Combo (Part 1)

I walked into the Sharman's abode to see an old man sitting in a chair. The floor had been covered with various beast furs and the walls were made from a mixture of earth magic and rock. This did not mean that the building was shabby by any means, however. In my opinion, the whole village had a rather unique design.

This was because the bottom floor was made by Heyu's earth magic while the top floor was built into a massive tree. This had allowed people to enter and exit more freely. There was a massive support beam that held up the places that could not be held up by the thick branches.

Heyu had been pivotal in the construction of various new buildings including a school for children an upgraded medical hut ( which was what I was standing in) as well as a windmill for crushing up a grain we had found by accident on our travels.

Loki had been working with the old man otherwise known as the doctor of this village for quite some time. He had told me various stories about how the Tulk were rather ingenious when it came to the medicine.

In fact, he had calculated that they were probably one of the most advanced on this particular continent. As I thought about all of this a meal that was served on massive leaves was brought to the table by Loki before he sat down.

Wild mushrooms that had been grilled, fresh fish from the lake and some seasonal vegetables had all been plated in front of me making me drool.

" Your food is always amazing!" I said with stars in my eyes as I took in the umami aroma.

" Didn't you want to talk about some combo?" Loki said cheekily.

" But food!" Kibbles said excitedly as he drooled.

" Lucky I made extra, Old Man you better wake up before Kibbles and Yuki eat your portion," Loki said as he shoved the doctor.

The Sharman woke up and glared.

" Is this how you treat the weak and elderly" The man said as he grumped.

" You frail? Since when? I am sure you will even outlive even me Muta!" Loki said with a grin.

[ Aren't you like 3 billion or something?! ]

"Technically Loki only like five years old," Kibbles said next to me telepathically.

When Kibbles is in his human form he is able to communicate using his human voice box. That being said since we are connected by a soul bond he really doesn't have to. He does when Heyu, Nathan and the rest are around so they can hear him. I was very glad at this moment he was using what I now called his "inside voice" or I was sure that Muta would have had a heart attack.

[ I guess it has been about that long since Loki split from Cupid ]

I looked over at Loki and smiled as I took a piece of fish.

" Delicious!" I said as I chewed.

" Don't you be eating all of my lunch, you damn kids!" Muta said with a grizzly voice as he made his way over.

Muta came across as grumpy but he had a hidden soft spot. He reminded me of my grandfather so I couldn't help but smile whenever I saw him.

" We won't!" Kibbles and I said in unison before looking at each other and laughing.

The home of the Tulk had very much become a " Home" to me. I had spent way longer here than in Tama. The Tulk had not only welcomed us with open arms but had also passed down their body strengthening techniques to all of us. Nathan, Heyu, Loki, Sora, Kibbles and myself had all found a place here where we belonged.

We finished our meal and complimented Loki on yet another delicious meal before we started to discuss our problems with the combo we had been working on.

" Whenever I use my fire it just burns whatever Yuki sends out," Kibbles said as he pouted.

" Of course it does you, damn runt!" Muta said as he shook his head.

" We can't seem to get a combo going through... Are we may be doing this wrong?" I said thinking out loud.

" When two magic users have the same magic they feed off each other and amplify. Kibble's fire magic as per law will always burn your wood magic" Loki said agreeing with Muta.

" Then what do we do Loki?" Kibbles said as he held his stomach.

" Use Yuki's magic to support yours. A fire burns hotter with more fuel" Loki said bluntly.

" It doesn't last long enough Kibble's fire magic is fierce," I said frowning.

" Then you should find a wood-based material that has a hotter burning temperature" Muta said as he tapped his wooden cane on the ground.

" Can you think of anything like that around here?" I said to Muta.

" Fairy wood dipped in salamander oil could do the trick," Muta said after he thought for a moment.

" You mean what they use to keep the forge hot?" Loki said tilting his head.

" less stupid then you look!" Muta replied in jest.

" I would need a lot and salamander oil is rare" Kibbles replied after a moment.

Kibbles had been working at the forge using the place to strengthen his fire magic. It was actually there that he figured out a few of his abilities, not to mention his fire control had drastically improved.

" Maybe try asking Sora?" Loki said after a moment.

Sora was light on his feet and had the most fun when it came to fighting so he and the hunting party had gotten along as it only took a few months before he had become a hunting party leader.

" When it comes to the wilderness he probably knows the most out of all of us," Kibbles said in agreement.

" I guess we should go find him then," I said as I stood.

" Eating and running is a bad habit," Loki said with a teasing tone.

" Do you need me to check the tree?" I replied talking about the building Loki and Muta lived in.

" Nope just would have been nice if you stayed for a bit. I guess we can have dinner later so you can make it up to me." Loki said with a smile.

" Sounds like a plan!' I replied as I nodded.

" Cya old man Muta, Bye Loki," Kibbles said as he waved to them both.

"I hope you don't get any patients today," I said before bowing.

" Stay out of trouble you two!" Muta said as we left.

" If I were Sora where would I be right now?" I said out loud as I looked at Kibbles.

Kibbles and I looked at each other before nodding.

" The training grounds! " Kibbles and I said in unison.

Kibbles grabbed onto my arm as we decided to stroll down to the grounds. It really wasn't too far away and Kibbles would have to use magic every time he transformed so we decided to walk and save energy.

Not to mention burn off lunch.

Arm in arm we talked about not much and laughed about Muta's bad attitude.

As we were walking we saw Nathan running down the road with papers in his hands. His soul beast Undine floating behind him.

" Nathan, you okay?" I shouted across the street.

Nathan too had grown significantly. He had grown rather tall and had a scholarly look about him. He had become confident as he grew older and had become the backbone to the entire town. When it came to anything related to improving infrastructure or the barter system Nathan was second to none.

His work had improved the lively hoods of everyone around us. Not to mention when Undine and he worked together he would make short work of watering the crops. Undine had also shown the town how to gather fish more efficiently leading to the food shortage being fixed.

Nathan ran up to us with a smile before he petted Kibbles on the head with one arm. He was just about to drop his papers before Undine behind him transformed into a young man with dragon-like scales on his face.

He was rather short and had a permanent scowl on his face. I couldn't help but feel empathy considering I too had a naturally grumpy expression.

Undine caught the papers without even blinking before yelling at Nathan.

" You should really be less clumsy. These papers are important!"

"Hhaah yeah sorry about that!" Nathan said with a sheepish grin.

" So why are you running," Kibbles said confused.

" We need to get these to the clan leader so she can look over them!" Nathan said with a broad grin.

" Oh you are going the same way we are, want to go together?" I said as I looked at the pair.

Undine and Kibbles looked at each other before they crossed their arms and looked away.

Maybe it was because Undine was a water beast and Kibbles was a fire beast but they had always seemed to be in competition with one another. At first, it was cute but the battles had become more and more fierce whenever they exchanged pointers leaving both Nathan and me at a loss.

Nathan looked at Undine and had a disappointed look on his face while I had the same appearance when I looked at Kibbles.

" Can you to play nice for a little while?" Nathan said as he looked at Undine.

" As long as he doesn't try and go near you. I would have for you to stink of cat!" Undine said as he began to walk off.

" Better than smelling like fish you big jerk!" Kibbles responded as he began to walk slightly ahead of Undine.

Undine picked up the pace and Nathan and I could only shrug as we watched them compete in " Who could walk the fastest".

" Shall we?" I said as I took some papers from Nathan.

" Of course!" Nathan said as he beamed.