Training

Instructor Issa was teacher her class but she soon notices everyone was cultivating after being spurred from her speech and the five geniuses.

'It is good that they have the motivation...but they need some combat experience.' Instructor Issa thought.

She clapped her hands to garner their attention and announced, "Cultivating is a good thing but it is also necessary to have some combat experience. Now, follow me!"

"Where are you taking us, Teach'?" Ray curiously asked.

"I'm glad you asked. We're going to the combat hall where another friend of mine will teach you how to fight." Instructor Issa answered.

"Finally, we're gonna learn some combat techniques." Bryan excitedly said.

"Why are you excited for that though?" Algo asked.

"It's because he wants to fight me." Ash annoyingly said.

"He's right." Bryan nodded.

"Don't forget, I want to fight all of you." Asif said before following the others to the Combat hall.

"Here we go again..." Ray muttered.

Soon enough, they entered another building and saw a wide spacious hall with no windows and light being illuminated through magic. In the middle of the hall, a woman stood straight with an unbeatable presence and stared at the incoming group of students.

'This is going to be fun...' The woman thought.

"Welcome to the Combat hall!" Instructor Issa showed the Combat hall to the students. The students were looking around the spacious hall but they soon noticed it was empty apart from the woman standing in the center of the hall.

"Excuse me, Ms. Issa. Why is the hall so empty?" Melissa asked.

"Haha, when you reach the second realm, naturally you'll be able to access certain sections of this hall. But for now, we'll be focusing on your pure fighting capabilities." Instructor Issa explained.

"Understood, Ms. Issa." Melissa nodded.

At this time, the woman approached the group putting their attention on her and said, "I'll take it from here, Issa."

"Have fun, students and thank you." Instructor Issa thanked her.

"No worries, you know I love this." The woman said.

"Take it easy on them." Instructor Issa informed.

"You know, I always do." The woman smiled.

'That's what I'm worried about...' Instructor Issa wryly thought before leaving the hall to attend some other matters.

"I'm Instructor Mariah and I'm here to train you to fight." Instructor Mariah briefed.

"Now you may have some fighting capabilities or you may not, it doesn't matter. I'll make sure you remember how to fight properly." Instructor Mariah smilingly said.

"Why do I feel like this is gonna be torture?" Ray said with foreboding.

"She looks like a demon from hell, so we're definitely fucked." Ash said.

"What if she heard you just now?" Bryan asked.

"Nah, I don't think she did." Ash casually said.

"You there, the one who called me a demon. Come up." Instructor Mariah pointed at Ash and beckoned him over.

"..." Ash was rooted on the spotted and the rest tried stifle their laughter.

"Good luck." Cristina wished him.

'Fuck me...' Ash slowly walked to the front of the group and stood before Instructor Mariah.

"I'm a demon huh?" Instructor Mariah smirked.

"Ha...Ha...you misunderstood me, Ms. Mariah. I was complimenting how strong and amazing you are!" Ash babbled.

"All the more reason for you to be grateful that I selected you first. Also, I'm married so it's Mrs. Mariah to you and everyone." Instructor Mariah slowly said.

Ash and the rest of the group hurriedly nodded. Instructor Mariah and Ash stood a few feet apart slightly away from the group of students.

"Try to land a hit on me, if you can."

"Huh? Is that it?" Ash confusedly asked.

"You think it's easy?" Instructor Mariah grinned.

"Um, yeah?"

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" Instructor Mariah nonchalantly gestured.

"He's gonna be fucked, isn't he?" Bryan rhetorically asked.

"Let's take this time to analyze the fight." Asif said while keenly observing their fight.

Suddenly, Ash speedily took off from his previous position and reached before Instructor Mariah while aiming to deliver a right handed punch towards her stomach. Instructor Mariah stood still before reaching her left hand to block the incoming punch.

"C'mon kiddo, you gotta do better than that." Instructor Mariah smiled before twisting her hand, flinging Ash roughly a few metres away.

"Ugh..." Ash got up and ran towards her to throw another right handed punch but before Instructor Mariah could block it, Ash retracted his punch and rotated his body to deliver a left legged kick to her face.

*Thud*

The leg was blocked by her right arm, a few inches away from her face. Instructor Mariah then grabbed his leg and again roughly flung him away.

"Not bad for a feint, too bad in my eyes, you're too slow." Instructor Mariah praised.

'Ugh, my leg kinda hurts...' Ash groaned. 'How powerful is her body!'

"Come on, let's continue." Instructor Mariah smiled.

-After a few hours-

A red haired woman could be seen standing straight on the floor riddled with the tired and beaten bodies of Class 10.

"Remember, true combat can only be earned and experienced through actual fighting. You'll thank me later." Instructor Mariah explained.

"Now, go and rest up for tomorrow's session."

""Ughhh..."" The group of students, on the other hand, groaned in pain and annoyance.

"Haha..bye bye." Instructor Mariah bade the students a farewell and left the Combat hall.

"Fuck me, she is worse than a demon..." Ray complained with a bruised face.

"I pity her husband." Ash annoying said.

"Nah nah, she might be fiery in bed." Ray stated.

"I think you guys need to get beaten up more..." Bryan said while looking at them two.

"Interesting..." Asif said.

"What's so interesting?" Ash asked.

"I feel like my fighting techniques have improved." Asif informed.

"Yeah yeah, but when you can perform magic, who'd want to train their fighting techniques?" Ash mockingly said.

"Don't skip on the combat training otherwise I'll train with you again after Instructor Mariah's session." Asif calmly said.

"Oh man..." Ash accepted defeat.

*Snore*

"...and he is sleeping!" Bryan said while pointing at Algo.

"Come on, let's go home. The others are leaving too." Ray said.

"I'll carry Algo." Asif stood up and lifted Algo's sleeping body with ease and placed him over his shoulders.

"Very nice..." Ash said before following his brothers to home.

-After a few minutes-

They soon reached the beach house and sat down to cultivate. Asif placed Algo on his bed and joined the others to cultivate.

Ash was cultivating when he noticed that his body was slightly getting better after absorbing the elemental energy. He could feel his bruises slowly subsiding and his tiredness fading away.

"Are you guys feeling better too?" Ash opened his eyes and asked the others.

"Yep!" Ray replied while Bryan and Asif nodded, continuing their cultivation.

Ray continued to absorb the energy and refine his body. Finally, he reached the 3rd stage but he could feel something weird tingling around him.

'What the fuck is this...' Ray pondered. 'It feels so woozy woozy...oh wait!'

He tried to sense the same feeling again but it was slowly dissipating.

'I'm pretty sure that was my space element acting up somehow...'

"You good, Ray?" Asif asked, eyes open, when he saw Ray frowning.

"Yeah, it's just the pain. I'mma continue cultivating." Ray continued to eagerly cultivate. Asif pondered for a bit before continuing to breakthrough to the next stage.

-Meanwhile on the bed-

"Augh..." Algo slowly stretched his upper body and opened his eyes.

"Man, that was a good nap. Oh, where are the others..." Algo got up, rubbing his eyes and went out to see the four cultivating in harmony.

'These hardworking cuties, might as well join them.' Algo cheerily observed before joining them.

"Had a good sleep, Algo?" Ash heard some rustling and saw it was Algo.

"Yup! I came to join you guys to cultivate." Algo nodded and sat amongst them.

"Better late than never." Bryan mumbled.

-Meanwhile somewhere not far away from the beach house-

Two silhouettes could be seen on a tall mountain, observing the beach house and the shenanigans of its residents. They were the Director and Old man Reid.

"It seems they are not slacking off." The Director said in satisfaction.

"They always do everything with full effort." Old man Reid said with pride.

"Haha, it seems we're in good hands."

"*Sigh*" Old man Reid sighed.

"Why are you despondent?" The Director asked.

"You know why, Alexander?"

"Haha, it's only for that? You know we have to officially confirm our status and arrangement to them." Alexander laughed lightly.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Old man Reid offered.

"Who do you think I am? I'm not some measly old man. If they want to rile me up, they'd better prepare for the consequences." Alexander roughly grunted.

"That, I have no doubt." Old man Reid wryly smiled.

Alexander looked up to the sky and said, "Keep them safe, Waylon. It's time for me to go meet the Universe Alliance..."

-Back at the beach house-

After a few hours of cultivating, they had a collective breakthrough. Asif, Bryan, Algo and Ash reached the 4th stage while Ray was close to breaking through to the 4th stage.

"Let's rest for a bit and then practice our combat skills." Asif stated before entering the house.

"It's constant practicing just to be strong..." Ash complained.

"I know right, why can't things be so easy? That way I'll sit at home, eating ice-cream and watching a cartoon." Bryan mockingly mimicked Ash. Algo and Ray laughed out loud.

"Now, I can't wait to beat your ass." Ash piercingly stared at Bryan.

"Bring it on!" Bryan stared back, equally intense.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, the two quickly entangled themselves in a messy but intricate fight.

"I guess they started early." Ray nonchalantly said.

"I don't wanna fight, so I'mma sit back." Algo said while eating some chips.

"It's because you don't wanna fight Asif, yeah?" Ray dryly smiled.

"Hehe..." Algo put out his tongue.

"I'm back." Asif came out from the house. "I see they both already started. Impressive!"

"Come, let's fight, Asif." Ray did not want to waste any time.

"Let's do it."

They stood facing each other and got into their combat stances. Asif launched himself forward and threw a right-handed punch at Ray's chest. Ray put out his left hand to block the incoming punch while throwing a right-handed hook at Asif's face.

Seeing the incoming right hook from Ray, Asif put up his left hand to guard the punch and jumped away from Ray.

Ray quickly followed up and did a low leg sweep, aiming to knock his balance off. Asif jumped up dodging the leg sweep, closely avoiding it. While in midair, he adjusted his body to maneuver a flying roundhouse kick.

Ray who couldn't react on time, felt the brute force of the kick impacting his left shoulder, skidding back a few metres. Without wasting any words and time, Asif rapidly followed to take advantage of the situation.

Sensing Asif was coming close, Ray took a deep breath to ignore the slight pain on his shoulder and put up his arm for guarding. Asif reached and swiftly sent another right-handed punch towards Ray's bruised shoulder.

Ray ducked and threw an uppercut. Asif pulled back slightly, narrowly dodging the uppercut and aimed a kick at Ray's bruised shoulder again. Ray put up his left hand to block the incoming kick, he blocked the kick, albeit painfully.

Before Asif could retract his leg back, Ray instantly grabbed the leg with both his hands, and twisted it making Asif lose his balance. While Asif was trying to control his balance, Ray delivered a right-legged kick at Asif's face.

Asif could not dodge the kick and tried to block it, but he was slightly late and the kick connected with Asif's left cheek, sending him flying a few feet away.

*Huff Huff*

Ray was breathing roughly while staring at Asif on the ground with intense and focused eyes. Bryan and Ash had long since stopped their fight and was intently staring at the two taking it away.

"W-What the fuck..." Ash was flabbergasted.

"That was intense..." Bryan was equally amazed.

"That was coool!!" Algo cheered and clapped.

Asif slowly got up from the ground and wiped away the dirt on his face. He felt the bruise on his left cheek and stared at Ray. He smiled and said, "Let's continue!"