Chapter 10 – Power training

Monday morning, during first class of morning. All teachers had one announcement to make. So, they were once again earlier than the students. When all the students arrived, the teacher started to speak.

"Many things have happened this weekend. First, Teacher Hank was executed on the spot for the crime of corruption. All orphans for now are going to report to the principal directly after classes today."

"Secondly, Teacher Thomas from martial arts classes is on a special mission and will be unavailable. Teacher Sophia will be replacing him."

"Thirdly. Since he is from your class, it's ok to tell you that Kyle has been selected for a mission and will be unavailable."

Backtracking to Friday Evening. After Kyle left the scene, he arrived in his room and as soon as he closed the door he started laughing like a maniac. The reason being the notification he got after killing Hank.

[Target killed. Power extraction complete.]

[Body tempering absorbed: +657]

He could already feel the changes taking place in his body. There was a surge of power coursing through his veins, his muscles, and bones. All his body was being refined by this power.

He started sweating heavily, but when he noticed that his sweat was black and smelly, he darted straight to the bathroom. After a while, all the black goo was meticulously cleaned. It was very smelly and smelled like shit combined with a zombie. Kyle didn't know at this time that those were the impurities that the system was helping him purge from his body.

Later he checked his status once again. The power leap was incredible this time.

[Name: Kyle Goldblood]

[Age: 15 years]

[Strength: 25.59]

[Agility: 25.39]

[Vitality: 26.79]

[Stamina: 24.49]

[Qi: 4000]

[Blood Energy: 68/129.1]

[Power Index: 25.445]

…

[Cultivation Base: 511.28/1000]

[Qi Power: 5.1128]

…

[Soul Power: 3.03]

…

[Body Tempering: 936/1000]

[Body Power: 12.91]

"Wow! I am almost breaking through the body realm. I also gained 13 points in the power index at once, this is amazing. My power doubled just because I killed someone. I guess now how the system will help me grow."

But then Kyle suddenly thought of a problem. His growth was too explosive at once. "Hey system, is there a way for me to hide my power index?"

[Order received; unfortunately, you don't possess any hiding aura or similar skills]

"That sucks. Well at least I have a system. Let's cultivate and see what tomorrow is about."

Time passed quickly, Kyle simply cultivated and eventually the sun started shining from his broken window.

"Time to see teacher Thomas." Kyle left his room and headed towards the gymnasium. Thomas was already waiting for him inside.

"Good morning, Kyle!"

"Good morning, teacher!"

"Let me explain to you some things first. Being able to use blood energy before going to the military draft is the sign of a super genius. The military made sure that adults are not allowed to speak about blood energy to children. The reason behind it is because it'll be easier to evade military draft. But even then, super geniuses are obliged to take part in the military draft one way or another." Thomas explained and then he continued his monologue.

"Military bases are built with different purposes. Most of them have a tier behind them. There are two main objectives for the bases. The first purpose is dealing with demons, they are the front line."

"The second purpose is hunting monsters. As you know, monster materials are used to make gear that will be used to fight against demons. We learned about it from demons as well. The hunting bases are spread all over the world while the demon dealing bases are near the demon continent."

"The bases are categorized by the amount of threat they are under. Normally students are brought to Tier 1 bases, that mostly deals with rank 1 to rank 3 warrior level monsters. These bases are built only with the purpose of training and monster population control. After all, monsters are a resource."

"A person when they reach a power index of 20, they are labeled as in Warrior Realm. From 20 to 50 they are rank 1, from 50 to 100 they are rank 2, from 100 to 200 they are rank 3. There are more. I'm a rank 9 myself. Hank, you killed was rank 4, you only managed to kill him because he didn't block and because his power was heavily restrained by the cuffs. Right now, you're close to reach rank 1 and rank 1 is special because it allows you to actively use your blood energy on your attacks. Of course, there are some exceptions like yourself that managed to learn it by instinct, which shows how much of genius you are."

"When a super genius appears, they are specially trained to reach rank 3 before their military draft. But you're special since you have so little time. So, what we are going to do is heavy training for five months. You will not have summer vacation, but I think you don't care anyway."

"These geniuses go to the military draft on tier 2 bases that oversees monsters from rank 3 to rank 6. While the tier 1 bases work like a school, the tier 2 bases are more like a mission hub. It is mainly because it is there to function as a bridge for the military and adventurers to gather resources. So, when you arrive at that place, you will not be a cadet nor a student. You will be a full-fledged adventurer. But you will be under the military for three years, that means that sometimes you are going to be forced to partake in missions. But those rarely happen, so most of the time you're free."

"That is why under these five months I'm going to teach all the common knowledge you should have. Now pack your things and meet me here."

"I don't have many things besides my uniforms, do I need those?" Kyle said.

"You know what? You don't. Let's go. For the next five months you're going to kill monsters near a military base of tier 1. When I feel you're ready, we can move next to a tier 2 base. You're going to use the monster cores to forcefully bring up your strength. But I'm going to make sure you're battling like crazy, so you don't end up with a shaky foundation."

"What is a shaky foundation?" Kyle asked.

"Good question. When you just use resources to bring your power index up, although you'll have strength, you won't be able to use it. It is like how you beat Orpal even though you had a weaker power index. He was simply using crude methods and you could use martial arts to attack him. A shaky foundation won't be able to use their full power, while a solid foundation will enable you to elicit all your strength. There are cases of people with such a good foundation that they can fight higher ranks they their own."

"Most of it depends on how your control of blood energy and how much power you can output. Martial arts are an effective way to forge a solid foundation. But sometimes, with experience, people find their way to improve their strength beyond simply power index."

"If the gap between warrior and master wasn't so big, I would be able to fight a rank 10 warrior if it was a thing. But after rank 9, there is simply another realm, the Master realm."

"Do you have another question?"

"For now, I don't." Kyle replied.

"So, let's go. I already have a vehicle waiting for us."

Soon they left the school grounds. Kyle didn't bother taking anything with him because he was an orphan anyway. Normally he didn't buy anything. All the food he ate was from the school, he didn't have any electronics on him because he thought they were a waste of time. The only thing he had was his bracelet that he got from his parents, and he wore it all the time.

There was a black helicopter waiting for them in an open field a little closer to the shelter Kyle lived in. Kyle had never seen a helicopter before, but he knew they existed. The loud noise of the blades cutting through the air was an overly exciting experience.

About two hours and a half later they arrived at another place. It was still an open field, but this time there was no sign of civilization nearby. When the helicopter left, only Kyle and Thomas remained behind.

"From here on, you'll have to hunt monsters and consume their cores. After that you'll have to apply the method of impurities purging that I'll teach you, so you don't get contaminated by the beast aura. You must come here once a week to find me, and I'll give you a class about topics you should've learned at the military base. If you don't get here at the right time, I'll punish you. Use this. This is a tracker for me to always know your position. There is an emergency button here as well for in case you find something you can't handle. Avoid humans at all costs since they'll determine that you're a military draft evader and will hunt you down."

"Welcome to your hellish training!"