A New World: Middle Kingdom Book 1

by Mike Han

  We walked through the archway into a small courtyard in front of a large stone building. There were some other buildings that was interconnected by walkways. As we entered the first stone building, I noticed that the room, though huge, was bare except for some sitting mats. There was a group of fourteen people of mixed genders already sitting on the mats talking amongst themselves. Upon seeing Elder Hao entering the room, the group leaped to their feet in attention and greeted out loud, “Good evening Elder Hao!”

  “Good evening, students. With me here is a new prospect that will be joining everyone. And with that we will be commencing the entry trial tomorrow. Why don’t all of you just take a break and show Jun around? I believe that he, like all of you, have yet to take dinner too?” After saying that, he turned and walked out of the room.

  For a moment, there was awkward silence, then a slim, tall handsome youth walked out from the group and extended his hand to me “Hi there, I am Yang. I believe that Elder Hao called you Jun. So Jun, would you like us to give you a quick tour around before we go to the main dining hall for dinner?”

  Giving a sigh of relief, I shook his hand and said, “thank you, that would be helpful, Yang. And hello everyone.”

  With the ice broken, everyone came forward and introduce themselves. Our group was made up of eight males and seven females. We all appeared to be of the same ages and they were from different walks of life. Yang and a couple of others were from minor aristocrats, the rest came from martial families. All of them had aspiration to become disciples of the Balance Sect as they wanted to learn the renowned skills of Balance Sect and then ventured into the martial world upholding law and justice. I craved to ask if they were players like me since I could not see any clues if they were players or NPC. But in the end, I decided against it. Since it appeared that the game wanted us to stay in character, I decided to play along. After all, I guessed that the purpose for me being the Alpha tester group.

  After which, I gave a vague introduction of myself as an orphan from a distance county and had travelled far to reach here. Hearing that I was an orphan, all of them nodded somberly and thus I managed to save myself from being asked further awkward questions of my origin.

  Yang appointed himself as my personal guide and with another petite female called Xian’er, they gave me a quick tour around. We were located at the lower hall of Balance Sect, which were set aside for prospect disciples and guests. Other than the main building that we were just in, which was used for gathering and training, there were two other stone buildings that were used by the prospect disciples for sleeping arrangement; one for the male disciples and the other for female disciples. Each of the resident block had its own connecting bathrooms and the mess hall was located centrally between the two residential blocks and the training hall. To the rear of the buildings, there was another set of stairs that I was told it would lead to the upper halls and buildings for the rest of the school. However, we were not allowed to proceed upwards until we graduate from the Hall of Crane.

  After the tour, we had then proceeded to the mess hall for a bland dinner comprising of porridge and tofu. We had then chatted around before turning in for the night. Twisting, turning and trying to get some winks, I felt as though I had just managed to fall into a slumber when the door to our bunk swung open with a loud bang. “Alright you lazy buggers. You have been having a good time all these days, and had grown lazy. All of you wake up and gathered at the courtyard now!” A loud male voice bellowed at us from the doorway.

  Jumping up with bleary eyes, I ran out of the room towards the courtyard and the same time stealing a glimpse of the man that had woken us up. He was a middle-aged male and was glaring at the whole lot of us as we ran from our room. From across the yard towards the female bunk, I could see that our female counterparts were also running by, followed by a similar middle-aged female harassing them to move. Guessing at the furious pace they were racing towards the courtyard, they must have been woken up in the same manner as us. At the courtyard, we formed into two single rows guided by our two instructors and Elder Hao walked up to us at the head of the formation. “Good morning fellow students! I trust that all of you had a good rest. Today is the start of your entry trial into the Balance sect. As of now you are considered under the Crane Hall.”

  Chapter Three

  Hearing the announcement that we were inducted as prospect disciples excited all of us. Whispers erupted from all the students, before the instructors turned and stared menacingly at us till we all fell silent. Elder Hao continued “it is good that all of you are excited at this. However until you passed the entry trial of the Crane Hall, all of you are considered as prospect disciples of the Balance Sect. This meant that if your conduct or aptitude is lacking, your instructors can recommend for your dismissal.”

  Hearing that, everyone started looking around with worried expressions.

  “Let’s not worry about that. Try your very best and your instructors will help you to their best of their abilities. So before we began, let me introduce you to the instructors that will be conducting your training. The male instructor is Will and the female instructor is Cai Qing. They are both respected senior disciples and had some fame under their belts for their deeds around Middle Kingdom. Please do appreciate them for taking up some of their personal time to help with your training. During the training, until you are deem worthy, you will follow their instructions down to the letter. Dismissed!”

  Before we could ask Elder Hao any questions, Will was pushing us out of the hall and shouting, “All of you followed me!” And without another glance, turned and ran towards the archway leading down the mountain, clearing expecting us to follow. We quickly ran along, words of Elder Hao’s warning about dismissal still resounding in our ears. Reaching the archway, we were divided into two groups; with all the males in one group, females in the other. “All the male prospects, pick up a bucket and followed me down the mountain. The female will pick the basket and follow instructor Cai Qing into the forest. Go!”

  Picking up a bucket, I ran after Will, who was holding a bucket in each hand. The rest of the group quickly followed. After an hour of running downhill, we arrived at the archway at the foot of the mountain. Instead of stopping there, we continued our run for another half hour before reaching the bank of a river. Stopping beside the river, Will shouted “All of you will take a five-minute break. Fill your bucket to the brim, then followed me up the hill.” With that said, he quickly dipped both buckets into the river, filled them up, and without another look at us, turned and started back up the mountain. Still breathing hard, I quickly dipped my single bucket into the river and turned to follow Will, the rest of the group taking my lead.

  However Will had already strode past the archway and was making his way swiftly up the stairs. Soon the whole lot of us were stringed up in a single file, as we gasp and huff our way up the stairs. With both arms straining with exhaustion, it was way past noon when we reached the archway and most of us had spilled more than half our bucket of content by the time we reached.

  To our astonishment, at the archway was Will, who was waiting patiently for us with his buckets still fully filled with water; not a single drop had spilled while he stride up the stairs. Gesturing with his head for us to follow, we went past the archway and the main buildings, and near the stairs leading further uphill were several large urns. Following his lead, we strained our leaden arms tipping what’s left in our mostly emptied bucket into these urns. After which Will continued back to the gathering hall and said “You all have arrived past lunch time. I am afraid that we will all have to miss lunch. It is time to gather in the Gathering Hall for your meditation session with Elder Hao. I hope that you all will do better tomorrow.”

  Arriving at the hall, we noticed that the female students had all arrived and seated on the mats in the hall. But from their miserable faces and their growling stomach, it appeared that they, like us, were late back from their chores and missed out on lunch as well. Upon our arriva
l, Elder Hao appeared at the doorway, and we quickly took our place on the mat as well forming a circle.

  Elder Hao slowly took his place at the remaining spot in the circle. Gesturing for us to follow him in taking up a lotus sitting position, placing the feet on opposing thigh while resting both hands on the knees. He spoke to us in a calming tone, “Students, you all have done well for your first day. While this chores might seem mundane, they are still fundamental to training your core foundation. Application of force will only be effective if the core is strong and stable. And these will be what instructors Will and Cai Qing be instilling in you all while you are here. Now, to train the body but not the will is akin to training a monkey. What use is it if you have the strength and yet not the temperament to holding such strength. I will now cultivate your mind and will such that you will be more than just a strong warrior. Your training period after your noon meal will be focused on meditation to calm your mind.”

  A barely concealed groan emerged from almost all of us, before we fell silence from the glare of our instructors. Elder Hao chuckled and said “I know that all of you have not had your lunch and are also exhausted from the morning training. But if you all aspire to be great warriors, what is a little hunger and tiredness compared to a lifetime of training.”

  Closing his eyes, Elder Hao began to intone “Let’s began… the body craved for action and your mind races with thoughts. Be calm and let go of all thoughts. Take a deep breath and relax your mind and body. Clear your minds of all thoughts and focus on your breathing…”

  Mimicking his sitting posture, I tried very hard to listen to the instructions given by Elder Hao. But the moment I closed my eyes, fatigue crashed in and I struggled to keep awake. From the snores in my surrounding, it seemed that many of my fellow classmates had given in to temptation and gave themselves an impromptu nap time. Giving myself a mental shrug, I forced myself to listen to Elder Hao’s instructions “Breathe deeply. Visualize your breath like a ball centered at your lower stomach meridian. Now hold it in and visualize slowly pushing it out to your four limbs…”

  As I sought to visualize the breathing technique, I was surprised to feel a sense of warmth spreading across my body and limbs. Tiredness and aches began to fall away from my body and I could feel myself being invigorated as I continued to follow the breathing technique by Elder Hao.

  Ding! You have learned the ability “Apprehension”. Apprehension allowed you to learn inner energy and skill techniques. There is a chance that you will learn unique skills and inners.

  Oh wow! This was so unexpected. While I was keen to open up my character page and slowly explored this new ability, I decided that this could wait and forced myself to dismiss the prompt, I again turn my attention to Elder Hao’s teaching.

  Ding! By forcing yourself to the task at hand and ignoring all temptations, you have evolved your ability Apprehension to Comprehension. Not only will you be able to pick up inner and skill better, you will be able to improve your cultivation of skill twofold. Additionally, there is a remote chance that you will comprehend a deeper meaning to your inner or skill learnt and evolved them into a different level.

  Ding! You have comprehend the inner energy technique “Calmness of Lake” from Balance Sect. Inner energy technique strengthen a practitioner’s body with unique breathing exercise, allowing energy to follow freely through meridians opened by these exercises. Legend has it that an expert practitioner can even externalize some inner technique as a form of attack.

  The pop-ups messages had me so excited that I nearly jumped up in celebration. Reining in my feelings, I forced myself to relax and empty my mind, I dismissed all the prompts and continued to focus on the breathing technique. As the session came to a conclusion, I realized that the technique had become easier to practice and I totally felt refreshed. My previously aching arms now felt strong and filled with energy.

  As the mediating session concluded, I opened my eyes to find Elder Hao giving me an intent look but with a smile on his face before finally giving me a satisfied nod. He then announced, “Students, I trusted you will all have a good rest. You may now proceed to the mess hall for your dinner. See you all tomorrow.” And then Elder Hao left without another word. The rest of the class started to pick themselves up, all groaning with the muscle strain and fatigue. So it was a surprise to them when they noticed that I was the sole exception moving with ease, as though I had not gone through the physical exertion that they had. This causing quite a number of confused looks on my fellow classmates’ face.

  After a quick dinner and clean-up, I was soon back on my bed in the bunk. Anxious to see what I had obtained today in the mediation session, I called up my character sheet and realised that there was an additional “information” was appended to the information page.

  It seemed that I had gained new ability and some type of skill. The percentage appeared to be some sort of level marking for the skill. Wow!

  Character Name: Jun

  School: Balance

  Strength: Weak as a pup

  Ability:

  Comprehension (1%). Give a chance to comprehend a deeper meaning to your inner or skill learnt and evolved them into a different level. As your mastery of this ability improved, you will be able to learn skills faster.

  Inner:

  Calmness of the Lake (1%), Balance beginner Inner Technique. Gaining mastery in this inner, will strengthen your body and enhance your movement.

  Chapter Four

  The next morning, again we were woken up by the shouts from instructor Will. Now that we knew what to expect, we were out at the courtyard without much hassle. Again, Will brought us to the archway, where we found that the buckets waiting for us had doubled in numbers.

  “All of you will now take two buckets in each hand and follow me!” he shouted. Without another word, he picked up a bucket with each hand and off he ran down the stairs. We quickly followed suit. Surprisingly I found my feet light as feather and was able to quickly catch up with Will and matched his pace. He looked at me with a surprised expression on his face, and after an appraising look, gave me a nod, and continued running. Unfortunately the rest of my classmates were stringed out in a single file behind us as they each struggled to catch up with us.

  At a third of a distance from the mountain base, I began to feel winded and my breathing became haggled while my muscles strained with efforts to maintain the pace. I found myself staring at the stairs while I focused on moving my foot in step with Will’s pace. “Focus on your breathing technique.” Will snapped at me. “It is not meant just for meditation. Your inner must be cultivated continuously, regardless of the circumstances that you are in. Take a deep breath and exercise your inner technique, let the energy flow to your limbs.”

  Looking up and giving him a grateful nod, I forced myself to take a deep breath and began the technique taught by Elder Hao in yesterday session. Doing it in meditation differed greatly from practicing it while on the move. Every motion distracted my conscious effort in my cultivation. Nonetheless, with each step I took, the technique became easier to manage, and as I got better in managing my technique, the tasks of running down the stairs with the bucket was easier as my muscles shook off the fatigue and were filled with strength.

  Using this technique, I was able to follow Will to the river bank at the foot of the mountain. Without another word, he filled the buckets and turned back, while I followed suit. Even though the buckets were now more than twice heavier, I managed to maintain pace with Will as we ran up the stairs. If I had not learned the internal technique from yesterday, it would have been impossible to complete this task.

  As we passed by each of the students at the stairs still struggling on their way to the river, I was given a surprised look by them in turn. Soon we reached the urns and emptied our buckets into them. Though I was exhausted, I was surprised that if need to, I could still continue on. Amazed at this, I almost didn’t catch Will talking to me. “Well done, Jun. You can go and have your lunch whi
le I wait for your classmates.” Shuffling my feet, I was unwilling to go and eat while the rest of my class were still struggling to complete their tasks. Nevertheless, under Will’s glare, I reluctantly complied and went over to the mess to wait for my classmates’ arrival.

  It was almost past lunch by the time my classmates began trickling in. The girls were especially surprised when they see me alone in the mess. Soon the rest of the guys started trickling into the hall and started on their meals. Yang was the first to stop and speak up, while we were wolfing down our lunch. Standing up, he spotted me at the end of the table and called out, “Jun! How did you manage to keep pace with instructor Will? How come you don’t look that exhausted? Yesterday you were still struggling like the rest of us, but today you look like a new person. Tell us your secret, please?” The rest of the classmates all stopped and look at me intently.

  Blushing with all the attention given to me, I replied “It was no secret. Remember the breathing technique that Elder Hao was teaching us yesterday? I was using and practicing it and it helped with the fatigue and physical exertion.”

  Yang frowned “Are you sure about that? It seemed that it is just some calming therapy by Elder Hao. How can just breathing deeply help?”

  Taking a deep breath, I began slowly explaining, “Guys, what I said is really the truth. When I focused on the instruction that Elder Hao was mediating, my body was filled with strength. I think it was called Calmness of the Lake inner technique. Why don’t all of you try to listen to the instruction given by Elder Hao? Today during the physical training, instructor Will reminded me to use this technique and it helped with the exertion.”