Spirit Taming

Chapter 223: Older Brother?

"What's wrong with that girl? She's been in the cemetery since last night when we got done with class."

"That's the girl Maria Spirit. She just got adopted by the Rolly and Green Family as a new branch family. Of course, she is odd. They are weird families."

The conversation continued on but Maria hadn't heard a single word. She hadn't been sure where to start strengthening her body. She had the problem that she needed to get stronger to deal real damage. Relying on weak points and strong weapons would not work. Even her speed would become detrimental if she could not put the strength in to defense and offense.

"Lit, you need to absorb the spiritual energy at a faster rate. You and I will need to use a lot of it tonight during the next round of body strengthening." The previous night, Maria had aimed at training only physically. Since she had trained with Clark in the cemetery on the school grounds, she had decided to go there.

This was also because of the high spiritual energy that was mixed in to other energies within the cemetery.

The poison energy that Lit needed was also present in the decaying bodies beneath the earth. It was toxic for anything to consume them for the most part, therefore, creating poison energy that slowly seeped in to the earth. The only downside was that this was a very minimal energy.

On the up side, the Midnight eel was absorbing the darkness energy from crypts that were left untouched for a long time. This small bonus was actually a large win for Maria. She had to help it grow as fast as possible to become the guardian in the dark that she needed.

"If I am going to use the stones over there as weights again I need to get myself some nutrients. My body can only withstand so much healing." This was the cost of constant healing. Maria had aimed to have Lit heal her sore muscles as she trained. This was a tough training method that exhausted the mind many times over.

However, because the body was being repaired and broken at the same time, there was a massive drain on bodily nutrients. Those who went through this training often had some form of illness if they failed. Therefore, the person going through this training had to have high nutrient food that could sustain them.

"So you are my new younger sister. Ella said that I shouldn't go out of my way and that you had training but since Mother willingly helped create a branch family I thought I should come and meet you. It was a little hard to find you but when I heard the gossip about the weird girl playing in the cemetery I had a feeling. No one in our family is normal so you will fit in well."

The voice that came from Behind Maira had snuck up on her. Clark had sparred with him before but Maria had not officially met him. "I assume you have heard of me from Clark, a good guy for sure, I am Leo Green. Fourth year senior. I have heard a lot about you and my sister's other teammates. I didn't think she would ever leave her lab, to be honest." There was a short chuckle as Leo sized Maria up.

"I am Maria Spirit, your new sister well kind of since I'm adopted but not right in to your family…" Maria wasn't sure how to explain it but she just managed to make Leo chuckle more.

"Trust me, it's never going to make sense. But here we are. I wanted to see what you could do but it looks like you are doing some dangerous training. Not a bad place. No one ever comes to where the dead students are buried. It depresses them, you know?" Leo knew well that many graves were of students that had failed classes in the worst way or rushed head on in to the most dangerous dungeons.

It was inevitable that a tamer would die here and there.

"But if you think the usual food will supplement that kind of training..you will end up with brittle bones. I saw it happen to a boy in my first year. His bones became so brittle that they broke just standing up. You should try some of this. I use it for after I train hard too." The vial that Leo pulled out was full of a thick green liquid.

"What is it? I haven't seen this potion before." Maria was a little apprehensive. Yet, she trusted Leo a little since Clark had told her that he was a decent person.

"It's called a nutrient bomb. It's produced by harvesting the sap of a traveling cherry tree. My family has a few tamed as suppliers for our dungeon endeavor. This stuff can keep you working for days if you drink it sparingly. But for you, it will keep you healthy while training.

Take it as a welcome to the family gift." Maria thought that Leo would leave but instead, he sat down on the spot and began to meditate.

After brushing off the worry that Leo was there, Maria decided to take a sip of the potion and start training ahead of schedule since she didn't need to go and buy a ton of food. Lit appeared next to her wrapping tentacles around her body. The midnight eel appeared behind a headstone watching carefully.

"Same as last night, weighted evasion training. You are it and I will evade. Don't let me tag you either." Maria had allowed the midnight eel to play a game with her. If it managed to tag her it won and vice versa. But it was harder for Maria because the midnight eel could hide in the shadows away from her. The perfect challenge.

In the first burst of speed, Maria felt that her body was slightly too light. She had trained like this while carrying a large rock on her back. But now she had the same and knew the precious night's training had worked. It was time to add another rock to her backpack.

After the adjustment, Maria started again. Her jumps and spins around headstones while trying to tag shadows were getting more and more intricate as the midnight eel moved to hide. It was like she was being pulled through an ever changing current of water. It was even more impressive when the midnight eel would dart out of a shadow and try to bite her. It always found empty air in its mouth.

"What was that?" A small rock was found falling to the ground. The pebble that Maria picked up was nothing that could hurt her but she found that Leo was looking at her expectantly. He just picked another pebble up and threw it at her.

"Hey! What are you doing?" It wasn't normal for someone to show up and just start throwing rocks at someone.

"Just a game my mother taught Ella and I when we were learning how to dodge. I was the hard headed one and faced things head on. Hence why I fight close combat. But I learned my lesson. She started with pebbles and then we went up to head shaped rocks. Think you can handle it?" Maria didn't know whether or not Ella had been tortured or if it was just tough training.

"Will it make me stronger?" Leon held a hand to his chin while thinking.

"It should make you better at dodging. But if you ramp it up and are able to handle dodging with one of those fallen tombstones on your back…well, that should fix any strength problems you have. I would be willing to bet you are like Ella, lean muscle. You are stronger than you look." Leo didn't have any qualms with this.

Since his little sister had become so close to others, he felt that he needed to help them. As an older brother, he could be a role model. A guide for Maira until he managed to meet Isa as well. Clark was a different story though. Leo had begun to be interested in him. A challenger in the field of combat.

Someone that Leo was sure would make him a much better fighter in the long run.

"Fine, then by the time the sun rises tomorrow, let's train. I will add more weight as it gets easier." Maria gulped down the entire nutrient bomb potion. She felt like she had just swallowed one of the rocks instead of carrying it. But she knew it was what her body would need to rebuild itself through all the healing.

"Clark said you were a tough opponent. He also said you were a good person. Don't prove him wrong or else I will teach you what the worst part about healing is." The slight glare of killing intent that leaked from Maria's eyes was the very same that Leo's mother had when she was speaking business with her subordinates. It was literally a look that spelled death.