Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Finally, it's over." Alex took out his phone to look at the time and realized it was 10 pm. His stomach was starting to growl a little.

GRRR

He heard a stomach growl from his side too. He turned left to find Emily's face nearly red in the studio light from the embarrassment. He chuckled a little and said, "You must be hungry as well. I haven't eaten anything since during the day."

Emily chose to say nothing. A staff member came by hauling everyone out through the side door.

Alex met Hannah who was outside, along with the other 12 people.

"That went quite well, right?" Hannah asked.

"Yes. I can't believe you hid how good you were in the game. If not for the interview, I would've never known," Alex said.

"Nah, I would've told you sometime soon. I can't keep it to myself at all," Hannah said with a giggle.

"It's so late, we should return now," Alex said.

"Let's get something to eat before we do," Hannah said. "Hey Sarah, you want to get something to eat before we leave?"

"Sure," A voice came from the group. Alex was a little surprised because the person who had just spoken turned out to be Emily's friend.

"You guys are already familiar?" Alex asked.

"Kind of. She was in one of my classes a year ago. I noticed her in the waiting room but didn't remember her name, so I stayed quiet," Hannah said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I'm so hungry. Let's get some decent meal if the restaurants are even open at this time," Sarah said as she walked towards Hannah and Alex. Emily was following her timidly among the group as well.

They went to a nearby diner, the only one that was open at this time of the night, and ordered some meals.

Hannah and Sarah started talking with each other, while Alex and Emily were just left there silently eating their food.

"So, is he your younger brother?" Sarah asked.

"He is my cousin. He is in the first year of university and is staying with me right now," Hannah said.

"Oh, Oakleaf University?" Sarah asked.

"Yes."

"Emily here started studying at Oakleaf University too. She is in the 2nd semester of the first year," Sarah said.

"Oh, Alex is joined just a month ago, so he is only in the 1st semester," Hannah replied.

They talked a bit more and finished eating. They left the diner and Hannah started looking for cabs to return back home.

"Since we are going the same way, why don't you two come with us?" Sarah asked.

"With you guys? Sure. Are we sharing a cab?" Hannah asked.

"Oh god no. I brought my own car," Sarah said.

"Oh, nice. I should learn to drive too now that I can buy a car myself," Hannah said.

From a nearby parking lot, Sarah brought out the car. Hannah got on to the front seat, leaving Emily and Alex to take the back seat. There wasn't a lot to talk about so, the car was mostly silent the whole way back.

At some point, thanks to it being boring and having just eaten, Emily fell asleep on Alex's shoulders. Alex thought of waking her up for a second but decided not to.

"Oh, is she asleep?" Sarah said looking at them through the rearview mirror and quickly took a photo of them.

"Hehe, she will be so embarrassed when she sees this photo." She then told Alex," Don't wake her up. She usually goes to bed early, and it's already 11 pm. We still have half an hour left before we get back."

Alex just let her sleep on his shoulders the entire way back. He himself, however, couldn't fall asleep. Having been homeschooled and having barely any contact with girls before, his heart was racing like crazy.

It remained that way the whole way back. Hannah would look back through the rearview mirror from time to time and smirk. Finally, at around half past 11, Sarah stopped in front of a moderate building.

"Let me just get Emily into the room and I will come back to get you guys to your place," Sarah said and got out of the car.

"Oh, no need," Hannah said. "Our building is right over there," she said as she pointed to the tall building a few hundred meters down the line.

"Thank you for giving us a ride, we can walk from here," Hannah said. "Alex, Come one, let's go."

Alex didn't move however and simply pointed at the sleeping Emily.

"Oh," Sarah said as she chuckled and pulled Emily towards her from the window to shake her awake. Emily woke up and looked around, confused as to where she was.

"Am I still in the game?" she asked.

"Haha, silly. You were asleep in the car back home. Now get out," Sarah said.

Finally realizing where she was, Emily hastily got out of the car and fixed her clothes. Sarah and Hannah laughed and Alex finally left the car.

Saying their goodbyes, Hannah and Alex walked back to their home.

"It seems I was right," Hannah said.

"About what, sister?" Alex asked.

"About me telling that you might find a girl today," she said.

Alex immediately blushed. "Oh look at you, already embarrassed about it," Hannah said. "You are blushing more now than when she was sleeping on your shoulder."

"Can we not talk about this, Sister?" he said.

"Hehe, alright, alright."

They reached back home and Alex went straight to his room with the intention to sleep. He laid down on his bed ready to sleep when he remembered something.

"Ah, that's right. There is the exam tomorrow. I almost forgot. Do I go into the game or do I sleep?" he wondered.

He decided to sleep for the night but everything he learned today started appearing on his mind distracting him from his sleep.

'Sigh, I will just go to the game and cultivate for now.' Thinking so, he logged back into the game.