The seventh and the sixth seat on the Fighting Ability Rankings in Grade One almost instantly lost to the temporary eighth seat. They lost so quickly and so directly that they couldn’t say anything about it.
Rodriguez swung his arm in the air excitedly. “That’s my favorite student! He can not only fight a 1 vs. 2 battle, but also win so easily!” he thought to himself.
“This is way too cool!” Rodriguez smiled as he wondered. When he looked back at the center of the battle, he found that Qian Jin had already left. The tags on Zelda’s and Fabio Carras’ chests were taken by Qian Jin as well.
“Blacksmithing again? Forging using both arms?” Fick squinted his eyes as he thought to himself. “Did this kid learn blacksmithing before? Wait a second! Blacksmiths only use one arm when forging. Why is this kid so fluent and smooth when using both of his arms in the forging motion? Could it be that he thinks blacksmithing is a powerful fighting technique?”
The Managing Director also swung his arm, but he swung it downwards in rage. He didn’t even look at the two students who just lost; he quickly left the little forest.
The senior students stood in their spots and thought everything through carefully. By the look of the fight and how easily he had won the battle, it seemed like only Durk, the number one seat in Grade One, could fight Qian Jin properly. No one else would be a match!
Rodriguez didn’t leave right away as well. He rubbed his chin and he pondered, “How long has it been? Qian Jin already has Level 5 Warrior Energy! In theory, that means that Qian Jin is already a Level 5 Warrior! Is he at the same level as me, the instructor, in terms of warrior energy?”
“Foresight! I’m definitely someone with great foresight,” Rodriguez laughed. “I can’t wait… I can’t wait to see how Qian Jin will turn out when he is in Grade Three. He might become a legend at Oakland Academy and become the first graduate student who gets enrolled into Fortitude Advanced Warrior and Mage Academy! That is the most famous academy known to humans; it’s comparable to Demon King’s Academy on the demon’s side.”
A few moments ago -
“Ah, I told you - duels are boring.” Qian Jin took back his fists as he stretched his neck. He tapped his challengers on their backs as he said, “If you work hard, you will see a boost in your strength.”
The little forest was as quiet as always. The senior students no longer called Qian Jin arrogant. The fight that just occurred was splendid.
“Brother-in-law…” Rollin yelled and broke the silence in the little forest.
“F*ck off!” Qian Jin kicked Rollin on his fat butt.
“Okay! If I f*ck off, will you be my brother-in-law?”
“Buddy, I understand your eagerness to get rid of your sister, but you can’t push a dear friend into a deep hole.”
“Come on man, just surrender. I won’t harm you in any way…”
“Okay, I’ve got to go!” Qian Jin turned around and jumped into the woods. Soon, his figure disappeared into the forest.
“Buddy…” Rollin rubbed his double chin as he stared at where Qian Jin ran off. “You will become my brother-in-law,” he said with a smile.
It was night, and the moon was high up in the sky.
Day and night at Oakland Academy were very different. Currently, it was in a state of silence. After a full day of training and studying, the students had all gone to bed.
Qian Jin tossed the two tags he had just won in his hands as he ran out of the little forest. He was feeling very good.
The two tags he just obtained meant that he had gotten closer to the center of the Warrior Energy Concentration Array. Qian Jin didn’t want to get involved in these boring battles for the rankings before, but once he got dragged into it, he wasn’t planning to stay low-key and avoid the challenges.
Since he couldn’t escape from the trouble, he didn’t bother avoiding it. The fact that the forging techniques he learned were so useful in actual battles was like the icing on a cake. He was delighted.
As he hummed a little tone, he walked back to his room. He suddenly paused; under the moonlight, he saw a familiar figure and two unfamiliar figures beside the water well.
“Gabriella?”
With the help of the moonlight, Qian Jin was surprised to see Gabriella who was trying to keep her mage hat on her head in front of two taller warrior students. “This should be the time when all the mage students are meditating. Why is she here around the water well?”
“Come on, Gabriella. Aren’t you tired from wearing this big hat all day? How about taking it off and letting us see how ugly you are? Relax, it’s night time. Even if you are ugly, I promise that I won’t yell ‘undead creature’ when I see your face.”
“You don’t want to take it off? So you won’t treat us as your friends? We are really saddened and disappointed by this. You have to make it up to us. If you don’t want us to see your face, then you have to wash our clothes for us. It’s your choice.”
Under the night sky, two men’s voices sounded in a dominating manner. Gabriella placed both of her hands on her hat as she tried to dodge the two warrior student’s hands. She said with a timid voice, “You… you guys said that if I washed your clothes once, you would stop bullying me…”
“We aren’t bullying you…” The bald warrior student who was about 8 inches taller than Qian Jin and half-naked grabbed onto the tip of Gabriella’s pointy mage hat. He laughed and said, “We are only showing care for a friend. It’s you who are not accepting our friendship and hurt our feelings.” It seemed like he was teasing a puppy.
“That’s right!” The other warrior student who was a similar height crossed his strong arms around his chest and said, “You hurt our feelings. You have to wash our clothes to make it up. Otherwise, we will take off your hat…”
“No…” Gabriella raised her timid voice as she held on to her hat with both of her hands. “Is this the last time that I have to wash your clothes?” It sounded like she was about to cry.
“Of course; this will be the last time.”
A victory smile appeared on the two warrior students’ faces. Qian Jin, who was standing a bit far away, could tell that the two people were not sincere at all. They had mocking expressions on their faces, just like… just like…
“Just like the expression I hate the most!” Qian Jin frowned. That expression triggered a set of unwelcome memories.
If this was before, he would have ignored things like this that weren’t related to him. He would close his eyes, plug his ears and pretend that nothing had happened.
A sense of justice? Qian Jin never considered himself a hero. He was just a failure who couldn’t awaken the bloodline inside of his body.