She had started her day pretty early and was enjoying her walk in the gentle morning sunlight. However, the streets were still crowded and people buzzed about here and there. This dampened her mood quite a bit. But still, she managed to remain cheerful and very much looked forward to the rest of the day.

After walking for a couple of hours, Eluraa came across the city's main alchemy center, which is the residence of the royal alchemist. It was a huge building, with increased security. There were sophisticated engravings on the entrance, which gave it a mystical feel.

Since all professional masters required deep concentration and uninterrupted silence for most parts of their day, access to the building was extremely restricted. But surprisingly, Eluraa saw a crowd gathered at the entrance.

On the outer wall's notice board, there was a bunch of herbs listed. Several combat experts were peering over the list and discussing intently. These were the different herbs currently needed by the resident practising alchemists. If successfully gathered, one can exchange the herbs for various valuable items with the receptionist.

Apart from this crowd, several younger looking people were also gathered around. Apparently, the center was in the process of recruiting apprentices. The whole area was very lively.

Eluraa first thought of maybe enquiring the receptionist, about the combat expert school location. But, looking at the extremely busy receptionist, she then decided against it and continued with her original plan.

Few more hours later, she finally reached the sword mastery house and located the entrance. Contrary to the alchemy center, the sword mastery house was a bit deserted. It was a Siheyuan style building with a huge yard.

Unlike the alchemy center, there was no receptionist or increased security here. Eluraa had imagined the courtyard to be filled with vigorously training and practising students and combat experts. But literally, it was completely empty.

After roaming about the building for a while, Eluraa came across an elderly looking man sitting against a pillar. He had his eyes closed and looked like he was meditating on something. Not daring to disturb the elder, Eluraa could only walk out the building with disappointment.

"Arghh. Ok.. now where am I supposed to go. This is so frustrating. Would it have killed you Max to give me a bit more information !?"

Mumbling to herself, Eluraa decided to walk around aimlessly a bit more and maybe enquire for some further details in neighbouring stalls. Luckily for her, in the next few minutes, she spotted s.h.i.+ Meng grabbing lunch in a nearby eatery stall.

She quickly picked up her pace and approached him. "Hey there ! Where have you guys been ? I didn't meet with either of you back at the inn."

Startled a bit, s.h.i.+ Meng turned around to see a beaming Eluraa. Of course, he would recognise that voice anywhere. He looked at the sparkling blue eyes focussed on him and zoned out for a second. Then, snapping back to reality he quickly replied.

"Oh! Sorry about that. Jian Tan was terribly depressed yesterday. He was transferred to another branch of the blood academy. I was accompanying him to the teleportation station and was spending time with him."

"Ah. That's sad to hear. You guys are always joined at the hips."

Embarra.s.sed a little, s.h.i.+ Meng chuckled, "Ahem. Ahem. No nothing like that. Ha ha".

Taking a seat in front of s.h.i.+ Meng, Eluraa continued talking to him.

"Anyways.. So, did Max fill you in on anything? I have been searching around all day for this so called expert cla.s.s and haven't been able to find any information on it !"

"Oh ha ha. Ya, he is pretty weird like that. He didn't give me much information either. But, star city's expert cla.s.s is actually very popular. There is no cla.s.s or academy or anything like that. It is just a bunch of students born with abnormal stats. Students with potential to become exceedingly powerful combat experts."

Still confused, Eluraa further asked "Oh. Thanks a lot. I didn't know any of that. So where should we report to now ?"

"No where really. The students of this cla.s.s have the freedom to do what they want. They have the freedom to plan and train according to their own strategies. However, we will receive summons once in a year for evaluation. If our progress is not satisfactory, they will transfer us back to a blood academy branch."

"Hmm. Interesting..."

"I am actually planning to join the black smith a.s.sociation for a while and train my weapon smithing skills. We didn't get a chance to do this back at the academy."

"That sounds like a good plan."

"Are you still staying at the inn? I have to leave now for the apprentice trials. But I can meet you back at the inn later today?"

"Ya, I think so."

Bidding farewell to s.h.i.+ Meng, Eluraa still sat at the eatery pondering what to do next. Training in a profession sounded good. But, she really wanted to get stronger soon. So maybe, there was something else for her?