CHPT 118: Base Form

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Claude's eyes shot open in response to the noise he didn't expect to hear in the forest.

Surprisingly, he found himself back in his bed in the University. He could hear Prof. Brennan making his way from door to door, waking students to start their long days of training.

"Weird..." he said as he sat up and stretched.

"[Welcome back, Claude.]" Arne greeted casually.

"Hey." Claude grumbled before getting up to put on his armor and head to the Mess Hall.

***

Claude found his usual seat in the Mess Hall with Ursula, Warren and now Isaac as students continued to flood the large room, smelling of gross meat and veggies.

"You alright, Claude?" Isaac asked from his seat next to Warren.

"He doesn't seem to like.....food." Warren replied to Isaac as they watched him angrily eat his breakfast.

Before they could further dig into the subject, Ursula scooted closer to him with a look of intense interest on her face.

"So...." she said.

"So what?" Claude replied.

"Did you make it? To the Astral Realm?" She asked.

"Oh. Yes I did."

They all quieted and waited for him to explain, only to realize he'd gone back to angrily forcing himself to eat his breakfast.

Warren looked around for a moment before rolling his eyes and speaking into the groups silence. "Details man!" He grumbled with a mouth full of eggs and vegetables.

"He said I have to go North and reach him by the end of the week." Claude replied.

"Going into the Astral Realm every night...." Ursula mumbled in amazement.

"Well. It must not be too hard if it's a weeks travel.... it's not like the journey is littered with Zombies and stuff right? Cause that would be insane. Right?" Warren joked.

Claude simply looked at him once before looking back down at his food, giving Warren the clearest answer possible causing him to choke on his food and water to shoot from his nose in surprise.

"Erhm....Yea that's....that's rough." He said quietly as he took a napkin from Ursula and wiped his nose.

***

Claude spent the rest of his time in the Mess Hall talking with Warren and Ursula— with the help of Isaac, about what to look out for when they got selected for Mob in Training.

He now waited in his first class of the day, Aura/Element Affinities.

Students grouped up together under the shade of the large gazebo and conversed while they waited for the Professors to arrive. Claude decided to wait outside, finding himself feeling more comfortable on the grass.

The Professors arrived after a few minutes of waiting and called everyone inside the main gazebo.

Prof. Carlina led the line of talented Professors with her usual uplifting demeanor like a moving ball of sunshine.

"Good morning, Students." She said as she stepped into the open structure, receiving a rush of responses in return.

She waited for everyone to settle before she continued.

"So. Yesterday I had you all continue to just work with your Element freely— continuing to establish a respectable level of comfortability. I think most of you have reached that....while others have already surpassed it, which is perfect. Because today, we're doing something new." She said.

After spending most days in his first class performing basic attacks and maneuvers with his Element, the idea of doing something new piqued Claude's interest.

Prof. Carlina continued on after a few moments. "Today, we'll be training you in summoning or growing your Elements from their basic forms. It may sound trivial to some of you, but in the future it becomes one of the most important skills to have in combat. Now, this will be incredibly easy for some and equally as hard for others, but as long as you stick with it I'm sure you'll all do great."

By the time she finished delivering her uplifting message, most students were filled with optimism and excitement to learn something new as they all got up and followed their Professors assigned to their Element.

A few minutes later, Claude found himself off in the grass at the back of the Earth Element users class. He felt about as out of place as a fish in a desert.

After uncomfortably waiting among the chatting students, the Earth Element Prof. returned with a pot about a foot in diameter. He could smell the dirt inside even before it reached him.

"What's this for?" He asked Prof. Axton— The Earth Element Professor.

Prof. Axton rubbed his thick goatee in thought before responding, "Yes, I suppose I should explain. As the only Nature Element User in this University there's not much I can do at the moment to help you other than make sure you have the right means to ensure your growth and have things to learn from my lessons despite your...uhh...rare Element." He said before looking down at the pot and continuing.

"Now this, this is a pot with a seed in it. This week I want you to practice feeling out for the seed inside the bowl and accelerating it's growth. I've read that Nature users create plantlife and trees exponentially stronger and healthier than naturally occurring ones, so if your able to do this, it would be a huge step towards increasing your strength with your Element. Also, since you'll be pretty independent in this with your training it's all trial and error. Stay patient and stay vigilant."

"Alright. Thank you, sir." Claude said as the Prof. got up and headed back to the front of the class.

With the man no longer blocking his front view, he could see all the Earth students judgmental stares practically screaming, "You don't belong here." While others looked at him pitifully for having to work with a simple seed to grow his power.

He returned their individual stares in kind, making sure a light glow of green highlighted his eyes as he glared through them.

"[Ignore them. You've got a chance to increase your power right now, don't waste it worrying about what they're thinking.]" Arne said, interrupted Claude's violent thoughts.

He took a deep calming breath and agreed. "Right."

Before he could start his own training, the sounds of different Elements and students cursing in frustration fell on his sensitive ears. He immediately looked to the closest grouping of students. The Water Element users.

Inside, a tall and skinny male Professor that he didn't know the name of led his students in a training exercise that involved filling an already partially filled bowl of water. He noticed that if he squinted his eyes, he could see the light reflecting off of small droplets of water forming out of thin air that the students guided into their bowls.

"[Moisture manipulation.]" Arne said.

Claude found his eyes wandering to the next Element specified class, Wind.

They had it much easier than the Water class since their Element was simply easier to access, despite both elements being all around them and even in their bodies.

The Wind students repeatedly executed wide sweeping movements to generate a small gust of wind that they'd hold in place and grow to an impressive degree. Most students couldn't hold it for long or make the winds strong enough, but a few were able to make what looked to be wind shields. The collection of strong winds placed in front of them moved so powerfully that it distorted the air around them.

"That's impressive..." he thought before the sound of more aggravated students drew him to the next class.

Students inside were set up similarly to the Water class with a bowl of water, but instead of water droplets forming in and around their glowing hands, tiny crystallized Ice shards did. His eyes randomly fell on Conner who was effortlessly making a small tower of Ice, connecting the frozen bowl of water to the Ice he created above it. Prof. Demetria watched the young Elemental Mage with pride gleaming in her cold eyes.

"I really need to start reading about my Element the way he does." Claude told himself.

"[Show off.]" Arne said as Claude looked to the next class.

The students inside were sweating heavily and looked much angrier than the other classes. They all seemed to be failing their exercise except for one student.

"[She's quite good! This exercise is almost never done correctly the first time.]" Arne commended as they watched Lucy create beautiful chaotic red and orange flames from the sparks of her partner scraping two pieces of metal together.

"That's amazing. She's creating flames from something so small...I wonder what high ranking Heroes can do with a spark that small." Claude said as the rest of the Fire students watched her with envy.

"[Lets see what Prof. Raizen's teaching.]" Arne said.

Claude agreed and looked to the last class, which was on the opposite end of the field from his Earth class.

Surprisingly, this class was full of successful students. They had no equipment and simply sat with their hands held together like they were meditating. They all looked to be in deep focus, including Prof. Raizen.

"Now!" Prof. Raizen yelled to the class, startling Claude slightly.

To his surprise, the students began rubbing their hands together furiously. He looked to Prof. Raizen and found him doing the same. As his hands began to faintly glow a pale bluish white, he pulled them apart, showing the small white lines of lightning that danced between his palms. Even from where he sat, he could hear the tiny pops and fizzles of the Professors Lightning.

"[Hmm. Creating Lightning through the buildup of static electricity. Creative.]"

"Agreed." Claude said as he admired the beauty of the Element.

"[As cool as it looks, I hope you don't forget that Lightning hurts our kind even if it doesn't touch us.]" Arne warned.

Claude remembered the deafening sound from when Prof. Raizen called down a lightning strike on him and Samuel as he looked over all the hard training students once more.

After he was satisfied. He looked down at his dirt filled pot with a new level of focused optimism.

"Ok. I'm motivated. It's time to work."