Spirit Taming

Chapter 329: Everywhere was Corrupted

"What was that all about?" Maria had come out of the inn behind Clark and watched everything happen. She hadn't made herself known because she was curious.

"I saw him at our match staring down the celestial sea academy students. Those sea serpent eggs were his sister's. That guy with them killed his sister's beast, left her half dead, and took them." Clark had more or less figured it all out. But the boy he had just sent off was clearly walking like he was still stunned.

"So it's not just our city filled with…" Maria bit her lip. She didn't want to go naming anyone. She had already moved on from her family. She had a different name, new friends, and a way to clean things up.

"Yes, it's the same everywhere. It means that we might have to work a little harder. We could be thinking too small because we are too weak." This was like a slap to the face. Clark had relaxed too much and was holding back.

Jerold had clearly learned from his lessons. He had gone out in to the world for a short while but come back stronger and with a better attitude. He was able to flat out kill an opponent while maintaining his strength. That was a drastic change that could only come by hardening his heart and pushing himself to mature. Clark on the other hand, had somewhat softened lately. Too much.

"I will send him to Clara's family. They have representatives here. I saw them the other day too. I assume Clara will arrive with her father and maybe another general toward the finals. That way she can help heal the sister with her family ties.

Losing a spirit beast is usually certain death, but it can be mitigated by contracting another beast like one of these sea serpents." Clark wasn't hiding his plans at all from Maria.

"That younger brother also has a beast that most people would confuse as some sort of octopus. It's actually a rare beast called a Cecaelia. It's half humanoid half octopus. If it's raised right, it will be a kraken overlord. Half kraken body with half humanoid body. A very powerful beast, very powerful.

He just doesn't know it yet because it has never gotten proper nutrition."

This all seemed too perfect to Maria. The strong that were not born strong were just pushed down to the ground while those who acted strong and were handed everything were raised up but were actually really weak. It was like some twisted fate that proved that if someone was a better person they might have a better chance at growing. It just made her insides twist in to knots thinking about it.

"They came here to try and find a healer, now they have a future. That should be much better." Clark saw the others leaving the inn and stretched his arms a little as he felt the assassin beetle move a little to watch professor Wright.

"Clark, I assume you will wander off here and there during the battles. I won't stop you. Just make wise decisions." Professor Wright was not foolish. She had kept an eye on the entire situation. She also had a vague idea of what might have happened. Even a fool would be able to figure it all out after thinking for a while.

The few merchants that were left behind seemed to be the ones that had bet on the group. Isa waved a few over who clearly knew her family. The small smiles and trading of papers proved that they had all been in on this together. They had traded information for a clear cut of the money. It was a sneaky but smart way to get ahead.

"Today Comet academy is facing Terra academy. It should be a good match. The Terra academy students specialize in earth type beasts. They live in caves in a mountain. It's a very good place for them to be to hunt the beasts they use. And the Comet academy students use beasts related to flight and the sky.

It is a literal battle of earth and sky today." Isa was quick to share the information. She did seem a little irked not to have more details though.

"It's a good chance to catch up on who we might face later. There could be some very tough battles ahead if we are fighting the ground under our feet." Reese realized that his sword strikes would mean nothing to the entire arena fighting him wherever he went. He wanted to go back and change his training yet again.

"So just hope that Comet wins. They have to leave the sky at some point, right? Then you attack them." Brad had a different idea when it came to this. Someone would have to attack his shield and sword at some point. So he was fine with waiting.

"That's the way to just fight. Wait for them to come and challenge you head on like a real warrior. Or let my partner burn them up and make snacks." Ralph had been training with his molten boar. He was a little off in his focus but he was still Ralph. He still wanted head on fights with anyone.

"How is your forging progress? Have you managed to help your boar make a proper alloy?" Clark watched at Ralph's face sank a little.

"Not alloys. Just pure metals." Ralph smirked and threw a small chunk of iron to Clark. It was small but it was clearly the purest thing he had made so far.

'Purified iron- uncommon

The purified iron had been purified by acids and higher heat than most other irons will. This makes it better to forge with if it is smelted at a higher temperature. It is also more easily able to take on other metals or materials energies.'

"Good stuff. I can't imagine what you will be able to do when we get you better ores." Clark handed the metal to Isa who was very interested in the new potential to buy and sell rare metals. This could open a whole new door for them.

"When will you actually forge things? When will both of you be forging things?" Isa wasn't letting Clark off the hook.

"I want to know too. You made things from ice that even my partner said was too cold." The frost finch chirped out a small protest as if it was sure that it was not going to feel the cold at all when touching eternal ice.

"I can work on that tonight since we won't have a battle tomorrow either. Other academies are fighting. But I want to be able to watch the battles and speak to Ella first." Clark was very happy that everyone seemed to have their own goals and focuses for the time being. But he was also very interested in the fact that he might be able to make a weapon for Grace that could channel the cie.

He would just need to teach her to handle the eternal ice.

It was a good plan that could be developed in time. For the meantime, they were looking at the familiar area. Instead of fighting today, they would be in the section reserved for Nova academy staff and students. Each academy had seats on the highest seating so that they could watch every single match and learn whatever they wanted.

Even if they lost their matches, they could learn from those that were winning.

"Is it just me, or is it busier in here today?"

"Terra academy and Terra city have the highest population out of every city. It's because they easily defend against beasts. That is why no one ever goes to war against them." Jerold was the one to answer Reeses' question. It seemed that he knew about Terra city a little.

"My family was once from there. My father's great great grandfather left there for the wilderness and ended up in Nova." This was a slight surprise but it was to be expected that they would all have family somewhere else in the world. If everyone came from the same city it would be weird.

"I guess I won't have to go looking for Ella at all." Ella was the only one of the third years sitting in the first year's section. She seemed to have been waiting for some time for them to get here. She had a few journals filled out and was definitely looking to see what had been brought for her.

"I need to record what happened in your battles. I know that isa and Maria said they would be handling the journals for me. The more I can prepare now, the easier it will be later when the new battle starts. There might be rare beasts that I have never seen before."

"If you want to hear about a beast you have never heard about before, listen closely. I saw a rare one this morning." Maria knew exactly the beast that Clark was smiling about. He was going to make Maira frantic since she would want to research this beast.