"Ah!" ×3!
Xiao Xiao, Tang Ya, and Jiang Nannan cried out in unison. Only Huo Yutong remained calm as she spoke.
"Although I don't know what Master is thinking, it definitely isn't what you're imagining."
She glanced at Xiao Xiao. As she was now, with Master chasing after her to spoon-feed her guidance yet still lacking the heart of a powerhouse, Xiao Xiao scored very low in his eyes.
If she were Xiao Xiao, she would chase after Jiang Nannan and sink her teeth in hard. Even if she failed countless times along the way, biting off a single chunk of flesh would count as success.
Only that kind of powerhouse's heart could earn a high score in Master's eyes.
"Yutong really does understand me best."
Lu Yu sighed. Everything about the Douluo Continent was good except for its overabundance of love-addled brains.
"Your second martial soul, the Nine-Phoenix Ceremonial Flute, requires a maternal nature that embraces all beneath heaven."
"Since you've hit a bottleneck in cultivating the disposition of your first martial soul, you can only cultivate your second martial soul's disposition first. Although the results won't be as good as with your primary martial soul, it can at least improve your cultivation speed."
"From now on, you need to treat the four of us as your children and start taking meticulous care of us. Don't let your love-addled brain act up and fight over affection. You need to be accommodating, like an empress managing the imperial harem."
"Ha! And you call us love-addled? You've exposed your ambition to build a harem, haven't you? Are you trying to seize the chance to carry the beauties home?"
Tang Ya jumped out and poked Lu Yu in the waist.
Lu Yu grabbed Tang Ya's head with one hand and gave her a skull-crushing grip.
"Look at your cultivation progress. You're even slower than Xiao Xiao. You naturally useless little Blue Silver Grass brat, I'm kicking you out of the harem right now!"
"Aaah! Let go, let go! I was wrong! I was joking, joking!"
Tang Ya rubbed her poor little head. Wasn't her cultivation progress just a tiny bit slower? Why was he always getting physical with her?
Couldn't he be as gentle with her as he was with Jiang Nannan and Yutong?
All Lu Yu could say was that he really couldn't.
Jiang Nannan was born a commoner and had innate full soul power. Every day, she either cultivated, fought, or practiced the practical application of soul tools. Her strength could be said to be improving the fastest among the four.
And as the person with the most combat experience besides Lu Yu, she also occasionally gave everyone pointers on fighting techniques.
As for Huo Yutong, she was even more of a queen of the grind, a cultivation maniac. Ever since Lu Yu had told the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to study soul tools a month ago, Huo Yutong had straight-up seen the light too.
She stopped attending classes, switched on that damn Simulation, and had the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm study for her. Every day, aside from eating, she did nothing but cultivate. That was some serious grinding.
As for all that knowledge? She simply had the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm share his memories in her Sea of Consciousness and stored it in her head first.
Even Lu Yu admired that spirit of pursuing strength.
By contrast, Tang Ya and Xiao Xiao actually gave themselves six hours off one night every week specifically to sleep.
At your age, how can you sleep?
"Well... I'll give it a try." Xiao Xiao's face was a little red.
"Then do your best, Mommy Xiao Xiao," Jiang Nannan encouraged her from the side.
"Ah... Mommy." Looking at the smiling Jiang Nannan, Xiao Xiao felt that she was better suited to being a mother than she was, and couldn't help blurting it out.
"Good girl... Xiao Xiao has worked very hard." Rather than laughing at her, Jiang Nannan even stroked her head.
Xiao Xiao flushed and bolted straight out the door.
Ah, Xiao Xiao's strictest mother has been born.
Time flew, and two months quickly passed in cultivation.
The five occupants of Dorm Room 108.
With their soul power fusion doubling their cultivation speed, the resources afforded to core disciples of the Soul Tool Department, the research funding Lu Yu had squeezed out of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, and the pills prepared in advance, all these factors combined to send their cultivation soaring.
Lu Yu's cultivation reached rank 28, leaving him not far from Soul Elder.
Xiao Xiao's cultivation also reached rank 28. Ever since that day, she had come to a sudden realization: since Jiang Nannan was her strictest mother, couldn't she simply imitate Jiang Nannan? According to Lu Yu's assessment, her cultivation speed was now around that of someone with innate rank-eight soul power, already matching the standard of the Shrek Outer Court's core disciples.
Jiang Nannan's cultivation was at rank 39, only one step away from Soul Ancestor.
Tang Ya's cultivation reached rank 33. That was just how Blue Silver Grass was. Even if she absorbed Blue Silver Grass, once she reached higher soul ring counts, the Blue Silver Grass in a few courtyards could no longer provide much benefit.
But if she practiced evil cultivation, Tang Ya's spiritual power was too low, making her prone to falling into corruption.
At present, Lu Yu had only shared the gold of life with Huo Yutong and Xiao Xiao, the two disciples he trusted deeply. As for his two friends, Tang Ya and Jiang Nannan, he had only provided them with doubled cultivation speed and guidance on soul rings.
Unlike Jiang Nannan, who had received Lu Yu's kindness, Tang Ya had even been enemies with him at first. Later, it could only be called friendship born from a fight. As her friend, if she truly asked Lu Yu for help, he wouldn't go so far as to refuse.
As for taking the initiative to share a secret treasure to improve her strength? Sorry, but rather than playing a specialist Blue Silver Grass build, I'd rather play something so easy it comes with a wheelchair.
Lu Yu really had no need to raise her rank either. Compared with Blue Silver Grass's soul rings, he was looking forward more to the upcoming New Student Competition.
"I'm sure everyone already knows that Shrek holds a Freshman Assessment three months after the new students enroll. This Freshman Assessment will test team combat."
In Freshman Class One, Wang Yan explained as he passed out the materials in his hands.
"This assessment will be conducted in teams of three. To prevent auxiliary-type students from being left without a team, each team may have no more than one power attack system Soul Master."
"The competition will use a points system. A win earns one point, a draw earns zero, and a loss deducts one. The top sixty-four teams by points will advance to the Elimination Tournament in the latter half. Only the top one hundred and fifty teams will pass the Freshman Assessment."
"In other words, nearly half of you will be expelled. Of course, after three months of instruction, you all know that our Class One has the lowest overall standard. So when facing strong teams in battle, you should conserve your strength..."
Wang Yan explained some tricks for snatching wins. Although the students weren't outstanding, they were still his students, and he hoped everyone before him could remain at Shrek.
"Next, aside from Song Qinghan, who was specially recruited by the Soul Tool Department, everyone should fill in their team preferences. I'll make adjustments based on the actual circumstances."
The students began discussing it among themselves. Some teamed up with friends, while others approached the class's heavy hitters.
Naturally, Lu Yu, Huo Yutong, and Xiao Xiao formed a team.
According to his observations, each of the higher years had around six core disciples in the Martial Soul Department. That essentially guaranteed selection for the champion and runner-up teams, while the others were probably a few talents picked from the top five teams.
To ensure that both he and Xiao Xiao could smoothly obtain core disciple status in the Martial Soul Department, they naturally had to team up to avoid fighting each other.
"Bam." Just then, a pink-and-blue figure opened the classroom door.
"Looks like I'm not late."
It was Wang Dong, whom he hadn't seen in a long time. Even from far away, Lu Yu could sense the aura of a Soul Elder coming from her.
This is straight-up power poured into her through a damn God’s Trial, isn't it? Nine ranks in three months. She's not even pretending anymore.
"Wang Dong, you're back. Here are the materials for this Freshman Assessment. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me directly." Wang Yan handed her the materials.
Wang Dong accepted them, skimmed a few lines, and then came up to Lu Yu with a thoroughly self-satisfied air.
"Well? Want to team up with me? I guarantee I can carry you to the championship."
Lu Yu looked at Wang Dong, then at Xiao Xiao.
"Sorry, a team can only have one power attack system Soul Master. Judging by your track records, Xiao Xiao is still a little stronger than you."
"You!" The girl's blushing face surpassed everything. Lu Yu felt that some numerical value in Wang Dong's heart was skyrocketing. As for what that value was, could it be affection?
"Lu Yu, you'll regret this!"
She turned and shouted into the classroom, "Tai Long, Shangguan Chentian, team up with me! I'll lead you two in a charge for the championship!"
Seeing this, Tai Long and Shangguan Chentian hurriedly agreed. Aside from Lu Yu's trio, the two of them had the highest cultivation in Class One. Teaming up with Wang Dong, the Clear Sky Sect's young mistress whose second soul ring was a thousand-year one, might very well let them make a push for first place.
Once the two agreed, Wang Dong turned back to Lu Yu.
"Even if you regret it now, it's too late."
"Oh."
Wang Dong's affection skyrocketed again. She pointed at Lu Yu and said,
"Pretending you don't care won't help. Besides, there's one more thing!"
"After I beat you, I'm moving back into the dorm!"
Before you continue