Good Gifts
Osho blinked more than a few times before shifting his gaze to the other message from his teacher.
[Osho, I want to congratulate you once more on hatching a beast with Master rank. As a student of our school, it is our responsibility to ensure that you have the smoothest path possible to reach your full potential. As such, we've decided to give you a few things to help you within this month before the college entrance exam. Oh, and because your friend, Ellie, wasn't interested in the money we offered, we decided to give it to you. Besides that, you will receive a number of other things. For starters, below this message, two techniques to aid you will be attached. You have also been granted unrestricted access to the staff training room and all of its facilities. Moreover, you will receive large amounts of high-quality beast food to ensure your beast will grow properly.] He finished reading the text and looked below it. Indeed, there were two documents below it.
Then as if on cue, he received a knock on his door.
He put down his phone and went to the door, but he didn't look through the peephole and stood off to the side instead of in front of it.
"Who is there?" He asked calmly.
"We have a delivery for Osho? Several bags of high-quality beast food?" The person sounded a bit tired, but Osho decided that they were legit and opened his door a crack.
Indeed, there were two delivery men with a few bags at their feet. Judging by the quality of the packaging as well as the bold letters that made up the name of a popular beast food producer, Osho decided to let them in.
The delivery men were well-built and carried the bags into his apartment with relative ease. Osho simply directed them to where they would store the bags.
He then watched them leave and locked the door, after that, he went to his window and watched the van pull out of the parking lot and drive away.
Once they were out of sight, he sat on his bed with a dazed expression. Gale stood on the bed next to him and watched him curiously.
"... Hehehehehehe!" A large grin suddenly appeared on Osho's face and he laughed like a gremlin while rubbing his hands together. Gale was startled by the sudden change and moved back a little bit.
'This is perfect! I can move a bunch of my plans forward with this.' Osho was over the moon. He had plans, but money was what he lacked the most.
He assumed the school would give him some funds, but he never imagined they would be so generous! Moreover, Ellie had turned down the money they offered her and told them to give him!
Osho picked up his phone and sent a heart emoji to Ellie. Before deciding to check out the documents Mrs. Jane sent him.
He saw their introductions and his eyes widened slightly.
"A Mana circulation technique and a Bond strengthening manual..." Through his excitement, Osho felt a wave of gratitude. These were things he had no hope of affording anytime soon, but he'd been given them just like that.
Granted, he doubted he'd have gotten something of such high quality if Gale's potential had been any lower, but he didn't care.
Osho sent a heartfelt letter of gratitude to Mrs Jane before dropping his phone and taking a breath.
He picked up his phone again and went to his notes to make some plans.
While the gifts were good, he intended to use them wisely.
First, he allocated a sum to evolving Gale as well. To be precise, he allocated 90,000 credits. It sounded like a lot but Osho had no doubts that evolving the bird further would cost him more.
On the bright side, food was no longer an issue for the little guy.
As for the remaining 50,000, he intended to use it to buy things that would help in training himself and Gale. Gale had good potential, yes, but his chances of entering a high-class college during the entrance exam would shoot up drastically if both of them were at a higher than now. So Osho intended to make the most of his newly acquired resources.
He'd be lying if he said allocating the money so quickly didn't sting a little, but he didn't let it get to him. After all, the stronger he became, the more chances he'd have to make money in the future.
With that done, he decided to use the manuals.
After debating for a moment, he decided to use the Mana circulation technique manual first.
He gave Gale some food, and to his delight, the bird seemed to be sated a lot faster than when it ate the lower-quality food.
After that, Osho went over the manual a few times and memorized its contents, and when he was sure he'd committed it to memory, he sat down on his bed cross-legged.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and started to run the technique.
Mana circulation techniques served two main purposes. The first was the increase the amount of Mana a person could hold within their bodies, and the second was to strengthen their bodies to allow them to be capable of handling even more Mana.
The body was seen as a 'container', and Mana was the content. The stronger the container, the more contents it could contain. That was a rough analogy but it explained it well enough.
But there was also a third purpose that was quite important, but needed the other manual, the Bond strengthening manual, to be relevant.
Osho took deep breaths and relaxed his body, then he focused on his Mana and started to move it.
One of the interesting things an individual could do with their Mana is that if they controlled it and moved it within a certain area, they could 'see' everything their Mana came into contact with. This phenomenon was referred to as the 'Mana Sense'. Many saw it as a form of sixth sense, though, if one had weak control over their Mana, or a low Mana quantity, they wouldn't be able to sense much.
Osho used his Mana to sense his body and moved in a special pattern according to the manual.
Starting from his chest which was where most of his Mana was contained, he moved his Mana to his right arm and slowly started to loop it around his body. He could have gone faster, but he was making sure his Mana touched everything. His muscles, nerves, veins and arteries, bones, marrow, and so on. He made sure to touch everything within his body using his Mana.
This process went by slowly, and after 30 minutes, he completed a single cycle.
He exhaled, then went at it again. This time, there was an additional effect. As his Mana circulated, it attracted the ambient Mana in the atmosphere and drew it into his body through his pores.
Like this, his Mana capacity was steadily rising while also gradually strengthening his body.
Still, there was a limit to how much he could meditate and run the technique, so after the fourth cycle, he stopped.
"Fuu~" He exhaled and slowly opened his eyes. His body was drenched in sweat as though he had just completed an intense workout, and in a sense, he had.
He stood up and stretched, feeling a bit sore, but good overall.
"How convenient." He mumbled and turned to face Gale, but the bird seemed to have fallen asleep.
He smiled and decided not to disturb it. Instead, he took a shower and put on a set of fresh clothes. After that, he made himself a snack and went back to his bed, this time, he wanted to try out the Bond strengthening technique.
Once more, he read through it and committed everything to memory. Then he sat down cross-legged once more and started to run the technique.
However, unlike the Mana circulation technique, this one was a bit more interesting.
You see, the Bond between a Tamer and their Beast went beyond just their communication speed and coordination.
Another aspect of Bond, one considered to be very important, was that the bond determined how effectively a Tamer could utilize the attribute their beast possessed.
Yes, through their bond, a Beast Tamer could also use the mystical forces their beasts could use. In other words, magic.
The reason for this could be tied back to the issue of compatibility. Everyone's Mana had a certain inclination to a specific attribute, whether they were aware of it or not.
As such, when they tested to see which beast had the highest compatibility with them, what was happening wasn't just the beast being comfortable with their Mana, instead, it was seeing if their Mana inclination was toward the attribute the beast had. If that happened and there was a strong inclination, then it was safe to say that the Tamer had the same attribute as the beast, strengthening compatibility.
As a result, when the bond between the beast and Tamer was strong enough, the Tamer would have an easier time making use of the attribute that their beast possessed.
Basically, the stronger the bond, the better the Tamer could use a certain attribute.
This was one of the biggest reasons why Beast Tamers were urged to strengthen their bond with their beasts as much as possible. As in a situation where say their beast was injured or not available for combat and the Tamer fell under attack, they would have to defend themselves.
Osho closed his eyes and focused on his bond with Gale.
It was a strange thing, bonds. It was extremely difficult to observe them, and some people felt like they were simply a figment of one's imagination. But they were undoubtedly real, and despite lacking 'substance', they still seemed to carry a 'weight'.
Osho felt his bond. He was on one end, and Gale was on the other. As he focused on it, he became even more aware of what the bird was feeling.
Currently, he sensed that Gale was feeling comfort in his presence as well as feeling sleepy, which was why he was asleep.
Osho smiled subconsciously before he put the technique into practice.
His bond felt like a string at the moment. Felt like because Osho couldn't actually 'see' the bond and more so 'felt' it. It seemed quite durable, but Osho knew that the strength bonds could achieve was out of this world, so he didn't think for a second that his bond was that strong yet.
Little did he know that he completely dwarfed his classmates and even some of his teachers when it came to the strength of his bond.
Osho focused on the bond, then he gradually moved his Mana towards it.
As he did this, he willed his Mana to turn into smaller strings that would attach themselves to the thread. The strings were small, both in size and number.
However, they carried out the instruction regardless, and soon, they started wrapping themselves around the length of the bond, and a moment later, they were absorbed into it.
Immediately after this happened, Osho felt a palpable change.
The emotions he felt from Gale immediately became sharper and more pronounced. It was almost startling, as he could so clearly feel the emotions of another in his mind. It was both amazing and unnerving.
After gathering his composure again, Osho went back to it.
This technique didn't strain his body as much as the Mana circulation technique, but it put more of of strain on his mind than it did on his body.
Osho kept at it for a while, but eventually, he got a headache which forced him to stop, and by the time he did, his bond with Gale had grown substantially.
He smiled even as he massaged his temples. Then he opened his eyes and picked up his phone, then he saw a message from Ellie that piqued his interest.
[Say, how about we train after school tomorrow in the staff training room?] The offer took Osho by surprise. Surely she had much better facilities to train in her home than at the school?
Curious, he asked her just that.
[Won't training at home be better for you? You must have better facilities there no?] When he asked the question, there was no response for a while and he tilted his head, wondering if she had dropped her phone. But her response came a moment later.
[Osho your destiny baffles me.] He could hear the exasperation in the text.
[What did I do this time???] Osho was adequately confused.
[DO YOU WANT TO TRAIN TOGETHER OR NOT?!] Osho sighed and replied.
[No need to get so snappy. Fine I don't mind.]
[( ＾ω＾ )]
Osho looked at the text emoji with a deadpan expression before putting his phone down.
He shook Gale awake, much to its satisfaction, though that quickly changed when Osho made his intentions known, he wanted them to have their dinner.
He gave the bird its food and made himself dinner. After which, he put on his track suit and the two of them headed out once more. Osho intended to continue training Gale in the evenings.