"It won't hurt the spirit, that I promise you! It's like the Arcia fruit, its a muscle relaxant but for some reason it seems to affect spirits as well. And we never imagined the spirit was evil my boy, if it was evil you'd probably be on a rampage right now!" Nema said with a slight laugh as he closed the book with a heavy thud of the pages. Grunting as he wrestled it off the table the King carefully handed it to a pair of servants who had to each grab an end and carry it, it was much heavier when one tried to carry it! "I'm certain the spirit can hear us yes? It must be able to hear and see all that you do, since you and it are one. Then hear my words spirit: we mean you no harm. We are working to find a way for both you and T'charrl to work together, that is all. I'm sure you don't wish for our young friend here to suffer any more than we do." Very few spirits were actually malevolent and most were warriors or sages who had become bound to Kaesstra, acting as an eternal guardian to its bountiful wilds. Some took the form of trees, others as great beasts, all had begun as a humble Kaesstrian and had gained an eternal oath to protect their beloved world. "Once we teach you two how to work together and you can control your power I think you'll both be quite happy with your partnership."

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Fighting. That was the only thing Viral defined himself by and the only thing he valued, that much was apparent. It was such a one dimensional way of thinking that led to much of what was troubling the Beastman now, having nothing else to be proud of made one's confidence very easily shattered if your sole source of pride was threatened. Logic said then to find Viral something else to be proud of, teach him another skill or perhaps another trade, anything he could derive a feeling of achievement from. Of course with his mood as poor as it was they couldn't do any of that, not until he at least began looking on the better side of things. "Well if I recall I had shirked my duty as you put it and neglected you, so it doesn't seem like a sense of duty binds me," Aito pointed out with an apologetic smile, "Which means I want to be doing this. As for my analogy you're not wrong, but swords can be tempered and they can be refined, even if the original edge has dulled. To put it more plainly we can get you back to your prime with some work, its far from implausible to think you can't achieve the same level of strength." In fact in all likelihood Viral possessed the same power he'd had before, it was merely dulled by his injuries and marred by his lack of confidence. "So answer this question for me, Viral. Would sparring with others help at all? I could easily arrange to have someone here to spar with you if that's what you want. You just tell me what you want and I'll make it happen."