Chapter 346 Barbecue Party

Chapter 346 Barbecue Party

The party was in full swing by the time that the shift change started, and the roast pig had been sliced, pulled, and prepared a half dozen different ways for the Academy students. The ones going to the line had eaten early, and that was the smell that had tortured the students who were coming off the defence shifts.

The Culinary Arts Professor waved at Karl as she saw him coming off the line and waved him over.

"This is considered a tradition in my home village. Take a bite of the beast's heart for good luck, and to gain some of its power." She explained as she handed him a small square of raw meat.

Karl smiled. He had a sword that granted him the beast's life force, and a Holy Stone for luck, but a little more never hurt anyone.

Plus, both Hawk and Rae agreed with the practice, while Remi wondered what the attraction was with only eating parts of things. But Remi didn't have taste buds the same way that the others did, so the taste of things was much less important to her than the texture.

Karl's team grabbed plates and found a seat with their lunch, while they watched the older students trying to distract the kitchen staff so they could spike the party punch. Unfortunately for them, the Academy already knew all the tricks, and they weren't having any luck in their endeavour.

"Happy Birthday, Commander. Good work on the line this morning. I don't think that I've seen an above rank kill go that smoothly in a long time." One of the clerics congratulated Karl as he walked by to maintain order.

"Thank you, Brother. We've got some very talented warriors here, and the more we work together, the better we can predict each other's actions." Karl agreed.

Not that he had worked with that group before, but their actions were fairly predictable because the warrior with him didn't use any skills that Karl hadn't seen before, either from other Warriors or the Spellblades.

He walked off, and one of the Berserker Class students came over to say hello. Karl didn't recall his name, but he recognized him from the group training Earthquake with Thor.

"Commander Karl. Good to see you again, and Happy Birthday. I hear that you've got the Inscription Class going insane copying books again." Karl chuckled. "Have they started trying to teach them to others yet? They will likely only work when you're raging, and partially animal transformed." The Berserker sighed. "I thought it might be something like that. Professor Tank tried to explain, but you know how he is. Not big on words."

That was not Karl's experience with the big Berserker at all. Tank actually liked to talk out his ideas, from what Karl had seen.

Lotus sighed. "You know, I can see them doing that. Some big speech about how the world is progressing and the prevalence of powerful Elites is demeaning the title of High Priestess, so they'll move it up to Royal Rank until I advance again."

Tessa laughed. "I can see it now, half the High Priests would be considered no longer qualified under the new rules, and would have to be grandfathered in just to keep you from being considered a High Priestess.

Maybe we will have to tame you your own monster so you can just stay as a Feral Priestess forever."

Karl laughed. "You know, at one point Rae tried to claim Dana by pulling her into her space to bond her. Tessa might be on to something. If we find just the right partner, we might be able to get Lotus a permanent companion beast."

"Why did she try to claim Dana?" Lotus asked, pouting that it wasn't her.

"Because Hawk had grabbed Remi's egg, and she thought it wasn't fair that she didn't get to pick someone." Karl replied, attempting to hide his laughter at the memory.

"I remember that day, she vanished like four times, trying to take me with her." Dana laughed, while shaking her head in dismay.

Rae almost certainly wanted her more as a trophy or accessory than a partner.

"I wonder how long it will be before one of them makes it to Royal Rank?" Ophelia asked.

They already had skills that were advanced beyond that of a Commander, so it was just a matter of energy storage and body growth.

"It shouldn't be long. I think by the end of the year, we should have at least two Royal Rank beasts. Then the burden on me will be to increase their living spaces enough to advance the others." Karl sighed.

They had been ignoring the end of the Principal's motivational speech, and hadn't noticed when the teachers had stopped to listen to their conversation.

"So, you think that Commander Karl really can reach Royal Rank by the end of freshman year?" One of the combat instructors asked.

The ladies all nodded, while Karl shrugged. "Honestly, it's a bit of a toss up when they will advance. But now that Rae has found Royal Rank targets to optimize herself against, I think that it shouldn't be long."