“Enough!” Sergeant Orsk cried out, “We’re done for the day.”

Six hours. Six beast forsaken hours of training and the heir looked as fresh as when they first started. The only sweat on his body was from him and Torval.

Alex had continued to surprise them. They’d worked through three weeks worth of combat training in those six hours. The guy took in combat knowledge like no one he’d ever met. His comprehension had to be off the charts.

During a typical boot camp, mastery of close combat was typically measured by one's ability to defeat a golem set at the Novice level of power in striking and grappling, as well as defeating five Initiate level golems in a group spar. Alex had done all of those, forcing Orsk and Torval to start working directly with him.

The man was only as strong as an Initiate, but his insane endurance and ability to pick up skills made him a slippery opponent. Every technique they taught him was flawlessly added to his repertoire. If they weren’t both Adepts, tier 4, he probably would be wiping the floor with them by now. It was absolutely insane. Orsk had never encountered a cultivator before, and had always wondered why those that had met them spoke of them with fear, but he was beginning to understand. They were absolute monsters.

“Yes, sir,” Alex responded. He stood up and started shadow boxing. Torval groaned.

“Take a break, kid. Seriously, you’re making me tired just watching you,” she complained.

“Why?” Alex responded, “I feel like I could go all day.”

He performed an impractical, flowing set of strikes, then said quietly, “I know kung fu.”

Torval laughed, “I don’t know what kung fu is, but if you did that in a fight I’d kick your ass.”

Orsk cringed internally, but Alex just laughed off the comment and nodded in agreement.

“How about we grab something to eat then?” Alex suggested.

“You want to eat with us?” Orsk asked, somewhat confused. This kid did not act like a noble. Vill had mentioned he was from Earth, but decades of ingrained training to avoid nobles at all costs were hard to dial back.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” Alex asked in confusion, “I have so much I need to learn, and I can’t do that from the confines of my room. Plus, you’ve been there recently, Torval. Why would I want to go back?”

“Oh don’t worry,” Torval responded with a smile, “I had the newbie go clean it up.”

“Who, Vill?” Alex asked. Torval nodded.

“That’s just evil,” Alex responded, “Did you guys make her bring me the food last night as well?”

“Wasn’t us, but same concept, really,” Orsk responded, “What is the saying from Earth? Shit rolls downhill.”

Alex frowned, “Ok, I get that, but what if I was actually a prick noble looking to take advantage of people?”

“She would have kicked your ass if you tried anything, and the Corps would have backed her. It would just be a nightmare to deal with, hence the shit rolling downhill,” Torval explained.

“That makes me feel a little bit better about your society,” Alex said, “Now, how about we go get some lunch.”

---

The mess hall was a cramped room filled with four tables, each with two benches. Alex guessed six people could sit comfortably at each table. When they arrived, it looked like half of the unit were currently eating.

The whole room froze when they stepped into the hall.

“What in the Hells are you staring at, get back to your food, grunts,” Torval shouted at them. They quickly went back to eating, but the room was a bit more muted than before.

“Don’t worry about them,” Orsk told Alex, “They’ll warm up to you in no time, I’m sure.”

The trio walked over to a station set up at the back of the room, where a large, jovial man with an immaculately groomed brown moustache was serving food.

“My Lord, Sergeants,” the man greeted them in a deep voice, “Fried skerval, mashed jalla roots, and mixed vegetables today. I hope you enjoy it!”

He handed each of them a plate, and loaded an especially large serving up for Alex. The man winked at him good naturedly. They thanked him and moved to sit at a vacant table.

Alex looked at his food. It looked like fried chicken with purple mashed potatoes and an assortment of pink, green, and yellow vegetables that reminded him of squash. He shrugged and tucked in. It was surprisingly good. The three ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, before Orsk spoke up.

“With how quickly your training is progressing, I’ve been debating if we should start pulling you into our group training exercises. We can let you spar with some of the lower ranking members of the unit and gain a little bit more experience. We’ll also need to start your weapons training. House Skaya is actually well known within the Empire for their sword fighting skills, among other things, so we'll focus on that to start. Any objections?”

Alex shook his head, still chewing some of the chicken like skerval. Torval chimed in with her thoughts though.

“We should also start covering some military tactics. Get you up to speed on how to act in combat scenarios. We have a few training manuals you should read through for that.”

“An excellent idea,” Orsk replied, “We’ll make a proper soldier out of you before the end of this trip.”

Despite not being the most physically active person before all of this, and never having much interest in the military, Alex found himself looking forward to the training. That being said, things kept getting thrown onto his plate, and it was starting to get a bit overwhelming. Cultivation, military training, learning a new spoken and written language, as well as picking up new customs and practices for both commoners and nobility in the Empire.

Alex quietly resolved himself to complete viscera training as quickly as possible, specifically for his brain. He imagined there would be pretty significant cognitive benefits from saturating it with essence. Speaking of all that training, he still needed to figure out how to use the memory tablets Skaya had given him. He brought that up to Orsk and Torval.

“Oh that's easy enough, you just need to draw a bit of essence into them,” Torval explained simply.

“And how exactly do I do that? The only essence I currently have is locked in my bone marrow.”

“Well shit,” Torval responded, “I forgot how different cultivation is from the Esoteric arts. We should be able to figure out some sort of work around, right?”

She glanced over at Orsk as she asked this, but he just shrugged in response.

“I hope we can,” Alex said, “I’ve got viscera, bones, skin, and muscles to go before I even start opening my meridians. That assumes I even know what the hell I’m talking about. I’m sort of making this all up as I go.”

Orsk scratched his head, “That sounds about right from what I know of cultivation, although the order you just gave differs from what is typical. If I recall correctly though, you’re supposed to form an essence well before you start opening your meridians though, otherwise you wouldn’t have any essence to use to open your meridians.”

“That makes an awful lot of sense,” Alex replied, “Do you know much about the steps after that?”

“Only vague ideas,” Orsk said, “Cultivators tend to be pretty quiet about their techniques. Unlike in the Empire, they don’t share much knowledge, typically as a way to protect their own interests.

“If I remember correctly, once you finish opening up all your meridians, you form a foundation to support the creation of your essence core, which is the next step. After that, I think things start to get really weird. It stops being about just essence accumulation and use, and delves into the soul or something like that.”

“That checks out with what I know,” Torval said, “I served under a Lieutenant that was fascinated with cultivators. The ‘Universe's ultimate weapons’ he used to call them. Seemed a bit excessive to me, but what would I know? The Empire hasn’t gone to war with any Clans or Sects for centuries, so all I have to go on is what I’ve been told. With how quickly you’re picking up combat skills I’m starting to believe him though.

“But yeah, foundation establishment, core formation, and then things start to diverge from there into a variety of systems, depending on the cultivation manual. The Lieutenant said it varies because cultivators start to blur the lines between their souls and their bodies. Their chosen representation of their soul and cultivation base can vary wildly, hence the variety.”

“Is that the point where they hit immortality?” Alex asked curiously.

“I don’t think it is as clear cut for cultivators as it is for mages,” Torval said, “For mages, our use of essence slowly transforms our bodies. At a certain point, we cast a spell that causes such a massive influx of essence into our bodies, that we reach a threshold beyond which lies immortality. Either your body and soul merge, becoming immortal, or your body explodes from pulling in too much energy. For cultivators I think it is a more gradual transformation, but I’m far from an expert on either process.”

"Wait, you guys can die from trying to become an immortal?" Alex asked, somewhat flabbergasted.

"Of course, power doesn't come without risks," Orsk responded, "General difficulty isn't the only reason the Empire isn't flooded with immortals. There is no shortage of Grandmasters unwilling to risk their lives for a chance at immortality. What you'll find is a lot of them waiting until they hit old age to make the attempt at becoming an Immortal. Unfortunately, it becomes more difficult the older your body is. Frail bodies don't tend to handle the influx of energy very well."

As Alex was about to ask a follow up question, they were approached by a short, thin soldier he didn't recognize.

"Heir, the commander requests your presence on the bridge," he said with a stiff salute.

"I guess I better get going," Alex said to Orsk and Torval, "Thanks for all the training and info, I seriously appreciate it."

"Don't mention it," Orsk said, waving him off.

Torval slapped Orsk's shoulder with the back of her hand.

"Hey, don't let him off that easy, kid'll be rich soon. Make him promise to let us retire as vassals when we finish our tour," she said with a cheeky grin.

Alex scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, "Let's talk about that some other time. You’re just creating more questions for me to ask….."

---

Alex followed the soldier, Corporal Holson, to the bridge, where they found the Commander typing staring at a hologram star map, brow wrinkled in thought.

The man looked up as Alex entered the bridge.

"Alex, you're here, good. I wanted to discuss our travel plans with you, as well as your training plan," He gestured to a curving, silver line in the projected star map, "This is our planned route. We have seven stops, 6 for resupply and the last at the Capitol. Each segment of the journey should take approximately one month. Due to the circumstances of your quarantine, I've selected slightly less populous planets for our resupply. This should help us avoid attention for the most part, though it does add about a month to our total travel time. Do you have any concerns with this?"

Alex shook his head.

"Good, now on to your training. The Sergeants have briefed me on your… substantial progress so far. With that in mind, I've put together a rough schedule for you. Given you can't read, I'm just going to say it out loud. From 0600 to 1000, you'll have combat training with my unit. From 1000 to 1200, culture and etiquette training with me. You'll have an hour break, then from 1300 to 1700 dedicated cultivation time. Dinner until 1800, followed by military tactics with me until 1900. After that you'll have three hours to yourself. Then it's lights out. Thoughts?"

Alex considered the schedule for a moment, "Generally no, but there is one thing missing. I still need to learn the Empire’s language."

Askren looked at him in confusion, "Can't you just use a memory tablet for that?"

"Nope, apparently I might not be able to use essence for a while," Alex responded, "I need to finish the initial stages of body cultivation before I open up my essence well and can actively use essence."

The commander frowned at that, "I had not considered the implications of your essence system. I suppose we'll have to take away an hour of your combat training or your free time to teach you the language. I'm not sure who would be the best teacher either, that isn't a subject my unit is trained in sharing."

"I think taking it out of my combat training might make the most sense. I think I want to use my free time to cultivate more. If I know anything about cultivators, it's that power means more than anything else to them."

The commander nodded in agreement.

"It's settled then. Three hours of combat training, an hour of Universal Standard lessons, bream for lunch, two hours with me, 4 hours of cultivation, dinner, then another session with me on military tactics, followed by three hours you can use for whatever it is you need. You said you want to cultivate, and I won't discourage that, but I will say you should try to not burn yourself out. Your training with my team will not be easy, and seven hours is quite a bit of cultivation."

Alex shrugged in response, "So far cultivation hasn't felt anything like a chore to me, but I'll keep your advice in mind. I know burnout has a tendency to creep up on people."

“Excellent, now, let's get on to your lessons.”