Overcoming The Beast

In the morning Sandra knocks on Leon's bedroom door. "Wake up Leon, you have the lecture in ten minutes, you have to get ready."

The door opens a and Leon is standing there ready. "I already woke up and got ready mom. Don't worry I'll leave in a minute."

Sandra watches in amazement then worry, 'is he actually possessed, he has never woken up by himself before?' she thought.

Leon looked around the room. He took a bag that held around 500 copper coins. He hung it to his waist and left the house. At the door he shouted "Bye mom, bye dad." And left.

He didn't really know where to go so he just walked around the clan until he saw a lot of children around his age going in a direction. Some of them walked with beasts. Most had wolf or tiger cubs. However a few had more niche beasts such as boars, spiders, fairies and pixies. He followed after them into a large area. Filled with chairs and a stage built in the front. Leon looked to see most of the seats were already filled.

He went and sat in the last row near the corner. He then relaxed, put his head back and started to take a nap.

From last night's cultivation I could tell my soul talent has increased but because my souls aren't completely combined it hasn't reached its full potential.

I don't think I know a way to combine human souls. I think I'll just have to wait it out until my soul devours my younger selfs soul completely.

As Leon trained through his thoughts, more and more people came until all the seats were filled.

On The stage a young handsome man walks up. Slick red hair, tall, nicely dressed and a charming smile. He wore a white gown with Flamesmith and junior head written on the back. Everyone turned to look at him as he reached the middle of the stage. Even Leon got up and saw him. "That should be Pace."

"Hello everyone, most of you already know me but for the newcomers I'm Pace Flamesmith." The moment he said that Pace ran his hand through his hair and smiled. Leon honestly felt that a few of the girls in the audience were about to faint. Pace continued. "Summoning teacher level elder Raymond Inferno will be teaching us about cultivation, I think we should all give him a round of applause." Everyone started to clap for him, even Pace as he walked off the stage. The elder walked up with a walking stick in one hand. His hair gray and skin wrinkled. He got on to the stage.

Leon didn't bother listening any more and went back to sleep. The elder looked around he stopped to look at Leon for a second then started.

"Let me ask you all does the ocean surround the land or the land surround the ocean?" His voice boomed out.

Five people raised there hands. One of them got on there chair and jumped to make sure he got the elder's attention. The elder looked at him then chose the one who raised his hand first.

A boy with glasses. He had a confident smile as he stood up and said "Elder I would like to respectfully say that the question is very vague cause it can be seen from multiple view points. Through ancestral research we know that the planet is a sphere. As spheres have three dimensional it is much more difficult to tell what is surrounding what. From each point of view of the planet the answer could be different. So I'll draw my conclusion from the latest findings from Master Summoner Holler, who has said that seventy percent of the planet is water. The fact that most of the world is water, I would say the ocean surrounds the land." He sits keeping the smug on his face.

The elder looks at the boy and said "Are you Rosalina and Mathews child?"

"Yes, those are the names of my parents."

"I see where you get it from. They have taught you well."

"Thank you."

"But your still wrong."

"What?" before the boy could protest the elder chooses the boy who was jumping on his chair to answer.

"Me! Forget everything Jason said my parents told me that across the Peaceful ocean there is a another continent. And on the north and south as well. So this means there are continents on all four sides. So the Land surrounds the ocean. Aren't I right?"

The elder looked at the boy. "Sit down. Both of you were wrong. Does anyone else want to try?" No one raised their hand.

"Fine I'll tell you. Who cares! So what if the ocean surrounds the land and so What if the land surrounds the ocean. Will understanding this make the ocean bigger or the land smaller. No! Are you going to go to fish and tell them you are better then them because you have more land, No! So it doesn't matter. You should forget stuff like this and focus on your cultivation. At high enough cultivations you could flip the land and empty the ocean with a hand gesture. The heavens would bend to your will." Most of the kids had stars in there eyes as they listened to the old man. The kid with the glasses wasn't convinced though.

"So a lot of you will be going through the awakening ceremony in three months. Remember that the clan will always be there for you no matter what..."

Hearing a chuckle the elder stopped and looked at the source. Everyone turned with him to see Leon holding his hand to his mouth trying to stop himself from laughing.

"What's so funny young man?"

Leon takes a deep breath and his eyes turned condescending as he looked at the elder. "No I just though the blatant hypocrisy was hilarious."

The elder didn't get infuriated, he was too old to get mad at a child. "What do you mean by that?"

Pace who was standing near the stage started to walk towards Leon.

"Simple. I think you should stop with the pretense and just say that if you awaken a trash beast you will be trash and if you awaken a talented beast you'll be a heaven's favourite. I think we all understand that strength is all that matters, so you can stop trying to build patriotism through your crooked-"

Pace grabs Leon and stops him from speaking. "Elder, I and my brother here would like to apologise. He was bullied a lot when he was younger so he has a very sharp tongue. I'll take him somewhere else to cool off."

The elder had turned a bit angry but hearing Pace he calmed down. "His name is Leon yes? So he is the trash that I have heard about. I understand you can leave."

Pace who was leaving while dragging Leon away, stopped and turned "I'm sorry elder but my brother is not trash. I agree with everything he said and think you should move on with the lecture and teach us something of value rather then waste our time with your mystic questions."

He then left.

The elder a bit surprised at first turned angry. The audience was now confused wondering what to do. The boy with the glasses at the front got up grabbed his stomach and said "Sorry elder, I really have to go to the restroom." And then left as well.

Everyone stared at the boy as he took a few steps, stopped holding his stomach and walked away.

The kid who had been jumping on the chair said to the person next to him "I think he's lying."

"No kidding idiot." The person next to him retorts. The girl then gets up and said "Elder Raymond, I'm sorry but I feel sick so I'll be leaving as well." She left too.

Finally the audience didn't know what was happening so someone else stood up "Elder I..."

"Shut up! Another one of you ask to leave, I'll throw you out of town from here myself!"

Everyone quieted down. The kid that had been next to the girl was already on the floor crawling out of the audience. He was caught as he left the area with the chairs, sensing that he had been spotted he froze.

The elder and the kid stared at each other.

"Just get out of my sight." The elder said mentally exhausted.

The boy gets up and runs away scared.