Akiza was refusing to talk to Serph after the incident. She chose to meditate instead.

"I'm sorry," said Serph. "My house is small and I'm used to sleeping in bed with my sister and I have a habit of sleep walking at night."

"More like, sister complex," Akira thought to himself as he heard those words.

Akiza focused on gathering as much Internal Energy as she could, but she was not making much progress. "No change?" Akiza said.

"You need to Armatize with a Spirit first in order for it to go faster," said Akira.

"What is Armatize?" asked Akiza.

"It is what Cixi did in the fight yesterday," said Akira. "Hers was a turtle shield, yours is going to be phoenix whatever."

"Then is meditating useless?" asked Akiza.

"Nope, all your extra Internal Energy is going towards feeding your Spirit," said Akira as he picked up what appeared to be a little red chicken. "See, it has been only a few days and look at how much it has grown, soon you will be able to use it."

"Then I will focus on meditating so I can advance faster!" said Akiza.

"Actually, there's something better you can do," said Akira as he handed Akiza a book.

"Phoenix Stances" was written on the front cover. Inside it displayed movements and body positions for different attacks. "Is this a skill book?" asked Akiza.

"Yes," said Akira. "This is a skill book compiled by past Heroes who have used the Phoenix as their main Spirit. I suggest you read up on it. You can learn the first three right now."

Akiza flipped through the book with interest. "Phoenix Steps, Rising Phoenix Strike, and Burning Phoenix," Akiza said out loud. These were the first three moves of Phoenix Style.

Phoenix Steps, a movement ability. The user moves in an arc towards a location in sight, it is an indirect path, easily allowing them to get behind the opponent or to the side for an attack. It is made much more unpredictable with the use of wings.

Rising Phoenix Strike, an attack in which the user rushes towards an opponent with a flame enhanced strike, usually to the torso. It relies on speed as much as it does strength. The user can explode a wing to give a huge boost of speed, but it causes temporary loss of usage of the wings until it recovers. Recovery speed increases with advancement into the later Stages.

Burning Phoenix, a strike meant to kill by detonating the flames that remain from any attack made on an opponent. Its power grows the more you hit a single target within a fixed amount of time.

"I will study well," Akiza said.

"Hey are you still there?" asked Serph.

"WHAT?!?" shouted Akiza.

"It is time for class," said Serph.

"Oh okay," said Akiza.

Serph guided Akiza to their first class. All Apprentices had the same classes. It was a basic knowledge course teaching things like language, mathematics, geography, and history. "This is so boring!" Akiza thought to herself. However, she looked to her left and Serph was highly interested in geography, most likely because he was from a farming family. Others were very interested in it, but Akiza had already read all this information from books stored in her Dantian. There wasn't any new history or geogaphy material, which she might actually have been interested in.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

When class ended, Serph guided Akiza to the next thing. "There's more?!?" Akiza said with a surprised voice.

"Yes," said Serph. "Practical training."

"What is that?" Akiza asked.

"You get to play with weapons and hit things in the Training Grounds," said Serph.

"Why the Training Grounds?" asked Akiza.

"The Training Grounds are special," said Serph. "It is believed that the school's founder was an Immortal who created the land and it is because of this power that the Immortal does not die. Anyone who is on the land will also not die. Instead they will reappear at the entrance with all their injuries gone."

"Then let's go!" said Akiza with enthusiasm. This was the first thing that actually interested Akiza here. She had not fought anyone other than Akira. She was interested in how strong Serph and the others were. She really wanted to practice the Phoenix Style as well.

There were many people at the Training Ground. Akiza was the youngest by far. There were a few people at Serph's age and others who appeared to be 16 or even older. It was a huge place. Lots of green grass everywhere, but it was spotted with white stages that had stone floors. These were arena rings where fights happen. At the back were weapon racks. Weapons from here are not allowed outside of the Training Ground. "You can fight anyone who accepts your challenge," said Serph as he grabbed a sword. "Do you want to exchange pointers with me?" Serph asked Akiza.

"Okay," said Akiza as she walked towards one of the arena rings in the Training Ground.

"Aren't you going to get a weapon?" asked Serph.

"I don't know how to use one," said Akiza.

"Just take one so you can at least block another person's weapon," said Serph.

"Okay," said Akiza as she picked up a sword. It was too big. It was longer than her arm. She had no problem holding it or swinging it though.

The two of them got into the ring. "On the count of three, either one of us can hit each other," said Serph.

"Okay," Akiza agreed to the rules.

"One..." said Serph as he readied his stance.

Akiza was standing there in a neutral position. It looked like she was not planning to fight.

"Two..." said Serph as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply to calm himself. "Three..." said Serph as he opened his eyes. To his shock, there was already a small fist approaching his eyes. It was Akiza's.