Once the training was done, the eleven new Acolytes were moved to the Elite dorms in the Cathedral. They were on the main floor with all of the other Common Rank Acolytes of the church, and they were all sharing one large dorm, but the atmosphere there was completely different from what they had experienced at the Orphanage, or in the common dorms of the cadets.
The other Cadets were all jealous of the ones who were chosen for Special Forces training, and the nomination had previously given the new Beast Rangers a level of arrogance, putting themselves above the others, though none of them were Elites.
Now, they were sharing a dorm with the Acolytes that had been chosen before them, and everyone in the room was on the same level. Over the course of the day, they had seen enough of the younger Acolytes training to know that while they were less trained, they were not weaker than the Beast Rangers.
It was a humbling experience.
But for four of the five chosen Orphans, it was a much more tense situation. They had finished dinner, and it was nearly to lights out. Lights out meant nearly complete darkness in the room. A room shared with Sybil, who could Shadow Step, and who they had bullied for being deaf all her life.
None of the ones here were lead participants in her bullying, as they simply didn’t see her as worth the effort. But that didn’t necessarily mean she didn’t hold a grudge, and she was known to stab others even before she had a class that specialized in it.
Countermeasures were needed.
Sybil was about to climb up onto a top bunk in the corner of the room when Joan whistled softly, catching her attention through [Echolocation]. The Rogue turned to see what the fuss was, as the whistle was usually for the clerics to get the children to do something, but the girl was just smiling at her before she began to sign.
[Excellent work today, Sybil. You really were born to be an Elite.] Sybil smiled. That was the first nice thing that anyone had said to her in years.
“What is she saying?” Nikki asked from the next bunk over.
“Oh, right. I forgot that you all couldn’t sign. I was congratulating her on her good work the first day. We were all chosen as test subjects for Monarch Karl’s group to train, and they helped us all awaken our classes with an item and a skill book.” Joan explained, signing as she went, then translating the responses for Sybil.
“Oh, Monarch Karl used tokens to help us bond with our beasts. From what I learned, you have to have the potential, and convince the beast to bond with you. It’s not easy without guidance, and we had been trying for almost a year before today when he showed up to help.” Nikki offered.
[You got an adorable kitten. I’m jealous.] Sybil signed while Joan translated.
The others laughed. Adorable and Moor Cat didn’t often go together in one sentence, even when they were little. But for some reason, the cats liked Sybil, and didn’t ignore her or shy away from her during the walk to the Cathedral after training.
“Just wait until she’s big. Moor Cats are enormous when they’re fully grown, as big as Princess Ophelia in her Dire Bear form. Well, the one before she uses her skills to become massive.
What sort of skill is that, anyhow? How is anyone supposed to fight a bear the size of a house?” The Tiger Monk complained.
Ophelia had shown off for them a little towards the end of the day, and while she had kept her speed down, it was still nearly impossible for the warriors to deal with her size.
With the Giants attacking, Elites were expected to be trained to fight both large and small enemies, but Sybil was certain that small was the easier half.
[Then she can block for you while you go for the vital points. It will be a good pairing. I’ve been trying all day to find a way to get around the guards, maybe tomorrow I will try using Pat’s partner as a distraction.
But if I could find a weak spot on the bear, how would I even reach it? I’m stronger and faster than I was, but the bear is huge.] Sybil agreed.
Everyone was so excited about the next day that they forgot about their worries, even when the lights went out and the cathedral clerics began making their rounds to ensure everyone was in bed and not wandering in the dark.
Back at Karl’s apartment, a training summit was in progress, and it had attracted all the talents.
Overlord Niall had come to train with Rae for the evening, but had gotten sucked into the discussion when Overlords Joram and Tabitha had come knocking at Karl’s door.
They both had rooms on another floor, and had seen the training today from their windows.
Joram, the Ranger, was intrigued by the abundance of Ranger types with beast partners, and Tabitha, who was normally a strict and serious warrior, was intrigued by the idea of forming a tactical response squad out of these recruits.
They weren’t strong yet. But they would be soon enough, and Princess Remi had laid out quite the plan for them.
{You see, giving a human too many resources burns their potential. Their bodies can’t adapt that quickly. Like with the concoction that some use to bypass the Royal Rank bottleneck when they are stuck.
However, these six with the beasts have an advantage. They will grow with their linked partners. So, we can give the resources to the beasts. We know that they are going to grow rapidly, and all the human half will need to do is to work on their mental strength, so they don’t take damage from the imbalance as they’re pulled along.}
Remi didn’t bother to use a transformation skill, so she was speaking Serpent. But Niall had brought a magical tablet with him that displayed the words for everyone who didn’t speak the language.
“So, the goal is to try to bring up a group of regular human elites at the same speed as the beasts are growing, while keeping the Elites bonded to the beasts from taking mental damage?” Overlord Tabitha asked.
{Exactly. We can give them skill books, and use the Karl’s learning skills on them, and train them all day long. If we do it right, with the proper nutrition, I think that we can do it.
I had a whole bunch of books delivered to me today, and I read in the ones on nutrition that humans only eat basic magical foods. Your slow growth could be due to a lack of nutrition.}
A bunch was an understatement. There were entire shelves of them in her space now, a small library of technical tomes and magical reference books.
Tabitha chuckled. “Or it could be an aversion to using too many magical resources to grow and crippling or unbalancing their potential. Everyone treats higher ranked foods as more of a growth resource than just food, but look at your other humans. They don’t seem to be suffering in the potential department, and they’ve been eating highly potent magical plants and meats every day, on a level that is far beyond what would normally cripple an Elite.”
She made a good point. Normally, you would expect that sort of fast growth to lead to damage, but nobody in the group was showing signs of it yet.
{There has to be something about it. Maybe because it’s not refined, so it’s easier to digest? I will study it more as we feed our trainees. I have potions for them as well, but not too many.} “You have a very helpful Naga Queen on your side.” Overlord Joram congratulated Karl.
“She started life as a Spirit Snake Shaman, and she has always been obsessed with learning. I had totally forgotten that I should be careful while ingesting magical resources. If they taste good, they’re food, right? I just went for whatever tasted best.” Karl replied with a shrug.
“Making it through life on pure blind luck.” Niall chuckled, then turned to Rae.
“How about we head down to the training grounds? We’ve got eight hours before breakfast to train.”
And then they were gone, having escaped to the training ground with [Shadow Step].