Shi Lang took the students to the physical assessment room and had them all stand in neat rows. He said, “Do you all have any skills? Or are you plain trash as they say you are? If you have any skills show them, and I will give you a hundred credits.”
The students were shocked to hear about the monetary reward. They all cheered up. With high spirits, they all began to show off their skills in front of the equipment, however, nothing out the expected happened. They all had good potential but they had no technique. Shi Lang watched a bunch of monkeys jumping on a beam and shook his head.
The students tried their best but they did not meet the expectations of the cashier. However, just when Shi Lang was about to leave, he heard a knocking sound. He located the source of this sound and was struck in a daze.
A petite little girl was hitting her fingertips at a hard board. The impact produced a hard knock sound. Shi Lang observed the girl and found her forehead laced with precipitation. He raised his eyebrow and smirked, indeed the problematic children were not really problematic, it was just that their skills were not noticed by anyone.
He walked over and stood behind the girl, his eyes trained on every single action of the girl, she derived her power from the core of her body, by making it all work and move together as if a machine on cogs. This girl was doing the same thing over and over again. It was as if a robot working.
Shi Lang also did not disturb her and watched her patiently. Only when the girl finished did Shi Lang ask her, “What is your name, student?”
The girl turned around and said with a stammer, “Quo Lina.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “You have good skills. Here are your hundred credits.”
He did not lower his voice and transferred her the amount directly by a swiping gesture on his communicator. Then he said, “If this bunch of losers could not come up with something serious, then in the next class you will get a hundred credits by default. The first one to win three prizes in a row will get a recommendation letter to the special training course.”
The students in this class were all people who have pushed away into a corner and never given any chance to prove themselves. This sort of allure was an opportunity they will spare no effort for. Shi Lang could almost see flames burning in their eyes. He held back the urge to smile and walked out of the room.
The students flocked around Quo Lina and asked her what she was doing. They were not all the people with skills so they were going to learn them from the ones who had them. Quo Lina was surprised and scared by all the attention.
Someone asked, “Hey Lina, what did you do for that Demon to give you the creds?”
The girl was startled and spoke in a stammering tone, “I was just doing the usual practice.”
The people found it suspicious and then a guy asked, “Can you show us what you did?”
His words also set other people in motion and they all began to ask her. Quo Lina scratched her head and then she agreed. She turned around and the others made room for her. The girl closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Then she took a step forward and then her claw hit the board in front of her.
It produced a knocking sound, that did not stand out in the eyes of the students. Theseus said, “Hey, do that again.”
His tone was filled with interest. Quo Lina nodded and struck the board again. Theseus saw this and said, “Damn, I see what you did. You are great, Lina.”
His eyes lit up as if he had found an ancient treasure. The others were confused and asked, “Hey, Theseus, what is it?”
They all focused their gaze on him and the guy said, “Where is that berserker? Chou, come and imitate her actions.”
The people were surprised but then they had nothing better to do so the boy called Chou came forward and Quo Lina stepped aside for him. Chou had a big physique and never talked much. He was famous for brawling with students in his school.
He stood in front of the board and repeated all the actions that the little girl did, but the knocking sound was ten times shallow. When Theseus found his classmates looking confused he said, “You dimwits, hear the sound.”
Chou took the hint and struck again, he did not hold back, although the impact was slightly louder his fingertips were aching. He could not help but suck in a cold breath. Theseus said, “Do you realize it now? Lina is hitting the board with her fingertips but the impact is stronger. It is because while Chou is using his upper body, Lina is using her entire body and deriving force from every inch of muscle she has.”
A guy asked, “What else is the benefit of this knocking?”
Theseus said, “Lina’s claws are stronger than Chou’s. This is a long-term exercise, and beneficial for her. Imagine if you were fighting her and then all of a sudden she comes at you with claws that can tear your flesh apart like a mechanical arm tearing apart mud?”
Quo Lina suddenly said, “I am not at that level yet.”
The people were stunned and then they became excited about it.
…
Shi Lang was listening to all this from outside the room and nodded when the students started training again. He left the place and come to explore the fabled teacher’s staff room, where he found a few familiar faces, but as soon as he entered, they all stood up and saluted him.
The man sighed and said, “At ease. You all, I am on a vacation, do not give me stress.”
The teachers here might be all older than him, but he was a commissioned general, so they stood in his respect and they saluted him in that regard as well. They smiled at him as they welcomed him to mingle. After half an hour, suddenly the door was pushed in loudly and the people looked over. Shi Lang stood up and asked, “Instructor Yuu, I was wondering where did you go?”
Yuu had come in, she said, “I was out training the final years, great to see you here, Sir.”
Then she saluted and Shi Lang said, “You are a special instructor, while I am a junior class teacher, you are a person set over me, again.”
He saluted her and looked at her with a smile. Yuu said, “Since you have admitted that, come on, I need to stretch out my limbs, these students, they suck. And the old ones, well too brittle.”
Shi Lang chuckled and said, “The loser will buy food?”
Yuu nodded and the two of them walked out. The rest of the people also followed them to join in on the excitement. They knew that Yuu was the strongest fighter among them and she was a complete maniac and her students would always come out of the training sessions crawling while covered in bruises.
…
Theseus and the rest had just finished their ‘self-study’ when they found a group of teachers headed for the reserved arena. The naughty gene inside the troublemakers was triggered. They wished to see what was going on. Thinking about it, a few notorious ones sneaked up the old fellows and then inside the arena.
One has to admit, these people hid so well that none of the people found them. They were aware that Shi Lang was a demon so they left a broadcasting camera and left the place. However, they were still spotted by the demon and Yuu. But since Shi Lang stopped her it meant everything was fine.
…
In the classroom, the students were projecting the entire scene in the reserved arena on their holocomps. This was the magic of technology. They were surprised when they found that the demon was fighting with Yuu.
They had already set wagers about how many minutes will Shi Lang last, but they were shocked when they saw that, their teacher, did not even break a sweat while dealing with Yuu, who was coming at him from everywhere, yet he would always avoid the hit or parry it.
Suddenly, they saw Shi Lang smiling and taking the initiative to attack the lady in front. His speed was something that made them stand up, what scared them was these two people were purely using fighting skills and no cultivation to back themselves up. After a few minutes, the opponents changed, General Edwards came over and he simply took his battle stance amidst the chatter of the people around.
Theseus said, “Did he just use the Hero stance?”
The class was silent, and then they saw something that made them shiver harder. Shi Lang took the same stance as the General.