Jack and Nico were both clueless about Body Aura.

Ashe looked at Nico. "Another 5 manacores."

"What!? Why another 5?" Asked Nico.

"Jack is learning too, so the fees are doubled."

"Why are you looking at me then?" Nico asked.

Jack wasn't as loaded with manacores like Nico.

"Do you accept an I owe you note?" Jack looked to Ashe. "And Polar will be slave for a week."

Polar heard his name and turned his head to look at the roommates. These humans want to be my slave?

Polar nodded happily and went back to his nap.

Ashe reluctantly agreed. Jack was going to annoy him if he didn't accept it.

"The force barrier is a cultivation method used to strengthen the skin," Ashe reiterated. "However, the Body Aura uses aura to create a magical barrier outside of the skin. It's not all that different, except Body Aura has better protection against magical attacks."

Nico and Jack had been studying the past three days with Ashe, but it was easier for Nico to grasp the concept with of his Avatar Box and Minko's vision.

After Professor Quin went over the rules for the mini tournament, he took out two pairs of black Barrier Indicator Cuffs.

"These barrier indicator cuffs will turn white once a barrier is broken," Professor Quin handed first two combatants each a black Barrier Indicator Cuff. "You will fight until the first barrier is broken."

Nico watched the first match between a short kid and a tall kid.

The two students charged recklessly with their bamboo sticks.

Clunk! Clunk!

The bamboo sticks clashed with one another. The tall kid student powered through the other and slashed the opponent stick away. Without a weapon, the short kid ran off. The tall kid used his height to his advantage and continuously attacked until the short kid's cuff turned white.

The other five matches followed a similar routine.

Most matches ended within 5 minutes. The students relied too much on their power and attacks. The students simply charged at each other, blindly attacking without much thought. They had some combat training and knew basic combat strategies, but in actual combat, most were unable to think clearly. Real combat was easier said than done.

The 7th match was between Nico and a baby-face little boy named Lutchu. He was the same height as Nico, so it was weird seeing him with a round baby face.

"How do you think the newbie will do?" The students asked each other.

"Against Lutchu? I don't know, Lutchu isn't the strongest fighter, but his defense and force barrier are quite strong. This might be a long match."

In the center of the courtyard, Nico stood facing Lutchu.

Professor Quin gave the signal.

Nico waited for Lutchu to attack first. Students, unlike professors and manabeasts, were the impatient sorts who would rush in to attack first. Attacking first had many advantages, but only if the opponent was unprepared.

Lutchu charged directly into Nico with a high guard. Waiting for an opponent to attack allowed Nico to plan ways to counter. Nico lifted the bamboo stick to block and counter.

Good, he's planning to take the hit straight on and then counter. Lutchu gained more confident and continued his charge.

Nico sidestepped right before impact and tripped Lutchu.

Lutchu fell forward as Nico thrust the stick backward toward Lutchu's ass, a move Nico had frequently used in Lindan Peak.

The surrounding students laughed. "Lutchu is an idiot! Tripping to a blue robe like that."

"Lutchu is too rash and overconfident. He should have went with a low guard."

"He can still counter quickly and hit the new kid back!"

Despite what the majority were thinking, the cuff had already turned white.

"What the?" The students were shocked.

"How did it end so quickly!?"

Force barrier was strong, but it was unevenly distributed. Most people automatically placed extra buffer to protect their vital parts and limbs. The back and butt were easily neglected and the most vulnerable. In a normal fight, it would be fine, but in a match-up where the purpose was to destroy the force barrier, the back and butts were the biggest targets and the weakest.

Nico won his second and third match-up.

There were three students remaining at the end.

Corby and Badan were strong fighters in the Rank A class, but they were both arrogant. Raised as clan members, they had more combat experiences than their peers and naturally looked down on others.

"The new kid is strong, do you think he can beat Corby and Badan?"

Most said no.

"Badan normally uses a sword, so a bamboo stick isn't that different. He should win easily. I don't know about Corby."

"Corby likes to use throwing knives, so he's going to be at a disadvantage."

"Yeah, the new kid have a bit of a shot against Corby, but not Badan."

"The new kid looks pretty proficient with thrusting, a spear user?"

"Probably, he has been thrusting in the ass, and using the same move. I bet he doesn't know any attack."

"He's probably a one trick pony like most spear users."

"Yeah, he'll probably lose, unless he gets a free pass."

Professor Quin wasn't planning to allow a free pass for the final three. He had planned to have a round-robin competition between the three. However, after looking at how Nico had quickly dismantled the opponents, he was sure Nico could easily defeat Corby and Badan.

"The kid has the force barrier manual for a week and he is already thinking about its weakness," thought Professor Quin.

Force barrier was one of the most basis cultivation skill and most people could use it after a month. He needed another way to test Nico.

"Next round, a 3-way match-up," Professor Quin said wickedly. He threw away his original plan. This was quick and more interesting.

"This is going to be fun to watch!" The students all re-evaluated their prediction.

"There has always been rivalry between Corby and Badan, so it will be interesting to see how having a third party will change this."

"They will probably try to take out the new kid and then duke it out afterward."

The three combatants stood in a triangle position to start.

Professor Quin gave the signal.

Corby and Badan both looked at each other, and quickly charged toward Nico, but Nico was already charging at Corby.

He's going to sidestep and attack the back, thought Corby. If he sidestep, I can reposition the bamboo stick to hit his ass like he usually do first.

Corby prepared to reverse the grip on the bamboo sword.

Nico noticed the slight change in his wrist, and continued to thrust the stick directly toward Corby's stomach. Nico leaned to the left, still pointing the stick toward Corby's stomach.

Corby watched carefully and quickly leaned to the right to evade. Corby reversed his sword grip and was about to strike. However, he saw Nico's sword continuing its path toward his stomach.

S***! He's attacking the front! Corby immediately tried to slash the thrust away.

Nico pulled back his thrust swiftly and thrust again in quick succession toward the stomach area.

One thrust, two thrust! The force barrier broke apart.

Nico immediately used galeforce to launch his bamboo stick toward the incoming Badan.

Badan noticed the charging stick and prepared his defensive technique, Sword Turbine. The Sword Turbine created a vortex-like shape with the bamboo stick and defected the flying bamboo stick.

"Ha!" Badan smirked.

Whack!

Another bamboo stick hit Badan's stomach. By the time he recovered, he was punched right in the stomach again and flew back.

The Barrier Indicator Cuff turned white.

All the students stared at Nico in disbelief.

"What the f*** just happened!?" Asked the students.

"That didn't even last 3 minutes."

"Rah ha ha ha ha!" Professor Quin laughed for the first time.

Nico's previous battles had influenced Corby and Badan to focus their force barrier on their backs and butts, causing the front stomach area to weaken.

"Professor Clemson wanted a berserker, but this is even better than a berserker," Professor Quin said to himself.

Berserker's primary role in battle was to completely dominate the opponents with pure strength and end the battle quickly, neglecting any battle strategies.

Nico didn't even feel exhausted after he won. He shouldn't feel proud after beating up a bunch of kids, but he did.

****

7th day, Darbi Day, D-Day, Day of Rest.

Nico laid in bed on his stomach after feeding the manaplants, he was mentally tired from school. Was there a psychological reasoning for why he could run non-stop for days, but 6 days of school could easily knock him out? Nico looked to his right, Ashe was still reading.

What sort of kid still read on their day off? Nico rotated his head back to face his pillow.

Snowy and Junior jumped on top of his back as though he was a bouncy house.

Oh right, I need to walk them. I haven't explored outside of Launtel City yet.

Nico sprang up, it's hunting time!

Nico geared up in his hunting vest. The blue robe had a protective barrier, but Nico hated the blue robe. He felt like he was wearing a dress and it was too impractical for quick movement. Nico's force barrier should be enough to protect him from thorns and twigs.

Nico wore tight pants and vest he had designed with a local tailor. It wasn't too modern that it would stand out, but just enough to accommodate the little throwing knives and talismans.

Nico headed toward the door with Snowy and Junior following from behind. They wagged their tails in anticipation of their first "walk" outside the city. They enjoyed walking in Lindan Peak with Nico the most.

"Where are you going?" Ashe asked curiously.

"Hunting!"

"Ooh, can I come along?" Jack jumped into his trouser and shirt, and waited right before Nico.

"Nah--"

Jack dragged Nico to the Contribution hall without hearing a response.

They looked through some of the available missions.

Missions:

Collect a Ugali Herb, Rewards: 250 AP. Possible location: Arango Forest.

Collect 1 Manabeast carcass. Rewards: 1000 AP-5000 AP. Possible location: Arango Forest.

...

Exchange APs:

Strength Pills: 10,000 AP

Level 1 Cultivation Techniques: 5,000 AP.

....

Kaibera Plant: 5,000 AP

Nico recognized the manaplant needed for the Plus-One Pill.

"Do we have to register?" asked Nico.

The registration clerk shook his head. "You don't have to. You can check any open missions and hand them in if you come across anything. But you do need to register a mission if you plan to loan out weapons."

Nico and Jack continued scanning through the missions.

"Did you hear the rumor?" the students chattered amongst themselves.

"There is supposedly a manabeast terror in Arango Forest."

"No way, why would a terror end up in Arango? Is the academy going to send out the Hunter Team to take care of it?"

"The mission isn't listed yet since it's only a rumor. But they might have a mission out in a few days."

"I heard it's restricted to green robes and above."

Jack looked to Nico. "Should we still go?"

"Yeah, it's only a rumor so far, and it's in the morning, so I doubt there will be any danger." Nico selected a mission to bring back a manabeast carcass.

Nico took a spear and Jack took the bow and arrow.

Once the had gathered enough information, they headed out to Arango Forest.

Arango Forest was a popular hunting spot for many hunters. There was a good mixture of manabeasts that were known to hunt alone.

One of the worst situations a hunter could encounter was a pack of manabeasts.

Nico was not familiar with hunting manabeasts in a party. He had been in one hunting party, but it was for a regular wild hog.

They rented a horse with a simple carriage from the Ranch club.

"Jack, you're heading out?" asked Oakland, a senior in the Ranch club.

"Yep!"

"You both sure are ballsy," Oakland surveyed Nico. "And you're Nico?"

"Yep." Nico wondered if Jack mentioned him to Oakland, the boy can talk a lot.

Oakland charged them a discounted price of 20 silver pieces for the horse.

Jack straddled the horse and Nico climbed into the cart.

"Hey, can you teach me horseback riding?" Nico asked.

Jack gave Nico a thumbs up. "If you teach me some basic combat!"

"Not a problem!"

Jack and Nico rode out of the city. Jack unmounted and gave Nico the reins. Jack taught him different ways to hold the reins along with some basic tips.

"Horseback riding isn't that difficult," Jack began to explain. "There are a few basic tips for beginner. Balance is the key, but most importantly, understanding the nature of the horse. Some horses are slow, but they are sturdy. The more you aggravate them, the slower they become. Some horses require encouragement, like carrots and horse feed."

"Why is that important for horseback riding?"

"Because horses are living beings with their own thoughts. They can be unpredictable, and even some experience riders are thrown back unexpectedly because they become negligent of the horses' needs."

"Ah, I see."

Jack noticed a flat stretch of road. "Okay, try getting on its back."

Nico was 155cm, but the back of the horse towered him by 40cm.

He stepped on the stirrup and pulled himself onto the horse's back. The horse faltered back once to stabilize its new weight. Nico body toppled side to side.

"Whoa there," Jack calmed the horse with the reins. "Keep yourself balanced. Your center of gravity is different when you're on top of a horse."

Nico re-centered his body, it wasn't difficult, but it felt different.

Jack handed Nico the reins.

"Pull the reins gently to the right slightly for the horse to steer right and pull it gently to the left to steer left. Don't tug or yank on the reins. You want to cue the horse to move, not command it. When you ride a horse, they are your partner.

Gently tap the horse with your legs and seat to cue it to move forward. We're going to walk the horse slowly until you're use to it, and then we will increase the pace."

Jack explained the basic mount parts and the different cues.

Once they arrived to Arango Forest, Jack took the reins and led it inside. There was one advantage of renting horses from the Academy, the manahorses were capable of defending itself and running away in times of danger.

Jack straddled the horse and surveyed the area while Nico questioned Jack about his combat experiences.

"Do you hunt often in your village?" Asked Nico.

"Sometimes, but mostly smaller games like manarabbits and manachickens."

There weren't any manachickens in Lindan Peak. Nico heard there might be some, but they were mainly in the southern forests.

"And you hunt mostly on horseback and with the bow?"

"Yep."

"So you don't have a lot of close combat experience?"

"A few, but usually with my dad and uncles in close watch."

Nico nodded. "What are you learning from Professor Teru?"

"Whirlwind Striking Cultivation Method, it puts emphasis on speed and accuracy."

"But you're worried about strength?"

Jack nodded.

"Throwing knives might be good to learn, but you are already proficient in bow and arrow, so it may not be important. Daggers?"

"I'm used to fighting with a Bowie knife."

"Okay, I can teach you basic military knife style!"

Once they entered deeper into the forest, Nico asked Jack to stop. He recognized the Topen, one of the manaplant from Instructor Irene's presentation.

"What is that?" Jack whispered to Nico.

The one meter tall plant with a boxy flower bud. It had not bloomed yet.

"A Topen."

Topen was an origin manaplant, having long history dating back centuries ago. The plant didn't have a normal variety, and therefore considered an origin manaplant.

Nico clipped part of the stem and leaves and dripped the cut into a diluted lifeless water solution before wrapping it in a cotton cloth. He didn't want to uproot it for several reasons. Letting a plant grow in its natural environment was usually the best option. If he uprooted a plant, there was a possibility that it might die during transport. It was easier to find the manaplant in the future if the clipping failed, and much more difficult to find the same manaplant again elsewhere in the forest.

He had already lost one manaplant because of this. He had little choice but to dry and store it without harvesting the seeds.

They carried on further, remembering to leave markers on the tree.

Junior tapped his paw on Nico's cheek and pointed south.

Nico nodded and followed Junior's paw, there was a manabeast up ahead.