BUTTERFLIES (Arc 2&3; The Undefeatable Class 192)

Chapter 59: JAG Special

  “You've all made the right decisions,” Teacher Haggz told us, the following day in class. “From today, you'll be trained in the special way that stands out for the Intermediate Academy of the Gifted!”
  “Cool!” Ruby and Tang said simultaneously.
  “So when do we get to learn ‘stuffs’?” I asked him with a smile.
  “Today!” After saying this, Teacher Haggz flicked his wrist and his storage ring flickered before fifteen black sportswears appeared. They looked so cool, and surprisingly, seemed to have been made with us in mind. “These are your uniforms from today. Only wear the other uniform set when you're going to your various profession guilds. Understood?”
  We all nodded. Using spirit essence, Teacher Haggz guided the clothes to each of us. It was a long-sleeved shirt and a jogger.
  “Go into the toilet, one after the other and change on.” Teacher Haggz pointed at the adjoining toilets for us students. There were three toilets in Class 192. One specifically for Teacher Haggz and the other two for us girls, and then the boys'.
  “Silver Lining Speed!” Mingming exclaimed in enthusiasm as she dashed into the female toilet.
  Our class burst into laughter.
  “Impatient!” Toby said, then as if remembering something, quickly moved away from Xueyi who was close to him.
  Everyone burst into another round of laughter.
  I raised my head up and noticed the delight flickering in the eyes of Teacher Haggz. There are many things I notice within his cold and indifferent eyes that most people don't. Although he was reserved, he seemed to place a lot of value in comradeship. He felt my gaze then looked at me, nodding slightly with what I'd fished out to be an excuse of a smirk. I chuckled, nevertheless.
  We queued according to our genders and changed into our sportswear uniforms. It was so cool. On the top left side of the uniform top, was the ‘192’ in a circle, like the badge of the academy. Under these numbers were written the following initials: ‘JAG.’ Then, at the back of our tops were written our motto. The same one which was hung above our class door from its exterior: “Strength and Pride.”
  For the boys, it was a robe and a trouser. For us girls, it was a gown and a tight fitting legging.
  We had a ten minutes break. Under the ten minutes break, our teacher sat in meditation. Ruby walked towards us in large strides.
  “Guys, check out our formation!”
  She flicked her wrist and a chess board appeared into her hands. She set up the players on black and explained, “So this is us. Before I go on, I have a question I want to ask some of you.”
  “Okay?”
  “Jaded, Chang, Zhaohu and Xianxian — just what are your Gifts?”
  Everyone nodded. In truth, they've never shown their Gifts since we've been together, only fighting with their cultivation strengths and profession abilities, like Chang who used a thaumaturgy spell all the time.
  Chang said, “My Gift is the Eagle Eyes... that's what I named it. I could see every detail of just anything my eyes fell on.” His gaze fell on Lingxi and she instinctively covered her chests with both hands, leaving us laughing out loud. “Hey, I didn't mean THAT!”
  On the other hand, I think I understood him. His ability could be something similar to my Eye of Insight. However, mine should definitely be more useful and powerful than his. I could see through the clothes of everyone here, if I willed it. But of course, I wouldn't do something as stupid as that.
  “My Gift is called the Demon Suppressing Aura, and is an ability solely passed down hereditarily from my bloodline,” said Jaded.
  We all opened our lips in awe. It was no wonder he never used it. As for Chang, it seems he'd been using his Gift all along.
  “Mine's the Ultimate Hands. I can do lots of things quickly with my hands,” said Zhaohu.
  “And mine's the Dragon Wings!” said Xianxian, unleashing a pair of large wings, even thicker than Roy's, from his back.
  “Wow, so you can fly?” I asked in envy and enthusiasm.
  He nodded. “But not so high. I'm a flying-type Gifted. Since it's my trump card, I prefer not showing my wings to avoid too many attention on my ability. In a real fight, not even my opponent would expect that I could fly.”
  “He's right.”
  Everyone raised our heads up to the cold and monotonous voice of Teacher Haggz. His eyes were so cold that it looked like something sketched out from a fantasy novel. His eyes skedaddled about all fifteen of us before he continued speaking.
  “Class 192 — you shall be facing series of training to help you best unleash your potentials. Come with me.”
  After saying this, he led the class outside, and we all followed without the slightest sound escaping from our breaths.
  Stepping out of the Tower of Cultivation, the wind brushed against us, invigoratingly. As the day was just at its early hours, the sun did not seem to have any interest in coming out of its abode.
  All fifteen of us smiled as we followed our teacher like a flock of sheep under the guidance of a shepherd.
  He led us to one building as old as Mount Everest, some ten minutes after. It was beat with all ages and seasons of life. How it managed to still stand tall and strong was a total mystery.
  Funny enough, it had a building name. On the front of a mini threshold built at the entrance of the old building was written: JAG Special.
  Ruby saw this and began to laugh uncontrollably. Teacher Haggz snickered, ignoring her. He was probably getting used to us. Blackie had a smirk on, and his chest showed he was laughing silently. Zhangkong, on the other hand, read the words aloud very calmly before turning to our teacher.
  “Teacher Haggz, what is this place?”
  Without looking at the questionnaire, Teacher Haggz replied, “There's only one way to find out.”
  We all followed until the main entrance where Toby exclaimed, “What? A teleportation formation has been installed here?”
  This time, it was Teacher Haggz's turn to be baffled. “You can recognise a 6-star formation?”
  Even Tang couldn't help but arc an eyebrow, before saying as if in thoughts, “It seems you really do come from a rich clan. Impressive.”
  Teacher Haggz ignored this remark and pushed the door open, revealing an empty room. The moment he stepped inside, his whole body was wrapped up in space and he disappeared into thin air. I don't know about the others, but I personally was amazed. It really was a teleportation formation.
  Toby walked forward, casually, in long strides, and he also disappeared like Teacher Haggz. Next was Mingming the silver-haired maiden, then Tang, Blackie, Jessica, Xueyi, Jaded, Xuan'er, Zhaohu, Xianxian, Chang, Ruby, Lingxi, and finally, Zhangkong. He turned around and gave me one of his Prince Charming's smirk before stepping forward.
  “Here we go!” It was finally my turn.
  ‘Swoosh!’
  When I walked into the formation, it felt like I was slowly putting my head into a bowl of water. You know that cold, indescribable feeling you get on your face as though your face had left the natural world?
  I opened my eyes once more, only to let my mouth fall ajar in awe.
  ‘What the flying cow was this?!’