"Give me two sausages," Leo said as he walked up to Oscar's cart, feeling bored and seeing that there were no students behind him.
"Sure thing, buddy! Here you go. Five copper soul coins," Oscar said, beaming from ear to ear. He never expected to have a customer so soon after setting up his stall.
Leo took the sausages Oscar handed him and then took out a gold soul coin from his spatial ring and gave it to Oscar.
Oscar took the coin and stared at it blankly. He was dumbfounded. His heart sank. He had thought he had a great start with a sale right away, but he couldn't make change for the gold soul coin!
"Can't make change?" Leo found it a bit funny seeing Oscar's dilemma. Going into business and not being able to change a gold soul coin?
"Er..." Oscar scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Just keep it. Consider it an advance payment for future sausages. I'll come get them when I want some," Leo said, trying to help Oscar out.
A gold soul coin was nothing to Leo. He could easily say he didn't need the change, but he didn't do that. After all, they didn't know each other, and he would be staying here for a while. They'd be seeing each other often, and there was no need to make Oscar owe him a favor.
"Alright, thanks for your business, buddy! I'll give you a discount next time," Oscar said, his spirits soaring. But his joy was short - lived.
"Oscar, what are you doing?!" It was Blake, leading several new students over. They were Ryan, Xiao Wu, Ava, and Aria.
The future famous Rekdo Seven Monsters finally gathered today!
The moment Oscar saw Blake, he felt like it was the end of the world. He figured he wouldn't be able to do business today, and he might even have to return the gold soul coin he just got.
"Brother Dai, would you like a sausage?" Oscar asked, trying to curry favor.
But all he got in return was a scolding: "Oscar, you're such an embarrassment to the school! I've warned you more than once not to sell sausages in the academy. Do you want everyone to throw up?"
After that, Blake turned to Leo and kindly reminded him, "Leo, you shouldn't eat these sausages."
"It's okay. Aren't the foods made by food - type martial souls for helping soul masters?" Leo didn't think much of it. He was just curious about the taste.
Oscar, who had looked dejected after hearing Blake's words, suddenly lit up when he heard Leo's response. Finally, someone understood! It was a relief.
Oscar immediately looked up to the sky with a pleading expression.
"It's you!" Just as Leo finished speaking, a person stepped out from behind and pointed at Leo in slight surprise.
"Hello, beauty. What a coincidence to meet again," Leo said with a smile, greeting the person.
The person talking to Leo was none other than Aria, who was at the end of the line.
"You know him?" Blake frowned slightly when he saw Aria's surprised look.
"Yeah, we met in Zitara Mountains. There was a group of bandits there," Leo said before Aria could answer.
Blake was the third prince of the Star Luo Empire, and Aria was the daughter of the noble Zhu family in the Star Luo Empire. The two families had arranged a marriage for them since childhood. Leo didn't want this to cause any misunderstandings.
Of course, Leo wasn't afraid of the Star Luo Empire or Blake. Even without his wife's help, he alone could take on the Star Luo Empire. He was the youngest dual - martial - soul titled Evans on the whole continent, and a level - 100 titled Evans at that. His reputation was no joke.
The reason he explained was mainly because he would be getting along with them as classmates in the future, and he didn't want such a small thing to ruin the relationship.
"You met bandits in Zitara Mountains?" Blake asked hurriedly upon hearing Leo's answer.
"What's it to you?" Aria rolled her eyes and then turned her head away, ignoring Blake.
At this time, Aria had no feelings for Blake at all. After all, Blake's reputation as a playboy was well - known in the capital of the Star Luo Empire. Naturally, a cold - and - aloof girl like Aria wouldn't like him.
Hearing Aria's words, Blake felt extremely embarrassed. There were so many juniors watching. It was really embarrassing!
To ease his embarrassment, Blake could only look at Leo awkwardly. He obviously wanted to know what had happened in Zitara Mountains from Leo and also find a way out for himself.
"It's no big deal. Just a bunch of losers. No one got hurt, and they were all chased away in the end," Leo replied calmly.
Although Leo spoke calmly, Aria didn't agree. A bunch of losers? They were a group of dozens of bandits composed of Great Soul Masters, and the leader was even a Soul Lord! But with her personality, she wouldn't stand up to explain.
"Oh," Blake let out a sigh of relief when he heard that the bandits were chased away and Aria wasn't hurt.
After answering, Leo held the two sausages and nodded to Ryan and the others beside him as a greeting, then went back to the queue.
When Ryan saw that all the new students were queuing up, he was about to take Xiao Wu over, but Blake stopped him: "You guys don't need to queue. I'll take you directly to the fourth round."
"Is that okay?" Ryan looked at the queuing students and then at Leo.
Blake smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'm not showing favoritism. This is what you deserve."
Hearing this, Ryan shrugged at Xiao Wu and then followed Blake, bypassing Leo's queue and heading towards the fourth - round test area.
"What about Leo?" Aria stopped when she passed by Leo.
"He..." Blake was at a loss for words. He didn't know how to explain to Aria.
Judging from the martial soul Leo showed outside, his strength was definitely not a problem. But his soul power was only level 20 and didn't meet the requirement of level 25 to skip the previous rounds. So he wasn't included.
But he was too embarrassed to say it directly. Leo might get resentful, especially since Leo had helped him out earlier.
Fortunately, at this moment, a few kids in the queue in front heard that Blake was taking several new students to skip the previous rounds. They immediately got upset. One of the male examinees even stepped forward and pointed at Ryan and the others, asking the teacher in charge of the exemption, "Teacher, what's going on? Why can they go directly to the fourth round while we have to go through each round one by one?"
"If any of you have soul power over level 25, you can also go directly to the fourth - round test without wasting time here. But your soul power is only level 21, so you have to go through each test one by one," the teacher in charge of the test explained patiently.
"What? How is that possible! Their soul power is over level 25?" Hearing this, all the queuing examinees except Leo looked disbelieving.
Seeing so many people not believing, Blake sneered contemptuously and said, "Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others can't. When I entered the academy, my soul power was level 25. Ryan, show them your soul power."
As he spoke, Blake picked up a white crystal ball from the table and handed it to Ryan.
Ryan took the crystal ball, took a deep breath, and injected his soul power into it. In an instant, the crystal ball shone brightly, emitting a dazzling light.
"This... This soul power!" The queuing examinees were stunned when they saw the reaction of the crystal ball. Their faces were filled with disbelief.
"Hmph, believe it now," Blake said triumphantly.
Leo watched this scene from the side, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly. He thought to himself, "That protagonist aura is something else. Wherever he goes, he can make a splash."
After Ryan showed his soul power, he looked at Leo again. Their eyes met in the air. Although they didn't speak, it seemed that they both saw something special in each other's eyes - the anticipation for the future and the desire to become a powerful person.
Just then, the teacher in charge of the second - round test came over and shouted loudly, "The rest of you, get ready for the second - round test!"
Leo withdrew his gaze, patted the little fox on his shoulder, and said softly, "Little guy, it's time for us to continue the challenge." Then he followed the other examinees and walked towards the second - round test area...