No, he's terrible at using it

"Just run over here! I'll protect you the second you're near me!" Varrick advised while watching Verdi cling to the dungeon's boss, holding on for dear life to the house-sized tiger's back as he froze ice over its mouth and nose. Though the boss of the dungeon outleveled him by a significant margin, none of his party were helping him. Rather, Fenri was actively working to keep Varrick from helping by throwing knives at Verdi whenever she got the chance, forcing the paladin to focus on deflecting the knives. Citrinas was standing a ways back, watching the entire spectacle play out with her usual indifference.

"Fenri, explain to me again, what the hell am I feeling for!?" Verdi asked in turn as the tiger ran about like a bucking bronco, hoping to knock him off its back.

"Feel the power around your body and grab it." Fenri answered as she threw yet another knife at him. This time Varrick was a hair too slow to block it as the knife embedded itself in Verdi's head, piercing his skull and entering his frontal lobe.

"OH MY GOD! YOU ACTUALLY HIT HIM THIS TIME!" Varrick shouted as Verdi merely plucked the knife out of his head and tried stabbing the tiger with the knife, the wound healing over the second he removed the knife. Though he tried sawing at the creature with the knife, he couldn't even shave a single hair off its body, the spirit power coating it far more advanced than Verdi's strength.

"Grab with what!?" Verdi shouted to Fenri as the tiger pounced forward, slamming its face into a tree and shattering the ice covering its mouth. At the same time, Verdi flew forward from the impact, slamming 40 miles an hour into the trunk and breaking several bones. He coughed out blood as Fenri added insult to injury, landing another knife into the side of his head. Spotting its victim free from its back, the tiger opened its gaping maw, its mouth large enough to swallow a half dozen men as it prepared to devour its next target. Cursing under his breath, Verdi pulled the knife out of his head and slit his wrist, exposing his blood as the tiger prepared to swallow him alive. Just when he was within an inch of being devoured, he formed his blood into a lance and stabbed at the tiger's teeth, pole vaulting himself away and narrowly dodging the attack.

"Your willpower dumbass!" Fenri said while pulling another knife from her inventory. Rather than helping him from the life threatening situation, she threw the knife at him yet again.

"Will you stop throwing knives at him and let me help him!?" Varrick asked angrily as he leapt up and blocked the knife with his sword. Though he was undoubtedly stronger than Fenri in brute strength, she was above him in pure speed.

"I'll stop throwing knives if you let him learn how to use spirit power on his own!" Fenri snapped back as Verdi continued searching within himself for this supposed power. He knew the mechanics, the physics, and every theorem regarding spirit power, but he just couldn't understand what they meant by "feel it out".

"What the hell does grabbing my power with willpower even mean!?" Verdi asked, trying to make sense of the nonsensical instructions as a knife penetrated his heart. "Hey! My clothes don't heal! Head only!" He added while tossing the knife aside.

"Sorry! **** of habit!" Fenri said while throwing another knife, this time landing it dead on his right eye much to Varrick's horror. Despite how sarcastic the words sounded, there was no trace of humor or sarcasm in them as she redirected her aim.

"How is this sadistic show helping him learn anything but new reasons to fear you!?" Varrick exclaimed as the tiger let out a roar of pure exasperation. Realizing the futility of throwing Verdi off its back, it laid on the ground and rolled over, hoping to flatten the alchemist from its sheer bulk. Several of the smaller trees were crushed underneath the tiger as Verdi cursed, leaping off the tiger and stabbing his blood lance into the ground as it rolled over him. There was an audible crunch as everyone stopped what they were doing and ran towards him.

"Shit! Verdi! Verdi, tell me you're okay!" Fenri said, now worried as the tiger got back on its feet, the upper portion of Verdi's lance sticking out of the beast's body and slowly melting in its body. The three of them scanned the beast for signs of the alchemist, finding only a faint red stain on it. Just when they were ready to panic, a bloodied, half bent hand shot out from the ground as Verdi got to his feet, dusting the mud off his body as he looked back at the tiger.

"No, I'm not okay! Explain to me again how to use spirit power from the top!" Verdi shouted while throwing the lower half of his blood lance to the side, the weapon reshaped into a shovel mere milliseconds before he was crushed. The hole was only enough to hold his torso and his head, but that was enough as his bones set themselves back in place. Upon confirming he was safe, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, good, you're okay." Citrinas said with a relieved voice as Varrick glared at the two girls.

"He just got flattened by a 20 ton monster! He is NOT okay!" He said indignantly before looking to Fenri. "Why are you having him fight something this far out of his level!?" He asked in exasperation.

"To teach him." Fenri answered.

"Teach him what? The meaning of fear!?" Varrick asked.

"Spirit power. He's got great battle instinct. If we put him in enough life threatening situations, he'll eventually get it." Fenri answered as the tiger spotted Verdi, its face contorting into blind fury as it prepared to finish off the annoying fleas harassing it.

"All I'm "getting" is stabbed by you! Would one of you stop with the weird "feeling it out" explanations and tell me how to use spirit power already!?" He shouted as Varrick turned around and leapt towards the tiger, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in Fenri's attacks. Though the creature towered over him almost tenfold, that did little to protect it as Varrick swung his sword upwards, cleaving a hole in the beast's stomach and releasing a torrent of blood on his armor. It was far from a lethal blow as the tiger swung its paw at Varrick, the slash cleaving the trees and ground in a vast arc only to abruptly stop the second it hit the armored paladin. Rather than neutralize the impact, Varrick increased his weight and reinforced his body while leaping towards the swipe.

CRUNCH

The tiger's bones shot out of its skin in a compound fracture as the limb shattered against the paladin's body, his sheer mass and resilience far exceeding the tiger's. A pained roar filled the dungeon as the tiger tried to leap away from him, only for Varrick to grab the exposed bone and pull backwards. The sound of ripping cartilage filled the air as Varrick forcibly deboned the tiger's forelimb in a single swift movement. He seemed off balance for a second as he held the bone upright, the length of it exceeding 20 feet and thicker than his entire body. Meanwhile, the former king of the jungle looked at Varrick with equal parts terror and respect, acknowledging that it was no longer the mightiest creature in its dungeon.

Looking towards the tiger, Varrick took a step forward while throwing the bone like a javelin, taking care to imbue his spirit power within it before it left his hands. The bone shot forward like a bullet, easily punching through the massive tiger's heart and sending the beast several dozen feet in the air. One final roar escaped its mouth as the bone javelin exited from its back, a horse sized heart skewered on its own limb as it flew into the heavens. Blood rained from the sky as the tiger died, the jungle dungeon it controlled dissolving. Since winter had ended and spring had finally come, the snowy fields that usually appeared were now vast grasslands lush with vigor. As Varrick sheathed his sword, he looked back to the party to find no applause or thanks waiting for him.

"Hey Varrick, don't want to be rude, but I kind of wanted that kill." Verdi said as Varrick walked back to the rest of the party, the land quaking at that moment as the tiger finally hit the ground. Though he looked to be the most terrifying thing in the area, nobody really feared him for the simple fact that Varrick was the last person that would ever harm them.

"Verdi, that monster was something that required at least a full party with tier 4 classes to fight, not a lone tier 2 class." Varrick scolded, his usual soft voice now completely stern. "It's fine to have high aspirations, but rushing to get stronger will just get you injured. Repeatedly." He warned as Verdi shrugged.

"I had everything under control." He said as Fenri nodded in agreement.

"He'll never learn if you keep babying him like this." Fenri said with an annoyed voice. "I know he can use spirit power. He just needs a little push." She continued, the pair oddly in sync against Varrick's attempts at convincing them they were insane.

For the past 3 months, she had been throwing him alone into dungeons that required a full party filled with tier 4 classes to complete, hoping the fear of **** would rouse whatever memories he had of manipulating spirit power. Sadly, the only thing her training regiment managed to achieve was giving Varrick several stomach ulcers from the stress of watching Verdi get torn apart, revive, then torn apart again on a daily basis. The fact that Verdi didn't seem to even care only worsened his stress as he tried everything in his power to advise the alchemist that, no, violent dismemberment was NOT something a person should suffer on an hourly basis and that losing limbs was a traumatic experience.

"Why are you so intent improving your knight class anyway? There's nothing wrong with focusing in magic." Varrick said as Fenri scoffed at him, the party continuing to follow Fenri's nose.

"Does a person need a reason to get stronger?" She asked as Varrick focused on Verdi for his answer.

"Because I know alchemists have terrible magic attack power, and I was hoping to become a magic swordsman to work around that issue." He answered, still somber at Citrinas' explanation of the different magic classes. Those who received the wizard class balanced their magic attack power and magic capacity. Mystics were an offensive based class tree with lower magic capacity. As for alchemists, they had the highest magic capacity while suffering the weakest magic attack power. The only way he could work around his weak magic power was to gain a second magic oriented class. Though his logic made sense, Varrick and Citrinas looked away from him nervously.

"Might want to lower your expectations on that front." Citrinas mumbled under her breath.

"What's wrong with him becoming a magic swordsman?" Fenri asked.

"With all due respect to Verdi, magic swordsman isn't a profession just anyone can get. Only the top 1% of all knights can hope to attain it." Varrick answered.

"Why are magic swordsman so rare? Wouldn't you just need to be good at magic and spirit power?" Verdi asked.

"Knight classes are awarded based on your talent with spirit power. Magic swordsman classes are automatically assigned only to the most talented people who innately know how to use spirit power like Fenri. People like you that need to learn will never become a magic swordsman." Citrinas said, refusing to sugarcoat the truth as Verdi sighed. He had a feeling they'd say something like that since classes were assigned automatically based on one's own talents, and he'd shown himself to be anything but talented. Regardless, he wanted to at least pretend he wasn't completely useless for a short while before life stomped on his head again.

"What classes can he hope for if he's this shit at using spirit power?" Fenri asked, surprisingly supportive as Varrick sighed.

"I'm not sure. He's the first person I've met that's taken this long to learn." Varrick answered succinctly as Verdi winced. "It takes even children at most a week to learn spirit power. Having someone fail relentlessly for 3 months is unprecedented." He said, only to spot Verdi seemingly slump forward.

"Wow, so I'm the bottom 1% of the world." Verdi grumbled.

"Not that it's a bad thing! Most people just give up after the first week! Being able to continue for months without rest is a virtue!" He said, hoping to alleviate the mental anguish Verdi felt. Sadly, the paladin failed in such a task, merely reminding him of the time he wasted trying to learn an impossible task.

"Hey Fenri, are you sure you've still got Tristiana's scent?" Citrinas asked, changing the topic as they walked.

"I don't make mistakes when it comes to tracking." She snapped back at her, insulted by the slightest notion that she lost her prey.

"Just making sure." She said as Fenri clicked her tongue.

"We'd have caught up to her by now if Verdi wasn't so slow at clearing dungeons." She spat with an annoyed voice.

"Hey, I finish them at a decent speed!" He snapped back at her. "Seriously though, why are there so many dungeons?" He asked with an irritated voice, slightly shocked at just how common dungeons were. Whenever they stopped for camp, they'd wake up to find a new dungeon had spawned over them in the night. The second they finished one dungeon, another would be just a few kilometers ahead of them. There was even the time Varrick went for a bathroom break after they killed a dungeon's boss, only for a new dungeon to spawn when he returned. It just never ended, and they seemed to just come out of nowhere.

"Most of the continent's full of dungeons outside of the main roads patrolled by guardsmen. If anything, there's less than usual because Tristiana cleared the path for us." Varrick said as Verdi sighed, tired at just how terrible this world was.

"Do we even know where we are?" He asked, gaining a new respect for the cartographers of the world. Mapping a world where everything was constantly in flux where dungeons would forcibly overwrite landmarks would be a nightmare to draw on paper.

"Somewhere near the south." Fenri answered as Varrick sighed, reaching to his waist and taking out a roll of paper from his pocket. Unraveling it, he displayed a massive continent with several main roads connecting strategically important regions. The eastern portion of the map was almost barren, the lands held by the demon king unknown to the forces of light. As Verdi committed the map to memory and constructed a replica of the map by his main body for later reference, Varrick pointed at a region towards the heart of the continent and traced it southeast.

"We should be here." He said as Verdi studied Tristiana's path. Though there were other cities closer to them, he noticed a city bordering the forces of light and darkness, the territory held by neither side with several major roads connecting it to other nearby cities. As he read the name, he couldn't help but smile at it for reasons he couldn't fully comprehend.

"Oh, looks like she's heading for Olskroya." Verdi said casually as Fenri and Citrinas joined in looking over the map.

"Which one is Olskroya?" Fenri asked, wholly illiterate to the world's native languages as Varrick pointed out the city. She frowned while glancing over at the other local cities that made more sense for Tristiana to target. They were closer to them, and one of the cities was situated between them and Olskroya. "Wouldn't these cities make more sense for her to target?" She asked while pointing them out.

"I mean, if you're in the area, no reason not to stop by Olskroya." Verdi said cheerily as Citrinas squinted her eyes and glared at Verdi.

"What is so great about Olskroya?" She asked cautiously as the alchemist happily gave her an intro to the city.

"It's neutral ground where forces of light and dark can stop, have a beer, and compete to see who's the best without having anything like tactics, politics, or that kind of garbage get in the way. The fight pits are the best damn place to be for a good time." He said happily as Fenri perked up, his description of the place drawing her attention.

"Fight pits you say?" She asked with an excited voice as Varrick sighed.

"He means the coliseum." He corrected as Citrinas looked to Verdi.

"Hey Verdi, do you remember being in that city?" She asked as he frowned and rubbed his chin, deep in thought as he found yet another fragment of his past. He pried deeper and deeper into his brain, hoping to find something of value. Sadly, the only things he knew were what restaurants, brothels, and hotels were good. He didn't remember going to any of them, but he knew for a fact that they were great places to visit.

"No, I just have fun trivia in my head. No distinct memories." He noted as Fenri tugged at his sleeve.

"So what's in Olskroya?" She asked, more fixated on their destination with sparkles in her eyes. It was almost adorable at how excited she was if he ignored the tinge of mad bloodlust in her eyes.

"You can either compete in the fight pit to win prizes, capture mindless monsters and sell them to the coliseum for competitors, bet on matches, or have sex with hot monster girls for free." Verdi said happily as Fenri practically drooled at his description.

"For free you say?" Fenri asked, now wholly invested in this utopia of a city.

"Monsters LOVE strong things. If you kill strong monsters or beat strong opponents, you'll have them begging to sleep with you. There's even some monster girls competing in the fight pits to look for husbands. Some degenerates even screw in the arena to show off." Verdi said cheerily as Citrinas stared daggers into him.

"Oh, so you were a pervert even when you were a human." She mumbled under her breath as Fenri smiled, her face like a kid in a candy store.

"So you're telling me we're heading to a city full of ****, gambling, and whores!?" She asked, barely able to contain her excitement as she turned to Varrick. "Why did you hide such a cool city from me!? I'd have ditched the summit entirely if I knew about this place!" She said as the paladin sighed.

"You'd know about this city if you had a proper party full of companions or didn't run away from me whenever you saw me." He said before looking up contemplatively. "Considering the time of year, I can see why Tristiana's going there."

"Why's fox-bitch going there?" Fenri asked.

"Once every 3 years, they host a tournament to determine the strongest in the world. Winners of the tournament events usually receive top tier divine artifacts from the sides of light and darkness." Varrick answered, the description of the tournament akin to foreplay for Fenri as she began panting like a dog in heat.

"Heroes and top level executives in the demon world tend to compete there to flex on the other side and get artifacts they normally can't get their grubby paws on." Verdi chimed in as Fenri whistled in appreciation.

"Surprised the city isn't levelled to the ground considering there's people like this one who can vaporize entire cities." She said, cocking her head to Citrinas, still remembering just how powerful a top level mage could be.

"Don't worry, goddess of Equality blessed this place so everyone in there will have the status of a tier 4 class. That way it's a pure competition of skill instead of stats like the Heroes Summit." Verdi explained as Fenri grinned, her canines glimmering in the sunlight.

"This is great! We can take fox-bitch out, earn some extra cash, and fuck some sluts at the same time." She said as Varrick shook his head.

"It's not that simple. Buffs from angelic blessings and monster powers are still applied, so she could still overwhelm us considering she has both empowering her." Varrick warned as Fenri just shrugged, ignoring the one caveat to her supposed plan.

"Eh, she's a mage. As long as I'm not mind controlled again, we can take her." She said cheerily as the grass they were walking on abruptly changed to cobblestone.

"Another fucking dungeon!? We just-goddammit!" Verdi shouted in exasperation, searching for yet another dungeon boss.