Chapter 78

I come out of my meditative trance to find a rabbit asleep on my lap, and a wolf asleep beside me. Seems like they woke up during the night and moved over.

“Alright you two, I have things to do today” Jack

This is met with ghost wrapping her arms around me. Chuckling a bit, I pat her head.

“I’ve got to go, I promise I’ll play with you latter.” Jack

“Fine, but I’m coming with you today.” Ghost

Followed by Ghost and Hunter I head over to the training grounds, where Joe is already waiting for me. He is sparring with the twins and hasn’t noticed me yet. I grab a short spear from a rack of training weapons and throw it at him, for him to deflect it with his own spear; Jacob takes advantage of that moment to slash him with his long sword, right across the chest. As he was using a training weapon the injury isn’t lethal, all of them were enchanted to not kill, but it hurts much more than a similar weapon would.

He handles the pain surprisingly well, using the opening it presented too stab Jacob in the shoulder with his own spear, only for Sally to smash the spear with her shield after it is stuck in. this effectively brings an end to the match. A medic casually walks onto the field to heal them. When they’re done I call Joe over to me.

“The training regime I am going to use on you can’t be done with anyone else because of your particular abilities as a hero.” Jack

“Such as what?” Joe

“Well, for one, your inability to turn into any species other than human.” Jack

“Seriously? I haven’t heard of that. So can I not even turn into undead or anything likes that?” Joe

“Yeah, magic that would normally turn you into an undead would just heal or resurrect you. And if you replace a limb with a construct it will turn into a human limb, over the course of about a week. Pretty useful if you ask me.” Jack

“But why?” Joe

“Because the god you will challenge is the god of humans, you will be his replacement if you kill him, Can’t exactly have a god of humans that isn’t human.” Jack

“Is there a way other than killing him?” Joe

“Yeah, but why would you bother, he is weak as far as god’s go, with my help it won’t be too difficult to kill him. Plus it’s a bigger risk than just fighting him; if you fail at that you will become his slave.” Jack

“Yeah, let’s stick with murder, that sounds like a good plan. So what is the first step in my training?” Joe

“Due to our circumstances resistances would be the most effective, but it will be painful. Even more so than the wounds these training weapons inflict.” Jack

“Do I get a choice?” Joe

“Nope” Jack

“Ugh, let’s do this” Joe

“The first step is to make you incapable of death.” Jack

“What? Is that even possible?” Joe

“Yes, I can bind your soul to your body in a way that makes it incredibly difficult to separate from your body.” Jack

“I’m assuming there is a reason that isn’t very common” Joe

“It turns you into an undead after you sustain injuries that would normally kill you” Jack

“And because I can’t turn into undead that drawback doesn’t affect me, right?” Joe

“Yup” Jack

“Let’s do this then” Joe

“Excellent” Jack

I have him sit down and relax while I begin to meditate. Over the course of several hours I manipulate his soul, shaping it and binding it too his body. It will make it difficult for Joe to practice soul magic, but he has no talent with it to begin with, and it wouldn’t prevent him from improving his soul, just make it difficult to manipulate it. this also has the added benefit of making him extremely resistant to soul magic of anyone other than me or someone much more powerful than me.

After I am done I stand up, seeing that Joe had fallen asleep I wake him up.

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be” Joe

“This is just the beginning” Jack

“So what resistance will I be training first?” Joe

“Poison” Jack

“Let’s get started then.” Joe

“First I want you to begin meditating on your body, when the poison is introduced I want you to actively fight against it.” Jack

“How?” Joe

“You’ll figure it out.” Jack

He sits down with his legs crossed and begins to meditate, after a moment I produce a poison, one I got from uncle a while ago. This particular poison causes gas, it was used for a school wide prank when I was going to the school in the city. I pour the poison down his throat and he gags a little before swallowing it.

I turn to ghost who is sitting next to me.

“I think we should leave him alone for now. Come spar with me.” Jack

In response she turns into her wolf form, which is significantly bigger than it was before, and charges me. I blink over to a stand with weapons and grab a dagger. When she leaps at me, preparing to claw my face I sidestep and stab her with the dagger, only to have it bounce off and for her hair to scratch up my hand. Taking advantage of my surprise she claws my side, knocking me down, before pinning me down by lying on top of me.

“Wow, I’m impressed, you’re incredibly durable, I would be hard pressed to hurt you.” Jack

Turning back into her humanoid form, she lets me up.

“You’ve gotten stronger.” Jack

“I’ve been training a lot.” Ghost

“Good” Jack

At that moment Joe begins to shudder, his skin begins to heat up to the point his cloths catch fire and thick black ooze pours out of his pores, only to be burned into ash and fall away. This continues for about ten minutes before slowing to a stop, at which point Joe comes out of his trance.

“How do you feel?” Jack

“Refreshed, completely refreshed, I haven’t felt this good in a long time. Oh, I got a skill.” Joe

“What skill?” Jack

“It’s called Toxin Purge; it allows me to actively purge my body of toxins, venoms, and poisons.” Joe

“That would explain the black ooze. Here put this on.” Jack

I pull out a change of clothes and toss them to Joe, who doesn’t hesitate to change into them from his charred cloths

“Thanks, man I liked this shirt.” Joe

“Your skill gives me an idea.” Jack

“Explain” Joe

“The ideal area to train that skill would be a place where the very air is poison, and there just so happens to be such a place nearby, a dungeon.” Jack

“Let’s go then.” Joe

“hold on, you’re going to want a shower first.” Jack

end chapter 78