The Walls of the Granian Castle were decorated with hundreds of stalls and kiosks with Granians from the other tribes working day and night to deliver what they could offer in the War. Some were iron smiths who merged metal with beast body parts and technology. Others were armorers who designed some of the strongest and most durable pieces of protection for the bodies of the higher-ups, the best often offered to the Lords and tribal leaders. Others were healers and dealers in plant life, their contributions mainly involved poison and other heinous materials that could be crafted from War. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
Then there were the likes of Glissk, the Granians who integrated science and "aura energy" with nature. She and a few others took it upon themselves to see what they could do with the Blood Mutants. Not because they were ordered to but because their curiosity and desire to learn often got the better of them.
At the moment, the Granian, with two more accompanying her, prepared a tub’s worth full of blood with Ace and Cherry pulling the blood back and forth without touching it.
"Feel the blood moving about and you whisk it back and forth," she lamented as the others watched. Ace, who was more compliant with Glissk’s methods, contentedly did as she said. Cherry, on the other hand, was more interested in battle techniques and combat styles. Preferring to fight and draw blood instead of pushing it back and forth, she mumbled and grumbled internally which was a funny sight for Ace.
"Your grumbling habit hasn’t left, has it?" he laughed and Cherry blushed with a slight bit of embarrassment.
"Does this old lizard thing know what she’s making us do?" Cherry questioned but only spoke loud enough for her brother to listen. "Jim and Anya have been in the simulation chambers for days, Ace. DAYS!! I haven’t seen them come out to take a break or anything. I’m missing out on a lot of training."
"This is training," Glissk interjected, her gummy smile well shown on her wrinkly face, "you may refuse to accept it but what you are doing will place you leagues ahead of the other two."
"Seriously?" Cherry’s patience grew thin, ultimately making her break her concentration. "Moving blood forwards and backward will place me leagues ahead of them?"
Angrily, the Blood Knight formed a few blood spikes from the tub of blood and cast them at Glissk, stopping them only a few inches away from her face. The Granian, unphased by the "surprise attack", glared at Cherry with no expression on her face.
The situation became uncomfortable between the two, mainly for Cherry since the old Granian showed no emotion at all unlike those that accompanied her.
"Ace," Glissk muttered without breaking her glare from Cherry, "show your sister what our exercise could gain her."
Calmly, the Blood Bishop placed his hands together, his index fingers pointing to the sky. A red, fierce energy burst forth, creating an icy iron smell and aura all around him and those within his vicinity.
The tub of blood before him absorbed traces of the red energy and started to change color, texture, and smell. Ace was manipulating the makeup of the blood, turning it from one state to another.
’That malevolent feeling...’ Cherry choked, her body urging her to turn away from Ace quickly. ’What the hell is this thing teaching my brother?’
"Touch it," Ace smiled but his sister was hesitant at first. "Come on, just touch a little bit of it."
"Just touch a little bit of it. Dab your finger in it and see."
Cherry looked at Ace, then at Glissk, then at Ace again before reluctantly inching closer to the tub of blood. The once meaty scent it had turned into a vile, intoxicating smell so horrible that it nearly burned the hairs in her nostrils.
"You turned the blood into acid. Big deal, I can do the same too."
"I know," Ace answered, "but can you change its color and make Blood Clones from it?"
With one arm raised above his head, the tub of blood turned into three black versions of Ace. Stepping out from the tub, the three acidic blood clones melted the stones beneath them, creating a strong acidic smoke in the process.
"Have you ever tried taking some of Grim’s blood?"
"Never got the chance..." Cherry stuttered as she kept her eyes on the clones.
"Grim’s blood is poisonous to us. He and his people must have evolved some type of acidic blood. The Blood Acid skill merely turns whatever blood we’re controlling into plain acid. Once it turns into Acid, we can’t control it again cause it’s no longer blood..."
"...but what he has just done simply increases the blood’s pH levels beyond its natural scale while also allowing you to control them." Glissk smiled again, pleased with the bewildered look on Cherry’s face. "It’s nothing but science and Mana manipulation, Human. And now that you’ve seen the first step, let’s move on to the second step."
Ace fused the three clones into two, one being larger than the other. Once he did, Glissk took control of the clone’s mana which turned them against Ace and Cherry. Since the Blood Knight was dying to fight, Glissk opted to bring a fight to her, one that was out of the ordinary.
"You might want to keep your distance from these things," she laughed while the clones swiftly charged at her and Ace, "if they grab you, your skin will burn terribly."
"Call of the lizard, Ace," Cherry glared but her brother was too calm about this for her liking. "Call her off, Ace. This isn’t the type of training I wanted."
"It’s not about the type of training you want," Glissk, while controlling the clones, continued engaging in agitating conversation with Cherry just so she could see how far the woman would be pushed until reaching her edge, "it’s about the training you need. The Ethisians are gathering allies. Do you think they’ll all be flesh and bones and scales? some species have acid breath and skin so how will you fight them?"