Once all of the classes were finished, Wang Jin left his class to walk around. Just like usual, he hadn't listened to the content of the lectures. The very few times he had actually bothered to look at the board was when the professor who was teaching fit his image of a beautiful woman.
Usually, that is. But today, he hadn't paid attention to the lectures entirely for an entirely different reason. The whole day, Wang Jin had racked his brains for ideas on how to get stronger.
But no matter how much thinking his brain had thunk, er, thought, he was unable to come up with any ideas that seemed to fit his requirements.
Wang Jin didn't have a lot of time. The few moments he could spend on training a skill actually needed to adhere to his rules.
Firstly, the skill needed to be non-time consuming. In this case, time-dieting. Secondly, he needed it to get stronger in a short period, because he did not have a set date as to when he could get attacked. And finally, it actually needed to be easy to learn.
There were basically no people Wang Jin could confide in about his current situation. People like Donna came to mind, but really, why would she care?
Dignitas was more trustworthy as he was the first friend he made since coming to Regalian. But some bad measure of luck had prevented the two from seeing each other even once during the past few weeks.
"Maybe the library has something. I'm not a bookworm myself, but maybe I'll turn up with something."
While on his way there, Wang Jin figured he would head to Class 1-AL. If his investigation turned up with no clues, then his last resort was to ask Isabella for some help. A rather peculiar choice for a last resort, but a last resort nonetheless.
Ten minutes later, Wang Jin arrived at the school's library. After a rather lengthy process trying to create a library card at the receptionist, he was eventually granted access to the entire area.
With nothing stopping him, Wang Jin did his best to scour the first few shelves of books he saw.
"Damn, I could get lost in this place! There's too many books, the sight is hurting my head!" Wang Jin exclaimed as he clutched his head in exaggeration.
"Quiet, please."
"Oh, yeah, my bad."
But after looking through the "Combat Techniques" section and finding nothing helpful, Wang Jin sighed in defeat.
"This is the most I've read in a whole year, let alone my life. Who knew my head hated reading this much…"
Was there really nothing that could help him? Was there no book that didn't require him to read tens of pages before it even introduced the topic?
Just as he was about to give up and consider going to Class 1-AL to ask Isabella for help, Wang Jin spotted a book that had seemingly slipped off its place in the bookshelf.
Out of pure curiosity, Wang Jin bent over and took the book in his hands.
"Huh… weird, it's written in the Jin dialect. Haven't spoken it in a bit, but I think I can guess what it says. Jin Clan… Battle Technique No.1, Body - First Edition."
"Wait… wait, what?!"
***
This was a huge discovery. There was a reason why Wang Jin had reacted the way he did.
The moment he realized who the book belonged to, he instantly headed for the receptionist and asked to borrow the book. Then, while not even stopping to breathe, he ran to his room in the dorms.
Once he opened the door to his room, he threw the book onto his bed.
"I hope I wasn't seeing wrong that time. Let me see again… holy shit, it really is a Jin clan technique!"
The Jin clan, even when compared to the biggest and most influential factions in the world, was sizable in its own right. For one, they were the strongest clan in the Sky continent, and subsequently its biggest producer of martial techniques.
But this was the real kicker: Despite it's clearly superior standing to most organizations, the Jin clan was relatively quiet, and preferred to keep to themselves. Very rarely would they ever decide to make contact with the outside world.
Their battle techniques were a big reason as to why they were so well known. But they were never ever produced in the outside world. The Jin clan forbade their practictioners from ever releasing their techniques to other continents, perhaps for fear of losing power.
So to see a book that supposedly held one of the Jin Clan's techniques was more than enough to get Wang Jin rowdy.
"Alright, let's see what's inside…"
Thankfully, the descriptions of the techniques inside were relatively simple that even Wang Jin could understand them.
"The Ultimate Karate Chop… okay, cringe name. I know what a karate chop is, but the ultimate one?"
The description of the technique was as follows:
"A technique that incorporates the Iron Style, and uses it to swing one's arms in a sword-like motion. It is possible to send out the skill's energy in a direction, but magic is required to do so."
Below this, there were some lines explaining how to perform the trick. And for the first time in his life, Wang Jin actually read a book in great detail, making sure to pay attention to every word and every letter so as to not miss a thing.
"This is great! I already know Iron Style, and thanks to Denzel, I think I've already gotten the Enhancement thing down."
"I should try it out in the training hall."
A few minutes later, and Wang Jin was now in the training hall of his dorm room. He had asked the A.I in advance to create two training dummies in front of him, one close and the other a bit farther.
Then, following the book's description of the technique, Wang Jin concentrated and tried to do what it said.
"Inhale…hold…exhale. Alright, next… apply Iron Style to my fingers… then try to sense that aura."
"Fuck, this is harder than I thought. Wait… I think I feel it!"
The moment Wang Jin felt a tingly sensation in his shoulders, he relaxed his arm, allowing the feeling to course up his limb and into his fingers.
Then, the moment it reached his hand, he swung his hand diagonally. Simultaneously, a beam of energy surrounded his fists, and his fingers cleanly cut through the dummy in front of him.
"Huha… hahaha! I did it! I fucking did it! I'm the best, yup, I'm the best, bitches!"
"Now for the long range version."
"Alright, stay calm. Do it again, but this time… allow the energy to stay on one side… then… release!"
As if throwing a rock, Wang Jin swiftly swung his outstretched arm in the direction of the farther dummy.
Then, at the apex of his swing, a greyish arc of energy separated itself from his metal arm, and shot through the dummy's face, ripping it clean off.
"This just cemented it, folks! Wang Jin is the number one top dog!"
Obviously happy with himself, Wang Jin continued with his training for the next hour or so, singing praises of himself whenever a Karate Chop was successful.
He got so excited that it wasn't until after his training session was over did he realize that the book wasn't the only one of its kind. Rather, it was part of the "Body Edition," which supposedly had four other parts. If Wang Jin wanted to fully master the techniques written in them, he needed to find the other two units.
But that was an entirely different matter. For now, Wang Jin was somewhat content with the progress he made today. Of course, it was probably nowhere near the strength he wanted to reach, but he was getting there.