While not quite as individually impressive as when Telram and Jai first created their Soul Contract seeing so many people create Soul Contracts with Mana Beasts at the same time was an experience all of its own. Especially considering the fact that they were using the improved version of the normal technique that Telram had developed especially for them to use. It wasn’t quite as powerful as the version that Telram and Jai had used but it was still for stronger than the normal one and the results were nothing short of spectacular.

Excerpt from the memoirs of Gerald Rence

The following morning most of the people who had been present the previous afternoon gathered outside the walls of Yulis village one more time to watch Telram’s students finally form their Soul Contracts with the respective Mana Beasts that they had chosen.

As soon as everyone was present Ryu and Diane started releasing the Mana Beasts from their cages. Once their cages were open all the Mana Beasts went to stand in front of the student that they were to be partnered with under the watchful eye of Ryu.

The Mana Beasts shifted nervously as Ryu explained what was going to happen to them. Telram had only explained the differences in his technique to Ryu over dinner the previous night but Ryu had a good memory and only had to check a couple of details with Telram before they were ready to begin.

To the villagers who were cultivators what followed next was something that none of them would ever forget. Streamers of soul energy as thick around as an average man’s arm formed in between each student and their chosen Mana Beast and slowly started weaving together. As this happened a pressure began to build that everyone present could feel, even those few who weren’t cultivators.

“Well, this really is something,” Fergus muttered to Gerry who nodded in agreement. From what they could tell the techniques were starting to feed off each other making them even stronger than even Telram had expected.

In fact, if anyone happened to be looking at Telram right now they would see that his face was a shade paler than normal, and his fingers were twitching like he wanted to be writing something down. This was because of two things. First of all, he wasn’t quite certain why this was happening, and he was slightly worried about what it could mean for his students. Secondly because he wanted to start taking notes on what was happening immediately so that he could work out why it was happening.

The worst part of all this was that even if something really did start to go wrong there was nothing that he would be able to do about it since his soul was still too badly damaged for him to be able to control anywhere near enough soul energy for him to be able to help out and that was despite what he and Jai had discovered last night.

Last night after they had finished eating dinner Telram had retired to his room to meditate and continue healing his damaged soul and Jai had decided to join him. Telram had been making good inroads into repairing the damage when he had suddenly felt an odd sensation. It felt like someone was helping him to heal his soul, but the only one present right now was Jai and what’s more the soul energy that was being used felt like his own despite the fact that he wasn’t the one that was controlling it. A surprised Telram had opened his eyes and looked over to where Jai was lying with his eyes closed.

It turned out that in much the same way that Telram had gained some of Jai’s soul energy when they had formed their contract Jai had also gained some of Telram’s. This actually made a lot of sense now that Telram was thinking about it. Jai’s ability to help Telram repair the damage to his soul meant that about half of the damage was now repaired and it was likely that he would be fully recovered by the time class started tomorrow morning. This was due to two factors. The first factor was that Jai hadn’t been particularly good at using his soul energy to heal Telram’s soul when he had first attempted to help out and secondly because they would have a considerable length of time to actually work on healing Telram’s soul because Telram’s students were sure to be too exhausted for their normal classes once they were done here.

Suddenly excited shouts and cries started coming from the people watching as the students started undergoing several changes to their appearance much like when Telram had created his own contract with Jai. Cameron’s already powerful physique grew even more impressive, and the sound of cracking bone echoed throughout the surrounding area as he grew nearly a foot in the space of a few seconds. The changes that both Tim and Henry underwent were far less extreme, their physiques didn’t seem to have changed in any way, but their hair and eyes did. Tim’s already dark hair turned a glossy midnight blue that resembled the feathers of the Blade-wing Hawk that he had just formed a contract with while his previously dark eyes turned the color of honey. Much like with Tim, Henry’s eyes also got quite a bit lighter turning a stunning golden color. However, unlike Tim’s eyes they also changed shape slightly becoming larger and rounder. Henry’s hair also turned from brown to a glossy black shot through with flecks of grey like the Ebon Owl that he had formed a contact with. However, it was Iris who underwent the most obvious change. Her hair turned forest green, and veins of a similar green wove their way under her skin. It was an odd look but Telram had a feeling that it would be quite a striking one once she was older.

As the soul energy that had permeated the area slowly faded all of the students and their respective Mana Beasts all slowly collapsed to their knees like puppets that’d just had their strings cut. This was a completely expected outcome of what had just happened as far as all of the cultivators presents were concerned but that didn’t mean that they weren’t worried about the kids after what they had just witnessed and as one, they all rushed over to check on them.

Things calmed down when they managed to confirm that all the students were only tired and Telram quickly assured all the parents that their kids would be fine once they’d had some rest. He also explained that while the physical changes were somewhat more obvious than he had expected they would only serve to increase their strength like his own did.

Dale understood what Telram was saying far better than any of the other parents and was quick to back him up to the surprise of Veronica.

“He’s right everyone,” Dale told the other parents who were still fussing over their kids. “I’ve seen what Telram is really capable of and if these changes give our kids anywhere near as much of an advantage as what he has then our kids will be some of the most impressive cultivators that I’ve ever heard of. Yes, they look a little different now and I understand why that might be unnerving for some of you but Telram has never led us wrong before.”

“Thank you, Dale,” Telram said. “I recommend that you all take your kids home and let them rest for today. We’ll resume our normal lessons tomorrow.”

The parents all nodded in agreement and soon the only people present were Telram, his inner circle, the mayor’s son Warren and Iris who he gently picked up making her grumble in embarrassment. However, despite her irritation she was far too tired to complain so just let him pick her up.

“Right then let’s head home for now,” he said calmly as he turned back towards Yulis.

“So Telram,” Warren said as they headed back to town. “I managed to get that technique that we had been making to work.”

“Really?” Telram asked as he turned to look at the young man with an interested look on his face.

After their fight Warren and Telram had been working together to try and make several techniques that Warren could use since the ones that he had weren’t all that impressive compared to the techniques that Telram had developed for himself.

“Yeah, but I know that you’re still recovering from whatever happened to your soul,” Warren nodded. “So how much longer do you think it will take you to heal?”

“Well hopefully I should be pretty much healed by tomorrow morning,” Telram replied thoughtfully as they continued to walk back towards the village. “And I should be able to finish healing by the time lessons are over for the day. In theory at least.”

“Okay so what do you say to having a sparring match tomorrow afternoon?” Warren asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Telram nodded before turning to look at Lelland and Ryu who were watching them interestedly. “In fact, how about all four of us spar and then we can all work together making new techniques to increase our power.”

“That’s why Ryu and I are here so I think we’d appreciate that,” Lelland replied happily, and Ryu nodded in agreement.

“Excellent,” Telram nodded. “Sounds like we have a plan then. Provided of course I don’t run into any issues healing my soul.”

“Well at least we found out last night that I could help you with that,” Jai rumbled.

“That makes sense,” Ryu muttered causing everyone else to turn and look at him curiously.

“What do you mean?” Warren asked.

“When Telram and I fought in the tournament he used his bond with Jai to gain the ability to transform into something similar to the Beastman form that Divine and Sage Beasts can take,” Ryu replied. “So, if they can do that then it doesn’t really surprise me that they’re synchronized enough that they can not only transfer soul energy over a large distance like they did but also work together to repair one of their souls if it got damaged which as I understand it is usually only something that people who have trained for years to specifically do that can do.”

“That’s a good observation,” Telram agreed. “However, I would like to point out that we have trained to perform similar feats so that was probably a factor as well.”

“I’m really starting to understand why you’re still in the Human Realm,” Lelland sighed. “You’ve been spreading yourself incredibly thin and trying to learn too many things at once.”

“That’s part of it sure,” Telram nodded. “But we really didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter in this particular case.”

“What do you mean?” Lelland asked as Warren opened his mouth to stop him knowing that it was a delicate subject for Telram to talk about.

“My mother was suffering from a condition similar to Mana Poisoning,” Telram explained. “It was caused when the City Lord that she, Gerry, Fergus and Diane worked for demanded that she test out a newly discovered cultivation technique and it damaged her Core to the point where she was not only unable to continue cultivating but was slowly dying because of the mana leaking from her damaged Core.”

“After that Lily had to quit her job and I followed suit shortly after so that I could focus on working on a cure for her,” Gerry continued as Telram trailed off. At this point the people who didn’t know the whole story were holding onto every word that was being said and it was obvious that Telram was starting to get a bit uncomfortable, so Gerry decided to take over since he knew the whole story even better than Telram did. “I struggled for years to make any real progress but then one day Telram and Lily showed up on my doorstep. Lily wanted me to train Telram the way that I had trained her back when she was a child.”

Gerry suddenly broke into laughter as he remembered that day. It was the first time that he realized just how special Telram was. Not only because of his incredibly powerful soul but also because of his immense drive to learn and grow stronger.

“Telram was what one might call a precocious child,” Gerry said once his laughter had petered out. “His intelligence was the most immediately obvious thing about him, but it soon became clear to me that he was also an incredibly driven child. He asked me about his mother’s condition on the very first day that we met and when I explained what had happened, he flew into a rage. When he finally managed to calm down, he told me that he was going to help me cure his mother. To this day I’m not entirely sure why I let him help me but I’m awfully glad that I did. It took us several years, but we finally managed to heal her a couple of months back.”

“Interesting,” Ryu nodded. “And how did he end up becoming your leader?”

“I’m not their leader Ryu,” Telram replied immediately then frowned as Gerry, Fergus and Diane started laughing. “What?”

“Oh, you’re definitely our leader Telram,” Diane chuckled. “I know that you don’t really like being in charge of us, but the fact of the matter is that you are our leader.”

“Diane is right,” Fergus nodded. “We were stuck in a rut working for that prick Irian until you came along with a vision for the future and the courage and drive to implement that future. Soo while it is true that we are all significantly more powerful than you are right now you are most certainly the one that is in charge.”

“God dammit,” Telram sighed as he realized that they had a point and then glared down at Iris as she started giggling at his predicament. “And what’s so funny missy?”

“Well, Telram for someone as intelligent as you are, you’re not very good at realizing things that are obvious to everyone else,” the petit girl replied with a laugh. “I don’t think anyone who has encountered you, Gerry and the others ever thought that you weren’t in charge even if you do ask them for advice quite often.”

“That’s just because he isn’t a fool unlike some people, such as our former employer,” Fergus replied. “And he knows when to ask for and listen to advice from people who might have more experience and knowledge than he has. Instead of you know listening to people that got their position because their family was either rich or related to someone important.”

“Wow, you really don’t like City Lords, do you?” Lelland remarked as he shifted uncomfortably.

“Some are better than others,” Gerry shrugged. “But most are elitist morons who are more interested in family connections than actual ability.”

“I suppose that I can’t deny that,” Lelland sighed as he recalled some of the noble kids that he had met over the years. “Not sure how I feel about my father making me the captain of the guard in Urlan now though.”

“While I can see why you might think that the reason that your father gave you that position was because he wanted you to prove yourself and while I don’t really agree with the idea of keeping the position of City Lord within one family, I know that is just how things are done,” Telram replied.

“Well how would you do things?” Lelland asked curiously.

“For starters I wouldn’t have just one person in charge of everything,” Telram replied. “It’s a good idea for there to be checks and balances as well as different perspectives so that its more likely that the best course of action is decided upon as much as possible. Also, I would set up a system where anyone could run for the office of City Lord every few years and those who did so would have to explain what their vision for the future of whatever city they were going to run and everyone who lived in the city would vote for who they thought had the best idea.”

“That seems like a really weird way to handle things,” Lelland said. “I don’t think most citizens are educated enough to make those sorts of decision anyway.”

“And you would be absolutely correct,” Telram agreed. “That’s actually part of the reason that I started the school. I’m not just teaching these kids cultivation you know. Anyway, for the meantime at least most of the City Lords are well educated enough to run the cities that they control without you know killing most of the population every year. I would like to see cities adopting my idea at some point in the future, but I suspect that it will be a long time before we reach the point where it’s actually feasible. And that’s without mentioning the fact that I’m fairly sure that most noble families are too enthralled with the idea of ruling to consider my plan and are actually far more likely to try and take me out so that I can give the general populace any ideas.”

“Oh yeah, you’d definitely have to watch your back if anything that you’re doing here got out,” Lelland agreed. “You were really lucky that my father is one of the more reasonable nobles who actually wants to help the people that he rules over. However, I would like to remind you that my family isn’t the only noble family with ties to Urlan and who knows what might happen if what we’re doing here gets out.”

“Yeah, I know,” Telram nodded. “That’s why I really need to heal my soul as quickly as possible and reach the Ascendant Realm. And before you say it, I know that having one more Ascendant Realm cultivator wouldn’t help us out much. But if we gain even a little bit more power it makes it more costly for the noble families to try and take us out. Besides if I reach the Ascendant Realm then we can go and search the ruins to the north of the village and see if they contain anything that might be able to help us.”

“Wait,” Warren interrupted. “What ruins to the north of the village?”

“Oh yeah, I never told you about that did I?” Telram realized. “There’s some ruins hidden somewhere to the north of Yulis which is actually the main reason that Gerry and I chose Yulis as our base of operations. This was even before Fergus and Diane decided that they would join us so even they might not know the whole story. Anyway, back in Palamar City there was a large stone tablet with some strange writing on it that the researchers working there had been trying to decipher for years. Funnily enough the same day that I saw it for the first time was the day that I became Gerry’s student but anyway I don’t really understand how but I was able to translate what was written on the tablet which was directions to something called The Cradle of the daughter of the Silent Moon. To be honest we’re not even really sure what this ‘Cradle’ even is but we’re pretty sure that its important.”

“Well, that’s certainly something,” Warren said eventually. “I don’t really understand how you could just randomly have the ability to translate something like that, but I suppose that there could be any number of reasons for you having that ability.”

“I’m not really sure myself,” Telram replied. He really didn’t like lying to his friends like this, but he didn’t think that it would be a good idea to tell them that he had somehow reincarnated into his current form from another world either.

While they had been talking, they had reached the gates of the village so Warren bid Telram and the others farewell and made his way over towards his own home while Telram and the others continued on their way back to their house.

Once they were inside Telram put Iris to bed and immediately holed himself up in his room with Jai to continue healing the damage to his soul. He really hoped that he would eb done by the time classes started the following morning. After the attention that he had roused in the tournament he really couldn’t afford to postpone his advancement to the Ascendant Realm any longer than he already had.