kingdom falling | gyuricky

seven.

Gyuvin didn't end up going back to his living quarters. There was nothing for him to do there in the middle of the day and it seemed like everyone else was just milling around and taking the time to explore the grounds or partake in some other kind of leisure activity, so he followed suit. He wasn't sure if there were areas he was forbidden from entering here, but so far with the entry tassel weaved into his belt loop he hadn't yet had any problems.

He walked up and down the main corridor, peeking around doorways every now and then out of curiosity to see what was inside, until he saw someone clad in white and blue robes and a familiar head of light-colored hair coming down the corridor. Ricky must have just finished his placement test.

"Ricky!" he called, waving the other boy over. "How was the test?"

Ricky inclined his head politely in acknowledgement. "It was fine, thank you."

"Oh, and me and Jiwoong-hyung wanted to wait for you this morning, but you weren't there. Did you wake up earlier than everyone else?"

"No. I didn't sleep there last night."

"Where did you sleep then? Perhaps..." Gyuvin trailed off, grinning with mischief. "Perhaps with someone else? A girl?"

Ricky's eyes narrowed at him. "I was in the infirmary."

"Oh. Are you alright? Why were you there?"

"I really don't believe it's any of your business," Ricky said politely but firmly, smiling like a schoolteacher telling a five year old kid he couldn't have any more candy. "Please excuse me."

Ricky didn't dignify him with any more conversation, turning his back to depart in the opposite direction, his robes trailing behind him in the light breeze, his hair catching the afternoon sunlight. Gyuvin stared after him, some questions answered yet more questions arisen.

After a short lunch break where Gyuvin shared not only the meal but also the details of his recent interaction with Ricky with Hanbin, Jiwoong and Gunwook, another blue signal flare was fired from the gate of the Assembly Hall, and they adjourned the meal to gather with the other cultivators outside. The ranking board was full now, one hundred names ranked from first to last.

"Kim Gyuvin, you..."

Gyuvin squinted at the board, trying to read the names without the afternoon sun blinding him.

1. Kim Gyuvin

2. Kim Jiwoong

3. Sung Hanbin

4. Ricky Shen

5. Zhang Hao

He gave up reading after, foreseeing an imminent headache if he continued squinting into the distance like that. He could hardly believe he'd been the fastest to clear the placement simulation amongst one hundred of the top youth cultivators invited to the training camp; surely there had to be a mistake?

Gyuvin nudged Hanbin next to him desperately. "Hyung, this can't be right. Did everyone get a different simulation? You didn't use Lightning, right?"

Lightning was Hanbin's equivalent of Rain, his strongest special ability which could send down bolts of deadly heavenly lightning from the sky. Gyuvin had dueled with Hanbin in practice for many a time, and Hanbin's Lightning had always overpowered him on the pure basis of consistency; Hanbin's cultivation was stable and solid, unwavering stamina, whereas Gyuvin's cultivation fluctuated from the day to day and could never support a special ability for very long. If Hanbin had used Lightning, surely he would have cleared the simulation even faster than Gyuvin did.

"I did," Hanbin answered, giving him a puzzled look. "Lightning couldn't hold out for long enough to clear the entire field of demons, so I had to do the cleanup myself."

Strange. Gyuvin had never been able to use Rain for even the same amount of time as Hanbin, but now all of a sudden he was surpassing him.

"Congratulations, Gyuvin!" Gunwook gave him a celebratory pat on the shoulder. "You lived up to the expectations in the end. Ah, I wish I had a holy weapon too. Maybe then I would rank higher than ninth..."

"You don't need a holy weapon to rank," Jiwoong interjected. "Ricky doesn't have one, and he's above Zhanghao who has one."

"And he was even unwell last night before the test, and spent the night at the infirmary," Gunwook recalled from their earlier conversation. "Seriously, he must really be something to marvel at..."

One of the seniors called the assembly to silence. "We will now be assigning you pairs or trios depending on the analysis of your placement test results," he announced. "You may find that your assigned partner is likely someone who shares living quarters with you. This is purely because prior to your arrival at the Sky-Ascending Peak, the seniors of your various sects have already come together to discuss preliminary predictions of your groupings."

So Gyuvin's partner was likely to be either Ricky or Jiwoong.

"It's probably not going to be me," Jiwoong mused. "Lunar Valley and Meteor Court have very different fighting styles. I don't think your Yuexi and my Xingci would be good opponents for each other at all."

Jiwoong's holy weapon was a deadly sharp throwing knife named Xingci, assassination. It matched well with his training as a Lunar Valley cultivator, being a subtle and relatively smaller weapon he could use from the shadows, but he was right. Gyuvin had never had any experience fighting throwing knives with Yuexi, and he doubted his lack of barrier abilities would be of any help to him.

The assembly of people fell silent once more as the ranks disappeared from the display board and groupings started appearing, row after row.

Sung Hanbin, Zhang Hao

Kim Gyuvin, Ricky Shen

Kim Jiwoong, Seok Matthew, Kim Taerae

Park Gunwook, Han Yujin

...

Gyuvin didn't quite know how he was supposed to feel about this.