"Congratulations on getting a successful rank defense under your belt," said Jong, coming up to me as I made my way back to the dorm building, even going so far as to slap me on the back. "I'd say the only reason I could have done better myself is my physical talents."
"That's kind of you to say."
"I'm serious! In terms of pure technique, you've closed the gap with me a lot, and mostly with just the Academy's normal training. Yeah you basically specialized against him in your guided practice lessons, but it's only been a week."
I grunted thoughtfully. "Too bad there isn't a way to even us out to test our pure technical skill against each other."
Jong laughed. "Yeah, that would be something."
After that, the only drama that ended up happening in our first semester as Inner Court students was how hard the Academy had us work. The ten of us often studied as a group, with either Shokoya or me, or occasionally both of us taking the lead helping the others. As for etiquette, I got by in the practice exercises by the midterm by crafting a sort of stoic loner badass persona—or you could say, by playing up and exaggerating what I was usually like when I wanted to be left alone, on cue.
As for the option to visit the city to have fun, I only ended up going once, in a group with Shokoya, Jong, and Jue Zhu. I figured I had to check it out once, but the deferential behavior of everyone we passed by creeped me out a little, and I wasn't really entertained either. I decided I'd stick to the grind after that, and said so.
The Inner Court Contribution shop wasn't quite as interesting as I'd hoped, either. There were treasure-class items of course, but none as good as my Lamentation Bow. Still, their selection of protective talismans, charms, accessories, and the like were worth saving up for. Other than that, they mostly sold cultivation boosting aids—monster cores, pills, and the like, as well as treasures that boosted stats directly. The faculty aid in charge of the place hinted as well that after the midterm, something meant basically only for me would start being stocked—and when I took the first chance after the tests that I could, I saw that as I expected, there were special arrows that were much better able to withstand the force the Lamentation Bow shot them with. I only bought half of them for now, which was 50, planning to save up a large number of points to get stat boosters, and if necessary, cultivation boosters, just before the tests to enter an elite sect.
The first Technical Studies lesson after the midterm was the introduction to the next summer camp site. The seniors would be going to the most dangerous training site of them all, and what's more, they weren't permitted to learn anything about it beforehand. So, they got an extra free period, one that they were expected to use to prepare for the final camp and their first real test as cultivators after alike, and it was only us ten in the classroom.
"Crucible Island," the Head Instructor began, "is what would be considered a 'tropical' environment in your world. The main camp and entry point is situated in the island's epicenter."
He showed us a map of the island. It was roughly teardrop-shaped and covered in jungle, with almost no clearings visible except indeed at its very center. A few regions were labeled with names, and the one at the upward tip of the tear immediately caught my eye. "Most magical beasts on the island are of the Fifth Realm, with beasts of the Sixth Realm concentrated around several dangerous areas. Later today, we'll upload map data to your Systems detailing these areas, among other things. The most dangerous place on the island is Flame Mountain, and yes, it is what you know as a volcano. A large cave network runs through the mountain, which contains the greatest rewards as well as the most formidable adversaries."
For the rest of the lesson, he described several more named points on the map in turn. By the time we broke for lunch, it was all we—meaning Jong, Shokoya, Jue Zhu and myself, who had taken to sitting in a group during lunch by now—could think about. "We finally know where we're going this summer and I am so hyped," said Jong.
"You know, for the first time ever I'm with you on that," I said, "training is all well and good and I'm enjoying most of our lessons more than ever, but I've done all this grinding without any chances to put it to use until summer."
"I wonder what Flame Mountain will be like," said Shokoya, "and why it's impossible for Jue Zhu to handle it on his own."
"Could be any number of things," I said, in the middle of a bite, "split paths or something that forces a person to stay behind to, I don't know, keep a door open."
"After what I've gone through to get half of the Jade Ox Medal, I wouldn't be surprised to find magical beasts of the 7th Realm there," said Jue Zhu.
I looked up from what I was eating. "Were you forced to fight beasts a Realm above you before?"
Jue Zhu shook his head. "No, only towards the end. In reaching the end—getting to the temple in first year and finding my way through many underground caverns in second—I fought a great many beasts, which raised my cultivation level to match by the time I faced the strongest ones."
"Well, there's no way I'm passing up a chance like that to get ahead in my cultivation. I'm in."
"Me too," said Jong, "I can't wait to see what kind of challenge this will be."
Shokoya nodded. "Even putting aside that this will help me improve myself, we're your friends. Of course I'm coming too."
"Yeah," I said, "I know what I said when you first mentioned needing others to come with you, but that was with everyone there. There was basically no way I was gonna miss this."
"I'm feeling more confident already," said Jue Zhu.