[MASTERED: FIRST FORM SECOND MOVEMENT: LION'S SWEEP (11%)]
During the last few hours thalien managed to perform lion's sweep while standing still, but he's still far from good enough to actually use it in combat, never mind chain it with claws descent.
Still, sir Thomas kept praising him at how much progress he made, while also looking a little guilty at thalien.
Thalien right now was not looking good, he was kneeling and panting from overusing his mana, covered in bruises, some from his session with caelan and others from Thomas, it seems he have been ordered to be more tough during their training.
When they first started training together, Thomas was the most lenient trainer you could get, there were no punishment for failure, and he would give candy with every minor success, he would give breaks the moment thalien showed the slightest sign of exhaustion, and even as he grew older he didn't really get any harsher, while thalien loved the candy and the conversations they had during breaks, he acknowledged that it was probably the reason they didn't make alot of progress.
Now though he got alot harsher, there was not a single break or reward the whole session, and at some point they moved on from the dummies, to actually attacking Thomas with lion sweep, at which Thomas would always counter attack, while giving his notes.
Thomas tried to keep a straight, tough face, but he failed miserably, he looked like he would stop and apologise the moment thalien complained, but he didn't complain, he understood that he needed to get better by the end of the month.
"Thank you, I learned alot today"
Said thalien standing up and trying to stabilize his breathing.
"I didn't do that much it was all thanks to the young master's talent, at this rate it'll not be long until you surpass me"
At that thalien laughed and looked above Thomas's head, his level was 50, compared to his 20 levels it was a big difference.
levels are not that accurate at calculating combat power as they don't factor skill, martial arts, or spells they only factor states, that's why when you gain a level through collecting exp you get state points to match it, the higher the level the more state points you get, and you can gain levels by training and raising your states.
But they can still give you an idea of people's strength, for example, normal people don't have levels, it's when you start practicing using mana, natural energy, or elemental energy that you get a level, a novice martial artist is normaly between levels 1 to 3, an apprentice is between 4 to 10, adept 11 to 20, experts 21 to 60, master 61 to 200, grandmaster is 201 and above, it could reach the thousands.
The level difference in the beginning might not seem much, but when you consider that a novice is still learning the basics of the arts they are using, and practicing mana, and that once you could use aura is when you become an apprentice, and that state points mean so much, as in one strength point equals the strength of ten fully grown men, which is possible by unlocking your core and letting mana strengthen your muscles naturally during training, it means much more.
"Haha, you underestimate your self too much sir Thomas, i'm a long way from your level"
"Now, if you'll excuse me, mother is probably waiting"
Once Thomas smiled and nodded thalien, turned around to leave.
Arriving at the Grove thalien found his mother sitting cross legged and meditating, so he sat down quietly, waiting for her to finish.
After a little while, a magic circle suddenly appeared beneath seraphyne and thalien, his eyes widened in shock as he looked at the magic circle beneath his feet, but before he could react, everything suddenly went black, and when he regained his vision he was in an entirely different.
A much more vibrant, beautiful, and natural energy dense place, it was full of colourful flowers, bushes full of tiny fruits that looked like natural treasures, and even bigger trees, looking behind him he found a tree so wide it looked like a wall, and so tall he could barely see it's end, it had a red trunk and white leaves, and it was the most powerful natural treasure he ever saw.
"Sorry if I scared you, I should have told you before suddenly teleporting you here"
"N–no, it's nothing… is that–"
"My grove, yes"
'Two groves'
The term druid is very broad as it could mean a beginner at natural arts that only knows a few beginner level spells, or a master that has mastered a bunch of Echo level spells, the only thing that seperates a druid from an archdruid is a grove.
A grove is an archdruid's domain, a place Where they hold absolute power.
While in their groves archdruids are at their strongest, they can prevent or allow other druids from casting spells, they can actually control the energy density of their spells increasing it's power by tens of times, and they can sense everything that's happening in the Grove, everything, up to the tiniest of ants' steps, they say it's the most overwhelming feeling you get, but once you get used to it it gets better.
Having one grove is a proof of a druid's power, giving them the title of archdruid, but the more the number and size of your groves increases the more revered and respected an archdruid becomes.
And having two groves is no small feat, the current strongest druid has only 3 groves.
"This is a private island owned by only me, not even your father can come here without my permission"
Sensing thalien stare at her seraphyne said
"Is there something wrong"
"nothing, I was just…"
Thalien chuckled a little
"Admiring how cool my mother is"
Smiling seraphyne said
"Well, thank you, but i'm a little insulted you just realised that"
"I've always thought you were cool"
"Mhm" said seraphyne sarcastically
They laughed for a little until he said
"But who tends to this grove"
"Ah, that would be the fae"
At that moment five figures suddenly appeared infront of them, 4 pixies and one fairy–pixies are the tiny flying fae that always appear in fiction, while fairies are human sized pixies–they were all kneeling, and said in unison.
"Welcome back mistress seraphyne"
"how have you been"
Seraphyne gestured for them to stand up
"Everything's well thanks to mistress seraphyne, it's an honour that we got to meet you twice in such a short amount of time"
"Great, it's an honour to me too, I believe it's your first time meeting thalien"
She looked at him and bowed
"indeed it is, it's an honour to meet you young master, my name is Myrielle, I've heard alot about you"
The fairy looked beautiful yet intimidating, she was tall, muscular, and full of scars, she had short shoulder level green hair, beautiful and sharp Hazel eyes, and vibrant colorfull wings that was mostly green with a hint of blue, her voice was deep and intimidating.
With one look thalien knew she was a much stronger druid than him.
"It's nice to meet you too"
Thalien bowed slightly.
"Myrielle and her tribe are the ones tending to the grove"
"And it's an honour to us"
"We were going to gaven and setra's place, would you like to come along"
"Of course, let us lead the way"
They turned around and walked in silence until thalien asked
"How did you and your tribe come to meet mother"
"…Our tribe once resided in eatheria the land of the fae"
A frown suddenly appeared on her face.
"But a few decades ago the kingdom of eatheria had an internal struggle, and our tribe were on the losing side, we lost hundreds of thousands of combatants, and what's left of us were banished."
Anger and shame showing in her eyes she continued.
"We wandered around aimlessly for months, barely fending ourselves from the dangers of the wilderness, because no one would take us in"
"Until we stumbled upon mistress seraphyne's island, and she very kindheartedly took us in allowing us to live at the outskirts of the island benefeting from its treasures and in return we pledged our loyalty to her"
"More like they live here, and in return they tend to the grove, and defende it untill I come"
Myrielle chuckled and said
"Say what you want, but that doesn't change the fact that me and a thousand of my brothers and sisters are willing to fight for you, grove or not"
Sighing seraphyne said
"You are very stubborn you know that"
"I prefer the term strong willed"
Seraphyne slightly smiled
"Anyway, you're probably wondering why we're here"
Thalien nodded
"We're here for you to learn the first of your 9 spells"
"And I think it's a one you will be particularly fond of"
"We're learning beast summoning"
Thalien's eyes suddenly lit up
"Beast summoning, finally"
A known fact about thalien is that he's a very enthusiastic animal fan, ever since he was a child he fell in love with all and every animal he saw, kittens, puppies, bunnies, etc, but whenever he asked for one his mother always said he can have as many as he wants when he learnes beast summoning.
And today was finally the day, he made a mental note to make a contract with every animal he lays eyes on in the next month if he could, powerful or not he's going to have a cuddling session with all of them.
Smiling a little, seraphyne started explaining the details and theory of the spell as they walked, unlike Verdant heart this one was very easy to understand, at least for thalien, and it took him only five minutes to fully understand it.
"Good, now how about you try it on that bunny over there"
Thalien's eyes followed her hand, and found a bunny, a cute little white fluffy bunny nibbling on some grass.
'My first little friend'
He thought as he straightened his back.
'First impressions are important, don't be too pushy, and be respectful and calm'
He headed towards the bunny, with slow and calm steps as to not scare it away, once he reached it, he then calmly offered his hand infront of the bunny, to which the bunny started to rub its fluffy head on his hand.
'IT'S SO FLUFFY'
Thalien tried to keep calm and simply pet it on the head, with slow, calm motion, slow and calm….
'Ah fuck that'
Thalien suddenly pulled the bunny closer and hugged it, but surprisingly the bunny didn't run or get angry, it seemed to love, it kept hopping around playing with thalien until seraphyne interrupted
"AHEM… The contract"
"Y–yes"
Thalien sat the bunny down and looked it in the eyes.
To summon a beast you first need to make a contract with it, a contract is made by binding both the caster's and animal's souls with each other, the contract can differ, but it's normaly the beast pledging loyalty to the caster promising to come to there aid whenever needed, in return the caster and the beast get a boost in power.
Binding the souls doesn't only force you to obey the contract it also forms a connection to the beast, and mixing your and the beast's potential, for example if you make a contract with a beast that has natural talent with aura suddenly using aura becomes easier and the same goes for the beast, which is why contracted beasts are normally stronger than their non contracted counterparts, that's also why stronger beasts tend to have higher standards when making contracts, and that it's better to make a contract with it when it's still a baby.
Keeping that connection though is hard which is why you can't have an infinite number of contracted beasts, and the stronger the beast the harder it is to keep connection, creating a contract with 100 F and E rank beasts is easier than with 5 B rank beasts.
A beast can also have a contract with more than one master, but when it's summoned by two or more masters at the same time they cancel each other and the beast remain where they are.
Thalien took a deep breath and moved natural energy to perform the binding, thankfully the bunny didn't resist, as beasts can resist the binding making much harder, it's not impossible to force contract on a beast, but it's much harder, and the beast would never truly be loyal to you.
With the bunny's complacency and Thalien's talent it didn't take long for the contract to form.
Thalien looked at the bunny and smiled
'My first contract'
"I look forward to working with you from now on Mr bunny"
Thalien extended his hand, to which the bunny put his paws above it, as if shaking it.
'How are you so cute'
"That's amazing young master, I never met anyone that could make a contract with a beast in their first try"
Said Myrielle, clearly surprised.
"It is commendable, Now for the summoning part"
Said seraphyne
Thalien stood up and raised his hand forming a green magic circle on his palms, and suddenly the bunny teleported from the ground to Thalien's hand.
[CONGRATULATIONS]
[YOU MASTERED THE SPELL (SUMMONING BEASTS)]
[SUMMONING BEASTS (ADVANCED SPELL): MASTERY: (BEGINNER)]
[(MORE INFO:)]
"Good job, but that's not enough"
"Let's keep going"
With that they moved on, the bunny still held tightly between Thalien's arms, until they reached their destination.
It was a huge cave, radiating with mana, that just by standing infront of it thalien felt suffocated, he knew something dangerous lived in there, but the rest didn't stop, they entered the cave like it was nothing, and thalien followed, the further in the cave they got the more suffocating and dense the mana in the air was.
Until they stopped, and seraphyne shouted.
"GAVEN, SETRA, WE ARE HERE."
At first nothing happened, but then the cave started to shake, And suddenly two huge white eyes appeared from the darkness, looking at it thalien felt like it was looking into his soul, like he was in the presence of the most dangerous being in the world, that he should run away immediately.
Seraphyne simply extended her hands, and the thing started moving again, shaking the cave with every step, it kept moving until it's entire body became visible, and it stood infront of seraphyne, then it lowered it's head rubbing it against seraphyne's extended hand.
It looked familiar, the same blue lion with white limbs, and two white tailes, he always saw on his family's crest.
"I–is that a primordial lion"
Seraphyne looked at him and answered like it was the most natural thing in existence.
"Yes, yes he is"
A primordial lion is an ss rank beast, one of the strongest in fact, it is said that the first ever viscount of virelion, grandmaster gaven, had a primordial lion friend, they didn't exactly have a contract, but they had a strong friendship, and they would regularly spare ever since they first met, when they were both barely adolescent until their deaths, and with time grandmaster gaven adjusted his fighting style to match the primordial lion's, making for the virelion arts.
"Why is their a primordial lion here"
"What, he's in contract with me"
"You have a contract with a primordial lion"
"Yes, it first started as a bet with your father that I started looking for a primordial lion to make a contract with, then I found gaven he was feisty at first, but as we spent more time together he got calmer"
"Caelan would have so many spars with him that I named him gaven, after your ancestor, since I didn't no the primordial lion's name"
"Your father never won a spar with him, which was expected since gaven is the level of a high tier grandmaster, but he became something like a goal to your father"
"And one day, gaven came back with setra"
Suddenly a female primordial lioness appeared.
"I made a contract with her too, and they settled here on the island"
Thalien looked at his mother with a surprised look, he always knew his mother was stronger than his father, after all archdruids are revered at the same level of martial arts grandmasters, and his father was still a sword master, but he didn't know the gap was that big, making contracts with two SS rank beasts is something he never thought possible.
"Mother just keeps surprising me today, it's like I knew nothing about you"
"You still know nothing, I'm much cooler than you could ever imagine"
Said seraphyne with a wide smile on her face, Whispering that last part.
"Yes, you're very cool… But you're not expecting me to actually make contracts with them right"
"hahaha, of course not, not right now at least, no you're going to make a contract with at least one of the cubs"
Just then setra moved revealing 6 cubs hiding behind her.
Thalien let an audible gasp
"KITTENS"
He opened his arms wide, and the cubs ran towards him.
"Either the young is just that popular with animals, or those cubs really don't have any survival instincts"
Said Myrielle.
"Probably both"
Added seraphyne.
"They are just two weeks old after all"
"Anyway, from now on we will start training here, you will be training in Verdant heart, or one of the 9 spells, while simultaneously training in beast summoning by making contracts with beasts around the island, until you're ready to make a contract with one of the cubs"
"Even if they're cubs, they're an SS rank beast's cubs, it will take at least advanced mastery, to make a contract, and even then it's not certain, as the cubs would need to see potential in you to accept you as their master"
"Having cuddling session with animals while training sounds awesome"
"Hmm… Thalien, you need to understand that the next month will not be fun, today was just an expirement, to give you a vague idea of how the next month is going to be."
"Tomorrow the real training starts, tomorrow the real hell starts"
"…"
"…"
"Would you like to visit the village, we would be honoured if you had dinner with us"
Myrielle smiled widely