Thinking of this, Henry Sutton also became curious and had the system check the strength of Emily Thompson, the top three academic star in the entire department. He wanted to see what kind of gap existed between himself and Emily Thompson.

　　Target for investigation: Emily Thompson.

　　Spirit Wood specialization evolution path.

　　Cultivation: Spirit Transformation, Level Three.

　　Technique: Wood God Technique (Grade 3)

　　……

　　Comprehensive evaluation: Theoretical knowledge 95, practical ability 96.

　　……

　　After reading, Henry Sutton's eyelid twitched slightly. Emily Thompson, a pretty girl, had mastered more than a dozen spells, all above level 0 ordinary, and her knowledge reserves in every subject? All mastered! Before Henry Sutton got the system, she was absolutely the little goddess who surpassed him in both theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

　　At this moment, Patrick Grant rolled his eyes, "Alright, if you insist, I'll help you sign up. Let me explain the process: once your name is submitted, our freshman competition officially starts in seven days. The event is divided into two parts: a theoretical knowledge competition and a practical round."

　　"The theoretical knowledge competition covers all subjects from freshman to senior year in the Spirit Wood specialization. A set of questions is randomly drawn from the entire question bank, with a full score of 100, a time limit of two hours, and ranking based on scores."

　　"The practical round takes place that afternoon. You'll be assigned a task to personally treat or nurse injured or damaged spirit plants. Everyone gets the same task, and the total score is also 100."

　　"The one with the highest combined score in both rounds becomes the freshman team’s reserve member. If the top two have the same total score, then the one who used less time will be selected."

　　Henry Sutton nodded; he was already familiar with these rules.

　　Patrick Grant looked at him again, and after several dozen seconds, gave a wry smile, "I'll help you sign up."

　　"Teacher Guo, Yalin, Su... Su Heng?" Just then, a figure appeared at the corner of the hallway. He was handsome and tall, only slightly less attractive than Henry Sutton in looks and build. He was also one of the male idols in the hearts of all the girls in the department. In fact, he was often more popular than Henry Sutton, because this young man named Frank Young was only 18 this year and had long been the department’s number two.

　　As Frank Young walked over, he greeted everyone cheerfully, but when he got to Henry Sutton, he paused in surprise and laughed, "What are you doing here at this time? Hey, don’t tell me you’re here to sign up?"

　　Frank Young's tone was full of jest, clearly teasing this classmate who had better looks and physique than him, but whose grades he easily surpassed.

　　There is no love or hate without reason in this world. He had a deep impression of Henry Sutton—he couldn’t help it. All the girls in the department, including some upperclassmen, often compared him to Henry Sutton. But in his heart, what was Henry Sutton? Whether in cultivation or theoretical knowledge, could he even carry his shoes? Yet so many girls kept comparing them, and sometimes some girls even preferred Henry Sutton, thinking that he, Frank Young, wasn’t as good as Henry Sutton... It made him want to puke, and he wanted to ask those brainless girls if they were sick!

　　After experiencing this so many times, every time he saw Henry Sutton, he couldn’t help but want to stir things up. Still, Frank Young didn’t believe Henry Sutton was here to sign up—he couldn’t be that foolish. He was just saying it to provoke him.

　　As soon as he finished speaking, Patrick Grant nodded, "Henry Sutton is here to sign up."

　　Frank Young was dumbfounded, then burst out laughing, pointing at Henry Sutton and wagging his finger, "Come on, man, you’re signing up? Let’s not even talk about theoretical knowledge—you’re not bad in that area—but how many spells have you mastered? I heard you haven’t even learned things like Illumination, Temperature Change, or Soil Separation because you lack the talent. And you’re signing up? Are you just here to give us a laugh, to entertain everyone?"

　　His words were completely blunt, openly mocking and showing no mercy.

　　He used to look for chances to put Henry Sutton down, and now with such a great opportunity, Frank Young was overjoyed.

Chapter 007: The Honor of the Prodigy

　　Amid Frank Young's exaggerated laughter and merciless ridicule, Patrick Grant's face darkened. "Enough, you’re all classmates, don’t go too far."

　　Out of respect for the counselor, Frank Young held back a little, not making it so obvious, but his smile didn’t fade, and his gaze at Henry Sutton was still full of mockery.

　　Patrick Grant looked at Henry Sutton again. The reason he had spoken up earlier was because he wanted this student, whom he had a good impression of, to recognize reality!

　　There’s really no need to talk about theoretical knowledge reserves.

　　Just talk about cultivation and spells!

　　A spirit plant’s growth process requires so many things: sunlight, temperature, water, soil, various trace elements, artificial fertilizers, and so on.

　　The natural spirit herbs and medicines on Earth grow far less efficiently than the consumption rate of countless powerful cultivators. Why are Spirit Wood Masters so highly regarded? Because they possess the ability to rapidly accelerate and cultivate spirit plants.

　　During cultivation, if you only have wood-type talent, you can’t master Illumination to control sunlight, infrared, and ultraviolet exposure; you can’t master Temperature Change to control temperature variations; you can’t master Soil Separation to synthesize special soils and regulate trace elements, and so on.

　　Why is Wood God Technique considered the most, most, most important spell for Spirit Wood Masters? Because even if you only have wood-type talent, as long as you master Wood God Technique, even if you can’t use Illumination, Temperature Change, and so on, you can rely on the purest and most abundant source of wood-type life force to offset all those other side effects with your own surging vitality.

　　A single Wood God Technique can make up for all the shortcomings of a Spirit Wood Master’s other talents.

　　But in Patrick Grant's mind, Henry Sutton's Wood God Technique was just average, far inferior to people like Frank Young.