“We all know there is Land, and there is Sky. Spirits are beings descended from Sky. When you die, your soul gets shattered, and its pieces are sent to Sky as well. But what is Sky, really? Where is Sky?”

Ming pointed upwards with a finger. “Before any of you smartypants give me cheek, it’s not that one up there.”

The raised hands instantly lowered. Nobody responded to Ming’s question.

Shrugging, Ming continued. “We, as humans are the only beings able to access the power within Sky. As humans, we are the only beings who are able to Ascend into Sky! Sky is another realm, an ocean made completely out of power. It is boundless and endless. Without limit.”

Ming seemed excited now. “Sky is the land of the powerful! Those who Ascend become commoners, those who die become dust. The gods that the Bloodsand Dominion, the southerners, and the easterners worship, they are all monstrous Sky spirits with the power to create their own worlds within Sky!”

“Whoaaaa” A child near Ming gasped. “Can we summon Bloodsand?”

Ming looked at the kid, and began laughing. “Bloodsand is a Sky god with the power to create worlds. How can such a being be summoned into Land? No vessel exists that would be powerful enough to support a Sky god. Forget about the vessel, the entire planet would be destroyed by his descent!”

Next to the kid was Merlot, who was rolling his eyes. “Rory, please. Summoning a Sky god would be like stuffing fifty planets into a single body. Can that be possible?”

Ming smiled. “Merlot is correct. Those reindeer you see, Selim’s mosquito, those are puny spirits, perhaps the size of my hand at most.”

He held up his hand for them to see. “A Sky god can be the size of the Sun!”

The students were impressed. This was Ming’s third lecture, and the only interesting one. Yesterday, he was talking about some arcane things like circuits and signal transmitters. Nobody could understand him, although Solera figured Chip probably knew those subjects like the back of his hand.

“So we know that Sky is made out of power. What are Sky spirits made of?” Ming asked another question. “Merlot, tell us the answer.”

“Power, obviously!” Merlot enthusiastically pushed his glasses up. On the other side of the room, Pinot was rolling her eyes.

“Yes. Land is made out of mud and water, so all animals are made out of mud and water.” Ming smiled. “Similarly, Sky is made out of power, so spirits are made out of power. As humans, our bodies are of Land, and our souls are of Sky. We are the only beings made of both mud and power!”

For the next hour, Ming continued to repeat how special humans were. It turned out that this third lecture was not interesting after the first few minutes.

“... possessed animals can’t reproduce like humans can. Thus, they cannot be considered to be the same.” Ming looked at the sky. “Well, class time is over. You may all go, I hope this lecture was educational for all of you.”

Solera had been dozing off, but he snapped back awake. Now, it was time for training with Captain Peng. Solera’s nap had refreshed his brain, and he was in top condition. Excitedly, he took the lift down to ground level.

Captain Peng was a short, bald man whose body positively bulged with muscles. He had tattoos all over his arms, and had a sword at his side at all times. Peng was seventy years old, and had served as a mercenary for over fifty years. It was said that he actually rejected promotions so that he could stay in the heat of the battle.

He was a maniac.

“Another twenty laps!” Peng roared at the panting kids, who had cinderblocks tied to each leg. “The lucky winner gets a private sparring session with me!”

He walked up to a staggering child and kicked her down. “You damn wimp! Pick up the pace!”

When the girl began crying, Peng took out a handkerchief and began wiping his forehead. “These entitled brats, I really can’t handle them. Why can’t all you losers be more grateful about this great opportunity? Being coached by me is something people would kill for!”

“The body is the foundation! You can cultivate all you want, it means nothing if you don’t have the muscle to back it up!” Peng roared, flexing his muscles. “Look at Solera here! He’s the only one among you lot who’s worth half a shit!”

Solera instantly felt the hateful gazes of the other thirty children in the class on his back. Shuddering, he slowed down his pace.

“Hey, Solera, tell me about your roommate, this Chip guy!” Peng yelled, waving the attendance paper as he did one-armed push-ups on the ground. “What kind of slacker is he? He never shows up!”

Solera thought about Chip toiling away in their room. ‘Slacker’ was the last word he would assign to that guy. Though, to be fair, Solera had not even known Chip was in this class with him until Peng had pointed it out.

Peng’s training clearly was not taken too well by Solera’s peers, but it wasn’t much to him. After all, he had been doing things like this his entire life. As a result, even with these 10 kilogram cinderblocks carving lines in the dirt behind him, he was able to complete all twenty laps within three hours.

“Very good, my boy!” Peng beamed at Solera. “You’re the only one here with any future prospects, let me tell you. All these other kids are too soft! What they need is some nice, real battle experience. When they see their friends torn apart by scorpions or mauled by bears, that’s when they can get some real motivation.”

Solera tried to laugh, but no sound came out.

“Well, I, Peng, am a man of my word!” Peng pumped his chest several times. “Let’s spar!”

Solera lifted up his fists, cautiously looking at Peng. Peng faked several jabs before performing a forceful uppercut that Solera only barely blocked.

All the wind was blown out of Solera as he blocked the uppercut. He flew back three meters before smashing onto the ground. He rolled back onto his feet smoothly, but his face was pale.

Peng was too strong! He had been training and cultivating for seventy entire years, and his body was still in top condition. It seemed he was well on his way to immortality. If he had to Ascend, it would only be after a few centuries. How could Solera, a boy who had only trained for thirteen years, contend with such a foe?

“You took my blow! Very good!” Peng roared, pouncing forward like a savage tiger. His hands reached out to grab Solera’s waist, but Solera was able to slip past his grasp. Solera threw a punch at Peng’s temple, but instantly, Peng’s leg swept out and knocked Solera onto the ground.

A look of shock was on Solera’s face as he toppled over. How the hell did Peng reorient himself so quickly? Solera just couldn’t visualize how Peng had instantly stopped his charge to kick out with his leg.

A shadow descended from above Solera. It was Peng, doing a fucking downwards elbow strike as he fell towards Solera! If Solera was hit by that, then forget about recovering from the injury, he would have a hole blown straight through him and his bones would turn into powder.

Solera desperately tried to roll over, but he was too slow. Peng landed right on top of Solera, his elbow smashing into the ground next to Solera’s neck. Despite their close proximity, Peng and Solera did not come into contact at all. It was at this moment that Solera realized how outclassed he was.

Peng righted himself by forcefully slapping the ground. He offered a hand to Solera. “Excellent skills, my boy! I almost smashed your face in because of that last roll you did. That wouldn’t have been too good, heheh.”

Solera groaned. If he had just been a bit faster with his dodge, then he actually would’ve been injured by Peng. Rather than showing his skill, the fact that Peng was compensating for Solera’s inability to dodge emphasized the gulf in ability between the two of them.

As Peng pulled Solera up, a soldier came running over.

“Everyone get in the fortress, now!” He shouted, a worried look on his face.

Peng frowned. “What’s the problem? There isn’t…” His voice trailed off as he looked at a distant patch of sky.

Solera could see that far away, there were plumes of smoke rising into the sky. Approaching them from those distant plumes was a dark, black cloud.