The Yuhao Chronicles - Volume 1 Chapter 27

The man hurriedly walked along the path, passing across the open academy grounds, even walking past, with only a quick, short bow, the ten massive granite sculptures that showed the three Shrek founders and the main teachers of the legendary first-generation Shrek Seven Devils. Behind them, were the respective devils, with each sculpture having an almost life-like appearance and aura.

As they reached a massive divide in the path, the older man beckoned him down the left path. If his memory serves him right, this was the path to the Martial Soul Institution. Despite the fact that Yuhao was a blacksmith and was in the future going to pursue spirit engineering, there was so much more to be gained from the Martial Soul Institution for his current level.

The road to the left of the sculptures was still very wide and could fit four or five carriages side-by-side. There was a signboard next to the road with the words ‘Lakeside Path’ written on it. Behind this sign and past the trees, a large body of water could just be made out.

Seeing that this is the perfect time to strike up a conversation as they walked, Yuhao spoke up, “Is that the legendary Sea God’s Lake?”

The older man nodded wordlessly before explaining in more detail catching Yuhao’s adamant gaze on him. “One of the original Shrek seven devils, Tang San, inherited the Sea God’s legacy. We built this lake in honour of his successes for our history and academy. In the future, if you continue to put in the effort that you must have put in to achieve a rank of 30 at your age, you will be able to join our inner courtyard. That is located on an island in the middle of the Sea God’s Lake.”

As they followed the lakeside path to head southward, they only needed to turn westwards after a full fifteen minutes had passed. Only after they’d walked another fifteen minutes or so did the path finally begin to recede, causing a vast, rectangular plaza to appear in their line of sight. A signboard with the words ‘Shrek Plaza’ also stood beside the plaza.

There were many tall teaching areas behind Shrek Plaza. The colours of these teaching areas were all different and were separated into four main colourswhite, yellow, purple, and black. If one gazed into the far south of Shrek Plaza, they’d even be able to see a grey teaching area.

Just before Yuhao could speak, the old man began speaking and indicating to the buildings, as if he was reciting off a script, “The different coloured teaching areas represent the different years of students, which are differentiated according to the colours of soul rings. The white teaching areas are for new students, just like the lowest level ten-year soul rings. Accordingly, the yellow teaching areas are for the outer courtyard’s second and third-year students, and the purple teaching areas are for the fourth and fifth-year students. The black teaching areas are for sixth-year students. Besides these teaching areas at the front, there are also many special teaching grounds located in the back, such as the Soul Duelling Arena, the assessment areas, the dormitories, the teacher’s offices, and so on.”

The new students’ white teaching areas were located to the far south and were also the closest to the lakeside path. The two of them walked southwards from Shrek Plaza, arriving at the teaching area.

As it was still early, not many students had been admitted inside the academy and allowed to enrol. As they arrived, the older man spoke up to an even older man waiting at the location. This man had quite the intimidating presence, as even in his old age with a grey beard and wrinkly face, his muscles were exceptionally bulging and he had a nice, shiny head that looked recently polished.

The man next to Yuhao politely bowed and spoke humbly, “Hello, Elder Shin, I have here a special admittance.”

Elder Shin grunted not looking up, “Reason?”

“He is ten years old and already rank thirty” He concisely responded.

Elder Shin’s eyes briefly opened wide before he settled his emotions and nodded. Following this, they smoothly completed Yuhao’s registration, with him paying ten gold coins as his first-year school fees. He was, as predicted, also notified that food was not provided free of charge and that he was expected to pay for his own meals.

After collecting his dorm key, white freshman badge and two clean sets of school uniforms, he was directed towards the new student’s dormitories.

After passing through the white school building for first years, and the yellow school building for second and third-year students, Huo Yuhao saw the dormitory. The dormitory occupied an extremely large area, and although it was only a single building, the same four colours, white, yellow, purple, and black, were still present on it. The building’s colours clearly represented the different living areas of the students from their respective years and had a total of six floors.

Huo Yuhao arrived at the entrance to the white building and was met with the sight of a man who looked quite old, half-lying in a chair. Knowing that this man is the Sea God Pavilion Master, one of the strongest humans alive, Yuhao was extremely respectful to him, handing his badge and dormitory key out to him after bowing and greeting first.

The old man waved them in front of his eyes before returning them to Huo Yuhao. “Go on. Room 108 is the third room from my left on the first floor. The women’s dorms start from the fourth floor, so you can’t go upstairs at all. If we discover you up there, you’ll be expelled.”

Taking the offered items back, he replied, “Thank you.” After bowing and greeting the old man once again, Yuhao walked past into the dormitory building.

The old man slightly inclined and turned his head as Yuhao moved past him, muttering to himself, “So much potential for someone so young. I guess things are going to get interesting.”

After following the old man’s instructions, Huo Yuhao quickly found his dorm room. The dormitory had a standard hallway layout, with both sides of the long hallway having dorm rooms with numbers etched into their doors. The passage of time was clearly visible in the dorm rooms, and it could be seen that they had been in use for an extremely long amount of time. The two ends of the corridor had shared bathrooms.

After using his key to open the door, a gust of slightly musty air surged out of the room. Huo Yuhao hurriedly turned to the side, waited a while, then held his breath as he charged into the room and opened the window. By relying on the window’s ventilation, Huo Yuhao was able to clearly see the dorm room’s layout. The dorm room was very small, its area only about ten square metres or so. The two beds took up a large portion of the room’s floor space, but there was also a table, two metal wardrobes, as well as a lamp on the ceiling. There were also a few metal protrusions on one of the walls which were basic soul lamps that produced lighting in exchange for spirit power being injected into them.

Looking at the mess, Yuhao thought to himself, ‘Well, I still have seven days until classes start, and approximately four days until Wang Dong, my ‘male’ roommate arrives. I may as well use this time to clean up and cultivate.’

Abiding by this decision, Yuhao immediately started to clean the dorm room using a small rag he found in the inn back in Snow Rock City. It was left in his room by a previous visitor and since it wasn’t claimed, the receptionist offered it to him to keep. It was made out of a special spider silk that if spirit power is injected throughout it, all of the dirt and grime collected by it slips off. It was extremely handy, more so for these occasions of manual labour.

After not even two hours, Yuhao had already meticulously cleaned the entire room under the scrutiny of his Spirit Eyes and Spiritual Detection skill. Unlike his canon self, Yuhao had also purchased a reasonably priced bedding set from the student convenience store outside the dormitory, which will provide him with the ability to cultivate comfortably, and if the need arises, sleep happily.

As he discovered that the convenience store sold no food, he was explained that the only location to acquire food in the academy was to buy it from the dining hall. This ruling was created to ensure students don’t bask in gluttonous comforts and focus primarily on cultivation and their overall spirit master abilities.

Walking into the exclusively first years dining hall behind his dormitory, as stated in the original story, there was not a single location for seating within. There was even a sign that read ‘No food is allowed to be taken from the dining hall. No exceptions.’ Currently, he was the only student within the hall, which seemed to not affect the amount of food sold at each of the eight windows.

Double checking that he has enough money to not be forced to eat stringently, Yuhao walked up the counter, third from the most expensive window. The food, unlike the cheapest option priced in copper coins, was comfortably priced at one silver coin per meal. With his leftover savings of twenty gold coins and the ability to easily earn more through his blacksmithing services, Yuhao was not worried about purchasing this option.

After quickly finishing his meal, Yuhao returned directly to his dorm. Immediately after his return, he sat cross-legged on the comfy bedding and began to circulate his unique, exclusive, cultivation method, The Divine Essence Technique. He was planning on cultivating for as long as possible over the course of the next seven days, and only stopping to take care of any daily necessities and meet Wang Dong when ‘he’ arrives.