The Art of Cultivation

"Y-You... don't want to cultivate?"

In a remote plain on the edges of the forest, somewhere deep in the barren wilderness, there was a small village named 'Weinberg'. A village that was simply named after its leading family, a tradition often used these times.

One of the houses in the village, which were still made of wood and clay with straw roofing, was the home of Hanna, Elkana, and their son Samuel. At the moment, Hanna and Elkana were looking at their only child with worry and helplessness, they had no idea how they could change that stubborn mind of his.

"Y-You don't want to cultivate?" Elkana asked him, clearly still in disbelief from what their son just told them. With his tall, rough, and muscular build, he made an imposing presence just standing there. Turning his head he looked at his loving wife sitting next to him, hoping she would be of any help in this predicament. Because not cultivating in this world of danger and uncertainty was something completely unheard of, cultivating is simply a necessity for survival!

Seeing his wife looking back at him with those clear and deep blue eyes of hers, he couldn't help but calm down a little and let out a deep and helpless sigh. 'I must have saved the world in my previous life, being able to marry a wife like this.' He thought. People may not find her the most beautiful or stunning woman in the village, but in his eyes she definitely was. With her dark blond curly hair, small dimples on her rosy cheeks, and small figure of only sixty-two inches high, she was his definition of cuteness. Besides, she was also a loving, caring, and trustworthy wife. She respects him as a husband and is the very reason he's the capable man who was standing here today.

Looking at her husband with that unkempt hair, beard, and barbaric looks of his, she smiled sweetly. 'Don't look at me like that, I'm not sure what to do about it either.' She thought feeling equally worried. "Samuel..." She said still facing her husband before she turned her head and looked at her son.

"We are your parents and you know we love you and therefore can't help but worry all the time. And I know we've agreed to let you make your own decisions but the least you can do is give us an explanation so we can stop worrying ok? Don't forget you are our first and only child and are still only fourteen years old right now. So, be a good boy and explain it to us poor parents ok?" She said with the most loving tone and the cutest smile she could produce, turning from a worried mother into a cute little girl asking for candy.

"Sigh..." He wanted to explain himself already but like most of the times, they didn't even give him the chance to do so by going straight into offensive mode. For someone of his intelligence, it was pure torture to have a conversation with these people, and even though he still loved them very much, he still couldn't help from feeling so.

"The cultivation techniques the people use are flawed and full of mistakes and therefore I refrain from using them. When I finish with my own technique I will just like everyone else, start to cultivate as well."

'This kid...' His parents thought. People think that parents are blessed if their child is a prodigy but in reality, it has a lot of downsides as well. Besides, Samuel was far more than just a prodigy, he was a miracle. They didn't even know where to start describing all the wonders surrounding him.

Relieved he still planned on cultivating, Elkana decided to just let it go and left the house to take a stroll outside. He was in dire need of some fresh air to clear his mind and dispel his worries. While walking in the forest, he couldn't help but start to reminisce about the past...

The moment Samuel was born was the moment they knew he was special. Yes, every parent likes to think their child is special, but with everything that happened on that day, it was pretty hard denying it. About one hour before his birth, a hunting squad was seen running out of the woods as if their lives depended on it.

"Beast horde! Beast horde!" They screamed while they ran.

Shortly after, alarms started going off throughout the entire village! It had been a long time since they last heard the sound of horns blowing. The hunters that returned shared the devastating news that a beast horde of unprecedented proportions was coming straight for their village! With such a calamity approaching and with as good as no chances for survival, it was no surprise that it didn't take long before panic began to spread among the villagers.

From that moment onward, it was complete chaos everywhere! The people screamed while running for their lives, trying to desperately escape the crisis that was brought upon their doorsteps. And even though deep down they knew, it was already too late. Alas, there's simply no way to outrun a beast horde, especially one of these proportions. Even if they did manage to get away, the only direction they could run for was the opposite side of the forest and into the endless barren lands, where it was near impossible to survive. No, the only hope for survival was to stay put and fight, hoping that maybe somehow... a miracle would happen.

And thank the heavens, a miracle they got...

A couple of minutes later, the entire village was surrounded by what seemed to be an endless horde of beasts in all their sorts and sizes! There were literally tens and tens of thousands of them, as far as the eyes could see! From normal harmless animals like rabbits and birds to the most ferocious and brutal beasts of their kind, all of them were there!

When some of the people started to finally get a hold onto their fear, they realized that something wasn't right. Because the beasts they... didn't seem to attack? That's right! Although each and every single one of them was staring, none of them attacked! Now that they thought about it some more, what the hell were rabbits, ducks, and foxes doing in a beast horde anyway? Have you ever heard of a duck attacking a village?

"W-what... is... is going on? Why are they still not attacking?" A guard standing on the village wall said with his mouth wide open in disbelief.

"H-Hey look, look! Look over there!" Another guard shouted while pointing at the sky.

"W-what in heavens name are those!? No...! Don't tell me... those aren't dragons right!? Heavens, those really are dragons! There are dragons in the sky! Look, look!!" The people started shouting with their eyes wide open.

Under everyone's disbelieving eyes they saw the dragons approaching their village as they began to circle around it, dominating the entire sky. It was such an unbelievable, mythical sight. A sight no one would be able to forget, not until the day they died! The people were in shock, in trance, not a single word was spoken. For the simple villagers they were, this was something so far outside the range of things they understood, that they simply didn't know what they were supposed to say or think anymore. It was like their brains stopped working and their thoughts were kept on hold.

When they were all standing there, all the sound in the entire world seems to have faded away, creating this moment of ethereal silence in the process. It was something so magical, and despite all the beasts present, so peaceful. It was as if the time came to a sudden standstill. And although it felt like an eternity, it was only minutes later when that ethereal moment of silence finally came to its end, when they all heard the sound, of a little baby's cry.

"Waaaaa, waaaa, waaaaah!"

And then without a moment of delay, as if the baby's cry was the signal to start... all of hell broke loose!

It was chaos... complete and utter chaos! There were no other words for it! It's impossible to describe how much chaos released itself onto the world that day! As if a bomb went off, an unimaginable loud accumulation of sound exploded throughout the entire world when not only the beasts present but every single beast and animal on the entire planet started crying and roaring as loud as they possibly could!

"Rooooooooooooooaaaaarrrr!!"

The clouds were blown apart and the ground was shaking so heavily that the people could no longer stand, and fell down on their knees! Walls started cracking and roofs were torn apart! It was complete madness, it was the end of the world! The poor little village was completely destroyed, some people died and lots were wounded. The baby and his parents? They were sheltered by the biggest dragon of them all, a massive five-clawed golden dragon of over three hundred feet high! It lay around them in a circle, protecting them while roaring for the skies!

To everyone's relief, the beast didn't cry and roar in anger but seemed to be expressing joy and happiness! Yes, they were going completely mad from happiness! Everything with wings jumped and flew up screeching for the skies, flying along with the dragons! Those who remained on the ground started jumping up and down without an end. It was madness, pure madness!

So much happiness! You could feel it flowing through your entire body, breaking all your barriers. Like a volcano erupting, all the pent-up emotions of those present came out unhindered. The first tears started falling, whereafter many, many followed. One by one, all the village people started crying out loud, they wept with tears of pure bliss.

A couple of minutes later, the people began to finally get their bearings back when the ear-deafening noise came to its sudden end. And as if pre-coordinated, the beasts in the sky began to make their descend and landed around the village. Once on the ground, they closed their eyes along the rest and bowed their heads down on the ground, only to stand up again a moment later, returning to wherever it was they came from, and a single sound remained...

"Waaaaa, waaaa, waaaaah!"