When one of the students suggested it, everyone looked at her with surprise.
"Aria, isn't it better to go home and cultivate?" The other student asked.
"But if we cultivate here, we can check each other's progress. Our progress won't be huge, but we can at least understand what speed of progression is fast and what speed is considered slow."
"We have been classmates for almost nine years now. While some of us did join later, we don't have to hide our cultivation speed. We can't hide it either."
"Anyway, it's just a suggestion. If you don't agree, you can go home."
Aria spoke and sat crossed on top of the table.
Others looked at her and made their decisions.
Some chose to leave. Only a few, though.
Most of them decided to stay, including Ken.
When those students sat on their tables and started meditating, a strange energy began to gather in the classroom.
At first, the energy was very hazy, so it didn't make any disturbance. But when the students began to devour the energy at a crazy rate, the more Natural Energy started to enter the classroom.
It was even creating a powerful wind. Fortunately, the windows were opened, so energy entered the room and was absorbed by the students.
Ken was also absorbing Natural Energy at a very fast pace. Especially due to the sheer size of his Spiritual Planet, the amount of energy was several times more than others.
But he was refining energy very slowly.
The process of refining energy required him to constantly spin the Natural Energy into the center of his Spiritual Planet.
Upon doing so, he would use control of the gravity of the Spiritual Planet to affect the spinning Natural Energy.
Because Natural Energy was simply the mixture of Spiritual Energy and impurities that remained in the air, this process would pull down all the impurities.
Spiritual Energy in its basic form has no mass, just like a photon. But unlike a photon, Spiritual Energy didn't move at the Speed of Light.
Spiritual Energy could gain mass by combining several particles of spiritual energy, but on its own, the Spiritual Energy was tiny and massless.
Because of this, the process of refining Spiritual Energy required him to separate Spiritual Energy from Natural Energy and constantly combine them.
This process was similar to Nuclear Fusion except it was done with the help of Spiritual Planet's gravity.
This whole process could've been avoided if he had a good relationship with his Astral Being.
Astral Being could simply purify the Natural Energy and refine it into Spiritual Energy in just a few minutes.
Because of this, many students managed to gather quite a lot of Spiritual Energy.
Two Hours Later;
Ken opened his eyes and saw only a few students in the classroom. He looked at the student next to him and asked.
"David, how long has it been?"
"Dude, you have been cultivating for two hours. Many of us found it boring and left the task to our Astral Being and left. By the way, how much Spiritual energy did you refine?"
David was a tall young man with brown hair and tanned skin. Ken had no best friends or close friends.
Almost every student in the class was his friend, but nothing special.
"Pitifully low. How much did you?" Ken asked while replying.
"Hmm! Let me check!"
David closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them a few seconds later.
"I have made a stick with my Spiritual Energy. The stick is almost ten feet wide and ten feet tall."
Hearing that, Ken nodded.
"Mine is much less than that. I tried running Basic Energy Refining Technique the whole time."
Aria interjected.
"Wait, you were using the Basic Energy Refining Technique? Don't you know that's very inefficient and should only be used when you have enough control over your Spiritual Energy."
Ken nodded and said.
"I did read that part, but if I can refine my Spiritual Energy without the help of my Astral Being, it would make my control better. We still have two more years before graduation."
Another girl spoke.
"But Ken, you are forgetting the main reason why we are given two years for preparation. You need to reach the strength of E-Rank Hunter before graduation."
"Yeah, I heard if you can't reach E-Rank Hunter strength before graduation, you won't have any chances of joining the Warlock Association and can only become a part-time hunter."
Another student chimed in.
"Ken doesn't have to worry about all of this, right, Ken?" A student walked towards Ken and patted his shoulder while looking smug.
"What do you mean?" Aria narrowed her eyes and asked.
"Since there have only been a few hundred years of history of cultivation, most of the students don't have a powerful background. But Ken has one. His father is a part of an Executive Official of the Warlock Association."
"What?"
"Is that true, Ken?"
"Man, you have such a powerful father."
Other students were stunned and amazed at the same time. They were also envious of his background.
"Wait, how did you know his father, Sam?" David asked.
"Because we are neighbors."
Sam replied with an arrogant expression as if Ken's father were his father.
"But, you two aren't that close." Aria spoke.
This instantly embarrassed Sam as he rubbed the back of his head and said.
"That's because he doesn't like my attitude. Look, I am a cool and attractive guy. He is a gloomy and not-so-attractive guy."
Hearing that, the girls looked at two of them and immediately replied.
"Nope! You are just shameless."
"So, does that mean Ken can afford a lot of resources from the Warlock Association?" A curious-looking girl asked, with a gleam in her eyes.
She looked a bit too similar to Aria, with similar black pupils and black hair. The only difference was that her face was slightly rounder than Aria's.
"No, I can't. The only resources I am allowed to have are spells. Any and all resources that can speed up one's cultivation are highly prohibited by the government at the early stage of one's cultivation."
"Because the growth in the early stage represents one's talent and hard work, if you are caught using resources unscrupulously, then you might not get good results in the graduation or even be banned from cultivation in extreme conditions."
Ken replied immediately before they could get any wrong ideas.
"Oh!"
"That means rich people's kids can't cheat, right?"
"Didn't you hear? They can still take some resources to speed up their cultivation."
"I think it is more related to strength rather than cultivation, right?"
At this moment, Ken nodded and replied.
"I don't know about those pills, but I believe those that can improve one's comprehension are allowed. After all, Miss Rose just told us about them."
"What about spells?" Aria curiously asked.
Ken glanced at Sam, who immediately turned his head away and spoke.
"Because both of my parents are powerful hunters, they have immediate access to a plethora of spells from Level One and Level Nine."
"It costs 1000 Astral Points to buy a Level One Spell. So, if you don't have enough money to buy one, you would be spending your time working as a part-time hunter."
"And when you become a Part-time hunter, strength is most necessary. If you think relying on gaining strength right now would be sufficient, then you are mistaken."
"Over three people out of thousands die in a part-time hunt every day. That number might sound small, but you are working alone as a part-timer."
"If you make a single mistake, you would be one of those three. So, it's better to learn the basics as quickly as possible. Of course, my situation is different. So, you don't have to listen to my advice."
Saying so, Ken stood up and put the bag on his back before walking out.
After he left, there was a long silence in the classroom.
"1000 AP! That's more than my parents' yearly savings. Is there no way to get a Spell for free?"
One of the students spoke. His expression was filled with sadness.
"There is." Sam replied, which brought everyone's attention to him.
"Ken isn't wrong about one thing. Basics are important. There is a special rank called 'False Hunter'. Even if you don't participate in part-time hunts for money, you can still participate in False Hunter Competition."
"But, you have to rank at least in the top ten among hundreds of part-time hunters to get free access to spells."
At this moment, David asked.
"Can't we share spells like our homework?"
Sam chuckled and shook his head.
"You are not allowed to share Spells. You know, even serious fights between students aren't prohibited by the government. Because conflicts breed two results. Either it dampens one's confidence or it makes them work harder."
"So, you either completely stop trying to be a hunter, which gives your part of the resources to those who can start working harder. It's like killing two birds with one stone."
"And, Spells are one of the ways to bring more competition between students."