Alexander Shard pov
"Hey, Art! Hurry up! We're going to be late!"
"AAAGGHHHH!! Tess! Stop! I give! I GIVE!"
It's been 3 years since we came here and they are still loud as hell in the morning.
I covered my room in a sound-dampening wind barrier and curled back up into bed.
"it's too early for this." I cursed aloud as fell asleep again.
"..."
"AAAGHHHH!!" I heard art howl in pain through the barrier, I shot up out of my bed, ran out of the room, and silently pried Arts door open.
There I saw Arthur laying down on his back trying to fend off Tess from slapping him, most likely over a comment about liking the maids, Tess on top of his waist hunched over him trying to slap him and pin his arms down.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Virion next to me as we watched them fight, he leaned down and whispered to me.
"Seems like Arts wife is an aggressive one doesn't it, hehe" Virion chuckled slightly.
" I wonder who she took after" I chuckled out under my breath.
we both struggled to keep our laughs in until.
"HAHAHAHAH!!!" We laughed wildly and I Wheezed collapsing to my knees and crying because my lungs were in pain.
They snapped their heads to look at us, Art had a look on his face that said "CHRIS HANSEN it's NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE I SWEAR!!", Tess's face went from confusion on why were laughing to blush so red that it would make her blood look black.
She then ran at us most likely to use the good old physical method of making sure we don't remember what just happened.
I slammed the door shut before she got close and used ice magic to freeze the door shut, Virion and me both used wind magic and bolted down the hallway laughing our asses off at the fact I locked them in there together.
BOOM!!
Me and Virion turned our heads to see that Tessia had kicked the door and the FRAME ITSELF OUT OF THE WALL AND WAS CHASING US WITH WHAT SEEMED TO BE A DEMON BEHIND HER.
"Brat, You're on your own" I turned to see Virion activate his beast will and disappeared from sight.
"GODDAMMIT, GRAMPS!" I shouted and RAN using wind magic to eliminate the drag behind me and increase it to make a gust of wind behind me as I ran for my LIFE.
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Later at a training ground With Tess, Art, and virion
Tess had awakened fast, even for an elf. It happened last year and she awaken with a bang. It wasn't as big as me and Art, when she had first awakened but she had managed to destroy her room upstairs, fall down, and create a small crater from the implosion in the kitchen right below. Since then, she's been joining us in training with Gramps. All I can say is, since awakening, she's become a lot more confident and bold, in more bad ways than good. She knows how strong Art's body was so she had no hesitation in using him as her sandbag as she tried new spells that she learned from Gramps and other conjurer teachers. Which I laughed at.
As for me, today was a very special day because, after three years, Virion was finally going to allow me to use my beast willfully for the first time, he kept going on and on about how I should wait till Arthur was done as well because judging by the fact of my awakening being more damaging than Arthur and our beast wills being roughly the same strength judging by what the aura they gave off when we didn't hide them. that and that my body was already strained from using that partial transformation for more than a minute.
It was almost my birthday so while Tess and I were 9 Arthur will be finally turning eight. During this time, I wasn't allowed to absorb any mana from my surroundings and only allowed to use my innate mana formed from my mana core to spread it into my body, I had tried to do this with stasis but the second it left the blue shell the pain and backlash had drained my core leaving about 5% remaining and knocked me out with the sheer strain on my body. that was 3 years ago so now after I raise my core level I should be able to withstand it enough to use a bit of it, and by a bit I mean like 1/20th of my capacity without passing out.
Today was the final step that took place once a beast tamer finished his assimilation for me and Arthur.
I skipped showering and just changed into a more black robe, and headed out into the courtyard with Art, and Tess.
"Finally awake now, eh Art? How did your wife wake you up today? Haha!" Grandpa Virion mused as he sipped his tea on the small table outside.
"Ugh, wife? Where? I didn't know you could marry demons. You're turning her into a monster, Gramps," I groaned.
Luckily Tess wasn't able to overhear as she came outside just moments after.
"She's going to grow up into a fine woman, Art. Better sweep her off her feet before it's too late," He chuckled, lifting his teacup in a toast.
Tess just blushed at that and elbowed his side.
"AGGH! Why? What did I do?"
"Hahaha! Brats! Are you ready? Today is finally the day. After this, you'll be a true beast tamer, not like those lucky adventurers that just have a beast will," He emphasized, arms crossed.
We gave him a firm nod while Tess headed to the table Gramps was sitting on to watch.
It wasn't much of a ceremony. All it consisted of was Gramps exerting a large amount of mana into our cores. This would trigger a large surge of mana that I would have to direct and spread into my body.
"Do you remember the basic phases of beast tamers, Art, Al?" he quizzed.
We recited the basics that Grandpa Virion pounded into me these past years. "All beast tamers have a different number of forms that they can will their bodies into. The number of forms depends on the strength of the Beast's will that is left in the mana core. The first phase, that all beast tamers have, is Acquire. In this phase, the Tamer can utilize a small portion of the inherent ability that their beast has. The second stage is Integrate, where the Tamer's body wholly infuses with the Beast's will, allowing much better control over their beast's inherent abilities."
"Correct! The phases that the beast tamers are able to unlock simply show how much they can utilize their beasts' will. The stronger the beast, the harder it is, but at the same time, if the tamer can't get insight, then it is also impossible to get past the first phase. One thing to note, however, is that, not always is the Integrate stage more powerful than the Acquire. The Acquire phase is tapping into a specific inherent ability of your beast's while Integrate is a much more all-encompassing power up using your beast's will," he reminded, his face deathly serious.
"While I didn't tell you earlier, now that you are about to become a true beast tamer, you should know is the differences in how a beast tamer's will is acquired. If the beast is killed and his mana core is extracted with its will still intact, a mage can absorb the will and try to gain insights. That mage would be considered a forged tamer. While it is a lot easier and straightforward to be a forged tamer, the probability of gaining insight is very rare and limited. One of the reasons it took me so long for me to be able to break into the second phase was because I am a forged tamer. I consider myself lucky to even be able to break into the second stage though. you two are one of the extremely rare legacy tamers; where the beast willingly imparted its will onto you."
Continuing on, he explained, "Art, my first phase doesn't really make me that much faster, but I'm able to erase a bit of my presence and blend myself into the shadows. You haven't seen my second phase, right? Watch carefully. It took me over ten years for me to make a breakthrough into this phase."
A powerful surge of mana surrounded his body, I couldn't help but involuntarily augment myself. All of a sudden, the mana around his body seeped back into him.
gramps's skin turns pitch black. the whites of his eyes became black his irises turned sharp and glow yellow. His tied white hair became unbound and was also a shiny black color. The aura that surrounded him made me shudder and take a step back.
"This is the Integrate phase. I'm going to sneak up behind you. Pay attention," He growled, his voice much raspier than before.
I just watched Art because I already knew how fast he was because I read the novel and I did fight him, But Arthur didn't
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Arthur Leywin pov
Was it really sneaking up if he tells me... was what I was thinking when he disappeared from my vision. I couldn't feel his presence at all but I when looked behind me as I had been told to do, his finger was already pressed against my jugular as he looked down at me with his glowing yellow eyes.
Fast. It seemed like instant teleportation but I knew it wasn't by the skid mark from his initial position. It was the speed that even I couldn't keep up with. Not even close. No. The scary part wasn't even his insane speed. It was his lack of presence. Even directly behind me, I couldn't sense where he was.
He turned back to normal, his face slightly flushed as Tessia began clapping as if this was a show.
How the hell Did Al manage to even hit him with a spell?!
"Whew! Using that form always takes a toll on me. After training with it for a couple of decades, I'm able to keep the form on for a bit less than an hour. During my Acquire phase, I am simply channeling a small portion of my beast will and I'm able to borrow the speed and stealth of the shadow panther. However, with my Integrate phase, not only did my speed and stealth rise, so did my senses to keep up."
I nodded in agreement.
"Good! Let's begin the ceremony," he replied, clasping his hands together.
We stood face to face, only an arm's length apart. Tess was now leaning forward in excitement, as we were about to start.
"Just let your mana come out freely. Don't try to control anything. I'll restrain you if necessary so it's crucial that you keep a relaxed state of mind and rouse the particles of mana you assimilated all these years," he instructed.
After a nod in response, he then began exerting mana into my core, flooding my core with his mana along with mine.
Instantly, I began feeling a warm sensation, like a hot gust of air was flowing in and out of my pores.
As I felt my body reaching its limit, a loud explosion startles me out of my concentration, only for me to see Gramps getting thrown back and Tess falling back on her chair and rolling back as well, Al was Hiding behind an Ice dome as if he knew this was going to happen, He also had a shit-eating grin after seeing virion hit a tree when he got sent flying.
An unbearable pain immediately surges from my body, as if my very skeleton was trying to crawl out of my skin. Without even the strength to scream my vision darkens. I welcomed the darkness because I knew it would relieve me of my pain.
Waking up on the field 2-3 minutes later I sat up feeling surprisingly refreshed. Sitting to my side, was Tess.
Grandpa walked up soon after and he sat down on the other side of me.
"How do you feel brat?" His lips curl up into a half-grin.
"I should be asking you that, Gramps. I saw you getting sent flying into a tree; even Tess was knocked back."
He just let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I have to admit I wasn't expecting that great of a force. I know you probably have a good reason for not even telling me what kind of beast gave you its will but is I'll ask just one more time. What sort of beast gave you its will?"
Scenes of my time with Sylvia ran through my mind, one of them being her telling me never to tell anyone I had met her. However, Virion was probably only a few people I could actually trust, and he had the right to know. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be alive.
"...Well, using her own wolds, she was what we called a dragon that had passed her will to me."
A thick silence had filled the room as Virion's face was frozen in the same stricken expression he had when I told him. He began mumbling to himself, the only words I could make out being 'possible' and 'never happened'.
"D-dragon..." he managed to wheeze out, his eyes staring blankly at me.
"Dear lord... a D-dragon Tamer. In my life, I've never thought I'd be able to see the birth of a Dragon Tamer...I-I'm even the one that trained him! HAHAHA! A Dragon Tamer!"
"Wait till you find out what Al's is"
"Don't tell me!" He said in disbelief looking at Al.
"Yep, he was the last of his kind, A storm dragon."
"Dear lord... two dragon Tamers. In my life, I've never thought I'd be able to see the birth of one of you...I-I'm even the one that trained both of you! HAHAHA! A Storm dragon as well!"
Tess woke up from the now senile Virion and looked at him, confused.
He suddenly grabbed both my shoulders and looked at me intently. "You did right in keeping this a secret. Do not tell anyone else. This power of yours has to be kept a secret until you have the strength to protect yourself and those around you."
"I'm beginning to believe that more and more, Gramps," I responded seriously.
"Now Alex, It's your turn!!" he said turning to him.
"ok gramps, I can do it myself but to be safe all of you augment yourself's and stay back, also a barrier of some kind would help."
we stood back about 20 meters away and did as he asked, Gramps, put up a wind barrier as well
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Alexander shard pov
Art's beast will made that explosion now I'm kind of scared for them but Virion is there so they should be fine.
I sat down in the lotus position I focused on my own core seeing the symbol of Bahamut's will, A dragon scales surrounded with snowflakes and lightning swirling around it, I focused my mana on it and it glowed blue.
A surge of mana rushed through me rousing the mana I assimilated through the years, Then the mana rushed out in a tidal wave freezing the ground as it flew out in all directions.
I opened my eyes to see the patterns of frost and lightning spread over my body, I tried to absorb the mana heading towards them, and half of what was heading for them just stopped and shot back into me.
The wind barrier that was protecting them was blown away and they were nocked down with a bit of frost on their shoes, other than that they were alight.
Tess and Virion looked at me with a Shocked and scared look on their face.
'Why the hell are they scared??'
I focused back onto me, that when a gust of wind blew off my body slicing my shirt and robes to dust and scattering it to the wind.
as the patterns of frost neared my hands they faded from blue to gold, my vision tuned greyscale except for myself, I saw particles of green and blue appear in my sight.
I can now see wind and water mana! I shouted internally.
I conjured a smoothed pillar of ice to use as a mirror which I could somehow do without precasting it or chanting at all, although I could feel the drain on my core it was roughly 1% every second, and that small ice pillar used 10 percent.
I looked at myself in the ice mirror, My skin resembled Bahamut's scales on my chest, arms, and under my eyes, My hair had from its normal black to white with blue ends, my eyes were blue and had a tinge of red from their normal color around my now slit-shaped pupils.
"I LOOK LIKE BAHAMUT!!" I shouted when I saw them.
I had two ice spikes coming out of my elbows like the spines on Bahamut's wings, and I had horns made of ice coming out from my forehead where my hairline started wrapping around my head and jetting out at the back.
"BRAT! STOP YOUR BEAST WILL NOW!!" Virion shouted.
I Immediately dropped its activation, but I noticed that I wasn't in the acquire phase no I was in the Integrate phase, I deactivated my will entirely. the ice horns and spines shattered and the rest of my features returned to normal.
that's when I noticed the damage I did, the entire training ground within 10 meters of me was frozen. the mana that leaked off the ice pillar had frozen it.
before I could say anything the toll kicked in and I passed out.
Waking up back in my bed, I sat up feeling surprisingly refreshed. Gramps walked in soon after and he sat down on the other side of the bed.
"How do you feel brat?" His lips curl up into a half-grin.
"Surprisingly better than expected."
He just let out a chuckle. "I have to admit I wasn't expecting that great of a force. I know you told me to put up the wind barrier but I didn't expect you to break it."
"well that Dragon that gave you its will, Bahamut was it? is guaranteed dead, your body morphed to that extent as well as that terrifying amount of ice mana that tiny pillar gave off."
"And well its backlash makes sense, you have been asleep for a week"
"It's Been A week?!" I said in disbelief.
"yes, it has indeed."
"but no using of integrating phase of your beast will unless your life is in danger. you hear me?"
"yes, gramps I get it."
"Good! Although I would like to know the whole story, I am more than satisfied with what you've told me for now." He smiled back.
Alex! I have good news. The teleportation gate that is supposed to open in two years will be opening early. There is a tournament that will be held in the city of Xyrus in four months. This tournament will be a very important event for the future because both the dwarves and elves are sending youths as representatives for both the tournament and as preliminary students to your xyrus academy. During the tournament, we can sneak you back into Sapin without the humans knowing at that time," Gramps exclaimed with a smile on his sharp face.
"Really Gramps? I can go home soon?" I shot out of bed.
I would finally be able to see my the twin horns again! I had been sending messages to them every once in a while through Elder Rinia but after seeing them through the water divination technique, I wasn't able to see them again.
"We still have four months, Alex! Until the day the teleportation gates open, I expect you to train harder than before, brat! Your mana core hasn't developed at all these past three years from the assimilation you had to do. Don't focus on only training your beast's will. That should only be used as a trump card. Understood?"
He was right. Although I have yet to stay conscious for more than 20 30 seconds with my storm dragon will, I knew that using it would only bring unwanted attention. I shouldn't use my beast's will if possible.
Continuing, Grandpa slapped my back and said, "Now! Take a bath and then rest. You reek of something rotten, brat."
I hopped back into bed, feeling too lazy to take a shower right now.
"I'll just lay down for a little and then take shower," I muttered aloud.
*Rustle* *Rustle*
I wonder if it's windy tonight. I usually didn't hear the rustling of leaves.
*Crack*
wait a fucking second.
I sat up to look around, trying to locate where the sound is coming from.
*Crack* *Crack*
I turned my gaze towards where I had left my robe on the chair.
"wra~" "wra~"
Wra?
*Crack! * "Kyu~!"
The Egg hatched!