Old Man

While Max was reading this new book he had picked out, the old man suddenly asked him a question with his eyes closed. "Boy, I heard the Federation has doubled the entry requirements for getting into the Academies?"

Max grunted in response. That particular topic set him in a bad mood and he couldn't concentrate on reading the book in his hand any more. The old man chuckled. "Looks like those hidden families are making their move. Is war on the horizon?" He muttered to himself casually before opening his eyes and glaring at Max. "You no longer have the qualifications right?" Max could only nod with frustration. "Come here, let me check your body." The old man croaked again. Max could only obediently do as the old man asked as he was the boy's employer.

The old man grabbed Max's wrist like an iron clamp, causing the boy's eyes to bulge in shock at the old man's strength. However, he kept his panic in check when he saw the old man seemed to be feeling his pulse. Max felt a cool feeling permeate his body for a second before disappearing. After a minute, the old man finally let go of his hand.

"Good, good. Your body is untarnished by all those cheap stimulants on the market." The old man mumbled before his hand pointed to a dusty small iron chest languishing in the corner of the shop, untouched by anyone. "Drag that chest here, will you?" Max quickly walked over to the rear corner of the shop and towards the chest. Seeing the pile of dust on the chest the old man had never allowed him to touch before, he took a cloth and rid it clean first before dragging the box to the old man's feet as he had instructed.

The old man used a herculean effort to open the chest. The chest's lid opened in Max's direction, so he was not able to see what was inside it, yet his curiosity was piqued because he knew that the old man was definitely not what he had seemed. After a minute of rummaging, the old man took out an old dusty red book the size of a small diary before slamming the chest shut. He thrust the book into Max's hands. "Don't practice that useless Fundamental Tactics from now on. Read the contents of this book and practice the contents. You still have a month left for the exams right?"

"Yes, old man. The exams are a month from now." Max replied.

"Hmm. It seems that this old fart has to make a move once again. Consider this as a test for yourself. Practice this technique and get into the Federal Academy on Planet Moneta. Now leave and go train. You still have time to loiter in the store instead of practicing, huh?"

Facing the old man's sudden personality shift, Max grabbed the book and thanked the old man before rushing out. Hope and excitement were in his eyes as he returned to his room. The old man simply smiled as he watched the little boy who had grown up leave before sighing. He had to check out what rumblings the Federation seemed to be up to. Today would be the last day of his stay on this petty planet.

Inside his small room, Ryan sat down on his bed and gave a good look to the old red hardcover book. The book had no name and betrayed no information about its contents save for the fact that the book seemed like it was extremely old. The old man had given him this book while dismissing the Fundamental Tactics. So Ryan assumed that this book must be some kind of training tactics as well. However, they rarely appeared in book form nowadays, and when they did it was usually some heritage treasure of ancient families and sects who had refused to turn their martial arts to the federation.

---

Humanity once used to be a scientific oriented civilization when the strength of all humans was more or less on par. Utilizing technology alone, the rather weak interstellar species of humans had managed to expand and conquer a small sector of the Milky Way galaxy. However, they soon came across roadblocks that technology alone could not solve - competing sentient intersectoral civilizations. As a result, humanity discovered that different sentient species had actually discovered different means of raising their power. The power of self cultivation had suddenly become extremely important when humans discovered that singular individuals could obtain the abilities to compete against weapons of mass destruction.

At that time a lot of ancient sects and families with long heritages of all kind of combat arts that had been honed for millennia became extraordinarily advantageous for the Federation and in turn their status was also elevated to one of the nobility. Their exclusive martial arts and tactics had become a secret treasure to hoard while the vast majority of ordinary citizens had to rely on formalized Fundamental Tactics designed for the masses.

The human physical scale was soon developed based on the notion that an average precultivation adult human be considered of strength of 1. Students would be thoroughly trained to reach the strength of 10 where they would come across a genetic barrier. Only overcoming that barrier would a citizen finally be inducted into the ranks of Warriors. That was when the stage really began and Warriors were primarily trained in the Federal Academies.

Through hard work alone, Max had managed to reach a score of 4.1 which would have normally made him eligible to apply to a Federal Academy. Even within his own school, he was among the top ten students in the entire academic year of several thousand students. However, the physical score was merely a barrier for being able to apply. One had to go through a series of examinations before they could find themselves with admission acceptance letters. With the rumors of the change in even the eligibility criterion, Max had almost reached a point of no hope. However, the mysterious old man trope had come to his rescue with this little red book.