Here is part two of chapter 11

I feel so tired. Real life is a drag. The chapters continue to roll out though!

Enjoy the Chapter!

After a boring class on martial cultivation Kelly and I head towards the cafeteria for lunch.

The class was about various information such as earth veins and the power of earth.

I already know all that needs to be known about it, so I was almost falling asleep during class. The only thing that saved me was Kelly poking me occasionally to keep me awake.

I quickly flash my gold card to the lunch lady. I get a scoop of good smelling mystery mush onto my tray.

Kelly looks at the mush on her tray and frowns. I go to the same table in the back of the room that I sat at yesterday. Kelly follows me to the table to sit down and eat.

I start to eat my food when Alice comes over to sit with me again, “May I sit here Ryu?”

I nod without saying anything. Kelly whispers to me, “Do you know her?”

I shrug my shoulders, “Not really. I know her name and that is about it.” I look towards Alice, “So, who are you Alice?”

She smiles, “I’m a friend of Claire’s. She has told me to watch over you for the time being. Just to make sure you are safe.”

I shrug my shoulders, “Thank you for your concern, but at this school I feel I am relatively sa-“

My sentence is interrupted by a large, muscular, man slamming his hands down onto the table, “Oy, ya first realm brat!”

I tilt my head and point at myself, “Me?”

“Of course you! Why are you talking with my woman!?”

I point to Alice, “Her?”

Alice glares at the large man, “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. Just because you sold me as a slave in the other world, does not mean you own me in this one!”

I frown. This seems like it is going to escalate really quickly. I can wait until dinner for some food. I try to stand up and leave.

The large man puts his hand on my shoulder and forces me to sit back down, “Where do you think you’re going cripple?”

My face twitches, “Oh yeah? Cripple?” I shake free from his grip and pull out the gold card and start shouting to attract attention, “YES! I AM A CRIPLLE! What are you going to do about it!?” I slam the gold card onto the table. “I challenge you to a duel one month from now! In duels it is unavoidable if someone is critically injured! It means that they took on an opponent that was too strong!” I sneer at him, “Do you dare accept?”

His jaw drops at the gold card on the table. He shakes his head and regains his composure, “Of course I accept! Exactly one month from today will be the day we duel! It will be at the dueling arena! I will go register it!”

The large man quickly leaves the cafeteria.

I look at my food on the table. It is still there. I guess I can continue to eat.

Alice has an extremely confused look on her face, “How can you be so calm right now?”

I shrug my shoulders, “I have more important things to worry about right now. As you see, I have a gold card. If I am not strong enough in one month to fight him I can always call it off using my authority.” Speaking of which, I forgot to put the gold card away. I slowly put it back into my pocket.

A lot of students had started to look over to me. Some with eyes full of respect, but most with eyes full of a mix between disgust and pity.

Alice stands up, “He is at the A-rank in the third realm! Is it even possible to get up that fast?”

I shake my head, “Probably not. All I need to do is get to the C-rank of the second realm and I should be able to hold my own against him.”

She sits back down even more confused, “That sounds even more impossible. Everyone knows that at the A-rank in the third realm, a person will have 1200 pounds of strike force. That is just the base strength! Techniques raise the strength even more!”

I smile, “Fighting across realms is a common thing. Especially in the lower realms. High quality techniques that can grant a couple hundred extra pounds of strike force will allow someone to fight a realm higher than them easily within the early realms.”

She frowns, “Do you know any of those methods?”

I laugh, “Even if I didn’t I could easily get one with my gold card.”

She shakes her head and stands up to leave, “I was watching you all morning, good speech, and have fun on your date. I want to know why the tester ran out of the office after testing you later.”

I frown deeply, “You are very creepy.”

She smiles, “Thank-you!”

“That was not a compliment in any way you know.”

She nods happily, “Yep! Bye-bye!”

I sigh as I lower my head to the table.

Kelly pats my shoulder, “Are you okay?”

I turn my head to look at her while keeping it on the table, “In this world. Is there a single sensible person? Anywhere?”

Kelly frowns, “Aren’t I close enough?”

I laugh, “If major mood swings make a person sensible then yes. I know I’m not perfect myself, but I have my reasons.” I sigh as I stand up from the table. I clean up my tray and put it with the other dirty trays, “Let’s head back to class so we can get our seats.”

Kelly nods as she starts to walk with me towards the first year building. Kelly and I make it to the classroom.

I sit down in my seat. The classroom is practically empty. Class is only a couple minutes away though.

Kelly sits down beside me, “What method do you use Ryu?”

I sigh, “If I told you that I didn’t know the name of the method would you believe me?”

She makes a complicated expression, “Yes. I would trust you. Can you at least explain to me what kind of method it is?”

I shake my head, “I doesn’t matter even if I did tell you. It is impossible for you to use.”

She frowns, “I just want to know the type then. Fast training with lower overall strength, slow training with higher base strength, or the average method?”

I put my head on the desk, “None of the above, it is a unique method.”

She smiles, “What kind of special method? The requirements or painful initiation?”

“Both.”

She frowns, “That seems like a tough method to use. Why not use another method until you can use that one?”

I sigh yet again, “I would love to if I could. However, the requirements for the method I use require me to get to the second realm without using any other method. This is normally impossible due to elemental restrictions… but I have no element affinity, so I am not restricted the same way normal people are. Also, the pain is so intense that it would cause a normal person to lose consciousness immediately, but the method forces you to stay conscious and bare the pain in full.”

Kelly has a sad expression on her face, “So is that why you haven’t even used any techniques yet?”

I shake my head, “I can copy a technique just by using the power of heaven and earth together. It is extremely inefficient, but it is doable.”

She nods, “I understand.”

Kelly and I stay silent as more and more students enter into the room, waiting for class to start.

Mr. Grey enters the room, “I hope you all had a fantastic lunch break! I want to let you all know the reason for the tester leaving so early. The principal said that his wife was injured in an accident and he left to go see her!”

Lies… well, whatever. Not like I am any better.

“In this half of class we will continue the lecture from this morning about the money system within the school.” Mr. Grey takes his seat at the teacher’s desk. “Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, buying cultivation methods. Buying cultivation methods will always cost money. There are no freebies like with techniques. Money is stored on the cards all of you students have. At the start of every week, depending on your school rank, the realm you are in, and the type of card you have, a different amount of money. The lowest amount a bronze card holder will receive a week is 100 dollars. The lowest amount a silver card holder will get is 300 dollars. The lowest amount a gold card holder will get is 1000 dollars a week.”

A few students look towards me with envy. They must have been in the cafeteria during lunch.

Mr. Grey continues, “You can bet money in duels. Also, silver card holders can challenge other silver card holders and bronze card holders, but they are not allowed to challenge gold card holders. Only gold card holders can challenge other gold card holders, but they can also challenge silver and bronze card holders. This is so those at higher realms in the bronze rank do not steal money from gold card holders in other lower realms. All duels must be accepted. The person being challenged has the right to decide the match time and location. However, special permission needs to be granted for a duel that is anywhere but on the dueling platforms.”

A student raises their hand. Mr. Grey points to them, they stand up, “What happens if someone who is say… in the second realm, challenges someone in the third realm and wins?”

Mr. Grey nods, “Excellent question! The answer is actually quite complicated. You see, if a student in the second realm defeats a student in the third realm, a lot of third realm students will think that the second realm student cheated and attempt to challenge the person in the second realm to almost endless duels until they are crippled. However, if a person fights a third realm student while at the second realm and avoid the oncoming party of third realms, they will be able to receive an extra 1000 dollars that week. Keep in mind that if you lose, medical bills at this school are not cheap.”

The students all nod. Medical bills are never cheap no matter where you are.

Mr. Grey starts again, “Bronze card students can leave the school grounds twice a week. So only for a weekend! Silver card students are able to leave four times a week. Gold card students are able to leave whenever they wish. Gold card students are exempt from attending classes, and may even go to another class to listen to that lecture if they want.” Mr. Grey looks at the clock. “Well then. I think I talked slow enough to bore most of you poor souls to death. I will let you all out of class early…”

Mr. Grey pauses and some of the students get ready to rush out the door of the classroom.

“Except those who have silver and gold cards.”

The bronze card students sprint out of the classroom before they are called back by Mr. Grey.

The rest of the students sit dejectedly in their seats, wishing they could leave the classroom.

Mr. Grey smiles as he looks at the students, “I am aware that I said that the results of the latent potential test are supposed to be secrets. However, are there any students that would like to share their results?”

One particularly depressed looking student stands up, “My latent potential was said to be the fourth realm at the most.” The student slides back into their seat, proceeding to slam their head down on the desk.

A student gets out of his seat and walks to the other student’s side. The student pats the other students back, tears streaming down his face, “You will do better than me! I will only get to the third realm.”

A lot of the students nod. Kelly and I sink down in our seats. Mr. Grey smiles, “Would you two in the back like to share the results?”

I look towards Kelly. Her eyes say, ‘you first.’

I sigh as I stand up, “I will say only this! It is not lower than the sixth realm.”

Kelly stands up, “Mine is also not lower than the sixth realm!”

Mr. Grey claps, “That’s wonderful! Everyone is dismissed. Except you two!” He points towards Kelly and I. Can I leave soon? I want to get this outing with Kelly over with.

As soon as everyone has left the classroom Mr. Grey walks to the back of the classroom to talk to us, “So what realm are you guys going to get to?”

I frown, “Am I not allowed some privacy with this matter? I was told I was able to keep it a secret. I shall keep mine a secret for various reasons, but you should know that I will never tell anyone who doesn’t know. If that is all I will take my leave now. Thank you for teaching today. I look forward to future lessons.” I grab Kelly and drag her out of the room with me. I look behind me and see that Mr. Grey just has a large smile on his face.

“You can stop dragging me now!” Kelly shouts from behind me.

I let go of her arm, “Yeah, sorry. I just wanted to get out of there fast so we can get this outing over with. I’m ready to go right now. How about you… wait. What happened to that other girl that was following you the other day?”

Kelly thinks for a second, “Oh yeah her. Turns out she was a mage. She got into an argument with me and I haven’t talked to her since that day.”

I shiver, “Women are brutal.”

Kelly gives me an angry look, “I’m right here you know!”

I tilt my head, “Yeah, and…?

Kelly shakes her head and sighs, “Whatever. I know a great restaurant for us to go to. There is no need for us to change clothing either. Let’s go immediately!”

I nod, “Yes, yes. Let’s go.”

Kelly grabs my hand and drags me to the entrance to the academy. The guards at the gate look at us, “Please show your school card.”

Kelly pulls out a silver card while I pull out a gold card. The immediately let us through the gate.

Kelly drags me down several streets and points at a restaurant after a while of walking.

The name of the restaurant is, ‘Garden of Swords’. Doesn’t sound very inviting…

Kelly drags me into the restaurant, “Table for two please.”

A waiter who was standing at the door greets us and seats us at a table for the two of us. We sit down at the table.

On the table was complimentary bread sticks. I grab one and start eating as I was quite hungry.

Kelly looks at me, “So Ryu. What is your goal after finding your wife?”

I smile, “Get revenge on those who plotted my death. Nice and simple if you ask me. I plan to get to the ninth realm as quickly as possible. Figure out ways to get stronger, then kill those who oppose me while ignoring those who don’t. I just feel like exploring.”

Kelly smiles and blushes slightly, “What if I said I wanted to come with you on your journey?”

I shrug my shoulders, “You can do what you want. I refuse to have concubines though. I will be faithful to my wife. If you follow me, you are responsible for your own livelihood though. I won’t ask you for help and you don’t ask me for help. I think this is a fair offer.”

She smiles widely, “I accept.” She suddenly turns to look out the window behind me, “What’s that?”

As I turn to look out the window a sharp pain runs through my entire body and my vision instantly goes black.

‘Welcome. Young. One.’

My vision is still black, I have no control over my body. I can hear a familiar speaking. I feel oddly calm.

‘It. Has. Been. A. While. Since. We. Last. Met.’

Oh, these guys?

I laugh within my mind, ‘Why yes it has been oh mysterious beings.’

‘Great. You. Are. Able. To. Speak’

‘May I ask why you are talking to me right now?’

‘You. Forgot. Something.’

A familiar crystal floats in my mind. ‘This is!’

‘Yes.’

I laugh within my mind again, ‘I will take better care of the gift this time. I have no idea what you are. Nor do I think I should know right now. I will talk to you things some other time.’

‘We. All. Look. Forward. To. Our. Meeting. Young. One.’

My consciousness finally slips into complete nothingness.