Spirit Taming

Chapter 688: Great Differences

Seeing that the city was more or less still in ruins, Clark took the pair toward the largest training area that they had. The academy training grounds.

While it was easy to grab Brad, Ella, Reese, and Isa, he found that Ralph and Grace were already done for the day.

This wasn't hard to believe though. While still following the rules that Ralph could not abuse his body too much, General Green had exhausted him completely with her training. Beyond that, he had also been forced to study multiple different books related to materials, forging techniques, and the energy flow through the body.

Grace had managed to follow the training she was told to use. She had focused on the energies that flowed through her bonds and eventually used to cool or alter the temperatures of the forge as a whole. Yet, that had also been added with other training.

Grace had to focus on meditation and herbs that she and her frost finch needed to consume. But strictly following this, she was able to heal herself from her illness along with see the clear difference in her partner.

The ice body that the first finch had was showing much greater detail day by day. Feathers were beginning to look more avian compared to the more solid and blocky feathers it had developed due to the protection it had toward Grace. This meant that it was getting closer and closer to taking a massive leap toward what it was going to be in the future.

Besides those two, the only other person missing was Jwrold. However, he had apparently already left the city walls.

"I can't believe that Jerold is still nowhere to be found. He was ready to leave us after not saying a word the entire meeting we had. Now he is off scouting with a group of guards? How can he just do that?" Isa was unsure what to do about this. She was looking at Clark for the answers.

"I think it's actually a good thing. He has been training to be a hidden assassin scout combination. That's where he is strongest. Even in the battles that he was in here against monsters and guards, he was sneaking around. Making sure that paths were clear."

"No, he is just doing that but with people who have a lot more knowledge. The Nebula and the Terra forces that came have dedicated scouts. He can't learn what he is learning out there, in here. He isn't a front line fighter."

Seeing that Clark was making sense, the rest of the group could not argue. But there were still some worries to be had. "He could end up facing the cultists before we do. That means he will fight alone without any of us around." "Maria's feelings were clear. She had helped Jerold learn to better use his daggers. But she didn't want him to be too weak when the time for a battle came back around.

"we should focus more on how strong he will be when he returns from his own training. He did not rest and instead, focused on continuing his fight. We all rested for at least a day. Some of us branched out in to methods we are unfamiliar with. Now we are refocusing on battle. We are catching up right now." Ella's thoughts were purely based on the usage of time.

It made a lot of sense.

"Well said." Purple spoke up. He was more than happy to see the majority of the group. Even though Ralph barely gave him and Illia a glance and grace was too tired to even stand up and begin to speak to them about their journey. That was training though.

"I wish there were fun things to do here too though. I thought that when I came here we would sight see. But there just had to be the corrupted families using a cult that was actually using them to steal resources away. Then that cult had to be proven to be messing around with demons." Illia's mumbles were nothing like what Clark remembered.

"You know, compared to everyone here, you changed a lot, Illia." Clark caught her attention and the others nodded. The only one that had never really spoken with her was Purple. But that was fine, he could catch up a little.

"Well, maybe I did, but I have been training a lot. In the dungeon and outside. My father also has been walking a lot more around the mansion. My mother even takes an hour a day just to walk with us!" The joy in Illia's eyes made everything from that event worth it.

The risk that a literal ancient ice dragon could have eaten them or frozen them, was little compared to what Joy was restored to Illia's life. The entire group would feel this way.

"Then I am glad. I bet this fight will be a lot tougher than I expected. But you will have to excuse us. We all got stronger too." Clark stood in the center of the training field. Many people had used it on the edges for tents and other spaces to rest. But the center was open so that guards could be assembled or groups could be organized.

"Isa and Reese are training their control of energy. Isa was focusing on wind influencing the arrows she fired. So she will be limited to arrows and wind energy. Reese was focusing on adapting the control of energy to make another sword float under the control of his partner. He will be limited to making it float while fighting."

"I will be focusing on unarmed combat while my partner digests metal within my taming space. My body should be tempered." Brad caught on to the theme in their sparring match here.

"Then that would mean I need to focus on allowing energy to flow in to me that I held back on. Secondly, I will try to use a moving meditation technique of my own creation as well. It is in the theoretical phase, so do not judge it too harshly." Ella was clear with her plans. Clark could only raise an interested eyebrow to that.

"Then I will remain focused on my technique forgoing my usual strength based methods. Purely technique." Purple could clearly show that he was relaxing the tension that normally came with training or sparring. This was to make himself focused on the fluidity and choice of moves instead of the force behind them.

"Oh, does that mean I need to focus on what I have been training too? How comfortable are all of you fighting in a small snow storm?" Illia had been training her newest partner. The tundra storm moth was not overall powerful yet. However, it could easily create a localized focused snow storm over the training area that they were using.

"That's perfectly fine. I will be using a newly improved spear. I will need to do so without the help of my partners. They suffered a loss of energy after the previous battles. Cruik is resting and eating. Shy is still sleeping.

Devi is generally exhausted because of how much energy he used."

No one was speaking as they saw the lunar storm spear. They felt the incredible pressure that it released as a mythical ranked weapon. Not that they knew of that rank, only Clark was able to show off such a ranking. To be fair though, ranking was never truly brought up with anything. The chaos of their city and the world appeared to trump any set style of ranking.

"Now, please work together to challenge my spear techniques as I adjust to the weight and feel of this new partner." Clark's demeanor added even greater pressure around the training area. To say the least, they could tell he was the storm personified. Especially since he was not hiding his strength whatsoever.

The energies shared with him had tempered his body and soul. Even with his partners all recovering, Clark had natural pressure around him. An aura of a storm that always rested. With the eye of the storm technique added to him, he also could feel that he was able to better regain energy. The moving meditation technique was altered to fit him better.

The calm in his eyes as Clark took a step forward made them all react instinctively. The piercing thrust that met Purple was only countered by the muscle memory that purple possessed. He didn't have a chance to think when Clark had stabbed out.

The roll of his arm to duck under the blade and deflect the spear was still tough to perform. It made Purple feel that he should focus on strength now, forget the mental training. He had to keep up with the force that Clark was using.

"Clark! Hold back more or else we will fail to adjust ourselves and train. Instead of half your strength, use ten percent and focus on the spear by comparison to your body. You are also off in your strike compared to normal by about three inches. The weight is heavier." Ella's reprimand was enough to make Illia and Purple understand that they had fallen massively behind Clark. Too much so.