In the blink of an eye, the first day of senior year arrived.
Well, it was the start of the Spirit Studies program; regular arts and science students had already been drowning in a sea of exam questions.
"Spirit Studies campus, Class Two."
Su Hao's high school was the top key school in Ancheng. Before the world changed, over 90% of each graduating class could get into undergraduate programs, and nearly half could get into first-tier universities... but that was all in the past.
Today, Su Hao arrived at an unfamiliar campus, right next to the regular one. It took up more space, but only had senior-year students—barely over a hundred in total.
No wonder the annual tuition and fees for Spirit Studies were fifty thousand, and that was after subsidies from both the government and the Spirit Tamer Alliance.
Considering the campus,
I'll, uh, bear with it.
From a distance, Su Hao spotted Liu Ren's big, pancake-like face.
He waved and bellowed, "Su Hao, you're a two too?"
Su Hao's forehead creased with exasperation. He quickened his pace, pretending not to know him.
"Hey, wait up, slow down! I mean you're in Class Two, and I'm in Class Two too."
"How do you know?"
Su Hao wasn't like Liu Ren, who spent all day chatting in group chats and posting on social media, spilling everything.
"Heh, inside info. So this is your silkworm, huh? Sure looks appetizing... cough, I mean, way cuter than my turtle!"
The charcoal fire turtle waddling past Liu Ren's feet suddenly spat out a few sparks, leaving a few scorch marks on his pant leg.
Liu Ren's eyes went wide, and he was about to explode with rage...
"Whoa, Master Turtle, I'm sorry!"
Seeing smoke rising from the charcoal fire turtle's mouth and nose, Liu Ren immediately followed his gut instinct.
The charcoal fire turtle abandoned Liu Ren and shuffled forward at a pace like an old man strolling through the park.
The plump silkworm lay sprawled on top of Su Hao's head, like a green... cough, a goose-yellow hat.
It was enthusiastically greeting every spirit it saw.
"Guno!"
"Gunoo—"
Little peas, fuzzballs, prairie wolves, striped crocodiles, tiny rolling stones, mini pigs—all common and cheap spirits.
Su Hao had crammed on spirit knowledge; with a glance, he could name every spirit he saw.
Liu Ren's focus was on the newbie spirit tamers.
"That guy's from Class Three, that one's from Class Four. Oh, that's Lin Zeyan from Class One—the genius with a soul strength of 1.8 from the last test."
"Four spirit classes?"
"Yeah, one more than last year's batch. I wonder if the spirit universities are expanding enrollment this year. If not, cough, getting into one's gonna be tough."
"You worried about not getting in?"
"Gotta be. My dad said if I spend this much money and still don't get into a good spirit university, he'll break my legs... I've gotta at least act like it's hard, right?"
Liu Ren looked as pitiful as a 130-pound pancake.
But it only lasted a second. Then he leaned in mysteriously and said, "You know where that freak from Class Five with the 2.1 soul strength went?"
"Where? Not at our school?"
Su Hao hadn't understood much back then, but after learning more basics, he knew a soul strength over 2.0 for a soon-to-be senior was indeed rare.
Maybe Ancheng only had one this year.
"He got poached by Yunhua Affiliated High School. Word is he can get direct admission to Yunhua Spirit University!"
There were two types of spirit universities.
One was comprehensive universities with spirit colleges; the other was specialized spirit universities, usually named XX Spirit University or even after a specific spirit.
Flamebird University was a top-tier spirit school, and Dragon City University, though comprehensive, had a spirit college campus bigger than its main one, with strong faculty—no different from a specialized spirit university.
Either way, each year, they admitted very few students, and there were few schools.
The entire Tiannan Province only had five schools with spirit-related programs.
Yunhua Spirit University was the standout.
Direct admission said it all.
Liu Ren's voice dripped with envy and jealousy.
Su Hao had only been transmigrated for a dozen days, so he didn't have a strong sense of it.
"Is a soul strength above 2.0 really that impressive? And... wouldn't raising two spirits at once make it hard to focus on both?"
Liu Ren explained sourly, "Yunhua Affiliated will definitely plan it out for him. Even his starter spirits are school-gifted—I heard it's a little stone elephant and a fire glow bug. Having two spirits in combat isn't as simple as 1+1=2, and with the feedback, his soul power grows twice as fast as ours... You should know, besides contracting spirits, soul power can also assist in spirit battles."
He looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, sighing dramatically, "Ah, paying up can't beat luck."
"Get lost."
Poverty made Su Hao's face ugly.
As they talked, they reached the teaching building.
The Spirit Studies campus had only one teaching building, plus facilities like equipment rooms and battle halls. All buildings took up only a small part of the campus; most of the area was turned into different outdoor training environments.
Like forests, water zones, abandoned metal factory areas, rugged rock zones... Regular students might not get it, but Su Hao knew that training spirits in environments matching their attributes could bring subtle benefits.
Hmm, though there was no environment for fire-type spirits—probably due to cost.
Few students on campus had fire-type spirits either.
Those who could get fire-type or rarer attribute spirits probably wouldn't worry about training environments.
All solvable with money.
Su Hao wasn't jealous. Hmph (｀へ′)!
Senior year,
The Spirit Studies Class Two classroom was spacious, with empty space around each seat for spirits.
Spirits had to attend class too!
Many training methods were better taught to both students and spirits together, rather than just to students who then taught their spirits.
Spirits entering their growth stage had intelligence comparable to eleven- or twelve-year-old kids.
Su Hao had spent a lot of time wandering the campus, so the classroom was already half-full.
Everyone was chatting about spirit-related topics.
When the two of them appeared, they drew attention.
The boys mostly focused on Liu Ren's spirit.
Su Hao scanned the room and noticed Liu Ren's charcoal fire turtle was still the only fire-type spirit in the class.
The girls, meanwhile, had their eyes sparkling as they stared at Su Hao... and the silkworm on his head.
Cuteness activated, female classmate好感+1+1+1+1.
If Su Hao made a move, getting a few QQ or WeChat numbers would be a breeze.
But he wasn't interested.
Wasn't playing with spirits or reading novels more fun?
Female classmates were just a source of trouble!
Soon, the bell rang, and the homeroom teacher walked in with a roster.
She was a female teacher, not the easygoing type.
Her stern face and aura instantly silenced the classroom.
Many excited students, sensing the shift in atmosphere, scratched their heads and obediently returned to their seats.
The teacher tapped the blackboard and wrote 'Chen Fangjie' on it.
"I'm your homeroom teacher for this year. My surname is Chen, and I'll be in charge of your studies and training."
"You've finished your cultural courses in your first two years. This year, the main subjects are spirit cultivation, training, and commanding spirits in battle... including your own physical fitness."
She rested her right hand on the lectern and swept her cold gaze across the room:
"Some of you might think that with spirit feedback, you don't need to exercise, or that battle is the spirit's job. That's completely wrong!
A spirit tamer is never a commander hiding in the background; a spirit tamer is a spirit's comrade! An untrained spirit tamer will only hold their spirit back in battle! Don't think being a spirit tamer is easy!"
She paused, then softened her tone slightly:
"Don't neglect your regular cultural courses either. Keep doing practice tests. In the college entrance exam, besides spirit questions and battle assessments, cultural subjects still account for a significant portion of the score. Don't lose your chance to get into a spirit university because of cultural subjects."
After that rapid-fire speech, the senior-year students, who had just contracted their spirits and were all excited, felt like cold water had been dumped on them, their heads drooping.
They had a feeling life in Spirit Studies wouldn't be what they imagined.
Teacher Chen then called roll and had the students introduce themselves.
They got a basic understanding of each other.
"That's it for the class meeting. Next... hmm, scan the code to join the class group chat first. Change your nickname format to 'Name-Spirit'."
She picked up the remote and pressed a button, projecting a QR code onto the screen.
This move caught Su Hao off guard.
His sophomore year class group... wait, that was also set up by the homeroom teacher.
He hadn't said anything wrong, had he?