On a sunny morning a few weeks after Mwana’s awakening ceremony, the young children of White Rock Academy could be seen running a marathon around the village. They ran all the way from the village gates to the school grounds and back the same way. This was endurance training.

“Give me 40 laps, no 50.”

“Give me 50 laps.”

“Don’t jog! You’re warriors, not farmers.”

“Full speed ahead! I want to see you sweating!”

“I want to see your snot! Your mucus should be dropping at a rate you can’t even wipe it anymore!”

“Your legs should be sore!”

The person shouting these orders was a young man of about 17 or 18 years old. He presented a dashing figure in his white fur coat and flowing red clothes. His hair was long and as dark as night. His eyes had the color of red emeralds and seemed to glow in the sun. Although he had softer facial features, his eyebrows were thick and his jaw looked as if it was curved out of marble; this gave him an overall handsome and manly appearance. The softness and hardness of his facial features was perfectly balanced making this young man a high quality specimen in the looks department. This young man was Jua Waya Wanyama, the young hero of Jua village. He stood at the school gates instructing the children to run.

Several meters to his side, there two other teachers discussing his actions in hushed voices.

One of these teachers was Karaka, the new teacher in charge of physical classes. At the moment, he had a scowl on this face as he felt that Waya was infringing on his area of expertise.

“His lesson isn’t about physicality like yours but spirituality and the mind.”

“Spirituality and the mind? Then why are they running laps?” Karaka was asking these words to teacher Bine who was at his side.

“He started out with the physical side for a simple reason. The goal is to tire the body to the maximum in order to help awaken the power of the mind and spirit. If the physical body is at the limit, then the children can only draw strength from their spirit and mind. This is one of the sure ways to train these aspects even for the untalented.”

Teacher Bine’s voice reached Karaka’s ears from his right. The logic in Bine’s words did make some sense but it was not something Karaka was knowledgeable of. Seeing that there was a teachable moment here for a young fella like Karaka, Bine took it upon himself to further educate the youngster. A few moments later, Karaka was already regretting asking anything as Bine’s mouth seemed to know no limits.

The children finished their laps and filed into the school gate while panting like thirsty goats> Waya who had already moved to the school field pulled Mwana over to him for some small talk. He started by telling Mwana about how his painting would be added to his wall like some sort of mural.

“I also heard about that other painting from my old man,” ‘wink wink’.

“What are you talking about?” Knowing what Waya was referring to, Mwana still chose to act dumb.

“Don’t play dense. Can I get a similar one like that?”

“A similar one? Is that your taste?” For a moment, Mwana thought Waya was someone into women the same age as his own mother. It was a bit of a shocking thought let alone the fact that Urembo was Mwana’s teacher.

“No no, I mean of ‘her’, you know ‘her’!”

This conversation already had Mwana exasperated. He could see his friends like Nyaga, Vitali, and Kia at the side stretching their ears to the maximum as if trying to understand what the two were talking about.

‘It seems there is nothing sacred to that old man. How can he tell his perversions to his son? Is he not afraid Waya will rat him out to his wives? One of them is his own mother after-all.’ Mwana had just sold the old man a painting of Jua Urembo for some extra shells of money yet that old fellow had already told his son all about it.

Mwana knew full well that Waya was not experienced enough to be an official teacher and that he only came to teach at the academy in order to pursue some of his ‘impure’ thoughts. Waya had only started teaching recently and he only had 3 lessons under his belt.

The ‘her’ that Waya wanted a painting of was Jua Uzuri.

"You have the same taste as your father." Mwana concluded out loud but he did not give a solid answer as they were in public. He did not want to make this his ‘career path’. At least for the painting of Urembo, he had painted it under her supervision and had the permission to o whatever he wanted to do with it. The same could not be said for Uzuri who Mwana was only acquainted with through her mother.

Jua Uzuri was one of the daughters of Jua Urembo. She was a teacher at the academy in charge of Herbal Classes. Mwana knew full well that this botanical expert was the main reason Waya came to teach at the academy; it was the pursuit of love. Uzuri was an extremely beautiful woman in her early 20s. She was unmarried and had many potential suitors in the village. Waya on the other hand was barely 18. With regards to the whole situation, Mwana thought the young chap was aiming too high.

“You are so young yet you already have your eyes set so high. I can only wish you luck.” Mwana added an encouraging but half-hearted thumbs-up to Waya.

To this, Waya responded by knuckling Mwana’s forehead till it almost turned purple from the friction. Mwana quickly escaped from his grip to join up with the rest of the class while grumbling internally, ‘My head will be swollen from this.’

When he reached his classmates, he found Vitali talking to Kia and Fury. She was introducing Waya to the two girls as they had just moved to this village.

Hearing Vitali refer to Waya as a hero, Mwana could not help but add on, “His heroic reputation only serves as sheep clothing to mask his wolfy nature.”

Although he said these words to Kia and Fury in a whispering voice, Waya still heard him. He could not let the little brat ruin his reputation further so he quickly asked all the students to settle down at the school field.

“My lesson is about to begin.”

The lesson started with a roll call by the class representative, Mlafi. The boys in the class were: Cheza, Damu, Duma, Jode, Kiboko, Maji 1, Maji 2, Mlafi, Motikatika, Mwana, Nyaga, and Tembo.

As for the girls, they were: Ana, Baraka, Baran, Bosibori, Fury, Karo, Malkia, Maisha, Ona, Teso, and Vitali.

In total the class had 12 boys and 11 girls making a total of 23 students.

Waya proceeded to give each of the 23 students some purple fragrant fruits and a few calabashes of water. While the students did not know what these two items were, the teachers who were watching at the side identified them at a glance. These two items were [Mind Nodes Refreshing Water] and [Purple Soul Bonding fruit].

“Purple Soul-bonding fruits! Over 20 of them at that!”

“Tssk tssk, this fella is rich.” Teacher Bine and Kaskara could be heard commenting from the side.

It was clear that Waya’s pockets were more or less the full kind rather than the empty kind.

The Soul-bonding fruits were especially known for being expensive. However, as a village hero and someone who had numerous adventures outside Jua village, Waya had already accumulated some considerable wealth. The two items he handed out today would help the children strengthen their minds and souls. Although he was also young, he was already investing in the next generation.

“Okay okay, everyone settle down. Let’s start with a question. Can anyone tell me the classifications of martial techniques?”

Vitali who had pretty much exposed herself as a Waya fan girl was quick to answer this question, “Techniques can be split into six types: Basic, Elementary, Advanced, Superior Grade, Comprehensive, and Conceptual.”

After commending the girl, Waya proceeded to explain the categorizations further. Most martial techniques in the Zika world were considered Basic techniques. These types of techniques had very simple descriptions and were similar to real world martial arts such as boxing. An example was Mwana’s [1000 leaves in one’s palm] which was a basic boxing training regimen. Anyone could train in basic techniques as they did not require any special energy such as magic or natural energy. While basic techniques could be ranked, personal compatibility was the most important thing to consider when selecting one.

The next rank of techniques was Elementary techniques. These were are a bit more complex and detailed how to utilize natural energy or spiritual energy in martial arts. However, they were still considered entry level techniques that anyone who had just started training as a warrior could learn. Most of the techniques the children in the academy could use were in this level.

Above elementary techniques were advanced techniques and superior grade techniques.

The fifth rank of techniques were Comprehensive techniques which took multiple aspects of being such as the body, spirit, mind, life, magic, etcetera into account. These high level techniques required a warrior to have already mastered and synchronized different aspects of their power.

Human beings had several aspects of being which determined the different grades of comprehensive techniques that they could use based on how many aspects a person could combine. Usually only high level warriors above the Apex of Body Forging could use comprehensive techniques. However, there were incredible magical or technological tools that could allow even low level warriors to use these high level techniques.

The last category of martial techniques was Conceptual techniques. Simply, these were martial arts that involved a type of conceptual law. It was not a level that the ordinary high level warriors could reach.

Waya’s voice entered the children’s ears once again, “The Moon Blades you all use count as a comprehensive technique. They combine natural energy, magic, and psychic energy to create the body of the blade. Every section is important. For example, without psychic power you will not be able to control the blade.”

“So why is it that you can use a comprehensive technique despite your current low stages?”

In response to this question, it was Motikatika who answered, “The Moon Bracelets or Moon Arm Bands.”

“Right, the bracelet is a tool that helps in controlling, synchronizing, and shaping different types of energy. It is not just a weapon but a symbol of pride for both our Jua village and our sister Mwezi village.”

Indeed all students had this bracelet. It was a symbol of their village as well as a means to aid warriors in using Moon Blade and Sun Blade attacks. The bracelet had a colorful Moon gem at the center that would change color depending on the warrior’s techniques. For the Jua [Sun] Village, the moon gem was the color of a yellow sun during the day and a purple moon when viewed at night. As for the Moon [Mwezi] village, it remained the color of a blue moon both during the day and night.

The bracelet also had another symbolic function. Before friendly fights, people would cross bands to signify a friendly match. However, when they are angry, they would drop their band or swap away the opponent’s band which represented a challenge such as in Mwana and Maji 1’s case.

The third function of the Moon bracelet was to measure and show the abilities of the wearer. Usually only the wearer could view this information through a psychic link to the bracelet. For example when Mwana checked his bracelet early in the morning, his abilities were listed down as:

Name: Mwana Jua Kijani

Age: 9

Martial Rank: Body Forging 3rd Level – Skin Hardening

Energy Capacity: 28

Magic Rank: Magic Pupil

Magic Capacity: 76 (Level 2)

Soul Power: semi-awakened

Psychic Power: semi-awakened

After his awakening ceremony, most of his abilities had increased significantly. His magic capacity rose from a value of around 20 units all the way to 76 units of magical power. It was a massive increase in magical power. His energy capacity also rose to 28 units showing that he was only 2 units away from reaching the 4th Level of Body Forging. His soul had also been boosted by his awakening which raised his soul and mind attributes.

Waya did not have to explain all the applications of the bracelet as the children had already learned most of this when they got their bracelets.

“Your natural energy forms the core of the blade making up most of its power while magic wraps around it like runes giving the blades a unique effect. This effect might be something like sharpness, shearing, pressure, concussive force, etcetera. Finally, the bracelet helps you channel your psychic power to control the trajectory of the moon blades. Today we will be training your mind and soul attributes. The [Mind Nodes Refreshing Water] you just drank will stimulate the nodes in your mind. Don’t waste this opportunity and start training your moon blades now.”

After Waya’s words, the next hour was spent on target practice as numerous blades of energy flew across the entire field while decimating pre-set targets. As Kia and Fury were also from a branch village of the Jua clan in Eastern Jin Nation, they had their own set of Moon bracelets so no one was left behind in the morning training.

After the lesson that focused on training the mind attribute, Waya proceeded to teach the students a technique called the Spirit Sword Dance that enhanced the soul attribute. The children also had to train with steel swords and attempt to form a spiritual connection with them so that they could communicate with the weapons. In general, only spiritual weapons would have a spirit however even low level weapons could still develop a temperament.

After the end of this lesson, the students would have gained some applicable battle skills and a considerable increase in the mind and soul power. For someone who had only taught 3 lessons before, Waya had the makings of an excellent teacher.