Rewards Awarded Ahead of Time

"I hereby announce that the final champion of the Freshman Assessment elimination tournament is-"

"El!"

Before the referees could speak, Yan Shaozhe's voice had already resounded throughout the assessment grounds.

As though appearing out of thin air, he arrived on the stage with excitement written all over his face and raised El's arm, which had returned to normal, high into the air.

Normally, faced with an outcome everyone had long anticipated, he should not have been so excited and delighted, even if there had been a few twists during the match.

But El had revealed a second martial soul!

Twin martial souls!

An ordinary freshman with twin martial souls would not have excited the dean of the Martial Soul Department this much.

But this was El!

His first martial soul, Alatreon, commanded the four extreme elements and the power of destruction. With only three rings, he could fight a Six-Ring Soul Emperor.

And anyone who knew even a little about martial souls knew one ironclad rule about twin martial souls:

For a Soul Master with twin martial souls, the quality of the two martial souls was certain to be nearly identical!

In other words, El's second martial soul was absolutely no less powerful than his heaven-defying Alatreon martial soul!

Heavens!

I have to make sure El leaves a few more descendants at Shrek!

Yan Shaozhe fiercely swore to himself.

At the same time, he announced in a clear voice:

"The Freshman Assessment has now concluded."

"A freshman assembly will be held tomorrow morning to announce the list of Core Disciples, award the top three teams, and assign classes."

Having said that, he turned and spoke kindly to Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao:

"All right, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, you two can head back to class."

"I have something to discuss with Huo Yutong and El."

Then, in an even warmer tone, he said to Huo Yutong and El:

"Please come with me to the Principal's Office."

Seeing that neither El nor Huo Yutong objected, Yan Shaozhe took them by the wrists, circulated his soul power, and vanished from the spot in an instant.

The academy's senior staff and powerful experts who had come to watch the match also departed one after another.

Only Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao remained, looking at each other in bewilderment, along with several referee teachers miserably cleaning up the battered assessment grounds.

As the dean of both the inner and outer courts of Shrek's Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe naturally had an office whose luxury far surpassed Du Weilun's.

"El, Huo Yutong."

After bringing the two students to his office, Yan Shaozhe went behind his desk, took out some tea leaves he had treasured for a long time, and began brewing tea.

"Sit wherever you like."

With a kindly expression, he handed them two steaming cups of tea.

Huo Yutong accepted hers with both hands. El, meanwhile, looked as though he was pondering something, casually taking his cup and draining it in one gulp.

"You two."

Yan Shaozhe began:

"As for the rewards for the top three teams in this Freshman Assessment, the academy originally intended to help each member obtain a soul ring at the limit of what they could withstand whenever they needed their next ring."

"However, I imagine neither of you has much use for that reward."

With an elder at the ultimate level in their family, why would they need the academy's help obtaining soul rings?

Yan Shaozhe smiled.

"So I intend to combine the value of that reward with a special reward and give them to you together."

"This reward is not suitable for displaying in public, which is why I brought you straight to my office."

At those words, El finally emerged from his thoughts.

His brows rose slightly, his gaze calm.

A flash of light appeared in the room.

Two brocade boxes, their exteriors traced with special soul-tool patterns, appeared on the desk.

"These are the rewards for the first- and second-place teams."

"Two soul bones!"

Yan Shaozhe spoke with a hint of pride.

He opened the brocade boxes, revealing two differently shaped soul bones within.

"This one is the Golden Radiance Left Arm Bone."

Yan Shaozhe first pointed to the gleaming golden left arm bone, which emanated a light attribute aura and a faint draconic pressure.

"It came from a ten-thousand-year Golden Earth Dragon King. It has a light attribute and has never been absorbed. Its skill is most likely offensive."

"Although its age is not particularly high, this soul bone is of excellent quality. The Golden Earth Dragon King possessed a diluted light dragon bloodline, and this soul bone contains the concentrated essence of his bloodline..."

El looked away halfway through the explanation.

This was the soul bone that had appeared at the Treasure Appraisal Fair in the original story. Now it had appeared ahead of time as a Freshman Assessment reward.

Shrek had probably brought it out specifically because both their martial souls were high-ranking true dragons.

But this soul bone was useless to either of them.

A pure light dragon bloodline...

To yours truly, the Dragon King, it's only good for rolling logs. Forget purifying or strengthening my bloodline-it might even dilute it.

Besides, its age was low, and its attribute did not match.

This soul bone was trying to marry far above its station.

"We can toss it to Wang Dong."

El spoke softly.

"She's filthy rich, and this soul bone suits her pretty well."

"We can squeeze a hefty sum out of her."

Yan Shaozhe paused at those words, though he was not surprised.

They came from a secluded family with an ultimate-level expert, after all.

They were bound to have inherited soul bones. It was perfectly normal for them to think little of this Golden Radiance Left Arm Bone.

In fact, even if the academy intended to nurture them, it had never planned to let these two children absorb low-quality soul bones younger than fifty thousand years.

Otherwise, not only would they offend their family, but the quality might not even compare to what their family had prepared.

And if they could be certain the two would become senior members of Shrek in the future...

Then even if they had to devote the entire academy's resources to it, these old fellows would have to equip both of them with a complete set of Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones whose attributes matched!

"If you have no use for it yourself, there is absolutely nothing wrong with trading it away."

Yan Shaozhe changed tack.

"This one belongs to El, so you may do with it as you please."

"But wealth should not be flaunted. When carrying a treasure like this, it is best to be cautious in all things."

"Being too conspicuous is not a good idea."

The corner of El's mouth twitched.

He could tell that Yan Shaozhe was pointedly alluding to his revealing his second martial soul in full public view just for the Freshman Assessment championship.

El said nothing.

Because, for the moment, even he had not figured out why he had done it.

Back then...

Was it my bloodline? Instinct? My soul? Or a sixth sense?

Xeno'jiiva...

El sank into thought once more.

"And this second one is a Secret Art Soul soul bone..."

Yan Shaozhe opened the second brocade box and began introducing it.

El lifted his eyes slightly. He listened, but most of his thoughts were wandering far beyond the room.

A five-percent increase in soul power, plus its fusion properties...

Was this the one Zhou Yi had in the original story?

No, probably not. She won hers in a bet with Mu Jin, so that soul bone should still be in his possession.

Perhaps Secret Art Soul bones were relatively easy to obtain, so Shrek had collected a few, and one just happened to become the reward for Huo Yutong's team?

Was this the butterfly effect, or the inertia of the plot?

The corner of El's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

Finally, Yan Shaozhe added:

"This is the reward for second place. Huo Yutong, take it back and discuss with Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao how you wish to divide it."