Chapter 8: Return, Flander's Shock
After a long and winding journey that took half a month, Oscar and Zhao Wuji returned to Shrek Academy.
The trip there and back took almost a month, and Oscar was less than two months away from his ninth birthday.
And now, not yet nine years old, he was already a Level 22 Soul Master, still nearly thirty-eight months away from the goal he had previously set of breaking through to Level 30 before turning twelve.
He was eight levels away from Level 30. If calculated on average, he would only need to advance one level every four-point-seven-five months, or nearly five months, to achieve this goal by age twelve.
However, considering Oscar's current cultivation speed of advancing one level every three to four months, he might break through to Level 30 around the age of eleven.
Of course, a Soul Master's cultivation becomes slower as they progress, but Oscar's efforts would certainly not diminish, so even so, barring any special circumstances, he could still break through to Level 30 before turning twelve.
Don't think this is exaggerated. After all, the Oscar of today is different from the original. Although the original Oscar breakthrough to Level 30 at fourteen as a food-type Soul Master was a genius, the original Oscar could not compare to the Oscar of today in terms of effort.
The Oscar of today almost used all his nights for cultivation. Although he spent his days training his physique and learning various knowledge in different ways, he would still cultivate whenever he had the time.
And as a super genius with innate full soul power, although the future is uncertain, for the current stage, Oscar's cultivation has almost no bottlenecks because his ceiling is so high.
Even if there were no rare treasures to further increase his cultivation speed, as long as he continued to train diligently, his cultivation would continue to rise.
This was undoubtedly a joy for Oscar, because this meant he wouldn't have to waste time desperately searching for treasures to enhance his talents like the male protagonist in a novel.
After all, although his talent was not the strongest on the continent, as a food-type Soul Master with innate full soul power, his talent was already unmatched at this stage.
As for the later stages, if the continent doesn't change too much, then Tang San will come to Shrek Academy just like in the original plot, and at that time, he just needs to maintain a good relationship with him as in the original.
After all, although this kid isn't very good to outsiders, to be honest, he's quite good to their Shrek Seven Devils and a few teachers.
As for the many mentions online of "Infinite Fire Domain has Old Yao, but the Divine Realm has no Yu Xiaogang," in Oscar's view, there was something to it.
So Oscar wouldn't comment on it too much.
Moreover, although Oscar wouldn't fawn over Tang San, he didn't really dislike the person all that much. After all, that was just a novel, and now he was in this world.
And precisely because of this, Oscar discovered that the novel and the real world are actually different.
Because the novel is written from the protagonist's perspective, and other characters are not described much, the real world is even more wonderful.
Soon, Oscar shook his head and stopped thinking about it. After all, no matter how he thought about it now, it was all just imagination; everything needed time to be verified.
That was why Oscar worked so hard, just in case Tang San didn't come to Shrek in the future? Or what if he came but didn't give him any immortal-grade medicinal herbs?
Oscar was actually clear about these unexpected situations in his heart. After all, if he could cross over, it was normal for there to be some plotlines that weren't in the original.
Zhao Wuji led Oscar towards Flander's office. Suddenly seeing Oscar shaking his head, he asked, "What's wrong, Xiao Ao?"
Oscar just smiled and replied, "Nothing, Teacher Zhao. I just thought about Hongjun. I haven't been these past few days, that guy has probably been slacking off. I was just thinking about how to 'bully' him, but then I remembered he's been quite hardworking these past few months, so I decided to let it go."
Hearing Oscar's words, Zhao Wuji chuckled, "You, not even nine years old and already so mature. If it weren't for the fact that we old fellows are still useful to you, I'd have thought you were one of the teachers at Shrek Academy!"
Hearing this, Oscar smiled slightly, "Hey, isn't that what a student should do? Besides, I'm the biggest in the academy now, so as the academy's big boss, it's only right to supervise the younger students."
Hearing this, Zhao Wuji smiled with satisfaction, "Xiao Ao, you are the most mature and steady student we've had in the twenty-plus years since Shrek was founded. If you could inherit the academy in the future..."
Zhao Wuji trailed off, glanced at Flander's dean's office which was just a short distance away, leaned close to Oscar's ear, and said in a low voice, "You'd definitely do a better job than that guy, Flander."
Hearing this, Oscar smiled, "Teacher Zhao is teasing me again. If our Dean heard that, I'm afraid your meager salary would be in jeopardy again."
Hearing this, Zhao Wuji's face suddenly changed, "Hey, I'm talking to you, kid. I'm so good to you normally, and you want to harm me, Old Zhao, is that it?"
Just then, the door to Flander's dean's office suddenly opened. Flander held a thermos, still wearing his black-framed square glasses, with a calm expression.
The old man opened the door and saw Oscar and Zhao Wuji who were already at the entrance. A hint of joy flashed in his eyes, and he asked, "How was the harvest this time? How much did Xiao Ao improve?"
Seeing Flander come out, Zhao Wuji gave Oscar a look, then went up to hug Flander and led him into the office, "Boss, Xiao Ao's luck this time was simply heaven-defying. We'll tell you slowly."
Hearing this, joy appeared in Flander's eyes again as he stared at Oscar as if he were seeing hope.
"Tell me."
When Zhao Wuji told Flander about Oscar's second soul skill's effect and his external soul bone, Flander was stunned on the spot after listening, as if the teacup in his hand had frozen.
Then, a visible excitement appeared on Flander's face. Not to mention Oscar's external soul bone, his second soul skill alone was already heaven-defying.
Not only could it neutralize toxins of the same level, but it also granted five minutes of immunity to negative effects, and this immunity had no level restrictions.
With just this function, when facing Soul Masters of this type, Oscar's second soul skill would definitely be a trump card to use.
It's known that there are over a hundred thousand Soul Masters on the continent, with all kinds of martial souls, and many of them are disgusting martial souls whose soul skills can inflict many negative buffs on others.
One can imagine, if Oscar's second soul skill were to be auctioned, the effect would be surprisingly good.
Because besides dealing with his own enemies, many Soul Masters also venture into the Soul Beast Forest, and in the Soul Beast Forest, this immunity to negative effects is even more necessary.
However, Flander wasn't that shallow. What truly excited him was Oscar's external soul bone.
Having lived for nearly fifty years, he had seen soul bones before, but this was his first time seeing an external one.
And he also knew the special nature of external soul bones—they are a special type of soul bone not belonging to the six main ones, an existence that can evolve along with the Soul Master's strength.
If the Soul Master themselves is strong enough, it's not impossible for this external soul bone to grow to a hundred-thousand-year level.
Therefore, the external soul bone has a title: the number one soul bone under a hundred-thousand-year soul bone, second only to a hundred-thousand-year soul bone.
And most importantly, external soul bones are almost never coveted by others, because once fused with a Soul Master, it becomes a part of them. Killing someone to take their bone is fundamentally impossible for an external soul bone.
Of course, if your external soul bone is too heaven-defying and villains find out, it's possible they might kill you to prevent you from growing.
Fortunately, although Shrek Academy is made up of a bunch of strange people, they are quite good to their students, so Oscar didn't have to worry about this for now.