Chapter 7 (Sky House)

*beep* *beep* *beep* An alarm clock voice sounded in the room. "I am already awake!! Abort command." Alex's irritated voice echoed in the room. Soon the alarm clock stops, and Alex gets up from his bed.

Walking out of his room, Alex heads toward the bathroom. After washing up, Alex went out of the house. "Let's see the neared gym from here is Sky house. But isn't Sky House an establishment for martial arts? *Sigh* It's hard to find a gym in Sky City. Let's hope they will accept me." Alex mumbles to himself while walking toward the Sky House.

The reason Alex is looking for a gym is because after drinking/consuming a Body Refining Potion, one should do intense exercise to maxim the effects of the potion. Both gyms and dojo's have advance technologies that can help the body quickly adapt to the changes that the Body Refining Potion brings.

In Sky City, Sky House is very famous, not for the fact that they only accept prodigies. Instead, the Sky House was established by a pretty powerful State 5 Mutant, General Kim, around 300 years ago.

'It's 6:00 am; the Sky House should be open,' thought Alex while looking at his watch. Walking for about 14 minutes, Alex finally reached Sky House.

Walking inside the dojo looking building(Sky House); Alex comes across many people talking among themselves.

"Hey! you know, I heard someone from Scarlett visited yesterday. It seems they were looking for a candidate to become a Mutant."

"What!! Is it true? Why no one told me." Said one of the boys in the group, passing by Alex in a regret-filled tone.

"But are you sure the one looking for a candidate was from Scarlett and not from the government? Don't you know only Scarlett has a secure method to turn someone into a Mutant?"

"Yeah, getting scouted by the government is as good as dying. The horrible experiments they put you through have an 85% death rate. And even if one survives the experiment, they will forever remain a Stage 1 Mutant."

"You both are right; only people with heaven-defying luck become Stage 2 or 3 Mutant after going through those horrible experiments."

"What's the use of talking about this stuff. We and these supernatural beings belong to two different worlds. Even if someone from the Scarlett family is interested in our group, are you all willing to kill someone? Every single Stage 3 or lower Mutant is treated as a soldier by the government. If they order you to kill someone, you have no choice but to kill that person. Most importantly, can you 3 imagine yourself as Mutants?"

"Yamato, you don't have to bust your dreams like that," complained the 3 boys in the group.

Listening to the group conservation, Alex is surprised, 'How can they talk about Mutants like that. It seems rumors are true; a Stage 5 Mutant did establish this dojo. But since they accept normal humans, they start calling this dojo a gym.'

"Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find a staff member of the dojo," Alex asked the group of 4 boys walking past him.

"Big brother, you are looking for an instructor?" someone from the group asked.

"This is a dojo, so there will be instructors here. How stupid of me. Yes, I am looking for an instructor." Alex replied.

Listening to Alex, the person called Yamato, who looks to be 16 years old, asked. "I am a Core disciple here. So how can I help you, Sir."

'What is Core disciple? I should have done some research on Sky House before coming here." Now Alex is in a real dilemma. "I am here to join the dojo."

"Oh!" Knowing that come here to join the dojo Yamato becomes surprised, 'He doesn't look like he knows any martial arts. In fact, he looks like an everyday human. Then why are my senses telling me to stay away from him? Is he also an old Monster like me?' Many thoughts flashed through his mind as he looks at Alex.

"Follow me; I will take you to the assessment room." Saying this, Yamato guided Alex toward a room the assessment room. Walking inside the room, Alex saw various strange machines in the room.

"Before we start the assessment, let me ask you a question. Are you a Mutant?" Yamato asked Alex while activating a machine for Alex's assessment.

"No, why you asked," Alex replied with a straight face; he finds it strange that he would ask a question like this.

'He doesn't seem to be lying, then why I am getting dangerous vibes from him. Ah, forget it why I am sticking my nose where it doesn't belong.' After thinking for a while, Yamato stopped worrying about Alex.

"It's nothing. Come here; this is a strength measuring tool. It shows your strength in numbers(Power scale). A normal healthy human has a power scale of 15, but to enter this dojo, you need to have a minimum power scale of 30. Now come here and punch it with all your might hold nothing back."

Listening to Yamato's explanation, Alex nods his head and walks in front of the strength measuring tool, and punched the machine with full force *boom*.

[*beep* 23]

Seeing the results, Yamato looks at Alex while thinking, '23 isn't bad. He looks like he hasn't been taking good care of his body. If his body were in top shape, then his power scale would be over 30. That's an astonishing number without the use of martial arts. Now, I am wondering what grade of Body Refining Potion he used.'

After thinking for a while, Yamato takes an old-looking book out of nowhere. "Unfortunately, with your power scale, it's difficult to get into the dojo. Where take this book, practice the first stance in the here for a month your power scale will reach 30 easily."

Handing the book to Alex, Yamato walked out of the room, leaving Alex confused. "What was that just now. Whatever now I have to rely on Body Refining Potion." Mumbling to himself, Alex walks out of the assessment room.

If Yamato heard what Alex said, he would be shocked. Beacuse it was almost impossible to gain a power scale of 23 without using a Body Refining Potion; unless you are a Mutant with strengthing ability or a Body Refiner with a mysterious Bloodline.

Arriving outside of Sky House, Alex opened the book that Yamato gave him. 'Why would that kid give me this book? I don't even know his name. Well, there no harm in seeing the content of this book.'

[Secret Strengthing Art] look at the name of the book; Alex couldn't help but remember about secret Manuals in Clan treasury.

But after reading a few pages of the book, Alex is utterly disappointed. "This is only useful for Mutants. Maybe a person who used an S-grade Body Refining Potion to strengthen his body can make use of this book. I should try learning those Clan secret Manuals. They are way better than this crap that put so much strain on the body."

Know that this [Secret Strengthing Art] is useless to him, Alex threw it in the nearby trash can and walked toward his store.

After Alex left, someone picks that [Secret Strengthing Art] that he threw away. "And I thought you were an old Monster like me. Only a fool would do something like this. This is one of many long lost secret Art's of the Greenwood Clan. People still yearn for this Secret Art, in their dreams."

The person who picks that secret art is Yamato, the one who handed the Secret Art to Alex in the first place. The moment Alex left Sky House, Yamato was following behind him from some distance.

He was excited when he saw Alex read the Secret Art with some interest but seeing Alex throw it away really disappointed him. This was a Secret Art from the Greenwood Clan. The same Clan, which once ruled the whole world.

It was a good thing that he was tailing after Alex from some distance. Otherwise, he would have heard Alex talk about how trash this secret art is. At that moment, he would surely be ready to kill Alex for insulting the supreme Secret Art in his hands.

Thank God! he doesn't know Alex is the current Young Master of Greenwood Clan, and this Secret Art that he holds so dare isn't that amazing; it can't even make its way into Clan Treasury.