“Hey, look it’s that loser Jin pretending to talk to his nonexistent Avatar!” A youth with a long ponytail walked over with two other boys snickering behind him. This kid was Hao, son of a rich businessman that owned multiple lands throughout the city. Unsurprisingly he was spoiled his whole life and not even the teachers could do a thing to him when he steps out of line. More importantly, he was related to the lord of the city!
Jin’s eyes opened as his first Avatar, Prometheus, stopped talking to him. He was so focused on deciphering what he just heard that he didn’t recognize that the class bully, Hao Chen, was making fun of him.
Hao on the other hand got ticked off that he was being ignored by the weakling Jin and proceeded to give him a shove. Yumi tried to pull Jin out of the way but to her surprise, Jin wouldn’t budge. This was strange because ever since Yumi got her first Avatar two years ago, she was much stronger than Jin physically. Hao’s hand slammed into Jin’s chest and to his surprise, a strong rebounding inner strength pushed his hands back and even made it numb!
Naturally the students beside them are all peering with interest. Hao’s face grew a tad red since he couldn’t afford to lose face here. He pushed forward with all his might with both hands this time. Jin unaware of the impending strike somehow leapt out of the way, causing Hao to lose his balance and tumble forward into a fall.
The kids around laughed as Hao comically fell like a fool. Yumi was surprised at his sudden increase in physical strength and reaction.
“You little piece of turd, how dare you!” Hao shouted as he jumped back up, his face was flush from embarrassment. This time threw a straight punch at his face.
It was now that Jin finally snapped out of his daze and with a confused face said, “Huh?”
At first fear struck him as he saw the inevitable punch gliding through the air towards his nose. Instinctively he closed his eyes and waited for the familiar pain of getting pounded on by bullies.
The world was a harsh place where the strong is right and the weak suffers. This was reflected even in a classroom of kids. Kids with higher innate talent for cultivation or stronger Avatar bully and take advantage of the weak.
However after a few seconds passed in Jin’s mind, nothing happened. There was no bruising or cracking of the bones. Slowly raising his eyelids, Jin was surprised to see that the punch meant to send him into a world of pain was still an arm’s length away.
Did Hao have a change of heart? Jin wondered. There’s no way a bully would suddenly take pity on him.
Why does this scenery look strange? It took a few moments for Jin to realize that the space around him seems to be in slow motion! The punch came ever so slowly that Jin had the time to shift his head to the right and slowly observe Hao’s fist from the side. The fist came to a pause after Hao’s arm was fully extended.
Naturally the fist rescinded and Jin had the luxury of watching it slowly pull away and come at him from another angle. He had no idea why this unexplainable phenomenon was happening but he was enjoying it. The dirt under Hao’s finger nails, the complexion of his face getting redder, and the saliva splintering from his mouth were all observed by Jin slowly as he dodged with ease. It was as if time slowly grinded to a halt for him!
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“What?” Kids around shouted out in alarm. At first they were worried about Jin but after watching him seamlessly avoid disasters a few times without effort, their previous worry shifted to Hao subconsciously.
Once again a punch flew towards his head but he easily slipped right past it. With each following punches, his face got closer and closer to Hao’s face. This was no longer a fight, he was just experimenting his new limits. Deep down Jin was regretting not getting an Avatar earlier. Little did he know that there’s a vast difference between the Avatars, he was only able to perform these feats due to the two extraordinary Avatars he acquired.
“I can… feel a circle of Ki within me! Is this what the teachers were talking about before?” Jin thought to himself. With his new senses heightened, he could feel where the source of his new found power was emerging from. Deep within the core of himself, he could feel a mysterious area that was hidden from him previously giving off Ki.
Ki was what all living creatures used to cultivate for strength and longevity. It was said that each stage of cultivation could be compared to a circle, once the Ki fills up the circle then you’ll advanced to the next stage! However not a lot of people, especially beginners, can sense their Ki cores since only those of higher level with strong spiritual sense could do so.
Yumi was the most surprised of them all. As the person who spent the most with Jin beside his parents, she knew full well that he did not possess any extraordinary power. He didn’t even have an Avatar yet or at least she thought he didn’t.
Hao’s eyebrows were now pulled down together, his eyes were wide open with a deathly glare and his lips were trembling as they shut tightly together. Never had he been so humiliated! Even the teachers at the school would usually give in to him. He had reigned unopposed at this school, even older kids stayed cleared of him due to his family backgrounds.
“You… be at the back of the school by the beast building if you know what’s good for you. We’ll settle this mano a mano!” Hao shouted at him. He had lost too much face here, even if he pummels Jin now it wouldn’t be a clean victory. The problem is that he isn’t even confident of beating Jin. For some unknown reason, the weakling without an Avatar just toyed with him.
The school was situated on a small hill big tall enough to oversee the whole city. The reason for such a thing was that so the senior students can practice fighting with their Avatars.
Jin’s confidence skyrocketed after the miraculous stunt displayed earlier. Instead of replying he just left the classroom for Avatar lessons. Everyone just stared at him like he was a freak. Taking a few hits and completely dodging them by a hair breadth was completely different things. Jin accomplished the latter like he was taking a stroll.