"So, you're the new Academy Lieutenant!" Richard The Faceless Fighter exclaimed all of a sudden. He lifted himself from his seat on the long table and marched off to meet James Yi.
"You are Richard!" James said, face already distorted with a huge grin.
"Huh, I thought that you would be younger or older," Richard replied.
"Well, it's not that hard to find someone from our ranks who is just slightly older than the age standard…" James winked.
"…Precisely. I'm thirty," he replied, a small grin forming on his face.
"Wow!" James breathed, shocked by this revelation. "You look younger…"
James got to know Richard when he was brought to the training grounds by some of the older students. James and Richard were constantly paired together during the training. Since then, their groups of two had become inseparable.
Groans and murmurs of comment were heard from the students around the table. The new Lieutenant had ruined the meal they had happily waited for. It happened so often that it was probably now become their custom to groan and comment on the new student's age.
James looked back at the table, his face still messy with a smile. "Shall we get started?" he asked politely.
"Dinner, you mean!" complained one of the students.
"Let's start then!" James replied.
One of the students had said that the training at the Academy was tough. James was a mere thirteen years old, but the training was so tough for him that preparing for it took as much strength as a hard day's work.
The training was broken up into four categories. The first category was Martial Arts, with topics such as targeting, stance, pushing hands and practice sparring. Its focus was the mind and the body, practically a prelude to the main combat style, the Intense-Lines. The second category was weapons training. The third category was climbing and the fourth was creating explosive from the tracks propounded by the Academy.
For weapon training, he focused on spears mainly. His father had taught him how to use a spear, and his father was a spear master. One day, he'd even shown him a move he had perfected. It was a defensive move called "the general's defense".
The General's Defense was a combination of a block, a counter and a roundhouse kick. It had been tested on some of the students in the academy. They all were immediately reduced to a puddle of mud and completely unable to move elsewhere.
Martial art training focused on perception, agility, strength, and speed training. The focus of this training was on the mind. One had to gauge when to strike, then strike, all within a split second. The mind was the center of focus, and this training emphasized it.
When James was not in training, he meditated, practicing ways to sharpen his senses. This, of course, was not for the general's defense, or even the spear arts. It was in preparation of the ultimate art.
The Intense-Lines.
Climbing was a training that focused on agility. It specialized in dynamic movements, which could be used to attack or defend against opponents. This training was not for combat. It was the study of agility and movement. James practiced different moves to keep his legs strong and his body fit.
Creating explosive was an art of the lower level students. Explosive was mainly used to propel objects. The explosive was able to propel a small arrow to the speed of an arrow fired from a bow. James could create as much explosive as he needed.
James spent a lot of time in his secret laboratory. Every time he was about to make a mistake, the Academy was notified. They would then remove all the explosive around him.
"Here comes your meal!" called Hei Lian, who was having dinner together with some of his new friends. The walls in the dining hall were decorated with pictures of Qi Xuan, his descendant.