First Day of School

Kai walked to school with Ashe and Emma, who they had met up with on the way. While Ashe and Emma talked excitedly about what they hoped for during their first day at school, Kai thought back to the training he had done these past couple months.

Ever since he'd begun training in Oscar's bar he'd noticed immense improvement in the Ball Drill, easily making it to the Advanced difficulty for someone with his Soul Power, however his body just couldn't keep up with his mind leaving him stuck and unable to get to the Master difficulty.

Speaking of Soul Power, Kai had recently managed to reach rank 13. While it wasn't much, considering how much time he spent training instead of meditating it was quite remarkable. Ashe was in a similar boat to him, due to the amount of training she had only reached rank 9 before school started. Emma, on the other hand, recently reached rank 11 and got her first spirit ring.

She hadn't told Kai or Ashe her ability though, saying she wanted it to be a surprise at school. Regardless, Kai was beginning to feel the pressure to train harder. While he might have been given a head start, if he didn't put the effort in it was only a matter of time before others his age began to overtake him.

His sparing with Evelynn had also seen major improvements. While he wasn't allowed to use Drunken Boxing against her, different aspect from it could be implemented into his own style making it strange to fight against. Evelynn had even told him they would begin weapon training soon! He couldn't wait to see what weapon his master would recommend! Would he be a sword master, or maybe she'll teach him the way of the spear!

Aside from training though, something strange had happened. One of the regulars at the bar, Carter, turned out to be an agent from a rather well known entertainment group. After listening to Kai and showing a recording to his higher ups Carter was given permission to try and recruit him.

Oscar agreed and even became his manager once he had heard how much money they could make, forcing Kai to swear to not tell Evelynn about it. After that, once a week, instead of working in the bar he would go to a recording studio and film a cover of a popular song, posting the video online.

While Carter hasn't managed to find him any gigs yet, Kai did amass a decent following with his videos. His most popular one had already reached a couple hundred thousand views!

With the increased popularity Evelynn quickly found out. However instead of being mad, she was quite supportive saying it was good to have a focus aside from cultivation and training to help him get away from it all. She was mad at Oscar though, giving him an earful and forcefully inserting herself as Kai's co-manager.

Thinking back to his summer the trio soon arrived at the school's entrance. Around them other kids their age were talking and laughing with their friends as they entered. Ashe took the first step forward excitedly, a stark contrast from the nervous Emma.

"C'mon, let's get to class and meet everyone!" Ashe said, dragging the two through the door. Whether it had been luck or something else, the three of them had been placed in the same class.

They soon arrived at classroom 1-A, entering they realized they were some of the firs to arrive. Aside from two others the classroom was empty.

The class was arranged in three rows and three columns of desks, with each desk able to sit two kids, for a total of 18 seats. Ashe moved to sit in the front row but was swiftly convinced otherwise by Emma. Kai had never seen her speak so much or so quickly before, causing him to let out a bit of a chuckle.

They ended up picking the back row, Ashe and Emma taking the leftmost desk and leaving Kai to sit alone in the center. They chatted together for a while, waiting for more people to trickle in. After a while Ashe and Emma got up to go talk to someone they knew. Not wanting to be a third wheel Kai decided to stay at his seat, resting his head on his hand and watching them.

"Checking out the girls already?" a voice startled him out of his thoughts. Looking to his side he saw a man standing next to the desk, a smile on his face. He had wavy dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes, he gave off a nice easy-going vibe. "I'm Sam, by the way. Is this seat taken?"

"I'm Kai" Kai motioned for Sam to sit down. Sitting down, Sam spoke up again.

"So which one do you like best? The outgoing one?" he looked at Ashe before shifting his view to Emma. "Or the quiet girl?"

Kai blushed, his face turning beat red. He stuttered slightly, unable to respond as Sam began laughing.

"You don't have to answer, I can already tell!" Sam laughed for a while, further embarrassing Kai. Eventually Sam took a deep breath, calming himself down. "You from Heaven Dou City?"

Kai shook his head.

"I'm from a small city quite a way away" Kai said, somewhat avoiding the question. "What about you?"

Sam didn't pry and answered the question.

"I'm from Eastsea City" Sam said, surprising Kai. Eastsea City wasn't too far from the Draken clan, only a couple hours away. He knew it was the largest Port City in the Federation, it had great schools and resources.

"Why'd you come here?" Kai asked curiously.

"I got recruited by a faction when I awakened, and since their base of operations is nearby they had me move here" Sam explained.

"Wow" Kai exclaimed, he must of awakened a pretty special Martial Spirit for that to happen. "What's your Martial Spirit?"

Sam smiled wryly before answering.

"It's a Rusted Iron Sword" Sam said, a little embarrassed. Not giving Kai a chance to ask further questions Sam spoke up again. "What about you?"

Kai pointed to his ears.

"Spirit Ears."

"Incredible…" Sam exclaimed.

Kai felt a little strange inside hearing this. When he first awakened, he would of given anything to of had a weapon or beast spirit, but ever since coming to Heaven Dou everyone had been impressed by them. Kai opened his mouth to thank Sam when someone slammed the class door open, causing the class to go completely silent.

Stepping in was a boy with blood red hair and eyes. Pausing once he entered the room, the Boy gave it quick scan before scoffing and shaking him head. The boy then sauntered over to the back of the room, sitting in the last open desk of the back row. He then closed his eyes, ignoring everyone around him.

'Reminds me of Draven' kai thought, remembering how arrogant Draven had always been in the Clan. Not putting anyone else in his eyes, believing himself to be some god chosen saint.

Kai and Sam just continued chatting, with Ashe and Emma coming over to join in. The classroom began to fill up, the last kid to enter being forced to sit with the arrogant red-haired kid in the corner. Luckily, the red-haired kid just ignored him, not even bothering to look at his new desk mate.

Soon the teacher entered the class. She had brown hair tied in a pony-tail and brown eyes. Giving the class a quick look she introduced herself.

"I'm Miss Alice, and I'll be your teacher for the next little while. I'm a rank 43 Spirit Ancestor of the defense system." She spoke, her voice confident and strong. "You are the best of the best in the younger generation of Heaven Dou City. Each of you either awakened with high Spirit Power or with an extremely powerful Martial Spirit! You are a class of elites, and I expect you to act like it!"

"While normally I'd have you do introductions here, but I understand a couple of you have already gained their first spirit ring" She said, causing the class to erupt in chatter. "It's been quite a while since we had such a talented batch of students, because of this I thought I'd make an exception."

"I'm sure you're all eager to show off your Martial Sprits" the teacher's gaze landed on the arrogant boy in the corner. "Some more than others I suppose."

"So why don't we do introductions in the field?"

…

The class stood in the school field, Miss Alice standing before them.

"Show of hands, who has their first Spirit Ring?" she asked.

Kai shot his hand up and looked around, waiting to see who else had broken through rank 10. To his surprise, aside from Emma and himself there were two others. The red haired kid had his hand raised, his face seemed to exude arrogance as he looked at all the people who hadn't raised their hands. The other was Sam, causing Kai to rub his eyes in disbelief. Clearly his rusted sword wasn't that simple.

"Good, we'll start with you guys then" Alice continued. "State your name, Martial Spirit, Spirit Rank and desired system."

The red haired boy stepped up, eager to show off.

"Jax Tilstrom, rank 12 Spirit Master with the Blood Puppet Martial Spirit" He said confidently. "I plan on becoming a control system Spirit Master."

After he finished speaking the teacher pointed to Sam, prompting to introduce himself next.

"Sam Coyote, rank 11 Spirit Master with a Rusted Iron Sword Martial Spirit" Sam spoke lazily. "Power Attack System."

It then moved onto Emma; the only new thing Kai learnt was that she planned on becoming an agility system spirit Master. Finally Kai's turn, he introduced himself to the class.

"Kai Draken, rank 13 Spirit Master with Spirit Ears" He paused for a moment as a couple of his classmates gasped, he had a higher spirit power than Jax. Kai thought for a moment about what system he wanted to be. Currently he had potential to become both a control and ranged power attack system Spirit Master. Shaking his head, he answered. "I'm currently undecided on my system."

After he finished speaking, from the corner of his eye, he could see Jax smirk in disdain. Kai clenched his fist in frustration, everything that guy did reminded him of Draven. Forcing himself to take a deep breath to calm himself down and listened to the rest of the introductions. None of them truly catching his interest.

After the introductions, Miss Alice began explaining how classes were going to work. Normal days would be split between physical training and theory classes, with the first day being just an introduction and ending at lunch.

"Now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, why don't we do something more exciting" Alice looked at the class for a moment before continuing. "Jax, Emma. You two seem to have the most combat oriented Spirits out of those who have rings, would you two like to spar for the class."

Kai raised his eyebrows, it seemed like his teacher was rather narrow minded. He turned to look at Sam, only for him to shrug in response, clearly not too bothered by the comment.

"Sure, it'd be a good warm up for my training later" Jax stepped forward confidently. Emma on the other hand shifted nervously before looking towards Ashe, who gave a simple nod. Emma then looked towards Kai, then Jax and back to Kai again before speaking.

"O-ok" She said softly, her voice barely audible. Seeing both kids agree, Alice the two to stand 20 meters apart, having the rest of the class keep a safe distance away.

"You have thirty seconds to prepare your Martial Spirit" Alice explained. "Once the thirty seconds are up, or you're both ready, I'll call out and the two of you can fight."

The two immediately released their martial spirits.

Mist began to surround Emma as it slowly began to take the form of an ethereal serpent, encasing her body within it. Some mist coalesced around her hand forming mist claws on top of her hands, while her skin became pale like snow. From within the misty snake, her green eyes began to glow slightly, giving the snake a dangerous aura. She lowered he stance, ready to dash at out.

Jax had also released his Martial Spirit. From his back a wooden marionette began to emerge, as though it were tearing itself out of his body. It was similar in size to Jax, it's wood stained with blood as it floated in the air, as though it were hanging from invisible strings. Jax simply stood there, not taking a fighting stance, waiting for the battle to start.

The teacher, seeing the two of them ready, raised her hand. The class watched in silence as Emma and Jax squared off, the atmosphere tense. Suddenly the teacher threw her hand down, her voice echoing throughout the field.

"Fight!"