Spirit Taming

Chapter 419: Following Paths

Instead of trying to hide the theories and ideas outright, Clark considered things for a moment before he looked at the clearly still tired Brad. "Well, after you broke through and helped our possessed helm become a blood possessed armament," Clark gestured to the sword and shield thirds of the beast that Brad still wore with him. It was still clearly asleep and resting.

"I took the first watch so I could keep an eye on things and also train myself a little."

There was a small glint of understanding in Brad's eyes. "So that's your moving meditation technique?" It was a little surprising that Brad had glossed right over the information about his beast but that was fine. It would let Brad take the time to slowly understand his partner's changes and what it meant for them.

"Exactly. I found that dragon energy is able to adapt and help other energies more easily meld together. But we all knew that about dragons. Undead slime dragon, ice dragon, fire dragons, metal dragons, and so many more dragons we might never hear about in our lives exist." Clark's wonder about dragons felt like it could go on forever at this point.

"I used that with Shy's purer shadow energy as threads to tie together the energies that Devi gives me. It's just that it drains pretty much all of my energy to even make it start and keep up while I'm moving. So, it's useless without a lot of refining and practice." While Clark knew he would be able to continue these experiments easily, he had some disdain for his own lack of energy..

It just proved that he was still too weak to truly push the envelope of what he could think of.

"That weird energy all around you was just the energy you were bleeding because you couldn't control it all? That much?" The image of shadowy energy and ominous aura hit Brad pretty hard. He was wondering how everyone was able to sleep through it. But that also brought another question, "I think my body changed more than I realized."

"I would say that's true. Your muscles tore and you grew like a while inch taller while handling the extra energy from your possessed helm. The blood side of your taming space is not too kind to you. But with some help from Maria and Lit's healing you recovered fine. You also held out pretty well as your possessed helm returned and altered the shape of the metals it had absorbed."

"But there's also the fact that now your partner could grow all the way to a much higher level as long as you provide enough of rarer and tougher metals. Basically, you need to start helping Isa a lot more. And maybe look to visit a few mine dungeons that haven't been captured yet." The focused look appeared again on Brad's face as he listened to Clark's evaluation and advice.

It was enough for Brad to refocus his mind on a decent goal.

"We will get going again in another hour or so, just get some more sleep and be ready to go." Clark saw a chance to get Brad to actually rest. It was a little hard for Brad to stop his own thinking, however, his body was calling for some more sleep. Especially since he had used a lot of his own energy to keep the energy from his partner in check.

After two hours, Clark found himself looking at the rising sun. He had partially lied to Brad but that had been a reason that Brad got himself to sleep sooner than later. It also gave Clark more time to regain some of his own energy. "Clark, are you going to eat or not?"

Maria had made sure to set up a quick breakfast with a few of their supplies. Dried meat and some quick cooked oats were not the most amazing things but they were good for energy. "We are going to have to move in to the forest following this route. There are signs marked along the way.

Follow the trees that have arrows on them instead of the trees marked with diamonds." Isa had also started to ensure that they all remembered the route they would be running. It would be easier for them to follow the known merchant routes to catch up the carriage.

"We could meet them within the night if we do not stop running when the sun begins to set. Can we do that?" Ella was showing her own concerns but that was enough to encourage the rest of the group to push themselves a bit more. Not that they were planning on slowing down at all. They were going to push themselves to run faster in this instance. That was the shared collective thought at least.

"I want to make sure we are all prepared for the beasts in there. I don't want to be held up because we aren't ready for a fight. I want Isa to be ready to use flames to scare off the weaker ice type beasts. Ralph, if you keep your partner out you can do the same." Clark's idea was simple but efficient. Keeping the beasts at bay was the best method for survival.

"We can do that, but I should take the lead then. We can charge ahead faster and we can just push through any little beasts.' Ralph was acting slightly arrogant. Yet, Calkr saw the benefits in this. If they just pushed through and scared away the smaller ice type beasts, then they would be fine.

It just took a little extra teamwork to have Isa following the route next to Ralph and his partner while they did so.

"We won't get the chance to gather any more materials or herbs though…" Grace was a little disappointed because the charging through method would keep them from being able to spot anything good.

"It's worth the loss for now. We can head back here. But we can also ask Isa to handle things. You saw how many people she was talking to when we went to the markets in Nebula. If she doesn't have something to help us out with, well…" Reese saw that if he kept saying anything he was asking for trouble. Isa had given him a slightly more intimidating glare after he had started to speak again.

With their plan set, the group quickly put together the campsite and stored everything away within their storage rings. Jeerold was the only one that seemed to be acting odd, but after a little looking, Clark could figure it out. Jerold clearly felt that he was being useless since he was unable to scout ahead. The pace the group was moving was too fast.

This alone was a big hit to him since he had been advised to become better at scouting so that he could use his invisibility better. That would make him a better scout along with bringing more usefulness to the group. He couldn't just be good at one attack then having to run away every single time they were in battle. He would become a major weak point if that was all he could do.

The pace that they started off with was enough to rival many people three or four years older than them. The training the group had done with Professor Wright truly showed the depth of their endurance. Even Brad, who was the theoretically weakest of them because of his beast's growth, was able to keep the back of the group protected with Jerold as the lookout.

Entering the forest didn't come with any resistance. There were more frozen spots but it was easier to see them because there were also small snow piles from the snow falling below trees. This left them with a clear cut path to follow. Evidence of other smaller merchant groups or even more carriages paved the way through the trail.

The arrow markers were barely needed to traverse the massive frozen forest. It was almost too easy in their minds.

Unfortunately, that was the start of their foolishness. Being young came with a large downside. Confidence could run away with their emotions. Even Clark was a victim to his own confidence even though he had lived a whole other life before this. Not that it mattered, he was currently in a much younger body and subject to the same emotions as everyone else.

Ralph and Isa had charged ahead with the molten boar following the trail. If the two had looked up a little more than looked down, they would have noticed that the trees were showing newer marks. Ones that shouldn't be so perfectly carved this early in the merchant trail. Marks that had been made recently and still oozed sap from them.

If they had noticed this then they would not have started to follow a different path around the one they had originally meant to travel. And they would not have charged right in to the large clearing right at the edge of the forest just an hour after they had entered.