Chapter 154 - Finishing the First Day of Lessons

The first morning of lessons had proceeded without any problems. Hei and the others went to the canteen to have lunch, and then they rested for a couple of hours to digest. After their lunch break, all of them returned to the training grounds where Song Yazhu was waiting for them.

"Excellent, you all arrived on time. It will now begin the lesson on the Elemental Laws. However, unlike before, it won't be conducted with the whole class. But it will be performed individually or in groups of two at most. As for the beast tamers, you can bring along your spirit beasts inside, but you will still be considered as a single entity. So if two tamers want to team up with their spirit beasts, that is possible.

Earlier I told you that hand-to-hand techniques and dexterity in using your weapons are essential for us martial artists. But even more important than those are the knowledge and ability to use the Laws. Laws are the essential characteristic of a martial artist, regardless of what type they belong to or what style of combat they use. You may even be a spirit emperor, but if you don't have a strong knowledge of the Laws, you will be nothing but trash for those of your own rank.

The spirit power you have fortifies your body, but it still represents only the amount of power you can exercise in combat. It is evident that the more spirit power you put in, the more powerful your attacks are. However, the damage amplification effect will never be as much as that derived from the Elemental Laws. For the same amount of spirit power, the techniques that use pure spirit power won't be up to those that have been imbued with the Elemental Laws.

Precisely for these reasons, you must exercise maximum discretion when it comes to training in the Elemental Laws. Remember, you are all academy companions here, but at the same time, you are rivals. There will be tests in the future during these three years, and in each test, you will be rewarded according to the results obtained. The stronger will get better resources while the weaker will get inferior resources. So the Elemental Laws represent your secret card to play on those occasions.

In war, the search for information is essential for victory. If you know the main characteristics of a martial artist, with proper preparation, you can increase your chances of winning. So this is also a test for when you will have to fight for real. Hide your secret cards and, at the same time, discover those of your opponents. You can use any tactic you want as long as you always respect the rules imposed by the academy.

Lastly, as for the supporting martial artists, chef, musician, and medic categories, they will come with me. Given your unique characteristics, you will practice in a more suitable environment than a simple training ground."

Then Song Yazhu clapped with both hands to signal students to start moving. Quickly, the martial artists who didn't fall into the categories mentioned by Song Yazhu entered the training grounds' complex.

"Apparently, we have to split up. Actually, I expected such a thing." Mareo commented, a little disappointed.

"Well, our main task is to support the troops from the rear. More than improving in combat, we must practice improving the use of our laws according to our techniques." Haruno commented as well. But he too was a little sad for not being able to stay with everyone else.

"Oh well, it's not a big deal. Why make those long faces? Classes end late afternoon. So we can meet for dinner anyway, can't we?" Lilian said thoughtlessly, bringing good humor back to everyone.

"For me, there are no problems. So we will all meet for dinner, okay?" Mia intervened immediately afterward in order to seal Lilian's proposal.

To that proposal, all the others accepted willingly. Then, Lilian, Mia, Mareo, and Haruno followed Song Yazhu to the structures where they would train.

"What are you going to do? Will you train separately or in pairs?" At one point, Leon asked who was left of their group.

Hei, Lian, Leon, Lang, He Fen. Besides them, there were also Ye, Xing, and Fenrir. Since spirit beasts were considered one with their tamer, there were currently only two couples while one person should have been left alone.

"Lian and I will enter together, and we'll bring Ye and Xing," Hei answered quickly.

"I will train alone with Fenrir." Lang, in turn, gave her answer. Now only He Fen and Leon remained.

He Fen was silent for a moment and replied, "If you want to train with me, it's okay. But Song Yazhu's words are correct. Even if we are companions, we are also adversaries."

At He Fen's words, Leon thought for a while before giving his answer. "No, it's okay. Maybe it's better to train each one on our own. Then, I'll see you directly at the end of the lesson, I suppose."

With this, the five of them and the three spirit beasts following them entered the training grounds' complex according to the arrangement they had previously agreed. Hei and Lian, therefore, entered with Xing and Ye into one of the various fields there.

The training ground, which was also called the cell, was like a vast bare room. There was nothing inside except the walls that bordered the cell. The only unusual thing there was the ceiling, which was transparent and allowed outside light to illuminate the entire cell.

"Lian, can you take a look at the cell's formation? Leon said it was possible to create a personal code. Also, did you figure out if there are hidden monitoring features?"

"There are none. Unlike the external walls, the formations used here are simple, although the structure of their whole is complex. However, there are only two functions - managing the cell walls and damage resistance. There are no other hidden functions, at least from what I managed to analyze. What do you want to do?"

So Lian turned to look at Hei. Over the week, Hei had asked Lian to begin studying the formations used in the various structures of the academy, including the training grounds. Unfortunately for them, the formations used in the castle were too complicated for Lian, and she couldn't analyze them. Those of the external structures were simpler, especially the training grounds. However, the internal part was still missing, and only today, Lian was finally able to finish her analysis.

"All right. I trust your skills. If you say that there are no monitoring functions, that's fine. So... Ye, Xing!" Hei turned to his little sisters who were rolling on the ground. "It's time to train seriously. Lian and I will be your opponents. But be careful because we won't go easy. You have to do the same, okay?"

'Hehehe, the big brother and Lian want to challenge us? If we win, however, you will have to allow us to sleep more tomorrow morning.' Ye and Xing brightly said as they took on their true size.

"Okay, but if you lose, then you will eat less tonight. Keep one thing in mind, though - you don't just have to use your physical attacks. Since we can fight at will for several hours, you have to use your elemental techniques to the full, or else it won't make sense what we are doing."

At that point, Hei and Lian headed against Ye and Xing at full speed. As Hei had said, he and Lian decided to get serious from the start, and to avoid losing their loved food, Ye and Xing adapted accordingly, fighting to the maximum of their strength.

*

Hei didn't know exactly how long they had been fighting, but in the end, they heard a kind of metallic sound ringing everywhere - it was the alarm that signaled the end of the lessons. Hearing this, Hei got up from the ground battered - all his clothes were tattered, and his spirit power was practically running out. The same was true of Lian, who pulled new clothes for her and Hei from her space ring.

Regarding the two small divine beasts, instead, Ye and Xing were lying on the ground and had returned to their petite form. A rumbling sound was coming from their bellies. Fortunately, however, they had won the challenge against Hei and Lian, and for that evening, they would be able to eat without limitations.

"Get up. It's time. We have to go." Hei said to his little sisters as he put on the robe Lian had given to him.

'I don't want to. I am tired and hungry. '(Ye)

'Yes. We have won the challenge, so the big brother should reward our hard work by carrying us on his arms.' (Xing)

At the words of his little sisters, Hei smiled and spoiled them as they asked. After taking them in his arms, Hei motioned for Lian to come out of their cell. Once out, from the long central corridor that divided the cells into two sections, they could see their classmates coming out one by one. Only a few people had chosen to train in pairs.

"Hei, Lian!"

When they left the training grounds' complex, Hei and Lian were called from afar by Leon. Beside him were Lang and He Fen. Although they didn't show it, Hei could notice the tiredness in their looks. Together, the group of five people and three spirit beasts went to the canteen where they met with their other companions.

Once the dinner was over, the group had to separate again. There were secondary lessons for anyone practicing a secondary activity. Of Hei's group, only He Fen and Lang were pure attack martial artists, concentrating all their efforts in combat. Therefore He Fen asked Lang to do a night sparring session, and after the high insistence from Lilian and Mia, Lang finally decided to accept He Fen's proposal, bringing Fenrir with her as well. The others, however, each went to the structure set up for their secondary activity.

"I'll leave Xing with you then. Don't forget; always remain careful, okay?" Hei was recommended to Lian as he handed over the little spider who had regained some of her energy.

'Don't worry, big brother. Lian and I can take care of ourselves. 'Xing confidently replied as she climbed Lian's head until she landed on top.

"Xing is right, don't worry about the two of us. Instead, focus on your alchemy lesson. We will wait for you here, in any case, to get back together. Ye, pay attention to Hei, can you do it for me?"

'Hehe, don't worry, Lian. With me around, nobody will dare disturb Hei.' Ye said, showing confidence equal to that of her sister.

Hei smiled at these comments and separated from Lian and Xing to go to the alchemist facility. Fortunately, Ye would accompany him.

'Lian is becoming more and more expressive. I am happy, and certainly, Mother would have been too. I am glad that we didn't go immediately to Dream Island. Without spending time with Old Tohyon and Ho Yeon-Hong and interacting with Ho Ri-Na and her pirates, I might not have been able to be willing to interact with others. Maybe that's why I instinctively agreed to make friends with Leon and everyone else.'

'Big brother, are you okay? What are you thinking about?'

'No, it's nothing. Just thoughts that came to mind. Instead, are you ready to take notes? I trust you for this important task.'

'Hahaha, leave it to me. I'll show you how my handwriting has improved during this period.'

'Really? And when did you practice? Let's see if you can surprise me!'

So, Hei and Ye entered the facility for alchemists that was nothing but a large laboratory. There were numerous workstations to conduct experiments and prepare pills and potions.

"Take a seat quickly on any workstation. Wherever you want."

A female voice rang out somewhere in the lab, but wherever Hei turned his head, he couldn't see the owner of the voice. The same was true of all the other alchemists of the first academic year.

"I'm here in front of you."

Eventually, a woman mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Upon seeing this, Hei was surprised because the woman didn't use a footwork technique that was too fast for his eyes. No, the woman had slowly appeared as if an invisible veil was hiding her body and, only when she took it off, she became visible again.

"As I thought. You are so tired that you haven't even realized that there is an active formation of light's distortion inside the laboratory. This isn't good. As alchemists, war represents an opportunity to collect rare material from enemy space rings. There will be battles that last a few hours and others that last for days, months, or even years. If you want to survive, you have to get stronger and stronger as you continue to fight. And that also means creating pills even if you are exhausted. During these lessons, I will push you to the maximum of your energies until you dry up any residual spirit power left. If you are unable to bear this, then you may as well not take my course.

As for today's lesson, if you notice in the lockers under your workstation, you will find various containers with the blood of several spirit beasts inside. Each container contains a mixture of multiple different blood types and in different percentages. Furthermore, in some, there are external elements that I added myself. Your job is to divide every kind of blood from the mixture and purify them if they are contaminated. We will start with the blend number one. At the end of the lesson, I will review your work, and you will be assigned a certain amount of contribution points depending on my assessment. Well, get started."

The woman who hadn't introduced herself, started to rise from the ground, sitting with her legs crossed in mid-air. However, when she was about to close her eyes, she saw out of the corner of her eye, a young man with brown skin and long pitch-black hair approaching her.

"Sorry, teacher-" Hei began to say before being interrupted.

"Alchemist Liuxian. If you want to address me, call me like this. "

"Alchemist Liuxian. I wanted to ask if it was possible to use the mixtures of an unoccupied position."

To Hei's question, Liuxian replied in an annoyed tone, "Do you think it's easy enough to ask for two? If you want to show off, go somewhere else. I won't give you a better score just because you did two mixes. Now go back to your desk and don't bother me, or I'll kick you out myself."

Since Liuxian's voice was loud, all the other alchemists on the course heard her words and glanced contemptuously at Hei, thinking he was trying to ingratiate himself with the teacher of the course.

"It wasn't my intention to bother you, Alchemist Liuxian. Nor do I want to show off. The reason for asking you to use other mixes is for my spirit beast. She is a rare type of snake with strong acidic capacity in her stomach due to the poison of gastric juices. I, therefore, wanted to train her in this ability by making her swallow different blood mixtures. I hope that the Alchemist Liuxian will accept my request."

Hei bowed his head respectfully. He honestly wanted to avoid putting himself in the spotlight like that, but he had to do it. It was an excellent opportunity to train Ye's Concept of Digestion further, and he didn't want to give up that opportunity. Fortunately, the Concept of Xing was tied to her Law of Poison, and therefore the little spider could train it during the fighting.

The alchemist Liuxian looked towards the small snake wrapped around that student's neck. As an expert alchemist, she knew of alchemists who used the strong digestive capacity of certain spirit beasts to create special blends. Obviously, she didn't even think that this wasn't due to Ye's natural digestive function but to the Concept of Digestion that Ye had awakened.

"Alright. Let's see what your snake can do. But you won't get a better rating anyway."

After receiving Liuxian's permission, Hei returned to his station and started to work. By his side, Ye, lying on the counter, had swallowed the mixture entirely and was trying to separate the various components using her Concept of Digestion.

The lesson then continued with that atmosphere of silence interrupted only by the noise produced by the various alchemists who were carrying out the separation process. As the alchemist Liuxian had said, the practical process was more difficult than expected. It wasn't only because it was a mixture with unknown components, but above all, it was their low amount of spirit power that placed an enormous burden on them.

At the end of the lesson, Hei was even more exhausted than before. The energies recovered with dinner had all been consumed. However, he was able to separate the various types of blood, although the final result couldn't be defined as error-free since he had lost part of the components during the multiple separations. Ye instead got a better outcome thanks to her Concept of Digestion, but she too was far from a perfect result. In any case, however, this was true not only for them but also for everyone else.

The alchemist Liuxian got everyone out of the lab while examining their results. Once she reached Hei's post, she was surprised not so much by the result of the young martial artist but the one achieved by the little snake.

'Not bad for being a spirit beast. Even its master isn't doing badly.'

Meanwhile, Hei and Ye had reunited with Lian and Xing and headed towards the castle. Along the way, they met with their other companions, but they were too exhausted to chat with each other. So they headed each one towards their rooms. It had been a hard day, and all they wanted was a long rest. However, their training wasn't over yet.

Reluctantly, the two humans and the two little divine beasts got on the bed and started cultivating. As Song Yazhu had said, martial artists could replace sleep with cultivation. However, by doing so, mental fatigue would accumulate gradually. But if they wanted to get stronger as quickly as possible, such a grueling training program was mandatory.