Rae and Jonah took turns working on their attacks, with Jonah stopping in between to give her pointers based on how she had activated it the last time. There was a lot involved in the advanced skill beyond just being able to make it work, and the actual bleeding effect could vary wildly based on how you did it.
It was the fine details that were the killer with advanced skills, but Rae was a natural at this, and by the end of the morning, she was nearly giving Jonah a run for top damage. Much of that was up to her Offensive Optimization combining with her new attack skill, but together, her damage was clearly into the Ascended Rank by the end of the class.
“Thank you, Jonah. I believe that she has the basics down now. I may come see you again if she wants more hints, but don’t worry, I’ve prepared plenty of little gifts.” Karl informed the older boy with a wink.
“If you gift like that all the time, there wouldn’t be a student here that wouldn’t gladly help you. Have a good afternoon, and I will check in with Rae the next time that I see her around.” Jonah agreed.
Rae gave him a rather catlike head bump, then vanished back into her space to rest and consider ways to make the bleed effect of the new skill more effective. The training target didn’t really bleed, but she could at least get an idea of how it worked based on the self-healing gel. When the skill worked better, the gel took longer to repair itself.
Karl was about to leave with the instructors when a boy’s voice stopped him.
“What sort of class did you get that has a massive spider as a partner? Is that like some arachnid specialty druid?” The boy asked.
“No, my class specializes in beasts directly. There are three of them in total, and they’re not summoned, like most of the Druid skills are. These are actual beasts I am raising.” Karl explained.
“Wait, so that is an actual Bloodbath Spider? Not just a skill replica, but a real one, and you just taught it [Lacerate]?” The boy stammered.
More students stopped to stare at the little show, while Karl laughed. “That’s exactly right. But she’s really a good girl, there’s no reason to worry about how skilled she is.”
The students looked a bit concerned about Karl’s mental health, but it was time for lunch, and that was much more important than an oddball class marking that turned vicious magical beasts into pets.
But the lunch break was not really a break for Karl and the trio. The Bureau of Elite Development had flexed their influence and gotten the drake scale potion prepared for the beasts to try, and Rita had scheduled that for their lunch break, so that Thor could still go to his afternoon Earthquake practice with the Berserkers.
“We can do this in one of the spare classrooms. The effects shouldn’t be massive changes, but more of a strengthening of Thor’s scales, and if the other two want to try, the effects will likely be even smaller.” Rita explained.
“Well, there is no good reason why we shouldn’t at least try. The potion was supposed to be safe, right? If there are no negative side effects, then there is no reason not to give it to everyone and see what sort of benefits they can glean out of it.” Karl replied with a shrug.
He had never heard of any bad results from a monster eating a beneficial resource, and they would instinctively know if it was something that wouldn’t agree with them. Karl fully expected that Hawk would likely turn it down, as he didn’t like the taste of Drake meat, though he liked the smell. But Rae and Thor would likely at least try it.
But when Rita placed out the vials on the table in the training room, Karl was startled to see that all three had come out to see what the big deal was with this potion.
“Alright, I think that Thor should go first, as this potion is most likely to enhance his scales.” Karl suggested.
Rita held up the vial, and Thor opened his mouth with his head tilted back. He had no intentions of tasting a potion made of Drakes, but he was willing to trust that it would help him. It smelled like magic, so it should be a good thing, even if it was an unfamiliar good thing.
As soon as he swallowed the potion, Thor’s scaled began to glow a little more brightly under the fluorescent lights, and a sense of intimidation filled the room, as though there was a large predator present.
Now, obviously Thor wasn’t much of a predator, but the Drakes were, and their magic was infusing his scales, which were now slightly metallic in their glossy shine.
The power faded, and Thor rubbed up against Sergeant Rita, begging for her to touch his scales.
“Well, they look shiny and smooth, but they’re slightly rough to the touch, like a dragon’s scales. They’re also less flexible than they were, more like metal than hardened leather. We should have taken a sample before and after so we could compare them, but I would say that the process was an outstanding success.” Sergeant Rita declared as she petted the happy Cerro.
Alice smiled and joined the short-haired Sergeant in petting Thor. “Well, now we should choose who goes next. Hawk or Rae?”
Hawk stepped out of his space, eager to get this over with so that he could go back to mentally preparing for his afternoon of harassing the mages. He hadn’t done it in days, and Karl had promised him that he would get to.
“Hawk it is. Alright, here you go, buddy.” Alice laughed, as Hawk took the vial in his beak and tipped it back down his throat.
The effect was as rapid as it was dramatic. The feathers on Hawk’s neck began to change to flaming red as the potion poured down his throat, and then the rest of his feathers changed from mottled brown and cream to a brilliant crimson and gold.
For a moment, Karl was certain that he could see flames dancing around the Windspeed Hawk, and then the effect began to fade, and his appearance changed back to what it had been before drinking the potion.
However, the attempt was not a failure.
With a triumphant shriek, Hawk tilted his head back, and fired a ball of flame up at the ceiling.
That naturally set off the fire sprinklers, and they were doused in water, drenching the teachers while Karl activated the lightning barrier and Thor rumbled in joy about getting rain on his scales again.
Daniel rushed to the door and pulled the emergency stop lever to cut the spray of water, while Alice and Rita cursed and wiped the water from their faces.
“It’s a good thing that none of us were wearing makeup today, or I would be really upset at the impromptu shower. But congratulations Hawk on gaining a new ability.
I am not convinced that the process is complete, though. For a moment, it looked like he was going to fully change appearance and become something completely new, and not just gain a new skill.
Fire breath is impressive, but I think that we can do better.” Rita noted as she struggled to say professional while resisting the urge to strangle the bird for using fire skills indoors.