One of the most interesting but often overlooked abilities of a Divine or Sage Beast is their ability to communicate with both humans as well as other Mana Beasts. This means that they can help to keep the peace between Mana Beasts and humans if they so desire. However Divine and Sage Beasts have also been known to force weaker Mana Beasts to attack human villages with this ability when they were wronged by humans. Such events aren’t particularly common, and most Sage and Divine Beasts are more interested in either staying well away from humans than attacking them.

-Excerpt from Telram’s notes on Divine Beasts.

“He really is quite impressive, isn’t he?” Lelland asked Ryu as they watched Telram as he continued to repair the damage that he had done to his soul when he’d transformed during his fight with Ryu.

“I wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t,” Ryu agreed easily. “I’m pleased that I wasn’t entirely disappointed by you humans because most of the other cultivators were pathetic in comparison to him. No offence.”

“None taken,” Lelland chuckled. “Most of them were spoilt brats who were told that they were some sort of genius their entire lives. And in reality, they are more talented than the average cultivator but being told how talented they were their entire lives made them complacent. When you compare them to someone like Telram it is no wonder that you find them lacking.”

“Yeah,” Iris agreed happily. “Our teacher is the best!”

“Indeed, he is,” Lelland chuckled as he ruffled the small girl’s hair. The other students were cultivating diligently, and Fergus quickly told her to start meditating again so that the adults could keep talking without being interrupted. Iris pouted at the older man for a few seconds but he simply held her gaze until she did what he had asked.

“He has worked very hard to get to where he is now,” Fergus sighed once he was certain that Iris was meditating once again. “For most of his life his main goal was to heal his mother Lily. She had damaged her Mana Core before he was even born and was slowly dying of Mana poisoning. As I’m sure you both know such things are incredibly hard to heal and both him and Gerry had been working on a technique for years. They finally managed to complete the technique and heal her a few weeks ago. However even after healing his mother Telram didn’t even hesitate before moving onto his next goal which is to improve the lives of anyone that he could by teaching people the cultivation techniques that he developed in the process of becoming strong enough to heal his mother.”

“I take it back then,” Lelland said. “He’s not impressive. He’s incredible. I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into developing a technique that can do that.”

“In the end Gerry and Telram were forced to ask us for help,” Diane said. “The technique that they came up with was far from perfect. In fact, it was basically a brute force method that could’ve killed Lily and possibly injure Telram in the same way that she was injured if something had gone wrong. In the end though everything came down to Telram’s skill manipulating soul energy and Mana. We were just there to provide the power that he lacked.”

“I’m guessing that this is part of the reason that he’s still in the Human Realm?” Ryu asked. “Because I can’t help but feel like he’s more than talented enough to have entered the Ascendant Realm now.”

“Well, that’s certainly part of it,” Gerry agreed from where he was driving the wagon. “The other part is that he’s an Enlightened Soul which makes finding a decent Cultivation Technique that he can actually use.”

“Wait, what!?” Lelland exclaimed. “But there are only a few Cultivation Techniques that are really suitable for someone with an Enlightened Soul and copies of them are incredibly rare!”

“In fact, they’re impossible for anyone to obtain,” Gerry agreed. “So Telram only had one choice; to use a Cultivation Technique that wasn’t really suitable for him. Or at least that was what we thought.”

“Don’t tell me,” Lelland groaned.

“That’s right,” Gerry agreed. “He decided to make his own Cultivation Technique.”

“I don’t understand,” Ryu interrupted. “What’s so wrong about that?”

“Well, it might be different for Divine Beasts, but no human has ever successfully created a Cultivation Technique of their own,” Lelland explained. “Anyone who tried ended up dying or damaging their ability to cultivate permanently.”

“Hmm, that may be so but none of them were Telram right?” Ryu pointed out.

“Well, you’re not wrong there,” Lelland agreed. “But quite a few of the cultivators who tried these techniques were given them by a much more powerful cultivator than they were.”

“Oh, trust me we were all against the idea at first,” Fergus sighed. “But Telram pointed out how important being able to stand up for ourselves was going to be for us in the future.”

“Still,” Lelland sighed. “It just seems too dangerous.”

“You’re not wrong,” Diane agreed. “Trying to do something like that is extremely reckless but we’ve all seen the notes on the technique that he’s been creating and compared them with the information that we have on the Cultivation Techniques that failed as well as various Cultivation Techniques that actually work. He’s put a lot of work into it and fixed the few problems that we were able to find. “

“So, you’re going to let him try it?” Lelland asked with a worried frown.

“I’m not giving them a choice in the matter,” Telram said as his eyes fluttered open. “This is my decision.”

“That’s right,” Ryu agreed. “I don’t seem to understand what the problem here is. Telram is very different from the average human cultivator. We all knew this even before we found out that he had an Enlightened Soul. When I consider everything that I know about Telram I see no reason why he couldn’t manage to create a Cultivation Technique that would work.”

“You barely know anything about Telram!” Lelland exclaimed. “You only met him the other day!”

“That’s a good point,” Ryu agreed nonchalantly. “But have you ever heard of someone being able to transform the way he did without being either a Sage Beast or Divine Beast like me?”

“I haven’t actually no,” Lelland replied.

“So, before yesterday you would’ve thought it was impossible?” Ryu asked.

“Well, yeah,” Lelland agreed. He thought he knew where Ryu was going with this, but he decided to go along with it for now.

“So, if Telram could do one impossible thing,” Ryu began before blinking as he realised something. “Actually, make that two impossible things because he healed his mother. Then it’s entirely possible that he would be able to perform another thing that most people would normally consider to be impossible.”

“That’s certainly an interesting way of looking at it,” Fergus laughed. “I’m not sure that I entirely agree with your reasoning, but I do agree with the idea that if anyone can successfully create their own Cultivation Technique then Telram can.”

“Well thank you for the vote of confidence,” Telram chuckled. “Now can we talk about what we’re going to do with the Mana Beasts that the kids bought when we get back?”

“Well, we can keep the in the cages for now I guess,” Diane shrugged. “It’s not ideal but I don’t think that we have a lot of other choices.”

“Personally, I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Telram chuckled as he made eye contact with Ryu. “Do you think that you could help?”

“I could certainly try but I don’t really want to force them to do anything that they want to do,” Ryu replied thoughtfully. “Not that I’m strong enough to do that anyway.”

“That’s more than enough,” Telram nodded. “It will be far better if you can get them to cooperate with us. However, I will promise that we won’t treat them badly even if you can’t convince them.”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Ryu replied with a shrug. “We’re Beasts we don’t really care about each other unless we’re family and even then, how much we care about each other depends on our species.”

“Then why do you not want to force them to obey the kids?” Lelland asked.

“Because I don’t like the idea of forcing anyone to my will,” Ryu replied with a shrug.

“But you won’t insist on releasing them if they refuse to listen to you?” Lelland pressed.

“No,” Ryu replied. “Look I know this is hard for you humans to understand but I believe that creating a Soul Bond with Telram’s students will be the best option for these Beasts. After all it’s quite likely that if you did release them, they would either be captured again or killed and eaten by other Mana Beasts.”

“Well, I suppose that does make a certain amount of sense,” Lelland admitted. “But it’s still a bit weird to me.”

“Let me put it this way Lelland,” Telram said. “Do you, the son of the Lord of Urlan Town have any problems with people capturing Mana Beasts?”

“Uh, no not really,” Lelland realised. “I mean I’d certainly prefer that some of the hunters treated them a little better, but my dad refuses to let the cruellest hunters even enter Urlan. Even if they’re being chased by Mana Beasts. I even recall a few times that he ordered some particularly nasty groups hunted down and killed.”

“Well then you do understand,” Telram replied. “At least a little bit. In this world the only rule that truly matters is might makes right. If you’re strong enough then you can avoid any consequences that others try to force upon you.”

“Well, you’re not wrong there,” Lelland admitted. “I guess that I do understand your point more than I thought Ryu. I’m sorry.”

“Why?” Ryu shrugged. “We’re from vastly different backgrounds. It makes sense that there are understandings between us.”

Telram nodded silently to himself. Thankfully his two new acquaintances had been able to come to an understanding without things devolving into violence. For now, at least.

“Telram, you should probably get back to repairing your soul,” Gerry said. “We’ve still got a couple of hours until we get home, and I don’t want to think about what Lily would do to me if she saw you in the state that you’re in right now.”

“Well, I’m not sure how much more I can do right now,” Telram replied. “I’m pretty tired now but I suppose that even a little progress will be better than nothing.”

“Thanks, Telram,” Gerry nodded as Telram closed his eyes once again and started meditating.

“Don’t you think that you’re pushing him pretty hard?” Lelland asked. “I mean I have no idea how difficult it is to repair damage to your soul at all let alone damage as bad as that, but I can’t imagine that it’s easy.”

“True most people at Telram’s Cultivation Level would be far too exhausted to repair even half the amount of damage that Telram has repaired today,” Fergus agreed. “But Telram is different. Not only is he much more disciplined than the average cultivator but his soul is also much stronger than normal. Both of these things combined mean that he can restore much more of his soul than normal. In fact, if his soul had been any weaker than it had been then even attempting the transformation would’ve killed him. To say nothing of the damage that it did to his body.”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine how much something like that must’ve hurt,” Lelland sighed.

“Neither can I,” Ryu agreed. “After all, transforming like that is normal for me.”

“Do you think that he will be able to do it again or was it just a one off?” Lelland asked.

“I honestly have no idea,” Ryu shrugged. “But I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to. I’d say it probably depends on whether Telram even wants to do it.”

They continued to talk about various subjects for a couple of hours until Gerry turned to tell them that they were approaching Yulis. The sun was beginning to set and when Ryu and Lelland stood up to take a look at the place where they would be living for the foreseeable future.

“It really is a small place isn’t it?” Lelland muttered drawing some irritated glances from the children who had already awoken from their trances.

“It is,” Telram agreed with a chuckle. “But that’s just part of its charm. Besides, I have a lot of plans for Yulis’ growth.”

“Come on teach,” Tim grumbled. “Yulis village is a great place to live as it is.”

“That it is Tim,” Telram said as he ruffled the small boy’s hair with a laugh. “But the fact of the matter is that things are going to have to change if we are going to continue increasing the number of students.”

“I agree,” Gerry nodded. “In fact, we have been working on various plans to make Yulis safer for everyone. Which now that people like Lord Fallar are starting to learn about the school has become a lot more important. No offence Lelland.”

“None taken,” Lelland nodded. “I can understand your caution. My father may be a decent man, but I know better than most that there are a lot of other nobles who are some of the worst people you could ever meet.”

“And I know several groups of Sage and Divine Beasts with grudges against you humans who would wipe out this village in an instant if they knew about what you were planning,” Ryu agreed.

As they approached the entrance to the village a crowd started to gather and when they finally came to a halt Telram hopped down and embraced the still thin but much healthier Lily who hugged him back for a few moments before realising that something felt slightly off about him.

“Telram, dear what’s wrong,’ she asked as she held him slightly further away.

“It’s nothing mum,’ he chuckled. “I just damaged my soul a bit. It’ll be fine in a few days.”

“What!?” Lily exclaimed as she turned to glare at Gerry who rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “How did that happen!?”

“I’m afraid that would be my fault ma’am,” Ryu explained as he hopped down off the wagon. His injuries occurred during our fight in the tournament when he attempted a rather dangerous technique at my behest.”

“And you are?” Lily asked dangerously as a strange aura started to form around Ryu who blinked in surprise as he realised that while Lily’s Cultivation Level was practically non-existent her soul was considerably more powerful than his own was.

“My name is Ryu ma’am,” Ryu explained quickly as sweat began to run down his brow. “And I’m a Divine Beast.”

“A Divine Beast?” Lily asked as she blinked in surprise. Ryu breathed a sigh of relief when the oppressive aura that she had been releasing faded before coming back even stronger than before almost sending him to his knees. “And what does a Divine Beast want with my son?”

“To learn from him,” Ryu replied through gritted teeth. “I am here to become a student at his school.”

“Mum, Ryu didn’t damage my soul he just showed me a new technique that was far too strong for me to use safely,” Telram explained to his mother gently.

“Did this technique involve something to do with Jai?” Aran asked as he placed his hand on Lily’s shoulder in the hopes of calming her down.

“Yes, it did,” Telram replied with a slight frown. “Why?”

“Well, it might have something to do with the fact that I can talk now,” a voice said from behind Lily and Aran.

Telram let go of his mother and stepped around her and his father with a wide-eyed look on his face as he stared at Jai who looked back at him with amusement in his eyes.

“Good evening brother,” Jai said in an amused tone of voice as Telram and the others stared at him in amazement. Despite his massive size Jai’s voice was quite high pitched like that of a young boy who had yet to go through puberty which was incredibly weird to hear from a tiger who stood at about 6 feet tall.

“Jai, you can talk?” Telram asked. “But that’s impossible.”

“More, or less impossible than transforming into a Beastman form when you’re not a Divine or Sage Beast?” Jai asked as he snorted in amusement and Telram blinked for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

“Well, you’re definitely right there!” Telram laughed.

“Uh, what do you mean Telram transformed?” Lily asked. “That’s not possible!”

“Well, we all thought so too but Telram proved us all wrong,” Lelland interrupted. “We all saw him transform.”

“That’s right Lily,” Gerry agreed. “I almost didn’t believe my own eyes, but it happened.”

“How did you do it son?” Aran asked interestedly.

“It has to do with the strength of our souls and the strength of our Soul Bond,” Telram replied. “But other than that, I’m not entirely sure myself.”

“So, you don’t think that you’ll be able to teach me?” Aran asked sadly.

“Sorry dad, but I don’t think that I can,” Telram replied. “Even after teaching you my Soul Bonding technique I don’t think that your bond with Willa is strong enough. I might be able to teach Iris and the others how to do it though.”

“Really?” Iris asked excitedly as she grabbed Telram’s hand.

“Well, I’ll certainly do my best,” Telram chuckled. “But I’ll have to master the technique first. There’s no way that I’m letting you kids hurt yourselves the way that I did when I transformed.”

“Well, that’s all very well and good,” Diane sighed. “But they’ll have to create a Soul Bond with their Mana Beast first.”

“Yes, I see that you were successful in your mission,” Aran said as he looked at the various cages in the back of the second wagon. “Some of those Mana Beasts look like they’re in pretty bad shape though. It might be difficult to convince them to form a Soul Contract with the kids anytime soon.”

“That would normally be the case,” Telram said with a knowing smile. “But thankfully Ryu here has offered to help out explaining the situation to them.”

“Indeed, I have,” Ryu nodded as he walked over to the cages and closed his eyes for a few heartbeats.

“Do you really think that this will help?” Aran whispered to Telram who snorted in amusement.

“Ryu is a Divine Beast,” Telram replied. “Controlling other Mana Beasts is his birth right.”

As he said this Ryu’s mouth started moving. Try as they might no one present could hear what he was saying except for the Mana Beasts in the cages, Jai, Willa, Lelland’s Spine Weasel and strangely enough Telram whose eyes widened in surprise. As he had promised Jai was simply explaining to the Mana Beasts that Iris and the other children were hoping to make Soul Contracts with them. However, Telram wasn’t entirely sure how he understood exactly what Ryu was saying.

“Telram, are you seeing this?” Jai whispered to his partner who glanced down at him briefly before realising what Jai was saying. A pained grimace crossed his face as he activated his spiritual vision. Sure, enough there were several streamers reaching out from Ryu and connecting to each of the Mana Beasts, as well as him.

“Yeah brother, I see it,” Telram said through gritted teeth as he examined the streamers of soul energy closer.

“Telram if you’re in too much pain then stop using your spiritual vision, I can describe what’s going on to you,” Jai said worriedly.

“Not it’s fine,” Telram replied. “Those streamers look similar to what cultivators use to form Soul Contracts with Mana Beasts, don’t they?”

“Well, I suppose,” Jai nodded. “I guess that does make a certain amount of sense.”

A few minutes later Ryu shook his head sadly and turned towards them.

“What’s wrong?” Telram asked.

“Well, I was able to convince all of the Mana Beasts that creating a Soul Contract with your students except for the Four-Armed Gorilla which insisted on fighting against Cameron,” Ryu sighed. “This wasn’t actually much of a surprise to me I’m afraid. Not only are Four-Armed Gorillas extremely proud creatures this one has been treated very poorly by the humans who captured it.”

“Hmm, alright I’ll have a quick chat with Cameron and Dale,” Telram said.

“Wait, you’re going to let him fight it?” Ryu asked in horror. “But that’s too reckless.”

“I trust my student,” Telram replied firmly. “If he can’t defeat this Four-Armed Gorilla then we’ll let it go and find him another Mana Beast.”

Ryu gaped at the back of Telram’s head as the tall young man turned and walked away. Even in its current state a Four-Armed Gorilla was more than capable of beating most cultivators at Cameron’s Cultivation Level to a pulp in the blink of an eye.

“Still if he’s Telram’s student then I suppose it is possible,” Ryu muttered thoughtfully.

Ryu sighed internally before turning around and telling the Four-Armed Gorilla the news. If Telram had this much faith in Cameron, then it had to be for a reason and Ryu wanted to find out what that reason was.