Spirit Taming

Chapter 501: Just A Storm

While the rest of the group was facing a greater challenge, Clark was feeling better and better as he started to travel through the harsh rain. Professor Wright was strong enough from years of training that she easily saw through and withstood this storm. But she was amazed by how easily Clark resisted it.

The rain sometimes became caught in the wind so strongly that it felt like being hit by something solid. That wasn't even when small pieces of sleet or hail would be mixed in. While Brad and Ralph appeared to not care for the intensity, they were clearly weakened by it since it was constantly shifting.

The reason that Clark didn't feel much might have been his toughness overall, but Professor Wright knew that he had changed his meditation. She caught on to that easily since she had witnessed the training. But she still hadn't fully believed that he had created his own meditation technique.

For him to do this proved many times over that Clark was only lacking the basic experiences and the level of strength that would put him on top. She knew that Alexander had a good eye and would only choose to be a role model for those that could reach the time. Yet, this was more than the top.

Alexander's first student had been Clara. She had been strong enough to represent the Mane family and also to rise very high within the city and all the academies. Even now she was considered one of the forces no one should mess with because of how many dungeons she went to defeat completely alone. In time, she would become top five in the entire of Nova City.

Right this second though, Clark was like a rising mountain that would eclipse all others. It was just a matter of time. The time he needed to refine the energies and learn to properly use them. The time it took for him to gain more battle experience. The time it took for him to literally collect and raise a group united though more than just one city.

All of this hit Professor Wright more than she had let herself theorize before. Now she was seeing something that might be in the future. Something better than just what there was now. Something that someone with real strength could do. A theory that she had heard rumors about but had not put any trust in since she was unsure if it would ever be real or a fairytale.

"Professor, I can tell you are wondering a little about it. I have a record of the changes as Clark trained. I hope to give it to him as a biography of sorts when we complete our journeys." Ella spoke while her beasts lent her more energy to resist the attack of the storms around here. Not that it stopped her from getting wet and looking like she was currently trying to fight nature as well.

"You might have a few years for that to happen. But I think you are doing something very worthwhile. Just make sure to write your own as well." Professor Wright had been snapped out of her thoughts when Ella spoke to her. But she did understand that Ella had caught her thoughts differently.

Ella had thought that this was worth recording for the future. But for Professor Wright, she saw the potential to strip away the corruption and rebuild Nova in to a city that cooperated with all the others. Potentially unifying the human territories for the first time. But that was just an ideal future that she felt she had glimpsed for a second. She had to maintain her focus for now.

"Grace, focus more on the wind energy your frost finch is providing you with. You resist the hail easily but your body is too light for the winds." When Professor Wright noticed that grace struggled a little, she pointed it out. This was training to resist these conditions. Naturally she would be helping the group.

"What about the beast ahead?" Reese wanted to draw his abyssal sword so that the two of them could take down the best he spotted. However, the storm made him unsure of his skills.

"Clark had already handled it." For Professor Wright, seeing through the rain ahead was easy. She already saw Clark easily taking a battle stance within the storm.

'Storm frog- rare

The storm frog is a beast with water and wind affinities. It will only come out during powerful storms that will allow it to both hunt and find others of its kind by using the water and wind in its body to disrupt small places within a storm to create an area of controlled water and wind.

This is why it is considered powerful, it will stop the flow of nature around its body and attack as if it is in a calm place. They often gather to look for a mate within the eye of a large storm. However, they are also extremely valuable to hunters. The eggs of the storm frog can be eaten to increase wind and water affinity within a beast with these affinities naturally.

However, they can also be raised in to storm tadpoles.

The skin of a storm frog is extremely durable and can resist some of the strongest rain and wind. Therefore, the skin is used in areas where storms happen often. It also has a very powerful tongue that can freeze the water on it and create a spike of ice to protect its tongue. The wind energies around it cause it to more easily pierce prey.

However, it is not as fast as it could be because of its split focus on wind and water.

The eyes of the storm frog are considered extremely beautiful because they have a cloudy blue color. This is ideal for those that collect beast parts but also for alchemy since the unique water and wind energy mixture can be used to create unique potions…'

While Clark had been comfortably following the path which was flooded at this point, he had narrowed in on the storm frog that crawled out of a dirt burrow waiting for a storm just like this. The analysis from the system had shown him everything he needed to know and a little extra. However, he had not expected to see a quest pop up next.

'Quest: the one who rules the storm

Requirement: assert dominance within the storm over beasts known for manipulating the storm.

Reward: gotcha tickets depending on the number of storm frogs hunted. Additional rewards for collecting storm frog eggs.'

The fact that the reward would be greater the more that Clark hunted was amazing. But knowing that the eggs of the storm frog would be able to help increase affinities of certain beasts was better.

In particular, Clark thought of how Crim had originated from a dragon known for causing storms to a degree. The wind and water affinity might not truly exist, But Crim was able to use them to a degree. That was all a part of a dragon. Therefore, if Crim ate these eggs, then he would grow stronger. Not to mention that Ella might be able to use them on her living mist beast.

This was only a small thought though, Clark saw the flash of a pink tongue shooting at him. Without any hesitation, Clark flexed backwards and used his black lightning spear to deflect the icy attack. The addition of ice made Clark understand the higher degree of control that the storm frog had over water energies compared to what the other beasts he had fought in the wilderness.

The storm frog was powerful because of these affinities and was also stronger because of its natural existence in tough environments. But Clark had shaped his very flow of energy to match a storm. He had taken a more integral part in surviving such an environment, no matter what kind of storm he was in.

His movements had also appeared to change. The ghostly steps seemed to have become part of the storm too. As if he was a ghost drifting through the storm without any resistance. The storm frog's eyes couldn't keep up. They couldn't keep track through the rain that it had always seen through as if it was not there.

The only thing it could do was attempt to use the wind and water affinity to push everything away. Unfortunately for it, Clark had struck forward with a falling dragon moon pierce. It started as Clark leaped in to the air, and finished as Clark channeled his energies together downward.

The burst of dragon energy made Clark's strike much more powerful. It cracked in to the ground like a lightning strike. A small boom shaking the storm. But it also signaled for even more storm frogs that there was potential prey around. Clark had not only killed one and gained his first point on to a reward. He had lured in more rewards toward him.

Now it was time to start the hunt.

The only thing remaining was the fact that he had totally become carried away and forgotten the group behind him who were all wondering just what had happened. Just what had gotten in to Clark.