Not expecting that his close-range attack would be so quickly and easily blocked, Li Wei was a little shocked. But he quickly regained his composure, after all, he wasn't a newbie when it came to real-life fighting. He might have provoked Xing Liyun intentionally with ill-intentions from the beginning, wanting to bully the weak, but he wasn't stupid. He would never look for troubles that were over his head and beyond what his ability can handle.
He only made his move when he saw that Xing Liyun was not wearing a school uniform. Generally, every student that has not yet graduated from a mana academy would be required to wear their respective school uniforms when on school grounds and traveling outside. It serves as both a form of protection and prestige.
Xing Liyun was not wearing a school uniform and it was impossible for him to be a graduate since he was too young. Mana academies only started accepting students at the age of 18 so there was no way that Xing Liyun had already graduated. This made Li Wei feel confident.
Who would want to target those from a prestigious academy (especially when the majority of their students are from either rich or upper-class or noble backgrounds) and have those academies and their alumni on their back?
And comparing a person who went to a mana academy to another person that had gone to a normal academy for studies, everyone would definitely take more glances of admiration at the former rather than at the latter. Although both require money in order to get into.
Mana is something everyone was born with in this world. They are the 'magic' in this plane of existence. People are born with a set capacity of mana that cannot be increased---if tried, the mana will either explode causing their death, decrease, or make them physically and mentally ill or have terrible bouts of pain because of the body becoming unbalanced.
The amount of mana a person has was predetermined from the moment they are conceived to the moment they are born into this world. The quantity cannot be changed. Even the portion of their mana that they can use, or rather manipulate, is determined by their inborn talent. Just because a baby was born with a large amount of mana doesn't mean that they will be able to control and use it as they please in the future.
That's where mana academies come in. They take in students and teach them how to manipulate, control, the mana they were born with. It is impossible to be born without any mana, however, it is possible for a person's body to contain only a pitiful amount, so much so that it's negligible.
The qualification to learn how to use and manipulate mana is reserved mainly for the rich and noble. This is because of the tuition fee that needs to be paid yearly for attending these academies, which are very expensive. With the exorbitant fees costing an arm and leg for commoners, only the children of nobility or wealthy families can afford to attend such academies.
Parents of children from relatively well-to-do families would scrape together every cent that they could so that their children can go to a mana academy, a place that can ensure their children's bright future. At least when compared to those who did not learn how to use and control their mana.
Normally poor people, people from poor families and middle-class families, would never get a chance at going to those mana academies unless they were chosen to be sponsored by some noble or wealthy families, under contract terms to be their slave. Unfair terms that take away their freedom and choice.
Even then there are families willing to "sell" their children to those sorts of families, whether it is because they believed their children will truly have a better future following a noble family or they wanted the money.
In whichever case, it doesn't have much to do with Li Wei as he was the son of a nobleman. His family has money and connections. Only that his father is of a lower status than other aristocrats. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that Li Wei's family's standing is higher than that of a commoner's.
He attends one of the greatest mana academies in the world and he himself was one of the strongest freshmen with a lot of potential. Not being a secret, when he was born, the amount of mana he possessed was measured to be very high; Grade B level.
In this world, the amount of mana a person is born with can be categorized into these levels:
Grade A, extraordinarily high - similar to comparing an elephant with an ant, the difference is extremely huge. Numerically, the most appropriate number in this case would be [5,000,000,001-indefinite].
Grade B, very high - [1,000,001-5,000,000,000]
Grade C, high - [10,001-1,000,000]
Grade D, average [501-10,000]
Grade E, low - [51-500]
Grade F, negligible - [1-50]
Despite this, as mentioned before, just because one is born with a very high amount of mana does not mean they also have the inborn talent to wield all of their mana. Some people that have learned how to manipulate their own mana might only be able to control Grade E amount of mana out of their Grade C level amount of mana. In this case, it doesn't matter that they were born with more mana than others. A Grade D mana user that can control most or all of the mana they possess will easily defeat the one that is Grade C yet can only use the same amount of mana as a Grade E person.
However, being born with high mana capacities is still a good thing in the end as most people that are born with higher mana capacities have a lot of potential in manipulating their mana to go along with it. Though some might still have a harder time learning to.
The amount of mana from the total that one is able to manipulate can be trained to increase, unless one's destiny is meant to be unable to achieve higher levels.
But back to the current situation.
Currently, Li Wei and two of his pals from the academy were on a mission for a test. If they accomplish the mission successfully, they will pass the test and get good grades depending on how well they did their task.
Their mission required them to get near the Forest of No Return, the forest that Xing Liyun had come out of. A while before Xing Liyun was bumped into by them, Li Wei had been put into a bad mood and he wanted a way to vent out his frustrations. Conveniently spotting Xing Liyun, Li Wei had decided to mess with him and push him a little here and there to have fun. He thought Xing Liyun would be an easy target.
Though reality told him no.
Backing off, he observed his opponent closely this time. Although he might be a scoundrel most of the time, he still has the instincts of an animal and was well-trained in the mana academy. He knows when he needs to be careful of his opponent and to not let down his guard.
His supposedly 'easy' target was not as easy as he thought the other to be.
In the mana academy he goes to, he has fought many opponents on the same level as him and above. His fighting style was rough and brutal coupled with raw strength, and that combined with mana made him a strong and fierce fighter. He was fast on his feet like a cheetah. So most of his opponents in school would get caught off guard when he rapidly leaps in at them, or at least be pushed back and feel pain in their arms when they successfully block his first attack.
Yet Xing Liyun was none of the above. He had seemingly already anticipated his sudden attack and successfully blocked it without any apparent pain in his forearms. Sure Li Wei didn't use his mana in this surprise attack, afraid that his opponent would die after just one strike and then he wouldn't be able to have more fun, but the other shouldn't have so easily blocked it, right?
Taking a proper fighting stance, Li Wei again rushed forward, this time strengthening his fists with mana. Since he was still only a freshman in the process of learning more on how to manipulate his mana, he was not able to bring his mana outside of his body, meaning that he can only reinforce his body parts on the inside.
In this way, he hardened his fist and increased his punching strength.
Xing Liyun saw the fist heading his way once again and tried to avoid it. Although he had managed to block the last one, he could feel there was something different about this next punch. And if he did not dodge it and instead tried to face it head on, he would definitely feel the pain this time. However, Xing Liyun did not account for the fact that Li Wei's punch would also be much faster than before. Having not enough time to completely dodge the next attack, Xing Liyun could only attempt to block it with his arms yet again.
Xing Liyun's cold and indifferent face finally showed some other expression besides the ever-present coldness. He frowned.