"AGAIN. AGAIN. AGAIN." For over four hours straight, One Horn had been pushing Ace and Cherry relentlessly, with Granians rushing in and out with countless barrels of blood. The two siblings were not allowed to do as Jim did, for the Granian training them wanted both to be unique and create moves of their own. "You cannot keep using the same moves," One Horn argued. "You two lack originality. How can your species create insanely powerful depictions of characters and yet you cannot do so with powers of your own?" "Don’t blame us," Cherry shouted back. "We had no idea powers existed, and when you turned us into blood mutants, we only got a couple of days to try them out. After that, you creeps put us into hibernation for six years AND EXPECT US TO BE PROS AT THIS? THIS IS FAR FROM FAIR FOR US!!" Cherry’s built-up frustration caused her to send a gush of blood towards One Horn’s head, casting him down to the floor. Gathering more blood, Cherry attempted to hit One Horn again, only to get blocked by her brother, who held her hands together. "Control your temper, Cherry," he said calmly but sternly before letting go of his sister. Focusing his attention back on the Ethisian, Ace sought to finish it off. Since he and Cherry consistently hit their dummy clones, their scales began to deteriorate over time, but it still was not enough for them to land the final blow. ’Hope this works.’ Gathering more blood from the barrel before him, Ace cut his arms and extracted some of his blood, which he mixed with the other. Once the mixture was done, he quickly shot it at the Ethisian in the form of a whip with his blood at the tip. [Explosive Blood Technique: Activated] Incorporating his explosive blood with the attack, Ace managed to blast off the remaining scales on the dummy clone, causing a large wound in its forearms. His expression remained the same as he waited for the next exercise to begin. "Just do something you haven’t done before or in a long while," he whispered to Cherry before moving over to where Jim was. "Now, shall we try this again one more time? Without losing our temper again?" One Horn coldly asked, while he and Cherry exchanged glares at each other. "Hit your target again, but do not copy the same moves your colleagues have." "I got you the first time you said it," Cherry mumbled back with her eyes closed. In a moment of silence, she thought long and hard for a way to complete the task set for her. Calmly but quickly, Cherry started creating blood blades shaped like sickle blades. After making about twenty of them, she sent all of them as high as she could before bombarding the Ethisian from multiple locations. With every new hit, Cherry increased her speed, strength, and the sharpness of her blades. This led her to chip away at the Ethisian’s scales, but it still wasn’t enough, so she came up with something else. Folding her fists together, the blood mutant turned all the blood into long vertical and horizontal lines that surrounded the Ethisian’s body. The lines started to spin and rub against each other, causing a mechanical reaction that generated red blood sparks. "EXCELLENT!!" One Horn cheered. "NOW GO FOR THE FINISHING MOVE!!" Dropping all at once, the spinning blood lines rubbed violently against the Ethisian’s body and destroyed more and more of its scales. The creature tried using its hardening ability, but it wasn’t fast enough. If it did so on one area, the lines would rub somewhere else while pushing its body back. In one last effort, Cherry tightened the blood lines, reducing the Ethisian’s moving range. The lines took out more and more of its scales, and eventually, its soft skin was left exposed, allowing Cherry to deliver the final blow that killed it, unlike Jim and Ace, who only injured theirs. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅✦𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾✦𝗇𝖾𝗍 "That’s it, Cherry," One Horn announced as he activated the blood mutant blockers. "The task’s been completed. Now we move on to the next round. Please resupply your reserves if you need to." Temporarily moving away to prepare the next training session, One Horn let the blood mutants discuss amongst themselves about their ’learnings,’ while allowing them to feed as well. "That was an impressive move," Jim said to Cherry. "You managed to keep it in place and attack all at once. That’s a skill worth using if you’re fighting a quick opponent." "It’s not that easy to use as you think," she answered while absorbing the amount of blood that was enough for her. "While using it, I felt every muscle in my hands struggle to keep up. It felt heavy to use, especially once I started moving the lines." "A move like that is effective if you’re up against a small horde of opponents that move fast. And if you integrate your blood drain skill, you can add more volume to the lines," Ace chimed in. "That exploding thing you did seemed easy enough," Jim said to Ace. "How does it work?" "According to my system," Ace answered, "It caused the cells in my blood to coagulate, overheat, and then eventually blow up. It’s effective, but I can only use my blood for it. I can’t use another being’s blood to do that." "That’s enough resting time." One Horn returned with his Granian armor on. "It’s time for you three to move on to your next session. This one’s going to integrate what you’ve just learned with your blood mutant forms active. I hope you have consumed enough to take you through it. If not, do so." [Health and Energy Stats have been restored.] [Blood Bank has been replenished.] "We’re ready to move on." "Excellent. Please follow me so that we can get started immediately," the Granian said while deactivating the blood mutant blockers, allowing them to transform. "Transforming right now would be advisable for the three of you." ’I wonder where Sky and Huntress are?’ ********************* "Alright, Skylerrrrr...." Huntress spoke playfully while skillfully swinging her ring blade all around her curvaceous body. "I’m not wearing any armor, so you can take the chance to kill me if you want." "What....." Skyler wondered, her mind still a little fogged up. "Kill you? I thought this was a training exercise? What does this have to do with death?" "Whatever, never mind." Huntress rolled her eyes. Steadily, she rested her back on the edge of her blade and remained perfectly still. With her tail wrapped around her body, she balanced herself on the blade, making sure not to fall off and get cut at the same time. "Well, what are you waiting for? You clearly see I’m in a position that’s hard for me to move, right?" "I know a strong opponent when I see one." Sky answered reluctantly while moving further away from the Granian. "I learned the hard way not to just attack without thinking. It will get you killed." "Ahhh!! So someone makes observations." Huntress grinned, her slick lips widening while revealing her pearly white but sharp teeth. "And here I thought you just stood still and looked good." "Tell you what. If you get one hit on me, I’ll let you sleep in for a couple more hours, alright?" The more Huntress opened her mouth to speak, the more skeptical Skyler grew. In all honesty, she did not trust this female Granian at all, even though she looked to be the nicest and friendliest. ’Something about her creeps me out.’ Skyler thought as her eyes scanned the Granian’s body language. ’How can she be so relaxed and playful yet kill like it’s second nature?’ "You’re starting to bore me, Skyler." Huntress shouted. ’Are you gonna attack, or do I need to make the first move? If I do, you won’t be standing again for a while." "Pardon me, but I’m confused about what you want me to do again." Skyler said, confused by what exactly was going on. "Are we going hand-to-hand combat?" Facepalming herself, Huntress got off her ring and glared at Skyler. Her slim, sharp eyes gave off a cold gaze that made Skyler feel uneasy. "Yes. That’s what I brought you out here to do," Huntress answered. "If it’s the ring that scares you, I can throw it away and just use my hands. "Look. Your friends are already achieving new heights with their powers. I want you to do the same. If you don’t, they’ll kick you out, and then your orange-haired friend will get depressed and stop fighting altogether. "Now then. If you’ll be so kind, transform those feeble arms into some powerful claws so that we can get started?" Following orders for her safety, Skyler calmly closed her eyes and concentrated on her energy. Keeping perfect silence, the young woman felt every inch of her body, from her heartbeat to the twitch in her pinkie toe, to her cells moving and behaving differently than normal humans. While doing so, she came across something that felt like her power source with a glowing orb hovering. With a little more concentration, she managed to immediately gain control of it and activated her powers immediately. "Ok. Ok. Going with the extra arms. Perfect."