Chapter 8 – Hank’s Fall

"Maybe I'm talented?" Kyle suggested.

"I can only believe that if you show with results. I think there is still some residual power that you extracted when practicing Sword Body Refinement, but If want to me believe that you're talented, you have to achieve at least twenty points in the next assessment. If you manage to do that, I'll give you a reward, If you don't, I'm going to report you to the authorities. Explosive growth of power is something that is frowned upon on students."

"Why?"

"Spies. I'm not sure you know but it's kind of common knowledge out there. Spies from the Anti-Human faction usually receive some kind of power before going to the military draft. The thing is that you have this excuse of the broken book. And I believe you since I already suspected something. Normally spies behave normally then their power surge in the end. Do you know why?"

"Nope. I didn't even know there are spies out there."

"There used to be. At least it has become much harder to spot them now. Anyways, when you're in the military, the spies power spike will be devastating, they will turn on the students and go on a killing spree, since they have greater strength, they will simply force their way on other students."

"I have seen you grow up since you were little. Unlike other orphans that become orphans at the age of eight and beyond. That's why I'm willing to believe you. But if you don't keep your speed I'll be forced to report you."

"It's okay. I'm not a spy anyway, so I'm not afraid. Besides, I'll surpass twenty points easily. Hell, I'll probably surpass thirty or more." Kyle exclaimed.

"Of course, of course, don't you know that When you cross twenty points threshold it's very difficult to progress further?" The principal said.

"Really? Why?"

"I can't tell you. You'll find out about it on the military draft. There are many answers there. I really hope to see your performance next month."

"Sure! Prepare a very good reward for me!" Kyle got up and started leaving the room.

"Weird! He didn't press me for more answers. He's not normal!" The principal thought.

After Kyle left the room, twenty minutes later Thomas arrived at the same room.

"Jordan, I have to say, I'm very disappointed. I expected more from you." Thomas said.

"What do you mean? What has happened?" Jordan, the principal, asked.

"I think you're already suspecting, but since Kyle told me about the books, something has been bugging me out." Thomas handed a stack of paper to Jordan. "Look at Hank's bank account history."

"How do you have access to it? Ah, never mind, let me look."

There were many incoming transfers from orphan students, they would always be same students, but there was a clear pattern. The amount transferred would always be too much for a single student to pay. The reason was simple, they knew how much a single student could get in a month, but the amount transferred was like five to six times the amount what a single student received.

"That bastard! He's done for life. I'll deal with him personally." Jordan raged.

Orphan students were supposed to have a fair environment growing up. Why? Because soldiers sacrificed themselves on the battlefield. If their children were being mistreated, there was simply no reason to trust the government and fight without worries. So it was more to set an example to the other soldiers, and make them trust the government and the military.

Hank's doing was simply an abuse of power, but it wasn't just that, it was more than that, he was messing with the trust from the military soldiers in the government. It could not blow up and get know. So Jordan decided to report to his higher ups and also capture Hank himself.

"Fuck, Hank must be scaping now. He already knows this has blown up." Jordan suddenly said.

Meanwhile in Kyle's room, Hank was hiding there. He definitely couldn't come up with a proper report that doesn't include his wrong doings. He decided to find the treasure or something that made Kyle grow exponentially at the same time ambush Kyle as revenge for ending his good life.

"This fucker, where is the treasure. There is no way he would take something like this out. If he's a spy, then he must be hiding it in his room." Hank mumbled. "Maybe I can redeem myself if I hand over a spy."

Kyle on the other hand decided to go to the gymnasium to look for Thomas. He wanted to practice his sword fighting. He had some questions and was also itching for a fight.

It took almost half an hour for Thomas to show up. "Hey there, what are you doing here?"

"I have some questions and I wanted to spar a little bit." Kyle said.

"But before that. Let me ask you a question. You're not a spy, are you?" Thomas asked.

"No, I'm not. This is getting boring already." Kyle said.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure. My techniques are supposed to help humanity instead of harm it."

"And how are you sure I'm not lying? If it were any spy, they would just brush it off like I did. Don't you think?"

"It's simple. I have an ability to detect lies."

"Oh, that is quite neat. Perhaps I can also learn it in the future."

"Perhaps. If you're strong enough."

"Anyways, I was noticing that this move quite feel like it was not supposed to be there …" Then they started talking about the Thousand Transformations Sword Set. This was a common technique distributed to humanity. But it was very hard to master it. One reason was because it required people to have body power. Of course, humans would call it something different. They call it blood energy, simply because that's what it feels when it's used.

Thomas didn't enter in detail about blood power, but he mentioned that only knowing the move won't cut it, it needs something more. He will find out about it eventually, so what Thomas said was "When you find out what is missing here, imagine as if the missing thing was coursing through the blade and it will shoot out a blade energy. Like this." Thomas demonstrated the move. It was a sword beam being shot out from the sword slash move. But it had a power to it that materialized into a sharp beam and was shot forward. This power is what was missing, but Kyle didn't know what this power was yet.

"Let's spar like we did last class. It was very enlightening." Kyle suggested.

"Sure, I have nothing to do anyways." Then they started sparring again. Thomas continued to be difficult to face against, but just enough so that Kyle could figure out what was going on and overcome the difficulties. He once again grew by leaps and bounds.

"It's getting late. You better go home, I'm tired as well." Thomas said.

"Thank you, teacher. By the way, I mentioned the Sword Body Refinement to the principal. He was suspecting my explosive growth, and I had to tell him something was different, or else he would think I was a spy."

"I understand. There is no problem mentioning it to him. But other teachers might covet it, so keep it hidden."

"Thank you! See you later." Kyle then headed out.

"I need to find Jordan again. He should've captured Hank by now." Thomas thought as he headed out as well.

When he arrived at Jordan's office, Jordan was there, but he had a worried expression. It was obvious that he didn't manage to catch Hank.

"Shit Jordan. He must be targeting Kyle." Thomas said and dashed out with a worried expression as well.

"Fuck, he is right." Jordan exclaimed and dashed out as well.

Kyle on the other hand was walking slowly towards his room. He was pensive and was thinking about his swordplay. He would often stop and execute a move. He started to have an inkling as to what was missing. Since humans have yet to cultivate qi, the thing that is missing must be body power. And it made sense in his head, since most of the abilities humans taught were related to body power and body tempering. But the problem was to understand how to move his body power.

"Perhaps it's like how we practice tempering. It must be that internal energy." Kyle thought. "Let's test."

Kyle grabbed a branch from nearby and started to practice the sword beam slash. He kept slashing the branch until he felt something click. The last slash managed to release something, and it was a very faint sword beam. It travelled for three meters and dissipated in the air.

[Congratulations on unlocking Body Energy and successfully using it! Body energy stat is now available on the stats screen]

[Body energy changed to Blood energy to conform with current settings]

[Blood energy: 52/63.4]

"What does it mean as conform with current settings?" Kyle thought.

[In your environment Body energy is called Blood energy. The system changed so it can be properly understood.]

"I see, so the thing missing was blood energy. It's just too difficult to use it. And I have so little. Perhaps it'll get better when I breakthrough the next realm after mortal." Kyle thought.