Following the Commander’s explanation was a brief introduction on how to actually use the weapons. It was surprisingly similar to modern firearms on Earth, only the weapons used small white crystals in place of magazines. Even the iron sights and holographic sights were similar in design to what Alex had seen in video games.

"Next up is combat training," Askren said after taking the sword back from Alex, “Sergeants Orsk and Torval are our close combat specialists. Most of your training will center on what they can teach you in the time we have. Once they deem you to have reached a basic level of proficiency, we will expand your lessons to include the weaponry you’ve just been shown.”

“Why even bother showing me the weapons then?” Alex asked quizzically.

“In the instance our ship is boarded and the Emissary is indisposed, you will need some method to protect yourself. A passing familiarity with our weaponry is the quickest route to protection, followed by thorough training in the basics of combat.

“Orsk!” The Commander shouted out, and the beefy sergeant entered the armory with a stiff salute.

“Take the heir to the training facilities and begin his education in close combat. Sergeant Torval will meet you there. You are his teacher,” he said, and Alex didn’t miss the emphasis on that word, “You will be assessed on how well he learns.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Orsk responded, stiffening at the words.

---

Orsk was surprised by his new student. Unlike all the other nobles and royals he’d interacted with, he wasn’t stuck up. Every word of instruction or critique was taken at face value, and diligently addressed. Alex also took to fighting like a fish to water.

He’d first started the heir off by teaching him basic stances, punches, elbows, knees, and kicks. From there they’d covered simple blocks and evasions. This was typically as far as anyone got in the first few days of training, a rough understanding of how to fight but no real skill. Yet Alex somehow had everything memorized after being shown once. Any changes to his form were corrected instantly, and the man seemed to have perfect muscle memory.

They were just starting to cover some basic strike combinations when Sergeant Torval had shown up. He tore his eyes away from Alex, who was furiously assaulting a training golem, to look at her. Where he was a mass of muscle and power, she was lithe and scrappy. Her intense green eyes were fixated on her new student. He imagined she was just as impressed as he was.

Torval hadn’t believed him when he said the heir had picked up basic proficiency in combat movement after thirty minutes of instruction, so they’d spent ten minutes reviewing everything Orsk had taught so far. Once Torval was satisfied, they’d finished reviewing basic combinations and set Alex up with conditioning intervals to see what sort of endurance he had.

That was over two hours ago. Round after round of calisthenics, golem drills, reflex drills, and sprints, and he hadn’t shown any signs of flagging yet. Hell, the man was barely even sweating at this point. From a stamina standpoint, Orsk didn't think even Novices could keep up with the boy.

Beyond that, the boy was adapting stunningly fast. They’d only taught him a few combinations, but against the training golems, Alex was stringing together more and more complex movements.

“Are all cultivators like this?” Orsk whispered to Torval. She glanced at him, shrugged, then looked back at Alex.

Orsk felt a buzzing on his arm. He looked down at the golden communicator wrapped around his left wrist to see a message from the Commander. It looked like the Emissary wanted to discuss things with her heir.

“Alright, that should be enough,” Orsk barked out. Back to training then. “We’ll stop for the day. Tomorrow we’ll review what was covered today and then step into the next phase of combat, ground fighting.”

---

Alex couldn’t believe how much fun he was having. Before he started cultivating, he was a horrible athlete. Uncoordinated, weak, and completely lacking in any form of endurance. How that had changed.

He found his body responding to him more smoothly than before, his muscles never started screaming in agony, and his strikes contained a degree of force he normally would associate with olympic athletes. Then there was the actual training. Combat just seemed to make sense. There were patterns and flows, an almost ethereal beauty to the mechanics of the movements and how he transitioned from one action to the next. Shortly after each technique was introduced to him, he could repeat it as easily as breathing.

Then they set him up with the training golem. Set to the level of a tier one fighter at first, Alex clumsily sparred against the gold glowing wooden automaton. A few minutes into the spar, he started to notice patterns and opportunities. Repeated combos by the golem, opportunities to interrupt attack patterns. What started off with him awkwardly throwing strikes and getting pummelled in return slowly turned into a one sided beating from him.

He rained down precise blows on the golem until Orsk called out for him to stop. Alex found himself to be disappointed they were stopping, but reeled that emotion in when he was told Skaya wanted to meet with him. He would finally get a chance to get some answers out of her.

He looked down at his slightly damp clothes.. First things first though.

"Do you think I have time for a shower first? I'm guessing I smell pretty gross.

Torval laughed, then quickly covered her mouth with her hands, eyes widening in horror. Orsk glared at her.

Alex just grinned and said, "I can't imagine she wants to smell me."

---

Twenty minutes, one embarrassing explanation from Orsk on how to use the shower and other facilities, and one shower later Alex was feeling like a new man.

Torval had disappeared during his shower, so Alex had Orsk lead him to the bridge where Skaya was supposedly waiting.

They discussed his future training while they walked.

"Ground fighting, dirty fighting, then multiple opponents. Once you've got the basics of those down we'll start throwing in basic melee weapons and long range combat.

"We won't put too much emphasis on long range weaponry, because once you get out of the body transformation stage you'll have your own long range techniques to rely on.

"And we're here. Can you find your way back to your quarters after your meeting?"

Alex nodded.

"Great, until our next training session then," Orsk said with a bow and walked away, leaving Alex outside the door to the bridge.

He turned towards the door, and touched his hand to it, causing it to slide sideways. Now that he wasn't as distracted as before, he noted that the doors were several centimeters thick and appeared to be sealed airtight. It was both a terrifying reminder that they were hurtling through space, and oddly comforting knowing the ship was designed with safety in mind.

Alex stepped into the familiar bridge, and quickly spotted Skaya at the plinth, surrounded by glowing screens. He waited quietly for her to finish, watching the screens in fascination. The Empire’s writing appeared to be a combination of an alphanumeric system and some sort of symbolic runes.

“Arrhician script,” Skaya said, causing Alex to jump. He looked towards her to see she had stepped away from the plinth, “They were a civilization founded several million years ago that managed to develop a written language compatible with runic formations. You’ll find it everywhere you travel as the de facto written language. Most modern spoken languages stem from theirs as well.”

That brought up a question that had been bugging Alex for a while, “How is it you and everyone from the Empire speaks fluent English?”

She laughed at the question, “Both a silly thing to wonder about, and a question that will give you some insight into the capabilities of our Empire. Ten years ago we sent people to your planet to learn local languages. After five years, they were brought back for the creation of memory jades that were then distributed to everyone assigned to the expedition.

“That is actually one of the first things I wanted to discuss with you.”

A small jade slip materialized in her right hand, “This is a memory jade containing common, the basic language used everywhere in the Empire and in most places in the universe, as well as Arrhician script. You are to spend an hour every day studying until you are fluent in both. We can’t have you appear completely ignorant when we arrive in court.”

She handed the slip to Alex, who stared at it curiously.

“How do I use it?”

Skaya sighed, “It is going to take a long time to correct your ignorance. I will instruct Askren’s soldiers to teach you the basics of everything as best as they can during your training. I’d prefer to leave mundane matters such as that to them. For our conversations, I would prefer to focus on the subjects of politics and cultivation.

“I don’t exactly have a lesson plan in mind though, so let's start with any questions you might have.”

Alex grinned, it looked like he would finally get some useful information.

“Can you tell me the differences between cultivation and what the Empire practices? Everyone keeps referring to it, but without context it gets confusing.”

“Certainly,” Skaya responded, “I’ll take it a step further though. There are four common forms of essence utilization. From most common to least common they are the Esoteric Arts, or magehood, Shamanistic arts, a common tribal religious practice, cultivation, which you should be aware of, and parasitic practices, users of which are commonly labeled as ‘Demons.’

“I won’t go into too much detail on parasitic practices, all you really need to know is that they involve stealing essence and life forces from victims to fuel the growth of their practitioners. They are a wasteful, but rapid way to gain strength. For several reasons, Demon’s tend to be weaker than other practitioners at any given tier.”

Skaya paused there, “Has anyone explained tiers to you yet?”

Alex nodded, and briefly relayed what Askren had told him.

“A good summary. All I would add is that in most modern civilizations, the average citizen is going to be roughy at tier three. Most never reach tier four.

“Moving on, Shamanistic practices revolve around a central figure, called a Focus, that is essentially worshipped by a group of people. The acts of worship involve devoting a portion of the believer’s essence to the Focus, greatly empowering them. Foci are able to use the power provided to them or apportion it to any of their believers as they see fit. Populations that practice Shamanism tend to be overall weaker, most people peaking at tier two in their lifetimes, but due to the flexibility the system has relative to distribution of power, any believer has the ability to rapidly jump tiers at any moment.

“The opposite is also possible, Foci can remove power from their believers at any moment as well. This effectively makes them gods to their populations, hence the term ‘believer.’”

“How strong are shamans and their believers?”

"It varies more for them than any other group. They have 'Annointed' who are trained to handle granted powers. They are second only to cultivators in combat capability. Then there are the average believers who tend to be as unskilled and weak as demons.

“Next of course is cultivation. Cultivators directly use essence to strengthen their bodies and souls. At a fundamental level, cultivators have a deeper connection to essence than any other practitioner. As a result, their practices and arts are more intuitive in nature than anything else. At lower levels they rely on higher and higher concentrations of essence storage and generation to advance. At higher levels, they use that enhanced connection essence to gain ‘enlightenment’ on the nature of essence to advance.”

That fit pretty well with most of the fiction Alex had read.

“Finally, you have the Esoteric Arts, the system championed by the Empire. Mages rely study the inner workings of essence, using pure knowledge to manipulate and control it. Our strength is directly proportional to our understanding of and skill with utilizing essence. We don’t have the direct power that cultivators have, but we more than make up for that with our versatility. Generally cultivators are good at fighting, and not much else. Magic can be used to better the lives of our citizens, advance our technologies, and any number of other things.

“One of the biggest benefits of the Esoteric Arts is that anyone can practice them. All it takes is knowledge, time, and dedication. Cultivation relies much more on inner talent. While literally anyone can become a mage, only one in a hundred people can cultivate. Of those that can cultivate, only the most talented can reach the higher tiers.

“I digress. Mages are grouped based on the complexity of spells they can cast. In order of accomplishment we have Initiates, Novices, Adepts, Journeymen, Mages, Masters, Grandmasters, and Archmages. The threshold of immortality lies between Grandmaster and Archmage.”

“What comes after Archmage?” Alex asked.

“State secret,” Skaya responded, offering no opportunity for further questioning.

“Fair enough, how do the different ranks of mages correspond to different tiers?”

“Each advancement is a different tier, with Initiates starting at tier two.”

Alex furrowed his brows, “Why was a tier nine Archmage, fifth in line to the throne, sent to a backwater world like Earth?”

He immediately regretted speaking the question out loud, but thankfully Skaya didn’t seem to be offended.

“My uncle… wishes me to be more involved in the workings of the Empire. He does not appreciate my general disinterest towards rulership. He thought a simple assignment such as this would give me more appreciation for the common people. For all his power, he can’t seem to grasp that the issue was never that I don’t care for the people of the Empire, just that I feel I can accomplish more through my studies than through administration.”

She practically spat the last word. Alex had a sinking feeling his talent wasn’t the only reason she had decided to name him as her heir. What the hell was he getting himself into? As he started to ponder what his next question should be, the jade orb at the center of the room began to buzz and pulse with a yellow light. Skaya walked over to it with a frustrated huff.

Her hand landed on the orb and a three dimensional hologram of a woman dressed in a scale armor appeared.

“What do you want, Imperator Greele?” Skaya demanded impatiently.

“Apologies, Archmage,” the woman responded, not appearing the least bit apologetic, “We have reports of a tier eight void wyrm in your sector, and you are the closest Archmage by a large margin. We need you to fly out and take care of the threat.”

Skaya cursed, “Fine. But tell my uncle he owes me for this one. I hate void wyrms, they are so gross.”

She let go of the orb and the hologram dissipated.

“This creates a hiccup to my plans,” Skaya said. She tapped at her bracelet and spoke into it, “Commander Askren, report to the bridge.”

“Alex, I will be leaving shortly, and as a result, will have to hand off all of your training for the time being to Commander Askren. Once I leave, it is unlikely I’ll be able to track down the ship again without a great deal of effort, so I will simply meet back up with you and he at the Capital. Without me powering the ship, this will extend the trip to the capital by several months. During that time you are to follow his every order. Socially you are above him, but you are far too ignorant of your new world to wield the influence I have granted you. He is experienced and wise, listen and learn as much as you can from him. People would kill for the opportunity to learn from a Master of his standing.

“You will be in capable hands, and should arrive at the Capital with no issues.”

Alex took note of the man’s rank. Being a master put him at tier seven, which was incredibly powerful from what he could gather.

Askren rushed into the bridge at that moment, and snapped a crisp salute to Skaya. “What do you require, Emissary?”

“I have been called on to deal with a threat to the Empire. You are now in charge of escorting my heir to the Capital. I trust you to find a suitable route based on our current location. You are charged with Alex’s safety. That includes keeping his potential as a cultivator under wraps. Is that understood?”

This was the first Alex had heard of that. Why did that need to be kept a secret?

“Yes, Emissary. He will arrive safely as you have ordered.”

“Good,” she responded, “Make sure his training proceeds rapidly, I don’t want any embarrassing incidents to occur at the Capital. Be sure to follow all outlined quarantine procedures when you arrive as well. Your unit’s lives depend on that.”

With that, she vanished from the bridge with a barely audible pop, leaving behind a concerned Commander and confused cultivator.

“What did she mean by quarantine?” Alex asked the Commander.

“You don’t know?” He asked in surprise, “I don’t imagine she was intentionally keeping it from you, so there is no harm in sharing. She claims you have Heavens defying cultivation talent, and believes you will become a pillar of the Empire if given time to grow. As a result, she’s issued a gag order on sharing information relative to your cultivation progress, and all personnel that come into contact with you are to be quarantined until she deems it safe for the information to spread.”

“That seems a bit extreme, don’t you think?”

The Commander shook his head, “Not at all. Exceptional talents are jealously guarded and zealously targeted. Rival clans or empires might have you assassinated if they learned about your talents.”

Based on what Askren was saying, his talent alone was enough to justify this. What if people learned about his regeneration and comprehension?