The new day starts, and we make our way to Sec Academy to sign up for the tournament. Of course, me and Baro didn’t go ourselves. It’s too troublesome for us to be seen at the academy.

By the ticket booth past the main gate, we lay hidden in the leaves of a big tree growing out of a large fountain. The tree shakes as we get in a position to watch. Baro said she’ll be fine I said she’d get lynched. She said she’d be fine, but I still had to see if I’d be right.

As Noana gets in line, a few students look at her strangely but don’t say anything.

They won’t because she’s got a higher status than them. I suspected it too. It’s what’d happen if other nobles get involved that I was unsure about.

I wasn’t sure about how the ritual would go either. Luckily it was a resounding success, and I barely needed time to recover. Even the bath afterwards was unnecessary, but I still partook in one because my soul still felt dirty.

I wanted to spar with Baro again, but he left as soon as the ritual was over. On my way to the meet up point he said I won’t see him again until the tournament. Cheeky monkey.

Noana patiently waits, unbothered by the seething gazes cast her way.

With poison clear sight and an enhanced qi network I can see ten times further, and right now I kind of wish I couldn’t. This malice cast her way is quite an uncomfortable sight.

It’s still nowhere the power of Kaimen Garbage Vision, where vision becomes so keen that all microscopic waste within a 100m radius becomes as clear as 4k TV.

“I still have trouble believing what happened. You cover yourself with trash, consume trash, quietly lay down for a few hours, and become a qi master. What kind of unhinged cultivation is this?”

I was shocked. He thinks I merely quietly laid down for a few hours. It was NOT that simple.

Maybe because I’ve done it before. I was much more comfortable with the illusions this time around, able to mostly block off their influence. The added experience contributed significantly.

I guess my crying blood must have been an illusion too. That is definitely a concerning sight.

What kind of unhinged cultivation is this?

Baro doesn’t understand. The Khal sect prepares its disciples for WAR!

Trash threatens to destroy everything, and we are the ones that stand against it.

We are guardians of nature, hurling ourselves headfirst into the ultimate manifestations of human waste, cleansing that filth from our planet.”

Baro still doesn’t understand the truth.

Our goal is to purify the energies of garbage. There are many dense pockets of trash qi so foul that it can persist for thousands of years in a harmful form.

We are specialized in communicating with wicked qi, and our ability to keep ourselves clean is why we can do our jobs without being tainted ourselves.

This focus on self-defense is the essence of junk-fu.

For many generations the mastery of this martial arts was the main goal of our sect. That was until the fourth sect master.

The great fourth sect master surmised that it takes too long for the qi we cleanse to be returned to the planet, so he developed a new power. One which cleanses foul qi and immediately reapplies it to the world.

His three tenants: Reduce, reuse, recycle.

This incredible martial art is re-scrapjitsu.

Baro waves in my face, telling me to stop ignoring him. Seems I have a habit of getting lost in thought.

“Look it’s some nobles, time to see if you’d be right.”

I frown.

Those aren’t any nobles. After so many interactions I remember them fine now. They are the trashiest nobles in the academy. The red and blue haired brats that have tried to lynch me multiple times.

The Sar brothers, Lou and Bou.

They immediately step up to Noana. Arms crossed and in her face. She takes a step back and looks down, but with a clench of her fist she raises her head and stares back.

Yeah, obviously I was right about what would happen when nobles got involved. Baro owes me a spirit stone now. He frowns and puts one in my hand, which I let absorb into Janne’s hammer space belt. Found it in her room one day while dedusting the place.

With my qi reservoir being forcefully expanded as far as possible, forcefully expanding it with a spirit stone could cause it to crack. This is a common risk of using too many spirit stones at once. After a couple more days rest I can cultivate and try to expand my network further.

In order to use a technique as refined as re-scrapjitsu or the kaimen garbage vision, I need to cultivate to at least a Qi-phoenix. The only basis I have for this belief is the fact that only peak qi practitioners of the Khal Sect were able to apply re-scrapjitsu.

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It wasn’t until I unlocked kaimen garbage vision that the sect master decided I was ready to learn re-scrapjitsu. It makes sense then that I’d need to cultivate my qi to its highest possible level in order to be able to apply these techniques. My current cultivation is a mere step towards the ultimate goal on the path of garbage mastery.

I can feel it too, if I were to force these techniques with my body the way it is now… I would literally explode.

It’s a good thing I won’t need it any time soon. Bou and Lou are taking turns shoving Noana, I wonder how I should handle this situation.

Baro must think it’s all under control, and considering Noana’s current cultivation, it probably is.

“Do you know what the others are saying about you and that trash.” Bou says, poking her in the shoulder.

“You’re a filthy whore of a fiancé, how dare you disrespect my family this way!” Lou says, backhanding her.

Images of sect master flow through my mind, his wisdom screaming at me to dispose of the trash.

I try to jump in, but Baro holds me down. If he weren’t a qi expert too, that wouldn’t have ever been possible.

“You’re underestimating her. She let them do that.”

Noana, unphased, pans her head back towards Lou.

“I never agreed to it. Why would I marry a someone weaker than me?”

Holy shit, six years old and engaged! What kind of medieval civilization is this? There go my dreams of owning a television.

“You think elder brother is weaker than you?” Bou yells, ki erupting.

Lou waves his hand, laughing.

“You couldn’t even react to a simple slap. You’re here to sign up for the tournament, right? I’ll show you who’s stronger there, in front of the whole school.”

He pushes everyone aside, and with a mocking bow he gestures Noana forwards.

“Ladies first.”

As she walks past, he whispers something in her ear. I couldn’t hear what it was but the way her fist was shaking while her head was down… I was worried there’d be a brawl.

She put our names in along with hers and left… seemingly in tears as they mocked her out. With our qi master footwork, in one hop we went out the tree and over the front gates, landing unnoticed by some academy walls.

As I land, I can’t help but go to Noana to ask how she’s doing. To my surprise she’s got a smile on her face and is completely unbothered. It made me embarrassed to even think she needed our support. This must have been what Baro wanted to teach me.

I still won the bet though, stupid baldy.

“I can use this as an excuse to miss a whole day of school, how about I study with you guys.”

“Nah, I’m going to train solo today. I’ll see you two tomorrow at the tournament,” Baro says before heading off on his own.

“I have chores,” I add, trying to escape.

She holds this puppy dog stare as I walk away, practically whimpering. Every time I look back, I feel even more guilty. This was the first time I saw how the others treated her since she stood up for me last week… I had no idea.

I tried my best to block them out, but the back of my mind still picked up comments from the other students. I rolled my eyes when I heard about her cooties, but it’s when the kids started sharing their parents’ opinions on the matter that I started getting bothered.

I can still hear them over the walls. Talking amongst themselves.

“My mom said to keep away, that the shame she brought to her family will spread to everyone around her.”

“Mine called her a rabid animal.”

“My dad heard her talking back to her parents the other day. Told me to never be a selfish brat like that.”

She stands there, head down, not saying a word. I can’t do it, I can’t just leave her there and walk home.

“Hey Noana,” I say. She looks up, almost in tears.

“If you help me finish them, we can start training sooner.”

She was practically skipping on the way back.

***

Next day.

I stopped on the way to school to pick up some items I previously requested from one of the designers in the city. I had it drawn out pretty well so there was little need for me to clarify what I wanted from him. My only request was that it’d be made with qi-reinforced fabrics so it wouldn’t tear easily.

Naturally I had more than enough Gillards to pay him handsomely for his services.

Like that I got my hands on a fresh child-sized Khal Sect Gi. Minus the red belt, which is just my favorite color, it’s an all-black uniform. On the chest is the simple crest of the Khal sect: The recycle logo, inside it a trash can with the letter R on it.

It’s hard to see a dirty stain on black clothes, perfect for appearing relatively clean despite the appalling filth that uniform will be forced to go through.

I made one for Noana too, but I didn’t give it to her. I know she’d end up wearing it to the tournament, and if we go there dressed in similar clothing… I can hear the comments now. She’s mostly unbothered by them… she doesn’t care about how much cooties the other kids think she has. I do.

I swear to God if I hear another “sitting in the tree, K I S S I N G,” I’ll unalive and try my luck at reincarnating again.

I AM AN ADULT… I just don’t look like one yet.

She left sometime in the afternoon. With her help the chores were done relatively quickly, and after absorbing some spirit stones we sparred a bit, and I gave her pointers on how to circulate her qi to maximize her garbage collector’s glide and garbage breathing.

We spent the rest of the time reviewing the foundations of Junk-Fu, it’s role in the Khal Sect mission. There was one topic I kept avoiding though, one which she kept insisting on.

“I can tell you got stronger after it, I want to do the ritual,” she said.

She definitely meets the prerequisites… but she’s far too young. The Khal sect would never have a child endure the poison demon ritual. Ignoring the fact that it’s breaking a hundred child labor laws, and is a war crime in various states, it’s downright unethical.

I’m an adult in a kid’s body, living on my own. I have a house I take care of, and I make my own money. Even if Janne didn’t give me this place to stay, I could easily make my own cabin in a few days. Not that I need to, with just my ability to hunt I can make a living and literally buy a house.

That’s not even including the income I can make through selling various potions for profit. Even without Janne’s bountiful garden, I’m confident I could find various ways to make some pocket change until I can just buy the ingredients I need to make more money.

Despite being a kid, my decisions are mine and mine to make.

She is a child who sees a strong person and wants to be like them. She is a good person but the only reason she wants anything to do with the Khal Sect is because of me.

Sure, I took her on as a disciple out of guilt, but as of now there is no way I’m subjecting her to the poison demon ritual.

She was furious. Left as soon as I told her that I wouldn’t do it. I tried to plead, to explain why it’s not right… but she refused to listen. Said that if I can do it so can she, that I’m selfish and keeping all the best moves for myself so that I can win the tournament. On her way out she said something very concerning.

“Tomorrow I’ll show you how ready I am to learn Junk Fu.”