Cafeteria Dispute

That round-faced, chubby little boy walked over with a very familiar air and said, "Hello, my name is Shitou, and my Wuhun is a wooden stick."

An Chen looked up and down at the slightly chubby boy with a round face, smiled, and replied, "Hello, my name is An Chen, and my Wuhun is... never mind, I won't say."

Shitou's small eyes narrowed as he asked suspiciously, "What is it? Why won't you say?"

He paused for a moment, then his expression suddenly dawned in realization. He glanced quickly at the other tall person, chuckled, and lowered his voice to ask, "Are you ashamed of your Wuhun? It's fine. Look at that guy over there, his name is Qian Yiming, and his Wuhun is a kitchen knife. I haven't made fun of him either."

Upon hearing Shitou's words, Qian Yiming's complexion turned ugly in an instant. He blinked rapidly and said in a loud voice, "You broken stone, you're teasing my Wuhun again."

Shitou hurried to stop Qian Yiming, who was about to charge over, and hastily placated him by saying, "Hey, hey, hey, don't be impulsive. Didn't we agree yesterday not to hold grudges?"

"Newcomer, are your skin itching too?" Qian Yiming saw An Chen lowering his head and chuckling to the side.

"Hey, my teeth are just a bit warm, so I'm opening my mouth to cool them down." An Chen quickly raised both hands in front of himself to keep the other person from rushing over.

"Oh, a shocking debut, not bad." Shitou, who had just been placated Qian Yiming, was now stoking the flames from the sidelines.

"Hey, calm your anger first. We're going to be roommates from now on." An Chen hurriedly soothed Qian Yiming.

"Phew, I hope so." Qian Yiming smoothed out his mood on his own. "It's mainly because this broken stone has been laughing ever since he found out about my Wuhun yesterday."

Qian Yiming glared at Shitou, then immediately turned to ask An Chen, "What about you? What's your Wuhun? Let's get acquainted."

"Uh... My Wuhun is... an iron pot!" An Chen stammered out.

"What! An iron pot... Pfft... Hahaha." This time it wasn't just Shitou alone; even Qian Yiming burst out laughing along with him. "It actually goes pretty well with my kitchen knife."

"An iron pot... Will an iron pot Wuhun even have innate soul power?" Shitou asked between laughs.

"Two kids..." An Chen ignored them and went back to making his bed.

Seeing this, the two held back their laughs and stepped forward to help, continuing their self-introductions as they made the beds.

"My soul power was rank 3 when I awakened. I was the only one in our village with soul power," Shitou said proudly.

"Hmph, you were laughing so wildly yesterday, I thought you were some big deal. My soul power was rank 5 when I awakened!" Qian Yiming said disdainfully upon hearing that.

"You awakened a kitchen knife Wuhun, how could your soul power be so high?" Shitou felt somewhat resentful.

Shitou asked An Chen again, "What about your iron pot Wuhun? It shouldn't be higher than mine, right?"

"Not much, just innate full soul power." An Chen said casually.

"?" Qian Yiming's face was plastered with disbelief.

Hearing this, Shitou patted An Chen's shoulder earnestly and said, "Brother, you can fool us, but don't fool yourself. You have an iron pot Wuhun and you're at innate full soul power? Then I must be a twin Wuhun user."

"That's right, the last time an innate full soul power appeared in Tieyan City was more than ten years ago." Qian Yiming chimed in for once.

Seeing that neither of them believed him, An Chen said indifferently, "Believe it or not."

After that, he said nothing more.

The few of them did not continue discussing this topic afterward.

As the sky gradually grew dark, An Chen fell soundly asleep amidst Shitou's snoring.

Early the next morning, An Chen woke up to the sound of a bell, and Shitou and Qian Yiming slowly got up as well.

"Are we going to class?" An Chen yawned.

"Yeah, these few days are for basic soul master classes," Shitou said.

"Since some students haven't reported yet, we're only covering some basic things these few days." Infected by the contagion, Qian Yiming yawned as well.

The basic soul master class was held in a spacious large classroom. A dozen or so children sat sparsely, all of them new students for this term.

Standing on the platform was a middle-aged soul master with a bald patch on top of his head. His voice was sonorous: "My name is Zhao Qinian, and I will teach you soul power basics..."

Shitou sat next to An Chen and nudged him with his elbow. "Old Zhao has a fierce temper. Don't fall asleep in his class."

"Got it."

"Why are you so quiet?" Shitou nudged him again. "Like a block of wood."

An Chen ignored him and listened attentively.

Zhao Qinian explained very clearly, but An Chen knew most of the material already; it was the same as what was in Dourol before his transmigration.

Qian Yiming spoke even less than An Chen. Sitting at the front, he scribbled down notes rapidly with messy, crooked handwriting. An Chen glanced over and almost failed to hold back his laughter.

As he smiled, he remembered his soul ring. Originally, he had wanted to attach an earth-attribute soul ring and take the path of a defensive soul master, but on that day he bound the system, and the reward conditions for the tasks given by the system did not include any reward for attaching an earth-attribute soul ring.

Therefore, he was considering what attribute of soul ring would be better to attach.

A water-attribute one? Boiling water straight inside the pot? A wind-attribute one? Throwing the iron pot out? That option could be kept. A lightning-attribute one? Relatively rare, and it could draw lightning after being thrown out? A light-attribute one? Too scarce, not considered. A mental attribute and a dragon-type soul beast? Even fewer, not considered. Then what about a shadow-attribute one? Hiding inside the pot? That could be kept.

After the process of elimination, only wind-attribute and shadow-attribute soul beasts met the conditions.

At that moment, the class-dismissed bell rang, and Zhao Qinian gathered his textbooks and left.

Shitou stretched, wrapped his chubby arm around An Chen's shoulder, and said, "Let's go, time to eat!"

The cafeteria was divided into two floors. The first floor was for lining up to get food, where ordinary students and working students ate, while the second floor was where dishes could be ordered, generally serving as the dining area for the city's noble scions.

Seeing An Chen standing at the stairway entrance, Shitou said to him, "Let's go. The second floor isn't a place for us. Although the food on the first floor is a bit worse, thankfully the portions are generous."

As they spoke, a group of gorgeously dressed students walked over.

"Make way, make way, the people from the Wu Family are here!" a student whispered in warning.

Shitou hurriedly pulled An Chen to the side.

The group of people walked past, but one of them deliberately refused to walk down the middle and headed straight toward them to crash into them.

"What are you doing!" Shitou rubbed his shoulder and shouted loudly.

"What am I doing? I don't like the look of you! If you can't afford to eat, get lost and don't block the road." That Wu Family scion glanced at him disdainfully.

"You!" Shitou pointed his index finger at him, his finger trembling slightly.

At this moment, all the students in the first-floor hall looked over and began to murmur among themselves.

"Who are you 'you'-ing at? Piss off!" The Wu Family scion sneered and kicked viciously toward Shitou's abdomen.

Seizing the right moment, An Chen quickly pulled Shitou over.

The Wu Family scion kicked at empty air and almost slipped.

Some students on the first floor failed to hold back their laughter and let out chuckles.

"You're courting death!" The Wu Family scion was furious with embarrassment. His cheeks kept twitching as he stared dead at An Chen.

The other Wu Family scions were long accustomed to this and merely said, "Go easy on him, this is a school." After that, they all headed toward the second floor.

With his face distorted, the Wu Family scion nodded, his fists already cracking.

Just as the fist was about to smash down and An Chen was preparing to summon the iron pot for defense, a stern voice rang out from the cafeteria entrance: "What are you all doing? This is a cafeteria!" Following that, a middle-aged man walked in.

"It's the head of discipline." Some students whispered amongst themselves.

The Wu Family scion's movements paused instantly. He gritted his teeth and said to An Chen, "You're lucky today, next time won't necessarily be like this."

Just when everyone thought the matter had come to an end, the head of discipline walked straight toward An Chen's side.

"Director, I didn't make a move," that Wu Family scion spread his hands.

The middle-aged man glanced indifferently at the Wu Family scion and said coldly, "Report to my office after class to register your rule violation."

Without paying further attention to him, he walked straight over to An Chen and said in a calm tone, "Elder Chen wants you to go over. Later, I'll have the cafeteria make two luxury meals and send them there, you don't need to eat here."

As his voice fell, the entire first floor went silent.

Anyone who could make the director have the cafeteria send luxury meals was definitely no ordinary student.

That Wu Family scion wore a look of utter astonishment at that moment. Others might not know, but he was crystal clear on the fact that Elder Chen was a senior professor at Spirit Hall Academy.

This time, he had been jointly invited by the principal of Tieyan Junior Soul Master Academy and the lord of Tieyan City.

How did this poorly dressed working student get mixed up with Elder Chen?

An Chen glanced at him, nodded, and pulled Shitou along as he followed the director away.

An Chen first let Shitou return to the dormitory, then walked toward Elder Chen's quarters from yesterday.

"You're here. What attribute soul ring do you plan to absorb?" Seeing An Chen enter the door, Elder Chen asked.

"Um—I plan to absorb a wind-attribute or shadow-attribute soul ring," An Chen answered honestly.

"Oh? Why is that?" Elder Chen was somewhat surprised, but he didn't shoot it down and continued asking.

"I don't want to be a defensive soul master; I want to lean toward being an offensive soul master. For wind, it can increase speed when the pot is thrown out." An Chen paused. "As for the shadow attribute, it can conceal oneself and then launch a surprise attack on the opponent."

Elder Chen frowned and tapped his fingers on the table.

"That makes some sense. Your Wuhun is an iron pot, so I still lean toward defense-adding soul rings." Elder Chen finished speaking, then added, "However, I respect your idea. How about this, you go back and think about it today, and tomorrow morning go to the school gates; I'll wait for you there. Tomorrow I'll help you hunt a soul beast, and you can give me your answer tomorrow."

An Chen agreed and nodded. After bidding farewell, he turned around and left, returning to the dormitory.