Bab 25: Patience
****
"One more time, I can do it!" Alex laid in a pool of warm blood on the cold basement floor.
Panting after a failed hybrid transformation, he was excited to try again. He was so close to his hybrid form that failure didn't seem like an option!
"Remember where we are. You don't get a chance to fail," Jimmy reminded the young man.
"One more, and I'll be done. I promise." The young were-rex seemed to be addicted to growth and had completely forsaken the people around him.
"Then take a break, and we can try again later. Until then, let's clean up and go outside." Jimmy grabbed a pressure washer from the corner of the basement and aimed it at the bloody mess.
"I'm not sure this is better than the la-" a jet of water hit Alex in the face, interrupting his sentence.
"No, it's not as quick as the lake, but it beats leaving behind evidence, right?" Jimmy laughed as he directed the pink water to a drain in the concrete floor.
As long as they cleaned up immediately, there wouldn't be long term evidence that anything peculiar had happened. The room they conducted their training in was completely bare, only hosting workout equipment and concrete walls.
"Next time, we should move the weights, it'll make things quicker… This sucks," Alex said as he picked up one of the weighted discs and ensured that all the blood was cleaned off.
"Make sure there isn't a speck left on it. A few drops might be fine, but too many will look suspicious if someone comes looking." Jimmy was inspecting equipment on the other side of the gym, "But, I agree."
The two were-dinos cleaned the training site as if their lives depended on it. After it shined like it was being used as an operating room, they exited the basement and went upstairs to follow Jimmy's advice. Alex needed to take a break, and fresh air would do him well.
As soon as the front door opened, they were both bathed in sunlight. Alex could hear the chirping of robins as he appreciated the calm picturesque scene before him. The vibrant green grass swayed in the wind, the smell of a fresh cut lawn wafted into his surroundings.
Stepping outside, he saw two children run past the house chasing after an older boy riding a bicycle; they seemed to be playing a game that reminded him of his childhood. From over the nearby fence he could hear the neighbors opening their grill, the sizzling of meat accompanying the clanging of tongs.
"There's a lot to lose Alex, you can't push yourself too hard." Jimmy placed his hand on the young man's shoulder as he guided him toward a hammock in the backyard.
"You're right Jimmy, I forgot where I was for a moment. It's best if I relax." He climbed into the hammock and allowed the brisk breeze to pass over him as he swung weightlessly in the air.
The old man walked away from him and let him have his moment of silence. It would be beneficial for the young boy to have a moment of peace after focusing on his negative emotions for training.
[You don't have to worry about them.]
[You can push through it.]
'Jimmy is right. There's no sense putting them at risk.'
[You're going to delay your training!]
'A small delay is worth it to save lives!'
[...What if you can't save a life because you lack training?]
'... I guess I'll die.'
Alex recalled the conversation about Principal Weber potentially being a thrall, and called up the system menu, opening up the knowledge center. He hadn't used it in the past, instead relying on the system to answer his questions, but felt it was time to get more in depth answers.
Selecting the Knowledge Center brought him to a new menu:
[Vampires]
[Werewolves]
[Were-Dinos]
[Misc…]
He selected vampires, and waited for the screen to shift again, but to his surprise instead of a new menu, a series of text appeared in his vision:
[Please input search term: ]
'Thrall,' He thought.
Immediately, the text disappeared and the MWRS that he had become familiar with took the center of the screen and began spinning.
[Thrall: A thrall is a mortal that is mentally bound to any vampire. They often hold important positions in order to better serve their masters. They are always servants, but sometimes slaves.]
[They may become a thrall through mental domination, which will remove all free will and cause them to act in a near feral manner or through the feeding of a vampire's blood to create an addiction. Generally they are bound by the third feeding.]
[The Thralls addicted to a vampire's blood will treat them as royalty and can have near unlimited free will. They can be extremely difficult to distinguish, but will do anything to get their next fix of their master's blood.]
'Shit,' he thought back to the way Joey Weber had always been a suck-up to the Copperlands.
"Hey, good, you didn't fall asleep!" Jimmy walked toward the contemplating boy with a soda in each hand.
He handed a drink to Alex and then turned to pick up a chair from nearby and sat next to his young companion.
"Listen, it's good that you want to improve yourself, but you have to take things slow." Jimmy nodded at the boy and took a sip from his soda.
[Why is Jimmy broken?]
"If you promise not to push yourself, and train diligently, I'll help you with the herd. It's not going to be easy finding people with the proper bloodlines," He offered to his young leader.
[You can't do that, only the leader can find them.]
[That's how it's always been.]
"I'll accept the help, but I still want to be the one that decides whether they are accepted or not," Alex raised his can, clinking it against Jimmy's indicating his agreement.
"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way," The elderly spinosaurus smiled.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone