While it is true that Cameron spends most of his time teaching new students the art of forging new weapons and armour that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a formidable fighter. In fact, when it comes to pure physical prowess there are few that can so much as come close to him let alone match him. Cameron is more than capable of beating a cultivator with a similar cultivation level to his own to death without even using his mana to enhance his physical capabilities to death with his bare hands.

-Excerpt from Telram’s notes on his students

“So, the Four-Armed Ape wants to fight me?” Cameron asked and his mother grabbed him by the shoulder before Telram could respond.

“No!” She exclaimed. “I won’t allow it. That thing is strong enough to rip you in two.”

“More than strong enough,” Telram agreed. “But you should be faster, and it doesn’t know how to fight a cultivator. On the other hand, you have fought Mana Beasts before, so you do have an advantage there.”

In the months leading up to their trip to Urlan, Telram had started taking his students hunting so that they could get some experience in a real fight. All of them had performed quite well against the weaker Mana Beasts that they had fought but the Four-Armed Ape was much stronger than any Mana Beast had ever fought before. Telram was a little nervous that something could go wrong but with the number of powerful cultivators watching it was pretty unlikely that Cameron would eb badly hurt.

“Cameron can handle it Veronica,” Dale said as he gently placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Remember that this is what it means to be a cultivator.

“You’re sure that he can beat it,” Veronica asked as she met Telram’s gaze.

“I wouldn’t be going along with it if I didn’t think so,” Telram replied. “Don’t worry one of us will step in if things get too dangerous.”

“Alright then,” Veronica sighed as she let go of her son. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Telram nodded and together he and Cameron made their way back over to Ryu and the others who were watching them with worried expressions on their faces.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea?” Gerry asked. “We could always find another Mana Beast for Cameron to make his Soul Contract with.”

“He can handle it,” Diane disagreed. “He’s already much stronger than I was at his cultivation level. More skilled too.”

“I want to fight it,” Cameron said firmly. “I want to make a contract with the best Mana Beast that I can.”

“Well, he’s got the right attitude if nothing else,” Lelland sighed as he shook his head in exasperation. “I still think that it’s awfully reckless.”

It is reckless,” Telram chuckled. “But you’re never going to truly become a powerful cultivator if you don’t take any risks.”

“Well said!” Ryu chuckled. “So how do you want to do this?”

It was obvious to everyone that the Divine Beast was quite amused by all of this but despite his words no one could feel any malicious intent coming from him. Fighting was just a part of life for Ryu.

“We’ll go to the same place that we usually use for training,” Telram decided. “It’s far enough out of town that nothing will get damaged if things get out of hand and I’m sure that the Ape will prefer to fight outside of the village anyway.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Fergus agreed. “Gerry and I will go on ahead and start setting up a barrier. Just in case.”

“Okay, we’ll be there in a few minutes,” Telram nodded and as soon as he had finished talking both of the older men disappeared with cracking sounds as they activated their movement techniques.

“What’s up with that?” Cameron whispered as he turned to look in the direction that Gerry and Fergus had gone with a surprised look on his face.

“It’s just their stupid rivalry popping up again,” Diane sighed as she shook her head at the antics of the two old men. “You remember how Gerry had to help Telram out at the end of his fight with that Hernan kid right?”

“Sure,” Cameron nodded.

“Well Gerry moved faster than Fergus thought he could, and it’s been bothering him ever since,” Diane explained. “You’d think that they’d be over that sort of thing at their age but apparently not.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Telram chuckled. “They’re both pushing each other to improve. That’s a good thing.”

“Maybe you’re right but it gets pretty annoying after a while,” Diane grumbled as they started to head back over to the wagon that the cages holding the Mana Beasts were on. “Trust me. I’ve worked with both of them long enough to know that.”

When they got there Diane and Cameron climbed up onto the bench at the front and started driving it in the direction of the training area while Telram and the others followed behind. The other students, their parents and a number of the villagers who had come out to greet them also ended up following them.

“Can Cameron really beat that thing?” Lily whispered as she tugged on Telram’s sleeve.

“Of course, he can!” Tim chuckled at her words. “Cameron may be a big slow oaf, but he can hit harder than any of us!”

“Well, I don’t agree with the ‘oaf’ thing I do agree that he should be able to beat the ape” Henry agreed as he glared at Tim.

“Tim and Henry are correct,” Telram chuckled even as he lightly smacked Tim on the back of his head eliciting a snort of amusement from the short boy. “Cameron has several advantages over the Ape including his soul which is considerably stronger than the Ape’s is which should give him a bit of an edge.”

A few minutes later they arrived at the area where they practiced and whispering broke out among the crowd as they unlocked the Ape’s cage. The whispering intensified as Cameron walked out into the centre of the area that Fergus and Gerry had closed off by making a fairly simple looking circle of Inscriptions in the dirt which they powered with a single Core. The Inscriptions were a rush job but even then, they should be able to protect the spectators from the sorts of attacks that Cameron and the Ape were capable of.

The Ape watched him cautiously for a few moments before grunting at Ryu who nodded, and his lips moved again as he replied to what the Ape asked him. The Ape seemed to roll its eyes before slowly approaching the centre of the makeshift arena and stopping opposite Cameron before hunkering down to wait.

Gerry and Fergus reached out and touched the circle that they had drawn in the earth causing the Inscriptions that it was made of to start to glow as a barrier formed around the two fighters. By this point the other villagers who had just followed along were looking increasingly worried at the situation.

Cameron took up his fighting stance as Ryu turned to look at Telram who nodded and stepped forward.

“Begin!” Telram shouted as Ryu also barked something out at the Ape which roared loudly as it swung two of its massive fists at Cameron’s head. However, to its surprise Cameron was fully prepared for this and had already leapt backwards.

The Ape roared angrily and charged towards Cameron who was smirking in amusement. Telram rolled his eyes at his students’ attitude towards an opponent that could beat him with a single clean hit before turning his attention to the enraged Ape which was running on four of its six limbs with two of its arms raised over its head in preparation for attacking Cameron.

Seeing Telram’s reaction the others couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation. Cameron had obviously learned this behaviour from watching his teacher, but it appeared that Telram hadn’t realised that.

Cameron stepped to one side as the Ape brought its fists down before punching it twice in its side causing the Ape to stumble to one side before righting itself. The Ape glared at Cameron for a few moments as it tried to decide what it was going to do next. While the Ape was nowhere near as intelligent as either Jai or even Willa it was considerably more intelligent than other Mana Beasts at its cultivation level and could plan out its next course of action.

Cameron knew this and decided that giving it time to plan was a bad idea. Raising his fists, he rushed towards the Ape which blinked in surprise at his recklessness. While he had certainly been able to dodge the first couple of attacks the Ape’s extra two limbs gave it an advantage in close combat that it doubted that Cameron would be able to keep up with.

The Ape raised all its arms as it also charged towards Cameron. So, it was surprised when Cameron dropped to the ground and lashed out with a powerful kick that took its legs out from under it. He then followed this up by punching the Ape in the face before flipping to his feet and backing away again as the Ape swiped at him angrily.

Telram burst into laughter when he saw Cameron finally starting to use a fighting style other than beating his opponent down with brute force. In many ways the Ape was a reflection of Cameron which was admittedly part of the reason that he had picked it to be his Bonded Mana Beast. However, it also meant that Cameron was being confronted by his own shortcoming which was why he had used a technique that was completely different from his usual fighting style.

Cameron continued to use techniques that he previously hadn’t to knock the Ape of balance before pummelling it with his usual powerful attacks before evading or deflecting its powerful attacks. He winced every time he was forced to take a glancing blow. Even with the tough body that he had developed by using his father’s body strengthening technique which had been further improved by Telram each blow was powerful enough that he could feel his bones creaking. Soon brightly coloured bruises appeared on his forearms revealing the pain that he was in.

However, it wasn’t just Cameron who was in pain, the Ape was looking pretty beaten up as well. Cameron had been focussing all of his attacks on its face and head which was swelling up so much that the Ape was having trouble seeing where Cameron was which in turn made it easier for Cameron to fight it.

“Hmm, it looks like this fight is almost over,” Ryu muttered to Telram. “The Ape can’t keep fighting much longer. Your student has done quite well.”

“It’s not over yet,” Telram replied as he shook his head. “I’d say that his arms are pretty badly damaged right now so can’t really block any attacks. Right now, the Ape has been backed into a corner and is at its most dangerous. If he takes one of its attacks head on it’s all over.”

“Well, you’re not wrong there,” Ryu agreed. “But I doubt that it can even see him right now. Honestly, I think that he’s more than proved himself to the Ape. It’s just being stubborn.”

“I agree,” Telram nodded. “But I wouldn’t want to lose my freedom if I was it either.”

“Oh please,” Ryu snorted. “Forming a contract with your students will be massively advantageous for these Mana Beasts. They’re just not quite smart enough to figure it out.”

“You don’t think much of them, do you?” Lelland asked.

“No, not really,” Ryu sighed. “It’s difficult to explain to humans but when a Mana Beast reaches the Sage Realm, they become something completely different to what they were before. Something that is in many ways closer to a human than a Mana Beast and those qualities are passed on to their children. While it is true that Mana Beasts become more intelligent as they increase their cultivation level, they are still Beasts until they reach the Sage Realm. However, a Mana Beast that creates a Soul Contract with a human cultivator becomes much more intelligent. Your own contracted Beast is an excellent example of this although he is even more intelligent than a normal Contracted Mana Beast.”

“Jai is something of a special case,” Telram chuckled as he placed his hand on his friend’s furry head. “But hopefully my students will be able to create a similar Bond with their Mana Beasts using the technique that I created. The Bond probably won’t be as strong as the one between Jai and I but it should be stronger than the Bond created by the normal technique is.”

“Yes, well that is what I mean by allowing your students to create a Soul Contract with them will be beneficial to the Mana Beasts,” Ryu sighed.

“I agree,” Jai nodded. “I’ve changed a lot since creating my Bond with Telram and I’m still learning more about the advantages that I’ve gained from doing so every day.”

“We’ve both gained a lot of advantages brother,’ Telram chuckled. “And I’m sure that we will continue to do so.”

“This is great you three, but I would like to remind you how dangerous what you are doing actually is,” Lelland grumbled. “Even if you do have my father’s support there are plenty of noble families that are stronger than mine and none of them will appreciate some upstart peasant kids learning such powerful techniques. No offence.”

“None taken,” Telram shrugged as he watched Cameron deliver a powerful kick to the side of the Ape’s head. “I’m very aware of how precarious our position is right now.”

“But what are you planning on doing about it?” Lelland asked.

“Well, I have a couple of ideas,” Telram chuckled. “You may know that we brought some puppets with us to Urlan. However, that was only a small selection of the ones that we kept here. It would much more costly to take this village than anyone would expect.”

“Oh, trust me,” Lelland sighed. “It doesn’t matter how powerful the puppets that you have are. There’s no way that they can stand against an Immortal Realm cultivator.”

“To be fair, I doubt that we’re enough of a threat to warrant them bringing in an Immortal Realm cultivator just yet,” Telram replied. “But you’re right. If they send an Immortal Realm cultivator then we’re screwed. I have no idea how to deal with something like that. And I don’t think that any of us do.”

“Well, I have to admit that you are correct in thinking that it is unlikely that they would go that far,” Lelland admitted. “Or at least not any time soon.”

“That might be something that we’ll have to deal with in the future,’ Telram sighed. “I’m sure that we’ll come up with something by then.”

“That seems a little irresponsible, but I suppose that you don’t really have any other choice right now,” Lelland agreed.

“I would like to point out that both Fergus and Gerry are getting pretty close to becoming Immortal Realm cultivators themselves so we might have a method to fight off Immortal Realm cultivators in a couple of years,” Telram shrugged. “All we have to do is hold out until then and we really will be powerful enough that most noble families would hesitate to try to take us out. As I understand it, a single Immortal Realm cultivator is worth about fifty Ascendant Realm cultivators. So, if we are able to take even one Immortal Realm cultivator so losing one is a significant blow to all but the strongest noble families.”

“Well let’s hope that you can last that long then,” Lelland sighed.

“That’s why I took your father up on his offer,” Telram replied with a shrug. “We’ll still do our best to avoid any unnecessary attention, but I hope that he will stand up for us if it becomes necessary.”

“He will, you have my word on that,” Lelland replied as he gave Telram a reassuring look. “As much as he can at least. He does have a whole city to worry about as well after all.”

“Yeah, I know and hopefully we will be able to support him in the future as well,” Telram replied.

“From what I’ve seen it will be a while before you can provide any more support than training,” Lelland said as he glanced apologetically at Telram. “But I’m sure that my father would appreciate the thought.”

“Well, there was always going to be a long-term payoff to our relationship,” Telram sighed. “Your father knew that when he agreed to lend us his support.”

Lelland opened his mouth to reply but was distracted by Cameron delivering a punch to the Ape’s head that was so powerful it knocked the Mana Beast of its feet. Cameron’s chest heaved as he staggered over to the front of the Ape.

“Are you done?” the young man rasped. “You can’t beat me now.”

Ryu raised an eyebrow at this. He knew that the Ape couldn’t understand what Cameron was saying but even he had to admit that it was likely that the Ape could understand his meaning from the context. The soft grunt from the Ape confirmed this and Ryu stepped through the barrier and walked over to the pair.

“He surrendered,” Ryu told Cameron who breathed a sigh of relief as he fell onto his back. “You fought well. As expected of one of Telram’s students.”

“Well thanks,” Telram chuckled as he neared the pair and held out a hand to help Cameron up. “Are you alright Cameron?”

“Pretty beaten up teach, but other than that I feel okay,” Cameron chuckled as he took Telram’s hand and was pulled to his feet.

“You fought well,” Telram congratulated the young man who gave him a crooked smile in response. “It’s good to see you expanding your fighting style.”

“Well, you showed me that having different ways of fighting different opponents is always a good idea,” Cameron chuckled as he leaned on his teacher. While he had been lucky enough not to take any of the Ape’s attacks head on, he had still taken quite a few glancing blows since he wasn’t really all that good at dodging. Thankfully, the body strengthening technique that Telram had taught him increased his speed as well as his strength and toughness which had allowed him to avoid the Ape’s crude attacks.

“We can all agree on that,” Gerry chuckled as he and Fergus glanced sideways at Diane as they approached.

“Oh, shush you two,” she grumbled in reply before turning her attention to Cameron. “That was a excellent fight Cameron.”

“Alright let’s get you to a bed so that you can recover,” Telram chuckled. “You can make your Soul Contract with the Ape tomorrow.”

“Okay teach,” Cameron replied. Even though he was eager to finally form his Soul Contract with the Four-Armed Ape he knew that Telram was right. He was too tired right now to use the advanced version of the technique that Telram had taught him right now and he would be far better off waiting another day so that both he and the Ape could recover from their fight.

“As for the rest of you,” Telram said as he handed Cameron off to Dale who had a proud look on his face before turning to the rest of his students who had also come over to congratulate Cameron on his victory. “You can either make your Contracts with your own Mana Beasts now or wait until tomorrow so that you can all do it together. The choice is yours.”

“We’ll do it tomorrow,” Iris replied after they had discussed it for a few seconds. “It doesn’t seem right to do this without Cameron when he was the one who fought for us.”

“Very good,” Telram nodded as he smiled proudly at his students. “Then let’s meet up here again tomorrow morning.”