Spirit Taming

The time that Clark and Maria slept was much longer than they expected. They had used much more energy while out of the city. Neither had realized just how much energy having high emotions would drain. The simple fact that they were forced to be more alert was a massive energy drain. Add on the mother horned rabbit fight, and they were completely exhausted when they touched their beds.

While Clark had slept, Devi and Crim had finished acclimating to eden’s end. The taming space had a strange energy that seemed to make them unable to focus on anything but processing energy. Their bodies had been unable to speedily absorb energy because they had still needed to grow more. But they had been pushed to the next stage of their lives.

Crim was slightly denser. He still appeared the same old Crim as when he first went inside the taming space. But when Clark prodded him a little he noticed that Crim was harder to lift or even move. The added weight would make the dragon claws and dragon bites even better to use in combat.

When it came to Devi, Clark found himself stumped. Devi had become a purer white color. Yet, the golden color of his eyes was deeper. Like a star in the void of space. Something that made Clark shiver a little when he looked too long. Other than this, it was clear that Devi was able to more efficiently share his energy with Clark. They would both become stronger and faster.

"Crim, Devi. We will hide the fact that I have a unique taming space. I don’t mind showing it off. I am already a target of big families along with the top in class. I need people to know that they can’t even compete with us."

There was simple reasoning in Clark’s decision. He wanted to scare away the smaller families that would try and get in his good graces. They would be afraid to deal with the larger families. In turn, Clark would use his power to hold them off and cause them to fear him. It would be a good way to set up a tough reputation that could follow him for a lifetime.

There were a few changes in Clark’s body when he stood up. He realized that he was able to move a little more easily. His entire body felt lighter compared to before.

’The host had better adapted to the taming space; eden’s end. When the hod becomes perfectly bound with it, the first level of ownership will be unlocked.’

The system surprised Clark with a response. It was rare that the system reacted to something. Clark knew that it was reacting because the system had gained the intelligence to be more intelligent. He just wished that it could respond more like another person and give him even more. His thoughts did elicit a response though.

’The system can further upgrade as the crater desires. The host just needs to reach certain requirements.’

No matter how much Clark tried to ask or force the required information out of the system, he found that he was at a loss. The system didn’t respond at all. "Fine, all mighty creator, keep more secrets. One day though, I will meet you and you can tell me what this is all about."

Pushing the system out of his mind, Clark set off toward the material hall. He had not gone there just yet so it would be an interesting adventure. He wanted to take care of the horned rabbit’s bodies before he and Maria went to class to learn about the in class battles that would take place.

The idea that the entire elite class would battle even though they had not had much battle training yet was odd. It could mean a handful of things. Mostly though, that the class was going to battle so that they could show off their skills. This would allow Professor Wright to make specific lesson plans to prepare all of them. It was a fact that they would not always deal with beasts in the wilds.

Many instances of city fighting city happened. Especially when the food or trade routes were threatened. There had been a large incident between three cities nearby that had fought over a single trade route ten years ago. The issue had caused many more people to try and leave the cities or to fight in the wilds over trade route rights. Many bandits had popped up.

The materials hall was a larger building due to the research that took place. Clark remembered that he had been told about the professor in charge of it and related classes, but had trouble recalling the name. His main focus was gaining some insight about what materials he might be able to find.

There were many students around just reading new research articles from the main entrance. There were many bookshelves with proper articles published. It was the biggest reason people wanted to send children here when it came to in depth research. Nova academy had released many ground breaking pieces of information on the growth of beasts.

"You’re a first year student, right? Head over there to the desk. The secretaries will help you out and tell you what’s what." One older student was kind enough to tell Clark where to go. It was unusual to have someone be so nice but before Clark could thank them the boy had walked away.

"And what can I help you with today? Looking to learn? Buy? Or sell?" The secretary was very bright and energetic. It was a nice change from the seriousness of most people in a research area of study.

"I have some horned rabbit bodies along with a mother horned rabbit body. I would like to sell them as a whole to the research that is going on." Clark knew exactly what he wanted to do.

"Perfect, come with me and we will have some of our senior students evaluate them. It’s part of the research specific curriculum. You have perfect timing. We are just starting the horned rabbit evaluation lessons." Clark felt that he was very lucky. This meant that he would also get to learn a little about researching beasts.

When Clark made it to the room the students were in, he was not at all surprised to see how spacious it was. There were ten tables and multiple tools for the breaking down of any beast. It also had multiple chalk boards that could be used for notes and important theories. The key was the tables. There were students at each one waiting for people like Clark to come along.

"Please take out the beasts you wish to be evaluated and allow them to fall on the tables. If you have more than ten we can wait for this round to be over." The secretary pointed and showed Clark how to do it.

When Clark pulled out all the horned rabbits, he heard the students start to chat rapidly. Yet, when he brought out the larger mother horned rabbit, they became silent. It was clear that he had thrown them a curveball.

"Much larger body. Either an alpha or mating rabbit. The eyes and shape of the nose says female. Mother horned rabbit. More potent poison, multiple injuries to legs, and a clear stab wound deep in to the chest." The students were all attracted to the horned rabbit and rattled off characteristics. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Two eggs inside. One broken and the other dormant due to improper birth conditions. It will be ideal for the beast breeding theory class. A strong parent with a strange birth condition." The student that said this clearly had relations to the breeding classes of beasts. Clark hadn’t even considered that the other horned rabbit had another egg inside it.

"The meat is very high quality, the fur is damaged but also high quality. I would say one and a half gold. The egg is three gold alone." When the student spoke the secretary walked over and began to grade them.

"You missed the fact that the teeth are intact. That means a full skill can be harvested for decoration with the horn attached. It will be a total of two gold for the skull alone. No ribs broken means it is an ideal specimen for the museum so I say two and a half gold. The egg is perfectly priced. A grade of either four." Clark finally grasped that the secretaries were also teachers.

Clark watched carefully as the mother horned rabbit was compared to the other horned rabbits. He was surprised at all the differences he didn’t know or had been able to notice. He felt that the bestiary skill would just be the start of what he could do to better know the beasts of the world.

"Overall, the students and I have evaluated your beasts at eight gold. Will you accept them?" Clark nodded yes. He felt that he had learned more than he expected and would gratefully accept less if they required it. "Then please have a nice day. You may stay for full dissection if you wish." s much as Clark thought it would be gross, there was more to learn so he spoke up and watched them start to break the horned rabbits bodies in to parts.