Joining Nuoding Academy

"Phew, school finally starts today. Let's go buy some things first, and then head straight to the academy to register at noon."

Qin Muchu stood up after finishing his cultivation state. More than two months had already passed since his Martial Soul Awakening. As early as last month, he had purchased the Basic Meditation Method, Basic Spirit Power Cultivation Method, and Basic Body Tempering Technique from the mall. None of the three techniques had specific names, and the system's explanation at the time was this: they were the lowest-tier cultivation methods in the heavens and myriad realms, so it couldn't be bothered to name them. Qin Muchu could only sigh that this was very much in character for the system.

However, although they were said to be only the most basic cultivation methods, compared to the general meditation methods commonly used on the continent, they were already much stronger. Qin Muchu had a pretty good grasp of this continent by now. The meditation methods were basically all from the same set, while there were quite a few body tempering techniques, but they were mostly practiced by Beast Soul Masters. As for spirit power cultivation methods, anyway, he had never heard of any.

After two months of hard cultivation, he couldn't say his realm hadn't increased at all, but the progress wasn't large. He estimated it was about one and a half levels a year. At first he was quite depressed, but later he came to terms with it. Those top geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power averaged only about two levels a year, and that still had to factor in the spirit power gained from absorbing spirit rings. With his body, which only reached level five after modification, having this speed was pretty good.

Qin Muchu wasn't in a hurry either, because cultivation wasn't something achieved overnight. Rather, it was a qualitative change produced by quantitative accumulation under day-by-day persistence; dripping water hollows out stone, and it is not the work of a single day.

Humming some wild tune he didn't know where he'd heard, he went out and arrived at the most luxurious commercial street in Nuoding City to begin a massive shopping spree. Thinking that tomorrow he could kidnap a cute, dim-witted little rabbit and take her home, he felt that these days were getting increasingly promising—ah no, full of expectation.

At the gates of Nuoding Academy.

"Hello, I'm a new student coming to enroll. Please open the gate." Qin Muchu said to the guard.

That guard glanced at Qin Muchu, pushed the gate open, and pointed ahead, saying, "Follow this road to the end, then turn right, and you'll see the teaching building. The first floor is the registration desk."

"Uh, oh, alright, thanks." Qin Muchu was somewhat surprised. He remembered that when he watched the anime, this guy was very arrogant; how come he was so easy to talk to?

Actually, this was just Qin Muchu overthinking things. When Tang-San came to register, the clothes he wore were full of patches. Looking at himself by contrast, this outfit of his seemed to tell everyone with every single strand of hair: I am very rich, and not someone to be trifled with. The guard was just snobbish, not an idiot, so how could he have nothing better to do than provoke him?

Soon, Qin Muchu arrived at the teaching building to see two youths in their twenties and a middle-aged man around fifty sitting at a table. On the table was a sign, and the three characters written on it were precisely "Registration Desk."

"Hello, my name is Qin Muchu, a new student here to register. This is my registration fee." Qin Muchu came before the three of them and handed over the registration fee.

"Qin Muchu, right? Present your Martial Soul certificate." The middle-aged man accepted the Gold Soul Coins and spoke.

"Uh, a Martial Soul certificate?" Qin Muchu suddenly remembered that there indeed seemed to be such a thing, but when his Martial Soul was awakened, he didn't even have any spirit power, so how could he possibly have something like a Martial Soul certificate?

"Sigh, Teacher, you don't know this, but when I was still at home, an old man came to our door begging for a drink of water. Afterwards, he told me he was a Spirit Master, and seeing that my bone structure was unusual, he wanted to take me on as a disciple. At that time, he awakened my Martial Soul for me right then and there. Who would have thought that after finishing the awakening, he said I only had level five Innate Soul Power and lacked the aptitude to be his disciple? Later I went to Spirit Hall, and the adults at Spirit Hall told me I had already awakened my Martial Soul and couldn't issue a Martial Soul certificate. Teacher, without a Martial Soul certificate, does that mean I can't go to school? Wuwuwu~" Qin Muchu wiped away the tears squeezed out from the corners of his eyes. They all said human toddlers were best at winning hearts, and his current appearance could also be considered quite cute; it should be able to move the person in front of him to make an exception for him, right?

Sure enough, the three people in front of him looked at Qin Muchu's tearful appearance, and their hearts instantly softened. "Child, don't cry. This kind of situation of yours isn't unheard of. Release your Martial Soul first, and then I'll help you test your spirit power, and you can enroll." As he spoke, the man in the very center motioned for one of them to fetch the spirit power testing crystal ball.

Very quickly, Qin Muchu completed his admission registration. The three teachers in front of him became more and more satisfied the longer they looked at him. Don't look at level five Innate Soul Power as nothing special in the original work; in reality, this qualification belonged to the upper-middle level across the entire continent, and in the tiny Nuoding Academy, he was an undisputed genius.

Qin Muchu took the admission information and glanced at it. "Hmm? Dorm One? Isn't it Dorm Seven?"

"You know quite a lot about the school, huh." A teacher named Zhang Qiang smiled. "Dorm Seven is the work-study student dormitory. You aren't a work-study student, so naturally you don't need to go there. Besides, the conditions in Dorm One are much better than Dorm Seven's."

"Teacher, that's where you're wrong." Qin Muchu wore a serious expression. "Only by enduring the harshest hardships can one rise above the rest. I came to the academy to study, not to enjoy myself. The so-called heaven will place great responsibilities upon a person, it must first exhaust their mind and will, labor their muscles and bones, starve—in short, a poor environment can temper my willpower. Besides, I heard that work-study students all come from poor families and cultivate exceptionally hard, and I also hope to integrate into such an atmosphere. Please change my dormitory to Dorm Seven, Teacher."

"Good, what a fine 'only by enduring the harshest hardships can one rise above the rest'! Just for these words of yours, Teacher can conclude that your future achievements definitely won't be low. Teacher will change your dorm for you right now."

For a work-study student to go to other dormitories was impossible unless you paid money, but for a self-funding student to go to the work-study dormitory posed no problem at all.

Just like that, Qin Muchu left the registration desk in satisfaction, holding the key to Dorm Seven and his school uniform. Behind him, the three teachers looked at his retreating figure and revealed gratified smiles.

"Truly a good child, this kid is really not bad."

"Is this Dorm Seven? The dormitory that produced two gods in the original work?" Qin Muchu looked at the dormitory before him, utterly doubting life. Before coming, he had figured the work-study students' dormitory environment definitely wouldn't be great, but no matter what, he never imagined the environment could turn out this bad. Peeling wall paint was one thing, but the dorm door actually had a hole in it.

"Forget it, since I'm already here." Qin Muchu sighed and knocked on the dorm door. Very quickly, the dorm door opened, and a boy of around ten years old looked at Qin Muchu. "Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, my name is Qin Muchu, a student for this year, here to move in."

"A new student?" The boy looked Qin Muchu's attire up and down suspiciously. "My name is Wang Sheng, Martial Soul War Tiger, and I'm the boss of this dorm. What is your Martial Soul?"