A Path of Bone and Poison 112 I.T. 15 making a friend

The afternoon practice was different than what we had experienced the day before. It seems that one day we would focus on building up our strength, while the next day would be used to build up our technique. Because of the ability I was unable to practice any sort of new ability. The old man had taken this into account however, and had me train with my pistol proficiency.

For me this training was rather simple, as I was already building a strong foundation in it. I would review the firearm techniques I had already learned, and practice them until they became habit. The amount of progress I made that afternoon was not large, but I knew that with time it would build the strongest of foundations.

After practice it was once again time for dinner. The meal was as satisfying as the day before. To my surprise I found that Lucifer did not eat, he seemed to survive on the magical energies that my core absorbed for him. I found the entire thing strange, but I don't have much to reference against.

My connection with Hylia is different. Ever since she evolved she no longer became reliant on my intelligence or vitality. She had become far more independent. It was not even fair to call her a familiar, as she had moved far past that. The life contract still existed, but it was different than it was before. It gave us a connection, and we could read each others minds, but was not as intense as it was before.

I now was not able to hear her thoughts unless she actively projected them to me, and visa versa. I could still sense her emotions, but they were vague and I would need to concentrate to actually know what they were. They only function that had really stayed was that I would be able to locate her no matter where she went, which was useful to say the least.

As I said she was no longer a true familiar, she had escaped that through her own hard work. I could only wonder if Lucifer would be the same. After all his original form was an ancient skeletal dragon. The baby dragon on my lap was very different from that dragon though. Not only was it not a true skeletal dragon, as it had the weird membrane, but it had been reduced to an infant state. Its mind had completely changed.

I could feel the proud arrogance coming from it that I had felt before in it's true body. It also had the disdain for spell casters, which I could only assume came from its hatred for the Necromancer king. The conclusion that I was forced to come to was that the two familiars I had experience with were completely different from each other, as well as completley different from any other familiars out there. Their origins were unique, and their growth would be up to them to decide.

When dinner was over we were once again given free time. This two hours a day was the only real freedom we had in this place, and was something that was precious to all of the students, regardless of age. The students used this time to play or study, sometimes they even just sat around and talked. It was easy to see why this had been done. Even if a lot of people died in the tower, there would always be some that survived. This was a way to network and build connections outside of the tower. To truly unite these elite adventurers.

I was no different, Even If my mentality was much older than that of my squad mates it was only a couple of years above the most senior of students here. I found that I could easily communicate with these students.

Surprisingly the first friend I made was not a female. It was a half dwarven boy. He was shorter than the other members of his squad, but it would be foolish to think that this made him weak. He studied a variety of areas and could be considered a jack of all trades.

I approached him as he was looking through the books on the shelves. In our free time we were able to look at any of these books. If we could grasp the meaning of the abilities with our own efforts we could get the skills they offered inside. But this was not something that was easy to do. We were only really able to learn because of the old man's assistance.

The boy was picking out a book that happened to be near the book that contained the arcane body skill I was learning. When he looked at the book I was grabbing he could only shake his head.

"That's a dead end skill. The ability it grants is only mediocre, and you cannot learn any other skills while you learn it. With the time limit we have it would take up all of your time to learn, and would even stop your progress with the skill Osmodian had you learn."

Osmodian? I thought to myself. Is that the old man's name? Interesting.

"This is actually the skill he had me learn. My situation is rather unique, and the skill will actually help me a lot. But the time it will take to learn the skill with only the small amount of time he sets aside for us would take all of my 6 years here. So I thought I might as well use my free time every day to learn it as well. If I am lucky I can get it done in two years."

The boy beside me nodded. "That's actually a good idea. Most of the kids here can only think about playing when we get our free time, but something inside of me keeps telling me I need to work harder. That things are going to get much worse once we graduate. The problem is I can't seem to find a skill that would synergize well with the skills I have, and the ability I am learning."

"What skills do you have? if you don't mind me asking?"

The boy looked me up and down for a moment before he sighed. "promise not to laugh?"

I nodded. All of the students here had the potential to be elite adventurers. The skills they had would be unique.

"My racial ability for being a dwarf gives me the ability to use earthen magic. However I am simply not smart enough to use spells. The ability Osmodian is having me practice is called Fairy steps. It's a movement technique that allows for fast rapid movement, but unfortunately as a half dwarf I am a little on the clumsy side. I can only imagine he had me learn this because I have a unique skill called earth glide. It doubles my speed as long as I have contact with the earth element."

I thought for a moment. This was a unique problem. He was more than likely clumsy because of this skill. When not in contact with the earth he would become less agile. This meant when ever he left the ground he would have a sudden loss of agility. The movement skill would likely limit the amount of time he was away from the ground, making it easier for him.

But, I think that the old man's opinion on this was wrong. Or rather, he did not want to make it too easy on his students. This is probably why he gave us the free time each day. This is so we could find a skill that truly would help us. He just wanted to build the foundation.

Thankfully I had already seen the book that would be perfect for this young man. I moved a couple of book shelves over and scanned it for a moment before I handed it to him. The boy looked at the book for a moment, his eyes full of confusion, before they went wide. "Why did I never think of this!!? I still have two years, it should be easy for me to learn his by then. Thank you! My name is Hunter. Hunter Jones."

I smiled at him. "Yuri. Yuri Morningstar."

Chapter end