38 Training

The next few days were all about training. It was decided that Leo would focus on his fighting first, then once he managed to get some techniques down he would divide his time between fighting and studying. Iris however was grabbed by Natalie every morning and was taken into the forest to learn better bowman ship. She seemed to excel in stealth, so Leo thought that if it wasn't for her bright hair she'd make a decent assassin. Speaking of her hair, Leo also gave her the suggestion of growing out her bangs to hide her eyes, this way they wouldn't have to worry as much about her being found out as a mutant.

Jack had advised Leo to focus on chi training since he seemed to be more capable with it due to his enhanced strength. Leo on the other hand insisted that by practicing mana as well would be able to mix up his attacks in similar ways to his fight with the behemoth. Jack didn't agree at first, but once Leo used the same spell that cloaked his hand in fire, while also impacting with chi, he didn't say much more about it. Leo was curious about how he was suddenly able to use the spell, since he was unable to use it until he transformed. Then he recalled the pack ability that Artemis gave him and realized that the 23 followers must have powered him up.

Leo was also concerned about this part of his ability, who exactly were the 23 people. When he asked Jack about it he said not to worry about it for now, but Leo was tempted to ask again when a few days later the number went up to 27. In the evenings, elder grandma would eat at iris's still, but now would teach Leo about the different things he should expect as a champion. Normally this wouldn't happen, but Leo was an unprecedented case since as a resident of a different world, he knew next to nothing about how this world worked. So she taught him about the different gods and what he should expect from them and their champions. And finally there was the werewolf training with Iris.

"Try to imagine being enraged, or some similar powerful emotion. Focus on the strength in your body, and imagine the claws forming from your fingers." Leo hoped that his advice would help Iris train her new capabilities, but since he himself was still blundering in the dark he didn't know what advice to give. He just knew that his powered worked with his emotions. The first indicator of his abilities, was when Curly tried to grope Iris. after that he would recall his rage until triggering his abilities was almost second nature to him. Now he could use his claws and strength almost at will. He was still struggling at triggering a full transformation at will though.

"I'm trying, but it's hard to create rage out of nowhere." Leo understood what she was talking about, he himself needed the specific memory to help him at first. He thought about mentioning the memory to her as well, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea. He didn't think it was healthy to remind a girl training to be an assassin about being called a slut, especially when they were engaged. As he was thinking a voice called out,

"What about the time Curly bad mouthed Leo during the full moon. If I recall right you threw a knife at him and stabbed his hand." Leo turned to the speaker, elder grandma who wanted to observe the training, then back to Iris while arching his eyebrow. He knew Curly was kicked out of the village, but was never told the exact reason. This was also the first time he heard about Iris throwing knives at him, he was also quite surprised that after she stopped him from ruining Curly's hand she took it upon herself to ruin it instead. Iris had a light blush to her ears, and replied,

"He tried convincing everyone that you were a threat, but we all knew he wasn't talking from caution, but from a grudge. Plus he tried to call me a bitch." The last part trailed off, but Leo heard it and decided that Curly better hope he never ran into him again in the future. After speaking though, Iris closed her eyes and tried again to imagine the anger she felt at the moment. When she opened them again there was a slight orange around her eyes, and there was a feel of more power around her. She slowly walked towards a tree, and swiped at it leaving four long marks. Leo smiled seeing her progress and said quietly,

"Now close your eyes and focus your senses. The smells, the sounds. Tell me what you hear in the forest, what your senses tell you." Iris was used to listening to the forest, it was why she was able to use her energy cloak so well. But it was a first with her senses on hyper mode. He hoped that the difference wasn't too much for her. She told Leo about the different small things she wasn't able to sense before, the small animals like the mice in brush, the birds overhead, there was even a big animal moving in the distance whose footsteps she was able to hear. After a while it started snowing again, and she even reported the soft sounds of snowflakes landing.

As Iris went on with her description of what she was experiencing, elder grandma couldn't help but be astonished. She always thought Leo exaggerated his claims about his enhanced senses, but seeing Iris put them to use blew those doubts away. They continued training the small stuff before heading back to the village. Iris wanted to start trying to do a full transformation, but Leo said to wait u till he himself was more familiar with it. He only managed it the one time, and wasn't sure if the only reason it went so well was due to Artemis interfering or not.

After returning to the village they went through the the routine of lessons for the night, before elder grandma left. As Leo and Iris laid down for the night, he started to drift into dreamland when suddenly,

"Come to me my child" Leo heard the same voice as when Fenrir talked to him in his head. If he had been awake, he would have let out and annoyed groan at the gods that wouldn't leave him alone.