Spirit Taming

Chapter 243: Focused Energy Training

While Clark stepped back from everything, he watched as Doc looked over the notes that Maria had recorded so far. Ella had also supplemented her notes making them a complete set. All that was left was for Clark to fill in some blanks. The best part was that Doc had formulated many fully published beast growth plans and other such things, it was the perfect way to complete the works.

But Clark was not focused on this. He was instead focused on the fact that their first year team was being sabotaged by the Mourne family. He was angry. It was ridiculous that they would sacrifice the entire city's reputation for some hatred at their own family member that they thrust out.

Not only would the reputation of their home and academy be sacrificed, but also the potential of every generation afterward. The number of resources that could be lost in these battles was impossible to count. The battle of academies was the only way to show off the future of the city and who would be rising to become the powerhouses that would defend them.

If Nova academy appeared too weak, they could become targets for crime and even a war between cities.

After taking a moment to think about this, Clark took a deep breath and decided that he couldn't do anything about it yet. If he even tried to fight Maria's older brother, then he could not win. He was already ahead of him in battle knowledge and his salamander was close to breaking through to an even more powerful level than it was now.

Even if Ella's brother joined him in battle, things would be close.

"I am going to meditate for a little while. I need to use some of the materials I have to help my beasts grow faster." Clark was mainly thinking about Shy. She would be the best hidden card right now since he didn't want to bring Devi out. The risk of showing off every card he had would be his end. He had to keep Devi hidden as his absolute last resort.

His main trump card over someone more powerful than him or when he was in a tight spot.

The shadow energy was energy that Clark was least accustomed to. The dragon energy had already proven to be a physical enhancement. He had become stronger and more resistant to certain elemental type attacks. Overall, it proved the strength that a dragon or dragon tamer boasted.

The death and spiritual energies that Clark had received from Devi were more mysterious. He knew his mind was fairly calm at most times. It was odd but he also felt that this was the same with Maria lately and Ella. The only explanation was that the additional spiritual energy from their beasts was helping their minds strengthen and be able to remain calm.

That left the death energy. Clark felt that when he had last fought the lighting orc that he had felt a closer relationship with his weapon. The attacks he had used while ignoring the danger were somewhat comfortable in his memory.

It was either his training that had made him think back like this or it was the fact that the death type energy had made him more comfortable with the thought and feeling of potential death.

This had some dangerous ramifications though. If it made Clark reckless then it would not be worth it. However, if it was more than that and instead a way for him to learn about how to better attack and bring death to enemies, it might be a bonus. The only issue was that death was a major law of existence. Touching upon it was not something simple by any means.

Those things aside, Clark was left with the shadow energy. He could tell that Shy was greedily absorbing it. Even though she had absorbed a lot in the egg, that was all to properly form her body and hatch without worry. Now she had to create a base for her strength so that she could use the shadow threads skill. Once she was able to do so she could take control of a beast to defend herself.

When it came to Clark, the shadow energy seemed to easily meld with him. Part of Clark felt that this was the dragon energy that Crim provided guiding it naturally. The dragons had many species and the dragon energy could crush any other energy. That was why dragon tamers could be so varied and dragons lived in many environments. They were very diverse.

But the guidance seemed to be to Clark's shadow and not to his body. It was also like he was getting a better connection with the darkness that was his own shadow. Almost like it was there to teach him. The theory that some people had that every human was attached to their shadow felt a little more real as Clark meditated on this.

Eventually, he began to think about what other tamers used darkness type energies for. Normally it was for silence and hiding. Similar to those that used the wind energies to scout ahead in dangerous areas. That being said, Clark felt that shadow energy was even better for this.

When he suddenly stood up and began to move incredibly slowly with the ghostly steps, Clark could tell that he had picked up on something ideal. The steps he used while moving made it seem that he was moving through the shadows themselves. His shadow warped beneath his feet as if it was a second sense.

This was the influence of shadow energy. His shadow had become the dampener to hide his footsteps sounds and also his own appearance. If Clark was out in the dark of night or a dim forest, he was sure that with proper training he could hide away much better. This would lead to him being able to scout, sneak attack, and hide much better.

The journey they were going to take to the north would be dangerous and this was insurance.

"I feel like Clark is always improving in the blink of an eye. It's not fair." Maria had puffed out her cheeks with frustration after realizing that Clark had made another great realization.

"I think you should stop being jealous. You literally came back triple as strong from whatever crazy training you did. I was wondering if you would try to show off." Isa teased Maria a little as they watched Clark start to train without a care for who watched.

"I am stronger but it's not the same. My strength is all in my speed and focused attacks. Clark can sneak, attack with power, and defend. I need to keep up." Maria seemed very driven. Lit and her midnight eel felt this as well through their bonds. It was the perfect fuel to make sure that she would be able to catch up somehow.

It was also what the midnight eel needed to be able to prove its desire to protect Maria. Since it had hatched, it had hidden in Maria's shadow or taming space. This was simply because it had needed energy to grow. It was still an infant. But seeing that it was also being left behind made it annoyed. It was supposed to be Maria's silent protector.

Her last resort. How could it be something so grand if it wasn't even able to swim alone?

The sudden desire coming from the midnight eel made Maria realize that she had also neglected it. Therefore, she suddenly stopped speaking with Isa and began to focus on her own gathering of energies. The midnight eel rejoiced as it felt that Maria was also helping it gather more and more energy.

Lit made the biggest difference though. Because of the training Maria had done where she constantly healed her body, Lit's healing abilities had strengthened greatly. This left Lit to be able to help the Midnight eel in the same way. Heal the stressed parts of its body as it pushed itself to a new level of strength. It was the perfect failsafe to prevent damage while growing.

"And you have totally forgotten about me. But that's fine. I can prepare myself too." Isa had the elemental staff in hand. She had considered how she would train with it since it was the best focal point for her elemental energy training. And since Ella was here, who also had elemental beasts, they could use the staff together to gather and train their energy.

Ella was currency caught up in her writing, but with a simple show of the elemental staff, Ella's interest was caught. "Want to help us gather and pass elemental energy back and forth? You should be able to do that well with your beasts since you and I share elemental typings."

"A good idea to train the control and loss of control of elemental energy. I have not had a partner for that so we can make a good breakthrough in our personal research." Since Ella's interest was piqued, the two were able to sit down quickly.

Doc was left wondering just how he had managed to be in a room of such odd happenings. Breakthroughs, research notes, poison resisting, and even weak becoming strong. This academy had truly become an enigma to him.