Chapter 1: Expelled from Shrek Academy
Balak Kingdom, outskirts of Suotuo City.
The sun was already leaning westward.
On a narrow village path, two figures—one tall and burly, the other small and thin—walked quickly in silence.
Their steps were fast, but their faces did not look very good. The atmosphere between them was tense, almost suffocating.
Especially the middle-aged man—his face was dark and gloomy, his thick brows furrowed like a storm about to break.
After a while, the faint outline of a village came into view ahead.
The man suddenly stopped. Turning back, he fixed his cold, sharp gaze on the thin boy trailing behind him.
"Ao Luo, we're not at the academy yet. I'll give you one last chance—come back with me to the Star Dou Great Forest and absorb your soul ring!"
The boy raised his head and met his teacher's eyes. After a moment of silence, his voice was calm, almost indifferent.
"Teacher Zhao, I will not absorb it."
Zhao Wuji's brows twitched violently, his eyes flashing with cold light.
"Stubborn child!" he barked. Without another word, he turned and strode straight toward the distant village.
Ao Luo said nothing, quietly following behind.
That village, of course, was where Shrek Academy stood.
It had already been six years since he transmigrated into this world.
Two months ago, his martial soul had been awakened by Flender himself.
He was lucky—innately full of soul power.
Coincidentally, his martial soul turned out to be a sausage.
The very same martial soul as his older cousin, Oscar, who was two years older than him.
By all logic, he should have followed the expected path and become a food-type auxiliary soul master.
But—
Is a sausage martial soul truly only fit to be food-type?
As he walked down the country road, Ao Luo's expression was utterly calm, like still water in an ancient well.
Before long, they arrived at the entrance of Shrek Academy's village.
Zhao Wuji was already gone from sight.
Instead, a thin yet handsome boy stood anxiously at the village gate, glancing around as if waiting for someone.
That boy was naturally Oscar.
When he saw Ao Luo, Oscar immediately rushed over, his face full of frustration.
"You didn't absorb the ring again?! Teacher Zhao's face was as dark as thunderclouds just now…"
"Come on, Ao Luo, being a food-type soul master isn't bad at all. Why cling to those ridiculous theories about your martial soul? Even the Dean said it—if you still refuse to absorb a soul ring, then…"
Ao Luo shook his head firmly. "If I can't become an attack system soul master, then I won't absorb a soul ring."
Leaving those words behind, he brushed past Oscar and walked straight into the village.
---
Shrek Academy, Dean's Office.
Flender took a sip of stale tea, his tone calm but edged with authority.
"Old Zhao, you're back. Hard work. So, what's Ao Luo's first soul skill?"
At that question, Zhao Wuji fell silent.
Flender froze for a moment, then his expression shifted from surprise to fury.
"Two months, and he still refuses?! What did I tell you before you left? Didn't you warn him?"
"I told him already," Zhao replied coldly. "I said, if he doesn't come back with a soul ring, then don't bother coming back at all."
Flender's face darkened, his voice rising like a whip crack.
"So he thinks I'm just empty words? That I, the Dean, don't dare expel him?!"
Bam!
The teacup slammed onto the desk, spilling liquid over its cracks. Flender shot to his feet, his gaze icy as he stormed toward the door.
---
Back at the dormitory, Ao Luo sat quietly on his bed.
Oscar paced back and forth in frustration, pleading with him to go apologize to the Dean.
But Ao Luo paid him no mind, simply sitting in silence, as if waiting.
Before long, Flender appeared at the doorway. The sharp glint in his eyes behind the glasses was like that of a hunting hawk.
Oscar caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye and nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Dean!"
But Flender ignored him completely, his gaze fixed coldly on Ao Luo. He didn't speak a word.
Ao Luo didn't so much as raise his head.
After a long moment of heavy silence, Flender's voice finally rang out—icy and merciless.
"You. Are expelled."
Oscar's face went pale. "Dean!!" He rushed forward, but by the time he reached the doorway, Flender was already gone.
"Ao Luo! Hurry, go beg the Dean for forgiveness—" Oscar spun around to urge him, but his words cut off abruptly.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"You… what are you doing?!"
The boy who had been motionless on the bed suddenly moved with astonishing speed, packing up the room in a blur.
"I'm gathering my things. I was expelled. It's time to leave," Ao Luo replied evenly. At the wardrobe, he carefully folded a few new clothes and tucked several old letters into his pack.
Oscar's face flushed red, nearly fainting from anger. He almost burst out swearing.
Never had he seen such a maddeningly stubborn child!
But then his eyes fell on those old letters in Ao Luo's hands, and his anger softened into helplessness.
"You… You're only six years old! Where can you possibly go? I'm your older cousin—I won't allow it! You're not leaving!"
Ao Luo glanced at him, his tone calm but resolute.
"I can go back to Xiahe Village. Perhaps Village Chief Lei Li will still take me in. As for you… You're just a food-type soul master. Who can you stop?"
His belongings packed, Ao Luo slung the bundle over his shoulder and walked out.
Oscar tried to block him in a rush of desperation.
But with a light twist, Ao Luo shook off his strength and gently pushed him aside, pinning him against the wall before walking past.
"Soul power really is an incredible thing."
Shaking his head, Ao Luo left the village without looking back.
Oscar rubbed his sore shoulder, watching the small figure disappear into the distance. His face was filled with both worry and helplessness. At last, he stomped his foot hard and turned toward another hut.
"Teacher Shao…"
"…Is there nothing you can do…"
"…Alright, thank you, Teacher Shao. I'll repay this money, I swear!"
Shao Xin sighed as he watched Oscar rush out of the room.
Oscar might not understand, but how could he not?
When Flender brought Ao Luo back, his face was written with hesitation.
A soul master's body was usually linked to their martial soul's quality and innate soul power.
Shao Xin had personally checked Ao Luo's condition—he was indeed born with full innate soul power. Yet his body was frail to the extreme, so weak it felt like he could collapse and die from illness at any moment. It completely defied common sense.
Perhaps that was the reason why the boy was so determined to become an attack system soul master. After all, attack-type soul masters did gain stronger physiques.
But… a sausage martial soul?
Shao Xin shook his head helplessly.
It wasn't just Flender—even he felt Ao Luo was far too stubborn.
Maybe… leaving really was for the best.
---
The sun was sinking, the horizon painted in twilight.
On the road, a carter heading to Suotuo City with his donkey cart kindly offered Ao Luo a ride.
Ao Luo sat on the cart, holding his small bundle, gazing at the endless farmlands on either side bathed in golden light.
His heart grew lighter with every breath.
At long last, he had left that suffocating place behind.
The corner of his lips curved faintly upward.
Unconsciously, his hand tightened around the bundle in his arms. His fingers brushed across something firm—a card.
Even Ao Luo hadn't expected this.
In the end, Oscar still couldn't let go. He had borrowed a full one thousand gold soul coins from Teacher Shao Xin just for him.
A food-type Soul Emperor might look like he was idling away under Flender, but he still had some savings.
With this money, Ao Luo's future plans would be far easier to carry out. It gave him both time and flexibility.
He silently made a note in his heart—he would repay this debt, no matter what.
Lifting his head, he looked up at the glowing sky. The clouds had been brushed with shades of orange and gold by the setting sun.
"Orange-yellow… this color really is beautiful." Ao Luo smiled faintly. So long as it wasn't black, he liked them all.
Before long, the sky darkened completely.
And Suotuo City came into sight.
Ao Luo climbed off at the city gate but didn't rush to enter.
Instead, he found a quiet corner, raised his gaze upward, and saw the last trace of dark fog above his head finally dissipate.
In its place, a rich cloud of bright yellow smoke drifted lazily overhead.
"…Completely restored."
Ao Luo's lips spread into a wild, unrestrained grin as he stared at that vibrant yellow mist above him.
This yellow mist represented his fortune.
White, yellow, green, purple, red, gold.
Yellow was only the second tier. Not the highest, but more than enough to make Ao Luo deeply satisfied.
After all, for the past two months in Shrek Academy, the mist above his head had been nothing but dense, death-laden black fog!
Two months ago, he had walked into Shrek Academy full of anticipation.
Before he transmigrated, he had been playing a simple text-based simulation game. When distributing his starting attributes, he had maxed out Luck and Charm, curious to see what would happen.
Maxing out Luck gave him a golden trait: "Borrow Good Luck."
As the name suggested, when near people with good luck, he could "borrow" their luck for himself.
After transmigrating, that trait naturally came along with him.
On his very first day at Shrek, he encountered Oscar—someone destined to become a god. With Oscar's blessing, his originally faint white luck quickly surged upward, becoming dense, radiant yellow.
Everything was flourishing.
Until the day Flender prepared to take him to hunt a soul ring… and Ao Luo asked whether he could become an attack system soul master.
Flender frowned, dismissed his idea outright, and even rebuked him harshly.
At that moment—
The brilliant yellow mist above his head shattered like glass, replaced by suffocating black fog filled with death.
Before transmigration, when he maxed out Luck and Charm, he had neglected the Constitution entirely.
In the game, with Constitution at zero, his characters often died sickly deaths, sometimes not even making it past age eight.
Unless—
Before turning eight, he managed to "borrow" enough luck to trigger a fateful encounter with some heavenly treasure that could transform his body.
"That's why becoming an attack system soul master is so important…"
"On this continent filled with opportunities, a food system soul master has no right to seize them."
"Soul rings can strengthen the body and delay the weakness of a zero constitution… but that's only treating the symptoms, not the root."
"The first ring is crucial. It must fortify my physique and give me real offensive power."
"Unfortunately, Flender and the others refused to listen to my martial soul theories. Well… to them, a six-year-old child who barely knows how to read must sound like nonsense."
Ao Luo smiled faintly at the yellow mist swirling above him.
From the moment he walked out of Shrek, the black fog had begun to unravel.
It seemed that for him, that place truly was a land of death.
His future… would no longer be dictated by anyone else.
—
End of Chapter