Mystical Journey

After leaving the judo, Garen was waiting for a carriage in front of the entrance .

"Mister, would you like a newspaper?" A young boy wearing a gray cap walked over with a stack of newspapers in his arms and held out a newspaper to Garen .

"Newspaper?" Garen thought for a while, grabbed the newspaper, and handed over a dollar from his pocket .

"Thanks . " The boy left to continue looking for the next customer .

Garen shook the grayish-white newspaper and spread it open . An enormous black headline suddenly appeared in his sight .

"Tensions between Weisman Empire and Republic of the Tulip increasingly apparent!! The stance of the Confederation will become important . "

He frowned and continued to look at the other headlines .

"The Chairman of the Confederation will conduct an ordnance inspection of the armed forces on the 19th at nine in the morning . "

"Shocking massacre in the Western Alliance, owner of a manor and 42 other people murdered . "

"Fascinating archaeological discoveries of historical remains found in Stonecliff Continent . "

Rustling the newspaper, Garen was just about turn to the next page when a pedestrian bumped into him . A page of the newspaper fell out, revealing a black and white photo .

It was a dark wheat field with a slanted scarecrow alone in the middle, surrounded by a sea of black wheat .

There was a caption below the photo .

"Shocking discovery of a purple wheatfield in the Southwest Province . "

Garen carefully looked at the photo; very subtly, he actually felt a trace of movement from his supernatural ability .

He scanned through the content below, and the name of a location appeared in his eyes .

"Mason Farm"

The sound of a carriage approached from a distance, and Garen quickly rolled up the newspaper and raised his hand to hail it .

The grayish-black carriage slowly stopped in front of him .

"Go to Bluetree Street . "

"Yes, sir . "

****************

"After the Border War 15 years ago, the world has reverted back to a peaceful state . As one of the superpowers of the three continents, it is our historical duty to maintain world peace . . . "

The geography lecturer was standing on the podium, giving a history lecture filled with his own opinions . The adorable bald elderly man was vigorously waving his arms while turning back from time to time to chalk down important key points .

Within the white classroom, Garen was sitting in the back row by the window with his chin resting on his palm, flipping through the geography textbook on his table .

The entire textbook was white except for the cover, where a black flying bird was printed in the middle . It was the flag of the Yalu Confederation . The four characters on top of the image meant geography .

Garen flipped through the front pages in the images section and stopped at the page with the world map .

The white rectangular area represented the ocean; three irregular gray lands were floating in the middle of the ocean .

The three lands formed a ring pattern with a tiny gap in the upper left corner .

The upper strip of land was labeled Stonecliff Continent, the bottom left was Azura Continent and the bottom right was Fivestar Continent . These three continents were surrounded by countless islands of various shapes and sizes .

Garen's finger slowly and steadily glided on the Stonecliff Continent and finally stopped at the middle part of the continent, slightly to the left . There was an irregularly shaped land in that location, labeled as Yalu Confederation .

This region was close to a third of the entire Stonecliff Continent .

"This world sure is strange . . . Even though planes exist, no one has been able to explore the entire world . The continents are entirely surrounded by water with no end in sight . All of humanity revolves around the three continents, and the surface area is equivalent to all of the continents on Earth combined, if not more . "

Garen flipped to the next page, glanced through it and looked out the window .

A group of people was setting pole flags on a field at a distance away . It seemed like they were preparing for some sort of activity .

The late afternoon sunlight with a hint of redness shined onto the field, covering the dark green surface with a layer of golden red .

It had been three days since Garen returned from the dojo . He already applied during the audition at the dojo, and all he needed to do now was to wait for the results .

If he passed, he would directly become a formal disciple of the White Cloud Dojo; he would be able to learn a Secret Method and even receive a monthly allowance .

Ting . . .

The sweet sound of the school bell rang out, marking the end of the class .

The geography teacher clapped his hands to get the class’ attention .

"Well, today's lessons end here . I hope that everyone reviews after going back . I will be checking next lesson . Lan Ruo, thank you for your hard work . "

"It's nothing . "

A black haired female student with twin ponytails stood and nodded . She then left her seat and waited for the teacher to leave before she rapidly wiped the writing on the blackboard .

The girl had a pure and cold disposition . She had an oriental look with large black pupils; her bangs slanted diagonally downward across her forehead, and her skin was fair and delicate .

Garen knew her; there were only twenty-five students in the class—there was not a single person who didn’t know her .

Lan Ruo was in the top three in academics in the class and top five in the entire grade . She was pretty and pure like a flawless ceramic doll, and her skin was as tender as milk jelly .

It was just that she had an indifferent personality and barely spoke to her classmates . Other than the basic greetings, she would always silently look at the person trying to start a conversation with her . Faced with her large eyes and expressionless face, they could only give up and leave .

"Have you seen Fayne?" Kalidor approached Garen from the front rows . With a head full of yellow hair, he wore a white shirt and yellow leather vest with a sapphire necklace hanging around his chest . With his thin frame and fashion, he looked extremely flamboyant .

"Fayne? We only just got off class and he's already gone . Why are you looking for him?" Garen puzzledly asked . "That guy's probably messing around with some girl somewhere . "

"Since his elder cousin came, let's gather for lunch later . She'll be bringing a female friend with her, so it'll be me, you, Fayne and them . We're all in the same grade, and I heard that they're from an all girls' school . " Kalidor raised his eyebrows .

"So what if they're from a girls' school? I need to go to the dojo later, so I can't make it . "

"Why are you missing out on such a good chance?"

"I'll go the next time, really . " Garen shrugged his shoulders . "This time, I really have something to do . "

"You rascal . . . This is such a good chance!" Kalidor muttered to himself as he left the classroom .

Garen was speechless as he shook his head . After tidying up the book on his table, he stood up and walked out of the classroom with his black cloth bag .

********************

Twenty minutes later . . .

White Cloud Dojo Martial Coliseum

Within a dim and spacious redwood hall .

A bald elderly man sat cross-legged on the floor with a burning fireplace at his back . The red flames were continuously propelled outwardly, creating a crackling sound .

There was no lighting, only the red glow of the fireplace .

Over ten youths in white clothing sat cross-legged in front of the elderly man on the floor . Each of them had a solemn expression on their face as they looked at the elderly man .

"Congratulations," the bald elderly man slowly said . "You're the latest batch of official disciples this year . "

No one said anything, but their breathing became slightly heavier . Among them, the oldest was eighteen years old and the youngest was fifteen . However, without any exception, joyful expressions appeared on all their faces .

The elderly man noticed it and slightly nodded his head .

"When you become a formal disciple, the greatest benefit, other than not having to pay tuition fees, is that you'll be taught a Secret Method of Martial Arts . "

"Secret Methods of Martial Arts are an absolutely undisclosed secret within each and every sect and dojo . So before we begin, I hope that you will be able to uphold the agreement that you just signed . "

The elderly man took out an ancient yellow scroll from his black gi and gently spread it open on the floor .

"Starting from the first person on the left, come up here and look at this once, then step back . "

The leftmost person was a girl who was sitting in a cross-legged position . As she stood, she walked to the front to pick up the scroll . After giving it a glance, she immediately returned to her original position . Then the second, third . . .

Each of them took less than ten seconds to finish reading .

Sitting in the rear was a purple-haired boy with red eyes: it was Garen who had rushed here directly from school to receive the Secret Method of Martial Arts . He was wearing a white gi with both of his hands on his knees, staring at the students who had seen the scroll .

It was soon his turn . Garen stood up and walked to the front . He knelt in front of the elderly man, picked up the scroll and carefully looked at it .

A human figure was drawn on the light yellow scroll: the figure was posing in a weird posture-- similar to the horse stance -- emanating a rich and special hidden meaning .

Garen looked at it once and easily remembered it . At the same time, he detected a light fragrance from the scroll . It was very faint and similar to the smell of honey .

As he returned to his position and sat down, he suddenly felt sleepy .

"Now, take the posture shown on the scroll . Take note of that particular hidden meaning," the bald elderly man's voice clearly sounded out .

Everyone stood up, spread out and began to imitate the posture shown on the scroll .

Garen followed suit as well: his arms were thrust to the front while tiptoeing on one leg and on his heels with the other .

After taking the stance, the skill section at the bottom of his field of vision suddenly changed . A new skill actually gradually appeared: White Cloud Fundamental Secret Method: Elementary .

Garen felt a warm sensation slowly converging in his chest and abdomen, then spreading to his four limbs . His entire body rapidly entered into a comfortable state .

Within the attribute column in his field of vision, his strength attribute slowly started to change . It jumped from 0 . 44 to 0 . 45 .

The elderly man's voice sounded out again .

"Do you feel a pleasant feeling spreading throughout your body? It means that you have already successfully learned our White Cloud Secret Arts . In the future, use this pose to meditate . This Secret Method will increase your strength based on your physical condition and talent . This Secret Method has three stages: the beginning Heat Stage, intermediate Frost Stage, and finally Heatfrost Interchange . Every time you move to the next stage, it will increase your strength to a certain amount . If a normal person were to reach the highest level, their strength will increase to twice their original strength . Of course, it would take a while to reach that point .

"In addition, the growth of the Secret Method is progressive . There are also some restrictions when training with this method: do not train when you're too tired, do not train when you're too hungry, do not train where there are lots of distractions . . . "

Garen was sitting in the back, listening to the key points explained by the elderly man . As he continued to hold the posture, he was experiencing a pleasant feeling throughout his body due to the increase in blood flow .

He continued to listen to the key points as he monitored the attributes and skills section at the bottom of his field of vision .

After thinking for a while, his line of sight finally focused on his newly gained White Cloud Secret Method .

After a few seconds, a burst of energy suddenly rushed into the skill .

The display status of the White Cloud Secret Method gradually changed, from elementary to intermediate .