"That still doesn"t change the fact that this brat is trash," Xiao Zhang replied indifferently. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists tightly, but couldn"t say anything. Not caring about my response, the princ.i.p.al continued. "Well, it"s within the parameters of expectations. In every batch, there"s bound to be at least three or four One Star Const.i.tution trash. I was already surprised that there wasn"t one so far. It just so happened that this guy happened to be it."

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Fei Wu is really trash! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Qi Fu Ren couldn"t stop laughing. His underlings laughed alongside him, though I suspected that they hadn"t the faintest clue what their boss was amused by, given their limited intelligence. The rest of the cla.s.s either looked at me in pity, or were just as condescending as Xiao Zhang. Given that I wasn"t in a world I was familiar with, it seemed that the might is right mentality was the hegemonic social att.i.tude here.

Teacher Jiao merely shook his head in disgust and gestured for me to leave. I hastily withdrew, not wanting to remain in the spotlight any longer.

You"ve got to be kidding me.

I couldn"t help cursing the heavens. Of all the people to have a One Star Const.i.tution, it had to be me, didn"t it? And right after Bai Ning Xue received news that she was a Five Star Const.i.tution. It was as if the heavens were deliberately making fun of me.

d.a.m.n it!

"Don"t worry. We"ll figure something out."

Zhu Jiao consoled me as I returned to the place below. He placed an a.s.suring hand on my shoulder and nodded grimly.

"I won"t let these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds look down on you."

"Thanks."

"It"s your turn now."

Xiao Zhang ignored me and turned his gaze onto Zhu Jiao, looking as if he held some sort of expectation. Zhu Jiao swallowed nervously, gave me one last look, and then stepped forward. Taking a deep breath, he climbed the stage.

"Heh…will he be another trash like Fei Wu?"

Qi Fu Ren was still scoffing from his spot, rubbing his hands in glee as he sought for more victims to ridicule.

Zhu Jiao paid him no attention. He took another deep breath before he stepped forward and placed his hand on the Blackstone.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the Blackstone flared brilliantly, a golden pillar of light blasting into the skies. Identical to Bai Ning Xue, who was smiling in satisfaction – the first time I had actually seen the Ice Princess smile – Zhu Jiao"s result pierced the heavens with a sharp intensity, overawing everyone.

"Amazing…! He"s also a Five Star Const.i.tution candidate?!"

"We have two Five Star Const.i.tution people in our cla.s.s?!"

"That"s awesome!"

Xiao Zhang also looked impressed and delighted. At least until the light sputtered and flickered to nothingness.

"…eh?"

Zhu Jiao looked puzzled, even as he continued pressing his hand against the Blackstone. He glanced at Xiao Zhang, hoping that the old man would explain what that meant.

Xiao Zhang merely shook his head in disappointment.

"Alas…you did indeed have a Five Star Const.i.tution, but it seemed like that was only in the past. For reasons unknown, you lost your talent, and have fallen into that of a One Star Const.i.tution. I hope you regain your talent, but such things rarely happen. I am sorry, but it seems that you are also trash. I do not think any sect will want to risk taking you as a disciple on the slim hope that you would somehow recover your Five Star Const.i.tution."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! So Zhu Jiao is trash as well? How funny! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Qi Fu Ren burst out laughing once again, slapping his thighs in delight.

That b.a.s.t.a.r.d really enjoyed watching the misfortune and suffering of other people. I clenched my fists, wishing that I would be able to pay him back for his insults and condescending att.i.tude one day. One f.u.c.king day…

Huh? But this whole stupid scenario where a talented guy suddenly lost his talent for unknown reasons and got reduced to trash…where did I hear that before?

Right. The protagonists of many wuxia novels. For reasons unknown, the talented protagonist would suddenly lose his talent, and become trash, and was ridiculed by the antagonists, his own clan and family members, and everyone. But he somehow regained his talent and even surpa.s.sed his former glory either through Deus ex Machina scenarios where he met a ghost master or received a burst of lightning from the heavens or conveniently stumbled across a secret manual. I had literally seen dozens of stories repeating that same pattern over and over again.

Zhu Jiao is really a wuxia protagonist, huh? (A pun here, because protagonist also reads as Zhu Jiao in Chinese)

No doubt Zhu Jiao would find a way to overcome his predicament and pay back tenfold all those who mocked and humiliated him. Standard, repet.i.tive wuxia story pattern. I could already guess the plot advancement even this early into the story.

The only problem is me, who"s merely a non-protagonist side character who would get forgotten as the plot advances and either get left behind or killed by the antagonists. I wouldn"t be surprised if I get killed by Qi Fu Ren as a way to justify Zhu Jiao getting revenge on the b.a.s.t.a.r.d later on and legitimize his taking of Qi Fu Ren"s life.

…not that it would help me much. f.u.c.k.

"Well, looks like you"re not alone."

Zhu Jiao forced a smile as he dropped off the stage and approached me. I didn"t know what to say. I wanted to scream that my situation was different, that at least he used to have talent, before he somehow lost it. That his case was somehow much more different from mine, who was completely hopeless because I never had talent to begin with. That his fate was to overcome all these hurdles, surpa.s.s even his former lost talent and wreak vengeance upon all those who were looking down on him right now.

Like Qi Fu Ren.

Credit to them, not all our cla.s.smates were mocking or looking down on us. A few looked at us sympathetically, and a few seemed to be at a loss as to what they could do. Ban Zhang made to step forward, probably to offer some help or encouraging words, but Xiao Zhang broke in with another announcement.

"Cla.s.s 1-5, it"s your turn."

That was right. There were still about 6 more cla.s.ses behind us. There was a total of ten cla.s.ses, each with about forty students. All in all, there were approximately four hundred students in the current batch.

Seemed like it was going to be a long morning…

Fortunately, time seemed to fly past, and the other six cla.s.ses were done before an hour was up. Granted, it didn"t take too much time to step up the stage, place your hand on the black monument, and then have Xiao Zhang announce your Const.i.tution.

Once everyone was done, Xiao Zhang resumed his place in front of the entire cohort.

"Now…you may choose your sects. All those masters there will come forward and try to recruit you. Talk to them, see what sects are the best fit for you, and make your decision wisely." he smiled broadly. "But if you"re interested in learning a variety of different martial arts, or perhaps intend to learn and restore some of the lost ones, or maybe experiment and combine a myriad of techniques in order to advance the progress of martial arts, of course you"re more than welcome to approach me. We have a completely different program for that."

The martial arts masters of the myriad of sects wasted no time coming forward eagerly, approaching all the higher-star Const.i.tutions. Zhu Jiao and I stood off to the side, and as we expected, not even one master looked in our direction.

"Our situation is hopeless, huh?"

Placing his hands behind his head, Zhu Jiao muttered darkly. I glanced at him, resigned to becoming either his sidekick as he surged toward the top, or ending up dead as a plot device to motivate him to gain power.

"As long as we don"t give up, we"ll find a way." I sighed. "I guess the only option we have right now is to self-learn. Get into the Experimentalist program and try to restore lost martial arts. If no one wants to teach us, we"ll have to learn techniques on our own."

"I"m afraid it"s not that simple."

Both of us spun around and saw Teacher Jiao heading toward us. He looked a little sad and sympathetic.

"In order to gain access to sensitive doc.u.ments and archives containing lost martial arts, or to have permission to learn all the different martial arts techniques that Wu Ling Academy is allowed to disseminate freely, you are required to reach a certain level. A level that you won"t be able to reach easily without any guidance or teaching. That, and a lot of resources…" he glared at Xiao Zhang. "Resources that the princ.i.p.al would refuse to spend. Not for two people he views as "trash"."

He then turned back to us and placed each hand on our shoulders.

"But I know you"re not trash. You just have different things that you"re good at. Not everyone is equal, but everyone is different. Each person has a unique talent, something that only he or she is good at. You might not be cut out for martial arts, but you can still contribute to the martial world and Martial Academy. To dismiss you as trash because you can"t fight is utterly narrow-minded and short-sighted."

"Thank you," Zhu Jiao bowed his head gratefully, but then he sulked. "That doesn"t really help our situation right now, though. And I want to learn martial arts and fight."

"Oh, I"ll take care of that." Teacher Jiao raised his head and glanced at the row of luxurious buildings built from white marble. Again, I was reminded of how Wu Ling Academy resembled a palace more than a campus. "While your access to Wu Ling Academy"s store of martial arts techniques is certainly restricted, there are a few martial arts that you"ll be allowed to learn."

Zhu Jiao brightened. "Really?! That"s great!"

"Not exactly." I sighed, already half-antic.i.p.ating the catch that came with that supposed piece of good news. "I bet the techniques we are allowed to access are the inferior, weak ones that n.o.body wants to learn because they are useless."

"Well, you don"t have to put it like that…but you"re not wrong." Teacher Jiao raised his hands haplessly. "But you shouldn"t give into despair yet. Who knows, you might be able to combine all these supposedly useless martial arts techniques into a powerful one that will take everyone by surprise. Some of the best martial arts have been developed in this way before."

"Easier said than done. It"s not like we have the talent for it."

I shook my head and grumbled in frustration. Teacher Jiao rubbed his bow, and then glanced at Zhu Jiao.

"Well, that"s your choice. You can do whatever you want as long as you complete your ch.o.r.es. But there"s no harm trying. You might even regain your talent that way."

"Yeah, Zhu Jiao shouldn"t give up. But I don"t have any talent to regain in the first place."

I realized I sounded pretty bitter, but given the circ.u.mstances and pressure mounting upon me, that couldn"t be helped. I was only human. My fragile psyche was already beginning to crack.

"I think the whole talent thing is bulls.h.i.t!" Zhu Jiao growled as he slapped my shoulder. "Don"t worry about it too much. Don"t give up! The moment you give up, everything"s over!"

Easy for him to say. But I realized that he meant well, so I held in my resentment and complaints and merely nodded.

"That"s right," Teacher Jiao agreed. "Don"t give up, you two. For now, at least we"ll have resolved the two pressing problems that you face. Don"t worry, there are huge benefits to being Experimentalist students. Even if Xiao Zhang doesn"t think highly of you, by rules and on paper, you will have the same amenities and stipends as every other Experimentalist student. You"ll get bonuses for wanting to experiment instead of siding with the Traditionalists."

Now that caught my interest. "What sort of bonuses?"

"Increased stipends, unrestricted access to training rooms, more resources." Teacher Jiao smiled. "Well, the Traditionalists will get additional stipends and resources from their own sects, so it"s not as if being an Experimentalist will give you an added advantage but to encourage people to follow this route, I daresay Wu Ling Academy provides an amount of resources that is on par with, if not more than those the traditional sects can offer."

That sounded pretty good. Granted, I didn"t have a choice anyway, but if I could milk as much benefits as I could from my current circ.u.mstances, then I had no complaints.

"How are the others doing, though?"

Zhu Jiao turned his attention back to the square, where the rest of our cla.s.smates were being swarmed by eager masters trying to vie for their attention and persuade them to join their sects. I had no idea which sect was which. Fortunately, there were hundreds of students, more than enough candidates for the hundred or so sects who had gathered around here to recruit disciples. Quite noticeably, none of the traditional sects paid me or Zhu Jiao any attention.

Not that they needed to. They clearly had a surplus of potential disciples to choose from. If I had to compare this to my previous lifetime, it was a.n.a.logous to the number of applicants outnumbering the jobs available on the market. I was sure there would be several left over, and they would have no choice but to be Experimentalists like me and Zhu Jiao if they couldn"t join a sect. interestingly, there were very few students who willingly chose to be Experimentalists.

Evidently the route of the Traditionalists was perceived to be far more superior and prestigious. It was hard to shake off the rich cultural history of sects who had roots that dated back into the ancient ages.

"All right, it"s decided then."

Nodding, I turned back to Teacher Jiao and accepted his offer. From what he said, it didn"t seem like being in the Experimentalist faction was a bad thing. Honestly, it was a lot better than being kicked out of Wu Ling Academy and being sent home in disgrace. On the other hand, I couldn"t leave even if I wanted to, what with the high walls, barrier and moat…

But Zhu Jiao is right. I do want to learn martial arts.

For now, I would experiment and see how far I could go with the inferior martial arts that were available to me right now. I could worry about anything else later.

*

We later learned who in our cla.s.s went into what sect. It was actually Teacher Jiao who compiled the information and told us. Being our homeroom teacher, he was naturally concerned for our wellbeing.

As expected, Bai Ning Xue was pursued by all the four major sects, but she eventually chose to join the White Tiger Sect. I wondered if it was because of her family name (Bai is white in Chinese).

Qi Fu Ren was undecided at first, but he also joined the White Tiger Sect after Bai Ning Xue made her decision. I knew that he was still pursuing her. He even managed to convince the masters at the White Tiger Sect to accept his flunkies as outer disciples. As he was a Four Star Const.i.tution disciple, they decided to indulge him in that request. It also helped that they were Two Star Const.i.tution candidates, so they were regarded as average rather than trash. Another two guys and three of Bai Ning Xue"s close female friends, excluding Qing Xin Xia, followed, thus swelling their numbers.

Speaking of Two Star Const.i.tution candidate, Tu Zi Yi was recruited into the Lunar Rabbit Sect. according to Teacher Jiao, the Lunar Rabbit Sect was one of the smaller sects, so they were satisfied with people of average ability. The master would have offered to take Zhu Jiao and me as disciples, but given the tiny size of the sect, they wouldn"t have been able to afford it. The smaller the sect, the less resources they had, even with the establishment of Wu Ling Academy. Ideally, no disciple of any sect should suffer disadvantages, but each sect still maintained its own pool of resources to nurture their exclusive disciples. So in reality, it was still very much a capitalistic society where even the different sects were divided into cla.s.ses, where some were bigger and richer than the others, and some were at the bottom of the economic ladder. At least Tu Zi Yi had a sect to join, so we didn"t have to worry about her. The Lunar Rabbit Sect might be very poor, but they had just enough resources to rear one disciple.

A few of the girls joined the Red Phoenix Sect, along with Feng Tian Yong. Given his fiery disposition, I did agree that the Red Phoenix Sect would be a good fit for the red-haired guy. I wasn"t on close terms with Feng Tian Yong, but after the first day, I got along well with him, so I was actually happy for him a couple of weeks after learning about it. He was quite the pa.s.sionate guy, and I hoped to see him succeed.

Li Chun Long and Qing Xin Xia had joined the Green Dragon Sect. that sect was popular with a lot of guys, but only three other guys managed to join the Green Dragon Sect, and one more girl. The Green Dragon Sect refused admittance to the others, despite most of the guys boasting a Three Star Const.i.tution. Probably because they didn"t want to incur the wrath of the other sects by monopolizing such a large proportion of the candidates.

Wu Hei Gui and Ban Zhang were part of the Black Tortoise Sect. despite being one of the four major sects, there weren"t as many people enthusiastic about joining it as those in the Green Dragon, Red Phoenix or White Tiger Sects. Probably because the first thing one pictured when hearing about the tortoise was the poor reptile slowly crawling across the beach. Or something. Never mind that it stood for longevity.

Tong Xue joined the Smart Shadow Sect. He had winked at Zhu Jiao and me, and promised something about giving us information in future, then disappeared with the rest of the mysterious-looking disciples and masters of that sect before returning to the dorm later that night. Teacher Jiao later said that despite their low combat ability, the Smart Shadow Sect exceled in intelligence, reconnaissance and espionage.

That sounded like something Tong Xue would be interested in. From my first impressions of him, he was the type of guy who collected information on almost everybody and anybody, so he was quite the appropriate candidate for that specific set of skills.

A cla.s.smate called Du Lang joined the Silver Wolf Sect. A lot of the students joined this sect or that sect, but I wasn"t that close with most of them, so I couldn"t remember. Particularly the girls. I knew Du Lang because I ended up on good terms with him as the semester progressed, so I remembered where he went. Teacher Jiao later informed me that the Silver Wolf Sect was known for being a Lone Wolf type of sect that tended to operate on their own, without adhering much to the authority of the alliance.

The last person of interest was Tang Qi Hong. I was surprised that she didn"t join the Red Phoenix Sect or one of the four major sects. It wasn"t surprising that she would decline to join the White Tiger Sect, where her rival now resided in, but I thought she would at least consider the Green Dragon Sect or Red Phoenix Sect – the latter particularly fitted her proud, majestic personality well. Instead, Tang Qi Hong opted to join the Nine-tailed Fox Sect. Teacher Jiao wasn"t astonished, though. He explained to me that the Nine-tailed Fox Sect was still considered a major sect, having been one of the eight major powers that included the four Celestial Guardian Sects.

"Among the eight, they are currently ranked fifth," Teacher Jiao declared. "In fact, some may consider them to be on par with any one of the four Celestial Guardian Sects."

"Wow. I see."

Even if Teacher Jiao told me that, whatever happened to the Nine-tailed Fox Sect had absolutely nothing to do with me. I was just a trash that no sect wanted. To be honest, I wasn"t that reluctant to be an Experimentalist. This faction had its own benefits.

"Well, it"s been a long day, so the two of you should rest for now. I"ll bring you to the dorms."

"What about the rest of the cla.s.s?" I asked. They had all scattered after being selected by their respective sects, and were following their new masters and sect mates. While Teacher Jiao had given us a brief overview of who joined which sect, he didn"t mention the students from the other cla.s.ses. I could see students from the other cla.s.ses mingling with my new cla.s.smates, having joined the same sects as them.

Somehow it felt as if the academy should have divided the students into their sects instead of their cla.s.ses.

"Their masters will let them go tonight, and we"ll have staff on standby to escort them back to the dormitories."

I nodded at Teacher Jiao"s answer. So only Zhu Jiao, me, and a handful of other students were retiring early today.

"Still, there aren"t many Experimentalists," Zhu Jiao remarked, looking at the small number of students who had opted, voluntarily or otherwise, to join the Experimentalists. I noted that the vast majority of them were Two or Three Star Const.i.tution pract.i.tioners. There were probably a handful of Four Star Const.i.tution pract.i.tioners who had bought into the idea of innovating their own techniques, and they were enthusiastically speaking to a grinning Xiao Zhang at the moment, leaving the rest of us commoners to follow Teacher Jiao.

Teacher Jiao seemed to be the only one sympathetic to our plight.

The dormitories weren"t very far away from the square, being a set of buildings that stood at the back of the academy. They resembled high-cla.s.s condominiums that even my family wouldn"t be able to afford to rent.

"You"ll each have your own room," Teacher Jiao a.s.sured us, and then swung his hand toward a low-rise complex that was dwarfed by the condo-styled dormitories, but much wider than them in terms of breadth. "That"s the student commons hub. It should have everything you need, from a 24/7 convenience store, gyms, pools, clinic, and even a cinema. It has a huge array of facilities designed to enrich your student life while providing both necessities and entertainment. Use the money from your stipends to purchase whatever you need."

Wow, that was quite amazing. I didn"t expect that we would have such a good life here. I was half-expecting to be thrown in a broken-down, dilapidated shack for our residence, given my status of trash.

"As I said, if you have any questions, feel free to approach me." Teacher Jiao turned to look at us sharply. "I know a few of you are disheartened after having your talent measured, but I"ll still advise you not to give up. Prove those naysayers wrong and work hard to surpa.s.s each and every one of them. Talent isn"t everything."

"Yes, Teacher Jiao!"

This was the best kind of teacher, someone who took care of the less fortunate students and did not practice favoritism.

"Cla.s.ses begin tomorrow, so you guys should get some rest." Teacher Jiao turned away, the lenses of his gla.s.ses glinting under the fading afternoon light. At some point of time, the sun had begun its lazy descent as the day transited into evening. "I won"t go easy on my cla.s.s, and I"m sure your respective homeroom teachers won"t either. Tomorrow, in cla.s.s, we"ll have a briefing for Experimentalists to explain what sort of resources you have access to. So don"t be late."

"Yes, Teacher Jiao!"

As I watched him leave, I felt a renewed determination to defy my fate. Proceeding toward my a.s.signed room in the dorm, I saw that Zhu Jiao shared my sentiments.

"Let"s crush this academy"s concept of talent and their bulls.h.i.t notion of Const.i.tutions," Zhu Jiao growled enthusiastically as he raised his hand. I couldn"t help but smile and b.u.mp his fist with mine.

"Yeah. We"ll make everyone regret ever looking down on us."