...
Shin woke up after a seemingly long sleep. And what greeted him when he opened his eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling that he had never seen before.
And when he moved his gaze around, he found himself lying on a bed within the academy infirmary. It was an 'infirmary' in name, but given the size of the academy, this infirmary was as large as the hospitals that could be seen outside.
Shin was in one of the rooms, which was as large as his bedroom back in the Springfield Residence. There was a huge glass window a couple of steps away from the bed. And given that the sky was so dark outside, he could tell that it was already deep in the night.
Turning his head to the other side of the bed, he saw a small living room. He found Arthur, Leonard, and Lorraine there, playing cards while leaving the television on.
It was at that moment when the door adjacent to the head of the bed was opened. Then Cloe walked out of it before carefully closing the door.
She turned to the side and found out that Shin was currently staring at her. "Ah! You're finally awake!"
She was about to jump on him when she remembered that he was patient and managed to stop herself. She pulled the chair beside the bed and sat on it. "How are you feeling? Professor-… I mean Master told us not to worry since you did not suffer any serious injuries during your battle with that puppet."
"He also said that you already healed most of your wounds and only lost fainted due to exhaustion," she added.
Shin lay on the bed and closed his eyes to check on his body before nodding his head. "It seems like I am fine."
He could feel that something chance within him, but he could not tell what it was. But at the very least, it was not something harmful, so he did not think much about it. In fact, he felt that he had become much stronger than before.
He tilted his head to the side before opening his eyes. "How long did I lose my consciousness?"
Cloe thought for a moment before answering. "Almost eight hours I think."
Shin could not help but raise his brows as he felt that it was a little longer than that. Though, eight hours was not that short either. This could also mean that it was already late at night.
He looked at her and ask again. "Then why are you guys still haven't slept yet? You still have class tomorrow."
Cloe glared at him as if telling him that it was supposedly obvious. Arthur, Leonard, and Lorraine also walked over when they heard her earlier.
Arthur clicked his tongue and answered for her. "Hey! Can you see that it is already obvious? We are worried."
Lorraine nodded her head and added. "Even though we already heard from our Devil Instructor that you will be fine after a good rest, you still can't blame us for worrying. Especially when we see the scale of damage that that mechanical puppet has made."
Shin finally recalled that they were supposed to be in the middle of 'exercise' and asked. "Oh! What happened to the test?"
He straight up lost consciousness after receiving the attack from the evolution puppet earlier, so he did not know what happened next.
As for the so-called Devil Instructor, he did not need to ask who that was as he could already guess who they were referring to. There was only a single answer for that.
The expression of the four suddenly turned weird when they heard his question. Arthur was even wearing a dark expression while Leonard and Lorraine could not suppress the twitch of their mouths as if they were suppressing themselves from cursing out loud.
"We all failed," in the end, it was Cloe, who gave him the answer.
"Failed?" Shin's face turned weird when heard those words. He was even suspecting that his ears suffered some hearing problems after receiving the direct attack from the evolution puppet earlier. But after some thought, he quickly rejected the idea since he had never been in the head earlier, much less his ears.
He stared at the group and asked for another time. "Failed?"
"There is nothing wrong with your hearing," said Arthur before adding. "You heard her d*mn right! We all failed that test despite all the torture that we suffered."
"That Old Devil Instructor is so evil. He just said that since none of us manage to complete even a single lap, all of us have failed that test," explained Lorraine before continuing with a cursing tone. "How in the hell are we going to finish a lap with those clay golems and mechanical puppets blocking us?"
"He even got involved at the latter stages!" she added loudly, venting out her frustration.
Then Leonard suddenly added. "He even said that we are going to continue the same exercise tomorrow during our afternoon class."
The corner of Shin's mouth suddenly twitched when he heard that. He could already imagine the faces of the entire class when they heard that announcement.
Given their experiences during the test, he could tell that the Devil Instructor would increase the difficulty of the entire course, especially when they had already gotten used to it during the earlier run.
During this time, Cloe suddenly remembered something and ran toward the living room, taking a stack of books from there. She then walked over to the side of the bed before placing them on the nearby table.
"These are the breathing techniques that Master instructed you to practice," she said while patting the books.
She paused for a moment before quickly explaining. "It seems like he is observing our performances closely during the exercises earlier. He has given different sets of basic breathing for each student, asking them to practice them during their free. Especially during our afternoon class."
"Though, I doubt that we will be having the time to practice them during the afternoon class any time soon given our previous experience," she added.
Shin stared at the pile of books with a weird gaze and could not help but mutter. "Does it really have to be that old-fashioned? Can't he just tell us the names of the breathing techniques, and we look for it the modern way?"
After learning about the inheritance tomes and scrolls, where they could instantly memorize the techniques that they needed to learn, none of the current generations would want to go back and learn them through reading some books.
Shin did not care, but given the limited time that they had, he was not sure if they could read all those books and even train them. Their daily schedule was fully packed that they would have a hard time finding the so-called 'free time'.
Arthur nodded his head in agreement while Leonard sighed helplessly as his Martial Arts Master also thought him that way.
"Master said that it is also a form of training," said Cloe, seemingly defending Old Man Lin, before adding. "Moreover, these are only basic breathing techniques, so they will be easy to learn and train. It will not take that much time."
"And Master also said that this will help us awaken our innate attributes quicker and learn about their natures more deeply," she added.
Shin was about to say something when he suddenly noticed something. The pile was composed of seven books. And when he heard read the titles of each book, he noticed that they were all elemental breathing such as Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Lighting.
He turned to the others and asked. "Why is it too many? How many breathing techniques are assigned to each of you?"
Arthur was the first to answer. "I only have three – Metal, Wood, and Water."
He thought for a moment before quickly adding. "The old man said that there is no point in Fire and Lighting since I am already familiar with them due to my bloodline. He also added that my True Nine Dragon Arts and Imperial Tactics are also centered around those two elements."
"But I am quite confused why he asked me to train these three other elements when my bloodline and martial arts are originally not meant for it. When I asked him about it, he also said that I must discover it myself."
After that, Leonard immediately followed. "Mine are Fire, Darkness, Earth, and Water. I am also quite confused about why I am assigned to practice them. But I did not ask about it after hearing what he just said to Brother Arthur."
"I am also assigned to learn four breathing techniques – Water, Wind, Lighting, and Ice. I did not bother to ask why since I will also receive the same answer," said Lorraine.
Then the four to Cloe, who was currently wearing an awkward look. She looked at them and smiled meekly before saying. "I don't know why but Master did not assign any breathing techniques to me."
"He just said that I will be learning my assignment during my personal training on the weekend," she added as her smile was slowly becoming awkward due to the gazes that the three were giving her.
...
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