Academy Life

Seven days later.

At the gates of the Heaven Dou Royal Intermediate Academy, beneath its gleaming sign.

Even from a distance, Yu Chen spotted Director Xue Bai, who had been waiting for quite some time.

"Yu Chen, you're finally back! I thought that fellow Qin Ming had played dirty and secretly spirited you away!"

Director Xue walked over with a hearty laugh.

After the team entered Heaven Dou City, Jin Ying had left them and returned to the academy first. As soon as Director Xue Bai learned that Yu Chen was back, he came out to welcome him.

Nearby, several curious students stopped to watch.

A student whom Director Xue personally came to welcome-could he be a prince from some duchy? Or the direct heir of some noble house?

"Director, I'm sorry for all the trouble."

Yu Chen smiled, looking a little embarrassed.

"Hahaha."

Director Xue patted Yu Chen on the shoulder. "Your willingness to stay and study is the greatest endorsement our academy could receive. Come on, I'll take you to the logistics office myself."

As he spoke, he turned toward Ming Dashan. "Principal Ming, you can leave Yu Chen in my care without a worry!"

Ming Dashan nodded, his eyes showing a trace of reluctance as he looked at Yu Chen.

"Yu Chen, cultivate diligently. Your principal is proud of you!"

"Uncle Dashan, have a safe journey."

In front of a luxurious building.

"Here we are. This is the dormitory building."

Director Xue stopped. "Yu Chen, your room is 610, the farthest one to the right on the top floor. It has the best location, too. I'll walk you up."

"Thank you, Director, but I shouldn't take up any more of your time."

Yu Chen declined with a smile.

Director Xue was a busy man, yet he had spent most of the day walking Yu Chen around the academy to familiarize him with the campus.

Along the way, quite a few students had whispered among themselves.

Even Yu Chen felt a little embarrassed.

"All right, I'll respect you youngsters' privacy and stay out of your room."

Smiling, Director Xue took a black card from inside his clothes.

"Yu Chen, while you study at the academy, not only will your tuition be completely waived, but you'll also receive a monthly allowance of three hundred gold soul coins."

"Knowing Teacher Qin Ming, you probably won't stay at our academy for even a year. There are thirty thousand gold coins here. Consider it a lump-sum award covering three years of allowances."

With that, he placed the Gold Coin Card in Yu Chen's hand.

"Director, that doesn't add up!"

Yu Chen frowned. "Three hundred gold coins a month only comes to around ten thousand over three years, doesn't it? Why thirty thousand?"

At that, Director Xue's smile grew even wider.

"The extra twenty thousand gold coins are a small investment the academy is making in your talent. If there's one thing the Heaven Dou Royal Intermediate Academy has no shortage of, it's gold soul coins!"

Yu Chen froze for a moment, then bowed to Director Xue. "Thank you, Director Xue. I'll cultivate diligently and won't let the academy down."

"Good. Off you go."

Director Xue nodded with a smile.

Not long before, Jin Ying had hurried back to the academy and immediately called an emergency meeting to report Yu Chen's performance in the Sunset Forest.

His second soul ring could temporarily reach the thousand-year level.

His third soul ring had directly reached three thousand years.

His physique rivaled that of a Soul King.

He had created a combination soul skill whose effects could even match a Soul King's fifth soul skill!

A Titled Douluo!

He was unquestionably a budding Titled Douluo!

Thus, the academy had decided to spare no expense to keep Yu Chen at the Intermediate Academy a little longer.

They absolutely couldn't let that brat Qin Ming simply reap the fruits of their labor.

The sixth floor.

Just as Yu Chen opened his door, a head poked out of the window next door.

"Boss, you're back!"

Oscar jumped straight out of the window, his face brimming with delight.

"Oscar? You live right next door?"

Yu Chen smiled when he saw Oscar.

Oscar was wearing a silver-white student uniform. His hair had been trimmed and his beard shaved clean, making him look quite sharp.

According to Director Xue Bai, all the students living in this building were priority talents the academy nurtured.

Oscar possessed innate full soul power and had become a Soul Grandmaster at eleven, so he clearly qualified to live here as well.

Click.

Yu Chen pushed the door open. The room inside was spacious and fully furnished.

"Wow, Boss, your place is way too nice!"

Oscar pointed out the window, speaking enviously.

Yu Chen looked in the direction he indicated, and a vast lake came into view. Sunlight reflected off its rippling surface, floating glimmers dancing like gold.

"Tch, we're here to cultivate, not to vacation."

Yu Chen spoke sternly, but he couldn't stop a slight smile from curling his lips.

Back at Nuoding Academy, even the noble students hadn't had the luxury of private rooms.

The work-study students had been packed more than a dozen to a dormitory.

Yu Chen had never demanded much in the way of material comforts, but who wouldn't want to live a little more comfortably if they could?

"Oscar, where's your pot?"

Yu Chen suddenly asked.

With his handsome new look, Oscar could definitely charm a whole crowd of girls whenever he went out.

But without that huge pot on his back, Yu Chen found him a little unfamiliar.

"Huh? Boss, I still have to carry a pot now that we're at the academy?"

Oscar clutched his head, looking ready to wail.

"Of course!"

Yu Chen said seriously, "The worst thing you can do in physical training is give up halfway."

"But..."

Oscar feigned helplessness. "Boss, carrying a huge pot looks so ugly. I'm just a poor, weak support soul master. All I need to do is hide behind my teammates."

As he spoke, he pressed his left thumb and middle finger together and struck a "seductive" pose.

"Ugh..."

Yu Chen covered his mouth and pretended to retch.

"If I were your enemy, a little support like you would be the first one I'd cut down."

"If you don't want to carry the pot, that's fine. Once you can outrun me or dodge Xiao Bai's [Flame Attack], I'll consider your training complete."

"Huh? Boss, have mercy!"

At those words, Oscar immediately slumped to the floor, utterly limp.

"Enough. Man up!"

Yu Chen nudged Oscar's backside with his foot. "Get up and tell me the basics of the academy's classes."

Director Xue had only shown Yu Chen around the campus. As for the academy's cultivation methods, Yu Chen had learned a little about them from Ming Dashan.

Oscar got up. "The Intermediate Academy's curriculum is very different from the Junior Academy's. Besides the general theory classes, students can also take electives covering whatever theoretical knowledge they need."

"Electives? What are those?" Yu Chen asked curiously.

Oscar explained, "The academy offers specialized classes based on martial soul categories, such as power attack, defense, control, and support."

As he spoke, his eyes lit up.

"Boss, I noticed a really pretty girl in the third-year Support System class..."

"Stay on topic!"

Yu Chen cut him off outright.

Oscar scratched his head and continued, "Every month, the academy organizes a soul fighting event, usually with teams of two or three, to test the students' cultivation progress."

"And then?"

"That's it. Everything else, like meditation and cultivation, mostly depends on you."

Yu Chen nodded. Apart from the addition of electives, everything else was much the same as what he had learned from Ming Dashan.

Theory played a supporting role; actual combat was the main focus.

The academy distributed cultivation resources to students according to their soul fighting rankings, such as precious medicinal herbs, high-grade soul beast materials, access to mimicry environments, and so on.

Everything had to be earned through strength.

This was the reality of the Soul Master World: the weak were meat for the strong, and only the fittest survived.

Of course, Director Xue had already promised him unrestricted access to medicinal herbs and resources, along with round-the-clock use of mimicry environments.

He was a genius, after all.

There were bound to be a few privileges.

Of course, with Yu Chen's current strength, even without using soul skills, the physical enhancement from his second martial soul alone was enough to beat those youngsters until they ran home crying for their mothers.

Time flew, and half a year soon passed.

The library.

Yu Chen carried a book to the registration desk, intending to return it.

The Heaven Dou Imperial Academy's library housed countless books.

Since coming to the Intermediate Academy, Yu Chen's greatest improvement hadn't been in soul power or combat, but in his theoretical knowledge of soul beasts and martial souls.

At that moment, a female student was also standing at the registration desk.

She was tall and slender, with long blue hair cascading down her back like a waterfall.

She had just finished borrowing a book.

As she turned, she brushed past Yu Chen.

"Teacher Wang, which class is that student in? What's her name?"

Yu Chen asked curiously.

The teacher handling registration was a kindly old man. He looked at Yu Chen with a smile. "What's this, Yu Chen? Has she caught your eye?"

Yu Chen was a prominent figure at the academy.

He took first place in soul fighting every month, and almost every teacher and student in the academy knew him.

"Teacher Wang, please don't tease me. It's just that she happened to take the book I wanted to borrow."

Yu Chen smiled helplessly.

He placed the book he had come to return on the desk. Several large words were printed on its cover:

"Record of Exotic Flowers and Plants-Volume One"