As Zhu Ziyang and his two teammates walked out of the crowd, the applause grew even more enthusiastic.
They approached Du Weilun, standing between Bei Bei's trio and Chu Hua's trio. Compared to Bei Bei's trio's impassive expressions and Chu Hua's trio's overwhelming excitement, Zhu Ziyang's trio wore humble smiles.
Du Weilun continued, "Very good. Now, I will announce the rewards the Academy is granting to the top three teams in the freshman assessment. The rewards are simple: the nine students from these three teams, regardless of their current stage or future timing, may request a spirit ring from the Academy when they need one. The Academy will assist them in acquiring a spirit ring of any age limit that they can bear and that is most suitable for their Spirit."
As his words fell, all the students let out envious gasps. This was a promise from Shrek Academy to help them acquire a spirit ring!
"At the same time, in recognition of the champion team's special honor, the champion team will receive a special reward," Du Weilun said, looking at Zhu Ziyang's trio with a benevolent expression. "This reward will be given to Zhu Ziyang's team of three individually after the class assignments are finalized. Please come to my office to collect it after class assignments."
A special reward?! Zhu Ziyang's heart stirred. He exchanged glances with Jiang Nannan and Tang Ya. Noticing the surprise and anticipation in the two girls' eyes, he also smiled, beginning to speculate about the possible reward.
The most likely possibility should be a Spirit Bone, he thought.
"The nine of you, return to your positions," Du Weilun said.
After the nine had returned to the ranks, Du Weilun said, "The quality of this year's freshmen surpasses previous years. It's no exaggeration to say that you are the most talented class in the past decade. Although the number of students is not as high as previous classes, the number of students above the Spirit Grandmaster level far exceeds previous years, and there's even a Spirit Elder level student! I can assert that you are undeniable geniuses. However, Heaven rewards diligence. No matter how good your talent, effort is still required. The path of a Spirit Master is like farming; one reaps what one sows. I hope that in your upcoming academic life, you will continue to strive for excellence and ultimately graduate successfully from Shrek Academy!"
"Given the emergence of a group of outstanding new students in this freshman assessment, the Academy has specially approved some new students to become Outer Courtyard core disciples. Below, I will announce the list."
The freshmen immediately held their breath, their gazes fixed on Du Weilun, their faces displaying a mix of tension, anticipation, worry, and excitement, all emotions interweaving above Shrek Plaza.
Du Weilun opened a folder, took out a list, and read aloud, "After the Academy's comprehensive assessment of the freshmen's performance, it has been decided to promote the following eight students to Outer Courtyard core disciples. They are Zhu Ziyang, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Chu Hua, Zhou Tianhe, Xue Weiwei, and Tang Ya."
Eight core disciples!
The teachers present all showed expressions of surprise. In previous years, it was already very good for a first-year class to have two or three core disciples. This year, there were actually eight, which clearly showed how strong the quality of this year's freshmen truly was!
Among these eight students, except for Tang Ya, who became a core disciple with 22 spirit power due to the champion team bonus, the other seven all had a minimum of 25 spirit power!
"At the same time, given the outstanding performance of some students in the freshman assessment, but whose cultivation is still lacking, to offer encouragement, the Academy has decided to grant these students core disciple treatment for one year. We hope these students will become true core disciples in next year's assessment. These students include Ye Ning, Xiao Xuan, Zhao Lei, Lu Shaoyou, Lin Ziwei, Luo Tianyou, and Li Yue," Du Weilun added.
After the announcement, some cheered, some were disappointed, some were full of fighting Spirit, and some regrouped. But there was no time for the freshmen to dwell on their emotions, because class assignments began.
This class assignment could be said to be the most important division for the new students. From this point on, they would clarify their Spirit Master development direction and continuously explore forward. This class assignment was divided into four classes according to Spirit Master development direction: attack system and control system class, agility attack and defense system class, support system class, and a class for niche Spirit Master systems such as food system and healing system.
Originally, with this method of class assignment, Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan would certainly not have been assigned to the same class. However, due to the Academy's preferential treatment for the champion team, the three members of the champion team did not need to be assigned based on their Spirit Master direction and would be automatically assigned to the attack system and control system class, which is Class One. Therefore, as the champion team, Zhu Ziyang's trio did not need to anxiously wait for the teachers in front to call out their names like everyone else.
The two head teachers of Class One were both old acquaintances of theirs. One was Xia Yu, which was a reward for his Class Four winning the freshman assessment. The other was Liu Xue, the examiner for the twelfth examination room in the ranking competition.
"Let's go!" Zhu Ziyang said. They already knew the location of the classroom from Xia Yu; it was the original Class Four classroom.
"Mm!" Jiang Nannan and Tang Ya were both very happy. They followed Zhu Ziyang towards the teaching building. Jiang Nannan asked, "Brother, what do you think the school will give us as a reward?"
"If there are no surprises, it should be a Spirit Bone," Zhu Ziyang said calmly.
"A Spirit Bone!" The two girls were somewhat shocked. Tang Ya doubted, "It can't be, can it? Just a freshman assessment, and they'd actually reward a Spirit Bone?"
"This is Shrek!" Zhu Ziyang chuckled. "Don't you two want a Spirit Bone?"
"Of course we do!" The two said in unison.
"Then that's it, isn't it?" Zhu Ziyang waved his hand and said, "We'll know after class. If it really is a Spirit Bone, then we'll need to have a good discussion about it."
"Mm!" The two girls began to look forward to it.
After school, Zhu Ziyang inquired about Du Weilun's office location from Xia Yu, then took Jiang Nannan and Tang Ya there.
"Bei Bei, we're leaving first!" Tang Ya excitedly said to Bei Bei.
"Okay, I'll wait for you in the core disciples' cafeteria," Bei Bei replied with a smile.
As an attack system Spirit Master, Bei Bei was undoubtedly also assigned to Class One. It's worth mentioning that Xue Weiwei was also in Class One, while Xu Sanshi, as a defense system Spirit Master, was assigned to Class Two.
Du Weilun's office was on the top floor of the administration building. Zhu Ziyang's trio easily found it by following the signs.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
Zhu Ziyang knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Du Weilun's voice came from within.
"Director Du, we're here," Zhu Ziyang pushed open the door and entered the office. Jiang Nannan and the other girl followed closely behind.
"You're here!" Seeing that it was Zhu Ziyang's trio, Du Weilun stood up from behind his desk, walked out with a smile, and said to them, "Please sit, I'll go get your rewards."
With that, Du Weilun left, leaving the somewhat bewildered trio.
"This…" Jiang Nannan looked at Zhu Ziyang.
"Let's sit down and wait for a bit," Zhu Ziyang said, then sat on the nearby sofa. Jiang Nannan and Tang Ya, seeing this, also sat down.
The trio looked around Du Weilun's office. In terms of area, it was much larger than Xia Yu's office as a regular teacher. However, there were no luxurious decorations; the entire office had a very simple style. There were as many as four bookshelves, each filled with a rich collection of books. It seemed Du Weilun was a person who liked to collect books; whether he liked to read them was unclear.