Commanding Wind and Cloud

Today’s class was about Military Flag Signaling. The instructor was teaching passionately at the front of the classroom. Different military flags and movements of the flags conveyed different information, and they varied depending on the types of troops. Cavalries, infantries and navies all had their own military flags.

Understanding Military Flag Signaling increased a soldier’s chance of survival, as he or she would be able to interpret commands from the leaders using the flags and make decisions accordingly.

If a soldier were to one day be promoted to an officer, he or she would be in charge of sending commands to the soldiers under him or her by using the military flags on the battlefield. This further emphasized the importance of Military Flag Signaling.

As the purpose of this place was to develop future soldiers, Military Flag Signaling class had become an important course. If one couldn’t pass this course’s exam, it would affect the quality of the Warrior Energy Concentration Array that he or she would get to use. Qian Jin tried hard to keep his eyes open, despite being very familiar and fluent in Military Flag Signaling. The instructor also graded their daily in-class behavior.

The average score for daily in-class behavior and the exam would partially determine what quality of Warrior Energy Concentration Array one could use. During this semester, Qian Jin kicked Caesars’, the managing director’s nephew, ass and sent him to the hospital twice. This narrow-minded managing director would definitely ask for help from some instructors just to get back at him.

Between angering a managing director and a student, Qian Jin knew that most rational instructors would choose to make things difficult for a student rather than their boss. Qian Jin didn’t slack off and give the managing director a chance to penalize him.

The classroom suddenly became quiet. Instructor Juan angrily stared at Qian Jin who was distracted. Juan was an honor student who specialized in Military Flag Signaling. In fact, he had a Level 8 Certification in Military Flag Signaling. However, he was sent to Oakland Academy, a novice academy, two years ago as an instructor trainee. Juan wasn’t happy with this decision; he wanted to go somewhere better and less remote. “How dare he ignore the importance of Military Flag Signaling and not focus? Why? Is it because the principal paid a little attention to him this morning? I have to teach this impetuous student how important Military Flag Signaling is.”

“Qian Jin! Qian Jin! Qian Jin!” Juan yelled at the front of the class and immediately grabbed Qian Jin’s attention. He pointed at where he was standing and called Qian Jin up to the front of the class. “Come up and tell the class what the flag signal that I just demonstrated means. I explained it only a few moments ago.”

Juan started at Qian Jin with a red face; he was getting angrier as he saw Qian Jin, who looked like he was lost. “Great. The managing director talked with me this morning. If I can somehow get rid of this student, he will immediately refer me and try to get me a teaching position at an intermediate or advanced academy by the next semester. This is a great opportunity to cause trouble for this Qian Jin.”

“Military Flag Signaling? Which flag signal?” Qian Jin was confused as he stared at the young instructor. “Instructor, are you sure you want me to do the exact same thing as you did?” he asked.

“Of course!”

“Oh, got it!” Qian Jin took a deep breath, rolled up his sleeves and pointed at a student as he shouted, “You! You! You! Come up and tell the class what the flag signal that was just demonstrated means.”

...

The whole class was silent. Juan stared at Qian Jin dumbfoundedly. He didn’t expect this student to pull this kind of trick on him.

“You...” Juan’s breathed heavily as his chest popped in and out violently. He pointed to Qian Jin’s nose and said, “As your instructor, I have to admit that you are smart and can think of tricks under pressure. However, if you use these kinds of tricks on the battlefield, you will end up dying. I will give you another chance; I will demonstrate some military flag signals, and you have to translate them on the spot. If you get it wrong, I will fail you in this course and you will have to retake the exam!”

Qian Jin scratched his head; he wasn’t too worried about the re-examination, but the Warrior Energy Concentration Array was very important to him.

The other students looked at Qian Jin with sympathy and compassion. Although this instructor was only teaching at the novice level academy, he had a Level 8 Certification in Military Flag Signaling. After two more years, he would head to an advanced academy to teach. He could make signals very quickly, so if he wanted to teach Qian Jin a lesson, then he could do it easily.

“Forward... Retreat... There are 3,762 enemies under ambush...” Qian Jin stood in front of the class and translated the military flag signals continuously. His speed wasn’t any slower compared with Juan’s signaling speed.

All the students were shocked after dozens of signals were demonstrated by Juan. “How did Qian Jin master Military Flag Signaling? He never answered questions and never participated in class discussion,” the students thought.

The instructor’s hands were moving very fast. The causal expression on Juan’s face disappeared.

Juan slowly became more nervous; eventually, it turned from nervousness to shock as his hands started to move even faster. He picked up other flags on the table and changed the signals periodically.

Infantry’s, scout’s, cavalry’s... Juan’s heart pounded faster and faster. The signals that he was demonstrating weren’t even taught yet. Some military signaling instructors at Oakland Academy probably couldn’t even understand them. “How can Qian Jin understand this? Where did he come from?” Juan wondered.

“How?” Juan’s speed had reached the maximum that a person who had a Level 8 Certification in Military Flag Signaling could achieve. If someone didn’t specialize in Military Flag Signaling, he or she wouldn’t be able to understand. However, Qian Jin still didn’t make any mistakes and kept on translating.

This continued for the rest of the class. By the time the class was about to finish, Juan’s arms were sore and tired already, but Qian Jin still had not many any mistakes. The bell rang, and Qian Jin shrugged his shoulders, bowed at the instructor and left.

Puff... Juan sat back down on his chair powerlessly as he stared at the classroom floor. For a long time, he couldn’t believe what he had just experienced. Qian Jin, the student who was never outspoken in class, had lasted a full class when he purposely made things difficult.

“Uh...” Juan couldn’t believe that even after all these years he spent on Military Flag Signaling and finally obtaining the Level 8 Certification, he still couldn’t defeat a student who had never even taken a Military Flag Signaling exam before.

Level 8 Military Flag Signaling! It wasn’t just about memorization; one had to ensure no errors were made when waving the flag and making the signals, and there was a strict speed requirement. This was a hard field to specialize in.

People like Juan could qualify as standard bearers in the military. They were responsible for sending the commander’s signal to all the soldiers on the battlefield, as well as deciphering the enemy’s flag signals.

Juan was confident that after a few years of teaching, he could enroll to the army and become an excellent standard bearer. However, he didn’t expect himself to lose to a student at a novice academy. In the last ten minutes of class, Juan even used the demon’s flag signals, but Qian Jin was still fluent in his translations.

“This kid...” A light suddenly shined in Juan’s mind. “Could he... could he be a member of a military family? That’s be impossible! Children from the big families are normally enrolled in top-tier academies. Why could they come to this crappy place and attend the lowest tier school?”