Qian's blade flashes, and the air heats up in an instant. Bits of rock go flying as an ear ringing explosion shatters half the rock, while dust obscures the arena. The elder's are all slightly impressed for a moment, and the white haired elder clears the dust with the wave of his hand.

The elder strokes his white beard as he floats down. He steps around the block of stone, and notices a clean cut going up the stone block diagonally, yet it is cut off by the destroyed section of the rock wherein the explosion shattered it.

"Impressive. Is that a spirit blade, or a technique?" The elder asks casually.

Qian bows to the elder before looking at him with an apologetic expression.

"E-Elder I'm not sure I should reveal the nature of my techniques..." Qian stutters apologetically.

The elder stops, and turns to look at Qian. The old man is scowling, yet his expression changes to one of satisfaction moments later. He faces Qian fully before holding out his open palms.

"I extend an offer to you, boy. Will you be my disciple?" The white haired elder asks.

Qian's eyes widen as he bows deeply once again.

"Y-Yes! Of course I would be honored, respected elder!" Qian shouts in reply.

"Good. I'm impressed you had the forethought to not reveal your techniques." Qian's new master remarks.

"I didn't mean any disrespect, Master!" Qian replies earnestly.

His master chuckles, and takes a wooden box from one of the burly uniformed men. The wooden box is offered to Qian, and he respectfully takes it from his master.

"You can call me Elder Cloud, or Master Cloud, if you prefer." The man says.

"Thank you Master Cloud!" Qian replies loudly.

The burly man in uniform informs Qian that there's a map of the academy in his box, as well as everything he may need to get started in the academy. Qian once again is a little too respectful, and says farewell to both his master and the uniformed men; The other elders depart without speaking to Qian.

"I can't believe it! I made the cut!"

Qian walks with the box clutched close to his chest, and the map in one hand. He's still got jitters after having been accepted as Master Cloud's disciple.

The map guides him to his dormitory, and he's greeted by two boys wearing the same uniform Qian has yet to put on. They stand outside the dormitory entrance with smug grins on their faces as they look down upon Qian.

"What do you we have here, brother?" The brunette boy says.

"Looks like a little rat is trying to sneak into the cloud dormitory!" The blonde boy replies.

Qian realizes what's happening and quickly shows them his uniform, an anxious smile on his face as he tries to explain he's actually one of Elder Cloud's students.

"N-No brothers, I am in fact a student of Master Cloud!" Qian explains hurriedly.

The two of them glare at him before the brunette one snatches his uniform.

"Oh you're mistaken, little brother. You see this uniform is yellow, and Master Cloud's students wear white!" He laughs slightly.

Qian gives him a confused look as the uniform is clearly white as Master Cloud's beard. The blonde boy snickers while grabbing the uniform from his buddy.

"But that is clearly not yellow-" Qian starts to reason.

He stops trying to explain when he sees the blonde boy pull his pants down slightly, and a trickle of yellow stains Qian's new uniform. Of all the things Qian had expected to happen, this was not one of them.

"How vulgar! Just what kind of place is the academy?!"

Qian's shock turns to horror as the boy tosses the still wet uniform at his face, and Qian scrambles to hold it at an arms length. The thing stinks, and the two boys laugh their asses off as if what they just did was the funniest thing they'd ever seen.

There was no humor in it for Qian, and thus he decided to quickly push past them. The two boys don't stop him, and simply laugh as they watch him head for the room marked on his map.

Qian slides the door to his room closed, and clenches his jaw slightly as he tosses his soiled uniform in a basin within his room. The bedroom isn't small, but it's not big either. There's a window, bed, basin, and closet; Qian puts his box of things into the closet.

With anger in his heart, Qian gets into bed and drifts off to sleep.

~

The sound of a gong resonates throughout the academy as the sun peeks over the horizon. Dawn has arrived, and with it Qian's first day at the Imperial Academy. His excitement is doused by the scent of dried urine that fills his room, but he pushes past this by wearing his spare uniform; He'll be washing that soiled uniform later.

Qian has to wade through a sea of other students on his way to the academy mess hall. He doesn't see those two boys from last night, and is thankful for his good fortune.

The mess hall is a huge building, which takes up a large portion of the underground level of the academy. Flickering orange lights illuminate a wide hall full of tables and benches for the students to eat at. There are two entrances, and a wide array of food is served; The caveat is that your tier determines what you are permitted to eat.

"So I'm a wood tier under Master Cloud... What do I get?"

Qian follows the line of other wood tier students, and receives a big bowl of broth. The stuff smells of meat, yet it only contains bits of cooked potato.

The gruel is slop compared to what the students of higher tiers receive, yet Qian doesn't complain one bit. his grumbling stomach hadn't eaten in days, and this warm broth is exactly what he needed to fill his stomach.

~

Qian sighs in relief as he reaches the training yard marked on his academy map; He had been searching for a while, and feared he would be late to his first lesson. The sound of the gong tells him he just barely made it as he enters.

The yard is packed with Master Cloud's students, and all of them are gathering into groups based on their tier as per Master Cloud's instruction. The white haired elder floats above them with his hands behind his back.

"For those of you just arriving, we are going to be doing tier advancement challenges today. You will be permitted to challenge students of a higher tier." Master Cloud explains.

There are excited murmurs from the wood rank students.

"Iron tier! Will any of you be challenging the jade tier?" Master cloud asks.

One brunette boy steps out of the crowd of iron tier students, and bows to Master Cloud. Qian's heart drops as he recognizes the boy.

"I will challenge the jade tier!" He says resolutely.