Spirit Taming

Chapter 85: Being Underestimated

"Kid, I may be a beginner too, but you are not ready for this." The swordsman standing in front of Clark had already greatly underestimated him. This was mostly because the students in the academy would never come to this arena. They were too focused on what the school offered them and on training with each other.

"I am sure you will learn something regardless." Clark's words made the man shake his head. He didn't have any qualms with beating Clark. He just didn't want to hurt someone so much younger than him.

"Battle!" The referee shouted out. The man didn't see a beast appear anywhere nor did he see one at all. This led him to believe that Clark was holding his partner. That the forged cedar spear was actually his beast. It would not be unusual to have a beast take a weapon form.

With a single whistle, the cloud sparrow darted down and moved around Clark with exceptional speed. The system had warned Clark that this beast had a lot of agility while flying. Yet, it was amazing to see anyways. He was sure that Devi would be unable to keep up since Devi just floated.

The fog that trailed around the cloud sparrow was becoming visible which made Clark have trouble seeing the detailed shape of the swordsman. Yet, Clark also found that his hearing had become muffled. It was a rare occurrence to have fog in the city, but the one time that Clark could remember it happening he had the same experience.

The illusionary blinding effect also acted as real fog causing sounds to become dull as well.

"A better challenge than I thought." Clark stepped to the side just as a sword approached. He was still able to make out the form of the swordsman even with the fog. It was not a perfect blinding skill.

"You are faster than you look. But you are small so don't think-" The swordsman was arrogant and still underestimated Clark. This was perfect for Clark to use the full moon slash and spin his spear. The result was a small slash to the swordsman and a small breeze that cleared some fog.

"I can still see and hear you through your fog!" Clark's yell threw the man off, he had not expected such a guided and speedy combo of slashes to come at him. Clark continuously used the crescent moon slash while the swordsman tried to block.

The sparks that came off their blades made the cloud sparrow uncomfortable. It was a water and wind type beast, fire was not its forte. This helped Clark break up the fog more and more that had formed around them. When he saw that the swordsman he backed off, he dashed forward.

The falling moon pierce was straight and true. Clark managed to pierce the swordsman's shoulder. This was enough to make the sword in his hand fall to a single grip instead of both hands. It greatly weakened his attacking power.

'The host is resonating with the new taming space edens end. The host is encouraged to battle further relying on their own strength to acclimate the flow of energy through the body.'

The system's addition to the situation was unexpected, Clark had not thought that this would be beneficial to how he acclimated to having a taming space. Alexander had even told him not to fight which made it feel that this was very abnormal. The question of why resounded within Clark's mind. He wasn't sure what the reason behind it was.

While using the ghostly steps to dodge the wide swings of the pained swordsman, Clark thought about this. He knew that edens end was a unique taming space with a cemetery theme. A place that could be known as the start and end. A place filled with draconic and death energy for Devi and Crim to grow stronger.

Would battle energy that could combine the death of battle and the fierceness of dragons be beneficial? Was this the sort of energy that Clark needed to comprehend to be able to move on to the next steps of edens end?

"I won't lose to some kid!" The swordsman lost his composure fully. It gave Clark plenty of openings that he carefully watched and waited. The combination of being underestimated and faster than his opponent paid off.

The swordsman slashed in a wide arc leaving the sword nowhere near Clark. This was the perfect time to use the falling moon pierce again. The cry of pain from the swordsman was followed by the clang of a sword hitting the ground. "Battle over! Winner, Phantom!"

The referee ended things there. Clark had incapacitated his opponent winning the battle easily. The cloud sparrow lacked the strength to attack and beat Clark. It was a simple win but one that caused Clark to come to a realization about his taming space.

"Did you see that weirdly dressed guy? Beat a beast and a tamer without his own beast."

"Come on, his beast has to be that spear. Forget it."

The few people watching the beginner arenas started to talk. They were taking notes of anyone new to tell their employers about or just killing time with newbie battles. "Will you continue or take the victory and leave?" The referee had to ask this to everyone to communicate with the ones in charge of the coliseum.

"I will proceed. I want to stretch my legs more." Clark sounded like he hadn't even had a hard battle. The swordsman glared at him while he was taken out of the arena to be properly healed. The cloud sparrow chirping in worry the entire time.

"Did you hear that the arena over there has a weird person too?" One of the audience spoke a little louder than necessary drawing Clark's attention.

"You mean the weirdo in a big cloak? Yeah, every time they stab someone they paralyze them. It's crazy. I don't even know what beast makes that kind of attack unseen."

"Good, Maria is doing well," Clark mumbled to himself as he saw an opponent approaching. The arena was not going to be empty for long and if he didn't choose to rest, the battles would be consecutive.

Seeing that his opponent held a shield and short sword made Clark excited. He was going to get a lot more experience than he meant to today…

"Let's do this Lit." Maria was not afraid to whisper to Lit in her royal cape form. She had already followed Clark's suggestions and coated her daggers with Lit's poison. This had paralyzed her opponents so that she was able to stand over them in victory. It had already been two easy battles where people had underestimated her.

"I watched those other two. I will not allow you to strike me down." The woman that walked up to oppose Maria in the third battle held a longer ranged weapon than the others. She was carrying a large pole ax. Something that would have been too heavy for most people. She was exceptionally strong for her stature.

"Good. I will learn from you too." Maria had become fully focused. This new target in her eyes was going to be another person to learn from. She had to push herself to keep up with Clark. She refused to fall behind.