It was a sunny day in Cape Town but a chilling wind would occasionally bite at anyone who wasn't guarded against it. Leonidas was lloking dashing, wearing a black suit and black and white striped tie. He was currently standing in the field surrounded by what he would call 'idiots with stupid smiles on their faces'.
Two people stood facing each other at the front. One wearing a silver colored suit while the other wearing a white wedding dress. They gazed deeply into each other's eyes, smilingly whispering sweet nothings to each other occasionally while Orchestra music was being played in the background.
This was that type of occasion. A wedding.
Leonidas was never a fan of weddings. At first, in his youth he hypothesized that with the Advent of the 'Modern Independent Woman', women would collectively raise their standards for long term partners, which would mean less women would be able to settle.
This inability to settle wouldn't stop them from having sexual partners though. On the contrary,they would be having sex, whenever, with whomever.
Women could even end up asking themselves, 'What else do men have to offer, other than lousy penis and trashy aftercare?'
The answer, for an independent woman, would be 'absolutely nothing'.
What's the need for marriage if people can support themselves and don't need each other except for the cases of 'stress relief'?
~WeLl wHaT AbOut bAbieS?~
According to Leonidas, Babies are trash anyway. Not even worth entertaining. The peak of annoying existences.
They're loud, fragile, and stinky. They poop. They pee. They cry. They vomit. They drool. They repeat.
Annoying.
Even in his first life Leonidas only had 2 girlfriends. In his whole 163 years of life. Only 1. And she ended up betraying him.
But if you ask him how many women did he have relations with... Thousands. No strings attached. No complications. Perfectly simple.
As he watched the ceremony he did his best to hold back the convulsions he was going through. He failed.
"Do you, Kobus Vry take..."
Leonidas was counting the seconds at this point. So annoying. And now they're gonna kiss and act like it was their first kiss. Tsk.
Annoying.
Every sexual partner you have marks a being's souls. Don't they know that?
That's right, it wasn't until later on in his first life that the Sorceror community theorized that the act of Sex creates a resonance between two people which allows energy transfer between them.
After they're done, that energy stays inside the bodies of each practitioner forever,leaving their energy tainted and impure.
It would be okay if both people were virgins since the energies within each of them would be pure, but in most modern cases, neither men nor women are pure.
Actually, this is also a form of cultivation. Practitioners using yin and yang qualities of male and female to enhance the innate quality and quantity of energy inside each other... This was theorized by Asian Sorcerors, and later found to be true. This is true in any configuration, heterosexual or homosexual.
However if practitioners are non virgins, then they would have to spend time dispelling mismatching natures inside of them, which would in turn negatively affect their cultivation.
If those energies are not dispelled, as in the case of normal people, their energy quality decreases visibly as the body tries to naturally counteract the erosion. They age quicker, get sick more often, and end up dying earlier than they should have.
What does that mean in the case of Leonidas? Those thousands of women he slept with, had slept with thousands of other men who had also slept with other women collectively. All that mismatching energy had to be dispelled, which slowed his cultivation to a halt for almost ten years.
The only reason Leonidas lived as long as he did was because of his healthy lifestyle and his Virgin-Gang status until he was in his late 20s.
Practitioners came up with three ways to counteract this.
1) Practitioners would have no partner their entire lives. Complete celibacy.
2) Practitioners would cultivate with one life partner.
3) Practitioners would cultivate techniques/scripts which are geared towards having multiple sexual partners. Male and/or female.
There are pros and cons to each path, but whatever path is chosen can only be stuck to for the rest of a practitioner's life.
Leonidas sneered when he thought about his first life's sexual escapades. After he came out of jail, all he did was have sex. Single women, married women, transwomen... He traveled all around the world just to 'sample the goods'.
'Ahh... Good times' he couldn't help but reminisce. Even though it slowed his cultivation, Leonidas was sure that it was well worth it.
"...You may kiss the bride..."
'Uggh here we go... It's time to pretentiously clap while acting as if this is a beautiful moment. It's all just cherades.'
*clap clap clap clap clap clap*
*clap clap clap clap clap clap*
*clap clap clap clap clap clap*
Everyone began clapping and cheering at the sight of the two love birds. Even Ana's eyes were shining bright with longing. Leonidas sighed internally when he saw this.
"One day that's gonna be you up there my boy", Ana teased playfully. But Leonidas wasn't having it.
"pfft... as if... Smart Men don't get married." Leonidas said with a sneer.
Ana could only look on speechlessly. Which 'smart man' has been teaching her baby boy this crap?
The procession went on and Ana left Leonidas with people his own age after looking at him with eyes that said *Be Nice*. She went away to greet her business partners and congratulate the bride and groom.
Leonidas would rather eat a habanero than entertain these 'kids' so he whipped out his business phone and started handling business.
Michaela had gotten her hands on a scout, whose name was Pieter. Pieter was capable of finding anything. People, businesses, places. You name it, he can find it.
Pieter had recently found a business, located in Cape Town, which he thought had high potential. An internet service provider that only provides data services. The company was called "Reign" and after reading about it, Leonidas wanted to get involved before it was snipped by the Chinese or the Americans.
He called Michaela, who picked up seconds later
"Good day, boss. How are you today?" said Michaela with genuine interest.
Ever since she got employed by Leonidas as his business manager and personal assistant, her life has changed forever. She went from earning R10,000 per month to R50,000 which is what Leonidas is paying her currently. She was beyond grateful and this pushed her to do her best every day.
In the beginning, she didn't expect much from a 12/13 year old. But Leonidas' ideas, vision and execution were exceptional even for her standards. She vowed to follow this man for as long as she possibly can because he's definitely destined for great things"
"Hey Micky. Yeah... I'm stuck at a wedding. Boring. How's the meeting setup going?"
"I managed to get us in for a meeting today at 19:00 as you requested."
"Great. You know where I am right? Pick me up at 5:30"
"Excuse me sir, but is 'the lawyer' coming?" Michaela asked tentatively. She knew that Leonidas' mother was a business partner of the highest level and she was quite involved in the business.
"No. My mom can sit this one out. When you come,tell Lucas to bring me a burger. I don't think I'm gonna eat this wedding meal. Okay see you."
Lucas was the company driver. He had been recently fired from his job as a personal driver. Who knew he'd get the offer of a life time. And all he has to do is drive top executives to places. Easy.
"Got it boss. Take care."
"Nice phone. Is that an iPhone?"
Leonidas hadn't even shut off the calm when 3 teenagers looking like they were 16 year old triplets walked up to him with greed and disdain in their eyes.
'haaah... Damn it. Just my luck' Leonidas thought to himself.
He turned off the call and looked at them like they were idiots before turning around and walking away with indifference.
"Hey, we're talking to you!"
"So rude! You Blackie, you stole that phone didn't you?!"
"How did a black boy like you even get in, are you here for the food?"
*pfft*
"If you give us that phone, we'll find the owner for you. You see... We're such nice guys"
*haahahahaha*
Sounds of laughter reverberated everywhere. Although racism was largely over in the rainbow nation, it still existed in some areas. Cape Town suburb areas were mostly inhabited by rich white families, so kids never had the chance to associate themselves with black people naturally.
It may have been honest curiosity, or it may have been a snide remark, or even blatant racist targeting. Leonidas couldn't be bothered though. It was 'Just kids being kids' anyway. Stupid.
Leonidas' twisted mind worked a bit differently from them. To him 'Offense can never be given, only taken'.
So as long as he doesn't entertain these idiots, they'll have no choice but to entertain themselves.
Luckily, Leonidas didn't have to do a thing as Ana was standing right behind these kids.
"What did you say?", a furious, bloodthirsty voice that sounded like it came from an Asura went into the boys ears. They were terrified as they turned around. Beside Ana was another lady who had the power to terrify them. Even their mother had heard everything.
While they were being dragged away by their ears, Leonidas took the chance to tell Ana about his coming business meeting, to which Ana agreed after some thought.
The rest of the wedding was uneventful. At 5:25, Lucas arrived to pick Leonidas up and Leonidas had a meal in the car.
When he stepped out he was met with a tiny office space with no sign board. He smiled to himself. Perfect. It means they need funding.
He stepped inside and sitting on one of the waiting room chairs was Michaela. She was wearing a tight fitting black dress which had a long slit running up the side and a women's black suit to match.
Her face was beautiful, with hazel brown eyes and warm yellow tanned skin dotted by freckles. Her curly brown hair was a like a cloud of cotton candy. She had a sweet smile on her face, which held repsect and goodwill for Leonidas.
She stood up and greeted Leonidas, to which Leonidas nodded and said "Shall we?"
"Yes sir"
As such, they entered the president's office and found him sitting and working.
"I'm sorry, please come in. I'm just swamped"
"It's okay Mr Peterson, we won't take much of your time" said Leonidas.
John Peterson gazed up at the seemingly 12/13 year old boy who just spoke with surprise and astonishment. Then he gazed at the other person who came in, who was visibly taking a position of subservience to the teenager.
What is happening?
"I apologize please sit. I understand you're here concerning a proposal..?"
"That's right Mr Peterson. We're from Plutus Financial and we would like to cooperate with your company.", Michaela spoke up.
After John's earlier surprise, he took a second look at the lady in front of him and couldn't help but gulp. Such beauty was rare. Even for him, who'd seen many women throughout his life, he couldn't help but stare a bit too long before replying.
"Plutus financial? I've never heard of you."
"And we had never heard 9f you before a week ago. But look where we are now", said Leonidas nonchalantly.
John was beside himself with anger. He had built this company from nothing by taking loans from banks and personal friends. No a kid was saying this? Was this not a slap to his face?
"I'm sorry, but if this is a business meeting, then why is there a child in the room?"
"This 'child' is the founder and CEO of Plutus Financial. Please be more respectful Mr Peterson.", Michaela almost grunted annoyed. How dare this no name say that about our cute genius CEO.
If Leonidas knew that this was how Michaela thought of him, he wouldn't know if he should laugh or cry.
"My age is not the important part part here. What's important is this", Leonidas signaled to Michaela and Michaela took out a file from her satchel. Inside the file was the business proposal. She placed it on the table carefully and sat back down.
John took a moment to calm down. He knew that conflict was not worth it at this time. John took the proposal and started flipping through it consciously taking note of everything inside.
After 15 minutes, his eyes were wide with surprised. This was very favourable to his business. And all he had to do was be a subsidiary of Plutus Financial. He'd still retain 51% of shares to his company. And in exchange he gets all the funding, factories and equipment he needs.
"Isn't this too good to be true? I mean... If you guys can really do this much, why me?"
John looked deep into Leonidas' eyes as he searched for an answer.
"The internet. That's the answer. The power of the internet means there's no need for cell tower phone calls. You can just do Voice ove IP and call anyone in the world for 10 times cheaper."
"The only reason it's still like this is because South Africa and Africa as a whole is lagging behind. I want to inspire a new generation of technological advancement. And I think what your company offers is in line with my vision for the future."
Leonidas stood up from his seat and fixed himself up while preparing to leave.
"Don't feel pressured to give me an answer right now. Take your time. Just not too much. "
Leonidas walked out of the office and Michaela followed close behind.
John was dumb founded... Is this really a 13 year old? What was he doing when he was thirteen...
A week later, John and Leonidas met up in Plutus Financial offices and finalized the subsidiary contract. Reign was now part of Leonidas' plan to take over Africa and the world.