**Chapter 9: My Name is Bai Lu**
Based on how Bai Lu addresses Tang Yuehua, Gu Ziyi also deduced that Bai Lu is not Bai Chenxiang's mother but rather her aunt.
She must be Bai He's daughter, the leader of the Min Clan.
Only Bai He's daughter could be Tang Yuehua's cousin.
It seems Bai Chenxiang's appearance is very similar to her father's, so she resembles her aunt a lot.
I just don't know if Bai Chenxiang will appear in the future due to my interference.
"Professor, here's my registration fee!"
After Tang Yuehua and Bai Lu successfully registered, Gu Ziyi also completed his registration.
"Professor, do we have many students in the first year? Will they be divided into classes?"
After paying the registration fee, Gu Ziyi also asked the professor about his doubts.
No matter how ordinary a school is, it's still a normal academy. Unlike Shrek Academy, which not only has strict admission requirements but also has so few students that there's no need for class divisions.
In normal schools, it's rare not to divide students into classes.
Unless you're forming an elite team, there's no need to consider age and level but instead focus more on team compatibility and synergy.
However, intermediate Soul Master academies generally don't form elite teams. Only advanced academies do that.
Because only those who reach advanced academies are eligible to participate in the Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, held every five years.
Before Shrek Academy merged with Blue Tyrant Academy, it was just an intermediate academy and wasn't even qualified to participate.
"Probably not. Except for a few who registered today, the total number of students interested in joining our academy is only about thirty, so there's no need to divide them into classes!"
The admissions professor casually responded to Gu Ziyi's question.
"Ah, I see. Okay, thanks, professor!"
Gu Ziyi thanked him and left the office.
The reason for his question was that if there were separate classes, Gu Ziyi wanted to be in the same class as Tang Yuehua and Bai Lu.
Now that there was only one class, he didn't have to worry about that.
After leaving the office, Gu Ziyi headed to the dormitory provided by the academy.
This time, he was assigned to a four-person dormitory. Gu Ziyi took a look and found that it wasn't bad.
Compared to the large dormitory for working students at the Junior Soul Master Academy, where more than 20 male and female students had to live together, this environment was much better.
Gu Ziyi then briefly met his three roommates.
After a quiet night.
The next day, the first-year students gathered in the assembly hall.
There were a total of 38 freshmen this year.
"First of all, congratulations on becoming first-year students at our Tianbao Academy. I am your headmaster, Li Xing!"
"In the coming years, I hope all students..." (Cue long, boring speech)
In the hall, Headmaster Li Xing continued talking, and Gu Ziyi only listened to the beginning, having no interest in the rest of the tedious monologue.
'I really didn't expect to suffer through this kind of torture at a Douluo Continent academy.'
'I remember there wasn't this kind of thing at Liusha Academy!'
Half an hour later, the headmaster's speech finally came to an end.
Then, Gu Ziyi and the class met their homeroom teacher, who introduced himself and led them to the classroom.
"This is our first-year classroom. Please find a seat and sit down!"
After bringing the students to the classroom, the teacher, Yang Hui, told them to choose their own seats.
Hearing Yang Hui, the homeroom teacher, say this, Gu Ziyi's heart stirred slightly, and he quietly moved closer to Tang Yuehua and Bai Lu.
"Cousin, come here quickly, let's sit here!"
Bai Lu quickly made her way to the last row without anyone noticing and claimed two seats in the corner of the room. She sat near the window and called for Tang Yuehua to sit in the seat next to her.
"She's really fast. She's truly worthy of being a Min Clan Soul Master!"
Gu Ziyi secretly praised in his heart and then quickly moved to sit in the last row as well, in the seat right next to Tang Yuehua, though separated by an aisle.
(Note: The classroom setup seems to have three rows of seats, with two desks connected in each row, forming pairs of seats like this: OO | OO | OO [O = seat; | = aisle])
After he sat down, Tang Yuehua slowly made her way to the seat Bai Lu had saved for her.
Before sitting down, Tang Yuehua glanced at Gu Ziyi and immediately recognized him.
'Isn't this the boy who stared blankly at us yesterday?' (Tang Yuehua)
'Turns out he's also a freshman this year!' (Tang Yuehua)
"Hello, classmate Tang Yuehua, my name is Gu Ziyi, and we'll be classmates from now on. It's nice to meet you!"
Seeing Tang Yuehua looking in his direction, Gu Ziyi smiled lightly and introduced himself.
"How do you know my name?"
Tang Yuehua was a bit surprised to hear him call her by name.
"…"
"I registered right after you yesterday, so I overheard your introduction to the admissions professor!"
Gu Ziyi explained, feeling a bit speechless, as he hadn't expected her not to notice him standing right behind her yesterday.
"Oh, hello, classmate Gu Ziyi!"
Tang Yuehua smiled awkwardly after hearing his explanation.
"Now that everyone has chosen their seats, let's start with introductions from the first row. Let's go around and introduce ourselves!"
"Students in the front, you go first!"
At that moment, before Gu Ziyi and Tang Yuehua could say more, the teacher at the podium spoke again, asking the boy in the first row to his left to introduce himself.
"Okay, teacher!"
"My name is Wang Defa. I'm 12 years old. I'm a battle Soul Master. My martial spirit is a 'Soul Beast-Eating Flower.' My Soul Power level is 15!"
"My name is Zhang Wuniu. I'm 12 years old. I'm a battle Soul Master. My martial spirit is the 'Fenghuang.' My Soul Power level is 11!"
(Note: I changed his martial spirit from 'Fenghanma' because I couldn't find a reference. 'Fenghuang' is a mythological bird said to rule over all birds, which seemed fitting. Feng means 'wind' in Chinese, according to Google, so I thought it might have originally meant something like 'Spirit of the Wind,' but I'm not sure.)
"My name is Lai Zixuan…"
Thus, the students began introducing themselves, mainly sharing their age, martial spirit, and Soul Power level. Only a few mentioned their likes, dislikes, and hobbies.
A few with higher innate Soul Power proudly discussed their abilities, but most didn't say much.
Soon, it was Gu Ziyi's turn, sitting near the end of the row.
"My name is Gu Ziyi; I'm 12 years old; an auxiliary Soul Master. My martial spirit is a tool-type martial spirit, a Talisman martial spirit. My Soul Power level is 12!"
Gu Ziyi gave a simple introduction like most of the class.
As for his Soul Power level, Gu Ziyi had only reached level 12 a few days ago.
Most students in the class were below level 15, with a few at level 17 or 18. Currently, there were no great Soul Masters above level 20.
In fact, there were two people below level 10, one at level 8 and another at level 9!
Compared to the future Shrek Academy, the power levels here were nothing. Many people above level 20 were simply eliminated during Shrek Academy's admissions.
Therefore, Tianbao Academy was just a very ordinary intermediate Soul Master academy.
I don't know why Tang Yuehua and Bai Lu came here.
Then it was Tang Yuehua's turn to introduce herself.
"I… my name is Tang Yuehua; I'm 12 years old; my martial spirit is the Noble Ring; my Soul Power level… is only 9."
When introducing her Soul Power level, Tang Yuehua's voice grew softer.
The students had already noticed Tang Yuehua and Bai Lu because both were very beautiful and had extraordinary temperaments.
So everyone had been curious about them for a while. Now they were surprised to learn that Tang Yuehua's Soul Power was only level 9, though it wasn't the lowest in the class.
Bang—
However, before everyone could dwell on the surprising news, Bai Lu slammed her hand on the desk and stood up before Tang Yuehua could sit down after her introduction.
"My name is Bai Lu, and I'm a level 22 great Soul Master!"
…
(End of chapter)
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There are some parts of the text that I modified, as you can see in my notes. But I would like to know if you find these comments in the middle of the text acceptable, or would you prefer something more discreet?