Divine Beast Ascension

Yeter looked at her like she was crazy. “Netra, what are you talking about? What’s better than his father’s technique?”

“But what about his da-”

“Hey, I have an idea,” Oli cut her off, not giving Yeter the chance to hear about his second essence. “I can talk to Vloz and see if you can have his technique. How about that?”

“Umm... I guess that could work,” she didn’t like being cut off, but she did like the idea of Oli giving her something like it was a gift.

“Great, I’ll make sure to talk with Vloz and I’m sure he’ll pass it on,” said Oli. “What about you Yeter, what are you going to do in the library? You’ve already got Uncle Rathe’s technique so you might as well keep that one”

“Yeah, I’m gonna ask for some battle arts instead. I need to find something that can beat your hammers,” Yeter declared proudly. “Do you know why there are three different floors? There’s no way there are so many techniques and arts to fill the whole thing, right? That would be crazy!”

.....

“It has something to do with our cultivation levels, but I’m not exactly sure why,” Oli shrugged. “All I know is that it’s pretty full thanks to Vloz. Apparently, he went through more than five separate territories to hunt down enough bandits and gather enough for the library. Rathe even mentioned that he crossed the border and hunted down the remnants of the Blood Moon Guild, you remember them?”

“Of course! Those jerks ruined my tribe’s lives all the time!” yelled Yeter, smiling to hear that they were wiped out.

“Yeah, it was risky but Vloz ended up killing the last few members and made off with everything in their treasury. He was almost caught but managed to cross the border just in time to escape,” said Oli. “With everything, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the whole thing full.”

“You’re right Oli, almost the entire building was filled. Why do you think I took a week off to nap and recover when I got back from my little adventure?”

The three turned around to see Vloz standing immediately behind them. He continued, “And the answer is yes, Netra is welcome to have my Phantom Assassin technique.”

“How long have you been standing there?” asked Yeter, feeling threatened and impressed at the same time.

“I think what you should be asking is, ‘how come I can’t sense you, even though I can see you?’ or am I wrong?” stated Vloz, disappearing instantly.

The three tried to sense him, but like Vloz mentioned, they had no luck.

Vloz spoke up again, this time from behind the turned-around Netra, “This is the key to my cultivation technique. It culminates in speed and stealth to deliver a single critical hit to quickly end any foe. Are you sure you want such an aggressive cultivation technique filled with bloodlust?”

Suddenly, all three of them began to tremble and slowly slink down to the floor. The bloodlust and killing intent Vloz was emitting defied their instincts for survival and caused them to naturally submit to the death threat in front of them.

Vloz released his aura after only a second, giving them a taste for his technique’s true purpose. The leopard stared at the shaking fox, waiting for her answer.

She swallowed her fear and peeked up at Vloz, saying, “If it means I can be strong, I want it.”

“Are you sure? Changing your essence nature right now isn’t too difficult, but down the line, it will be nearly impossible with such an extreme nature as this. I’ll ask again, is this the cultivation technique you want?” said Vloz.

Netra hesitated and glanced at Oli on her side, who was in awe of Vloz’s strength and intimidating aura. Seeing the admiration Oli had for the technique, Netra answered, “Yes, this is the one I want.”

Vloz chuckled, “Very well, just don’t regret it later.” Without a second thought, Vloz passed her his Phantom Assassin technique. He walked away saying, “Don’t be late, we’ll be starting soon.”

Coming back to reality, Oli helped the shaken Yeter up and led his friends to the arena for the opening ceremony.

This time they sat in the seats above the stage so all the students and their parents could get a good look at the speakers. There were even some spectators who decided to stay and visit instead of returning home after yesterday’s announcement.

After waiting half an hour Vloz suddenly appeared on the stage without anyone noticing, calling everyone to attention.

“We’d like to thank all of you for coming to the opening ceremony for Iron Academy’s first year in operation. I’m Vloz, the Iron Academy headmaster and director of the Iron Library. I look forward to helping this young generation to grow and eventually become tomorrow’s leaders. As much as I love being headmaster, I don’t wish for it to last forever.”

“At some point, all the youth before me will have the chance to emerge as pillars for Iron Town and for the Iron territory as a whole. But don’t think that it’ll be easy, the very reason we’ve created this school is to make some things easier by increasing the difficulty of others. Anyone understand why?”

All students shared confused looks and glanced at their parents for help. Some parents understood Vloz, but many parents were just as confused as their kids.

Seeing this, Vloz continued, “By forcing you to work harder on the fundamentals at the beginning of your cultivation, your future growth will be exponential. But the opposite is also true, if you take the easy way and only rely on your bloodline to level up without much external pressure, you’ll never be able to surpass your bloodline or your peers.”

“If you have the hunger to grow stronger, do exactly as your instructors recommend and participate in all lectures and practices they give. If not, don’t blame me or anyone else when you’re passed by your classmates and left behind in cultivation.”

The crowd was silent, still digesting Vloz’s words. Some took it with a grain of salt, others took it as a chance to humble themselves.

Oli, Netra, and Yeter still had the feeling of Vloz’s intimidating aura fresh in their mind, blown away at how deeply his aura could affect them despite not actually harming them. It made accepting Vloz’s speech much easier and heightened their expectations for their future cultivation.

“Now, allow us to introduce your instructors,” stated Vloz. Four gorillas walked out from the lower stage corridors and stood behind Vloz.

The first one stepped forward and introduced himself, “I’m Klor, a peak-elder and the instructor for the novice class.” He quickly stepped back and returned to the line. They all followed and did the same.

“I’m Warlon, a peak-elder and the instructor for the adept class.”

“I’m Hurdo, an early-perennial and the instructor of the advanced adept class.”

“I’m Ania, an early-perennial and the substitute instructor for the advanced novice class while instructor Fontu is traveling to deliver the territory offering.”

Everyone was happy to see such capable instructors for their children. The chiefs hadn’t given them too many details about the instructors, so seeing two perennials as instructors made them jealous of their own kids.

Those spectating while only visiting became envious of Iron Academy, cursing their own territories for not having such a place.

“As you can tell, they are all fully capable as instructors and will offer the best education the Iron Academy can offer. From this time onward, we will be dividing each school year in half as two terms. Each term will be five moons and there will be a break for one moon in between terms,” explained Vloz.

“Also, at the end of each year, there will be an assessment to test each student’s growth. Near the end of the first term, there will be a school trip to give the students real-world experience and broaden their horizons.”

Vloz then looked to the crow, adding, “And for those who are only visiting, know that starting next year we will accept a limited number of students from outside the territory as transfer students, whether beast or human. There will be charges for transfers and applications are on a first-come, first-served basis. But, rest assured, they will receive the same education and instruction as our territory’s own youth. If you’re interested, visit the first floor of the Iron Library just before sundown for more information.”

The envy any visitors had before now turned into excitement. Those who could travel and afford to stay in other territories for extended periods of time typically had decent wealth. Their decision to stay behind for the opening ceremony was the right one.

“Moving forward, we’ve already announced the class seats at yesterday’s award ceremony but we have yet to distribute the prizes due to yesterday’s regional announcement. For all students in the first eight seats, novice and adept, meet me at the library in one hour. Everyone, thank you for coming. You are dismissed,” finished Vloz, disappearing from the crowd as easily as he had appeared.