Karni and Siduo said goodbye to the Wu Family. Jianyu was the first to cry, and the father followed soon after. Only Siyu managed to keep from crying, though her eyes were watery. They've only been back for a week, yet they were going away again. And who knows when they'll return?
Luckily, neither during their last days in the academy, nor now, did the Police Chief appear to hunt them down. Perhaps she just didn't know they returned. They were careful when they returned. As were they now.
A total of eight people waited for them at the bus station. The people sent from Star Luo City were leaving a week early, the exam was to begin a week from now.
Star Luo City itself had eight slots of people which they could recommend for the Shrek Academy exam. Five of those were slots filled by Star Luo City Academy. A show of both talent and monopoly over the slots. The fifth person was someone who wasn't in the Special Class of the academy, but was more than eligible to take the exam.
The other three people all came from different Intermediate Academies in Star Luo City. Each of them were the best students of those academies. One of them wasn't even a Soul Elder yet, but had a special Martial Soul that gave her the right to get the slot.
The two walked next to Li Tai and Yu Tian. The fifth person of their academy was also in this gathering, but she was feeling like an outcast, since she wasn't in the Special Class.
From what they were told, they are to register on the Shrek Academy grounds as teams. For fairness, Star Luo City ordered them to do so in two teams of four. This caused the fifth student to be batched together with the students of other academies.
There were also two adults escorting them. One of them was Teacher Ye, who deserved this honour for teaching the best students in the city, while the other was a powerful official from Star Luo City, who was the organiser of the trip.
Karni and Siduo sat down next to each other on a small bus, specifically given to them by the city, but funded by their academy. In front of them were Li Tai and Yu Tian.
The fifth student of their academy, who they found out was named Wen Bao, had a Martial Soul called Table Grill. An odd food type Martial S oul, that required actual food to infuse her Soul Skills into. She had the special attention of the academy, but wasn't suitable for the Special Class, hence she studied separately from them. She joined another girl, the only Soul Grandmaster, from one of the other academies and started making small talk with her.
Siduo obviously forced Karni to choose the outside seat, so she could have the window seat. Not that he minded. He was going to sleep through his travel time anyway. Windows shook your brain while you slept.
"So you two are the famous duo from the big academy eh?" One of the students from the other academies approached Karni.
Siduo glanced at him, before putting earpieces into her cat ears and went into ignore mode. Karni wanted to hit her, because now he had to deal with this.
"Yeah we are." Karni said in the nicest way possible. You could tell immediately with his tone. It was time for a headache. But he tried to hide it. "Hi."
"Pfff. Hi, he says." The guy turned towards another student, expecting a reaction, only for everyone to ignore him.
This guy was definitely surrounded by sycophants in his school. He was basically waiting for someone else to laugh with him. Likely the bully type as well? That might be Karni making assumptions, but he wouldn't be surprised if it were true.
"Yep." Karni just smiled. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep. It's early as hell, and I didn't get any sleep."
"Look here." The guy stared at Karni. "I don't care what reputation you guys have, I'm not going to bow down to you."
Ah, a tinge of inferiority complex as well, Karni raised his eyebrows and sighed. He felt like that too at some point, especially in regards to Siduo. It's good he overcame that quickly. He stood up and looked at the youth. Karni was a tad shorter than him. He summoned his Martial Soul and put his chin on it, leaning in a relaxed manner. "That's fine, I don't want you to bow down to me. Here, you can have my seat." He smiled. "But careful, she bites." Karni made a clanging noise with his teeth.
Siduo heard nothing of this. In fact, she looked to be vibing. Her head nodded up and down in a rhythmic manner. Probably pretending to be in a music video. Wait. Did they have those here yet? Karni wasn't around common consumer's technology often.
Meanwhile this other guy was offended. He stepped closer to Karni, straightening his back. He was definitely either a defensive or attacking type soul master. "Don't you mess with me, if you do that, I don't care who you are, I will beat you up."
"Ooh. That would be fun. Remind me, how old are you again?"
The guy was confused for a second. "Fourteen."
Karni nodded, as if understanding something mysterious. "Mm. Must be the hormones. Well, then, I'll go to sleep. Hope you enjoy the trip." Karni sat back down, leaned back, and closed his eyes. Only for a quick realisation to hit him. Oh no. That means he'll have hormones soon too, if not already.
The man punched the seat. Everyone looked at him, including the teachers, but they said nothing for now. Karni opened his eyes. "Look. I've given you multiple opportunities to just let this go and not make a fool of yourself. This is the last one."
The guy scoffed. Some claws grew on his fingers and made a hole in the seat. Karni sighed. He just summoned his martial soul and showed his black soul ring.
"F-four? Black? I…"
"Yeah, so can you fuck off now?" Karni used the most effective option, with least senseless hardship. He wondered what kind of school life this guy led until now. Maybe this test will serve as a reality check.
He left without saying another word, sitting alone, not wanting to face the others. The trip was peaceful afterwards. Except for the worry and realisation. He usually wouldn't show off something as important as a black Soul Ring. Especially not something as trivial as this.
Oh no. Hormones were already here.
… … …
Siduo nudged Karni from his slumber and pointed at the window. Shrek City was in sight. It… It was fucking amazing. The walls somehow felt both ancient yet a marvel of technology. Skyscrapers could be seen from the city, yet the city wasn't made of metal, it still felt serene.
The highest of the buildings was the distant Spirit Pagoda. It was so much bigger than the one in Star Luo City! And that one was one of the Eighteen Pillars of Heaven! How many layers did this one have? It must have more than 70. Maybe even 80. The one in Star Luo City had only 13!
Rows of soul cars and railroads ran inside the city. They had to wait for about thirty minutes before they finally got their turn at the border. The people were proper more so due to the academy's reputation. In terms of guards at the border, only two mechas were present. Surprisingly non-strict. But then again, no one in close proximity acted remotely pushy.
The wall was more than armed enough to deal with any trouble from the outside. While going out of the city seemed to be much easier than going inside it. On the other side of the border, there was no waiting line, cars were passing through smoothly. Was it also due to the holiday season that the entrance was so packed?
Entering through the city, a whole different world greeted them. Compared to the outside, this place somehow looked more green. The plant life was incredibly rich, even connected to the buildings. It was a style he's never seen before.
"Hey, um. You're leaning a bit too close." Siduo grumbled quietly. Karni was bewitched by the scenery outside the window, he didn't realise he was basically on top of her.
He backed off quickly and coughed, before leaning into her again, just a bit less. The view was just too beautiful to miss!
They stepped off and stretched. Shrek City. He has finally reached Shrek City! Arguably the most important place in all of the Douluo Dalu series. He was really fanboying right now. It was like seeing a celebrity in person! Except the celebrity was a beautiful, lush, green yet modern place!
Contrary to his look of excitement, Siduo had a look of nostalgia. Karni raised his eyebrows and whispered. "In which generation were you in? Yuhao's? Later? Before? I remember you knowing a lot about that time."
Siduo sighed and smiled. "You know I can't tell you that. I'll just say yes to every one of those."
Karni was happy. He can at least know something for a change. From Ten Thousand Years ago. No hearing impairment this time.
"Alright students, gather." The official from Star Luo City called them over. "For the next week, you can explore the city as you wish, though I suggest you prepare your minds for the exam instead of that. If you manage to enter, you will have more than enough time to explore the city afterwards. We all want you to bring glory to our Star Luo City!"
Then he nodded at Teacher Ye, who stepped forward. "We'll be staying in the hotel 20 minutes away from the Shrek Academy. Because of that, we want you early at the end of the week and for you to not stay awake late into the night in those last days. We'll have a final briefing on Friday evening, before the exams start. Now then, follow us to the hotel."
Indeed. Walking around this place was even better. The air was soothing, the shade was natural and no matter where in the city you were, a giant tree offered its grand presence at its very centre.
They reached what could be considered a very normal looking hotel. This was Shrek City after all. Star Luo City didn't want to buy some expensive ones here. It cost three times as much as expensive hotels in other cities, even if they didn't look any different. From the price they paid for this hotel, they might as well have bought an expansive one anyway.
Each of the students had their own room, all eight of them were close. Four of them on the left side of the hallway, the other four on the other side of the hallway. The adults were also staying next to them.
Just as Karni got comfortable, he got a message from Teacher Ye, telling him to meet her in her room. He stepped out of his room and noticed Siduo opened her door as well—then Li Tai and Yu Tian as well.
All of them headed to Teacher Ye's room together. The teacher's room didn't look any different from theirs. It was cramped with all of them in it.
"I hope you're already aware of this, but you can't go explore the city during this week. You are to stay in this room and cultivate. Focus your minds on the task at hand. Failure is not an option for the Special Class. If one of you isn't accepted, then that person can say goodbye to Star Luo City Advanced Academy as well. You'll be on your own."
The short orders already took them for a ride. From disappointment, to understanding, to a bit of fear and anxiety. Even if they knew they were one of the best in the academy, this was Shrek Academy they were talking about here!
They were sent back to their rooms. Karni and Siduo communicated a bit with the Soul Communicators before saying goodbye. All four would enter isolated meditation for a week. Teacher Ye herself would make sure they got the food on time. This felt like the last crunch before a written test to Karni, and it almost was, except without the written part.
While they couldn't grow much in this short time, they could certainly focus themselves. To prepare themselves and perform to the best of their abilities. Thinking about it, Karni didn't want to end up like a certain main character of this time. No last second adventures to the auction house for him.
… … …
Karni opened his eyes and looked through the window. It was starting to become light outside. The clock said it was almost 6 in the morning. He stretched himself and took a quick shower. Finally he'll be stepping out of this hotel room after a week. His mind was calm, his body in perfect condition.
He wandered down to the lobby area. The teacher was already there, but the others weren't yet. It was mostly empty. It seemed that no other group chose this hotel for the week.
Not ten minutes after he arrived, the other girl from Star Luo Academy with the Table Grill Martial Soul came down with a girl from another academy. Karni gave them a polite greeting.
"I really don't know if I'll make it. I'm only rank 26. Barely eligible to even enter." The foreign girl was putting her worries on Wen Bao.
Karni raised his eyebrows. Instead of Wen Bao comforting her, Karni did. "If the city chose you, when you're rank 26, then there must be something special about you or your Martial Soul. Otherwise they'd choose some other Soul Elder. Our own academy had a bunch more of them you know? Yet the city chose you. Have some confidence. You're taking the Shrek Exam here."
The unknown girl blinked, not expecting Karni to give her a pep talk. "You're nicer than you appeared. On the bus you seemed kind of arrogant."
Karni scratched his head. "Sorry about that. I'm just not good at dealing with a certain type of people."
"That's fine. The name's Liu Liu. You're Val Karni, right?"
Karni nodded. "What's your Martial Soul? It makes me curious seeing as it's so special to give you the slot."
She smiled. "I'll tell you if I enter, after all, like you said, I should have some confidence in myself right?"
"It's amazing what effects Karni can have right?" Siduo walked down, smiling. "He can be oddly persuasive at times, no? I wonder who he got it from." She leaned onto Karni, clearly pointing to herself.
Karni looked at the arm leaning onto him. "I seem to remember you being embarrassed when I leaned onto you. So this is fine then?"
Siduo backed off quickly, her tongue searching for words, but finding nothing to say back. Now that was rare. She just smacked him softly on the shoulder and sat down next to him.
"Ohh." Liu Liu whispered to Wen Bao. "So they're like that?"
"I can hear that you know." Karni smiled. "My Martial Soul relies on sound."
"You blond idiot," Siduo interrupted, "I can hear it too, and I don't have a Sound based Martial Soul."
Karni shrugged. "Yeah, but you're a cat."
Liu Liu turned to Wen Bao. "Are they always like that?"
Wen Bao shook her head. "How should I know? I don't hang out with them. Ask those two."
Li Tai and Yu Tian just walked into the lobby.
… … …
The group of eight plus two teachers left the hotel and stepped onto the public bus. They quickly arrived at the academy entrance, the public transport was well maintained in the city.
Karni looked at the giant gateway. Could this be considered an entrance to an academy? It was more of an entrance to a whole different country than an academy.
There were hundreds of other students here. Likely above a thousand. The crowd here wasn't rowdy at all. In fact, most of them were nervous in silent contemplation. There were only a few confident or arrogant looks amongst them, including their "acquaintance" from the bus. Yet even people like him wore a layer of focus right now.
Above them, in the sky, a silver figure appeared out of nowhere. Majestic and bright. It caught everyone's attention.
"Welcome, exam takers, to the Shrek Exam, to our Shrek Academy. I hope your journeys here have been pleasant and peaceful." The look over the crowd could be felt by everyone. Pleasant words, unpleasant presence. The air itself thickened due to the pressure.
"I am the Headmistress of our Outer Court. You may refer to me as Elder Cai, should you pass. Now then, I wish you all luck. Hopefully, you're better than the batch three years ago."
The woman vanished. Short and domineering. The atmosphere changed. Many of the calm people began to panic and whispers spread everywhere.
From the side, Karni could, in the distance, hear that they were yelling for students to enter and confirm their registration. He quickly led the group forwards. Was this intentional? Many of the people here didn't pick up on this. He was lucky enough to hear it because of his Martial Soul.
They stumbled through the crowd as fast as possible, finally reaching the front and confirming their registration. They were led through a huge gate. Looking back, other examinees only now realised they should go and register. Just what did that person do?
Elder Cai. That was familiar. Elder Cai. Silvery person. The Silver Moon Douluo. Wait. Wasn't that that bitch of an elder from the story, the one that was always acting like she controls everything? Karni remembered now. He didn't have many fond feelings for the character. He was hoping they wouldn't meet her. She was the living proof that even great institutions like Shrek Academy had their bad apples.
Well. The readers did only see her side in regards to Tang Wulin's group. And that group were troublemakers no matter how highly he thought of them. Maybe he's judging too soon.
He shook off his thoughts. Unlike Tang Wulin's group, their group was taking the normal exam. Well, Tang Wulin has yet to take that test, as it should happen a few hours in the future but still. They should be fine. Karni's group didn't do anything wrong. Tang Wulin's group was late. They aren't.
Karni noticed a different elder waiting for them. A group of about 50 students had gathered already yet they still haven't started the exam. Were they waiting for everyone?
He turned towards Siduo. For the first time in a long while, he could see some nervousness in her. He grabbed her hand. "It'll be fine." He said unconvincingly.
Siduo just stared at him. Karni was confused. It looked like she was processing some information and it was taking her a while. Like a computer stuck at 99 percent.
She looked down at the arm, and shook it loose, then shook her head as well, hiding the redness that appeared. He caught her completely off guard. "Damn it. I hate puberty. I can't properly control my emotions. I'm acting like a teenager."
Karni almost burst out laughing, but managed to keep it in. "But we are teenagers. Physically." The scene almost made him forget where he was. It wasn't everyday he got to see Siduo turn red.
"Thanks." She said, closing her eyes. She opened them up again. "That helped me get my bearings back." The eyes were releasing an icy cold calmness. She was ready to take the exam. Karni could feel some Soul Power fluctuating from her as well, helping her to keep calm.
Somehow this calmed Karni down too. He circulated his Soul Power as well. It really did help. He focused, forgetting the distractions.
He looked ahead, then behind. So many people, and only a few would enter Shrek. This was it. He had to be one of those. This was his future. This was his promised land.