The trial room was a big hall from inside, its walls were made of a rubber-like material to prevent any sound or shock waves from spreading outside, there were more things to these walls than meets the eye, Kale knew it but he wasn't strong enough to observe them. But he knew that Freed wasn't lying, Academy did respect students privacy in several ways, Riyan also said it.
He focused on the three straw puppets arranged in the first raw. There was a second row behind them, consisting of wooden puppets, then the third row made of stone puppets.
Kale took a deep breath then dashed towards the first row of puppets.
'Falling Meteor Blade Art: First Fall'
He swung the knife diagonally from top to bottom, the heavy knife looked light as a feather in his hand, the knife passed through the straw puppet-like it was passing through butter, half of the puppet's body fell down without any suspense.
The martial world of Kazeer didn't have many martial techniques related to knives so with time, Kale started altering the suitable blade and dagger techniques into knife techniques or took inspiration from them to create his own knife techniques because of their similarity, Falling Meteor Blade Art was one such technique.
His phone vibrated again, he ignored the alert because it was easy to guess the content of the notification that popped up.
Kale then carefully observed the sliced edge of the puppet, from far, it look like a decent cut but from close inspection, he could see several irregularities on the surface.
'Not strong enough, the humans here have stronger physique but it is not enough for the current me, I intend to venture in the forest alone, it's the best way to get resources quickly, earning points in the arena looks profitable but the profit will decrease soon, the battle stacks wouldn't be same as today. Moreover, soon I would likely need to face stronger martial artists in the duel, if I keep defeating them then I would be like a lone tall tree trying to resist the wind alone, I might become the focus of everyone's jealousy.
It's fine to build a good image in front of the academy's instructors because it's good for the future but it's the opposite when gaining fame in front of these immature children, so I need to become stronger to get more resources without standing out too much. Hmm... Should I try that?' Kale looked at the wooden puppets then shook his head, he focused on the second straw puppet.
Wooden puppets are better test subjects for him but they were likely built for Enlightened Mortals, what would Freed think if he saw a Mortal who just started cultivating destroying a wooden puppet easily.
Kale thought for a second before his eyes turned resolute, he tightly held the long knife in his right hand then grabbed his right wrist with his left hand. Kale closed his eyes then concentrated.
In the next moment, everything turned quiet for him, the room, the floor, the ceiling everything disappeared from his vision, the only thing he could see was the knife in his hand and a single straw puppet in front of him.
Kale took a step then slashed at it, everything seemed very slow, he could feel the knife-like his hand, he could sense it when the edge on the knife touched the surface of the puppet, the feeling of severing the straws of the puppet, it was easy as waving the knife in the air yet it felt intriguing.
If someone was looking at him at this time then they would be utterly shocked, even if the onlooker was a normal person, they would feel like the knife in Kale's hand is actually a part of him, he wasn't holding the knife but it was attached to his arm.
After the slash was complete, Kale first looked at his hand holding the knife. His hand was trembling uncontrollably, blue veins were faintly visible on his pale skin, he was feeling pain but there was no change in his expression.
He then turned to look at the puppet which was the same as before, it was like nothing had happened to him, Kale smirked then lightly pushed it with his left hand.
With just a little force, the upper part of the puppet slowly slid down from the lower half and fell to the ground.
Kale took out his phone and checked the latest notification alert.
[Blade-Intent detected.]
[Your mastery of the intent is evaluated to be Master Level.]
In this world, the mastery of intent, spell, or martial technique is categorized into four stages.
Novice >> Master >> Grand Master >> Ethereal.
'Master Level? And not at Ethereal? Hmm... This scanner can't scan my memories and only evaluates according to my body, I failed to bring out the true power of my intent because of my weak body so the evaluation was probably low because of this.
Moreover, it also mistook my Knife Intent as Blade Intent, probably because Knife Intent is too rare or almost nonexistent here just like my previous life maybe the system's database doesn't have the information of Knife-Intent at all, coupled with its high similarity with Blade Intent it's easy to be misunderstood by most,' Kale though then changed the data in his status, he had full control over the system so he could change anything he wanted, even putting a fake status if he wished too.
[The name of the Knife-Intent is successfully registered as 'Asura's Rage'.]
Kale nodded in satisfaction.
If someone else looked at him using this Knife-Intent for the first time, they would probably doubt as to why the name of such a quiet and smooth intent is set as Asura's Rage. But only those that died under the full power of this intent know that just how much this name suits it.
Kale then looked at the smoothly sliced puppet, he wasn't idiotic enough to leave behind such a clue, he made several more cuts to completely erase the traces of intent being used on it, he then covered his wrist under his sleeve and his right hand in his pocket.
He held the knife in his left hand and stepped out of the trial room.
The process of purchasing was quick and simple. After Kale decided to buy the Fallen Sakura, Freed gave him a scabbard to hold it which was free because the item he bought was above Uncommon-Grade, meaning it would be free even if the Knife was at Rare-Grade and not at Epic-Grade.
***
On the way back to the dorm...
Kale took out his phone from his left hand and sent a message to Layla.
{The dagger you were using when we went for the hunt, was it from your home region?} (Kale)
The reply soon came.
{Yeah, so?} (Layla)
{What were its rank and grade?} (Kale)
{What is the use of asking, everyone knows we cannot bring any equipment above Mortal-Rank inside the academy, as for its grade it was just Uncommon, if you are interested in it then we can make a trade, don't worry I will even give you a discount,} (Layla)
{Hmm... We will talk about that later, there was something I wanted to ask. Are you interested in buying information?} (Kale)
{How much?} (Layla)
{200 CP,} (Kale)
{Not interested,} (Layla)
{You sure? It's worth it,} (Kale)
{How much can it worth?} (Layla)
{Same as randomly finding an Enlightened-Mortal-Rank beast cub having a Rare-Grade Bloodline on street,} (Kale)
Layla didn't reply immediately and took her time before making a decision.
{Deal,} (Layla)
{The first 20 students that goes to buy any item or equipment at the store can get a 30% discount, there should still be 13 spots left,} (Kale)
{You Trickster! angry_emoji That's why you asked about my dagger. Humph, I will get even with you someday, now gonna go and do some shopping~} (Layla)
After sending the message, she left the chat, Kale soon received a notification regarding CP transfer.
"Hey man, if I'm right, you were typing with your right hand in the morning and now left, are you left-handed or right?" Arlo curiously asked, when he saw Kale typing messages with his left hand. He couldn't see the chat but can still tell that he was chatting.
"Both," Kale said without turning his head.
"Seriously? I really want to know from which clan you are bro," Arlo said casually while observing his expression, but he was disappointed as there was no change.
Clan and family are too different thing, clans are like a group of families coexisting together with the ruling family taken as Head Family and others are Branch Family.
Normally, the system of clans is followed by Martial Path Families that possess a long heritage and inheritance passed down from generation to generation. If Kale reacted then it would mean that he really is from a clan.
There are clans whose power rivals even the nobles, while there are also clans whose Head Family consists of Nobles themselves but such clans are small in size because if they expand too much then they will be on the suspicious list of Royal Family, as they might develop ambition and try to overtake the Queen.
"So you are from a clan, which one?" Kale asked instead, he was quicker and more experienced than Arlo, from the wording before, he was around 70% sure that Arlo was from a clan.
"Hehehe... Haven't you heard, we should tell about ourselves before asking about others," Arlo grinned.
Kale didn't say more and headed back to the dorm with him, he knew that no matter how many times he would say his dad is a doctor, no one would believe him especially those who have seen his battle bower.
***
Next morning...
Kale was standing in front of the mirror, his shoulder-length silvery-white hair was elegantly falling behind his head, he wore a white blazer that matched with his hair.
'So it's finally the day, for Demonic Angel to attend a class?' Kale thought when he looked at his reflection in the mirror.
If in his last life, someone told him that let's stop hiding, stop being on edge all the time, and we can leave peacefully then he would have just laughed it off saying, it isn't possible, but now he was living that life.
"Dude, are you really going to wear orange glasses in the class? It's not much better than wearing a mask you know," Arlo said while combing his hair.
Kale turned and gave him a long look, he then removed his glasses and showed his silver eyes, which seemed to have sparkling star fragments sealed in them.
"Eh... " Arlo was startled for a moment, he then realized that this behavior wasn't appropriate and calmed down. He walked near him and looked closely in those eyes "It's eye-catching... A pun? Hehe, let's get serious, the point of wearing glasses is to hide those eyes, am I correct?"
Kale nodded.
"Then how about this," Arlo used his comb and altered his hairstyle, he combed those silvery-white hair in a way where they diagonally fell in front of his eyes, covering them.
"They will be exposed when I move too much," Kale said while observing his face in the mirror, he didn't focus on his appearance before and mostly lived behind a mask, the habits sharpened for hundred years was obviously overtaking the ones he developed in last 3 years.
"No one is going to ask you to fight in the class, moreover those glasses look more eye-catching when combined with your silver-white hair," Arlo said as he admired his work.
Kale thought about it and put the glasses in his pocket.
..Knock....Knock...
"Someone you know?" Arlo asked when he heard the knock on the door.
"Hmm..." Kale nodded. He then walked to the door and opened it.
When the door was opened he saw Layla standing outside, she was wearing the same sports dress which exposed her cherished abs but this time she had put on a full-sleeved jacket.
"Close the zipper or you will look like a weirdo in front of others," Kale said after he saw her clumsy getup.
"Tch, does it really stand out that much?" Layla said in dissatisfaction.
Kale nodded without a second thought.
Layla snorted, then closed the zipper up to her chest.
'Although it isn't the best it's much better than her acting like an exhibitionistic at such an age,' He thought.
Layla noticed his hairstyle that hid his eyes, she wanted to speak but when she thought about how he always hides his eyes, she chose to suppress her curiosity and refrain from asking about it.
"Huh? You also got your roommate," Layla said when she saw Arlo looking at her from behind Kale.
Kale agreed, he said "He's Arlo, path Mutant Martial Artist, rest unknown,"
Arlo's lips twitched.
"She is Layla, path mage, and loves... Forget the last part, " Kale added.
Layla stared at him, she then gave a quick glance to Arlo then grabbed Kale's hand and pulled him out to her room.
Arlo blinked his eyes, "Are they a couple?"