Chapter 24: Past
Douluo Continent
Shrek Academy
House Shrek
From the first test that tested his spiritual power, the other tests came and they were all different from what he read but the general point of the tests were the same.
The first test - Spiritual Power
He survived all the way and got a 10.
Second Test - Beast Arena
Different from the original where the protagonists were sent into VR Beast Arena to fight rhinos, he, along with his batch were stranded on an island that was besieged by the Soul beasts from all sides.
Their objective was to survive and killing soul beasts granted extra points. Same but different.
Remained passive till the end. Got 6 points. No extra scores.
Third Test - Ability to adapt and courage.
A simple test of climbing a tower with wood and rock falling from above. They would get 6 points if they did it under 30 second while every five seconds less gains an additional point.
The tower was 80 metres in length and conical at the top meaning the higher you climb, the less space to maneuver.
But the good thing, you can use your soul skills.
The students used their brains and decided to take the test one by one while some went to the other tests.
It was time consuming.
Fan Lin did the test without any hurry as forming an attached lift with a sturdy roof to the tower with his crystals didn't take any effort.
Some students got on his lift, hanged below it or just used it to hide from the falling rocks.
Overall, quite a lot of them passed with him.
Full points. 10.
Fourth Test - Talent
A breeze as it just required him to showcase his greatest feat. That was the theme of the test. To showcase your good points while saving a person from a burning building.
So Fan Lin used his Crystallokinesis got an 8 with the remarks: Lacks creativity.
"8 marks it is then."
He quietly left the area as he knew the future of those that messed with the examiners, especially females.
Fifth Test - Secondary Profession
Like the name, this trial tests a person's second profession. They will need to be in the third rank of their given profession in order to get full points.
Three points. No explanation needed.
Sixth Test - Will Power
This trial will test a person's will power by making them drink water.
Drinking 3L was a pass and granted 6 points and every half a litre was one more point.
It was inhumane. Full points for the Energy body. 10 points.
Seventh Test - Endurance
Physical activities and exercises that were different from the novel. He ran 3000 kilometres, did 9000 100kg squats and push-ups and chin-ups and broke his physique for half and hour till it repaired.
Got extra scores though. 10 points.
Remarks: I just wanted to see my improvements. Stupid me.
Eighth Test - Comprehensive Battle
A battle against a soul beast of random age between hundred years old to one thousand years old.
Refused. No points.
Remarks: Don't Wanna.
Ninth Test - True Nature
Fan Lin and the other students were taken to a room that seemed familiar. It was the same as spirit ascension platform. 15 of them were invited inside the pods to take the test together. They got inside the pods. The same feeling of entering spirit ascension platform came back.
It is a group task or not, Fan Lin didn't know.
*At night*
I was inside a cave as I encountered a battle between some beasts with my teammates. We chose to hide here.
Yes we. I still haven't gotten rid of them. Not yet.
A small thing attacked me. It was a little Auspicious Emperor, that's what the person beside me called it.
When I looked into its eyes I was lost in my memories.
[This platform is making my mind go haywire. Something seems wrong.]
*The past*
My name was Surya Jayavardhan. I was an illiterate. I never went to school, not because I didn't want to, but there was no schools in the 100 mile around our village. I later learnt many things, hence 'was illiterate'.
My father was a forest guard and after his death I became one as his job was passed to me. That's how government jobs worked in our place they say.
I was 18 years old when I joined my post. We, I and the other people who were in my batch, were responsible for protecting the 600 acres around our post. The outside of this boundary was protected by another guard post.
There lived a tribe in the forest land that I was appointed at but they were to be protected and not interfered with. That's what the government orders were.
It was something related to conservation and natural beauty and yada yada something, I forgot what it was but it was of no value to me at that time.
There were just five people in our post as the forest was really big and we had made individual homes after clearing a small part of the forest, a really small part, it was also the Forest guards base of operations in name. Our one and only vehicle was also parked there.
The jungle was a weird place. This was my first thought after I took a few rounds of it. It was both calm and dangerous and the most dangerous thing here wasn't the animals but men itself, that's what my colleagues said but I ignored them.
A mistake on my part.
I was an 18 year old rebellious fool.
After three months of my duty, I encountered a women from the tribe while she was limping slowly towards my direction. She must have injured her foot either when she was patrolling the forest or got in a skirmish with an animal. My thoughts when I decided to help her as I was naive kid back then.
The result, I got an elbow to my face and was knocked out without any resistance. She was strong. Really strong. Strong enough that she dragged my body all the way to our forest camp while limping.
'She must have found me pitiful so she dragged me to my post and left me there.' One of my senior colleagues said to me after my guard mates woke me up by splashing cold water on my face.
For the next upcoming weeks, they joked about me being beaten by a girl. It was true though, although it didn't fit my ego.
They even spread the joke to the other posts and caravans that passed the forest. Even after ten years they still joked about this point.
[I hated them for this.]
After three months I got a stalker that I hadn't even realised if my senior colleague didn't told me about her. My guard mates told me to be careful of her because tribal people often did sacrifices to their gods but I didn't care and always said that she could do nothing to me. Nothing at all.
I still can't believe I had the gall to say that.
She kidnapped and married me. Forcefully at that, but after that incident she never forced me. She did everything a housewife would do. She prepared my lunch. Made my dinner. Cleaned my house. The one that I made with my gaurd mates. But she couldn't gain my love as I was both scared and wary of her.
Because for me, not only was I forcefully captured and fully shown exactly what she was capable of without my will but the fact that she acted like a weak little girl who would not even hurt a little ant scared me more.
I couldn't sleep in fear of what she may do to me, kill me, slit my throat or worse, drain all my blood and drink it.
After three years, one day she just disappeared. When I came back, I didn't see her anywhere. I thought I would be happy if she left. I wasn't, I didn't know why I was flustered. I searched for her everywhere. I didn't even know why I was searching for her.
Later my guard mates said that my mother was ill and she went to see my mother. I felt relief. Earlier it was like there was a rock on my chest that made breathing difficult for me. After knowing that she didn't leave me, I heaved a sigh of relief. I immediately got on the patrolling jeep and went to meet her.
The moment my eyes landed on her. My heart calmed down. I was happy to see her. I went and hugged her tightly while saying don't leave me in front of the whole village. The second most embarrassing moment of my life.
[Now that I look back, I wasn't just foolish but gullible as well.]
[Maybe I had developed masochistic tendencies or something?]
I was in love with her. I fell for her without even knowing it myself. Life felt empty in the few moments she was not with me.
[What was I? An abandoned dog?]
She cried. She cried a lot after hearing that. I also apologized a lot to her, for being rude and neglecting her.
[I was... too easy.]
We were living happily. She taught me about a lot of things about the forest and it's animals.
Nine months later, I was going to become a father. She was pregnant for 8 months then. We were planning on what to name our baby. We were planning for its future.
[My memories started to become detached and hurried after that.]
It was monsoon at that time. It rained a lot. The roads had become muddy. She was in pain.
And then what happened?
I can't remember it clearly. Something did happen.
Sometime later then.
A year later, I faced a tiger in the forest. I thought I would die when the tiger pounced on me. I didn't. The tiger saw my necklace and left me alone.
[A year later? Which year later? I know the tiger, her name was Rambha, she died in the hands of a poacher, I killed him later. Right?]
I learnt that the animals in the forest and the tribe were in a sort of harmony from the tribal chief later on. The animals never attacked the tribesmen even once for the past 50 years. So did the tribesmen. They were vegetarian. She was also a vegetarian.
[I stopped eating after I found out that she didn't like it and also the fact that I couldn't bear to see any sharp knives in my house when I haven't made up with her. The fear was deep rooted.]
I started to live with the tribe. I made a house near their tribe to not intrude on them.
Four years passed that way. All the animals knew me and I knew them. I may not know what species they are or what were they called but I remembered every single of them. They never attacked me. Just sent warnings when I got too close to them or was intruding on them. The forest reminded me of her.
[Before I knew it, I had changed and for the worse.]
I felt like I was with her when I was in the forest, like she was with me on my every step, every jump, every moment.
I fell in love with the animals and the forest. To me that 600 acres of forest land was her last reminiscent of her.
[My mind slowly eroded before my eyes, as I was trapped in her memories, refusing to let them go, refusing to let myself heal from the despair that followed.]
[I was empty before I realised anything.]
Four years later the government opened the forest and allowed tourist to come here. After tourists, came poachers who got to know about this new piece of land and it's animals. In just one month more than 12000 deaths were reported by the various posts. 350 of them were from our post. One of us even died while protecting them.
It was the greed of the government that made those things came here.
More than ten Elephants were found dead. Their tusks removed from inside their heads. It was cruel.
One day when I was patrolling, I found a poacher that killed a parrot. I lost control on myself. When my bearings came, the person was already dead. My hands were stained with blood but I didn't felt bad. I felt alive. Like I was reborn.
[I felt fulfilled, like something in me just got completed, the change had happened and beknownst to myself I had already accepted it as my true self.]
From then on, I killed and killed, in just two years, the number crossed more than 540 Poachers and some officials.
[I was 32 then. 14 years have passed since I first met her.]
One day, when I was patrolling I heard a scream followed by more of them. It didn't belonged to an animal's, I was sure of that. Those were a human's scream. I informed my post and went close to the site on full alert.
What I saw was something I could never forget.
A young man(?) or teen or something else, I didn't know at that time, was bashing a man's head with a piece of rock. Where two people with broken legs lie just a little distance away.
The man he was bashing had his skull broken into pieces. All the brain matter and other things were splashed on the ground near him. Blood was all around him, dyeing his surroundings in a horrifying scene.
The man ripped the throat of the other one then used his hands to rip that man's face. He skinned the person alive and then broke his neck.
He ripped the head of the last person. Blood overflowing from his corpse.
That wasn't normal.
I wanted to do something, scream for help or intervene but my instinct, which I honed while living in the forest for the past 14 years, were screaming at me to not do anything or I would die.
[That day I met him for the first time. ]
That day I saw the reflection of Savitri in front of him. Savitri, my wife and also the only person I loved more than my life.
That day, I saw my life flashing before my eyes at just the mere thought of intervening.
That day I saw a monster that was neither human not animal.
That day my life changed once again.
[Because that day, I realised what I have became.]
[And that's where things went wrong. I can't remember something that happened at this time but something did happen. What happened? I knew it before. I am sure.]
[My memories are fading.]
*The past ends*
The little auspicious emperor was looking at Fan Lin warily.
On the other side, the remaining 14 students saw the beast and were debating on what to do with him.
Fan Lin ignored them. His eyes were still on the Three eyed loin cub. It was injured.
'Wasn't this scenario the highest level challenge that was random selected based on the strength of the participants or by nepotism.'
'You are saying this guys are strong?'
Fan Lin thought while looking at the 14 people who were having a debate among each other while glancing at his direction from time to time.
'This trial's the same.'
"Go to Mama. Brother here has some things to kill."
Fan Lin adoringly said to the Little lion cub and impaled the other students to death.
He made sure to cover the eyes of the lion cub to not see the sight.
'Children are precious. They should not be tainted.'
'Now how am I going to explain this to the judges? My actions doesn't feel normal.'
'I will just say something stupid or make some sad story.'
'Maybe act like I was annoyed by the chattering and did them.'
'Or should I show a greedy sight and act like I killed them to get better results, a selfish act.'
'Or should I act cold and say that their indecisive actions just made me irritated. It is a little better than the annoyed one.'
Hundred of excuses ran through his mind as the students impaled by the crystal died. His face remained emotionless though, so did his voice.
After taking his crystals back, he let go of the lion cub and let it go towards its mother.
The simulation ended the next second and he was met with angry eyes of 14 students who would have attacked if not for the fear of the soul skill he just displayed.
Final Trial.
Fan Lin looked at the round table with three judges on it. They were evaluating his whole journey and giving their scores. Impartially. Probably.
"So Mr Fan Lin. We are extremely in awe of your physical abilities and how easily and gracefully you control your soul skills. It was miraculous and magical... so why did you suddenly kill all your comrades at the previous trial?"
One Old man in the middle said. He was the current Headmaster of the Outer Court. Fan Lin looked at the Old man and then at the other people in the room.
"It was tender and fluffy. I can't bear to hurt it. That's why I eliminated everyone."
Fan Lin replied. The judges looked at him and his clear bright yellow eyes without any hint of malice and discussed among themselves silently.
They were powerhouses in the Titled Douluo realm and could have conversed with each other telepathically but they didn't.
Some seconds later.
"We appreciate your feelings for the young soul beasts and can see where your feelings came from considering you are a young child but please refrain from acting like that again."
"You should first try to talk with the others and only when the talking fails, should you be on the offensive."
The Old man said in a teaching tone. He and the other judges had seen the information of Fan Lin and he was quite a demon to possess a cultivation of a Spirit Grandmaster at 10 years old.
"Yes, Old man. I will heed your words."
Fan Lin calmly replied with a bow totally not seeing the twitch on the face of the Old man.
"Good."
"Fan Lin, 7 points for the ninth trail, six points for passing the test, one point for staying true to your intentions."
"Nine points for the Final Evaluation."
"Total score - 73. You are eligible for the Outer Court of Shrek Academy."
The surrounding people started to clap while looking at him.
"Nice to have you Student Fan Lin. We hope that your stay here in Shrek will become the best moments of your life."
"Congratulations on passing."
Fan Lin looked at the three judges who delivered his assessment and thanked them.
He left the platform to give space for the other student who was going to be evaluated.
'Now the only things that were left was to move towards the working students dorm. That was the only place where I can sneak at night. I don't have to share my room with anyone as there are a lot of rooms and it was close to the manmade small forest. I can use the passive forest meditation boost to train there.'
When he was thinking about the future, he remembered a certain memory of his and now he didn't know if he made the right choice or not.
'I stopped reading the novel by this point so I don't know what was going to happen to the others. But I just remembered a readers spoilers where he says that Shrek got destroyed, totally and Wulin had the responsibility to rebuild it. I just had to remembered this point after I came to Shrek Academy huh.'
'I killed my way, got money, bribed the officials, all just to enter this infallible academy and guess what?'
'I hate my life.'
🌤️
The next day.
Today was Fan Lin's first day at school. He had already applied for the working students dormitory. You have to be a working student to stay there. So he was a working student from then.
Now he had to pay for everything he needed and wanted, even food, shelter and clothes.
The opening ceremony was held within the sparkling clean Spirit Ice Plaza.
Just like any other academy, they had six grades. Each grade had around one hundred students give or take ten or twenty more, and together they totalled a little over seven hundred students.
There wasn't a podium or stage setup for the opening ceremony. When the ceremony started, however, shivers ran down the spines of the new students.
Twenty people slowly descending from the sky, their majestic aura and presence awe-inspiring.
'I still don't understand how those old fogeys inspire awe in me. All of them are mind controllers or something?'
Apart from flying-type soul masters, only those with at least seven rings could fly. In other words, all of these teachers had breached the realm of seven rings.
A middle-aged man moved a step forward in the air.
"A new academic year will begin again. At this time every year, Shrek welcomes new blood to our academy.
Shrek Academy has never forced its students to cultivate nor is our education compulsory. There is an annual minor exam and a major one every three years. Failing the minor exam twice will result in expulsion. So, the number of students in each grade will decrease in the next three years."
"For those in the sixth grade who have yet to meet the graduation requirements, I hope you will all work hard and fulfill them before you turn thirty-five. As for our new students, you have the option to relax and take it easy, but then you might not be here in three years.
"Of course, Shrek Academy will not hold back in your education. You can ask for guidance from your teacher and make use of the numerous facilities on campus. Naturally, you must exchange contributions points to utilize them. You new students will soon realize the importance of contribution points."
"Now, on the eve of the new academic year, let us celebrate Shrek's generations of honor and glory, and to many more generations of magnificence. But whether you'll be part of the glory or left on the sidelines in the future will be up to you."
'You better say that when it destroys!'
Shrek Academy's elimination system lived up to its fame. Anyone who wanted to graduate from Shrek would have to put in blood, sweat, and tears, progressing step by step until the day they stood at the world's summit.
With the ceremony concluded, the teachers in the air split up, each heading to their respective classes.
Fan Lin was watching all of this. He thought it would had been better he if was standing just one spot away because the fourteen students he 'backstabbed' were standing beside, in front and behind him.
Their intentions didn't seem pure.
The students entered the outer court's classroom for the first grade, which was on the first floor. It was a lecture theater large enough to hold three hundred people.
Fan Lin closely followed behind them, his haters did the same. Now was not the time to stand out.
Everyone knew that.
"There are 112 students in grade 1 this time."
The lecturer incharge of the grade 1 said after counting the students.
"Good. Proceed the classes."
...
A small briefing on the Protagonists of DD3.
Tang Wulin, a son of a God, the male lead and a crafty but good hearted person(?). Is a glutton and has a dragon in his body.
Hardworking, calm and lucky protagonist, although the luck came in balance and each lucky encounter took something from him.
....
Gu Yuena
The female protagonist. Follows Tang Wulin everywhere for foreshadowing reasons.
Quite strong. Can control the elements. Moody and cold towards others.
Nothing much for now.
....
Xu Xioayan
A Lackey of the Protagonists. Part of the protagonist group.
....
Xie Xie
Another Lackey of the protagonist. Better than Xu Xioayan. Part of the protagonist group.
This are the spoiler free intel on the Protagonist.
I will include the Intel's of other people at the bottom as the story progresses.
It helps for some people.
....
Their pictures are in the comments.
Currently on Chapter 50.