17. Broadening Horizons

Long Yin felt the next three weeks pass in the blink of an eye. After successfully breaking through and stabilizing at middle of the second substage she found herself lost between practicing combat drills, studying school material that used to be University-level in her previous life and cultivating. The only time she ever had for relax were the lunch breaks. Today, however, was different. Today they only had a morning lecture with Headmaster where they would be going over structure of Galactic Universities, before they got released early for an almost 3-day weekend that would be followed by monthly assessment that would weed out the lazy students.

The school body slowly shuffled into the assembly hall while the Headmaster stood in the middle.

- Hello everyone. As today's lecture will be expecially important for your futures I'll be using Qi to enhance my voice so that everyone can hear me clearly.

-Today we'll be discussing your future educational choices. As you know our Empire is divided into two main factions - The Cultivators, mainly consisting of military and clans and the Civilian branch, that encompasses everything from city-level entertainment centres to vuisness empires spanning multiple solar systems. By comong to this school many of you ensured you'd be following the Cultivation branch. Even the worst of you still have enough talent to become bigger figures on the civilian side. The biggest difference between sides is technology and materials used. Technologically, the Civilian side is above Cultivation side, but the Cultivation side are the only ones capable of getting materials for the technology. While the Civilian technology is more sophisticated, the Cultivation is the stronger one in terms of firepower and effectiveness. The reason is simple - cultivation allows them to mitigate need for some equipment letting their technology focus on other aspects. For example, Civilian spaceships can replicate atmosphere of a habitable planet and contain entertainment for years of space travel. A cultivator's spaceship generally doesn't even have oxygen tanks since they can resist space suppression and Astral Qi. They are also smaller as cultivator only need few facilities as they spend most time cultivating.

- I'm telling this to you to help you decide. Those that don't want to give up the luxuries of civilian side should choose civilian universities, with your talents you might even get accepted to a Solar University that would ensure you a well paying job on any planet withing our solar system, or other local systems.

- Unlike Civilian side which only has two tiers of Universities - Planetary and Solar, the Cultivation side has 3 tiers. Those with poorest talents will only get to Planetary Universities, in which they might finish as Astral Adepts or Astral Warriors and get drafted to local military garrisons. Those with talent that don't qualify as geniuses will be able to join a Solar University in one of the local star systems. You're pretty much guaranteed to reach peak of Astral Adept and most will reach well into Astral Warrior tier upon graduation, with peak geniuses stepping into Astral Fighter stage. Then you'll join the common army force that keeps peace withing the Empire.

- Lastly 3, 4, mybe 5 of you will join the Galactic University test. There you'll either die or become part of the two courses: Elite and Prodigal. Elites will become part of the frontline army, most being Astral Fighters with few becoming Astral Masters and advancing their military rank. On the frontline Astral Fighters are cannon fodder, but the resources you can gain are also very rich, allowing you to advance further in your cultivation.

The Prodigal course should be the dream goal of all of you. While you'll face countless dangers, you'll also get peak nurturing of our Empire. Even last place dregs are guaranteed to graduate as Peak Astral Masters, with most graduating in late Astral Grandmaster stage. Then you'll become leaders of star sectors or high-tier military assets allowing you to drown in resources and a lot of freedom as you explore the Milky Way galaxy in the name of our Empire.

- There are 4 Galactic Universities based on the sector of the galaxy they are located in - Northern, Southern Eastern and Western. All of them are near the frontlines. As you know the Milky Way Galaxy is divided into Inner, Middle and Outer sectors going from the Centre. Our Human Empire Expanded mostly in the Inner and Middle sectors, until now conquering almost 50% of the Galaxy. The Southern University is in the Outer Sector, and siupports the Galaxy Rim Defensive fort. They are second in terms of resources but 1st in term of combat power, as they defend the Galaxy from outise forces. The Eastern and Western Universities are near borders of our half of the Middle Sector and supply those frontlines, while Nortern University is near the Galaxy Centre, supporting the frontline fighting against alien races for the rich resources of Inner Sector.

- The selection test for Galactic Universities is extremely stirct and takes almost two years. I want you all to carefully consider where you'll apply in the future. I'll also take this opportunity to announce that in 5 months aside from competiton for 15 ranks of the Elite class we'll be also having trials by combat in virtual reality, as you'll be joining school's combat leaderboards. With that final announcement this lecture is finished and you're free to go. Remember to cultivate, study and practice as those that fail evaluation 3 times will be first demoted to last of Regular Class and then expelled. To pass you need to show ANY kind of improvement, be it combat Arts or cultivation stage.

Both Long siblings exited the assembly hall deep in thought. They looked each other in the eyes and nodded. They'd both aim for Galactic Universities even more now. The only issue was to determine which Universiry to choose. Long Tian immediately excused himself, as apparently widening his horizons was enough to improve his mentality and loosen his bottleneck on the next stage.

Long Yin decided to use the Core Formation supplement and 3 days of free time to meditate and reach peak of second substage of Core Formation. She'd then stop cultivating and try to find opponents to fight until she naturally broke through to 3rd stage to stabilize her quickly increasing foundation. A visit home would unfortunately have to wait until next week.