Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 31 Upgrade Assessment Begins

Shrek Academy, Soul Guidance Department teaching building, Qian Duoduo shook his head at Fan Yu in front of him.

"Fan Yu, it's not that I don't want to help you, I really want to bring that promising student you mentioned to our Soul Guidance Department."

"But you know that old man Yan Shaozhe. On this kind of matter, he will absolutely not back down, and he will never allow it."

"Besides, that kid you had your eye on has been holed up in his dorm since he came back, doing who-knows-what. We Soul Guidance Department people can't even get close to him privately."

Fan Yu's expression turned somewhat grim upon hearing this, but she still wanted to try: "Dean Qian, believe me, this really is our best chance."

"Huo Yuhao's main spirit is a spirit-attribute spirit spirit, making him the perfect candidate for the Extreme Individual Soldier Project. We probably won't see another one like him in Shrek Academy in the last few decades."

"With him, our Soul Guidance Department will definitely be able to turn the tide! You know how good our Soul Guidance Department students are now."

"It's fair to say that they're all the scraps left over from the Spirit System. While some of them might be suitable for the Spirit System, they're just the best of the worst."

"With Huo Yuhao as the benchmark, in less than ten years! No! Five years! I can make the people of the Martial Soul system look at me with new eyes."

Qian Duoduo sighed. How could he not know what Fan Yu was saying?

Although Shrek Academy's Soul Guidance Department seems to account for one-third of its teaching staff, those in the know understand.

The reason for establishing the Soul Guidance Department, and the fact that Shrek Academy's Soul Guidance Department was considered quite good among the original three kingdoms of Douluo Continent, was simply to cope with the situation.

In reality, Shrek Academy's Soul Guidance Department can only be compared to the original three kingdoms of Douluo Continent. It was nurtured by the meager resources that were separated from Shrek Academy's original Martial Soul Department.

Not to mention comparing it to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, even some of the more ordinary Soul Master academies in the Sun Moon Empire are far superior to Shrek Academy in their research and application of Soul Guidance Devices.

"But there's nothing we can do, that's the reality. Neither you nor I can affect the overall academic atmosphere of Shrek Academy," Qian Duoduo sighed.

"Besides, it seems like they're not interested in our Soul Guidance Department. You can't force things. Fan Yu, you should go back and train your disciple properly."

"In my opinion, your disciple He Caitou is a pretty good prospect among Soul Masters. Although he can't compare to a Spirit Attribute Body Martial Soul, he's still quite good."

Hearing this, Fan Yu was still unwilling, but she could only sigh and leave Qian Duoduo's office.

The struggle and rivalry between Soul Masters and Soul Instructors has a long history in the original Three Kingdoms of Douluo Continent. However, the more senior and ancient a power or sect is, the more severe its bias towards Soul Masters becomes.

As for Shrek Academy, it goes without saying that the Martial Soul Department holds absolute sway. Even Qian Duoduo, or the Dean of the Soul Guidance Department, Xian Lin'er, do not have the same influence as the elders in the Sea God Pavilion.

The funniest thing is that most of the inner court disciples of the Soul Guidance Department spent almost their entire outer court career in the Martial Soul Department. They only switched to the Soul Guidance Department because they lacked potential when they entered the inner court.

"The task is arduous and the road ahead is long." Looking at Fan Yu's unwilling figure, Qian Duoduo shook his head and sighed.

It was now the twenty-eighth day of the holiday. With most of the holiday over, Shrek Academy was about to begin its new round of enrollment.

The entrance exams for new first-year students are usually held a week in advance, and returning students don't return at the exact time; they usually return around the same time.

Therefore, compared to usual, Shrek Academy and Shrek City are now much more crowded, which also indirectly provides a good opportunity to promote trade in Shrek City.

Many shops in Shrek City also made a fortune thanks to the cash flow brought by the influx of people from outside, contributing significantly to Shrek City's tax revenue.

Before even entering the student dormitory, Wang Dong loudly announced, "I'm back!"

As the dormitory door opened, sunlight streamed in through the window, revealing Huo Yuhao lounging on his bed, his eyes half-open. He said to Wang Dong, "Oh, the old hag wants you to go see her after you come back."

Then he turned over, closed his eyes, and seemed to be preparing to go back to sleep.

Wang Dong: "???"

Wang Dong casually tossed his luggage onto the bed, intending to pull Huo Yuhao off the bed.

"No way, it's been almost a month since we last met! And this is all you say to me?! Shouldn't you be more excited? And you didn't just spend the whole vacation sleeping in your dorm after you came back from soul hunting, did you?!"

"Otherwise what? I asked you why you came back to school so late. You're twelve years old, aren't you? Do you have to be so childish?"

"And these past few days, that old hag has been coming to your dorm every day, asking why you didn't come back ten days early as she said. It's been so annoying that I haven't been able to sleep well. I advise you to hurry up and go, and be prepared to face that old hag's wrath."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dong panicked: "Damn it, it wasn't my intention, something at home just came up and I was delayed."

At this moment, Wang Dong couldn't continue talking to Huo Yuhao and rushed towards Zhou Yi's office.

Soon, after Wang Dong returned from Zhou Yi's office with a long face, the chaotic holiday was coming to an end. Huo Yuhao also took advantage of the end of the holiday to prepare some new experimental methods for the upcoming upgrade assessment.

The promotion assessments for Class 1 and Class 2 of the second year at the beginning of the school year were conducted in the Colosseum area within Shrek Academy.

Although Huo Yuhao found it hard to understand why a beast fighting area was set up, if there was a real need for combat, wouldn't it be better to just let high-level soul masters catch some wild soul beasts in the wild?

Why go through the trouble of taming and raising a large number of soul beasts in the fighting area? If it's just to ensure the safety of the examinees, wouldn't it be better to have the senior examinees act as examiners?

In any case, Huo Yuhao did not think that there was any need for the existence of a place like the Beast Fighting Zone, which kept soul beasts in captivity and ostensibly to give students more experience in fighting soul beasts.

After all, what kind of soul beast would engage in a direct battle with a soul master in the wild?

They don't all use their superior perception abilities to launch sneak attacks, or they use the jungle environment to ambush others.

These unforeseen circumstances are far beyond what a single arena can simulate. If a Soul Master goes to fight Soul Beasts in the wild based on their experience in the arena, they will suffer a great loss.

Therefore, aside from showcasing Shrek Academy's vast financial resources and abundant manpower, and consuming one-third of Shrek City's tax revenue, the Colosseum has almost no practical significance.

Moreover, the soul beasts that can be tamed are at most mid-level soul beasts, and most of them are less than ten thousand years old.

Because those high-level soul beasts and soul beasts that have evolved to the ten-thousand-year level have a wildness from the depths of their bloodline that makes them unable to tolerate the closed environment of the beast fighting area.

Therefore, even if these soul beasts are produced as soul rings, they can only be considered as medium or lower-middle level among soul beasts of the same age, and are often not the first choice for soul rings by soul masters.

The second-year students entered the arena one after another, and Class One and Class Two participated in the promotion assessment together today.

The students from the four factions—Attack, Control, Agility, and Defense—all share the same goal in this assessment: to defeat a random soul beast that is over a hundred years old on their own.

According to the candidates' requirements, this age limit can be increased to a thousand years. Correspondingly, the basic academic credits obtained by the candidates for defeating thousand-year-old soul beasts will also be much higher.

Aside from the previous freshman assessment, Huo Yuhao had almost no interaction with Dai Huabin. Similarly, he had already devised a revenge plan for the original owner, so he naturally didn't want to cause any more trouble.

Huo Yuhao planned to resolve the feud with Dai Huabin and the White Tiger Duke's Mansion once he reached the Soul Saint level. Therefore, he did not engage in a head-on confrontation with Dai Huabin as in the original story, resulting in a bet that only resulted in a slap in the face without any actual benefit.

Although Dai Huabin's gaze towards Huo Yuhao still held a hint of provocation and scrutiny, he was clearly still resentful about losing to Huo Yuhao in the previous freshman assessment.

However, Huo Yuhao was too lazy to pay attention to him. After queuing up and receiving the upgrade assessment form, he prepared to participate in the next assessment.

Moreover, Dai Huabin's gaze was more focused on Wang Dong. After all, Wang Dong was the class monitor of the offensive department, and he and Dai Huabin didn't get along. Wang Dong and Dai Huabin had quite a few conflicts last semester.

It's just that due to school regulations and Zhou Yi's unreasonable behavior, no one dared to cause trouble in the class. However, in this promotion assessment, Dai Huabin will probably challenge Wang Dong's position as class monitor.

"Looking at him like this, didn't you not want to be class monitor? Why don't you just give it to him and enjoy the peace and quiet?" Huo Yuhao patted Wang Dong's shoulder and said softly.

"I won't! Whether I want to be it or not is my business. Why should Dai Huabin be it?" Wang Dong pouted and said angrily.

Shrugging, Huo Yuhao didn't bother with her. He simply used his mental power to check the stability of his soul power circuits once again.

"Everything is almost adjusted. Let's test its effectiveness in actual combat with a soul beast first. As for using it on a soul master, we might need to modify some of the steps."

Following the group and led by their homeroom teacher, Class 1 and Class 2 entered the arena one by one. Then, they had to enter the arena one by one to participate in the assessment according to the order of the upgrade assessment form.

Meanwhile, the battle taking place here was also being monitored in real time by the twenty teachers responsible for guiding the soul beasts and protecting the academy, who had all arrived. The dean of studies, Du Weilun, and four scoring teachers were also on the high platform.

With everything prepared, the upgrade assessment was initiated by Class One.

Zhou Yi said to Wang Dong, "Wang Dong, you go first. Make a good start. If you're confident, choose a thousand-year-old spirit beast. That way, even if you fail, as long as you persevere long enough, your result won't be bad."

At the same time, Zhou Yi's gaze met that of Mu Jin beside her, and it seemed as if there were faint sparks colliding in the air.

Clearly, this assessment is yet another contest between Zhou Yi and Mu Jin, with both sides wanting their students to outperform the other in order to prove that their teaching abilities are superior.

"You're crazy." Huo Yuhao was speechless as he looked at the two homeroom teachers exchanging glances.

Wang Dong nodded in response, "Understood." Then he proudly strode into the arena.

"I choose the Thousand-Year Soul Beast," he said to the referee teacher beside him.

The first match was against a thousand-year-old soul beast. After confirming it once, the referee did not dare to be negligent. As the gates of the arena opened, a thousand-year-old bloodthirsty demonic bear rushed out with a violent aura.

However, in Huo Yuhao's view, it was just a facade. Having been tamed in the Beast Fighting Zone for so long, this Bloodthirsty Demon Bear had been repeatedly beaten and ravaged by countless Soul Masters, but its life was never in danger.

This bloodthirsty demonic bear has probably lost its fighting spirit long ago; it can only maintain its combat power when it's winning.

Huo Yuhao, however, focused more on Wang Dong. With the arrival of his martial soul, Wang Dong's spirit rings, one yellow and two purple, shimmering under the dazzling butterfly wings, attracted everyone's attention.

Through the Eye of Truth, Huo Yuhao saw that inside Wang Dong's body, outside his torso and bones, there was a very solid structure made of dark black energy, which was very similar to the soul bone that Huo Yuhao had obtained before.

"Soul bones? No wonder I could jump to level 30 in a month without the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, since soul bones are one of the most important resources in Douluo Continent."

'This soul bone looks much more advanced and powerful than that of the Void Demon Leopard, but there seem to be some differences in the details.'

Huo Yuhao then carefully examined the deep structure of the soul bone and found that it did not seem to have a particularly tight integration with Wang Dong's own bones.

Moreover, apart from the fact that this soul bone spontaneously emitted some aura and power to strengthen Wang Dong's physique, Wang Dong's soul power strangely did not merge with this soul bone.

"Strange, this doesn't look like a normal soul bone. Did the Clear Sky Sect or Tang San create something like this? I'll record it anyway, and try to study it later."

Returning to the battlefield, Wang Dong's assessment quickly came to an end. Wang Dong's third soul skill was naturally not just for show, and he used its power to...

Even without using her soul bone, or perhaps unable to use it, she easily ended the assessment and defeated the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear, her opponent, solely based on her third soul skill and physical attributes.

"How about it? Am I awesome?" Wang Dong waved to Huo Yuhao, while also giving Dai Huabin, who was not far away, a provocative look.

(End of this chapter)