Chapter 150 - Beginning of the Lessons

About a week had passed since Hei and Lian first arrived at the Southern Royal War Academy. Although the teaching year hadn't yet begun, they used this period to become familiar with the academy's territories and deepen their bond with the people they had met. By now, it had become customary to eat together with Leon, Mareo, and Haruno. Sometimes even Lilian and Mia would join.

Fortunately, there were no other incidents like the one on the first day. The Feng Family member who had caused that mess in the canteen, Feng Gengxin, didn't cause any further problems, at least during mealtime. And it wasn't just him, all the students of the academy, regardless of the year they belonged, behaved peacefully during meals. This was the strength of the Imperial Family and the authority they had.

In the meantime, more students arrived, going to increase the already large ranks of first-year students. Of these, two, in particular, attracted the attention - son of the Feng Family's head, Feng Chen; son of the Hu Family head, Hu Jie. They were the direct children of the leaders of their respective families. Therefore they were also the ones most likely to become the next family heads, and their talent and fighting strength were said to be first-rate even in the younger generation of the Sun Empire.

But Hei didn't pay much attention to that. As long as he could, he wanted to avoid having to deal with the Eight Big Families and the Imperial Family. He would concentrate on lessons and cultivation without thinking about other things. Thus, the first day of lessons came, which also marked the beginning of the academic year.

"Ye, Xing, wake up, we have to go." Hei urged his little sisters to get up from the silk bed they had created. The two little divine beasts opened their eyes and then closed them lazily; yesterday, they had been playing late and had become so excited that they couldn't sleep immediately.

Hei let out a small sigh as he took them in his arms and hid them in his clothes. In any case, it wasn't so important that they were awake. If they wanted to continue sleeping, it was fine; the important thing was that they were always with him. Meanwhile, Lian had gone to the shared bathroom on the floor and returned at that moment.

"Were you able to wake them up?" Lian asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"No, but that's okay. In any case, we must first go to breakfast in the canteen. The smell of food will wake them up." Hei said, smiling. Lian returned his smile, and together they went to the canteen.

There, on one of the many tables, there were already Leon, Haruno, and Mareo. Lilian, MIa, and another young woman Hei had never seen before were also with them. However, he could figure out who she was because, behind the young woman, a two-meter-sized ice-white wolf was lying on the ground.

It should be known that the rules of the academy didn't forbid the spirit beasts of the various beast tamers present at the academy to enter the canteen. After all, spirit beasts were regarded as war assets and in direct relation to the force of the tamer. It was therefore unthinkable to apply rules of no entry to such creatures. However, even so, only a few people chose to bring their spirit beasts with them, preferring to feed them later in a more peaceful place.

As for the beast tamer of the ice-white wolf, she was a young woman with pale white skin and long white hair. Her breasts were well pronounced and perfectly in line with the figure of her body. In a sense, it was as if she was a sculpture made of white jade. She had, in fact, an ethereal atmosphere around her as if she didn't belong to this world. However, amid that snow-white, some details made her more human, reflecting her true nature.

Her hairstyle was very different from the classic long hair typical of women. Her long hair was moved to the right side while the left one was shaved, being just a few centimeters long. Only with that cut, the ethereal sensation that she emanated was transformed into something wilder. Two blood-red pupils who seemed to belong to a beast rather than a human contributed to that sensation as well.

Hei was surprised to see her. It wasn't for her beauty. After all, he had Lian by his side every day, so he had become immune to the charm of female attraction. No, what attracted him was the feeling of wildness that he felt coming from the young woman. If he had to make a comparison, it was like having a wolf in human form.

"Hei, Lian, this way!" Lilian said aloud, waving her arms so that she could be seen. Hei and Lian then went to the place kept for them by the others and joined the group for breakfast.

"Hei, Lian, this is our roommate, Lang. Lang, they are Hei and Lian, two new acquaintances that we have made these days. We talked about them, do you remember?" Mia, between Lilian and Lang, made introductions immediately.

The wolf woman Lang slowly turned her gaze to Hei and Lian and, with the same calm bowed her head to greet them, after that, she returned to her meal. Just with that gesture, it could be understood that she wasn't interested in the two new arrivals at all. However, as Hei and Lian approached, the two-meter white wolf behind Lang began waving his nose in the air. Then, it brought its head close to that of its mistress and began to lick her ear.

Lang quickly turned her head to look at Hei and Lian again. No, just Hei, and precisely the sleeve where Ye and Xing were hiding. Feeling the presence of a spirit beast in the immediate vicinity, the little spider and the little snake awoke from their sleep. They came out of Hei's clothes to land next to the various dishes on the table.

To welcome them was the sight of a pair of blood-red human eyes that were looking intensely at them. Another couple of blood-red eyes were also facing them and belonged to the white-haired wolf.

'Big brother, what should we do?' Xing asked as she felt uncomfortable being watched so carefully.

At the question of his little sisters, Hei reached out his left hand and motioned for Ye and Xing to come above. Then he brought his hand close to the face of the blood-red-eyed white wolf. The wolf began to sniff Ye and Xing for several minutes. The funny thing was that Lang also did the same, bringing her nose close to the little snake and the little spider who were speechless about that strange situation.

After both Lang and her wolf sniffed Ye and Xing as much as they wanted, Hei withdrew his hand, bringing his little sisters back to him. During this unusual exchange of pleasantries, Lian and all the others remained silent to watch. In particular, Lilian and Mia were the ones most anxious about the result.

"What are your spirit beasts called?"

Suddenly, a voice as delicate as the whisper of the wind rang out. Lang had spoken. Lilian and Mia then exchanged a smile as they grabbed each other's hands. The presence of Ye and Xing had captured Lang's interest. The fact that they had kept hidden the existence of the little spider and little snake from Lang had been a good move for their plan.

"Her name is Xing; she is Ye instead. They are both females. Your wolf is a male instead. Can I know what he's called?" Hei replied just as calmly, trying to shift the conversation to the things they had in common, namely their spirit beasts.

"Fenrir, this is the name I gave him at birth."

"Nice to meet you, Fenrir. My name is Hei. I hope I can get along with you, and the same goes for Ye and Xing."

The white wolf named Fenrir gave a quick howl to indicate his approval. Lang then gave a slightly hinted smile that was almost unnoticeable. Then she went back to eating without uttering any more words. But occasionally, she would take fleeting glances at Ye and Xing. Sitting next to Lang, Lilian and Mia were smiling as never before. Although it didn't seem that way, the first meeting had been a great success.

Hei then went on to have breakfast with everyone else. All of them needed to have a big meal to face the morning's academic activities, considering that they still had no precise idea of ​​what would await them.

*

Main Classroom - First Year

The site for the first lesson was a large classroom, capable of holding together the 5,000 people who made up the first year of the Southern Royal War Academy. The classroom had long counters arranged horizontally in three sections. Behind each counter, there would have been another one placed slightly higher, and so on to follow. In this way, even those who sat at the bottom would have a good vision of the teacher.

Hei and the others went to settle in one of the last counters. The beast tamers could bring their spirit beasts with them. However, they had to put themselves in the last seats to avoid nuisances for the other students. For those who owned them, there was the possibility of temporarily storing their spirit beast in a bag for spirit beasts, but Lang wasn't the type to do that. So, in order not to leave her alone, the group chose to settle in the back of the classroom.

When Hei sat down, all he could see around him was a sea of ​​disparate people. There were a higher number of men, but the number of women reached thousands as well. There were lots of people seated in groups while chatting happily, awaiting the teacher's arrival; those who were alone instead were waiting in silence in their seats.

Once everyone was settled, the teacher finally entered. He was a fair-skinned man with short black hair and a short, well-groomed beard. From his expression and his way of walking, it could be understood that he was part of the army of the Southern Empire. He emanated that feeling of authority and strength that only those who had seen countless battles had.

Suddenly, some of the students began to whisper to each other because the teacher assigned by the empire wasn't just any person but was rather famous.

"Spirit King Song Yazhu? What's one of his rank doing here?"

"Song Yazhu? Is it really him? I can't believe it!"

Noting the various murmurs, Hei asked the others who the teacher who had just arrived was, "Is he a famous person?"

Leon, who sat to his left, replied, "Yes. You should know that even if there is no official war going on, it isn't uncommon for battles against the Moon Empire to happen. These clashes, however, impose the absence of both spirit emperors and spirit kings; instead, they send only the weaker martial artists. However, for some reason, spirit kings were also sent in the last battle. If the Sun Empire won the battle, it is certainly thanks to the actions of that person, Song Yazhu. He is also said to have the potential to become a spirit emperor."

Lian, sitting to Hei's right, followed with a comment, "I doubt the empire sends one of his best men here, excluding the various spirit emperors, to be a teacher. There must be a particular reason if he's here."

"Maybe it's related to why there is one of the emperor's children in the academy," Hei concluded as he moved his gaze to the front row where Imperial Prince Long Tian and his four guards sat.

Over the week, Hei had tried to fill his gaps about the society of the empire. Among the many things he had discovered, there was also the fact that the Imperial Family would study mainly in the central region in the Imperial Palace. It was the only family that had such permission. Not even the Eight Big Families could escape that rule; they had to send their sons and daughters to one of the many war academies in the empire.

Still, a member of the Imperial Family, who was also one of the Imperial Princes, was at the Southern Royal War Academy. This fact surprised an indeterminate number of people, but apart from those directly concerned, nobody knew the reason for his presence there.

The Teacher Song Yazhu let out a cough that rumbled vigorously throughout the classroom. More than a cough, it looked as if thunder had fallen inside the classroom.

"Welcome to all of you in the first academic year of the Southern Royal War Academy. My name is Song Yazhu, and I was sent from the Empire to teach you. Unlike before, this academic year will have only one teacher who will be me. It only applies to compulsory classes, while the secondary ones will remain at the discretion of the various structures. Therefore, this means that the more you piss me off, the worse it will be for you."

Song Yazhu's voice was full of authority and vigor. As a spirit king, one move could have killed any of the spirit soldiers in the classroom. So even though several students wanted to comment on such a sudden change, they didn't dare say a word for fear of incurring his anger.

"Excellent, I see that there are no hot heads for the moment. The stupidest thing you can do is not to notice the circumstances in which you are and the gap that separates you from the enemy. However, returning to the lessons, the morning classes are divided into three - war theory, hand-to-hand combat, and weapon combat. In the afternoon, after the lunch break, you must instead train in your elemental techniques in groups. In the evening, after dinner, you will have secondary classes for those who want while others can retire to their rooms. If any of you are asking yourself when you can have the time to cultivate, the answer is simple. We martial artists can very well cultivate instead of sleeping. However, since not sleeping at all is detrimental in the long run, after every three days of lessons, there will be one day off to use as you wish. Obviously, you can ignore that and sleep on the other days, but if you aren't capable of following such a regime, I advise you to disappear from here. The Royal War Academies aren't places where simple soldiers are produced. Here only those who will shape the future era are forged. That is to say that only the best of the best. If there are shits that are for some reason have happened here, I advise you to disappear instantly, or else I will badly beat you for every day you have wasted here at the academy."

With that threat, Song Yazhu ended his speech. His authoritarian way put a lot of pressure on all of the students. Even Hei felt himself a little influenced by his strength, but that was all. He and Lian had witnessed much more intense pressure, the peak of this world - spirit emperor and sixth level divine beast. So it was normal they weren't so in awe of Song Yazhu like others. Of course, they weren't the only ones; several other of their fellow students had such characteristics, and they didn't seem intimidated by the spirit king Song Yazhu.