“The physical fundamentals course covers the strengthening of your core which is essential for every warrior. The strength of every warrior will always be directly proportionate to the training and mastery of his inner strength. We call this strength, Ki.” He began.

“Ki is the power of a warrior’s body that is present in everyone. Everyone has Ki. Even toddlers, elderly, mages. Everyone. However, the ability to draw out and manifest this Ki is only available through strengthening of one’s mind and body. Neither can be lacking. This is why mages usually are unable to wield enough Ki to use in battle. Their bodies are far too undertrained compared to their minds. If either one is too weak, the Ki will be imbalanced and unable to be properly utilised. Let me show you an example of an attack without Ki and an attack embedded with Ki.”

He waved his hand and two stacks of bricks was conjoured. Each stack consisted of 10 bricks.

“First, pure physical strength.” And he slammed his fist onto the first stack of bricks as hard as he could. The first five bricks instantly broke into a few pieces.

Pure physical strength?! What a monster. I bet a mana arrow can only break through 2 or 3 of those at most.

“Now. Embedded with Ki.” And the second stack of bricks instantly evaporated into dust.

“WHAT?!” The whole class went.

We definitely expected the whole stack to break but not just breaking the bricks but disintegrating them into dust with one punch?

WHAT?!

“As you can see, Ki attacks are obviously on a whole other level. Once you learn to harness this power of Ki, your attacks will become a lot more devastating. So I’ll go through the basics now.”

He began discussing the origin of Ki, which is a force you channel through your soul. Something like channelling mana but this time, it wasn’t from your mana pool but from every fibre of strength of your body. It’s like every single muscle cell in your body has the capacity to store a little Ki. Channelling all these Ki within every fibre of your body is the first step to collecting Ki. You need to channel your energy to the correct part of your body where you wish to execute the attack. Finally, you use the Ki energy you stored in that body part to unleash a Ki attack. It was all very basic but we needed to thoroughly understand how to channel our Ki in order to start practicing as warriors proper.

He said that the first few times we use Ki, the effects are not as astonishing as what he just did because our bodies are simply too undertrained. Our mind also needs sharpening. Finally, we lack the skills needed to execute a fluent attack that does not waste any energy.

For the first 2 hours of the lesson, he made us channel Ki throughout our body and focus it to our legs. Once we manage to explosively jump using Ki to a height which is impossible for our human body to do so on it’s own, we would have thoroughly understood how to harness the power of Ki.

I spent the next 2 hours trying as hard as I could but unlike the mage training where I unexpectedly had a strong talent for elemental affinity, it seems like I was just back to an above average student in the warrior class. Someone who managed to channel his Ki but only after 1 hour. The average time taken for students to learn this step was 1 and a half hours. By the end of the lesson, everyone could already properly channel their Ki, even though it was a negligible amount.

Then, it was lunch time and I went to the West Spine canteen to quickly get my meal. I was alone for today but it didn’t matter much to me. I decided to find an empty corner of the canteen and gulped down my food, feeling a lot hungrier than usual. This was because utilizing Ki tired out the muscle cells which leads to every single muscle cell itching for nutrition and nourishment after exerting them heavily. As I was wolfing down my food, someone came down and sat opposite me. I recognised him as someone from my class. I only recognised him because he was the first person to manage to successfully channelled his inner Ki. His name was Draco I believe. He had blonde hair, a well-built figure worthy of warrior even at the age of 13. He was about 165cm and had a certain intimidating aura around him

“Hello. Draco right??” I asked apprehensively.

“Yes. I did not have anyone to eat so I hope you don’t mind me sitting here to eat with you.”

“Not at all.” I replied.

“Thanks! What’s your name?”

And just like that, me and Draco started to know each other better. It was kind of like Jenny and I yesterday but this time, I was obviously a lot less enthusiastic but still genuinely interested in knowing a new person for sure.

Turns out that Draco was someone who was extremely nice, even though he gave off quite an unapproachable vibe. He had failed the magic qualifying examination but for the physical one, he got close to full marks for every single aspect. This is really someone who was wholly suited to becoming a warrior. His body was obviously a lot more well-trained than mine which was probably why he finished gathering Ki much faster than the rest of us in class could.

We wanted to talk more, to get to know each other better by sharing our experiences and hobbies. But alas, time waits for no man and soon, we had to head back to the classrooms in order to start the second part of the lessons: weapon training.

“Alright students, welcome back. I hope you ate a lot for lunch. Now, the weapon training will finally commence. But first, before we proceed on with anything, I need to pass this slip of paper to each of you. When you hold onto this piece of paper, just channel your Ki to the hand holding this slip of paper.” He instructed.

When he came along and passed me the paper, I did as he asked and to my surprise, the slip of paper suddenly became cut neatly into half. I looked around the class at the people who have gotten their paper. Some of their papers had also been cut in half. Some had a hole in the centre of the paper and some even had their papers crumpled.

“Okay. Now, let me explain what you are seeing. These slips of paper are specially manufactured. They are specially designed to be super sensitive to Ki. It can sense the most appropriate nature of your Ki. Basically, there are many different types of Ki. They all share the same benefits such as increased vitality, strength, health etc but they also differ based on the weapon most suited to your Ki.” He started.

“Sword Ki will cut the paper into half, because swords are useful for cutting things neatly into half. Spear Ki will drill a hole into the middle of the paper. A blunt weapon Ki would result in the paper being crumpled. There are also Ki’s such as dagger Ki’s and Axe Ki’.” He explained.

“The type of Ki you possess will naturally become the weapon which you will be trained in for your freshman year here at Kirin Academy. I shall now split you up into groups based on Ki-nature. Each group will be taken by a specialist in your field in order to be given good fundamental weaponry skills.”

I looked at my piece of paper which was cut into half. I had sword Ki so I went towards the sword Ki group. It seems like Sword Ki is a type of Ki an average amount of people will have. In the class of 20, 6 of us belonged in swords, 5 of them belong in spears, 3 of them for axe and 1 each for the other 6 categories which include shield, sabre, zweihander, hammer, twin swords and gauntlet.

Each type of Ki had specific properties like shield has the absolute best defensive Ki and the sabre has unparalleled offensive power.

The sword master who was going to teach us for the next 2 hours was someone who introduced himself as the name: “Byakuya.”

First, he said that sword Ki is one of the most balanced types of Ki for offense and defense. It is very versatile and can be useful in almost situation.

Works well with me I guess. A spellblade is meant to be versatile after all.

He spent the next hour teaching us a set of basic sword strokes. Seven of them to be exact. Stab, slash, hack, parry, block, swipe, lunge. We had to practice the form of each move and Byakuya was a very strict teacher. Any slight deviation and he had a wooden stick in his hand that could find your head instantly. When he hit you, it would be extremely painful but there would be no exterior wounds to show for it. This shows how accurate and immaculate his swordplay was.

After practicing the 7 basic forms for an hour, Byakuya then taught us how to make a series of moves flow using those 7 forms. It could be something simple, from block-lunge to block-slash-slash-parry-swipe-block. The possibilities are also endless and we will need to experience combat itself first to figure out what move to best use in different scenarios.

We were then asked to do some light sparring with each other. I looked at the 5 peers around me and they looked excited. They were itching to fight. Draco was not around to be my sparring partner because his Ki specialisation was that of the Zweihander, a huge two-handed sword.

There were two pairs that quickly formed so I was paired up with the leftover. He was someone called Doug. Byakuya handed us each a normal sized, wooden, two handed sword. He warned us not to use full strength but concentrate on techniques instead. A person with better sword skills will always be able to overwhelm the other party not by using sheer strength but with skill. It is stupid to just rely on brute raw strength to fight against the other party. The goal of this spar was to increase our efficiency with using the sword forms in real combat.

I looked at Doug and he gave me a small nod. I returned it. We immediately stepped-in and engaged the other party. I threw a huge slash at him and he parried it easily. He retaliated immediately with a quick lunge. I tried to block but my huge swing backfired and my sword took too long to finish following through. He hit me on my collarbone but it did not hurt that much. He must’ve pulled back his strength the moment he knew I could not block the strike.

He reset his stance and I did too.

If this was a real fight I would’ve died immediately after one exchange. Shame on me.

I went about the second exchange more cautiously. I crept closer and closer to Doug and he was the one to take action first now. He stabbed at me and I dodged it by jumping to the side. He quickly turned and swiped the sword towards me but it was easily blocked as there was only one direction he could strike me from. After blocking, I slashed at him and he quickly repositioned his sword to block. However, it was a weak block and it was flung aside once it made contact. I tried to quickly lunge and return the earlier blow. However, Doug seemed to have better instincts than me and quickly dropped his body towards the ground, causing me to miss my stroke. In the process, he twisted his body around such that he could use one hand and bring the wooden sword onto my head. I could make out where the sword was coming from so I parried the blow, allowing his sword to graze the side of mine and Doug fell to the floor from attempting that counter which was unsuccessful. I quickly stepped over him and pointed my sword at his throat. One exchange won each.

The spar continued like this until both of us were quite familiar with each other. Because we were complete novices in the sword, our techniques were on about the same level. If it was raw strength though, I am sure Doug would have outclassed me easily.

The sparring practice soon came to an end and the very last thing Byakuya taught us was how to embed Ki within your sword. It was quite similar to that of mana. Just that in this case, you view your sword as an extension of your body and channel the Ki to your hands and through your hands into the sword you are holding. Because I have experience channelling mana, I felt like channelling Ki was quite a similar phenomenon so I picked it up quite fast. Sword Ki which was compatible with swords would show greater power than the Sword Ki we embed into our physical body because it was more suited to be housed in a vessel that could apply the properties of Sword Ki well.

With a wave of his hand, Byakuya made 6 scarecrows appear from the ground in an instant and on top of each scarecrow was a display panel of numbers. He asked us each to use full power to slash at the scarecrow.

*WHAM* The number 105 appeared on top of my scarecrow. It was not a high number as compared to my peers. I was the one with the third lowest number and the highest one actually got a 135.

Byakuya then asked us to embed our sword with our Ki and strike at the scarecrow again.

*WHAM* The number became 140. Similarly, the numbers of my peers all went up. The highest was now 170! However, I was now in third place instead of fourth. I must’ve been able to channel a bit more Ki than the person who was ranked in front of me. However, that still did not change the fact that I was still average at best regarding this exercise.

Suddenly, I thought of something.

Can’t I channel both Ki and mana together? Will they become something new??

I gathered my Ki within my sword and this time, I also channelled mana into it. Surprisingly, when Ku and mana both interacted within the sword, they did not amplify or resonate or affect each other at all. They were like water and oil. The Ki was still the essence of my sword but mana was now floating on top of the Ki, coating the sword with a light blue glow. I then proceeded to whack the scarecrow with this strike. The number changed from 140 to 150. I was now second place instead of third. However, it seemed that even though I channelled a decent amount of mana, the strike only went up by 10 points. Seems like mana is not very efficient at enhancing normal physical attacks.

Byakuya saw what I did and came over to speak to me.

“You are one of the new spellblades yes?” He asked.

“Yes I am.”

“You are very lucky to possess sword Ki. It is very compatible for a spellblade because of it’s versatility. However, I saw you embed mana into that strike along with Ki. It is something that many people tried before. The conclusion everyone came to is this: mana is inefficient at raising the power of physical attacks. You must’ve experienced it yourself already. It is much more efficient and effective to raise the quantity and quality of Ki within your body through physical and mental training instead. This is why warriors all walk the path of Ki. Mana is just not useful for physical attacks.”

What if the mana was elementally recomposed?

I gathered my Ki and mana again and this time, I utilised Pegasus for the light element. The sword was enveloped with Ki and level one light mana for a strike.

*WHAM* 155.

“Oh. One day in school and you can elementally recompose your mana as well? Not bad. Not bad at all. However, like I said, even elementally recomposed mana is not very efficient by the nature of the incompatibility between mana and physical attacks. Magical attacks use mana. Physical attacks use Ki. This is law. Everyone who has researched on this agreed with this finding. I’m surprised though that you are able to elementally recompose mana so soon. Let me share with you something interesting. Why did it not occur to you to elementally recompose your Ki instead??” Byakuya asked while smiling.

OMG WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?!

“You mean it’s possible?!” I asked quickly.

“Why not?? Warriors also have an elemental room. It is just the ability to sense mana pool that is unique to mages that most warriors are unable to do. An elemental room is still present in everyone, regardless of your class. Just like mana, Ki is also able to be elementally recomposed. This is why there are physical strikes that carry the power of the elements along with it. For example, my strongest physical strike lies in utilising both my Sword Ki and the element of water which I am most proficient in. Like a drop of water, it will be able to flow through any obstacles and strike true on it’s target. Infusing elements into your swordplay is something everyone dreams of doing. It makes your sword a lot more profound, hard to deal with and powerful.”

I immediately tried to do it. I gathered my Ki and used Pegasus again but this time I did not channel Pegasus through my mana but through my Ki. I could instantly feel the power of Ki being revitalised, energized by the power of light and I swung my sword down onto the scarecrow.

*WHAM* 170.

It is indeed a lot more efficient to just rely on Ki for my physical attacks!

“Well done. I could sense the power of light being embedded in that strike indeed. Since you are at this level, let me give you a few tips. Elementally recomposing your Ki gives your physical attack an elemental attribute. This means that the weakness and strengths of each element will come into play. For example, if a fire attributed warrior meets a water attributed one, the one infusing water mana into his strikes will have an advantage over the one using fire. However, light is special so you no need to worry about it. Light is super effective against dark but similarly, dark is super effective against light. So both your attacks will become stronger and one is not really weaker than the other. This is the concept of Yin and Yang.”

“Secondly, just elementally recomposing your Ki is just a first stage of using it. In order to truly draw out it’s strength, you need to embed your sword techniques with properties of your element. A true sword of water can only be one when it is a gentle, flowing sword which like water, can eventually pierce through rocks by causing erosion and flow around any obstacles. Your swordplay must also reach this level before the element can truly manifest its power within the sword. Therefore, I advise you to not just gain insights into the elements which is extremely important for both mages and warriors alike but also to try to develop your sword technique according to your element which in your case is light. The library has many books of different sword techniques that specialise in a certain element. You should go and borrow one regarding the light element for a head start!” He said.

My attack power was now tied with the one who was strongest within those who possess sword ki. However, raw strength like Byakuya said was something not incredibly powerful in a fight. It was still about technique and skills to determine the true winner in a sword fight. Furthermore, Draco actually reached a strength level of 200.

However, I now know the direction I had to take as a spellblade. It seems like understanding and developing affinity with the elements will be my utmost priority, seeing that both my magical and physical attacks will need to rely on this to become stronger. Furthermore, I would need to learn a vast variety of sword techniques in order to be able to learn how to harness the power of my sword not just for one but all seven elements. I would also have to learn more spells. Lastly, I need to also increase the quality and quantity of both my Ki and mana because those are the foundations of being a good mage and warrior. Even if I have a good understanding of the elements and techniques to utilise it well, it is useless if I don’t have the required amount of mana or Ki to sustain myself in a fight.

My priority will be elemental insights, various techniques and quantity and quality of Ki and mana. I should not neglect any one of them. However, because time is limited, I think that my priority will be elemental insights followed by quantity and quality of Ki and mana. It’s okay if I have a small pool of techniques in the start I guess. As long as my techniques are of a fundamentally higher level, I will still be able to excel regardless of how little techniques I know because every one of them will possess insane amounts of power.

“Alright class! That is the end of your weapon training. Now for the last segment of them all which is always the favourite part of the new students. GLADIATOR!” Whitebeard announced.

“The rules are simple. This is going to be exactly like the Colosseum in ancient rome and all of you are the gladiators. One of you will fight, one at a time, with everyone in class and consecutively. This means that every one of you will fight once per day, except for one unlucky bastard who has to fight potentially 19 times until he loses. If he loses in the first round, he is immediately out. This type of battle system encourages you to be strong. If you are weak, you won’t last even one round. Even if you are strong, continuously battling opponent after opponent is a very mentally draining and physically strenuous task. At the end of every cycle, I will give a prize to the student with the most consecutive wins. These are the rules. Simple enough yes? Let’s start the gladiator match today. You can see how much your peers improve as the days go by. Each gladiator session only lasts 2 hours so we’ll obviously not be able to finish one cycle per session so it’ll go by time. Once two hours are up, the last person will just continue until he eventually wins everyone or loses and the day ends there. This rule is so that it is fair. You will not get to stop there for the day to get some rest and continue the next time. THIS IS WARRRRR BOYS.” Whitebeard shouted, obviously excited for this segment of class. His enthusiasm was also rubbing off onto the class and everyone seemed more and more eager to fight with each other.

“For today, let’s see…. Who’s face do I want to see get beaten up on the first day of warrior class. Hmm… Just joking of course but I CHOOSE YOU!” Whitebeard said as he pointed his index finger directly at the poor soul.

And the poor soul was me.