Spirit Taming

"I really can’t believe it. Another beast that defies all logic." Reese felt that everything the group did was just beyond what he could imagine. To be fair, ever since they had all joined up, he had begun to lose his sense of normalcy.

"Did you think I would be anything but special when it came to my partner?" Grace laughed a little. She was surprised because her fledgling winter phoenix was enjoying itself by flying high in the air. A slight snow falling from underneath it which surprised many people nearby.

"I don’t think it’s that none of us expected it, but at this point, we should write a book about how unique the odds are between all of us. Beasts that are too rare or possibly extinct keep popping up. We might have world records." Isa wanted to use this to brag when it came to business sides of things.

However, it was a fair point. They had all accomplished many things. Besides just their beasts, the beast plans that Clark had guided had done very well to break the normal expectations. Many people were already trying to step up their game in the methods of understanding beast development to compete with the beast plans given out by the group.

Isa knew this was one reason that so many of the merchants had flocked back to Aphelion after the battle. They wanted to make a quick bit of money so that they could boost their business.

It was pretty clear that they also understood this as a chance to develop a new base in the city. This would spread their influence while also guaranteeing new trade for later dates. But most of all, they would be able to see the beast plans that th white robed healers and other cities had bragged about.

"Speaking of the unexpected, Star City reinforcements finally got here. Did you all hear about that?" Illia had been sure that the group would be very interested in this bit of information that she had heard.

After the group haad witnessed Grace and her beast’s growth, they had split up for a short while. This was to relax a little and also to let Grace have her time to adjust. Being able to properly adjust to the new flow of energy between her and her partner was very important. Everyone had to go through this when their beast grew.

"I was going to explore that later. But if you already looked in to it..." Isa had her ears at the ready to listen to every single word. She didn’t need to dig in to is at all when the reinforcements rested.

It was a very odd occurrence that Star City was the slowest to get to Aphelion since they were the closest in terms of direct travel. Terra and Nebula cities were a bit further and had harder terrain to deal with.

"Well, they had another dungeon break out causing a beast wave. The beasts that escaped were the white lantern fish. But some of them had red stripes. Apparently the ones with red stripes are starved because there isn’t enough food. They grow larger teeth and become ravenous, the stripes are where their bodies are stressed causing red blood to get caught in the growing scales."

Illia appeared proud that she had learned this much. Especially since she herself had never really been to Star city. It was on the to do list of travel now that the city was affiliated as an alliance. Furthermore, she also wanted to go to Terra City properly so that she could see what kind of place it was. She understood that Purple Could easily show her around the entire place.

"I’ve heard of the lantern fish. They aare often not an issue to the city as a whole. But they come in various species. The white lantern fish is a rarer species of lanternfish that would normally never appear outside. Their spiritual and water typing keeping them in places where they can better hide due to their natural white coloration."

"But if they were to have an advantageous growth spurt in their population, it would be due to their natural prey. That would mean that they had gained a larger source of food in the deep water anchovy population. That could mean anything from warmer water in that dungeon or a change in the water flowing around that dungeon."

Ella’s theoretical ideas came quickly. She had been familiar with many beasts around Star city and their dungeons. Simply because they had visited there before. This alone had been enough to study them. On top of this, they were the closest to her home city. She needed to see what materials came from those dungeons in case they would be valuable to her research on wisps.

"So they had their food source suddenly grow and it caused the white lanternfish to outgrow their ability to eat enough. Then they went wild. Sounded like a risky situation. Hungry beasts en mass might eat too much of anything they can get ahold of." Clark’s thoughts were spot on.

"That’s right! One of the groups I overheard talking said that the white lanternfish were trying to swim out of the waters using their spiritual energy and swallow whatever beast was small enough. Even a child was attacked which made the Star City guards lock everything down until they made it to the source of the issue and lowered the white lantern fish population again."

With this knowledge, a lot of possible questions were answered about the lateness of Star City reinforcements. Now that they were here though, it was another massive gain for the recovering city. It also solidified the plans to have a perfect alliance. The Universal alliance would surely have the approval of Star City as soon as the documents went back to them.

This wasn’t because they were forced in to it or had a relationship with the group. It was because their city had kept a closer relationship to Nova when they were corrupted. But they had shown their distaste for the corruption wanting to distance themselves. Now that it was handled and on the mend, they would surely support Aphelion city.

"I can only see good things then. I just wish we had more time here." Purple’s thoughts were simple. He wanted more time to train here with the group. He could sense that he was making rapid improvements on his battle ability and strength overall.

"The Cult won’t let us rest. We need to ensure that we make the dwarven and elven races our allies. It will expand our strength much more than training alone will." Brad had to accept this. He knew that time was limiting them in their ability to become more powerful overall.

"We might be limited on how strong we can get, but I have a goal to meet. Alexander wanted me to surpass him in a month. I still feel like I am behind. Clark had barely said anything about Alexander. It wasn’t because he felt too sad though. It was due to the fact that he felt he was too far behind. He needed to grow in strength much faster.

"You can already beat all of us at once. Even if we all used our strongest attacks, you would still be standing. And that’s with minimal help from your partners." Isa flared at Clark a little. She knew very well that she couldn’t catch up right now, if ever, to Clark.

"They aren’t recovered enough to really help. Crim is still trying to get back to his proper size. He also wanted more materials to grow even faster. He literally has a dragon of an appetite." Clark laughed at his own joke. "But Shy is still asleep. She used too much energy, especially since she wasn’t used to her own strength after growing. And Devi... well, he is handling his own hunger."

Clark had split up from Devi. It wasn’t because they had to train alone, but because Devi had to take his time understanding his own strength after realizing that he and Clark were in such a poor state after the spirit drive skill at full potential.

From what Clark and Devi understood, they would always be useless after using that skill and overlapping their strengths. Therefore, the pair had decided to strengthen themselves individually for the next few days. Clark’s training with the group and Devi taking to the outskirts of the city to ensure he could fight wild beasts from soul energy.

This was already proving beneficial since Clark could sense the growth that Devi was gaining. Every wild beast that would have been a nuisance for incoming forces was now yielding valuable energies for Devi. Making them test their bond between one another by sharing energy over a distance as well. Valuable experience.

"Please don’t space out like that any more. We need to think about our next step. Jerold should be back by the morning since he and the scouting groups are already set on the perimeter and territory of our city. That means we have to leave when Purple and Illia leave for their homes." Maria reminded everyone of the current goals. It made them all more serious.