And so, the arrangements for Lin Xi were settled.
During the day, he practiced swordsmanship with Huo Yutong, honing their combat skills.
At night, he took her to the Soul Tool Department to study the relevant knowledge.
No more trouble cropped up, and three months passed in the blink of an eye.
Over those three months, Lin Xi's Soul Power rose from level 37 to level 38, leaving him only a step away from level 39.
At the same time, the ages of his Soul Rings each increased by five thousand years, further strengthening the Heroic Spirits.
His relationships with He Caitou, Xu Sanshi, and the others also grew closer without him noticing. Although Bei Bei still refused to trade with him, his impression of Lin Xi changed from a petty schemer coveting the Tang Sect's secret arts to a promising junior.
But compared to them, Huo Yutong was more worthy of mention.
Since Lin Xi had gained the ability to mass-produce Mystic Water Pills, he naturally would not stint on the person most important to him.
Once he confirmed that the Mystic Water Pills Emiya projected had no problems, Lin Xi began supplying Huo Yutong with large quantities of them.
She popped one every few days like sugar beans, to the point that lately, Huo Yutong could judge the quality of a Mystic Water Pill by taste alone.
Under this extravagance that could practically be called wasteful, her cultivation speed began to increase explosively at an exponential rate.
Even if she had not reached Innate Full Soul Power, she was not far from it.
Combined with her almost suicidal approach to cultivation, her progress exceeded even Lin Xi's expectations.
Not only did her Soul Power rocket from level 16 to level 20, but her control over the power of emotions also grew increasingly adept, and her spiritual power increased substantially along with it. Even Lin Xi would freeze up for two seconds now if he took a full-strength Soul Shock from her unprepared.
And in the field of Soul Tools, she already had a foundation of relevant knowledge. With the aid of Spiritual Detection even more refined than in the original story, she had already reached the threshold of becoming a Level 2 Soul Engineer, leaving master and disciple Fan Yu and He Caitou marveling countless times.
The seed Lin Xi had planted six years ago was finally about to sprout.
Unlike Lin Xi and his companions' smooth-sailing campus life, however, the situation in Freshman Class One could only be called tragic.
Without Huo Yuhao leading them, most of them simply could not endure Zhou Yi's unreasonable training.
Just as the academy had predicted, by the time the freshman assessment began, fewer than a third of Freshman Class One remained.
Wang Dong was among them.
She was already an outstanding student who was both strong and obedient, and Zhou Yi liked her very much.
Not to mention that, some time ago, something had gotten into her, and she had begun cultivating desperately, her strength improving rapidly.
It could be said that she was now the undisputed number three in Freshman Class One.
Why number three?
All one could say was that, although her progress was not slow, it was still far, far too slow compared to Huo Yutong's.
It was not a matter of looking down on her-first, she had to get past Huo Yutong's Soul Shock in her Eye of Destiny state.
She would be doing well just not to pass out.
It could be said that in Douluo II, where spiritual power was generally rather lacking, Huo Yutong's Mental Attribute was a dimensionality-reduction strike.
And so, the day before the freshman assessment arrived.
"Today's physical training class is canceled." Zhou Yi stood behind the lectern, her aged face as lukewarm as ever. Yet whenever she taught, almost every student sat ramrod straight, and not a single one dared make any untoward move.
"Three months have passed since the start of the term. You are about to face your first assessment since entering Shrek Academy. Only by passing it can you officially become first-year students and truly become members of Shrek Academy. Barring any surprises, you will then be able to remain at the academy to cultivate at least until the first-year graduation examination. The assessment begins tomorrow. Today, I will first explain its key points."
She paused and looked at Lin Xi.
"Lin Xi, come here."
If there was anything different about this year's students compared to previous years, it was surely the addition of a monster like Lin Xi.
At first, she had wondered whether Lin Xi had used some secret art that overtaxed his talent to reach such heights at his age. Now, she no longer had the slightest doubt.
Leaving aside the fact that no secret art could give a twelve-year-old child such strength, Lin Xi's progress over these three months had been entirely genuine.
Three months ago, when she watched Lin Xi practice swordsmanship with Artoria, she could still barely feel that she could take Lin Xi's place.
Now, however, watching from the sidelines only made her hair stand on end.
The level of their combat had already surpassed her understanding.
After all, Lin Xi was a summoner. She had never heard of a summoner who could fight someone three rings above them without using their summons.
She had to admit that she could not teach this monster.
Fortunately, this monster of unknown origins had no interest in her.
Zhou Yi was no fool. She could sense Lin Xi's dissatisfaction and disdain toward her.
Thus, over these three months, she had maintained a state of well water not interfering with river water with him. Both sides kept things strictly professional, and neither provoked the other.
She handed a stack of papers to Lin Xi as he approached, motioned for him to distribute them, then said:
"After the freshman assessment ends, you will be taught according to your aptitudes. Write down the direction you intend to take in your future cultivation and hand it to me later."
Then, she began explaining the assessment rules, just as she had in the original story.
What she did not yet know was that these would be among her last few meetings with Lin Xi.
Three months earlier, in Yan Shaozhe's office, although Lin Xi had agreed to comply with the academy's arrangements, he had also made a request.
When the classes were reassigned, he was not to be placed with Zhou Yi.
Out of consideration for Fan Yu's face, Lin Xi felt awkward making any more excessive demands, but keeping her out of sight and out of mind was still possible.
Yan Shaozhe had naturally agreed at once.
What a joke. Even if Lin Xi had not mentioned it, he would have done so anyway.
It was precisely because Zhou Yi had betrayed the Martial Soul Department and failed to report Lin Xi's situation immediately that he had been forced to go through all that extra trouble.
In fact, if not for Ma Xiaotao's situation, he might still not have known of Lin Xi's existence.
How could he possibly still allow Zhou Yi to teach Lin Xi?
She should count herself lucky he had not demoted her.
That was especially true given that Zhou Yi had once again expelled large numbers of students from the academy this term.
Thirty-three students remained in Freshman Class One, which divided neatly into eleven groups of three.
Should one call it unsurprising? Lin Xi, Huo Yutong, and Wang Dong were assigned to the same group.
Watching Wang Dong chuckle away in silly delight, Lin Xi shook his head helplessly.
Lately, he increasingly felt that she resembled a large dog.
No wonder she got along so poorly with the catlike Huo Yutong.
After the groups were assigned, Zhou Yi cleared her throat.
"All right, that's it. If you have any objections, raise them now. You'll have a day to think it over when you go back. The other classes are also forming groups now, but they definitely won't be as fast as us. Let them dawdle. Hand in the papers you're holding, and then you're dismissed. Once you go back, get some proper rest. None of you is allowed to run around making trouble. For the freshman assessment beginning tomorrow, the final result I want is for every one of you to advance. Anyone who gets eliminated will not only have to pack up and leave, but I'll also leave you with some lasting memories."
Seeing the sudden chill in Zhou Yi's eyes, every student involuntarily shuddered. Without a doubt, the memories Zhou Yi left them with would probably be nightmares.
For a moment, all the students of Freshman Class One suddenly bristled with killing intent. Even if only to avoid being tormented by Teacher Zhou, they had to fight with everything they had to pass the assessment.
Zhou Yi nodded in satisfaction.
"Lin Xi, Huo Yutong, Wang Dong, you three stay behind. Everyone else can leave."