Where Martial Artists mainly grow in strength, speed and other physical aspects as they raise their cultivation bases to new heights Mana Beasts are different; born with physical bodies and abilities that humans aren’t they instead become more intelligent as they go up the ranks. Different species of Mana Beasts have different levels of intelligence, but all high-ranked Elemental Mana Beasts have a level of intelligence approaching that of a human to say nothing of the Sage Beasts which have at least equal intelligence to a human. Do not underestimate how dangerous an opponent with the physical strength of a Beast and the intelligence of a human can be.

-Excerpt from Telram’s notes on Mana Beasts.

Inside the house Lily was pacing back and forth, she had thought that she had prepared herself to see her master again when she had sent him the invitation but now that it was about the time she was expecting him to arrive she was suddenly nervous.

What should she say to him? Should she ask about his job? She wondered to herself biting her lip as Willa watched her with sleepy eyes.

Willa got up and padded over in front of Lily causing her to stop her pacing. Willa stared calmly up at the still worried woman and gave her tail a short, reassuring wag.

Lily smiled down at her husband’s constant companion, the two of them had known each other since Willa was a pup and Lily had always cared deeply for the magnificent animal, a feeling that had only grown as Willa had become stronger and more intelligent, wolf-type Mana Beasts were among the more intelligent types of Mana Beast, so Willa was smarter than some apes on earth were. Lily of course, didn’t know this comparison but she did know that Willa understood what was going on most of the time even if the people around her weren’t speaking.

Lily slowly bent down and embraced Willa whose tail began thumping on the wooden floor as Lily started rubbing the soft fur behind her ears.

She kept this up until Willa’s ears twitched, a sure sign that someone was approaching the house and soon Lily could hear the voices of the three men she was expecting laughing amongst themselves as they walked inside.

Telram grinned widely at his mother who had stood up when she heard their voices.

“Hi Mum!”

Lily smiled as she saw her son’s happy face, he was still only eight years old, despite being as tall as a small adult due to starting to cultivate earlier than most people, which was hard to remember sometimes due to how serious he could be, so it was good to see that he was still able to act like a child sometimes.

“Hello dear,” she said pulling him in close for a hug. “Congratulations on reaching the Core Formation Stage!”

Telram hugged her back flinching slightly as he felt her ribs dig into him slightly, her illness was still slowly eating away at her body despite the doctors’ and Gerry’s best efforts.

Noticing his hesitation Lily frowned slightly at Gerry who gave her a weak smile and nodded his head.

Lily held back a sigh as she let go of her son, she had known that she couldn’t hide it from him forever, but she had at least wanted to tell him herself.

She looked down at her son seriously, “So, you figured it out, did you?”

“I’ve known you were sick for a while now mum, Gerry only confirmed my suspicions,” he replied meeting her eyes.

“I see,” she said throwing a glare Gerry’s way causing him to flinch. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you myself.”

“But you didn’t want to worry me any more than you had to, I know mum, it’s okay.”

Lily’s eyes watered as her son comforted her, it had been hard trying to keep this a secret from him, so in some ways it was a relief that she no longer had to do so.

Gerry cleared his throat, “Uh, Lily, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“What!?” Lily snapped angrily.

“I want to take Telram as my student,” he replied seriously. “He’s very talented and he might even be able to help me come up with a cure for your condition.”

Both of Telram’s parents looked at Gerry in surprise Telram had taken longer than most people to reach the Core Formation Stage, which they knew could be attributed to starting younger than most cultivators but as far as they knew his talent was only about average.

“What do you mean Gerry” Aran asked slowly.

“When was the last time you checked his Soul Energy?”

Aran blinked, “Uh, I’ve actually never checked his Soul Energy, there’s never been any real need to.”

Gerry grinned, it looked like he wasn’t the only one who was going to be surprised.

“Check it.”

“Okay,” Aran said as he complied and froze in shock as he saw Telram’s overwhelming Soul Energy. “What the…”

Lily looked sharply at her husband, her condition prevented her from using Spiritual Vision herself, so she could only rely on what her husband or Gerry said.

“What is it Aran?”

Aran turned towards her pale-faced, “He has more Soul Energy than I do.”

Lily froze briefly before turning to look at her son with a shocked expression on her face, Aran was at the second level of the Ascendant Realm meaning that even though he had an average amount of Soul Energy for his level, he should still have at least two if not three times the amount of Soul Energy of someone still in the Human Realm.

Breaking through to the Ascendant Realm was very difficult. If the cultivator was lacking in one of the requirements for their new cultivation technique, they would be unable to advance to the Ascendant Realm and if they tried to force the technique to work, they could even injure themselves. Ascendant Realm cultivation techniques all required something to be formed within the Mana Core which would serve as the basis of the Martial Skills they could learn. The stronger and better formed the image they had of their new cultivation technique was, the easier it would be for them to cultivate. The process of developing the ability to form a complicated image within their Mana Core primarily involved increasing the cultivators Soul Energy, when they reached the Ascendant Realm a cultivator’s Soul Energy would also undergo a qualitative change which would allow them to access Elemental Mana. So even though Telram had more Soul Energy than his father the fact that his hadn’t undergone that qualitative change meant that his Soul Energy was still weaker, for now at least.

“That shouldn’t be possible,” Lily whispered.

“Oh, it’s possible just very rare, even I’ve only ever heard stories about people like Telram before, and in ancient document that have been found in ruins at that,” Gerry disagreed.

“Was there a name for people like me?” Telram asked the look of interest that they were all so familiar with appeared in his eyes.

“What? Is ‘genius’ not good enough for you?” Gerry joked causing Aran chuckle weakly, he was still in shock over what he had seen earlier something that was only exacerbated by the wolfish grin that Willa was giving him form her position leaning up against Telram’s leg. It was clear to both Aran and Lily that she had known for a long time how special her bond-mates son was and found all of this rather amusing much to Aran’s irritation.

“Alright you lot that’s enough for now, dinner’s ready,” Lily said rolling her eyes at their antics.

After they finished their dinner the conversation about Telram’s Soul Force continued.

“And you’re sure you don’t know why you have more Soul Energy than your father?” Lily asked carefully watching her son’s reaction to her question.

“I have a couple of theories but no proof as to whether they’re correct or not,” Telram replied, this at least, was true, he didn’t know for sure whether his previous life was what had caused him to have so much Soul Energy, but it seemed highly likely.

Lily hummed to herself as he said this she didn’t think he was lying, but she was sure that he wasn’t telling her the whole truth, “And if you had to guess?”

“It might have something to do with that strange stone tablet that they have at The Halls of Heavenly Knowledge,” Telram replied evasively.

Lily stopped asking questions as she considered this possibility, she had noticed his strange reaction to the tablet earlier but had decided not to ask him about it because she had thought that he was just trying to figure out what language it was written in, something that had eluded Pavel who had been put in charge of years ago but hadn’t made any progress on. Pavel’s specialty was ancient languages, unlike Gerry or Lily who had both specialised in cultivation techniques and Martial Skills, so that he hadn’t made any progress on translating the tablet was something of a sore spot for him.

“Do you know anything about the tablet?” Lily asked.

“Follow after the sun as he returns to where he lays his head until you reach the frothing serpent. Chase the serpent back to its nest and you will find the egg it guards and upon the egg sits the cradle of the princess of the silent moon,” Telram said slowly as he looked his mother right in the eye.

“Wait, what is that?” Lily asked as Gerry’s eyes widened.

“You really do understand it, don’t you,” Gerry breathed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, how could he understand what’s written on that tablet, it’s thousands of years old and not even that weasel Pavel has been able to translate it and as much as I hate the man, I can’t deny he has a talent for languages,” Lily retorted.

Aran cleared his throat loudly causing the two former scholars to stop arguing look at him, “There’s only one way to find out either way, isn’t there? So why are you arguing about it instead of trying to figure out what we do know.”

“Dad’s right,” said Telram with a nod. “Where was the tablet found?”

Lily got up and rushed out of the room shouting, “Just a minute I’ll get a map!”

The others stared after her in surprise it had been a long time since any of them had seen Lily move that fast, in fact Telram couldn’t remember her ever moving half as fast as she had in her mad dash out of the room.

Lily had moved as fast as she had because she knew that if Telram was right, this would probably one of the biggest finds that Palamar had ever seen!

And Pavel would end up looking like an idiot whispered the part of her that remembered how he had told Irian about what had happened to her cultivation base and gotten her fired from her position in the Halls of Heavenly Knowledge. The weaselly little man had held a grudge against her because Gerry had chosen her over him and then when Aran had started wooing her he had taken it badly as he had hoped that if he couldn’t become Gerry’s student himself he could still get close to Gerry by marrying Lily. She shuddered as she remembered the way he had looked at her before she had married Aran, but her husband had quickly put a stop to that Pavel might have been Irian’s cousin, but this world still respected strength more than it did blood ties and Pavel had lost completely to Aran’s evasive fighting style and vicious spear techniques.

When she had found what she was looking for she turned and rushed back to the others as fast as she could.

“Here’s the map,” she said panting. Her condition meant that even the short distance she had run was as much as her body could handle, before the accident that had left her crippled, she was on the cusp of becoming an Ascendant Realm cultivator but now she was weaker even than someone who had never cultivated in their life.

They all looked down at the large map that Lily had brought them.

“Wow, uhh, there’s not a lot on here is there?” Telram said in surprise, much of the map was simply blank, but unlike the incomplete maps from earth there were no mentions of strange imaginary monsters, it seemed that whoever had made this map had felt that the real ones were enough.

“It’s a few years old, but this is pretty accurate as far as these things go Telram,” Gerry replied taking a small brush from Lily and adding what he remembered to the map.

“It’s hard to explore when there are Mana Beasts that can rip most people to shreds in an instant son,” Aran agreed.

Telram’s face paled, as he looked down at Willa trying to imagine what it would be like to be hunted by a pack of her kin, “Right, I didn’t mean anything by it, sorry.”

Gerry marked a place on the map, “So, this is where the stone tablet was found”

Most of the area surrounding where he had marked was blank which meant that it either hadn’t been explored or that the people sent to explore it had never returned.

“Alright so, if I’m right there should be a river somewhere to the west of here,” Telram said.

“You think that’s the frothing serpent?” Gerry asked.

“Does anything else make sense?”

“Well, no but what would that make its nest?”

“I’m assuming either a lake or inland sea, probably with an island in the centre somewhere,” Telram replied, he was basically just guessing but he couldn’t think of any other things the tablet could be referring to.

“Hmm, and you think there will be some ruins on that island?” Gerry asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

Telram nodded, “Yeah, I could have translated it wrong or it could just be an old myth but that seems like a good place to start at least.”

Telram knew that he hadn’t translated the tablet wrong, he had spent all his previous life speaking and reading English, not that he was going to tell them that. But he had to admit that it was possible that the whole thing was just a story that the ancients had made up. Now he just wished he could remember what the tablet back on earth said!

It’s unlikely that the ancients would have gone to the trouble of writing that stone tablet in a language that no-one could read if it was just a myth Telram,” Lily said, she still wasn’t sure why her son seemed to think that he could read the tablet, but if he could it would change everything.

“Well there’s only one way to know for sure,” Gerry said. “We’ll have to go and look.”

“Guess I’ll have to get a lot stronger then,” Telram sighed, as he looked at the blank section of the map.

“What do you mean?” Lily asked.

“Well, I’ll need to be one of the people who goes there won’t I? What happens if there’s more stuff written in the same language?” he replied.

“Can’t you just teach us?” Aran asked.

“So, you want to go to an undiscovered ruin and use second-hand knowledge to translate what you find there?”

“Well, no but-”

Gerry shook his head, “Telram’s right, there must be a reason he’s the only one that can read the tablet, we need to bring him with us.”

Telram looked at Gerry gratefully, he couldn’t explain why he could read the tablet and he would still teach them to read English just in case, but he knew that he had to find out why he had been reincarnated on Nerrus and this was his only lead so far.

“Well then, you’d better train him well, hadn’t you?” Lily said.

“You mean? You’ll let me? After everything that’s happened?” Gerry asked.

“Of course,” Lily replied. “As far as I’m concerned you’re still my master, I’d be honoured if you trained my son as well.”

“I-I don’t know what to say,” Gerry said, he had been worried that she would refuse his offer, he had played a part in what had happened to her and even though she had never treated him differently he had still played a role in what had happened to her.

“You don’t need to say anything. Despite what happened you still allowed me to live a better life than I would have if I hadn’t become your student,” Lily replied calmly, she had never blamed Gerry for what happened, she knew that the fault laid solely at Irian’s feet, not his.

“Anyway, it’s time I was heading to bed,” said Telram who was still tired from condensing his Mana Core. Besides he also wanted to examine Willa’s Beast Core and the way Mana affected her body to see if he could find anything that could help him create a body strengthening technique.

The others bid him goodnight as he left the room followed by Willa.

When he got to his room he sat down on his bed and patted his lap.

Willa leapt up onto the bed and placed her head in his lap and relaxed as Telram started stroking her.

Channelling a mixture of Mana and Soul Energy Telram attempted a new technique that would allow him to examine the inside of Willa’s body.

It took him a few tries to succeed but soon he had formed a spiritual body within her Beast Core, something that could only be done to a willing participant which meant that Willa knew what he was doing, however she thought he was simply practicing the technique.

The body he had formed looked even closer to his actual body than it had previously when he had used it to help create his Mana Core which he suspected was due to him using his Soul Energy for an extended period.

“Well that’s interesting,” he remarked as he looked around the inside of Willa’s Beast Core, it looked almost identical to his Mana Core which confirmed his theory that Mana Cores had been based on Beast Cores, in fact the only real difference that Telram could find was that the innermost layer of the Beast Core was something that actually existed in Willa’s body while the outer layers were made the same way that his own Mana Core had been.

Willa flinched suddenly as Telram’s presence left her Beast Core and entered her bloodstream, the technique he was using was the same one that Gerry had used when he was inscribing the Beast Core that powered his puppet and was only supposed to be used to enter a Beast or Mana Core, however Telram had instinctively coated his spiritual body in a thin layer of Willa’s own Mana which was infused with her Soul Energy, he had accidentally created a technique that any doctor on either Nerrus or Earth would kill to be able to use!

Focussing his spiritual body down even further Telram examined Willa’s red blood cells and was amazed to discover what appeared to be a miniature Mana Core within the cells themselves.

He followed the blood cell as it circulated around Willa’s body and saw that a tiny stream of Mana would leave the cell from the tiny Mana Core and enter the other cells as it passed along with the oxygen it carried before the oxygen was restored by her lungs before the cell passed by Willa’s Beast Core and something restored the Mana. There were tiny holes in Willa’s veins as they passed by her Beast Core, this was where the Mana flooded the vein to be absorbed by the Mana Cores in the blood cells. Exiting the vein, he discovered tiny thread-like structures stretching back towards Willa’s Beast Core, he hadn’t seen them before because he simply hadn’t quite been small enough to see them.

“That’s what I get for trying to use this bodies ‘eyes’ instead of a visual or sensory technique,” Telram grumbled to himself. Still he had made a lot of interesting discoveries so far and this latest one was no different.

“Are these meridians?” he muttered as he examined them. “They seem so small.”

Eventually he decided to call them meridians for now. The meridians seemed to be made of the same substance that the inner layer of Willa’s Beast Core was made of, but he could see places where they had been repaired with a combination of Soul Energy and Mana like a Mana Core.

Telram grinned, he might be able to reproduce both the meridians and the tiny Mana Cores inside his own body, it would be an extremely painstaking process but it would allow his body to progress in the same way a Beasts would, and as he knew what was going on he might even be able to create more meridians and link them to other parts of his body to speed up the strengthening process. He would probably wait until he reached the Ascendant Realm before he could do that though, but he now had a solid concept for his own body strengthening technique.

Finally exiting Willa’s body, he rubbed the bewildered wolf’s ears fondly.

“Well then, lets sleep, it’s going to be another long day tomorrow!”