The next day Ed woke up refreshed in his dorm room. As one of the elites in the third year, he had a sizable room to himself at about 1000 square foot. There was a full size bed, a sink, a desk, a closet, and a drawer. There was a public restroom that will be shared with the other male elites of the third year and a kitchen shared by every elite third year.

Ed maintained a minimalist lifestyle which he developed living in the wild and with the Wolves so he didn’t have too many belongings and he didn’t intend to decorate his home for the next year. He only had a rucksack full of clothes, some common tools like knives, and basic hygiene products. He didn’t have any kitchenware since he planned to eat from the cafeteria to save time to train more. He certainly had more than enough money after being a mercenary for two years.

Despite the physically draining and mentally draining exam, Ed actually felt refreshed. He was right to think that those exams actually doubled as tempering for the mind, body, and soul. He made a mental note to give those exams another go or two when he has time. After being a student, he now had access to all the basic facilities which included the exams.

In the meanwhile, Ed focused on his greatest shortcoming, his battle techniques. Every technique he had was something he made or something he learned from the other Wolves which wasn’t much.

It wasn’t like the Wolves held out on him but even the strongest one, Captain, was a C-Class hunter in his late twenties. He was strong by mercenary standards, but only by that. He didn’t have access to traditional resources in academies since they were still being developed when he was a youth and he didn’t want to join the military for standardized technique. In the end he carved out a small market for himself with his unique ability.

Ed knew that he needed to actually learn some real techniques. His techniques like the 7 Star Steps consisted only of compartmentalizing a normal aura burst into 7 parts so that he can have consecutive bursts.

Established techniques have been researched and perfected. The technique would know how much energy should be used, which passage ways to flow through the body to maximize impact and minimize wasted energy, and how to use multiple techniques for synergistic outcomes. Ultimately, his techniques were little more than deviations from basic techniques.

This issue can be addressed if Ed can supplement his lack of knowledge with the resources available to students. Ed immediately headed out to the library to obtain some techniques. He dashed straight to the techniques section.

He saw that the sections were divided based on year so that the younger students wouldn’t overload their plates with techniques they couldn’t handle. As a third year, he was able to bypass the first two restrictions and enter the third room for the third year exclusive techniques. Before he could even read a single manual, a voice rang out to the right of Ed.

???: Hey kid, what do you think you are doing?

Ed: I am trying to read some manuals. Who are you?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Librarian: I am just an old man tending to these books, you can just call me the librarian. Anyways, I can see what you are trying to do, but didn’t you know that you have to exchange points to even read the manual?

Ed: Sorry, I just entered the academy today and I am still not familiar with the regulations. I thought I could at least read the books. I just wanted to decide on which techniques I would actually borrow. Here is my tablet.

Librarian: Hoho, you skipped straight to the elite course. You must be pretty good. As an elite student, you are actually allowed to skim all the books without using points and you even get to borrow 2 manuals for free each month. Normally the point system is so that students don’t get to randomly pick techniques to try out and make them work for it which will let us see if they are worth investing in like yourself. Sorry for the interruption, you may keep going with what you were doing.

Ed: Thank you.

Ed immediately went to read the techniques. There were so many and they were all so different even among the same categories. Among the defensive techqniues, some were about creating an aura force field while some utilized extreme physical tempering which borderline looked like torture to transform the body to be harder than steel.

For the movement techniques, some were advanced versions of the aura burst technique while some combined aura burst with a unique footwork to create synergistic effects. Some even utilized something called “concepts” which can be used to merge with a technique for a multiplicative effect. Ed was fascinated by all the classifications and variations and was absorbed by reading. He was actually in the library for 5 hours.

Librarian: Ahem! Hey kid, do you need help? It's rare that someone would be here for so long without choosing a technique. I don’t just guard this room, I also offer advice.

Ed: Thank you sir, I haven’t been exposed to too many techniques so I am unsure of which one to select. From what I understand about martial skill rankings, my highest rank skill is D4. How would you advise me to proceed?

Skills can be rankeds similar as hunter ranks in classes with 5 subdivisions. The skill rankings start with D since anything more simple wouldn’t really classify as a technique. D1 skills are the most basic such as aura flow, moving aura from one location to another. D2 skills are a little bit more complicated like body augmentation which requires the consistent flow of aura throughout the body. D3 skills require a bit more control such as aura burst since it requires gathering, condensing, and exploding that aura for an enhancement in striking or speed. D4 would be something like the 7 Star Steps since it consists of compartmenting a normal aura burst into 7 which requires a high aura control. D5 would be Captain’s full body defensive aura burst since it required controlling a large amount of aura throughout his entire body exploding evenly so that he can defend himself from all angles.

Note: Think Neji from naruto’s rotation technique without actually spinning.

Librarian: That's quite the surprise. At your level you should already have a couple of C1 skills under your belt and maybe even a C2 skill. You must’ve been raised in a pretty desolate area. Anyways, I already took a look at your combat exam and have a general grasp of your style. You are a speed type fighter that either evades the opponent so you can shoot them or use superior agility when they get close to strike at their weaknesses.

Your last strike was pretty strong but I assume it cost you a fair bit of your aura so it wasn’t very effective. I assume you don’t have any points in your account so you can only rent two books so I recommend these two techniques: Sparrow’s Flight and Wind’s Waltz. Sparrow’s Flight is a dual iai technique.

At your current level you probably can’t execute it with both of your blades so it will be a C1 skill but if you can superimpose the two iais properly, it can jump up to C5. Wind’s Waltz is similar to your own compartmentalized burst technique. It works by continuously having sets of 4 bursts. Those four bursts can be utilized extremely close to each other. There may be a slight gap between each set of 4 but the interval is even shorter than the intervals with your current technique so it's a complete upgrade in my opinion.

Ed: Thank you so much, those techniques fit me perfectly. Do you know where I can go to practice them?

Librarian: Geez, you really don’t know anything. You know you can ask your tablet these easy questions right? Since you already asked, you can reserve the private rooms in the martial hall. Normally it would be hard to get a room last minute like this but since only a few students stay on campus during breaks, you can get one for the rest of the week.

Ed: Thank you and have a good day.