Shang didn't know what he should think of his assigned Grade.
On one hand, he was technically 23 years old by now. He had spent 22 years on Earth and one year here.
The older one got, the less age mattered. In a way, 20-year-olds were seen as young adults. They were mostly able to live on their own and take care of themselves, and their minds had matured to a significant degree.
Because of that, Shang wouldn't have felt awkward or out of place in a Grade filled with people in their early twenties. The age difference didn't matter much.
However, 18 and 20 were quite a difference. 18-year-olds were showing signs of maturity. One of these obvious signs was the lower frequency of bullying in colleges. High school was far worse in that sense.
But that age was still a big dividing line of maturity. Probably half of the class would consist of teenagers while the other half would be young adults, personality-wise.
With all of that in mind, Shang also had to look at his body.
Sure, his mind was the mind of a 23-year-old, but his body was of a 15-year-old.
He hadn't even finished growing properly.
At the moment, Shang was 150cm tall, which was probably about average for someone of that age, but he would definitely get another growth spurt.
As for his classmates?
They had already all mostly finished growing. Sure, men could grow even when they were 20, but those couple of centimeters didn't make a huge difference.
In short, Shang would appear like a kid to the other people in his Grade. Half of them would probably not mind and would be quite open, but the other half would probably look down on him.
Now, one shouldn't misunderstand.
Shang wasn't distraught about how others perceived him but about the annoying trouble he would have to go through.
Shang wasn't very interested in socializing. Back on Earth, he had been an outgoing person, but that was also only because he couldn't train 24/7.
In this world, he could.
And since training and growing more powerful took priority, Shang essentially had no interest in socializing.
Yet, the others would try to force him, and he didn't want to deal with all that trouble.
'Well, doesn't really matter. It's probably just a couple of instances, and as long as I make myself clear, most of my classmates shouldn't mind.'
'But it's actually a bit funny that I will have the most powerful body of my Grade.'
Shang's brows furrowed.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ 'Why is that anyway?' Shang thought. 'I reached this level in only half a year. Sure, I had a ton of fruits from the Earth Fruit Hedgehog, but the academy should have even better stuff, right?'
'Even more, the new students of the academy already start training at 14 years of age. Meanwhile, they only reached the Peak of the Soldier Stage in their early twenties. That's six years of training.'
'I mean, I trained a lot, but that can't be the only reason, can it?'
The books hadn't said anything about how to train one's body and how to advance. Shang guessed that the teachers were probably responsible for that.
'I'll learn that later anyway. For now, I should focus on actually growing more powerful. With all of this theoretical stuff out of the way, I can finally focus on my power again.'
Shang looked at the small slit that was his window with absent eyes.
'The last time I was fully focused on my power was actually when I was still in the wilderness. Only a week had passed since then, but it feels like forever.'
Shang's eyes went to his belongings and then to his mostly empty room.
'I don't need to think about food.'
'I don't need to think about water.'
'I don't need to think about shelter.'
'I don't need to think about some bullshit school knowledge and bullshit tests.'
'I don't need to think about how to earn money.'
'I don't even need to think about family or friends.'
For a while, Shang simply looked at his room in silence.
It was such a weird feeling.
For the past six months or so, Shang had to constantly worry about survival. Even more, he hadn't even been able to truly let himself go in training. After all, he had never been truly safe. Plenty of beasts had been prepared to attack Shang during his training in the past.
But here?
…Nothing…
Even more, Shang didn't even have to follow an actual schedule. As long as his power progressed at sufficient speeds, he would be golden. He could even skip every single class if he wanted.
In a way, the academy was also a form of wilderness. After all, fighting wasn't prohibited.
However, students undergoing the special training weren't allowed to get involved with conflicts inside the academy, and those students were the only ones that could be a threat to Shang.
'Wait!' Shang thought with urgency. 'That's wrong!'
Shang narrowed his eyes.
'There is a difference between self-confidence and arrogance. Soran managed to easily beat me with a body two levels below mine. Because of that, it wouldn't be too farfetched that someone with a body one level below mine could pull off something similar.'
'And even more, there is a big difference between individual quality. There are the outstanding ones and the substandard ones. On top of that, everyone in my Grade has learned how to fight other humans for years. Many of them have probably also already killed humans.'
'It might actually be possible that my Battle-Strength is below theirs when it involves fighting against other humans. I might actually only count as average in my Grade even with my powerful body.'
'I need to be careful.'
…
'Oh, wait,' Shang thought as his body relaxed.
'Fighting with weapons is prohibited between students.'
'What was I even worrying about?'
'I think I'm too used to being in an environment filled with danger. I automatically assumed that the other students were out to kill me.'
Shang involuntarily got reminded of his conversation with that one guard from Duke Whirlwind's garden. The guard had told Shang that he wasn't used to being with other humans.
'I should try to keep in mind that not everyone is out to get me. Even if someone doesn't like me, they will probably just not talk to me, which is fine.'
Shang sighed.
'This will require some getting used to, and I can't force it. For now, I should focus on my power. Tomorrow, I will start with the classes.'
'For today, I just want to train.'
Shang put everything to the side and grabbed the book filled with techniques.
When Shang opened the book, he read the introduction.
'Huh, interesting,' Shang thought after he finished. 'They're literally telling me to just experiment. Try the techniques and adapt whichever one I like. Even more, the techniques are very basic and simple on purpose. They are just very basic movements with some slight variations.'
Shang went through the first couple of techniques and immediately knew how they worked.
Sure, Shang was intelligent, but he wasn't some unreal genius that could understand complex stuff in an instant.
It was just that the techniques really were very simple.
After looking at the first couple of techniques, Shang stood up and grabbed his sword.
Then, he swung.
Shang had great control over his body, and he had nearly perfectly copied the slash, but then, he felt something weird.
Shang looked with surprise at the sword in his hand.
For some reason, Shang could feel its feelings.
And right now, the sword felt slightly disgusted.
It was like someone had slightly gone against the hairs while petting a cat. It wasn't crazy enough to get angry or jump away, but it definitely didn't enjoy the sensation.
Shang raised an eyebrow.
"You don't like that one?" he asked.
No answer.
Shang only felt the slight disgust slowly vanish.
'Hmm, it probably can't understand me.'
If this had happened the day before, he would have been shocked by the sudden feelings Shang was receiving from his sword. However, Shang had already seen that his sword wasn't simple. After all, it had gone to the dean's spear of its own volition.
On top of that, the dean's spear had taught it something. At least that was what the dean had said.
Shang reviewed the first technique again and found some small flaws in his movements.
Then, he swung again.
After that, Shang looked with a raised eyebrow at his sword.
"Now, you definitely didn't like that one, huh?"
The sword hated it.