The First Lesson of the School Year

"La la la-la la-la la la..."

Just as most of the students in Class Nine instinctively turned toward the doorway at the roar, which sounded like a night owl cackling through the clouds-

A clear voice rang out, humming a tune with unmistakable cheer.

The next moment, a youthful, attractive teacher walked into Class Nine's classroom, his face lit with a heartfelt smile.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Mu Jin, your homeroom teacher for Class Nine."

"You can call me Teacher Mu, or even Sister Mu after class. Let me borrow a little of your youthful glow and feel young again."

By now, Teacher Mu Jin could no longer hide his delight.

Chen Ping, who knew about the feud between Mu Jin and Zhou Yi, immediately understood why Mu Jin was so happy. Even the other students in Class Nine looked thoughtful at that moment.

Teacher Mu Jin had short, pale-purple hair, a classic oval face, and large eyes, with a touch of tomboyish swagger. With his right hand resting on the lectern and his left hand on his hip, he looked indescribably youthful and attractive.

"You've all done wonderfully today. The homeroom teachers of all ten freshman classes arrived together, and you little ones have really made me proud. First, I'd like to thank everyone."

Mu Jin put on none of the airs of a homeroom teacher as he smiled at the students in his class.

Many students who had worried that their homeroom teacher might have the same temperament as Class One's old hag immediately felt a weight lift from their shoulders.

With Zhou Yi's teaching style-that lioness's roar they had just heard-probably none of these little Soul Masters, not yet twelve and with barely any experience of intimidating situations, could have endured it.

"Hehe, that's more like it. Everyone, relax. I'm not treating you this way just because you're all excellent students. Even if you were a little slow, I'd still be nice to you-my teaching philosophy is different from Teacher Zhou's in Class One."

Mu Jin gently brushed the hair beside his ear with his right hand and leaned against the lectern, sharing his teaching philosophy with Class Nine in a soft, gentle voice.

When he mentioned Zhou Yi's teaching philosophy, he deliberately lowered his voice, as though sharing a little secret with everyone.

Such a gentle teacher won over most of the students almost instantly.

Even Chen Ping, who had been reading ever since he sat down, instinctively pricked up his ears to listen to Mu Jin speak from the lectern.

"I agree more with Teacher Wang Yan's approach of making friends with the students..."

Just as Mu Jin and his students were chatting animatedly, another lioness's roar rang out.

"What a bunch of useless trash! Don't you know that anyone who doesn't dare stir up trouble is a mediocrity?"

"Apart from those two, everyone get outside and run a hundred laps around Shrek Square. Anyone who fails to finish will be expelled immediately."

"Not happy about it? Then get the hell out! As your homeroom teacher, I have the authority to expel any student."

"You have one minute. If I don't see you running around Shrek Square within one minute, you're all expelled!"

Zhou Yi's voice was terrifying enough to interrupt even Chen Ping's efforts to study while meditating.

That terrifying volume reminded him of the Landlady's Lion's Roar in Kung Fu.

Although he had not witnessed the actual scene, Chen Ping could already picture the exaggerated spectacle of nearly a hundred Class One students being blasted away by those terrifying sound waves. Some instinctively clung to desk legs, while others hugged one another, only to be blown away, desks and all.

Pity immediately appeared in the eyes of Class Nine's other students, along with the relief of having narrowly escaped disaster.

Fuck, if they had been assigned to Class One, wouldn't they have been among those getting a faceful of spit and being sent out to run a hundred laps right at the start of school?

Even Ning Tian and Wu Feng went pale with fright. Not everyone their age could withstand this sort of roar-based education from a lunatic teacher.

Soon, scattered scraping noises from desks and chairs sounded at the other end of the corridor.

Those were the sounds of nearly a hundred students from Freshman Class One heading toward the field.

With a turn of his head, Chen Ping could see Class One's students outside the window, appearing on the track in their school uniforms like little white ants, each running reluctantly around the field.

He could clearly see fear in their eyes, along with hatred and anger.

But that fear was so overwhelming that it completely suppressed the other two emotions.

Even Mu Jin felt sickened by Zhou Yi's behavior, as though she had just escaped from an asylum. He waved a hand and glanced at the classroom's two doors.

The students seated beside the wall proved quick on the uptake. Two of them hurriedly stood and shut the classroom doors tight.

Only then did Mu Jin sigh, cast a helpless glance at the scene outside the window, and shake his head.

This was only the beginning. Class One's students still had plenty of bitter days ahead.

"All right, no matter how lovely the scenery outside is, let's bring our attention back inside. Today, I'd also like to single out the student sitting by the window in the front row for praise."

Mu Jin smiled slightly and looked at Chen Ping, who had already lowered his head and resumed reading. "This student was the first to arrive in our class, and probably the first to arrive in the entire freshman teaching building. He started studying as soon as he sat down."

"Of course, the two students who sat down and began studying after him did well too. Let's give them some encouragement."

Applause immediately filled the classroom, while Chen Ping gave a helpless smile.

Everything else about Teacher Mu Jin was fine, but why did his teaching style sound less like a middle or high school teacher's and more like an elementary school teacher's?

Turning to his right, Chen Ping finally realized that the two girls sitting beside him were Ning Tian and Wu Feng.

Their faces were slightly flushed, and they clearly responded well to this encouragement-based approach.

All right, looks like Teacher Mu Jin's educational philosophy really does have a fucking market among Shrek's freshmen.

"Some of you may be wondering how I know about something that happened so long ago. That brings us to the subject of our first lesson of the school year."

As he spoke, Mu Jin picked up a piece of chalk and wrote several large words on the classroom blackboard.

[Soul Master, Soul Engineer, Soul Tool]

"For our first lesson of the school year, I intend to explain the precise definitions of these three terms."

"Of course, this is also a requirement from the Soul Tool Department. Before the freshmen are divided into classes, we're to cover more material on Soul Tools and see whether any of you are interested in them."

"Look." Mu Jin pointed to a corner of the classroom, and only then did everyone notice a rather large Recording Pearl mounted there. "That's the secret behind how I know everything."

"And this is merely an Unranked Soul Tool."

With a smile and a brief, straightforward introduction, Mu Jin smoothly began the first lesson of the school year for Freshman Class Ten.

Well, things were probably going pretty smoothly for Class One too. They were already running, weren't they?