Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, Main Continent, Cloudmount City, Immortal Pillar Academy. As Guang Yang did not want his new friends to feel down, he tried to cheer them up. “I'm sure that all of you will quickly reach my level, so you shouldn't feel to bad about it. After all, the Rank 1 is simply the beginning of cultivation and not something to be overly proud about.” The other three nodded and Norah said. “Don't worry, I have confidence that I'll be able to reach Rank 2 and maybe even Rank 3 if I'm lucky enough. So I'm not really jealous.” A beautiful smile then appeared on her face. Hearing her explanation, the other two added. “I'm the same.” “Same here, bro!” ”Good.” Guang Yang smiled. “By the way, if anyone of you need any advice about cultivation, don't hesitate to ask. Although I can't compare myself to my teacher, I still have my own understandings which may be of help to you guys.” To which the three nodded and Norah said. “I'll hold you to that. After all, if that can help us increase our speed of cultivation, then those two and I will definitely use your help.” Maybe because of her closeness to Nature due to her race and her comprehension of the Law of wood, she was frank but kind with the people she considered close to her. So, she did not shy away with asking for his help and she would also agree to help him in the future if he needed it. To her it was what made a healthy friendly relationship, where giving and receiving went both ways. At least, that was what her parents taught her and what she believed in. Guang Yang then added while scratching the back of his head. “I'm not really good at fighting though, so I might not be able to help you with it. I'm planning to train a lot, since you never know when you need to defend against someone or something.” That seemed to hit something in Angelo, as his smile faded for a second before he said with a serious tone. “Yes! Strength in this universe is essential. Otherwise we can only wait to be bullied by some so-called Nobles. Before you say anything, I'm not saying that they are all bad. I'm only saying that some of them are scum and need to be eliminated.” The hate in his tone were clearly apparent when he spoke, which prompted Norah to say. “Some of them are, I agree. Speaking of that, I remember that around a year ago, a lot of those were purged by the Royal family and by the higher ups of their own family.” The red-haired boy nodded fiercely with a cruel smile. “They were well-killed. I'm glad that those old farts finally woke up to reality and decided to get rid of the trash.” While he was lost in his feeling of hate, he was interrupted by the voice of Lisette who said with her indifferent voice. “Stop smiling like that. You're ugly.” That instantly woke him up and he turned towards her with a wry smile. “Do you have to put me down like that?” She nodded and replied. “Yes. Hatred is an ugly emotion.” He then rolled his eyes as if he did not care, but actually felt warm inside because of her 'tsundere care'. Indeed, he noticed since he met her that she was the kind to feign indifference in front of people while she actually cared a lot inside. When he felt the feeling of hatred and hurt coming from his new friend, Guang Yang asked him. “Are you alright Angelo?” When he heard the question of the young boy by his side, he nodded with a smile which was full of warmth this time. “Yes, don't worry. It's just that speaking about that topic reminded me of something that happened in my past. But I don't really want to talk about it.” Guang Yang then nodded and said. “It's fine. If I can help, let me know.” The other two girls added. “Me too.” “I guess I could help.” Feeling grateful, Angelo could only utter a 'Thank you guys', before his voice cracked slightly because of his overwhelming emotions. The other three smiled but did not say anything more about it. After a few moments of eating in silence, they started talking about lighter subjects. While they were conversing together, they received a notification from their personal AI informing them that they had to leave right away to be on time for their next class. “We should go now, or our teacher might punish us.” Norah said. Listening to her, they all left the cafeteria and took a flying shuttle to the west side of the campus, where the practical courses of their curriculum took place. Once they arrived there, the Elf girl turned towards the young fox and said. “See you when the class is over Yang!” “See ya bro!” “See you later.” The boy replied in kind and the group then separated in two, with the blond haired boy walking quickly while following the direction from his AI. A few minutes later he arrived at a room that was similar to the one where he passed his enrollment test the previous day. However, it seemed bigger and less empty, since a few teenagers were already there. Actually, even some young adults could be spotted. Although, those were probably the less talented among the group. When the child arrived in the room, every person there looked at him in puzzlement, since he was the only one there who was still a young child. He could even feel some younger teenager frowning when they looked at him. When his gaze turned towards them, he noticed that their clothes seemed to be of a higher quality compared to the others. “They're probably nobles. But why are they looking at me like that? They seemed to have something against me, but I've never even met them before... It's strange...” He pondered, trying to understand the current situation. Since he did not know anyone and felt a bit shy, and thus simply walked to a corner to wait for the class to start. While he was waiting, he noticed the same people from earlier talking with a few others in their own group, looking at him from time to time. As for the other cultivators in this group, they all ignored him and stayed within their own groups. A dozen minutes later, a man with blood colored hair came into the room, walking imposingly towards the middle of the latter. He was relatively handsome like most cultivators, but his face had no emotion on it, which impressed the students present there. The feeling was reinforced by the fierce and powerful aura emitting from him. Unlike other rank 2 and 3 who purposefully retracted their aura to avoid hurting lower rank cultivators, that man let if flow, without seemingly caring about the consequences on the others, although Guang yang noticed that the quality of his mana did not correspond to his aura's strength. Indeed, from what he could tell, the man seemed to be a lot stronger than he let on. And indeed, the man started to increase the pressure of his aura, which made most students sweat from discomfort. Only a few of them were not too affected by it, and among them was Guang Yang. After all, not only was he used to having high level cultivators around him all the time, but the quality of his three aspects were superior to the average cultivators at his level. That and the fact that despite what it may seemed, the teacher did not blast his full aura onto them, but instead seemed to increase it more and more. As time passed by, some groans could be heard from the cultivators who had trouble staying upright, while even the people like Yang started to sweat from the increasing difficulty. After only a few more moments, some of them fell on the ground, panting for air, seemingly liberated from the crushing pressure. A few more minutes and only a few were still standing up, all of them Late or Peak Level 3 except the young fox who was only at the Early Level 3. The few earlier men and women who seemed to dislike him frowned even more seeing the young boy resisting while none of them could. However, they stayed silent since they knew that it was not the time to say anything. As the pressure increased a notch more, the 5 students left fell on the ground, clearly too exhausted to continue with the exercise. However, they all felt quite proud of their own result. Nonetheless, before anyone had the time to say anything, the teacher looked at the rest of the class and said in a cold tone. “Pathetic. Do you think fighting is a game? You couldn't even resist the equivalent of an average Peak Level 4 cultivator and that without even me adding any of my killing intent. Fortunately there are five of you who are at least passable, being able to resist the aura of an Early Level 5 Cultivator without killing intent.” When he noticed that some of the students did not seem to be convinced by his judgement, he added. “I see that some of you think that a Peak Level 4 and an Early Level 5 are almost the same. Bunch of stupid brats the lot of you. If one only counts the basic strength of an average cultivator, an Early Level 5 cultivator is at least twice as strong as a Peak Level 4. And that is only strength. But you also have to counts resistance, speed, mental acuity, etc. Also the reserve of mana which increased by a lot. All in all, you would need many Peak Level 4 cultivators to defeat an Early Level 5 and even more to kill one.” He paused for a moment to let it sink in and resumed his explanation. “Now, that you understand that, think about what it means to be able to resist their pressure. Sure, a Level 4 would destroy any one of you very easily. But it would help a lot against other Level 3 cultivators. Why? Simply because by being able to resist that kind of pressure means that at least one of your aspects is stronger than the average cultivators at your Level. Of course, a Level 4 cannot kill a Level 3 with his aura. But he can incapacitate you, which will result in the same thing.” He again decided to pause for a bit before saying. “Before continuing the lesson, you're probably wondering who I am and why I put you through that test just now.” All the students nodded, which prompted him to resume his speech. “You can call me instructor Vorlock and I will be your instructor for an indeterminate amount of time. As for any question that is not related to this course, you can keep it to yourself since I will not answer it.” “Remember this: Unlike your theory teachers I will not be lenient with good for nothing lazy students. In my mind, talent can be improved with resources, but if you don't work hard enough, you'll only be trash all your life. There are many examples which proved it.” Looking at all of them, he added. “I looked at all your files and studied the way you acted earlier. That was the goal of my test. Analyzing your willpower while scanning your body to look at your talent.” He shook his head in disappointment. “The result is very disappointing. Most of you have either trash willpower or average one. You'd better work hard in my class and out of it, or I might kick you out. I don't have time to waste with weak-willed lazy trash.” His declaration made a chill go down everyone's spine. What would happen to them if they were kicked out of their fighting class? Especially since the teacher did not care about their talent but their hard work instead. There was no excuse that they could use to explain themselves to others if that happened. Although a few of them were doubtful of his claim, especially the one that seemed to be Nobles, most of the others decided to work hard in order to pass this class. Once he finished his speech about his expectations, the instructor resumed the lesson. “Now, that it's out of the way, we'll resume the lesson. Let's talk about Aura, since it's something that you will have a high chance of encountering aura attacks in the future if you go to less civilized places... As for cities like Cloudmount city... You should still be careful, since some cultivators think that they can do whatever they want despite the Laws in place. Always remember that if you're strong enough, Laws will not be able to bind your actions. Of course, unless you're mentally retarded, following the Law in general is still necessary and even beneficial to you, even if you're the strongest being in the Empire.” As Volrock mentioned the fact of following the Law, a snicker could be heard from one of the noble teenagers present there. Noticing it right away, the former turned his cold pair of eyes towards him and smiled slightly. However, instead of feeling any warmth, they all had a feeling of dread. The boy in question then noticed that everything was quiet and turned towards the teacher, surprised. “It seemed that you disagree with what I just said mister Vill.” Despite sensing a threat from that eerie smile, the boy said. “Isn't the whole system of Nobility exactly for that purpose? To give more powers to some cultivators?” “I think you missed a point there. The power given to those cultivators is supposed to be in exchange for the protection from external threat. But even then, that doesn't mean that the power is absolute.” “Pah! I don't understand why not. After all, without the Noble families, the commoners would be at the mercy of the beasts, instead of safe like today. So why can't nobles enjoy themselves a bit more?” He said in a disdainful tone. As most of the students present there were not from the nobility, they frowned in dissatisfaction but opted for not saying anything. After all, if they made the wrong enemy here and they could not reach a high enough Level in their future cultivation, then it could be the end of them, Law or not. As Guang Yang looked around to see the different reactions, he noticed that some of the nobles seemed to agree with the arrogant boy while others seemed angry at him. Although he was not certain of why, from the way they looked at the young fox earlier, he could guess that they were not the most open minded people. Could he have guess wrongly? As for his opinion on the subject, he was a bit confused. After all, he could be considered as the highest kind of Noble in the Empire, at least if one went with the Cultivation base of one's family's members. However, he never thought of himself as superior to anyone. Granted, he never had much interaction beside with his family, so he may not be the best example for that. However, he still thought that treating others as inferiors just because of their lower cultivation was wrong. And it seemed that the instructor agreed with him. Indeed, as soon as he heard the boy speak, the man's body started to emit a powerful killing intent that was directed towards the former. “If I understood correctly, because you were lucky to be born in a family of powerful cultivators, which gave you so many advantages that you never worked for, you think you can bully those that were not as lucky? Good, good, good! It seems to me that the army division in charge of exploring new planets lacks a few recruit. I guess I should thank you for volunteering. Hehe.” His laugh creeped out the other students, while the boy's face turned instantly pale when he realized what the man said. He tried to protest, but he was cut off by a robot entering the classroom. When he noticed it walking towards him, his panic seemed to increase by a lot. “Mister Vill, you were found to promote hate and division in the Empire, which is a crime punishable by immediate conscription into the army's exploration division. This is an order from the Empire's higher ups, so resisting is futile. If despite the situation, you still choose to resist, then we are authorize to terminate you. If you understand then you can follow me to the campus' entrance where you will be transferred to a military squad which will take care of the rest.” When he heard the sentence, the boy looked like the world crumbled in front of his eyes. On the contrary, the other students, and especially the commoners, had a look of schadenfreude. “Good riddance!” “We're finally rid of him.” Guang Yang could hear a few mutters, and despite not being someone who enjoyed others' sufferings, he could not help but slightly agree. He felt a bit surprised by his feeling, but he chose to ignore it and instead thought about the topic that the instructor started earlier, without finishing. When the boy was brought away, the man turned towards the class while his face turned back to indifference. “Remember this kids. I won't tolerate any bullshit like that in my class. Instead, only hard work will be rewarded.” As he saw everyone nodded their heads solemnly, he continued. “Now. let's go back to the topic of Aura. What is Aura?”