Chapter 6: Troubles at School

"Let's go! We're gonna be late!" Xin shouted as Vincent and the other two scrambled down to the first floor. "Geez. You guys want to be late on the first day?"

"I was busying all night with my magical beast wolf cub," Fang grinned.

"I spent the night wondering on whether to hatch the egg or not," Jing said, happily drinking coffee as George handed him a mug.

"I was making a small clearing for my dragon. It seemed to like sleeping on stone so I spent a few minutes carving some stones into a stone bed," Vincent shrugged.

"New hair cut?" Xin asked as the hair on Vincent's head was short on the sides and back while the wavy black hair on his head was medium in length.

"The dragon has sharp claws. It cut my shoulder long hair as it climbed onto my shoulder," Vincent answered as the four left the pagoda after breakfast.

As they entered one of the large marble buildings, they headed to their classrooms. Every year had ten classrooms with a maximum of twenty students each. The name of the classroom would have two numbers: one to indicate the year and the other is based on a secret evaluation made by the Testing Center. The second numbers went from 0 to 9. The lower the number, the more unique the orb of power a student has, regardless of how powerful the student was. Edward, Catherine, Jing, and Fang were all in Class 4-0.

Xin and Vincent said goodbye to Jing and Fang as they headed to Class 4-1. Vincent noticed Bing and sat next to her as Xin sat to Vincent's right. The classrooms were like small auditoriums with each row higher than the row in front. Half of the students were students from White Dragon Academy from the ten classes from the third year. Some students gossiped and talked about how some transfer students forced other students to drop out based on the many evaluations of power, unique orb of power, and other factors that interested the Testing Center. The transfer students mostly kept to themselves, talking to someone only if they felt they were stronger.

"Ahem. Everyone sit down and prepare for class," a young woman shouted as she entered the room. "Last year, White Dragon Academy increased its overall rank from 3rd out of 18 to 2nd out of 18. It already had prestige with its affiliation to the Testing Center. I can see some of you are transfer students from other schools. I can tell as you all distance yourselves from others. This year won't be like any other year."

"I'll say. This woman's hot," Xin whispered.

"My name is Jenny Cao. I will be the teacher of Class 4-1 this year. As you may have guessed, classes have changed since the academy increased in ranking. Our principal wants to obtain first place so we must teach you to be as elites among your peers. In two months is the annual Eighteen Gate Competition, a competition made since the establishment of the eighteen academies in Black Gate City. There are a series of competitions and students are picked to represent their academies in some of them. Based on your evaluation in a month and a half's time, you may be selected to be one of the representatives at the Eighteen Gate Competition. You will not only represent your academy, you will also represent one of the eighteen districts of the city," the teacher said. "Ten of the top students of each year, a total of fifty being chosen to represent this academy and the White Dragon District the academy is built in."

"Only ten from among the fourth year classes?" a student murmured.

"Xin and Vincent are shoo-ins. They are the best fighters. Not the most powerful, but no one can defeat them. Even Edward, the most powerful student of the third years did not beat his cousin once," a student said in awe.

"Even if there are transfers from other academies, they can't beat Vincent. If Edward represents power, then Vincent represents danger," a student agreed.

"Vincent? Xin?" some of the transfer students asked as they stared at the two in front.

"The best way to prepare for a combat occupation is live combat against Mazoku. I have authorization to lead you all out the north gate and fight the weaker Mazoku there. This will happen one month from now. Only through the possibility of death, will you subconsciously remove any unnecessary movement and improve your technique and experience. Has anyone been in the wilderness before?" Ms. Cao asked.

"I have," Vincent said as all eyes turned to him as he was the only one who answered.

"Ah, the Silver Exile. You're the student who practiced under the experts of the beast and shaman paths. You must be proficient with the powers of the beast, shaman, and guardian path. Tell me, have you killed a Mazoku?" the teacher asked.

"Yes," Vincent said and pointed to the smooth scar on the left side of his face. "One of them gave me this."

"I see. Good. You will be prepared in a month's time. Now, most classes will go to the arena for two hours for combat lessons everyday. Let me be the first to tell you that two hours is not enough. You might want to learn under a specialist, but you will disregard knowledge on everything else. Our classes will be everyday for six hours in the training grounds, one of the private areas for dojos," Ms. Cao said.

"But I thought only dojos could have them?" Xin said as he raised his hand.

"I challenged and dissolved a dojo with a suitable-sized training ground," the teacher answered, shocking some students as each dojo had about ten adults of the Earthly Fighter stage. "You all seem surprised. Don't tell me you think that numbers mean everything? Skill and experience trumps all. Power gets you far until you find someone even stronger."

"Just like how Edward loses to you," Xin grinned.

"Now, I'd like you all to fill out a piece of paper," the teacher began as the students took out notebooks and pens from their storage items. "Write down your name, your four paths, which path you specialize, which path you sacrificed, how many and which one of the four paths you have access to, and your weapons and preferred fighting styles," the teacher said. "Once you are done, I will take you all to the dojo where we will officially have class and prepare you for the Mazoku you will fight in a month's time. No other fourth year class may be doing this, but many of the fifth year students are. Age is but a number. Remember that. Just because you are older, it does not mean you are more powerful. It just means there is a possibility due to an educated guess that the person trained longer."

"Welcome to the Blood Tiger Dojo," Ms. Cao said as all the students gathered. They hasped as they saw several people bow before her. "These people are Earthly Fighter stage fighters. They will be assisting in supervising your training. Most of you are at the peak of the second layer or initial third layer. Six of you are at the fourth layer. Train hard if you want to survive to your fifth year. All prospect examinations require the applicant to be at the fifth stage. You have two years. In this one, you better hope you are at the fourth layer at the end of the year."

"Since you, Bing, and I are at the fourth layer; that means there are three other transfers who are at the fourth layer," XIn said. "Well, they can't beat us."

"Can't I? I bet I can beat an orphan Exile and some commoner twit," a boy asked as he and two others appeared.

"Ah, great. Ugly Leader and two goons," Xin whispered as the blonde boy glared at him. "They must be at the third layer though."

"I am Maxwell Lane, a noble of Black Gate City, and I---" the boy began before Vincent punched in the boy in the solar plexus. The boy fell to the ground as Vincent did a high kick to one goon and a roundhouse kick on the other. The first goon's body was stuck in the ceiling, from the armpit up, and the other goon got broken ribs as he slammed into the wall.

"I'm not an orphan because I wanted to be!" Vincent roared as he crushed the boy's neck as he lifted him in the air. He let go and did a high knee to the boy's dick. The boy cried for only a second before Vincent grabbed him and slammed the boy on the ground. As the boy's back hit the ground, Vincent stomped on his face, knocking him out. A nasty look in his eye appeared as he took out Silver Thorn and stabbed downward.

"Stop!" the teacher cried and Vincent's sword stopped just as it pierced the boy's neck enough to prick and draw blood.

"You're lucky she's here. Out there, in the wilderness, you get killed for even mentioning someone's family. You lived here, in this fancy city, your whole life. You think you can fight a Mazoku in the wilderness? Get the fuck out of here," Vincent said as he dragged the boy and tossed him out the dojo.

"Fool," Xin sighed as he grabbed the other two goons and threw them out. "Messing with an Exile? Don't you know any and all Exiles have a screw loose somewhere? Geez."

"You can bill me for the roof. I got a lot of money from killing Mazoku," Vincent said.

"The records said you only had one body, that of a dead Mazoku wolf," Ms. Cao frowned.

"A background check? You're not an ordinary teacher. Let me tell you something, you don't want to know what's out there. Second, no Exile would ever reveal all his assets. So good luck trying to search us," Vincent said and headed to one of the dummies to train using his bow and arrow.

""Well, better start training. Let's go. Chop. Chop," Xin said and the eight other students originally from White Dragon Academy nodded as they were used to seeing Vincent beat up others. Vincent was a good guy. If they needed help, he would not refuse and tell them tips on how to fight. After all, he and Xin learned under two experts for three years. If anyone mentioned his mother in any way, Vincent would break the offender. Literally breaking their bones and being forced to stop by the adults.

He couldn't be punished as he and the other two Turner children were closely affiliated to the Testing Center, writing records and details of the Mazoku they encountered and how other humans fared outside Black Gate City. In the Testing Center's eyes, all people who had no knowledge of the wilderness and Mazoku were expendable. It was also backed by the nine most powerful organizations in the world. Money? Nobles? It meant nothing outside the city. Nothing at all.

"When shooting a recurve bow, your aim should be a little higher as the arrow arches downward after reaching the height of its velocity," a man said as a week had passed since the first day. Some students shivered as the arrow would always bury into the dummy until only the feathers at the end of the arrow ere visible. That just displayed sheer power.

Maxell and the two goons transferred out of Black Gate Academy and the arrogant boy's father paid a hefty fine to the Testing Center and Vincent for his son's actions. All three families also moved out of White Dragon District. Edward sent five people out as three challenged him as two harassed Catherine.

"Vincent, let's fight," Xin said as Vincent finished his hour long session on archery training. Vincent was about to agree, as he had reached the fifth layer and needed more practice to get used to his power, but an alarm sounded all over the dojo and outside.

"Is that another earthquake drill?" Bing asked.

"No," Ms. Cao said as her face paled. "It's a Mazoku alarm. Everyone! Gather up! We are heading to the underground shelters below the dojo."

Every panicked and quickly gathered their weapons. The alarm meant a Mazoku horde was assaulting the gates. Everyone followed Ms. Cao and the Blood Tiger Dojo instructors as they raced toward the underground shelter. Ever since the Black Gate City survived its first ten years of assaults, it was razed by a dragon Mazoku. Learning from the attack, underground shelters were made below each building. Each underground shelter was connected to each other, like an underground ant hill. The walls and tunnels to other shelters were made of five foot thick tempered steel.

"Okay, that is twenty students and ten dojo instructors," Ms. Cao said as everyone turned to the giant monitor in the room.

"Which gate is being assaulted?" one of the instructors asked.

"The western gate," Ms. Cao answered as the screen turned on and displayed an image of the gate. "A zebra pack. Not good. Those Mazoku are sensitive to magic. Most people don't specialize in the shaman path."

"Zebra Mazoku. It's easy to kill them with bullets as they run forward, like a stampede," Vincent said.

"Yes, but most of the guards at the western gate don;t use guns," Xin said. "A lot of people use guns, but the western gate is rather docile."

"The guns fighters use are like gatling guns. They are light to people who soul bind them. Bullets are made using yin and yang energy, different energy for people of other districts who cultivate differently. They usually increase the power and speed of their bullets using telekinesis," Ms. Cao said. "Every combat squad has one gun expert, one mage, and two main fighters excelling in offense or defense."

"There are the reinforcements," Xin cried and everyone cheered as fighters with large guns appeared and shot the Mazoku zebra pack.

"Why did we have to enter the shelter if they were so easy to kill?" Vincent frowned.

"We always take the utmost precautions," Ms. Cao said. "That is what it means to live in the city. Still, Mazoku zebras are more intelligent than some other Mazoku species. They would not dare attach the western gate. Something must have scared them off. Something so powerful, it scared them and forced them to flee eastward, to us."

"Another alarm?" Vincent asked.

"That's the alarm indicating it is safe to return to the surface. I will end class here. No doubt, the city will be on alert and convene to discuss the irregular action of the Mazoku zebras," Ms. Cao said and the others all left.

"Man, first Mazoku attack in three years," XIn said. "Almost forgot we lived in such a dangerous world."

"Those Mazoku zebra were not strong," Vincent said.

"Yeah, they were probably at the Power Concentration stage, like us. However, hordes make a difference. Still, the weakest guards are at initial Earthly Fighter stage. Piece of cake to kill them. It is because most combat occupations travel outside the city and lessen the numbers of the Mazoku near the city or act as guards for merchant caravans between cities," Xin said. "Still, I don't think we can leave the city to kill Mazoku now. We have to practice like everyone else. Well, plenty of time for closed door practice. You gonna do it?"

"Yeah. I learned the basics of dual sword fighting but I am better at using one sword to begin with. I'll only use dual-swords if I am surrounded. That way, I can utilize my Golden Monkey Force technique with my left hand and two feet as I use the Ice Devil Strike and Savage Elephant Tusk technique with Silver Thorn. I don't want people to know I specialize in dual swords. Best to make them think I gave up on it," Vincent nodded.

"And then surprise them when you take out that short sword of yours," Xin said as he pointed at the tattoo. "Well, we are the representatives anyway. I'll try to break to the fifth stage. You?"

"I am not increasing my cultivation as I am at the middle stage of the fifth layer. I am going to increase my foundations and try to harness more yin and yang energy in my body. Cultivating too quickly is bad," Vincent said and the two boys laughed as they talked about sword techniques and cultivation.

Three days before the competitions, the ten participants of every year were gathered. Vincent, Xin, Bing, Catherine, Jing, Fang, Edward, and three others were chosen to represent the fourth year students. Of the ten fourth years, only Edward, Catherine, Xin, and Vincent were at the fifth layer. Jing and Fang broke through to the fourth layer and the other fourth years were still at the third layer.

"We're riding on a bus," Fang sighed as he held his wolf cub.

"Hey, motor vehicles are expensive these days. Only nobles or powerful fighters who made a boat load from Mazoku hunting ride them," Xin said "Why bring your magical beast?"

"We didn't have to bring them? Dammit," Vincent said as he held his White Steel Dragon as he got on the bus. "I saw Fang bring it and brought mine."

"Anyone know what the competition's about?" Catherine asked as she sat with them. Each of the representatives of the five years rode their own private bus.

"Who cares? We get a breather for once and we don't need to go to the Testing Center for the weekly checkups," Edward sighed. "Someone wake me up when we get there, wherever there is."

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Writer's Note: Hello. First time I make a note here. Let's just say the competition is when bad and exciting things happen. I am in college so no scheduled releases. Sorry. Midterms, quizzes, and homework. Yes, college gives homework and thousands-of-words essays. Thanks for reading.