Chapter 62

The next morning, all students who had passed the freshman examination gathered in Shrek's square, awaiting the upcoming class assignment.

Soon, a red-haired burly man arrived with over a dozen teachers; among them Tang Wulin only knew Wang Yan, the rest were strangers to him.

However, Tang Wulin recognized this red-haired burly man—he was Gong Changlong, who had taken over as Martial Soul System Dean after Yan Shaozhe, nicknamed the 'Beast King,' possessing Honored Douluo-level strength, having met Tang Wulin a few times inside the Sea God Pavilion, and being very straightforward and heroic.

A middle-aged man stepped forward from behind him, smiling, and said, 'Congratulations to all of you for passing this freshman examination; in your future studies and life, you must also avoid arrogance and impatience, study hard, and strive to maintain such good results. I am the Director of Education, Li Pengfeng, and standing before me is the Martial Soul System Dean, Gong Changlong. As long as you are not eliminated, we will continue to interact.'

'The freshman examination elimination round has ended, and the final top three have been decided. Next I will announce the list of the top three, and at the same time announce their rewards. The third place in the freshman examination is...'

Saying this, he began to announce the top three students.

Listening to Li Pengfeng announce the list, Tang Wulin felt somewhat emotional.

Indeed, luck is also part of strength.

If we truly talk about combat power, the first and second places in this freshman examination should be Tang Wulin's team and the Xie Huan Yue team, while third place was decided between the Huang Chu Tian team and the Ning Tian team.

As a result, all four teams exhausted themselves internally, leaving only the strongest Tang Wulin team; consequently, none of the other three teams managed to reach the top four.

However, no one can be blamed for this; if blame must be assigned, it is only their bad luck.

'Please welcome our freshman examination first-place team with the warmest applause: Tang Wulin's team, members Tang Wulin, Huo Yutong, and Zhou Sichen—please come on stage.'

Upon hearing Li Pengfeng mention Tang Wulin's team, everyone's gazes in the venue focused on the three of them.

In this freshman examination, the fame of Tang Wulin and his companions had been thoroughly established among this year's students.

Especially Tang Wulin—even students who had not directly faced his team had basically heard of this ultimate tough guy who could defeat a person in no more than three punches.

People naturally admire the strong; if the gap is not too large, there may still be some competitive spirit, but if the gap is too great to ever catch up, one can only look up in awe.

Tang Wulin and his companions walked forward under the awed gazes of the fellow students, arriving before Li Pengfeng.

Li Pengfeng looked at them, his eyes full of smiles.

'Congratulations on becoming champions; like the second and third place winners, you can receive a soul ring best suited to you from the academy, and later you will also receive a reward unique to the champion.'

Upon hearing this, Zhou Sichen's expression brightened instantly, while Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong's faces remained unchanged.

They had seen the wider world; even if Li Pengfeng's gift were excellent, it could not surpass Mu En's promise, so although they felt happy inside, they did not show it too obviously.

Gong Changlong patted Tang Wulin's shoulder and spoke for the first time.

'If you need to obtain a soul ring, come find me; I will help you hunt for one.'

His voice was loud, and all the students in the venue could hear it.

Their eyes instantly filled with envy.

Being able to serve as the dean of the Martial Soul System, Gong Changlong's strength must be at the Honored Soul Master level; an Honored Soul Master–level expert placed outside the academy could become a nation's guardian, and having such a being personally help them is basically something they dare not even imagine.

Even Dai Huabin, who had the greatest family influence among the freshmen, his family's strongest combatant, White Tiger Duke Dai Hao, was merely a Soul Douluo.

Li Pengfeng looked at the excited students, nodded satisfactorily, and said to Tang Wulin and the others, 'All right, you may go back for now; I will announce the next matter shortly.'

What he was about to announce was the list of core disciples, a matter Tang Wulin and his companions had already learned about.

The selection of core disciples is not strictly tied to rankings; at least several members of the third-place team received only temporary core disciple status, while Ning Tian and Xie Huan Yue, both Soul Elders who did not even make the top four, still obtained official core disciple status.

After that, the only thing left was class division; the entire first year was split into four classes: Class One for Strength Attack System and Control System Soul Masters; Class Two for Defense System and Agility Attack System Soul Masters; Class Three for Support System Soul Masters; Class Four for all other special-attribute Soul Masters and Tool Soul Masters, including the Food System and Healing System.

Clearly, the class with the greatest overall combat strength was First Year Class One, where all six members of Tang Wulin's team and Wang Dong's team were placed.

As for the other classes, the strongest in Class Two was undoubtedly Soul Elder Xie Huan Yue; the strongest in Class Three was Soul Elder Ning Tian; as for the strongest in Class Four, Tang Wulin was not sure.

Naturally, the homeroom teacher of Tang Wulin's class was still Wang Yan; as a well-known theorist of the Outer Courtyard and the only senior teacher among this year's faculty, he unsurprisingly took the position of instructor for the strongest class.

As for the other homeroom teacher alongside him, it was a young man named Ling Feng, who appeared quite simple and honest.

Upon seeing Ling Feng, the members of Wang Dong's team all breathed a sigh of relief.

To them, it didn't matter who the other homeroom teacher of First Year Class One was, as long as it wasn't Zhou Yi.

After the class assignment ended, Li Pengfeng dismissed all the freshmen and specifically brought Tang Wulin's team to a secluded corner, where he produced a small box.

'This is your reward for being champions—a soul bone. The academy hopes you will continue to strive in your future studies and life, create further brilliance, and not let us down.'

'A soul bone?!'

Zhou Sichen could not help but exclaim.

There's no need to elaborate on the rarity of a soul bone; most people may never possess one in a lifetime, yet the academy gave them one simply for winning the championship, leaving Zhou Sichen feeling somewhat dreamlike.

Li Pengfeng smiled and nodded.

'Well, this is a very precious item, so how to distribute it is up to you; the academy will not interfere. Remember, be sure not to make a decision you will regret.'

Having said that, he did not linger any longer and left the place.

Zhou Sichen stared at the small box, his gaze wavering repeatedly; after gritting his teeth, he told Tang Wulin, 'Boss, you should keep this soul bone; you contributed the most in this competition—without you, I could never have achieved such results.'

Zhou Sichen had a clear understanding of his own ability; without clinging to Tang Wulin's thick thigh, he would likely not have even made the semifinals, let alone become champion.

Originally it was something he could not access, and naturally it should not belong to him now.

However, Tang Wulin directly threw the small box to him.

'Enough talk—I know you really want it; I had actually planned to give it to you.'

Zhou Sichen fumbled to catch the box, then hurriedly said:

"Boss, I'm sincere—I truly believe this soul bone should go to you."

"Hmm, I know." Tang Wulin gave a slight shrug, "But I was actually planning to give this soul bone to you all along."

Huo Yutong also nodded at the side, indicating her agreement.

During this competition, their gains have already been substantial—whether it's a third martial soul or the martial soul fusion between the two, it's a miracle that's hard to come by, and the boost to their strength is enormous.

But Zhou Sichen got nothing; after spending time together, the two of them had already come to regard Zhou Sichen as a friend, so they naturally didn't want to see this situation.

"Boss, sis-in-law..."

Zhou Sichen stared, his eye sockets involuntarily reddening a bit.

This is a soul bone, after all—Tang Wulin could take it and no one could blame him, yet he resolutely gave it to Zhou Sichen.

This gesture moved him immensely.

Tang Wulin said irritably, "Fine, why are you crying, big man? Besides, Huo Yutong and I aren't that kind of relationship!"

Beside him, Huo Yutong blushed and looked away, but did not refute Zhou Sichen's words.

Zhou Sichen quickly wiped his eyes, then showed his usual cheeky grin.

"Hehe, don't say that, boss, I still want to get to drink at your wedding banquet soon."

"Looks like you need to be taught a lesson!"

Tang Wulin lunged at Zhou Sichen in an instant.

He could see that Zhou Sichen was trying to hide his embarrassment through teasing, so he naturally was willing to cooperate.

The awkwardness that had just risen among them vanished like smoke; their roughhousing was no different from before, yet somehow it felt different from before.

It was only at this moment that Zhou Sichen truly regarded Tang Wulin as his boss.

As an aside, the original work clearly states that the reason Zhou Yi's cohort "only" expelled a third of the people was because Old Huo was leading the effort.

This time Huo Yutong wasn't in this class, so more than half were eliminated, and consequently Zhou Yi was transferred out of the first year.

(End of chapter)