After seeing Merlin off with a good natured smile, the cold look resurfaced on Garth’s face.  As he turned on his heel, he glanced at the other young master that needed a beating.  Seeing Garth stare at him, Gregory started to shiver, and an ugly expression alighted on his face.  Quickly, he rushed in the direction of the registration desk to withdraw his challenge.

Seeing his cowardly actions, Garth snorted.  It would be impossible to get him on the stage now.  Even if Garth challenged him, Gregory would most likely forfeit before the fight.  Although he valued face, who would risk their life for it?

Humph, I’d like to see how you’ll continue to get away, Garth thought to himself.

Then, with a slight yawn, he ambled to his seat.  Sitting down heavily, the boy’s chest caved deeply as he expelled a heavy sigh.  Although things worked out in the end, Merlin was also a strong opponent.  Add to that his prior battle with Marcus Adams, Garth was exhausted.  But of course, he still had confidence to fight Greg if the coward was up to it.

By his side, Adeline stole furtive glances at her friend.

“How could a seven year old be so handsome, reliable, gentle, and heroic all at the same time?” Garth suddenly asked as he eyed Adeline with a mischievous look.

Slowly, her face turned beet red, for that was indeed what she was wondering.  With a snort, Adeline bashfully punched Garth on the shoulder before returning her attention back to the tournament.

Humorous too, she thought, before sighing.  What do I have to do to catch your eye?

For a while now, Adeline had been terribly frustrated at how Garth completely shut down her advances so effectively.  Even her cousin was interested in her, so why was it that the only guy that Adeline ever fell for paid no attention?  Without her noticing, Adeline had started to bite her bottom lip in a pouting manner.  Seeing this change, Garth could tell what was going through her head, and smiled bitterly.

“Come on,” he mumbled to himself.  “We’re only seven! Isn’t this something that usually waits until much later?”

“Did you say something?” Adeline asked quizzically.

Sighing, Garth replied, “Nothing.”

Adeline was about to say something more, but was interrupted by an angry voice on stage.

“Get up here you lazy bastard!  I refuse to believe that you’re deserving of a higher rank than me!” a young boy raged.

“Ai, Ai.  Stop being so mad, Big Brother Dan!  You know it’s not good for your health,” another voice replied in a playful, laid back tone.  “If you want my rank, you should have just said so, there’s no need for us to fight.”

“Shut up!” Dan roared, “I won’t be satisfied unless I beat you into place as well!”

Slowly, a lean figure emerged from the crowd.  He had light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and green eyes, with a sharp, handsome jawline.  But what really drew everyone’s attention, were his limbs.  The boy had almost no torso, with long legs, and his arms came down to almost the middle of his thighs.  He wore a simple, brown robe that gave off an earthy feel.

“Hahaha!  That lazy-ass that only sleeps in class is ranked higher than Dan?  Looks like even the teachers want him to be thrashed,” a random voice laughed through the crowd.

Garth examined the boy, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

“Did you hear his name?” he asked Adeline.

“Yeah… I think it was Sora?” Adeline said, unsure.

While Garth and Adeline were discussing, the judge started the match.  From a storage ring, Dan pulled out a peculiar staff with a large metal ball on each end.  With a huff, he dashed forward and swung at Sora’s head.  But just as the heavy ball was about to make contact with the frail boy’s face, Sora disappeared.  Dan’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked around frantically.  The staff was resting on Dan’s right shoulder, his arms taut and ready to swing in any direction.  Suddenly, Dan noticed that the audience was staring at him with wide, amazed eyes.

No, they’re not looking at me, they’re looking at… Dan realized as he saw their line of sight.

He looked up and over his shoulder, and at the top of his staff, he found Sora, with a wide grin on his face.

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Observing, the Vice Headmaster chuckled, his old, wrinkled cheeks flapping with each sound, “Hoho, it would seem that this young boy has completely mastered the featherweight movement technique.”

The headmaster smiled, “Indeed, as expected of the young genius of the Hancock Family.  Although his personality is somewhat undesirable, the low ranked Featherweight skill is worth dirt in the face of this young man’s prowess.”

At his side, the Headmaster’s wife asked, “But isn’t he only squatting?  If the Featherweight skill is a movement technique, then it shouldn’t be able to be used while being still.”

As he fondly patted his wife’s hand, the Headmaster replied, “But he isn’t just squatting, dear.  Look closely at his feet.”

At her husband’s remark, Avery squinted her eyes, carefully observing Sora’s feet.  Although the distance was rather long, and Avery didn’t have much talent in cultivation, she was still at the fifth stage.  Thus, it was easy for her to see the boy’s movements.  Suddenly, her eyes widened in surprise as she realized what Sora was doing.

Next to Garth, Adeline was asking the same question.  A gleam of interest flashed in Garth’s eyes as a smile widened on his face.

“His feet are still moving,” he told her.

And indeed, if a person was to look closely, he would find that Sora’s feet were lightly tapping on the metal ball atop Dan’s staff.  In a movement technique, the primary function was to move, either with great speed, great agility, or both.  Thus, all movement techniques use movement to help the technique as well.  Like an electrical circuit, if movement is stopped when using a movement technique, it would fall apart.  Movement techniques are also not meant to be slow either, and so the smaller or slower the movement, the harder it is to keep the technique functioning.  As such, what Sora was doing could be considered as the benchmark for complete mastery of the Featherweight technique.

“Amazing…” Adeline muttered in awe.

“It’s a shame he’s facing such a weak opponent,” Garth remarked.

Looking over, Adeline was just able to catch the mischievous light flash in Garth’s eyes, making the girl roll her own.  It was obvious that Garth was going to do something completely unnecessary and dramatic again, just as it was when he challenged Marcus, or provoked Gregory.

“Why do you always go making trouble?” Adeline asked, exasperated.

“What?” Garth said with an injured expression.  “When have I ever made trouble?”

At the question, Adeline couldn’t find any words to properly express her grief, and could only roll her eyes again.

Garth smiled, “I don’t go looking for trouble, but when something doesn’t sit right with me, I feel the need to meddle.”

Suddenly, Garth’s smile turned rather sad as he continued to watch the fights.

“I’ve given up too much as it is, so I refuse to leave any more regrets,” he mumbled to himself.

However, his comment did not go unheard by Adeline, who looked at the boy quizzically.  After a few moments, she shook her head and returned her attention back to the stage.  The fight had continued, and Dan’s breathing became heavier as he swung his staff at Sora and missed every time.  Many of the more experienced people in the crowd shook their heads in disgust at the scene.

It was apparent that Dan had absolutely no combat skills and was not at all familiar with how to use his weapon, which was appalling because in the first year, every student is allowed to pick up a skill manual from the first floor of the Martial Library.  Deciding to cultivate rather than practice skills was a common and honest mistake that many have made before, but by Dan’s cultivation level of the initial phase of the second rank, this was also not the case.

One can only enter Imperium Private Academy if they have reached the first rank before seven.  Most children would be unable to cultivate until they were five, and it was very hard to pass the Embryo stage, where one begins to feel and draw World Qi, then clears the acupoints, dantian, and meridians.  Because of the difficulty, most take around four or five years to make it to the first stage.  Thus, it was safe to say that everyone in Imperium was a genius of some sort.

By the time that the end of the freshman year, most have reached the peak of the first stage, and would break into the second over summer break.  But if Dan spent all of his time cultivating, he would be far ahead of where he was now.  So what was he doing? Nothing.  All he was doing was enjoying the work of his talent.  Right now, he may be slightly ahead of the others, and thus admired, but that would wane with age.