The Golden Scale Squad has been standing around waiting for the fight to begin. The instructor tells them that there are six different levels of physical skills. The basic tier is strength, the manifestation tier is accuracy, the embodiment tier is vigor, the domain tier is understanding, and the enlightenment tier is enlightenment. It is impossible for anyone under the age of thirteen to reach the basic tier, the instructor says. Ling-Lin is ten years old, but he has already reached the manifestation and the vigor tiers. He plans to fight some of the other students in order to get some matches in. This makes sense, he says, because he knows that the students at the core of the scout academy are the best fighters in the world.