Spirit Taming

Chapter 476: Hand In Hand

After a small talking to, Clark had given in and sat with Maria to grab a snack from one of the nearby food stalls. They had only taken about twenty minutes to eat before the rest of the group had managed to escape the growing chaos that was the bulk market. From the triumphant looks, everyone appeared to get what they had been sent for and more.

"Alright, hand it all over!" Isa was pretty forceful, but she knew that she had a limited time to start flipping things. She also had Ralph caught by the arm.

"You don't have to try and drag him to the forge. He already knows why you had one list full of damaged equipment to buy." Grace's small push back made Isa smirk slightly before returning to being a little more serious.

"And if I don't keep Ralph here, he will run off with Reese, Jerold, and Brad to train. Don't think I didn't listen to them talking before. He's the only one that can repair everything so that I can sell it later." Isa was making sure that Ralph didn't disappear off to training with the others since it seemed like he wasn't planning on forging.

"It would be best that I start my own work. We found some interesting things while looking through the older books." Ella was fully focused on taking apart the beast plans and making a basic start to them to add to later. But she also had a secondary task list to make some better rewrites for the auction tonight. Being invited was great, but being able to sell a few things was better.

"It seems like you have everything you need. While Maria and I waited, we talked and I started to write some things about the beast eggs. But Ella and I will finish those beast plans before we leave tonight with vice headmaster Gold. For now, Maria and I are going to meet Purple. I have his address already." Clark didn't even give it a second.

He pulled Maria right away toward the direction of larger stone mansions.

The rest of the group watched as the two left. They were sure that it was a little more than just leaving to go meet someone. But no one said a word. Instead, Isa was already pushing right back in to her pans. From the sounds of it, she had more than just plans to repair some equipment.

She was going to push the others in to helping her set up the deals with some merchants she had already spotted nearby. The life of a merchant was always busy.

"You really wanted to rush away?" Maria was slightly amused by the fact that Clark had basically run away before Isa had made him sit and begin making beast plans with Ella.

"I just didn't want to get stuck doing paper work all day. If Isa got control enough, she would have me writing beast plan after beast plan with Ella or trying to organize herbs and materials that she bought. It would be a lot of extra work and a lot less time doing…" Clark trailed off as he realized he had yet to stop pulling Maria along with him.

But when he tried to let her hand go, she had held on fairly tightly to his hand too.

Neither said a word about it though, instead, Clark thought about what he had heard and decided it might be a little better to tell Maria what he had discovered. "I was going to wait a little bit and see if I could catch one for you, but I found information about a jade moth. Apparently, it can be grown in to the ideal alchemy beast if the right materials and plan is followed.

I think I could make that plan."

The comment caused Maria to trip a little bit. She had secretly taken a look through a few books while in the bulk market only to find a beast called the mud skimmer that was good for growing small amounts of alchemy herbs with the silt from muddy ponds and caves. It would have been a beast poorly matched with her.

"What do we need for it? How hard is it to find or buy an egg for it?" Maria had never heard of a jade moth and clearly was waiting for Clark to share any news.

"Well, it lives in deep caves as a jade worm. So the eggs might be hard to get so I don't know if we can go there to get it. But it also eats a specific algae so it is hard to raise already. Then we will need to change it from a water type beast to a fire and spiritual beast as well. A triple affinity beast that needs extreme care to grow.

A process similar to what we did with Grace's frost finch in theory."

From what Clark said, Maria had enough to think about. But as the two walked and Clark answered a few more questions, Maria found herself surprised that Clark had managed to pass the jade moth leg to Isa with a note about its potion uses already. No one had noticed it in the eggs that he had handed over. It was too sneaky!

"Huh, the buildings here are really a lot nicer." Seeing that Maria might give him another talking to about hiding such a good potion material that they could all use for training, Clark made a comment about the area the pair had walked in to.

The stone mansions were leather and had walls separating them. It was definitely a richer area of the city since many people walked around with nicer clothing or in higher quality gear. Even the beasts looked well pampered when it came to the older people walking in the streets. But most importantly, the carved stone walls were all unique.

The depicted the family battles and a little family history for each of the families living within a stone mansion.

This fact alone shared that the city valued the contributions of these people consistently. It wasn't that they were just rich, that they had in many ways, created the city of Terra as well as defended it. But one wall was clearer than the others. When Clark and Maria stopped in front of it, they saw a scene of one larger man pushing through ruins and discovering lost knowledge.

Many weapons, eggs, and materials. New dungeons. Many things that would be seen as massive achievements.

"That was my grandfather. While raising my father alone, he became the greatest ruins pioneer in the last seventy years. He doesn't go out any longer because he retired, but he still teaches in the academy when he feels like stretching his legs. We sensed you coming. We made sure to keep a thought about your unique spiritual energy." The voice that came from their side was easy for Clark to remember.

"Sorry we didn't come sooner. We got caught up here and there with a few tasks. But we are going to the larger auction tonight. I assume you are as well?" Clark looked at the muscular boy and noticed a few small purple flashes in his eyes as he glanced at Clark.

"I was invited. A few of the team was invited as a reward for placing well in the tournament. I see you brought your healer friend. Is it because you came to challenge me again?" Purple clearly was asking this just so he could test Clark again. He had enjoyed the fight in the tournament and wanted to see if he could get better to catch up to Clark. Who wouldn't after finding a worthy opponent.

"Well, I assumed you would want to check up on me and see if I had done anything to get stronger. But you also invited us here for more than just a polite reason. My entire group is taking advantage of your home to get stronger.

We should be here another week at least before we look towards going to Lunar and Solar academies." A slightly mischievous smirk appeared on Clark's face as he rolled his shoulder. He was stretching a little in his excitement.

"And both of you should be more polite since I can see three people looking at us from the table in your stone garden. I assume that is your family and they are waiting to meet your friends." Maria looked at Purple. Even he and his unique beast could not match the glare that Marie used on them.

"That does sound proper. We didn't think of it. We were distracted. Please come and meet my mother, grandfather, and my adopted sister." Purple looked slightly happier here than when Clark had seen him at the tournament. However, this was just how anyone would be when they were in their home field showing off the things they cared for.

It was the exact same feeling that Clark had when he was showing off the beast plans that he and his friends worked to develop together. Especially when they all added something to it to ensure it was perfect. Materials, knowledge, and their effort were always enough to make it shine.