Jasper walked behind the group after their meal with the spirit crystal in his hand. He'd been inspecting it for a while out of curiosity and was finally satisfied with how much he looked at it. He wanted to absorb the spell and finally have an offensive option of his own that used spirit energy. His battle options were rapidly expanding.
He'd also gotten new abilities he could use from having the blood spirit in his arsenal. Although he knew if he tried to use those now, his control would be poor. He pressed the orb into his chest and watched it melt into his skin. He felt earth energy assimilate into his body and enter his spirit. His fingers tingled and his heart beat quickly.
He looked inward toward his spirit and felt the spell. He was tempted to use the spell now, but opted to do it later. They still had a few hours of walking until they set up camp for the night. It was about time he officially met his blood spirit. When they set up camp for the night, Jasper walked a little away from camp before stopping.
He pulled the blood spirit from his arsenal and watched it appear in front of him. It still looked as ferocious as ever. It eyed Jasper curiously. "I'm Jasper. I know you can't talk. I'm looking forward to working with you." He said awkwardly. He realized he could communicate using his head and didn't have to speak aloud at all. It felt more natural that way.
The spirit looked at its surroundings and wandered away from Jasper. Jasper watched the spirit explore its environment quietly. Jasper pulled his spirit box from his pocket and scanned the blood spirit.
The screen displayed the spirit and description. It seemed Jasper was a little off with his estimation of the spirit's energy density. He'd thought the spirit was a stronger Pygmy spirit than it was. The spirit's energy density only ended up being Steady. Jasper's eyes widened as he read the species description.
'Blood Thrull' was its spirit name, and under it was a picture of the average blood thrull. The average thrull completely lacked its set of lower arms as well as its fur-like shoulder pads. The spirit he had tamed was a mutated specimen. It stood nearly a foot taller than its lesser counterparts as well.
Mutated spirits are spirits who are stronger or have unique features the species isn't normally spotted with. It comes with the variation that all spirits encounter. There's a possibility for a spirit to be a runt or an extremely large version that doesn't make sense. Jasper smiled at his spirit box. He was quite fortunate.
His caterpillar appeared on his shoulder. It had grown a bit from the spirit cores that Jasper had given it. Its spirit energy quality was Compact now, and it felt a decent bit stronger. It watched the blood spirit with cute eyes. Jasper relaxed while his blood spirit walked around. About an hour passed before it returned to Jasper and sat nearish to him.
He looked back at the spirit and sent a mental message for it to return to his spirit. It approached him reluctantly and melted into his skin. Jasper was able to feel his spirit energy increase in strength when the spirit returned to him. He decided to test out spirit possession with the blood spirit.
He reached into his spirit and assimilated the blood spirit temporarily. He focused on the ability and tried to create blood weapons. Blood slowly appeared from thin air and started assembling in his palm. A few seconds later, a small dagger lay in his hand.
Jasper was wholly unsatisfied with the quality of the dagger. He felt its fragility in his hand and knew it wouldn't last more than a couple of attacks. Spirit possession was a technique most people never mastered.
The only reason Jasper could use the necrotic spirit's abilities was because the necrotic spirit had been obedient to Jasper since the beginning and would relinquish control to him. Jasper felt himself using the technique through interference from the blood spirit. Another reason he could use it's spirit possession with relative ease, was his spirit affinity.
His body was just naturally attuned to the energy and abilities. It took skill and practice to master spirit possession. The first goal in progressing with his blood spirit would be becoming closer to it. That would come with time. He nodded to himself before looking up. It was time to test out his first spell.
When he absorbed the spell crystal, he suddenly had an idea of how to execute the spell. When he thought of using it, he had the sudden urge to kick his foot into the ground. He took a deep breath and kicked his foot a few inches into the ground. Instead of breaking his toes, his foot passed through the earth like water and breached the surface.
His foot infused the earth with his spirit energy and caused it to shoot forward. A decent chunk of earth flew after Jasper's foot and shot into a tree trunk. There was a decent dent left in the tree from the earth projectile. The projectile had been the size of a bowling ball and weighed about that much.
He was reasonably impressed with how the spell performed. If that was his first attempt using the spell, then when he becomes more skilled at using it, as well as spirit energy manipulation, it'd be significantly stronger and more adaptable.
Jasper used the spell 10 more times before his body began feeling drained. He leaned against a tree and breathed heavily. This was his first time experiencing spirit energy exhaustion. As he used his spirit energy, his body's ability to store and use it would increase slowly.
Jasper wiped his forehead and began walking back to camp. He hadn't gone far so he was back in minutes. As he walked into camp, he heard some raised voices. "Keep your spirits away from my things." A woman said sourly. It was the group member that Jasper had never talked to. She had long, straight blue hair. Golden piercings went through an eyebrow and her nose. She was thin and a little taller than average.
"What, did Poopy bother you?" A man said jokingly. Weston was holding a little Pygmy spirit that was exceptionally ugly. It had a big bulbous nose that had big lumps scattered about. Its lips were fat and wrinkled.
The woman scoffed, "Why would you name a spirit such an immature name?"
"I can name my spirit whatever I want. What's up with you? You've been so sour recently." Weston said. He cuddled the spirit and shielded it from the woman.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to chopping wood. "You and Arya love adding randoms to our group. This time it doesn't even make sense. You got a Pygmy tamer who's got a necrotic affinity. Have you ever considered some of us don't want to be around someone like that?" She said. Her arms drove the axe down and split the log easily. She picked up one of the halves and set it to split again.
Weston blinked slowly. "You should brighten up. I'd hate for one person to control my mood like that. Oh hey Jasper!" Weston waved to Jasper and walked toward him.
"Heya." Jasper smiled.
"I was thinking, since we're settling down for the night and I'm bored, I can help teach you some stuff about your new spell." He offered. He had a small smirk as he asked.
Jasper's smile deepened as he realized what he was doing. "Sure, I'm happy to learn." He said. Weston led Jasper to a clearing close to camp. He threw a glance at his groupmate and smiled.
When they left ear shot, Weston spoke to Jasper. "Did you hear any of that?" He asked.
"Some of it." Jasper shrugged.
"I'd argue with her if it wasn't a waste. I mean, you just saved Arya from a major injury or even death. As a Pygmy amongst Cores. If that ain't enough, I don't know what is." Weston sighed. "Anyway, show me that new spell you got." He said. Jasper kicked his foot through the earth and sent the spell flying into some bushes. Sticks cracked as the ball of dirt flattened a bush.
In the 10 times he practiced the spell, he had gotten decent with the accuracy. Not enough to hit a moving spirit, but enough for him to not accidentally hit something he shouldn't.
Weston nodded and began to describe how spells work. "There's a lot of mumbo jumbo out there about spells, but I like it simplify it to this. All a spell is, is the guarantee that one action will create one reaction. What I mean by that is there's a lot of space in the middle for the tamer to do their own work.
For example, the spell you just used allowed your foot to imbue the earth with spirit energy that would launch it forward. The action is your foot entering the earth, and the reaction is the propelled earth. So, to apply this to my statement earlier, all that needs to happen for your spell to activate is for your body to enter the earth. When you first learned the spell, you felt the urge to kick it, right?" Weston said.
Jasper tried to listen and understand everything. "Yeah, I did." He said.
"What separates spirit tamers is if they're able to take the blueprint the spell gives them, and turn it into a flexible spell that isn't just kicking projectiles out of the floor." Weston explained.
Jasper nodded along as he picked up on what he was trying to put down. "So you're saying I could use other parts of my body? I did see the spirit I collected this from use its claws. I should be able to change the projectile with more practice as well, right?" Jasper said.
Weston clapped and nodded. "Exactly! Creativity is the name of the game." He said. Jasper and Weston spent an hour or so talking and practicing. Weston gave pointers where he could and gave Jasper direction. Jasper was starting to feel like he had a mentor.