CHPT 421: Connecting the Dots, Unraveling the Mystery of My Heritage...

Another day, another battle..... a rescue, even. It felt nice, a good change of pace inside a place often described as hellish. At least through Claude's experience. It was good to see it differently. To truly experience it as a pocket-- a small world of it's own. Not directly parallel-- aligned, with malevolence and corruption, something with a capacity for complexity. Just like earth.

Just like what Ronin said. Pockets of small worlds.....

In Claude's small world, he did what he always did. He trained. Even after running through who knew how many dozens of Zombies over multiple miles of deadwood forestry. It changed nothing. A rigorous schedule had to be maintained-- routine had become calming. Claude had work to do, Lupine energy to burn. And the Silver Ranked Undead within the Tangent didn't do it for him. Not a sentence he expected to think so soon. But a truth, nonetheless.

Truth...

Something he had been slapped in the face with constantly ever since he fled from Isaac's Aslan Estate with Ursula's beaten and broken body held in his arms. The truth of the Lupines, their origin, the truth of what awaited them in the desert, Rollan's hopeless and violent history, the Druids, Cassidy. Everything.

Even his own Element. It's truth, mostly undiscovered and poorly educated within modern educational systems. A truth that was revealed through Rollan and his Druidic teachings. There was still a mountains worth of information hidden within the forests and wooden tendrils he could summon at will. But, he'd begun his journey. And every step-- every inch of new ground covered, brought new details. New techniques. New understanding.

Truth was a double-edged sword in that way. On one hand it could be the most painful thing a man could face. On the other, it could lead to new levels of power. True ascension, to put it simply.

Ascension. The very thing he searched for within the many mysteries of his Element. Rollan helped him on his path. Ironically enough, he helped the most when he didn't speak. His most affecting moments came when he acted, when he performed.

Like the day he first introduced Claude to the Elemental Martial Art of Wood-Weaving. Or the day he explained the base nature of their Element. Growth, invigoration, empowerment of life. He didn't explain it-- not at first. Instead, he threw a stick and turned it into a tree heavy enough to level of cabin to rubble.

It was his latest act of showing, instead of telling, that Claude was working at tirelessly.

The memory of it still firm in his mind as the river rushed loudly, snaking through the reborn forest around him.

Back when he was held captive inside the canyon full of Demonic hybrids and HellBreeders. Rollan came whistling sweet old folkish tunes, as if it were just a regular day. He'd never seen the Druidic Warrior so angry. It rode the air like sparking lightning currents. So physical. And then he removed his blindfold and exploded in a burst of flaming green light. His muscles bubbled, his skin glistened-- his body transformed from that of a decrepit middle-aged man to a warrior in a very literal sense. The sands beneath his feet bubbled like the calmly rippling waves in a pond as he began to influence the nature hidden beneath with the emergence of his Elemental Shroud.

Something he considered a simple impossibility months ago. Through truth and example, had been made real-- and attainable.

Something yet to be mastered.

He stood with his feet bare and flat in the grass. Remembering, processing, feeling. The dark of the forest made the world beyond and the one beyond his closed eyes feel connected in those moments. At least for the moment. Then, he conjured his Aura. The wavy verdant energy hovered above his armor like a second skin. The first step. He stood that way for a while, letting his body and mind adjust, feeling the Mana within strain, and the Aura without strengthen.

The next step. As Rollan put it during their many nights of training in the desert after the demonic war, "The integration of growth..... of invigoration, hm?"

Claude liked the sound of it. The Integration of Invigoration. A mouthful, but accurate as all hell. Equally as difficult. To do so was to not think. Claude wondered if that's why the art of Wood-Weaving was taught first. To teach the Nature User to use his or her Element subconsciously in a very simple way first. For this very moment.

To willingly take the nature beneath the ground, in the roots, flowing from the trees, and expel it as it was. Energy. Energy soaked into and intertwined with every inch of the body. Refining, livening, reinforcing. Before expelling it back to the world. A never-ending cycle run through and focused upon one's own body.

His Aura bubbled-- lost it's firm and solid shape. It's control. Like a storm, it churned and twisted. Popping sparks of Nature Magic burst from his Aura, zapping the tree's in the distance and hitting the grassed over grounds, causing them to burst in growth in random patches of overpowering Nature Magic. The Druidic Markings along his right arm glowed like the sun while the Nordic tattooing in his left palm began to spew black smoke as the Phantom Wolves stirred within.

FWWooOOSHSHHHH!

Once again, his Aura exploded in size. His muscles primed themselves, his lungs expanded, his blood rushed like the river beneath him as his hair and cloak fluttered at the intensity.

Frosty barked behind him and nipped at his growing Elemental Shroud.

He opened his eyes. The dark was no more. All of the forest for as far as he could see was bathed in a green light. Random bushes, trees and patches of grass grew at violent speeds around him as the sparking green arcs of energy continued to burst off him.

And there it was. Vigor Boost, as Rollan called it. Something all Druidic Warriors were required to learn. Not only did it make them better connected to their Element as all Elemental Shrouds did, but it also greatly increased physical regeneration, stamina, mental clarity and spiritual connection. Claude didn't understand that last part. Rollan told him not to worry about it for the time being. So he didn't. He worked.

As he was now...

"Still imperfect.... but better." He whispered to himself.

"[If you can go an hour without a nosebleed, I'd say that's quite the improvement.]"

Claude agreed. But to truly gauge his improvement, he had one more test. He brought up one hand, bringing out his oily black claws and ran them over his left arm. Three lines of red ran across his arm and began closing after thirty or so seconds. By a minute and a half, they were gone-- simply scabs falling away to reveal new skin.

"[Huh...]" Arne commented.

"Better?"

"[I'd say you're onto WereWolf healing speeds at this point. It's brilliant.]"

"Now to work towards a nosebleed." Claude commented. "Alright Frosty, let's go."

And then another round of training began.

***

An hour passed by in a series of shadow-boxing, squatting and pressing logs, and team-based combat scenarios with Frosty and Gil. The HellSlaying Hound integrated himself sometime during it all.

By the end of it, his nose wasn't bleeding. But he was fatigued. His skin was hot-- a hot he couldn't describe. The heat the came from expelling energy from your body for longer than you're used to. It was a heat that stung and numbed the body all over while combined with a similar feeling in his organs and muscles.

He'd been in the middle of lunging through the forest with a log laid across his shoulders.

"Fuck..."

THUD

He dropped the log and gave into exhaustion. His shroud faded and he was left sweating bullets into the overgrown grass beneath him.

Frosty nudged him. Claude nudged his brother back only to get thumped in the head by a tusk.

"What?"

Frosty looked from him to the river behind him repeatedly as he stood calmly on his stone-ape like front legs.

"We can hit the river later, there's something I want to check." Claude replied before leaning back to sit on his behind.

"[You mind filling me in?]" Arne commented as Claude brought up his System Screen.

"Well, less than a few hours ago, one of my base Beast Tamer Skills upgraded. The last time it upgraded was so long ago I don't even remember. It only happened because I completed a Quest in the Astral Realm. So, I'm interested in how the Skill changed since it's also been Merged."

"[Ohhhhh right. This is one of the ways that explains no Knight being the same. Differing Skill Merges and Acquired Abilities can create a striking level of variety in what was once the same Skill shared among many. Did you know that?]"

"No.... but that makes sense." Claude said as he brought up the Skill in question.

***

[(Beast Boost LV3): The Merging of the staple Beast Tamer Skill, Beast Trait and the passive Skill Wild Boost. Beast Boost allows its user to connect with whatever chosen animal of the wild and borrow its traits to change the flow of combat, hunting, defending or detecting. And in doing so, the user also boosts the physical stats of its trait gifting partner by 16% (+6% when used on Companion). Range of Use and Percentage increase back and forth with each Level along with secondary additions or evolutions of said Skill. By reaching Level 3 of Beast Trait, the user gains the secondary ability of Trait Merging which allows the user to borrow the traits of multiple creatures of the wild to become a more adept and deadly foe.]

***

"Trait mixing....."

"[Not bad at all, mate.]" Arne commented.

Claude didn't know why but after reading the description, goosebumps lined his skin. There was something about it.... something part of his subconscious mind was catching and trying it's best to communicate to him. He read it again..... and again. And again, until he finally got it. He understood why the skill description was so different feeling.

It was familiar.

"Arne..."

"[Hm?]"

"Doesn't this remind you of something?"

"[No, not particularly. Why?]"

"Trait mixing..... hybridization. That's us. That's the Lupines of Romulus."

Arne caught on. Claude could feel it. "[I see.]"

"I'd say that's a baseless coincidence, but didn't you say Romulus and Remus were Beast Mages..... a possible Beast Tamer Rare Class?"