At first, there was silence. Some of the crowd even started to grow excited, but then they realized that the elders weren't smiling and understood why. Her ancestral guardian spirit was a Demonic Ape, which meant that her chances of future success were nearly zero.
At best, her prospects could reach the heights of a low-level elite but never a powerhouse of the times.
Her future growth was severed.
Cultivation already had walls and points of extreme difficulty, adding to the calamity of growth barriers that Demonic Apes had.
This could only be the cruelest joke ever. Some of the not-so-smart ones finally realized the weird atmosphere where they initially expected clapping over her aptitude and intimidating ancestral Guardian Spirit form.
Some elders sadly shook their heads. How could this happen? Such a demonic level of aptitude just for it to be wasted because of an erroneous choice in an Ancestral Spirit Guardian. It could be worked around and amended with enough effort, even if it was a speed-based creature!
Even a flying bug would have been better because they had higher chances of mutation and atavism when costly methods were included.
Something impossible with the Demonic Apes, who seemed to have been cursed by the old heavens. Even if your additional Ancestral Guardian Spirit has a higher growth potential than the Demonic Ape, the curse of the heavens will still limit future growth.
It gives excellent and immediate power and is a very useful tool, but only if you accept you won't ever grow past a certain point. Only those with subpar aptitude or who wish for a fast increase in power at the cost of a higher future choose these creatures.
Shamaner's eyes had a barely perceptible glint as he watched all of this happen. Kimarya was awkwardly holding herself up with confidence that didn't match the atmosphere as she stepped down from the platform.
While Kimarya was stepping down, Leerum had closely watched her this whole time and found her reaction odd. What he was about to do now, taking advantage of her moment, didn't feel good. Usually, he only cared about matters involving him and his family, but he had an unpleasant taste in his mouth about doing this to his benefactor.
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He had no negative feelings towards her, nor many positive ones, besides considering everything they went through significant. Still, he needed to take advantage of this situation that he knew would have happened, albeit never imagined her talent would be so absurd.
He already found her highly intimidating, and that's without mentioning her unmatched latent talent. However, he mostly felt sad about her reduced prospects in cultivation.
He shook his head and stepped up onto the platform. He looked at all the elders before politely bowing and placing his hand on the deep green Vertuold Augury stone, feeling its pull.
Kimarya watched Leerum while she hid a smirk that tried to reach her face. How could she not have imagined that the person who would immediately go up after her disappointing display would be the sly Leerum? She expected to feel more upset but found it more amusing and not as bad if it were someone else.
Suddenly, the stone started shining, and a piercing cry rang out where the most cowardly jumped. All the elders furrowed their brows, looking around for a second until their gaze rested on the manifestations rising around Leerum. After that, they heard mad laughter and a cacophony of sounds from many kinds of creatures.
A vicious beak rose from the black gas, enormous wings spread open, and piercing blue eyes blinked into existence and stared into the skies. Looking through everyone present with a profound dignity deep within. Underneath the Murder Crow's manifestation, a vicious hyena stood very still, as if subdued by the Murder Crow that overwhelmed the senses of all the younger people present.
Everyone gasped, even a few of the elders. Everything was quiet for a second until some started shouting and speaking of how amazing it was that Leerum managed to get a Murder Crow and a Bestial Hyena!!! Everyone focused more on the fact that he managed to get the Murder Crow.
Then, the stars started forming above Leerum, the part that mattered almost as much as the Ancestral Guardian Spirit.
One star, then a second and third star, formed. It didn't just stop there; it went to five stars, and a hazy sixth slowly formed to the crowd's gasps. Alastair, standing in front of the crowd who had been ignored, furrowed his brows, and a venomous glint appeared in his eyes.
The elders around Leerum and the Vertuold Augury stone all nodded and praised this youngster, especially considering he was not a child of noble birth. Very few have been able to defeat an infant Murder Crow. The future prospects of this member of the younger generation would be almost limitless as the nightmare hegemon of the skies known as the Murder Crow.
Leerum smiled and bowed again to the Elders before walking off the stage, which made several of them nod in approval only after seeing his potential. In contrast, Shamaner only smiled in an unreadable way.