Ming's Journey through the Jade Empire

Off of the small village of Two Rivers was Master Li's academy. There we learned the art of martial combat, magic, and focus. Majority of the students are young men and women from the village who come to learn defense. In the case of Dawn Star and I, we had been at the school since we were children. Other students may have been sent from far away villages.

My name is Ming, and recently just celebrated my 20th birthday. And let me tell you it was a wicked celebration, heh. I've been the top student for several years now, and always a bit of a ladies man. I'm tall with lean muscle, my short black hair spiked up on most occasions.

I had just finished a sparring match with Jin Woo, and we left the sparring circle laughing and talking about the end of the year. "I'm telling you, Gao is sweet on Dawn Star. Think about it, he's from a rich family, she's an orphan. She'll leave with him once she's finished her training."

I shook my head, "Dawn is too nice of a girl for him. I may not know her that well, but I don't think she's the type who can be bought."

"Don't tell me you are sweet on her, too." Jin chuckled. "She can sense ghosts, Ming! Imagine, doing her and some dead guy comes to chat her up." Jin started humping the air and I had to start laughing.

"No, I'm not sweet on her. I'm just saying I doubt Gao can buy her. And when he can't he'll go to one of the other girls who could be."

At that time we saw the cute new Trainee, Kia Lin. She had only been at the academy for a few months, straight out of high school. She was petite, only 5'4", slender, and just a slight bump to reveal her breasts beneath her shirt. "Now I bet she...could be bought." Jin whistled.

"Jin, Smiling Mountain wants you." I said to him.

"Damn...okay. I'll talk to you later, man."

With him out of the way, I made my way to Kia. "How are you today?"

She took one look at me, and didn't return my smile. "Ah, well isn't it Master Li's poster-boy, favorite, and best." She looked away, then back at me. "Sorry, but all I've been hearing since I've came here is that I should strive to me more like you. Jealousy doesn't suit a student of Master Li."

I shrugged and leaned against the post next to her. "Don't try to be like me, set a new standard. I've seen you, you have the potential."

She finally returned my smile, a devilish spark behind her eyes, "That's very kind of you. Or maybe you're just pouring honey in my ears," She leaned closer and added, "although that's not as fun as half the other places it could go."

I laughed a bit nervously and felt my face warm up. What do I say to something like that?