“Oof, Body Branch is hard,” Alex complained as they left the class. “I can form anything with the Heart Branch, but when it comes to the Body Branch, it is as if energy is not mine anymore? How is that even possible?”

“You know how it is better than me.” Miles shook his head, “Each branch has different types of energy although all of them form in the body.”

“I know, but that is the exact thing that baffles me. I have a Heart Seed, and the energy originates from there. When I want to use the Heart Branch, it is all fine and dandy.”

“Fine and dandy? What are you, my 60 years old uncle?” Miles rolled his eyes.

“Hush. When I try to use a technique considered as “Body Branch” suddenly energy in my body moves to another dimension?”

“Not a dimension but a layer…” Miles started then tilted his head, “... of the sort. Each branch has a different layer. Without moving your energy to layer for Body Branch techniques, you cannot manifest the required result.”

“Still, though. It doesn't make sense.” Alex bemoaned again.

“It is how it is though.” Miles patted him on the shoulder.

“How are you so good at each branch then? Explain this!”

“It is mainly because I am awesome, secondly I used serums. Lots of them.” Miles shrugged, “I’ve used 5 of each serum, and it strengthened my mind and body. Although my main branch is the Body, my mind is still the strongest among our peers. “

“Just you wait! In tomorrow’s first Heart Branch Class, I will be the best.” Alex pumped his fist in excitement.

“Sure, sure.” Miles sighed as he asked, “I have this Body Branch class for advanced learning. What are you gonna do?”

“Hmm, I think I will visit that team from the other day.”

“The one warned us?”

“Yeah, gotta thank them. Although we already knew David and his gang were baddies, it is still nice to be warned.”

“Alright, thank in my stead as well.”

“I gotcha!”

Miles shook his head as he went to the other building where Tutors taught advanced classes. He already signed up for all the classes for all the branches. Inside the classroom was almost empty. There were only a few people inside.

“A newbie?” Asked a girl as soon as he entered.

“Yep. Hello everyone.” Miles greeted them with a smile. There were 2 other girls and 2 boys sitting. “Why is the class empty? I thought advanced classes would be more sought after.”

“Welp, first of all, students are poor. Many have to work hard to stay in school and they make do with the basic classes.” One of the boys started.

“Also, there are videos of advanced classes that can be bought in the city. They are much cheaper and cost-effective than spending precious time that can be used for hunting.” Another girl continued.

“It is rare to see a freshman though, not gonna lie.” The other boy asked curiously, “How can you afford it?”

“Oh, me? I have a workshop in the city, I am a craft master.” Miles smiled as he streamed his brand through Coin. While students were looking at the floating logo, Tutor Toma entered. He gazed at the students and was surprised when he saw Miles sitting. He remembered Miles from the previous class, as he was one of the best.

“Alright, this is the first advanced class of Sub-Branch, Shape.” He started as his body got taller with every step. He was only a meter and half in the morning class when he first entered the classroom, but now he was standing at 2 meters and looking down on them with pride.

“Just like re-shaping your arm with energy, you can also augment your bones and skin to increase or decrease your height. But that is not all…” As soon as he said that, his muscle-packed arms deflated like a balloon and looked like a pair of arms of a starved person. “In F-Circle and beyond, tactics are everything. Knowing your enemy and preventing your enemy know you are more than half of the battle!

It is essential to learn everything about your opponent before the battle while giving as little information as possible!

The reason why our academy makes you call your skills before every fight is so you can win at disadvantage. Because if you can win when your opponent knows everything about you, it will be so much easier when they don’t. But, while the academy allows you to do that, it also prevents you from finding out about your opponents. That is a drawback.” Tutor Toma looked at each student and one of his arms turned back to its muscular form.

“Now, look at my arms with True Vision and tell me what you see.”

“One of them is covered with energy while the other is normal.” One of the girls said while Miles was looking too.

“That is correct. To keep this form, I have to cover my arm with energy and so long as I can supply enough energy, I can trick my opponents. But an experienced hunter will see that my arms are covered with energy, thus will suspect that they are deformed.”

“Can we cover our arms without re-shaping them to double trick our opponents?” Miles asked as an idea formed in his mind.

“Brilliant!” Tutor Toma shouted in excitement. “That was what I was going to show you next!” He said and the muscular arm was covered with energy as well despite its form staying the same.

“Just because you can see energy covering my body, it doesn’t mean I reshaped it. I may be trying to trick you by making you overthink.”

“So, we get nothing from this?” One of the boys asked as he scratched his head, “When we use True Vision and see a part of a body is covered with energy, it still has the same two options.”

“True, but you can still figure it out by recognizing the details.” Tutor Toma grinned as he said, “Now, look at my both arms and try to notice the difference. In one of the arms, I am doing something different. It is so subtle but it is there. If you can find it, you will earn 20 merits.”

Miles locked his eyes on both arms as soon as he heard that. Both arms looked the same. Although one of them was muscular and the other was thin, both had the same amount of energy covering them. Nothing about them seemed different.

“That!” Miles noticed something as he was about to give away. “Fluctuations.”

“Correct!” The Tutor grinned as he pointed at Miles, “Tell me what you see.”

“Although both arms have the exact same amount because in one of them you are actually using energy, it is moving. I can see the small fluctuations.”

“Very good, boy!” The tutor said as he canceled all the techniques. “If you look carefully you can see through all the deceptions. I will teach you how to recognize these signs and of course these techniques so you can trick your opponents!”