A neat freak. That was the most significant thing about him. He was a neat freak. Skin smooth to the core. Sharp, ebony pupils in his eyes. Each step he took was well calculated. His broad shoulders carried muscularly looking biceps. He wipped his hands off the dirt he must've acquired from opening the door, with an handkerchief.
Immediately, everyone fell into conversations, each curious to know who the cute-looking man was. That's right; he was cute!
"Who do you think he is?" I asked Jessica beside me, on a low voice.
She bent towards me and whispered, "He could be here to make a few announcement, or he's probably one of the former students."
"Huhn? I thought they were to depart from the wall of the academy at the first crow of dawn..."
Before I could even keep speaking, a startling, firm voice jerked me off my words.
"Silence, everyone!"
Next came an overwhelming aura.
I raised my head quickly to see who'd said those words. It was none other than the person we were just speaking about; the handsome, neat freak. He stood in the middle of the room like a painting. It was as if he was part of the classroom, and the classroom was part of him. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, and he seemed to be the final matching piece. Just perfect.
"Junior Academy of the Gifted? What a joke! Have you all lost your manners or something? A teacher comes in, and the first thing you do is to begin chitchatting, no?"
My eyeballs almost fell off its sockets.
'He's our classroom teacher?'
Of course, me and several others shared the same lingering question in our thoughts, but none of us dared uttering a single word. With those piercing eyes like a sword, and imposing aura, who would anyway?
We all bowed our heads, not daring to meet his eyes. He continued speaking.
"Just take a look at your cultivations! I would have died of shame, had I been with such cultivation levels at your age! Yet, despite all these, you dare disrespect a teacher? Now listen, first rule. You all stand and greet, 'Welcome teacher,' whenever I step into your class. You don't want to know what happens to those who disobey. And... jeez... your cultivation levels are so irritable. Well, fear not. I'll make a change to that."
I mustered up some courage to raise my head, alongside a few others.
"I'm a transferred teacher from Intermediate Academy of the Gifted. Yes, that's right — I was demoted! You know why? Because I beat up every single male teacher in that school. Singlehandedly! Not simultaneously, though, but you know what they called it? Lack of humility! That's right! They were all weaklings, yet they chose to revile against me. That's right, they'd framed me up, piling lies against me that the principals didn't care to confirm. That said, my motto for teaching is 'Strength and pride!' Don't you forget that! Tomorrow morning, I want to see a calligraphy of our motto just on top of the classroom's plaque.
"I'm Mr. Haggz, introduce yourself according to how your friends call you, I don't give a damn about your wealthy or poor families, so don't bore me up with the surnames."
Although his words seemed rash, in truth, his voice was actually extraordinarily calm and well-paced. He spoke with every conviction of a confident speaker.
After Mr. Haggz said that, I noticed a fluctuation in the true essence of the boy seated before me. Despite his keeping nonchalance, he seemed to have been shaken by the words of the teacher.
Toby, Xianxian, Ruby, Jessica, Stephanie, Jaded, Zhangkong, Mingming, Chang, Lingxi, Tang, Blackie, Xueyi, Xuan'er and Zhaohu. All fifteen of us introduced ourselves according to whoever Mr. Haggz finger pointed to. A total of eight boys, seven girls.
"Good. Now that we've gotten acquainted, let's get started. Firstly, I hate the sight of chairs in a classroom, push it to the end of the room. Now!"
Everyone exchanged quick glances, before doing as he'd ordered, quickly. What was then before us was a large and spacious hall.
Despite the fact that it was a classroom, the room was unbelievably clean. He ordered each of us to seat on the floor, cross-legged. Next, he flicked his hand and fifteen identical books materialised before him. He then used his true essence to push these books to us. One for each person.
There was no name on the book to identify what it was.
"This is your new cultivation technique manual. In case you've been cultivating others before, throw them down the sewers. I can't teach secondhand students."
One boy, Blackie, laughed out, uncontrollably. Mr. Haggz drew out a chalk from his trouser pocket and stoned it into his mouth, flawlessly... you don't want to know what happened. Done, he dusted his palms casually.
"Any other person feels I'm joking?"
Everyone quickly shook their heads.
"Good, now try to comprehend the manuals in your hands. Only by gaining in-depth knowledge in it, would you be able to lay for yourselves, a firm foundation to your future cultivations."
The book was filled with pictures on how to position for cultivation, how to channel true essence through the acupoints and meridians, and many more.
Ten minutes after we began reading the manuals, most of us found it really difficult to cultivate it. One question after another was posed at the teacher, and surprisingly, he took his time explaining every difficult question. We learnt all the positions of the different acupoints and meridians, it was up to us to see if we could locate them by ourselves.
Just then, an idea flashed before my mind, and a smile blossomed across my formerly frustrated face.
'Fingers of Knowledge!'
I channeled this ability to my index finger and tapped lightly on the book. Immediately, knowledge began to flood into my head. The book's content became part of my own memory. Like a nursery rhyme that could not be forgotten. It was there, and I knew, through experience, that it'd always be there.
I raised both hands breast-length, balanced my arms, emptied my mind of any thought, then began to move my true essence according to how the book explained it.
I went to my first acupoint, then to the other, cleansing them one after the other. Every marrow in my body began to take a new look. The acupoints that were difficult to break through, through the guidance of Mr. Haggz's monitoring true essence, were easily overcame.
While we were all cultivating, I'd unknowingly drawn the attention of the teacher. He was watching me, at first, from his peripheral vision. Next, he faced me completely. His eyes opened in shock as he saw my progress and the jaw-braking result.
"She's already entered Meditation realm, so soon? It's barely been twenty minutes. What in the world? And it doesn't seem she has cultivated this manual before, or I'd have sensed it in her first gestures and true essence. Talking about true essence, isn't her undulated true essence quite peculiar? Now that she's purifying her meridians, wouldn't she be even more grounded in her cultivation?"
He began to assist in areas where he noticed I was facing difficulties in cultivating through. According to his observations, I was ten folds faster than the rest of my classmates. As an expert, it was easy for him to multitask, so he equally had his eyes on every other person by inserting true essence into everyone.
All these happenings were unknown to me, as I innocently drove the hundreds or so procedures listed in the manual. Five hours later, I finished cultivating, then a wave of refreshment blasted me, internally. My skin suddenly glowed a bit before blending quickly with the rest of my body.
Finally, my eyes opened. If someone had looked at my eyes at that moment, they'd have realised that my pupils had turned golden before quickly reverting to normal. Mr. Haggz saw this, but I didn't know as well. He made a quick mental note, and a flash of surprise could be read in his eyes.
He clapped twice, bringing everyone awake.
"Okay guys, we'll stop here for today."
He looked at everyone before saying, "Go home and rest. In two hours time, you'll be having lunch. Eat enough. Besides cultivation comes food. After lunch, you'll each go to the different guilds your uniforms represents. Understood?"
"Thank you, Teacher Haggz."
He waved it off, before turning to look at me.
"Stephanie, a moment please."
I wasn't surprised that he'd remembered my name. Cultivators were all advantaged with advanced and eidetic memories as their cultivation levels grew. I nodded. Jessica waited behind, away from ear reach, while Xueyi began chatting away with Jaded who had been seated beside her. Together, the duo walked outside, to Jessica and my utter surprise. She'd acted as though she didn't even know our duo.
"Yes, Teacher Haggz?"
Nonchalantly, he stated, "You attained perfect comprehension of the technique manual you were given. It's called the Eccentric Heavens cultivation technique, and only a finger list have attained perfection in it. Remember whatever you've experienced today. Be it making a breakthrough, recuperating an injury, let this technique be your base. Understand?"
I stared blankly for a moment, before hurriedly nodding.
He then added, "And congratulations on your breakthrough to Meditation realm."
Before I could even these words, he walked out of the room without even sparing me a second glance.