The next morning was the official start of their training, but there were no scheduled classes. Instead, everyone woke up to announcements that they should wait in their rooms for the teacher in charge of their group to come inform them of their new routine.
That sounded like a much more relaxed class atmosphere than any school he had heard of before, and Karl became a little more jealous of the elite lifestyle. Perhaps he would even get lucky and have a kind and gentle teacher who didn’t shout at students for wrong answers, or believe that laps around the school were the cure for inattention.
At breakfast, he gathered another roasted chicken for Hawk, along with a collection of raw meat, but the beast’s consumption had temporarily slowed as the bird had grown overnight.
They weren’t a large predator by the standards of monstrous beasts, just a deadly one due to their eyesight and attack power. As they grew to maturity, most of them would perfect the knowledge of the [Rend] skill, allowing them to take down much larger prey with a single strike.
That might not sound too impressive, given that the full-grown bird only weighed a few kilograms, but when the proficiency reached a high enough level, a monster could actually ambush and kill monsters a Rank above its own, using the power of the mastered skill.
It wasn’t a feat that many beasts could accomplish, and it was entirely a result of the Windspeed Hawk’s incredible rate of skill growth.
It was well after noon before the teacher showed up to talk to him, and Karl was getting bored with just standing around in the garden and waiting. He had practised his [Rend] skill until he wore himself out, trying to improve his accuracy and activation speed, and then had a short nap, but he wasn’t really sure where to go from here, and none of the information in the bag of textbooks he had received told him anything on that topic.
The sharp knock at the door woke him up, and Karl rushed over to open the door for the sharp – featured female soldier that was waiting outside.
“Good afternoon, Karl. I am your combat skills Professor, you may call me Sergeant Rita. In addition to teaching you martial arts and essential skills for the elites, I will be your personal guidance professor. The Academy has determined that your class is too different from other warriors for the standard class schedule to be useful outside the daily battle training courses, so we will be working together for the time being.
Did you have the space here to take lessons, or would you like to move to a classroom?”
He had almost gotten his wish. Rita certainly wasn’t ugly, but her nature was about as far from kind and gentle as was possible, and laps around the academy didn’t seem like they would be outside her list of preferred teaching methods.
“There is a spot on the patio that should be suitable. Please come in, Sergeant.”
The gazebo seemed like the best learning space, and with the weirdness of magical training golems, staircases that only went to your floor and everything else in this dormitory, Karl couldn’t see how the plants left to him by the senior would be an issue.
Sergeant Rita followed him into the unit, then onto the balcony with an intrigued look. But it was not the number of plants that shocked her.
“Are these all freshly watered?” She asked.
“There was a watering guide included with the room. Most only need it once a week, and I didn’t know when they were watered last, so I did it the day that I moved in. They seemed fairly dry, but everything is still in good condition.” Karl replied with a shrug as he walked to the Gazebo.
“This is a nice unit, very outdoorsy. I’m not sure if it will rain on the patio, with the magic that’s in effect, but other than that, you lucked out.
Now, I need to know everything that you know about your powers so that we can start a proper training plan. How are the physical improvements, how has the power of your skill adjusted with a single day’s practice, and are there any other hints as to what you can do with it?
I won’t lie to you, the classes that can send a golem or magical construct into battle for them are in much higher demand than any of the others except the mages who can use unique spells. But with a ranged attack from the start, you’re not in a terrible spot.” The Sergeant informed him very sincerely.
Her honesty startled Karl, and it felt like she genuinely had his best interests in mind as a guidance counselor. Hiding too many things from her wouldn’t do him any good, so Karl decided that it would be best to just put everything out in the open for her to understand.
Maybe she would know how to help him and Hawk grow.
Karl focused and brought out Hawk from his Beast Taming space. “We should start from here. This is Hawk, and my skill awakened him from an egg in the kitchen. It allows him to live somewhat comfortably in a space inside my mind, and our thoughts are linked.
Once I contracted with him, I gained the ability to use [Rend], the same attack skill that all Windspeed Hawks have, and my senses gained an incredible improvement.”
Sergeant Rita stared at the tiny bird for a few seconds, trying to process the information that she had received.
“So, your ability lets you contract with monsters and what? Use their abilities? While that sounds pretty cool, it’s still a high-risk path to fight against other monsters.” She asked.
“Well, I guess that’s true, but we both know what the other is thinking, so with a bit of training I shouldn’t have to fight alone. I’ll have Hawk with me.” Karl offered.
Sergeant Rita smiled. “How about we see if we can’t find you another Beast Cub? If you can get something that’s a better fighter than the Windspeed Hawk, you might have a real chance to become one of the more powerful elites.”
Hawk squawked in indignation at the suggestion that he would be replaced right after being born.
[Does this woman have no shame? Looking down on the Windspeed Hawk. Fully grown, I am sure that I can make it to the Commander Rank, and she’s just an Ascendant warrior. Give it a month, and I’ll bet I could beat her up.]
Hawk’s mental communication was accompanied by audible screeching when he was outside like this, and the Sergeant smirked at the irate fledgling.
“What is he saying?” She asked.
“He says that when he grows up he will be a Commander, and you’ll still be Ascendant.” Karl gave her the abridged version.
The Sergeant glared at Karl, who raised his hands in defeat. “You asked, and he said it, I’m just the translator here.”
“So, it really is intelligent enough for coherent thought at that stage. Interesting. I know it’s the first day, but we should go to the training grounds to see what you two can do when working together.”