Tang San fell flat on his back, but since Xiao Wu had not used much force and his Mysterious Heaven Skill protected his body, he suffered no real injury.
After throwing Tang San down, Xiao Wu nimbly landed on her feet and turned around, looking at him with a half-smile.
"I lost." Tang San's face reddened, and he frankly admitted defeat.
After their brief exchange, he also realized that Xiao Wu had clearly held back with her fighting style, which caught first-time opponents off guard.
Otherwise, even with his Mysterious Heaven Skill protecting him, he would have suffered considerable injuries.
The human neck was quite fragile, after all.
"According to the dorm rules, since you beat me, you're now the head of Dorm Seven-in other words, the boss of our group," Tang San said.
"The boss? That sounds fun." Xiao Wu grinned. "Then I'm your boss from now on. Looks like choosing to become a working student was a pretty good decision."
"But don't call me boss. Call me Sister Xiao Wu!"
"Sister Xiao Wu, I'm Lin Mo. Have some fruit."
Lin Mo took another two pieces of fruit out of his bag, stood up, walked over to Xiao Wu, and handed them to her.
He had no objection to calling her Sister Xiao Wu.
Even though he had lived three lives, all his years combined did not amount to even a fraction of those lived by Xiao Wu, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast cultivating anew.
"Thank you."
After accepting the fruit Lin Mo offered, Xiao Wu put her luggage and school uniform on a bed. The bed she chose happened to be the one next to Tang San's.
Then she turned to the silent group and asked with a slight frown, "Now, who's going to tell me about our academy?"
Everyone quickly reacted, and in the end, Wang Sheng braced himself and stepped forward to explain the academy's circumstances to the three new working students:
"Our duties as working students aren't very demanding. We're really just responsible for cleaning the academy.
"The teacher assigned to oversee us decides which specific areas we're responsible for.
"The academy has six grades in total, with one class per grade. Sister Xiao Wu, you, Tang San, and Lin Mo are all new, so you should all be first-year students."
"Of everyone else here, even the youngest are third-years. I'm moving up to sixth year this year."
"The academy holds classes every morning, and we cultivate on our own in the afternoon. One lesson covers general knowledge, and the other covers Martial Souls.
"Most of us working students also have some work in the afternoon to earn money for meals."
But after hearing Wang Sheng's explanation, Xiao Wu turned her gaze to Lin Mo beside her and asked curiously:
"So you're the third working student the academy recruited this year, besides me and Tang San? What's your Martial Soul?"
"This is my Martial Soul!" Lin Mo raised the egg in his hands, his voice helpless.
"An egg?"
A few more notes of surprise entered Xiao Wu's voice. With a light step, she darted to Lin Mo's side and instinctively reached for the egg in his hands.
But Lin Mo, who had been prepared, turned sideways and dodged her hand. "You'd better not touch it. It doesn't like other people touching it..."
Lin Mo's blunt refusal did not upset Xiao Wu. After an awkward laugh, she said, "Hmph, fine, don't let me touch it. I just thought your egg was so big."
Xiao Wu's brazen remark made the corner of Lin Mo's mouth twitch. Should I say she really lives up to being a hundred-thousand-year-old rogue rabbit? What kind of wild words are those?
Just then, a teacher who looked to be in his thirties came in carrying a set of bedding. "New working students, which one of you is Tang San?"
Hearing this, Tang San hurriedly rose from his bed.
Seeing him, the teacher, who had long, dark green hair, said, "My name is Mo Hen. You can call me Teacher Mo. Tang San, this bedding is from Grandmaster."
"And where are the other two working students?" Mo Hen swept his gaze around the room again.
Hearing him, Lin Mo and Xiao Wu also stood up in response.
"Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Lin Mo, all three of you are first-year working students. From now on, you'll be responsible for cleaning the garden south of the playground.
"You'll earn ten Copper Soul Coins a day. Remember, you must clean it every day, and you must do a thorough job, or your wages will be docked.
"And if you slack off, the academy has the right to dismiss you. Is that clear?"
The three nodded to show that they understood.
Seeing this, Mo Hen nodded in satisfaction. "The opening ceremony is tomorrow, and classes officially begin the day after.
"First-years attend class in Classroom One on the first floor of the teaching building. Just arrive on time the day after tomorrow. Your work will officially begin that day as well. Remember to take it seriously. I'll conduct spot checks at irregular intervals."
After explaining these matters and handing the bedding to Tang San, Teacher Mo Hen left.
After Mo Hen left, Xiao Wu set her sights on Tang San's bedding, just as expected.
In the end, the two happily reached an agreement: they would push their beds together and each use half the quilt.
Lin Mo simply sat on his own bed, watching this unfold thoughtfully.
He had no intention of becoming more deeply involved with Tang San or Xiao Wu. Treating them just like the other working students in the dorm would do.
Whether it was Xiao Wu's identity as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who had taken human form to cultivate anew, or Tang San's identity as Clear Sky Douluo's biological son.
These two... if either one's identity was exposed, it would certainly stir up a storm of blood across the Douluo Continent.
In Lin Mo's eyes, both of them were enormous trouble, and his attitude toward trouble had always been to keep a respectful distance.
He did not want to experience that helplessness of being casually crushed to death again. He wanted to live, to live forever!
Judging by his cultivation progress over the previous three months, his Soul Power Level would definitely break through to ten before the end of his first year.
Once his Soul Power Level broke through to ten, his strength would undergo an earth-shattering transformation.
For one thing, upon reaching that level bottleneck, he could obtain a Soul Ring to advance further. For another, the Charmander egg would hatch by then.
That way, even if he kept his second Martial Soul hidden, he could still openly display considerable fighting strength.
But if he wanted to obtain a Soul Ring and take his strength a step further, he would still need the academy's help.
Those low-risk Soul Hunting Forests where beasts were reared in captivity required a warrant issued by one of the two great empires to enter.
Meanwhile, the completely wild Soul Beast forests were too dangerous for Lin Mo and Charmander.
For a weak working student without any backing like him, entering a Soul Beast forest alone to hunt Soul Beasts would be no different from courting death.
He would pass on that sort of tireless, thousand-mile food delivery.
Not everyone was like Tang San, with a Titled Douluo father following behind to protect him when he went Soul Hunting in a Soul Beast forest.
Besides, Lin Mo had already made detailed plans. Once Charmander hatched successfully and he obtained his first Soul Ring, it would be time for him to graduate from Nuoding Academy.
Once he became a true Soul Master, staying at Nuoding Academy would only waste his time and serve no purpose.
At that point, he would need to enter a new intermediate academy and embark on a new journey of learning.