"One thing which is harder than I thought was using both simultaneously. I tried it yesterday, but it didn't work out."
"You tried it? Of course, it didn't work out. Your qi control is too bad right now. First of all, you need to reach the Qi Gathering Realm, to have better qi control and then you need to be a genius to achieve that. But with your intelligence, reaching the Qi Gathering Realm should be enough. Just be patient!"
As Vown explained about the failure of using both Martial Skill simultaneously, Zayn again tried it, not listening to Vown at all. The qi in the surrounding was drawn towards his fists. In the surrounding, on one side tiny particles of thunder were created and on the other side, tiny particles of fire were created. But those particles were tiny, negligible, only Vown could see them.
"Again… I feel like I am nearly there. Why isn't it working?"
"As I told you, you aren't ready for it..."
'HOLY SHIT?!? He nearly achieved it! This boy… I really underestimated him…His potential is far too high… Only his cultivation is lacking.'
"Ok listen up, I reserved a room for you in the cultivation grounds. Because of your reputation, it was easier, to get the best room, than I expected. In around a week from now, the first-grade tournament will be held. The first-grade tournament is with the All-Grade Tournament the only two tournaments held by the academy. The first-grade tournament is a tournament for first-graders. It is held to see the current power rankings of each first-grader. The All-Grade Tournament, on the other hand, is held to see the power ranking of the academy, but that's nothing to concern about for now.
I want you to attend the first-grade tournament to experience battles against other cultivators. This will help you increase your battle experience for the future. In the tournament, there will be many, which don't have much battle experience at all, but even those have at least fought once against another cultivator. You are the only exception here… like always…With your unimaginable strength, you should advance pretty high in the tournament but winning shouldn't be easy. The kid… What was his name again? Urgh… The fire kid from the Burning Heart Family. His cultivation is at the 6-Star Body Refinement Realm and his battle experience should be high, because of his background. He is the expected winner of the tournament. And with what you did to him yesterday… let's say you won't have it easy in the tournament…
Where were we again? Right! You should only focus on gaining battle experience, this should be your main goal in the tournament. Don't worry about your Power Ranking. As my direct student, you will receive the best resources available in the academy… right… you don't know anything about Power Ranking inside the academy… teaching is annoying…Urgh…
Your Power Rank in the academy decides how much resources and privileges you get. For example, normally a first-grader would become 3 qi pills in a month, but having a higher Power Rank, you could easily get 10 qi pills in a month or even 100 qi pills. This is why many students take on jobs inside the academy, to earn more qi pills. They are too weak to rise in the Power Ranking and without the qi pills, they can't get strong enough to rise in the Power Ranking. Only the first-grader have their own Power Ranking, everyone else's Power Rank will be decided in the All-Grade Tournament. Your Power Rank also decides which Martial Skills you can learn. The higher your Power Rank is the higher the Martial Skills available to you are.
Well, enough with our chit-chat, let's go to the cultivation grounds!"
After explaining all that, they decided to walk to the cultivation grounds. On their way to the cultivation grounds nothing exceptional happened, they only chatted on their way there.
"Vown? I have a question for you."
"Go for it. Wait, one thing I have to say before you ask your question. Don't call me Vown in front of other students or teachers. I really don't care about that, but they will make a drama out of it, so just call me Teacher Bolt if anyone is near."
"All right! I was wondering, is your name special or is it an ordinary name in the world? It sounds weird. Vown. Vooown. Fwown. Fwooo-"
"Just shut up… Really asking about my name… Why the hell do you care about a name?"
"Sorry… I was just trying to start a conversation with you, but if you don't want it Fwooown I won't force you Fwooown."
"Urgh…"
.
The cultivation ground was an empty space, where many cultivators assembled to cultivate. In the middle of the cultivation ground was a tower-like building, the cultivation quarters. In order to enter the cultivation quarters, one had to reserve a room for it. Therefore, many students were outside the quarters, just sitting nearby and cultivating. The cultivation quarters had a formation around it to collect qi in the environment and let them concentrate in the rooms. The formation also attracted the qi around the quarters, making the empty space around it a desirable place to cultivate for those who could not reserve rooms in the cultivation quarters. Even though it was better than cultivating in their dorm rooms or anywhere else in the academy it was still far lacking in comparison to the rooms inside the quarters.
"Here, take this Zayn. This is the key to room 001. I reserved for you the best room in the cultivation quarters. You don't have to thank me for that… You were partly responsible for that too. Your display of the True Thunder Fist shocked everyone."
"Ok."
"COME ON! Be a bit more thankful, it wouldn't hurt you!"
"B... but you said- "
"Enough! It's ok… Wait… Do you even have a proper cultivation technique to cultivate?"
"Ouh… Well, yeah I have a good cultivation technique, I don't think I need a new one."
"Which one? Maybe I know it and can give you pointers."
"Ah… that's…"
Seeing the complicated expression on Zayn, Vown understood that it was hard for Zayn to talk about it.
"You know what, don't worry about it. Everyone has their secrets… nothing wrong with that…"
"Well… it's not… It's...It's complicated."
"Don't worry. Go on and cultivate for the day. I will be here in around four hours waiting for you."
Zayn really did not know how to talk about the Infinite Star Arts. Should he tell him that a white light invaded him, and he got from it the ultimate qi cultivation technique? That after experiencing hellish pain, he just had the knowledge of a cultivation technique. It was really complicated. Zayn did not want to talk about things concerning Daisy and anything around it. He had too little information at hand to give a good judgement about it. Maybe the Daily System was a standard inside this new world and everyone knew of its existence. Maybe it was a sought-after ability. He had no clue at all, so he wanted to be extra careful with handling everything around Daisy.
The key he got from Vown was like the key to his room. A token with a qi imprint. This time however it was not Vown's qi imprint. It felt different. He did not know whose qi imprint it was. But surely it had to be someone important in the academy, who could unlock the best room in the cultivation quarters.
Entering the cultivation quarters, it really felt far different than outside. The qi inside felt so refreshing and energizing than the qi outside. Being inside the quarters was already amazing, how could it feel to cultivate in the best room here. Zayn wanted to find out.
The quarters were divided into 6 floors. Each higher floor having fewer rooms than the floor beneath it. Many students walked to their room and shut themselves there off. The first few floors did not have actual rooms, they had chambers, where the students could sit inside, but it was still open to others, anyone could interrupt them anytime. It was really quiet inside the quarters, everyone was concentrated in their cultivation. The quarters felt like a library for Zayn. Everyone working for themselves in a quiet environment.
"Zayn?" A voice behind him whispered to him. He knew the voice, the only one who wanted to befriend him in the academy.
"Ryu? What are you doing here?" Zayn answered in a lowered voice, trying to not interrupt anyone in their cultivation.
"I wanted to cultivate, you know, what else would I do here."
"Right… Hahahahahahaha." Scratching his head, after realizing that his question was stupid.
"Which room did your teacher reserve for you?"
"Ehm Room 001, you?"
"Room 001? Well, obviously your display of the True Thunder Fist put attention on you. I am in Room 006. We can walk up together."
"Sure, let's do that!"
"Zayn it must be your first day in the cultivation quarters, right? You don't have to force yourself to stay in the room. When you feel uncomfortable in the room, just leave. Most of the times, many students overestimate themselves and really force themselves to stay their full 4 hours inside their room. Your body isn't accustomed to this kind of qi and will exhaust pretty fast due to it. You can then just leave, it's better than staying. I've heard from seniors that many students that forced themselves to stay were unconscious for days. Losing a few hours is still better than losing a few days."
Zayn saw Ryu as his first friend in the academy in this new world. No one else dared to approach him and only gibbered behind his back. Vown was his teacher, so he was not in the same category as Ryu. After receiving advice from Ryu, Zayn saw that Ryu also cared about him. It really felt like an older friend giving advice to his younger friend and Zayn was happy about that.
"Thanks, Ryu!"
They then arrived at the 5th Floor of the quarters. The 5th Floor had the rooms 002 to 010. As Ryu had the room 006, he took his leave and told Zayn that he had to go only one floor up to get to room 001.
Every room on the 5th Floor was occupied. Zayn wondered who these people had to be to receive these rooms. As far as he could tell the school had hundreds of students and to occupy the top rooms one had to be at the top of the academy. This reminded him that Ryu also had one of the top rooms reserved. Flint was beaten up to a pulp by only Ryu's qi. Ryu did not even use his fist or Martial Skills. And if Ryu had only room 006, who were the people in the rooms 002-005.
'Maybe they were lucky like me. Receiving the room 001 only for the True Thunder Fist. Still, I can't battle with that Martial Skill.'
Walking up to the 6th Floor, there was obviously only one room. The room 001. He held the key towards the lock and it opened up.
The room itself was a disappointment to Zayn. It was a really small room, smaller than his dorm room and the qi did not feel different than outside. It was the same. On the floor there were many lines and dots, looking like inscriptions. They were all drawn towards the middle of the room, where they formed an open square.
As it was the middle of the room and the room itself was not that big, Zayn sat down on the open square.
'Well let's start cultivating. I only need to absorb qi and refine it into my body like the Infinite Star Arts describes it. Let's start!'
Using his cultivation technique as a guide, he started to cultivate. When he absorbed the first amounts of qi in the surroundings, the lines and dots, which resembled inscriptions, started to glow. They glowed at first red then it became yellow and at the end, it glowed blue. After glowing for a few seconds, it started to glow black.
The qi in the surroundings got far purer than the qi in the quarter itself and the amounts of qi increased. These amounts of qi rushing into Zayn, felt like a wave crashing in on Zayn. At first, it felt really uncomfortable, but Zayn adjusted to it with time and it began to feel like having a hot bath.
The inscriptions also changed its color after Zayn got accustomed to the qi. From black to a white. An empty white.