Go to Class Five

Long Hengxu stared at his phone screen, then looked up at the boy standing before him. He remained silent for quite a while.

His fingertips unconsciously rubbed the cold metal edge of the phone, and the turmoil in his heart refused to settle.

He had served as Eastsea Academy's dean of students for over a decade and handled no fewer than eight hundred, if not a thousand, new students. Yet he had never encountered such an unusual case.

A nine-year-old child had encountered an Evil Soul Master attack aboard an intercity train. Not only had he suffered only minor injuries, but he had also killed the culprit in return, practically saving every passenger on the train.

Such courage and strength were unmatched among all the new students in the intermediate division.

"Regarding your righteous actions on the train and your killing of the Evil Soul Master, the academy will conduct a thorough follow-up investigation and publicly commend you."

Long Hengxu set down his phone and leaned back into his office chair. His tone had softened considerably from before, though it still carried the sternness characteristic of a dean of students.

Midway through his sentence, he paused, and his tone grew heavier.

"However, rules are rules. Being one day late is an undeniable fact, and the proper punishment cannot be waived. Merit is merit, fault is fault. They are two separate matters."

He picked up his fountain pen and paused over the class field on the registration form, the pen tip hovering above the paper.

"Based on your fifteenth-level soul power and the quality of your martial soul, you should have been assigned to Class One. As punishment for being late, you will go to Class Four instead."

Tang Wulin quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had worried that he might receive a demerit or even be rejected outright. Instead, he had merely been moved from the elite core class to an average class. The punishment was far lighter than he had expected.

He nodded and was about to agree when Jin Qiu's voice suddenly rang out in his mind, carrying an unquestionable certainty.

["Listen to me. Don't go to Class Four. Go to Class Five."]

Tang Wulin's movements paused so slightly that it was nearly imperceptible.

He knew that Jin Qiu's Mental Detection had not stopped since they entered the academy gates. He had already figured out the entire academy's class arrangements and faculty situation.

The main reason was that they would need Wu Changkong's help to enter Shrek Academy later, as well as his connections within Shrek Academy.

Training under him was ten times better for Tang Wulin than wasting his days following the routine in some so-called elite class.

Tang Wulin did not hesitate in the slightest. He trusted Jin Qiu's judgment.

"Teacher."

He leaned forward slightly. His tone remained respectful, but his attitude was exceptionally firm.

"I want to go to Class Five."

"You want to go to Class Five?"

The fountain pen in Long Hengxu's hand struck the tabletop with a tap. He abruptly raised his head, his face full of astonishment, almost believing he had misheard.

After serving as dean of students for so many years, he had only seen people crying, pleading, and pulling strings to squeeze into the elite classes. This was the first time he had encountered someone voluntarily asking to join the worst class.

"First, understand the situation."

Long Hengxu frowned and deliberately stressed his words, laying out the class-ranking rules as clearly as possible.

"At Eastsea Academy's intermediate division, the lower the class number, the better the students' talent and the stronger the teaching staff.

Classes One and Two are the core elite classes. Class Three is a key class, Class Four is an average class, and Class Five... is the bottom-ranked class in the entire year. Its students come from mixed backgrounds, their foundations are poor, and even its homeroom teacher is famously harsh and difficult to get along with.

"You are passing up a perfectly good Class Four to voluntarily go to Class Five?"

He felt that the boy had probably just arrived in the city and did not understand how the class rankings worked, which was why he had foolishly made the wrong choice.

"I'm sure."

Tang Wulin lifted his head. His eyes were clear and bright, yet there was not the slightest hint of wavering in them.

He repeated himself, his tone calm but particularly resolute.

"Teacher, I want Class Five."

This time, Long Hengxu fell silent.

He leaned back in his chair, lightly tapping his fingers against the solid wooden desk and producing dull thuds as he rapidly calculated in his mind.

Originally, in order to make the promotion tournament in the second half of the year more interesting, he had deliberately balanced the classes' overall strength.

He had placed the speed-type genius Xie Xie into Class Five to give it some support, while assigning Huang Feng'er, who had registered yesterday, to Class Three—the red-haired little girl possessed a rare martial soul and immense spiritual power. Her talent was even more outstanding than Xie Xie's, and placing her in Class Three would help set the pace for the whole class.

As for Tang Wulin, he had fifteenth-level soul power, Twin Martial Souls, and could even kill a Soul Elder-level Evil Soul Master across ranks. Such combat ability was absolutely among the best of the new students.

He had originally planned to place him in Class Four, which would neatly balance the differences in strength among the five classes. That would make the promotion tournament more competitive and push the students to strive harder.

But now, this boy was determined to go to Class Five.

Long Hengxu had a headache.

Expelling him was out of the question.

Leaving aside the fact that this child had rare talent and was an excellent prospect, he had righteously saved an entire train of passengers. If they truly expelled him, did Eastsea Academy want to keep its reputation once word got out?

Outsiders would only say that the academy mistreated a heroic young boy. It would be impossible to defend in terms of public opinion.

Besides, he had not made any excessive demand. He merely wanted to go to Class Five. No matter how poor Class Five was, it was still an official academy class.

After a full half-minute of silence, Long Hengxu finally sighed, picked up his fountain pen, crossed out the half-written character for "Four," and changed it to "Five."

The pen tip slid across the paper, leaving a clear mark of ink. The matter was settled.

"Fine."

He pushed the registration form toward the edge of the desk and looked up at Tang Wulin.

"Go back to your dormitory and get settled first. The dormitory number is on the back of the registration form. I'll speak with Class Five's homeroom teacher later. Tomorrow, you can go directly to the Class Five classroom for lessons."

After a pause, he could not help adding a remark, his tone carrying a trace of appreciation for talent.

"Study hard after you get to Class Five. Don't waste your talent. If you truly can't keep up with the pace, you can apply to transfer classes at any time."

"Alright. Thank you, Teacher."

Tang Wulin bowed deeply to Long Hengxu, picked up the registration form from the desk, carefully folded it, and placed it in the innermost pocket of his canvas bag.

He said nothing more. Turning around, he pushed open the office door and walked out.

The sunlight in the corridor happened to slant in from the side, falling warmly across his shoulders.

He looked at the slip of paper in his hand with the dormitory number printed on it, then headed briskly toward the dormitory building.