Spirit Taming

Chapter 277: Planning For Swords

After assessing the earth prince and speaking to Ella a little more about its future, Clark had taken the time to rest himself. He was only woken up when Brad had fully rested and was up and moving around.

This was surprising because Clark fully expected that Brad would not want to be up at all. He expected that the lazy and uninterested side of Brad would return with a full force. "Up early?"

The surprised look on Brad's face showed that Clark was the first one to notice or at least say something to him. "Yes, I wanted to get a feeling. This is weird, you know? It feels off and I have to fix that." The reason made sense. The taming space would feel different. Especially since the energy flow in to Brad's body had changed.

"Well, you have the blood iron palace taming space now. It's unique. It was made illegal for a reason but that doesn't mean that it's a bad taming space. It's actually a much better taming space than the others you wanted. I even planned for a different one but after seeing the materials…" Brad could gather what Clark had meant from there.

"So, what do I do now?" Brad put his short sword and shield down. He had no idea what the next step was. He just knew that he had to remain focused and calm to consolidate his energy. His possessed helm would also have to rest within the taming space for a few days. This made him the weak link to everyone else.

"Just do what you were doing. Train your body because you will get stronger. But if you want my professional opinion, get a bigger shield. And a heavier sword." This seemed to catch Brad's attention even more. Clark had begun to perfectly bait Brad. It wasn't for the worst though.

It was clear that Brad could be much stronger with the right path to follow.

"Why would I need bigger weapons? I would lose speed and be weaker. It would let my partner's armor crack before it even grew. What's the point?" Since Brad knew that breaking the armor of the possessed helm wasn't a good thing, he also didn't want to risk losing the partner had for his whole life.

"I'm not saying you will have to crack your armors to make your partner stronger. Your partner will get stronger the more ores you feed it. Coincidentally, you should also feed it some blood now and then to help it get acclimated to the blood iron palace taming space. The stronger the beast's blood the better. Don't follow the cult's example and use human blood. That's just asking for disaster."

Clark knew that this was something dangerous and why the cult had been a cult. They used human blood for terrible things. Nurturing certain beasts did need human blood but that was very unique and specific situations. Not the normal. He did believe that Brad would not all fall to that sort of evil though. Brad appeared to also seem to recoil hearing this.

"I want you to be able to get stronger. The energy you get will only grow rapidly now. Use it to make your body tougher. The heavier shield and heavier sword will make you a better defender or guardian of a group. It will also stop you from being beaten easily. Long story short, put rocks on your back for the next few days.

Hell, even until we get to the beast that will bring us to the northern city."

"So, carry heavy things and try to keep up? Sure. I got it." Brad dropped his shield and started to hunt for weight to carry. It was an immediate and seemingly uncaring thing to do. But to be fair. Brad was a single focus individual and he had just learned that the light shield and short sword would be useless to him.

Did Clark expect that Brad was already strong enough to start lifting some of the naturally fallen logs around them in the forest though? Or the mined out stones that had been left by previous miners around the dungeon? No. This was a surprise to Clark as well. But the others were starting to move around and wake up so he had no more time to think about that.

"Good morning." Reese had come from behind a few trees. There was a slight hue of sweat on his brow that proved he had been working out already. But from what Clark understood about his family, he focused on sword technique more than anything. Their swordsmanship was their pride and joy. Reese would have to train it every day no matter the mastery he had over it.

"Good morning, been practicing I assume?" Reese gave a prompt nod. As far as Clark could see, Reese was a straight forward kind of person. He followed his family's rule and loved the swordsmanship just as much as anyone else might. He was also very detail oriented which was shown in his perfectly folded clothes or the fact that he was always helping his partner stay clean.

But that might have been a side effect of having a sword styled partner for a beast.

Swords were rarely found as beasts. They fit in to a living weapon category of beast that had many different origins. Some were born from ruins or places where great battles happened. There were popular stories about floating berserk swords left on battlefields. Or raging axes that could cut through ten men.

The reason swords were so common was because the armies of many cities had found them the easier to mass produce. It had slowly taken over battlefields since tamers didn't need other weapons. If they wanted to use a weapon while riding a beast, most would choose the ax or a hammer since they could shatter armor while dealing massive damage.

The spear was seen as a breakable weapon with more requirements for distance.

"I was actually hoping to ask you about my training. You have enlightened Brad and helped him open a taming space. I have a family taming space I will open. It is mine and I prefer that. But I would like for some assistance. I may be too comfortable doing what I am currently." This made a lot of sense.

Many tamers would fall in to the same old rhythm after training in the same techniques for a while.

"Do what Brad is doing. Pick some heavy stuff up." The color drained from Reese's face seeing this. He was not excited to attempt to lift the kind of weight that Brad was. Yet, he still obliged and walked toward Brad to ask for help lifting something heavy up on to his shoulders.

'Quest: Not just a taming space- completed

The host is involved in a long journey to a long trial. Due to this, the host is in the perfect position to help themselves and others grow. Take advantage.

Requirement: Help Brad open the unique taming space, The Possessed Knight's hall, the paladins training ground, the imperial armory, land of possessed steel,...

Reward: Large shadow crystal, 2 gotcha tickets, small dragon crystal.'

'Small dragon crystal- rare

The dragon crystal is something that forms inside and around dragons. This could form from natural crystals that absorb dragon energy or from certain minerals building up within a dragon's body. If the dragon crystal naturally forms, which is very rare, dragons will take them for their nest. The energy is ideal for nurturing any dragon.

The Gotcha is spinning…

Large shadow crystal…

Explorer's sheath- uncommon

The explorer's sheath is a sword sheath made of rope. Most people would expect the rope to be cut by the sword but the rope is actually made from a unique blend of metals. These metals actually help maintain the blades of swords while also allowing for any sword type beast to draw metal energy in to themselves more easily.

This item can also help facilitate the growth of a sword type beast. It is a very slim chance that rarely occurs without the addition of other materials. To increase the chance, it is better to add very high tier materials for the beast to consume.'

This was a great item for Clark to use to encourage Reese. The explorer's sword sheath was much better than what Reese used for his beast. It would also have a chance to help the sword grow faster and potentially to the next growth level needed. Overall, it was a better thing for Reese to use to further strengthen himself before the tournament.

The thing was, Clark couldn't just give it up. There were more stops he wanted to make on the way to the northern city. Two more dungeons he wanted them to stop at. One was a ruin dungeon that he had picked out specifically for Reese. That would be the optimal chance for him to share this new win with Reese. But also a chance to find some higher tier materials for growth as well.

A good plan to say the least.