Joining a class

I considered briefly leaving the other two skill books behind. I needed to focus completely on attack, more over I wanted to resch the pinnacle of attack. I wanted to be able to slay my opponents with a single attack if possible. These other skills could potentially get in the way of that if I relied on them.

I decided to take all three of them anyways. I could do like Serena had done and simply save them for later. As I took the books Mary spoke.

"To learn the skills in the books you need to read the book in it's entirety. You need to understand not only the concept and the message of the book, but any underlying meanings. I would recommend focusing on a single book at a time, and if you're looking in a month perhaps you will learn the skill."

I nodded at her words, but I knew that they were unnecessary. Perhaps if I was someone else this process would be needed, but for me I could have the skill tomorrow. I thought this, but my eyes wandered to the ring on my hand. I shook my head. The chances of the skill appearing on my limited identity would be small if I used that method.

Mentally I sighed. I would have to do this the hard way. My free time would be spent studying this book. A small smile appeared on my face as I thought about it. It was truly not that bad, I did after all enjoy reading and I now had an excuse to do so.

My mind quickly changed gears though. Mary's words had woken up something inside of me. I had found a path to walk. My blade had taken the form of claws because that was the only experience I had in fighting. The path I wanted to take was that of a single strike. A strike that would fell my enemies. A strike that would put my entirety into it.

A sword would be much more suitable for this than my claws. Not just any sword, but a long and thin blade. A blade that could strike with with precision as well as speed. A strike that could carry power.

The image of a katana appeared in my mind. A blade that could be used with one hand or two. A blade that carried all of the requirements I had. I shook my head. A katana was a weapon that would suit my needs, but it did not suit me.

My claws had formed because they suited me. I summed them before me. Three blades appeared attached to my hands. The blades were around 6 inches long, and slightly curved.

I shook my head as I examined the blades. These blades would not fulfill my desire. But as I did so the blade changed its form. The claws disappeared, changing into a large katana like blade. It was different from a normal katana, and resembled one giant claw.

As I swung the blade around it felt natural in my hands, like it was en extension of my body. It felt much better than the form the sword had originally taken, and just as natural as my claws had.

The form only lasted a moment, before it once again reverted back to its previous claw form. Both changes were instantaneous, but I noticed my mana had decreased by a fairly large amount. The new form of my blade would cost mana to form, and It only lasted a moment. But that moment was enough to deliver the single attack I wanted.

I nodded to myself. I would need to train with this new form as well, but that is something I could do with my Master.

I looked up to see Mary staring at me, or more precisely she was staring at my claw blades. I smiled at her.

"You like them? I would let you try them out, but unfortunately they are a soulbound item."

Mary had a shocked expression on her face as she heard the words 'Soulbound', but she quickly covered it up. After a few moments she nodded. "Well if you will follow me Mr. Blackwater I will lead you to your class."

I nodded, and turned to say my goodbyes to Serena. She had a smile on her face, and quickly departed to her own class. It was strange, this was this first time I had been without her in this strange world, and it suddenly felt kind of empty. I knew I would see her again this afternoon, but it did little to ease the empty feeling that had taken root in my chest.

I watched her walk away. Her hips had a seductive sway as she walked. Her blonde hair and black uniform left a stunning image in my mind.

As I turned to face Mary I noticed she had an amused expression on her face. "Quite attached are we?"

I nodded subconsciously, only now really realizing it was true. "She is a good woman". I said, but quickly turned my focus to the day ahead of me. It was time for me to begin training, and that would take all of my attention.

Mary led us down the long hallway. As we walked I noticed that even though she had a large frame, her movements were not heavy. She could not be seen as graceful, that was something that would forever elude the woman. But, each of her movements had a purpose, and if one looked closely they could sense the aura of a caged animal that was ready to pounce.

I grinned as I thought about this. Learning from this woman would be interesting to say the least.

Eventually she led to me a large room, in it was a total of 9 other students. They looked older than I was, and I could tell at a glance that they were all stronger than I was. The most noticeable thing however was that every single one of them were beastmen like myself.

There was a total of 3 bears, 2 wolves, a fox, a sloth, and 2 reptiles. Most of the members of the group were male, with the fox and a bear being the the only girls. The students bowed to Mary as she entered the room, but the students eyes were glued to me as I entered.

Mary smiled as she looked at the students. "Class this is a new student, he has just registered today. His name is Sebastian Blackwater, and as you can tell he is a member of the Black Cat tribe."

I bowed to my fellow students. "I will be in your care." I said, which was greeted by several words of welcome from the students. Inwardly I scoffed. They were as easy to manipulate as humans.