Chapter 150 - Beginning of the Lessons (2/2)

”Fenrir, this is the name I gave him at birth.”

”Nice to meet you, Fenrir. My name is Hei. I hope I can get along with you, and the same goes for Ye and Xing.”

The white wolf named Fenrir gave a quick howl to indicate his approval. Lang then gave a slightly hinted smile that was almost unnoticeable. Then she went back to eating without uttering any more words. But occasionally, she would take fleeting glances at Ye and Xing. Sitting next to Lang, Lilian and Mia were smiling as never before. Although it didn't seem that way, the first meeting had been a great success.

Hei then went on to have breakfast with everyone else. All of them needed to have a big meal to face the morning's academic activities, considering that they still had no precise idea of ​​what would await them.

*

Main Classroom - First Year

The site for the first lesson was a large classroom, capable of holding together the 5,000 people who made up the first year of the Southern Royal War Academy. The classroom had long counters arranged horizontally in three sections. Behind each counter, there would have been another one placed slightly higher, and so on to follow. In this way, even those who sat at the bottom would have a good vision of the teacher.

Hei and the others went to settle in one of the last counters. The beast tamers could bring their spirit beasts with them. However, they had to put themselves in the last seats to avoid nuisances for the other students. For those who owned them, there was the possibility of temporarily storing their spirit beast in a bag for spirit beasts, but Lang wasn't the type to do that. So, in order not to leave her alone, the group chose to settle in the back of the classroom.

When Hei sat down, all he could see around him was a sea of ​​disparate people. There were a higher number of men, but the number of women reached thousands as well. There were lots of people seated in groups while chatting happily, awaiting the teacher's arrival; those who were alone instead were waiting in silence in their seats.

Once everyone was settled, the teacher finally entered. He was a fair-skinned man with short black hair and a short, well-groomed beard. From his expression and his way of walking, it could be understood that he was part of the army of the Southern Empire. He emanated that feeling of authority and strength that only those who had seen countless battles had.

Suddenly, some of the students began to whisper to each other because the teacher assigned by the empire wasn't just any person but was rather famous.

”Spirit King Song Yazhu? What's one of his rank doing here?”

”Song Yazhu? Is it really him? I can't believe it!”

Noting the various murmurs, Hei asked the others who the teacher who had just arrived was, ”Is he a famous person?”

Leon, who sat to his left, replied, ”Yes. You should know that even if there is no official war going on, it isn't uncommon for battles against the Moon Empire to happen. These clashes, however, impose the absence of both spirit emperors and spirit kings; instead, they send only the weaker martial artists. However, for some reason, spirit kings were also sent in the last battle. If the Sun Empire won the battle, it is certainly thanks to the actions of that person, Song Yazhu. He is also said to have the potential to become a spirit emperor.”

Lian, sitting to Hei's right, followed with a comment, ”I doubt the empire sends one of his best men here, excluding the various spirit emperors, to be a teacher. There must be a particular reason if he's here.”

”Maybe it's related to why there is one of the emperor's children in the academy,” Hei concluded as he moved his gaze to the front row where Imperial Prince Long Tian and his four guards sat.

Over the week, Hei had tried to fill his gaps about the society of the empire. Among the many things he had discovered, there was also the fact that the Imperial Family would study mainly in the central region in the Imperial Palace. It was the only family that had such permission. Not even the Eight Big Families could escape that rule; they had to send their sons and daughters to one of the many war academies in the empire.

Still, a member of the Imperial Family, who was also one of the Imperial Princes, was at the Southern Royal War Academy. This fact surprised an indeterminate number of people, but apart from those directly concerned, nobody knew the reason for his presence there.

The Teacher Song Yazhu let out a cough that rumbled vigorously throughout the classroom. More than a cough, it looked as if thunder had fallen inside the classroom.

”Welcome to all of you in the first academic year of the Southern Royal War Academy. My name is Song Yazhu, and I was sent from the Empire to teach you. Unlike before, this academic year will have only one teacher who will be me. It only applies to compulsory classes, while the secondary ones will remain at the discretion of the various structures. Therefore, this means that the more you piss me off, the worse it will be for you.”

Song Yazhu's voice was full of authority and vigor. As a spirit king, one move could have killed any of the spirit soldiers in the classroom. So even though several students wanted to comment on such a sudden change, they didn't dare say a word for fear of incurring his anger.

”Excellent, I see that there are no hot heads for the moment. The stupidest thing you can do is not to notice the circ.u.mstances in which you are and the gap that separates you from the enemy. However, returning to the lessons, the morning classes are divided into three - war theory, hand-to-hand combat, and weapon combat. In the afternoon, after the lunch break, you must instead train in your elemental techniques in groups. In the evening, after dinner, you will have secondary classes for those who want while others can retire to their rooms. If any of you are asking yourself when you can have the time to cultivate, the answer is simple. We martial artists can very well cultivate instead of sleeping. However, since not sleeping at all is detrimental in the long run, after every three days of lessons, there will be one day off to use as you wish. Obviously, you can ignore that and sleep on the other days, but if you aren't capable of following such a regime, I advise you to disappear from here. The Royal War Academies aren't places where simple soldiers are produced. Here only those who will shape the future era are forged. That is to say that only the best of the best. If there are shits that are for some reason have happened here, I advise you to disappear instantly, or else I will badly beat you for every day you have wasted here at the academy.”

With that threat, Song Yazhu ended his speech. His authoritarian way put a lot of pressure on all of the students. Even Hei felt himself a little influenced by his strength, but that was all. He and Lian had witnessed much more intense pressure, the peak of this world - spirit emperor and sixth level divine beast. So it was normal they weren't so in awe of Song Yazhu like others. Of course, they weren't the only ones; several other of their fellow students had such characteristics, and they didn't seem intimidated by the spirit king Song Yazhu.