"Hey, watch for that boulder!" A man shouted before a large crash rang out.
Jasper leaped over a clump of bushes and slid into a clearing. His eyes darted around and analyzed what was happening. Two men wielding swords avoided a door-sized rock as it rolled across the ground. A woman fired an arrow behind them that pinged off a spirit. A dark orange crab clicked its claws before sticking them under the earth. It was about the size of a horse and shuffled side to side quickly.
As its claws disturbed the earth, large rocks began shooting from the dirt. The two men raised their shields and were able to deflect most of the stones. The archer caught a rock to the head and went down. She held her head as blood began to drip from it. Jasper smacked his sword and shield together to get the spirit's attention.
He pulled his caterpillar back into his body. This spirit could kill it in an instant. Any mistake and he'd lose his starting spirit. Jasper would guess the spirit was a Chrysalis with Thorough energy levels. He wouldn't be well off fighting it by himself, but with three other people, it was possible.
He might not end up getting the core, but that was okay. He'd grow in strength through battle. He smiled wildly before sprinting parallel to the spirit. Its mouth bubbled as it shifted itself to Jasper. Its large claw shot forward faster than Jasper thought it would. He managed to avoid most of it, but was smacked by the tip as it grazed past.
His form went spinning. He rolled to his feet and raised his shield and sword to stop the other claw from slamming onto his head. The muscles in his whole body tensed before the claw crashed into his sword and shield. He shrunk under the strength as his arms shook with effort. His legs squatted as the claw pushed down more and more. His feet pressed an inch or so into the earth below as his face turned red from strain.
The creature screeched, and suddenly the pressure receded. Jasper exhaled and stumbled slightly. His head swam from the exertion, but he turned to the spirit. Both of the men were engaging the crab in close combat. Their two spirits released attacks that left a mark on its hard chitin. One of its spirits wrestled with the crab's arm joint.
Flames coated half of its shell as the spirit produced flames. All three of the tamers Jasper was helping were Pygmy level tamers and were no older than 20. They only had two spirits left among them and seemed to have been battling this spirit for a while. One of the men yelled as he slashed one of its legs short. There were a bunch of marks around the joint where they had been aiming for the weak spot.
Jasper shook his head and dashed forward. His golden eyes glistened as his sword slashed down on its arm joint. The sword stuck an inch into it but failed to sever. The men looked at him in surprise because of his accuracy. Jasper hissed as he ducked under the claw's attack. His body burned with effort.
His blade shot upward as the claw passed him. There was a thud as the claw hit the ground limply. The crab hissed in rage and smashed its larger claw into the earth. Baseball-sized rocks shot upward from the earth. Jasper locked his legs and raised his sword and shield. Rocks flew toward him from all sides and pinged off his body.
He threw himself to the side and minimized the damage. Still, he had been hit by 10 or so of them, leaving him with a heavily bruised right side. He pushed himself to his feet with a grunt of pain and saw the other two men recovering from similar injuries. He glanced toward the woman in the back and saw she wasn't the target of the last attack. In fact, she was struggling to stand and kept falling on her behind. Her head injury was quite serious.
The crab shuffled quickly toward Jasper. Its sharp legs tried to pierce him, but failed as his footwork avoided them. He raised his sword and prevented a leg from smacking him in the mouth. He crouched and rolled directly under the creature and shuffled side to side to stay out of reach of its legs.
It moved erratically to try and get Jasper out from beneath it, but Jasper's reactions were sharp and kept him under the crab. Its large claw reached under itself and swiped, hoping to catch Jasper.
Jasper went flat on the ground and felt the wind from the claw passing over him. He pressed his face against the ground as he heard the crab hiss in rage again. The other men dealt a blow. Jasper rolled to the side as it moved and was barely nipped by a sharp leg on his thigh. He hissed in pain before looking up at the underside of the crab.
He narrowed his eyes. His hand tightened around his sword and drove it upward into its soft underbelly. His sword punctured the chitin and entered deep into its body. Jasper stirred his sword around before dropping it and rolling out from under the twitching spirit. It tried to move but quickly lost the strength to do so and fell to the ground.
Jasper let out a sigh of release and relaxed on the ground. He took a deep breath before standing up. To his side, the two men split up. One came to talk to Jasper while the other helped their companion. "Hey, thanks for the hand. We were fighting that thing for a while. You're quite skilled for a Pygmy tamer. What's your name?" He said. He had long grey hair.
"No problem. My name is Jasper. I'm not that skilled, but I do come from a family that focused on strength." Jasper explained. He wiped from sweat from his face.
"Wait. Are you..?" The man said, his head connecting some dots.
"Yeah. Anyway, are you guys good?" Jasper said tiredly.
The man's eyes seemed a little alert now. "Uh, yeah, we are. If you want to take the spirit core, you can. If the Lord's son helped us out we should be grateful." He said.
Jasper rolled his eyes. "Being kind to me will not help you with the Lord. He is no longer my father, and I am no longer his son." Jasper spat. He walked over to the crab and gripped its body. He grunted and flipped the crab over. He pulled his sword from the bottom and shoved his arm in.
He grimaced at the feeling but felt the spirit core as well as something else. "Wait, is this.." Jasper felt around a little more before he pulled his arm out. In his hand were two orbs, both the size of a tennis ball.
"A spell crystal!" The man exclaimed.
Jasper nodded. "Yeah, it is. This is the first one I've ever seen myself." He said. He rotated the two orbs and looked into the spell crystal. Spell crystals were orbs like spirit cores that were sometimes formed in the death of the spirit. They essentially stored spirit energy in a specific pattern that can be engraved into spirits.
Spirit tamers could absorb the orb to learn something called a spirit spell. They were essentially techniques that can be channeled by the user with their spirit energy. It allows the tamer to change their spirit energy affinity for a powerful attack. Many times, the spirit spell is something similar to one of the spirit's abilities.
Jasper pulled two of the Pygmy spirit cores out of his bag. "Here. You guys can have this Chrysalis core, and I'll give you two Pygmy cores if I can take this spell." Jasper offered.
The man considered it for a moment. "We'll take it. You were the reason the spirit was killed so soon, or at all." He said as he took the orbs from Jasper. Jasper smiled before tucking the brown sphere into his pocket. Finding a spirit spell was an exciting moment for any tamer. He waved his hand at the other tamers who had now gathered around their hurt friend.
They were wrapping her head in gauze and seemed to be slowing the bleeding. He disappeared through the bushes and was back at camp 10 minutes later. He was bruised all along his side and had a decent gash in his leg. He limped into the group and was hit with the smell of cooking food.
The group was sitting on logs around a fire with a pot of stew. They were bent over wooden bowls and ate comfortably. They turned as they heard Jasper's footsteps. "Back already?" Arya asked. She had a pleasant smile on her face.
Jasper nodded. "Yeah, I got a little more than I asked for." He said.
"Did you get anything good?" Weston said.
Jasper reached into his pocket and pulled out the spell crystal. "Yeah." He said with a smile. There was a little round of applause from Arya, Weston, and Luna.
"Nice, that's a great thing to find so early in your journey." Arya said. She gestured to the stew. "Want some?" She asked.
Jasper nodded. "Yes, please." He said. Weston filled a wooden bowl and passed it, as well as a spoon, to Jasper. Jasper turned around to find a seat somewhere in camp.
"Where you going?" Weston asked.
Jasper turned around with concerned eyes. "I was gonna sit somewhere?" Jasper replied.
Weston pointed to the space between him and Brackton. "Sit with us." There was no log set up there so Jasper looked around for a seat. Brackton pointed at the ground and snapped. A little stool of earth raised out of the ground. Weston waved his finger and caused a bunch of moss to grow out of the dirt stool. As Jasper turned around, Weston gestured to the seat. Jasper fought the urge to smile and sat down.