Chapter 13: Training with Hans Part 1.

The initial training was quite mild actually, because both Nepheli and Franz had no real combat experience, Hans first made them both acquainted with his beasts.

Even Franz who had been training with Hans for some time was quite familiar with this type of training and knew how useful it could become even with the mysterious screen in his possession, the training consisted of sending his beasts into soul space, quite easy actually, the second step was to ask his beasts to do all kinds of movements that they knew by nature and that they believed they could serve in combat or something else, for this step the beast needed to have enough intelligence to be able to understand the intentions of its tamer.

A clear example of this was Pom Pom, as slime his intelligence was too poor for this type of training despite its simplicity, but thanks to the incident with the aberration, the slime had acquired enough intelligence to carry out such training.

There was an important point that many novice tamers forgot when training their beasts, for many it might sound silly, but it happened more often than one might think.

Many beasts had abilities or strangeness that either because they were considered weak or the usefulness of said ability was not understood, they were not cataloged as a skill in itself, the most vivid example was Pom Pom who as a slime was able to shoot small projectiles of mana, however, these were too weak since they could hardly damage a common beast such as some birds or dogs and their range was limited to only two meters.

It was also rocky that he had a strange ability called avatar language, no one knew exactly what it was for, Franz could not say that he knew either since the mysterious screen did not catalog it as a skill, it was impossible for Franz to see its description and its usefulness.

However, delving into the research of such skills was actually quite useful, as this was one of the ways in which a beast tamer could learn to create new skills for his beasts.

An example would be the mana shot, which with enough training could become so strong as to injure other beasts of the same category and level.

- Master, Shadow learned something new! – Nepheli said who quickly took shadow out of his soul space.

Strangely, his skin, which was black due to excess melanin, was now a brown hue that to some extent camouflaged with the dirt of the training ground.

- Impressive Nepheli, now shadow has brought out his hunting skills, the problem with these beasts is that since they are in captivity and do not need to hunt for food, they tend to forget some of their skills – Hans explained.

Now that Franz thought about it, in reality the beasts of a tamer used to be a little weaker than those that are out in the wild for the same reason that Hans had just explained.

Looking at shadow who was happily rolling in the dirt like a puppy, Franz shifted his gaze to Pom Pom who kept firing small projectiles at some training dummies, the only thing that could be heard was the small sound of something colliding, however, it was barely perceptible.

Franz was wondering what he could do to help Pom Pom improve said skill, soul space was not something that could be used consistently, too fast an upgrade was not good and soul space was like an empty room, there was no one to practice with and there was no one to practice with, so it was easy to get stuck even with the help that the soul space naturally provided.

Just as Franz was about to ask Hans for some advice, a change occurred, Pom Pom who was firing shells relentlessly stopped for a moment, Franz wondered what was going on.

This time, a small projectile materialized in front of Pom Pom, drawing everyone's attention, although the projectile was the same size as the previous ones, Franz could tell that the mana inside was much higher than that of the previous projectiles.

This time the mana projectile was strong enough to destroy the training dummy, also the noise it caused on impact was loud enough to attract the attention of others.

Some people even came over and seeing what Pom Pom had done, some even exclaimed.

-Shit! Dude, that slime is strong! –

- Hey, do you think you could get one of those? –

- If I risk being hospitalized, of course, Hahahahaha –

Many other people also commented on the slime, Pom Pom receiving so many comments of praise approached Franz, being able to feel the shame of his beast, Franz took him in his arms and gave a compliment to the little slime, making him feel even more embarrassed.

- You did well Pom Pom, if we keep it up, one day we too will be able to travel to amazing places like Mr. Hans –

Pom Pom snuggled into her arms and sent her emotions through the soul connection.

- That was impressive Franz, why don't we train together? – Nepheli said who was also excited to have learned something new.

- What do you think Franz? Maybe they can learn something, I'll be watching them so that no accident happens – Hans said, waiting for Franz's answer.

- Sure, just don't regret it when I kick your ass –

Nepheli who heard Franz's answer only showed him her tongue, warning him that Shadow would make him swallow his words and the dust of the earth.

Franz laughed and fixed his gaze elsewhere, specifically on the mysterious screen that now showed something new.

Slime (Hierro): Pom Pom

Current Kingdom: First Grade Beast.

Skills:

Mana Reserve (B)(Advanced)

Polymorph (D) (intermediate)

Minor Healing Fluid (D+) (Advanced)

Mana Pebble (E+) (Mastered)

According to common knowledge, the quality of a skill ranged from D being the worst and S being legendary category skills that only some beasts possessed, to as far as Franz knew, there were no records of any skill categorized in E, but, at least now he knew because the mysterious screen did not catalog such skills as just another skill.

. . . . .

- You can get started! – Hans shouted, starting the fight.

The first to move was of course Shadow, an arboreal jaguar, he didn't really have any impressive abilities except for his speed and impressive strength that could compete with some beasts of a higher rank, otherwise, the only ability he had with him, was the camouflage power that didn't do much good in the open field where everything was in plain sight.

In the eyes of many, the speed of a beast like shadow could be intimidating, but not to Franz, he was watching every move shadow was about to make, as if he was seeing the future through his eyes.

- "Pom Pom, Shadow will move one meter to the right in three seconds, shoot when I give you the signal" - Franz said through the soul connection.

Shadow had already reached the middle of the battlefield, Franz who was prepared for any move, watched as the energy in shadow began to fluctuate strangely.

- "! Pom Pom, ataca ahora!" –

With the signal given, Pom Pom created a mana projectile, Nepheli who was also attentive to the battle indicated to Shadow to be careful, he nodded, however, it was too late, at the moment he jumped to his right to be able to confuse Franz, a projectile hit his leg causing him to lose his balance.

Shadow tried to get up again, but was hit by another mana projectile in the head causing him to lose his balance for a moment, but with Nepheli's help he managed to recover and began to run again towards Franz, however, the same event occurred several times.

Hans, who watched the whole fight from the sidelines, watched and analyzed Franz.

- 'It's almost like I can foresee the future' -

Hans didn't know if it was due to some special talent or if it was the innate ability Franz possessed for combat, whatever the reason, Franz might have the potential to turn the tables on a fight.

At some point in the fight, Shadow had managed to get in front of Franz, Hans who saw everything, was about to stop the fight, however, he stopped after thinking about it, he wanted to know how far Franz could go without his intervention.

And the result certainly impressed him.

In Franz's eyes, Shadow's energy began to fluctuate, then his body began to follow the movements of those fluctuations.

Shadow pawed at Franz's right arm, but Franz only needed to turn his body a little to dodge the attack successfully.

Even Nepheli, who was about to summon Shadow back to soul space to avoid an accident, stopped due to surprise.

Shadow continued to attack and both Franz and Pom Pom continued to dodge each attack with precision.

-Enough! Hans said, making the three of them stop.

Nepheli who had come out of his surprise summoned Shadow to his soul space and seeing that he was depressed for having lost, she comforted him by promising him good quality meat later.

Hans asked the two to come closer and began to speak.

- The two of you did a good job, Franz, I see that you have been able to connect with your beast, well done, however, as a beast tamer you must not let the enemy approach you, this time we are in a controlled environment, but outside it will not be the same, you must keep that in mind -

- I'll keep that in mind, master – Franz replied.

Hans nodded satisfied and turned to Nepheli - Nepheli, your beast is strong, however, it is impulsive, it had some opportunities to defend itself, but it did not know how to take advantage of them, you must work on it, you should also take it to learn some skills, your beast is very defenseless before it can approach the enemy, your beast will not always be able to have an environment that is in its favor -

- I will work on it, master! Nepheli said with a seriousness that Franz would not believe in her.

- Very well, this time I will teach you a little self-defense, you must also train your bodies, although I told you that you should not let the enemy approach you as tamers, the truth is that you will not always be able to control that -

With all that said, Franz and Nepheli changed into more comfortable clothes, this time the two would fight in hand-to-hand combat.

- Be careful Franz, this time I will take care of avenging Shadow - Nepheli said with a big smile.

Franz did not heed his friend's warning, with his skills he was sure that he could beat Nepheli or so he thought before...