North Isura Lodge.

Ulrick and Geno are enjoying their breakfast at the Lodge’s cafeteria. They pack their belongings and start their journey to get stronger. As they head for the building exit, they see Tyson Margrave and Gilbert waiting by the receptionist’s counter.

“Mr. Director, good morning.”

“Morning, sir!”

“Good morning you two, did you get a good night’s rest?”

They both nod with delight.

“Excellent. Before you go, please take these.”

He hands them a small card. On it are their names and a stamp belonging to Tyson Margrave.

“Simply give these to the receptionist on your return, and they will allocate you two to the request.”

This is the protocol when it’s a request from the Director themselves. Usually, a Seeker will need to speak to the receptionist about taking a request and they will block it until its completion.

“As I said before, we will begin in a month. I wish you all the best, and train hard. If you excuse me.”

Margrave bows to the two, and leaves for his office, along with Gilbert who follows closely behind.

Ulrick and Geno store their cards into their bags and proceed to start their training.

“So you’re going back to your school, Ulrick?”

“Yeah, I need to see my Master and learn the next form. What about you, Geno?”

She looks through her tracker.

“I need a bit more before my next form. I’ll probably take multiple requests to complete it quicker and get my next form as well.”

“So, when we see each other in one month, we’ll definitely be stronger.”

A fist bump is exchanged between the two before they leave for their respective places.

“Very well, Mr. Garside. Please stand on the podium to start the transmission.”

As he stands on the podium, the receptionist touches the necessary icons on her screen.

“Transmitting to Ursae School in the Ogos continent, in 5 seconds.”

Ulrick waves goodbye to Geno before he disappears into the machine’s light.

“Off he goes. I sure don’t want to fall behind.”

Geno walks towards the Request Zone, to look for requests and complete her C-Rank marks.

Central continent, Ogos.

After a few seconds in what felt like space travel, I opened my eyes to a place I remember fondly.

The serenity of the trees, the tranquility of the ponds, and the red bridge that could be seen from a distance. I was back at my dojo, the Bear Spirit School of Ursae.

I make my way through the trees and ponds until I arrive at the crossing red bridge. While the surroundings are amazing, the school itself… is questionable at best. My school is not the best looking thing, actually, it’s the worst thing in this beautiful garden. A shabby two-floor building that has two rooms at the top and a training arena at the bottom. Although it isn't the prettiest of sights, it does the job of being a martial arts school. I never questioned it, but I always wondered how the garden and the surroundings can stay so alive while there's this run-down building smack in the middle.

“Master! Master!”

I yell as I cross the large bridge. Suddenly, a woman’s scream is heard from the top floor.

“Shut up! I’m sleeping here!”

Yep… that’s her alright.

I continue to yell for her and tell her that her student is back to learn the next Spirit form.

“Master! It’s me, Ulrick!”

The top left window opens and a woman in her 40's with long black hair pops up. Her appearance looks to be of someone that just came out of bed. She yawns and squints her eyes at me.

“Hmm… Ulrick huh? Took you long enough. Get my laundry at the back.”

“But Master, I’m here to learn the next form. I’ve completed my D-Rank marks.”

“Get the laundry first!”

The vibration of her scream shook the environment around us. She was louder than the Winged Lion I faced. But believe me, Master is a nice person once you get to know her. As per command; I rush to the back, collect the laundry, and quickly run up the building to meet her at her door. She opens the door and I bow to my superior with respect.

“I’ve returned, Master Ardella.”

Master is a tall and slender woman, her long black hair almost touches the floor. She is still wearing her pajamas, improperly I might add, and doesn’t even bother fixing herself up after not seeing her disciple for over 8 months.

“When can we begin my training, Master?”

“Can you relax, I just woke up.”

She walks down the stairs, leading to the kitchen, and looks inside the fridge. She takes out a can of beer and snaps it open, chugging the whole content in one gulp.

“AH! That hits the spot. So, Ulrick, you completed your D-Rank huh? Let’s see your tracker.”

I passed her my tracker and she scrolled through the list.

“Hm… Not bad. Prepare the training arena, we’ll start right away.”

I nod at her command and go straight to the arena, only to find the place to be a complete mess. That woman! Is she that lazy that she hasn’t cleaned the place in months?

Which reminds me, the laundry I got then looked exactly the same when I first left the school. Surely she isn't that lazy, she's a Grandmaster of the Spirits. One of the four strongest Warriors that the Founding God Desmuth has considered worthy to train fellow Seekers. No, she couldn't be that careless... I’m probably just imagining things.

She comes into the arena and comments about the place.

“Oh right, since you’re my only student, I haven’t touched the place since you last trained. Looks like it will take you some time to clean this up, I’m going back to bed.”

Are you serious, Master? I come back to learn my next form and you want me to clean this up?

I turn around to argue with her logic, only to find she’s already gone. I had no choice but to do what she says if I want to get stronger.

After hours of cleaning, Ulrick completes his Master’s order. He lies in the middle of the cleaned training floor and takes a quick nap. He hears footsteps approaching and opens his eyes, he sees his Master standing above him in her usual attire.

“Why’re you dozing off? Don’t you wanna train?”

He quickly bounces onto his knees and responds with energy.

“Yes, Master!”

“Okay, sit up and take your shirt off.”

As he prepares himself, Ardella then takes out Ulrick’s tracker and releases the content into the air. Activating her aura onto her hands, she gathers the content and transforms it into a small pill.

“My way of teaching new forms is slightly different from the other schools.”

She gives the pill to Ulrick.

“I’ve compressed all your collected marks into a solid mass. In it, there is but one strong monster.”

She proceeds with the steps of the training.

“Once you eat the pill, you will need to meditate and as you dive into the depths of your soul, you should see this monster in your spirit's sanctum. There, you’ll fight said monster to the death.”

She crosses her arms and continues on.

“If you win, you’ll learn a new form. If you lose, well we’ll get to that when it happens.”

Ulrick looked a bit nervous about the losing part.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be watching over you so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

She walks behind him and places her hands on his back. He feels a small amount of aura gathering where she has made contact with his back.

“Okay Ulrick, I’m all set. Ready?”

Ulrick nods and places the pill in his mouth.

The moment he swallowed it, he felt an enraged and ferocious aura trying to take over his body.

“Meditate! You need to fight it!”

He places his left hand over his clenched right and proceeds his meditation. His mind begins to travel into his spirit sanctum and finds himself on a large stage. Because he didn't need to do any of this when he learned the first form, this was a new experience for him. He didn't even know that there is a 'spirit sanctum' in him. Before he explores this unknown place, in front of him was the last monster he fought, the Winged Lion. But something about it seemed different.

“It seemed to have evolved after I combined all your marks.”

That was the Master’s voice, echoing through the endless darkness. After closely inspecting the monster, what she said was right. He remembered Geno saying a C-Rank Winged Lion had eagle wings, which this one clearly had.

“The monster with the strongest aura is usually what appears after I compress them. But for it to evolve as well, you’re a lucky one. Anyways, good luck.”

Suddenly, aura began to concentrate around his arms and his tonfa appeared.

“I’ve given you the ability to use your Spirit Arts, now defeat it and get stronger.”

From his Master’s encouragement, he quickly activates his first form and directly charges the lion.

“Ursae Style, First Form: Power Paws”

He swings at the lion with his augmented weapon, but it immediately flies upwards. It returns its concentration to Ulrick and dives at him with its claws. Ulrick quickly rolls to the side, dodging the attack which left a hole in the stage. He regains his stance but the lion looks over and howls at a high volume.

The previous lion’s howl had no effect on him, but this one caused him to fall to his knees. He tries to fight against the piercing volume of the howl and gingerly looks ahead. Surprised by the lion's action, Ulrick sees it gathering lightning on its feet.

“It’s got a lightning element. The last one had none.”

Ardella responds to Ulrick's astonishment.

"Stop questioning and focus! This is an evolved monster, expect the unexpected!"

The lion rushes at Ulrick, boosted in speed thanks to its lightning element. Ulrick crosses his reinforced arms before him and blocks the lion’s rush. Thanks to his innate Strength, he was able to withstand the powered-up attack. However, the sparks around the lion’s feet began to target Ulrick.

“Damn!”

He jumps back to dodge the lightning attack but unfortunately was hit on his left leg. The lightning attack left a numbing pain and he knew after one shock, his leg was out of commission.

“An evolved monster is this powerful?”

Being overwhelmed with doubt, the lion swipes its front claws at him.

“Ulrick!”

His Master’s voice brought him back and he reacted in time. Although he blocked the attack, the force from the lion’s swing blew him back to the edge of the stage.

“You need to concentrate. What’s worrying you?”

As though Ardella knew something was occupying Ulrick’s mind, she tries to comfort him.

“Master, my next request involves an evolved monster as well.”

“And so? Are you scared after facing just one of them?”

Wiping the blood from his mouth, he cracks a smile.

“The exact opposite.”

Although he may be at death’s door, the thought of fighting a stronger monster gave him excitement. He properly grips his weapons and begins his counterattack.

“Excellent! Now show me what you’re made of!”

Nodding at his Master’s words, he leaps off his one working leg and charges at the beast. The lion swings his claws at him again but Ulrick swings back. At the moment of contact, his veins began to bulge all over his arm, abling him to overpower the lion’s attack. The beast is blown back, but not before it releases a lightning strike towards Ulrick. He’s able to jump up and out of the attack’s way, however, it left him vulnerable in mid-air. Looking up, the beast releases it’s howl again, trying to restrict Ulrick’s movements. He forcefully repels the effect, but at the cost of him bleeding at the ears. A lightning strike is once more targeted at Ulrick during his downfall.

Ulrick suddenly rotates at high speed and disperses the lightning to the sides. Still spinning, he continues towards the beast and lands a heavy hit on the lion’s head, sending its face deep into the ground. Ulrick lands and grabs the lion by its mane, throwing it to the side of the stage with force. The beast falls off the wall and tries to stand on its feet. Ulrick charges at the beast and stabs his tonfa into its front paws. The lion is pinned to the ground and cries in pain, Ulrick braces himself.

“First Form: Power Paws!”

The green aura already around his arms begins to swell in size. It starts to shape itself into a bear’s arms and claws. He commences his attack on the helpless beast. Over and over, he repeatedly lands powerful blows one after the other. Combining his Strength with his enhanced First Form, his fists begin to bleed. As though he’s running on adrenaline, blood keeps dripping from his arms and knuckles. As he keeps attacking at the lion, Ardella screams for her student.

“Ulrick! That’s enough. The beast is already dead.”

Ardella snaps Ulrick out from his rage. His heavy breaths continued as he examined the lion. Its face was almost unidentified. As the blood from his fists and ears gradually stopped, he deactivated his aura and fell to the ground. The beast abruptly bursts into steam and instantly flows towards Ulrick. As he accepts the aura, images of the beast’s attacks are imprinted into his mind, as though it was teaching him his next form. He wakes up on the floor of his school’s training room.

“So, how do you feel?”

Ulrick turns to his Master and looks at his hands.

“Amazing. I feel as though I’m a new person.”

“Your aura has increased, kid. I can definitely feel it.”

Happy with the result, he stands up and bows before Ardella.

“Master, I have at least a month before my next request. You think I'll be ready then?”

She walks away and stands opposite from Ulrick. Suddenly, she releases a powerful aura from her body and smirks at Ulrick’s question.

“Who do you think I am?”

He grins and takes a fighting stance.

“If you think learning the First Form was hard, think again.”

The aura exuding from Ardella was so dense and powerful, Ulrick’s body felt heavy.

“When passing your C-Rank Advancement, your Body potential will increase. Also, you'll be able to unlock your Mind potential. Seekers unlock this at different periods, whether it's after their C-Rank or even their A-Rank advancement. You should have felt your one during the fight."

As he repeats the fight in his head, he really couldn't think of anything that came to mind. She chuckles at her student's unawareness.

"So you didn't notice. That's fine, we'll get it eventually. The main concern is the next form, the beast should have given you a snippet of it."

He remembers the images that popped in his head after defeating the lion. He nods at his Master's words with excitement.

“You may be excited now but you do know how I feel about failure, right Ulrick?”

He wipes the sweat dripping down his head as he clearly understands what she meant.

“Yes, Master!”

“Good. Let’s begin.”

[CURRENT STATUS]

Ulrick Garside (17), 3-Star Seeker

Body: Strength

Mind: Willpower

Spirit: Bear*, Ursae School

Marks: D-Rank: 10/10

Genovera Koval (19), 3-Star Seeker

Body: Agility

Mind: Perception

Spirit: Bird, Avedato School

Marks: D-Rank: 10/10, C-Rank: 5/7