The First Legendary Beast Master

Across the park, at the training grounds, the beasts and their trainees were causing quite a scene.

Though, it wasn't really fair to blame it on the beasts.

Firstly, the Lightning Cerro group had all grown to the size of large dogs, while the Moor Cats were already the size of a mountain lion, weighing well over a hundred kilos after only a week of quality feed and hard training.

The regenerative sprints were doing them all worlds of good, and the physique of even the mage class trainee, Owen, was phenomenal.

But more importantly, the Overlords had joined them to help with the trainees, passing along as much of their knowledge as possible in the few remaining days that they had.

The majority of the team from the Special Forces Cadets was very close to reaching the Awakened Rank, thanks to their beasts, and Nikki the Tiger Monk was already there.

Today, they had gathered over two hundred soldiers who wanted in on the training, and Thor was happy to help them with his barriers as they ran laps up and down the bleachers.

They weren't Elites, and they would not advance, no matter how much training, but they were rapidly gaining muscle mass and physical stamina that would save countless lives on the battlefield.

The same Red Dragon High Priest that had met Karl after he altered the trial instance had come to watch as well, and assist Tessa in training Joan, their new Acolyte.

It had been agreed that instead of the Seminary Academy, she would go with the old man to the Academy, where he would train her personally, and they would do the duties of the church for the students.

Healing, support spells, guidance. The natural roles of the War Clerics.

"You know, Sister Tessa, the number of skills that these students have already learned is incredibly impressive. Not just from using the points they gained in battle, but the ones that they have learned through hard work.

To think that just a change in teaching methods would make such a large difference." He whispered, not wanting to stroke the ego of the students.

Tessa smiled at her senior. "It's not just a teaching method, but a teaching skill. Or, rather a group of skills stacked to help them learn, along with a load of high-grade resources for the beasts.

But I had an idea the other night.

You know how the Drake Riders have a huge advantage in combat due to their mounts, even without the system? We should implement the same program on a limited scale.

The Lightning Cerro forces will be essential to the defence of soldiers and Elites, but if we had a group of Gryphons or Manticores, we would have flying scouts with high ranked combat potential as well."

The High Priest smiled. "And where do you suggest that we find these volunteers?"

Tessa winked. "I hear that there are numerous Rangers who lost their bonded partners in battle. It's a common occurrence for them, and they can bond a replacement.

So if we can find a way to bond them to a flying magical beast, or evolve a regular animal into a flying magical beast, wouldn't we have a shortcut to trained flying troops?"

The High Priest smirked. "Well, it's not possible for them to bond a magical beast in a conventional way, but I have considered that there might be a shortcut.

It's not as glamorous as a Chimera, but are you familiar with the Giant Redwing Butterfly? It comes from a common caterpillar that is exposed to the right stimulus during its evolution period.

I suggested it once before, but the army shot down my idea as pointless, as the Giant Redwing Butterfly has no attack or defensive skills. But if it can cause a class advancement, and the Rangers already have skills that let their pet use attacks, wouldn't that become a small issue?"

Tessa chuckled at the mental image. "I think that it would help if we had more Elves. But I suppose that we could ask the ladies because I can't see many of the men willingly choosing a butterfly as their bonded partner."

The High Priest gestured toward Overlord Joram, whose evolved bird, Dave, was happily perched on his shoulder.

The bird had already reached the Commander Rank, and while it hadn't evolved any more than it had the first day, it was showing incredible potential as its power grew to match its partner.

Tessa poked the old Priest. "What if we gave them a way to make the birds huge? Someone has to have a proper skill for giant growth. We know how to evolve Falcons already, we just need to make them big enough to fly on."

That idea might actually make it past the scrutiny of the leadership. The evolved Hawk had already shown Commander Rank potential, and it was still growing. Plus it had [Flaming Body] which was both offensive and defensive.

The High Priest snapped his fingers and smiled. "I know just the thing. It's a Paladin skill called Divine Mount. If we can teach that to a Ranger, or a Beast Ranger, then they can have their giant flying mount. It increases the size of the beast to become rideable."

Teaching it to the Cerro would likely be easiest, but they would soon be large enough to be ridden by their partners anyhow. Finding other beasts or Rangers that were compatible with holy magic would be much harder.

Tessa nodded. "I will let you handle it. You will be at the Academy, and around a lot more veterans."

The High Priest nodded. "They intend to cycle the Commander Rank Elites through to do training courses for the newbies, as we are expecting so many of them. They might even call on some of the stronger ones, if things calm down a little."

"Oh, I would imagine that they will be calling on as many of the strong ones as they can after today's practice. You see, Karl's training skill works better when the user's knowledge of their skills is more profound.

And who has better knowledge of the intricacies of their skills than the Overlords?

I suspect we will be seeing some real progress by the end of the day."