Chapter 7: Martial arts hall.
With a spring in his step, Damien left the forest to go back to the clan. This time, even though he didn't intentionally walk faster, he was still much faster than usual. His body was twice as strong as normal people, which also meant he was significantly faster as well. Since he didn't know if there were any time restrictions when it came to the martial arts hall, Damien hurried up a little, since he wanted to go there as soon as possible. Since the martial arts hall was pretty close to the center of the gale estate, it took a little while to get there.
They couldn't let the martial arts hall be too far out, since their legacy could be found in there, which was one of the clans most important assets. Either way, Damien couldn't really be bothered by it, and he soon arrived. The martial arts hall was a tall three-story building with two imposing dragon statues stationed outside of the door. The two dragon statues seemed to give off an invisible pressure that weighed a little on his spirits, but Damien quickly got over it as he took a step inside the large entrance.
What greeted him was a bit different compared to his expectations. He had originally thought that the hall would be bustling with activity, but there were only a few youths present, as well as the old overseer of the martial arts hall. When the other youths saw him walking in, they made a mental note of him in their heads. It had only been a few hours since the awakening ceremony, and except for the older clan members, everyone here was exceptionally talented.
One of the young men seemed a little doubtful, as he quickly walked up to Damien with a smile on his face. Damien was just about to speak when the young man started talking. "Did you awaken today? Or are you an older clan member?"
"Well, both. I awakened today, but I'm already 13 years old..."
Most people would ignore him since his martial spirit would probably be pretty bad if he awakened when he was 13, but the young man didn't seem to care that much.
"That's pretty amazing dude, awakening such a martial spirit even though you're already 13!"
"Hmm?"
"Oh, maybe you didn't know, but only people with a grade 7 white martial spirit or above would be able to become a martialist this quickly."
This only made Damien even more confused, as his martial spirit was only a grade 6 white martial spirit. Did that mean his martial spirit was better than others of the same grade? Or did that mean that the young man in front of him didn't know what he was talking about? Damien wasn't too sure, but he hoped that it was the former, and it probably was, he already knew that his martial spirit was special after all, and maybe it was special in more ways than one.
"Well thanks for letting me know, but I should probably go now though."
Well, whatever it was, it explained why the people here didn't seem to look at him with disgust in their eyes since they assumed he was as talented as they were. The old overseer seemed indifferent as Damien walked over. Before he could even ask, the overseer explained the rules of the hall to him.
"Since this is your first time here, you're allowed to choose two martial arts on the first floor. Although you're allowed to choose whichever ones you want, do think your choices over carefully, as they will lay your foundation for the future. If your martial art requires a weapon, you can go over to the weapon pavilion to get a normal weapon to practice with, so don't hold back when choosing!"
The old overseer seemed pretty passionate when it came to martial arts, and guided him wholeheartedly, even going as far as giving him a few tips. The old man then handed him a wooden token, which would allow him to pass by the guards to the first floor. With a bow, Damien thanked the old overseer sincerely, before he headed for the first floor. "Oh, almost forgot, you're only allowed to stay for at most an hour in there."
Damien only nodded, and kept walking to the entrance of the first floor. The 2 guards only glanced at the token, before letting Damien in immediately. The young man who had approached Damien earlier was still a little taken aback. Did he do something wrong earlier? He had thought that Damien seemed pretty decent when it came to talent and the way he acted, so he seemed like a fitting friend, but he didn't even manage to get his name...
Whilst the young man was pondering to himself, Damien was eagerly looking around the first floor of the martial arts hall. A large number of books filled the bookshelves, all of them martial arts that outclassed what Damien had been practising so far. His martial art that he had been practicing didn't even really have a rank, it was mostly a way to strengthen the body for normal people, whilst everything here was ranked.
As far as he knew, the first floor of the martial arts hall contained low-grade human-step martial arts. As for what that meant, he wasn't completely sure yet. He didn't know all the ranks of martial arts, but what he did know, was that the martial arts in the hall got better the higher the floor you were on. The first floor had low-grade, the second floor had mid-grade whilst the third floor had high-grade human-step martial arts.
There were also some abnormal martial arts on every floor. The first floor had a few mid-grade martial arts, whilst the second floor had some high-grade martial arts. The only reason these martial arts were not on the higher floors, was because they were rather troublesome. The mid-grade martial arts that could be found on the first floor were just a bit too hard to practice, and some were even incomplete.
This meant that they would be a waste of time for most people to learn, since it was better to practice a low-grade martial art to perfection rather than practising a mid-grade martial art to the beginner realm. Damien wasn't too concerned with the difficulty of the martial arts though, as he knew that he was way better than most when it came to learning martial arts. Even if they didn't even have a grade, to practice a martial art to perfection in a matter of days was way harder than you'd probably think.
Since that was the case, Damien didn't bother looking at the low-grade martial arts, for now, he'd take a look at them later if he didn't find a suitable mid-grade one. His goal was to find a good offensive martial art, as well as a movement art if possible, since Damien believed in the superiority of speed. If he couldn't fight his foes, he would run away, if they tried to fight him, he would defeat them before they even knew what hit them! That was his plan.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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