Spirit Taming

Chapter 267: Body Improvements

"You could have told us that you could use other weapons. We have thought that you were much more limited." Clark casually brought this up while they walked through the massive cavern. This unmined area was proving to be much larger than what they had imagined.

"It was not pertinent to the situation. We had many other focuses. Growth being one of them." Ella seemed that she had deemed it inefficient and extra to worry about this. Therefore, she had made sure to focus on the important and basic things.

"Then you can tell me. We had times when we were resting that you could have told us that you have training in the whip arts. No one uses those techniques because everyone favors swords and magic skills from their beasts. It's like Clark and his spears. Surprisingly good and a wonder why no one uses them."

"Maria, I can use this whip because it is made with unique craftsmanship to interrupt the energy within a beast's body. The style is fairly common but is stranger because of the razor sharpened metals on the whip. If this was any other whip, then it would be a failure to defeat this opponent." Ella did not sugar coat the fact that whips should not be used when facing a beast in real life.

"While it looked like Ella had an easy time with that, she had to use a lot of focus and skill to do it. She needs more training. I am sure that if we manage to find more unique materials, she might be able to keep using the whip." The small smile that flashed on Ella's face betrayed her tribute to logic.

While it was clear that Ella wanted to maintain safety and anything else required for her team's success. There was also the fact that she enjoyed the movements of the whip. Clark could only relate it to the free flowing style of wisps. Ella had studied them for years and she might be similar to them.

No whips moved in perfectly straight lines. They flowed and whipped around from here to there. This similarity with the flow and movement of whips in battles would make anyone draw the same conclusion that Clark had. "But I am also sure that when you become a top tier beast breeder that your whip techniques will be ideal." Clark wouldn't easily forget that Ella had this dream.

"That's a good point. Then what about me? Will my skills be good for healing people do you think? As soon as Lit gets stronger she and I will be able to heal a bunch of people at once." The desire to help others that Maria had outshone all the bad that had happened to her. Even Ella could not see the logic in this but had the desire within her heart to protect it.

"What will be scary about your skills is the fact that you can heal and fight. The best combination if you ask me." Clark's praise made Brad and Jerold wonder just how strong Maria was overall. They had yet to see her truly fight alone. They had just seen one or two small instances here and there.

"Then I will keep doing both to be the best." Maria nudged Clark as she stepped ahead of the group. She had long noticed the thing that Clark and Ella continuously glanced at ahead of them. The seemingly innocent pile of rocks.

However, this pile of rocks was moving slightly as it breathed. Meaning it was not at all a pile of rocks but a hammer tail lizard that was sleeping in the dimly lit cave. The perfect accident waiting to happen if they had continued on their way blindly.

When Maria took her stance and Lit wrapped herself around Maria's neck and arms, Brad and Jerold thought they were looking at a different person. Maria had taken on an aura of absolute silence. One that was uncomfortable to be in or around. But this was her strength and what she had been training.

The way that Lit wrapped around Maria was not the same as when Lit transformed in to her alternate form of a royal cape. Instead, it was a better way to deliver healing and poison to the daggers and Maria's body. Lit's tentacles wrapped around Maria's arms to be able to drip her numbing poison on the daggers easily. Then the close contact allowed healing abilities to work faster.

The small wriggle in Maria's shadow proved that the midnight eel was waiting for a chance to do whatever was necessary to protect Maria's back. It had been growing silently and calmly in the shadows. Its dark typing worked very well in the shadows since dark energy naturally resided there.

But even more, the spiritual sea taming space was full of dark crevices that were perfect for the midnight eel to hide and absorb energy in. It was an ideal place for it to grow.

Since Clark could see the midnight eel, he had been watching it carefully. It had already grown a few inches but even more dramatically, it had begun to show sharper features. This meant that it was growing out of its hatchling and in to adolescence much faster than normal. The only reason for this had to be the constant nurture, training, and energy being shared with it.

Lit could heal any training injuries so that the midnight eel could always work to improve.

Maria's footsteps were utterly silent. It was hard to keep track of her because in the dim light, they could all barely see her. However, it was clear that she had radically improved her understanding of her own body. "That's from training with your older brother, Maria is stronger but also she can understand every single muscle in her body.

I'm not sure if she has realized just how much your brother helped her out."

"If she trained in the style that he does, she is the only one that would have been able to handle it alone. Not many people have a powerful healing beast that can fix the muscles that fast. She must have felt pain and healing within every fiber. It was painful but comes with a massive benefit." Ella was just stating a fact.

However, it was such a major fact that they could only be a little jealous and want to attempt the training as well.

Seeing that Maria had not made a single sound as she disappeared from their eyes, Brad and Jerold were not sure what they were going to be watching. Yet, when the hammer tail lizard suddenly jumped up with a small screech, they noticed that a large amount of blood was flowing from the scales between its neck and shoulder. It had been attacked.

This was when they saw Maria dash back away from it. The hammer tail lizard stumbled up, still disoriented. However, instead of limping as it should have with its front leg, it moved normally. "That's the numbing poison that a princess jellyfish produces. It is strong enough to make that large beast not even feel a wound. And with so much movement…it will hurt itself worse."

Clark's explanation came true as he spoke. The walking that the hammer tail lizard did only worsened the cut along its neck and shoulder from Maria's sneak attack. It began to feel woozy and stumble as it lost blood more and more. Maria's fighting style was not flashy but it was incredibly effective.

In the last moments of panic, as the hammer tail lizard realized it was dying, it swung its tail around to make whatever had caused this follow it to the grave. Unfortunately for it, all that the tail found was a wall which was crashed and broken in to a crumbling mess. It had only managed to widen the section of cave before collapsing in defeat.

"That is what I expect from you Jerold. If you can't learn that then you will only leave your partner to be the only one attacking. Unless you somehow gain fifty pounds of muscle and can be the defender of your beast." Maria left that as that. She knew Jerold had to see where someone of his size and stature could exceed.

She had also decided to make it very clear that she was well ahead of whatever they thought about those that followed this kind of training.

"Maria, you did very well, your attack was impressive and also helped us get the ore from the wall." Ella had been the first to investigate the wall that had crumbled leaving a larger section of cave. Since it had not been mined out at all, there were various ores that had been broken away with stone.

"Yes, that was my plan exactly…" Maria couldn't let herself admit that it was a total accident that she had let the hammer tail lizard strike the wall. She had originally thought it would just grow weaker and collapse before long. It was a surprise to her as well when it attacked with the last of its energy.