The other four Acolytes came in, then stopped when they saw that Rae was soaked in blood, which was rapidly being absorbed into her skin.
“Did we come at a bad time? The lady at the door said that the doctors were on their way down.” Joan, the dark-haired Red Dragon Cleric in the making, asked.
“No, you have impeccable timing. They were just on their way out when Lady Rae decided to show off her advancement to Monarch Rank and startled them.” Karl explained.
Skittles was laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes, but no noise was escaping from him, and his posture was both unnaturally straight and formal until he could get his amusement under control.
“Congratulations, Queen Rae. I am certain that we will see each other again soon.” The hippie doctor announced, doing his best to avoid giving the new arrivals a poor impression of his professionalism. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
The doctors left, and Karl’s group split up to talk to their charges, while Karl sat down at the table with his writing implements. Most of them would need a skill book, and he hadn’t even started on the ones he already knew he could make.
[Chain Lightning] for Owen the mage wouldn’t be too hard. It was usable by most types of elemental magic users. Not Dana, at least not anymore, but it should be good for Owen.
[Circle of Protection] was more questionable. It was theoretically usable, but the description said [Suitably Blessed Clerics]. What exactly that entailed was anyone’s guess. Compared to that, the warriors would be easier. They had wanted [Slash], which they should already have. But Karl had [Rend] and [Shred] which were both better sword attacks.
A couple of books of [Shred] didn’t take him long while the others got acquainted with the students.
Sybil already had a head start, and she had Rae guiding her, while Cara gave helpful hints from the pile of blankets she had amassed in her space.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have some books ready for you. For our warriors, I have copies of [Shred] to increase your damage output. For Owen, I have [Chain Lightning]. Then, for Miss Joan, I have a copy of [Circle of Protection]. I have a spare one as well, if Lotus or Tessa needs it.”
The two older clerics both shook their heads. “We can already use it, but it doesn’t stack, so we just let Thor, as his is stronger.”
Karl nodded. That made sense. Karl could extend [Eternal Lightning] or [Refreshing Lightning] over the whole group, but he rarely did it, as Thor had it handled.
“It seems that we’re all relying on you.” Karl informed the transformed Cerro, who now had a shield hung from the back of his armour.
That was odd. Karl didn’t recall getting a shield as an item drop anywhere.
Then he realized that Remi had a whole new stack of books and a fancy wooden shelf on the altar in her swamp.
[Someone ordered delivery while I was asleep, didn’t you?]
[We put it on your account, no problem.] Remi agreed easily.
[It’s a good thing we’re not short on money. Was there anything else that we needed?] Karl asked.
[No, I think we got everything. I also gave them different ingredients to make snacks for the kids during training. The soup was a bit too strong for the Rogue, but we have lower grade stuff leftover in here.] Remi informed him.
At least the beasts were taking good care of the new trainees. Their initiative was admirable, and this was the most excited that Karl had seen the team get about something in quite a while.
The Acolytes had hesitated at the table, and hadn’t opened the books yet. Everyone else was giving them expectant looks, even Sybil, who was still periodically trying to test Rae’s grip on her to see if she could escape.
Little did she know there was a single strand of Royal Rank silk attaching them, so the young Rogue wouldn’t be able to go far without learning to pull Rae along with her.
Owen, the mage, was the first to try, and the [Chain Lightning] book vanished in his hands as his eyes went wide in shock.
Rae clapped happily. “Alright, Lightning Mage obtained. Who is next?”
Joan, the Cleric trainee, came forward and took her book. Opening it made her glow with bright golden light. Then her entire body glowed red and blood began to drip from the corners of her eyes, while [Eternal Lightning] healed her.
The girl was lost in a vision of something, staring off into nothingness, so Karl didn’t try to interrupt her experience. Whatever the Red Dragon wanted her to see was probably an important part of becoming recognized as a cleric of the God of War.
The two warriors looked concerned for their friend, but they did step up and collect their books.
Nobody had heard of Warriors getting more than a headache and sore muscles from attempting to learn things, so the book shouldn’t hurt them.
The skill books vanished, and the two young warriors shared a high five.
“Alright, now what path did the two of you pick? I believe the System should have given you options for your first few skills.” Karl asked the warriors before Ophelia and Thor could steal them away.
Aaron smiled. “I picked the defensive route, while Jaime picked offence. Then we can teach each other the opposite fighting style.”
Karl nodded. “They won’t be able to pick the skills from the tree, but there is a chance that they can still learn some of the skills through hard work, and knowing how to fight both offensively and defensively will make you more versatile.
Many times in the future, you may need to serve as attackers while your group has a Golem distract the target.
Oh, that is an idea, I should see if I can teach the Mage how to summon Golems. It’s a core skill that the Academy wants all mages to know if they can learn it. Some aren’t compatible with the skill book, though.”
The problem was that Rae’s Golem spell wasn’t a standard variation, and Karl couldn’t summon them themselves.
Dana shrugged. “I will contact the supply warehouse and let them know about the situation. If Owen can’t use it, then that’s that. But I have high hopes for him. He started with the same basic skill that I did, back when I was a Common Rank freshman.”