The rooster’s crow greeted the sunrise, and the disciples of the White Crane sect exited their shared housing to begin their day. By the time they had bathed and groomed themselves, Daniel had learned to make use of the sound-dampening qualities of his down pillow.

  “Chosen hero, it is time for class!” shouted one of the other disciples from outside his door, followed by a series of loud rappings.

  “Come on man, it’s gotta be like five in the morning!”

  “Exactly, it is time for training!”

  “You’ll have to pry me off this bed!”

  The door burst open and the disciple did just that, dragging Daniel out of the hut. By the time the other disciples were fully ready, Daniel had barely managed to brush his teeth and throw on the white training robes left in his room.

  He slowly shuffled towards the stone-paved courtyard with bleary eyes. Daniel knew fully what he was in for, but that knowledge didn’t help him face it. At least he’d be taught by someone who’d take that into account and start him off slowly. Daniel thought that the elder from yesterday came off as somewhat intimidating, but everyone looked up to him as the boss of this place, so he must’ve been a good teacher!

  “Daniel!” shouted a young man standing in front of a group of nineteen disciples. He stood several inches above the others and carried a bamboo rod in his hand. On his chest was a stylized crest that screamed of mild authority. “You will be training with the inner disciples due to your special circumstances, so line up with the others!”

  “Wait, I thought I’d be taught by the Elder-”

  “Disciples do not refer to themselves as ‘I’ at the White Crane sect. Please do so as ‘this disciple’.”

  “Oh, my bad-”

  The bamboo pole flew towards Daniel’s face and struck it with a stinging force.

  “Aah!” he shouted, grabbing his cheek.

  “That also applies to ‘me’.”

  “Well how was I-this disciple supposed to know that?!”

  “Now you do, so who was supposed to be teaching you?”

  “Elder… Lang Tao?”

  The students behind them did their best to suppress their laughter, while one voiced an open scowl.

  “Ha! Elder Lang Tao is too busy to be teaching, let alone a single disciple! Now get in position.”

  Daniel turned around and found a spot amongst the others. He could hear a few continuing snickers coming from the crowd, but they didn’t sound entirely malicious. More that they were laughing at his fate rather than at him. But Daniel wasn’t laughing himself. He had some pretty mean teachers in the past, and knew it was best to keep his head down to stay off their radar.

  “We will start by practicing your forms. Since that rooster has been especially loud today, you will perform the Rooster’s Claw. Begin!”

  The students immediately took on a wide stance, with Daniel doing his best to copy them a full second later. The teacher barked out a sound and everyone shifted into a new stance. Another shout, and another wave of movements.

  Daniel tried to copy them as best as he could, but was always at least one or two steps behind. Eventually, the shouts began to speed up and he was left in the dust, just trying to keep out of the way of the others’ open fists.

  To his benefit, he wasn’t the only one struggling. Several other disciples were staring intently at one particular older girl at the front to notice they were falling out of sync with the others. She didn’t look bad to Daniel, but she wasn’t what he would consider drop dead gorgeous. Bright pale skin, long flowing black hair, an incredibly lean build, and a face devoid of any perceivable blemish, including emotion.

  A quick slap on the hand by the teacher’s bamboo rod brought the distracted disciples back in line. Daniel felt thankful he was out of the teacher’s sight, or else he’d be covered in bruises by now.

  The exercise went on for two hours. Daniel was ready to call it quits after the first, but he knew what would be waiting for him if he did. So he continued to wail his limbs for the remainder of the time, his mind half-focused on a half-assed prayer that the teacher would continue to ignore him. To Daniel’s relief, that prayer was answered. He made it all the way through forms practice as if he was an invisible clown, until the teacher decided to change things up.

  “Now, sparring!” he shouted. “Since we have an even number of students, you get to fight against your peers today, Li Feng.”

  Several of the other male disciples immediately stared at her with hopeful eyes.

  “We have four rows of students, so odd numbered rows are matched with those behind them.”

  Those same disciples groaned and turned to face their actual partners.

  Daniel’s partner turned around to reveal a wicked scar and manic grin. It was the server from yesterday who had offered him wine. “This disciple is excited to see your prowess, chosen hero.”

  “Uh,” he hesitated, looking around for somebody more pleasant. Nobody looked too interested in bending the teacher’s rules, at least not with him. Several disciples were staring at the so-called class beauty’s partner with jealousy, but not one of them had the confidence to try and take his place. With an uncomfortable chuckle, Daniel greeted his official sparring partner. “Nice to meet you again too…”

---

  Daniel let out a dry cough as he collapsed to his knees. His hands were wrapped around his stomach as he fought his rebelling diaphragm for air.

  “What kind of chosen hero even are you to not be able to take such a light tap?” his sparring partner scoffed. “Elder Lang Tao must be in a realm of wisdom far beyond this disciple’s as his decision to summon you is complete madness to me.”

  While the scarred man walked away, their teacher took his place. He looked down at Daniel and gave him a frown. “You have never gathered your chi before, have you?”

  “No,” Daniel whispered. “This disciple doesn’t even know what chi is. Was expecting mana.”

  “That’s ‘no, sifu’. The pain Zhen has inflicted upon you will impart the lesson better than my rod, so you shall be spared its wrath this time around.”

  “Oh, thank you, sifu.” The sarcasm in his voice was inaudible through the groans of pain.

  “There you go, you are learning! Take a seat to the side while you recover. You should be happy Zhen did not leave you dead with his blow.”

  “Woo hoo,” Daniel wheezed, slowly rising to his feet and shuffling off to the side. He found himself an old wooden bench that creaked much too loudly when he sat upon it, but decided to take the risk. Daniel didn’t have it in him to find another spot, and worst case, he’d happily lie on the floor if the bench decided to send him there.

  The sparring matches continued, and Daniel saw the other disciples performing acrobatic moves straight out of a circus. Backflips five feet in the air, punches and kicks that left honest to goodness afterimages with their speed, and what he could’ve sworn was a freaking energy ball at one point. He rubbed at his eyes and never saw that kind of an attack again. He figured he was just imagining it.

  “So is our training too much for you?”

  Daniel turned to see Zhen’s scarred face, and an arrogant grin stretched across it.

  “Someone as privileged as you has never worked this hard in his life.”

  “Yup, my life’s been pretty cushy before all this, but I was hoping you guys would start me off slow.”

  “Arrogance, referring to yourself that way.”

  “Hey, I don’t see you holding a stick, so I hope you can keep it a secret. I wouldn’t mind doing the same for you if you want to refer to yourself in the first person.”

  “No stick? I could’ve killed you back then with my fists!”

  “Yeah, the teacher told me as much. So thanks for going easy, I really like being alive.” Daniel let out a genuine chuckle.

  “You’re not fit for this place.”

  “No shit, I’m in way over my head!” Daniel shouted. Some of the others looked towards him, but thankfully the teacher was too busy with another pair of disciples to notice. Daniel lowered his voice to a whisper as he continued. “I mean, I expected hard work, but I feel like a kindergartener dropped in a college class! Seriously, you guys should put me in the baby class if there is one.”

  “Exactly, you are nothing but a baby.” Zhen scoffed once more, and feeling victorious in Daniel’s apparent admittance of defeat, walked away.

---

  The rest of the morning wore on. Zhen’s grade-school insults slipped out of Daniel’s mind like oil over water as he watched the other disciples wrap up their training. One by one, they succumbed to their exhaustion or hunger and elected to call it a day. Those that did made their way to a table set up in the shade that had a much younger disciple ladling out bowls of food.

  Daniel decided to join them. When he got to the front of the line, he was given a bowl of rice porridge topped with a pile of dried fish slices. He found himself a cozy place to eat and began to dig in. But while he was face-first in his lunch, he was greeted by the return of a familiar face.

  “You actually enjoy our peasant food?” sneered Zhen. “After stuffing yourself at yesterday’s feast?”

  “Of course, I’m hungry! I’m not saying no to a good meal, even though it’s pretty different from what I normally eat.”

  “And what do you normally eat? Jade quality rice with fish roe?”

  “Just regular rice with beans, most days.”

  “Golden chi beans?”

  “Like, read beans, dude. Red kidney beans? Goes pretty well with chorizo or other sausage.”

  Zhen once again walked away with a huff, and another two disciples soon took his place.

  “These disciples apologize for brother Zhen’s words,” said the first of the two students. He gave a short bow. 

  Daniel recognized them as the ones who helped him get ready yesterday. “Don’t worry about it, the guy just sounds like he’s got his own issues. He’s pretty easy to ignore.”

  “What a wise way to handle one who means you harm.”

  “Woah, if the guy actually wanted to put me six feet under, I’d be running for my life! Or if he said something actually hurtful. Seriously, Zhen sounds like he’s just jealous of the special treatment I’ve gotten. I mean, it was only a single big dinner, it’s not like I’m eating that way for every meal.”

  “Well, this disciple cannot think of a reason for him to be jealous.”

  “I dunno, maybe he’s never been to a big feast like that before?”

  “Brother Zhen is the third son of a Jade ranked general! He has been to plenty of feasts in his father’s honor!”

  “Jade general? Is that a big deal? It sounds like one.”

  “It is the middle rank for generals, he leads armies in the thousands!”

  “So what, he’s the arrogant young master? He doesn’t sound like one.”

  “…Arrogant young master?”

  “It’s a writing trope in some of the stories I’ve read. They’re pretty much the pride of their sect and get special treatment because of family members in high positions or whatever, and they let that go to their head.”

  “By your words, that sounds like what Brother Zhen sees you as.”

  “…shit, you’re right. Hey, uh-”

  “Shao Ming. This disciple apologizes for not introducing himself earlier.”

  “And this disciple’s name is Xiao Ming, who too apologizes.”

  “X-S-hao?”

  “Yes?” They both said in unison.

  “If I ever do start turning into an arrogant young master, could you please kick my ass?”

  The two turned to each other before looking back at Daniel and performing a short bow. “These disciples would be honored.”