Chapter 212: Affinities

Thor was laughing in Karl's mind that they thought just any human cleric would be compatible with his skill. Blue Dragons had lightning breath, of course their High Priestess would be compatible with Refreshing Lightning. Nature Priests might as well, since they were more attuned to animals than humans. But the average, run-of-the-mill cleric, guard or any other class? Highly unlikely.

Maybe a Druid might be able to use it, but Thor didn't know any Druids, he had only heard of them and seen a few.

"You seem to know something that the rest of us don't." The High Priestess informed Karl with a serious look.

"Blue Dragons have lightning breath." Karl replied simply.

The High Priestess facepalmed, and then sighed. "Of course they do. So, it's not a matter of just the class category, you have to have an affinity for Lightning. Alright, I will have to make copies later, and then teach them to some other Blue Dragon Clerics.

We don't usually go out and get in fights, but not all knowledge is conveniently indoors and in books. Plus, when you're teaching the more rambunctious students, the skill might come in useful."

Karl wondered what sort of classes she had been teaching that might require defensive magic on the part of the teachers. Certainly, no class that he had been in, but maybe they were instructing new clerics who hadn't mastered their abilities yet.

The younger cleric that they had called in flipped to the first page of the book again. "Why is this book credited to Thor the Lightning Cerro?"

Thor cheered in Karl's mind, making him smile at the room full of clergy.

"That's the beast that I learned the skill from. Naturally, the book would credit him and not me. It's his skill."

"Are there any other skills that you might be able to teach?" The High Priestess asked.

The passive physical enhancements weren't anything he could focus on, nor was Offensive Optimization, which left just two.

"At the moment, just Shred and Rend." Karl replied.

But then he realized that there was one other skill. The beast space skill. He focused on it for a moment and on the skill, before receiving a message.

[Skill Locked. Insufficient Skill Level.]

But as he examined the spaces, Karl realized that they were almost at their maximum, and the efficiency of forcing more energy into them was slowing. They were ready for a qualitative change, but he wasn't quite certain what needed to happen.

First, it was to create an environment, then to make it more realistic. Something needed to change to allow more growth, but Karl wasn't certain what he had missed.

If that was the ability he had gotten from the System Stones, he would have been overjoyed. Skill Books just seemed like a recipe for having other people make him work. Even if only a few people could use them, it would still be a good chunk of his time at one a day.

At least the ones who could use them were Blue Dragon Priests, who seemed to have Inscription among their repertoire of skills.

"What do you think of the Church?" The High Priestess asked, sending Karl's thoughts for a hard left.

He hesitated to come up with an answer as thoughts flashed through his mind. The Church was helpful, sure. But what came to mind first was the assortment of cute cleric girls. Even Tessa was sweet in her own way as she encouraged and buffed Thor as they rode into battle.

The High Priestess gave a very undignified giggle.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that answer. Cute cleric girls with a fondness for monsters and the knowledge of how to scratch a Cerro's head just right is definitely not at the top of most people's minds when they are asked about the Church." She laughed, reminding Karl that she could read his thoughts.

Even the Inquisitors were smiling in Karl's peripheral vision, while the young cleric that had been called in to see if he could work the skill book looked scandalized.

The Blue Dragon Priestess turned her attention to her subordinate with a gentle smile. "Don't get so offended, Nathan. It's not like you had a chance with those two anyhow. Tessa would hurt you, and Lotus would really hurt you."

Nathan made a gesture of protection at the mention of Lotus' name, and the pair of Inquisitors straightened their faces so he didn't see the mockery in their smiles. What the boy had done to earn himself Lotus' enmity must have been bad if everyone knew about it. She wasn't even from the Capital.

"You may leave now. Send in Brother Choi as well. He should be outside by now." The High Priestess instructed, sparing him from any further embarrassment.

Then she turned to Karl with a smile that said that she was definitely breaking some sort of rule he didn't understand. "You see, everyone wants to get their hands on the best talents, and you, young Elite, are the best talents. So, we have arranged a little extra help for you, in hopes that you will become more amenable to working with our forces in the future."

The Inquisitors pretended that they didn't hear the High Priestess saying the inside part out loud as Nathan darted out the door like he was late to the toilet, and a second later, a muscular Church Guard in polished steel armour stepped inside.

"What did you do to the boy this time? He's never going to heal from the trauma if everyone keeps making fun of him." He announced.

"Brother Karl came in with Sisters Tessa and Lotus." The Inquisitor whispered, too low for most to hear, but clear to Karl's ears.

Choi laughed and shook his head.

"Poor bugger. Just when he thought that he escaped."

Karl gave him an intrigued look, and the Guard known as Brother Choi smiled. "Nathan grew up with Tessa, and he had an extreme crush on Lotus at the Seminary Academy. He even went as far as proposing marriage and begging her to join him in renouncing their vows so they could get married and run away with each other.

Of course, nobody told Lotus that he was in love with her, and she beat him nearly to death for playing pranks on her. He's suffered from Gynophobia ever since."

Karl could see that. Lotus was tiny, and in his experience, anyone who was too far from average in any aspect tended to be sensitive to mockery after a lifetime of overexposure. Plus, she was far too close to being on Rae's wavelength for anyone's safety.

Then Brother Choi turned to the High Priestess, who nodded at Karl.

"This one needs mental ability training. Something about the nature of mental spaces or the void or something. You're a Monk, you should know some things about that." She explained.

Brother Choi looked over Karl's toned physique, still lithe and muscular without being too bulky for martial arts, with approval and nodded.

"I suppose I could teach him a thing or two about a Monk's mental discipline. How might it help him, though? Impulse control issues or pure curiosity?"

Karl shook his head. "I have three beasts bonded to me for my primary Class Skill. They live in a mental space that helps feed their growth, but I'm reaching a plateau in the development of the space. I don't know how to change and improve it next, and if I can't, it will limit their growth."

Brother Choi smiled. "So it is a matter similar to the Void of the Monk Classes. Alright, we can work on that. Just let me set up the training dates after you finish with whatever you're doing, and we will be all good."

The High Priestess shook her head. "No, you will start now and continue until he breaks through. It has been ordained by our superiors. They wish to see the youngest Commander in history."

Karl raised his hand. "I would like to point out that I just made it to Ascended Rank."

The Priestess shrugged. "Not my concern. They want what they want, and Brother Choi is going to help you with your mental state.

Oh, that gives me an idea. He can accompany your group when you leave."

The Inquisitor cleared his throat. "High Priestess, there are already two clerics in that group. A third would be against regulation unless we added more members of other specializations."

The old woman tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair, and Karl realized that she had just embarked on a self-appointed mission. She wanted to know the answer to how long it would take him to make Commander, and she just needed to find a way to make it happen.

Most likely, her Goddess demanded it. It was new knowledge that nobody else had recorded before.

"I will have the group enhanced before they are sent out again. What else did we need them here for?" She asked.

"They discovered the new set of System Stones. They are here for publicity and for safekeeping until we are certain that these System Stones really do belong to the World Dragon." The Inquisitor reminded her.

"Who else would they belong to?" Karl asked.

"There was another System recorded in the Dragon Gods' Holy Books, from a time before the World Dragon was born, run by a Chaos God who cared for nothing as much as his personal amusement. Because these System Stones suddenly appeared in the monster zone, there is a suspicion that they might have come from the same place as the monsters, so they might not belong to this world." The Inquisitor informed him.

Karl honestly hadn't expected to get an answer to that question, and now that he had, he was beginning to wish that he hadn't asked.