Even when he was a baby Telram was different from other children. Quieter almost like he understood what was going on around him. When he grew up however these differences became even more obvious. Telram was more interested in researching cultivation and Mana than spending time with other kids. Of course, if he hadn’t been, I would probably be dead by now thanks to the damage that had been done to my Mana Core but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t troubling. However, in the end I wouldn’t ever want my son to change. While some of his ideas seemed strange at first it quickly became clear that what he was doing was for the purpose of improving the lives of everyone that he possibly could.
* Excerpt from the memoirs of Lily Accordia.
“Hah, well that’s the latest update for my Ascendant Realm cultivation technique done,” Telram sighed as he placed his quill down next to the sheathe of papers that were sitting in front of him. “I just hope I don’t have to rewrite it too many more times.”
It had been two months since he and the others had recreated Lily’s Mana Core. Thankfully there had been no further complications and she was now more lively and happier than she had been in years.
During this time Telram had been wearing the weights that he had asked Dale to make almost constantly as well as working on his Soul Refining technique, training his students and creating new cultivation technique so it was no wonder that he was exhausted. Especially considering how many times he’d been forced to add to or rewrite sections of the technique as he came up with new ideas or techniques.
The problem was with making a cultivation technique was that it hadn’t been done successfully before, so he was making sure to keep track of everything in case something went wrong. Sadly, this meant that every time he refined his techniques, he had to change the cultivation technique. This was also complicated even further by the fact that he had to incorporate all four of the elements into his cultivation technique and the various techniques that also went into making it.
If one looked over the cultivation technique that Telram was making they might recognise a diagram of a solar system. This was the base concept that Telram had come up with for the representation of his cultivation technique that would exist within his Mana Core when he reached the Ascendant Realm. Telram had decided that his body strengthening technique and the new soul refinement technique that he had been working on would form the two main features of his cultivation technique once it was complete. Despite being only recently created Telram knew that his soul refinement technique was one of his most important techniques because it further strengthened one of his main advantages over other cultivators which was his powerful soul.
After a lot of thought he had decided that the best elements to combine with his soul refinement technique were Air and Fire. As such his soul refinement technique was represented by the sun at the centre of the diagram of his cultivation technique. He had chosen these two elements because of the way his soul refinement technique converted his normal soul energy into something closer to Jai’s soul energy and gave it the ability to devour other soul energy. Air was the obvious choice for soul energy in general because soul energy was usually formless like gas. Fire on the other hand he decided to add specifically because of the way his new soul energy devoured things much like fire required some form of fuel to keep burning.
On the other hand, his body strengthening technique was represented by the sole planet that he had drawn on the diagram. Obviously Telram had put the most work into making absolutely certain that his body strengthening technique combined all four of the elements. Fire for explosive power. Earth for toughness and endurance. Water for improved healing and flexibility. And finally, Air for speed and improved respiratory function.
Other notable techniques that had been added to the cultivation techniques were his Resonance Palm technique, Mana Claws technique, the new movement technique that he had made and his Dissonance technique.
Like his two main techniques these Skills had their own representations in the solar system that he was planning on making inside of his Mana Core. Resonance Palm had the elements of both Earth and Water incorporated in it and was represented by an icy moon that orbited the planet that represented his body strengthening technique. Mana Claws was also represented by a moon but unlike Resonance Palm Telram had decided to incorporate Fire and Air into the technique similar to what he had done with his new soul refining technique. The movement technique which he had named Thunderclap Steps after he had decided that Earth and Air would be the best combination of elements to incorporate into the technique and was represented by a set of rings that surrounded the planet like the rings of Saturn.
His Dissonance Technique on the other hand was a bit different, mostly because of the way that it changed after he had started using his soul refinement technique. Now that his soul energy had the tendency to devour the soul energy that surrounded it his Dissonance technique had a similar effect on any mana or soul energy that came into contact with it making it an even more useful technique to use. Telram had decided to attempt to incorporate Fire and Air Mana into this technique as well which he had ended up renaming Devouring Aura because of its new properties.
Unfortunately, despite Telram’s best efforts he had been unable to progress too much on making a fighting style for his Kanabo. This was mostly because despite the large amount of physical training that he had done swinging the massive weapon more than a few times was still difficult for him. Especially if he didn’t add soul energy to the weapon to decrease its weight. Thankfully he would be able to add something to his cultivation technique later on once it had stabilised. It was just a bit annoying that the weapon was still too heavy for him to fight with effectively. He had however decided that he was going to add Fire and Earth mana to the technique when he did get around to making it.
Getting up he made his way out to the kitchen where his mother was waiting for him. He wasn’t taking any morning classes today. But he did have to take one after lunch which was why he had been working on his cultivation technique while he had some time.
“Would you like lunch before you head out or do you want to take something with you?” Lily asked giving her son a smile. Lily was looking healthier than she had in years and had actually started to gain a little muscle tone in recent weeks now that she could actually walk around again.
“Yeah, I’ll have lunch Telram nodded as he sat down at the dinner table and examined his mother carefully. “So, have you thought about what I asked you the other day?”
“Well I’m flattered dear,” Lily replied carefully. “But I don’t think I’m quite ready yet.”
Since Lily was much healthier than she had been a few months ago Telram had suggested that she take the occasional class on herbs and medicines since she had taught Telram everything that he knew on that subject.
“Okay,” Telram nodded. “But you’re not opposed to the idea?”
“I’m not,” Lily agreed. “As you know I’ve been helping Iris out with her herb garden and she’s asked me whether I would consider taking the occasional class. She seemed to think that it would be good for me to spend more time outside.”
“And I agree,” Telram nodded. “But take your time. While I would appreciate the extra help teaching the kids. I don’t want you pushing yourself either if you don’t think you’re ready.”
“Yeah, I’ve been doing those exercises you told me about, but I still don’t have as much energy as I would like,” Lily replied. “But I’ll let you know when I think I’m ready.”
“So,” she continued as she started preparing a something simple for Telram’s lunch. “How is making your cultivation technique coming?”
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“Not badly but not well either,” Telram replied with a shrug. “There are a lot of things to keep track of and update my techniques develop.”
“And you’re still set on going through with using it?” Lily asked cautiously She knew this was a bit of a touchy subject for her son. Especially since he had found out that he would only be able to use a weak Ascendant Realm cultivation technique with his current Elemental Affinities but that didn’t mean that she was just going to let her son do something that could hurt or even kill him if she could possibly prevent it.
“Yeah,” Telram replied with a firm nod. “I don’t think that I really have a choice.”
“What do you mean?” Lily asked as she cocked her head to one side. She and the others had asked him about his reasons for wanting to make his own several times before, but he had brushed them off every single time.
“I want to change the way this world works mum,” Telram sighed tiredly as he turned to look at her once more. “I want to make things easier for people like us and my students. People who aren’t rich or connected should be able to learn how to cultivate or just get an education if they want to. That is why I wanted to start the school and that is why I need to be as strong as possible.”
“I see,” his mother replied thoughtfully. She of all people understood why Telram needed to be powerful. “Alright, I won’t try and change your mind. In fact, if there’s anything I can do to help then let me know.”
“Actually, you’ve already been very helpful,” Telram told her making her blink in surprise. “I’ve been studying you Mana Core for years mum.”
“And that helped?”
“Yeah, I think that I was able to narrow down some of the things that might’ve gone wrong,” Telram replied. “So, I was able to come up with some things that should help me avoid possible pitfalls. In theory at least.”
“I see,” Lily sighed as she placed Telram’s lunch in front of him. “Well at least one good thing came out of what happened to me.”
“Don’t say that,” Telram growled making her jump slightly in surprise. “What happened to you shouldn’t have happened at all. Irian had no right to force you to use that cultivation technique.”
As Telram spoke his voice turned rough and a pressure started to push down on Lily who gasped as she was nearly forced to her knees. Seeing that she was suddenly struggling Telram flinched as he realised that he had lost control over his emotions and immediately withdrew his soul pressure and rushed over to Lily so that he could check on her.
“Oh my god. I’m sorry mum,” he blurted out as he heled her over to the table so that she could sit down.
“Don’t worry about it,” Lily panted as she waved her worried son away. “I’ll be fine in a few seconds.”
Telram hesitated slightly but then nodded and sat down opposite her while watching her carefully. Once he was sure that she was okay he started picking at his lunch but found that he had lost most of his appetite and gave what remained of his lunch to Jai before getting up to head out.
“I’ll be back later mum,” he said as he headed towards the door. “Make sure you get some rest.”
Once outside Telram hung his head for a few seconds before shaking it. He couldn’t show up to class looking depressed. Today they would be going over his modified technique for creating a soul contract for the last time. His students had been working really hard these past two months and had increased the power of their souls to the point where Telram was confident that they would be able to use his technique without too much difficulty. So, if they managed to show that they could use the technique correctly then he and the others were planning on taking them to a nearby town that specialised in catching and breeding Mana Beasts called Urlan.
There weren’t too many towns like this and most of them had a reputation for being fairly rough which was why Gerry, Aran, Fergus, Diane as well as Dale would be coming along with them to make sure that they weren’t attacked by thieves. Since buying four Mana Beasts would cost a lot of money, they were also going to be selling 20 puppets that Gerry and Fergus had made. As such they would also be bringing four of Gerry’s combat ready puppets as well just to be absolutely sure that there wouldn’t be any idiots who decided to attack them to steal their merchandise.
The kids had already decided what sort of Mana Beast that they really wanted but Telram had cautioned them several times that they may not be able to find or possibly afford their first choice. As such after grumbling for a little bit, they had all made short lists of other Mana Beasts that they would settle for which had actually surprised Telram a little since he had expected them to complain a lot more than they had.
Telram had originally been opposed to the idea of bringing their students along with them to Urlan for obvious reasons but to Telram’s surprise Aran had immediately disagreed with him. According to Aran there also had to be a certain amount of compatibility between both parties so if someone else picked out a Mana Beast for someone else to form a contract with there was a good chance that they wouldn’t be able to do so because they lacked the compatibility that they needed. So, in the end Telram had grudgingly agreed to bring the students along. However, he this was only under the condition that they bring along at least one person in the Ascendant Realm to watch over all of the students as well as him since despite being stronger than some early stage Ascendant Realm cultivators.
Thankfully it had been easy enough to convince Dale to come along with them since he had been thinking about going to Urlan to get some more materials for his blacksmith’s shop. So that had solved the issue of finding an extra Ascendant Realm cultivator to go with them. Telram was still a little bit nervous about the whole thing especially since most of the people that caught Mana Beasts to sell to other cultivators often treated the Mana Beasts very badly.
Which was why they had decided against bringing Jai and Willa along with them despite the extra fighting capabilities that bringing the two Mana Beasts along with them would provide. While Willa had been picked up in the forest by his father when she was a pup. Jai on the other hand had been treated badly by the people who had caught him and Telram didn’t really know how the tiger would react to what he saw there.
Jai hadn’t been happy with this but had eventually agreed with Telram. On the other hand, Willa readily agreed. With five of the Ascendant Realm cultivators in the village leaving on a trip the combat level of Yulis was taking quite a large hit. It was unlikely that anything would happen but her not wanting to come did make things easier for Telram and the others, so they didn’t point this fact out.
The kids had actually done a pretty good job of working out what Mana Beasts would suit them with Cameron focussing on ones that were physically powerful like his first choice which was known as a Four-armed Gorilla, which was exactly what one might from its name and was capable of using all six of it’s limbs to move with surprising agility for its size.
Tim had chosen a Blade-wing Hawk for his first choice which was a surprisingly small Mana Beast for how dangerous it was. The Blade-wing Hawk had razor sharp feathers on the edge of its wings which could cut through flesh and bone like a sword. It was also one of the fastest and most agile of the normal Mana Beasts and it only got faster and more dangerous when it became an Elemental Mana Beast.
Henry had actually surprised Telram slightly with his first choice which was called an Ebon Owl. The Ebon Owl was an incredibly intelligent Mana Beast that specialised in stealth attacks. It also had excellent vision, and some could even use their Mana to leave tracking markers on their prey so that they could follow them and then attack when their guard was down.
Finally Iris had chosen an Emerald Hare which was a Mana Beast that was known for raising medicinal plants that it would then share with other Mana Beasts in exchange for their protection which was a partner that would truly suit the girl if they could find one of the extremely difficult to capture Beasts.
As he arrived at the place where Telram taught most of the lessons he smiled happily at the sight of his students all sitting under the tree and cultivating together. Despite the fact that each and every one of them had injured the others in some way they were all friends and knew that any injuries that occurred while they were training were merely accidents. Spotting him Gerry who had been taking this class waved him over and with a nod Telram complied.
Walking up to them Telram clapped once and the students immediately opened their eyes and turned towards him with excited expression on their faces.
“Alright then,” Telram said with a smile. “Let’s get started.
One after the other all of the students started braiding long streamers of their soul energy while Telram called out tips and corrections. Gerry watched in awe as each and every one of the children that they had been training performed something that looked not quite the same but very similar to what Telram and Jai had done on the day that they had met. Naturally they were only making one side of the braided chain of soul energy which were a bit simpler than the one that Jai and Telram had made but even Gerry would never have expected that they would be able to come this far in only a couple of months.
“Excellent job everyone,” Telram said once he was happy with what they had all done. The only one of the students who had really struggled was Tim but even he had managed to get his braid up to Telram’s standards by the end of the lesson. “I think that’ll do for the day.”
“Did we pass?” Henry asked cautiously as he absorbed his braid of soul energy back into his body.
“Yes, you did,” Telram nodded. “Let’s start heading back to town. You’ll need a decent night’s sleep tonight. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
The kids all grinned at their teacher’s words. It had taken them a lot of hard work to reach this point and that was without even considering how difficult it had been for some of them to convince their parents to let them have a soul bonded Mana Beast. But their work had finally paid off.