The first lesson of the school year

Su Lin helplessly reached out and lightly tapped her forehead. "Uncle Grant only just left."

"Hehe." Xiao Wu smiled slyly, hoping only to spend time alone with Su Lin, with no one to disturb them.

"Let's go."

Su Lin had never been able to withstand the girl's coaxing, and he had intended to take this opportunity to familiarize himself with the routes around Heaven Dou City anyway. He lifted Pikachu onto his shoulder and let Xiao Wu affectionately link arms with him as they headed toward the city's most prosperous main commercial district.

Heaven Dou City's commercial district was in an entirely different league from the shopping streets he had seen in Suotuo City.

Although Suotuo City's marketplace was bustling, its scale was only comparable to the main street of a county-level city. There were plenty of shops, but they were packed tightly together, and the buildings were not particularly tall.

Heaven Dou City's commercial district, however, spread outward on both sides of the main street. The road was wide enough for four carriages to travel abreast, and most buildings lining it stood at least three or four stories tall, with some reaching five. Their outer walls were decorated with intricate reliefs and colored glazed tiles, and the shop signs stretched from beneath the first-floor eaves to just below the second-floor windowsills.

What caught Su Lin's attention most were the neon lights installed at street corners and above the shops.

These lights were built around Soul Tools, each enclosed in a translucent crystal-glass casing. Once supplied with electricity, they emitted soft light in different colors. They hung in clusters high above both sides of the street, their faint halos visible even in daylight.

Sean had previously said that Heaven Dou City's nights were "as bright as day." Only now, after seeing the sheer number and density of these Soul Guidance Lamps himself, did Su Lin truly appreciate what he had meant.

Once night fell and all the lights along the street came on, it really would be quite a spectacular sight.

They strolled along, eating and shopping, until Su Lin stopped in front of a rugged-looking building as afternoon approached.

The building was a size larger than the surrounding shops. Its walls were built of dark gray rubble stone, and its doorframes and window edges had stark, angular finishes without any unnecessary decoration. Only an enormous iron sign hung above the main entrance, engraved with the six large characters for "Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena."

Most of the people coming and going through the entrance were young and middle-aged Soul Masters, many exuding a powerful air of brutality.

Xiao Wu stopped beside Su Lin and followed his gaze toward the towering rubble-stone doorway, then turned to look at his expression. "Su Lin, do you want to take part in Soul Fighting?"

Su Lin did not conceal his thoughts and nodded.

"As you know, Pikachu needs to fight to improve his cultivation. It's the most effective method I know of right now.

"In a Soul Fighting Arena, the intensity and frequency of battles, as well as the choice of opponents, are all far better than relying on chance out in the wild.

"If he could compete here regularly, he'd level up several times faster than he did in the Soul Hunting Forest."

Of course, that was all well and good, but they were still too young. The Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena's eligibility rules explicitly stipulated that registered Soul Masters had to be at least twelve years old.

In other words, for the next five years, he could only stand outside the Great Soul Arena and stare helplessly.

Still, as things stood, that was not much of a problem. After all, a hundred li east of Heaven Dou City lay Sunset Forest, home to vast numbers of Soul Beasts, with both thousand-year and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts in abundance. If he wanted to keep fighting, going there was actually a good option too.

There was also the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

As the undisputed greatest sect on the Douluo Continent beneath Spirit Hall, it was bound to have occasions during its routine training and missions that required cooperation in actual combat. Given Ning Fengzhi's current interest in Poké Balls, if Su Lin approached him and expressed a desire to participate in some suitable opportunities for actual combat, he would most likely not refuse.

Holding out for the right price was a strategy that depended on timing. Once the time was ripe, he should know when to stop. If Ning Fengzhi did not contact him in another seven or eight days, he would have to visit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect himself.

There was no shame in farming experience.

The day passed quickly, and early the next morning, Su Lin arrived at the classroom with Xiao Wu.

At a glance, nearly everyone was a boy or girl around their age, with even the oldest no more than fifteen.

This was nothing unusual. Levels ten through fifteen were not where the gap opened up between extraordinary geniuses and ordinary geniuses. It was like the second-to-last major problem on a math test: anyone with a little talent could reach the threshold with some effort. Only after level fifteen did the differences truly begin to emerge.

After level fifteen, even top geniuses with innate full Soul Power often needed one or two months of arduous cultivation to advance a single level.

Thus, although everything seemed full of promise at present, it was still uncertain how many would successfully reach level twenty and obtain their second Soul Ring by the end of the three-year course.

Choosing a window seat in the back row, Su Lin spread the course booklet on his desk and flipped through it. He found that this semester's courses were divided into four main subjects: Martial Soul Theory, basic Soul Beast studies, principles of Soul Power control, and physical training. The schedule for every subject was tightly packed, completely unlike Nuoding Academy's leisurely pace.

About a quarter of an hour later, Samuel, the middle-aged teacher they had met yesterday, entered through the classroom's front door with steady footsteps.

Today, he had changed into a light gray teaching robe, with his belt fastened a notch tighter than yesterday, making him look sharp and brisk.

After stepping onto the platform, he neither opened a lesson plan nor took attendance. Instead, he stepped half a pace forward. Light flashed beneath his feet, and his white wolf Martial Soul instantly possessed his body. A layer of short, light gray fur covered his forearms and the sides of his neck, while his pupils elongated slightly, revealing a keen glint unique to wolves.

Four Soul Rings lit up beneath his feet, one after another. Yellow, yellow, purple, purple-the four rings of light slowly revolved in the air at the front of the classroom. In that instant, Soul Ancestor-level Soul Power fluctuations filled the entire room, spreading from the platform toward the back rows like an invisible tide. Under that pressure, the faint rustling and whispers immediately fell silent.

"Very good." Samuel nodded in satisfaction and dismissed his Martial Soul. Bracing both hands on the edges of the lectern, he swept his gaze over the nearly forty faces before him and began slowly, "My name is Samuel, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next three years. Now, I'll explain the school rules."

The educational philosophy of an intermediate Soul Master Academy was entirely different from that of a junior academy.

According to Samuel, the academy did not require students to study Martial Soul and Soul Beast knowledge at a uniform pace. As long as they applied in advance and passed the relevant examinations, they could apply to leave those classes and study independently.

Each student had three opportunities per academic year to apply for early examinations. Passing allowed them to skip the corresponding courses and devote the time saved to areas where they needed it more.

But what truly made Su Lin prick up his ears and listen closely was the part that followed.

Aside from academic courses, as a branch directly affiliated with Heaven Dou Royal Academy, this affiliated intermediate academy also possessed a scarce resource that other intermediate academies could scarcely hope to match-

A mimicry cultivation environment.