Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another two months had passed.
"Boom boom boom boom boom boom..."
Within the Soul Fighting Zone, countless explosions echoed.
An agile figure constantly weaved through the barrage, precisely dodging all the cannon fire, charging towards the humanoid artillery platform on the opposite side of the arena with a spring-like smile.
Looking at that figure, He Caitou sighed inwardly.
It seemed he was going to lose again this time.
As expected, in less than a minute, he was pinned to the ground by Huo Yuhao and surrendered willingly.
Seeing this, Fan Yu, who had been watching from below the stage, walked onto the platform, clapping.
"Not bad, Yuhao, you're defeating Caitou faster and faster. It seems you've become familiar with fighting against Soul Engineers."
"Yes, that's all thanks to Senior Brother being willing to spar with me."
Huo Yuhao stood up and extended his hand to He Caitou.
He Caitou smiled wryly, took his hand, stood up, and complained:
"Junior Brother, stop being so humble. Your soul skill combination is practically a perfect counter to Soul Engineers. I can't imagine any way to defeat you."
For a Soul Engineer like him, who relied primarily on long-range attacks, mental interference was simply overpowered.
Every battle with Huo Yuhao left him so frustrated he almost wanted to vomit blood.
Fan Yu chuckled.
"Regardless, Yuhao, you have indeed become a quasi-fourth-rank Soul Engineer now. After the upcoming freshman assessment ends, we will arrange the Extreme Solo Plan for you. But let me tell you upfront, you won't be able to attend classes with your classmates then. All your courses will be privately customized for you by the academy, understood?"
"I understand."
Huo Yuhao nodded slightly.
In the past two months, his cultivation speed could only be described as rapid progress.
In the five years prior, he had never experienced such rapid growth as he had during this period.
His status as an internally designated Shrek Seven Monster allowed him to enjoy treatment no less than that of inner court disciples ahead of time. With various resources tilted towards him, his soul power level had now risen from level 21 to level 24.
At this speed, breaking through level 30 by the end of this academic year was not a problem.
At the same time, he had also completed the theoretical knowledge assessment for fourth-rank Soul Engineers. Although he still found it difficult to complete a true fourth-rank soul tool due to his total soul power, he was not far off. According to Fan Yu's prediction, by the time he advanced to the second year in nine months, he would likely be at the level of a fifth-rank Soul Engineer.
If considering overall strength, he was absolutely the undisputed number one in the first year now.
Even his win rate against Beibei and Xu Sanshi had increased significantly, gradually becoming equal to his losses.
Of course, this was under the condition that those two didn't use their trump cards. After getting familiar with them over the past two months, Huo Yuhao also gained some understanding of why they could become internally designated Shrek Seven Monsters. They were still beyond Huo Yuhao's reach when using their trump cards.
"It's a shame soul tools aren't allowed in the freshman assessment."
He Caitou patted the dust off his clothes, sighed helplessly, and asked with concern:
"Yuhao, are you really okay? I remember the two deans gave you a death order, telling you that you must win the championship, right?"
Just as He Caitou said, Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo had both sought out Huo Yuhao two days ago, telling him that no matter what others did, his team had to win the championship in the freshman assessment.
He Caitou held a pessimistic attitude towards this.
His impression of Huo Yuhao was that of a powerful Soul Engineer, but how he would fare without soul tools was really hard to say.
This year's freshmen were said to be the most talented in several years, and three soul master-level geniuses were not easy to deal with. He worried that Huo Yuhao would not be their match without soul tools.
To such a person, Huo Yuhao simply winked at him with confidence.
"Don't worry, Senior Brother He, your junior brother is very strong."
In the past two months, he had carefully studied the path of fusing soul power and spiritual power that the old man had spoken of, and had now achieved some results, his strength having greatly increased compared to before.
Even without soul tools now, he might not necessarily be weaker than Dai Huabin. Coupled with his two powerful teammates, he was quite confident about winning the freshman assessment championship.
Fan Yu smiled slightly.
"It's good that you're confident. I've already told Zhou Yi about your situation, and she will make special arrangements for you."
"Okay, thank you, Teacher."
Fan Yu chuckled:
"Why are you being polite with me? Go back and rest. The assessment starts tomorrow. Adjust your condition well and don't lose face for your teacher."
"Yes."
Huo Yuhao bowed to Fan Yu and left the Soul Fighting Zone.
Fan Yu watched him leave, a faint smile on his lips.
He was growing fonder and fonder of this child.
Just as he walked out of the Soul Fighting Zone, Huo Yuhao saw Zhu Yun and Wang Dong waiting at the entrance as agreed.
When Wang Dong saw him, his eyes first lit up, then he puffed out his cheeks and complained with dissatisfaction:
"You really made me wait for a while. Can't you be faster?"
Zhu Yun also took over the conversation and said calmly:
"Brother Hao, although I can accept the idle gameplay, if possible, I still hope you can tell me in advance next time."
"What are you two talking about..."
Huo Yuhao twitched his mouth speechlessly.
He suddenly felt less certain about winning the championship.
He cleared his throat and said:
"Sorry, since I won't be coming back until the freshman assessment officially ends after today, Teacher Fan Yu had a few extra things to tell me, which kept me for a while. Where are Ning Tian and the others?"
Wang Dong tilted his head towards the inside of the Soul Fighting Zone.
"Their team arrived early. Since they couldn't wait for you, they went in to buy tickets. That guy named Wu Feng seemed quite angry. You should be careful later; she'll probably use it as an excuse for personal revenge."
Huo Yuhao heard the concern in his words, a touch of emotion welled up in his heart, and he smiled slightly.
"Don't worry, I'm hoping she comes at me."
Wang Dong raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"That confident?"
"Of course."
Huo Yuhao revealed a mysterious smile.
Just today, each class had finalized the teams participating in the freshman assessment.
Huo Yuhao's team naturally consisted of Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Zhu Yun.
Since the three of them hadn't fought together much afterwards, Huo Yuhao directly used his connections to invite Ning Tian's team out for a friendly spar, in order to let both teams get used to working together.
Besides wanting to improve his team cooperation skills, Huo Yuhao also had his own objective.
In the past two months, although he had initially completed the fusion of soul power and spiritual power, due to lack of time, he hadn't found an opponent of the same level to practice against.
In other words, he currently needed a sandbag to test the power of his self-created soul skills.
And Wu Feng, who had the assistance of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, was the best choice.