A surprising meeting had occurred for Simyon in the library. After saying what he wanted to say, Ricktor had quickly gone off, leaving him on his own. Simyon just stayed there in place for a while, staring straight ahead.
Several students passed him, even turning their heads around, trying to look at the books that he was blocking. In any other situation, the others would have wondered or asked if something was wrong. In this case, they were too focused on trying to find the right skill book for themselves.
‘Is this how life is going to be for me in the academy now?’ Simyon thought to himself. ‘First at the temple, I was made a target by Gren, but I managed to stay out of his way, and now it’s Ricktor. Is this just my fate? Am I not able to escape this?’
What if Simyon said no? What if he refused to do the young master’s bidding? What would happen then? Images flashed in his mind of the possibilities. Ricktor was certainly a strange one.
What was even worse was the fact that he had threatened Safa as well, not just him. ‘If all I need to do is become the bad guy in front of the others, then I guess I can do that. But Raze, I can’t help but wonder, if you were here, what would you do? Is that why you’re not here now, did you attempt to fight back?’
A lot of time had been wasted over the internal dilemma that Simyon was facing, and he was on the search again through the library. Students were already exiting, having chosen their books.
In many cases, there was only one skill book, so there was also the chance that another could have taken the book that they were aiming for. In the end, he had finally picked a book, exiting out of the library doors.
He was one of the last few out as the doors were closed behind him. With the book held in his hand, he was huffing and panting. The students were talking amongst each other, asking what type of books they had chosen.
Meanwhile, Simyon rushed over to Safa before a certain eyepatch boy would come over.
Safa pointed at her book and then pointed at Simyon’s. “You want to know what I got?” Simyon lifted the book up.
“It’s a refining book, it has methods of how one can improve strength from within. I thought it would suit me well,” Simyon said. He wasn’t sure if the book was related to a metal element in any way, but he didn’t have much time to look at the book properly.
Safa started to tilt her head; she noticed that his hand was blocking some words that were somewhat dusty on the corner. As she went to gently move his fingers, she started to gasp, staring at the book with her eyes wide open.
“What’s wrong?” Simyon asked as he turned the book around; he had almost dropped it to the ground. “Strongest refining methods for weapons! What, why is a book like this even in there? I thought they were only Martial Arts-based, not Blacksmith books.”
Simyon had felt like he had chosen a dud. At least for now, he could always choose another book the next month. When he thought his luck was on the up, it felt like it was heavily going on the down.
“What did you pick?” Simyon asked. To which Safa held up her book for him to see.
“The Eight Shift Spear Technique?” Simyon placed his finger on his bottom lip. “But, I’ve never seen you fight with a spear, can you even use one? Why would you choose something you’ve never used before?”
Safa’s eyes started to shift around the open space until they finally landed on the Blue headband teacher. The older-looking man with a rough beard, but what he did have was a spear on his back.
‘Safa always seems to make the most interesting of choices. Since our current teacher is a spear user, he will be more inclined to mentor her closely and would be able to give the best tips.’
‘While for others, they would be able to learn general guidance. To be honest, for someone like her, who is pretty much a blank canvas, it’s not so much of a bad idea.’
Looking at the headband teacher, he could see that the other teachers had gathered around, and the three of them were having a little talk with each other.
“Do you think the pointed head clans see any talented scruff among all of these?” One of the teachers stated. “I hear if new talent isn’t found soon, your clan might cease to exist.”
“We have students,” Lee, the blue headband teacher replied. “Even though the number of students the clan has currently is not the same as it was in the past, there are still plenty of talented ones.”
“Didn’t only 2 of your students pass, and aren’t they in my group?” The yellow headband teacher claimed. “Once they start learning from me, they might even try to leave and join our clan. I think you should start looking for some worthy members to join your clan, but good luck with that out of the blue group.”
The Pagna Academy was also a place for one to make connections with other clans. At times, the students would come out deciding to leave and join with others or find martial arts more suited to their taste.
Many would also head back to their clan to learn more. For the teachers, the lessons were a way to show them how great they were and prompt strength in their clan, but the blue headband teacher Lee had been struggling.
It was hard because the best way to show their skills were effective was through teaching their students and showing them that they could beat the other colors that were above them, but that was a tall task.
“Everyone, let’s head back!” Lee shouted, and let out a big sigh afterwards.
——-
Looking up, Raze was trying to see the top of the cliff, but there was no chance. The fog was too thick, and he remembered well from when he had fallen just how long it took him to reach the bottom.
“I told you, there’s only one solution, now climb on my back.” Dame gestured behind his knees and facing away.
Raze really didn’t want to. One, he was relying on another’s power, and the second reason was the fact that he would have to touch someone else.
‘I’m touching him; he’s not touching me.’ Raze thought as he took a deep breath and jumped on.
Holding his legs giving him somewhat of a piggyback, Dame leapt up and kicked off the cliff; he continued to run along the side of the cliff as if it was vertical and flat ground.
“Admit it, you’re quite impressed,” Dame said as he continued to run and the wind blowing their hair and clothes. “You know Middle-stage warriors; they can even control Qi in their foot to the point where it’s almost like they’re flying.
“But of course, Middle-stage warriors are extremely rare. Even in an entire city, there might not be a single middle-stage warrior.”
It made Raze think just how rare Deity-stage warriors were then, and it went to show just how powerful the academy principal was if he was the closest to reaching that stage.
The running had taken even longer than Dame had thought, but he didn’t tire, and he could see the thing up ahead. Giving it one last push, they had made it over and onto the other side.
They had made it on land. Looking to his right, Raze could see the area where he had fallen off from.
“What kind of academy builds this stuff in such a dangerous place!” Dame shouted, brushing his hands.
Ignoring it, Raze started to walk back through the forest toward the academy. While they walked, Dame continued to ask questions about what happened, and the gist of the story was told.
“So these main disciples of the main clans are the ones that caused you so much trouble?” Dame said. “Man, I guess since you can’t use your magic, and could only fight with your skills, you ended up going down that cliff. They probably think you’re dead right now.
“You know, if you wanted to, I could introduce you to the Demonic Academy; you could go under the Neverfall Clan, and this stuff wouldn’t happen.”
Although Dame said this, he was starting to think about the time when he was at the academy. He would have been one of these young masters from the main clans of the Demonic Faction. 𝚘𝒱𝑙xt.𝒸𝞸𝕞
‘Did I ever treat someone like crap like that? It really bugs me that I’m not really sure.’
“It’s okay; I’ll deal with the current situation myself, and there’s no need for you to step in,” Raze replied.
“Stubborn,” Dame replied. “Look, it seems like you want to beat them at their own game; you want to best them in martial arts. But I don’t think that’s going to be possible.
“You see those skills I gave you, although they’re strong, they’re not suited for beginners. They will take years to learn and be effective. It’s more of a foundation to build on. Hey, I know, there should be a library; I can show you what the best skills are that you can use. I can be like your super cheat!”
One of the words had caught Raze’s attention in the conversation. “Years to learn?” Raze repeated. “Will the last five steps really take years to learn?”
“HAHA!” Dame laughed. “Yeah right, like you really learned five steps. If you did, then you would have no trouble taking care of any student at this academy.”