According to the law of Kame Village, only the bloodline members of the clan were allowed to open their apertures. 

No matter how talented the outsiders are, they would not be allowed to open their apertures. 

This has been the ironclad rule of the clan since the time of its inception. This rule allowed us to screen out the talents and prevented the outsiders with malicious intent to enter the ranks of the Clan.

Even now, originally, the Clan Head had decided to slaughter this group of newly emerged youths. But now, after looking at their aptitudes, no matter how much the Clan Head wanted to apply the previous rule, the Clan Elders protested heavily.

With no choice left, Family Head could only use his authority to appoint his own man, the Academy Elder of the clan, to check the talents of the youngsters.

But surprisingly, he did find a talent. A talent so wonderful that defied the legends and put an A Grade Aptitude to shame.

So, the Clan Head decided to keep it a secret and recruit Gohan. 

With the Clan Head's aggressiveness, even the Clan Elders had to give leave a path and stopped their schemes on Gohan.

"The news isn't spread till now?" 

Inside the dim room, Kame Clan's Clan Head spoke coldly.

"Yes, the news is still prevented. Three spies have been discovered and they are being tortured."

A voice emerged from the shadows and the Clan Head nodded lightly.

***

Splash

Splash

Splash

Inside his room, Gohan could hear the sounds of waves rushing and colliding with each other. 

Right now, his attention was focused on his aperture.

Aperture is the mysterious part of the Gu Masters that do not occupy the physical space of the body, but exist on its own. It is placed between the two kidneys and below the navel.

At this very moment, Gohan could easily observe his own aperture.

A large space surrounded by a wall filled with thin and flickering white light. The inner space of the aperture was filled with Copper Green Primeval Essence in the shape of the sea. 

Unlike others, Gohan's aperture was completely filled with the Primeval Essence. That means, it is a talent that allows him a 100% Primeval Essence. An existence above A Grade Aptitude.

Right now, the inner walls of the aperture were getting washed by the Copper Green Primeval Essence inside Gohan's body.

As the waves collided, most of the essence will return back to the sea while a sliver of Primeval Essence will seep inside the Aperture Walls, cleaning and purifying it.

A Gu Master's cultivation is divided into ranks, which are further divided into four realms of cultivation, namely— Initial stage, Middle Stage, Upper Stage and Peak Stage.

The initial stage is achieved in default when the aperture is opened.

To advance to another realm, a Gu Master has to slowly purify the apertures and wash away the impurities. 

The color of the Primeval Essence of the Rank 1 Initial Stage Gu Master is Copper Green. 

Gohan's room was plainly organised, his bed placed near the window of the room. Silver light cascaded on the room, reflecting Gohan's smooth and soft face. His short black hair had a glimmer of light.

His eyes closed and his forehead filled with sweat. His furrowed brows and serious expression was enough to understand that the Cultivation of the Aperture is a difficult task.

Beside him, two leather pouches were placed. These were the stipend received from the Clan Head and the Academy. A total of 16 Primeval Stones.

98.. 86.. 74.. 66.. 

Gohan's Primeval Essence kept on falling as his Aperture Walls kept on getting purified. As his Primeval Essence reached 60%, he decided to stop. 

Unknowingly, 6 hours had already passed and it was already two hours past midnight. His clothes were soaked in sweat and small strands of hair were stuck on his forehead.

"What a wonderful cultivation! Not only it is a process of cultivation, but it also causes mental and physical stress on Gu Master. Not only that, this kind of cultivation cannot replace the sleep of a Gu Master. It is simply the process of exhausting the body."

Even though he spoke till here, his eyes remained radiant with hope and determination. One could even see the joy in his eyes. 

"This is truly marvelous. This also shows a side of Gu Master. All the strong Gu Masters have passed through this process. This only makes all of them more impressive. Really, nobody can be underestimated in this world." He sighed and leaned on the wall behind his back.

He decided to take a break before continuing his cultivation.

"But, this Clan Head is really a piece of work. Every organisation has internal strife and with our interjection, this competition only got fiercer. But the clan Head was daring enough to interject in the matters of the younger generation and provide me with so much stuff."

Thinking till here, Gohan's eyes looked understanding.

"It's a pretty smart move. After all, he only needs to increase the combat power of his successor, that is me. Does this have something to do with the Crane Village on the other side of the Mountain?"

If the internal competition was so fierce, the threat of an external force can only be imagined.

"With the influx of four A Grade Aptitude, the Clan will be strong enough to eradicate the Crane Clan in three years top. But the information regarding us cannot remain hidden. This means that the Crane Village will realise our threat and use different means to exterminate us, the source of their threat."

Thinking till here, a huge sense of crisis filled his heart.

"Even with the latest estimate, the Crane Village will get our information in six-seven months. The time limit is too less."

"Right now, I have three attacking Gus. Now I need to refine them to actually make use of them." 

With that, he looked towards the pouches of Primeval Stones and started absorbing the energy inside the Primeval Stones to recover his Primeval Essence.

Primeval Stones were small crystals, almost the size of a fingernail. They contained extremely rich energy that could be used by Gu Master to recover their Primeval Essence.

Of course, given some time, Gu Master's Primeval Essence can be restored naturally.

For example, A Grade Aptitude can recover 8% Primeval Essence in an hour. But Gohan had calculated and found that his aperture could restore 20% Primeval Essence in an hour.

So, most of the Gu Masters did not like to expend their Primeval Stones on recovering their Primeval Essence.

After all, Primeval Stones were also the hard currency of this world. Just like Gold on Earth, this world used Primeval Stones as the monetary value to exchange various goods.

But right now, Gohan did not care about the expenditure and used 2 Primeval Stones to restore his Primeval Essence to a 100%.

Huff

Letting out turbid air and exhaling deeply, Gohan decided to refine his first Gu Worm.

Core Strength Gu!

Core Strength Gu was a brown colored stag beetle with a size comparable to a man's palm. Its whole body looked like it was structured off the bark of a tree. Its body also had many light brown inscriptions.

Gu Masters Refine the Gu, Use the Gu and nurture the Gu.

Before becoming a Gu Master capable of battling and surviving in the wild, he should be able to refine his own Vital Gu.

This is the very first aspect of Gu Master's cultivation. 

Taking a deep breath, Gohan started to inject his Primeval Essence inside the Core Strength Gu.

He felt as if a river of energy was flowing out of his palm and entering the Core Strength Gu to only meet a dam like resistance.

Every living being is capable of producing their own wills. This is true for even the most primitive lifeforms. Gu worms are no exception.

This is where the true difficulty of refining the Gu worms lies in.

To refine a Gu, one must be prepared for a battle of attrition. The Gu master is required to keep on injecting their Primeval Essence inside the Gu Worm and slowly erode the will of the Gu Worm to truly acquire it.

Now, a Gu Master with some influential background can ask for the help of the elders of their family.

For instance, Gohan could ask the help of the Clan Head to suppress the will of the Core Strength Gu and quickly complete the process of refinement.

But such situations occur rarely. After all, the whole meaning of Cultivation is to gain inspiration and enlightenment through the process of braving the troubles of cultivation.

So right now, Gohan and other Gu students were completely on their own in the refinement process of the Gu Worms.

Not only that, but Gohan was also given two extra Gu worms. This only increased the pressure on Gohan.

As Gohan encountered the Dam-like will of the Gu worm, he started to inject more Primeval Essence inside the body of the Core Strength Gu.

If someone looked at the body of the Core Strength Gu, one could see that the color of the Gu had changed from the brown to light green from both of its ends.

1%... 3%... 5%... 7%...

After covering a total of 22% of the Gu Worm, Gohan's reserves of Primeval Essence finally emptied out. He took a deep breath and started his rest. Right now, he could already see that the sun was about to rise.

Unknowingly, the whole night had been utilised in cultivation and this realisation caused him to feel deeply exhausted. But he didn't know why, but he always felt a sense of energy surging inside of him, compelling him to not bow his head against the world.

He immediately used the Primeval Stones to recover his Primeval Essence. 

As he recovered his reserves, he also found out that the Primeval Essence injected inside the Core Strength Gu was starting to get rejected. From his calculation, 3% of the conquered area will be won by the Gu every hour. 

He immediately calculated the time and he still had seven hours before the academy begins. 

"Things can't go on like this. It took me all my Primeval Essence and a total of four hours before I was able to refine 22% of the Gu Worm. It's better to rest and take it easy."

Gohan wasn't the kind to hesitate about his decisions. 

"No matter how much of a rush I feel, the method of cultivation won't change. Cultivation follows the concept of accumulation, it cannot be rushed.

***

"Hey, did you refine your gu?"

"Are you kidding me? It's so hard. I think I can only completely refine it in a few days."

"Sigh, cultivation is really hard. I could only cultivate for an hour before I had to sleep."

"Don't worry, we will get used to this stuff slowly. It's not that hard."

The class was filled with boys and girls discussing about their first experience of cultivation. 

The three A Grade Aptitudes were the same.

In such a cheerful environment, only one person remained an exception.

Gohan.

"Alright, today we will train your physical capabilities. All of you will form a line and walk towards the training ground quietly."

Immediately, a wave of excitement spread over the kids. Till now, they were only told about all the history of Gu, including the legends of Ren Zu and also told about the method of cultivation and refining the Gu.

But today, they will be able to fight and spar against each other. Naturally, they all were excited.

Hah

Hah

Hah

The group quickly reached the training ground, only to find that a batch of students was already sparing on the raised platform.

Around the platform was a grassy ground, to allow the students to spar without taking much damage from falling on the ground. 

Meanwhile, the spar going on the stadium was on a whole another level, at least, this is what it looked like to the untrained eyes.

"Hold up, gather around kids." The burly teacher spoke out.

He was the physical trainer of the academy. His body was buff and his skin was tanned. His upper body was bare, showing off his muscles and scars.

"Hmm? Who are they?"

"Oh... they must be those fellows from the mortal villages."

"Hmm? Them? Shouldn't they be saluting us? After all, they were all our slaves. Even if they become Gu Masters, they shouldn't forget about their status."

The other Gu Masters did not hold their voices. Their sneers, taunts and contemptuous eyes clearly caused the tension to rise between the two groups.

"What did you say? Say that again!" Bai immediately shouted.

Right now, he was no longer covered in ice and he has long recovered his courage and ignorance.

After his shout, the other two also supported him.

"Hmph, you are calling an A Grade Aptitude a slave? Guess I will talk about you with Lord Elder." Ray also snorted.

Immediately, the person who mentioned them as slaves turned pale and his figure visibly shuddered.

"I knew you guys are only petty people." Daisy words only added the injury.

For the time being, the whole class fell into silence.

"Hahaha, this is the spirit you kids should have. Since there is already a conflict, why not solve it with your fists?"

The teacher laughed out loud. His words were brazen. After all, he was implying to have a serious fight against each other.

"We will do like this. The person who is able to stay standing on the Stadium at the end will receive another ten Primeval Stones."

The moment the Elder spoke of the reward, the eyes of the whole class turned radiant.

By now, they have understood the importance of Primeval Stones. They would be willing to do anything to earn more stones quickly.

Immediately, a boy shot towards the stadium and stood straight like a proud peacock. 

"Oh? He is Yamcha Kame? He is a good fighter and he is one of the three B Grade Aptitudes of the main village." Ray muttered.

From this, one could understand the influx of dozens of B Grade Aptitudes.

"So? Who is going to fight him? Even though we have higher Aptitudes, we still can't compare to the main village in battle power." Daisy spoke out in worry.

"Hmph, if I am given some more time, I will surely kick his ass." Bai grunted in annoyance.

At this moment, the teacher laughed once again.

"Haha, I like your spirit kid. Immediately challenging the opponent." 

Surprisingly, he wasn't talking to Yamcha.

The attention of the whole class fell on a boy with short black hair and soft features.

It was Gohan!