"Please extend your hand. I need to check your Bone Age; it is a standard procedure," the teacher maintained a professional composure, but his tone carried a hint of unquestionable seriousness.
"No problem."
Furina extended her left hand as requested; her wrist was slender, and her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. The teacher extended two fingers, placed them on her wrist, and injected a faint trace of Soul Power.
A moment later, the last of the calm on his face finally crumbled, replaced by a look of clear astonishment, even a hint of disbelief. "Bone Age shows... fourteen?! This... this is indeed over the age limit."
He paused, lowered his hand, and his expression became increasingly grave, even tinged with a bit of regret. "Young lady, according to the academy's written regulations, the minimum Soul Power requirement for new students is Rank 21, and reaching Rank 25 allows one to skip the preliminary trial. But considering your age... it's a bit over the limit. I believe you would need to reach at least the Rank 30 Soul Elder Realm before there's even a slim chance of applying for special admission or skipping the preliminary trial. This requirement is extremely high."
"Rank 30?" A meaningful smile played at the corners of Furina's lips, and her heterochromatic eyes sparkled with a cunning light, as if she had heard something amusing. "It seems... we're being underestimated, Yuhao."
As soon as she finished speaking, a gentle yet undeniable wave of Soul Power surged out from her as the center.
Immediately after, four spirit rings rose slowly from beneath her feet without warning—two purple and two black! This terrifying spirit ring configuration, which completely defied common knowledge, radiated a heart-palpitating glow under the afterglow of the setting sun.
"Allow me to introduce myself," Furina's voice remained soft, yet it carried an invisible force that struck the hearts of everyone present. "Furina, Martial Soul: cake. Rank 47 food system Tool Soul Ancestor. I wonder if this strength is enough to make up for that tiny, insignificant age gap?"
The teacher responsible for registration widened his eyes instantly, his mouth opening instinctively and then snapping shut, repeating this several times before finally stammering out a few words after a long while: "This... this... how is this possible?! food system... Rank 47?! And these spirit rings..." The scene before him completely overturned the inherent understanding of the Spirit Master Cultivation system he had held for decades.
A fourteen-year-old food system Soul Ancestor was already shocking news enough to shake the entire Spirit Master world, let alone the Heaven-Defying configuration where the first two spirit rings were Thousand-year and the latter two jumped straight to ten thousand years! This was a ruthless subversion of all known spirit ring absorption theories.
Even the contemporary Shrek Seven Devils, whom the academy had poured all its resources into cultivating, seemed to pale in comparison to this young girl's talent.
Before the teacher could fully recover from this massive shock, Huo Yuhao, who had been standing quietly beside Furina, also took a step forward at the right time. His tone was respectful yet neither humble nor arrogant: "Hello, Teacher. My name is Huo Yuhao, eleven years old. Martial Soul: Spirit Eyes. Rank 31 control system Battle Soul Elder."
Following his words, one white, one purple, and one black—three spirit rings that also defied conventional logic—slowly circulated around him.
Although the first spirit ring was a simple Ten-year white one, that second Thousand-year purple spirit ring and the third black spirit ring, deep as the night and remarkably also at the ten thousand years level, struck the teacher's heart like a heavy hammer once again.
"Another... another little monster! An eleven-year-old Soul Elder! What... what is going on with this year's freshmen?!" The teacher felt his breathing become difficult, and his mind went blank.
These two freshmen he encountered today, with their absolutely abnormal strength, easily broke the enrollment records Shrek Academy had maintained for countless years and even overturned many basic Cultivation theories.
Not far away, Bei Bei and Tang Ya, who had taken all of this in, could only look at each other with bitter smiles. Their faces were written with the helplessness of "having known it would be like this" and a bit of sympathy for the poor admissions teacher.
After all, when they first witnessed Furina's bottomless strength and Huo Yuhao's equally startling potential, their reactions weren't necessarily much better than this teacher's.
Furina waved her hand elegantly, and the oppressive light of the spirit rings around her instantly retracted. As if she had only done a trivial thing, she looked at the still-dazed teacher with a smile and asked in a relaxed tone, "So, Teacher, I wonder if our current level meets your academy's admission standards? If it's still not enough, perhaps we can think of other ways..." she intentionally trailed off.
The teacher jolted awake, finally coming back to his senses from the extreme shock. His face was instantly filled with unprecedented enthusiasm and even a hint of a panicked smile. He hurriedly nodded his head like a chick pecking at grain. "It meets! Of course it meets! One hundred percent meets! It doesn't just meet them; you are geniuses the academy could only dream of! Please wait a moment, both of you. I will handle the highest-grade enrollment procedures for you right now! All tests are waived!"
He clumsily took out two special forms with gold-leaf edges, his attitude more than ten times more respectful than before. Even his hand holding the pen trembled slightly due to excitement.
While quickly filling in the basic information, he couldn't help but steal glances at these two "monster" freshmen from the corner of his eye.
A strong intuition told him that the arrival of these two young people was far more than just injecting fresh blood into Shrek Academy.
Their illogical strength and talent were like two giant boulders thrown into a calm lake, bound to stir up unpredictable waves deep within this Thousand-year-old academy.
This storm might be far more violent than anyone could imagine and might even change the future landscape of the academy and the entire continent.
Furina took the forms and filled in her information fluently, every stroke appearing calm and unhurried. Her gaze inadvertently swept across the depths of Shrek Academy, toward the magnificent complex of buildings hidden among the ancient trees, and a flicker of hard-to-detect anticipation flashed in her eyes.
This place gathered the top young Spirit Masters of the continent and would be a crucial part of her grand plan. It was also the perfect venue for her to find the best partners who shared her goals and could face the future's trials together.
Huo Yuhao's expression appeared relatively calm, but deep within those Spirit Eyes, there was a similar glimmer of yearning for the unknown future and a thirst for power.
After all, only by becoming stronger could he protect those he cherished, and protect Sister Furina.
As the final procedure was stamped with the seal representing Shrek Academy's authority, the teacher carefully handed two shimmering badges, representing their status as official students of Shrek Academy, to Furina and Huo Yuhao. His tone was incredibly solemn: "Welcome, you two geniuses, to officially joining Shrek Academy. May you succeed in your studies here and have a brilliant future!"
Furina took the heavy badge, her fingertips lightly stroking the complex Shrek monster emblem on its surface, then briskly pinned it to the most prominent position on her chest. The golden glow of the setting sun happened to spill over her exquisite and perfect profile and the brand-new badge, reflecting a smile that mixed confidence, anticipation, and a hint of ambition.
The new stage had been set, and her headhunting... oh no, her journey to find partners, officially began here.
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