Tai Long and the others had not finished a hundred laps. In fact, by the time Jiang Hai and his companions came out, they had only walked two laps. Only when Zhou Yi emerged did they start running with the leading group.
With the abilities of Tai Long and the others, finishing a hundred laps in two hours was hardly a challenge. After all, they were geniuses who had passed Shrek Academy's many trials. Zhou Yi would not set them an impossible task.
Unfortunately, they just had to try to be clever!
Zhou Yi looked coolly at the other students. "I may have a bad temper, but I always keep my word. These students cut corners during the run and failed to complete a hundred laps. If you're unhappy about it, you can complain about me to the academic affairs office. Now, all of you, leave. Even Huo Yuhao and the others who started after you managed to finish a hundred laps, yet you insisted on cheating. Shrek Academy has no need for people like you!"
Before even a full day of school had passed, seventeen students had been eliminated.
Seeing what had happened to Tai Long and the others, Huo Yuhao, Sun Yunhai, and their companions could not help looking at Jiang Hai with gratitude. Without his help, they might have been among those expelled today.
The six left reluctantly, but rather than leaving the academy outright, they went to the academic affairs office to complain. Still, would Shrek Academy undermine a teacher's authority for a handful of insignificant students?
Their ties with Shrek Academy had already come to an end!
"Go back to your dormitories and change. You have fifteen minutes, then report to the classroom. Move!" With that, Zhou Yi turned and left.
This time, no one dared delay for even a moment. Even Huo Yuhao let Wang Dong carry him back at a run.
Jiang Hai caught hold of Chen Yong and glanced at Sun Yunhai and the others, who were gritting their teeth as they headed toward the dormitories.
Three people had not reported Chen Yong: Sun Yunhai, Wang Cheng, and Du Gang. All three were already utterly exhausted after finishing their hundred laps.
"Boss, why are you holding me back? We need to hurry back and change, or that old hag will get another chance to punish us!" Chen Yong asked, puzzled.
"The dormitories are too far away, and we're short on time," Jiang Hai said. "Come on, we'll go straight to Sea God Lake. Sun Yunhai, you guys come too. Chen Yong, bring them along. We can even take a bath!"
The five of them ran in the opposite direction.
Under the dumbfounded gazes of Sun Yunhai and the others, Jiang Hai plunged straight into Sea God Lake with a splash and vanished beneath the surface. Chen Yong stopped hesitating, stripped off his school uniform, and jumped in as well.
He poked his head above the water and shouted in sheer exhilaration, "That feels amazing! Sun Yunhai, stop dawdling, all of you. Get down here and wash up. The sooner we start, the sooner we get back!"
Sun Yunhai and the others gritted their teeth and jumped in too, though their hearts were full of apprehension. This was Sea God Lake, and they were actually bathing in it! But the instant their overheated bodies met the lake's cool water, it truly felt wonderful.
Glug, glug!
Only after a while did Jiang Hai clamber out onto the bank, unable to stop himself from cursing. "Fuck! I actually forgot I still had this thing on! I nearly suffocated!"
When Jiang Hai jumped into Sea God Lake, he was still wearing an Iron Garment weighing over two hundred jin. On land, it was naturally no problem, but in the lake, he had sunk straight to the bottom.
Seeing Jiang Hai's bedraggled state, the others immediately burst into laughter.
They had gotten into trouble together and laughed together. Friendship between boys was just that pure and simple.
Amid the laughter, they all grew much closer.
In the classroom, Zhou Yi glanced at Jiang Hai and the others, looking thoroughly refreshed. Naturally, she knew what they had been doing, and could not help feeling a headache coming on. The boy was certainly gifted, and he was still wearing his Iron Garment even now, but that personality of his was simply too... In all her years of teaching, she had never seen anyone use Sea God Lake as a swimming pool!
Seeing that all eighty-three students had arrived on time, Zhou Yi nodded in satisfaction. After seventeen students had been eliminated outright, the rest had gained a greater sense of urgency. "We'll begin class now," she said. "On the whole, your performance in the test just now satisfied me. Most of you completed that simple running test through your own abilities. Huo Yuhao, stand up!"
"Teacher Zhou!" Huo Yuhao immediately stood, his back straight.
The others looked at him curiously, wondering why Zhou Yi had singled him out.
"State your soul power level!" Zhou Yi said.
"Yes. My soul power is at rank eleven!" Huo Yuhao answered honestly. From what he had learned earlier, he already knew that although Zhou Yi seemed cold and unreasonable, she understood them extremely well. Naturally, he could not hide his soul power from her.
Hearing his soul power level, everyone else gaped in surprise. Even Chen Yong could not resist whispering into Jiang Hai's ear, "Boss, Huo Yuhao's soul power is actually lower than yours used to be? How did he get into Shrek Academy?"
"That's right. His soul power is only rank eleven. I imagine many of you are curious about how someone at rank eleven passed the academy's entrance assessment. I will explain this only once, and until he is eliminated, none of you may ask again. He is a specially invited student of Shrek Academy and was exempt from all entrance assessments. But that is where his privilege ends. Every assessment from now on will treat him exactly the same as everyone else. If he cannot pass them, he will still go straight back where he came from. Understood?" Zhou Yi said coolly.
"Yes, Teacher!" Huo Yuhao replied, straightening his back.
"Sit down!" A rare trace of gentleness entered Zhou Yi's voice before she continued, "Now our lesson officially begins!"
Zhou Yi turned and wrote the words "attack" and "defense" on the blackboard behind her, then looked at the class. "You should all recognize these two words: attack and defense. Today, I'll explain the principles of attack and defense for soul masters. Since ancient times, we soul masters have been divided into numerous systems according to our martial souls' different abilities: the power attack system, control system, agility attack system, defense system, support system, the special food system, and so on. Some soul masters develop one aspect of their martial souls to its limit, while others pursue balanced development. The approaches are too numerous to list. Wang Dong, answer this: among the different systems of soul masters, which lean more toward attack, and which toward defense?"
Wang Dong stood up and answered confidently, "Naturally, the power attack, Control System, and agility attack systems lean toward offense, while the Support System, Food System, and defense systems lean toward defense!"
Zhou Yi did not comment on Wang Dong's answer. Instead, she called on someone else. "Jiang Hai, what is your answer?"
Jiang Hai thought for a moment. "I don't think attack and defense are opposing choices. There has always been a saying in the soul master world: the best defense is a good offense. That shows that even support system soul masters shouldn't neglect offense. Likewise, if a power attack system soul master cannot charge forward unchecked and subdue all under heaven, suitable defensive measures are indispensable. Whatever their attributes, soul masters should be equipped for both attack and defense!"
Combining attack and defense was also the path Jiang Hai had always followed!
The Bronze Coffin was immensely heavy and solid, its enormous body capable of shielding Jiang Hai from countless storms. Yet he had never been someone who merely defended passively. He sought opportunities to attack while defending, and sometimes even actively sought chances to strike. If his attack failed, he would switch to defense without hesitation.
A trace of surprise appeared in Zhou Yi's eyes as she looked at Jiang Hai. Wang Dong's answer was conventional; four thousand years ago, it would certainly have been the most correct and standard response. Jiang Hai's answer, however, strayed somewhat from the accepted path. Combining attack and defense-how many people in the world could attend to both? A person's energy was limited, after all, and dividing their attention might leave them accomplished in neither. Yet for certain peerless geniuses, precisely this departure from convention allowed them to surpass ordinary people. If both attack and defense could be perfected, they would indeed be invincible. But how difficult that was!
Expressionless, Zhou Yi said, "Wang Dong's answer was stupidity taken to its absolute limit. Jiang Hai's answer has some merit, but it is also far too naive. Combining attack and defense is indeed powerful, but a person's energy is limited. Countless gifted soul masters who divide their attention end up unable to reach the heights and unwilling to settle for the depths, with no outstanding specialty, ultimately vanishing into the crowd."
She approved of neither answer.
Wang Dong found Zhou Yi's assessment of her rather hard to accept.
Zhou Yi had no intention of sparing her feelings. "Four thousand years ago, I would certainly have taught you which systems should attack and which should defend. But the Sun Moon Empire's invasion brought dazzling soul guidance technology, blurring the distinction between attack and defense more and more. With soul tools, support system soul masters can possess tremendous destructive power, even surpassing power attack system soul masters. Likewise, an agility attack system soul master equipped with a powerful Defensive Soul Tool can be regarded as a defensive soul master..."
The advent of soul tools had indeed delivered an unimaginable shock to this old continent, with its unchanging ways and deeply entrenched traditions. Countless soul masters were adapting to the upheaval soul tools had brought.
Yet Shrek Academy also had its own distinctive understanding. As Zhou Yi explained profound ideas in simple terms, everyone gained a vague grasp of soul tools and their own future development.
"Soul tools can be immensely powerful in both offense and defense. However, every soul tool requires a soul master to operate it. If your own physical capabilities aren't up to standard, you will always be the easiest target to kill on the battlefield!" Zhou Yi said.
The more advanced a technological age became, the stricter its demands on an individual's own genes and their enhancement grew.
Take spacecraft, for example: was it more promising to create environments better suited to humans, or to cultivate powerful individuals better adapted to the universe's varied environments? There was no doubt about the choice between the two.
"Of all of you, the person I admire most is Jiang Hai. Not because he is powerful, but because his physical fitness surpasses every one of you. Over the same hundred laps, some of you finished gasping for breath as though it had nearly killed you. Yet he carried a two-hundred-jin Iron Garment and still ran as though his feet had wings. That is the gap between you and him. On the battlefield, with identical soul tools, you would still be the ones to lose!"
"For the next three months, I will focus primarily on training your physical fitness. Don't be envious. The Iron Garment Jiang Hai is wearing isn't a gift meant only for him. You will have your own too." As Zhou Yi spoke, an eerie smile crossed her face.
The others' gazes toward Jiang Hai changed. That pitch-black Iron Garment actually weighed two hundred jin, and he still had not taken it off even now. Was this person a monster?
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