Second Soul Ring: Froakie

Charizard swept its wings, and a blast of air erupted.

Its dragon body carried Chi Hong forward in a burst of speed.

In the blink of an eye, it caught up with Zhou Yi and overtook her.

As they flew past, Chi Hong turned his head and called out with apparent concern:

"Teacher, if you're old, you should retire. Don't run if you can't keep up. You might hurt your back."

As a Fire- and Flying-type Pokémon, Charizard flew far faster than some aging Soul Emperor.

Zhou Yi's face flushed as she drove her Soul Power to its limit and flew forward.

But she couldn't catch Charizard, who had wings. All she got was a faceful of exhaust.

Charizard only grew faster. Before long, it had completed a lap and caught up with her again.

She had been lapped.

And that was only the beginning. Every time they lapped her, Chi Hong greeted her.

It was as if he were mocking her on purpose.

Zhou Yi's face grew redder still. Unable to bear the humiliation, she left in a fury before finishing the run.

Chi Hong had Charizard stop and shouted:

"Teacher, how come you can't even finish a hundred laps? Are you really going to expel yourself and retire?"

Zhou Yi snapped.

"I'm the homeroom teacher. I can expel whoever I want. What gives you the right to tell me how to teach?"

Chi Hong climbed down from Charizard.

"Teacher, you can't even beat one of your students. How does that prove your punishment works?"

Zhou Yi glanced at Charizard with disdain.

"Hmph. You're nothing but a good-for-nothing taking shortcuts with a Soul Beast. Truly powerful Soul Masters rely on their own strength. Who knows whether that fire dragon of yours will go berserk and attack people one day?"

Chi Hong's gaze turned cold too.

"Zhou Yi, Charizard has been my partner since I was little. It's far calmer than you, you old hag. And since you brought up relying on your own strength, I'd love to know how you became Class One's homeroom teacher and got away with expelling students whenever you pleased. Was that really all your own doing? Or did you rely on a man?"

"What did you say? You think I rely on a man?"

His words seemed to strike a nerve. Zhou Yi released her Martial Soul, ready to attack Chi Hong.

Charizard stepped in front of Chi Hong, spread its wings, and roared at Zhou Yi. It showed no fear of an opponent stronger than itself.

"Stop!"

Du Weilun arrived at the critical moment.

Chi Hong had asked Huo Yuhao to fetch him before the race.

"Zhou Yi, you constantly punish students and expel them on a whim. Now you've lost your temper and even want to attack a student. Do you really think I won't act against you just because you're Fan Yu's wife?"

As director of instruction for the Martial Soul Department, Du Weilun had long disliked Zhou Yi's high-handed conduct. But her husband was the Soul Tool Department's deputy dean, and the academy was putting more resources into that department. His hands had been tied.

So he had looked the other way.

But now Zhou Yi had bullied a gifted student of the Martial Soul Department. He could not allow that.

"What did you say?"

Zhou Yi grew even angrier. Even Du Weilun was saying she relied on her husband.

She had become a homeroom teacher through her own hard work and a teaching philosophy that met the requirements.

How dare these worthless fools question her?

I'll get Fan Yu to make you all pay!

Chi Hong soothed the furious Charizard and sighed.

"I can't imagine what your husband sees in a bad-tempered old hag like you. Does he have some unusual tastes?"

Zhou Yi glared at Chi Hong through gritted teeth.

"Fine. Since you don't approve of my teaching methods, you can teach these students yourself. Let's see what a fool who doesn't know his limits can do."

Seeing that things were going against her, she immediately flew off, intending to seek comfort from her husband in the Soul Tool Department.

But she hadn't gone far.

Behind her came loud cheers from the students. She thought she heard cries of "old hag" and "she's finally gone."

She nearly fell out of the air in rage, and her hatred for the students deepened.

When Zhou Yi had left, Chi Hong turned to his classmates, who were still caught up in their joy, and smiled.

"Now that the old witch is gone, my dear classmates, let's have a good, hard-fought battle."

Charizard blew hot steam from both nostrils, adding to the atmosphere.

The Class One students' smiles froze.

They no longer knew whether to celebrate or worry.

Du Weilun looked at Chi Hong's Charizard with some concern. He had a feeling this dragon might become the terror of Outer Court students.

Night fell.

Chi Hong returned to his Dormitory alone.

He liked to summon his Pokémon from time to time, so no one dared share a room with him.

The director had sensibly given him a larger Dormitory room.

Chi Hong let Charizard out.

Then he began checking the information on his game panel.

Beating Zhou Yi in the race had earned him a fair amount of experience, enough to reach level twenty.

He could summon another Pokémon.

At a thought, translucent information appeared before his eyes.

[Item Bag]:

Poké Ball ×1 (Charizard), Ultra Ball ×2 (empty), Potions ×147, Full Restores ×23, Pokéblocks ×???

[Training Progress]:

Poké Ball Martial Soul · First Soul Ring · Charizard

Year level: 1423

Friendship: 87/100 (close)

Ability: Blaze

Moves: Ember, Smokescreen, Dragon Breath, Fire Fang, Slash, Flamethrower, Air Cutter, Wing Attack...

Held item: None

[Path to Godhood]:

Collect the seventeen Plates scattered across Douluo Continent to inherit Arceus's power and become the God of Creation.

[Communication]:

You can communicate with Professor Oak. He will send you Pokémon from your game storage and occasionally give you useful items.

The whole game panel was fairly bare, with only four interfaces.

Charizard was what represented his strength.

His Ultra Ball Martial Soul was still empty. To serve as its Soul Rings, he could only capture Soul Beasts from Douluo Continent.

He planned to train a few more Pokémon, raise their year levels to ten thousand, and then capture Soul Beasts with great potential and strength.

After all, his Ultra Balls had one special property:

Any Soul Beast they successfully captured could never betray him.

The major restriction was that he could only capture Soul Beasts he had defeated himself.

That put an end to his idea of capturing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast ahead of time.

The Path to Godhood was his means of opposing the God King Tang in the future.

Once he collected every Plate, he could become a God himself, free from the Divine Realm's constraints.

Another reason he had come to Shrek was that at least two Plates were hidden somewhere in the academy.

Unfortunately, he still didn't know where they were. He could only sense their approximate location.

He guessed they were most likely inside the Golden Ancient Tree at the Sea God Pavilion.

So first, he needed to find a way into the Inner Court.

While he was at it, he could beat a few other students and earn some experience.

"Time to draw my second Pokémon."

Chi Hong activated the final feature, Communication, with a thought.

[Ding, ding, ding! Calling Professor Oak...]

His Pokémon Soul Rings were drawn at random from the Pokémon he had collected in his game storage in his previous life.

Fortunately, he had never been a collector. He had only cared about strength.

He never kept weak Pokémon. He released them instead.

His storage held either legendary Pokémon or popular ones.

If he drew a legendary Pokémon, he could start steamrolling everyone on the spot!

[Ding-dong! Professor Oak congratulates you on growing stronger. He has drawn a Pokémon for you.]

[Ding! Professor Oak has sent you a Poké Ball...]

Points of light gathered before Chi Hong's eyes and formed a Poké Ball.

A white, ten-year Soul Ring appeared around him as well.

Click!

The Poké Ball opened. A pale-blue, frog-like Pokémon appeared, with white hands and its distinctive white foam around its chest and back.

Chi Hong smiled and held out his hand.

"From now on, you're my second partner, Froakie."