The martial forms I saw the students practicing in the yard were not the same as in my book. Now I had followed the teachings of the book and gotten to the level of strength I was through its methods. If the people here were as weak as I had experienced so far then I can assume that the book was not ordinary? Did these students even have any aura? It took me a second to see the transparent wisps coming off of them. Wait was that a very weak aura or just heat coming off them?

Scanning using sixth undesignated sense… Result: Extremely thin aura, the rate of current energy absorption by individuals indicates they have been cultivating for seven years. The A.I reported. Holy shit. Seven years for that? I could piss more aura than that. With my boredom setting back in I looked at the guy who spoke to me previously.

“I think I would like to enroll here.” He grinned and motioned for me to follow him through the gates. We walked further into the somewhat rundown courtyard stopping in front of a middle-aged teacher leading the students in form practice.

“Got another here who would like to enroll.” The guy from the gate said with obvious enthusiasm. Why was this dude so happy?

“Thank you, now back to your duty.” Replied the teacher, the student bowed and went back to the gate. Wow… This man must be the mold for every average cultivation academy teacher in any story from my world. One word came to mind looking at this man; forgettable. The teacher examined me from head to toe and it seemed he thought he had figured me out.

“Do you have any prior cultivation experience?” He questioned. How much do I want to say? Show overwhelming power? No. That wouldn't be any fun. Let's go with being new to cultivation.

“None sir,” I replied with a respectful tone. He seemed pleased with my attitude. It should be rather interesting to see how normal people are taught to cultivate, perhaps I could gain insights into their training I could exploit in combat.

“That's fine, I shall find a student to help you catch up to the rest of the class.” He turned and walked forwards. His hands rested behind his back. He holds himself with poise I’ll give him that. We continued deeper into the courtyard going between several buildings to a smaller dirt-floored space at the back of the premises. As we arrived so did a tall woman holding a sword. Scars covered her arms and midsection. She had rapped her chest, probably to keep certain things interfering with her sword practice. The only other clothing she wore was a pair of pants, no shoes. I guessed she had fairly long hair from the size of the bun she had secured on her head.

“Perfect timing Miss Aberdeen, I need you to catch this student up to the rest of the class.” She frowned after hearing the teacher’s request. It didn’t seem to please her very much.

“I am transferring to Highlander Academy in three days as you knew, I need all the time I can get to practice. I can’t be babysitting your pets.” She sneered. What a surprise, warrior lady is a total bitch. It made me wonder if I requested not to train with her right now if it would start one of the biggest cliches possible.

“Sir it seems the lady will not train me. Should we find someone else?” I asked, putting on the most innocent expression I was capable of. The amount of rage that bloomed on the lady’s face confirmed my theory.

“Am I not good enough to train you?!” She screamed as she got in my face. I remained calm and held my ground. I will not be one of those characters letting the women walk all over him.

“You said you didn’t have time to train me. I’m not sure how you inferred me thinking you're not good enough to teach me. I have no doubt I could learn much from you.” I clarified. The livid expression faded from the lady’s face.

“Fine, I will instruct you for the remainder of my time here in this school. Your training begins now.” She stated as she headed into the middle of the dirt patch. The teacher raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“I dare say you played her like a fiddle.” He whispered to me as he turned and headed back. I shrugged my shoulders and walked to a spot in front of the lady. It helps if you knew exactly how to deal with her type.

“How may I address you?” I asked with my head bowed.

“Raise your head. Name’s Lilith Aberdeen. You can call me Lilith.” She introduced herself with obvious pride but it felt the source of said pride wasn’t from her family name but herself. I could certainly respect that. She did seem somewhat strong. I was proven right when she set her sword down and released her aura. A much thicker blue aura than I had seen before surrounded her as she turned towards me and got into an unknown martial stance.

“We must assess your skills. I hope you will not disappoint me.”

“I do know some basic forms, though I have not cultivated so my strength will be subpar,” I admitted. She nodded in understanding and launched a kick my way as soon I was in front of her. I caught the kick under my arm locking her leg in place while pulling her forward into the punch I sent with my other arm. As I watched my fist traveling forwards I began to notice glowing red spots on Lilith. The ever-present AI in my head explained the phenomenon as soon as they started appearing.

Human anatomical data compiled to create a pressure point map. Red X means a fatal point. Red Circle means immobilization point. Sweet but not needed right now. The points quickly disappeared. My fist connected with her kidney, was I moving a little too fast? Possibly, I’ll create some distance and see her reaction. I withdrew my fist, let go of her leg and sent a light kick to her midsection, and used the momentum as a springboard. I launched myself into the air, back-flipped, and landed a couple of yards away. Lilith held her side for a moment while breathing heavily.

“What the fuck was that?!” She demanded. “You complete liar, you said you only knew some basic forms. That was a flawless counter and distancing technique.”

“Oh,” I uttered. How was that difficult to defend against? I was moving slow, and I simply reacted how I should have. I wasn't using any of my cultivated strength either. Was she just that weak? Or were the forms I knew just too lethal to be taught in this world? I wasn’t getting many answers compared to the questions that just kept adding up. This time I would stay on the defensive, doing so might answer some of the questions I had. “Can we try once more? I won’t counter this time.”

“Fine.” she agreed after some hesitation. I nodded and sank into a defensive stance ready for anything. Lilith charged with a shout sending a fist towards my head. I used the back of my hand to deflect her punch to the side, at the same time she thrust her knee towards my abdomen. I raised my leg to block the strike. She backed off and came again this time with a roundhouse kick. Instead of ducking underneath as she expected so she could sweep my legs out from under me, I Leaped over the kick. I felt the air displacement from her leg on my back. She finished her revolution and then went for the leg sweep, to her surprise I was still in the air as her sweep missed entirely. I landed right after she finished the sweep and had to block an uppercut. I used my forearms to push the oncoming fist to just miss my face by a hair. Now back in an upright stance, Lilith launched a back kick towards my chest, I caught the kick and pushed her away causing her to have to regain her balance.

It was driving me crazy how many openings I could exploit right now, so far she had yet to land a real hit. I was a little disappointed, I had expected a real fight but what I received did not satisfy. So what was I going to do? Another punch was thrown my way. Oh damn, that had enough force to kill a normal human behind it. I moved to the side and grabbed Lilith’s forearm and used her momentum to throw her over my shoulder. She hit the dirt with a loud thud and groan.

“You say you haven't done any cultivation? You would be a terrifying opponent if you had,” Lilith grunted as she got up. “I see no point in continuing the assessment, it’s obvious your combat prowess is far above mine.”

“You flatter me.” I put my palms together and bowed. She just rolled her eyes.

“You should come with me to Highlander Academy, with your skills you would be top of your grade as soon as you started to cultivate.” Lilith crossed her arms. “I’m positive there is nothing the instructors here could teach you.”

“You may be onto something,” I admitted. If I wanted to keep this little charade going then I would have to change schools before Sarissa arrived to ruin my fun. “Any chance we could join Highlander Academy today?” I looked at Lilith who thought for a moment. “Like now preferably?”

“Alright calm down,” She griped. “What's he in such a rush for?” I heard her mutter under her breath. “Highlander Academy is in a nearby city about a week's travel for me but it might be a bit more time for you so leaving now is better.” She revealed. “Meet by the gate in two hours ready to leave.” I gave her a nod and a grin as she left to get her things ready. Me? Already had everything, except a reputation. I hoped getting some rep might let me have a more legitimate public foothold. Time to go genius trampling. This was going to be fun.