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Bai Li awoke from his trance as he dozed off at the desk in the library. The AI robot was kind enough to use one of its appendages to gently nudge him.

'Ah thank you.'

He quickly patted himself as he took off with his bag, it's only been about 4 hours.

The cold brisk air punched him in the face as he opened the door. Just close by was one of the shuttles to take to the train station.

The trains here were one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to use Soul Crystals as you could hold many students using one train. But the extensive network of hover rails was excessive in setting up around the entire globe. And he would be one of the few who took the train at this time.

The shuttle took off and Bai Li was off and ready in about 5 minutes as the shuttle stopped at its designated location.

A bright neon sign illuminated the dark area as it was near the peak of the night. Four separate navigation maps showed all the locations you could take, and they were jam-packed with locations. The trains here were super fast as they could reach any of the stations in two-minute intervals in the station he was at. All so they could make all the students go to one university and allow the governor's mining company to fully operate at all hours of the clock.

The governor was one of the pawns of a pawn for one of the royal families in the Union Government. With help from his friend from the royal family, he was able to dodge the Union draft. Meaning with no competition, he was able to start a business without worrying about the competition before ascending to a political platform.

Times had changed at this point as the Union Government, the government formed right after EASTER's 'supposed' disbandment persisted throughout the centuries and the few millennia.

The longest-formed human country to ever persist over 5,000 years. Where innovation over the hundreds of billions of humans is ignored since pedigree is favored amongst key star systems and royal family planets.

Five Royal Families were the predecessors of primordial martial arts as they were the first to pioneer the newly found Soul Realm. Where worlds were all interconnected into a seamless plane of existence when no interference from a known civilization had formed. An unbound massive world where only nature and fauna prevailed.

Accompanied by nature was the array of thousands of strange species that existed in our material world, but even stronger than before. Conventional weapons and

Bai Li's planet was no different, Golden Star. Named after its former vast deserts before it was terraformed and nearly hundreds the size of Earth.

The train stopped merely 30 mins after it picked up Bai Li to drop him off. It could take the train just an hour to go a full cycle across the planet as the moment he got off, the train was gone.

It was just a rural town. Little Rock Town they called this quaint town of around ten thousand people. Though the scale had changed a bit, a town's population remained just around the same ballpark as any town in our current time. Cities on the other hand are made of unimaginable scale that it would make Little Rock Town look like a joke.

He walked a bit longer to reach his house. An apartment complex that spiraled several floors.

After reaching the eleventh, he reached the end of the hallway to enter his room. A corner room to be exact. A luxury that apartment inhabitants adore as they would not be flanked by neighbors on all sides. With a nice enough view of the town.

The insides of his apartment weren't really furnished by any means. Just enough to keep Bai Li afloat was a fridge and a microwave. And of course, you can't forget a bed. All of his clothes were also just set aside in boxes.

A distant rumbling and gnawing appetite started to express himself. Bai Li didn't eat anything today since he had to immediately rush from his work to attend his graduation and also study at the end.

The refrigerator's hum was welcomed as he opened it, revealing the contents to be what you'd expect from someone living by themselves. Large amounts of Tupperware and bottled water. A fresh one seemed to have been made with a white sticky note left on top.

The note just read.

'Congratulations on your graduation! I made too much so you can have it as a present -Neighbor'

A smile could only creep up his face.

'I have to thank her in the morning.' He picked up the plate and slapped it in the microwave for a few minutes.

His neighbor was a frail granny who lived by him ever since he moved. She was by herself but for different reasons as they both helped one another in different ways.

Bai Li would help her around the house and she would clean up every now and then and always make food.

She had two sons but would never make the time to come visit, leaving her alone by herself and visiting once or twice to babysit their own children.

The ding of the microwave caused his stomach to rumble even louder.

He opened it to reveal his favorite dish. Rice noodles with braised beef and a fried egg on top. Albeit the microwave did make the noodles into mush and dried out the rest, the flavor was still there.

Bai Li took large portions of the meal as he shoveled it all up into his mouth. Chewing maybe once or twice before swallowing. This wouldn't work very well as he began gasping for air, yanking the fridge door to produce two bottles of water, chugging one fully in mere seconds.

The food was always delicious. There was nothing left like it was licked clean, he wouldn't have thought there was food there in the first place but Bai Li still needed to wash them.

After a few minutes of washing, he sat back down to glance at his room once more.

'I guess this would be my last day here huh.'

Bai Li was paying his rent here when he first started living here at the age of eleven.

Four years quickly flew by of him working his two part-time jobs and attending both his extracurriculars and school.

He would finally start attending the academy.

He looked at his front door to see two work uniforms with their logos fully brazenly stitched on the front. One was a convenience store and a construction job just two stations out.

'Good thing students get to ride free here.'

Bai Li picked up his phone and began dialing away. He did not touch anything on the phone as the display started generating digits before initiating the call. The MX700 (2nd Gen) was one of the cheapest models you could buy in Golden Star Planet with similar access to that of a modern smartphone.

Disheartened responses were heard from his phone as dejected as they were when Bai Li told them about his sudden departure.

'If it doesn't work out, I'll have to find work in the city...' He laid down the phone and readied himself for bed. Taking off his pants and shirt as he lay down staring at the ceiling. Bai Li had to cherish these moments before they were long gone.

-

The night went by fast as the beeps from his alarm woke him up and he was ready in the next fifteen minutes.

Bai Li marked another day on his calendar as it was only just four more days until the testing season began for university began.

Going off the checklist, he sat off what he would usually do on his days off, prepping for the next big thing.

He took the usual train as it started to head toward the city once more. One couldn't enjoy the view as much as the megapolis spanned the entire horizon and with how fast the train could take you. It was almost akin to teleporting or fast-forwarding time.

The doors opened as he began stretching his body.

His general warmup routine as he stretched his calves and knees.

And just like that, he went off on a sprint toward the school's gym. The long distance was shortened at a fast pace as each stride seemed inhumanly possible. Again, another feat impossible by today's standards but the world had vastly changed over the years.

The digital watch he had shown had merely passed around fifteen minutes.

'Tch almost beat my personal best for this month.'

Bai Li clicked his tongue but no matter what, he arrived at his destination to do what he was here for.

The building had no notable design or feature, or the lack of any design was its main feature.

There was only a very large placard that read the name of the building along with its address plastered on the top right.

'Bright Star Dojo' was the name of the place.

The scenery fully changed as he entered the confine to reveal a transparent dome around a courtyard and an inner building/room.

Light from the sky illuminated what was inside to reveal a sleek wooden path and hundreds of men performing the same routine of stance punches.

They were fully in sync in breath and speed as you could hear whips from the sound barrier being formed.

Some who noticed Bai Li broke from the rhythmic punches as their once serious complexion fully brightened.

"If it isn't Rook-!"

As one of the men finished that sentence, another man appeared that towered them over a few inches appeared almost in mid-air.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The taller and older man grabbed the men who broke the routine and tossed them back in formation.

"You have ten extra sets, anyone who breaks it now will get twenty!"

Immediately disheartened, they reluctantly performed once more.

The older man turned his head to face Bai Li with a big smile.

"Rook! Hope you didn't forget your training when you first started."

He smacked Bai Li's back with his lowest strength but it would be enough to break the sound barrier. But Bai Li remained unphased by all of that force.

"Of course senior! Don't stray from your foundation and only build up!"

He performed the same smack to the back of the older man, who was one of the instructors at the Dojo.

Thunderous laughs came out of his mouth as he appreciated the gesture.

"Hah! Of course, our little pupil would know. Hope you get another good training in there!"

He pointed towards the inner sanctum as he began retreating back to his small podium.

"Start on your legs!"

Bai Li began making it into the inner room he mentioned.