Time flew by like flowing water. In the blink of an eye, a full year had passed. At only eleven years and six months old, Oscar's spirit power had broken through from level twenty-seven to level thirty. With just one more spirit ring, he would officially step into the realm of a Spirit Elder.
During these past two years, Oscar hadn't fallen behind in his spirit power cultivation, but his swordsmanship had also advanced tremendously.
Now, he could fully be called a swordsman. He had completely mastered the Frost Moon Sword Manual, and when it came to swordplay, he was no longer lacking in the slightest.
What satisfied Oscar most was that he had mastered the core skill of a swordsman: Sword Flight.
Yes—he could fly on his sword.
Aside from sword flight, Oscar had also grasped Sword Qi. Though compared to masters like Gai Yue or Chen Xin (Dustheart), his Sword Qi was still a step behind.
Gai Yue and Chen Xin had comprehended the true Sword Intent. Their Sword Qi was no weaker than soul skills—sometimes even more practical.
Oscar's Sword Qi, on the other hand, was condensed with the assistance of his external spirit bone. While it lacked Sword Intent, and its might was slightly inferior, it still gave him the strength to contend with most opponents beneath the seventh ring—those without their Martial Spirit True Body.
And when he finally reached that level himself, he was confident he would have already grasped true Sword Intent, elevating his Sword Qi to another height.
So even though his external spirit bone prevented him from absorbing spirit rings, what it granted him in return was by no means lacking. It allowed Oscar to possess combat power on par with assault-type spirit masters.
In short, his progress over the past two years was both remarkable and overwhelming. Even Gai Yue, his teacher, had lost count of how many times he sighed at Oscar's monstrous talent.
And not just Oscar—every teacher at Shrek Academy had grown stronger, all thanks to the whale gum they had obtained during their ocean expedition two years prior.
Gai Yue's spirit power had broken through again, reaching level eighty-four. Flender and Zhao Wuji's powers had also reached the levels they held in the original story: seventy-eight and seventy-six, respectively.
Shao Xin, Lu Qibin, and Li Yusong had also reached their original benchmarks.
Shao Xin was slightly short—like Oscar, he was at a bottleneck. He needed his seventh spirit ring to step into the Spirit Sage level. Once he did, he would become Shrek Academy's third Spirit Sage.
As for the students, Ma Hongjun had progressed steadily from level twenty-two to twenty-five, keeping pace without slackening.
More importantly, his self-created soul skill had been refined, greatly enhancing his close-combat power.
And his second spirit skill—just like in the original—was Bathing in Phoenix Fire. This ability increased his flame power by fifty percent.
But this time, it carried an additional effect: he could burn his accumulated Evil Fire to further boost its power.
In other words, Ma Hongjun could both release and purge his Evil Fire while exploding with even greater combat power when it built up.
It was clear that Flender's careful selection of a second spirit ring with the Phoenix bloodline had completely changed Ma Hongjun's future. No longer did he need to constantly dread his Evil Fire.
Whenever it became overwhelming, he could simply unleash his second skill in battle. It was a tremendous improvement in his condition.
And now, with both Oscar and Shao Xin breaking through bottlenecks, Shrek Academy was celebrating once more. Still, neither rushed to obtain their new spirit rings—because today was the Academy's new student enrollment day.
Oscar had made his breakthrough at noon. But he wasn't particularly excited—he had expected this outcome long ago.
What really interested him now was something else: according to the timeline, this year should mark Dai Mubai's arrival at Shrek. Would he show up, just like in the original story?
It wasn't that Oscar had special feelings about Dai Mubai. But having read the original, he knew Shrek had recruited almost no new students in recent years. If Dai Mubai came, at least there would be some fresh blood.
And in truth, Dai Mubai's talent wasn't bad. In the original, when he appeared at fifteen, his spirit power had already reached level thirty-seven—despite wasting much of his time chasing girls.
That meant his innate talent was extraordinary, perhaps better than most so-called prodigies.
It was just that his character was portrayed too harshly in the novel, making him hard for most readers to like.
But Oscar wasn't one to judge based on the original. Since coming to this world, he had realized the huge gap between fiction and reality.
Only by personally meeting Dai Mubai would he know who the real person was.
Carrying this thought, Oscar skipped lunch and headed straight for the enrollment square.
Crossing the courtyard, he saw quite a few people inside the academy. All of them had already passed the first test, but Oscar knew, just like in previous years, they would all be eliminated in later stages.
Still, the Academy had changed. Though modest in appearance, everything necessary was present, and the tranquil environment resembled a secluded paradise. It was enough to attract new students.
The only thing missing was a mimicry training ground, the hallmark of advanced spirit master academies. But such a project required enormous time, resources, and funding—something Shrek simply couldn't afford yet.
Still, Oscar had managed to improvise his own makeshift version. Since his martial spirit was food-type, he had turned Shao Xin's kitchen into a kind of training ground.
It didn't boost his cultivation speed much, but it had skyrocketed his cooking skills. Now, Oscar could prepare quite a feast himself.
Soon, Oscar arrived at the Soul Battle Platform in the square.
On it stood two figures. One was Ma Hongjun, while the other, Oscar, guessed, could only be Dai Mubai. His appearance was too distinctive to mistake.
Golden hair fluttered in the breeze. At twelve years old, Dai Mubai was already about 1.78 meters tall. His heterochromatic eyes gleamed, his handsome face and noble aura making him stand out.
At nine years old, Ma Hongjun was shorter, about 1.68 meters, but still impressive for his age.
Though he lacked Dai Mubai's noble presence, his handsome and masculine face carried a calm confidence Dai Mubai did not possess.
It was something he had gained from years of following Oscar's lead. In Ma Hongjun's eyes, among his peers, only Oscar was worthy of being his big brother—everyone else had to step aside.
And besides, Dai Mubai's spirit power was the same as his, only level twenty-five.
At that moment, Oscar stepped onto the viewing platform. Zhao Wuji, who was acting as referee, and the two on the battle stage all turned their eyes toward him.
Seeing him, Zhao Wuji chuckled.
"Oscar, broke through, did you?"
"Nothing special," Oscar nodded lightly. Then he glanced at Dai Mubai.
"And this is…?"
Before Dai Mubai could speak, Ma Hongjun chimed in:
Brother Oscar, he should be the only one this year qualified to enroll at our Shrek Academy. His name is Dai Mubai.