Knocking sounds from outside the room caused Will to pause mid-explaining how magic levels work and how they interacted with elements.

An elderly man walked in, his beard was so long it reached his knees, “Hello? I’m here to teach them for their next lesson, is that alright with you Elder IceFox?” He had a calm and gentle voice that most elderly people have after going through many experiences; similar to listening to relaxing music while eating ice cream.

He stopped short when he saw that Will was teaching the class while Elder IceFox watched from the side. “Did I miss something?”

Elder IceFox looked relieved as the elderly man walked in, “Don’t worry about it.” He then addressed the rest of the class, “Alright children, High Elder BewitchingRabbit is going to teach your next class. Please follow her to the practice grounds in a single file!”

While Will felt that he didn’t get to explain enough, it seemed that this was out of his hands as he was practically floated away from the board and pulled towards the elderly man who was addressed as ‘her’.

“Wait! Wait! At least let me keep the board! I can use it for future lessons!” Waving his little hands Will gave Elder IceFox his best puppy eyes look.

Elder IceFox turned around, suddenly having developed a deep interest on the opposite wall of the room.

Will watched as the giant blue fox fade from view as he floated a meter above the ground. The elderly man just smiled at him before walking with the rest of the children following on foot towards a nearby area devoid of buildings.

Now that Will looked around, he realized that he hasn’t managed to get a good look around this so-called “sect” since he got there.

They seemed to have a vastly different architecture style then what he was led to believe for a fantasy world. For one, there didn’t seem to have the normal building that was a stable for any decent place. Nothing screamed out blacksmith, tavern, or weapon shop to Will. Hell, for some reason he felt that they weren’t even remotely Japanese or European Middle Ages related. But that couldn’t be the case!

Sometimes Will was starting to wonder if he really was in a magic and swords world, because half the time all he saw was either pure natural environment (a.k.a trees) or poor rural building made of wood. The nearby buildings are a perfect example, as it was exactly like his earlier “classroom”. They didn’t even have any sort of additional color of any kind, just plain old brown one-story buildings that were placed in a circle.

[Exactly how bad is their technological level? I’m starting to think they might be even earlier then the middle ages. But then where are the magical items that make up for it? I sure don’t see anything.]

Although Will did see some things during his "tour" with Grand Elder LifeCentipede, it made the difference even more apparent.

Still being dragged away by some kind of magic, Will wondered if he could become some kind of technological founder using his earlier life as a template. After all, isn’t that what all MCs who reincarnated/transported do when they get to the magical world?

Pity Will had no idea how to build a thing, he was only a coder back on Earth… and not exactly a really great one either.

[I can only wish that I had read those instruction manuals and whatnots on how to make stuff… but honestly I doubt I would even if I could go back. Too much time spending on playing games, reading light novels, and watching animes.]

Will sighed as he floated above the heads of the children, wishing that he was more studious when he was alive in his past life. He literally got no knowledge besides coding and his hobbies.

What a waste.

------------------

Elder IceFox watched as the little child get pulled away by High Elder BewitchingRabbit, struggling all the while.

He felt a voice transmission from her as she walked away, “Exactly how did this little boy managed to get you so agitated?” Her voice had a bit of curiosity in it as well as a dash of playful teasing.

He shot back, “He gave me a really sad look when I told him about the time I first set out on a path of ice cultivation. Then he kept it up the rest of the time he was explaining about bizarre topics like ‘affinity’ and ‘mages’. Do you have any idea how annoying it gets whenever he talks about a topic, looks at me, and then sighs with a sad look?”

High Elder BewitchingRabbit asked, “What’s a mage?”

“Hell if I know! Seriously I don’t know whose child that is, but they need to teach him some actual logic! He said that there were four basic elements and flipped out when I said that there were five. Then he went on this rant about magic levels and elements, I’m still not sure what he was talking about but after a bit it gave me a headache. So I just smiled and pretended to understanding what he was talking about. Now that I think about it, I think his so called magic levels are just our cultivation levels and his elements are his way of saying the dao.”

There was a pause on the other side as High Elder BewitchingRabbit digested all that, “So I guess this is probably a bad time to mention this, but want to know who his parents are? I’ll give you a hint – we elders had a meeting on this a bit ago. Why else did you think I came over?”

Elder IceFox froze; he did think it was weird that a High Elder went out of her way to come teach children basic fighting skills… not to mention that Elder FlameDeer was supposed to teach them.

Then it clicked.

“Hey, quick question High Elder BewitchingRabbit, did Elder FlameDeer know about this?”

There was no reply on the other side, indicting that she would rather not comment.

[That bastard tried to toss me to the wolves! He knew that their children were coming here! I don’t know who told him that but he ditched to make sure he wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire!]

Elder IceFox paused a bit, something didn’t feel right. He felt that in his angered state something important surfaced.

[Children? Wait… where’s the other children? I know on the mission it said children not child.]

Elder IceFox fur started to stiffen making him look like a big ball of fur, his face had the same look a fox gets when it gets caught in a trap.

“High Elder BewitchingRabbit… WHERE THE HELL IS THE OTHER CHILDREN!”

------------

Will watch as the elderly man stop in the middle of the clearing, surrounding them about 50 meters away was the circle of empty buildings.

“Alright children let’s all group up in groups of two please. I’m going to teach you each basic fighting techniques.”

Energetically, the children wandered around to look for a partner, all except Will as he was still suspended in midair unable to move.

The elder man slowly walked towards Will as he helped other children form their pairs.

Then he tripped over nothing and fell face first on the ground.

As if a hologram was turned off, the elderly man turned into a young women dressed in all pink. Pink robes loosely covered her body, with matching hot pink slipper-like shoes. The pink hair-tie tying her long pink hair helped complete her entire hot pink outfit.

[Ah, now I see what Elder IceFox meant by ‘her’…and her name of High Elder BewitchingRabbit]

Ignoring the rest of the baffled and wide eyed children, High Elder BewitchingRabbit ran straight towards the hovering Will.

“Will! Tell me clearly, where are your siblings?” As if she saw a ghost, her fair face was pale. It gave her good looks and pink eyes a nice touch up in Will’s opinion. Pity her heaving chest was as flat as a board…

Will could only blink at her.

Realizing that he couldn’t move, High Elder BewitchingRabbit released the spell holding him in place.

Will dropped onto the ground lightly, before facing her with his head tilted upwards.

He just shrugged.

She looked worse, if that was possible, at his non-verbal answer.

Will felt that she might not have understood, so he opened his mouth and said, “I dunno. Woke up in a random cave before Big Sissy found me and dragged me over here. I didn’t have the time to find actual Big Sissy.”

She blinked with her rather H-like eyes, now she was only missing those heart-shaped pupils…

“Alright, class we’re going to end this lesson early. Will follow me and point where exactly you woke up in.”

Grabbing his little hands in hers, High Elder BewitchingRabbit started walking quickly away from the other children.

[Err… that is a good question. Where did I wake up in?]

Will trot quickly behind her; his little steps were only a third as long as hers.

“Um… Where are we going? I don’t know where I woke up in since Big Sissy brought me here after… teleporting? Flash-step? Over to here.”

High Elder BewitchingRabbit paused; she didn’t turn around to face Will so he couldn’t see her face. But her body language wasn’t saying anything good that’s for sure.

After a few seconds, she turned around and calmly spoke in a louder voice so all of the other children who were beginning to disperse to who-knows-where could hear, “Everyone, change of plans again! We’re going to go ahead and do this lesson after all! All pairs turn to each other!”

The children ran back to the center of the bare sandy ground as they lined up in two rows, facing inwardly at each other.

Will was facing High Elder BewitchingRabbit before he even knew what was happening. She turned to look at the other children who were eagerly awaiting her instructions from the looks of their eyes.

“We’ll practice attacking and defending without weapons for now. Later those who are deemed mature enough are allowed to spar with each other using blunted blades. I’ll demonstrate.”

High Elder BewitchingRabbit started her ‘spur’ with Will as her partner in front of the other children.

Extending an arm she lightly tapped his chest with a closed fist.

“This is counted as a hit, we’re not going any further then this alright? The defender only is allowed to avoid or redirect the attacker. They are not allowed to hit back, is that clear?”

All the children nodded, before one side started throwing out punches with abandon. Completely not listening to what was demonstrated just a few seconds ago, the so-called defenders really “defended” by throwing out punches of their own.

Within a few seconds, the two rows of children became a giant melee of children wailing on each other in what is essentially a giant group battle.

Will looked at the group of children his “age”, going to town and beating the shit out of each other. Bleeding lips and black eyes already become a unified look they shared. Clearly feminism wasn’t a thing here because the girls were doing just as good as the guys.

It was obvious that High Elder BewitchingRabbit did not expect this outcome, her eyes were wide as she looked at the giant continuing melee fight that was starting to hit the minute and half mark.

Will still thought that her pupils should be heart-shaped to make her pink eyes…but was distracted when a sudden kick hit him right in the stomach.

He was forced backwards by the blow, sitting on the ground and holding his tummy Will felt the pain slowly register in his brain.

[Ow, OW OW. Who would hit a bystander? WTF! I’ll show you dumb kids!]

Angered, Will did the usual thing. He reached for his connections to his minions – and felt nothing.

[Huh?]

This time a fist connected perfectly with his cheek, Will almost felt his spine go “SNAP” before he practically flew in the direction of the blow.

[Who the hell feeds their children steroids at this age? These are like the blows of real fighters!]

Panicking now, Will looked around for a place to hide. He was only an otaku, when did he ever get hit? He hadn’t even been in an actual fight his entire life!

Will didn’t count that thing with Hey-Hey, cause well he wasn’t exactly fighting per se, more of a toddler hitting a unresisting sandbag.

This was a real fight!

It seemed that Will’s cowardly move was seen by some of the other battling children as three of them came in his direction, fighting each other the entire way.

One girl punched the only guy in the group right in the face. He staggered back only to kick her stomach with a quick blow. That was when the other girl punched the back of his head with a fully winded back swing blow.

[How the hell is he still alive? His neck should be broken!]

Will who was watching this turned the other way and started running like a bitch.

Pride? Being a man? Ha! Will was a strong advocate for gender equality. If a girl can stay in the back and run like a bitch, so can a dude.

Will stumbled a few times, but he kept running for one of the “classrooms” on the parameter of the ‘practice grounds’ as it was called.

A hand grabbed the back of his nice silky robes; Will started cussing in his head.

[When did children start running like the good-damn Flash?]

Turning around, Will was greeted by the first girl of the trio who looked at him with bruises on both eyes, her lips with bleeding and blood was rushing down her nose.

In other words she looked scary as hell.

She didn’t even say anything before throwing a punch with her other hand while still holding onto his collar.

Behind her, Will could just see slightly past her growing fist that the other girl was duking it out with the guy.

Then her fist connected with his eye.

[Fuck! When did children get this vicious? This has to be the steroids! I’m gonna call the police on their parents and their asses! I didn’t even do anything to them! Why is she so intent on beating my ass?]

Will tried to block out the pain before almost instinctively reaching out for him minons’ mana again. This time they responded.

Will felt his strength grow as mana converged into his mana pool.

[Ahahahaha! FUCK YOU!]

He looked with his only good eye at the surprised girl holding him as he threw a sudden punch at her.

She redirected her mid-swing punch aimed at his face towards his fist.

Their fists connected - hers broke.

“CRACKLE! SNAP!”

Suddenly Will lost the anger that was roaring in his head. He felt the sensation as his fist broke hers clearly. It sounded like chips being opened then stomped on and felt just as similar.

Without even uttering a sound, the girl crouched down; tears were coming down her face.

“What is happening here?! STOP FIGHTING!”

A loud voice come from above them as everyone stopped beating each other up and looked up in unison.

A floating giant centipede was flying above them, with several familiar looking figures on her back.