16 Soul Wave

"Beast King?" John asked, surprised.

"Yeah, you want companions which means you want to form contracts of equals with beasts at some point. Monsters are there, but you can't talk to them. They aren't really sentient. If you want to never be alone and be a Tamer than becoming a Beast King is the only way to go."

"What is a Beast King?" John asked.

"You know how there are Boss monsters? A Beast King is similar to a Boss monster, they have an inherent ability to attract others to them and lead. The first Tamer was actually a Beast King, tired of watching his monster brethren lose control and act so stupidly he decided step in and eventually created the first contract. Over the years, the contract's true purpose was lost and people started abusing it, so he stepped in and created the Tamer's Guild."

John's jaw had dropped by this point, he'd never heard any of this before and he'd spend the last 6 and a half years of his life studying the Tamer's Guild. "How come I've never heard about this before?"

"It's one of the secrets of the Tamer's Guild, since you joined the Tamer's Club you can be considered half a member of the Tamer's Guild and I can tell you some things. Anyway, if you truly want companions the best way to go about that is to become a Beast King." Mr. Carter said, his hand rubbing at the stubble on his chin.

"How?" John asked.

Mr. Carter continued rubbing his stubble for a moment before he said, "For now, choose a Soul Cultivation Technique other than Golden Soul. In a few months I'll introduce you to someone who can show you the way. Work hard." Mr. Carter glared at John, "I won't introduce you to him if I don't think you're worthy of his attention."

"What are you talking about?" John asked, completely confused.

"Don't worry about it." Mr. Carter said with a chuckle, "Just know that if you work hard, you'll have a chance." As he was talking, Mr. Carter waved his hand and the light bridge reappeared letting and John was forced to either walk the bridge or get thrown out of the boat.

Still completely confused, John decided to put it behind him. That trick of creating a bridge out of an illusion was so cool that unless he got offered some super secret powerful legacy like all those people in the Wuxia books do, he'd pick the Soul Wave Technique.

Picking up Snakey, he walked out of the classroom just in time to see Mike and Steven walking out room 114. Picking up the pace to catch up he asked, "What's up?"

Turning to look back at John, Steven said, "Not much, Mike just picked his technique and I'm gonna join him to check out the library."

"By the way, what kind technique are you using?" John asked Steven.

Grinning, Steven said, "It's a hybrid."

"Hybrid? I didn't even know that was possible." Steven said, shocked.

"Of course it is, those were just the basic categories. The techniques are good ones, but clans have their own that can at least compare to, if not beat the techniques here." Steven said.

"So how does that work?" Mike asked, interested.

Steven shrugged and said, "These tattoo's refine my body, making me far stronger and through them I'm able to interact with Elemental Mana. I'm highly attuned to the Earth Element which allows me to create minor earthquakes, make myself weigh more, and pack a hell of a punch."

"So an Elemental, Body hybrid technique." Mike said admiringly, "That's gotta be worth a ton!"

"My grandpa made it for me. He moved beyond the Soul Formation stage ages ago, finding his path. He's strong enough that he can help customize cultivation techniques for the family."

Mike shook his head in awe, "I thought my dad was strong, he's only at the mid-level Soul Formation."

"He is strong, less than 5% of the world's population ever makes it to the Soul Formation Realm." Steven said with a smile.

"What'd you choose?" John asked Mike.

"Tool Cultivator of course!" He said happily, "I can't wait to start! Of course, I'm going to have to learn how to make a rifle before I can begin cultivating. It may take me a while."

John nodded in understanding, for a maniac like Mike who loved his rifle he could understand wanting to become a Tool Cultivator. "Did you guys see the video of that guy turning into a rifle and blowing away a Demon War Elephant?"

They both nodded, a look of excitement on Mike's face. "Yeah, that was so cool!"

It wasn't long before they reached room 101, and walking in they were happy to see several extra librarians were on duty today. "How can I help you?" A perky young blonde with a Maker's Club badge on asked as we approached.

"Are you a student?" John asked, surprised.

"Yep, I'm helping out today for some extra Academic Credits. You probably haven't learned about them yet, but they're really important. Especially for the Tamer and Maker Club's because we need a lot of resources. The Hunter's and Defender's have it easy in comparison, but they still need a ton to upgrade their weapon's and armor."

"Haha, sucks to be you." Mike said, pointing at John.

"Wrong, sucks to be you." John said, "You're gonna need a ton of materials to make a rifle!"

The girl smiled as she said, "I guess I'll need a copy of the Rifle Tool Cultivation Manual." Turning from Mike as he nodded, she asked Steven, "And you?"

"I already have my technique, you wouldn't happen to have 'A History of the Fall?' I'd like to double check some things." Steven said with a smile.

"Sure, I can get that." She said, turning to John.

"I'd like the Soul Wave Cultivation Manual." John smiled, surprised when the perky blonde's face fell.

"You should know, almost no one is able to cultivate that manual. Are you sure you want to try it out?"

"Yeah, I got to see it in action today. I really want to learn how to make illusions so powerful they can actually affect the physical world."

Sighing, she shook her head before smiling and saying, "Maybe you can be one of the few then." before bouncing off to grab the books.

Looking around, John spotted a free table for four and sat down. Now that he had a moment, he looked around the room in awe. The school must've used the same expanding formation they did on the classrooms because the library was massive, with thousands upon thousands of books flying around the room. Tables, chairs, and even a cafe' at one end of the library with sign hanging in front of it reading ,'If you damage the books you pay for them!'

"This place is amazing." Mike said as he watched the perky blonde walk up to a computer and input our order. A second later, the books flew off the walls and into her hands as if they were sentient creatures.

Within a minute, she was handing us the books while saying. "The Cultivation Manual's are yours, we have several copies and give them out for free to new students. The 'A History of the Fall' can't leave the library I'm afraid." Her noise scrunched up cutely as she said the last part, before noticing someone new enter the library. Turning with a smile, she bounced off to help.

"She's hot." Mike said, making Steven and John laugh.

"Sure, she's also at least 3 years older and could kick all of our asses." Steven said.

Mike just shrugged, "I'd still do her."

Forgetting him, John opened the book and began to read the introduction to the 'Soul Wave Cultivation Manual'.

'The Soul Wave Cultivation Manual was designed to manipulate light and sound waves. At one point **** realized that almost all illusion techniques make use of either sight or sound to initiate the illusion. After many years of research, **** discovered how to use Soul Energy to manipulate light and sound waves creating the Soul Wave Cultivation Manual. The manual was so strong, that **** found himself able to make his illusions manifest physically."

'Damn, that sounds awesome.' John thought to himself as he moved past the introduction to the stages.

'The Soul Wave Cultivation Manual is a Peak Soul Formation Cultivation Manual, meaning that it will bring you all the way from the beginning of the Body Refining Realm to the peak of the Soul Formation Realm. During the Body Refining realm, you will refine your body with Qi while using a specially designed training room that bombards your body with different light and sound waves that causes your Qi to fluctuate and take on the attributes of both light and sound waves. At first this will be incredibly difficult, but it is necessary as without a body capable of withstanding constant bombardment light and sound, your soul will eventually overpower your body and cause it to explode.'

'FUCK!' John thought to himself, banging his head into the table. He could already imagine just what he'd have to go through to train this manual. Even worse, he couldn't return it and get another one! 'No wonder the perky blonde had warned him about this technique.

"What?" Steven asked, looking over his book. Mike had put in some headphones and was so focused he didn't even realize.

"I have to train my body in a torture chamber" John moaned in agony, imagining the process he was about to subject himself to.

Steven started laughing at John's antics, "Did you really think you could cultivate with a normal body?"

"Yes!" John said angrily, picking his head back up before slamming it into the desk once again. Finally, he decided to keep reading so he ignored Steven's laughter as he picked the book back up.

'As you train your body, your Qi will slowly begin to exhibit signs of light and sound waves, until at the peak of the Body Refining you will be able to use your qi alone to pull others into an illusion. After refining your entire body, your qi will begin to boil and rush into your Dantian. There, it will expand your dantian massively turning it into a sea of energy. After filling up this sea with sound and light wave qi, you have to condense the Qi into a core using the formula provided. At it's peak, the core will constantly vibrate with different frequencies of sound while shining in constantly shifting light frequencies. At this point, you can use your core to refine your soul and reach the Soul Formation Realm. Here, your soul will begin to take on the qualities of both light and sound waves until at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm you are able to combine the two and create physical illusions.'

"Does this mean that Mr. Carter is at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm?" John couldn't believe it, there's no way someone both so young and so clueless about his appearance could be one of the most powerful cultivator's in the world.