"It is very important to know that you need to protect your Familiars just as much as your Familiars protect you. Inside the Monster Dimension, you will face countless perilous situations, and it is on you to protect yourself and your Familiar."
The voice of the Combat Instructor rang through the arena. Everyone was listening intently, some even stiffened.
Every student present was already a full-fledged Summoner with a Familiar by their side.
They had already experienced the dangers of the Monster Dimension once and were fully aware of the dangers that awaited them the next time they entered the Monster Dimension. It didn't matter if they were to enter the Monster Dimension to harvest resources, or to catch their second Familiar.
Important was just that the students knew how dangerous it was to enter the Monster Dimension and that their Familiar wouldn't be strong enough to protect both of them at the same time.
Through the Soul Share, a portion of the Familiar's strength was granted to the Summoner. Through this, the Summoners were a little bit stronger than others, and everyone was in possession of a different standard.
For example, the Summoner of the Heavy Armored Bull was physically stronger than most other students. His skin was also tougher than others, which was owed to the Soul Share of the Heavy Armored Bull.
The Summoner had the talent to become a Guardian, someone who could fight at the frontlines as long as he focused on the increase of his defense and close combat power.
Meanwhile, the Summoner of the Blazing Sabertooth Tiger received an enhancement in his agility, flexibility, and weak proficiency of the Fire Affinity. Thanks to the Blazing Sabertooth Tiger, the Summoner was able to wield the fire element to a certain degree, and he was able to move faster than others.
As long as his Soul Link with the Blazing Sabertooth Tiger increased, the extent of his Fire Affinity would increase alongside until the Summoner would be able to wield the Fire Affinity to the same extent as the Familiar.
The Power of the Fire Affinity couldn't exceed the Familiar's power, though their proficiency in controlling the affinity may variate a lot.
Because of the miraculous effect of the Soul Share, everyone was in possession of different powers. Some may seem similar.
Nial's Familiar was the Goldscale Serpent, a Monster Familiar with an exceedingly durable body. Shattering its golden scales was near-impossible for a monster of the same rank. In fact, even Monsters a rank above it couldn't easily break the golden scales of the Goldscale Serpent.
This was partially Nial's fault. By creating a Soul Link with Goldy, he inevitably altered the Goldscale Serpent's genetics and innate potential, increasing both drastically.
Goldy expanded its Mana Core nine times and it created a Superior Origin Ring rather than an Intermediate Origin ring, which would have been normal for a Goldscale Serpent.
This was also why Goldy was the strongest known Goldscale Serpent recorded in the annals of history.
Nial was not too sure how much stronger Goldy could become, but his golden eye told him that the Goldscale Serpent had yet to reach the limit of its potential.
At least, that was what Nial figured from the little experience he made with the golden eye of potential.
Goldy increased his physical strength and his skin's resilience similar to how the Heavy Armored Bull increased his Summoner's strength. The only difference between the two of them was that Nial's bond with Goldy was stronger, providing him a higher Soul Share.
After all, the stronger the Soul Link, the more apparent the influence of the Soul Share.
Nial thus received a higher Soul Share, and he could even summon Goldy's golden scales all over his body. It used up a considerable amount of nutrition, but the use of the golden scales was certainly worth it.
"Looking at your serious faces, I can tell that there is no need for me to fool around with everyone. If you die in the Monster Dimension, you are dead. That is obvious, and something everyone here seems to understand very well.
My task as Combat Instructor is to teach everyone about combat and let you experience different types of combat. In doing so, I need to know everyone's strengths and weaknesses. Thus, everyone will spar with each other, while I observe the battles!"
It was nothing uncommon to start combat training by assessing the strength of every student. The new students were not yet accustomed to each other, and the Combat Instructor didn't really know anything about his students as well.
He could only gauge their strength and estimate their strong and weak points according to the type of Monster Familiar they bound to their Soul Space. However, that was already it.
The Combat Instructor wanted to see which path the students wished to take and how much training they had already received. Some of them might even have gathered some real combat experience fighting deadly monsters head-on.
It was not unlikely, and actually something he expected from the most talented students of the youngest generation.
However, the Instructor was most interested in the Crown Prince and his personal maid. Not many people knew about it, but his personal maid awoke as a full-fledged Summoner while she was only six years old. She had been exploited by the enemies of the Lacardia Empyrean Void and used to attempt to assassinate the Crown Prince.
But not only did the Crown Prince survive the attempted assassination, but he picked up the little girl, turning her into his personal maid. Apparently, he even fought the Empress who had been fuming in anger, ready to execute the little girl's entire family.
For a four year old child to be able to think so far ahead as to spare a heavenly talented Summoner and turn her into his loyal subject it was only obvious that the Combat Instructor had quite some expectations for both Nial Lacardia and the maid Celine.
"But instead of sparing plainly, how about we show the Crown Prince how strong everyone is? The Crown Prince will spar with everyone!"