Black Remnant

Another day has passed.

Today is the day Ai will learn how to really fight and not randomly swing his weapon. Qi cultivation is good to improve overall power making it only the base of one's ability. The next phase is learning how to fight properly using Martial Arts.

Ai and Nin finally arrived at the academy and it seems everyone is gathered somewhere.

"I think something's going on out there." Ai is really curious why people are gathered together in one place.

"You don't have to involve yourself. Let's just go to our classroom. We don't want to be late." Even without checking the place, Nin already knew what was happening.

'Only experts can release that kind of Qi.' Two individuals from afar, using their Qi, are having a duel.

"It won't take that long, I swear! I'll be back!" And so, Ai excitedly runs towards the commotion.

Arriving at the place, he pushed through to see what was going on and there are two people in the middle of the crowd, both wearing 2-star uniforms and carrying their weapons while emitting black Qi.

"You started this you punk! I'll rip your head off!" A tall masculine bald middle-aged guy carrying a giant axe started swinging it. While the other long haired guy is young and small currently only using a fan as a weapon.

'Shit, that bald guy is strong. The small one is screwed!' Watching what was happening, somehow, Ai's eyes were glued to the young one. Moving so fluent dodging every swing of axe of the giant bald guy destroying everything on his path. It looks like he was wrong.

'Wait, I was wrong.' Of course, you are.

'That small guy is only making fun of him. How is he doing that?' Ai started to get curious. He saw lots of fights before but not like this one. Experts sure are strong with different fighting styles, unlike him who only knows how to swing a sword.

"Ooooohohoho! Is that it, trash?" Provoking the bald guy even further, the bald stopped and decided to use powerful art.

"What did you call me?! BLACK FIST AURA LEVEL ONE! You're going to pay for this!" The bald guy finally used his Qi Aura which only experts can use, increasing his strength and agility significantly. Lifting his giant axe, he's really aiming for the kill.

*BOOOOOOM!* A massive shockwave pushed all the spectators away of the fight but yet...

"What?!" His eyes couldn't believe what he saw. Someone stopped his attacked before it could even hit the small guy.

"Damn it, Ba'an. I told you, no fighting without my permission!" Someone wearing a 3-star uniform blocked his attack only using a long thin sword. He's on a different level for blocking the attack of someone who used a level 1 Black Fist Aura.

"I'm sorry, teacher. He stole my lunch! I know it!" The giant bald guy's aura finally dispersed and now acting like a child after his teacher appeared to stop his attack.

"Ehhh..." Everyone almost collapsed after hearing the reason why they're fighting.

"I told you, you don't have to use violence or else I will be in trouble again because of you! And what the hell are you guys looking at! Get the hell out of here!" So the crowd dispersed as the teacher shooed them away.

"Oh man! That was an intense fight!" Ai, on the other hand, walked closer to them. He was truly amazed by the fight and somehow, he was more curious about the small guy's fighting style.

"I told you to get out of here too. Why on... wait, you're that level 1 disciple, right? How on earth did you get in here?" Unfortunately, the teacher in front of him is not that bright to detect Ai's Qi.

"I thought Master Ranks can detect Qi? As you can see, I am now a Level 5 Disciple!" Excited young Ai seems to know much about that but is idiot enough to not know the reason.

"Now that you mention it, yes. You're right! Ha ha..." The teacher let out a forced laugh.

"Yeah, teacher. I'm sure you can." The small guy seems to know his teacher pretty well.

*Whispers*

The small guy swiftly got near to Ai and whispered to his ear. "Shhh... that idiot is just a muscle head. He can't control his qi pretty well."

"Hey?! What the hell are you whispering?! Aheem... well, it would be rude if I won't introduce ourselves. I'm Shin level 9 Master and 2nd strongest of Black Fist Academy. This bald-headed dude is Ba'an, a level 3 Expert and that small guy right there is Chanyan, a level 5 Expert. I would love to talk to you more but I guess we have to leave as well. We're all late for our class." Ai, thinking this guy is even stronger than their current teacher, felt more excited to meet stronger people.

'Wait... shit! I'm late!' Ai, rushed as fast as he could.

-Black Fist Academy, 1 Star Classroom-

*BAAAAM!* Ai rushing to the classroom, he accidentally put force upon opening the door.

"Getting the spotlight, aren't you, young Ai? You're 10 minutes late but since it's your first time, it will be just a warning. Next time, it will be a grave punishment. Are we clear?" Ai's got chills all over his body after Wai stared at him through his soul. Ai just nodded a lot of times and then went to his seat next to Nin.

"I told you so." Nin went ahead of him knowing she already knew the outcome even before the start of the battle.

"Yeah, yeah. Now let's learn-"

*SWOOOSH* A book flew towards Ai so fast that not a single eye saw it but-

*CATCHES* Nin managed to catch it with her hand before it even hit the idiot.

"Nice catch, miss Kin. But no talking without my permission." Wai let out a bitter smile after she wasn't able to execute the punishment carefully. Not on her wildest imagination that a newbie could stop her attack like that.

'If it wasn't for Kin, I should be knocked out by that kind of punishment. She really is strong.' Ai wanted to give his gratitude toward the young princess but he couldn't talk or else there might be another thing to fly around.

'She's strong. I couldn't tell her rank exactly, she must have been using Qi suppression. I didn't realize that a genius was in my class. The elder should know about this.' Just as simple as that, a suspicion emerged. Knowing that they're at war and the girl being a forest dweller, she could be a spy from the rebels.

The class finally started but today wasn't a written one.

"Everyone, you should follow me. We are going to the Academy's Library." Wai went out together with the youngsters. The academy is pretty big and there are lots of things to learn including advanced cultivation techniques, alchemy, learning martial arts, magic treasures, and knowing more about mystical beasts and demons.

Whispers can be heard through the students while heading to the library/

"I thought, we're going to learn how to fight today? Why are we going to the library?"

"I know, right? It must be another lesson."

"Yeah, I thought I could see some action too."

'Too eager to learn how to fight, they are naive to think that it was easy.' Unlike Ai who almost died when he fought with the wolves, he knows how frightening it could be when fighting a real battle.

Not that long, they finally reached the Academy's Library.

-Academy's Library-

"This place is huge!" A lot of the students are amazed by how the place is built and how the books are arranged carefully.

Wai talked to a couple of librarians to inform them that she will be conducting a class today.

"So, here we are and as you can see, this isn't a normal library. This place consists of different sections with different types of Manuals including skill books, martial arts book, and even alchemy books. Unfortunately, per State's rules, we can only use our State Clan's arts." Wai showed them where they could find the arts they might want to try.

"Before we start this part of the class, I want to warn every single one of you that there are also different types of learning difficulties and grades for every book. Of course, you can learn fighting style or martial arts by yourself or any other means but skill books are the fastest way. There are Normal, Rare, Epic and Legendary grade books. Higher grade means higher difficulty and most of the books have requirements to be able to learn. When a low rank like yourselves try an Epic or Legendary grade books, death awaits you so pick wisely and take the books on your own risks?" Everyone's eyes are now full of doubt and distress knowing that they could die upon choosing a stronger type of skill set.

"Btw, this will be the first and the last time every one of you can enter this place. Manuals are expensive after all. The highest type of books here are at Epic grade and believe it or not, no one has really created or learned Legendary grade books. So today, I will allow each and every single one of you to choose 3 skills books regardless of grade. I already warned you so if you die, that's on you. But first, let me show you the 5 Clan's Arts."

'3 Skillbooks won't be enough...'

'I want to be strong but it does matter if I die, what should I do?!'

'This place is so huge and there's no way I can decide in just a day...'

Everyone has their own dilemma. Even picking Rare grade books is still risky, risky enough to even destroy someone's Qi core making him not be able to cultivate Qi for the rest of his life.

"So, there are 6 sections, Fist, Fog, Sting, Howl, Petal, and Alchemy. Most of you already know a few of Black Fist arts known to focus on offensive power. Black Fog and Sting arts focus on improving agility to a certain level while Black Howl arts provides support and morale boost. Black Petal, on the other hand, has wide of varieties like sealing and unsealing arts which increase or decrease one's ability to fight. Even with good skills, Black Petal is the most difficult arts to learn. Lastly, the books for alchemy. which teaches someone to concoct pills of different kinds, from boosting cultivation speed to creating poisons to kill enemies. An alchemist who can fully use his/her potential can even rule a Clan or even a State."

Everyone, from doubt, became so excited now after hearing their teacher's words. They are here to start their journey to become strong and more risks means more chances of getting stronger. Even Ai seems to be excited.

"I will give you an hour to choose 3 skill books. The librarians here are at their peak of Expert Rank so don't try doing nasty business. I, on the other hand, will relax outside. Have fun." Their teacher decided to leave and not even giving them advice or anything. This doesn't only teach them how to pick books that will help them improve but also checking the books as fast as they could because 1 hour is too short to even browse this amount of books.

'Only an hour?!'

'Where the hell should I start?!'

'Wow, lots of skill books! I need to check all of them!'

'I want to get the best book!'

Everyone's dilemma has changed. Now, the number of books in this place is too much and they can only base what to choose from what their teacher told them. Tricky it is but smart cultivators can choose easily what to get.

In just a short period of time, Sha and Kiri already got theirs while the others are struggling to choose.

Ai, on the other hand, is deep inside the library and it seems he's going for the rarest skill books.

"Why on earth are you here, dummy. You know when you get Epic grade books, even if you reach Master, the risk is still high... so what's the point?" Nin following Ai, she doesn't want her idiot brother to choose stupidly but her worries are right considering, idiots are always idiots.

"Don't worry, Kin. I have a plan. Oh right, I remember, you're strong so are there any books you want to get?" Young Ai must be an idiot to everyone's eye but somehow, he's scheming something.

'Why is he asking me this question? Though... most of the books here are useless to me considering my teacher already taught me the best skills that would help me with my fighting style.' Confidence is high on this one.

"Nothing else really, why? Do you need more than 3 books?" Still, even with 6 Epic grade books won't help him at all.

"Then, here. These are Unidentified Epic Grade Black Fist books. I can't really tell what books they are or what they do but I need those 3. I got 3 myself as well. I know you have many questions but just trust me on this one, ok?" "Trust," he says but Nin just received it without any questions.

"Let's get back. We're running out of time." And so, both of them returned with shiny books.

All of them finally got back and their teacher Wai is here as well.

"So... I can see that Kin got herself Epic grade books and... aren't we getting ahead of ourselves, young Ai?" Seeing that Ai is carrying epic books, most of them know that him reaching level 5 disciple is a miracle enough, but use epic books like those as well? Isn't he overestimating himself?

*SPIT* Kiri used his signature move to express how annoyed he is.

"That's disgusting, Kiri. Please don't do that again in front of me." Wai didn't like it but Kiri just ignored everyone.

"I would love to try, not today maybe, but it might work for me one day." Ai showed them determination. Honest perseverance hoping to reach the top.

"I like how you show motivation. The others might learn a thing or two from you. Anyhow, it's almost nap time and I'm never late when it comes to my nap time so everyone is dismissed. Those books will certainly help you so good luck learning them. Also, tomorrow you will be having your own weapon for your fighting style." *YAWN* Wai let out a long yawn showing how tired she is but... she didn't really do anything but wait.

"Isn't it only lunch ti-"

"Ack!" A flying book hit young Ai's face after questioning her teacher's sense of time.