First Day

Containing his excitement, Yan Guang put the books down. 

Receiving two yellow-rank medium-tier martial arts at once that perfectly fit him was a massive fortune, but he still had much to do today. 

After putting on the school's official uniform, Yan Guang was finally ready to leave looking like a proper student. 

He was happy to note that the uniform of the sect was actually quite comfortable, far surpassing the cheap clothes he had bought for a few silvers when he first reached Guming town.

It was essentially just a white robe with black patterns and the insignia of the White Tiger on it, as expected. 

Stepping out of the dorms, Yan Guang was completely lost, surrounded by buildings yet not knowing what each of them was for. 

Wandering the school was an eye-opening experience. He saw dozens of disciples training their martial arts using rudimentary machines and their environment, all under the guidance of a teacher. 

Although Yan Guang considered himself quite strong, he was unsure of whether he could actually beat any of the students. 

Yan Guang's curiosity had been triggered, and so he activated his Qi sense, hoping to find out exactly how strong they were. 

Unexpectedly, he was unable to see anything. For a split second, he had seen the energy signatures of the disciples before they were all blocked out by another ineffable force. 

It was as if a veil had been pulled over the courtyard, making everything inside invisible to Yan Guang. Of course, he could still see them with his eyes, but not with his sixth sense.

Yan Guang was surprised by his Qi sense actually failing for the first time. Before this, he had never felt anything could restrict it. 

As quickly as he could, Yan Guang retracted his Qi sense. It was always good to be cautious. 

Soon, he found that was the right decision. The teacher's eyes darted around the courtyard, seemingly trying to find the troublemaker who was just spying on his class. 

Yan Guang tried to discreetly walk away when the teacher's eyes landed on him. For a moment, he felt as if he was being surveilled. 

The feeling quickly disappeared as he left the proximity of the courtyard. 

_I should be careful about my Qi sense, huh,_ Yan Guang remarked to himself. 

Later, after asking some students for directions, Yan Guang finally made his way to the library. 

Differing from what he had expected, the library was not a multi-floor pagoda.

Instead, it resembled the guild hall in some ways, with a wide base and only 2 floors. 

The first thing he saw after entry was the librarian. 

The librarian seemed quite young, looking to be about 30. He appeared to be immersed in a book right when Yan Guang walked in. 

"Excuse me, I have a token.", Yan Guang interjected. 

Hearing a new student enter, the librarian put the book down and looked up at Yan Guang with a face full of apathy. 

The token was exchanged, and the librarian uttered a few words, "Right, you can enter only the first floor of the library and read the techniques for an hour. In addition, you can take out one book of your choice for a month."

Nodding his head, Yan Guang finally left the front of the building and delved into the vast shelves of the first floor. 

If he had to estimate how many books were present on just the first floor, he would guess there were nearly two thousand. 

Not all of these books were martial arts related. Some were historical, some were simple fiction. 

There were even some books on the studies of the sciences and other disciplines.

While every section interested him, he knew that he had enrolled in this school for only one reason, to progress his martial arts. 

Yan Guang decisively chose to navigate to the martial arts section and begin reading. 

Most of the manuals were yellow-rank inferior-tier and were similar to his Raging Tiger Fists. 

For example, there was a martial art called the Whisperwind Kicks, which supposedly gave the user kicks as fast as the wind and as silent as a whisper.

There were even some defensive techniques such as the Tortoise Muscle Barrier. Fundamentally, the idea of the technique was to tense the muscles to reduce damage. 

Yan Guang was surprised by the range and depth that martial arts covered. The library contained everything from typical striking martial arts to defensive martial arts and even auxiliary martial arts. 

Auxiliary martial arts was a novel concept for Yan Guang. Although typical martial arts had existed in his previous life, the concept of martial arts designed not to attack or defend but rather boost overall bodily function was entirely new to him.

Intrigued by the unique concept, Yan Guang browsed the auxiliary section, soon finding a martial art that fit him. 

"Rising Blood Breathing, cool name.", Yan Guang muttered.

He garnered from the synopsis that this yellow-rank medium-tier technique was about boosting blood oxygen levels to achieve an increase in strength and stamina. 

By breathing in a specific pattern and supporting the function of the lungs and diaphragm with internal force, he could achieve a much better effect than passive breathing.

Oxygen is a key ingredient in the body's respiratory system, serving as the fuel for the release of energy. 

Some of the best Olympic athletes from Yan Guang's previous world had only managed to reach the heights they did due to their naturally gifted ability to intake oxygen.

Hence, it was apparent to Yan Guang the utility of this auxiliary martial art.

Retrieving the book from its shelf, Yan Guang headed over to the librarian to confirm he was renting it. 

Apart from the guidebook for Rising Blood Breathing, the librarian handed him one extra book.

_Another freebie?_, Yan Guang wondered. 

"That book I just gave you is a guide to the School. Make sure you read it carefully because it outlines your schedule and activities for the next month or so.", the librarian instructed.

Picking up both books and placing them in the sack he had been carrying since the morning, he returned to his dorm and began reading. 

First, he went over the informative book the librarian had given him.

The school day began at 6 o'clock with roll call outside the dorms. 

After that, each student would be sent to their separate classes.

Each class contained all the students from a specific batch of examinations and an instructor.

From 6 to 12 o'clock was training time. All students would warm up and go for their mandatory physical conditioning before they were allowed to start practicing their martial arts. 

Teachers would come up with different exercises to fit their students and help them improve on their weaknesses. This was also the part Yan Guang was most excited about. 

Though he had made quite a lot of progress for being a complete newbie fighter, his abilities were still rough around the edges.

Having an experienced martial artist to guide him in his introduction to martial arts would be immensely helpful.

After 6 hours of straight training, a one-hour break would be provided to allow the martial artists to eat lunch and recuperate.

Past 1 o'clock, students were afforded more freedom. There were many activities a new student could take up. For example, one could join a club, of which there were many. 

The martial arts club was by far the most popular, and all it did was host small tournaments almost every day. It not only allowed students to garner more experience through fights but also offered rewards to the winners.

The next most popular club was the medicine club. It created the tonics and rejuvenation elixirs that were so popular with martial artists. As expected, the perks it came with were greater access to spiritual medicine. 

Many minor clubs also arose due to the student body's unique passions, such as carpentry, archery, and even literature.

Yan Guang found the prospect of founding a literature club at a martial school quite funny. Did the founder want to become a scholar but got sidetracked somehow?

A preliminary plan was formed in Yan Guang's head. First, he would join the martial arts club. About 80% of the entire student population would join it, so it was definitely a good place to battle and gain connections. 

Secondly, he would join the wilderness exploration club. As the name suggested, it was a club that went on expeditions through the wilderness, harvesting the ingredients necessary to make medicine as well as the carcasses of any beasts they fought against on the way.

Since there was no limit to how many clubs he could join, Yan Guang could theoretically join many more, but he knew that in actuality the limit was the free time he had. Even if he joined the medicine club, it would be impossible for him to actively participate and hence he would see no benefits from his registration.

Two clubs was the optimum number of clubs for him.

Yan Guang had finally done everything he needed to as a student. 

Then, boredom struck. Unpacking the sack he had brought, he noticed the Huang Kingdom map had unfurled itself on the way here. Perhaps the ride was bumpier than Yan Guang had thought.

Taking a look at the map, Yan Guang immediately noticed that there were a few more locations. It was almost like the fog of war that cleared up as one explored in a video game.

First things first, he could now zoom in more in the areas in and around Guming town.

Even each individual block was visible to him, although their names were a blank.

Furthermore, an entirely new location and path was marked on the map, that being the location of the White Tiger School!

Yan Guang was overjoyed with the convenience of this map. One day, could he perhaps map the entire kingdom and know the location of every settlement in a thousand-mile radius?

This ability to mark down explored locations would surely make his voyages more fruitful. He would never have to worry about getting lost ever again.

Yan Guang noticed that the sun was beginning to darken. It was time to begin his daily cultivation.

He started with body-refining, using the remaining bottles of beast blood still in his possession.

After applying the blood on his body, Yan Guang went through the 10 exercises of the Tiger-Bear manual rather easily. In order to increase the difficulty, he once again upped the number of sets.

Yan Guang was well aware of the principle of progressive overload. If the exercise was too easy, that meant he wouldn't be able to gain anything from it. Only through working a muscle to failure could it grow stronger at the fastest rate.

So, he repeated the exercises until he was unable to even try to continue.

With his body's strength reserves emptied, he moved on to meditation.

Meditation gave his body and mind a rest from the fatigue and pain and allowed them to recover. Absorbing qi into the body seemed to have a slight healing effect, as if the cells could use them to accelerate the healing process.

This was why martial artists could train so vigorously unlike mortals. 

While overtraining could lead to many serious problems and a lack of muscle growth, martial artists wouldn't worry too much about this issue. The qi that existed in the environment was truly miraculous, allowing the body to return to its physical peak in a single day instead of many.

Yan Guang pinpointed this as the reason why mortals in this world were able to grow so much stronger and so much faster than athletes. Internal force played a part, but the limits of pure human strength were also much higher in martial artists.

His meditation sessions were quite unremarkable, but that was exactly how he liked them. Yan Guang was aware that desiring progress too much could lead to an unstable heart, so he contented himself with whatever progress he made daily.

Mountains did not erect themselves in one day; rivers did not flow to the sea in one day.

Gradual progress was the way to improve.

After finishing his exercises and meditation, the sky had already blackened. The stars lit up the world like decorations on a Christmas tree.

Yan Guang was awestruck by the magnificence of such a pure night sky.

Modern society had robbed humans of many things without their knowing, case in point being the stars.

Growing up in an urban area, he had never even seen stars in the sky once in his life, but now he had the chance to.

"Right, I remember now!", Yan Guang shouted.

How could he have forgotten?

There was one more technique he had neglected to cultivate: the Starsoul Illumination Art!

It was by far his highest-ranked technique and yet he hadn't even thought of it for the last two days.

To be fair to Yan Guang, the last two days were quite busy. This was truly the only time he had for cultivation.

With the entire starry sky in front of him, there was no better time than now to begin.

Mind-refining, here I come!