19 World Tree Academy

Early morning Marcus was already awake and training the close combat technique he found in the cultivation section. Before while traveling he only was able to study it, but not practice. It was called Eternal Snake Fist. It needed a lot of flexibility and to achieve it and to find more he found a support technique that will help him develop it. It was recommended in the same book that he saw the Eternal Snake Fist in. It was called Snake Body Transformation. It was a set of moves that will significantly boost his flexibility.

Eternal Snake Fist was a perfect fighting technique for him; it focused on dodging and attacking when the enemy shows an opening at an angle that is very hard to block. And after few attempts, Marcus felt pain in his joints. Stopping at this point, he looked for the manual for Snake Body Transformation. It required the energy from the environment, similarly to the Divine Body Modeling.

Following the instructions on the manual, he felt the pain in his joints being replaced by warmth. With every move, he felt his body being able to bend and move more freely.

After repeating the cycle three times, he checked his stats.

Name: Marcus

Age:15

Health: Good

Aptitude: MAX

Muscle strength: 22.2

Flexibility: 21.6

Speed: 21.2

Energy: 242.2

His flexibility increased by 0.4, 0.1 per cycle. Each cycle takes around twenty minutes. If he does five a day, it will be enough to quickly meet the full requirements of Eternal Snake Fist, from 20 to 25 are the minimum to start learning the basics. If it's below, it will only hurt his body, if in between there will be some pain, but it won't damage his joints. Beyond 25 it will be entirely safe for practice.

While resting Marcus heard footsteps outside his room with the sound of knocking following soon after.

Putting a bag on his back, Marcus opened the door and saw the Guild Leader Xu Qiang.

"Are you ready? Whats that? A bag? Here take this."

For his good morning from the Guild Leader, he got a bunch of questions and a ring shoved into his hand.

Looking at the ring, it was very simple looking without any designs, only the black rock in the middle was eye-catching. Other then this it looked like a regular ring.

"What are you doing? Put a drop of blood on it, and it will bond with you."

A drop of blood? Only now Marcus realized what he is holding, it's an Interspatial Ring! He heard about them, in his clan, only elders and people like Long Li could have one. And now he is holding one in his hand! Not wasting any time he made a small cut on his finger and dripped a drop of his blood onto the black stone.

He felt a connection starting to form. And soon in his mind, he could explore an empty space. It was the size of a small room, filled with darkness. Taking his bag off his back, he held it and focused, suddenly the bag diapered and air rushed to fill the empty space left by it.

"If you are done, we can go now!"

"Let's go then."

Walking out of the hunters guild they soon entered a carriage. The city was bustling with life, looking at people Marcus slowly relaxed.

Suddenly he heard a scream, looking around he saw a woman being attacked by a group of thugs. She was trying to defend herself, but the cultivation of the thugs was surprisingly high.

There must be something more to this. But Marcus didn't think about it, he extended his hand and shot lightning at the group of thugs. Hitting one of them, the lightning bolt pierced through another two before hitting the ground.

The rest of the group was shocked as they looked at who did this. But they only saw another lightning coming towards them. In seconds all of them were dead and the woman safe.

The blood started to form a small stream and looking at it memories from the Hundred Temples City started to come back to Marcus.

Marcus cracked his neck and stopped these memories from surfacing in mind.

The woman already run away and this whole time the carriage didn't stop, so they continued on their way. Guild Leader Xu Qiang did not react what just happened, so Marcus didn't dwell on it and moved on.

The World Tree Academy was located at the edge of the city. The large entrance gate was open, and guards stood on both sides. Seeing the hunters guild carriage, they held back and let them pass. Academy's grounds were vast and as they traveled Marcus saw many buildings, people around his age in uniforms walking around and teachers from time to time.

Soon they stopped in front of an old but distinguished building. And in front of it stood two people, a middle-aged man and a woman in her twenties.

"Xu Qiang you are finally here! And where is the new student?"

As guild leader Xu Qiang stepped out of the carriage, the middle-aged man spoke.

Stepping out of the carriage Marcus was able to take a closer look at this people. The middle-aged man had grey hair on the sides; he looked like a scholar. The woman had a beautiful face only her expression was cold, tight clothes showed her body curves, making her appear enticing.

"Xiao Zhi, good to see you, this is Marcus, Marcus this is the principal of the World Tree Academy, Xiao Zhi."

"It's nice to meet you, Principal Xiao."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Marcus. You were right Xu Qiang I will not regret this."

"Right, for now, I will be having Marcus study in the hunters guild training program. Take good care of him for me."

"Of course, Marcus let me introduce you to Lin Zhen she is one of the teachers of the Academy; she will show you around. If you have any inquiries, go directly to her, and she will take care of it."

Marcus was a little overwhelmed, and the look he got from Teacher Lin didn't help him at all it only put more pressure on him.

"Let's go."

Saying in cold voice, she left.

"Good luck." (Xu Qiang)

"Until next time Marcus." (Xiao Zhi)

...