Back at the beach house, the door was pushed open and Bryan entered the living room. The other four residents of the house were waiting for him.
"The macho man is finally back." Ash said.
"Hello to you too." Bryan sat down on the couch and sighed.
"What's up?" Ray asked while pouring himself a glass of juice.
"It appears that Cristina was right about Melissa." Bryan said.
"That bitch!" Ray frowned.
"She actually had the balls to do that?!" Ash was angry.
"Chillax, I'm over it. And it's not like she's completely at fault too."
"What do you mean?" Algo asked.
"I'm pretty sure she was forced by her family, you know the usual drama bullshit." Bryan reasoned.
"Even if you're right, she's still a bitch." Ash didn't care.
"How did you figure it out?" Asif was curious.
"Well, she wasn't exactly subtle with it. Even though I knew about it beforehand, I still wanted to try you know? Just to see how it goes." Bryan smiled.
"Then I told her I knew what she was doing, waved her goodbye and left."
"It's alright, there's plenty of fishes in the sea or in this case, plenty of stars in space?" Ash cocked his head.
"Hahahaha, you dumbass." Bryan laughed.
"Here, Bryan." Algo came and offered him a cold beverage.
"Thanks, Algo." Bryan accepted it and took a gulp.
"No problem."
"Diverting away from the meaningless topic, it seems you guys have gotten a bit stronger in the time I wasn't here." Bryan could feel a slight change in their bodies albeit not accurate enough.
"Of course, we have to quickly breakthrough. I just wanna use magic and fly." Ray crossed his hands.
"Yeah dumbass, you have to catch up with us." Ash cackled.
"Might as well start now." Bryan sat cross-legged and started cultivating.
"Although it's almost night, I still feel refreshed." Ray said.
"Me too." Ash agreed.
"The further powerful we grow, our body eventually won't need to rest since we can just absorb elemental energy and recuperate." Algo thought and said.
"Seems like it." Asif nodded. Without any further ado, all of them sat cross-legged and started cultivating.
-The next morning at class-
The ever beautiful silver-haired Instructor Issa walked into the classroom and observed that most of the students were cultivating. Usually she wouldn't mind if they were diligently cultivating but today she needs everyone's attention.
*CLAP CLAP*
The sound of her claps gently stirred the students who were cultivating and they gradually opened their eyes and looked at Instructor Issa curiously.
"What's up, teach'?" Ash puzzled, asked out loud.
"When did he get the guts to do that?" Ray whispered to Bryan.
"I think he's trying to practice his flirting skills on the Instructor." Bryan muttered back.
"What a dumbass."
"I know right." Bryan giggled. Asif looked at the two as if they were idiots.
"Today, I'll be teaching you something important that will broaden your horizon so I had to interrupt your cultivations." Instructor Issa stepped forwards and did a swiping motion with her hand.
The classroom became devoid of light apart from the sunlight seeping through the windows. A wonderful indescribable scene appeared in the center of the classroom.
A space like hologram appeared and in it was a massive swirling spinning galaxy floating amongst the vast starry space. The students gasped and gawked at it with wonder and admiration.
"So fucking cool..." Ray was amazed and stared at the galaxy with twinkling eyes.
"This big spinning galaxy is called the Milky way galaxy, our home galaxy where Planet Earth resides in. Now you're wondering why did I bother doing this."
"I'm aware that all of you know we're not the only intelligent lifeforms in the universe, right?" Instructor Issa smiled and asked. The students nodded and waited for her to continue.
"So, I'm going to impart you some basic knowledge of your galaxy and its inhabitants."
"There's something called a star field. A star field is a huge, I mean really huge region where millions of stars and planets inhabit the huge region. Just like our civilization, there are many numerous uncountable civilizations out there. Some are weak and some are extremely strong in terms of overall strength."
"These star fields are normally under the power of an empire, commandeering the millions of planets and stars. They are gigantic behemoths that are powerful beyond our measure."
"There are five star fields in our Milky way galaxy. They are Carrlax Territory star field, Adara star field, Vorach star field, Aeron star field, and the Bagania star field."
"Each of these star fields are under one major power apart from the Bagania star field where multiple empires manage the star field."
"Excuse me, Instructor Issa?" One of the students raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Which star field is the strongest?"
"Haha, the Carrlax Territory star field is the strongest." Instructor Issa answered and explained.
"Fuck me, there's so much to gather." Ash rubbed his head.
"Millions of planets and stars...." Ray muttered with a wide smile. 'Oh man, I can't wait to go out there!'
"Damn, that's huge. And here I thought our solar system was something to admire." Bryan shook his head.
"Very very interesting..." Asif said.
"I want to really go and try out their food." Algo thought as his mouth got wet.
"Our Planet Earth is in the Aeron star field, under the rule of the Aeron Empire. There are millions of planets out there apart from us. Although most of these planets do not have intelligent lifeforms, the ones that do amount to more than 10,000 planets."
"Now let's talk about the different alien civilizations out there in the Aeron star field. Let's start with the Aeron Empire."
"We don't know how long the Aeron Empire have existed in the universe but we know it's definitely longer than us. The Aerons have a humanoid body structure similar to us, but they have a deep purple skin color and two pairs of eyes. They also have a medium sized tail encapsulated with dark hardened scales." Instructor Issa informed.
"A purple-coloured alien race rules over us? Sick!" Ray said with fervor.
"And you're excited because they are purple?" Bryan asked with raised eyebrows.
"Of course." Ray looked at him stupidly.
"And if they weren't purple?" Algo casually asked.
"Then we be the rulers." Ray said as a matter of fact. Instantly, the other four brothers who were nonchalantly listening turned to look at him.
"Are you...serious?" Asif acutely asked.
"I'm not stupid. Looking at our talents and our elemental affinities, I'm sure we're destined for something greater. I don't know what'll happen in the future but I don't think we'll be tied down to just one star field." Ray answered carefully.
"I didn't expect that from you, Ray." Algo said in surprise.
"Haha, no one does." Ray laughed lightly.
"What you said does make sense." Bryan nodded. Ray looked at them and saw them still pondering on what he said.
"I know it's quite ambitious of me to state that but don't you think we have the qualifications for that?" Ray pressed on.
"We get you, Ray. It's just that this is still beyond what we're currently capable of." Ash said.
"Ash is right, we can think about what Ray said when we get adequately stronger." Asif nodded along with Ash.
"I'm cool with that." Ray agreed as well.
"What you must know about the Aeron Empire is that they are battle maniacs. Coupled with their intelligence, they prove a formidable force to everyone. They are less in numbers due to their low fertility rate otherwise they would contend for the number one spot along with the Carrlax Territory star field." Instructor Issa continued to describe.
"Speaking about the strongest star field, the Carrlaxians are twice the size of us at maximum. They have a pale white skin with only one eye on their face. But they don't rely much on their eyes due to the four antenna-like protrusions on their forehead. They act as a sensory organ circumventing their one eyed weakness and instead greatly improve their sensory capabilities."
"Imagine seeing a female Carrlaxian..." Ash said while jittering.
"I think they suit your tastes." Bryan seriously said.
"Fuck off!" Ash showed him the finger.
"Pay attention, monkeys!" Ray jokingly berated them.
"The Adara star field is known for being peaceful. Although they are mostly peaceful, they are extremely intelligent. The Adarans are similar to us humans but with four wings. Instead of two hands, they have four long thin hands with two elbow joints."
"The Vorach star field have the Vorach Empire ruling over it. The Vorachi are miniature tree-like creatures about the same size of the Carrlaxians. Instead of the normal trees here on Earth, the Vorachi can be described as having red bark and trunk with no leaves sprouting from them."
"I can't say much about the Bagania star field because the shift in power hierarchy constantly changes due to greed and status. There is one empire that has managed to be one of the rulers for a very long time, the Luron Empire. The Lurons are brown oddly shaped humanoids with low light-emitting skin. They can transform their hands between two forms, one being the normal hand and the other shaped with long razor claws. And instead of hair, they have a wide plate-like extension on top of their head." Instructor Issa relaxedly explained.
"So many names and features..." Ash rubbed his head.
"Aww, too much for you to handle?" Bryan mocked.
"I would like to visit the Adara star field some day." Asif earnestly said.
"I don't mind visiting any apart from the Bagania star field." Algo said.
"That's it for today." Instructor Issa stopped and gave the students some time to digest the information.
"Remember kids, the universe is a vast place. The Milky Way Galaxy is nothing but a tiny part of the universe. Set out your sights wide and work hard. Class dismissed." Instructor Issa smiled and left the classroom.
"If only she could be my wife." Ash muttered.
"You'll take anybody as your wife." Ray said.
"Shut up..."
"C'mon let's go back and start cultivating. I feel like I've been spurred on because of Instructor Issa." Bryan energetically said. The others nodded and left the class to their beach house.
At the house, the five were sitting cross-legged cultivating with immense concentration trying to breakthrough quickly as possible. Unfortunately, refining the blood is a tedious and a more painful process.
-After a few hours-
*Phoo*
Algo opened his eyes and happily said, "I've broken through to the 5th stage."
"Nice one." Ray praised.
"What about you, Ray?" Algo asked.
"I'm close to breaking through but I'll still need some more time. Probably by tomorrow." Ray answered.
Bryan opened his eyes and smiled, "5th stage."
Then Asif opened his eyes and coolly said, "6th stage, a bit away from the next stage."
"What a monster." Ray said.
"Says the guy with the space element." Bryan said in a funny voice.
"Aw man, I'm close to the 6th stage but it seems like tomorrow will be the day." Ash stopped cultivating and revealed his progress.
"It seems like we're progressing just fine." Asif said. The others nodded.
"Ray?" Asif called out to Ray.
"What's up?" Ray turned to him.
"About what you said before in the classroom..."
"What about it?" Ray questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"I think that will be just our first step towards something great." Asif looked down and said. "I don't know why but I have this tingly feeling all over my body that all of us have some purpose."
"Haha, I feel you, Asif." Ray agreed with him.
"Now you're giving us the tingly feeling..." Ash weirdly said with Bryan and Algo nodding.
"But man, our whole lives changed just like that." Bryan sighed.
"It changed for the good." Algo freely said.
"Yeah it did." Bryan nodded.
"I wish we stay together forever." Asif muttered.
"What do you mean 'wish'? We will be together now and always." Ash heartily said.
"Sometimes absolute dogshit comes out of his mouth but this time, I agree with him wholeheartedly." Bryan smiled.
"Aw, thank you, Bryan."
""Hahahaha""