Now that Mr. Bob was unavailable, Silva took Emery somewhere else.
The two made their way to another complex this time over the hill near a cliff surrounded by trees.
The place was exponentially bigger in size, and was surprisingly filled with a lot more strong individuals roaming around.
Through his spirit reading, Emery could clearly feel the presence of thousands of acolyte level individuals, hundreds of saint level figures and dozens of magus with at least two grand magus.
At first, Emery was confused as to what kind of place would house this level of fighting force. But then, as soon as he arrived, he immediately realized the place Silva had brought him to.
The sight of hundreds of people with acolyte level of cultivation practicing together at the yard basically gave Emery a clear idea as to what kind of place this was.
"This… is an academy?" Emery asked, slightly doubting his guess.
"Not quite." Silva smiled when she saw the rows of people swinging swords in harmony, "This is a Dojo."
A puzzled look appeared on Emery's face when the new term went into his ears. Apparently, there was no exact translation, but Silva simply explained that this place was essentially like the Combat Institute of Magus Academy, where people trained and practiced fighting with various kinds of weapons.
"Most importantly, our Dojo is famous for our sword style. So, knowing that you prefer to use swords, an opportunity to learn here should be really beneficial for you."
Emery was certainly elated as he looked at these people practicing with all their heart.
They all wore the same outfit - a unique-looking uniform consisted of a white top and black bottom - as they continued to train with clear discipline following one certain form.
To his surprise, even watching these acolytes practice basic foundational moves was very insightful to Emery.
As the two of them went deeper and entered the inner court, Emery began to see several more advanced and freestyle techniques practiced by those with saint level cultivation. Seeing how fascinated Emery was, Silva decided to stop and let him watch these people for a while.
However, their attention was quickly diverted not long after.
A group of people could be seen walking towards them. All of them exuded magus level cultivation. Emery watched quietly as they arrived and respectfully greeted Silva.
"Greetings, Princess." They all said in unison.
Silva nodded her head and said, "Is Master Hirasi available?"
"Yes, Princess." One of them answered. "He is expecting you."
Hearing that, Silva asked them to lead the way, while beckoning for Emery to follow. The group of magus swiftly led them to a building that seemed to be made entirely of an exquisite wood.
Thanks to his spirit reading, Emery now knew they were approaching the strongest figure in this place.
The moment they entered the building, Emery's gaze was immediately transfixed on the two figures sitting on what appeared to be a wooden platform at the far end of the room. One was an old man with long white hair, another was a female with a scar on her cheek. He could clearly perceive the grand magus level of cultivation emanating from the two of them.
Silva, who noticed Emery's behavior, nudged him and gestured to follow her.
The two of them walked towards the platform and stopped a few steps away. Immediately after, Silva bowed which Emery quickly followed.
"Greetings, Master Hirasi." She turned to the other person and said, "Greetings, Grand Magus Atika."
Even though it seemed typical at first glance, the different way Silva used when addressing the two people clearly told others what their relationship was. One was Silva's own master - who personally taught her, while the other was simply a form of address that formally befit the other party's status.
The two people, however, just nodded their heads accepting the bow.
"This is Emery." Silva said. "The queen hopes he will be trained under your care during his time here."
The two people were strangely silent for a moment. Emery noticed this, but didn't open his mouth because he knew it wasn't appropriate to do so. Now, He just needed to wait for these two to make their decision.
Moments later, Master Hirasi finally said.
"We will comply with the queen's request. However, as an outsider, we could only give pointers to the young man and could not accept him as a formal disciple."
Silva readily nodded his head, as if he had expected such a response. "I understand, Master. I'm sure the queen will understand."
Even from a glance, Emery could tell these two were weapons masters, moreover, both of them possessed grand magus cultivation. As such, it would be a fortunate matter for him to be taught by them. Even if it was just a day or two.
While Master Hirasi didn't seem to mind the idea of teaching an outsider, Grand Magus Atika, on the other hand, didn't seem so happy.
"We will definitely teach you, but for us to be able to give any pointer, it really depends on how deep your understanding of the sword is."
Silence fell into the room after Grand Magus Atika spoke those words.
Reading between the lines, the grand magus' words could be interpreted as: unless Emery has the talent, they will not teach him anything.
Seeing that Emery was silent, Silva quickly leaned over and whispered to his ears. "What are you doing? That's your cue! Show them your best skill!"
The grand magus gave a sign to one of the magus present in the room. Immediately after, the man stood in the middle of the room with a sword in his hand.
Emery naturally understood what this meant. Therefore, he swiftly went and stood in front of the man while also taking out his own sword.
"You should strike first." The magus said with a smile. "I will adapt to your strength."
Emery nodded to show he understood. After giving the man a bow of respect, Emery immediately began. His figure disappeared from where he was and shot towards the magus.
Throughout his journey, Emery never really had any formal sword training. He had several days worth of swordsmanship with Magus Xion and a few days battling against different levels of combat puppets - that was it.
Therefore, it could be said Emery's style of swordsmanship was considered unrefined, this fact was quickly noticed by the two masters. The sight of him employing battle arts like [Weeping Phantom] and the others didn't really excite nor impress Master Hirashi and Grand Magus Atika.
Realizing this, but without anything else to show, Emery eventually decided to try his luck with his [Dao Divine Sword] - something his master Magus Xion said was not a sword technique.
The moment he displayed the technique, Emery could see that the two grand magus were startled. Grand Magus Atika even abruptly stood up and decided to jump in, replacing the magus as his opponent.
"Show me more!"
Things progressed so unexpectedly Emery didn't know what to do for a moment. But a few moments later, he calmed down and continued what he had been doing - displaying what his technique was capable of.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
Emery showed what his [Divine Dao Sword] was, but just as they exchanged strikes ten times, Grand Magus Atika suddenly stopped and lowered her sword. She walked back to his seat ignoring Emery's bewildered expression, but her next words caught everyone off guard.
"I will take him." Sitting down, Grand Magus Atika stared at Emery and said, "You are now my outer disciple"
Emery just stood there, unresponsive, completely stunned. His mind was still processing what had happened when Silva suddenly hit him on the back.
"What are you doing!? Accept it, you fool!"