14 First Day Pt. 2

John didn't have to wait for long, the double doors slamming open as a group of 10 other freshman walked in with monsters following along behind them. A Tri-Colored Single Horned Rabbit shot off, exploring the room, not two steps behind it a Wind Wolf decided to chase it.

"STOP!" A boy yelled as his tried to chase the wolf before turning to glare at girl who looked exactly like him. The only way to tell them apart was their style of clothes. "Keep your Wind Wolf under control!" He screeched.

"He's just playing, it's natural instinct to chase a fleeing bunny." The girl looked so innocent that John couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he thought. 'Thank god I don't have any siblings.'

While the two of them were putting on a show, Kara walked over and sat by John smiling as she said, "Hey stranger."

"Hey, guess what level I'm on." John said with a grin.

Kara groaned in disgust as she closed her eyes and put the back of her hand over her forehead. "You'll never let me forget that."

"Nope, I'm on level 4." John said smugly, still a little hurt that just because he was on the first level of Tamer's 101 when they met Kara had thought he wouldn't pass the exam.

"Really? What's your in game name? We can team up for the dungeon in the Mystic Cave." She said, opening her eyes in excitement.

John coughed, his face going a bit red as he whispered, "Sex Machine."

"What did you say?" Kara asked, leaning in so she could hear him better.

"Ex Achin." Was all that Kara heard.

Furling her brow in confusion she said, "Louder."

Sighing, John put his hands down and spoke a little louder. "Sex Machine."

Of course, the teacher walked in right then. Wearing a mustard yellow sweatshirt with what looked like a ketchup stain on his chest, his hair was sticking up in places, and he wasn't wearing any shoes.

"I don't think that talking about Sex Machine's is appropriate in class." His voice carried throughout the room, but as he tried to glare at the two of them his eyes twinkled and his mouth quirked as if he was fighting a smile.

The room went silent, with only the sounds of the Wind Wolf chasing the Tri-colored Single Horned Rabbit in the background. Suddenly, Kara fell out of her chair laughing as she tried to talk.

"Yo.. Your name... is... Se."

Before she could finish her sentence, John dived from his chair to put his hand over her mouth and whispered. "Don't you dare!"

The teacher walked to a spot in the middle of the semi-circle of stump chairs. Feeling the grass and dirt with his bare feet, he nodded satisfaction before slamming his foot into the ground. Everyone watched in awe as another, even more comfy chair shot out of the ground and he took a seat before placing a folder down in mid air like there was an invisible table in front of him.

Clearing his throat, the teacher looked up to see everyone staring at him. "Hi." He said, smiling crookedly "I'm Mr. Carter, and I'll be your cultivation adviser. I'm a researcher with the Tamer's Guild specializing in contracts and supportive cultivation techniques. I'm here to help all of you pick what technique suits you."

As Mr. Carter spoke, his hand seemed to phase out of existence for a moment before coming back to reality. Behind him, a 3D Holographic Projector appeared showing a human body.

"The goal of cultivation is to increase your strength and lifespan, reaching the peak of the Soul Formation Realm and beginning research into your personal Dao or path. There are multiple ways to go about reaching the peak of Soul Formation, each with their own strengths and weakness. None of them is inherently stronger or weaker than another, just different."

"These," Mr. Carter said as the projector changed to show 5 different categories, each with at least 10 different cultivation method's listed under them. "are the 5 basic categories of cultivation techniques." The projection changed again, zooming in on the far left category. "Soul Cultivator's are incredibly skilled at illusions, control type abilities, and high level Soul Cultivator's can use their soul to exert pressure on others."

As he talked, videos of various Soul Cultivator's appeared on the screen as they demonstrated using their abilities. In one particularly jaw-dropping video, a young woman somehow took over a monster's body with her soul and used it to sneak into the nest of a Rank 3 High Level Boss. Stealing one of it's cubs before running away, her soul flitted into several different monsters. Each of them picking up the cub and running in a different direction, making it nearly impossible to track the cub before it finally arrived back at the woman. She put the cub under an illusion and put it into a world ring before activating a teleportation talisman and disappearing just before a bear nearly 20 feet tall slammed into her.

The projection changed, zooming back and moving over a single category before zooming back in. "Body Cultivator's use a combination of tortuously hard work and precious resources to refine their bodies. The most popular cultivation techniques focus on regeneration, making it nearly impossible to kill a high level body cultivator. However, several of the techniques focus on permanently altering the body to make it invulnerable to certain elemental attacks as well." Behind Mr. Carter, the screen showed images of people losing limbs. They would pick them back up and reattaching them as if nothing had happened. The screen shifted to show a young man screaming in agony as he was held in a box several feet over an active volcano. As the class watched, the man drew in the fire and earth mana around him, using it to refine his body and slowly change his bodies ability resist the two elements.

The screen backed off as everyone in the room winced. To John's left he heard Kara say, "There's no way in hell I'm training like that." John had to agree, the reason he became a cultivator was to gain companions, not put himself through hell.

"Tool Cultivator's are a relatively new category of cultivation, and several of the older teachers don't believe they should be included as a basic category." The projection changed again, focusing on the middle category which changed into a plethora of different tools. Swords, Bows, Rifles, Pistols, Zithers, Guitars, Violins, etc... flitted by on the projection. "Tool Cultivator's use a special method to create a bond with a Low-Level Spirit Item. It can be any type of item, the only requirement being that the item must've been created using a special method that allows the item to grow alongside the cultivator. The most successful Tool Cultivator's all created their own tools."

A middle-aged man lifted up a gleaming rifle, aiming at an incredibly high-level Demonic War Elephant. The elephant was at least a Rank 5, Mid Boss Monster, maybe even stronger. Taking a deep breath, the man gathered his strength and it flowed from his body to the rifle in an unending stream, his body slowly disappearing until it became one with the now massive rifle. The blast was blinding, and by the time the projection came back into view the War Elephant was laying on the ground, it's head separated completely from it's body. Slowly, the rifle and the man separated turning into two separate entities once again. "High level Tool Cultivator's have the ability to become one with their tools increasing their power exponentially."

Taking a deep breath, Mr. Carter stood up and stretched as if he was getting tired of sitting down. Beginning to pace around the room slowly, he continued with his lecture as the screen zoomed out and moved to the 4th. "Anyone can become a soul, body, or tool cultivator. However, Elemental Cultivator's are a bit special because it requires you to have a high level of affinity for a specific element. Elemental Cultivators interface with nature, gaining the ability to control it to a certain extent. Extremely strong Elemental Cultivator's can change the landscape of the world, cause earthquakes, etc..." The screen behind him showed several scenes of people using their abilities to call down the natural power of the world. One man jumped up nearly 15 feet into the air and landed hard, his body somehow shaking the earth and causing a volcano to erupt.

"The rarest of all cultivator's are Beast Cultivator's." Mr. Carter said, continuing his pacing around the room as the projector changed yet again. "These cultivator's have two categories, one being Beasts, animals that don't turn into monster's when they break through to the Body Refining Realm. The other being human's who somehow learn the cultivation method of a beast. Human's who become Beast Cultivator's slowly gain the aspects and powers of the type of beast they are cultivating to become, and at high levels gain the ability to fully transform into that type of beast."

On the projection, it showed a young man slowly undergo a transformation turning into a bear. He swung his paw, sending energy blades shooting from his claws and nearly destroying a testing stone which began to heal at an incredibly rate returning to it's original appearance. Taking a deep breath, the young man shifted back but stopped halfway. His body was covered in fur, but maintained human shape and agility. This time, he moved much faster as he swiped his paw and it actually managed to destroy the testing stone completely.

"The most powerful ability of a Beast Cultivator is their half-form, allowing them to gain the strength's of both their beast and human forms simultaneously. While rare, Beast Cultivator's are incredibly powerful." Behind Mr. Carter, the projector turned off as he gave his final remarks.

"Mr. Parker is actually a Beast Cultivator, a Lightning Mouse who has gone beyond the Soul Formation Realm and gained the ability to transform into a human. As he grow' stronger, his human form will turn more and more realistic until no one will be able to tell the difference between him and someone who was born a human. As Tamer's, you need to remember the laws about attempting to tame a beast. It is slavery to enter into anything but a contract of equals with a Beast, and you will be hunted down and killed if any of you dares to do something so heinous."