After finishing with Joseph, Arlen knocked down everyone who was still standing.
"Seriously, no one had the courage to face me except those two?" she said as she walked toward me.
"You—what's your name, and that of your friend lying on the ground?" she asked.
Wondering why she wanted our names, I replied, "I'm Tony, and he's Joseph."
"Very well, TONY. From what I saw, if we weren't in an academy, I'd say you're Rank Four and your friend is Rank Two. That's why I chose to paralyze you and not him. Well, that's if we weren't in an academy. How could someone like you go from a normal human to a Rank Four cultivator in just nine months? Impossible," she said.
"But you're Rank Five, and you're forty-five years old," I said.
"That's true, because I prefer cultivating in the underground caves. Besides, I became a cultivator at seven, so I've had a lot of time to develop."
"But anyway, you and Joseph will be joining my evening classes. There will be four of you in total. It starts at seven p.m. and ends at ten p.m., and it's mandatory. If you don't come, I'll come get you and drag you to the ground until you die," she said with a threatening look.
If Joseph had been conscious, he would have started crying.
After that, she showed us how to properly take hits and avoid leaving openings for the opponent.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Joseph, still unconscious, was taken to the infirmary by Arlen, while I went back to the dorm to rest.
As I approached the door of the room, I smelled cigarette smoke. I heard several voices behind the door.
I had decided to stay low and learn things, but if members of the Caho clan were in my room, that wasn't going to fly.
I opened the door and saw the room had been trashed. Degis was on the ground—they had beaten him up five against one and were smoking in the room.
"And you, come light my cigarette," said one of the guys smoking.
I closed the door behind me and said, "Guys, how about you leave so nobody gets hurt?"
"You? Hurt us?" he said, and all five of them started laughing at me.
"You didn't get the message from Chief Kamo, did you? Around here, we do whatever we want, and you guys belong to us. So get on the ground and act like a dog," said one of them.
I smiled and said, "Alright, but I have one condition."
"Mister has a condition... Alright, tell us," said one of them.
"I just want you to say 'yes,' and I'll do whatever you want," I said with a submissive look.
"If that's all it takes, sure—we get a little slave just by saying yes. Fine," they said, and all replied "yes."
The moment they said it, I sent a split part of my consciousness into each of theirs and began torturing them—killing them in countless different ways in their minds.
After I figured it was enough, I ended the torture session. The five of them looked at me with eyes begging me not to kill them.
"I think you got the message. Now clean my room and get lost. Hurry," I said in a threatening tone.
The five of them rushed to tidy up the room. After a few moments, they were done and fled as fast as they could.
Degis, who had stayed on the floor the whole time, had witnessed everything. He was shocked. Why did the five guys who had been acting so tough suddenly decide to flee and obey him like they were scared?
I was about to sleep to get some rest. After all, I had been paralyzed earlier.
"How did you do that?" asked a voice—it was Degis.
"Do what?" I said, pretending not to understand.
"Don't mess with me. Tell me how you did that," he said, trying to strangle me.
I grabbed him by the throat, lifted him without much effort, and said, "If you don't want what happened to them to happen to you, mind your own business and don't mess with me. Got it?" I said, then let him go.
The door suddenly burst open—it was Joseph, who closed it behind him like he was running from someone.
"Tony, Professor Arlen is crazy. Those so-called evening classes feel more like a death sentence than training. At least when we trained, you knew when to stop. But her? Even when you're on the ground—no mercy! Head stomps, elbow strikes to vital points, and all that while you're unconscious. And now she's after us," he said, panicking.
"Why is she after me?" I asked.
"Are you stupid or what? It's 7:30 p.m.—you should pay attention to the time!" he said.
"You both know I'm going to catch you. So come out, and maybe I won't beat you until you look like corpses. Do you hear me, Tony and Joseph?" Arlen shouted.