Chapter 317 - I’ve Never Seen Her Like That

Observing the battle of Artemis and Scorpio against the small group of low-Unblemished ranked Elemental Lions, Jason could tell that his previous instructions were harsh but definitely helpful.
While Scorpio was struggling to use his mana and poison affinity in his fight except relying on his high physical strength, Artemis continued to try using her ice affinity as much as possible, even in close combat.
However, she also used her claws, beak, and horns to fights, which Jason noticed with a satisfied nod.
In the end, both were struggling to change their combat style but it was much better than Jason expected.
As such, he couldn't help but smile at his soulbonds' whose attitude changed after they noticed how narrow-minded their previous combat style was.
It was much easier to defeat their opponents after getting the hang of it!
Once the first group of Elemental Lions was taken care of without anyone sustaining any serious injuries, Artemis and Scorpio were told to continue with their training under the same conditions as before which they did without any hesitation.
**
It was already Sunday evening when Jason ended their short two-day training trip to the abandoned lands.
Artemis and Scorpio's combat experience heightened and both changed their combat style drastically compared to Saturday morning, where they were still stuck in common fighting patterns.
Nevertheless, Jason knew that they still required a lot more practice and he would have to come to the Abandoned lands or similar training grounds once he had free time.
With that in mind, he tried to figure out what else he could teach them in order to increase their combat prowess.
Unfortunately, there was not too much because he was not a beast and couldn't understand Artemis or Scorpio's wild instincts at all.
Adding the fact that he himself was not overly proficient in fighting beasts, Jason could only hint at the most obvious flaws he noticed by observing them intently.
Other than that, Jason told them to figure out their greatest weakness alone and to work on them once they were back at his masters' backyard or outside the dome, where they wouldn't destroy anything valuable.
Walking around the abandoned lands, waiting for Shane to pick him up again, Jason pondered about something else he noticed.
His mana core size was already comparable to that of an average 2nd Master which was one whole rank above his mana core rank that was at the 2nd Expert rank.
This would have been advantageous in many cases but he wanted to break through at a fast pace over the next few months, which was hardly possible, if he had to fill his Expert rank mana core with the amount, an average 2nd Master rank would normally require to breakthrough.
Right now, his mana core was 20% refined and Jason noticed that he would still need 3 weeks to enter the 3rd Expert rank.
Under normal circumstances, such a feat was already considered good because someone with an average mana aptitude would need much longer than 10 years to enter the Master rank after entering the Expert rank.
Even someone with an above-average mana aptitude would need 10 years, while humans with a great mana aptitude required around three to five years.
For example, Malia Fler, broke into the Master stage when she turned 16 years old.
She began to sense mana at the age of 8 years and didn't need a long time to enter the Adept rank at the age of 10.
Slowly adjusting to the sensation of mana, she required 3 years to enter the Expert rank, only for her to need 3 more years to enter the Master rank.
Under normal circumstances, Malia wouldn't have needed 3 years to enter the Master rank but her mana mastery was still increasing in her puberty, which increased her mana absorption by a large margin.
However, she also contracted two soulbonds in quick succession.
Through the soul world amplification Malia received at the age of 14, she had to fill up a mana core that was larger in size than her current rank.
At the time she contracted her first soulbond, she was at the 4th Expert rank which caused her breakthrough speed to slow down.
However, she didn't mind that and continued as if nothing happened which was probably the best mindset one could have towards absorbing mana.
Jason was similar, yet different.
His mana core size increased by a whole rank and every time he could break through, someone else with the same mana attitude as him, would be able to a breakthrough while being a whole stage above him.
Nevertheless, Jason couldn't complain about his high soul world amplification because it rescued him many times and was one of the biggest reasons for him to reach his current strength.
As such, he had to find a way to increase his absorption speed to enlarge his vessel, strengthen it, and keep up with his soulbonds increase of strength to not fall behind too much.
Not long after Jason finished his train of thoughts, space twisted nearby him and Shane emerged out of it.
Grinning foolishly, Jason said teasingly
"You're finally here, Master?"
Frowning at Jason's words, Shane answered, his mood visibly bad.
"I can also go if you don't want to be brought back!"
"No No!!" Jason hurriedly said before Scorpio disappeared inside the magic circle below him to appear in his soul world.
Artemis shrunk in size and landed on Jason's shoulder and everyone was ready to depart, while Jason only hoped that his master wouldn't hold a grudge against him because he only wanted to tease him a little bit.
Suddenly he remembered that Emily was probably still at their house, which caused mixed emotions to emerge within him as he asked
"What happened to Emily? Does Dalia still want to take her in?"
Sighing deeply, Shane could only shrug his shoulders.
"It's extremely weird...Let's go back and you can take a look for yourself!"
This didn't sound really good to Jason but he only nodded his head before they walked through the spatial portal Shane manifested to appear inside their house.
Looking around, there didn't seem to be any changes when Shane said
"Just follow the noises"
Only now did he hear two feminine voices having a dispute about something, which caused Jason to frown, when he followed his master's advice.
Following the noises, he arrived in front of the room that was directly next to his.
Knocking at the door, the voices within immediately quieted down.
Noticing this, Jason only said "I'm coming inside!" before he opened the door.
"Noo!!" was the only thing Jason heard when he saw Dalia trying to force a bunch of dresses on Emily, who stood only a few meters away from Jason.
Emily was only wearing a skirt and a thin white blouse, which she tried to take off when she noticed Jason standing in the door-frame.
Closing the door almost immediately, he turned around where he saw Shane throwing a sly smile at him.
"You already knew that this would happen, right?!" Jason asked, trying to remain level-headed while cursing his master from within.
However, instead of answering his question, Shane just shrugged his shoulder before he seriously said
"Dalia's behavior is still weird! I've never seen her like that…"