After being in the Umbra Battle Academy for a week, it became apparent to me that I was one of the weaker students in my grade. My overall stats were right about the average, and my academics were nothing special here. Nothing about me was outstanding. The only thing that I had for myself was my battle technique. My battle technique was my greatest asset right now.

 

The most significant change between the public battle academies and the underworld battle academies is that the underworld battle academies support the students to hurt each other. In public battle academies, fights between students are strictly forbidden unless facilitated by a teacher or another authority figure in the school.

 

Since being admitted into the Umbra Battle Academy, brawls break out what seems like every hour between the students. Other students had also dragged me into some of these fights. The worst part about these fights is that there are no rules. It doesn't matter what methods are used to win. Poison, sneak attacks, several students ganging upon an individual, you name it, all is fair in the face of victory.

 

On my first day here, I didn't quite understand just how brutal the students could be. That resulted in me being poisoned during lunch. What followed was a beating by the student who poisoned me. This event taught me a lot about life here in the underworld academies. Everyone viewed everyone else as competitors, enemies.

 

All the students in these underworld battle academies like me strive to become the strongest. But there could only be one strongest; therefore, everyone tried to beat everyone else no matter the cost. The school contributes to this competitive and dangerous atmosphere between the students by only giving out limited resources.

 

In the school, there is a ranking system among the students across all grades. The higher your rank, the more resources/rewards you will receive by the end of the month. Those near the bottom of the rankings will flat out receive nothing. To rise in the rankings, one must acquire points. Points could be obtained by academic excellence, doing tasks around the school, bartered for between students, and beating other students. It was a lot easier to gain points by defeating other students than the other methods of obtaining points, so students attempted every opportunity to beat up another student. There have been cases of students being killed by another student. However, the worst punishment for doing so was just a deduction in points or time spent in the school jail. Nothing severe.

 

Because I had just entered the academy, I had few points to begin with. But after being poisoned and beaten up by the same student, I lost all my points. Not having any points was a significant problem because besides ranking and receiving awards by the end of the month, points also served another essential purpose. Everything in this school costs points. You want to eat in the cafeteria, guess what, you got to pay for the food with points. Want to clean your clothes? Need points to pay for the washing machine. Want to buy school supplies or other items in the school shop? Got to pay for it with points. You get the gist.

 

Due to my battle technique, I was able to outclass some of the weaker students, but like me, they also had a minuscule number of points. I only ever had enough points to make sure I didn't starve. Also, due to what had happened the first day I was here, I had made it a habit to test all my food for poison before eating it.

 

As I was eating my food, I thought about how I would best acquire points. My academics weren't good enough for me to earn points that way. I could do tasks around the school to earn points, but those generally provide very few points, and I wasn't strong enough to face the students who had lots of points. I know that a few students were willing to offer me a fair number of points if I taught them my battle technique. However, by no chance will I do that. My morals would not allow me to do so. This technique was given to me by my savior. I'm not going to betray their goodwill for a measly number of points.

 

Before I knew it, lunchtime had ended. I now needed to head onto my next class. The classes here in the Umbra Battle Academy were several times better than the classes back at the Damaculus Battle Academy. It was no comparison. The class I was most excited about was the magic class. The magic classes here actually taught the students how to use magic. Although I don't yet understand how to utilize magic, I know that progress takes time, and with enough effort and time, I will one day be able to use magic.

 

My next class was the battle class. Unlike the battle class in the Damaculus Battle Academy, the teachers separated the battle class into many smaller battle classes, all based on the students' weapon of choice. Since my weapon of choice was the sword, I was part of the sword class, the largest of all the battle classes. In the sword class, we trained in the many fundamentals of swordsmanship. The instructors emphasized mastering the fundamentals, whether it was slashing, thrusting, swipes, parries, or movement. We were to train the fundamentals of swordsmanship until we perfected it.

 

After several hours had gone by, the school day had finally ended. Now it was free time for the students. The students were allowed to do anything except leaving the school grounds during this time. During this time, I would focus on training in my battle technique, the Imperial Kingdom's Soundless Sword Technique. I hope to progress in the battle technique soon. However, that won't happen anytime soon.

 

Just as I was training in my battle technique, another student approached me from the bushes and demanded my points. This was a common occurrence. The system of points had created an unofficial hierarchy among the students. It was separated into four distinct groups. At the bottom, you have the weakest students, then the average students, the strong students, and lastly, the strongest students, the Apex Predators. I judged that I belonged in the small zone between the weakest group and the average group. The students belonging to the stronger groups would hunt down students of the weaker groups and milk them for all their points. And that was happening to me right now.

 

I had always known that this was a common occurrence since day one. However, this was the first time it was happening to me. I wasn't going to give in. In response to the student's demand, I tightened my grasp on my sword and pointed its tip toward the student. Seeing that I wasn't going to be cooperative with his demands, the student readied himself with his weapon. The student's weapon was a mace. The mace was a blunt weapon with a spiked metal ball attached to the end of the handle. The mace was a simple but effective weapon. Like swords, the mace flourished in close range combat, but it wasn't as versatile as a sword. However, where it lacked utility, it made up with pure destructive power. If I get hit by that mace, it would be the end of me. To win this battle, I had to respect the student's space.

 

Intending to end this battle as fast as possible, I immediately started implementing my battle technique, and using the knowledge I had learned from Mr. Ding, I attempted to strike a weak area on the human body.

 

In reaction to my attack, the student parried my attack with the handle of his mace while simultaneously kicking toward my side. The student's wide kick exposed one of the body's critical nerves beneath a person's thigh. Not willing to give up this opportunity, I purposely received his kick to strike the nerve beneath his thigh.

 

The student I was fighting against was stronger than I was. His kick landed square on my chest, knocking all the breath out of me and causing me to land on my back. However, my gamble had paid off. Just a moment ago, the student who was perfectly fine was now kneeling on the ground, unable to move the leg he had just kicked with. I had won the fight. The student would not be able to beat me with his now crippled leg.

 

After taking my time recovering from the student's fierce attack, I picked up my sword that I had dropped when I was kicked and approached the kneeling student. The student knew that he had screwed up, but he wasn't willing to give up just yet. When I got close enough to him, as a last-ditch effort, he lunged at me with his one leg to grapple onto me. Already predicting his course of action, I easily dodged his lunge and returned the lunge by fiercely kneeing him in the stomach while he was still in motion. The fight was now officially over. As the student laid on the ground grasping his stomach, I squatted next to him with my sword resting against his neck.

 

What followed afterward was a continuous beating until the student gave me all his points. Did I feel bad for doing that? No. After all, he would've done the same thing to me if I didn't beat him. Additionally, he was the one who approached me and demanded my points. After collecting all of the boy's points, I left for the dormitories, where I planned to spend the rest of the day.

 

The student I had just collected points from had a fair number of points. Now I didn't need to worry about food for a while. Back at the dormitories, I went into my dorm room and spent the rest of the day reviewing my academics and reading about magic.

 

Magic was a fascinating subject to learn. Magic allowed anyone to use supernatural like abilities. The only downside to magic was that it was very exhausting to use and hard to learn. Since I had very little knowledge regarding magic, I borrowed many books explaining the theory of magic and the basics of using magic from the school library. I was confident that eventually, I would be able to grasp magic. I had the stats, the resources, and the mentors required to learn magic. It was all up to me now to do it.