The knocking on the door made Yuan jump up in realization. The events of yesterday suddenly became clear in his mind.
"Brother, wake up. Your learning starts today!" It seemed to be Rhino this time. His stern voice with love and comfort.
"Wait. Wait. Give me time to rest." Yuan let his body turn and closed his eyes again but slowly, the desire to learn pushed him up and he opened the door.
Outside, the 5 beasts stood around the door in amusement.
"Come, follow us. To the main consortium hall! You must be hungry"
Yuan had to admit, he was really hungry and some of the food did seem nice.
They walked down an elaborate set of corridors and chambers, being greeted by the masses of inhabitants of this kingdom and arriving at a large space Yuan had not seen the night before. It was a 5 tiered chamber town, each side with balconies that overlooked the large space. There were market spaces inset in the walls, people bustling in and out, and in the center, was a large park and a few accommodations that were all taken up by hungry creatures.
"I'm craving Go's today, I think Ling told us about a special dish being served." Said Snake.
"I can't eat Go's remember bitch?" Rhino replied loudly.
"Fuck off man. I'll go with Yuan! I'm sure he enjoys it." Snake retorted.
Yuan sighed. As powerful as these guys seemed, they behaved like total dumbasses to each other. The group wandered over to a towering cactus-like being that stood near the center.
"Li Yan, bring us up to level 3 please. We're heading to Go's today".
The beast grumbled and used one of its many long extending arms to pick up the group and gently dropped them at a small store on level 4 while his eyes curiously lingered on the newcomer Yuan. Heavy steam flowed out of this cafe and it was fairly packed. An old dog in sailor attire called out to Snake, asking if he wanted the new special. The group took a seat in a comfortable stall and began to converse.
Yuan could not help but ask "Who was that gnarly tree guy over there? Isn't he too big to fit in connecting halls?"
"Don't worry about him. That's not even his whole body. The rest of him extends way below the surface of the park. If he was to leave, you would only see an extremely deep hole. He is part of the Chaenallida species and there is a whole clan of them underneath us. This is a small part of the kingdom for us regular sized beings. The truly large beasts are resting way below." remarked Tiger
"In fact, after this, the commanders have something to show you! Eat up!" said Snake seriously.
At that moment, the old dog came over and dropped six delicious bowls of fried tofu in some soup on the table with spices and delicately arranged patterned vegetables.
"Dig in brother! You have a long day ahead!" Said Shui Ren as he greedily consumed his dish.