Chapter 4: Combat Techniques

"I heard the classes will be different this year," Xin said as he stabbed a fried egg.

"Why?" Vincent said as he ate a piece of bacon.

"You two training addicts. Eldest and Second Brother, our academy increased in rank and is now at second place! The principal wants to become number one. Since our school ranks second and is closely connected to the Testing Center, our academy has been accepting truly talented kids with monstrous talent or potential. Even some students from the number one ranked academy since the city's founding, Black Sword Academy, transferred to our academy this year," Fang laughed.

"What does that have to do with class?" Jing asked, as he had also just transferred but because of his father and Fang.

"Everyday is combat class! Not the whole day, but every year gets two hours of it everyday. We still have the weekends to ourselves and people who desire different occupations can opt to have lessons on those instead. Unless you choose a different career in the future, combat class is mandatory," Fang sighed.

"How will they evaluate our strengths?" Xin asked his father.

"You're all thirteen so I suppose it is time to reveal how people are categorized," Jian Zhu said as the butler nodded in agreement. "In the Chinese district we live in, we call the ranking by names once used long ago for fantasy books. However, it took over a century to analyze and accurately name the respective tiers. Using the concept of hot yang and cold yin, we classified the rankings and developed cultivation techniques that used them. Other districts and cities have their own methods."

"Now, each stage have four phases, except for the first stage. These phases are initial, middle, late, and peak. You four are in the first tier known as the Power Concentration Stage. Like in the ancient stories, there are nine layers. The second stage is Earthly Fighter and the third stage is Heavenly Warlord. That is all you need to know for now. Just know that there are more," Jian said as he took out a red crystal. "Now this is an item that measures your soul force, the orb of power inside you. For the first stage's nine layers, you reach the first layer if your soul force reaches the thousandth level. The first eight require one thousand while the ninth layer requires two thousand. In the end, you become an Earthly Fighter once your soul force reaches the ten thousandth level. I, myself, am a late Earthly Fighter. Now, let's measure all your soul force."

"Jing Zhou: soul force of 3,216. Feng Tu: soul force of 3,449. Both of you are at the third layer. This is good. You must be at the fifth layer to be talented enough to take the Prospect Exam for the various combat fighter occupations. That's just two years away. Now, let's see my son and Vincent. Xin Zhu: 4...4,107. Vincent Turner: 4....4,312?" Jian cried, shocked. "You're both at the fourth layer?You said something yin and yang dad This is great! The higher the layer, the more dangerous, prestigious, and lucrative combat occupation you can get. You two are truly monsters indeed. If you and my son can reach the seventh layer before age 15, nearly impossible feat except for true talents; then this old man would be satisfied as all occupations would be open and even the nine powers of the world would recruit you. The experts training you for the past three years truly paid off."

"You said something about yin and yang dad," Xin said.

"Ah. You never really learned a combat technique as you constantly trained your bodies. Picking a combat technique pretty much determines how strong you will be. Every combat technique, or martial arts style, comes with its own cultivation method and stages of learning. I trust all four of you never picked a style yet?" Jian inquired as he looked at the four kids.

"There were too many and I didn't understand them," Fang said.

"I was busy trying to find a suitable magical staff and working with my dad to buy one I can bind with my blood. Fake magical treasures are plentiful but real ones can be bound by blood," Jing sighed.

"Vincent and I were busy with our hell training. I'm both happy and sad the Master Ming Tang and Master Gao Ji left to fight in a more dangerous town after the three years of training were over," Xin sighed. "They said not to pick a style until my second path of power awakened. For me, it's the path of the knight that awakened. Vincent is the real monster as he already has access to all four paths of power."

"Not at the same level as my cousin. He should be nearing the fifth layer, based on your dad's crystal. I am only the better fighter as I have more combat experience," Vincent shrugged.

"Now the style you pick is also influenced by which energy you cultivate. Your choices are hot, fiery yang or cold, icy yin. Some styles even require you to cultivate both and combine them later on to proceed further. Those are the greatest and most difficult to master," Jian said. "You four should go and pick a combat style today, before you start school tomorrow."

"Yes, Guard Zhu," the three roommates said as Xin said, "Yes, father."

"It's a bit late, but we are finally here. Exhibit Hall," Xin cried as the four brothers, a term used for respect, arrived. The building was made of black steel and was actually a pagoda with ten floors. It was huge. The only things inside were fake magical treasures and combat techniques.

"What's that line for?" Vincent asked as he saw a long line on the other set of stairs at the western side of the pagoda.

"Those stairs lead straight to the tenth floor. It is where we can get magical beasts. Of course, it is only in egg form and the magical beast could be anything, even a cat. Yeah, a cat. It's a certain kind of magical item merchants of magical beasts use. The eggs are available to all. You just need to point and select it. Only one choice can be made. That's it. If you want a different magical beast, you already wasted one of four you can bond with. Of course, the more you bond with, the more powerful you are as you absorb a piece of their soul power. However, it is best to get the three others from the wilderness. Buying four magical eggs, even two, is foolish," Jian said as he did not follow them as they headed up the stairs. "I can only escort you this far. I'll wait for you all back at your pagoda. I'm going to exchange some stories with George over some bottles of wine."

"I want one," Jing said, staring at the other set of stairs.

"We'll all go after we find a combat technique. It will be faster and the eggs won't be going anywhere," Xin said and led the others up to the third floor. Xin had been here before and knew only paltry techniques were on the first two floors as they were primarily fake magical treasures.

"Before you all go nuts, students can only take one combat technique at a time. However, we are allowed to take one magical rank treasure if we can reach the first stage of that combat technique while applying some knowledge of other combat techniques. The eighth floor has a couple of tables and chairs so we can all meet up with all the combat techniques that interest us and try to fuse them there. The more, the better but the difficulty gets higher," Xin said. "However, we can access the ninth floor and pick a magical treasure, or more, depending on the results. We also keep the book of the combat technique you used as the foundation. Progressing through the stages won't be the same so be careful."

"You know a lot," Jing said.

"My dad works at the academy. Naturally, he will research all he can to guide me down the right path. If you fuse two techniques, you get one magic treasure. If you fuse three, then you get two treasures. The highest in history is the fusion of six. Still, my dad fused three and two is the limit for most people," Xin beamed with pride. "Good luck guys. Remember, the books are from the third to seventh floor."

"Let's go. We'll find some together," Fang said as Jing followed him.

Vincent sighed and started searching through the five floors. Most of the students bowed their heads to him as most of them were first through third year students. He would first judge the books and scrolls by title. Those contained in books are those created with the last three hundred years. The few scrolls he saw contained techniques past three hundred years. He collected four scrolls from the third through sixth floor. He decided to take the best book he could find from each floor and try his luck.

As he got to the seventh floor, he browsed through the scrolls. He wanted to primarily learn the techniques within scrolls as they contained a movement skill, cultivation technique, and usually had more stages. The more stages a technique had, the more powerful the fighter after mastering the combat technique.

As he looked around, he saw two scrolls covered in dust under the window. After wiping the dust, one scroll was the color of jade while the other was a inky black. He was about to grab the jade scroll when his hand landed atop a soft, smaller hand. Frowning, he looked to his right and saw a girl look back at him with medium brown eyes. She tried to intimidate him by releasing her soul force, but he was unfazed.

"Fourth layer of the Power Concentration stage?" the girl gasped, their hands separating as she took a step back. "My name is Bing Fan. I have been searching for those two scrolls. As you have found them first, may I ask for one of them?"

"You know about these scrolls?" Vincent said, seeing how she wanted them so much.

"Yes. The inky black scroll is a combat technique made by an ancestor who slew a two-headed, black tiger giant of the frost plains. The jade scroll is one an ancestor learned after studying and slaying a Mazoku qilin. Both scrolls contain very powerful techniques. You can say that my purpose in transferring here was to learn those scrolls," Bing said.

"Qilin?" Vincent said as Bing had reached for the jade scroll first after he removed the dust from both of them. "You may have the inky black scroll."

"You can't study the jade scroll without consuming the blood of a Mazoku qilin, a giraffe infected by the virus and turned Mazkou. Very few survived in the zoo of the place the ancients called Los Angeles. You can't learn the combat technique of the scroll without it," Bing said.

"I happen to possess quite the sum," Vincent said, the identity of the mysterious liquid in his gourd revealed.

"I see. Thank you," Bing said as she gained the other scroll. She was quite pretty and Vincent gave it to her as she did not withdraw information about the scrolls or attempt to trick him in any way.

He walked beside Bing as they talked while heading to the eighth floor. They parted ways as he saw that the others were already at a table, studying the many books and scrolls before them. As he sat on the table, he stared at the four books and scroll in front of him. He learned that all the combat techniques were discovered after how certain types of Mazoku fight and incorporating it into human martial arts. The people who wrote the books and scrolls had to thoroughly study the Mazoku or killed enough to study them based on first hand experience.

Golden Monkey Force: a combat technique revolving around the fighter's limbs and using hot yang energy to harden and empower the fist with the might of the sun. Eight stages exist. Allows shamans to augment their fists, feet, elbows, and knees with telekinetic energy, improving the strength of the blow past the limit.

Red Devil Strike: a combat technique discovered after fighting a human-shaped Mazoku. Condenses hot yang energy through out the body, concentrating it on the point of impact to blast through the defense of the enemy. Five stages exist. Allows mages the ability to fight at close combat.

Savage Elephant Tusk: a combat technique fusing cold yin energy into an edged weapon. While incomplete, the technique would be easy to incorporate into others. Only three stages exist. Guardians can expect their blocks with their weapon to be as indomitable as the animal the Mazoku had once been.

Iron Shark Skin: a combat technique revolving using the body as a weapon. Circulates cold yin energy and turns the body as dangerous as shark skin. Six stages exist. Fighters who walk the path of beasts can survive in land or sea.

Thunder Clap Qilin: ancient combat technique of legend. Cultivates both cold yin and hot yang in harmony. The ancients said that thunder was the punishment the heavens. Thus, why not have a fighter combine the essence of fire, water, and lightning? Nine stages exist. Not limited to specialization of any of the five paths.

"No wonder Bing wanted to learn this technique. It uses both yin and yang energy and realizes the full potential of the orb of power of any fighter," Vincent shouted, the students all shushing him for being too loud. All combat techniques share the very basics.

All he needed to do was combine the basics of the combat techniques of the four books into the Thunder Clap Qilin technique. As two used yang and two used yin, it was a perfect balance. If he could fuse them successfully, he would pick one of his four treasures to be a short sword. He wanted to be a dual wielder with Silver Thorn and one shorter sword. He would use Silver Thorn for offense and use the shorter, single-edge weapon for speed and sealing enemy movement if they got too close to fully swing Silver Thorn at them.

If he had to categorize the five combat techniques he chose, they were perfect. The combat techniques of the four books consisted of the four paths and improved his physical body while the combat technique of his scroll empowered hi soul force. His desire to fuse the four combat techniques into the Thunder Clap Qilin technique was truly too great to ignore. He would also get four magical treasures. His cousin already had many and was more talented than he was. Even if he was his cousin's superior in battle, it was only a matter of time until he lost.

After reading the five combat techniques, he kept the ancient scroll and moved to one of the isolated rooms in the pagoda. It was the only floor with rooms so as to provide privacy when the student tried the first stage of his or her desired combat technique. He sat in lotus position and closed his eyes, meditating according to the writing of all five techniques. The first stage was always the same, save for the energy one cultivated.

White blue and red orange energy entered his body clashing as they reached his orb of power. All one hundred and eight spikes of the orb sparked as cold resisted heat and heat resisted cold. Vincent grit his teeth as he felt he was dowsed in freezing water one moment and laying atop a carpet of lit candles the next.

As he specialized in the beast path, his body endured and constantly regenerated as it tore apart inside and out. Due to the guardian path, his body's endurance grew stronger and stronger. Instead of tearing apart, his body actually improved. Due to the mage path, his body was able to assimilate the essence of water and fire and they gradually entered his orb of power. His body levitated of the ground due to his telekinetic power as a shaman.

Half the room was lit with a warm light while the other half was darkened by a cold shadow. Yin and yang, dark and light, was in harmony and Vincent had become like the Earth between the moon and the sun. As a mage, he could use the elements. As a shaman, he could manipulate objects and even the elements he conjured. As a guardian, his body's defense had improved dramatically and his body was closer to a Mazoku beasts than it had been.

"The only thing to do now is drink qilin blood," Vincent said as he took out an orange guard from his black satchel. He manipulated the three storage chambers, putting the fresh water and empty chambers aside so he could drink the blood. He shuddered as he tasted the weird, black blood as it entered his mouth and went down his throat. He drunk seven mouthfuls before putting the gourd away and meditated again after he rinsed his mouth with some fresh water.

His body shuddered as it absorbed the soul force within the blood. Mazoku blood was different than human blood as it contained soul force even after the host died. So long as the blood remained fresh, the soul force remained. He could feel his soul force grow, adjusting to the new enhancements of his body with ease. He didn't notice it, but a strange energy transferred from the phoenix medallion into his orb of power. Just when he felt he could not contain the power, the orb of power suddenly settled and began to circulate yin and yang energy in his body. Within his orb of power, it contained lava in one half while the other half was an ocean so cold it had icebergs.

"Success!" Vincent said. The first stage of the technique was making the foundation in the body to progress further. He took out Silver Thorn and imagined it flying before him. He laughed as it flew above his waist. He didn't learn much magic as he focused on the path of the shaman and beast. His instructors also learned the guardian path as it was essential for a specialist, of either path, to learn in order to survive.

As far as magic was concerned, he only cared about the element of lightning, water, and fire. Those who sacrificed the shaman path were fools as the shape of their magic was restricted. He could use telekinesis to fully manipulate it into any shape. That was what he read in several ancient books in the library. With enough mastery over fire, he could create lava. With enough mastery in water, he could create ice.

"Yo! Finally done?" Xin laughed as Vincent appeared before them. "How many did you fuse?"

"Five," he answered, stunning Jing and Fang as Xin nodded.

"I fused five too. Jing and Fang fused three. See, we four brothers are talented! HAHAHAHA!" Xin said before his he stopped and his voice was full of tension. "Your twin brother and sister broke the record of six and fused seven. I only heard it just now. You were right about your brother. He broke to the fifth layer now. Your sister is still at the third layer though. I heard she is more of a support type of fighter and prefers healing to bloodletting."

"Exiles are something else, but you guys trump those Exiles and are even related," Fang sighed as Jing nodded.

"Some of the fifth year students might feel intimidated by you three. We better be careful and watch your back," Xin said as the four brothers by friendship took their desired scroll or book and headed to the ninth floor for their reward. Then, they would go to the tenth floor. Jing was very excited and was the first to run to the ninth floor.