Forming A Martial Arts Style

After wandering and asking around, I made my way toward the boys' dormitory With one glance at my schedule, I talked with the man at the front desk and received my key. While making my way towards my room, my mind was constantly trying to figure out what it was that made Steward suddenly come to hate me. Also, why was it that Caddel had bent the rules and delivered a real knife? What made him choose me to be the center of each lesson?

"I need information and I need it badly." I said to myself while unlocking my dorm.

In the middle of the room was a boy with bright red hair, and a physique that could almost be comparable to mine. Though to my surprise he was basking in the sunlight laying down on him the window without any clothes, not even a towel to cover himself. Soon he met my gaze and as if everything was normal he called out to me. " What's up genius, I heard that you were supposed to be hospitalized for another week. By the way, I'm Santiago, what's your name genius?"

"Would you put a towel on or something?! Hurry up or I'll report you for harassment." I said in annoyance before entering the room and plopping down on my bed. Once Santiago had some clothes on we exchanged names and he finally stopped calling me Genius.

"I didn't see you in any of my classes, so are you a freshman or an upperclassman?"

"Your folks didn't tell you much about the school now did they? Never mind, yeah I'm two years older than you. Normally they place lower classmen with us upperclassmen so they can learn a thing or two and help them get around. So let's get a move on, because I won't be able to babysit you forever, and being naive in a place like this might as well spell your death." Santiago said before getting up and walking out the door, while I followed him like a helpless puppy wondering about the meaning his words held.

"Is there something going on I should know about?" My words suddenly made Santiago come to a stop and shake his head in disbelief.

"Your folks are either meatheads or they don't care about you at all. The academy is said to me to be far more ruthless than the military, why? Because even the teachers are against you, sure they might warm up to you at first but secretly they're all betting on who they think will break down and who will pass on next year. For example, as upperclassmen, even though we haven't a choice but to help you out, it doesn't mean we can't find ways to exploit lowerclassmen like yourself and keep our secrets. I'll give you some advice, in this place the only one you can trust is yourself, and the only one you can count on is yourself."

Santiago said with an expression that showed he had learned this by trial and error, however, his words were wasted because after my fall out with my group I no longer planned on getting anywhere near that close to anyone..not even Santiago himself. 'From now on every step I take and every word I say will be a part of my plans going forward.'

"You're all talk, my folk would have told me something like that before I left." I spoke but inside I didn't believe a single word I'd said, my uncle made it apparent that my growth would be trial by fire no errors allowed once he threw me into the Center Spawn."

"Believe what you want," Santiago said before showing me around the campus.

Everywhere we went there was always something that I could take interest in. For example, there are training facilities, restaurants, tournaments, and quest boards almost everywhere. Though what I was most interested in was the library that was almost as big as three houses, there I knew for sure that I would find my answers.

"Marcel, here there are only two rules: one, don't kill anyone, and two you must complete one mission according to your ranking badge every two weeks. If any of these rules are broken then the heads of the academy have reason enough to kick you out." Santiago said as he stopped before a training facility.

"Got it, you want to go in," I asked.

"Yeah, I'll pay for your entry, just give it back whenever. You can call this your welcoming gift."

When we entered the training facility, there was a strong scent of cinnamon and small areas in the open where one could train. Santiago quickly spoke to the woman at the front desk and pained for our entry, soon we both grasped our weapons. Santigo held two wooden sabers and I held a spear from a nearby rack. Once we both stepped into a small square area it began to glow and soon white orbs began to rise through the ground and attack. Once a white light touched my body, a red light flashed and a few red orbs aligned on the ground went down from 100 to 90. While I was figuring out the game Santigo was having the time of his life slashing out at the white orbs as if his life depended on it, and as I stared for a brief moment I was able to notice that his speed was comparable to mine in my partial transformation, but not Complete transformation, almost. Soon I was down to eighty and he was only standing out at ninety.

"So that's how it is, Santigo!" I shouted before finally getting in gear and pulling my weight against the floating orbs of white light. When it came to outliers I would use my spurs to pierce them out of the air and swing outward to provide space. Soon the white orbs began to multiply in number, around that time I'd fallen to fifty points of health. While Santigo had only reached seventy, I had no other choice but to change my strategy.

"All my problems come back here every single time, it's as if there's nothing a weapon can do better than my own body. Though if I'm to climb the mountain of power and stand at its peak I'll need to do something no way else has before." Soon an image flashed in my head and I took my stance but it wasn't the one I normally took with my spear but a muay thai stance. With my spear in my right hand, I kicked off the ground with both feet and presented a swing to my left side crawling with white orbs. With the same momentum while still in the air I let go of the spear and grasped it with my left hand. Then came back up aiming towards my right side clearing the air of the attacking white orbs before landing back down on my feet. Then I pointed the spear out measuring my range before swinging the spear in sometimes short and wide arches even going as far as horizontally swinging to my right side, passing the spear off to my left side and doing such repeatedly and piercing the orbs until well I ran out of steam trying so many different moves. Once I reached zero I noticed that seconds after Santigo this made me feel a bit better about myself, but even I knew there was no time for self-pity and began classifying the movements into orders and pointing out what the key factor was in my…style.

'My arms, but more importantly my wrists and shoulders. If I could have used my legs more then they too are important in this style I'm trying to create. Though what will I call it? I should name it after my most important move and right down that would be my short and long arch used to push away and damage my opponent, a sea of attacks. No, it should sound more dark, how about Dawnless sea? Yeah, that works..'