Training the Imps (01)

Whistling along while slow cooking a double soldier arm, Alban was met with the drooling mouths of the imps. Well, two of them. Nevus didn't do much of the whole drooling thing, he was a lot more low-key. So low-key that Teta and Lady didn't notice him slowly scooting closer and closer to the fire. Alban chuckled and went back to work.

While he was cooking for the avid imp trio, Alban was thinking of ways to train them up. He wanted to let them hunt on their own without the thought of him interfering, but he would be pretty sad if they did something stupid and got hurt. He knew that they were smart, but if all smart people were right all the time surely stupid people wouldn't exist. Natural selection and all that.

As the arm was finished, he pulled out two more after tossing the arm at Teta. He had worked the most out of the three and Alban thought he deserved it. Teta felt two hungry stares gazing at the arm in his hands, and he mockingly waved it at them before taking a slow, leisurely munch on his meal. Lady gnashed her teeth in frustration while Nevus' eyes were slightly twitching. Amused at the imply antics, he decided to cook the two arms a bit faster so Lady and Nevus wouldn't have to go hungry as long.

He soon finished and walked over, sitting right by Nevus and Lady. He handed the two their cooked soldier arms ®, and took his time cooking two for himself. Ever since his transformation earlier, he felt just as ravenous as the imps of not a little more. They ate their meal in silence, Teta holding up his pinky finger and snickering while he ate; Lady diving headfirst into the elbow and making her way to the fingers; and Nevus peeling off chunks of the arm before him and placing them in his mouth.

Nevus appeared to have an almost surgical precision, his claws being a bit shorter than the others. Alban had a pretty good idea of what weapon he was gonna make for the quiet imp, but he would have to observe them all a bit more.

Teta was lively and mischievous, his grasp on the arm almost crushing the ends they were affixed to. Alban noticed his brute strength earlier, easily being able to fulfill the contents of his Prepare quest without breaking a sweat. He had absolutely no clue what to make him as to what to make Teta, he was pretty sure that whatever it was he would crush it pretty quickly.

He then gazed at Lady. She fought in a completely different manner from the two, Nevus and Teta being more physical in their choices. Lady, however, would always conjure and throw rocks, and Alban thought that was honestly all she could do. But after witnessing the stalagmite and remembering her class, he quickly changed his mind. Her exuberant words a bit after sharing her class and race still rung in his mind.

"Hihi! I'm a Gaia's Imp, and my class is Playwrite! What's a playwrite by the way..."

Alban decided to try and explore this a bit after their meals. Of course, that would also be after their nap...he had gotten pretty familiar with their habits. Although he thought that their evolution would change them a bit, their personalities just became a lot more pronounced. Although Alban was willing to accept them all even if they turned into completely different people, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't joyful that they were just the same. Except maybe Teta, he was a lot more responsible before...or maybe he was just comfortable enough around Alban to really act like himself.

Their meat was soon finished, and the snores soon permeated throughout the cave. Settling down along the eastern of the cave, Alban got ready to meditate after checking the time. It was 22:36.

75 cycles of meditation later, Alban opened his eyes and was refreshed. He started to feel as if sleeping was a serious waste of time, before remembering that he could absorb mana instead of sleep because of the environment that was rife with it. Circulating the mana through his body, he was content at the increase. He looked toward where the imps slept last night, greeted by two meditating imps and one extremely bored Adjutant.

The mana gathering around the two was clearly different. The mana gathering around Lady was fluctuating, at some time being a high and rushing river and at some times being a low, droopy stream. The mana around Nevus was completely still, as his meditating figure slowly pulled it towards him. Teta was an oddity, however, as the mana seemed to be completely avoiding him. Alban's senses told a different story, however, as he keenly realized that the mana flowing towards him was subtly erased at a small amount, the area of the mana disappearing mainly focused around his head.

Alban walked over and tapped Teta on the shoulder, Teta's dark face soon brightening substantially. Teta looked right up at Alban's face, his eyes pleading! He must be better than the others, he only accepted the boss as someone allowed to be more powerful than him!

Alban smiled and walked out of the cave, and Teta scurried after him. Bathing in the moonlight, Alban's muscular figure looked especially imposing. Teta wanted a cool looking body like that, evaluating Alban as the penultimate example of a leader. After all, he was the strongest being that Teta had ever seen, his tenacity without quarrel.

"Atten-TION!" Alban saluted Teta and had a grim frown on his face. He was going to continue the whole drill sergeant shtick whether it was corny or not. No, in fact, Alban did it precisely because he was corny! He didn't have a bucket list of things he had always wanted to stay, but he figured that would at least be on the top five if he did.

Teta copied him, unknowingly playing along with the bit. This was serious business, as evidenced by the boss's expression. He had never seen Alban this serious, and didn't think he could make such an expression. The child's face was solemn and ready, denoting his resolve for becoming stronger. Alban giggled and extended his hands, intending to spar with him.

Fierce crisp noises struck against the silence of the beach, whipping and cracking sounds pervading the fog. The noises were purely the results of fists striking the air, the fists being avoided by the two figures that were locked onto each other. Alban threw a straight and Teta ducked under and produced an uppercut. The prior stepped back and swept at Teta's legs, speedily bringing the imp to the ground.

"Alright, you lost. That's enough sparring for today, now start running." Teta's satisfied smile remained on his face as he got ready to dodge the incoming fireballs. He clearly felt himself becoming stronger and stronger. Alban's moves, no matter how unrefined they were inspired Teta greatly. The pure, unadulterated power; the speed quicker than even his fastest fireball. Teta wanted to harness the essence of that power in all of it's entirety.

They soon finished, and Alban was compelled to rub Teta's head, appeased by his progress. He had completed his dailies alongside Teta and allowed the imp to rest before picking him up and bringing him back to the cave.

He roused Lady and Nevus out of their meditation and designated the three imps as part of his party. He couldn't tell if he had a limit but he was pleased that he could include them. He could see 3 sets of bars, one being red and the other being blue. He could tell it was their health and mana, not surprised that Teta's was the only set with a black bar. He was happy that he could see their status at any time, he would be able to search for them if their health was low. He brought Teta, Nevus and Lady out of the cave, getting ready to test the latter two's capabilities.