Free Web NovelChapter 27: To prove my Worth.
"THE THIRD TEST WILL NOW BEGIN! THOSE WHO ARE CALLED WILL STEP FORWARD!"
The third test was commencing.
In Praxis, the synergy between the tamer and the beast is demonstrated.
’The more skilled you are, the better you can use your power.’
Without fundamental knowledge, a best skill cannot be put to good use. And without the understanding of the skill, you cannot use it efficiently.
Furthermore, without the knowledge and skills, demonstrating the impact of the skill becomes difficult.
’A bond between a beast and their master is measured on a scale of 1 to 100. The stronger the bond with your beasts, the better.’
Using the skills that the beasts have, using the branched effects of the skills, accessing the distinct [Bond factors] that emerge from the depth of the bond, and coming up with ways to put the skill to good use...
A beast with the [Fireball] skill does not only breath fire. They can conjure fire, make that fire take different shapes, use that fire to melt sand and create glass... they can create a wall of fire with it or become immune to that fire.
In Praxis, we showcase our understanding of those skills and how well we can apply theory into the actual practice.
"PRISM VON SUNGRADE! STEP FORWARD!"
As I stepped forward into the arena that had now transformed into a complete ground filled with obstacles.
"BEGIN!"
There were tall walls all around this arena, puddles of water, pots with fire burning inside them.
There were blades of different kind dug into the ground, there were targets for archers, there were targets for mages.
The arena that was only an empty land was transformed into a place where you can choose to do anything you want.
To showcase what one had, there were many ways.
The mages would show magic, the knights would swing swords with their beasts by their side.
But I was neither a knight nor a mage.
"Come."
I’ve trained knights, mages, and heroes. But, it would be my first time doing this as well.
-Ooooooooooooooong!
The essence card that I had pulled out glowed with the same red glow that longed to its essence mark.
The master of this being would know that it has been called out of its essence. Still, she would not be shocked like the people present in this arena.
"Hey..."
"Is that... is that Lady Flora’s?"
"Why does he have that...?"
What came from the essence card was a being that stood eight meters high on its four hooved feet.
A moose by appearance, but a flower garden by nature. The antlers of the creature were on fire right now.
There were several colorful flowers on its body: budding flowers, growing flowers, flowers that seemed alive. The creature itself was a flower garden.
Below its wood-like body, vines were growing out. They got dragged around the ground as the creature moved.
"Mooooo..."
Furthermore, a strangely sweet scent was spread all across the colosseum when the creature appeared. Anyone who looked at the creature questioned why I had it on me.
"Does that mean Lady Flora trusts him that much?"
"How could that be? He’s just trash..."
"The trash of the margraves..."
Standing before them was an (SR-rank) unique creature, a (Flame Floral Mrig).
It was a very rare, very aggressive species that primarily grew in the far north of the empire. There were only three of them in the cradles of Sungrade including this one. And the one standing before them was the oldest among them.
"Shall we begin now, dear friend?" Maxim was his name, and he was Flora’s second partner.
Arguably the creature with the most firepower she had, the Mrig was one of the most dangerous creatures by nature.
It is nearly impossible to tame them and in most cases, they choose their tamers, and not the other way around.
Flora was the same. The one that stood before me had chosen her, and just because she gave him to me, it did not mean he had chosen to fight with me as well.
At least, until this moment.
"Mooooooo."
The creature looked me in the eye with his deep, oceanic green eyes. There was an endless rage, a kind of fire that you cannot put into words, burning inside of him.
The creature was a contradiction: a garden that bore flowers when strong flames burned his body.
It was a creature of nature like the Bloombug, but it was of Fire essence. So, when it looked at me and saw the red eyes, as well as the small white bird sitting on my head, the fire that was burning fiercely understood their place in this arena.
"Moooooo!"
With a deafening roar, the creature first bowed to me, kneeling in a graceful manner fitting for the partner of a Lady.
Then, he turned around and faced the entire arena filled with obstacles.
"Let’s start with something simple."
The skill that this creature possessed was called [Pyromancy]. At its finest, the skill can allow the creature to divine the near future of a certain element.
Not going that far, the skill allowed the tamer to do a number of fun things.
"A short walk would be nice, yes?" Walking closer to the being, without fearing the flames that burned its antlers, I sat down on its back.
"Moooo~."
Like a good friend that has known me for a long time, it created reins with the green vines present around its body.
"Hupp!"
"Miiiiiiioooooooo~!"
As we kicked things off, the creature started running, sparking a blazing fire everywhere it stepped.
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
When the moose kicked the tall pillars to jump between them, the impact exploded the stone, making craters on the tall strong pillars.
-Booooooooom!
After reaching the highest point within the arena, when I commanded it to release its flowers, the creature shed the grown flowers on it, sprinkling them into the sky below.
-Ooooooooooooooooooong!
As if detonating, when the flowers were still mid-air, they exploded in a colorful smoke, creating beautiful explosions that spread glittering sparkles all across the colosseum.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!
However, everyone who knew about these creatures knew how dangerous this stardust was, so they instantly covered their faces or called out their wind element beasts to push it away.
Even the green hawk, watching the display from the higher sky, was prepared to intervene.
But there was no need to do that.
"Burn it down."
"Moooooooooooo!"
The flames on the antlers spread instantaneously, moving so fast that they seemed like a lightning bolt.
"Huh?"
"What just...?"
In the blink of an eye, the sky was now covered in a colorful fire that was burning away the toxins released from the flowers.
-Shrrrr...
What remained in their place was merely condensed fragments– seeds which, the moment they touched the ground below, matured into new, purer flowers.
"Let’s go down."
We jumped from one stone to another once again. But this time, there were no explosive movements.
We moved so quickly that the impact did not remain on the stones. Instead, the inertia was carried and the moment we touched the ground...
-Boooooooom!
All that energy was released in an explosion big enough to shake the entire colosseum.
"One more thing..."
I wanted to end things right here, but, as my final act of demonstration, I called out to my ’string’.
"Mooooooo?"
The red string that connected me to Nix and Felix brought out the thinner, more delicate string that connected Maxim to Flora.
However, without interfering with their bond, I let my red string gently wrap around theirs.
"Don’t worry. This won’t harm you."
Expressing my bond to calm the creature down, I gently caressed the creature, hugging its giant body with a smile on my face.
’Trust is built upon a long journey.’
But, we did not need that long journey. Flora trusted me, and that allowed the creature to open up his heart to me.
"No..."
"Wait... that..."
-Shrrrrrrr.
As we stayed in place, a calming wind passed through the colosseum.
A moment of silence, followed by the gasps of the elders in the second highest seat, were heard to the people below.
"How can... with someone else’s...?"
On the ground, I was not seeing the word with my own eyes anymore.
"He’s inside it."
My eyes had gone blank, the red pupil gone, replaced by a complete whiteness.
On the other hand, the green in the eyes of the moose had turned red.
The creature, breathing more calmly, was not just himself anymore.
’We’ were together.
"MOOOOOOOOOO!"
A stronger fire, now red in its entirety, exploded from the creature.
"It’s resonance!"
"Unbelievable...!"
Connecting the mind of the tamer with the beast to access the senses of the tamed beast: Resonance.
It is a [Bond Factor] that tamers at Level-4 and higher come to unlock after establishing a deep bond with their beast.
With this, the tamer can share their senses with their beasts and ’feel’ the power of the beasts themselves.
To perform it even with your own tamed beasts is considered a feat of the highest marit. But, until now, the people of this world would not have seen a tamer do it with a beast that isn’t their own.
"That should be enough."
Accessing Maxim’s skill gave me a glimpse into a future that I had seen already, the glimpses of what might transpire here in a few moments.
I experienced the world that this creature saw by myself. And while it was much different from when I do it with Felix or Nix, this was a new experience for me.
’Experiencing the theory that I had developed myself... to think I’d actually do it someday.’
For a moment, I was overwhelmed.
However, when I came out of the daze and looked around, I saw some terrified faces.
There were some curious faces, some stunned faces, some faces that wanted to hang me on a cross and dissect every inch of my body, while there were also faces that feared me.
What I just did was impossibly frightening to many...
But to the mother that did not accept my talents until recently, this was a display beyond what she had recently come to terms with.
’And...’
To the father sitting at the highest spot in this colosseum, my actions were as exciting as a grimoire to a mage.
Still...
That father of mine would have to wait for some time if he wanted to have any fun with me.
-Bang!
The first warning flare was up in the sky already.
[ "A Demon Lord is coming." ]
And Flora’s voice was important enough to pull everyone’s attention away from us.
