Training

Aura woke up early, as he had long been accustomed to. Training and seeing his monsters steadily becoming stronger was extremely rewarding. Lydian joined him soon after, impatient to begin working with her new monster.

"We should first increase the level of your Crystal Horse, it's currently too weak to effectively spar with Puppet," Aura said, taking out a few pieces of spirit jade. Lydian fed them to Lyn, raising its level by 2, reaching level 3, the same as Puppet. "You can't continue raising its level using spirit jade. A monster needs to digest used to the energy contained inside and get used to its newfound strength, if it doesn't do so, subsequent usage will have greatly reduced effects."

"We already know about Puppet's abilities, but not so much about Lyn's. We should start by testing them," he continued.

"Okay! Lyn, use Stampede!" The Crystal Horse charged forward, blurring into a white ray of light and slamming into a boulder. Large fragments of rock sprayed out.

"The power of this skill is decent, but will be bit lacking against armored targets. The main strength is the speed. It can be used to dodge powerful skills and is strong against faster monsters with low defense. It doesn't require much mana as well." They continued testing the maximum distance, control, and how often it could be used.

"Let's move on to Shatter." Earth element mana surged into the ground under Lyn's hoof and the ground ruptured. A shockwave rushed forward along with fractures shards of rock.

"This skill makes up for a lot of Lyn's weaknesses. Using Shatter directly on the body of armored targets can deal significant damage, possibly breaking the armor. It can be used as a semi ranged attack as well as force back enemies too close for comfort. It has a variety of uses and it's up to the trainer to maximize it's effect." They also tested what aspects of the skill could be controlled, could more mana be put into the ranged portion, could the disrupting effect be increased, how accurate could it be.

"I have some ideas of how to use these skills! Let's have a battle!" Lydian couldn't wait to try them out.

"Sure, let's see how good you are. Let's agree to not use soul techniques." The two moved apart and had their monsters stand in front of them.

"Three, two, ONE!"

"Use Puppet Strings and keep your distance."

"Use Stampede!" Lyn charged at Puppet, rapidly closing the distance. A few threads hit Lyn, but the majority missed. The moment before impact, a thick layer of leaves emerged and wrapped up Puppet.

"Shatter!" A mana charged hoof landed a solid hit on Puppet, sending it flying.

"Shatter again!" Sharp blades of earth flew at Puppet, completely ripping off the armor and dealing significant damage.

Aura saw this and laughed. "Good job! Let's stop here. Puppet is at too large a disadvantage in a duel."

Lydian nodded, "It has no powerful attacking moves and Lyn's agility is much higher."

"Let's rest a bit and then work on some targeted training." Aura gave a piece of spirit jade to Puppet and applied some medicine, then started practicing the accuracy of Puppet Strings. Due to the nature of the skill, hitting the enemy's joint would be more effective, and being able to consistently do that would greatly increase its combat strength. Lydian tried to improve her monster's maneuverability during Stampede, to make sure its movements would be precise even while moving at maximum speed.

The two beginner monster trainers continued in this manner until the sun began to dip beneath the horizon, pushing their stamina to the limit.

Lydian wiped the sweat off her brow. "Being completely drained of mana is not a good feeling."

"Yeah, I'm feeling it too. It'll be better in the future if you get used to it."

"I can tell Lyn gained a lot, its movements are a lot more fluid," Lydian said, rubbing Lyn's head, who neighed contentedly.

"My Puppet is ready to level up again." Aura took out a bag of spirit jade and fed it to Puppet one by one.

[Leafy Marionette gained 12 exp]

[Leafy Marionette gained 10 exp]

[Leafy Marionette gained 12 exp]

...

[Leafy Marionette gained 13 exp]

[Leafy Marionette leveled up]

[You leveled up]

[Aura - Monster Trainer]

Race: Human

Level: 4

Health: 13/13 (+1) (Healthy)

Constitution: 5

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Defense: 5

Mana: 27/27 (+3)

[Currently Contracted Monsters]

Leafy Marionette - Level 4

[Leafy Marionette - Aura]

Type: Wood/Mystical

Level: 4

Health: 27/27 (+3) (Healthy)

Constitution: 9

Strength: 5

Agility: 4

Defense: 4

Mana: 43/43 (+4)

[Skills]

Leafy Costume...

Puppet Strings...