The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy stood at the heart of Mingdu, the highest sanctuary of Soul Guidance Technology in the entire Federation.
Tall buildings crowded the campus, and precision soul guidance devices operated everywhere. Cold metallic light flowed year-round, and every corner brimmed with a technological sophistication surpassing traditional soul master academies-a stark contrast to Shrek Academy, which revered soul power cultivation and whose students worked to make a living.
On the top floor of the academy's main tower, the dean's office occupied the entire level, quiet and imposing.
The room had been cast entirely from rare pressure-resistant metal, its four walls engraved with intricate, high-level soul guidance array patterns. Panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides overlooked the prosperity of all Mingdu.
Metal bookshelves along the walls held neatly arranged masses of soul guidance manuscripts, research dossiers, and Federation texts. A faint scent of ink and the cool breath of soul guidance metal lingered in the air. Gilded calligraphy hung on the main wall: Defeat Shrek, Uphold Sun Moon's Might.
Behind the broad desk sat the dean of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, his expression steady and composed, his bearing naturally carrying the authority of the institution's highest ruler.
He had spent many years at the Federation's highest levels and had met countless people. He was especially familiar with its long-established clans.
The uniformed youth before him was no ordinary student. He came from the Federation's renowned Eight Pill-Gobbling Clan, a family with deep foundations and considerable standing in the Federation. Its legacy spanned eight generations, each making a living by gobbling pills. Its ancestors had consumed every variety of pill in the world, including rare and precious medicinal pills, sampling ten thousand kinds.
Precisely because he knew the youth's family background, the dean spoke to