Chapter 178: The Morning After

"Ah! Good Morning Everyone!" Drake shouted coming out of his tent, holding a mug of something, "And what a wonderful morning it is!" he shouted, Bjorn, passed by, stopping, and looking at him like he was ready to be entertained.

"Why are you looking so glum, friend?" Drake smiled at Bjorn, "Get some 'experience' too, it will put a smile on your face!"

"Everyone and your mother heard your experience last night bro, and I'll pass for now I got training to do," Bjorn scoffed shouldering his claymore.

"Awe, you're a party pooper man," Drake sighed, "Fine, I'll be there in a little, you going to snag the kid?" Drake asked, deflating.

"Yeah, I got Shigure, don't worry about it. Remember aftercare is important," Bjorn winked.

"Hey!" Drake snapped, "It wasn't like that! Yet… I meeeeean, we don't kink shame here dude."

The sound of the tent flaps opening sounded behind him, and a sheepish Claire walked out pulling on Drake's clothes.

"Oh you heard all that?" Drake snickered.

Claire nodded silently, her face slightly scarlet.

"I'll summon some hot water, you can take a bath first in the tent if you'd like Claire," Drake offered, to which she nodded again.

"Boarish ape…." Natto sneered in his head.

Hey! I was very gentle. And it's kind of weird to think about now after the fact, but you were technically there for that whole thing weren't-

"Ahhhhhhh! Say no more! I beg of youuuuuuuu!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Drake laughed.

Did you want to take a shower too, wash the disgust from yourself? Drake smirked.

Natto rolled out of Drake's head and to his shoulder, then hopped down without a word entering the tent.

"Enough water for a bath you foul-smelling bipedal, single-celled, sad excuse for a man," Natto cringed.

"Hey Natto," Drake said, stopping her.

Natto turned around, her face cocked in a curious look.

"I won the bet," Drake sneered.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!! Shut up!" Natto screamed, covering her red-furred ears.

Drake reared his head back cackling, almost dropping to the floor before recovering a few minutes later wiping tears from his eyes. Finally getting to filling up buckets of hot bath water and bringing them into the tent.

There Claire was still clothed, speaking to Natto about something. Drake dropped the barrels down and brought out a larger tub-like wooden barrel, pouring the water into it.

"Here's some extra to rinse off, I'll be outside when you're done."

Drake left understanding that they most likely wanted to talk about something.

Once outside he quickly began practicing. He had been slacking on assimilating his new skills and seeing the extent of the upgrades that came with his new race.

His magic felt more natural than ever, and the energy within his own body felt cleaner and more accessible. Flexing his hand his arm began glowing in a red hue, his martial skill brimming to life and dissipating. The skill felt more in tune, much like his other skills.

Not only had they become more powerful, but Drake could feel how they had become more in line with his imagination.

His magic had come leaps in bounds in strength. And the adaptability thanks to the increased control and mana pool helped him in ways he didn't think should be possible.

"I'm still F-Rank and I can take down a mid E-Rank… I don't think that's supposed to be normal," he thought aloud.

"What's not normal? I never thought you were normal for a second anyway bro," Bjorn said, returning.

"Well, that's just rude. I was talking about the strength increase from the change that happened. I'm wondering if yours could be the same?"

Shigure stood silently behind Bjorn, his brow raised as he listened in.

"I suppose it's fine to tell him now?" Drake asked.

"I don't really mind. I haven't exactly been hiding it but I won't bring it up," Bjorn shrugged.

"Well," Drake began looking at Shigure, "I'm not human anymore, but I'm sure you could guess that based on the skin tone change and the hair. And no I'm not a Sayian," Drake said with a little disappointment in his voice.

Shigure looked only slightly shocked, but seemed to have already guessed what Drake had revealed.

"I guessed something had changed, but a Race change is quite substantial… Was it an item?" Shigure asked.

Drake shook his head, "No I won't give you a specific, but it wasn't an item, and it wasn't by choice."

"Not by choice?" Shigure questioned.

Drake nodded, "It was forced onto me when I met the tutorial's sponsor," Drake explained, shivering slightly, remembering the feeling of the Dragon Woman's hand inside his back.

"What? I thought consuming skill stones had to be by choice?"

"That's what I thought too, but apparently an S-Rank being can do whatever they want," Drake scoffed, "But I was told the system will punish her for doing it since it's still against the rules. But back to what we were planning, do you think you could get your friend Sato as well? I'm going to be bringing some from my party as well. Might as well make this a group exercise. We want everyone to survive out there after all."

Shigure winced, but nodded, "Yes, I'll go see to him then…" then mumbled, "Damn it, now I have to hear more stupid show references….."

Bjorn followed Shigure with his eyes until he was past the tents.

"Surprised you trusted him with that. Something happen?" Bjorn asked.

"Not really. Just think I should trust him a bit more since we're going to be partners for what's to come," Drake explained, twirling some of his spells in his hand.

"Decided to work together then huh."

"Yup. What about you? What are your plans after the tutorial?"

Bjorn placed his hand on his chin, "Hmmm, not sure if I'm being honest."

Drake looked at him a little confused, "Well you have to at least come find me, I'm sorry it has to sound this way. But the world can't have you running around unsupervised."

"You sound like a mother worried about her kid going off for the first time," Bjorn scoffed, "I wouldn't worry about that, I'm sure I'll find you. I'm just not sure about what my goals are. I've just wanted a quiet life, but I don't think I'll be able to manage that…"

Drake stood up and placed his hand on the big man's shoulder, "I'm sure we can work something out. Come find me after the tutorial, and I'll carve out a little home away from home for you where no one will bother you, promise."

Bjorn pushed Drake's hand off, placing a closed fist in front of him, "Sounds great bro."

Drake met with his own fist and bumped Bjorn's just in time for Claire to walk out of the tent, her hair still slightly damp, Natto on her shoulder just as watered down.

"Ah! I am alive again!" Natto shouted, raising her arms, "You ape, enough of your dallying, dry us off," she demanded.

Drake looked at Claire and smiled.

"Yes, yes, right away your Highness," Drake said complying as he waved his hand a warm gentle breeze blowing towards the pair, "Something about a woman coming out of the shower, is special…." he mumbled.

"What? I can't hear you over the wind!" Claire shouted.

"Oh I know, that's why I said it," Drake grinned.

"That's foul bro," Bjorn frowned, "But I can't help but agree."

"I knew you had some stories to tell!" Drake said, snapping back to Bjorn.

Bjorn shrugged and began walking off towards the other tents, "I never said I didn't, but you won't be getting them out of me bro," he said laughing as he walked into the distance.

"How was the bath?" Drake asked after a few minutes of drying Claire and Natto off.

"It was heavenly… I wish we had some proper soap though…" Claire admitted.

"We had a long talk," Natto nodded, "The bath was adequate as well."

"Oh a talk huh? About what?" Drake asked, raising an eyebrow.

"N-nothing…" Claire said, slightly embarrassed, but Drake was also able to make out a bit of sadness in her eyes.

Drake turned to Natto, his eyes burrowing into her for an answer.

"W-what?! I did nothing not uncalled for! But I will not speak of it! Out of respect for the zappy zappy girl."

"My name is Claire…" Claire whimpered.

"That is what I said," Natto replied.

Drake shook his head, "Right, well let's get some breakfast, we have a long day of sparing ahead of us."

—---

"Everybody here?" Drake shouted looking around.

"Hai, Shishou! Thank you for including me in this!" Sato replied with gusto.

"Who is this guy?" Chelsea mumbled to Jacqueline.

"Looks like another tosser. Man probably brought him just to have a laugh, yeah?" Jacqueline whispered back.

"No whispering in class!" Drake yelled pointing at Chelsea and Jacqueline, "Serious time!"

"When have you ever been serious, ya twit?" Jacqueline laughed.

"Fair! But serious time is now. We have thirty days to do as much as possible in the way of helping everyone's combat abilities. And I plan on forcing every last one of you to do so. I don't want any dead party members once you are out of my sight alright?" Drake explained.

"So what will we be doing then Sir?" Amir asked.

"Good question Amir! You will each pair off with someone who is relatively your same level and spar. Everyone should focus on hand-to-hand combat for now and then we will move on to honing your skills and spells after," Drake instructed.

"But why would I need hand-to-hand if I can use my damn lil uns?" Hudson said, a little grumpily.

"Well Mr. Scrooge, if you fight something that can tank your bots, what are you going to do? Drop your pants and turn around? Hope for the best?" Drake scoffed, " No first thing is foundation, most of you are warrior or ranger-based classes before your upgrades, which means you will need to be skilled in a few areas regardless of how strong your current class is with its skills. You will find a monster or person you will not be able to beat with your skills alone so you need to take measures to survive when your skills are ineffective or on cooldown."

"Wouldn't we just die if we met someone like you or Bear…?" Julia offered.

"True, but we are talking about the more slightly above-average people and monsters. We shouldn't be your baseline for strength. Both Bear and I are freaks."

"Not cool bro," Bjorn added.

Drake chuckled but continued, "The opponents I am referring to would be people and monsters who are slightly above your level, possibly 3 to 5 more. And who may be a bad matchup for you. The point of these sparing sessions are going to be how you handle a situation that isn't in your favor. But to get to that, I need all of you to have alternative means than your regular class to survive. That means kiting, delaying for cooldowns, deception, pulling your pants down. Whatever it is, to be honed and help you overall."

"We can skip that last one right?" Sato asked, some paper and a pen in his hands.

"Yes, you can skip the last one…" Drake laughed.

"My Lord, what wouldeth be the next part in our said regiment after the sparing?" Theodore asked, his brow already sweating from the expected answer.

Drake smiled widely and spread his arms, "Theo my good boy! You will be fighting us three!"

"That's a joke right?"

"I'm going back to bed."

"I didn't think I would make it out of the tutorial but not like this…."

Grumbles and complaints came from the group but Drake ignored them, opening up his inventory to show some of the goodies he had gotten from the Goblin Hoard he still had yet to use.

"Stay and do it, and get your pick. Also Bear is supplying the potions."

"I'm in!"

"Why didn't you say so you idjit!"

"Bloody asshole always leaves the best till after we're angry!"

"This one would have stayed regardless my Lord…"

"Shhh love, just grab the good stuff alright?"

Drake smiled, "Suckers," he whispered.