Spirit Taming

Chapter 377: Mansion Facilities

The large mansion was more or less a blur since the group had been rushed there in chaos last time. But what they had missed were the carefully oriented garden. Many plants that could only live in the extreme cold of the north were blooming freely.

What was even more interesting were the beats that were helping with the growth beside their tamers. "Those are mostly students helping learn from their teachers.

The students that wish to go in to herbalism and other plant related careers will spread out through the entire city to maintain the greenery." Illia was proud to show off that the top students in these fields were brought to the mansions and city center.

"So they have the chance to learn in real life without needing to go in to the wilderness?" Maria was the first to respond for obvious reasons.

"They do have to leave to study certain plants or herbs. They even go to dungeons or wilderness areas with plant type beasts to bring them back or to study them. It is very interesting to see what they bring back. I once took an introduction class because it was so different from what I was learning.

It was very worth the time since I can identify some valuable plants now." Illia had really opened up as Isa and Maria had spoken with her. Part of it was the fact that Illia had seen first hand the potential future that the group had.

"Are there any books you have from the class? I would like to borrow them. Ella and I could read them." Maria knew that Ella would want to read it even if she found that she knew everything already in them.

"I will read it too. I can't just let you get ahead. What if you aren't around and I find a weird plant? It could be worth a ton to us!" Isa wasn't being left out at all.

"I have my notes still too. I save all of them in case I might need them. One of my tutors said that the notes you make, if even wrong, are important to remember. So I saved all of them. You can come to my room and study with me later. But for now, we should start with the auxiliary buildings." Illia was actually very serious about touring the home for them.

The only thing that Clark could guess for the reason why was friends. Illia had only said that one person was worth friendship since they were strict on themselves but were also up front with her. Other people saw her for her relation to the city lord, not who she was.

Since Clark's group had met multiple city lords now, and were unaffected by their status too much, it made sense that Illia would continue to relax.

The main entrance was right in front of them, but Clark could already see three separate buildings to the side of the mansion grounds. It was inside the city but there was plenty of space set aside for it. Mainly because that was just how it had to be to protect the valuables that would be stored there. The city lord was usually the most powerful person in the city.

Why wouldn't they have the highest value items hidden with them? That was why Clark still was shocked by the fact that the arena had a family vault hidden underneath. It was smart to hide it that way. An unexpected location.

"This is the family forge. It has tools to maintain the weapons of any city lord or the family. We also bring in different blacksmiths depending on who is needed." Illia pointed out the variety of tools that were available along with three different types of forging furnaces. It was enough to show Ralph that he had a chance to learn right here.

"I can use this? Can I invite someone?" Ralph was trying not to overstep but it seemed that illia was happier to hear that ralph had a plan.

"If you don't mind my visits to watch, then I would welcome you to invite someone. I heard that a few forms of forging were brought in to Nebula different from what we use. It would be interesting to see."

"I am going to forge a lot soon. I need to make better weapons with my partner so we can beat more things up. Plus, I need to kick Clark's butt. I figured you want to beat him too?" Illia raised an eyebrow but just nodded slightly. Clark felt that he was invisible since no one was even looking at him after Ralph's antics.

"Next door we have the alchemy lab for guests and the family alchemist. They are not related but we have an alchemist that maintains and serves the city lord's mansion. You are all welcome here but you will need to find our alchemist.

He is most likely meeting with travelers and helping the guards after the battle the other day." This dampened the mood slightly since none of them were over the fact that Nebula had just been attacked.

"Wait, if this is the alchemist and that is the forge, what is the third building for? It's not a training hall? Is it?" Isa was a little more lost now since the training halls were usually within the main buildings of most large homes. Especially if the basement was made. It was always the perfect place for an isolated training room.

"Oh, it's actually a storage. It has multiple training items. My mother had a second training field made for the backyard since she said training in the elements was better than in a perfectly isolated palace. That's why she has brought me out in to the wilderness during storms.

I had to learn to resist nature first before I could learn to fight." Everyone stopped and wondered just how crazy this family was.

However, with the history of Nebula and what it had done so far, this all made more sense. Nebula had infighting for a while. They had to toughen themselves against the cold and each other. It should be expected that the training methods of a family that overcame other opposition to retake a rightful place as city lords would have an idd method to train. A harsh method.

"Wait, training supplies? You don't just mean weapons. You mean training dummies?" Reese had perked his head up from his thoughts. He had been deep in thought lately. Clark could only imagine it was to think about the sword style he used and how he could improve after the tournament. That was one thing about Reese, he had never stopped thinking about sword styles.

"Exactly. Did you have some of them to fight against as well? The rune training dummies are newer but when they are used many people get rid of them. They can be repaired easily." Illia smiled a little as Reese nodded his head.

"My family was able to fix one that was thrown away as useless. I was lucky to be allowed three hours with it a week but it helped a lot. The fact that they can alter their movements based on your attacks is amazing. But I would love to see a real working one." Reese was already out the door with Illia before anyone could speak.

It was too shocking to see that the two had seamlessly forgotten they were all here too.

'Rune training dummy- uncommon

The rune training dummy is exactly that. It can be placed in the ground and move to dodge or block attacks. It has unique rune carvings. Without them it is basically just a straw and wood dummy. The runes are the key because it takes fifteen trained rune scribes to be able to create these with the assistance of their beasts.

The runes make these dummies resistant to physical and elemental attacks. Even attacks using rare or hard to find typings are very weak against them. The movements that this dummy has are limited to standing but when given proper fuel via elemental crystals, it is able to move within a radius of twenty feet.

If this was an advanced training dummy then it would be able to move almost mimicking a person at a much higher level.'

Now Clark saw an entirely new way to train. He could literally surround himself with these at the cost of some elemental crystals to use as energy. Then he could fight to his limits until he found new ways to grow. It would be a streamlined way of training.

"I want to use these too," Brad spoke up but Grace was right with him. To Grace, Brad, and Reese these dummies were a way to begin catching up with the rest of the group who were well ahead of them.

"Then you will be training in the method that Ella's older brother taught me. We will fight them all together. Illia, do you want to join?" Maria appeared a little too intense but Illia was finally going to have a real training partner. Not just one, but many training partners. She let the unknown excitement take her in to the mix as well.