area51novel Chapter 253 The Tide Has Begun
Chapter 253 The Tide Has Begun
Therefore, Huo Yuhao only deactivated the soul tool lock at the academy gate and did not reveal himself to guide Long You. In Huo Yuhao's view, if the person who came was really Long You, he could naturally return to his dormitory in the inner courtyard safely. However, if the person who came was someone else in disguise, and wanted to do something else in the academy, the defensive soul tools in other areas of the academy could catch him again.
However, Huo Yuhao did not expect that his action of investigating and confirming would directly lead Long You to think that returning to the academy was too troublesome, so he turned around and ran to Shrek City.
In truth, while Long You's escape brought him some relief, it threw Shrek Academy into chaos. Ever since Long You, that troublemaker, caused the Soul Guidance Department to thoroughly humiliate the Martial Soul Department, Shrek Academy's emphasis on Soul Guidance Devices had increased dramatically. Thanks to Long You's extraordinary abilities and unconventional approach, Shrek Academy could now rival the Sun Moon Royal Soul Guidance Academy in the field of Soul Guidance Devices.
This led to Shrek Academy being quite confident in its entire soul tool detection system. However, Long You's actions turned the previously transparent map into a fog of war. The stark reality was right in front of Shrek Academy: their trusted defense system had a vulnerability, and it was highly likely that someone had already exploited it.
This discovery was like turning upside down at Shrek Academy's headquarters, mobilizing all the teachers and students in the inner court. One reason was to patrol, and the other was to try and "mend the fence after the sheep are lost" by checking to see if they could pinpoint exactly where the academy had been hacked and what information might have been leaked.
"Soul tools, they really are both reliable and unreliable! Alright, no need to look anymore. If the person who comes is really that kid Long You, it's not surprising that he could come up with an invisible soul tool that can block the academy's detection. The methods of the Sun Moon Empire may not be as good as that slippery kid's."
As for whether it's really this kid, Yuhao, send him a message and ask. That kid couldn't have left the communication range in such a short time."
The commotion within the academy eventually alerted the Sea God Pavilion. One of the elders of the Sea God Pavilion waved his hand to stop the ongoing "clean-up" activity within the academy. Under his instruction, Long You, who had been asleep in Shrek City, reluctantly opened his eyes.
"So what? You guys spent half the night causing trouble in the academy just for this?"
Long You didn't quite understand the academy's overly tense response, but with his mind full of sleepiness, he didn't want to use his brain to guess, so he directly admitted that the guy who wore the invisibility device, broke into the academy at night, and then left was himself.
With this admission, Long You finally had some peace and quiet and could drift off to sleep again. However, the excitement within the academy was far from over. In the dean's office of the Soul Guidance Department, Qian Duoduo, Fan Yu, and Xuan Ziwen, the three big shots of the department, brewed a cup of hot tea and stared absently at the academy-wide monitoring screen in front of them.
Since the relationship between the academy and the Sun Moon Empire became increasingly tense, the soul tool detection system, which could cover every corner of the academy, had been upgraded time and again. Especially after Xuan Ziwen arrived at Shrek Academy, this soul tool detection system was upgraded to the limit that the three of them could not comprehend.
According to Xuan Ziwen, this soul tool detection system is useless against Super Douluo who are good at hiding and level 9 invisible soul tools. Even level 8 invisible soul tools produced by Mingde Hall cannot make this system fail.
Shrek Academy used its connections to investigate the accuracy of Xuan Ziwen's statement, ultimately confirming that it was not an exaggeration. Therefore, even as tensions escalated, the academy wasn't overly concerned about campus security. The virtual reality side-devices, previously hidden due to the presence of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy exchange team, were now all out in the open. If the Sun Moon Empire noticed these devices, the already tense relationship would likely become even more strained.
Shrek Academy isn't afraid of war, but if war breaks out, the final outcome will likely be something they wouldn't want to accept. The more resources Shrek Academy invests in soul tools, the more they realize how much they can enhance the overall strength of a nation or power. Shrek Academy is quite clear about the current situation on the continent: if the Sun Moon Empire is willing, unification is only a matter of time. Even if the three former kingdoms of the Douluo Continent set aside their past grievances and cooperate sincerely, it will only delay things further.
That's alright. Shrek Academy is an academy, not a country. The Sun Moon Empire wouldn't unify the continent along with Shrek Academy. However, Shrek Academy's main business dealings are with the original three kingdoms of Douluo Continent. Ten thousand years is enough time for many relationships to become deeply rooted and complex. If war really breaks out, Shrek Academy is unlikely to remain uninvolved; at the very least, it will have to preserve a certain amount of the original three kingdoms' fighting force.
While this matter was troublesome, it wasn't actually a major problem. With two new continents right there, it was simply a strategic relocation. What Shrek Academy was truly concerned about was actually a matter involving its own status and interests.
The Sun Moon Empire already possesses its own national academy for Soul Masters and Soul Instructors. If Shrek Academy cannot demonstrate an overwhelming advantage over the Sun Moon Royal Soul Instructor Academy, not only will it lose its status as the continent's premier academy, but it may also be forced to relinquish many of its interests. To avoid this situation, Shrek Academy needs to make more preparations. At the very least, the Holy Spirit Cult, this evil Soul Master organization, needs to be eradicated. Furthermore, Shrek Academy must establish an absolute academic advantage over the Sun Moon Royal Soul Instructor Academy.
In short, if Shrek Academy wants to remain invincible in the inevitable war, it needs time to build up its strength and cannot reveal too much power at this stage, lest the Sun Moon Empire make the academy its primary target.
It is precisely because of these various concerns that the academy is unwilling to rely too much on the students' abilities and is also very nervous about whether the security fortress it has built is no longer secure.
"This student, Long You, must be the one everyone has mentioned so many times, right? He truly deserves to be regarded by the academy as a genius whose very existence can drive the development of soul tools."
However, I believe that geniuses are ultimately rare exceptions, and the experiments that the academy has put a lot of effort into cannot be merely for show. The soul tools in the academy that are beyond imagination are still safe.
As for what method Long You used to bypass the academy's soul-guided detection device, we'll find out tomorrow.
After a brief silence, Xuan Ziwen broke it. All three present had made significant contributions to the field of soul tools, but only Xuan Ziwen could truly be called a soul tool researcher, as he alone possessed sufficient theoretical data to support his judgments.
"Alright, we'll ask tomorrow. Thank you for coming over so late, Teacher Xuan."
In nearly two years, Xuan Ziwen's authority on soul tools had indeed won over the Soul Tool Department of Shrek Academy. Hearing Xuan Ziwen say this, Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu temporarily put aside their worries and waited for the new dawn. Incidentally, Xuan Ziwen was not actually a teacher at Shrek Academy. After being persuaded by Huo Yuhao, Xuan Ziwen became an elder of the Tang Sect, and his relationship with Shrek Academy was that of a cooperative one.
The Tang Sect is currently just a small group, lacking many crucial research tools for soul tools, which only Shrek Academy can provide. After witnessing the wonders of the Panlong Realm, Xuan Ziwen couldn't tolerate the expensive, slow, and dangerous methods of real-world soul tool experiments and embraced virtual experimentation. Considering Xuan Ziwen's personal abilities in soul tools, the relationship between Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect is currently in a honeymoon phase, with very harmonious cooperation.
The next morning, after getting up, Long You practiced the mental energy training method derived from the Purple Demon Eye. This method is most effective when practiced in the morning and evening. It not only helps Long You enhance his mental energy cultivation but also allows him to quickly wake up from sleep or more easily enter a deep sleep state (although Long You doesn't particularly need the latter). It can be said that after this method was deduced, Long You would never miss his twice-daily practice sessions, as long as conditions allowed.
After persisting for so long, Long You's total mental strength, while not quite matching that of Huo Yuhao, a professional mental-type Soul Master, wasn't significantly different. Otherwise, Long You wouldn't have been able to immediately detect Huo Yuhao's presence when he approached to confirm his identity.
After finishing his morning lessons, Long You began to wander around Shrek City. Having spent several years in the desolate New World, Long You was now in dire need of adapting to communal living and, incidentally, also needed to treat his almost-dead taste buds with all sorts of delicious food.
Shrek City has a dedicated food street, where there are many well-established restaurants, but even more diverse snacks and delicacies. Initially, Long You's target was the restaurants, but before he even stepped inside, the enticing aromas emanating from the food stalls acted like reins, controlling his path.
With his mouth moving, Long You ate his way from relatively light dishes like rice noodle rolls and shrimp dumplings to richly seasoned foods like grilled cold noodles and grilled beef tendon. Even though a Soul Master's appetite far surpasses that of an ordinary person, Long You was so full that he could barely move.
So when Long You's phone received another call request from Huo Yuhao, his face immediately fell. The memories in his mind reminded him that no matter what the call started with, it would end with him moving immediately, but Long You didn't want to move.
After grumbling for a while, Long You finally answered the phone before it stopped ringing. Unsurprisingly, after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Huo Yuhao conveyed his request that Long You come to the dean's office in the Soul Guidance Department of the academy immediately. Incidentally, Huo Yuhao also emphasized that Long You should activate the invisible soul tool he had used when he left the previous night after entering the academy.
After hanging up the phone, Long You didn't rush to leave. He was so sleepy last night that he couldn't keep his eyes open and his mind wasn't working properly. But now, Long You did notice some things that felt off.
The most obvious incongruity is the academy's excessive focus on the malfunction of the soul guidance detection system, which is abnormal. Only places with security needs would place such emphasis on their security measures. Shrek Academy, as an academy, certainly values its internal security, but it is, after all, the number one soul master academy on the continent. That title alone is enough to deter any treacherous individuals from spying on the academy. In any case, before Long You left the academy for the New World, he had never known that Shrek Academy had such overtly implemented defensive measures.
"Hmph, things are getting interesting. It seems that the situation on the original Douluo Continent has become more complicated and the conflicts and contradictions have become more prominent in the past few years!"
Although he was not clear about the overall situation on the mainland or Shrek Academy's own plans, Long You was still a person with two cheat codes. As long as he was given a little hint, he could understand many things in an instant.
After taking a moment to digest the food in his stomach, Long You swayed leisurely towards the academy. Since the academy still planned to test the soul-guided detection system, Long You's occasional visits would essentially be a form of unscheduled inspection for the academy—a good thing! Absolutely a good thing!
With this thought in mind, at ten o'clock in the morning, Long You, who had been strolling along, finally arrived at Qian Duoduo's office. It was certain that the soul tool detection system deployed within Shrek Academy couldn't detect the invisible soul tool on Long You's body, which utilized spatial laws. After all, even though Long You had deliberately taken detours to some sensitive locations along the way, he hadn't felt any sense of being locked onto by the defense system.
"Dean Qian, Teacher Fanyu, it's been a long time."
Pushing open the office door of the vice dean of the Soul Guidance Department, Long You immediately shed his lazy demeanor and transformed into the composed Shrek Academy student with a touch of cunning.
"Hmph, brat, you've been gone for so long, you might as well just reintroduce yourself! Knowing I was waiting here, you still managed to dawdle all morning before finally showing up, you have absolutely no respect for your elders."
Faced with Qian Duoduo's feigned anger, Long You chuckled, unconcerned. If this morning had truly been wasted, Long You would be guilty of a heinous crime. However, Long You didn't even need to ask to be certain that the three people sitting inside the office before he knocked on the door had definitely projected their consciousness into the Panlong Realm. In that completely simulated virtual space, who knows what kind of soul tool manufacturing techniques these three had experimented with!