Before leaving the house in the morning, Jack Clark prepared the Salamander Avatar's morning meal.
However, just as they were about to leave, Doris Clark, who hadn't gone to work yet that day, stopped them.
At the gate of the old courtyard, Doris Clark tenderly straightened Jack's collar and looked at her eldest son, now as tall as her, with deep emotion in her eyes.
"Mom, is there something else?" Glenn Clark asked, somewhat puzzled.
Looking at her two sons, Jenny smiled slightly, "It's nothing much, I just wanted to say, with school just starting, don't put too much pressure on yourselves."
Glenn dismissed it casually, "It's just junior high, I can keep up with it easily."
Looking at her energetic second son, Jenny gave a wry smile, she of course wasn't worried about him. He had always been bright and active, with good physical health and academic performance.
What she was concerned about was her eldest son. After high school, he could start cultivating True Martial Arts, but not everyone possesses the talent for cultivation.
Her eldest son had been weak and sickly since childhood, clearly not someone who could practice the Martial Arts, and the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. What if he faced a setback...
Jack said calmly, "Mom, don't worry, I know what I am doing."
"...Okay," Doris Clark opened her mouth to say something more, but ultimately decided against it.
After waving goodbye to Doris Clark, the Clark brothers walked on the road to school.
Along the way, they could see many students in uniforms on their way to school; some were alone, some played and joked together, some rode bikes.
In the Federation, schools are divided by area, and all students attend the school closest to them, which is why many students wore the same uniform as Jack and Glenn.
Inside the classroom, class leader Sherry Lesser and committee member Matt Watkins had arrived early. Many classmates gathered around them, chatting and creating a lively atmosphere.
Just as Jack had sat down, Justin Welan leaned over from the front and whispered mysteriously, "Jack, I've figured out why Matt and the others became class officers."
...Jack, are we that close? Although internally criticizing, Jack still cooperated and asked out of curiosity.
"Why?"
"Rumor has it that the class leader's parents are strong cultivators, and the class teacher definitely wants to curry favor with her family."
Okay, both parents are strong cultivators.
Jack inquired, "What about the other one?"
Justin said in a low voice, "Matt isn't simple either; his family has money and influence in the city. Maybe they even sent a red envelope to the class teacher before school started, as a greeting."
So it is, no matter the world, there are always class systems at play.
"Don't spread this around," Jack reminded Justin at the end.
Whether it was true or false, as a student, it was better not to gossip about the class teacher behind his back, in case it got back to him, which would be no good.
"I know, I've only told you about this, I haven't told anyone else," Justin winked, showing a trustworthy expression.
At that moment, a Math Teacher walked in, and the classroom fell silent.
In this world, high school cultural classes weren't very difficult, and after attending one class, Jack started to drift off, of course, in reality, he was remotely controlling the Salamander Avatar to eat at home.
The three morning classes went by quickly, and before they knew it, noon had arrived.
After eating lunch and resting for a while,
all the high school juniors made their way to the back of the school, where several high-rise buildings labeled from A to D surrounded the central stadium to form the Cultivation Area.
According to their classes, Jack and the others arrived at the cultivation classroom on the fifth floor of Building B.
In the five hundred squared meters cultivation classroom stood a man in his thirties, with a stern look on his face, standing on the High Platform, with a large screen behind him, five meters high and eight meters wide.
When all the students had taken their places, the middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes, and his sharp gaze made everyone feel a pain in their own eyes.
Hiss!
Many students were inwardly shocked, not expecting the teacher's mere gaze to be so terrifying.
The man spoke in a heavy tone, "My name is Lori Parma, and I will be your True Martial teacher for the first semester."
"Next, I will first explain to you what True Martial is," said Lori Parma, pointing at a pile of cement boards that had been prepared earlier on the stage. "See those cement boards? I need a few boys to lift them up here."
After a brief pause, Martial Art Committee Member Matt Watkins took the lead, followed by a succession of male students, including Justin Welan.
There were six cement boards in total, each about one meter in length and width and ten centimeters thick, weighing over a hundred kilograms.
So even with two people per group, the lifting was quite strenuous for the heavier boys, which incidentally showed that their strength was somewhat significant.
As Lori Parma directed, Matt and the others stood the boards upright on the table to form a wall of cement, though no one knew what for.
With his hands clasped behind his back on the stage, Lori Parma looked at the faces full of youth below and said indifferently, "What is True Martial? True Martial is about turning the false into the real."
"Decades ago, martial arts and cultivation were just folk tales, ridiculed as mere showpieces without any practical combat effectiveness."
"Even twenty years of hard practice couldn't stop a bullet."
"But everything changed at the start of the New Era, when some pioneers discovered they could turn the false into the real, making all kinds of past legends a reality."
"And this is what True Martial is."
Boom!
No sooner had he spoken than a terrifying aura burst from Lori Parma, like a Giant Beast that had suddenly awakened from hibernation.
The intense aura was so tangible that it seemed to compress the surrounding air, causing a dull booming as the air formed twisting waves of force around him, making his clothes whip and crackle.
On the High Platform, Lori Parma's figure flickered as if teleporting, crossing 3 meters to appear in front of the table, his right hand gathering fearsome strength into a fist, which he then launched forward.
Such was the power of his strike that transparent shockwaves appeared in front of his fist.
Boom!
Under the incredulous and shocked gazes of most people, the stack of six cement boards exploded with a bang, filling the air with smoke and dust and a terrifying sound.
Struck by the powerful force, countless shards of stone and lumps of cement scattered like cannonballs, hitting the walls over ten meters away and creating small holes when they shattered.
Fortunately, Lori Parma aimed to the side rather than directly at the students below; otherwise, the stone fragments with bullet-like force could have been lethal to the students.
Gulp!
This time, even Jack Clark swallowed hard.
Although materials searched online mentioned that strong cultivators could sink aircraft carriers and tear apart Giant Beasts, those were just words, nowhere near as shocking as witnessing such power firsthand.
Moreover, six cement boards, nearly a meter thick, might not even be penetrated by anti-equipment sniper rifles, yet they had just been blown apart by a single punch.
This display of overwhelming Martial power set Jack's blood boiling with excitement and anticipation for his upcoming cultivation.
Back at the podium, Lori Parma stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the excited faces below, quite pleased with the effect of his punch.
Once the smoke and dust had cleared, Lori Parma continued slowly, "Next, we will begin the first step of your cultivation."
"Everyone, when I display the pattern on the screen behind me, meditate on it for an hour. After that, it will be time for the Body Casting Skill practice."
"By the way, who is the Class Leader?"
"I am," Sherry Lesser took a step forward from the front row.
"You, with full Spirit Qi, not bad," he nodded after glancing at the girl. "Afterwards, explain to them what Foundation Establishment is, and come find me when someone meets the criteria for Foundation Establishment."
"To the Martial Art Committee Member of this class, you will be responsible for maintaining order during the future cultivation classes."
"Yes, teacher," Matt Watkins responded loudly.
Lori Parma then turned and left, just as clean and efficient as James Crane, the first day's class teacher, leaving most of the students confused.
Is that it?
Why do these teachers all seem so busy?