Sergeant Rita drummed her fingers on the table as she thought about their next course of action. “Why don’t we try something different for Thor this afternoon? You suggested teaching him lightning attack skills, since he already knows Lightning Shield, or is it Refreshing Lightning?”
“Refreshing Lightning” Karl confirmed.
“So, while it might be tempting to develop him into a tank, I think that there is something to be said about the chances of him becoming a durable frontline attacker. If he could learn a few attack spells to give himself a bit of range, just enough to engage or stun the targets before he charged, it would make a world of difference.” Rita continued.
Thor considered the proposal. It made sense that he should be able to use lightning to do more than defend. It was most important to defend the herd, but you still had to chase away enemies, and there was no reason not to use more than horns for that.
“There are likely other ways that we can develop Thor as well. Basic things like more regeneration or an illusion spell that would make it look like there were more of him. Training new attack methods seems like the simplest option, though.” Alice suggested.
The thought of teaching Thor to make it appear that he had a whole herd with him seemed like it might actually be very well suited to him, and a great form of camouflage. Not many people would question the fact that there was a herd of Lightning Cerro moving together, as that was how they normally lived.
In comparison, one lone Cerro was much more suspicious. Especially if he was travelling with creatures of other species, or humans.
“Illusion magic might be too far out of his abilities, but having Thor with a pack of Cerro would be a great disguise when we were travelling. Maybe we can teach some of the mages an illusion spell like that, which will make the group members look like Cerro to outsiders.
Then we will have one real one to interact with others, and the rest of us will make it look natural, as if the herd was just passing through.” Karl suggested.
The tutors laughed at the idea of a whole team of Elites pretending to be Cerro and hiding under illusions. It should work, but it might cause a different set of problems as the creatures that considered the Cerro a food product would be attracted to them, in an attempt to pick off the slow and weak members.
Compared to the real thing, most of the Elites would be slow and weak members of the herd, and the result could be less than desirable.
“Why don’t we start with showing him some of the magical skills, or elemental warrior attacks, to see what he might feel compatible with? There are a wide variety of lightning attacks between the mages and the warriors, so I think that if we show Thor all of them, he should be able to pick the best one.
I know that there are some mages working on lightning bolts today, so we can try that first.” Rita suggested.
There were no objections, so they finished their lunch quickly, and prepared to head across the grounds to Rita’s chosen location for training. But halfway across the field, one of the other training groups caught Thor’s attention.
[I want to try that one.] He suggested, pulling Karl’s attention to the Berserkers.
[You want to be a berserker?] Karl laughed.
[No, the smash. I wish to try the smash.]
Karl watched them getting started on their training, and saw that it was the senior year class, all Ascended Rank students, unless there was a Commander Rank among the Berserkers.
“Thor wants to smash.” Karl informed the others, with a gesture toward a student who was working on her [Earthquake] skill.
“Earthquake? That seems a bit odd for him, but then the Cerro species all have that large spiked ball on their tail, don’t they? They normally attack with their horns, but the tail could be suitable to activate shaking and stunning type skills. I will go talk to the professor.” Rita agreed readily once she heard it was Thor’s idea.
From others, it might sound insane, but from Thor himself, it might just be viable for him to learn the skill. Nobody would know the beasts better than they knew themselves, or so she assumed.
Plus, even if it didn’t work, it would be fun to watch Thor thumping his tail on the ground and trying.
There was no real guidance to what he could or couldn’t learn, but if he was feeling enthusiastic about it, there should be at least some chance that Thor could learn Earthquake, or a related skill.
It was physically compatible with him, as the skill was normally activated with a large blunt weapon. Either his feet or the ball on his tail filled that requirement, and his strength was far above the human standard already, even compared to the berserkers at his level.
His tail was thicker than any of their arms, and flexible like a whip, with the solid ball at the end. They would just need to convince the teacher of the class that it wouldn’t mess with their students’ education to have the Cerro join them in class.
Many of the Professors were very protective of the groups who had been assigned to them, and suggesting that you wanted to mess with their training routine was a fast way to get on the bad side of many of the Academy’s staff members.
So, it was with a sense of nervous determination that they approached the berserker training area, with Thor out and prancing along beside them, eager to join the training, but under orders not to mess around until he had permission to join the students.
Karl gave it about five seconds after they actually reached the training area before Thor would have to either be forcibly restrained or allowed to learn, the way he was getting excited as he saw the students shaking the ground with their skills.
It was a bit like the footsteps of the larger reptilian species that caused the ground to shake with every step, and that sensation was ingrained into his genetic memory to mean that a species was impressive. So, in his mind, any berserker that could use an Earthquake skill must be impressive.
