Night of the Broken Gliph

The bald six-year-old boy with dark circles under his eyes walked towards the grade one classroom. 

As he opened the door, silence took over the room. 

His shiny bald head attracted the attention of all students in the classroom. 

Not only was his head shiny, but it was also incredibly smooth. Thanks to Chui Yim’s effort of grooming his head daily, not a single strand of hair could be seen on his head. 

Being bald held significant meaning to Chui Yim. In his past life, he once burned his hair while forging a weapon. The incident made him blow his top and shave his head in anger. Since then, he had been bald for his entire life, and he was determined to stay that way in this life too. 

Under the stares of the other children, Chui Yim scanned the class, saw two vacant seats at the corner, walked towards the seats, and settled down on one.

Why should I be bothered by them? They’re just childish six-year-olds. 

However, his carefree manner was seen as being arrogant by some. 

Soon, three kids came towards him. The boy in the middle wore a patterned robe made from expensive cloth.

“Kiddo, what’s your name?” the boy asked Chui Yim with his nose in the air.  

Chui Yim glanced at him and turned back to the window. 

Ah… when can I leave this place?  I, Fla… Oh, I mean, I, Chui Yim, am now being bullied?  

Oh lord…

If this is a nightmare, wake me up, please.  

---

Chor Shing Chit left the dormitory block. He was staying at Block A, where all the teachers stayed. 

Other than teachers, Block A was also for elite students. There were only at most five elite students in the Riding Clouds Academy who were eligible to stay in Block A. They were the most important students in the academy. 

On his way to class, a woman greeted him. “Mr Chor, are you going to class now?”  

“Miss Fa,” Chor Shing Chit returned the greeting politely. 

“This is your first time as a class teacher. Is everything going well for you?” The woman smiled in response. 

“I don’t know,” Chor Shing Chit answered calmly, walking alongside her. “Only time will tell, but there might be an interesting guy in my class.” 

Soon, they arrived at the primary two’s classrooms. “Miss Fa, I’ll leave you here. See you soon.” Chor Shing Chit turned to the woman and gave her a nod before leaving.

“Such an attractive man…” Fa Yin muttered, staring at Chor Shing Chit’s back as he left. 

Chor Shing Chit arrived at the classroom only to realise that the door was left open. He also saw three boys gathering at a corner. 

Chor Shing Chit felt his head pound slightly when he recognised the boy in the middle; The boy was from the Chan Clan.

The Chan Clan was a family from Southary that made a living by forging. They were adept at forging gliph weapons, and with that as a foundation, they dominated the city’s Weapon Street. The clan’s opinions carried great weight in Southary as gliph weapons were a crucial factor that affectss a glipher’s growth.

A suitable gliph weapon could bring out a glipher’s full capabilities, greatly strengthening them.. Even some powerfulthree-chambered gliphers had their weapons forged by the Chan Clan. 

And this boy was the youngest son of the Chan Clan’s current patriarch, Chan Ngou Tin.

Six years ago, the Chan Clan achieved fame by successfully forging a grade three gliph weapon, kickstarting their success. 

That was also the year Chan Ngou Tin was born. 

Because of this coincidence, some joked that Chan Ngou Tin was the lucky star of the family who brought them prosperity. 

It might have been a joke, but some Chan Clan members bought their words. Thus, ever since Chan Ngou Tin was born, he was treated like a spoiled prince who got everything he wanted. Even now, he gained two followers in the class simply by mentioning his family. 

The Riding Clouds Academy wasn’t the best institution in Southary. In fact, most children were sent here by their parents to get a better job in the future. The parents were more than happy that their kids could have some connections with the Chan Clan. 

Therefore, Chan Ngou Tin was furious when Chui Yim ignored him. 

Chan Ngou Tin expected Chui Yim to stand up and argue with him. To him, that was the interesting reaction he was looking for.  

But all Chui Yim did was look outside the window as if he was invisible. 

Feeling insulted as he was ignored, Chan Ngou Tin raged. 

“Who are you to ignore me?” Chan Ngou Tin said, reaching out to slap Chui Yim with hisright hand.

Smack! 

Chui Yim turned around, grabbing Chan Ngou Tin’s right hand that was a few centimetres away from his face. “I don’t plan to cause trouble, but I won’t tolerate anybody finding trouble with me either,” he warned in a kiddish voice. “So I suggest that you don’t try to.” 

Chui Yim held Chan Ngou Tin’s right hand so tightly that he felt like his hand was being gripped by a metal tong. Being only six, the pain was too much for him to bear. He burst into tears in no time. 

“Enough,” Chor Shing Chit called out. Chui Yim let go of Chan Ngou Tin’s hand and looked out of the window again.

“Mr Chor, he’s acting violently!” Chan Ngou Tin cried in relief. 

“Enough!” Chor Shin Chit repeated himself again, but more sternly. “I saw what happened myself. I know that you’re the one to make a move first, but I’ll let it slide this time. Don’t test my patience.” 

Chan Ngou Tin wiped away his tears and went back to his seat. Heeding his Father’s advice, he dared not anger Mr Chor. Thus he calmed himself down and sat down, not forgetting to glare at Chui Yim. But his efforts were meaningless as even when Chor Shing Chit came, Chui Yim didn’t even spare Mr Chor a look but only continued staring out of the window as if something interesting was going on outside. 

Chor Shing Chit looked at Chui Yim in surprise.  

Even though one could only start cultivatingenergliph when they were ten, clans like the Chan Clan would start training their kids from a younger age. Due to consuming g-food since young, Chan Ngou Tin was stronger and grew faster than most children. Such children would have stronger energliphthan others of the same age in the future. 

But Chor Shing Chit saw with his own eyes that Chui Yim’s movement was much faster than Chan Ngou Tin.  

Not only that, when Chui Yim was putting pressure onto Chan Ngou Tin’s purlicue, Chor Shing Chit could clearly see his muscles. It made him wonder if he was seeing things. 

---

“Okay,  I might’ve done it yesterday, but I’ll introduce myself again since we have classmates that have just joined us. 

“I am Chor Shing Chit; you can call me Mr Chor. I’ll be your class teacher, as well as the one who’ll hold your lessons.”