The Inner Courtyard was made up of three libraries, sixteen training grounds, thirty-six wrestling rings, and the residential houses of numerous professors, instructors, and Elite Students.
It was also a fully Gothic city. The flow of people there and their consumption demands required shops to be built there. The presence of the stores then produced sparse differences in the rate of foot traffic there.
Garen walked a full circle around the periphery of the Inner Courtyard carefully and ensured that his tracks would not be discovered by Fila and the others. There were surveillance cameras everywhere, but most of them had been damaged by other people. The areas that were not covered by cameras were completely covered in traces of fights among students. Blood stains could even be seen on certain walls.
This was the Inner Courtyard, the real Blackboard Academy where the weak were the prey of the strong.
Fighting was prohibited in the department headquarters cum administration building in the center of the area. However, they could fight in the other places that were monitored by the cameras as long as they did not kill others. Meanwhile, no one would care about their actions within the unmonitored areas.
This place prioritized the survival of the fittest and weaklings would be eaten from the first moment they stepped foot inside.
When Garen was walking over, he saw many groups of students that were actually part of organized factions. There were also Mech fights everywhere while Willpower contests resembled frequent fireworks explosions.
He had gained many legitimate benefits after entering the Inner Courtyard, such as specialized training grounds.
These training grounds were equipped with first-class technology that could create battle simulations with any opponent. The entire Inner Courtyard was only able to maintain such great momentum despite cutting themselves off from the outside world because of these ruthless mechanisms.
After Garen had carefully evaded a few brawls and scuffles that were occurring on the streets, he finally arrived at a black rectangular multistoried building.
This building was was perfectly straight and strong, and it stood out from the crowd of silvery white buildings as it looked abnormally eye-catching.
A circle of thin dark-red crystal-like rings was suspended in mid-air around the buildings. They were surprisingly beautiful.
Garen raised his head and admired the power and influence of the rings. He could vaguely feel immense Willpower forces coming from above that were way beyond the abilities of an average person. He felt as if the Willpowers of numerous people were being gathered in one place to form a terrifyingly powerful Energy Field.
There were dried blood stains on the steps in front of the training grounds. There were faint cracks in certain places while it was impossible to form holes in other areas even if they were struck by airborne explosions. He had not expected to see any sign of damage on the steps.
Garen glanced around briefly and noticed two middle-aged people passing him from behind. Without even looking at their surroundings, they took large strides and entered the training grounds before disappearing behind a large pitch black door, as if they had been teleported instantly.
A group of blonde, nonconformist youths walked out of the black door together with solemn looks on their faces and blood stains on the corners of their mouths. If they tied white silk scarves around their heads, they would have looked like the master martial artists portrayed in the daily papers, who had held fatal grudges during the era of the Republic of China.
None of them paid any attention to Garen. Those who entered and left this place would only have either exhausted or solemn expressions on their faces.
The training grounds and library were special benefits for the Elite Students. These were the most important part of the other benefits were for their family members. Although there were monetary allowances, they were never sufficient for the expenses within the Inner Courtyard.
From an outsider’s perspective, the students of the Inner Courtyard received unimaginably large allowances. However, every single one of them was actually extremely poor.
Many students who had reportedly been sacrificed themselves during missions had actually died because of the vicious fighting within the Inner Courtyard.
Garen thought of the things he had seen on the way and the information he had obtained by using his watch to access the internet in the Inner Courtyard. He exhaled firmly.
“This is the real Blackboard Academy…”
He took large strides and walked into the black door.
Bang!!
Moments after he stepped foot inside, he saw a human figure being flung across the room violently. The figure was plastered against the large arch-shaped wall on the left side before it slid down slowly seconds later.
The person who had been sent flying was not that old. He looked to be about twenty years old and was a man with a face full of bruises. His Willpower seemed to be around Level Three.
The attackers who stood on the right side were a group of four to five people. Their leader, who had short black hair and wore black leather gloves, was currently doing wrist exercising movements.
“Anything else you want to say?” Black Gloves asked casually while looking at the young man on the ground. “You weren’t my opponent three years ago, and you’re still completely hopeless three years later.”
The man on the ground tried to crawl up determinedly even though his body looked terribly injured. He had suffered serious internal injuries and could only lie on the ground weakly after numerous attempts to get up.
A few curious onlookers were scattered around the area while Garen stood on the edge and eavesdropped for a while.
The attacker and the victim had once been good friends who had, unfortunately, fallen out after falling in love with the same girl. They had initially planned to use peaceful measures to compete with each other, but their friendship ties were severed at once when the girl had died in an accident while trying to save the current victim of the attack.
Garen stopped and looked for awhile before turning around and walking towards another arch-shaped passage on the left side. That passage was one of the two entrances to the training grounds and rooms.
He had not gone too far along the passage before he saw two males clashing with each other against the wall. Both of them had terrifying looks on their faces while their lips were right next to each other’s ears as if they were whispering something. Suddenly, the male who was pinned against the wall suffered a blow to his stomach and spat blood immediately.
The male who had attacked cast a threatening glance at Garen but remained silent as he continued with his own business.
Garen furrowed his eyebrows; he realized that the chaos here was worse than usual.
After walking further inside for a period of time, he saw a boy and girl who were badly bruised and clad in nothing but their underwear. They were in the middle of a circle of people who were constantly pushing them around. It was clear that they were being bullied.
Garen glanced at the room. The information above stated that the degree of the simulations here could only reach Level Two Willpower. Therefore, they could only simulate opponents with Level Two Willpower. Garen continued to walk deeper.
Along the passage that began to spiral gradually, Garen could see various acts of bullying, fighting, and quarreling happening after a specific distance. If he had forgotten that he had actually entered an Inner Courtyard of Elite Students, Garen would have suspected that he had walked into a completely chaotic fallen city.
People were being robbed, chased, beaten, charged with protection, confronted by other factions, and even raped. Anything that was imaginable could be seen here.
“Save me!” while walking past a group of people, a badly beaten up female student in the middle of a crowd reached her hand towards Garen and begged for help.
Garen could see that she was about to be beaten to death as she was wearing a fifth-year student’s uniform despite only having Level 2 Willpower. Mediocre individuals like herself who did not have any natural talents and possessed lower than Level Three Willpower would always be the easiest bullying targets here.
Ignoring the chaos here, Garen quickened his steps and soon arrived at a place where there were fewer people scattered about.
The information on the doors to the rooms gradually increased to Level Four and Five Willpower simulations before the Resonance Degree divisions slowly appeared after that.
There were very few people entering and leaving this place except for a few whose expressions were advising him not to enter this place. Some of them furrowed their eyebrows lightly when they saw Garen walking inside. However, they remained silent when they felt the Level Four Willpower wafting out of his body.
Willpower forces were the best way to display one’s own identity and level here. There were only a few Elite Students within the Inner Courtyard who had achieved Level Four. Moreover, if they had not achieved their Resonance Degrees, those with Level Four Willpowers could not be compared to regular Level Three’s or Four’s as they were merely middle ranking individuals within the Inner Courtyard.
Garen chose a random room and noticed that most of the rooms here had Level Four Willpower simulation abilities and New-Moon Level Resonance Degrees.
He picked a random room and walked inside.
He moved his hand backward and closed the door firmly. The inside of this room was snow-white and completely empty without any furniture. The floor, walls, and ceiling were completely flat and bright.
‘Welcome to the simulation training grounds. Please choose your fight simulation.’
‘1 — Regular simulation, undergo daily training, consumes 1 Quest Point every hour.’
‘2 — Strengthening simulation, undergo fighting simulations with other students, consumes 10 Quest Points as payment for challenging the opponent.’
‘3 — Vicious simulation, fight a simulation of the current record holder, consumes 20 Quest Points as payment to avenge the record holder.’
‘Rankings will be formed after each challenge according to one’s combat power. These rankings will be integrated within the rankings of the entire Inner Courtyard.’
A cold but neutral computerized voice echoed beside Garen’s ear.
‘Selection method is voice-controlled, please choose.’
“Select simulation 1,” said Garen calmly.
‘Simulation 1, regular, simulated opponent is being formed. Level Four Willpower, New-Moon Level Resonance Degree. Fighting method: bare-handed.’
A distorted transparent figure was gradually formed ten meters in front of Garen. It rose from the ground quickly before parts of its silhouette were speedily formed. A beautiful girl with bountiful, bright red curly hair was formed there.
‘Opponent has been formed. The strongest New-Moon Level competitor in this room with Level Four Willpower, Havana. Fight- begin.’
There was a brief beeping noise.
The red-haired young lady’s gaze was stern when she moved both of her legs at once and leaped forward suddenly like a tiger that was flying over. The cries of a large tiger could be heard around her body vaguely while a transparent, blurry, tiger-shaped Energy Field enveloped her entire body.
Garen leaped forward and countered her with one direct punch.
Boom!!
His fist and her tiger claw clashed with each other, forming a strong cyclone. Their flesh bodies did not come into direct contact but both of their Energy Fields collided with each other directly before forming a whirlwind-like Willpower explosion.
“Tiger Lightning Whip!!” the girl spun around and swung one leg over. Crimson light flashed across her thigh.
Her whip-like leg formed a crimson after image that hit Garen’s left inner arm at once.
There was a quick banging noise and Garen took two steps backward as the tremendous collisions that were far beyond Level Four Willpower crashed against him. His gaze stiffened when he realized that this person was definitely not using normal Training Methods.
It was impossible for his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talons to counter it. He would need to adjust the Level Five components of his body to offset the impact of this Willpower.
Havana began moving quickly as both of her legs swept continuously, each time faster than the last. However, it was obvious that the level of her Vitality was far from Garen’s in close combat. Nonetheless, this girl’s strongest ability was enveloping her body in an Energy Field. She was not afraid of strong collisions and possessed terrifying explosive force.
Garen was always able to block off her attacks during the most important moments. Time passed slowly before his opponent’s rhythm became quicker and more frantic unconsciously.
The thing that shocked Garen the most was that the Willpower inside his body had been shifted to counter his opponent’s speed, which had increased gradually. This involved his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon and the nameless Level Five Willpower inside his body.
“Faint Resonance Technique: Red Lotus!!”
Suddenly, Havana spun both of her arms as numerous red electric currents appeared around her body. They bloomed instantly like crimson electric flowers and made crackling noises while covering more than ten meters of the surrounding area.
These electric currents swept around her surroundings like a whip.
Garen was instantly hit by one of the exploding electric currents. He was forced to take a few steps backward before rolling over and dropping to the ground far away. Only then was he able to dodge this explosive move.
“Amazing… I think I know Resonance Degrees affect and amplify Willpower now…”
Garen could clearly feel that the New-Moon Level Resonance Degree Willpowers possessed their own awareness. They soon felt like continuous dynamite-like explosions when they crept into his body. When the Willpower inside his body was unable to counterattack and destroy them in time, they exploded to cause even more damage.