Refinement

They all instantly nodded.

"Sit in meditative poses and in front of me."

They all followed his instructions and sat in meditative poses.

"Now, the key to sensing the elemental energy is to close your eyes, and clear your mind from any distracting thoughts. It doesn't matter what thoughts you have to a certain extent, but this will help you sense the elemental energy faster."

The five of them quickly closed their eyes, and tried to clear any distracting thoughts in their mind.

"Take deep breaths, slowly inhaling and exhaling the air."

Following his words, they took a deep breath while Old man Reid continued, "Concentrate on the sound and the sensation of your breathing."

Gradually, the five of them relaxed with clear minds.

"To help you gain an idea on what...elemental energy feels like, I'll traverse my elemental energy through each one of you."

The five of them could feel something foreign enter their bodies. They felt the foreign 'energy' disseminate through each and every single cell of their body. They could feel an unimaginable excitement coursing through their blood.

"What you're feeling right now is your body being thirsty. It's like an empty vessel for now, once you fill it up with elemental energy, you'll officially enter the road of the elemental mages." Old man Reid explained.

"You don't have to do much, depending on your talent, the elemental energy will be automatically absorbed by your body as long as you meditate."

"Once you absorb the elemental energy, you can slowly or quickly feel your body being filled up with abundant energy. So for now, absorb the energy into your body till you can no longer take in any more of it."

"I'll come after once again, to guide you kids through the next step. Work hard and make us proud." Old man Reid briefed them the cultivation basics and left the house.

Ash opened his eyes, "This is beyond phantasmagorical!"

Bryan opened his eyes and stared him weirdly.

"No playing around. Let's do this properly." Asif chided with his eyes closed.

"Fine." Ash complied and they quickly went back to meditating.

Asif could feel the elemental energy being rapidly absorbed into his body. 'Hmm, this is quick.' Asif thought. 'At this rate, I'll finish the process in an hour or so.'

'They feel so bubbly and somehow cute...' Alger happily thought as the elemental energy was being absorbed by him.

'ABOSRB! ABSORB! ABSORB!' Meanwhile, Ash was trying to make his body rapidly absorb the elemental energy. Bryan, with no distracting thoughts, calmly meditated and absorbed at a leisure pace.

On the other hand, Ray felt the difference in the elemental energy he was absorbing. 'Old man Reid's energy felt peaceful but the elemental energy I'm absorbing feels violent and chaotic at the same time.'

'But, I feel no discomfort at all...'

-After an hour or so-

Asif slowly opened his eyes, exhaling a deep breath.

'My body is full with energy. This feels amazing.' Asif thought while feeling out his body. 'It seems like they'll take some more time.'

After a few minutes, Ash and Bryan opened their eyes at the same time, their bodies brimming with energy. Ash was about to speak but Asif put a finger on his mouth indicating him to keep quiet and not disturb the others.

Asif then gestured them both to follow him out of the living room. They slowly and quietly got up to avoid making any sound so as to not disturb Algo and Ray. They went to an empty sandy area next to the house.

"What's up, Asif?" Ash asked.

"How do you guys feel right now?" Asif answered with a question.

"I feel like my body is full of energy, waiting to be released." Bryan responded.

"Same as him, my body feels full in a weird way. I can sense the elemental energy but I don't know what to do with it." Ash explained.

Meanwhile, just in the vicinity, Old man Reid stood ethereally, almost as if his presence was masked from the world.

'Alexander and I took a few hours to do it and they did it in an hour...' Old man Reid thought with joy.

"Are you done, kids?"

"What the fu-"

"Jesus, old man."

"You have to stop scaring us like that." Ash complained.

"I didn't get scared, although I am curious as to how you appeared without us knowing it." Asif pondered curiously.

"When you reach a certain realm, you can use the elemental energy stored in your body to perform different kinds of magic. What I did was the most basic level of hiding my presence."

"When can we learn it?"

"Yeah, yeah when?" All three of them were eager to learn how to mask their presence.

"Haha, in due time. For now, I can feel your bodies are filled with elemental energy."

"Yeah, Old man Reid. What are we supposed to do now?" Bryan asked.

"Now, you kids need to get familiar with controlling the elemental energy. They bend to your will. As long as you will it, you can control the elemental energy within your body. Remember, they are a part of you. So, talk to it, feel it, and control it."

'Talk to it...' Asif thought while trying to control the elemental energy in his body.

'This old man...what do you mean talk to it??' Ash grumbled before trying.

Bryan on the other hand, could control the elemental energy rather quick. He regulated it all over his body excitedly. At this moment, Algo and Ray woke up from their meditation and soon joined them.

'They finished really quick huh...' Ray sighed inside.

"What are they doing, old man?" Algo asked feeling extremely energetic.

"They're practicing the next step." Old man Reid said and soon instructed the both of them as well.

"Sup!" Ash greeted them and continued his practice. Ray and Algo also tried to control the elemental energy.

-After a few minutes-

The five brothers succeeded, barely, in controlling their elemental energy. Old man Reid nodded at their progress.

"Very good indeed. Now, let me brief you kids with the different elemental mage realms."

"Realms?" Bryan asked.

"Yes, to accurately identify someone's power level, we acknowledge their strength based on their realms. Right now, you kids aren't even at the first realm."

"The different realms are Elemental Neophyte, Elemental Conclave, Elemental Formation, Elemental Spirit, Elemental Master, and Elemental Lord. There are more above that, but let's not explore that now." Old man Reid briefed.

"From the first two realms, there are exactly 9 stages to go through before proceeding onto the next realm. After that, the other realms are classified into Low stage, Middle stage and High stage."

The others tried to digest the information and take note of the different realms.

"How powerful are you now, old man?" Ray curiously asked.

"Haha, I'm a Middle Stage Elemental Master." Old man Reid humbly answered.

"Coool..." Ash said in awe.

"Haha...don't mind this old fellow. All I know is that you kids will soon overtake us. C'mon, there's much to do." Old man Reid beckoned all of them to sit in a cross-legged position.

"To enter the Elemental Neophyte realm, you have to use the elemental energy stored inside and refine your body with it."

"But how do we refine our body?" Algo asked in confusion.

"R-Refine?? Will we feel any pain?" Ash was slightly scared.

"Don't worry, brat. You'll enjoy this kind of pain. It's moderately painful and extremely refreshing and potent at the same time." Old man Reid just smiled.

'This old man...' Ash gritted his teeth.

"To answer your question, Algo, just how you kids controlled your elemental energy, you can will it to refine the very structure of your body. Refining can help fortify your muscles, increase your bone density, clear out any impurities, invigorate your blood with ample vitality and overall increase your strength drastically."

"This is the transformation of your mortal vessel into something grand. But remember, endure the pain and focus on the benefits." Old man Reid explained.

"Go ahead and start with refining your muscles first." After receiving Old man Reid's confirmation, the five brothers focused and tried to refine their bodies.

""Ugh!"" From the looks of it, Asif and Bryan have started to refine their bodies.

'Damn, this is kinda painful but at the same time, it's somehow making me strong.' Bryan thought while enduring the pain.

Asif thought nothing and focused on refining his body. He directed the elemental energy stored in is body and started to refine his muscles. He could feel them being immortalized by the power of the elemental energy, making his body slowly powerful.

Very shortly after, the rest of the them also followed Asif and Bryan. They all exhibited signs of pain on their faces but they pushed through and endured hard. They knew the amount of pain they were facing would amount to nothing in the future.

Ever since they came into the orphanage, they have learned to be hard willed and smart. They had no-one else to rely on apart from Old man Reid but they didn't want to burden him too much.

'This is painful...' Algo grimaced in pain, while his forehead was full of sweat.

"Come on brats. I believe in you, you kids can do this." Old man Reid encouraged them.

-After two pain-filled hours-

The five of them laid on the ground while breathing heavily. They could feel an enormous amount of strength stored in their muscles, ready to burst forth.

"Well done, young lads." Old man Reid praised them. "How do you kids feel?"

"O-Old man, I feel fucking amazing." Ash said with vigor.

"Same!" Ray added with the rest nodding along with him.

"Haha, congratulations. You kids have officially stepped into the 1st stage of being an Elemental Neophyte." Old man Reid heartily complimented them.

"We're actual mages now..." Asif said.

"I've started my path to discover and create new food." Algo passionately said.

"All I wanna do is beat Bryan's ass." Ash proclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Try me." Bryan confidently retorted.

While they were squabbling and dreaming, Ray silently made his conviction. 'I'm gonna practice twice as hard to protect these idiots.'

"I'm glad you're enjoying this, but that's only the 1st stage." Old man Reid continued.

"The first three stages will be focused on refining your muscles. You'll feel it when it is time to move on to the next stage. Stages 4-6 will be focused on refining your blood and stages 7-9 will be aimed at refining your bones."

"Good luck, I will be back tomorrow to monitor you progress." Old man Reid bade them a goodbye and left the house.

"Ugh..." Ash suddenly groaned.

"What's with you?" Ray asked.

"I have a feeling that it's going to be more painful the further up we go." Ash complained.

"So what? I have a feeling that we're going to be dumped with some big bullshit later on." Bryan said.

"I agree with Bryan. From the conversations I've heard, it's pretty clear that our world is not the only one with intelligent lifeforms." Asif added on.

"I mean, I wasn't paying attention but knowing you, it must be true." Ash believed him.

"Other intelligent lifeforms huh..." Ray pondered.

"You think maybe they'll have a tongue down there...?" Ash said while pointing at his crotch.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Bryan stupefied.

"No no, he's right. I also wonder how the females look like..." Ray thought in fascination.

"Exactly! We can finally broaden our horizon." Ash said.

"You idiots..." Bryan shook his head.

"Alright alright, we can focus on the aliens after some time." Asif interrupted their fantasy.

"Yeah, let's proceed with the refining and quickly get strong." Bryan said.

"What are waiting for then? Let's continue." Ray sat down cross-legged and continued to refine his body. Seeing him continue, the rest stupidly quickly followed him and continued to refine their bodies.

-Meanwhile somewhere far away in a dark imperceptible place-

"It has begun..." A wizened old aged male voice echoed through the void.

"We must prepare." A female ethereal voice soon followed after.

"Let's begin..." Soon after, the place became eerily quiet, devoid of any sound.