Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, Main Continent, Cloudmount City, In front of the Immortal Pillar Academy .
“Anyway, I think we've arrived to the academy.” As the boy was trying to assimilate the lengthy explanation, the last sentence jolted him from his thoughts and he focused his mind on the huge gate in front of them. The excitement started to build up inside him when he saw the huge letters radiating a tranquil but also fearsome power over the gate: Immortal Pillar Academy. He thought, elated. “I can't wait to start my classes!”
When they approached the gigantic structure, they both noticed the word 'East' below the name of the Academy. “From what Lady Bai told me, this is the East Gate and where all the administrative buildings are situated. There should also be a designated area to park our car... Thankfully, the car's AI can connect to the school's formation's spirit. It would be a pain otherwise.” Guang Yang was puzzled at his remark and so decided to ask him. “What do you mean?”
Nung answered. “Well, on ungraded planet and even some Grade 1 planet, because of their lack of technology, they have to maneuver their vehicles themselves. And because their system are not streamlined, it becomes a mess. In the end, it takes hours instead of minutes to go anywhere. It's a pain.”
Bewildered, the boy continued. “But, can't they fly there... Wait! There's almost no cultivators on ungraded planets, so they can't fly. And only Rank 1 cultivators on Grade 1 planets, so they also can't fly... That's a difficult problem. By the way, how do you know so much about ungraded planets, uncle Nung?” A smile appeared on the man's face when the child called him 'uncle'. “Because your teacher sent me and a few other uncles in the two puppet teams a few times on recon missions. I won't go into too much details, since it's not my story to tell, but I can tell you this: Lady Bai worked as a hit-man against horrible cultivators.” The child asked. “What's a hit-man?”
Nung replied. “It's someone who receives a contract from someone to kill someone else for money. Some of those contracted killers do not concern themselves with the target's personality, and they would even kill innocents as long as they are paid. However, your teacher went only against the worst of the worst of cultivators. You should ask her for more details if you're interested.” Seeing Guang Yang nod, he resumed talking. “Anyway, to answer your first question, some of those targets, knowing who was after them, decided to hide in very obscure places, and ungraded planets are perfect for them, since there are almost no cultivators, and the few that exists are too weak to notice cultivators with that kind of cultivation base. So, she had to send several teams of puppets to scour multiple areas to find them.”
As he noticed something that the man said, the boy asked. “Uncle Nung, you said multiple teams as if there were more than the teams in the mansions...?” The puppet nodded, praising in his mind at the boy's quick-wittedness. “You're right. Lady Bai has many puppet teams in her internal world. The majority of them being a lot stronger than me. By one or two layers even.” Amazement could be seen on the boy's face at this news. “No one knows this in this Realm, but she is a powerful puppet master in the Divine Realm. Anyway, we've arrived, so let's get out of the car.”
While they were discussing Bai Yue, the car's AI, which connected to the 'local' spirit, led the former to the designated parking area full of cars and even a few carriages could be spotted around. The beasts which pulled the latter were being looked after by some robots. As they were quite smart, no problem seemed to crop up despite the lack of oversight by cultivators.
When the two exited the car, a robot came to welcome them and said. “Hello, dear sirs. I am the IPA's [A/N: Nothing to do with the beer^^] sub-spirit conversing with you through this robot. I welcome you on the premises of this school. From the information sent to us, you're coming to enroll mister Guang in our school, am I correct?” Nung nodded. “That's right.” The robot asked them to follow it before continuing. “We've received all the documents that we needed for the application, beside those for the optional classes. In case you're not aware, our school has a set of mandatory classes which are divided into four parts: basic cultivation, basic fighting, basic adventuring, basic craft. Coupled with those mandatory classes, there are a multitude of optional classes that are either the advanced versions of the basic classes or other more abstract or out-of-the-norm subjects, depending on who is available to teach them.”
While they were discussing the different classes available, the walked to what seemed like a small levitating bus, in which they entered, following the talking robot. Once the door where closed, they could see the outside passing by very quickly through the panoramic windows. They seemed to go towards the cluster of buildings that they noticed when they entered the school's ground. From Bai Yue's earlier description, Nung guessed that it was the administration building and also their current objective. “How are the classes divided with the students being at different Levels?”
The robot answered. “Good question. We actually decided to divide the students by their Level's competency. In other word, they have to reach a minimum competency that we believe should be attainable for everyone with the same Level. There are obviously exams every years, and depending on the situation, the student who keeps failing may not be able to stay enrolled in the school. Of course, it's an extremely rare case, since our expectations for basic students are not too high. Unlike those advanced students, which is obviously related to resources that are available to them. We do not wish for students to waste both their time and the teachers if they are not really interested in the subject of the classes they enroll in. Also, despite the fact that the students have to 'buy' the materials or items they need from the school with contribution points, the prices are lower than the normal market price, and although we wish to further education everywhere, it doesn't mean that we should waste what we have.”
“All in all, we can say that we are strict but fair in our demands for our students. All of them acknowledge that fact. But mister Guang should not be worried, since, from the information you sent us, I can predict that you should be fine in our school. Although our optional classes may a bit more challenging, they are plenty doable.” Guang Yang nodded to show his understanding, however he could not help but become nervous from the spirit's explanation. After all, it would be the first time that he went to school, and despite his apparent talent in cultivation, he was worried that he would not be able to follow the lessons. Also, he did not know if the other students would like him. From what his teacher told him, the latter were a lot older than him, which meant that they might not necessarily accept to be his friend.
As they were walking, more and more anxious thoughts invaded his young mind until the spirit's voice broke through his self inflicted torment. “We're here. I will leave you with another sub-spirit to take care of the rest. I wish mister Guang great success in this school and hope that you will like learning here. Have a good day.” When the man and the boy returned the farewell, the robot left them alone in front of a door, which automatically opened. Before they could do anything, a voice came from what seemed like a futuristic office with what looked like a lifelike hologram of a beautiful woman. The only reason why Nung knew that it was a hologram was that he could not feel any presence from her, and as he was not under any illusion, then it became the only possible answer. And her next words confirmed his guess.
“Welcome to the Immortal Pillar Academy. I am a sub-spirit of the academy's main spirit. You can call me A-32. I am one of the sub-spirits in charge of dealing with optional classes and I was tasked to help you take care of the two of you. Before we start, do the two of you have any question?” Guang Yang stayed silent from nervousness, but Nung did not hesitate to ask the sub-spirit. “The other sub-spirit that welcomed us earlier talked a bit about the mandatory classes and optional classes. It said that most optional classes are simply advanced versions of the basic ones. How does that work if one take those optional classes?”
The spirit smiled and replied. “Good question. First, for each of the basic classes, mister Guang Yang will need to pass a test, to ascertain his competency in said subjects. Depending on the result, he will be placed on the different levels, which means that he could placed in the Level 3 for the basic cultivation class, but be placed in the Level 1 for adventuring, for example. It happens quite often, as not everyone has access to a balanced education.”
After making sure that they understood everything, she added. “Now for the optional classes. It is similar to the basic ones in the sense that you will also have to take a test to enroll in them. The difference being that, depending on the result, you may get excused from the corresponding basic class. Take pill crafting for example. The basic course would be to identify the most well-known pills from each level with their ingredients. However, pill crafting as an advanced course would be the literal crafting of the most well-known pills for each level. If you take the latter, then the former would be redundant, so, if you wish to, you could skip the basic course. However, learning how to craft pills is a lot harder than simply identifying them and their ingredients, so you may lag behind if you choose that path. We generally advise to take both, as the basic courses are quite easy and short. At least , to their corresponding levels, thanks to the evolution brought by their increase in cultivation. [A/N: Level 1 course is easy for a Level 1 cultivator, Level 2 is easy for Level 2, etc]
“You can also take courses for higher levels than your current Level, but we're extremely strict with that, since only extreme geniuses in those subjects would be allowed to skip 'grades'. For the others, it would simply waste everyone's time for no gain for the student. Do you have any other questions?”
The black-haired man shook his head while the boy was silently listening to the conversation with great interest. The woman then nodded her head and said. “Alright, then. I've just sent you the list of the mandatory and advanced classes on your Holo-Bracelets for you to peruse. I will give you some time to choose. To read the class' description, you need to click on the ones you're interested in. If you wish to know more, do not hesitate to ask me.”
The two nodded and started to look at the different classes available. They were definitely very varied and went from Basic Mundane knowledge (Reading, Mathematics, History, etc) to Basic Blacksmithing, with everything else in between. Nung said to Guang Yang with a praising tone. “This school really provide a very balanced and varied curriculum. Anyone who graduated from this school would be able to live a descent life anywhere. Unless they crossed the wrong cultivator, of course.” Guang Yang nodded with some excitement in his voice. “It seems very interesting. There are many subjects that I didn't go over with teacher, so I'll definitely learn many new things.” Nung replied. “Mmhh. That's true. But the reason why Lady Bai did not teach young master those topics yet, is simply because young master is very young. Also as the Immortal Pillar Academy is an organization specialized in teaching, they created a very efficient way to do it. But your teacher can still help shore up your weaknesses on each subjects and help guide you when you fail to understand something.”
The boy nodded. “I know that teacher is amazing, Uncle Nung. She is the most incredible person I know, and I'm sure that she knows all those subjects and it's simply because she didn't think that I would need them before that she didn't teach them to me yet.” The man nodded and said with his usual calm voice. “As long as you understand... Now, you should choose optional classes, if you are interested. My advice is to limit your choice on something that you would see yourself follow for a very long time, that way you won't use your time on something that you don't like. It can be one or several crafts or even something completely different. You can also wait to try the different basic classes to see which one interests you. It's up to you, young master.”
The young child acquiesced and answered. “I understand. I'm very interested in Blacksmithing and Rune Etching, so I think I will choose those two.” That choice intrigued both his guardian and the spirit. The former asked. “May I know the reason of young master's choice? Those two are very demanding on one's body and mind, so you need to be prepared to invest a lot of time and energy if you wish to go far in both paths.” That puzzled the young Fox. “Before I answer you, could you first answer a question of mine? I thought that those two were needed for any items' crafting like weapons and clothes. Did I misunderstand?”
Before the man had the time to answer, the spirit took over the conversation. “Actually, they can but they don't have to. A blacksmith can create weapons without runes by only relying on the material's properties. Although that would not decrease the weapon's quality, it would also not increase it. The end result would simply be average or poor. However, if you also added the right runes, you could add new properties or increase existent ones on the weapon, making it a superior or peak weapon. Most blacksmiths dabble in Rune Etching, but very few have a similar level in both of their path. So most of the time, the blacksmith has to work with a rune etcher to make a high quality Item. Of course, the reason for that fact is because it is extremely hard to advance at a similar pace in two or more path. A cultivator's time and energy is limited after all, so he or she has to allocate them intelligently.”
The boy nodded to the female hologram with a smile and said. “That sounds hard, but I still want to do it. My reason is that I want to be able to protect my family with Magic items. I think that's the best way for me. I also thought about pill crafting, but since I would also have to take the Rune Etching course, I wanted a more physical course. The other classes do not fit with my goal, so I'll pass on them.”
When Nung heard his reason, a smile of endearment appeared on his face and he said. “It's a very good reason, young master. As long as you keep striving toward that goal, I'm sure that you will definitely becomes one of the best Runic Blacksmith in the Wanderer's Realms.” Guang Yang then nodded with confidence visible on his face. “I won't let teacher, mom and dad down. I'll definitely strive to become the best!”
A small laugh of delight escaped the woman who covered her small attractive mouth to hide it. “This is great. I'm sure that you, mister Guang, will succeed. After all, if one doesn't even have the courage to aim high, then what's the point of cultivating? Your attitude towards everything will shape your success and failure. Never give up, even if it becomes hard. That way, you will not have any regret. And I can promise you that every staff member in this school will do his or her best to ensure that you realize your ambition.”
The boy then bowed his head respectfully and replied. “Thank you miss.” After the warm scene, Nung asked the woman. “Now that the young master chose his courses, should we go for the tests?” The woman nodded and added. “I have saved his choices in his files. T-86 will bring you to the venue for the tests.” When she finished talking, the two 'men' heard the door opening itself, which prompted them to turn around. When they looked at the entrance, they saw a robot which looked exactly the same as the one which welcomed them earlier. “Two sirs, I am T-86. You may follow me to the test's venue.” The two said their farewell to S-32 and tagged along the walking machine.