Ajax was a bit disappointed in not being able to form a bond. Not only that he knew that in order to find any creature that would be of an acceptable level he would need to head out towards the edge of humanoid lands as creatures strong enough to bond with him would have been culled already.
This disappointment was quickly suppressed by the dedicated training and research he was conducting with Balnazar as well as Evelyn. Finding out about Evelyn’s official promotion was a cause of celebration only she didn’t see it that way, instead she focused on pushing him harder so that she could be ready for the rematch that would soon follow.
“Are you sure you don’t need some healing boy?” Balthazar asked as they finished for the day.
“I’m sure.” Ajax confirmed. “I have [Curse Resistance] and it’d be best to let that work a little.”
A look of pure jealousy flashed over Evelyn’s face hearing that but she simply shook her head and decided it to accept it as just another oddity of his, she did however decided to not cleanse the few specs of cursed mana that had infected her and instead let them run their course in hopes of getting the skill.
Ajax’s hands we both blanketed in cursed mana. He had spent a good part of his stamina for today trying to adapt him [Cursed Slash] into a [Cursed Shot] for his bow. Much like the beginning of cursed slash he was doing this by transforming cursed mana from a stamina sacrifice and simply releasing it.
As it turns out Ajax’s natural talent for archery is lower than his talent for blades, not only that but in order to unlock cursed slash he can release the cursed mana at any point before the slash makes contact, for his cursed shot to work the timing needs to be much cleaner coinciding perfectly with the moment the arrow is released.
Generating cursed mana without the guidance of the skill was not only more dangerous for Ajax but it also consumed a lot more stamina, once he got home he gave a tired greeting before crawling into his bead and falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Going to sleep that early had a few benefits as Ajax woke up a lot sooner than he would otherwise feel refreshed. Not only that but the remnants of the cursed mana were fully gone from his arms after a good night's sleep. Ajax made good use of the extra time and took a quick trip to his hives where he used up half of his mana pool injecting the plants that had started to run a bit low, it had been longer than a week since Ajax last paid the place a visit.
It also came as no surprise to Ajax to find that people were already collecting honey from the hives as he instructed his sisters that it was time. What was surprising was that a few of these trusted aides had no idea what he looked like and started walking towards him telling him to go away only to be dragged to one side by of the other workers who recognised him. A few people were left very embarrassed that day but Ajax didn’t mind it as he appreciated how seriously his sister’s people took their jobs.
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“CAN EVERYBODY PLEASE CALM DOWN AND TAKE A SEAT!” for the first time since Ajax had met professor Silvertongue he had felt the man angrily flare his aura.
Having a bond was a reason for celebration but the early days of a bond were fragile, this meant that separating the person from their bond wasn’t ideal and as such class now had to happen with numerous bonds also taking part.
Ajax clearly remembered just how energetic Fluffy had been back when Tom had first bonded, now while the current bonds weren’t as young as Fluffy had been but some of them were also much larger.
Benedict’s bond was the picture of obedience, he laid down at his feet as it calmly looked over the chaos of the class. Lexi however was very much getting a taste of the own medicine, her scaly bond wasn’t being too much of a nuisance to the rest of the class but it had taken a personal mission to poke and prod her new bond every time Lexi stopped paying attention to it.
The most unruly bond of them all had to be the rat, despite it not being very disruptive Ajax had counted and the rodent had already taken five whole laps around the classroom, each time having taken a different route as it looked to be doing its own version of parkour.
The problem and the reason for professor Silvertongue’s anger was the second most energetic bond of the lot. Unlike the rat who could reasonably burn off the excess energy without being too much of a headache, the bison had a much tougher time moving around. Ajax had come to dread their upcoming Alchemy lesson as it seemed the idiom bull in a china shop was going to be reenacted by the bison and the shelves filled with ingredients.
Despite the fact that all the students had plenty of experience being exposed to auras the same could not be said for their new bonds. All of them instantly froze before cowering submissively as they placed their new bond between themselves and the professor.
In a twist of irony it was Benedict's bond, the one who was causing no trouble at all, that was most affected by the blast of aura. Its instinct to submit to the much stronger presence warred with the instinct to help protect its new alpha causing the bond to agitated for the first time since it walked in the door.
“Those of you who cannot keep your bonds under control please take them outside and ensure they dispense their energy, you will have to make up today's lesson on your own, a repeat of what happened here will not be acceptable in your next class.” the professor quickly regained his composure following his outburst.
Lexi was the first to stand up and lead her bond out the door, the malevolent glint in her eye as well as the teasing smirk however betrayed the fact that she was doing so in order to get back at her bond and not because she couldn’t keep it under control. Quietly three other people also left the classroom with the rat, bison and playful fox following them out. Benedict and his wolf as well as the girl with a falcon were the only one to remain.
The rest of the class had passed without any more incidents and Ajax was sent ahead by the professor to warn professor Vilethorn about the incoming bonds. As it turns out this wasn’t needed as the professor had fully expected this and had prepared for today's class to be a lesson on how to gather ingredients in the wild.
The professor had set up all sorts of different flowers, vines, moss or bushes that needed to be properly collected. Not only that but quite a bit of thought had clearly gone into making a special set-up for Ajax. At first glance his set-up wasn’t that much different but at a closer look he would be forced to careful manoeuvre in enclosed space as well as carefully dig out roots in a rocky area.
“This is perhaps one of the most important things I can teach you.” professor Vilethorn said as she tapped him on the shoulder almost making him flinch and ruing the flowerhead he was collecting.
“Thank you, professor.” Ajax said a little awkwardly as he wasn’t sure how to tell the professor not to bother him as he needed to concentrate.
“Gathering things inside the dungeon as a dungeon crafter is not only your best source of plants for experiments but you will often fight ingredients in odd spots that would almost never naturally occur in nature.” She continued. “Learning to collect them while remaining vigilant of being ambushed is also something you must pick up.”
It was only after the last sentence that Ajax realised he had never noticed when the professor approached him. He was fully focused on not ruining the extraction of the plant that he had fully dropped his guard. This was not something that was acceptable in the dungeon.