Cultivating again

Once the men were scared away, Shui took the rope off his neck and threw it away. Once he spotted those two, he checked to see if he still had his martial intent and then made a plan to scare them away. Martial intent was gained by mastering the path of martial arts so even if he lost it, he guessed that he would be able to regain it by recalling his understanding of martial arts. He was a bit worried that even his martial intent would be sealed, but luckily that was not the case. However, the relief he felt was minimal because he knew that having martial intent wouldn't make this trial easy.

Early on the next day, unaware of what happened last night, Ali and Sally woke up Shui and got him ready for martial academy. Since he had dreamt of everything that had happened so far, Shui felt no discomfort around these two. Ali and Sally were in their late teens and had similar short brown hair. Though they weren't 10/10 class beauties, both were pleasant to look at.

Shui tried to act the same as usual, but the two of them were still able to tell that he was different, but since it didn't seem like a bad change they didn't say anything. Ali held Shui's hand as she brought him to the only martial academy in Cyrus, while Sally began opening the shop. They didn't want to force him to be a cultivator, but the martial academy also taught reading and writing and was the only school they could afford to send him to.

Once they reached in front of the gate to the academy, Ali let go of his hand and crouched to speak to him at the same height.

"Shui, have a good day at school, okay."

"Okay."

Shui walked into the school and waved while showing a bright smile until she left. The moment she did, the smile was gone and he went straight to the large building that he saw after passing through the gate. It was only a martial academy, but it was still a minor-level force established by the first ruler of Cyrus.

The building that Shui headed to was so high that he couldn't see its top when he was two cales away from it. At the front of this building was a very long line that Shui obediently joined.

When it was noon, Shui finally reached the front of the line but besides feeling hungry he didn't have any major complaints.

"Here."

He was given a bag of low quality spirit gems and sent away. This was given to all students on a monthly basis for their first year. It seemed like a good thing, but it was actually a challenge purposefully set up by the academy. It was one thing to get the spirit gems, but it was another thing to keep them.

Though he could probably find a class to attend at this time, Shui was sure he would have nothing to learn so his first priority was reaching first level in the Mortal Realm as soon as possible.

"Hey, stop right there!"

Shui heard some kid shouting but he ignored them. However, they ran and grabbed his shirt to stop him.

"I told you to stop!"

It was a boy about his age, with freckles and a light brown complexion. Shui was sure he had heard him running but he didn't look out of breath at all. In his current state, he could only guess someone's cultivation based off of their atmosphere so he wasn't sure, but he believed that the boy was either at the first or second level in the Mortal Realm. From his dream, he knew his name was Tin.

Annoyed by this boy, Shui asked with an irritated tone, "What do you want?"

"Huh? You're... acting weird today. Well whatever, hand over your spirit gems."

It was just as he guessed. This wasn't the first time Tin had robbed him of his spirit gems. He always resisted but before a cultivator, it was useless. Tin had come here for an extra bag of spirit gems, but his target had changed since the last time he saw him.

At first, Shui was just going to escape since he had no reason to go along with this brat, but then he noticed the bag at his waist and changed his mind.

"Why don't we fight for it? If you win, I'll give you my spirit gems, but if I win you'll give me yours."

"Why should I do something like that?"

"What? Are you afraid?"

"O-of course not! I'm not afraid of some weakling like you."

"Then let's go."

Shui led the way to a more secluded part of the school and Tin followed him without question. If Shui had prepared in advance, he could have simply led him into a trap so Shui laughed in his mind at how innocent this little bully was. When he felt they were far enough, Shui stopped and turned to face Tin. Once he did so, the boy put on a smirk and announced proudly,"Hmph, I'll give you the first hit."

Although he didn't need it, Shui was glad to accept the advantage.

"Thanks."

Tin didn't get into a defensive stance, not that Shui would allow him to. It wasn't as fast as he was used to, but Shui's ability to seemingly teleport in front of Tin was still amazing enough to stun the boy. His fist cleanly connected to Tin's face and knocked him over to a tree.

"Ah ah ah!"

Despite him being the one who knocked out Tin in one hit, Shui was frantically shaking the hand that had punched him. This was the true way of using martial intent, by maximizing the body's potential he could use the absolute limit of his power, but Shui normally used its telekinetic function since he discovered this ability while acting like a cripple, and it wasn't able to overlap with the power of talismans. While being empowered by martial intent, Shui felt like he had a high fever as if all of his body's functions were being pushed to the limit and generating heat from the vigorous activity.

While still grimacing from the pain, Shui walked over to Tin's unconscious body. His nose was bleeding but there were no other obvious injuries. Shui took the spirit gems he had and then walked off. At first, he was just going to find a quiet place to cultivate, but with this surplus he had a better idea.

Shui went to a tall white building near the center of the academy. Starting from the main entrance, as one went further into the school, the classes kept would be more and more advanced. The centre of the school functioned as a sort of boundary between the ordinary students who studied both literacy and martial arts, and the core students who focused on martial arts. The core students were required to wear a red armband so without one, Shui could quickly sense the gazes of disapproval aimed at him. The centre was technically a free space, but it sure didn't feel like it.

After enduring this foul atmosphere for a bit longer, he stood in front of a desk at the tall building.

"How much for a room?"

The one manning the desk was a boy in his early teens. When he looked at Shui, there was disdain in his eyes, but that couldn't be compared to his disinterest.

"A room on the first floor is one low quality spirit gem per hour."

Shui then dropping five spirit gems on the desk incited a bit of shock in him, but not enough to make him change his attitude. He picked up the spirit gems and took out a key from under the desk and gave it to Shui.

"Go to the room marked on that key. The lights will flash once when you have ten minutes left. If you make me have to come for you, I'll make you pay extra."

Not the best customer service but it didn't leave a bad feeling. After entering the building, Shui was able to find his room in a short amount of time. The room was barely enough for him to lie down in, but this small space wasn't a problem.

He couldn't sense nature energy yet, but he could tell that the air inside this building gave him a more peaceful feeling. This was because the building shared one big spirit gathering array where the higher the floor, the less rooms and the more energy was concentrated in each room. It wasn't bad, but if he had the right materials Shui would have improved a few points for his own benefit.