming a powerful person.

But what they didn't know was that most people who came in were just there to make up the numbers.

Those who truly stand at the top are always those who were already at the top.

They either possess extraordinary talent or come from a distinguished family; those who have both are destined for a smooth and successful life.

For ordinary people, even a lifetime of hard work might not bring them up to their starting point.

It's quite ironic, actually.

An academy that claims to "only accept monsters" ultimately achieved its most outstanding result by having a cheat-like individual who transmigrated with memories of their past life.

Without Tang San, Shrek might still be that dilapidated academy in a small village, barely scraping by with a few dozen students.

Of course, history has no "what ifs".

Shrek is now a holy land in the Soul Master World, a place that countless people yearn for.

No matter how many problems it has, how many double standards it has, or how much hypocrisy it has, there are still plenty of people willing to pay for it.

After all, dreams always have value.

However, dreams cost money and also require talent.

Most people come in full of dreams, but in the end they can only leave with regrets, becoming a forgotten denominator in Shrek's glorious history.

That's enough rant for today. There's no point in saying more, and my diary entries are enough to settle things. That's all for now.

Sun Moon Imperial Soul Guidance Academy, Female Dormitory.

Ju Zi fell silent. She had never thought about it from this perspective before; the true nature of Shrek was actually like this.

Perhaps, many things that look glamorous on the outside are just as unbearable on the inside.

Shrek Academy, Inner Court Office.

Zhang Lexuan remained silent for a long time, her face grim.

She wanted to refute him, to call Lin Ye's words utter nonsense, but when she opened her mouth, she found that there were many things she couldn't refute.

The preferential treatment of resources is real, the double standards are real, and the bullying of younger students by older students is also real.

She had always believed that Shrek was the best academy, a place that cultivated strong individuals. But now that someone had so bluntly pointed that out, she felt as if a stone was lodged in her heart.

"Could it be... that I really made a mistake?"

Shrek Outer Court, Female Dormitory

Xiao Xiao sat beside her, head down, her feelings complicated.

She loved Shrek and everything about it, but she also had to admit that much of what she wrote in her diary was true.

It turns out that the brilliance of these genius academies is built on the backdrop of countless ordinary academies; it turns out that Shrek Academy is not as glamorous as she thought.

Actually, when he read Lin Ye's diary before, there were many things he complained about regarding Shrek Academy.

But at the time, he just watched it like it was entertainment or gossip.

But today is different. Today, Lin Ye analyzed a lot of things in great detail.

In the past, it was just simple complaining without any evidence. But today, there is just too much evidence, and she really has to believe it and re-examine Shrek Academy.