Chapter 7: Research and Development Soul Instructor
"Alright, everyone quiet down. Those whose names I call, step forward: Cheng Cheng, Qiu Jianrao, Tang Dao, Shangguan Chentian, Lin Zeyu, Zhuge Yun, Tai Long, Tang Ling, Yun Xiaopiao."
"The nine of you can pack your things and leave Shrek Academy. From now on, you are no longer students of Shrek Academy."
This statement caused a huge uproar, and all the students stared blankly at Teacher Zhou Yi, clearly not expecting that she hadn't been bluffing earlier, but genuinely intended to expel students.
Tai Long, whose name was on the expulsion list, immediately retorted, "By what right do you expel us?"
"Why am I expelling you? Tai Long, you ran 98 laps, Cheng Cheng ran 95 laps, Qiu Jianrao ran 99 laps. Do I need to continue?"
Hearing Teacher Zhou Yi's words, Tai Long's momentum immediately diminished, but as it concerned his education, he still bravely questioned, "Just because we ran two fewer laps, you're going to expel us directly?"
"I've said it before, in Class One, my word is law. The few of you, leave quickly now. Of course, you are welcome to complain about me to the Academic Affairs Office. As for now, don't waste everyone's time."
How could Tai Long and the others accept such an explanation? Filled with anger, they rushed straight to the Academic Affairs Office, intending to lodge a severe complaint against Teacher Zhou Yi.
Huo Yuhao, familiar with the plot, knew that Tai Long and the others would likely be making a futile effort. However, in his estimation, the Academic Affairs Office would probably just reassign them to a different class.
After all, among the students Teacher Zhou Yi expelled, there were quite a few noble children. The Academic Affairs Office would have to be completely blind to expel them directly.
Reassigning them to a different class wouldn't cause the Academy any loss, and Teacher Zhou Yi would also save face.
One or two such incidents could be handled easily, but with so many people complaining together, even Shrek would have to take it seriously. Didn't Dai Huabin in the original work just get reassigned to a different class?
Why did he think of him? How unlucky. Huo Yuhao immediately wiped his face, concealing his disgusted expression.
Teacher Zhou Yi scanned the crowd still in the square, seeing the shock and fear on their faces, and was very satisfied with her suppressive education.
"The rest of you, you have fifteen minutes to go back and change your clothes. After changing, return to the classroom to gather for class. Anyone who is late will be directly expelled."
Under Teacher Zhou Yi's intimidating example, the remaining students dared not stand idly by. They all rushed to change their clothes. With the threat of expulsion hanging over their heads, no one wanted to try the consequences of being late.
This truly validated the saying from his previous life: if a teacher held a gun to a student's head, anyone could become a good student. As for the psychological problems that might arise from this, Teacher Zhou Yi wouldn't care.
Huo Yuhao returned to his dormitory, took a quick shower, and changed into the clean clothes he had prepared in his storage spirit tool.
After changing, Huo Yuhao quickly left the dormitory and headed to the classroom.
It wasn't because he was afraid of being late; Huo Yuhao's speed was among the best in Class One. If Huo Yuhao couldn't make it, then the other students wouldn't need to struggle either.
It was purely because Wang Dong was a girl, and it was indeed very inconvenient for her to share a dormitory with him. In the original work, Huo Yuhao accidentally saw Wang Dong showering.
But as a modern youth, accidentally seeing a twelve-year-old girl shower, that would be too criminal.
Huo Yuhao did not want to try it; such behavior was somewhat perverted.
Soon, all the students arrived in the first-year Class One classroom, and no one was late.
Everyone sat in roughly the same positions as in the morning. Huo Yuhao's desperate running in the morning made the top students gather even more around him.
Teacher Zhou Yi stood on the podium, officially announcing the start of class.
"Students, who can tell me which Spirit Master types are offensive Spirit Masters and which are defensive Spirit Masters?"
Hearing Teacher Zhou Yi's question, Huo Yuhao, who knew the answer, was the first to stand up and reply, "The offensive and defensive boundaries of Spirit Masters are very blurred now. The emergence of spirit tools has given all types of Spirit Masters a certain degree of offensive and defensive capabilities."
Hearing Huo Yuhao's answer, Teacher Zhou Yi nodded in satisfaction.
"That's right. Because of the emergence of spirit tools, below Spirit King level, there's a blurring of offensive and defensive roles for various Spirit Master types."
"However, Shrek Academy does not cultivate combat Spirit Masters who use spirit tools, because once they surpass Spirit King level, they become useless."
"For example, in a battle between two Spirit Masters above Spirit King level, if one uses spirit tools and the other is a traditional Spirit Master, then the traditional Spirit Master will defeat the Soul Guidance Department before he can even deploy his spirit tools."
Hearing Teacher Zhou Yi's explanation, Huo Yuhao disagreed and immediately asked:
"Please, Teacher, if there are two Spirit Masters, one spends the time it takes to advance one spirit power level learning how to use spirit tools, and the other continues to be a traditional Spirit Master."
"That is, who is stronger, a level 52 Soul Guidance Department or a level 53 Spirit King?"
Huo Yuhao's question made Teacher Zhou Yi pause, and then she instinctively retorted, "Studying spirit tools will greatly waste a Spirit Master's time cultivating spirit power, which is not worth it."
"Why must a Spirit Master who uses spirit tools also study spirit tools? spirit tools aren't limited to only being usable by their creators, are they?"
Huo Yuhao paused slightly after speaking. Seeing that Teacher Zhou Yi had no intention of interrupting, he continued:
"Just the time for one spirit power level can increase a Spirit Master's strength by thirty to fifty percent, and for support system Spirit Masters, it's even a hundred percent increase in combat power. In my opinion, this is very cost-effective."
"High-level spirit tools are almost equivalent to the attack strength of Spirit Abilities. Wasting time learning how to use spirit tools to only produce attacks equivalent to Spirit Abilities is not cost-effective," Teacher Zhou Yi explained.
Although Huo Yuhao kept asking questions, because Fan Yu was an eighth-level Soul Guidance Department, Teacher Zhou Yi, as his wife, was actually one of the teachers who had a rather good impression of spirit tools.
Therefore, Teacher Zhou Yi had not interrupted Huo Yuhao before, intending to hear his perspective.
"But as far as I know, there are many functional spirit tools, for example, some spirit tools can restrict Spirit Douluo level powerhouses within a certain area. I believe this is already a decisive factor in a duel between two Spirit Douluo."
"Furthermore, many spirit tools don't even require learning to use. For example, the trigger-type spirit tool, the Invincible Shield, which gives a Spirit Master a second life, or the 'milk bottle' that can accelerate a Spirit Master's spirit power recovery. Even a Soul Guidance Department ray gun only requires pulling a trigger."
Listening to Huo Yuhao's explanation, Teacher Zhou Yi somewhat acknowledged his point of view.
Out of the traditional Spirit Master's aversion to the Soul Guidance Department, they directly and forcibly linked spirit tools with the Soul Guidance Department.
This was also what Huo Yuhao found very strange; it was not normal in the strength-first Douluo World.
When he first read Douluo Dalu 2, Huo Yuhao initially thought that spirit tools could only be used by their creators.
However, when he saw the Continental Spirit Master Tournament, the Sun Moon Empire even allowed other Spirit Masters to freely use high-level spirit tools like the Trial Sword.
Huo Yuhao then realized that there was no such restriction in the setting.
This made the Sun Moon Empire and the Douluo Three Kingdoms seem extremely radical and peculiar.
The Douluo Three Kingdoms were quite resistant to spirit tools. Even if a Spirit Master couldn't advance their spirit power any further, they wouldn't learn spirit tools, leading to the development of spirit tools stagnating.
The Sun Moon Empire, on the other hand, focused on researching spirit tools. Even if there was a Spirit Master with extremely high talent, they would quickly raise his spirit power or have him concentrate on researching spirit tools to become the ideal tenth-level Soul Guidance Department.
It was as if Spirit Masters and spirit tools were incompatible existences.
Thousands of years had passed since the clash between the Sun Moon Empire and the Douluo Three Kingdoms, yet their ideologies had not merged at all.
It was understandable that they hadn't entered modern society for thousands of years, but did it take thousands of years for such a simple concept to develop? In the end, it was only through war that the environment of Spirit Masters combining with spirit tools in Douluo Dalu 3 came about.
"Then, Student Huo Yuhao, how do you think Spirit Masters and Soul Guidance Department should develop?" Teacher Zhou Yi's question interrupted Huo Yuhao's thoughts.
"Firstly, I think we should separate the Soul Guidance Department and spirit tools, allowing all Spirit Masters, if capable, to be equipped with trigger-type spirit tools or use simple spirit tools."
"Next, a new category should be added to the Spirit Master types: the Soul Guidance Department, which refers to Spirit Masters who primarily use spirit tools as their combat method."
"As for the current Soul Guidance Department, I actually think 'Soul Guidance Department Research Institute' would be more appropriate. Most of the Soul Guidance Department there are research-oriented Soul Guidance Department who create and research spirit tools."
"It's like the relationship between diners and chefs in a restaurant. Diners just come to the restaurant to eat; you can't classify all diners as chefs, can you? It's better to categorize them."
Huo Yuhao briefly explained what he wanted to express in four paragraphs.
This was also, in Huo Yuhao's opinion, the most likely understanding for the current Shrek Academy to accept.