The next day, after a quick breakfast, Athar arrived in the classroom for the theory class.
He occupied the same seat at the rear, he had occupied the previous day, and though he had kept himself away from any sort of friendship for now, he could see the formation of small groups or pairs in the class.
The class was noisier and more chaotic than the previous day, and sounds of consistent chatter echoed in the room.
The arrival of Vale brought a sense of silence as everyone took their seats, and he assumed his position behind the podium.
"Hello, everyone," he greeted warmly. "A very warm good morning to you all."
"Today will be the day when we start our theory lessons. In the beginning, we will keep things slow and start from the very basics."
"I know there might be a lot of you who might already be knowledgeable about what I will be teaching, especially during the initial few classes, but I expect complete cooperation from you all," he said. "I would not like it if the class is disturbed because you were too impatient or too knowledgeable."
"On the contrary, I would suggest you all listen carefully, and maybe I could provide a new perspective about certain things you already know," he added.
"And if you have any doubt, please raise your hands, and I will come back to you."
"Now, the very first thing I want to discuss is," he said as he wrote on the board and repeated the same word, "CULTIVATION."
"Before I talk about what cultivation is, let me ask: Why do we cultivate? What need do we have to cultivate? Anyone?"
At his question, many hands went up, and Vale pointed to a skinny boy.
"We cultivate to gain power," he answered.
"Gain power," a fine reason. "But something more?"
A hand went up, and a girl was selected by Vale.
"To avoid mana poisoning," she replied.
"Another fine reason," Vale smiled. "But not really. Once you get bound to your beast, our companion, even if we do not cultivate, we will not suffer from mana poisoning except in certain circumstances."
The girl flushed, and Vale continued, "But I get your point. But is even that necessary? Can't we simply get our veins bound and get away from the hassle of cultivating?"
"Absurd it sounds?" he said with a chuckle, and the students subconsciously nodded. "After all, who would be willing to leave the path of more power and choose the path of weakness and exploitation?"
"But let me rephrase the question. Why does humanity, as a whole, keep pushing itself further and further in pursuit of strength? Can humanity, even if it wants to, one fine day decide that we will no longer cultivate? After all, cultivation is not an easy task. We risk our lives in search for better chances. A myriad of conflict emerges and so many problems."
A murmur spread in the class at Vale's question.
"The answer is a big no," Vale boomed loudly, silencing the class. "Not because of greed for power, but because of survival."
"No doubt, humans are inherently evil and greedy, and no one would be willing to give up on a chance of more power. But here, apart from power, there is something much greater involved. And that is survival. Survival of humanity."
Vale stopped speaking as the class hung on every word. He turned around and drew an image on the board. Athar narrowed his eyes as he recognised the image.
First, he had drawn a large circle inside which he had drawn a smaller circle—a pair of concentric circles. Inside the inner circle, Vale had drawn two lines, vertical and horizontal, which divided the inner circle into four equal sectors. This was an image of the world in which Athar resided. At least, it was what was known to humans.
"I hope you all recognise this image," Vale said, at which the class subconsciously nodded. "This is our world which we call as Magnum."
"These four parts or sectors of the circle are the four empires of our world," he informed. "And yes, keep in mind, the lines of the actual borders are not as smooth as I have drawn."
"Of this, The Royal Winged Empire," he said, pointing at the northwest sector, "is the empire in which we live."
"We will talk about the other three empires in the future. Right now, our focus is on this strip of land," he continued as he placed his fingers on the space of the land between the two circles.
"What is it?" he questioned.
"Forbidden Forest," was the reply that echoed in the class.
"Yes, this is the Forbidden Forest," Vale nodded. "And what is so special about it?"
"There are forests; large amounts of areas inside the four empires are covered by forest. We have one nearby our city also. But all these forests are not immeasurable. You and I might be too weak to travel through the entire forests, but there are people who can traverse these forests with ease. Even the strongest beast of these forests would be no match for our strongest warriors."
"But this Forbidden Forest," Vale said in a slightly sombre tone, "has no end."
"No human has ever seen the end of this forest. We have gone a long way inside the forest, but no one has ever reached its end."
"This line you see," he continued, pointing at the outer circle, "is a mere assumption that at some place this forest must be ending. What is at the other end of the forest… we do not know. There may be another civilisation, quite possibly. Some other thing, who knows?"
He continued, "The beasts lurking within the forests are extremely dangerous. They are bloodthirsty, and most importantly, their number is almost infinite."
"You can go on a killing spree inside the Forbidden Forest, and yet you will feel that the number has not lessened in the slightest."
"Now do you understand why it is important for humanity to continue cultivating? Continue getting stronger? Because we have no other option."
"If we get weak, the beasts will overrun our cities and population," Vale finished.
"But for a few people, the Forbidden Forest is a gold mine. It is overflowing with treasures: rare herbs, mines for mana crystals, rare beasts, their body parts, and their cores. Everything."
The class listened in rapt attention and Athar was more focused than anybody else. The other students might have had learnt of few things from their parents or some elsewhere but Athar had no knowledge apart from bits and pieces of information.
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