6 The Basics

The words spoken by the white robed man were misleading. The dorm rooms were not predetermined as the man had led the freshman to believe. Instead, the students were given the liberty of choosing their own rooms from the available ones. The residential areas were separated into four main areas with each year getting an area of their own. At the end of each year, the students of each year would move to the next area while the old Year 4's (seniors) would graduate and the New Year 1's (freshman) would enter the school.

The quality of the rooms would increase in each area, from bigger bedrooms to larger bathtubs and training rooms. Inside each area would be hundreds of residences, with each residence having four dorms. Lucian chose a residence towards the outer edge of the freshman residential area. He preferred peace and quiet compared to the bustle of the more populated areas.

He shared the house with Tomas, Yusuf and the last occupant was a teen named Ragus. He was a bulky youth, bursting with muscle. His clothes constantly seemed to be on the verge of ripping apart. Lucian had called first dibs on the room with the view of the crystal blue ocean.

When he rushed into the room he was immediately taken aback. It was huge. At least 50 square meters. The house definitely did not look big enough to fit four rooms of this size as well as a courtyard in the middle. He saw the bedroom, with a large queen sized bed, mounted upon a wooden layer which added height to the bed. There was a large mat situated further into the room which must be for meditation. There was a fountain on the left wall and just next to it, a door leading to a bathroom with a luxurious tub and a shower that covered the entire tub from above.

Back inside the main room, there was a sliding door leading to a balcony that lingered over a cliff and hanged above the sea. "Beautiful" he said aloud, without meaning to. His voice was filled with awe. This is home now, he thought.

The next morning he went alone to the courtyard of the trials. He went alone, betraying his character trait of always wanting to talk with someone wherever he went. After officially moving into the Academy, Lucian's personality changed. The atmosphere wasn't what he expected so he became a bit more reserved. By choice of course.

"Class 1A," he said while finding his name on the board, "and the class is in lecture hall 45 at .... NOW!" His eyes shot open before he hurried into a sprint almost collapsing on the stairs. I don't know here to go, he thought. He heard footsteps nearby and darted in that direction.

The person walking past stared at Lucian in clear surprise. When had he last seen someone run that frantically when there wasn't a demon involved? "Are you okay?" He asked with concern.

"NO! I have to get to lecture hall 45. I'm already late. Please Help Me!" Lucian shrieked as he grabbed hold of the man's arm.

The student let out a chuckle when he came to a realisation, "You're a freshman!" The student looked analysed Lucian from his toes to his hair, "You're the first freshman I've seen this year if I'm being honest. Come on I'll show you. The name's Aston."

"Lucian. I really appreciate this by the way." On the way to the hall, Aston told Lucian a bit about himself, He was 22 this year and was in Year 3. Aston came from a middle class family in a small town in Elfin. He told Lucian about how the academy's library was one of the biggest of all the schools. They had cultivation manuals and Physique tempering manuals. He explained about the weapon pavilion as well. From what Lucian was hearing, the academy was greater than I thought.

They reached the room soon. The number 45 was plastered upon the light brown door in bold silver numbers. "Thank you again Aston."

"No problem. I'll see you around Lucian." Aston waved while walking away. His walk filled with confidence and a hidden arrogance. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open a door.

The teacher stopped his lecture and glared at Lucian entering the room. The class followed his stare. "Lucian Nightshade I presume. You're 10 minutes late so you can go ahead and stand at the back for 10 minutes."

"Sorry, I was lost," said Lucian. He was standing in the doorway with a sheepish grin on his face and nervously rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. He finally got a look at the lecture room. There were multiple desks situated throughout the room. Each one large enough for three students to fit behind. Lucian estimated there to be nearly 150 students in the room. He immediately recognised four people. They are the ones who got the maximum score on the trial of mental strength alongside Lucian. From the look in their eyes, he could tell that they recognised him as well.

When Lucian reached the end of the hall his body was almost forced onto the floor. Standing at the back of the hall was a valid punishment because the force of gravity in the back area would change to match your strongest force. Lucian will have to constantly exert all his strength just to stand. The ten minutes will soon feel like hell.

The teacher waited for Lucian to reach before he continued, "Back to the basics then, the first stage is physique tempering. You will use the surrounding energy to temper your body. The physique tempering stage is split into 5 subcategories. Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple and finally the Gold Stage. Each of the stages is further split into five Stages."

"In the Red stage, your strength will increase by 2 kilograms per tier. At the Yellow stage, 4 kilograms per tier. 8 at the Blue stage, 16 at the Purple stage and 20 kilograms per tier in the Gold stage. This means that by the end of the physique tempering realm, you would be 250 kilograms stronger than you currently are."

"Following the Physique tempering realm is the Human Realm. However, we will discuss that when someone in the class reaches the peak of the physique tempering realm."

"For now however, I do not have much to teach you. I can only provide you with information and guidance. After this lesson I advise you all to take a look at the Academy's library. There is a wide range of physique tempering manuals. Those of you who have already begun cultivating shouldn't fear. The beauty of the physique tempering realm is that you can switch manuals at any point before the Gold stage. You will still have to redo everything till your current strength, and will receive no extra benefit but you would be able to build a better foundation for your future depending on which grade you use."

"Every technique and manual is classified by a grade. Moon, being the lowest grade. Followed by Sun. Then Luminous, and finally Mythical. There are rumours of three more grades following the ones I mentioned, however to this day, no one had been able to verify the validity of the rumours."

"Although the different manuals all increase your physical strength by the same amount, they also prepare your body to contain qi. The different grades can affect how much qi your body will be able to hold at the start of the Human Realm. Do keep in mind that everyone's body is different. So a better graded manual may not necessarily be a better option for you."

"You may come to me if you wish to test your body attribute or if you have any queries. Class will commence in 2 months, I believe this is sufficient time for all if you to at least enter the Yellow Stage. The Academy will provide one structure pill per month which will assist you in increasing your physical strength. The training rooms also have tools which may prove useful, do check it out."

"Finally, each student of the first year is required to complete a mission every two months. You can find out more about this at the mission department. Oh! How could I forget, the library also hosts a myriad of techniques, ranging from palm techniques all the way to axe techniques, students can borrow three technique manuals every month. More may not always be good, remember that. Each student is granted one weapon at a time from the weapon pavilion. Feel free to take one."

"I believe that settles it. Meet here in two months, till then, cultivate well." The teacher did not wait for questions before walking out. Ten minutes into the lesson, Lucian had sat down at one of the desks nearest to the back. The students did not notice the time passing. The lecture took 45 minutes but it felt like it had been only a few moments.