[DING]
It was the sound that would haunt Damian for the rest of his life, It was the sound that marked Damian's hell but most of all, it was the sound that brought him his first friend.
Damian sat up and looked around for where the sound came from. He was resting under the only tree on the school grounds on a lazy summer's day at the only school in the fifth continent to have a 100% pass rate! The school taught normal subjects, such as math, history, etc. but it also taught something else, cultivation!
Damian was a student at this school and was quite famous. He has full marks in almost every subject, but Damian was failing in one crucial class! Cultivation studies! No matter how hard he tried, he could never get the hang of it, not only could he not complete a Qi cycle, he couldn't even sense Qi!
This was essential as Qi was innately stored in every living being.
It allowed for people to draw on the energy of heaven and earth and accomplish feats that even gods would envy!
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Damian muttered under his breath.
'I've been trying my best for the past year, even skipping meals just to cultivate! So why am I still not able to sense Qi?'
Damian thought hard before hearing at "thunk" right behind him. Damian expertly maneuvered his body off the ground and into a basic defensive stance.
"Ahh, bloody hell!" cursed a seemingly aged voice that seem to originate from all around Damian.
Damian pivoted his body around, searching for the origin of the voice. After three minutes of searching, Damian found nothing.
"Am I losing my mind?" Damian thought to himself as he relaxed his stance.
"RRRIIINNNGGG" the school wide bell rung once, signalling the start of classes.
Damian sighed at the realization of what his next class was.
Trudging along the wide corridor towards a wooden room, Damian arrived to see the entire class ahead of him, some laughing at him, others, outright ignoring him! However, this wasn't anything new to Damian as he hurriedly took a seat and waited for the teacher to begin.
The teacher was called professor Ness simply because he had introduced himself as that and even refused to give out his full name! His lecture were always deep and profound, allowing many students to gain enlightenment. However, his temper was short and his personality was erratic. Nobody knew whether today's lesson would be about cultivation or another lecture on how to properly take care of knives and forks!
"Alright class, today shall be a bit different than normal" boomed professor Ness's voice. He was using Qi to propel his voice around the room.
"Partner up, today you will all be sparring"
Damian tensed up; he knew that no matter who he chose, he would be pummeled! As he got up to talk to the professor about sitting out, he was intercepted by a boy with a large frame and bulky muscles.
The boy was about 6 feet tall with blond hair and a rather handsome face that had long since been twisted by his hideous grin.
"What's wrong Damian" cackled the boy "Aren't we gonna spar?"
"Well Ethan, I'm feeling a bit sick, so I think I'll sit this one out" Damian mumbled with a red face.
"Hah! Sick? Don't make me laugh!" Ethan roared, attracting the attention of everybody in the room.
"you're sick?" professor Ness's deep voice sliced through the tension.
"nonsense! There's no fluctuations in your Qi, don't test me Damian!" professor Ness sighed, clearly angry at the sudden disruption.
Ethan turned to Damian with a nasty grin
"You hear that, you're fine. Let's go Dorkian, I've been practicing a new move, just. for. you."
Clenching his fists, Damian walked towards the practice rooms, his feet dragging behind him.
"The hell are you moping for!" bellowed the aged voice "If you can't take him, I'll seriously die of embarrassment!"
"w-what!" Damian yelped in surprised, scanning the room.
"Oi oi oi, don't go crazy on my now" Ethan maniacally chuckled.
"We still need to spar"
'That settles it, I'm taking a break from school' Damian thought.
"Good idea, there's no point learning this pitiful shit anyway" huffed the voice again.
"Okay seriously! Come out now!" Damian screamed, checking the corners for something, anything that could explain the voice.
"No way" muttered the class.
"Did he seriously lose it?"
"Damian!" professor Ness spat out
"Enough of this comedy act! Get on the damn stage!"
Damian climbed up in a daze but managed to assume the basic fighting position.
The basic fighting position was similar to a normal stance in the sense that anybody could shift into it from almost any upright position. This allowed for versatility and ease of movement during the battle but also made it slightly easier to predict due to the limited amount of trajectories one could employ.
"listen closely" the voice began sternly "when he begins his assault, rotate your circles and cast a tier one slip spell three feet in front, then follow up with a tier one weight enhancement on your fist. I'll instruct you on the timing, just be ready for them!"
'What are you on about' Damian thought 'are you some kind of fragment of my consciousness?'
"Y-Y-YOU STUPID EXCUSE FOR A-"before the voice could finish, the professor rang a nearby gong and the match started.
Ethan rushed in with a mad glint in his eye and split his Qi between his back leg and right fist, clearly aiming to do the most damage in the fastest time possible. Damian reacted on instinct, twisting his hips and stepping to the side, missing the fist. However, Ethan had anticipate this and pushed his qi out of his arm which blasted his fist to the side.
"Pah"
The crisp sound of a slap rang out in the room as Damian was flung back.
"Hahahaha" Ethan began laughing maniacally at the sight of Damian limp on the ground.
Even the students couldn't help but chuckle.
Ethan stomped closer to Damian until he was standing right above his body. Damian tried to move but found that his body wouldn't respond. Helpless, Damian could only watch as Ethan lifted his foot above Damian's arm.
"Shit! His foot's imbued with impure mana! Get the hell out the way kid!" The voice in Damian's head wouldn't stop screaming
"You think I want him to do this!" Damian screamed in his head.
"Give me control."
"what?"
"I said give me control of your body, if you do, I'll beat that brat so hard he'll be scared to even cross your path!"
In Damian's mind, he felt an indescribable type of power, one that gave him confidence in this voices ability.
"Fine" Damian conceded.
Meanwhile, Ethan stood above Damian with a gloating expression.
"Did the little twerp faint already? Well, no matter, I'm sure this will wake him up!"
Just as Ethan began to slam his foot down, It was caught by a firm hand. Ethan nearly fainted when he realized that his foot was caught by none other than Damian! Not even Damian's classmates could accept what they were seeing. In their eyes, Ethan was giving him some false hope. After all, how could the schools widely known trash be able to stop the foot of Ethan, the number 1 fighter in their school!
"hehehe" Damian started to chuckle.
"HAHAHAHA" Damian's chuckle quickly turned into a booming laugh that caused everybody's hair to stand on end. All of the sudden Damian threw Ethan back, leapt to his feet and hungrily scanned the room, like a thirsty man, he drunk in everything around him.
"Finally, I can move! I can smell! I can touch!"
Damian danced around the room, occasionally stopping to look at random things around him.
To Damian's classmate, he looked like he had actually lost it.
"Did he actually snap!?" one of the students mumbled.
"Little twerp!" Damian snapped turning to the student. "Your daddy here is the sanest person in the room!"
"That reminds me"
Damian turned to Ethan with a malicious grin. Looking like a reaper sent from the depths of hell.
"We still need to finish our spar."
Ethan seemed to snap out of his daze. He was still confused on how the other party had managed to stop his kick but hearing the Damian's obvious provocation, all thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind as his blood started to boil.
"You little shit! It seems like you've forgotten your place. Allow me to remind you!"
Ethan sent his Qi towards his legs intent on ending this fight as well as Damian's life.
"What kind of second rate mana is this shit?!" Damian chuckled out loud while watching Ethan like a child watching a spoiled brat complain in the market.
"You little shit!" was all Ethan could say before his head was slammed to the ground by a blur.
"..."
The room was filled with silence as everybody gazed at what had just happened.
Professor Ness stood over Ethan with his foot planted firmly on his chest.
"Did you really think that I wouldn't be able to see you trying TO KILL YOUR CLASSMATE?!"
His voice boomed across the room, shattering the nearby wooden dummies into kindling.
Ethan, at the brunt of the shout, fell unconscious.
"Tsk, you let the little brat off too easily if you ask me"
Damian stepped back and huffed in displeasure.
As professor Ness walked off the stage, he shouted in a much quieter yet still loud voice.
"Shows over, I want to see a 20 page essay on why you think Ethan here lost the battle."
The same thought washed over everybody at once.
'...'
'Isn't it because you molded his face into the arena?'
Suddenly, Damian's body swayed and he collapsed to one knee.
'Listen up kid'
The voice echoed in Damian's mind.
'I ain't got anymore time left so i'm gonna sleep for a bit. see ya soo-'
It was then that Damian's vision went dark and he passed out.
1 hour later in professor Ness' office, he was sifting through the medical report that had just been submitted by the school nurse.
"weird" he mumbled to himself. "It clearly states that Damian's mind has been overtaxed but I personally watched the fight and he didn't release a shred of Qi..."
Inwardly, he thought 'plus, that kids tongue was so vicious that he almost caused Ethan's cultivation to go berserk... just who is this kid?'