Elation, Enrollment

The gates of Notting Junior Spirit Master Academy were more imposing than Luo Yan had imagined.

The two iron-gray gates stood open, with the eight characters "Notting Junior Spirit Master Academy" carved above them. The handwriting was neat, though hardly beautiful.

Xiao Wu stood on the street outside the gates without going in.

Luo Yan followed her gaze.

Beside the gate, a hunched old man holding the hand of a skinny little boy was being stopped outside by a young gatekeeper in his twenties.

The gatekeeper stood with his arms crossed, his chin slightly raised, his lips flapping away. Though Luo Yan could not make out exactly what he was saying, judging by that sneering, mean-spirited expression, his words were probably filthy.

The old man bent at the waist, nodding and smiling apologetically without pause. He clutched a crumpled letter of recommendation in his hand, but each time he tried to hand it over, the gatekeeper casually brushed it aside.

The little boy stood beside the old man, his expression obscured.

"Oh~ Classic scene. A gatekeeper bullying people."

The gatekeeper grew more and more animated, extending a finger to poke the old man in the shoulder. The old man stumbled back a step and nearly fell.

"Hmph!"

Xiao Wu snorted coldly.

Before Luo Yan could turn his head, a pink-and-white figure had already darted past him.

Her skirt drew a sharp arc through the air, and the rabbit-ear ornament in her hair gave a fierce twitch in the morning light.

She crossed the distance to the gate in three steps, planted her left foot, and launched herself into the air. Her right leg traced a perfect semicircle, her heel striking the gatekeeper squarely in the lower back.

Bang—

The gatekeeper flew away like a torn sack, describing an utterly graceless parabola through the air before smashing hard into the bluestone pavement three meters away. He even bounced once before landing face down with a muffled groan.

The surroundings fell silent at once.

Whoa~

Luo Yan's eyelid twitched violently. He seemed to have seriously underestimated a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast "child."

Could someone with barely over ten levels of Soul Power really unleash that much force?

Why couldn't I? Because I was some kind of mechanic freak?

Damn Aha, couldn't he have made my Martial Soul's stats a little higher? What was the point of awakening an Elation Mask as my Martial Soul?

Did he really think I was a Masked Fool?

Still, that bastard Aha did not seem to give Masked Fools any proper combat power.

But from another perspective, stat monsters were everywhere, while mechanic freaks were one in ten thousand.

That bastard did have a decent eye after all.

His first Spirit Skill, "Pledge of Delusional Joy," came from a four-hundred-year-old Illusion Fox.

The essence of the Spirit Skill was a one-sidedly advantageous contract. He could lay down rules without summoning his Martial Soul or displaying his Soul Ring, and the fluctuations of Soul Power were so faint they were nearly nonexistent. Once the contract was fulfilled, he could obtain a random laugh point.

Luo Yan had not yet figured out what these laugh points were for.

For now, he guessed that one of his future Spirit Skills might be a special elation skill triggered by laugh points?

But that was for the future. Right now, the only thing before him was this "contract."

But a contract was still a contract. Someone had to trigger it before the punishment would descend.

When making the contract, he could secretly insert one tiny condition favorable to himself. That was his trump card.

For example, earlier, the rule he had set was that whoever laughed first would lose, and the tiny favorable condition he inserted was that his own definition would take precedence.

So when Scarface's lackeys grinned and laughed uproariously, that counted as laughter, while the slight upward curve of his own lips did not.

Who the referee was did not matter. Xiao Wu's judgment had merely been part of the act. The real referee was the contract itself, and he decided the contract's terms.

Of course, he could only slip in one such private clause, and for now, it had to be something minor.

He could not simply make the rule, "No matter what, I win." That exceeded the limits of his Spirit Skill.

He could choose the punishment freely. Soul Power disorder was the one he used most often, because it had the best visual effect and was suitable for establishing authority.

But he could choose other things too, such as making the violator suddenly laugh uncontrollably, get a stomachache, hiccup madly, or lose control of their limbs.

He had not used those much yet. He had only obtained his Soul Ring recently.

Against a stat monster like Xiao Wu, he could only circle around and take her down through underhanded means.

He looked at the rabbit ears ahead of him, a smile curling across his lips.

Would this violent rabbit beat him up first when she discovered the truth, or would she first be curious about how he had done it?

Well, with the way her mind worked, the latter was more likely.

"You little brat! You're courting death!"

"Enough, stop." Just then, a somewhat hoarse voice rang out, stopping the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper froze for a moment. Then the rage on his face immediately transformed into fawning flattery, the change so swift it was unbelievable. Bowing and scraping to the newcomer, he said, "Grandmaster, you're back."

Luo Yan, who had been about to have some fun with the gatekeeper, quietly dispersed his Soul Power and looked toward the voice.

A man of average height and slightly thin build stood in front of the gatekeeper.

He looked to be around forty or fifty, with short black hair and an ordinary face. His hands were clasped behind his back, yet he possessed an indescribable bearing. A sense of weariness lingered in his eyes.

So this was Xiaogang? How did Bibi Dong ever fall for him?

Luo Yan walked over to stand beside Xiao Wu, catching a fleeting glimpse.

Thin, small, dark.

Those were the first three words that came to mind when he saw Tang San.

"Sir, could I take a look at the Spirit Hall certificate?"

Yu Xiaogang stepped before them and held out his hand to Old Jack.

Old Jack froze, then hurriedly pulled the crumpled Spirit Hall certificate from his clothes and handed it over with both hands.

His hands trembled slightly, whether from the fright just now or because the appearance of this man had given him hope of a turning point.

Yu Xiaogang accepted the certificate, unfolded it, and glanced at it before his gaze settled on Tang San.

His eyes rested on Tang San's face for several seconds. In those weary eyes, a faint glimmer seemed to flash, nearly impossible to detect.

"No problem. What about these two children?"

Tang San looked at them, his fingers moving slightly within his sleeve.

"This young lady and young man aren't from our village. They just spoke up for us."

Yu Xiaogang nodded.

Yu Xiaogang returned the certificate to Old Jack, his gaze lingering on Tang San for another moment before turning to Luo Yan and Xiao Wu. "Are you two here to enroll as well?"

Xiao Wu nodded righteously. "Work-study students. We have certificates."

Luo Yan nodded as well, looking perfectly harmless.

"Then come in with me. I'll take you to register."

"Grandmaster, then I'll leave this child to you. Little San, go in with Grandmaster, and make sure you behave."

Tang San nodded to Old Jack, then nodded to the other two before following Yu Xiaogang through the gates.

Xiao Wu noisily grabbed Luo Yan and followed after them.

"Teacher!"

"Little San!"

"Teacher!!"

"Little San!!"

"Ahem! Sorry, you two. I understand your happiness and excitement, but shouldn't we register first?" Luo Yan asked tentatively.

"Ahem." Tang San stopped himself, a faint flush appearing at the tips of his ears.

Xiao Wu, however, righteously let go of Luo Yan's sleeve and strode ahead with her head raised. "Right, right, registration comes first. You can take a master whenever you want!"

Yu Xiaogang scratched his head. "Ahem! Follow me!"

First floor of the main teaching building.

Yu Xiaogang placed the certificate on the desk and said to the elderly teacher, "Director Su, this is the work-study student sent from Holy Soul Village this year. Please help register him."

Director Su beamed. "Grandmaster, what brings you here? What a rare visitor! Would you like to sit for a while?"

"You're too kind. I still have things to do. Little San, stay with them. Oh, and these two as well, um..."

"My name is Xiao Wu. Here's my certificate."

"Here's mine."

Yu Xiaogang nodded to the teachers and walked out.

The three accepted the school uniforms and keys handed over by the teachers, then headed toward the work-study student dormitory.

Along the way, Tang San seemed to hesitate several times, as if he wanted to say something.

Xiao Wu skipped along without a care, while Luo Yan pretended not to notice.

"Hello, I'm Tang San. My Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass. We'll be classmates from now on."

Xiao Wu stopped walking. "I'm Xiao Wu, Wu as in dancing. My Martial Soul is a Soft Bone Rabbit, so don't get it wrong."

"I'm Luo Yan. My Martial Soul is... the Elation Mask."