After training his skills for a while longer, Nie Yan looked at the clock. The servers were shutting down soon.
Nie Yan checked his progress: Reverse Grip Backstab was at Rank 6, 35%; Counter at Rank 6, 12%; Flicker Strike at Rank 6, 67%; Phantom Assassination at Rank 6, 95%; and Backbreaker at Rank 8, 56%. All five Freedom Skills had reached at least Rank 6.
Glancing at his skill bar, Nie Yan's eyes focused on a certain skill. "I wonder if it's possible to raise the rank of Steal in this map."
The higher the rank, the greater the success rate of Steal. The Steal skill of most Thieves was Rank 3 or lower. If Nie Yan could raise it to Rank 6, it would surely be useful! Steal was a supplementary skill from one of the fragments of Sulgata's Shadow. Once the fragment became bound to him, he could obtain skill proficiency in Steal.
If using Steal here also gave 50x skill proficiency, this was a good opportunity to raise its rank.
Once the time came Nie Yan exited Conviction and left his game capsule.
Xie Yao also happened to step outside of her game capsule at the same time. She wore a pink lace nightgown which exposed her delicate jade-like shoulders. The tight clothing accentuated her flawless figure, most noticeably her ample bosom which overflowed with sex appeal.
"Nie Yan, isn't today the first day of class?" Xie Yao suddenly recalled, knitting her delicate brows. She had nearly forgotten something so important.
Nie Yan withdrew his gaze and nodded. "Yeah, it's today. We should check in."
"We only have an hour. I'll hurry up and change." Xie Yao grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom.
Rustling sounds came from the other side of the frosted glass door. Lustful thoughts sprouted in Nie Yan's mind as he watched Xie Yao's silhouette. Shaking his head clear with a smile, he also went to put on some clothes.
Inside the washroom, Xie Yao stood completely naked on the rug. Her fair legs resembled marble sculptures.
Taking off her nightgown, Xie Yao was filled with nervousness. What if Nie Yan barged in here right now? She couldn't trust him not to misbehave. Glancing back outside, it appeared he was in the middle of changing his clothes. She breathed a sigh of a relief. Though a faint trace of disappointment flashed in her heart.
The Top Military Academy had no shortage of outstanding beauties. Thinking about the possibility that Nie Yan would fall for another girl, Xie Yao's mind became clouded with dark thoughts.
Xie Yao looked down at her body. Even though it couldn't compare to Jiang Yingyu's, it wasn't that far off. Most recently, she could tell certain areas of her body had become much more developed. Her skin cast a supple jade-like glow, and her bosom also appeared larger than before.
Thinking to this point, Xie Yao blushed bright red. She couldn't help but imagine their future together. Her heart already belonged to Nie Yan. Recalling how busy he was lately, she came to a decision. She turned bashful as a plan started taking shape in her mind for tonight. However, her resolve was still firm.
After a while, Xie Yao walked out of the washroom wearing a tunic top along with a violet flower patterned long skirt.
Seeing Xie Yao, Nie Yan couldn't pull his eyes away. She looked absolutely enchanting, like an otherworldly beauty.
Xie Yao did a little twirl as her skirt danced about.
"How is it?" Xie Yao asked with a cute smile, gazing at Nie Yan with a look of expectation.
"Not bad." Nie Yan nodded.
After washing up, the two finished breakfast before leaving for school. Not far from the villa was a bus stop. They could wait there for a ride.
Nie Yan really liked this kind of simple lifestyle. The turmoil of his past life made him cherish the current peace all the more.
Not many people were riding the bus, about a dozen or so. Many of the passengers were students of the Top Military Academy. They sat at the front most seats, from time to time sneaking glances at the back.
"Who is that girl? Is she from our school?"
"Yeah, I think she's a freshman. I saw her on campus filling out a few forms the other day."
"It's a shame she already has a boyfriend."
They were quietly whispering to each other. Even so, to his great surprise Nie Yan could hear every word they said. It appeared his hearing had improved quite a bit. It wasn't only limited to this. After using the game capsule for some time, even though he was working out less, his strength had improved quite a bit too. He couldn't remember the last time he tested out his fitness.
The conversation topic of these students gradually shifted to Conviction.
"I'm already Level 71. I guess you guys are around the same as well. Did you know? Liu Chen is already Level 79! Hah... wish we could be like him," a slim student in a checkered shirt said, purposefully raising his voice.
Level 71 was already quite impressive at this stage of the game. However, bragging about it in front of a certain Level 97 individual was sort of like showing off your paltry machete skills in front of Guan Yu.
Xie Yao and Nie Yan glanced at each other with amused smiles. Any random student from the Top Military Academy was probably at least Level 70. After all, this was a gathering place of elites. Anyone below Level 70 would probably be too embarrassed to reveal themselves. Nie Yan suddenly had a strange thought. With over 60,000 students, a few of them were bound to be Asskickers United members. He wondered what kind of reaction they would have after meeting him. It would surely be amusing.
Nie Yan cracked a faint smile. Turning to the window, the scenery outside was serene with lush trees shading the road.
"There'll be a show today. I heard Jiang Yingyu will be performing." Xie Yao observed Nie Yan's expression from the corner of her eye.
"Oh, I see," Nie Yan replied in an uninterested tone. Jiang Yingyu performing or not had nothing to do with him.
Before long, the bus stopped at the entrance of the Top Military Academy. Nie Yan and Xie Yao got off. Today was the date new students would be reporting in. Students were bustling around the gate. It was a good thing no parents were accompanying their children, or else this place would be even more crowded!
Nie Yan and Xie Yao entered the gate and reported in at the registration office. Class wouldn't be starting for a while. They would probably only be receiving the syllabus and getting to know their peers on the first day anyway.
"I'll walk you to class," Nie Yan said. Luckily, their classrooms were relatively close to each other.
"Alright." Xie Yao nodded.
The two passed through a tree shaded path and entered a building. The layout of each building was similar in the sense they all had certain facilities, such as a gym. The federation attached great importance to the fitness of the overall populace. Competitive fighting courses were the most important, even surpassing theoretics.
Nie Yan escorted Xie Yao to her classroom. Glancing inside, he saw about 30 students, 26 females and 4 males. He couldn't help but smack his lips. This place was truly a paradise for guys!
After seeing Xie Yao off, Nie Yan walked through a passageway toward his own classroom.
Looking at the sign that read 'Command Faculty', Nie Yan confirmed he was at the right place.
About 23 students were sitting in the classroom. Including Nie Yan, there were 15 males. Their ages varied greatly. The older ones were up to 26 while the younger ones were around 20. Nie Yan swept his gaze across the classroom. The command faculty nurtured elites from all over the world to become commanders for the army. A proper appearance was the most basic requirement. None of the people here could be described as ugly. His eyes fell on the female students in his class. They looked pretty good. Quite a few were mature beauties, dressed in black laced clothing that exuded sexual appeal.
Nie Yan was simply casually observing. His devotion to Xie Yao was absolute. However, this didn't stop him from occasionally checking out other women. Not a single dirty thought stained his mind, though. His conscience was clear.
Sitting down at his assigned seat, Nie Yan's neighbour was a 20-year-old male student. He had a slim build but was quite muscular. It was impossible for those whose physical fitness wasn't up to snuff to be admitted into the Top Military Academy.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Xu Yan," he introduced himself with a smile. "My Conviction ID is Stranger, Level 75 Warrior and member of Asskickers United. What about you?"
Nie Yan was dazed. This fellow was a member of Asskickers United. However, was there really a need to go around telling everybody? In a single breath, he had divulged his character name, level, class, and guild affiliation.
At this moment, the two people in the back scooted forward.
"Nice to meet you all. My name is Fei Ze. My ID is Magician, Level 71 Demon Hunter. I'm a member of Bloodfall Inheritance in the Satreen Empire.
"My name is Xia Tianyu. My ID is Skyscraper, Level 78 Arcane Mage, member of God Executioner Sword," Xia Tianyu proudly stated after finding out the other two were lower level than him. So far, he had yet to meet someone higher level than him. As a Level 78 equipped with the Fallen Crimson Blaze Set, it was rare for him to meet someone who could rival him.
The students of the Top Military Academy had a custom. Whenever they introduced themselves, they would state their Conviction ID, level, class, guild affiliation, and so on.
"I'm Nie Yan," Nie Yan said after a brief moment of hesitation.
"Hah, if you're Nirvana Flame, then I'm Resplendent Bladelight." Xia Tianyu rolled his eyes, looking completely unconvinced.
Nie Yan took out a piece of paper and scribbled out the two characters to his name: 聂言.
"Oh, so it was that Nie Yan! Here I thought you were calling yourself Nirvana Flame."
"Huh, Nie Yan? Aren't you the one who ranked first in the fitness portion of the entrance exams? I saw your results. Calling you impressive would be an understatement."
Xu Yan was dazed. "So you were that Nie Yan! The one who scored number one overall!"
Hearing this, Xia Tianyu also drew back some of his pride. He had placed sixth in the overall rankings, only a few points behind fifth. His results were definitely nothing to shirk at. However, compared to first place, he was far too lacking.
Nie Yan judged the characters of these three people. Xu Yan was rather carefree and straightforward without any hidden motives. Fei Zhe seemed rather reserved and shy. Xia Tianyu didn't seem to disagreeable, even if he was a bit arrogant. These three were the first people he got to know at the Top Military Academy.
"Haha, it's just luck." Nie Yan laughed. He intentionally diverted the topic away from Conviction and chatted with them about other things.
Xie Tianyu gazed at Nie Yan suspiciously. Could the person in front of him really be Nirvana Flame? However, he quickly discarded the thought and chuckled to himself. What kind of existence was Nirvana Flame? There was no way this plain looking fellow could be him!