'*sigh. Can't say I didn't see this coming.'
Eren sighed as if he was dreading the work that lay ahead.
He could feel the discomfort most rankers had after hearing about the side effects of using the elemental pool. As a guild master of the White Raven guild, he needed to take on the responsibility of motivating its members as well.
"There's no need to overthink this and get diagnosed with chicken feet. I called it a gamble because there's some uncertainty attached to the updated program. But let's just get this straight.
Life, in general, is uncertain."
Eren gazed at everyone. His Sativa Stick was over. So he put his hands behind his back and started pacing back and forth on the platform before speaking further.
"If one has the right mindset and persistence, they'll be able to survive any program or procedure thrown their way. I know that fear is an obstacle for some rankers. They are afraid of failing.
They fear that they might die or waste their mana cores and become mortals again. Some rankers must be concerned about not being able to advance even after surviving the program."
The butcher could feel that his audience was getting defensive about the topic. Most of the rankers who were hesitating to participate in the updated program were thinking along the lines of "easy for you to say." That's why he needed to make something clear.
"Now… I'm not saying fear is a terrible thing per se. It serves as our compass and has the potential to point us in the right direction. Fear stops us from doing stupid things so we can focus on doing things that are right for us.
A bit of fear needs to be present in every beating heart to keep it grounded in reality. A fearless person is a walking hazard for themselves and those around them.
Suppose a boy in my childhood said he didn't fear Rank-1 mana beasts. And if he wanted me to accompany him into the wild so that he could prove his fearlessness to me and the entire world by proxy, I would have accompanied that jackass only to use him as bait and leave him there.
I wouldn't want guys like these around me at all. It's better that nature takes its course and the rule of the jungle gets rid of that problem for me."
Eren's speech was slow and precise. His words started resonating within the consciousness of his listeners. They also started chuckling while listening to Eren's story, thinking that it was a light joke. Only the butcher knew how serious he was when he gave that example.
Eren let the sounds of chuckles and laughter die down a bit before speaking in a grim tone.
"That being said, we also have to acknowledge the fact that fear is not real. Not really. Fears and limits we impose on ourselves are often just illusions we set for ourselves so that we don't get hurt.
No disrespect to my teacher or our high-ranking guests here, but there's nobody better qualified to talk about overcoming one's fear than me. If fear could be quantified, I'd be honest in saying that I have felt the most amount of fear than everyone else combined in this hall."
Eren stopped in his tracks and remembered the times when he had the jitters. They were no longer with him. He no longer had nightmares. But he would never be able to forget that feeling again. His mental state also started affecting the audience in front of him.
The butcher smiled mildly and continued.
"But even when I was fearful and my limbs were shaking, I never stopped doing what I wanted to do. Even while my body was feeling the jitters of the unknown, I never stopped moving forward. Fear physically and mentally affected me. So much so that I had to look for ways to control my jitters.
And yet, I'll go ahead and say that fear is merely a figment of one's imagination. I have denied its hold on me by doing that. With or without fear, with or without support, with or without accomplices– I'll achieve exactly what I wanted to achieve. The means will change but not my destination."
Levine looked at her students very attentively. She always knew that his ability to grab people's attention was as good as his skill at flying under their radar. It all depended on what he wanted from his audience. He would change according to the need of the hour. And all of his transformations would always feel natural. She had started liking this quality of his a lot.
The butcher was on a different tangent when Levine was developing feelings for him. Thus, he ignored the gaze with which she was looking at him and spoke further.
"Words like optimism or pessimism will have zero value when you do the job you are supposed to do. I know a lot of the stuff I said is just something you already know. An obvious truth that nobody cares about until it starts to matter."
The butcher turned to his audience and narrowed his eyes. His aura fluctuated and started feeling dreadful as he spoke his next words very carefully.
"This is it for my motivation speech. As superfluous as it might sound, this is all I got. Of course, I realize that words alone cannot persuade all of you into doing what I want.
If you still cannot abolish fear from your heart, let me give you a bigger fear in exchange. This applies to all White Raven guild members who are present here. I'll kick you out of my guild if you decide to back down from the program now.
Fear is contagious and it spreads like wildfire. I want a team of elites in my guild and not a bunch of weaklings. You know what would happen if I kicked you out of the guild at this point, right?"
