(Author: It's finally begun! The first chapter of the Martial School Arc. Needless to say, it will be more difficult to write this arc as it will involve countless martial arts theories, a lot of names, and trying to come up with an interesting plot for the school arc to come together. Our hero does know a lot of techniques, but you all know I don't want to write an OP hero. The previous arc introduced to you the background of the hero as I did not want to make a story with the main character already in it. Our hero expanded from Kaid to Morane. You will hear about different parts of the continent of Alavent (now official name of this continent). Hopefully no one wrote the name of the school with the one I came up with....I hope you all enjoy this first story of mine. I meant to post this chapter sooner but I got caught up with stuff. The next chapter might contain some details that contain gore and a lot of fighting.Thanks for all the views and enjoy.)
Chapter 7: Star and Moon Sect
Duren spent two weeks in the caravan headed to the Kingdom of Morane. He kept to himself and constantly meditated, ignoring all the comments about him "wearing a gauntlet" on his left arm. None of the members of the caravan knew who he was and thought he was a minor noble as the knight who led him to the caravan left after he joined them.
They suspected he was a noble aspiring to be a mage as the Kingdom of Morane specialized in magic academies. After the two weeks, Duren left the caravan and headed to the mountain region known as Jaglhant. He noticed a long line at the front of what seemed to be an entrance to the mountain range.
A large arc stood above the entrance signifying the entrance to the Star and Moon Sect, the martial school his father sent him to. Apparently this martial school wanted to avoid competition with other martial schools for talent in the Empire of Galza as well as gather potential students interested in the lucrative alchemy trade. Alchemists were not the strongest in the world but they were the most respected and treasured by all nations. As a magus tended to be more powerful than martial experts, creating a martial school with alchemy in a land full of magi was a smart move.
"Hey there friend," a boy with dark brown, wavy hair greeted as he saw Duren. "You looking to join the Star and Moon Sect? They only accept the most talented or those rich enough to pay a tuition and avoid the acceptance trials. Name's Glint Halls."
"My name is Duren Maltos," he answered, eager to learn more about the trials as he did not want to spend any money he had taken from the Treasury during his studies. "What trials were you talking about earlier?"
"The trials of the Star and Moon Sect are insane after the basic qi measurement test," Glint sighed. "They only accept students below the age ten with at least rank one in Spirit Knight tier. What are you? I am a rank three Spirit Knight. Most people here are rank two and above. Rumor has it some guy here is a rank five Spirit Knight! That's geniuses for you. Pretty sure he's some well-off noble from the capital."
"I am a rank two Spirit Knight. Just broke through a couple of weeks ago. I plan to be an alchemist," Duren laughed weakly as the wealth of his family dwarfed the Morane family's money due to its geographical location and focus on improving international trade and relations. "So about those trials?"
"Ah, right," Glint said apologetically. "Each year there have been four trials with their difficulty adjusted according to the number of applicants save for the first and last trial. The first and last test never change so I can tell you about those. The first is the basic qi measurement test. We're shoe ins for that so no worries. As for the last test, it's probably the most insane requirement in the Alavent. The final trial is binding with a spirit beast and gaining a Spirit Guardian. A Spirit Guardian!"
"What's wrong with that?" Duren asked confused. As Malverok, he was a spirit beast and had killed hundreds of thousands of people and spirit beast alike. They were nothing but food with different kinds of tasty qi. He noticed no difference in the meat and might of a spirit beast to a Spirit Guardian.
"Nothing wrong?" Glint asked incredulously. "Dude Spirit Guardian's are bound to you by their souls! Do you have any idea what that means? As you use more different types of elemental qi, they can use it too. They are your partners on the battlefield and obey you to the point of sacrificing their very lives and qi for you. Not only that you can only bind up to two Spirit Guardians at once. Having one Spirit Guardian automatically makes you a noble. Not only that, your qi multiplies enormously and you can communicate with them, giving you a tactical edge. There's even one major change with binding a Spirit Guardian!"
Glint stared up at the sky with wonder after a moment and said, "Having a Spirit Guardian increases the rate of your qi cultivation, allowing you to become stronger even faster than people without one. Not only that, you even gain some abilities depending on your Spirit Guardian. For this martial school to have that as a trial to enter is absolute insanity. Many people spend their whole lives not having a Spirit Guardian and ascend to immortality without one."
Duren's eyes widened with shock. He had many techniques at his exposal but his ability to use them in battle made him on par with only those at his level unless he used tactics and trickery on people stronger than him. Gaining a Spirit Guardian was a must. He needed large amounts of qi for alchemy. Having a Spirit Guardian would allow him to kill stronger spirit beasts to use for materials. He planned on using alchemy to make up for his lack of talent compared to geniuses.
"Let's line up Glint," Duren grinned, accepting Glint as a friend as he had need of him for now.
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"Awesome. Let's join the Star and Moon Sect and be the greatest," Glint laughed. "You might want to remove that gauntlet though. Armor gets in the way of martial arts unless you specialize in kicking techniques."
"It's not a gauntlet," Duren said silently and joined the line. It took a moment for Glint to realize what Duren meant and he shivered. What happened to his new friend to require a prosthetic. Still, it looked cool as it seemed to be made from a golem. His new friend was interesting and decided to stay close to him. Besides, having an alchemist as a friend was better than another martial artist or mage. They could be found anywhere.
"Next applicant!" a proctor shouted as almost an hour passed and Duren was finally next in line. "What's your name and rank kid and where do you come from? Got your acceptance letter to join the trials?"
"Duren Maltos, rank two Spirit Knight," he answered as he gave him a piece of paper.
The proctor looked on his list of applicants and one eyebrow raised as he saw the applicant's sender was the Count of Kaid. The moment passed as this was not the first noble to come here, let alone an aspiring alchemist.
"Please manifest your qi into your hand. You must display rank one Spirit Knight qi at the least to be accepted to the next trial. Please create a globe the size of a fist for each elemental qi you have access to," the proctor said, thinking this noble didn't amount to much. Duren didn't wear fancy clothing and only had a simple crimson shirt and pants on. He didn't consider Duren only wore simple clothes as they were more comfortable to travel from all the way from Kaid.
"Yes proctor," Duren said and quietly concentrated his qi. He didn't want to reveal his destruction type qi in Morane and created a globe of ice and wind, his globe of ice considerably denser and emanating more qi than his wind and thunder.
"Average affinity for wind and thunder. Exceptional affinity for ice," the proctor said surprised. "Shame you wanna be an alchemist but I hope you pass. Our sect desires to cultivate alchemists and we have far too few for our liking. NEXT!"
"Glint Halls, rank three Spirit Knight," his friend said. The proctor nodded and was shocked as Glint had exceptional affinity for fire and wind qi.
"A noble alchemist and a dual qi monster," the proctor shook his head in wonder. "This year's applicants aren't a total loss. The proctor got up as his shift ended. Duren, Glint and the few who passed followed the proctor to the top of the mountain. Jaglhant was a mountain region with several mountain ranges so it wasn't a surprise to Duren that they had to go to the top of the mountain.
After waiting three more hours, the sun had started to set and eight groups of around fifty, with Duren's group being the second, gathered in front of a plaza surrounded with three buildings in front of them. They had all been forced to change in light brown clothes. All initiates wore light brown clothes until they passed the trial to signify their status of Spirit Knight and taking the first step into enlightenment.
People who aspired to be martial artists had an image of a black phoenix with its wings encircling the sun in a black circle on their backs with a smaller version over their heart. Those who aspired to be alchemists had an image of a white dragon circling a gold bottle with a vapor of jade leaking from the top in the same locations on their shirt.
Each group was required to remain isolated, with the odd numbered groups on the left and the even numbered groups on the right.
A woman in the purple clothes of a senior disciple appeared from the center building with four people to her left and right in the red clothes of an adept disciple. She cleared her throat and stomped on the ground, sending a wave of qi from here left foot that left cracks in ground.
All the initiates stopped talking and gave their attention to the senior who had arrived.
"Welcome initiates," the woman began. "You have proven yourselves to be worthy to begin the first TRUE trial of the Sun and Moon Sect. You have been divided into two large groups. Your first test is simple. Inside both of the houses behind you are one hundred rank two spirit beasts on the first floor. Inside the second floor is a ten rank 3 spirit beasts. Your mission is simple: survive. Only those who kill three rank two spirit beasts may pass. Those who manage to kill one rank three spirit beast will pass and receive an anonymous reward. When the sun sets, you may begin."
The initiates were startled. Both groups had initiates that numbered two hundred and they had to enter a house with one hundred and fifty spirit beasts. Killing rank one spirit beasts was easy, but killing rank two spirit beasts was suicide for martial experts below rank five. Not only that, those who passed had to kill three of them.
The sect was testing their teamwork. A sect had to fight against other sects and could not risk in-fighting in combat. This test was created to see who would put the sect first before themselves and prove their worth.
Duren licked his lips and grinned malevolently. Spirit beasts leave behind a ring of their own qi and those who killed the qi may absorb it and leave the body behind. This trial was practically a scavenger hunt for alchemists. Not only that, killing spirit beasts raised the blood thirst in Duren. Living life on the edge of death in the battlefield was the thrill of any predator.
"Set, set, set, set," Duren muttered with his eyes on the house behind his group. "I want to kill. I need to kill. I need to feel alive,"