"For this part of the lecture, we are going to go to the main hall room first.", the instructor announced.

"Why are we going to the hall room?", asked a student.

"It's a surprise. You will find out once you go there.", the instructor replied with a mysterious smile.

"Now, everyone, follow me.", the instructor called out.

Everyone was wondering what kind of surprise they'll get after they reach the main hall room. They queued up and followed the instructor to the main hall room.

The main hall room was also on the ground floor. To be exact, it was at the center of the ground floor, and it was many times larger than this ordinary room.

Everyone soon reached in front of the main hall room following the instructor. The door was made of a kind of heavy and strong wood, probably it was some special kind of wood only available to top martial arts academies like the southern academy. Some of the students were awed by the thickness and toughness of the door. They were martial artists, and they could see how tough and heavy the door was just by taking a look.

The instructor smiled noticing the looks of the students.

"This door is made of a grade two material called Brown Ironwood. Even someone at the level of instructors, with a cultivation level of at least 7th level of the Body Metamorphosis realm, would need to use all of their strength to break this door. But this is nothing compared to the doors of the library and treasury. Those doors are made of grade 3 materials."

"Grade 2? Grade 3?", some students were confused.

"Oh! So not all of you understand. I guess only those from the 3 big clans of Southern City would know this kind of stuff. To put it simply, materials found in nature are divided into 9 grades based on their quality, toughness, usefulness, and rarity. The better the quality, the higher the grade, and the higher the rarity. Although, it is said anything higher than grade six is not actually real, as no one in the entire country has ever seen or heard about any material being higher than grade six. For us, those are things of legend. The world is very vast and our country is just like a drop in the ocean, so there might be many things unknown to us. Whatever, these things are not for me to talk about. Compared to the vast world, I might be very ordinary.", as soon as he finished his words, he sighed.

Most of the students found the instructor's words unbelievable. They could not imagine the vastness of the martial world with their tiny minds. In their thoughts, the highest level of cultivation is likely to exist at the top echelon of the country, as what kind of force could be more powerful than a country? Maybe another country, but there wasn't that much power gap among the surrounding nations.

Although no one could comprehend the hidden implications of these words, there were two exceptions. One was Edward, who had already gotten an idea about the vastness of the cultivation world from Snow. He knew that even the highest level of cultivators are children compared to the level Snow was at, and even he couldn't imagine how powerful the strongest cultivators from Snow's clan would be. Although, He could imagine that even the weakest cultivator's from Snow's clan would be able to easily wipe out countries like this one.

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The other exception was the boy named Robert Brown. He was a cultivation maniac. Although he did not know the things Edward knew, nor he had any idea about the true cultivation world, there was always a feeling in his heart that cultivation doesn't end at the top of this country, not even at the top of this entire region. The world is vast, and there must be levels beyond what they can see right now. After hearing the words of the instructor, his feelings deepened, and he became very excited.

"I'll reach the top of this country, and then I will go on my own adventure to discover the true vastness of the cultivation world.", he thought, with determination in his eyes.

"Ahem.", everyone was pulled out of their thoughts as the instructor cleared his throat.

"As I was saying.", he said. "Grade one materials are the cheapest materials being the most common and worst in quality. But it is still of use as long as they are graded materials, as there are also non-graded materials available among common peoples in ordinary markets. But we, martial cultivators, do not use non-graded materials as they are of little use to us. Even the common furniture in the academy is made of grade 1 materials. All of you might have seen a grade one material before in the selection exams, it was the grade 1 spiritual black paper. I guess you now understand why it was called 'grade 1' ."

"So, materials have a grade depending on their quality, huh. Now I get it. That thing called 'spatial ring' Snow was using, it must've been made of very high-quality materials, most likely not found in ordinary countries or places.", thought Edward.

"How long are you going to stand there with the brats?", suddenly, a heavy voice came from inside the main hall room.

All the students were shocked. Who was inside the main hall room? And who would dare to talk to an instructor of the academy in such a rude manner? They were all perplexed.

"Shoooosh!!!!!"

Before anyone could realize what was going on, a powerful burst of wind came out of nowhere and pushed the heavy door open.

'It probably wasn't a normal wind', thought Edward. To him, it seemed more like someone used martial arts to open the door, but no one was hitting the door from any sides, it was like an invisible force pushing the door open.

Suddenly, he realized something.

"That was definitely 'Physical Essence Out of The Body'!", he shouted in his mind. "Whoever opened the door, channeled his physical essence out of his body and turned it into an invisible force, opening the door with that power. But that means...", he suddenly thought of something. 

By this time, the other students also came to a realization. The person who opened the door definitely is someone at the Shell Shattering realm. Only those cultivators who have 'Shattered the Shell of their Mortal Body' could channel their physical essence out of their bodies. But if that person was at the physical essence realm, he was likely an elder, right? But what was an elder doing in the freshmen academy building?

They did not have to think anymore, as their questions were answered as soon as they saw the scene inside the main hall room. Inside the hall room, in the exact location where teachers stood for their lectures, was a large comfy chair. Sitting on that chair was an old man with long beards. His face was looking as if he was quite bored and annoyed. What shocked the students was, that he was wearing a black robe!

"That's....That's not an elder!", thought the students.

"That's a Vice-Headmaster!!!", everyone screamed in their minds at the same time.