The Original Beefcake

"What is this? This new and mysterious energy!" Janette walked around Marcus and made strange movements with her hands and arms. It was a comedic act of aura reading. "And this smile…," she said, and poked his cheek with her finger. The rest of the welcome committee laughed and Marcus rolled his eyes. He had just come back home and Janette had her fun with him. "A lot of things have happened in the last few days. For one, Azaa's mother has returned," Marcus said, and in an instant everybody was focused.

Cherry, currently with short hair, came forward and hugged him before she asked, "And? Is she as incredible as one would expect of Shen's bond and Azaa's mother?" Marcus laughed and tried to find the right words. "Her name is Ruuq or Aruq'ker'urs. Which means 'The Moon-Eating Wolf'. She is that and a lot more." Great excitement followed these words, and Marcus spent his whole breakfast talking about nothing else but Ruuq.

"She is the only one who can give Azaa a run for her money, when it comes to playing games. I watched them play and didn't understand anything other than Azaa had to actually try to win," Marcus explained, to the circle of listeners. Marcus stretched and looked into Janette's eyes. "Things will definitely change from now on. It felt like the ginghi had been waiting for Ruuq to return before they started to act. It felt like... a rising storm," Marcus said, and Janette leaned back on her chair.

"Sounds like the real end boss just showed up," Janette said, with a smirk and laughter followed. "Given your own impressions, Ruuq might very well cause drastic changes. Not only for the ginghi but for Earth, too," Cherry said, while staring into the air. "I dread the thought of her walking on Earth. People might spontaneously found a religion to worship her. You can't understand the impact she has without witnessing it yourself," Marcus said in response.

Achara, with her elbow on the table, rested her head on her hand and gave Marcus a strange smile. "What?" He asked, and she laughed. "Nothing, it is good to see you so happy," she said, and Marcus got a bit red. "Oh, right!" He exclaimed and scrambled to his bag. A moment later Marcus revealed his new enchanted belt to the audience. "10% vitality stat boost, a gift from Vivian," Marcus declared, and watched his friends go green with envy.

Quickly the item was snatched from his hands and everybody wanted to try it on. It was a sight to behold and the whole situation escalated into a hilarious hunt for the belt. Marcus didn't participate, but watched as Achara vanished with the belt in hand, and Janette rushed after her. Things got a bit noisy outside of the villa for some time, but Marcus himself focused on his own priority. Fin.

After some preparations Marcus called his disciple into his office and they spent a bit of time talking about various things before Marcus moved on to the business at hand. "Alright, spit it out. What do you want to change about your crests?" Marcus asked, and Fin looked a bit awkward. "I want to spend a few crests now and then on strength," he said. "Why?" Marcus asked, and Fin explained he felt like it would help him. "The way I like to fight and generally act would go smoother if I had more strength. Not a lot more, just so I can act more freely," Fin tried to explain, and Marcus had a hunch about what he meant. "I am not against it, but I want you to watch something first and after we have discussed it you can make your decision," Marcus said, and Fin looked extremely happy with the turn of events.

Marcus offered Fin a chair and Bob sat down on Fin's lap in a semi-humanoid form. Marcus smiled as he put up a large screen on his desk and loaded a video file. The video showed about one minute of combat footage of a Warlock engaging several enemies inside a building. Security cameras were recording the action and offered different view angles. The Warlock was well equipped and both his arms were covered in Shadow Mass. The hands were hidden beneath large globes of the black material as he slowly moved forward. An enemy came around a corner and used some kind of large shotgun to engage the man. In a fraction of a second the left Shadow Mass formed a large flat shield and the attack failed to do anything to the Warlock. In the same breath two black spears extended from the other blob of Shadow Mass and pierced right through the attacker, killing him on the spot.

The fight continued and two more enemies were taken out in the same way. One part of the Shadow Mass protected the Warlock while the other formed spears and dispatched the enemies. At one point the spears even punched through a thick concrete wall and ended the enemy hidden behind it. The clip ended and Fin looked overwhelmed. "Until now I have kept you away from combat techniques, because I wanted you to develop freely. But it is time for you to see how Warlocks generally fight. The Warlock in this video is over level 50 so don't be intimidated," Marcus said and Fin nodded slowly.

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"I want you to carefully look at this fight. Analyze what the Warlock is doing and why. I also want you to imagine you were in his place and what you would do. Take your time, an hour or two. I will attend to other matters in the meantime. If you need me, just come looking for me," Marcus said, and left the room a moment later. He watched through the window in the door as Fin restarted the video and followed the events with bated breath. With a heavy sigh he turned around and walked away.

It is not easy to let them walk their own path.

No, it isn't. I am so worried he might learn the wrong lessons from this or he….

Decides to quit?

Yes.

Marcus spent the next two hours training the other rookies together with Luca. Based on an impulse he offered to spar with all of them, one after the other, to improve their combat skills. These were productive two hours and Marcus was very satisfied with the groaning and aching remains of the rookies. They learned some very important lessons that day. One was, all the rumors Marcus was secretly a devilish taskmaster were 100% true. Luca seemed also very satisfied. Mainly because the rookies would from now on no longer complain about the intensity of his training.

With a spring in his step Marcus returned to his office to see how his disciple was doing. He found Fin leaned forward in front of the large screen. The video played at slow speed and Fin's eyes followed the 'action'. Marcus sat down on his desk and waited for Fin to talk. "I don't like it," Fin said, and looked up to his teacher. "At first I was super hyped about the power and ability of the Warlock, but the more I watched it, the less I liked it," Fin explained, with a conflicted look on his face. "What did you not like?" Marcus asked, with a soft voice. Fin thought for a moment and Bob rolled into his hand.

"His Bob isn't really doing anything. It feels so static and lifeless. When I look at the fight, I would move completely differently and if I had those amazing abilities Bob would be whizzing around all the time," Fin said, and Marcus smiled. "Is it okay for me to say that? I have so much less experience than this man, but… I really don't like the way he does things," Fin continued, and Marcus patted his back. "If you want to walk your own path you have to take responsibility for it too. You can't blame anybody but yourself for your failures. You have to work hard," Marcus said, with his best 'serious teacher' voice. Fin nodded and Marcus could see determination in the young man's eyes.

"Do you still want to spend crests on strength?" Marcus asked Fin, and he nodded. "Yes, more than before, actually," he said, and they discussed crest distribution for the next levels. "Okay, before we talk about your training for your second ability, Hardening, there is one other thing I want to talk about. Fin, I did show you this video for another reason. Can you guess which?" Marcus asked, and Fin looked down on his hands. A moment later he nodded and said, "It is about killing people. That I might get into the situation to do so, to avoid not getting killed myself." Marcus was relieved Fin had figured this out on his own. He waited for Fin to speak again and a minute passed without them talking.

"I don't want to kill people. But I also don't want bad people to kill my friends or innocent people. And if I have to stop them by force, then I will do that," Fin said. Marcus slapped his hands on his tights and got up. "Alright. Time for some training! You have already seen Hardening in action. I have some ideas for fun training units. We also have to work on your visualization," Marcus said. Fin raised his right hand, that held Bob, and the Shadow Mass turned into a ball and then it slightly changed. The surface structure warped in front of Marcus's eyes. "I can already do it a bit," Fin said, with a bright smile.

Marcus had to control himself, to not show his surprise, "Good work… that means we can go to the second stage of training right away." Marcus took a deep breath and escorted Fin out to the training grounds.

Ho, ho, ho. The young man has shattered your expectations.

Yes, I hadn't expected him to be able to do this right away. He might be even more suited for his class than I had hoped.

Yes, although I believe he would have been suited for any of the artistic classes.

Does this make him some kind of prodigy?

High compatibility can be seen as a talent in itself, if you mean that.

Once they reached the training area Marcus purposefully chose a place that was visible from Grace's preferred training spot. The blonde Paladin was doing some mobility training, involving a lot of stretching and agile movements. "We will continue with the idea of playing with Bob. Main goals are hardening grade, speed and control," Marcus said, and started to lay out some fundamental ideas of what Fin could do. His disciple quickly caught on and started to work out with his Shadow Mass.

Thanks to Fin's improved stats Bob had now a maximum size of a honey melon and this allowed for a lot more interactions. Marcus watched Fin transform and bend Bob. As a ball Bob was squished and as a long bar he was bent. Fin would in time come to understand how to harden and soften Bob at will and even to combine both, Marcus thought.

Fin jumped around and bounced Bob from a wall only to catch him mid jump. Bob jumped away from Fin by itself, and a second later Fin kicked the shadow ball against the wall and left a small indentation behind. All the time the blonde man was smiling, and Marcus could see how he already thought about new ways to use hardening to play around.

He will become strong.

I think so too.

He might even eclipse you.

I won't make it easy for him.

Of that, I am sure.