Fortunately for them, the class was being taught by Tank, who was overjoyed to have new students to teach in his class, even if it was a Lightning Cerro.
“Come on over and join the Earthquake group. I know the skill as well, so if Thor encounters any issues, just ask me. But the ones here are all getting pretty good at it, even though it’s a very advanced skill, so it shouldn’t be difficult to learn from them.
Just remember that they are berserkers, so try not to get in the way of their training.” The massive professor instructed.
“Got it. I’m sure that Thor will be fine, he’s always been well-behaved.” Karl agreed.
The berserkers gave the newcomers curious looks, as it was uncommon for anyone to visit their classes, and certainly not the juniors from other specialties, but when Thor was called out, they all changed from curious to bemused.
The Cerro wanted to learn Earthquake? Alright then, let him try.
They began their practice, with Tank guiding them to correct what they were doing wrong. The strikes sent up constant puffs of sand from the practice area, and Karl activated [Skill Master] while Thor watched intently.
For a moment, he wasn’t quite sure how to adapt that to himself, but when one of the Berserkers used a spinning strike with a two-handed maul, Thor began to understand.
He turned on the spot and whipped his tail ball around, pounding it into the dirt and sending up a plume of sand, but there was no earthquake effect, just the brute strength of an Awakened Rank beast.
But everyone had to start somewhere, and after a few more strikes, Thor started to channel his lightning to his tail as he attacked, using up some of his limited mana to enhance the attack.
The first few times he tried that, it just made an armoured tail, but near the end of the class, he struck the ground, and it trembled, while Lightning spread through the sand.
“Now that’s more like it. The strength wasn’t quite there, but he’s got the idea now.” Tank congratulated them from his spot across the training grounds.
“He’s a natural.” One of the seniors agreed, as Thor focused and pounded the ground again, creating a bit more of an actual Earthquake effect.
“I wish I were as natural as that. I swear he’s cheating.” One of the students who was training Whirlwind laughed.
Karl smiled at the older boy. “I am using a skill to help him comprehend new abilities, but most of that is all him. From the look of it, he didn’t just learn Earthquake, this is a lightning variant. With a bit more practice, I think he will be able to use it to both stun and destabilize his opponents.”
“Well, if your skill can let him learn new abilities in a single day, I will call it a resounding success. But not only that, it’s an advanced skill. Most of the class will work on that for an entire semester before they have it mastered. Now, I won’t say Thor is a master of the Earthquake skill, but I will say that he did manage to activate it the first day.
I trust that I will be seeing him again in the near future?” Tank asked.
“Of course. He needs to finish mastering the skill, or at least getting it to a proficient level, with the help of your experts here. I think today proved a hypothesis for us as well. The more skilled the instructor, the faster they will be able to learn a skill. Learning from the first years was a huge flop for Rae.” Karl explained.
The Berserkers all seemed to understand the concept.
“Quality in, quality out.” One of them recited, as if it were part of their core curriculum.
“It’s a logic we use for developing our bodies, but I suppose that it works well enough for learning skills as well. You can only get results from a good regimen.” One of the other students explained.
“Then we will have to look for the very best to teach the new skills. With Thor already learning the essentials of Earthquake, I think that we might really be on to something.” Rita agreed with a smile.
She ran a hand through her short black hair, a sure sign that she was thinking deeply about something, then she nodded to herself and smiled at Karl.
“How about we take you through the advanced classes tomorrow morning to see what will work best for Rae and Hawk? If they find a skill that they like, they can learn it that way.” She suggested.
“That’s a brilliant idea. When they see the skills in action, it should give them a much better idea of what would suit them than having us pick for them. Thor had so much fun with Earthquake that I’m certain they’ll be enthusiastic about it tomorrow.” Karl agreed.
[Maybe.] Rae agreed, hoping it would be better than today.
[Can’t I just mess with the mages again? I haven’t gotten to intercept water spells in days.] Hawk asked.
[I will see if we can get you back to your accuracy training. They’re just very excited to see how well my new power works to teach you all new skills.] Karl replied.
Hawk huffed in annoyance and settled into his nest for the afternoon, while Rae laughed at his boredom, and Thor settled into the pond in his space for a little nap.
Surprisingly, Dana was not at dinner, nor did she show up at his room that night, despite the fact that the rooms on either side of her were going as crazy as usual with the training. Whatever training they had her doing must have been intense if it was still ongoing when he fell asleep, or perhaps they had just left the campus for the day to train in secret somewhere.
There were always training spots away from the eyes of the other students when you had a dedicated tutor, but they had just gotten back from an outing, and he hadn’t expected the tutors to be so eager.
So, when he saw her at breakfast the next morning, looking exhausted and half asleep, Karl was both relieved and amused to see her.
“Long night?” He asked as he sat down with his breakfast.
“You have no idea. I was training until after midnight, and then I was chased out of bed bright and early this morning to go for early morning mental focus training. It’s supposed to help my mana development, but after breakfast seems like a much more reasonable hour for it.” She sighed.
Jill and Rita walked in together and spotted Dana and Karl finishing their meals. The two students had wary looks on their faces, but Jill was smiling.
“Relax, today won’t be so bad. I’m taking Dana to meditate, and Karl gets to take the pets to choose skills they want to learn. That shouldn’t be bad at all.” Jill tried to assure them.
Dana gave a rueful laugh. “That’s what you said yesterday, but that focus training was torture. Watching Hawk and the others pick out new skills doesn’t sound bad, though. All the berserkers are talking about how much fun Thor had yesterday.” Dana agreed.
“See, a nice easy training day for everyone.” The little blonde mage laughed, then motioned for them to follow as she ushered Rita out of the room.