The final bell of the day rang and the sight of hundreds of teenage boys leaving 3rd Lake Rail City could be seen from overhead.
Normally, some floats or small airships passed over Lake Rail City while transporting cargo or precious goods but today only the glare of the red hot sun pressed down on the young males as they walked their way home.
A group of three boys could be seen leaving the gates, their three distinct figures drawing the eyes of everyone else there, despite the absolute dreadful weather.
A boy beautiful enough to be a girl. A Q-Tip. And a pig.
Divided they may attract some attention, especially the first boy, but together, they were an absolute force to be reckoned with.
The plump and chubby looking young man nudged Alleluia who turned his head and looked towards his left. A small smirk could be seen on his face.
"When you replied to Russell's question I thought that he was going to piss his pants! His face turned red and he couldn't stop squirming as he sat down. When you said that you could defeat them in one strike, how did my Sis become such a domineering person!?".
The fatty dodged a lazy punch and only grinned at the benign attempt at striking him. He knew that Alleluia could've really hit him if he wanted to, and that he would have absolutely no way of stopping him if he did.
The tall and lanky figure, Grise, just shrugged as they continued walking.
"I know that we only have access to the basic 12 Life Techniques that every school in the country has access to, but how were you allowed to practice such a high Ranking Life Technique. Even my father, the Mayor of Life Rail only has access to the countries third tier resource library. Those techniques are all Rank 2!".
The fatty and the stick insect looked at Alleluia who gave a loud sigh at the questioning looks his friends gave him. He gestured to his temple and spoke,
"The contents of my Life Technique are all stored up here. I destroyed the book after obtaining it. I admit, that it is, or was rather an extremely powerful technique. But alas, time waits for no man....".
Ruto and Grise blinked several times before nodding knowingly catching Alleluia's drift.
They were all friends so they all knew of the subtle nuances and characteristics each other had, and the fatty patted his friends back while giving him a large smile. The fifteen year olds acne had gotten a little out of hand this week, and one could connect the dots on his face if they wanted to.
According to the old man, the [Vigorous Thunder, Flowing Water] Life Technique was almost 100,000 years old. It was created by the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty after witnessing a mythical creature flying through the sky.
This beast could walk on water and when walking on grass never once touched a single blade, almost as if it was afraid of harming the natural world. It ate nothing but fruit and drunk nothing but pure spring water. It was the embodiment of the earth, and neither harmed it, nor endangered it.
A Warlord from a foreign land sought to try and catch the beast in order to anger the Emperor by trapping it in an enormous net that covered the sky. Instead, he faced the fury of the divine beast and the power of the heaven and the earth.
Lightning crackled and water gathered as storms raged on as this beast retaliated and killed the warlord and his men. The beasts once pure black eyes turned a scarlet red and a metaphysical horn appeared on its head, gathering both lightning and water and striking its enemies with a bolt of tribulation lightning.
The Warlords name was lost to history, but the power of this divine beast caused the people of the Zhou Dynasty to worship it above both phoenixes and dragons. This beast was a symbol of both a illustrious sage and an impeccable ruler.
A Qilin.
Alleluia's pitch black eyes turned excited as the thought of such a divine beast caused even his own heart to start thumping. The power that was described in his Life Technique emulated the power of the Qilin and allowed him to use his Life Power to borrow the power of the Heaven and Earth.
A physical change occurred when borrowing the power of the Heaven and Earth although nothing else was described in the [Vigorous Thunder, Flowing Water] Life Technique.
By the Professors rough estimate, the Life Technique would be at the very least Rank 5....
Rank 5? What did that mean?
It was a stage in Knighthood that represented over 300 Life Passages opened! The amount of Life Power flowing through his body would be enough to topple mountains and separate the seas! The legend of a Peak Rank 4 Knight who destroyed a small country in a single Knight resounded throughout the corners of the entire Smoky Cloud Continent.
This feat astounded all the mortals who had no idea of the limits of the powers of Knights, but were given a glimpse into just how strong they were.
So the [Vigorous Thunder, Flowing Water] Life Technique which was at least Rank 5.... how strong exactly would that be? Strong enough to destroy a country? Strong enough to defeat a million men single-handedly? Strong enough to overturn the skies and cover the land with its shadow?
He could only dream of the possibilities....
Alleluia let out a deep sigh of regret as he muttered out the next words.
".... Unfortunately, the [Vigorous Thunder, Flowing Water] is incomplete. Becoming a Rank 1 Knight would be possible, but anything after that....".
This was the bane of many Knights and potential Knights wanting to practice a high level Life Technique. Most high level Life Techniques were from forgotten Kingdoms and Dynasties from thousands of years ago. They were domineering and powerful Life Techniques which were passed down through families in order to keep their social standing and power.
But when those countries fell, the families that were deep-rooted within them fell apart also. Fractions of hundreds, if not thousands of Life Techniques existed all across the world. The Professor was lucky to find the [Vigorous Thunder, Flowing Water] Life Technique in an ancient ruin but regretted not being able to find the rest.
If he did, Alleluia wouldn't have to worry about worldly matters. His student, with enough time and effort would at the very least would become a Rank 3 Knight, the pinnacle of this countries military power.
But alas, even with another decade of research and exploring, the Professor couldn't find any trace of the [Vigorous Thunder, Flowing Water] Life Technique. Alleluia still chose it anyway, against the Professors will three years ago but found himself at the bottleneck between mortality, and Knighthood.
After this boundary he would no longer be classified as a human, but as a Knight.
But his path towards higher stages would be forever unknown to him.
Those pitch black eyes gained a slightly red tint to them.....