“Blue, rain daggers!”
At Zachary’s command, a blue blur descended from the trees toward the target. At around the halfway point, Blue put on the brakes, expanding its wings to the fullest. It then let loose with its special ability, using its feathers to produce a light rain that drizzled around the target.
The target, a piece of driftwood sticking out of the sand next to the river, wasn’t harmed in the least. Meanwhile, the culprit of the attack, the little blue jungle bird, had disappeared from view.
“Good job, Blue. Come back.”
He held out his hand and Blue reemerged from the trees. It circled his head and gave a few happy cries before landing. He stroked its feathers and then fed it a small worm.
“Chrr! Chrr!” It sounded very proud of its accomplishment.
Zachary was also satisfied. Blue’s ability to produce rain was useless in a fight. This new routine was still useless against wild Ensouled. But against another summoner, it would be able to buy him a few precious seconds.
“Wow, did he learn a new ability?” Katherine asked.
They were still hunting for aquatic Ensouled by the wide river. It was currently her turn to watch over the fishing pole. The matters from last night and this morning were still fresh in his mind but he put them aside to focus on improving their strength during the day.
Zachary shook his head and replied, “Not a new ability, just a routine of its existing ability. This way, its rain will be slightly useful. But trying to get it to learn a whole new ability is just not possible.”
A routine was just a different way to use an existing ability. For Blue, it was the ability to produce rain. Given its current soul cultivation at the One Path Novice Rank, this was all it could do. However, it was possible to utilize a summoner’s creativity to create different routines for the same ability.
He was thinking of doing a similar thing with Arrow. Its poison attack was very important to him as his only long-range attack. Teaching it a routine would improve its effectiveness by a large margin.
That wasn’t to say that routines could replace abilities. A new ability represented a fundamentally different or greater way of utilizing Eternum and a stronger Ensouled. For Blue, a new ability would be something like infusing so much power into a single raindrop so that it would have the power and sharpness of a blade. Or, it could produce so much rain that it became an actual downpour rather than a drizzle.
But getting new abilities was easier said than done. For some Ensouled, they might naturally learn a new ability as they increase their soul cultivation. If not, certain abilities could be taught given that the Ensouled met the threshold of soul force to produce a specific effect.
“What about your cat? It seems quite talented. Are you going to train it?”
“Marble? I didn’t think about that. Do you have anything in mind?” She asked back.
“I mean… a pet summon is tricky. You can’t tell exactly what ability it has. It has some kind of teleportation ability. Its claws could take out other Ensouled so that could possibly be another ability related to claws or it could be tied to a generic physical strengthening ability. It’s hard to come up with any improvements without knowing its limits.”
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After he finished speaking, Marble popped out of Katherine's shirt and gave him what was probably a dirty look. It stuck out its tongue, licked its lips, and disappeared once more.
His eyes lingered there a little longer before he snorted and looked away.
Katherine chuckled, “I think you don’t have to worry about her. She is very talented.”
“Sure, sure…”
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Zachary and Katherine worked together to catch more Ensouled and reconvened at sundown to share a meal and as well as their spoils.
As the fish skewers sizzled next to the small fire, he held up a small summoning card. Within it was an Ensouled from the river but the anima crystal’s color was green as the forest around them. It was the attribute of life.
The creature was as strange as it was ugly. It could only be described as a slug made up of slimy seaweed. He wasn’t going to waste a summoning card on it until they discovered that it was really difficult to kill.
It had a powerful regenerative ability. Even when its body was pulled into pieces, it could still reconstitute itself. If too many pieces of seaweed were pulled from its body, it would simply grow more.
“Does it have the ability you’re looking for?” Katherine asked, briefly eyeing the card in his hand.
“Nah, it’s ability is tied to its own body. It can’t be used elsewhere. But that’s natural since it is only at the Three Paths Novice Rank. I’ll keep it. If there are no other options, maybe I can raise its soul cultivation until it learns a new ability and hopefully that will be more useful.”
“Mmhmm.”
The pair shared a quiet meal. It was the same routine as yesterday. Except, Zachary had a question he was dying to ask Katherine. But he knew it was better to fill her stomach first beforehand.
“Ah!” Katherin sighed and patted her stomach.
She had eaten a lot, a whole fish by herself. Marble also managed to eat another half of a fish. It was impressive. Combined with Zachary and his growing menagerie of summons, they had demolished all the food they had caught that day.
“Full?” He asked.
“Stuffed.” She finished rubbing her stomach with a smile and said, “Go ahead, you can ask.”
He coughed and said, “I told you about my first. I think it's only fair that you explain how you know so much about me and why you are following me around. Without that, I don’t think I can trust you.”
The two of them shared a long look. His brown eyes were filled with concern and inquisitiveness. Her green orbs were like the vast jungle around them.
He hoped that she could at least come up with a believable lie. If he could accept it, then it was even better. He wanted her to stay and, subconsciously, he was already giving her a great deal of leeway.
Katherine tapped her chin and made a pondering expression, “Where to begin… there are so many things I want to tell you but you might not believe them. Some things that might scare you or make you want to run away.”
He waited patiently while she seemed to contemplate the mysteries of the world.
“Alright,” She finally said, “I should also start at the beginning.”
She got up, walked around, and sat down next to him, “Zachary Zhang, look at me. What am I about to show you is very important. It will shock you. But before you react, remember that I have never done anything to harm you. And I promise that I never will.”
“Okay?”
With his reply, she scooted backward slightly and then did what he least expected. She pulled her shirt above her chest, giving him an eyeful once more. Under the dimming sky, the pink circles around her nipples were especially prominent.
She ignored his reaction and started to whisper, “Bless the Ice Saint, your servant requests your aid. Glory to the Ice Saint, please reveal your mark to this human so that he may see your might. May the Ice Saint rule over this world eternal…”
As she finished, a faint light started to glow on her chest, in the area directly above her heart. It started faint and then turned a deep blue. It then gained clarity, creating an eight-pointed pattern akin to a snowflake.
The mark pulsed with profound power. Waves of Eternum swept over Zachary, making him feel as if he was drowning, as if he was being buried in an endless snowstorm. Lightening flashed before his eyes and he finally felt a sense of recognition.