Spirit Taming

"Well, I have been working a little hard." Clark wasn’t sure what he wanted to ask first. There was too much he could ask Clara about what she and her family was doing. What the plan was. How he should act now.

"I’ve heard a lot of things. I should start sending some people over to use your business. I guess what I should be asking is, do you want to stay at Nova academy for now or leave and do other things?" This was very sudden, Clara had not beaten around the bush at all. She had just pushed right to the topic that she had clearly been told to ask about.

"I will stay at Nova academy. I am still very far from being able to fight with a top notch tamer with more experience. Look at Professor Wright, she has multiple beasts and has never even caught a sweat while traveling with us. She even sends her beasts alone much further away than I could ever be comfortable with."

"Professor Wright has even raised beasts that were considered extremely hard to raise without so much help that I could have. If I even try to keep up with her, then I will be done and down before I can do anything. I’m not ready but I will be ready sooner than you think. I will even have a team with me. We will all have the optimal techniques and beasts for us."

These were things that Clark firmly believed. He could compare himself to Clara, Alexander, or anyone else. However, he had compared himself to Professor Wright. She was his teacher and had shown him how a truly powerful tamer might operate. Her actions were always calm and clearly had a reason behind them. That was also just one part of her actions that had amazed him.

But what Clark was internally hung up on was the simple fact that she did not have the system to help her. She had readied powerful beasts through tough situations. She trusted them with her students and her life. That proved she had given everything to ensure that they would be strong, not just feeding them materials over and over to make them grow as spoiled rich kids did.

"Hmm, so what will you get from staying?" Clara was pushing for more and Clark could tell that she was not just here to see him but to further her plans.

"You already said that you want me to go to other academies. But that’s what I want to do too. I can still be an elite student at Nova academy. I can still go to other academies. But while I do that I can travel to different dungeons and make myself and the team I have the best of the best. That way we will all be ten years ahead of people our age." Clark’s plan was very solid. He was prepared to walk through the toughest training he could muster so that he could be able to stand on top.

"You’re saying that you will surely be better than those ten years older than you after your journey to multiple academies through the wilderness completing multiple dungeons and continuing your business on the way?" Clara’s smirk broke out and she let her hand fall on Clark’s head. "Good, then do that. You can barely fight with me right now. I’m sure you can land a few hits now though."

After this moment, Clark felt that he was more welcomed than before. The business was settled and the lighter conversations could come. But Clara also appeared to have places to be. She couldn’t make it to the seats where Clark would be sitting, but she had told him that she would be watching out of the corner of her eye. It was nice to know that he had another person watching out for him. But even better that he had someone that called him family watching out for him. It just felt different than before. More full. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"You slept forever!" Ralph smacked Clark on the shoulder as soon as he appeared near their seats. It also seemed to Clark that Ralph had a lot more energy today. It was certain that he had received some more nutritional potions along with some focused healing. That was a good thing for the group, Ralph would be in top fighting shape sooner.

"I was busy speaking to someone for a while. It seems like we might all have some good journeys for us to go on after this. If everyone is fine with not returning to Nova academy for about a year." Clark left that out in the open. Everyone had heard him which was enough for them.

"I would be fine with that. My family travels a lot and since I have my own business I should hone my skills. It’s exactly what my older brothers did. One still travels while the other doesn’t have to when it comes to rare gems. He had to go everywhere in the mountains though. A mess of hiking." Isa was sure that her brother had more than a few stories of soreness to tell about that.

"We already have plans for the glow sting jellyfish dungeons. I might extend the trip to get stronger." Maria also kept her eyes on Clark. It would seem she had a few more reasons to stay by his side but he was trying his best not to let that cloud his judgment right now. He had to think of the goals he had first before he let himself change views.

"A journey to show off my swordsmanship would be a major development in my life. I would be better than anyone else in the abyssal sword style. Can you imagine how many people will see what I can do and how many will want me to teach them one day?" Reese was different. He saw that he could grow the family sword style that he had practiced since the day he could hold his abyssal sword beast in his hands.

Brad looked over, "You already know that I owe you. I can go wherever. Just don’t leave me behind because I might be slow." Brad’s answer was quick but it meant that he had loyalty. This made Clark very happy. He was sure that he would have to convince Brad with something tempting. However, he had been wrong in the best way.

Between Grace and Jerold there seemed to be more confusion. Grace wasn’t sure what she should do since she had a smaller view of the world. She was probably the most out of the loop person in the group because of her position. She wasn’t very powerful, nor was her family. She had just gotten a unique beast and made it in to Nova academy.

Jerold was the opposite, he wasn’t sure if he deserved to be there with them. He had caused issues and had also been through different things. But he had become stronger and learned from those things. That was why he was being asked and he knew this. Should he really turn himself away?

"Why aren’t you looking at me to ask? Huh? You think I will just go with you? What if I stay here and train the fire and metal typing against the cold to make myself and my partner ten times stronger since we always train in the harshest opposite to us?" Ralph was just being stubborn but had made a great point without realizing it.

"Maybe I should stay here then. I need to make sure my partner is strong. This place is perfect for that." Grace was inspired. The natural weather in Nebula would let the frost finch grow much more quickly. It would also allow for a greater potential to change in to other forms or even better, evolve in to other beasts of higher potential due to the massive amount of materials that could be found in the cold environment.

"Just think about it. We have other academies that want to host us. But we also have some rewards for winning that we will take advantage of. For now though, Ella is about to fight and I want to see how she does. I think that we might see her and only her fight though." Clark had already heard the rumors but felt that Ella was about to make an even blogger splash in the finals. He just had an instinctual feeling.

Meanwhile, the arena was ready and the matches had been prepared. Ella was sure that she would be ready to match partners with Nebula academy. They had been cooperative. Ethereal academy was the main point for their battles as other years had done. Now was the time to make the move.

More so though, was the fact that Ella had been waiting for her audience to arrive. For her friends to watch her. She had been waiting to show off the fruits of her research and training. To show off what she could do and how she could protect those that had helped her so far.