First Day of School

By the time Wang Ling finished creating his newfound skill, it was already 7:00 pm. A cute and tiny snowy plover landed on his head, ruffling his curly hair.

"Hahaha! I can't wait to tell them about how my host made a skill after less than two months after transmigrating! I look forward to their faces!" The bird boasted, sounding quite devious despite its cute appearance.

"Hahhh" Wang Ling sighed, shaking his head at the bird's smug tone and attitude. The bird was a handful for Wang Ling and always acted conceited and impertinent.

Wang Ling got ready for bed before sitting cross legged on his mattress. He started meditating, with the goal of enhancing his special physique. The reason Wang Ling was transmigrated was similar to Lin's reason. The og Wang Ling was a lazy fool who disgraced his family's wealthy name. Unbeknownst to that 14 year old boy, he had an innate talent for creating skills and techniques. His special skill made creating new abilities much more natural and easy, giving him golden opportunities to create never heard before capabilities.

Wang Ling loved to create things in his past life, but soon that spark started to die and his passion simmered down immensely. He felt empty and disconnected from the world, then he suddenly transmigrated into his current life on his first day of high school. And there he was now, using his new body's innate talent to the fullest.

Wang Ling soon fell asleep, and the next day came in the blink of an eye.

***

"I'll be gone for three days." Bai suddenly declared out of nowhere. "I have to go to a meeting for all the host companions in this galaxy."

"That was sudden. Alright, then when do you leave?" Lin said, flabbergasted.

"Right now. I'll be back!" Bai turned into nothingness after speaking.

"…"

Lin stood there for a good minute before finally getting on with his day. The sunday morning soon turned to Sunday evening as Lin continuously practiced his aura and qi control. By the end of the day, qi control was maxed out and sword aura leveled up to level two.

Lin, satisfied with his progress, retired for the night after washing up.

***

Bai's side:

Bai popped up inside a technological bedroom. But something was very different about his appearance… he looked like a human. His blue eyes shined and his white hair was cropped into a buzz cut. He wore a black uniform, one that you'd see in sci-fi movies, and a name tag was pinned to his chest.

He walked out of the bedroom and headed towards an unknown destination through the white, metal halls. He soon reached the place he was heading towards and unlocked it with a key card. He stepped through the circular entrance and entered the room inside. It was a large area, the size of a huge auditorium. Many 'people' stood around the open space, talking about various things. They bragged about their hosts, showing off the achievements of the people they assisted.

Bai walked nervously through the crowd. He was a new companion, a fox that was still with his first ever host, so of course the meeting would be nerve wracking. It wasn't that he lacked self confidence, it was the fact that he was surrounded by seniors with much more knowledge and experience than him.

Suddenly, a majestic, white tiger walked onto a platform at the front of the room before letting out a deafening roar above the chatter. The tiger then transformed into a human and greeted the host companions.

"I see I have your attention now. Today is the bimonthly meeting and report of your host. Let's first enjoy some dinner and then you all can brag and boast about your host all you like." The woman said with a smile. The companions headed towards the tables after hearing the woman's words and sat down, awaiting their meal.

Servants brought out piping plates of steak and pasta, placing the meals in front of the many people seated at the tables. Bai sat patiently and soon recieved a steak. The servants served the carnivores a steak and the herbivores a pasta, catering to their animal form's preferences.

After the delicious meal, the companions resumed their smug remarks about how their host was already at 50 levels, or that they recieved high quality sword aura.

Bai smirked at their so called achievements, accidentally letting out a snicker as he recalled Lin's over 80 levels and elemental sword aura. Some of his superiors turned to look at him, their annoyance evident.

"Xue Bai! If you can laugh at our achievements then tell us about your host." A red haired green eyed man said with a smirk.

"My host is at level 84 and has elemental sword aura." Bai said casually, eager to join the bragging contest.

"Hah! As if we'd believe that! Show us your host screen!" A brown eyed man said mockingly.

"Ok." He proceeded to pull up the holographic screen and show it to his group of superiors. The seniors stared at the screen before shouting out in disbelief.

"What?! It's true?!! Who's your host?!" The red haired senior exclaimed.

"Hao Lin, he transmigrated on planet Numia year 9038." Bai said, snickering at the laughable expressions on his seniors' faces.

A crowd started to gather around the rowdy scene, gawking at the enlarged holographic screen before them.

"Ah! Xue Bai, Hao Lin is also transmigrated?" A voice rang out within the commotion.

"Jiao Feng? What do you mean 'also'?" Bai looked over at the owner of the voice, a short and skinny man with light brown hair covered in whitish specks.

"Oh, my host is Wang Ling. Such a coincidence that they both know each other! Hahaha!" The man said, his eyes crinkling in laughter.

The companions in the surrounding area had looks of confusion. Usually it is very rare that two individuals are transmigrated in the same timeline on the same planet. What's even more shocking is their close proximity to each other, being on the same continent is crazy enough but being in the same school too, the people who heard it could only chalk it up to destiny.

The two men engaged in a conversation, ignoring the shocked people surrounding them.

***

Lin stood in front of a large griffin, huffing as the sharp smell of blood pierced his nose and an iron taste filled his mouth. A large gash in his stomach throbbed, bleeding incessantly. He was covered in shallow scratches and bruises with a few small, deep cuts here and there. His disheveled hair was matted with dried blood and his eyes stinged with tears from pain and anguish.

The griffin screeched softly in exhaustion. Despite Lin's ragged state, he put up a great fight and advanced his dodging skills significantly. Additionally the griffin did not come out unscathed as its right eye was an empty socket and its left wing was a bloody mess.

The griffin made a last, final attempt to destroy this infuriating creature, lunging at its small form savagely, its one eye glinting in rage. Just before its steel like, sharp beak reached Lin a bright light flashed and the next second, the human was gone.

Lin's eyes shot open, a large, heaving gasp escaped his lips. His body was soaked with sweat, sticky and uncomfortable under the scorching bed sheets. Phantom pain prickled underneath his skin, causing great discomfort for the boy.

Lin rushed out of bed and immediately entered the shower. He wanted the sticky grime off his body as soon as possible as it gave him anxiety and made his back burn with discomfort.

After his cold and refreshing shower, Lin looked at the clock next to his bed. The numbers '5:22' glared a bright red. He decided to just get ready for school ahead of time and then meditate to calm his adrenaline levels and racing thoughts.

He did exactly that, setting an alarm for 8:30 so that he could get to school on time. After hours that only felt like a few minutes in the relaxing realm of meditation, the alarm rang and Lin opened his eyes to the sunlight peeking through the curtains.

He headed towards his first class, eager to learn something actually useful. His old school just didn't teach anything challenging or interesting for him so he was looking forward to the classes of Genius Academy.

While he was walking through the male dorms building he ran into Wang Ling who was also leaving for class.

"Morning!" Wang Ling said with a wide grin.

"Morning. Do you want to go to class together?" Lin said with a groggy smile.

"Sure."

They both walked to class, chattering about random things until they reached their first class 'qi manifestation and utiluzation'. They stepped through the doorway, entering a large classroom with tiered seating. The left side of the room was ascending steps holding chairs behind long tables, and the right side of the room was a large, rectangular chalk board and a desk in front of it.

Teens chattered to their friends as they waited for the class to start. A skinny man with black hair cut into a simple style and hazel eyes that scanned the doorway stood between the desk and chalkboard seemingly waiting for someone to enter the room.

When he spotted Lin and Wang Ling he hurriedly stood up and walked towards them greeting them with a bit of disdain.

"You must be Hao Lin and Wang Ling, right?" The man said, staring down at the two boys with a cold gaze. They both nodded. "Welcome to Genius Academy. I am your homeroom teacher Mr. Xi. Stand here for a bit so I can introduce you to the class before you find a seat." He said while gesturing to a spot next to his desk.

A few moments later, the bell rang and class officially begun. The students in the classroom quieted down and sat patiently for the teacher to speak.

"Good morning. Today we have two new students who were transferred here from the other side of the continent. How about you introduce yourselves." Mr. Xi turned to look at them.

Lin stepped forward and proceeded to introduce himself. "Hello, my name is Hao Lin and I come from the Jin kingdom. I look forward to learning with you."

Wang Ling followed suit and introduced himself. "I'm Wang Ling and I also come from Jin kingdom. Nice to meet you all."

After their intros, Mr. Xi ushered them towards the desks and allowed them to pick a seat. They both chose seats in the middle row next to each other.

The students stared at them, some looking with curiosity and others looking with contempt. Mr. Xi began his lecture, talking about a certain usage of qi called qi weapons. People made qi weapons by forming a weapon with their qi, but it required perfect control of qi or the weapon would become unstable and useless. The teacher demonstrated the technique while explaining the process and then left the students to practice.

Mr. Xi then looked at Lin amd Wang Ling and told them to practice qi manifestation. He briefly explained how to do it and then left them alone.

Lin and Wang Ling both began manipulating their qi through their hands. After a few minutes qi formed on their hands and they both smiled excitedly, and began experimenting with the qi creating shapes and objects, constantly morphing the qi with ease. Wang Ling had a bit more difficulty as his qi control ability was only at level one but his control over the qi was significantly improved by the skill so he could do it with relative facility.

-Ding!- [Qi control] has leveled up to level 2!

A notification popped up in Wang Ling's face. His expression lit up as his influence over the qi became noticeably easier and he began creating more detailed shapes. Simple trees that looked like they were from a kid's drawing turned into detailed projections, every leaf and brach was carefully crafted to perfection and it's beauty was apparent. Wang Ling was already a good artist so the tree was easily crafted after he had enough control.

Lin created many things, experimenting with its texture, moving the it like an animation, and even 'coloring' the individual parts of the projections. Thorny flowers were painted with actually sharp thorns and soft petals. Horses galloped with their rough hair flowing in the nonexistent wind. After some time, the things he created morphed into a solid existance. Just like when Wang Ling created his wolf, the projections turned into solid objects that a person could hold and use.

Mr. Xi stared at the two boys in amazement. Within the span of one class, they could already form solid objects with their qi manifestation. Even the school's smartest genius took 5 hours to create his first solid manifestation.

The bell rang and the students raced out of the classroom as new ones filed in. Lin and Wang Ling walked to their next class 'combat skills' and soon reached the classroom only to find a paper taped to the door.

'Class is in arena #2 today.'

Lin and Wang Ling immediately turned around and walked towards the arena after reading the sign. They reached a large platform surrounded by bleachers. Students sat in the bleachers under the hot sun, sweating profusely. Lin and Wang Ling sat down and waited for the class to start.