The first official day began at the start of the week on Monday. The day started at five o'clock, so she had to get up almost an hour earlier to get ready.

  Luckily, they all had single rooms, which she liked. At college, she lived in a dorm with four other people. Even though they got along, she still preferred having her own space.

  The room had the bare essentials: a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. Nothing more — but that was the point. They were meant to focus on cultivation, not comfort.

  They all wore the same clothes. Simple long robes that looked like those worn by monks. They were orange, which was the unofficial color of the sect.

  At 4 a.m. sharp, a loud noise rang out across the academy grounds. It was the signal for everyone to start their day on time. The sound was terrible to the ears. It was the powerful clanging of bells.

  She felt miserable. It was still dark, and all she could hear was that terrifying sound of bells. She began to wonder if cultivation was really worth it.

  She began to prepare for class. She still felt tired, but there was still a hint of excitement in her.

  At the beginning, five hours of alchemy. I had chemistry lab classes, so it should be somewhat similar, right?

  The first hour was an introduction. It turned out that alchemy has much more to offer than one might think.

  Knowledge of plants, but also animals, materials science, and other things that seemed complex. As she expected, she found no atomic theory or anything remotely related to modern chemistry. Their understanding of the world was quite limited.

  "Our goal is that by the end of your education, you will be able to make at least the most basic potions. The most talented will have the opportunity to stay here and learn directly under me."

  Many lecturers were also professionals. For example, their alchemy professor ran her own alchemy shop, where she also hired students. This was something many students desired. Alchemy was one of the most respected fields.

  May was also excited, but five hours wore her out. When it was time for a breakfast break at 10 a.m., her head was still filled with complicated names: True Divine Pill, Qi Cleaning Grass, Blood Cow Brain Pill... Many names kept popping into her head.

  When she got to the cafeteria, she saw that everyone was tired. The older people looked like zombies too. And they had only just started their first class. It was really brutal.

  After breakfast, the moment she had been waiting for arrived: martial arts training. Her father had never wanted to teach her, saying that she would learn at school. And finally, the moment had come.

  A bald man covered in wounds all over his body entered the room filled with 50 children. His head was covered in bruises and cuts.

  “My name is Ren Shi. I am your instructor. Learning martial arts is no joke and is one of the foundations of cultivation. It is especially important at higher levels, but you will understand that in the future.”

  “Not every martial art is suitable for everyone. Some prefer those that emphasize strength, while others prefer those that focus on speed. Today's lesson is mainly an introductory lesson. I will conduct a short test and select the martial art that I consider most suitable for you. Unfortunately, the choice is limited to about 20 martial arts due to sect guidelines."

  It made sense that different martial arts suited different people. Children wouldn't be capable of choosing something appropriate for themselves. Ren Shi seemed trustworthy. After all, May was in Class A, the best class. They also had the best teachers, so she trusted him.

  “First person forward. You.”

  Ren Shi pointed to one of the girls sitting in the front row. I think her name was Lin Sho, or something like that.

  “Try to block my punches. Don't worry, I'll do it slowly so I won't hurt you,” he said in a calm tone of voice.

  The man swung his fist toward the girl, but she managed to twist her arm in a strange way and block his punch.

  “Now hit me as you see fit,” said the man.

  The girl blinked a few times, then raised her hands slightly above her head and struck with all her might. The man blocked the blows with ease.

  “All right, that's enough. The right technique for you is Bull's Body of Steel. You're confident and have good strength, but you lack flexibility. This technique will allow you to increase your strength and attack speed. So it doesn't matter that you lack mobility, as long as you can kill your opponent with a single blow.”

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  "We don't have enough time to test you all more closely. In the future, you will be able to change your martial arts style anyway."

  “Next person.”

  May was impressed that the instructor was able to identify each person's strengths and weaknesses with just a few moves and thus select the appropriate martial art. Finally, it was her turn.

  “I've heard a lot of good things about you. They say you're supposed to be the most talented person in the whole year.” Everyone was watching her closely, she was the center of attention.

  “But that doesn't matter. You've seen how it goes, just attack me as best you can.”

  May wasn't sure what to do, she had never practiced martial arts, should she just make some random moves?

  Then she remembered her ex-boyfriend back on Earth. He had practiced boxing and showed her a few moves. She decided to take a boxing stance.

  Huh, as I recall, I had some interest in joining a boxing club, but I had too much schoolwork and not enough time. It's a shame because now I would have some experience.

  She began to attack her instructor. It took a little longer than it did with the others, and only after a while did he signal with his hand for her to stop.

  “Strange. I can see that those aren't your natural movements, but rather something you've learned. But I don't think anyone taught you that, your movements are too crude.

  She didn't expect the instructor to be able to sense that. She decided to come up with an excuse.

  “Well, I saw some mortals fought that way... I saw it in the town where I come from. That's why I decided to copy it.”

  “No wonder your movements look like that. However, even with these trained movements, I have a pretty good understanding of you. Now defend yourself.”

  He attacked her with his fists. She felt that he was attacking her much more fiercely than the others. His movements were fast and very powerful.

  "You have extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance. Even taking into account your level of cultivation, it's still surprising. The right technique for you is the Water Knight Art.

  She was the first person to receive this martial art. A few of the martial arts that were given out have been repeated, but she was the first to receive Water Knight Art.

  "It's a rather specific technique because it focuses on basically every aspect. It's hard to master because it focuses on everything but nothing at the same time. Although this technique isn't particularly good at one specific aspect, it's perfect for adapting to any situation. It suits you in a strange way. Normally, I wouldn't let anyone learn it, but I have a feeling you'll be fine."

  Whispers spread among the others.

  “Whoa, did she just get some kind of secret technique or what? ” The instructor heard one of the whispers.

  “It's neither a powerful nor a hidden technique. All martial arts are equal, and it all depends on the user. To tell you the truth, this technique is known for being a bit messy, but I pick techniques for you based on what works for you. I don't really care about other stuff.”

  “Time for a little lesson. All martial arts have their ranks. Common, Rare, Very Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, Divine. All the techniques I teach are ranked as rare, so no one is being favored here.”

  “I have nothing more to say. May, go sit down, I have many other people to test.”

  May sat down happily, the whole lesson was extremely interesting, it was fun to hear the names of the different techniques.

  Hey Minnie, out of curiosity, show me the price of the technique I'm going to learn.

  “Sure.”

  So it's not just a rare martial art, but rare+! It's semi-one level higher! I wonder if he realized that or if he was just pretending not to know?

  However, it does seem that this martial art will be difficult to learn. But either way, it sounds pretty cool!

  Hey Minnie, why is this technique so expensive?

  "Buying it means perfect mastery. Martial arts are divided into the following levels based on how well they are mastered: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Perfect level."

  What if I just want to purchase the beginner level?

  “It would cost 15 thousand.”

  Testing the rest of the people took quite a long time. However, in the end, everyone received their techniques. There wasn't much time left to do anything else.

  “I will now distribute books with basic movements. There are too many of you for me to help each of you individually, so you should spend some of your own time studying at least the most basic movements. If you don't understand something, I will help you and give you pointers.

  “And now you should spend the remaining time reading what you have received.”

  She opened her book and it wasn't quite what she expected. It contained numerous drawings depicting different stances. The illustrations showed where to place your hand and where to place your foot, as well as the correct body position. Under each illustration, there were descriptions explaining exactly how to use the technique. The entire book was thick and had about 300 pages, and the illustrations were drawn very densely. May thought about how long it would take her to learn all this.

  When are we supposed to learn this? We hardly have any free time with our schedule.

  Nevertheless, she was still excited. It was real martial arts, but it was not like anything she had seen on Earth. It was supernatural, with a mysterious power that defied human understanding.