Spirit Taming

Chapter 80: After This Week

Following Alexander's orders, Clark watched as both Devi and Crim seemed to melt in to thin air. The sense of them entering the taming space was odd yet comfortable. Clark could feel them even closer to him than before making their energies flow smoothly.

While they existed within the taming space, Clark was able to look within himself and see them. They were able to explore the many aspects of it while also training themselves. It was an ideal way to get stronger without needing to train their skills outside of the taming space and potentially giving away trump cards.

The exploration came first though. Devi and Crim enjoyed the energy and closeness they felt to Clark while within the taming space. It was many times better than they expected when Clark had first explained it to them.

Yet, they quickly realized that they could not open the mausoleums with large stone doors. They could not leave the cemetery styled area. They could not push in to the field of grasses and bones. They were kept in a smaller area with heavy energy.

"So that's what that means. I have to grow so that they can explore more of the taming space to train." The realization fell in place giving Clark a whole other reason to push himself beyond the strength that he currently had.

' the user is able to increase the taming space by adding new materials and larger amounts of energy to it. The recommendation is to do so in the sections as explained within the quest.'

The additional insight from the system made Clark more comfortable with what he could do in growing stronger. Since he was limited to not being able to risk battling and abusing skills with his partners, Clark sat down and began to meditate. He wasn't very tired anymore since he had unintentionally slept the day away.

Now he just needed to wait for Maria to wake up and they could wait for the moon to rise again. This would be the time for Lit to absorb the dragon's breath.

Becoming more comfortable with the taming space proved to be much easier than Clark expected. It was like having another limb that he just had not stretched in a while. That was the best way to describe it. In all essence, it was natural for a tamer to have a taming space yet rare in the general populace due to how people trained.

Not everyone was meant to be the battle heavy tamers that the academy was training. Some were focused on jobs like building homes, cooking, and even growing plants. It was normal that they might not need a taming space. Not to mention that some taming spaces were requiring special methods and materials to be properly unlocked. Clark's was a prime example of this.

When a soft knock broke his meditation, Clark didn't mind it at all. He felt that he could only become so close right away with the taming space that had opened up within him. He needed time to acclimate to it just as Alexander wanted him to take.

Maria was standing at the door waiting with Lit somewhat to her side. She was a little red faced when Clark first looked at her. "Thank you…you didn't need to carry me to bed." The red color deepened while Maria spoke and trailed off.

"I wasn't going to leave you out in the cemetery while I went off to rest. You needed to sleep in a real bed to recover. You trained very hard." Clark reached out and smirked while patting Maria's head. He wasn't sure why he had felt such a need to do so but it felt right. The reaction was a deeper red blooming on Maria's cheeks before he stepped back and started to head away.

'We have to get food before the dining hall closes!" Her words sounded rushed since she was flustered so much. However, she had a point. A lot of the say had already passed them by due to their separate rest and meditation. It only went to show how time could be forgotten when a clear goal was in front of someone.

"Wait, you two are still around?" Ralph was one of the few students in the dining hall. He was feeding his steel haired boar a mix of normal meat and iron shavings to help it strengthen its hair. He had been around the academy training himself instead of doing anything else. He thought that Clark and Maria had left the academy as most students did.

It was not abnormal for students to request to go home when breaks like this happened.

"Why? Do you want to go and have a match in the arena? You know that I can still beat you." Clark smirked. He knew that he wasn't supposed to train and let his beasts use their skills. But that didn't mean that he considered fighting Ralph as training.

"Ha! You know that I would crush you. We are getting stronger too you know! I came in top ten in the last exam without any real damage. Just a few cool scratches to the face from that stupid water slime." The bragging would have been more impressive if Maria and Clark had not scored higher.

There was the curiosity about how Ralph had ended up in the top ten though. He was a brutal rush head on kind of fighter. Being able to battle with the wind and water slimes should have been tough on him. He should have taken much more than just that in damage.

"How did you make it on to the top ten like Cark and I?" Maria's innocent question was pure curiosity, however, Ralph felt that he was being mocked. He hadn't done better than them!?

The annoyance showed on Ralph's face before he looked at Clark and laughed. "I was training some of the movement techniques I saw in the library. The raging boar step is perfect for crushing opponents without a scratch." There were also tough gloves on Ralph's hands now. It was clear that he had decided to pursue the up close combat techniques as well as this raging boar step.

"So you will have to train a lot more. You are a little small compared to your boar. You might need to eat more to catch up." Clark couldn't help but teasing Ralph more. The angry face that Ralph made was just too fun.

"Just you wait. After this week we are going to be doing a class tournament. All of us will fight and you'll have to get beaten by me." Clark wasn't sure where Ralph had gotten the information. His disbelief was too clear for Ralph to see. "Just ask the upper classmen. They said after the first exam they started some combat training and taming space theory.

We'll be fighting each other soon."

With a huff, Ralph left the dining hall where Maria and Clark dug in to their meals.

"If we are going to be battling, it should be perfect for us to get used to the changes in strength after this week." Clark was actually feeling excited to be able to battle others after they trained more. It would give him a good standing of where he was with his current strength.