Shackles of Humanity

”Xiaokai, you brat! You came to enroll and didn’t even tell me. You don’t consider me a friend, do you?” A tall, imposing man strode over. His booming, brassy voice arrived before he did.

Luo Kai turned back and smiled. ”I just figured you were too busy.”

The man was none other than Tuoba Ye. He walked up and clapped Luo Kai hard on the shoulder. ”Busy my ass! Nothing’s more important than you. Let’s go.”

Several Mechanical Guards clearly recognized Tuoba Ye. They hastily moved their massive bodies back a few steps and bowed. ”Greetings, Chief Instructor.”

Tuoba Ye ignored them, grabbed Luo Kai, and walked right in.

Tuoba Ye was perpetually unkempt, always wearing the same greasy leather jacket, which made him look like a slobbish vagrant. The crowd in the square began to murmur, ”Who is that guy?”

”I think that’s the Chief Instructor of the Body Technique Association, Tuoba Ye of the Tuoba Family!”

”Ah, doesn’t that make him a Body Technique Master too? That kid really is a student at Shangjing University!”

After passing through the pitch-black checkpoint, the view suddenly opened up. A vast expanse of rolling mountains appeared, dotted with a dense collection of buildings. Some were built directly on the mountaintops. As far as the eye could see, layers of magnificent, golden-roofed halls radiated an imposing aura, in no way inferior to the Forbidden City of his previous life.

More importantly, Luo Kai felt the Gravity intensify. It was at least double what it was outside. Under this level of Gravity, an ordinary person might not even be able to stand. ’Has humanity in this world mastered geomagnetic gravity?’

Tuoba Ye loved seeing this surprised look on Luo Kai’s face. The kid was always so calm and unfazed; he finally looked a little more human now. He chuckled and said, ”So? Pretty impressive school, isn’t it?”

”What’s with this Gravity?” Luo Kai lifted his hand. Under its influence, his agility was clearly reduced, and his movements felt slightly stiff.

Tuoba Ye pointed toward a faint, Pyramid-shaped structure deep in the mountains. ”That’s the work of the Geomagnetic Tower. Think about it, what would happen if you stayed under this Gravity for three to five years and then went back outside?”

Luo Kai’s eyes lit up. It was the same principle as weight training. The Gravity would strengthen a person’s muscles and bones. Once free from this Binding, their Power and agility would increase dramatically. No wonder all Body Technique Cultivators yearned for Shangjing University. Just living here would gradually increase one’s strength.

Tuoba Ye stared at Luo Kai for a moment, then grunted in surprise. ”Xiaokai, why do I get the feeling you’re a little different again?”

Luo Kai, used to his teasing, instinctively touched his cheek and huffed, ”You’re just jealous that I’m getting more and more handsome.”

”Handsome my ass! A real man should look like me!” Tuoba Ye proudly puffed out his chest.

The two walked toward the cluster of buildings, chatting as they went.

”Are you Body Masters always this busy?” Luo Kai asked with a smile. Since coming to Shangjing, he had barely seen the three Body Masters.

”Sigh, busy as hell. My wife is raising the roof at home, and the Body Technique Association never gives me a moment’s peace,” Tuoba Ye sighed.

Luo Kai had wanted to advise him to get less involved in worldly affairs, but now he couldn’t bring himself to say it. For Body Masters from prominent families like theirs, with great power came great responsibility. Or perhaps, their birth was the cause, and now they had to bear the effect.

As they neared the buildings, the number of students increased. Patrolling Mechanical Guards were everywhere. This was less like a university and more like a military camp with its high level of security. Moreover, the Gravity grew even stronger. And this was just the edge of the campus; the center might have Gravity several, or even dozens, of times stronger.

Shangjing University adhered to an elite system. Although the total population of the Human Race in this era was far from that of his previous life, it was still around seven or eight hundred million. Yet, Shangjing University only had five hundred enrollment spots each year. The students it accepted were almost all geniuses from across the Human Race. Most freshmen already possessed the strength of a Martial Artist, and the few who didn’t had other special talents.

Luo Kai immediately spotted a student with wings. This wasn’t one of the Winged People who relied on external equipment, but someone with real, biological wings. Under this Gravity, however, he clearly couldn’t fly. His wings drooped, and he wore a miserable expression. On their way, they saw quite a few students with similar genetic mutations. They were indeed much stronger than ordinary people.

Tuoba Ye pulled Luo Kai directly toward an off-white academic building. They arrived at the door of a classroom with a ”101” sign. The room was large and packed with students. A beautiful, fair-skinned female teacher, who looked to be in her thirties, was giving a lecture at the front. An extremely detailed diagram of the human body’s meridians was drawn on the board.

”Shouldn’t we go to the administration office or somewhere to register first?” Seeing Tuoba Ye about to charge into the classroom, Luo Kai quickly grabbed him. ’This guy is so unreliable. What student just jumps into a lecture before even being assigned a class?’

”What’s the point of going to the admin office? Why listen to that bunch of old geezers? This is the place.”

Tuoba Ye knocked on the door with a cheeky grin. ”Teacher Ou, I’ve brought you a good student!”

The female teacher’s face immediately turned cold upon seeing him. She stormed to the classroom door and said in a hushed, angry voice, ”Tuoba Ye, if you come to harass me again, I’ll... I’ll go find your father!”

Though her voice was low, everyone here had sharp ears and keen eyes. The forty or fifty students inside the classroom all turned to look in unison.

Tuoba Ye put on a sycophantic smile. ”Hey now... that’s not it. I’m really here to bring you a good student.” With that, he pulled Luo Kai out from behind him.

Luo Kai wanted to strangle the old scoundrel. For now, all he could do was give an embarrassed smile. ”Hello, Teacher. My name is Luo Kai.”

”You’re Luo Kai?” The female teacher seemed to know of him, and her anger subsided slightly.

Luo Kai was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.

”New students have to follow the rules for new students. You need to go choose your major first, and then someone will assign you to a class.” The female teacher’s expression turned cold again as she ordered them to leave.

Tuoba Ye spoke up again. ”What’s there to choose? Ou Ning, you can just take him.”

The female teacher said coldly, ”The most important thing in life is to follow the rules. I don’t allow students who don’t follow the rules in my class!”

Tuoba Ye was losing face. His expression soured, and he looked like he was about to lose his temper.

Luo Kai quickly pulled him back, gave the teacher an apologetic smile, and hurried away.

Tuoba Ye grumbled nonstop on the way. ”That wench is still holding a grudge because I dumped her. If I had married her, I’d definitely be spanking her ass every day. Xiaokai, you have to remember, you can’t spoil women. If you don’t discipline them for three days, they’ll be tearing the shingles off the roof...”

Luo Kai ignored his rambling and asked for directions to the administration office. Admissions were already over by this point, but fortunately, Tuoba Ye did have some pull. After Luo Kai presented the gilt-edged invitation letter, an old man with glasses handed him a course list and told him to choose his major.

But one look at the list of majors gave Luo Kai a headache. It turned out Body Techniques had numerous branches. There were dozens of unarmed Fighting Techniques alone. The weapons category was even more diverse and complex, including everything from sabers, spears, swords, and halberds to axes, battle-axes, hooks, and forks. These were further subdivided: Swordsmanship had Heavy Sword and Light Sword; Saber Arts also had Fast Saber and Big Saber... There were even several types of firearms: Gun Fighting Skill, Long-range Sniping Skill, High-Energy Machine Cannon, and Mecha Control. In this era, there were no advanced targeting systems; everything depended on the operator.

At the very bottom were the courses for Elemental Masters. These were clearly categorized. Besides Five Elements Energy, there were also specialized courses for Light Energy and Dark Energy.

Biting off more than one could chew was a real concern. The university stipulated that Body Technique Cultivators could only choose three specializations: one unarmed Fighting Technique, one weapon type, and one mechanical control type.

These choices would determine a Martial Artist’s future path. Anyone else would have considered them carefully, but it didn’t matter to Luo Kai. He had long since reached the state where understanding one law meant understanding the Ten Thousand Laws. He casually picked Heavy Sword. Then, under Tuoba Ye’s guidance, he chose the ”Separation and Reunion Body Technique” for his unarmed style and Mecha Control for the mechanical category.