Secondary Professions

Kai and Sam both burst out laughing hearing this, while Jax just groaned by the side.

"What?!" Bjorn called out, a confused expression on his face. "Don't you guys agree?"

Kai and Sam froze in place, realizing that Bjorn wasn't joking.

"There's nothing wrong with liking strong and tall women…" Sam began, as eyed Bjorn up and down. "It's just that you're so small, I-"

Sam was cut off as Bjorn furiously rose to his feet. Pointing a finger towards Sam he spoke up. "What's wrong with being short, huh?"

Sam just closed his mouth and raised his brows, not sure how to respond. Bjorn stepped into the center of the room, blocking off the projection on the wall and obscuring everyone's view of the movie.

"What's so good about dating a short girl? A skinny girl? Nothing!" Bjorn continued, his voice getting louder and more determined. Jax covered his face with his pillow, having clearly heard this before. "Tall girls! Muscular girls! Dating them is manly! Like conquering the Goliath, taming a Titan; that is the way of a real man!"

Sam and Kai were speechless, they turned to look at each other for a moment. Their mouths open as they tilted their heads in confusion. Suddenly, Sam spoke up with a grin on his face. "Ashe is going to love this kid!"

Kai covered his mouth, his eyes tearing up as he tried to hold his laughs back. Seeing this, Bjorn got angry thinking they were still making fun of him.

"What type of girls do you two like then?" Bjorn questioned, his face somewhat flushed.

"I guess the motherly type" Sam responded quickly and confidently. This time it was Sam's turn to be scrutinized, even Jax took the pillow off his face and gave Sam a strange look.

"Like, older girls?" Jax asked hesitantly.

"I guess" Sam scratched his chin awkwardly. Jax pressed his hands to his face as he rolled around for a moment.

"Am I the only normal guy here?" Jax exclaimed, not speaking to anyone. Hearing this both Sam and Bjorn glared at him.

"Don't flatter yourself 'young master'!" Sam said. Jax froze, moving his hands to stare at Sam. Seeing all this Kai chuckled, causing everyone in the room to look towards him.

"Let's see how much longer you'll be laughing, Kai!" Jax said, sitting back up. "What about you?"

Kai was silent for a moment; he'd never really thought about this type of stuff before.

"As long as she likes music, anything's fine I guess" Kai said softly.

"You've got to be more specific man!" Sam cried out. "We've poured our hearts out here and all you can say is 'I hope she likes music'?"

Kai's face went red in embarrassment hearing this, he turned to Jax for help, but Jax just nodded and agreed with Sam. "He's right, Kai. Bjorn likes mountains, Sam wants a mom and I'm searching for my princess! What about you, there has to be a girl you admire or something right?"

'Admire?' Kai thought to himself silently, frowning. Soon thoughts of a certain girls rushed into his mind, causing his face to go beat red in embarrassment. Seeing this, creepy grins appeared on the faces of the other boys.

"Looks like Kai has someone in mind!" Sam said, jabbing his elbow into Kai's ribs.

"Who is it?" Bjorn waddled over, getting closer to Kai.

"Its- I- " Kai began to stammer before biting his tongue. As he reeled back and covered his mouth with his hands the other boys laughed.

"Lets just go to bed" Sam announced to the room as he checked the time. "It's getting late and I'm worried Kai's head will explode if we keep talking about this stuff!"

Bjorn and Jax groaned but agreed. Jax turned the projector off, plunging the room into darkness. Kai and Sam moved to the ground, pulling out sleeping bags from their respective Spirit Guidance devices. Lying down Kai rolled to face Sam.

"Thanks" Kai whispered, making sure Bjorn and Jax couldn't hear.

"No worries" Sam said, yawning. "It's not like I don't know who it is anyways."

Sam gave Kai a wink before turning over and facing the other direction. Kai widened his eyes hearing this. In a panic he began nudging Sam, trying to get some answers but Sam just pretended to be asleep. Kai could only sigh in defeat and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

…

A couple days later Kai made his way to the Intermediate Academy grounds. As soon as he got past the gate he was greeted with a large crowd, everyone running around and chatting. Spread everywhere were different kiosks for school clubs and such, something that primary academy never had.

Kai checked the time, all the first years had to go to the gymnasium for their introduction and student briefing. Looking back to the different tents Kai sighed, looks like all the fun would have to wait.

He navigated the campus and soon found himself outside the entrance to the gym. Looking around he spotted his friends standing nearby. Approaching them he noticed something strange.

Jax and Ashe were standing together, both of them stalking about something but strangely it didn't seem like they were arguing. Looking towards the others he saw Sam, Emma and Bjorn sitting down together. Bjorn's face was red and swollen.

"What happened?" Kai asked, sitting down next to Sam. Seeing him arrive Emma gave him a small wave, while Sam just gave a wry smile.

"Bjorn here tried to 'conquer the goliath'" Sam said, trying his best to keep a straight face. "Needless to say, the goliath squashed Bjorn like a bug."

Hearing this Emma let out a small snicker while Kai just nodded in understanding, wishing he could've seen it in person. Glancing towards Ashe and Jax talking together he spoke up again. "Why are they suddenly acting buddy-buddy?"

Sam sighed and shrugged before answering. "Though a mutual dislike for Bjorn they've decided to put aside their differences. I don't really get it either."

Suddenly an announcement echoed out around campus, calling for all first years to enter the gymnasium immediately. The group of friends swiftly entered the gym and found themselves some seats, Kai sitting between Sam and Emma.

Soon a middle-aged man appeared at the front of gym, ahead of all the students. The gym instantly went quiet, everyone waiting for the beginning of the assembly.

"Welcome to the Heaven Dou Intermediate Academy" The man spoke, his voice deep and grand. "You are all geniuses from Heaven Dou City and the Surrounding areas! Some of you have even travelled across the continent to join this school!"

The students looked around curiously as the man continued.

"Now I know you are all eager to learn which class you are in and get to training! But before that can begin there are a couple things I need to announce. Firstly, we encourage all of you to join a club. While it isn't mandatory, it's a good way to meet others and to find something to do other than cultivation."

"You'll find that many of your seniors are in clubs, and many alumni- some extremely powerful- have joined clubs. Secondly, we require all students to take on a secondary profession. Whether it be blacksmithing or Mecha Designing you will all have to register yourselves to the appropriate class time."

"You all have three days to register, after which you will be assigned to one. If you went to the Primary Academy, they would provide a recommendation, otherwise you will be assigned to one randomly."

The man continued to speak, going over rules and class schedules. After about a half hour the first years were finally allowed to leave. Kai and his friends stood before the different club booths, unsure of where to begin.

"Have you guys decided on your second professions yet?" Ashe asked. "Might be good to get the registration out of the way if you have."

"Not everyone's been training in one since birth like you…" Sam sighed and scratched his head. "But yeah, I plan on joining the Mecha Maker classes."

"What about you guys?" Ashe said, turning to the rest of the group.

"Mecha Designer" Jax responded.

Bjorn stepped forward and crossed his arms across his chest, doing his best to flex his arms to impress Ashe.

"I also plan on becoming a Mecha Maker" He said confidently, glancing at Ashe through the corner of his eyes. Ashe frowned seeing this, disgusted by the little man in front of him. Bjorn simply smiled after seeing Ashe's reaction. "Baby steps" Bjorn whispered under his breath.

A vein appeared on Ashe's forehead, just as she was about to step forward Kai decided to answer.

"I plan on becoming a Mecha Mechanic."

The others widened their eyes hearing this.

"Really, are you sure about that?" Jax asked. "What did Evelynn and Oscar think about this?"

"That's the thing" Kai sighed. "Oscar is a Mecha Maker and Evelynn is a Mecha Designer. They argued for days about which one was best for me before deciding I should study both, and so I'm entering the Mech Mechanic class."

The others gave Kai sympathetic looks when Emma suddenly spoke with a concerned tone. "Do you even have enough time for them to teach you?"

"I didn't…" Kai gave a wry smile. He let out a pained groan as he continued. "But they said that since I'm in intermediate academy now I don't have to sleep as much, so my training time is being extended."

The group gave a minute of silence for Kai, Bjorn was confused but based off the reactions of everyone else he could deduce Kai must train a ridiculous amount already.

"What about you, Emma?" Kai asked, breaking the silence. Emma was silent for a moment, twiddling her thumbs as she thought.

"Mech Mechanic…" She spoke nervously, not looking Kai in the eyes. Hearing this Kai's eyes widened before he sighed in relief. Grabbing Emma's hands, he spoke up. "Thank god! I thought I'd have to do it alone!"

Emma's face went red after Kai grabbed her hands, but Kai didn't seem to notice as he continued.

"At least we can suffer together, right?" Kai asked, looking into her eyes. Emma gave a stiff nod before Kai let go.

"Well then, let's go and register!"