Draig Appraised the Elfish girl laying before him again, while he could use the Tome to look at her class specifics it wouldn't tell him about her personal characteristics. This was simply part of his agreement with the Queen but he found himself become more interested with the class, a few ideas began to appear in his head as he thought of the Class's potential in the right hands.
As he continued appraising an interesting thought emerged in his mind, this girl would no doubt be powerful if she figured out the abilities herself but what if he could teach her to the point of forming a dependence upon him and his opinions.
Draig chuckled as a Blood Gem appeared from his palm, it was quickly followed by a few more.
'While I may not be able to risk changing my class at least I can mimic it through the skills' thought the young Feratu as he began consuming Blood Gems viciously.
Wiping his lips Draig held out his hand and willed some kind of change resulting in his fingers twisting and slowly growing a woody texture however he noticed an immediate difference as compared to the girl's. While her skills used through the Class seemed vibrant and lively his seemed dead and decayed, Draig thought nothing of it. In fact finding it quite fitting.
Waking from his thoughts he saw the girl was awake and staring at the transformation taking place with the Feratu's hand.
"Your.... like me" whispered the girl staring as Draig's hand returned to normal.
"I suppose you could say that, but to business first. As of today you will be staying here with me as an apprentice until you are deemed to have suitable control of your abilities" announced Draig surprising the girl as the last thing she remembered was displaying her ability to the Queen.
"Are you going to be my teacher" asked the girl looking at Draig directly though submissively.
"Indeed, now get up it's time to begin" answered Draig turning his back to walk out of the room.
"But it's night time and my body is still hurting" cried the girl in shock.
To answer her question a pill beamed her in the head before landing in her hands, rubbing the red mark where the pill had impacted the girl was going to say something else but was cut off before she could even speak.
"Eat it quickly" ordered Draig.
"Don't I have a say in this, besides you didn't even ask my name" shouted the girl
"Neither of us had a say in this but now that you are my pupil, you will be trained until you are worthy of being Classed Forest Guardian" stated Draig.
The girl stared at Draig for a long time before she consumed the pill and stood up to follow the Feratu.
"My name is Dahlia but you can call me Lia, what do I call you" asked Lia looking to the one that would be her mentor.
"You may call me Teacher" answered Draig as he continued his trek into the moonlit forest around the City.
Lia nodded, she was only a girl of fourteen this year. Extremely young for Elves considering the massive lifespan these arrogant creatures boasted, and Draig showing that he was somewhat similar to her had definitely made her feel a type of connection from the start. This would prove as the founding of her trust in the one she called Teacher.
Not long after walking out of the City they arrived in a clearing.
"Alright Lia show me what you can do" chuckled Draig.
Lia looked at Draig seriously and showed one of the skills she had demonstrated for the Queen.
Her arm swinging through the air became like a mass of thick vines closing the distance between Draig and herself without taking any steps, however while he was not quite as experienced as he would like. Draig still carried immeasurable advantages compared to this little girl.
With a flick of his hand the vine extension was sent flying away from him, deciding to go for a direct teaching approach Draig imitated her skills by sending out his own version of it. His arm extended becoming woody in texture before turning into thick vines however his were covered in thorns, Lia seeing the incoming threat panicked and tried to run but Draig's other arm became a mass of tree limbs that blocked her escape.
Seeing herself cornered she began tearing up causing Draig to stop.
"Shhh, it's okay." comforted Draig as he picked the girl up and soothed her.
"It was only an exercise, I had to show you why you needed to take this seriously" stated Draig in a soft voice.
"It'd be terrible if something happened and you couldn't stop it because you couldn't control your gift or because of lacking strength. You understand" asked Draig as he continued to soothe the girl.
Meanwhile watching the scene from the surroundings the Queen and her entourage couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth at the scene.
"We can go, there is no need to spy on him any longer." smiled the Queen relaxing herself a bit.
"Are you sure about this your Majesty" asked one the Guards around her, the woman clearly not willing to let her defense down so easily.
"I am certain, look at him. Not even her teacher for a day but has already shown such tender nature even though he is only doing this as part of an agreement. I don't care if he is a Dark being, it is as he said "In the end we are all Monsters to the Humans'. So why should we fall to the same bigotry as them and classify every single creature by the nature of their race" stated the Queen leaving no room for a response.
With Draig however, Lia was once again smiling as she began to imitate some of Draig's movements while using her abilities. The Feratu offering her a few words of praise every now and again, Lia seemed overjoyed as if she was having the best time of her life. Draig then began talking with her while having her repeat the motions.
"So you lose control when you ascend to your Guardian State, why" asked Draig getting directly to the point.
"I don't know, it started really nice. I could feel the trees and the animals energy, it all started to flow into me making me feel warm and at peace. After that though I can't remember anything" answered Lia causing Draig to laugh a bit.
"Something so simple, I am confident I can fix that within a week" laughed the Vampire as he had been attempting similar in regards to him absorbing Mana to increase his reserves safely. He had made major steps in the ways of using the Symbols powers individually and even forming his own school which allowed him to develop a new ability the world had never seen before.
This ability to use the power of symbols had been given a rather modest name by the Feratu, simply Seals. He had since then began working on using the Individual symbols powers in collaboration with each other and found minimal progress however it was still progress.
"Come here" ordered Draig as he pulled a piece of crystal from his bag.
Using Mana Molder he crafted the crystal into an elaborate necklace that he then placed a few Seals on.
"Here try it on and transform" ordered Draig offering the necklace to Lia.
Looking at the beautiful necklace she seemed unsure and even a bit scared.
"Will it really help" asked Lia softly.
"If it doesn't then I can always return you to normal" answered Draig causing Lia to perk up as she remembered Draig had the same Skills as her.
Donning the necklace Lia seemed overjoyed as she admired it and played with it around her neck.
"Enter your Guardian State" commanded Draig reminding the girl what she was supposed to be doing.
"Yes, Teacher" answered Lia as she began concentrating on the feeling of everything around her feeling that familiar warmth start flowing into her body.
Draig watched in interest as the Lia's legs began to grow into the dirt like tree trunks and her figure began to grow as she turned into a giant Golem like creature.
A horrible groaning was heard before the snaps of limbs made it known that the behemoth was moving.
"Teacher" came the loud bellow from the creature.
Draig couldn't help as he stared at the giant with mad glee, his laughter rang out loudly through the forest alerting some of the guards to something in the distance.
"It worked" marveled Lia as she began inspecting her own figure.
"Of course it worked" stated Draig as his demeanor returned to normal.
"Teacher" sobbed the Behemoth making for a horrifying sight.
"Return yourself to normal" instructed Draig fighting to not look disgusted.
"Teacher how" asked Lia worriedly as she didn't know how she did it last time.
"You should be able to simply think about returning to normal and it will happen" explained Draig calmly.
Lia followed the instructions and found herself returning to normal, it seemed that will and instinct really was what controlled the skills with the disappearance of the Menu. Draig wrote a few things down in a special looking journal before stashing it quickly.
"Excellent then I suppose that will conclude training for now" suggested Draig.
"Teacher will I really be staying with you" asked Lia shyly
"The Queen should have already informed your parents" started Draig but saw a flinch from the girl.
"My mother died while hunting" stated Lia looking down.
Draig didn't bother asking about a father since he knew of their methods of reproduction.
"I see" answered Draig blankly.
"So I don't have any parents, I just wanted to make sure Teacher didn't change his mind" responded Lia as she looked up at Draig.
"Don't worry I won't change my mind" chuckled Draig as he patted her head causing the girl to smile and grasp at the hand.
'I would never give up such a valuable playing piece when it's been given to me freely' thought Draig as he continued to laugh on the outside.