When the entire valley started trembling, cultivators that came into the valley to hunt for beasts rushed out from within the cave they were in and were greeted by the large beam of light which then magnified in size to enshroud the entire valley. The light was so intense they had to close their eyes or it could fry their retina.
Alex on the mountain peak was first shaken in terror by the trembling of the whole valley, it was like an enraged primitive beast of fathomless size was climbing up, tearing out from the earth. And when the pillar of light appeared, and increased in range to swallow up the entire valley in it brilliance, Alex, whose eyes suddenly revealed abstruse patterns in it caused him to withstand the retina-burning splendor.
Then he saw a beautiful lady within that pillar of light. Due to the patterns that surfaced in his eyes, he could make out that the lady was dressed in a gorgeous white gown and was one of the most beautiful lady he had ever seen.
He was awed, such beauty. The way it was portrayed to him, was like an immortal goddess of beauty descending to world of mortals. Bathing in that light made her look like an embodiment of beauty.
He looked up at her for sometime before the lady vanished. Alex instantly became unhappy. He became depressed because he hadn't seen to his fill. He grumbled asking why she would disappear. He sat on the mountain peak and recalled that beauty. He wished he was already incredibly strong, he would fly up to meet her so they could sail away in love.
When he recollected himself, after vowing to grow stronger very quickly, he slowly floated from the mountain peak back to the ground. Then he went back into the cave dug by the adventurer team into a mountain.
He walked into the cave and met them sitting and discussing happily. There was roasted, oily meat in their hands and alcoholic fruit-taste wines in wine cups placed on the ground. It was like they were merrying. Their state of mind was good.
"Hello. Seniors" Alex greeted. "hmm!" they nodded. Being an intelligent kid, he knew what was up. "I guess seniors were able to slay that rank-4 beasts" he said. "Exactly. We did. Come, come merry with us boy" one of them said.
Alex immediately went to join them. He sat on the floor beside one of them and was given a meat. He bit it with the oil staining his lips, chewed it and swallowed it down. The meat tasted really delicious. Then he was handed a wine cup. With several gulps, he swallowed it all down. This turned to fire in his throat and chest.
His white face turned bright red for sometime before it returned to normal in the next second. "Impressive" one said. Alex could quickly recover from the effect of a strong alcoholic wine in seconds. They hailed him wholeheartedly and handed him more.
He drank and drank as he was handed the wine cups, then to the point it started looking unusual, strange. How could a kid drink twenty cups of such wine that would greatly intoxicate them and still look the same, the redness on his face never appeared again. It was like he was drinking ordinary water.
As of now, after drinking eight cups, they became tipsy. But they were still slightly conscious of what they were doing and what was occurring before them made them to be greatly shocked.
Alex then stopped. He had a smile on his face that spoke of satisfaction. He enjoyed the fruit wine very much. He looked at these people and saw that they were intoxicated and were looking at him with weirdness.
He felt awkward, and to dispel the feeling of awkwardness, he asked. "Did any of you see that goddess-like lady in that pillar of light?". These people looked at him and then recalled all the events associated with that pillar of light. They looked at him and laughed.
"What are seniors laughing over?" Alex asked and in a dumbfounded manner. "lady? What lady is that?" Ken asked and laughed. Alex's mind reeled. "It can't be only me that saw that lady right?" he asked inwardly.
"There was a lady in that pillar of light. She wore white gown. Perhaps the trembling of the entire valley was caused by her cultivation breakthrough" Alex intelligently replied.
"Boy, there was no lady. Perhaps you were fantasizing. Haha" Ken said and laughed, and the others joined him.
Amidst their raucous laughter, Alex felt embarrassed. Well, his eyes couldn't deceive him. He believed he saw a lady in that beam and it was no illusion or imagination, she was real.
"I saw her but why couldn't they see her? Why was she revealed to me alone? Or is it those god eyes?" Alex asked in his mind.
As he was lost in thought, these people suddenly fell asleep collapsing to the ground.
"Huh?!" Alex was taken aback. He quickly stood up and hurried to Ken's side. Then he saw Ken was breathing with his eyes closed and a smile was plastered in his face. It was like he was having a nice dream. "He actually, suddenly fell asleep?". Then he looked at the others and saw they were all asleep.
He exhaled relaxedly. They were just sleeping. Nothing happened to them. But the manner in which they fell asleep was abrupt and weird to him.
With no one to discuss to, he came out of the cave and sat on the floor. He looked at the stars in the sky and prepared to cultivate starforce energy (astroforce energy or astral-energy).
His dad's self-invented methodology, 'Great Stellar Methodology', An A-grade (Supernal Battle Entity-grade) duality methodology was now in his possession and he had been greatly itching to study it.
He needed to understand the stars and the energy they emitted before he could enter attunement with it, so he could cultivate it. But he just couldn't. The book had so many clues written down by his dad for him but he wasn't able to understand the essence of the stars yet, the mysteries of their blinding and world-ruining energy. It was frustrating. Being one of the strongest energy in the realmverse, it essence was extremely profound. But patience was the best.
Whoosh!
As he was lost in his contemplative thoughts about cultivation. He suddenly heard a whoosh sound and this brought him out of his absent-mindedness.