At the First Student Academy.
All the students from the Elite class were currently gathered in one of the academy's training rooms. Their next lesson was combat training and they were waiting for the teacher to arrive.
Today was their first combat training lesson, so none of them had met the teacher yet. As proud students of the Elite class, they naturally hoped for someone with suitable strength.
While waiting, Kaden had been chatting with Chet. But for the last few minutes, he had felt like someone was glaring at him from behind, trying to stare holes into his back.
The nagging feeling persisted until he finally couldn't ignore it any longer. He turned around to find out who it was.
On the other side of the training room was Raphael, leaning against the wall, glaring at him evil eyes.
Seeing Raphael continue to stare at him even after he turned around, Kaden couldn't help but be confused.
Did he know that guy? The only time he could remember seeing him was yesterday inside of the classroom. But they'd never talked or interacted or before, the guy shouldn't have any reason to be angry at him.
Or so Kaden thought.
Since the guy didn't ring any bells in his head, Kaden chose to ignore him for now. It wasn't Kaden's problem if the boy had a problem with him.
Putting Raphael to the back of his mind, he continued chatting leisurely with Chet. They were both excited to play Combat Arena once school was finished.
As they were caught up in discussion, they didn't notice everyone around them had gone quiet and a man had entered the room.
"Ahem." The man coughed to get their attention but they didn't notice and just kept chatting.
"Quiet down you two." The man tried again, projecting his voice.
The two boys heard him this time and instantly stopped chatting, turning around to see the man who was presumably the teacher.
When Kaden saw who it was, he couldn't hide his surprise. The middle aged man saw his reaction and winked, his lips curling into a slight smile.
He was the same person who'd been present for Kaden's entrance test. The one who had helped him out when the old man began lecturing him.
"Okay now that were all ready." The middle aged man chuckled, not angry at all, "The name is Darren, last name is... No need for you to know. What you do need to know, is that I'll be in charge of your combat training and physical education for the next three years."
A few of the students began murmuring, they were a bit displeased with the unserious attitude of this teacher.
"Yes yes, you don't seem to be very happy with me." Darren laughed again, "Too bad. You're stuck with me. Nothing you can do."
While everyone else was quietly complaining, Kaden didn't have any objections to having this man as his teacher. During his entrance test, the middle aged man gave off the energy of a very strong cultivator.
Even while Darren was playing around now, to Kaden he was still giving off that same energy. It was the complete opposite of their traditional subjects teacher, Arron, who always had an air of weakness around him.
"Anyway, the Federation mandates that all students must learn the Student Fist Art, so…" Darren paused for dramatic effect, "That's exactly what were going to do."
Nobody had a problem with that, despite the boring name. Everyone in the capital were well aware of the prowess of the Student Fist Art. Burcham had also spoken well of it when teaching Kaden.
The government had put a lot of efforts into creating the technique, using it to raise the military prowess of the entire Federation.
It wasn't better than the Arkatal family's Two-Headed Piercing Eagle, but the Student Fist Art was designed for the masses and was also a lot more well-rounded. Every single student in the Federation's academies would be taught the technique.
Most of the Elite class students already knew other techniques, but they could use the Student Fist Art to supplement and make up for their weaknesses.
"Before we begin, spread out into five rows. Make sure that everyone can see." Darren took his place in front of the students, getting ready to teach them the fist art.
Kaden decided he wanted a clear view so he took up a spot in the first row. Even as he took someone else's spot, that person moved back and made room for him.
"Okay good, eyes on me now. First I'll demonstrate then we'll go through it together."
Darren began demonstrating the 1st form while telling the students about key aspects they should pay attention to. Even while being distracted with explaining things, Darren made it look trivial.
After finishing his demonstration, he went through it again, this time with the students following along.
Kaden had an easy time, while most of the other students were having issues.
Darren tried to help the students struggling by giving them tips, but in a class of 50 students it was hard to help individuals.
That was one of the reasons the Federation had put so much effort into creating the Student Fist Art. Opposite techniques like the Two-Headed Piercing Eagle, the Student Fist Art was a lot easier to learn without individually tailored teaching.
Despite how it looked right now, by the time the students graduated they would all have a solid grasp of the technique.
However…
There was no doubt that individual teaching was a lot superior. This was where people like Kaden had an advantage. Not everyone had the fortune of having someone like Burcham to train them everyday.
While most of the Elite class consisted of students with the same advantage as Kaden, there were still some who lacked it. Those were typically the ones who were weaker in martial arts, and had entered the Elite class by relying on their prowess in the traditional subjects.
There were even some who had yet to learn any martial arts at all, but those ones were all stuck in one of the common classes.