Days in Shrek.

"How much?" - immediately asked Aiden. No, he was genuinely curious here. What amount of money will make that man scream as if they stole away his wife?

Flender gave the ruined square grieving look full of tears and remained silent to save some face. Perhaps the amount won't be as shocking to others as it is to the old man.

Perhaps in the whole academy, only one man could stop Zhao Wuji in a duel and that is Scrooge McDuck, no, Flender.

"Isn't it supposed to be a place for a test?" - Zhao Wuji scratched his head.

'Shameless old coot! You just hired some beggars to level the field and bring flat rocks from the mountain! And you paid them less than the market price for the work and now you shed tears of grief and indignation in front of me?! Where is my paycheck for the last several years?!'

"I think you tested enough." - his gaze shifted to the person and went wide with astonishment. He immediately recognized the youth. How could he forget such a golden finger of his life? - "Aiden? Did you come to enroll at last? Oh, and where is that lady? Is she coming later?"

After Flender mentioned Na'er Aiden bit his lip and forced dull pain down the throat.

"Headmaster." - he greeted the man with a slight bow. - "She will not come."

"Will not come?" - Flender fixed his glasses with a finger and noticed something on the young face making him stunned and at the same time regretful. - "I'm sorry for your loss."

It was a natural reaction and with that phrase other two men around froze for a second, thinking a youth in front was someone with a story. Aiden just nodded. He sighed, calming down negative emotions, and felt his mood worsening.

'Ah... it is being some time already and I can't even take care of mood swings.'

But actually it was way better than before. Now he just feels a bit depressed and lacks cheerfulness of youth. He wasn't exactly a person of partying and buddy two shoes, to begin with. He had too much on his mind for that.

"Can I enroll?"

"With your qualifications, you even ask?" - Flender said and turned to Dai Mubai. - "Mubai, show Aiden his dorm, I remember that Oscar is living alone."

Despite all money and power, Flender didn't intend to treat Aiden differently, and that actually pleased the latter. Somehow he wanted to forget about all struggle for a while and just spent time here. He thought he will be able to always go forward like all that protagonists in the story, but eventually, he knew he was wrong.

Training, fighting, planning, and never-ending race with time made him really exhausted. He wanted to calm down, again find inner peace because sometimes he felt like missing a vital part of living – emotions, and feelings. Maybe it was his self that didn't let sword practice move forward and be stuck at the Core Aura level. He felt like he was one step away from achieving True Aura, but something was lacking.

He also wanted time to research and craft soul weapons, a genuine one that can replace spirit bones and give birth to spirit. They will be tremendously powerful and help every master become stronger.

But when Oscar came to the room, he had a headache.

"Wow, I heard you have four rings, three purple and one black, right? Come on, tell me, how can I do the same. Also, what is your spirit? And why do you have a sword on your back? Don't you want my sausages?"

'I wish I could help you do the same, but sorry bro, I am not even close to cloning the Crucible. It is so damn complicated. Right, Nexus?'

= The easiest way is the most straightforward. Kill another demon with it and transplant. However, for years I didn't stop analyzing it and have some gains. Crucible is like a living creature. To be more accurate they create it like one... it is a rare breed of some sort of spiritual being. It is some kind of symbiont.

'So no hope creating it artificially?'

= Why think so, Master? There is a big one. But more analysis is necessary. After all, demons created it somehow, right? So we can too. Have faith in me, master.

'Sigh... got it.'

Meanwhile Oscar was really a bombardment when it came to talking.

"Oscar." - Aiden finally couldn't take it.

"Yes!" - he looked at him with so much attention that it made even a dense block of wood uncomfortable.

"You talk too much."

"Oh! Ah! Yeah, you are right. Senior brother Bai always says to me I talk too much and too perverted. Well, the last is concerning girls, not boys, so you are safe, don't worry. Oh, and I talk much, mostly because I'm nervous around unfamiliar people. You know, when I don't exactly know what and when to say and end up talking about everything on my mind. Have you ever experienced that?"

Aiden was speechless by his display of skills in communication. If power was decided upon words per minute one can say without losing the thought process, Oscar will be invincible.

"Oscar." - he said calmly again.

"Yeah, I know, I know..." - finally he sighed and sat down on the bed gazing at Aiden across the room.

"When is meal time?"

"Are you hungry? I have..."

"No need, Oscar. Your sausages can be spent on yourself, really." - Aiden smiled wryly. Aside from battle and when really necessary, he will never touch them. Especially to simply satiate hunger.

At this moment the door was flung open, and rogue fatty intruded humble abode of genuine gentlemen. He came like a storm with an expression that can scare junior and senior girls to death and force them to never, ever trust various uncles again.

"Oscar, accompany me to the town. I need a relieve." - that was Ma Hongjun in flesh and blood.

"What? Now?" - Oscar had an astonished face. It was barely past morning, after all.

"I can't wait, seriously..." - he sounded hurt, but his face revealed nothing except anticipation to have bedtime.

'Nexus, can you tell me what is wrong with him?'

= I can. He is an idiot.

'That goes without saying, anything else?' - Aiden immediately agreed without as much as a little shade on his heart.

= His chicken was undeveloped during birth and that made it remain on the stage of growth. Beast spirits according to Eternium have two consequences of premature awakening. First, they are extremely weak and remain that way. The second will appear if a beast's inherent characteristics have a tremendous amount of life force. It will pour out into the body of a holder uncontrollably. Fixing it is simple. Put sealing formation around the martial spirit for a month and let it absorb what is released. It not only will stop the symptoms, but finish the growth process. In terms of Douluo Dalu it will mean another awakening.

'That's unexpected. How can I seal it?'

= Wait for me to find suitable formation and then do the deed.

Aiden didn't pay attention to the dirty jokes of Nexus, watching Oscar and Ma Hongjum leave. The latter was in such a hurry that barely noticed anything around him. Aiden didn't linger in the dormitory too, he decided to have a walk over the academy grounds and found a good place for seclusion. He wanted to find a place near the tree, preferably deserted.

That wasn't so hard. Aiden sat by the tree and took out the zither. After practicing it for so long coupled with his eidetic memory and reflex regrowth, he reached a very high realm. Sound of the zither spread out, lingering on the waves of atmosphere, bringing calmness and warmth. He played alone and to himself.

Actually, there is one person of the audience, but she no longer belonged to this world.

The zither plays for her.

Every time Aiden played, his energy will go in resonance, making it snowy and stormy in close proximity. Even now after half an hour of music ground around was littered with snow blanket. The world around him converted to one of pure white.

He didn't notice how two people were gazing at his position from a distance.

"Ah..." - Flender sighed sensing melancholy and pain between the notes. - "Little guy has it hard. He has been through a lot."

Zhao Wuji nodded in agreement. He was caring when needed and not a cruel or treacherous person. When someone became a Shrek Academy student, he will naturally care about that person like a family he never had.

"Okay. Don't bother him. Let's just observe and advise. Anything else he can do on his own." - Flender took a sip of tea and retracted his gaze.