Chapter 148: Bleed and Play

Once Dana was ready and gone, with much annoyed muttering from Alice, Karl finished getting ready for the morning, and briefed Sergeant Rita on his idea.

"Here is the paperwork I generated yesterday, supporting the hypothesis, and I've got the scales ready whenever you are. If we make both potions in a double dose for Hawk, I think that we can evolve him into a Dragon Hawk, and improve his basic potential to the Commander Rank.

With that, his growth should keep up with Rae and Thor, so we won't have an imbalance in the team. The better that they can work together, the more easily we will be able to do the things we need to improve our strength."

Karl was very proud of his prepared speech, and Sergeant Rita smiled back at him.

"Well, I'll buy it. But the most important part is that you're willing to donate some of those extra scales for the rest of the team, as well as the Bureau agents. When the materials come from the Academy, they don't have to account for them in their expense reports, and that always makes them happy." Rita joked.

"Just head off to class and I will get all the potions made. The Alchemy teacher will want a cut off the top as well if you want them right away." Rita replied.

Karl sighed and took out more drake scales, at least a dozen more than needed.

"Here, take care of the middle men. The faster everyone can get the potions, the better. But being an Elite really is more about who you know than what you know, isn't it?" He replied.

Sergeant Rita patted him on the back. "Welcome to the grown up world, kid. Everything in life is easier when you know the right people. The Alchemy teacher already has a good impression of you after the last batch, so they shouldn't complain about the volume this time, or push it off onto students who won't do as good of a job.

Just remember in the future, if you don't want to go through the Academy's credit exchange, it's best to keep a bit extra or a little something for a tip. Most of the teachers are good sorts, but everyone is motivated by self-interest."

Karl nodded. "And what sort of self-interest keeps you motivated?"

"Promotions, of course. I might have reached my limits as an Ascended warrior, but that doesn't mean that Sergeant will be the limits of my military career. If I do a good job this year, they will make me a warrant officer.

Big pay raise, better living quarters both here at the Academy and on base, and a bit more respect." Rita informed him sincerely.

"Got it. I won't mess up your chances at promotion." Karl replied with a wink.

"At this rate, they might send me to officer's school and make me a proper butter bar lieutenant. You see, a lot of a student's progress is attributed to the guidance of their tutors."

Karl gave her a confused look at the unfamiliar saying.

"Oh, the Lieutenant's insignia is a golden rectangle, kind of looks like a stick of butter. Hence, butter bar." She explained, which made him laugh.

"I never would have thought of it that way. Alright, let's get going and see how the kids are doing in their studies."

Hawk ignored the fact that he had been called a kid, and flew off to join the morning mages again, after having trained with the afternoon mages yesterday. Thor was also about to bound out into the open, until he realized that they had a long walk to the berserker training area, and that was five more minutes he could soak in the pond.

[You're getting soft, just lying around in the pool all day.] Karl joked.

[It's an honest living. Look at it this way, I'm freshly washed and ready to go at any time.] Thor suggested.

[Then go play with the berserkers. I am going to take Rae to find someone who is practising Lacerate.]

This time, Thor did go running off across the school grounds, bugling to catch the attention of a few students from the berserker class who were making their way to training. They waved at the charging Lightning Cerro, who happily plowed into them, but turned his head at the last second so he didn't spear anyone.

They laughed and gave him belly rubs from the ground, then grabbed his horns to pull themselves back to their feet and continued on the way to training.

Rita shook her head at their antics.

"I swear, they're all on the same mental level."

Karl shrugged. "They're enjoying life to its fullest. Well, Thor is, anyhow. I wonder if we're going to be able to find anyone for Rae to properly train with, as Lacerate is such a rare skill."

Unfortunately for them, when they reached the training area, the warrior that they had first worked with to teach Rae the skill wasn't in, and there didn't seem to be anyone else training the same skill, but there were plenty of open training dummies, which were good enough for Rae to get some more practical experience on.

Not that she minded working alone. If there was no chance of learning advanced skills from the people around her, she was happy to work alone all morning, with Karl's skill helping her comprehend what she had already been taught.

"Why don't you do some training here as well? You need to keep up your own physique and your reflexes, in case you are attacked while the team is away fighting another target. We can't let you completely slack off, just because your training skill doesn't require any movement on your part." Sergeant Rita suggested.

"Alright. I know both Rend and Shred, so I will grab a training sword and get some work in. Who knows, maybe I can improve them as well as Rae and the others." Karl agreed.

He could tell that Rae was laughing at him. There was no way that he was going to keep up with her skill progress, especially with his new ability helping her adapt. But he was welcome to try. After all, they couldn't have him dragging down the team's performance.

She might not have found a proper teacher for the day, but there was still some hope that she could learn new techniques to refine her skills. There was a Druid working on [Bleed] which was a supplementary skill that stacked on top of another attack.

Lacerate didn't need it, as it already caused a bleeding effect, but with Rae working near him, Karl had some hope that she might pick up a tip or two about how to improve her own attacks.

It was difficult to tell if it was actually working, as Rae already had a good grasp on Lacerate, thanks to her previous teacher, but her technique was improving as the morning went by, and the dummy was showing a marked improvement in the bleeding side effect of the skill along with the base damage.

Each flurry of attacks left a bit more bleeding damage than the last one, and Rae's confidence in her attack skills was skyrocketing as the hours went by. So, by the time that she retreated into her space for lunch, Karl could say for certain that the lacerate skill had been properly mastered.

Karl was sweaty with the exertion of using Shred all morning, trying to move the skill damage up toward the borderline for Ascended, which would be the next real milestone for his growth, but he still had a long way to go.

The beasts were much closer than he was, but even with the slacking on his training, Karl could tell that his physique had still made significant progress.

They didn't have to look far to know that Hawk had enjoyed his morning. The mages had already started heading to the cafeteria before they left the training grounds, and they were all cursing at the bird for having learned to torture them with fireballs in addition to his Rending Claw attacks.

Thor was equally easy to find, but that was because the Berserker training area was outdoors, and you could hear the bugling celebrations as Thor competed against his classmates to see who could create the largest sand plume with their Earthquake skill.

It seemed silly, but focusing the shockwaves took a lot of skill and practice. Throwing up a large sand plume wasn't as easy as it sounded, you had to precisely focus the shockwaves to get them to concentrate in one single spot.

It was the proper way to target a single person with [Earthquake] to knock them to the ground, instead of making a whole area shake as a disruption tactic, and those who could do it were very proud of their skills.

"Alright everyone, time for lunch. We will be back to training in the afternoon." Karl called, using the mental link to ensure that the beasts heard him.

[Fine, we're all hungry anyhow.] Thor agreed, but didn't leave until he had a chance to say goodbye to all his classmates individually.

Hawk, on the other hand, simply circled the students once, then flew over to Karl and vanished into his space to decide what he wanted out of the piles of meat that he had amassed.

The fact that nothing went bad in that space was a blessing. Hawk had the better part of a dozen different meat products in there, both raw and cooked, so that he could pick and choose what he wanted based on his mood.

Some could be discarded as nutritious growth options soon, unless Karl wanted them for himself, like the roast chickens from the cafeteria, but they were all still meat.