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Chapter 8: First rest day

I went to sleep earlier than normal due to the contents of the day. When I went to sleep Jared hadn’t returned so I left a note on the door for him.

I open my eyes and see Jared still asleep in the bed on the other side of the room. I laugh as I look at the prosthetic arm laying on the ground. Looks like it fell off last night while I was sleeping.

I quietly change into day clothes using one arm.

It is still dark out. Wait. I don’t remember seeing a sun. What causes there to be light in the sky then?

I sigh to myself as I carry my prosthetic in my armpit and quietly leave the room. I am not skilled enough to put it on in the dark yet. The arm is able to be worn 24/7. But it needs to be cleaned occasionally. I think I’ll clean it before putting it on.

I walk into the public bathrooms at the end up the dorm marked ‘Men’.

I grab some paper towel and wet it a little. I wipe the arm down with the paper towel. I wish it looked like a real arm. I wish I could regrow my arm like I will my internal organs.

I walk out of the bathroom and go outside where there is slightly better light. None of the lights in the entire dorm are on. Does nobody wake up early?

I take off my shirt and position the prosthetic between my legs. I move the stump of my right arm over the prosthetic.

“Aaahhhhh!”

A hear a very girly scream behind me. I turn around to see who it is.

The ‘Queen’ is standing there in casual clothes by herself. I wave to her with my right arm… well, it just looks like me waving a stump around….

She falls to her knees, “Y-Your arm!!”

I look at the stump. It doesn’t look to abnormal does it? It was a clean cut, the hospital really cleaned it up nicely too.

I just tilt my head while looking at her, “What’s wrong with it?”

Her jaw drops, “How can a martial practitioner live without his right arm!?”

I attach the prosthetic and the electrodes so that I can move it, “It doesn’t really affect me too much you know. My methods are based on manipulating energy rather than manipulating my body.”

The ‘Queen’ just laughs, “Where I came from. If you lose a limb, you have to kill yourself or you would dishonor you family.”

I frown, “Is that not a little extreme? This might even give me an advantage later once I get to higher realms.”

She looks down on me, “How so?”

I stand up. I was slightly taller than her. “Well, people might underestimate me and then get themselves into trouble when they realize that I am stronger than them.”

She turns towards the building, “Fine then. It seems like you are okay with it anyways.”

I give her back an evil smile, “You know. Weren’t you just panicking about my arm? Why does it seem like you don’t care all of a sudden?”

She walks towards the dorm, “Why would I care about a lowly C-rank like you!? Even from the general class.” She spits in my direction, “I hate when filth take advantage of my kindness.”

It is so easy to provoke this kind of person. “Thank you for worrying about such a lowly c-rank as myself.” I say that in the most sarcastic tone I can while bowing.

“Hmph.” She walks away.

I sigh as I sit back down onto the ground. That ‘Queen’ is too full of herself. She should learn what true power is soon enough though.

I sit on the grass and look up at the red colored sky that is slowly lighting up. It looks as if there is a superheated planet that provides light to this planet. That is what gives it this red sky color.

I should practice manipulating the power of heaven and earth into shields. It might be useful. I was able to do it when I reached the third realm in the other world, but I never really had a chance to use it.

I close my eyes and focus on the void space near my heart. The power of heaven and earth floating in separate areas. I force the power to float outside my body.

The power of heaven and earth is invisible, but it is easy to sense. If I condense it into a thin membrane over my skin, that should be able to protect me.

I work on condensing the power of heaven and earth into a thin membrane over my skin.

Success! The power of heaven and earth is currently a rock hard, yet flexible membrane over my skin. It seems to stay even after I drop my focus.

How quickly can I form it? I absorb the power of heaven and earth that I released and circulate it once to return it fully to the gas-like state.

I deploy it as fast as I can.

Without stress. Instant! It is practically instant! This is amazing!

Isn’t this too unbelievable? This is a cheat! In this world is my existence a cheat? Still.

I need to do some research on this later. I need to understand why this is happening right now.

This is going to be a perfect defense for a last second save. It uses all the power of heaven and earth in my body at the C-ranked first realm, so I can only use it to protect myself from one hit.

Still. It was successful!

I open my eyes. The sky was now a lot brighter. I was laying down in the grass without a shirt on. I quickly put on my shirt and look around.

I forgot that I’m not supposed to use heaven power at this school!

Thankfully there was no one around. I let out a sigh of relief.

I decide to go back to room 107 and lay in my bed for a bit. I move around the prosthetic arm to make sure I put it on properly. It moves with no issues.

I walk back into the dorm, and the lights in the dorm were now on. I wonder if Jared’s awake yet.

I push the key into the lock and open the door. Jared was sitting on his bed reading the book he got from his father with a sad expression.

I make some noise at the door to grab his attention then talk, “What’s with the sad expression?”

He closes the book as I close the door behind me, “I can’t seem to get to the first realm.”

I sit down on my bed and look at him, “What’s wrong? Is it that you can’t use this method or is it something else?”

He tosses the book to me, “Read this book and help me figure it out. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong.”

I open the book after catching it.

‘Before step one even starts, please focus and absorb a miniscule amount of earth power.

After that, move it to the void type space without absorbing it into your veins and manipulate it into a lightning bolt shape.’

I pass the book back to him, “Do you know what earth power is?”

He nods, “Yeah, earth power is the opposite of heaven power. Earth power is absorbed by fighters in order to increase their realm and in order to use martial techniques.”

I sigh, “Do you know which is which?”

He frowns, “To be honest no.”

I pat his shoulder empathetically, “It’s okay not to know. Most people don’t at first. You just missed a small part of research is all. In your body are these invisible channels called ‘veins’. One set goes around your internal organs, brain and heart. The other goes to the outer limbs and the brain and heart. So before I tell you which is which. Absorb whichever type of power you can and I will try to help you understand the problem.”

Jared nods slowly and closes his eyes.

After a short while, he opens them, “The power went through the veins near my internal organs.”

Heaven veins! This kid is a mage! Okay, stay calm and approach this carefully. “Hey, do you want to go talk to your father in his office?”

Jared frowns, “What’s wrong? Why can’t we talk about it here? Come on man, I thought we were friends.”

I nod quickly, “We are friends you know. Have you shown this to anyone else, anyone at all?”

He lowers his head, “No. I thought it was embarrassing that I couldn’t even get to the first realm in two years, so I asked my father for different techniques constantly after figuring out I had affinity with the lightning element.”

I sigh in relief, “Okay, that’s good. Well, um. There is no reason to be ashamed. I will help you tell your father. Is that okay with you?”

His face brightens, “Will you really help me break it to my father?”

I nod, “What else are friends for if not for helping out?”

He stands up and walks towards the door, “Let’s do this!”

I stand up and quickly follow him, “Yeah!”

We walk together to the principal’s office. We make it there in record time. Jared was almost running the entire way to the office.

Jared doesn’t even knock and walks right into the office.

Damion was sitting at his desk writing on some papers. He looks up at us and smiles, “Oh. If it isn’t my son and Ryu! How are you guys?”

Jared looks at me and I nod. Jared drops to his knees and puts his forehead on the ground, “Sorry father! I’m not able to practice that method either!”

Damion stands up, “Son! Raise your head! We can just find you a new martial method.”

He keeps his head on the ground, “I’m sorry father! I can’t practice any martial method because I’m usel-“

“He’s a mage.” I interrupt Jared’s apology.

I get empty stares from the father and son combo.

Devron gives me a very serious look, “Are you sure?”

I nod slowly, “I’m a hundred percent sure. Only his heaven veins are unblocked. I got him to absorb power and he circulated it in his heaven veins.”

Damion smiles, “No wonder martial methods didn’t work!”

Jared raises his head to look at his father, “You aren’t upset?”

Damion just laughs, “Why on earth would I be upset? I finally found a way for my son to become powerful. Perhaps more powerful than myself!”

Jared looks at me, “Thanks Ryu.”

I smile as I pat his shoulder, “No problem. It’s what friends are for you know?”

He smiles as he gets up to hug me, “I can’t thank you enough for helping me!”

Damion smiles, “He’s right Ryu, had you not come along, he would have perhaps been bullied and tortured by the other students. I truly owe you for helping my only son.”

I shake my hands in denial, “No, no. You don’t need to owe me anything, I did it for a friend because I wanted to.”

Damion shakes his head with his eyes closed, “If you deny it like that I can only say this. Think of it as your friend’s father giving you a present.”

I lower my head in thanks, “If you say it like that, it is indeed impossible to refuse a favor. However, at the moment I do not have anything I require. I will take a rain check on the offer though.”

Damion nods, “Of course, of course. Just let me know if you ever need anything.” He takes a deep breath. “However, this does put you in a unique situation. Since Jared is actually a mage, he cannot go to this academy. Meaning you no longer have a roommate. Alone in your room in the female dorms. See the issue?”

I put my right hand over my heart and raise my left hand, “I swear on my life and the next that I will not do anything to any of the females within the dorm.” I lower my hands, “I will also sign a paper contract if necessary.”

Damion nods, “I will get you to sign a contract then.”

Damion walks towards the desk and finds a blank piece of paper and starts writing it in pen.

‘I [print name here] agree to not defile any women without their consent in writing.

In the case of breaking this rule. Said person must remover their own right arm from below the elbow.’

I look at the contract in front of me on the table. I look to Damion and he smiles, “This is fair right?”

I roll up the sleeve on my right arm. My shirt was a long sleeve so it took a while to roll up to above my elbow. I remove the prosthetic, “I thought my mother told you, I’m missing my right arm.”

Can people really not tell that this is a prosthetic when I’m wearing a long sleeved shirt? It makes no sense to me! It is black and clearly has mechanical parts! How does it look real in any way?

His jaw drops as he looks at my stump of a right arm. He quickly grabs the contract and tears it up, “I’ll just take your word for it. Also, please tell me your mother wasn’t lying about the supreme emperor thing… because that would be really embarrassing for me if she did lie.”

I laugh, “The supreme emperor thing is true. Just wait until the stories about me come in from other people. I think you will enjoy some of my feats.” I start to put the prosthetic back on.

He laughs nervously, “Should I call someone to finish your tour of the school? I have a feeling Jared didn’t do a very good job.”

I nod quickly, “He may have missed a few things. I have someone I know so, please call for someone named Claire… I think she is in the second year.”

Ten minutes later, Claire appears at the door to the office, “I’m here Mr. Principal!”

Jared had left to go pack his things in his room. Damion was going to send him to his contact at the mage academy on the other side of Verandus.

Damion shouts, “Please come in.”

Claire comes into the room, “What did you call me here for principal?”

Damion points to me, “I need you to show Ryu around the school. He tells me you two know each other, which makes this process even faster for me. Make sure you take him around the entire academy and show him directly to the first year general arts class.”

Claire sees me then smiles, “Of course I can do that. It is a rest day after all.”

I should ask when classes start.

As I was about to open my mouth Damion waves us away, “Out you go now, I have some important files to look at and phone calls to make. Oh god, so many things to do!”

Claire starts walking out of the office and I follow her. She doesn’t even turn to me the entire way out of the main building.

After we exit the building Claire turns to me, “Ryu, did you perhaps get into an argument with someone titled ‘Queen’?”

I laughs slightly, “Kind of. You see it was a scheme that my mother had planned out to enslave some male students to her. Turns out, I was friends with the principal’s son, and a friend of the principal himself.” I shrug my shoulders.

Claire smiles, “That’s just like the old you. Not caring about anything. Anyways, I asked that because she said she met someone that had a prosthetic right arm just outside the female dorms. I guess it’s the male section now though.”

I nod, “Yeah, the prosthetic fell off last night while I was sleeping so I had to go outside to put it on because all the lights in the entire dorm were turned off when I woke up.”

Claire sighs, “That makes even more sense to me now. You see, she has decided to put everything she has into destroying you.”

“Why!? I don’t remember doing anything wrong!”

“It seems she likes you.”

“How does that relate to this?”

She shrugs her shoulders, “Figure that out yourself.”

I sigh deeply, “Can’t we just start the tour now? Also, when do classes start?”

Claire nods, “So classes start tomorrow for elements and the day after tomorrow for general arts. First stop on the tour is the female dorms.”

I tilt my head, “But I already know where that is.”

She laughs, “I wanna show you my room and introduce you to my roommates. We will also collect Sayaka for the tour.

“Collect? Doesn’t that make her sound like an object?”

Claire smiles, “I dunno~”

I lower my head and sigh as I am led towards Claire’s room in the female dorm. Her room is room ‘256’. It is on the second floor of the three stories of the dorms. Claire takes out her key and opens the door.

The room is almost identical except for the fact that it is larger and has four beds and two desks. A four person dorm room.

Claire drags me into the room with an evil grin on her face, “I brought a new student that I’m going to be showing around! Please be nice to him while I get ready!” She pushes me into the center of the room while running into the bathroom.

I bow without looking at the people in the room, “Hello, my name is Ryu. Nice to meet everyone.”

“It’s you!”

I hear a loud shout from a familiar voice. I raise my head and see two empty beds, Sayaka laying in another bed on top of the covers reading a book, and ‘Queen’ standing up and pointing at me.

Sayaka waves to me over her book without looking at me, “What’s up Ryu?”

I shrug my shoulders, “Not much, just going to get Claire to show me around the school. Oh yeah, she wants you to come with us for some reason.”

She closes her book and rolls over onto her face, “I don’t want to go!”

I laugh as I see Sayaka’s reaction. ‘Queen’ sits back down with an angry expression. I look towards her, “What’s wrong Ms. ‘Queen’?”

“Kelly!”

I tilt my head, “What?”

She glares at me, “My name is Kelly! Use it!”

I shrug my shoulders, “Okay ‘Kelly’.” I turn towards the bathroom, “You almost ready to go Claire!? Sayaka said that she didn’t want to come with us!”

Claire peeks her head out of the bathroom, “Are you not arguing with Kelly?”

I look towards Kelly over my shoulder. She has an angry expression on her face. I just shrug my shoulders. I look back towards Claire, “Let’s go then if you’re ready.”

I grab her by her head and drag her out of the room. Claire doesn’t fight as she is dragged out of the room.

Claire sighs, “That was boring. I was hoping she would try to attack you or something. I guessed she would by the way she was talking about you last night and after the morning.”

I hit her head, “Don’t try to start fights. It’s bad.”

She grabs her head, “Don’t treat me like a child! Seriously!”

Claire points towards the first year class building, “We will head there so I can show you where your classroom is.”

I nod and start walking towards the building together with Claire. The grounds were not empty by any means. There were a large amount of students walking around in random directions. A lot of the students were walking in groups of two’s and three’s. There were still the odd person alone, but they were heading in the direction of the practice fields or the library.

Claire and I arrive at the entrance to the first year building. She opens the door and we enter into the hallway. The building had two floors and fifteen rooms on each floor.

Claire brings me to room ‘111’. She opens the door to the classroom, “Is anyone in?” Claire shouts into the classroom.”

The voice of a middle aged man responds, “Yeah. Why are students here two days before classes start though?”

Claire walks into the classroom, “Why is a teacher here two days before classes start?”

I walk into the room. The man stands up pointing at Claire with a smile on his face, “Touché Claire.”

I look at Claire, “You know him?”

Claire nods, “Yeah, this was my first year water element teacher.”

I lightly bow in the direction of the man, “Nice to meet you. My name is Ryu”

The middle aged man laughs, “No need to be so formal. I’ll be your teacher in this class Ryu. I’m sure the principal already informed you of my knowledge on your identity.”

I nod and start rolling up my right sleeve, “So you don’t get surprised later on I’m going to tell you that I do not have a right arm.” I finish rolling up my sleeve and the part where the stump rests in the prosthetic is visible.

The teacher makes a complicated expression, “For someone of your status that seems like it would affect you quite a bit.”

I shrug my shoulders as I roll my sleeve back down, “It doesn’t really matter too much.”

Claire pulls a phone out of her pocket and quickly answers it, “Yes. Yes. Why on earth did you do that? I’ll be there as soon as I can. Bye.” Claire turns to me. “Sorry Ryu, I will have to leave the rest of the tour to another day. You should know where all the basic things are… hopefully. Anyways, Sayaka did something stupid again and I have to go help her. See ya!” Claire sprints out of the classroom.

The teacher laughs calmly, “As energetic as usual, eh?”

I nod, “She was like that even before the link so it seems.”

The teacher walks over and pats my shoulder as we stare at the door, “Do you know where the cafeteria is?”

I frown, “Nope. I didn’t know this academy had one. In the other world I got used to not eating for weeks at a time, so I didn’t really think about food too much.”

The teacher laughs, “You can call me Mr. Grey. Want to eat breakfast with me?”

I nod, “Yeah, sure. Can I ask a few questions about the school system in this world? I was never admitted into any schools in the old world so I don’t have the faintest idea what this school will be like.”

He motions for me to follow him. So I do so. He leads me out to beside the Assembly hall, “To the left of the assembly hall when facing it from the main building is the cafeteria. The food isn’t the best, but it is edible.”

I nod, “So the first question I have is what this first year second year stuff is about?”

He laughs, “So the first year is for students that are not yet in a realm, or students that are in the first realm. To move up to the second year class, a person has to complete at least one year of the first year classes and be in the second realm. To move onto the third year classes, you have to spend a year in second year classes and be in the third realm. I have no idea why it is ‘Year’ after each grade because some people stay in the same ‘Year’ for multiple years.”

I smile, “That makes more sense to me. Next question. Are there school rankings?”

Mr. Grey sighs, “As the other world’s top of course you ask that.”

I shake my head, “I actually don’t feel like doing anything to put myself out there currently. I want to try and lay low for a while. I had a lot, I mean a LOT of enemies in the other world. Many of them I personally killed. So they will surely be here before me, and very likely more powerful than the current me.”

He nods slowly, “I understand a bit now. Anyways, the ranking system is divided by ‘Year’. If you want to look for an hour or two you can find the rankings that go down to the class. Normally people who are about to get to the next realm or have already gotten to the next realm compared to the rest of the students in the same ‘Year’ are at the top of the ranking list.”

I sigh, “That makes sense. Also, what are the general arts classes like?”

Mr. Grey frowns, “Why would I give my lesson plan to a student just because they ask?”

I deny it, “I don’t want the lesson plan I just want to know what things I will learn in the class.”

He coughs, “Sorry for my misunderstanding. So, um, the first few classes are basic knowledge about martial arts, and what the other world would consider ancient history. Also, similar to all the first year classes, I will teach about the real laws of the world.”

I nod, “That is all the questions I have for now.”

He laughs, “That’s great!” He puts his hand into his right pocket, “I almost forgot to give this to you.” He pulls out a gold colored card about the size of a credit card.

I grab it and turn it over a couple of times, “What is this?”

“That is a ‘gold card’. Naming is nice and simple but the card itself is not. The card signifies that you are an important person within the school. With it you have access to anywhere in the academy and all but school records in the library. Also, just flash that to any student you are having troubles with and they will immediately stop whatever they are doing.”

I stare at the card for a while.

This card is way too convenient!

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Thank you for reading to the end of the chapter.

I was just curious, but I am wondering about something.

I know my grammar is not perfect and also I know one aspect of my writing style goes against everything I learned in English class (ex. Ryu smiles sadistically, "I can't believe how horrid his English is.")

I was wondering if you, the readers, are enjoying the story so far. I just want honest opinions. Even if the majority is negative, I will still continue to write, I will just try to adjust my writing style slightly in order to have proper grammar. Maybe.

Just think of this as my weekly checkup.

Have a nice day!