Wild Ape

As soon as the bell rang and the students filed into the classroom, they quickly took their seats. Gray took his seat and waited for the teacher to call his name. After the teacher mentioned Gray's name, everyone started staring at him. They stared daggers at poor Gray and talked about him without trying to suppress their voices.

"Ahhh... This kid is in our class this year...." A girl whispered in her friend's ear.

"Why are they allowing a cripple into the school?"

"No idea; my mama said he can't cultivate."

They continued whispering among themselves with disgust and hatred.

"Alright, everyone," Their teacher announced. "Take out your worksheets."

Everyone searched for the workbooks and papers they needed for the day. Gray watched the entire class process from behind one of the desks in the classroom. It was boring, and he wanted nothing more than someone to call his name. The teacher called Gray out and asked.

"Makoto, What is a heavenly tribulation?"

Gray blinked for a second. He didn't know what a heavenly tribulation was and answered with the first words coming to his brain.

"It's when something bad happens to people," He responded, hoping that he would receive some credit for this.

The teacher shook his bald head and started explaining.

"Because immortal cultivation is against Heaven's Will, the Heavens will send down trials to torment high-level cultivators who advance towards Immortality, frequently just as they begin a new cultivation stage."

Gray felt a little embarrassed as the other students stared at him. They continuously mocked his lack of knowledge about immortal cultivation. He was used to this kind of treatment, so he tried his best to ignore them. Unfortunately, his efforts proved ineffective as several more questions were directed toward him during his lesson. Finally, after another hour, the teacher said,

"That concludes today's lesson. Please take these worksheets and complete them. Remember to read them well, or you'll be like Makoto. Class dismissed."

With that, the teachers dispersed, leaving the class empty except for Gray, standing next to his desk and looking at his teacher's notes. As the door closed behind the last of the teachers, the students began muttering insults.

"I can't believe he didn't even know what heavenly tribulation is!" a girl with twin tails spoke in shock.

"Doesn't he even know anything about Immortal cultivation?!" Another girl wondered. However, after giving it a deep thought, she sighed, "But he can't cultivate, so it makes sense he wouldn't care to study about it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," One boy agreed.

They all walked towards the classroom exit, preparing for a lunch break; when Gray went to the cafeteria and took out his lunch box, he caught a glance of an unfamiliar face. It was a lone girl with dark hair and dark eyes. She stared at Gray blankly and kept walking, unaware of the whispers spreading around her. She walked up to Gray and asked him out.

"Would you like to have lunch with me?"

She asked in a bossy tone.

"Uhhhh..." Gray stammered and looked away nervously. The girl stared at him curiously and waited until he shook his head.

"No."

He said quietly and started turning away. However, the girl quickly grabbed his arm and turned him back around.

"What? Why not?" she innocently asked while trying to keep a smile on her face.

"Because I don't know you." He responded matter of factly, avoiding eye contact.

Another girl with black hair approached him with a bright smile and offered him a bag filled with meat buns.

"This is my lunch. Are you sure you won't take one?" the girl asked sweetly.

Suddenly, he noticed a familiar face standing beside her. It was a tall boy with spiky brown hair and pale skin. He mischievously smiled while watching Gray struggle to make up his mind.

"Hey, brother." He addressed Gray with a mocking grin.

"Hey!"

Gray replied coldly, glaring daggers at the tall boy, then glared at the girl holding him captive. This was not the first time these girls bullied him, just to impress Kudo Makoto, Gray'sbrother.

"Let go of me before I punch you." Gray threatened.

The girl laughed.

"Oh? You would hit a girl?"

Gray clenched his teeth in anger at the girl's question. Her laughter made his blood boil.

"I'd love to see you try., However, if you do that, Kudo will beat you up," She explained with a smirk while pointing at Kudo Makoto, Gray's brother.

Kudo, who had been watching everything unfold with amusement, also smirked. His expression softened when Gray looked away from the girl, clearly annoyed.

"What did you put in the buns? Let me guess, laxatives?"

Makoto asked mockingly, earning him a glare. The girl gasped

"How rude!" She complained and let go of Gray.

Gray rubbed his wrist and stepped back, glaring at his brother. Makoto chuckled.

"You look just like our father when you're angry. Useless." Kudo Makoto joked.

His words caused a rage within Gray, which he suppressed. However, steam slowly started going out of his ears. Luckily, it was almost transparent, and no one noticed this unnatural occurrence. Instead, the girls seemed too fascinated by Kudo.

"Hey, I'm sorry! We wanted to tease your brother." after noticing Kudo's glare, the girl apologised in defence.

The girls seemed to flock around Kudo Makoto, who was at the peak of the Ki formation realm.

"Don't bother befriending him. I'm sure Gray has other losers to hang out with." Kudo Makoto laughed as Gray continued glaring daggers at him.

Gray turned around and stormed out of the cafeteria as fast as possible. Once he got outside, he took off, ran towards the nearest building, and went inside. He sat there alone and breathed heavily.

"Bullshit," he cursed under his breath. After calming himself down, he decided to skip school. He saw a rabbit and started following him to the forest because he wanted to pat it. When he neared the clearing where the rabbit was living, he heard something unusual. He listened to some sort of growling sound.

"Huh?" he looked around and tried finding its source.

Soon enough, he found the source. The creature was covered in white fur except for its face. The beast was a giant white ape whose eyes shone purple, glowing bright. When it looked at him, his eyes widened with fear and terror. He tried backing away, but he tripped and fell over. Before he could react, the animal pounced at him, tearing through his clothes and ripping them off.

Gray screamed in terror as he saw an ape trying to devour his little arm. Gray tried to get up, but it was useless as the ape was too strong. It carefully was chewing on Gray's left arm. But no blood came out, as his arm was seemingly made from rubber. Gray instinctively started blowing into his right arm's thumb, and his left arm began to inflate still inside the ape's mouth. Once the arm's size increased significantly, the ape could not even release it from its mouth, and as Gray continued blowing his thumb, the arm continued to inflate like a balloon. Soon, the ape's head exploded, splashing brains and blood all over Gray.

"Blah!" Gray cried out while spitting out the bloody mush inside his mouth. He wiped his mouth with his hand and looked down, horrified at the mess around him. Gray wanted to clean this up but didn't know how to. He was afraid to return to school, as he thought his classmates would mock him for being dirty. So instead of going back, Gray did the next best thing and started spinning the way Gray saw in a cartoon. At first, he turned slowly, but his speed soon increased, forming a small tornado that quickly travelled from one place to another. It completely erased the headless ape and the bloody mess from Gray's face and clothes.

When Gray stopped spinning, he noticed a girl staring at him with a dropped jaw. She came here when moments before he killed an ape. She drew her sword in hopes of helping him. However, before she could attack the ape, she saw how Gray's hand inflated like a balloon, killing the ape. Moreover, he started moving like a cartoon character as he cleaned the place.

"Kyaaaa!" She shouted in with a trembling voice in disbelief. "What are you?!"

"Oh... no!" Gray stared at the girl realising that he had messed up.