I Shall Steal the Heavens 8 Chapter 7: First day of class

Are they going to teach us martial arts or combat in classes?

That certainly was one possibility, but the whole class thing made no sense to me. If the other students were going to be recruited into the various sects, then what need do they have of learning in the same class with disciples from other sects? Wouldn't it benefit them more to stay within their sects and learn whatever traditional martial arts that their masters taught them? Furthermore, their masters could devote more time and energy teaching these disciples. The current system meant that most of the students, despite being in the same class, had absolutely nothing in common with each other. So what could Teacher Jiao teach us in class that the masters of the respective sects couldn't?

Only one way to find out.

"Oh, hey, Fei Wu! You're up early today."

I waved when Zhu Jiao called out to me, and slowed down so that he could catch up. As he jogged to my side, I smiled wryly.

"You're pretty early yourself."

"Ha ha, I couldn't sleep. I was too worried about today's class."

Chuckling, Zhu Jiao rubbed his head sheepishly. I raised an eyebrow at that. Why would a class in Wu Ling Academy warrant such worries? And what was he worrying about? Ah…now that I thought about it, it should have been obvious. We were both One Star Constitution practitioners. Of course Zhu Jiao would be worried about "trash" like us trying to keep up with the class.

"What do you think they will teach us in class?" I asked. "It can't be martial arts, right? I mean, if we're supposed to learn martial arts, why can't they let the masters of the respective sects that everyone belongs to teach the disciples directly? Why gather various students from all the different sects into a single class?"

"You don't know?" Zhu Jiao sounded surprised. "They're not teaching us martial arts in class. That's the masters' job."

"Then…"

"You'll see." Zhu Jiao groaned as he stared at the skies, his fingers knitted behind his head. "Man, I hope I'll be able to survive this semester."

So that was what he was worried about. Right, now that I thought about it, the typical protagonists tended to be those who didn't do very well academically, and their low grades were a constant concern. A good number of them, anyway.

We reached our designated classroom shortly after that conversation. The good thing about being early on the first day was that we got to select our own seats…at least until Teacher Jiao decided to reassign and decide our seating arrangement.

Tired because I actually slept a little late last night, I placed my head on my newly acquired desk and dozed off. Before I knew it, I was woken up by chattering. At some point during my short nap, my classmates had gathered in the classroom.

"Hey!" Tong Xue greeted me cheerfully as he took the seat in front of mine. "You guys are here early!"

"You're the one who's late," Zhu Jiao muttered. Tong Xue merely chuckled.

"Sorry, my new master kept me back until late at night. I didn't return to the dorm until after midnight."

That shocked me out of my drowsiness and I gaped at him. "Whoa! Why so late?!"

"Training, introduction to the Smart Shadow Sect, and a bit of learning." Tong Xue grimaced. "They sure don't plan on giving us a break, already starting on training on our first day here."

I leaned back in dismay. While the Experimentalists had no choice but to retire early in their dorm last night, the Traditionalists already embarked on their first steps to becoming proper martial artists. If we maintained this pace, the gap between us would grow larger and larger.

"Okay, everyone! Find yourself a seat and settle down!"

While I was descending into gloom, Teacher Jiao strolled into the classroom and barked firmly.

"…"

The students all resumed their seats without complaints. Predictably, Qi Fu Ren and his two flunkies occupied the seats at the back, having intimidated a trio of timid classmates away and seizing those desks for themselves. The bully was already making use of his status as a Four Star Constitution practitioner to extort from others.

"I'm sure you guys must be wondering why you're in a classroom instead of learning martial arts under your masters," Teacher Jiao began. I leaned forward, having occupied the front row just so I could pay more attention. It seemed that the decision paid off, because Teacher Jiao was addressing the one question I had in my mind.

"Yeah!" Qi Fu Ren shouted, cutting in. "Why aren't we at the White Tiger Sect learning White Tiger techniques?" he pulled his lips into a sneer. "It can't possibly be that you intend to teach us White Tiger Sect techniques, Teacher Jiao?"

"Unfortunately, I do not possess any knowledge of the esteemed White Tiger Sect's techniques," Teacher Jiao replied without missing a beat. "And in any case, a non-disciple like me is forbidden from learning those techniques. Your White Tiger Sect masters will most certainly flay me alive if I attempt to do so." He cast a stern glance across everyone in the classroom. "And that warning applies equally to all of you. If you're not a disciple of a sect, you're not allowed to learn martial arts of that sect. you're not permitted to learn any martial arts from any existing sect that is not your own, unless they have already agreed with the Alliance to share and disseminate their arts. In such cases, it's best not to assume – if you want to learn a technique that is not from your sect, you should approach me or any of the Wu Ling Academy staff to ensure that the technique is available for public access. Otherwise, learning a technique from another sect without permission is punishable by death."

What the fuck?! By death? What was this, the eleventh century or something?

Then again, I was in an alternate timeline that operated on rules and culture completely different from the one I originally grew up in. there was no point trying to enforce my own moral values on a system that wasn't mine.

"The Experimentalists shouldn't have any problems in that regard," Teacher Jiao continued. I noticed that he shot a furtive glance in the direction where Zhu Jiao and I were seated. "Especially since we'll already provide you with resources and techniques that have already been posted on the public domain." He cleared his throat. "I say public domain, but I don't mean that literally. Obviously it's not open to all public, and non-martial artists or people who are not students and staff of Wu Ling Academy would not have such unrestricted access to these resources."

"My master told me to devote all my attentions to learning the Red Phoenix techniques," Feng Hua, a female classmate with her long red hair tied into a ponytail, quipped. Teacher Jiao nodded.

"And you should listen to your master." He pushed his glasses up and gave me and Zhu Jiao a meaningful look. "This information is generally for the Experimentalists. That said, I'm just warning you of consequences if you commit a taboo. Some students don't know, and attempt to learn another sect's martial arts. Even Principal Xiao Zhang will not be able to save you from one of the major sects if you cross them like that."

An uneasy silence fell over the classroom. Teacher Jiao forced a smile, and then continued – partially because he wanted to break the awkward atmosphere.

"To return to the topic at hand, the reason you're here is for theoretical classes." Teacher Jiao picked up a book. "Wu Ling Academy inculcates the Wu and Wen binary. That is to say, the warrior and cultural ethics. You're not here just to become a martial artist, but also to become a cultured and intelligent one. Strength must serve a purpose, and be wielded carefully. Education is to temper your powers with reason and intelligence. Otherwise, there is nothing separating a violent brute from a wild beast."

That last comment seemed directed at Qi Fu Ren, but the huge guy ignored the jab. He was instead leaning back in his chair while planting both feet on the desk. His bored expression clearly indicated that he didn't take Teacher Jiao's words seriously.

"Anyway, that's the reason. On that note, let's begin the lesson." At a flick of his fingers, our desks suddenly hummed and tablets emerged on the surface. Electric qi powered on and colored screens came to life. I gaped when I saw the digital pages of a textbook appear, bearing rows of text and a vivid illustration at the bottom of the page.

Wow, even though this was a martial arts world, the technology had become really advanced. There were so many things we could do with qi.

"We'll begin with the first page…"

Even as the students chattered excitedly over the unexpected development, Teacher Jiao's voice resounded firmly throughout the classroom. Before we knew it, we were all swept away by his words and immersed with his class.

*

Despite this being a different world, the educational curriculum in Martial Academy was almost identical to that in my previous world.

Teacher Jiao taught us history, language and literature. Other teachers, such as Teacher Shu Xue, taught mathematics, and there was Teacher Wu Li who taught us physics. Which was funny, considering how everyone in this world defied the laws of physics. All in all, a pretty standard education not too different from that of my original timeline.

Even more interesting was alchemy, which was this world's version of chemistry. For our first lesson, our alchemy teacher, Teacher Lian Jin Shu, brought us to the chemistry laboratory where beakers of bubbling chemicals held over blazing Bunsen burners hovered.

"Be careful," Teacher Lian warned us as we peeked curiously at the beakers. "Some of the chemicals are volatile. And the Bunsen burners run on methane gas, which is highly combustible. Don't play with them!"

Seemed like some things never changed, no matter what world I was in.

Having been through this student's experience before, I found it hard to be fascinated by everything. While I had long forgotten the majority of what I had learned in school seventeen years ago, the exposure to these subjects brought back nostalgic memories. I had vague recollections of having learned this fact or that formula before.

I probably wouldn't have any trouble with the theoretical curriculum of Wu Ling Academy.

In fact, I would have an advantage. While I definitely would not be able to score perfect marks – my memory was not eidetic after all. I wasn't like Nie Li, who had some bullshit ability to remember every single detail accurately and could scheme and plan accordingly. And even if I did, I was pretty sure there were quite a few differences that I continued to be unaware of because of my gaps in memory. Seventeen years were a long time, after all.

However, the history was clearly different. Martial arts permeated the history of this timeline, with martial artists playing major roles in pivoting and directing history. Alchemy was orientated more toward the arcane and the use of qi than any actual scientific concepts and formulae of chemistry. Similarly, physics didn't bother with gravity – because martial artists could defy gravity. But it was undeniable that such gravitational forces held down "mortals" who didn't cultivate. And our biology classes focused not on the cells or tissue, but the qi circulatory system, and the natural flow of inner energy throughout our bodies and internal organs.

I realized that many of these theoretical concepts on qi were actually meant for us to eventually apply to our practical martial arts. Qi Fu Ren didn't seem to be aware of that, but I saw no reason to inform the arrogant bastard about it.

"Phew…it's finally over!"

Zhu Jiao stretched himself when the last lesson for the day ended. Here, another difference vividly marked itself apart from what I remembered in my original timeline. The theoretical lessons for Wu Ling Academy ended at noon. The afternoons were set aside for students to return to their respective sects and learn practical martial arts.

"Yeah! I'm free!"

Whooping, Qi Fu Ren jumped from his seat even before Teacher Jiao dismissed us, and exited the classroom with his flunkies hot on his heels. Teacher Jiao glared in their direction and shook his head before he raised a hand.

"All right, class dismissed. All of you should have your respective sects to report to. As for the Experimentalists, please stay behind."

Unsurprisingly, Teacher Jiao held the briefing for us after the Traditionalists departed. It was only natural – the briefing was completely irrelevant to them, after all.

"If you look at your screen, you'll see an array of options," Teacher Jiao explained as he guided us through the application on the tablet. There was something resembling a website on the tablet, an electronic portal created by the academy.

Tapping on an icon, I opened up the list of available martial arts that Wu Ling Academy possessed. There was a database listing the various martial arts, and some were underlined and bolded in red. I stared at them, fixated by the contrast between these martial arts and the rest, which were coded in normal black text.

"You'll see that some of them are in red," Teacher Jiao spoke up, almost as if he had read my mind. "These are lost or partially lost martial arts belonging to now extinct sects. You're more than welcome to try and restore them once you've reached the required level."

"…required level?"

I then noticed that there were numbers right next to the martial arts, separated by lines in a table. The Flaming Comet Strike, for example, was rated at level 4, and the Mystic Scarlet Flame Formula was rated at level 8.

"All of you are currently level 1," Teacher Jiao explained helpfully.

"Eh?!" Zhu Jiao exclaimed in dismay. "Then doesn't that mean most of these martial arts are closed off to us?"

He was right. Scrolling through the table, I saw that most of them were levels 2 and above. Only a handful was level 1, and they didn't sound very impressive. Like…Feline Claws. Or Flowing Raiment Formula. What the heck was that supposed to be?

"You didn't think this would be easy, did you?" Teacher Jiao was wearing a wry smile. "But we have good reasons for doing so. You see…many of these martial arts are dangerous. While they might be powerful, because the proper ways of learning them are lost – such as breathing techniques, qi circulation, or body tempering – you could make a fatal mistake and cause qi backlash, rupturing your own qi vessels or overloading yourself with qi and causing your body to self-destruct. There have been many cases in the past, with students trying to secretly learn skills and techniques higher than their current levels, and them dying horribly because of it."

Immediately, all the students in the classroom turned pale. Except for me, probably because I thought that was obvious. Or maybe I had read wuxia manhwa before and heard of a similar case. I wasn't sure which, given my jumbled memories.

"But this sure is convenient," I remarked as I stared at the tablet. "To think we can download techniques off the school's intranet system…"

Teacher Jiao and Zhu Jiao stared at me blankly. "Download?"

"Uh, no," I hastily corrected myself. "I mean it's pretty convenient to be able to read and learn techniques just from consulting the tablet!"

"Hah!" Teacher Jiao snorted. "Who says it's that easy? Of course you can't learn it from the tablet. When you find a technique that you're interested in, click on it. The database will inform you of the venue where you can collect the manual for the techniques."

"…manual?"

This time it was my turn to stare blankly at Teacher Jiao. He placed his hands on his hips.

"Of course! How will you learn martial arts if you don't have the manual for it? You'll have to go to the appropriate library to retrieve it!"

What the hell…?! Despite having such advanced technology, this world still relied on anachronistic methods such as paper-based manuals to learn martial arts? They hadn't figured out how to upload digital copies of martial arts manuals into the internet, or whatever the counterpart for this timeline was?

"Well, that's about it," Teacher Jiao ended his briefing. "Take your time and choose whatever level 1 technique you want wisely. You can even choose multiple level 1 techniques and attempt to combine them all into a single, self-created martial art. If you have any questions, or if you have problems trying to learn the techniques from the level 1 list, feel free to approach me and I'll assist you." he grinned. "Think of me as your semi-master."

"Yes, Teacher Jiao."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow. If you need to find me, I'll be in my office."

Saying that, Teacher Jiao departed, leaving me and Zhu Jiao behind in the classroom. I barely noticed, with most of my attention focused on the screen before me. Now that I looked closely, there were over fifty level 1 martial arts, but…when I clicked on them and saw the descriptions, I understood why they were rated as level 1.

To put it simply, most of them were lackluster, and even Wu Ling Academy's rating of them was poor. Within the descriptions themselves was included an entire passage that detailed the weaknesses and flaws of the various martial arts. Like how some lacked firepower or attacking power, some were defensively weak, some caused side effects when learning (like rupturing blood vessels), and more than a few were extremely inefficient techniques that died out because they simply weren't efficient at producing qi.

"Hey, what do you plan on learning?" Zhu Jiao asked as he glanced up from his tablet, frustration creeping into his voice. I shrugged.

"I've no idea."

"There has got to be something…" Zhu Jiao growled.

"Like what?" I grumbled as I swept through the list again. Right now, the best technique without side effects seemed to be Feline Claws, but the description explained that while it could be deadly if the opponent was caught off guard, the qi claws that the technique produced were weak especially when compared with other higher-level techniques. On the other hand, such an implication meant that Feline Claws could serve as a beginner skill to learn before advancing to higher-level techniques, such as the Level 5 Sharpened Sword Force, which seemed to operate on a similar principle of condensing one's qi into a sharp weapon.

But level 5 was pretty far away…

The other viable option was Shadow Step, a level 1 martial art that focused on movement and kicking. As with Feline Claws, it was heavily lacking on the offensive power, and possessed no defensive attributes at all…but at least it granted the practitioner relatively remarkable speed. But what interested me was the kicking aspect – Shadow Step had a couple of kicking techniques that supplied the offensive strength that its other techniques lacked.

The legs have three times the power of the arms, and has longer reach too, I read the final paragraph of the description, which was describing the kicks. Well-timed and aimed at the appropriate place, a practitioner of Shadow Steps will be capable of laying low even an opponent superior to himself.

I guess this was my best option for now.

"Shadow Steps sounds like a good one," I spoke up. Zhu Jiao made a face.

"Shadow Steps? Sounds pretty…shadowy."

"What are you planning to learn?" I demanded, trying not to sound too annoyed.

"Red Jade Swordsmanship," Zhu Jiao replied wearily. "Seems like the only sword technique that doesn't have a horrible side effect."

"Oh! That's not a bad choice."

Red Jade Swordsmanship possessed lethal attacking power, but its defense was too fragile and it consumed too much qi, making it an inefficient technique. With my current condition, I doubted I would be able to master such a qi-consuming technique with what little qi I had.

"Well, let's head to the library then."

"Good idea."

The both of us left the classroom and headed toward Wu Ling Library. The library was quite some distance away from the buildings housing the classrooms, located in the center of Wu Ling Academy. On our way there, I noticed that there were quite a lot of security staff lingering around and vigilantly watching out for intruders.

Makes sense. They need to protect the martial arts manuals that they have collected and stored in the library.

If those manuals and techniques were stolen and fell into the wrong hands, I dread to imagine what sort of disastrous consequences would follow.

There was a singular librarian seated at the reception desk when we entered the library. He raised his wizened head and stared at us when we approached.

"How can I help you?"

I hesitated as I stared at him. The librarian was ancient, looking almost as if he was a hundred years old. Long white hair drooped over his face, his eyebrows lengthening into what looked like tresses. A similar wisp of white beard hung from his chin, almost reaching to his chest. Not only that, he was dressed in traditional robes, and even had an old-fashioned cloth to bundle up his long hair into a single neat bun.

"We're looking for techniques."

Unlike me, Zhu Jiao wasn't fazed by the librarian's appearance and spoke up eagerly and without hesitation.

"Ah…first year students, huh?"

The librarian nodded sagely. He then summoned a tablet from his desk before glancing back at us.

"Do you already have in mind what manuals you wish to borrow?"

"Yeah!" Zhu Jiao responded excitedly. "Red Jade Swordsmanship, please!"

"Hmm, good choice." The librarian nodded in approval before turning back to his screen. After a few seconds, he looked up again and gestured toward one of the aisles. "That way. It should be among the back of Shelf 205A."

"Thank you!"

Zhu Jiao rushed off eagerly, unable to wait any longer. His enthusiasm brought a smile to my face.

"What about you, young man?"

Breaking out of my thoughts, I nodded when the librarian addressed me.

"Um…Shadow Steps, please."

"Hmm…" the ancient librarian studied me for a few moments, and then nodded in satisfaction. "It does suit you."

It does? Really?

I couldn't help but be skeptical. But I was too polite to point that out, and merely smiled in return while waiting patiently as the ancient librarian consulted his tablet. After a while, he glanced up, peered in the distance, and pointed a gnarled finger at one of the aisles.

"That way. Shelf 408B. It should be near the bottom of the shelf."

"Thank you!"

Bowing gratefully, I proceeded toward the shelf the librarian directed me toward. But I froze when the librarian spoke again.

"Careful when you get there," he chuckled in that wheezing voice of his. "Beware of the shadows. If you get lost within them, they'll eat you alive."

Chapter end