Mel stretched her legs as she took place on one side of the sparring room.
The room itself is about the size of a tennis court, but stark white from the privacy screens on the walls. Usually to add to the ambience of the gym, the toughened glass walls would have been transparent so that the onlookers working out could view the adrenaline-rushed combatants sparring going at it. However, since Mel has a habit of keeping her profile low-key, she had opted out for the privacy feature to go on. The only ones who could see the fight was the combatants themselves and whoever else in the side lines.
On that note, Mel had Dru situated on the sidelines just against the wall. The old girl had sat down on her haunches again with her eyes closed, no doubt trying to go over the new changes made to its body after the last training session.
There is a equilibrium to be met with a pairing of a refined beast and a cultivator during their cultivation training session. A Primitive level beast like Dru, a Brown Lizard, is most effective in training for a non-cultivator to break into true cultivator status. From there on, it is most effective to switch to a higher level beast in order to gain the most beneficial effects to one's abilities. However, between Mel's love for Dru who she has known all of her childhood and the cultivator's general money problems, she has been cultivating with Dru for years, shockingly attaining the peak of Rank 2 of the Mortal Stage and about to break into Rank 3!
While it is a testament to Mel's own will to attaining such a rank with a Primitive level beast, it is another note of how powerful Dru has become due to cultivating with a high-powered entity compared to herself. Imagine two rotor gears constantly passing a content of water between themselves, one is set at a higher power than the other so the latter has to overclock itself constantly in order to keep pace. Now imagine the power of the second is elastic. It can adapt and grow stronger in order to lessen the stress on itself until it can match the high-powered rotor gear at its own pace.
That is what happened to Dru, a Primitive Level beast! Among other Primitive beasts, she is perhaps one of the strongest! It is possible with more training and reflection on the beast herself that she can rise up to Dust Level and gain new mutations for herself based on her own desires!
There are documented cases of cultivators with formed cores who have practiced cultivation training with an initial Primitive-Level Beast since they began their training and their beast had undergone unique mutations until they reached Calamity-Level – a level on par with a core-formed cultivator, but, well, those cases usually apply to those who have the money and resources to guide both the cultivator themselves and their refined beasts through those mutations.
To Mel, who loves Dru as her family than just a cultivation tool to add to her attributes, she had already waved those fanciful those of evolving her refined beast away without further thoughts on the matter.
At this moment, Mel took a look at Dru who was off in her own place at the moment and thought nothing of it – not knowing that the Brown Lizard was consolidating her inner mana pool and driving her meridians to expand, potentially breaking into Dust-Level.
A wide smirk of excitement began to etch itself on the girl's otherwise dainty and innocent features, showing off her crooked yet albeit pearl white teeth. She could feel her heart racing and her body become abuzz with that good kind of nervous energy.
It's been a while since she had a good fight.
She rolled her shoulders, loosening those stiffened muscles up from the long period of meditating in the cultivating room. (That short time in front of the punching bag did very little in warming up.)
It was around this time that her opponent had strolled in with her last sparring victim in tow.
Behind the two of them trailed two refined beasts. Mel recognized one of them as being her previous sparrer's refined beast -- a Shroudlock Canary.
It was a small little red thing with an adorably fat body that seemed to defy gravity with each flaps of its silver-tipped wings. On its big belly, there was a octagonal glyph that looked faded to Mel's eyes.
However, she knew that the glyph was still barely being conceptualized in the refined beast's Dust-Level form. The Shroudlock Canary is one of those refined beasts that has been tried-and-true to evolve once it has cultivated enough to get the Hunter-Level form, the Shroudlock Sparrow. When she first saw it, her miser brain couldn't help but to think about how much it costs. It is one of those mid-tiered refined beasts in the catalogs -- nothing too expensive for the upper middle-class folks, but still beyond her price range. The reason for it was because despite it's relatively low attacking power and weak constitution, it can foster to have an interesting ability. In the peak of its power, the cautious scavenger-gatherer beast has the power to lock down its opponent in a nebulous cloud to seal away their sense of touch and bewildering them into a state of confusion. Much less to be said about the human cultivator who cultivates with such a refined beast. Depending on their comprehension of illusion arts, such a power in their hands could prove a devastating ability against any enemy.
Thankfully, for Mel, the Shroudlock Canary was still in its Primal stage and its ability hasn't fully formed yet. All it did was imbue the cultivator with some raptor talons for hands and lightened his form for a slightly more agile offense.
A smile crept on Mel's face as she remembered the sparring exchange. It was nothing too big of a hassle. She honestly toyed with him for a while in order to prolong the fight and practice her techniques.
She studied the remaining beast that had also entered the room, following closely behind the lithe toned man who is to be her next opponent. It was a Windshear Mantis, another mid-tier refined beast again and, again, something out of her price range even if she wanted one. (She might be getting a little beast envy since she's popping out to the Third Rank Mortal Stage.) This mantis was about half her size, coming up to her waist. Like its cultivator, it was slim in frame with long legs that took up half its green form. Unlike it's friend, the Shroudlock Canary, it lacks any mutation abilities, but its sharp sickles are already a big threat.
From what Mel remembers, it's a highly offensive beast that relies on its speed and sharp sickles to harass its prey until it finally gives out. No doubt, its cultivator will rely on the same style.
'Ugh,' Mel scoffed out mentally as she rolled her eyes. She felt a little disappointed. Speed-based enemies were her strong suit. She wanted an actual challenge this time around. Still, she got someone to fight with, so at least that's something.
She was already done with her preparations and she waited patiently at her side of the 'ring' while her opponent got ready. His Windshear Mantis clattered its mandibles together idly while waiting at the sidelines. Generally, unless the participating sparrers wanted a full-on all-out fight, no refined beasts were permitted in what is relatively a 'guiding' practice of skills and techniques.
Soon, her opponent straightened up from his stretch and walked up to the edge of his space while Mel did the same.
"Ethan Kordlin, Student of the Zephyr Chamber, Windshear Mantis Cultivator," he introduced himself with a clear confident-yet-not-smug voice. His eyes were unclouded and carefree with no shades of an ulterior motive. Mel liked his style.
Mel's lips parted as her smile turned into a toothy grin. She put her hands together, fist in palm, for a salute. "Melanie Yoon, Unaffiliated Practitioner, Brown Lizard Cultivator.
"Now. Let's have a good fight."