"Junior, are you joking?" The upperclassman picked up a blue-skinned fruit and weighed it in his hand. "Didn't the first-year exam confiscate all soul conductors? Did you steal these fruits from somewhere?"
"And you're calling them 'soul power fruits'? Everyone knows there aren't many left in the wild forests of the continent. These must be artificially cultivated varieties—flashy but smelling nice. Did you add some kind of technology to them?"
Gu La raised his eyes, calmly meeting the other's gaze. "Buy or don't buy—it's limited stock, first come, first served."
"Hey, you little…" The older student's face darkened as he recalled the hardships he endured during his own first-year exams. His fists clenched audibly, and a cruel smile appeared on his face.
"Fine, I'll buy one. But if it's not worth it, watch me flip your stall!"
A warm, merchant-like smile spread across Gu La's face. "Pick whichever you like."
The student casually grabbed the blue-skinned fruit. As soon as it touched his hand, he felt an odd attraction emanating from within the fruit, causing his soul power to stir slightly. This strange sensation made him frown, though he couldn't pinpoint what was wrong.
"One million federal credits, please." Gu La extended his hand.
"Are you robbing me blind?!" The student almost threw the fruit away after hearing the price, but thinking it might be a scam, he reluctantly held onto it.
Gu La shrugged, no longer paying him any attention.
At this moment, a senior wearing a light blue dress stepped forward from the crowd. She had smooth, water-blue hair and eyes as clear as a tranquil lake, with a fourth-year student badge pinned to her chest.
She had been watching the scene unfold. A million federal credits wasn't much for Shrek Academy students, but spending it on a single fruit was undeniably extravagant.
However, she was naturally curious, and Gu La struck her as someone intriguing. Besides, she wasn't spending contribution points, so…
"One million, right? I'll take one." She pulled out a gold-edged card, eyeing Gu La with interest. "Junior, can you tell me more about these fruits?"
Gu La sensed the dense fluctuations of water-attribute soul power emanating from her and his eyes gleamed. "Senior, is your martial soul water-attribute?"
"That's right. My martial soul is the Azure Water Swan." She smiled faintly. "Why? Do I need to reveal my martial soul just to buy fruit?"
She assumed Gu La had heard of her and, looking at his handsome face, couldn't help but feel a bit smug.
Gu La didn't respond but instead pulled a crystalline seed from his pocket. As his soul power surged, a black soul ring rose from beneath his feet, eliciting gasps from the surrounding crowd.
"A black soul ring—and he's still a freshman?!"
"Four rings already? How is that possible?!"
Ignoring the commotion around him, Gu La focused on placing the seed in his palm. As he infused it with soul power, the seed quickly sprouted and grew. Within seconds, a miniature fruit tree stood before everyone, bearing a translucent, water-blue fruit.
"Please try it." Gu La plucked the fruit and handed it to the senior. "This is the Azure Crystal Fruit, specially cultivated for water-attribute soul masters."
A flicker of admiration passed through the senior's eyes. In the boys' eyes, Gu La's actions seemed like a display of strength, but to the girls, it carried a touch of romantic flair.
Instead of taking the fruit immediately, she looked meaningfully at Gu La. "Junior, do you have a girlfriend? Your senior here is currently single, you know."
She playfully winked, prompting a round of cheers from the surrounding boys.
A few black lines appeared on Gu La's forehead. "Sorry, I'm selling my art, not myself."
"Tch." The senior pouted, accepting the fruit while muttering under her breath, "I should've just taken it without paying…"
She held the fruit up to the light, examining it closely. Sunlight passed through the skin, refracting a dreamlike blue glow, and the flesh inside seemed to ripple like liquid. She parted her lips and took a small, cautious bite.
The next moment, her expression froze. The fruit melted instantly upon contact with her tongue, transforming into a cool flood of energy that surged into her body.
This energy was unbelievably pure, requiring almost no refinement to convert directly into her soul power. Even more astonishingly, as her soul power increased, some impurities accumulated from long-term cultivation were quietly purged, leaving her soul power even purer.
"This… this is equivalent to half a month of intense cultivation!"
The senior opened her eyes, staring incredulously at the remaining fruit in her hand.
What delighted her even more was how delicious the fruit was—far beyond her expectations. Each bite felt like tasting the finest dessert, yet it wasn't cloying at all. Instead, it invigorated her spirit.
She quickly finished the fruit, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Junior, I'll take everything on your stall!"
That statement acted like a spark igniting a fuse. The students who had been hesitating instantly erupted into a frenzy. Those who reacted quickly whipped out their gold cards, scrambling to grab the fruits on the stall.
"I want the red one!"
"Save the green one for me!"
"I'll pay double the price!"
The initially skeptical upperclassman stood frozen in place, staring at the blue-skinned fruit in his hand. After a moment of hesitation, he cautiously took a bite.
His eyes widened dramatically. The energy contained in the fruit perfectly resonated with his lightning-attribute martial soul. A tingling sensation spread from his tongue throughout his entire body, and his soul power visibly surged.
Even more shocking to him was that some lingering injuries in his meridians, accumulated from years of cultivation, showed signs of healing under the flow of this energy.
"Give me another—" He suddenly looked up, only to find the stall completely empty.
The other students weren't fools. Within minutes, they had snapped up all of Gu La's stock. Gu La leisurely packed up his stall, satisfaction written all over his face.
"All sold out. Goodbye, everyone."
He waved his hand, slipping a stack of gold cards into his pocket. Rough calculations put his earnings at nearly 100 million federal credits in just one morning. The wealthy students of Shrek Academy truly lived up to their reputation.
"Wait! When will you have more stock?"
"Junior, leave your contact information!"
"Can I place a pre-order?"
Ignoring the chorus of calls behind him, Gu La waved dismissively and disappeared down a path in the academy.
What he didn't realize, however, was that rumors of the "mysterious fruit vendor" had already begun to spread rapidly throughout Shrek Academy.
As Gu La walked out of the academy gates, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
He hadn't expected that the fruits he'd casually cultivated would be so popular among Shrek students.
Of course, it was also because Shrek students weren't short on money and were fanatically obsessed with increasing their strength; otherwise, they wouldn't have spent so lavishly.
"An unexpected bonus. Crossbreeding Berry tree fruits with native plants has boosted their growth speed, and they're especially responsive to my catalysis."
Looking into the Forest Sea Space, where time flowed thirty times faster, Gu La saw the piles of fruits and seeds he had accumulated and began to hatch a new idea.
"Perhaps Arceus Corporation could pivot to become a Berry company?"
After all, the seeds left behind by his specially cultivated fruits lacked any special effects and grew slowly, producing ordinary fruits. He wouldn't even need to tamper with the seeds—they could be sold directly.
But…
As the Child of Nature, becoming the boss of a Berry company… wouldn't that feel a bit off?
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