Arthur was woken up by something squishy pressing against his cheek. He did not open his eyes right away, but his mind was already jolted awake with possibilities running through it. He wasn't ready to face them.

*Squeeze*

It nudged him a few times, and Arthur steeled himself, "There's no running away. I'd rather take my chance and wake up than stay asleep and wake up with a katar on my throat."

Arthur opened his eyes, but what welcomed him was not what he expected. Karina was pressing its paw on his cheeks, nudging him to wake up.

"Woah!" he screamed in surprise, falling from the couch.

Layla was already in her uniform, with a stern face and all. "Get ready. Breakfast is on the table. Eat it on the way."

Arthur didn't need any preparation as he already took a bath before sleep, and he was wearing his uniform as he had no other clothes; Tamara had disposed of his old ones for him.

He quickly took the sandwich on the table and a piece of meat for Rat beside his sandwich, then followed Layla out of the apartment.

"Thank you for the food, sergeant," he said gratefully as he threw the piece of meat to his bond.

"It's nothing. Anyway, you are gonna be late. If I don’t see you in the barracks within 5 minutes, then you will be punished," she said with a stony face before jumping on Karina and riding it toward the military compound.

"Damn it! I thought she got nicer. I was wrong!" Arthur picked Rat up and ran toward the barracks while chewing on his breakfast.

By the time Arthur arrived at the 4th squad's meeting room, everyone else was already there, waiting for him.

His squadmates were staring at him with questioning glances, "How was last night, Arthur? Looks like you did not get enough sleep," Simon teased him with a grin.

"Private Simon, did I allow you to speak?" Layla questioned the cheeky Simon.

"No, ma’am," Simon hurriedly said.

"Since you like to chat with Private Arthur, then I suppose you are not against having the same punishment as him, right?" The sergeant left no room for any come back.

"No, ma’am."

"Good. Then since Arthur is late, he will be running five laps around the yard after today’s training, and Simon will run with him," Layla decided.

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Arthur's face turned ashen. The yard was so large that he basically needed to run five times around the military compound!

"Is there any objection?" She glared at both Arthur and Simon.

"No, ma’am," they replied in unison.

"Then take a seat. We are having some theoretical lessons for today, and tomorrow you will demonstrate what we learned today!" she turned serious, causing the recruits to scramble to their seats.

"Today, you will learn about cultivation. I know some of you already know about cultivation, but this is a mandatory part of our training to fix any misconceptions that you have, so you better listen carefully." She dragged a blackboard from the corner and started to scribble on it.

"Kale, can you tell us what stages there are in our cultivation?" She questioned.

"Uh... As far as I know, it's Deviation realm, Amplification realm, Integration realm, and Transformation realm," Kale nervously said.

"That's right, but Transformation realm is not the end. The highest recorded realm is the stage after Transformation realm, which is Monarch realm," Layla added for him.

"Let's start from the beginning. Each realm is divided into ten minor realms, and the last realm is called the peak."

"Athena, can you explain what the Deviation realm is?" the sergeant turned to the silent girl, purposely wanting her to talk.

"Deviation realm is when the bonds deviate from their nature. There are certain chances to deviate their trait on each minor realm advancement, while each deviation will bring physical changes to the bond," Athena stoically answered.

"That's correct but incomplete. Let's start with our system so all of you can understand easily. The Animal cultivation system allows everyone to cultivate, unlike traditional cultivation, which depends on talent and spirit roots," Layla explained.

"In our world, only one in a million is born with a spirit root, so traditional cultivation is not popular. But we can take traditional cultivation as a comparison. Deviation realm is comparable to the first realm in traditional cultivation, which is called Qi gathering realm."

"But different than Qi gathering realm cultivators, who from its name you can guess, gather Qi in their body to increase their realm, Deviation realm cultivators do not have or need spirit roots, so their bond becomes a replacement, gathering Qi in their bonds."

"The chance to deviate a trait in each minor realm advancement is not based on luck, but on how much Qi your bond has during the advancement!" Layla enlightened them.

"This is big! If I can gather enough Qi, then deviating every trait is not a dream! I can turn Rat into an Apex Predator!" Arthur got excited.

While Arthur was lost in his thoughts, Simon raised his hand, "Ma’am, which is stronger, Traditional cultivators or Animal Cultivators?"

"There is no clear answer to this, as there are strong animal cultivators and weak ones, similarly with traditional cultivators. But Animal cultivators are definitely superior!"

"First, everyone can be an animal cultivator, and the second reason, the biggest reason is Animal cultivators don’t need to gather Qi from the environment or enlightenment like traditional cultivators. Animal cultivators can get Qi from killing spirit beasts, which allows Animal cultivators to increase their power relatively quickly compared to traditional ones."

"But of course, there is a limit. The reason there are only a few Monarch realm animal cultivators and no one has yet gotten beyond the realm is that to gather enough Qi, they need to hunt the same or higher realm spirit beasts!" Layla’s explanation was meticulous, but there was just so much information that Arthur could barely keep up with her.

"In exchange for quick progression, Animal Cultivators need to risk their lives and their bond’s lives to get stronger!" The sergeant turned to look at Arthur, as if telling him to risk his life and get stronger.

"I don’t need to be the strongest; I just need to have enough strength so I won’t starve!" Arthur convinced himself.