35 - Training area

The boy promptly admitted his defeat, and seeing this, Xu Xin was slightly disappointed but it didn't matter.

Xu Xin was by then feeling a bit tired, so he just left the arena. But he mainly left because of the idea that he had just gotten.

Nobody stopped him, because he was just too crazy to try to interfere with.

Nobody tried to follow him either as he simply went back to where he was staying and sat down, quickly falling asleep.

It wasn't particularly late, but he chose to sleep because he had plans for tomorrow.

He had figured out an idea for a new technique!

...

The next morning, he woke up to the sound of chatter around him, because the street where he was had become active again.

But he didn't really care and left.

He went nearby and went into a training area that was a restricted forest with beasts and other people in it.

There were nine designated teams of people plus a bunch of guilds, and the rules were that you had to attack those of an enemy team and team up with those of your own team, while you could do whatever you wanted to the beasts.

If you wanted, you could even completely wipe out all the beasts in the training area, but nobody had ever done that because the training area was more than a hundred miles wide, and it was outside the walls of the core city.

In fact, these training areas were realistically just portions of land that had been designated as a training area even though they were completely wild inside.

The nine teams were always designated as a colored badge that they wore on their chest, and if you took it off or stole someone else's, it would turn clear and you would be attacked by anyone in the training area.

Each badge was bound to your blood, so if it sensed being taken away from its owner, it would turn clear, and if you were seen wearing a clear badge or not wearing one, you were marked as a target inside the training ground.

The badges had a function that allowed the training area officiators to change the color of the badge to form your own personal team even after your color had been decided.

The ten colors were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, gray, black, and a pattern that you could designate.

The patterned badges were for forming your own personal guild, which was something that a lot of people did.

Guilds could sometimes rule over entire training areas and set certain rules there, but they were limited by the strength of their members.

As for getting a pattern of that guild on your badge, you would have to have an actual member with you when it was changed to make sure that it was legitimate.

The training areas varied in strength and danger, and Xu Xin just went to a low-leveled one to test out his idea for his new technique.

Anyone of any age could enter these training areas, but it was encouraged for mostly younger people to go into them.

As Xu Xin approached the area with the training area officiator, he quickly saw an old man sitting in a small shack seemingly sleeping.

It was clear that not much happened here since once you got a badge, the only thing you needed from him was to change its color or join a guild.

Guild members were monitored to make sure that they didn't get out of hand, of course, while the people with the typical colored teams inside there would keep them in check inside the training area.

But Xu Xin didn't care for any of this as he just approached the shack and knocked on the window, waking up the old man from his sleep.

As soon as he woke up, Xu Xin realized that this man was at the spirit realm, which surprised him considering that this training area was only at the level of the martial arts path.

But he quickly recovered and spoke his purpose to the man, who had just come out of the shack.

"I've come to register for a badge with the black color."

Hearing this, the old man was surprised, because even though there was no difference between the colors on the surface, each color represented a type of person, and they had all banded together and formed a balance over time.

As for what black represented, it represented those ruthless individuals who would kill without hesitation to get what they wanted, and they were known for being extremely violent and crazy in the training areas.

In fact, while the numbers of those in the black color were low, they were usually the third strongest group in the training area behind those guilds formed by groups of people from the same family or master and the white clan, which was a neutral force.

Each color represented what was called a clan in the training area, and the only reason that the guilds had a different name was because they were intentionally formed by specific people rather than just by coincidence based on personality.

And to join the black clan was not a minor thing, because even members of the same clan would attack you if you didn't fit in there, especially in places like the black clan where everyone was ruthless.

After all, there were no specific rules that those of the same clan had to stay together, only that they couldn't team up with those of a different clan unless it was to attack a different clan.

Basically, it was like the outside world, and it worked in the same ways, but there were less groups of people, and it was limited to within the training area that their power could spread, meaning that it was a training area for real life rather than just hunting or gathering.

The only exception to this was that the white clan was the most powerful force, but it was neutral, meaning that its members wouldn't attack others and that other clans and guilds wouldn't attack it.

But this only made Xu Xin happier.

He'd prefer to have to attack others, especially since the black clan was hated by everybody and was universally known as the ones to attack on sight, and even those of the white clan would attack them or be attacked by them.

Not only did the colors correspond to your personality, but they also usually corresponded to element as well, like how the red clan was usually made up of arrogant hotheads of the fire element and the purple clan was made of the more peaceful water elements.

In this way, the rankings were easily set, and before anyone even entered the training areas, they could tell which clans and guilds were strongest.

But that definitely didn't mean that they could join them just because they wanted to; their personality had to match and their element had to somewhat match.

It was for this reason that all those who didn't fit in with the clans chose the white clan or guilds, because both had no restrictions on personality or element.

You only had to apply for a guild while the white clan accepted anyone, leading them to have the most people, hence their number one position.

In short, this was a very complicated place and it was almost as complicated as the outside world, perhaps more so in some aspects.

But the good thing was that, as odd as Xu Xin's request for the black clan badge was, the old man instantly gave him a black badge and asked him to prick his finger and squeeze some blood onto it.

Xu Xin instantly did this, and he had no issues with it as it instantly bonded to him and he could somewhat feel its presence.

These badges could be worn no matter where you went, whether it was within the training areas or not, and it could be said to be a symbol of who you are.

It wasn't required, but it was a bonus.

Little did the old man know, but Xu Xin could easily change the color to whatever he wanted it to be because his master had taught him everything about them, meaning that he could even turn a clear one back into a solid color and unbind them from someone.

As he went into the woods, he experimented with it and changed the color a few times since he hadn't ever actually practiced it, and it worked, though it was shaky before it stabilized because of how low his level currently was.

The clothes that he had bought while in the city were black, and paired with the black badge, he was wearing nothing but black, while his aquamarine eyes shone from under a hood.

His demeanor perfectly suited someone in the black clan, while his looks only enhanced that feeling.

But it didn't take long before he changed his manner into that of a calm and amiable old man as he shifted his personality from ice to water.

Before he went into the training area, he had gotten a map of the areas controlled by each clan and guild, and he quickly headed towards the black clan area, and he got there a few hours later.

Most people would go into the training areas for a few days at a time, but he had no clue how long he would be here, and he only intended to come out once he had successfully developed his new technique.

As he approached the main area of the black clan, he was met with the sight of trees fallen over and destroyed in any way possible everywhere he could see, and in the middle of the destruction sat a simple house (more like mansion) with a black banner on the front.

As soon as he got close, a person approached him, about fifteen years old, only a little older than he was, but that person was at the fifth stage of the martial arts path, someone that he currently couldn't fight.

"What do you want? Just because you have a black badge doesn't mean you can be part of the clan."

The boy spoke as if he was talking to an idiot, but Xu Xin didn't mind, instead directly charging at the boy, his demeanor shifting from that of an amiable old man to a cold-blooded killer in less than a second.

The boy wasn't expecting this change, and he instantly prepared to defend himself, after all, it was clear that this kid's personality suited the black clan, so he couldn't just turn him away.

But he wanted to see Xu Xin's power, so he allowed him to attack him, but he soon found that that was a mistake.

As Xu Xin's fist clashed against the boy's arm, he felt the force of a bull behind it, and the boy was actually pushed back a bit as a cold power invaded his arm, though it was quickly wiped out by his own inner energy.

But Xu Xin didn't stop there as he swept his leg, knocking over the unsuspecting boy, and slamming his other fist down on the boy's chest, knocking him to the ground.

Because the boy had only defended himself without taking his opponent seriously, he had been knocked down, but he quickly recovered and spun on the ground, delivering a kick towards Xu Xin's abdomen.

Xu Xin flew back from the impact, but he wasn't majorly hurt, and his demeanor instantly shifted back to calmness as he felt that his personality and power was displayed.

The boy then got up and signaled for Xu Xin to follow him, but Xu Xin just ignored him and headed inside behind him.

Inside, the boy went up the stairs of the house to the third floor and went up to a specific door before knocking on it.

After a moment of silence, a voice sounded from within the room, "ENTER!!!"