《This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange》


 Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Affinity Test

    Kain had been waiting for this day ever since he was reborn into this world 10 years ago.


    Unlike in his original world, in this world, a select number of individuals could awaken an affinity for and bind with certain spiritual creatures.


    Today is the day he would find out if he had what it takes to be a beast tamer. Otherwise, he''d have to be satisfied with a life of mediocrity as an ordinary person.


    ''There''s no way,'' Kain thought. ''There''s no way I''d be brought to this world, bound to a system, and not have any affinity.''


    ''If anything, as a transmigrator I should have an epic affinity like to dragons, or an epic elemental affinity like space or time.''


    ''Hey System! Is there anything you can tell me?''


    ''¡­''


    Unfortunately, the system was silent as always. He wouldn''t even know it existed if it didn''t announce its existence when he first woke up in this body. The only remaining evidence of its existence being a glowing egg floating in space that he could see whenever he closed his eyes.


    ''Hopefully, you activate once the affinity ceremony is over with.''


    With that thought, Kain moved forward even more anxiously with the long line of other high school seniors.


    Huff


    Looking around, some, like his best friend Bridge, looked like they would faint from the nervousness, while others, the legacies, appeared calm.


    Huff


    The ability to bind spiritual creatures is partially hereditary. Since the legacies'' parents were all beast tamers, they should also awaken an affinity, even if the quality is poor.


    Kain and Bridge on the other hand live together in the local orphanage. Whether either of them has even one parent with an affinity is aplete mystery.


    In fact, Bridge doesn''t even know his real name, only named as such because that''s where the orphanage director found him.


    Huff


    "Bridge, can you stop panting like a god damned dog! We haven''t even walked that far!" Kain was finally fed up with trying to tune out the heavy breathing of therge baby-faced boy next to him.


    "I can''t help it Kain, what if I don''t have any affinity? My grades aren''t as good as yours, so I can''t try to enter a college through an academic major and once we turn 18, the orphanage director might kick us out" Bridge looked at Kain with tears pooling in his eyes.


    Kain''s heart immediately softened. After all, they were each other''s closest thing to family. "Really, how can someone with the body of a football yer like you, be such a crybaby? I''m sure you''ll have an affinity. Probably not as cool as mine, but you definitely will!"


    Bridge looked a littleforted by Kain''s word. Despite being the same age, Kain had always seemed like a reliable older brother and he''s never steered him wrong before.


    "What''s football? You always say the strangest things. Do you really not remember anything before you entered the orphanage 10 years ago?"


    "Nope. Nothing." They continued walking forward in silence.


    Finally, they entered the doors of arge building simr to a cathedral, with intricate carvings of creatures simr to what existed on Earth, andpletely new ones, all over the stone exterior.


    Above, there was a ss ceiling, allowing the starlight toe down and touch the figures of all the seated children.

 Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Affinity Test (2)

    "Congrattions my students!" Above was the Principal of the local academy #1200, Principal Waters.


    Obviously, whoever named the schools in this world has the same naming sense as Kain''s orphanage director.


    "This year we''ve had a record number of students achieve the required spiritual power to undergo the affinity ceremony and hopefully be beast tamers" He said with his bushy grey brows twitching constantly from joy.


    After all, the more of his students sessfully awaken an affinity, the higher the school''s funding will be next year. Along with his sry, most likely.


    "Now, although not all of you will awaken an affinity. Do not be disheartened. There are still many prestigious careers for non-beast tamers: pharmacists, cksmiths, and above all the evolutionary nners."


    ''True. It''d be considered great if even a third of these students awaken an affinity. Which is why no matter how certain I feel I am to awaken an affinity, I still took all of my academic courses seriously.'' Thought Kain. ''Although, I have already experienced normal college life in an academic major, and it is not something I want to do a second time.


    The tiringbs, taking notes, being yelled at by my Supervisor. No way I want to do that again! Especially not in a world as fascinating as this one''


    "Now, the ceremony will begin shortly. Although, some of you may already know what to expect from your family members'' past experiences. I hope you all will listen carefully."


    Kain and Bridge sat up straighter. They had absolutely nobody to tell them what the ceremony was like. The orphanage director was just an ordinary man whose spiritual power didn''t even meet the requirements to enter the ceremony.


    "From your first year at the academy, we had taught you the technique on how to collect spiritual power from the stars until your soul was fully saturated. While this first step is easily achieved by even children, the requirement to partake in the ceremony is to condense all of the gaseous spiritual power in your soul into a sphere, a star, that does not unravel without your conscious effort.


    This star will be the home for your first contract. The goal of the affinity ceremony is to mold this star into the most optimal environment for this contract."


    "Once the ceremony begins, you will enter a space. If you possess an affinity you will see it''s appearance in the form of an egg. Once this egg hatches, its form will reveal your affinity and fuse with your star, transforming it into an environment inhabitable by only a select number of creatures ¨C those matching your affinity.


    Once you bind to your first contract, the star will further continue to grow and transform with your spirit creature to its most optimal habitat. Meaning that every individual''s star is unique, regardless of whether the contract species is the same."


    "Now, some of you will have very narrow affinities, allowing you to only bind a small number of creatures, for example, three years ago we had a student whose affinity was to ice-attribute goldfish, achieving only an F-rating."


    There were some snickers, particrly from the legacies. Goldfish were a notoriously weak species, not to mention this student could only bind to an ice- attribute mutant that could probably only cool down drinks for its beast tamer. However, at least this student awakened an affinity.


    "Others may awaken affinities to whole elemental attributes or beast-types or even multiple affinities. Just two nights ago at high school # 1011''s affinity ceremony, a student achieved an S-rating. After today, the next S-rating in our great Celestial Empire, and the first in over a decade from our Brightstar City may be one of you."


    At his words, several of the more confident students puffed their chests out with pride.


    ''Good luck!'' Kain thought. ''There''s rarely more than 30 students with an S-rating in a given year.''


    "I don''t need an S-rating," Bridge said shakily. "All I need is a B, to have a shot at entering a top college''s beast taming department.Getting a C or D-rating to enter lower-tier colleges would also be okay. I can''t afford to be picky"


    "You will, don''t worry." Kain said, patting Bridge on the back. Trying to convey confidence he didn''t feel into his voice. After all, although gics are a majorponent on whether you can awaken an affinity, one''s mentality is probably the next most important.


    Principal Waters continued, "Clear your mind, and you should instinctively be drawn towards your affinity in that empty space. This year is your best chance, with each additional attempt greatly decreasing your chances of awakening an affinity,st year less than 10 repeat students in the entire empire awakened an affinity.


    After the third chance, the strain on your soul will not allow for a fourth try."


    "Teachers please join me on stage and we will begin the ceremony."


    While the teachers moved to the stage, the principal revealed arge statue of a humanoid creature with childish features, gills on its neck, and webbed fingers and toes. Strangely, it was shown ying an instrument simr to the violin. It was a creature Kain had never seen before in any of his textbooks.


    The teachers ced their hands on the statue while channelling their spiritual power. Engravings around the base of the statue lit up. Prompting a beautiful melody to ring through the air.


    ''I see. So the spell of this creature is what makes the ceremony possible.'' Kain thought before sinking into darkness.

 Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Affinity Test (3)

    Although an awakening rate of around 20 to 30% seems low, it is many times greater than the awakening rate before the Empire was established and awakening ceremonies were conducted. Among millions of individuals, it would be considered lucky if even one could enter this space to awaken independently.


    Although such individuals would be considered the absolute best among the talents today. Probably even above the S-rating given out nowadays. Astronomical talents at the level of the Empire''s five founders.


    Thankfully, the ceremony was developed after discovering a creature that possessed a skill able to forcefully drag individuals into this space, even if their talent was greatlycking.


    Opening his eyes, Kain was distraught when he realized there was nothing around him.


    ''Calm down Kain. Principal Waters said that I should feel a pull to where my affinity is located. Don''t lose hope yet.''


    Slowing his breathing, Kain decided to close his eyes while feeling for any kind of draw forward.


    ''There!'' Kain almost wanted to sprint towards the faint draw he felt in anxiety, but managed to remain calm and keep walking forward with his eyes closed so as to not lose the feeling. After all, it''s not like there''s anything harmful he could bump into around here.


    After what felt like an eternity, Kain finally felt the pull strong enough that it no longer required intense concentration to feel. He opened his eyes while dashing forward.


    ''Damn this is all only in my head, but I feel as though I''m running a marathon. Just when will I see it.''


    Finally, in the distance, Kain was able to see the first bit of light since he had entered. Rejuvenated, Kain sprinted as though he had been given a performance-enhancing drug.


    Finally he was before the most beautiful egg he had ever seen, and right next to it was another, and another, and another¡­ a quick look around revealed at least a dozen eggs.


    ''Yes! I knew it!'' Kain wanted to jump and scream for joy.


    ''How could I, a transmigrator, with a system no less, live a life of mediocrity? I must be the greatest talent this world has ever seen.''


    ''What are in these? Why are there so many? Is it a collection of all this world''s mythical creatures?''


    While imagining a beautiful future in which beautiful water sprites prepared his bath in morning, his breakfast prepared over his phoenix''s fire, and then making a grand entrance to the college every morning on his dragon''s back, Kain began shiver in ecstasy.


    ''I hope my real body doesn''t have a nosebleed or some other kind of physical manifestation of all this¡­excitement.''


    ''Which should I absorb first? Will the first be a dragon?! Ah, it doesn''t matter, they''re all mine anyway''


    And with that thought and shaking fingers, Kain reached towards the closest egg.

 Chapter 4: Chapter 4: My Affinity is...?

    Filled with anticipation, Kain ced his hand on the surface of the egg. It was cool and smooth to the touch.


    Strangely though, the moment contact was made his whole body felt as though an electric current was running through it.


    ''Yes! This feeling! The electrifying feeling of this world''s strongest beast tamer''


    Crack


    Fine lines began to appear on the surface of the egg.


    Crack Crack


    ''Come on! Come on! Come on my beautiful dragon!''


    Crack


    ''Beautiful water nymphe to me!''


    Crack


    ''Epic mythical creature of time and space,e to Papa!''


    Crash


    All of the eggshells fell away to reveal¡­


    Nothing.


    ''Huh?'' Kain''s face stretched into arge grin froze.


    ''Come out little guy! Are you hiding?'' Kain looked around in puzzlement.


    ''Maybe you''re super small? Like a fairy or something?'' Thinking so, he began to lift all of the egg shell pieces on the ground. Still nothing.


    ''Okay, I will figure out what is supposed to be in that er¡­On to the next one I guess''


    Moving to the next closest egg, Kain stretched out his hand to the same electrifying feeling.


    ''Please be something good this time!''


    ''Come on my beautiful majestic phoenix!''


    ¡­Nothing. Again there was an empty egg. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Kain reached out to the third egg.


    ''Come on lion! King of the jungle!''


    Nothing.


    He reached for the next egg.


    ''Come on elemental affinity! Any would do!''


    Nothing.


    The next egg¡­


    ''Come on wolf affinity!''


    Nothing.


    ¡­


    ''Come on cat affinity¡­''


    Nothing.


    ¡­


    ''Ice goldfish affinity?''


    Still nothing¡­


    While opening all of the eggs, Kain fell deeper and deeper into despair.


    ''Do I not actually possess any affinity? But that can''t be true. People with no affinity just have an empty space. Why have affinity eggs if they''re all empty?! Is this some kind of joke?!''


    ''System! Help me! I''m in the process of awakening now so activate and help! Tell me what''s going on!''


    ¡­


    Like always, the System gave Kain no help, no response. Nothing. Just like his affinity eggs.


    Falling to his knees, he was on the verge of tears.


    Suddenly, the pieces of egg shells all around began to dissolve into small particles before floating to Kain and getting absorbed into the white star in his body. Gradually, the appearance of his star began to change. The process was excruciatingly slow, but Kain could feel that there were definite changes.


    ''So I do have an affinity! I just have no idea what it is¡­''

 Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Affinity Rating Results

    Outside


    "C-rating, undisclosed" Called one of the homeroom teachers in an open area of the hall next to an instrument meant to assess the affinity of newly awakened students. While another recorded the rating next to the student''s name.


    For the privacy of students, it does not inform the teacher of the exact details of a student''s affinity. Therefore, it is up to the students if they''d like to disclose this information.


    However, it can obtain vague information on whether a student has an elemental affinity, species affinity, the strength of the creature they can bind, and how broad each affinity is. The broader a student''s affinity, the more types of creatures they can bind and the potential of the bound creatures determines a students rating.


    A student that can bind any type of ice attribute spiritual creature, would have greater potential than one who could only bind ice- attribute cat spiritual creatures. After all the number of species that meet that criteria is quite limited.


    A student that can bind to any lizard type, or better yet all reptile-type creatures, would be rated higher than one who can only bind to geckos.


    Of course, there are exceptions. A student that can only bind fire- attribute dragons would likely still achieve an A-rating simply by the fact that they possess a rare affinity for the powerful dragons.


    However, a student with a low-rated affinity could still achieve great things if they manage to bind an extraordinarily strong creature that meets the conditions of their affinity.


    Additionally, a student that awakens a powerful gift may also have an ability to change their fate, but not even one in 500 awakened may manifest a gift, and most of them are useless.


    The rating of one''s affinity, while an urate predictor of how likely a student is to achieve sess, is not a 100% urate foretelling of their future.


    "No affinity"


    "D-rating, undisclosed"


    "No affinity"


    "No affinity"


    "No affinity"


    "No affinity"


    "A-rating, feline affinity!!!" At the sudden noticeable change in the teacher''s voice, everyone in the building nced over. After all, out of the 98 students qualified to undergo the awakening ceremony, so far 58 were unawakened with no affinity, 19 were rated D or less, 10 were rated C, 4 were rated B, and the only A rating so far is this one.


    "He''s probably the one with the highest affinity today." Said one of the legacy students with a C-rating, voice filled with envy.


    "Maybe not, there are still 6 people that haven''t woken up yet." Said another C-rating non-legacy who was just happy to awaken an affinity at all.


    "Oh please," snorted the legacy, "if they are taking this long to wake up they probably don''t have any affinity and are just futilely looking for an affinity egg until their mental strength is exhausted and they''re ejected from the space."


    Bridge''s heart dropped upon hearing those words. He had been so happy to find out that he had a B-rated affinity and had a chance at entering a top college that he hadn''t even considered what Kain not waking up yet could mean.


    ''Please Kain! Please have an affinity!''


    "He''s up!" Someone shouted. Bridge rushed over to where the other students were all gathered.

 Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Affinity Rating Results (2)

    Unfortunately, since those not awake were moved to a corner of the hall to avoid disturbing them and so that those awake could mingle, Bridge couldn''t tell from the location of the chair if the student was Kain.


    Fortunately, with his height, Bridge was able to easily see over the sea of heads to the student that just woke up.


    "It''s not Kain," Bridge whispered with his shoulders slumping.


    "He''s also not likely awakened any affinity if the tears in his eyes are anything to go by." Said a student with no affinity standing next to him who looked at the crying student with empathy.


    Realizing he had no affinity to test, all of the remaining students walked away without a second nce. After all, he''s the 59th student with no affinity so far, and they all react the same way¡ªby crying pitifully. Unfortunately, making this a sight that all teachers and students have grown ustomed to.


    A teacher, likely that student''s homeroom teacher, went over tofort him, and likely to confirm that he has no affinity to be recorded.


    "Like I said, any student that hasn''t woken up yet has no affinity. Why do we have to even wait for everyone to wake up before concluding the ceremony? We should just leave those talentless losers here and leave," said the C-rated legacy.


    "Shut up!" yelled Bridge. However, the next second he was shocked by his outburst. He never would have dreamed of saying that to a legacy in the past. But he couldn''t stand how he was talking about Kain.


    "Tsk, whatever." The legacy muttered before walking away.


    At first Bridge was surprised that someone so cocky and from an influential family would back down from him, an orphan. However, upon looking around Bridge got his answer.


    There were 2 conspicuous areas of space everyone else was giving a wide berth. Each only upied by students with ratings B or higher that were sitting in groups. Students that still had a chance to enter one of the nation''s top 5 colleges.


    Scratch that. There were THREE isted areas, one with Bridge alone. That''s when he realized that his fate, and the treatment he would receive has already changed forever.


    "Look another one woke up over there!" Anxiously Bridge looked where the finger was pointed, but instantly he knew it wasn''t Kain. After all it was a girl. And not just any girl, Heather Frost. One of the legacies. Unquestionably, the most famous legacy in the school, both beautiful and rich. Supposedly her family is even a distant branch of one of the most powerful families in the empire.


    A family descended from one of the five founders no less.


    Surprisingly, like the previous individual that awoke, she was also crying. However, that didn''tst long before her delicate features twisted with pure rage and she gave the most blood-curdling scream while smashing the chair she was sitting on.


    "Argh! I don''t believe this! I don''t believe this! That bitch! I don''t believe that bitch could awaken as she did and I can''t at this goddamned ceremony!"


    "Miss Frost, pleasepose yourself!" Yelled her homeroom teacher, Mr. Evergreen. One of the few teachers without an affinity, but was able to get this position due to his being admitted into one of the top 5 colleges based on his academic entrance exam scores alone.


    Mr. Evergreen reached to restrain her.


    Smack


    Everyone stared in shock as the teacher''s left cheek turned bright pink.


    "Don''t touch me you affinity-less trash! Learning from you probably did this to me!"


    "She''s lost it!" One of the D-rated students snickered. A non-legacy that never would have dared to even look in her direction just yesterday.


    ''The results of the awakening ceremony really determine how you''re treated in life huh,'' thought Bridge.


    "MISS FROST!!! RESTRAIN YOURSELF THIS INSTANT" Yelled the Principal. The spiritual powering from a three-star beast tamer that was injected into his voice caused several of the weaker students to even drop to their knees.


    "Your behaviour is absolutely uneptable and we will be reporting your conduct to Mr and Mrs Frost." He said, before dragging out a now subdued Heather with streaks of tears running from her piercing blue eyes and her long dark hair covering her face.


    "And then there were four¡­" Drawled Nigel, one of the few B-rated students, before everyone turned to look at the four individuals still sitting with their eyes still closed.


    ''Come on Kain!''

 Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Affinity Rating Results (3)

    Kain''s mental space


    After a while, the changes Kain felt in his star halted.


    But not because it was finished. Likely, because multiple eggs were absorbed the final environment of his first star will conform to what best suits his first contract.


    Unfortunately, he has no idea what the first contract could be and the environment is too muddled for him to even sense what direction he should go in to find a suitable contract.


    Looking around at the now empty space and sensing if there were any more pulls into the distance, Kain confirmed that there was nothing left for him here.


    ''I guess I should leave now, huh?'' Kain thought, disappointed that there was nothing else here that could give him an answer as to what his affinity is.


    ''How do I leave though? The principal did not cover that''


    Suddenly Kain felt a much stronger pull, although not in any particr direction. Rxing, he closed his eyes and chose to let the feeling consume him.


    "I think that one''s waking up!" Shouted an unfamiliar voice.


    Opening his eyes Kain was able to immediately spot the brown curly hair belonging to Bridge as he used his massive body to barrel his way towards him.


    "Whoa! Calm down! You''re going to crush me to death!" Kain yelled in fear.


    However, after he wrapped his massive arms around him, Kain could feel him shivering.


    "Please tell me that you have an affinity, Kain. Please!"


    Feeling his shoulder now soaked with tears, Kain patted Bridge on the back. "I did awaken Bridge, don''t worry" he whispered. ''Although I don''t know what it is''


    Leaning back, with his hands still on his shoulders Bridge''s green teary eyes searched Kain''s calm brown ones to see if he was telling the truth. Whatever he saw made him copse in relief. Before breaking out into a wide grin. "That means our orphanage has two individuals with an affinity!"


    Instantly Kain forgot about his own issues regarding his affinity. "You too?!"


    Bridge puffed out his chest, "I received a B-rating"


    Before Kain could celebrate further with his brother, they were interrupted.


    "You''ve awakened an affinity, Kain?" Asked Mr. Evergreen as he approached from behind Bridge.


    "Yes sir"


    Mr. Evergreen instantly looked ecstatic. Kain was his star pupil, and although he was certain that he could enter a top school by the academic exam alone, he knew first-hand how many doors open once one has an affinity. Even if it is only a D-ranked one.


    "Let''s go get you tested" He said, as he led him towards the testing machine, Bridge following closely behind.


    "Please ce your hands here and channel your spiritual power into the machine" Directed another teacher Kain was unfamiliar with.


    As Kain reached forward as directed he was incredibly nervous. He had no idea what his affinity was, so he had no benchmark for what his rating might be.


    Also, he could feel over 100 pairs of eyesing from teachers and students baring into the back of his head.


    Channelling his meagre amount of spiritual power into the machine, Kain waited for his results.

 Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Affinity Rating Results (4)

    Kain waited anxiously for the machine to finally read out his results.


    Beep


    The unfamiliar teacher went to read out the results while Kain, Mr. Evergreen, and Bridge waited anxiously.


    ¡­


    And waited¡­


    ¡­


    And waited¡­


    Ahem. Mr. Evergreen cleared his throat. "Mr. Coal, would you please be so kind as to inform Kain of his result¡­"


    Still silence.


    Kain fingers began to riffle through his ck locks anxiously. Thankfully, the fed up Mr. Evergreen moved to look at the monitor on the instrument. However, aside from widening his eyes, he also remained silent.


    "Mr. Evergreen."


    ¡­


    "Mr. Evergreen!!!"


    Startled, his homeroom teacher finally collected himself.


    "Sorry, Kain. I-i-i-it''s an S-rating."


    "What?"


    "An S-rating Kain!"


    Immediately the crowd of onlooking students burst into loud chatter while the remaining teachers ran over to confirm it for themselves.


    Among the students staring at him with envy, and some fear, was Bridge tearfully giving a dimply grin so wide as if it had just been his rating read out.


    Feeling a shiver down his spine, Kain turned to see the returning principal. One of the teachers must have informed him of his rating, because he began to stalk towards Kain with an amorous look in his eyes that he would never want to receive from a middle-aged man.


    Once he reached Kain he began to touch and squeeze various areas of Kain''s body. Had he not been significantly stronger than him, he would have already received a fist to his lecherous eyes.


    "You¡­" Principal Waters said while gently cupping Kain''s face, "You¡­ are the first S-rated student in our school''s history. And I am the principal responsible for nurturing you!"


    ''Not really. This is like the fourth time I''ve seen you in my life.'' Kain struggled to not to roll his eyes, as he was forced to stare into the Principal''s eyes which had practically transformed into dor signs.


    "I''m going to buy a new house¡­with a pool¡­a new car too¡­ I heard that luxury brand just came out with a new model¡­hehehe hehe" Waters muttered to himself as he walked away to where the other teachers were surrounding the machine.


    After all of the teachers had confirmed his rating, the one responsible for his reading, Mr. Coal, and his homeroom teacher, Mr. Evergreen, approached him.


    "Congrattions Kain," said Coal "Would you like to disclose your affinity?"


    Immediately the surroundings quieted down as everyone curiously waited to hear what affinity would grant an S-rating.


    ''Sorry I can''t satisfy your curiosity since I don''t know either.''


    "I wish to keep it undisclosed" Replied Kain as he immediately heard sighs of disappointment all around him.


    "Smart choice. The less people know about your affinity their ability to target you declines. A lot of students, caught up in the pride of an S-rating would loudly proim their affinity. I am so d you could keep a level head. You truly are my star pupil!" Mr. Evergreen patted him on the back before both teachers walked away.


    Suddenly Kain feltrge arms surrounding him, squeezing tightly. It was Bridge.


    "An S-rating Kain! I can''t believe it!"


    "Yeah me neither¡­"

 Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The Affinity Ceremony Ends

    "This has been the most sessful Affinity Ceremony in our academy''s history!" Stated the principal in the closing speeches once the remaining 3 students after Kain, all without an affinity, opened their eyes. "We have an astonishing 36% sess rate, as well as our first ever student an affinity rating of S." The principal''s eyebrows twitched repeatedly in happiness, tears pooled in his eyes.


    Kain squirmed awkwardly in his seat while all of the eyes in the hall turned towards him.


    "For those of you that were unable to awaken an affinity, do not be discouraged! There are a variety of very lucrative career paths for you to choose. In fact, many of you unawakened may prove to be more sessful than your awakened peers."


    "For those of you that do possess an affinity, do not be content. Now is when the real hard work begins. If you hope to have some measure of sess as a beast tamer and be strong enough to leave city walls to enter the wilderness unapanied, you would typically need to be at least a 3-star level tamer.


    However, of the 35 of you who can be beast tamers, less than half of you will likely ever reach such a level."


    "However, our school is willing to give you a head start on your journey. Those who wish can follow me once the ceremony has concluded to select your contract from among what the breeders at our school have to offer."


    The majority of the newly awakened students let out a loud cheer. After all, spiritual creatures, even the weakest of them, are notoriously expensive. For orphans like Kain and Bridge this opportunity was an absolute godsend.


    However, the legacy students look unmoved. The quality of potential contracts that the school can provide would obviously greatly pale inparison to what their own families could provide.


    After concluding his speech, all of the unawakened and legacies left, 24 of the remaining students followed a teacher towards where the school''s breeding grounds were located. Bridge and Kain being the only ones with a rating of B or higher to stay.


    "What are you nning to bind Kain?" Bridge asked, practically shivering from excitement.


    ''I don''t even know what I CAN bind,'' Kain thought.


    "Not sure. I''m not even sure if they will have anything suitable for me once we enter"


    "Figures. An S-rating like you probably needs to bind something like a dragon or phoenix, huh?"


    Kain flinched as his friend unintentionally dug into the wounds of his crushed dreams.


    "Let''s talk about thister at home," Kain managed to grit out through tears.


    "Of course! Of course. But Kain, can you please help me with my first contract?"


    "Are you sure, Bridge? This is a pretty big decision to entrust to somebody else."


    "Absolutely sure! After all, the first contract position will have a big impact on whether I can go to a top college or not, and I can''t think of anyone I trust more than you who is as knowledgeable as you about spiritual creatures. You have the top theoretical exam scores in our year for a reason."


    Suddenly burdened with a decision that couldpletely alter the course of his friend''s life, Kain nodded solemnly and entered the breeding hall with Bridge.


    "What''s your affinity anyways?"


    "Wolves"

 Chapter 10: Chapter 10: The Importance of Quality

    The quality of spiritual beasts can be divided into levels:


    ck Iron beasts are the least talented with the lowest upper-limit in strength. They are only slightly better than ordinary beasts which have no spiritual power. No beast tamer would bind to one unless under extraordinary circumstances. Their potential, without evolving, is also very low, likely never graduating from the lowest white spiritual power, to red.


    Bronze beasts have decent fighting power. However, their abilities are really only effective at the one-star level, while their potential without evolving allows them to eventually condense red-grade spiritual power, corresponding to a human''s 2-star level of power. Although they may go one level higher to orange-grade spiritual power with some luck.


    Simrly, Silver quality beasts normally can reach a strength level of orange-grade spiritual power, corresponding to 3-star humans, and yellow-grade spiritual power with some luck and hard work.


    For even higher quality beasts, those Gold and above, they are impossible for the academy to possess. Heck, there may not be a single Gold-quality beast in this entire city. They are exceptionally rare and usually only possessed by beast tamers above 4-stars.


    As for beasts above Gold-quality, they arepletely in Kain''s blind spot. He will likely need to enter one of the top 5 colleges to even have a hope of ever seeing one.


    Knowing this, Kain''s goal for Bridge would be to find a suitable Bronze-quality beast with decent evolutionary potential, it is unlikely that the school would possess a single Silver quality one.


    Entering the breeding grounds Kain was fascinated by the many spiritual creatures that he had only gotten to see in textbooks so far.


    However, after the novelty wore off Kain got down to business and began to look for a suitable first contract for Bridge.


    After looking at all of the cages, Kain was pleasantly surprised to find that the school had quite arge collection of young spiritual beasts¡ªover 200.


    However, only 5 of them were wolf-types, two of which were ck Iron quality Sand Wolves, likely littermates. Of the remaining 3, all were Bronze-quality. A water- attribute ''River Wolf'' pup, a fire- attribute ''Ash Wolf'' pup, and a wind-attribute ''Huricanine'' pup.


    Kain quickly went through the pros and cons of each in his head.


    The River pup has the greatest evolutionary potential, immediately skipping over Silver quality in its next evolution to be a Gold quality Clear Spring Wolf, which also possesses some healing capabilities.


    Additionally, because most students choose to go with the offensive fire-attribute spiritual creatures for their first contract, if their affinity does not have an attribute restriction, then the River Pup would give Bridge a huge advantage during the college admissions tests.


    Unfortunately, River Pups need a constant supply of top-quality rare herbs located near rivers inhabited by spiritual creatures with at least orange-grade spiritual power. Making the cost of purchasing said herbs from mercenaries astronomically expensive. In short: it is out of the price range for the orphans Bridge and Kain.


    The Ash Wolf pup is named as such because they feed on coal, and are often found covered in ck soot resembling ash in coal mines. Therefore, their biggest advantage is that their preferred food source, coal, is super cheap. Although as far as fire-attributes go, they are quite weak among the rest of the fire-attribute Bronze-quality spiritual creatures.


    This means that Bridge will likely be at a disadvantage when undergoing the admissions tests for college.


    It has 2 known evolutionary forms: A silver-quality Mine Wolf, also not of particrly great strength. And a Gold-quality Gem Wolf. However, there are less than 40 Gem wolves in the entire empire, and the stringent evolutionary conditions would not be known by people with no background like Kain and Bridge.


    Last but not least is the Huricanine pup. They don''t possess many long-range attacks and their wind-attribute is mainly demonstrated through their incredible speed.


    Few contracts of bronze quality, and even silver quality with proper training, would be able to match its speed. Therefore, it would be greatly beneficial for Bridge''s admissions tests.


    Unfortunately, their development path is also the one Kain is least knowledgeable about. Huricanine pups have numerous evolutionary pathways that are determined by how they are cared for and their diet.


    Without being able to afford the help of an official Evolutionary nner, Kain isn''t confident in being able to properly maximize its potential.


    After expressing his thoughts to Bridge, Kain waited for his decision.

 Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Bridges Decision

    Will it be the expensive, but high-potential River Wolf pup?


    The weaker, but cost-effective Ash Wolf pup?


    Or the malleable wild-card Huricanine pup?


    Bridge gave an audible gulp. This will likely be one of the most important decisions of his life.


    "Before we make the final decision, maybe we should ask a breeder for more information on the needs for raising each of them?" Kain said after 5 minutes passed and Bridge was no closer to a decision.


    The two approached a pink-haired breeder feeding the River Pup.


    "Excuse me, we would like more information on caring for the wolf-type contract beasts?" Kain said.


    "Well once you select your chosen partner you will receive a detailed manual on your contract''s ideal diet, evolutionary path, and other unique needs. You will also receive one week''s supply of all required materials for your contract. Afterwards it is up to you to provide for them.


    Although once your week''s supply runs out you can continue to purchase food for your pet here and receive a student discount until you graduate."


    Kain turned and whispered to Bridge, "How much do you have saved from working as a farmhand thest 3 years?"


    "About 15000 Celestial Dors."


    "Not bad!" That should be enough to provide for his first contract for a period of time before Bridge has enough strength to explore nearby low-level wilderness regions to hopefully make even more money as a mercenary or explorer.


    "How much would a week''s supply of food for the River Wolf pup be?" Kain asked the


    "19500 CD!!!" replied the breeder with a practiced salesperson grin.


    "¡­And after the student discount?"


    "That is the price including the 30% student discount!"Replied the breeder cheerily.


    ''Yeah the River pup is definitely out¡­'' Thought Kain.


    "What about the Huricanine pup?"


    "Well, it depends on the development direction you choose to go for your contract. We provide the necessary diet and materials for 2 possible evolutionary directions, both of which are around 1100 CD per week!"


    Both Bridge and Kain breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the River pup is an exception and most contracts are not that expensive to provide for. Although it''s still crazy to think that the Huricanine pup will use up the money Bridge spent 3 years saving in only a little more than 3 months.


    "And the Ash Wolf¡­?"


    The breeder''s practiced salesperson smile was immediately less enthusiastic. "Since it only needs coal, it''s only around 250 CD per week."


    Turning away from the breeder''s now deadpan expression Kain and Bridge convened to make the final decision.


    "I think I should go with the Ash Wolf, Kain. I''d have no trouble feeding it for a long time, and I''d feel guilty spending money that could probably feed everyone in the orphanage for a year on my contract in just a few months."


    "You need to think long-term, Bridge. The Ash Wolf is pretty weak among Bronze-quality beasts, meaning that you will have one of the weakest contracts when going for the college admissions tests.


    Also, unless we know the evolutionary conditions for a Gem Wolf, which it doesn''t look like our school knows, then it can only follow the path of a Mine Wolf, meaning it''s evolutionary potential is also low.


    "If you contract the Huricanine wolf, your chances of getting admitted into a good college increase dramatically. Although you only have enough money to care for it for 3 months, within 3 months you may be a student at a top college by then and feeding it may not even be a big deal to you.


    Especially since I heard students at the top 5 colleges have the basic nutritional needs for their contracts covered by the school."


    Seeing that Bridge was still hesitating, Kain patted him on the shoulder and continued, "I know you were saving some of that money to help out the orphanage director. However, don''t you think you''d be able to help out the entire orphanage a lot better if you can get into a top college and earn a lot more money in the future?"


    Bridge slowly nodded. Decision made, Kain and Bridge turned to the breeder waiting nearby. "We will take the Huricanine pup, as well as 4 weeks worth of food."


    Seeing that they didn''t choose the Ash Wolf and were even buying a month''s worth of food at once, the breeder''s happy expression immediately returned. "Perfect! Since the school covers the costs of your first contract we can immediately perform the contract before getting you checked out with the food you requested.


    They all made their way over to the cage containing the sole Huricanine pup in the facility. "You made an excellent choice! C0039 is a pup not only with tremendous potential, but out of all the canine''s in the facility she is one of the most obedient"


    "C0039?" Asked Bridge.


    "Ah, that''s just her ID number. You can rename her once the contract ispleted. Do you know how to conclude a contract?"


    Both Bridge and Kain tentatively nodded their heads, after all, they knew how to conclude a contract in theory.

 Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Bridges Initial Contract

    Seeing their hesitant nods, the worker decided to still coach them through the contract.


    "To ensure that the contract is concluded, there must be no resistance from either party. Therefore, either both parties agree to the contract, or the unwilling party is unconscious whenmencing the contract. Thankfully, as I''ve mentioned C0039 is very agreeable and should not refuse to form a contract with you.


    "At your level, a medium is needed to establish a contract, typically blood. Technically, any bodily fluids can achieve this effect, but considering most individuals do not have an abnormal inclination to swap spit with their contract, blood is typically used as the medium. You will then use your spiritual power to help guide your contract''s spiritual power to your star, its future home.


    Once the contract is concluded, she should appear in your star, and the environment of said star should begin to alter to better suit her needs. Understood?"


    "S-sounds straightforward," Bridge said after giving arge gulp.


    "Excellent! Let''s get started. Please stretch out your hand." Bridge did as directed with his eyes tightly squeezed shut.


    sh


    Bridge gave a flinch at the sudden cut, before opening his eyes. "That didn''t hurt so much."


    The breeder then bent down to open the Huricanine''s cage. "Come here sweety! Now give me your paw. Excellent! You''re such a good girl!" After making a cut on the pup''s paw the breeder stood up and backed away to give Bridge space. "Make sure that the incisions are making contact"


    Bridge did as directed, and immediately let out a muffled grunt.


    "Very good! She''ll likely need your help to direct her spiritual power to the right location"


    Bridge, while still holding onto the paw, bowed his head while sweat began to form on his brow.


    ''It looks like forming the contract is not as easy as we thought'' Kain thought while watching from the side.


    After nearly 10 minutes, the pup let out a white glow before disappearing and Bridge straightened up while panting heavily.


    "Great job!" Said the breeder, "The first contract is usually the most difficult. After all, it''s not an easy task for students to guide another''s spiritual power with their crude control. You may proceed to checkout, when you are ready to leave. I''ve already gathered your requested materials at the front desk."


    The two nodded before turning to leave when they suddenly felt as though it was hard to breath. This was the pressure of a 2-star beast-tamer''s spiritual power.


    "Also, don''t forget to tell the front desk that Merida was the one to assist you. If I lose out on mymission I do know exactly where to find you" came a chilling voice from behind them.


    The two nodded quickly before dashing towards the front desk once the pressure was alleviated.

 Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Clues to Kains Affinity

    After checking out, Bridge decided to head back towards the orphanage, excited to release his first contract and begin bonding. However, Kain decided to explore the breeding grounds a little longer.


    ''Supposedly, when people with an affinity are around a suitable contract they will feel a faint pull simr to the one during the affinity ceremony. Maybe I can get some clues about what my affinity is from exploring around here.''


    Kain took his time stopping in front of all of the cages and sensing if there was any pull. Even the ck Iron ones, after all its not as though he ns to contract any of them, he just needs a clue as to what he can and cannot bind.


    However, after nearly two hours and exploring every cage, Kain was no closer to finding any answers.


    Sigh


    "Do you need any help?"


    "Aah!" Startled, Kain turned around to see the pink-haired scary breeder Merida. Her face was mere inches from his ear.


    "I-I-I can''t find a spiritual creature suitable to contract."


    "Hmm¡­ I see. Well, these are all of the spiritual beasts we have avable to contract. You could try the Nursery, which contains all of our unhatched spiritual creatures. Most of the eggs are the same species as the young ones out here, but asionally we get an egg of unknown origin that was sold to us by mercenaries or explorers.


    If you have an affinity for any of the eggs you should be able to sense it."


    "I didn''t know we could select an egg?"


    "There''s no rules against it. But considering most college entrance tests are within 2 months and there''s no guarantee an egg would even hatch by then, it''s very rare for a student to select an egg for the first contract."


    Kain nodded in understanding. He also had no intention of binding to an egg for his first contract, but he feels an affinity for an egg and can figure out what is in that egg, maybe he''ll have a better idea of what his affinity is.


    Making his way to the nursery, Kain spotted hundreds of eggs of varying shapes, colours and sizes within ss incubators.


    As Breeder Merida said, all of the eggs Kain had passed so far hadbels for the species as were in the cages outside. It wasn''t until he had looked through over 90% of the eggs that he got to a section of unidentified eggs withoutbels. There were 20.


    Stopping before the first one, a beautiful multicolored egg with pink, violet, and blue hues, Kain closed his eyes to see if there was any pull. Nothing.


    Stopping before a light blue egg that gave off a chill Kain could feel through the incubator, Kain once again closed his eyes. Again Nothing.


    After going through all 20 eggs, Kain was now at the very back of the Nursery but still did not feel any pull.


    Sigh


    Leaning against a staff only door at the back of the room, Kain closed his eyes in despair when suddenly he felt a pull!

 Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Clues to Kains Affinity (2)

    His eyes snapped open in shock. Finally! Finally, Kain may get some clues as to what his affinity is. Reaching frantically for the handle of the door, He tried to open it. Locked.


    He immediately rushed back towards where Breeder Merida was.


    "I felt a pull! I felt a pull! Can you please help me get that egg?" Kain said excitedly.


    Merida calmly followed Kain as he led the way towards the back of the nursery. She was walking way too slow for his liking but, there was nothing he could do about it.


    "In here!" He said, pointing to the locked door for staff.


    Merida''s face immediately turned strange.


    "I know it''s staff only in there. But could I please at least get a glimpse at what''s causing this draw? It''s the only one I''ve felt since awakening my affinity" Kain begged.


    Merida shrugged and then proceeded to open the door, "Sure it''s not a big deal. It''s not like there''s anything top secret or rare inside."


    As the door swung open and they entered a dimly lit room she exined "this is where we keep all of the dead eggs."


    Kain''s stomach immediately dropped, "what?"


    "Dead eggs. None of the eggs in here will hatch. Sorry to disappoint you."


    Kain entered the room and quickly located the source of the draw. It was the ugliest egg he had seen since entering the Nursery. It was ck, and wasn''t smooth like most eggs, full of bumps all over. Then there was the smell.


    "Ugh!" He turned away while covering his nose.


    "Told you. Nothing is ever hatching out of there."


    "Could you at least tell me what was supposed to be in there?" Maybe it''ll at least provide him with some hint.


    "It was found among a pack Shadow Leopards. However, it is known that shadow leopards do eat eggs, and Shadow Leopard eggs do not resemble this one. Also, strangely all of the shadow leopards, at least 200 of them ording to the mercenary''s reports, were dead but had no injuries on their bodies."


    That is strange. Shadow leopards are Gold-quality and located at the most extreme eastern borders of the empire. Even among Gold-quality species, they are among the most deadly and difficult to kill due to their ability to jump from shadow to shadow.


    "Did they have any more information about where this pack was located?"


    "Not really¡­ah! They did say they wereing back from a mission at a relic controlled by Dark Moon College."


    ''Dark Moon College. One of the 5 top colleges,st year ranking third out of the 5.''


    "Can I still use my voucher to exchange for this egg?" After all, since it may not be a Shadow Leopard egg, he''d like to study it longer.Maybe at college, with more ess to higher-level books and professors he could figure out its species.


    Also, he hasn''tpletely given up on the hideous egg, as far as he knows a pull should only be felt if there is something he can bind to. Once a creature dies the pull should no longer exist unless he has the rare affinity for the undead. But, although rare an undead affinity is not sopletely unheard of as to not know what awakening an undead affinity should look like.


    What should hatch from his affinity eggs during the ceremony, if he had an undead affinity, would be the appearance of the undead that he could bind, whether that be skeletal, ghost, or reanimated corpses.


    "There is no need to use your free exchange on a dead egg. You can just take it."


    "Thanks!"


    Not wanting to waste a free opportunity to exchange, Kain decided to take the chilly blue unidentified egg he saw earlier. It resembles the eggs of the Silver-quality Ice Bite Wolf, which is an ice-attribute wolf that causes severe frost burns upon touch. It is typically only found in the northern regions, so, understandably, nobody here recognized its egg.


    Had he not been studying to potentially enter an Evolutionary nner major in college, he also likely would not have recognized it.


    "I should remind you that any creatures taken from here cannot be sold. Otherwise, you risk receiving severe fines and even jail time," Merida''s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Afterall, she already guessed that he did not have an affinity for this egg based on what he said earlier.


    "I am aware. Thank you." It isn''t selling if he just gives it to Bridge when the timees for his second contract.


    After exchanging for the egg with his free voucher and receiving a freeplementary incubator in ce of the typical free week''s worth of food, Kain put everything into his school bag and headed back to the orphanage.


    ''Home sweet home. I wonder if Bridge already spoiled the surprise of our results to everyone¡­''

 Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Home

    In the far outskirts of the city, Kain gradually approached a rundown building¡ªNew Beginnings Orphanage. It was surrounded by many fruit trees, and even from a distance he could see the garden full of almost fully grown vegetables.


    Crack


    Kain approached thest group of fruit trees and bushes before the orphanage.


    Crack


    "Shhhh! You idiot"


    Kain proceeded forward ignoring the hushed angry whispers. Rounding the final tree until the orphanage¡­


    "Arrrggghhhhh!!!!!!"


    Kain stopped in ce with a bored expression. "Cherry. Key. Did you two really expect that to work?"


    "Aww man! This ispletely your fault!" The blonde pigtailed Cherry yelled while hitting the red-headed freckled boy slightly shorter than her.


    After her short tantrum, the two looked up at Kain in nervous anticipation.


    "So, big brother?" said Cherry "How did the ceremony go?"


    Kain looked down at the two juvenile faces that couldn''t be older than 10 and realized that Bridge couldn''t have spilled the beans.


    "I don''t want to repeat it multiple times. Bridge and I will say our results once everyone is gathered"


    Sigh


    "What, Cherry?" Whispered Key.


    "Learn to read between the lines Key. Big brother Bridge came home and ran straight upstairs without saying his results. Now brother Kain wants to avoid having to say his results more than once. Likely because it hurts too much. Both of them clearly didn''t awaken an affinity," Cherry whispered back.


    ''Should I tell Cherry that her whisper voice is louder than most people''s normal speaking voice?''


    Deciding against it, Kain pretended not to hear their ''whispering'' and headed inside the orphanage.


    "Is everyone including the director back already?" Kain asked.


    "Yup" The two children nodded in unison.


    "Perfect. Can you two call everyone to the living room for a moment please so Bridge and I could get this over with? I will go get Bridge."


    The two nodded again as Kain turned to head to the room he shared with Bridge.


    "See I told you they both didn''t awaken. Now his ego is probably wounded. That poor prideful fool," Cherry whispered to Key before the two scampered off.


    Kain''s eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but he decided against correcting her assumptions and headed upstairs instead.


    Entering the room he shared with Bridge, Kain saw Bridge with his new contract on their bed.


    "Hey Kain! I''d like for you to officially meet Lady." Bridge proudly announced before holding his contract up to Kain''s face.


    "Lady?"


    "Yes! Because she is so well-mannered and beautiful like a nobledy from an old legacy family. Aren''t you, my fair Lady?" Bridge replied, while turning her around and showering her face in kisses.


    Face scrunching up at the public disy of affection, Kain quickly interrupted the baby-talking Bridge. "Why didn''t you tell everyone the results already? Cherry and Key didn''t seem to know?"


    "I figured you''d want to be there when I broke the surprise. Not to mention, I didn''t think they''d believe me when I said you''d received a S-rating. So I restrained myself from spoiling the surprise and immediately returned to our room to give you the honours" Bridge grandly announced.


    ''You just wanted to immediately release Lady and not be bothered by the others.'' Kain thought, not buying Bridge''s seemingly noble excuse.


    "Thanks¡­ Let''s head down and announce the results together. I still haven''t told anyone and I''m sure they''re anxiously waiting."

 Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Breaking the News

    When Bridge and Kain entered the living room they saw all 9 children in the orphanage, plus the orphanage director Ss along with their neighbours Farmer John and his wife Sally, sitting on the couch, chairs, and floor.


    Kain could tell that they were taking extra care to manage their facial expression. However, none of them were skilled actors. All of them had varyingbinations of disappointedness, sadness, frustration, and pity on their faces. Probably as a result of his and Bridge''s results already being ''spoiled'' by Cherry''s interpretation.


    ''They really are my family,'' thought Kain.


    Kain took a deep breath topose himself and prevent hisughter from escaping. While simrly, Bridge lowered his head with his shoulders shaking inughter.


    Thankfully, based on the increasingly solemn expressions of his family members, they mistook their attempts at smothering theirughter as trying to choke back tears.


    "I''m sure you all know what today was," began Kain. Everyone slowly nodded. "And I am sure you all know that the chances of awakening are not high, so Bridge and I were already emotionally prepared to fail going into the ceremony."


    Everybody''s shoulders dropped. Key and the two youngest children, Charlie and Melody, looked as though they would burst into tears at any moment.


    "Fortunately, Bridge was able to awaken a B-rated affinity to wolf-type spiritual beasts!" Kain put down his solemn fa?ade, and Bridge raised his head to reveal arge smile.


    Everyone''s faces froze into expressions of disbelief before breaking out intorge cheers.


    "Really? Really?!"


    Hearing the expressions of disbelief, Bridge proudly released Lady from the space in his star. "This is my first contract, Lady! The most beautiful Huricanine in the empire. No! This!" Everyone, especially the children immediately swarmed Lady, while trying to touch her. Thankfully, as Merida said, she''s very obedient and didn''t attack any of them.


    The adults were more focused on the rest of what Kain said. "Did you say a B-rating," questioned Director Ss with sparkling eyes. Kain and Bridge both nodded.


    Farmer John and the director immediately burst into delightedughter, while Sally enveloped Bridge into a hug.


    "Our boy is going to be a beast tamer! And may even enter one of the top colleges!"


    After ten minutes of celebration, when the children had finished tossing Lady around, and the adults calmed down. Everyone''s faces dropped into awkward expressions once they realized that Kain had never announced his results. Half of the room couldn''t even make eye contact with him.


    Kain changed his voice into a pitiful whisper, "As for me¡­"


    Whimper


    Key, Charlie and Melody finally couldn''t stand it and burst into tears. Seeing this Kain immediately rushed to put them out of their misery and loudly dered "I received an S-rated affinity!"


    Once again, the room froze. But even after a full minute, everyone did not react.


    Ahem. "Did you guys not hear Kain? An S-rated affinity!" repeated Bridge.


    Sally was the first to unfreeze. "We heard you. Kain, we heard you, it''s just that¡­"


    "It''s too hard to believe!" Finished the director, "That one of the few S-rated individuals in our Celestial Empire''s history will being from my orphanage."


    Seeing that everyone was still not 100% confident that he was telling the truth, Kain removed the incubator from his bag. "Here is an egg I exchanged for at the school''s breeding grounds, only newly awakened individuals have that privilege."


    Everyone began to gradually look more lively but still didn''t seem to 100% believe him. After all, confirming he awakened is very different from saying he also had an S-rating.


    Remembering another detail, Kain dug through his bag.


    "All the students with a rating of B or higher received a certificate from Principal Waters with his signature that would grant us entrance into the admissions tests for the top 5 colleges. It also includes our ratings. Both Bridge and I received one! Here!" Kain announced after handing the slightly crushed certificate over to the director.


    After processing that it was an official certificate, with the Principal''s signature and a stamp from the local government official, the director''s hands began to shake. Farmer John and Sally, were also no calmer.


    "I think today calls for a feast!"

 Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Plans for the Future

    After Farmer John''s deration, everyone worked together to prepare one of the grandest meals they had had in a while. The director even opened his prized bottle of aged whiskey, and let Kain and Bridge have a sip.


    "Ugh!" They both winced as the adultsughed.


    "Wha da ya young''uns know ''bout quality," the director slurred.


    At this point, all of the other orphans had already gone to bed, and Sally had returned to her and John''s home. Only Kain and Bridge remained with the two tipsy adult men.


    "So what are your future ns?" Asked Farmer John, speech a lot clearer than the director''s.


    Bridge shrugged his shoulders. He hadn''t thought that he would have a chance at a top college, even awakening an affinity feels like a dream.


    "What about you Kain? You will both probably try for the top 5 colleges, after all there is a considerable gap between the funding, resources and instruction they have whenpared to those mid and low-tiered colleges."


    "I''m not 100% sure. If necessary, I may try for more than one. But I think my first choice will be the Dark Moon College."


    "Dark Moon?" John asked surprised. That college was all the way in the east. Brightstar City where they lived was in the Southern region. Therefore, most local geniuses'' first choice college was Starfire College, currently ranked fourth among the top 5 colleges.


    "That''s quite far. Any particr reason why?" John asked curiously. Bridge also turned to look at Kain in confusion.


    ''Because so far the only lead I have about my affinity leads me to there¡­''


    "The needs for my affinity are quite unique. I think Dark Moon College would be best able to meet them." John and Bridge nodded slowly. Seeing that Kain still did not want to disclose what his affinity was they did not pressure him for answers.


    Snore


    Turning to look at the fast asleep director they realized that it was probably time to head to bed.


    Covering director Ss with a quilt they said their goodbyes to John before making their way upstairs.


    ''I need to get more information on the admissions test for Dark Moon College¡­'' Thest thoughts of Kain and Bridge were surprisingly identical as they fell into slumber.

 Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Top 5 College Entrance Exams

    Thankfully, the wishes of Kain and Bridge were answered the next day, as the 6 students with a rating of B or above were called by Principal Waters to a separate conference room. Upon entering, the 6 students were greeted by the sight of 3 unfamiliar individuals.


    After everyone was seated, the principal began with the introductions. "These 3 are former graduates of our Academy 1200. They are also the only graduates in recent years to enter thebat-oriented beast-taming major at one of the top 5 colleges."


    The 6 students instantly became more attentive and looked at the guest lecturers with eyes full of admiration. The guests also seemed to revel in these gazes from their juniors as their chins subconsciously tilted up higher and their backs straightened.


    "They are here to recount their own experiences with the college admissions test and also to provide advice to you. There are over 5000 high school academies in the empire, each of which typically churn out between 2 and 12 students qualified to take the entrance exam for the top 5 colleges.


    This means that thousands of students arepeting for only 1 out of around 100 avable spots at a top 5 college. Therefore, admissions rates for each school are typically below 5%.


    The first graduate stepped forward, the only girl of the 3. She had light blue hair and eyes, a childish face and her height barely reached Kain''s chest.


    ''It''s hard to believe that an individual that looks as though they could be blown away with a single punch was admitted into abat major at one of the top 5 colleges. Although the strength of one''s contracts is most important, a contractor too weak would only be a hindrance in battle,'' thought Kain.


    "I am Bridget, a second-year cadet at Supernova College in the west." Everyone, except the principal, including the other guest lecturers appeared shocked. Supernova College is ranked second out of all the colleges. But above all, they were notorious for being the most bloodthirsty of them all.


    The image thates to mind of their students from rumours is of war-hungry warriors that lick the blood of their enemies off their des after they''ve finished decapitating them. Even their way of referring to their students as ''cadets'' shows their militaristic atmosphere. This petite girl goes there?


    "I had an A-rating. Avian-type affinity." She continued calmly, seemingly used to the shocked looks when people heard the name of her school.


    "Supernova College''s entrance test is the only one to remain unchanged for years now. Therefore, if you choose to partake in it, you all will know exactly what to expect. Typically, there are around 7000 applicants for Supernova, which are then sorted into 70 arenas of 100 applicants. The final man, or woman, standing will secure a spot at Supernova College.


    The other top 9 students tost each round will then be given another opportunity topete against one another for the remaining 30 spots until an entering ss of 100 cadets is formed. Pretty straightforward. Any questions?"


    ''An entrance exam that truly befits their reputation¡­'' thought Kain

 Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Top 5 College Entrance Exams (2)

    After a moment of silence, Nigel, one of the B-rated legacy students, raised his hand, "Yeah, what method did YOU use to survive?" Although it was a little rude in its bluntness, he did ask what they were all thinking. How did someone as small as her manage to beat out 99 other talented students?


    She stared into Nigel''s eyes before moving her gaze to the rest of them. "My method is not easily replicable by anyone here. My strategy could be summed up using two words: height advantage."


    Tiffany, another B-rated legacy, tentatively raised her hand. "What was the initial contract beast you used toplete the exam?"


    "My initial contract is a Crystal Albatross." At those words pretty much everyone in the room nodded in understanding.


    The Crystal Albatross is one of the few Silver-quality flying contracts that could support the weight of a small human,bined with her seemingly light weight and their outstanding stamina, they probably attacked the other applicants from high above so that they could not even fight back.


    Attacks at a long enough range to strike down flying attackers are quitemon among 3-star beast tamers who typically possess contracts at the level of orange-grade spiritual power. However, most 1-star applicants, regardless of the quality of their contract, will likely only have white or red-grade contracts.


    "However, I was lucky that none of the top applicants were in my group. Otherwise, I would have lost"


    Everyone looked at her in surprise. Who could cause someone with such a seemingly fool-proof strategy to lose?


    "What is the strength of these so-called top applicants?" asked the only A-rated applicant, Arlo, whose expression finally showed some seriousness. Although he was also listening carefully, his expression had always exuded confidence as though he was certain of his passing any admissions test.


    "Well for one, many of the applicants likely have already reached 2-stars by the time of the entrance exam in one and a half months." Everyone looked shocked at those words, most of our teachers were only at the level of 2-stars, while our principal only had 3-stars. "My own arena had at least 12 of them, although thankfully most of them were eliminated by others before we met.


    The one I did meet though was unable to touch me with either of his contracts so that I could whittle away his strength. However, those weren''t the true geniuses."


    ''If that''s not considered genius, what is!'' Kain could see simr expressions of disbelief on the faces of the other students, including the principal. Although the other 2 graduates did not look surprised, probably having simr experiences.


    "One of the arenas with the shortest battle times in my year had an applicant with a Gold-quality Twin-tailed Firefox, moreover both he and his contract had red-grade spiritual power tinged with orange, indicating that they were just a hair''s breadth from the 3-star level."


    ''What a monster''


    Gulp


    Everyone looked toward the sound to find their very own 3-star principal, who appeared more intimidated than his own students.


    "Another arena with a pretty fast resolution had an applicant with an extraordinary gift. He was able to make both he and his contract invisible."


    Everyone sucked in a cold breath. Beast-tamers manifesting a gift are extremely rare, and useful ones even more so. However, the ability to be invisible may not be as useful when facing creatures above the yellow-rank in strength. This gift is too overpowered at the level of fresh high school graduates.


    "Although gifts are extremely rare among the general popce. At the top 5 colleges that only want the best of the best, nearly half of all students manage to manifest a gift before they graduate college, although not all are useful in battle."


    Seeing that there were no more questions, as everyone fell into stunned silence at her shocking revtions, Bridget stepped backwards to allow another former graduate to take her ce.

 Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Top 5 College Entrance Exams (3)

    An ordinary-looking blonde boy with freckles stepped forward in her ce. "I am Jeremy, and behind me is Kit and we both go to the much more local Starfire College," he said gesturing to therge bearded man behind him. "I am a third year, while Kit is a first year"


    ''That bearded middle-aged-looking guy is a first year!'' Everyone looked shocked.


    Seemingly used to the looks, Kit cut in, "Yes, despite how I look, I am only one year older than you."


    Jeremy took over again. "Although we both go to the same college, Starfire''s exam differs each year, and even between the same group of iing students, therefore you would benefit from both of our experiences.


    "The Southern region is the most popce next to the central region containing the capital, therefore, the students of our college have a higher mandatory number of missions they mustplete each year in the service of the southern region.


    In preparation for this, the prospective students each year are randomly grouped together and assigned toplete one of the tier-1 tasks that first-year college students would usually be required toplete.


    "During the course of the mission, we were followed and those performing to a suitable standard in the teams that sessfully cleared their mission would be given an offer to enroll.


    Therefore, if your team sessfully clears a mission, you may receive an offer depending on your performance, while if your team fails, regardless of how ster your individual performance is, you WILL NOT receive an offer. No exceptions. Therefore, cross your fingers and pray you do not get grouped with a bunch of useless individuals.


    Because if the mission fails because of only one of you, then you all fail."


    "Additionally, due to Starfire''s unique recruitment method, the size of the iing ss tends to vary greatly from year to year. My year had the most failed missions in recent history, with only 46 students of the 50 that were part of sessful missions admitted. Yes, out of thousands of applicants, grouped into teams of 5, only 10 teams sessfullypleted their missions.


    However, a year with a much higher sess rate may see as many as 200 students being admitted.


    "Also note that the evaluators are there to assess your performance, not to protect you. Therefore, as you are going into an unregted environment toplete REAL missions there is a very REAL possibility of death. 20 students passed in the year I was admitted alone."


    Gulp


    This time it was all of the high school students that audibly gulped in shock and fear. Although 20 students out of thousands of applicants is not a lot, most of them have never faced the threat of death in their lives.


    "Now I will go into further detail about my admissions exam, which may shed some light on why our year had such an abnormal pass rate and death toll. Think back to three years ago when there was a terrorist attack on the Morningstar Pce, the political center of our Southern Region.


    As you could probably guess, most missions, regardless of the tier, were rted to either identifying, scouting, arresting, or assassinating members of the said terrorist group."


    "As we were given tier-1 missions, the risk of death in each mission was extremely low, however, most of us were given missions in which we would have to interact to some extent with these criminals. The college had received information that prior to the terrorist attack, one of the suspects had been spotted at a home in Redstar City, about a 16-hour drive southeast from here.


    Our goal was to obtain information on why he was there, and if there were any of his aplices still there. As the details of our mission our strictly confidential, I cannot go into too much detail, but as evidenced by the fact that I was admitted you can see that we seeded in our mission."


    ''Interesting, the contents of their exam differ greatly from Supernova College,'' thought Kain.


    "Any questions?" Jeremy prompted after we all sat in contemtive silence for a while.


    "I do," said the principal, likely to prevent the silence from stretching on longer. "Do you have any general words of advice for our students? Advice that will benefit them regardless of what their mission is."


    Jeremy tilted his head in contemtion before opening his mouth, "Be prepared for anything. Also¡­" his breath caught as though he was trying to restrain his emotions, "put away any qualms you have about killing other humans. When ites to enemies of the empire, if you don''t kill them, they will kill you."

 Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Top 5 College Entrace Exams (4)

    After giving those heavy final words, Jeremy stepped back so that Kit could recount his experience.


    "Thankfully, my year was more easygoing, with 113 of us passing. The types of missions we all received were also much more diverse. Our mission was regarding Starfruit Vige, a vige near the outskirts of our Southern region. This timest year, this vige was experiencing a terrible famine, therefore resources and supplies needed to be brought to them as soon as possible.


    However, mysteriously all of the caravans sent towards the vige never arrived. Our task was to safely escort the next group of caravans while determining the reason for the previous caravans'' disappearance. I won''t bore you with the nitty-gritty details, but simr to what Jeremy said, beasts aren''t the only ones you may have to kill."


    Again, the room fell into a long period of surprised silence. Most of the high schoolers were not mentally prepared to fight and kill other humans.


    "Thank you Kit! And thanks to the rest of our guest lecturers, your experiences have surely helped our students greatly." The principal broke the silence while apuding. Kain and the others also joined in the apuse.


    After all, although their experiences were intimidating, the fact that they were taking the time out of their busy college life to give high schoolers advice and answer their questions was something to be immensely grateful for.


    "Do you students have any questions remaining? Now''s yourst chance." the principal said while ncing at Kain and the others.


    Kain immediately put his hand up, "do any of you have knowledge about the Dark Moon College entrance exam?"


    The 3 guest lecturers looked at one another, before Bridget stepped forward, likely realizing that the other two were clueless about the Dark Moon College exam.


    "I have no personal experience with Dark Moon''s exam. However, my roommate is from the eastern region and did take their exam, although she did not pass"


    This filled Kain with anxiety. A student that passed the 2nd ranked Supernova''s exam, was unable to pass Dark Moon''s?


    "As I''m sure you know, the eastern region has thergest expanse of forests and the most diverse range of spiritual creatures in its borders."


    Kain nodded, ''perfect for someone like me who has no idea what their affinity is.''


    Bridget continued, "Due to the high amount of spiritual creatures in their vicinity, every few years a beast tide will ur. When the numbers of the spiritual creatures be too high for the environment to sustain, they attack human cities in search of food.


    My roommate said that for the entrance exam, their task was to endure the attacks from a beast tide while avoiding death, injuries too severe to continue fighting, or draining all of their energy. Apparently, less than 80 students out of thousands of applicants managed to achieve this."


    Kain, immediately felt anxious. He''s not even sure what his first contract will be, he has no idea if it''ll be one suitable to survive a beast tide.


    "She also mentioned another potential exam option. One that was given to her older sister 5 years ago. Dark Moon Academy possesses 4 relics, the second highest amount of all the top colleges, all of which do not allow contact with the outside world once you enter. Many of them also have age and/or strength restrictions that prevent instructors from following you for protection.


    Therefore, once you enter a relic, you are truly alone. In order to filter out prospective students for who could and could not survive their relics, the first level of one of their relics served as the site of their exam. All those that could pass were admitted. However, this admissions method was apparently discontinued because the death toll was too high.


    Less than 40 students passed that year, while nearly 600 students died. 600 students with ratings above B, who were the pride of their respective families, schools, and towns, died."


    After receiving this information, Kain was now very worried about his chances of being admitted as a beast-tamer to Dark Moon College.


    Likely inspired by Kain''s line of questioning, the others also asked for information regarding the entrance exams of the remaining two colleges. However, none of them could provide any information.


    "Frozen Sun College is at the northern tip of the Empire, it''s rare for students outside of the northern region to apply there," Jeremy said in regards to the lowest ranking of the top 5 colleges.


    "While the First Celestial Academy is in the capital, they rarely admit anyone outside of the central region, and most of their recruits are genius top legacies from old prestigious families, many of whom have amazing inherited affinities and even gifts that were further nurtured and refined by the old monsters in their families."


    Arlo, who before this information session seemed extremely confident, began to reveal some anxiety. "What would you say is the average strength of students admitted into the top 5 colleges?"


    "Well," said Bridget, "Students that manage to get admitted one year with a bit of luck, may not get admitted another year. It''s helpful to have some information on these exams though, that way you could prepare for and target the one you feel suits you best and increase your chances.


    "However, the top applicants like those I described for my year likely would be admitted no matter where and when they applied. Some years have more of such talented applicants than others.


    "Although, I did hear that your year had an absolute genius among geniuses. Supposedly, they managed to awaken independently of the help from the affinity ceremony. The first one to do so in decades. Even among S-rated applicants, they must be at the absolute top.


    Although, they seem to be from one of the old families in the Capital, so it''s unlikely that any of you will run into them unless you apply for the First Celestial Academy.


    ''At least that''s one monster I don''t have to worry about'' Kain and the others sighed in relief.


    "Well if there are no more questions, let''s give our guests another round of apuse."


    After the 3 graduates left, the principal turned to the high schoolers remaining. "I''ve already spoken with your homeroom teachers, all students with an affinity can take the remaining month of school off until graduation so that they can prepare for the entrance exams at their chosen colleges.


    Since I''m assuming that you all are entering the beast-taming major and not an academic major, thisst month of academic review will be useless to you all.


    ''Excellent, that gives me time to act on some of the theories I had regarding my affinity"

 Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Following a Lead

    Given that the only time Kain felt a draw to a potential contract, it had ended up being a dead egg, he began to wonder if his affinity was rted to the dead. Although an undead affinity shouldn''t result in arge number of empty affinity eggs, Kain was grasping at straws, hoping that the "empty" eggs actually contained either invisible or ghost-type spiritual creatures.


    However, undead creatures are extremely rare, and finding invisible ghosts will be astronomically more difficult.


    Fortunately, Kain already had a lead. He heard rumors that one of the local mercenaries went crazy and is refusing to leave his home after seeing a ghost in the woods to the city''s east. As for the source of this information, of course it was Cherry. The little gossip knows practically all of the news in the city.


    ''Hopefully, it doesn''t get that brat into trouble one day,'' Kain thought.


    Kain packed a bag with a week''s worth of food and water, apass, camping gear, a first aid kit, and a long knife for self-defense. Thankfully, all high schools had mandatorybat sses for all four years. Hopefully, considering that he isn''t venturing far from the city, he won''t have a reason to use any of the techniques he learnt.


    "Hey Cherry! Come here for a sec!" Kain beckoned her over after he left their home and saw her ying in the front yard.


    Bending down to her eye level once she came over, Kain then proceeded to pull out a map of the woods surrounding the city. "Your big brother Kain wants to try and find the ghost-type spiritual creature you mentioned to me before. That mercenary that told you that scary story, do you happen to remember any of the details about where he saw that ghost in his story?" Tilting the map towards her.


    "Nooo! Why would you want to go find that scary ghost big brother Kain! What if it eats you?!"


    "Because," Kain replied making sure to adopt a soothing tone, "that ghost may be super important for your brother. Also, your brother is now an official beast tamer,"¡ªnot really¡ª"A measly ghost wouldn''t be able to hurt me." Actually a well-ced banana peel could hurt me, which is exactly why I need to fulfill my initial contract urgently.


    "Really?" Cherry asked hesitantly. Kain nodded.


    "Well I don''t remember everything he said, but he did say that after slipping on a patch of wet mud while following along the river to the east, he fell into a hole in the ground. But the hole wasn''t scary, it even had a hot tub!"


    "Do you mean a hot spring?" Kain rified.


    "What''s that?"


    "Well it doesn''t matter, please continue."


    "He said that he began to swim in the hot tub and it felt amazing. However, after a while he said he heard a woman crying, and then a woman with straight ck hair popped up from the water right next to him!"


    "And then?" Kain probed after she fell into silence.


    "And then he said that he got so scared he ran back to the city."


    "Excellent! How long did he say it took him to return from that hot spring?"


    "That I know! He said he ran so fast he reached the city in only an hour. But I''m not sure if I have all of his story correct. You should ask him yourself?"


    ''I would. But he''s refusing to leave his home and turning away everyone who tries to meet with him. Everyone except Cherry, I guess."


    "Thankfully the ghost doesn''t seem to be too far from the city, I should be able to get there and back within a day. Thanks Cherry!" Kain turned to leave when he felt tiny arms wrap around his legs.


    "Be safe¡­" muttered a tiny tearful voice.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be back soon."

 Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Entering the Wilderness

    Leaving the city gates alone, Kain wasmenting the fact that he could not afford to hire a mercenary as an escort. He also didn''t have a contract yet so he couldn''t join a team.


    He could only pursue the ghost, his potential contract, alone. He decided to begin with the first clue he had regarding the ghost''s location.


    He followed the river east. The mercenary also said he managed to run back to the city in a couple hours, his perception of time may not be that urate due to his fear, but Kain was sure that the hot spring should not be more than a 6 hour''s walk in that direction.


    After all, 6 hours from the city there is a pretty noticeablendmark, a shift in the surrounding green vegetation to all crimson-leaved Viper Oak trees. He made no mention of that in his story, so he couldn''t have gone that far.


    Long-knife in hand, Kain followed the river at a slow pace. He had never felt as bare as he did at this moment. It was an extremely dangerous decision to leave the city without a contract, but he was getting desperate.


    Ssh


    Growl


    After following the river for about an hour, Kain heard what sounded like a conflict between two wild beasts.


    Running behind a thick tree for cover, he looked towards the source of the sound. Next to the river ahead is arge feline with long protruding fangs and red-tinged fur, ''A Blood Cougar," thought Kain ''one of the strongest ck-iron quality beasts.'' Wiggling around in its jaw was a squirming River Python trying to break free, another ck-iron quality beast.


    ''Although only ck-iron quality, either one of them could probably kill me, I can''t let them see me''


    Forced to move away from the river, Kain lost the greatest marker he had for his location. ''Fortunately, I packed apass. But I don''t know how far the entrance to that hot spring is from the river. Hopefully, I don''t miss it by walking too far away."


    After walking another 30 minutes east, this time further from the river, Kain decided to stop to rest and eat. Pulling out an energy bar from his bag while sipping on water, he took out his journal and began noting any of the vegetation and scenery that may serve as a marker for the path he took in case he gets lostter on.


    Snap


    ''I think I passed a Blue Maple Tree, 5 minutes back. Those are pretty rare¡­''


    Snap


    Kain''s head turned sharply towards the sound that was now much closer. And there, hidden among the trees he saw a Blood Cougar, likely the same one from earlier, steadily moving towards him.


    Seeing that he had spotted it, it immediately pounced towards him while Kain quickly ducked and rolled away to dodge. Unsheathing his knife from next to him, he tried to parry the cougar''s next blow, but just grazing it blew him away and caused his arm to turn numb.


    ''This isn''t going to work,'' he thought before turning around, leaving his supplies, and rushing towards the direction of the river. He made sure to not move in a straight line and weave between trees to obstruct his pursuer''s path.


    Spotting the river ahead, Kain made a mad dash forward with no trees around him to obstruct the cougar.


    Ssh


    He dove headfirst into the water.

 Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Entering the Wilderness (2)

    ''Cougars are not known to be the strongest swimmers and have a general dislike for getting their fur wet. Hopefully, he''s not hungry enough to try ande in here after me''


    After holding his breath for as long as he could, he popped his head up for some air and to look around.


    Instantly he spotted the piercing gold eyes boring straight into his soul.


    ''Shit!'' He thought, before ducking back down. ''Why is it still there?!''


    Swimming further away from the shore, Kain once again came up for air.


    ''It''s still there!'' Suddenly he felt a stabbing pain as something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him under again.


    Looking down, he saw what looked to be a vine covered in sharp needles gripping into his flesh, as it dragged him slowly towards what looked like the gaping mouth of a venus flytrap.


    Gripping his knife, he endured the intense pain stilling from his ankle and tried to cut away the vine. When he was almost out of breath, he finally managed to cut through and quickly swam to the surface again for air.


    Gasp


    ''The river is no safer thannd, I need to get out of here'' He thought. But unfortunately, the cougar was still pacing along the shore while staring him down.


    Looking around he spotted a floating piece ofnd covered in moss jutting out of the river. ''When did that get there?''


    Not thinking anymore about it, he swam towards his only hope and copsed on its surface while breathing heavily. It was more spacious that he thought,rge enough to fit 20 of him lying down.


    ''I''m surprised I missed it when I first jumped in''


    Looking at his ankle, he saw the disconnected portion of the vine still wrapped around it with needles digging deep into his flesh causing him pain.


    Carefully, he unwrapped vine while wincing in pain and the needle were removed. ''I could really use my first aid kit right about now¡­''


    There was a bright red bruise left around his ankle, but thankfully nothing appeared broken.


    Kain took the opportunity to look around and catch his bearings. Thankfully he could still more or less tell his location. I think I''m only about 3 hours from the city wall.


    ''Today is officially the worst day of my life'' He thought, before closing his eyes in exhaustion.

 Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Entering the Wilderness (3)

    Ssh


    Kain had closed his eyes for what felt like a minute, but the sky was already much dark, several hours must have passed. Also looking around, he could see that he was at a much further point down the river. A point he was unfamiliar with.


    More importantly the patch ofnd he had fallen asleep on was beginning to sink into the water.


    "Shit!" He screamed, before using his knife to stab deep into the dirt and give himself something to hold on to.


    Soon, he sank fully into water, and the identity of his ''ind'' was revealed. He was on the back of a massive turtle. From the pressure and size of the creature, he could tell that it was above yellow-grade in strength. It was also likely above Gold-quality, since Kain had never seen it in any of his textbooks.


    He wanted to cry, ''I thought there weren''t supposed to be any creatures above ck-iron quality so close to the city!''


    Fortunately, it didn''t seem to notice Kain''s presence, or it didn''t care, considering him to be like one of the tiny insects that asionally hitch a ride onto its shell.


    After staying below water for what felt like an eternity, Kain desperately needed oxygen. With burning lungs he dislodged his knife, his only remaining possession, and floated in the direction he felt was up.


    "Ahhh!" Just when he felt as though he would faint from ack of air, he finally broke the surface. However, looking around, he was no longer outside. His ride must have been swimming through the underwater tunnels of this cave. After crawling towards shore, Kain copsed onto his back. It was almost pitch ck, with only a little bit starlight peaking through a hole in the ceiling.


    He could see that he was in a circr cavern with stone walls all around, except for a tunnel in the direction he currently was.


    ''I guess I have no choice but to go down this tunnel'' After all, he would likely drown if he tried to swim back out of these caves without his previous ride.


    However, without his supplies, Kain would not be able to see in front of him in the tunnels since the faint starlight above would definitely not reach that far.


    ''I guess I''ll be flying blind then¡­'' he thought. He could either take a chance of finding an exit through these tunnels, or he could slowly die in this cavern. Without really being given a choice, he slowly stepped into the tunnel.


    ''Please don''t let there be anything that wants to eat me down here, just give me a break!" He prayed, before slowly stepping forward.


    After walking forward for several minutes, he gradually calmed down and began to extend his other senses since he could no longer rely on his sight.


    "Aaahhhhh!!!"


    He pushed away what felt like a spider web. ''So gross, please tell me I''m not surrounded by spiders right now.'' Remaining calm was difficult, now that he was imagining a giant arachnid spiritual creature eyeing him from the dark. ''Stay calm. Stay calm.''


    Tap tap tap


    Hearing a noise in the distance, Kain gripped his de tighter and then crouched along the side of the tunnel to take up less space while remaining quiet.


    Tap tap tap


    Gradually he heard the scampering sound slowly moving away from him. Once the noise waspletely gone, Kain stood again and began to make his way down the tunnel. Slowly. Silently.


    ''This isn''t so bad,'' he thought after what felt like hourster, after not encountering anything else. ''Maybe I will be able to survive this. But it''s been at least 12 hours since I ate anything. Even if nothing eats me, I may die from ack of food and water¡­''


    Whoosh <span style="disy:none;">


    A breeze! He must be approaching an opening. Picking up the pace, Kain began to move in the direction he felt the breeze, and gradually began to see some details of the walls around him. ''I''m free!''


    However, suddenly he stopped. Because despite the opening to the outside clearly right in front of him, he felt something he was longing for even more within the pitch-ck tunnel towards his left.


    A pull.

 Chapter 26: Chapter 26: "The Ghost"

    Looking longingly onest time at the exit, Kain turned towards the left. After all, this may be hisst chance at finding a suitable contract before the admissions exam for Dark Moon College.


    Once again surrounded only by darkness, he at least had the sensation of the pull to direct him now. Gradually, he began to see light again through a small opening in the ceiling. Another cavern.


    And within this cavern was a steaming hot spring. ''It''s you!'' Kain thought. The ghost in the hot spring must be what he is sensing.


    Looking around Kain tried to see if he could see his future contract anywhere around the cavern.


    "Hello? I know your there. I don''t mean you any harm, I just want to talk with you. Maybe we can even be friends."


    Silence


    "I know you''ve probably been alone for a while now, but don''t be scared. I can ensure that you are never alone again."


    More silence


    Seeing that the ghost wasn''ting out, Kain decided to focus on the sensation of the pull. It was drawing him strongly towards the hot spring. Beckoning him.


    "I guess I have to go in there to see you." Kain said in trepidation. After all, although he knows that logically his contract may be an undead creature, he still hasn''t fully wrapped his head around it. Asking him to share a hot bath with an undead creature is too much!


    Stripping down to only his underwear, Kain entered the water.


    "Ahhhh. This really does feel great" Kain took a moment to enjoy the warm water seeping into his skin, and leaned back against the wall of the cave.


    However, by the time his fingers were starting to shrivel up from being in the water to long, he still hadn''t seen a glimpse of his potential contract.


    Feeling for the pull again, Kain tried to see if it had moved. ''Nope. Still in the water. Although it''s hard to pinpoint where exactly. It feels like it''sing from all over''


    Dipping his below water, Kain decided to see if he could find anything below the surface. Surfacing for air and diving again at least a dozen times, Kain was still unable to find his contract. ''C''mon Kain, think! You are so close to finally bing an official beast-tamer. You can''t give up now!''


    He was about to continue diving when he noticed a very familiar pair of golden eyes in the dark. Pacing along the edge of the hot spring.


    ''No! No way! How could you follow me all the way here!'' Before Kain''s eyes was his old foe, the Blood Cougar. Likely impatient after finally spotting its long-lost prey, it pounced at Kain from the shore into the hot spring.


    "Aahhh!" Kain fell back under the water to escape its ws.


    Swimming deeper Kain turned around when he didn''t feel it''s ws on him.


    Nothing.


    ''Wow I guess it must really hate water.'' Kain thought, assuming that the cougar returned tond.


    After holding his breath as long as he could, he resurfaced and looked around in fear.


    Still Nothing. ''did it leave?''


    Sob


    Sob


    Kain looked towards the sudden sobs he heard. Sitting against the side of the hot spring was an adorable little girl with blonde pigtails and sparkling brown eyes. "Cherry? Why are you here?


    "I got worried so I went to look for you. You said you''de back soon, but it''s already been over a day. And look at you! You''re injured, and when was thest time you''d eaten."


    "How did you even get here Cherry?! We have to get you back quickly, it''s not safe here!"


    Kain immediately forgot about his first contract and moved to exit the hot spring. After all, Cherry was more important than a contract. There was only one cherry, but surely he''d find another suitable contract eventually.


    However, the moment Kain stepped out of the hot spring he was ovee by a wave of dizziness and nausea. He then felt a bubbling sensation in his stomach. Before he could move, Kain threw up the little contents remaining in his stomach all over Cherry. Or where Cherry had been¡­ she had now disappeared. Just like the cougar.


    Calming down, Kain tried to think through the throbbing in his brain he tried to think clearly. Kain wasn''t an idiot, he was the top of his ss for 4 straight years in the academic exams. He had just been too frazzled by the sudden appearance of Cherry to think.


    ''Hallucination? Does the ghost perhaps have a mental attribute? Or maybe there is no ghost, and she was also a hallucination the mercenary saw.''


    "I know they aren''t real! You can''t fool me anymore! Show yourself!"


    Nothing.


    "Stop ying with me and show yourself!" Kain screamed while standing up in anger. Wrong decision. The moment he stood up his vision began to blur as he lost his bnce before copsing back into the water with his eyes closed. Until the very end, the spiritual creature never revealed itself.

 Chapter 27: Chapter 27: The System Activates

    *Spiritual Contract Detected: System Initializing*


    *Compromised Host Condition Detected, Administering Emergency Electroshock Therapy*


    "Ahhh!"


    Cough Cough Cough


    Kain wheezed while spitting out all of the water he had swallowed. "I''m alive." He said patting down his body, "I''m alive!"


    *Correct Host. Congrattions on obtaining your first spiritual contract and activating the System*


    "Aaaahhhhh ghost!" Kain said whipping his head around in search of the voice.


    *Not a ghost. System*


    "System¡­? System!" This thing had never responded in the decade he had had it. He was beginning to think that it didn''t exist.


    "Wait¡­you''re activated¡­and you said I have a contract!"


    *Correct, please explore your first star space to make contact with your contract*


    Excited, Kain immediately closed his eyes. The star that was previously a mashup of pretty much any environment one could think of, now had a clear appearance.


    ''A hot spring? Did I contract a hot spring?''


    *Please do not be ridiculous host. One can only bind to living creatures with sufficient spiritual power, not inanimate objects. Your star has taken on the appearance of a hot spring because that is the most optimal environment for your contract.*


    "I see¡­" Kain examined his star again. "I don''t see anything other than a hot spring. Are you sure it''s in there?"


    *I am sure. You can summon it if you would like further confirmation*


    Kain closed his eyes to concentrated and tried to do as directed by the system, pulling an object at the end of his spiritual power outside of his body. Once he sensed its presence in front of him, his eyes snapped open. Still nothing. "Where is it?! Did I actually even make a contract, I thought I''d have to be awake to direct the formation of the contract. I also didn''t cut my hand"


    *Not true. Because white-grade spiritual power in humans and spiritual creatures is weak, bodily fluid is needed as a medium, this is unnecessary as your strength increases. Regardless, all of the conditions to establish a contract were fulfilled. It had very intimate contact with you when it entered your body*


    "It did WHAT?!" Kain shouted, feeling vited.


    *And additionally, neither party rejected the contract. You, because you were unconscious. It, because it sensed a suitable living environment for itself within you that it instinctively made its way towards. Resulting in a contract*


    "So where is it¡­Is it¡­still in me?" Kain, asked in trepidation. After all, a creature living in the star space within his body is different from it swimming through his veins.


    *No. After the contract was established. It, and all of its derivatives were absorbed into your star space. Once summoned it appeared outside of your body, in the water surrounding you. Perhaps exploring the system''s features will be better able to answer your questions*


    Of course, now that the System has finally activated, he could get used to its help. No longer forced to do everything on his own.


    "System open!!! Show me what you''ve got!!!" He shouted into the air.


    *There is no need to shout. Simply think what you would like for me to do, and I will read those thoughts*


    ''Kind of an invasion of privacy, but I guess that''s convenient¡­'' Kain thought while silently asking the system to show him its features once again.


    Immediately a window with several options appeared in front of him. Most of which were blurred out.


    The only avable selection was the ''Host Status'' icon. ''I guess this is about me?''


    Selecting the only avable option, Kain was brought to a screen showing a 3D scan of his body, along with his height, weight, and other health indicators. Interestingly it has also quantified his spiritual power.


    ''That''s convenient. Usually, people just have to keep absorbing their spiritual power while only having a vague indication when they are approaching saturation and can begin forming their next star. This thing tells me exactly how much spiritual power I currently have and how much more I need to be a 2-star beast tamer''


    Currently it read 150/1000 SP. Kain had not been able to absorb any more spiritual power since reaching saturation and condensing his first star. A level he''s assuming to be 100 SP. Now, after establishing his first contract, he can continue absorbing more already. While asleep it already looks as though he absorbed another 50 SP.


    ''This is why I needed to form a contract as soon as possible. Every day without a contract is another day I cannot absorb more spiritual power and fall further behind my peers.'' Most of his awakened ssmates have probably already passed the 300SP by now, even those with the worst talent.


    Focusing on the Contracts icon next to his 3D avatar, Kain was brought to another screen.


    ''Finally, I''ll get some answers''

 Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Kains Affinity Revealed

    ''Just what are you?'' Kain thought while looking at the Blue blob with a darker blue circle in the center like an eye.


    Kain thought he would instantly have a sense of affection for his contract, like Bridge but¡­ ''it''s ugly. Really, really ugly.'' However, something about it felt familiar.


    "If this is how it looks, why can''t I see it?"


    *Maybe the host should look more closely at its information*


    After receiving the hint. Kain immediately looked at its basic information and was taken a back by its size.


    "15 micrometers? That''s microscopic," Kain muttered in shock.


    "Microscopic¡­wait don''t tell me¡­" Kain''s stomach began to sink.


    Kain''s mind shed back to his awakening ceremony. ''I would love to have an undead affinity right now. The undead are great! Just please don''t tell me that all of those seemingly empty eggs were actually full of¡­"


    *Microscopic organisms? That is correct host*


    Kain wanted to break down in tears.


    Maybe back on his previous Earth bacteria and viruses could be powerful weapons, but in this world where even children have managed to absorb at least a little spiritual power, most microbes that could cause disease were considered harmless.


    Kain doesn''t even think the people of this world are fully aware of the existence of microbes. Why would they be when there are the much more interesting spiritual creatures to study and diseases are practically unheard of?


    The fact that Kain''s contract even possesses enough spiritual power to alter the mental state of awakened individuals and form a contract with him is an anomaly, he doesn''t hold out much hope in being able to find another.


    "How could this kind of affinity get an S-rating." Kain said despondently. Until this moment he had been holding out hope that his affinity was for some kind of rare and powerful creature, which is what that machine was sensing, but how could this kind of affinity receive an S-rating?


    *Humans'' method of assessing potential epasses both the strength of the contract creature, as well as the number of types of creatures one can bind. There is no affinity more broad than yours. ALL MICROORGANISMS. That includes all the types of bacteria, viruses, amoebas, archaea, fungi and more that are too small to see with the naked eye*


    "Great! So I can bind thousands of varieties of useless creatures too weak to actually have anybat effectiveness. Awesome!"


    *Although most microorganisms do not possess much, if any, spiritual power, there are always exceptions like the one you contracted. As someone from a that has been repeatedly ravaged throughout history by gues and pandemics, you more than anyone in this world should be aware of their potential. With the power of evolution, even ck-iron quality beasts could reach a much higher level.


    Most microorganisms are already incredibly susceptible to mutating, with this system''s help, you can surely still achieve all you''ve dreamed of*


    ''No I can''t,'' thought Kain disheartened. ''How could I be satisfied when everybody else has boundpanions that they can hold,municate with, hug, and love? Companions that could carry them into the sky or to the depths of the ocean. Can my contract even think? Feel? It''ll definitely never be able to carry me''


    *The Host should take a closer look at your contract, I think that with time you wille to be amazed by the potential of your affinity.*

 Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Kains First Contract

    Resigned, Kain decided to take the System''s advice and take a closer look at his contract''s information page.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Brain-Eating Amoeba (BEA)


    A rare microorganism typically found in warm freshwater bodies such as hot springs. When a host enters its waters, it typically enters through the nasal cavity in swimmers and moves towards the brain. Early symptoms of infection include headache, fever, nausea, blurred vision and fainting. Later may include seizures and hallucinations.


    The fatality rate in infected at or below the brain-eating amoeba''s spiritual power is 97%.


    Quality: Bronze


    Spiritual Power Grade: White (232/1000 SP)


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: water, mental


    Skills:


    A-Rapid Proliferation: When entering bodies of water, BEA can rapidly divide. Producing thousands of progeny within seconds that can be controlled by the parent cell.


    A-Brain Infection: Once inside a host BEA can make its way to a suitable host''s brain to cause almost certain death in creatures of equal and lower spiritual power. Symptoms, but not death, will be triggered in infected with spiritual power up to one grade higher.


    B-Seamless integration: Once entering a fluid, BEA integrates perfectly with the surrounding environment bingpletely undetectable to creatures with a spiritual power up to one grade higher


    C-Capsule formation: under harsh conditions such as extreme temperatures and acids, BEA forms a resilient capsule to prevent death. Once activated, no other skills can be used.


    ----------------------------------


    Kain was pleasantly surprised. Shocked really. Bronze-quality? Two A-level skills? Usually only the most talented of the silver-quality spiritual creatures had an A-level skill, and usually only one. His contract had 2!


    Maybe it has to do with the fact that it is a rare mental-attribute spiritual creature. Creatures with a mental-affinity are usually not below Gold-quality. They are also one of the hardest to defend against.


    Moreover, it''s B-level skill isn''t too shabby, allowing it to sneak up on even red-grade spiritual beasts and 2-star beast-tamers. ''That mercenary was probably a 2-star. That''s probably why the mercenary was affected but didn''t die, yet had no idea what really happened to him here.''


    ''Maybe I can make this work¡­'' Kain thought. Feeling, for the first time in a while, some optimism for the future.


    "Now that I''ve got a contract, I guess I should give you a name¡­" Kain muttered, finally feeling some semnce of affection for his first contract. "I actually kind of like the acronym for your species, BEA. I will call you Bea from now on."


    ''Now that I got what I came here for, I guess I can head back home now¡­'' Kain headed back in the direction of the exit after recalling Bea with a pep in his step.

 Chapter 30: Chapter 30: First Kill

    Following his steps back toward where he saw the exit, Kain took a step outside.


    He was back in the familiar woods to his city''s east. ''I entered these woods no stronger than an ordinary person, and I''m leaving as an official beast-tamer!''


    Kain looked at the sky. The sun looked as though it had just finished rising, meaning that he hadofficially been out here for one full day.


    Based on the direction of the morning sun, Kain headed west, back in the direction of his home.


    The trip back home was much more rxing than the oneing from the city. ''This must be thefort having a spiritual contract provides.'' Although he logically knew he wasn''t significantly stronger than before, he definitely felt a lot safer than he did previously. Less naked and vulnerable.


    Snap


    Kain whipped his head around in the direction of the sound.


    Snap


    To the left! Turning that way, Kain still didn''t see anything. However, He could sense that there was something there. Watching him. Circling him.


    Then finally in the dark he saw a pair of familiar gold eyes. This time it wasn''t a hallucination.


    "You again! This time I''m not defenseless!" Kain immediately summoned Bea. Only to realize that although Bea is pretty overpowered against red-grade and below creatures, she''s pretty much useless outside of water, with no way to actually infect the host.


    ''Crap!'' Kain thought before bolting. ''The river! I need to get to the river!''


    Moving as fast as possible Kain moved in the direction he thought the river was. ''Thankfully, all of the wilderness survival courses we were forced to take in school developed our sense of direction. Otherwise, I wouldn''t know which way was up.''


    As he ran Kain could already feel the difference in his body after he made a contract and was able to pass the blockade of 100 SP. It wasn''t a huge difference he found it easier to weave between the trees to avoid capture. He also would have probably been out of breath by now.


    ''Damn! Where is it? The river isn''t supposed to be far from where the hot spring is''


    Hearing the sound of running water, he made a sharp veer to the right. ''There!''


    Making a mad dash towards the river he dove headfirst into the water.


    Fortunately, this time he has some defence against what may lurk in these waters, although carnivorous nts like the one he ran into previously are still a threat.


    He immediately released Bea into the surrounding waters and could immediately sense as her splits (yes, he decided that Bea was a her) spread to cover at least 10 m2 of water in his vicinity within seconds. "Hahaha! I''d love to see youe in here after me now. Nothing with a brain will be able to touch me"


    Once again, the cougar remained on shore while pacing back and forth staring at him.


    "Come on! You hungry?! I promise you that I will be the tastiest thing you''ve ever eaten!" Kain yelled, trying to tempt the cougar into the river.


    Grrrr


    It didn''t seem to be falling for his antics. Once again Kain was reminded of Bea''s limitations, if it doesn''t enter the water, he''s out of luck. He''s also not confident enough that just a quick ssh with water will give Bea enough ess.


    ''Damn it! How do I make myself more tempting¡­? Should I undress? Maybe add in some innocent doe eyes like a helpless prey? I''ve never had to seduce a human before, much less a spiritual beast.''


    Crash


    Suddenly a giant wave formed pushing Kain towards shore. In the direction of the cougar. Thankfully it seemed to also be trying to run out of the range of the wave. Although it was unsessful.


    As the cougar became drenched in water, Kain could sense from Bea that her splits were sessful in entering the cougar, ''it''s done!''


    Rxing, Kain spun around to see what caused the tsunami. A giant turtle with andmass on its shell. "Haha! You''ve helped me twice now, intended or not. You must really be my lucky star."


    sh


    Vaguely sensing a warning transmitted from Bea, Kain immediately ducked down. "You''re still not down yet?!"


    ''Bea, is there any way you could speed up the process,'' Kain prompted while dodging another attack. Sensing a negative signal from her that her split had just entered its brain and that it would take some time, Kain turned his other newpanion.


    ''System! Any help you can provide''


    *Apologies. The Host has not yet earned ess to the majority of the System''s features*


    ''So I only have ess to a stupid status menu?! You''re still useless just now you talk to me?!''


    *The System''s capabilities are dependent on the host. Please continue to work hard ^_^*


    The response further irritated Kain. Especially the emoticon that felt like it was mocking him.


    ''Ugh! I guess can only wait this out''


    Fortunately, gradually the cougar''s movements began to slow down, making it easier for Kain to dodge. Finally, it stopped attacking and tried to run away before copsing to the ground.


    No longer having to focus on dodging, Kain could spare some of his energy to watch the effects of Bea''s skill.


    Approaching it, but still staying out of its attack range, Kain could see it ring up at him in rage, but there was also fear in its eyes. "I guess you never thought the hunter would turn into the hunted, huh?"


    However, Kain eventually decided to put it out of its misery, stabbing straight into its forehead for a quick ending.


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    "GP? What''s GP?


    *GP is the currency of the System. You can use it to upgrade the System to unlock other features as well as spend it for a variety of uses once you unlock said features*


    "Great! Maybe once I upgrade you, I can finally get some help around here" Kain said rolling his eyes. "How much GP do I need to upgrade you"


    *Upgrading the System from level 0 to 1 will require you to spend 100 GP*


    Kain''s brow immediately twitched.


    ''100 GP¡ªThat''s 100 White-grade beasts that I would need to kill! Just one of those things could kill me!''


    Looking at the corpse in front of him, Kain was suddenly reminded of another point in training. "Blood Cougar fangs and ws can be used to make weapons, while their soft yet difficult-to-prate red coats can be used to make luxury clothes that those legacies adore." Brandishing his wife he immediately got to work.


    Rolling up the fangs and ws in the fur coat, Kain attempted to lift it, "Damn! This is way heavier than I expected. System! I don''t suppose you have anything like a storage space"


    *Please work hard Host to unlock more of the System''s capabilities*


    "Figured you''d be no help¡­" Kain muttered before putting the rolled-up fur over his shoulder and making his way slowly back to the city.

 Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Returning Home

    Fortunately, the rest of the journey back home was uneventful. After stopping by a shop next to the gates targeting the materials brought back by mercenaries, Kain was finally able to get rid of the materials from the cougar he had.


    ''12000 Celestial Dors! A mere ck-iron beast was able to earn me almost as much as Bridge saved up after 3 years of part-time farm work. Now I understand better why everyone in this world is so desperate to awaken.'' The ease at which even the lowest 1-star beast tamers can earn money is iparable to ordinary people. Although the cost of caring for contracts is also astronomical.


    ''Although.. what exactly would the care and evolution n for Bea be? I don''t think anyone''s ever had a contract like her before''


    *That will be up to the Host to figure out. Out of everyone in this world, the Host is probably the most knowledgeable about microbes*


    "Yeah, my 3 years of college-level biology totally makes me an expert¡­" Kain said while rolling his eyes.


    * ¡­.*


    Even the System was unable to provide any more words offort.


    ''This sucks¡­''


    Once Kain arrived home, the first thing he did was take a hot shower before jumping into bed. He hadn''t been able to sleep at ease without fear of a sudden attack in over 24 hours, so as soon as his head hit the pillow he went off into dreand


    However, after what felt like only closing his eyes for a brief moment, he was violently pped awake by Bridge.


    "You''re back! You''re back! When we heard from Cherry that you went into the wilderness without a contract, we were all so terrified! Why wouldn''t you take me with you?!" He yelled while wrapping him in a hug.


    Feeling Bridge shaking, Kain didn''t have the heart to yell at him for waking him up.


    "You had just formed a contract a few days ago, you''d not be much safer than me out there. If I''m going to put myself in danger, I''m not going to drag you down with me" Kain said while patting Bridge''s back.


    ''Well, it doesn''t look like he''ll let me go back to sleep right away. I might as well go get some food''


    "When''s dinner, I''m starving?"


    "Right now. You looked exhausted so I didn''t wake you up earlier, but I figured you''d want to eat."


    Kain looked to find itpletely dark outside, I guess he had gotten to sleep longer than he felt. "When I told everyone earlier that you were back, they immediately started working together to prepare your favourite"


    "Hot pot¡­?" Kain asked hopefully.


    After Bridge nodded, Kain immediately ran downstairs, no longer tired.


    "Really, the things thate out of his mind are both great and strange. This hot pot he came up with is delicious, but I don''t know why he insists we eat it with sticks" Bridge muttered before following after Kain.


    Entering the dining room, Kain saw that everyone, including their neighbours, was already seated around arge table waiting for him. A delicious smell wasing from arge pot at the center of the table while a variety of ingredients were washed and cut on tes next to it.


    Immediately Kain used chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat and dip it into the soup. He could barely even wait for it to fully cook before stuffing it into his mouth. Reaching for another piece his hand was suddenly smacked by the director¡ªHARD!


    "Go wash your hands! I let one slide because you looked like a starving stray cat, but no more!"


    "Ah, sorry!" Kain quickly scampered off to wash his hands as he heard muffled giggles behind him.


    Once Kain returned, he immediately sat down obediently, looking at the director.


    "Did you find what you needed?" Director Ss asked. Everyone turned to look at Kain in anticipation.


    "Uh-huh" Kain nodded with a big grin.


    "Good" the director nodded, before everyone began to stuff their faces.

 Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Caring for his Contract

    After getting a full stomach and a good night''s rest. Kain woke up happily the next morning. Surprisingly, Bridge wasn''t in the bed next to him. ''Huh, I thought he''s stopped working at the farm for now to prepare for the entrance tests. Thatzy guy never gets up early on a weekend otherwise.''


    However, soon the loud shoutsing from the yard answered Kain''s question. "How''s training Lady going?" Kain asked once he joined Bridge outside.


    "Not bad! She''s a hard worker and we''ve managed to graduate from Beginner to Practiced proficiency for one of her moves in only a few days."


    That reminded Kain. He should also work on Bea''s proficiency. As the proficiency of her skills increases maybe it won''t take as long to take down enemies in the future, they may also unlock new effects or graduate to a higher skill grade. However, most of Bea''s skills are not easy or safe to practice in the city. He will need to go back out into the wild.


    It''ll also give him an opportunity to collect more GP and upgrade the system.


    With that in mind, Kain headed back upstairs to write down his n of action for the next 5 weeks until the entrance exam at Dark Moon.


    After confirming what his affinity was, Kain was faced with a problem. Given that his affinity, as far as he is aware, ispletely unheard of, he would not be able to rely on the expertise of an experienced Evolutionary nner to help him. He also wasn''t sure if he wanted to ever disclose his affinity to others, it''d make it a lot easier to target his shorings.


    Therefore, despite still preparing for the beast-tamer admissions exams in 5 weeks time, he alsonned to take the academic exam in a month to enter the Evolutionary nning major. Although double majors are rare, they are not unheard of.


    And given Kain''s unique circumstances he needed the resources of the beast-taming major to increase his strength, but he also needed the knowledge of a nner to figure out an evolution for Bea, and any of his other future contracts.


    ''This is going to be a real tiring month'' Kain thought. After all, he is attempting to enter the two mostpetitive majors at a top 5 college. He will need to be among the top applicants in bothbat and academics to have even a shot at achieving his goals.


    ''I''m pretty confident in my academic performance, and have consistently scored within the top 1% in the nation for previous mock exams. The most urgent thing is to increase Bea''s strength. Bea''s major shortings are her limited methods of being able to enter a host, needing to have contaminated water enter their nose, eyes, mouth, or wounds. No water, no infection.


    However, I don''t see any immediate method of being able to ovee this shoring by the time of the exam, so I will focus on Bea''s second weakness: the speed at which she can kill a host. If the Dark Moon entrance exam is in fact a beast tide, I can''t exactly wait 5-10 minutes as I''m overrun with beasts for Bea''s split to stop them.


    The time from infection to incapacitation must be brought down to a few seconds.''


    As Kain looked at Bea''s status window, he noticed something else of interest.


    ''System, what was Bea''s Spiritual Power immediately after we formed a contract?''


    *Answering Host, it was 232 SP*


    ''What about before we fell asleepst night?''


    *It was 245 SP*


    Kain turned to look at Bea''s current level of spiritual power and suddenly had a headache. It was exactly 245 SP. Completely unchanged after a night of rest in the star space.


    After entering the star space, the absorption of spiritual power should be much higher than when outside. The contract being mutually beneficial for both parties in increasing the rate at which the spiritual power rises. This is why a contract with high potential is so important, as it can greatly impact the speed of the beast-tamer''s growth.


    Typically, a beast with high potential will have an increase of 10 SP a day, even without active absorption, just by staying in the star space. A contract with average potential would absorb around 5 SP a day passively. However, after an entire night of rest, Bea''s spiritual power did not increase by even 1 SP.


    But, in the time between forming the contract and going to bed, Bea''s SP increased by 13, at the level of those with the highest levels of talent.


    ''So what happened between the time of the contract and going to sleep?''


    Staring contemtively at Bea''s status window, Kain was suddenly drawn to the species name, ''Brain-eating amoeba.''


    ''Don''t tell me that the nutritional source Bea needs for growth are brains?'' Kain thought, feeling nauseous.


    *Host is correct. The fresher the better*

 Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Getting Ready to Go

    Kain took that statement to mean that Bea needed to consume brains that were still in a living host¡­


    Although sickening, Kain did have to admit that this was quite convenient for his training ns. Bea can train her skills while also increasing her own SP and obtaining GP to use upgrading the system.


    ''Looks like I won''t be able to spend that much time at home in the future,'' Kain thought. Before beginning to pack another bag with all of the supplies he had lost previously.


    Thankfully, the bruising around his ankle had pretty much healed and no longer hurt. ''Ah, the perks of having Spiritual Power. Although it wasn''t a deep injury, it would have taken him at least a week to fully heal from it back on Earth.''


    ''It looks like I''m almost ready to go. However, there''s still a couple more things I want to buy in the city.''


    Kain had never had so much money to spare before, a whopping 22000 CD whenbining his previous earnings working as a tutor with the 12000 CD he earned yesterday from selling the cougar parts yesterday. Previously, he hadn''t been able to afford even the most basic soft armour. However, now he should be able to afford at least something.


    Maybe even one with decent quality or high quality if it''s already used.


    Making his way into town, Kain headed towards themercial district. Due to ack of funds, he had rarelye here, but now he was amazed at how many stores there were that targeted beast-tamers. Pharmacies, Weapons shops, Training Centers, and more.


    Heading over to a local armory that among the local mercenaries was rumoured to have the most reasonably priced equipment (''thanks again Cherry for that information''), Kain hesitantly stepped through the door.


    He could see a variety of weapons and armor in racks as well as all along the walls.


    ''Where do I even start?'' He ended up pausing in stupefaction long enough that an employee thankfully took pity on him.


    "Can I help you?" Asked arge older man with a long shaggy grey beard. ''He''s likely a cksmith?'' Kain thought, looking at the man''s red and weathered skin.


    "Y-yes! I am looking for a suitable soft armor"


    "Hmmm¡­" He said, squinting he already beady eyes while looking Kain up and down. "High schooler? 1-star? What''s you budget" Kain nodded before answering with the total amount of his savings, you can''t cheapen out on safety.


    "Follow me" before leading the way towards a rack of soft armor near the front of the door.


    "I''m assuming this is an armour you will be using to explore wilderness around here. Therefore , you don''t really need one with cold-resistant instion. Other special features such as being lightning or fire-proof are also not necessary, both of those attributes are extremely rare in our immediate surroundings.


    I would rmend you buy one of these 3" The cksmith said holding up a ck, a brown, and a dark blue armor.


    "This one," herge man said while holding up the ck one, "is made from the hide of a bronze-quality Iron Ursa, offering exceptional defence.


    Although it is a quite heavy, most white-grade attacks, and even the average red-grade ones would find it difficult to prate it." Kain picked up the ck soft armor and almost tipped over from the weight ''Can anyone actually wear this?!'' This is likely only a high schooler of Bridge''s size could wear.


    Kain shook his head "it''s too heavy for me. I fight using my agility more than raw strength"


    "I figured," He said looking at Kain''s leanly muscled arms. "These 2 may be more what you''re looking for."


    He then held up the brown armor. Looking closely, Kain could see that it had a slight green tinge as well as scales "Made from the skin of Bitter Ground Lizards, they are lightweight and durable, although not as protective as the previous one I showed you. Also, because they are made from Bitter Sand Lizards, they are resistant to corrosive poisons."


    Bitter Sand Lizards are bronze-quality lizards that live in tunnels underground, typically in sandy desert regions. Their skin constantly secretes a mildly corrosive poison that makes all of the ground in an area have a slightly bitter taste. Although, most people just take the textbook''s word for it and didn''t actually taste it for themselves.


    "Lastly," he said pointing to the blue armor, "this one is made from a bronze-quality Scavenger Shark. Therefore, it has a simr durability and lightweight as the brown armor I showed you, while also offering excellent water-resistance. You will feel just as light in the water as you do onnd." Scavenger sharks are quitemon bronze-quality beasts.


    Also, despite being sharks they rarely choose to hunt for prey, instead choosing to scavenge for food on the ocean floor.


    "Hmmm¡­. How much do the brown and blue armours each cost?"


    "The blue one is 19,000 CD while the other, because sand lizards are lessmon to find, will be 21,000 CD."


    Kain''s heart bled. Either one of them would end up bleeding majority of his savings. He once again realized how expensive the beast-tamer profession was.


    However, he didn''t agonize over his decision for long. There weren''t many creatures with a corrosive type poison in the area and, given Bea''s characteristics, Kain nned to do the majority of his hunting in and around the river. The fact that it was cheaper was also a nice bonus.


    "I will take the Scavenger Shark soft armor!"

 Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Preparations Complete

    After making a decision and paying with the ount tied to his ID card, Kain didn''t immediately leave. He had an idea to deal with Bea''s other limitation¡ªa water gun!


    After exining his idea to the cksmith, he gave him a strange look. "It''s not too difficult to make what you asked. However, most people that order a projectile weapon want it to shoot arrows or bullets, not water. Is this for a child to y with?"


    Kain coughed, "My contract is poisonous"¡ªnot, technically true but that''s the easiest way to describe Bea¡ª"I was hoping to shoot the poison at targets from far away"


    The man stroked his beard, contemting the feasibility of the idea, but looked skeptical. "Is your poison able to exert an effect once it makes contact with the skin?"


    "No¡­"


    "I see. So it needs to be ingested or get in through some other opening in the body. Do you have an aim good enough to hit rapidly moving targets from far away and aim precisely at the eyes, nose, or open mouths or wounds?"


    "¡­.No¡­." Realizing that most spiritual creatures are significantly more quick and agile than him. He also doesn''t have any experience holding a gun from his past life or in thebat training he received in this life.


    "¡­I think I have a better idea." The man brought Kain to the back of the store. The weapons and armor here were all of a noticeably higher quality than the ones at the front. They also all had markings of abstract symbols.


    They stopped before a dark red spear with intricate markings all along the shaft. "One of the apprentices in my shop designed this spear recently. It is enchanted with a sigil meant to inject a stored poison into the stabbed target once infused with spirit power"


    An enchanted weapon! Armors and weapons sigils that can exert a variety of effects when triggered by the user''s spiritual power. The effect described for this spear seems quite simple, but making even the simplest enchanted weapon takes a huge amount of talent and skill. A mere apprentice made this one?


    Unfortunately, considering Kain could just barely afford an ordinary soft armor, there''s no way he''d be able to purchase the spear, no matter how appealing it is. ''But it really is perfect for me! Although I mostly use knives, I have some experience with spears from ss, I can be more proficient with practice in time for the entrance exam.


    Also, being able to directly inject Bea into the target is a much more foolproof method than a water gun. Especially since I would only need to cut them and not fatally wound them to achieve victory''


    Perhaps seeing Kain''s awkward expression, he guessed the problem. "I assume you are going into the wilderness soon, correct?"


    Kain nodded.


    "Then I will give this spear to you as an advance payment if you canplete a task for me."


    Kain wanted to immediately agree and grab the precious spear, however thankfully he was able to calm down and hear the conditions beforehand. After all, this sounds way too good to be true. What task can be worth an enchanted weapon?


    "I need you to hunt Armordillos for me, at least 3 in order to make an armor I''m nning"


    "Why would you be asking a high school student like me, rather than hiring a mercenary?"


    "Well as I''m sure you know Armordillos have a defense that''s pretty imprable by attacks at the same level. Heck, even a orange-grade attack will likely not even leave a scratch on an Armordillo when it''s curled up. Therefore, to hunt one of them requires a decent poison that is also not corrosive and will weaken the shell. You happen to meet both conditions."


    Kain contemted. Armordillos are a Bronze-quality beast, and typically have condensed red-grade spiritual power by the time they''ve reached adulthood. However, despite being a whole grade above him and Bea, Kain wasn''t too threatened. Despite their incredible defense, even adult Armordillos don''t normally have any attack skills, preferring to just curl up when they see a predator.


    Therefore, Kain wouldn''t likely be in any danger when facing them.


    The only issue is that Armordillos are pretty rare and there is no guarantee he can even find one, much less three of them.


    "I wouldn''t know where to begin looking¡­" Kain began hesitantly.


    "Don''t worry about that," the cksmith said waving a hand nonchntly, "I have pretty urate intel on where a family of 5 of them were recently spotted. I''ll even let you borrow a space ring from me. It doesn''t have much space, about 1 cubic meter, but it should be able to squeeze in 3 fully grown ''Dillo shells plus whatever basic supplies you bring"


    "Deal!" Concerns all taken care of, Kain excitedly agreed. ''I even get to rent a space ring for free!''


    After they signed a contract with the terms of their agreement, Kain was then handed the ring already containing the spear, and the map with the location of the Armordillo family. Before being escorted to the door.


    "Hmmm¡­." Kain said while looking at the map, "they are on the other side of the river¡­"


    "Yup! It''s your responsibility to figure out how to get across"


    Bang!


    The door was mmed inches from Kain''s face before the ''Open'' sign was flipped to ''Closed''


    "I guess I should be happy to even receive an enchanted weapon, map, and space ring. If he had to provide me with any more help then he really would probably just be better off hiring a professional mercenary" Kain ran his hands through his ck hair in embarrassment before turning to head back home.


    ''I wonder what''s for dinner¡­''

 Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Hunting Prey

    Kain woke up the next day satiated and well-rested. ''Now is as good a time as ever to head out.''


    He was wary of long drawn-out goodbyes and a ton of tears being spilled, mostly from Bridge, so he decided to just leave a note on his bed before heading out just as the sun was beginning to rise. Thankfully, nobody was up yet.


    After exiting the gate with arge pack of supplies on his back, he nced around to make sure he was properly covered by the vegetation before emptying his bag into the ring. Still choosing to carry the now empty bag on his back.


    ''Not carrying anything out here is suspicious. Anyone with half a brain would guess that I have a space ring and start seeing me as a walking pile of Celestial Dors. If anyone tries to rob me I can''t exactly shout for enforcement officers out here.''


    His current n was to stay out in the wilderness for a week to maximize efficiency. Considering that he packed enough supplies for two weeks, then he shouldn''t run the risk of running out.


    Taking his new weapon out of the storage space to be ready in case of any sudden attacks, Kain headed deeper into the forest.


    ''It should only take 2, maybe 3 days to locate the Armordillo family, I can spend 4 days focused on training Bea.''


    Last time he went to sell the cougar parts by the gate, he saw that there was an exchange window containing up-to-date information on where some of the more dangerous spiritual creatures inhabit. For a hefty price of course. Now he only had around 100 CD to his name.


    ''Despite the cost I wish I had this thest time I went out. Knowledge really is power.''


    "It looks like I got quite lucky thest time I was here," Kain shivered realizing that the hot spring was very close to abel indicating the nest of an orange-grade White Widow Spider.


    "Let''s stay away from here, here and here¡­" Kain said after looking at the different orange-grade skulls on the map and deciding on a safe direction.


    After an hour of walking, Kain located a suitable target. A spiritual beast that looked like a brown water buffalo with brilliant golden horns. ''


    A Daylight Buffalo, a fire-attribute ck-iron quality spiritual beast. They absorb energy from the sun to make their horns hot enough to melt iron. However, if kept at a distance they''re not a threat.


    ''It''s been a while since I used a spear. I hope I''m not too rusty. However, with Bea I don''t exactly need to fight fair'' He thought slyly while creeping up silently behind the buffalo.


    Swoosh


    Once within range, he immediately stabbed into its side while embuing his spiritual power into the spear to release Bea into the wound.


    It''s hide is think so he couldn''t make a deep wound but¡­ ''That''s enough,'' he thought slyly, ''Bea, it''s up to you now''


    Aoooooo!!!!!


    Seeing its attacker, the Daylight Buffalo let an enraged roar before charging head-first at Kain with glowing horns. Kain could feel the heat from several feet away.


    Fortunately, right after stabbing forward he got a head start and began running.


    He made sure to constantly change directions as he ran. The buffalo was used to charging in a straight line and had to keep stopping before turning to chase after him again.


    Finally, he no longer felt a scalding heat behind him. He took a peak back and saw the buffalo standing still on shaking legs.


    "Finally! I was about to copse from exhaustion!" He said, while copsing on the ground.


    He reached into his pocket and pulled out the stopwatch he had started right after stabbing the buffalo.


    "Ha¡­.Ha¡­. 5¡­ minutes¡­ and 43¡­.seconds," He read out while breathing heavily. "That is way too long Bea!"


    Kain stabbed it through the head to put it out of its misery as fast as possible.


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    Sigh


    Kain was tired but he knew it was best to extract the materials as soon as possible before a predator is drawn by the smell of blood.


    Thankfully it didn''t take long since the only material of significant value was the horns. The rest of the body may not add up to even half their value.


    After storing the horns in the space ring, Kain left the scene. Just in time, as he heard wolf howlsing from the direction he just left behind mere minutester.


    An hourter Kain was hiding behind a bush while staring at his next prey. ''Jackpot!''

 Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Hunting Prey (2)

    Each white-grade beast only gave Kain 1 GP.


    He could work hard honestly and slowly kill one spiritual creature at a time until he met the requirements.


    However, only a fool would choose such a slow and arduous method. And Kain was no fool.


    He was a firm believer of ''work smarter, not harder.''


    Lounging all over a giant rock was a pack of grey Berserk Coyotes¡ªAt least 15. White-grade.


    As he stared at the pack a n hatched in Kain''s mind. The river was about a 5-minute sprint Southeast of this rock and Kain nned to lure this whole pack into the river.


    When he has tried this trick on the cougar in the past it didn''t work. It remained pacing on the shore.


    However, these coyotes have a crucial feature to ensure the n''s sess¡ªthey are EXTREMELY dumb.


    True to their name, once enraged they will chase their target to the ends of the earth. Into a poisonous marsh, a volcano or even off of a cliff¡ªThey will follow without a second thought, much less into a river.


    He just needs to find a way to enrage all of them, and the most foolproof method was to find the pack leader.


    After watching the pack for a while he found him. A silver coyote with red chest hair, unlike the white of the others, to signify his spiritual power grade.


    This will be the first red-grade beast that he faced. Although he was nervous, he didn''t feel as though it was not that risky as long as he got a headstart¡­and if he managed to slow down the leader''s speed a bit.


    Staying concealed in a nearby bush, Kain waited for the perfect opportunity.


    The leader finally left his perch and walked to a bush not far from Kain to relieve his dder.


    Kain took out his trusty long-knife from the space ring and gently stroked the handle in reminiscence ''goodbye old friend, you''ve been a real one'' he said before whipping his arm to throw it deep into one of its hind legs.


    Awwooooooooo!!!!!!!


    Kain immediately stood up from his hiding spot so that the entire pack could see him before making a mad dash for the river.


    He could immediately hear angry growls and dozens of feet chasing after him.


    ''Damn they''re fast!'' He thought as he dodged a swipe from behind.


    ''Thankfully, I already made a n to slow you all down'' He thought, before jumping over a thin wire suspended slightly off of the ground. A wire that is a necessaryponent for suspending his camping tent.


    ''Hopefully it doesn''t snap. I don''t exactly want to sleep outside tonight''


    Hearing multiple thuds behind him, he knew the n was sessful.


    Aooooo!!!!


    ''Looks like I just enraged them even more¡­but that''s not necessarily a bad thing.''

 Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Hunting Prey (3)

    Seeing the river up ahead Kain dove happily into the water, feeling as though he was falling into his mother''s embrace. ''Since binding Bea, being in the water feels like the safest ce for me in the world''


    He had already ced Bea into this portion of the river earlier to give her ample time to spread out her splits.


    Ssh Crash Ssh Awooo


    Once in the water, Kain began to backstroke leisurely as he watched the coyotes chasing him into the water.


    "Haha¡­ you''re really not great at swimming are you" Heughed while watching them il about in the water. Kain was still a little worried about outswimming them if they were strong swimmers, but it seemed his worries were for nothing. Kain was already at least 10 meters from shore while they were still sshing about at most 5 meters in.


    Kain continued to dodge them leisurely until he started to see the first ones stop chasing him. Some looked to be unconscious, others were whimpering in pain, one appeared to be having a seizure, while two actually turned and started attacking each other, likely trapped in a hallucination.


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    *Ding. Host has killed one White-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 1 GP*


    Kain listened to the sweet sound of his GP going up.


    Whimper


    After all of the System notifications ended, the only thing Kain heard was the painful whimpers of the pack leader. It was impossible for Bea to kill himpletely so he swam over while it was dizzy and distracted by the pain and stabbed his spear deeply into its forehead.


    *Ding. Host has killed one Red-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 5 GP*


    Phew


    He was exhausted, but still couldn''t rest. He gathered as many of the floating bodies as he could and dragged them to shore. They were all money after all.


    Three had been taken away by the current further down the river, but he was able to collect 12 bodies, plus the leader.


    ''I need to buy a space ring¡­'' He thought. Gettingpletely used to theforts of being able to easily bring back heavy extracted materials. To save space, he only took the ws and teeth of all the coyotes but also took the fur of the leader


    ''If the fur of a ck-iron, white-grade cougar could get me that much money, a Bronze-quality, red-grade pelt from this leader must be worth a fortune.''


    Seeing that the sun was already beginning to set, Kain realized that he''s already been in the wilderness for over 12 hours.


    ''It''s not safe to hunt at night without a nocturnal contract. Bea is also not the type of contract I can use as a guard while I rest,'' Kain was suddenly struck with worry about the safety of actually camping out here.


    He went back to where he set his trap, only to be disappointed that the wire he needed for his tent had in fact broken from the charge of the coyotes.


    Sigh


    Kain looked around for an idea, before settling on climbing a tree close to the river with branches hanging over the water.


    It had branches that looked thick enough to easily support a fully grown man.


    ''This is probably the safest option for me,'' most creatures onnd wouldn''t try to climb a branch hanging over the river by chance. Also, this branch is high enough that no aquatic creatures should be able to catch me from jumping out the water''


    ''Also, if I do get attacked in my sleep, I will fall into the river. Which, with Bea, is one of the safest ces for me''


    Satisfied with this n, Kain climbed the tree and settled on one of its branches, leaning against its trunk. He then took out a nket and draped it over himself, not used to sleeping without some coverage.


    ''I guess I should take a look at my progress,'' He thought, before tiredly opening the system.

 Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Mission-Armordillo

    On the home screen, Kye looked at his current progress proudly.


    He hadn''t had a chance to condense much spiritual power, it had still gone up by 50 to 200 SP thanks to the feedback from Bea.


    Going to Bea''s status menu he saw that her SP had increased tremendously to 405/1000 SP.


    Although, he had initially considered Bea''s inability to independently condense spiritual power without a host to be inconvenient, he realized that it was also an opportunity to drastically improve their strength in a short time.


    Even the most talented beasts can only increase their spiritual power by 10 SP when not making a conscious effort. With an effort this number can double or even triple.


    However, Bea was able to increase her spiritual power by a whopping 160 SP in just a day, worth at least a week''s worth of the hard work of others.


    Additionally, the system GP has increased from 1/100 to 19/100 GP.


    ''If only I coulde across more groups that fearlessly give chase like Berserk Coyotes. I would be able to achieve the upgrade in no time and be a 2-star beast tamer in no time.''


    Sigh


    ''There are so many stars outside of the city.''


    Looking at the beautiful night sky, Kain closed his eyes and went to sleep.


    Kain continued hunting for the next 4 days.


    There was never as great a target as the coyote pack, but he, Bea, and the System had all progressed rapidly.


    After the first night, he had realized that since Bea could not absorb spiritual power on her own, there was no need to return her to the star space.


    Still choosing to sleep in the same spot each night, he instead kept Bea in the water below him to hunt any passing fish or other aquatic creatures.


    Although nothing particrly powerful had been caught yet, every morning Kain would wake up to the beautiful site of an increase in the SP of him and Bea, as well as GP. This arrangement allowed Kain to obtain SP and GP for 24/7.


    ''It''s like getting paid a sry while sleeping''


    "54 seconds again¡­" Kain said while looking at the white-grade Sand Wolverine corpse in front of him.


    After hunting that pack of coyotes the first day, Bea had made rapid progress in her speed of killing the target.


    However, after crossing the minute mark on the third day, there has only been a little improvement until now.


    "I guess we should get started on our mission now," Kain thought.


    He had already swam across the river on the fourth day in the wilderness. Although extremely tiring, he didn''t run into any danger with Bea surrounding him and no particrly strong creatures swimming by.


    Kain pulled out the map given to him by the cksmith, I''m not too far from their location.


    He left the wolverine corpse behind and moved forward. He didn''t have enough room in the space ring for any more materials since he needed to also needed to put in 3rge Armordillo shells.


    Also, the materials from the wolverine were less valuable than the other parts he''s collected so far, so he didn''t feel particrly hurt by their loss.


    "Ahh¡­. How things have changed. The boy who used to bend over backwards to earn a bit of money is now just leaving money on the ground," he said sounding quite smug.


    Finally arriving at the indicated location, Kain found it empty.


    "Hmmm¡­."


    They were living creatures so he did anticipate them moving.


    However, he wasn''t in a rush to get to this location when he first entered the wilderness because Armordillos are pretty timid, and once they find a location they feel safe in they may not leave for life.


    Kain looked around and noticed what looked like fresh animal prints in the ground. Therefore, he decided to find afortable spot where he could continuously see this location, since they probably just left recently to find food.


    His assumption was correct. Not even 15 minutester a family of 5 arrived.


    One, thergest, was probably a male and was as tall as Kain''s waist. The three slightly smaller ones were probably females. Following at the end was an obvious infant, so small he could easily carry it in his arms.


    Kain continued to watch. Ideally, when he got the chance, he could stab the male with the spear before it curled up and became defensive.


    All of the adult Armordilllos went behind arge rock, leaving the baby behind.


    Soon a variety of noises, that Kain really didn''t want to think about the reason for, began to be heard from behind the rock.


    Kain''s hands began to itch with renewed determination to stab into the male Armordillo.


    He waspletely enraged with his sensibilities as a modern man from 21st-century Earth by the depraved activities of the foursome.


    ''Yes, my sense of decency is what makes me want to punish that despicable Armordillo¡­no other reason''


    Unable to stand anymore the passionate noises that kept drifting to him, Kain ran behind the rock and stabbed forward.

 Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Mission-Armordillo Complete

    Despite catching the Armordillos at an especially vulnerable time. They still manage to fully curl up within the second of one spotting of him.


    ng


    His spear hit the back of the shell without even leaving a mark.


    ng ng ng


    He tried giving a full blow to all of them with no sess.


    "Damn, your defense really is strong¡­" Kain said in amazement.


    Seeing that he wasn''t having any sess breaking through. Kain decided to remove the cartridge filled with Bea contaminated water and poured it onto the shell. Hoping that there may be some minuscule opening in the shell that Bea could take advantage of.


    After 5 minutes of waiting and receiving no indication from Bea of a sessful infection, he knew that n B had failed.


    "Hmmm¡­. Time to go with n C"


    Kain began to roll the male Armordillo towards the water. Thankfully, with renewed confidence in its defence, it still stayed curled up. Once by the shore, he sent Bea into the water and push the Armordillo in.


    "Let''s see how you stay curled up when you need to swim"


    After all, asnd animals they were unable to breathe underwater. He will need to uncurl to swim to the surface eventually.


    Kain went back to where the others were. All were still curled up where he left them.


    "Yeah, your defence is tough. But having too much confidence in it being able to protect you from everything will be your downfall"


    He rolled two more adults into the water.


    He thought about getting rid of all 4 adults, but he barely had enough room in the space ring for 3 adult shells.


    Also, since living things cannot enter space rings and he really had no way of carrying an infant across the river to sell in the city, he decided to leave one of the adult females behind to take care of it.


    Standing next to the shore, Kain sensed that they were unable to stay curled up under the water after 10 minutes, allowing for Bea to infect them.


    Less than a minuteter, the bodies of the two females floated to the surface.


    *Ding. Host has killed two White-grade spiritual beasts, obtaining 2 GP*


    Kain dragged the bodies to shore to avoid them being taken away by the river.


    After 5 more minutes, Kain still did not receive a notification about the male.


    "He never used any skills so I was unable to see the colour of his spiritual power, but I guess he had already upgraded to red-grade spiritual power."


    Kain jumped into the river and found it writhing in pain as it tried to swim to the surface for air.


    Kain stabbed it through the head.


    *Ding. Host has killed one Red-grade spiritual beast, obtaining 5 GP*


    Kain dragged the heavy body to shore and began to take the shells off all 3 bodies.


    "Ugh¡­" Kain realized that he had stuffed the ring to the brim and was unable to fit the male shell.


    He removed some of the least valuable materials from the space, and stuffed them in a backpack so that he could fit the Armordillo.


    He had nned to do so right before entering the city anyway to avoid raising suspicion that he had a space ring, plus none of these materials he felt were valuable enough to try and rob him.


    The only downside was that now he''d have to swim back across the river with a heavy load on his back.

 Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Making A New Friend?

    Thankfully, the return trip home, while exhausting, was uneventful.


    He was able to sell all of the materials except the 3 shells for the cksmith and obtained a whopping 183,000 CD, half of which was from the Bronze-quality, red-grade Berserk Coyote pack leader he had hunted the first day. All of the other materials were not even worth as much as the white-grade cougar fur he had sold the first time he went into the wilderness.


    Seeing that it was bright enough out for the cksmith''s shop to still be open, he headed over there.


    However, upon entering he did not see therge man who gave him the task. Instead, there was an almost asrge teenager cashing out a customer.


    Once the other customer left, he turned to Kain, "How may I help you?" He said with a practiced sales smile.


    "Umm¡­I had received a task from arge man with a beard previously. I''m here to turn it in" Kain said, embarrassed that he had forgotten to get the man''s name previously or even look for it on the contract they had signed.


    Suddenly the young worker''s face turned solemn. "So YOU were the one that teacher gave away my spear to"


    Kain shifted nervously as therge teenager marched to within a foot of him while staring him down.


    ''Don''t tell me that HE is the apprentice''


    Kain flinched when he saw the other''s hand reach toward him¡­ and stroke the spear.


    "How is it? Any ws in the design? Did the sigil work as intended? Once filled with liquid how much does the weight change?" He shot rapid-fire questions at Kain with his eyes yearning for feedback


    "T-that¡­the spear is really good¡­" He replied dumbfoundedly. "Can I please turn in my mission now?"


    "Ah yes! Sorry! I will go and get teacher now."


    Momentster, therge man that he was familiar with came from a back room.


    "I''m d you didn''t dawdle with the mission," he said while holding out his hand for the ring.


    Kain parted with it reluctantly.


    The man nodded in appreciation when he looked at the quality of the shells.


    "Thankfully whatever poison you use did not have any corroding effects on the shell. I''m satisfied with your surface so you can keep the spear"


    Leaving Kain with those words he marched back into the back room.


    The teenager rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Sorry about Teacher. He usually doesn''t have much patience for conversation when he has work on his mind"


    Kain was suddenly curious, "Do you know what he ns to make?"


    The teen blushed, "He actually ns to make a full body armor for me¡­ I am taking the beast-tamer admissions test for Starfire College next month"


    "Oh! Good luck!" Kain said surprised. There were very few students with an affinity highly rated enough to take the test. Not to mention he also is an extremely talented cksmith.


    "Are you nning to give up cksmithing? Or will you be entering a double-major also?"


    "I would like to do both if I can. I am confident in entering the cksmithing department, but I only have a B-rated affinity and could use a little extra luck for the beast-tamer test¡­ wait! Also?!"


    "Yeah. I n to also enter as a double-major. Beast-taming and Evolutionary nning."


    The other teen looked like he had seen a monster. Someone was trying to enter BOTH of the mostpetitive and rigorous departments in the college?


    ''Maybe he''s nning to enter a low-tier college?'' he thought while calming down.


    "Are you also nning to try out for Starfire College?"


    "No I can''t," replied Kain.


    The teen sighed in relief. ''Yeah, it''d be a little too abnormal to enter both departments at a top 5 college. That''d mean you''d need at least a B-rated affinity''


    "I''m nning to take the exam for Dark Moon College, and with the 3 days it takes to travel each way to and from the eastern region by train, I would have missed the Starfire exam by then"


    Most qualified students could only choose 1 or 2 exams to take due to the close timing of all the dates and the several days it could take to travel between them by the interregional train.


    Although students with extremely strong elders would easily be able to meet all exam dates if flying on a blue-grade or stronger spiritual beast.


    If Kain did not pass the Dark Moon College exam, he would have to pick between Supernova College and the First Central Academy to have another shot at entering a top 5 college.


    The other teenager began to doubt life at Kain''s words "Dark Moon College¡­One of the top 5 colleges¡­That''s very impressive¡­ good luck"


    "Thanks! You too! It''s equally impressive that you are nning to enter 2 departments at Starfire as well"


    ''They aren''t the same, you monster!'' He shouted internally.


    "What''s your name?" He asked, figuring it couldn''t hurt to get to know someone that ambitious.


    "Kain. You?"


    "Pheneos"


    "Well, good luck Pheneos, and thanks for the spear. Hopefully the next time we meet is as students of Dark Moon and Starfire" He said before waving goodbye and exiting the store.

 Chapter 41: Chapter 41: The Worries of an Exam Student

    Kain''s encounter with Pheneos served as a huge reminder to him. Not only would students bepeting during the exam in terms of talent, but also money and background.


    Not only high-quality and expensive contracts but also expensive weapons and armor.


    Heck, students with beast-tamer family members would just benefit greatly from thebat knowledge and survival tips provided to them, while Kain had to fumble through the dos and don''t for survival on his own.


    Some students with more of a background may even be taught spiritual power techniques, which others would only get a chance to learn once in college.


    Obviously, not only spiritual creatures can utilize their spiritual power to perform skills. There are a variety of skills that humans can also use to amplify their contracts'' strengths or fight alongside them.


    Unfortunately, those skills are not taught in high school ssrooms. One can only learn them in a beast-taming major at a university.


    The quality of the skills one can learn also differs by the library catalogue of each school.


    This is just one of the reasons why Kain is so desperate to enter both majors at a top 5 college, rather than just testing into the nner major.


    Someone with no background like him, and an affinity as unique as his, needs to get 10x out of his college experience than a legacy would need to.


    ''I can''t afford to take it easy. I need to make up for the gap inbat knowledge by myself out there.''


    ''I have a decent soft armor and weapon now, but I''m sure others will have much better.''


    ''If Ipletely clear my savings after hunting a few more times I could probably get an enchanted armor as well. It is rare for 1-stars to be able to support the spiritual power drainage of 2 enchanted equipment, but by the time of the exam I should be able to be a 2-star beast tamer with red spiritual power.''


    ''Although it is unlikely I could find a suitable contract before the exam to improve my odds even more''


    ''However, if I hurry to upgrade the System maybe I can find something that will help me pass the exam.''


    ''With only 3 weeks left until the academic exam and 4 weeks until the Dark Moon beast-tamer exam, it is crunch time!''


    Kain immediately started to jog home, wanting to even save the few minutes it''d take to walk home for something more important¡ªlike studying or training.


    Thankfully, he arrived back home in time for dinner.


    However, he was surprised to not find Bridge anywhere.


    "Where is Bridge, he never misses dinner?" Kain asked while sitting down. This time nobody made a fuss over his return, seeming to have grown ustomed to it.


    "One of the trainers at the Wolfblood Dojo took a liking to him and has been helping him train. Apparently, it''s been a couple of years since a student in the city with a B-rated or higher affinity that can bind wolves has appeared" The director said.


    "He seems even more passionate about getting Bridge into one of the top 5 colleges and spreading their Dojo''s name than even Bridge himself."


    Kain felt immediate relief. With his current training n he really didn''t have any time to spare to help Bridge train, nor could he provide guidance as well as a training center meant specifically for those contracted to wolves.


    Despite Bridge never saying so directly, he''s not unaware of Bridge''s desire to enter the same college as him, and he also would love the same.


    With Bridge receiving professional guidance, Kain could now focus solely on his own training.


    Stomach full, he went upstairs toy in bed.


    ''Let''s take a look at my current progress''

 Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Rapid Progress

    "Hmm¡­ Let''s see¡­ My own spiritual power has finally crossed the half-way point at 513 SP, although Bea''s feedback did most of the work."


    "Bea is much higher at 745 SP while I am more than half-way to the system upgrade with 57 GP."


    Sigh


    Kain really wanted to sleep but he knew that he should continue condensing his own spiritual power.


    His has grown at a fast rate thanks to Bea, but there are benefits to doing the hard-work yourself.


    When condensing the spiritual energy, your control over the force also gradually increases.


    This is extremely beneficial when attempting to condense your next star.


    Additionally, fine control over spiritual power is absolutely necessary when attempting to learn spiritual power techniques.


    Kain uncovered the skylight above his bed, a feature of all homes of the Celestial Empire to all the efficient absorption of spiritual power from the stars.


    Technically, spiritual power could be absorbed from the environment or all manner of other things depending on the method used.


    For example, Bea''s ability to absorb spiritual power from the brains of her hosts.


    However, within the Celestial Empire the spiritual power condensation method taught to all citizens from birth utilizes the stars.


    ''Although I heard that there are other countries with different methods of absorbing spiritual power''


    ''All had their pros and cons. Maybe I will find a method that suits me better in the future.''


    However this method has been the one that their country has been built upon, a cultivation road already paved by the greats that came before him.


    Kain did not feel too tired although he got no sleepst night. It may be due to his improved constitution as his strength increases.


    ''I heard that high-level beast-tamers eventually don''t even need sleep''


    ''541 SP, an almost 30 SP increase in one night, not bad''


    Kain moved his eyes to his hands while concentrating. Eventually a pink glow began to appear in his palms.


    ''My control over my spiritual power has also improved. I wouldn''t have been able to manifest my spiritual power outside my body so quickly in the past.'' He thought, reasserting his decision to condense spiritual energy for himself.


    ''Although the System hasn''t shown me much help yet, it sure is handy having an exact measurement of spiritual power for Bea and I.''


    Thinking of the brilliant pink hue that just came out of his hands. Most people, without the precise instruments usually avable only at colleges and rich households that could afford them, would have to base their progresspletely off of the gradual shift in the colour of their spiritual power.


    Then they''d have to continue absorbing without knowing exactly how close they are until they feel the bottleneck, unable to absorb any more.


    At which point it will be time to condense their next star.


    Now that there were no longer any stars in the sky, Kain jumped up and headed into town, before leaving into the wilderness again, there was something he desperately wanted to buy.

 Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Money Troubles

    Kain walked out of the store in embarrassment.


    He had wanted to buy a space ring after feeling its usefulness thest time he went out. Figuring that his now 6 figure savings should be able to at least buy him one of the smallest ones.


    He was wrong. Very Wrong.


    He wouldn''t even have the courage toe back here without 10 million CD at least in his ount.


    ''I hadn''t expected that cksmith to be so rich¡­'' Kain muttered. A ring with a simr space as was given to him previously would cost at least 21 million CD.


    That''s more than most ordinary families make in a lifetime. Enough to run the orphanage for decades.


    However, he didn''t want to immediately give up. There was still his n B.


    Kain walked over to his new friend''s shop.


    "Hey Pheneos Buddy!" Kain yelled shamelessly upon entering the shop.


    Therge teen looked at Kain strangely. Buddy? They''d only met yesterday. At most they were acquaintances.


    Never one for small talk, Kain cut straight to the chase, "I was wondering if I could possibly use your teacher''s space ring again? Of course, I won''t just borrow it, I''ll pay to rent it."


    "¡­I''ll go ask him" he replied, not sure what to make of the sudden request. They aren''t exactly a rental store.


    Within moments he walked back out with a puzzled expression and a familiar ring in his hands.


    Seeing the ring, Kain was hopeful!


    "Teacher agreed to your request. However, He set the rate at 15, 000 CD per day, payment upfront, no bargaining."


    ''15,000CD, thanks to the money I made myst venture into the wilderness I could afford to rent it for 12 days¡­a little shorter than I had hoped.''


    To maximize efficiency, he had hoped to spend almost the entire 3 weeks leading up to the Academic Entrance Test in the wilderness, to avoid spending time going back and forth.


    Now he will have toe back more than a week sooner than nned.


    However, beggars can''t be choosers. He''d also be able to bring more materials back with him and, as a result, earn more money.


    Wincing in pain, Kain nodded in agreement.


    After signing a contract and making the full payment for 12 days and paying 180,000CD with tears pooling in his eyes, he left the shop.


    He now only had a little more than 5000 CD to his name, which he used to restock on food and supplies.


    He didn''t buy a recement tent, sleeping outside in the tree will be more beneficial now that he''s decided to take his condensation of spiritual power at night seriously.


    After stuffing everything he would need into the ring and filling a decoy bag with some snacks, Kain once again left for the wilderness.

 Chapter 44: Chapter 44: System Upgrade

    10 dayster


    After being in the wilderness for 10 days and continuously hunting 3 to 5 white-grade beasts a day, he and Bea were approaching a bottleneck.


    Both he and Bea had passed the 900 SP mark, sitting at 907 and 935 SP respectively.


    However, the spiritual power that would increase greatly each day began to teau after they had passed 900 SP.


    Now, Bea''s SP, simr to the system, was only increasing by 1 or 2 points with each white-grade beast.


    Simrly, after a night of long-work, Kain may only have his spiritual power increase by around 5 points.


    However, despite the no longer rapid progress, Kain was currently ecstatic.


    He looked down lovingly at the white spider corpse below him, a Venom Spinner, extremely toxic among bronze-quality spiritual beasts. Thankfully, it was still young and had not reached red-grade yet.


    Anyways, the reason he was staring at the spider with such affection was not due to any strange inclinations, but rather because its death had allowed him to achieve one of his major goals.


    He had finally umted enough GP to upgrade the system.


    "Hehehe¡­finally! System! Upgrade!"


    *Ding. Sensing the Host''s intention to consume all avable GP to upgrade the system. In order toplete the upgrade the System will be unavable for 24 hours. Do you still wish to proceed?*


    "Yes!"


    ''It''s not as though when you are avable you are that useful anyways¡­'' Kain muttered.


    *Decision confirmed. Initializing System Upgrade*


    ''I hope after the upgrade you can increase my chances of passing the exam''


    While waiting for the System to upgrade, Kain decided to sit and catch his breath before continuing to hunt.


    Rustle


    Although the spider had only been a child, it was much more challenging to defeat than even the average red-grade spiritual creature.


    Rustle


    Kain began to slowly dissect the spider for the materials that were valuable. Its poison sac alone is probably the most valuable thing he had obtained since entering the forest.


    Skitter Scuttle


    If it has been from a fully adult red-grade Venom Spinner, then he would have easily obtained over 7 figures worth of CD with one kill.


    "Hmm¡­" Kain went still while focusing on his hearing.


    He was rmed. Not by what he heard, but by theplete absence of any sounds around him.


    Usually there would be a variety of sounds caused by living things moving andmunicating with on another in the forest. But now¡­nothing.


    The only time an entire areas would turn silent like this was if an apex predator was in the vicinity.


    Kain immediately turned to run away when he heard it.


    Screeeeeeeeeeeee


    In front of him was a spider several times his size, staring at him with glowing red eyes.


    Eyes that flicked back and forth in anger between him and¡­the dead spider at his feet.


    ''I''m screwed''

 Chapter 45: Chapter 45: A Run-in With Death

    When Kain had obtained a map with the known locations of the most dangerous spiritual creatures in the forest, he had made a conscious decision to give all of their territories a wide berth.


    ''So please tell me why an orange-grade spiritual beast is here.''


    The White Widow Spider was likely the mother of the partially dissected Venom Spinner at his feet.


    Kain wanted to cry, the corpse he was looking at with affection before now a source of resentment.


    ''Why the hell did you run so far away from home?! If you want to be a naughty child, don''t drag me down with you.'' <span style="disy:none;">


    Kain would have kicked the corpse in anger if its mother was not staring him down currently.


    ''I need to distract it and get out of here. What can I use to dy it for even just a few seconds?''


    Although it pained Kain to damage his valuable prize after a long battle, He had already obtained the most valuable poison sac, and his life was more precious than any materials.


    He took a lighter from his space ring, as well as some otter fur covered in oils.


    ''I had found the River Otter''s fur to be oily and gross when I first obtained it. Now it may just save my life.''


    He put the match to the fur and quickly tossed it on the spider corpse at his feet before dashing away.


    Screeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!


    As the spider dashed forward to try and put out the mes covering its child, Kain immediately ran towards his destination. Not the river like usual, he had wandered further away from it as he hunted and he''d probably get caught before getting there.


    Instead, he ran towards the caves he had first found Bea in.


    The walls of the tunnels, although spacious to Kain, it should not be able to fit inside.


    Entering what was originally his exit after finding Bea, Kain took out a shlight and dashed towards the very first cavern that the turtle had dropped him at. It was the only other exit he knew of.


    Although, he didn''t think he was a strong enough swimmer to leave through there previously, he had no other choice now. Hopefully, his improved physique due to the contract and higher spiritual power would be enough to get him away.


    Crash


    Seconds after entering Kain could hear that the spider had also arrived at the entrance of the tunnel.


    From the sounds of it she was trying to forcefully squeeze her body in, even if it risked copsing the tunnel on them both.


    ''So fast! Despite getting a huge head start, I only arrived here seconds before she did''


    Thankfully squeezing into the tunnel also slowed her down greatly, allowing Kain to remain just out of her reach.


    When Kain saw the light from the cavern up ahead he pumped his legs even harder, before dashing into the pool of water. Narrowly missing the swipe from a leg behind him as he leaped.

 Chapter 46: Chapter 46: A Run-in With Death (2)

    Despite only the air from the attack reaching him, he still got blown further away from the shore like a kite.


    It was beneficial because he was able to open up some distance instantly.


    He was sure that if hit directly, even with the soft armour, his organs would have turned into mush.


    Kain began to swim deeper, looking for the opening to the river that first must have been how he entered.


    ''I can''t see!'' The light from the opening in the ceiling was no longer reaching the deep into the water.


    However, he didn''t dwell on hisck of sight for long and released Bea into the water. Hopefully, one of her splits will get dragged into the current of the river and Bea will be able to direct him there.


    Now was a race against time. Will Bea find the opening before he has to go up for air?


    He could already see the spider, despite its huge size, standing on the surface of the water like some kind of deity. Therefore, he doesn''t dare to swim up any higher.


    As his lungs were beginning to burn, the White Widow stabbed one of its legs towards him like ance. The water offered barely any obstruction at all.


    ''Is this the power of an orange-grade spiritual creature?'' Kain thought, terrified. ''What about those even more powerful?''


    Kain swam to the side to dodge the blow, but a nce from the blow was enough to damage several of his ribs.


    The little remaining air in his lungs was immediately pushed out as he gave a silent scream of pain.


    For the first time Kain felt an emotion from Bea.


    Anxiety? Determination? Both? It was hard to identify the emotion. Especially since he wasn''t used to receiving any emotional feedback through the contract.


    In the second that the spider dipped its head under the water to extend its reach towards him, Bea''s true body, not a split, had managed to enter its body.


    However, ording to the System description, it likely wouldn''t do any good. The limit of Bea''s abilities was to affect red-grade spiritual creatures.


    Still, Bea made her way toward the Spider''s brain.


    ''What the heck! I''ll die if I don''t try anything anyways'' He could feel darkness creeping into the edges of his vision from theck of oxygen.


    Through the contract, Kain channelled his spiritual power to Bea in a crude manner. If he had learned a suitable spiritual power technique he maybe would have been able to momentarily increase Bea''s spiritual power in a more effective and efficient way. However, until he entered college, this was his only option.


    Kain, after nearly exhausting all of his spiritual energy and oxygen, quickly surfaced after receiving a signal from Bea.


    He took a sweet gulp of air while focusing his eyes on the massive spider, its eyes were clouded over while its front 2 legs were trembling.


    However, that onlysted for a moment before its vision cleared and focused on Kain.


    Screeeeeee!!!!!


    Kain could almost feel its anger that the murderer of its child dared to show himself again.


    He quickly swam back down below the surface


    Fortunately, right at this moment Kain received a prompt from Bea that one of her splits had exited the cavern as well as the direction it hadst been.


    Once he located the opening in the wall, justrge enough to fit a full-grown man, he made his exit.


    While recalling Bea from the Spider''s body and, consequently, all of her splits.


    Screeeeeeee!!!!! Smash Smash Smash


    All that remained in the cavern were the enraged screams of the spider mother as she attempted to smash out of the cavern.

 Chapter 47: Chapter 47: No Time to Rest

    Kain wasn''tpletely out of danger yet.


    He immediately re-released Bea into the water to scout in front of him and also to deal with any potential threats.


    Now he needed to leave thiswork of tunnels before his limited oxygen ran out.


    Due to theck of light, he swam where prompted based on what Bea''s splits conveyed to him of the surrounding environment.


    Just when he was about to lose thest of his oxygen, he sensed an opening and spent thest of his energy moving through it and then to the light he saw at the surface of the water


    "Ha¡­Ha¡­ Aaaaahhhhh!" The deep breaths of air he took were immediately released in a loud scream as he revelled in surviving such a severe near-death experience.


    Just about thest of his energy spent, he decided to float on his back and slowly backstroked towards shore.


    By the time he reached shore, he had regained enough energy to run back to the city. He couldn''t possibly stay out here with an orange-grade spiritual beast on the lookout for him.


    He also should probably warn others leaving the city that the information regarding the spider mother was no longer urate and it was wandering outside of its territory.


    Looking for him, but they didn''t need to know that.


    Once in the city he went towards the information broker that he had originally bought the danger marked map from and informed him of the spider he ran into as well as itsst known location.


    "Thank you for the information¡­it''s strange that the White Widow would suddenly be outside of its territory when it''s never left in nearly a decade. I will send a 3-star mercenary to go check it out"


    "Yeah super weird¡­" Kain said, "I wonder why it left? Anyways I gotta go"


    He quickly rushed away with a sigh of relief that more questions weren''t asked and he no longer had to have the potential death of an unprepared mercenary on his conscience.


    Now he could do his favourite part of going into the wildernessing back and making money!


    The 10 days he had spent in the wild had been immensely beneficial.


    Not only getting to upgrade the system, but also stuffing the space ring to the brim with materials, including a rare Venom Spinner poison sac.


    After bargaining for nearly an hour over every piece of material, Kain managed to obtain nearly 500,000 CD¡ª493k CD, to be exact.


    Nearly half of which waspletely due to the poison sac.


    Although he had nearly died for it, he had no regrets while staring at the new bnce on his ID card.


    ''Those that say money can''t buy happiness, clearly did not have enough of it'' He thought, while crying tears of joy.


    ''What should I do with my remaining 2 days with the ring?''


    The contract already said that there''d be no refunds if returned early. But knowing that an orange-grade spider was hunting for him specifically, he did not dare to step into the wilderness again so soon.


    At least not until he received news of it being hunted by one of the stronger members of the city.


    Unfortunately, as a small city, the strongest individuals in the Brightstar City may only have a contract at the orange-grade, making it quite risky to hunt the incredibly poisonous White Widow Spider. Even if a group of 3-star level beast-tamers got together and defeated it, they would likely suffer devastating losses.


    However, even if the recent progress of Kain and Bea was slow, Kain really couldn''t afford to waste even a day not training if he wanted both him and Bea to have red-grade spiritual power by the time of the Dark Moon exam.


    After the chase with the White Widow, there were still 16 hours left until the system upgrade was finished. Maybe he''d have a solution to some of his problems by tomorrow.

 Chapter 48: Chapter 48: No Time to Rest (2)

    Kain decided to spend his unanticipated downtime studying for the academic exam in only 11 days.


    Although, he often performs at the top of his school and even the top 1% in the nation, the test to enter the nner major may be even more difficult than the beast-taming major.


    All students not entering a beast-taming major, including those without an affinity and those with an affinity too low-rated to enter a college program, will take the academic exam.


    Meaning that over 90% of high school seniors out of nearly a million graduates will be taking this test.


    Being in the top 1% of a million is really not that high when you broke down the numbers, being in the top 10,000.


    To be confident of entering the most selective academic major at a top 5 college, he would need to at least be in the top 500. Assuming that 100 nners are admitted to each school per year.


    However, to have his pick of which college he could go to, he would at least need to be in the top 100, anything lower is risky.


    Based on previous years'' exam results, to get a ranking that high he would be allowed at most one wrong question.


    Currently, during his best performance, he gave 2 wrong answers, and on average he gives 4-5.


    Which wouldnd him within the top 500 during his best performance, and the top 5,000 to 10,000 on average.


    However, Kain had an advantagepared to most applicants who have no affinity or are not focusing on increasing their spiritual power to be a professional beast-tamer.


    In addition to the benefits to his constitution, a higher spiritual power also has benefits on his mental strength¡ªimproving such aspects as memory, concentration, and calction speed.


    After all, at very high levels, where dozens of moves may be exchanged in a single second, the importance of greater mental strength is great.


    He also felt the difference when he was studying. Textbook pages that would previously have taken him a whole day to memorize, were now memorized in an hour or less.


    His arithmetic and problem-solving ability also greatly improved.


    Suddenly full of confidence, Kain took out one of the practice exams Mr. Evergreen had given to him before he was excused from sses.


    This was the exam given 2 years ago.


    The questions started off easy:


    If given the choice among these 4 spiritual creatures, which would be the most optimal choice for defeating an opponent with a Burning Scarab Beetle?


    A. Vapor Gator


    B.Magmite


    C. Mistoad


    D. cedeer


    "Well despite its name, the Burning Scarab beetle is an ice-attribute, bug-type spiritual creature, meaning that it has a double weakness to fire. The reason for its name is due to its bites that cause a frostbite so severe it feels as though your skin is scalding off. A bit of a trick question, but anyone who''s studied should be able to answer it correctly."


    ¡­


    Who of the 5 founders did not have a known gift?


    A. Calista Eyera


    B. Leopold Storm


    C. Evan ckheart


    D. Casimir Lysander


    E. Amos Sans


    "E. Hisst name practically gives it away"


    ¡­.


    Given that t is a real number, and that f(x) is as shown in the equation below, then please calcte for k.


    "Hmmm¡­Even math, which was previously my weakness, isn''t giving me much trouble now¡­"


    After answering a variety of questions about spiritual creatures, history, math, geography, and science, Kain used the answer key to tally up his score.


    "498 out of 500. Even without intensive studying and spending most of my time focusing on increasing my strength, I''ve already managed to match my previous best score.


    Kain was suddenly filled with confidence. ''Forget aiming for the top 100, I want to be one of the few with a perfect score''


    Kain picked up a geography textbook, the source of his two incorrect answers, and was about to continue studying when¡­


    *Ding. System updatepleted. *

 Chapter 49: Chapter 49: System Changes

    "Yes! Please have something good"


    With anticipation Kain opened up the home screen and tried to find any differences.


    "System¡­can you maybe give me a tour of your new features" He eventually decided after nothing different stood out to him.


    *Of course Host*


    *The System now has three new functions*


    *Firstly, the System shop. Where you can exchange GP you don''t want to use on system upgrades for rare items. The contents of the shop will refresh every week*


    Filled with anticipation, Kain immediately went to the shop and saw 3 items avable for sale:


    An object that looked like a nk red ying card, a vial filled with a blue liquid, and an object that looked like a fishing.


    He focused on each object so that the description could appear.


    Red-Grade Condensation Card¡ªthis card lowers the difficulty of a beast-tamer sessfully condensing their second star. 300 GP


    D-level Mental Strength Elixir¡ªCan increase the users mental strength by 30% for 3 hours. (Note: only effective for those red-grade spiritual power and below). 100 GP


    D-level Capture Net¡ªCan ensure that anything with red-grade or lower spiritual power will be trapped and unable to escape without the user''s wishes. 250 GP


    "Not bad¡­but everything is pretty expensive." It''ll already took Kain weeks to reach the 100 GP required to upgrade the system.


    He also wasn''t sure how necessary any of these objects would be in his immediate future.


    The mental strength elixir may be useful for the academic exam. However, with how he performed on thest practice test, he already felt confident that with the 2 weeks remaining to study, he could rank safely in the top 100, the elixir is an unnecessary expense.


    For the, Kain doesn''t need it currently, although there may be some capture missions for specific spiritual beasts once he enters college where it''ll be useful, his immediate concern is to actually enter college.


    As for the Red-grade condensation card¡­Kain wanted it, but he wasn''t sure if he could afford it.


    There were risks to condensing a new star. Thankfully, both the first and second stars did not have severe repercussions for failure.


    However, failure higher levels at higher levels may result in permanently damaged mental strength, having your ability to condense spiritual power crippled, or death.


    At Kain''s level, the consequence for failing would likely not be more than a terrible headache and the inability to use spiritual power for a week to a month.


    So close to the exam, he would prefer not to take the risk of failing. However, with the resources avable to him with his newfound wealth, and the guidance from teachers at his school, he believes that his chance of failure should be extremely low.


    Sigh


    "Looks like I''ll have to wait until next week to see if anything useful refreshes. However, even if it does, I won''t be able to obtain the GP to afford it while that White Widow Spider is out there looking for me"


    "Wait¡­ I thought you said there were three new functions?" Kain asked. Suddenly hopeful that there will be something he needs.


    *Correct. The second feature unlocked by the System is the Celestialarium*


    "Aarium? Not what I was expecting¡­"


    Kain essed the screen for thearium and instead of a screen appearing before him, he was suddenly transported to a room that made it appear as though he was floating in a sea of stars.


    *This is the Celestialarium. It was tailored towards the Host''s current spiritual power condensation method*


    *If the Host attempts to condense spiritual power while their consciousness is in this space, you will find that your efficiency is several times greater than when outside*


    Kain was ecstatic. His slower rate of condensing spiritual power was one of his most pressing issues.


    Usually, rooms that would increase condensation efficiency were only avable at colleges and students were limited in how much they could use them. Kain now had one of those rooms in his mind at all times for free.


    "It seems like this upgrade has greatly increased your abilities!"


    "How much can it increase my efficiency?"


    *The ability to affect absorption will vary slightly between users. However, the System estimates that it should increase the host''s absorption efficiency by 2.2x*


    "2.2 times¡­that means, rather than the 5 SP I gain after condensing spiritual power for an entire night, I should obtain around 11 points every night."


    "With my spiritual power currently at 912 SP, I should be able to reach red-grade spiritual power and condense my second star before the Dark Moon entrance test in 3 weeks.


    "What''s the third feature unlock?" Kain asked in anticipation.


    *Replying to Host. The Mission Board is now open*


    "Mission Board¡­?"


    The System automatically opened up the Mission Board for Kain to see.


    "Hunt 5 red-grade spiritual creatures. Have at least one contract advance the red-grade spiritual power¡­what is this?"


    *Hunting spiritual creatures is not the only method of obtaining GP. The host may also obtain GP by aplishing missions*


    Kain clicked on the task to hunt 5 red-grade spiritual creatures and saw that it would reward 30 points.


    Normally, 5 red-grade spiritual creatures would give 25 GP, 5 points each. However, aplishing the same task as a mission would increase the reward 1.2 times.


    "Maybe I can continue to increase my GP despite not being able to go into the wilderness," Kain pondered as he scrolled down the long list of tasks.


    Of the ones avable, there were several that already aligned with his current goals:


    Advancing to 2-stars (100 GP).


    One spiritual contract advancing to red-grade (100 GP).


    Entering the Beast-taming major at a college (reward variable by college ranking).


    Taking the academic admissions exam (reward variable by cement).


    Therefore, it was reassuring to know that with this system upgrade, Kain now had a way to increase his system GP and his own spiritual power.


    "Now the only problem is Bea¡­"

 Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

    Even without the Celestialarium, Kain''s spiritual power still increases by around 5 points every night if he puts in the work, making it currently at 912 SP.


    However, since he''d left the wilderness, Bea''s spiritual power has not increased at all.


    Bea''s ability to absorb spiritual power directly from brains has allowed for them both to make rapid progress. Now Kain''s SP is far higher than most of his peers who formed a contract days before him.


    But, once there are no suitable targets around to hunt, the speed of Bea''s growth greatly decreases.


    Kain started to think back on all of the times he was in the wilderness, the fights he had, as well as even some of the relevant info in his textbooks to see if there was anything he was missing that could help Bea.


    That''s when he suddenly had a crazy idea.


    However, it can be said that there is a fine line between genius and crazy.


    When Kain had first bound to Bea, she already had some spiritual power, indicating that she had to have already infected multiple living things¡­such as the mercenary that first made him go looking for her¡­and himself.


    He also happened to just receive a new method of increasing his own spiritual power absorption quickly.


    He was confident that Bea would be able to absorb spiritual power from human brains, he''s just not sure if the contract would prevent her from doing so, as it would be harmful to her contractor.


    However, he still had some reservations. If Bea would end up causing long-term damage to his mental strength so close to the exams, it''d be toote to regret his decision after not being admitted to his school of choice.


    "Although¡­if this n works and I can get Bea to red-grade spiritual power. That would aplish one of my missions and I can afford to buy the temporary boost for mental strength."


    "System, could you help me assess this n''s feasibility?" He asked now that he had some insurance in ce.


    He crossed his fingers that this analysis was not beyond the AI''s capabilities or that another system upgrade was needed to unlock such help.


    *Answering Host. Prior to binding, the Brain-Eating Amoeba did absorb the Host''s spiritual power. However, the contract''s effect on this ability would need to be assessed by the Host himself*


    Kain nodded andmunicated his idea with Bea.


    At first, Bea seemed hesitant. However, given her simple intelligence, she quickly followed her instincts once given permission and infected Kain.


    Kainid down in his bed to avoid injuring himself from falling and closed his eyes.


    Within 30 seconds he felt a dull ache behind his eyes.


    ''This is ufortable but not as bad I thought¡­''


    However, this idea quickly changed as that dull ache grew to what felt like dozens of nails being hammered into his head


    "Argh!" Kain quickly bit onto his pillow to avoid making more noise and worrying the others in the orphanage.


    ''Kain, make sure you have those reports on my desk by next morning''


    ''The guy next door is an idiot! How could you break a $300,000 machine?! That''s why nob should hire undergrads''


    "Mmmm¡­. Go away¡­I know none of you were real"


    He covered his ears to block out the hallucinations with voices from his past life as a college student, but it was useless.


    By the five minute mark, he didn''t think he could remain conscious. The fact that he could evenst this long was likely due to some resistance being provided to him via the contract.


    *ALARM! IT IS STRONGLY SUGGESTED THAT THE HOST IMMEDIATELY STOP HIS CURRENT ACTIONS*


    *IT IS SENSED THAT THE HOST''S CONSCIOUSNESS IS FADING. ACTIVATING FORCED RECALL OF CONTRACT*


    The System''s rmed voice was thest thing that Kain heard before losing consciousness.

 Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Flashback

    Kain thought that things were finally looking up.


    He had just finished his third year of college after having taken the previous year off due to his entire family, both of his parents and paternal grandmother, passing away in a car ident as they drove down to visit him.


    He took a year off to grieve, but that was all he could allow himself.


    It hurt to say, but he was an orphan now, and he had nobody to rely on but himself.


    Therefore, he needed to make something of himself, not only for the ie but also to make his deceased loved ones proud.


    He worked his ass off the past year and achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA.


    Thankfully, one of his professors noticed his hard work and hired him as a research assistant for this summer.


    This professor happened to be one of the most famous in his field, infectious diseases, and so working with him could be a huge boost to his resume.


    ''I can practically have my pick of graduate or medical programs with a reference from him¡­''


    Furthermore, Kain was getting PAID to travel with his professor to Brazil.


    Some outbreak of some unknown disease had urred there, and so his professor was asked to see if he could identify the disease and possiblye up with a treatment.


    Of course, as an undergraduate student, Kain wouldn''t be of much help.


    He was practically going there just to fetch his boss drinks, take notes, and organize samples. The rest of his free time he could use to check out the beaches.


    "Ahhh Brazil¡­thend of supermodels," Kain thought in anticipation.


    They had just arrived at the airport and he had already spotted several women at the level of a Victoria''s Secret runway model.


    ''This may just be the best summer ever. And after what I went through I more than deserve it¡­''


    However, first he had to do some work.


    After being picked up from the airport they were driven to a remote vige surrounded by trees.


    Strangely, the vige looked kind of new.


    "This is a temporary vige they set up out of the city to quarantine all of the infected identified." A local trantor exined to them.


    His professor nodded, "Smart choice. Currently, this illness has a 100% death rate. Are there still no clues as to what it might be? Virus? Bacteria? Maybe even a Prion?"


    One of the local doctors looked embarrassed, "No clue. Which is why we are so grateful to have you here Dr. ckwell."


    "Here will be your amodations." The trantor said while walking them towards a two-bedroom shack


    ''Not quite what I imagined as my living conditions for this trip. But I guess it''d do. At least everything is clean and all of the furniture and appliances even look new''


    The local doctor and trantor were still there once they had finished putting away their bags in their respective rooms.


    The doctor spoke anxiously, "I know you must be incredibly tired from the long ne ride over, Doctor, but is there any chance you could begin looking at the patients from today? After all every second we dy may be the difference between life and death for one of our citizens"


    ''Well if you put it like that¡­''


    They both nodded in understanding and followed the two men to what looked like a military tent with medical personnel covered from head to toe running in and out of it.


    Inside were dozens of hospital beds with groaning patients.


    ''Ugh¡­it smells like death in here. I see why they treat them where they have ess to fresh air''


    Kain tried his best to maintain his facial expressions so as not to offend any of the patients.


    His professor on the other hand immediately put on a fresh hazmat suit before marching over with no hesitation to one of the patients.


    As Kain was not essential personnel and shouldn''t be directly interacting with the patients, he did not have ess to one of the limited hazmat suits. He had to make do with ab coat, gloves, and mask.


    St


    Suddenly a loud exmation came out of his professor before several medical staff rushed over to the patient he was examining.


    In front of Kain was a bright yellow dotted line that only those in suits could pass. Therefore, he stood on the tips of his toes to get a better look at the patient.


    Kain could see a brown and ck blob lying on the patient''sp.


    When he looked at the patient''s face he realized what it was¡ªhis nose.


    His nose had rotted and fallen off of his face.


    ''What the f-''


    "Aahhh!!" the patient screamed in pain as the medical staff attempted to clean the gaping hole in the middle of his face.


    ''Flesh-eating disease¡­although not umon, it''s not an unheard of disease. They shouldn''t have had to fly us out for that''


    Kain continued to watch for clues.


    As the patient thrashed about in pain, his gown opened to revealrge ck bulges all over his skin.


    ''The Bubonic gue?'' Kain thought feeling as though he was transported to a medieval-themed hell.


    Then, the bedsheet on the patient''sp fell to the ground as he thrashed about revealing his deformed legs. ''Elephantiasis?''


    Kain looked around in horror as he backed away towards the entrance of the tent.


    ''What the hell is this thing?! It''s like some mad scientist decided tobine the most horrifying diseases mankind has ever experienced into some kind of freak-disease''


    The patient''s eyes quickly clouded over into white before he fell back and began to have a seizure on the bed. The staff held him down to prevent him falling to the floor.


    ''I need to get out of here¡­'' Kain felt as though he was going to throw up.


    As he rushed out he bumped into an entering nurse who happened to cough on him at that very moment.


    ''Ugh¡­ Forget beaches. Forget Supermodels. I want to go home right now''


    Unfortunately, his wish was never granted. Kain''s body, or at least the ashes it was burnt into, never left Brazil.

 Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Mental Handicap

    "AAHHHHHH!"


    Kain panicked as he remembered the sensation of what felt like thousands of worms crawling beneath his skin as it decayed. The immense pain that wracked through his bones with each breath. The feeling of gradually losing his mind as he could no longer distinguish reality from fiction.


    He calmed down as he looked down at his smooth, tanned skin.


    Sigh ''I haven''t thought about my past life in close to a decade'' He shivered, ''And for good reason. I forgot how terrible my ending was''


    Heid down in bed for nearly an hour just staring at his skylight as he tried topose himself.


    ''If I have to relive that experience every time Bea infects me, I don''t know if I could do this. Even with my college admission on the line.''


    "Ah! That''s right Bea!"


    Thest that he remembered Bea was forcefully recalled from his brain by the System to his star space.


    Through the bond he could sense¡­guilt(?)ing from Bea.


    Kain looked at Bea''s status window.


    942/1000 SP. ''It worked!''


    Andpared to the 935 SP it was prior to infecting him, it seems to be even more effective than hunting white-grade spiritual creatures.


    With trepidation, Kain opened his own status window, hoping that the damage wasn''t too severe.


    His spiritual power was now at 905 SP. A drop equal to the amount that Bea''s increased.


    However, it was easier to recover lost spiritual power than it was to condense spiritual power to permanently increase the amount of spiritual power you possess.


    It could even be recovered passively with enough time.


    It was the difference in effort between filling a partly empty 1-litre jar to exactly 1 litre of water,pared to trying to stretch the width of that same jar to make it suddenly hold 2 litres of water.


    He saw a shing red star next to his other personal information, such as height and constitution, which he rarely looked at.


    Clicking on the star next to his mental strength reading he received the message:


    *Abnormal status in host detected triggering a temporary 30% decline in mental strength. It is advised to avoid any exertions in mental strength for at least 24 hours to avoid this condition from bing permanent*


    "Haaa¡­. So I can''t even study or condense spiritual power. The academic exam is in 13 days. I''ll feed Bea every 3 days and make sure to get proper rest for at least 24 hours before the exam. Based on the current SP Bea was able to achieve in a sitting, she should be able to upgrade to red-grade safely before the Dark Moon entrance exam in 20 days."


    "I''m practically killing myself to reach 2-stars prior to the admissions test, which should safelynd me in the top 10% of applicants. But how did that monster Bridget talked about during her admissions test almost reach 3-stars!?"


    To avoid using any mental strength, Kain informed his family that he would being down for dinner and went to sleep with the sun still out.


    ----------


    When he woke up the next day, he still didn''t feel at 100%, but he was reluctant to waste anymore time.


    He cracked open one of his textbooks but was forced to close it in only 10 minutes after not being able to concentrate.


    "Haaaaa¡­.. I guess I really do need topletely rest my mind for the full 24 hours. The next time I let Bea infect me I will have to set some kind of time restriction to hopefully reduce the penalty"


    Unable to just sit around he decided to go for a walk into the city.


    His first stop was to the cksmith to return the space ring.


    However, when he arrived he was suddenly reminded of his n to buy an enchanted armor.


    He had originally thought that he''d have to go hunting a couple more times in order to afford one, but due to how much he made thest time he went hunting, he could look to see if he could afford one now.


    It''s not as if he could do anything else better with his time with the penalty currently in effect.


    Even if he couldn''t afford one he liked, he''d at least have an idea of how much more to save.


    With that thought in mind, after returning the ring to Pheneos he went to the back of the shop where the enchanted armours were located.


    Both Pheneos and his teacher seemed busy in the back room so he didn''t bother them with requesting descriptions when he could read the general effects of each armour for himself.


    It took nearly an hour to read the descriptions of all the armour suitable for those with red-grade spiritual power. That is, 2-star armours¡ªhe decided to remain optimistic that he would condense his second star by the time of the exam.


    After reading them all he had a headache. Whether it was due to all the reading or having to make a decision he wasn''t sure.

 Chapter 53: Chapter 53: New Armour

    He eventually settled on choosing between four sets of armour.


    Interestingly, their sigils'' effects were as varied as their gold, ck, red, and silver colours.


    The gold armour had the most straightforward effect for armour. Using materials from a gold-attribute spiritual beast and having a sigil to boost defence when injected with spiritual power, it would make the wearer practically immune to physical attacks beneath the orange-grade.


    It would be a huge help if the Dark Moon exam once again requires sessful applicants to withstand a beast tide.


    His chances of not being eliminated due to an injury would be much greater.


    However, it had its limitations. For one, it would only protect his upper body, he could still be injured in other areas.


    Additionally, it was a hard armour and much heavier than what he was used to wearing. Its weight would likely impede his movements with the spear or if he had to dodge an attack aimed at an uncovered area.


    Finally, it only offers protection against the most basic physical attacks. Kain would still be vulnerable to poisons, the heat from mes, and more.


    Therefore, Main eventually decided to eliminate it because he did not think it''d provide a significant boost to his chances of passing the exam.


    The ck armour was a soft armour with a very unique effect. Created from the materials of a rare shadow-attribute spiritual creature, and enchanted with a corresponding sigil, it led to a miraculous effect.


    When injected with spiritual power at night or in a suitably dark environment, the wearer would be invisible.


    He wanted it! Just looking at it, his mind was full of ninja and assassination fantasies starring him.


    However, his immediate need is to pass the entrance exam¡­which would most likely ur during the day.


    Therefore, although it was an overpowered piece of equipment in certain environments and circumstances, it really wouldn''t be much help in passing the exam.


    So, with great reluctance, he turned towards the other two pieces of equipment.


    The red armour had a passive effect of granting its wearer a massive boost in their resistance to heat and fire-attribute attacks.


    Additionally, when injected with spiritual power, 70% of the energy obtained from recent fire-attribute attacks can be released.


    Therefore, it not only provided defensive but also offensive capabilities.


    Furthermore, fire-attribute contracts are the mostmon initial contract for 1-star beast tamers.


    Additionally, fire-attribute spiritual creatures are some of the mostmon in the whole empire, only rare in the North.


    Therefore, he would likely be able to make great use of its functions.


    Although the beast-tide will likely have creatures with a variety of attributes, not having to worry about those with one of the most offensive attributes is a huge advantage.


    Additionally, he could take the energy from fire attacks he receives and use it against attackers with other attributes.


    This armour would increase the tactics he could use. Therefore, it was the one he was leaning the most towards out of the four.


    However, he still had some hesitation with selecting it due to the fourth armour. The wild-card.


    The fourth armour was really not something he ever expected to see here, in a small city.


    It also definitely wasn''t something that someone of his level should have ever had the opportunity to obtain.


    It was made from the materials of a member of the Protean species. The lowest member of this species begins at Gold-quality, while the levels of its future evolutions reach a level beyond Kain''s knowledge.


    Proteans are one of the most difficult species to track and hunt due to their shape-shifting abilities, able to assume the forms and abilities of pretty much any creature at or below their level in spiritual power that theyy eyes on.


    As such the characteristics of the weapons and armours made from their materials are simrly variable.


    The one in front of Kain only had one effect. To absorb the spiritual power of a spiritual creature and give birth to an armour with the abilities of that creature as the basis.


    Therefore, it''s not yet a final product. Its appearance and abilities will differ depending on the wearer''s spiritual beast.


    Bea was a water-attribute, but also a super rare mental-attribute. Although it was a huge gamble to not know what abilities the armour he buys may have if the armour can inherit a mental-attribute from Bea he would have made a lot of money.


    Mental-attribute equipment often will cost several times that of other attribute equipment due to the rarity of the spiritual creatures needed to obtain the materials and how troublesome it is to deal with such creatures.


    If he walked away from it now, he knew he''d be constantly questioning ''what if?'' for months to even years.


    ''But there really is not guarantee that the armour effects that are manifested would even be useful'' Kain was in agony over this difficult choice.


    ''How did this armour even get here? And why is its level so low? Most equipment made from Proteans should require at least 4-stars to operate. No matter how shoddy the workmanship is, its level should not drop to 2-stars. What''s the catch?''


    Realizing that it''d be impossible to decide between the 2 sets of armour alone, he knocked on the door to the back room to request some more information.

 Chapter 54: Chapter 54: A Gamble

    Going to the door clearly marked with ''Do Not Distrub,'' Kain did just exactly that.


    Knock knock


    Nothing¡­ ''Maybe they didn''t hear me¡­.''


    This time he knocked louder.


    KNOCK KNOCK


    BANG!


    The door was opened up hard enough to blow back all of the hair from his face. A couple inches closer and he may be leaving the store with a ck eye.


    "CAN. YOU. NOT. READ?!"


    "Ahem¡­" Kain cleared his throat in embarrassment "I wanted to buy another armor¡­this is a store isn''t it?"


    ''Ahhh¡­ how I miss the customer is always right attitude of consumerism''


    The cksmith clearly tried to cover up his embarrassment.


    "Yes¡­ so buy whatever you need from Pheneos."And moved to close the door.


    Seeing this Kain immediately stuck his foot¡ªouch!


    "I would¡­ but Pheneos isn''t in the store¡­"


    "He isn''t? Where the hell is he?!"


    "Back there with you¡­"


    He turned around to see Pheneos in a corner of his workshop examining thepleted parts of what would be his full body armour


    "Pheneos! What are you doing back here?! Pheneos!" He kept calling to no response. His student was in his own world drooling over the gauntlets he had justpleted.


    "Haaaa¡­. I willplete your order. I could use a break from back here anyways" He left the room while grumbling about kids these days and theirck of work ethic.


    ''I guess some things don''t change no matter the world you''re in'' Kain thought.


    Kain went to where he left the red and silver sets of armour.


    "I need help deciding between these 2. I''m pretty aware of the advantages of the fire-attribute armour, but I would like some more information about why this silver one isn''t a higher level. Is there something wrong with it? Some kind of hidden harm it''d cause the wearer?"


    Seeing the silver armor, he immediately nodded in understanding.


    "Haaa¡­.it really is rare for an object made of Protean materials to be so low quality. However, it can''t be helped. If they had been of higher quality it never would have been our city''s turn to obtain these materials. They would have been kept in the capital or another major city."


    "The source of this armour was a mutant Protean. Despite reaching adulthood it could not condense spiritual power of a grade higher than red, unlike the average Protean that could easily reach yellow-grade before evolving to a higher level. Therefore, this armor is limited to 2-stars."


    Kain finally understood. Not all mutations were advantageous. Some could be advantageous and give a spiritual creature an additional attribute or even apletely different attribute atypical for their species. Some may also result in a better constitution or higher intelligence.


    Other mutations may not have any practical, resulting in only aesthetic changes like a different eye or fur color.


    However, some mutations were harmful. Like the one this Protean seemed to have. Making it unable to progress to the typical level of strength for their species.


    "Do you think this mutation will have any bad effects on the likelihood of the armour developing a good skill?"


    "Hmm¡­ your concerns are understandable, which is why despite its source material, it has remained unsold for the months that I''ve had it. Those that can afford an enchanted armor would spend more money on an armor that they know already has great effects. This armour is a gamble. Only those with a lot of faith in the quality of their spiritual beast contract would risk it"


    "However, from the information that I''ve obtain regarding the Protean, despite its inability to condense spiritual power of a higher grade, its basic abilities as a Protean were no different than its peers. Therefore, the armor should function no differently from other simr ones except for having a lower limit to the level of spiritual power it can handle."


    At those words, Kain made his choice.


    He decided to gamble.

 Chapter 55: Chapter 55: The Result of the Gamble

    Both of them were thankfully well within his 500,000 CD budget.


    However, either one was easily more than 10 times the price of his current soft armour.


    The me-attribute armour was 380,000 CD, while the Protean armour, due to its effects being a gamble, only cost 330,000 CD.


    The price also reassured him.


    If he really disliked the effects that were born after it received Bea''s spiritual power, he should be able to scrape up enough to buy the other armour after going hunting again.


    Hopefully, by then the White Widow would either have been killed or returned back to its territory.


    He had also thought about selling his old armour to get back some money, but he wouldn''t be able to get more than 30% of what he''d paid for it, and that amount of money is no longer significant to him.


    It was a decent quality armour that could be used if one of the other kids in the orphanage awakened an affinityter on.


    After making the payment, Kain left the store with nervous anticipation.


    First returned home and had a bath before lighting 4 candles in circle facing each direction


    None of these actions had any practical purpose, but he felt like a sense of ceremony during a luck-based gamble like this would help him calm down.


    It gave the illusion that he had more control than he actually did.


    Laying down the armour in the middle of the candles and sitting cross-legged next to it, he called out Bea, before cing her on the armour and telling her where to direct her spiritual power.


    Gradually the sigil on the armor began to glow with a dark pink hue as it was injected with Bea''s spiritual.


    Even without the System, just looking at the colour of Bea''s spiritual power let him know that she was close to advancing to red-grade.


    Slowly the armour began to glow so brightly he could no longer look directly at it.


    Once he sensed that the light had dimmed, he opened his eyes.


    He was expecting there to be a drastic change in appearance. However, it was still silver, but now with hints of blue when turned in the light.


    Additionally, instead of the smooth appearance it previously had, it now had texture.


    Covering the entire armour were small ovepping circles that resembled scales, however the size of these "scales" was far smaller than any known spiritual creature Kain had seen in person or in a textbook.


    "Are these supposed to symbolize Bea''s many splits?" Kain pondered.


    ''Looking at the armour, and knowing that it is made from a Protean, most people will probably assume that my initial contract is some kind of reptile or aquatic creature. Unfortunately, their attempts to figure out my contract will prove useless. There''s nothing like Bea'' Kain though smugly.


    "Let''s see what effects you have¡­" For enchanted equipment, unlike normal ones, the information on its effects will appear in the user''s mind when their spiritual power is first inserted.


    Kain began to do so. It clearly took longer than when using the 1-star spear, due to his spiritual power not quite being at the ideal red-grade to use 2-star equipment, however, the level of his spiritual power was close enough to still make it useable by him.


    Once he officially enters the realm of a 2-star beast-tamer he should be able to fill it with his spiritual power instantly.


    As soon as it was filled with his spiritual power, the information appeared in his head. He soon began to shake from excitement.


    It had sessfully inherited Bea''s mental-attribute!


    In addition to the passive effects of granting the user resistance against mental attacks while slightly increasing their mental strength, it also had an active skill.


    When injected with spiritual power the user could activate an area of effect mental attack that caused disorientation and pain to all in the surroundings. The size and strength of the mental attack were dependent on the amount of spiritual power injected.


    All of Kain''s regrets about giving up the fire-attribute armour were now gone.


    This armour now also added to his attack arsenal, and it was also an AOE attack, which were rare among individuals at his level of strength.


    The passive effects of the armour may also help him with another area he had been having trouble with¡ªfeeding Bea.


    Although, it needed to be tested. He was confident that if Bea infected him while he was wearing the armour, he should be able to withstand Bea for longer and hopefully the negative side effects on his mental strength also won''t be as harsh.


    Seeing that the 24 hour hold on using mental strength was up, he decided to put on the armour and give it a test run.


    ''Previously I had only been able to hold on for 5 minutes, I wonder how long I could hold on now?'' He thought once the infection began and he started the timer in his hand.


    By the time 5 minutes passed, he only felt a little lightheaded with no other symptoms,


    It wasn''t until the 9-minute mark that the edges of his vision began to darken and he directed Bea to exit his body.


    "Haa¡­.System, show me the damage?"


    Immediately, his status screen opened, showing a familiar red star next to his mental strength.


    However, likely because he stopped this time before the most severe symptoms began, the penalty to his mental strength would be resolved in only 12 hours¡ªhalf of the previous time.


    He then went to Bea''s status screen.


    After another feeding session, her spiritual power had increased rapidly to 953 SP. Thankfully, it doesn''t look like the armour significantly inhibited Bea''s ability to absorb spiritual power, focusing more on inhibiting the mental attacks her infection causes.


    Additionally, since he could tolerate her longer, the amount she absorbed also increased.


    Kain decided to revise his current college preparation n.


    Instead of feeding Bea every 3 days to avoid the 24 hour penalty, with the armour he could now afford to feed Bea every other day.


    With thearium provided by the System allowing him to absorb spiritual power more effectively, he can make up for what Bea took in the days between feedings. <span style="disy:none;">


    With this new n, Bea may reach red-grade spiritual power in around 2 weeks.

 Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Exam Ready

    Bea reached the necessary spiritual power in only 9 days.


    Once she reached full saturation, she began the process of condensing her energy into a small ball, simr to the stars within humans.


    However, spiritual beasts, unlike humans who condense a second star while their first remains with each increase in spiritual power grade, beasts shatter and rece their previous low-quality orbs with one of a higher grade.


    These orbs not only serve as the site of storage for spiritual power, but they also will passively convert all of the absorbed spiritual power into a grade equal to the orb. Therefore, Bea will no longer have to spend conscious effort to condense the spiritual power she absorbs to red-grade.


    Once she crosses this step, all of the spiritual power in her body will be denser and more powerful¡ªand a beautiful deep red.


    Each molecule of red spiritual power is equal in energy to at least 10 molecules of white spiritual power. That''s why the same moves when executed by red-grade spiritual beastspared to white-grade ones, use less of their own energy but manage to exert more power.


    However, crossing this step could also be dangerous, or even crippling for spiritual creatures.


    Afterall, in this process they need to also shatter their current source of strength. If they are not able to condense an orb of higher quality all of that unrestrained energy without a container will wreak havoc in their bodies.


    This is why the quality of a spiritual beast is important. It is rare for ck-iron quality spiritual beasts to ever cross this threshold in their life.


    Thankfully, as a Bronze-quality beast, condensing a red-grade orb should be quite simple for Bea. Getting to a higher level though will be challenging without evolving.


    During the time Bea was undergoing this process he recalled her back to the star space, it was the most ideal environment for her after all.


    He anticipated that it would take her 3 more days to fully finish, taking 5 days in total.


    Thankfully, the feedings were finished 2 days ago, the academic exam was tomorrow and he needed to preserve his mental strength as much as possible. In order to be fully prepared.


    In the middle of the night, with only a litmp to keep himpany, he finished marking hisst avable practice exam.


    Thankfully, Bridge decided to sleep at the Wolfblood training hall the past week so that he didn''t have to worry about keeping him up and could better focus on studying.


    This exam was one from 4 years ago, and supposedly the most difficult exam in recent years. That year only 3 students achieved a perfect score in the entire empire, unlike the usual 8-10 perfect scorers. Additionally, even students who answered 2 questions incorrectly managed tond in the top 100.


    Therefore, he was saving this exam as hisst one to test his ability, in case this year happens to also be more challenging than usual.


    "98¡­correct. 99¡­correct. 100¡­" Kain finished going through the answers for all 100 questions in hisst section¡ªScience. He had already calcted his score in the other 4 sections: spiritual creatures, history, math, and geography.


    He had received perfect scores in all 5 of them.


    A perfect score on one of the hardest exams in recent history.


    Feeling fully prepared for tomorrow, Kain finally went to bed after setting his rm for 5 in the morning, 2 hours before the exam actually started. He absolutely did not want to risk beingte tomorrow. Anyte entrants will be turned away at the door and have to take the exam next year if they want to enter an academic major.


    ----


    The next morning he awoke not to an rm, but to the smell of curry, one of his favourite dishes being prepared.


    ''Who would make curry first thing in the morning¡­?''


    Suddenly hungry, Kain headed downstairs to find their neighbour Sally in the kitchen.


    "Sally?! What are you doing here"


    Without looking up from the pot she replied, "Isn''t your exam today. It''s a 5 hour exam, I''m preparing the lunch for your half-time break."


    Grrrr


    "Although you can have some now if you''d like?" She gave a smile at Kain''s embarrassed expression.


    "Don''t mind if I do," He said while reaching for a bowl. "Thank you so much Sal"


    After eating breakfast and packing a lunch, he checked his bag for all of his required supplies plus his ID card and headed to the school.


    There was an hour until the exam, and it took 30 minutes to walk to school from the orphanage at the fringes of the city.


    Not to mention, the long process it took to verify his identity, get through security and confirm his attendance for the exam.


    By the time he got seated there were only 5 minutes left until the exam.


    He could see several of his ssmates stealing nces at him. Likely wondering why a student with an affinity as highly rated as his was taking the academic exam when he should be preparing for the beast-taming exams that start next week.


    Doing his best to ignore them, Kain sharpened his spare pencil to calm down.


    "Students the exam will be starting shortly. Please put away everything except for a pencil and eraser. Any other unallowed objects will be confiscated and returned to you after the exam."


    A teacher that Kain didn''t recognize began to hand out the exams as the other continued with the opening remarks.


    "Make sure to keep your eyes on your own paper. There are spiritual creatures monitoring this ssroom. Any attempts at cheating will have you forcefully removed from the room and your test thrown out."


    Several students looked around to see if they could see the spiritual creature but couldn''t find it. Some began to even doubt if this was a line they used just to scare students away from cheating.


    However, Kain knew that it wasn''t a lie used to scare them. Possibly because he was bound to a spiritual creature with mental attributes, he could vaguely sense his mind being repeatedly scanned by some kind of invisible force for any thoughts of cheating.


    ''The anti-cheating methods in this world are quite advanced. It''s quite hard to defend against something looking at your mind to see if you''ll cheat''


    Once every student had a test, a giant timer was disyed at the front of the room counting down from 60 minutes.


    Kain picked up his pencil and began his first section in anticipation.

 Chapter 57: Chapter 57: To Dark Moon

    Kain returned home in a daze. He feltpletely exhausted.


    Not because he found the exam significantly harder than the practice tests he took (it wasn''t any harder than the one 4 years ago), but probably because it was the real deal, not a practice exam, and so his concentration and focus were dialled up to 110% the entire time.


    When he returned home he immediately returned to his room, wanting to copse on the bed.


    However, when he opened the door, he spotted Bridge.


    He hadn''t seen his best friend and brother in weeks, and he had missed him dearly.


    Bridge immediately hopped up once Kain opened the door.


    "How did it go?!" He asked anxiously.


    "Easy peasy¡­" Kainughed. "now I only have to focus on the beast-tamer exam in a week. How are you feeling?"


    "Great! Professionals really are different. I don''t think I''d ever have a chance at passing the exam if I didn''t have the help of the Wolfblood guys. The training was hard, but it paid off"


    Bridge held out his hand and then slowly a deep red glow began to appear on his fingers.


    "Red spiritual power! You''re a 2-star beast-tamer?!"


    Bridge''s smug face suddenly looked a little embarrassed, "Lady is currently advancing in my star space, but I''m not quite there yet. However, I can''t condense any more spiritual power so I''m pretty sure I''m at the point where I can begin condensing my second star. Since we''re nning to leave for Dark Moon tomorrow, I was thinking I could advance to 2 stars on the train ride over.


    The trip will take 3 days anyway, and it''s not like there''s anything else we can do on there."


    Bridge''s advancement to 2-stars suddenly reminded Kain of the egg he''d exchanged for him.


    "Bridge, by any chance did the trainer that helped you also give you a wolf for your second contract?"


    "No¡­he thought about it but he said the best he could provide is a Bronze-quality contract. I could probably find a contract with a better quality once I''m admitted to college"


    "What about a Silver-quality Cyan Searing Wolf?"


    "Sure¡­ I''ll see if Dark Moon City has one. But aren''t they pretty rare outside of the North?"


    Bridge never would have known that 3 months ago. It looks like he had read up on wolf-type spiritual creatures once his affinity was confirmed.


    "They are¡­but I happen to have the egg of one" Now it was Kain''s turn to act smug.


    He pulled out the incubating egg from under his bed.


    He''d been monitoring it and changing its incubation liquid every few days.


    The colour was now a much deeper blue than when he first obtained it, and the chill was strong enough that if Kain hadn''t already been close to 2-stars, he''d need to wear thick gloves while holding the incubator to avoid getting frostbite. It''ll probably hatch on the way to Dark Moon College.


    "Take this. By the time you form your second star it''ll probably hatch and you can contract it then."


    Bridge''s eyes immediately welled with tears. He had seen the egg Kain brought home previously, but he had no idea that it was for him. He pulled Kain into a hug, "You are THE. BEST. FRIEND. EVER"


    "I need to go back to the dojo. They got together to raise enough money to buy me the lowest quality space ring and fill it with enough food for Lady for weeks. But I need to get the food required for a Searing Pup now too"


    Bridge practically skipped out of the door.


    "Wait¡­they bought him a space ring?!" Kain was in shock when he thought again about the prices he had seen when looking to buy one of his own.


    "Where the heck can I find a higher-level expert to dote on me?" Kain grumbled as he began to pack his things.


    Thankfully, he only has to pack for himself, since unlike most contracts Bea didn''t require him to pack her food.


    The next morning Kain and Bridge were waved off by the members New Beginnings Orphanage along with John and Sally, as they left for the local train station.


    Once there, Kain used the ample savings he still had from hunting in the wilderness to upgrade both of their tickets to first-ss so that they could have private rooms and focus on their advancement.


    Their ticket first stops at Starfire City, thergest city in the southern region and the home of Starfire College.


    After stopping for an hour to pick up more travellers and do maintenance, the train will be going non-stop to Dark Moon City, the home of Dark Moon College.


    Once they entered the train, they were surprised to find it packed almost exclusively with teens. Most beast-tamer exams were this week, therefore regardless of whether they were nning to take the exam for Starfire College, pretty much everyone looking to enter a beast-taming major was on the train headed towards the major train hub in Starfire City.


    Going towards their assigned rooms, Kain was in lucky number 7, while Bridge was right next door in 6.


    When he entered the room he was pleasantly surprised. It wasn''t at the level of a 5-star hotel but it had a desk, minifridge, a decent-sizedfortable bed, and a wide window that let in tons of natural light.


    Technically, it was a nicer room than the one he shared with Bridge at the orphanage.


    He sat on the bed and assessed his current condition for the exam.


    Bea was currently in the process of advancing in the star space, and she should finish around the same time they arrived at Dark Moon, giving him a red-grade contract.


    Due to having to feed Bea continuously and focus on the academic exam, his spiritual power was only at 950 SP. However, if he concentrated day and night solely on cultivating in thearium, he should be able to improve by more than 20 points a day and condense his second star by the time the train arrives at Dark Moon.

 Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Starfire City

    "Good afternoon passengers. We have arrived at the beautiful Starfire City. Please ensure that you have all of your belongings before exiting the train, as this is ayover all vacated carts will be cleaned for their new upants and all belongings left behind will be ced in a local Lost and Found."


    "For those continuing on non-stop to Dark Moon City, you are free to exit and re-enter the train during theyover as long as you bring your boarding pass and identification. If you choose to leave, please ensure that you bring your belongings with you, or lock your private room, should you have one. The staff onboard are not responsible for any lost or stolen items."


    "Thank you for travelling with Celestial Rails. Pleasee again."


    After cultivating for several hours, his spiritual power had grown by 10 points.


    However, it was pretty draining on his mental strength to focus for that long, so he decided to exit the train for the duration of theyover.


    After all, this is thergest city in the southern region, and the secondrgest in the entire empire, he should take a look.


    Exiting the train, Kain bumped into a familiar face.


    ''That''s right, he was taking the Starfire Exam''


    "Hey Pheneos! You''re here for the exam, right? Would you mind if I followed you to the college? I want to take a look"


    "Ah! Kain! Sure¡­It''s not far from here¡­"


    They continued walking forward together, the atmosphere a little awkward since they''d only met a handful of times previously.


    "How are you feeling about the exam? Did your teacher finish the full body armor in time?"


    "It''s difficult to know how to feel since I have no idea what kind of mission I might get. However, thankfully the full armor was finished in time, and It. Is. Amazing!" Pheneos said with his eyes twinkling like stars.


    However, he didn''t give more details on the effects of the full set, likely still on guard before the exam.


    "Wow¡­.major cities really are different." When they exited the station Kain was taken aback by all of the beautiful architecture around.


    Although there were a lot of new buildings, their architecture was still designed toplement the historical buildings interspersed throughout the city.


    Many of the buildings had intricate stained ss windows depicting astronomical scenes or famous scenes from history.


    Every single surface of the buildings was also touched with intricate carvings, almost overwhelmingly so.


    Columns, window frames, balconies, and all the buildings'' edges were full of asymmetrical and curved lines that vaguely mimic shapes from nature.


    If they weren''t so well done, the excessive design would have looked gaudy and overwhelming, but instead it just looked ssical and high-end.


    If he had topare it to a simr ce on Earth, it reminds him the most of the buildings he saw on a family trip to Catalonia, Spain.


    It didn''t take long before they arrived at the college located in the heart of the city.


    Once again, Kain felt as though he was transported through time and space back to his family trip.


    The college, towering over every other building in the city, bore a striking resemnce to the Sagrada Familia in Spain. The most major difference being the material used to construct it giving off a golden hue when struck by the sun.


    Even Pheneos, who had not looked phased the majority of the way there, likely having visited this and other major cities in the past with his teacher, looked stunned by its beauty.


    ''It''s so beautiful. I wonder what Dark Moon College looks like?''


    Curiosity satiated, Kain wished Pheneos good luck and headed back to the train.


    "This is the final boarding call for all passengers booked for train 32A, non-stop to Dark Moon City. Please proceed to gate 3 immediately, all doors will close and departure will begin in approximately three minutes. This is the final boarding call for train 32A. Thank you."


    "Ah crap! That''s me!" He must have spent longer loitering around the city than he expected.


    He began to sprint towards the train but bumped into someone along the way, causing them to drop their belongings.


    "I am so sorry!" He bent to help them pick up their belongings and spotted a small boy with green hair and oversized sses on his face.


    They both began to run towards the train.


    Once they were both safely onboard, Kain once again turned to apologize, he really should not have been running so recklessly.


    "It''s no problem¡­we both got on the train just fine" The other mumbled shyly avoiding eye-contact.


    "Are you by any chance going to Dark Moon City to take the College exam?" Kain asked, unable to contain his curiosity.


    Befriending another test-taker couldn''t hurt.


    "Uh no¡­." He said in a barely audible mumble with his head still down. "I am currently a student at Dark Moon, a second year"


    "Eeeehhhh!!?? Are you actually a current student?!"" Kain didn''t mean toe off as rude, but he really wasn''t expecting this small and timid kid to actually be his senior. He had passed that hellish beast-tide examst year?!


    Fortunately, he seemed to think Kain''s astonishment was due to the fact that he was heading to the college a full month before the school-year for the current students officially began.


    "I was recruited to help oversee the test and heal any injured applicants. If they aren''t dead by the time they get to me."


    Ah¡­ so he must have one or more contracts with a healing ability. Maybe that''s how he survived the exam?


    "Well it was nice meeting you senior¡­hopefully we will be fellow students at Dark Moon next year"


    Kain then headed back to his room and began cultivating even more fervently.


    Visiting another top 5 college and meeting a current student made the reality that he was about to take the exams even more clear.


    His consciousness once again entered thearium.


    ''I must enter Dark Moon College. No matter what!''

 Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Arriving at Dark Moon City

    Kain managed to reach 1000 SP mere hours before arriving at Dark Moon City.


    However, he did not push on to try and condense his second star with having to deboard so soon.


    If he started on the train and then was disturbed by the staff before he could finish, it may result in a failed attempt.


    Thankfully, a failed attempt at his level wouldn''t be too dangerous, but it would still not be something he could recover from before the entrance test.


    There were still 2 full days before the test he could wait until he was settled into a hotel before attempting to advance to 2-stars.


    Some more good news was that Bea had also finished her advancement in his star space this morning.


    With them both advancing, his odds of passing were looking much higher.


    "Good afternoon passengers. We have arrived at the wonderful Dark Moon City¡­" The familiar deboarding message began to y.


    After ensuring he left nothing behind he stepped into the hallway to find Bridge waiting for him.


    "Hey! I was scared to knock in case you were in the middle of advancing as well"


    "No¡­I''ll wait until we check into the hotel to do that. I''m assuming by the wide grin on your face that you sessfully condensed your second star"


    "Yeah¡­ but that''s not the reason I''m so happy. The egg you gave me hatched 2 days ago, and now I have a contract with the 2 most beautiful wolf pups in the empire. Let''s hurry to the hotel so I can show her to you!"


    Bridge began to pull Kain by the wrist impatiently.


    The second they exited the station, Kane felt as though he was transported to medieval Ennd.


    Majority of the buildings had Gothic architecture. It was a city of tall spires stabbing into the sky.


    Additionally, unlike the colourful stained ss windows, and gold-hued buildingsmon in Starfire City. The colour scheme of Dark Moon City was much more¡­muted. Mostlyposed of ck, grey and silver architecture.


    Combined with the cloudy weather, it definitely had a more gloomy vibe whenpared to Starfire City.


    It was also beautiful, but in a more haunting way.


    However, strangely Kain actually preferred Dark Moon City.


    ''It reminds me of Harry Potter!'' The little novel nerd in Kain''s heart was greatly satisfied at seeing architecture that reminded him of one of his favourite series.


    They had reserved a room at a hotel close to Dark Moon College almost immediately after confirming their intention to attend the test there.


    Good thing too, as a majority of the hotels close to the college were fully booked right after the affinity ceremonies and students confirmed that they had an affinity ranked high enough to qualify.


    Kain and Bridge were actually a littlete in trying to book a room, with everywhere they tried already being filled.


    They were about to try a hotel towards the edges of Dark Moon City when this one called them back about a cancetion. It seems like an overconfident high schooler, probably a legacy, had booked rooms for themself and their family prior to awakening. After the affinity ceremony though they were forced to cancel the reservation when they didn''t rate as highly as they anticipated.


    Kain and Bridge took both neighbouring rooms avable, anticipating that one or both of them may need to try and make ast-minute attempt at advancing and didn''t want to risk being disturbed by a roommate.


    After putting his stuff away in his room, Kain went next door to Bridge''s. Although he wanted to try advancing right away, he was still curious about Bridge''s the Searing Wolf pup that he''d only seen in pictures. Also, he should probably fill his stomach before attempting an advancement.


    The moment he entered Bridge''s room, it felt like it was the middle of winter instead of summer.


    The source of the extreme chill was sitting on Bridge''s bed. A small wolf puppy with shining white fur andrge sparkling blue eyes.


    ''It really is adorable¡­'' Kain thought jealously. This is how he''d always imagined a contract to be! ''Not like¡ª'' he cut off the in-case Bea heard it. After all, although she didn''t meet his aesthetic tastes, she was still a trustworthypanion.


    Kain kept a healthy distance from the Silver-quality pup. After all, he had read that just touching them could result in frostbite.


    Bridge though, as a result of the resistance provided by the contract, had no such worries. Although he still found her extremely cold, holding her wouldn''t harm him.


    He scooped her into his hands and held her up for Kain to see.


    "This is Princess!" Kain was once again blown away by Bridge''s naming sense. "Doesn''t she look like a cold and beautiful, yet aloof princess? It fits her, right?"


    "Uh¡­ y-yeah"


    "Thanks again for getting her for me Kain. She''s probably too young to be used during the entrance exam, but I can already tell that she''s talented. She has an A-level skill!"


    "Really?!" Don''t let Bea''s possession of A-level skills fool you, having a single A-level skill for spiritual creatures below Gold quality is an indication that theirbat talent is within the upper tiers of their species"


    "Which one?"


    "I think it''s called Absolute Zero, it makes her surroundings and all of her attacks extremely cold, even more so than the average Searing Wolf"


    "A passive A-level skill. That''s incredible!"


    After showing off, Bridge recalled Princess into his star space and they both went down to eat dinner.


    Looking around at the room full of teenagers and their families they were both filled with anticipation. Their futurepetitors, but also their future ssmates will be from among those here.


    Normally, Kain would try to mingle with those here, but he left that to Bridge. He needed to advance as soon as possible.


    So leaving Bridge to continue his conversation with what looked like a pair of siblings at a neighbouring table, Kain headed back upstairs.

 Chapter 60: Chapter 60: 2-Stars

    Kain closed he eyes and gradually slowed his breathing.


    With his eyes closed he was able to focus on his internal space and the shining white star within its center. It was almost invisible among the dense cloud of red spiritual power floating around it.


    This loose spiritual power is what he''d need to condense to form a second star.


    Gradually, Kain began to consciously control the free spiritual power and tried to drag it all to a spot next to his current star.


    "Haa¡­.Haaaa"


    It was much more difficult than condensing his first star. He hadn''t even fully controlled all of the red gas to a single location but he was already sweating and gasping for air.


    ''Bea officially reached red-grade, rewarding me with 100 GP. Should I have just bought the 2-star guaranteed advancement card''


    ''No! Don''t think about what ifs! Focus on now!


    Gritting his teeth he finally got all of his spiritual power into a ball that couldn''t be further condensed.


    But he couldn''t rx for a second. If he did then the spiritual power he worked so hard to gather would immediately disperse


    He slowly began to apply a rotational force to the ball he formed. The speed had to be just right to achieve the necessary internal pull so that the particles would not fly away and form a star.


    ''Too fast!... Slower¡­slower¡­'' Kain eased up a bit on the strength he used to draw the spiritual power together and could immediately sense that they were about to disperse.


    Quickly he exerted control again.


    ''Argh! Now it''s too slow¡­No wonder it took Bridge over a day to finish condensing his second star''


    He couldn''t sense at all how much time had passed in his mental space, but he was getting exhausted.


    Rather than a test of spiritual power control, every advancement level is moreso a test in mental fortitude and perseverance.


    Back and forth, Kain went through the agonizingly boring process of perfecting the speed of rotation before rxing control to see if the spiritual power would disperse.


    ''Argh! I can''t give up!! Just a little more!''


    Finally, when Kain slightly rxed control the star didn''t immediately begin to disperse.


    Seeing this, he slowly began to rx the rest of his control over the star, hoping that it wouldn''t suddenly copse.


    Before his eyes was a spinning glowing red pearl.


    ''So beautiful.'' Kain felt as though he''d cry looking at the second star. Whether it was actually because it was that beautiful or he was just ovee with emotion from finally seeding, it was unknown.


    Gradually he could sense a connection between his first and second stars.


    The red spiritual power began to infiltrate the white star, making it red.


    If Bea had been able to absorb spiritual power within the star space like the average contract, then she''d have experienced a boost in her cultivation speed at this moment.


    In return, the energy of his affinity from the first star slowly began to transform the environment of the new star, making it inhabitable for future contracts that meet the conditions of his affinity.


    However, unlike Bea''s star which was tailored to fit her, this star was in the same ambiguous state as right after his affinity ceremony.


    As of this moment, Kain was officially a 2-star beast-tamer and could bind a second spiritual creature.


    ''If I can find one¡­''


    Relieved to finally be finished with the agonizing process, he opened his eyes and was immediately assaulted by a horrible smell¡ªhim


    After the sudden increase in strength, his body must be trying to purify itself.


    He hopped up to take a shower after making a call to the front desk to pleasee and change his bedsheets.


    When he left the steaming bathroom he felt like a brand-new person, clean from the inside out.


    He went to his cell phone on the dresser to check the date and time.


    Thankfully, only one day had passed. It was now the evening before the entrance test. He hadn''t missed it.


    ''Dinner time in the cafeteria should be ending, if I don''t want to go to bed starving, I better hurry down now.''


    When he arrived at the cafeteria he was surprised to find Bridge still there eating dinner. He was chatting with the siblings he had left him with yesterday.


    Kain quickly filled a te up with what remained from the buffet, and headed over.


    Bridge looked at him excitedly, "How did it go?!"


    "2-stars" He replied while making a V with his fingers. He may have acted a little more smugly if there weren''t strangers at the table.


    "I knew you''d be able to do it! Guys, this is the brother I was telling you about that got an S-rating. Kain, these are Addison and Aiden¡ªtwins" Bridge said while pointing at Kain and then the pair of boy-girl fraternal twins at the table.


    They looked like male and female versions of each other with the same light blue hair and blue eyes.


    The other 2 also looked at Kain curiously. After all, there were reportedly only 26 students to receive an S-rating this year.


    They nodded at each other as Kain sat next to Bridge and began devouring his food like a starved beast. He listened as the others talked.


    "It''s good that you advanced to 2 stars before the test, Kain. We were just talking about how the applicants this year seems to be higher than thest few years."


    Aiden nodded, "The exam 5 years ago that killed nearly 600 students, scared off a lot of potential applicants in the years that followed. Making Dark Moon have the second lowest number of applicants, only above Frozen Sun College in the north"


    Addison continued, "The numbers have been gradually recovering each year and now they are almost at the level as before 5 years ago. Last I heard the 6000th applicant registered this morning"


    "Do have any information on what the exam might be?" Bridge asked. After all, these twins seemed much better informed than he and Kain.

 Chapter 61: Chapter 61: The Entrance Exam

    "It''s not possible for anyone to know for sure¡­ but it will probably have to do with hunting beasts like thest few years," said Aiden.


    Kain felt relieved. Hunting beasts was something he was confident in.


    "I did hear something interesting though," Suddenly Addison leaned forward and lowered her voice, "In previous years the limit to the number of admitted students had always been 100. It could be less but never more. However, this year the limit to the number of students that can pass is 99. One of the spots for this year has already been filled."


    That finally got Kain to look up from his te in shock.


    "How is that possible?!" Eximed Bridge in shock. "Even Kain, with his S-rating was exempt from taking the exams. I thought the 5 colleges were high enough above that they didn''t have to intentionally try and recruit anyone."


    Kain nodded. He had been hoping that his rating would make it easier to get into a top 5 College, but they really couldn''t care less. They each have several students with an S-rating desperately trying to enter them each year, so they don''t care about trying to recruit one of them.


    Although he, and even Bridge, did receive some tempting offers from some high-tier schools just below the top 5, their background and the resources they could provide for him aren''t on the same level.


    ''Is it nepotism? Some high-ranking professor''s precious baby wanted toe here?'' Kain thought cynically.


    Aiden continued with an even lower voice, "Apparently some legacy from the capital awakened independently. However, instead of going to the First Celestial Academy, they chose toe to Dark Moon instead. None of the top 5 colleges would grant an exception otherwise. No matter your background or affinity rating"


    "Just because they awakened independently?" Kain was surprised that doing so was such a big deal.


    The two twins looked slightly surprised at Kain suddenly joining the conversation, "Well yeah¡­it''s been over a decade since someone awoke independently. It''s even rarer to do so now than it was back then because, ording to my grandfather, the lives of our generation are too cushy"


    Addison continued after her twin, "To awaken independently suggests that you have an affinity so strong that it can''t help but manifest even without the help of the ceremony. I also heard this student has an exceptionally strong gift too."


    ''Now that''s just unfair. Are they the actual protagonist of this world?'' Kain thought bitterly. ''Screw having a System, maybe it''d have been better to transmigrate into that person''s body.''


    *The System''s Capabilities are dependent upon the Host''s own efforts* Kain thought he detected a slight grudge in the System''s usually monotone voice.


    "Wow! I guess it''s good they''re not taking the exam then, huh? One lesspetitor." Bridge chuckled nervously.


    "Not really¡­they already took up a spot without having to fight for it." Kain felt some resentment. Is that person''s talent really that high that they don''t even need to fight for their spot? Even S-rated individuals and even the descendants of royalty need to take the admissions tests.


    In an attempt to lighten the suddenly gloomy atmosphere, Addison changed the subject, "You have an S-rating, huh? What kind of affinity gets you a rating that high?"


    Everyone at the table, including Bridge who still didn''t know his affinity, and even individuals at the nearby tables trying to eavesdrop, turned to Kain.


    Kain looked around at all of the people peeking at him from the corners of their eyes. Probably trying to get info on a major contender for a spot at the College.


    "I''d prefer not to say." Suddenly the faces of those around stiffened.


    "Ha ha. Kain hasn''t even shared his affinity with me and I''m his brother. Don''t take it to heart" Bridge said in an attempt to get rid of the awkward atmosphere. But Kain could sense that his refusal to share his affinity, even with him, bugged Bridge.


    ''It''s hard to exin my affinity to the people of this world. I''m not even sure whether or not people here are aware they exist. None of my science books mention anything about them. But I should probably give him some information. I wouldn''t want this to drive a wedge between us''


    With that thought in mind, when they returned back upstairs, he pushed his way into Bridge''s room before he had a chance to close the door.


    Bridge looked surprised at his sudden action.


    "I''m sorry about what happened downstairs. I didn''t mean to make things awkward with your new friends"


    "You don''t have to apologize for that. We just met them, I understand why you wouldn''t want to share something so sensitive with them. I just don''t¡­ I just don''t understand why you can''t tell me. Do you not trust me?" Bridge asked sadly.


    ''Ugh. I knew he''d be thinking like this''


    "I do trust you! I just haven''t told you my affinity because it''s hard to exin¡­"


    Bridge didn''t look like he believed him. What''s so hard to exin about an affinity? Just say what was in your affinity egg? An animal? Did an element gush out?


    Kain continued to reduce Bridge''s doubts, "When my affinity egg cracked it was a species that I had never seen before. So when I got tested I really had no idea that I''d receive an S-rating, because I didn''t even know what my affinity was."


    "Honestly, I''m still not 100% sure what my affinity is" ¨C''Not entirely true''¡ª"But I do know that it''s pretty hard to find things that meet the criteria for me to bind. That''s why I was so insistent oning to Dark Moon. Because the very first time I felt the pull for a potential bond was in an egg found around one of Dark Moon College''s relics."


    Bridge finally seemed satisfied with this information. "I''m d¡­ I was afraid you just didn''t trust me. You gave me Princess, so if you need help finding a contract in the future let me know."


    After hugging him goodbye, Kain returned to his room relieved.


    It was time to get a good night''s rest before the most important test of his life.

 Chapter 62: Chapter 62: The Entrance Exam (2)

    Kain and Bridge ran into the twins again the next morning at breakfast.


    Thankfully, none of the awkwardness from yesterday remained.


    "I''m sorry for yesterday. Sometimes I speak without thinking, but Aiden let me know that my question waspletely inappropriate given the circumstances."


    "Uh it''s fine¡­no problem." Kain was slightly flustered by the sudden apology. He had actually expected them to be upset at his refusal to answer after they gave him information yesterday.


    Together they walked towards Dark Moon College.


    It was a giant castle with Gothic architecture like the rest of the city, and simr to Starfire College it was also the tallest building in the city, with its tallest spires being visible even from the edges of the city.


    Arriving at the gates of the College, all 4 of them received a tag with their registration number. Kain and Bridge were #3666 and #3667, respectively. While the twins had arrived in the city and registered the day before them and were numbers 2942 and 2943.


    After confirming their attendance, they followed the long line of students to a circr building with many pointed arches.


    When they entered, he could tell that it was a theatre that could amodate at least 10,000 individuals, with all of the seats arranged in a ring surrounding the central stage.


    They had to go up two flights of stairs before they could find avable seats.


    30 minutester, when it appeared as though nearly 7000 students had arrived, a beautiful woman wearing sses and a dark blue dress suit went on the stage.


    "Hello everyone. I am Assistant Professor Nightingale. The instructor for the mandatory Introduction to Spiritual Skills course that all first-years must take." Spiritual skills! One of the things Kain most wanted to learn in college.


    "I will now introduce the conditions for entering Dark Moon College."


    ''Wow she''s getting right to it, huh? Usually these kinds of stuff start with some long speech by the educators, but I guess they can''t be bothered to waste their breath on students who 99% of them they''ll never see again. That''s also probably why a first-year Assistant Professor is the one here overseeing the exams, rather than the Dean, Vice Dean or even just a full Professor attending.''


    "Due tost year''s beast-tide which we used for the exams, the surrounding wild spiritual beasts are not currently at a great enough number to cause another beast-tide. Therefore, this year''s exams will be taking ce in one of the College''s relics"


    Immediately the students broke out into panicked whispers. Even Kain and the other three looked at each other with wide eyes.


    Didn''t nearly 600 examiners die in one of their relics in previous years? Their number of applicants had just been restored to the numbers before that whole debacle, and they''re going straight back to their old ways?


    "Everyone please be quiet"


    Chatter Chatter


    "SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRATS!" The refined-looking women suddenly shouted, spiritual power infused into her voice.


    "Ugh!" Kain and majority of the students looked as though they''d been hit. The teacher''s level was clearly far above theirs, a level so high that Kain had never met it before.


    "Ahem¡­We are aware of your concerns and we can assure you that the site of the examination will not be the same as the one from THAT year." They all knew what year she was talking about.


    "In the relic, you will be brought to an artificial world in which two inds are connected by a bridge. Your job is to cross that bridge. Easy right?" She said with a wide reassuring smile. But it didn''t look the least bit trustworthy in the applicants'' eyes.


    "However, do keep in mind that any injuries received in this world will be sustained by you once you leave. So if you do not think you''ll be able to pass, do not be stubborn and just request to leave. The relic will immediately sense your intentions and you will be ejected."


    "All students that pass the bridge will meet the minimum conditions for admittance. If more than 99 students pass, then the score for your performance, as assessed by the relic, will be used to determine the top 99 applicants."


    "Your ranking in the entrance test will also be your ranking when entering the school, so try your best!" She didn''t say what the point of such a ranking was, but Kain was sure there was some kind of benefit to ranking highly in this test.


    "Now you may all leave your seats and follow your seniors to the entrance of the relic."


    Kain and the rest of the applicants did as directed.


    Their group of 4 was towards the middle of the line. Although there were thousands of applicants, the line was moving forward rapidly. When he got closer to the front he could see why. There didn''t appear to be a limit to the number of students that the relic could amodate, every second another student entered.


    He could see the green-haired second year that he''d previously met treating a student with a gash across his abdomen. His contract looked like a dandelion that was continuously blowing spores to the wounded. It was a contract Kain had never seen in a textbook before, meaning it was likely extremely rare.


    He also saw arge stone tablet with the names of the students that had sessfully passed the test. So far over 1000 students had entered, yet only 9 names were listed.


    Kain wondered if the order of the names meant anything. Was it the order in which they cleared the relic? Or was it a reflection of how high their individual scores were?


    After another 500 students entered the relic, and 5 more names appeared, he got his answer. The order of the names was most likely the ranking of their individual scores.


    He wished he knew how the score was determined. Is it timing-based? How few injuries they received? Their ability to cope with dangers?


    From some of the injuries he was seeing the students leave with, he could guess that there were spiritual creatures in there. Does how many we kill affect the score?


    ''Haa¡­ There''s no use in worrying. I''ll just have to do my best''

 Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Entrance Exam (3)

    By the time more than 2000 applicants had entered, there were only 21 names listed on the tablet.


    There were only 10 more people in front of him before it was his turn to enter.


    It''d take seconds for all of the students in front of him to enter the freestanding stone archway covered with intricate runes.


    Heart beating quickly, he turned back to wish the others good luck before also stepping into the entrance of the relic with his spear and armour already equipped.


    After a bright sh of light and a disorienting feeling, Kain felt a breeze on his face.


    He opened his eyes that he''d inadvertently closed and looked around.


    "You call this an ind!"


    He was on a small patch ofnd in the middle of what looked like the ocean. He couldn''t see any othernd for as far as the eye could see


    Thend he was standing on was even smaller than the back of the turtle he had hitched a ride on previously. Maybe only 5 adults could lie down on itfortably.


    In front of him nailed to the "ind" was a flimsy-looking rope bridge floating on the surface of the water.


    The bridge extended far off into the distance, beyond what he could see, to what Kain assumed was his endpoint.


    "Yeah. Real easy!" Kai yelled mockingly at the instructor''s previous description of the test.


    He was also confident that there were probably spiritual creatures waiting to attack him on this flimsy bridge.


    However, despite the seemingly daunting task, Kain found the prospect of being surrounded by water reassuring thanks to Bea''s presence.


    The second he had entered this space and seen the water; he had immediately thrown her into the water as was his habit.


    He could sense that her splits had already covered the ocean for miles, her upgrade to red spiritual power being a huge boost to her abilities.


    He could already sense Bea running into some white-grade spiritual creatures, but they died within seconds.


    White-grade spiritual creatures could no longer even put up a fight against her.


    Not wanting to dy any longer in case the time taken affected his score, he began to cross the bridge at a steady pace to prevent falling off.


    Eventually, he reached a point where he could no longer see thend he entered on.


    He could sense through Bea that her splits had probably already killed over one hundred white-grade spiritual creatures by this point.


    However, he hadn''t seen even their shadow. All were killed far before he could even catch a glimpse of them.


    Kain now understood why the pass rate was so low, if those aquatic creatures were to all actually reach the bridge, it''d be like fighting a beast-tide alone while on unsteady ground.


    "Thankfully I have Bea. In certain environments she''s practically a cheat."


    Bea''s unique abilities rendered having arge number of low-level beasts useless.


    However, at some point among the white-grade spiritual creatures, some red-grade ones began to appear. The red-grade spiritual creatures that were weaker still died before they had a chance to actually attack Kain. However, they now got close enough that he could see their bodies.


    One of the more powerful ones, a red shark, even got close enough to try and bite Kain. Fortunately, it was still weakened by Bea and he was able to quickly dispatch it with a thrust of his spear into its forehead.


    "This won''t do¡­ I don''t want to be a sitting duck"


    Kain began to pick up the pace and ran across, even when some of the spiritual beasts arrived at the bridge, they were often far behind him. Moreover, they often died before they could even begin to pursue him thanks to Bea.


    Those who had the intelligence to try and intercept him were still quite easy to take care of with a single strike to the head.


    However, once Kain was able to spot an endpoint far off in the distance, he received a signal from Bea that some creatures she couldn''t kill were beginning to approach¡ªorange-grade.


    "Stall them! Focus on impeding their senses and causing hallucinations. Forget the headaches."


    With her advancement to red-grade and her increased proficiency with using her skills from hunting, Bea was now able to influence what kind of side effects she would induce, whereas previously the side-effects werepletely random and subject to the infected''s own constitution.


    Fortunately, although Bea couldn''t kill orange-grade spiritual creatures, inducing symptoms was no issue for her.


    Kain no longer could afford to be careful with his steps and began to sprint as fast as he could to his destination.


    Crash


    When he was still a dozen meters away, arge tentacle rose out of the water and pped in his direction almost knocking him off the bridge, if he didn''t have some armour covering him, he may have had to leave due to a serious injury right at that moment.


    "Ugh¡­ I can''t afford to conserve anything at this point" while clutching the ropes of the bridge to stand back up, he injected his remaining spiritual power into his armour to induce the wide-range mental attack skill.


    Screeeeeee


    The animal that attacked him, which looked like a giant orange squid with a single eye began to screech and il in pain as its mind was assaulted by both him and Bea.


    While it was distracted, he threw his spear into itsrge eye as deep as he could and then sprinted the remaining distance forward without stopping to retrieve his spear or see if his attack killed it.


    Secondster he copsed on solid ground.


    "I did it! I. DID. IIITTTT!!!!!"


    Panting heavily, Kain was ejected from the space.


    He appeared in the same position a short distance from the stone arch that students were still entering. The line was much shorter now.


    After going through the test, Kain was amazed at the fact that even more than 10 recent high-school graduates could pass. It was a testament to how deep the backgrounds and immense the talents of the students that could enter a top 5 college were.


    After all, it''s not likely that any of them had a Bea to drastically reduce the number of attacking creatures before they reached the bridge. And there were even orange-grade spiritual creatures at the end lying in ambush!


    ''I wonder where I ced against such monsters,'' Kain thought turning towards the tablet.

 Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Entrance Exam (4)

    Based on the current length of the line, Kain guessed that over 5000 applicants had already entered.


    He looked at the bottom of the list that had an unfamiliar name next to the number 43 and guessed that probably no more than 50 applicants would pass at this rate. Not unless there were several stronger applicants at the end.


    ''Number 43 isn''t me¡­'' Kain began to scan up the list, keeping an eye out for not only Bridge''s name but also Addison''s and Aiden''s.


    When he reached the top 10, he didn''t see his own name, or any of the other 3.


    His heart began to pound and instead of going up gradually, jumped immediately to the number 1 position with a small bit of hope.


    1. Kain


    His name looked out of ce among all of the others with both a given and surname. Many had quite prestigiousst names, signifying their statuses as top legacies.


    Yet it was his familiar name in the first-ce position.


    People began to whisper and stare at him as he stood mouth agape in front of the tablet.


    But he could care less, he''d probably never see most of them again anyway.


    ''I''m number 1! I''M NUMBER 1! I''M NUMBER 1!!!''


    It took all of his self-restraint to not start screaming his rank at the top of his lungs.


    However, at the thought that Bridge''s name also wasn''t on the tablet, he began to feel nervous. He went to where the green-haired second-year and some other seniors were treating students and looked for Bridge''s familiar figure.


    Nothing.


    He then began to look around the nearby campus grounds.


    Still nothing.


    Maybe he''s still in there. Kain began to calm down at the prospect that Bridge hadn''t failed.


    ''I had probably cleared it faster than most, so it makes sense that he''s not out yet''


    ''I hope he makes it¡­but I really have no idea how he or the other applicants managed to pass''


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    Kain unfortunately had no way of knowing the other methods applicants used to pass.


    While, like he thought, nobody had anything like Bea all of the sessful applicants were astonishing in their own way.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    If one had the power to monitor all of the trainees'' admission tests, the method used by Addison and Aiden would likely be the most astonishing. Not due to some overwhelming ability being disyed, but rather because they were the only space with 2 applicants, while all of the others only had one each.


    How could they have aplished this?


    Less than a minute after Addison entered the space, her eyes began to glow and her features began to look slightly more masculine until there was an unfamiliar individual with very androgynous beauty remaining.


    Suddenly a third and fourth leg extended from the body and a familiar figure stepped out¡ªAiden


    Addison''s space which originally had only her, now had theplete pair of siblings.


    They both paused and looked around as though waiting for something, before releasing a relieved breath. This had truly been a gamble. They hadn''t known if the space would eject one or both of them after doing this and rule them to have failed.


    Thankfully, as long as the method used is not a cheat item beyond the power level of the participant, any methods to pass will be allowed.


    So of course, the use of a gift, like the one the twins just demonstrated, would not disqualify them.


    Both of them began to move forward and fight with excellent coordination.


    With 2 people their exam just became much easier.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    In another space, an unfamiliar individual stood confidently on the beginningnd mass looking around.


    He had blonde hair, green eyes, and looked like the stereotypical image of a handsome storybook prince.


    His very demeanor and equipment practically screamed his legacy status¡ªand it was definitely a high-tier legacy family.


    He had on shining silver armour, with gold rimming around the edges. It was covered in at least three sigils, one more than is typical of 2-star equipment. To achieve an additional sigil beyond the level of the weapon not only is a world-ss cksmith needed, but also the use of materials beyond the 2-star level must also be used. That is materials from orange-grade spiritual beasts and higher.


    Even the average legacy family wouldn''t be able to bear using a higher-level material to make a 2-star armour.


    After understanding the situation, he summoned his contract.


    If Kain had been there he would have immediately turned green with envy and jealousy¡ªa dragon!


    A young one, only a little bigger than arge horse, but a dragon nheless.


    It had light green scales, and its wings were nearly 5 times its size. Clearly, it was a dragon species that prioritized flight speed over bodily strength.


    He climbed on its back before flying into the air.


    Most 1-star applicants would not have contracts that could support them in flying to their destination. However, the relic still seemed to be prepared for this eventuality and the dragon was forced by a great pressure to lower onto the bridge


    Taking the bridge was the only allowed method of passing the exam.


    An expression of embarrassment at the failed n only shed for a moment before he ordered his dragon to dash across the bridge with him on its back.


    Although not as advantageous as in the air, his dragon was at least Gold-quality, none of the lower quality white-grade beasts and red-grade beasts in the water even came close to him until he was at the final third of the bridge.


    Swipe


    He narrowly dodged a stab from a trident in the hands of what looked like a purple human fused with an octopus'' lower body.


    He unsheathed his sword and began to input his red and orange-tinged spiritual power into the sigils.


    He must now go all out. He could defeat one Orange-grade spiritual creature, but a whole hoard of them is even beyond his capabilities.


    Unlike Kain who had Bea to restrain most of them so that he only really had to face the one lying in ambush near the exit. The majority of the students had to find a way to fight through or avoid the orange-grade attacks on their way to the exit.

 Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Entrance Exam (5)

    In another space the performance of another examiner was also surprising.


    He had a gloomy-looking appearance with shoulder-length ck hair partially covering his eyes.


    Unlike most contestants who would usually immediately summon their contracts or unsheathe their weapons to prepare for battle, he began to¡­strip off all of his clothes.


    Butt clenching in nervousness he began to sprint across the bridge as a certain unmentionable body part pped in the wind.


    He was quite fast and managed to avoid running into the majority of the white-grade beasts.


    When he asionally did run into one, he did not choose to fight due to being weaponless, he would instead clench his butt-cheeks as hard as possible before reappearing in a sh of pink spiritual power at the maximum point his eyes could see on the bridge.


    Clearly, this was another student who had already awakened a gift. However, there were obviously limitations on the number of times he could use it. Especially, since the colour of his spiritual power indicated he was still at 1-star.


    When he could finally see the end, his nose had already started to bleed from over-exertion.


    "Haaa¡­.. Haaaa¡­ I would have maybe just dodged some of the earlier attacks instead of teleporting if I knew this bridge was so damn long."


    A giant tentacle of a orange-grade creature far stronger than him began to hurtle towards him.


    "Haaa¡­ they don''t even want to give us 1-stars a chance." But despite his words, his expression was calm. He could already see the exit. <span style="disy:none;">


    He emptied all of his remaining spiritual power to appear on the small body ofnd in the distance. And then fainted.


    ------------------


    "Ugh!" Kain was waiting near the stone archway for Bridge to exit when his vision was suddenly assaulted by a naked man lying on the ground. Thankfully he was face down. However, he could see a pool of blood spilling out from the front of his and spreading around the ground.


    "Ahhhh!" There were shocked screams from some individuals also waiting around, likely for their own friends who had entered.


    Thankfully for the passed-out applicant though, there was no longer any line, so less than 50 students were waiting by the gate. Most had left in grief after failing to pass or to immediately head off to try and make either the Supernova or First Celestial Academy exams taking ce soon.


    Thankfully, Kain doesn''t have to worry about trying to enter another top 5 college.


    Seeing that nobody else was stepping forward to help, Kain decided to call the green-haired senior he was familiar with to examine the student.


    After the naked boy was covered and removed from the area to undergo a medical examination, the surroundings returned to their previous calm.


    There were currently still thousands of students inside the relic trying to pass the test and another would be eliminated every few seconds.


    With each passing second Kain wasn''t sure if he should be anxious that Bridge had not passed yet, or if he should be happy that he hadn''t been eliminated yet.


    ''Come on, Bridge!''


    A scene so simr to the affinity ceremony, but now their roles were reversed.


    ------------------


    The moment Bridge entered the relic he knew it would not be as easy as the teacher described.


    However, he had trained and prepared intensely for this very test for months.


    Not to mention all of the hours, resources, and money the Wolfblood Dojo invested into him.


    He knows that it wasn''t purely out of the goodness of their heart. He needs to enter a top 5 college so that it validates their training program and their investment pays off.


    After entering he released his initial contract, Lady. She was muchrger now than when they first met.


    She would have beenrge enough to support a lighter contractor if she was not bound to the heavy Bridge.


    Thankfully, the dojo had already analyzed Bridge''s weaknesses and knew that hisck of speed was a problem.


    Therefore, tobat this in a short time they had also equipped him with an enchanted light armour that, when injected with spiritual power, would halve his weight while decreasing his wind resistance.


    It was one of 3 armours prepared by the dojo in the space ring so that he could deal with a variety of scenarios.


    After activating the armour, Bridge boarded Lady before she sped off at full speed across the bridge.


    As a Huricanine known for their speed, none of the spiritual creatures even got close to them until towards the end of the rope bridge. That also happened to be when Bridge''s spiritual power was beginning to bottom out and the lightening effects of the armour were fading.


    Whimper


    Lady could no longer support his immense weight and her legs began to shake. Bridge immediately jumped off while patting Lady to thank her for her hard work.


    They had managed to cross the majority of the bridge without having to fight, now that they could see the exit in the distance, he would need to fight the rest of the way on foot.


    Bridge removed a heavy sword from the space ring.


    Thankfully, he had gone hunting with a few of the trainers in preparation for the exam. However, those were allnd-based spiritual creatures, he wasn''t used to fighting on water against fins and tentacles.


    He cut off a tentacle from a red-grade creature reaching toward him and began to steadily move his way forward, sending out another heavy swing of his sword with each step.


    "Ha¡­ Ha¡­Ha¡­" Looking behind Bridge there was a long line of corpses and chopped-off body parts.


    He could finally see the end. He stepped carefully toward the end of the bridge; he didn''t see any more spiritual creatures moving towards him.


    Thwack


    "Aooooo!!"


    Bridge was thrown into the water by a heavy blow. He could hear Lady screaming in fear for him as a tentacle wrapped around his ankle and tried to drag him deeper into the water.

 Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Entrance Exam Completed

    Bridge tried to sh at the tentacle gripping him, but its rubbery texture kept bouncing the de off.


    His brain worked in overdrive. Using his mind was not his strong suit, but the trainers at the dojo had emphasized the importance of staying calm in desperate situations to find a solution.


    Suddenly, his eyes shed with light as an idea came to mind.


    He called out Princess. Due to her young age, he hadn''t expected to use her at all during the test, however her abilities were exactly what he needed at the moment.


    He held her firmly since she couldn''t swim, and pressed her paw against the tentacle while directing her to channel as much ice-attribute energy as she could muster into a small area.


    Normally, the attacks of a white-grade spiritual creature would be useless, but the strength of an A-level skill allowed her to freeze over a small area the size of her paw.


    It was an area so small that it couldn''t even be considered as dealing a substantial injury to the enemy, but it was exactly what Bridge needed at the moment.


    The moment the tentacle froze over, Bridge recalled Princess and hurriedly mmed down with his sword at the frozen-over spot.


    Thankfully, this time it shattered instead of rebounding his sword.


    Finally free, he swam as fast as he could back to the bridge and clung to it.


    Lady was still there waiting for him. Seeing that he had expended pretty much all of his energy, she used thest of hers to pull him out of the water and then the few remaining steps tond.


    Finished, she copsed next to him.


    "You did great, Lady," Bridge said with a weak pat on her head before recalling her to the star space to rest.


    The next moment he felt the grass he was lying on change to a hard rocky surface. And then the familiar face of his best friend was smiling down at him.


    "Wee back. Congrattions on passing."


    --------------------------------------------


    Kain had been monitoring the number of names on the tablet since he had exited the relic so he immediately noticed that thest name on the list was one rank lower, meaning that someone else had exited.


    Nervously he scanned for Bridge''s name, this would be at least the 10th time he had gone through this process after seeing a change in ranks.


    Fortunately, he did find Bridge''s name this time. Simr to his itcked a surname and was easy to spot.


    Additionally, it was towards the end of the list, at number 42. But no matter, at least he had passed.


    "You passed!" Kain repeated with a wide smile as he helped Bridge up.


    Bridge also smiled at him as he caught his breath.


    "Thanks to you," Bridge ryed what had happened in the relic and how he had needed to rely on Princess at the end to escape.


    Kain was relieved that he could be of help in some way.


    It wasn''t long until the final applicant exited the relic and their final rankings were confirmed.


    There were 52 sessful applicants.


    Nobody surpassed Kain''s score until the end and he managed to finish in first ce.


    Bridge moved down one spot to rank 43.


    Both of the twins Addison and Aiden also passed, and were ranked at an impressive 13 and 14.


    Strangely, they exited their respective exams at the exact same time.


    Their group of 4 met up. The other 2 looked surprised at Kain''s ranking, while Bridge looked as though he had expected it. He had endless faith in Kain.


    The 52 future attendees followed one of the senior students to an administration building where Assistant Professor Nightingale was waiting for them in arge meeting room.


    They all took a seat while she began to speak. Her voice was much warmer now that she was speaking to officially epted students of the college.


    "Congrattions on your sessfulpletion of the Dark Moon College Exam. I will now begin the information session. Under each of your seats is a registration package. You will be required to fill it out with your personal information.


    Additionally, there is a course timetable of all the required courses for first-year students, as well as the avable times for open courses you may take as electives. Use that information to register for the courses and times that work best for you and match your goals. Keep in mind though that some required courses are only avable at one time and all of them have mandatory attendance..."


    Kain flipped through the information package. Thankfully, there were only 3 required courses for first years: Introduction to Spiritual Skills which Professor Nightingale teaches, Wilderness Survival, and Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamers.


    The rest of the minimum of 5 courses that students must take each year need to be filled with electives. However, Kain doesn''t have a choice. He already knew that his spare time would be filled with the courses for his Evolutionary nner major.


    However, as he flipped through the booklet he was unable to find any nner courses in the course list provided. He couldn''t possibly n his schedule without knowing those ss times.


    "¡­not be provided. Please fill out the required forms tonight and return them to this administration building by tomorrow at 4pm. That will be all. We look forward to seeing you all at the start of the new semester in 3 weeks. Are there any questions?"


    Kain tuned back in to only catch the tail-end of the information session. He''d have to ask Bridge if he missed anything importantter on. Firstly, he had a more pressing question that needed answers.


    Kain stood up, "Yes. There were no Evolutionary nner courses in the course list you provided, I was wondering where I could get that information."


    "I''m sorry. The nner courses are only avable to those in that major, so students of the Beast-taming faculty cannot register for them" She looked as though she had expected that question. It seems like nner courses are amon elective that students want to take. After all, evolving your contract will increase their upper-limit of strength.


    Most people hire a nner to help with this, but having some basic knowledge would also be helpful.


    Seeing that she was going to leave her answer at that and turn to another student with his hand raised, Kain quickly cut in. "I know. I am a double-major and was also admitted into the nner major. However, they haven''t yet provided me a courselist so I can''t fill out this schedule."


    He had received his exam score, which was an expected perfect score, and the eptance offer from Dark Moon''s nner major, which he had listed as his first-choice program when registering for the academic exam, while he had been condensing his second star.


    He had called to ept the offer the night he woke up, but they had not yet sent him any information package. Even if they did it would be at New Beginning''s Orphanage and he wouldn''t have a chance to read it before he had to fill out this timetable for tomorrow.


    At his words everyone in the room turned to him in shock. Majoring in both the Beast-taming and nner majors at a top 5 college was extremely rare. Not only because they were both the two hardest programs to gain admittance to, they both had some of the most stressful workloads. Only a masochist would want to take both on.


    The twins looked even more shocked. After all, they were one of the few individuals in the room that had identified Kain as the top-ranked student for the relic. Now he''s saying that was also entering the nner major?


    ''Is he a monster?!'' They shared the same horrified thought.


    "That¡­well¡­your circumstances are pretty unusual. You can follow one of our senior volunteers after this information session to the administration office for the nning department. They should be able to register you for courses in advance.


    Relieved that his issue was taken care of, Kain sat back down while nodding.


    "Ahem, any more questions?"


    A blonde princely-looking guy in the front row stood up.


    "Yes. I''d like to know how exactly these rankings by the relic were decided?"

 Chapter 67: Chapter 67: The Exam Rankings

    Not every examiner that passed was pleased with their ranking. The blonde legacy obviously being one of them.


    While some, like Bridge and the naked teen, were just grateful to have passed. Others had a certain expectation for the ranking.


    Looking around, Kain could see several cocky, prideful and unconvinced expressions in the crowd.


    He smiled bitterly, determined to keep his ranking a secret for not in case he''s challenged to a fight on the way to the hotel. A frontal duel is really not his strong suit.


    The Professor seemed to have expected this question. After all, most of the students trying to enter a top 5 college would have a high level of pride.


    "The ranking of an applicant is based on a variety of factors that arebined into a single score. The main 3 factors are: the time it takes to clear the exam, the number of beasts killed during the exam, and the condition of the applicant at the time the relic is cleared.


    For example, thest-ced applicant was within the top 10 for clearance time, but killed no spiritual creatures and was unconscious by the time he reached the exit. If he had not been in a relic, and instead in real life, then he would have been in an extremely dangerous situation. After all, in reality he would likely still receive attacks from aquatic creatures onnd."


    Seeing that the blonde teen was still unconvinced, she continued, "Mr. Lysander, you performed exceptionally well."


    ''Ahhhh¡­. Lysander. That was thest name of the second-ced applicant. He also has thest name as the royal family, no wonder he''s so unconvinced.'' Kain was even more determined to keep his identity a secret.


    The Professor continued, "You were within the top 3 for both speed and ending condition and the top 5 for the number of beasts killed, ying an impressive 50 red-grade spiritual creatures, and 2 orange-grade spiritual creatures."


    The other applicants began to chatter at the impressive results.


    The blonde raised his chin cockily at the shocked whispers.


    "Any other year and your score would have likely ced you first. Therefore you can be extremely proud of you results." She turned to the other student that had already stood up.


    Seeing that she wasn''t going to share anything more. Lysander interjected again. "So what was the first ce''s scores."


    ''Wow! He''s really not letting this go'' Kain was starting to feel both ttered and nervous. But he was also curious. What was the reason for his high score? He seriously doubted he was the fastest.


    The Professors eye twitched in irritation after being cut off a second time.


    "The first ced applicant was only in the top 10 for both timing and condition, but they ranked first for kills, and the gap with second ce was substantial."


    "In total there are 800 spiritual creatures in each relic test. 600 white-grade spiritual creatures, 180 red-grade, and 20 orange-grade spiritual creatures. Although, only a small fraction of them would actually attack the applicant at a time, ensuring that more applicants will not actually have to meet even 5% of the total number of beasts if they move fast enough."


    "The first ranked applicant killed all 780 white and red-grade spiritual creatures in the relic space, and 1 orange-grade spiritual creature."


    Shocked Silence


    Even Kain was shocked. He had only seen a tiny fraction of all the spiritual creatures Bea had killed. However, after he thought about it, it made sense. Given enough time Bea would be able to kill anything red-grade and below, therefore all of the water Bea''s splits inhabited as they spread out probably became and of death, even the areas of water far away from him.


    Kain was also pleasantly surprised to discover that his final blow had managed to finish off the orange-grade spiritual creature. He had lost his spear to deal that blow, so he appreciated the boost to his score.


    The twins and Bridge, the only ones to know the face of the first-ce individual, turned to Kain in shock.


    ''How was such a killing spree even possible?''


    The thoughts of everyone in the room were pretty uniform at that moment. Even the professor had been shocked when she read the report.


    Even the use of poison wouldn''t be able to achieve that effect since it would just be diluted by the water. It''d have to be a poison far exceeding the level of the applicant, and the applicant would have been ejected for cheating, not scored first-ce.


    Nobody could figure out how this ''Kain'' had done it.


    Lysander sat down stiffly in resignation. Many of the other students who also previously had unconvinced expressions, now looked to ept the rankings.


    Seeing that there were no more interruptions. Professor Nightingale answered 2 more questions before ending the meeting.


    "I will meet you back at the hotel." Kain left behind those words before heading to one of the senior volunteers waiting by the exit.


    The twins still had not fully recovered from their shock. "You didn''t tell us he was such a monster, Bridge"


    "Ahem¡­ well I don''t like to brag," He said humbly. Trying not to show that he was just as shocked by Kain''s results.


    Kain followed the senior across campus to a separate administration building. After informing the staff of his circumstances they also provided him with a registration package simr to the Beast-taming major and said that they would allow him to register for the courses he would be taking early.


    Thankfully there was no conflict in the ss times of both majors, but it''d be a packed schedule.


    Most students only have to take 5 courses. 3 required courses for their major, and 2 optional ones of their choice. He had to take 3 required courses for the nner Major as well: Introduction to Evolution, Evolution Practicum, and Introduction to Evolutionary Research.


    Meaning that he had to deal with one more course than the average college student.


    When Kain arrived back at the hotel he immediately went to Bridge''s room. He thought that he''d find him still in a celebratory mood, but he appeared slightly downtrodden.


    Confused by the atmosphere, Kain entered and closed the door behind him.


    "What''s wrong? Are you having trouble picking an elective?" He guessed that there was some issue with his registration package since that''s what he was staring at.


    "Ah, your back! No, I already picked my electives with the Addison and Aiden, we''re taking a Spiritual Material Cooking course and a Material Processing course."


    Kain nodded. Those would have been the 2 courses he would have rmended for Bridge. Bridge wasn''t strong in the traditional academic subjects like history or science.


    One course teaches the most valuable parts of spiritual beasts and how to extract them without damaging them or reducing the quality. The other course shows the proper way to cook the edible parts of spiritual creatures in a way that maximizes the preservation of the remnant spiritual power and beneficial effects in dishes.


    "Then¡­why do you look so gloomy?"


    "It''s nothing¡­"


    Strange. Bridge usually wouldn''t hesitate to share something that bothered him with Kain.


    Kain sat next to him and look at what he was holding. He had expected him to be staring at the course list, but he was looking at the form where they just had to fill in their basic information."


    "What''s wrong? Tell me." He nudged Bridge''s shoulder.


    Bridge slowly opened his mouth, "We were the only ones without ast name. Addison, Aiden, that arrogant blonde guy¡­they all have families. And they all have a family name to show where theye from."


    "Ahhh¡­." It hadn''t really bothered Kain. But unlike Kain, Bridge never knew what it was like to have a biological family and a family name. He could understand why he''d envy it.


    "Let''s make one now"


    "Huh?"


    "Let''s choose ast name for ourselves now. Be officially brothers with the samest name."

 Chapter 68: Chapter 68: A New Man

    Bridge suddenly was filled with nervous excitement. "What do we choose?"


    "Well as you said,st names represent your roots. They can be derived from a hereditary upation in your family. For example, if your father and your father''s father and so on were all cksmiths, at one point your family may have taken on ast name based on that, like Jack Smith."


    Bridge looked awkward. "I don''t think that would apply to us."


    Kain nodded, "It can also be based off of the name of a prominent ancestor of yours. Like if you had a famous grandfather named John, you might pick thest name Johnson, to show you are descended from him."


    "Still doesn''t apply to us¡­is there a method ofing up with ast name that doesn''t depend on knowing who your parents are?"


    "I was getting to that. We can also pick ast name after a unique feature. For example, three of our empire''s founders supposedly picked theirst names based off of their gifts. Several legacy families also havest names based off the mostmon affinity inherited by their lineage.


    For example, while Heather Frost didn''t awaken during the affinity ceremony, many members of her family supposedly have ice-attribute affinities"


    Bridge began to nod, "I don''t have a gift¡­ but maybe I could pick ast name based on my affinity. Who knows, I may even end up guessing ast name the same as my birth parents!"


    "We said we''d pick the samest name didn''t we? I don''t have a wolf affinity."


    "Ahem¡­that''s correct please continue."


    "Another method is to base thest name after a prominent personal characteristic, physical or personality-wise, or some kind of aspiration. Supposedly, Founder ckheart took on thatst name after enemies of the kingdom began to call him ck-hearted for his unwillingness to spare anyone in battle. Clearly, he took it asplement though"


    "Hmm¡­are personalities are really different and we look nothing alike. I guess we could make amonst name based off of a goal we both share¡­but what?" Bridge pondered.


    "Finally, ast name could be based off of where you''re from. Which is the option I was thinking we should go with."


    "Like Kain and Bridge Brightstar after Brightstar city? It could work... but it feels a little awkward to take the name of our city as ourst name"


    Kain''s brow twitched in annoyance, "No. I was thinking in terms of the orphanage¡ªNew Beginning''s Orphanage. We could take on thest name Newman. It''s not that unusual of ast name, and it has meaning to us. Director Ss took us in and gave us a family, it makes sense to take our name from the orphanage we call home."


    Seeing that Bridge was remaining silent with his head down, Kain thought he wasn''t convinced so he continued, "It can also have an additional meaning that we are now embarking on new lives as beast-tamers at a top 5 college if you''d prefer."


    Bridge raised his head with tears in his eyes, "No. I prefer the first meaning. We should have ast name based on our family. The members of the orphanage¡­ do you¡­do you think the other members of the orphanage will also consider taking it as ast name?"


    Kain smiled, "We can ask them when get back home."


    ------------------------


    After they had filled out their registration packets, now withst names added, they went down to dinner with the celebratory atmosphere restored.


    The cafeteria was much emptier since the majority of students had failed and then immediately left the city to head to another exam. Therefore, it was easy to spot the twins already seated and eating.


    After filling their tes, they went over to them.


    Thankfully as they ate they started to discuss some of what Kain missed during the information session earlier when he tuned out.


    Kain already knew that all tuition fees at top 5 colleges were waived in appreciation for their being the Empire''s greatest talent pool.


    Additionally, they will receive a basic amount of school credits every month to provide food for their contracts. Each additional contract alsoes with an increase in allowance.


    However, some contracts have more rare nutritional needs, so students are encouraged to talk to the resource manager once school starts to see if the school can provide for any special needs.


    That got Kain thinking. He probably won''t have the time once school starts to go hunting continuously to feed Bea. However, he may be able to purchase the brains of high-level spiritual creatures.


    While not as good as the fresh thing, it should be able to allow Bea to grow while saving him time from having to hunt himself.


    Additionally, he finally found out one of the purposes for the entrance test ranking. Their room assignments once school starts will be dependent on their ranking.


    Bridge looked sad at the prospect that he and Kain would not be neighbours or roommates. While Kain groaned. His roommate will likely end up being that blonde prince.


    The twins giggled at his suffering.


    "Don''t worry. You won''t have to share a room with him," Addisonforted him.


    ''Well, that''s one relief.''


    "Unlike the other students that have roommates and are separated into men''s only and women''s only dorms. The top 5 students of each year live in a separate co-ed building."


    Aiden continued, "I heard that each floor in the building is for a separate year, so your room may not even be that close to his."


    Kain was immediately excited, "Sweet! No wonder some of the students looked unhappy by their ranks. I wasn''t expecting that kind of benefit"


    "Apparently, there are even more benefits throughout the year to having a higher ranking. That''s why the future ranking tests will be intense. People are desperate to even go up one spot in rank"


    "I''m sorry, what?" Another ranking test? This is the first he''s heard about this?!


    Addison scoffed, "You didn''t think the entrance test rankings were permanent, did you? Students will be re-ranked every three months."


    "H-How are we re-ranked?"


    "Of course, by battling one another 1 on 1. You better protect that number 1 spot well, because everyone in our year will being for it" Sheughed in a somewhat threatening manner.


    ''I''m screwed''

 Chapter 69: Chapter 69: System Shop

    Even after going to bed and waking up the next morning all that Kain could think about was the re-ranking 3 months after school started.


    He did everything from eating breakfast, going to the college registration office, and booking the train tickets with the demeanour of a mindless zombie. He was in aplete daze.


    Bridge finally couldn''t take it anymore when Kain almost wandered straight onto the train tracks in front of an iing train.


    Grabbing Kain back by the cor he shook him. "What is going on with you?!"


    "Ah! Sorry Bridge, I''ve just been a little distracted"


    "A little distracted?! I overlooked when your fork kept missing your mouth as you tried to eat this morning. I also didn''t think it was a big deal when you almost walked straight into a streetlight on the way here. But just now you almost got hit by a train due to your carelessness! Not even a 2-star beast-tamer can withstand a train. Snap out of it!"


    Kain was embarrassed. Instead of worrying about getting beaten up by his fellow students in a few months, his carelessness may cause him to die before then.


    Kain could now form a contract with a second spiritual creature.


    But it would need to be one that could actually put up a fight in a frontal duel.


    Bea was powerful, but her strength relied a lot on environmental advantages and the opponent not being able to attack her, while Kain often just avoided the attacks.


    Kain wasn''t sure if they''d be allowed to attack him in the arena. But even if they couldn''t attack him or spot Bea, without water Bea could do nothing to them either.


    The result would probably be a stunningly boring duel consisting of the opponent''s contract pacing around trying to find Kain''s contract while Kain could do nothing.


    He needed a contract that could take the initiative to fight and not justy a trap waiting for the opponent to fall into it.


    However, he currently had no leads for such a contract.


    He had assumed that there was something he could bind within that dead egg, that also may have killed that pack of Shadow Leopards. However, no matter how much he inputted his spiritual power into the egg, he couldn''t sense anything in there he could form a contract with.


    Also whatever was in the egg seems to have fully died by this point as the already extremely faint pull was nowpletely gone.


    He guessed that whatever was in the egg was a split simr to what Bea produces. He''d need to find the original microorganism to form a contract with it.


    However, even if he does eventually find it, there''s no guarantee it will have better frontalbat abilities than Bea.


    Sigh


    Once he was settled into his private room on the train, Kain flopped onto the bed distraught.


    With a feeling of it being his final hope, Kain turned to the System. It was supposed to be his greatest cheat but hasn''t demonstrated much value yet. He hoped that the Shop, which had refreshed twice by now would have something good.


    He had sessfullypleted the following missions:


    -Advancing to 2-stars (100 GP received).


    -One spiritual contract advancing to red-grade (100 GP received).


    -Entering the Beast-taming major at a college (Reward variable by college ranking: Entered a top 5 college and received 500 GP).


    -Taking the academic admissions exam (Reward variable by cement: Scored within the top 10 in the empire with a perfect score and received 200 GP).


    Meaning that he has collected 900 GP out of the 1000 GP required to upgrade the system. However, if something could increase his battle strength in a short time he wouldn''t mind spending some of his GP and dying the next System upgrade.


    After all, with an increase in strength, he could betterplete future missions. Even now, he could easilyplete several of the missions to defeat red-grade spiritual creatures now that he and Bea had both upgraded.


    Unfortunately, the beasts in the relic were not real and could not count towards his mission progress.


    With a faint hope, Kain clicked on the System shop.


    Exchangeable items avable:


    -A custom 2-star weapon (500 GP)


    -A random silver-quality spiritual creature egg (500 GP)


    -Basic Affinity Radar (200 GP)


    Kain could exchange for a customizable 2-star weapon. Considering that he had lost his main weapon, this wouldn''t be a bad option to increase his strength.


    Not only will he get a 2-star enchanted weapon, but he''d even be able to customize the sigils imprinted into it. Therefore, he''d be able to produce the perfect weapon for himself that he may not be able to obtain in reality without the System.


    Not to mention he was extremely curious about how this customization process urs. Is there a list of avable sigils and designs for him to choose from? Or is itpletely up to his own imagination?


    However, it does not solve his most pressing concern about filling his second star space with a contract suitable for 1 on 1 fights against other beast-tamers.


    The silver-quality egg was even more useless. What hatches from it ispletely random and while he doesn''t know where a spiritual microbe like Bea originated, he seriously doubts it was from an egg.


    So what hatches will most likely not even be suitable for his, or even Bridge''s, affinity.


    The only thing that may help him is the Basic Radar. ording to the item description, when activated it will provide the user with the location of all spiritual creatures that meet his affinity requirements within range for 24 hours.


    This was almost exactly what he needed.


    In fact, it fit his needs so well that he was suspicious. When has his System ever been so generous?


    What was the catch?


    However, he really had no better alternative.


    Resolutely he exchanged 200 GP for the Basic Radar

 Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Contract Clue

    Currently, Kain was on a train, so he did not activate the Radar.


    It was only valid for 24 hours, and even if it did detect something he could contract outside, what could he do about it? Jump outside a train moving over 100 miles per hour?


    He''s already died once, he''s not in a rush to experience it a second time.


    When Kain was scrolling through the Mission Board, something bothered him.


    There were also missions rted to the beast-tamer entrance exam, specifically his performance on it.


    One was to rank within the top 5 of entrants and would grant a corresponding amount of GP depending on his ranking, up to a max of 1000 GP.However, it had a pending symbol next to it. He already ranked first in the entrance exam, and should naturally be first among all entrants. If the System had just rewarded him now, he could upgrade the System while searching for his next contract.


    Sigh


    Well, at least he could look forward to a nice reward on the first day of school at least.


    Looking through the other missions he also saw that each time hepleted the re-ranking battles in the college, he would also receive simrly lucrative rewards.


    Nothing else he could do while on the train, Kain spent the next 2 days travelling back to the southern region alternating between using thearium and feeding Bea.


    However, when his consciousness was in thearium, he suddenly felt a pulling sensation outside of his body.


    He snapped his eyes open and immediately ran to the window.


    Trees, trees and more trees.


    There were absolutely no distinguishing features for where they were or anything special about the area, but he was certain he had felt it.


    The pull towards a suitable contract target. Unfortunately, the feeling was rapidly fading as the train sped away.


    Kain really was beginning to consider the likelihood of surviving jumping out of the train, but forced himself to remain calm and not do anything rash.


    Instead, he went to Bridge''s room next door to inform him that he would not be going with him back to the orphanage right away.


    Bridge was confused. "Why would you choose to stay in Starfire instead ofing home? We still have to finish packing. Also, once we are at the college it''ll probably be nearly a year before we can see them all again. We should spend as much time with them as we can"


    "I know. But I have no choice. Remember how I told you that I''m not 100% sure what my affinity is, and that it''s hard to find something that I can bind? Well, I felt the pull from my affinity just now. I need to go see what it is."


    Bridge got silent, before raising his head. "Well, I''m obviouslying to. I did say I''d help you as thanks for giving me Princess."


    "Princess was a gift, you don''t need to repay me. And I don''t exactly know what I''m running into, it could be dangerous"


    "I know. But we''re family and it''s because I know it could be dangerous that I won''t let you leave me behind."


    Kain wanted to continue to refuse because he didn''t want Bridge to be in danger due to him, but he could tell that Bridge would still follow him stubbornly.


    Not to mention¡­although he hated to admit it his capabilities without water around were severely reduced and where he felt the pull there was absolutely no water that he could see.


    He really did need Bridge''s help.


    Giving in, Kain epted his offer and returned back to his room.


    When thinking about how he''d fight without water around, he was reminded that he doesn''t currently have a weapon.


    Of his 700 GP remaining, he''d need to use 500 GP to purchase the customizable weapon from the system.


    ''From 900 GP to 200 GP'' Kain was in tears, ''I can''t wait until school starts and I can get my 1000 GP for ranking first.''


    Afterpleting the purchase, he was brought to a customization page.


    There were several shadowy silhouettes of a variety of weapons. Sword, dagger, short-sword, shield, axe, spear, hammer and more.


    Despite originally mostly using daggers and short-swords, Kain had gotten used to using a spear in the past few months, and he also liked the extended reach it provided. Therefore, he selected the figure of a spear.


    After making his choice he was brought to another screen asking him to select the weapon''s attributes.


    Usually, the attributes of the weapon would be determined by the materials it was made out of, therefore attributes that were rarer in spiritual creatures, would also obviously result in those attributes being rarer in weapons.


    It was very luxurious to get to select his desired attribute at whim.


    However, as Kain scrolled he began to realize that sometimes too much choice is not a good thing.


    The long list of attributes hadmon ones such as earth, water, and fire. It also had attributes that Kain knew were quite rare like the mental attribute and shadow attribute.


    However, there were attributes listed that he hadn''t even known existed. Holy attribute? Evil attribute? Life attribute? Death attribute?


    Although he could kind of guess from the names, he wasn''t 100% sure what those attributes entailed. However, he was still tempted to pick them just out of curiosity.


    ''After all, something with a death attribute couldn''t possibly be too weak, right?''


    Kain was originally nning to just make an upgraded model of the spear he lost, but now his mind has opened up to many more possibilities.


    He needed to think critically about his desiredbat style and the sigils that would bestplement it.


    The perfect weapon for him wasn''t necessarily the strongest in raw power.


    A powerful and rare attribute may not be what was best for him at this point in time. Especially if he wasn''t familiar with its effects.


    Therefore, he reluctantly disregarded the attributes he was unfamiliar with and chose to only select from those he could already predict how they''d contribute to hisbat style.

 Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Perfect Weapon

    His original spear was of a poison attribute. Not because the spear itself possessed any poison, but because it used the materials from a poisonous spiritual creature that, whenbined with the necessary sigils, leads to the efficient ejection of poison from the spear''s tip.


    Technically this injection effect could be obtained using the materials of any attribute with enough skill. Pheneos had likely used the remnants of an injection mechanism from the spiritual creature he used to make the spear to make up for the skills hecked.


    Kain would like a simr injection mechanism so that Bea could show somebat effectiveness onnd, but he didn''t think picking the poison attribute should be necessary to achieve this. After all, although he has his gripes with the System it should have more skill than a cksmith apprentice.


    Kain also disregarded the mental attribute. He already had a mental attribute armour and Bea with a mental attribute, he felt another weapon with this attribute would be redundant.


    While, he was looking through the different attributes, he was intrigued by abination attribute that he had never considered before.


    If this attribute worked as he thought, then it couldpletely change hisbat style¡ªbut for the better. Allowing him to have many more options and the ability to take on multiple opponents even onnd.


    Combination attributes are born from thebination of two or more other attributes. For example, the mist-attribute that Kain was interested in would need to be produced from the materials of a spiritual creature with both water and wind attributes. The result would be water droplets suspended in the air.


    Looking at this attribute, Kain wondered¡ªcould Bea perhaps float inside the mist''s water droplets?


    Normally, in water, Bea infects others by going up their nose to their brain. Although, she can invade using other locations like the mouth, and cuts. The nose is her preferred method.


    Wouldn''t the same effect be achieved from breathing in mist?


    It would also make Bea''s usage incredibly more versatile if he only had to wait for his prey to take a breath in the mist he created.


    Kain had not seen a back button to go back to the previous screen for selecting a weapon type, therefore he was going to operate under the belief that all decisions were final.


    Hoping that he won''te to regret his decision, he selected the mist attribute.


    He was brought to another screen with two empty squares and a third square with a plus symbol in the center


    He assumed the empty boxes were meant to contain the sigils with the effects he wanted.


    Clicking on the first box a long list of possible sigils for the attribute he selected appeared.


    When he saw an intricate blue sigil resembling a cloud, he had an idea that this was the effect he desired. However, he wanted the description to be sure. It''s not as though he wasa cksmith and knew what they all meant.


    "System, please ce a simplified description of the effects of each sigil next to their image. I don''t want to y guessing games for something so important"


    Thankfully, although the System did not reply to his words it still followed his request.


    Next to the sigil he was staring at was now a description of its effect.


    "''When injected with spiritual power, the weapon will produce a dense mist to obscure the vision of opponents.'' Exactly what I wanted. Although I won''t be using this effect just to obscure vision."


    For the second slot, he selected the non-attribute specific sigil that would allow a poison or other liquid to be stored within the spear for injection. Simr to his previous weapon. With this sigil, he could ensure that Bea''s splits will be injected into every droplet in the mist, instead of just tossing Bea into the air and hoping for the best.


    Finally, Kain turned to the third box with a plus symbol, assuming that it was an option for a third sigil.


    Kain was excited. Any weapon with one more sigil than its level would be incredibly expensive to produce, having high requirements on the materials used and the cksmith.


    However, when he clicked the square a message appeared requesting that he pay an additional 200 GP to unlock a third sigil.


    "Of course," Kain grumbled.


    Doing this wouldpletely clear out all of the GP he had earned, but a stronger weapon would help withpleting missions to obtain even more GP.


    Looking at the expense as an investment, he eventually decided to purchase the option for a third sigil.


    He already had an effect in mind from the sigils he had previously seen, but the two he selected just ranked higher in importance.


    He had once read that high-level spiritual creatures with dual water and wind attributes, use the mist they produce to create illusions and disorient opponents.


    Obviously, such a powerful effect as creating illusions would not be possible for a mere 2-star weapon. However, he did see a sigil earlier that would allow him to manipte the shape and movement of the mist instead of it spreading out in an uncontroble cloud around him.


    Now that Bea can control the symptoms she causes with infection, this sigil might have a great synergy with Bea''s ability to distort thinking and cause hallucinations to further confuse opponents.


    After all 3 sigils he wanted were selected, a 2D image of a furnace appeared.


    The spear silhouette, the name of the attribute he selected, and his desired sigils all flew into the furnace and then a chibi version of Kain with a cksmith''s hammer appeared next to the furnace to begin working on the spear.


    "Are the animations really necessary? Can''t you just materialize my spear instantly?"


    *What would be the fun in doing so?*


    "And this is fun?" Kain almost felt sorry for the System. It was so bored that chibi cksmiths were its idea of entertainment? "Whatever. Do what you want."


    A minuteter, Kain received a notification that his weapon was ready and he wanted to shout from excitement as it appeared in front of him.

 Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Weapon Test Ride

    When they arrived at Starfire City''s train station an hours and a halfter, Kain was a lot more confident with a dependable weapon by his side.


    If anything, he was in a rush to go into the wild and give its effects a test run.


    However, before he could do so he had to let the train staff know that he and Bridge would not be returning.


    They wouldn''t be able to receive even a partial refund, but he still had to let the staff know for safety''s sake.


    The train isrge and fast enough that 99% of spiritual creatures would be obliterated if they stood in its way. However, the remaining 1% are the absolute pinnacle in strength. Monsters that can cause natural disasters with their skills.


    Although unlikely for the train to be attacked by such a creature, it has happened in the past.


    In the slim chance that the train would be attacked on the way to Brightstar City, he would not want to be responsible for any staff or rescuing beast-tamers to get hurt or dyed from helping others because they were looking for him on the train, not knowing that he had already disembarked.


    Therefore, it was standard practice to inform train staff of your whereabouts if you will not be where they expect in the event of an emergency.


    Before setting off they would need to pack various supplies. They hadn''t nned for a trip into the wilderness when they had left for the entrance exam.


    After receiving directions to a nearby shopping center, they purchased the necessary supplies. Thankfully, Bridge still had the space ring, to carry all of their supplies and weapons.


    When they were about to leave, Kain spotted beautifully designed bracelets in the window. He imagined the grievances of his younger siblings after missing out on time with him and Bridge before they left for college.


    He called over Bridge and they began to pick out bracelets they felt would match their younger siblings.


    They had also picked out bracelets they liked for themselves. There was also an option to customize the bracelets, so they decided to add their new names.


    After contemting for a while, they also decided to add nk nametes to their siblings'' bracelets that they could engrave with their names, and potentially a sharedst name, if they choose.


    The bracelets would take a few days to finish, so they paid half of the bill in advance and would pay the rest when they came back from the wilderness.


    After buying all the necessary supplies, He and Bridge headed towards the eastern gate of the city, the direction the train hade from.


    The n was to follow the train tracks back towards the direction of Dark Moon City until he hopefully felt something again.


    "I felt the pull nearly two hours ago. So based on the speed of the train¡­that position was around 130 to 150 miles from the city." Kain gulped, even with the improved constitution of a beast tamer, walking that far would take at least three days.


    Fortunately, based on the massive size of the Empire, farrger than even thergest continents back on Earth, it wasmon for individuals to rent spiritual creatures to help with travelling.


    At a certain level, most beast-tamers would have made sure to have at least one suitable mount. However, not everyone had the opportunity to do so, whether due to their talent limiting their number of contracts, or their affinity not being suitable to form a contract with a mount.


    The two headed to what looked like stables near the gate and managed to rent two ck-iron, white-grade mounts; Night Mares. They were a pitch-ck horse species without much, if any,bat power. However, their pitch-ck coats allowed them to blend seamlessly into the darkness of night.


    Additionally, although not the fastest species, they were well-known for their endurance and ability to carry heavy loads. They were the chosen carriers for merchants carrying cargo on long-distance trips.


    With a mount, they may be able to reach the designated area within two days, or by tomorrow night if they didn''t rest at night or run into any attacks.


    They took out their armours and weapons from Bridge''s space ring in order to respond to any sudden attacks.


    When they were fully prepared, they then mounted their rides and set off.


    Bridge kept ncing at Kain''s spear from the corner of his eye. He could tell that it was of extremely high quality but he couldn''t figure out when Kain had bought it. He had left Dark Moon weaponless, and then when they arrived at the southern region he had given him that spear to store.


    "Did you buy that spear from a merchant on the train? It looks really high quality"


    Kain just nodded awkwardly, he couldn''te up with a better story.


    Thankfully, Bridge just epted his words and didn''t question him further.


    Majority of the journey was uneventful. Which was unfortunate for Kain since he was hoping toplete some of the hunting missions on the way.


    They had only received a single attack from a red-grade spiritual creature, a lightning-attribute bird-type Shawk, which Kain was able to easily dispatch with a quick thrust of his spear to its head when it swooped towards him. He hadn''t even needed to test any of the spear''s effects.


    Around the 7th hour into their trip he saw several prints and guessed that a group of spiritual creatures may be nearby.


    Wanting to test the spear''s effects he told Bridge to wait there andfollowed the prints to a clearing where a group of 7 red foxes were ying around. He could feel the rise in temperature even from where he stood. Ignifoxes. A bronze-quality species. Given that they were all adults they should all have red-grade spiritual power.


    If Kain eliminated this entire group he should be able to almostplete the mission of hunting 10 red-grade creatures.


    Slowly creeping towards the clearing, he inputted his spiritual power into the spear causing a dense cloud to form, which he directed towards the ying foxes.


    Immediately, the foxes stopped their antics and began to group together vigntly.


    Bea was already in the cloud and had quickly managed to infiltrate the group when they breathed in the mist.


    ''Yes! It works.''


    Then Kain began to experiment with something else he had wanted to try. He told Bea to focus on interfering with the foxes'' senses and causing hallucinations.


    While she did so, Kain tried his best to manipte the mist into denser shapes in some spots, trying to make them think that there was the location of the attacker. It just looked like a denser blob of mist.


    ''It''s harder than I thought to create shapes''


    Kain wanted to continue experimenting, but the foxes all died within a minute.


    *Ding. Host has killed 7 red-grade spiritual beasts*


    ''That was over way to fast. I should also probably train Bea''s restraint. Otherwise, she may end up killing one of my ssmates identally in the future.''


    Since the Mission Board has opened, he noticed that he no longer instantly received the GP. Instead, it seems as though if there was a relevant mission avable, then the GP will be given once the mission ispleted. However, Kain did not mind the dy since he would ultimately receive more GP from the mission.


    It would only be a problem if it was a mission that took an extremely long time toplete. Then it could be months or years before he saw any GP.


    After removing the valuable materials from the foxes, he returned to Bridge and they continued on their journey.

 Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Vespirae

    They continued travelling until it was dark without running into any more spiritual creatures worth hunting.


    Likely sensing their strength, those at the white-grade avoided them. However, Kain wasn''t too interested in them anyways.


    After advancing the spiritual power they could provide Bea was practically non-existent.


    Also, after both he and Bea advanced, the System no longer granted GP for hunting white-grade creatures, no longer considering them to be a challenge for Kain.


    They chose to set up camp in a clearing. Despite sleeping in a tent rather than in the open in a tree like usual, Kain actually felt more exposed. Likely because he didn''t have Bea-filled water beneath him acting as a moat of protection.


    However, one benefit to travelling with others, especially when they have a normal contracted partner was that shifts can be taken to stand watch. Moreover, since Lady was resting the whole day in Bridge''s star space, she could actually stand watch the entire night while both Bridge and Kain rested.


    They both set up their tents and then started a fire to heat up some canned food.


    "After I take the cooking ss I will just pack spices and then make delicious barbecue every night." Bridge said.


    "I can''t wait."


    Bridge then looked over at Lady and Princess who were also having their dinner.


    "Doesn''t your contract need to eat?" After all, all spiritual beasts need a source of energy. Even an undead contract would still need to be ''fed.''


    "My contract already ate earlier."


    Bridge looked confused. He was with Kain for almost the entire day. When would he have had a chance to feed his contract?


    "The foxes earlier" Kain rified. "My contract only eats brains. Preferably fresh."


    Kain was already desensitized to Bea''s gruesome diet, but Bridge immediately looked as though he had lost his appetite and put the canned food down in disgust.


    Kain just shrugged and finished off both of their cans, he hated to waste food after all.


    "Do you think your second contract will be like your first?"


    "Well, they must have something inmon since they match my affinity. However, I really have no idea what kind of creature I sensed on the train. If it''s too weak I may not even form a contract with it."


    Although suitable contractees were rare, the contract was also irreversible. Therefore he couldn''t afford to waste a precious spot on something with not much potential.


    Bridge nodded in understanding. "Hopefully, this trip is worth it. But even if it isn''t suitable don''t feel pressured to form a contract. I''ll help you find another one if you get another lead"


    On that touching note, they headed to their respective tents to sleep away the rest of the night.


    Kain wasn''t sure if he was tired, but he thought he heard a faint buzzing before drifting off to sleep.


    ----------------------------


    The night was as uneventful as the day. They set off again as soon as the sun rose to continue their journey.


    Gradually they entered an area full of nt spiritual creatures. Species of nts that can condense a consciousness and absorb spiritual power, the green-haired senior''s dandelion-looking contract, are pretty rare.


    In this grove was an entire field full of them. However, Kain could sense that none of them were particrly strong or of high quality, only at the white-grade after appearing fully grown. Likely, they were all of only ck-iron quality.


    However, while weak, any nt-type spiritual creature is incredibly valuable, often a key material needed by Pharmacists, nners and Cooks.


    This field was practically a Gold-mine.


    ''I''m surprised that this field hasn''t been picked clean yet'' Kain dismounted and walked into the clearing to pick a flower.


    Bam!


    Kain was pulled back by a tremendous force before a giant stinger mmed through the air where his head just and into the ground.


    "Holy shit!!!" Kain hadn''t had such a close brush with death since the White Widow mother chased him in anger.


    He looked to the source of the stinger and saw a giant wasp half his size, already beginning to sprout a new sharp tip.


    Grrr


    Bridge immediately released Lady, and she took an aggressive stance at the threat.


    It was a Vespirae, a silver-quality insect with wind-attributes. They typically exist inrge colonies protecting a queen.


    They are known for their fast-flying speed and the ability tounch sharp stingers from their tails at targets.


    They are also one of the few Wasp species capable of producing honey.


    They are very rare but if one could find the queen, they would be a very in-demand bond due to the ability to control multiple creatures with one contract. Additionally, they could provide their contractor with a valuable resource since they are able to extract the unique properties of flowers they collect nectar from to produce honey with varying effects.


    However, they are not a popr contract for those with a higher level of talent for two reasons. The majority of the wasps the queen produces are males that are responsible for tending to the queen and collecting nectar to produce honey but have no actualbat power. Usually, only 1 female guard wasp and 5 male worker wasps are produced at each grade.


    Meaning that a red-grade Wasp queen should have only 2 females guarding her, and 10 males.


    Therefore, the numerical advantage is not that significant.While their individualbat power is on the higher end at their strength level, they have several weaknesses such as to poison, ice, and fire. Therefore, a powerful enough contract with restraining attributes would be able to eliminate 2 guards at the same level alone.


    The second drawback is that there is only one recorded instance of a Vespirae evolving, and it was centuries ago. Therefore, it''s generally regarded as not having an evolutionary form since the evolutionary conditions arepletely unknown.


    Therefore, usually, only those with not much talent or hope for exceeding orange-grade spiritual power in their lives would consider contracting them in the hopes of still living a rich life off of the honey they produce.


    Kain began to input his spiritual power into the spear to cause a fog that obscured its vision.


    Now all he had to do was wait¡­Bea should be able to take care of the rest.

 Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Celestiviolets

    However, after a full minute, when Bea''s prey would usually already be dead, the Vespirae was only slightly sluggish.


    ''What''s going on?'' Kain could sense that it was still in the red-grade so a higher level that Bea should not be the issue.


    The only feedback Kain received from Bea was that something appeared to be fighting her.


    This had never happened before. Usually, once Bea sessfully enters the body, the infected arepletely helpless.


    This was the first time Bea was being restrained by a creature at the same level.


    "Change of ns, Bridge. My contract is having trouble dealing with it. I''ll use the mist to obscure its vision so that Lady can deal a finishing blow."


    Bridge nodded. After all, with the mist''s assistance there was not much risk to Lady, and they needed to deal with this wasp.


    Lady slowly approached, while Kain concentrated the mist around the wasp and directed Bea to expend all of her remaining spiritual power on impeding its senses.


    Snap


    "Move back quickly!" Bridge yelled.


    At thest moment, the wasp dodged Lady''s attack, causing her to snap at the air, before turning around to stab at her.


    Kain quickly concentrated the mist in front of Lady so even if the stinger wasunched it''d hopefully miss.


    "Bea I said to focus on impeding its movements!" Kain screamed in frustration. However, it seemed as though with each passing moment Bea was losing energy while the wasp was recovering.


    Desperate, Kain crudely channelled all of his spiritual power into Bea hoping to boost her abilities.


    "Bridge! Send Lady again now!" Kain yelled at Bridge, not confident that Lady would listen to amand from him.


    Crack


    For a moment the remaining sum of both Kain and Bea''s spiritual power was able to restrain its movements, allowing Lady tond a crushing blow to its head with her ws.


    Kain didn''t receive a notification for the kill and the number of hunted red-grade spiritual creatures for his mission also did not increase. Therefore, Kain realized that he or his spiritual creature must be the one to deal the final blow to earn GP


    The moment that it died Bea said that whatever was fighting her split also slowly lost its strength and disappeared.


    Kain slowly walked to its corpse, remaining on the lookout for any other sudden attacks, while Bridge and Lady also stood guard from a distance. Kain grabbed the corpse and quickly left the clearing with Bridge to their mounts a short distance away.


    He hadpletely exhausted his spiritual power and didn''t want to risk another attack.


    When they rode a safe distance away, he stopped to examine the body.


    Even before Bea advanced, she had no trouble restraining red-grade spiritual creatures, now they rarely survive more than 20-30 seconds.


    He needed to figure out why this Vespirae was so resistant to Bea.


    He thoroughly examined its body and even directed Bea into its brain, now that it was dead she had no issue exploring.


    However, she didn''t note anything different from usual. Whatever was resisting her had already faded.


    Maybe she could have found it while it was still alive, but once it was dead the trail went cold.


    Kain was reluctant to leave a field of spiritual nts alone. Especially, since he was going to enter college not only as a beast tamer but also as a nner, they may have unexpected uses.


    However, while he was unable to figure out an effective method to dealing with the Vespirae he didn''t want to put himself and Bridge in danger.


    There was one more reason why he wanted to risk going into the field again, and it wasn''t only due to his greed. Looking at Bridge, it was also obvious that he had the same thoughts as Kain.


    "My grades aren''t as good as yours so I can''t be sure, but towards the middle of the field did you see¡­"


    "Yup." Kain confirmed.


    Legacies are more likely to awaken an affinity not only due to their gics but also due to their status and connections that allow ess to the extremely rare few existing materials capable of boosting their children''s chance of awakening.


    Although even the most effective of these spiritual nts may only result in a 10% greater likelihood of awakening an affinity, it was still that slight likelihood that people pay millions of celestial dors for.


    As orphans who were always skeptical of their chances of awakening, they, and likely the others in the orphanage, had long memorized the few things capable of increasing the chances of awakening.


    Celestiviolets are the lowest quality and mostmon of nts with such an effect, although still rare. However, it''s because they used to be moremon that they were given the honour of being named after the empire. Much of the progress in the early years of the empire was based on this low-grade flower and its ability to slightly increase the chances of awakening.


    Although excessive removal of it has caused it now be extremely rare.


    If an individual has an affinity, it increases their sensitivity during the Affinity Ceremony to the pull, causing a modest increase in their chances of sensing their affinity egg, even if the pull is nearly undetectable.


    It has also been reported in rare cases to cause a slightly higher chance of awakening an affinity rted to nts, which are usually at least C-rated. It is a decent affinity to have, especially when the majority of those who do awaken will only have a grade of D or lower.


    The patch at the center of the clearing had 6 of these precious and rare flowers. Both Bridge and Kain wanted to obtain them for their younger siblings to use.


    Although not enough for all 9 children of the orphanage, the youngest 3 had at least another 10 years before the ceremony, by that time Kain and Bridge should have the connections to buy more. Especially since they are attending a top 5 college.


    Their shared sense of responsibility as older siblings would not allow them to give up such a golden opportunity.


    The chances of any other members of the orphanage having an affinity are very low, and they only have each other to rely on and look out for their best interests.


    If he could increase the number of beast-tamersing out of the orphanage, then the entire orphanage, both current and future members, would benefit.

 Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Crisis

    After confirming the identity of the flower at the center of the field, Bridge was also on board to go back to the field.


    However, they could not enter the field carelessly. They needed toe up with a n.


    The fact that the field is still intact and those flowers are still there led Kain to correctly guess that all other adventurers had probably died and bepost for the flower garden.


    The fact that multiple beast tamers died in that area may y a role in why exactly there were so many spiritual nts growing there.


    While those strong enough to easily kill the Vespirae were also probably not interested in a bunch of ck-iron quality spiritual nts. Even the Celestiviolets, since they''d probably have the means to purchase better ones.


    Most likely more Vespirae were guarding the field, and using those flowers to produce honey.


    To effectivelye up with a n of action, they first needed to figure out how many enemies they were dealing with.


    They had already killed one female guard wasp, and considering that the guards are usually the same level in strength as the queen, a red-grade queen should only have one more guarding her.


    If they were to try and enter the field, it may not even try to attack them in fear of leaving the queen without protection.


    Therefore, they decided to enter the field again once they had restored their spiritual power to see if thest guard would be lured out once they had restored their spiritual power.


    However, unlike Bridge, Lady and himself who could passively restore their spiritual power, Bea would need some help to absorb spiritual power. Thankfully, the process of refilling spiritual power is not as aggressive as condensing additional spiritual power.


    Therefore, Kain allowed Bea to infect him while ordering her to not get greedy. ''Just passively absorb the spiritual power in my body without doing any damage''


    Then Kain went into thearium to speed up the rate of his recovery.


    Unfortunately, by the time everyone had their spiritual power recovered, it was already getting dark. They didn''t feel confident about being able to fight it with limited vision.


    Therefore, they all decided to go to sleep after a quick meal. However, due to the intense battle during the day, this time Princess stood guard while Lady rested in the star space.


    The next day, after everyone woke up and ate, they left the Night Mares tied up at their campsite while they crept towards the field of flowers again.


    They didn''t see anything in the field. However, yesterday they also didn''t see the Vespirae before it attacked. Clearly with its wind attribute it could fly towards them from a point beyond their vision extremely quickly. Instead, they nned to obscure the vision of anything that may be looking at the field.


    Kain produced a thick cloud over the clearing before he, Bridge and Lady slowly crept toward the location of the Celestiviolets.


    Phew


    They all breathed a sigh of relief at reaching the flowers without any sign of an attacker.


    Slowly, Kain knelt down to begin digging out the flowers from the root while Bridge removed a preservation box from the storage space. This was a must-have item for anyone going into the wilderness.


    After all, even if you weren''t looking for a spiritual nt, anyone would kick themselves if they were unprepared in the event that they did run into a rare spiritual nt.


    The preservation container would ensure that the flowers remained fresh and didn''t lose any of their beneficial properties with time. After all, most space rings did not have a preservation ability, those that did would be an astronomical price.


    The flowers could stay in there for over a decade and look as though they were just picked. That way they didn''t need to worry about keeping them fresh for their siblings when the next one''s affinity ceremony won''t be for at least 3 more years.


    After digging up all 6 flowers, Kain nced at the rest of the flowers tempted to dig up more. However, he ultimately decided to not push his luck and to quickly leave before their presence was noticed.


    Taking care to be as quiet as possible, they slowly crept out of the field. Right when they were about to exit¡­


    Bzzzzz


    Whimper


    "Lady!"


    Suddenly, a stinger came through the mist and stabbed into Lady''s hind leg.


    Kain immediately covered Bridge''s mouth before dragging him from his initial position.


    Just in time too, because another stinger came flying from a different direction than the other stinger flew from.


    ''There''s more than one! How is that possible? Are there 2 queens?''


    Kain quickly chose to exhaust half of his remaining spiritual power to make the mist around them more dense. They were just about to leave the field and in a moment ofxness at feeling as though they had gotten away with their heist, he had let his control of the mist slip for a moment. That short moment ofxness was probably when they spotted Lady who was in the lead. It was his fault.


    He leaned next to Bridge''s ear while keeping a tight hold of his mouth to avoid him making any more screams.


    "They are locating us by sound." He whispered. "Stay silent and recall Lady before another round of stingers is fired. I think there may be more than one."


    Bridge nodded with tears in his eyes. When he sensed that he had calmed down, he let go of his mouth. He also heard no more noises from Lady, so he assumed Bridge had followed his instructions.


    When the wasps had entered the mist, Bea''s splits had infected them. Unfortunately, simr to yesterday she wasn''t able to exert much of an effect. However, that''s not why he had still sent Bea.


    He nned to use the information ryed by the splits to keep track of their position in the mist and avoid another sneak attack.


    However, it was easier said than done. Bea was rying constant changes in their position as they searched the field. They were extremely fast, and it wouldn''t be long until they located Kain and the others.

 Chapter 76: Chapter 76: The Source of the Draw

    Kain''s mind worked in overdrive trying to figure out a solution.


    Lady was too injured to attempt a simr strategy as yesterday. He also didn''t have enough spiritual power to channel to Bea and stall two, or maybe even more, attackers. Especially since he used the majority of it to increase the size and density of the mist.


    ''First things first we need to slow them down.''


    Kain once again whispered in Bridge''s ear his n. "We may need Princess. Does she have any skill that could instantly decrease the temperature in an area remotely?"


    Bridge nodded and called out his second contract.


    ''Thank god! We may be able to get out of this without any more injuries''


    "I am going to point in the direction it currently is and whisper to you distance. Would you be able to convey the distance to Princess urately?" After all, she was just a baby.


    Thankfully, he nodded again. Bridge had not been cking with the education of his newest contract.


    He asked Bea to let him know when one paused for long enough to attack.


    "Stay ready" He whispered.


    A few secondster he pointed diagonally 30 degrees to the left. "12 feet away"


    Screeeeee thump


    Kain quickly ran to the source of the scream with he spear in hand.


    Just as he had nned. The water droplets in the mist around stuck to the wings and caused them to freeze over when the temperature suddenly dropped.


    The wasp was now unable to fly and struggling on its back


    Bang


    ''Ugh! But it''s still clearly not defenceless'' Kain thought after deflecting a heavy blow from the stinger it waved at him.''


    Moving swiftly, he delivered a deep blow into its abdomen, hoping that it''d be fatal, before running away. He couldn''t risk dying for more wasps to arrive or for its wings to thaw.


    Kain crept quietly back to where Bridge was waiting and held a thumb up to show that the n had seeded.


    Kain wanted to try the n again, but he sensed through Bea, that there was suddenly another guard wasp that had entered the mist, while his spiritual power was continuously being drained to maintain the mist.


    "We need to move. Keep Princess ready to do the same things again if we need to while we leave while I maintain our coverage.


    They slowly crept towards the tall line of trees while Kain used Bea to monitor the location of the wasps.


    Thankfully they seemed distracted by their fallenrade and they were able to leave safely. Once under full coverage, they burst into a full sprint for several minutes until they returned to where their mounts were tied to a tree branch.


    "Haaa¡­Haa¡­How''s Lady?"


    "She''s okay, it was just a graze. We were both just shocked by the sudden attack" Bridge calmed down when Lady informed him that the injury wasn''t serious.


    "I don''t understand what''s going on. For a red-grade queen, there should be at most 2 guards. The rest should be harmless workers."


    However, there were at least three in the mist just now, plus the one they defeated previously, totalling 4 guards, exactly double what there should be. Also, strangely despite all of the time they''ve spent around those flowers, they haven''t seen a single worker bee. Just what is up with this queen?


    "Well, it''s not our concern anymore, we got what we came for so we can just continue looking for your second contract oncedy heals up."


    True. Although Kain was incredibly curious about this situation that seemed to contradict everything he had learned about the species in textbooks.


    They decided to move further away from the field of flowers before stopping to rest for the night.


    However, Kain wasn''t sure if it was some kind of post-traumatic stress response, but he kept feeling like he could hear the buzzing of wasp wings before he went to sleep.


    The next morning, Kain decided to finally activate the 24-hour radar he had previously exchanged for.


    Instantly in the bottom corner of his vision a circr disy appeared with a ck background, and 3 concentric rings like a bullseye target, each ring Kain assumed was indicating the distance of 1 mile. At the very center of the bullseye was a blinking white dot, Kain''s location. Every few seconds sweeping lines would pulse outwards to scan the area.


    ''Figures there was a catch. It can only detect up to 3 miles? That''s practically nothing in this huge forest''


    As Kain expected, the range was too short for his potential contract to show up on the map. He and Bridge on horseback rounded the field of flowers and began to move in a zigzag maneuver to cover more area.


    ''I''m certain that we are almost at the distance the train was at when I felt the pull.''


    Kain thought correctly, although he could not see any changes to the map, he began to feel the faint pull again. He turned to Bridge in excitement to let him know and they set off in that direction stopping every second to make fine adjustments in the direction they were headed.


    Eventually, the pull led them to another clearing full of flowers.


    This field was muchrger than the previous one. The quality of the spiritual nts was also of a higher grade. While most were still of ck-Iron quality, Kain could sense red-grade spiritual power from at least 3 fully-grown nts, meaning that they were of Bronze-quality.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t get a closer look at them from beyond the field to identify them.


    Also, learning from his previous mistakes he didn''t dare to carelessly enter the field, afraid that there would be another ambush.


    Bzzzzzz


    His hunch was correct. The next moment, 4 Vespirae guards flew from the center of the field towards the field of flowers and extended a long, slender straw-like structure into the flowers to suck up nectar.


    ''What the hell is going on? Why are there so many guards? And where are the male worker Vespirae, isn''t this their job?


    And beyond the group of Vespirae, in the center of the field beyond his vision, was the source of the pull from his contract.


    *Beep* At this moment a new red dot appeared at the edge of the radar.

 Chapter 77: Chapter 77: The Source of the Draw (2)

    Kain and Bridge slowly backed away to discuss a n.


    "The pull ising from within that field"


    "You''re sure, maybe it''s just on the other side of the field and we have to circle around?" Bridge asked nervously.


    ''I wish. I would have hoped for that too if the radar hadn''t also rified the position


    "I''m certain that it''sing from the center of the field.


    Sigh


    Both of them couldn''t help but release a sigh of distress.


    "Could you maybe try a simr strategy tost time? Cover the whole field in mist?"


    "My mist can''t cover the whole field at a density thick enough to fully cover our figures, but I don''t think we have a choice. I can maybe make it dense enough to cover all of us, and Princess can drop the temperature in the areas I direct to freeze their wings likest time. We''ll have to be fast though; I don''t think all of our spiritual powers could sustain this n for long.


    Is Lady fully healed?"


    Bridge hesitated, "She''s not fully healed, but she feels good enough to battle again"


    Thankfully spiritual power allows for an increased speed of healing. Otherwise, it''d probably take a week before she was battle-ready again.


    "Okay, we''ve got our n. I will focus on using the coverage from the fog to cover our figures while Princess incapacitates them and Lady goes in for the kill. What is their night vision like?"


    Wasps usually go to sleep at night and don''t have the best night vision. Therefore, they''d have an additional advantage if they could implement their n during the nighttime.


    The dual coverage of the night and mist should be sufficient to fully cover them.


    However, Kain and Bridge''s own visions will also be impeded and if there was just one enemy, he wouldn''t want to take this risk. But up against at least 4 they really need every advantage.


    "The north, where Princess is originally from, often stays dark for several months on end so her vision at night isn''t much different from during the day. Lady''s night vision also isn''t bad."


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Okay. We move at night."


    They hunkered behind the bushes at the periphery of the clearing to keep track of the wasps'' movements and to hopefully get a better idea of their numbers.


    asionally, 1 or 2 would head off into the distance, likely to the other flower patch.


    However, at least 4 always remained guarding and collecting nectar in this field.


    Kain still had no idea how the queen was able to go againstmon sense to produce so many guard wasps. With the 2 killed before, plus the 6 he counted today, that''s at least 8.


    They ate dinner to ensure their bodies were at optimal condition. However, they didn''t set a fire to heat up the cans, to avoid risking detection by the wasps, instead suffering through eating the cold and congealed soup.


    When night finally fell, they heard a brief period of buzzing periodically, as all of the wasps that had left the area during the day to other flower patches, rushed home. Kain finally realized why he''d heard buzzing right before bedtime thest couple of nights.


    When it was finally all quiet they chose to wait another hour to be extra sure before slowly leaving the coverage of the bushes and creeping towards clearing.


    At the same time, Kain also caused a thick mist to surround them.


    They slowly began to creep towards the center of the clearing.


    "Oomf!"


    Something grabbed Kain''s ankle and tripped him to the ground. He turned to see a root extending from one of the few red-grade spiritual nts in the clearing. Clearly, the nts developed some offensive capabilities by this level, unlike the white-grade nts around them. Red-grade nts also would no longer die once uprooted and could have limited mobility.


    Kain used the spear to cut himself free and quickly distanced himself from the nt.


    Thankfully, the sleeping wasps didn''t appear to have woken up due to the smallmotion.


    They continued with their journey, this time taking care to avoid the areas where he sensed red-grade nts during the day.


    They were only around a mile out from the center of the clearing, and the radar showed that they were almost upon the prospective contract. Kain was filled with anticipation, hoping that it''d be a big enough boost to his offensive abilities to allow him to keep his top ranking once school started.


    However, even a mile out they were able to faintly see the giant figure in the distance. As they got closer, its identity became clear¡ªthe wasps'' nest.


    Under the dim moonlight, the massive nest loomed over them, casting an eerie shadow across what should have been a dreamy scene of a beautiful garden at night.


    The nest, roughly the size of a two-story house, resembled a monstrous, warped honeb, withyers of grayish, paper material clinging together in a chaotic, irregr pattern.


    Its surface was rough and uneven, with gaping holes the size of an adult human and bulging, irregr ridges.


    Kain wasn''t sure if it was a trick on his mind from the horrific appearance and creepy atmosphere, but the whole nest seemed to be pulsing rhythmically like the steady beating of a heart.


    However, Kain knew that the true threat was hidden from view inside.


    He looked back and forth between the radar and the nest.


    ''Please¡­Please tell me that I don''t need to go in there''


    However, as they got closer to the nest, and its location coincided with the red dot on the radar, Kain got his answer.


    "We''ll stick to the n," he whispered, "the only change is that we need to go in there and that I will be the one to deal the final blow if they are asleep."


    Kain figured that the spear would be more quiet than Lady crushing their exoskeleton.


    Bridge, looked horrified at the prospect of him going in there but didn''t fight him on it.


    "Hopefully, they stay asleep, and then Princess can just simply freeze any resting guards we see on the way."


    They cautiously approached the nest before climbing through one of the lowest holes.

 Chapter 78: Chapter 78: The Source of the Draw (3)

    Inside the wasp''s nest was no less creepy. Winding passages twisted and turned in a disorienting maze. The narrow corridors were dim and oppressive, increasing Kain''s feelings of ustrophobia. The eerie silence was asionally broken by the faint, rhythmic rustling of sleeping wasps.


    Close to the entrance they just came through was a chamber containing 2 guard wasps squirming in their sleep.


    Following the n, Princess froze their wings to prevent them from suddenly moving after waking.


    Then Kain stabbed his spear into their heads.


    *Ding. Host has killed 2 red-grade spiritual beasts*


    Now he was only one red-grade kill away frompleting the mission.


    They exited the chamber as quietly as they had entered, killing another one along the way.


    *Ding. Host has killed 1 red-grade spiritual beast. Rewarding 60 GP. Mission to hunt 10 red-grade spiritual creatures is re-issued*


    Thankfully, the hunting mission was just refreshed oncepleted so he could continue to benefit from the higher GP of the missions.


    Everything so far had been going ording to n. He wasn''t sure how many guards there were in total, but they have killed 5 in total between yesterday and today. It takes time for the queen to hatch more, so Kain didn''t think there could be too many more.


    Following the lead of the pull from his affinity and the radar, they entered a vast chamber at the center of the nest. The floor was slightly sticky with patches of dark, glistening honey.


    Amid the honey, a single wasp egg was nestled in a corner. Through the egg''s translucent surface they could see a wrigglingrva inside, twisting and squirming as it developed.


    In the center of the chamber was a surprisingly refined throne emanating a regal aura. It was elevated high above on a tformposed of steps of carefully arranged honebs. It had elegant and delicate curves and was decorated with the most beautiful of the flowers collected by the wasps. Many of which were red-grade spiritual nts.


    The only reason those 3 red-grade spiritual nts outside probably avoided being brought back to decorate the chair was because they had more aggressive tendencies and the overprotective guards didn''t want to risk them attacking the queen.


    "Mmm¡­" Princess moaned in pleasure after licking the honey on the floor. Completely breaking up the solemn atmosphere.


    Kain was sure that his contract was on that throne. However, the wasp queen shouldn''t meet the criteria for his affinity.


    Confused, he climbed the steps to the tform and looked at the figure perched on the throne.


    In striking contrast to the guard wasps and eerie atmosphere, the queen had a harmless appearance. Despite themanding aura emanating from her, she was surprisingly small and delicate. Resembling a bumble bee more than a wasp, she had a chubby mostly yellow body, with tiny wings that glowed faintly in the darkness.


    The mismatched size of her wings to her body, gave a surprisingly cute and harmless look.


    As Kain examined her, herrge eyes also looked curiously up at him. Thankfully, she didn''t feel threatened and immediately call for her guards. He cut his hand to initiate the contract and slowly held it out towards her. He didn''t dare try and forcefully cut her.


    She examined his hand before a tiny straw-like protrusion extended into the wound.


    "Ugh!" It didn''t hurt. But it was definitely ufortable feeling something sipping the blood from his body.


    He waited a moment without feeling the beginnings of a contract being established. He was about to try something else when the abdomen of the wasp queen began to emit a faint red glow, had it not been dark, the glow would have been faint enough to miss in the daytime. The glow steadily moved from the abdomen to the head, and then to the wound in his hand.


    He didn''t even need to direct the entering spiritual power as it rushed toward his second star. The moment the contract was established, the queen looked as though something had been lost and began to die at a visible rate.


    Screeeee


    Kain could also hear the sound of the wasp guards waking in rm as they sensed their queen''s imminent death.


    However, the first wasps to enter the chamber no longer appeared threatening. Their legs were shaking as though they too would drop dead at any moment.


    Not understanding the cause, Kain quickly sensed the location of his second contract and released it from his body, back into the queen.


    Through the queen, he could sense a fainter connection being established with the wasp colony. A connection that likely already existed but was unintentionally broken by Kain''s contract.


    Figuring that Kain was the cause of their queen''s sudden weakness, they moved to attack the intruders.


    However, just as several stingers were about to be ejected in his direction, the queen sent out a barely audible sound.


    All attacks halted. Kain''s group and the wasps appeared to be at a stand-off staring each other down.


    However, with each passing moment, he could feel the connection between the queen and himself strengthening. Now he could even faintly detect the presence of the wasps in the nest. It felt like a gentle tugging at the edges of Kain''s consciousness.


    His connection with the queen was much stronger, it was at a level second only to Bea and his new contract.


    This sensation of secondary, and even tertiary contract was apletely new sensation to Kain, and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by all of the faint thoughts and emotionsing to his mind by all of the wasps.


    He chose to recall his new contract to his second star, this time the queen and her remaining 7 guards, plus the egg were also drawn into the space.


    Gradually, he could see the star space gradually taking on the appearance of a wasp''s nest. However, this time much less crudely designed and less grotesque in appearance.


    Kain and Bridge look around at the now empty hive.


    ''Jackpot!'' They both thought.

 Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Harvest

    "How many preservation containers are there in your storage space?"


    "Only 10¡­one of which already contains the Celestiviolets."


    Neither of them could have imagined that they''d run into so many spiritual nts.


    The number of containers was not nearly enough to collect every single nt in the field.


    They needed to be selective with what they chose to bring back.


    Thankfully, the majority of the nts with the most beneficial effects, such as calming the mind, increasing the ease of absorbance for spiritual power and more, had already been sorted by the guards and inserted into the queen''s throne.


    Stripping the throne of the ck-iron grade spiritual nts, they were put into a preservation box.


    The red-grade nts were an issue though. After all, they were technically still spiritual creatures, and wouldn''t die when uprooted like the white-grade ones. Therefore, they could not be put into the storage space which could only contain dead things.


    Instead they removed severalrge satchels from the space and began to carefully ce them in." Thankfully, they had the Night Mares to help them bring them back to the city.After cleaning out the throne, they had filled 3 preservation boxes and 4 satchels with spiritual nts.


    They then looked at Princess and Lady having a field day licking the walls, the honey here was also incredibly valuable.


    Kain released the queen and asked her to direct him to where the majority of the honey was stored. They followed behind her chubby body as it clumsy flew forward supported by tiny wings.


    Quickly they reached a chamberposed of honeb and had a glistening thick liquid spilling down its walls. The honey appeared to be separated into distinct categories, likely dependent on the effects of the flowers they used to make it.


    Kain then released the rest of the guards, now a lot more docile around him, and ordered them to begin collecting the honey honebs so that they could be taken into Bridge''s space ring. Hopefully, his ring could hold it all.


    However, the queen then mentioned that all of this honey could instead be brought to the new hive in his star space. Taking this as a much better option, Kain gave them permission to do so.


    While they went about deconstructing the honeb walls of their old home, he and Bridge went outside.


    They had 6 preservation boxes left, but the enormous field would likely require at least 20. Therefore, he and Bridge could only select the most valuable ones. They located more Celestiviolets which were put in the same container as the others. Now there were 19 in total, more than enough for all of their siblings. Each of them could even afford to take more than one.


    They then began to rank the flowers in order of importance.


    They disregarded all of the poisonous ones. Any white-grade poison would be useless at their level anyways. Instead, they focused on those that could increase the rate of spiritual power condensation, improve mental strength, heal, and slightly improve their physical constitution.


    There were also some nts that slightly improved the sensitivity of spiritual creatures to an element, if they already possessed that element, to improve the ease with which they can learn new skills and improve the proficiency over their existing skills of that attribute. There were 5 of such nts, 3 for the fire attribute, and 2 for wind.


    The 2 for wind will be split between Bridge and Kain since they both now have contracts with a wind-attribute. Although Kain''s contract is a secondary one.


    They also stuffed the 3 red-grade spiritual nts into separate satchels each to avoid them hurting one another. They were not threatening once you were aware of their presence and trimmed the roots, vines and thorns that they used tounch attacks.


    Satisfied with their collection. They filled up all of their remaining preservation containers and left behind a field with only poisonous, illumination, or other less useful effects.


    They returned back to the hive to find high stacks of honeb ready to be transnted to the new hive. The guards each gripping a stack of honebs and Kain recalled them. Likely because it was something they had produced, there was no resistance from the space.


    Kain turned to the queen, the honeb that she held had a different appearance. It had more of a jelly consistency and was a deep auburn colour.


    She expressed through their secondary contract that it was royal jelly, a necessaryponent if she ever hoped to evolve. Although she mentioned that she is unaware of the other conditions for their species'' evolution.


    Kain nodded. He already knew that it''d be difficult to evolve the queen, but at least he now knew one of the keyponents. Hopefully, he''de up with more ideas while at college.


    After collecting everything of value they headed back to their waiting Night Mares and loaded them with satchels filled with the Red-grade spiritual nts.


    It had been a very eventful night, so Kain and Bridge decided to set up camp and sleep the rest of the night away.


    Kain had thankfully been able toplete his second contract without anyone getting hurt, but it had still been a nerve-wracking process, every moment leaving him on edge.


    However, there was one thing that Kain needed to do before going to sleep.


    He needed to use the System to figure out the true identity of his second contract.


    The queen was obviously not who he was directly contracted to, merely serving as a host for his contract. Yet, her life and the lives of all of the other wasps seem to strangely be in his contract''s hands. When his contract was removed, their appearance of quickly moving towards death was very apparent.


    Not to mention his contract was likely responsible for Bea''sck of effectiveness on the wasps and may even be responsible for why this queen unusually only produces female guards.

 Chapter 80: Chapter 80: The New Partners

    Kain moved to the system page for his contracts'' information and looked at the new information panel.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Matronia


    Matronia is a bacteria inherited from mother to daughter in insect species. It usually inhabits the reproductive organs of its host and uses a variety of methods to ensure that the future generation is all female.


    Such methods include, but are not limited to killing all male embryos before they can hatch, male eggs from infected mothers developing as females or infertile pseudofemales, enabling females of a species to reproduce by parthenogenesis, and more. In return, it grants its host increased resistance against diseases and poisons, while also increasing the growth speed of its host.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power Grade: Red (500/1000 SP)


    Type: Microorganism (Bacteria)


    Attribute: Life


    Skills:


    S-Eve''s Law: It can exert supreme authority over its host''s future descendants. From whether or not they''d be permitted to be born, to their gender. This control also extends beyond the womb to control the life or death of all progeny.


    A-Perfect Symbiosis: The infected host and all future descendants will be conferred with increased resistance to poisons and disease, while also benefitting from a faster growth speed.


    ----------------------------------


    Kain was pleasantly surprised. While it didn''t have as many skills as Bea, the skills it did have were of supreme quality.


    Looking at the information panel he could finally understand the cause of the previous things that puzzled him. The reason why there were no male wasps, was likely because his contract had turned all of them into females or pseudofemales. There were 7 wasps remaining, and Kain had killed 5, which perfectly adds up to the 12 wasps you''d expect in a red-grade Vespirae nest.


    Except instead of 10 males and 2 female guards, they were now 12 guards.


    The wasps'' resistance to Bea could also be exined. The life-attribute energy from Matronia was continuously fighting against Bea.


    Simr to Bea, Matronia also seems to need a host to absorb energy. However, thankfully Kain doesn''t have to worry about this, and simr to a normal contract, the queen bee is able to absorb spiritual power in Kain''s space that has already been perfectly tailored to her, and that spiritual power will in turn be fed back to Matronia.


    In addition to the boost in absorption the star space will provide, Matronia''s A-level skill will also increase the rate of absorption. Therefore, Matronia and the queen will likely be Kain''s first contract to enter orange-grade, they may even advance before college starts in 2 and a half weeks.


    Before turning to the additional information panels the System provides for the Vespirae queen and her daughters, he decided to first give his new contract a name.


    After thinking for a while, he decided to take her name from her main skill, Eve.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Vespirae Queen (Host-Secondary Contract)


    The Vespirae queen reigns supreme over its hive and herfort and safety is to the utmost importance of her children. The honey produced by their species can take on the effects of the flower whose nectar was used to produce it. Due to being the host for Matronia, all of her offspring are female.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power Grade: Red (500/1000 SP)


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attribute: Wind


    Skills:


    A-Royal Command: She can boost the stats of her offspring by 30% for a limited time. Duration depends on the number of children being affected and skill proficiency.


    A-Noble Breeze: She can summon a gentle gust of air to induce a calming effect to reduce the aggression and vignce of enemies. On allies, it can heal minor mental ailments and restore mental strength.


    ----------------------------------


    The great luck continued. Although she doesn''t have muchbat ability herself, the queen acts as an excellent support to her daughters in battle. Additionally, her second skill to restore mental strength was of extra importance to Kain as it would speed up his recovery after feeding Bea. Although he''d need to test the skill at ater date to see its effectiveness.


    Kain was also relieved to see that the amount of spiritual power the Queen possesses seems to be identical to Eve, meaning that he didn''t have to worry about onegging behind the other if their growth urs simultaneously.


    Simr to Eve, Kain felt like it wasn''t appropriate to keep calling her wasp queen. She needed a name. Not wanting to be tooplicated he eventually settled on Queen and for her children he will just name them One through Twelve.


    Kain nodded satisfied with his excellent naming choices and continued to look at the information panel for the wasp guards.


    ----------------------------------


    Nickname: One/Two/Three¡­


    Species: Vespirae Guard (Tertiary Contract)


    The elite protectors of the hive that are born from their eggs as warriors. Their fiercebat prowess is supported by their incredibly fast flight speed, hard armored exoskeleton and a razor-sharp ejectable stinger. Due to no males being in the nest, these females are also uniquely responsible for the production of honey and care of the queen.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power Grade: Red (500/1000 SP)


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attribute: Wind


    Skills:


    B-Berserk: When sensing that the queen is in danger, all of their stats will double at the cost ofrge decrease in intelligence. This skill cannot be activated at will and is only triggered under specific conditions.


    B-Storm Eject: Ejects the stinger with a burst of wind to increase its speed and the damage dealt.


    D-Dauntless: These soldiers are fearless and immune to any fear-inducing mental attacks.


    ----------------------------------


    ''It''s okay, but there''s still room for improvement.'' Kain felt that his standard for skills had risen due to the skill levels of his primary contracts. Even Queen, his secondary contract, has two A-level skills.


    However, two B-level skills are quite decent for a red-grade spiritual beast. The top students at high-tier colleges just below the top 5, may only have their main contract be at this level.


    After getting a better understanding of all his new partners, Kain finally went to sleep with his curiosity satisfied.

 Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Family Name

    The trip back to the city progressed a lot faster. Kain sent 3 Wasp guards ahead to scout for any danger in front of them while they rode the Night Mares at a sprint back to the city.


    With reliable scouts ahead the whole trip back was not only leisurely but fruitful, with Kain receiving 6 kill notifications without him having to lift a finger. Now he was 4 kills short of receiving 60 GP.


    They returned to the city the next morning after only one night of rest and immediately went about disposing of the materials and nts collected that were of no use to them.


    Even after splitting the profits, Kain should have enough to buy a smaller space ring of his own.


    The bulk of the money came from the red-grade spiritual nts. Whether someone decides to contract them or use them as an ingredient, they were extremely valuable.


    However, out of the red-grade nts, there was one that Kain and Bridge decided not to sell. An Aurose. Therge red flower had been the key decorative feature in Queen''s throne originally. The guards likely collected it due to its ability to increase the amount of spiritual power in the vicinity by a marginal amount, providing a slight boost to the speed of condensing spiritual power.


    The slight increase would be negligible to Kain due to thearium. They had also learned at the college information session that the dorms and several key locations on the campus were equipped with sigils to help increase the students'' condensation of spiritual power. Therefore, Bridge didn''t really need it either.


    They nned to nt it at the orphanage, hoping to further improve the ease with which the others could cultivate.


    "Aahhhh¡­ The things we do for them. We''re such good big brothers" Bridge said smugly. But Kain couldn''t help but agree, full of pride that since awakening an affinity they could be of greater help.


    They also decided to keep some of the nts that can improve mental strength and constitution. Their effectiveness decreased with repeated usage, so they brought back just enough to be gifts to everyone in their family.


    Kain also prepared a little extra to gift to Mr. Evergreen to thank him for being a great teacher during the time he''d known him and also to gift their neighbours John and Sally.


    They then went to pay and collect the bracelets they had previously ordered before heading to the train station. They were finally heading home.


    On the way, he fed Bea and then asked Queen to use her skill to restore his mental strength. The duration of the 24-hour 30% decrease in mental strength penalty was already reduced to 12 hours when he used his mental-attribute armour. With the help of Queen, the penalty was further reduced to a 20% reduction in mental strength for 10 hours.


    Kain, also decided to be a little extravagant with his suddenly rich resources. He made a tea with the petals of a spiritual nt that is said to increase mental strength. He also sweetened the cup with some of the spiritual honey in his star space.


    After finishing the cup, he looked at the system. There wasn''t a further reduction in the penalty. He wasn''t sure if it was because the max reduction was already achieved or if the white-grade nt whose petals he used was too weak to have an effect on him. Still, the teat was delicious.


    If he''s struck by a sudden urge to act pretentious in the future he could consider greeting his guests with to quality spiritual tea and honey.


    Immersed in his fantasies of the life of a nouveau rich, he took a quick nap to wait our the remainder of the penalty.


    By the time they had arrived back to Brightstar city, the penalty was already more than half done.


    Not wanting to dy the time with their family any more they headed back to the orphanage.


    The moment they entered the door¡­


    Oommff Oomfff


    Kain and Bridge fell down dramatically at the tackles of the youngest children aged 6 to 8.


    "Aaah! Charlie, Melody, Parker, Sunny! You guys have gotten so much stronger since the short time we''ve been gone."


    They got up from the giggling pile of bodies and made their way further into the room. It was now close to dinner time so they could hear bustling noises in the kitchen. In there was Sally, so it seemed that the neighbours would be joining them. Perfect! Kain and Bridge can share their examination results along with the gifts they brought back with everyone at once.


    After everyone was seated around the long table for dinner, Kain and Bridge cut to the chase without teasing them this time.


    "You are looking at the 2 newest additions of Dark Moon College." Kain said to a room full of cheers.


    "We knew you''d both make it!" The director said.


    "Actually, weall thought that you''d failed and you were taking so long toe back in order to try another entrance exam orpose yourself and not burst into tears the minute you walked through the door," Cherry said before everyone gave awkward and embarrassed chuckles.


    Kain''s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Leave it to Cherry to ruin the atmosphere.


    "We were dyed because we were finding my second contract and also getting gifts for you all. Although now I''m not sure if we want to give them out."


    Immediately, the children burst into loud appeals to not withhold their gifts and that they only had doubts due to Cherry''s big mouth.


    "Okay. Okay. Ahem, we will now begin handing out the gifts."


    They had already paid someone in the Starfire city to package and wrap up what they wanted to gift nicely."


    "For the director, John and Sally. Here. We brought back spiritual tea leaves. The effects of the different leaves arebelled on the container"


    They all looked shocked at a gift more extravagant than expected and tried to hand it back. Tea with effects such as these would cost close to 6 figures, and they were each given at least 3 containers full of them. However, Kain and Bridge to take them back so they eventually all reluctantly epted.


    "For the rest of you brats." Kain turned around and pulled out small beautifully wrapped boxes containing each one''s personalized bracelet. "We picked out the ones we thought would suit you best, and in the middle is a name te you can engrave with your name like Bridge and I did." He held up his wrist to show his own engraved.


    The kids, even the older ones looked satisfied with the gift and immediately tried to put them on with sparkling eyes.


    "Why do your bracelets say Kain and Bridge NEWMAN?" Cherry asked.


    At those words, the rest also looked over to confirm and then looked at Kain and Bridge in confusion.


    "Well¡­" Bridge began awkwardly. "When we were registering for college, I was upset that we were the only ones without ast name. Kain suggested that we add one, and we eventually settled on Newman, after New Beginning''s orphanage."


    The director looked like he was about to burst into moved tears, while the rest also looked at the bracelets in contemtion.


    "Me too¡­" Charlie mumbled. "I want to share the samest name like a real family too¡­"


    The rest also slowly nodded and looked at the director. "Can we addst names too?"


    Finally, the tears boiled over as he hugged the youngest ones while nodding.


    The room suddenly devolved into an extra emotional atmosphere. The only exception was Milo, who was still staring down at the bracelet in contemtion.


    Unlike the rest of them who were orphaned young enough to not have much if any memories of their birth parents, Milo still remembered his birth parents, they named him and he still carries theirst name¡ªMilo Whitaker. He may not want to alter hisst name.

 Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Hope

    After everyone dispersed after the meal. Kain and Bridge called the director and Milo aside to speak privately. The director then led them to his office.


    They had onest item to give the director. However, the fewer people that know about this item the better. Not that he doesn''t trust the others and their neighbours. However, they were very young, and John and Sally were also pretty simple. Therefore, any of them may identally let something slip.


    An item that can increase the chances of awakening would definitely cause a lot of unkind eyes to focus on their little orphanage.


    After everyone was seated Kain pulled out the preservation box containing the Celestiviolets.


    "In this container are 19 Celestiviolets. I want you to hold onto them until everyone is ready to use them. There should be enough for everyone to use two. Although the second one won''t cause much of an effect after the first one, it''s still something."


    The director epted the container gratefully, but Milo looked as though he was going to hyperventte.


    Unlike the majority of the orphans who don''t know their parents, and therefore hold onto the hope that they may have a chance at inheriting an affinity, Milo knew that both of his parents and grandparents were unawakened. Therefore, his chances of awakening an affinity are extremely slim.


    Therefore, he had long given up hope of bing a beast-tamer and instead focused the majority of his energy onto his academic courses. Simr to Kain, the 14-year-old had entered high school with the highest exam ranking and hoped to maintain that ranking until college when he could hopefully enter a decent academic major.


    However, instead of being thrilled by the presence of the Celestiviolets, he looked scared. They had ignited something very dangerous in him¡ªhope. And he did not want to futilely get his hopes up only to be crushed at the ceremony in 4 years.


    Aware of Milo''s worries, Kain knelt next to him while signalling with his eyes for the others to leave the room.


    Milo had always admired Kain the most due to his ster grades. This admiration only grew when he found out that he had also been admitted into thepetitive nner Major with a perfect score. Therefore, Kain knew that he''d listen the most to what he had to say now.


    "Milo, I know you must be filled with uncertainty and fear right now. It''spletely natural to be overwhelmed when faced with an opportunity for something you''d always thought was impossible, it''s as if the very ground beneath you has shifted.


    "But remember, this chance isn''t something to be apprehensive of, and hope isn''t some huge enemy. This is an opportunity to step into a new chapter, one where you get to explore a side of yourself you''ve only dreamed of. And while it''s true that you may not awaken, what is certain is your courage and worth.


    "It''s okay to be afraid. It''s okay to have doubts. What matters is that you have the courage to embrace something new and take a leap of faith. Whether or not you awaken an affinity, what you already possess¡ªyour character, your spirit, your ability to face the unknown¡ªis truly extraordinary.


    "Whatever happens, remember that you''re not alone in this. You have people who care deeply about you, who believe in you no matter what. So you can take this opportunity not just with hope, but with pride in who you are now.


    "You''ve got this, Milo Whitaker. And whatever the oue in four years, you''re already an outstanding person."


    Kain then pulled him into a hug, and felt his shoulder gradually get soaked.


    "¡­taker¡­man¡­" Came a faint voice.


    "What?" Kain wasn''t able to hear him clearly.


    "My name is Milo Whitaker-Newman." He said clearly, after lifting his tear-streaked face from Kain''s shoulder. His face now filled with a lot more confidence.


    Kain''s face immediately broke out into a huge grin, and pulled him back in for another hug.


    ----


    The next morning, Kain went downstairs to see Milo in the backyard next to the Aurose. Usually, by his age students have already fully, or almost fully saturated their spiritual spaces with spiritual power. That is, unless their talent is extremely poor. The remaining time until the affinity ceremony is usually spend on trying to condense all of that free spiritual power into a star.


    It''s a difficult process that is difficult to guide others through, therefore a lot of trial and error is needed for the first star especially.


    Milo, wasn''t untalented, however since he had no hope in awakening an affinity, he thought it''d be useless to take time away from studying to cultivate. Especially since the boost to mental strength provided prior to the first contract is not huge.


    However, now Milo was working diligently to increase his spiritual power.


    "How long has Milo been out there," he asked Bridge who just came back in for a break after training his contracts.


    "He was already out there when I got up to start training, so since before the sun rose."


    Kain was touched by Milo''s sudden determination. Wanting to give him a little extra support, he went into the kitchen and began to brew a pot of tea made from the leaves of one of the spiritual nts they collected that can increase the rate of spiritual power condensation and added some spiritual honey to the cup.


    While he was in the kitchen, he also added a few more containers of tea to the pantry and a jar of honey.


    He then went out to where Milo was with the teacup and a journal. "Milo, you must have been out there for at least 5 hours now,e take a break."


    Sitting next to Milo, Kain handed him the cup after exining the effects, and handed him his journal. "This was a journal I wrote during the time I was struggling to condense my first star. It has all of my mistakes as well as the different strategies I tried. The process of forming each start is very different between individuals, but I hope this will be of some help to you."


    Kain wanted to continue talking about his experiences and even offer to buy Milo his first contract as an incentive, but decided against it in fear that Milo would feel pressured to seed in the affinity ceremony.


    So he headed back inside and began to organize a training n for himself and his new partners so that he could familiarize himself with their abilities.

 Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Old Enemy

    Compared to before he left for the exam, and he and Bea only had white spiritual power, they had now both advanced and were joined by a team of red-grade Vespirae guards.


    Kain was filled with renewed confidence in his strength and for a while there was one personal goal that he wanted to achieve as the ultimate indicator of his improvement in strength. He wanted to hunt the orange-grade White Widow mother that he''d been helpless against previously.


    Now that Bea had advanced, while not able to kill, she should be able to greatly affect its movements unlike before. Also, now he had two pieces of 2-star enchanted equipment. Not to sound overconfident, but he didn''t actually think it''d be that challenging anymore.


    Therefore, after buying a space ring and filling it will supplies he went into the woods he''d previously been too scared to re-enter.


    He looked down at the map he''d purchased at the gates and realized that the White Widow Spider hadst been seen in her nest, indicating that she''d stopped looking for him.


    He released all 7 of the remaining guards and headed in the direction of the White Widow''s territory.


    Surprisingly, along the way, likely intimidated by arge group of red-grade creatures, they ran into no other spiritual creatures.


    "Ugh!" At some point, Kain started to asionally feel thin invisible threads stick to his body. He reached towards where he felt the thread on his forehead and pulled it off.


    Gradually the number of webs became visible due to their density. So dense that the sunlight above began to be filtered out.


    The webs stretched from tree to tree like colossal, ghostly tapestries. Draped over branches, and wrapped around trunks, they formed a translucent dome that dimmed all light to a pale, sickly hue.


    Wrapped around one of the tree trunks were the remnants of a once majestic creature. An enormous elk, its body suspended in an unnatural pose in the webbing. Evidence of the White Widow''s past feast was obvious in the once vibrant fur bing matted and blood-stained.


    The elk''s limbs were twisted and bound, with eyes lifelessly staring out and the webbing covering it was discoloured from the dried blood and decaying flesh.


    Screeee


    One of the wasp guards got caught in a web while moving forward. Kain quickly cut it down while reminding everyone else to be careful.


    From what he knew of spiders they used vibrations in their webs to detect when a prey had been caught. Therefore, it could already be on its way towards them.


    To be safe, Kain released the mist in advance around them while using his spear to cut down any webs around them as they moved deeper into the spider''sir.


    When they reached what Kain assumed was the heart of the nest due to the dense number of dried carcasses, he still didn''t see the White Widow. Kain decided to expand the mist''s distance so that hopefully a few of the droplets containing Bea''s splits would make contact and give him some information on where it was hiding.


    After a few minutes he received information from Bea that the absolute edges of the mist had made contact with something in the shape of a spider leg. However, none of the splits were breathed in.


    ''Maybe she''s too far away for the mist to be breathed in?'' However, Kain had already extended the mist to the limit.


    Kain had already cut away all of the webs in this area to prepare for the uing battle, he didn''t want to change the battlefield only for himself or the guards to end up stuck in a webid as a trap.


    ''I need to lure her here, and I have the perfect method.''


    Kain removed all of the mist covering the area for a brief moment, knowing that he was being watched.


    He looked straight in the direction that Bea had sensed a spider leg in.


    "Remember me?! Your kid''s corpse made me a pretty pennyst time. Thought I''d drop by and thank you in person!"


    Screeeee!!!!!


    Orange-grade spiritual creatures can usually understand humans they aren''t bound to, therefore it perfectly understood Kain''s words of provocation and they infuriated her!


    Kain''s n worked as it rapidly headed towards him at a speed far faster than he anticipated.


    ''It''s even slightly faster than the wind-attribute Vespirae guards.''


    He immediately covered the area in a dense fog while moving from his previous location.


    Good thing too because the ground he''d previously been standing on was destroyed with a violent stab downward not longter.


    However, he wasn''t as afraid of her much longer, once her body was covered by the dense fog, Bea''s splits found an opportunity to enter. Gradually her speed lowered to a level slightly beneath the guards after Bea began to take effect.


    Knowing that Bea wouldn''t be able to kill her, Kain was finally able to experiment with some of the strategies he''d wanted to try in the past but couldn''t due to Bea always causing a quick kill in white and red-grade beasts.


    He told Bea to focus her effects on causing disorientation and impaired vision.


    Kain then began to alter the density and shape of the mist in certain areas to mess with the spider.


    With repeated usage of the spear, he''d already developed much better control over the mist than when he first started. He began by trying to replicate the shape of arge bear. It looked¡­kinda bear-like. The silhouette still wasn''t perfect but it was more than enough to distract the spider with its senses and thinking ability impaired by Bea.


    At the moment it was distract by the bear. The 7 wasps lying in wait from the opposite directionunched their stingers.


    However, despite being distracted and the surprise attack, the spider managed to dodge most of the stingers with only 3 sessfully hitting. And the ones that did hit were only at nonvital limbs.


    ''The orange-grade is really different. I can''t believe she still dodged that!''


    But although they didn''t cause fatal damage, the sessful hits were able to drastically limit her mobility. The future attacks should be more sessful.


    However, the spider rapidly turned in the direction the stingers flew from and threw up arge amount of corrosive poison. The bulk of it hit one wasp, killing it instantly, while some sshed onto the wing of another causing it to drop to the ground unable to fly.


    ''Damn it! Now there were only 5 guards with somebat effectiveness''


    Seeing that it wanted to pursue in the direction the injured wasp dropped. Kain directed Bea to cause a headache, while Kain recalled the injured into his star space.


    Screeeee


    While the spider was suffering from crippling pain, the rest of the wasps moved from their original locations, while Kain continued to direct them from the shadows.

 Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Pheneos Turmoil

    With 3 of its 8 legs out ofmission, Kain had themunch another attack as soon as their stingers had regrown. He also reminded them to immediately change their locations this time afterunching an attack.


    This time all 5 shots managed tond, with 3 actuallynding on its main body. However, its hard exoskeleton caused the shots to not go in as deeply as he''d expected. Although, it was clearly in great pain from the injuries, they were far from fatal.


    Kain called out Queen next to him, ensuring that the figures of both of them were covered by the dense mist, he didn''t want to risk her dying. Although she wasn''t his main contract, he wasn''t sure what the impact of her death would be on Eve as their lives are closely intertwined.


    After she activated Royal Command to boost all of their stats, the guardsunched another attack. By this point the spider was practically a sitting duck. He''d have felt bad for her if she didn''t almost kill him previously and lose one of his guards now. It''d take at least a month for numbers of the guards to be restored to a full 12, with Queen only being able toy one egg a week.


    This time the attacks pierced much deeper into the spider and she dropped to the ground motionless not long after.


    ''How spiteful!'' Kain would have walked over to examine the corpse by now and extracting parts if Bea had not ryed to him that she was not actually dead. Her performance was impable, and perfectly fooled him. She likely was ying dead in the hopes ofunching a surprise attack on him in herst moments to go down together.


    Once their stingers grew back, and with the boost from Queen still active, he had themunch 3 more rounds of attacks on the body before finally receiving confirmation from Bea that she had died.


    Throughout the whole process the spider remained unmoving,pletelymitted to the act. Even if Kain had been cautious andunched a round of attacks at the corpse, without Bea he wouldn''t have thought she could be so resilient and still hold and would have definitely went up to her after the first round of attacks.


    *Ding. Host has killed one Orange-grade spiritual beast*


    ''Ah! That''s right! I also have you System'' Kain vowed to always wait for the notification in the future before moving to extract parts.


    Kain was grateful that he now had a space ring of his own. Although not thergest space, he should be able to squeeze the entire body in. Especially once it is disassembled.


    He began by carefully removing the exoskeleton, before moving onto the most valuable poison sac. He then removed the eyes, and fangs. Once all the parts of significant value were removed, only two-thirds of the space was actually taken up. Kain moved to leave the nest with a pile of valueless internal organs behind him when he spotted a cloudy pearl covered by webs.


    ''Aaahhh. That''s why she stopped looking for me. She probably just decided to make a recement''


    The offspring of a silver-quality orange-grade spiritual beast would be quite valuable. Even if before it evolved it was only a bronze-quality Venom Spinner. The fact that it had a parent that sessfully evolved, boded well for its level of talent and potential once it hatched.


    If its pedigree could be proven, it''d probably fetch double the price of a random Venom Spinner egg in the wild.


    However, since Kain could not put the egg into the space ring and he didn''t want to cart around an egg for days in the wilderness, he decided to head back to the city.


    For general parts, he''d usually sell them by the gate, but for the high-quality parts of a orange-grade spiritual creature, Kain felt as though he''d receive more from a cksmith who''d have a tangible use for the parts. Thankfully, he was already very familiar with one.


    He went back to the familiar shop and immediately saw Pheneos. He didn''t look depressed so he assumed that he''d also passed his entrance exam. Kain, jovially went over prepared to congratte him. "Can I assume that we''ll both be students at a top 5 college this fall?"


    Pheneos also grinned, "I assume you passed the Dark Moon exam then?"


    Kain nodded, "How did the Starfire exam go? What was your mission?"


    Pheneos'' expression turned awkward, "It was an intelligence-gathering mission, rather than one that required fighting. Our teampleted the mission, but unfortunately my individual performance wasn''t strong enough to receive an admissions offer."


    Kain was confused. Why did he nod when he had asked if they''d both be top 5 college students?


    "So I rushed to take the Supernova College exam and barely scraped in at the 100th spot."


    "Well the ranking doesn''t matter," Kainforted, "The important thing is that you got in."


    Pheneos looked touched at his words, "Thanks. How was the Dark Moon exam?"


    Now it was Kain''s turn to look awkward. Seeing his expression, Pheneos misunderstood the reason and tried tofort him. "As you said, the ranking isn''t important don''t be afraid to tell me. Whether rank 1 or 100 we''re all students at the same top 5 college anyways."


    Kain sighed in relief and shared, "I did pretty well and was lucky enough to finish in first ce."


    Pheneos, frozen in shock, looked as though he had turned into stone.


    "Pheneos? Pheneos?" Kain waved his hand in front of his face.


    Pheneos got up without another word and headed into the backroom to call his teacher. He refused to converse with Kain any longer. Every time they spoke he left with his pride crushed.


    Shortly after, the owner of the shop walked out from the backroom looking awkward. "Pheneos, suddenly had urgent business to attend to so I''ll be helping you instead."


    ''It must have been an emergency for him to walk off suddenly like that. I hope everything is okay.''


    "That''s okay. You were actually who I needed to speak with. I have some spiritual creature materials I want to dispose of and wanted to sell them to you."


    "Okay, let me see what you''ve got." He didn''t have high hopes. After all, Kain awoke just three months ago, the max level he could hunt was probably of red-grade.


    Kain pulled out the exoskeleton of the White Widow and ce it on the floor.


    "Is this¡­"


    Kain confirmed his doubts "It''s the White Widow Spider from outside the city"


    The max strength of the spiritual creatures around their city was the orange-level and they were all well-known by the beast-tamers of the city, so he was naturally surprised at its body being casually ced in front of him. This spider had lurked outside of the city for over a decade.


    "And why is its body with you¡­?" He had a hunch but he couldn''t believe it.


    "Because I killed it¡­?" Kain was confused, how else would he have her body?


    Crash


    Pheneos eavesdropping on the other side of the door fell over in shock. ''That''s it! I am staying far away from that monster from now on! My self-esteem can''t take much more of this.''

 Chapter 85: Chapter 85: The Art of Negotiation

    Outside, both of them looked towards the sudden loud noise startled, but quickly forgot about the disturbance.


    The cksmith was giddy at the prospect of making a weapon from a material higher in quality than he''d usually get in this city. Usually to make 2-star weapons he needed to go to Starfire city to buy materials, which was obviously more expensive than buying it from the young man in front of him.


    Kain was thinking about how much money the parts of an orange-grade spiritual creature would fetch him.


    "1.2 million" The cksmith offered.


    Kain was internally shocked that it''d be worth that much, but decided not to show it on his face. He didn''t know how much this body should be worth, but he had a feeling the man in front of him was a sly fox and wouldn''t immediately give him the max price he''d be willing to offer.


    "I won''t ept lower than 3 million"


    The cksmith''s face turned awkward. "The highest I can go is 2.5, it''s already an incredibly high offer, and I probably won''t even be able to expect much of a profit"


    Kain stared him down, but his face looked sincere. "Deal" He held out his hand.


    "Deal." And the exchange was sealed with a handshake.


    "The name''s Dorian Anvil. If you have any more materials of simr quality in the future, pleasee to me. I''ll definitely give you a decent price."


    Kain nodded before leaving the store with a wide grin.


    When Kain was out of view, Dorian smirked.


    Clearly, both of them walked away from the deal feeling like they''d pulled one over the other.


    Kain then headed to the school. He nned to sell the egg to the school''s nursery. It''d probably not be highest price he could fetch for it, but he already picked up a bargain from them with Princess, who not only helped Bridge pass his exam, but also yed a huge role in Kain being able to get his second contract. Therefore, he wanted to pay it forward.


    While he was there, he also wanted to give Mr. Evergreen the spiritual tea leaves he prepared for him.


    Going towards the nursery Kain gged down the breeder who had helped him previously, Merida. She seemed to pretty intensely value themission. Also, she''d allowed him to take the dead egg for free and still exchange for Princess.


    She immediately ran over, thinking that he was a prospective customer, but slowed down when she realized it was just him and he didn''t look like he wanted to make a purchase.


    "Don''t turn away! I came here to sell an egg¡­ a very valuable egg!" He hurriedly called out when she looked like she wanted to turn away to find someone that would provide her withmission.


    She paused her turn but her unimpressed eyes seemed to scream that she doubted he''d provide anything of value.


    Kain pulled out the egg from where he had it stored in a satchel.


    "This is a Venom Spinner egg. Not only that, it''s an eggid by the orange-grade White Widow in the forest."


    She stepped forward to examine the egg. Venom Spinners were a pretty rare species, and if everything he said was true then even if she didn''t get amission, she''d be handsomely rewarded by the school.


    She could pretty easily confirm that it was a Venom Spinner egg, but she wasn''t sure if what he said about its parent was also true.


    Seeing the doubt on her face, he continued, "I have the eyes and fangs from its mother. Also, you can probably confirm by now at the city gates that the White Widow spider is dead."


    Kain took the remaining parts he had from the mother out and let her see. It''s unlikely that someone who could obtain orange-grade materials would be trying to scam a public school, so she took Kain to the back office andpleted the sale.


    He obtained 500,000 CD. And that was due to its genealogy, otherwise it''d have been at most 400,000 CD. He could have probably easily obtained a million from a purchaser outside of the school, but he had already known that when he resolved to sell it to the school as repayment for their care of him for the past 4 years.


    He then headed to Mr. Evergreen. Although the school year had ended, the diligent teacher never took a break and was in attendance all year round. Kain knocked on his office door to see him revising lesson ns that he''d probably already revised continuously for years.


    "Kain! I''m surprised to see you. How did your exams go?"


    Kain grinned, "You are looking at a double Beast-taming and nner major at Dark Moon College."


    "Great! That''s great. Out of all of my students, you were the one I was most confident in. d to see my instincts were correct"


    "I also came to give you a gift to thank you for taking care of me the past year." Kain then took out the spiritual tea for increasing mental strength that he''d had transferred to a decorative container with the description engraved on its side.


    His teacher epted it gratefully, surprised by the high value of the gift, but didn''t try to refuse it.


    Taskpleted, Kain was about to leave to avoid disturbing him while he worked.


    "Wait!" Mr. Evergreen suddenly stood up and went to a painting on the wall. Removing the painting he revealed a hidden safe that he then unlocked.


    Kain was curious but restrained himself from peaking inside.


    Mr. Evergreen then pulled out a vibrant green¡­seed?


    The moment it appeared the very air in the room seemed to be cleaner and Kain''s mind was clearer.


    Suddenly, Kain felt a response from his second star space. Eve conveyed that simr to her, that seed had the rare Life-attribute. And Kain felt the strongest emotion he''d probably ever felt through the contract before¡­ an overwhelmingly intense hunger.

 Chapter 86: Chapter 86: The Legacy of Verdaris

    "I majored in history at Starfire College. As a history major, like most academic majors, we are required to write a senior thesis in order to graduate. However, history majors must write a thesis rted to our Empire''s history. Thesis topics vary greatly and could be tranting a deadnguage, reinterpreting historical text, uncovering new details about historical events and more.


    I chose for my thesis to analyze the key events that led up to the Battle of Verdaris."


    "As I''m sure you know, before the Celestial Empire was established this continent was in a chaotic state where the majority of the people lived in city-states that usually centered around one very powerful beast-tamer responsible for protecting the nation. One such city-state, Verdaris, was said to not only be one of the most powerful, but also the most abundant in natural resources.


    It was as though their verynd was blessed. When there was a famine throughout the region and all of the other nearby states were starving, they were the only ones left unscathed."


    "Naturally their wealth caused them to be eyed by everyone around them. In order to establish a strong ally for themselves, they entered a political marriage with the neighbouring city-state of Sylvoria. Naturally this marriage would be between the daughter of Verdaris, to the ruler Sylvoria.


    However, on the night of the wedding, the ruler of Sylvoria decided to kill his fianc¨¦e and her entire family, desiring to take the fertilend for himself rather than share. However, not long after the Verdaris family died, the once fertilends were also struck by a famine; before they eventually devolved into the barren deserts we now see beyond our nation''s most southern borders."


    "Most historians had assumed that the source of the Verdaris city-state''s rich resources was due to the blessing of some extremely powerful spiritual creature contracted by the ruler.


    However, when I had analyzed the historical texts I''d received from abroad previously for an ancientnguages course, I''d realized that simr stories had been reyed throughout history during different time periods, in different regions, and even on different continents. The protagonists of these stories, or at least the ones we know enough about, also all have different affinities.


    So I began to wonder what was causing these resource rich areas in otherwise deserted regions? It can''t possibly be a contract."


    "Therefore I took a trip to the most recent location where such a story had urred, the northern region of our own Celestial Empire. It wasn''t always such a frigid wastnd, you know? At least notpletely. The northwestern portion used to be described as an abundant utopia. But now it''s no different from the rest of the north.


    "While I was acting as a visiting exchange student at Frozen Sun College I had visited an area I had believe to most closely match the location of that previously fertile zone. It was pretty much a dead zone, but while I was searching some ants grabbed some of the crumbs I''d dropped while eating lunch.


    They were just ordinary ants, with no spiritual power, yet somehow they were surviving in the freezing cold. I hadn''t expected for there to be anything around me in the freezing cold, at least not anything without an Ice-attribute.


    "I followed the ants and found a hidden hole in the snow where their colony was located. As I approached the hole, the surrounding temperature was slightly warmer, the air was fresher, and I felt as though I''d just woken up from an excellent night''s rest, and not been tirelessly exploring the snow for days.


    "I wasn''t sure what was in there, but I felt strongly that it was likely what I''d gone there in search of. Or at least closely rted to it. So I pushed down my disgust and dug through the ant colony to obtain this seed. And from the moment I firstid eyes on it, I knew it was special. My life''s wish is to uncover its origin.


    "However, unfortunately, that''s where my capabilities end. I don''t think I can uncover its mysteries or the true history of what happened back then. So, I''d like to give it to you. Hopefully, you can finish what I started."


    Kain was stunned by the unexpected story and the seed. However, he couldn''t bear to refuse it, especially not after feeling Eve''s desperation for it. He knew that whatever this seed was, was of absolute importance to Eve. Therefore, it was of absolute importance to HIM.


    "After you brought back the seed, nobody from either Starfire College or Frozen Sun, helped you investigate its origin? Surely they''d be more useful than me. I''m not even entering college as a history major."


    Mr. Evergreen looked embarrassed. "When I told my professor my chosen thesis project, he thought it was a fool''s errand and didn''t support my idea. I had to change my topic, so technically when I got permission to do an exchange at Frozen Sun College, I was supposed to be investigating the history of one of their relics.


    All of the texts they lent me and resources they provided were supposed to be for that project, and that project only. I could have gotten into trouble for wasting valuable time and resources on investigating something off-topic.


    "Although not a historian, you are now a beast-tamer. Therefore, you''ll have the ability to travel to regions I could never hope to enter. This seed would be better off in your hands."


    Kain no longer refused and tried to put it into his ring''s space. However, unlike most seeds, it was rejected due to the strong aura of life it emitted. He could only ce it into his bag to carry it home.


    Kain originally came here to give Mr. Evergreen a gift, but instead he''d received something so valuable in exchange. He felt pretty guilty.


    Therefore, Kain decided to take out two more containers from his stash of spiritual tea and ce them on the desk before leaving.

 Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Second Home

    Kain didn''t immediately give Eve the seed. He had no idea why she felt this hunger or if the seed would actually be beneficial.


    Even if it is beneficial, would he regret using it right now if there was a better usage for it in the future? What if it was a key ingredient for Eve''s evolution and so its energy wasn''t used as efficiently than ifbined with other materials?


    He returned home to stash the seed under his bed. The room had been empty thest few days, since Bridge had been training overnight at the dojo. They were practically holding him hostage after finding out that he''d be starting at Dark Moon soon, wanting to cram as much knowledge and training into him as possible.


    Therefore, it''s unlikely that the remaining unawakened people in the house would be able to detect the aura given off by the seed.


    Kain didn''t want to waste even one moment of his remaining two and a half weeks before school started.


    Therefore, he went back out into the wild to continue familiarizing himself with the weapons at his disposal. Maybe he''d even try to clear out all the orange-grade spiritual creatures around the city. After all, with them gone then even in the unlikely event of a beast-tide it is unlikely that the city''s walls would even be broken.


    --------------------------


    2 weekster


    Kain looked down at the body of the massive Spikeroot Wyrm.


    Its dragon-like body was covered in thorny, bark-like scales that blended seamlessly into the surrounding vegetation, allowing it to ambush unsuspecting prey. The wyrm had a spiked tail and ws that could easily shred through armor and flesh alike.


    This was thest remaining of the 9 orange-grade spiritual creature in the forest. It was also the undisputed ruler of these forests and supposedly the strongest. It should have also been the most difficult to hand but¡­


    "That was surprisingly easy¡­"


    He had left this one to the end because he''d though it''d be the most challenging due to its reputation and remnant dragon-blood, but after having its vision and senses impaired by Bea-infected mist, it had pretty much served as target practice for the wasps. 3 more guard wasps had been born, giving Kain a total of 10 now.


    However, despite its formidable closebat abilities, unlike the White Widow it didn''t even have any long-range capabilities, therefore Kain had not even had to suffer from losing one of his guards. Good thing too, since college sses will begin in 4 days.


    He''dpleted the goal of hunting 10 red-grade twice over, receive 120 GP. And with this wyrm he would havepleted 10 orange-grade kills for the first time to receive 400 GP, meaning he was now halfway to the system upgrade. Once he enters the college to receive the 1000 GP for his ranking, he will be able to upgrade with over 500 GP spare.


    Today would be the day he''d head off to the train station to begin his first day as a college student.


    He had already gone back to the city more than once to sell the materials he''d obtained to cksmith Dorian. Now his space only contained the wyrm, however, despite Kain being unimpressed by the battle he had with it, it was objectively a dragon-blooded creature. Therefore, its body may have additional uses that he was currently unaware of.


    He decided to not sell it until after he''d entered the college, maybe it''de in handyter on.


    After going home and packing his school supplies and the mysterious seed. He and Bridge had ate lunch with the members of the orphanage before they both set off to the train station. However, when they boarded the train he came across Pheneos, likely taking the train to Starfire City before getting off and transferring to a train headed west to Supernova College.


    Kain raised his hand to greet him when they made eye contact from far away, but surprisingly he turned around and quickly boarded the train. Perhaps he didn''t see him?


    When Kain and Bridge boarded the train, Kain nced around a bit for Pheneos, wanting to continue their chat about their respective exams. He was curious what the top performers at the Supernova exam were like.


    However, it seemed like he''d already entered a private room so Kain couldn''t find him. After all, he wouldn''t go and knock on over a hundred room doors just to chat with an acquaintance.


    The whole ride to Starfire City they unfortunately never crossed paths, disappointing Kain. Now that the train was headed east, Pheneos had likely already gotten off and was heading on another train west.


    When they finally arrived Dark Moon City, Kain couldn''t help but take a deep breath of air. The very atmosphere of the city felt different to him now that he was officially a student. It was likely just in his head, but it felt much morefortable being here. As if the very city was greeting him saying ''wee to your second home for four years.''


    Kain and Bridge confirmed their attendance with the administration office in order to receive their schedules and the keys to their respective rooms. As they''d been informed previously, he and Bridge were in separate buildings. Kain would be living in the dorms only for the top 5 students of each grade level. Meaning that there would only be 20 people in the entire building.


    Meanwhile, Bridge would be in one of the two male college dorms housing around 100 students.


    They both headed to the campus bookstore to get the required textbooks for their sses, Kain obviously needing to purchase several more than Bridge due to his second academic major before heading back to their respective dorms.


    Kain was filled with anticipation at finally getting to see the dorms exclusively used by the top 5 students of each year. And fortunately, he was not disappointed.


    Rather than a dorm building, his new residence looked like a sprawling five-story mansion that the English royal family back on earth may live in. Past the ornate ck iron front gate that scanned his student ID card before granting him entrance, there was a ck marble fountain in the shape of a winged horse-like creature but had dragon scales covering its body.


    The front garden was also beautifully designed with hundreds of spiritual nts, all of which he could feel had the function of increasing the density of spiritual power in the surroundings.


    Entering the mansion, the floor was covered in ck marble tiles and a giant chandelier hung down from the foyer. Above a massive winding grand staircase that he could see extended up 5 floors. The whole mansion seemed to continue the theme of medieval elegance that the rest of the city had.


    Kain walked up the stairs to the second floor to find his assigned room¡ªRoom 202. Floors 2 to 5 had the bedrooms, while the first floor had the shared amenities. It seems that with the central staircase as the dividing line, two rooms were on the east side of the house, while three more rooms were on the other side to the west.


    Entering his room, Kain was extremely impressed. He couldn''t believe he''d get to live here for 4 years, that is if he kept his ranking.


    The room boasted high vaulted ceilings adorned with detailed paintings of flowers. A massive chandelier hung from the center, casting a dazzling array of lights across the room. Dark red velvet sofas and ornate armchairs surrounded a grand firece, creating an inviting sitting area. Opposite the firece, a polished mahogany study area was equipped with a seemingly antique writing desk and chair.


    Throughrge ss double doors, Kain could even see a sweeping balcony with wrought-iron railings offering breathtaking views over the campus.


    Turning, his head Kain could see the doors to his bedroom, the bed a regal centerpiece with deep, dark mahogany carved with intricate lines. Heavy, embroidered drapes framed the bed, adding an extra touch of elegance and privacy, while a tufted, footstoolpleted the room.


    Finally, Kain explored the private bathroom. It exuded luxury with its dark marble surfaces, freestanding wfoot tub,rge walk-in shower and ornate gold fixtures.


    Kain was extremely satisfied. The room seamlessly fused ssic elegance with modernforts. It was just to his taste.


    ''Bridge might just die of envy.'' Kain thought gleefully.


    *Ding. Sensing that the host has confirmed his college admissions ranking. Rewarding 500 GP for a second-ce ranking*


    Kain''s joyful thoughts came to a screaming halt.


    ''EXCUSE ME?! SECOND-PLACE?!''

 Chapter 88: Chapter 88: A Mistake?

    ''System! I think you made a mistake. I''m rank 1, you forgot to give me the other 500 GP''


    *Rest assured Host. The System does not make mistakes*


    ''Yes you did!!!'' Kain was struggling to remain calm now. He had been anticipating the 1000 GP he''d receive upon entering the school, and suddenly the expected amount had been cut in half!


    Kain immediately walked out of the bedroom door and looked at the 202 intricately carved into it. Two. Zero. TWO! Then he turned to the only other room next to his which read 201.


    ''Don''t tell me the numbers are based on our rankings?'' Kain thought they were just assigned randomly on the same floor and didn''t think too much about his room number ending in a 2.


    ''Did that blond prince make enough of a stink that they just gave him the top rank? No. Even the royal and all of the old noble families in the capital wouldn''t be able to force the top 5 colleges to do anything of the like. It''d only serve to piss off all of the colleges, which the majority of the most powerful Beast-tamers in the empire happen to be affiliated with.''


    Kain really couldn''t figure it out. How could his ranking suddenly just drop by one?


    He knocked hard on the neighbouring door. However, after waiting a while there was no answer.


    It was almost time for the dinner appointment he''d made with Bridge and the twins. The twins seem pretty well-informed, maybe they''d have answers for him?


    Kain therefore rushed to the cafeteria. If he could get this issue fixed, maybe the system would still give him the remaining 500 GP.


    Using the campus map they''d been given earlier at the registration office he located the cafeteria. The massive dining hall had massive arched ceilings and a massive candle chandelier hanging in the center above rows of long mahogany tables.


    At the side of the room was a buffet set up, with fresh food being constantly refilled by staff. Kain filled up a te with the delicious-looking food before heading over to where he''d already spotted Bridge seated with the twins and three more unfamiliar individuals.


    Actually just 2, a boy and girl, were unfamiliar, upon closer inspection he believed that the gloomy-looking kid seated next to Bridge was the applicant who exited the relic naked.


    After getting seated, Kain put a piece of meat into his mouth. It practically melted in his mouth before providing his body with a minor increase in spiritual power. They must have used to top ingredients in order to produce food with such effects. Not to mention the craftmanship of the chef must also be top-notch.


    The food was so good that Kain almost forgot what he''d wanted to ask.


    He turned to Bridge, "What''s your room number?"


    "632. Why, you wannae visit?" Bridge mumbled through a mouthful of delicious food.


    Kain couldn''t help but furrow his brows. That number meant absolutely nothing to him. Bridge''s ranking was supposed to be ranked 43.


    "How were your rooms assigned? I thought your room would have some indication of your ranking."


    Aiden likely knowing Kain''s rank cleared up the confusion. "Only the top 20 students have room numbers somewhat rted to their rank. As I''m sure you''ve already seen your dorm room, I''m sure you already know that you top 5 students live in a separate mansion. The top 6 to 20 of each year also have private rooms, but our rooms are still within the regr dorm buildings.


    Those after rank 21 have shared dorm rooms so their room numbers are just randomly assigned to whatever is avable."


    The three new additions to their group looked shocked at the news that Kain was in the top 5.


    "Weren''t you the one that also said he was double-majoring as a nner, you''re also within the top 5?! Why is the world so unfair?" Said the gloomy guy, voice pretty energetic despite his appearance.


    "Not only in the top 5." Addison bragged. "He was the top-ranked applicant during the admissions test. He also got a perfect score on the academic exam."


    ''I see Bridge has been bragging about me behind my back''


    "So you''re Rank 1?! Congrattions!" Said the gloomy kid.


    "That''s actually what I wanted to discuss. Aiden, Addison. You guys are in the top 20 so you should have room numbers based on your rankings, did you notice anything off about your room numbers?"


    "Not really¡­" Aiden said. "Since the dorms are separated by sex, our room numbers have our rankings among the respective girls and guys of our year. So although I''m ranked 14 in my year. My room number is 106, because out of the first-year guys, outside of the top 5, I''m the sixth.


    So it''s kind of difficult to get someone''s precise rank from their room numbers aside from the top 5, you can just estimate their approximate ranking."


    Addison also nodded "I am 103 in the girls'' dorms because out of the girls not in the top 5 mansion and living in the dorms I am third."


    Kain frowned. So they hadn''t yet noticed anything off.


    "You said the top 5 rooms were assigned based on ranking, right? But I was assigned to room 202, for the second-ced entrant."


    Everyone at the table looked surprised by this. Who could rank first if not the number 1 from the entrance exam?


    Aiden and Addison tilted their heads in an identical manner, before Aiden spoke. "I think I know who the Rank 1 might be then. Remember how we said that one of the admissions spots this year was already taken up, which is why there were only 99 spots max avable?"


    Kain and Bridge both nodded, while everyone else at the table looked as though this was news to them.


    "Well, that early admit is probably ranked first if you were pushed down to second."


    Kain was irritated, ''someone that hadn''t even had to take the entrance exam had unfairly ced above him and cost him 500 GP? Just because they awakened independently? Maybe if he''d actually tried to awaken independently, he could have done it too!''


    Likely seeing the upset look on his face Addisonforted him, "The difference in treatment among the top 5 is really negligible. At most they may just have a slightlyrger room than you. The difference in privileges only really bes apparent when youpare the top ranks to the lower ranks."


    ''Easy for you to say! You didn''t lose 500 GP!''

 Chapter 89: Chapter 89: The Meaning of the Top 5

    Kain spent the remainder of the meal in silence. Distraught that there was no fixing the issue with the System. Instead, he just listened in on the topics of conversation around him.


    "Do you have any idea what the sses are like? Nobody else from my hometown has gotten into Dark Moon in decades." Elias said. Elias¡ªthat was the name Kain found out of the gloomy-looking kid.


    "I heard it''s pretty much like high-school, just the content is different. We''ll still have exams, just that the form of the exams will be different. However I did hear that wilderness survival could be a pain for students that aren''t ustomed to staying in the wild for long periods of time."


    ''Huh, I guess that''s one course I don''t have to worry about. Considering that I already have a lot of experience''


    "However, I did hear that they will take us to extreme climates as well such as in the far north, or the deserts to the south to test our ability to survive.


    ''Nevermind''


    "However, we are first and foremost beast-tamers, so they shouldn''t overload us too much with ss work to the point that it impedes our progress. We also have toplete a certain amount of missions every year in order to move on to the next year. Not as many as Starfire students, but still quite a few."


    "I''m more worried about the re-rankings¡­" Said Finn, who was Aiden''s neighbour. "I barely scraped into the top 20 at rank 17. Who knows if people''s strengths have grown greatly since the admissions exam? I don''t want to have to give up my single room."


    Leonara, Addison''s neighbour, also nodded in agreement, "Tell me about it, I''m ranked right at 19. Not to mention the re-rankings are usually determined by a head-to-head battle, my contracts are more focused on support and healing¡­"


    "Huh, that''s right. Some people''s contracts may not have the best offensive capabilities. Why do they decide the top 5 by a person-to-person battle?" Bridge questioned.


    Aiden, ever knowledgeable, rified "It has to do with what the top 5 candidates for each year symbolize. Do you know how the colleges are ranked? First Celestial is first, Supernova is second, we''re third, Starfire is fourth, and Frozen Sun is fifth. While the rest of the colleges fight over the rest of the rankings after that, the top 5 have never changed.


    However, the order within the top 5 can change each year."


    Addison scoffed, "Except First Celestial, I think thest time they slipped to second ce was at least 20 years ago."


    Aiden continued, "The top 5 of each year must fight against the same-year students at the other colleges. Points are then awarded based on the final ranking. A maximum of 100 points each for first ce among the first years, second years, and so on. Thepetition format is a single one-on-one battle, a three-on-three battle, and one five-on-five battle.


    Whichever side can win 2 of the three matches will win the round and advance.


    "Then there''s the measure of the college''s overallbat power, one-on-one individual matches of the top 5 strongest students of each school, a face-off of the elites. Regardless of year level. It''s usuallyposed of third and fourth years, but asionally a second year manages to make the elite team. I believe the current captain of our school''s elite team entered it in his second year.


    The first-ce team will receive 200 points. So, in theory, a school could win a maximum of 600 points if they take first ce in everything."


    Addison cut in, "That''s why the re-rankings favor individualbat abilities. If you have excellent crowd-control abilities, then you should still be able to rank high enough to be in the top 5, and there''s not really any need for a healer in the fast-pacedpetition.


    Rather it''s more detrimental if the enemy senses that there''s a weak link in the team who can''t take care of themselves and needs to be protected. Therefore, regardless of whether you ssify yourself as more of a control, support, or healer, your solobat abilities must meet a suitable standard to represent the school.


    Thepetition doesn''t bar the use of gifts, therefore it''s actually not that unusual to see those that didn''t contract offensively focused beasts within the top 5 of their year. They make up for their shorings inbat with incredibly powerful gifts."


    Aiden finished off, "that''s also why the treatment for the top 5 of each year is so much betterpared to the rest of the students. The school''s ranking for the next year and, consequently, the amount of funding and resources we''ll all have ess to is dependent upon them."


    The other 3 at the table looked as though they weren''t that surprised by the news, but this was the first Bridge and Kain were hearing about it. Perhaps because they were both so focused on either studying (Kain) or working to earn money (Bridge) neither of them had paid much attention to the collegepetition scene thest few years.


    ''So that means that I''m going to represent the school?! I guess that amazing room isn''t given for nothing,'' Kain will have to work his ass off for the school in return.


    Kain was now incredibly nervous. He had hunted numerous wild beasts, but he had no experience fighting beast-tamers. Much less the most talented of beast-tamers among his peers.


    He could imagine that fighting against talented beast-tamers would be much more difficult. He''d have to deal with more than one spiritual creature working together at the direction of their contractor. Not to mention, he''d also have to deal with a variety of troublesome gifts. He wasn''t confident about the school''s future ranking resting on his shoulders.


    "We''ll be in your hands then, Kain. Take us to first ce next year please." Bridge joked while patting him heavily on the back, while Kain''s eye twitched in annoyance.

 Chapter 90: Chapter 90: A Chilling Encounter

    Kain walked back to the mansion with his head down in contemtion.


    Was he really good enough to represent the school? Especially, while having to double the course load.


    He was suddenly ovee with the feeling that he''d bit off more than he could chew. However, Kain was greedy. He wanted to continue in both majors. He wanted to represent the school. And he wanted that first ce ranking back!


    Oomf


    Kain chest suddenly collided with something soft and fragrant. He finally looked up from the ground to find the most beautiful woman he''d ever seen. And that included both of his lifetimes.


    Her delicate features looked as though God had spent the majority of his time and attention on sculpting her face, before roughly pping together the rest of the poption. She had long slightly wavy bright white hair. And although he didn''t want toe off as a creep and stare at her body, the brief nce and collision they had led him to believe her proportions were as perfect as her face.


    Making eye contact with the her cold and intense blue eyes framed by long whiteshes, he felt as though he''d lost all ability to speak. However, as her gaze grew colder at his continued staring he finally snapped out of it.


    "Ah! Sorry! I wasn''t paying attention." Kain then held out a hand for her to go inside first , but she continued to just stare at him coldly.


    ''Okay¡­ She''s as cold as she is beautiful.'' Unable to stand her gaze any longer Kain went in first and began to climb the stairs. He could hear her light footsteps following behind him as he climbed the stairs.


    Suddenly he felt self-conscious and had to make sure he wasn''t walking awkwardly with both his right leg and right hand lifting at the same time.


    It was so quiet in therge foyer that he even began to get self-conscious of his breathing.


    ''Did I always breath this loud? I haven''t felt this tense since being chased by the White Widow while still a 1-star.''


    Thankfully, the climb to the second floor was over soon and he was able to leave her behind as he headed in the direction of his room.


    However¡­


    Click


    As he fumbled with his keys due to lingering nerves from the unsettling encounter, a shorter white figure crossed from behind him and then swiftly entered the doorbelled 201.


    Kain froze in shock.


    ''IT. WAS. HER!!! She''s the one that lost me 500 GP and stole my rightful ranking''


    Any burgeoning feelings of infatuation died before it could even be born.


    All that Kain felt was anger and resentment.


    Whether in this life or his past one, Kain''s core values have remained unchanged. Regardless of whether it is money or GP, beautiful women can onlye second.


    Head still steaming, Kain entered his suite. He then couldn''t help but re at the shared bedroom wall separating them.


    ''Just why is SHE ranked above ME?!''


    Kain flopped on his bed and opened the System. Now it was time for the upgrade. He looked sadly at the 1180 GP remaining, once he used 1000 of it for the upgrade, he''d practically be the GP equivalent of penniless.


    He has only dyed upgrading the System until now instead of doing it as soon as he received the 500 GP because he had been futilely hoping that there was a way to fix his ranking and obtain the lost points. Now, however, it seems as though such hopes were pointless.


    Sigh


    ''System start the upgrade''


    *Ding. Sensing the Host''s intention to consume 1000 GP to upgrade the system. In order toplete the upgrade, the System will be unavable for 2 days. Do you still wish to proceed?*


    ''Ugh. Proceed with the upgrade¡­''


    Kain hoped that the downtime wasn''t going to keep increasing with each System upgrade. Is he one day going to have to wait a whole year to upgrade the System?


    Frustrated for a variety of reasons, Kain fell asleep while tossing and turning all night.


    When Kain woke up the next morning, he took a hot shower hoping to wash away all of the negative feelings of yesterday. Today was a new day!


    However, when he entered the dining room downstairs and saw the head full of white hair already seated, the little bite of optimism he managed to scrounge up was obliterated.


    No longer having much of an appetite, Kain went to the breakfast tter filled with various muffins, pastries and fruits, and just filled up a te with some spiritual fruit.


    In addition to themon cafeteria avable to all students, the top 5 dorm also had a private dining room where breakfast and dinner would be provided if the students would prefer to stay home rather than dine with all the other beast-tamer students. While lunch, if they really needed it, was up to the individual student to prepare for themselves.


    Kain found a seat far away from THAT person and began eating his fruit. He had had a restless night''s rest so woke up early. They were probably the first ones up in the entire building.


    Swish


    A human figure jumped out of a shadow, grabbed a muffin and bottled drink, before using another shadow to disappear just as suddenly as he''d arrived.


    Not long after a monkey dressed like a butler came downstairs and filled up a towering te of food before carefully bringing it back upstairs to its master.


    ''College definitely has some interesting characters¡­''


    Not longter a green-haired woman came down the stairs.


    "EEEEEHHHH! The first years are here! Aren''t you both just adorable!"


    Despite his negative feelings towards the Cheat, that''s what Kain has decided to call her until he learns her name, he couldn''t help but make an expression identical to hers. One of cold rejection mixed with slight bafflement at this strange overly familiar senior.


    What man likes to be called adorable?!


    Not receiving a reply she approached Kain, who she probably judged to be the slightly more amicable of the two.


    "Hey!" She said, getting way too close to Kain and invading his personal space. "Both of you good-looking first years are the first ones up. Was it nned? Are you a couple? Oh NO! Am I interrupting your alone time?"


    Kain couldn''t stop his face from grimacing in disgust. Although the Cheat was objectively beautiful, he had absolutely no warm and fuzzy feelings for her.


    Not receiving a reply, she continued, seemingly content to continue chatting with herself.


    "What''s your affinity? Can I see your contract? You look like the type who takes appearance into ount when making a contract? Am I right? Is your contract good-looking? Ooohhh I really wanna see it!"


    As she continued to prattle on, the only other person in the room quickly made her exit, leaving Kain and this annoying senior alone.


    "Do you and your contract ever argue? How do you deal with it? Usually, I just have to pat my Ste on the head and she immediately agrees with me. She''s just perfect!"


    Kain could feel his ears turning red from the auditory torture.


    "I have to get to orientation. I can''t bete on the first day. It was nice meeting you senior. See you around!"


    Without waiting for a reply, he quickly rushed off toward the location of the freshman orientation. Not giving the annoying woman a chance to reply.

 Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Ranking Revealed

    Kain arrived at the auditorium that his registration packet indicated would hold freshman orientation.


    Pushed out of the dorm earlier than he had nned he was one of the first people in the auditorium.


    Having his pick of seats, he chose one in the middle of the third row, not too close, not too far.


    It also had the added benefit of being quite far away from the Cheat who had already arrived and was settled into a spot in the front row.


    Slowly others began to also filter in and fill up the remaining seats.


    Thankfully, there was still enough room for Bridge and the 5 others from yesterday next to Kain.


    "Good morning everyone! I am the Director of Academic Affairs for the Beast-Taming Department, Rowan Voss.It is a pleasure to wee some of the most talented young members of the Celestial Empire to Dark Moon College.You''ve all demonstrated exceptional talent and potential to be here, and we are thrilled to have you join our vibrantmunity.


    At Dark Moon, we pride ourselves on our rich history and our dedication to excellence in teaching¡­


    ''Ahhh¡­No matter the world the orientation speech is always needlessly long and boring'' Kain began to tune out the director as he droned on about the college''s impressive history, its core values when educating its students,mitment to the ethical treatment of contracts, academic integrity, h h h. Until finally he got to the important parts almost 40 minutester.


    "As I''m sure you all know, you are required to take 3 core mandatory courses. You must obtain at least a B in all core courses in order to move on to the next year. Elective courses only require a passing grade.


    "Additionally, for the sessfulpletion of the academic year, each student is required to obtain a minimum of 100 credits through missions each year. However, there is no limit to the number of missions a student can take. These credits can also be exchanged for valuable and rare resources that would be almost impossible to get outside of the academy.


    Please take advantage of this system and exchange for them while you have the opportunity to do so.


    "Every year, our college also publishes several lists. Getting your name on these listses with a variety of benefits.


    "One such list is the Mission Leaderboard. A ranking of the number of mission credits obtained within a given academic year. It is separated into leaderboards by school year, and also an overall leaderboard not separated by year level. There are also the Academic Rankings, organized by year level, based on your grades within the 3 core beast-taming courses.


    A ce on the list of any of these rankings wille with lucrative rewards that will help you to greatly improve in strength.


    "The most important ranking, however, is that of the Combat Rankings. Currently, you are ranked based on your entrance test results. However, every 3 months you willpete head-to-head with one another in order to determine your new ranking among your peers. Therefore, those in the top ranks shouldn''t dare to ck off, as those around you will be itching to take your ce.


    Although rare, we have had instances ofzy over-confident students falling out of the top 5 to even below the top 20. Conversely, we''ve had plenty of students in our history who havee from the bottom rankings to go on to represent the college at the National Collegiate Beast-Taming Championship.


    "This ranking is especially important because as the representatives of the school, the top 5 students will be the key focus of the university''s resources and opportunities. One such opportunity I''m sure many of you are aware of, which is unique to the top 5 colleges, is the opportunity to enter Enchanted Spring in 3 months.


    For those of you who don''t know, the top 5 colleges all possess a spring that, when entered, increases the likelihood of manifesting a gift.


    "However, the order for entering the pool is based on your rankings, with the top 5 students of each year being granted first ess, followed by those ranked 6 to 20, and so forth. However, the magical properties of this pool are limited in effectiveness. For those of you at theter rankings, there may not be much of an effect remaining by the time that you enter.


    "Therefore, all of you must strive to not only maintain your rankings, but also to improve your rankings.


    "Now, I''d like to call the following individuals to the stage: Serena Storm"


    At the very end of the front row, the Cheat stood up and made her way to the stage. Kain could immediately hear the whole room be abuzz with hushed whispers as they couldn''t help but marvel at her stunning features.


    "Kain Newman. Soren Lysander. Ranya ris. Kairos Umbrae."


    Heart pounding, Kain made his way to the stage with the other individuals who had had their names called.He tried to appear a lot more confident than he felt. Soren, the arrogant blonde guy during the entrance exam who questioned the rankings, was ring fiercely at Kain. Likely having identified him as the one who pushed him down to second, now third, ce.


    ''But why is he ring at me and not that Cheat who pushed everyone down without even taking the exam? Can''t bear to re at the beauty?" Kain thought in disgust, having lost a lot of the respect he''d had for him and red right back.


    "Take a good look at these faces. These are the individuals you should be aiming to surpass for the next re-rankings."


    Suddenly, it wasn''t only Soren ring at Kain, the entire room full of students was ring at the 5 figures on the stage. Over 50 pairs of eyes were examining them critically for any weaknesses they could pounce on. Their eyes more resembled those of starving animals than people, Kain thought he saw one guy even lick his lips while staring at him.


    Sigh


    ''This day just keeps getting better and better.''

 Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Mission Hall

    After being stared at hungrily like a piece of meat for nearly a full minute, Kain and the others were finally allowed to leave the stage and head back to their seats. However, Kain was still able to feel the intense staresing from the people around him, which he futilely tried to ignore.


    When the orientation was adjourned a short whileter Kain and the others had an hour break before their first actual lesson.


    Thankfully, Beast-tamer courses were on Mondays and Wednesdays, while nner courses were on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays are always off to give students an opportunity toplete missions or tasks they may have. Therefore, he only had one boring orientation to attend today. The nner orientation and first day of sses began tomorrow.


    To pass the time, they decided to go to the mission hall to see what kind of missions were avable to students.


    When they arrived at the mission hall, it was already bustling with activity.


    At the center of the hall were three giant electronic boards. The title of each board was titled with Bronze, Silver, and Gold, mimicking the rankings used for describing spiritual creature quality. However, here they were likely a measure of the difficulty of the mission.


    The Bronze missions rewarded between 1 and 10 credits and were rtively simple for even the lower ranked first-year students, much less the upper-years. The tasksrgely consisted of hunting orange-grade and lower spiritual creatures. Some also were escort missions or to collect a specific spiritual nt from a known location.


    The Silver Board gave rewards between 10 and 50 credits each. It consisted of missions where it was rmended to have the strength to take down a yellow-grade spiritual creature. There were also missions to find specific materials that were more rare, located in dangerous areas, or didn''t have as detailed information about where to find them, causing students to waste more time looking.


    The Gold Board had missions worth more than 50 credits, that would be considered challenging for even 4-star beast-tamers. They also seemed to have more difficultpletion requirements. For example, one such mission was to hunt an Infernaut. A gold-quality species that is usually yellow-grade by adulthood.


    It was a humanoid creature whose skin was in a constant flux shifting between solid rock and flowingva, making it rather difficult among those of a simr grade to kill. However, the reason it was a Gold mission and not Silver was because they lived deep withinva, and rarely left.


    Most students would not have a contract suitable to dive into theva and kill a creature that already has outstandingbat power.


    There was also something else unique about the Gold Board. Unlike the other boards that had all missions clearly disyed and the number of credits obtained uponpletion, some of the Gold missions were cked out to obscure any details.


    "What are those ck missions?" Kain asked nobody in particr.


    All of the first-years around him shrugged. Even Addison and Aiden didn''t know the answer.


    "The ck missions are those whose details can only be disclosed to the recipient of the mission. This is often to avoid unnecessary security risks to the student or for the target to be unnecessarily cautious."


    "Target?" How would a spiritual creature even be aware that it was a mission target? It seems like an unnecessary concern.


    "The ck missions are usually somebination of assassination and/or intelligence gathering. Since humans are more tricky opponents, and some of the targets may even be prominent and influential figures, a higher number of credits is rewarded to reflect this difficulty. Not only excellentbat strength would be needed for these missions but also resourcefulness and cunning."


    "If you have no information on the mission though beforepleting it, then how can you even know if you''re qualified?" Kain asked in confusion.


    "Well when you go over there to select the mission you''d like, if you select a ck Mission then you will be brought to a questionnaire.


    Depending on your responses to the questionnaire, if you are suitable for a mission you will be allowed to ept it and the details will be disclosed to you." The staff member rified while point to an area withrge touch screens sectioned off by privacy curtains to keep more specific mission details only avable to those epting the mission.


    "Want to try and ept one now? We could take a group task as our first mission." Aiden asked.Kain and the others nodded.


    They all went to a screened off area and began to look at the tasks on the screen. As they went behind the screen, Kain realized he was no longer able to hear the bustling in the mission hall. He realized that the screens were equipped with a variety of sigils to prevent eavesdropping.


    "Greetings students!" A female robotic voice suddenly sounded in the space. "It is detected that 7 individuals are in the vicinity. Please keep in mind that you are unable to ept individual missions in the presence of others. Therefore, only missions suitable for parties of 7 will be shown.


    If you would like to look at the individual missions please do so once the other 6 individuals in the vicinity have left."


    They all nodded, and then the long list of tasks suitable for groups appeared along with their difficulty rating, and the credits to be obtained. For group tasks, the number of credits listed would is what each individual in the mission would receive, rather than the total amount to be split amongst everyone.


    However, because of the assistance groups can provide to one another, the profit from group missions is a lot lower than individual ones.


    "Hmmm¡­ for the bronze-grade tasks we could ept the mission to clear out the Desphids. They are only white-grade spiritual creatures, I''m surprised they are even rewarding 5 credits each for it, that''s more than the usual for white-grade creatures." Finn suggested.


    Aiden shook his head, "The reason it is offering so much despite it being a white-grade species is because a Desphid infestation of a farm would involve potentially hundreds of thousands of the bugs. We''d need to eliminate everyst one otherwise if even one escapes the infestation could start all over again.


    Also, the task description even says that they infested a spiritual nt farm and we need to preserve the nts, so it''s not like we can even burn the field to the ground. And for all of that hard work, we''d only have 5 credits each. Can we even exchange that for anything?"


    It might be difficult for others, but Kain could easily solve it within minutes with a Bea-covered mist.


    "We can ept it." Kain said, and didn''t borate.


    The others looked at him in surprise. But Bridge, having ventured into the wilderness with Kain before, likely guessed the method Kain would use and nodded his head.


    Although they seemed a little hesitant, Kain''s first-ced ranking in the entrance exam did have some sway and they still nodded in agreement.


    "Although it is a little wasteful to go all that way just for 5 credits. Look at the Silver and Gold missions to see if there are any other missions in that area we can ept and finish while we''re there." Kain suggested. Thankfully they all seemed to agree.

 Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Black Mission

    "Are we allowed to ept more than one mission though?" Elias asked.


    "Yes. Students can ept up to 3 missions concurrently"


    "Ahh!" They couldn''t help but scream after receiving a response from a disembodied voice. They had thought the previous time was a standard introduction message yed for all students, not that the voice could actually respond to their questions. Kain though, already used to having a disembodied voice in his head, didn''t react.


    "G-Great!" Aiden then continued to read through the missions with the others.


    "That one! It''ll give us 33 points each and it doesn''t look as difficult as most Silver missions. It also takes ce in the Stormw Mountains which are less than an hour walk from the vige with the Desphid mission.


    The only difficult thing would be that the Pterix we need to hunt will require battling at high altitudes, but several of us¡ªMe, Aiden, and Leonara¡ªall have contracts that can fly." Addison shouted.


    The mission required hunting a group of Tempest Pterix, a gold-quality avian dual attribute wind and lighting spiritual creature that would reach yellow-grade in adulthood. Itmands powerful wind and lightning attacks, making aerialbat essential, otherwise they''d just be helpless targets on the ground as they were bombed with lightning strikes.


    Kain agreed. After all, he also had a contract¡ªwell, a secondary one¡ªthat can fly.


    Confirming that they epted both missions everyone began to leave. Except for Kain¡­ he was curious about what the solo missions looked like.


    "Greetings Student. It is detected that there is only one individual in the vicinity. Therefore, only missions suitable for one individual will be shown."


    Kain immediately went to the icon for ck missions. Surprisingly they weren''t listed among the Gold missions as they were outside. After clicking on the icon he was brought to the questionnaire he had heard about.


    "Question 1. Please state your year?"


    "First year¡­"


    "2. What is the identity and spiritual power level of your contracts?"


    "Both contracts are red-grade. I prefer not to disclose their species¡­"


    There was a pause, as though its AI was not used to having a student refuse to answer a question.


    "3. What are the attributes of your contracts?"


    "My first is dual water and mental. My second has a wind attribute"


    Kain decided to just answer the questions as though Queen were his actual contract and not Eve. After all, Eve only can exert her effects through Queen.


    "4. Do you have any moral objections to performing assassinations?"


    "Not really. As long as they deserve it I guess."


    "5. You answered that you have a contract with mental attributes. Does it possess any skills to allow the extraction of information from a target?"


    "That''d be cool. But no"


    ¡­


    After answering more than 30 questions, Kain was beginning to get fed up. He already felt like whatever this test was, he''d very clearly already failed it since he could only answer ''no'' to most questions.


    "37. If given a target for assassination would you be able to discretelyplete the mission without the use of poisons?"


    Well, Bea isn''t poison, so¡­"Yes"


    "38. If given a target for assassination that required no evidence of bodily harm or poison be found in or on the target''s body, would you be able toplete the mission?"


    "Yes"


    This time there was a much longer pause after Kain answered the question.


    "A suitable mission has been assigned. Expected reward: 350 credits"


    "Wait what?!" Kain didn''t actually think he''d be suitable for a mission. Not to mention one so valuable.


    "This mission has stringent requirements on secrecy and the manner of death. Absolutely no physical evidence of foul y such as wounds or poison can be detected. However, due to the target''s identity those above 3-stars will have difficulty interacting with the target. It is imperative that the target''s death look as natural as possible, even when examined by a 6-star beast tamer.


    Therefore, in order to assess your ability to sessfully meet these requirements, a test will be held."


    ''Ahhh¡­it''s thosest 2 questions that allowed me to get this mission. It must be rare for anyone, regardless of strength level to have a method of assassination not involving poisons or physical injury. Even most mental attribute skills are more focused on causing hallucinations and manipting the mind, not capable of killing. At least not until the spiritual creature is above green-grade.


    Therefore, it must be difficult to find anyone at 3-star or below capable of getting close to the target and killing him undetected.''


    The next moment a cage was elevated form the floor. It contained an ordinary mouse, not even of ck-iron quality barely any spiritual power. However, wrapped around its neck was a cor with several gems exuding green-grade spiritual power.


    ''That cor around its neck is probably worth ten times more than everything I ownbined¡­''


    Curious about the purpose of the cor, Kain took his spear out and tried to give a tentative jab in its direction¡ªonly to be blown back by a huge force until his back hit the wall.


    "Please note that no physical or poisonous attacks will work. It is encouraged that the student only use the methods you n to use toplete the mission"


    "You could have mentioned that from the start¡­" Kain said, while rubbing the bruise at the back of his head.


    Kain then sent a Bea covered fog in the mouse''s direction. In less than three seconds it was dead,pletely unable to mount any amount of resistance with no spiritual power.


    The cage then disappeared back into the floor. Likely examining the mouse to see if the method of death is eptable.


    "Test sessful. Do you ept the mission?"


    "Yes"


    Immediately after Kain''s reply, the details of the mission appeared on the screen.


    "Target: Aric Nightsbane"


    "Oh hell no! Absolutely not!"


    "Please note that due to their sensitive nature, once the details of a ck mission have been shown you are obligated toplete it. Failure to do so will result in severe repercussions, including detainment for an indefinite period of time and/or expulsion from the college. It is strongly encouraged that you sessfullyplete this mission."

 Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Nightsbane

    ''Nightsbane, isn''t that thest name of an old legacy family in the capital. Even I''d heard of them. Although not as influential as the 5 founders, his ancestors also yed a role in the establishment of the Empire. I''m supposed to kill one of them?! Why would the college even issue a mission targeting a noble?''


    "The target details are as follows: Aric Nightsbane is the only legitimate grandson of the Nightsbane family. However, despite their illustrious history Aric was unsessful in all three of his attempts to awaken an affinity."


    "He''s not even 1-star then. Why is the difficulty of the mission worthy of receiving 350 credits?"


    "Despite his status as an ordinary person, he is nevertheless the legitimate heir of the Nightsbane family, therefore strict measures have been taken to ensure his safety at all times. Elite 5-star guards ensure that nobody above 3-stars is able to approach him unless they have been authorized by the family patriarch, his grandfather Edric Nightsbane¡ªa 6-star beast-tamer."


    "Great¡­Great! So you want me to kill the grandson of a 6-star beast tamer!"


    Kain was beginning to feel like he was in way over his head.


    "However, the guards are the least challenging obstacle you will have to ovee. Simr to the mouse in the test you just undertook, Aric is adorned in spiritual equipment of at least 5-star quality that prevents assassination attempts by both physical and poisonous means."


    "Haaaa¡­. So not only a high-profile target, but also one stacked with security measures. How exactly am I supposed to aplish this?"


    "The target rarely appears in public, and chances of sessfully infiltrating the Nightsbane mansion to sessfullyunch an attack are miniscule. Therefore, the College will notify you of a suitable assassination opportunity when it arises, you are expected to follow the details of the notification immediately upon being informed."


    "So that''s it¡­you won''t provide any more details until it''s time to start the mission?"


    "Correct. You can go about your daily life as normal."


    "Well, it''s kind of hard to go about my daily life with this hanging over my head. What if the notification urs years from now? Am I supposed to not go past 3-stars in all that time? Can''t you give me at least a time period I can expect the mission to be?"


    "Apologies. In order to keep the vignce of the target to a minimum, you will only be made aware at the moment the mission is to ur. Student Kain has now officially epted 3 concurrent missions and is unable to ept any more. Please make way for the next applicant."


    Since he had been practically kicked out, Kain didn''t insist on overstaying his wee and left the stall.


    ''So I guess I''m just supposed to go to my first day of sses then, and not think about how my future attendance relies on being able to kill the son of a NOBLE family. If it ever leads back to me I am doomed.''


    He had spent quite a while in the mission hall and there were now mere minutes until his first Introduction to Spiritual Skills ss. Therefore, he sprinted across the campus as fast as he could, only arriving at the ss with seconds to spare. No time to try and find the others, he just sat in the closest empty seat he could find.


    Almost at the same time he sat, Assistant Professor Nightingale


    "Wee students to Introduction to Spiritual Skills. I''m sure you all know me from the entrance exam so I will not bother to re-introduce myself. I''m also sure that you''re already fed up with long drawn out speeches on your first day of sses, so I will dive straight into the lesson n"


    ''Oh, thank god!''


    "Some of you may have already been exposed to using spiritual skills when taught by your families. However, in order to ensure that everyone is caught up we will start from the very basics."


    "Many of you will not be used to using your spiritual power in a meaningful manner. The use of spiritual skills requires extremely fine control. Therefore, we will begin with actively manipting your spiritual power in a controlled manner to trigger the most basic sense enhancements. These do not require any special technique and can be performed by anyone with fine enough control."


    "Please close your eyes and try your best to follow along. Direct your energy to your head. If you have a migraine, then you have to use too much force. First, we will concentrate the energy to your eyes. If done correctly they should feel warm, if you were to open your eyes you would find that your vision has been magnified several times over."


    "The next key locations are the ears, now listen to see if you can hear the sounds of your ssmates'' heartbeats.¡­ To the nose, can you smell anything new? I had rubbed the oil obtained from a Ribbon Eel on the bottoms of each of your chairs¡­and then the mouth, to amplify your senses of taste."


    "Thankfully these senses are all within close proximity to one another, so moving between them is extremely simple."


    ''No it''s not!'' Kain wanted to scream. He had superior mental strengthpared to the average student, which is supposed to help with control of spiritual power, but even he hadn''t sessfully been able to channel the energy into his eyes without feeling as though they were going to burst. Then he had a painful ringing in his ears when he attempted the next location.


    Then he just had an overwhelming urge to sneeze due to his nose tickling, and now his tongue just feels heavy and swollen in his mouth.


    "Now we will work on thest sense, the sense of touch. Move the energy in your head to the palms of your hands. You can try stroking your chairs. Can you more acutely feel the fine lines of the wood?"


    "This rotation among all the five senses will be the subject of your first assessment. However, if you were not able to sessfully amplify all 5 senses, don''t be discouraged, the assessment will be not be performed until 2 weeks from now."


    ''I''m not even sure if 2 weeks will be enough time for even me toplete the full rotation, I hope Bridge will be okay''


    "The next few sses until the assessment will consist of independent studying. Therefore, for those of you confident in passing, you can choose whether or not to attend lectures. One of the rare few times this semester when attendance in sses will be optional. These first two weeks are intended to give those of you whose families may not have been able to teach them, an opportunity to catch up.


    Therefore, take advantage of this time ande to ss to have any questions answered. This will be the only time that the College will show such leniency."

 Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Conflict Boils Over

    Immediately after Spiritual Skills, they went to the advanced knowledge for Beast-Tamers course, thest course of the day since all of Wednesdays are for the Wilderness Survival course.


    Unfortunately, the old man teaching that course, Professor Wexley, did not have the same philosophy against speeches as Nightingale, and spent the full 2 hours droning on about academic integrity and the expectations for excellence he has.


    By 1 in the afternoon, all sses were thankfully over. Likely because they weren''t in an academic major, they were given ample time outside of sses to train, cultivate, and go on missions. Tuesdays and Thursdays when Kain has his nner courses would unfortunately be much longer.


    Kain headed back to the dorms immediately. He wasn''t able to sessfully amplify even one of his senses, much less all 5. He''d need every second before the assessment to practice if he was going to have any hope of passing.


    However, upon entering the entryway of his new home he was suddenly faced with a piercing green re for Soren Lysander.


    ''What the hell is his issue with me?!''


    "Sorry, but I don''t swing that way. Maybe that big guy over there will appreciate your flirtatious nces a little more" Kain said while nodding his chin at thergest senior student in the seating area on the first floor.


    "Pfftt hahahah! Aaahhh the first years this year are really interesting" Said a freckled red-head boy with a mischievous grin.


    Soren, likely not expecting Kain''s response, stood there sputtering in shock.


    Not waiting for his reply, Kain walked past him up the stairs.


    "Wait!"


    Kain just continued walking up the stairs.


    "I said, WAIT!"


    "So? I don''t take orders from you."


    Thatment seemed to set the blonde boy off, his right arm transformed into the shape of a dragon w and took a swipe at Kain''s back


    Fortunately, due to his extensive experience in the wild, he was able to dodge in time. After all, the prince couldn''t possibly be faster than an orange-grade spiritual beast.


    "Ha..wow! I didn''t expect you to be so cowardly as to take a cheap shot at someone''s back"


    "If you get hit with your guard down, that''s your own damn fault," He said shamelessly, before taking another swipe at Kain, which he once again dodged.


    Kain was now supremely irritated, why exactly does this guy have a grudge against him? If he disagrees so much with the ranking then just wait 3 months to challenge him then.


    "Since you clearly don''t like using your brain, I don''t mind removing it for you," Kain said, stepping towards him now with his spear in hand. ''Bea hasn''t eaten in a couple of days, I guess it''s dinner time.''


    "Enough!" suddenly a tall figure with sandy brown hair appeared between them and intense gold eyes stared sternly at them both. "Fighting is forbidden outside of official duels. Because it''s your first offence, I''ll let it slide just this once, but any future vitions will be punished with a fine in credits."


    "Booooooo!"


    "So boring captain!"


    "Why''d you break up the fight?! The neers are so wonderfully feisty this year." <span style="disy:none;">


    All of the upper-year students that were downstairs started raising a ruckus at having their source of entertainment stopped.


    Suddenly the front door of the mansion opened and the Cheat, Serena, stepped in.


    Immediately all of the shouts stopped.


    ''She really does have a face that could stop traffic''


    Kain noticed that the idiotic prince also had a foolishly infatuated look.


    "You have got to be shitting me! Her?! You''re acting like such a damn fool due to her?!"


    Kain didn''t bother to keep his voice down to spare the oaf''s feelings so likely everyone in the foyer heard, especially with their more sensitive hearing due to spiritual power.


    Suddenly they were once again the targets of everyone''s gazes. And Soren''s face turned red from embarrassment.


    Kain stepped closer to him and lowered your voice. "You know¡­if you really want a rank next to her so bad, you''ll have it once I push her down to second."


    Kain then marched up the stairs to his room. What a joke! He couldn''t believe that the other was prepared to fight him just because his room was in the wing of the house next to his crush. Kain didn''t even think he could look at the other guy seriously from now on.


    ''But he was like this since the admissions exam. I thought he just couldn''t take being second. But did he already know that she''d being here and be first ce no less?''


    "Whatever. I don''t care about that idiot''s love life¡­" Kain muttered before stepping into his bedroom.


    Kain had more urgent matters to attend to¡ªpassing that spiritual skills assessment in two weeks.


    Outside


    After Kain left the scene, Soren was the sole bearer of all those stares.


    Serena, expression as cold as ever, simply walked up the stairs past everyone, including Soren.


    "Serena," He called reaching out to her.


    However, she simply gave him a cold nce before continuing upstairs and out of sight.


    "Aaaw. Don''t mind it first-year!" yelled out the red-haired boy.


    "Fuck off!!!" He yelled before storming up the stairs as well.


    The front door once again opened to reveal another first-year, shorter than average with slick-backed ck hair and dressed neatly in a fitted casual suit¡ªKairos Umbrae.


    "What?" He called out hesitantly at being suddenly stared at by a lobby full of seniors.


    Seeing that he wouldn''t be adding to their entertainment they all let out bored sighs before going back to their business.


    Kain spent the rest of the day practicing his control over his spiritual skills, only stopping briefly to eat dinner downstairs, not wanting to spend the extra time to go to themon cafeteria and eat with Bridge and the others.


    However, he had to stop at night due to a terrible migraine although he hadn''t yet made much progress.


    Instead, he just spent the majority of the night condensing spiritual power. The events that day had made him realize that there were dozens of talented students all coveting his spot. Even he wasn''t fully content with his rank and wanted to be first. Thankfully, the environment here seemed toplement thearium, allowing him to cultivate with even greater ease.

 Chapter 96: Chapter 96: System Upgrade

    The next day was extremely uneventful.


    Despite being very different departments, the Beast-tamer and nner orientations had almost identical content, the only difference being that instead ofpleting missions, nner students are required toplete at least one evolution n for a Beast-tamer per year, the quality of which will be assessed by the Professors of the department and assigned a grade.


    The grade at the end of the year will reward a certain number of credits that can be exchanged for items from the school.


    To maximize his ie, Kain couldn''t afford to ck off in either major.


    Additionally, all of the professors for the nner courses also decided to just spend the day giving long speeches.


    ''What a waste of a day. Couldn''t they just send out an email with all this information?''


    At least before his other sses pick up, he''d have an opportunity to continue focusing solely on his spiritual skills course.


    However, during the night he received a System notification distracting him from practice.


    After a moment of hesitation on whether or not he should stop practicing to check out the results of the upgrade, he eventually concluded that he wouldn''t be able to focus from the curiosity and went to investigate.


    ''I''m short on time so summarize the results of the upgrade as soon as possible''


    *Host''s request confirmed. Preparing to summarize the results of the upgrade¡­*


    *Host now has ess to theboratory*


    Kain waited for more. However, after over a minute passed, no more information was provided. It looked like the System really chose to summarize the results of its upgrade as concisely as possible.


    Sigh


    ''Please open the panel for theboratory and summarize its function''


    *Now bringing Host to the Laboratory*


    Kain thought that theboratory was just a new function in the System panel. However, simr to thearium his consciousness was actually brought to arge mostly empty room with white tile floors and white walls.


    ''Shouldn''t aboratory have more stuff in it? This is pretty much empty''


    *Additional equipment and functions will be added to theboratory with system upgrades. However, the Host will not be disappointed by the current equipment avable*


    The only piece of equipment was a futuristic machine featuring arge, ultra-thin holographic screen with a nearly invisible metallic frame. Next to this screen was a ss cell, illuminated by internal lights.


    Kain walked up to it but couldn''t figure out its function.


    ''Please exin what this is for me''


    *Answering Host. It is a Simtor. The machine allows the user to scan avable materials and spiritual creatures to simte evolution. Allowing the Host to urately predict the evolutionary form and sess rate without having the risk of wasted materials from an unsessful evolution or, even worse an unfavourably weak evolutionary form*


    ''Holy shit! I didn''t know you had it in you'' Kain was used to the System being quite mediocre as far as cheats go. However, this was the first time he''d actually been pleasantly surprised at the System''s capabilities.


    ''How does it work? Can it only work on my contracts''


    *The Simtor can be used with any spiritual creature you have made contact with, not only your contracts. It can also use any evolutionary materials you have made contact with to run a simtion. The Host can use the screen in front of you to select from the avable database of spiritual creatures and materials to run a Simtion right now*


    With anticipation Kain immediately turned to the screen, There were dozens of creatures in the database: ones seen at the breeding grounds, ones he''s fought in the wild, contracts of others that he''s met.


    ''Hmm¡­which should I pick?''


    He selected the Lumifin, in all of the nights Kain spent in a tree above Bea infected river water, a few of her victims over the nights were this light and water dual attribute, ck-iron quality species. Kain looked at its image on theputer¡ªIt was quite good-looking, although it was extremely weak.


    The Lumifin resembles a small, ethereal fish with translucent, shimmering fins that glow softly in various hues. About the size of a house cat, it has a streamlined, serpentine body and delicate, bioluminescent markings that change color ording to its emotions. Its bioluminescent scales allow it to create shes of light to provide temporary cover and disorientation.


    However, such defensive measures against predators were useless against Bea.


    It was usually caught as a decorative fish for the ponds of affluent families due to its beauty. But it had nobat power, and no known evolutionary form, therefore no beast-tamer would ever form a contract with it.


    Although, it not being suitable contract likely yed a role in no nner researching it to find a decent evolutionary form, if it has one. If it can evolve, the form probably has unusual requirements notmonly met in nature, otherwise, there''d also be reported cases of it evolving in the wild.


    After selecting the Lumifin, Kain was given the option to select up to 5 evolutionary materials.


    Selecting 5 options randomly to try it out, the fish on the screen became obscured by the blinding light of evolution.


    Gradually the light faded to reveal¡­a truly hideous creature. It has a bloated, misshapen body with uneven, ragged fins that barely glow. Its skin is a murky, mottled gray with patches of a sickly yellow, and itcks the smooth, streamlined appearance of its sessful ancestors. Its eyes are small and beady, giving it a perpetually disoriented look.


    Kain then read the species description provided by the System. Based on the description it was a ck-iron quality spiritual creature that had poorly developed abilities: its light maniption was weak and unreliable, often producing dim, flickering glows or unwanted shadows.


    In summary, it was aplete failure. Not only did the quality not go up. The few merits that Lumifin originally did have werepletely gone with this evolution.


    If he tried to sell this Gloomtail it''d probably be worth less than any one of the materials used in the evolution.


    However, Kain was not surprised by such horrid results. He had not learned the necessary knowledge to n an evolution from his nner major.


    Also, it''s not like this simtion costs anything, he can continue to experiment whenever he has some free time.


    *Actually Host, only the first Simtion is free as a test trial, every subsequent simtion will cost 100 GP*


    ''Damn it! Then tell me that beforehand! I would have taken this one more seriously.''

 Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Spiritual Skill Assessment

    Two weekster


    The workload for both majors quickly started to get a lot more intense. Thankfully, Kain was able to just barelyplete the rotation of sense enhancement, and the assessment was today.


    With a feeling of nervousness, he headed to the exam room, not even bothering to have breakfast in case the lingering tastes and smells from the food impeded his performance.


    He honestly hadn''t felt so uncertain about the oue of a test in his life. Yes, he had seeded at enhancing all five senses, but he still didn''t have a 100% sess rate, and he wasn''t sure how nerves may impact his performance.


    Kain ran into Bridge outside of the exam building. Due to the nature of many exams for various departments, istion between test-takers is necessary. Therefore, the majority of exams were held in a building with small individual rooms for each student.


    "How do you feel?" Kain asked.


    "Not sure¡­ most of them are okay, but smell is only 50/50. I wish we had more than 2 weeks to prepare."


    Kain nodded. Many students have had the chance to practice this for months already with their families. However, I guess he should be grateful that they are even giving them an opportunity to catch up and not just dive straight into the moreplicated lessons.


    After entering his assigned room, Kain sat at the sole desk in the room.


    Momentster a volunteer senior student came in to the room ced a test paper and a box on the desk, and then hung a poster and ced an open jar of liquid on the wall opposite him.


    "Proctors for this test will being to each room and cing your exam materials. Please note that at no time during this test, except explicitly stated otherwise, are you allowed to leave your seat. Nor are you allowed to utilise your spiritual power prior to the exam''s official start time.


    All rooms are heavily monitored and the inability to abide by these guidelines will result in immediate failure. The assessment will begin in exactly 5 minutes, and the duration is 1 hour." Professor Nightingale''s voice rang out from the speakers of each room.


    Exactly 5 minutester a notification to start the assessment began while a quiet humming appeared in the background.


    Kain decided to start with what was easiest for him¡ªsight. He looked at the test paper for directions.


    "Please write down all of the words that appear on the opposite poster below."


    Originally, the poster just looked nk, but upon enhancing his sight, he could see extremely tiny text in a font so small that it was hard to read even after the enhancement, and to make it even more difficult the text colour was only slightly off-white. Even after enhancing his sight, reading it all was a headache.


    However, Kain took his time writing down the short passage on the wall word for word. It appeared to be an excerpt from some historical text retelling the events of when Dark Moon College was first officially established.


    Sigh


    Kain''s head had already begun to pound and he''d only done one sense.


    He decided to focus on smell next. ording to the test paper, the jar opposite should be giving off a distinct odour that he must describe.


    However, even after enhancing his sense of smell¡­nothing.


    Therefore, he was forced to enhance the sense of smell even more until he felt as though he''d sneeze, but he finally smelled something. And it was horrible! How was she able to even suppress such a smell to where he had to work so hard to smell it?!


    The jar had a terrible stench of rotting fish and mildew. The smell was a nauseating blend of decay and sourness, like a forgotten dumpster left to fester in the summer heat.


    Looking at the test paper it appears as though he was required to write down therge number on the side of the jar, visible even without enhanced senses, and then circle a description for the smell from sweet, flowery, spicy, stinky, and musky.


    ''Did we all not get the same scent?! Don''t tell me others are getting to smell rosses while my nose is being wed at by this foul odour!''


    After circling his answer, he continued the directions on the test paper and lifted the box on his table to reveal a smooth white tile, and what looked to be a cracker.


    He smelled the cracker, but even with that sense enhanced got no clues. He then moved his spiritual power to his tongue and took only a tiny piece of the cracker off in case it tasted horrible.


    Surprisingly, it tasted as though he bit directly into a lemon. The tartness hit the pte with electrifying intensity, causing him to pucker his lips.


    Simrly, he got 5 options to choose from and a space to record the number on the box. He circled ''sour and citrusy.'' Looking at some of the less pleasant options avable he felt a little better about the previous attack on his nose.


    He was now more than halfway done and had 30 minutes left¡ªthe sight test took longer than expected.


    Unfortunately, the other 2 tests did not appear as though they''d be any quicker. ording to the test paper, the seemingly smooth surface should have an image on it.


    On the test paper was an empty box to draw the shape. Thankfully, although it did take a while to feel all of the details, it didn''t require the artistic talent of Picasso to draw the shape. It was simply a hexagon with 6 triangles projected from each side. At the tip of each triangr projection was a small circle. Now that Kain looked at it, it resembled a sheriff''s star badge.


    Now he had 18 minutes left ording to the timer on the wall.


    ording to the test paper the faint humming sound that began at the start of the test should actually be a voice repeating the same phrase over and over.


    "¡­stars¡­sweet¡­you¡­" Focusing on his hearing, Kain could only faintly make out some of the words. However, he could now tell that it appeared to be a nursery rhyme only about a minute long. Therefore he focused even harder at the cost of a splitting headache and was able to gradually make out the words:


    "Beasts and stars will sing you through,


    Nighttime''s magic all for you,


    Close your eyes and dream so sweet,


    Magic dreams are yours to meet¡­"


    After listening to it at least 12 times he was able to get the verses along with the chorus. It also had a slight trick at the end where the lyrics in thest chorus changed a bit. If a student decided to justzily right down the previous chorus lyrics they heard before at the end, they would lose valuable points.


    He had 3 minutes left, but was unable to leave unless authorized, therefor he spent the remaining time just going over his answers.


    "Time''s up! Please drop your writing utensils and immediately exit your exam room."

 Chapter 98: Chapter 98: A Grave Mistake

    Exiting the room Kain and the others had already decided to meet up at a caf¨¦ on campus for lunch.


    "So what vour did everybody get? Mine was disgustingly bitter." Elias said. His face even looked paler than usual, likely due to whatever vour he obtained.


    ''Nice to know I wasn''t the only one to suffer for the exam''


    "Mine was sour. It could have been worse. But I definitely got the worst smell avable"


    "Me too!" Yelled Leonara. "Jar number 3, right?"


    Kain nodded in agreement.


    "Was number 3 all of the bad ones? The super bitter cracker was also in box number 3."


    "My luck wasn''t so bad. I got scent number 4, which smelled likevender. And the number 1 cracker which honestly tasted delicious." Kain couldn''t help but re at Finn. This guy hadn''t had to suffer at all?! The test probably felt like a tea party in a flower garden for him.


    "What are all these numbers you guys are talking about?" Bridge interrupted.


    "Dude¡­the numbers that were on the jar and box for the test?" As Aiden answered, everyone turned to see clear confusion on Bridge''s face.


    "Please tell me that you are kidding me, Bridge. You did write down the numbers on the jar and box on the test paper, right?" Kain implored.


    "No¡­ were we supposed to?"


    Everyone at the table couldn''t help but burst intoughter. Aiden shook his head in disbelief, while Kain facepalmed, trying to suppress his chuckles. The other students around them snickered, some barely containing their amusement as they nced at Bridge''s puzzled expression.


    Bridge looked around, his face flushed with embarrassment as he realized the gravity of his mistake. "Wait a minute," he said, his voice faltering, "you''re telling me I won''t get any of those marks because I didn''t put down the numbers for the jars and boxes? That''s 3 out of 5 questions that I''ve failed!" His eyes widened as the realization sank in.


    "Yeah," Aiden replied, trying to hold back hisughter. "Without those numbers, the teacher can''t even tell which jar or box you were answering about. It''s like you left the answerspletely nk."


    Kain patted Bridge on the back infort, "It''s just the beginning of the year and there will definitely be more opportunities to bring your grade up to the minimum B."


    After the assessment, they continued to their Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamer''s course. The main topic for thest few weeks has been focused on understanding attribute interactions and their applications.


    Kain was especially interested in these lectures due to the mist he creates being an example of the fusion of two attributes¡ªwater and wind.


    The lecturer went into depth about how the different attributes interact can create a synergistic effect greater than the sum of their parts. For instance,bining light and healing skills to create powerful restorative spells or integrating water and earth skills to create mud and change the terrain for strategic purposes.


    Due to beast-tamers being responsible for multiple contracts, it is a waste to think of them independently. Therefore, if Kain wanted to ensure his sess in the re-ranking, or even at the national tournament, he must begin to explore how the different skills of his contracts may enhance one another.


    Thankfully, this course gave him some brilliant ideas. The professor went into depth analyzing historical cases where thebinations of attributes and skills have yed a critical role in legendary battles or the creation of revolutionary inventions.


    For example, in the absence of a creature like the Desphid that destroys crops, famines are now extremely rare due to the creation of artifacts thatbine earth, wind, and water attribute sigils to manipte soil and weather conditions in a small area.


    He also went into detail about historical examples of failed attribute fusions with unintended disastrous consequences.


    The most famous example was the Eclipse of Serenis. Before the establishment of the empire, beast attacks were moremon on city-states. Therefore beast-tamers of one city-state, Serenis, wished tobine the dark and light attributes to create an all-epassing shield that could protect an entire city. They believed that the bnce of light and darkness would result in an imprable barrier.


    And if done correctly, the perfect fusion of opposing attributes can be incredibly powerful. Unfortunately, they were not precise enough in the techniques. Instead of a bnced shield, the sh between the opposing energies created an unstable vortex that began to absorb everything in its vicinity.


    The city was engulfed by this vortex, which drew in both light and matter, causing widespread destruction and leaving the city in ruins. Survivors reported the area bing a barren wastnd with severe elemental anomalies.


    Naturally, Kain doesn''t n to do anything as ambitious as forming a shield over a city. But the current attributes he has ess to¡ªwater, mental, wind, and life¡ªmay be able to exert an effect of 1 + 1 is greater than 2, if he uses them correctly.


    Therefore, in addition to increasing his contracts'' raw strength, he will need to focus on improving their teamwork as well. Heck, when he goes on the uing group mission, it may also be an opportunity to experiment with thebination of skills between his contracts and Bridge and the others''.


    Speaking of, after finishing up the remainder of the week, Friday morning Kain left with Bridge and the others to Moonvale vige, the location of their first mission. The vige''s main source of ie was the spiritual nts that the vigers grew, which is precisely why this infestation was so devastating.


    Unfortunately, because the roads there were not paved and required driving through dense parts of the forest, using a much faster motor vehicle was not possible.


    However, the college also asionally bought spiritual nts from that vige, and a group of workers will be travelling there that morning.


    After paying 1000 CD each in order to hitch a ride along, they all boarded the spiritual beast carriages and headed on their way to the vige.

 Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Ambush

    The sun dipped below the horizon, casting an amber glow over the dense forest as Kain and his friends settled into the spiritual beast carriage.


    The rhythmic tter of wheels on the track filled the air, blending with the murmured conversations of the group. Everyone was very rxed. The journey to Moonvale vige was expected to be smooth, and the mission ahead clear and straightforward, especially with the help of Bea.


    Kain sent his consciousness into thearium to not waste time on the trip that he could be practicing. Bridge, had released both Lady and Princess and was fussing over them.


    The twins Aiden and Addison were deep in discussion about thetest gossip they had heard; Leonara, looked serene as always, but especially so when taking a nap like she was currently; Finn, absorbed in his own thoughts; and Elias appeared to be ying a game of chess against himself with a board that appeared out of nowhere.


    However, despite their separate actions, the sense of camaraderie among them was palpable. As was their collective excitement about the uing mission mixed with a tangible sense of anticipation.


    Suddenly, the peaceful journey was shattered by a deafening roar.


    From the dense forests ahead, a pack of rogue spiritual beasts emerged, their eyes glinting with hunger.


    The workers on the carriage exchanged rmed nces and sprang into action. "Stay back!" one of them shouted, his voice tense. "This is a dangerous situation!"


    Attacking the carriages were a group of red and orange-grade creatures from several species:Hungralisks¡ªmassive, serpent-like creatures with razor-sharp teeth and mouth sorge they could easily swallow a full-grown man in one bite; Brambleskins¡ªa stout, thorn-covered creatures resembling a walking thorn bush thatunched spikes like projectiles and manipted the surrounding vegetation to attack; and Shadews¡ªnimble, feline-type spiritual creatures with dark fur that seem to absorb all light, that were asionally unleashing disorienting bursts of shadows to confuse the workers.


    "Stay inside!" one of the workers barked at Kain and his friends. "It''s unnecessary for paying customers to step in!"


    "I thought different species of spiritual creatures only work together in the event of a beast tide?" Leonara questioned within the carriage.


    "They usually do¡­unless they are that desperate for food and resources. This doesn''t bode well. There may be another beast tide within the next year," Aiden said solemnly.


    "But wasn''t there one justst year? They used it for the previous entrance exam." Bridge questioned.


    "Yeah¡­ and there''s usually at least 3 to 5 years between them. But they have apparently been picking up in frequencytely, but another one in less than 2 years must be a record¡­I wonder what the reason is?"


    The workers, though experienced, were clearly overwhelmed.


    Their variety of contracts deployed barriers and elemental skills, but the relentless assault of the rogue beasts made it clear they needed more help.


    There were at least 16 creatures attacking. A Hungralisk had wrapped its coils around the wheels of the carriage, and the Shadews'' shadows were causing chaos. The Brambleskins hurled thorns and created barriers of tangled vines, furtherplicating the workers'' efforts.


    Despite the workers telling them to stay in the carriage, Kain and hispanions could see the severity of the situation. The carriage was being battered, and the workers struggled to maintain control. It was clear that they needed to step in.


    Kain immediately released all of his Vespirae guards, now the full 12, who quickly flew through the field and began sniping at the attackers with their ejected stingers. He didn''t release a Bea containing mist to not reduce visibility for the workers and further endanger them.


    Bridge sprang into action next, releasing Lady, who promptly darted around the battlefield with breathtaking speed, her incredible agility allowing her to evade a Hungralisk''s attacks before counterattacking.


    Aiden and Addison, each called upon their contracts to target the surrounding Brambleskins. Like themselves, they also had simr contracts, bound to wind and fire sprites, respectively.


    The Wind Sprite soared through the air, its wind sts sending the searing mes produced by the Fire Sprite flying above the battlefield at the Brambleskins, incinerating their thorny projectiles and forcing several to retreat with the overwhelming ze.


    Leonara''s contract, a light-attribute butterfly the Aurelia, soared high with its wings emitting brilliant beams of light that cut through the darkness and inhibited the creation of shadows by the Shadews. Aurelia''s light not only dispelled the shadows cast by the Shadews but also had a calming effect on the minds of the scared and disoriented workers below.


    Finn summoned an ice-attribute serpent, a Frostfang. Biting into the Hungralisk wrapped around the carriage, it caused it to be afflicted by an icy chill that hindered its further constricting, buying time for Elias to take action before the carriage was permanently damaged.


    However, Elias'' contract was probably the most surprising. In contrast to his sombre appearance, he was bound to arge ball of cotton withrge drowsy-looking eyes, a Slumberpuff. Pieces of fluff began to stick to the Hungralisk wrapped around the carriage. Gradually, its eyes also began to look as drowsy as the Slumberpuff''s.


    The battle was intense, but thebined efforts of Kain''s group and the workers eventually began to turn the tide. Bridge took out his heavy sword and began to chop therge snake wrapped around the carriage''s wheel into pieces. The Shadew, once a formidable opponent, was repelled by Aurelia''s radiant light.


    Addison and Aiden''sbined attacks sessfully subdued the Brambleskins, rendering them harmless.


    Exhausted but victorious, Kain and his friends helped secure the carriage and assess the damage.


    The workers, though relieved, were visibly shaken. However, they did not scold Kain and the others for going against their instructions, and thanked them for their timely assistance.


    Although they knew they were students at a top 5 college, in the face of a group of orange-grade beasts, they had not expected the group of 2-star beast tamers with only red-grade contracts to actually be the key to turning the tides of the battle.


    As the carriage resumed its journey to Moonvale vige, Kain and the others reflected on the unexpected battle.


    The ambush gave them a chance to better understand each other''s abilities, and though it had dyed their progress, they were more prepared for their future missions.

 Chapter 100: Chapter 100: Moonvale Village

    Thankfully, the rest of their journey to Moonvale Vige was uneventful.


    The vale was a serene haven nestled within a lush valley, surrounded by towering, mountains that rose majestically all around it.


    The mountains created a natural barrier that sheltered the vige, giving it an almost enchanting quality.


    They were arriving early in the morning, so the vale was bathed in a soft, warm light.


    The vige itself was a picturesque gathering of quaint, charming cottages with thatched roofs and stone walls covered in climbing ivy. Wooden beams and colorful flower boxes add a touch of warmth and homeliness to the architecture.


    Cobblestone pathways wind through the vige, leading to small, well-tended gardens and a central square where vigers gather. The air was filled with the sweet, fresh scent of blooming flowers and herbs, although this pleasant aroma was now marred by a faint, unpleasant odour caused by decaying spiritual nts.


    Next to the vige was arge field. As Kain and the others approached the field they saw arge variety of spiritual nts.


    These nts, which range from tall, luminescent grasses to delicate, glowing flowers, add to the vale''s enchanting atmosphere. However, the beauty of these nts had beenpromised by an infestation of small insects crawling all over¡ªDesphids.


    They were small, white translucent bugs with a soft, glowing sheen. They are clustered inrge numbers on the nts, feeding on their essence and causing significant damage.


    The nts'' once vivid colours had faded, their leaves now covered with brown and yellow patches, and many had gaping holes where the Desphids had fed. The damage was particrly severe in some areas, where entire patches of nts were wilting, their vitality sapped by the feeding insects.


    Someone must have notified the vigers that a mission had been taken up by Dark Moon students because they began to gather inrge numbers outside of the field.


    They turned questioningly to the vige chief who had escorted them to the field upon their arrival.


    "Please forgive them. The spiritual nts are the main source of ie for the vige, so everyone is incredibly concerned with the eradication of these pests. They are also worried about your chances of sess.


    After all, it''s been a while since help was requested from the College, but it doesn''t seem as though this is an easy problem to solve even for you top 5 college students," the chief exined.


    At his words, everyone began to look graver and more burdened by their mission. The livelihoods of all these people depended on them. Then they all turned to Kain. They had been apprehensive themselves about epting this mission but had chosen to do so due to Kain''s confidence in being able to remove the infestation.


    Without another word, Kain inputted his spiritual power to cause a mist to spread throughout the field.


    It was difficult to see deep into the mist, but those watching saw that almost instantly wherever the mist passed the bugs began to drop off the nts quickly.


    The mist was unable to cover the entire field at once, only about a third. Therefore, Kain began to slowly walk into the field where the mist had already passed.


    Until eventually, every inch of the entire field had been covered once by the mist. However, to make absolutely sure, Kain continued to do several more loops around the field to ensure not a single Desphid escaped.


    After receiving further confirmation from Bea that none appeared to be alive still, he withdrew the mist. Finally, the others were able to see the now-uninfested nts.


    All of the soil was now covered in the translucent shiny insects that fell to the ground, appearing like snowkes. Despite their immense destruction, they were quite beautiful.


    Seeing all of the dead bodies, everyone watching appeared hopeful but also doubtful. If even one managed to escape, they''d have another infestation in a few weeks.


    "Are you confident?" The vige chief asked hesitantly.


    "I can''t say for 100% certain that every single one is dead. However, if another infestation does ur, I will provide my contact details and return for free if it is necessary. Hopefully, by that time my spiritual power would have also increased to a level that I can cover this whole field."


    Kain hoped that this answer was satisfactory. After all, this chief would need to sign off on theirpletion of the mission for them to receive the credits.


    The chief held Kain''s gaze for almost a full minute before nodding and turning to the vigers "The infestation is gone!"


    After his words, the Moonvale vigers erupted into a jubnt celebration to honour Kain and his friends.


    The vige square, which had been sombre and subdued during the infestation, now brimmed with life and festivity. Lanterns crafted from luminescent blossoms were hung from every avable surface, casting a soft, enchanting glow that bathed the entire area in a warm, golden light.


    The soft, melodious chords of traditional music filled the air, yed by local musicians using instruments crafted from natural materials and enchanted with sigils to enhance their effect on the listener.


    Vigers, adorned in colourful, handwoven garments and floral gands, danced with infectious joy. Their movements were fluid and graceful, reflecting the rhythmic beauty of the music.


    The centrepiece of the celebration was a grand feast set out on long, wooden tables covered with intricately embroidered cloths. Traditional Moonvale foods and spiritual wines were prominently disyed on the table.


    The most prominentponent of the table was the Moonlight Elixir; a sparkling wine infused with the essence of moonflowers, a low-level spiritual nt known to have a soothing effect on the mind. Its vour is crisp and refreshing, with hints of citrus and a touch of sweetness.


    Sipping the wine, Kain was suddenly struck by the idea, that his affinity is perfectly suited for the production of wines, beers and other fermented products. Perhaps he could consider this avenue for ie in the future.


    After they finished with the festivities, they retired to the rooms the vigers assigned them to. The first mission they took up was easier than they all anticipated due to Kain, but the second mission would surely be much more difficult.

 Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Pterix Hunting

    After a night well rested, Kain and the others set off for the location of their second mission¡ªLunar Peak.


    Only a 2-hour ride on Night Mares, the towering mountain was shrouded in a soft, mist veil that gave it an otherworldly appearance. Thatbined with the smooth, silvery rockposing majority of the mountain that shimmered under the sunlight, one could imagine for beautiful it''d look under the moonlight¡ªlikely being the cause for its name.


    The Lunar Peak sits at the intersection of 4 viges including Moonvale Vige and holds great significance for all viges. It is considered a sacred ce, and various lunar festivals and ceremonies are held at its base or even at its summit, depending on the time of year. The peak is associated with wisdom, tranquility, and the moon''s mystical powers.


    Additionally, historically the affinity ceremony for all 4 viges'' children are held together at this very mountain each year.


    However, recently a flock of Tempest Pterix, mostly all orange-grade juveniles but led by one adult yellow-grade, have settled into the top of the mountain, preventing the viges from holding this year''s Lunar Radiance Festival in a week.


    Therefore, it was urgent that this group either be driven away or, preferably, eradicated.


    As they approached the mountain, even from far away they could asionally see some Pterix take flight and circle the mountain. They were easy to spot due to the impressive wingspans. Each wing is probably longer than 2 Kains lying down.


    As they got closer, they were able to make out more details, especially after enhancing their eyesight as they had learned in ss.


    The feathers of the Tempest Pterix were a mesmerizing blend of electric blue and stormy gray, interspersed with streaks of bright, lightning-yellow. The feathers had a metallic sheen, especially around the edges, giving them a slightly reflective quality that glimmers in the light.


    Indicative of their penchant forunching devastating lightning bolts at targets, there were faint, glowing veins running through their feathers, which pulse with a soft, electric blue light.


    One of them likely spotted Kain''s group in return and suddenly a chorus of loud screeches began to sound out. Possibly to inform the others of the group that they hadpany, or it could have been directed at Kain''s group as a warning to not approach any closer¡ªa warning they would obviously not follow.


    Likely seeing that the intruders were still approaching, they grew louder in agitation, and Kain and the others could see the distinctive crest of feathers on their heads begin to stand erect from the static electricity like a mane when it prepared to attack. The crest feathers were a vibrant, electrifying yellow and often crackled energy.


    "Ready? We follow the n," Kain said. On the 2-hour walk over they had each summarized their contracts'' abilities to better help toe up with a n for battle. Although obviously nobody probably disclosed everything. Although friends they were also all opponents in the next re-ranking.


    Without warning, a powerful gust of wind swept through the trees, causing them to sway violently. The sudden shift in the air was apanied by the thunderous pping of wings. Five Pterix had decided tounch an attack and were swiftly headed towards them.


    Kain covered their group in mist to obscure their ability to aim at them. Unfortunately, he could not extend the mist to fully cover the mountain or those in the sky, only able to prevent the Pterix from urately aiming at them.


    The first Tempest Pterix descended like a bolt from the blue, unleashing a powerful lightning strike that sizzled through the air and struck the ground near Kain and his friends. Thankfully, they had all moved from their original spots otherwise it would have hit Finn straight-on.


    Still they could feel the force of the blow as the ground erupted in a shower of sparks and debris, sending the group scrambling for cover. The Tempest Pterix''s electric aura crackled menacingly as the creatures flew overhead.


    Within the mist, the others'' contracts were already prepared for battle. Not able to afford to hold back against an orange-grade opponent, Kain not only released the guards, but also Queen, who promptly used her skill to boost their abilities.


    Due to Lady not having any long-range skills currently, Bridge was relying mostly on Princess in this battle, while Lady remained in wait in the mist. Simr to the battle against the wasps, Princess used a skill to drastically decrease the temperature in the area. Kain could see the wings of one Pterix being covered in frost as it frantically pped its wings to stay in the air.


    Aiden''s Wind Sprite, soared into the fray, summoning powerful gusts to deflect the Pterix''s lightning although, due to the gap in power between them, the sprite could only slightly alter the course of each strike. Still, its control over the wind allowed it to alter the course of several attacks and shield her allies from the worst of the storm.


    Addison and Leonara''s contracts, being the only other ones that can fly,unched a coordinated assault on another Pterix. The goal of all of the flying contracts was cause the Pterix high above to sink into the mist, where Kain''s "poison" in the mist will be able to affect them.


    Surprisingly, Princess was the first to achieve sess, likely due to her Absolute Zero passive skill that made all skills sheunched even colder than average. A Pterix with frosted wings finally sank into the mist and Bea was able to infect it.


    However, as an orange-grade creature, Bea couldn''t kill it directly. However, she was able to affect it severely enough by impeding its sense of bnce so that it could not fly up, and slowly sank to the ground. In wait was Elias'' Slumberpuff, who began to make it drowsy by covering it in pieces of fluff.


    This contract works perfect with Bea, once the target began to be dazed, Bea found it a lot easier to affect. Soon, it was in aa on the ground and a waiting Vespirae guard, already boosted by Queen ended with a shot to the head.


    *Ding. Host has killed one orange-grade spiritual beast.*


    After the attack on the way to Moonvale Vige, Kain had alreadypleted the missions of killing 10 orange-grade and red-grade creatures once each, giving him over 400 GP. After this battle, he may be able toplete the mission for hunting orange-grade beasts a second time to receive another 350 GP.


    Good thing too, since he hadn''t had any opportunities to increase GP while at school and he was left quite poor after the upgrade.

 Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Pterix Hunting (2)

    They continued a simr strategy of Princess, some of the Vespirae guards, and Addison and Leonara''s contracts working together to drop them into the mist where Slumberpuff and Bea will then make them sink to the ground in a daze. Aiden''s contract will deflect any attacks aimed at their contracts fighting above.


    Then on the ground the finishing blow was dealt either by the remaining 3 Vespirae guards in the mist, Lady, or Finn''s contracts¡ªFrostfang, who Kain had seen before, and a Terravipe, an earth-attribute snake.


    In no time the five Pterix were cleared. However, they knew that this was just the warm-up. They had still not seen the yellow-grade adult supposed to be leading the flock. Also, there were probably more orange and red-grade juvenile Pterix on the mountain.


    Before the team could even catch their breath, the air around them began to stir ominously. The sky darkened, and the once-clear atmosphere grew charged with energy.


    A low, rumbling growl reverberated from the direction of Lunar Peak, the towering mountain that looms in the background.


    A Tempest Pterix at least double the size of the others quickly descended the mountain in their direction with a fierce screech that echoed across the vale, signaling its anger and intent. The creature''s eyes were aze with a fiery intensity, and its wings crackled with electrical energy.


    Lagging behind it were 3 additional, much smaller reinforcements. Kain used more of his spiritual power to make the mist as dense as possible. He could feel the immense pressure from where he stood. If he was alone, he''d feel as hopeless as he did when attacked by the White Widow the first time.


    To eliminate the subordinates as quickly as possible, Princess and the waspsunched attacks to cause them sink rapidly into the mist.


    The quickest of those on the ground, Lady quickly sped up to where theynded and snapped the neck of two, only leaving one for a Vespirae to finish off.


    ''My GP points!'' Kain thought in tears. But he couldn''t dwell on it too long before more serious matters.


    ''Now is the hard part, how do we bring it down?''


    "Try aiming for one of its wings! The right one!" Kain shouted. If they could damage a wing, it shouldn''t be able to continue flying.


    Immediately, everyone who had a contract with a long-distance attack aimed for the wing on the right¡­except for Bridge who directed Princess to attack the other wing.


    Kain couldn''t help but stare at him nkly, as Bridge blushed. "I-I wasn''t sure if you meant our right or its right¡­"


    "OUR RIGHT!"


    Unfortunately, their attacks didn''t have any effect except to piss it off.


    "Hmm¡­" Kain needed to drastically increase their strength to leave a heavy enough blow. But how?


    Suddenly he remembered the wasps'' berserker skill that could only be activated when Queen was in danger. Struck by an idea on how to activate this skill when he wanted, Kain directed Eve to leave Queen''s body.


    Immediately he could sense an intense rejection for the order from hid contract. After all, although Queen''s life was dependent on Eve, Eve was as dependent on Queen after the establishment of the secondary contract.


    Whimper


    Queen couldn''t help but let a stifled noise out as her strength began to fade. Immediately the guards sensed the change and their eyes began to slowly change from ck to red.


    "Hurry!" Kain yelled, "It''s doing something to Queen."


    Not questioning his words with their reduced intelligence, and also not thinking he could have anything to do with Queen''s reduction in strength due to the contract between the two that they sensed, they immediately turned in anger to face the Pterix.


    When their eyes were fully red, the Berserk state was activated and all of their stats doubled.


    Boom


    Screech!


    The next strike tond on the Pterix left a blood hole in its wing, but it was still not enough to bring it down.


    "Aim for the right wing again, everyone!" Kain directed.


    Scrreeeechhh!


    Finally, the head of the flock crashed down to the earth. But it was far from defenceless. Instead, it began tounch lightning strikes all around it with abandon. After all, it did not need to worry about any of its children still being alive in the mist.


    Even after having the blows diverted by the Wind Sprite and barely sessfully dodging the attack, Kain and the others were still injured from therge debris flying from where the attacks hit the ground.


    The lightning was so dense around the Pterix that they couldn''t even get a solid blow to it.


    ''We need to interrupt the attacks''


    "Elias! Can you give me some of your contract''s puffs?" After receiving an affirmative nod from him he put some into a satchel he pulled out of a space ring and handed it over to Kain.


    "Make sure not to let them touch you!"


    Kain then had the now-strengthened guards carry him on their backs towards the Pterix. After all, unlike the others who could not afford the permanent loss of a contract, rendering the star space housing that contract useless, the guards were expendable to Kain. They weren''t his primary or even secondary contract, and with enough time Queen is able to produce more of them.


    They quickly sped toward the Pterix while acting as Kain''s ride and shield


    Bang


    One down


    Bang Bang


    Another two lost.


    By the time Kain was close enough to throw the satchel at the Pterix he had lost half of the guards, leaving him with only 6.


    However, they had yed their role. The pieces of fluff covered the Pterix, but only had a marginal effect on slowing down its rate of attack, but Kain had never intended to rely on that anyways.


    Kain then abandoned his control of the mist, allowing it to begin dispersing away, and input the rest of his spiritual power in the armor he wore to trigger a mental attack. At the same time, Bea also put all of her energy into stopping its movements.


    For a brief moment, it went still.


    "Attack now!" Kain yelled, before dropping to the ground to dodge the attacks that soon came. This was their only shot. He hoped that they would seed.

 Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Harvest

    *Ding. Host has killed one yellow-grade spiritual beast. Would Host like to start a mission for 1500 GP or receive the 100 GP for 1 kill immediately?*


    ''Well, how nice of you to ask¡­maybe it''s because it senses that killing yellow-grade creatures is not amon urrence for me'' Kain thought.


    ''I will collect them now.'' He didn''t foresee being able toplete 10 kills soon anyways, and he may need the GP before he couldplete the mission.


    With that notification, Kain could confirm that the Pterix was dead. Thankfully, it appears as though one of waspsnded the finishing blow.


    After receiving the notification, he had Eve return to Queen''s body. The life energy that immediately flooded her removed any lingering weakness.


    "Is it dead?" Finn asked hesitantly. It seems as though he had also learned the hard way at some point that spiritual beasts may fake death to deal a final blow.


    "Yes it''s dead. Don''t worry, my contract has a way to sense the life force of spiritual creatures." Kain made up an exnation to put everyone at ease.


    Everyone couldn''t help but immediate sag in relief and begin tending to their wounds. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured from direct hits, but the debris had definitely caused many cuts and bruises to the group.


    Aurelia thankfully was able to heal such simple wounds quickly with a burst of a light-attribute skill.


    While everyone was rposing themselves, perhaps as an upational habit, Kain couldn''t help dragging his exhausted body to begin breaking down the Pterix bodies into parts. Especially since he knew that even the parts of orange-grade spiritual creatures had given him 7 figures before, much less the parts from a yellow-grade spiritual creature.


    He took special care to extract the spiritual power orb that remained after death only in creatures yellow-grade and above. He learned during his first few nner courses that this was a key evolutionary material.


    After breaking down the parts of the yellow-grade Pterix leader and its 10 underlings, the parts were ced into all of their spiritual rings, leaving most of them with not much space remaining.


    "I know we''re all tired, but we need to examine the mountains for any other Pterix. The mission is to make sure we get rid of ALL of them." Aiden said.


    Everyone nodded tiredly in agreement and began to head up the mountain.


    All along the way they didn''t see any more Pterix, but they couldn''t help but admire the incredible views. Looking down they could faintly see 4 viges in each cardinal direction.


    One vige surrounded by spiritual nts¡ªMoonvale. One sitting on the edge of a tranquilke, which was sparkling under the midday sun¡ªMoonspring Vige. One was harder to see than the other three, surrounded perpetually by mist¡ªMistmoon Vige. And one was surroundedpletely by lush trees, with even the homes appearing to be integrated with the forestry¡ªGreenmoon Vige.


    "So beautiful¡­" Leonara whispered. And everyone else also agreed.


    Near the peak of the mountain they spotted a giant nest resting on the edge of a cliff. It wasposed of from a variety of branches and spiritual nts, and insideid 3rge eggs that reached up to Kain''s knee.


    Each egg was a deep azure colour, with intricate patterns resembling lightning bolts and storm clouds etched into its surface.


    Among the other two that were still, one egg would asionally pulse with a faint, electric glow, a sign that it will soon emerge.


    "What do we do with these?" Bridge questioned.


    "Well, we can''t leave them here. Once they hatch they will continue to be a nuisance for the vigers. We need to take them back to the college, we can then exchange the eggs for credits from the school and split them." Kain replied.


    "Actually¡­I may want to bind one." Aiden said, "I haven''t found a suitable second contract yet and it meets the conditions of my affinity. Also, I could do a lot worse than a contract of gold-quality. It also has a lightning-attribute along with the wind-attribute, and since I have a wind attribute affinity its dual attributes will give my lineup some diversity. I won''t be unfair to you all.


    Once we find out much credit we can get for each egg, I''ll pay you guys that same amount to split"


    Everyone nodded. There was no problem with that n.


    Excitedly, Aiden took the initiative to carry the egg close to hatching, while Bridge and Kain carried the other two down the mountain before loading them on the Night Mares they had stashed further from the base of the mountain to avoid them dying in the aftermath of the battle.


    Then they headed back to the vige. Thanks to their removal of the infestation, there were still some spiritual nts that could be harvested for the college workers, although their quality and quantity was lower than usual.


    Therefore, Kain and the others did not need to worry about their transportation back to the college.


    The trip back to the college was uneventful aside from the one Pterix egg hatching. Since they''d all already agreed to leave the egg to Aiden, he immediately just signed a contract with it, while once again reaffirming to the others that he''d pay them back at campus.


    Simrly, due to his Evolutionary nner major, Kain also mentioned wanting to keep the yellow-grade spiritual power orb. The others didn''t seem to know the purpose of the orb, even the well-informed Aiden and Addison, and allowed Kain to keep it after getting it appraised and exchanging some credits with each of them.


    Unable to resist the allure of credits that can be used to increase their strength, after quickly turning over a signed statement from the vige chief to confirm theirpletion of the first mission and confirming theirpletion of the second mission, they went to an exchange hall to sell all of the parts.


    Each of the orange-grade bodies gave around 100 credits, and the yellow-grade body provided approximately 500 credits, even after Kain removed the valuable spiritual power orb, which was worth around 100 credits alone.


    ''It seems that the bodies obtained from hunting missions are much more valuable than the mission itself,'' Kain thought. Noting to take more such hunting missions in the future.


    Each of the two eggs was also worth 600 credits due to their being future high-potential contracts for Dark Moon students, they were even more valuable than the full-grown body of their parent.


    It was more expensive than expected, and Aiden was forced to remove some objects for exchange from his space ring in order to make up for the gap in credits.


    However, despite having all of his newly obtained credits being sent to Kain and the others, Aiden did not regret his new contract. After all, exchanging for a young Pterix from the school would probably cost more than 600 creditster on.


    After Kain also paid the others for the spiritual orb he took, Kain was left with around 450 credits from the exchanged materials and thepletion of the mission. However, to have a better understanding of the value of over 400 credits, he''d need to look at what was avable for exchange from the college.

 Chapter 104: Chapter 104: The Principles of Evolution

    At the exchange hall, simr to the mission hall, there were sectioned-offrge electronic screens separated by privacy screens, that would allow students to search for what they need a lot more efficiently than browsing shelves of items.


    Kain looked at the armours and weapons to get a judgement of how much school credits were worth inparison to Celestial Dors.


    2-star armours and weapons would usually cost between 300,000 and 1 million CD, depending on its material, effects and number of sigils.


    However, at the exchange hall they could be exchanged for 300 to 500 credits. Therefore, Kain concluded that school credits were each worth around 1000 CD.


    Finally, having an idea of their value, Kain went to the sectionbelled as evolutionary materials.


    As silver-quality creatures, Eve and the Vespiraewould not reach much of a bottleneck when advancing to orange-grade. However, Bea, after absorbing a lot of spiritual power on their recent missions, was quickly approaching her limit. Kain needed to start nning for her evolution. Fortunately, he wouldn''t waste the materials in vain with the Simtor provided by the System.


    During his first few lectures as an Evolutionary nner they focused on identifying the necessaryponents of an evolution n and even had an assignment rted to it.


    Therefore, in contrast to when he threw together random materials to hope for a sessful evolution in the Simtor, Kain now at least had some theory to support him.


    The firstponent was the Spiritual Power Source, during the process of evolution, contracts are not able to absorb spiritual power from the surroundings to support the evolution.


    Therefore, one of the materials provided must have a sufficient amount of energy to allow them to upgrade to a higher quality. If there is not enough energy then the evolution will fail, or an unfavorable evolution not higher in quality will ur; like what happened during Kain''s evolution of Lumifin to Gloomtail.


    The best such energy source was the spiritual power orb obtained from yellow-grade and higher spiritual creatures. However, the use of such a high quality orb was often considered wasteful at lower levels, therefore the empire had managed to produce artificial spiritual power orbs to support the evolutions of ck-iron, Bronze, and Silver quality creatures.


    However, since Kain already had a yellow-grade orb, he figured he might as well use it. Bea deserved the best.


    The nextponent is the Evolutionary Catalyst. It is what destabilizes the gics of a spiritual creature enough to allow evolution to take ce. They may be magical elixirs produced by pharmacists or a natural material.


    However, the level of the elixir must increase with the quality of the contract you hope to upgrade. Therefore, very few pharmacists in the empire are at a high enough level to allow the evolution of contracts past Gold-quality.


    However, as a top 5 college Dark Moon College naturally has ess to the top pharmacists in the empire to support their students'' contracts'' evolutions well beyond Gold-quality.


    However, after a certain point obtaining a high enough level elixir will be so rare that another option such as ancient artifacts or powerful natural substances will be usually used as a catalyst.


    The finalponent needed is the Evolutionary Base Material.


    This is the material that actually serves as the basis for the final evolutionary form and there may be more than one in an evolution n.


    However, care must be taken to make sure they do not impede one another otherwise the evolution may fail and lead to the materials being wasted, or worse a disadvantageous evolution.


    The base material often depends on the spiritual creature. For example, spiritual creatures such as elemental sprites, which are energy forms, usually rely on elemental crystals.


    Most beast-type spiritual creatures usually rely on the core body parts of much more powerful spiritual creatures.


    These 3ponents are the minimum three requirements to have even a sliver of hope of evolving.


    However, some evolutions may also have environmental requirements, needing the evolution to ur in areas with high enough elemental energy to be supplied during the process.


    Kain currently needs a catalyst and base material.


    However, thankfully as a student of a top 5 college, catalysts will be supplied for each contract for free once he can prove that he his contract has reached the limit of its potential and he has an evolutionary n signed by a nner.


    Thankfully, as a student of the nner major he can easily get a professor to sign off on his own n.


    In fact, beast-tamer students in the nner major are strongly encouraged toe up with ns for their own contracts.


    Therefore, all Kain needs is a suitable base material.


    Scrolling through the base materials avable, Kain could see that majority were mostly for the mostmon elemental attributes such as fire, water, and wind-attributes.


    Which is understandable because most of the moremon creatures hunted to obtain these materials were probably of elemental attributes.


    After applying a filter only for mental-attribute materials, there were only 7 materials avable. At least among what Kain had ess to. He was sure that the school had materials with a higher level that could only be exchanged by students after making extraordinary contributions.


    One such exchange opportunity was apparently given depending on their performance at the National Competition.


    The five avable materials were:


    Psionic Crystal - A rare crystal imbued with concentrated psychic energy from an orange-grade creature, enhancing intellectual and telepathic abilities during evolution.


    Neural Fiber - Extracted from a highly intelligent mental-attribute an orange-grade spiritual creature, this material aids in the development of advancing intelligence during evolution.


    Eye of Illusion - A gem-like eye derived from a yellow-grade spiritual creature skilled in weaving illusions. It enhances a creature''s ability to create and perceive illusions, making it ideal for evolution focused on illusionary skills.


    Dreamweaver''s Silk Core- The core of an orange-grade dreamweaving spiders'' silk-spinning organs, enhancing a creature''s ability to enter and manipte dreams.


    Subliminal Orb ¨C An orb obtained from an orange-grade spiritual creature skilled at subtly altering the perceptions and subconscious of those nearby, enhancing the creature''s ability to subtly influence and manipte others.


    Mindleech Vine ¨C A rare yellow-grade spiritual nt vine who feeds via its tendrils ensnaring passing prey and then consuming their memories. All those caught by Mindleech Vines be permanently amnesic at best and brain-dead at worst.


    Cerebral Core - The central nervous systemponent of a powerful yellow-grade mental creature, providing a solid foundation and increasing the chances of sess during evolution for those with a mental-attribute.

 Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Evolution Simulations

    Kain was hesitant to choose any of them. After all, he may have an idea of what their effect on Bea'' evolution would be, but he couldn''t know for sure until the evolution waspleted.


    Thankfully, he had the simtor.


    Since the area was enclosed, he decided to briefly head into the Laboratory to see if he could use the GP he recently collected to run some simtions for Bea.


    However, while several new evolutionary materials were added after their travelling during the missions, such as the yellow-grade Pterix Spiritual Power Orb, none of the mental-attribute materials he was currently looking at were in the System.


    Kain realized that he must see an object in person before he could have it added to the Simtor. <span style="disy:none;">


    Therefore, with hope Kain went to the only employee currently in the Exchange Hall.


    "Is there any chance that I could see some of the evolutionary materials in person?"


    "Why?" The worker looked at Kain puzzledly. This wasn''t an unheard of request, but it was usually only used for weapons so that the student could feel the weapon in their hands before making the purchase. After all, a description on the screen will only tell you so much.


    If the weapon''s weight ends up being too much or the grip is ufortable, then it''d actually be detrimental to theirbat strength.


    Evolutionary materials though had no such concerns. Pretty much all the information one would need would be in the description, and nothing more would be determined by seeing it in person.


    "W-Well I need to see them because¡­" Suddenly Kain was reminded of Eve''s reaction to that seed, "I am a nner major and I had heard that in rare cases spiritual creatures will be instinctively drawn to materials extremely beneficial to them. On the off chance that my contract has a reaction to one and I pick something else because I thought it was better, I''d regret it."


    "You do know that such instances are extremely rare?" The worker replied. Collecting multiple materials from the back just for an experiment, although not hard, was an annoyance for someone not paid a lot.


    Kain also guessed the likely reason for his reluctance, "I''d greatly appreciate it. For your great service, I''d also be willing to tip you 10¡­no 15 credits!" Kain internally cried at having to spend even more credits.


    The worker was finally moved to action. 15 credits were more than he could obtain from a Bronze rank mission, and he''d receive them just for collecting 7 materials from a back room, no danger involved.


    Soon 7 materials were ced in front of him. As he expected, Bea did not have an intense feeling of hunger, but he had gotten what he wanted. Now all materials should be avable in the simtor.


    "Unfortunately, there is no draw to any of them. Thank you for your service" The worker wasn''t surprised by Kain''sck of sess, but why should he dissuade a fool willing to pay him just to test it out?


    Kain then went back behind a privacy screen to re-enter the Laboratory.


    This was only his second time using it, but his knowledge since the first time had already grown greatly.


    After this trip, he had obtained 570 GP. Adding to the 180 GP he already had, he now had 750 GP. Just enough to test each of the 7 materials once.


    ''Although I will bepletely penniless after doing so.''


    Kain selected the Brain-Eating Amoeba as his subject of Simtion.


    This time he made sure to select a Spiritual Power orb, and a catalyst that had been shown to the students in one of his nner courses.


    Now it was time for the truly important part, what would serve as the blueprint for the final evolutionary form, the Base Material.


    The Psionic Crystal and Neural Fiber had very simr descriptions, so he just wanted to test the more appealing of the two, rather than try both.


    He chose the crystal due to its description of the original spiritual creature it came from having both telepathic abilities and increased intelligence. Instead of the intelligence boost only provided by the fiber.


    After confirming his selection, a white light of evolution began to fill the ss chamber. Although Bea wasn''t visible to the naked eye, the light of evolution certainly was.


    In less than a minute the light faded to reveal a potential evolutionary form for Bea. Simr to Bea, Kain couldn''t physically see an changes in the microscopic creature, and was forced to look at the System description. Now the previous blue portrait of Bea in the system, had a purple tinge simr to the crystal used.


    Kain looked at the description:


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Psyche Guardian Amoeba


    The Psyche Guardian is a never before seen evolution of the Brain-eating amoeba. Evolving from its previous form, this species is characterized by an extraordinary enhancement of mental faculties and telepathic prowess. It prefers to stay in environments rich in psychic energy.


    Those infected experience a profound increase in intelligence, allowing them to solveplex problems and strategize with precision. It also is able to telepathicallymunicate detailed information with all of its progeny.


    Quality: Silver


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    A-Multiple Consciousnesses-The true body can produce many replicates of itself that can invade multiple targets andy dormant in their brains for prolonged periods of time to extract collect for the true body.


    A-Telepathic Mastery: This skill allows the Psyche Guardian to establish strong and precise telepathic connections with all of its splits, regardless of distance. It canmunicateplex thoughts andmands with rity. It can even share the senses of its splits to allow it to obtain greater information about the split''s host.


    A-Enhanced Cognition: Those hosting the Psyche Guardian''s true body may experience a profound increase in intelligence, allowing them to analyze and solveplex problems with ease. Their enhanced cognitive abilities will enable them to adapt quickly to new situations and develop advanced strategies.


    A-Psychic Insight: With its heightened intelligence, the Psyche Guardian can detect and interpret hidden mental patterns. This allows it to predict the attacks of opponents before they ur.


    B-Mind Shield: A protective barrier that the Psyche Guardian can generate to shield its host from mental attacks and intrusions. This shield provides substantial protection against psychic damage and enhances mental resilience.


    C-Psyche Stabilizer: Under extreme stress or in hazardous conditions, the Psyche Guardian can allow its host to enter a state of mental focus that stabilize their mind.


    ----------------------------------


    Kain was extremely pleased by this evolutionary form. At least this showed him that the knowledge he had obtained in ss was useful enough to produce a decent evolution.


    However, he didn''t think that he''d ultimately select this as Bea''s evolution. Selecting this evolution would essentially convert Bea from an offensive spiritual creature to a support.


    This evolution would allow Bea to greatly enhance Kain''s mental strength and intelligence, and the improved telepathic abilities with the splits would be greatly beneficial for intelligence gathering, but then Bea will no longer be able to kill those that she infects.


    If he selects this form, how would he even be able toplete that mission looming over his head? If he can''tplete it, his very status as a student would be jeopardy.


    Also, hisbat style has be extremely reliant on Bea''s ability to mass kill weaker creatures.


    Kain decided to continue simting.

 Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Evolution Simulations (2)

    Kain went through the exact same steps, but this time substituted the Psionic Crystal for the Eye of Illusion.


    After waiting for the light of evolution to fade, he rushed to read the new description.


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Illusionbane Amoeba


    A dramatic shift from the original Brain-Eating Amoeba, now possessing the ability to manipte reality through illusions. This evolved microorganism has absorbed the essence of the Eye of Illusion, enabling it to create powerful, disorienting hallucinations within its hosts.


    By distorting the perception of reality, the Phantasmic Devourer can induce fear, confusion, and vulnerability in its victims, making it a formidable predator in both mental and physical realms.


    Quality: Silver


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    S-Hallucination Inducer: The Illusionbane Amoeba can infect a host and project vivid, terrifying hallucinations directly into their mind. These illusions can range from visual distortions to disturbing scenarios, causing severe mental distress and disorientation.


    Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Phantasmic Devourer are entirely consumed by these hallucinations, while those with up to one grade higher experience intense fear and confusion.


    S-Illusionary Veil: Outside of a host, this skill allows the Illusionbane Amoeba to cloak itself and its immediate environment in illusions, making itpletely conceal its presence or appear as something entirely different. This ability is highly effective against creatures with spiritual power up to one grade higher, providing stealth and evasion in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.


    A-Mind Warp: The Illusionbane Amoeba can warp the perceptions and senses of those it infects altering their sense of reality and making it difficult for them to distinguish between what is real and what is not. This can lead to impaired decision-making and susceptibility to further attacks.


    B-Illusionary Spawn: The Phantasmic Devourer can create illusionary duplicates of other entities, which can be used to mislead, confuse, or distract opponents. These illusions can mimic physical attacks but do not cause real harm, making them effective for tactical deception.


    ----------------------------------


    There were 2 S-level skills!


    However, simr to the previous evolution, Kain was worried about a reduction in Bea''s killing abilities. Bea''s ability to create detailed hallucinations and illusions would undoubtedly be greatly enhanced as a result of this evolution, but her killing ability was once again practically gone.


    Additionally, there was no mention of the production of any kind of split or clone. Is this evolution only able to infect one individual at a time?


    Kain was getting worried. Although he had the Vespirae to serve as attackers, and Bea bing an extremely formidable support wasn''t the worst thing, he still did not want to give up her lethality either.


    ''Third time''s the charm'' Kain thought, before starting a third evolution with the Dreamweaver''s Silk Core.


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Nightmare Weaver Amoeba


    An evolved form of the Brain-Eating Amoeba, having absorbed the essence of the Dreamweaver''s Silk Core. This advanced microorganism can now traverse and manipte dreams with ease. By integrating dreams with reality, the Nightmare Weaver can inflict real damage based on what urs within a host''s dreams.


    Its presence induces a constant state of unease, as the line between dreams and reality bes dangerously blurred.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental, Dark


    Skills:


    S-Nightmare Weaving: The Nightmare Weaver can enter the dreams of any sleeping creature within its range up to one grade higher. Once inside, it can manipte the dreamscape, creating scenarios that cause psychological distress. Injuries or traumatic events within these dreams can manifest as real physical harm upon waking, leading to severe consequences for the victim.


    It is possible to cause fatal injuries in hosts up to one grade higher, but those with higher spiritual power than the Nightmare Weaver may fight the dream and wake before a fatal injury can be dealt.


    A-Multiple Maniption: The Nightmare Weaver can alter the dream environments of multiple targets simultaneously through the use of split-off mental projections of itself.


    A-Terror Projection: The Nightmare Weaver can project intense fear directly into the minds of its targets, making them more susceptible to maniption and psychological damage. This terror can affect creatures with spiritual power up to two grades higher, causing significant mental and emotional turmoil.


    B-Dreamweaver''s Embrace: By connecting with a target''s dreams, the Nightmare Weaver can create a telepathic link that allows it to feed on the target''s emotional and psychological states, which can then be converted to a constant supply of spiritual power.


    ----------------------------------


    Gold quality! And finally, some fatal attack abilities!


    However, Kain noticed that the Nightmare Weaver had a fatal weakness, it can invade the dreams of those sleeping, but nowhere in the panel does it describe a skill capable of making that target fall asleep! If he had a contract simr to Elias, they could maybe work together. But he didn''t!


    Was he supposed to wait until those against him got tired out and fell asleep during the re-ranking and National College Championship?


    ''Ugh! And so it continues¡­''


    Kain continued the process substituting the Subliminal Orb and Mindleech Vine each during the fourth and fifth simtions. The following evolutions were obtained:


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Subjugator Amoeba


    An evolved form of the Brain-Eating Amoeba, having absorbed the essence of the Subliminal Orb. This microorganism now excels in subtle, yet profound, mind control and influence. The Sovereign Maniptor can subtly alter perceptions, control thoughts, and direct the actions of its victims with remarkable precision.


    By embedding itself in the subconscious, it bes an unseen puppet master, able to bend others to its will with minimal detection.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    S-Mind Dominion: The Subjugator Amoeba can exert subtle control over the thoughts and actions of its hosts, influencing their decisions and behaviors without their conscious awareness. Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Sovereign Maniptor are fully controlled, while those with up to one grade higher experience strong but lessplete influence.


    A-Generals of Subjugation: The Subjugator can produce progeny capable of infecting and subjugating a target.


    A-Covert invasion: The presence of the Subjugator is nearly impossible to detect in the environment by those at the same level of spiritual power and lower. However, once the Subjugator Amoeba integrates perfectly with the brain it bespletely undetectable to creatures with a spiritual power up to one grade higher.


    B-Mental Shield: The Subjugator Amoeba generates a psychic barrier that protects it from mental intrusions and counter-maniption attempts. This shield also helps it maintain control over its targets by preventing external mental interference.


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Memory Devouring Amoeba


    The Memory Devourer represents a terrifying evolution of the Brain-Eating Amoeba, transformed by the essence of the Mindleech Vine. This advanced microorganism has evolved to possess incredibly potent mind-reading abilities, capable of extracting and consuming the memories of its victims.


    The Memory Devourer''s presence is marked by its ability to delve into the deepest recesses of the mind, unraveling thoughts and memories with surgical precision. Unfortunately for its victims, this process is not without severe consequences¡ªthose who fall prey to the Memory Devourer often suffer fromplete brain death.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    S-Memory Extraction: The Memory Devourer can invade the minds of its targets and extract their memories with extreme precision. This ability allows it to read and understand every detail of the victim''s past experiences and knowledge.


    Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Memory Devourer arepletely drained of their memories and die from the immense damage to their brain, while those with up to one grade higher experience severe memory loss and cognitive disruption.


    S-Mind expansion: Vine-like psychic tendrils can be extended from the main body to infiltrate the minds of nearby entities upon contact and begin the memory extraction process.


    A-Memory Corruption: The Memory Devourer can imnt temporary false memories or temporarily distort existing ones, causing confusion and disorientation. This ability can lead to severe psychological distress, as targets struggle to distinguish between reality and the fabricated memories.


    B-Psychic Harvest: The Memory Devourer can consume the extracted memories to enhance its own spiritual power and cognitive abilities. This ability allows it to pass on knowledge to its contractor and there is an extremely small chance of realizing new skills from the memories of its victims.


    ----------------------------------


    It seems that no matter what, Bea is destined to lose the water attribute and the seamless integration and rapid proliferation skills along with it.


    Although many of the evolutions seem to still possess the ability to produce many splits, he was unable to tell from the description how long or many splits would be produced and how itpared to the original skill.


    Additionally, unlike seamless integration, not all of the evolutions have the ability to perfectly conceal themselves from the target.


    Kain believes that due to Bea''s small size, she can still integrate into the mist and be carried by water dropletsrger than her, but now her presence may be more easily detected by targets without a skill for concealment.


    All of the evolutions have their own pros and cons, which was why he wanted to try some additional experiments.


    Kain had learned in ss that it was possible to use multiple base materials, but a strong stabilizer would be needed during the evolution to allow the multiple base materials to seamlessly integrate into one form.


    This is the reason he did not yet use the Cerebral Core. It was described as providing a solid foundation and increasing the chances of sess during evolution for those with a mental-attribute.


    Based on this description he felt it would function more as a stabilizer, rather than the basis for an evolutionary form. Therefore, he wanted to use his remaining 2 evolution attempts to trybining the different evolutionary forms to hopefully get one able to satisfy him.

 Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Evolution Direction Decided

    Kain decided to summarize the pros and cons of each evolution to make things easier for himself:


    Psyche Guardian will improve Bea''s ability to control many splits. However, it''d virtually eliminate all of her offensive capabilities. Instead, she''d be the ultimate contract for those involved in selling information, able to seamlessly integrate into multiple targets minds for prolonged periods of time and feed the detailed information back to Kain.


    The Illusionbane evolution has increased Bea''s concealment abilities from beyond just water to any location. Additionally, it has upgraded Bea''s hallucination inducing abilities into vivid illusions that she can control and also can affect those of a higher level. However, this evolution has no real ability to harm others aside from causing emotional distress.


    Another con is that it appears that the stronger effects on the mind were traded in for the ability to infect multiple individuals at once. Therefore, Bea will lose her ability to produce many splits.


    The Nightmare Weaver evolution has offensive capabilities, and can affect multiple individuals at once. However, the targets would all need to be asleep already. It was probably the most restrictive evolution.


    The Subjugator evolution will allow Kain to best retain Bea''s ability to control multiple splits while also maintaining a lot of her concealment ability. However, simr to the Psyche Guardian, and Illusionbane evolutions, it has no offensive capabilities. Unless, since he can control the targets'' actions, he directs them to kill themselves. But that is not always feasible.


    Thinking of the Desphid infestation, Kain wondered how he''d be able to make such small and simple insects injure themselves. He''d probably need to direct them away from the nts and have Addison burn them all. Therefore, his ability to kill mass amounts of creatures alone would weaken in return for greater control abilities.


    Finally, the Memory Devourer evolution was able to affect multiple individuals not through splits, but through the use of psychic tendrils. It''d also be a huge boost to Kain''s information collection abilities, able to extract vivid memories from the targets.


    It even has the incredible ability to imnt memories into targets, a skill Kain knows is virtually unheard of in Gold-quality spiritual creatures. It also has the ability to kill multiple targets at once. However, it has lost Bea''s concealment abilities, and Kain was unsure the number and range of these so-called psychic tendrils.


    After weighing all of the pros and cons, Kain felt like his best chance of obtaining a evolutionary form with offensive abilities, concealment abilities, and the ability to target multiple individuals would be tobine the Memory Devourer with either the Subjugator or Illusionbane evolutions.


    Using his remaining two chances to try bothbinations, Kain examined the two results and finally settled on Bea''s evolution:


    ----------------------------------


    Species: Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba


    An advanced evolution utilizing both the Subliminal Orb and the Mindleech Vine. It is an ultimate sovereign of the mind, capable of reading, altering, and deleting memories, while also exerting a potent psychological influence over the actions of those infected.


    Quality: White-Gold


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    SS-Mindshard Maniption: The Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba can fragment a target''s mind into separate cognitive shards, each containing different memories and aspects of their identity. It can then permanently manipte, erase, or reassemble these shards to alter the victim''s perception of its present and past reality. Erasure of all mind shards will lead to death.


    Erasures of mind shards are only possible for targets with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Phantasmic Amoeba. Maniption and reassembly of mind shards are possible temporarily for those up to one grade higher.


    S-Imperceptible Control: It can exert nearly undetectable control over the thoughts and actions of its targets, subtly guiding their behaviour while remaining hidden from psychic detection. Victims with spiritual power equal to or lower than the Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba are fully under its control, while those with up to one grade higher experience lessplete but still significant influence.


    A-Subjugation Progeny: The Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba can produce subjugation progeny that are capable of infecting and influencing targets with all of the skills possessed by the original body. These progeny act as extensions of its will, spreading its influence and control further.


    A-Memory Siphon: This ability allows the Sovereign Mindshard to siphon and store the most crucial memories from its victims, transforming them into a reservoir of knowledge and power. There is a very small chance of it developing new skills based off of these siphoned memories.


    A-Mindveil Network: By creating awork of mental veils, the Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba protects itself from being detected by creatures with spiritual power up to one grade higher. These veils also aid in maintaining control over its victims by preventing external mental interference.


    B-Psychic Assimtion: By consuming extracted memories, the Dominion of Oblivion Amoeba enhances its spiritual power and cognitive abilities.


    ----------------------------------


    Although the other evolution was quite strong as well, Kain was certain that this was Bea'' ideal evolution. It maintains her concealment and multi-infection abilities, while also not eliminating her lethality.


    Additionally, Bea''s utility, and the ability to use different tactics has also been enhanced with her ability to now manipte the actions of those she infects.


    Not to mention this was the only result so far to have a SS-level skill.


    Additionally, Bea''s quality rating is also interesting.


    "System, what is white-gold quality? Is it inferior or superior to a standard gold quality?"


    *White-gold is simply an additional subssification used to separate Gold-quality spiritual beasts that are much higher in quality than the typical Gold-quality beast, and have a slightly higher chance of upgrading to Green-grade without dying. However, there is still a gap in quality between them and true tinum-quality spiritual creatures.*


    *It is not a term typically used, with most individuals choosing to still refer to them as Gold-quality spiritual creatures.*


    *A White-gold quality evolution is likely the highest jump in quality the Host can hope to achieve directly from a Bronze-quality contract. Even if a better Spiritual Power orb, catalyst, or material is substituted, a higher quality will not be achieved.*


    "Understood. It looks like Bea''s evolution has been decided."

 Chapter 108: Chapter 108: Field Assessment

    After running the simtions in the space and settling on a direction for Bea''s evolution, Kain returned to the Exchange Hall, prepared to trade for the 3 items.


    However, he ran into an issue. He was only able to barely afford the cheapest Cerebral Core, deducting 430 credits from his previous 435.


    Leaving him with only 5 credits to his name. He was seriously regretting giving the worker that tip right now.


    "I haven''t felt this poor in a long time¡­why the hell are they so expensive? I''d have toplete dozens of Bronze-grade missions to even afford one of them."


    Kain understood that due to the mental attribute being more rare, materials of this attribute would cost more, but that could not prevent him from venting.


    ''I also have that ck mission toplete, but I have no idea when they''d even assign it to me. I''d hoped to have the evolutionpleted before the mission, but it looks like that dream is hopeless''


    ''However, maybe this is for the best. I''m still not sure how the concealment abilities of Bea''s evolution willpare to her current form''


    ------


    Another month passed with Kain going through the mundane routine of a double-major student.


    He hadpleted two more missions with Bridge and the others, but unfortunately, none were as lucrative as that first mission, and he still hasn''t raised enough to even exchange for the second evolutionary material.


    Additionally, he likely won''t have a chance toplete another mission this week due to their very first field assessment in their Wilderness Survival course.


    They were now in the middle of the woods about an hour walk from their university.


    "Listen up brats! Now is the time for you to put the theoretical survival training of the past month to use!" Yelled Professor Flint, a tall broad-shouldered man with a grizzled beard and weathered skin, as his beady dark eyes stared holes into the rowdy first years. He was the professor responsible for the survival courses of each year level.


    "Since this is your first assessment, and you are all weaklings, your first assessment will be easy and take ce in these very woods surrounding the university.


    "You will be split into teams of 5 or 6. Teams that I have already organized, and I don''t want to hear any bitching andining about you being separated from your friends


    "Each team will be given a unique task that you must work together andplete. You have until Monday morning, so 3 full days, toplete your task.


    "Now line up before me to receive your task and group number"


    Kain and the others all nced at each other nervously. They were hoping to be in a group with each other. After all, they had gone on several group missions together since the semester started and already had a decent understanding of each other''s abilities and excellent teamwork.


    Kain received a badge and an envelope with the number 2 on it.


    Unfortunately, Bridge''s badge had a 7.


    It appears that the top 10 students of the year were all separated into different groups, and then the other students were all randomly assigned to each of them.


    The twins were also separated, while Elias was in one of the only two groups of 6.


    The only two groups with 6 members, groups 9 and 10, also had the two students with the lowest rankings, with Elias and another student being thest ranked out of 53 students.


    From this arrangement, Kain could see the effort made by Professor Flint to make the strengths of all teams rtively equal.


    Thankfully, Kain had Finn within his team of 5. Therefore, he wasn''t with only strangers.


    The other 3 members were 1 boy and 2 girls.


    One girl, Aria, was petite with long, curly auburn hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her clothes were surprising vibrant, leading Kain to believe that she did not have much practical experience in the wild. After all, who would wear a rainbow coloured sweater into the wild? They''d be a walking target for spiritual creatures. Not to mention, Kain couldn''t even see any armor on her.


    The other girl, Fiona, was tall and quite robust looking, with a freckled face and blonde hair. She appeared to be the quiet type, and thankfully she had the foresight to wear more practical clothing.


    Thest boy, Liam, had slicked-back silver hair and piercing green eyes, along with an aristocratic air. Just from looking at him, and the equipment he was wearing, one could tell that he probablyes from a legacy family with an old history. He was also the student on the team with the second highest ranking after Kain, Rank 12.


    While Finn also had a decent ranking at 17, the girls were ranked at 45 and 51, respectively.


    ''However, Elias was thest ranked student and he is quite skilled. Hopefully, these two are not too bad.''


    Kain opened up the envelope with their assignment and read it aloud to the group.


    "Collect the g attached to the antlers of the Astral Stag leader intact."


    The Astral Stag leader is typically of Yellow-grade, while the members of its herd made up of its lovers and children usually range in strength from White-grade to Orange-grade. It is very unlikely that the herd will have a second Yellow-grade Astral stag.


    It had the rare star attribute and had the unique ability to collect spiritual power collected from the stars into its antlers. Therefore, its antlers were amon ingredient used by Pharmacists in potions used for improving cultivation.


    Their task was just to capture the g, not to hunt the leader or eliminate the entire herd. Therefore, if the other members of his group were not too powerful, Kain also had the option of just trying to sneakily obtain the g without fighting.


    ''The Professor was correct, this first field assessment isn''t too difficult''


    Kain didn''t know how very wrong this conclusion would turn out to be. He will soon be cursing all nine generations of Professor Flint''s family in the very near future.

 Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Field Assessment (2)

    "I think we should begin by familiarizing ourselves with the skills of each other''s contracts." Kain began. Considering that he was the highest rank and the envelope with the task was given directly to the top 10 students only, it seems as though they had already been pre-assigned as the group leaders.


    The others began to just nce at one another while remaining silent.


    After all, most of them were unfamiliar with one another, and in 2 months the information they give to each other now may be used against them in the re-ranking.


    "I will go first then," Kain eventually decided to take the lead in breaking the tension, "My initial contract can create a poisonous fog while my second contract is with a Vespirae Queen."


    At this information, everyone except for Finn looked shocked. How could the second-ranked examinee be bound to a Vespirae?


    However, they still had the sense to not look down on him. They had all taken the same entrance exam. They were also aware of how many beasts he had killed in that exam thanks to Soren Lysander''s outburst after the exam. Therefore, they figured that there was more to Kain than meets the eye.


    Finn, likely to show support for Kain was the second to disclose his contracts, "I am bound to two snake-type creatures of ice and earth attributes, respectively."


    Aria spoke hesitantly next, "I-I only have one contract. A Cantata Chime. I bound it topliment my talent¡­ which is to calm down the aggression of attacking spiritual creatures by singing."


    Once again everyone looked shocked. Surprisingly, this student that was third from the bottom had a talent. Especially one with such practical effects. Kain reconfirmed that there was no truly simple student at a top 5 college.


    "I am bound to a Crystal Ore Golem and a Boulder Tortoise," said Fiona. Both earth-attribute contracts didn''t have the best offensive strength, but had probably the most formidable defence among creatures of a simr level of strength. Kain was able to guess that Fiona was able to slowly cross the Bridge by using her contracts as shields.


    Everyone then turned to Liam, who after a full minute still hadn''t spoken.


    Under the pressure of all their gazes, and likely knowing that not sharing anything would likely not allow them to seed in their task, he finally opened his mouth. "Hurricane Gryphon. Whirlwind Wraith."


    ''Rich man!'' Both of them were Gold-quality species at birth, not requiring an evolution to reach such potential. Contracts of such a high quality were quite rare for the first two contracts, even within a top 5 college. Once again, Kain confirmed that Liam was likely from one of the so-called "noble" families.


    "Great! Now that we have a better understanding of one another, we can hopefully find a way to capture that g."


    Due to the restrictions of their respective affinities, it was difficult for beast-tamers to form a fullyprehensive team of spiritual creatures on their own.


    Although Kain did not know the full information of their affinities, he guessed that Finn was limited to snake-type contracts, while Fiona and Liam appear to be limited to earth and wind attribute contracts.


    However, Aria''s affinity was still a mystery. The Cantata Chime was a bell-like spirit with wind sound, and mental attributes. It has almost no attack power, but Kain could see how its ability to amplify andplement the singing of Aria by producing soothing notes would be uniquely suited to her.


    If he had to guess, she probably had a sound and/or mental affinity. After all, wind-attribute contracts should be much easier to find and she''d have her second contract by now otherwise.


    Due to the limitations of their respective affinities, colleges would often foster an environment of working together to aplish tasks. As a result, likely all future field assessments will be in teams.


    Thankfully though, Kain had heard that due to the more challenging nature of future field assessments, students will have the opportunity to select their own teams which would likely have better teamwork.


    "Before we begin there is one thing I would like to point out. I understand that some of you may not have any practical experience in the wild, however I do. I hope that if I give you instructions you understand that they are for practical reasons and listen."


    Although Liam seemed resistant to being bossed around, and the other two unfamiliar with him also appeared hesitant, eventually they all nodded.


    "Great! First things first. Aria, please change. Your mboyant sweater is practically a walking bullseye out here. I don''t know how you could think it''d be appropriate to wear rainbow clothing out here. You should also have already been equipped with your gear from the moment we entered the forest.


    There are no safeguards in ce to bring us back to the college when we encounter danger, if a powerful creature attacks, you can die."


    Aria''s face turned as red as her hair before quickly nodding and lifting up her sweater.


    Finn quickly covered his eyes, but it was easy to see the gap between his fingers that he could still see through.


    However much to his disappointment, underneath the sweater was a ck T-shirt. Which she then covered with a brown leather light armor.


    "Great! Do you have any weapon that you could use since your contract has nobat ability?"


    Aria embarrassedly shook her head.


    ''Sigh. How on earth did she not end up inst ce?'' Kain was now even more curious about Elias'' performance during the exam that would warrant him having a lower score than her.


    Liam began to even look at Aria with disdain as she lowered his head, but Kain honestly couldn''t even me him. She seemed to be seriouslycking inmon sense. Who goes into the wilderness without a weapon?! Just what kind of high school did she go to that shecks even the most basic knowledge of survival?


    Having a weapon. Not wearing shy clothing. These are the absolute basics of the basics. So much so that the Professor didn''t even feel to reiterate the obvious. Likely they had rarely admitted a student as clueless as her in the past.


    "Now let''s go over the knowledge we have about the Astral Stag from our Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamers course." Thankfully, the target was one they had learned about in another course. Kain wasn''t sure if everyone received targets that they had learned about in the lectures of their other course,or if they were just lucky.

 Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Field Assessment (3)

    "For one, they are known to eat almost exclusively spiritual nts that have also absorbed spiritual power from the stars," Finn began.


    "They also, tend to not travel too far fromrge sources of water" Aria said. Thankfully, although shecks some practical knowledge, her theoretical knowledge is up to standard.


    Kain nodded in satisfaction.


    "Does anyone know one of the most distinguishing characteristics used to track Astral Stags?" Kain asked.


    Nobody replied after a while. However, he wasn''t surprised, this was not knowledge taught in the lecture. They would have had to have taken it upon themselves toplete all of the optional supplementary reading material.


    "Due to its strong star-attribute, some of the residual energy from the stars will remain in the hoofprints. Given that our empire''s cultivation is strongly rted to the stars, beast-tamers of the Celestial Empire with a sensitivity to spiritual power can usually distinguish the tracks of Astral Stags from other creatures by carefully sensing the energy in their prints.


    If the prints are fresh, they may even have a faint glow at night."


    "Therefore, we should begin with searching areas they are likely to frequent and then looking for their tracks."


    "How do we know where to go though?" Aria said.


    "We use our maps¡­the professor did say that you should always purchase a map before venturing into the wilderness. They will also usually have the hunting grounds of the most powerful creatures marked." Finn said in disbelief.


    ''I take back any credit that I gave her. That was definitely taught in ss, so she likely is just dense'' Kain thought in exasperation.


    Kain pulled out his own copy of a map of the woods surrounding the college. Every time he went out on another mission he also made sure to get it continuously updated to ount for any changes.


    Unfortunately, likely because the standards of power for those at the college were too high, it only hadbels for the most threatening creatures with Green-grade spiritual power and higher. Therefore, there was nobel for the Astral Stag.


    "There is ake only about an hour''s walk from here, let''s check there first. Everyone should summon their spiritual creatures out from now in case of any sudden attacks"


    With those words, Kain released two only Vespirae to scout ahead, and the others also summoned their contracts. Unless absolutely necessary Kain hoped to only reveal the standard 2 Vespirae wasp guards. Although his teammates now, they will be hispetitor in two months and he didn''t want detailed information about his contracts spreading among the students.


    They then began to set off.


    Looking around Kain could see that their group was thest to leave the clearing the professor left them at It was likely because they had needed to waste time knocking somemon sense into Aria.


    However, not even 10 minutes into their journey, they were attacked by a lone red-grade spiritual creature.


    Such a level of creature was no longer a challenge to Kain and he solved the attacking fire-attribute fox with a quick strike to the head with his spear, there was no need to use the either the wasps or Bea.


    10 minutester they had all been attacked at least once by red-grade spiritual creatures. However, all of them didn''t even need to have their contracts solve it, instead killing them directly.


    Due to the low grade of the beasts, none of them could even be bothered to extract materials. All of them had space rings, and I think they all unspoken agreed that wasting time and space for materials of only red-grade was not worth it.


    "It''s unusual for red-grade spiritual creatures to be attacking us so frequently. Usually, they''d run away once they saw a group asrge as ours with contracts more powerful than them. This ispletely outside of character" Finn said.


    Kain nodded, "The beasts in this forest are much more aggressive than the ones I usuallye across. However, their eyes and other behaviours are pretty normal, so I doubt that they are being manipted or lost their intelligence. They''re just desperate for some reason."


    "Anyways their behaviour is not our problem, just focus on the mission." Liam said impatiently before taking the lead.


    Kain wanted to criticize him for being short-sighted. After all, what if the more powerful creatures in the forest are also suddenly more aggressive and leave their typical hunting territories?


    They continued to make their way towards theke. However, suddenly one of the Vespirae guards said that she faintly sensed some spiritual nts up ahead.


    Kain shared this information with the group and they decided to detour, after all their target also mostly eats spiritual nts.


    Kain also had his own selfish reasons for wanting to do so. Less than 20% of honey that was originally transferred from the old nest to the new one remains. Kain had been taking up easy 1-3 credit missions to help with pollinating the spiritual nts owned by the school which has allowed the wasp colony to start producing more honey.


    However, the spiritual nts they give students ess to in these missions are all very low in quality and mostly of white-grade, with the asional red-grade nt. It''d probably be a long while before they trusted him enough to have ess to the nts of higher quality.


    Although this level is okay for now, the spiritual power of Vespirae is almost fully saturated, and the queen and the rest of her colony will probably advance to orange-grade spiritual power within a week. At that point, nts of better quality will be needed.


    Kain hoped to find some nts of decent quality from now. Even if he couldn''t transnt them back to the school, they could be used to make reserves of higher-quality honey in advance to prepare for the colony''s advancement.


    The group followed the Vespirae to a small clearing full of spiritual nts¡ªdead spiritual nts.


    Aside from the odd nt that was holding onto itsst breath, most were already shrivelled, dry, masses of leaves and petals.

 Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Field Assessment (4)

    "What could possibly have caused this?" Kain was puzzled. Spiritual nts were much more resilient than the nts from Earth, so diseases were practically unheard of. Additionally, he didn''t see any bugs or holes in the leaves to indicate anything like the Desphid infestation.


    Kain released a mist around the spiritual nts to see if Bea could detect any lurking creatures that may exin this.


    However, after Bea''s splits had covered every inch of the clearing, no other signs of life were detected.


    As ast ditch effort, he released Queen. Her intelligence is greater than her guards, so she may be able to detect something they can''t.


    Surprisingly, while Queen didn''t detect anything, Kain did receive some feedback from Eve.


    Based on what the information he could sense from her, there was something that was draining the life force of the spiritual nts. However, she could provide no more information on what it was or where this mysterious life sucker was located.


    However, if something was killing the spiritual nts in the forest, that would exin the increased frequency of beast tides and the increased aggression of the beasts they came across.


    Since the resources of the forest are running out at a faster rate, out of desperation more creatures will attack humans. Although not the typical food source for most spiritual creatures, humans, and especially powerful beast-tamers, can serve as practically a tonic for many species.


    "ording to my contract something is draining the life of all spiritual nts in the vicinity. I have no idea how wide its area of influence is though. But regardless, our target won''t be here, all the nts are dead or close to it. Let''s keep heading to theke." Kain said.


    The others didn''t look too shocked by this news. There are all kinds of spiritual creatures, one that likes to drain the life of nts isn''t too surprising.


    "Hopefully we find the Astral Stag by theke. If all the nts in this region really are dead then we may need to travel quite far before we find where they may have migrated to for food," said Fiona with a worried look on her face.


    However, against all of their hopes, there was no sign of their target around theke. In fact, there wasn''t much evidence of any life surrounding theke.


    "It''s weird that there''s no sign of any life around theke. Check around the shore for any footprints you think would match the Astral Stag, if they''d been here recently there''d be evidence in the wet mud around theke. I will investigate theke itself." Nobody questioned his task distribution and split up to investigate.


    Kain released Bea into theke and pretty quickly her splits had covered arge portion of the water.


    Before Bea evolves she is unable to give detailed feedback to him on the environment under the water, however Kain did get a piece of valuable information through her.


    After her splits had covered arge portion of theke, and then were even carried to cover majority ofke, Bea still did not receive any indication that had sessfully hunted an aquatic creature.


    Typically, by now Bea''s splits should havee into contact with most of the creatures in theke. However, it waspletely empty.


    "Any signs of our target?" Kain called out to the others.


    "No"


    "None here either"


    "Nope¡­actually there''s no evidence of anythinging here for water in a while."


    Kain also shared his findings to the rest of the group once they regathered.


    "Could theke be poisoned?" Finn questioned.


    "I don''t think so¡­ I had one of my Vespirae guards drink the water and she was fine. It could be a simr issue to the dead spiritual nts. Maybe the fish migrated due to ack of food in thiske? Or they could also all be dead themselves, my contract is only able to detect creatures that are alive." Giving a brief and vague exnation for Bea''s investigative abilities.


    The others seemed shocked that he''d risk one of his only two guards to see if it was poisoned, but they didn''t know that he actually had 12 guards.


    "What do we do now then?" Aria asked looking distraught. A task they thought they''d be able toplete quickly now may not even be finished by the deadline.


    "It looks like most of the creatures migrated to a different region. Those that didn''t are probably are starving which is why they attacked us. We need to figure out where they may have migrated to." Finn said.


    Kain nodded in agreement, "we need to expand our search from just looking for Astral Stag tracks, to looking for any recent footprints, preferably herbivores since they seem the most likely to migrate first due to theck of spiritual nts here. We can then hopefully follow the tracks to an area not affected by whatever is causing all of this."


    They then began to expand their search from around theke and looked for any tracks they felt would meet the criteria.


    "Here!" Aria called out and the rest all rushed over.


    They looked like the hoofprints simr to the Astral Stag, but muchrger. Maybe the creature more closely resembles a moose?


    "Do any of you know what kind of creature made these prints?" Kain asked the others.


    Everyone looked clueless, except for Fiona who was hesitating to speak.


    "Fiona? If you have any ideas, please share them even if they''re wrong. After all, we currently have no leads."


    "Umm¡­ the prints look like arge hoof, but the center of the hoof has the faint outline of a leaf."


    "Does that mean anything? I thought it just stepped on a leaf."


    "No Fiona is right¡­the leaf is the exact same and perfectly in the center of all 4 hoofprints, that''s unlikely to be purely due to coincidence."


    Fiona nodded, "I had heard about a Bronze-quality spiritual creature called the Meadow Moose that was prettymon in the woods back in my hometown that has that characteristic. They''re very gentle, and simr to the Astral Stag the almost exclusively eat spiritual nts."


    "Great! Let''s follow these prints. Hopefully, it''d migrate to a simr area as our target." With their hopes of sessfullypleting the mission renewed, they quickly set off again.

 Chapter 112: Chapter 112: Field Assessment (5)

    They followed the tracks for several hours until it got so dark that it was difficult to continue tracking.


    "Let''s set up camp for tonight and continue searching in the morning. I will take the first watch, and then we can switch every 2 hours." Kain said before assigning watch times to the others.


    After they had all set up their individual camping tents and eaten the food they had packed, the others crawled into their tents and left Kain alone.


    Kain couldn''t help but reflect on all of the new information since they''d entered the forest. He seriously doubted that the school wasn''t aware about the mass dying of spiritual nts, why hadn''t they solved it yet? Or was the problem even beyond the school''s capabilities?


    Since he didn''t have anything else to do for the next two hours, Kain decided to summon the Eve-infected Queen, to see if there was anything that Eve could detect.


    Vespirae aren''t nocturnal so Queen and the two guards were obviously unhappy to be summoned at this time.


    "Just sleep, I don''t need you to do anything."


    Queen doesn''t need to be awake for Eve to still be able to detect her surroundings.


    Kain transmitted his thoughts to Eve, and then suddenly, simr to when he had first established a contract with her, Queen''s abdomen began to glow.


    However, this time the glow was much more faint, and it instead travelled down Queen''s legs into the ground.


    Once the glow met the ground, some of the previously slightly limp looking weeds in the vicinity appeared to be a much more vibrant green.


    ''It seems that even without the use of a skill, Eve can just roughly wield her element to a certain extent. However, the effect would probably be much more potent if she had a corresponding skill.''


    However, it was possible with a lot of repeated wielding of a certain element, to realize a unique skill from it. Kain put it on the agenda to begin training with Eve alone. He had been mostly focused on training her host Queen, Queen''s guards, and Bea. Eve may have more potential left to be explored.


    Looking at the revived nts though, Kain noticed that their improved appearance was temporary. Within minutes they were right back to their old state.


    ''I guess the effects of what Eve did aren''t longsting'' Kain thought with some disappointment, if they had been, he could have maybe used it to grow some rare spiritual nts that are difficult to grow.


    However, Kain suddenly received some new information from Eve that while the effects aren''t permanent the raw administration of life-attribute energy should have had an effect for weeks. In fact, many of the spiritual nts that had grown in the field surrounding their initial nest had benefited from this energy.


    The effect was so short now because Eve could sense that something was hungrily devouring the life-attribute energy the second it had entered the ground.


    And now that Kain looked at his surroundings, although not as extreme as seen in the spiritual nts, many of the ordinary trees and weeds did look more limp than usual. Obviously whatever had targeted the spiritual nts wasn''t letting the ordinary nts off easy, perhaps just due to theirck of spiritual power they just weren''t as obviously targeted.


    ''Can you sense where the energy is going too?''


    After feeling a little disappointed, he quickly realized that this information could still be used to figure out a vague direction to travel.


    Every so often he can have Eve inject her energy into the ground and see how long itsts. This would give Kain a rough idea of the area of influence for this energy-draining effect.


    Most of the spiritual creatures have probably migrated beyond this sphere of influence.


    Grrrr


    Suddenly, Kain looked up to see a glowing pair of green eyes in the dark. However, Kain could sense that it was still a red-grade spiritual creature.


    Toozy to get up and kill any random low-level mob that happened across their camp, Kain decided to just release a Bea-infested Mist and have it surround the camp like a shield.


    Within moments, Kain has received the information that the intruder was dead.


    ''Huh?''


    Approximately 5 minutester, Kain also received the information that along with the death of the creature, Bea''s connection to her split has also beenpletely cut off.


    Out of curiosity, Kain ventured closer to where the corpse would be in the mist, however all that remained was an already dposed pile of bones.


    ''Did this happen to the previous creatures they killed? Or is there something special about this creature or this area?''


    None of them had stayed around any of the creatures they killed long enough previously to see if this had happened to them. They were toozy to extract materials from red-grade creatures and just quickly left the corpses behind.


    Additionally, since they had entered, Kain had chosen to kill most of the creatures that attacked him with the spear. asionally, the scouting Vespirae wasps also contribute a kill. But this was the first kill done by one of Bea''s splits.


    Therefore, they may have missed out on discovering this phenomenon all this time.


    Grrrrr


    Lucky! It looks like the thing Bea just killed had a friend.


    Kain had Bea go through the same process of infecting and killing the targets. However, this time, Kain moved in front of the dying spiritual creature while it was still convulsing on the ground and not fully dead. He wanted to witness what exactly happens the moment it dies for himself.


    After the first minute, there were still no noticeable changes in the corpse.


    However, by the second minute its fur had lost a lot of its luster and had begun to fall out, falling to the ground in brittle chunks.


    By the third minute, the skin revealed beneath the fur had turned a sickly gray and started to sag, splitting open to reveal the underlying muscles.


    By the fourth minute, the muscles had melted into a foul, viscous sludge, and the organs burst out spilling their contents onto the ground. Kain had to step back at the sudden assault of the smell of dposing flesh on his nose.


    By the fifth minute, the creature was reduced to a skeletal frame, and the surrounding rotting internal organs had already disappeared into the ground. Thankfully, the smell was also gone now too.


    Throughout the duration of his watch, they were attacked several more times by different creatures. However, the dposition process that Kain witnessed remained roughly the same, with the time until full dposition fluctuating between 3 and 11 minutes.


    Once his shift was up, Kain woke up Finn, who had the next shift, and crawled into his own tent. However, he found it challenging to sleep after that night''s discoveries.

 Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Field Assessment (6)

    Fortunately, Kain was able to eventually get a couple hours of rest before the sun rose.


    Once everyone awoke they packed up their belongings and continued following the tracks of the Meadow Moose.


    Every once in a while, Kain would summon Queen so that Eve could release some life-attribute energy into the surrounding vegetation.


    Then began a cycle of the ordinary weeds perking up for a short while only to sag over soon after.


    However, once they had been travelling for nearly 10 hours following the tracks, finally the weeds began to remain vibrant for a noticeably longer duration.


    Kain was now more confident that they were headed in the right direction.


    He then pulled out his map, thankfully although they had travelled far from the school they were still within the borders shown in the map.


    Judging by the direction they had headed in and the distance travelled, Kain tried to determine their approximate location.


    "I''m pretty sure that we''re here. There is a body of water about 2 hours East of us. We can start looking for signs of the Astral Stag there."


    Unsurprisingly, since entering a region without as much dead vegetation, the number of spiritual creatures they came across increased drastically.


    However, likely because they were not as desperate for food, they did not attack Kain and the others and just ran off.


    When they did experience an odd attack, it was from an orange-grade spiritual creature, but even then just one of their group, aside from Aria, was able to kill a creature of that grade alone, much less when all together.


    Gradually the density of the trees began to reduce and they can see something sparkling in the distance. When they got closer, they realized that it was the sun hitting the surface of theke.


    "I don''t think I''ve ever seen so many spiritual creatures all in one ce ever in my life," said Finn.


    Flying across theke were delicate creatures, Flutterflies, with shining translucent wings, that resembled a cross between dragonflies and butterflies. They hovered above the water, asionally dipping down to sip from the shimmering surface, leaving trails of luminescent dust behind them.


    Within theke, a group of small, floating creatures called Glintfish glided gracefully through the water. These fish had scales that reflected light like tiny mirrors, causing them to appear as glistening streaks beneath the surface. They fed on Lunarells, a type of aquatic nt that floatedzily on the surface, glowing soft blue colour.


    The Lunarells hadrge, translucent leaves that were dotted with bioluminescent spots, giving them a magical quality as they bobbed gently.


    At the edge of theke, a lizard-type creature with scales resembling bark, known as a Rootveil Lizard, was partially submerged in the water. Its scales had a rough, textured appearance that helped it blend seamlessly with dense mass of aquatic nts floating on theke''s surface. It moved slowly and deliberately, inching closer to a young ice-attribute swan spiritual creature.


    This swan, with feathers that sparkled like frost under the sun, was paddling around with carefree innocence unaware that predatory eyes were fixed intently on it.


    Dashing mere feet from where Kain and the others were hidden by the surrounding bushes was a group of Mistbunnies. The Mistbunnies'' fur shifted colors with their surroundings, making them appear like wisps of fog. They nibbled on the glowing petals of a spiritual nt resembling lilies located near the edge of the clearing.


    asionally, a Mistbunny would jump towards a passing Flutterfly, trying to catch it with yful hops.


    Theke was a vibrant, bustling haven of activity. Looking around there must have been thousands or even tens of thousands of spiritual creatures, all of different species, in the surroundings.


    Despite the beauty of the scene, Kain and the others were aware that it was unusual to see so many types of spiritual creatures around one water source. It was as if all the creatures within a days travel East of their college had chosen to abandon their homes and native water sources and use only this.


    ''Not as if. That''s probably exactly what happened''


    Kain signalled to the others to back away from the clearing and gather together.


    "The amount of spiritual creatures is enough to be a small-scale beast tide, there are also probably hundreds of yellow-grade spiritual creatures and maybe even stronger ones that we can''t see. We absolutely cannot make our presence known to them."


    Everyone nodded in agreement to Kain''s statement. None of them wished to turn what was supposed to be a simple field assessment into a suicide mission.


    Although they were the elites among students of their age across the country, when faced with hundreds of yellow-grade spiritual creatures, and thousands of spiritual creatures orange-grade and below, they knew it was a hopeless battle. Doing so would be several times more challenging than their entrance assessment.


    At least then they just had to use whatever means they had to cross the bridge, they were not required to solo-clear the beast-tide head-on.


    "We first need to see if our target is around thiske. Let''s travel in groups of 2 and 3 to be safe. We will then meet back up at this location in an hour to share any discoveries."


    Everyone once again nodded in agreement.


    "Great! Then I will organize the teams. Liam, Fiona and Finn will be one team and head in that direction around theke. Aria and I will take the opposite direction."


    ''I don''t need to worry about Liam, Fiona and Finn. They are all pretty level-headed. The only one likely to mess everything up is Aria. Unfortunately, I don''t think Liam has the patience to try and save her even if she were dying right in front of him due to her own stupid actions. I''m also not sure if Fiona and Finn would be able to effectively hunt for clues while keeping an eye on her.


    Therefore, I am stuck with baby-sitting duty.'' Kain thought sadly, wishing that there had been another suitable teammate he could have appointed as team leader to make them responsible for Aria.


    The others had no problem with Kain''s arrangement. After all, they had managed to dodge being responsible for the biggest baggage.


    Nobody thought anything more about Kain''s arrangements¡­that is except for one person whose face turned a deep red to match her hair.


    ''He sent everyone else away to be in a group alone with me. Does he perhaps l-l-like me?!''

 Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Field Assessment (7)

    Kain and Aria explored around the southern half of theke, making sure to remain covered by the vegetation.


    Kain also had the additional task of keeping an eye on Aria.


    Thankfully, she wasn''t causing any trouble. However, her face was strangely flushed whenever he checked on her.


    If diseases weren''t practically unheard of in this world, he''d be worried that she was sick with something.


    An hourter they met back up as nned with the other three.


    "Any chance you guys spotted the target? We did find an Astral Stag group, but neither the leader nor any of the members of the group had a g" Kain asked hopefully.


    They all shook their heads. "No luck. However, we dide across Addison''s group. They said that they''d keep a look out for Astral Stags with a g if we also kept an eye out for their target¡ªA Mirror Hummingbird nest. Apparently, there should be a small badge with the college''s crest inside of the nest."


    "Hmm¡­I haven''t seen a single Mirror Hummingbird, but I''ll keep an eye out."


    "Sigh¡­ what do we do now then?" Fiona asked.


    "All we really can do¡­keep searching. We only have the rest of today and all of tomorrow to find the g. We''re extremely far from the meetup spot so we need to every minute count," Kain stated in a resolute tone.


    It had been almost exactly 12 hours since they had woken up and the sun was beginning to dip lower in the sky, casting long shadows across thendscape.


    "Alright, all of us will head back to the southern part of theke. Maybe the Astral Stag group we saw earlier moved to another location, possibly one with the spiritual nts they like to eat. Then we''ll have a second location we can search. At the same time, we''ll keep an eye out for potential nesting spots for the Mirror Hummingbird."


    "What does their nest look like anyway?" Aria asked.


    Sigh


    All of them couldn''t help but let out a breath in exasperation.


    "They were literally one of the main subjects of yesterday''s lecture. They are attracted to shining things, therefore their nests are abination of shining spiritual nts, their own mirror-like feathers, and their saliva as glue. Therefore, their nests from afar may just appear as a shining spot," Finn said.


    Aria, not realizing that she was the cause of their irritation, suddenly perked up. "Actually, I think I remember seeing something unusual around the south end of theke earlier, but I didn''t get a good look."


    Kain raised an eyebrow, ncing at Aria. "Something unusual? What do you mean?"


    Aria''s cheeks flushed suddenly once again, "I-It was just a glimpse of something bright and shimmering near the trees, but it could have been anything."


    "Alright, we''ll meet up with Addison''s group and start with that lead then. If it really is a Mirror Hummingbird Nest, then they owe us and we''ll have more eyes looking for our target," Kain decided. "Finn, Fiona, Liam. You guys lead the way to where you saw the others."


    The group then headed to the North, with Kain and Aria following at the back.


    Kain couldn''t help but notice Aria''s flushed face again. He decided to address it directly. "You''ve been acting a bit off all day. Is something bothering you, Aria?"


    Aria''s eyes widened slightly, and she seemed to struggle for words. "Eeek! I-I-It''s nothing, really."


    Kain frowned. "If you''re not feeling well, it''s okay to say so. We can take a break or¡ª"


    "No, really, I''m fine," Aria interrupted, forcing a smile. "Let''s just focus on the search."


    Kain nodded reluctantly, but he kept a closer eye on her as they moved, and as he did so he noticed that herplexion kept getting a deeper and deeper shade.


    ''There''s definitely something wrong with her.''


    As they made their way north, the sun lighting began to dim and the sky was painted with shades of orange and pink.


    "This is where we met themst time¡­ I think this is their team''s meet up spot" Finn said, as the group stopped next to a tree with an X carved into it.


    The group was too cautious to risk calling out to Addison in case it attracted the spiritual creatures by theke. The forest had grown quieter as the day transitioned to dusk, and the canopy above cast deep shadows on the ground.


    Thankfully, after a few moments, Addison''s group emerged from the forest.


    "What are you guys doing back here already. Don''t tell me you''ve already managed to find some clues. Or did you just miss me Finn?" she said jokingly.


    "We did actually get a lead for your task. However, before tell you we once again need to confirm that you will repay the favour."


    This time another boy stepped forward, Dwayne, the 6th ranked trainee just outside of the top 5, and the leader of Addison''s group.


    "We promise to also help you look for your target once we get our badge." He stated.


    "I''m going to need something more substantial than empty promises. If we do find this badge based on our lead, we''ll be holding onto it to make sure you hold up your end of the deal." Kain said.


    Dwayne frowned, before stepping back tomunicate with the rest of his team.


    Fortunately, after a few minutes they agreed to the deal. Although everyone except for Addison appeared quite upset about it.


    With Addison''s group joining forces, they retraced their steps southward. The sky was now a deep, velvety blue with the first stars appearing. The air had grown cooler, and the sounds of the forest seemed to have taken on a more serene quality.


    As they approached the area where Aria had seen the shimmer they continued their search, scanning the ground and the trees for any sign of a shimmering nest. However, likely due to theck of sunlight the nest was much harder to spot at night than during the day.


    Aria, looking increasingly weary, suggested, "Maybe we should take a break for the night and start fresh tomorrow. I don''t think we''ll find it like this"


    Kain nced at the others who also all looked exhausted and nodded. "Alright, let''s set up camp a further distance from theke. Make sure not to make too much noise or start a fire. We can continue the search in the morning."


    The group dragged their tired bodies about a half hour from theke to be safe and set up camp.


    The forest around them was quiet, the only sounds being the distant calls of nocturnal creatures.


    After coordinating the look-out shifts for both groups with Dwayne, those not on first watch went to sleep. Or at least they tried to. Both groups were covered by an air of anxiety.


    Kain knew that time was running short, and they had to make every effort count. Tomorrow would be theirst chance toplete the task and secure the g, and still have enough time to head back to the meet-up location.

 Chapter 115: Chapter 115: Field Assessment (8)

    As the first light of dawn crept through the trees, the forest began to stir.


    Kain who had only managed a couple hours of sleep due to his anxious thoughts, was up before the sun, shaking off the remnants of exhaustion.


    He nced around at the makeshift camp, where his team members were slowly rousing themselves from sleep.


    The group gathered their things and made their way back to the southern part of theke. The sun had risen fully, casting a warm glow that made the search easierpared to the previous night. The shimmering nest would now be easier to spot in the daylight.


    The group made their way back to where Aria said she had seen the glimmer among the trees.


    They moved methodically, checking every likely spot in the dense undergrowth and the low branches of the trees.


    After about an hour of searching, Fiona called out, "I think I see something over here!"


    The group hurried over to where Fiona was pointing. There, nestled among the lower branches of a tree, was the Mirror Hummingbird nest at around the height of Kain''s chest. It was adorned with an assortment of shimmering feathers, glowing spiritual nts, and a mixture of twinkling materials that caught the morning light.


    "Looks like we found it," Addison said, stepping closer to inspect the nest. "Let''s see if the badge is inside."


    Kain had no problem with Addison collecting the badge since he trusted her, however he noticed Dwayne, who had been rtively quiet, eyeing the nest intently and approaching from behind her.


    As Addison carefully pulled the badge from the nest, Dwayne''s behavior took an unexpected turn. He shifted closer to the nest, his movements deliberate but seemingly casual.


    Kain''s heart raced as he realized what was happening.


    "Dwayne, what are you doing?" Kain called out sharply, stepping forward and grabbing the badge from a shocked Addison. "We agreed that I''d be holding onto the badge."


    Dwayne froze, his hand inches away from Addison. He looked up, caught off guard, and forced a smile. "I was just... checking to see if everything was alright. That it truly matched the description of the badge we''re looking for."


    Addison turned, her face a mix of confusion and concern. "Dwayne, why are you trying to grab the badge?"


    Dwayne''s face reddened. "I¡ªI wasn''t trying to take it. I thought¡ª"


    "Thought what?" Kain interjected, his tone firm. "That you can just back out of our deal onceyou''ve got everything you need." Kain put the badge away in his space ring to make sure no further attempts at it could be made.


    Dwayne''s attempt to worm his way out of the situation fell t. He stepped back, visibly flustered. "Sorry, I didn''t mean to¡ª"


    Addison, looking visibly irritated at her leader almost double-crossing her friend turned to him. "Dwayne, we agreed to work together. I hate people that go back on their word."


    At that, Dwayne''s face visibly turned pale. After all, he had had his eye on Addison pretty much since the semester started and was ecstatic when he found out she was in his group. Thest thing he wanted was to leave her with a negative impression. He really didn''t think that she and this Kain were so close.


    With the situation under control, Kain refocused the group. "Alright, let''s put this behind us and concentrate on finding our g. We still have time, but we need to stay sharp."


    Kain''s group no longer could see the Astral Stag group from yesterday. However, they were able to spot their tracks leading away from theke and followed them.


    They followed the tracks a short distance away from theke to a clearing of spiritual nts. They didn''t find the group of Astral Stags from yesterday. Even better they saw arge Astral Stag with a ck g bearing the college''s crest dangling from one of its antlers.


    "There it is," Kain whispered to Addison and the others. "That''s the g we need."


    The members of his own group practically started to vibrate from the excitement of being able toplete a task that had started to feel hopeless.


    Addison nodded. "Let''s approach carefully. We need to retrieve the g without startling the Stags."


    With practiced precision, the team moved closer to the Astral Stags. Kain led the approach, ensuring that he maintained a respectful distance from the majestic creatures. The Stags were grazing peacefully, oblivious to the approaching humans.


    However once they were closer to the leader, Kain made a disheartening discovery. His gaze narrowed as he saw that the g was not simply wrapped around the antler. Its side was practically fused with it.


    Kain couldn''t help but curse their professor under his breath. They needed to retrieve the g intact, but it was clear that removing it would be no simple task. The obscure phrase about the g needing to be "intact" had seemed trivial at first, but now it was a significant obstacle


    If it wasn''t required to be in tact, he could''ve cut it off the antler, even if it ended up in tatters.


    "We''ve got a problem," Kain said, turning to Addison and the others. "The g is fused to the antler. We''ll either need to chop off the antler, which''ll piss off the stag, or kill it and then cut it off. Regardless we are in for a fight."


    Everyone''s eyes widened and many members of Addison''s group looked reluctant. Among yellow-grade spiritual creatures the Astral Stag was quite powerful, and they could see that this herd had over 20 orange-grade Stags, and dozens of red-grade ones. It was a daunting task, especially since it wasn''t their own task.


    Aria, her face pale, spoke up. "There are so many of them. Is there really no other way?"


    Kain shook his head. "The g is fused with the antler. Unless someone has a better idea, fighting might be our only option."


    Liam''s expression hardened, before taking the initiative to speak. One of the few times that he did so. "We need to be smart about this. If we provoke the herd, we might not just have to fight one Stag but the whole group. It''s better to focus on the leader and keep the rest of the herd at bay."


    Kain nodded. "Agreed. We can create a distraction to draw the leader away from the herd and then deal with it. Let''s set up a n."

 Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Field Assessment (Final)

    After familiarizing the members of each group with each other''s skills, they quickly devised a strategy.


    Surprisingly, Aria was a keyponent of the n. Her talent along with her contract will be used to lull the surrounding Stags.


    However, her talent even when amplified by her contract has limited effect on yellow-grade spiritual creatures. Therefore, Queen will also use Noble Breeze to further reduce all of their vignce before a Bea-containing mist will begin to infect all of the Stag.


    Kain made sure to let the others know that the mist will ensure that all red-grade spiritual creatures and below die within seconds. Therefore, the remaining individuals each would be responsible for hunting the orange-grade Stags.


    Although none of the students had yet crossed the threshold to 3-stars and have orange-grade spiritual power, after the Stags had been physically weakened by Bea, and their vignce and aggression reduced due to abination of skills, even the weakest of them should have no problem killing an orange-grade Stag solo¡ªexcept for probably Aria, who seems to have little, if any, offensive capabilities.


    After all of the weaker stags were taken care of to avoid them interfering in therger battle with their leader, all of them will then encircle the yellow-grade leader and attack to kill.


    "Everyone familiar with the n? We will begin on the count of 3. 1¡­2¡­"


    "Wait!" Aria yelled. "Do we start when you say 3 or right after you say 3."


    Kain nced at Aria, barely concealing his irritation. "We start right after I say 3, I will even say ''Go!'' so that it is extra clear for you," he confirmed. "Be ready."


    Aria nodded, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. Kain raised his hand, preparing to give the signal.


    "1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­GO!"


    Aria drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began to sing.


    Her voice, soft and melodious, floated through the clearing as an ethereal chant. The melody was both haunting and calming, as it wove a spell of tranquility over the clearing.


    Even though he was prepared, Kain could even feel his muscles unconsciously rxing. If his mental strength was not so high, he really may have forgotten his purpose foring here.


    Thankfully, Bea and Queen remainedrgely unaffected. True to the n Queen began to p her wings rhythmically as the Noble Breeze swept through the surrounding. The previously on-guard creatures now appeared drowsy and sluggish after thebination of Aria and Queen.


    Kain then summoned a mist to envelope all creatures in the clearing. The red-grade Stage quickly began to fall, their bodies convulsing briefly before goingpletely still.


    The red-grade Stags were nowpletely neutralized by Bea, leaving the remaining threat¡ªthe orange-grade Stags¡ªvulnerable but still very much alive.


    "Now!" Kain barked, signaling the group to engage.


    Addison and Finn, likely the most familiar with receiving orders from Kain, quickly had their contractsunch into the mist.


    However, not long after, the remaining teammates also sent the summons to go hunting in the mist.


    Through Bea''s feedback Kain could sense that the orange-grade Stags were dropping like flies, thebat power of his allies truly formidable.


    ''I can''t afford to ck off at all. If I do I may find myself overturned by a much lower ranked trainee during the re-ranking.''


    As thest of the orange-grade Stags fell, the group regrouped, preparing for the final confrontation.


    The yellow-grade leader could be seen shaking its head erratically about as it tried to get rid of the multiple skills affecting its mind.


    Kain exchanged nces with the other members to confirm that they were all ready before signalling tounch their attacks simultaneously.


    The leader Stag''s head snapped up as it sensed the iing threat. With a mighty bellow, it charged, its antlers swinging menacingly. Fiona''s defensive inclined contracts yed a crucial role in holding it back. However, despite their impressive defense, cracks that shimmered like stars began to be left on their surfaces due to the Astral Stag leader''s attacks.


    Many of the melee spiritual creatures, such as Finn''s serpent contracts, moved in for the kill. While Kain''s Vespirae guards, Addison''s Fire Sprite, and other more long-distance attackersunched their attacks from afar. Thankfully, they had worked out a tempo beforehand on when each group of long and close distance attackers would go so that there were no cases of friendly fire.


    Kain had actually been worried about if ack of practice and mutual understanding may lead to some of their attacks hitting their own. Thankfully, such worries were useless.


    Kain''s team was relentless. Each attack was calcted, aimed at weakening the Stag further. The coordinated strikes from the group,bined with their spirits'' abilities, began to take their toll. The Stag''s once-proud stance faltered as it was besieged from all sides.


    Finally, the Astral Stag leader copsed with a mournful cry.


    The group paused, catching their breath as the clearing fell silent.


    ''Thankfully, we grouped up with Addison''s team. The difficulty of the mission was lowered substantially. Had it been us 5 alone, it would have taken a lot longer and we would have likely sustained much more injuries''


    Kain approached the antler, carefully prying to saw the antler fused to the g off with his spear. However, it was to no avail.


    "Anyone got a saw or anything?" Kain asked looking around.


    Thankfully, Addison handed over a 2-star short sword. It wasn''t anything impressive, but it did have sigils that increased sharpness and cutting ability. Kain could tell she probably bought precisely for extracting more challenging materials.


    After he''d finally managed to remove the antler, Kain held the g aloft, the crest of their college shimmering in the light.


    "Well done, everyone," Kain said, his voice a mix of exhaustion and relief. "We pulled it off."


    Finn, Fiona, Aria, and even Liam, all gathered around with relieved smiles on their faces at having finallypleted the mission.


    As they began to collect their spoils of war from the Stags, Kain couldn''t help but feel a surge of pride for his team. The battle had been intense, but their nning and teamwork had seen them through. The g was theirs, and with it, a hard-earned victory.

 Chapter 117: Chapter 117: Stampede

    The forest was bathed in the soft glow of the afternoon sun as Kain and his team made their way back to the meetup location.


    Despite their fatigue, the mood was buoyant in both groups. Especially since the sessfulpletion of his mission Kain had handed the badge needed for their task to Dwayne.


    As they walked, the path was clear, although they took care to bypass theke that they had seen many spiritual creatures around.


    Suddenly the jubnt chatter between groups was interrupted by a loud mix of crashes, roars, and screeches.


    "What the hell is that?" Addison eximed, her eyes scanning the horizon for the source of themotion.


    Before Kain or anyone else could answer a ck cloud was observed in the distance slowly approaching their location. Then came the loud rumbling noise, getting higher in volume with each second, and the vibrating ground.


    Finally, they could see the source of the "cloud" it was a massive stampede, that was kicking up the surrounding dirt into the air.


    The sheer number of spiritual creatures was staggering¡ªhundreds, if not thousands, of creatures stampeding through the forest, uprooting trees and crushing everything in their way beneath them.


    The cloudy mass surged forward with a frenzied determination. Gradually more distinct forms could be made out among the rising dirt. A chaotic blend of scales, feathers, and ethereal glowing eyes would be revealed every once in a while, letting Kain know that this was a true beast-tide, not an attack by a single spiritual creature ethnic group.


    In front of the wild stampede were six students, their faces filled with panic and desperation. They stumbled over each other, struggling to keep their footing as they fled. The lead student, a tall figure with a wild mane of brown hair, clutched arge, spherical object wrapped in a shimmering, protective cloth.


    "Is that¡­an egg?" Fiona questioned, her voice barely audible over the roar of the approaching creatures.


    "It must be," Kain said, his eyes narrowing at the 6 unfamiliar students. "And based on the cloth used to conceal its aura and appearance it is probably quite valuable."


    In a burst of realization, Kain and the others understood that the stampede was no random urrence. The students must have disturbed a powerful spiritual creature who just so happened to be one of the parents of that egg.


    "Everyone, move!" Kain ordered, his voice rising above the loud chaotic sounds. "We need to get out of here¡ªNOW!"


    The group turned and sprinted through the forest, their hearts pounding as the ground seemed to quake due to the relentless purs. They dodged trees and leaped over fallen logs, their legs burning with the effort.


    As they fled, Kain nced back, catching a fleeting glimpse of the source of the mayhem. A spiritual creature whose location had been marked as a great threat on his map. Although its current location differs from where it typically resides. It was a cial Leviathen¡ªan ice-attribute green-grade spiritual creature.


    The cial Leviathan was a behemoth of ice and frost, its serpentine form had translucent scales that reflected the sunlight like shards of broken ss. Each of its movement sent ripples of cold through the air, and its blue eyes glowed with a menacing intensity. From its massive jaws, thick plumes of white smoke escaped. However, he could tell that the "smoke" was most definitely not hot.


    It was a manifestation of how ice-cold its breath was that it caused the air to condense. As a result, an aura of freezing mist was produced that clung to everything it touched.


    The Leviathan''s roar echoed like the cracking of icebergs, a deep, resonant sound that seemed to shake the very earth. It was clear that the egg, likely its own child, had triggered the Leviathan''s rage, unleashing a horde of "younger brothers" to retrieve it.


    Kain''s group pushed themselves harder, knowing that their survival depended on their speed and their ability to navigate the treacherous terrain.


    The spiritual creatures in pursuit varied widely in appearance and ability. However, they were all single-minded in their pursuit of the college students. Including Kain and the others who they clearly regard as aplices.


    Kain felt resentment at having his life put in danger due to a ssmate''s greed. If you were going to steal, don''t steal from a creature 3 power levels higher than you. Not to mention that the terrifying creature even has some Frost Dragon blood. Amongst the creatures of green-grade it was within the top tier in strength.


    Suddenly with a rage filled roar that almost brought Kain and the others to their knees form the spiritual power pressure, the Leviathanunched an attack.


    Dense clouds appeared over all the fleeing students, and Kain''s instincts immediately screamed DANGER!


    He was unable to continue caring about concealing his contract''s abilities. He summoned all 12 Vespirae guards.


    "Recall your contracts and jump on!" Kain yelled.


    Suddenly each fleeing member of Kain and Addison''s group was then carried by a guard into the distance.


    Fortunately, despite the weight of having a rider, the wind-attribute guards known for their speed were still several times faster than the students or most, if not all, of their contracts.


    Two guards without riders served to clear any spiritual creatures in the students'' paths.


    Soon Kain''s group of ten was outside of the range of the clouds. However, they had never been their target. The others of that group had also likely sensed the danger and employed all kinds of lifesaving measures. Two of the more resourceful ones just managed outrun the clouds that were gathered the thickest over the fleeing member with the egg.


    Pouring rain began to fall from the clouds, however before the droplets touched the ground they were struck by an incredibly low temperature and turned into crystal clear gems of ice.


    They fell, no longer liquid, but solidified into a string of ice beads softly falling in the air with a mysterious beauty.


    The trees, spiritual creatures¡­and even the 4 fleeing students unable to escape in time. Everything touched by the ice skill was covered with a thinyer of ice shells in a short time.


    If the instant death of 4 of his colleagues wasn''t so terrifying, Kain would have admired the strange and charming beauty of the scene filled with ice sculptures that appeared intricately carved.


    Even from where he is Kain could feel the piercing cold dig through his skin almost to the bone.


    ''Too strong¡­ are we going to die?''


    Kain released a frozen puff of air with a pale face. This was the first time in his life he had experienced such power. Seen what the top spiritual creatures were capable of. Before the Leviathan, Kain and the others were no different from ants.

 Chapter 118: Chapter 118: A Force of Nature

    The roar of the cial Leviathan reverberated through the forest, even as Kain and his team, carried by the Vespirae, fled the scene. The oppressive cold that followed its roar was like a vice around their chests that made it challenging to breathe.


    Kain nced back at the chaotic scene receding into the distance, his breath misting in the frigid air.


    One of the Vespirae, its transparent wings shimmering as it darted through the air, let out a low, agitated hum. It was clear that even the normally fearless Vespirae with the Dauntless skill were unnerved by the Leviathan''s disy of power.


    Thankfully, after retrieving back the egg, the Leviathan and its followers did not continue their pursuit.


    However, Kain still had the Vespirae flee with them for nearly three hours just to be safe.


    Finally, the Vespirae set them down in a clearing that seemed momentarily safe.


    As soon as they touched ground, Kain and his group dismounted. He took a deep breath, attempting to shake off the cold that had seeped into his bones. "Everyone, check in. We need to assess if anyone was heavily injured just now."


    Thankfully, aside from some minor scrapes that obtained while fleeing, and a persistent chill, there were no major injuries.


    In addition to their group of ten that had all made it, there were now two new additions.


    The two survivors, clearly traumatized and exhausted, were now huddled together near a fallen tree, their faces ashen with fear and fatigue.


    They had been fortunate enough to not be the main target of the Leviathan''s rage and to have effective life saving measures. However, majority of their group, including their group leader, was now dead. Moreover, they had still not evenpleted the task assigned to them by the professor.


    Obviously, their task had not been to steal an egg from such a powerful creature, that had beenpletely their leader''s decision.


    They had stumbled across the existence of the Leviathan at the bottom of theke by ident, as well as the egg it had in its nest.


    Although they weren''t experts on all spiritual creatures, they knew that the Leviathan was at least of tinum quality to reach its current level of strength. Its child must also have fearsome potential.


    Their captain was not content with being towards the bottom of the top 10, he felt as though he could be in the top 5. Moreover, the Leviathan also happened to bepatible with his affinity, so likely its offspring would be too.


    He felt as though it was a sign from the universe signifying his future ascension into the big leagues. He had even vetoed the concerns of his teammates and coerced them into helping. He also lied that the Leviathan''s nest would provide the clues needed toplete their mission, which also involved hunting an elusive water-attribute creature under theke.


    The atmosphere surrounding the pair was incredibly somber.


    Kain wanted to tell them off for their greed endangering all of their lives, however after hearing their story and seeing their pale, snot covered faces and hollow eyes, he could no longer work up the anger.


    They were also victims of an absolutely terrible leader. And the main perpetrator deserving of Kain''s wrath was now dead.


    Kain and the others had purposefully fled back towards the direction of where the life-draining effects within the environment were still present, which also likely yed a role in why they were no longer pursued.


    They set up a fire, unable to care about potentially attracting spiritual creatures. They were freezing and most of the high-level beasts in the area had already migrated away.


    Kain couldn''t help but stare nkly into the mes as he relived what he had experienced earlier that day.


    "I''ve never seen anything like it," Finn said to nobody in particr, his voice heavy with the weight of their close call. "It was more than just a powerful creature. It was like facing the raw force of nature itself."


    The others also nodded nkly.


    Addison who had been talking to the new arrivals off to the side approached Kain and the others.


    "The survivors from the other group¡ªRiley and ra¡ªare in pretty bad shape. They need rest and medical attention. We can''t afford to push them too hard."


    When Kain observed them closely, he could tell that in order to preserve their lives Riley had used a secret spiritual skill that seems to have pretty severe side-effects.


    ra had sacrificed a one-time use magical equipment and was in much better shape. However, she still had a deep gash in her side that she obtained while fleeing the beast hoard.


    Unfortunately, neither of their two groups had a healer. Leonara had been the healer for their group missions in the past, but unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen.


    Their only option was to administer first-aid while making their way to the meet-up location.


    As the hours passed, the team settled into a restless sleep, their minds haunted by the day''s events.


    However, they couldn''t afford to rest for long. Kain had calcted their current distance from where they needed to go and woke everybody up before the sun rose. If they hoped to make it in time to not fail their first field assessment, they needed to get moving.


    To further increase their speed, those that had mounts with a decent speed carried their owners, and as many others as they couldfortably support to their destination.


    Kain had the Wasps scouting the way ahead since many of the contracts of the others were serving as mounts.


    Thankfully, by the time the sun had fully risen they were already back at the meet up spot. Although, they were one of thest teams to arrive.


    Kain saw that Bridge and others were all safe in their respective groups and let out a sigh of relief.


    Suddenly they heard loud movements through the thicket before they saw the appearance of their professor on a massive furry beast that brought a great deal of pressure to the students just by standing there.


    Professor Flint dismounted his contract, and looked at the students gathered with an unreadable expression. Although, when looking at Riley and ra his expression went noticeably more cold.

 Chapter 119: Chapter 119: The Price of Failure

    "Team leaders please turn in the objects you were tasked to retrieve for the field assessment."


    Kain went to Professor Flint with the g alongside Dwayne carrying their groups badge.


    Soon all nine remaining group leaders had handed over their assignments to the professor.


    Riley and ra stayed in ce. They were neither their group''s leader, nor did they have the task item.


    The professor epted the items with a nod, his expression remaining unchanged.


    There was a brief, uneasy silence as the professor inspected each turned over item with meticulous care ensuring that the requirements of each task were made.


    Finally, he turned his attention to Riley and ra, who stood apart from the others, their faces pale and eyes downcast.


    "Riley. ra." Professor Flint''s voice was sharp, cutting through the silence with an edge of impatience. "Where is your team leader and task item?"


    He was asking, but Kain had a feeling as though he already knew. Likely the school has knowledge of everything that happens in its backyard. Therefore, the decision to not intervene in the Leviathan''s chase was a conscious one.


    Perhaps issuing a powerful enough individual that can get there in time was not worth the effort for them when the group brought it upon themselves.


    Maybe they wanted the group to serve as a lesson for the others to not be driven mad with greed.


    Riley swallowed hard, the lump in his throat making it difficult to speak. His eyes flicked to ra, who stood beside him, equally grim-faced. They were neither their group''s leader nor did they have the task item, a situation that left them exposed to the professor''s displeasure.


    "Our team leader," ra began, her voice trembling despite her efforts to remain steady. "Our team leader is dead. So are three other members of our team."


    Immediately hushed whispers were heard within the other groups due to the shocking announcement. All of the tasks were difficult. However, none were particrly life threatening.


    Even Kain''s task, while it would have been extremely challenging toplete it without Addison''s group wouldn''t have been life threatening. As individuals that passed the college''s entrance exam, many of them had been able to kill or severely wound the orange-grade spiritual creature at the end of the exam alone.


    After several months all the students'' strengths should have improved and be able to easily kill orange-grade species solo. Working as a team, hunting a yellow-grade spiritual creature is actually the perfect difficulty of exercise for them.


    The real challenge for most of the groups, such as Dwayne''s, is actually navigating and surviving in the forest while using the knowledge obtained about the target creatures from the Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamers course to actually find their targets.


    Therefore, nobody in the groups that hadn''t seen the rampaging Leviathan could understand how 4 students at a top 5 college would die during their first field mission.


    Professor Flint''s gaze grew colder, more prating. "And the task item?"


    Riley spoke up, his voice quieter but no less resolute. "We don''t have it. The team leader made a decision to deviate from our assigned task and¡ª"


    "And you followed," Flint interrupted, his tone leaving no room for excuses. "You followed a course of action you knew was wrong. You did not question it, and you did not have the courage to stand against it. You almost died as well. I can summarize my opinion of you to from this first task assessment with one word¡ªbrainless."


    Riley flinched at the harsh assessment from the professor. He and ra had indeed followed their team leader''s decision due to fear and the misguided opinion that all leaders must be unconditionally followed.


    After remembering the cial Leviathan that almost killed him, he couldn''t help the shiver of dread that travelled down his spine.


    Flint''s disappointment was palpable. "Exin to me how a simple retrieval task turned into a mission that cost lives."


    Based on the professor''s attitude from when he first entered the clearing, Kain had a faint idea that he already knew exactly what happened. The reason he''s criticizing Riley and ra now, surrounded by their peers, and having them state it for themselves is because he wants all of the others to also learn from their mistake.


    Riley and ra exchanged a hesitant look before Riley met the professor''s cold gaze and opened his mouth. "Our team leader tried to steal the egg of a cial Leviathan to contract it¡ª"


    "And it''s strength?" The professor interjected.


    "G-green grade. We knew it was a bad idea. A terrible idea! But we didn''t think it was right to to opposed our team leader. We thought¡ª"


    "Though?" The professor cut him off again. "It didn''t sound to me as though you did much thinking. You thought what? That you would seed in stealing the sole child of a creature 3 grades higher than you. A child that, given the immense difficulty of the Leviathan species to reproduce, may be the only heir it could ever have."


    At this point Riley and ra could no longer respond coherently to Professor Flint, their chest''s heaving erratically from trying to contain their sobs.


    Professor Flint''s eyes narrowed. "You are students at a top 5 college. Our graduates should be the leaders of the empire, not mindless idiots who can only follow orders from those in the capital without another thought. The source for the empire''s mindless soldiers are those from the lower rank colleges, not you."


    From his words Kain could already feel the pride and arrogance of the top 5 colleges that had seeped into the professor''s bones. He truly thought that the 5 colleges were equal to, if no superior to the government. However, given that most of the top beast-tamers were affiliated with the colleges, this idea wasn''t incorrect.


    "You," Flint said, his gaze piercing through Riley and ra, "are not merely being judged on the items you retrieve but on your ability to handle responsibility, make sound decisions, and show leadership when necessary. You were trusted with a task, and you failed to meet even the basic expectations of that trust."


    The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the distant rustle of the forest and the subdued murmurs of the other students. Riley and ra stood, their heads bowed in a mix of shame and regret.


    "When we return to the college, your actions will be reported to the Vice Dean of the Department. A suitable punishment will be arranged. Please reflect on your actions."


    The professor didn''t spend anymore words on them and walked back to his contract. It seemed to sense its contractor''s irritated mood and shifted restlessly. Once mounted he then set off back to the college without another nce at the students.


    The others then went on their own mounts, or on their ssmates'' contracts that can fit multiple individuals.


    Those with neither a suitable mount nor friends simply walked. After all, they were only a little over an hour walk from the college.

 Chapter 120: Chapter 120: Silent Departure

    When they arrived back at the college, all students were required to write a report on what urred during the field assessment.


    Kain made sure to exin his findings regarding the area in the forest draining life-attribute energy as well as the rapid dposition.


    However, even after a couple of weeks he was not requested for further questioning so he could assume that all of the information he provided was already known by the school¡ªas expected.


    Although the school did not address the changes in the forest directly to the students, Kain did notice them take action in different ways.


    The map for the surrounding wilderness had huge changes in the territories of the more threatening beasts.


    Additionally, students were cautioned against taking missions solo and instead encouraged to always leave the city in groups.


    Queen and Eve had fully saturated their spiritual power and were in Kain''s star space in the midst of breaking through to orange-grade. As silver-quality creatures the sess of their breakthroughs were pretty much guaranteed, so Kain had no worries regarding their sess.


    Kain and Bea were unfortunately still quite a distance away from their own breakthroughs.


    Although a beast-tamer''s contract can be up to one level higher than themselves, this had several disadvantages.


    For one, Kain''s star space would only have red-grade spiritual power, therefore the benefits and quality of spiritual power provided to Queen and Bea would be minisculepared to before their breakthrough.


    Additionally, the restraint of the contract on the spiritual creature will diminish. If the spiritual creature was willing to pay the price of long-term damage to their and their owner''s soul, they could unterally break the contract. Even worse, because the contractor''s star space had already been modified for that specific contract, they''d be unlikely to bind another.


    Star spaces are unique to each creature, even within the same species. They are fine-tuned to meet every aspect of the bound spiritual creatures needs, including personality needs. Therefore, even if a contractor binds another creature of the same species, they''d probably be less than thrilled at the prospect of a second-hand space not tailored to them.


    While a contract with apletely different species would be impossible.


    Additionally, the damage to a beast-tamer''s soul from a broken contract due to the spiritual creature''s death or leaving would make it difficult for future contracts or progress in cultivation to even be made. At least not without the use of incredibly rare and expensive materials. Materials that even the most powerful individuals in the country would have a hard time getting their hands on.


    Thankfully though, Kain was confident in his rtionship with Queen and Eve. Therefore, he did not prevent them from continuing to break through. Even if it meant he''d be down to only one spiritual creature for approximately a week.


    However, soon Kain was regretting that decision.


    ''Why now of all times?!''


    To Kain''s cell phone he received an encrypted message from the school. It was finally time toplete his ck Mission.


    The mission offered no other details, aside from demanding that he be at the teleportation gate within 6 hours, whose coordinates were provided in the message, and to tell no one of his departure.


    The Empire was sorge that travelling onnd took several days. Flying using a powerful spiritual creature may also take hours or days depending on the distance. Therefore, in emergency situations, teleportation portals may be activated. However, even for the ultra-wealthy, it was unusual to activate the portals for non-urgent matters. Each activation costing a huge amount of expensive resources.


    Additionally, despite it being a Wednesday morning Kain didn''t have to worry about exining his absence from his sses. All lessons this week had been cancelled as the professors across the college were all summoned for a reason undisclosed to the students.


    However, Kain was willing to bet that it was to finally address the situation within the forest.


    Kain packed his space ring with clothes, and his usual spear and armour.


    He wished he had more details regarding the mission to help with nning what to bring, but he could only stuff the space with a variety of other random goods he felt maye in handy.


    Making sure to be there at least 20 minutes early, Kain had stealthily arrived at the scene of the teleportation gate. It was noticeably empty of any staff, likely because even the usual workers here had not been informed that it''d be activated today.


    When he entered further into the building until he arrived before the inactivated gate, Kain couldn''t help but call out to see if anyone was there.


    It''s not as though he knew how to work this damn thing himself.


    Fortunately, next to the gate was an envelope that finally cleared his confusion.


    Nobody else would be arriving.


    To keep the identity of himself safe, the coordinates that he''d be arriving at had already been set and the gate would be automatically activated at exactly 6 o''clock. All he needed to do was step through it.


    ''I appreciate the thought, I guess¡­after all the less people that can ce me at the scene of a soon-to-ur murder the better''


    ording to the message in the envelope, further details and all resources necessary to gain ess to the mission target will be at the next location in a safe essed by using the 6 digit pin in the envelop.


    Kain put the paper into his space ring and then prepared to wait the 15 remaining minutes until the gate activated.


    Zzzzzzzt


    Suddenly the sigils carved into the gate began to glow a faint silver. At its center, a swirling vortex of electric blue and violet energy formed while emitting an faint buzz.


    Honestly, the prospect of stepping into it terrified Kain. What if an important body part didn''t travel with him to his destination?


    However, he already knew that he had no choice. From the moment he epted the ck mission, it was mandatory that heplete it or die trying.


    With that thought, Kain put aside his hesitation and stepped forward.


    Soon the room was once again empty, dark and silent.

 Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Mission Details

    Kain felt as though he was going to throw up.


    It felt as though his body was being stretched and thenpressed, and then twisted though this tunnel of searing blue light and pulsing energy.


    The experience was unsettling and disorienting but thankfully over quickly. Soon the world snapped back into focus and he felt the ground beneath his feet again.


    Kain took a moment to reorient himself with his eyes closed since it still felt as though his world was spinning.


    Once he felt more stable he opened his eyes.


    He appeared in a room. There was no sigil marking or object to indicate that this was a target for his teleportation. Kain really didn''t know anything about teleportation and had no idea how this room had been so urately pinpointed. He also had no idea of how to make his way back to the college as discretely as he left.


    Kain examined his surroundings further. He was in a room¡ªone that appeared even more old and rundown than his room back at the orphanage.


    The wooden floorboards were scuffed and worn, marred by deep scratches and stains. The wood has lost its original luster, showing patches of discoloration where years of use have taken their toll.


    The walls, a faded, peeling shade of cream, reveal the scars of age and neglect, with cracked paint and strange dried on white stains that Kain really did not want to investigate further.


    An open window was partially covered by tattered curtains that let in a meagre amount of sunlight and helped to clear the musty air within the room.


    The room was also quite bare with only minimal pieces of furniture¡ªa rickety chair, a sagging mattress on a simple frame, and an old wooden dresser with chipped red paint.


    The only thing the room had going for itself was that it was somewhat clean and free of dust and insects.


    ''I hope that it''s not required of my mission to stay here. Based on the suspicious white stains on the walls, I don''t want to use any of the furniture in this room.''


    Kain went to the safe at the foot of the bed. It stood out in the room due to the obviously expensive spiritual metal it was made out of which contrasted with the decrepit surroundings. He then entered the 6-digit pin that was in the letter left at the teleportation gate.


    After the safe popped open with a beep, Kain inspected the insides. There was a ck formal suit with a white dress shirt and ck tie, a ck ornate vian mask with gold trim and floral design that would cover the top half of the face, a key with a room number on it, an ID card, several papers, and an envelope.


    Kain pulled out the envelope hoping that it would provide more instructions.


    ording to the envelope the formal suit and mask were part of the waiter uniform for Eli Cross¡ªhis alias. The ID card and the temporary worker paperwork form were also present within the safe. Additionally, there was also a recent photo of his target¡ªa somewhat chubby and pale man in histe twenties to early thirties with dark hair and cold grey eyes.


    "Eli" had been hired to cater an extremely exclusive event tonight attended only by the most affluent members of the capital.


    Yes, ording to the letter Kain was currently within the Celestial Empire''s capital city¡ªCelestial City. Which also is home to the nation''s top college, and their biggest rival during the nationalpetition, the First Celestial Academy.


    Apparently this event was something many members of high society looked forward to every year and was even attended by those that usually disliked attending social events, such as Kain''s target Aric Nightsbane. Aric usually remains within a vi in the city''s outskirts all year round, so this is one of the few instances when he appears in public.


    The event is tomemorate the day that the first Affinity Ceremony was held¡ªa major turning point in the nation''s history and also an achievement credited to the royal family. Although the date is not an official national holiday that all workers can take off work, it is probably the most important sate within the social calendar of those nobles.


    Any member of high society, as well as their children above a certain age, that does not attend without good reason will be considered to be personally insulting the royal family. An usation that would make even the most antisocial individuals not want to deal with the ensuing headache from skipping the social event.


    Tomorrow morning at 8 am, another opportunity to teleport back to the school will be provided within this room.


    Therefore, although Kain had no intention of spending the night in this room, he will still need to keep the room key ande back here tomorrow morning.


    Kain put everything in the safe into his space ring and then ventured out of the room, which he discovered was located within an inn, in one of the most poor areas of the capital.


    Kain then headed to one of the nicer areas of the city to book a morefortable hotel room to sleep in, although not too high-end a hotel since he wanted to keep a low profile. It took a while to find a non-sketchy hotel that would ept cash payments since his bank ount was attached to his real identity and he made sure to book the room under his alias.


    There were still 2 hours left until the event, but Kain figured he should head over there early. So once he had a ce to sleep for the night he gged a cab and made his way over to the event venue.


    In the back of the car as the moved towards the more affluent areas, Kain finally took the time to examine the famous city.


    Due to its long history, there was a captivating contrast between historic charm and modern additions. However, the well-preserved historical buildings became more plentiful in the direction they were headed.


    At a certain point, there was a gate blocking the road. Thankfully, Kain''s work order allowed him and the cab ess to the "aristocratic" area in the city''s North.


    The modern sleek lines in the newer middle-ss area transitioned to be exclusively lined by grand Renaissance-style architecture with ornate designs along the walls, arched windows, intricately carved columns and domed ceilings.


    The smooth concrete of the newer areas also transitioned into cobblestone roads that shockingly incorporated precious stones that sparkled under the setting sun, disying the wealth of local residents in an ostentatious manner.


    Every few blocks there were roundabouts at intersections with fountains and statues in the shape of famous spiritual creatures.


    He got out of the cab a short 10-minute walk from the venue outside of a restaurant. After paying the staff at the front in cash to turn the other way as he used the washroom, Kain changed into his uniform and made his way over to his worksite.


    Just outside of the building, he also put on the ck face mask.


    The location of the event was held at what appeared to be a Renaissance castle that was cast in a warm amber glow under the setting sun.


    Crimson and gold banners¡ªthe royal family''s colours¡ª decorated the castle''s massive grounds. While the royal crest¡ªa magnificent golden dragon on a red background¡ªwas featured in a massive banner above the grand entryway.


    An entryway the Kain bypassed as he went towards the side door of the castle. Obviously as the help he waspletely unqualified to enter through the front door.


    After handing over his papers and (fake) ID, Kain was granted entry.

 Chapter 122: Chapter 122: Undercover

    In the bustling staff room of the grand castle, the air was thick with anticipation as the chefs and other workers hurried toplete their tasksst-minute.


    The wait staff, dressed in crisp ck suits and ck masks, stood in rows attentively, their expressions a mixture of nervousness and a forced calm professionalism.


    At the front of the room, an impably dressed stern elderly woman with a tight grey bun, the head of catering, addressed the team with amanding presence.


    "Listen carefully. I will not have any of you tarnishing my business'' reputation." She began in a strict tone that promised severe consequences should they cross her. "Tonight''s event is of utmost importance. It will be attended by not only the most powerful families of our great Empire, but also members of the royal family¡ªyour every action must be perfect."


    "Rule number 1. You will NOT speak to or make eye contact with the guests unless spoken to. You are to be an easily ignorable ghost that just happens to be there when needed."


    "Rule number 2. Every request by a guest must be addressed promptly. Ideally you anticipate their needs before they voice them. If a guest''s ss is almost empty, you are to ensure it is refilled immediately¡ªno guest should ever be seen holding an empty ss."


    Her gaze swept over the staff, ensuring they absorb every detail. "Rule number 3. No matter what you hear at this event, it must be immediately deleted from you mind. You do not show any emotional reaction to what you hear, and above all you do not share it with others once you leave¡ªunless you want to die."


    "Maintain a calm demeanor, and remember to keep your movements smooth and silent. Any mistake tonight is uneptable. Your efficiency, discretion, and grace reflect on the reputation of this establishment. Now, get ready and make sure you understand the importance of every action tonight."


    The team nodded in unison, their collective focus on the high stakes of the evening ahead.


    They then lined up to receive their catering trays.


    Due to Kain''s true purpose for being here, Kain made sure to collect a tray only with drinks. However, he did not put Bea into the drinks just yet.


    He had no guarantee that Aric has even arrived yet. Not to mention, the level of some of the attendees may be at 6-stars or even higher, while anyone with 4-stars or higher may be able to detect Bea''s presence if they had extreme vignce.


    Thankfully, Aric was just an ordinary person. All Kain had to do was find a way to serve him a contaminated drink without any of the more powerful individuals noticing.


    Kain entered the ballroom with his tray full of golden spiritual cocktails.


    Kain noted that the faint hum of spiritual power within the drinks may also help to conceal Bea''s presence from those who were not consciously investigating the liquid.


    Therefore, Kain may be able to move his estimation of Bea''s effectiveplete concealment to include those of 4-stars as well¡ªAric''s guards are anticipated to be between 4- and 5-stars. Therefore, he hoped that during a moment of distraction none of them would notice a sudden addition to their charge''s ss.


    Kain was actually grateful that the overindulgence of the nation''s most rich and powerful had caused them to use extremely potent spiritual nts just for party cocktails.


    As the door separates the back kitchen from the party, a breathtaking sight unfolded within. The room, a magnificent embodiment of ssic opulence was simrly adorned with crimson and gold tapestries and banners around the hall.


    The soaring ceilings were covered with realistic paintings of the founders'' legendary battles while establishing the kingdom.


    Golden chandeliers were dripping with spiritual crystals that had a faint effect of lifting the attendants'' moods. Although their effect was ineffective on the more powerful beast-tamers present.


    The polished marble floor stretched beneath the socializing guests'' feet. While opulent dining tables draped with red and gold linens were interspersed throughout the room and were set with gold-rimmed dishes and crystal ssware. At the center of each circr table wererge spiritual flower arrangements in borate vases that cast rich floral scent into the air.


    Likely because not all guests had arrived, and it was not yet time for dinner, the guests were all still standing around and conversing.


    However, possibly due to the live string quartet''s musical instruments being engraved with sigils that had a slight concealment effect, Kain would have to arrive practically right next to the guests in order to eavesdrop on their conversation. All he could hear aside from some vague murmurs was the music.


    Kain did his best to blend in and not raise any suspicion. He naturally walked around the room while serving sses and collecting empty ones. All the while he kept an eye out for his target who seemingly hasn''t arrived yet.


    And so for the next 30 minutes, Kain was apletely ordinary waitstaff. He returned to the kitchen to refill his drink tray, and conveyed special requests to the kitchen.


    ''This is so freaking boring. Why would anyone even want toe to this thing? I understand that some of the mid-level beast-tamers of 5 and 6 stars probably felt pressured toe. Those 7-star and above should be free from any such repercussions. Are these aristocrats just bored and dying for socialization?''


    Finally, at the chime of a bell the guests moved to their assigned seats and a hush fell over the grand ballroom.


    At the front of the room, a middle-aged man acting as the host in a finely tailored suit took the stage,manding the room''s attention.


    A smooth and resonant voice cut through the silence, "Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, wee to this illustrious evening where we celebrate the anniversary of our Celestial Empire''s first affinity ceremony established by our infinitely blessed and wise royal family."


    At his gesture to the side, a spotlight illuminated two distinguished figures sitting at the head table, the guests of honour¡ªa middle-aged woman and teenage boy, the representatives of the royal family.


    The room erupted into a wave of apuse. Whether the expressions of deep respect and admiration on their faces were genuine, Kain did not know.


    With the formalitiesplete, the host continued, "Tonight, you are invited to indulge in an exquisite banquet prepared by one of our nation''s finest chefs, and to partake in an exclusive auction featuring rare and coveted items from both our empire and abroad." The host''s tone is enthusiastic, promising an evening of luxury and excitement.


    ''Auction?! Now that exins why many of these people still came.'' Kain himself was also full of anticipation. Although he couldn''t participate in the auction himself, nor would he likely be able to afford even the cheapest item if he could, this auction would still serve to broaden his horizons.


    At the mention of the auction, apuse once again rang out in the room even more enthusiastic than before.


    The staff then sprang into action, serving the first course of thevish meal. Kain made sure to be responsible for the table of a chubby man with cold grey eyes¡ªAric Nightsbane.


    However, he made sure not to give him excessive attention, he kept his eyes away from all individuals at the table as he was instructed and paid attention to ensuring the height of their ss remained at a high level.


    All of the guards for these rich and powerful individuals were stood against the walls of the room, keeping an eye on their charges. However, the fact that they weren''t hovering right above the shoulder of those they were responsible for was an additional assurance for Kain.


    From that distance, he didn''t think they''d be able to detect Bea''s presence, especially not when in a liquid brimming with spiritual power.


    Likely they didn''t think anyone would be so bold as to try anything at an even with beast-tamers even above 7-stars. Not to mention, most powerful individuals have extremely effective defensive measures against poisons and sudden attacks. And indeed, no assassination has beenunched at this event in the past¡ªat least not sessfully. Even when attempted by 6-star assassins in the past.


    The sound of cutlery and politepliments to the chef filled the room. However, Kain could tell it was perfunctory. Everyone''s focus was on the first covered item being wheeled on to the stage by a beautiful young girl in a form-hugging sparkling red dress.

 Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Auction

    There was an art to the order of auctions. To maximize the enthusiasm of the atmosphere the host would want the first item to be excellent enough to raise the anticipation of the guests. However, the real showstoppers must be left until the end.


    Therefore, the first item of an auction is usually appealing enough to rank just within the top 10 of the items being shown, while also being widely desired and usable by majority of the beast-tamers in the room. That way as many individuals are drawn into the auction early as possible.


    And once they ce their first bid, even if they don''t win, their resistance to casting a second, then a third, then a fourth, gradually declines.


    The red covering was removed from the covering to reveal I shining gold piece of armor, with 7 intricate designs all around the armour.


    "Created by the Grandmaster cksmith Ragnar Aegis, I present to you the 6-star amour, the Aegis of Valor. Despite being a 6-star enchanted armor, it has 7 sigils. In order to preserve the cards of its future owner, I will not reveal all of their effects, but I can reveal that this armor has exceptional defensive and offensive abilities.


    And based on Grandmaster Aegis'' resounding reputation I''m sure you can imagine how outstanding the effects of the sigils and theirbination of effects must be."


    Immediately a buzz of anticipation was felt within the room. With each increase in level it bes harder to create an enchanted piece of equipment, much less one with an additional sigil beyond its level. Many of the individuals within the room were 6-star beast tamers, and they probably did not have a piece of equipment with 7 sigils, despite their many connections.


    Additionally, those in the room below 6-stars probably have a rtive at the suitable level whether that is an older rtive or a junior.


    With one eye on his target, Kain could also tell that Aric was tempted by the armor, after all his grandfather was a 6-star beast tamer. As an ordinary individual, everything he currently has and all of his current status despite hisck of strength ispletely due to his grandfather''s favour of him.


    Otherwise, he would have been long cast aside in favour of one of his father''s illegitimate children that have managed to awaken an affinity.


    This armour would make an excellent gift for currying favour with the old man.


    "We will be starting the bids at 50 million Celestial Dors!"


    The initial bids started to roll in quickly, while Kain was internally still in shock at the startling starting bid. However, the price of the armour quickly went far beyond that.


    The host, now auctioneer, was skilled in his handling of the bids and the mounting excitement in the room set off a flurry of raised hands. Each individual making sure to increase the bid by at least 5 million CD. Kain wasn''t sure if these high-end auctions had some kind of minimal raise rule.


    Eventually there were no more hands in the air.


    "115 million CD, going once¡­"


    He paused to give time for a newpetitor to interject.


    "Going twice¡­"


    Bang Bang Bang


    "Sold! To Sir Whistlemore for 115 million CD" The auctioneer said before banging a gavil that suddenly appeared three times on the table.


    This early auction item, while not the most extravagant, perfectly seeded in drawing in a broad array of participants, creating apetitive atmosphere that ensured the evening''s subsequent lots would benefit from the heightened anticipation and engaged crowd.


    For nearly two hours Kain enthusiastically paid attention to the auction items while also making sure to bring in the subsequent food courses and topping up the drinks of all the guests of the table he was in charge of.


    Kain''s horizon''s were definitely broadened. He witnessed the sale of ancient artifacts with mysterious effects, powerful weapons, extremely rare spiritual nts and spiritual creatures, spiritual creatures and specialty items from foreign nations, manuals for rare spiritual skills, and more.


    "Now we are entering the highlight of tonight''s auction. I am sure you have all been waiting in anticipation of tonight''s final 3 items."


    Dessert had just been served and the night wasing to an end, but Kain still hadn''t found an opportunity to infect Aric. Based on this being thest course, Kain had a feeling that this will be thest time Aric will be consuming any beverages. It was now or never.


    Moreover, now the more shocking items of the auctions should be appearing. Hopefully, they were surprising enough to distract the guards from watching Aric.


    Thankfully, for the dessert the paired beverage had been changed to cut through the sweet richness of the final course. Therefore, he would need to clear away their current sses and rece it with new ones. One that he can already have spiked with a little something¡­special.


    Kain steadily approached the table with a tray full of red spiritual cocktails, these ones with an even stronger hum of spiritual power¡ªeven the kitchen staff were unintentionally helping him!


    Kain began to slowly ce the sses down. Taking his time as he made his way to Aric


    "I present to you the first item of the grand finale¡ªan Elysian Bloom. Brought back at the sacrifice of numerous lives from the far Verdant Empire. I''m sure many of you already know, but I will still go over its extraordinary effects. The Elysian Bloom can guarantee the sess of forming up to the seventh star space. Regardless of anytent injuries, or deficiencies in talent that the user may have.


    With this spiritual nt, our great Empire will wee a new high-level beast tamer."


    This was the moment Kain was waiting for. When even the guards were staring at the stage in envy and longing, Kain ced thest ss on the tray down¡ªAric''s.


    Kain could understand the appeal of this object. Every 3 levels of beast tamers represented a great divide. The gap in lifespan, strength and abilities between the 3rd (low-level beast-tamer) and 4th (threshold for a mid-level beast-tamer) star is greater than the sum of the strength of the first 3 levels all together.


    The difference in strength between the 6th (mid-level) and 7th (high-level) star is even greater. Simrly, the difficulty of breaking through to the 4th and 7th stars is also the hardest.


    Therefore, while 6-star beast tamers are the backbone of the country''s elite warriors. The number once you get to 7-star beast tamers is drastically reduced. For every 20 6-stars, there may not even be one 7-star.


    A family having a 7-star beast-tamer will result in a huge increase in status and strengthpared to one headed by a 6-star beast-tamer.


    Many individuals in the room practically had fire spitting out of their eyes in greed¡­including Aric.

 Chapter 124: Chapter 124: Auction (2)

    "The starting bid is 1 billion CD. But I''m sure you all know that a 7-star beast-tamer is actually priceless."


    ''Damn!'' Any satisfaction Kain might have felt in the past from making a substantial amount of money from hunting spiritual creatures was nowpletely gone. In front of the real rich he was still no different from a beggar.


    Soon the price passed 10 billion and showed no signs of going down. The most active and desperate bidders were individuals from families headed by a 6-star beast tamer¡ªsuch as Aric.


    The amount of times he''d shouted out a new bid had practically caused his voice to grow hoarse. As a result, he was drinking a lot to soothe his throat. Kain no longer had to worry about thepletion of his mission and just sat back to watch the show.


    Kain had already instructed Bea to restrain herself and not kill Aric until after he''d already left the venue. After all, as the one serving Aric, Kain would be among the first suspects.


    However, as an ordinary individual, it was really difficult for Bea to not kill him. Any slight action may cause him to copse since he has no resistance.


    Once the bids passed 15 billion, only then were there signs of the bidding reaching its end. However, it was not because they felt it was bing overpriced, but rather because they were running our of money to bid.


    For many of the 6-star beast tamers, especially the older ones closer to the end of their life-span, they''d be willing to give up all of their family property to have a chance at breaking through and living for much longer.


    "18.3 billion CD going once¡­Going twice¡­Sold to Sir Ironbane. I wish you great sess in your future breakthrough Sir Ironbane." An elderly man could be seen smiling in relief at having finally secured the item.


    His eyes were literally red from the stress of this auction, if he hadn''t quickly contacted some distant rtives and friends to raise more money hope of any future breakthroughs would have been lost and he''d have to resign himself to dying.


    Aric''s face on the other hand looked as though he''d smelled something horrible. Kain could tell that he was pissed and no longer in the mood to remain here. Likely the moment the event ended he will quickly leave without bothering to wait around and socialize¡­which perfectly suited Kain''s interests.


    "Up next we have something I''m sure even some of our 7-star beast-tamers and above will desire¡ªThe Fruit of Renewal.


    "Under normal circumstances the loss of a spiritual creature is devastating, not only are you onepanion short, but the damage to the soul also prevents any future breakthroughs. But s, it truly is difficult to reach a certain level of strength without suffering any losses.


    "With the Fruit of Renewal, not only will all damage to the soul bepletely restored to allow those of you stuck at your current levels an opportunity. To advance further, it alsopletely resets thendscape of a star space with a previous upant to allow you to contract a new spiritual creature.


    Not only will your strength return to its peak¡ªyou may even quickly surpass your strength at its peak."


    "The bids will be starting at 10 billion CD!"


    Kain''s hand holding a jug to refill the beverages unintentionally shook at the startling starting bid. Thankfully, none of the drink actually spilled, thest thing he needed was to draw attention to himself.


    However, he was shocked that the starting bid was directly double that of the previous item. Likely because the previous item was only useful for 6-star beast-tamers and below. However, this item was invaluable for the real high-level beast-tamers with 7 or more stars.


    As the highest fighting force in the nation against foreign enemies, many of them have had to lose apanion in the past which prevented them from progressing further. Many of whom were considered geniuses in their youth and without the damage to their soul would have had the hope of condensing 8- or 9- stars.


    Additionally, some of the more ruthless individuals in the room were considering using the fruit as a method to further ''improve'' their lineups. It is quitemon to have one contract that didn''t live up to its full potential or due to non-ideal circumstances they signed with a spiritual creature earl on without much potential.


    The Fruit of Renewal finally released a long-repressed desire to rece some of the less useful members of their squad without any bacsh.


    "20 billion CD!"


    The initial bid was directly doubled by a desperate member of the crowd.


    "35 billion CD!"


    The price was still going up extremely fast. Even for the 7-star and 8-star beast tamers, this amount of money must have been extremely burdensome. Likely the news of this auction item had been leaked beforehand to give an opportunity to raise funds from their friends and family.


    Kain''s heart couldn''t take much more, so after trying to block out all of the bids Kain quickly refilled the sses without spilling a drop and then quickly returned the empty jug to the kitchen to give himself a chance to calm down.


    Strangely, he was as cool as a cucumber once it was time to assassinate the target, but he was beginning to lose hisposure after seeing the crazy spending.


    "Hey Eli"


    Kain continued to staring down trying to calm his heart.


    "Eli?" Someone patted his shoulder, and Kain turned to face another masked boy around his age in shock. Right, "Eli" was the name of his alias.


    "Ah! Sorry I just need a moment to calm down. I don''te from the best background so seeing them bid billions without hesitation was shocking to me."


    The other boy nodded, "don''t worry about it. Most people are simr to you the first time they see one of these auctions. Even the cheapest item sold tonight is probably worth more than any of us will ever see in our lives. Last year one of the waitresses actually fainted from shock at the final sale price of thest auction item.


    I wonder if the final auction item this year will beat the price of the one fromst year."


    Suddenly, a loud apuse could be heard from the ballroom.


    "I guess it was sold. They should be moving on to thest item now. You should begin collecting the tes. But leave the sses, we usually collect them once they leave."


    Kain nodded and then headed back into the room. He wondered what the item that could even ce above the previous two would be.

 Chapter 125: Chaper 125: Grand Finale

    "Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, and honoured patrons,


    "We have arrived at the pinnacle of tonight''s event. As we near the conclusion of this extraordinary evening, it is my pleasure to present to you the crowning jewel of our auction¡ªthe pi¨¨ce de r¨¦sistance that I am sure you have all heard rumours of prior to the auction and are waiting to behold.


    Tonight''s final item is not merely an artifact; it is a legend in its own right¡ªa symbol of ess to unparalleled power and the wisdom of the ancients. Allow me to introduce to you the God''s Eye."


    The auctioneer gestured to a velvet-draped pedestal where a small round shining crystal was bathed in a halo of light.


    Kain was confused. He couldn''t sense any particrly strong spiritual powering from the object. Why was it thest auction item to be presented?


    "The only key that allows the bearer ess to the most coveted relic on our continent, maybe even in the world¡ªGod''s realm. It is a rare treasure, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have ess to a space that if your encounters are fortuitous enough may grant you power far beyond what can even be imagined.


    "As you prepare to ce your bids, consider not only the sheer rarity of this key to the relic but also the profound significance it holds. This is likely the sole opportunity to have a hope of stepping beyond the level of 9-stars to a mythical level that has only existed in legends.


    "With that, I invite you to raise your bids and im this unparalleled ticket for yourselves. Let us celebrate this final chapter of our auction with the grandeur and reverence it truly deserves.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, the God''s Eye is now open for bidding. May the most visionary and daring among you seize this opportunity to etch your name into the annals of legend. We will be starting the bids at 50 billion CD."


    Just by the long speech provided for this itempared to the previous items, Kain could tell that it was extraordinary. However, to be quite honest he really still didn''t understand its significance. It would provide ess to a relic? And seemingly this relic also allows its entrants the slim possibility of gaining the knowledge of a level beyond 9-stars?


    However, 9-stars, much less the level beyond it, was way too far away from Kain. The item didn''t actually hold as much appeal to him as some of the others shown.


    But the same could not be said for the few 9-star beast-tamers in the audience. There were only eight 9-star beast-tamers in the entire empire, and four of them were here. All of whom werepeting fiercely to obtain the God''s Eye.


    The weaker individuals, even if they had the financial resources, did notpete with them. After all, even if they spent their entire fortune to obtain the object, they did not have the strength to keep it under the covetous eyes of those at the peak.


    There were few items that would cause 9-star beast-tamers to transform into shameless thieves, and this was one of them.


    The atmosphere in the auction hall crackled with palpable tension as none of four 9-star beast-tamers gave in.


    The auctioneer''s words had set the stage for an intense showdown among the most powerful beast-tamers in the empire. The room, previously buzzing with the murmur of guests and the clinking of sses, now focused solely on the four titans engaged in a battle for this elusive key to legendary power.


    "115 billion CD! I hope my respected colleagues can show this old man a little face as an elder and step down in recognition oof my many years of service to the Celestial Empire," said a small old man who looked like he''d die any day but whose voice boomed with power.


    Kain recognized him as Lord Viad Ignis. There were only eight supreme 9-star individuals, so most college students, and even the average citizen, knew most of them. They were the greatest source of power that the country relied on and had been defending the country for decades, even centuries. Everyone in the nation respected and worshipped them.


    Lord Ignis alsoes from an old beast-tamer family that dates back to the empire''s founding, although he was the first of his family to reach 9-stars. He, like majority of his ancestors has an affinity rted to the fire-attribute. However, he is even more known for elevating his family''s ancient fire spiritual skills passed on to each generation.


    Therefore, his ownbat power isn''t much inferior to his contracts'' despite his feeble appearance. He also happened to be the Chancellor of Supernova College.


    "Ha! Don''t try to intimidate me with age old-man," said a woman with dark skin and silver hair that looked to be in her fifties. Although her true age was likely at least 5 times that. Lady Seraphina Mindshade. A 9-star beast tamer known for her mental-attribute spiritual creatures.


    Although her head onbat power may not be among the top of the 9-star beast tamers, she is the individual everyone is the most wary of making an enemy of. After all, it is easier to defend against a head on attackpared to one against the mind. "I believe that the key should find its way to someone who truly can make use of the opportunity it presents. My bid stands at 130 billion CD.


    This is an opportunity for our entire nation to increase its top power. Naturally, it is more suitable for a younger and more talented individual to go."


    At her words Ignis'' face immediately turned ugly.


    "The God''s Eye is a treasure that promises a chance at unimaginable power and knowledge," said Lord Xavi Oand, who appeared to only be in histe thirties and had dark green hair and eyes. He hails from a long line of beast-tamers with affinities rted to nts. However, unlike his family members he has an affinity limited to binding spiritual creatures with giants'' blood.


    He also has a resounding reputation for his unyielding courage and resolve. "It would be remiss of me not to secure it, as the best candidate from the Empire. I offer 145 billion CD. This key should belong to the one who will ensure its responsible and beneficial use."


    Finally, Lady ra Windrider, an elderly woman who had not yet spoken and the Chancellor of First Celestial Academy, ced her first bid with an imperceptible smile. "I offer 155 billion CD." Unlike the others she didn''t spare any additional words to try and intimidate her opponents.


    The room erupted in murmurs and gasps as the bids continued to escte. The four 9-star beast-tamers were locked in a fierce battle, each vying for the God''s Eye with a blend of wealth, power, and the asional verbal intimidation.


    The auctioneer, standing at the center of this high-stakes contest, watched with an almost palpable sense of satisfaction. The bids were reaching astronomical heights, and the intensity of thepetition was a testament to the extraordinary value of the final item.


    With each sessive bid, the tension in the room mounted. The other guests watched with bated breath as the titans of beast-taming shed. The auctioneer, barely able to keep up with the rapid-fire increments, prepared for the moment when one of the titans would make their final, decisive move.


    Until finally¡­ "I bid 1 Trillion Celestial Dors!"

 Chapter 126: Chapter 126: Grand Finale (2)

    The entire room froze at the unexpected amount. After all, the bid right before it had been only for 600 billion CD. This bid nearly directly doubled it. Not to mention the amount of individuals that could afford to spend an amount into the trillions could probably be counted on one hand.


    Even the auctioneer was so shocked he couldn''t say anything for a moment.


    "Ahem! I said that I will be bidding 1 Trillion Celestial Dors.," repeated Lady Imogen.


    The auctioneer''s voice trembled slightly as he processed the bid, his excitement barely contained. "1 trillion Celestial Dors!" he echoed, his eyes widening with the shock of the unprecedented sum.


    "Do we have any higher?" The auctioneerposed himself and looked at the other three in hesitation, likely already predicting that 1 trillion will be the limit for tonight. The highest an auctioned item had ever sold previously was 5 years ago for 850 billion CD. This was an all-time record.


    Lord Viad Ignis''s eyes widened in disbelief, his frail fingers clutching his bidding paddle as if to steady himself. He red across the room at Lady Windrider who dared to eclipse his previous bid by such an enormous margin. The shock on his face was evident, and his usually authoritative demeanor faltered under the unexpected weight of the bid.


    Lady Seraphina Mindshade''s dark eyes narrowed in displeasure, her serene fa?ade cracking for a moment. The bidding war had shifted dramatically, and her voice, previously calm andposed, now carried an edge of frustration. "A trillion Celestial Dors? Imogen, I didn''t realize that college Chancellors were paid so handsomely."


    Anyone could tell that she did not believe that Imogen did not have that much money and that it was a fake bid to intimidate the others. She hoped that the auction organizers would invalidate her bid.


    "Stop with the mind games Seraphina, it''s useless. You and I both know that the consequences for reneging on a bid are greater than even we can handle calmly." Lady Imogen responded calmly with an eyeroll.


    Lord Xavi did not enter the conversation. Instead he just leaned back in his chair in resignation.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, we have just witnessed an unprecedented bid of 1 trillion Celestial Dors for the God''s Eye! Does anyone else wish to challenge this offer, or shall we conclude this remarkable auction?"


    None of the four 9-star beast-tamers answered him. As the seconds ticked by, the room held its breath, awaiting the response of the other three individuals to the bid.


    Finally, with a visible effort, Lord Viad Ignis relinquished his paddle, his face a mask of begrudging eptance. "It seems," he said, his voice a mix of resignation and respect, "that this key shall go to the one with the deepest pockets."


    Lady Seraphina Mindshade, after a brief pause, followed suit, her gaze lingering on the auctioneer as she nodded in reluctant acknowledgment. "Very well. Let it be so."


    Lord Xavi Oand, his expression nk aside from a hint of frustration yet grudging respect in his eyes, also conceded. "I have no further bids."


    Lady Imogen Windrider remained seated with an almost imperceptible smile ying on her lips. Her demeanor was one of quiet satisfaction, as if the astronomical bid truly was nothing to her. Or perhaps the value of the key made the expenditure worth it to her.


    With the concession of the three 9-star beast-tamers, the auctioneer''s face broke into a broad smile of triumph. "Going once, going twice¡­ Sold! To the esteemed Lady Imogen Windrider for 1 trillion Celestial Dors!"


    The room erupted in apuse and cheers, the sheer scale of the final bid turning what was already an impressive event into a legendary asion. The God''s Eye, a symbol of unparalleled power and potential, had found its new owner. And with the exchange the next 9-star individual with the hope of a further breakthrough has been unveiled.


    As the auctioneer began to conclude the event, the guests were buzzing with excitement from a record-breaking auction bid.


    Some spected on what Lady Imogen might be able to gain from the relic after entering, while others marvelled at the financial prowess of the Chancellor. The general consensus was that this auction would be remembered for years toe.


    Kain, observing from the sidelines, felt a mixture of admiration and frustration. Truly, given his background, he does not have the immense financial resources of an old family to support him.


    However, if he ever hoped to gain ess to these kinds of events and obtain the more rare resources than he also needed to start paying attention to his financial situation as well.


    Kain decided to put some ns he''d been putting off on the agenda.


    With the final bid concluded, the auctioneer''s attention turned to the logistics of finalizing the final sale of the auctioned items.


    Lady Imogen Windrider was surrounded by her aides, who began the process of arranging the transfer of the God''s Eye. The scene was a blur of activity as the prestigious item was carefully handled and prepared for its new owner.


    As the guests began to disperse, the mood was one of both relief and exhration. The event had been a resounding sess, and the news about the God''s Eye would undoubtedly spread throughout the entire empire by morning.


    Kain began to slowly clean up the emptying hall with the other staff. As Aric got up he stumbled and Kain had to once again remind Bea that now was not the time.


    "Oof! I guess the drinks were too strong for an ordinary person like me. I will be taking my leave, good day everyone." Aric said farewell to the others at his table and left while leaning on one of his guards.


    ''Remember what I said Bea. Restraint. RESTRAINT!''


    Kain got sensed her unwilling confirmation, but Aric Nightsbane still left the vicinity of the event alive. Kain sensed that he''d already entered his car and was driving away.


    Phew


    ''It''d have been horrible if he dropped dead in here.''


    Keeping his head down to continue collecting the objects and working as fast as possible to get out of there, Kain then turned to head back into the kitchen.


    Oomf


    "Ahh!"


    "Oh my god! I am so sorry." Kain said before immediately bowing down and avoiding eye contact with the guest. He could tell from what he could see of the dress with his head down that he had bumped into one of the remaining guests. Based on the spiritual power humming off of their jewellery it''s a pretty wealthy guest too.


    Kain began to get nervous. He was so close topleting his mission, thest thing he needs is an aristocratic youngdy throwing a tantrum and drawing attention to him. He really wasn''t sure if the fake identity that the college created for him could withstand an intense investigation.


    "I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I''m so sorry!" Kain decided to go the pitiful route to get out of this situation and tried to make his voice as tearful as possible. Although no tears could actually be seen on his bowed head¡ªafter all, he isn''t an actor.


    Thankfully, the guest just casually waved their hand. "It''s no matter. Just continue about your work."


    Kain once again bowed in thanks before heading back to the staff room with his head lowered.


    However, behind him there was a cold pair of blue eyes gazing at his fleeing figure in confusion.

 Chapter 127: Chapter 127: News

    Kain quickly finished up his chef and departed the venue.


    With each moment he could feel Bea''s split moving further and further away. He''d need toplete his mission and recall Bea before the splits were too far away for a sessful recall.


    Therefore, he patiently waited until he sensed he was just about to lose contact and sent a signal to Bea to go in for the kill quickly.


    Not even 5 secondster he received a confirmation of death and brought Bea, along with all of her splits into the star space.


    Thankfully, ordinary individuals have no resistance. If he had been a 2-star beast tamer it''d have taken a little longer to kill him and Kain may not have been able to recall the split in time.


    Kain gged a cab and then calmly made his way back to the hotel he''d booked for the night. Nobody would be able to tell that he was responsible for the death that would make headlines tomorrow.


    Even Kain was surprised by how quickly he adapted to his new role as an assassin and his first human kill¡ªhe slept like a baby that night.


    Should he feel guilty?


    Well, no matter, he decided to just put yesterday''s events behind him and leisurely made his way back to the rundown inn.


    On the walk towards the inn with his breakfast of a pastry and coffee in hand, he happened to pass a newspaper stand and decided to purchase it to see if the news of Aric''s death had been reported. And, more importantly, if a cause of death had been determined.


    Stuffing the rest of the pastry in his mouth and leaving a ridiculous white sugary coating on his lips, he opened the paper with anticipation.


    "Record-breaking auction heldst night. Final piece sold for 1 trillion CD. Huh..they really left out a lot of information¡­" Kain muttered under his breath while reading.


    Kain finally realized just how much information was censored before it was released to the masses. The news article went on and on about how lucrativest night''s auction was and the record-breaking final bid. However, it never actually mentioned the details of any of the items auctionedst night or the identities of the final winners.


    If Kain wanted to get any urate information in the future it looks like he''d need to get ess to exclusive ces like that event, rather than relying on the information provided by the media. And to get ess to those spaces Kain will need both money and power¡ªa lot of it.


    Kain continued to flip through the newspaper.


    "There was an explosion in the western region¡­32 civilians are injured, 5 dead¡­suspected to be due to terrorists but their motives are unknown¡­"


    Flip


    "Random beast attacks against civilians are bing more frequent in the eastern region, it is suspected that another beast tide is eminent¡­" Kain continued to read on the next page. "Well they''ve got that right. Although I didn''t realize that the beast attacks were increasing throughout the entire east, not just in the vicinity of the school."


    Flip


    "Another child missing in the capital believed to be in connection to the mass amount of kidnappings over the past 2 years¡­still no leads have been found."


    "Well crap! I should read the news more often. Fortunately, it doesn''t seem like there''s been many, if any, disappearances in the southern region. The kids back home should be safe¡­"


    "Congrattions to Lady Callista ckheart and Lord Cassian Evermore on their engagement¡­who gives a crap!" Kain was getting irritated at not finding the information he wanted. I know that guy wasn''t a beast-tamer but surely as the son of a prominent figure his death should cause some buzz. Kain was actually starting to pity the guy.


    Flip


    "A new evolutionary form for the silver-quality Nyxara has been found by Professor Thalorix of Starfire College. It is predicted that the price of Nyxara throughout the empire will usher in an explosive growth as its poprity as a contract increases¡­Specific details of the evolutionary requirements can be purchased from the patent holder Professor Thalorix." Kain stopped walking for a second.


    ''How did I miss this? What good is the System if not for this?!''


    Kain had beening up with a variety of money-making ns, but he had really overlooked the profit that could be obtained from patenting a new evolutionary form. However, he couldn''t bepletely med. He hadn''t been aware that the discoverer could choose to conceal the knowledge since most evolutionary ns he''de into contact with were publicly avable.


    However, that was because majority of them had been discovered centuries ago and the methods had been turned over to the government for the betterment of the nation upon their death. New evolutionary forms were quite rare now.


    Kain decided to get more serious withpleting the system tasks to hopefullye up with a new evolutionary form that he could profit from.


    Heck, if he was really ambitious, he could even choose to hoard the spiritual creatures before announcing the new evolution and selling them for a much higher amount.


    Several money-making schemes swirled around in him mind.


    Flip


    "Ahhh¡­ finally! We regretfully announce that Aric Nightsbane, son of Galen Nightsbane, and grandson of Lord Edric Nightsbane past awayst night. The cause of death¡­excessive spiritual power poisoning."


    Phew


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief. It appears that due to the many sses of spiritual cocktailsst night, Bea''s symptoms resembling intoxication, the absence of any poisons or injuries, and, most importantly, Aric''s status as an ordinary person, it was determined that Aric got spiritual power poisoning.


    A phenomenon usually only seen in ordinary individuals when they consume objects with more spiritual. Power than they could handle.


    Kain still couldn''t be sure if the Nightsbane family had any doubts about Aric''s true cause of death. However, at the very least there shouldn''t be a public investigation. Additionally, Kain''s methods and identity should have been concealed well enough to not lead the trail back to him.


    Nobody at the event, including the other staff members, had even seen his face since he''d worn a mask before even entering.

 Chapter 128: Chapter 128: Planning for the Future

    After re-entering the room at ten minutes to 8 am, Kain stood around and waited. He still couldn''t figure out how exactly anything in this run-down room would enable him to teleport.


    However, after the hearing the chime of therge clock tower at the center of the city to signal that it was 8 o''clock and the start of the work day, the safe suddenly began to vibrate violently. The inconspicuous sigils carved into the exterior of the safe that Kain had not previously noticed began to glow.


    The once-sturdy safe door creaked and slowly retracted into the body of the safe, which split apart with a soft hiss.


    The safe''s base lifted and rotated, revealing more hiddenplex sigils.


    Panels around the safe''s front folded outward in to form a ring, revealing a luminous core of pulsating energy at its center that began to float within the room.


    Suddenly the core copsed in a short burst of light and the energy released was absorbed by the full-formed ring.


    Theponents of the ring continued to shift and reconfigure, seamlessly integrating into the structure of a newly-formed teleportation gate with a swirling vortex of energy at its center.


    Once the transformation waspleted, the temporary teleportation gate emitted a strained hum and cracks began to form around its edges. Kain could tell that this gate would notst long.


    Therefore, despite a great degree of fear and hesitation. Kain stepped through the gate with the sensation that he was boarding an airne that looked like it would fall apart the moment it hit the air.


    ''If there is a god, please don''t let me die. And please let all of my body parts travel with me¡­''


    The journey back to the college was no better. In fact, Kain wasn''t sure if it was due to the shoddy gate, it was actually much worse.


    A sudden dizziness overwhelmed all of Kain''s senses and he couldn''t tell which way was up or down.


    Then there was the pain, which he didn''t have to experience the first time. It was a painful pressure that seemed to originate from within him and seemed to want to tear apart his very being.


    If Kain''s senses weren''t so overwhelmed, he''d be absolutely shaking in fear.


    Then, as abruptly as it started, the sensation halted just as he felt he couldn''t hold on any longer.


    The moment his feet touched the ground his stomach churned and he couldn''t help but throw up all over the ground.


    As he tried to open his eyes and focus his blurry vision Kain was pleased to discover that he hadn''t been transported back to the school''s teleportation gate. Instead, he was outside in a concealed alleyway between two buildings. He would not have to worry about cleaning up the vomit from the scene to conceal his presence on a ck Mission.


    Unfortunately though, once Kain recognized his surroundings, he realized that he was on the opposite side of campus from his dorms and would have to make his way back while feeling drunk out of his mind.


    Every shaky step made his body lurch to the side and caused a splitting pain to shoot through his mind. The whole journey back was absolutely torturous.


    Thankfully, when he reached the top 5 mansion there was nobody around to witness his plight and he was able to discretely return home.


    Without even being bothered to change his clothes or shower, Kain copsed into his bed while cursing whatever staff member had stitched together that shoddy excuse of a teleportation gate.


    ----------


    Kain didn''t leave his room for three days and just ate the food remaining in his star space. In fact, he barely left his bed except to asionally shower.


    He was still suffering from extreme vertigo due to thest teleportation so whenever he moved too much he felt like throwing up¡ªwhich he couldn''t help but do a couple of times.


    However, although he didn''t feel 100% ready after the third day, with 48 of his peers breathing down his neck to defeat him during the re-ranking, he couldn''t stomachying down for another day¡ªalthough he couldn''t stomach much period.


    He had some crucial ns to increase the strength of his contracts that he needed to implement.


    Since the university provided beast-tamers with the basic food for their contracts up to a certain value, Kain had asked them to procure the brains of spiritual creatures kept as fresh as possible.


    Although the freshness of the brains often left much to be desired, thankfully the brain for most spiritual creatures is a pretty useless material. So Bea was able to regrly eat the brains of yellow, and even green-grade, spiritual creatures.


    It was no longer required of Kain to feed her himself. Nor does he have to put up with the impaired mental strength the feedings caused.


    Therefore, Kain didn''t need to worry about Bea''s source of food.


    However, once Eve and Queen break through to orange-grade Kain wanted to provide them with the nectar of spiritual nts of a higher level.


    Not only due to the benefits for their own growth, but also due to the economic benefits of spiritual honey made from nts of a higher level.


    However, spiritual nts orange-grade and above exceeded the subsidized amount for food allocated to each student.


    And although the college had its own fields of nts he wished to have ess to, the teachers wouldn''t easily allow a first-year student ess to them in case he damages the nts. After all, most of them were grown to provide materials for important industries affiliated with the college, such as Evolutionary nners, and Pharmacists.


    If Kain can''t properly control his contract the harm to several departments within the college would be devastating.


    So despite his numerous applications for entry, pestering of staff, and even attempted breaking and entering, Kain was never able to enter.


    Therefore, Kain had long had the intention of growing his own spiritual nts. However, he couldn''t do so in his current living area. If another student, such Soren Lysander, messes with or even takes from the garden, then it''d be toote to cry in regret then.


    Additionally, due to the auction Kain had witnessed during the ck Mission, he decided to scale up his initial ns. He was going to start a business.

 Chapter 129: Chapter 129: A Perfect Match

    In order to put his ns into action Kain needednd. A lot ofnd. However, unfortunately thend in one of the empire''s 5 major cities is not cheap.


    Even if he emptied out all of his savings he would at most be able to buy an apartment in Dark Moon City.


    Therefore, he turned his attention to the surrounding suburbs.


    "And here we have the 34th home that I''ve shown you today, dear customer," said a real-estate agent that Kain had hired through clenched teeth. He waspletely annoyed. Kain had been spending less than 5 minutes in each of the homes before shooting them down.


    Kain took a look around, "I don''t think this is for me."


    "WHY?! Ahem¡­ I mean why, dear customer? It is a beautiful home with arge backyard, which was your main requirement. The home itself has several upgrades such as marble flooring, upgraded lighting fixtures, 10-foot ceilings and a balcony! Please tell me what itcks"


    "The yard isn''t big enough. I told you that I want REALLY big yard. I don''t care about the house, I want as muchnd as possible."


    "I see¡­then I only have one option left to show you."


    Ten minutester towards the very outskirts of the city, in a region that could barely be called still within Dark Moon, Kain stood in an expansive field.


    At the center of the field was a rundown "house" that more resembled a wooden shed. The total space within it was probably smaller than his dorm room at the college.


    However the property that the shack sat on was at least several acres wide. It was overgrown with weeds andpletely unkempt, but that''s precisely why such arge amount ofnd less than 30 minutes from the core of Dark Moon City has been left unsold all this time.


    The real estate agent already had a face of resignation as Kain looked around in silence. He knew that his day was probablypletely wasted. In the future he''ll have to vow not to take clients on that are so young. Clearly they don''t know what they want¡ª


    "I''ll take it!"


    "Huh?" The real-estate agent turned to him in shock. He was unsure if he''d heard Kain correctly.


    "I said I''ll take it. It''s perfect!"


    Immediately the real-estate agent sprung into action and dragged Kain back to the city to fill out the paper-work. He buzzed about the office as though high on adrenaline. He wanted to get thatnd that hadn''t sold for years off his hands, not to mention one of the most annoying clients he''d had in a while, he was afraid that Kain would change his mind.


    A perfect match. A terrible property and a terrible client, they absolutely deserved each other.


    After quickly getting Kain to sign all the paperwork, and even offering him a hefty. Discount to get him out of his hair, he practically shoved Kain out of his office.


    Click


    Kain turned around to look at the door that was locked behind him and the closed sign that had been promptly disyed on the door.


    "Wow! He must really be in a rush to get somewhere. I wonder if he had to use the washroom¡­"


    Now that Kain had thend, he needed the spiritual nts that he wanted to grow. Thankfully, although getting ess to fully grown spiritual nts was difficult, seeds were not as difficult to obtain. That was because many spiritual nts had specific and difficult to meet growth conditions.


    Not to mention most spiritual nts did not have a use until they were fully mature, but they were very easy to die before reaching maturity. And that time until maturity may take several years, or even decades in certain species of nts. In short, growing them for yourself was tedious.


    However, Kain had the life energy that could be provided by Eve. Once she finishes breaking through to orange-grade she should be able to release the life-attribute energy into the surroundings even more easily and have a more profound effect.


    Therefore, the hurdle for getting the spiritual nts to grow for Kain is much lower. Not to mention the time until maturity will also be reduced.


    What he needed to focus on were obtaining seeds from nts that increased spiritual power and had a short growth period. Therefore, the honey produced can also help Kain and his contracts to increase their strength more rapidly.


    Thankfully, nts that increased spiritual power were not among the most expensive and rare.


    Unlike nts with mystical effect such as increasing the chances of awakening an affinity or gift, increasing the chances of breaking through to the next level, or serving as a necessary material for a powerful evolution, momentarily speeding up the rate of spiritual power condensation is not a particrly powerful effect.


    Such spiritual nts are often used as a supplement to cultivation in middle-ss families and above that want to give their children an edge.


    Kain will definitely consider nting more rare and powerful spiritual nts in the future, including growing the seed given as a gift to him by Mr. Evergreen.


    Many of the tea leaves and batches of honey that Kain had left at the orphanage also had this effect.


    Kain had 3 avenues for obtaining spiritual nt seeds: the college using credits, at a retailer in Dark Moon City, and the System Shop. Several times when the System Shop was reset there was an option to exchange for spiritual nts or spiritual nts seed. Many of them also had unusual and powerful effects.


    Kain went to 3 retailers in Dark Moon City and managed to purchase over 400 seeds for red-grade spiritual nts, 150 orange-grade spiritual nts, and 20 yellow-grade spiritual nts that increase spiritual power for around 4 million CD.


    Thankfully, Kain had also kept many of the materials he''d obtained during missions and the field assessment to exchange for celestial dors, instead of using all of the materials to exchange for school credits. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to afford the property or the seeds.


    If he didn''t need to save up his school credits to buy Bea''s evolutionary materials he would have also like to buy some from the school, but that would need to be put on hold.


    Therefore, Kain decided to explore the third option for obtaining seeds¡ªthe system shop.


    The next system upgrade costs 10 000 GP, after the numerous times Kain had gone into the wilderness he had managed to obtain 2450 GP.


    This week also happens to be one where spiritual seeds are avable for purchase, although not in the manner in which they usually are.


    *Selective Wheel of Fortune Ticket¡ª10 avable for 100 GP each*


    Unlike in the past where there were specific seeds and nts avable, this time there were tickets avable for Wheel of Fortune tickets.


    However, unlike a general Wheel of Fortune that would have a wide variety ofvish prizes, the prizes up for grabs in selective wheels are of a lower maximum quality, but in turn the user can select what type they wish the prize options to all be selected from among the 3 options avable: spiritual seeds, equipment, or elixirs.


    For example, a wheel that only has weapons as an option. Although whether you get an axe, sword, or spear is leftpletely up to luck. Also, none of them will be enchanted weapons with an extra sigil, the quality of all the avable options will be kept at a moderate level for their grade. Decent weapons, but not the top.


    Simr rules apply for the spiritual nts wheel that Kain selected as an option.


    The options ranged from obtaining spiritual nts and seeds with a variety of effects that were red-grade to orange-grade at maturity.


    Kain spent 1000 GP in order to purchase all the avable tickets. Then he pressed the button to start the first spin.

 Chapter 130: Chapter 130: Wheel of Fortune

    The hologram of a wheel spun with a hum and Kain''s eyes tried to follow the nt names as they shed before him. With a final dramatic slow turn, the wheel stopped on his first draw.


    The image that the wheel stopped on showed vibrant green leaves with silver veining.


    "A juvenile Ethereal Moonleaf. Orange-grade at maturity. It is a rtively rare nt and when its leaves are consumed it significantly boosts the rate of spiritual power condensation. Not bad¡­" A satisfied grin spread across Kain''s face. This seed would be an excellent addition to his collection.


    He eagerly spun the wheel again, hoping for a simr oue. This time itnded on a deep purple flower. "A Venus Blossom seed. Red-grade. Another spiritual power booster, although of a lower grade." While not as potent as the orange-grade Ethereal Moonleaf, it would still be a useful asset.


    Kain quickly pressed the button again. However, it seems that his good luck ran out for this draw.


    The wheel stopped at a pale blue flower. "A fully mature Aetheric Breath Orchid. Red-grade. When consumed, it grants temporary underwater breathing.


    This could be useful in specific circumstances, and at least Kain could just keep it stored in his inventory without it degrading until he needs it since it''s already fully grown and doesn''t need to nt and care for it until it reaches maturity like he would the juvenile Moonleaf and Venus Blossom seed.


    Kain continues to spin the wheel, each stop yielding a mix of red and orange-grade seeds and nts. After using up all 10 tickets, he had amassed a collection of seeds with a variety of effects.


    Kain thankfully was able to obtain 5 draws for nts that improve spiritual power, 3 orange-grade and 2 red-grade. He obtained one nt that was able to allow him to breath underwater. And he drew 3 fully grown nts that act as antidotes for different types of poisons.


    Thest draw though was surprising, it was only a red-grade nt, but it had an effect that Kain had never even heard of before.


    "The Bloom of Ascension. A flower that when consumed in its entirety can cause ordinary animals to be the lowest quality ck-iron quality spiritual creature."


    This was something that Kain had never been exposed to. There had always been a clear divide between ordinary creatures, and spiritual creatures. There had never been a reported case of an ordinary creature bing a spiritual creatures, even if only an ordinary ck-iron quality one.


    This is because their bodies inherentlyck the ability to condense spiritual power, and therefore were missing a necessaryponent needed to be a spiritual creature.


    And since they were unable to evolve, and any past attempts to turn them into spiritual creatures had caused them to die due to the energy their bodies were unequipped to handle¡ªsimr to the spiritual power poisoning that Aric''s death was med on.


    However, the deaths from experiments on ordinary creatures were more gruesome, more so resembling the results from experiments on ordinary people who in a desperate bid for power try to forcefully awaken an affinity. If they are lucky, they be soulless shells. If unlucky, neither their bodies nor their souls are left intact in a violent and bloody explosion.


    And Kain had an idea of just what kind of ordinary creature he''d want to convert.


    Most microorganisms have no use to him precisely because most of them, aside from Eve and Bea who he''d met so far, are ordinary creatures. They arepletely no threat to most creatures, since even most ordinary creatures and people have a small amount of spiritual power and, therefore, a more robust immune system than people back on Earth.


    Although Kain does find it weird that microorganisms, which are usually the first to evolve, strangely in this world seem to be so weak¡­


    However, most of microorganisms Kain hase into contact with, in addition to being ordinary, also don''t have harmful effects. Instead, they are most often seen in the beverage and food industries ying a role in fermentation, alcohol production, cheese production, and more.


    Therefore, Kain didn''t think he could obtain a suitable contract for himself using this Bloom of Ascension. Kain decided to use the flower to help him with his not yet started business.


    Kain pushed open a heavy wooden door to a bustling pub, and a wave of rowdyughter and warm air greeted him. The establishment was packed, with customers chatting animatedly,ughing, and clinking their sses, while music from a lively band in the corner added to the mixture of sounds.


    The pub''s interior was predominantlyposed of dark woods. Old pictures and newspaper clippings featuring the pub with famous figures in the past adorned the walls.


    The air was thick with the scent of grilled meat and the tang of beer, mixing into an intoxicating aroma that caused Kain''s stomach to growl.


    Kain made his way through the sea of patrons, dodging the asional swinging arm.


    Finally, he reached the which stretched the length of the room. Behind it, the bartender was a tower figure of solid muscle, with a bushy beard that framed his weathered face and sharp eyes that could seemingly pick up on even the smallest details of his customers.


    His movements were smooth and quick, clearly familiar with the routine of working the bar.


    Kain approached and raised his voice to be heard over the noise. "Evening! I''ve heard nothing but great things about this ce. Business seems to be booming."


    The bartender nced up, a sh of pride flickering in his eyes. "Ah, wee! You''vee to just the right ce if you''re looking for a good time. I''m Barret¡ªthe bartender, the owner, the brewer, and asionally the chef. I do it all! What can I get for you?"


    Kain shed a smile, "I heard that your bar is the most famous one in Dark Moon. It has an old history and the spiritual beer your ancestors produced is considered by the locals to be the best within the whole Celestial Empire. You''re truly a local gem! The pride of Dark Moon City."


    "ttery will get you everywhere. But the locals are just bragging! Probably just wanting to butter me up for some free beers. Is that what you''re doing now? It won''t work!" Barret said whileughing.


    "It was worth a shot!" Kain said while chuckling. "I''d love to try one of your renowned beers. Maybe a te of ribs as well. I just realized I haven''t eaten all day."


    "Coming right up!"


    A few minutester a te of steaming hot ribs was ced before Kain. Once Kain began to dig in, Barret poured a foamy mug of a rich amber ale and slid it across the bar. Kain took a sip, savoring theplex vors that danced on his tongue¡ªnotes of malt, subtle spices, and a very faint fruity undertone.


    Kain could also feel his star space unconsciously reacting, drawing in spiritual power at an extremely slow rate due to he not consciously attempting to draw it in. However, if he did try to cultivate right this instant, he could sense that his efficiency would definitely be greatly improved.


    "This is exceptional," Kain said, setting the mug. "You definitely live up to you reputation."


    Barret''s eyes gleamed with pride. "Thank you. I put my heart and soul into every batch."


    Kain finished his meal and the beer. At the bottom there was a tiny amount of cream-coloured residue¡ªKain''s target.


    "Could I actually get another one to go?"

 Chapter 131: Chapter 131: Aby

    Kain entered his dorm room with a takeout cup conspicuouslybelled with the Golden Barrel. He got some strange looks of judgement from ssmates along the way. Probably thinking that he doesn''t take his rank seriously and is out drinking when they''re all training.


    However, Bea''s skills couldn''t be trained in the traditional sense. The best way for her to train is to kill.


    Regardless of the looks, Kain jovially looked at his take-away cup. However, instead of drinking the ss as one would expect, he retrieved the Bloom of Ascension from his inventory and ced it in the cup. Reced the lid and left it on his nightstand.


    "Hopefully this works¡­" The description of the flower''s usage did say that it needed to be consumed in its entirety, Kain just hoped that if given enough time, the flower will dissolve in the liquid and achieve a suitable effect.


    While Kain waited for the results of his experiment, he had something else to keep him preupied.


    After showering and getting ready for bed, Kain received a notice from Eve of her and Queen''s sessful advancement. They were one day earlier than he initially predicted, perhaps the effects of their symbiotic rtionship also eased the difficulty of breaking through to the next level. If so, that was great news for him.


    After the breakthrough Eve had no noticeable changes aside from more potent orange spiritual power. However, Queen had actually realized a new skill.


    SS-Essence of Life: The royal jelly produced is a powerful elixir that can heal severe, life-threatening injuries within moments, relieve temporary negative status effects caused by spiritual creatures at and below yellow-grade, and slightly increase the probability of sessful breakthroughs in both humans and spiritual creatures to yellow-grade spiritual power.


    Kain was shocked by the presence of a new skill. Naturally, Kain had done extensive research on the Vespirae species in the hopes of finding a suitable evolutionary form. However, nowhere in the literature has such a powerful skill being realized ever been reported.


    Kain suspected that it was due to Queen''s symbiotic rtionship with Eve. After all, Eve has already caused subtle changes within Queen''s body, such as ensuring the production of only female children, increasing her resistance to pathogens and poisons, and increasing her rate of spiritual power condensation.


    Kain already knew from Queen that the royal jelly produced must act as a material in her evolution. However, the other evolutionary conditions are unknown.


    With the introduction of this new skill, one that uniquely has the life-attribute of Eve rather than Queen''s own wind attribute, perhaps the evolutionary direction Kain could move towards would epass the life-attribute.


    Kain also suspected that whatever evolutionary materials used to evolve Queen would also cause Eve to evolve due to their rtionship. Therefore, he was even more certain that the next evolution will epass the life attribute. Although he will try to maintain the wind-attribute as well so that the guards''bat effectiveness and style ofbat isn''t changed for the worse.


    The Life-attribute, while powerful and can cause miraculous effects, isn''t exactly known for its offensive capabilities.


    Speaking of guards, after her breakthrough, Queen immediatelyid another egg. Typically, at each level the Vespirae Queen could produce 5 more worker wasps and 1 guard. Therefore, the red-grade Queen had 12 guards, which would have normally been 10 male workers, and 2 female guards, but were instead all female guards due to Eve.


    After her breakthrough Queen could now produce 6 more guards for a total of 18, although it will take a while for them all to hatch.


    Looking at the cup on his nightstand one more time before turning off the light, he could see that the deep blue colour of the flower''s petals has begun to bleed into the amber beverage, causing it to have a green tint.


    "Hopefully, I wake up to a new species of spiritual creature tomorrow morning."


    -----------


    After a night of rest Kain turned to cup on the night stand.


    The bright sunlight peaking through the window caused the liquid in the cup to glow an almost fluorescent green.


    He also no longer saw any remaining parts of the flower floating. Thankfully, the flower seems to dissolve quickly.


    ''So how do I know if it worked¡­ unfortunately my System doesn''t allow me to know everything about a spiritual creature at a nce¡­Ah! Usually a profile of the spiritual creatures I''ve seen or made contact with will appear as an option in the Simtor, but since the yeast used to brew beer is a microbe, I can''t even be sure if what I''m looking at is the real thing.


    Maybe¡­I should stick my finger in it to make contact. Just to be sure.''


    Kain then picked up the covered cup and gave it a vigorous shaking, making sure to hold the lid in ce, before sticking his finger into the cup.


    ''Hopefully this works¡­System bring me to the Simtor in the Laboratory.''


    With nervous anticipation Kain then scrolled through the different options for simtion, to see if there were any new additions. Thankfully, it did allow him to sort the options by the date added rather than alphabetical only, so after adjusting the settings Kain was able to see the new entry at the top.


    "Aetherbrew Yeast¡­It worked!" Kain quickly selected the new addition to see its full profile.


    -----------------


    Species: Aetherbrew Yeast


    Aetherbrew Yeast (ABY) evolved from ordinary yeast used in the brewing of spiritual beer. It retains the fundamental characteristics of fermenting beer, but has developed some minor abilities to enhance the resulting product.


    Quality: ck-Iron


    Type: Microorganism (Yeast)


    Attribute: Water


    Skills:


    B-Stable Infusion: ABY can significantly prolong the minor magical effects imparted to a spiritual beverage based on the spiritual nts used.


    D-vor Enhancement: ABY can slightly enhance the vor profile of the beverages to make it more enjoyable for the drinker. The improved taste would not be replicable without ABY.


    D-Extended Freshness: ABY can modestly extend the shelf-life of beverages. While the beverage won''tst for centuries, it will stay fresh and enjoyable for a much longer period than typical drinks. This preservation effect is enough to keep spiritual beer in perfect condition for several months.


    F-Stable Fermentation: ABY ensures a consistent fermentation process every time, reducing the likelihood of unwanted variations or spoge. With ABY the quality of each batch will be of a consistently high quality.


    ------------------


    Yes! This was what Kain wanted. Not to mention, now that it was a spiritual creature, Kain in the future could also pursue evolving some of his stock of ABY to create new, stronger versions of spiritual beer.


    All kinds of business ideas were pinging around in his head, and he even heard the faint illusion of jingling coins.


    However, before he could get too caught up in his fantasy, Kain realized that he still greatlycked two necessary things: a brewer, and a factory with staff to make beerpany that can supply the whole empire.

 Chapter 132: Chapter 132: The Hospitable Host and His Guest

    At the same time Kain was fantasizing about his own business empire, the lives of many individuals were unknowingly impacted by a college freshman.


    In an opulent vi located in the suburbs of the capital city, a man dressed in all ck robes was hosting a simrly dressed guest.


    They were in an intricately designedrge drawing room. The entire room was softly lit by the only source of light, the crystal chandelier suspended above, due to the absence of any windows.


    In the center of the room were two antique armchairs tilted towards each other that the robed figures were seated in while sipping from sses of red wine.


    In the corner, a beautiful child with golden curls and a delicate demeanor captured the attention in the room while ying the violin. However, despite his beautiful appearance, his eyes were empty, more so resembling a dead fish than a lively and adorable child''s eyes.


    Dressed in a light blue suit, his small fingers danced across the strings with effortless grace. The haunting melody filled the room and weaved an enchanting spell that caused the guest''s eyes to ze over to a cloudy white colour momentarily, before he snapped out of the trance and blinked his eyes furiously until they returned to their original dark brown.


    "Fascinating! As a 5-star beast-tamer his gift can even affect me. You mean to tell me that he hasn''t even awoken an affinity yet?"


    The host''s eyes shone with pride as he smiled, "Indeed. Technically within this empire''s cultivation system he would be considered a normal person. He''s the product of just one of the research areas we''ve been working on in the hopes of allowing even ordinary individuals an opportunity to ess great power. However¡­"


    His smile dropped. "However,tely we''ve hit a small snag. Our former, ''sponsor'', if you can call him that, recently had an ident."


    "An ident?"


    "He''s dead. They say it''s spiritual power poisoning. Really, ordinary people are just so fragile!"


    The guest nodded, "Indeed. I''m sure your former sponsor was also aware of that fact, probably why he was so generous in his financial support of your research. But are you absolutely sure that it was an ident? It won''t be difficult to find you another, even several, sponsors. But if they find out that the previous sponsor was dead there will be concerns."


    The host went silent. However, just when the guest thought that his question wouldn''t be answered, the host finally opened his mouth. "We aren''t sure ourselves¡­we also examined his body. There were no signs of any injuries. There was no poison found in his body. Honestly, the spiritual poisoning exnation is what makes the most sense, but something feels off.


    The amount of spiritual power he ingested really shouldn''t have been enough to kill him."


    "Hmm¡­What about mental attacks?"


    "Impossible. After he was epted as a peripheral member of our organization, he was secretly given equipment that will trigger a shield around his body to prevent mental probing and mental attacks as they approached his body. It was necessary since he was just an ordinary person and we couldn''t risk him being controlled or his memories read.


    For a mental attack to bypass that piece of equipment it''d need toe from a high-level beast tamer at or above 7-stars. And their movements would have been so obvious in a room full of high-level beast-tamers."


    "What about the gap between when he left the auction and died? Any evidence of attacks then."


    "None. I''m telling you, the equipment was set to defend against any mental energy that came from outside of the wearer, that way it wouldn''t be set off by the wearer themselves if they have a mental-attribute gift. But there was absolutely no movement in the equipment.


    Even if Lady Mindshade herself had forcefully broken through the shield, we still would have sensed that it was activated and then quickly broken. But nothing! We can only conclude, no matter how imusible it seems, that the idiot can''t hold his liquor and overdosed."


    "It''d be hard to find a sponsor as rich as the legitimate heir of the Nightsbane family¡­" The guest said hesitantly, trying to lower the other man''s expectations.


    The host waved his hand, "I don''t expect you to find one as wealthy as Aric. Heck if you can find two or three new sponsors that''d be fine."


    The guest nodded, "That makes it easier then. There are plenty of children of rich and noble families that didn''t sessfully awaken an affinity and feel unwilling. As long as you can show them some promising results whether it''s money or¡­''test subjects''¡­they should be willing to help.


    You may need to consider moving your base of operations outside of the capital momentarily though to amodate your new sponsors. Also because the disappearances have been making the news more and more often. I heard they even sent out a captain of the Shadow Guards to investigate. It''s best to lie low for now."


    The host also nodded, "I had the same idea. I just haven''t decided on the next location yet. Show me some of the potential sponsors that you''ve made contact with."


    The guest pulled out two papers with the profiles of two different individuals. "These two are in the northern region. Due to therge amount ofnd, and low poption, it should be easy to conceal your location out there. Although obtaining more test subjects will be challenging due to the scarce poption. But both of them are illegitimate twins of a noble family.


    Their father currently has no legitimate so the position for heir is up for grabs among the illegitimate children and they''re both desperate to awaken an affinity."


    The host nodded nomittally. Likely sensing that he wasn''t thrilled about the prospect of moving to the north, the guest pulled out another paper.


    "Ahem. In the west we have the younger brother of Lord Emberfell. He''s approaching the limit of his lifespan as an ordinary person. He may sign over all of his worth to you if can see any hope of being able to cultivate and extend his lifespan."


    "Hmm¡­wasn''t one of the Emberfell industries in the newstely for unpaid employee wages? How much money can he actually provide even if it''s all that he owns."


    "Okay. Okay! I think you''ll prefer these sponsors." He quickly pulled out two more papers and shakily handed them over. His forehead was starting to bead with sweat due to his host''s unimpressed face. He didn''t want this man who had a higher ranking than him within the organization to write him off as useless. People deemed useless never end well within the organization.


    "These two are both young individuals in the south that carried much of their families'' hopes, but failed to awaken an affinity this year. The male is the eldest grandson of the Silverhart family¡ªsuper rich! But after failing to awaken an affinity, his title as heir has been temporarily removed and may be given to one of his younger siblings if he fails to awaken again next year.


    He''s absolutely desperate for power to keep his status."


    The host stared at the profile pensively. Seeing that he didn''t immediately shoot down this sponsor, he began to push the other profile.


    "In addition to him, we have this youngdy of the Frost family. Although not as wealthy as the Silverhart family, they are still quite rich. Not to mention theypletely surpass the Silverharts in terms of power and connections as a branch of Storm family, one of the founding five families.


    If you choose the south as your new stomping grounds, these two sponsors will ensure that you have adequate money and connections to conceal your activities.


    The host examined both profiles before nodding in acquiescence.


    "I heard the weather in the south this time of year is quite nice¡­" He said with a smile.


    The guest finally released the breath he''d been holding and was finally able to lean back to try and enjoy the music.


    BOOM


    However, the tranquility of the atmosphere was abruptly shattered by a sudden explosion. In a horrifying explosion of flesh and blood, the serene elegance was obliterated.


    The crystal chandelier hanging above now painted the room in a ghastly red colour as it was entirely covered in blood and guts.


    And the source of the explosion, the violin ying child, was now reduced to a pair of bloody shoes with a broken violinying next to them.


    Sigh


    The host sighed in annoyance before yelling, "B042, hurry up and clean up A037! A037 managed tost for over a month so I had hoped he''d be our first sess. Useless trash!"


    I child that looked like as though he''d been stitched together with several parts from both human and non-human individuals, quickly limped into the room on a mismatched pair of legs. One human, and the other noticeably more goat-like. The deformed child began to clean up the scraps of his former colleague unphased. Clearly this was not the first time this had urred.


    The host picked up the now bloody sheets of paper in annoyance.


    "Ugh! Maybe a change of scenery is just what I need to get the creative juices flowing. Make contact with the sponsors and I''ll arrange for the transfer to finalize within the month."


    He tossed back over the two sheets of paper to the guest. The one at the top coincidentally having the name of the potential supervisor underlined in blood due to the explosion¡ªHeather Frost.

 Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Beast Tide

    Unfortunately, recently the college dered that all students were forbidden from leaving the premises and all students outside had been recalled. Therefore, Kain was unable to take on any missions to test out the strength of the newly upgraded Vespirae.


    Kain was in a private room at the school training ground using their equipment to analyze the increase in strength for the Vespirae Guards after the breakthrough. There were 13 guards now after the upgrade, and there were 6 more eggs to be hatched in the star space until Queen could reach the maximum of 18 for an orange-grade Vespirae Queen.1


    He also formted a training n, using some of the training ns given to Bridge by the Wolfblood Dojo, to help improve their aim, speed and pration power.


    Thankfully, Queen was quite intelligent and was able to direct them adequately, so that Kain could have his mind wander.


    Particrly focusing on how to drag Barret into his business venture.


    Beep-Beep-Beep


    Suddenly a piercing siren rang through the air, and the training room was bathed in a shing red light.


    "Ahhh! Please tell me you guys didn''t break anything!" Kain turned to look at his contracts frantically. However, they looked as confused by the sudden rm as Kain.


    Thankfully a message was kind enough to solve his doubts.


    "Attention students, this is Vice Chancellor Windermere. We have received confirmation that a beast tide is swiftly approaching Dark Moon City. However, do not be rmed. ording to our current intel it is currently ssified as a level 4 beast tide, and the strength of the spiritual creatures should not exceed Blue-grade."


    ''Really?! Don''t be rmed?! If I run into one of the few blue-grade creatures I''ll die within seconds.''


    "All beast-taming students are urged to take immediate action to defend the city. Unawakened students of academic majors are to return to their dorms and remain there until further notice. At the front of your dorms, you will meet a professor of the faculty who will divide you into squads and brief you on your assigned area of reinforcement and task.


    Please cooperate fully and follow their instructions precisely."


    As the announcement concluded, Kain could hear a flurry of movementing from the hallway. Kain too also left the training room and made his way back to his dorm building.


    On the way he could see that the entire college had fallen into an anxious atmosphere. However, some of the older students who had likely already experienced a beast tide were putting on their gear with practiced efficiency, while the first years, after seeing their seniors, began to fumble nervously with their equipment with shaking hands as they ran towards the location of their dorms.


    Professor Aelinor Night, a stern-faced instructor with a reputation for being no-nonsense, stood in front of the top 5 dormitory. She nced at her watch, then turned to face the 20 students gathered before her¡ªthe top 5 of each year.


    "Typically, you would be divided into squads of 20, but considering that only 20 of you actually reside here, all of you have been automatically sorted into a single squad. The captain of your squad is Ezra Vauss. Here is your squad''s assignment." The senior with sandy brown hair and gold eyes that broke up his fight with Lysander previously stepped forward to receive the assignment.


    Nobody raised any objections. After all, he was the captain for the team that represents the team at the nationalpetition as well.


    "Arrange yourself into a single file! We don''t have all day. Each of you will receive a single Elixir of Vitae. As long as you are alive, it will heal all of your injuries. These elixirs are incredibly expensive, even by the university''s standard.


    Therefore, each of you will only be given one, it is expected that it would only be used in life threatening instances where you are unable to ess a healer.


    "You will also receive 10 Spiritual Elixirs to restore your spiritual power. However, please note that they are ineffective when used more than once within 12 hours. Therefore, please don''t waste an additional elixir trying to restore your spiritual power after the first time."


    After handing out the elixirs, Professor Night left. Kain and the others all turned to face their squad captain.


    Ezra Vauss surveyed the group with an air of authority that left no room for hesitation. His gaze swept over each member with a level of scrutiny that made Kain shift slightly. Ezra had a presence thatmanded respect, and his reputation for not only hisbat skills but also his leadership was well-earned.


    Kain especially respected him. At a college where the child of a noble or upper-ss member of society could be easily hit from casually throwing a stone, Ezra was just from an ordinary low- to middle-ss family. Apparently, the only beast-tamer in his family before him was a grandfather who only reached 3-stars.


    Simr to Kain he awakened an S-ss affinity, although his is a rare space-type affinity, one of the affinities that Kain desperately wanted. In recognition for his talent, he was thankfully sponsored by his home city''s mayor who supplied him with a high-quality space-attribute initial contract, and the rest was history.


    "Alright, listen up," Ezra''s voice cut through the air. "As the top 5 students of each year, we''ve been assigned to reinforce one of the areas expected to be the heaviest hit by the beast tide¡ªthe main gate of the city. Ensure that you do not venture too far away from the squad. First-years in particr, stay close together. Jade and Oliver, you two will be travelling with the first-years."


    "Yaayyy!" Two voices rang out at the same time. Probably the only two individuals that would be excited for baby-sitting duty.


    Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, Kain recognized them. Jade was the green-haired annoying senior that he ran away from on the first day of sses. While Oliver was the red-headed instigator during his conflict with Soren. Neither were exactly the epitome of calm and dependable seniors. But at least their strength should be decent is they''re both in the top 5 of their year.


    "Let''s go!" Ezra called out, and everyone followed him through Dark Moon City to the Main gate.


    As they marched, Kain''s mind raced. The Vespirae and Eve were now at orange-grade, and the guards'' performance during the training had shown great promise, but facing a level 4 beast tide was a different challenge entirely. He was still utterly hopeless in the face of green-grade spiritual creatures, much less blue-grade ones.


    All he could do was pray that he wouldn''t be so unfortunate to run into any creatures at that level.


    He also sent out an extra prayer for Bridge and the others that they were hopefully at a much safer location.

 Chapter 134: Chapter 134: Scoping Out the Competition

    As the squad moved through the city, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Seeing the previously bustling streets now resemble a ghost town as all of the citizens huddled at home with their loved ones was eerie.


    Especially, when the quiet was broken by the asional roar of a beast in the distance outside the city wall. Kain nced around, taking in the sight of the heavily fortified walls.


    Thankfully (?), Dark Moon City suffered from beast tides more frequently than other cities. Therefore, all of the city guards were rtively calm. There was the odd nervous looking newbie that flinched whenever they heard a roar, but they were few and far between.


    Ezra led the group forward calmly to their assigned post. After coordinating with one of the captains of the guards, their squad of 20 was settled at a location several meters to the right of the main gate.


    Thankfully, they were not far from a group of professors from the university. They didn''t just throw them to the wolves.


    How could they? After all, they were currently the individuals that would be representing the school if they don''t lose their ce in the re-ranking.


    At the main gate, Kain could see the full scale of the preparations. Sigils carved into the walls of the city began to glow. A massive transparent barrier flickered into existence above the city to prevent aerial attacks.


    All of the beast-tamers that will be defending the city, stood on the city walls.


    "Alright," Ezra said. "Remember, stay in constantmunication and keep an eye on the status of your peers. If one of you bes too injured to get yourself to safety, too a healer, or even to use the elixir by yourself, then you''ll need each other. Understood?"


    Jade, with her green hair tied back in a high ponytail, gave a casual salute, her light-hearted demeanor standing out in the heavy atmosphere. Meanwhile Oscar seemed preupied with removing a stubborn piece of hangnail and didn''t seem to be listening to Ezra at all.


    "Son of a bit¡ª" He muttered as he tried to bite the stubborn piece of skin off the side of his nail.


    Compared to the other seniors that were the epitome of professionalism, they somehow got assigned to these two weirdos.


    ''They''re supposed to be babysitting us¡­ why do I feel like we may end up babysitting them?''


    As Kain stood in his assigned position, he could feel the tension building as the distant roars grew closer. He could see the silhouettes of the creatures in the distance, their menacing forms bing more distinct as they approached.


    Kain''s heart raced as he saw the dense crowd of spiritual creatures. Their poption was so dense that he couldn''t even see the floor beneath the tens of thousands of moving bodies rushing towards the city¡ªtowards him.


    He could feel the entire city wall vibrating due to the force of thousands of creatures trampling the earth.


    The vision was intimidating due to the sheer number of the creatures, but the actual level of strength of the creatures in the initial wave didn''t even exceed red-grade. They were cannon-fodder.


    Kain released a mist beneath his portion of the city walls and nothing that approachedsted longer than a few seconds. After so easily dealing with this first wave he calmed down.


    He could see the other students ncing at him, as well as at each other. However, he was doing the same; scoping out potential threats to his rank within his year, and also curiously investigating the standard of strength for his seniors who had consistently defended their own rankings.


    Time seemed to stretch as the battle raged on. Bea must have killed hundreds of red and white-grade spiritual creatures by this point¡ªushering in probably her biggest spike in spiritual power since he''d first contracted her.


    Although the beast tide was a grave threat, it was an amazing opportunity for a creature like Bea who improves her strength through killing.


    Kain diverted his attention to watch some of his opponents. Based on what they showed now, during sses, and rumours from their performance during the field assessment, he tried to gauge their threat level to him.


    Although people don''t just stupidly share their affinities because it can make it easier to plot against them once you''ve narrowed down the limits of what creatures they can contract, after looking at their contracts, some of the requirements of their affinity can usually be guessed.


    From the S-ranked awakened each year, majority, if not all of them, enter the top 5 colleges, and then usually upy the top 5 student cements of each university.


    Except for the First Celestial Academy. Addison had told him previously that apparently 10 S-ranked students had entered the first-ranked college this year. Therefore, thepetition to enter the top 5 over there is definitely the steepest.


    However, affinity rankings at the end of the day are really just an aggregate measure of how many types of creatures one can bind and the strengths of said contracts.


    In theory, someone with a D-ranked affinity to mouse-type creatures, that manages to contract an exceptionally powerful mouse-type spiritual creature could still do great things. Although, Kain had never heard of any mouse-type spiritual creatures above gold-quality¡­


    Therefore, it isn''t unheard of for S-ranked students, intoxicated on their highly rated affinity and high ranking at the start of year, to lose their ce to A-rated and B-rated hard workers with exception gifts, contracts, and/or fortuitous encounters.


    Two such examples are the current rank 4 and 5 of their year, who had slightly edged out the performance of the 6th ced examinee, who apparently was the 4th S-rated affinity admitted to their school. The other ones being Soren, Kain, and Serena.


    Kain examined the boy with ck hair and eyes who was the current rank 5 among the first-year¡ªKairos Umbrae. He apparentlyes from an old beast taming family.


    Although their history is not as illustrious as some of the founding noble families that have had 8-star and 9-star beast tamers among their ancestors, each generation of the Umbrae family manages to produce at least one 6-star beast-tamer.


    Members of the Umbrae family usually have an affinity for dark-attribute spiritual creatures. Both of Kairos'' contracts, are quite unique¡ªcursed constructs. A rare type of spiritual creature formed from inanimate objects that were imbued with dark energy and gained consciousness. Their skills are usually extremely unusual and unique amongst spiritual creatures.


    Additionally, they are usually one-of-a-kind existences since they are not a naturally born species, but rather their births ur by chance. The skills they develop are also usually closely tied to their forms. Therefore, there may be huge differences in the strengths and abilities between two cursed constructs.


    A can-opener that develops consciousness may only have skills rted to efficiently opening even the hardest to open cans, while Kain has heard of cursed constructs with legendary effects, such as an hourss with the rare time-attribute.


    Kain was unsure if Kairos'' binding of dark-attribute cursed constructs was a personal choice, or a limitation of his affinity. If it was thetter, then he could cross out the majority of the known dark-attribute spiritual creatures he''d read about as Kairos'' future contracts.


    Kairos'' first contract was a creepy looking cloth puppet with a wide smile on its face and a needle in its chubby hand. Every time it would focus on a spiritual creature and jab the needle into its head, the head of a spiritual creature would also be strangely pierced through. The attack method seemed extremely difficult to guard against.


    Although, Kain was confident it shouldn''t be able to effect Bea, its threat to him and the Vespirae was very real.


    Kairos'' second contract was a floating book with sigils carved into its ck cover. The pages of the book would flip to a different page and release a dark-attribute spell at the beast-tide.


    Whenever an attack approached Kairos or the puppet, the cursed book would also release a shield to protect them. It was a well-rounded contract adept at attack, defense, and support. However, Kain could see many pages in the book.


    He was unsure if most of them were empty pages to leave room for the acquisition of skills in the future, or if each of those pages actually currently possessed a different skill. Kain really hoped it was the former and not thetter.

 Chapter 135: Chapter 135: Scoping Out the Competition (2)

    Kain then turned to look at the blonde girl with multicoloured streaks in her hair¡ªthe fourth ranked first-year, Ranya ris. She had only revealed one contact so far, a purple butterfly that seemed to shift in and out of existence as it pped its wings, making it incredibly hard to focus on.


    Many of the spiritual creatures around Ranya suddenly began to attack one another as they spontaneously took on the form of humans for a second. The illusion attribute, unlike the mental attribute that altered the mind to cause visions only the target could see, created visions in real-life that all could see.


    Therefore, whenever one of the beasts outside the wall suddenly "transformed" into a human, it''d be frantically attacked and killed by its peers.


    Kain recognized it as an illusion-attribute Mirage Butterfly, although the members of this species are usually more blue than purple. Kain was unsure if it was just a useless cosmetic mutation that caused a colour change, or if the difference in colour also hinted at the butterfly''s more unique abilities whenpared to other members of their species.


    ''Sigh. All of these guys are so troublesome¡­Thankfully Bea is even more unique and difficult to guard against than their contracts.''


    Kain then turned to look in the direction of the piercing re that had been digging into the side of his face since they left the dorms. Soren Lysander. The third-ranked student who had long made it clear that he had it out for him.


    Soren''s affinity was pretty easy to guess, not only from the spiritual creature he''d revealed during the field assessment, but because of his family name. The Lysanders, as the royal family of the Celestial Empire, naturally couldn''t conceal the mostmon type of affinity inherited by their family members. Most members of the Lysander family have an affinity for dragons.


    Whether that''s an affinity for specific attributes of dragons, such as fire or wind-attribute dragons only; dragons of a certain blood-line such as 5-Colour or Gem dragons; or, if lucky, they will have an affinity for all dragons.


    Kain didn''t know about Soren''s specific affinity, but the only contract that Soren has revealed so far is a wind-attribute dragon. However, whether Soren can bind dragons of other attributes is unknown.


    From what Kain managed to gather from the well-informed Aiden and Addison, who could both probably prosper in careers rted to intelligence gathering, Soren was one of the more valued members of the Lysander family''s youngest generation. Although not the number 1 among the young Lysanders, he''s definitely, within the top 3 and has a S-rated affinity.


    Therefore, Kain guessed that Soren wasn''t limited to wind dragons, but also wasn''t able to bind all dragons, otherwise he''d definitely be the top of his generation within his family. Kain guessed that Soren''s affinity was either limited to more than one attribute, or limited to a specific bloodline.


    For example, the Storm Dragon bloodline, whose members often have lightning, wind, and water attributes.


    Soren also appeared to have some kind of gift rted to transformation. Whenever a wild spiritual creature would get too close to him, his arms would transform into what resembled a dragons w and easily tear apart the approaching spiritual creatures.


    However, the extent of the transformation and if it could cover his whole body was unknown.


    Although Kain didn''t know the boost in power the transformation provided, he also guessed that it was simr to the average enchanted weapons of their level, but slightly inferior to the top enchanted weapons of their level with an extra sigil. As a member of the royal family, he probably has ess to some of the most powerful equipment at each level within the entire empire.


    Therefore, once the strengths of the attacking beasts increased, he''ll probably switched to using an enchanted weapon.


    Last but not least was Kain''s greatest nemesis. The one, who despite not even taking the entrance exam, was still the first-ranked first-year and cost Kain 500 GP¡ªSerena Storm.


    Despite being the current rank 1, and having the most eyes on her,pared to the other top 5 there was actually the least amount of confirmed information known about her.


    Although the general form and observed abilities of her contract had been shared, it''s exact species and skills were unknown. Heck, even the affinity of the one contract she''s shown wasn''t known.


    Kain diverted arge amount of his attention to examine her contract, but still couldn''t tell what it was. All he did know was that it had potent shape-shifting abilities and could utilize all four fundamental elements¡ªearth, water, wind, and fire. Dual attribute spiritual creatures were umon. Kain had never even heard of a spiritual creature that could use four elements.


    One moment it had the sturdy form of an earth golem and manipted the earth to unbnce the approaching herd.


    The next second it would take the form of a zing, phoenix-like entityposed of moltenva to send a wave of intense fire to the creatures below.


    An aethereal form resembling a translucent fairy made of air would send gusts of wind to spread the fire or to divert attacks approaching its owner.


    Finally, when the ze was too intense a serpent-like formposed of water would be used to quench the mes.


    Kain had no idea what its true form was, or if it even had a true form and all of these versions could be considered its true appearance.


    The only creature Kain knew of that could shape-shift into multiple forms, and assume different abilities depending on the form, were the Proteans, which Kain''s armour was made from. However, whenever Protean''s shapeshift they require the target they are shifting into to be before them. Serena''s contract was different. It seemed to have four forms saved that it could switch freely between.


    Additionally, due to its multi-element nature and shapeshifting it was practically impossible to determine Serena''s affinity based off just this one contract. Maybe even if Kain saw her second contract he still wouldn''t be able to guess her affinity.


    Boom


    "Whoa!" Kain narrowly dodged an icicle that was aimed at his head.


    "Pay attention!" Jade scolded, for once resembling an authoritative senior.


    This was a battle-field after all. He shouldn''t be distracted looking at his peers. Simr to him, the other first-years also had near misses while checking out thepetition. Everyone except for Serena, whether she was so focused on the battle before her, or she just didn''t consider the rest of them aspetition to be checked out was unknown.

 Chapter 136: Chapter 136: End of the Day Shift

    As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the battle continued unabated. Thankfully there were no serious injuries due to the low strength level of the creatures. However, Kain and his contracts were running out of spiritual power.


    Kain could tell that his same-year peers were also in a simr predicament, they''ve switched tobat styles that conserve spiritual power, and more often elect to use physical attacks that don''t even require spiritual power.


    The only exception was Serena, who was either foolishly choosing not to conserve her spiritual power, or perhaps she had a quick way to replenish it, such as another higher-level elixir that can be used even after she''s already taken the Spiritual Elixir.


    ''Although¡­now that I think about it, I don''t actually recall her ever taking the elixir¡­''


    Everyone else had also given up on concealing their strength, including many of the seniors, and released their remaining contracts after the first ones released ran out of spiritual power.


    Again, everyone except Serena, who faithfully only revealed the one contract¡­


    Most of the first, second and third years had already used the Spiritual Elixir, so they werepletely tapped out. But the sea of spiritual creatures seemed endless.


    Suddenly amidst all the background notifications of death that Kain had been tuning out, one was finally different.


    *Ding Host haspleted the hidden achievement of killing 1000 spiritual creatures in one day and will be rewarded 3000 GP*


    Kain was pleasantly surprised by thepletion of a hidden mission. Although thepletion requirements without a beast tide would be almost impossible toplete.


    However, considering that the System had stopped providing GP for white-grade spiritual creatures after the first upgrade, probably because they are only slightly stronger than ordinary animals, it was nice that when in special situations like this they still met the requirements toplete the mission.


    Majority of the 1000 spiritual creatures he''d killed today had definitely been white-grade, and it would have been challenging to fulfill a mission like this limited to creatures red-grade and above.


    This hidden mission, whenbined with the mission to hunt red-grade spiritual creatures that he''dpleted several times over, Kain was more than half-way to the amount he needed for the next System upgrade. If he was lucky this beast tide may help him raise the full 10 000 GP, plus give him some extra to spend in the shop and Simtor.


    If he can live¡­orange-grade spiritual creatures had begun to appear more frequently in the hoard. They wouldn''t normally be a problem, but the earlier cannon fodder had consumed majority of their energy.


    The orange-grade spiritual creatures smartly chose to only begin appearing after they had already consumed the Spiritual Elixirs and began to run out of spiritual power for the second time. They were definitely being directed, and by a spiritual creature that was intelligent and knew about the limitations of the Spiritual Elixir.


    Kain had heard that the average high-level spiritual creature was as smart as, if not smarter, than, the average human. However, the tactics disyed now definitely proved that fact to him.


    The difficulty in hunting spiritual creatures at the higher-levels probably increases exponentially since they are not only much more powerful with each breakthrough, but also smarter.


    "All students and day-shift guards are relieved from their post. The night-shift guards will take over your duties."


    ''Oh thank god! The Vespirae can''t see well in the dark nor are they nocturnal, it would have been challenging to fight through the night. Not to mention that none of us had any energy left''


    He had wondered why it didn''t seem as though there were as many guards as expected, but it looks like most of the guards were allowed to rest during the day while the students and professors were responsible for guarding the walls, and then would take over guarding the city against the hoard at night.


    Some of the strongest members of the college, those 7-star and above, never made an appearance, so Kain assumed that they were on standby 24/7 in the event of an attack that the students, guards, and other professors couldn''t deal with.


    Kain and the others weren''t sent back to their dorms. Instead, they were provided with a simple dinner of sandwiches and sent to sleep in temporarily living quarters set up close to the city wall. All of the male students in their squad, 11 in total, were housed together along with the male day-shift city guards. The girls were housed with the female guards in another tent.


    Kain was exhausted and almost fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.


    Tap


    "Mmm¡­"


    Tap Tap


    "Ugh go away¡­" Kain said before turning over.


    Tap Tap Tap


    "WHAT THE HELL IS IT?!" Kain screamed while sitting up only to be faced with surprised eyes of Oliver. The rest of the students, and some of the guards, also turned his way after hearing his outburst.


    "Geeeeez¡­what crawled up your ass and died to make you so grumpy"


    Sigh. Kain rubbed his tired eyes and sighed in resignation. This pesty senior likely won''t let him go to sleep until he got what he wanted.


    "Sorry¡­senior. I am just very, very, VERYYYY tired and want to just go to sleep. Aren''t you?"


    Oliver wiggled his head back and forth nomittally. "Sure we''re tired, but since this is a rare opportunity for us all to be together, we figured now would be a good time for some team bonding."


    Kain looked at the exhausted Soren and Kairos nearby. They also looked exhausted. For once Kain and Soren were on the same page and looked fed up with Oliver.


    "If you wanted to do team bonding, why didn''t any of you invite us to a get together with you all before a BEAST TIDE."


    "Well you see¡­it''s customary to wait until after the first re-ranking to bother getting to know the first-years. Some of the seniors won''t even bother remembering all of your guys'' names until after the re-ranking. After all, the first re-ranking is usually when there are changes among the top ranked students.


    The lower ranked students exchange rankings all the time, but usually the top 20 is fairly stable.


    "Surprises usually only ur during the first re-ranking after the entrance exam, since the type of exam given that year may cause some students to be ranked higher or lower than their actual 1-on-1bat ability warrants. It happens almost every year. A member of the enter top 5 drops out of the top 5, or even the top 20, after the first re-ranking."


    "So¡­continue ignoring us. We''re dead tired." Kairos said with a deadpan expression. Kain couldn''t help but agree with him. Every second holding his eyes open felt like a chore.


    "Well, we saw your guys'' performance today, and we figured that it''s unlikely that you 3 would drop out of the top 5. And so we''ll likely all be teammates at the National Competition at the end of the school year!"

 Chapter 137: Chapter 137: "Team-Bonding"

    Kain, Kairos, and Soren sat in a row facing seven of their male seniors. Thankfully, the captain wasn''t present, likely reporting to the professors, so the atmosphere was quite rxed.


    Or maybe it was unfortunate. Because surely if he were here, he would force Oliver to leave them alone so that they could sleep.


    "I guess we can begin with sharing our names!" Oliver began. "Obviously you already know me, but I will still formally introduce myself. I am Oliver, and I a third year along with Jade who you met earlier.


    "Theo," Oliver continued while pointing to a boy with dark brown skin and grey hair, "and Dmitri" he then pointed at an extremely pale boy with ck hair and red eyes, "are also third years."


    "Alexei," he pointed to another extremely pale boy with red eyes and light blonde hair, "is Dmitri''s younger brother and a second year along with Jin" he pointed to a pale boy with dark brown hair and eyes.


    "Finally, for our fourth years, you already know our captain Ezra, and we also have Ravi," he pointed at a boy with bronze skin, ck hair and hazel eyes. "And Edward" He pointed at a hulking figure, evenrger than Bridge, who had piercing green eyes and light brown hair.


    "N-Nice to meet you all¡­" The three first-years muttered. Being the focus of attention among individuals much stronger than you was unsettling. Especially, since it looked like Edward had a breakthrough recently and wasn''t fully adept at restraining his spiritual power. With his intimidating figure and the pressure of his spiritual power, being the focus of his gaze was nerve-wracking.


    "So¡­ what did you have in mind for team bonding?" Kain asked. After all, just introducing their names to each other could hardly be considered bonding.


    "Ah! I didn''t really think about it. We''ll wait until after the first re-ranking to conduct the hazing like we usually do-"


    "I-I''m sorry what? Hazing?" Kain interjected, his voice trembling slightly.


    However, Oliver just ignored him, continuing to talk with an almost exaggerated excitement. "-so I guess we can just y a game. Oooh yaay! I love games! And I have the perfect idea for one to break the ice!"


    Kain''s unease grew as Oliver''s enthusiasm seemed to intensify. "What kind of game?"


    Oliver pped his hands together, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "It''s called ''Truth or Challenge.'' It''s a ssic. We go around in a circle, and each person has to choose between answering a personal question truthfully orpleting a challenge. It''s a great way to get to know each other better and have some fun!"


    Looks like that dastardly game exists no matter the world. Although the name is slightly different than what he''s familiar with.


    Kain nced at the other first-years, who looked equally apprehensive. The seniors seemed much more rxed though.


    Theo spoke up with a grin. "Sounds like a good idea. It''ll help us learn more about you guys and make the night a bit less boring."


    Dmitri nodded in agreement, "But be warned that if you pick ''challenge,'' please make sure you''re prepared for anything. We won''t hold back on you guys just because you''re younger."


    His brother, Alexei, added with a smirk, "And if you pick ''truth,'' don''t expect us to go easy on you either."


    Kain gulped, feeling a little nervous. However, it wasn''t that big of a deal. He could always just pick truth and lie if he was ufortable with the question.


    Likely sensing Kain''s intention, Oliver also piped up, "I should also mention that Theo has a gift that allows him to sense lies. So you better be truthful or there will be hell to pay~" Oliver said while wagging his finger at them in a yful manner and tone. But the expression on his face had a vague threat.


    ''Goddamn it!''


    Kain, Soren, and Kairos all looked hesitantly at one another and tried tomunicate their intentions through eye contact. Unfortunately, none of them had any tacit understanding strong enough toe up with a gamen without the use of words and could only eventually nod in resignation.


    Oliver''s grin widened. "I''ll go first! That way you''ll see how it''s done. I pick challenge!"


    Jin, who hadn''t said much until now, finally spoke up, "Do your best impression of one of the professors."


    Oliver didn''t seem phased by the request, he took a deep a deep breath and the careless smile on his face dropped and an icy aura began to emanate from him as he began to mimic Professor Aelinor Night''s stern demeanor. From the authoritative voice and precise mannerisms, the resemnce was uncanny.


    If Kain were to just close his eyes he may actually think that he was listening to Professor Night but she was ill for some reason and had a slightly deeper, huskier voice.


    Everyone couldn''t help but apud the convincing impression. And Kain and the other first-years also rxed. That challenge wasn''t so bad, maybe this could be fun!


    "Thank you! Thank you!" Oliver said while giving bows after his performance as though he were an actor on stage, "I''ll pick you who goes next. Let''s see¡­" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Soren, you''re up!"


    Soren''s eyes went wide. "Why me?"


    Oliver waved his hand dismissively. "Because I said so. Now, truth or challenge?"


    Soren took a deep breath topose himself and returning to his usual calm, yet arrogant, demeanor. "I pick truth."


    Oliver''s eyes lit up with mischief and his curled into a Cheshire grin. Looking around, Kain also saw that majority of the seniors had a cunning look in their eyes.


    ''I think we''ve been duped¡­''


    "Soooo¡­. Lover boy is it true that you enrolled at Dark Moon instead of the First Celestial in the capital because you were chasing after Miss Serena Storm like a lovesick puppy?"


    Soren''s unppable mask that he''d just restored immediately cracked as a tidal wave of red began to climb up his neck to cover his entire face in an intense blush.


    ''It''s been confirmed. We were 100% duped.''

 Chapter 138: Chapter 138: “Team-Bonding� (2)

    Soren''s face turned a deep shade of red at the question. For a moment, he seemed paralyzed by the embarrassment as everyone in the room just silently stared at him.


    The seniors burst intoughter, enjoying the difort of their underssman. Kain and Kairos also exchanged nces, their own apprehension reced by curiosity and mild amusement.


    After all, no matter what the seniors asked them it shouldn''t be this embarrassing.


    Oliver''s grin widened, clearly enjoying his reaction. "Come one Soren! Don''t leave us hanging. Is it true?"


    Soren, still blushing furiously, tried to regain hisposure. "N-no, it''s not true. I¡­I chose Dark Moon City for myself due to its excellent training facilities. It had nothing to do with anyone else."


    Oliver turned to give Theo an exaggerated look of expectation.


    Theo then narrowed the grey eyes that matched his hair and gave a slow, dramatic shake of his head. "That was a lie. At least partially. You may have passed if you didn''t add the part about it having nothing to do with anyone else."


    Oliver sighed dramatically in disappointment like he was an upset elder that caught his grandson in a lie, but the smile that he couldn''tpletely cover up revealed that he was enjoying the situation greatly.


    "Okay! It may have been influenced by someone else. But I didn''t choose to not attend First Celestial due to Serena. That is the truth!"


    This time Theo nodded. "Hmm, you''re telling the truth. Surprisingly."


    Oliver looked disappointed that he couldn''t obtain more juicy gossip surrounding the love lives of his juniors.


    Soren let out a sigh of relief mixed with frustration. He shot Oliver a re, before turning to Kain. "I pick Kain to go next. Truth or Challenge?"


    ''Wow! What a surprise!'' Kain thought sarcastically. He knew Soren wouldn''t give up a chance to pick him due to their previous conflicts. If he picked truth, it''d surely be something ufortable and if he picked challenge, it''d probably be just short of torture.


    "Truth." Kain was more confident in his ability to bend the truth. Not to mention that Soren''s conflict with him seems to bergely due to Serena and the rankings. If he were to ask Kain a question it''d most likely be rted to those two things.


    If a senior was questioning him he might be more apprehensive about having to answer a question truthfully, but a question from Soren? Nah!


    Soren revealed a smug smile. "Do you think that you will be able to keep you current ranking at the re-ranking?"


    ''Sure enough¡­'' Kain looked at him calmly. ''What? Is he trying to take this opportunity to see if I''m actually intimidated by him?''


    "Do I think I''ll keep my current ranking at the re-ranking? No." Soren''s chin rose and he seemed about to open his mouth to say something taunting, but Kain continued. "I think I''ll go up to Rank 1 after the re-ranking."


    The smile on Soren''s face immediately dropped, while Oliver and some of the other seniors pped enthusiastically.


    Although it was unnecessary, Theo still confirmed that his answer was true, which only made Soren''s face uglier.


    "I pick Kairos. Truth or Challenge?" Kain said without hesitation. After all, he was quite curious about the kid. Regardless of whether he picked truth or challenge he was going to make sure he got some valuable intel from him.


    Kairos, who had been rtively quiet throughout the previous rounds, nced around thoughtfully before making his choice. "Challenge."


    "Hmmm¡­" Truth would have been better, but he could make due with challenge.


    "I challenge you to show us all of the pages in the cursed book that you contracted."


    Kairos narrowed his eyes, while all of the other seniors smirked having realized Kain''s purpose when selecting Kairos.


    "Ahhh we have a sly one here¡­" Oliver said in a loud stage whisper to Dmitri that everyone heard despite the fact that he covered his mouth for show.


    However, Kairos still released his contract and flipped through the pages of his contract. Kain was initially surprised that he was so willing to do so, but quickly realized the reason.


    Like Kain had hoped, majority of the pages in the thick book were empty. However, there were still quite a few pages that Kairos hadn''t activated during the day, meaning that the cursed book still had several more skills hidden. However, the pages did not have any images to hint at their effects, nor was the text in anguage that Kain had ever seen.


    Therefore, the only information that Kain was able to obtain was that Kairos definitely had more cards he hadn''t shown, he wasn''t able to get any information on what exactly those cards were.


    "I want to select Kain." Kairos said with an expressionless face, likely wanting to pay him back and try to obtain some information that would be useful during the re-ranking.


    "Nuh-uh! What fun would it be if there are all of us ying but the rounds just keep going back and forth between the two of you! Kain can''t be chosen again until after everyone has gone at least once."


    "Tsk." Kairos couldn''t help but click his tongue in annoyance. "I''ll pick senior Theo then. Truth or Challenge?"


    "Ah! It''s unfair for Theo to pick truth since he''s the only one that can actually determine if he''s telling the truth. So, whenever we y he''s only allowed to pick challenge. Still want to pick him?"


    Kairos nodded nonchntly. He didn''t care if he''d have toe up with a challenge for Theo, he had really wanted to pick Kain, or even Soren, but was unable to do so since they''d already gone.


    "Okay a challenge¡­I''m actually not really sure what would be a suitable challenge for you senior."


    "I do!" Oliver yelled enthusiastically while raising both of his hand. Kairos waved his hand to Oliver to defer the choice of challenge to him.


    "Summon Kitsu, and have him transform you into a girl!"


    Theo narrowed his eyes at Oliver. Likely this wasn''t the first time that he''d requested this, but whether he''d gotten his way in the past was unknown.


    Theo summoned out one of his contracts, a cream coloured fox with five tails. Kain didn''t see Theo actually give his contract any instructions, but in the next second it sent a burst of green coloured spiritual power towards Theo. After a blind sh of light, in Theo''s ce was a beautiful woman with dark brown skin, and long grey hair.


    Surprisingly, Kitsu had also made the transformation quite generous in the chest area, a fact that Oliver couldn''t help butment on before receiving a fist to the nose.


    However, seeing Theo''s female version, Kain was reminded of someone else¡ªSeraphina Mindshade. Could Theo possibly be rted to one of the few 9-star beast tamers in the empire?

 Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Day 2 of the Beast-Tide

    In a sh of light Theo returned to his original appearance, now with a much more disgruntled appearance.


    As the night wore on, the game eventually wound down. The seniors seemed to have shed their desire to maintain a sense of distance from them until the re-rankings. They chatted casually with the first-years, discussed their experiences and offered advice on the uing re-ranking and the challenges they might face.


    Everyone had a turn at Truth or Challenge, some even two, but before Kairos had an opportunity to target Kain, Ezra returned and then ordered them all to bed.


    Despite their being some moments where they were intentionally teased by their seniors, Kain would consider the "team bonding" to be a sess. They definitely felt much closer to the older students than they did before.


    The exhaustion from the long day quickly caught up with him and it didn''t take long before he sunk into dreand.


    Ding Ding Ding


    "Everyone get up and ready!" After closing his for what only felt like a moment, Kain was awoken by the loud ringing of a bell and the captain''s voice. It was still dim out, as they were awoken before the sun had even fully risen.


    After using getting a simple breakfast of porridge and bread, they headed back to their same area of the wall as yesterday to relieve the night-shift guards.


    Looking down, Kain could see that the vast majority of the spiritual creatures were now red-grade, the white-grade ones all likely already killed. With orange-grade spiritual creatures being a lot moremon than yesterday and even yellow-grade spiritual creatures being asionally seen.


    However, despite the level of the attacking beasts increasing, they still had no hope of actually breaking through the walls. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of spiritual creatures had probably died between the start of the attack and now, but the walls showed no sign of being breached.


    "What''s the point of this?" Kain asked nobody in particr. "Surely, they know that the chances of breaking through the city walls is almost impossible. Not to mention, even if they do break through there''s still the high-level beast-tamers in the school who haven''t yet taken action."


    Jade was the one to answer. "The high-level ones have enough sense to know that. The low-level ones don''t have that much intelligence. They''re starving and desperate, so when their leaders tell them that they can obtain the food they need for themselves and their children behind these walls, they don''t question it and attack desperately.


    The high-level ones in turn use us to drastically cut down the poption of spiritual creatures in the wilderness to a level that can be sustained for a longer period of time. Not to mention, many of the creatures we kill do end up bing food for the survivors."


    "This kind of poption control is practically an unwritten agreement between the leaders of the city and the high-level spiritual beasts out there. They don''t really have any intention of breaking through our walls. Even when some blue-grade spiritual creatures appearter, it''d probably just be for show to give the low-level ones some motivation and make them more fearless.


    The actual damage they cause is minimalpared to the damage they could cause at their levels of they actually tried."


    Kain nodded slowly as he absorbed Jade''s exnation. It made sense; the high-level spiritual creatures were using the current chaos to control the poption of lower-grade creatures. It was cruel, but a necessary process to ensure the long-term sustainability of their ecosystem.


    However, Kain also wondered if they would truly not try to expand their territory into the city in desperation if that dead zone in the wilderness continues to expand¡­


    Kain fought back a yawn, as his body was bathed in the warm light of the rising sun. As the morning wore on, the steady stream of spiritual creatures continued. Kain continued his steady operation of Bea being responsible for killing the red-grade spiritual creatures, and impeding the movements of those orange-grade and above while the Vespirae Guardsnded the final blows.


    Due to the higher grade, Kain and the others ran out of spiritual power even earlier than they did yesterday, despite consciously only sticking to attacks and strategies that would conserve their energy.


    Boom


    Kain had just worked together with Kairos to kill his fourth yellow-grade spiritual creature today. Thankfully, Kain had managed tond the finishing blows for 3 of the 4 and was able to add their deaths to thepletion of one of his missions.


    It''s just so unfortunate that due to the dense bodies beneath him there would be absolutely no way for him to retrieve the bodies to extract the materials. If the materials collected from all of the red, orange, and yellow-grade spiritual creatures could be sold, Kain would have made a fortune.


    Unfortunately, he''d have to wait until the beast tide was over to see if any of the dead bodies he''d contributed were intact enough to salvage anything of value.


    However, Kain had seen some of his seniors that had managed to take down green-grade spiritual creatures send some flying contracts to retrieve the corpses. The materials from a creature at that level made the risk worth it, not to mention most of their contracts were at a strength where they could break into the horde for a few seconds without much danger.


    Kain and the other first-years had no such ability.


    Bam!


    One of the contracts of a guard, a orange-grade spiritual creature that resembled a hawk, was mmed into the city wall and eviscerated by the ws of a wild yellow-grade Griffin.


    "Aaaahhhhhhh!" The contractor of the hawk was easy to spot as he doubled over in intense pain from the bacsh of a broken contract. As he screamed while gripping his head, another guard had to forcefully pick him up and remove him from the walls so that he would not be killed while incapacitated from the pain.


    Kain''s heart couldn''t help but skip a beat. He''d heard that the bacsh from a broken contract was devastating, but this was the first time he''d witnessed it. Not to mention that after the pain to the soul gradually subsides, the emotional pain at having lost a valued partner will be more prominent. Thankfully, both of Kain''s contracts weren''t so easy to kill.

 Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Ambush

    After the unsettling scene, Kain nced back outside the wall, where the battle continued unaffected by the devastating blow to the guard. Despite the many that died, their numbers still seemed endless.


    Even if the defenders still had spiritual power, Kain could tell that everyone was bing mentally exhausted from having to maintain their vignce against attacks to themselves, their contracts, and even their peers for hours without rest.


    "How long do you think this willst?" Kain asked, his voice tinged with exhaustion.


    Jade sighed, the day''s events likely taking a toll even on her as her usually annoyingly loud personality had been greatly dampened.


    "It''s hard to say. We''ll know once some of the blue-grade spiritual creatures decide to appear. They''ll usually appear when the tide is reaching its end and they''re about to announce the withdrawal of the attacking spiritual creatures."


    Bam


    Suddenly an intense ze instantly killed all of the spiritual creatures and scorched the earth for miles outside of the city walls. Kain could see that the very ground had turned into a moltenva like substance that would be challenging to cross for majority of the spiritual creatures below yellow-grade.


    Seeing that they no longer had the cover of the low-level cannon fodder, there was a momentary halt in the attacks of the beast-tide as they waited for thend to cool.


    One of the high-level beast tamers in the city must have taken action after seeing them all exhausted.


    "You have 30 minutes to take a break." A disembodied voice sounded over the entire city. "Tend to the wounded and rest until the beast tide rmences."


    Kain took the opportunity to catch his breath and assess the situation. His body ached from moving about all day.


    As he sipped on a sk of water, Oliver approached him, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You handling it alright?" For once have the demeanor of a thoughtful senior.


    "Yeah," Kain replied, wiping the sweat from his brow and retrieving a snack from his space ring to refuel. "It''s just¡­very intense"


    "Yeah, the hardest part about a beast-tide is not running out of physical endurance and spiritual power, but the mental strength to keep focused. That''s what weeded a lot of even the strongest entrants out in my year. They were too mentally weak."


    Kain looked at Oliver with renewed admiration. He had forgotten that the notorious beast-tide entrance exam that Bridget, who was in her second year at the time and would now be a third-year, had told him about would have been for Oliver''s year.


    Kain was already a beast-tamer for several months, as well as many of the seniors and guards appeared to be getting mentally drained. He couldn''t imagine having to face a horde like this as a newly awakened student fresh out of high school. Even if the examinees wouldn''t have been ced at such a busy area as the main gate, the other areas are still only slightly better.


    BAM! BAM BAM!


    Suddenly, simultaneously, dozens of spiritual creatures were attacked by a hidden enemy. A couple of the guards'' contracts instantly died in the attack and the soul wrenching screams of their contractors rang across the wall as they suffered from the bacsh.


    Kain also instantly lost one of his Vespirae Guards, but thankfully unlike the others who lost a contract he suffered no real consequence from the loss except for a temporary reduction in troops he could deploy.


    However, one of Alexei''s contracts, a yellow-grade deep red spider, was hit heavily and the injury may even be fatal if not treated in time.


    Immediately, Dmitri sent his contracts, a small flying humanoid creature that resembled a fairy but with bat wings instead and a deep red hulking beast with a demonic aura, to drag Alexei''s contract to safety.


    Immediately Alexei''s spider was sent to one of the healers at the foot of the wall to be treated. It''s life likely won''t be in any danger since there were now several healers to care for it, but 3 of its legs had been torn off and it had arge hole in its abdomen that was continuously leaking blood. Therefore, the spider will likely be out ofmission for the remainder of the beast tide.


    After the attack from the unknown enemy, there was a momentary lull in the human camp as everyone was too scared to continue sending their contracts outside the wall to kill. What if their own contract was also instantly killed like some of the guards'' contracts.


    Instead, contracts that had long-range skills continued to attack from on top of the wall, while those with only closebat skills stayed next to them as a guard.


    "D-Did anyone see what attacked us? Or maybe know a way to guard against it?" Ranya asked with a trembling voice.


    Nobody was able to answer her. It seemed as though multiple contracts were attacked by an invisible opponent within milliseconds of each other. Not to mention that the form of the attack seemed to resemble an explosion that urred next to the contract without any warning. It was practically impossible to guard against.


    "Did anyone see anything that may be useful for determining what it is or when it attacks?"


    Serena opened her mouth, which was the first time many had heard her speak since the beast tide even began. "It wasn''t a long-range attack. It was instantly appearing next to the target beforeunching an attack and jumping to the next target."


    Everyone looked at her in confusion and doubt. Nobody had been able to even see an attacker so they''d assumed it was some ability that triggered explosions from a long distance. Now she was iming that the "explosions" were actually a physical attack?


    "How can you be so sure?" Theo questioned. Seeing that he wasn''t refuting her words, that likely meant that what she was saying was the truth, or at least what she strongly believe to be the case.


    "Because whatever it is meets the conditions of my affinity. I was able to vaguely sense its movements. It''s stopped now. It''s probably around 15 miles in that direction" She said pointing in a direction.


    Everyone turned in the direction that she pointed to try and see if they could spot the perpetrator, but Kain was more preupied by something else mentioned by the person he considered his biggestpetition.

 Chapter 141: Chapter 141: The Real Rank 1

    As a beast-tamer''s strength increases, as does the range that they can sense spiritual creatures suitable for contract.


    When Kain had first awakened an affinity, he had to practically be on top of the dead egg before he was able to sense it.


    When he had been hunting for his second contract the effective range that he could sense was between 3 and 5 miles, depending on several factors such as his level of concentration, if he used any spiritual power to boost the range, and the terrain, since some environments can interfere with the ability to detect using spiritual power.


    Kain is now only a short distance from condensing his third star and can probably push his range up to 7, or even 8, miles. However, once he officially condenses his third star and upgrades to orange spiritual power, he believes that his range should be extended to around maybe 10 miles¡­


    ''Did she just say 15 miles? Does her detection range exceed mine by so much?''


    Kain was anxious. He wasn''t talking out of his ass when he told Soren that he believed that he should be ranked first. He still, deep down, has always believed that considering his cement in the entrance exam that it was his rightful ce and that Serena bumped him down and cost him a substantial portion of his System reward unfairly.


    However, the top 5 colleges aren''t really known to give into nepotism or pressure for powerful families. Why would they so confidently say that her true ranking is above him when she hadn''t even taken the same test.


    ''Unless¡­has she already broken through to a higher level?''


    Kain''s heart began to pound hard at the realization. It''s not impossible¡­since she had awoken independently it would mean that she''d have formed a contract and began increasing her spiritual power at an earlier date than the rest of her same-aged peers across the empire.


    ''But 15 miles is absurd. It''s not even the range of a new 3-star beast-tamer, but rather one who''d been at the level for a while. Maybe she''d using a skill that can greatly boost the detection range?''


    Kain made a desperate wish in his heart that this was the case. Otherwise, his previous estimations of her strength had been greatly off.


    ''The only contract that she''d been using is also only at red-grade. Is it perhaps not her initial or even second contract, but her third contract and has the lowest level so she''s taking this beast tide as a training opportunity for it?''


    He took a deep breath to calm down. There was still around a month and a half until the first re-ranking. He had a shot at reaching 3-stars, evolving Bea, and getting her to orange-grade by then.


    ''I''m going to have to work overtime in the next month. Hopefully we get rewarded with some credits for our performance during this beast tide.''


    "Since it doesn''t attack at a long-range and appears next to its target, do you think you''d be able to warn us when it appears so that we can in turn attack it back or move away to safety?" Ezra questioned her.


    Serena hesitated to respond, "It''s unlikely. The moment between when it appears and thenunches an attack is practically instantaneous, by the time I even notify you all it may have alreadyunched the attack and moved away."


    "No matter. Is there any other information you could provide for us? Based on who it chose to attack, I am currently guessing that it is only a yellow-grade creature, can you confirm this?"


    Serena slowly nodded to Ezra question. The third and fourth years all breathed a sigh of relief. After all, most of them had contracts above yellow-grade. Even if they had a few that didn''t upgrade yet to green-grade, those ones can just attack from the wall while the others were still able to leave the city wall. Any enemy that they had some knowledge about was much less terrifying.


    However, unlike the relieved expressions of his seniors, Kain felt like throwing up. Considering that even with great risk and difficulty one can only maintain a bond with a spiritual creature up to one grade higher, beast-tamers could also only sense a spiritual creature up to one grade higher.


    Serena had just confirmed for Kain that she was at least a 3-star beast-tamer with orange spiritual power. Maybe by the re-ranking she''d be already at 4-stars!


    ''No! No way! That''d just be too abnormal! When has there ever been a 4-star first-year?!''


    "Only contracts at green-grade and above will be allowed beyond the city walls. All other contracts should continue attacking using long-range attacks from on top of the wall.


    However, even when beyond the walls, we will now keep our contracts at a closer distance to one another so that we can support one another in unforeseen circumstances." Ezra said, before leading the third and fourth years, whose contracts all met that condition, beyond the city walls.


    The atmosphere on the walls was still tense, although they had some information on the unforeseen enemy. Especially since the sudden attack and killing of several contracts served as a bloody reminder that the battle situation could drastically change at any time.


    The moments passed slowly as the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting long shadows across thend. Kain, despite being limited in his range of activity, was more vigorous in his killing of spiritual creatures. Even if he couldn''t obtain the materials for school credits or money, he has managed to obtain arge amount of GP.


    With Serena''s likely 3-star status hanging over his head, he was more desperate than ever to increase his strength. Therefore, he needed as much GP as possible in the case that something he needs appears in the System Shop and to upgrade the System.


    The beast tide raged on, with each passing minute, especially after noticing the reduction in contracts sent beyond the walls, the creatures grew bolder and more aggressive.


    Previously, the melee contracts had kept majority of the beast tide at a slight distance from the walls, but after majority of them had been ordered to withdraw, the wild creatures in the beast had been more often able to actually reach the walls.


    Thankfully the city walls were incredibly resilient and show no signs of damage, but the vibrations from their attacks still cause some of the newer guards and students to get motion sickness. The entire city felt like it was in an ending earthquake.


    Kain almost lost his bnce as he lunged forward to stab a flying yellow-grade spiritual creature attacking Kairos in the head. They had been partnering together to kill majority of the yellow-grade spiritual creatures that approached them. Not wanting to lose any more money, Kain had a Vespirae guard throw the corpse of the wall into the direction of the city.


    Although majority of their kills were lost, he and Kairos had managed to keep 4 yellow-grade corpses since the day started. All of which had been flying creatures that got close to the city walls.

 Chapter 142: Chapter 142: Dividing the Spoils of War

    The hours wore on, and the intensity of the battle showed no signs of waning. Kain''s arms ached from the constant motion, and sweat poured down his face.


    His breathing was ragged, but he couldn''t afford to slow down. Each beast killed brought him closer to his goals, and kept the citizens of the city safe.


    As night fell, the long-awaited bell to relieve them of their duty finally rang. Aftering down from the top of the wall, Kain slumped against its hard surface, his body trembling from exhaustion. However, he still dragged his exhausted body to the few yellow-grade and orange-grade beasts that he''d managed to kill.


    He signalled to Kairos and they both headed to their four joint kills.


    "Any preference for the parts you want?" Hopefully, he doesn''t have a need for the brain like Bea, since the brains of all their joint kills have already been taken care of.


    "We can each take two spiritual orbs each. And I also want the talons and eyes of the Night Echo Owl," Kain nodded in acquiescence. Both the talons and the eyes were quite useful and the most valuable parts of the owl. However, the Night Echo Owl had a dark-attribute, which would obviously be more useful to Kairos than himself.


    Therefore, Kain chose to give up the more useful parts of the owl now in order to have his pick of material from the other spiritual creatures.


    "I''ll take the feathers then, and its voice box, and we can just divide the meat equally." Kain pulled out a knife and began removing the ck and white speckled feathers that were shimmering faintly in the moonlight. The Night Echo Owl isn''t known for its defense among spiritual creatures of a simr level. The value of its feathers were more so in their beautiful appearance.


    They should sell for quite a lot to be made into items of clothing and essories for rich women. Additionally, the Night Echo Owl produces sound attacks, therefore its voice box should have some value and may be used to produce enchanted equipment engraved with sigils that cause sound attacks.


    After Kairos and him had both used their knives to extract the materials they agreed on, they moved to the next one.


    Next, they went to arge insect with wings, the Flickerfly. When it was alive it was difficult to look at clearly due to the intense light that it gave off. However, now they could see the delicate iridescent wings that glimmered in a kaleidoscope of colours in a mesmerizing effect.


    It''s not a particrly powerful spiritual creature, in fact its probably among the weakest of those at the same level. Its most prominent features are the soothing light it emits and its great beauty.


    "I want the light-emitting nds," Kain said pointing to the abdominal region, "and I want its wings." Kain then pointed to the wings that asionally still had arcs of light flickering through their intricate patterns and veining.


    Considering that Kairos got his pick of thest one, he didn''t fight with Kain and epted the antennae and other sensory organs of much less value. Majority of the Flickerfly was actually quite useless, even less valuable than many orange-grade spiritual creatures. The only parts of any real value were what Kain took.


    The next shared kill was a dark red bat-type creature that Kain was unfamiliar with. However, he suspected that it had the rare blood-attribute.


    Since neither he nor Kairos had read about this creature before, and even after asking some of the seniors and guards still around who also couldn''t identify it, they decided to just take it apart and go back and forth in picking the parts they wanted.


    Considering it was a bat, Kain took the ears, which were still attached to the cochlear nerve, the vibrant red fur coat that may be valuable to make clothing, and a small blood red crystal.


    Kairos then chose the wings, eyes, fangs, and ws.


    Thest spiritual creature left to divide was very rare, a Whisper Wisp. When it was alive, it resembled the will-o''-the-wisps that Kain remembered reading about in storied back in his original life on Earth. It looked like a giant blue ball of fire and was said to have the ability tomunicate with the dead and guide lost souls.


    However, after it had died it looked like a giant diamond the size of his head.


    Thankfully as they chipped away at it to pry it open it didn''t prove to be as hard as diamond. Although it was definitely harder than the average 2-star weapon.


    After removing the spiritual orb, there wasn''t much else left inside of it. There was a blue stone that was giving off a faint heat still, likely the source of its mes and a clear coloured stone that they couldn''t figure out the purpose of.


    "How should we divide this¡­? I''m not sure about the value of most of these parts." Kain admitted.


    "Well the stone shell had been almost evenly cut in half, so we can each take a half, as for the blue and clear stones we can decide by minotaur, golem, phoenix." Kairos suggested using this world''s version of rock, paper, scissors.


    After counting to three out loud, Kain threw out his hand in the "devil horns" gesture with his pinky and index fingers extended, and the middle and ring fingers curled down to represent the minotaur. Kairos revealed his hand that had all 5 fingers syed out to represent a Phoenix wing.


    "Ahh¡­Phoenix burns minotaur. I win!" Kairos said, before selecting the blue crystal which they had some inkling of its purpose, leaving Kain with the colourless crystal that they knew nothing about.


    Sigh


    Kain couldn''t fault him for his choice, he likely would have made the same choice. All he could hope for is that it was something useful and or valuable once he got it appraised.


    If it could serve as an evolutionary material it may also appear in the simtor to provide Kain with a hint of what it is and its purpose.

 Chapter 143: Chapter 143: System Shop

    After Kain divided the materials with Kairos, and also extracted the materials from his solo orange-grade kills, he headed back to his temporary living quarters in exhaustion.


    I guess due to the poor atmosphere from Alexei''s contract being severely injured, Oliver wasn''t inclined to continue pestering everyone to stay up and y games.


    Additionally, unlike yesterday, Ezra stayed in the living quarters with them this time. So without any dy, everyone quickly showered, changed, and then went to bed.


    However, while everyone was in bed and snores began to ring out around him, Kain decided to look at his System.


    The past two days of battle, while difficult, had been the most lucrative period by far for Kain for GP.


    After two days of battle, he now had 8630 GP. The distance to next System upgrade no longer felt so far. Therefore, as long as it wasn''t anything too expensive, if he saw something that would be helpful in the System Shop, or if had a Simtion he wanted to try, he wouldn''t be so resistant.


    Kain first opened the System shop which had refreshed this morning.


    The first option was for a custom 2-star weapon, an item that Kain had exchanged for previously. However, Kain chose to not exchange for it since his current weapon was suitable for him. Once he breaks through to 3-stars, hopefully an exchange opportunity for a custom 3-star weapon will be made avable that he will definitely purchase.


    The next option was an Enhancement Elixir. It will temporarily boost the physical abilities, and spiritual power of the user by 100%. It also won''t conflict with the use of any other elixirs, so Kain would still be able to use it after using the Spiritual Elixir. It can serve as an additional trump card for him if he were in a desperate situation.


    After all, today''s events showed him that the situation can change at any time. Therefore, it''d be nice to have this potion to depend on.


    However, the cost of 1500 GP seemed a bit steep. Kain decided to hold off on purchasing it until the battle situation really called for it. If he, ideally, is able to get through the entire duration of the beast tide without having to make the exchange, then that would be the best case scenario.


    Then there was a ticket for a Wheel of Fortune that already had a theme selected¡ªLab Equipment. And the cost was 2000 GP, even more expensive than the Enhancement Elixir. However, Kain was extremely tempted to make the exchange. Kain currently only had one piece ofb equipment, the Simtor, and it was already a huge game changer for him.


    He was intrigued by what otherworldly effects the other pieces of equipment may have. However, making the exchange wasn''t urgent, and it was unlikely that it''d boost his current abilities greatly within a short period. Therefore, Kain decided to wait until the beast tide was finished before making the exchange.


    However, he decided that even if it did dy his System upgrading, he will make the before the System Shop refreshes again.


    After all, if he misses this opportunity who knows when another suitable opportunity will present itself.


    Last, but not least, avable for purchase was a B-level spiritual skill tome. ording to the description, the skill tome will allow the beast-tamer tome to exchange their spiritual power to an all-round boost to their contract''s abilities and spiritual power at a ratio of 2 to 1 once mastered.


    Meaning that if Kain sacrificed 100% of his spiritual power, he could provide his spiritual creatures with a 50% of boost to their strength and abilities, and restore their spiritual power by 50%. Considering that majority of a beast-tamerbat ability is reliant on their contracts, it wasn''t a bad exchange at all.


    Especially, when without the use of a skill that allows for a more efficient exchange of his spiritual power to his contracts, when he supplies his spiritual power to Bea and Eve to boost their abilities and increase their spiritual power, the exchange is definitely much worse.


    After exchanging 100% of his spiritual power, he may be lucky to even restore Bea''s spiritual power and give a boost to about 10-15%


    The cost of 800 GP, also isn''t too bad. However, to fully master the skill will take time. Until he fully masters the skill, the exchange ratio will be much worse, likely starting at 5 to 1 and then gradually improving to a ratio of 2 to 1 may not be achieved until months from now. If his talent for spiritual skills is really poor, it may even take years.


    This was another purchase that Kain decided to table for now and then consider making after the beast-tide ended. After all, more GP may be made from missions in the future, but there''s no guarantee that these items will reappear in the shop in the future. If he misses them now and needs them in the future, he''d regret it greatly.


    If Kain were to exchange for all of these items, it would total 4300 GP. Which would almost perfectly reduce the GP he''d currently saved by half.


    Therefore, he chose to categorize them based on the order of importance by situation. If the beast-tide tomorrow and theing days takes a turn for the worse, then he will resolutely make the exchange for the Enhancement Elixir.


    Once the beast-tide ends, regardless of how much GP he saves, he will exchange for the opportunity to get moreb equipment, and considering how cheap the skill tome is, he will also purchase it after the beast-tide. If he''s lucky, he''ll be able to fully master the spiritual skill before the re-ranking.


    But even if he doesn''t have it fully mastered, being able to provide an all-round increase to the abilities of his contract by even 30 to 40% would be a huge advantage against his peers.


    Next Kain decided to see if there were any new additions made to the Simtor.

 Chapter 144: Chapter 144: Satisfying His Curiosity

    Kain then entered theboratory. Looking around he was once again struck by the urge to purchase the Wheel of Fortune ticket specifically forboratory equipment after seeing all of the empty space. The potential for new and advanced equipment was extremely tempting, but he knew that he needed to be strategic with his GP while he was in such a precarious battle situation.


    Kain opened the Simtor and went to the evolutionary materials. In addition to the spiritual orbs he''d obtained today, there were also several of the materials he''d obtained today such as the cochlear nerve and red crystal from the bat, the light-emitting nds and wings from the Flickerfly, and the unknown colourless crystal from the Whisper Wisp.


    Unfortunately, the Simtor did not provide a detailed description of all of the materials. However, it did provide a name for the two materials that Kain was unsure about, therefore with the correct names he could research them at the college after the beast tide. The Sanguine Purity Crystal was the name for the red gem that he obtained from the blood-attribute bat of an unknown identity.


    As for the colourless crystal, its name is the Haunting Echo Jewel.


    With at least a name to go off of while researching, it''ll make his search a lot easier.


    "But since I''m already here¡­" Kain continued to look at the panel for the Simtor. Each simtion is only 100 GP, if he performs a few of simtions now (just three!) he could easily make back the GP spent tomorrow afterpleting a mission to hunt 10 orange grade spiritual creatures. In fact, he was only 2 kills short ofpleting that mission and receiving 350 GP.


    "Plus there was n that Kain had wanted to put into action for a while¡ªpatenting an evolutionary form. If he could sessfully produce a new evolutionary form, the money and connections provided will definitely help him with opening doors that would eventually lead to an increase in strength¡­yup! It''s decided I will perform 3 simtions."


    Kain finally convinced himself with a virtuous sounding reason, but really, he was just dying of curiosity and wanted to try out some more evolutionary forms.


    Based on the name of the Sanguine Purity Crystal, Kain made the reasonable assumption that it would have an effect on purifying bloodlines.


    He was debating on whether to test out this hypothesis or if he should first try out the effects of one of the other materials he''d obtained that he wasn''t sure about its function. Not to mention, neither of his contracts are spiritual creatures with a legendary bloodline that he''d benefit from purifying, nor will it be easy for Kain to obtain such a creature.


    Any spiritual creatures with a high-quality bloodline from creatures such as dragons, phoenixes, or giants, will be much more expensive to purchase than those without. This is because with future evolutions and bloodline purifications, there is still hope to evolve into a pure form of their ancestral bloodline. Although it will take a considerable amount of resources to do so.


    One of the side businesses Kain was considering was toe up with a new evolutionary form for a spiritual creature, and he actually had one in mind. The evolutionary form that he was interested in was for the Lumifin.


    The Lumifin was actually the very first creature that he''d tested the Simtor on, although at the time he had no theoretical knowledge on evolutionary forms and ended up creating a failure of an evolution¡ªthe Gloomtail.


    The reason Kain was interested in the Lumifin for this endeavor is that it had light and water dual attributes. The water-attribute is one of the moremon elemental attributes, and among C, D, and F ranked affinities many of them are for fish. Therefore, the base poption for awakened individuals will be quiterge.


    Additionally, although the ck-iron quality Lumifin is not particrly powerful, it has an additional rare light attribute. If Kain can find an evolutionary form with decent skills and it retains the light attribute, it''d probably be a pretty popr choice for a first contract among newly awakened individuals with low ranked affinities.


    Additionally, currently the Lumifin has no known evolutionary form and it is quitemon in all fresh waterkes and rivers across the Empire. Therefore, buying one would be much cheaper than other initial contracts.


    Rather than going the high-quality route and targeting evolutionary forms for expensive spiritual creatures that typically only the wealthy can bind, Kain decided to appeal to the masses. He was targeting those with affinities at C grade and under, who maybe don''te from the best-off families.


    Such individuals are quitemon in the Empire, and many parents who are low-level beast-tamers or even ordinary people, may bankrupt themselves trying to give their child that managed to awaken an affinity a decent start. But what if Kain presented an option for an initial contract that was not only cheap, but also had a dual attribute for the more rare light element.


    The Lumifin may be one of the mostmon initial contracts within the nation. And as the patent holder he''ll get paid with every purchase of the evolutionary form, having arger quantity of such purchases would be beneficial for him.


    However, in order to realize this n an evolution for Lumifin with decent strength must be discovered. Additionally, since Kain''s target demographic were poorer new beast-tamers, the evolutionary materials used should not be too expensive. Otherwise, who''d want to contract a Lumifin whose evolutionary materials were more expensive than a gold-quality spiritual creature.


    They could just directly buy a gold-quality spiritual creature!


    Therefore, after selecting the Lumifin, a spiritual orb, and a catalyst within the Simtor, he sorted the options for the Evolutionary Base Material but the level. With the materials he''d extracted from red-grade spiritual creatures towards the top. He then filtered out the all of the materials with attributes other than water and light.


    It is possible to cause find an evolution that has attributes different from the original form. However, the requirements for the bnce of the materials used was a lot more exacting. Kain isn''t confident in being able to find such an evolution without dozens of test simtions for trial and error.


    Probably only the top evolutionary nners could discover such a form without relying purely on dumb luck.


    After looking at his options, Kain made his first selection.

 Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Searching for an Evolution Patent

    Kain''s first selection for an Evolutionary Base Material was the glowing "lure," or esca, of a Ether Lurefish. The Lurefish is an red-grade spiritual creature that resembles an anglerfish. It is quite ugly, and uses a glowing ball attached to its head via a rod to hunt for prey.


    However, this is one of the few evolutionary materials that Kain had with dual water and light attributes, it also happened to be the cheapest.


    After making the selection, Kain pressed the button to start the simtion and a glow began to emit from the Lumifin projected within the Simtor. However, the glow was much weaker than he remembered it being when testing Bea''s and Aby''s evolutions.


    After the glow only urred for a fraction of the time it usually would, what appeared before Kain was¡­a Lumifin. Although the projection appeared much more frail than it did before, probably a setting built into the Simtor to realistically portray the consequences of failed evolution for the user.


    Kain looked at his remaining GP. "Are you kidding?! The evolution didn''t even work, can''t you refund the 100 GP I used?"


    *The System does not allow for refunds. All transactions are final. It is encouraged for the Host to perform more thorough research in the future before performing Simtions in the future to prevent more instances of failure.*


    "Damn¡­" Kain had to admit that maybe he''d gotten overconfident. He had never had a single case of a failed or disadvantageous evolution ever since he''d started his Evolutionary nner major and learned some of the theory behind evolution. However, it looks like there was a reason the profession was considered difficult and was so in demand.


    If people could achieve a sessful evolution after throwing in a spiritual orb, catalyst, and any base material every time, there wouldn''t be much of a need to pay nners.


    However, it is strange that not a single one of his simtions with Bea or the yeast Aby, had been unsessful. Perhaps that was an advantage of microorganisms? Maybe their simple single-celled bodies make them more easy to sessfully evolve? If so, Kain will now look at his affinity much more kindly and not regret missing out on being able to contract with a dragon or phoenix.


    Actually no¡­he still really wants a dragon!


    "Okay¡­so that didn''t work at all. I have only two tries left before I exceed the budget Iid out for myself."


    Kain continued to scroll through all of the evolutionary materials he had avable and was struck by the materials he''d obtained today from the Flickerfly. However, there is no way that an average new beast-tamer can hunt a yellow-grade Flickerfly to evolve a ck-iron beast, the cost to benefit ratio would be horrible.


    However, the light-emitting nds that Kain obtained from the Flickerfly are a prettymon material obtainable form red and orange- grade spiritual creatures as well. However, kain doesn''t have any more of such nds in his Simtor.


    However, if the Flickerfly''s light-emitting nds prove useful for causing a beneficial evolution, then Kain could try obtaining the nds from a creature of a lower grade, these nds don''t have much use and should be able to be bought cheaply.


    Typically they are just used to make charms for illumination, additionally some wealthier households may use them as aponent to make nightlights for their children.


    Decision made Kain selected the light-emitting nds and started the evolution. This time the light emitted from the next simted Lumifin was much greater. Kain hoped that it was a positive sign of a sessful evolution. Once the light faded, Kain took a look at the new creature that appeared. It looked almost exactly like a Lumifin, who is a very attractive aquatic creature.


    Traditional Lumifins had translucent, shimmering fins that glowed softly in various hues. They were about the size of house cats and had streamlined, serpentine bodies and delicate, bioluminescent markings that changed color ording to their emotions. These colour changes and shed of light can aid in either camouging it from predators or disorienting predators, whichever it should choose.


    However, this resulting evolution, while simr in shape and appearance definitely appeared much more bloated.


    Additionally, the light emitting from the creature was only slightly worse than the light of evolution, making it difficult to look at.


    -----------------


    Species: Glimmerfin


    The Glimmerfin is a new evolutionary attempt for the Lumifin. It retains much of the Lumifin''d ethereal appearance, but now has an erged light-emitting nd that gives it an overly bright, almost blinding, glow. Its fins are slightlyrger and more borate, with intricate patterns of shimmering light, but it is now less agile than its predecessor.


    The Glimmerfin is most suitable as an ornamental nt rather than release into the wild. Its uncontrolled luminosity is likely to draw unwanted attention from predators.


    Quality: ck-Iron


    Type: Fish


    Attribute: Water, Light


    Skills:


    D-Blinding sh: The Glimmerfin can emit a sudden, intense burst of light from its nd intended to disorient enemies. However, the light is too bright and indiscriminate, often causing the Glimmerfin itself to be temporarily blinded as well.


    D-Glimmer Shield: The Glimmerfin can create a shimmering barrier of light around itself. While it provides some basic protection, it will be inactivated after receiving one physical or magical attack from a target at the same level.


    F-Luminous Trail: The Glimmerfin leaves a glowing trail wherever it swims or moves. This trail is useful for marking its path or guiding allies, but it also makes it very easy to track. The glowing trail attracts predators and foes, making stealth and escape difficult.


    -----------


    Kain looked at the panel unimpressed.


    This evolution didn''t not provide any beneficial increase to the Lumifin''s abilities. If anything it actually made it weaker. One of the Lumifin''s few profitable points, its beautiful appearance, has also been greatly impacted since. The bright light it emits now makes it too difficult to look at. This is definitely a worthless evolutionary form.


    "Well at least it''s better than the Gloomtail¡­"

 Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Searching for an Evolution Patent (2)

    ''Maybe I was thinking in the wrong direction, I was focused on improving the light attribute, because that was it''s most valuable attribute. But this evolution made me realize that the initial potential of the Lumifin is too low for it to suddenly be a powerhouse at wielding the light-attribute. That''s why this evolution isn''t even able to control the greater amount of light energy it possesses.


    Let''s look at some other directions I can head to instead...''


    It is unusual for first years, or even any college student period, to begin investigating new evolutionary forms. That kind of work is usually done in post-college internships under an established professor at one of the colleges, simr to the graduate studies done back on Earth.


    However, there was a brief summary on the investigation of evolutionary forms that was mentioned, almost like a fun facts section, in one of Kain''s textbooks.


    From what Kain recalled of the text it defined evolution as the he process of revealing the hidden potential within every spiritual creature. Every creature harbors this potential, even if its next evolutionary form has yet to be discovered.


    To identify a potential evolutionary path, it is the job of Evolutionary nners to first examine what makes a creature unique and enhance that defining characteristic to its extreme.


    Firstly, if a lower-grade spiritual creature has atent high-level bloodline, an Evolutionary nner should focus on methods to purify and amplify this bloodline. For example, amon evolutionary direction of Wyrms and Wyverns with some dragon blood is to continuously purify the bloodline through multiple evolutions until they can be a true dragon.


    Simrly, if a creature possesses two powerful attributes, such as ice and time, the evolutionary strategy might involve concentrating on one attribute and elevating it to its maximum potential, even if it means sacrificing the other. Bncing multiple Evolutionary Base Materials from the same element can be challenging and often requires another stabilizing material.


    Perfecting an evolution with mixed attributes will have even more stringent requirements on the bnce of materials used and the strength of the stabilizer. Even for skilled Evolutionary nners, it is rare to pursue investigating an evolution that perfectly bnces both attributes.


    This was the direction that Kain went in for Bea, and it was also the direction he had nned to go in for the Lumifin, although it doesn''t seem to be working out.


    Additionally, unique skills can also indicate potential evolutionary paths. Certain species may develop new skills as they approach their maximum potential, which often provides clues about their next evolutionary stage. These skills typically remain significant even after the evolution urs. asionally, mastery of a skill is even a necessary precondition to achieve a sessful evolution.


    For example, the Cinderheart, which is bronze-quality spiritual creature resembles arge lump of ck stone with a face. However, it possesses a seemingly useless harden skill. The effect of the harden skill doesn''t instantaneously give arge boost to its defense. Instead, its repeated usage can result in a permanent increase in the Cinderheart''s hardness.


    Once the skill is perfectly mastered, meaning that the cinderheart is now as hard as a diamond, it can evolve into the gold-quality Diamondheart.


    Kain suspects that the new skill that Queen obtained after breaking though to orange-grade was one such skill that hints at a potential new evolutionary form for the Vespirae Queen, one with life attributes. However, whether certain acheivements are needed in the skill to sessfully evolve is unknown.


    What would even indicate mastery for a skill that essentially involves making a really strong elixir out of royal jelly.


    Finally, overlooked physical traits might reveal evolutionary directions. For example, the evolution of the ice-attribute bronze-quality Frostreave into the silver-quality Frostveil was well-known. However, Evolutionary nners had been puzzled for centuries by mutant Frostreaves with white or ck fur, who could not evolve into Frostveils.


    Afterall, changes in fur colour are usually just cosmetic mutations that shouldn''t actually have any impact on the potential of the creature. And aside from being able to evolve, the Frostveils with ck and white fur were just as strong as their blue counterparts. In fact, they were often found to be even more talented.


    It was eventually discovered that fur color was a key indicator of their potential evolution. Frostreaves with blue fur evolved into Frostveils with ease, usingmon ice-attribute nts found everywhere in the northern region.


    However, those with ck and white fur evolved into the gold-quality dark-attribute Gloomfrost and light-attribute cierre, respectively.


    It was aplete coincidence that such a discovery was made, because apart from fur colour, there was no indication that the Frostveil''s next form could ever be from these two rtively rare attributes.


    The example of the Frostveil is one of the few instances of physical features with no impact on ability actually being the key to finding a suitable direction for evolution.


    Kain already knew that the Lumifin had no bloodline to purify, which ruled out the first method.


    He had already tried the second method of enhancing the light attribute with little sess, but he will also try to enhance the water attribute for good measure, although it will likely not be a particrly impressive evolution.


    The Lumifin doesn''t have any particrly unique skills, which would make investigating along the third method difficult.


    That leaves Kain only with the fourth option¡ªlooking at its unique physical qualities for clues.


    In addition to amplifying the water attribute, this seemed to be the most promising direction.


    After all, although extremely weak, the Lumifin''s uniquely beautiful appearance is one of its only strengths.


    Therefore, Kain opened the Simtor once more, but instead of immediately selecting evolutionary materials he approached the projection of the Lumifin and began to analyze its appearance from all angles.


    "System. Is it possible to see past evolutions in the Simtor again?" Kain also wanted to investigate the failed Gloomtail and Glimmerfin once more. Perhaps if he can find something unique about all 3 forms, it may indicate that the feature is of extra importance.

 Chapter 147: Chapter 147: Breakthrough Discovery?

    The System didn''t answer Kain directly, but suddenly projections of all of the past evolutions Kain had created in the Simtor appeared before him.


    "Filter out all of the past evolutions that aren''t for Lumifin." Suddenly the crowded description screen filled with the profiles of a myriad of creatures only had 2 profiles, and the ss container which showed the simted results of the evolution had two creatures within it¡ªGloomtail and Glimmerfin.


    "Can you ce a projection of the original Lumifin next to the two evolutionary forms?"


    Looking at the three creatures side by side, Kain tried to find any meaningful connection between the three forms.


    However, finding a connection, especially to the Gloomtail was difficult.


    Without question the unevolved Lumifin was the most aesthetically pleasing, while the Glimmerfin looked like a bloated, too bright, version of Lumifin.


    However, Gloomtail could only be described with one word¡­UGLY. Kain had already seen it before, but its grotesque appearance was still very shocking the second time it appeared before him.


    Its body was even more bloated than the Glimmerfin and swollen in unnatural ways that gave it an almost cartoonish appearance.


    Unlike the almost mirror-like appearance of Lumifin''s silver scales, the Gloomtail was a sickly gray, with patches of jaundice yellow. If Kain had seen a fish that looked like this back on Earth, he wouldn''t have dared to touch it for fear that it was suffering from some kind of contagious disease.


    Unlike the Glimmerfin that was too bright, and the Lumifin that had shes of light flickering through its scales and on its fins, the uneven and ragged scales and fins of the Gloomtail were barely illuminated. Its fins also appeared tattered and worn, with frayed edges.


    The eyes of the Gloomtail were small and beady, set deep into a misshapen head. The eyes looked perpetually disoriented, like the Gloomtail was forever lost in a haze of confusion or fear. They were very unlike the lively and yful eyes of its predecessor Lumifin.


    However, as Kain was forced to examine the creature for a longer period he discovered something interesting. A pattern of curved lines, barely visible, weaved across its fins.


    The dark, almost imperceptible lines were asionally broken in some parts and not continuous, before they ended abruptly two-thirds of the way up the fish''s fins. The lines loosely resembled interlocking spirals arranged next to each other,posed of the fish''s scales.


    Kain looked to see if these patterns were also on the Lumifin and¡­they were! The spiral pattern was still not super obvious, but the pattern was more clear on the Lumifin since there were norge breaks in the lines. However, they extended across nearly the entire body of the fish.


    Starting from the center of the fish''s forehead, its scales were arranged in a spiral, with each new scale in the pattern growing in size until the midsection of the Lumifin where the spiral pattern stops and all scales are uniform in shape and cement until the tail. The arrangements of the scales are what caused, when examined very closely, the appearance of lines in a spiral.


    Faint spiral patterns originating on each fin were also visible.


    The scales were mostly silver, but their shiny mirrorlike quality caused it to glisten with hues of deep blues, greens and gold as it moved and light reflected across its surface.


    Kain then looked at the evolutionary form that was closer in appearance to the Lumifin, the Glimmerfin,to see if this pattern once again changed.


    Simr to the Lumifin, the barely noticeable spiral pattern extended from the forehead, but this time they ended at the head and did not extend into the midsection. The patterns were also present on all of its fins.


    "These markings are probably the key!" After making this discovery Kain chose to pursue this direction of searching for an evolutionary form for now instead of focusing on amplifying the water-attribute.


    The markings were the most prominent on the Lumifin, slightly fainter and covered less area on the Glimmerfin, and extremely faint. And the most limited in area on the Gloomtail. Perhaps a reduction in the markings is an indication that Kain is moving further away from its next ideal form.


    He should instead be pursuing how to make the spiral pattern cover more of, if not all of, the Lumifin''s body in the subsequent evolution.


    But how can he enhance a physical feature during evolution? It''s not like enhancing a spiritual creature''s affinity for an element. What kind of materials would even be used?


    Also, what are these markings indicative of? Light-attribute strength?


    The patterns are the faintest on the Gloomtail, which also is the form with the weakest control over the light element. Its ability to manipte light is frail and unreliable; any attempts at using the light element are characterized by dim, erratic flickers that would barely cut through the dark.


    However, the Glimmerfin, with probably the most abundant amount of light-energy avable at its disposal, also saw a reduction in the size of the pattern.


    Could control be taken into ount? Because although the Glimmertail has a lot of light-attribute energy, its control and ability to utilize that energy is quite low.


    Maybe an evolution that favours better control over light-attribute energy is the next evolutionary step? Maybe this is another case where improving the proficiency of a light-attribute skill is a necessary condition to sessfully evolve?


    However, as Kain continued to look at the patterns, he couldn''t help but feel as though that hypothesis wasn''t quite right. He recognized this spiral pattern, although he couldn''t ce it quite yet¡­


    But he was sure that this pattern was the key to unlocking the next evolutionary form, and his gut was telling him that enhancing the Lumifin''s elemental control was not what they were connected to¡­


    Zzz Zzzz


    Unfortunately, before Kain could continue down that line of reasoning, the day''s events finally caught up with him and he ended up falling asleep in ce. The System promptly ejected his consciousness from the Laboratory as Kain''s snores joined the chorus of those from his peers.

 Chapter 148: Chapter 148: Unknown Nuisance

    When Kain woke up he was incredibly disoriented. Last he remembered he was examining the Lumifin in the Simtor. He also made a pretty promising discovery, which was¡­


    Which was¡­


    ''Damn! This is why you should always keep ab book with you?''


    ''I think it had something to do with patterns¡­on the fish''s scales? Yeah that was it!''


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief at not having the progress he made yesterday go down the drain.


    ''System by any chance do you have an ability to record notes?'' Kain asked off-handedly without much hope.


    *Affirmative*


    ''I figured you didn''t¡­Wait! What?! Why didn''t you tell me?''


    *The Host did not ask*


    ''What other features are you keeping from me then simply because I didn''t ask?!''


    This time the System didn''t bother to answer.


    Kain made a mental note to interrogate his System once the beast tide was over. He could already hear most of the other individuals in the room getting up and preparing for battle, and so he joined them before heading out for breakfast.


    Thankfully, possible due to all of the higher-quality spiritual creatures killed yesterday, that was brought back into the city, they had enough meat to provide bacon, sausages, and other sides with their breakfast.


    Unfortunately, on the first day of the best tide with mostly white and red-grade spiritual creatures, few people could be bothered to enter the hoard to retrieve their corpses and they had to go meatless.


    Kain could immediately feel his spiritual power bing more active and guessed that the meat served was at least from an orange-grade spiritual creature.


    ''Back on Earth they said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day¡­and I couldn''t agree with that statement more right now'' Kain thought, as he stuffed his face with the wee change from porridges and soups.


    They headed back to their ces atop the castle wall, but Kain could immediately feel a huge difference whenpared to yesterday. A pressure from arge amount of spiritual creatures more powerful than him.


    It looks like the majority of the remaining red-grade spiritual creatures were killed by the night-shift guards. Now the mostmonly seen creatures were at orange-grade, followed by yellow-grade. Kain could also asionally see green-grade spiritual creatures at a much moremon frequency than previously.


    One such creature, that Kain could see in the distance was a cial Leviathan, likely the same one that had killed 4 of his ssmates previously.


    "Due to the higher level of spiritual creatures today, first years will move in groups" Ezra began.


    "Kain, Soren, and Kairos will be one group. Serena and Ranya another. Oliver and Jade, you two will be responsible for protecting each group of boys and girls respectively, in the event that they encounter a spiritual creature that they can''t handle."


    Kain figured that he meant green-grade, since if a group of them can''t take down a yellow-grade spiritual creature then they have no ce representing the school in the future.


    Soren didn''t look pleased with the assignments, likely preferring to partner up with Serena rather than Kain and Kairos, but he smartly didn''t vocalize his objections.


    The three still hunted orange-grade spiritual creatures independently and, when possible, Kain had the Vespirae guards try to carry the corpses killed back into the hospital. However, when one of his Vespirae was trying to bring back its harvest, arge hole appeared in its back, and tore off its wings.


    With an ear-piercing shriek, it sank into the excited hoard of beasts below and was quickly torn into shreds.


    "Damn! It''s that same attacker from yesterday!" Kairos called out. It had been quiet after that initial attack yesterday and there were no reports of it attacking again during the night, they''d all thought it''d either been killed silently or was no longer in the vicinity.


    However, they were clearly very wrong and it had a degree of patience much higher than the average spiritual creature to wait so long until they all lowered their vignce beforeunching another attack.


    "Serena!" Ranya called out nervously, "Can you sense its location right now?"


    "It''s currently around 9 miles Southeast of here, but that doesn''t mean much since it can appear right before us in an instant," Serena replied calmly.


    Normally, in a group Kain wouldn''t feel threatened by a yellow-grade spiritual creature. Maybe if he were alone most yellow-grade spiritual creatures would be a threat to him, but he''d sessfully managed to kill several with a partner. So deep down most of his caution when facing creatures two levels higher than Bea, and one level higher than the Vespirae, had diminished.


    However, this was the first yellow-grade spiritual creature that really made him feel the gap in abilities. When it approached andunched an attack, neither Kain nor the Vespirae could even detect it before the attack urred, much less counterattack.


    Kain had only felt this helpless since entering college when facing the cial Leviathan. Although the pressure from the Leviathan was definitely leagues above this unknown creature.


    Kain looked at his partners, since it was still at yellow-grade, neither Oliver nor Jade would step in to help.


    "Any ideas on how to get rid of it?" Kain asked. After all, while this thing was lurking around it''d be hard to focus on their own battles. They''d always have to withhold a portion of their attention to guard against an ambush, which would be like having to fight with shackles on.


    "I''m not sure how helpful this is," Kairos began. "But I noticed that it tended tounch an attack right when its target was finishing up with a battle and their guard is lower because they''d just sessfully killed the enemy in front of them. It was like that for you just now, and it was like that yesterday for Alexei''s contract and the targeted guards'' contracts.


    Maybe we can use this to lure it out?"


    BAM!


    "Arrgghhhhhhh!!!!!"


    The contract of another guard was instantly killed by the unknown spiritual creature, and the cost of the bacsh was immediately heard throughout the city walls.


    "We NEED to get rid of this damn thing!" Kairos said in irritation.


    Thankfully, this time Serena had been focused on the spiritual creature the entire time. Although it moved too fast to provide a warning in time, she did make a useful discovery.

 Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Unknown Nuisance (2)

    "Its distance from the wall increased by a little more than a meter before it appeared next to that guard''s contract. I think before it ''jumps'' next to its target it needs to make a short running start. If so, I can try to give a warning in time before it appears. But I won''t be able to predict where exactly it''ll be moving to." Serena said.


    That was promising. Even if they couldn''t know for sure that it was appearing next to them, it was helpful to know when it''d be appearing on the battlefield again even if they weren''t the immediate target.


    "If it realizes that we can sense when it''d appear, it may run away again and harass the guards at the night shift. Or worse, move to another area of the wall where some of the weaker first-years are," Ranya said.


    ''Like moving to where Bridge is¡­ we need to take care of this thing now so its threat isn''t constantly hanging over our heads!''


    "Yes. We need to make a n that can kill it immediately for sure without any risk of it running away again¡­" Kain said.


    "To do that," Kain continued, "we''re going to need someone''s contract to act as bait." Seeing the screwed-up faces of resistance Kairos, Soren, and Ranya were making, Kain immediately volunteered. "Which will be me, obviously. I am the only one that has contracts that they can afford to lose without damage to their soul."


    He had 11 Vespirae Guards remaining after losing 2, and another 3 were set to hatch any day now to replenish their ranks. Therefore, losing one more, while unfortunate, would hardly cripple his strength.


    "However, we need to make sure that it dies during the first attack. We can''t risk it running away. Does anyone have any foolproof methods to ensure it can''t run away?" Kain looked at each of them but received now response. However, he seriously doubted that it was because all of the other members of the top 5 had no such trump cards.


    Especially Soren with his royal background, and Kairos who has several more filled out pages in his cursed book that he hadn''t revealed the purpose of yet.


    Likely they were withholding their cards to not give too much away during the re-ranking.


    ''Seriously?! I am willing to send one of my contracts as bait and they can''t even be a little helpful? Bastards.''


    "Sigh. I have a one-time use talisman that can rebound a fatal attack at the perpetrator" Serena thankfully broke the silence. "However, if it doesn''t immediately die, we all need to be prepared to attack it immediately."


    Everyone else nodded.


    "I know that you all have your reservations about showcasing your full strength for your futurepetitors to see, but I hope that you will take the direness of our current situation into ount and not hold back. Or at least not hold back too much. Especially since it may take more lives if we can''t kill this thing now," Kain said.


    Kain took the talisman, and stuck it in a hidden area underneath one of the guard''s abdomen.


    Kain then sent that guard at a further distance from the wall than usual to hunt orange-grade spiritual creatures.


    "Don''t let it sense that anything is wrong. Continue your attacks." Kain said while looking at the others who, all except Serena, had halted their attacks outside of the city walls.


    The tagged guard killed several more attackers while steadily moving closer and closer in the direction that Serena had indicated that the invisible attacker was located.


    "It''s going to attack!" Serena called out.


    ''Its fast!''


    Before she was even halfway through her call, an attack was alreadyunched at Kain''s guard. Thankfully, sending it closer to its location and further from the wall made it the wild spiritual creature''s next target.


    The talisman activated and rebounded the attack. However, the ferocious attacks that had previously been strong enough to instantly kill many of the creatures on this battlefield only served to stun and slightly injure it.


    Kain''s guard, as well as Serena''s contract, were the first to have their attacks reach the stunned target.


    Then Kairos, thankfully choosing not to keep his hand, sent out a new skill from the Cursed Book that caused a chain to form around the creature and reduce its chances of running away. However, Kairos'' Cursed Book, which is also his highest-level contract, was only orange-grade simr to Kain''s Vespirae, and so the chain likely won''t hold the attacker for long.


    Once it was trapped, its appearance became more clear.


    ''It is¡­cute.'' Kain thought.


    It resembled arge silver-white cat withrger-than-average floppy ears. asionally its figure would be less clear as it tried to phase in and out of existence.


    "It''s either a space attribute or a spirit-type creature," Kain said. However, considering that Ezra did not sense any pull to it, Kain was leaning towards it being a spirit.


    By this point, Soren''s dragon and Ranya''s butterfly were also in the vicinity and together with Kain and Serena''s contractsunched attacks at the cat.


    The cat went down and Kairos used the still-wrapped chain to pull it to the wall. Kain internally noted that after wrapping the chain around the target, that the Cursed Book had no other actions. Is it unable to have more than one skill activated at the same time? Or was he still holding back?


    ''If it''s the former that''d be invaluable intel for the re-ranking¡­''


    Unfortunately, because Kain, Serena, Soren, and Ranya''s attacksnded around the same time, Kain couldn''t be sure if he was responsible for the kill. He didn''t receive a notification nor was it included in his mission tally. But if he didn''tnd the final blow, then that is to be expected.


    Therefore, he couldn''t be sure that the cat was actually dead, or just feigning death until it could get closer to the human beast-tamers andunch a final devastating blow.


    When the body was dragged a closer distance to the wall, Kain used the mist containing Bea to infect it and see if it was alive.


    However, likely because it was an undead spirit, there was no brain to infect. And therefore, no way to confirm its death.


    ''Well that is an unfortunate limitation of Bea that I''d never considered...''


    Thankfully, Serena was instead able to confirm its death due to there no longer being a pull from her affinity.


    Once the body was on top of the walls, they threw it into the city. They''ll deal with dividing it up after their shift.

 Chapter 150: Chapter 150: Breach

    After killing the only particrly threatening yellow-grade spiritual creature, all of the remaining spiritual creatures that attacked were able to be handled either alone or within their smaller group of 3.


    However, as the average strength level of the attackers began to climb, the shaking of the city walls also became stronger.


    "All first and second years have your contracts retreat back to the city walls!" Ezra yelled.


    Kain was puzzled but did as directed. However, his confusion did notst for long when one of his guards, coincidently the same one that managed to survive the ambush from the yellow-grade cat-like creature, froze into an ice sculpture within milliseconds.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat as he saw the main character of his most recent nightmares, the cial Leviathan marching towards the city walls. Along with it were hundreds of other green-grade spiritual creatures.


    Immediately, the contracts of the third and fourth-year students, as well as most of the professors who had not been actively participating in the battle except at critical moments to save lives, intercepted them.


    Kain, nor the other students, dared to send their contracts too far out. Instead, they made sure to keep themselves and their contracts by the city walls to ward off one of the weaker spiritual creatures that squeezed through and managed to get to the walls.


    At the same time, Kain also kept an eye on his seniors, curious about the level of strength of individuals who have represented the college for years. Particrly the captain.


    Kain already knew that the captain had a space-attribute affinity and creatures that fit that criteria are extremely rare. Therefore, he was curious about the abilities of Ezra''s contracts, even if he couldn''t identify them.


    He revealed 5 contracts, although he had apparently broken through to 6-stars over the summer break. Whether he hadn''t yet found a suitable contract or it wasn''t yet strong enough to make a difference in the current level of battle, he had never revealed a sixth contract.


    For the majority of the beast tide, he''d been using three of his contracts. The first one Kain could identify. It was a blue-grade Void Lynx, and apparently the captain''s first-ever contract¡ªalthough it was initially an Ethereal Lynx and had evolved. The Void Lynx isn''t the most powerful in terms of frontalbat ability, but its support abilities are among the best at its level.


    It is extremely skillful in its ability to manipte space allowing it to teleport, hide within the void, and transport attacks so that a ball of fire several meters away from the target will appear right before the target in the next second. And those were the only abilities Kain was able to observe after ncing at it over the past few days.


    The second contract, Kain did not know the name of but it was a green-grade snake with scales that shimmered and warped as it moved. Its fangs appear to be able to render space apart, making any defence before it useless. Additionally, it seems to be able to freely adjust its size to ensnare creatures of varying sizes.


    The third contract, also green-grade appeared to be a small dragon, a drake. Kain saw it tear apart holes into the space to cause an almost ck hole effect that sucked in much weaker spiritual creatures. And simr to the fangs of the second contract, its ws also seem to ignore all defensive measures.


    Now Kain was getting to see the remaining two contracts for the face of their school.


    One had a semi-transparent appearance and was humanoid in shape. Its body was a deep, cosmic blue that shimmered like the night sky. Its eyes were a mesmerizing mixture of silver and azure that seemed to draw in anyone who dared to stare for too long.


    The air surrounding it seemed to pulsate, therefore Kain guessed that it also had the ability to teleport and/or shift space. Kain wasn''t 100% sure about its identity, but he guessed that it was some kind of Djinn, a rare type of spiritual creature that resembles the stories about genies back on Earth, although they don''t grant wishes.


    Based on the pressure it gave off, Kain guessed that it was at blue-grade, although it hadn''t yet made a move for him to see the colour of its spiritual power.


    The final contract revealed also was likely at blue-grade. It had an incredibly fearsome appearance and its head looked like thebination of a tiger and dragon. Its face hadrge bulging eyes, and a gaping mouth filled withrge fangs and tusks. The rest of its body was muscr and covered in a thick fur, while its powerful legs ended with incrediblyrge ws.


    It had a long, serpentine-like tail tipped with a sharp spike. Kain had never seen anything that resembled it in a textbook here, nor could he think of any mythical stories back on Earth that described a creature like this.


    However, once it took action, Kain had a guess about what it was when all of the weaker spiritual creatures surrounding it appeared to be picked up by an invisible force, shrunk, and then swallowed in one bite.


    ''A taotie?!''


    As the unending waves of green-grade spiritual creatures continued without end, many blue-grade spiritual creatures were also beginning to appear. The professors, who hadn''t taken much action until now except at critical moments to save lives, also stepped in.


    Suddenly, a roar that shook the very ground around them signalled the arrival of an indigo-grade spiritual creature. Kain''s heart sank as he saw it¡ªa massive, shadowy entity with eyes that glowed like moltenva. It exuded an aura of palpable menace, its very presence causing the defenders to falter.


    The pressure from its mere presence on the battlefield almost caused Kain and the rest of the first-years to copse to their knees.


    "H-hey Oliver!" Kairos called out to the one responsible for their group. "Do you recall creatures at this level appearing in the beast-tide you were in previously? I thought the max attacker was supposed to be at blue-grade!"


    Oliver''s eyebrows were also bunched together in confusion, the current eventspletely went against how things were historically. What happened to the unspoken understanding between man and beast that the purpose of the beast-tide was just to cull their numbers, not actually break in?!


    Before Oliver could open his mouth to reply a sudden explosion rocked the city. The st was so violent that it knocked Kain off his feet, sending him sprawling onto the ground. The shockwave sent debris flying, and a cloud of dust and smoke enveloped the area.


    "What the hell was that?!" Soren shouted, struggling to get back up.


    Kain barely managed to regain his footing when he heard a panicked shout from a nearby guard. "The southern gate! It''s been breached!"

 Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Breach (2)

    The gravity of the situation hit Kain like a sledgehammer. The southern gate, one of the city''s weaker points, was now breached. The gate was quite a distance away from main gate and not as heavily reinforced since it wasn''t even easy to ess from the forest and so always had less attackers. And yet it had fallen.


    The translucent barrier that had kept aerial attacks at bay was gone. The city''s defences were failing.


    Before Kain could fully process this new development, a professor burst into their midst, his face pale and breathless.


    "The sigils at the southern gate have been destroyed! A violet-grade spiritual creature and three indigo-grade beasts tore through it. The Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and Deans of the beast-taming department are heading there now to handle the situation."


    "We need to hold this line while the higher-ups deal with the breach over there," Ezramanded, his voice steady despite the turmoil around him.


    Kain''s heart pounded in his chest, but he forced himself to focus on the immediate threat. The city''s fate depended on their ability to keep the remaining spiritual creatures at bay.


    The battlefield seemed to shift as the breach at the southern gate created a ripple effect. The green-grade and blue-grade creatures grew more aggressive, sensing the shift in the city''s defenses. Their attacks became more frantic and powerful, pushing the defenders back and causing the city walls to shake more frequently.


    "Now that the wards are momentarily gone, focus on preventing any and all aerial attacks into the city. If even one yellow-grade spiritual creature manages to fly into the civilian areas it will wreak havoc." Yelled one of the guard captains.


    Thankfully, all of them have contracts with the ability to attack spiritual creatures in the air.


    Kain''s remaining 11 guards would gang up to bring down a yellow-grade spiritual creature while being supported by Bea.


    Soren''s dragon alone was able to contend with most yellow-grade spiritual creatures despite being a grade lower.


    Kairos'' Cursed Book and Doll, and Ranya''s Mirage Butterfly were more focused on impeding the movements and abilities of those trying to fly into the city, while Kain''s Vespirae Guards, Soren''s Dragon, and Serena''s contract dealt the finishing blows. Together, they managed to prevent any invasions from urring through their area of the wall.


    Meanwhile, the professors, higher-level guards, and senior students at the main gate were engaged in a desperate battle to hold their ground. Kain could see shes of powerful skills and the sh of high-level spiritual creatures from afar. The intensity of the conflict was staggering.


    Most of the professors were at 6-stars, so they weren''t in any immediate danger. However, fighting against so many creatures at a simr level was exhausting. The situation was not looking optimistic.


    Ezra''s voice cut through the turmoil, "We must not falter. The safety of the city and its inhabitants rests on our shoulders. If we can hold the line, the higher-ups will manage the breach."


    Despite the captain''s unwavering determination, Kain could see the strain on his face. Ezra''s contracts were pushing back the green-grade and blue-grade creatures, but the pressure was immense. The sheer number of attackers was overwhelming, and every minute stretched on for what felt like an eternity.


    Kain''s thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shift in the battlefield. A new wave of blue-grade spiritual creatures emerged from the distance, their presence causing a collective gasp among the defenders. Within their ranks, Kain could also see a massive beast that towered over the rest, it resembled a ginormous turtle with what appeared to be a volcano on its back. Likely another indigo-grade.


    An ominous air began to spread, the sheer number of high-grade attackers was unprecedented, and it was clear that the city''s defences were stretched thin.


    Professor Night, one of the only remaining 7-star beast-tamers remaining there after the breach in the south, moved to intercept the new arrival since the only other remaining 7-star beast-tamer, a Commander of the city guards, was dealing with the other one.


    However, in doing so, the vast area of the wall that she''d been guarding against a breach was vacated. Kain and the others were now stretched even more thin trying topensate for her absence.


    With the sudden absence of a critical line of defense, Kain felt the pressure of the situation intensify.


    The defenders had to adapt quickly to the changing circumstances. The flying spiritual creatures, sensing the gap in the city''s defenses, surged forward with renewed vigour.


    Despite all of their efforts, the gap left by Professor Night was proving difficult to close, and many of the younger defenders'' resolve began to shake.


    To make matters worse the indigo-grade spiritual creature targeted by Professor Night let out a deafening roar, causing the ground to tremble. The defenders nearby were thrown off bnce, and the sheer force of the beast''s presence seemed to sap the rest of their morale.


    Seeing that the mental state of some of the younger guards wasn''t optimistic, Kain summoned Queen, who he up until that point had kept in the space for her safety.


    "Use Noble Breeze and direct it to them." Kain said pointing towards the guards. Noble breeze has a soothing effect on the mind, can restore mental strength in allies and heal minor mental ailments. Kain hoped that it''d be effective on the guards'' current state.


    Thankfully it did seem to have a beneficial effect, but just to be sure, Kain still shouted, "You are all residents of Dark Moon. Most of you grew up in this city. Behind you aren''t just random strangers, but your parents, partners, children, and neighbours. If you falter now be prepared to lose everything!"


    While not the mostforting of speeches he wanted to impress upon them the importance of maintaining the defensive line here.


    As long as they could hold the line and keep the invaders at bay, there was still hope that there would be minimal civilian casualties until the defensive wards are back up. Faltering here is not an option.

 Chapter 152: Chapter 152: The Puppet-Master

    Objectively, the chances of Dark Moon City actually falling are abysmal. At least as long as the Chancellor was here. As of yet, the highest-level attacking creature confirmed was the violet-grade one responsible for the breach at the southern gate, which isparable to an 8-star beast-tamer. In contrast, the Chancellor is one of the few 9-star beast tamers in the empire.


    However, the wards were damaged, and the Chancellor couldn''t be everywhere at once while reinstating them. Therefore, the amount of damage that could be done to the city in the meantime while the city was vulnerable was great.


    ''But what is the point of all of this? They know they have no chance of winning!'' Kain thought in frustration.


    He had been suffering from intense anxiety ever since the wards fell, much of which was due to not being able to see Bridge and the others. Bridge was out there somewhere, and the possibility of him being dead or severely injured gnawed at Kain''s sanity. The helplessness of not being able to assist, to even confirm his brother and best friend''s status, was unbearable.


    Kain had to use all of his restraint to calm himself down and not send one of his Vespirae Guards to go look for Bridge, or to go look for him himself. Of course, if he did so he''d likely be severely punished as a deserter.


    Not to mention that their group was already stretched so thin to maintain the defense now, if he sent away one of the Vespirae and a spiritual creature managed to break through to harm the ordinary civilians he''d rightfully be treated as a criminal. Kain also didn''t think he''d be able to forgive himself if civilian casualties were to ur due to his actions.


    He needed to have faith in Bridge.


    However, it seemed that Kain wasn''t the only one who anxiously wanted to check on their loved ones.


    "Remember why we fight!" Ezra''s voice cut through the noise of the battlefield. "Each and every one of you has the strength to make a difference. Do not let fear control you! Stand firm!"


    Kain could see the strain on Ezra''s face. The captain''s contracts were engaged in a fierce battle against the beast tide.


    The Void Lynx moved erratically through the battlefield using teleportation, it created portals that redirected attacks and allowed endangered allies to move to a safer location.


    The green-grade snake coiled and struck with ruthless efficiency, each attack causing another green-grade creature to fall.


    The drake created waved its ws in the air to cause small-scale ck holes that sucked in many of the yellow-grade spiritual creatures in the vicinity.


    The Djinn''s presence alone seemed to inspire awe and fear as it simply seemed to cause the bodies of its foes to break apart with a wave of its hand, and the taotie continued to devour its foes as though it''d been starved for months.


    Yet, even with their extraordinary abilities, Ezra and his team were being pushed back. The many green and blue-grade spiritual creatures were relentless, their overwhelming numbers forcing the defenders to fight with everything they had just to keep from being overwhelmed.


    Not only them, but everyone on the battlefield was probably feeling overwhelmed.


    As if the situation wasn''t bad enough, a new threat began to approach Kain and the others. The third and fourth years were overwhelmed and unable to offer support, it would be up to the first and second years to stop its advancement.


    The green-grade spiritual creature was a spider. Its body was enormous, with legs that spanned dozens of meters each, and its entire body was covered in a sleek, silver-blue exoskeleton. Its abdomen wasrge and slightly translucent and its many red eyes glowed sinisterly.


    From it abdomen extended hundreds of fine shimmering threads that had a faint flow. Each of the threads were long enough to extend dozens, if not hundreds, of meters, and soon all of the wild spiritual creatures attacking the city were connected to a thread. Once touched by the thread their eyes all turnedpletely white and stared nkly forward.


    The sight of the spider''s controlled puppets, their eyes glowing white, was enough to send shivers down the spines of even the most experienced guards. The mental control was not just a physical threat but an emotional and psychological one, creating an atmosphere of fear and helplessness that spread across the battlefield.


    All of their actions also became incredibly coordinated as though instructed a skilled general. Their threat level also increased severalfold. Kain and the others were already in a precarious position when the beasts were attacking separately, now that they were working as a team, holding the defensive line was much more difficult.


    Seeing that the source of this coordination was the threads ejected by the spider, Kain and theunched attacks and weapons to try to cut them. However, all of their attacks went straight through them as though the threads didn''t even exist.


    Kain sent Bea towards one of the controlled orange-grade spiritual creatures and managed to conclude that the threads wereposed of mental-attribute energy.


    He was a little jealous. The number of people the spider could control was lower than Bea once she had enough time to produce many splits, but the mobility and flexibility provided by these threads were iparable to Bea relied on mist to be able to move around and infect others.


    As the spider approached the wall, some of its threads even managed to make contact with the defenders, turning them against theirrades.


    The defenders futilely tried all manner of methods to cut the threads or to awaken their controlledrades but to no avail.


    The situation had be even more precarious as the defenders not only had to fight against external attacks but also attacks from their allies within the city. The defence was crumbling under the dual onught of both internal and external enemies.


    A drastic change would need to be made, otherwise the defensive line won''t be able tost until the wards were back up.

 Chapter 153: Chapter 153: The Puppet-Master (2)

    ''We need to support the second years.'' Unlike the first years whose contracts usually range in strength from red-grade to orange-grade, second years'' contracts are usually between orange and yellow grade.


    Although it''s still a challenge for them to take on the approaching green-grade spiritual creature, it is a lot safer than sending out the first-years to intercept it.


    "Jin! If we take care of most of its puppets, do you think that you and the other second years can kill the green-grade spider?"


    Jin immediately nodded without hesitation. None of the top 5 students of each year should have much trouble contending against spiritual creatures one level higher than themselves. And while the gap in strength between levels increases with each step, working together as a group they should be able to take it down.


    The most annoying part of fighting this spider would have been fighting against its hundreds of controlled spiritual creatures moving in sync. Since Kain and the other first-years promised to take care of the puppets so they would not interfere in their battle, he was even more sure that they could achieve sess.


    After all, this wouldn''t be the first green-grade spiritual creature the top 5 second-years had hunted down together as a group.


    Every time it was challenging and there were injuries, but never any casualties.


    Jin called together the other top 5 students of his year including Alexei, who looked even more pale than usual due to his injured contract, and 3 girls that Kain hadn''t yet been introduced to. One of the girls only paled slightly in beautypared to Serena and sported pink hair and eyes. Another had ck hair and tan skin, with eyes that were deep, hypnotic violet.


    Thest had a valiant atmosphere and long wildly curly hair that was a fiery blend of gold and red and framed piercing golden eyes.


    They huddled together briefly, likely toe up with a game n, but they didn''t need long considering their familiarity with each other''s abilities.


    At the same time, Kain and the other first-years began to attack the "puppets."


    "Focus on damaging the brain. If you damage other body parts they will still be controlled to move by the spider. Destroying the brain is what will keep them down for good." Kain shared his knowledge of the mental-attribute that he''d collected over time working with Bea.


    The spider was of mental attribute, not controlling the undead, therefore destroying their minds was what they needed to do to defeat them, targeting other body parts was a waste of time.


    However, for the controlled guards, the best they could do was tie them up for now.


    Thankfully, even though the beast-tamers were controlled, their contracts weren''t.


    While some of their contracts mindlessly followed their beast-tamer''s directions to betray the humans, some of the smarter ones realized that their beast-tamer was being controlled and continued to help the humans to maintain order or even took the initiative to tie up their contractors so that they would not do something that they''d regretter once they were of sound mind.


    Following Kain''s instructions they all went about taking care of the puppets. Kain used Bea to restrict the strength of the orange and yellow-grade spiritual creatures.


    Unfortunately, she was unable to just kill them directly, but since she was at the threshold to break through to orange-grade, and could do so as soon as she evolves, she still exerted a strong control effect over orange-grade spiritual creatures.


    Many of the weaker ones immediately copsed while convulsing, while the stronger ones, and many of the yellow-grade spiritual creatures, appeared drunkenly unsteady on their feet.


    With their fighting strength reduced. Kain''s remaining Vespirae guards were easily able to dispatch all of the orange-grade spiritual creatures and ganged up on the remaining yellow-grade ones to hammer them to death alongside the others who saw the weakened yellow-grade spiritual creatures once Kain. Retracted the mist.


    At the same time the first years were following the pattern of a mist covering arge area to infect the attackers and then retracting the mist to st the weakened foes to death, the second years'' contracts had approached the most powerful target, the "puppet master" spider.


    Alexei''s main fighting force and strongest contract, the yellow-grade blood-red spider was still recovering from its severe injuries and so did not join in. Since orange-grade spiritual creatures would usually be useless against an enemy at this level, Alexei only had one more contract that he could use, his second strongest contract, a yellow-grade white albino snake with blood-red eyes.


    Suddenly through Kain''s connection with Bea, Kain could sense that many of the infected puppets closer to the white snake suddenly had their blood boiling. And then¡­


    BAM!


    All of the controlled spiritual creatures in the snake''s immediate vicinity exploded and rained down scorching hot blood. Hot blood that Kain could see was being absorbed by the snake through its scales. Kain could see it wiggling in pleasure at the hot bloody bath.


    The blood-boiling effect also seemed to exert a slight effect on the green-grade spider who was now staring daggers at the snake while its legs were shaking slightly in difort.


    Meanwhile, Jin also sent his two yellow-grade contracts to circle around its sides andunch attacks at the spider who was distracted.


    One contract was a fire-attribute tigerrger with a robust and muscr body, and a zing orange coat with stripes that seemed to flicker like mes as it moved. It had piercing eyes that were a bright yellow at the edges that darkened to a crimson red closer to the ck pupil.


    Its sharp ck ws also left scorching marks on the earth wherever it moved showing that just a casual swipe from it would have a devastating burning effect.


    The other wind-attribute tiger was more slim and graceful in its movements. Its fur was a soft, silvery-blue that shifted in hue as it caught the light, creating the illusion of constant movement. Its stripes were more delicate and wispy, like gusts of wind that blended seamlessly with the coat. Its clear, sky-blue eyes also appeared to have a high amount of intelligence as it studied its target.


    In practiced unison, both tigers struck at the same time, targeting one of the spider''s back legs to hinder its movements.


    The colossal spider then sank down with an enraged screech before sending even more threads out, the majority now targeting the second years and their contracts.

 Chapter 154: Chapter 154: The Puppet-Master (3)

    The pink haired senior suddenly emitted a soft pink glow, bing the sole focus of every living creature in the vicinity. Any slight gap in appearance between her and Serena had beenpletely erased as she became the most charming figure on the field.


    If Kain didn''t have an armor that dulled the effects of mental-attribute attacks on himself he''d probably bepletely enamored by her and, like Kairos, abandon his post to move closer.


    Kain quickly grabbed him and smacked the back of his head hoping to wake him up. Thankfully, the hold didn''t appear to be too strong when not the intended target of the skill and after blinking a few times Kairos'' eyes snapped back into focus.


    He rejoined their siege of the spiritual creatures who were now no longer targeting them but moving towards the pink-haired girl in the distance, making them much easier to kill. However, every so often Kairos would still turn his head to secretly nce at the pink-haired second-year and then blush a deep red.


    Thankfully, the others didn''t seem to be greatly affected by the skill used.


    Along with the puppets, the threads that were previously spread out trying to target everyone suddenly shifted to target only her.


    ''What is this? Some kind of agro skill or gift? Or based on Kairos'' reaction is it more directed at charming others?''


    The red-headed female second year tried to obstruct the threads, but again, all attacks seemed to go through them and all shields were ignored by them.


    Thankfully, the senior with hypnotic purple eyes released a flimsy looking purple shield that was surprisingly effective at restricting the threads. However, due to the gap in strength, the shield likely won''t hold for long.


    Kairos'', likely still under some emotional effects from the skill, passionately ordered his contract to use a skill from a page Kain had not yet seen before that slightly helped to reinforce the shield created by their senior. However, it is unlikely that it''dst long due to the gap in strength between the two sides.


    While the spider appeared to only have eyes for the pink-haired senior. Jin, Alexei, and the red-headed second-year had their contracts continue tounch coordinated attacks on the enemy.


    The red-headed senior''s contracts were both fire-attribute avian creatures. One resembled the Vermillion Bird of legends. It took to the sky appearing like a second sun as it soared above the spider. With amanding cry, it released a series of fireballs that rained down the spider''s back.


    Each fireball exploded with a burst of heat that scorched the spider''s exoskeleton and caused it to writhe and screech in pain. The lingering heat was so strong in its intensity that any wild spiritual creatures close to the spider went up in mes despite not being in the firebalss'' direct path.


    Her second contract, a Fire Crow with 3 legs and likely has a strong bloodline from the legendary bird, darted around swiftly. Its fiery crimson feathers were a blue as it flew and left zing trails of energy behind it.


    With each dive, it unleased strikes that Kain could feel the power behind even from a distance, and targeted the spider''s remaining vulnerable leg joints to cause the spider to be unable to stand again.


    Meanwhile, Jin''s two tigers were now targeting the more vulnerable underbelly of the spider. The orange-tiger left scorching w marks that continued to sizzle long after it had already darted far away from the copsing spider.


    The wind-attribute tiger, in contrast, was focusing on targeting the joints damaged by the crow. With each swift attack it made a sickening crack could be heard. Each attack was also apanied by a powerful gust of wind that further served to destabilize the spider. Without an incredibly powerful healer, that spider will never be able to stand again.


    Alexei''s snake further exacerbated the damage caused by its allies when the blood seeping from the spider''s wounds began to boil more strongly once exposed to the air and had an almost corrosive effect on the spider''s exoskeleton and nearby puppets as it slid down and sshed out of the wounds.


    And more incredibly, despite the immense amount of damage they were inflicting, the spider still seemed unable to focus on them, to preupied with trying to get its threads to control the pink-haired, glowing second-year.


    Kain didn''t know if she was immovable during the use of this gift, but it was undeniably a powerful strategic weapon when used properly. The target of the draw, even when at least a full level higher than her, waspletely unable to break away from being under her spell.


    Thankfully, it was unable to get to her due to one of the second years, the girl with purple eyes, staying constantly by her side while responsible for her defence.


    Kain could see from this that the top 5 second years probably had a lot of experience fighting alongside one another and the trust they''d built up as a team was huge as a result.


    ''Would we ever reach such a level of mutual trust and understanding? There are team battles in the National Competition, so naturally, it''d be beneficial. But we are all so wary of one another currently it''s hard to imagine ever bing like them.''


    As the battle raged on, thebined efforts of all of the second-years proved fruitful. Especially, since Kain and the other first-years were most able to fulfill their promise of preventing the other weaker spiritual creatures from interfering with their battle. Therefore, they were able to single-mindedly focus on their target.


    The spider''s form eventually began to shake, the coordinated assault taking its toll, and its movements became increasingly sluggish and erratic.


    Finally, with a heavy thud, the spider copsed to the ground. However, the second-years did not relieve their onught and continued to bash the fallen body to confirm its death.


    Kain also covered its head in mist to confirm its death, which also had the added benefit of providing a quick luxurious meal for her. After all, it''s not every day that she had ess to a fresh green-grade spiritual creature for food.


    They had won.

 Chapter 155: Chapter 155: “Field Evacuation Specialist�

    "Ahhh!"


    "Help me please!"


    ''Oh god! What is it now?!'' Kain didn''t mean to sound insensitive, but this entire day had consisted of crisis, after crisis, after crisis. He was emotionally drained. All the joy from receiving arge influx of GP each day hadpletely faded. The sun was still high up in the sky and he felt like he was going to copse at any moment.


    However, he quickly snapped out of it when it clicked that some of those screams sounded surprising young¡­childlike.


    "Shit!" He yelled turning to face into the city. He could see some of the guards abandoning their posts to run to the core of the city. But he couldn''t me them.


    During havoc caused by the green-grade spider taking over some of the guards, a many spiritual creatures had managed to sneak past the holes in their defence and were now attacking the regr civilians.


    Kain could see some plumes of smoke rising up from a nearby residential area and the asional explosion followed by screams.


    Kain sent 5 of his Vespirae guards, into the city with instructions to hunt as many of the invading spiritual creatures as possible, with extra priority being ced on the residential areas.


    However, after many of the guards had been taken out ofmission due to injuries, and some had abandoned their posts to protect the civilians, the defence at the wall was now stretched even more thin. Especially since, like Kain, many other guards and students remaining at the wall had still sent one of their contracts into the city to defend the civilians.


    ''God! When will this day end?!''


    ---------------------------------


    Contrary to Kain''s worries, Bridge''s assigned post was quite far away from danger. He had been given the important task of acting as a "Field Evacuation Specialist"¡­which is an important sounding title he had made up for himself since he was upset at not being ced in a position to actually battle the beast-tide.


    Instead, the professors had deemed him more suitable for the role of a paramedic. Lady is one of the fastest contracts that can also support arger human body as well as many spiritual creatures so that they can receive timely care.


    Additionally, Bridge had never skipped out on training either of his contracts and had received praise from several professors and training instructors for his diligence. This diligence has led to Princess having some of the most fine control over her ice-attribute energy.


    Therefore, over the past few days Princess has be more and more skilled at stopping bleeding using her ice-control to prevent excess bleeding for patients that can''t receive medical attention right away.


    In short, Bridge was never in any real danger over the past few days.


    That is until now.


    Currently, Lady was speeding towards him with an unconscious spiritual creature on its back that looked like a yellow lynx.


    And close behind them was a flying spiritual creature that looked like a hawk. At first, Bridge was thinking that it was a contracted spiritual creature of one of the guards. Perhaps it shares the same beast-tamer as the lynx and wanted to ensure it arrived safely to receive medical attention? Or maybe it was carrying an urgent message from the frontline?


    That''s what he thought until Lady narrowly dodged a lightning bolt sent from it while ensuring that the lynx remained bnced on her back.


    Bridge''s eyes widened. "What the hell?" He shouted as Lady swerved and ducked again, narrowly avoiding another bolt of lightning. He was assigned to the medical center in the northern edge of the city. It was the gate that had the second most casualties after the main gate, but it was the furthest distance from where the breach was at the southern gate.


    It was unlikely that it had managed to arrive from the southern gate already. Therefore it is more likely that like the breach at the southern gate and the main gate to the wild in the east, which Bridge didn''t currently know about, the northern gate was also experiencing some spiritual creatures breaking through the guards'' defense.


    Without hesitation, Bridge leaped into action. He directed Lady to a nearby alleyway to momentarily shield them from the hawk''s attacks. "We need to get this Lynx to safety, now!" Bridge ordered as he quickly assessed the unconscious creature. It had no visible wounds or bleeding on it, so he couldn''t determine the reason for its current unconscious state. It could be poisoning or even a concussion?


    "Lady, keep moving!"


    He directed Princess to target the joint of one of the hawk''s wings. Thankfully it was only at orange-grade and due to Princess only targeting a key joint in a small area, rather than trying to freeze the entire wing, she was able to sessfully send it crashing to the ground despite the level difference between them.


    Bridge was on the ground waiting to send a heavy blow to its head with his heavy two-handed sword.


    St


    After shaking off the gruesome mixture of blood and brains on his sword, he chased after Lady in the direction she''d headed off to in order to deliver the lynx to an actual medical professional.


    Bridge and Princess eventually arrived at a medical tent located at a safer distance from the chaos and was well-stocked with medical supplies. Shockingly, outside of the tent were 3 dead corpses that were not there when he''d left.


    Thankfully, Bridge could see that the lynx had already been safely transported to one of the avable beds.


    Just then, the medical tent''s head healer, an elderly woman with a calm demeanour, approached. "We''ll take over from here," she said firmly. "There have been more reports of wild spiritual creatures being seen in the city. You and your contracts need to focus on protecting this area."


    It seems that Bridge will finally realize his wish to be part of the action. Although, it wasn''t quite in the way he had imagined¡­

 Chapter 156: Chapter 156: The Girl Who Cried Wolf

    At the same time¡­


    12-year-old Patty''s family has run one of thergest spiritual nt farms within Dark Moon City for generations.


    They weren''t affiliated with the College and were responsible for providing the spiritual nts that the local restaurateur and bar owners used in their foods and beverages.


    She sat cross-legged on the worn wooden floor of her room, her fingers tracing the carvings she had scarred the floor with over the years. All of which looked like vague outlines of animals.


    Her room, with its simple furnishings and faded wallpaper, was decorated with posters of famous figures from the past College National Competitions and sketches of spiritual creatures next to a young girl that looked a lot like her¡ªa gray-eyed brte with freckles.


    Despite her room''s humble appearance, it was her sanctuary, a ce where her imagination could run wild, even if reality seemed far more restrained.


    Like most civilians, she was stuck locked away at home for her own safety since the beast-tide began. The only thing she had to look at being the sprawling fields of spiritual nts that her family had tended to for generations.


    When the wards surrounding the city had initially activated it had shut down all the residents'' ess to even receive radio and tv signals from elsewhere in the empire, so she really had nothing else to relieve her boredom with the past few days except for her imagination¡ª and wild it ran.


    Despite being from a long line of farmers, Patty knew from a young age that she wanted to be a powerful beast-tamer.


    However, given that beast-tamer affinities are usually hereditary and her family mostly consists of ordinary people, and the odd time someone in her family did awaken an affinity it didn''t change their trajectory in life much since they were usually of D-rank or lower, Patty''s dreams of bing a powerful beast-tamer thatpeted at the College National Competition felt as distant as the stars.


    Her parents, practical and rooted in reality, had made it clear from an early age that their family''s legacyy in cultivating spiritual nts, not in the wild pursuits of beast-taming.


    Therefore, the closest Patty could evere to her dreams, were the stories she''d make up. Stories starring her going on grand adventures alongside powerful spiritual beastpanions. However, she''d tell these stories to others as though they had actually happened.


    Put nicely, she was a genius storyteller, or at least that''s how she always referred to herself. Put not so nicely, she was a liar, which is how most of those around her referred to her as.


    Therefore, with her fantasies highly discouraged by her family, Patty had taken to putting her stories in drawings and text, rather than sharing them with those around her as much recently.


    Locked away in her room, Patty felt a sense of growing restlessness. The confinement was starting to wear on her nerves. She would often sit by the window, watching the fields and letting her imagination run wild. But today, as she gazed out at the familiar expanse, she noticed something rming.


    A portion of the field seemed to be...disappearing. It was a small patch at first, but as she squinted, the area seemed to expand, swallowing all the nts in its vicinity.


    Her heart raced. Patty rubbed her eyes, thinking it must be a trick of the light or perhaps the result of too much time spent indoors. But no matter how many times she blinked, the empty space remained, growingrger each second.


    "Mom?" Patty called hesitantly, her voice tinged with anxiety. When there was no immediate response, she got up and made her way downstairs, her mind racing with confusion and fear. She found her parents in the kitchen, where theforting aroma of hearty, homecooked food did little to ease her nerves.


    "Mom! Something strange is happening outside!" Patty''s voice was urgent, but her mom''s expression was one of immediate skepticism.


    Her mom, a no-nonsense woman in her mid-forties, had a steadfast demeanour suited for their line of work. Her brown hair, tied back in a practical bun, was streaked with gray, a testament to the hard years spent under the sun and amid the dirt of the fields. Her eyes, a steely gray, could pierce through any bullshit, and her voice had amanding quality that left little room for argument.


    "What are you going on about now, Patty?" Her mom asked, her voice edged with impatience. "Another one of your stories?"


    "This isn''t a story!" Patty insisted, her eyes wide. "I saw it with my own eyes. The nts¡ªthey''re disappearing! There''s a gap in the field that keeps getting bigger."


    Her mom''s eyes narrowed. "How would anyone even get into the field during a beast-tide? We have wards in ce, and there''s no way anything can get past them. Besides, we''re in the westernmost part of the city, far from the areas at the greatest risk of a breach."


    Patty''s shoulders sagged at her mother''s words and the fact that she wasn''t believed. However, it was hard to argue with her mother''s reasoning.


    The wards surrounding the field would immediately alert them if something entered the fields. It''d need to be a spiritual creature at yellow-grade or higher to get through undetected. And why would a creature at that level visit their farm? While they grew spiritual nts, most of them were orange-grade and lower, nothing rare or strong enough to draw it in.


    Perhaps it was just her mind ying tricks on her due to boredom. Exhausted and disheartened, Patty nodded and turned away, heading back to her room.


    The quiet of her room was a stark contrast to the turmoil she felt inside. Shey down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts a tangled mess. Had she really seen what she thought she had? Or was it simply a figment of her over-active imagination born from too much time alone?


    Patty''s eyelids grew heavy as fatigue set in. She''d had to receive a tongueshing from her mother for over an hour for daring to spin more "lies." She could really use a nap.


    She closed her eyes, trying to push away the unease that clung to her. But if she had looked out her bedroom window one more time, she would have seen a more disturbing sight: the once green and vibrant fields now only consisted of acres of churned mud.

 Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Beast-Tide Ends

    Bzzzzz


    Just before the sun was beginning to set, and Kain was on the verge of copse, the sigils in the city had finally been restored and the translucent barrier surrounding the city flickered into being again.


    At the same time, all of the spiritual creatures crazily attacking the city, seemed to have received some kind of signal undetectable to Kain and started to retreat. Unfortunately, neither of the attacking indigo-grade spiritual creatures were sessfully killed by the city guardmander or Professor Night.


    However, there were also no losses among Dark Moon City''s high-levelbatants, those 7-stars and above.


    Everyone became busy once again, but for a much more happy reason¡ªcollecting their rewards. Students and guards flocked outside of the walls and pushed their tired bodies to the limit to collect as many of the dead bodies they were responsible for producing as possible.


    Thankfully, due to mental strength increasing with cultivation, for the most part they all remembered which corpses their contracts were responsible for producing. At least as long as the bodies were in tact enough to be identified.


    Kain hurriedly extracted only the most valuable materials from the orange-grade spiritual creatures he''d killed on his own and coordinated with the Kairos and Soren of desired parts over their shared yellow-grade kills. For the yellow-grade cat they''d killed as a group, they decided the picking order using the old-fashioned way¡ªa game of minotaur, golem, phoenix.


    Based on the rankings after the intense "battle," Kain was the third to choose after Kairos and Serena.


    ''Why is he so damn good at this game?'' Kain had never won against Kairos at the game, nor had he ever seen him lose to any others. Now that he thought about it¡­ he was also the one to always suggest deciding the selection using a game of minotaur, golem, phoenix!


    Putting his suspicions aside for now, Kain looked at what remained. Its spiritual orb and a transparent crystal located where its heart should be had already been selected. Kain wasn''t confident that anything else left was particrly valuable, but he still selected its eyes.


    Since its an undead cat spirit, and on Earth cat''s were often rumoured to be able to see strange things like ghosts, he was hoping that they would be surprisingly high in value.


    Eventually the red translucent barrier surrounding the city turned into a soft blue and became practically invisible.


    It had switched back from its active state that uses a lot more energy and will kill powerful wild creatures trying to enter the city and reflect any attacks made at the city, to its regr defensive state that uses less energy and allows the entry of things like sound transmissions to receive radio and tv broadcasts.


    After cleaning up the battlefield and receiving a very luxurious dinner to celebrate getting through their first beast-tide, where they also took the opportunity to say goodbye to some of the guards they''d befriended over the past few days.


    "Students, gather your attention." Called out Professor Night. "The beast-tide has ended, and the immediate threat to the city has been neutralized. I would like to acknowledge the role you all yed in this effort.


    "Your performance during this crisis has been noted and you will be sufficiently rewarded once we return to the school. We understand that this was not a trivial task. The danger was real, and the stakes were high. Your actions helped prevent further disaster and safeguarded lives.


    "However as students at one of the most prestigious colleges in the empire you are expected to be the first-line of defense for the civilians and eveny down your lives when necessary. Thankfully, there are no cowards among you and your actions did not shame Dark Moon College.


    "Consider this an acknowledgment of your duty fulfilled. Remember the lessons learned here. They will be vital for future challenges. That is all."


    Everyone hesitantly pped at the rather lukewarm speech delivered by Professor Night. However, considering her usual personality none of them were really expecting an overly emotional send off.


    When dinner was over, the students did not continue back to the temporary living quarters and instead headed back to their much morefortable dorms.


    Kain took the opportunity on the journey back to call Bridge, but he did not pick up or reply to any texts. This only fuelled the anxious thoughts that Kain had been trying to push aside for the past day. He jogged forward to where Professor Night was at the front, leading the students back to campus and couldn''t help but ask.


    "Excuse me Professor Night. By any chance would you be able to tell me if there were any casualties among the students? My brother was assigned to a different post than me and I''d like to know if he''s okay."


    Her expression, initially cold due to being disturbed, softened slightly after hearing that he was asking due to a sibling.


    "Although I am not aware of the status of every single student that partook in the battle, I can tell you that there were no casualties among the beast-tamers and that only two students, both first-years, had lost a contract. After all, none of the other locations were as dangerous as the main gate you all were assigned to.


    The events at the southern gate werepletely unexpected, but the timely reinforcement of the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and Department Deans prevented many casualties."


    Kain breathed a sigh of relief. Although there was a chance that Bridge was one of the students who lost their contract, which would be devastating, actually losing his best friend and brother would be 1000 times worse.


    As soon as Kain returned to his room he had a much-needed hot shower. After leaving the steaming bathroom the first thing he did was to check for a reply from Bridge. Unfortunately nothing.


    However, he did receive replies from everyone else in their usual team of 7 ¨CAddison, Aiden, Elias, Finn, and Leonara¡ªconfirming that they were safe and that nobody was badly injured.


    Kain asked them if they had been stationed nearby any of them. But unfortunately only received negative replies. Although Aiden did share that he believed that Bridge was actually never assigned to guard the wall, and was instead responsible for transporting injured individuals from the wall to the medical tents.


    Kain''s heart that was in his throat came back down, if that was true then Bridge was likely perfectly fine. He was probably never in any danger to begin with.


    He also opened another notification that arrived on his phone in nervous anticipation. The assessment of his performance and the amount of school credits that he''d received.

 Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Performance Review

    The evaluation of Kain''s performance during the recent beast tide was surprisingly thorough considering he hadn''t felt as though he was being examined the entire time.


    The assessment contained notes from nearby professors and high-ranking guards, they meticulously reviewed the actions of every student and guard involved in the crisis.


    Kain''s contributions were highlighted in detail and were fortunately mostlymendatory, reflecting his resilience and ability to work well in a team.


    Some of thements provided by the professors and guard captains were as follows:


    "Kain''s performance was marked by his effective management of the defensive line, particrly in the absence of critical reinforcements. His use of a poisonous fog to control and weaken the enemy forces proved crucial in stabilizing the frontline. Such control abilities will be useful in future endeavours representing the school.


    Further investment from the college into strengthening his abilities will not be wasted."


    "As a guard, Imend his ability to maintainposure and drive under duress, which yed a significant role in preventing breaches and minimizing civilian casualties."


    "As a leader myself, Imend his burgeoning leadership qualities, especially his efforts in rallying and encouraging his fellow first-years during the most desperate moments. His quick adaptation to the shifting battlefield dynamics, including the sessful coordination with second-year students to address the green-grade spider threat, was exemry."


    The average grade they gave Kain was an overall evaluation of 92 out of 100.


    Kain was pleased with thergely positive feedback, however¡­ ''Why 92? None of them even mentioned any critiques. Are they all just like one of those annoying teachers who don''t believe in handing out grades of 100 because nobody is perfect?!''


    Regardless of his gripes, he was happy with therge reward. 2000 credits were worth dozens of normal missions, and even several challenging ck Missions. He now had more than enough to get Bea''s evolutionary materials. Not to mention that it didn''t even include all of the credits he could obtain from exchanging the materials he''d collect tomorrow.


    Adding the credits rewarded from his previous ck Mission, smaller group and solo missions he''d taken up since then, and materials he''d exchanged from said missions, Kain now had over 3000 credits.


    ''I''ve never felt so rich!'' Kain thought with moved tears in his eyes.


    Looking at the System Kain was also pleasantly surprised by how much GP he''d managed to raise after 3 days of mass killings. He currently had 13 550 GP. Well over the 10 000 GP, he needed to upgrade the System.


    Although it was a little short of what he needed to exchange for the B-level spiritual skill tome (800 GP), Wheel of Fortune ticket forb equipment (2000 GP), and the Enhancement Elixir (1500 GP) after upgrading, he could still buy anybination of two of them.


    He chose to make the purchase now since thest System upgradested 2 days and he wasn''t sure how long this one would be. What if the System Shop had already refreshed by the time he had ess again?


    After thinking only for a short while he decided to exchange for the skill tome and Wheel of Fortune ticket.


    He eliminated the Enhancement Elixir for two reasons:


    Firstly, unlike the skill tome that would be a permanent boost to his skills and help him in the re-ranking, the elixir was a one-time use item that Kain wouldn''t even be able to use during the re-ranking due to elixirs being banned.


    Secondly, the enhancement elixir is a huge boost to Kain''s spiritual power and physical abilities, but since he hasn''t awoken any powerful gift yet, nor does he have any particrly powerful offensive spiritual skills, most of Kain''sbat strength relies on his contracts. In fact, Kain''s main usage of spiritual power is in driving the Bea mist.


    Even if his spiritual power is boosted, it likely wouldn''t have a huge impact on hisbat abilities.


    After making the exchange for both items, Kain didn''t immediately use the Wheel of Fortune ticket in case this upgrade also rewards him withb equipment for free.


    He''d be pissed if he spent 2000 GP on a ticket and won a piece ofb equipment that would have been rewarded for free in the upgrade. At least after the upgrade, hopefully any redundant items will be removed as options from the wheel.


    *Ding. Sensing the Host''s intention to consume 10 000 GP to upgrade the system. In order toplete the upgrade, the System will be unavable for 7 days. Do you still wish to proceed?*


    ''Proceed''


    Afterpleting all he''d wanted for the night, Kain closed his eyes and went to sleep. He would have another influx of ie after exchanging his materials for school credits and Celestial Dors in the next few days. Then he could put some of his long-awaited ns into motion.


    -----------------------------


    The next day¡­


    Kain went to the Exchange Hall and sold many of the materials he collected from orange-grade and yellow-grade spiritual creatures. The total ie was an astonishing additional 5000 credits. And that''s without exchanging some of the materials, like the colourless crystal from the Whisper Wisp that he had killed with Kairos, that he hadn''t yet identified.


    Or exchanging items like the Sanguine Purity Crystal that he could seeing into use in the future. He also retained many materials from orange-grade spiritual creatures that he nned to exchange for actual money. After all, it costs a lot of money in order to start a business.


    With over 7000 credits to spend, Kain immediately exchanged a little more than 1000 for Bea''s evolutionary materials. He also found in the item inventory of the Exchange hall a sparkling white crystal that, ording to the description, was obtained from the Green-grade mental-attribute spider that the second-years killed. The one that had Kain envious of its abilities.


    ording to the description, this crystal was the source of those mental threads that allowed it to turn hundreds of spiritual creatures and guards into puppets instantly.


    It cost 2000 credits, a steep jump in pricepared to the other materials considering that it was sourced from a more powerful creature.


    It could also serve as an evolutionary material for Bea, one even more powerful than his current n. Unfortunately with the System out ofmission, he couldn''t run a Simtion.


    However, given his excess of school credits he still chose to be safe rather than sorryter. If he waited until the System upgrade waspleted to make the exchange and it was already gone, he''d regret it deeply. Not to mention, if the material didn''t result in a good evolution, he could still return it back to the school for credits.


    He probably won''t get a full refund, only around 70-80% back, but it was still better to secure the item from now.


    Kain then went to the spiritual nt section of the inventory and purchased a multitude of orange-grade spiritual nts and seeds. He was going to put his previous ns of growing his own spiritual nt field into action.


    Finally, Kain went to a section containing an item that he''d long wanted to buy but had been unable to afford. Not to mention that he''d only know how to buy this item from the school, seeing as how he''d never seen it for purchase elsewhere. There were probably channels, but he didn''t have them. Not to mention that the quality of this iteming from the school would be guaranteed.

 Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Farming

    Kain didn''t actually start nting any of the spiritual nts because they''d bepletely vulnerable to being damaged or taken away by any passing human or spiritual creatures.


    What Kain needed for his future base of operations were wards.


    Unfortunately, the cheapest wards that the college had to offer with no defensive abilities and only served as an rm notification of invasion for Kain, was 1000 credits. Not to mention that it would be easily bypassed by any orange-grade spiritual creature or 3-star beast-tamer.


    Now with 5360 credits to use, Kain could purchase a much more powerful ward to protect his nts.


    He filtered the wards to limit them to ones that would be effective against yellow-grade spiritual creatures.


    There were wards that repelled all unauthorized entrants and all attacks unless granted permission. Others also had an auto-repair function that could regenerate the ward''s energy and the spiritual power contained within it given enough time. Some also had unique effects such as rebounding a certain percentage of physical and energy attack damage to the ward.


    Then there were the wards that didn''t have such a strong effect on preventing entry but were more effective at harming invaders once they entered.


    These types often also had elemental attribute effects. For example, the Inferno Ward that inflicts continuous fire damage on creatures attempting to breach the ward and the fire damage increases with time.


    Or the Frostguard Ward which applies a chilling effect that drastically reduces the speed and attack power of invaders while also causing frostbite effects.


    Then there were wards that didn''t prevent entry or cause much harm to invaders such as illusionary wards that create aplex array of illusions that mislead and confuse invaders. This makes navigation through the ward difficult. Or wards aimed at impeding or even eliminating all of the senses of invaders.


    Given that the purpose of the ward Kain wanted was to prevent the damage and theft of his spiritual creatures, he figured that the best ward for him would be one that prevented entrants to begin with. After all, even if an invader received continuous damage after entering, they could still persist in trying to damage or steal his spiritual nts.


    Therefore, Kain limited his options to the Sentinel Barrier and the Ethereal Ward, which cost 5000 and 5300 credits each.


    The Sentinel Barrier provides a strong energy barrier that prevents unauthorized entry, and repels physical and energy-based attacks. It also has an auto-repair function that regenerates the ward''s integrity over time. Additionally, it reflects 10% of physical and energy damage back to the attacker.


    The Ethereal Ward was a barrier that incorporated a small amount of specific spiritual materials that needed to be replenished every 6 months to run. It can prevent the entry of yellow-grade spiritual creatures. It is also able to distort and deflect spiritual and physical attacks back to the source at full strength.


    In the event of an invasion by a green-grade spiritual creature, or a 5-star beast-tamer, it can cause an all-round reduction of abilities by around 30%.


    The Ethereal Ward''s abilities are stronger and can even help Kain with dealing with invaders he''d be helpless against otherwise. Although even with a 30% reduction in strength he wouldn''t be able to kill a Green-grade spiritual creature yet, but he may be able to escape with his life if ambushed by a creature like the cial Leviathan while alone.


    However, he wasn''t hesitant about the cost of the materials he would need to supply it with each month. After all, if he couldn''t afford to activate it, then it would be no different from having no wards in ce.


    Therefore, he went to speak with one of the employees present. Likely due to the sudden influx of students wanting to exchange their materials from the beast-tide and purchase new items to strengthen themselves, there were many more employees present than usual.


    However, even then it took Kain quite a while to g someone down and get a more detailed list of the spiritual materials needed to keep the Ethereal Ward activated and their cost.


    If Kain purchased it from the school, it would cost around 300 credits every 6 months. However, if he were to try and purchase them outside of the school the cost in CD would be much higher. And if he tried to gather them all on his own it may take him the full 6 months, whilepromising his training and cultivation time.


    Weighing the pros and cons, Kain figured that an expenditure of 600 credits every year to have some protection against Green-grade spiritual creatures and 5-star beast-tamers was worth it. And made the exchange. Thankfully the first set of spiritual materials was included with the purchase, because after buying the Ethereal Ward, Kain was once again destitute.


    He headed back to hisrge plot ofnd. He''d already had someone remove all of the weeds overgrown on it and turn over the soil.


    Kain also took some of the body parts without any value that he''d collected during the beast tide and used them as a fertilizer to ensure that the soil had enough spiritual power. After all, the field had only been used to grow ordinary weeds for years, there were was definitely not enough spiritual power to grow orange-grade spiritual nts as Kain nned.


    After following the rtively straightforward instructions to establish the ward, Kain began to transnt the delicate juvenile spiritual nts to the field.


    He also handed the many seeds he''d collected to the released Vespirae Guards who nted them as instructed by Queen.


    Whether it was an innate ability of the Vespirae species, or due to her symbiotic rtionship with Eve, Queen was extremely sensitive to the growth conditions and health of spiritual nts. Having her responsible for seeding the field was a lot more reliable that Kain.


    On top of that, after reaching orange-grade, the potency of the life-attribute energy Eve released into the ground was greatly improved. In less than an hour, every inch of the massive field had been influenced by Eve and many of the seeds majority of the had already begun to sprout.


    The different species of spiritual nts had different growth rates. Normally it may take several months or even years for a spiritual nt to reach maturity. But with the help of Eve, Kain may see his first fully mature spiritual nt among the juvenile nts in less than a week, and among the seeds in around 3 months.

 Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Brewing Doubts

    Kain walked through the Dark Moon City towards the bar the Golden Barrel. However, he noted that the once-vibrant street, was now a shadow of its former self.


    The block, which had been a bustling hub of activity, was now eerily quiet, except for the asional distant murmur of repair work.


    The damage from the recent beast-tide was apparent everywhere. Scorched marks and charred debris were all over the pavement and what remained of the building, serving as frightening reminders of the creatures that had breached the city''s walls.


    The previously sturdy and weing building that had a kind of old Ennd charm, were now battered and bruised by the brutal assault. The walls had deep gashes and cracks, with some structures partially copsed.


    The pub, a main attraction on the street, had fared no better. Its wooden exterior was ckened and splintered, the once-proud sign now hanging crookedly, barely clinging to the roof.


    Inside, the damage was even more striking. The heavy wooden door was now splintered and hanging off its hinges. Broken furniturey scattered around, and the bar itself was scarred with deep burn marks, the polished surface mangled beyond recognition.


    The walls that once proudly disyed newspaper clippings and rewards for the pub''s beer were now empty, some of them had even copsed under the weight of falling debris.


    Barret, the one-man owner, brewer and bartender of the Golden Barrel, stood amidst the wreckage. His usually proud and imposing figure was now slumped vulnerably. He looked to have aged a decade overnight. His bushy beard and sharp eyes, usually so full of life, now seemed heavy with tiredness.


    He gazed over the ruin of his business with a deep sadness that spoke volumes. The once-lively atmosphere of his pub was reced by a grim silence, broken only by the asional hiss of steam from cooling rubble or the distant tter of the ongoing repair work.


    Kain approached him carefully, "Barret," he said softly, "I''m not sure if you remember me, but I''m Kain. I was one of you customers a few weeks ago."


    Barret''s blurry eyes momentarily focused on Kain''s face. "I remember. I remember all of my customers. You''re the boy that kept ttering me¡­"


    ''That''s what you remember? Couldn''t you remember me as the handsome customer or something more ttering?''


    Shaking the slightly narcissistic thoughts from his head, Kain ced a reassuring hand on the bartender''s shoulder. "I''m sorry to see the ce like this. It must be devastating."


    "It''s more than I ever imagined," he replied, his voice heavy. "The beasts caused a lot of damage, but we might have been able to recover from that. The real blow came after."


    Kain raised an eyebrow, confusion evident on his face. "What do you mean?"


    "The spiritual nts," Barret exined, his gaze dropping to the ground as if the weight of his words was too much to bear. "Everyst one of them in the city vanished overnight. The red-grade spiritual nt we use for brewing, themon Brewer''s Barley¡ªit''s gone. Without it, I can''t make any more beer. Even if we fix up the bar, there''s no telling when or if I''ll be able to brew again."


    Kain''s eyebrows raised in surprise. "I had no idea! Any clues on what cause it?"


    ''I guess it''s a good thing that I waited so long to nt my own field of spiritual nts otherwise I may have been picked clean too if the perpetrator was green-grade or higher.''


    Barret shook his head, his shoulders sagging slightly. "We only suspect that it was a wild yellow-grade spiritual creature that entered while the city''s wards were down. Not just my bar. The whole city is affected. The spiritual nts were used to supply every food and beverage industry in this city, and now that they''re gone, none of us business owners have a clue what to do.


    We''re working on getting things back to normal, but it''ll be a long time before we''re fully operational again."


    Kain offered a sympathetic smile. "I''m sure you''ll ovee this. You''ve always put your heart into what you do. Once the city recovers, I''m sure you''ll be back on your feet in no time."


    Barret managed a small, appreciative smile. "Thank you. I hope so. For now, I guess it''s just a matter of patience and rebuilding, both for the city and for my pub."


    Kain went silent for a moment. Barret was very emotionally sensitive right now, and he worried if it''d be insensitive to bring up the topic now. However, there was a small cruel part of him that felt like now that Barret no longer had the bar to focus on, it increased Kain''s chances at seeding in bringing him into his own business.


    "By any chance do have any beer left for your personal use? I was one of the defenders on the city wall so I was really looking forward to getting a drink here to unwind."


    Barret perked up slightly at the prospect of being able to fall back into his familiar routine as a bartender.


    "I do have some used for personal consumption back at my home. I usually only serve it to friends and family, but considering that you are one of our city''s heroes I''d be honoured to serve you a drink."


    Barret led Kain through the winding streets of the residential area, past homes that thankfully appeared untouched by the recent chaos.


    After a short walk, they arrived at a modest, yet well-kept home that exuded a sense of warmth and stability.


    As they entered, Kain was greeted by theforting aroma of wood smoke and simmering herbs, a wee change from the charred smells around the bar''s ruins.


    The interior of Barret''s home was cozy, with wooden beams and stone walls that gave it a rustic charm. Arge hearth was on one side of the living area, where a fire crackled softly, casting a warm glow over the room.


    Barret led Kain to a door at the back of the house, which opened into a small, private bar. The room was a miniature version of the Golden Barrel, meticulously designed to mimic the ambiance of his pub, but also had some more hominess.


    Simrly, a polished wooden bar stretched across one side of the room. The decor was a blend of nostalgia and personal pride¡ªframed photographs of past gatherings, old brewing awards, and handcrafted mugs adorned the space.


    Barret moved behind the bar, his demeanor shifting from despondent to the familiar confidence of a host. "This is where I keep some of my personal stock," he said, selecting a slightly smaller barrel than was at the pubs from a shelf behind the counter. "It''s not as extensive in selection as what we had at the pub, but it''s the best I have left."


    Kain settled onto one of the high stools, feeling a sense offort in the familiar setting. Barret poured a cold dark amber beer into a ss, the rich white froth rising to the top.


    Barret slid the ss across the bar. "Here you go. It''s a special blend I''ve been working on for years. Still haven''t introduced it to the bar yet though since I feel something is missing. But I can assure you that it still tastes excellent."


    Kain took a sip, savoring theplex vors¡ªthe maltiness with hints of caramel, and a subtle spiciness that danced on his pte. It was even better than the beer he''d had previously "This is excellent," Kain said, setting the ss down with appreciation. "You''ve really outdone yourself. Are you sure you''re not just being to picky?"


    Barret''s eyes lit up with a glimmer of pride. "Thank you. It''s always good to hear that. Everyone that''s tried it has also always said the same, but I''m still sticking with my gut on this one¡ªit can get better. I know it can"


    Kain took a moment, letting the silence settle between them. Theforting atmosphere of the personal bar seemed to create the perfect backdrop for the conversation he was about to start. He leaned forward slightly, choosing his words carefully. "Barret, I''ve been thinking.


    With your pub currently out ofmission and the city in a difficult spot, maybe now might be a good time for you to explore new opportunities."

 Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Brewing Doubts

    Barret''s brows furrowed, a hint of curiosity mixing with caution. "What do you mean?"


    Kain took a deep breath, weighing his options. "Well, with my connections through the school I should be able to procure the barley you need from fields outside of the city.


    I also have my own spiritual fields, and the Brewer''s Barley was one of the ones I''d nted, although I''ll need to greatly scale up production if we were to consider selling." Kain was thankful that when he saw the Brewer''s Barley seeds avable for cheap that he''d purchased them in preparation of this very moment.


    "I''m sorry? Selling? Aren''t you a student? You want to help me reopen my bar?" Barret asked puzzledly. Somehow the kid he''d invited over offhandedly to thank him for his service was now trying to enter business talks with him. But he also felt hope that he''d be able to reopen for business sooner.


    "Ahem! Not a bar" Kain rified awkwardly. "I''m interested in starting a venture that''s looking to ship bottled spiritual beers across the empire. With your expertise and reputation, I think there''s potential for us to coborate."


    Barret''s face darkened as he absorbed Kain''s proposal. The initial glimmer of hope in his eyes quickly faded, reced by a guarded skepticism. His shoulders stiffened, and his posture became defensive. "Are you trying to scam me?" he demanded, his voice rising. "How can a student from a top collegee in here and suggest that we ship spiritual beer across the empire?


    Everyone knows spiritual beer loses its potency in just a few days once the barrel for fermentation is opened. How could you possibly keep it viable for such long distances? Are you mocking my situation?" Once a spiritual beverage or elixir is made and ced in its initial container, barrels for beer and ss vials for elixirs, it begins to lose its effectiveness.


    The shelf-life lowers drastically once that container is opened. The shelf-life of elixirs once opened can be weeks due to the stronger ingredients used and the fact that many vials they are added to have preservation properties. If the vial is kept sealed, many elixirs canst for years or decades.


    But once the beer barrel is opened to distribute the beer into bottles, the spiritual beer will begin to go bad in a few days. Especially since nobody would waste expensive preservation bottles used for elixirs on beer. That''s why most mass-produced foods and beverages were just ordinary items without spiritual nts and materials from spiritual creatures used as ingredients.


    Kain''s heart sank at the immediate shift in Barret''s demeanor. He had anticipated some resistance but not this level of hostility since Barret had previously always appeared soid-back and happy.


    He quickly assessed the situation and realized he needed to address Barret''s concerns head-on. "I assure you, I''m not trying to scam you," Kain said earnestly. "I understand your doubts. The spiritual beer''s short shelf life is a valid concern. But I have a solution that could preserve the quality for months."


    Barret''s eyes narrowed, his anger tinged with suspicion. "You''re telling me that you, a student, have a way to keep spiritual beer fresh for that long? You must be joking. Centuries of people much more powerful and intelligent than a con artists like you haven''t even been able to figure it out."


    ''Ouch¡­''


    "Not to mention the logistics alone would be impossible. The empire is so huge, and it can take weeks to transport goods from one end to another. How exactly, are you nning to get this done?"


    ''True the logistics is something I''d need to work out. But once I can prove that I have the ability to improve the shelf-life, I should be able to hire workers and even a logistics manager. As an investor and the source of the extended preservation method I shouldn''t have to do everything myself."


    Kain took a deep breath, determined to prove his sincerity. "I understand your skepticism. To show you that I''m serious, I''d like to test something first. Do you have any unfermented beer left? If you do, I can demonstrate how my method works."


    Barret''s expression hardened, but he motioned to a corner where a single barrel sat, still filled with thest batch of unfermented beer he had. "I have some left, but I''m not sure I want to risk it. This is myst batch."


    Kain''s eyes gleamed with hope. "Please, just trust me on this. If I ruin it, I''llpensate you ten times its value. I only want a chance to show you what I can do."


    Barret hesitated, his gaze shifting between Kain and the precious barrel. Finally, he nodded, though reluctantly. "Alright, but if you ruin it, you''ll pay dearly." At least is Kain fails he''d receive a lot of money in return. Considering he''s unable to open his bar for now he needs money more than he needs this barrel.


    Kain carefully approached the barrel, pulling a small vial from his pocket. Inside were gold pellets¡ªAetherbrew Yeast. He could see Barret''s face looking suspiciously at the vial''s unknown contents. His family had worked as brewers for generations and he had never seen anything like what Kain had just pulled out.


    Kain poured the yeast into the barrel and sealed it. "It''ll need about 1 week to finish fermenting," Kain exined. "I''lle back then to show you the results."


    Barret watched, his expression a mixture of hope and skepticism as Kain prepared to leave. "Fine," he said gruffly. "I''ll be waiting. I hope for your sake you can back up your ims."


    "I can." Kain nodded with determination. "I''ll see you in a week. Thank you for giving me this chance."


    As Kain departed, Barret''s initial skepticism remained, but a glimmer of hope flickered in the back of his mind after seeing Kain''s confidence. But he knew he needed to see tangible results before he could fully trust Kain''s ims. As the young man walked away, Barret prepared himself for the wait, hoping that the bold ims were not just empty promises.

 Chapter 162: Chapter 162: System Upgrade

    Kain spent the next week catching up with Bridge and the others and sharing their respective experiences. By far he received the highest amount of credits, but then again he was also at a much more dangerous location.


    Students were once again allowed to take on missions that required them to leave the city since the wild spiritual creatures were no longer so aggressive. They should have enough to eat for a while considering the drastic reduction in their poptions and that they''d essentially cleared out all of the spiritual nts within the city that were not on the college campus.


    In fact, many of the ordinary nts civilians had grown for food had also been taken away.


    Instead, now it was the civilians of Dark Moon City that had a food shortage issue. It''d take a long while before all of the nts in the city could be regrown and until then many civilians were relying on the meat of ordinary animals raised locally, which were thankfully left untouched during the beast-tide.


    Unfortunately, the amount of ordinary livestock raised locally was hardly enough to support a whole city switching to a carnivorous diet, especially since most middle-ss and above civilians had previously chosen to eat the meat of spiritual creatures brought back from hunters.


    However, since the wild spiritual beast poption had momentarily declined, they were now unable to even hunt as much as they could previously.


    In response, the college had been opening its doors and allowing the public to purchase a limited amount of ingredients from their stocks with the amount allowed for purchase being determined by the number of individuals on the family register.


    However, this is not a long-term solution. Kain could sense that even the college was feeling the strain and that the quality of food in their dorms had begun to decline.


    During this past week, Kain had also had some of the orange-grade juvenile nts he''d obtained reach full maturity and Queen and her guards had enthusiastically gotten to making honey of a higher quality.


    And today Kain finally received the long-awaited notification that the System update had beenpleted.


    With anticipation, Kain entered the house, which was really a shack, that existed on the property he had purchased.


    It was still old and shabby-looking but Kain had added some furniture and d¨¦cor to make it a little morefortable to rest in while Eve, Queen and the guards were busy taking care of the garden and making honey.


    ''Once I have some more money saved up I should consider tearing this house down and making a nicer one¡­''


    The instant Kain opened the System window he immediately noticed the difference.


    Previously on the main screen there were only options to look at the profiles and stats of himself and his contracts, the System Shop, the Laboratory, the Mission Board, and the Celestialarium¡ªwhich he had still been making sure to enter to cultivate every day since it increased his efficiency by 2.5x after thest upgrade.


    However, now on the home screen there was an additional icon for a Training Arena. Kain selected that icon and suddenly appeared in what looked like an extremelyrge and empty room.


    He couldn''t see anything noteworthy.


    "Sigh¡­ System please exin to me the functions of the Training Arena."


    *Of course, Host*


    *The Training Arena has two different functions*


    *The first function is the Battlefield. The Host can simte arge range of environmental conditions and generate spiritual creatures as enemies to practice against. The condition being that the Host must have seen the proposed enemy in person.*


    Two boxes appeared one with different environments such as in a northern icefield, the middle of the ocean, inside an active volcano, and more.


    The other box had an extensive list of every spiritual creature Kain had evere into contact with. Including many of his ssmates'' contracts.


    ''This will be extremely useful when preparing for the re-ranking.'' Kain thought, now filled with a lot more confidence at his chances of securing first ce.


    ''You said 2 functions, what''s the other?''


    *The second function is the Skill Optimizer.*


    *You can select a contracted spiritual creature and its skill. A specialized training n will be developed in order to increase your contract''s proficiency in that skill. Once the proficiency increases to a high enough level it may be upgraded to a higher level skill or two skills that your contract has Mastery over may bebined to create a new skill.*


    "Not bad¡­ let''s give it a try now" Considering that Eve and the Vespirae were all currently busy in the spiritual nt fields, Kain decided to have Bea try the Skill Optimizer on her Brain Infection skill.


    This skill was currently Bea''s main source of offensive power. If it can be improved it may increase her killing speed or maybe even increase the level of the spiritual creatures she can sessfully kill.


    Additionally, although he does n to have Bea evolve soon and her set of skills will likely change, skill proficiency doesn''t just disappear into thin air. The skills derived from Brain Infection after evolution may end up being at a higher level and she''d have better proficiency over the new skills from the beginning.


    However, once Kain made his selection, his heart couldn''t help but skip a beat. For the first time since binding Bea, he had lost all contact with her and waspletely unable to sense her. He knew rationally that this was likely due to the System, but this was an extremely disconcerting feeling.


    *Do not worry Host. The Brain-Eating Amoeba has been transferred to a training field most suitable for the training of the selected skill. If the Host at any point is in danger, he can withdraw her from the Training Arena instantly.*


    After receiving that reassurance, his racing heart calmed down. Although, he probably won''t bepletely relieved until contact with her is re-established, but he restrained his impulse to withdraw her immediately and let her continue training.


    "What are some of the other changes following this System upgrade?"

 Chapter 163: Chapter 163: System Upgrade (2)

    *The increase in cultivation proficiency for the Celestialarium has now increased to 2.8x after this system upgrade.*


    *Additionally, the Host will find some changes within his Laboratory.*


    With excitement Kain went to the Laboratory as directed. Compared to other areas of the System, the Laboratory is the one he feels has the most untapped potential.


    The second he entered, he immediately spotted a new addition, a white futuristic-looking robot that looked vaguely familiar, within its hand was a bronze coloured ticket.


    "And this is...?"


    *Every researcher needs aboratory assistant. It''s form ispletely up to you and can take the shape of anything that you wish. It''s current form was extracted from a cartoon in your memories¡­Wall-E, was it?*


    ''Ah! Now I remember where I''ve seen it!'' Kain looked at the robot that greatly resembled the white robot in the kids movie he loved. ''Now that I think about it, that robot in the movie also has the same name as my second contract¡­''


    "So what can this assistant do?"


    *Yourb assistant will be responsible forpiling all research ideas and results that you have made. Additionally, it can help you to analyze the probability of a certain evolution seeding before using GP to run a simtion. However, to determine the probability it would need a lot of urate data to begin with, therefore its predictions may not be so urate at the start.*


    "Well something is better than nothing. Especially considering that you don''t refund me for failed evolutions. What''s the orange thing its holding?"


    *That is a one-time exchange voucher at the Lab Equipment Store. The Host can exchange one piece of Bronze equipment with the current voucher.*


    "Bronze? What level is that? Low or High?"


    *Bronze is currently the lowest level ofb equipment.*


    Kain was a little disappointed that it was at the lowest level, but maybe the Bronzeb equipment was very powerful?


    "What level would the Simtor be considered?"


    *The Simtor is considered to be Silver levelb equipment*


    ''So it''ll be worse than the Simtor¡­but that doesn''t mean it''ll be bad!'' Kain chose to maintain an optimistic outlook.


    *Additionally, Host you will find that there is a new feature avable in the Simtor.*


    Heart-racing Kain immediately ran to the screen of the Simtor. This piece ofb equipment was how he nned to spread his name in the future as a legendary Evolutionary nner.


    *Now if special conditions such as skill proficiency or a specific environment are needed for the evolution to seed, these special requirements will be automatically applied to the simted spiritual creature and a pop-up will exin the necessary special condition.*


    Kain selected one of the spiritual creatures that he''d seen during the beast-tide that he knew had a special requirement for its skill proficiency¡ªthe silver-quality Scarlet Emberfox. It has the diluted blood of the Legendary Nine-Tailed Fox and to into a tinum-quality Three-Tailed Emberfox it must learn and master the Inferno Mirage skill.


    After making the selection a small red exmation mark appeared at the corner of the screen. After clicking it, it outlined the skill and proficiency requirements as the System said it would.


    This function will greatly reduce the time and challenges Kain will face with finding new evolutionary forms. Now all he has to focus on is finding suitable materials, other evolutionary conditions will be automatically shown to him.


    Kain pulled up the Lumifin profile and the exmation point did not appear again.


    ''At least that confirms that a specific skill or skill proficiency isn''t needed in order to sessfully evolve.''


    Kain then substituted the simted creature to be a Vespirae Queen and the exmation mark reappeared.


    ''Despite being rtivelymon as a contract among those that wish to make a living producing spiritual honey, only one Vespirae Queen has been observed in the empire''s history, and it was centuries ago. Now I guess I''ll find out why¡­'' Kain looked at the pop-up description.


    *Vespirae Queens must realize a skill that applies an attribute to their royal jelly. The attribute of the skill and the skills level will be the basis for the form and quality of the evolved form.*


    Beneath that description there was a drop down menu so that Kain could select among skill attributes such as fire, poison, and more. And next to it was another drop down menu to select its skill level.


    The skill that Queen realized, the Essence of Life was a SS life-attribute skill that applied to Queen''s royal jelly. It more than exceeded the conditions of evolution. In fact, an SS skill as the basis of a spiritual creature''s evolution was more than most people could hope for.


    Just realizing a skill that applies an attribute to the royal jelly is an extremely difficult condition to meet, if it wasn''t for Queen''s unique circumstances of being a host for Eve, Kain would really have no idea about how to go about obtaining such a skill.


    The royal jelly and honey automatically taken up some of the effects and characteristics of the nts used to produce the honey, but a skill that ensures that all the royal jelly produced will have a certain effect or attribute regardless of the nts used was unheard of to Kain.


    ''Once I''m done exploring all of the new features of this update, I''ll have to do some simtions with Eve. It doesn''t mention anything about a required skill proficiency, but just for good measure I should have Queen train the Essence of Life skill in the training arena.''


    ''Now I guess it''s time to finally add to this barren looking space'' Kain thought while looking at the mostly empty Laboratory, the exchange voucher and the Wheel of Fortune ticket he''d exchanged right before the update.


    Kain decided to use the Wheel of Fortune ticket first. That way there was no risk of using the voucher to exchange for a piece of equipment and then winning that same equipment on the Wheel of Fortune.


    Kain selected the Wheel of Fortune ticket forb equipment in his inventory and what appeared before him was a circr wheel divided into 24 sections. The most amount of sections, 20 of them, were bronze in colour. 4 of them were silver.


    But looking closely, Kain was able to see a 25th "section" that at first nce just like any of the other lines separating each section. However, when looking closely this "line" was a dark gold rather than ck like the other lines.


    ''Is it even possible to win a Gold level equipment when the section is so small?!'' He thought angrily while ring at the golden line only slightly thicker than a strand of hair.

 Chapter 164: Chapter 164: New Lab Equipment

    Kain wasn''t originally a superstitious individual, but after transmigrating into a fantasy world and literally reading about skills, items, and spiritual creatures that can influence luck, that changed.


    Therefore, before spinning the wheel, Kain exited the System and partook in every superstition he could think of, both from this world and his previous one.


    He first began with throwing a pinch of salt, taken from the seasoning rack in his space ring, over his shoulder. Then he lit 4 candles in each cardinal direction of the room.


    Then he meticulously washed his body to scrub off any bad luck. He knocked on his wooden bedpost 3 times, and finally ced a dried four-leaf clover he''d found at the orphanage years ago on his chest before lying down and re-entering the Laboratory.


    "Okay! I''m ready!"


    He pressed the button to spin the wheel while crossing his fingers for good measure.


    Kain watched the wheel spin around and around with anticipation until it finally stopped upon a silver section.


    "Yes!" Kain screamed while pumping his fist after seeing itnd on one of the only four silver sections.


    From this day forward, Kain also unintentionally developed a more superstitious attitude and would even spend a great deal of time and money collecting items and spiritual creatures rted to improving luck.


    Suddenly, in a previously empty corner of the room appeared a new set ofboratory equipment.


    It has a sleek, cylindrical base constructed from polished, dark metal with many finely calibrated dials and glowing sigils embedded into its surface.


    Atop the base is a transparent, dome-shaped chamber made of high-quality ss, within which arge, translucent sphere that radiated shifting, multicoloured lights resembling the aurora borealis, was floating high above.


    The rest of the machine included several adjustable mechanical arms, each equipped with sharp tips and needles, that extended into the ss chamber.


    At the base of each arm was awork of intricate, gleaming tubes and carved with sigils that pulsed with faint spiritual power.


    Finally, simr to the Simtor next to the machine was arge screen, where Kain assumed he could control theb equipment or receive information.


    "So what does this thing do?"


    *This is a Gic Reconstructor. It allows for the targeted maniption of genes to cause a mutation without undergoing evolution or changing its species*


    *However, please note that gic material cannot appear out of nowhere. The Host must work hard to collect arge gic library to make the full use of this equipment.*


    Kain tried to think about what the implications of this piece of machinery would be.


    Using this machinery, Kain could mass produce mutants.


    Spiritual creatures with mutations may have beneficial mutations, like a stronger than average body for its species.Or it may just be a cosmetic mutation, like a different hair or eye colour. However, they could also be disadvantageous mutations, like the mutant Protean that could not upgrade to a higher-level and eventually became Kain''s armor.


    However, although not as profound a change as actually undergoing an evolution, changing the genes of a spiritual creature could have a profound impact on its evolution.


    For example, the evolution of a Frostreave is determined by its fur colour, with blue fur being the mostmon, and ck and white fur being much lessmon. With this piece of machinery, Kain could in theory mass produce the umon ck and white Frostreaves able to evolve into Gloomfrosts and cierres, respectively.


    However, the note about a gic library put a damper on his ns. He couldn''t just let his imagination run wild and begin manipting genes as he wished, all genes he wished to transfer to another spiritual creature must first be found and extracted from a spiritual creature that already exists.


    Kain decided to put off testing this piece of equipment for now, he had a bronzeb equipment he could still exchange for. Who knows, maybe there will be something thatpliments the Gic Reconstructor''s abilities.


    After activating the voucher, descriptions ofboratory equipment didn''t appear in front of him as he''d expected. Instead, Kain was transported to a dark room that had dozens of pieces ofb equipment under a spotlight.


    *Wee to the Interster Lab Emporium, where the collective scientific wisdom of a myriad of gxies is avable for exchange here*


    *Currently being shown to you are what would be considered Bronze levelb equipment.*


    Kain walked to the nearest piece ofb equipment for exchange. It appeared like a normal sk, but the descriptions said otherwise.


    "Essence Distition sk. Amon specialty of the X Nation on X. The sk is designed to distill and purify magical essences and fluids to give a modest boost to its magical properties."


    This was the first time Kain had heard anything about other magical worlds. He wished that they hadn''t been censored by the System.


    "Aura Calibration Beaker¡­ No thanks"


    "Elemental Infusion Vial¡­don''t want it either¡­Is this the section for Alchemists?"


    "Ah¡­finally something different. A Sigil Etching Set. This seems more so like it''d be useful for cksmiths¡­"


    "Bronze level equipment really has a huge gap with Silver level equipment huh¡­I wonder what Gold levelb equipment would be like? Could I destroy worlds with the press of a button?"


    Kain continued to move down each aisle, making sure to read every description. After all, he doesn''t know when he''ll get another chance like this and wants to make sure that he makes the best choice.


    Like the first description, all of them had their original nations and worlds blurred out, unless the equipment originated from the he currently resided on: Blue Star.


    Likely, equipment from Earth also wouldn''t have been censored, but there was no magical equipment on Earth that would meet even the lowest standards of being considered Bronze level equipment.


    Finally, after spending what felt like hoursbing through each description, Kain finally narrowed his selection down to three choices that he felt would best meet his needs.

 Chapter 165: Chapter 165: New Lab Equipment

    Kain looked at his first selection that resembled a finely crafted antique magnifying ss with a bronze frame covered with intricately carved sigils.


    "The Mystic Analysis Lens. A magnifying lens used by the alchemists of X that contains basic enchantments to identify the magical properties and purpose of analyzed spiritual materials. Only rudimentary results are provided and only materials below Yellow-grade can be analyzed."


    Itsrge lens was made of a crystal that shimmered with a soft multicoloured glow. The handle though was surprisingly bare. It had a smooth rectangle without any design along its side. Based on the description, this is where the information about the analyzed material will be provided.


    Kain was considering using his exchange opportunity on this item because he has several materials that he doesn''t know the identity of and he''d need to pay an appraiser in order to find out. If he were ever out in the wilderness or in a relic, having an item that could help him identify new things would be useful.


    The next piece of equipment was arge circr ring made from a dark, weathered bronze with sigils engraved all around it.


    "The Beast Bonding Cor. An ancient piece of equipment of the long-forgotten Kairo Nation of Blue Star. Unfortunately, the knowledge on how to produce such cors has also been lost to time. This enchanted cor is used to control spiritual creatures no higher than red-grade.


    The binding of the cor is not as restrictive as that of a contract, and spiritual creatures can attack the owner of the cor if the rtionship is extremely poor."


    It featured a broad, adjustable band thatfortably fits around a beast''s neck, with a series of small, embedded gemstones that emitted a soft, calming glow.


    The cor is fastened with a secure but easily adjustable sp, and the inner side is lined with a padded, enchanted leather forfort.


    Kain was considering exchanging for this cor due to the particrities of his affinity. Although he likes Bea and Eve, he could hardly hold and be affectionate with them like Bridge is with Lady and Princess.


    A small part of him did still desire to find a spiritual creature that could almost act like an emotional support dog.


    However, he knew that this cor would hardly be of any benefit to him. He is at the cusp of upgrading to 3-stars, and Bea after evolving will also be orange-grade. This cor would really not provide any boost to his strength.


    Finally, Kain turned to thest item, which is probably the one that only someone with an affinity like his would desire.


    It was a piece ofb equipment that Kain was extremely familiar with since it greatly resembled a simr piece of equipment he used while back on Earth¡ªa Microbiological Incubator.


    "The Arcane Incubation Nexus.A magical incubator invented by X on Blue Star designed to maintain the perfect living conditions for a wide array of microorganisms at or below orange-grade."


    This was the first time that Kain had seen any evidence of someone else on this being aware of, and even studying microorganisms. Kain was curious though about why their name was censored when previously all information about equipment originating from Blue Star had not been.


    It resembled the incubators back on earth, but more high-end in appearance. It had a sleek, rectangr design made from polished bronze and reinforced ss panels. The main chamber was a transparent, temperature-controlled box, featuring adjustable internal shelves to amodate various cultures and specimens.


    On each shelf were transparent orbs, 10 in total, that were likely meant to house the different microorganisms. These orbs are meant to resemble low-grade versions of a beast-tamer''s star space, and will provide a suitable environment for any inserted microorganism. Although the quality of the environment will be far inferior to that formed from a star space with a contract.


    The front of the incubator had a digital control panel disying real-time data on temperature, humidity, and magical energy levels, along arrows to make precise adjustments to any values.


    Unlike the incubators back on Earth that would only maintain the necessary temperature, humidity, and oxygen levels for optimal growth of microbes, this piece of equipment will provide an all-around suitable environment with renewed resources for each microbe added.


    Considering that Kain was currently keeping Aby and her progeny in a ss vial full of beer that he changed every couple of days next to his nightstand, this was a much better option.


    Not to mention this incubator would allow him to collect many more microorganisms he wasn''t contracted to, without having to worry about caring for them.


    Although it was rare to find spiritual creatures that were also microbes, simr to Aby Kain could just make them when he found a chance to in the future. Not to mention he maye across some interesting ones in the wild, that are maybe not suitable to form a contract with, but have unique abilities that he doesn''t want to let go of.


    Decision made, Kain exchanged for the Arcane Incubation Nexus, and returned to theboratory. When he returned he saw the new addition in a corner of the room. And after reconfirming with System on how to bring an unbound spiritual creature into the Laboratory, he poured Aby into one of the empty ss orbs.


    Quickly the orb took on a dark amber colour resembling beer, likely to mimic Aby''s ideal living environment, and Kain could see that a continuous supply of spiritual power was now being funnelled into that orb. If he wanted Kain could decrease or increase the spiritual power supplied. However, he decided to keep it at the default setting for now until he better understood the equipment.


    Looking around at hisboratory, Kain admired the space that was finally starting toe together and no longer looked like a cold and barren white room.


    With the new pieces ofb equipment settled, Kain decided to focus on the next item on his agenda¡ªBea''s evolution.

 Chapter 166: Chapter 166: Preparing for Beas Evolution

    For Bea''s evolution, he had exchanged for the Mindleech Vine and Subliminal Orb as the Evolutionary Base Materials, and the Cerebral Core to stabilize his usage of multiple materials. He already had several yellow-grade Spiritual Orbs, and he had obtained a catalyst elixir already for free after speaking with one of his professors in the Evolutionary nner major.


    The only thing holding him back is that he''d impulsively also purchased the source of the Green-grade spider''s mental threads¡ªthe Mindweaver Crystal.


    Kain was quite satisfied with Bea''s current nned evolution¡­but what if there was an even better option?


    Therefore, Kain did onest simtion for Bea, this time using all 3 evolutionary base materials.


    However, after the Simtion shed with light, Kain was notified that the evolution was considered a failure.


    He turned angrily to his new assistant, "aren''t you supposed to prevent me from making more failed evolutions?!"


    The robot faced the irritated Kain calmly, "I need arge amount of data in order to make urate predictions. Considering that this was the first evolution I had personally witnessed, my predictions were off. However, I can help you to deduce the cause of the failure.


    ording to my calctions, due to you suddenly increasing the number of spiritual materials, and one being of Green-grade, the spiritual power contained in the yellow-grade spiritual orb you supplied is insufficient to support the evolution."


    Kain''s irritation calmed down at his assistant''s answer. If he sat down to think about the source of his failure, he likely would have been able to reach that conclusion for himself, but it was nice to have it confirmed by his assistant within seconds.


    "Ahem! Good work! I think you''ve finally earned yourself a name. Hmm¡­ let''s see¡­ how about VERA because you''re a Versatile Experimental Research Assistant!" Kain settled on the name quickly while patting himself on the back for his cleverness. Unfortunately, Vera didn''t seem to appreciate the effort he''d put into choosing a name and just continued staring at him nkly.


    "So¡­let''s try this again with a Green-grade spiritual orb." Unfortunately, using multiple spiritual orbs of yellow-grade was not possible due to the subtle differences in spiritual power between the original owners of the orbs.


    Absorbing one source of spiritual power during the delicate process of evolution is stable, but from multiple sources, it would greatly increase the likelihood of failure due to so many types of energies, some of which may be conflicting.


    Therefore, for the sake of a stable evolution with a lower risk of failure, it was customary to just use one spiritual orb.


    Unfortunately, while Kain had many yellow-grade spiritual orbs from his kills, he didn''t have a single green-grade one, but he had seen one previously and was able to use it in the simtion.


    Therefore, after making the same selections but changing the power source, Kain started the simtion.


    The ss chamber containing the simtion began to be filled with an extremely bright white light. Once the light faded Kain looked at the creature description that appeared on the screen.


    "Huh?! There''s more than one!" Kain thought while buzzing in anticipation while looking at one of Bea''s potential future forms.


    ------------------------------


    Kain had to sell the majority of the materials and spiritual orbs that remained in his space ring in order to exchange for a single green-grade spiritual orb.


    However, the green-grade orb also happened to be from the defeated mental-attribute spider, meaning that it should be even easier for Bea to absorb during evolution.


    Usually, matching attributes aren''t so important for spiritual orbs since they mostly contain pure spiritual power and have very little amounts of remnant attribute energy, however during high-risk evolutions it may have a slightly beneficial effect of increasing the chances of sess. After all, a 31% chance of a sessful evolution is still better than a 30% chance of evolution.


    And unfortunately, Kain''s System as well as his assistant had concluded that the evolutionary form he was now nning for Bea would have two possibilities when supplied with the same materials. Both were excellent forms, but one was definitely better than the other. Unfortunately, Bea sessfully undergoing the higher-quality evolution was around 20%.


    With a spiritual orb of the same attribute, that percentage may increase slightly.


    Additionally, Kain was nning to use credits to rent one of the college''s attribute rooms. Attribute rooms are filled with a high concentration of a specific element and are usually used by students as a site of evolution, or to practice certain elemental skills.


    The room Kain wanted to rent would naturally be of the mental-attribute.


    However, all attribute rooms provided by the college were extremely expensive. Kain had to sell practically everything on his body, aside from his weapons in order to buy the green-grade orb. He absolutely did not have enough credits left to rent out a room.


    Therefore, Kain either had to grovel to borrow credits from a ssmate or obtain arge amount of credits for himself. Since the attribute room is charged at 10 credits each minute, and Kain wanted to rent it out for one hour just to be safe, that would require at least 600 credits.


    Although he knew that if Bridge had it he''d give, not loan, that amount to him in a heartbeat. He didn''t have the heart to take that much from his brother, especially since the re-ranking wasing up soon and every moment taken to improve his strength was needed.


    Kain also knew that he was preparing for Lady''s evolution as well, and he didn''t want Bridge to have to put that off for his sake.


    Therefore, Kain decided to raise the amount of credits he needed for himself.


    With his strength, he could defeat orange-grade spiritual creatures on his own. And the whole body of each orange-grade spiritual creature would usually be worth about 50 to 100 credits, so he could raise the needed amount after hunting only around 10 orange-grade spiritual creatures.


    However, even without going into the wilderness, Kain had already heard about how difficult it was to find any spiritual creatures below yellow-grade due to most of them being killed during the beast-tide.


    Therefore, Kain headed to the Mission Hall and went to one of thepartments to select his mission in privacy.


    Considering that most Bronze, Silver and even Gold missions werepletely insufficient to meet his needs, and that the Gold missions that did reward over 600 credits required hunting down more powerful than average green-grade spiritual creatures and blue-grade spiritual creatures, Kain knew he''d have no shot atpleting them.


    Kain then put all of his hopes onto qualifying to receive another ck Mission.


    Afterpleting another questionnaire simr to the previous time, Kain was notified that there were no suitable missions avable for him at this time.


    ''Figures¡­ ck Missions suitable for a 2-star beast tamer probably only ur once every 10 years. I was lucky to even receive the previous ck Mission.''


    With a heavy heart, Kain returned back to the main mission selection screen.

 Chapter 167: Chapter 167: New Mission

    Within the dozens of minutes, it took for Kain to go through the ck Mission questionnaire there was a new addition to the Gold Missions window. One that rewarded 400 credits and was one of the few that rewarded so many credits and didn''t require hunting a spiritual creature more powerful than he could handle alone.


    Although it wasn''t the full amount that he wanted, it could get him more than half-way there. Maybe he''d run into more than one orange-grade spiritual creature along the way.


    Or if he was okay with rushing Bea, he could pay for just 40 minutes but considering that the probability of her getting the best evolutionary results was already below 50%, he didn''t want to add any mental stress to her by rushing her during such a sensitive time.


    The new Gold Mission Kain recalled seeing on the Silver Mission board earlier worth only 40 credits.


    ''Perhaps there were some new developments in the mission that suddenly warranted increasing the reward by 10 times¡­''


    However, interestingly it was not a mission that required a beast-tamer toplete it. Rather it was an information-based mission. Specifically, one targeted more at evolutionary nners.


    ording to the mission description, a bronze-quality fire-type Glimmering Smander had failed twice to sessfully evolve into a gold-quality Infernal Smander.


    Simr to the affinity ceremony in which the soul can only handle 3 tries, typically each spiritual creature can only unsessfully evolve 3 times at the same stage without fatal damage to their soul.


    Not to mention that just after the first evolution the damage to the spiritual creature''s vitality and soul will make future cultivation difficult, especially if they don''t manage to eventually sessfully evolve to restore the lost vitality by reaching a higher order of life.


    However, it was surprising that the Glimmering Smander wasn''t able to sessfully evolve. The evolution to the gold-quality Infernal Smander was a pretty low-risk evolution. In fact, it was extremely rare for it to fail to evolve as long as enough energy and the correct materials were provided.


    However, considering that the mission wasn''t solved when it was a Silver Mission, Kain assumed that the issue wasn''t that easy to solve.


    Normally, as a first-year student of the nner major, Kain would not have any confidence in taking on a mission like this. However, after the most recent System update, if there were any special evolutionary conditions that needed to be met by the Glimmering Smander he was hoping that the Simtor would shed light on it.


    Not to mention, that he would just need toe up with a confirmed exnation for its failed evolution, not evene up with aplete evolutionary n.


    It didn''t cost him anything except time and maybe some GP to give it a shot, and it was the highest-valued mission he felt like he''d even have a shot atpleting. Therefore, he decided to give it a try.


    After epting the mission, it disappeared from the mission board, and it will only reappear if Kain fails or gives up the mission.


    However, Kain didn''t immediately leave toplete the mission. Tomorrow was his appointment date with Barret to look at the results of using Aby in the beer.


    --------------------------------------


    The next day, Kain arrived at Barret''s modest home and knocked on the door.


    Barret answered promptly, his eyes holding a mixture of guarded expectation and reluctant hope. The dark circles around his eyes and unkempt beard betrayed the tension of the past week.


    As he led Kain into the room where the barrel had been stored, he shot Kain a skeptical nce. "So, it''s been a week. I hope you''re not just wasting my time."


    Kain nodded, trying to match Barret''s seriousness with his own resolute demeanour. "I understand your doubts, but I''m confident you''ll see the difference."


    Barret rolled his eyes slightly at Kain''s confident statement.


    Barret''s eyes followed Kain as he approached the barrel, his arms folded defensively.Kain carefully unsealed the barrel and took a sample. The aroma that emerged was rich and inviting, a noticeable improvement from the smell released from the barrel a week earlier.


    Kain poured a small amount of the beer into a ss, its deep, amber color gleaming in the soft light of the room. He handed the ss to Barret with a hopeful expression. "Go ahead. Try it."


    Barret took the ss, eyeing Kain with a mixture of skepticism and curiosity. He sipped the beer slowly, and as theplex vors¡ªnotes of caramel, toasted malt, and a subtle yet distinct hint of spice¡ªdanced on his pte, his eyes widened in surprise. The beer was smooth, well-bnced, and possessed a richness that was both familiar and novel.


    A flicker of appreciation crossed his face, and he took another, more deliberate sip.


    "Well, I''ll be damned," Barret muttered, setting the ss down with a hint of awe. "This does taste exceptional. Far better than anything I''ve managed before. I''ve got to admit, you''ve improved the vor."


    "However," the Barret''s face darkened again, "this does not at all prove your ims about preserving the spiritual power contained in the beer."


    Kain nodded thoughtfully, acknowledging Barret''s lingering mistrust. "Here''s what I propose. Reseal the barrel and continue to sample it every few days. Track the changes in vor, texture, and spiritual power. Normally, once the barrel is opened for the first time after fermentation, the spiritual power and quality would rapidly decline, but the method I used should slow down that process."


    Barret''s eyes narrowed, but he seemed to consider the suggestion seriously. "And you think this will work?"


    "It''s the best way to prove it," Kain said confidently. "If my method works, you''ll see a much slower decline in quality."


    Barret gave a curt nod, still skeptical but willing to give it a chance. "Fine. I''ll do as you suggest. But remember, if this fails, it''s on you. I can''t afford any more setbacks."


    Kain smiled, relief washing over him. "Thank you for giving it a chance. I''m confident you''ll be pleased with the results. I am going away for a while due to a mission, but I trust that you''ll sample it as we agreed."


    As Kain prepared to leave, he saw Barret taking another, more appreciative sip of the beer. Despite the lingering doubts, the slight glimmer of hope in Barret''s eyes was undeniable.

 Chapter 168: Chapter 168: Moonstone City

    The location of Kain''s mission was the second most populous city in the eastern region, Moonstone City.Fortunately, it was not too far from Dark Moon City, and after meeting with Barret and opening the beer barrel, Kain was able to arrive the very same day after only a few hours of travel by train.


    The second Kain left the train station he noticed the stark difference in the local architecture from Dark Moon City. While the gothic-style of the cities remained simr, the buildings in Moonstone werergely made from locally-sourced moonstone, which gave off a soft, iridescent glow under the moonlight that gave the entire city a dream-like quality.


    By the time Kain arrived in the city, the sun had already fallen therefore he was able to see the glow of the city in all of its glory.


    Walking away from the train station, Kain entered into the central za which featured a grand moonstone archway, which served as both a beautiful architectural centrepiece and a symbol of the city''s identity for tourists like Kain.


    In the center of the za stood a tall moonstone fountain, its cascading water catching the light and creating an enchanting sparkling effect that further added to the dreamy quality of the city.


    The surrounding streets were lined with moonstonemps that provided both illumination and aesthetic charm, casting a soft glow that guided visitors through the city.


    Since it waste, Kain decided to book a hotel room at one of the nicer hotels in the city before meeting the individual who issued the mission tomorrow.


    -------------


    The next day Kain headed towards the address provided on the mission information while munching on Moonstone Scone¡ªa local specialty.


    Contrary to the stone in their name, the scones were light, airy, and melted in his mouth. They were also sprinkled with a white edible glitter that the worker called "moonstone dust," but really was probably something much more normal.


    He eventually arrived in front of a sprawling manor that sat behindrge wrought-iron gates.


    Kain wasn''t given any other means of contacting the issuer of the mission and so just pressed on the inte button next to the gate. After a brief moment, a cold, detached voice came through the speaker.


    "State your purpose," the voice demanded, its tone stern and unyielding.


    Kain took a deep breath before responding, "Hello, I am Kain Newman. I''m here regarding the mission about the Glimmering Smander. I received the mission to investigate its evolution issue."


    There was a pause on the other end, followed by a skeptical tone. "And who might you be? Another admirer of our youngdy''s residence, perhaps? You seem rather young for such an important task."


    Kain''s eyebrows furrowed at the misinterpretation. "No, I''m not here for that. I''m here to address the Glimmering Smander''s evolution issue. I have the official mission form right here." He pulled out the form from his space ring, ensuring the inte speaker could hear the rustling of paper.


    "I assure you, as an Evolutionary nner major at Dark Moon College I''m equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge for this issue." Kain decided to exaggerate his skills and neglected to mention that he was a first-year, but that''s not important.


    "Even if I can''t solve the issue, you won''t lose anything by letting me try."


    The voice hesitated, clearly grappling with the unexpected nature of Kain''s response. "Very well. Please wait at the gate. I''ll inform the youngdy of your arrival."


    The inte clicked off, and Kain waited patiently as the gate slowly creaked open. He followed a stone pathway embedded with moonstones. It''d probably make a mesmerizing site at night as the path to the manor lit up.


    Inside, the manor exuded an aura of understated luxury. The entrance hall was expansive, with high ceilings andrge, arched windows that let in an abundance of light from outside.


    The floor was a shiny polished marble that reflected Kain and the butler''s figures as he was escorted to the waiting room.


    The room was furnished with velvet armchairs and sofas arranged around an antique wooden coffee table. The furniture was a deep, midnight blue,plementing the moonstone ents in the room. Along one wall, a grand firece crackled softly, its warm light providing a cozy contrast to the cool-toned colours of the room.


    Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with neatly arranged volumes bound in leather. Many of the books Kain could tell were several times older than himself. And the asional antique item on the shelves between books for decoration also hinted at the family''s refined taste.


    Arge, moonstone-framed painting dominated one wall, depicting a serene night sky with a silvery moon casting its glow over a tranquilndscape.


    Kain took a seat in one of the armchairs, his mind racing with thoughts about the mission ahead and the impression he needed to make. He had already anticipated the butler having doubts about his ability, but this mission required for the issuer to confirm that Kain had found the solution. Even if he does find the solution, how would he get them to believe him?


    Judging from the scale of their home and the age of many of the items Kain saw along the way, he could assume that this was probably a rtively old and prominent beast-taming family.


    They probably already called upon many more established and experienced evolutionary nners prior to each try at evolving.


    In particr, after the first failure, they probably had dozens of nners examine the Glimmer Smander to no avail. Why would they trust the words of a first-year college student?


    Especially, when this time, should the evolution fail, it would likely spell the death of the Glimmer Smander.


    After waiting for what felt like an eternity, and finishing all of the refreshments and snacks provided, therge doors leading to the waiting room were finally opened and the butler re-entered followed by a smaller figure dressed in white holding a burnt orange bundle in their arms.

 Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Underestimated

    The youngdy that entered the room had golden hair and green eyes and was undeniably beautiful.


    Kain wasn''t surprised that she would have admirers infatuated enough toe to her front door. However, her appearance still greatly paled inparison to Serena''s. It wasn''t even as good as the pink-haired senior that Kain had met during the beast-tide.


    Without any preamble, Kain reached for the dark orange figure she was holding.


    However, she moved it away from his reach.


    "Proper manners would dictate that you introduce yourself when you meet a new person." The girl said. Her face had noticeably darkened after Kain had reached for the smander.


    However, rather than due to theck of manner as she said, it was more so because she was offended by theck of attention that Kain had paid to her. She was used to members of the opposite sex staring entrancingly at her unable to focus on the task at hand. However, this annoying guy looked at her no differently than you would the average rock by the roadside.


    Kain felt his patience wearing thin as he watched the girl''s haughty demeanour. He had wanted to quickly get to the task at hand, especially since he''d been made to wait here for over an hour.


    ''Remember you need her to sign off on thepletion of the mission.''


    "My apologies," he said through gritted teeth, his tone respectful despite his irritation. "I''m Kain, a first-year Evolutionary nner at Dark Moon College. I''m here to assist with the Glimmering Smander''s evolution issue."


    The youngdy''s expression remained guarded, her hair cascading down her shoulders like a golden curtain. She shifted the dark orange bundle in her arms, revealing the Glimmering Smander more clearly.


    The creature was clearly in a terrible state due to the failed evolutions. In contrast to the burnt orange colour it currently possessed, Glimmering Smanders were usually a brilliant shimmering gold colour that could be spotted from miles away.


    The girl''s eyes narrowed slightly as she studied Kain. "I''m ina Ashenw," she said coolly. "This is Yara, the Glimmering Smander. She has failed to evolve twice already, and we''ve had experts in the field try to resolve the issue without sess.


    I''m not sure what you can do to help." Her voice clearly reflecting her doubts about his abilities, but her tone of voice also revealed her frustration with the repeated failures and her worry for the smander


    "I understand your doubts due to my young age. But, I''m here to ensure Yara''s sessful evolution. I can assure you that I have my own methods as an evolutionary nner that may have not been tried by the previous individuals you sought out."


    Without waiting for a response, Kain turned his attention to the Glimmering Smander. He approached the table where Yaray and began to examine the creature with focused intent. Despite his irritation at being left to wait for over an hour and then repeatedly doubted, he knew that showing any additional emotion could undermine his professionalism.


    ina watched him, her expression a mix of curiosity and residual irritation. Kain could almost hear the wheels turning in her mind as she grappled with the fact that someone as young as him was taking charge of a task that had stumped more experienced experts.


    "I hope you understand the gravity of this situation," ina said, her tone softening slightly but still tinged with an edge of defensiveness. "Yara''s failed evolutions have put her at serious risk. We need results, not just theories."


    Kain nodded, determined to prove hispetence. "I get it. I''m here to find a solution, and that''s what I intend to do. If you could provide me with any additional details or previous assessments rted to Yara''s failed evolutions, it would be helpful."


    ina hesitated, and there was a long pause where Kain wasn''t sure if she''d abide by his request. Fortunately, she soon stood up and walked over to a nearby desk. She retrieved a stack of documents and handed them to Kain. "These contain the reports and observations from the previous attempts. Review them carefully. If you find anything useful, let me know."


    Kain took the documents with a curt nod. "Thank you. I''ll start right away."


    Thankfully, she did not remain after handing Kain the documents and left the room followed by her butler.


    Now alone with the Glimmering Smander, Kain entered the Laboratory. In front of the Simtor, he looked at the new addition for Glimmering Smander. However, the simted smander had the standard golden scales for their species, so it wasn''t an urate reflection of the Glimmering Smander right in front of him.


    However, Kain did note that there was an exmation mark that contrary to usual had been greyed out.


    "System. Vera. Can either one of you exin why the exmation mark is greyed out here?"


    His assistant didn''t respond to his question, likely because it doesn''t know. As a newborn artificial intelligence, it was still learning about the world around it.


    *The model of each spiritual creature in the system is the default average member of its species. However, if the Host hase into contact with a mutant of that species, the Host can instead substitute the default model for the mutant model. Would the host like to do the substitution?*


    "Yes!" Kain was really pleased with this new feature. And this also provided him with the information that the likely reason for the failed evolution was that it was an unidentified mutant.


    Suddenly the Glimmering Smander on the screen changed to have scales and eyes of a slightly lighter gold colour.


    If Kain hadn''t immediately seen the normal smander, the difference in colour would have been so slight that he wouldn''t have even noticed the difference.


    After the substitution was made, the greyed-out exmation mark became the familiar red colour.


    Kain clicked on the red exmation mark in anticipation and received the pop-up notification that the skill Light Shroud needed to be learned in order to sessfully evolve and that this condition had already been applied to the simted version of the smander.


    However, most likely the resulting evolutionary form will require the use of new light-attribute materials or may require both fire and light-attribute materials. Unfortunately, the Simtor does not help Kain with narrowing down what items would and would not be suitable.


    ''Sigh¡­One step at a time I guess. Focus on it learning the necessary skill and then we can figure out its evolutionary materials.''

 Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Incompetence

    However, after getting a clue about the issue, Kain had to figure out a way to convince ina about his exnation.


    Kain exited the Laboratory and returned to the waiting room. He saw the stack of papers next to the listless smander and started to rifle through the papers.


    The first pages were an observation report, likely written by one of the previous evolutionary nners that they''d hired.


    "The Glimmering Smander was subjected to the standard evolutionary process aimed at evolving it into a gold-quality Infernal Smander," Kain read aloud.


    "The evolution proceduremenced with the standard preparatory phase, including mental conditioning to ensure a calm psychological state for the smander before the catalytic elixir was ingested. A yellow-grade spiritual orb the necessary fire-attribute materials were either held or left within close proximity of the smander."


    "As normal, the light of evolution began to emanate from the Glimmering Smander. However, approximately midway through the process, anomalous reactions were observed."


    "The smander''s scales, which normally shimmered with a rich gold hue, began to exhibit erratic fluctuations in colour, transitioning sporadically between deep orange and an unsettlingly pale gold. The expected stabilization into the fiery orange of the Infernal Smander did not ur."


    "Instead, a violent surge of raw energy erupted from the smander, creating a dissonant sh between the fire-attribute materials and the smander''s inherent energy that would normally readily absorb the escaping energies from the fire-attribute materials."


    "After the light of evolution hadpletely faded, the weakened smander emerged from the turmoil in a weakened state, its vitality severely depleted, and with a noticeably darker shade of scales. Further analysis is required to determine the precise cause of the aberrant reaction during the evolutionary process¡­"


    Kain finished reading through the report and could see faint hints within the report that may have pointed to an undiscovered recessive light-attribute. However, it may have only been obvious to Kain who already knew what to look for.


    Kain turned to the next sheet. It has the insights from multiple evolutionary nners who coborated and eventually settled on a reason for why they felt that the previous evolutionary attempt failed.


    ording to them, the failure waspletely the fault of the previous nner who obviously did not urately calcte the fire-attribute energy within the two materials used or use a stabilizing material. The fire attribute energy was then too strong for the young smander to handle, which caused a failed evolution.


    Kain could understand how they reached such a conclusion. But really the evolutionary form that the first nner had used, while not perfect and tailor-made to every Glimmering Smander, was a well-established protocol.


    And considering that this evolution was typically fool-proof even without fine-tuning the amount and energy levels of the different ingredients, it was understandable that he hadn''t put in the extra effort.


    ''Poor guy is being med andpletelybelled as ipetent¡­I wonder how this group justified their own failure after the deed was done.''


    "For the second attempt, adjustments were made to rectify the issues arising due to the previous nner''s ipetence. Specifically, the quantity of fire-attribute energy within the evolutionary materials was reduced, and a stabilizing agent was introduced to mitigate the risk of excessive energy surges. The second evolution ceremonymenced under the revised conditions."


    "However, while the evolution had initially appeared to progress more stably and the light of evolution persisted for a longer period of time, there was still a re-urrence of unstable energy discharges.


    "The Smander once again emerged from the light in a debilitated state, its condition even worse after the second failed attempt. Our group of nner''s has collectively determined that perhaps this smander is an anomaly with low potential, destined to never reach a higher order of life."


    ''Trash! This group of idiots just couldn''t figure out the root cause and decided to me the Glimmering Smander itself. No wonder they were forced to try a long-shot attempt at recruiting help through the university.


    Many of the evolutionary nners they contacted may have read this report and not even wanted to try.'' Kain also understood why ina showed a slight hesitation in handing over the reports.


    Kain then flipped to thest pages which were general details about Yara the Glimmering Smander''s life.


    Apparently, ina was a senior high-school student who would be undergoing the awakening ceremony at the end of this year. Therefore, she was not technically contracted with Yara. Like many noble children, she had a young spiritual creature with high potential raised with her from young in order to cultivate a stronger bond and give her a head start over her peers.


    Yara was currently red-grade and likely will hold off on breaking through to the next level, so as long as ina awakens an affinity suitable to bind her she will have a spiritual creature one grade higher than most of the other newly awakened students. And because of their close bond established from childhood, there was little to no risk of Yara unterally breaking the contract.


    ''Argh... it''s so unfair. Down with the rich!''


    This Glimmering Smander is actually the child of her parents'' contracts, who were each bound to one half of a mated pair of diamond-quality zing Ember Wyrms¡ªthe evolutionary form following the Infernal Smander that had some of its extremely remnant dragon''s blood activated.


    Usually, mutations could happen in 3 ways:pletely by chance, which is the rarest urrence; due to strange urrences while the spiritual creature''s parent was conceiving, such as eating a rare spiritual nt or entering a strange relic; or asionally when cross-species pairings manage to result in a conception and the other parent''s attribute or other characteristics was retained by the offspring.


    However, considering that cross-species conceptions were extremely difficult, especially when the parents aren''t even of the same attribute, thest option was also extremely unlikely.


    The likelihood of a whole new attribute being attained due to a chance mutation was alsopletely unheard of. Usually, such mutations only result in cosmetic changes or an amplification (or reduction) of the qualities that species already possess such as a stronger-than-normal shell or a hotter-than-average me.


    Therefore, Kain was going to operate from the theory of the mother having eaten something or gone somewhere unusual while forming the egg.


    With that n in mind, Kain delicately picked up the fragile Glimmering Smander and exited the room. Fortunately, ady, who Kain presumed to be a housekeeping staff, was waiting for him outside of the door, and he was instead able to request the presence of the youngdy of the house instead of having to search for her in this enormous ce himself.


    Kain returned to his seat with Yara and thought about just how he was going to present his findings to her so that she''d believe him.

 Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Bullshit

    Kain sat across from ina who was now holding and stroking the head of the Glimmering Smander Yara, the butler standing behind her.


    Fortunately, this time she did not leave him waiting as long, and Kain had already thought about a feasible story for how he figured out the reason behind the failed evolution.


    ina''s demeanour was a mix of cautious optimism and lingering skepticism. He could tell she was bracing herself for another potential letdown.


    "ina, I believe I''ve identified the issue with Yara," Kain began, trying to keep his voice steady and reassuring. Kain saw her face momentarily shift into one of shock, before once again falling into one of doubt.


    Kain continued without waiting for her to express her doubt. "There''s a unique evolutionary condition at y here, one that hasn''t been ounted for in the previous attempts."


    ina''s eyes widened slightly. "Go on¡­"


    Kain cleared his throat, putting on an air of confidence that he hoped would be convincing. "From my examination, it appears that Yara has a rare mutation involving a previously unidentified recessive light attribute.


    This wasn''t detected previously because you had never before tried to have her learn a light-attribute skill and because the difference in Yara''s appearance from a normal Glimmering Smander is quite subtle." Kain took out his phone to show the photo that he''d saved of a normal Glimmering Smander.


    "The gold colour of the scales for most smanders is usually slightly deeper than Yara''s scales."


    ina stared at the photo thoughtfully, before finally raising her gaze to Kain. "This is an interesting story. But how am I supposed to just believe that Yara is really a light-attribute mutant as you said based off of a slight difference in scale colour? There are slight variations in colour and pattern within a species, that doesn''t at all mean that it''s due to a second light-attribute."


    Kain took a deep breath, he knew his next story would be the important part of convincing ina. "I have a gift." Kain paused for added effect while feigning arrogance.


    "A gift?" ina asked with a raised brow in disbelief.


    "As I''m sure you know, Dark Moon College provides beast-taming students with an opportunity to increase their chances of awakening a gift. A method which is a secret to outsiders." Kain said with his chin raised as he mimicked what he felt a prideful top 5 college student should appear as to outsiders. He made sure to pre-emptively add thest part so that she would not ask for details.


    Considering he hadn''t yet undergone whatever opportunity it was, as it was only provided after the first re-ranking, he knew very little about the specifics.


    ina turned to her butler in confirmation, and thankfully he nodded in support of Kain''s story.


    Kain mentally breathed a sigh of relief.


    "During this opportunity, I was fortunate enough to awaken a gift. My gift allows me to sense and identify hidden evolutionary conditions and mutations. When I manifested this talent, the professors were astonished. They saw it as an extremely powerful gift for the field of Evolutionary nners, and so an exception was made and I was admitted into the nner major under special consideration.


    They were convinced that this talent of mine could be of great benefit."


    "It was this gift that activated when examining Yara. From my examination, it appears that Yara has a rare mutation involving a light attribute and on top of that she needs to learn the skill Light Shroud in order to sessfully evolve"


    ''Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit¡­But I really hope that her sense of smell isn''t good enough to smell it.''


    There are all kinds of weird gifts in the world. Kain had even heard of an absurd one that can create a ''mood lighting'' that instantly puts all humans in the vicinity in a very ''frisky'' mood.


    His so-called gift is hardly unbelievable.


    ina still seemed doubtful. "That''s impressive, but... how can I be sure you''re not lying or exaggerating?"


    ''You can''t. Because I am.''


    Kain nodded, with a forced calm. "I can''t expect you to take my word for it without evidence. Let me show you why I believe Yara has a light attribute mutation. The evidence is also in the words of the so-called experts that you''d hired previously."


    He pulled out the stack of documents and pointed to the sections detailing the previous failed attempts. "These reports indicate several anomalies. Yara''s scales fluctuated between a pale gold and a deep orange-gold, and there were erratic shes of light. Also, Yara didn''t absorb as much of the fire-attribute materials as expected."


    ina leaned in closer, her eyes scanning the reports. "You''re suggesting that Yara''s mutation is abination of fire and light attributes?"


    "Yes¡­or no." Kain took a deep breath. "Since Yara''s evolution will not be an Infernal Smander, it means that all current knowledge about the evolutionary path from Glimmering Smander to Infernal Smander to zing Ember Wyrm will be useless. We really don''t know what she''ll evolve into, if it will have one or both attributes or, although unlikely, if it will even remain as a Smander.


    Therefore, we''ll also need to ount for the possibility that Yara''s eventual evolutionary form might not align with your affinity, especially since you haven''t awakened your affinity yet."


    ina''s expression turned sombre. "I understand. But¡­ Yara has been with me for years. She''s more than just a spiritual creature to me. I don''t want her to die, and she will soon if she can''t evolve."


    Kain could see the emotional turmoil in her eyes. He nodded sympathetically. "I understand. I''ll do everything I can to help her. However, considering that this is apletely new evolutionary path we don''t know the exact material requirements for this new evolutionary path. Unlike other evolutions that have been repeatedly tested and confirmed by our predecessors, we''ll be moving forward blindly.


    It will take a lot of work and luck."


    ina''s demeanor firmed up. "So, what''s the next step?"

 Chapter 172: Chapter 172: A Mystery

    Kain coughed into his hand awkwardly while covering up a slight smile at the corner of his lips.


    ''Now it''s time to put the rest of the n into action.''


    "Given the new circumstances, my job is technicallyplete once I''ve identified the problem. However, I understand the need to confirm the evolution. If you want me to see this through to a sessful evolution, I''ll need more resources and support. And, of course, a higher reward¡­"


    Seeing that ina wasn''t responding and just staring at him in silence, Kain continued, "The mission was initially not intended to include the actual evolution. It was only about identifying the problem. But considering theplexity of this situation, I think we''ll need to revise the current reward amount you agreed upon with the college."


    After a moment of deliberation, ina looked at him with a resolute expression. "If you can get Yara to sessfully evolve, I''ll increase the reward to 800 credits."


    Kain''s eyes widened slightly. He had only needed 600 credits, so the offer was more generous than he had expected. "Ahem! I suppose that amount will be okay¡­ just barely."


    "Great," ina said while nodding in satisfaction. "Geoffrey, will you please settle this matter with the college?" After a curt nod and a slight bow to ina, the butler left the room.


    "To achieve this, there are two main tasks at hand¡ªhaving Yara learn the necessary skill, and determining the new evolutionary materials. However, it will be difficult for me to take charge of both tasks¡­" Kain said, hoping that she would get the hint.


    ina''s eyes lit up with understanding. "I can arrange for a professional trainer to teach Yara the Light Shroud skill while you focus on determining the necessary materials."


    "Excellent!" Kain said with a bright smile. "In order to narrow down the required materials, I suggest we start by investigating the source of Yara''s mutation. It might have been caused by something her mother ingested or encountered."


    "I see¡­ I''ll escort you to speak with my father. He''s bound to Yara''s mother and might have some insights into this."


    "Perfect," Kain said. "Let''s get started."


    ina led him through the sprawling estate to the garden where her father was reportedly located. The garden was lush and meticulously maintained with arge amount of fire-attribute spiritual nts.


    As they approached, ina pointed to a man tending to a variety of exotic nts. "There''s my father. I''ll introduce you."


    Kain took a deep breath, preparing for the conversation that would hopefully lead to the information he needed to help Yara. ina made the introductions between Kain and her father¡ªDarius Ashenw.


    Then Kain began to outline the situation, carefully bncing the need for useful information with the need to maintain credibility in his fabricated story.


    "Hmmm¡­" Kain was examined by a pair of piercing green eyes identical to ina''s but much colder, "I didn''t take my Yanna to any unusual locations around the time that she would have been pregnant. So ording to you, Yanna may have ingested something... but if she did, I''m not aware of it. I''ll take you to her to ask."


    Darius gestured for Kain and ina to follow him toward the expansive garden area where two zing Ember Wyrms were resting.


    As they approached, Kain saw the pair of majestic wyrms basking under the sun, their red-orange scales shimmering in the light. Therger wyrm, who Kain assumed to be the father, was loungingfortably on the grass. The smaller, more delicate wyrm, who Kain presumed to be the mother, was nuzzling close to him. The two wyrms'' interactions showcased their deep bond.


    Darius called out to the mother wyrm with a voice that carried both authority and affection. "Yanna,e here, please."


    The mother wyrm gracefully rose and moved towards them, her movements fluid and elegant. As she approached, herrge, expressive eyes studied Kain with a mix of curiosity and a hint of wariness.


    Despite not being in a hostile rtionship with her, Kain couldn''t help but be intimidated by her imposing figure. She and her partner both possesseddark, volcanic-red and molten-orange scales that seemed to flicker like embers.


    While slightly smaller than her male counterpart, her body was still muscr and possessed fierce ws and a powerful tail tipped with a me that left a trail of heat waves as she moved toward them.


    Along both of their backs werejagged, sharp ridges that shifted in colour as she moved and gave the appearance of moving mes.


    Darius introduced Kain. "Yanna, this is Kain. He''s been helping us figure out the reason for Yara''s failed evolutions. He has discovered that Yara might have a unique mutation involving a light attribute."


    The wyrm''s gaze shifted to Kain, who offered a respectful nod. "Thank you for meeting with us, Yanna. We''re trying to determine if there''s anything unusual that might have happened during the time you were pregnant with Yara''s egg?"


    Yanna''s face was an impassive mask, though Kain thought he glimpsed a fleeting look of something unusual in her eyes¡ªWorry? Sadness? Panic? It was difficult to identify. Perhaps it was due to parental concern for Yara?


    Darius prompted, "Did you eat anything or go somewhere I wasn''t aware of? I know it was a few years ago, but can you remember anything?"


    Yanna''s deep, rumbling voice echoed softly as she replied, "I do not remember consuming or encountering anything out of the ordinary during that time."


    Despite being shocked by his first conversation with a spiritual creature, he knew that higher-level spiritual creatures may eventually develop the ability to speak, Kain had the presence of mind to study her expression closely. She had a calm appearance and ack of any visible signs of distress. However, his gut was telling him that there might be something hidden beneath herposed mask.


    But it''s not as though he could force a blue-grade spiritual creature to speak if it didn''t wish to. He just hoped that she wasn''t really hiding anything due to her concern for Yara''s well-being being great enough.


    "Thank you for your cooperation," Kain said, trying to keep his tone neutral. "It''s crucial that we gather as much information as possible to address Yara''s issue effectively."


    Darius nodded in agreement. "I understand. If there''s anything more you need from us, please don''t hesitate to ask."


    With that, Kain and ina separated from her father and walked back to the house. Kain couldn''t help but take a peak back at Yanna who, likely not realizing that she was being watched, had dropped her guard.


    Finally, Kain could identify the emotion that showed briefly in her eyes¡ªpure panic.

 Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Inventory

    ina walked beside him, "What do you think? Any other ideas on what could have caused the mutation?"


    ''Yeah. I do. But you''re not gonna like it.''


    "Nope. It may just be a random mutation¡­"


    "For now, could you perhaps show me the collection of spiritual materials your family has at its disposal? Preferably only those of fire and light attributes."


    She hesitated for a moment. After all, who lets a stranger they knew for less than 24 hours have ess to their family''s inventory?


    Seeing her hesitation Kain quickly added, "Due to the current quality of Yara and the likely quality of her evolution being at gold-grade, it is only necessary to see materials yellow-grade and under."


    Finally, she nodded in agreement. Yara had already been taken away to meet with a trainer skilled in light-attribute


    ina led Kain through the opulent halls of the Ashenw estate, their footsteps echoing off the marble floors.


    They reached arge wooden door intricately carved with mes and sigils. ina hesitated for a moment before opening it with a key she retrieved from a ne around her neck.


    The door swung open to reveal a vast room lined with shelves and disy cases. Inside were numerous items, each meticulously organized andbelled.


    "This is our collection of spiritual materials," ina said, the pride in her family''s rich heritage was obvious. "I hope it''s enough to allow Yara to evolve."


    Kain''s eyes scanned the room eagerly. His gazended on the various items: enchanted weapons, delicate vials of glowing liquids, and numerous talismans. He followed ina toward another aisle where the spiritual materials were located. By far, the majority of everything there was of the fire-attribute. However, there were still materials of other attributes although they were few and far between.


    "Excellent," Kain said, allowing a small smile to form on his lips. "I appreciate your trust. This will definitely help narrow down the potential evolutionary materials needed for Yara."


    He began to methodically examine the items, noting the various fire and light attribute materials. As he picked up a vial of golden liquid and a shard of pale crystal, he murmured to himself, pretending to be deep in thought.


    Of course, it was all a show. He didn''t learn enough theoretical knowledge to urately calcte what materials would be best to evolve a spiritual creature. Once he was left alone, he was going to use the Simtor.


    ina watched him closely, her expression a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. "Do you need any assistance? I can help you identify specific items or provide information about their origins if that would help."


    Kain waved his hand dismissively. "No need. No need. I''ve got it covered. What I need is just some privacy."


    Immediately she got a suspicious look on her face. "Just so you know, every single item here is cataloged, so don''t even try to steal anything."


    Kain rolled his eyes, "I am a respected student of Dark Moon College. You literally recruited me through the college. If I steal from you it''s hardly like I can run off into the night. And I''d hardly jeopardize my college career to steal yellow-grade materials."


    ina blushed slightly at the sound reasoning, however she still didn''t leave the room. Instead, she stood by a nearby table, observing Kain''s every move.


    An hour passed as Kain continued to pick up random items and pretend to examine them while humming thoughtfully. At some point, he''d even taken a notepad out of storage space to take "notes." Really he was just drawing random doodles.


    As he continued his examination, ina''s phone buzzed. She nced at it and her expression shifted to one of concern.


    "I''ll be right back," she said, stepping out of the room. "There''s an urgent matter I need to attend to."


    Another 30 minutes passed before she returned and Kain prepared to leave. It was already prettyte in the afternoon once Kain had entered the inventory, now the sun was beginning to set and it was about time for him to leave.


    "I hope everything is alright," Kain said, ncing up from a fire and light dual attribute sunstone he was examining.


    ina''s expression noticeably darkened, "Yara copsed after only some light exercises and was barely breathing. I don''t know how long it''ll take for her to learn the skill in her current condition. Maybe months, if she can hold out that long."


    ''Oh no no no! I do NOT have time to wait around for months until she learns the necessary skill and I get paid. Light Shroud is only a B-level skill, I thought it''d be learned in a few days with a skilled trainer. Especially since the Glimmering Smander already knows a simr fire-attribute skill, Ember Shroud.''


    Kain thought about a method to speed up her learning of the skill. Unfortunately, due to theck of a contract, he could not bring her into the Training Arena. Maybe in the future, that limitation will be lifted. However, for now, Kain only had one thing he thought might be of use.


    "I have an item that may be of some use in improving her condition¡­"


    ina shook her head, "No need. We have ess to some of the best elixirs on the market. None have been particrly effective. The damage to Yara is at the level of her life force¡ªher soul¡ªit''s not like healing a wound."


    "I understand. But still, I would like to try my method. It''s not as though you have anything to lose anyway. I assure you that Yara''s condition with either remain the same or improve, but it will definitely now worsen.


    Finally, she relented. Although she didn''t seem to have any faith that what Kain would do would have any effect.


    Kain was nning to use Queen''s royal jelly produced by her skill the Essence of Life. The strong life-attribute energy in the jelly should have an affect on restoring lifeforce.


    Kain took out a small amount he''d already stored in a jar in case of emergencies. After all, it was more effective than most healing elixirs at and below yellow-grade.


    Compared to regr honey which was more of a deep amber colour and translucent, it was an opaque cream colour.


    Retrieving a spoon from his space ring, he spooned some into Yara''s mouth. This was the first time Kain was getting to try the effects of the royal jelly, so he was also filled with curiosity.


    Within seconds there was a noticeable improvement to her appearance. Although her scales did not return to their previously golden hue, they much more closely resembled how they probably looked in her prime based on the simted version of her provided by the System.


    ina''s eyes widened in shock at Kain''s unexpectedly effective treatment.


    Meanwhile, Kain hid the great shock he felt under a calm mask. The royal jelly produced by the SS-level skill Essence of Life was even more effective than he''d thought.


    "I will focus on developing the evolutionary n, but we can''t dy Yara''s training for so long. Whenever her condition begins to decline, please call me to treat her again."


    Kain then left the manor for the night and returned to his hotel room after a luxurious dinner in the heart of the city.

 Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Suspicions Confirmed

    Once Kain was back in the privacy of his own bedroom, he began to run Simtions for the mutant Glimmering Smander using the spiritual materials in his employers'' inventory and his own. However, every single Simtion was unsessful.


    And now he''dpletely run out of GP to use since only 650 GP was remaining after the System upgrade and the purchases he''d made.


    "Vera. Any insight that you could provide would be great right about now. Surely after seeing 6 tries you''ve collected enough data."


    "Six attempts are not nearly enough in order to deduce the source of the failure 100%," Vera said.


    "However, I do predict that along with the Infernal Stone that is the irreceable centerpiece of the evolution to an Infernal Smander and used in conjunction with other fire-attribute materials that can be substituted, there must be a simr necessary material needed by the other bloodline it possesses."


    Vera''s statement confirmed a guess that Kain had hoped was incorrect. After all, how exactly was he going to broach this subject with Yara''s mother without being torched to death.


    "You can confirm with 100% certainty that the mutation is due to another bloodline? Not a random mutation." Kain asked. He had to be sure before he went around throwing out usations.


    "There is no 100% in science, but I can say with at least 99.99% probability that the mutation is due to an additional bloodline. Likely, a light-attribute lizard-type spiritual creature simr in appearance to its other parent so that the appearance of this bloodline is subtle."


    Kain really did not know how to feel after having his suspicions confirmed. His mind shed back to the male half of the loving pair he''d seen earlier.


    "Sigh¡­poor guy¡­"


    However,pletely unable to continue with his simtions Kain had to develop a n to increase his GP. Due to being a city more to the west and slightly closer towards the core of the Empire, and not along the Empire''s border acting as a defensive wall to the vast wilderness to the east like Dark Moon, Moonstone City did not have as many high-level spiritual creatures surrounding it.


    In fact, theck of danger is probably why this city is sorge. Had Dark Moon City not been the site of the college, it likely would have been surpassed in scale long ago.


    However, while this safety was great for the residents, it meant that Kain couldn''t even go on a quick hunting mission to solve his issue of low GP.


    "If I knew this mission would take so long, I would have risked missing ss on Monday to go to a far enough region with powerful enough spiritual creatures. Now, if Yara can''t quickly learn Light Shroud, I''ll be in a simr predicament of missing ss. Maybe I could request to return back to the college until Yara is finished learning? But while Darius would likely agree, ina seems¡­difficult.


    Especially now that I revealed that I can improve Yara''s condition, she may not let me go¡­"


    "Ugh! All of my professors have said that attendance was mandatory. I''ve never seen anyone miss a lecture before, and I absolutely do not want to be the first."


    "I''ll settle the issue of GP by maybe asking the Ashenws to provide me with living spiritual creatures to feed my spiritual creature. I only need to kill 3 more orange-grade spiritual creatures toplete the current mission anyways and have it reset."


    "However, 3 to 4 more tries won''t be nearly enough if I can''t at least narrow down what that other required material is. Which means¡­I''m going to have to have a little chat with Yara''s mother."


    A shiver ran down Kain''s spine at the thought. When Yanna wasn''t hostile to him she was already terrifying, once she does be hostile to him he really doesn''t even know what he''ll do¡­ What he CAN do. He''spletely hopeless against green-grade spiritual creatures, much less the more powerful blue-grade spiritual creatures.


    ''I wish the Gic Reconstructor also could identify genes and tell me the species. Then I could skip out on a very awkward conversation. Unfortunately, it could only take the genes of certain traits and put them into another creature.''


    With a feeling of futile hope, Kain went to the System Shop praying that there was something he could exchange for that could maybe protect him against creatures at Yanna''s level.


    However, there was nothing of the sort, not that he''d have been able to afford it anyways with only 50 GP left.


    "Argh! I''ll think more about it in the morning¡­"


    Kain went to sleep, but it was definitely a restless night filled with tossing and turning as his dreams were filled with 100 ways to die, starring him and the zing Ember Wyrm Yanna.


    ---------


    The next day Kain woke up with huge dark circles under his eyes.


    Thankfully, he wasn''t questioned about the reason behind his evidently poor quality of sleep. In fact, the members of the Ashenw family took it for granted that he must have been staying upte working on Yara''s case. As a result, the faces of ina, her father, and even the butler, were much more gentle today than yesterday.


    "You didn''t have toe so early to continue working. Yara''s trainer and many of the staff for the manor haven''t even arrived yet since theyeter on weekends."


    Kain waved his hand carelessly. Like hell he''d want to stay in his hotel room and be killed by Yanna 100 more times in his dreams. It was best to get an early start and preupy his mind.


    Seeing Kain''s "dedication" to his work, ina''s voice became even softer. "Please then, join me for breakfast. Yara will also be there, so you can also take the time examine her again."


    At this Kain nodded. He hadn''t had an appetite when he first woke up so it wouldn''t hurt to get a free meal off of them.


    Kain followed ina to what was likely a less formal sitting room used only for family and not for hosting. However, he only said so to the smaller more intimate size of the dining table. Everything else from the massive hanging crystal chandelier to the intricately carved wooden table and chairs screamed opulence.


    After sitting down at the table with ina, her father Darius, and her mother who he''d just met today¡ªSeraphina Ashenw. She was also contracted to the male zing Ember Wyrm Kain saw yesterday¡ªYara''s "father."


    Seeing her, Kain was once again reminded of the awkward secret he seemed to have stepped into and looked at Yara who looked noticeably better than yesterday and was eating a bowl of specially prepared food next to the table.


    However, as Kain continued to examine Yara, an idea hatched in his mind on how to more safely get the answers he needed¡­

 Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Awkward Conversation

    At the same time that Kain was examining the Yara, the surrounding members of the Ashenw family were also examining him.


    ''This young man is so devoted to his work, the raise in reward is well deserved,'' Darius thought while looking at Kain.


    ''I was doubtful when my husband revealed that the solution to Yara''s problem was such a young person. However, it looks like age is not as much an urate predictor of sess as hard work. He''s so diligent.'' Thought Seraphina.


    ''Maybe this guy isn''t so bad. At least he''d better than the other guys in the city who only try to appeal with the money earned by their parents and their looks but have no real skills of their own.'' Thought ina with a slight blush creeping across her face.


    However, unbeknownst to them who all were admiring the seemingly hard-working Kain¡­


    ''It''d be hard for her to torch me if I use her daughter as a shield. He he he'' Kain was thinking deviously while nning to hold a juvenile spiritual creature captive while interrogating her mother.


    "Ahem! Since it''ll still be at least another couple of hours before Yara''s trainer arrived, I was wondering if I could take her around the grounds. Particrly where her mother may usually roam. asionally, spiritual creatures may have a reaction to the spiritual materials they need for evolution. Perhaps, if there is something on the grounds that triggered this mutation, she will react to it.


    It''d be even better if Yanna could escort me. It is a long shot though, but I figured we should explore every possibility." Kain said while facing 3 gentle gazes.


    Kain couldn''t help but have goosebumps appear across his arms at the looks so different from yesterday.


    "You truly do not stop thinking about work, do you young man?" Said Darius. "Do not mind, I will make sure that you are granted all of the necessary provisions and have Yanna escort you around the areas she most frequents."


    "Excellent! You all can continue with your meal. Thank you so much for inviting me, but I would love to get straight to work."


    Kain then quickly stood up, picked up Yara from where she was lounging with a full stomach and left the room. He followed his memory to once again reach the lush gardens outside.


    The moment he stepped into the garden he spotted Yanna alone. Likely she had already been debriefed on the situation through her bond with Darius.


    The towering figure of Yanna, the zing Ember Wyrm, cast a shadow over him. Her scales shimmered with a fierce orange glow, and her eyes, sharp and piercing, seemed to analyze his every movement.


    "Hello, I am Kain. We met briefly yesterday¡­" Kain decided to break the silence.


    Yanna''s her expression was unreadable. However, unlike the other 3 in the house, there was absolutely no warmth in her cold gaze.


    Without a word, she turned and started down the path into the forest, her massive body swaying with each step. The air seemed to hum from the intense heat waves her body gave off.


    The path twisted and turned, leading them deeper into the garden and further from the Ashenw manor. Now he could now longer see the house¡­meaning that they could no longer see him.


    Kain clutched his little meat shield, Yara, closer to his chest. He wasn''t sure if it was just him but the whole atmosphere of their silent walk felt unsettling.


    The only sound was Yanna''s heavy body crushing the nts as she moved with purpose. Kain''s mind raced as he tried to formte his approach. He needed to be careful¡ª a wrong move could lead to disaster.


    He wasn''t sure if it was all in his head, but he felt as though there was an underlying hostilitying off of her, and he couldn''t afford to provoke her. He kept a close watch on Yanna''s form, trying to discern any sign of her mood or if she''d make any sudden actions.


    Eventually, Yanna stopped in a small clearing surrounded by ancient trees. The area was tranquil, the only sound being the rustling of leaves in the breeze. She turned to face Kain, her eyes narrowing slightly. The silence was heavy, and Kain could feel the weight of the Wyrm''s gaze.


    "Alright," Kain began, using all of his self-control to keep his voice from quivering under the gaze of a creature far more powerful than him. "The gift I had previously mentioned that allowed me to determine that Yara was a mutant with unique conditions for evolution, also provides me with some additional information that I chose not to disclose.


    For example, that Yara''s mutation is from her bloodline rather than a random mutation or due to you ingesting a unique spiritual nt."


    Yanna didn''t reply. Instead her gaze got narrower and narrower while the surrounding air got hotter and hotter. Kain couldn''t help but to raise Yara up higher in his arms, hoping to silently remind her that he was currently holding her only child.


    ''Please don''t kill me. Please don''t kill me.''


    Kain took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. "I do not care how this bloodline was acquired. It isABSOLUTELY none of my business."


    ''And I don''t want to risk you killing me to keep your secret.''


    "However, I need some kind of information about the identity of the recessive bloodline to help Yara evolve. She is your only child, and I''m sure you can sense that her life-force is weak. She will die young if she cannot sessfully evolve."


    Yanna''s gaze softened ever so slightly and her expression became extremelyplicated at the reminder of her daughter''s predicament.


    However, the temperature around them still continued to steadily rise. He felt the greatest pressure of his life, he seemed to be pressed by a heavy mountain, and he did not dare to act rashly or even move a finger suddenly.


    ''Don''t tell me she''d even risk killing her own daughter to keep this a secret?!''


    "Truly! I have no intention of prying! Even if you could not provide me with the specific identity of the bloodline, would you at least have any clues about the important evolutionary materials for that bloodline? An object simr in its importance to the Infernal Stone that Glimmering Smanders usually need to evolve.


    Even if you''re not sure, a list of possible objects to narrow it down to could save Yara!"


    Kain had probably never spoken so quickly in his life. However, even faster than his speech was his racing heart. At any moment she may decide that it was worth it to just blow the two of them up.


    ''Please¡­'' Kain prayed.

 Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Awkward Conversation (2)

    Kain could barely maintain hisposure as he faced the imposing figure of Yanna.


    He held Yara close, her small frame was honestly more reassuring as a shield than any enchanted weapon he''d have ess to. Each second felt like an eternity, and Kain could almost feel the oppressive heat seeping into his bones.


    Yanna''s eyes seared into him as though she were trying to gauge the sincerity of his words¡ªthat he would truly not try to pry into the past.


    Kain knew he was treading on thin ice, and the stakes were higher than ever. His and Yara''s survival both depended on the oue of this conversation.


    "Please," Kain said, his voice steady despite the heat. "I don''t need to know the exact source of the bloodline... maybe it happened due to the ingestion of something unusual that happened contain a bloodline. Although extremely rare, it isn''t unheard."


    ''In reality it is¡­suddenly acquiring a bloodline through ingestion of a special material or the corpse of another spiritual creature only happens in stories. Mutations are more possible, but not a bloodline. And even if a bloodline were to be obtained in such a manner, it''d be unlikely to pass on to the next generation.


    Typically, the introduction of a new bloodline can only ur under extremely rare conditions during evolution, and such acquired bloodlines are not passed on to the children.''


    "It''s clear that this is a sensitive subject¡­What I''m asking for is simply a list of possible clues that you suspect may be rted to Yara''s mutation.


    Perhaps a light attribute spiritual material was near you at the time you were pregnant that could affect you without you knowing¡­ If you could provide me with that, I can focus my search and perhaps uncover the necessary item without probing into matters that are personal and painful."


    Yanna''s gaze remained intense, her eyes narrowing slightly as if assessing the weight of his request. The air around them grew hotter still, a clear indication of her inner turmoil. Kain took a cautious step back, giving her space to consider his words¡ªbut mostly to cool down.


    For a long moment, Yanna remained silent, her massive form seemingly lost in thought. The rustling of leaves was the only sound that broke the oppressive silence since every other living creature in the vicinity had long been scared away.


    Kain held his breath, every second feeling like it might be hisst, but he knew that pushing too hard could be catastrophic.


    Finally, with a heavy sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the world, Yanna spoke. Her voice, though still gruff, carried a note of reluctant resignation. "Very well. I will tell you some of the events that could potentially be linked to the light-attribute bloodline that Yara mysteriously acquired."


    Kain nodded vigorously, his heart pounding with a mix of relief and anticipation. "Thank you. That''s all I ask. Any information you can provide will be invaluable."


    "Now that I am thinking back, there are some things that may be rted to Yara''s mutation, although I couldn''t remember when you and Darius asked previously¡­"


    ''Yeah sure, you stick with that story¡­''


    "During the period I was pregnant, an unusual spiritual creature broke into the garden. It seemed quite mischievous. Now that I think about it, it seemed to resemble a pure-blood genie, and as you know pure-blooded genies can createpletely unbelievable effects due to their influence over the practically unheard-of attribute of fate.


    Perhaps a spiritual material rted to a genie would be the possible spiritual material¡­"


    ''Wow! I don''t know if it''s because she''s a spiritual creature or if she''s just unused to it, but she is an absolutely terrible liar. Nobody would ever believe that story. At least I won''t have to waste my time with following that lead.''


    Likely because Kain was still looking at her expectantly, she continued with her next story. "A-Also, now that I think about it. I happened to eat a Bloodline Bloom which, as I''m sure you know as such an educated person, can allow the user to absorb part of the bloodline of the next creature they ingested. And right after eating the Bloodline Bloom I happened to um¡­eat¡­a Srre Drakeling."


    ''Isn''t the Bloodline Bloom a make-believe flower in the children''s novel My Little Dragon? Does she actually believe that it''s real?'' Suddenly Kain was no longer as terrified of her. In fact, she was almost cute, in a really obscure way, in her naivety and bumbling attempts to conceal the truth.


    ''However, the mention of a Srre Drakeling may be significant¡ªYara''s biological father?''


    "F-finally¡­there is onest possibility. Ah, yes! R-right before I had actuallyid Yara''s egg, I soaked in the pond at the back of the property. However, at that time it was unusual. VERY unusual¡­" Then she fell silent. Kain waited to no avail for her to continue her next story.


    At least a full minute passed with them inplete silence.


    "Um¡­How exactly was it unusual?" Kain prompted her to continue her story.


    "Well¡­it was just unusual¡­so unusual because¡­it was red! Like blood! Maybe an extremely powerful spiritual creature with a light attribute got injured and bled in the pool, and that''s where Yara''s bloodline came from."


    ''That would not have any chance of allowing Yara to acquire a bloodline. She really has no idea about how bloodlines are acquired does she¡­''


    "Any idea on what kind of spiritual creature bled in the water?" Kain asked.


    "Uh¡­no"


    ''Okay, no need to continue wasting my time.''


    "Great! Thank you for all of your help. I have a lot to think about. Yara''s trainer should be arriving soon and I better get her back." Kain took his leave and left Yanna behind.


    Yanna noticeably sagged in relief that Kain did not ask for too many details about her stories. She also looked visibly exhausted as though she''d just been through a tough battle. Clearly, having toe up with so many stories had drained her mentally.


    However, her clumsy attempts at concealing Yara''s bloodline were pointless.


    Kain walked back to the manor much more happily. He nced down at Yara in his arms.


    ''It looks like you are one-half Srre Drakeling.''

 Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Radiant Salamander

    After giving Yara some more royal jelly to ensure she could handle the training, Kain went to a private study in the Ashenw household that they were kind enough to lend to him.


    Additionally, upon his request, they provided him with books about the Srre Drakeling and its pre-evolution forms.


    The Srre Drakeling is a light and fire dual attribute spiritual creature. Simr to the zing Ember Wyrm it also had a small amount of dragon''s blood. Looking at its appearance, it had radiant golden scales that transitioned to a fiery orange at its underbelly. However, its appearance is quite different from Yara''s.


    Kain turned to the portion of the text that talked about its two prior forms. They usually start as light and fire attribute Luminous Lizards as juveniles, which look like small lizards with scales that glow a soft light-yellow. The appearance of the Luminous Lizard more closely resembles Yara, and he could see why her scales were probably lighter.


    Then the next evolutionary form is the Radiant Lizard, which closely resembles the Luminous Lizard but isrger and more robust and also has arge orange crest surrounding its head resembling the sun.


    The predominant attribute for both of the earlier forms is the light-attribute, however the two attributes be more equal in the Srre Drakeling.


    ''So should I try to bnce the attributes from now, since the light attribute is very weak right now? Should I have the fire-attribute continue to be the dominant one? Or should I have the light attribute be the dominant attribute?''


    Kain had already requested to have living orange-grade spiritual creatures delivered to him to supposedly feed his contract. Thankfully, their good impression of him made them very agreeable to his request.


    Moonstone City were not surrounded by as many woods rich in spiritual creatures as Dark Moon City, therefore they can''t as easily hunt for the spiritual creatures they want for meat. Therefore, Moonstone City, not Dark Moon City, actually had thergest livestock industry in the eastern region by far.


    It would be even easier to obtain living spiritual creatures for meat here than it would at Dark Moon.


    Also, unlike Kain''s hometown Brightstar City that rarely saw a spiritual creature above red-grade and didn''t have much of a spiritual beast farming industry (the limited amount of decent quality spiritual creatures would be used to breed new contracts and not killed easily) there were many more orange-grade and even yellow grade spiritual creatures raised in captivity simply to supply food.


    Of course, after generations in captivity they are among the weakest at their level and the benefits they provide upon consumption aren''t even a quarter of their wild counterparts, but an orange-grade spiritual creature is still an orange-grade spiritual creature and it shouldn''t matter to the System.


    Three orange-grade spiritual creatures were delivered to Kain as requested. They were extremely old and would be on the verge of death anyway. Kain was told that they were recently retired members of breeding pairs that had been used to produce the next generation of spiritual creatures for food.


    However, the remains of the body had to be returned back to the farmer, they had agreed under the condition that Kain would just need the brains.


    Kain used them to finish his remaining mission, and put in a simr request for the next day. Kain had arrived here Friday, today was Saturday, and he would need to catch a train back tomorrow night in order to attend sses. Before then, he''d need to tie up as many loose ends as possible.


    After finishing this mission and adding the 350 GP to the 50 he already had, Kain had enough GP for 4 Simtions. He''d still need to be very careful with each attempt.


    Thankfully, the information on the evolution of Luminous Lizards was easy to obtain, and Kain was able to narrow down the required evolutionary material to the Radiant Flower, a spiritual nt with light and fire attributes.


    Along with the Infernal Stone required by normal Glimmering Smander for evolution, Kain only needs a suitable stabilizing material to reduce any negative reactions during an evolution with 2 or more elements. He eventually settled on a tear-shaped gem in the Ashenw inventory, the Sunze Tear which has just this property.


    Kain put the necessary materials into the Simtor for the mutated Glimmering Smander, and the light of evolution began. Fortunately, the light appeared stable. Much more stable and longsting than any of his previous tries.


    Finally, Yara''s future appearance was before him. Thankfully, it still closely resembles the appearance of the Infernal Smanders. However, the difference in colour is very apparent.


    Unlike most Infernal Smanders with a deep red-gold scale colour, this evolutionary form had the stunning appearance of molten gold across most of the body and faded into a gradient of shimmering pale gold along the underbelly.


    The name attributed to it by the System is also abination of its two lineages¡ªRadiant Smander.


    ''However, it''s the first of its kind that I know of, I guess I can just make up another name that doesn''t so obviously hint at Yanna''s infidelity. After all, there''s no reason to stick my nose into a much more powerful family''s business. What if I''m killed to keep this scandal a secret?''


    Kain proudly exited the System and left the manor in the afternoon under the excuse that he needed a change of scenery to help him think. In actuality, he already had the evolutionary n and just wanted to use the remainder of the day touring the city. And it was an enjoyable mini-vacation indeed.


    Although the potency of spiritual beast meat is much lower here than at Dark Moon due to most of the meating from beasts raised in captivity, and was also more homogenous due to the limited number of spiritual creatures suited for being livestock, the food in the city made up for it with quantity and cost.


    Kain could get a heaping stack of spiritual creature meat at most restaurants¡ªribs, steaks, and more¡ªfor only a fraction of the cost at Dark Moon City.


    Stomach bulging slightly in contentment, Kain retired to his hotel room for the rest of the evening.


    ----------------


    Kain notified the Ashenw family that he had formted an Evolutionary n he was confident in the next day.


    Thankfully, their trust in him now was much greater than it was when he first arrived and they didn''t make any snide remarks about needing to get it checked by another nner¡ªespecially since all of the nner''s they''d previously requested couldn''t even figure out what was wrong with Yara.


    Yara''s progress in learning the new skill was slow but steady. That also probably helped with their confidence in Kain since, although she hadn''t learned Light Shroud yet, the trainer also supported Kain''s im that Yara definitely is able to manipte the light attribute.


    Unfortunately, since Yara hadn''t yet met the requirements for evolution, Kain wasn''t able to finish his mission.


    "I gave you the n. You can just have Yara evolve once she learns the necessary skill. You really don''t need my presence here." Kain''s lips twitched in irritation as ina once again refused to sign off on hispletion of the mission and insisted he returned to oversee Yara''s evolution.


    Unfortunately, neither of her parents were currently in the manor otherwise he''d have had more sess convincing them to not be so unreasonable.


    Likely, because she knew how unfair of a request this was Kain was weed to 5 elderly orange-grade spiritual creatures this morning to contribute to the renewed System Mission and Bea''s meal. He''d thought it was out of their appreciation for him, but he sees that it was more likely out of guilt.


    "Ahem! The trainer says that Yara is making rapid progress. If youe back next weekend she should havepletely learned the skill by then." ina said awkwardly.


    Kain didn''t even bother to reply. He stared unhappily at her to wordlessly express his protest with this arrangement. ''Now I have to put off evolving Bea for another week! Just great!''


    "How about you take something from our inventory as a token of my apology? It can be anything orange-grade or lower."


    The expression in Kain''s eyes lightened up slightly. Likely seeing this ina pushed on.


    "Really! I have full authority over any spiritual materials in that range. And I promise to have 5 more¡ªno, 10!¡ªorange-grade spiritual creatures waiting for you when you return."


    "Sigh¡­ fine." Kain finally relented and followed ina to the inventory, there was already a material he''d had his eyes on from the first time he''d entered. Although not for Yara or any of his own contracts¡ªit was a breakthrough in the Lumifin evolution investigation.

 Chapter 178: Chapter 178: First Patent Pending

    Kain hadn''t given up on investigating the Lumifin''s evolutionary form ever since the previous Simtions. However, he didn''t want to waste any more GP on simtions when he wasn''t sure about how to increase the faint line pattern covering the Lumifin to the rest of its body.


    However, when he was taking his sweet time going through the Ashenw inventory and pretending to mull over each item, there was one item that did stop him in his tracks¡ªOpal Glow Lotus.


    The Opal Glow Lotus is a breathtaking flower with broad, gracefullyyered petals that shimmer with an ethereal, pearly white glow. Its hues blend together soft shades of white, pink, and blue, creating a mesmerizing, shifting glow as light dances across its surface.


    The petals are smooth and translucent with a constant dewy quality, making it ideal for infusing a subtle, moonlit dewy glow to the skin when smeared on.


    The lotus is a white-grade spiritual flower that has very little value in increasing the strength of a spiritual creature or human. It has only one known purpose, to improve the quality of the skin when used over time. It is amon ingredient in at-home skin masks and beauty regimens for housewives across the nation.


    However, it was this useless light-attribute flower that stopped Kain in his tracks in the inventory. As he stared at it for close to an hour, he finally figured out in what way it resembled the faint lines on the Lumifin, and the identity of those lines, a concept that he hadn''te across since he was on Earth in his past life¡ªthe Golden Ratio.


    Kain suspected that the lines, if he were to measure their proportions, would adhere to the golden ratio like this flower. Therefore, in order to increase the coverage of such lines, he may need to focus on these seemingly useless but beautiful spiritual nts that adhere to this ratio¡ªand the closer the nt adheres to this ratio the better.


    This cosmetic ingredient, out of all the nts that Kain''s seen so far, most perfectly adheres to this ratio. Moreover, it is extremely cheappared to most evolutionary ingredients, meaning that it perfectly suits Kain''s needs for an evolutionary form that targets the masses.


    Kain could easily buy some on his own, but most are gathered in the western and southern regions where there are a lot more bodies of water, therefore it can be weeks or even months before he receives his order. None of the other red-grade or orange-grade materials were particrly desirable for him at this point, so he went with the extremely cheap but plentiful box of lotuses.


    When Kain indicated that he wanted the entire box of Opal Glow Lotuses, ina was confused and a slightly judgmental glint appeared in her eye.


    "Based on how you usually look, I didn''t think you were the type to take such careful care of your appearance. However, since it''s not particrly valuable, you can take the whole box"


    ''Excuse me?!'' Kain decided not to even acknowledge the insulting statement. Instead he just stepped forward to retrieve the box containing dozens of the flower, likely her mother''s stock for several months.


    ''Your mother will likely be pissed at you giving away all of them to me, since this is probably her personal stash that she just stored here¡­but dealing with the fallout is your problem'' Kain thought happily at theing retribution. Unfortunately, he won''t be around to see it.


    After putting away the flowers, Kain left Moonstone City and headed back to Dark Moon College.


    He spent the remainder of the week attending sses and visiting Barret to test out the preservation of the beer.


    Additionally, learning from Moonstone City, Kain visited all of the livestock owners in Dark Moon City to see if they had any retired elderly orange-grade and above spiritual creatures he could use toplete his hunting mission.


    Fortunately, because he only wanted to kill them toplete the mission and feed Bea, they were mostly all receptive to the arrangement.


    Unfortunately, because the scale of the livestock industry is so much smaller than Moonstone City, after scouring the whole city, Kain only managed to obtain 8 old spiritual creatures, and it''d likely be a long time before he could get another one from them.


    Additionally, due to the spiritual power in them after generations of taming and a reduction in their capabilities, the spiritual power they contained was not much better than red-grade spiritual creatures and Kain still had to supplement Bea''s meals with the brains yellow and brains green-grade supplied by the school.


    ''Sigh¡­I thought I''d finally found a way to hack the missions and get Bea a steady supply of fresh food. Maybe once I get the business up and running, and I have more money, I can consider starting my own livestock farm or shipping a steady supply of living spiritual creatures from across the empire for her to eat and finish the missions.''


    However, with the increased amount of GP Kain was able to do several simtions on the Lumifin, not only with the Opal Glow Lotus, but also with other spiritual materials that closely match the golden ratio, including weak white-grade ones and more powerful-orange grade ones, to see if the evolutionary form will change.


    He also used a couple of the simtions to try different attributed spiritual nts that match the golden ratio.


    Finally, Kain developed a set of rules for the Lumifin''s evolution and only needed to start the process of proving that it works in reality and filing the patent.


    The first rule was that the materials used must be of the water and/or light attribute. Any other attributes will cause the evolution to unquestionably fail.


    The second rule was that rather than the spiritual power in the material what is more important is how closely it aligns with the golden ratio. A material that doesn''t closely align with the golden ratio with result in failure. The degree to which a material matches the sequence can be graded on a scale from 0 to 1¡ªsomething Kain called the Golden Score.


    The third rule was that no matter what materials were used, the total Golden Score must exceed 1. If multiple materials need to be used to match this requirement, then materials used to stabilize the evolution must be used and the chances of failure increase. That is why it is best to use only 1 to 2 materials with a higher golden score.


    From all of the ones Kain has studied so far and had Vera calcte a Golden Score for¡ªit''s wonderful having an assistant to do the grunt work¡ªthe best material in terms of score and cost is undoubtedly the Opal Glow Lotus with an impressive score of 0.97, meaning only 2 of the cheap flowers were needed to seed at the evolution.


    Additionally, since they are the same material and low in spiritual power, a stabilizer isn''t as necessary and an evolution can be attempted with a 97% sess rate if the beast-tamer doesn''t want to splurge on a stabilizer.


    Finally, no matter what materials are used for evolution, as long as the evolution is sessful the evolutionary form will be the same:


    --------------


    Species: Gilded Serafin


    The Gilded Serafin is the evolutionary form of the Lumifin, perfectly embodying the bnce and beauty of the golden ratio. Its body is adorned with intricate spiral patterns that follow this mathematical principle, creating a beautiful visual harmony.


    The creature glows with a soft, ethereal light that reflects its emotions, resulting in a stunning disy of colors that shift and dance across its surface. Its mesmerizing beauty will mesmerize other spiritual creatures and humans alike.


    Quality: Silver


    Type: Fish


    Attribute: Water, Light


    A-Ethereal Charm: With thebination of the Gilded Serafin''s appearance as well as a calming glow, it can enthrall nearby creatures and make enemies temporarily unwilling to attack. The effective time is 5 minutes for spiritual creatures at the same level, and 1 minute for those one level higher.


    Spiritual creatures beneath the Serafin in strength will be enthralled until the Serafin runs out of spiritual power.


    B-Luminous Mirage: The Gilded Serafin can manipte light to create a dazzling illusion that mimics its surroundings, making it difficult for enemies to pinpoint its location. This skill enhances its stealth and allows it to evade threats effectively.


    C-Spiral Torpedo: A swirling vortex of water can beunched at opponents. The strength of the skill, and whether it has the strength of a water balloon or sharpnce, is highly dependent on the skill proficiency of the user.


    ----------------------


    When Kain first saw the evolutionary form, he was more than satisfied. Silver-quality was even higher than he''d hoped for considering it was originally only a ck-iron quality spiritual creature and white-grade spiritual nts were used for the evolution. Plus it has an A-level skill that will allow safety from higher level creatures for one minute.


    It perfectly met all of Kain''s requirements for a spiritual creature that would target the masses. Plus, its beautiful appearance will make it even more popr, not only with low-level beast-tamers but powerful people who''d want to collect it as a pet.


    Finally, since neither group would likely expect it to ever reach a level above orange-grade, they won''t be put off by theck of a known evolutionary form. Most beast-tamers level D and under will likely never pass being a 2-star beast-tamer in their life.


    After all, while the affinity rating is more so a prediction of the creatures that can be contracted, being bound to more powerful spiritual creatures would definitely help with condensing each star. For example, now that Eve had broken through to orange-grade, Kain will have a much easier time at condensing his next star due to the feedback from her.


    However, Kain does not n to leave them high and dry. Since it is the first evolutionary form developed by him, and the species will likely be associated with him forever, Kain nned to take responsibility and develop the Lumifin until the end. That way it''d also provide some hope for even the lower-level beast-tamers to one day reach the middle-level of 4-stars and above.

 Chapter 179: Chapter 179: Mission Finally Over

    Once the next weekend arrived, Kain headed back to Moonstone City.


    After establishing the rules for Lumifin''s evolution, Kain had spent much of his free time working on the patent.


    The patent first requires for Kain to prove that the proposed evolutionary form is reliable, with at least 5 proven instances of sess (of course the more the better) and a sess rate above 90%.


    Additionally, to prove that the credit of the research is his own, Kain must organize his research notes and write a report outlining his thought process when encountering any sesses and failures. Thankfully, Kain didn''t have to actually re-enact all of the failed evolutions, and the descriptions of the failed evolutions and evolutionary forms such as Gloomtail will suffice.


    Since they were failures, if he imed to have discarded them, nobody would dig too deep. Especially since he was a newbie.


    However, Kain must also sessfully evolve at least 5 Lumifin, and he must have them in person to present when someonees to actually verify his results. Therefore, he put in a rush order for the capture of 10 wild Lumifins in case, and is simply awaiting their delivery to Dark Moon City.


    Over the past week, in preparation of them he''d paid a localpany to dig up arge pond in the backyard of the property he owns in the suburbs. He had already purchased some artificial spiritual orbs at only orange-grade and cheaper catalysts on the market, keeping in mind that he wanted to prove the effectiveness of his evolution n even with lower-quality materials used for evolution.


    Additionally, although only a little more than a week had passed since first opening the beer barrel, Kain could already see that Barret was leaning towards partnering with him since barely any reduction in quality was sensed each time they reopened it to obtain a sample.


    ''Everything is finallying together. I just need to finish this one mission to get Bea to evolve and then all of the ns I''d made recently will be on track.''


    Thankfully, Kain had confirmed before making the trip that Yara had learned the necessary skill so this trip wasn''t a waste. Plus he could take this trip to prey on their guilt of having him make this trip toplete more orange-grade hunting missions.


    When Kain arrived in Moonstone City Friday morning, he was pleased to find that they''d sent a car for him. They must have been even more anxious than him to get Yara''s evolutionpleted.


    Thankfully, everything went smoothly. In an open clearing surrounded by the anxious members of the Ashenw family, Kain, and her "parents," Yara began to glow with the light of evolution due to the n Kain had created.


    After the glow emitted hadsted far longer than the previous attempts without any signs of the energy going out of control, the tense bodies of those watching in the clearing rxed.


    Finally, after some more minutes the figure of the Radiant Smander was revealed. However, that species name was only known to Kain, since it was the first of its kind that they knew of, the members of the Ashenw family selected a name themselves and eventually settled on Cinderlight Smander.


    After participating in a celebratory dinner in which they all thanked Kain for his work, and he was given the promised orange-grade spiritual creatures for Bea to feed on andplete the mission. ina escorted him to the front door of the manor.


    "By the way ina, by any chance have you ever met a Srre Drakeling?" Just before leaving the manor Kain was finally unable to repress his curiosity about Yara''s potential father.


    "Yes. Our former neighbours across the pond at the back of our property had one. Why?" She asked in confusion.


    ''The neighbour? Tsk tsk.''


    "No reason," Kain said while making sure to have no changes in his face or tone, "I''ve just been researching a lot of fire and light attribute lizard-type creaturestely for Yara and I became curious about it because they''re so rare."


    ina didn''t question him anymore about the uninteresting topic. "By the way, I hope you don''t mind, but my parents were so excited at the prospect of Yara sessfully evolving that they told some of their friends after thest time you came about your gift.


    People weren''t too interested at the time since Yara hadn''t evolved yet, but once word gets out that you did manage to aplish what the previous nners had been unable to, you may be contacted for some more help requests."


    ''I suppose that''s not so bad¡­ but I should probably keep the details about this so-called gift vague if more people will be taking an interest in it.''


    "I don''t mind¡­ it can''t be that many people anyways that need help. Instances like Yara''s are pretty rare. See you again when it''s time for Yara''s next evolution!"


    Kain waved his hand nonchntly and then headed back to the station. This quick trip hadn''t even taken a day.


    Finally, he could focus on the most important task at hand with the sudden influx of credits¡ªgetting Bea to evolve.


    However, once Kain re-arrived at the college he was shocked by the sudden barrage of mission requests being specifically sent to him through the school. There must have been dozens.


    ''There''s no way that all of these people have problems that other nners can''t solve.'' He strongly suspected that some of these so-called missions were just pretenses to find away to make contact with him. For what purpose? He didn''t know and he didn''t care.


    He had no desire to waste his valuable time preparing for the re-ranking to just socialize with some annoying rich people curious about his gift. He''ll have to carefullyb through each request to see if he can filter out the few that actually need his help.


    Maybe using his ''gift'' he can create a greater reputation for himself as a nner, which will help once the Lumifin evolution isunched. Additionally, if he bes highly desired as a nner then even if he ignores many of these people now they''d still be eager to meet him in the future.


    Kain now had 3 ns for wealth: the spiritual beerpany, creating evolutionary patents, and fulfilling challenging missions for nners.

 Chapter 180: Chapter 180: Beas Evolution

    The next morning Kain booked the mental-attribute room for Bea''s evolution. Finally, it was the long-awaited moment.


    Due to the continuous dys with getting the necessary amount of credits to book an attribute room for Bea, her evolution actually coincided with Lady''s. Therefore, Kain and Bridge decided to witness the evolution of each other''s contracts. A privilege that they would only grant to each other due to their bond as family.


    It was decided that Bea would go first since Lady was still extremely anxious.


    As for Bea, as her strength increased the rity of the thoughts and emotions Kain could receive from her through the contract have also be more clear. Thankfully, he could sense that there was no nervousness, only anticipation.


    Kain released Bea into the center of the room surrounded by the necessary materials, including the 3 evolutionary base materials he''d selected. Since Bea wouldn''t be able to drink the catalytic elixir, Kain ced her into the liquid, with worked out perfectly since she herself prefers to be in liquids.


    He then backed away against the wall to stand next to Bridge.


    "Aren''t you going to release your contract?" Bridge asked. He still wasn''t too sure what Kain''s contract was. Thest time he''d asked Kain about his affinity he wasn''t even sure what his affinity was himself. However, he assumed that Kain''s contract took the form of a mist.


    Given that Kain''s second contract was also of the wind-attribute, the prevailing theory among their ssmates was that Kain''s affinity was rted to the wind-attribute.


    However, Bridge knew that this wasn''t correct. If Kain''s attribute could be described so simply, he believed that he''d have told him by now.


    "Bea is already there." Kain replied while pointing to the obviously empty space. Typically when there is an invisible spiritual creature, beast-tamers could still sense their presence due to fluctuations in spiritual power. But in the space that Kain pointed at Bridge sensed nothing.


    And as the minutes continued to tick by and there were no changes or anything moving. Bridge even began to think that this was a prank done by Kain and that any point he''d yell out ''Gotcha!''


    "Take your time, we paid for an hour and I can add more time if needed," Kain said aloud to the seemingly empty space while Bridge looked at him as though he questioned his sanity. That is until a faint glow originating from the bottle of elixir began to appear.


    The ball of light grewrger andrger until the light consumed the nearby materials.


    The duration of the light far exceeded Yara''s when she evolved. At least 10 minutes passed without any signs of the light fading.


    "Is it supposed tost this long?" Bridge asked worriedly. He didn''t want Kain''s contract to have any problems, especially not when the re-ranking was less than a month away. He took more pride in bragging about his brother''s top 5 status than Kain himself.


    Kain shook his head but he wasn''t worried. He had already run the simtion and he knew that the chance of failure was extremely low. His major concern is which form the evolution would take.


    The more likely form is the white-gold Sovereign Mindshard Amoeba that he''d initially had nned with only minor changes to the skills due to the newly added material from the spider¡­ theck of significant changes to the evolutionary form is likely a result of Bea being unable to adequately assimte the energy of the green-grade material meaning that''s addition was practically rendered useless.


    The less likely evolutionary form is for if Bea can assimte with the green-grade material from the spider, resulting in more significant changes. Such as an increase in quality to tinum¡­a jump sorge that even the System said would be almost unheard of.


    Kain couldn''t help but put his hands together and close his eyes in prayer. He wasn''t praying to anyone in particr, it was more so just tofort himself. He couldn''t do any of his other superstitious actions like lighting a candle or washing his body, because he didn''t want to distract Bea.


    Finally, when only 20 minutes were remaining in their booking of the room, the light began to fade and both boys stared anxiously at the now mostly empty center of the room. Where there''d previously been many materials, there was now only an empty ss bottle that previously contained a catalytic elixir.


    Bridge looked around the empty space with growing confusion before turning to Kain, "Did it seed or not?" Considering that Bea couldn''t be seen with the naked eye, Kain would need to either look at the System or sense her changes through the contract. The former was much faster and easier so it was what he did.


    Closing his eyes to give the appearance that he wasmunicating with Bea through the contract to determine her changes.


    Heart beating so loudly he could hear it in his ears, he went to Bea''s new profile:


    ---------------------------------------------


    Species: Apex Mindshard Amoeba


    An advanced evolution utilizing both the Subliminal Orb and the Mindleech Vine and enhanced by the integration of the crystal core of the Mindweaver Spider. This evolution represents the pinnacle of mastery over the mind at its level, capable of reading, altering, and controlling not just memories but entire thoughts and actions of multiple targets simultaneously.


    The Apex Mindshard Amoeba embodies a nearly omnipotent presence within the mental realm,manding legions of minds with a mere thought.


    Quality: tinum


    Type: Microorganism (Amoeba)


    Attribute: Mental


    Skills:


    SS-Mindshard Maniption: The Apex Mindshard Amoeba can fragment a target''s mind into separate cognitive shards, each containing different memories and aspects of their identity. It can then permanently manipte, erase, or reassemble these shards to alter the victim''s perception of its present and past reality or to temporarilypletely control their actions.


    Erasure of all mind shards will lead to death. Erasures and maniptions of mind shards are only possible for targets up to one grade higher.


    SS-Threaded Dominion: By utilizing mental-attribute threads, the Apex Mindshard Amoeba can send splits of itself that can exert up to 90% of the original bodies'' strength to numerous targets over vast distances. Skills performed by splits can only affect those equal to or lower in level than the Mindshard Amoeba.


    S-Mental Veil: This advanced protection mechanism allows the Apex Mindshard Amoeba to hide its presence from entities with spiritual power up to two grades higher, while simultaneously maintaining control over its puppets, ensuring minimal interference.


    A-Mental Nexus: This ability establishes a powerfulwork of shared consciousness among all connected targets, allowing the Apex Mindshard Amoeba tomunicate and coordinate strategies instantaneously.


    A-Memory Siphon: This ability allows the Apex Mindshard to siphon and store the most crucial memories from its victims, transforming them into a reservoir of knowledge and power. There is a very small chance of it developing new skills based off of these siphoned memories.


    B-Psychic Assimtion: By consuming extracted memories, the Apex Mindshard Amoeba enhances its spiritual power and cognitive abilities.


    ---------------------


    ''Yes!'' Kain almost screamed out loud at Bea sessfully achieving the desired evolution. He recalled her back to her star space after praising her on a job well-done. Once she returns to optimal condition, she can then attempt to breakthrough to orange-grade.


    Kain opened his eyes with a smile and turned to Bridge, "Your brother is going to aim for the number 1 spot." Bridge''s smile soon mirrored his own.

 Chapter 181: Chapter 181: The Cost of Business

    Thankfully, after calming down Lady''s evolution was also a huge sess.


    When Kain had first helped Bridge decide on his initial contract, one of the pros that they''d discussed was the multiple evolutionary pathways avable to Huricanine Pups. Although the evolutionary ns for all forms weren''t readily avable in their small city, at Dark Moon Bridge and Kain got ess to the full catalog of possible evolutions.


    And one of the first things they did upon entering the college was to settle on which evolutionary route Lady would take, especially since she was of a species that would need to be primed over a long period of time through her diet in a certain evolutionary direction.


    After weighing all of the pros and cons of each form, and how well each would match with Bridge''s and Princess''bat styles, they finally settled on one form¡ªthe gold-quality Tempest Wolf.


    It wouldn''t require major changes to Lady''sbat style and would provide an all-around enhancement to her physical attributes, particrly her speed. However, this evolution would also make up for one of Lady''s biggest weaknesses¡ªherck of long-distance attack abilities.


    This form presents a drastic increase in her ability to manipte the wind for both offensive and defensive purposes.


    Additionally, the Tempest Hound also has a weak affinity to the lightning attribute. Although its control over the element is very weak and at most effective for giving a strong static shock to those in direct contact with it, the strength of this additional attribute will truly show itself when it is time for its third evolution.


    After briefly celebrating the sess of both of their contracts with a quick meal, Kain and Bridge separated. Bridge to familiarize himself with Lady''s new abilities. Kain to meet with. Barret who finally conceded to starting apany with him after there was still no decline in the spiritual power and quality of the beer after over a week since opening the barrel.


    They were going to be meeting up with awyer to establish the rules of their business rtionship and also with a businessman that Barret highly rmended to assist in the logistics of their business.


    After meeting with thewyer and drawing up the paperwork, it was established that Kain would receive a 70% share in the business for providing the preservation method to actually allow therge-scale exportation of spiritual beer and investing more funds, while Barrett would receive 30% for managing the creation of the beer and the development of future beer recipes.


    Additionally, while with thewyer they settled on the trademarked name for thepany. After numerous discussions, they finally settled on Aetherbrew, which Kain convinced Barett would hint at the fact that it was a beer rich in spiritual power, considering that it used the ancient term for spiritual power. But really it was a nod to Kain''s secret ingredient¡ªAetherbrew Yeast.


    Afterwards, they headed to a massive property on the outskirts of the city¡ªit was a farm that the owners with money-problems had hastily sold in order to receive arge influx of cash after thend had been ravaged by spiritual creatures during the beast tide. They met their future operations manager there¡ªCollin.


    The n was to grow their ownrge supply Brewer''s Barley. However, It would take a while for the barley to fully grow, so they will begin on a smaller scale testing out their marketing strategies and setting up shipments to nearby cities using the Brewer''s Barley the Kain currently had growing on his personal property.


    In their free time, the Eve and the wasps wille here to speed up the development of these barley fields.


    Additionally, on thisnd they nned to set up the factory where not only will the beer be brewed on arge-scale, overseen by Barret, and then bottled and shipped out, overseen by Collin.


    "Did you already get an estimate of the cost for setting up the factory with all of the machinery we''d need?" Kain asked.


    Collin nodded, "The costs of construction, machinery, workers, and transportation are outlined in this document here. I met with some of our potential future partners for the shipment of the bottles this morning." He handed over a document with a long string of numbers at the bottom.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat at the astonishing figure. ''What they say is true, it takes money to make money¡­and that is A LOT of money.'' However, he made sure to keep his face unperturbed, as the one primarily responsible for thepany''s finances.


    Although looking at the number on the paper he was quite a bit short of all the money he needed in order to get thepany up and running, even after selling all the materials he got in the beast tide that he hadn''t exchanged for school credits.


    ''I''m gonna have to take on more of those evolutionary nner requests than I anticipated. And I''m also going to have to increase my fee¡­''


    "I brought my personal stock of barley that I''d grown. Barret, you use it to create the first few batches that we will send out on a smaller scale to some influentialindividuals to get the name out there." Kain handed a small space ring filled with barley he''d already prepared.


    He couldn''t help but think back to the days when a small space ring would be way too expensive for him, and now he can give one away at his convenience.


    "Leave the marketing to me," Collin said. "We can even set up a meeting with a marketing firm. I went to college with someone who now works at one of the top firms in the empire. I can get us a cost estimate for their services."


    Kain''s eyebrow couldn''t help but twitch at the prospect of spending even more money.


    "Leave that for now¡­let''s first focus on getting the business up and running."


    Before Collin coulde up with any more expensive ideas, Kain excused himself.


    ''There''s one more day before sses start on Monday. Let''s see how many of the simpler nner requests I canplete by tomorrow. I only have a few hundred GP left, maybe in addition to the increased cost I should also include providing living orange-grade spiritual creatures as part of my fee?''

 Chapter 182: Chapter 182: The First Re-Ranking Tournament

    The next few weeks shed by quickly as Kain rushed between sses, meeting with Barret and Collin for the business, andpleting as many Evolutionary nner requests as possible to get enough funds for the business.


    Strangely, after finding out that Kain had quite a high fee for a first-year student who hadn''t even graduated yet, the people directed to him by the Ashenws seemed to have even more faith in his abilities.


    In fact, despite charging more than many official nners, Kain''s skills were even more in demand. Inbination with his mysterious ''gift'' and his request for orange-grade ''offerings,'' Kain''s reputation actually grew greatly as his image in the eyes of others became shrouded in mystique. Maybe he could even increase his fee again¡­


    During this time the Lumifins that Kain had ordered had all sessfully evolved into Gilded Serafins with a 100% sess rate, and are being kept in an artificial pond on his property.


    With the assistance of Vera and theb notebook provided by the System, Kain put together the research report needed for the patent application and was just waiting for the validation process to be initiated, in which they will visit Kain in person and attempt to independently recreate his results using his research notes.


    However, Kain was certain that he''d eventually have his patent approved, and so in preparation, he had invested heavily in severalpanies that specialized in breeding and capturing water-type, and particrly fish-type, spiritual creatures. Also as an investor he''d also given them a tip to begin capturing Lumifins and collecting any Opal Glow Lotuses they see by the way.


    Thankfully, with his crazy running around toplete nner requests, he''d made enough to support both business ventures.


    Currently, he was very tight on funds, and if food for him was not provided by the university, he may be forced to live off of cheap bread for the rest of the month.


    However, money, orck thereof, is not what Kain''s mind needed to be focused on right now. Currently, he was standing amongst all of his peers at one of the college''srge stadiums as they listened to the lecture being delivered to them by Professor Flint, their instructor for Wilderness Survival.


    Today would be the beginning of the first re-ranking of Kain''s career, and one could practically feel the palpable tension humming through the air.


    Due to constantly being on the move, Kain hadn''t yet had the opportunity to set multiple days aside to focus on breaking through to 3-stars.


    Although, based on the number of leave requests being granted leading up to the re-ranking, Kain was certain that at least 10 of his ssmates, including the twins Addison and Aiden, had attempted to breakthrough and were likely sessful given that nobody had returned to sses looking ill.


    However, despite not being at 3-stars, Bea had sessfully broken through to orange-grade. Meaning that the strength of Kain''s contracts was not inferior, and may even be superior, to many official 3-star beast-tamers.


    He''d gone on some hunting missions in his limited free time to familiarize both of his contracts with each other''s skills and different battle strategies.


    However, those few missions were still not enough. If he did not have the newly provided Training Arena from the System to practice battling against known spiritual creatures owned by his ssmates or practice honing their skills, he would be feeling a lot more unprepared.


    "Your first re-ranking today is of particr importance because it will determine the order in which you will have ess to the Enchanted Spring. As I am sure you all know, entering the spring increases the likelihood of manifesting a gift and might slightly improve the strengths of gifts in those that already possess one."


    "However, the magical properties of this pool are limited in effectiveness and the order for entering the pool is based on your rankings, with the top 5 students of each year being granted first ess, followed by those ranked 6 to 20, and so forth.


    With the magical properties of this pool being limited in effectiveness, there may not be much of an effect remaining by the time those of you at the bottom of the rankings enter."


    "Therefore, I hope you all will put your best efforts into improving your rankings as the gap between you and your higher-ranked peers will only continue to increase due to the differences in resources provided. For those of you in the top 20, and even top 5, we will see today which of you have rxed during your time as students and are destined to be surpassed."


    "I will now be revealing the matchup results for your first re-ranking battle."


    The format of the Re-ranking Tournament is as follows:


    ----------------


    Phase 1: The Group Stage


    Of the 53 students that were originally in their year, 4 students had died during the first field assessment, and one of the two that lost a contract during the beast-tide was unable to recover from the trauma and grief and dropped out.Therefore, there were 48 names shown on the screen above.


    Likely due to there being 48 students, they sorted the top 8 students into separate groups as seeds and then randomly assigned the remaining students into groups 1 to 8 to form even groups of 6.


    Each group of 6 willpete against one another in a round-robin format to form a within-group ranking of 1 to 6.


    Phase 2: The Ranking Stage


    All students with the same within-group ranking will thenpete against the others with the same rankings from their respective groups in a round-robin format.


    That means the first ce of each group willpete against one another to determine ranks 1 to 8. The second ce of each group will determine ranks 9-16. The third ce of each group will determine ranks 17-24, and so forth until every student has determined their final ranking.


    ----------------


    As one of the seeded candidates, Kain wasn''t too worried about anyone that would be in his group for Phase 1. In fact, aside from Serena, he wasn''t too worried about the strength of any of his peers.


    And looking at his group, Kain''s feelings of confidence were re-affirmed. There was nobody he thought would force him to show any major cards before Phase 2. He was grouped with ranks 10 (newly crowned after the death of the previous rank 10), 23, 31, 35, and 42. None of which were any individuals he was particrly close to.


    In fact, the only one he''d even spoken with previously was Riley at rank 35 who was one of the two survivors in the group that enraged the cial Leviathan during the Wilderness Survival field assessment.


    He was more anxious about Bridge''s assigned group.

 Chapter 183: Chapter 183: First Battle

    Thankfully, out of all of the groups, Bridge seemed to be in one of the easiest groups.


    Bridge at rank 39 (his rank now higher due to four of the 5 students dying or dropping out being ranked above him) was ced into group 8 which had the eighth seed, rank 14, Riley''s fellow survivor ra at rank 37, Aria at rank 46 who was in Kain''s group for the field assessment, and rank 47 who was one of the two students to lose a contract during the beast tide.


    Kain was confident that aside from ranks 8 and 14, Bridge could defeat any of the other 3 easily. With a little luck or a favorable matchup between spiritual creatures, he may even be able to defeat the 14th ranked student. Therefore, regardless of if Bridge is ranked second or third in his group, he can look forward to a substantial increase in rank.


    If he finishes second he''d be able to automatically receive a single room, while if he ces third he''d still be able to fight for a position in the top 20.


    Among the others that Kain was close with, Aiden and thest-ranked Elias, were both in Kairos'' group 5.


    Finn and Leonara were also together in group 6 led by Dwayne, who as the only S-rated affinity not in the top 5 had a lot to prove during this re-ranking.


    Finally, Addison was sorted into group 4 led by Ranya.


    Looking at the groupings, Kain felt optimistic that most of his friends should either remain at a simr rank or go up.


    With the group stage requiring 5 matches per group, it was decided by the teachers that they''d each participate in 2 matches per day to strike a good bnce between pacing and intensity, allowing participants topete while minimizing fatigue.This means that the group stage willst for 3 days, with thest day only having 1 battle so that they have more time to rest before Phase 2.


    Thankfully, the battles urring on the same day were spaced far apart and there were teachers with healing contracts avable at all times, as well elixirs to restore spiritual power that can be taken after each battler. Therefore, it could be ensured that each participant werepeting at max strength.


    "Can the first set of students set to battle from each group make their way to the stage assigned for their group. Up first for Group 1: Seed 1 Serena and Rank 22 L Carrington; Group 2: Seed 2 Kain Newman and Rank 31 Julian Carr; Group 3¡­"


    Kain made his way to the second stage from the left with arge 2 carved into the center. There were 8rge stages separated by translucent barriers to prevent interference between the matches.


    Kain noticed that the first called upon were the seed candidates for each group, likely as a way to heat up the atmosphere and also to clearly show the other students the targets they should be aiming to surpass.


    And the Kain could sense that the teachers'' intentions were achieved. Kain could feel many pairs of eyes practically digging into the flesh of himself and the other 8 seeds like the pricks of needles.


    Unfortunately, this arrangement meant that Kain was unable to watch the battles of who would likely be his biggestpetitors.


    Based on the field-assessments, beast-tide, and missions, information about every students contract had likely already been spread around and could be obtained if desired. In particr, information about the members of the top 5 was especially valuable and the most discussed.


    However, during the past month since the beast-tide, Kain was sure that like him many of the other top students had evolved their contracts, had breakthroughs, or maybe even acquired a new contract.


    Therefore, the best information would be the first-hand observations he''d get by watching them today.


    ''Maybe if I finish this match early, I can watch and get some more info...''


    Kain looked at his opponent, Rank 31 Julian Carr. Despite in the lower half of the rankings based off of strength, Julian would probably be ranked within the top 10 of their year based off of appearance.


    Julian stood at around 6 feet tall with a lean, athletic build. His tousled dark brown hair framed a chiseled face, with high cheekbones and a strong jawline. His piercing green eyes stood out against his sun-kissed tan skin and seemed to glimmer with either curiosity or mischief. He didn''t at all seem intimidated by Kain''s ranking.


    ''I guess he wouldn''t be fit to be a Dark Moon student if he didn''t even have that much fighting spirit.''


    Julian''s contracts was an orange-grade Steelwing Hawk and red-grade Storm Albatross. Both of which were wind-attribute bird-type spiritual creatures, likely due to the limitations of his affinity.


    The second he was given the signal to start, Kain covered the arena in a mist. After losing the water attribute, Bea could no longer integrate into liquids as easily as before. However, Kain''s knew style of battle did not require Bea to be within the mist.


    In fact, Kain didn''t n to use Bea at all for the duration of Phase 1 and this mist was purely to conceal more of his information from the watching crowd.


    For added concealment of his strength, Kain also only summoned 6 of the 18 Vespirae he could currently summon. He had only ever summoned 12 Vespirae in front of others, therefore none of the students knew the maximum guards he had. Still, Kain felt that 6 were enough to deal with the two contract before him.


    As Julian and his contracts looked warily through the mist for any sign of movement, without warning the six Vespirae shot forward, their wings creating a powerful gust that momentarily parted the mist as the surrounded Julian''s contracts.


    Each wasp zipped through the air with remarkable speed, barely visible to the naked eye. Julian''s hawk roared, instinctively ring its wings to take to the skies, but resistance was futile.


    In an instant, the Vespiraeunched six stingers with pinpoint uracy. The first projectile sliced through the mist and struck the hawk in its side, piercing through its defences. The creature let out a shriek of surprise and pain, spiraling slightly as it struggled to regain its bnce and doge the remaining.


    However, the intensive training inside of the System had drastically improved the uracy and predictive ability of the Vespirae guards, and only one stinger was able to be sessfully avoided while the other 4 hit the target.


    As the hawk crashed to the ground, the mist momentarily cleared due to the movement, revealing Julian''s wide-eyed shock and the formidable figure of his once-majestic mount, now incapacitated. The Vespirae then moved to surround the previously ignored Albatross.


    "I concede!" Julian quickly called out before Kain could seriously injur the reminder of his two contracts.


    Kain recalled the Vespirae before dispersing the mist.


    Finally, those in the audience could see the arena. All they''d been able to see was mist before they heard a screech, a loud bang and Julian''s signal of defeat.


    The whole battle was over in less than 10 seconds.

 Chapter 184: Chapter 184: Seckill

    The whole stadium was quiet at the shock from such a quick battle. They had figured that the gap between themselves and the top of their year would be great, but none had thought the gap was great enough to achieve a seckill.


    Kain didn''t mind the reactions of the crowd, and looked at the other stages to see some of hispetitors'' performances.


    However, looking around Kain realized that the shocked silence of the crowd wasn''t due to him¡ªat least not entirely. Not only had Kain defeated his opponent before the crowd could even fully grasp what was going on, but Serena, Soren, and Kairos had also all defeated their opponents within seconds. In fact, the order in which they''d defeated their opponents almost perfectly matched their rankings.


    Serena, the quickest, couldn''t have taken 3 seconds, while the rtively ''slow'' Kairos had taken closer to 9 seconds.


    Not long after, the rank 4 Ranya''s opponent also admitted defeat.


    Kain and the other winners returned to their seats directly having not expended much strength, while those they''d defeated went to get healed.


    The gap between those in and outside of the top 5 was definitely apparent as the other 3 stages, while definitely one-sided battles, were still ongoing.


    ''I don''t think the difference in strength between us and them was that great during the entrance test. Can the slight difference in resources and spiritual power in the top 5 dormitory really cause such a gap in 3 months? It''s also possible that the gap is due to the beast-tide. Being in the most dangerous area forced the 5 of us to constantly push ourselves and grow.''


    Although not as jaw-droppingly quick as the battles in the first 5 stages, the remaining 3 battles all finished within 2 minutes. The surrounding students apuded those still on stage for their performance, but all of them, especially Dwayne, sported unhappy expressions.


    All of them had entered the re-ranking with the goal of finally entering the top 5. After all, they were the closest ones to being able to dethrone the current top 5. However, the gap in their time for finishing off their opponents wasrge enough to make them wonder if all of their hard work over the past few months was futile.


    However, nobody could spare any attention tofort them as the next round of matches began¡ªincluding Bridge.


    Before Kain could even be anxious on behalf of his brother, he saw that his first opponent was Aria. Despite having a pretty useful gift she truly is no threat. In fact, she may even lose her position as third from the bottom and directly sink tost ce after this re-ranking.


    This was especially so since unlike all of the other students with at least one orange-grade contract by now, the only contract Aria''s revealed so far is still red-grade. Bridge hadn''t even needed to use Lady to defeat her, and chose to battle using the red-grade Princess.


    Taking Kain''s advice, Bridge was trying to conceal as much of his strength as possible.


    The day dragged on as students were continuously called for round after round of matches. Among the other battles, surprisingly there was an instance of another kill within seconds. A dark-horse in group 7 ranked 15, named Lucas Montgomery, was surprisingly able to defeat rank 20 who was not too far beneath him in less than 13 seconds.


    Moreover, simr to the strange methods used by the top 5, it was simrly difficult to determine hisbat method.


    ''He looks more threatening than the actual seed of group 7, there will probably be an upset within that group.''


    Kain finished his second match of the day against the student at rank 42 even more quickly than the first one.


    Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for him, the other times the top 8 students were called upon did not ovep in timing so he was able to observe their performances¡ªas short as they may be.


    However, this also meant that they were given the opportunity to also observe him.


    Finishing his own second battle and witnessing the remaining battles of students he thought may give him some trouble, he left right after checking out the performances of the rest of his friends.


    Bridge was able to win against ra at rank 37. Meaning that Bridge had currently one both of his fights.


    Thankfully, as Kain predicted, none of his other friends seemed in danger of finishing outside of the top 3 of their respective groups except for Elias inst ce.


    Of his two battles today, the first was against the seed of his group, Kairos, and Elias had directly abstained. The second was against the 26th ranked student who he once again lost against. However, he put up a surprisingly good fight. Despite the huge difference in rank, this was actually the longest matchup of the day, extending for longer than 30 minutes.


    Proving that Elias'' current ranking is definitely not an urate reflection of his current strength.


    In fact, the fight may have dragged on for longer if at the 30-minute mark Elias did not attempt to use his gift.


    Before anyone knew what was happening, a naked Elias appeared next to the female rank 26.


    After a squeal in shock and a sharp exmation of ''pervert!'', she then proceeded to punch him in the face as hard as possible. It was an instant knockout. In a sense it was a seckill in a different sense...


    That''s right. Elias was not eliminated due to the fight between spiritual creatures, but rather due to he himself being knocked out by his opponent''s fist.


    Strangely in a beast-taming battle, the oue was decided by the strength of the fists of the tamers...


    Sigh


    Kain couldn''t help but expel a deep breath as Elias made his way back to the stands with a tissue paper stuck in his nostrils, presumably to stop the bleeding.


    Elias was thest match of the day he was interested in, so he immediately returned to the dorm to rest and also formte a strategy for the next day.


    Thankfully, with the Training Arena''s Skill Optimizer Bea was able to still train while Kain was doing the re-ranking with Eve and the Vespirae, so her time wasn''t wasted.


    Since the Vespirae weren''t tired due to the quick battles, Kain also sent them to practice battling against some of the spiritual creatures Kain knew were contracted by the remaining opponents in his group in the Training Arena''s Battlefield.

 Chapter 185: Chapter 185: End of Group Stage

    Unsurprisingly, Kain finished at the top of his group and will enter Phase 2 topete for ranks 1-8.


    All of his battles ended almost as quickly as the first one. The longest battle was against the rank 10 student, but still did not surpass 1 minute.


    Simrly, Serena, Soren, Ranya, and Kairos also ran through their opponents with incredible speed. Therefore, Kain was unable to obtain any more practical information on their contracts'' skills.


    Among the other seeds, ranks 6 and 8 also advanced at the top of their groups, but there was one surprise within group 7. The rank 15 Lucas advanced at the top of group 7. Therefore the original seed of that group will at best be able topete for rank 9 in Phase 2.


    Addison and Aiden easily advanced in second ce of groups 4 and 5, respectively.


    Finn and Leonarapeted intensely for the second ce in their respective groups. After a long battle Leonara, who was originally ranked 2 ces below Finn, managed to prevail and will alsopete in the second group in Phase 2. However, Finn who is currently rank 16, may not have his final ranking adjusted greatly if he can finish at the top of the third-ced group.


    Within the same group as Finn is Bridge, who narrowly lost out to his opponent at rank 14 in the battle for second ce due to an error in choice made by Lady. However, it''s been less than a month since she evolved and upgraded. Bridge also doesn''t have a System with a Training Arena that can help with rapidly improving skill and battle proficiency.


    At the next re-ranking, as long as he keeps up the hard work, Kain predicts that Bridge may be able to finish within the top 2 of his group.


    Finally, Elias, likely due to the limitations of the frontalbat ability of his contracts, finishedst in his group.


    Professor Flint posted the final cements of each student within their respective groups, and the rankings they''d be eligible topete for in Phase 2. Kain, of course only paid attention to the names of those he knew, which pretty much just consisted of. Those that were in the top 20 since the beginning of the school-year and his friends. The final groupings were as follows:


    --------------------------------


    Phase 2: Ranking Stage


    Ranks 1-8: First ce from each group.


    Participants (current rank in brackets): Serena (1), Kain (2), Soren (3), Ranya (4), Kairos (5), Dwayne (6), Lucas (15), Hailey (8).


    Ranks 9-16: Second ce from each grouppetes.


    Participants: Camille (9), Mike (10), Liam (11), Addison (12), Aiden (13), Leonara (18), Michael (7), Rai (14)


    Ranks 17-24: Third ce from each grouppetes.


    Participants: Finn (16), Bridge (39) and Ranks 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25


    Ranks 25-32: Fourth ce from each grouppetes.


    Participants: ra (37), Ranks 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31,


    Ranks 33-40: Fifth ce from each grouppetes.


    Participants: Riley (35), Ranks 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 47


    Ranks 41-48: Sixth ce from each grouppetes.


    Participants:Elias (48), Aria (46), Ranks 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45


    ----------------------


    Likely because the students are now closer to one another in strength and effortless quick-decision matches won''t ur as frequently, the remaining battles in Phase 2 only ur at a pace of one per day¡ªwhich exins why they were given two full weeks off from sses during this period.


    Kain''s first opponent of the day was Hailey at rank 8.


    Thankfully, due to her higher ranking quite a bit of information about her had been spread around. Although, the uracy of the information still needs to be confirmed.


    From what Kain had heard, her affinity was rted to metal-attribute spiritual creatures and she had a gift that can also add a strong metal defense to a designated target. As a result, of the already strong metal defense of her contracts getting stronger due to her gift, it was difficult to do any damage to them.


    Kain had already used the Training Arena''s Battlefield to practice fighting against Hailey''s two known orange-grade contracts: an Ironhorn Juggernaut, which resembles an extremelyrge rhino, and a Mercury Sentinel Beetle, which appears like arge beetle made of blue shining, fluid metal.


    Of course, he couldn''t also simte the effects of Hailey''s gift on them; however, even without the addition of her gift Kain discovered that it took multiple strikes by the Vespirae in the exact same spot to prate their defence. And during a high-intensity fast-paced battle achieving that would be difficult.


    Therefore, this would be the first battle in which Bea will be revealed. Simr to the Mindweaver Spider from which she got some of her abilities, her mental attribute threads also ignore most defensive methods.


    Of the 8 stages set up in the Stadium, 2 were removed to leave only 6 stages that were slightlyrger. The first battles for each group were then called to the stage.


    The first matchup in Group 1 was between Serena and Lucas.


    Surprisingly, the opening match of Group 2 was between the siblings Addison and Aiden.


    Therefore, Kain focused the majority of his attention on stages 1 and 2, since the remaining stages didn''t include matches with anyone he was particrly close with.


    ''Hopefully this dark-horse can hold out long enough for me to get some more information about Serena''s strength.''


    In all field assessments, the beast-tide, and even during the re-ranking so far, she had only revealed one contract¡ªthe elemental spirit with 4 attributes. ording to the System''s Battlefield when Kain simted battle against it, it is called an Elemental Guardian.


    After much practice, Kain was able to defeat it without significant losses to himself. But he knew that Serena''s Elemental Guardian was on apletely different levelpared to the simted one, likely because it was benefitting from her gift in some way.


    Hopefully, Lucas or some of the others would be strong enough to get her to reveal at least one more contract, or even the identity of her gift.

 Chapter 186: Chapter 186: Serena vs Lucas

    Lucas was bound to a spiritual creature that resembled a snake, but it could also be a wyrm due to the two curved hornsing out of its head, although its scales and face were definitely more snake-like. The spiritual creature had ck scales that shimmer with violet undertones. Its two ck horns shed and crackled with electricity, and its eyes glowed an eerie, electric blue.


    So far Lucas, like Serena and Soren, was the only one within the top 8 to only reveal one contract. Surprisingly, facing Serena he still chose to only release one contract.


    ''Is it overconfidence, is his other contract too low level to make a difference, or is it some other reason¡­''


    The arena was charged with tension and the whole arena seemed to collectively hold its breath at the first battle between two top students of their year. Finally, they will get to see what a battle between those at the peak of strength in their age-group looked like.


    Lucas and Serena''s contracts stood facing each other. Serena''s Elemental Guardian was starting off in its sturdy earth golem form.


    The second the match was signalled to start, Lucas'' contract surged forward, unleashing a volley of ck lightning that shot through the air like a twisted spear.


    The golem summoned a sturdy shieldposed of the earth element, however the unusually coloured lightning seemed to prate the shield easily. The golem was forced to raise its massive arms just in time to absorb the brunt of the attack.


    However, the ck lightning didn''t lose much of its momentum going through the shield and shattered the rocky exterior of the golem''s arms, sending debris flying. The destructive nature of Lucas''s lightning was evident, as it tore through the extremely sturdy earth element like paper.


    Observing the ck lightning, Kain eventually concluded that it was far more dangerous than ordinary lightning and seems to have a strong destruction or decay property added to it.


    Not content with remaining on the defensive, Serena''s contract transformed into a zing, phoenix-like entity. Waves of moltenva cascaded from its wings as it soared toward Lucas. The heat radiated through the arena, forcing Lucas to shield his face.


    However, this form definitely had a much weaker defense and didn''t dare to face the ck lightning head-on. But it had much greater agility and focused on dodging the snake''s attacks. For a moment the battle was at a standstill as they exchanged long-distance attacks.


    The entire battle had now exceeded 20 seconds, far surpassing the length of time anyone else hadsted against Serena. However, Kain could sense that while Lucas was extremely focused on the battle, Serena wasn''t yet taking things seriously.


    The elemental Guardian transformed again into an ethereal wind fairy, as Lucas'' contract eadied another bolt of ck lightning, Serenamanded her wind fairy to create a barrier of swirling air. The winds picked up the debris previously created and sent it spiraling toward Lucas and his contract, momentarily obscuring their view.


    A gust of wind far stronger than one would expect to be produced by an orange-grade spiritual creature then redirected the oing lightning. The wind shield shifted, causing Lucas'' contracts own attack to instead spiral toward his vulnerable body. And, due to having his vision obstructed, he wouldn''t even be able to dodge.


    Serena chose the more efficient method of taking care of the contractor before the spiritual creature.


    ''So ruthless¡­that lightning may very well kill him.'' Likely having the same thoughts as him, Kain could see Professor Flint shifting closer to the stage preparing to jump in. However, once he did so the match would be dered over and Serena would be granted the win.


    However, fortunately it seems as though Lucas received a signal from his contract and managed to dodge in time. The lightning instead struck the ground right next to him causing a massive crater of damage to form on the stage.


    Serena''s contract at some point had shifted back into the earth golem form and mmed its fists into the ground, sending shockwaves toward Lucas, who struggled to regain his footing amidst the chaos.


    Lucas'' unsteady body then fell from the stage with barely any injuries. The battle was over in a surprisingly anti-climactic manner.


    Despite the seemingly ruthless tactic half-way through the battle, she had been surprisingly gentle in how she chose finish things.


    ''Did she anticipate that he''d dodge the lightning? Or did she truly not care that he''d be seriously injured? But if she didn''t care why choose to end things as she did? She could have just bombarded him and his contract to exhaustion or serious injury. After all, he''d personally witnessed her seemingly limitless supply of spiritual power.


    The battle was over within 30 seconds, but it was riveting nheless.


    With it over, Kain turned to focus on Addison and Aiden''s battle as some professors with earth-attribute contracts were responsible for repairing the stage. It''d probably take a few minutes to perfectly repair, so he had a little more time before he''d have to go down and prepare to fight Hailey.


    Addison and Aiden were currently evenly matched. Addison and Aiden''s fire and wind sprites respectively were extremely familiar with one another and perfectly restrained each other.


    Aiden''s second contract was an orange-grade Tempest Pterix that he''d gotten in his first mission with Kain. He must have spent a ton of resources and effort to get a spiritual creature that hatched less than three months ago up to orange-grade.


    Bridge''s Princess was slightly older and yet had just barely managed to break through before the re-ranking.


    As for Addison, this was the first time that Kain was seeing her second contract. It was a fire-type butterfly spiritual creature, with wings that flickered and danced like living mes. Each wing was a colourful gradient of deep crimson at the base, that transition to bright orange and finally to a golden yellow at the edges, resembling a fiery sunset. It was as beautiful as it was deadly.


    Unfortunately, their battle still wasn''tplete by the time Kain was called up to the now repaired stage. It was time for his first match of Phase 2.

 Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Kain vs Hailey

    The eyes of those in the arena once again moved from stage 2 to stage 1, as the battle between the next two contestants of the top 8 made their way onto the stage.


    Included among those watching was a pair of ice-blue eyes watching the stage critically, or more specifically one figure on the stage.


    Noticing the attentive gaze, Soren''s green eyes looked as though they wanted to skewer Kain alive.


    Without any exchange of words, the moment the fight was scheduled to start, Kain released a dense mist to cover the stage. He had no ns to let his future opponents easily obtain any information on his spiritual contract.


    He had already summoned Bea before the battle began, but of course nobody else realized the fact. Instead, it looked as though Kain was nning to fight Hailey''s two contracts, known for their formidable defence, alone with a spear.


    Barely visible threads of mental energy emanated from Bea, weaving through the mist like silken strands. Unfortunately, although not as obvious as the Mindweaver Spider''s mental threads, Bea''s threads were notpletely invisible. Therefore, some of her stealth abilities were exchanged for increased mobility.


    The thick mist helped to conceal the threads making their way towards therge figures of the Ironhorn Juggernaut and Mercury Sentinel Beetle.


    However, likely sensing the impending threat, The Juggernaut, a colossal rhino with a gleaming metallic hide, stomped its feet, creating tremors in the ground to halt whatever threat its animal instinct could sense was approaching, however it was useless.


    Hailey and the Mercury Sentinel did not sense anything like their ally, but the figures of both contracts began to glow with a metallic sheen as Hailey''s gift was applied to them. But it was just another useless action.


    The threads, nearly invisible in the dense fog, connected with the Juggernaut''s mind, bypassing its formidable defenses. For a brief moment, the beast''s movements became sluggish, confusion evident in its eyes. However, the confused haze quickly faded after only struggling for a few seconds. And the mental threads retracted back into the fog without Hailey being able to see anything.


    An added benefit of a split being transmitted using the threads as a vehicle was that Bea did not have to maintain contact with the target like the Mindweaver spider did, and once the thread was retracted and the split integrated into the mind, it''d be almost impossible to detect anything.


    Kain could get Bea to control both contracts, but he wanted to experiment a little more with Bea''s new abilities. Plus, he could conceal his ability to control more than one target at once for a little longer. After all, even if majority of the audience couldn''t see anything, there''s no guarantee that Hailey won''t say anything.


    Not to mention there were items and spiritual skills that may be allowing some watching to see his every move.


    Hailey, sensing something was amiss,manded her Juggernaut, who had the best senses and could more urately find a target in the fog, to charge at Kain''sst known position. She expected its massive horn to barrel directly at Kain However, its charge faltered as Bea''s split tightened its control over its mind, a subtle puppeteering that left Hailey momentarily unsure about what was going on.


    "Come on!" Hailey shouted, hoping to ovee whatever was disrupting its concentration.


    It appeared to work as the Juggernaut''s eyes seemed to clear and it began to charge again, but to her dismay it charged straight for her Mercurial Sentinel Beetle. Bea''s split had taken full control, and it now had no ability to resist. The Juggernaut, the beetle in its perception was called Kain¡ªthe target that its master told it to attack.


    "Snap out of it!" She screamed, hoping to stop her contract as it barreled towards the beetle.


    With no other choice, Hailey quickly summoned the full might of her gift. She removed the defense from the charging Juggernaut, and instead applied as much as she could to the beetle.


    Kain could have easily stopped the battle by seizing control of the beetle as well, but he was suddenly ovee by curiosity. Who would win this contest between two of the metal-attribute spiritual creatures with some of the hardest defense at this level?


    As the Juggernaut closed the distance, the Mercury Sentinel''s body shimmered with enhanced metallic energy. Kain watched with an almost morbid curiosity. Will the Juggernaut be like a ttened car driving into a brick wall after the beetle''s defense increased? Or will the innate defense of the Juggernaut be enough to overpower the reinforced Mercury Sentinel.


    The ground shook as the Juggernaut lowered its horn and charged forward, while the Mercury Sentinel lowered its body to brace for impact.


    BOOM!


    The collision of the two sounded more like an explosion, and the force was strong enough to momentarily clear the mist enough for the audience to see what was urring. The arena erupted in gasps as spectators witnessed the shocking scene of infighting urring. That was until Kain increased the density of the mist once again.


    ''Sorry. No peaking.''


    The Juggernaut collided with the Mercury Sentinel, sending shards of metal and splinters flying in every direction.


    To Kain''s surprise, the Juggernaut managed to push the beetle backward far enough that it left the arena, but not without consequence. The rhinocerous horn at the front of the juggernaut had been damaged so badly it had been broken almostpletely off.


    The fight was over. While the formidable defense of Hailey''s gift was proven with the Mercury Sentinel only receiving superficial injuries, it had been pushed off the stage and could not rejoin the fight. Meanwhile, her only remaining contract on the stage was no longer under her control.


    Clenching her hands in unwillingness, she dered that she gave up the battle. Kain dispersed the mist as the overseeing professor announced his victory.


    Kain could see the curious eyes of those in the audience as they tried to figure out exactly what happened.


    Having seen the end of the battle, an intense blue glow faded from Serena''s eyes as she stopped the use of a spiritual skill and got up to leave.


    "The ability of his contract is different¡­maybe it wasn''t him at the auction¡­" She mumbled under her breath.

 Chapter 188: Chapter 188: Kain vs Kairos

    After his own battle, Kain stayed to watch the remaining ones.


    Among the matches to decide the rankings of the top 8, Soren unsurprisingly defeated Dwayne. While the close match between Ranya and Kairos ended in Kairos'' victory.


    However, Kairos'' contracts are definitely an unfavourable matchup for Ranya.


    The evenly matched and familiar with one another Addison and Aiden, were undoubtedly the longest battle of the day. However, it ended in Aiden''s narrow victory over his sister, meaning that there would be a reversal in the order of their current rankings.


    Leonara''s matchup against the rank 9 Camille was unfavorable and ended in defeat.


    However, both Finn and Bridge were sessful in their respective first matches.


    Finally, Elias also caught a break and managed to defeat his first ever opponent¡ªAria.


    After a night of rest and some time in the Training Arena''s battlefield to practice against prospective opponents, Kain was ready for the next day''s battle. His opponent today was Kairos.


    Kairos was also an opponent Kain had been particrly wary of, particrly before Bea evolved. Kain had never faced anything simr to a cursed construct before in his life. Would the "brain eating" effects of a brain-eating amoeba be effective against a book?


    However, after Bea''s evolution, Bea no longer kills in the same manner as before, she kills by erasing all of a spiritual creatures "mindshards" ¨Can embodiment of their memories, emotions, knowledge, and more. Essentially she erases their sense of self¡ªtheir consciousness.


    Since even cursed constructs are living creatures with a consciousness, then Bea should be effective against both of Kairos''s contracts.


    And the simtions Kain ran in the Battlefield also supports this point. However, from the simtions, Kain could tell that it takes several times as long to achieve full control over them than most other spiritual creatures.


    Therefore, Kain had adjusted his strategy for this battle in preparation for a drawn out fight.


    Today, Kain was arranged to be in thest match in group 1.


    In the three matches before him, Serena defeated the current rank 6 Dwayne, Ranya defeated the current rank 8 Hailey, and Soren narrowly defeated the dark-horse Lucas.


    Meanwhile, Addison, Aiden, Finn, Bridge, and Elias all defeated their respective opponents in earlier matches and were sitting together to cheer on Kain who was currently on stage.


    While both of Kairos'' contracts, the cursed doll and magic book, were already released, Kain was again starting alone on the stage equipped with an enchanted armor and spear.


    However, everyone knew that this was just to conceal as much of his information as possible and that he''d release his contracts soon enough. In fact, Bea was already on the stage invisible to the naked eye.


    At the signal to start, Kain began his familiar operation of covering the field in mist. Not that Kairos particrly cared. Neither of his contracts had eyes in the traditional sense, so neither sensed their opponents relying on sight.


    Of course, Kain already knew this based on the simtion in the Battlefield, where one time the cursed book had even managed to strike his body directly through the mist.


    Therefore, at the same time Kain produced the mist, he also released all 18 of his Vespirae guards. Kain had discovered during the simtions that having as many creatures present as possible was the most effective strategy for confusing the opponent. Especially since the cursed doll was extremely powerful in 1 to 1bat, but had no area of effect skills.


    While the cursed book was much more bnced, most of its skills also favoured attacks directed at a single target, defense and control.


    At the same time the Vespirae guards were moving around rapidly to distract and confuse their senses, Bea''s threads were creeping towards both of Kairos'' contracts.


    When the threads were almost upon them, both of the sensitive spiritual creatures sensed that something was amiss and tried to move from the area. However, Bea could produce hundreds of threads, each capped with a split, and it was impossible to dodge all of them.


    The moment even one of the threads made contact and a split was added, the threads were retracted.


    Bea''s split got to work with trying to exert control over its new host, and even Kain began to use the spiritual skill to boost Bea''s all-round stats that he''d traded from the System. He''d been learning it during his free time since the beast-tide and his current proficiency with the skill allowed him to boost Bea by 30%, as long as he sacrificed 100% of his spiritual power.


    Finally, the Bea was able to make some headway in controlling both of the cursed constructs. Within all of the time it took to see some effects, the cursed book had mounted a defence around itself, Kairos and the doll. Meanwhile, the doll was taking the time tounch targeted attacks one by one against the Vespirae in the mist.


    So far, one of the guards had actually died, and another two were seriously injured.


    However, with Bea beginning to exert more control, there was finally a gap in the cursed book''s defence. Kain directed all of the Vespirae flying around as a distraction tounch attacks at the three the second that the shield went down.


    Unfortunately, that brief moment of weakness in the shield only allowed for three stingers to prate the shield. Of which only 2 actually hit their target¡ªthe doll.


    However, that was enough to knock it out ofmission. Now Kairos was only left with the book.


    But this confirmed one thing for Kain. In all that time that the book was maintaining the shield, it had notunched any attacks whatsoever. Meaning that the book must be opened to the page in order to use the skill. It was limited to using only one skill at a time.


    However, since it was no longer limited to the one page for the shield, it turned to a new page that Kain was unfamiliar with.


    A glowing ck circle of sigils appeared on the ground beneath the book, from which threerge shadowy entities crawled out.


    ''Well he didn''t do that during the beast tide¡­is it a new skill or was he holding back even during the most tense moments.''


    Each of the figures moved as fast as the Vespirae, and one that didn''t start moving quickly enough had a massive torso punched through its abdomen by the shadow. A nearby wasp to the one just murdered sent a fierce attack in the shadow''s direction, but it went straight through it to strike the ground. It appeared to be able to control whether it was a solid entitity or not.


    Now Kain only had 14 guards left, 2 dead and 2 injured. Two of the remaining shadows continued to chase after the Vespirae darting around, while one of them went searching the mist for something¡ªKain? Whatever was, to this moment, impacting its mind? Or maybe both?


    All the while, Kain was channeling his spiritual power into Bea to continue wearing down its mind. They were now in a battle of attrition.


    However, finally Bea broke the bnce. The book began to fall gently to the floor. Its pages slowly fluttered closed and then all three shadows faded into nothingness.


    He had won.

 Chapter 189: Chapter 189: "Semifinals"

    After three more days of battle, Kain managed to defeat Ranya, Dwayne, and Lucas. So far, Kairos was the most challenging opponent he''d had to deal with both in terms of resistance to Bea, and the number of Vespirae killed.


    Lucas'' contract had very little resistance to Bea, but had still managed to take down two more Vespirae. Now Kain was down to only 12 guards when he still needed to fight against his two toughest opponents¡ªSoren and Serena.


    However, with his current winning streak, Kain had practically confirmed a cement within the top 3.


    So far the current tally of wins and losses was as follows:


    Serena: 5 wins, still to fight against Ranya today and Kain tomorrow


    Kain: 5 wins, still to fight against Soren today and Serena tomorrow


    Soren: 4 wins, 1 loss (to Serena), still to fight against Kain today and Lucas tomorrow


    Kairos: 4 wins, 2 losses (lost to Kain and Soren), still to fight against Dwayne tomorrow


    Ranya: 2 wins, 3 losses (lost to Kain, Kairos, and Soren), still to fight against Serena today and Hailey tomorrow


    Lucas: 2 wins, 4 losses, still to fight against Soren tomorrow


    Dwayne: 1 win, 5 losses, still to fight against Kairos


    Hailey: 0 wins, 6 losses, still to fight against


    The arena buzzed with anticipation as the crowd settled in for what was the highest ranked match of the day, between their year''s second and third ces.


    This match could unofficially be considered a semifinals of sort, since it would likely determine the new second and third ce position between them.


    Kain stood at the edge of the stage, feeling the familiar adrenaline course through him. Across from him, Soren Lysander, red daggers in his direction.


    ''And I thought we bonded a little during the beast-tide. What''s crawled up his butt?'' Kain thought in irritation, unaware that a certain object of Soren''s affections had left right after watching Kain''s first match a few days ago and not stayed to watch Soren''s.


    The refereeing professor signalled the start of the battle. Kain wasted no time in unleashing his signature mist, enveloping the arena in a thick cloak that the audience could not see through.


    He had seen the power of Soren''s dragon in the previous matches, and he wasn''t about to underestimate the potential threat they posed.


    Soren, however, appeared unfazed by the swirling haze, his determination burning brighter than ever.


    Soren''s familiar initial contract, a wind-attribute dragon, spread its wings wide and let out a deafening roar that seemed to shake the very foundation of the arena. The crowd erupted in cheers, despite not being able to see much.


    ''Is all this showmanship really necessary? He must be really fired up.''


    The wind-attribute dragon took to the air, clearing away much of the mist with a p of its wings. Soren''s gaze flickered momentarily to where Kainst seen through the mist, and the distaste in his gaze deepened.


    As the dragon circled overhead, Kain decided to shift tactics. He knew Soren relied heavily on the aerial advantages of his dragon, and that was where he could gain an edge.


    Bea extended mental threads toward the wind dragon, seeking to connect. Just as Bea initiated contact, Soren sensed the impending threat.


    "Watch out!" the dragon unleashed a powerful gust of wind. It was useless for destroying the threads, however it did clear away a substantial part of the mist and allowed Soren, his contract, and many of those seated in the stands to witness the faint mental-attribute strands.


    Moreover the wind seemed to contain sharp des that instantly decimated 2 Vespirae and cut off the wings of another that went crashing to the ground.


    The remaining 9 Vespirae attacked the dragon flying above to try and limit its movements, and increase the likelihood of one of Bea''s strands making contact. Thankfully, Bea was able to make contact, and all of its defensive measures proved useless.


    However, Kain didn''t leave it at that. He directed Bea to also send some threads in Soren''s direction. After all, when at war it was always best to directly capture the enemy king.


    Unfortunately, an amulet on his wrist lit up at the approach of the threads, and actually provided an obstruction to their advancement.


    ''Tsk¡­annoying legacies¡­''


    Although Soren himself was safe, he could sense that something was wrong with his contract as it began to sway unsteadily side to side in the air.


    In a desperate move, Soren called upon his second dragon for the first time in thepetition¡ªa lightning-attribute dragon.


    ''I guess that confirms that Soren''s affinity is most likely for spiritual creatures with a storm dragon bloodline¡­''


    Soren directed his second contract to keep the Vespirae circling his contract above at bay. Just remaining mere feet from it caused another Vespirae guard to freeze as though electrocuted, and then drop heavily to the ground with a loud crash. Now there were only 8 guards.


    Meanwhile, Soren used a spiritual skill to help the wind dragon resist Bea''s infiltration.


    Kain sensed the shift and knew he had to act fast. Hemanded Bea to intensify her control of the first dragon, while trying to wrap the threads around the newly arrived dragons. To support her, he once again activated his spiritual skill.


    Finally, despite the continuous movements, a thread made contact with the lightning dragon, and unlike the cursed constructs, it didn''t take nearly as long for Bea to trigger some effects. Especially, now that Soren was having to divide his attention and spiritual power evenly between both contracts.


    Soren''s face contorted with rage and disbelief as he felt his control over them both slipping away. Both dragons began to thrash about as they fought against the threads with all their might. But Bea''s relentless assault began to take its toll. Soren''s dragons, though powerful, could not withstand the weight of the mindshard maniption.


    Both dragonsnded roughly on the ground of the arena while nodding in and out of consciousness. The Vespirae also were relentlessly leaving deep injuries on the now fallen dragons.


    However, Soren was never a helpless beat-tamer dependent upon his contracts for protection. With top quality equipment, he made his way towards one of the Vespirae at a speed only slightly inferior to the guards themselves.


    Kain could tell through the clothing, that Soren''s limbs now had an unusual appearance. He had likely used his gift to transform them and grant this physical boost.


    Kain directed the Vespirae to avoid a direct confrontation with Soren and instead attack from a distance. Unfortunately, Bea''s threads were unable to affect Soren due to the many amulets and enchanted equipment he wore.


    Instead, Kain decided to try getting Soren to ingest a split, simr to the method he used prior to Bea''s evolution. Losing the water attribute, she could no longer blend seamlessly into the mist, and so Soren will be able to detect that there was now something added to the surrounding mist.


    However, as a microorganism, the floating water droplets were stillrge enough to carry Bea and some of her splits.


    The ease with which she infected the fog was greatly reduced, but once a decently size portion of the mist had her splits in each droplet, Kain directed the fog towards Soren.


    The mist was able to prate whatever barrier had been able to keep the mental-attribute threads at bay. However, Soren was able to sense that there was something in the mist and managed to avoid the infected sections of fog.


    In turn, Kain directed the mist and also instructed Bea to add more splits, until he was able to form a ring of infected mist to trap Soren.


    Finally, a split managed to make contact with Soren''s body. However, for the first time since Kain first met the Vespirae, there was something fighting hard against Bea''s control. Kain could see one gem stone on an ancient looking ne Soren was wearing was lighting up crazily.


    ''Why do these legacies have so much damn equipment¡­?'' Kain had never even heard mention of microorganisms from another person since transmigrating to this world, he was shocked that Soren, unlike Aric Nightsbane, had equipment to sessfullybat infection.


    Once again supporting Kain''s hunch that microorganisms aren''tpletely unknown in this world, the knowledge of their presence may have just been lost with time¡ªor perhaps it was hidden from the general popce.


    Kain knew that Soren''s target was him, so he made a great effort to continuously keep a distance from him through the fog.


    Finally, he received some good news from Bea. Both dragons had been sessfully controlled. He had them both stand up and then encircle their contractor along with the remaining Vespirae. Of course, if Soren tried to attack, he''d have his own contracts meet him and take the beating.


    Kain could sense that Soren tried to retract his contracts back to his star space, but Kain told Bea to help them resist the pull.


    Likely sensing Kain''s intentions to try and force he and his contracts to harm one another, with an extremely unwilling expression, Soren dered his defeat.


    Kain felt a surge of triumph as he retracted the mist along with his contracts, leaving only a ring Soren on the field that looked like he wanted to eat him alive.


    He couldn''t shake the feeling that this battle had only further deepened the rift between him and Soren.

 Chapter 190: Chapter 190: The Grand Finale

    Serena easily won her battle against Ranya, meaning that despite their still being a day before the final matches, the first and second ce of their year was pretty much confirmed to be between Serena and Kain.


    The majority of the students were betting on Serena''s final victory. After all, she still hadn''t even needed to reveal another contract and all of her battles had ended in less than a minute so far. Fighting against her same-aged peers just appeared so effortless for her.


    On the actual day of Kain''s match against Serena, perhaps because this was the deciding battle for the champion of their year, their match was arranged to be the final battle of the day. Meaning that all the other rankings had been pretty much decided. They even removed all the stages for each group to form onerger central stage for the two of them.


    However, considering both Kain and Serena had used the strategy of pushing their opponents off the stage, it was unknown who arger battleground benefitted¡­Probably the viewers since Kain wouldn''t be able to make a mist as thick that covered a stage several times the previous size.


    Aside from Kain and Serena who would fight to confirm first and second ce, the other rankings had been pretty much determined:


    Confirmed Ranks 1-8:


    Rank 3: Soren, Rank 4: Kairos, Rank 5: Ranya, Rank 6: Lucas, Rank 7: Dwayne, Rank 8: Hailey


    Aiden and Addison finished at ranks 10 and 12, respectively. Leonara finished at rank 16. Finn finished at rank 17, and Bridge rank 20. Elias finished second in the bottom group at rank 42.


    Aside from Bridge, there were no significant changes in the rankings aside from Bridge, who is now in the top 20 and will be moving into a single room.


    Additionally, due to their being subtle differences in the size and spiritual power of each top 5 room, despite only being a one rank difference, Ranya and Kairos will need to switch rooms so that Kairos can get the benefits deserving of his rank 4 cement.


    Thankfully with the existence of space rings and special skills, moving from one home to another is not nearly as a time consuming or difficult process as it was back on Earth.


    With their own ranks already determined, all of the other students, regardless of if they were pleased with their new cement, were now much more rxed. Kain could sense that their much more leisurely attitude has caused them to regard Kain and Serena''s battle with an almost festive air.


    Kain could even swear that he heard someone calling out bets, how much money was supposedly in the pot, and the payout odds of either Kain and Serena winning. Serena being the crowd favourite was definitely reflected in the odds called out. Kain could make a killing is he bet on himself and won! Unfortunately, it was toote to get involved.


    Serena and Kain stood facing each other on the stage. Serena stood confidently next to her Elemental Guardian already in the form of the wind spirit. Kain, his expression impassive, tightened his grip on his spear. Despite not being able to make a dense mist that can cover the now erged stage, the presence of even a thin mist will help with concealing Bea''s thin, difficult to see, mental threads.


    At the signal to start, Kain released the mist and his remaining 8 Vespirae. However, his practiced movements proved fruitless when the wind spirit let out a massive gust to disperse all of the fog. Kain cursed under his breath; he knew better than to engage in a battle of attrition with Serena to try and produce more mist.


    Her contract would never tire while dispersing the mist, so he quickly stopped wasting his spiritual power.


    The crowd buzzed with anticipation. This was the peak battle, and thanks to Serena they''d get to see every moment clearly.


    Kain wasn''t too fazed by not being able to use the mist, already anticipating that she wouldn''t give him that level of leisure. But it was worth a shot.


    He knew that this fight would require every ounce of strategy he had developed in the simtions. While Serena''s Elemental Guardian could be aggressive and relentless, Kain had learned to exploit weaknesses. He decided to bide his time, watching for the right moment to make his move.


    Serena''s contract sent sharp des of wind towards him and all of the Vespirae.


    He reacted swiftly, using his spear to deflect the projectiles that while sharp were not too heavy, while his Vespirae zipped around him, creating chaos in the air.


    However, the wind des cut through the air with rming speed, and while he managed to deflect most of them, a few grazed his arm, drawing blood.


    Kain took a deep breath and Bea released a series of mental threads, aiming to fragment Serena''s focus. The threads weaved barely noticeable through the air, trying to connect with the wind spirit.


    However, Serena noticed the threads and quickly had her contract shift forms, transforming into a fiery phoenix that soared into the air out of the range of the Vespirae and the threads. Kain channeled more spiritual power into Bea to support her extending hundreds of threads over such a great distance.


    Those in the audience couldn''t help but shudder at the scene. Some knowledge about Kain''s abilities had already spread despite his best efforts, so they knew that if even one of those hundreds of delicate looking threads briefly made contact, Kain''s unknown contract will use it to control the target.


    Therefore, seeing hundreds of such threads, that couldn''t be blocked by ordinary means, making their way towards the Elemental Guardian in the sky, they couldn''t help but break out into a cold sweat on Serena''s behalf. Especially, since the vast majority of them had bet on her.


    The phoenix, now far above, unleashed a wave of mes that cascaded down toward Kain and the Vespirae. The fire ignited the air, and Kain felt the intense heat wash over him.


    Hemanded the Vespirae to create a barrier using their subtle control over the wind element, but considering that they didn''t have a specific skill to achieve this effect, whatever shield they made wasn''t too strong. It briefly blocked the attack, but the mes were relentless, forcing him to distance himself from ze.


    Due to their seemingly endless supply of spiritual power, Serena''s Elemental Guardian was a lot more aggressive in its attacks than the one simted in the Battlefield.


    Likely, distracted by concern for Kain''s well-being, Bea''s advancing threads momentarily halted their advancement.


    Seeing this opportunity, the Elemental Guardian dodged to stationary threads and began to fly away¡ªstraight towards Kain.

 Chapter 191: Chapter 191: The Grand Finale (2)

    As the phoenix lunged at him, Kain quickly redirected his Vespirae to create a swirling vortex of wind simr to what they''d produce when ejecting their stingers, hoping to disrupt the trajectory of the fiery assault. Likely due to the familiar movement of the wind, their creation of a vortex was more seamless than the shield.


    The phoenix opened its beak, unleashing a torrent of fire that rained down like a meteor shower.


    Kain narrowed his eyes, feeling the heat wash over him as he leaped to the side. The mes scorched the ground where he had just stood, and the force of the attack sent some of the Vespirae tumbling through the air. But he had anticipated this moment.


    ''Now Bea!'' He directed. The hundreds of threads already produced dispersed and Kain used his spear again to produce a mist that caught the microscopic splits that were previously suspended at the end of each thread. Instead of waiting for the already elongated threads to change direction ande back, it was better to just disperse them.


    Using the mist that he could instantaneously produce and suddenly had hundreds of splits dropped into it. He quickly moved the infected mist to surround the area only around the phoenix.


    The heating off of the phoenix increased as it sensed that something was wrong with the approaching fog.


    The hot temperature of the phoenix caused much of the water droplets in the mist to turn into steam and destroy the splits, however, during the time when its vision was obstructed by dense steam, Kain and Bea concentrated theirbined spiritual power into creating a thread that approached the phoenix through the steam before it could react.


    Thankfully, within the protection of the mental attribute threads, the heat from the mes were ineffective at preventing the advancement of the split inside of it. Additionally, thanks to the properties of the Mindweaver''s Spider threads, only a brief graze of the wing was enough to inject the split. Bea no longer needed to be ingested to exert a role as long as the threads were used.


    He could sense the struggle within the elemental spirit, the tug-of-war between its consciousness and Bea''s control. However, he could also sense the endless supply of spiritual power being channeled to it to fight the infectioning from Serena.


    Kain directed the remaining Vespirae to swarm around and attack the phoenix, creating a distraction for Bea''s easier control. Thebination of Kain''s mental threads and the Vespirae''s relentless attacks began to turn the tide.


    Kain channeled much of his remaining spiritual power into boosting Bea. The Elemental Guardian''s thrashed wildly and sent out uncontrolled bursts of heat while struggling against Bea''s control.


    "Almost there¡­" Kain muttered to himself, sweat beading on his brow as he maintained the connection while dodging the phoenix''s attacks.


    The crowd was now on the edge of their seats. Would their be an upset? Will there be a new rank 1?


    Kain''s heart raced, each moment drawing him closer to victory or defeat. He needed tond a decisive blow. To corner the elemental and ensure that Bea''s control solidified.


    With this battle, he could prove not only to Serena but to everyone watching that he was the rightful rank 1.


    However, just when Kain was getting ready for the final push to exert full control, there was suddenly a new presence in the arena. It was a spiritual creature that Kain had never seen before, but he instantly knew its origins with a sinking feeling.


    At the same time that Kain noticed the new addition, so did the audience, which broke out into hushed whispers.


    For the first time in the re-ranking, Serena had summoned a second spiritual creature.


    Moreover, unlike the other members of their year, it was yellow-grade.


    Kain couldn''t help but wonder why she had never revealed such a powerful trump card at any point. Not even when there were civilians in danger during the beast-tide. Despite looking extremely cold, Kain could tell from theck of injuries in her previous opponents that her character was not bad.


    However, upon examining the new addition, Kain could tell from theck of any green-tinge to its spiritual power that it was likely in the very early stages of yellow-grade and had probably only broken through within the past 2 months. Most likely, due to the suddenness of the beast-tide, Serena''s yellow-grade contract was actually in the process of breaking through for those days.


    Therefore she was greatly limited to what spiritual creatures she could call upon. However, as she''d likely been atleast a 3-star beast-tamer for quite a while, Kain found it hard to believe that she didn''t have a third contract. Why limit yourself to only using one?Was something wrong with the third? Or did it have some kind of unusual circumstance.


    Serena''s second contract was a majestic spiritual creature that appeared like a sylphposed of stars. With a translucent form that shimmered like starlight, she appeared as a tall, graceful figure made of cosmo energy.


    Her wings resembled a serene night sky filled with constetions. And she had a serene, almost wise expression that seemed to reflect the universe''s vastness, giving her an air of both beauty and authority.


    Kain could sense that this contract had one of the most mysterious and rare attributes of the empire. It also happens to be the most worshipped and respected attribute of the empire¡ªthe star-attribute.


    Kain had never even seen a spiritual creature with this attribute before, nor was he familiar with what a star attribute skill would look like.


    Unfortunately, Kain wasn''t given much time to examine the rare creature. Not long after being released, the sylph raised her delicate arms and a cascade of stars began to descend appearing like the most beautiful glowing rain.


    As the stars approached Kain and his contracts, they transformed into shimmering, golden particles. Kain felt the warmth of the stars wrapping around him, a protective cocoon infused with otherworldly strength. He knew logically that this couldn''t be good, but he couldn''t bring himself to resist thefort they provided. However, soon Kain had no more thoughts.


    The crowd gasped as Kain and his contracts were gradually made into golden statues flickering with light, their forms frozen in time with serene expressions. The statues glimmered and shimmered, reflecting the sky above which was suddenly covered in stars despite it being daytime still, a breathtaking disy that captivated everyone watching.

 Chapter 192: Chapter 192: Re-Ranking Done

    One moment Kain was in the middle of a battle, the next he was lying in an infirmary room with hisst blurry memory being of falling stars.


    ''Sigh¡­Looks like I will be second ce for 3 more months. But mark my words, after the next re-ranking I will definitely be number 1.''


    After all, it was understandable to lose against a strong contract higher in level. Not to mention that she may have more yellow-grade contracts. She had a head start due to awakening an affinity early. However, Kain had total confidence that once he caught up, he wouldn''t be at all inferior to her.


    After a brief check-up by a professor to make sure there were no lingering side-effects from being frozen like that, Kain made his way back to the dorms. The battles today were intense, so the closing speeches by the professors will be held tomorrow to give the students a chance to rest and recuperate.


    Additionally, tomorrow is when they''d be given their first ess to the Enchanted Spring. Up to one day of rest to restore their condition after a series of stimting battles, has been shown over the years to slightly increase the chances of getting a gift.


    Which is precisely why this opportunity is provided after the first re-ranking of each year, which usually has the most intense battles as the students returning from the summer break had spent much of their time improving their abilities drastically. If there are any drastic changes in rank, it is unlikely to ur after the first re-ranking of the year.


    The next morning Kain and the other first-years, as well as the upperssmen who''dpleted their own re-rankings in other arenas, were brought through a dense patch of trees to a clearing with rows of seats arranged in circles that got progressively higher up to see a over the heads of those in front.


    The step-like seats wereposed of a pale white stone, and covered in Ivy with moss-covered benches that increased the students''fort.


    The sun streaming through the leaves of the tall trees was focused on the low stage at the center of the clearing.


    It was as though this gathering area had beenposed by nature itself and was incredibly calming to the entering students.


    All of the students were dressed in a fully ck uniform that stood out against the white steps. The uniform of unknown material had been given to everyone after the re-ranking yesterday, and they''d been instructed to wear it today.


    The Dean of the Beast-taming Department made his way to the stage while they all apuded. This was actually the first time Kain was getting to see any of the college''s Deans, much less the even higher-up Chancellor.


    After apuding, the gathered crowd settled into a respectful silence, eager to hear his words.


    "Greetings students and faculty. I am Dean Evermore of the Beast-Taming Department." He began, his voice steady andmanding. "Today marks not only the conclusion of this year''s first re-ranking but also the culmination of each of your hard work and determination."


    "I will keep this brief, as I am sure each of you are eager to enter the Enchanted Spring¡ª a sacred ce that has nurtured countless talents before you. This Spring offers a unique opportunity for those without a gift to awaken their true potential, while also granting those of you with gifts the chance to strengthen and refine your abilities.


    "The order in which you will enter the spring reflects your hard-earned cements, beginning with the top 5 of each year. May the top 5 determined yesterday for each year please make their way to the stage. "


    Kain went to the stage along with the 19 other students who were crowned as being within the top 5 of their year. Looking around, Kain could see that simr to the first years, there were no new additions to the top 5 in the upper years either. Kain was d, since he''d gotten to bond with many of them during the beast-tide and didn''t want anyone to them to have to leave.


    "Congrattions once again to each of you. You may enter the spring, and I wish you the best of luck!"


    With a sweeping gestured he directed them to leave the stage and go down a path carved out of the dense trees to the left of the stage.


    Kain followed the upperssmen off of the stage. Surprisingly though, only three of the second-years, Jin and two girls Kain wasn''t as familiar with, and Oliver among the third-years, continued forward. All of the fourth years, and many of the third and second years returned to their seats.Kain went next to the still-walking senior he was the most familiar with to ask about it¡ªOliver.


    However, before Kain could even open his mouth to ask, Oliver likely already anticipated his question and spoke up pre-emptively.


    "The spring is only effective for awakening a gift, and strengthening it one time. After your gift has experienced being strengthened once, it won''t continue to work."


    "So not only do they all have a gift, they''ve also all sessfully strengthened it? I thought the sess rate wasn''t so high for either?" Kain asked in confusion. Was obtaining benefits form the spring guaranteed?


    Oliver shook his head, "The sess rate isn''t so high. Once those outside of the top 5 enter, more and more students will still not have received both opportunities from the spring. The reason why the sess rate seems so high among us is because many of them already had gifts upon entering the school, and so they managed to strengthen it during the first or second time entering the pool.


    "Additionally, those with a higher ranking will receive more of the pool''s benefits. The potency of the spring for those ranked 6 to 20, may than 75% of what you''d have ess to, and as you keep going down the rankings, the less effective the spring will continually go down."


    Kain nodded in understanding, and continued following the leading upperssmen to make sure that he was going in the right direction until they reached what appeared to be the opening of a cave.


    As they got closer to the mouth of the cave, Kain could feel a density of spiritual power that pressed on his body and made it feel as though the gravity in the area had doubled. However, despite the immensely ufortable feeling, Kain still didn''t have his anticipation dampened.

 Chapter 193: Chapter 193: Enchanted Spring

    With each step forward, the spiritual power grew heavier and wrapped around him like a heavy cloak, intensifying with every inch they drew nearer.


    Kain clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood to prevent himself from showing any strain. He could see Ranya begin to walk unsteadily and start panting, but the upperssmen didn''t seem to feel anything. Simrly, Soren and Serena also seemed to be having no issues.


    "If you didn''t already learn to do so in lectures or at home, this may be challenging for you, but you can try having your spiritual power circte throughout your entire body to provide an all-round increase to your constitution." Oliver instructed.


    However, Kain was never the most talented at manipting spiritual power and couldn''t achieve the effect Oliver mentioned just based off of a brief description. He could only continue to endure. Thankfully, although the pressure was ufortable, it wasn''t painful. And in fact, the sensation was pretty exhrating raising his anticipation for the spring even higher.


    Inside the cave, the walls sparkled with mineral deposits that shimmered like stars caught in stone, casting reflections that danced across the smooth, wet floor.


    The deeper they travelled, the more vibrant the colors became¡ªemerald greens and sapphire blues mixed with soft purples, creating an otherworldly picture.


    As they entered the main chamber, the Enchanted Springy before them, a crystalline pool surrounded by luminescent stones that seemed to vibrate to a certain rhythm with the movements of the water in the spring. It was as though the entire chamber was alive and breathing.


    Kain stepped forward, drawn to the edge of the pool. The weight he felt began to transform into something lighter, almost buoyant, as he approached the water. The very air felt electric, charged with possibilities, and for a moment, he allowed himself to dream of what mighte next.


    However, after the disappointment of his affinity ceremony, he no longer allowed his imagination to run wild with hopes and dreams of an ideal gift. He would take what he could get. Although a teeny tiny part of him couldn''t help but think of some of his favourite superheroes back on Earth with some longing¡­


    "No need to disrobe, the uniform provided to you will not only help you regte your body temperature, but it will also efficiently allow the properties in the water of the to make contact with your body. Otherwise, to maximize the full effects of the spring you''d need to get naked." Oliver said.


    As the only third-year present, he had easily taken on a leadership role, unlike his usual yful self.


    However, Kain could tell that Oliver was also unusually tense. Despite the great help his presence was for Kain and the other first-years, to Oliver being the only top 5 student in the third-year who hadn''t yet strengthened his gift, if he''d even awakened a gift to begin with, was nothing to be proud about.


    "How do you know if you''ve awakened your gift or sessfully strengthened it?" Ranya asked out of curiosity. Was there a specific moment when they knew they had achieved their goal?


    "It''s much easier to tell if you''ve sessfully strengthened your gift. Most people with a gift are already in tune with their gift, and can easily notice subtle changes to it even without using their gift." Oliver said.


    "However, knowing when you''ve awakened a gift and figuring out what the gift is exactly is more challenging. It''s like you suddenly have an additional limb or tail on your body that you can''t see. You can feel that something is different¡­something is there that wasn''t before. But if you suddenly had a small tail growing out of you, would you be able to move it freely?


    In fact, it may even take you a while to figure out exactly what is different about you. That''s why there are some rare cases of people awakening a gift, and feeling the presence of a gift, but not sessfully being able to use it until yearster. Although such cases are definitely rare."


    ''Please don''t be me¡­'' Kain really didn''t think he had any luck with these sorts of things. It took him a long time to even figure out what his affinity was, much less the more confusing gift.


    ''Wait¡­ System! If I awaken a gift, would you be able to help me identify and use it?''


    *Identify, yes. Use, no.* Kain only received a cold reply in return. However, he wasn''t disheartened. At least unlike some who''d be searching blindly, the System could help him figure out exactly what it is.


    As Kain dipped his fingers into the pool, a shock of warmth surged through him, a huge contrast to the coolness of the surrounding cave.


    He quickly sank the rest of his body into the water following the upperssmen who''d already done so without hesitation. After all, they needed to suck up as much of the energy in the pool as they could before more people came.


    The moment his body made contact, he felt a rush of energy pulse through him. The spring felt alive as it flowed into him. It coursed through his veins, igniting every nerve ending, a delightful tingling sensation that spread from his skin to his core.


    The moment they fully immersed themselves, a collective gasp among the first-years echoed in the chamber, a sound filled with astonishment and exhration.


    The world around him blurred as the spring enveloped himpletely and he sank fully beneath the water. However, despite being submerged, he had no trouble breathing.


    Kain felt weightless, as if he were floating in a void, the confines of the cave fading away. The colors swirled around him, vibrant and alive, each hue pulsing in sync with his heartbeat. He could feel the energy of the spring merging with his own spiritual power, amplifying it in a way he had never experienced before.


    Visions danced before his eyes¡ªscenes from both his past and current life. Moments with his parents, hanging out with friends, touching moments at the orphanage, snippets of his past battles, moments of growth, and shes of potential futures.


    Time lost meaning as he remained suspended in that moment, enveloped by the spring''s energy. Kain understood that the awakening of a gift was more simr to that of spiritual creatures evolving. Each student was being reshaped, their destinies rewritten, and when they re-surfaced from the depths of the spring, they would have a new power within them.

 Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Gift?

    After closing his eyes for what felt like only a brief moment, Kain was roused from the dreamy feeling he was experiencing.


    With each breath, his mind grew clearer and clearer until he could sense the subtle changes within him¡ªatent power just waiting to be harnessed. However, he could tell that his gift was not one that he''d readily be able to use anytime soon.


    As he stepped out of the pool and back onto the stone floor of the cave, he was shocked by the dense mass of floating bodies beneath the pool. It seemed as though he was in the spring for much longer than he''d thought considering he recognized many students much further down the rankings within the pool.


    He didn''t want to hog the properties of the spring, especially when so many others were relying on this chance as an opportunity to drastically increase their power. It was vital for everyone to have an opportunity to awaken their gifts, whatever they may be. He turned away from the spring, heading for the cave''s exit.


    As he stepped outside, the bright light of the sun momentarily blinded him. The area outside of the cave was alive with the happiness of the students who had just emerged from the spring. He squinted, taking in the scene:ughter, shouts of joy, and the asional gasp of surprise floated through the air, mingling with the sweet scent of blooming flowers and fresh earth.


    At the entrance, Kain noticed a group of professors standing vigntly, likely to prevent any idents from students unable to control their new gifts. Their expressions were a mix of concern and anticipation. Kain recognized Oliver among them, the unfamiliar serious and tense expression from before entering the pool now a lot more loose.


    Presumably whatever goal he''d entered the spring with had been achieved.


    Nearby, another student, a second year just outside of the top 5, was causing mischief by uncontrobly summoning mes, igniting nearby foliage and causing amotion. Laughter erupted from the crowd as a couple of students dodged the fire, their expressions a mixture of shock and amusement.


    "Be careful!" one professor shouted, waving a hand to extinguish the flickering mes before they spread.


    "Are we supposed to stay here?" Kain asked Oliver, gesturing toward the exit.


    "Depends¡­did you awaken a gift or strengthen your current one? Once everyone''s out, the professors will conduct a brief session to help those who have awakened or strengthened their gifts," Oliver exined. "It''s crucial that we help them learn to control it before letting them run wild."


    Kain nodded in understanding and then went to an isted area of the clearing to investigate the gift he''d awakened. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he was not one of the students who could have an instant sense of how to use his gift like the second-year pyromaniac who was still asionally setting fire to random objects.


    Kain opened the System and went to his profile looking for any changes. Finally, he found the new addition of a ''gift'' section within his profile amongst all of his other stats.


    "Traveller''s Souvenir"


    ''Seriously System?! That''s all the help you''ll give me? That name tells me absolutely nothing!''


    Kain tried to figure out what exactly the name could possibly mean, and possibly explore his body along those lines, but the name was just too abstract.


    Just as Kain was about to lose himself in frustration, he spotted Bridge emerging from the cave. His brother looked a bit excited but mostly confused.


    "Bridge!" Kain called out, rushing toward him.


    Bridge turned, a mixture of emotions ying across his face. "Hey, Kain! Did you¡ª"


    "Did you awaken a gift?" Kain interrupted, his heart pounding with anticipation.


    Bridge shook his head vigorously, then hesitated before nodding slowly. "I think I might have, but I''m not sure. I felt¡­ different when I was in there. But now that I''m out, I can''t really pinpoint what it is. I left because the spring didn''t feel like it was working on me anymore."


    Kain furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"


    "I just¡­ can sense something, but it''s like it''s hiding from me," Bridge replied, ncing back toward the cave as if expecting an answer to emerge from it. "I can''t activate it like either of those guys. So that must mean I failed, right?" Bridge pointed at the guy who was still asionally setting fire to things, and another first-year who exited the spring not long before Bridge.


    His eyes kept suspiciously changing color and he''s been sneakily passing nces over the chest area of a female third-year student for a while now.


    As if on cue, another fire erupted in a corner of the clearing, and the fed up third-year student suddenly yanked the suspicious first-year with colour-changing eyes away with an exasperated expression. Soon the sound of loud, painful screams echoed back to them, causing Kain to wince.


    ''I guess nobody exined to him that not all gifts are able to be identified and used right away¡­''


    "If you feel that something is different, that''s a good sign. You probably have a gift, but just haven''t met the conditions to activate it. Don''t worry and take your time exploring it." Kain tried his best tofort him despite also being frustrated by his own situation.


    However, unlike Bridge, who had no leads to go off of or even a way to conclusively determine that he had a gift, Kain at least had a name for and confirmation that he had a gift.


    "That''s nice to know, but I wish I could figure out what this ''gift'' is. It feels frustrating!" Bridge eximed, running a hand through his hair.


    As more students continued to filter out of the cave, Kain and Bridge were greeted by their friends and acquaintances with varying expressions. While many students had awakened or strengthened a gift. The vast majority were still left with feelings of disappointment at not having a gift.

 Chapter 195 A Surprising Offer

    Thankfully, the day that the students'' re-ranking tournament ended on a Thursday so that the students had the weekend to rest.


    However, Kain didn''t get to rx after entering the Enchanted Spring. He was summoned to a meeting with Professor Gregory Lume, one of the newer Assistant Professors at Dark Moon College, in his office. Although he wasn''t responsible for any nner courses that Kain would be taking this term.


    However, despite not having any sses with him, Kain was called upon because he happened to be assigned the duty of acting as an authenticator for Kain''s Lumifin evolution patent by the NEPA¡ªthe National Evolutionary nners'' Association. The governing body for all official nners in the Empire.


    They are responsible for managing patents, enforcing patent rights, investigating instances of Evolutionary nner misconduct, and more.


    As Kain walked through the empty halls of the college, he couldn''t help but feel a wave of anxiety wash over him as he approached Professor Lume''s office. Authenticators usually just test the evolutionary n for themselves and visit the researcher in their ce of work to look at their own experimental results in person.


    They don''t usually request for the researcher being evaluated to meet with them beyond these instances in different locations.


    He knocked lightly on the door, and a voice called out, "Come in!"


    Kain opened the door to find a tidy office filled with bookshelves crammed with volumes on evolutionary theory and spiritual creature studies. The room was well-lit, with sunlight filtering through the window, casting a warm glow over the polished wooden desk where Professor Lume sat. He was a man who appeared to be in his early thirties.


    He had a stern and rigid appearance, but it was softened by the slight smile at the corner of his mouth.


    "Ah, Kain! I''m d you could make it," Professor Lume said, motioning for Kain to take a seat. "I know you''ve been quite busytely¡ªthe first re-ranking for you first years was recently finished, wasn''t it? I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me."


    Professor Lume cleared his throat, shuffling some papers before focusing his attention on Kain. "First, I''d like to congratte you on your Lumifin evolution patent. Your findings are quite remarkable, and they''ve garnered significant interest from those within NEPA.


    Those within the more organization that like to take a more mathematic approach to their evolutionary ns were especially thrilled by your paper. To think that the sequence of numbers you identified can be seen within nature in so many ways. Just how does your mind work?"


    "Although technically the process of your authentication is still supposed to be ongoing, but between you and me I can assure you that it''s already been epted. Your results have been independently verified several times, not to mention it has tremendous research value in that it opened the minds of several researchers to exploring what unusual factors may be impacting evolution."


    "By the end of this week, it should be made official and there will be a public announcement detailing some of the details of the newly discovered evolutionary form to stimte interest. Of course, though, the specific details and skill information will only be avable with the purchase of your n."


    ''Sweet! The beer business is a constant money pit, I could use a new influx of cash.''


    Once the patent is approved, Kain would be entitled to 70% of the ie produced from that pattern, while the remaining 30% went to the NEPA.


    Considering that Kain did all of the work on his own, one would think that he should be entitled to even more than 70% of the ie. However, the 30% NEPA uses is to fund their activities as the ones responsible for enforcing the patent such as cracking down on people attempting to re-sell the n for a profit and charging them huge penalties.


    Kain felt a burst of pride at the notification that he''d seeded, and his previous nervousness began to disappear "Thank you, if you don''t mind my asking, why was I called here then?"


    Professor Lume cleared his throat and leaned forward. "In light of your achievements and the unique gift you possess for identifying unique conditions for evolutionary forms, the school has decided to reward you with your own personalboratory."


    Kain couldn''t help but flinch at the mention of his "gift." Apparently the college had noticed therge influx of people attempting to contact him for his services as a nner specializing in unusual cases. But once, he fully processed what was said, Kain''s eyes widened in disbelief. "Ab? For me?"


    "Yes," Professor Lume confirmed, a proud look on his face. "The school would like to invest in your clear potential as a nner. You will receive a set amount of research funds, equipment, and staff support to aid you in your studies. The funding can increase based on your research oues. This level of support has never been granted to a first-year student before."


    Kain''s heart raced as the implications of the offer sank in. "But¡­ what if I don''t meet expectations?"


    "Every researcher faces challenges," Professor Lume said kindly. "But you''ve already shown extraordinary talent. Thest student that could be considered a genius close to your level raised by our nning department, now Professor Virell, discovered a new evolutionary form in his third year and was awarded his ownb afterpleting his third year.


    He then went on to find another form in his fourth year and made several more contributions to the field since. You, however, have shown remarkable results in your first year, which is why we believe you deserve this opportunity."


    The weight of the professor''s words settled on Kain, but it was a wee pressure. "Thank you," he finally said, feeling a rush of gratitude. "This means a lot to me."


    ''Especially since future experiments outside of the System won''t need to ur in a makeshift pond or rickety old shack.''


    "Good," Professor Lume said, a satisfied smile on his face. "I''ll arrange for the necessary paperwork and details about theb to be sent to you shortly. If you have any questions or need guidance, don''t hesitate to reach out."


    As the meeting concluded, Kain felt a whirlwind of emotions¡ªsome pressure, but mostly excitement.

 Chapter 196 3-Stars

    The next day, Kain was called upon again by Professor Lume, but this time to give him a tour of his newb provided by the school, which the school didn''t know is actually his secondb.


    He brought him to a metal sliding door with a scanner and key pad next to it. He instructed Kain to scan his student ID, and then coached him through the process of setting up a pin that only he''d know.


    "Once this is all set up, you can add ess to yourb for others as well so that they can enter using their IDs and the pin. I know it''s a bit of a hassle, but this two-step security measure is necessary to protect the research results of those affiliated with the college¡ªI''m sure you understand. What if a rival tries to steal your results?


    In fact, some of the more secretbs at the college require to clear several security checks before being granted entry."


    Once Kain set up the code, the thick metal door slid to the side to allow them entry.


    Although smaller than the space in the System''s Laboratory, it was a decent size¡ªaround 1000 square feet. Interestingly, a third of the room was isted by a thick ss that only allowed one point of entry. It also had several pieces of machinery¡ªalthough nothing even close to being as advanced as what was provided by the System.


    "Every researcher''sb will be slightly different depending on their individual needs," Professor Lume said. "Equipment you can apply for is in the package I had delivered to your dorm room this morning. However, for not the most basic equipment has been provided."


    Kain followed him over to a corner of the room, and he gestured to several machines lined up in a row.


    "These machines are basic must have for any nner. They will give you a precise reading of the levels of spiritual power and elemental energy in a certain material. Simrly, this one is used to read the spiritual power of a creature."


    "And I''m sure you noticed the observation area set up. Typically, it is used to house spiritual creatures you are currently working with, which is why the wall separating you from it ispletely ss¡ªso that you can observe. The ss is a new and improved product capable of withstanding the blows of spiritual creatures at and below green grade.


    Not to mention that the observation area is tightly sealed. Nothing will be able to escape once it enters. In fact, the observation area even operates on its own air filtration system so that spiritual creatures that produce poisonous gases won''t be able to affect the entireb.


    "Currently, your authorization level only allows you ab of this size, but after a few more achievements you should be able to apply for a muchrger one. Professor Virell has an entire building on the outskirts of the campus built as his personalboratory."


    Kain''s mind began to wander with fantasies of his own high-tech research building with his name stamped on the front.


    "Ha ha ha! Of course, you are an extremely long way from being anywhere close to that level," Lume quickly put Kain''s fantasies to a grinding halt. "But it''s a good goal to look forward to."


    After the brief tour, Kain then returned back to his dorm. There was something he had been putting off due to how time-consuming it may be and with having to continuouslyplete evolutionary nner requests to fund his new business, and prepare for the re-ranking, he hadn''t yet had time toplete¡ªbreaking through to 3-stars.


    It took a couple of days for him to break through to being a 2-star beast-tamer. Bing a 3-star beast-tamer can take anywhere from a single day, to a week. Therefore,although it was still early on a Saturday, Kain still requested for a leave of absence for the next week of sses as well.


    The timing couldn''t work out better because, since many students with gifts often need to miss sses the first couple of days of sses after entering the Enchanted Spring to get their abilities under control, no crucial topics were lectured on and notes for those lectures were made avable to students.


    However, this period of leniency was only granted during this time, and afterwards attendance, unless approved by the professor, is mandatory.


    Kain returned to his dorm room to begin the process of forming his third star.


    Due to the much more powerful spiritual powerpared to when forming his second star, Kain could already tell that it''d be an extremely arduous process.


    However, it was a step that all beast-tamers needed to go through unless content with remaining at their current level. Or unless they were to scared to attempt continuing to advance¡ªafter all the price of failing to breakthrough at each level increases exponentially.


    While breaking through to the third level is very low risk for Kain due to him having the feedback of two talents spiritual creatures who were already a level above him, if he were to fail the prices would most likely be severe, but temporary, damage to his soul and mental strength.


    However, should he fail when forming the fourth star, it''d likely result in permanent damage to mental strength and the soul¡ªa consequence of which is a reduced lifespan. The amount of lifespan lost when failing also continues to increase from the fourth to sixth stars.


    However, when attempting to be a high-level beast-tamer with seven or more stars, the only result for failure would be an immediate painful death due to severe damage at a soul level.


    As time went on, Kain''s previously nonchnt attitude became increasingly more solemn.


    Kain was expecting it to be harder to control the spiritual power and form a stable star, however the spiritual was much more difficult to control than he''d anticipated. Not to mention there was an unfamiliar resistance when he tried to move the spiritual power as it seemed to be sucked somewhere else.


    ''Something is very wrong¡­''

 Chapter 197 3-Stars (2)

    Kain could tell that some of his spiritual power that was supposed to be used to form the third star was being sucked to a fourth location. Therefore, the already great resistance he felt while forming the star was now double what it should be.


    However, gathering all of the spiritual power, now a reddish-orange leaning more heavily towards orange, to form a stable star was necessary to advance.


    Kain tried to form the star closer toward the opposing force, but it seemed as though it was persistent in maintaining an equal distance from all of Kain''s current and future stars.


    Therefore, Kain could only continue through the extremely stressful situation.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kain managed to loosely gather all of his spiritual power to one location that he could then begin trying to form into his third star.


    However, within the expanse of the area of the space now devoid of spiritual power, Kain saw a faint flicker.


    ''What is that? Am I just so tired from all of this stress that I''m seeing things?''


    He decided to ignore it for now and focus on the more important task at hand.


    Time continued to go on and on for what felt like an eternity. However, what was even more burdensome than controlling the spiritual power against an opposing force, was the mental anguish at not knowing how much time had passed or how much longer it''d take before this dreadful process was over.


    To avoid going mad with boredom, Kain would also divert some of his attention when he took a break to the flicker of light in the distance, which was continuously increasing and decreasing in size.


    He eventually figured out that when he was on the correct path of forming a stable star, and there was less escaping spiritual power from the region he collected it into, the light would growrger. However, he wasn''t able to get it just right.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kain was able to get a form he thought was stable. However, when the light in the distance reached its greatest size yet, the gravitation pull destabilized all of his hard work, and the extremelypressed spiritual power started to fluctuate as though a severe explosion was imminent.


    It took all of his concentration to get it under control and prevent a disastrous oue.


    However, he was still left with the upsetting realization that once he was close to aplishing his task an external force would interfere in the star''s formation.


    ''What the hell is going on?!''


    Kain felt a wave of frustration wash over him, but he quickly pushed it aside. He couldn''t afford to let anger or despair cloud his judgment now. He needed rity.


    He was exhausted and stopped trying to condense the star into a stable form. Instead, he just kept all of the spiritual power loosely gathered into a certain area. However, despite no longer trying to condense the star, Kain noticed that the flickering lights, while much dimmer than when condensing the star, were still in existence.


    Kain decided to change his n. The third star wasn''t meant to be forced into existence amidst this chaos; it needed to wait until after thepletion of whatever that light was first. The creation of the star coulde afterward, once there was no longer such a strong interfering force present.


    Kain focused on maintaining the absence of spiritual power from where the light was instead of on condensing it. It took slightly less energy, and being able to focus on the single task ensured that less spiritual power identally escaped from where he''d collected it.


    Finally, the light began to grow and stabilize into a coherent circr shape. He could feel the tension easing and the gravitational pull no longer felt hostile. Rather, Kain felt a warm connection to whatever was about to emerge.


    Once the lightpletely faded, Kain could see the identity of whatever was forming. It looked like a beautiful small mostly blue marble full of green and white swirls.


    ''Earth?''


    Kain examined it even more closely and couldn''t disregard the striking resemnce it had with his original Earth. However, rather than the many separate continents he was familiar with, it more closely resembled the Ancient Earth with only one Pangea supercontinent.


    ''Perhaps¡­is this rted to my gift? Is that what the name Traveller''s Souvenir meant? Is this like a souvenir from Earth? Like a little souvenir model of Earth instead of a model of the Eiffel Tower?'' Kain had been puzzling over what the name given to his gift by the System could possibly mean, but he hadn''t expected for the elusive gift to make an appearance at this point in time.


    However, now wasn''t the time to examine it further, he was in the middle of a breakthrough.


    Fortunately, perhaps the previous resistance had a tempering effect, but Kain found it extremely easy to form his third star.


    Now, his space had 3 stars with orange-grade spiritual power, and an object that resembles Earth, that absolutely no spiritual power could be sensed from.


    Exhausted, but still curious about the strange new addition, Kain didn''t immediately exit the star space, and instead examined the strange. However, no matter how much he tried, he could not figure what its purpose was. Or if it''d be a good or bad thing for him.


    Unable to obtain any more information, Kain''s consciousness returned to his bedroom and he immediately copsed on the bed in exhaustion.


    He had no idea how long he''d been in the space, but judging by how starved he felt, and the smell of his body, he was willing to guess that several days had passed.


    Beast-tamers can go progressively longer without food and water with each star they condense. So for him to be so starved, it must have been several days. The date on the phone next to his bed also confirmed that 4 days had passed.


    He quickly just grabbed a filling but tasteless ration from his space ring, and fell asleep without even bothering to shower.

 Chapter 198 Fame

    Kain woke up after another 2 days straight of sleeping. Therefore, he had fully missed an entire week of events that he needed to catch up on, from the school to the business to his work as an Evolutionary nner.


    Groggily, Kain went for a shower and then cleaned up the now filthy sheets. He could see hundreds of unread messages on his phone. However, he wasn''t yet awake enough to go through the overwhelming number of messages. Hopefully, there was nothing too important¡­


    Kain went down to the first floor of the top 5 residence, and thankfully breakfast was still being served.


    He filled up 3rge tes packed with hills of food and then proceeded to stuff his face with food.


    Kain could asionally see some of the catering staff refilling the food pointing at him and whispering. Even a couple of the upper-year students were staring at him in curiosity.


    ''What?! Has nobody ever seen someone be hungry after a breakthrough before?''


    Finally, Kairos came down from upstairs and, after filling up a te of food, sat across from Kain.


    However, Kain couldn''t ignore the fact that like the others, Kairos had his gaze fixated on Kain and wasn''t even eating the food he''d brought.


    "What?! Why are you all staring?" Kain said while taking arge bite of a sausage. Maybe his table manners weren''t currently at their best, but it''s not like the school cafeterias are some uppity high-end restaurant. Several of his seniors oftene down to eat still in their pajamas.He was fed up with all of the stares. Can''t he eat in peace?


    "Ahem! Sorry¡­I think we''re all just surprised by seeing the so-called Evolutionary nner genius being constantly talked about online and on tv in person."


    Bang!


    Kain couldn''t help dropping his constantly moving fork in surprise.


    "I''m sorry, what?"


    "You know¡­ everything that their saying would make anyone can''t help but stare at you¡­" Kairos pulled out his phone and began to read out loud, "''The youngest person to ever develop a new evolutionary form!'' ''A genius of the empire!'' ''A first-year given ab at a top 5 college.


    Will he reach Assistant Professor status before he graduates?'' Those are titles filling pretty much every site since yesterday. You really didn''t know?"


    ''Ah! Looks like they announced the new evolution for the Lumifin!''


    "No¡­I was breaking through to 3-stars and just woke up. I had no idea that they made the announcement already." Kain shrugged nonchntly before going back to eating. Now with his curiosity satiated he was a lot less bothered by the stares.


    Kairos still hadn''t put his phone down and was continuing to scroll through his new feed. "''The secret behind the empire''stest genius''¡­Hey! Is this true? Did you already have a gift before the re-ranking that allows you to find new evolutionary forms?"


    ''Huh, no? Why the heck is that in the news?''


    Likely seeing the confusion on Kain''s face, Kairos continued. "ording to this article, apparently you already had a reputation for helping to solve difficult evolutions. Several of your previous clients have even given interviews. Such as the Ashenw family, the Darkstar family, the Blueblood family¡­Hey! Do you only help nobles or something? How much do you charge?


    Oh wait, nevermind! ''How much does the first-year newly talked about genius Kain Newman charge per consultation.''" Kairos continued to read out loud.


    "What the hell?! Is there no privacy?" Kain yelled out loud.


    He pulled out his own phone and began to scroll through what other articles were saying.


    His school, his status as a double-major, his supposed gift, his known contracts, and even the orphanage had all been aired out for everyone one in the empire to see.


    ''What the hell is this¡­ it''s only been one to two days, hasn''t it? How do they even have all of this information? Why isn''t the college doing anything? They shouldn''t want the details of my contracts exposed either before the National Competition.''


    Kain finally pulled out his phone to go through all of the messages he''d been putting aside.


    He started with the messages from Barret and Collin about the business. Thankfully, everything wasing along smoothly.


    In fact, they were even asking if they could use Kain''s newfound fame to advertise the beer. Kain put off answering for now. He didn''t originally n to have his name and image tied with thepany and would have preferred to be a silent investor. That way his personal image and that of thepany would be independent from one another.


    Now that he was in the public eye, if public opinion of him flips one day it could affect the business. He needed to think long and hard about it¡­


    Then Kain saw the messages from a sudden influx of new clients wanting to connect with Kain as an evolutionary nner. Clearly whatever price was being quoted in those articles hadn''t scared them away.


    Then there were the messages from old and current ssmates and acquaintances wanting to reconnect or asking questions. Strangely, it was the messages from Bridge and the others he was actually close with that were much less prying and pushy.


    ''Is this what overnight fame is like? I don''t even remember the names of half of these people¡­did I go to elementary school with a Jared? How the heck did he even get my number¡­''


    However, it was the messages from the orphanage that worried Kain the most. They congratted Kain on his aplishments, but Kain could read between the lines in the messages sent from the director and the older children that the newfound attention to the orphanage was stressful.


    ''This can''t go on much longer¡­'' Kain quickly sent a message to Professor Lume, the only one he had the direct contact information for within the faculty that may be able to help him. Maybe with some prompting, Kain could get the school to get everything under control.

 Chapter 199 The Spirit Moth

    "Sorry. Can''t help you." Professor Lume said.


    "Huh? Why not? The college should have enough power and influence to remove all of these articles."


    "It does¡­but it won''t. You do realize that there hasn''t been a young nner as anticipated as you. There are new beast-tamer geniuses every year that appear at the nationalpetition. However, you and your gift are one of a kind. The more publicity there is about you, the better the school looks. I''ve heard thest couple days the Chancellor has been holding gatherings to y Warlords."


    Warlords is an ancient strategy gameparable to Go and chess back on Earth. It''s not that popr among the younger generation, but it is amon pastime for elderly nobles.


    "From what I heard he''s even invited the Chancellors of the other four major colleges, likely to rub it in that he has something that they do not¡ªor someone. Of course, none of them havee. However, everyone among the higher-level staff from what I''ve heard has been able to tell that his mood has been greattely¡­"


    ''Seriously?! That''s why the school hasn''t taken down all of these articles?!''


    "Sigh¡­well I''m afraid that he''ll have to be disappointed then." Kain began while feigning a sad expression.


    "What?"


    "Well, all of this attention to me and my family has made me very ufortable¡­I''m not sure I''m in the correct frame of mind to continue with research. I am a really shy person you know, so all of this attention has made me so uneasy for my and my family''s safety that I''m thinking about just retiring from research altogether."


    Kain exited Professor Lume''s office while trying to conceal his smug smile after he''d received his confirmation that the college would more closely moderate the types of articles that could be published.


    And the college truly did work quickly. Within a couple hours, all reports about the orphanage and Kain''s contract were pulled. However, it didn''t seem like the college could pull all of the articles rted to Kain¡ªor maybe they just didn''t want to.


    There were still many annoying gossipy articles about his work as a nner, his discovery of the evolutionary form, his school-life, and even his supposed dating-life (?).


    ''Who the heck is she? Since when do I have a single ex, much less 5?!'' Kain thought while staring at a tabloid article with the pictures of 5 attractive women that he''d never seen before in his life but had supposedly been romantically linked to him in the past.


    However, it was much better than the uncontrolled media attention of before.


    Just to make sure, Kain called the director and Milo to further confirm that any reporters sniffing around their home were now gone.


    On the Brightside though, Kain had been notified of the amount of copies of the evolutionary n that had been purchased so far, and the value of the first settlement of money he could expect to receive in a few days. The amount was several times the amount of money Collin had quoted him for starting the business.


    Therefore, Kain could now take a break from crazilypleting clients and instead focus on some of his more personal pursuits.


    However, his desire to cut back on the amount of clients he took seemed to have only increased people''s desire to work with him, and suddenly Kain was reading a new news article with an interview from a noble in the southern region who quoted a ridiculous price in order to convince Kain take their case.


    ''Ahem¡­maybe I can take on a couple more cases before school starts on Monday. What is the name of this person? Let''s see if they''ve sent me a message¡­''


    --------------------------------


    Thankfully, within a few days, most people had moved onto gossiping about another topic and interest in Kain was no longer so high.


    Kain visited the newly built factory that, with the help of spiritual creatures did not take nearly as long to build as it would have on Earth.


    With the help of Eve, the crops needed were also fully matured and the first batch of beer to be shipped out went into production.


    With Kain''s increased ie from the patent, he also agreed to Collins idea of hiring a big-name marketing firm for thepany. Once the first batchunches,plimentary samples have already been arranged to be delivered to celebrities and individuals with influence.


    However, before the first batch is finished, there was something that Kain needed to perform but hadn''t been able to due to being so busy.


    Although the knowledge about microorganisms in this world is clearly not widespread, it doesn''t mean that someone won''t try to mix the beer that they produce into their own batch to produce their own spiritual beverages.


    Since the Aetherbrew Yeast doesn''t have any special growth conditions and only needs a beverage with spiritual power, a small sample of the yeast can continue to divide and produce descendants that aren''t controlled by Kain, but by apetitor.


    Tobat this, Kain was reminded of one of the frowned-upon business practices of biotechnologypanies back on Earth¡ªTerminator genes.


    While usually used in nts to prevent people from regrowing their patented seeds, Kain didn''t see why such genes couldn''t be used on the yeast Aby as well?


    The very universe seemed to be pushing him in this direction too, since one of thetest pieces ofb equipment given to him by the System allowed him to extract the genes of one spiritual creature and put it into another. Therefore, all Kain needed to do was find a spiritual creature with the trait that met his needs.


    In addition to his hectic schedule while preparing for the re-ranking, Kain had also been using his free time to do research on such a creature, and he finally found it.


    The Spirit Moth is a spiritual creature that upon hatching imprints on the first item that it consumes, typically a spiritual nt since it is an herbivore.


    When it reaches adulthood and it''s time to reproduce, it must once again consume the same item before an egg can beid. It is believed that it is due to the first item being consumed being associated with a feeling of safety, a feeling that they need before reproducing.


    With this gene, Kain couldpletely control not only the Aetherbrew Yeast''s future descendants, but also control what material would be used to unlock the ability to reproduce.

 Chapter 200 Genetic Reconstruction

    The moment Kain had first received the piece ofboratory equipment, he''d had this idea.


    After reading about the Spirit Moth, he had issued his own mission on the school mission board and offered credits for its capture as a Silver Mission.


    Although it was very rare and difficult to locate due to the preferred food source changing from generation to generation from imprinting, It was only an orange-grade spiritual creature and not particrly powerful, therefore with enough time and financial incentive, a student finallypleted the task.


    The live captured moth was just in the Mission Hall, waiting for Kain to receive it.


    He approached the single-use capture container, a sleek cylinder about the size of a soda can, shimmering with faint sigils that pulsed gently in the dim light. Inside, the Spirit Moth flitted gracefully, its delicate wings shimmering with iridescent colours that danced like sunlight on water.


    The containers are simr to space rings and allow for the transportation ofrge spiritual creatures in a rtively small container.


    However, additional materials needed for the spiritual creature to survive need to be added to the container, which is why the containers are not aspact as space rings, and also why after being used once they will be useless trash without spending a lot of time and money to restore the sigils and materials within.


    Considering the better soundproofing and the difficulty of breaking through the doorpared to his dorm room, Kain had taken to doing any more secretive work, like interacting with System, within his privateb on campus.


    To bring a spiritual creature into theboratory, Kain needed to make physical contact with the moth. He went into the observation area of theboratory to prevent the moth from escaping. He opened the container and as it was released, it suddenly expanded to its true size of half Kain''s height.


    In order to bring a spiritual creature into the System, it must not be hostile to him and must be equal to or lower than Kain''s own spiritual power.


    In order to decrease its hostility to him, Kain took out some of his spiritual honey. The student that captured it had reported that it''d found it within a meadow with many Cloud Flowers, therefore Kain assumed that that was either its preferred source of food, or the item it had imprinted on.


    Thankfully, Kain had some spiritual honey made specifically from the Cloud Flowers, a red-grade flower that happened to be among those Kain had growing in his own personal field.


    Once Kain took out the honey, the Spirit Moth hesitantly flew towards Kain him and after its guard was lowered while eating the honey, Kain touched it on its head.


    In an instant, both Kain and the moth appeared within the System''sb next to the gic Reconstructor.


    Kain felt a rush of excitement. The machinery hummed softly after he inserted the moth into the necessarypartment, its intricate dials and glowing sigils waiting for hismand. He had been wanting to test out the machine for weeks, but wanted to wait until he needed it in case the cost for each use is high and he ends up using up his one free attempt pointlessly as he did with the Simtor.


    Kain activated the control screen, its interface lighting up with a series of prompts. He selected the option to extract gic material, and as the machine whirred to life, he could feel the anticipation build.


    The screen shed, and Kain''s heart raced as he saw a list of extractable traits, includingthe one he wanted. He removed the moth and allowed it to return to the observation room outside of the System¡ªhe still had ns for it, which is why he did not just kill it for its genes.


    He then added a vial of the Aetherbrew Yeast, before selecting his desired gene extracted form the moth from the list on the panel and clicking the option to add gic material.


    As the machine calibrated, the adjustable mechanical arms extended, ready to begin the intricate procedure. The tubes of the machine pulsated with energy as it prepared to intertwine the moth''s gic essence with the yeast.


    As the machinery hummed and the chamber filled with light, Kain waited for the results. Finally, after several minutes the machine stopped working and the profile of Aby appeared on the screen.


    Because it was essentially more simr to adding a mutation and not evolution, there was no change to its skills.


    However, there was an additional note within the profile about the gic modification.


    "''The Aetherbrew Yeast will be prevented from dividing in the absence of the spiritual material it first consumes after the gic modification''¡­Excellent!" Kain had already thought long and hard about exactly what material he wanted to use to control Aby¡ªQueen''s royal jelly produced by the Essence of Life.


    All the other ingredients within the beer recipe would be readily avable topetitors. And even if Kian were to use a spiritual nt that can fulfill the role, traces of the nt could still be detected and found bypetitors.


    Obtaining a nt rare enough to not be found bypetitors also has the added issue of not beingrge enough in quantity since Kian would likely only be able to find one of them. Additionally, there''s the issue of how any additions will affect the vor¡­


    However, the Essence of Life is something that only Kain has ess to, and even a 9-star beast-tamer or top Evolutionary nner wouldn''t be able to recreate it.


    Secondly, Kain has a replenishable as the Vespirae continue to make more and not much is needed for Queen''s evolution anyways. Therefore, Kain has quite arge stock he''d just been keeping in the case of emergencies.


    The final benefit is that while not a lot of jelly needs to be added to each batch, even after being diluted and likely not being able to heal serious injuries, the jelly should enhance the beneficial properties of the beer by quite a bit.


    Now all that was left was to assess the exact benefits it''d have to the beer and how the jelly might affect the taste¡­

 Chapter 201 : 201: Earthquake

    With the Aetherbrew Yeast now gically modified, Kain decided to split the vial of modified yeast he had into 2. Half was put into container of royal jelly and given to Barret to test the effect on the beer. After a week of waiting, they finally tested the finished product, and confirmed that not only did the royal jelly improve the taste but also the amount of spiritual power in the beer.


    It even had an added bonus of slightly restoring mental strength.


    "Make sure to mention all of the benefits to the marketing firm!" Kain instructed Collin before leaving the factory filled with workers transporting boxes full of beer bottles for their first shipment.


    He spent most of his time not cultivating or running the business, within theboratory on campus to begin some of the preparatory work for the other experiments that he had nned for the future


    The moth had already been moved to his spiritual nt fields off campus. Spirit Moths, true to their name can increase the spiritual power slightly of spiritual nts theynd near. This results in a slightly faster maturation time and better nt quality than average.


    Therefore, the observation area was currently empty and ready to wee new spiritual creatures.


    However, before he could start working on his new research direction, he first had toplete some of his backed-up Evolutionary nner requests. All of these requests were actually quite far from Dark Moon which was why they''d been dyed until now, but they all were also offering to pay him a ton of GP to make the trip more than worth his while.


    Darkstar City was a city in Eastern region located pretty far from Dark Moon, closer to the border of the Southern region and would take about a day by train to arrive.


    It was a fairlyrge city within the Eastern region and due to its proximity to the Southern region had architectural elements of both regions.


    The client Kain was helping this time was an intriguing case simr to Yara the Glimmering Smander, Kain''s first client as a nner.


    It was another case of a spiritual creature having a mutation preventing it from evolving normally. This time the client had an Aurora Silkworm, a spiritual creature with many evolutionary forms depending on what it is fed over a prolonged period of time, that was still not showing any indication of being ready to evolve after over a year of eating the required materials.


    Certain species must be primed for a long period of time using a certain diet in order to sessfully evolve. When they are ready to evolve, a certain change will be observable.


    For example, when the silkworm was fully saturated with a certain element, it will begin to form a silkworm cocoon around itself and the required evolutionary materials.


    Using the System, Kain managed to determine that the silkworm''s current evolutionary path based on the materials it was fed was not suitable for it. The mutation dictated that the resulting evolutionary form must be of the wind-attribute.


    Therefore, the fire-attribute materials its contractor was feeding it to result in the desired fire-attribute evolution, would never result in an evolution and were actually slowly harming its health.


    Thankfully, the client wasn''t difficult, and after the issue was rified they didn''t require Kain to remain in the city to oversee every aspect of the silkworm''s diet and future evolution.


    "That was a lot easier than I expected¡­" Kain muttered happily while looking at therge deposit just added to his bank ount.


    He was currently sitting down and eating lunch at a restaurant within Darkstar City since he''d managed to finish the mission before lunchtime was even over.


    Kain dug into his steaming bowl of noodles, the background noise due to hushed conversations conversation and the clinking of cutlery created a cozy atmosphere.


    Suddenly, a gentle tremor coursed through the restuarant, barely even detectable if Kain''s senses weren''t heightened as a beast-tamer. Kain paused mid-bite, his focus momentarily drawn to the ice in his ss. The cubes bobbed lightly, swaying as if caught in a slow dance.


    Some of the other beast-tamer patrons also stopped mid-conversation or while eating to look around curiously for the source of the tremor while the ordinary patrons asked what was wrong.


    The gentle shaking slightly nudged a cup off of a patron''s table and it crashed to the floor at almost the same time the tremors stopped.


    If Kain couldn''t see the curious looks in the other patrons'' eyes or the shattered cup, he''d almost think the shaking was in his head.


    Ding


    Ding


    Ding


    Suddenly the sound of phone notifications began to ring out constantly in the restaurant. Nobody could focus on their meals any longer as they pulled out their phones to investigate¡ªKain included.


    "Crap!" Apparently the faint tremor they felt was only due to the tremendous distance. The impact at the earthquake''s core was tremendous. And unfortunately, the core happened to be not far from Dark Moon City.


    Thankfully, Kain received confirmation from Barret and Collin that while there was a lot of damage due to the shaking within the city, their factory remained in tact.


    However, the major source of news was not due to the damage caused by the earthquake, but rather what had caused the earthquake to ur in the first ce.


    Kain looked at the image uploaded online of a giant ck box covered in intricate sigils that suddenly appeared in the wilderness not far from Dark Moon City.


    It was difficult to judge the scale of the "box" based on the image alone, but considering the size of some of the enormous spiritual creatures in the photos next to the relic that were dwarfed by its size, Kain could determine that it was massive, far greater in height than even the tallest of building in both this world and on Earth.


    Only on m v|le|mp|yr


    It appears that Dark Moon College now had another relic in its vicinity and it only allowed entrants at or below yellow-grade spiritual power. Therefore, the majority of the first explorers will be made up of Dark Moon College students.


    And unfortunately, Kain was now too far away to be within the first batch of entrants¡­

 Chapter 202 : 202: Caught?

    Catching a train back to the college, Kain was constantly bombarded by gloating texts from Bridge, Finn, Leonara Addison, and Aiden about being within the first batch of students to enter the relic.


    It seems like only volunteers among the top 20 first and second years were being initially epted.


    Therefore, by the time Kain arrived back on campus he could only twiddle his thumbs in hisb.


    "Sigh¡­I wonder what it''s like in there. Hopefully all of the good stuff aren''t already taken by the time I get to enter. Why couldn''t this relic appear before I left to meet the client¡­" Kain grumbled while sadly looking at his phone for any news about the first batch of entrants.


    Considering that only those with spiritual power at or below yellow-grade were able to enter, everyone thought that the level of danger within the relic should also not exceed that level.


    Since they''d also be travelling with the second years, many of whom are at that level, Kain wasn''t worried about his friends'' safety.


    Instead, he tried to preupy himself for the next few days with nning out future experiments and overseeing how the business wasing along.


    The first shipment of beer had been sent out and the marketing firm''s n was going wlessly. Kain was already seeing a lot of buzz online about the spiritual beer.


    In fact, Collin had already arranged to buy more neighbouringnd in order to expand their production. Without the ie from the Lumifin evolution, Kain would have beenpletely unable to keep up with the financial demands of thepany.


    Once production increases, with the current increasing demand, Kain anticipates that the ie from the spiritual beer should exceed that of the evolution n in no time.


    Bang Bang Bang


    "Hmm?" Kain was brought out of his thoughts by the sudden heavy knocks at his door.


    Bang Bang Bang


    "Open the door!"


    ''Who''d want to open the door when asked like that?'' Kain grumbled as he moved towards the door. Despite what he said, he still opened the door since he recognized the voice. Although he wasn''t sure why she''d being to hisb. Wasn''t she supposed to be in the relic at this time?


    Kain opened the door and was quickly shoved out of the way as Serena Storm entered the room carrying an unconscious Bridge.


    ''She is much stronger than she looks.'' Kain though while looking at the slender figure maybe half of Bridge''s size carrying him over her shoulder into the room.


    However, Kain soon snapped out of his distracted thoughts one he realized that there was something wrong with his brother.


    Thankfully, theb was equipped with arge gurney-like bed that Kain usually used to take naps on. Serena ced him onto the bed and then stepped back so that Kain could finally get a good look at his brother.


    Despite hisrge figure, Bridge''s body appeared frail and gaunt. His skin was pale, almost ashen, with a thinyer of sweat giving it an unsettling glimmer.


    Dark circles surrounded his eyes. His hair was disheveled, matted against his forehead, and the strands clung to his skin.


    His breaths came in shallow, uneven gasps, and he shivered slightly despite the warm temperature of theb. His clothes were tattered and stained, showing that he''d likely been rescued from a dangerous situation.


    There was a faint tremor in his hands, and his lips were cracked, and a dull shade of purple. Compared to his normally bright and energetic brother, Bridge now more closely resembled that of someone teetering on the edge of death.


    Kain tried to keep his calm but he could feel his heart start to race once he took in the full extent of his brother''s condition.


    "What the hell is wrong with you? Something is obviously wrong with him, why would you bring him here instead of to a healer?" He turned angrily to Serena.


    "They won''t be able to do anything. Currently, the medical staff arepletely helpless and in the dark about what''s wrong with your brother and the other students like him who suddenly copsed in the relic."


    "The relic¡­? Exin what happened, how you even ended up with him, and why you''d bring him here instead of to a professional healer."


    "I was one of the team captains for the relic exploration, and he was assigned to join my team. Once we''d entered, there were several different directions to travel, we and a group of second-years were assigned to travel within the same direction."


    "Honestly, within the relic there didn''t appear to be any danger. After travelling for hours there were no attacks or any visible threats. Many students unconsciously rxed their guards and took in the scenery. The inside of the relic was strange but beautiful. It felt as though we''d been transported to an alien, and there were many nts we''d never seen or heard of before."


    "It''s my fault. I should have watched the students assigned to my group more closely." She said while bowing her head in apology. "Somebody within the group tried to pick an unfamiliar flower and a ck mist was suddenly released. To be safe, we all evacuated from the area and we thought it was no big deal.


    That is until a few minutester one of the second years suddenly dropped to the floor unconscious. Soon after nearly half of the students were on the ground and unresponsive¡­including Bridge."


    "We immediately signalled that there was an issue within our group and moved back to the meetup area to regroup with the others. However, on the way there we were suddenly attacked by these grotesque ck-looking creatures that smelled like decayed flesh.


    "When we finally escaped the relic, I realized that the professors couldn''t help us and brought Bridge here."


    "Yeah I know that part," Kain interjected, "but why?"


    "I''m not sure¡­ I just know that his condition isn''t due to a physical injury, and even the most powerful antidotes for poisons that the teachers have tried have been ineffective. Whatever is killing him is something that seems to resemble poison, but is alive¡­simr to your contract and how you killed Aric Nightsbane."


    ''Huh?!''

 Chapter 203 Helpless

    Kain''s heart began to beat furiously and all the surrounding sounds seemed to fade as he immediately became immersed in a feeling of panic.


    ''What did she just say?''


    ''How could she possibly know about that? Or is she bluffing?''


    Kain used all of his energy to restrain his facial muscles and not give anything away.


    "I wasn''tpletely sure before, but based on your reaction now I can be. Aric was hardly famous. If you had nothing to do with his death wouldn''t the natural thing be to look confused and ask about who I''m talking about?" Serena continued while looking at the Kain''s left brow that was unconsciously twitching furiously.


    ''Damnit!'' Kain could now confirm that he had absolutely zero talent as an actor.


    "Anyways I''m not going to tell anyone¡­I only brought it up because I suspect that whatever is affecting Bridge and the other students is simr to whatever you are contracted to."


    Concerned at this revtion, Kain turned toward his brother. Maybe Eve will have an effect since she increased the resistance of the Vespirae to Bea?


    Kain immediately summoned Queen, and after sensing his intentions, a green light of Light-attribute energy from her abdomen shot out and straight into Bridge.


    His condition did improve momentarily, but quickly worsened again. Unlike Queen who is a host for Eve, and the guards who were modified by Eve before they were even born, there is only so much that Eve can do for an unrted individual. Also Eve doesn''t seem capable of taking a human as a host.


    Even if she were to leave Queen, another suitable host would likely be the queen of a simr insect-type species.


    Bea can readily take Bridge on as a host, but doesn''t have the abilities to fight off an infection. She''s more of a destroyer than a healer.


    "Is it contagious?" Kain asked Serena, concerned about the possibility of an epidemic starting in the college.


    "I''m not sure¡­ I managed to bring him here without getting sick myself, but others in our group gradually began to fall ill as we made our way out of the relic. It''s hard to know if they caught whatever this is from another person or if they breathed in any of that gas the initial flower sprayed out." Kain nodded before rolling Bridge into the observation area just to be safe.


    It''s set up to prevent the spread of even poisonous gases from escaping so it should be effective at preventing Bridge from infecting others.


    However, Kain knew that although someone may not have any symptoms they could still be a carrier and looked at Serena suspiciously. ''Should I lock her in there too?''


    Likely sensing the intent behind Kain''s gaze, her eyes staring back at him grew even colder.


    "I said that I am not infected. This family heirloom should have protected me." She said while pulling out an ancient looking enchanted ne from underneath the cor of her shirt. It had dozens of sigils carved into the surprisingly delicate and thin chain. There were also several stones carved with sigils dangling from ne like charms.


    One of the stones, a mix of green and yellow was slightly glowing.


    The appearance of the ne on Serena reconfirmed Kain''s belief that long ago there must have been the presence of spiritual creatures that were microorganisms. Otherwise, why would a family as old and powerful as the Storm family have bothered to add protective sigils against them unless they knew that they existed.


    Kain couldn''t help but stare concernedly at Bridge.


    When Bridge was next to him, he''d attempted to insert his spiritual power to see if there was anything he could contract with. Although there was a faint pull, he knew that there was nothing contractable. Simr to the dead egg that had initially drawn him to the eastern region. Could whatever have infected that egg also have escaped from this relic earlier?


    He suspected that whatever was infecting Bridge and had infected that egg were just splits, simr to Bea''s splits. Which was why, although Kain could feel a faint pull, he was unable to form a contract.


    Likely Kain would need to enter the relic for himself and control the original body behind this infection in order to heal Bridge and the others.


    Kain shared his theory with Serena.


    "Hmmm¡­ since the danger in the relic is clearly higher than predicted, they won''t let students re-enter the relic easily. However, they can''t risk having whatever is causing the sickness escaping. Not to mention that this relic re-appearing is likely what had been draining the life from the surrounding vegetation in the wilderness.


    For whatever reason, the sigils concealing the relic seem to be weakening and so to refuel it was probably sucking energy from wherever it could. Therefore, whether it is to reduce the things from within from escaping or causing further harm to the wilderness, the college will probably send an expedition in to control the relic¡­


    "Although many of the professors may not know what''s within it, the college has a long history and ess to a wealth of information. By now those at the level of the Dean and above have probably already gotten artifacts from the warehouse that can prevent infection to equip the next batch of entrants.


    They''ll probably be more strict with who they let enter now, but they are limited in who they can send since most professors are too powerful to enter. If you can prove that you''re immune they may let you join the second expedition despite being a first-year.


    "For now, all we can do is wait for the next notification that they are recruiting entrants to help control the relic."


    Kain nodded in understanding while continuing to stare at Bridge through the ss wall in concern. He had never felt so helpless in this lifetime. Despite having an affinity that should be able to help Bridge, none of them were specialized in healing infections.


    Considering most microorganisms outside of the relic aren''t even dangerous, Kain had never even tried to find a contract with such a purpose.


    ''Don''t worry brother. I swear that I''ll make sure that you get better¡­''

 Chapter 204 Origins

    Serena gazed calmly at Kain as he stared at his brother.


    "You two look nothing alike." She said to break the silence.


    "We''re not rted," Kain said without looking away from Bridge, "we were taken in by the same orphanage. However, despite no blood rtion, we''re just as much a family that loves each other."


    "Care for one another is what''s most important in a family. Blood ties aren''t everything," Serena said while looking a little sad.


    "Especially when those blood rtives try to kill you¡­" she muttered under her breath.


    "Huh? I didn''t here you clearly." Kain turned to her in confusion.


    "Nothing¡­how did he get the name Bridge? It''s quite unique, especially whenpared to your name." She discreetly tried to change the subject.


    "Ahhh¡­haha¡­Our orphanage director''s naming sense¡­I''m very d that I already had a name when I was brought to the orphanage."


    "Bridge, Cherry, Key, Parker, Sunny, and Melody were all named by the orphanage director. And he always uncreatively names them after the first thing to pop into his mind after finding them.


    "Bridge was found on a bridge as a baby, and so was named Bridge. Cherry was found beneath a cherry tree. Parker in the public park in the middle of the city. Sunny and Melody''s name origins are at least a little better.


    Sunny is called that because of how bright and happy she was even as a baby, also on the day she came to the orphanage the sun seemed to create a halo around her head¡­she was truly the most adorable baby¡­" Kain though wistfully.


    "Meanwhile Melody would not stop crying as a baby no matter what. However, when we found out ying music could get her to finally be quiet and fall asleep, we started calling her Melody. Before that, the director just kept calling her Scream, we had to beg him to change her name."


    "Scream¡­that sounds more appropriate for the name of a horror story not a baby girl." Serena interjected while chuckling.


    "Indeed¡­but it''s still not nearly as bad as the name that he tried to give Key at first. Key''s origins are probably the most confusing. He was found in a cabin deep within the wilderness. It was smack dab within a dangerous area filled with yellow-grade and higher spiritual creatures. Imagine how surprised the mercenaries were when they heard a baby crying inside of an abandoned cabin."


    "I''m surprised he wasn''t eaten by the time the mercenaries got to him¡­many species prefer to eat humans over spiritual creatures." Serena thought in disbelief.


    "That''s the thing, there were no spiritual creature for miles around that cabin. The cabin had been sprayed by a green-grade spiritual creature¡ªReekling." Serena winced slightly at the name of the skunk-like spiritual creature who was known to emit an odour so foul that even blue-grade and higher spiritual creatures would give them a wide berth.


    "The smell from the Reekling still clung to Key for months after he was brought back from the wilderness. Which was why the director had initially named him Stinky. Once the smell faded, we were thankfully able to convince him to change the name to Key and drop the Stink¡­" Kain told the story while chuckling in remembrance.


    Serena looked at his nostalgic smile with a hint of envy. "You''re all so close. I always wished to have a sibling or rtive my age that I could be close with. How many of you are there in total?"


    "Well we didn''t have our birth families, we didn''t have much money either, we only had each other. Of course we''ll be close. In order of age, there are eleven of us in total. Bridge and I are the same age and don''t know our real birthdays, but everyone usually considers me to be the oldest and then Bridge.


    Then there is Milo, the twins Jasper and Jasmine, Cherry, Key, Parker, Sunny, Charlie, and Melody. There was another member of the orphanage a couple of years older than Bridge and I who went missing when I was around 10 as well.


    However, we try not to mention her since her disappearance was so painful for the director¡­ She was his biological niece, and pretty much the inspiration for why he opened an orphanage in the first ce." Kain smiled sadly.


    "Ahem¡­a-anyways¡­" Kain tried to choke back tears to prevent the atmosphere from bing awkward and tried to think about a suitable subject change.


    Ding


    Thankfully a new notification on his phone saved him from a potentially awkward situation.


    It was the notice for the next recruitment of entrants into the relic. However, this time they limited the entrants to those in the second-year.


    "Damnit¡­" Kain muttered while reading the notice.


    "As I said before. They''ll probably let you and I enter once we can prove that we are not at risk of getting sick." Serena stated as a matter of fact.


    "YOU and I. Why would you be re-entering it again?"


    "Of course I''m re-entering. I was the team leader for Bridge and the other first-years that got sick. I need to take responsibility until the end and find a way to cure them. Let''s go." She said coolly before getting up to leave.


    Kain nodded in agreement and left to follow her out. However, he still left behind a single Vespirae guard to care for Bridge while he was gone. Although not at the level of human intelligence, as orange-grade spiritual creatures the guards'' intelligence has developed enough to know how to guard, feed, and care for Bridge.


    Kain also left behind a packet of medicine to help with the fever and instructions on how to use them. Although the Vespirae won''t be a great help to him, it can prevent him from dying of an overheated brain or starving to death in Kain''s absence.


    ''Wait¡­She never did say how she nned for me to prove that I have resistance against whatever is making them sick. Am I even resistant?'' Suddenly Kain was struck by another worry.

 Chapter 205 Entering the Relic

    It was surprisingly easy for Kain to be granted entry into the relic.


    He had thought that they would intentionally infect him with something in order to see if he truly was resistant to whatever was in the relic. However, there were no tests or even any verification about what his contract was.


    In fact, as soon as he signed up his name, after some back and forth with someone through the phone, Kain was approved and even given an ancient looking bracelet that supposedly would help prevent infection. A lower grade version of Serena''s enchanted ne.


    Kain suspected that certain members of the faculty had an idea about what he''d contracted. After all, when he was taking up the ck Mission, he had to kill that test mouse using Bea.


    From that moment on, Bea was probably on their radar.


    Kain followed the others through the wilderness towards the relic. It was located over an hour walk from the campus. As they got closer and closer, Kain could see the gradual decline in vegetation.


    About 40 minutes out from the relic, the leaves of nts were mottled with yellow and brown spots. 30 minutes from the relic and most of the vegetation appeared like brown dried husks. 20 minutes from the relic it was aplete wastnd that more closely resembled the desert.


    However, with no nts or trees to block the way, Kain was able to see an outline of the relic even from far away.


    Although Kain had seen images of the relic online, as he got closer and closer he was struck by its size.


    Also he was better able to see many of the details of the relic that weren''t able to be captured by the photos.


    Therge ck box''s surface was a smooth obsidian-like stone and radiated an otherworldly sheen that seemed to shift subtly with the light.


    Hundreds of thousands, or possibly even millions, of intricate sigils were meticulously carved into every side. The sigils glowed faintly, pulsating with a soft, golden light that varied in intensity, creating an almost hypnotic effect.


    The air around the box feels charged with energy, and a subtle hum resonates, as though the relic is alive with magic and ancient power.


    Kain didn''t see anything resembling a door into the relic so turned to Serena in confusion. However, rather than address him directly, she simply ced both of her hands on the wall of the relic along with the other members of their party.


    In the blink of an eye Kain was left alone outside of the relic and quickly stretched his hands out as well so as not to be left behind.


    Kain was transferred to a clearing of a forest that looked like nothing that would be only found on an alien.


    Towering trees stretched high into the sky, their trunks were a glistening luminescent turquoise, that resembled two thick ropes twisting around eachother as they reached towards the sky. The leaves of many of the trees were deep purples and electric blues, and emitted a gentle glow, creating a celestial atmosphere that bathed the forest floor in an otherworldly light.


    Vines hung down from the branches, and were adorned with bioluminescent flowers that pulse softly, like the heartbeat of the forest. The flowers emitted a sweet, intoxicating scent, reminiscent of exotic fruits, mingling with the earthy aroma of damp moss and fertile soiling from the rest of the forest.


    The ground was a collection of vibrant red, green and gold ferns and moss that also emitted a dim glow, softly illuminating the forest floor. Despite their being no source of light like a sun above in the relic, the amount of light being emitted from the vegetationpletely negated any need for Kain and the other students to use a shlight or torch to light the way.


    From what Kain could see there weren''t many animals within the forest. However, a nearby body of water had continuous streaks of light flitting beneath its surface, likely due to some glowing fish.


    However, rather than the otherworldly appearance of the forest within the relic, Kain was struck by something else¡ªthe pull from his affinity.


    More specifically, multiple pulls from his affinity all around him. Unlike when outside of the relic where most microorganisms were ordinary creatures with no spiritual power, Kain could sense that pretty much everything within this relic was eitherposed of or the host of some kind of microorganism, whether that be bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses or more.


    ''Is this where most of the microorganisms with spiritual power are being kept? But why?''


    "So where do we go?" Kain said turning to Serena. They came in here to find the core of the relic so that it could be controlled by the college. But as this was Kain''s first time within the relic he was relying on her to lead the way.


    "We did not travel very far before some of the students started to fall sick, however we were assuming that the core of the relic was most likely within the center of this forest, as that was the direction that we''d headed.


    We are currently on the outskirts of the forest where there isn''t much danger, as we move towards the center the amount of threats drastically increases, so stay on guard." Serena said, before taking the lead in one direction. Kain followed closely behind her.


    Since the priority of this expedition was to find the core as quickly as possible, despite the evident danger present, it was agreed upon before entering the relic that the students would be travelling in smaller groups to scour the forest.


    Which is why only a small group of elite students chosen by the faculty was allowed to re-enter equipped with the limited amount of enchanted items that could prevent infection that the school had.


    Kain and Serena chose to form a group with only themselves. They of course did want to find the core of the relic, but they had the added task of trying to find the original body of whatever was infecting Bridge and destroying or controlling it.


    The whole journey Kain couldn''t help but revel in the intoxicating feeling of so many contractable spiritual creatures. In contrast to his barren options outside of the relic, Kain was confident that he should be able to find a suitable third contract.


    While the relic was dangerous to others, but he felt incredibly at home here.


    However, as they got closer to the center of the relic, Kain began to understand precisely why these creatures had been locked away and their existence seemingly intentionally scrubbed off the face of the earth.

 Chapter 206 Pandoras box

    ording to the story of Pandora''s Box, Pandora was created by the gods and given many gifts¡ªbeauty, wisdom, and curiosity, among others.


    Favoured as she was, the king of the gods personally gave her a beautiful box as a wedding gift, but warned her that she must never open it.


    Unfortunately, curiosity just happened to be one of the other ''gifts'' the gods had bestowed on her.


    Unable to stay away, Pandora opened the box and released disease, despair, pain and countless other misfortunes to gue humanity.


    Horrified by what she had unleashed, Pandora quickly closed the box, but it was toote¡ªthe world was forever changed.


    However, as she closed the lid, onest entity remained inside: hope.


    Looking around the relic, Kain couldn''t help but recall the story of Pandora''s box and the parallels it had with his current situation.


    Disease is practically unheard of on this, and Kain had always assumed that it was due to the more hardy constitutions of the natives of this who''d been breathing in a faint amount of spiritual power since birth.


    However, as Kain smashed in the head of a grotesque ck and slimy figure that vaguely had a humanoid outline, Kain knew that his assumption was wrong.


    Someone, or possibly many individuals, had gone through the effort of locating as many spiritual microorganisms as possible and locked them away.


    They hadn''t even just stopped at the ones that could cause disease, like whatever had reanimated the corpses currently in front of Kain. Possibly knowing about the quick mutation rate of microbes and not wanting to take any risks, they''d gone through the effort of locking up every single microorganism with spiritual power that they could find.


    Obviously, a few, like Bea and Eve, had managed to escape. But it is hard to imagine how much time and effort had gone into carefullybing essentially the entire continent, or maybe even beyond, in order to locate and lock up creatures that were difficult to even detect.


    ''Unless¡­they had someone like me¡­with an affinity for all microorganisms¡­'' Kain pondered.


    However, despite how challenging it made finding a contract for himself, Kain couldn''t say that he med him. Even on Earth there were countless times when entire poptions were decimated by a disease. In this world where they''d probably be even more dangerous and develop strange mutations and evolutions, more likely than not a mankind-ending illness wille into being.


    ''Rather I''m more surprised that nobody from the college has tried to restrict me due to my affinity. Obviously, they have some idea of what it is¡­''


    As they got closer and closer to the center of the relic, the hotter the enchanted bracelet given to him by the school felt against his skin. Obviously, something unseen was trying to enter his body and the bracelet was exerting all of its efforts to keep it out.


    The mere fact that pretty much everything in this relic, including many of the ''nts'' that were actuallyposed of what Kain assumed to be types of fungi or algae.


    Therefore, since nearly everything around him was causing a pull from his affinity, it impeded many of his senses and made it difficult to judge when something potentially dangerous that he couldn''t see was approaching.


    He tried to create a barrier around him and Serena using Bea''s splits, but, although it helped with keeping some of the invisible enemies at bay, simr to Eve and the Vespirae many of the creatures inside of this relic were also quite resistant to Bea and did not die or even weaken much.


    "There is one of the flowers that released the mist right before Bridge and the others fell ill." Serena said while pointing to a field of glowing white flowers that looked like lilies with their petals closed.


    "Once one of the flowers was picked, it opened and released the mist so remain cautious." Kain nodded. Kain wasn''t sure how strong the bracelet provided by the school was, but he didn''t want to test it with a shot to the face with whatever made Bridge sick.


    Kain slowly approached the field to avoid startling the flower buds open and tried closing his eyes to enhance his sensitivity to the pull and find the original body of whatever had infected Bridge with its splits, but there were just far too many spiritual creatures present.


    "Every individual flower seems to be the host of some kind of spiritual creature. It might be better to just try and kill them all." Kain turned to Serena, who then promptly summoned her Elemental Guardian in its fire-attribute form and began to set the field aze.


    Stay with m_vl_em_p_yr


    However, discreetly Kain touched one of the flowers and transported it into his System''s Lab. A while ago he''d bought an incubator that could house some microorganisms Kain wasn''t contracted with, like Aby. Although space was limited, this relic was a good opportunity to collect some creatures of interest.


    Along the way he''d already collected some glowing specks of blue light from a body they had passed previously that he guessed was simr to phytonkton, as well as some kind of fungi that had almost knocked him and Serena unconscious due to some kind of gas it emitted.


    Now he was adding what was inside of this flower to his collection. One never knew when some of this stuff woulde in handy.


    "Sigh¡­if the symptoms hadn''t taken so long to show previously until we were far away from these flowers, I could have destroyed them all the first time we were in here." Serena said in irritation.


    "You can''t take the me for that. I''m sure you could tell that it wasn''t poison, and you weren''t on the lookout for something living inside of the flowers and causing the illness. It''s understandable that you let your guard down. Hopefully, killing the original body will cure those outside of the relic." Kain said.


    They then turned away from the scorched field and continued on their journey after Kain did his best to sense that no living microorganism was still within the field.


    He hoped that Bridge''s condition would improve, although ideally while inside the relic they''d also find something with some healing properties for good measure.

 Chapter 207 Origin of the Relic

    Eventually, at the center of the relic they saw arge opening for a cave. Just outside of it were 5 of the second-years that had entered, including Alexei and Jin.


    "Why are you guys waiting outside of the cave instead of going in?" Kain asked.


    "We suspect that the core of the relic is inside of this cave, but NJ," Jin said while pointing to a in-looking freckled boy with sandy brown hair, "has a gift that allows him to sense danger and strongly suggested waiting for more people to arrive. Aside from you two, only 3 others have yet to arrive."


    Kain nodded in understanding. Even if they have enchanted items that help to resist infections, there is no guarantee that the only source of danger would be getting sick. Kain had already seen how dead bodies were being controlled by an unknown creature. Even his own contract is capable of controlling other spiritual creatures to cause physical and elemental damage.


    After about another 40 minutes, the remaining 3 seniors arrived.


    Jin and Alexei led the way into thework of caves. The glowing moss lining the walls of the cave prevented the need for any kind of illuminating device as they moved forward with an unsettling silence hanging over them, broken only by the distant drip of water echoing through the cavernous halls.


    His heart raced with anticipation and trepidation. However, the walls of the cave helped to dampen the pull from the creatures from outside so the cave so that Kain could focus on any approaching enemies.


    "Stay sharp," Jin murmured, raising a hand to signal a halt. He knelt to inspect the ground, tracing the faint outlines of a series of markings etched into the stone. "There are traps here. They''re ancient but should still work. We must move forward carefully."


    As they moved deeper into the cave, the walls began to narrow, and the air grew colder. Arge second-year with a bulky build, moved to the rear carrying a massive sword, muscles tense as he listened for any signs of danger. "I don''t like the feel of this," he muttered. "It''s too quiet."


    Suddenly, a soft click echoed through the chamber, and Kain''s instincts kicked in.


    "Move!" he shouted, darting to the side just as a series of darts shot from hidden alcoves in the wall. A female second-year barely evaded the barrage, her agility on full disy as she rolled beneath the lethal projectiles.


    "Clear!" Kain called, and the group regrouped, hearts pounding. "That was too close."


    "Let''s not linger," Alexei urged, his voice steady despite the rising tension.


    Kain could feel the weight of the darkness pressing in around them. They reached arge cavern, its ceiling so high it was lost in shadows. Stctites hung like jagged teeth overhead, and in the centery a massive mound of stone. The stone wasn''t a single colour and wasposed of severalyers of varying colours form grey to orange to a deep red.


    Suddenly, a low rumble echoed through the cavern. The ground beneath them trembled.


    Before they could react, all entrances into the cavern began to slide shut, blocking their exit.


    Apprehension surged through Kain as he leaped back, his heart racing. Everyone gathered closer together in preparation for whatever would happen next.


    However, preventing their regrouping, he ground shifted violently, sending everyone sprawling in different directions.


    Kain scrambled to his feet, heart pounding as he scanned the cavern. The massive mound of stone at the center began to crack and shift, its surface glistening under the glowing off of the moss and stctites above.


    The cavern with filled a deep, resonant growl that reverberated through the chamber, sending shivers down his spine.


    As the stones shifted, the figure of a golem-like creature emerged, towering above them. Its form wasposed of the same reddish-orange stone as the mound, intricatelyyered with veins of grey and deep red that pulsed like flowing blood.


    The golem stood so tall that its head almost grazed the jagged stctites, giving it an imposing presence that filled the cavern with a sense of dread and awe.


    Kain could sense its energy, the familiar tug of from his affinity indicating that whatever this thing was, it was eitherposed of or host to a microorganism. Like all other creatures in the relic, its strength was limited to yellow-grade, but its immense size was rare at that level.


    Even among the green-grade spiritual creatures Kain had encountered before¡ªnone were asrge as this behemoth. If it wasn''t for the pull from his affinity or that it wasposed of stone, he''d almost think that it had giant''s blood.


    "Form a defensive line!" Jin shouted.


    A simr rock-golem-like spiritual creature moved in front of all of them, although it was only a fraction of the size of their opponent. It was quickly joined by two spiritual creatures resembling a tortoise and elephant. Looking at their bulky figures they were clearly all specialists in defense.


    Their defense was further bolstered by buffs and translucent shields added to them by other spiritual contracts.


    The others quickly gathered behind the defensive line, eyes fixed on the towering figure opposing them. However, after several minutes it didn''t make any movements towards him.


    "Do you think that¡­maybe it isn''t hostile?" One of the second year''s asked.


    Before anyone could respond, the golem''s eyes red to life, glowing with a bright amber light. It surveyed them, its massive stone hands flexing, the ground trembling with each subtle movement. A low rumble emanated from deep within its chest, almost like a voice trying to break free.


    "Is it speaking?" A female student asked, eyes wide with wonder and fear.


    But as the golem shifted, it did not attack. Instead, it extended one enormous hand toward them, as if beckoning. Kain''s brow furrowed in confusion. "What does it want?"


    The golem''s eyes flickered, and Kain felt a connection, a sense of purpose radiating from the creature.


    "Wait," Kain murmured, "I think it''s trying to tell us something."


    Jin hesitated, but the urgency in Kain''s voice was undeniable. "We don''t have time for misunderstandings, Kain. We need to prepare for the worst."


    Before Kain could argue, the golem raised its other hand, palm upward, and a wave of energy flowed from it, creating a gentle vibration that resonated through the cavern. The air thickened, and Kain felt a shift, a calming influence washing over him and his allies.


    "Listen!" Kain urged, his voice barely above a whisper. "It''s showing us something."


    When the barely visible sigils carved into the cavern''s walls began to glow, images were sent directly into the minds of Kain and the others.


    ''Maybe finally we can get some answers about this ce.''

 Chapter 208 Origin of the Relic (2)

    Kain saw visions of an ancient period.


    A man with tan skin and brown hair and eyes was saying something indiscernible to four others: A regal-looking man with gold and eyes and hair, arge burly man with red eyes and ck hair, a frigid-looking man with piercing blue eyes and silver hair, and the only woman who had hair that faded from grey at the roots to a light violet at the bottom and strangely had both of her eyes covered by a ck blindfold.


    They were all dressed in attire from centuries ago, leading Kain to believe that these event s must have taken ce not long after the Empire''s founding.


    Kain was unable to understand what was being, but it seems as though the brown-eyed man was able to convince the others of something as they all nodded in agreement.


    Quickly scenes of the relics construction shed by. Kain had wondered how such arge object had managed to be carved with so many sigils. It definitely utilized advanced techniques that had been long lost and would be difficult to find among anyone today. However, it seems as though humans weren''t used.


    Flying all around the relic on the backs of red hawk-like birds were hundreds of small muscr-looking men with pointed ears¡ªdwarves? Kain had heard rumours about non-human civilizations, such as the elves and dwarves, but majority of them had long disappeared with no contact with humans. Therefore, this was the very first time Kain was seeing them.


    Kain then saw the scene of the original 5 individuals at the beginning of the vision having an intense fight with what appeared to be a ck dragon.


    The dragon was perched atop a massive hill, but upon closer inspection, Kain could see that the ''hill'' was made up of corpses. Corpses that were in various states of rot and gradually turning ck. Some of those corpses had reanimated to resemble the ck rotting creatures present within the relic that Kain and the others would asionallye across.


    However, unlike the modern ones, the ones in the vision were on apletely different level in terms of strength. Based on the colour of their spiritual power, Kain concluded that the weakest of them were indigo-grade, equivalent to a 7-star beast tamer, and many of them were even stronger than that. Even more terrifying was the fact that there were hundreds of creatures at that level.


    The group of 5 were made uppletely of 9-star beast tamers, but even they struggled against the dragon and its underlings.


    Finally, at the cost of the blind-folded woman dying, they managed to defeat the dragon.


    However, terrifyingly it seems as though it was unable to be killed. It wasn''t a dragon in the truest sense, Kain suspected that the dragon may have just been a host for something much more terrifying.


    They destroyed and burned all of its underlings, however the body of the actual dragon waspletely immune to burning despite their best efforts, and they could sense that what possessed the dragon was not truly dead. All they could do was divide up the body of the infected dragon and apply many seals to each piece. Each piece was then transported to a different location.


    The vision then changed to a ss box covered in sigils containing one of the pieces,arge dragon tail, being carried into this relic where the strength of all creatures within had been restricted to yellow-grade, the lowest they could weaken the creature, due to the intricate sigils carved into the relic.


    However, since they were unable to definitively kill whatever it was previously, and only sealed it, it appears as though the creature living inside of the dragon had even managed to outlive the sigils powering its cage, and asionally some of its aura had managed to leak outside to infect passing spiritual creatures within the relic, and even asionally outside of the relic¡ªexining the rotting egg andpletely dead colony of spiritual creatures the egg had been found in.


    Kain blinked his eyes as he came back to his senses and saw the others around him doing something simr.


    More than ever Kain was struck by the importance of their mission to find the core of this relic so that they could better control whates in and out, and also use resources to refuel and repair the sigils.


    Fortunately, it appears as though the core of the relic was located just beyond this cavern behind the sealed doors.


    Unfortunately, the core was in the same room as the extremely terrifying spiritual creature that could probably easily kill all of them since that was the area with the strongest sigils to restrict it within the relic, even if it was weakened to yellow-grade and was only a single body part, it was still probably a more dangerous enemy than any other Kain had previously faced.


    However, it was a definite fact that the sigils of this relic were weakening, and in order to repair them the core was needed. If they just closed their eyes to this enemy already at their doorstep, it''d be only a matter of time before it and many of the other more dangerous microorganisms escaped and caused havoc.


    Kain stared long and hard at the golem. "I''m sure you showed us this so that we could have a better understanding of what we are going to face. Also, based on your actions so far, can I assume that you are a kind of guardian ced within this relic? Would you be willing to help us?"


    It didn''t give any kind of reply to Kain, but instead made a gesture at the sealed door behind it, which then opened to reveal a dark passageway. It then lumbered slowly towards the passage while bending its body forward awkwardly due to its immense size being restricted by the slightly lower ceiling of the tunnel.


    "I guess that means we should follow it¡­" Kain said before ncing at the others still waiting around awkwardly. He then led the way just behind the golem into the tunnel.

 Chapter 209 Facing the "Dragon"

    Kain and the others followed closely behind the golem, the air thick with tension as they ventured into the dark passageway.


    The looming presence of the golem was a reliable reassurance for what they''d encounter next, but Kain''s mind was still heavy with the visions he had just witnessed.


    It was a terrifying task, to confront something so powerful, even if it was in a weakened state. He exchanged worried nces with the others. He could see the determination on their faces mixing with fear. Except strangely, Serena, who appeared more pensive after the visions, but not particrly frightened.


    ''Does she have some kind of hidden card to remain so confident?''


    "Stay close," Jin murmured once they began to see an end to the tunnel. "We don''t know what lies ahead."


    The passage opened into arger chamber, its ceiling soaring high above them, but the air felt heavy and thick with some kind dark energy that made it difficult for Kain and the others to breath.


    "Ah!" One of the second-year girls in their group while grabbing the ne provided by the school for this expedition. She moved the ne away from her skin and Kain could see arge red welt appear just below her corbone as though she''d been branded.


    Clearly, her ne had been working so hard at keeping something away from her that it''d gotten hot enough to scald her as a result.


    Hiss


    Kain couldn''t help but expel a sharp whistle of air between clenched teeth as he also felt he bracelet heating up to an unbearable degree. Simrly, many of the other second years were also clutching at various parts of their bodies as, what Kain assumed to be the enchanted objects they were carrying, got so hot that they were burned.


    Nothing visible had attacked them yet, but despite the hot objects pressing against their skin, a chill crept down the spine of Kain and the other, as an eerie silence fell.


    Ignoring the paining from his wrist, Kain looked around the chamber they''d just entered.


    The room was vast and cavernous, the air thick with the scent of decay. In the center, on a raised stone altar,y a massive tail, coiled and twisted as if in eternal agony. The tail shimmered with a dark energy, that seemed to absorb all of the light in its surroundings.


    Kain''s heart raced as he looked at the object from the vision. However, contrary to the intense pull he''d expected from his affinity, the pull was no stronger than what he''d experienced from the dead egg previously. He practically had to be next to it to feel the pull without concentrating.


    However, now that his spiritual power had grown and he was next to what he assumed to be a portion of the original body, he''d thought the pull would be much more intense.


    Suddenly, a low growl reverberated through the chamber, shaking the very ground beneath them. The tail twitched before grotesque sore-like bumps began to appear on its surface.


    Bang


    Kain and the others couldn''t help but flinch as the bumps burst open. But rather than something disgusting like puss sttering in all directions, instead limbs, wings, and a faint head shape burst out from the lumps.


    Soon, what was previously only a dragon tail morphed into a much smaller weakened version of the ck dragon, its scales dulled and its wings tattered. It raised its head, eyes glinting with malice, and opened its mouth, releasing a stream of dark energy that curled through the air like smoke.


    "Back!" Jin shouted, pushing the others away as the dragon lunged forward. The golem stepped into action, its massive form stepping between the group and the creature, fists raised as it prepared to defend.


    The dragon roared, a sound filled with fury, and lunged at the golem, but the golem''s massive hand grabbed both sides of its open mouth to keep it from tearing at its limbs. Kain felt the ground tremble beneath him, the raw power of the sh palpable in the air.


    The creaking and asional pieces of rock falling from the rock let Kain know that the current stalemate was at the expense of much of the golem''s energy. They couldn''t afford to waste this opportunity.


    "Now''s our chance!" Kain yelled, summoning Bea and the Vespirae to attack from a distance.


    The others also used their contracts tounch their attacks at the dragon from a distance.


    A barrage of energy bolts was unleashed, striking all areas of the dragon not blocked by the golem.


    Mostly long-distance attacks were used. Based on what they''d seen in the vision, most of them didn''t dare to let their contract get too close. Only those with contracts resembling the golem holding off the dragon dared to get a little closer, hoping that the absence of any flesh would prevent the dragon from infecting them.


    However, the dragon soon proved that hope to be useless.


    Even in its weakened state, the ck dragon was formidable. It retaliated with a swipe of its tail at an approaching smaller golem contract and sent a st of dark energy erupting from its open mouth straight at another lion-like spiritual creature that appeared to be made of shining crystals.


    The crystal lion, despite having no flesh, soon began to decay and crumble at a rate visible to the naked eye.


    "Ahhh!" A second-year boy unfamiliar to Kain let out a panicked scream, before moving to recall the lion into his star space.


    "Wait! Don''t recall it!" Kain called out. Kain had never tested if one of Bea''s splits could be recalled into the star space of another beast-tamer if a contract is infected. He hadn''t needed to use Bea much in the re-ranking and there weren''t many opportunities for him to fight against other beast-tamers.


    Moreover, he also didn''t know if the split was brought into the star space if it could still exert any effect.


    However, this dragon was clearly the host of something far more dangerous than Bea, and he had a hunch that recalling the lion would only result in his schoolmate''s death as well.


    Unfortunately, Kain''s warning came toote and the lion disappeared from the cavern.


    Kain looked worriedly at the boy, but after a few seconds passed with no changes, he began to let down his guard. That was until the seniors ear suddenly fell off without warning.


    "Ahhhhhh!" The student suddenly dropped to the floor and began to thrash in pain as ck bulges slowly began to rise up all over his skin.


    A shiver ran down Kain''s spine as he began to hyperventte. Serena turned to him in confusion, since he was usually more mentally resilient and would not panic at just the sight of a dead peer he wasn''t close too.


    However, Kain had no time to pay attention to the nces of concern around him as his memories transported him off of the current to somewhere light-years away¡ªBrazil.

 Chapter 210 Memories

    "Kain my boy, I am sorry that you ended up like this due to an ipetent supervisor like me."


    Kain looked up weakly from the bed through his blurred vision at his research supervisor who was covered head to toe in a hazmat suit. This summer "job" was really supposed to be more like a reward for Kain who had lost his parents.


    An all-expenses paid trip to another country while working under a prestigious professor, which would look great on future job applications.


    However, Kain knew that there was no hope of him ever leaving this country. If even his professor, Dr. ckwell, couldn''t figure out what exactly this thing was, then there was truly no hope for him.


    What''s even more strange is that up until this point they couldn''t even get a hint of if the perpetrator was a bacteria, virus, or something else.


    "Ah¡­" Kain tried to offer some words offort to the professor, but was too weak for more than a faint gasp to escape his lips. The bandaged hand he raised was also promptly lowered since he realized that seeing Kain with only 3 fingers on his hand would likely only make him feel worse.


    Thankfully, Dr. ckwell didn''t seem toe here to receive words offort. He seemed to just want to get some words off of his chest and rify some of his jumbled thoughts by saying them aloud to a student he was close to.


    "We figured out that patient zero was in an expedition group studying a recently found temple in the Amazon Rainforest. Previously, there was no indication of any advanced ancient civilization like the Mayans, Aztecs, or Incas having expanded into Brazil, so they were extremely excited.


    The architecture was also slightly different from temples previously found, so they had thought that maybe they''d identified the remains of apletely unidentified civilization."


    "This belief was further bolstered by the fact that after entering the temple, the carvings seemed to be in worship of some kind of god of death whose image had never been seen before."


    "Sigh. However, everyone in that team is now dead. It''s possible that the so-called ''God of Death'' is really some kind of devastating disease that they locked away to keep from spreading."


    "Unfortunately, since everyone who entered is now dead, we have no first-hand ounts of what the inside of the temple looked like, and nobody dares to re-enter it to find out more. Thankfully, they at least took some photos of the inside of the temple that we can maybe get some clues from about the origin of this thing. I figured you''d be bored and like to maybe look at them.


    You don''t exactly have ess to the inte in here."


    Kain professor then handed over someminated images of what looked to be photocopies of images taken from within the temple and the dead archaeologists'' journals.


    After handing over the images and offering some more words offort and empty vows to find a cure, Dr. ckwell left.


    Kain used his remaining good hand to weakly raise theminated sheets of paper. Likely due to the poor lighting within the relic, the quality of the images was not ideal.


    However, Kain could still make out some details from the temple.


    The images depict wall paintings of a ck star falling from the sky¡ªthe God of Death, Kain assumed. But based on his modern sensibilities, Kain would be more inclined to call it a meteor.


    The so-called God of Death then began to torment the locals, and so to appease him, they built a grand temple over where he descended from the godly realm to Earth¡ªwhich Kain assumed to be the location where the meteornded.


    Then to further appease the god, all individuals who had been marked by the god were then sealed within the temple as sacrifices¡ªKain assumed that considering the ''marked'' individuals all had ck bumps, they were likely the infected.


    Therefore, based on their superstitious beliefs, this ancient civilization actually found an effective way to prevent the spread of the disease.


    They built a massive temple over thending site so that future humans couldn''t reach it, and then all the infected were essentially quarantined and left to die within the temple, thus preventing a devastating epidemic¡ªthat was until their curious descendants happened upon it centuriester.


    ''Based on this story, is the disease something that originated from outside of the Earth? Humans had been looking for some evidence of life beyond just us, but this is really not what we wanted¡­''


    ''I wonder where it came from? Sigh¡­but it doesn''t look like I''ll live long enough to receive any answers to that question.''


    ------


    "Kain!"


    "Kain!"


    Kain felt a hard shove that practically sent him reeling to the floor. He turned to see Serena''s typical cold expression, and returned to his current reality.


    ''That was dangerous. I can''t afford to get distracted like that in the middle of a battle.''


    He turned to look at the battle''s current progress. The attacks they''dnded on the dragon had barely even left a scratch, however thankfully their new ally was still keeping the dragon away from them.


    The senior who''d recalled his infected contract was now lying dead on the floor, and Serena ordered her contract to light his body on fire to, Kain assumed, prevent the spread of whatever had killed him.


    In the few seconds Kain was lost in his thoughts, another contract, this one resembling a floating jellyfish, had its iridescent and translucent appearance ruined by specks of ck dots that were gradually spreading¡ªlikely another victim.


    A girl, who Kain assumed to be the contractor of the jellyfish, was howling in grief as she felt its fading life force.


    They''d just started the battle not long ago and were suffering devastating casualties, Kain hoped that the loss to their group wouldn''t get much worse.


    He looked around for the core of the relic. While the dragon was being held off they had also been looking for the core. After all, even if they couldn''t defeat the dragon but could take off with the core, it''d be considered a sessful mission.

 Chapter 211 Relic Core

    The golem held its ground against the ck dragon, each sh of scales against stone sending tremors through the chamber. Despite the turmoil, Kain''s focus remained on the search for the core of the relic.


    "Over there!" Jin shouted, pointing toward a darker recess in the cavern, away from the central altar where the dragon was wreaking havoc. "I think I see something!"


    They rushed toward the shadows, their breath quickening with hope. The closer they got, the more Kain felt a faint thrumming in the air from an intensely powerful spiritual power, at a level far beyond what was restricted by the relic.


    He rounded a corner, and there it was: the core of the relic. Nestled in a rocky alcove high above, the core appeared to be a smooth, crystalline orb that shimmered with a rainbow of light. It was approximately the size of a head and had a translucent shield surrounding it.


    An electric blue eagle, the contract of another second-year, flew above to try and grab the core but was violently repelled by the shield.


    "Sigh," Alexei said, shaking his head. "It may only allow humans through. The contracts can''t retrieve it."


    "Then I''ll go," Kain decided, before boarding the back of one of his Vespirae while several others surrounded him. Determination flooding through him as he ignored the screams and chaos behind him. As he neared the core, the shield flickered, as he reached his arm in, allowing it through.


    He reached out and grasped the core, its energy coursing through him like a torrent of electricity. A surge of warmth flooded his senses, momentarily banishing the fear that clung to him.


    "Got it!" he shouted, holding the core up high so the others could see as he removed it from the shield, but his triumph was short-lived.


    The ck dragon roared, its body tensing as it prepared to unleash a devastating attack. Kain''s heart sank as he realized the dragon was likely to perform its greatest attack yet. "Get back!" he yelled, but the words were drowned out by the dragon''s growl.


    Before anyone could react, the dragon''s form began to swell, dark energy coiling around it like a storm. Kain''s instincts screamed at him to flee, but he was rooted in ce, core in hand as what felt like an invisible hand of evil energy had a vice grip on him to prevent his movements.


    With a final surge of energy, the golem stepped forward, its massive frame moving to shield the group. It thrust its arms upward, summoning a barrier of rock to encase the dragon. The ground quaked as the st erupted, the force shaking the cavern.


    Kain shielded his eyes as the explosion detonated, a violent wave of energy erupting from the dragon. The golem''s rock barrier expanded outward, struggling to contain the st. But the strength of the explosion was overwhelming, sending chunks of debris and rock flying in every direction. Kain felt himself thrown back, the core slipping from his fingers and rolling away.


    As the dust settled, Kain staggered to his feet, scanning the chaotic scene. The golem had been utterly consumed by the explosion, its rocky form reduced to rubble. The air was thick with the horrid scent of burnt stone. However, its sacrificed prevented anymore of the 9 students and their contracts from dying.


    A stillness fell over the cavern. Kain turned, his eyes narrowing as he searched for the dragon. There was no sign of it, no growl of fury. No pull from his affinity either. However, he didn''t feel reassured by the absence of the pull.


    "Is it¡­ dead?" a second-year asked, his voice trembling.


    Kain shook his head, unease creeping in. "No. It''s too quiet. It shouldn''t be this easy. Even a group of 9-star beast tamers hadn''t been able topletely eradicate whatever was inside the dragon."


    His instincts red. There was no sense of relief; instead, a chill of dread settled in his bones. The remnants of the golem were all that remained, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that the ancient enemy had escaped in the chaos.


    Likely taking advantage of the moment the core was removed from the shield where it couldn''t ess it, it sacrificed the body of its host to form a terrible explosion.


    There were already cracks in its cage, as evidenced by the fact that Kain found an egg contaminated by it, and its minions are running around in the areas of the relic outside of this cave.


    Therefore, it likely used the st to exacerbate one of the cracks after the core was exposed momentarily, just wide enough so that the portion of whatever was controlling this dragon and was stuck in this relic could escape.


    Kain shared what he sensed with Serena. After all, he was the only one that could sense what was controlling the dragon and could confirm that it was gone.


    He was worried that the terrifying microorganism had managed to escape.


    "I don''t think it''s truly escaped." Serena said coldly. "Although whatever was controlling the dragon is an unusual creature, it still has a soul, otherwise you wouldn''t sense a pull from it. Its soul was divided and sealed with its dragon host in a variety of relics. When it exploded the dragon, it didn''t just destroy its host, it alsopletely abandoned its material form as well.


    I could sense its spirit for a fraction of a second. Normally that spirit would also be trapped within the relic, but taking advantage of the explosion the spirit escaped, and as an iplete spirit it can''t exert much power. Most likely, the portion of the spirit will make its way towards the nearest relic containing another portion of its soul with the aim of eventually bing whole."


    ''She could sense it for a second? Does her affinity have to do with the spirit or souls? But based on the contracts of hers that I know of, that''s not quite right¡­''


    "Although this is just a theory, I do have a method of confirming for sure. But it wille at a great cost. It''d be better to just inform the school and have them investigate for themselves.


    After all, if this portion of the soul is added to another relic, it''d suddenly strengthen the trapped creature within that relic, meaning that another one of these prisons would likely re-emerge in the future."


    Hearing Serena''s exnation, Kain was a little more reassured. If it had taken the opportunity to start infecting everyone in Dark Moon right now, Kain would have thought it''d have been better to not even try to get the core.


    After all, although the relic was clearly beginning to fail and it''d likely have escaped in the future anyways, it''d have still been better if its escape was far off rather than now.


    However, if their entrance into the relic resulted in it damaging itself enough to escape that it was only the powerless remnant of a soul until it joins with another piece, then he could say that they''d at least aplished something worthwhile.

 Chapter 212 Third Contract

    Kain didn''t immediately leave the cavern with the others, instead he headed over to the pile of rubble that had once made up their ally.


    The others had assumed after seeing the explosion and the absence of any intact core that the "golem" was dead. And that would have been true if it had been a golem in the traditional sense.


    However, unlike the others, Kain knew that while its body was destroyed, what truly controlled it was not any kind of core, but rather some kind of microorganism. Otherwise, he would not have sensed any kind of pull from his affinity towards it.


    As Kain looked at the pieces of rock, he was even more sure of his guess. In contrast to the typical solid coloured stone of most golems, this "golem" was made of rock with hundreds of thin differently colouredyers of grey, orange, and red stone. It closely resembled theyered stromatolites formed by bacteria on Earth.


    Kain recalled collecting a piece of one such rock when he visited the beach on a family vacation in his past life.


    Kain''s experience within this cave made him very aware of his current limitations. When Bea is faced with an enemy, such as the hosts of other spiritual microbes or humans with the necessary enchanted items, who are resistant to her, she can''t y much of an effect.


    Conversely, the Vespirae have a numerical advantage and high pration power from their stingers, but no strong attacks with elemental effects or any way of providing defense for Kain.


    This "golem," although it had lost majority of the rock forming its body that it''d built up in the years it was trapped in this relic, would make up for many of Kain''s current weaknesses.


    Finally, Kain located a smooth piece of bright red rock that was strangely giving off a pull.


    "I know that you can understand me, and I know you can sense my affinity. Since the creature you were guarding is no longer here, I was hoping you''d be willing to continue looking for it with me." Kain whispered to the rock as he held it preciously in his hands. If any of the members of the group were toe back for him, they''d probably immediately want to send him to a mental asylum.


    However, he needed the agreement of the golem in order to form a contract, especially since it was one spiritual level higher than him. If he tried to force it, he''d only end up seriously hurting himself.


    The rock emitted a dim glow, as yellow spiritual power left the stone and travelled up Kain''s arm to his chest area.


    Closing his eyes, Kain''s consciousness entered his star space and could see the spiritual power moving towards his recently formed third star. The surface of the star began to slowly shift and change to better suit his newest contract, but Kain couldn''t stay to watch the entire process, the others in the group were waiting for him and he had something important to quickly do.


    Although it would take a while to reform the body, Kain hoped that collecting the pieces of its former body would help to shorten the process. He collected as much of the massive body as he could into his space ring. Although its massive size made it impossible to fit all of it.


    ''Hmm¡­ I was able to put much of Queen''s old nest into her star space, I wonder if these rocks also apply?''


    Giving it a shot, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked and he was able to fully take away every ounce of the giant body.


    Taskpleted, Kain turned around and chased after the group that''d left him behind. Thankfully, he hadn''t taken too long, so nobody except for Serena noticed his absence and just assumed that he was walking at the back.


    The journey leaving the relic was much more uneventful than the one into the relic.


    Unfortunately, there wasn''t anything in the relic that seemed to be a cure for infections, therefore Kain and the others could only hope that killing the original bodies had stopped the patients'' conditions from worsening.


    With the relic now under control by the school, Kain could also continue re-entering the relic in the future. Now, he had many more options for future potential contracts.


    After leaving the relic, they were all separated to recount their own versions of what happened in the relic and turn over the core which Jin had taken responsibility for on the way back.


    With worry, Kain headed back to hisboratory with Serena to check on Bridge.


    Thankfully, although still extremely weak, his brother was sitting up and awake by the time he arrived.


    Since Kain had stolen away one of the flowers to put in his incubator, there was a risk that the one out of hundreds that he''d chosen to save was the one that happened to infect Bridge, meaning he''d have to destroy the new member to his collection.


    Thankfully that wasn''t necessary.


    After confirming that Bridge was okay. Serena coolly left, the previous concern she''d disyed seeming like an illusion.


    Kain then spent the remainder of the day recounting what had happened to his brother, before helping to escort him back to his dorm room.


    Exhausted, Kain also returned to his own dorm room to eat and take a shower before lying in bed.


    However, he didn''t immediately go to sleep. Kain had made his third contract and had no idea about its name or skills. Thankfully, due to the System all of that information would beid out for him.


    The anticipation was slow to creep up on him, otherwise he would have checked the System panel before they''d even left the relic, but he''d strangely not been tempted to do so¡ªmaybe his concern for Bridge had preupied his mind?


    In fact, this was the quickest he''d ever managed to find a contract after forming a star due to the rarity of suitable contracts for him, so it was also likely that it hadn''t even fully sunk in that he had a third contract¡ªand that it was a powerful yellow-grade one no less.

 Chapter 213 Aegis

    Nickname: N/A


    Species: Biolith Sentinel


    An ancient being who usesyers of sedimentary stone to form a solid and powerful exterior. Its body has incredible resilience and incredible strength, while the absence of a conventional core makes it significantly more difficult to kill than simr rock-based spiritual creatures.


    The Biolith Sentinel embodies the essence of both strength and adaptability and given enough time it is capable of reshaping itself to respond to threats and environmental changes.


    Quality: tinum


    Spiritual Power Grade: Yellow


    Type: Microorganism (Bacteria)


    Attribute: Earth


    Enjoy exclusive content froNovelBin


    SS-Layered Defense:Utilizing its unique stoneposition, the Biolith Sentinel can absorb and dissipate iing attacks. Eachyer of its body can absorb a certain percentage of damage, allowing it to mitigate damage more easily.


    S-Geoform Transformation:The Sentinel can reshape nearby stone and its own body at will, creating protective barriers or weapons made from its own and nearby stone. It can also temporarily absorb and integrate nearby stones to provide a temporary boost to its strength and resilience.


    A-Tectonic Resonance:The Biolith Sentinel can generate seismic shockwaves that ripple through the ground, destabilizing the terrain and disorienting foes within a wide radius.


    A-Earth''s Embrace:This ability allows the Biolith Sentinel to meld into the ground, appearing like a collection of stones, its lifeforce is undetectable to foes with spiritual power up to one grade higher. While in this state, it can restore health by drawing energy from the earth itself.


    A-Stone Regeneration: This ability allows the Biolith Sentinel to regenerate lost stoneyers over time, gradually restoring its physical form and enhancing its strength.


    B-Crystalline Burst: Upon taking significant damage, the Sentinel can unleash a shockwave of sharp crystalline shards, dealing damage to nearby enemies. However, the attack is indiscriminate and will harm both friends and foes.


    ---------------------------------


    Kain''s heart raced as he read through the abilities. Many of the skills sounded promising. And in the recent battle with the dragon, Kain had gotten to see its power in person. The thought of having such a dependable ally capable of shielding him and his friends filled him with hope.


    He also couldn''t help but feel giddy at the prospect of someone trying to destroy his contract by looking for the core but being unable to find one.


    After all, the Sentinel''s "core" was microscopic and difficult to find. They''d have to make sure to destroy every single speck of the golem in order to ensure its death.


    Kain then looked at the empty Nickname column, and fell into a contemtive silence.


    Many of the previous nicknames Kain produced such as Bea, Aby, and even hisb assistant Vera, were all acronyms for what they were and hadn''t required much thought. Meanwhile, Eve also felt like an obvious name for her due to her characteristics.


    ''I can''t exactly use the initials for its species as a name¡­BS as a name is kinda¡­''


    Kain shook his head at the image of his contract having the same initials as bullshit.


    But unlike Eve, there was nothing that jumped out to him as a name for his new contract.


    However, given its role as a guardian and how it selflessly sacrificed its own body to protect Kain and the other, and how it will also function as a shield in the future for Kain, Kain decided to go with a name that most reminded of a strong shield.


    ''I will call you Aegis'' Kain decided.


    The decision settled, Kain fell asleep with a smile on his face.


    ------------------------------------


    Kain didn''t hear any more news about the relic from the professors at the school, but he knew that they must have gotten it under control. Much of the vegetation surrounding the college had also been restored.


    With the life force of nearby creatures no longer being sucked away by the relic, it can be assumed that the frequency of beast-tides will finally start to decrease as the resources of the forest are replenished.


    Kain''s life over the next six months gradually fell into a stable routine of going to sses, brainstorming for his next research project, fulfilling requests as an evolutionary nner and receiving updates about the business.


    Speaking of the business, itsunch was a resounding sess. The creation of a spiritual beer whose effects don''t diminish with time, allowed to quickly gain a foothold within the empire and the scale of their production had to be increased several times.


    After the first month of theirunch, Kain was able to make back all of the money he''d initially invested and finally see some profit.


    However, by now Kain was receiving substantial dividends from thepany and its profit for him now far exceeded the profit from the evolutionary patent for the lumifin he developed. Especially, since after a few months the craze for the new evolutionary form had cooled down and people purchasing the n were not as frequent.


    Although due to its beautiful form and decent strength, it was still a popr contract. Additionally, its beauty makes it a popr ornamental fish within the artificial ponds andkes of many noble homes.


    Additionally, Kain and the others had already undergone their second and third re-rankings. However, unlike the first re-ranking of the year, the ones afterwards usually do not see anyrge changes in rank.


    The top 5 of their year remained as Serena, Kain, Soren, Kairos and Ranya. Unfortunately, while Kain was strong enough to defeat pretty much all of his peers using the Vespirae alone, and only really needed to use Bea against the other members of the top 5, even with the addition of Aegis, he had been unable to defeat Serena.


    Even more irritatingly, he still had not been able to force out her third contract and was defeated with only 2 of her contracts against his 3.


    Addison, Aiden, Finn, Leonara and Bridge all kept their rankings within the top 20, with only slight shifts in rank.


    The greatest change in rank was actually Elias who went from his initialst-ced rank to rank 42 at the first re-ranking, and then up to rank 32 by the third re-ranking. He''d finally found a suitable second contract for himself with some decentbat abilities.


    If he were able to use his gift without the unfortunate side-effect of bing naked, he''d probably have a solid chance of entering the top 20 as well.


    There was no fourth re-ranking in the year, so all rankings were finalized. Therefore, the college could now confirm its definitive lineup that would be representing the school.


    After the first re-ranking, they had bi-weekly joint training sessions with the seniors, but considering the rankings could still potentially change, and the most changes in rank are typically among the first-years, they were still not heavily invested into or required to devote much joint practice time.


    By the time of the second re-ranking, the practice sessions were more frequent and brought to once to twice a week.


    However, as Kain nced down at the new training schedule after their ce in the top 5 for their year had been confirmed, he was ovee with dread.


    A jam-packed schedule that barely left time for him to breathe, especially since the summer vacation would be starting soon after their exams so they could devote every waking moment to training.


    However, he knew that the intense practice was necessary¡ªafter all, the nationalpetition was only a short month away.

 Chapter 214 Training for the National Competition

    The format of the National Competition had the top 5 students of each year must fight against the same-year students at the other colleges.


    Points were then awarded based on the final ranking. A maximum of 100 points each for first ce among the first years, second years, and so on. Thepetition format is a single one-on-one battle, a three-on-three battle, and one five-on-five battle. Whichever side can win 2 of the three matches will win the round and advance.


    Additionally, there was the measure of the college''s overallbat power. A one-on-one individual match of the top 5 strongest students of each school, a face-off of the elites. Regardless of year level. This elite team that represented the school''s strength in its entirety was usuallyposed of third and fourth years,


    The first-ce team will receive 200 points. So, in theory, a school could win a maximum of 600 points if they take first ce in everything. 100 points each for ranking first in years one to four, and 200 points for the strongest multi-grade team.


    However, Kain was not yet strong enough to enter the elite team, and could instead focuspletely on preparing for thepetition against the other first-year teams.


    The representative for the single one-on-one matches could be changed with each school they face. However, the three-on-three and five-on-five matches required for them to develop their teamwork, therefore the representatives of each team match would need to practice together beforehand.


    For the team of 5 match, they''d all be working together and must therefore improve their coordination. However, the team of 3 match still needed to determine its representatives.


    Ranya and Kairos both have contracts with decent control and support ability that shine greatly in group matches and were therefore chosen unanimously as the definitive representatives for the team of 3.


    For the final spot, Serena, Kain, and Soren all have stronger frontalbat abilities to make up for Ranya and Kairos'' shorings and were therefore nning to rotate into the team of 3 depending on theposition of the enemy lineup.


    However, since Serena and Kain were decided to take on the majority of the one-on-one matches, Soren was decided to take on the majority of the team of three matches.


    This arrangement also helped Kain a lot since he did not have to focus as much of his energy on training as a group with Ranya and Kairos. Instead, he could mostly just focus on his individual training and the team of 5 training.


    Currently, the seniors were assisting them in their cooperation as a group of 5. And in order to improve their teamwork, the second years were serving as their opponents. Of course, though they only limited themselves to yellow-grade and below contracts and could only summon 3 spiritual creatures since it was unlikely for a first-year to exceed being a 3-star beast-tamer.


    Facing them as representatives of the top 5 second-years, were Alexei and Jin, who Kain grew familiar with during the beast-tide and the relic exploration, and three female students: Kyria, Cressida, and Rhiannon.


    Kain had seen them and some of their contracts during the beast-tide, but he hadn''t known all of their names yet at the time.


    Ranked fourth among the second-years was Kyria. Kyria had ck hair and tan skin, with eyes that were a deep, hypnotic violet. From what Kain had seen during the beast-tide and rumours he''d heard, she seemed to specialize in support and defensive abilities.


    However, rather than the typical defensive type spiritual creatures with a burly physique and were usually of earth-attribute, instead her defensive capabilities were described as more ''magical'' and difficult to circumvent.


    She and her contracts could apply buffs to herself and allies and magical elemental shields with a myriad of effects such as reflecting damage or absorbing the energy from the attack to partially heal wounds.


    Ranked fifth among the second-years was Cressida. Cressida was the girl with pink hair and eyes who had a gift for forcefully gaining the attention and infatuation of all living things in an area. The effect of her gift was so strong that, even Kain, despite his strong resistance to mental attribute attacks, found it difficult to resist the effects of her gift.


    Although he hadn''t been able to see much from her contracts, from what Kain could tell, they also seemed to specialize in the mental attribute.


    However, like most mental-attribute spiritual creatures in the mid and lower levels, they were not particrly lethal but had extremely strong control abilities¡ªa mental-attribute spiritual creature that can directly cause death like Bea at their current level is rare after all.


    Finally, Rhiannon had a valiant atmosphere and long wildly curly hair that was a fiery blend of gold and red and framed piercing golden eyes. She had a fire-attribute affinity and among all of the second-years had the strongest destructive capabilities, which probably exins why among the rankings of students which prioritizes frontalbat abilities she was ranked first.


    Following her were Jin with an affinity rted to the wind-element at rank 2 and Alexei with a rare blood-attribute affinity at rank 3.


    Even before the battle started Kain was extremely worried the average level of the second-years'' contracts was higher than the first-years''.


    However, even if that wasn''t the case and the level of their contracts was simr or the first-years'' contracts were slightly higher, Kain would still not be optimistic about their chances. He had witnessed the second-years'' tacit understanding during the beast-tide when they worked together to kill the mental-attribute green-grade spider.


    With their excellent teamwork they achieved an effect where theirbined strength was far greater than just the sum of each of them.


    ''We just have to try our best. After all, this will be the first really intensive training for the National Compeition that we''d have undergone as an officially determined team. Nobody will be expecting us to win, let''s just try our best to not get thrashed too badly¡­''

 Chapter 215 Training for the National Competition (2)

    Kain''s expectations about the practice battle werepletely fulfilled.


    He wouldn''t call it a thrashing due to his pride¡­but theirck in cooperationpared to their opponents was readily avable.


    Seamless movebos gave Kain the illusion that they were facing more than just five opponents.


    In fact, the talent of Kain''s year was so overflowing that some of the professors secretly referred to them as a "golden generation" that may allow the college to reim the first ranked seat in a couple of years.


    One-on-one Kain, Serena, and even Soren would likely be able to be evenly matched or even able to beat many of the second years, and possibly even weaker members of the top 5 if it were a favorable match up.


    In raw strength, Serena was already simr to the top second-years since both of her revealed contracts were now at yellow-grade, and whenbined with her limitless spiritual power she was an overwhelming opponent to face in battle.


    Kain''s battle methods were extremely difficult to guard against in battle, and with the exception of the defensively focused Kyria, and Cressida who specialized in the mental-attribute, none of the others really had any defensive methods against Bea.


    And with the powerful offensive and defensive abilities of the orange-grade Vespirae and yellow-grade Aegis, Kain wasn''t afraid of those resistant to Bea anyways.


    Finally Soren, despite never having beaten Kain or Serena, wasn''t some weakling either. He was someone with a powerful and rare dragon-rted affinity. Any one of his dragon contracts could probably fight many average spiritual creatures at the same level.


    However, all of their individual strengths ended up greatly reduced in the face of their enemies'' careful nning and coboration to make up for each other''s weaknesses.


    Despite having limitless spiritual power, most of the attacks from the only two contracts Serena has exposed were unable to pass the defensive measures set up by Kyria.


    Normally, her limitless spiritual power would have allowed her to bide her time until her enemy''s spiritual power was exhausted.


    However, Alexei''s gift can send any chosen targets into a berserk-like state of increased power but reduced intelligence and consciousness, meaning that they may even attack allies indiscriminately. Unfortunately, this con waspletely negated due to Cressida.


    Kain noticed that all of their opponents'' contracts had a strange brand on different locations of their bodies, but was unable to deduce their purpose until they were activated. The brand was apparently applied by one of Cressida''s contracts and allowed the contract to control the bodies once they lost their intelligence due to their berserk-like state.


    Although the effect is simr to what Bea can achieve, it is far inferior in flexibility since the brand takes time to apply and the target can''t resist during the application. Therefore, it''s a seemingly useless skill that would really only be able to be applied to already unconscious foes or allies rather than enemies.


    However, the cons of this skill and Alexei''s gift perfectly counteracted one another.


    On top of all that, the brands seemed to have a simr effect to Eve''s effects on the Vespirae and made all of the controlled targets extremely resistant to Bea''s effects. Most of the opposing contracts were yellow-grade, so Bea already had to exert more effort to try and control them one level lower, now with the increased resistance full control was almost impossible.


    With much of their two strongest students'' offensive means neutralized, the first-years fell into an immediate disadvantage. Especially since all of their opponents'' spiritual creatures had their strength boosted due to Alexei, while the role of their brain was taken over by Cressida.


    However, the first-years were still able to put up a fight. Even in a berserk state, the first-years only fell behind the second-years slightly in strength, mostly due to the strength of their top 3 students.


    Therefore, the match for a period fell into a boring stalemate for a period with neither side being able to cause significant damage to their opponents.


    At one point, Kain even tried to y dirty and control the second-year students directly, but unfortunately during the expedition to the relic Alexei and Jin must have gleaned some information since they were wearing equipment that greatly increased their mental strength and Kyria also seemed to be on guard¡ª particrly against Kain.


    A turnaround almost urred at one point. Kain used the skill tome he''d exchanged for to greatly enhance Bea''s abilities and allow her to wrestle for control of the spiritual creatures with Cressida, causing a dy in the enemies'' collective movements.


    During that brief period, most of the enemy lineup could have been eliminated if Cressida hadn''t unfortunately activated her gift. Sending the myriad of attacks sent towards the helpless spiritual creatures, instead flying towards Cressida who was safely behind the severalyers of shields set up by her allies.


    She did suffer some damage due to the high strength of the bombardment, but unfortunately one of Kyria''s contracts also happened to have some healing ability.


    Only the attacks of Serena''s star-attribute contract and Kain''s Vespirae guards still struck the spiritual creatures controlled by Bea, since they had the most resistance to mental-attribute attacks. Resulting in 3 among the enemy lineup, the contracts of Alexei, Jin and Rhiannon, being eliminated due to the severity of their injuries.


    Afterwards, all of the enemy was more on guard and despite Bea managing to slightly mess with their coordination, another opportunity so great never presented itself again.


    Instead, because all of the minds of the contracts were being manipted by either Cressida via her contract or, for brief moments, Bea, the illusion abilities of Ranya weren''t able to exert any effect. Meaning that they were essentially fighting 4 against 5.


    Kairos'' cursed book had almost as diverse a range of support and defensive abilities as Kyria''s contracts, but all at a much lower level.


    Honestly, despite not being able to exert his full strength in this battle, he seemed to be greatly inspired by Kyria and even after the battle would continue to stare at her with sparkling eyes of admiration¡ªshe was the direction he should be heading towards when refining his futurebat style!


    Although Kain was gratified that Kairos will likely usher in an explosive increase in strength in the near future, it also meant that he''d also be a greater opponent in the future as well.


    Soren''s contracts had some of the greatest frontalbat abilities of their side and were still able to suppress 1 to 2 of the berserk enemies alone. Simrly, Serena and Kain''s contracts were also fighting 1 against 2 or even 3 in some cases.


    The real turning point came when Jin and Rhiannon likely activated their respective gifts, because suddenly the strengths of the opposing wind and fire-attribute skills of the spiritual creatures on the opposite side strengthened.


    Aside from Serena, Kain and the others were already bing exhausted and were unable to prevent being knocked out of the arena by a fierce and extremely hot gust of wind.


    Serena managed to stay standing in the arena, but likely not seeing a means of turning the battle around, at least not without revealing another contract, and also since this was just a training exercise, she chose to forfeit.

 Chapter 216 Upgrading Equipment

    Aside from the intense training, Kain also had another crucial aspect he needed to pay attention to in terms of strength improvement, and after several weeks of waiting, the Kain finally presented itself to him in the System''s store.


    After bing a 3-star beast-tamer, although extraordinary equipment for their level, both the armor and spear were no longer as useful to improving Kain''s strength.


    Before the second re-ranking, Kain had already upgraded his armor and spear for ones at the 3-star level by exchanging his school credits. However, despite the high quality of the equipment provided by the school, they couldn''t at allpare to the custom spear provided by the System that Kain got ustomed to.


    Even his armor, while not provided by the System, had been shaped using Bea''s spiritual power and was in a way a piece of custom equipment.


    However, until now no opportunities to exchange either a custom armor or weapon were avable for exchange from the System shop. That was until now, a mere 3 and a half weeks before the National Competition. Where Kain saw vouchers for both a custom weapon and armour avable in the shop after thetest refresh.


    The moment Kain saw the two vouchers avable for exchange, tears couldn''t help but well up in his eyes.


    ''A thank you System¡­maybe you really do care for me¡­'' He thought as a deeply moved expression fell across his face.


    *The items avable to the host through Shop arepletely random and not subject to the System''s intervention*


    ''Tsk¡­you could just ept the thanks without ruining the moment¡­''


    The voucher for a custom 2-star weapon that Kain had previously exchanged for was 500 GP, now the amount of needed GP had more than doubled to 2500 GP.


    Thankfully, much of the wilderness outside of the college had been restored in the months following the beast-tide and the control of the relic, allowing Kain to more frequently go hunting and obtain GP.


    Additionally, Kain had also managed to receive GP after ranking second at thest re-ranking of the year, confirming his ce on the team, and afterpleting a certain number evolutionary nner requests¡ªwhich was a pleasant surprise to Kain.


    Therefore, he had the required 5000 GP for both vouchers. However, he was still far from the amount required for the next System upgrade which required an overwhelming number of 100,000 GP. Unfortunately continuing the System''s pattern of needing 10x more GP at each level.


    Kain decided to start with the armour since he hadn''t had an opportunity to create a custom armour previously and was therefore more curious about the process of creating a custom armor.


    It ismon for beast-tamers to receive feedback from their contracts to enhance certain aspects of themselves.


    Kain wasn''t sure if it was because Bea was his first contract, or if it had more to do with the strength of the emotional connection between them, but Bea was by far responsible for majority of the feedback Kain received from his star space.


    After Bea''s breakthrough, Kain resistance to mental-attribute attacks was no worse than when he had the mental attribute armour and his mental strength was also greater than those at the same level as him¡ªwhich has greatly helped him keep up with his school work along with everything else he had to take care of.


    Therefore, Kain didn''t n to have his next two pieces of equipment so focused on the mental attribute.


    Kain hasn''t really noticed much improvements to other aspects that maye from his other contracts such as an increase in the strength of his life energy or defense¡ªbut to test either of those out he''d probably have to get injured, possibly even repeatedly, and he had no ns to do so.


    There were two main aspects that he felt he couple improve upon prior to thepetition.


    Since the beast-tamer must also enter the arena and if he''s too weak he may be eliminated due to injury to himself, even if his contracts overpower the enemy, he thought about focusing purely on improving his defensive abilities.


    Aegis also acts as a defence for Kain but it is limiting for him to remain next to Kain the entire time of thepetition and not attack at all.


    Additionally, Kain can''t eliminate the possibility of attacks that can ignore earth-attribute defenses to attack Kain directly.


    The other aspect that Kain felt as though he could strengthen has been made readily apparent to him during his battles with Serena and against the second-years¡ªhis amount of spiritual power and the ease with which he could manipte it.


    In raw power, Kain is not particrly threatened by Serena or the third-years especially not after receiving Aegis and Bea bing more proficient in her skills. Even Eve has gradually be more proficient at manipting life-attribute energy after improving the growth of the nts rted to Kain''s business and can now exert a weak healing effect from afar even without the royal jelly.


    However, Kain''s greatest disadvantage against Serena is her inexhaustible spiritual power. Even against the second-years, after the time when Kain provided a boost to Bea with the skill tome passed, he practically had none left.


    Although once mastered Kain''s skill should allow him to improve his contracts abilities and restore their spiritual power by 50% if he uses 100% of his own spiritual power¡ªan exchange ratio of 2 (used by Kain) to 1 (actually transmitted). It leaves himpletely powerless afterwards.


    Additionally, Kain has not yet mastered the technique and only has an exchange ratio that fluctuates between 4 and 3 to 1. Meaning that he typically only can improve his contract''s abilities by 25-33%.


    It is rare to find any spirit skills that provide an all-round increase in abilities and restore spiritual power at the cost of the beast-tamer''s spiritual power at such a high exchange ratio¡ªotherwise with Serena''s gift she''d bepletely overpowering with such a skill.


    Without such a skill, if a beast-tamer just tried to forcefully inject their spiritual power through the contract, it''d be lucky if 10-15% of it reached the contract and there also wouldn''t be an all-round boost to their abilities.


    Therefore, Kain knew that if he could improve the ease with which he could use this skill and/or had a method to instantly replenish his spiritual power to use it on more than one contract, it would be like adding wings to a tiger. He may even be able to take the rank 1 cement at the next re-ranking.


    And fortunately, although rare, there just so happened to be sigils with such effects within the System''s customization window.

 Chapter 217 Upgrading Equipment (2)

    With that n in mind, Kain decided to select the star-attribute as the basis of his armour. It is an attribute that is resistant against most other attributes, and will therefore provide great defense even without any defensive sigils being used. Additionally, it''s a flexible attribute that won''t reject being engraved by sigils of other attributes if Kain wishes to do so.


    Additionally, while Kain had heard briefly about other cultivation techniques used by other nations in lectures and casual conversations with others, the cultivation technique used by those in the Celestial Empire happens to be one that uses star-attribute energy.


    Therefore, sigils geared towards boosting spiritual power, restoring spiritual power, or increasing the proficiency of his usage of spiritual power would likely be more effective using a material of the star-attribute.


    Additionally, Kain chose to create a light armor so as to maintain flexibility and also to allow him to wear itfortably at all times.


    Kain then went to the next window that allowed him to select his sigils. There were 3 sigils that Kain could select for free due to it being a 3-star enchanted armor, or he could purchase the right to choose a fourth sigil for 500 GP.


    Despite feeling the pinch, Kain knew that it was important to invest into his own strength so that he could more easilyplete missions and perform well at the uingpetition.


    Kain scrolled through the different sigil options and finally settled on the first 3 which were all rted to spiritual power.


    The first one had the effect of doubling the rate at which his spiritual power is restored passively and tripling the restoration rate if he is actively trying to restore his spiritual power. Meaning that even in battle, Kain would be able to restore much of his spiritual power if it drags on long enough.


    It typically takes Kain an hour to passively restore his spiritual power fully. This sigil will allow him to be fully restored in only half that time. Or he could have half of his spiritual power restored passively in only 15 minutes. Considering that many evenly matched battles can drag on for over half an hour, Kain was pleased with this timeframe.


    The second one acts as a kind of backup battery that Kain can immediately use to restore his own spiritual power once he haspletely run out. Therefore, with the sigil, Kain''s spiritual power has essentially doubled.


    The third one, Kain was contemting about for the longest period among the three since there were other sigils that had simr but slightly different effects, but eventually decided to select it. The effect of the third sigil was that it would increase the ease with which Kain could manipte the spiritual power as it leaves his body.


    Therefore, it would have no effect on the ease with which Kain could manipte the spiritual power within his own body for certain skills, such as boosting his senses like he learned at the beginning of the school year.


    However, Kain''s most important spiritual skill required him to efficiently transmit spiritual power from himself to his contract via their bond and so he chose this sigil after contemting.


    For the fourth sigil, Kain was going back and forth between the various sigils that provide greater defense against physical attacks or attacks of specific attributes, however since Kain also had the option the voucher for a custom weapon, he decided to select a sigil that would allow for resonance between his weapon and armour to provide a boost to all of the effects of both.


    Kain wasn''t extremely familiar with the effects of such sigils, but he did know that Soren''s armor and sword seemed to be a pairing with this effect.


    After clicking the button to generate the armour, it appeared in all of its glory before him only a few moments.


    Kain''s new armour was blend of elegance and practicality.


    The inneryer was a lightweight fabric that shimmered faintly with a spectrum colours that changed with his movements¡ªdeep blues, silvers, and soft whites that reminded him of the night sky.


    Additionally, thefortability of the armor was an improvement over anything he had previously. The material felt almost like silk against the skin, allowing for exceptional flexibility andfort, while providing him with protection.


    The armor was tailored to fit snugly, entuating Kain''s form without restricting his movements.


    The chest piece was reinforced with ovepping tes that resembled clusters of stars and was engraved with intricate sigils that pulsed softly with a bluish light when Kain put the armor on his body. Particrly, the first sigil glowed the brightest, signifying that its passive effects were being triggered.


    Happy with the first product, Kain immediately triggered the voucher for a custom 3-star weapon.


    By this point, Kain was already the most familiar with using a spear and appreciated the reach that it provided. Especially since most of his opponents would be spiritual creatures more physically powerful than him.


    He contemted adding some offensive sigils as well, but since Kain rarely fought with opponents himself, he decided to instead make a matching a spear for the armor that would further improve Kain''s spiritual power and selected the star-attribute material for the base with the same 4 sigils.


    Meaning that separately both the armor and the spear doubled Kain''s ability to passively restore his spiritual power and could provide one instance of a full instantaneous refill¡ªthe increase in his efficiency in using the spiritual skill though would need to be tested to see the effect.


    However, when equipped together with the resonance effect between them, in total Kain''s passive restoration of his spiritual power was now 5 times faster, meaning Kain could have his spiritual powerpletely restored in under 12 minutes.


    Additionally, the capacity of each sigil used to store the spiritual power that would instantly refill Kain has slightly increased, meaning that it is now more simr to 2 and a half instant refills.


    Although Kain still doesn''t have Serena''s seemingly endless spiritual power, as long as the battle did not extend for more too long, he should be able to exert a simr effect momentarily.

 Chapter 218 Relic Training

    In addition to boosting his strength via the System, since the team representing the college has been conclusively determined, the school has finally begun to invest in Kain and the other first-years in earnest.


    This investment came in the form of a practically limitless supply of resources for feeding their contracts daily, opportunities to exchange for materials not avable in the regr exchange area at an extreme discount, and ess to the best evolutionary nners and trainers the college had to offer.


    However, Kain didn''t take them up on their offers of a personal trainer since Kain already had the System''s Training Arena to improve thebat experience and skill proficiency of his contracts.


    However, the most prominent opportunity would definitely be the chance to enter one of the college''s relics.


    In fact, it is the exact same relic that they had entered for the entrance exam, but this time with all of its featurespletely unlocked.


    During the entrance exam, they had created the same environment and enemies for all entrants to ensure an equal level of difficulty across all students.


    However, the role of the relic is actually to function as a highly advanced training center for beast-tamers.


    Therefore, normally the relic would have the environment and opponents tailored to target the weaknesses of each student to effectively train them.


    Additionally, thepletion of each level will result in the relic granting an award beneficial to the trial taker, with the rarity of the rewards increasing with each level.


    Kain had heard about rare evolutionary materials, eggs, enchanted equipment and spiritual nts all being granted to past entrants.


    However, obviously, the resources consumed to activate the full abilities of the relic are quite substantial, and also the amount of rewards it can provide is not infinite. Although nobody knows the exact limit to the resources it possesses and if certain rewards are able to be regenerated by the relic (such as regrowing spiritual nts handed out), there definitely is a limit.


    Therefore, only the top 5 students of each year plus any students that have made outstanding contributions towards the school have been granted ess to the full trials of the relic.


    Kain and the others stood at the familiar clearing that they''d entered for the second time since what felt like ages ago.


    Simr to thest time they also lined up to enter one by one, although this time the line was much shorter.


    It was decided that they''d first take the trials given by the relic separately to receive target training and rewards targeted for their own individual weaknesses, before re-entering as a team to work on their teamwork.


    Unfortunately, once you enter as a team the rewards are no longer so targeted and are more general rewards that would benefit any entrant, such as spiritual nts and elixirs that provide a temporary cultivation boost.


    All of the students, Kain included, were full of anticipation. While Kain''s Training Arena allows him to simrly set an environment an enemy to face, if it''s a spiritual creature he has not seen in person it won''t be avable.


    Additionally, the Training Arena doesn''t automatically generate an environment and enemy that targets Kain''s weaknesses, he would have to make the selections for himself.


    But if he isn''t aware of his own weaknesses then how could he possibly select environment and enemies targeted at them?


    Therefore, Kain was forward to what his first trial would be.


    Kain stepped into the relic, and was immediately struck by the steep drop in temperaturepared to the summery weather outside of the relic.


    However, the "coldness" didn''t seem to purely being from the weather inside of the relic, it was more of a chill targeting Kain''s soul. The atmosphere inside the relic carried an unsettling stillness that sent shivers down his spine.


    He found himself in a deste graveyard, where gnarled trees loomed over crumbling tombstones, their twisted branches reaching out like skeletal fingers. A pale moon hung low in the sky, casting an eerie glow that illuminated the fog creeping along the ground.


    From what Kain could see of the ground it was uneven, with patches of overgrown weeds tangled among the stones, serving as an additional obstacle to his movements and a tripping hazard.


    ''Thankfully, the relic at least generated an artificial moon, otherwise it''d bepletely impossible to see anything without having to carry around a shlight.''


    As he moved deeper into the graveyard, the temperature seemed to drop further.


    The ground beneath his feet was damp and cold, and the distant sound of mournful wails filled the air, increasing the tension he felt.


    Shadows kept moving just along the edges of his vision, and he could almost feel the weight of eyes hidden in the darkness and fog watching him.


    Suddenly, a figure emerged from the mist, floating silently above the ground. It was a wraith-like spirit, its form shimmering like smoke. The ghost wore tattered remnants of what might have once been elegant robes, but were now faded and torn.


    Its features were indistinct, but Kain could see glowing blue eyes that were filled with sorrow and rage.


    As more spirits materialized around him, Kain realized they resembled lost souls¡ªa type of spiritual creature that forms when an individual dies with resentment so strong it causes part of their spirit to linger. If spiritual power is able to be absorbed by the resulting energy and consciousness formed, then an independent spiritual creature will be born.


    The circumstances for such a creature to be born are extremely rare, therefore this is the first time that Kain had ever even seen one, much less the dozens or even hundreds more that may be hidden in the fog.


    Some floated with arms outstretched, their fingers elongated and w-like, while others hovered in the air calmly, their mouths stretched into ghastly screams.


    Each spirit had a unique appearance: young and old, male and female, noble and penniless.


    Kain''s heart pounded as the spirits began to circle him, their whispers echoing in his mind. Each one seemed to carry the weight of untold stories, regrets, and vengeance. He could feel the oppressive atmosphere pressing down on him, and he knew he had to focus.


    It would be way too shameful to be eliminated in only the very first round of the trial.

 Chapter 219 First Trial

    As Kain started to face the lost souls, he began to realize why they were selected as his first trial.


    Kain had thankfully not had to face many spirit-type spiritual creatures prior to Bea''s evolution.


    Prior to evolution Bea destroyed her enemies by targeting their brain¡ªbut what if they had no brain? She could still exert an effect by targeting whatever brain-like entity was responsible for controlling the body of the spiritual creature. However, she wasn''t nearly as effective against them.


    However, this became less of an issue after she evolved and instead focused more on manipting and consuming mental energy made up of memories, emotions, and their sense of self. Now she kills by destroying mindshards¡ªthat is destroying the consciousness directly¡ªrather than targeting a physical brain.


    But lost souls, perhaps due to their identity as creatures made up from remnants of an extremely strong emotional attachment, grudge, or memory, were difficult for Bea to "erase" their sense of self.


    Thankfully, the majority of their attacks seemed to target the mind. Therefore, since all of his contracts are pretty resistant against attacks on the mind¡ªespecially Eve, Bea, and even Kain himself¡ªand they weren''t harmed. They also weren''t very effective at harming any of the surrounding souls.


    Around 10 minutes had passed since Kain had entered the relic, but only 2 lost souls had been killed by Bea. Averaging at a kill every 5 minutes.


    Despite her ability to produce multiple splits that managed to infect the majority of the souls present already, to actually kill any of them and not just impede their movements, Bea had to concentrate much of her energy on one at a time due to their high resistance against her attacks¡ªmeaning that their progress was extremely slow.


    Kain used his spiritual skill now to boost Bea''s abilities, but did not use one of his instant refills, instead choosing to wait for his spiritual power to restore passively, since he didn''t want to waste one of his few refills on the first trial.


    But even after Bea received the boost, the kill rate only increased to about a kill every 2 to 3 minutes¡ªa massive improvement, but still way too slow for Kain.


    ''Sigh¡­I don''t think boosting Bea is the solution. This relic is supposed to be a trial to help me improve my weaknesses, just brute forcing my way through using a spiritual skill isn''t the way.''


    Kain began to look at his Vespirae. Since they mostly use physical attacks, they hadn''t been able to y much of a role against the immaterial souls.


    However, since the souls were also of the undead attribute, perhaps Eve may be able to y arger role?


    But despite getting better at manipting earth attribute energy, no attack skill had actually been developed using that attribute.


    The only life-attribute skill Kain had at his disposal was the SS-skill Essence of Life that creates the life attribute royal jelly.


    Find adventures at m_v l|e-NovelBin


    Not to mention, until she evolves, Queen herself doesn''t actually possess the life attribute and is unable to freely wield the attribute outside of one skill she has.


    ''Maybe a fusion skill?'' Kain had learned about fusion skills andbinations of skills early on as a student and had been brainstorming different moves that could be developed by his spiritual creatures working together.


    One of the fusions that Kain had tested out was having Eve imbue her life-attribute energy into Queen''s skill Noble Breeze to see if the wind generated by Queen could be used to more efficiently carry the life attribute energy around the field to the various nts¡ªit was effective and also slightly enhanced the beneficial properties of Queen''s skill.


    However, Kain had positioned thebination as more of a support skill which he called Life Breeze


    But perhaps against the undead it could have an offensive effect?


    With nothing to lose Kain decided to give it a try. He instructed Bea to no longer waste energy trying to kill them but instead to just try and keep the enemies in ce. He also gave instructions to produce the fusion skill Life Breeze to Eve and Queen.


    As the energy flowed, a gentle green glow extended from Queen''s abdomen, radiating outward until it enveloped her whole body.


    The gentle light emanating from her contrasted greatly with the eerie darkness of the graveyard.


    Kain watched as, at the same time the green light was being controlled by Eve, wind-attribute energy began to concentrate and swirl around Queen.


    When both energies were concentrated around her, Queen pushed the energy outward. Instead of a brilliant st of light, the green light previously covering her dimmed and a soft, green-tinged breeze extended from her, weaving through the air like a whisper.


    The breeze flowed toward the now motionless lost souls, wrapping around them gently in an almost loving caress.


    As it made contact, the spirits seemed to recoil, their features twisting in confusion and pain. The gentle breeze acted like a corrosive acid, quickly dissolving their ethereal forms. Wisps of smoke erupted from where the breeze touched and the lost souls evaporated into nothingness as if their very essence was being consumed.


    Kain felt a surge of happiness; the fusion skill had worked beyond his expectations. He also got a better understanding of the goal of these trials. Instead of trying to forcefully boost his strength through artificial means like a spiritual skill or equipment, the first few trials should be able to be ovee at his normal level of strength with more creative thinking.


    In moments, the eerie graveyard fell silent as thest few of the spirits dissolved into the night air, leaving only the soft glow of Life Breeze surrounding Queen.


    Kain stood at the center of the graveyard, heart pounding with excitement. Not only had he developed a new application for a skill he''d previously only used for gardening, but he also had a prize to look forward to.


    Rubbing his hands together greedily, he couldn''t resistughing happily as he was transferred out of the graveyard and in front of 3 objects.

 Chapter 220 First Reward

    Unfortunately, Kain wouldn''t be able to take away all 3 objects. He''d already heard upon entering that every once in a while entrants will also be given a choice among multiple rewards instead of just given one chosen for them by the relic.


    Kain was quite lucky that he was being given this opportunity after his very first trial.


    There were 3 objects avable for selection on ornate golden pedestals, all of which he assumed were evolutionary materials suitable for his respective contracts.


    The one on the left was a bright green crystal that emitted life-attribute energy¡ªfor Eve and Queen''s evolution most likely.


    The middle object in the center looked like the eye of some kind of spiritual creature, however the colours were inverted. Majority of the eye, which would typically be white, was now ck. And at the center was a white pupil surrounded by a golden iris. Since Bea could sense the mental-attribute spiritual power emitting from it, Kain assumed that it was a material prepared for her.


    Finally, was a ck obsidian-like ore that gave off a heavy atmosphere, almost as though it had its own immense gravitational pull¡ªfor Aegis, Kain assumed.


    All 3 objects were never seen before by Kain, but based off of the energy they emitted, he was able to conclude that they were evolutionary materials of a quality much higher than any of the ones he''d ever seen before.


    Unsure about which would be best to select, Kain was about to enter the Laboratory and run simtions using the 3 materials in front of him, to see what forms maye out. However, with a soft rumble, and three pedestals began to gradually lower into the floor.


    ''Are you freaking kidding me?!'' It seems as though the selectiones with a time limit.


    Unable to take his time to run simtion, Kain ran over to grab the life-attribute stone before he was left without an reward.


    He was already leaning towards the stone since the evolution of Eve and the Vespirae is more urgent than the other two.


    Bea, after evolving into the Apex Mindshard Amoeba of tinum quality, will not face a bottleneck until green-grade.


    Simrly, Aegis was also. tinum quality and won''t face a bottleneck for a while.


    However, Queen and Eve are both still silver grade, and without evolving won''t be able to surpass their current grade to reach yellow-grade spiritual power.


    Kain had also been contemting what spiritual materials would be most suitable for them, but aside from the seed given to him by his high school teacher Mr. Evergreen, had not found any other suitable materials. Life-attribute materials are even rarer than mental-attribute ones, not to mention not all materials of that attribute would be suitable as the evolutionary base. Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Since the next evolutionary form will also impact any potential future forms, he couldn''t just carelessly make the decision from the few materials he was able to spot at the college''s exchange center.


    He does have the seed given to him as a gift, but he was reluctant to use it for the evolution since, from the aura it gave off, Kain believed that its value if he could get it to grow would far exceed being just a consumable evolutionary material.


    Thankfully, since this relic seems to believe that this crystal would be suitable, Kain chose to trust its judgement without running any simtions with the System.


    The moment Kain made his selection by lifting the green crystal, the scenery around him began to fade as he was transported to the location of another trial.


    The second trial took ce in a dense, enchanted forest. The trees were tall and their gnarled branches intertwined overhead to create a natural canopy that filtered out most of lighting from above.


    The forest floor was filled with ferns, shrubs, and moss, making movement challenging on the ground. Thankfully, only Kain''s movements were impeded. The Vespirae could all fly, Bea did not need to move and instead sent threads carrying her splits to the targets, and Aegis was so massive that the dense underbrush was no different from a well-manicuredwn to him.


    Kain nced around uneasily as he tried to spot their next enemy.


    "Argh!" Kain had a deep gash suddenly appear on his leg as something attacked him and then quickly moved away. Somehow despite Aegis guarding him closely, it had managed to get through.


    The Vespirae guards were sent out to try and identify the enemy while remaining in Kain''s line of sight, and Bea also sent out a dense mass of threads tob the area and attach to anything living nearby. However, there was no luck and after several minutes their enemy was still not identified.


    Unfortunately, their enemy appeared to be quite smart and wasn''t lured to attack any of the Vespirae and instead attacked Kain again.


    On the bright side, Kain was on better guard this time and deflected the attack with his new spear and was even able to finally get a glimpse of their enemy.


    It was a small and agile bird-like spiritual creature resembling a sparrow in shape. Its feathers were mostly a deep, muted gray with subtle gradients that shift to lighter shades, creating a shadowy effect. The edges of the wings and tail feathers have shimmering effect that caught the light and gave it a mesmerizing quality.


    However, its most mesmerizing quality were the cold and calcting eyes that Kain made direct eye contact with before it disappeared. They wererge and luminous, with a reflective quality that caused them to glow faintly. The eye color shifted slightly based on what Kain assumed to be due to the usage of a skill. Right before it disappeared it shifted from deep blue to a shimmering silver.


    The good news was that Kain recognized this spiritual creature from his lectures and knew its name and qualities¡ªthe Fadecrest Sparrow, a space-attribute spiritual creature that has practically gone extinct and hasn''t been seen in the wild in decades.


    The bad news was that it was in the lecture of the most difficult spiritual creatures to deal with among yellow-grade creatures.

 Chapter 221 Second Trial

    The Fadecrest Sparrow was notorious for the practically impossible feat ofnding a hit on it without also having a contract of the space attribute.


    Rather, even for individuals with the space attribute, there was no guarantee that they''d be able tond a strong blow on it.


    Experience tales at m v|l e''-NovelBin


    It has the annoying tendency to phase in and out of reality whenever an attack approaches it. Therefore all attacks, no matter the attribute, won''t be able tond on it. Only an attack strong enough to destroy the area of space it had taken refuge in would be capable of harming it. However, space-attribute creatures strong enough to do so were typically only those in the higher levels.


    Not to mention its ability to phase in and out of space makes most defensive measures against it useless. How can Aegis block it from attacking Kain when it can just phase through him at any point?


    And when ites to actually attacking it, how can Bea have a split infiltrate a creature that isn''t in the same space as it? How can the Vespiraend a hit on something that isn''t materially there?


    Although its offensive abilities are not the strongest among space-attribute yellow-grade creatures, its means of avoiding harm are definitely within the top 3.


    ''God, this will be a headache¡­'' Kain thought disgruntledly as the identity of his opponent in the second trial revealed itself.


    He also felt pretty wronged. Yes, technically this opponent targeted his weaknesses, but it wasn''t like it was due to a gap in his current usage of his contracts'' abilities like in the first trial. This opponent was almost impossible to kill for pretty much anyone without a space-attribute contract.


    On the bright side, in the wild a Fadecrest Sparrow would simply use its formidable abilities to run away, and it would be practically impossible to prevent it from doing so.


    Another fortunate thing was that it looked like this trial only had one of them.


    However, this sparrow generated by the relic seemed to be incapable of doing that and would keeping back to attack Kain.


    Not having to worry about having to confine it to prevent its escape was a relief, but Kain was still without any ideas on how to actually cause damage to it.


    The brief moment when it phases back into the same space as Kain and the others to attack rarely urred, and based on how quickly it phased out when Kain blocked itsst attack, he could tell that if they tried to counterattack it when it appeared, it would likely be able to disappear before any of their attacks actually hit it.


    It would be able to sense of any of the attacks from his contracts, and even the most covert Bea could be detected if on guard since the threads, while hard to notice, were not invisible.


    After a long time, this was the first time that Kain was missing his mist tactic.


    Unfortunately, although Bea can produce over a hundred splits still, it wasn''t enough to cover a whole area in mist and have each tiny droplet able to possess a split.


    In exchange for greater mobility and the ability to infiltrate the body with a touch, Bea had to sacrifice the number of splits she could produce (since her previous skill rapid proliferation urred in water) and she also lost her affinity for water.


    Therefore, if Kain were to try and use the mist tactic again, he''d have to concentrate all of the splits in the area just around his body due to their lower number, but then it may not even attack him since it''d probably sense something wrong with the mist since Bea could no longer seamlessly integrate into water.


    However, considering that Kain rarely felt the effects of this decrease from thousands of splits to over a hundred inbat since he rarely faced more than a few enemies at once¡ªhe considered the trade-off more than fair.


    ''The mist tactic would be the most suitable method right now though¡­however after losing her water-affinity, Bea could be more easily detected in the mist. However, how exactly is she detected? Is it her mental-attribute energy being released? The presence of spiritual power in general? Abination of all three?''


    Despite his contracts currently or previously having skills that mention something along the lines of ''prevent detection by spiritual creatures up to one grade higher,'' Kain always just took the skill description for granted and never dug into it too deeply.


    However, he could better figure out how spiritual creatures detect one another, maybe he could develop tactics to better conceal Bea in the future even with the lost water-attribute.


    ''Bea, forget the threads and cover all of our bodies in the splits. Once it makes contact with any of us, the split should be able to infiltrate. However, try to restrain any of the mental-attribute energy and spiritual power you may be unconsciously releasing. Maybe we can lure it into attacking.''


    However, even after close to an hour passed, it still wasn''tunching any attacks on Kain and the others.


    Kain could sense Bea''s splits due to his contract with her. However, none of his opponents in the re-rankings seemed to be able to detect Bea when there were no threads to see.


    Kain understood that the sparrow was likely much more sensitive than the average spiritual creature, but was Bea really that noticeable?


    ''It has the space attribute, is it really sensitive enough to space to able to detect Bea?''


    Kain decided to cover all of his bases. First, he had Bea remove all of the splits from the surface of Kain and the others.


    He then took out his trusty 2-star spear that he hadn''t used in a while to generate a mist that covered the whole clearing.


    It was hard to get a 2-star spear with 3 sigils even with a lot of money. And after the business took off and he became quite famous as a nner, Kain wasn''t exactly in need of money. Therefore, he was nning to save some of his best equipment to be used by his younger siblings if it suits them and they awaken an affinity in the future.


    Kain released the mist because the fine water droplets everywhere in the clearing will make it more difficult to detect Bea on the off chance that the sparrow, which was sensitive to space, was actually able to detect the microscopic space that Bea and her splits took up.


    Additionally, to conceal the little bit of lifeforce that Bea may be leaking out, Kain had Eve and Queen release theirbination skill Life Breeze so that life-attribute energy emanated from everywhere in the mist.


    Finally, since Bea''s splits hidden in the mist couldn''t fill every single droplet like previously, Kain had Bea ce her splits just in the mist closest to Kain and the others.


    Thankfully, after Bea evolved, the sparrow only has to make brief contact with just one water droplet containing a split in order to be infiltrated and the split doesn''t need to be inhaled or ingested in some way.


    Fortunately, all these strategiesbined seemed to be able to fully conceal Bea''s presence and the sparrow reappeared.


    Unfortunately, when it did reappear, its sharp talons were only a hairsbreadth away from Kain''s neck.

 Chapter 222 The Gambling Addict

    Read new adventures at m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    Kain tried to quickly dodge but couldn''t prevent the talon from making a bone-deepsh along his corbone.


    Thankfully, he was able to prevent any major artery from being severed, otherwise even with the healing abilities of Eve and the Essence of Life, there''s no guarantee he wouldn''t lose so much blood that the relic would just eject him.


    Another fortunate piece of news that Kain received was that one of Bea''s splits had managed to make contact during the brief moment it had reappeared and was now wrestling for control of its body.


    He activated the spiritual skill to boost Bea once again to more quickly bring an end to the battle, but considering that now Kain had a way to monitor its movements and was no longer so threatened by it he once again chose not to instantly refill his spiritual power and simply rested against Aegis leisurely while eating some royal jelly to quickly heal his wounds.


    After receiving a boost to he abilities, and because she only had to concentrate on subduing on yellow-grade spiritual creature, within a minute Bea was able to control it enough to leave its pocket of space and reveal itself to the attacks of Kain and the others.


    Once its death was confirmed, Kain was once again transported to the bare room to receive his reward.


    This time Kain did not get any choice and there was only one pedestal supporting what appeared to be a silver ore that was difficult to focus on due to the space-attribute energy emitting from it in high volumes.


    ''Not bad¡­ not having any way to directly target a creature hidden in a pocket of space still is a disadvantage I possess. If the sparrow wasn''t probably programmed to attack me if certain conditions were met, and instead hid indefinitely there would really be nothing I could do.''


    Kain put away the ore in his space ring. He''d decide what to do with itter on.


    Soon after a momentary weightless sensation, he was brought to the site of the next trial.


    --------------------


    Outside of the relic, the professors were able to monitor the progress of each entrant.


    It''d now been over 2 hours since all of the students had entered the relic and, although they couldn''t see what was urring inside, they could see how many trials each student hadpleted.


    "Ezra haspleted the most, as expected. In only 2 hours he''s already reached his 13th trial." A professor with dark hair and sses said in admiration.


    A blonde professor nodded in agreement. "I bet that he''d pass 22 trials this time, surpassing his previous record. You?"


    "I bet that he''d stop at 21 again." After mentioning the ongoing bet between the professors he also looked at the other entrants.


    All of the fourth years had passed at least their 9th trial, as had two of the third-years with the other 3 still on their 8th trial.


    "Surprisingly, among the second-years, the fourth-ranked Kyria is the furthest along at trial 8. Is she concealing her strength during the re-rankings? Or is the boost in strength something more recent?"


    "Hmm¡­personally I''ve always felt like she was hiding something so I''d bet on the former. That''s actually a great idea! Should we start another bet?" Said the blonde one excitedly. However, his colleague just waved his hand dismissively.


    "Are you sure you don''t have a gambling problem? You always want to make everything into a bet."


    "Haaa¡­" He couldn''t help but sigh in disappointment at having his idea turned down, and then turned his attention to the first years.


    The first-years didn''t seem as familiar with the more creative usage of skills often required by the relic in order toplete the trials more efficiently.


    However, as befitting the "golden generation" they were secretly called by the teachers, Serena was on par with most of the second-years on her 7th trial, while Kain had been on his sixth trial for a while and would probably advance soon.


    Soren had also just entered his 6th trial, and the other two were still on their fifth trial.


    After stalling for a while at their first two trials, all five of them quickly adapted and began toplete the trials at a much faster rate.


    "How about betting on who among the first-years willplete the highest number of trials? I bet on Serena," the blonde professor said.


    This time the dark-haired professor didn''t immediately refuse the bet. And stared at the screen disying the number ofpleted trials next to each name in contemtion. "Hmmm¡­I''d like to bet on Kain. However, I''d like to add that the object won should be given to the winning student as a reward."


    "Ha! Are you sure you aren''t just favoring that boy because he''s part of your nner department? Well, whatever. It''s none of my business if you want to make a losing bid due to personal feelings." The blonde nodded in agreement to the terms. After all, he didn''t like to bet purely due to the profits, but rather due to the joy that came from besting others in a field outside ofbat.


    "Great! Let''s determine what we are both offering to the other''s winning candidate from now." The dark-haired professor said while pulling out a thick leatherbound manual from his space ring.


    "Considering Serena''s gift, I think this spiritual skill would be quite suitable for her." He said while cing the manual on the table next to them.


    The other professor''s eyes widened, since this skill was extremely high in quality, and one that only the professor was privy to due to him finding it on his travels. However, it had one major con in that the spiritual power required for activation was immense. Without a gift like Serena''s, the user would likely need to be at 6-stars or higher in order to use the skill.


    He was also a little upset. He thought that he could just casually bet a low-grade spiritual nt and be done with it. Now he has toe out with something that can match what was offered by the other professor.


    "Tsk¡­" He couldn''t help clicking his tongue before pulling out an object from his space ring.

 Chapter 223 The Winner of the Bet

    "Ugh¡­" Kain couldn''t help groaning due to therge hole in his abdomen caused by the previous trial.


    After exhausting both of his instant refills, he''d managed to reach trial number 12. After the 10th trial, there was arge spike in difficulty, therefore after just barely finishing the 11th and 12th trials, he was eliminated at trial 13.


    Kain was pleased. His journey into the relic had been quite rewarding and he was managing to walk away with a variety of spiritual nts, ores, and evolutionary materials for both Eve/Queen and Aegis. Thankfully, the evolutionary material that he hadn''t selected in the first trial was his reward forpleting trial 10.


    However, he had no idea how hepared to his peers. Find your next read at m_v l|e-NovelBin


    ''It''d be pretty embarrassing if I was one of the earliest ones to be eliminated.''He thought while eating some of the royal jelly to mend the massive wound on his abdomen since being transported out of the relic.


    Kain could have waited for one of the healers toe to him, but since the royal jelly was so effective and was able to heal him while providing a sweet treat, he preferred to use it to heal himself usually.


    Especially since some contracts with healing abilities had unfortunate side effects such as causing excruciating pain or unbearable itchiness to the wound as it heals. Kain''s even head of unusual cases where healed wounds would be temporarily covered by a thickyer of hair until the hair naturally sheds off.


    Fortunately, looking around Kain was able to see that all of the first-years except for Serena had already exited the relic.


    At the realization, he couldn''t help his heart sinking slightly¡ªdid he seriously lose to her again?


    There were also some second-years that had already exited the relic, but he knew from the conversations he overheard that they''d advanced through the trials much faster than him and reached further along before being eliminated.


    After another 10 minutes Serena exited the relic. However, despite her expression and demeanor being like usually, Kain couldn''t help but feel as though she seemed a little¡­tired?


    If so, then that was the very first time he''d ever seen any hint of exhaustion on her.


    ''I wonder what was in herst trial to make even her tired?''


    After another 3 hours, all of the third and fourth years also exited the relic and Kain finally determined everyone''s performance.


    Captain Ezra managed toplete 23 trials before being eliminated.


    The Vice Captain Ravi managed toplete 20 before being eliminated.


    Of the remaining fourth years, onepleted 18 and the other twopleted 17.


    Among the third-years, the green-haired Jade, who Kain still wasn''t fullyfortable around due to her chatty nature, managed toplete 18 trials.


    Meanwhile, Dmitripleted 17, Theo 16, and Oliver and a female third-year Kain was unfamiliar withpleted 15.


    Among the second-years, Kyriapleted 16 trials, Alexei, Jin and Rhiannonpleted 15, and Cressida onlypleted 13.


    "The first-years this year performed better than usual," said a professor with dark hair and sses while looking pleased.


    Kain had found out that usually the gap inpleted trials was usually thergest between the first and second years due to them having never experienced the relic''s trials before.


    However, the first to be eliminated was Ranya afterpleting 9 trials, and Kairos afterpleting 10.


    Soren had managed toplete the 11th trial, meanwhile both Kain and Serena had tied andpleted 12 each.


    "This year we''ve also decided to reward the best-performing first-year." The dark-haired teacher continued.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat. He previously wouldn''t have had much hope since he exited before Serena, but since they had bothpleted 12 trials, then maybe there was some hope.


    "As I''m sure you know, two first-year studentspleted 12 trials each. Therefore, the number of trialspleted cannot be used to determine better between them. However, one student, Kain, managed to clear the 12th trial before the other, therefore¡ª"


    "Ahem! Professor Sage, while the ability to clear the 12th trial sooner is admirable, wouldn''t the length of time one can persist for in the more difficult 13th trial would be a more urate reflection of strength. Therefore, student Ser¡ª" the blonde instructor interrupted.


    "Professor Tameridge, since the trials are different among students, its difficult topare the times for which a student can persist in a relic. What if Kain''s opponent in the 13th trial was more offensively powerful¡ª"


    "I could make the same case for why Serena was slower inpleting the 12th trial!"


    ''What is happening right now¡­?''


    Kain and the others looked at each other in consternation as the professors continued to bicker with one another.


    p p


    "Excuse me professors. We are all extremely exhausted. Perhaps you can just consider the final ranking to be a tie and provide both Kain and Serena with a reward." Captain Ezra interjected after pping to gather their attention, much to the relief of everyone present.


    ""Alright¡­"" They said in unison, although neither seemed fully satisfied with the arrangement.


    The dark-haired professor handed over an old leatherbound book to Serena.


    "This is a spiritual skill that I believe would be quite suitable for you. Pleasee to me if you have any questions," Professor Sage said while smiling kindly. Although he hadn''t bet on Serena, he was still happy to invest in such a talented pupil.


    The blonde Professor Tameridge on the other hand rudely shoved an egg into Kain arms with a slight pout before turning and marching away in a huff, no exnation provided.


    Seeing the immature behaviour of his colleague, Professor Sage stepped in, "Don''t mind him. He''s just a sore loser¡ªalthough a tie can''t really be considered a loss. That egg was something that he''d obtained from a relic when he younger, it was expected that a powerful spiritual creature would hatch from it but after decades it''s shown no signs of hatching.


    Until recently, he''d actually kept one contract spot always open in the hopes that it''d one day hatch. Hopefully our resident star Evolutionary nner will be able toe up with a solution." He said while giving Kain a supportive pat on the back.

 Chapter 224 Harvest from the Relic

    Since they had no more training that day, Kain instead returned to hisboratory on campus to further analyze and organize his harvest from the relic.


    He''dpleted 12 trials, and along with the reward provided by Professor Tameridge, he now had 13 more rare objects than before he entered the relic.


    He obtained 2 evolutionary base materials from the relic, the life attribute crystal suitable for Eve and Queen, and the ck ore suitable for Aegis. Despite the ore only being slightlyrger than his fist, it was extraordinarily heavy and Kain hardly lift it with all of his strength.


    It also seemed to have either a maic or gravitational pull on nearby lighter objects within theboratory, leading Kain to believe that this material will maybe give Aegis'' next evolution a simr gravitational skill.


    Kain also obtained a space attribute ore, which can also probably serve as an evolutionary material, but considering he had no spiritual creatures with the space attribute, he would prefer to use it tomission the creation of a piece of equipment that would allow him to no longer be so defenceless in the face of space-attribute attacks.


    After the 11th trial where he faced an undead spiritual creatures with the ability to directly target the soul, an extremely rare ability, Kain was given an iridescent smooth white gem resembling opal. Just hold it in his hand he felt refreshed, and he could vaguely feel that it seemed to have a strengthening effect on his soul.


    Ifbined with the appropriate sigils, a pretty powerful piece of defensive equipment that can protect his soul from such attacks can be produced.


    "It looks like I need to make some connections with a powerful and skilled cksmith. The only one I currently know is Dorian Anvil back in Brightstar City¡­" However, Kain wasn''t sure if Dorian was capable of making equipment to his current standards. Not to mention it''d be annoying to have to travel to the southern region whenever he needed a piece of equipment made.


    Of the remaining 8 rewards from the relic, 6 of them were mature spiritual nts that Kain was nning to keep in his personal spiritual nt field.


    "Come to think of it, now that I have some money to spare, I should tear down the shack on that property and build a decent house¡­"


    He didn''t know the exact identities of all the spiritual nts, but he could pretty reasonably guess their properties, especially with the help of some of the equipment in hisboratory that can analyze the properties of materials.


    One was an unusual nt that Kain had read about called Gravitas. It closely resembled a shorter tree, standing about six feet tall with a stout, thick trunk that resembled a dark, twisted vine. Its bark was textured and rugged, resembling the surface of a meteorite, with small, glimmering particles embedded within that catch the light.


    Its leaves were extremely broad and heavy, and if Kain rests under it, no light from above would reach him¡ªit''d probably be a great nap location if, after approaching it, Kain didn''t feel slightly ufortable from the heavy feeling.


    The Gravitas tree generated a localized gravitational field around it. However, this pull was only strong enough to really restrict the movements of smaller animals nearby, making them feel much heavier and sluggish to the point of barely being able to move. It can also draw in stray debris and even small rocks from the surrounding area, creating a subtle swirling motion around the nt.


    Once every few months it will produce a fruit that upon consuming can slightly enhance the control of a spiritual creature, or a human with a suitable gift, over gravity. Based on this tree and the previous ck ore, Kain got the hint from the relic that the next most appropriate evolution for Aegis should move in the direction of gravity maniption.


    Kain was thankful for the entire tree rather than just the fruit, but since the improvement given from each fruit is not substantial, he was probably given the entire tree because the fruit would need to consumed continuoiusly over time to see a major difference.


    Two of the other nts rewarded to Kain were flowers than can enhance the affinity of a suitable spiritual creature to the life-attribute and another 2 had a simr effect for the mental-attribute.


    The remaining spiritual nt was actually one with offensive abilities and consciousness, making it suitable as a contract for those with a nt affinity¡ªunfortunately Kain did not have such an affinity.


    Kain actually recognized the identity of the nt¡ªa gold-quality Venomous Wraithvine, which was an extremely rare spiritual nt and was effective a targeting undead spiritual entities, which is likely why it was given as a reward to Kain afterpleting the 12th trial, since most of his trials consisted of defeating spiritual entities.


    It had serpentine, trailing vines that can extend up to twenty feet. The vines had a dark green base that transitioned to a deep, iridescent violet at the tips, giving them a ghostly appearance. The ghostly tips have the unique ability to grip the forms of spiritual entities as well as physical ones.


    Small, translucent leaves sprouted along the length of the vines, resembling delicate wings that fluttered constantly even without the presence of any wind in theboratory.


    Clusters of eerie, bioluminescent flowers bloomed sporadically along the vines. These flowers were bell-shaped, and emitted a faint glow in hues of blue and green. The petals had a velvety texture and were often covered in tiny, shimmering droplets of a potent, sticky nectar that is known to have toxic properties.


    ''I wonder if poisonous honey could be produced from it?'' Kain thought. Poisonous nts are usually poisonous due to some liquid it produces, or due to their fruit, but their nectar is usually not poisonous because this would prevent it from being pollinated by insects. Since the Vespirae''s honey is made from nectar, Kain hadn''t had an opportunity to test if poisonous honey could also be produced.


    The gold-quality nt was only at red-grade currently, so it couldn''t provide much offensive help to Kain, but over-time it can easily reach yellow-grade without evolving. Therefore, Kain thought it would serve as a suitable guard at his house off-campus.


    It also had several powerful abilities, two of which were A-level skills:


    -Necrotic tendrils: The Wraithvine can extend its vines to ensnare and immobilize its targets. Upon contact, these tendrils inject a necrotic toxin that drains the life force from living beings, weakening them significantly. This ability is particrly effective against spiritual entities, causing their ethereal forms to destabilize.


    -Hallucinogenic Pollen: When threatened, the nt releases a cloud of hallucinogenic pollen from its flowers. This pollen can induce vivid illusions, causing enemies to perceive terrifying visions that disrupt their focus and coordination. The effects can vary from mild disorientation toplete incapacitation, depending on the target''s mental strength. Your next chapter is on m v|l-e''-NovelBin

 Chapter 225 Harvest from the Relic (2)

    Pleased with his new "guard dog" Kain then turned to thest two rewards from the trial.


    The first one was a small green bead the size of a marble that was his reward from the third trial. It seems to be a default trial reward for people that enter the relic, it''s simr to a space ring but specifically able to allow spiritual nts entry while preserving their quality. Your next journey awaits at m v|l-e''-NovelBin


    With the exception of seeds, since they are in a dormant state that doesn''t require anything like oxygen to survive, most space rings can''t contain other living things.


    Therefore, preservation containers, which Kain typically uses to carry spiritual nts are rtively cumbersome to carrypared to space rings while not having particrlyrge spaces, this green marble was an extremely valuable reward for Kain.


    Artifacts simr to this bead are several times more difficult to create than space rings, which is why Kain hadn''t even seen the option to buy something simr until now.


    The second reward from the relic was actually the thing that looked the least remarkable at first nce, it was in an ancientnguage Verdarian, thenguage of the long extinct city-state Verdaris that existed before the empire was founded.


    Kain couldn''t understand any of the words, but as he flipped through the notebook he did see some illustrations: a castle, what appears to be a map, and a seed¡­


    And it just so happens that Kain was the owner of a seed that greatly resembled the one in the drawing, and that same seed happened to be given to him by his former teacher who studied the history of Verdaris.


    ''Did it sense that I either had or came into contact with the seed and so rewarded me with this book?''


    Kain carefully put away the book and then looked at hisst source of ie from the day''s events¡ªthe unknown egg given to him by Professor Tameridge. However, Kain wasn''t sure if he''d actually categorize the egg as a reward.


    Since Professor Sage seemed much more friendly, and the one who''d actually given him the prize had long left, he pressed Sage for more details about the egg, such as where it came from, when it was obtained, and if there were any clues to why exactly it couldn''t hatch?


    However, the enthusiasm Kain had for the reward dampened with every question answered.


    Professor Sage apparently attained the egg inside of a relic overseas when he was much younger. The value of the things obtained in the relic were extremely rare and valuable, and much of the legend behind the relic was rted to the Four Gods of the eastern continent which resembled a ck Tortoise, Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, and White Tiger.


    Professor Sage at the time had been among the weakest to enter the relic back then, and was essentially recruited into a team as cannon fodder. It had been an intense battle for him to even leave the relic with the one egg, apparently the only egg within the relic, which he''d secretly hidden and left with while everyone was busy fighting over the myriad of other treasures within the relic.


    Considering that he''d risked his life to leave with the egg, and it was the only thing he''d managed to leave with from his harrowing journey to the east, it''s understandable that he wasn''t willing to part with it even after decades of it not hatching.


    He probably would have been willing to wait for the egg to hatch until his death if he hadn''t finally obtained some information on why it was unable to hatch.


    Apparently, it is strongly suspected that the spiritual creature inside of the egg is a mutant. Moreover, it''s one of the few mutants with an unfavorable mutation.


    It was determined that spiritual power, which is an omnipresent substance on this, was like poison to it and preventing its birth.


    Unfortunately, spiritual power is everywhere and in everything. Even before a baby is born in this world they would have been exposed to spiritual power. Every breath taken will have some within the air, every piece of food will have remnant traces of spiritual power.


    All ordinary creatures do have spiritual power in them, hence why most ordinary people that never awakened an affinity are able to cultivate to make their first star¡ªwhat determines whether they can eventually be a beast tamer is if they awaken an affinity.


    Simrly, all ordinary creatures possess spiritual power, they just have no way of condensing it or manipting it to cultivate or develop skills.


    It would be practically impossible for there to be any ce on the without any spiritual power.


    ''Sigh¡­can this even be considered a rewardpared to what Serena got? He practically just threw whatever he couldn''t use himself at me.''


    ''Hey System! Is there a way to control any of the spiritual power within the System Laboratory topletely remove all spiritual power?''


    *The System is an entity that isrgelyposed of and powered by spiritual power. Doing so would be like preventing blood flow to one of your limbs for a prolonged period of time, the result would be the death of that limb.*


    ''So¡­is that a no?''


    *Ding, ding, ding! Gold star to the host for deciphering the obvious.*


    ''¡­You''d been quiet for a while so I thought your annoying personality had improved¡­'' Kain grumbled.


    *And I thought that the host had gotten smarter. Looks like we were both wrong ^_^*


    Kain turned his head away from the annoyingly passive-aggressive emoticon, determined to not engage his irritatingpanion in any more conversation.


    ''Whatever¡­ at least I can store it in theboratory until I figure something out¡­''


    Kain ced his hand on the egg and willed it to go inside of the System.


    However, theboratory within the System remainedpletely empty, despite the egg disappearing from in front of Kain.


    Unfortunately, it would be a long while before Kain noticed the egg''s disappearance.

 Chapter 226 The Hive Evolves

    There was still some time until the nationalpetition, and considering the rewards that he received, Kain figures it was time to finally evolve Eve and the Vespirae.


    He knew that the royal jelly was a necessary evolutionary material, and that a skill used to permanently change the attribute of the royal jelly must be acquired. This was the most challenging requirement, and probably why there had only been one historical instance of a Vespirae evolving, especially since this evolutionary condition waspletely unknown to everyone except for Kain.


    Additionally, he received an unknown life attribute crystal from the relic that was probably another suitable evolutionary material¡ªso Kain had everything that he needed.


    However, to ensure that the evolution would be sessful, Kain of course also ran a Simtion using the System.


    Unfortunately, despite the suitable materials, the sess rate of evolution was still not 100%.


    But an 80% sess rate was still decent, especially since now that Kain had been confirmed to be a member of the team representing the school, after telling one of the professors responsible for their training about his wish to evolve one of his contracts, he was allowed to use one of the life-elemental attribute rooms for free.


    Another factor influencing the sess rate was the amount of energy provided. Due to the symbiotic rtionship between Eve and Queen, Queen''s sessful evolution is also responsible for driving Eve''s evolution. Therefore, twice as much spiritual power and catalyst was needed that the typical evolution.


    Once again, thanks to his status as a member of the top 5 students of his year, Kain was able to easily obtain both at a huge discount.


    If Kain didn''t know that they''d penalize him for taking advantage of the perks of being an official member of the team leading up to the nationalpetition, he would seriously consider stockpiling all kinds of resources and materials from the school.


    Unfortunately, there was always an evolutionary nner that was a member of the faculty to oversee any of the requests Kain and the other students made.


    However, Kain was still more than happy with the current level of perks provided.


    He went to one of the life-attribute rooms located on the campus and released Queen into the center of the room along with all of the guards.


    Thankfully, the evolution and breakthrough of the guards arepletely determined by Queen, otherwise Kain would have to provide several times more of the required materials.


    Handing Queen a vial of catalyst twice the average size to consume while cing a blue-grade spiritual orb, the royal jelly and the crystal next to her. Kain also left an additional dual wind and life attribute material from a yellow-grade spiritual creature.


    The next evolution definitely favored the life attribute since that was the attribute of the royal jelly that was the basis of the evolutionary form, but Kain wasn''t willing topletely abandon the wind attribute that contributed to the guards'' strength.


    Kain then left to give her some space.


    As he stood in a corner of a room, he saw Queen sit in the middle of her guards, wings anxiously buzzing.


    Over 10 minutes passed with no movements from her, but he didn''t rush her. The mental condition of a spiritual creature during the evolution can have a slight effect on the sess rate. Not to mention, that Kain didn''t even have to pay for his usage of the room.


    "Take as much time as you need." Kainforted.


    After another 5 minutes passed, the frequency with which her wings buzzed, and her antennae rubbed together, drastically reduced. Finally, the catalyst was consumed and a bright white glow began to emit from her.


    Kain stared at her anxiously until it was eventually to bright for him to continue staring directly, shielding his eyes he then shifted his gaze slightly to the side while he waited for the results of the evolution.


    The light continued for well over 20 minutes, however considering that so many creatures were technically having to evolve at the same time, Kain wasn''t discouraged by the long wait time. In fact, the longer the lightsted the more Kain was relieved, if it was going to fail it should have already done so by now.


    After another half an hour, the light that originally only covered Queen''s form increased rapidly and enveloped the Vespirae standing in a circle around it.


    Finally, after the lightsted for over a full hour, which might just break some kind of record for evolution time, the light began to fade.


    Due to being at the edges of the source of the light, the Vespirae guards were the first to be exposed. Although, he supposed he should now call them Verdant Vespid Sentinels


    -------------


    Nickname: One/Two/Three¡­


    Species: Verdant Vespid Sentinels (Tertiary Contract)


    The elite protectors of the hive, born from their eggs as fierce warriors. With incredibly fast flight speed, hard armored exoskeletons, excellent regeneration and ejectable stingers that act as a siphon for their enemies'' life-force, they excel inbat. In the absence of males, these females also take on the unique responsibilities of honey production and caring for the queen.


    Quality: tinum


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attribute: Wind, Life


    Skills:


    A-Windborne Assault: Launches stingers as projectiles that slice through the air with enhanced speed and precision, dealing additional wind attribute damage.


    A-Life Absorption: When a stinger remains lodged in a target, it absorbs life energy, healing the Vespirae Guard.


    A-Vital Surge: When sensing that the queen is in danger, the Vespid Sentinel unleashes a burst of life energy stored within, restoring a portion of health and temporarily doubling all stats at the cost of arge decrease in intelligence. This skill cannot be activated at will and is triggered under specific conditions.


    A-Vital Link: Establishes a temporary bond with an ally, allowing them to share a portion of the damage taken by the ally. Links of multiple Vespid Sentinels can be stacked.


    B-Guard''s Heart: Immune to any fear-inducing mental attacks, and heightened resistance to mental attacks with other effects due to their single-minded focus on their queen.

 Chapter 227 The Hive Evolves (2)

    Kain was pleased with the evolution of the guards and was already thinking of strategies that could utilize the new skills.


    In addition to the new skills, Kain could also tell that these Vespid Sentinels were physically stronger than their previous form.


    After evolution, they were half a sizerger than their predecessors.


    Their exoskeletons shined a brilliant yellow with patches of ck so dark it seemed to absorb all iing light, ented by hints of gold and blue, symbolizing their life attribute connection.


    Therger, enhanced wings featured intricate patterns resembling flower petals and emitted a gentle glow.


    The stinger also evolved into a sleek, spear-like form with thorn-like protrusions for life energy absorption.


    Their elongated antennae and brilliant emerald eyes showed keen awareness, indicating that their intelligence had also likely improved. T


    The light continued to fade until Kain was also able to see the figure of Queen.


    Queen, who had previously been only about a third of Kain''s height, now reached up to shoulders.


    Her wings wererger and more intricate, featuring translucent membranes with faint, iridescent patterns that caught the light.


    These wings also emitted a soft glow when she channelled her life-attribute energy, adding to her regal aura.


    The queen''srge eyes also seemed to have greater intelligence now, while her elongated antennae now were adorned with green feathery extensions that further differentiated her from her daughters.


    Kain then looked at Queen''s new panel in the System. Interestingly, while the evolved guards still had the wind attribute as their primary attribute, the Life-attribute was now Queen''s primary attribute


    --------------------


    Nickname: Queen


    Your next journey awaits at m v|l-e''-NovelBin


    Species: Verdant Vespid Queen (Host-Secondary Contract)


    A rare sessful evolution of the Vespirae Queen who reigns supreme over her hive. With her life-attribute abilities, she not only ensures the safety andfort of her offspring but also enriches their growth through her unique royal jelly. This elixir is enhanced by her connection to the life attribute, granting her children a formidable edge in battle and growth.


    Due to a unique symbiotic rtionship, all offspring are female and therefore have an offensive edge over other simr wasp species.


    Quality: tinum


    Type: Insect-type (Wasp)


    Attributes: Life, wind


    Skills:


    SSS-Essence of Life: The royal jelly produced is a powerful elixir that can heal severe, life-threatening injuries within moments, relieve temporary negative status effects caused by spiritual creatures up to one grade higher, and significantly increase the probability of sessful breakthroughs in both humans and spiritual creatures up to yellow-grade spiritual power.


    SS-Revitalizing Surge: A powerful burst of life energy that can restore a significant amount of health to all allies in a radius, providing ast-minute lifeline in dire situations. Only usable once every 48 hours.


    S-Royal Edict: Boosts the stats of her offspring by 50% for a limited time. Duration depends on the number of children being affected and skill proficiency.


    A-Rejuvenating wind: Releases a restorative wind that dispels negative status effects and heals minor physical injuries to allies within its area.


    A-Energy Transfer: Allows the queen to share a portion of her own spiritual power with a single ally, temporarily boosting their capabilities at the cost of her own stamina. Only usable once every 24 hours.


    A-Resilient Exoskeleton: Temporarily hardens her exoskeleton to absorb iing damage, reducing the impact of physical attacks for a short duration.


    B-Guardian''s Whirlwind: Creates a swirling gust of wind around her, deflecting iing projectiles.


    ----------------


    Despite the name for the Essence of Life not changing, the quality had increased, likely due to the healing properties being enhanced, and now that it can significantly increase the chance of a breakthrough. If enough is able to be made, and after testing exactly how much "significantly" means, he may consider selling some at a high price to develop another ie stream.


    Additionally, now even without Eve injecting life attribute energy into the wind she produces, the wind attribute skills Queen produces now carries the life-attribute.


    Moreover, the skills Revitalizing Surge and Rejuvenating wind now give their team a member with long-distance haling abilities who could be used in battle, while Energy Transfer essentially has the same usage as Kain''s spiritual skill, so that a boost can now be provided one extra time to a contract each day¡ªthis time by Queen.


    Finally, thest 2 skills also gave Queen some defensive abilities to not be as helpless as she was previously.


    Although, Queen still doesn''t have particrly strong offensive abilties, she is now an excellent support and healer. Considering she also has 18 new and improved guards that she can also provide various boosts to, she''d be a fearsome opponent in any battle.


    Finally, Kain opened the System description of the one spiritual creature he couldn''t see, but who he was directly contracted to¡ªEve.


    ------------------


    Nickname: Eve


    Species: Vitae Matronia


    Matronia is a unique life-attribute microorganism that enhances the reproductive capabilities of its host while ensuring that all offspring are female. This evolved strain not only maintains its core functions but also grants new abilities to support the Vespid Queen and her hive.


    Quality: tinum


    Type: Microorganism (Bacteria)


    Attribute: Life


    Skills:


    SS-Eve''s Law: Exerts absolute authority over the reproductive fate of its host''s future descendants. It can determine whether offspring are born, their gender, and even enhance specific traits to suit the hive''s needs.


    S-Vital Infusion: Infuses a chosen ally with life energy, instantly healing significant injuries at the cost of arge amount of spiritual power. Only usable once every 24 hours.


    A-Perfect Symbiosis: Confers significant resistance to poisons, mental attacks, and diseases for the host and all future descendants, along with elerated growth and development, improving overall hive health.


    A-Mother''s Embrace: Temporarily increases the life energy of the Vespid Queen and her offspring, enhancing their vitality and recovery rate in battle.


    B-Fertile Growth: Boosts the hatch rate and strength of newly hatched Vespirae, ensuring that the restoration of hive health ispleted quickly.


    --------------


    Previously, Eve didn''t y much of a role in battle actively. Her main role was in the improvements she provided to Queen and the hive overall. Only when the ability to infuse some life-attribute energy into Queen''s skills was developed, did Eve have some use in battle.


    However, the new skills Vital Infusion, which provides a powerful healing effect, and Mother''s embrace, to temporarily boost the Vespids'' vitality in battle, has finally allowed her to y a greater role.


    The effect of all of the new skills still needed to be tested in battle to fully understand them and improve proficiency. Thankfully, there was still some time until the tournament. With the help of professors, his seniors, and the System''s Training Arena, Kain was confident that he would be at apletely different level of strength during the nationalpetition.

 Chapter 228 A Festive Capital

    The weeks passed quickly until it was finally time for Kain and the others to head to the Capital for the tournament.


    Likely due to the importance of the event, the college was willing to start up the teleportation gate.


    After all, why waste valuable training days on a moving train when they can train for an extra week and arrive at the Capital instantly?


    Kain lined up with the others while the familiar hum of the gate starting up triggered a feeling of noxiousness in Kain.


    Kairos on the other hand, likely not knowing what they were about to suffer through, was jittering with excitement.


    "This is both of our first time going to the capital. I created a list of must see attractions for tourists while we''re there." He said to Kain excitedly.


    Kain decided to not dampen his excitement by informing him that he had in fact gone to the capital previously, especially since that trip was supposed to be a secret. He simply nodded his head in agreement while trying to choke down the bile rising from his throat.


    Kain went to the very back of the line to postpone the inevitable. When only one of the remaining staff members who was travelling with their team was left behind Kain to ensure they all entered, Kain couldn''t help but stop just before the gate, finger fiddling at his sides.


    "Ahem! Lady''s first¡­" Kain tried to step aside while waving his hand towards the gate in a gant gesture when he felt a hard shove into his shoulder as he was in the process of turning around.


    Mouth open in a silent scream, Kain was once again forced to go through the ufortable ordeal. Strangely after the extremely painful travel through the temporary gate the previous time, this time the feeling as though his body was being stretched and thenpressed was more bearable than he''d expected.


    The experience was unsettling and disorienting, but thankfully over quickly. Soon the world snapped back into focus and he felt the ground beneath his feet again.


    As well as the chatter of all of his teammates. Well not all of them, since this was Kairos and Ranya''s first time through a teleportation gate they were supporting each other with extremely pale faces. Next to their feet Kain was a brown chunky puddle of what vaguely resembled the porridge he''d seen Kairos eating for breakfast that day.


    "H-how¡­how are you so fine¡­?" Kairos said while staring at Kain in amazement. This was both. Of their first times teleporting, why was the difference in their ability to endure so great.


    ''Is this the difference from a student in the top 2?'' Kairos thought in self-pity.


    After getting his bearings, Kain took a look around at his surroundings. Obviously, they weren''t teleported into a sketchy-looking motel room like he was previously. Instead, they were teleported to a veryrge clearing just mere feet from the city''s walls.


    The clearing was iid with a veryrge circle of grey stones that were carved with sigils in the process of dimming. Likely the sigils had a guiding effect for those teleporting to the capital, and were likely responsible for why this ride felt smoother than the previous times he teleported.


    Kain followed his seniors and the staff travelling with them towards the city gates. After showing his identification, they were able to smoothly enter the city.


    Transportation had likely been arranged beforehand, and they were brought to the core of the city where arge stadium stood towering above them.


    The Capital''s Grand Arena was the site of most majorpetitions within the empire.


    The Grand Arena was a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture that embodied thepetitive spirit of beast-taming. Its towering columns of polished marble rose majestically, each adorned with intricate carvings of legendary beasts and heroic tamers locked in battle with one another.


    Since the tournament would only start in a couple more days, they did not enter and Kain and the others would have to wait untilter to see the inside of the arena.


    However, likely due to the influx of tourists that wish to watch the tournament in person, there were still many vendors outside the arena, filling the entire street with the scent of roasted meats and sweet pastries.


    The air was humming with excitement and Kain could already see evidence of touristsing from afar to show off their regional pride.


    Colorful banners pped in the breeze hanging outside the main entryway of the stadium. Each banner adorned with the school crest of all the Empire''s colleges eligible for the Nationalpetition.


    There were dozens of banners of every colour of the rainbow, but 5rge ones wererger and took center stage just above the doors of the arena.


    The one in the center was red and gold with a crestposed of a dragon soaring towards the sun. At the top were the arrogant words of the empire''s first college''s motto: "Unrivaled in excellence, Unyielding in purpose." Looking around Kain could also see many civilians wearing red and gold while waving around small gs with that same crest.


    Majority of the vendors were also handing out merchandise and snacks with that colour scheme.


    ''Looks like the number 1 college also has the home advantage¡­not that they even needed it...'' Kain grumbled.


    To the left of the center was the second-ce college, whose crest was mostly a deeper blood-red¡ªbefitting their notorious blood-thirsty nature. At its center, a striking orange phoenix rose dramatically, its wings outstretched with mes trailing behind it, symbolizing rebirth, resilience, and the fierce spirit of its students.


    Surrounding the phoenix, sharp orange mes rose and coiled around its legs, representing the fiercepetition and challenges faced by tamers of the college. Above, the banner had the motto in bold, angr lettering: "Rise from the Ashes," emphasizing resilience and their determination to conquer any obstacle.


    After the capital''s colours, the blood red of Supernova College was the second most populous colour Kain saw on the street.

 Chapter 229 Settling In

    On the other side of the center was the banner for Dark Moon college, the only one among the top 5 without the clear depiction of a spiritual creature''s full body.


    The Dark Moon banner was made of rich ck fabric, and it exuded an air of elegance and mystery.


    At its center, a radiant silver crescent moon glowed softly, likely due to the luminescent threads used to make the tapestry. The moon was surrounded by intricate filigree patterns that resembled swirling clouds and stars, adding a rich brightness to the dark fabric.


    Below the moon, a pair of silver talons grasped a shimmering orb, symbolizing the college''s preference for moving in the shadows against its enemies rather than bloodthirsty frontalbat like Supernova.


    The edges of the banner were adorned with silver stitching, adding a refined touch, while a bold motto in an elegant cursive script was in an arch above the moon: "From Darkness, Knowledge Emerges."


    The school''s motto means that wisdom and understanding often arise from the exploration and confrontation of the unknown. It reflects the idea that challenges, mysteries, and even adversity can lead to enlightenment and discovery.


    Dark Moon College emphasizes that delving into the shadows¡ªwhether they be hidden truths,plex subjects, or untapped potential¡ªcan ultimately illuminate greater insights and foster growth. It celebrates the transformative journey of learning, where darkness serves as a backdrop for the light of knowledge to shine through.


    To the left of Supernova''s banner was the banner of the fourth ce Starfire college. Set against a bright yellow background that radiated positive energy, the centrepiece was a majestic white griffin with its wings outstretched and arge shield behind it. The crest symbolizes strength, protection, and amitment to serving others.


    The griffin is depicted in mid-flight, embodying the college''s dynamic spirit and readiness to aid those in need. It was fitting for a college known for the extensive amount of missions its students are required to perform to aid civilians.


    Surrounding the shield were white and green stars in varying sizes, representing hope and the college''s aspirations to illuminate the path for others. Above the shield, a flowing ribbon in light green bore the college''s motto: "Courage in Service, Valor in Protection."


    Although the college''s valiant spirit is exemplified now in acts ofmunity service, it does have a glorious history as the empire''s first shield against invaders from the southern barbaric tribes outside of the nation.


    Finally, to the right of Dark Moon''s banner was the most mysterious of the top 5 colleges: Frozen Sun College in the far north.


    The banner of Frozen Sun College was a stunning representation of its icy environment. The background featured a gradient of icy blue that transitioned to a crisp white.


    At the center, a stylized sun radiated shimmering white light with icy blue rays, symbolizing resilience and warmth amidst the cold.


    nking the sun was white wolf, embodying the strength and loyalty to ones'' group needed to survive in the north.


    Below the wolf was an icy blue ribbon with the college''s motto: "Guided by Light, Strengthened by Cold."


    Kain and the others walked through the dense crowd towards a towering hotel across from the stadium.


    Considering the prime location of the hotel, and how expensive it looked, Kain was able to tell that the school had probably booked their rooms several months in advance, and that they were prepared to fork out a ton of money to make sure the quality of living here would not negatively impact their performance.


    One of the professors handed out their room assignments and key cards. Kain and Kairos, Serena and Ranya, and Soren and the third-year Oliver were all roommates.


    Since all rooms were on the same floor, practically reserving an entire floor of the hotel for just Dark Moon staff and students, everyone headed up together.


    After an hour of rest in which Kairos was oohing and ahing over the hotel room thendmarks that can be seen from their room''s view, they headed to the spacious single room of their captain Ezra¡ªwho was the only one without a roommate, and also whose room would be serving as the site of their team''s strategy meetings.


    While they all found an area of the floor to getfortable, one of the professors stood at the center of the room and called for the attention of everyone in the room.


    "Hello everyone! For those that have finished their second year, you''d all already know from the mandatory second-year course ''Beast Behavior and Communication''. However for the first-years this may be your first time seeing me. I am Professor Dawnstrider. Find your next read at m_v l|e-NovelBin


    Since the first round matches had been determined, I figured now would be an excellent opportunity to debrief everyone on our opponents and strategy for our first opponents." Said a rtively short professor with ashy blonde slick-backed hair and hazel eyes framed by fine wrinkles.


    He then turned to look only at Kain and the other first-years. Considering that they were seeds and would not be facing a difficult opponent in the first round, the upper-year students werepletely rxed. Only the first-years, aside from Serena, had some degree of tension at the thought of their first battle against people outside of the school.


    "Our first-round opponent is Pioneer Beast Academy, a college ranked in the low 40s. Looking at their current lineup, there are no surprises. All of their representatives are at least a full grade below their same-year counterparts at our school.


    First-years, I understand your nervousness before your first fight, but the highest level spiritual creature among the opposing first-years, ording to thetest intelligence, is still at red-grade. Just one of you can probably defeat all 5 of the enemy lineup alone."


    "Therefore, to avoid exposing too much of our current strength, Soren will be responsible for the 1-on-1 battle tomorrow and the 3-on-3 will consist of Soren, Ranya, and Kairos. I trust that the 5-on-5 will be unnecessary since you will win the first 2." He said with a threatening re that caused the three to sit up straighter.

 Chapter 230 Foreigners?

    Since their first opponent wasn''t considered to be challenging, the first debriefing session mostly consisted ofmon errors and rules to watch out for among first timepetitors.


    However, after being informed that he likely wouldn''t be seeing any action for the first few matches, Kain left the room in irritation. Especially after seeing the smug smile that Soren shed his way, Kain practically felt like his stomach was burning in anger.


    Thankfully, while Kain wouldn''t be facing any of the weaker opponents, they were given brief profiles of students from the other top 5 colleges to watch out for.


    Kain reclined on his bed while leafing through the booklet provided with all of the opponents they would have to be even mildly concerned about.


    Thankfully, since Serena was the only one in the empire to awaken independently in years, none of the other students their age were even remotely close to surpassing her in cultivation level. Therefore, all of their opponents were also 3-star beast-tamers with contracts no higher than yellow-grade.


    With the exception of First Celestial Academy, who kept their students under tight wraps, and Frozen Sun College, which is geographically isted, there was a decent amount of information about their potential opponents from Supernova College, Starfire College, and a few standout students from other colleges within the top 10.


    Thankfully, based on the information in their files, none of them seemed particrly threatening.


    Although there was one student from Starfire College in the south that made Kain very curious¡­


    Kain had learned after entering college that the cultivation method of the Celestial Empire, which focuses on harnessing star-attribute spiritual power to condense "stars" within their own body, was not the only cultivation method that this world had.


    Other cultivation methods are used by other nations. Unfortunately, due to gic reasons, the cultivation method most people can use is already determined by their ancestors.


    All the way back to when the Celestial Empire in the center of this continent didn''t exist and everyone still lived in city-states, and even the millennia before that, the cultivation method utilizing star-attribute spiritual power had been used by the ancestors of what eventually became the Celestial Empire and, via natural selection, now the bodies of all citizens are best suited for this cultivation method.


    It''s not umon for those unable to awaken an affinity to try switching to the cultivation methods of other nations, however since their bodies are even less suited to those methods, the results are often disastrous.


    To the south of the empire is arge desert area inhabited by loosely governed tribes. Due to the scarcity of resources and spiritual creatures in the barrenndscape to the south, the cultivation method their ancestors had developed waspletely different from the one developed by the ancestors of what eventually became the Celestial Empire.


    Typically, they could only form a contract with one spiritual creature.


    Fortunately, while few and far between, the spiritual creatures that do inhabit the southern deserts are often more hardy and powerful than those that live in the resource-rich wilderness of the Empire and can take on multiple at once.


    Additionally, due to the harsh environment of the desert that favored the survival of the fittest, the percentage of individuals that can cultivate among the tribes is much higher than those within the Empire¡ªalmost 80%. Although since their poption is much smaller it works out to around the same amount of beat-tamers as within the empire.


    However, the upper limit of those among the tribes is higher, with most managing to be at least the equivalent of a 4-star beast tamer¡ªa rtively rare level among citizens of the empire, and the highest level in Kain''s hometown, Brightstar City.


    The cultivation method among southerners usually consists of a tattoo-like birthmark spontaneously manifesting somewhere on their bodies around the time of their 18th birthday. This tattoo will be in the form of a spiritual creature that they can form a contract with. Once the contract is formed the spiritual creature will reside within that tattoo.


    The growth boost provided to their singr contract is much greater than what is provided by the star space, and the feedback provided to the contractor is so strong that it usually allows them to exhibit abilities and strength simr to the spiritual creature itself. Therefore, every Southerner can be considered a powerful spiritual creature in their own right.


    Interestingly, it was determined after studying captured tribespeople that had tried invading the empire in the past, that the tribespeople carry remnant amounts of blood from spiritual creatures that manifested in the form of a tattoo.


    The legends circted among the tribes state that they "are blessed by the gods" and the form of the tattoo is in the shape of the "god" that has blessed them.


    However, since some spiritual creatures at the highest levels can take on human forms, the empire''s researchers hypothesized that most, if not all, tribespeople have a powerful spiritual creature among their ancestors.


    The reason Kain was remembering the lecture he''d had on the cultivation method among the tribes in the south, was because one of the students participating on behalf of Starfire College was noted to have had a conspicuous birthmark in the shape of a dark red scorpion manifest on his body a week before his 18thbirthday, despite no known ancestors being from the tribes.


    "Tsk tsk¡­is this another instance of paternity fraud?"


    Kain couldn''t help but recall his first client as an evolutionary nner, Yara, while reading about the Starfire College student''s profile.


    Kain looked at the picture of a muscr young man with bronze skin, green eyes and what appeared to be a dark red scorpion tailing up from beneath the cor of his shirt, over the side of his neck, and ending on his left cheek.


    Based on the size of just the tail, Kain was able to tell that the size of the entire scorpion shaped birthmark probably covered the majority of the guy''s chest.

 Chapter 231 Foreigners? (2)

    ording to the profile, the guy''s name was Jacob Flynt. His talent in cultivation was deemed to be hopelessly poor when he entered high school, since he was far from being able to even condense his first star by the time of the awakening ceremony.


    In fact, despite persistent effort day and night to condense enough spiritual power and form his first star, he still only had as much spiritual power as the average elementary school student.


    Overwhelmed with a feeling of helplessness, and certain that he''d be destined to never be a beast-tamer, it came as a shock to everyone when he woke up screaming from pain due to a burning sensation one night. A burning sensation that ended in the manifestation of a scorpion shaped birthmark.


    A lot of effort went into finding a spiritual creature from the south of the border that matched the appearance of his birthmark. Fortunately, his parents (?) were quite wealthy and managed to procure the capture of a juvenile tinum-quality fire and poison dual-attribute Firescourge Scorpion.


    Kain looked at the image of the Firescourge Scoprion within the profile. This particr spiritual creature was extremely rare even within the southern deserts where it is exclusively found.


    It looked like a nightmare from the depths of a molten wastnd. Its carapace shimmered with hues of red and ck, resembling flowingva, while its massive pincers, emitted a temperature so high that distortions could be seen in the captured image due to heatwaves.


    The creature''s tail arched menacingly, tipped with a venomous stinger that could emit a corrosive poison capable of melting through armor and flesh alike.


    This venom doesn''t just burn; it eats away at anything it touches, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.


    Victims stung by it experience an agonizing fusion of searing pain and relentless corrosion, every part of their body dissolving under the relentless assault.


    Despite its rarity, it does have an infamous reputation among the tribes. When a full-grown one is spotted, most tribes, which are already semi-nomadic, would prefer to just pack up their stuff and run, rather than fight.


    Most spiritual creatures with healing abilities are useless against its poison and would only help to prolong the life, and thus the suffering, of the poisoned. After all, very few causes of death could be more painful than the sting from its venom.


    Thankfully, the rules of this nationalpetition dictate that any poisonous spiritual creatures taking part must also have an antidote provided by their beast-tamer or give the organizers enough notice to manufacture an antidote.


    Therefore, Jacob''s contract won''t be able to kill anyone, but the brief period between the sting and when an antidote is administered would be absolute torture.


    Thankfully, Kain''s affinity seems to be uniquely primed tobat the scorpion.


    Bea is so small and invisible it''d be impossible to sting her. However, whether the splits could survive the poison coursing through its body is unknown.


    The newly evolved Vespid Sentinels arerge in quantity, so as long as Queen is alive more can always be produced.


    Finally, Aegis is mostly made up of rock and his "core" is mobile and microscopicpared to most golems. So while the corrosive properties of the poison may cause damage to him, it won''t cause any pain, and the core microscopic body controlling therge rock exterior would also be difficult to harm directly.


    It''d probably be a difficult fight, and he''d probably have to be prepared to lose some Vespids that could have been used in future matches, he was confident in achieving the final victory.


    Another contestant of note was one not from a top 5 college, but one of the few stand-outpetitors among the colleges outside of the top 5.


    Kain looked at the image of the girl who deceptively looked no older than 12, with light green hair and eyes. Despite her childish appearance, ording to the profile she was in fact 3 years older than Kain, despite also being a first-year.


    She was also another student who practiced a foreign cultivation method.


    Based on her childish appearance, Kain could tell that she was at least half Elorian¡ªthe humans native to Elowen Haven.


    The humans that live in Elowen are rumoured to be partially descended from an elf-like humanoid species that had long gone extinct.


    Likely due to this ancestry, they tend to grow at a slower rate than humans, which exins her childlike face despite being in her twenties.


    She wasa student of Lunaris Vale Academy, which is a college within the eastern region that is currently ranked 8.


    Lunaris was a unique college in that they are located northeast of Dark Moon College and border Elowen Haven directly.


    Thankfully, out of all foreign nations, the Celestial Empire has the best rtionship with the Elorians, and they are also a peaceful and non-confrontational nation.


    Due to the excellent rtionship between the founder of Lunaris and a member of the Elorian royalty, there was a longstanding tradition of young Elorians entering Lunaris College to study.


    Clearly this girl, Elysara Virelith, was one such foreign-exchange student.


    In addition to having the best rtionship with us, the Elorian''s cultivation method mostly closely resembled the one of the celestial empire.


    However, they absorb life-attribute spiritual power directly from nature, rather than the stars. The absorbed spiritual power takes the form of a tree within their bodies, and every "fruit" that the tree produces can serve as the home to a spiritual creature that suits their affinity.


    Another difference from those within the Empire, is that the affinities of Elorians are almost exclusively to spiritual nts, and they almost all are able to awaken a gift rted to nt-life.


    nt-type affinities aren''t nearly asmon within the Empire so Kain was intrigued by thebat style of those that specialize in spiritual nts.


    Additionally, considering that there are probably many Elorians at that college but only Elysara was in the top 5, leads Kain to believe that the nts she''s bound to are particrly powerful.


    Unfortunately, all of her contracts seem to be native to the territory of Elowen Haven, so not much information was able to be found on their specific abilities.


    All that was able to be uncovered was that they all have a physical form resembling a rose, and all 3 of her contracts seem to specialize in either offence, support/healing, or control. It was a well-rounded lineup.

 Chapter 232 Target

    After several more strategy sessions, and bringing Kain and the others to the Arena the day before thepetition started in order to register them and their contracts, it was finally time for the National Beast-Taming Tournament to begin.


    Kain woke up the morning of the tournament and put on the team uniform. The uniform featured a sleek, skin-tight ck athletic shirt crafted from a durable, heat-resistant and moisture-resistant fabric.


    The shirt was designed for maximumfort and flexibility, incorporating silver mesh panels that enhanced breathability during intense activities.


    A small Dark Moon crest was prominently disyed on the left side of Kain''s chest. Complementing the shirt were form-fitting ck pants that featured silver trim. Andstly, The lightweight ck sneakers, adorned with silver ents.


    Pleased with his appearance in the mirror, he headed down with Kairos to have breakfast and meet up with the others before they headed to the stadium. In arge dining room on the first floor of the hotel, Kain could see several other groups of college students in uniforms as well as what appeared to be school staffs.


    It looks like for the duration of thispetition, this hotel was being exclusively used by the various participating colleges.


    Kain even saw what appeared to be the representatives of Frozen Sun College, who they knew the least about. Kain couldn''t help but give them an extra nce. Most members of Frozen Sun College are already residents of the northern region, making it difficult to find any detail about them even if you go back to their high school days. After all, the entire northern region is rtively isted.


    However, based on the fact that most of the students of the college are from that region or those whose contracts and affinity would best grow in the northern region, it was safe to assume that most of the representatives of Frozen Sun probably had some type of ice-affinity.


    After finishing their breakfast, they headed as a group over to the arena. Kain could see the tourists pointing and whispering at them as they passed. Kain and the other first-years'' back couldn''t help but straighten slightly at the unfamiliar attention. Only now were they fully realizing the name recognition, attention, and expectations ced upon students at the top 5 colleges.


    -------------------------


    "Is that them?"


    Not only were tourists looking at Kain and the others, but students and staff from rival schools were also taking not of their arrival.


    Particrly, Serena and Kain amongst the first-years. Although Serena''s name wasn''t well-known amongst the public, the fact that a member of the famous Storm family had awakened independently a year ago was known to many of the better-informed beast-tamers in the capital.


    Despite things having quieted down thest few months, and even Kain himself forgetting about it, Kain''s name and face was actually the most well-known to the general public amongst all of the first-years from the top 5 colleges. This was due to the hundreds of articles written about the "genius young evolutionary nner" right after the evolutionary form of the Lumifin had been publicized.


    "Yeah, that''s them" A short freckled boy said while nodding his head towards Kain and Serena. His shoulder-length blonde hair just touching the Supernova ensignia on the red and orange uniform he was wearing.


    The boy next to him leaned against the wall in the shadows casually. His blood-red hair and eyes matched well with the predominantly dark red uniform. His extremely pale skin gave him an almost sickly appearance, which was in stark contrast to the smug smile on his face.


    "They don''t look that strong¡­I don''t know why Alexei and Dmitri talk like the points for the champion among the first-years is practically in Dark Moon''s pocket." His blood red lips twisted into a grimace of dissatisfaction.


    "Maybe your cousins are bluffing. Serena has a few months on us because she awoke early, but the importance of that short headstart is probably gone by now. Although I did hear rumours that she managed to also awaken the legendary gift of the Storm family, it''s not like that gift is unbeatable. Kain on the other hand¡­"


    Alexei and Dmitri''s cousin couldn''t help but let out a scoff as he interjected, "he''s nothing special. Sure he''s a talented evolutionary nner, I''ll give him that, but that doesn''t mean anything in apetition like this. From the public information that I read about him, his contracts don''t seem all that impressive.


    "He wasted one of his contract spots on a Vespirae Queen. Sure that queen seems pretty unique in that she only has females in her hive, but its not like Vespirae are particrly powerful, just one of my contracts can probably destroy that hive on its own. I also heard he''s got a golem now, again nothing special.


    Yeah, their defense is hard, but their weak once you expose and threaten to damage their core."


    "I did hear though that he has one contract that nobody''s been able to identify so far though. Not even a picture of it had managed to be taken. All anyone knows about it is that it''s of the mental attribute, and it seems to require being touched by some threads in order to have an effect."


    "If it requires being touched by a thread, then it''s still not much of a threat¡­I''d like to see the looks on Alexei''s and Dmitri''s faces when I pummel the first-year they keep bragging about into the ground." Red eyes staring at Kain narrowed sinisterly.


    "Ugh!" Kain couldn''t help but look around at the sudden chill that snaked down his spine. The instincts of beast-tamers is quite sensitive, but unfortunately he was unable to tell where the malicious gaze wasing from.


    Discover stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin


    ''Not that it matters¡­I''m sure that there are tons of people here who think of us as a threat. But no matter how much they''re on guard against me it''s useless. I have no intention of losing again to someone my age. I will start with crushing everyone we face here, and then I''ll defeat Serena at the next re-ranking too.''


    Kain continued forward casually, while putting the dozens of gazes behind him out of his mind. There was only one person his age worth his vignce.

 Chapter 233 The National Tournament Begins

    Kain and the others lined up in a row and made their onto the arena stage behind Ezra who was carrying arge ck banner with their school insignia on it.


    The air buzzed with excitement and anticipation, a palpable energy coursing through the stadium as students from various colleges entered one by one, each team proudly disying their own colors and crests.


    Discover hidden stories at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    They all climbed the stage behind their respective captains who were also carrying the banners of their college.


    Due to their college''s ranking, Dark Moon was located to the right of First Celestial Academy in the center.


    The captain of First Celestial Academy had blonde hair and green eyes, and a striking resemnce to Soren¡ªCassian Lysander. Soren''s older cousin who impressively was the captain of First Celestial Academy despite only being in his third year.


    Kain couldn''t help but notice the brief moment of tension between him and Soren as their respective teams passed one another on their way to the stage.


    Putting the potential family drama that had nothing to do with him out of his mind, Kain looked around the arena.


    The arena itself was a spectacle, a sprawling venue filled to the brim with spectators. The stands were a kaleidoscope of vibrant fan shirts, with gs and banners waving like a sea of colors under the bright midday sun.


    The atmosphere was electric, with the excited chatter of thousands of voices blending into a deafening roar, punctuated by the asional cheer as fans spotted their teams and favourite contestants.


    ''I hope they''re watching right now.''


    Kain had been sending orphanage money for a while now, especially after the business took off. But he knew that the orphanage director would be hesitant to spend it on anything considered non-essential. Therefore, a while ago Kain had purchased a television and had it delivered to the orphanage.


    To ensure that it wasn''t refused he''d even called ahead to let him know him important it was that everyone in the orphanage be able to witness his debut on the national stage.


    The crowd erupted into apuse and cheers as Princess Elena, who only looked to be in her mid-twenties despite being well into her forties, and the beloved younger sister of the current king, stepped forward to give the opening speech.


    She was dressed in a regal yet modern outfit that blended traditional elements with contemporary style, her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders.


    With a confident smile, Princess Elena raised her hand to calm the crowd, her voice resonating clearly through the arena''s sound system. "Wee, esteemedpetitors, loyal citizens, and distinguished guests! Today marks the beginning of an extraordinary event, where courage, skill, and the bond between beast and tamer will be tested like never before!"


    Her words ignited a wave of enthusiasm among the spectators, who responded with cheers and apuse.


    "Each of you has worked tirelessly to reach this point, training day in and day out, forging connections with your beasts, and honing your skills," ra continued, her gaze sweeping across the assembled teams, but lingering slightly longer than average on the faces of Soren and Cassian.


    Her sweet smile also dropped to induce a more solemn atmosphere.


    The crowd quieted, their attention fully captured as ra continued. "You, the future leaders of our great empire, stand before us as the next generation of protectors and guardians of the Celestial Empire.


    "Each battle you engage in here is a testament to your courage and dedication. You are not onlypeting for glory; you are preparing to safeguard the values that our ancestors fought for¡ªthe values of justice, integrity, andpassion. In this arena, you will demonstrate that you are ready to carry the torch of leadership, to stand as symbols of hope for our citizens.


    To act as the shield empire''s shield against its foreign enemies¡ªwhether they be man of beast."


    "Remember, true honor lies not in victory alone, but in how you conduct yourselves in the face of adversity. Treat your opponents with respect, and learn from every encounter, for each of you has the potential to be a beacon of light in times of darkness."


    With a determined gaze, Princess ra concluded, "As you embark on this journey, carry with you the knowledge that your actions here today will resonate far beyond these walls."


    At those words that almost felt like a pre-emptive chastisement, some of the more malicious thoughts and ns of the hot-blooded participants calmed down.


    "You are the future of our empire, and it is your duty to protect and uplift those around you. Now, let the games begin, and may each of you shine brightly!"


    The crowd erupted into apuse, the sound washing over Kain and his team like a wave.


    Everyone made their way down from the stage to their respective waiting rooms. Unfortunately, for some schools the quality of the waiting rooms were not all equal. However, as a member of a top 5 college, this was of no concern to Kain.


    Dark Moon College was naturally ces in one of the few rooms with a full floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the arena¡ªsimr to the private suites in certain sports arenas back on Earth.


    There were dozens of matches that would need to ur each day, many of which may take a long time if the school are evenly matched.


    However, although it may be unpleasant to hear for some schools, most of the attendees in the audience and those watching at home really only cared about the colleges within the top 10, particrly those within the top 5.


    Therefore, majority of the matches that did not have one of the top 10 colleges participating would ur at a nearby smaller stadium without television coverage.


    Likely to further excite the crowd, the opening match of the main arena was arranged to be the First Celestial Academy against a much weaker opponent who wasn''t even within the top 40 colleges.


    However, despite being aware that the match will probably be a one-sided beat down, the roars of the audience still increased in volume due to the appearance of the home team.

 Chapter 234 Opening Match

    The First Celestial Academy was facing a smaller college from a remote part of the northern region¡ªStarfrost College.


    Starfrost College was located in the mountains inhabited by gold-grade Crystal Eagles. Therefore, pretty much every student within the school had an affinity that could bind the Crystal Eagle. In fact, a young Crystal Eagle is given to every entering student for free.


    For those with only an average level of talent at D-grade or lower, and a weak family background, a free gold-grade spiritual creature was too great an offer to pass up, even if they had to move to a rtively cold and remote college in the north.


    Kain and the other first-years all sat up straighter as they examined who would probably be their greatest opponents in the tournament¡ªthe First Celestial Academy.


    Although there were no expectations for their opponents to actually hold out long enough to glean any significant amount of information or identify their trump cards, at least they''ll be able to see some of their contracts and/or gifts.


    Even if only a little bit of information is revealed in each match, by the time they have to face them for themselves, they''d thankfully not bepletely blind to their opponents'' information.


    Up first was the 1 vs 1 battle, and on behalf of the First Celestial, a boy smiling smugly with ombre hair that faded from dark at the roots to blonde at the tips took the stage.


    Although they didn''t have a lot of information on them, Kain was willing to bet that the boy was not one of the top members of their team. Most likely, simr to their own team, all the top 5 colleges were nning to conceal the top members of their teams.


    On behalf of Starfrost was an extremelyrge and bulky guy that looked to be more than twice the size of his opponent. However, despite his intimidating stature, nobody watching became more optimistic about his chances. In a world where people primarily use spiritual beast contracts and gifts to fight, people''s physiques weren''t particrly important.


    After all, no matter how impressive their build is, without an extremely powerful gift it''d be hard topare physically to most spiritual creatures.


    The representative of Starfrost summoned 3 spiritual creatures, all orange-grade.


    One was the expected Crystal Eagle, one resembled a pr bear with a light blue crystal in the center of its forehead, and one was a spotted blue, white, and grey leopard with long fangs that extended beyond its chin.


    On the other hand, the representative of First Celestial only summoned one contract¡ªa yellow-grade a Taranis.


    Taranis are extremely rare spiritual creatures, in fact there probably aren''t more than 3 in the entire Empire and its evolved form happens to be the contract of one of the nation''s few 9-star beast-tamers.


    They are a type of dragon-blooded unicorn. They are a deep purple so dark it appears ck from afar and have scales instead of fur. Their dark figure is asionally illuminated with shes of lightning, which has an almost mesmerizing effect as it illuminates the various colourful undertones in their scales.


    Strikingly, it had a snow-white mane that stood out against the rest of its body and gave the tall unicorn, several times the size of a normal horse, an almost handsome appearance.


    At the center of its forehead were three horns arranged vertically, with the one in the center being more than twice as long as the ones above and below it.


    As the match began, the three Starfrost creatures coordinated their attack. The Crystal Eagle took to the skies with a graceful arc, its wings slicing through the air as it summoned a small snowstorm to obscure the Taranis''s vision. The flurry of snowkes sparkled in the arena lights, creating a dazzling but disorienting spectacle.


    Meanwhile, the pr bear positioned itself to the side, its figure gradually blurred by the snow flying around, ready to pounce at a moment''s notice. It crouched low, muscles coiling like springs, its light blue crystal shimmering withtent power as it prepared to strike, likely preparing to use a skill that required some degree of charging time.


    The spotted leopard stealthily circled from behind, its keen eyes locked onto the Taranis''s movements, every fibre of its being focused on finding the right moment to attack. Kain could see a faint glow emitting from its long fangs and what appeared to be a viscous, transparent liquid with a blue tinge flowing from its fangs like saliva¡ªa poison?


    The atmosphere crackled with tension as the audience watched the Starfrost student execute his strategy. However, it wasn''t due to the suspense of the oue of the match, but rather due to anticipation of how powerful exactly this rare spiritual creature that they may never see again in their lives was.


    The Crystal Eagle screeched, diving in with blinding speed, its talons outstretched, creating a wind that whipped through the arena. However, the Taranis couldn''t even be bothered to shift its attention.


    At the same time, the pr bear charged, attempting to close the distance. The leopard took advantage of the diversion,unching itself towards the Taranis from its blind spot, its lean and muscr body moving with an elegant and soundless grace as it approached its enemy concealed by the flying snow.


    The audience gasped as the three creatures executed their n, a whirlwind of coordinated attacks that aimed to overwhelm the Taranis. The Crystal Eagle, high above, summoned icy shards that rained down like daggers, sparkling as they caught the light. The pr bear, powerful and relentless, lunged with its massive paws aimed directly at the Taranis''s nk.


    Discover stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Meanwhile, the leopard dashed forward, its instincts sharp, seeking to deliver a decisive blow from behind. It moved silently under the attacks of its allies which were meant to distract the enemy; the leopard was the true key to their team''s strategy. If it could evennd a small bite anywhere on the Taranis'' body, their team may stand a chance at victory.


    However, the Taranis remained perfectly still, exuding an aura of calm confidence. Its owner leaned casually against the arena''s edge, a smirk on his face, and a rapier in hand, as if he were enjoying a leisurely afternoon rather than a fierce battle.


    Suddenly, a low rumble echoed through the arena. The Taranis''s eyes glowed with a brilliant blue and purple light as it unleashed a powerful barrage of lightning energy into the surroundings that momentarily shocked the approaching enemies into immobility, their fur and feathers almostically standing up around them due to the static.


    However, Kain could tell that the electric discharge wasn''t even the true intention of the skill, it was merely a side-effect of the immense electric energy being summoned.


    The unicorn reared back, its three horns igniting with electric energy. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning fell from the heavens like a descending giant sword, converging on the entire stage and enveloping it in a radiant light.


    A storm of electricity surged through the arena, making it hard for anyone in the audience to see what was urring on the stage. The force of the move created a shockwave that knocked the three Starfrost creatures off their feet covered in electric burns, their attacks thwarted in a heartbeat.


    As the light faded, Kain and the others could get a better look at the stage. All three opponents were severely injured, and flickers of lightning could be seen discharging from their bodies as theyy twitching in pain, their movements erratic and desperate. It was not a pretty sight, and many couldn''t help wincing on their behalf.


    ''I hope the kids watching at home don''t get too scared¡­'' Kain thought worriedly. He hadn''t anticipated the battles being so gruesome when he''d insisted that all the members of the orphanage make sure to watch the tournament.


    The overwhelming disy of power left the spectators in stunned silence for nearly ten whole seconds, before the arena erupted into deafening cheers.


    "That Taranis was practically ying with them," Kairos said with a sense of foreboding. He was a member of the top 5 more skilled in control than frontalbat, therefore he wasn''t feeling optimistic about facing such an offensively powered opponent. Thankfully, all of the 1-vs-1 matches were handled by Kain, Serena, or Soren.


    Instead, he and Ranya were in only the team battles where they could shine best.


    Kain turned to his right to see Soren, who would be handling their first 1-vs-1 match to see if he was at all intimidated. He found him looking at the field with a twinkle in his eye, and a familiar expression on his face of rivalry that he usually only looked at Kain with.


    ''Don''t tell me¡­''


    "Hmph! They''re all acting like it''s a big deal to beat three orange-grade spiritual creatures from a low-ranking school with one move. I''ll send my opponent packing without even summoning my contracts," Soren boasted with his chin raised.


    ''Sigh¡­''

 Chapter 235 The Subjectivity of Genius

    The remaining matches for First Celestial were also as quick, if not quicker.


    They also maintained their humiliating tactic of defeating their enemies with as few contracts revealed as possible.


    While for the 3-vs-3 they had to send up 3 participants to the stage, each member of First Celestial only summoned one contract each, while their opponents summoned 3 each.


    However, even despite the severe numerical disadvantage of 3-vs-9, First Celestial still won overwhelmingly.


    Experience tales at m v|l e''-NovelBin


    And because they won the first two matches, there was no need for the 5-vs-5, therefore the two strongest members of the top 5 first years at the College were still not revealed.


    The pattern remained the same for the upper years as well. The 1-vs-1 battle winning with only one contract revealed, and then winning with only 3 contracts against the opponent 9, for the 3-vs-3. Not a single year level had to participate in a 5-vs-5 battle.


    However, it was while watching the higher year levels that Kain made a discovery. Perhaps because the National Tournament is one of the most watched event in the Empire, the professors did not waste time exining the obviousrger rules of thepetition, and instead spent time rifying some of the smaller rules that viewers at home would likely not even be aware of.


    For example, the rule that for a poison to be used inpetition, an antidote must be provided, or that only beast-tamers can wear equipment for protection and not the spiritual beasts.


    However, there was one super obvious rule that nobody had bothered exining to Kain¡ªregardless of level, only a maximum of 3 contracts could be summoned by a beast-tamer at any given time.


    Which was why, despite there being many 5-star beast-tamers among the upper years, they still only used 3 contracts each. Kain had thought the second-years, who were the ones who had mostly been responsible for helping them train, had limited themselves to only 3 contracts each in order to level the ying field with the first-years, who had at most 3 contracts.


    Therefore, for those with more than 3 contracts, a lot of strategy went into which ones to use for each opponent, and the possible lineupbinations were endless.


    After making this discovery, Kain honestly felt like an idiot. Yes, he''d never had the privilege of watching the tournament before, but if each side had been able to summon all of their contracts in a 5 vs 5 match, there could have ended up being more that 50 contracts on the arena stage at a given time.


    The stage, although massive and the size of multiple football fields ced together would have felt crowded with over 50 ginormous green-grade spiritual creatures on the field at once.


    Kain, couldn''t help but shudder at the thought. Even with the shield around the stage to protect the audience from bing casualties of skills flying off the stage, it''d be hard-pressed to withstand the attacks of 50 mid-level spiritual creatures at once.


    To ensure that there were no idents, every match in both the main and smaller arenas would probably require at least an 8-star beast-tamer to preside over it, and considering individuals at that level are the most powerful, and busy, in the Empire, it''d be aplete waste of their time.


    All of First Celestial''s matches across all year levels ended in less than half an hour, therefore the stage was quickly taken over by another top 5 college¡ªStarfire College.


    From what Kain had seen of the schedule the first round of matches would extend over 2 days, and Dark Moon was scheduled to have its first match today and then rest tomorrow. Supernova and Frozen Sun College would be having their first matches tomorrow.


    Considering that they needed to fill up several hours each day with matches, and that most matches featuring a College in the top 20 were eligible to be on the main arena stage, they probably divided up the top 5 colleges who would draw in the most viewers between the 2 days.


    Otherwise, if all of the top colleges appeared in a row, viewers would probably tune out the second that all 5 colleges finished their matches unless they were tuning in due to a personal connection with a college outside of the top 5.


    Starfire College adopted a simr strategy to First Celestial, whether that was nned in advance or adopted after seeing First Celestial''s match out of pride like Soren, Kain didn''t know.


    Their matches ended even faster than First Celestial''s, not because they seemed stronger, but because their opponent was that weak.


    They were facing a College ranked in the low 80s. It was the type of College that students would only go to if they were a (1) a local and (2) had an affinity so poor that they couldn''t get in anywhere else.


    Unsurprising, all of the representatives of that school were still 2-star beast tamers, and even the highest level fourth-year at that college was only a 3-star beast-tamer. Not a single representative, regardless off year level had a contract stronger than orange-grade.


    It was at that moment that Kain realized the unrealistic expectations of cultivation speed Kain had for those in his age range.


    Even the lowest ranked student among the first years, Aria, had an orange-grade contract and would probably break through to being a 3-star beast tamer before the school year started again. Not to mention that she also had a pretty useful gift.


    But when looking at the Empire as a whole, the strength of students at the top 5 colleges waspletely abnormal.


    In Kain''s hometown, the strongest individuals in the entire city were several times Kain''s age but were only 4-star beast tamers.


    The average student Kain''s age with a C or D affinity and only a bronze or silver quality contract would probably be considered as quite talented if they already became a 2-star beast-tamer at this age.


    ''The fact that Aria would be considered a genius at most schools is a tragedy¡­'' Kain thought, in pity at the dismal talent supply at most schools.

 Chapter 236 Signboard

    The day dragged on and started to darken as they waited for their turn. Simr to First Celestial who was the opening match, since Dark Moon was the next highest ranked college meant to appear to day, they were arranged as thest match of the day.


    Therefore, Kain and the others had to suffer through watching dozens of matches that were quite boring considering that most of them were either one-sided beat downs, or even the stronger side was not particrly impressive to Kain.


    However, there were a few shocking developments, surprisingly a second-year from a college ranked only in the 40s managed to win the 1-vs-1 match against the second-year representative of the 13th ranked college.


    Admittedly, the loss probably happened due to the conceit of the stronger side not sending out their strongest student, however it was the only case of the underdog winning a match that day so it was memorable.


    One of the professors travelling with them said that the likely cause for the victory seems to be due to that underdog student awakening a gift recently that increased the power of his contracts'' mes and added an almost corrosive property to them. It was an extremely useful gift if paired well with suitable contracts.


    However, the professor said that the low-ranked college would likely not be able to hold on to him after exposing him on this stage.


    Looking around Kain could see some members in the front rows of the audience, likely staff and scouts collecting information for various schools, rushing from their seats with hungry expressions.


    Although, the boy would be nothing special enough to specially recruit among the top 5 colleges, many others would probably offer lucrative conditions in order to recruit him into their school for the next year.


    Finally, it was the turn of Dark Moon College when the sun had already long left the sky.


    By this point, Kain''s eyelids felt heavy enough that he almost could even be bothered to make his way to the side of the arena where participants on standby should be waiting as their colleagues fought on stage.


    Unfortunately, none of the professors seemed sympathetic to his reasoning that his presence wasn''t even necessary for this first match since he wasn''t even participating unless the unlikely happened and Soren, Ranya and Kairos some how lost to opponents far weaker than them.


    Instead Kain was forcefully dragged to the side of the stage half propped up by Kairos while almost pulling a muscle in his jaw from yawning so hard.


    Thump


    cing Kain roughly on one of the benches next to the stage, Kairos stomped off to register his attendance for the 3-vs-3 battle that would be taking ce. Thankfully, since by default all of their participants were automatically ted to take part in the 5-vs-5, should ite to that, Kain didn''t have to move from his new spot.


    However, despite his strong urge to nap, the grogginess gradually faded from Kain''s mind once in front of the crowd. Not due to the excitement from the atmosphere¡ªeven the crowd had begun to lost most of its energy as the day progressed, although the atmosphere picked back up slightly at the appearance of Dark Moon.


    And it was also not due to the anticipation of their team''s debut match¡ªtheir was no suspense for this match and its not like he was participating either.


    ''Ugh¡­'' ncing around Kain realized the real ulterior motive of the professors and why they insisted on Kain appearing at the side of the stage.


    Despite Kain not participating. Despite the actual participants climbing the stage to partake in the match at right that moment. Despite the fact that Soren was a member of the ROYAL FAMILY!


    ''Why the hell are you all watching ME?!''


    Everywhere Kain looked at least half of the cameras and audience members that should be watching the stage, instead had their gazes stuck on his figure. Under the watchful eyes of practically the entire nation, naturally it was impossible to fall asleep.


    As Kain''s expression contorted in irritation, he saw that all of the attending professors of Dark Moon had a smug expression on their faces.


    Despite the real height of the buzz from his discovery of the Lumifin evolution having subsided months ago, it still looks like many in the audience were surprised by the "genius" boy that took practically the entire nation be storm.


    In fact, Kain didn''t know this, but while the interest in him seemed to have died down on the surface, at least based on the number of news articles about him, mentions of Kain in informal media spaces such as in forums was still quite strong.


    In fact, Kain even had his own fan page (as well as an anti-fan one).


    Kain had been unaware of this attention due to him not spending much time online¡­but the college was not. In fact, they were subtly supporting the spread of his name online and some staff wouldeven asionally "slip up" and leak interesting information about him online to ensure that interest in him never fully died.


    After all, every year there is a new beast-taming genius¡­but they had been using Kain''s name to attract significant attention to the evolutionary nning department as well.


    What was the use of this?


    Well many spiritual creatures had more difficult evolutionary conditions, or even a following evolutionary form wasn''t even known.


    Therefore, many individuals took a great interest in Kain''s supposed ''gift'' and abilities as a nner that may help their spiritual contracts reach new heights.


    The increase in nner requests Kain had received over the months were unknowingly already screened by the College, in reality hundreds of individuals had made inquiries about him.


    The Dean of the nner department at Dark Moon watching the broadcast at home, couldn''t help but smile broadly and develop a ruddyplexion at the repeated focus of the camera on Kain''s figure.


    ''Ahh¡­you truly are the best signboard for our department¡­'' He thought while staring at Kain''s face with so much affection that Kain would surely shudder in disgust if he were to see the expression in person.

 Chapter 237 Stealing the Show

    Thankfully, Soren didn''t seem to be aware that he was unfairly having to divide the audience''s attention with Kain.


    Even more upsetting, in the battle for attention he actually seemed to be on the losing end against the half-asleep boy doing nothing but sitting at the side of the stage.


    Soren took the stage confidently with his chin raised arrogantly and firmly believed that the sudden increase in audience discussion and attention werepletely due to his handsome figure¡­not because thementators and many members of the audience had recognized Kain and were now sharing all of the information that they knew about the boy to those around them.


    It''s also good that Soren didn''t notice that the loudest area of the audience consisted of many members waving banners with the image of Kain, Lumifin, or its evolved form Gilded Serafin.


    However, Kain noticed the small area of fans and kindly gave them a wave in greeting.


    With an unnecessary theatrical flourish of his hand, Soren''s right arm transformed into that of a dragon''s. He let out a small smirk as ecstatic screams erupted from a corner of the audience¡­unaware that this transformation happened to be at the same time as Kain''s wave and those cheers were from his fans who weren''t paying the least bit of attention to Soren.


    However, Soren was further emboldened by the cheers, and made a cringeye hither motion with his now transformed finger at the opponent. Thankfully, majority of the eyes in the stadium were not on him at the moment. Explore more stories with m,v l''e-NovelBin


    But one of the few eyes that were, was his incensed opponent from Pioneer Beast Academy. After all, even if they were aware that they were outssed by their opponent, that didn''t mean that they had no pride as beast-tamers.


    It was extremely humiliating for a student the same age as him to be practically proiming to the entire nation that he could defeat him without even summoning his spiritual creatures.


    However, he didn''t let hot-headedness cloud his judgement and still chose to summon all three of his contracts¡ªtwo orange-grade spiritual creatures, and one red-grade one.


    All 3 contracts were cats, the 2 orange-grade ones were of fire and lightning attributes and slightlyrger than the third. Meanwhile, the red-grade contract had a lovely and innocent appearance and gave off an icy chill.


    ''Ahh¡­Maybe I should consider adopting a cat¡­'' Kain thought while looking in slight envy at the boy from the opposite team. After all, none of Kain''s contracts were what one would describe as ''cuddly.''


    Kain didn''t agree with Soren''s arrogant strategy and, judging by their expressions, neither did the professors. However, the gap with their opponent was toorge for there to even be a significant risk of Soren being overturned.


    Although disrespectful, Kain still had no worries about their losing and started to get sleepy again as he leisurely counted the kittens, both on and off the stage.


    ''One kitten¡­two kittens¡­three kittens¡­oh there''s a fourth kitten over there¡­''


    As the match began, Soren''s three opponents took a moment to assess him, their gazes steely with determination.


    The fire cat, sleek and nimble, flicked its tail, mes licking at the air around it. The lightning cat crackled with energy, its body twitching with anticipation. And the red-grade ice cat emitted an icy chill, a deceptive calmness masking its deadly intent.


    They all sensed their beast-tamer''s indignance at Soren''s arrogance and were more determined than ever to make him pay for it.


    With a dramatic flourish, Sorenunched himself forward, his dragon arm slicing through the air as he taunted, "Let''s see if you can make me summon even one of my contracts!" He felt invincible, the earlier roar of the crowd (not for him) igniting his ego.


    The fire cat was the first to strike, charging at him with mes trailing behind it, a zinget racing towards its target. Soren dodged effortlessly, his dragon arm extending to block the next attack from the lightning cat, which burst forth with a speed that caught even him off guard.


    "Is that all you''ve got?" Soren jeered. His arrogance was palpable, a bright beacon for his opponents to zero in on.


    The red-grade ice cat remained stationary, its icy aura filling the air, seemingly biding its time.


    The two orange-grade cats nked Soren, one attacking from the left while the other struck from the right.


    Soren managed to parry their attacks, but as he focused on the two, he failed to notice the red-grade cat unleashing the skill it had been charging for a while. An icy wave swept across the arena, but despite the strong appearance of the skill, it only had a minor effect on the higher-level Soren and caused his left foot to momentarily freeze.


    However, since the frozen foot was timed perfectly with when Soren was dodging the others'' attacks, it caused him to stumble to his knee momentarily.


    Capitalizing on the great opportunity, the fire cat lunged at him again, this time sessfullynding a strike. Its fiery ws raked across the side of his face, igniting his anger with searing pain. "You little¡ª!" he shouted, momentarily losingposure, his bravado dimmed by the unexpected blow.


    "Even a wolf should use its full strength when hunting a rabbit¡­" Kain murmured to himself, a mix of mild concern and mostly amusement ying across his features.


    The fire cat, sensing the shift, leaped forward again, determined to capitalize on Soren''s moment of weakness. But Soren was quick to recover, and finally decided to fight more intelligently.


    His determination red like the very mes attacking him. He quickly sprouted a dragon''s wing from his back, creating a powerful gust of wind that pushed the fire cat back, giving him just enough space to regain control of his body.


    "You think you can take me down that easily?" Soren challenged, now fully focused. With a newfound intensity, he withdrew the wing and transformed his legs to charge at the nearby lightning cat, using his enhanced speed to close the distance in an instant.


    However, a barely noticeableyer of ice appeared on the stage before his rushing figure, causing him to once again lose bnce and have to give up on the attack.


    In that moment of distraction, the lightning cat retaliated,unching a surprise attack at his face. Soren barely managed to block it with his arm, but the force of the hit knocked him off bnce, the pain now a sharp contrast to his earlier arrogance.


    Realizing that the seemingly weakest ice-attribute kitten was his most irritating opponent, Soren, after regaining his bnce, darted in its direction instead.


    He dashed forward, avoiding the iing attacks from both the fire and lightning cats, andnded a decisive blow that sent the ice cat crashing to the ground unconscious in an instant.


    Finally, Sorenunched himself at the remaining opponents. The fire and lightning cats, battered and bruised, managed to withstand a couple of blows each before also copsing.


    Around the same time, the crowd also erupted into shocked screams that Soren had assumed were for his performance. After all, although there were some embarrassing moments, he still defeated his enemies alone in only around a minute.


    But in actuality, while counting kittens Kain unconsciously lured his mind back into a sleepy state and his sleeping form was caught on camera as his head slumped over onto the shoulder of an iparably beautiful girl.


    The camera captured a face so beautiful that it caused many of the audience to scream¡ªsome in shock at her beauty, some fangirls of Kain in heartbreak that their idol was now resting on her shoulder, and some young men in the audience in indignance as they wished to take Kain''s ce.


    ''Something smells really good¡­'' was Kain''sst thought as his mind sank into oblivion.

 Chapter 238 Placating Kairos

    When Kain awoke it was already the next day and he was in his room, unaware of how he even got there.


    However, based on the pointed reing from Kairos all throughout breakfast, it was safe to assume that it was Kairos who''d protected his beauty sleep and allowed him to get back the room without waking up.


    "Ahem! Thanks for carrying me back. But you know, you could have just woken me up¡­" Kain said awkwardly as Kairos'' expression only grew colder.


    "No I couldn''t!" Kairos expression contorted with immense rage. "I tried every method short of maiming you and you didn''t wake up! Did you take some kind of drug?!"


    Kain lowered his head awkwardly, but also in confusion. Beast-tamers are usually quite light sleepers, Kain included.


    Otherwise, if they were sleeping when an enemy approached, they wouldn''t be able to react in time. Therefore, all beast-tamers were subconsciously on guard, even in their sleep.


    Being able to sleep so deeply would have to mean he''d felt safe enough topletely let down his guard¡­but in a crowded stadium full of people watching him, and his greatest rival Serena so close by, that''d be absolutely impossible¡­Right?


    "I didn''t¡­I''m not sure why you couldn''t wake me up. Maybe you didn''t try hard enough?" Kain proposed awkwardly. However, this exnation only made Kairos'' enraged face even redder.


    Kain moved his eyes awkwardly everywhere and not make eye contact, probing his mind for a possible exnation.


    ''Maybe it was that smell¡­'' Kain decided after searching back through his vague memories.


    "It won''t happen again I promise." Kain said while cing his hands together, and trying to make his expression as cute and pitiful as possible.


    But Kairos'' disgusted face didn''t seem to appreciate Kain''s attempts. Explore hidden tales at m,v l''-NovelBin


    "Ahem! I know. What if I work for you as an Evolutionary nner for free once? Since you''re bound to cursed constructs, and all cursed constructs are unique, its moreplicated finding a suitable evolutionary form for them.


    Therefore, a talented nner will need to research a brand new n just for you." Kain proposed, finally regaining his confidence after talking about a field he was experienced in.


    Kain could tell from Kairos'' expression that he''d already put down most of his anger at Kain''s proposal, and was just continuing to feign irritation so as not to seem so easily cated.


    Kain decided to give onest push. He pulled out his phone and search up one of the more recent gossip articles about him.


    "Look right here," He said while pointing at the screen, "That''s usually how much I charge per consult, not to mention how difficult it is to even arrange a meeting with me. With this we should be more than even."


    He straightened his back in pride. For once, having so many articles about him online wasn''t annoying. At least it came in handy during times like this when he needed to brag.


    Kairos, finally reluctantly nodded in resignation. Although, the slight smirk on his face belied the fact that he was actually ecstatic about this deal. After all, as Kain''s closest directpetitor, it wasn''t even for any of the members of the top 5 to reach out to Kain for help.


    Now he not only got the help of Kain''s "gift" to help him deal with an issue that''s been hanging over his head for a while, he got the service for free!


    "Fill me in on what happened after I fell asleep." Kain said, while picking up a pastry to munch on.


    "Nothing much¡­We all won our matches. Both us and the upper-years. Since we don''t have a match today, the professors said that we can choose to watch the broadcast in our rooms or go to our college''s personal observation box to watch the remaining matches."


    After thinking about it, Kain decided to watch the matches in person, and based on the crowded state of their personal box, it looks like many of the other participants also had the same thoughts.


    After all, there were many details about the battle that can only be seen well in person.


    Unfortunately, simr to yesterday, most of the higher-ranked schools concealed their strengths as much as possible, so they weren''t able to obtain a significant amount of information. The gap in strength between the top and lower ranked colleges was too great to force the members of the top 5 colleges to reveal any of their cards.


    There were hundreds colleges within the Celestial Empire, however only the top 100 were even eligible to participate in the National Tournament.


    As a student at a top 5 College, Kain''s school was automatically always allowed to participate, so he wasn''t clear on how the ranks were distinguished among the lower-ranked schools to decide who participates.


    However, he had vaguely heard only those who were in the top 50 were guaranteed to participate again next year. There seemed to be preliminaries held throughout the to decide the remaining 50 schools participating.


    Therefore, all of the teams that won their matches yesterday were able to secure their tickets to the National Tournament next year.


    For some of the lower-ranked schools with no hopes of winning, that was their ultimate goal whening here, and so they felt much more rxed after sessfully passing one round than they did yesterday.


    This was in contrast to the mid to higher-ranked schools, who usually got more anxious with each round they passed under the pressure of getting a better rank than the previous year.


    Kain could more urately see the differences in tension when the draws for their second round opponents began.


    Although, members of the upper-ranked colleges were still pretty rxed, since the officials would make sure the higher ranked teams wouldn''t face each other so early.


    Shortly, Dark Moon''s opponent for the next round was revealed, a college in top 30. After that was revealed, he could immediately see many faces in the crowd crumble, either members of or supporters of their next opponent. Kain''s face also crumbled after their opponent was revealed. Unfortunately, it looked like he''d still be benched for the next match.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 239 Kains Debut

    Dark Moon, without suspense easily defeated their next opponents. However, their opponent for the third match was not immediately revealed. After the second round there were now 25 teams. Of the teams 25 within the top 50 that had been eliminated, they would alsopete amongst each other.


    This has two purposes:


    1) Determining a more precise ranking for each of the teams within the top 50, which will then impact things such as resource allocation. After all, how could a school strong enough to be ranked 26 or 27 be roughly ranked into a "top 50" category and given the same amount of resources from the country as those ranked 49 and 50.


    Since the ultimate importance of ones rank in the national tournament is seen in how many resources are ultimately allocated to that college for the rest of the year, a more precise ranking is needed.


    2) The second purpose is to bring the total number ofpeting teams up to 30. This ensures that any teams strong enough to rank higher were not wrongfully eliminated due to facing a college in the top 5, while also evening out the number ofpeting teams from 25 to 30.


    Therefore, all of the students who had already safely advanced into the top 25 were given an extra day of rest before their opponents for the next round were revealed.


    By this round, all of the top 5 colleges were still considered seeds and so there was no risk of drawing one another. However, all of the remaining colleges were fair game.


    Not that anyone at Dark Moon was worried about their opponent for the next round, whoever it may be¡ªthey were confident to defeat anyone ranked 6 and under.


    However, that didn''t mean that their opponent for the next round wasn''t important. Naturally, all of the colleges were hoping for a weaker opponent¡ªeven those colleges at the top.


    After all, if you could fight against the a weaker school and conceal more of your cards for use inter matches, who would want to face against a stronger team?


    However, Kain didn''t know what to say about the luck of their captain Ezra who was arranged to represent them at the drawing ceremony.


    Somehow, of the 25 colleges outside of the top 5, they were eligible to draw, he had managed to draw the rank 8 Lunaris Vale Academy.


    Faced with the first opponent that can put up a decent fight, Kain had a slight hope that he''d finally get to see some of the action.


    And his hopes became a reality at the briefing right after their next opponents were announced. Kain would be responsible for the 1-on-1 battle against Lunaris Vale Academy, who they suspected would be sending foreigner Elysara Virelith, who had been specially highlighted in their notes about potentialpetitors.


    Everyone, especially Kain, seemed satisfied with arrangement. Everyone, that is, except for one person¡­


    Soren fidgeted in his seat, irritation shing across his face. "I should fight her," he grumbled, casting a pointed look toward the tournament board disyed at the front of the briefing room where Lunaris Vale''s emblem¡ªa delicate flower entwined with sharp thorns¡ªwas disyed. "I can easily take her."


    The teachers exchanged nces, clearly not as convinced that he''d EASILY take her. "Soren," one of the lead instructors responsible for their strategies began, "it''s not about strength alone. You''ve alreadypeted in several solo and 3-3 matches; whereas she is virtually unknown.


    They have a lot more information about you than we have about her, and can therefore make more targeted strategies against you."


    "But she''s an Elorian!" Soren protested, crossing his arms defiantly. "How tough can some flowers be?"


    "Enough," the instructor said firmly, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You''re not suited for this match. Not to mention you are indispensable part of the team of 3. Since this will likely be our most challenging match yet, we need you to save all of your energy for that match. Kain will handle the fight." Once the instructor emphasize his importance, Soren seemed to be somewhat cated.


    Soren huffed but eventually relented, knowing better than to argue further with the teachers. The strategy had been meticulouslyid out, and it was crucial for them to utilize each member''s strengths effectively.


    The next day, the excitement Kain felt intensified. Finally, he would be making his debut!


    Thankfully, Kain didn''t have to wait the whole day in order to finally release this pent up excitement. It seems like they arranged First Celestial to be the finale match today.


    On the other hand, Dark Moon was arranged topete first. Unlike the other top 5 colleges who all drew significantly weaker opponents ranked somewhere in the 20s. The match between Dark Moon and Lunaris Vale was the only match containing a member of the top 5 colleges with some degree of suspense and tension about the oue.


    Nobody thought that Dark Moon would lose though. But they definitely believe that it will be a close battle¡ªprobably the most exciting one yet.


    Therefore, they probably wanted to use their match to further ignite the excitement of the crowd since it was one of the most anticipated match up of the day.


    Kain made his way to the stage, and the volume of the crowd noticeably increased by several levels once they all realized that one of the most famous contestants within thepetition would be making his debut in this match.


    Kain in his uniform stood across from what looked to be a child with light green eyes and hair. The differences in their heights and apparent ages made the scene even more shocking.


    Discover hidden stories at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Thementators went into exining the features of the Elorians for those civilians that were unfamiliar and how, despite her appearance, she was actually several years older than Kain.


    With the beep of the starting whistle from the refereeing staff member, both Kain and his opponent summoned their respective contracts.

 Chapter 240 Kains Debut (2)

    As the match began, Kain quickly assessed the arena and his opponent. Elysara, confident and poised, began weaving her own strategy as she summoned her contracts.


    All three of them had the appearances of roses. However, the colours of their petals all differed. And from what Kain had read in the report, so did their abilities.


    One of the roses was white, and from what Kain knew was an extremely rare spiritual nt called the Dream Flower that could only grow within a relic controlled by the Elowen royal family.


    Simr to its name, the Dream Flower had a dreamy quality and was said to be a species closely tied to the elf-like ancestors of the Elorians.


    It would typically appear white under ordinary lighting condition, but directly under the moonlight, it will reveal its original stunning appearance.


    Under the moon, it supposedly had an almost translucent quality, constantly emitting the 5 colours of the rainbow. Unfortunately, only under the moonlight can its truly dreamy and magnificent appearance be seen, and due to its rarity very few people have seen its true appearance.


    At the moment it appeared on the arena, an overwhelming amount of white petals were scattered throughout the battlefield, it was difficult for Kain to discern all of the functions of the petals, but Kain did instantly notice a drastic decrease in his perception abilities.


    His enhanced senses that he''d unconsciously gotten used to as he increased in strength, were now lowered to a level more close to when he''d been a 1-star beast-tamer.


    Kain assumed that this was the contract that was responsible for her control abilities.


    The second rose, vibrant and fiery, pulsed with raw energy. Kain recognized it immediately as Elysara''s offensive contract, capable of delivering devastating attacks. Even from afar, Kain could tell that the red petals that should have appeared delicate, had a sharp knife-like quality to them.


    The final rose was aqua-colored, and emitted a soothing green mist with a refreshing quality that Kain assumed would rapidly heal any injuries made by Kain''s contracts¡ªtaking on the role of the healer in his opponent''s lineup.


    Kain on the otherhand, did not want to reveal Bea too soon. The mental attribute is most effective when working against unprepared enemies. After all, there were various skills and equipment that could defend against mental attacks.


    Most of the participants were not wearing them because the mental attribute was rare and not often seen, so he didn''t need to take the initiative to inform his future opponents that he had a contract with this attribute beforehand.


    Some, with better intelligenceworks, may already be aware of some of Bea''s details, but Kain still considered her his trump card and didn''t want to reveal her to so many eyes this early on.


    Therefore, only Queen and her guards, and Aegis would bepeting in this battle.


    Almost at the same time the summoned contracts appeared, the battle began.


    As the petals of the red rose unfurled, they transformed into a flurry of sharp projectiles,unching toward Kain like a barrage of arrows. However, Aegis was already prepared. Aegis manipted the stones on the stage, as well as those integrated into his own body, in order to produce arge shield covering both Kain and all the Vespids.


    The Dream Flower continued to scatter its white petals across the arena, further clouding Kain''s senses. He struggled to maintain focus, and the difficulty of remaining lucid increased with every passing moment.


    Kain could tell that if he had not been extremely resistant to mental attribute attacks due to the feedback from his contract with Bea, he may have alreadypletely lost many of his senses.


    Thankfully, the Vespids also had an extremely high resistance to mental attribute attacks, while the only consciousness within Aegis to be impaired was located in a microscopic organism concealed and protected by severalyers of rock.


    Neither of his contracts were particrly affected.


    The Vespid Sentinelsunched their projectiles, the stingers slicing through the air with enhanced speed. The red rose responded by releasing more of the red petals, deflecting the iing strikes. Kain saw Elysara''s confidence grow as her beasts seemed to thrive in the chaos, bolstered by the healing mist from the aqua rose.


    Not wanting to drag out the match for too long, and knowing that he wouldn''t need to fight again soon, Kain decided to reveal some of his methods to boost his contracts abilities.


    Using royal edict to boost her guards, and then instructing Queen to stand in the way of a deflected petal to trigger the berserk effect of the guards, they experienced a massive surge in strength.


    Elysara''s white rose red, and the white petals formed swirling patterns that began to twist and twine around Kain and his creatures. "Entrap!" shemanded, and Kain felt the pressure of the petals constricting around him, further dampening his senses.


    "Aegis!" Kain shouted, urging his contract to reshape the ground again. Aegis responded by creating rocky protrusions, pushing against the constricting petals. With a massive effort, he reshaped the terrain to break free from the Dream Flower''s grasp.


    At the same time, the now enhanced guards were attacking the aqua coloured rose. At the same time, to reduce its healing abilities, he instructed Eve, who was able to control the more powerful life-attributepared to their nt-attribute, to impede its healing abilities to the best of her abilities¡ªa strategy that Kain had been working on in the Training Arena for just such an opponent.


    Seeing the multitude of injuries appear on her contract, but the sudden inability to heal them, instantly made Kain''s opponent extremely flustered.


    At the same time Aegis unleashed a seismic shockwave that rippled through the ground, destabilizing the battlefield and disorienting Elysara''s creatures. The red rose faltered for a moment, and Kain was aiming to seize such an opportunity.


    Unfortunately, not everything could go ording to his carefullyid out ns.She wasn''t a specially gged opponent for no reason.

 Chapter 241 Violent Ending

    Suddenly the originally white petals began to be stained ck¡ªalmost as though they were being gradually dyed with ink.


    At the same time Kain began to gradually lose all feeling from his limbs, a numbing sensation washing over him. He struggled to maintain his focus, each movement feeling like it was weighed down by an invisible force.


    Simrly, the feedback from his contracts also revealed that their bodies began to feel heavier, although the impact was not as great on them as it was on Kain.


    It was disconcerting; he could sense the drain of their spiritual power and health with each passing moment. Although the speed of the drainage wasn''t rapid. If given enough time it''d surely have a decisive impact on the oue of the match.


    The energy being siphoned from their bodies was being diverted to the previously gravely injured aqua-coloured rose. Within moments, the pesky opponent that Kain though he''d finally managed to get rid of was almost fully healed.


    Kain could see a vine with rose thorns covering it, attached to the aqua-coloured rose and assumed that it was responsible for signifying the target of where the energy should go.


    Since their intelligence was greatly reduced, Kain had Queen continuouslyunch a rejuvenating wind to ensure that the negative skill effect of reduced intelligence after going berserk would not have as much of an impact and so that they could urately follow his instructions.


    He instructed the Vespid Guards to attack the vine, and although hardy, with all of the boosts being provided to them it was still eventually cut through by them.


    Unfortunately, by that point, much of Kain''s efforts to injure his opponent had been reversed. The aqua-coloured rose, which had seemed on the brink of copse, now stood defiantly, its petals shimmering with renewed life.


    Thankfully, a couple of ejected stingers from their previous attacks, remained lodged in his opponent, and with their new effect of slowly absorbing energy from their targets, the aqua-coloured rose was incapable ofpletely healing. Surprisingly, his opponent didn''t seem to have noticed this problem yet, possibly because the time they''d been lodged inside of the rose hadn''t been for very long.


    Moreover, as long as Eve continued disrupting its ability to heal, the stingers would eventually be able to finish off the job. He only needs to bide for time now to finish off one of his opponents.


    He only needed to bide his time now to finish off one of his opponents.


    At the same time he had Aegis produce a container only slightlyrger than the aqua-coloured rose around it by manipting the earth.


    Although doing so could not prevent the control and release of the healing mist, it had the benefit of preventing its allies from helping to remove the stingers.


    Also, whatever skill resulted in the petals turning ck, didn''t seem to be easily reunched and the Dream Flower seemed to have a slightly more wilted appearance, as though exhausted from the use of the skill.


    Likely suspecting Kain''s new target, the red rose red up, creating a barrier of sharp petals that swirled around itself and its allies.


    Forming a shield, Kain decided to have Aegis breakthrough with force.


    Marching towards the enemy, and serving as a shield for the guards following closely behind him, soon Aegis'' massive figure was right in front of the enemy.


    However, instead of attacking the enemy immediately, Kain''s next actions surprised the audience.


    The guards following closely behind actuallyunched their stingers into the right arm of the massive golem. Thankfully, Aegis had no sense of pain, otherwise it''d be an extremely torturous experience.


    Aegis transformed his right arm into a massive club that incorporated the embedded stingers. However, now the stingers were now having their sharp points facing outward, rather than into Aegis'' rocky exterior.


    The result was a spiked club that had be one of Kain''s favourite transformations for Aegis developed during training. Continue reading at m|v-l''e -NovelBin


    The reason Kain chose such a roundabout method of producing this weapon was because he realized during the training that while producingrge and crude objects was easy for Aegis, finer details like decoration or adding many sharp points, like now, was not easy for him¡ªdraining an excessive amount of energy and time.


    Additionally, the club made with the help of the Vespirae also had the effect of siphoning off energy from any creature hit with it.


    Moving from behind the massive shield temporarily created from stone, Aegis began a crazy bashing spree.


    Watching Aegis, Kain couldn''t help making the slightly disturbing yet amusing connection to the wack-a-mole game back on Earth, alternating back and forth between both the red and white flowers.


    At the same time, the guards also provided support andunched attacks.


    Since the aqua-coloured rose''s healing abilities were reduced, and much of its energy was being siphoned off, the healing buffs applied to its allies were greatly reduced.


    Several women in the crowd couldn''t help but wince at the eventual scene that looked as though a car had run over a beautiful bouquet of roses.


    The previously floating petals began to sink to the ground like ck snow.


    The delicate structure of the Dream Flowery shattered, its stem bent at various unnatural angles, fraying where it had once stood proud.


    The once-lush petals, vibrant and inviting, were now a tragic mosaic of crushed ck remnants, scattered across the arena floor.


    The red rose, once fierce and unyielding, nowy crumpled, its petals torn and jagged, like broken ss.


    The previously threatening dagger-like petals had their sharp edges dulled by the violence of the encounter.


    The aqua-coloured rose, which was fortunate to not be brutally bashed in, had also finally had the rest of its energy sucked out. It appeared forlorn, its petals wilted and drooping under the weight of its defeat.


    The usual cheers at the end of a match were a beat slow. Not because they were disappointed by it. Definitely not, this battle was more intense than majority of the previous matches and both contestants had shown a riveting array of skills.


    It was because, while they''d expected the ultimate winner of the match, absolutely nobody expected for it to end so violently¡­

 Chapter 242 Top 8

    After Kain sessfully won the 1-on-1 match, the 3-vs-3 match also ended in victory. Considering that none of Elysara''s were at their peak condition, and she was the strongest first-year attending Lunaris Vale, the trio of Soren, Kairos, and Ranya had an. Easier time at achieving victory.


    After this round of matches there were now 15 teams remaining. However, in order to even out the numbers, more precisely rank the eliminated participants in the top 30, and allow any wrongfully eliminated teams a chance to return, a day of rest was provided to Kain and the others already moving onto the next round, while matches were being conducted among those just eliminated.


    However, this time only the single top team from those eliminated will have be able to continue on. And as expected the team to win that opportunity was Lunaris Vale, who was the highest ranking team among those eliminated.


    As a result, there were now 16 teams. However, after the decrease in the number of teams, the rules of thepetition also changed slightly.


    Ultimately, the final winner of the National Tournament is determined by how many points each team is able to obtain.


    Points are awarded based on the final ranking within each year level, therefore it is possible for one school to have the top ranked team among first years, yet have a team from another year ranked only in the top 16.


    A maximum of 100 points each for first ce among the first years, second years, and so on is awarded. With second ce receiving 90, third ce 80,fourth ce 70, fifth ce 60, sixth ce50, seventh ce 40, eight ce 30, and those stopping at ranks 9-16, receiving between 10 and 20 points.


    Therefore, if a school obtains first ce across all year levels they could theoretically obtain 400 points. However, such a feat, even despite the consistent streak of First Celestial Academy in obtaining first ce overall, is still umon.


    Typically, even First Celestial only achieves first ce in 2 to 3 year levels, and second the others. However, they also typically achieve first ce in the second phase of thepetition in order to safely secure their top ranking.


    Since the pointse into y starting only from the top 16, it is at this point that the progression of each year level in the tournament may differ.


    As a result, the opponents drawn for each year level also differs. If the first-year team wins for a school, they will advance, while if the second-years do not win, then they will not.


    Thankfully, there are still some protection measures in ce to ensure no two colleges among the top 5 have to face each other so early, and all of the opponents for each respective year for Dark Moon were not too challenging.


    The first, second, third, and fourth years unsurprisingly all managed to win their matches and advance to the top 8.


    Within the top 8, to get a more precise ranking the rules of the tournament has now shifted to a round-robin format, in which all teams within the top 8 will face one another, with each team having topete in a match each day.


    Due to the results of each year level being considered separately within the previous round, the top 8 for each year were slightly different. However, there was one consistency no matter the year-level¡ªall top 5 colleges were within the top 8 for each year.


    After being previously eliminated by Kain and the others, the first-years of Lunaris Vale Academy managed to reach the top 8. Lunaris Vale was also within the top 8 for the second-years.


    The other two colleges within the top 8 were Starlight College, from the Southern region and Neb Taming Academy in the Western region.


    Since all colleges would have to face each other regardless, there were no longer any measures in ce to prevent the top colleges from drawing one another.


    However, nobody wanted to face a strong school for their first match, or even a couple of matches, if possible. Not because they were intimidated. After all, any student capable of representing their school up to this point would not easily back down from facing off against their peers.


    Rather, nobody would want a particrly tough first draw in order to conceal as many of their cards as possible for as long as possible.


    Since each year is now drawn independently, 4 draws must be held for each year level.


    Starting with the first years, they all watched in nervous anticipation as the host suddenly called out the first team drawn.


    "Supernova College!" Immediately arge cheer erupted from the audience, after all Supernova had the second highest number of supporters in the audience. Additionally, many were also just happy that a big name was drawn first.


    The host reached in to draw Supernova''s opponent for the next round and after looking at what was written had inscrutable expression appear on his face.


    "Dark Moon College!" Many supporters of Supernova that were previously cheering had their voices catch in their throats as they were choked by a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and unhappiness.


    Supernova is known for its bloodthirsty fearlessness, but that doesn''t mean that they wanted the team they support to partake in such a difficult match so soon!


    However, while many in the crowd were supporters of Supernova, the majority of them were either fans of another team or nobody in particr. Therefore, after a brief shocked silence, even more loud cheers were heard at the thought that the first match of the round would be such a high-end match-up.


    Although, slightly disappointed Kain and the others refocused as they prepared to study the information about their next opponents, they still had the utmost confidence in beating their opponents.


    At the same time, many of Supernova''s first-years also took on a more serious attitude as they knew they were in for a tough battle ahead. Everyone, that is, except for a young man with red hair and eyes that looked at the two college names disyed on the screen with a cocky smirk on his face.

 Chapter 243 The Reputation of the Blood-Attribute

    In their uing battle against Supernova, Kain and the others were surprised by the profile of one first-year that looked suspiciously like Alexei and Dmitri, aside from his dark red hair. In particr, all three of them have the same identical red eyes¡ªNiki Sanguine.


    Like Dmitri and Niki he is form the Sanguine family and, like pretty much everyone else in that family, someone with an attribute rted to blood-type spiritual creatures.


    Kain and the others would probably be interrogating their seniors for information about this cousin, if each year level were not separated for targeted debriefings since each of them has a different school as their opponent and their performances are now evaluated separately.


    Niki was highly suspected to be the representative for the 1-vs-1. Unfortunately, he''d only participated in one match, and for that match he had won with summoning 2 contracts.


    Therefore the identity of his third contract was not 100% certain, and even based on the information collected prior to the actual tournament from informants and scouts the details about the third contract were still unclear.


    Likely even duringpetitions within his own college he''d been on guard enough to reveal many of the skills and abilities of this third contract to the public.


    ''Unfortunately, I didn''t get that opportunity with dozens of articles publicizing what was known about my contracts being stered everywhere,'' Kain thought in irritation.


    "The two confirmed contracts are both of dual blood-attributes. The Crimson Wraith has both dark and blood-attributes."


    What appeared on the screen was a shadowy figure that was difficult to focus on. Crimson Wraiths were an extremely rare species, but one that Kain had learned about. It feeds on the life force of its enemies, and it is said that it leaves behind a chilling aura and drains vitality with each touch. Its presence is also apparent by a dark, blood-red mist that obscures the surroundings.


    Kain flipped through the sheets for as much detailed information as possible, as well as brief descriptions of the skills that it has revealed so far.


    "The second contract is the Sanguis Snake with dual blood and poison attributes."It was a long, sinuous serpent with scales that resembled flowing blood. It was able to can siphon life energy from its surroundings, healing itself while weakening its foes.


    It can emit a toxic blood mist when threatened and has the terrifying ability to manipte the blood inside of any target that it sessfully bites.


    "The final contract hasn''t been revealed during the tournament yet, but although they themselves weren''t fully clear on the details, you can thank your seniors for providing what they knew about their cousin as well as a picture."


    The picture of the third contract was obviously secretly taken, and not of the best quality.The third contract, ording to the information provided, is a blood and fire dual attribute spiritual creature that had a fierce and imposing appearance.


    It appeared simr in appearance to a wolf, but was several times a wolf''s size and with a more muscr build. Its fur is a deep, rich red, resembling blood, with flickering mes visible asionally between strands of fur. The hound''s eyes glowed like burning embers, exuding an intense, fiery gaze that seems to pierce through screen at Kain and the others.


    "Now to decide who would bepeting first¡­since our opponent''s contracts all have the blood-attribute, in order to limit its abilities, we decided that it''s be better for those with contracts without blood to take the stage."


    At those words Soren immediately slumped in his seat, knowing that his dragons obviously did not fall into the category. However, the reasoning was sound so he didn''t protest.


    Serena has revealed 2 contracts so far, both of which are energy based spiritual creatures without blood¡ªone made up of the four primary elements, and the other of star attribute energy.


    Simrly, of Kain''s 3 contracts, neither Bea nor Aegis have any blood to be manipted in case the enemy had any skills with such effects.


    The Vespirae guards do, but there were so many of them, and since they are not Kain''s primary contract, any losses to them were only temporary and not too damaging to Kain. He would just need to protect Queen, who is the direct host of his actual contract¡­ and himself. Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Unfortunately, blood-attribute beast-tamers do have an unpleasant reputation of attacking the beast-tamer directly. There are no rules in the tournament to not directly attack the beast-tamer, and the beast-tamers can participate in the battle directly themselves.


    But unless they have a gift, most would not choose to arm themselves and participate directly. And as long as the beast-tamer doesn''t take the initiative to participate, there is an unwritten rule and tacit understanding among participants to not attack them.


    After all, humans are much more squishy than spiritual creatures, and an attack that may just push a spiritual creature back, may end up shattering all of the bones in a human''s body unless that have a gift or powerful defensive spiritual skill.


    Since this is just apetition and they are all loyal citizens to the same country, most participants have been abiding by this rule.


    However, blood-attribute beast-tamers have a tendency to ignore this unwritten rule¡­


    Of course, they usually prioritize attacking the spiritual creature who is more threatening¡­but if none of the opposing contracts have any blood, while most of their attacks rely some degree on their effects on and maniption of blood, then they may switch their target to the squishy beast-tamer who can definitely bleed.


    ording to the report, Niki also has a habit of capturing the king to force the surrounding knights to surrender.


    In preparation for such opponents, the college did bring enchanted equipment that canbat the effects of such attacks, but there is no guarantee that such defensive measures willpletely eliminate the threat, especially not since the equipment Kain was permitted to use within thepetition was limited to his level¡ª3-stars.


    Therefore, whether it was Serena or Kain, since both of them have contracts without blood, more than any other battle this will probably be the one in which they would need to watch out for their own safety rather than their contracts.

 Chapter 244 Kain Vs Nikolai

    It was eventually decided Kain would be the one to partake in the 1-vs-1 match.


    Firstly, because he''s already appeared and therefore they don''t have to reveal Serena''s abilities too soon.


    Secondly, because Kain was really interested in the opponent whose contracts all had an extremely rare attribute and who was rted to two of his seniors. Therefore, while Kain expressed a desire topete against Niki¡­


    "I don''t care." Serena said with cold expression before turning away when asked.


    Therefore, it was unanimously decided that Kain was their representative for the first match.


    Walking towards the stage, while Kain wasn''t expecting a warm greeting from his opponent, he also wasn''t expecting his face to reveal open disdain.


    "¡­"


    ''What the heck is up with him?! Did I piss in your cereal bowl?''


    However, based on the attitude of his opponent, Kain had an unsettling feeling that he''d probably have to protect his own safety even more than he''d expected.


    Thankfully, the college also temporarily lent Kain some enchanted pieces of equipment targeted at defending against the blood-attribute.


    Therefore, in addition to his normal set of light armor and spear (which he''d never had to use yet, but kept on hand in case of unexpected attacks). Kain had a single earring resembling a red crystal dangling from one of his ears. This earring has no other purpose but to resist the invasion of blood-attribute energy.


    Unfortunately, it was the only piece of equipment prepared specifically targeted against the blood attribute, therefore Kain was also sporting a ne which slightly increased defence against attacks from all attributes, although its effects against each single attribute was not outstanding.


    Kain could also see several pieces of equipment on Niki that was not there previously and, sensing the energying off of them, they all seemed to possess the mental attribute¡ªlikely a defensive measure against Bea.


    It seems that despite his attempts to not expose Bea''s presence as much as possible during the tournament, simr to how Dark Moon was still able to obtain information about Niki''s concealed third contract, Supernova still knew about Bea and, it appeared, found her to be the greatest threat.


    Standing calmly across from his opponent who only smirked arrogantly at Kain after receiving a nod in greeting, he also resolved to no longer hold anything back.


    If Niki actually decided to attack Kain directly¡­well, he''d already advised Bea to repay him in kind.


    When the match started both of them summoned all 3 of their contracts for the first time in this tournament. Immediately cheers erupted in the crowd at the reveal of a new spiritual creature from Niki¡ªalthough Kain''s also summoned all of his contracts, but unfortunately nobody paid any attention to the invisible Bea.


    As expected, there was the Crimson Wraith, looming like a living shadow, its form shifting and undting as ifposed of pure darkness. d in tattered, billowing robes that seem to absorb light, it drifted silently. At its appearance crimson mist began to spiral into the air like wisps of smoke.


    Its face is a haunting mask, devoid of features except for glowing blood red eyes that burn with an otherworldly fury, piercing through the mist. Sharp, jagged tendrils blood red tendrils extend from its body, reminiscent of wed hands. And as the mist continued to spread, a thick iron-like smell of blood began to permeate the entire arena.


    Even those in the rows far back and away from the stage had their faces shift slightly in difort at the smell.


    Unfortunately, since the smell is not tied to any kind of attack or poison, the wards around the stage did not activate and did nothing to prevent the smell from spreading to the stands.


    Next to the wraith was a striking and terrifying creature, its long, sinuous body coiled and ready to strike at a moments notice. Its scales shimmer with a deep, crimson hue, reminiscent of freshly spilled blood, creating a mesmerizing effect as they catch the light.


    Each scale appeared to ripple and flow, giving the entire body of the snake a pulsing effect that more closely resembled vein or artery of blood, rather than a separate living creature, if one did not look at its head.


    The snake''s eyes were a piercing shade of yellow, reflecting a predatory intelligence. A faint, eerie mist emanated from its mouth even without its conscious effort.


    Different from the wraith''s mist that had more of a concealment effect, Kain knew from the intelligence provided by the school that this mist was toxic, thankfully, it was also not capable of spreading too far before sinking to the ground uselessly. It''d have to exert a great deal of effort and spiritual power to send the mist all the way from its current position to Kain.


    However, since the purpose of the mist is to absorb energy and return it to the snake, and both parties must remain in the mist for the energy exchange to happen, Kain knew that it''s be useless for it to even attempt sending the mist over to him. It''s energy draining properties would be reduced, and unless the snake is also close by within it, then the energy would not go to it.


    Finally, the cause for the cheers, was the massive wolf-like creature that reminded Kain of a hell hound, and was radiating primal ferocity.


    Its deep red fur, reminiscent of freshly spilled blood, danced with flickering mes that peek through the coarse strands, giving it a hellish, living glow. The hound''s eyes burn like molten coals, glowing with a malevolent intensity that seems to bore into the souls of onlookers.


    As it moves, an unsettling heat radiates from its body, warping the air around it and leaving a faint trail of ash where it stepped.


    Kain was thankful for the mist emitted by the opponent, since it concealed the twisted expression of glee on his face as he looked at the terrifying, and not particrly aesthetically pleasing opponents.


    He hadn''t realized that the mist emitted by the opponent was so widespread since in its single previous match it hadn''t bothered to increase the spread before the opponent was defeated within seconds. Now Kain was thinking about if he should try his old strategy¡­


    As the match started, Kain could immediately sense, that as expected, they were targeting the Vespid guards. While normally, their numerical advantage is great, when faced against those of the blood attribute, it may result in their being mere blood packs.


    However, Kain wasn''t nning to have them be primarily responsible for the victory and defeat of this battle, their primary role was to serve as a distraction.


    The Vespids attacked from a distance and made sure to keep their distance from the enemy, particrly the snake.


    At the same time Aegis continuously disrupted thendscape to ensure that none of them could get too close.


    Suddenly, Kain received feedback that one of the guards felt an intense burst of energy trying to enter its body, thankfully, the enhancements provided to it from birth by Eve, seemed to make it resistant to such invasions.


    Noticing this however, the wraith suddenly appeared next to one of the guards and swiped down to leave a massive wound, but left quickly before the over a dozen other guards could concentrate firepower on it.


    ''Is the mist only for concealment? Or is it able to teleport within it?'' Kain suddenly raised his guard against an enemy that may appear next to him.


    But suddenly his attention was drawn to an inhuman screech of pain that emitted from the guard that was just injured. Considering their typical fearless behaviour, he''d honestly never thought that they could feel pain. Or if they could, that it was greatly dulled.


    However, the pain was so great that it was even able to transmit through the tertiary contract to the now trembling Queen, to Eve, and then to Kain¡­

 Chapter 245 Kain vs Nikolai (2)

    Thankfully, the pain, while extremely intense for the Vespid guard, was at a level that could be ignored by Kain and Queen, feeling simr in strength to a stomach cramp but throughout his entire body.


    Although the persistent pain did still serve as a distraction to him¡­


    He could sense through the contract, that the guard''s connection with Queen was fading. Clearly, whatever this pain was, it was killing the guard and no amount of healing skills or life-attribute energy was preventing the gradual approach to its doom, at most it was just fruitlessly extending its suffering. Therefore, Kain ordered for no more life attribute energy to be sent out.


    Once the guard dies, at least Kain would no longer have to deal with the pain.


    Meanwhile, Bea released many threads and sent them towards his opponents. However, already aware that contact with the threads would result in the triggering of a mental attribute skill, all of the opponents dodged sessfully.


    Even when surrounded by dozens of threads each, none managed to touch their opponent. Many of Kain''s supporters were disappointed by the seemingly clumsy use of the threads.


    "Argh! Is he even trying?! How could he not manage to corner a single one?" One of Kain''s fans couldn''t help shouting out in irritation and worry.


    Seeing this, Niki''s arrogant demeanor grew, but if he could also witness Kain''s face through the mist, he''d see that Kain didn''t appear upset at all.


    In fact, Kain was purposely ensuring the threads were easier to dodge than usual, as they moved in a clumsy and lumbering way.


    If any of the threads actually touched one of the opponents, probably everyone watching, as well as the opponent, would be shocked to realize that absolutely nothing would happen.


    Afterall, the threads are merely a vehicle to carry Bea''s splits to the target, they aren''t able to exert any effects over the mind on their own.


    Additionally, Bea''s microscopic body is still small and light enough to be suspended by the mist his opponent kept emanating. Only, after evolution the integration is not so seamless and, if on guard, the presence of something foreign within the mist would be detected, especially since it is controlled by the opponents.


    Therefore, after the splits had long hitched a ride on the threads and been deposited in floating mist particles close to the opponents'' spiritual contracts, Kain used the more obvious threads as a distraction for them to focus on.


    Therefore, none of the opponents noticed that while preupied with moving around to dodge the approaching threads, their bodies had still managed toe into contact with Bea''s splits within the mist.


    Also, since Bea no longer needs to be inhaled or ingested, and can instead prate the body via brief physical contact, all of them had actually been sessfully infected.


    Unfortunately, the blood-attribute is one of the attributes that is probably the best at withstanding the attacks of microorganisms. After all, microbes, including Bea''s split, if theymust travel through the body, it will primarily be through the blood.


    However, their ability to restrict the advance of Bea''s splits through the body to the brain was more effective on some than on others.


    After a long while, not much impairment was seen in the hellhound, while the snake appeared very sluggish. The wraith hadn''t yet revealed any impairments, but from the feedback provided from Bea, she''d be able to begin exerting some control soon.


    Suddenly, a shiver crept down Kain''s spine as a he felt a malicious and predatory gaze focused on him.


    At the same time, his ear gradually heated as he felt the piece of enchanted equipment begin to heat up. Clearly Niki had begun to notice something was off and wanted to end this by dealing with Kain directly.


    However, the wraith and snake still had enough presence of mind to apply light injuries to many of the remaining Vespirae.


    And it was shortly after all of these wounds appeared that the familiar intense screeches of pain were heard.


    Seeing this, Kain made a realization while staring at the "hellhound" whose eyes were glowing red. Likely, the repelled energy at the start of the match was from the hellhound, seeing that Kain and the Vespirae were resistant to the energy''s pration, Niki adopted the strategy of adding wounds to the guards so that their blood could be exposed and manipted.


    Feedback from the contract that the most painful areas were those that already had wounds, even if those wounds were no more serious than a paper cut, also supported this.


    Unfortunately, he made this realization toote, and while the pain was greatly dampened by it being from a tertiary contract, when multiple guards were going through it at the same time, it caused Kain''s face to noticeably pale from the pain.


    Thankfully (?), with time the pain gradually began to diminish as a sense of emptiness reced it with each guard''s death.


    Suddenly the mist surrounding the field retracted, giving Kain a clear view of his opponents. Thankfully, Bea''s splits had already hitched a ride into all of their bodies, therefore the mist wasn''t as important to him anymore.


    With the mist retracted Kain could see a cruel grin stretching across Niki''s face as he raised the dagger that had appeared in his hand at some point.


    ''I hadn''t heard that Niki likes to take part in the battle himself?'' Kain thought in confusion.


    However, Niki''s next actions surprised him even more. Instead of, going forward to attack with the dagger, Niki raised his hand and sliced down hard on his own leg¡ªall while staring straight at Kain with a small smile. Niki didn''t have any reservations and was extremely cruel to himself with the amount of force used, causing a small fountain of blood to shoot out from his thigh.


    "Argh!" The audience was surprised to find that the scream of pain that should have beening from Niki, was released from Kain.


    Everyone, including Kain himself, looked at Kain''s thigh in surprise to find a bloody wound identical to the one that Niki had made on himself.


    "Brother really dares to do it¡­" A girl in the stands with red eyes and hair said with a frown on her face. Indeed, this young girl was another member of the Sanguine n, and Niki''s younger sister. Although based on the expression of disgust and disappointment on her face as she looked at her brother, they were seemingly not on the best of terms.


    She then looked at Kain who was still bleeding and in shock, although Eve was working to close the wound.


    "It''s already toote," she said before closing her eyes in resignation at the gruesome spectacle that would soon ur. Stay updated with mvl


    As is the case in most major families, there is always conflict andpetition for resources and power amongst the branches. Therefore, Dmitri and Alexei, as mere cousins, naturally would not know too much information about Niki from another branch. However, as Niki''s own sister, how could she not have a better understanding of her brother''s abilities?


    The cut on Kain''s thigh was for no other purpose than to expose his blood to be manipted by her brother''s contract¡ªthe Blood me Hound.


    When burned by this "blood me", they would naturally lose the ability to heal themselves and will continue to hurt deep into their soul. As long as the Blood me Hound is still conscious, it will not stop.


    Since there is a deep connection between the blood and the soul for most creatures, this special me can indeed cause irreparable damage to one''s soul.


    For weaker opponents the hound could directly set their blood on fire from within their bodies, however, when the opponents were stronger, naturally resistant to the pration of blood-attribute spiritual poweror were armed with enchanted equipment, then her brother must resort to causing a wound that exposes the blood.


    Unfortunately, her brother''s gift also happened to take care of that issue.His gift allowed him to transfer any physical injuries he obtained to a target within his eyesight. Truly an incredibly suitable gift for him¡­


    Right when Niki''s sister began to sigh in resignation, the Blood me Hound''s eyes also began to glow while staring sinisterly at the blood leaking from Kain''s thigh.


    Kain''s instincts also began to scream at him that something was terribly wrong.


    Slowly a blooming blood-red colour me began to appear within his wound, deep within so that it was unnoticeable to everyone except Kain himself. Which is probably why he didn''t witness the mes previously attacking his contracts.


    Knowing that soon he may not have the presence of mind to give instructions during the battle, he decisively activated his spiritual skill 3 times, using up all of the energy stored within his equipment, to provide boosts to all 3 of his contracts.


    Leaving them with brief instructions, it wasn''t long before he could no longer think about the current battle with his mind consumed by pain.


    However, it was not the pain of flesh and blood, but rather the soul. He could feel the fatal threat!

 Chapter 246 End of Match Against Supernova (2 in 1)

    Kain felt like he was experiencing an unprecedented trial, and his soul was being ruthlessly burned by the blood-red mes.


    However, before Kain could start screaming, writhing in pain, or some other action that would end up embarrassing him for a long time, Aegis acted in ordance with one of the few brief instructions Kain had managed to give before the pain overtook him.


    Four walls sprang up from the stage in order to conceal Kain''s appearance from the crowd. After all, who knows how the human body would react when experiencing extreme pain? What if he cried, peed himself, or did something else that he''d find embarrassing? Those images would be broadcast and preserved online for everyone to see forever.


    Thankfully, in Kain''sst desperate act he had managed to provide boosts to all of his contracts to strengthen their abilities.


    Therefore, Bea managed to finally start to make some rapid progress in being able to control his opponents. Thankfully, after breaking through the mental guards of her enemies, the minds of the serpent and wraith experienced a drastic change. No more would Kain have to worry about them causing injuries that the Blood me Hound could take advantage of.


    Bea began to read and manipte their mindshards, and finally learned the identity of the third contract, as well as details about Niki''s gift.


    From the information, she knew that the pain being caused to Kain would only stop if he died or the hound was knocked unconscious.


    Rearranging the mindshards of the serpent and wraith with careful precision, she instilled a certainty within them: the beast-tamer they should listen to was Kain¡ªor, in his absence, herself, whose intelligence had sharpened with every spiritual creature she had killed. And their greatest sense of loyalty should therefore lie with their side.


    Likely sensing that something was wrong with his contracts and seeing that they were no longer fighting Kain''s contracts, Niki''s venomous gaze shifted from the walls concealing Kain to the guards. Just because the serpent and wraith were no longer producing wounds, that didn''t mean that he had no way of inflicting injuries that the Blood me Hound could exploit.


    Niki began to continuously inflict wounds on himself, all the while shifting his gaze between different targets, that became incapacitated not long after due to the blood mes.


    Aegis reacted quickly, and knowing that the gift was dependent on sight, formed a wall in front of Niki to block his view of the match. Now both beast-tamers within this match weresecluded in "cages" made of stone and not visible to the audience.


    Although, Aegis acted fast, 3 more guards had been take down, leaving only 9 intact on the stage. Never had Kain had to suffer through losing so many at once against a single enemy.


    With her mental hold tightening, Bea directed both the serpent and the wraith to turn their attention to the hellhound, who no longer had its master''s support and was still resisting her influence.


    The remaining Vespid guards encircled it as well, ready to take action. Their stingers, imbued with the ability to drain energy, glinted ominously in the light.


    As the serpentshed out, its scales glinting like rubies, and the wraith surged forward, cloaked in a shadow mist-like veil of concealment, the Blood me Hound faltered. After all, until seconds ago these were its allies. However, very soon it began to attack them back as well. But it was definitely much more restrained than when it faced Kain and the others.


    In support of their new "allies" the Vespid guards, boosted by Queen, alsounched strengthened attacks at the hound, to which it retaliated more fiercely.


    However, this time not much of an effect was seen on the remaining guards since they had no injuries to exploit.


    Although the Blood me Hound came out rtively unscathed, a couple of stingers from the guards and a shallow toxic bite from its former serpentine ally managed tond.


    The lodged stingers began to steadily drain its energy.


    Additionally, the bite from the Sanguis Snake had an effect that usually allowed it to exert control over the victims'' blood.


    While, as a blood-attribute spiritual creature itself even stronger than the snake,plete control of the Dark me Hound''s blood was impossible, the snake was still able to exert enough control to decrease its ability to resist the advancement of Bea''s splits to its mind.


    Bea, seeing its momentary wekness ,pushed her influence further, weaving through the hellhound''s thoughts. She focused on its primal instincts, drawing out fear and confusion, heightening the internal struggle within the creature.


    All the while, she continued to urge her allies to attack. More wounds began to appear on its body as it struggled to fend off multiple enemies and had its energy continuously drained by the stingers of the guards, and the abilities of its former allies who both had energy draining ability.


    In a final, desperate attempt, the hellhound bared its teeth, a low growl rumbling in its throat. But Bea was ready; she pushed her influence onest time,manding the serpent and wraith to strike with all their might.


    Then finally, with an anguished howl, the hellhound copsed under the onught, its mes extinguishing as its body sumbed to exhaustion.


    Kain felt the pain begin to ebb, the oppressive weight of the blood-red mes lifting, and he knew that they had won.


    Aegis removed the walls surrounding Kain and Niki to reveal Niki, whose expression was twisted into a mask of disbelief and frustration. His brows furrowed deeply, and his eyes, usually sharp and confident, now widened in shock.


    The corners of his mouth, previously always upturned in an arrogant smirk, were turned down, revealing a mix of anger and humiliation. A flush crept up his cheeks, betraying his attempts to maintainposure.


    He clenched his jaw, fists tightening at his sides, as if trying to hold onto thest remnants of his shattered pride.


    Continue your journey with mvl


    Meanwhile, despite being the victor, the state of Kain definitely looked a lot poorer.


    Kain emerged from cage surrounding him looking hauntingly worn yet fiercely resilient. His face was etched with pain, the usually tan skin now pale and mmy, with beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.


    Dark shadows underlined his eyes, a testament to the torment he had endured, while bloody teeth marks marred the back of his hand, a testament to his attempt to silence his screams by biting his own hand. After all, while the walls Aegis produced could conceal Kain''s figure, they couldn''t silence his screams of torment.


    Knowing that the members of the orphanage would definitely be watching, there was absolutely no way that he''d allow even a whimper to of pain to escape his body, in case he worried them or even traumatized his youngest siblings.


    However, despite his current dishevelled appearance, there was a fierce light in his gaze¡ªa steely determination that shone through the exhaustion¡ªhe had won!


    --------------------


    After the 3-vs-3, which Dark Moon also won, the first-years managed to secure their first victory. The audience was surprised by the result of the first match up between two members of the top 5 colleges. It was rare for matches between the top 5 to end by the 3-vs-3 matches, and typically they would have to go into the tiebreaking 5-vs-5 matches.


    The second-years were even more unlucky than the first-years, and had also managed to draw an opponent within the top. Even worse it was the top ranked First Celestial Academy. Unfortunately, while they had put up a good fight and managed to defeat First Celestial in the 3-vs-3 battle, they''d still narrowly lost the other two matches.


    The third and fourth years had much better luck than their juniors, both drawing opponents outside of the top 5, both easily securing victory for the first round.


    Their opponents for the next round of the top 8 was thankfully not within the top 5 colleges¡ªStarlight College. Neither Kain nor Serena even needed to step forward and partake in the match.


    This time the luck of each year was reversed. The second years also drew a team from outside of the top 5, and won. Meanwhile, the third years drew Starfire College. After a bitter match, one that was probably the longest since the tournament had started, Dark Moon managed to secure the victory.


    The fourth years also drew a top 5 college, Frozen Sun, and managed to secure the victory with a narrow victory of 2 wins to 1 loss. However, it seems as though the fourth years are concealing much of Captain Ezra''s strength for the match against First Celestial, and the second stage of thepetition in which the top 5 students, regardless of year,pete.


    Afterall, the first ce reward for the second phase of the tournament was 200 points, therefore, if they want to secure the highest possible overall ranking, they couldn''t abandon it. Therefore, up to this point in the tournament, Ezra had not yed a single match. Pretty much all of the more challenging opponents had instead been dealt with by Vice Captain Ravi.


    For the third match, the first-years once again drew an opponent within the top 5¡ªStarfire college, the representative of Kain''s home region.


    Considering, that the opponent was likely to be Jacob and his Firescourge Scorpion, and that Kain''s contracts had not fully recovered from the intense battle against Niki, it was decided that Serena would be responsible for dealing with him.


    Kain didn''t disagree with this decision. After evolution, the time it took for each guard to hatch had greatly shortened, therefore he may have majority of their numbers restored before thest match within the top 8, but before then he''d prefer to not to have to decrease their numbers any more.


    And since the Firescourge Scorpion was such a devastating opponent Kain was certain that if he were to fight, he may not leave with any of the Vespirae guards remaining.


    Today they were arranged to be thest match of the day. However, since Kain wasn''t ted to participate unless they lost both matches, he didn''t particrly care about the timing of the battle.


    Instead he leisurely enjoyed the other matches and made note of any particrly powerful future opponents.


    In particr, he paid attention to the high-end match between the current first and second ced schools¡ªFirst Celestial and Supernova.


    First Celestial won, but Kain wasn''t sure if it was because of the amount of energy and skills revealed yesterday in their match against Dark Moon, or if there was really so big a difference in strength, but First Celestial won a lot easier than Kain and majority of the audience had expected.


    Moreover, they''d managed to win without revealing too much of their strength, which was even more annoying.


    Kain also made note of Frozen Sun, who seemed to have invested greatly in their younger generation in order to increase their ranking this year. While the third and fourth year teams didn''t appear particrly noteworthy, both the first and second year teams were on a winning streak and managed to suffer no losses yet.


    Impressively the second years at Frozen Sun managed to defeat Dark Moon today, meanwhile the first years at Frozen Sun had achieved victory over Starfire College previously, only losing the 1-vs-1 match against Jacob, but showing the effect of 1 + 1 being greater than 2 for both team matches.


    Although no single student appeared threatening to Kain individually, the teamwork and synergy of skills disyed made them among the biggest threats in the teampetitions.

 Chapter 247 Starfire College

    Finally, it was time for their turn to take the stage.


    Kain once against lounged against the side of the stage leisurely, hecked any tension since he knew that the only chance of him being able to make an appearance was if they needed to proceed to the final 5-vs-5 match.


    However, despite Kain''s appearance at the side of the stage, for once none of the cameras and attention was actually on him.


    As Serena made her appearance, and her face was disyed on the screen. There was a brief period of stunned silence before the audience got noticeably louder and broke out into conversation.


    Even her opponent, Jacob, had a stunned expression on his face as he stared at her. Despite his deep bronze skin tone, a noticeable blush crept up from his neck and managed to cover his entire face.


    Thankfully, due to the hue of his skin it wasn''t too noticeable, and the slightly red undertone that was suddenly added to his skin could be yed off as just nerves before the battle¡­


    That is if he wasn''t also sporting a lovestruck expression with wide, sparkling eyes lit up with admiration, his mouth parted into a soft smile, and a slightly bashful look in his eyes¡­


    "Ugh!" Kain couldn''t help grimacing in disgust. From Soren to now this guy, Kain was beginning to feel extremely irritated by the constant string of admirers following in her wake.


    Of course, the irritation ispletely because all of these men are making their gender look bad¡­There wasn''t any other reason. Why can''t they be as steady andpletely unmoved by looks as him?


    Brushing aside such irrelevant thoughts as well as suppressing the irritation that kept ring up whenever he looked at Jacob''s stupid face, Kain refocused on their match.


    The loud discussions about Serena came to an abrupt halt after the appearance of the massive Firescourge Scorpion, which appeared like a living embodiment of nightmares.


    Its carapace shimmered in shades of red and ck, like moltenva caught in a slow, furious boil. The heat radiating from its massive pincers shimmered in the air, creating visible distortions, as if reality itself warped around the creature.


    Each step it took sent ripples through the arena floor, and many in the front row began trembling in fear, despite the knowledge about the wards in ce around the stage.


    The scorpion''s tail arched high above its back, poised like a deadly weapon, the stinger glistening with a menacing sheen. The predator assessed Serena who waspletely dwarfed by its size, unlike its contractor it had no tender feelings towards the human girl.


    In the hushed crowd, the asionalmentary from more knowledgeable viewers about the foreign creature was noticeable. Whispers of its infamous reputation spread like wildfire among the spectators¡ªstories of its venomous sting that could corrode flesh and armor alike.


    As it moved forward, the arena seemed to shrink under its presence, the atmosphere thick with the promise of danger. However, Serena didn''t seem the least bit intimidated by its appearance.


    Kain had originally expected her to summon the Elemental Guardian, however during the debriefing yesterday it was concluded that the extremely tough exoskeleton of the scorpion would make it difficult for it to y a role.


    Not to mention, the poor climate and environmental conditions in the far south are much harsher than within the empire, therefore most spiritual creatures native to the south of the empire have an innate passive resistance against the primary elements of fire, water, earth, and wind.


    Therefore, Kain knew that she''d only be summoning one spiritual creature today, since there was no purpose in revealing a contract that couldn''t y a decisive role in this battle.


    However, Kain knew that she didn''t just have 2 contracts to choose from. Kain had managed to confirm the existence of Serena''s third spiritual creature based on things he''d overheard from the staff a while ago and, interestingly, that the contract that nobody had ever seen was technically her initial contract¡ªnot the Elemental Guardian like he''d always assumed.


    However, for some strange reason, Serena was resolute in her determination to never summon her initial contract. Even during the strategy meeting prior to today''s match, she''d explicitly stated that her only two spiritual creatures avable for use in thepetition were the two that she''d revealed during the re-ranking.


    Therefore, Serena summoned the only other spiritual creature he''d seen from her¡ªher star-attribute contract. Although he never learned its name from her, thankfully after facing Serena for the first time, the name of it appeared within the System''s Training Arena as it became selectable as a potential opponent.


    He''d also fought against it many times in the Training Arena, in his preparations to finally defeat her.


    The System had called it a Starweaver. And based on those simtions Kain was able to tell that during that very first match against her, it''d only revealed a fraction of its true abilities.


    The variety of skills it had was also annoyingly broad and flexible in their ways of usage. Even after facing it multiple times in reality and within the simtor, Kain still wasn''t sure that he''d fully seen everything it was capable of.


    The interesting thing about the Starweaver, is that the single ultimate skill that had originally turned him into a golden statue, as well as the ultimate skills he''d lost to in subsequent matches, all likely stemmed from the same skill.


    The Starweaver has the unique ability to draw upon the power of various constetions to produce a variety of skills¡ªoffensive, defensive, healing and more.


    Kain had never seen a skill so varied in its effects, yet so powerful, but if he had to wager a guess, the ranking of such a skill had probably long exceeded the SSS level.


    Probably the only con was that Kain had noticed that certain constetions seemed difficult to draw upon depending on the time of day or year¡ªlikely due to the changes in the visibility or distance the Starweaver was from the constetion.


    Another interesting point was that most, if not all, of the constetions Kain had researched to better understand his enemy seemed to have no resemnce to those seen on Earth. Therefore, Kain could confirm that he was a long long way from his old home¡­

 Chapter 248 Starfire College (2)

    Serena''s contract also caused a stir within the crowd. The star-attribute was so incredibly rare that a spiritual creature with this attribute hadn''t been seen publicly in decades.


    Purely based on its attribute, her contract could aim to be the new mascot of the empire even if it wasn''t so good looking. However, on top of its attribute, it had a uniquely stunning appearance.


    The arena buzzed with excitement as Serena''s Star Weaver took center stage, shimmering like a celestial beacon with a humanoid shape and wings.


    Its translucent form glowed with starlight, wings unfurling to reveal a breathtaking disy of constetions that seemed to resemble the night sky. The crowd gasped, captivated by the rare creature with an attribute that many may not get to see again in their lifetime.


    With the signal to start, the fight began with the Firescourge Scorpion lunging forward, its tail arched high and stinger glistening ominously. It unleashed a wave of scalding heat, the air crackling as it attempted to overwhelm the Star Weaver. But Serena remainedposed; her creature gracefully ascended, evading the fiery attack with effortless agility.


    Suddenly a cluster of stars on its wings lit up. If the stars were to be connect, they would probably resemble a bow. Kain knew that this was the precursor to the Starweaver drawing on the energy of the constetion disyed.


    Shortly after a barrage of streaks of golden light descending from the heavens to strike the scorpion was seen.


    The projectiles struck the scorpion with pinpoint uracy, exploding upon impact in dazzling bursts of light. Yet the scorpion was resilient; it retaliated with a ferocious swing of its pincers as it leaped, narrowly missing the Star Weaver as it dodged and soared higher.


    However, while it was in the middle of dodging, the tail of the Firescourge Scorpion suddenly elongated several times in length and quickly tried to stab the Starweaver while it was off guard.


    ''I didn''t know it could do that?!'' Kain thought in surprise. Kain wasn''t sure if that was a universal ability of all Firescourge Scorpions or if it was due to some kind of unique skill or gift¡­


    However, despite being slightly caught off guard by the sudden elongation of a body part, Serena''s expression didn''t change at all. The Starweaver summoned a protective barrier of starlight that the sharp tail mmed strongly against, causing a rippling effect on the shield as it struggled to remain intact.


    Kain couldn''t help but wince. Kain had fought Serena''s contract enough times both in reality and in the System, therefore he knew just how resilient that shield of sparkling energy truly was. The fact that it was rippling and straining in order to remain intact, Kain could guess how heavy the blow the scorpion unleashed truly was.


    Seeing that it wouldn''t be able to strike her contract with its tail directly, it decided to take a more widespread attack approach.


    Afterall, the poison ejected from its tail is known to be extremely corrosive and dissolve entire settlements overnight. Therefore, Firescoourge Scorpions don''t use their poison to only affect living things.


    Indeed, the scorpion made a decision that surprised many watching and inserted the point of its tail into the stage.


    Suddenly an unpleasant smell¡ªa mix of melting rubber and metal¡ªbegan to spread. Soon the audience was able to see the effects of the tail''s insertion on the stage, as the scorpion now stood in a corrosive puddle emanating steam as it spread outwards. The entire region of the stage surrounding the scorpion had be a no man''snd.


    Then striking the ground that now has a texture more simr to magma, pieces of molten stage went flying in all directions.


    The Starweaver reacted swiftly, weaving through the debris with an elegant grace, and then summoning a shield of starlight to absorb the impact of any lingering projectiles.


    However, the corrosive nature of its poison was even able to dissolve its shield. Small circles appeared on the shield where it had been hit by the debris, giving the shield''s previously sturdy appearance a resemnce closer to swiss cheese.


    Even more unpleasantly, now that so much of the area around the scorpion had be a toxic wastnd, the attacks used against it must also be more carefully chosen since it may cause toxic shrapnel to go flying around in retaliation¡ªharming themselves and increasing the spread. Any attacksunched must hit the scorpion, and only the scorpion precisely.


    Moreover, the scorpion was now beginning to sink into the now sludge-like stage, and those watching could tell that the corrosion of the stage had now gone deep enough that it could probably submerge its entire body beneath, further reducing the number of effective skills that could be used.


    Afterall, majority of the attacks Serena''s contract usede from the direction of the stars: The volley of arrowsposed of starlight previously used, the golden starfall that had previously turned Kain into a statue.


    Serena''s gaze sharpened, a flicker of determination lighting up her expression. The Star Weaver drew upon the energy of the constetions once more, and the crowd held their breath.


    Suddenly, on its wings, stars began to light up. However, the figure was too abstract to be able to tell what its purpose was.


    ''What is that? It looks like a stick figure standing on a line and holding a stick. Is it a swordsman? Magician?'' Kain wasn''t sure about the identity of this skill since he hadn''t seen it before.


    With wings outstretched, it summoned a swirling vortex of starlight directly above the Firescourge Scorpion''s toxic pool. The arena dimmed as if night had fully fallen, as celestial energy concentrated above the battlefield, and the atmosphere of the audience filled with anticipation at witnessing a star-attribute attack.


    Suddenly, a dazzling beam of starlight descended, splitting apart the darkness like a silver-blue dragon and headed straight for the scorpion who, after an intense feeling of foreboding, began to dive deeper and deeper.


    The light pierced through the toxic sludge, illuminating the arena in an ethereal glow. The scorpion was momentarily lifted from its corrosive protective barrier, and suspended in midair as it struggled¡­like a fish caught on the end of a fishing rod.

 Chapter 249 Starfire College (3)

    ''Fisherman?''


    Kain tried to connect this scene to the constetion that hade previously appeared briefly. Remembering the vague figure of a person holding a stick¡­was that the fishing rod? Then the line it was standing on was a boat?


    Kain felt like he''d need a degree in abstract art in order to understand that. Not to mention, someone with a very creative mind must have looked at those random dots of stars and actually seen that picture to designate it as a constetion.


    ''I supposed I just don''t have any talent in this regard¡­''


    With the scorpion suspended in the air, the Starweaver did not continue to attack it. After all, since most of its skills are actually derived from one single skill, which is to draw on the power of the constetions, its hands were tied. It had no attacking skills outside of drawing on the constetions, therefore as long as it kept the scorpion suspended it had no way of attacking.


    Kain''s eyes lit up as he noted this weakness. In all their previous matches, it had moved so seamlessly from using one skill to another, that he''d never made the connection that it had no attacking skills independent from the constetions. Also he had never had to face this fisherman skill before, or any other skill that required a long usage time. If he could somehow create a strategy that would lure it into using this skill, wouldn''t he be able to prevent it from using many of its other abilities?


    However, just because the Starweaver couldn''t attack, that didn''t mean Serena couldn''t. Suddenly a beautiful shimmering bow appeared in her hands.


    It was crafted from a wood that shimmered and appeared to glow with a soft, ethereal light. Its limbs were elegantly curved, adorned with intricate carvings of constetions that seemed to shift and shimmer as if alive under the light.


    It was strung with a silken thread spun from the hair of a powerful, and presumed to be extinct, spiritual creature, and seemed to hum with an otherworldly energy, that amplified the wielder''s strength and precision. The grip, was wrapped in midnight-blue leather, providing a cool and firm hold even in the heat of battle.


    At its center, the bow featured a stunning gemstone, a deep sapphire that mirrored the night sky, embedded within a golden filigree. This gem not only served as a focal point of beauty but also as a conduit for spiritual power, allowing the bow to form arrows made purely from the power of the stars themselves once injected with spiritual power.


    A couple people in the audience''s eyes widened. This bow looked remarkably simr to the Storm family''s most precious heirloom¡ªthe Celestial Bow. The bow that was wielded by the founder of the Storm family, and one of the founders of the Celestial Empire. However, thepetition limits the strength of any weapons used, obviously one of the most powerful weapons ever made would be off-limits. Is it a replica they made for a doted on child of the family? Or did they actually take out that heirloom and seal its abilities for a mere descendant? Either exnation would be surprising and disy just how much Serena was valued by the Storm family.


    Serena drew the bow and a shimmering arrow began to shimmer into existence as the string was pulled taut. As Serena drew the bow, she became a captivating figure against the backdrop of the arena. Her silver-white hair flowed like liquid moonlight, cascading down her back in shimmering waves that caught the light with every movement.


    The ethereal glow of her hair framed her delicate, almost elf-like features that were in stark contrast to her cold blue eyes that sparkled with a fierce intensity. They were sharp and piercing, focused entirely on her target.


    When drawn, the bow emitted a faint hum, and the arrow released glided through the air like a shooting star, leaving a trail of shimmering light that lingered for a moment before fading out of existence.


    The arrownded perfectly in the centre of the back of the suspended Firescourge Scorpion''s abdomen. A brilliant explosion of starlight erupted from the impact, illuminating the arena in a dazzling disy.


    The scorpion thrashed against its confinement, its exoskeleton cracking under the weight of the attack, but it could do little against the overwhelming force of the starlit arrow. Suddenly arrow continued to move beyond the cracked open exoskeleton until it reached a tube-like structure that contracted rhythmically to pump blood through the scorpion''s body¡ªits heart.


    Thankfully, Serena seemed to have calcted the strength needed perfectly, and the arrow made of starlight disappeared right before the heart could be prated.


    Sensing that its most important organ was also left exposed to the enemy, the scorpion stopped thrashing and slumped over in submission.


    Jacob stood frozen for a moment, disbelief etched across his face. He had always been confident in his creature''s abilities, but the strange skills disyed by the Starweaver,bined with the sheer might of her arrow, had shattered his resolve. The scorpion, once a fierce and terrifying force, nowy still, remnants of starlight that hadposed the now-gone arrow illuminating its body.


    Swallowing hard, Jacob nced at his fallenpanion, its once-menacing pincers now limp and its eyes dull. He could feel the weight of the crowd''s anticipation pressing down on him, the exhration of victory turning to a heavy sense of loss. He took a deep breath, steadying himself as he raised his hand, calling for the match to end. "I forfeit!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the cheers like a knife.


    A hush fell over the crowd for a split second before a wave of apuse erupted once more, celebrating the end of the incredible match.


    Serena gently lowered her bow as her mouth lifted into a faint smile that Kain and the others had never seen before. However, that slight upturning of her lips seemed to light up the arena as it was disyed on the screen for everyone to see, and it caused the cheers of the crowd to briefly stagnate collectively, before once again cheering even louder¡­this time not purely due to the match.

 Chapter 250 Current Tally of Wins and Losses

    Starfire College managed to drag back a win, by narrowly defeating Dark Moon''s first years in the 3-vs-3petition.


    However, since Jacob''s scorpion was the undisputed center of the other sides strategies due to his offensive power,when his scorpion was practically out ofmission due to the match with Serena, they quickly fell apart in the 5-vs-5 battle. Shamefully resulting one of the fastest match endings of a match between 2 colleges within the top 5.


    Therefore, winning 2 matches, to 1 loss, Dark Moon continued its undefeated streak.


    After defeating Starfire College, the next two matches were quite leisurely, as they were against the only two remaining schools outside of the top¡ªLunaris Vale Academy and Neb Taming Academy.


    Kain didn''t need to partake in the fight against Lunaris Vale again. Elysara''s contracts had gotten seriously injured in a fight against First Celestial the day before, therefore she was unable to take on the responsibility of the single person match. None of her peers were as threatening as her, therefore Dark Moon was able to dispatch their entire team using only Soren, Kairos, and Ranya.


    Neb Taming had been on a losing streak since the top 8 began, and had been considered the weakest among those that got to this stage. Even their advancement to the top 8 had been partially attributed to luck. All of their opponents up until the top 16 had been among the weakest within the entire tournament, and so they had managed to advance without being drained of too much energy.


    However, there were no weak opponents within the top 16, and in fact their opponent was even ranked slightly higher than them. However, unlike Neb''s lucky streak since the tournament began, their opponents had been mired by a string of bad luck. Experience more tales on mvl


    Their first two opponents since the tournament began were much weaker than them, both happened to have students that used poisons. Therefore, even though they managed to easily defeat them, and antidotes were provided, there did seem to be some sequ remaining from the poisons that continued to affect the contracts of two of their first-year students even dayster.


    Topensate for their slightly weakenedrades, the others had to pull their weight more and overextend themselves in the following battles, leading to them also suffering more minor injuries and being more exhausted than one would expect considering they were a college that had always consistently ranked within the top 20.


    Finally, when it got to the top 16, all of these little events that gradually chipped away at their strength showed their effect, and they lost against the lower ranked Neb Taming, who nobody had expected to advance into the top 8.


    After Neb''s unconvincing advancement, there had been many calls to change the tournament rules and either allow an additional team eliminated to advance like in previous rounds to create a top 9, or have a round robin format starting from the top 16.


    However, considering the amount of time it would take to arrange for every college within the top 16 to face one another, this proposal was promptly vetoes by the tournament organizers.


    Instead, when questioned on if the controversy over the advancement of Neb Taming Academy would have an adverse effect on the reputation of the tournament and the validity of the assigned rankings, the only reply from the organizers was that "great luck is also a form of strength."


    Therefore, while irritated, fans of the tournament did not continue to kick up a fuss, since they knew their efforts would be fruitless in the end. But even still, whenever Neb Taming took the stage there would always be a noticeable dip in the liveliness of the crowd, and loud cheers for their opponent, even if you didn''t necessarily support the opposing team.


    Honestly, seeing their haggard faces, Kain couldn''t help but pity them. Clearly, what should have been a moment of great joy for their college since this was the first time any year from their college had managed to advance to the top 8, which would have a huge boost to their college''s ranking and resources in theing year, was now stained with a feeling of shame.


    Clearly the mental impact from the audience''sck of support was so severe that it adversely impacted their performance. When they performed poorly, the audience looked down on their ranking even more and got even harsher in their criticisms. And so a vicious cycle with the first-years of Neb Taming was born.


    By the time Kain and the others had to face them, they barely put up any resistance and were practically just shoved down and conceded defeat.


    Therefore, Dark Moon''s first years had managed to win all 5 of the 7 matches they must participate in: Supernova College, Starfire College, Lunaris Vale Academy, Starlight College, and Neb Taming Academy. The only opponents remaining were Frozen Sun and First Celestial, who also happened to be the first year teams with the most amount of wins under their belts. First Celestial, like Dark Moon, has a perfect record until now, while Frozen Sun had only lost 1 to 2 against First Celestial.


    First Celestial''s performance had been simr to Dark Moon''s up until now, managing to defeat most of their opponents within the first 2 matches.


    On the other hand, Frozen Sun was aplete anomaly in that they had lost nearly every single 1-on-1 match they''d participated in so far. However, they''ve managed to obtain victory in almost every single team match so far. The only team match they''d lost was a narrow defeat against First Celestial in the 5-on-5 match, after losing the singles match and winning the 3-on-3 match against them.


    Therefore, Frozen Sun''s wins were a result of consistently losing the 1-on-1 matches, and then sweeping the remaining team matches.


    Clearly, likely as a result of the more homogenous affinities of the students at Frozen Sun, they were a school that specialized in team battles.


    They were also the next opponents of Kain and the others within the tournament.

 Chapter 251 Frozen Sun

    The following matches went exactly as Kain had expected, almost as if the tournament was following a prepared script.


    Soren was sent as the representative for the 1-on-1 match, which he won without too much difficulty. However, Soren, Kairos and Ranya lost the 3-on-3 match.


    Compared to most top colleges, the students admitted to Frozen Sun are typically more homogenous in their affinities, almost all having ice rted affinities, with water and wind affinities also being fairlymon. Therefore, even when coordinating 9 contracts, the other side had a much easier time since none of these affinities are particrly ipatible.


    Meanwhile most teams may have spiritual beasts with fire and water, light and dark, ice and fire, or other attribute pairings that would counteract one another''s skills if not careful.


    Indeed, this was seen in the 3-on-3 match when Soren, Kairos, and Ranya were ultimately worn down when they were unable to weather the beating from a hurricane summoned by thebined skills of the other party.


    The water produced by 2 spiritual creatures on the other side was then frozen to produce sharp ice shards that glistened and looked like floating knives by several of the ice-attribute spiritual creatures. These "knives" were then suspended and whipped around without any pattern by a tempest summoned by 3 wind-attribute spiritual creatures.


    The end result was a colossal cyclone of frozen water, swirling with brilliant blue and white light, ready to unleash a devastating storm upon their opponent. The shields summoned by Kairos did not persist for long before whiplike marks began to appear on their bodies from the ice-shards and they conceded the match.


    Continue your journey on mvl


    Now it was finally time for the 5-on-5 match. Unfortunately, Kain and the others still knew that in terms of teamwork and the ability toplement one another in battle, they were grossly outmatched by the other party.


    However, individually they felt that the other side''s strongest may only rank within the ranks of 5-7 at Dark Moon¡ªfar from Kain, Serena, and even Soren.


    Therefore, even though they lost the 3-on-3 match, they still were not disheartened, confident that the addition of Kain and Serena''s contracts would result in a different oue this time.


    The atmosphere in the arena crackled with tension as the two teams took their positions for the 5-on-5 match.


    On one side stood Kain and the others from Dark Moon: Ranya, with her three contracts adept at wielding illusions; Serena''s Elemental Guardian and Starweaver; Kairos'' cursed doll and book; and Soren, nked by his twin dragons of wind and lightning attributes.


    Including Kain''s 3 contracts, there were 12 spiritual creatures on their side instead of the maximum of 15. However, it was not umon for the 5-on-5 battle or even the 3-on-3 battle to not have the maximum amount of contracts on the field at a given time.


    Every contract is practically irreversible, therefore a lot of thought is put into each contract position. Therefore, if a suitable spiritual creature isn''t found, or none are avable that meet the beast-tamer''s standards, its not umon to leave a contract position open for years in the event that theye across a spiritual creature that can satisfy them.


    Which can partly exin why only 12 spiritual creatures were on the side of Dark Moon: Serena refuses to reveal her third contract even until now; cursed constructs are rare, and powerful ones even more so, which has dyed Kairos'' third contract¡ªafter all, he can''t just contract a cursed potato peeler because it''s all that''s avable; and Soren did recently find a suitable third contract, but due to the rarity of dragon''s the only one avable that was suitable for his affinity is extremely young and only at red-grade, it alsocks a tacit understanding with Soren and was unsuitable for appearing at this stage of thepetition.


    Thankfully, the numerical disadvantage against the opponents wasn''trge. Opposing them were a total the thirteen spiritual beasts from Frozen Sun poised for battle.


    As the match began, the Frozen Sun team sprang into action. Three ice-attribute creatures unleashed a torrent of cial shards, which spiraled toward Kain''s group, their sharp edges catching the light.


    However, Kain could tell that it wasn''t a serious attack and was just meant to test their group. And indeed, Serena''s Elemental Guardian easily used its wind-attribute form to easily cause the ice shards to veer off course and explode harmlessly against the shimmering walls that sprang up around the arena due to the wards.


    As a group of 5, they actually had a well-established strategy that surprisingly focused on Kain.


    Kain had Bea summon the threads. However, unlike in her previous appearance, he did not bother trying to conceal them.


    Tens of thousands of threads were produced within seconds, far greater in number than anything he''d show before. The audience couldn''t help but gasp at the dense of threads that barely left any free space on the stage. Even the opponents couldn''t help but pale, seeing that there was no way to avoid these mind-controlling threads.


    However, unknown to everyone majority of these threads were fake¡ªillusions prepared by Ranya''s contracts in order to distort the perception of the true threads carrying splits.


    If this move had been shown previously, and the opponent was given enough time to calmly think about why the number of threads had suddenly increased hundreds of times over, they''d realize that it was a trick. But fortunately, all of their matches had ended within 2 rounds.


    As the real threads slipped blended in seamlessly with the fake ones, Kain could see the opposing team hesitating about what to do next, after all they already knew from their limited intelligence of Bea that these threads were able to ignore most shields and defensive measures.


    Additionally, Ranya''s illusions also heightened the tension. The threads created by her contracts were even more flexible than Bea''s, making it seem as though the threads were alive, writhing and dancing, and more difficult to dodge, enhancing the fear in their opponents'' hearts.

 Chapter 252 Frozen Sun (2)

    The five beast-tamers from Frozen Sun exchanged quick nces, their expressions a mix of determination and anxiety.


    Each wore enchanted equipment designed to counteract the effects of mind-controlling attacks¡ªlikely targeted at Kain beforehand. The subtle glow of protective runes shimmered against their icy blue uniforms, a testament to their careful preparation. Therefore, even when real threads did manage to touch their bodies, they were useless.


    However, their spiritual creatures had no such equipment to obtain resistance and, like the original spider through which Bea obtained this ability, most defensive measures were also useless against them.


    Arge blue ice-attribute bird emitted a chilling cry, resonating through the air as it unleashed a swirling blizzard, an somewhat weak countermeasure against the dense of threads.


    kes of ice and wind spiraled through the arena, creating a barrier that obscured the vision of Kain''s team and formed a shield of frost. However neither the illusionary threads nor the real onesposed of mental energy were particrly impacted by the storm.


    Simultaneously, a pair of aquatic serpents that shimmered like liquid sapphire, coiled around each other andshed out, sending waves of freezing mist across the battlefield. The mist thickened the air, further distorting visibility.


    At most, the enemies'' attempts only served to obstruct the vision of Kain and Ranya as they directed the threads.


    Thankfully, potentially due to the fact that as spiritual creatures specializing in illusions they are more resistant to having their 5 senses interfered with and can skillfully detect the surrounding environment, Ranya''s contracts could still sense the enemies in the storm, although Kain and the others had trouble seeing.


    Knowing that Kain and Bea were no longer able to navigate their threads, Ranya had already anticipated the need for misdirection, and her illusions shifted in tandem with the iing storm, creating a dynamic dance of false threads that deceived the eye.


    They moved skillfully so that the spiritual creatures would identally knock into the real threads, that did not move as flexibly due to the reduced vision of Kain and Bea, when dodging.


    Soon enough, they were all sessfully infected by Bea''s splits. However, Kain didn''t want to just control them, the most important part of the n was to actually rifle through all of their memories to obtain any information on the ultimate moves and trump cards of the opponent.


    Therefore, Bea focused most of her energy on searching their memories rather than on controlling them. Especially since obtaining full control of so many spiritual creatures equal to her in strength would be a very time consuming and draining process.


    As Bea concentrated, her consciousness surged into the minds of the spiritual creatures. She navigated throughyers of instinct and loyalty, sifting through fragments of memories and training experiences, seeking the hidden depths of their knowledge.


    Visions flickered in her mind¡ªimages of past battles, strategies developed in secret, and anything else that may be relevant to their victory.


    At the same time, within the field obscured by the elements, 5 more threads from Bea connected to Kain and the others. Enjoy exclusive chapters from mvl


    Was this a backstab? Infighting?


    Of course not. While resistant initially, this was a strategy developed that they had all consented to in the past.


    Since Bea''s splits could obtain information from the minds of the infected host and transmit it to Bea practically instantly, it would allow for their group to more intimately share their thoughts, senses, and ns without the enemies'' detection while essentially using Bea as a ry station for theirmunication.


    Of course, none of Kain''s allies fully trusted him or Bea enough to allow unfettered ess to their minds, and all of them had on equipment that resisted her prating too deeply and getting ess to thoughts and memories that she shouldn''t.


    The invisible lines ofmunication between them buzzed with energy, transmitting real-time tactical updates through Bea''s split consciousness and allowing all members to instantly be aware of the knowledge Bea was obtaining from the infected enemy spiritual creatures.


    As Bea pressed on, suddenly a cascade of information flooded her consciousness¡ªimages of a catastrophic blizzard summoned in the heat of battle, painful practice sessions in which they had to continuously restart the training due to errors made by their contractors and not themselves, and whispers of a powerful group spiritual skill known only to the top beast-tamers of Frozen Sun.


    Kain''s heart raced. This was it¡ªthis was the insight they needed. As Bea sifted through the memories, illuminating the depths of Frozen Sun''s strategies, all of this information was simultaneously shared with Kain and the others.


    Suddenly, a cute furry white creature that looked like a ball with limps and a single eye, emitted a piercing ray of light from its singr eye that struck the minds of every single one of its allies¡ªBrain Freeze!


    This was ast ditch protective measure made against Bea that was cruel to its allies and itself. The skill of this spiritual creature greatly lowered the temperature and thought speed of the contracts in the event that they were about to be controlled. This skill''s goal is to prevent further thoughts that could be manipted by the enemy.


    However, since Bea''s splits were actually living creatures within the minds of the enemy, the skill was even more effective than they probably even realized, as many of the splits were directly frozen and/or killed.


    Thankfully, by this point much of the information needed had already been obtained from the minds of the enemy. Now, with their minds linked, it was up to Kain and the others to think of defensive measures against the trump card seen in the information sent over by Bea.


    From the information obtained, the skill was able tobine the power of all water and ice-attribute spiritual creatures on the side of the enemy¡ªthe more creatures of these attributes, the more powerful the effect.


    Considering that the ice and water attributes were the mostmon ones amongst the enemy, from the information they''d obtained thebination of the 8 ice-attribute spiritual creatures and 2 water-attribute spiritual creatures in the enemies'' ranks could result in a skill with strength close to a skill from a blue grade spiritual creature.


    The skill, Frozen Cascade, was a devastating group attack thatbined the powers of all the ice and water attribute creatures in a concerted effort. This technique created a massive wave of frigid energy that could sweep across the battlefield, targeting every enemy creature simultaneously.


    When unleashed, it was capable of freezing opponents in ce, immobilizing them with the sheer force of an avnche, while simultaneously dealing crippling damage due to the extreme cold.


    And, considering the force of thebination skill¡­none of them had a defensive skill strong enough to resist.

 Chapter 253 Frozen Sun (3)

    Kain stood at the center of the chaos, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he absorbed the weight of the knowledge Bea had ryed. The impending threat of Frozen Cascade loomed over their group, and he knew that if they were to survive, they needed a n¡ªfast.


    Their thoughts bounced off of one another until they eventually settled on a reasonable solution. As a spiritual skill, it was reliant on the beast-tamers working in tandem to execute it. That is also likely the reason why they did not use this skill against First Celestial previously and lost that 5-on-5 match. Kain vaguely remembered that one of their team members was identally injured in the 3-on-3, and therefore was not fit to bare the strain from activating the group spiritual skill.


    It''s not customary in this tournament to attack the beast-tamers, especially if they don''t take to the initiative to enter the battle. Therefore, under the coverage of the skills their contracts justunched which makes it difficult for Kain and the others to sense their movements, they were probably already preparing tounch the skill.


    The average opponent would be spending their time hunting down their spiritual creatures and not the beast-tamers, therefore they felt secure in their next actions. Read new chapters at mvl


    If they wanted to prevent Frozen Cascade''sunch, then they must go against the normal social norms of the tournament and instead focus on hunting down the beast-tamers.


    Kairos'' cursed book flipped to a page and after the activation of the sigils on that page, a 3D projection of the stage suddenly appeared with over 30 dots of various colours. Based on their locations, Kain could tell that the 17 white dots were the 12 spiritual contracts of Kain and the others, plus the 5 beast-tamers themselves.


    On the other side were 18 ck dots representing the enemy, however it wasn''t easily distinguishable which dots were of the beast-tamers and which were their contracts.


    With a thought, Kairos eliminated all of the white dots, so that their group only had to focus on the ck.


    Then with the lightning-fast exchange of information that Bea allowed, Ranya and Kain quickly provided thest known location information they had for the spiritual creatures either touched by the illusory or real mental threads.


    Cross-referencing thest known locations with the current locations, they were roughly able to eliminate guess the identity of the remaining dots¡ªalthough the locations of many changed too much to be urately identified.


    However, they could see that 5 dots that were previously far apart, were suspiciously making their way towards one another. Making note of their locations, Kain asked Aegis to disrupt the surrounding terrain at those locations and dy their regrouping.


    At the same time the remaining Vespid guards, boosted by Queen, were ordered to travel in groups of 3 to harass the opponents'' contracts and prevent them from protecting their beast-tamers.


    However, although with the reduced growth time following evolution Kain did manage to restore their numbers back to 15, after the mass death toll in the fight against Niki, they were still far from enough to be able to restrain all of the opponents'' spiritual creatures.


    But Kain chose not to have them travel in smaller groups in order to be conservative and reduce the likelihood of anymore dying before they had to face First Celestial.


    Therefore, with Aegis focused on preventing the beast-tamers from getting together, and 5 of the opposing contracts being preupied by the 3 guards each, the eight remaining spiritual creatures on the other side were divided up between Kairos and Soren. Of course, while their main role was to prevent them from supporting their contractors, neither Kain nor the others gave up on actually eliminating the opponents if they had a chance.


    At the same time, Ranya contributed her illusion abilities to disorienting the opposing beast-tamers and further reducing the likelihood of regrouping.


    Based on the map still being shared by Kairos, while 2 of the opposing people had managed to ovee the blockades created by Aegis to approach a location probably designated beforehand, 1 was not as resourceful and stuck in ce, while the other 2 had actually begun moving in the opposite direction¡ªlikely due to Ranya.


    Meanwhile, Ranya''s third contract happened to stumble across Soren''s lightning attribute while traveling through the mist and snow on stage. Therefore, it took advantage of the opponent the dragon was fighting being unaware of its presence, to make it appear as though it was being attacked from all sides by the lightning skill, heightening the chaos. After its elimination, the number of beasts on each side was now even.


    The other 2 opposing beast-tamers, unconsciously moved in the wrong direction until they were practically on top of Kain''s group of 5. Seeing that the enemy was waiting in what they thought was their meet up location, their eyes widened in shock.


    However, before they could think of any defensive measures or regroup, Serena had already taken action.


    One of the constetions on the Starweaver lit up¡ªthis one unfortunately very familiar to Kain. Suddenly a golden shower of starlight fell on the defenseless enemy and turned them into golden statues which were then promptly carried off the stage by a gust of wind summoned by her Elemental Guardian.


    Sensing that something had happened to their masters, 5 spiritual creatures suddenly became distracted and roared in anxiety. Taking advantage of the distraction, their opponents took the opportunity tounch heavy blows that they''d already prepared beforehand after receiving the information that 2 of the opposing humans were about to be eliminated.


    Now that they were down to only 3 human and 7 spiritual creatures, the remaining battle ended fairly quickly.


    Since one of the eliminated creatures had been responsible for maintaining the storm covering the field, visibility began to improve, allowing both the audience and the opponents to see that Frozen Sun was now at a huge numerical disadvantage.


    The audience erupted into cheers, however rather than it being due to Dark Moon appearing to have one, it was more so to do with the annoying storm that blocked their vision finally being removed.


    Once the vision on the field was obstructed, it had been quite boring for those watching.


    Now, although they missed the majority of the battle, they could still catch the tail end of the drama.

 Chapter 254 Prelude to the Final Match

    Unfortunately, the remaining scenes were not nearly as stimting for audience.


    Experience exclusive tales on mvl


    Faced with a huge numerical disadvantage, and 2 beast-tamers and 6 spiritual creatures that were meant to be a part of the Frozen Cascade skill now being out ofmission, there wasn''t much that the opponents could do to turn things around.


    Therefore, Dark Moon finally managed to secure the victory against Frozen Sun without spending too much of their remaining energy.


    After defeating Frozen Sun, Dark Moon currently was on a winning streak with 6 wins. Their only remaining opponent, First Celestial also had 6 wins. Therefore, the ultimate winner among the first-years will be decided by the match tomorrow.


    However, even if they were to lose, Kain and the others have at least secured 2nd ce, and 90 points¡ªbut of course, they still have no intention of taking it easy and will aim for first ce.


    With first and second ce amongst the first-years still to be decided between Dark Moon and First Celestial, the approximate rankings have already been pretty much revealed:


    With 6 wins each, both First Celestial Academy and Dark Moon College will take first and second ces.


    Frozen Sun College currently has 4 wins, and only has a fight against the weakest Neb Taming Academy remaining, and so will likely secure 5 wins and finish in third ce.


    Supernova College and Starfire College both have 3 wins and 3 losses (against Dark Moon, First Celestial, and Frozen Sun), and they also happen to be facing one another in the finale. Therefore, fourth and fifth ce will be determined between them.


    Both Lunaris Vale Academy and Starlight College have only 1 win (against Neb Taming) each, and will bepeting tomorrow to determine the sixth and seventh ces.


    Finally, Neb Taming Academy has not won a single match since the top 8 round-robin matches began, and will definitely finish inst ce.


    All of the Dark Moon first-years were in a great mood due to their winning streak; however, not all of the year levels from Dark Moon were equally happy.


    The only year level that may be as jubnt was the fourth-years, although due to their more extensive experience, they buried their happiness more deeply knowing that they still had one match remaining and it was too soon to be happy.


    However, like the first-years they also had not yet suffered any defeats. Moreover, unlike the first-years, they had already faced the strongest First Celestial and won. Therefore, their final ranking remaining at first ce was even more secured.


    Especially since their remaining opponent was outside of the top 5 colleges and they were confident in defeating them. Therefore the first rank cing for the fourth years was practically already determined in advance.


    Meanwhile, the increased investment seen by Frozen Sun in their lower years, was also seen in their second years. Therefore, while the second-years managed to defeat powerful opponents like Supernova College and Starfire College, they had lost to both Frozen Sun and First Celestial and were currently only ranked third in their year. Since their next opponent was outside of the top 5, it seemed likely that they would finish with that ranking.


    The third years were currently tied for second in their year, after losing only one match against First Celestial so far, and the tie breaking match was tomorrow against Supernova who also only had one loss in the third-year.


    First Celestial had practically secured first ce among the third years in advance. However, this was not a surprise to anyone. Unlike most colleges that had most of their strongest students in the fourth year. The third years at First Celestial were considered to be stronger than their seniors and called the school''s "golden generation," simr to Kain and the others at Dark Moon.


    Cassian Lysander, Soren''s cousin, was the undisputed strongest of the school despite only being in his third year. Moreover, the second strongest vice captain also happened to be a third year as well¡ªIsolde ckheart, another descendant of one of the 5 founders.


    Therefore, the estimated final rankings of Dark Moon''s grade levels were:


    First years¡ªfirst or second ce (100 or 90 points)


    Second years¡ªthird ce (80 points)


    Third years¡ªsecond ce (80 or 90 points)


    Fourth years¡ªfirst ce (100 points)


    For a total of around 350 to 370 points depending on the oue of the final battles the next day. If both the first years and third years secure victory against their matches against First Celestial and Supernova respectively, they would finish phase one of thepetition with a very nice 370 points.


    The attending professors were ecstatic. This was one of the best results they''d had at the national tournament in years, and it was pretty much guaranteed that they would increase their ranking this year. They may even be able to strive for first ce and dethrone First Celestial depending on how they perform in the second phase!


    First Celestial''s current tentative rankings were:


    First years¡ªfirst or second ce (100 or 90 points)


    Second years¡ªfirst ce (100 points)


    Third years¡ªfirst ce (100 points)


    Fourth years¡ªsecond ce (80 or 90 points)


    For a total of 370 to 390 points, depending on the final oues of the first-year and fourth-year matches. Currently, First Celestial''s fourth-years were tied with Starfire''s fourth-years for second ce and will face them in a tie breaking match. If they lose both of their matches tomorrow, they may also only finish phase one with 370 points¡ªtying with Dark Moon College.


    Even if Kain and the others do manage to defeat First Celestial and secure first ce for their year, they will not be able to finish phase one of thepetition in first, and will at most tie with them.


    However, the closer they are to First Celestial going into the second phase, the more likely it is that they could turn things over.


    Therefore, despite knowing that their victory alone won''t be able to overturn the current rankings, Kain and the others were still determined to win.

 Chapter 255 Preparing for Battle

    Knowing how high the stakes were for the final match against First Celestial Academy, both the students and the staff were more focused than ever during the strategy meeting.


    Based on the informationpiled by the staff, there were two students in particr among the opponents that would need to watch out for.


    The first was Tobias ckheart, the younger brother of the Vice Captain Isolde ckheart.


    Tobias was rtively short, with a slim and almost childish build. His skin had a pale and delicate, almost translucent quality, contrasting with his dark, tousled hair that fell just above his eyes.


    Hisrge eyes were a deep, piercing shade of blue, with a hint of mischief lurking behind them. Tobias has delicate features¡ªlongshes and a soft jawline¡ªthat give him an innocent look. However, despite his juvenile features that may disarm an unprepared opponent, he was one of the strongest first-years in the country.


    Tobias'' innocent features were in stark contrast to his affinity, which was reportedly to creatures with the rare infernal bloodline.


    The infernal affinity is one of the rarest, and so far only the descendants of the ckheart family have been reported to possess it. And even then it only appears in each generation a fraction of the time. Therefore, the ckheart n was both ecstatic and surprised when Tobias was able to awaken this rare affinity after his sister already had.


    The origin of the infernal bloodline is not well understood, but it is believed to originate from another realm that in the legends was just termed "the underworld." Creatures with the infernal bloodline epass pretty much all attributes, but due to the strength of the bloodline even if one has the matching elemental affinity, they will likely still be unable to form a contract with an infernal creature¡ªsimr to how a individual with a lower ranked fire-attribute affinity won''t likely be able to bind a fire-attribute dragon. This is because the spiritual creature will be able to sense that their star space would not be able to transform to their standards, and will instead unconsciously reject them.


    Interestingly, infernal creatures are practically impossible to find in the wild. Therefore, all of the infernal spiritual creatures that the ckheart family currently possesses were born in a relic produced by their family''s founder, and one of the 5 founders of the nation¡ªEvan ckheart. He''d apparently found an ess point to the underworld and captured a wide variety of infernal spiritual creatures which were then transnted to the relic owned by the ckheart family. The opening to the underworld has since been sealed and any mention of its location in text has beenpletely wiped.


    Unfortunately, Tobias hadn''t had to reveal much of his strength in the previous battles. Therefore, the intelligence reports only had the appearances of 2 contracts, and not much detail on their abilities.


    The first was a juvenile version of the current head of the ckheart family''s contracts. Therefore, the professors were able to provide a name for it. However, due to the ckheart head also concealing his own contracts'' abilities, not much more could be provided.


    The species is called Abyssal Echo, and appeared like a floating, amorphous shape that shifted between various dark colors, with wisps of shadows trailing behind it.


    The second contract appeared simr to the stereotypical image of a demon from texts back on earth. It was arge hulking creature with two horns, fans, ck ws, and leathery wings. It''s body radiated an intense heat, and its red skin was adorned with molten patterns¡ªa Scorchwing Demon.


    The other top student among the first years that Kain and the others had to watch out for was Thorian Draegor.


    The Draegor family was a distant branch of the royal Lysander family, and the distant royal lineage could be seen in his shining golden hair.


    In line with their rtion to the royal family, asionally their family would also have some of their descendants awaken a dragon affinity¡ªalthough at a much lower frequency.


    More often than not they''d possess affinities to lesser dragon-rted species such as drakes, wyrms, wyverns, hydras, basilisks, etc. Discover more stories at §Þ??


    Based on the visible sneer on Soren''s face that he made no attempt at concealing, Kain could sense that there was some kind of undercurrent of superiority present within the Lysander royal family that seemed to disdain any impure dragon-rted species.


    However, in Kain''s opinion such disdain was not only unnecessary but also ridiculous. Although called "lesser" dragons, many of the rarer dragon rtives such as basilisks and hydras were even more powerful than the average pure-blooded dragon.


    Since beast-tamers should only speak with their strength, the superiorityplex Soren was showing right now while they were reading Thorian''s profile was quite idiotic.


    Thorian''s affinity happens to be to the basilisk species.


    Basilisks have eight legs, a more bulky build than the average dragon, ande in a variety of colours¡ªoften indicating their elemental affinity. Basilisks possess a single row of bony spines along their backs and a few have a curved horn atop their noses.


    However, the most prominent feature of basilisks, are their almost toxic green eyes. Basilisks have the passive ability to petrify prey significantly weaker than them, turning weaker victims that make eye contact with them into porous stone statues.


    The image of Thorian''s first contract reveals a pale blue reptile with hundreds of red spikes of various sizes running from the tip of its nose to its tail. It was also unique from the average basilisk in that it had a massive horn-like spike at the end of its tail.It was reportedly the strongest andrgest of his contracts, but hadn''t really made any moves in the tournament yet, so its attributes were unknown. Even the current picture provided to them was quite blurry and had probably been taken secretly by a paid off member of the staff at First Celestial.


    The second was slightly smaller, but still massive. Its scales were a dark grey with pitch ck spikes, and reportedly had the dark-attribute.


    Finally, thest contract was a bright orange-red, with pale yellow spikes that ran along its back. This one had appeared the most the tournament so far and had the fire-attribute.

 Chapter 256 Dark Moon Vs First Celestial

    Eventually, in order to secure the victory, the professors eventually decided to send Serena as Dark Moon''s representative for the 1-on-1 battle. Find adventures at §Þ??


    Kain, while disgruntled by this decision, couldn''t fault their reasoning. Unlike Serena, Kain had participated in more battles throughout thepetition and revealed more about himself.


    On top of that, while the buzz surrounding had faded for several months, they couldn''t underestimate the intelligencework of the top ranked college, so they probably had even more information about Kain than he''d revealed at the tournament.


    Serena, on the other hand, hadn''t revealed as much within thispetition. Not to mention, the variety of skills her Starweaver could disy was a lot greater than Kain and the others, and many of them had never been revealed publicly, neither before nor during thepetition.


    Therefore, Serena presented a greater element of surprise.


    From the intelligence they''d obtained, while Tobias ckheart was the current top-ranked student at First Celestial, there wasn''t much of a gap between him and Thorian Draegor. In fact, they''d actually traded the first-ce ranking multiple times since entering the college.


    Therefore, they couldn''t be certain about which one they''d be facing in the 1-on-1 match. Additionally, neither one of them had revealed many trump cards in the previous matches, and so the flexibility of Serena''s contracts with multiple attributes (Elemental Guardian), and unpredictable and varied skills avable (Starweaver) made her a better candidate for securing the win.


    The next day, Kain and the others arrived at the arena that seemed to overflowing with energy even more than usual. After all, today will have the final matches of phase one, and the final rankings of all colleges in phase one will be determined.


    However, the audience will have to wait untilter for one of the most anticipated matches of the day¡ªthe first-year match between Dark Moon College and First Celestial Academy.


    The organizers knew what they were doing, and left the most suspenseful matches towards the end of the day: the first-year match for first ce between Dark Moon College and First Celestial Academy; the third-year match for second ce between Dark Moon and Supernova; and the fourth-year match for second ce between First Celestial and Starfire.


    Therefore, pretty much all of the other rankings were revealed prior to their match. As expected, for the first years, Frozen Sun confirmed its ranking at third, and Supernova prevailed in their match against Starfire to achieve fourth ce. Finally, Lunaris Vale defeated Starlight and managed to secure sixth ce with two wins under their belt.


    Additionally, the more predictable oues among the upper-years did ur as expected, meaning that Dark Moon did confirm its first-ce ranking for the fourth-years and third-ce ranking for the second years.


    Finally, it was the turn of Kain and the others, who were the thirdst match to take ce.


    As Serena made her way to the stage, their opponent for the singles match was finally revealed¡ªTobias ckheart. It seems that despite them being so close in strength, they still decided to go with their current rank 1.


    The arena buzzed with anticipation as the crowd''s energy surged, filling the air with excitement. Kain stood at the edge of the stage, his eyes locked on Serena as she approached the center. Her confident stride and calm demeanour spoke volumes; she was ready for the challenge ahead.


    He had the utmost confidence in her strength, however not knowing much about the enemy still filled him with anxiety. Out of everyone on the team, he probably had the most emotionallyplex reason for not wanting her to lose.


    After awakening an affinity early, it had always been tacitly agreed that she was the strongest amongst their peers, not only at Dark Moon, but also within the entire Empire. Therefore, although he hated to admit it, Kain did take some pride in following her so closely in strength despite awakening months after her. And a small part of him even unofficially crowned himself the second strongest first-year in the nation¡ªalthough he''d never admit it out loud without cringing.


    However, ifshe were to lose, Kain would have to face the fact that all of the excuses he''d made about awakening time were useless, since a peer who''d awakened an affinity through the ceremony at the same time as him had managed to do something that he couldn''t¡ªdefeat Serena.


    Simply put, until he was able beat her, he hoped that she wouldn''t lose.


    As the match began, the announcer''s voice echoed through the arena, heightening the tension. Providing a spirited introduction that wasn''t given for every single matchup of the top 8.


    Both Tobias and Serena summoned their contracts. Serena''s were the familiar pairing of the Elemental Guardian and the Starweaver.


    On the other side were 3 terrifying-looking spiritual creatures that were in stark contrast to Tobias'' almost cherubic appearance. Finally, Tobias'' third, and most powerful, contract was revealed.


    There was the familiar swirling, dark mist that coalesced into the shape of the Abyssal Echo, its shadowy form pulsating with an otherworldly energy.


    There was also the noticeable increase in heat present even off of the arena at the appearance of the devilish Scorchwing Demon.


    Finally, Kain looked at the only spiritual creature on the stage unfamiliar to him. However, in addition to its appearance, which was absolutely hideous, even off of the stage Kain was struck by the horrible rotting stench it emitted.Appearing like a twisted entity with a rotting appearance, adorned with thorns and dark, pulsating veins, it was truly the stuff of nightmares.


    As soon as the match started, Tobias took action immediately. The Abyssal Echo expanded, seeming to engulf much of the light entering the arena like a ck hole, tendrils of shadow reaching toward Serena and her contracts as if to ensnare her in its grasp.


    Serena''s Starweaver responded swiftly, conjuring a barrier of light that shimmered brightly against the encroaching shadows. The impact sent ripples of energy through the air, illuminating the arena in a brilliant sh.


    However, despite blocking the attack, Serena did not show any proud expression, nor did Tobias look disheartened. They both knew that they were currently only testing the waters and observing their enemy.

 Chapter 257 A Rare Gift

    Meanwhile the Scorchwing Demon tore through the air with its powerful wings, casting a blistering heatwave that seemed to warp the very space around it.


    Serena''s Elemental Guardian, now in its golem-like earth form, braced itself against the infernal heat, its rocky skin cracking under the pressure, but still standing strong.


    It seemed like both sides had reached the consensus that the time for testing one another was over¡ªThey would both be going all out.


    The shadowy form of the Echo seemed to pulse before shifting and morphing into a shadowy form reminiscent of the Starweaver, only with theplete absence of any starlight on its figure, moreso resembling a ckhole.


    As the Starweaver beat its wings to stay afloat, the wings of the Abyssal Echo, now a shadowy replica of the Starweaver, beat in opposition to it, perfectly mirroring its movements in the opposite direction.


    Strangely, this had a resistant effect on the movements of the Starweaver and it seemed to struggle against some invisible force to keep its wings moving and remain int eh air. Unfortunately, it seemed to lose this battle and crashed hard onto the surface the of the stage.


    Tobias, still with that strange, almost innocent smile on his face, had yet to truly unleash his full strength, and Serena could sense that he had something nned as she made sure to keep an eye on.


    Fortunately, he didn''t keep her in suspense for long. Tobias raised his hand, his fingers curling into a fist. For a split second, the shadows around him thickened as if the arena itself was bending to his will. Meanwhile the thick scent of sulfur began to permeate the entire stadium and the temperature rose.


    Suddenly a portal like structure, forged from jagged obsidian that seems to absorb the very light around it, began to get clearer behind Tobias. As the temperature continued to rise with the appearance of that portal or gate, the ground surrounding it cracked and seemed to get dry and brittle, as if the spiritual power and energy within the stone was absorbed by the dark power emanating from beyond the gate.


    Carved into the gate''s surface were twisted sigils that looked far more ancient than Kain had ever seen before, that pulsed with an eerie, blood-red glow.


    The air seemed to hum with the whispers of lost souls, and the chilling sound of distant growls echoes from within, as shadowy tendrils of smoke seemed to extend from the opening, reaching out as if alive.


    However, despite the disturbing appearance of the gate, Tobias'' three infernal contracts all responded in a way that no one could have predicted.


    The Abyssal Echo, usually an eerie, silent presence, shuddered violently, almost orgasmically, its form rippling like the surface of a disturbed pool of ck ink. Its usual stillness is reced with an intense hunger, as if it sensed something distant yet familiar beyond the gate.


    Meanwhile, the Scorchwing Demon, shook with barely contained excitement. Its crimson wings crackled with bursts of me as it lets out a low, rumbling growl that filled through the air, its molten red skin glowing brighter.


    The heat it radiated became even more unbearably hot, the mes from its wings flickering like tongues of fire as its massive form shifted restlessly. It red at the gate with intensity, its eyes filled with a mix of anticipation and longing.


    Finally the third contract, had its thorn-covered body shuddering as if on the verge of copsing. But it doesn''t. Instead, the air around it bes sickly with an almost perverse joy, the rancid stench of decay growing stronger. Its pulsating veins throbbed, as if something deep within it wasing alive, rising from the dead.


    The eyes of the creature¡ªbeady, milky, and deathly pale¡ªglow with an ethereal light as it cackles, a sound that chills the soul, yet carried an unmistakable undertone of glee.


    The gate let out a faint hum as if responding to their collective excitement.


    All three of Tobias'' contracts seem to share a single, unspoken recognition¡ªthat gate wasn''t to just anywhere, it was to the home of their ancestors that had been forcibly transnted in the ckheart family relic. A location that called out to their very souls¡­the underworld.


    Read new adventures at §Þ??


    Indeed, Tobias happened to awaken one of the rarest possible gifts within the ckheart family, a gift that had only appeared twice before in their lineage, the first of which was the founder of their family. A gift that allowed for a connection to be made to the underworld to allow for the temporary summoning of additional infernal creatures directly from the underworld.


    While the infernal creatures summoned are typically not be as powerful as his main contracts, they could still serve as useful allies or distractions in battle.


    The gate to the underworld trembled violently as it opened. From the swirling abyss a tall, impossibly thin humanoid figure began to materialize.


    Although humanoid in shape, the proportions of its limbs were elongated to an inhuman degree.


    As the figure stepped fully into the arena, its impressive height of least nine feet was showcased. Its pale, featureless face was devoid of any distinguishing marks¡ªno eyes, no nose, no mouth¡ªjust an unsettlingly smooth, nk surface that seems to draw the light away, leaving behind an almost ethereal, ghostly pallor.


    Along with its limbs, even its head was elongated, perhaps too long for its body, and its neck contorts and twists in an almost unnatural manner.


    The creature''s body was cloaked in a tattered, ck cloak that fluttered due to a non-existent wind. The figure''s hands exposed hands were also elongated and tipped with wed fingers that are far too long for a human.


    . Slick, tendrilled appendages snake out from the edges of its cloak, almost like shadowy tendrils, but these appendages seem to grow and retract in unpredictable, twitching movements¡ªmore akin to shifting, writhing smoke.


    Looking at the figure that emerged from the gate, Kain was preupied with a legend from bak on earth that is vaguely resembled.


    ''


    Slenderman


    ?!''

 Chapter 258 Gemini?

    The battle had already escted beyond an ordinary first-year match, with Serena''s contracts and Tobias'' infernal creatures shing in an overwhelming disy of power for their age.


    Although, with the addition of the summon, Serena was at a numerical disadvantage and seemed to be the weaker party.


    The atmosphere with the watching Dark Moon students and staff became solemn. Although they knew this battle would be tough, they never thought that Serena would lose.


    The Slenderman-like summon moved towards her. But strangely it did not walk, nor did it step like a normal being. It glided, its limbs twisting and elongating unnaturally as it slid across the ground, leaving behind an unsettling trail of dark smoke that curled into the air.


    Every shadow in the arena seemed to bend toward the creature, drawn to it as if it were a gravitational force as it moved its hands forward towards Serena''s Starweaver.


    Summoning an armor of starlight closely around itself, the resistance from the Echo seemed to somewhat reduce.


    The Starweaver flew back into the air with all its might, despite the tugging influence of the shadow that seemed to fight against its every movement. The Abyssal Echo mirrored it closely, but the starlight surrounding the Starweaver continued to flicker defiantly.


    Tobias'' creatures were relentless in their pursuit, and the Slenderman-like creature was not only a physical threat¡ªit radiated a psychic pressure that seemed to reach directly into Serena''s mind, forcing her to focus on defending not just her body, but also her thoughts.


    But Serena''s expression remained calm as her Elemental Guardian shifted forms, the massive golem-like figure crumbling into a serpent-like formposed of water in order to keep the Scorchwing demon focused on it at bay.


    However, the mysterious rotting contract seemed to have a curse-like ability as the elemental guardian was incapable of moving beyond a small ck square that appeared on the floor beneath it. Therefore, much of its energy had to be focused on repelling the two approaching contracts while it itself could not move.


    The air filled with the sharp hiss of steam as the heat from the Scorchwing Demon and the overwhelming presence of the summoned creaturebined to raise the temperature to unbearable levels.


    Explore more adventures at §Þ??


    Serena no longer hid one of her greatest trump cards. She made a signal to the Starweaver, calling forth a brilliant glow of light from the Starweaver''s wings. This was another constetion that Kain had never seen before either in person or inside of the Training Arena. However, if he knew the effect of this constetion he''d understand why it would be useless to the one in the arena.


    The constetion appeared like 2 identical stick figures holding hands, and was one of the few constetions he''d seen that somewhat resembled one from earth. Although there were slight differences, it looked incredibly simr to the Gemini twins.


    Once the "twin constetion" was called upon, a pulse of energy shot through the arena, allowing the Starweaver''s ability to activate. The surge of energy all shot towards the Elemental Guardian. Then, before everyone''s eyes, the two forms of the Elemental Guardian¡ªwater and earth¡ªmerged into a single hybrid form.


    Based on the two fused forms, the upper-half of the creature was a massive, golem-like structure, built from rough, dark stone, with jagged edges and sharp, angr pieces of stone, resembling a colossus of rock. Its arms were thick withyers of cracked rock, but the surface of the stone seemed to breathe with water seeping through the cracks, flowing like streams or rivers between the stones.


    All of these thin streams connected to a thick river of water that ran along its spine, constantly flowing with swirling, frothing currents down to its "leg" that waspletelyposed of water.Its bottom half wasposed of a singr serpentine "leg"posed of water.


    With its rock humanoid upper-half and water serpentine lower half, it looked simr to the legendary Naga.


    However, what was even more shocking was the intense energy that it gave off. For the first time in possibly the history of the National Tournament, a contract emanating the aura of a green-grade spiritual creature was seen on a first-year stage.


    It was already impressive for a first year to have a contract reach yellow-grade. And typically only students within the top 5 colleges would have more than one yellow-grade contract in their first year. Many of the lowest-ranked colleges'' students have most of their contracts still at the red-grade, and their strongest at orange.


    Serena''s contract now jumping to green-grade after 2 of its forms werebined, was like a high-level yer appearing in the newbie vige¡ªit disrupted the whole ecosystem.


    Even the opponents that were previously arrogant due to their numerical advantage unconsciously began to slowly back away due to the pressure of a creature at a higher life level.


    Of course it''s not unheard of for a group of yellow-grade creatures to hunt a green-grade one, but that''s usually a wild one that isn''t as strong or intelligent as one supported by a beast-tamer. Not to mention, with the support of Serena''s gift and the powerful Starweaver, they''d all have to focus on only the Elemental Guardian to beat it and hope that the Starweaver and Serena wouldn''t interfere¡ªwhich is


    extremely


    unlikely to happen.


    To prevent the Starweaver from being targeted as the weaker threat, she directed it to fly higher while summoning a shield and armor made of starlight.


    However, despite having his initial thoughts to get rid of the Starweaver seen through, Tobias remainedposed, and showed no sign of faltering. He directed the hesitating Abyssal Echo to try and restrain the movements of the hybrid.


    A new, stronger curse also fell upon the Elemental Guardian from his other contract, the rotting corpse-like spiritual creature.


    Together, they barely managed to slow down its movements, but it wasn''t nearly as great a restriction as previously.


    The Slenderman-like entity began to move again, its limbs stretching impossibly long, reaching out toward Serena''s guardian with an eerie swiftness. Its fingers were like daggers of shadow. Its limbs slithered through the air, casting the arena into deeper darkness.


    At the same time, the Scorchwing Demon bared its molten teeth, roaring as itunched itself forward, mes dancing around its wings.


    However, the Elemental Guardian was hardly fighting alone. The Starweaver, circling above like a constetione to life, sent out a pulse of light that severed the shadows around it.


    The moment the creature recoiled, the hybrid Elemental Guardian moved in. Its stone arms grabbed the Slenderman-like summon by its thin, skeletal body, the jagged rocks digging into the dark tendrils of shadow. The creature shrieked, but it was drowned out by the sound of stone grinding against shadow. With a violent twist, the Guardian ripped the creature apart, flinging its shredded form into the air as the shadows evaporated in a burst of light from the Starweaver above. Since it wasn''t a real contract of Tobias, she wouldn''t have any reservations about killing it.


    Tobias did recoil slightly upon its death, indicating that its death wasn''t without consequence to him, but it shouldn''t be anything more than a temporary headache.


    Meanwhile, the Scorchwing Demon that was trying to approach from its blindspot and sent jets of fire toward the Guardian, wasn''t as much of a threat to the strengthened Guardian.


    The Guardian easily absorbed the heat while its water leg swept across the stage like a whip, knocking the Scorchwing Demon to the ground and dousing it in a crashing wave of liquid fury.


    The demon''s molten red skin sizzled and steamed, but it was too slow to dodge.


    The water constricted around its limbs, rendering it immobile as the stone fists of the Guardian came crashing down, breaking most of its bones in a single, crushing blow.


    The Scorchwing Demon''s wings crumpled beneath the force, its body battered and doused in a torrent of water that put out all of its mes. It copsedpletely into unconsciousness.


    Within moments, two of Tobias'' contracts were neutralized.

 Chapter 259 Victory

    With the Scorchwing Demon and the underworld summon already dealt with, only the remaining two of Tobias'' infernal spiritual creatures stood between Serena and victory.


    Not wanting to give the enemy any more time to breathe, the Elemental Guardian''s serpentine lower halfshed out, cutting through the air like a deadly whip.


    The ck tendrils of the Abyssal Echo tried to wrap around it, but the force of the attack from a creature one grade higher was difficult to resist, and the dark tendrils released by the Echo were shattered.


    The stone body of the Guardian, which had been mostly focused on brute force up until now, shifted its weight to move with a surprising amount of grace. Reaching towards the Echo, and giving it a push so strong that it would have cracked the ribs of most humans. The Abyssal Echo shrieked as its body was forcibly pushed back, its tendrils stretching in all directions like the limbs of a broken spider.


    But the Echo was not so easily defeated. It retaliated with a burst of dark energy, creating a vortex of shadow that threatened to consume everything within its grasp.


    The swirling mass of darkness tried to pull the Elemental Guardian in like a ck hole, distorting the light around it. The Guardian''s movements slowed for just a fraction of a second, while the curse from Tobias'' other contract worked to restrain it as well.


    The Echo''s tendrils reached for the Guardian''s arms, dragging them down with an almost suffocating pressure. It wasn''t enough to fully hold the Guardian, but for a moment, it seemed like the tide might turn.


    However, while the stalemate between the 3 spiritual creatures was ongoing, the Starweaver flying above drew upon the power of a familiar constetion, a beamposed of starlight fell directly on the Echo, drawing its now immobile body up towards the sky.


    The Guardian took advantage of the opening, lifting its stone fist high and hammering it straight on its floating body with an explosive force.


    The punch sent shockwaves through the air as the creature''s form cracked and momentarily dispersed under the impact in a violent explosion of shadow. Thankfully, the dispersion was temporary, and its body reformed quickly, although its appearance was now visibly weaker.


    Where previously, its figure wasposed of the deepest ck shadows that seemed to consume all the surrounding light, now its slumped figure was a translucent grey.


    ''Only one left!''


    Kain and the others who supported Dark Moon, couldn''t help buzzing in anticipation. Winning the first match will get them one step closer to being dered the overall first-ce team among the first-years.


    However, the remaining contract of Tobias was the most mysterious and the one they knew the least about. It also did not appear as intimidated by the green-grade Guardian as its teammates were.


    Indeed, at this moment, the rotting spiritual creature let out a horrific, otherworldly cackle.


    As the Elemental Guardian''s oppressive figure approached it, the rotting contract didn''t react immediately. Instead, it slowly raised one arm, and the air around it seemed devoid of any energy as if the very atmosphere was being drained of life. T


    he Guardian, still energized from its earlier victories, charged forward, its stone fist raised high. However, the moment the Guardian''s hand closed in on its target, the opponemt''s eyes shed, and an almost imperceptible ripple seemed to pass through the arena.


    Before the Elemental Guardian could react, the rotting creature''s next curse took hold fully. The stone arm of the Guardian started to crack, as if the very earth thatposed it was beginning to rot away.


    Chunks of stone ked off the arm, turning into brittle dust that drifted into the air. The water flowing along its leg grew sluggish, as if it were losing its momentum in the face of an unseen force.


    This was one of this contracts'' most powerful curses, and the power of it was clearly exemplified by its ability to still be so effective against a green-grade spiritual creature.


    The curse, Time Decay, is a rare skill with both dark and time attributes. Although the time attribute is secondary. It causes a time distortion that results in a temporary rapid aging.


    Therefore, if Kain were struck by this curse he may take on the form of a frail old man for a period of time until the curse was either lifted or the opponent ran out of energy.


    However, despite its seemingly perverse effects, it was not limited to use by higher-level creatures because the "aging" was only temporary andpletely superficial, with only physical strength being somewhat impacted by the decay due to aging. The mental strength, intelligence, spiritual power, etc. were all left intact.


    Rather than a true aging effect, it was more like an illusion of aging, and once the target''s strength surpassed a certain threshold¡­


    Crack!


    The water flowing on its body unfroze with a violent crash reminiscent of the sound of waves hitting a cliff. The stone arms that had been rotting began to grow stronger as, with support from Serena and the Starweaver, the effect of the curse began to fade.


    The guardian then summoned a wave of water to engulf the opponent. However, likely due to the minerals present in the water due to its dual earth and water attribute, the water was much heavier than normal.


    The heavy water mmed into the rotting spiritual creature with the force of a crashing tide. Its murky depths surged around its body, the minerals present in the water weighing down its limbs, creating a crushing pressure that restricted its movements.


    The creature shrieked as the oppressive liquid squeezed its form, its decaying body straining against the immense weight.


    Eventually, the thrashing spiritual creature''s movements grew sluggish, and then its body began to break apart under the pressure, its rotting limbs cracking and snapping as the weight of the heavy water pinned it down.


    Serena quickly ordered the Elemental Guardian to stop, in case it was actually killed.


    Tobias, standing in the midst of the arena surrounded by the cheers of the audience, could only watch as his final spiritual creature was defeated.


    The Dark Moon team was now one step closer to victory.

 Chapter 260 End of Phase 1

    Likely due to their loss in the first battle, a frazzled professor probably sought to add Tobias and Thorian Draegor both to the 3-on-3 line-up.


    However, what should have been a dream team ended up suffering a defeat at the hands of Soren, Kairos and Ranya against expectations.


    Tobias'' contracts were still too exhausted and injured from his match with Serena, and he likely still sustained some bacsh from the dead summon and was unable to use his gift.


    Meanwhile Thorian''s Basilisks, while powerful and could even turn enemies into stone if eye contact is made, weren''t add effective against the Dark Moon lineup.


    Due to their being a lesser dragon species, true dragons are immune to many of the basilisk''s effects, not to mention the sense of oppression through the bloodline, making it unable to disy the full extent of its abilities.


    Basilisks, despite not being true dragons are extremely powerful, therefore not all dragon species are strong enough to exert pressure through the bloodline.


    However, naturally Soren as a valued member of the royal family and someone with a storm-dragon bloodline affinity, which even amongst dragons is quite a high-level bloodline, it is natural that his dragons would have this effect.


    Additionally, neither of Kairos'' contracts, a book and doll, really had the ability to make eye contact. After all, the cursed book has no eyes, and the doll''s "eyes" are really sewn on buttons and really for aesthetics with no seeing function. Like most cursed constructs the doll senses its environment in a amore abstract manor, rather than through the use of eyesight or using ears to hear like most organic creatures.


    Finally, Ranya''s contracts, with their impressive illusion abilities, not only did not fall prey to making eye-contact with the Basiliks, she even managed to craft an illusion that had it instead petrify two of its own teammates.


    Clearly, shoving the strongest Tobias and Thorian into the top 3 match had been a desperate attempt to secure a victory and force a tie-breaking match, however they had clearly never coborated with one another and their third teammate as a group of 3, and theirck of teamwork showed.


    Their third teammate, who while not offensively strong as Tobias and Thorean, had incredibly powerful support abilities, capable of healing, providing boosts, and providing timely defense.


    However, who would have thought he''d be pitted by his own teammates''ck of coordination and have two of his contracts turned into statues by his own teammate!


    As for Soren¡­Kain only saw Thorian whisper something to him just as they both made their way to the stage.


    Kain was unable to hear what was said, but Soren seemed to be injected by stimnts and proceeded to attack the opponents with greater ferocity than he''d ever seene from him.


    It wasn''t until after the match that Kairos confided than Thorian had mocked Soren as not entering First Celestial Academy because he was afraid he couldn''t cut it in thepetition at their school and that he was destined to always be the loser younger Lysander always living in the more talented Cassian''s shadow.


    The words weren''t even directed at Kain and he felt like he wanted to p Thorian, much less Soren who was the actual subject of the mocking.


    So after exhausting what felt like 200% of his energy to beat Thorian''s contracts into a half-dead state that one of the referees even had to step in to stop, the 3-vs-3 match between Dark Moon and First Celestial ended in Dark Moon''s (bloody) victory.


    After this victory Dark Moon was crowned the final winner of the first-years and granted 100 points.


    Additionally, the third years secured their second ce ranking with their victory against Supernova.


    Therefore, Dark Moon was entering Phase Two with 370 points.


    Unfortunately, with two second ce rankings (first and fourth year) and two first ce rankings (second and third year), First Celestial was entering phase Two with 380 points and still had a lead over them.


    Kain and the others headed back to the hotel in an exhausted yet jubnt mood. The tournament no longer had anything to do with themselves, they had done the most that they could and had even exceeded the expectations of the staff by getting first for their year. The final ranking of the school was now up to the following performance of Captain Ezra and the other representatives as the school''s strongest 5 individuals.


    *Ding*


    *Congrattions to the Host forpleting the following Hidden Missions¡­*


    Kain was lying in bed just about to dose off, when he was jolted awake by the System notification. All signs of sleepiness disappeared from his face as he peaked over at his roommate Kairos to ensure that he was asleep and wouldn''t notice anything amiss.


    Thankfully, heavy breathing and faint snores were all that greeted him as he looked to the other side of the room.


    Excited, Kain opened the full System notification.


    *Congrattions to the Host for aplishing the following Hidden Missions:*


    *Representing Dark Moon College as a top 5 student of your grade level¡ª1000 GP*


    *Help Dark Moon''s first-year team achieve a ranking within the top 3 (Rewards variable based on performance)¡ªFirst-ce team within year-level, granted 5000 GP*


    *Bonus points based on general performance assessment: The Host yed a key role in several difficult battles. However, the quantity of battles wascking and no role was yed in the final match of the tournament. Therefore the grade granted it¡­''


    B''


    and 3000 GP are rewarded*


    Kain couldn''t help wincing at the final assessment. Although he had yed a crucial role in defeating several tough opponents like being responsible for facing Elysara from Lunaris Vale, and Niki from Supernova, since the professors had adopted the strategy of concealing Kain and Serena''s strength for majority of thepetition, the vast majority of the matches were represented by Soren, Ranya, and/or Kairos.


    However, if he''d known that there was this kind of mission and hidden assessment conducted by the System, he would have been more proactive in volunteering for matches, rather than having Soren pick up all of the small-fry matches. He couldn''t help butment the B-rating, while vowing to be more proactive in the future.


    Still the extra GP was a wee gift considering the next system upgrade was a long way away and required 100,000 points¡­

 Chapter 261 The Top 5 of Dark Moon College

    *Contribute to Dark Moon College increasing in ranking¡ªmission in progress, reward variable based on the final ranking of Dark Moon College*


    Kain looked at the final mission regarding the National Tournament that could possibly give him rewards. However, likely because the final results of Phase Two were not yet out, the rewards couldn''t be issued since Dark Moon College having an increase in ranking wasn''t official yet.


    After ying around and celebrating with the majority of the other Dark Moon students who no longer needed topete in the tournament, they went to bed.


    However, it would be a long night for the top 5 students with the strongestbat ability across the entire school who were assigned to represent the school in Phase Two.


    The first of which, was the undisputed strongest student from Dark Moon and the Captain of the representative team¡ªEzra Vauss. Kain hadn''t seen his contracts since the beast-tide, and at that time he''d only revealed 5 despite being a newly upgraded 6-star beast-tamer.


    Based on the most recent information he had shared with the college so that the staff couldto create suitable strategies, he now had 6 spiritual creatures at a level strong enough to be used in battle.


    At the time of the beast-tide, 2 of his 5 contracts were green-grade, however after a long period of intensive training, all of his contracts now had blue-grade spiritual power.


    However, unfortunately, none of his contracts had made the leap to having indigo-spiritual power.


    Although it only seems like a difference of one grade from blue to indigo, or from 6-stars to 7-stars, this is a blockade that has prevented thousands of beast-tamers and their contracts from advancing.


    There is a reason that 6-star beast tamers with blue spiritual power are only considered middle-level, while those 7-star ones with indigo spiritual power are considered high-level beast-tamers.


    The difference in strength with that one step between both levels was greater than the sum of all previous levelsbined. As was the difficulty in breaking through to that level. The breakthrough to indigo-grade is also the first time when a failed breakthrough can directly result in death, rather than just injury or even crippling.


    Therefore, while it wasmon for fourth, and even third-year students, within the top colleges to reach blue-grade spiritual power, an indigo-grade contract hadn''t been seen in decades within thecollege tournament.


    In addition to Captain Ezra, the second strongest Vice Captain Ravi was also an undisputed representative for the school, with 4 blue-grade spiritual creatures and 1 green-grade contract already known to Kain and the others.


    He had advanced to being a 6-star beast-tamer around the time of the beast-tide, however Kain didn''t know if he''d found a suitable sixth contract yet. At least no sixth contract was ever revealed in the training.


    However, considering the importance the college attaches to thispetition, it was certain that they wouldn''t spare any effort in finding him an additional contract that perfectly suited his needs¡ªthat was the benefit of being a highly-valued member of the team representing the school.


    Ravi has an extremely versatile affinity to insect-type spiritual creatures. Therefore, it wouldn''t be difficult for the school to find him a spiritual creature with high potential that he could form a contract with. The only question would be if it was currently at a high enough level and had enough tacit understanding with Ravi to make a beneficial addition to his lineup.


    Surprisingly, the third strongest individual within the school is considered to be the third-year Jade. Despite only being in her third-year, was infinitely close to breaking through to the 6-stars, and also 4 of her 5 contracts were all blue-grade.


    Originally, Kain had doubted her ranking so high as a third year, but after witnessing her fight first hand during the beast-tide and the team training that they''d participated in for the past couple of months, Kain had to acknowledge that she was as talented as she was annoying.


    At one point Kain had thought that her incessant ability to chatter and ask invasive questions was rted to some kind of mental-attribute gift she had. But it is actually just her personality.


    Her ability was actually quite powerful and useful in battle. Simr to her younger green-haired sibling who is only in his second year and one of the top student healers in the school due to possessing a healing gift and several contracts with a healing-ability, Jade''s gift allows her to provide a powerful regenerative effect to her contracts.


    Kain had witnessed for himself how her contracts were practically no different from the undead during training, capable of regrowing limbs, healing severe wounds within moments.


    Heck, in battle with her the others have grown so ustomed to not pulling their punches that they regrly used killing moves during the training. In one memorable spar, Ezra''s contract had actually damaged the head of one of Jade''s contracts so severely that its brain matter was seen sttering on the floor and one two-thirds of its head was missing.


    However, while it took a little longer, even an injury that severe was recovered from within a couple of minutes. From what Kain heard the only side-effect seeming to be some memory loss due to the lost brain matter.


    Clearly, due to her gift not only is conversing with her exhausting but even fighting with her was extremely tiring¡­


    More annoying for the opponent is that this seemingly overpowered skill doesn''t even seem to use much of her spiritual power.


    Likely as a consequence of this powerful gift, most of her contracts are not naturally defensively strong and instead focus on having powerful offensive abilities. Considering that an damage would be recovered in a few moments time, and killing them would practically require destroying their entire body at once, the choice to choose contracts that neglect defense in favor of offensive is somewhat understandable.


    Although Kain wasn''t sure about the exact details of her affinity, he did know that every single one of her contracts involved some kind of big cat¡ªlions, tigers, jaguars. Under the influence of her gift, they all had a tendency to attack with great ferocity, not caring about any potential damage to themselves.

 Chapter 262 The Top 5 of Dark Moon College (2)

    The fourth representative for the school was a fourth-year girl named Venessa, who Kain was the least familiar with. He hadn''t had much opportunity to interact with her in the past and even during the beast-tide she was consistently located at a further distance away from them, therefore he''d only gotten a sense for how strong she was within the past couple of months.


    The reason that Venessa kept a distance from them all during the beast-tide was due to her contracts all being poisonous¡ªlikely the poison-attribute being a necessary requirement of her affinity.


    Not to mention she herself rarely stays within close proximity to others due to the nature of her gift.


    Honestly, when Kain had first heard about her gift, while he admired its powerful abilities, he also couldn''t help but feel extremely sorry for her.


    She has the unique ability to purify and strengthen her contracts'' poisons so that they are several times more deadly than their wild counterparts. However, the method by which she does this requires for her contracts to first inject their poisons into her.


    However, she doesn''t immediately have immunity to all poisons, when encountering a poison for the first time, while her gift ensures that it won''t kill her, she has to suffer through all of the effects of the poison as at it brings her to the brink of death before her body can resist it.


    However, after her body assimtes the poison it then bes like a naturalponent of her bloodstream and she is able to recover normally.


    However, as the poison, now a normal part of her blood, cycles through her body, her organs help to purify and strengthen it. If this blood is then fed to the original creator of a poison in her blood, its body will inherently pick up on the improvements and strengthen its poison to match the fed poisonous blood¡ªeven if said poison includes poisons from other spiritual creatures.


    Therefore, unlike other members of their species, all of Venessa''s contracts have the same deadlybination of poisons that flows through her veins. Moreover, due to having to assimte all of these poisons within her, Venessa herself is extremely deadly to most humans.


    If some of her extremely poisonous blood, spit, or tears somehownds on an unsuspecting ssmate, they''d be done for.


    While much effort had been made by the top researchers within the college to develop an antidote so that she could participate in thepetition, the poison is still so strong that it could cause some side effects for up to a year, even with a cure.


    Therefore, Venessa is doomed to leave an extremely lonely life, with only her immune spiritual creatures able to keep herpany.


    Finally, thest representative of Dark Moon was between Theo and Dmitri in the third-year, and Edward among the fourth-years.


    Up until mere weeks before the tournament the final spot was constantly rotating between them since the gap in strength among them wasn''t significant.


    However, eventually it was decided, that the fourth-year Edward would be the final representative by the staff. However, it was unknown if they thought he was actually stronger, if it was because he was more emotionally steady, or if it was because this would be his final opportunity to represent the school as a fourth-year.


    Therefore, Jade was confirmed to be the only third-year in the lineup.


    With three blue-grade spiritual creatures, the same amount as Jade and Venessa, Edward didn''t stand out within the lineupThe most memorable thing about him was his impressive hulking figure that would even dwarf Bridge.


    He was rtively slow in cultivating spiritual power, surprisingly being even slower than most of the third-years in the top 5 at breaking through to 5-stars.


    However, this was because it was found that he had a unique constitution that would absorb part of his spiritual power while cultivating and use it to strengthen his body. Therefore, despite being a human, his physique wasn''t weaker than many blue-grade spiritual creatures even without the use of a relevant gift.


    Thankfully, he was able to keep his spot within the top 5 despite being among the slowest fourth-years at cultivating due to the diligence of his contracts who, knowing the weakness of their master, trained twice as hard.


    Therefore, while he was still a four-star beast tamer he was able to defeat most 5-star beast tamers who had 5 contracts at uneven levels of strength, with 4 peak, heavily trained green-grade spiritual creatures.


    Following this pattern of diligently making up for his weaknesses, within a weak of him advancing to 5-stars, three broke through to blue-grade, almost as if they were just waiting for theirgging master to catch up¡­.


    The other two could also probably break-through within the next couple of months and instantly bring him to one of the top 3 of the school, if the tournament was held a littleter.


    After the top 5 was settled they began the battle strategies targeted at their opponents for the uing rounds.


    Only colleges that ced within the top 16 in Phase One are eligible to participate in Phase Two, therefore they didn''t need to collect information on all participating colleges.


    However, all top 16 colleges would be participating in a round-robin format to get the most urate ranking of each college.


    Therefore, despite some teams within the top 16 like Neb Taming getting lucky enough to scrape through to the top 8 for a single year due to good luck in the match-ups, no such thing would be urring in Phase Two.


    However, despite the fact that all colleges would eventually face one another, it has been arranged for fights between members of the top 5 colleges to be arranged for thest two days of Phase Two.


    The way in which Phase Two works is that 5 students from each school will fight against the opposing school individually, with all of their spiritual creatures being allowed to be summoned. Therefore, in Phase Two, the numerical advantages of 6-star students will be more clearly highlighted.


    Since it is a "King of the Hill" format, the winning participant after each battle can choose to remain on the stage or give up the stage to a teammate after each round. But once they step off of the stage, they are not able to return.


    As a result, every year has the humiliating example of a single person managing to defeat an entire team of 5 on their own.

 Chapter 263 The Start of Phase Two

    The strategy for Phase Two of thepetition was simr to that of Phase One for most teams¡ªunless it couldn''t be avoided, the strongest individuals on each team would not appear.


    Therefore, even after several matches, neither Ezra nor Ravi had made a move yet.


    In fact, Dark Moon actually probably had one of the easiest times advancing through thepetition. For those teams lower in the ranking, Edward was able to handle three or four of the opponents without getting too tired. asionally, managing to get rid of whole teams on his own.


    However, the true key to the ease with which they advanced was probably Venessa.


    One match.


    It only took


    one match


    for Venessa and her contracts to build an infamous reputation as living toxins.


    After one of her opponents had had all of his contracts poisoned, and the antidote administered, it was found that all of them were still not in a good enough condition to continuepeting. No amount of elixirs and healing skills would improve their condition in time before the tournament ended¡ªforcing the rest of his team to continue with only four, since substitutions are not allowed.


    That student was forced out of thepetition after just meeting Venessa once, so from that moment on, an interesting phenomenon was seen whenever Venessa took to the stage.


    "We abstain!"


    "We give up!"


    "We would like to concede the remaining matches¡­"


    Venessa, despite only really fighting once, managed to be in the top ranks for the most amount of wins within the tournament since all of the remaining opponents she would have to face always gave up without a fight.


    Of course, this was only possible because the opponents were outside of the top 5, they had no hope of actually defeating Dark Moon or ranking within the top 5. Their priorities were to secure a ranking outside of the top 5 as high as possible.


    But if they fought with her and she ended up removing some of the contestantspletely from the tournament, they would have to face the remaining matches at a huge disadvantage.


    Why would they fight with her and cripple themselves over a match they hadn''t nned to win in the first ce? For pride? What use is pride when your entire college''s funds and resources are cut for a year due to a lower ranking.


    Just look at the school that had one boy unable to continue due to her! They were originally ranked 11th and had high hopes of being able to increase their ranking this year due to a talented lineup.


    After defeating the higher-ranked 9th and 7th-ce teams, it did seem like this dream could be realized¡­


    However, all of these dreams were brought to a screeching halt by that damn woman!


    Since only being able to continue with four members they''d even lost to the lowest ranked 16th ced team!


    If they are lucky, their earlier wins against stronger schools still might help them to preserve a rtively decent ranking and not drop too far beneath their current 11th ced ranking, but if not¡­


    The lead professor of the 11th ranked college shuddered at the thought of what awaited him once he went back to face their iron-blooded Chancellor. The same Chancellor that tied up all staff and students who represented the school in the one year they had dropped outside of the top 20, and hung them outside of the school gates to shame them for a week¡­


    Watching the other colleges learn from their miserable defeat and resolutely giving up whenever Venessa took the stage, he couldn''t help his face turning red with hatred.


    Cowards!


    But he knew that he was just upset that nobody was taking the initiative to jump down to join him in the pit he''d already sunk into.


    Therefore, by the time only 4 matches were left in Phase Two (all against the other top 5 colleges), Dark Moon hadn''t had to reveal much of any of its strength.


    Jade, Ravi, and Ezra hadn''t had to fight even once, and Venessa after one rtively easy battle, won by just climbing the stage¡­


    That was until the match against Frozen Sun.


    The difference between students in and outside of the top 5 colleges was apparent from the first match.


    Frozen Sun had invested much of their resources into the younger generation, preferring to invest in the future and achieve a ranking within the top 3 in two to three years, instead of right now.


    However, even despite their third and fourth years being considered as the weakest within the top 5 colleges, not one of their students shied away from Venessa¡­nor did they need to.


    It just so happens that ice-attribute spiritual creatures are among the least susceptible to poisons, and with the college''s rich heritage and resources, the top 5 students of Frozen Sun would naturally have multiple means of dealing with Venessa.


    Bam!


    A giant fist made of icended heavily on the body of a neon-green serpent¡ª one of Venessa''s contracts.


    Naturally, the surrounding spiritual creatures attempted to retaliate, but even with the various effects of their poisons¡ªnot only capable of causing illness, but capable of corrosion and intense heat as well¡ªbarely any damage was done to the fist. Clearly, the ck iceposing the opponent''s ice golem was exceptional in hardiness.


    Simrly, one of the few of the opponent''s spiritual creatures that was squishy enough to be bit or scratched by Venessa''s simply froze the infected area and continued on as if nothing had happened. But despite the ease with which this was done, very few creatures at the blue-grade level could create ice at a low enough temperature to achieve this effect¡ªnot that everyone watching realized how difficult this feat was.


    Those watching from other teams couldn''t help but be stunned. Their faces then began to blush at the stinging and disdainful eyes of the audience. If that inhumanebination of poisons could be so easily frozen, wouldn''t they have done that?!


    Frozen Sun so easily handling her was making them all look bad, dammit!

 Chapter 264 The Cunning of Frozen Sun

    The fight between Venessa and her Frozen Sun opponent ended a lot sooner than was expected. However, it can be mostly attributed to the excellent strategic lineup of the Frozen Sun staff, they knew which of their students would have the most advantageous time against her, and chose to have him go first.


    Moreover, since only 3 contracts at a time could be summoned in Phase One, Dark Moon hadn''t known that this particr participant would be so difficult for Venessa to handle since this ice golem and another powerful contract weren''t revealed in Phase One, nor did he participate in any of the earlier Phase Two matches.


    Did they intentionally not reveal much of their strength in Phase One to bank on a higher ranking in Phase Two?


    If so, Kain had to admire their guts. If anything went wrong and Frozen Sun had ackluster performance in both phases, they may be the subject of unfavorable public scrutiny.


    Although being part of the top 5 collegeses with many privileges and resources, it alsoes with a lot of pressure. Kain vaguely remembered the adults in his hometown ranting about Starfire College losing a single match in Phase One against a "no-name school" many years ago.


    Of course, that "no-name school" was ck Star College, which has consistently held a rank between 6 and 7 for decades, but the fact that Starfire dared to lose to a school outside of the top 5 was a great source of shame for all the people of the Southern region at the time.


    Therefore, for Frozen Sun to gamble with their Phase One rankings like this to maybe perform better in Phase Two was risky¡­


    However, despite the critiques over their strategy, it couldn''t be denied that their choice to conceal their strength in Phase One has led to Dark Moon beingpletely out strategized.


    They knew much more about the Dark Moon participants than Dark Moon knew about theirs.


    Kain and the audience all admired the tactical ability of Frozen Sun, and they couldn''t help but wonder about their performance in the following matches.


    Suddenly the team that was expected to safelye in at fifth was showing its fangs and showing that it was aiming for a higher ranking this year.


    They secured 2 higher rankings than usual for the first- and second-years in Phase One, and while limiting their strength revealed for the upper years in Phase One resulted in lower rankings for the third- and fourth-years, it increased the likelihood of attaining a better rank in Phase Two.


    Dark Moon had sent Venessa first in order to secure a strong start, but now they''d lost one match, while their opponents still had 5 participants. Moreover, the boy on stage didn''t even appear too tired.


    Jade took to the stage following Venessa''s defeat. Many of the members of Dark Moon shifted in their seats while watching, knowing that they should getfortable since they would probably be in for a long and tiring match.


    On one side was Jade with her perverted regenerative ability that tired out all of her opponents, if they weren''t injured by her offensively powerful contracts.


    On the other side was the student from Frozen Sun, Axel Berg, whose contracts had an extremely formidable defense.


    Both sides were used to battles of attrition as their enemies could seldom hurt them enough to cause a quick defeat.


    Jade took the stage under the excited gazes of the audience, summoning all 5 of her contracts¡ª3 blue-grade, and 2 green-grade.


    Surprisingly, she and Axel were perfectly matched with 3 blue-grade, and 2 green-grade spiritual creatures each.


    Standing at the center of the formation on Jade''s side was the blue-grade Shadowstrike Jaguar, Jade''s initial contract. The dark-attribute jaguar had a sleek, muscr frame covered in dark fur that allowed it to blend into the shadows with ease. Its glowing amber eyes exude intelligence and predatory focus, while watching their opponents.


    To its left was a blue-grade massive tiger with striking orange fur and yellow, jagged stripes that looked like lightning bolts¡ªthe lightning-attribute Thunderfang Tiger. Its raw power was apparent in its muscr form, as well as based on its ws and fangs that crackled with electrical energy.


    To the right of the central Shadowstrike Jaguar, was the dual Earth and Fire attribute Earthshatter Lion, and Jade''sst blue-grade contract. It had a golden, thick mane and muscr body that exuded strength and authority. Its amber eyes burned with a fierce,manding presence, and its slow and deliberate march forward brought an intimidating feeling. movements are slow, deliberate, and incredibly powerful.


    The remaining two contracts that stood on each end were green-grade: a Viperfang Lioness whose ws and fangs secreted a paralyzing venom useful for when hunting prey; and a Windstrike cheetah whose body was built for speed.


    Jade wasted no time. The Shadowstrike Jaguar sprang forward, its dark body blending with the shadows as it streaked across the arena, its amber eyes glowing fiercely as itunched a deadly flurry of w strikes toward Axel''s Ice-Golem. The Ice-Golem, made of ck ice, stood motionless, its imprable form absorbing the hits with a resounding screech like nails on a chalkboard


    "Ugh!" Many in the audience couldn''t help flinching at the unpleasant noise.


    However, even the jaguar''s clearly powerful body, couldn''tbreak its defenses.


    On the other side, the Thunderfang Tiger let loose a terrifying roar that echoed through the arena, the sound crackling with the energy of Lightning. It pounced toward Axel''s ice-attribute fox, which responded with a chilling burst of cold energy, aiming to freeze the tiger''s path.


    But the Thunderfang Tiger was faster. In a blinding sh, it sidestepped the st and unleashed a bolt of Lightning from its ws, surging through the air to strike the Ice-Fox, sending the creature skittering back in a puff of steam.


    At the same time, a rare Frost-Warden Behemoth, equal to the ice golem in height, but even broader in girth, had an icy wall surge up from the ground, blocking the Earthshatter Lion powerful assault.


    Meanwhile, Axel''s remaining green-grade spiritual creatures: a Frozen Bloodhound and an Icecargot, that looks like a blue snail, met their respective green-grade opponents on Jade''s side.


    Looking at the evenly matched pairings, Kain could tell that they''d be in for a long match¡­

 Chapter 265 Defeat Frozen Sun!

    One hour!


    Kain''s mouth stretch open into a wide yawn as the match''s length was now approaching one hour without either side suffering from extensive injuries.


    The match had dragged on far longer than anyone had anticipated, and yet, neither side had managed tond a decisive blow.


    The blue-grade participants had exchanged partners several times, but¡­


    Bam!


    Kain looked at the field where the Earthshatter Lion had switched its opponent again and was was now holding off the Ice Golem. However, despite the strength of its blow and the fire-attribute energy on its ws¡­


    "Not even a scratch," Kain muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing in concentration. The golem''s ice-like skin was practically invulnerable, a testament to how much resources had been poured into the contract since the defense of the average Ice Golem was not nearly as high. Its body was forged from the most resilient ice, and no matter how hard the Earthshatter Lion''s fiery ws raked across it, it was as if they were striking a mountain.


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Jade''s Shadowstrike Jaguar was now moving in and out of the shadows as it stalked and sought to ambush the most squishy looking Ice Fox.


    The fox had proven far more agile and resilient than anyone could have predicted, especially considering how small and seemingly fragile it appeared. Many had expected it to fall in the first few minutes, but here it was, holding its ground¡ªits icy coat shimmering like a fine mist of frost, providing not only speed but also impressive protection.


    Kain was extremely impressed by the resilience of the little fox, and had been sure it would be eliminated the fastest, but it had now been an hour and it was still going strong.


    It was fast, flexible, and not so easy for even the assassin-like Shadowstrike Jaguar to sessfullynd a hit on. Especially since its senses seemed to be several times more sensitivepared to the average contract.


    Each time the jaguar lunged, attempting to tear into its foe with razor-sharp ws, the fox responded with bursts of freezing energy that would halt the jaguar mid-air. Its keen senses allowed it to react faster than Jade''s beast could anticipate, and with every shadow strike, the fox''s ice mist shielded it, nullifying the blows. Even when the jaguar''s ws did manage tond, they simply slid off the fox''s armor, leaving it unharmed.


    However, no damage was done to the fox since an armorposed of icy mist had surrounded itself at thest moment. It also created an additional wall of ice to impede the jaguar''s subsequent actions towards it.


    The jaguar growled in frustration, retreating into the shadows only to reappear in another attempt to nk the fox.


    The fox wasn''t nearly as sturdy as the golem, but its speed and control over ice allowed it to weather the storm, healing and shielding itself as its opponent circled, waiting for an opening.


    Meanwhile, Frost-Warden Behemoth, a titan of ice and power, stomped the ground, sending icy shards up like spears. Jade''s Thunderfang Tiger had to leap back to avoid being impaled by the barrage of ice spikes. Yet, as Jade''s tiger retreated, its fur red with static electricity, and it let out a guttural roar, shaking the air around them and sending a barrage of lightning strikes at the enemy.


    Still, the Frost-Warden Behemoth stood tall, its status as having the second strongest defense on Axel''s team being put on full disy.


    Crack!


    The audience no longer even flinched in sympathy when seeing Jade''s contracts injured. Looking at the Windstrike cheetah that had just had its two hind legs shattered by the Behemoth while passing by, before the Behemoth was once again preupied by its same-level opponent, nobody felt anything anymore.


    And true to the audience''s rxed attitude to the severe injury, within moments its legs were both intact and it ran off to harass those enemies locked in battle at the same speed as before.


    Axel''s contracts were equally as annoying. The Icecargot, Axel''s green-grade contract, its thick, indestructible shell had proven almost impervious to the relentless onught of Jade''s other creatures. The Viperfang Lioness had bitten and wed at its shell for minutes without making any noticeable progress, the venom it released simply running off the Icecargot''s icy surface like water.


    Fed up with the snail, the Viperfang had tried its luck with the Frozen Bloodhound who looked more softpared to the heavily armored snail.


    However, Jade''s Viperfang Lioness, though venomous, had not been able to incapacitate the Bloodhound, whose frozen blood literally froze any poison or toxin that entered its system. Jade had expected the Bloodhound to fall within minutes, but after every attack, its frozen blood simply halted the spread of the venom, and it continued to fight as fiercely as ever.


    The whole arena seemed locked in a tense, unrelenting stalemate. Each side hade to a standstill, trading blows that never seemed tond with full force.


    Continue your story on M V L


    Much of the audience was now beginning to dose off due to the protracted war.


    Kain sighed heavily while watching the spectacle.


    ''This is ridiculous. When are they going to get to the part where someone actually wins?''


    Jade''s face was set in determination as she swept her gaze across the battlefield, calcting her next move. Her spiritual creatures were starting to show signs of exhaustion, despite their regenerative abilities, each failed strike was still draining their stamina.


    It was time to change the tempo.


    Jade sent her Windstrike Cheetah to assist her Shadowstrike Jaguar in nking Axel''s Ice Fox.


    The Windstrike Cheetah, its body a blur of speed, zipped through the battlefield, its speed and agility making it difficult for Axel''s Ice-Fox to keep up. However, their gap in level didn''t make it too much of a threat. Although it was an annoying distraction, and its main role was to help create openings for the Shadowstrike Jaguar¡ªor so Axel and those watching assumed.


    Momentarily freed from its stalemate with the Ice Fox, the jaguar left its position. In one swift movement, it leapt, sinking its ws deep into the unsuspecting Bloodhound''s side. The green-grade spiritual creatures had been using extra caution to avoid the higher-level opponents, but it hadn''t expected the Jaguar who was just preupied with the fox to appear before it.


    For the first time in the match, a contract on Axel''s side was heavily wounded, and Jade knew that this was her chance to press forward.

 Chapter 266 Defeat Frozen Sun! (2)

    Jade knew that now was her moment to turn the tide.


    Her Shadowstrike Jaguar, moments ago locked in a tense battle with Axel''s Ice Fox, had finally found an opportunity to knock out one of the opponents.


    Experience exclusive tales on M V L


    After what seemed like an eternity of near-misses and frustration, the jaguar had stealthily moved from the shadows, the calcted predator now poised for a direct attack. The Ice Fox, distracted by the shing blur of the Windstrike Cheetah, hadn''t seen the danger until it was toote and was unable to warn its ally.


    With a brutal, fluid leap, the Shadowstrike Jaguar''s ws dug deep into the Frozen Bloodhound''s side¡ªits razor-sharp talons finding purchase in the beast''s softer underbelly. The Bloodhound''s surprise yelp echoed through the arena, but the jaguar wasn''t about to let it go so easily.


    At the direction of Jade, the jaguar simply dug its ws in deeper as it struggled instead of immediately removing them. The jaguar''s grip prevented the Bloodhound from healing, from freezing the blood to slow the bleeding, or from generating any defensiveyer of ice between it and the jaguar.


    The Bloodhound was held to the ground, pressed by the Jaguar''s weight, and as it struggled to rise it only made the damage caused by the lodged ws even more severe.


    The arena fell deathly silent, save for the wet, sickening sshes of the Bloodhound''s frozen blood spilling onto the stone floor. Its once-pristine, ice-blue fur was stained red as it struggled, but there was no escape. Jade''s jaguar stood tall over it, its amber eyes glowing with dark satisfaction. The Bloodhound''s movements slowed, its strength drained, the battle lost.


    It was now 4 to 5¡ªadvantage Dark Moon.


    Jade didn''t waste a moment. She pressed the advantage.


    The Windstrike Cheetah, using its speed and wind maniption, began creating gusts of wind that circled around its own body. These gusts surged like a mini-tornado around the fox as the Cheetah kicked up a trail of snow, stone, dust, and ice from the arena floor¡ªobscuring the vision of the ice fox.


    After confirming that it wouldn''t be re-entering the fray, the jaguar abandoned its hold on the Bloodhound.


    In the blink of an eye, its shadowy form melding with the darkness as it stealthily moved to the fox. The fox had no time to react, not with the Windstrike Cheetah creating whirlwinds of distraction in its wake.


    Appearing from the tornado to its right, the cheetah concentrated all of its power tounch a heavy blow on the fox. However, the fox was able to materialize a shield to the right to block the attack.


    However, the cheetah was merely fulfilling its role of diversion, ad at the same time from the opposite direction appeared the jaguar.


    With a sharp crack, the jaguar''s ws found their mark, raking across the Ice Fox''s side, once again it adopted the strategy of leaving its ws embedded in the target¡ªespecially since the fox is even more adept at healing and creating armor on itself than the Bloodhound.


    However, it was also much stronger than its ally, and taking advantage of all the wind created by the cheetah, it increased the power of the wind and also added hundreds of sharp des of ice in the swirling tornado that continuously attacked the jaguar.


    Although the jaguar could easily heal from the injuries, that didn''t mean it didn''t feel the pain caused by them. Its concentration broken by the sharp ice shards constantly slicing it, it ended up unconsciously letting go of the fox. Capitalizing on the opportunity, it immediately tried to flee the area.


    However, unfortunately waiting for it was the Thunderfang Tiger, who had been momentarily free from its scuffle with the Behemoth due to the swift Cheetah zipping around it as a distraction.


    With a mighty roar, the Thunderfang Tiger leapt forward. Its powerful, muscr frame crackled with electricity as itunched itself at the Ice Fox. Before the fox could even begin to shield itself, a bolt of lightning shot from the tiger''s ws, surging through the air and striking the fox with such intensity that its body locked up, paralyzed from the sudden shock.


    The Ice Fox''s form sagged, its body twitching as the lightning coursed through it. It copsed to the ground with a final yelp, unable to rise again.


    Jade let out a breath of relief, but there was no time to dwell on the victory. Axel''s remaining beasts¡ªFrost-Warden Behemoth, Ice-Golem, and Icecargot¡ªwere still on the battlefield, and they were not to be underestimated.


    However, unlike the powerful innate defense of the Ice Golem and Icecargot which doesn''t consume any spiritual power to maintain, the ice shields and armor that the Behemoth could maintain to boost its defense rtively easily, still consumed some spiritual power. Usually the amount is negligible, but this high-intensity battle had been going on for around an hour now, therefore its previously imprable defenses were no longer as tough.


    Despite the Behemoth''s seemingly imprable defenses, Jade could sense the cracks beginning to show. The Behemoth''s movements were slowing, its towering form bing sluggish with each step.


    With a deep, rumbling roar, the Earthshatter Lion charged at the Behemoth. The massive titan attempted to create an ice barrier in front of itself, but the Lion was faster¡ªits fiery ws shed through the ice, each strike turning the frozen pirs into steam.


    The Frost-Warden Behemoth attempted to retaliate with a powerful swipe of its own, but the Earthshatter Lion dodged easily, its agility belying its size. With another strike, the Lionnded a powerful blow, the heat from its fiery ws melting through the Behemoth''s ice armor, weakening its once-imprable defenses.


    The Behemoth staggered back, its massive frame groaning under the pressure of the attack. Axel''s giant ice-beast tried to summon more ice to regenerate its shattered defenses, but it was toote.


    With a final, devastating roar, the Earthshatter Lion leapt forward, its ws piercing the Behemoth''s chest, the fire from its ws being pumped into the core of its body continuously.


    The Behemoth let out a deafening scream in agony as the scorch heat ripped through its body, before copsing to the ground in an exhausted and steaming heap.


    Seeing that it had no more energy for further resistance, the ws were promptly removed to prevent killing the Behemoth.


    Jade allowed herself a single, triumphant breath. One more down. Two left.


    The Viperfang Lioness'' venomous fangs had been ineffective against the Icecargot''s defenses. The green-grade snail''s thick, frosty shell had proven difficult to prate. But Jade had a n.


    The Thunderfang Tiger, finally freed of its duty of holding off the blue-grade opponents, could finally pay attention to the snail with their numerical advantage.


    It darted around the snail''s shell, staying just out of range of the Icecargot''s defensive slime and sharp spines. Then, with a sudden, forceful leap, the tiger forcefully struck the Icecargot''s shell from the side, sending a shockwave through the snail''s body. An deafening electrical hum began to resonate through the shell, considering that snails hear by sensing vibrations with their entire bodies, the sensation must have been unbearable.


    The Icecargot''s defenses momentarily faltered as the vibration forced it to move slightly out of its shell, a defensive response to the sudden shock. The shell shifted, the snail''s body bing exposed for a brief, vulnerable instant.


    Capitalizing on that brief instant, the Viperfang Lioness lying in wait leapt with precision. It sank its venomous fangs deep into the exposed soft flesh of the Icecargot, biting down with all the force it could muster.


    The shell had protected the snail from most of the earlier strikes, but now the Lioness''s venom began to spread rapidly throughout the creature''s body, and causing it to be paralyzed while exposed from its shell''s protection.


    The Icecargot writhed, its body stiffening and convulsing as the venom took hold. With onest twitch, the snail copsed, its body sumbing to the venomous attack.


    Jade allowed herself a single, triumphant breath. Only one left.


    With Axel''s Frost-Warden Behemoth and Icecargot dispatched, only the Ice Golem, Axel''s final blue-grade contract remained.


    Jade''s gaze never left the hulking, imprable form of the Ice Golem that stood resolute at the center of the battlefield. Its thick armor of ice was unyielding, and even her contracts'' most powerful attacks had done little to dent it.


    The Thunderfang Tiger, its body still crackling with residual electricity from earlier, leapt forward, its paws mming into the ground with a burst of energy. The air around the beast hummed with static, the electrical energy gathering as it prepared to strike. The Tiger released a bolt of lightning that crackled toward the Golem, hoping to overload its ice defenses.


    But as the lightning struck the Golem, the ice simply absorbed the energy, causing no visible damage. Jade gritted her teeth in frustration. Until finally her eyes glinted with realization.


    The Golem''s defense is a fortress, and no direct attack is going to break through it... Jade''s mind raced


    . ''But what if we don''t need to break the ice?''


    Since she couldn''t crack its defense, she would give up on doing so; after all, as a golem it has one clear weakness¡ªits core.


    Using the Earthshatter Lion to manipte the ground and destabilize the golem. With a push from both the Windstrike Cheetah, the Viperfang Lioness, and the Thunderfang Tiger at its back, the golem was pushed to the ground.


    The Thunderfang Tiger sent massive amounts of electricity through the Golem''s prone body. However, the electricity caused no damage. However the lightning wasn''t aimed at the surface¡ªit was designed to travel through the Golem''s icy form, searching for its internal core, the source of its energy.


    With the information transmitted through her contract, Jade directed the Shadowstrike Jaguar on the location of the core.


    Since its defenses couldn''t be prated to target the core, instead the faint shadow the core cast within the body will be capitalized upon and used tounch an attack by the Jaguar.


    However, due to the many shadows cast by the chunks of iceposing the body, the jaguar needed the precise location of the core in order for the n to work.


    The Golem let out a deafening roar, the sound echoing through the arena, but Jade could see the signs¡ªits core was struggling to maintain its power as it was enveloped by dark energy and disconnected from the rest of the body.


    Finally the Golem slumped weakly to the ground¡ªshe had won.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 267 The Benefits of Concealing Strength

    After the long drawn-out battle, Jade''s contracts, while not injured, were too exhausted to persist for long in the following round.


    Thankfully, since Axel was one of the most difficult students to deal with at Frozen Sun, majority of the remaining matches were able to be handled by Edward, until the opposing side''s captain took to the stage. However, Ravi was able to dispatch the opposing captain without his contracts suffering too much and after a night of healing and rest they were as good as new the following day for their match against Supernova College. Chapter Your:


    Supernova, like Frozen Sun, naturally was not too intimidated by Venessa''s poisons and had their own means of dealing with her.


    They chose to send up a beast-tamer with a nt-type affinity as their representative against her. All of this opponent''s nt contracts had regenerative abilities not inferior to Jade''s. However, whether that regenerative ability was innate or due to a gift or spirit skill was unknown.


    Whenever the nts were stabbed and poisoned, the nt contracts decisively discarded any contaminated vines, roots, leaves, and petals, and carried on as though nothing had happened.


    Eventually, after having 2 of her contracts put to sleep by yellow pollen-like spores released arge orange flower, one wrapped tightly until it was immobile by vines that kept regenerating when poisoned, and the remaining 2 being covered in a moss-like substance that slowly sapped their strength.


    Although Kain was upset for his low rating given by the System due to the low number of matches he participated in, seeing how easily Venessa was targeted by other top 5 schools reaffirmed that the college''s strategy of concealing the strengths and skills of their top students was necessary.


    Additionally, due to Jade revealing much of her skills in the fight with Frozen Sun, she had a much more challenging time against Supernova. Once she took to the stage, after defeating only one of the opponents, she had to face an opponent that seemed to perfectly target her.


    Although she has powerful regenerative abilities, that regeneration is useless when her contracts'' minds were targeted.


    Therefore, after having all 5 of her contracts either reduced to being mindless zombies, put to sleep, or mind-controlled, she was forced to step down from the arena.


    Thankfully, while ample preparations had been made targeting their students, more and more information was also being revealed by their opponents in each match.


    By the end of the match against Supernova, Ravi managed to defeat 2 previously studied opponents in a row to secure the final win.


    The match against Starfire College, while urring after Supernova so that both sides had more time to prepare, was not as difficult of a match up¡ªlikely because none of the 5 students representing their school were so obviously able to target the weaknesses of Jade and Venessa.


    While Venessa was eventually defeated, she managed to take down 1 student with her, while Jade was able to defeat 2.


    Surprisingly, it was Edward, and not Ravi or Ezra, that secured the final 2 victories due to the excellent strategies created by their staff that capitalized on their enemies'' weaknesses and Edwards'' strengths.


    Edward''s gift consists of him being able to generate a high-frequency hum that directly causes pain in the minds of all living things in an area, making them unable to focus or think clearly, and overtime can lead to confusion, disarray, and in extreme cases, temporary mental damage.


    Unfortunately, this skill is indiscriminate and will attack both friends and foes¡ªincluding his own contracts. Which is why he had seldom used it in thispetition.


    However, over time his contracts have grown ustomed to this gift, not to mention that due to their resilient and single-minded focus when ites to training, they all have very focused characters that don''t get easily distracted and have extremely strong will-power. Heck, even if Bea tried to infect them at the same level, it would probably take twice as long as the average spiritual creature to take full control.


    Therefore, when the opposing side frequently made errors due to the mental bombardment on their concentration due to Edward''s gift, Edward''s contracts were still able to think clearly enough to defeat them.


    However, if the opponents had stronger will-power or been prepared it would not have been aplished so easily.


    The sess of this strategy hinged on 2 factors:


    Firstly, Edward never having used his gift before at the tournament so that they were unprepared and had no enchanted equipment or spiritual skills prepared to counteract his gift.


    Secondly, the fact that their information on their opponents identified them as 2 young masters from old prestigious families. Normally, this would be a pro, due to the resources their family could provide allowing them to have contracts with a higher potential and ess to secret spiritual skills unique to the family.


    However, an unintentional consequence of such a privileged upbringing is that due to theirck of hardships in life, both the beast-tamers and their simrly pampered contracts had rtively weak will-powers.


    After all, the word "suffering" had never been a part of their lives before.They had been carried on a cloud of luxury since birth, with every privilege handed to them as effortlessly as the air they breathed. The idea of scarcity or struggle was as foreign as another country to them.


    This difference in mental state was obvious as soon as Edward activated his gift. With little more than a slight twitch of a whisker or ear, none of his contracts revealed any other signs of distress.


    On the other-hand, both of the opposing beast tamers practically copsed to the floor screaming once the hum started, and many of their contracts struggled to remain upright on their trembling legs.


    However, next would be their final, and toughest, match yet against First Celestial Academy. And considering the perfect record of both sides, this would be the match that determined the first-ced college of the entire tournament and who would rank first the following year.


    Many of the cards of both sides had been forced out, so the final oue waspletely unknown.

 Chapter 268 Dark Moon vs First Celestial—Start!

    The arena buzzed with an electric tension as the final match approached, the air thick with anticipation.


    As the most anticipated match, theirs was arranged to be the finale of the entire tournament. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, eyes fixed on the colossal stage where thest twopetitors would soon face off. The temperature had dropped with the setting sun, but the wind did little to cool down the excited crowd.


    The Dark Moon team stood at one end of the arena, their dark and silver uniforms giving them a militaristic and cold presence.


    On the opposite side, the representatives from First Celestial Academy¡ªradiating an aura of unshakable confidence and nobility¡ªstood poised and ready in their uniforms of red, white, and gold.


    Both sides seemed determined to go in an increasing order of strength, with Dark Moon sending Edward, and the opponent sending a girl in her fourth-year with bronze skin and hair so dark it appeared blue under the setting sun.


    Edward summoned his contracts, all of whom were slightlyrger and more muscr than their wild counterparts due to the extensive training that they regrly undergo.


    All of Edward''s contracts were of the metal attribute, but only looking at their muscr physiques Kain was reminded of the "fighting-type" attribute from a certain video game back on earth that unfortunately does not exist in this world.


    The first was a dual metal and lightning attribute hulking bear-like creature with thick, matted fur that crackled with electrical energy. Its ws were oversized and sharp, capable of rending rock.


    The bear''s presence was imposing, with glowing blue veins running through its body that pulsated like lightning during storms. Unlike most spiritual creatures in this tournament who were essentially "naked" since enchanted equipment was banned on spiritual creatures, the bear had on a thick metal armor and carried a massive double-headed hammer that both crackled with electricity. Since the metal and weapon were a product of its own metal attribute, they were naturally not banned. Like most members of its species it preferred to create a hammer as its weapon of choice, hence the species name Stormhammer Bear.


    The second contract was a colossal, bull-like creature, an Onyx Bison, with skin resembling polished onyx, hard as stone but flexible. Its massive horns curved upward like a curved mountain, and its hooves left deep impressions in the stage when it charged.


    The third and final blue-attribute contract was arge, muscr gori-like creature with silver fur. Its arms were disproportionately long and powerful, capable of flexibly wielding the spear in its hand, its preferred weapon, with ease. The Stonefist Gori''s agility belied its massive size, as it was a fast, flexible, and efficient closebat fighter.


    Edward''s final 2 contracts were both green-grade: one a deep grey rhinoceros-like creature, Steelhorn Juggernaut; the other a burly warthog, called the Ironspike Warhog. Chapter Enjoy:


    Meanwhile, the opponent''s contracts were all water-attribute spiritual creatures. She was also equipped with a full set of armor and a spear. Unlike most beast-tamers, she readily participated in battle herself. Simr the Soren, her contract boosted her ownbat abilities rather than those of her contracts, giving her the ability to turn her body into a mist-like form to avoid being injured when attacked.


    As the bottom-ranked individuals for both of their teams, they had long had the details of their contracts and gifts exposed, therefore this match up and also the strategies each side will use could be predicted to an extent.


    Based on the slight twitch of his contracts, and the more visible flinching in the opponents'' contracts, Kain could tell that Edward had used his gift. However,considering that the opponents were mentally prepared this time, and the opposing beast-tamer had equipment that seemed to nullify the effects of his gift on her, the results were not nearly as miraculous as in the fight against Starfire College.


    Moreover, neither the opponent nor her contracts looked like pampered individuals unable to withstand pain. They quickly shook off their distraction due to the gift. However, the gift''s effects did seem to be present and have a slightly stronger impact on the opponents than his own contracts who were used to it, therefore Edward kept his gift activated.


    The first sh came as the Stormhammer Bear charged, its massive paws sending shockwaves through the stage. It was met by the opposing River Leviathan, a serpentine water creature with smooth, cyan scales that shimmered under the arena lights. With a deft twist, the Leviathan slid through the air, its massive body coiling in midair to m into the bear with a force that sent it stumbling back. The water-attribute creature''s tail whipped forward, sending a gush of pure water that drenched the bear''s armor, dampening its electrical abilities.


    The bear, unfazed, shook off the attack, and with a roar, swung its hammer in a wide arc. The River Leviathan reacted in the blink of an eye, darting to the side with incredible agility. The force of the swing gouged the stage beneath them, sending shards of rock flying into the air. The Leviathan''s tail whipped toward the bear''s exposed side, delivering a powerful force that hit the bear squarely in the ribs.


    The Stormhammer Bear staggered but didn''t fall and moved to retaliate. The Leviathan was fast, but not fast enough, the minor influence of Edward''s gift may have also yed a role in its dulled reaction speed. The bear''s next swing of its hammernded with a deafening crash, forcing the water serpent to spiral out of the way. The sheer force of the blow sent a shockwave of energy pulsing through the arena, and a gust of wind that blew all the way to the audience seats.


    Time moved forward, the battle stretching on. The Stormhammer Bear and the River Leviathan were locked in a brutal exchange of injuries, each trying to outmaneuver the other. The audience could feel the tension in the air¡ªeach strike, each counter, a game of nerves and sheer power. But as the battle wore on, it became clear that the Leviathan''s endurance was being stretched thin. The water creature could not oust the bear''s sheer resilience.


    Edward had secured victory on one side of the arena, and this would inevitably tip the scales for all other ongoing battles on the field.

 Chapter 269 Shameless...

    After the Stormhammer Bear dispatched its opponent, the remainder of the battle went as expected.


    Using the newfound numerical advantage, it assisted its allies to gradually clear the rest of the opponents remaining on the field.


    Although much of his contracts'' energy was consumed, Edward still chose not to step down and instead managed to at least drain some of the energy of the second opponent sent out so that the next individual sent up had an easier time. Additionally, the longer he could remain on the field, the longer the staff could observe the next opponent and decide to send next in response.


    Originally, Venessa as rank 4 in the team should have been the second to take the stage. However, the next opponent sent by First Celestial had to advantageous an attribute over her.


    All of the opponent''s contracts were rare undead spiritual creatures¡ªparticrly immaterial ghosts. Therefore, Venessa''s ability to deal damage or poison them was greatly reduced.


    Most ghosts are immune to physical attacks, and unless she improves her poison further to be able to attack the soul, then it is useless against them.


    Therefore, Jade was sent in response. While not as effective as skills that can directly attack the soul, most elemental attributes still have some effect on undead spirits. Therefore, with the help of the energy consumed by Edward, Jade was able to defeat her opponent.


    However, it was truly not the best matchup for her, and 2 of her contracts (one blue-grade and a green-grade contract) were incapacitated in the battle and didn''tst long in the next match-up¡ªnot even serving a role in draining the opponents'' energy.


    Therefore, the match was once again brought to an even standstill of 2 beast-tamers on each side having been eliminated. Funnily enough, the ranks of the individuals eliminated on both sides also happen to be equal¡ªwith the 5th and 3rd rank of each school now out ofmission.


    Almost as though it was agreed upon, the two individuals on the stage currently were the fourth-ranked individuals of each school.


    On behalf of First Celestial was a fourth rank student who quickly dispatched the drained and battered Jade.


    He was another third-year student and had dark brown skin, hazel eyes, and dark curly hair. He had an affinity rted to the fire-attribute. Additionally, Kain wasn''t sure about the details of his gift, but it seemed as though it was able to drastically increase the temperature of his contracts'' mes and even add a slight corrosive effect.


    Therefore, both Venessa and him ended up in a. standstill for quite some time. Her spiritual creatures weren''t able to get close enough to bite or sting his, without sustaining serious injuries due to burns.


    When poison was asionally ejected by her contracts, the poison was also quickly burnt by the hot mes into an incredibly noxious gas.


    Alternatively, the opponents'' spiritual creatures couldn''t get too close for simr reasons, and when mes were released to target Venessa''s contracts, she either used an identical method ejecting poisonous liquids that would cause the mes to fizzle out, or dodging.


    Due to this pattern persisting for a long time, an interesting phenomenon urred.


    Gradually, the toxic gas released by thebination of the poison meeting the corrosive mes began to build up more and more within the arena. Since the wards around the arena activated to prevent the gas from spreading to the audience, the gas was trapped on the stage and got more and more concentrated.


    Due to majority of the gas'' toxic properties being from Venessa''s contracts who has immunity to their own poisons, the opponent was more quickly feeling the negative effects of the gas.


    However, his gift also applied some toxic properties to his contracts'' mes that were also released in the resulting gas¡ªa toxin that Venessa''s contracts don''t have an immunity against.


    Therefore, before long all of the First Celestial Contracts were copsed on the stage, breathing heavily. Only their beast-tamer remained standing, likely equipped with some anti-poison enchanted equipment in preparation of facing Venessa.


    Meanwhile Venessa''s contracts'' legs began to tremble faintly. However, they all held their heads up high in feigned bravado to not let the enemy know.


    Unfortunately, if Kain could tell their poor condition from the stands, there is no way that the experienced First Celestial staff standing right next to the stage wouldn''t be able to see that they were in bad shape.


    Indeed, instead of immediately sending the next opponent, First Celestial cunningly drew out the time it took for them to fetch the bodies of their students'' contracts. Instead of him just collecting them into his star space, they''d even made the excuse that they couldn''t be sure that there was noponent of the poison that was capable of escaping the star space to infect his body.


    The tournament organizers had no choice but to concede to their time-consuming method of body collection due to their extreme "caution" and "care" for their student.


    And so an almostical scene was staged where a few staff volunteers bumbled around the stage trying to lift the heavy spiritual creatures from the stage, wasting time staggering and dropping limp limbs on the floor as they took frequent breaks.


    Never mind that they could have summoned some stronger contracts to swiftly carry them down¡­


    All those minutes that they were "clumsily" trying to carry the contracts from the stage Venessa was forced to remain inside the toxic gas permeating the stage, since once she stepped down she''d be out of thepetition for good.


    The staff at Dark Moon couldn''t help staring coldly at the staff from First Celestial as they continued with their performance.


    "I hadn''t expected the top-ranked college to be so shameless¡­" Ranya muttered stunned.


    "It''s because they could be so shameless that they''ve probably managed to keep the top rank for decades. You don''t think there weren''t the odd years that another school had a stronger lineup? In such cases, they''d need to resort to tactics like these" Kain said.


    Personally, he didn''t see anything wrong with First Celestial''s spirit of doing anything for the win. It was just irritating when they were the victim of it¡­

 Chapter 270 The Vice Captains

    As expected, it wasn''t until Venessa copsed on the stage that the First Celestial side was


    finally


    ready to send up their next representative. Considering that the time-limit between when one participant clears the stage and another goes up, was about to be reached, if she hadn''t copsed they would have had to send up the next participant.


    However, using the excuse that they couldn''t start the timer until the previous student hadpletely cleared from the arena, and they took their sweet time clearing said student''s contracts, they did manage to draw out what was probably the longest break between matches since the tournament began.


    After Venessa stepped down, considering neither of the participants involved in making the poisonous mist remained on the stage, both sides agreed to allow a staff member to clear the gas in the stage¡ªsomething that can only be done if both sides agree.


    Unfortunately, while only Venessa was on the stage there was no way that First Celestial would have agreed. Alternatively, if Venessa had been immune to the poison, there is no way that Dark Moon would have agreed to clear it.


    However, since the poison was only harmful to both of the next participants, it was unanimously agreed to clear it.


    The next two individuals sent to the stage were expected¡ªthe Vice Captains of each team.


    On behalf of Dark Moon, Ravi wearing the ck and silver uniform of Dark Moon had dark bronze skin, hazel eyes, and chiselled features.


    A stark visual contrast, Isolde ckheart, had pale and delicate features like her younger brother, pale blue eyes, and ashen-grey hair.


    All of Ravi''s spiritual creatures were insect-species. And as, one of the most popce and diverse groups, naturally he had a wide variety of potential contracts to select from. Among S-rank affinities, his definitely would rank towards the top in terms of the breadth of species he could contract.


    The first was his initial contract a dual metal and wind-attribute praying mantis with long, sweeping limbs and sharp des that glinted under the arena lights¡ªthe Zephyrstrike Mantis. Considering that Ravi was just from an ordinary family, it''s impressive that he managed to evolve and train what was originally only a bronze-quality de Mantis to diamond-quality and blue-grade, which is a testament to how much effort he had put in.


    The second blue-grade contract was the light-attribute Dawn Butterfly. It is an exquisite butterfly with golden wings that shimmered with iridescent light. Its wings emit soft, radiant beams that illuminate the surroundings and cast golden halos around it.


    Flying next to it was the blue-grade Vermix. It appeared like an enormous dragonfly with translucent wings that crackled with lightning. Its body was armoured in a sleek, dark metallic exoskeleton that hummed with electric power, and its eyes glowed a vibrant electric blue.


    The fourth blue-grade contract was a massive dark-attribute spider with jet-ck fur and glowing red eyes, from a species unfamiliar to Kain. However, he had heard that it was provided as a reward in a previous year from the college and was born in one of the college''s relics.


    Thest blue-grade contract was a massive golden-brown beetle with armor-like ting and wings that shimmered with dust and sand¡ªa Seismic Stone Scarab.


    Ravi''s final contract was green-grade, but is actually his contract with the most potential, and probably the contract that many would be the most envious over. It was also another contract provided by the school, and was a perfect advertisement for how much they were willing to invest into their students. It was a golden cicada with the time-attribute. With such a powerful attribute, despite it being one grade below most of the creatures on the field, it was still a great threat.


    Unfortunately, Kain had never seen Ravi activate his gift, although he was sure that he had one. Therefore, he wasn''t sure if the gift would have any beneficial effects on the match.


    Isolde, unlike Ravi, had all 6 of her contracts at glue-grade. Moreover, like her brother, they all were powerful spiritual creatures with the infernal-bloodline.


    The one in the center was arge, me-wrapped Burning Abyssal Phoenix with ck and red feathers that appeared to burn with eternal fire. Its eyes were like moltenva, and its wings left trails of fire in the air.


    Flying alongside the phoenix was a Demonwing Harpy. She had a lithe, birdlike body and long, muscr legs ending in sharp, obsidian ws. Her massive bat-like wings were made of leathery, ember-glowing membranes, capable of unleashing fiery winds. Its humanoid face had glowing molten amber eyes and a wide, sharp-toothed grin. Her long, ck, smoke-like hair flickered with streaks of me, and her presence radiated an oppressive, sulfurous heat. Her chest was covered with an armor-like materialposed of feathers that directly grew from her. Her ws and tail both emanated sharpness and power, indicating that they were additional closebat weapons at its disposal.


    The third contract appeared with an earthshaking roar. It was a massive, lion-like creature with a spiny tail that ended in a scorpion-like stinger. Its body was armored in hell-forged scales and its ws easily tore into the stage as it walked¡ªa Manticore.


    The fourth was one of the opponent''s most regrly used contract, and one the Dark Moon staff had done extensive research on¡ªan Infernal Sentinel Gargoyle. The stone gargoyle had fiery, demonic eyes and cracks in its rocky body that glowed with embers. Its wings were bat-like, and its sharp ws appeared to be forged from ckened iron.


    Her fifth contract, whilecking in frontalbat abilities, had profound mental maniption abilities¡ªthe Soulreaver Incubus. It was a seductive, yet menacing, humanoid demon with sleek, obsidian skin and bat-like wings that shimmered in the darkness. Its eyes were like pools of a liquid night sky, and its smile revealed sharp, predatory teeth.


    Her sixth and final contract was a Dreadw Demon¡ªa terrifying creature that resembled a twisted, hulking gori, with ckened fur and ws that had a corrosive effect. Its glowing eyes pierce through the darkness, and a dark shadowy aura emanated from its body.

 Chapter 271 The Vice Captains (2)

    The arena hummed with tension as the two vice-captains stepped onto the stage. Isolde ckheart, the icy-hearted strategist of Dark Moon, stood poised with a cold, calcting gaze.


    Ravi, in his sleek ck and silver uniform, looked every bit the warrior. His amber eyes glinted with focus, the determination of a fighter who had honed his strength for years to rise above the limitations of his origins.


    The two vice-captains locked eyes for a brief moment. No words were exchanged, but the silent battle of wills had already begun.


    The referees examined the stage, ensuring the poisonous mist had dissipated entirely, before stepping back and signalling the start of the match.


    Ravi''s Zephyrstrike Mantis was the first to make a move due to its speed of reaction. The creature''s sweeping, metallic limbs sliced through the air, its razor-sharp ws shimmering in the light. It darted forward, a blur of motion as it aimed to close the distance with lightning speed.


    In response, the Burning Abyssal Phoenix, soared higher. Its wings spreading with a deafening crack of air, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. The massive bird circled above, its molten eyes locked onto Ravi''s mantis as it descended with a terrifying, predatory grace.


    However, the mantis wasn''t alone, the Dawn Butterfly cast a radiant halo over the battlefield.


    The butterfly''s light pulsed, causing the Zephyrstrike Mantis to be more agile, its movements a blur of silver.


    Meanwhile, the movements of all the infernal opponents slowed. All of them were momentarily encased in a golden and shimmering casing that seemed to impede their movements.


    The Demonwing Harpy dove toward the butterfly, her screech ripping through the air as her ws swiped through the space where the butterfly had been moments before. However, in a sh of light from its delicate wings, it appeared a short distance away, sessfully dodging the attack.


    Meanwhile, the mantis'' sharp, sweeping limbs crashing against the ws of the phoenix that had finally arrived in a symphony of sparks.


    Additionally, the dragonfly Vermix shot a lightning bolt toward the phoenix, forcing the creature to swerve just out of reach before it couldunch another attack. However, when the insect wanted to continue its pursuit it was stopped by the gargoyle that had long had its fiery eyes locked onto the Vermix.


    As it bobbed and weaved through the air, the gargoyle didn''t give up its pursuit, continuously swinging its ws, it caused the air to crackle with heat, the stone ws glowing as if forged in the depths of a volcanic furnace.


    Lastly, the manticore, which had been watching these events from the side, finally made a move, a cloud of dust and debris shot into the air as it charged forward, its ws tearing into the stage.


    Its target was the dark-attribute spider that had been steadily weaving a web around the entirety of the arena¡ªits ns unknown, but leaving an ominous impression on the First Celestial team.


    However, impeding the manticore''s ns, as it was forced to dodge, were sharp spikes that suddenly appeared in its path.


    Wanting to quickly get rid of one of the opponents, the incubus'' eyes began to emit an ominous glow before the mantis began to screech in pain while covering its head. In coordination with it, the circling phoenix and waiting Dreadw demon took that moment to attack it from both its front and back.


    Essentially ganged up on 3 to 1, nobody was expecting the mantis to weather the attacks.


    Suddenly a golden glow began to emit from Ravi, or more specifically the small cicada on his shoulder norger than the palm of his hand.


    The next moment, the mantis waspletely free of its encirclement and instead had one of its des pressed against the incubus'' neck from behind.


    The Incubus''s eerie eyes widened in shock as the cold, razor-sharp edge of the mantis'' de hovered a mere inch from its throat.


    Meanwhile, the cicada that had clearly taken the opportunity to manipte time and relieve the mantis of its predicament, took on a pallid and sickly yellow colour, its once-shimmering wings now dull and drooping. Clearly, manipting time for so many blue-grade spiritual creatures while being one grade lower had expended the majority of its strength.


    Suddenly, the Soulreaver Incubus, still held at bay by the Zephyrstrike Mantis, let out a bone-chillingugh. Its dark eyes shifted from Ravi to the weakening Golden Cicada, understanding its critical state. Without warning, the Incubus''s wings red out, and it released a shockwave of mental energy¡ªtargeted not only at its captor, but also the golden cicada.


    Completely spent and defenseless, the cicada was forced to withdraw back into the star space.


    Ravi''s mantis staggered, its limbs jerking in confusion. For a split second, its de wavered¡ªjust enough for the Incubus to shift its position out of the hold in a single, fluid motion.


    Unfortunately, aware of the cunning nature of the incubus species dark threads had long surrounded the area it had been stalled in with the mantis. Threads that immediately robbed all of its senses upon contact and allowed the waiting spider to wrap it up helplessly. After a brief period in which the bundle of threads bulged and squirmed as its captive struggled for freedom, the threads unwound¡ªnow empty. Clearly the incubus had been recalled.


    Both sides were now down to 5 contracts each.


    Meanwhile, the Dawn butterfly was showing traces of exhaustion from continuously avoiding the gargoyle that was now pursuing it.


    It fluttered weakly but persisted, its wings glowing faintly as it unleashed another pulse of light, forcing the gargoyle to veer off course as it swooped toward it again. The gargoyle screeched in frustration but couldn''tnd a blow as the butterfly''s light red, slowing its movements to a crawl briefly as a shimmering substance surrounded its body to impede its movements.


    Unfortunately, while adept at support and control, the butterfly didn''t have an offensive skill strong enough to get through the gargoyle''s stone skin and capitalize on its advantage.

 Chapter 272 The Vice Captains (3)

    The battle raged on, and the tension in the arena thickened as both sides now had only five spiritual creatures left. The bnce had shifted in subtle ways, with each move growing more deliberate, more calcted.


    Every action, and every counteraction, had be much more purposeful.


    The spider''s web now covered much of the field at a height or around 15 feet,pletely isting the creatures capable of flight, from those on the ground. As a result, the manticore and Dreadw demon were now at a numerical disadvantage against the ground-bound mantis, spider, and scarab beetle.


    However, the Dawn Butterfly and Vermix were now under greater pressure from the flying harpy, gargoyle, and phoenix.


    However, whereas the butterfly and Vermix had the wide open skies to continuously dodge their pursuers and stall for time.


    The breathing space of the manticore and demon was being continuously reduced as more and more threads that could remove their senses were appearing in their paths.


    Clearly the pros and cons of splitting into 2 battlefields with uneven numbers had been thoroughly considered by Ravi.


    Likely sensing the emanant demise of its allies, the circling phoenix began to bombard the webs with fire from above. However, despite their delicate appearance, the threads were incredibly durable and quite resistant to its mes.


    In the midst of the chaos, the Vermix, now charged with energy, zipped around the Phoenix in bursts of lightning, crackling through the air like a living bolt of pure power. However, the Gargoyle was more than prepared for the electric dragonfly''s agility. Its stony eyes glowed, and with a low rumble, it raised its massive lightning-resistant stone ws to intercept the Vermix''s attack.


    The air around the Gargoyle grew heated as it swung its ws in a wide arc. A single swipe sent the Vermix spiralling toward the mass of webs covering the floor of the arena.


    The Vermix was stunned, its body humming with residual power but unable to move quickly enough to recover. Thankfully, the webs itnded on were from its own ally and did not attack it or remove its senses, giving it a moment topose itself.


    From above, the Demonwing Harpy and Phoenix screeched, diving toward the vulnerable butterfly. The harpy''s sharp talons gleamed in the dim light as she made her descent. The butterfly, weakened from earlier skirmishes, barely managed to move out of the way in time. However, a single w grazed its wing, sending ripples of light cascading outward like shattered ss.


    Capitalizing on this weakness, a wave ofbined red and ck mes from both the harpy and phoenix pursued the butterfly.


    The Dawn Butterfly fluttered desperately, a pulse of light sending a barrier outward to slow the mes'' pursuit. But this time, there was no dodging the massive amount of mes, their heat generated gusts of wind that pushed the butterfly back.


    Meanwhile, despite Dark Moon in a precarious position in the skies, the Manticore and Dreadw Demon were in far worse straits on the ground.


    With the threads of the Spider tightening around their movements, the manticore was already beginning to stagger. The sharp, spiny threads had started to wrap around its limbs, restricting its movements.


    The Dreadw Demon was a powerhouse, but even it could not avoid the webspletely. Each step it took, the threads seemed to multiply, slowly numbing its senses and making each swing of its ws more sluggish and less coordinated.


    The Manticore, with a low, guttural growl, made a desperate charge forward, only to have its body jerk to a halt as more webs wrapped around its legs. Its powerful muscles struggled to break free, but the more it fought, the tighter the webbing became. Isolde''s eyes widened with a mixture of frustration and calction. This was bad. The Dreadw Demon was no better off, its colossal ws swinging more wildly as it tried tosh out at the webbing, but with little effect.


    Suddenly the shared infernal blood of both the Demon and Manticore began to boil. Meanwhile, Isolde''s eyes shifted from blue to violet, and then to a bright red.


    Instead of continuing to attack the Dark Moon contracts, the demon and manticore suddenly seemed drawn to one another by an uncontroble force.


    Isolde had activated her gift for the first time in the tournament. A gift that capitalized on all infernal creatures being descended from amon bloodline and allowing them tobine their strength.


    Suddenly a hybrid creature much greater in strength than the two individual creatures appeared in the arena¡ªthe addition of their respective powers not unlike the Gemini transformation Serena had achieved on her Elemental Guardian in her previous match.


    Unfortunately, because the gap between indigo-grade and blue-grade is far greater than that between yellow and green grades, her contracts were not able to advance a whole level like Serena''s were. If her other contracts weren''t separated by the annoying web, they could have also beenbined using her gift. However, even then they still might not be enough to create one indigo-grade hybrid. The gap between the middle-grade and high-grade spiritual creatures was far too great.


    Still, the pressure from theirbined spiritual power definitely adds a great deal of pressure to the Dark Moon contracts, and the hybrid was no longer as easily restrained nor had its senses removed like before.


    The hybrid is a terrifying colossus, its body is a twisted amalgamation of the Manticore''s lion-like form and the Dreadw''s hulking demon and gori-like features. The creature''s fur had turned into a dense, spiked carapace, darkening to a deep, mottled crimson and obsidian. Massive ws¡ªlike those of the Dreadw Demon¡ªemerge from its forelimbs, each one as long as the average height of a person, their jagged edges sharp enough to tear through stone.


    Its back is hunched while the manticore''s iconic scorpion tail, now brimming with an ominous red energy, has grown longer and more lethal.


    The hybrid''s breath, a thick cloud of sulfur and smoke, released as it released a roar that shook the very ground beneath it, rattling its enemies with fear.


    Muscles rippled beneath the creature''s skin, making every movement a disy of overwhelming power and unrelenting brutality. When it stepped forward, the arena even trembled beneath its weight.


    Therge hybrid, standing nearly 15 feet tall was now in position to easily tear a gap into the webbed roof above it¡ªand so it did.

 Chapter 273 The Vice Captains (4)

    The hybrid of the Manticore and Dreadw Demon towered over the battlefield, its every step causing the ground to tremble beneath its weight.


    The massive beast roared, sending a shockwave that knocked several creatures back, their senses jarred by the sheer force of the hybrid''s roar.


    Technically, Ravi''s side was now fighting at a 5 against 4 numerical advantage. But many of his contracts were low on energy and injured, meanwhile the hybrid seemed to have had all of its energy restored and was now far more powerful than just a 1 + 1 increase.


    However, Ravi wasn''t going to just wait around for the powerful hybrid to defeat his contracts one by one.


    Despite its immense size, the hybrid wasn''t slow and clumsy. In fact, its powerful muscles ensured that it was faster than either the manticore or demon were previously.


    Limiting its movement was of paramount importance.


    The Dawn Butterfly focused on creating intense shes of light to disorient it. One con of heightened senses and abilities, is that the shes were even more impactful.


    Unable to see, the hybrid began to thrash and swing its tail around sporadically to ward off any approaching threats. While simultaneously it sent out sts of heat¡ª a casual brush with these sts ended up incinerating a portion of the Dawn butterfly''s wing. pping frantically it was barely staying afloat, but it was only a matter of time before it''d be forced to withdraw.


    The mantis attacked the manticore, but its flesh was tough to make a significant injury. They needed to find is weak spot ¡ªor make a weak spot themselves.


    The Stone Scarab shifted the floor beneath its feet to further limit its movements.


    With its movements restricted, the dark-attribute Spider got to work. The tatters of its webbed covering were now scattered all over the arena floor. Taking advantage of the ready made material, it quickly packaged its webs and reused them to quickly entwine them around key joints.


    It began to spin with greater urgency, until a dense mass of cords was created at key joints of the hybrid. The hybrid, struggling against the webs, growled in frustration as the silken threads tightened around its massive limbs.


    The Spider''s eyes gleamed with focus as it manipted the threads to constrict more around the creature''s key joints, limiting its range of motion.


    Meanwhile the Zephyrstrike Mantis and Vermis focused on warding off the other enemies.


    The Vermix, its body crackling with stored lightning energy, darted into position above the hybrid''s head. The electric dragonfly zipped around its enormous form with blinding speed, charging its body with the raw power of an impending lightning strike. However, it was merely a feint.


    When the Phoenix, circling overhead, released a series of scorching fireballs aimed directly at the Vermix to force it to halt its attack, it dodged and the fireballs happened to head straight for the hybrid''s back¡ªwhich it was unable to see within all of the shes of light surrounding it created by the Dawn butterfly.


    The hybrid was forced it to shield its body as it sensed the approaching heat. And the mes from the Phoenix helped push the hybrid forward, momentarily unbncing and distracting it further and making the spider''s job easier.


    Simultaneously, the Demonwing Harpy dived toward the weakened Dawn Butterfly that was ying a pivotal role on the field, her sharp talons gleaming in the dim light.


    She was fast and vicious, her screech tearing through the air as she rushed to catch the butterfly. But the Butterfly was ready. In a desperate bid for survival, it sent out a burst of dazzling light directly into its path disorienting and blinding the Harpy and forcing her to veer off course and collide with the hybrid.


    Stunned, while on its ally''s back, the harpy soon found itself covered in a heap of threads the spider was reusing.


    The Gargoyle, seeing the Harpy''s predicament, swooped in to try and tear the threads, its massive stone wings casting a shadow over the arena.


    With a low, rumbling growl, it raised its stony fists, which glowed with molten energy, ready to strike. Vermix, still crackling with stored lightning energy, zipped through the air,unching bolts of electric energy at the Gargoyle. The creature swung one massive w, deflecting the strikes with ease, but Vermix''s agility was more than enough to keep it from easily approaching its tied-up allies.


    The Zephyrstrike Mantis, still positioned strategically, saw an opening. The Harpy, tangled in the Spider''s web and struggling to free herself, waspletely vulnerable.


    With blinding speed, the Mantis darted forward and, using its razor-sharp limbs, sliced at the parts of the Harpy''s exposed from the webbing. The Harpy screeched in pain as one of legs was cut almost to the bone.


    Now, with the Gargoyle distracted by Vermix and the Harpy temporarily neutralized, the hybrid and phoenix were thest real threat on the field.


    Despite its great strength, the hybrid was pinned down by thebined efforts of the Spider and Stone Scarab, disoriented by the Dawn Butterfly, and partially burned by its ally Phoenix''s mes.


    The Dawn Butterfly, now at the edge of exhaustion but determined, released one final blinding pulse of light, flooding the battlefield with brilliance. The hybrid, unable to shield itself from the intense brightness, was blinded, its senses overwhelmed.


    The Stone Scarab, using itsst reserves of strength, caused the ground beneath the hybrid to copse into a pit, the stone splitting open beneath its weight. With its movements severely restricted and its vision gone, the hybrid fell into the jagged pit, struggling and unable to rise as it was further entangled by the webbing.


    With the hybrid now trapped in the pit, struggling against the webbing and disoriented by the overwhelming light, Ravi''s contracts had one final opportunity to strike. But they had little time. The Phoenix, sensing that its ally was on the verge of defeat, swooped down with a burst of me. It screeched in fury, its wings leaving a trail of heat in the air as it spiralled toward the pit, intent on burning away all of the annoying threads.


    The Gargoyle was still locked inbat with Vermix, its stone ws shing with lightning bolts as the dragonfly darted in and out of reach. But the Gargoyle had grown frustrated, its stone muscles straining with the effort to corner the nimble creature. It swung its massive arm with the intention of crushing Vermix, but the electric dragonfly zipped out of the way, trailing arcs of lightning that caused the Gargoyle to stagger back in confusion. Vermix wasn''t concerned with the Gargoyle anymore¡ªits focus was on the Phoenix.


    The Phoenix, wings zing, was bearing down on the pit where the hybrid was trapped. The Vermix dove toward the Phoenix, sending a surge of electricity onto the diving bird''s defenceless back.


    The Phoenix screeched in pain, its fire momentarily sputtering as the lightning coursed through its body and paralyzed its movements. The Phoenix faltered, its wings pping erratically as it tried to regain control, but the electrical charge pulsed through its feathers and caused it to hurtle to the ground like aet¡ªright on the head of its ally.


    Knocked unconscious from its crashnding, the phoenix was recalled by Isolde.


    The hybrid was also quite stunned from the collision and a blood wound appeared on its head with burnt edges. The Zephyrstrike Mantis took the opportunity to strike at the now bruised and tender spot on its head created by the phoenix.


    Now only the gargoyle was left, while Ravi had 4 contracts still on the field¡ªthe Dawn butterfly having copsed from exhaustion.


    However, the Vermix''s lightning strikes were ineffective against its stone exterior, while its other allies were incapable of flight making it challenging for them to target the flying gargoyle.


    Thankfully, at some point during its distracted chase with the Vermix, a single thread had managed to make its way around one of its wings. And at the other end of the thread was a sinister-looking spider that now sent the gargoyle careening to the ground against its will.


    Although, it wasn''t yet injured, surrounded while being stared down at by 4 enemies, it already knew¡­it was over.

 Chapter 274 An Heir of Mystery

    "So is he the reason you chose not to go to First Celestial?"


    Kain said while turning to Soren and pointing at the golden figure on the stage¡ªCassian Lysander. Soren''s cousin and the current heir apparent to the Celestial Empire''s throne.


    He had noticed that as it got closer to the time that Cassian was about to board the stage, Soren gradually got paler and tenser. And now he sat ring at his blood-rtive with both fists clenched in hisp.


    However, he didn''t reply to Kain''s question, only giving a sidelong nce that expressed his dissatisfaction with the line of questioning.


    But Kain didn''t need a willing conversational partner to keep talking.


    "So do you know what his gift or affinity is? I think I know what yours is¡ªStorm Dragon''s descendants are pretty recognizable and so is your gift. And a storm dragon affinity aint too shabby. But what are his to make pretty much all of the Lysander family''s younger generation constantly in his shadow?"


    Soren looked like he was about to snap at Kain when Theo sitting nearby surprisingly interjected.


    "Most people conceal the specific details of their contracts and gifts to prevent being targeted¡ªnobles even more so. Did you think that the details of the heir to the country''s affinity could be easily found? Even if they are family, he probably doesn''t know much¡­but I do" Theo said smugly.


    ''Ah yes¡­ he''s soid-back most of the time I forget that Theo is a noble¡­''


    In fact, although Theo had never officially revealed his family origin and they have differentst names, based on the strong physical resemnce to the 9-star Seraphina Mindsahde, whom Kain had seen at the auction, and his penchant for the mental-attribute, he guessed that they were closely rted¡ªlikely grandmother and grandson.


    Soren even looked shocked at Theo''s revtion, and after a moment of internal conflict, he also looked at Theo with some expectation. Likely, also wanting additional information on someone he didn''t seem to be on the best of terms with. The royal family had kept many details about Cassian, his gift, and his contracts under wraps that even as a rtive he didn''t know much about him.


    Moreover, their supposed physical features and abilities, based on rumours, are so variable that it''s difficult to determine what his affinity is. Also, he hadn''t had to y in any solo matches in Phase One, since Isolde was powerful enough to handle the toughest opponents. Therefore, none of his contracts had even been revealed yet at this year''s tournament.


    When he represented First Celestial in his first and second years, he''d only had to reveal one contract in the few instances that he fought.


    Therefore, despite him now being the captain of the team for the top college in the country, very little was actually known about him.


    "I think it was around 14 months ago¡­the royal family asked for my grandmother''s help with capturing a suitable contract for his fifth star." Theo said, while pausing to add suspense to the story.


    "And your grandmother actually told you what they wanted her to capture? For people who are so strict with their precious heir''s privacy, that seems like a huge oversight¡­" Kain said skeptically.


    "My grandmother didn''t tell me. I was staying with her during the summer they made the request, and based on her movements in the following period I was able to make an educated guess on what they wanted her to find. After all, there aren''t many species that need a 9-star beast-tamer with the mental attribute to find them." Theo said while looking smug. He still didn''t get to the point, likely wanting those listening to beg him for more details.


    However, with the hints already provided, Kain already had an idea and didn''t want to give him that satisfaction.


    "A dream dragon." Kain said deadpan, while making eye-contact with Theo as his face dropped and then pouted.


    "Tsk¡­nners are so annoying." He muttered while turning away.


    Dream dragons are one of the most rare and elusive species in the world. Their native habitat is in the realm of dreams as they jump from mind to mind, seldoming into the real world.


    Even for a 9-star beast-tamer it couldn''t have been easy to find one.


    For one thing, they do not have a single fixed form in dreams, unlike in the real world. Therefore, they may take on any form in the dream realm and so tracking them based on anecdotes is almost impossible.


    For another thing, most humans forget their dreams once the dream dragon enters¡ªlikely due to the very dream serving as a source of food for them.


    There are two types of dream dragons¡ªmostly distinguished by the dreams that they prefer to frequent: nightmares or positive dreams. And their preferred dreams also influence their abilities.


    It is reported that they are descended from the mythical Divine Dragon, and so even in the physical world which isn''t their preferred domain, they are probably more powerful than the average dragon.


    Soren''s gaze hardened as he absorbed what the conversation between Kain and Theo likely meant, the air around him thick with tension.


    His cousin, Cassian, had always been the prodigy, the one constantly hovering over him like a shadow that he couldn''t escape, even within his own family. Now, learning that Cassian might possess a Dream Dragon¡ªa being so rare and powerful¡ªwas like the final confirmation that he would always be ahead of him.


    "I heard his other contracts look and act nothing like a dream dragon though, so that doesn''t really answer the question about his affinity. Is that all you''ve got?" Kain said, slightly goading Theo for more information. Unfortunately, Theo merely shrugged and didn''t offer up anything else.


    Cassian''s movements drew their attention back. He moved with the effortless confidence of someone ustomed to being the center of attention, and when he raised his hand to signal the start of the next round instead of the referee, it was clear he saw himself not just as a participant, but as the one in control, issuing orders with a calm authority.

 Chapter 275 The Battle of the Strongest

    The tension in the air was palpable as the two captains took their ces on the grand arena stage. Representatives of the two most formidable forces in the nation stood face-to-face, their spiritual creatures arrayed before them.


    Ezra Vauss, the captain of Dark Moon Academy, stood with a quiet confidence, his gaze piercing and focused. He summoned all six of his powerful blue-grade spiritual creatures for the first time in the tournament.


    At the center of the formation was the Void Lynx¡ªEzra''s first-ever contract.


    With the ability to teleport, hide within the void, and redirect attacks, it was an expert at altering the flow ofbat.


    While not offensively dominant, its agility and tactical capabilities were key to Ezra''s strategy. It could move away and redirect all attacks, making it a deadly support asset on the battlefield.


    Just behind it was a ginormous snake, despite being coiled up, its body took up arge portion of the field and its shimmering scales glimmered like a living constetion. ¡ªthe Magnimorph Snake.


    This creature was a true terror in both offense and defense. Able to adjust its size at will, the Magnimorph Snake could ensnare creatures of all sizes, while its fangs, capable of ripping apart the fabric of space itself, made any defense seem useless.


    To the right of the Lynx at the front, was Ezra''s third contract¡ªthe Voidrake. A small, draconic creature whose abilities were far more dangerous than its size suggested.


    The Voidrake had the terrifying power to tear holes in space itself, creating small, ck-hole-like effects that could devour weaker spiritual creatures with ease. Its ws were capable of ignoring any defensive measures, cutting through barriers like a de through paper.


    To the left of the Lynx was Distortdjinn¡ª Semi-transparent humanoid that seemed to shift and twist in the light, its eyes shimmering with silver and azure hues.


    It has powerful space-shifting abilities, and its teleportation and space-altering powers would likely y a pivotal role in turning the tide of the battle against Cassian.


    Next to it was Ezra''s fifth contract, an extremely rare creature that has the legendary taotie bloodline.


    It was a terrifying creature with a face with features that were a mix of both a tiger and a dragon.


    Its face hadrge bulging eyes, and a gaping mouth filled withrge fangs and tusks.


    The rest of its body was muscr and covered in a thick fur, while its powerful legs ended with incrediblyrge ws. It had a long, serpentine-like tail tipped with a sharp spike.


    The final contract next to the Voidrake, was Ezra''s newest contract¡ªthe Gravitoise. It is a colossal tortoise with a massive stone-like shell that seemed to have its appearance distorted by heat waves. However, the distortions were really due to warping the gravity around it passively.


    It could manipte the earth and create gravitational fields capable of crushing or repelling enemies.


    However, Cassian actually only summoned 4 contracts. Immediately the audience broke out into shocked discussions that in the finals, against such a tough opponent, he was only summoning 4 spiritual creatures.


    Is he overconfident? Looking down on Ezra? Or was he unable to find two more creatures that could meet the requirements of his affinity and his assuredly high standards?


    Kain''s gaze was immediately drawn to the dragon that had juste up in their conversations¡ªa dream dragon.


    It was a shimmering, translucent entity whose scales shift in colour and texture, sometimes resembling the soft glow of moonlight, other times a kaleidoscope of vibrant, shifting hues.


    Its wings were delicate and gossamer, often appearing as if woven from the very fabric of the night sky¡ªfaint stars stretching across their span.


    Its eyes were perhaps its most captivating feature¡ªwide, luminous, and swirling with visions. These eyes seem to pierce through the veil of the mind, reflecting the true nature of those who gaze into them. Any weaker creature that made eye contact would probably be drawn into a dream world.


    Next to it was what appeared to be its dark and evil counterpart¡ªA Nightmare Dragon.


    ''I wonder if Seraphina Mindshade caught both or only one of them for him?''


    The Nightmare Dragon radiated an evil aura, its form dark and imposing, with scales that gleamed like ck obsidian, its form forged from shadows and darkness, as though it were a living embodiment of terror itself.


    Massive, bat-like wings stretch out with an ominous, leathery texture, covered in jagged spines that glisten like shards of broken ss.


    Its eyes burn with a malevolent, fiery glow, casting an eerie crimson light that sends a chill down the spine of anyone who dares to look into them.


    Next to the Dream dragon was a shining being of pure light, its scales radiant and golden, like molten gold reflecting the sun''s fiery brilliance¡ªa Sr Dragon.


    ''Hmm¡­another dragon that is rumoured to have the Divine Dragon bloodline¡­''


    The sr dragon was a rare spiritual creature with 3 attributes: light, fire, and star-attributes.


    The final dragon was one that Kain had never heard of previously.


    Its form was like shimmering wisp or mist. Its scales having the appearance of stardust, sparkling in shifting, iridescent colors, while its wings, light as air and barely visible, seem to be woven from the very fabric of outer space.


    Cassian stood calmly, not a trace of worry in his posture despite the apparent numerical disadvantage. His gaze, locked on Ezra, was unwavering, as though he expected nothing less than victory.


    Cassian''s dragon all took to the skies, seeking to use a height advantage against their opponents.


    However, the massive Magnimorph Snake that already dwarfed everything else on the field, expanded its body even further, then swiftly took a bite at the unknown dragon in the sky.


    The dragon didn''t even bother to dodge, turningpletely transparent¡ªand apparently incorporeal. Its shimmering, iridescent form flickered like a mirage, before reappearing high above the battlefield.


    The snake''s head went right through it and its massive jaws closed on nothing but air.

 Chapter 276 The Battle of the Strongest (2)

    Ezra''s Magnimorph Snake¡ªhaving missed its target¡ªlet out a low, rumbling hiss. It quickly coiled back, its massive form undting and twisting, readying itself for a second strike.


    But its targeted Dragon, in its ghostly state, was already moving again, fading from view only to reappear in the blink of an eye. It darted across the sky, moving with uncanny grace as though it were an extension of the wind itself.


    Unlike Cassian''s contracts that could all fly, only Ezra''s Distortdjinn and Voidrake have the ability to fly, which would normally make them extremely susceptible and passive against aerial enemies¡­but those restrictions don''t apply to many of Ezra''s space-attribute contracts.


    At ground level, Ezra''s Void Lynx sprang into action, its form vanishing before repairing on the back of the flying Voidrake as a stepping stone, and then appearing above the head of the flying Dream dragon in the blink of an eye. The Lynx was quick, far too quick for most to follow.


    However, seeing that it had approached so close to an enemy spiritual creature, most of those who knew Ezra''s contracts were confused. After all, the Lynx wasn''t exactly known for its offensive abilities and a blow from one of its paws would likely not hurt the dragon. In fact, it is more likely that it''d actually end up breaking its paw against the dragon''s tough head.


    Usually, it just focused on supporting and redirecting the flow of battle from afar by causing attacks from both enemies and allies to disappear and reappear in unpredictable locations.


    None of its actions usually require close proximity.


    However, when the air above the Dream Dragon began to shimmer and waver like heatwaves.


    Then a rift of dark, shifting energy hole torn into the space widened into existence, its edges crackling with distortion.


    Through this portal, the Gravitoise''s head emerged, its colossal, stone-like features looming in the sky. The sheer size of the head alone seemed to present a great strain on the Void Lynx''s portal, likely why it needed to appear so close to its desired target.


    It was a disorienting sight. It was as if the head had been severed from its massive body, now drifting in the sky, alone and detached.


    Looking below was a scene with a sickening sense of disconnection, the creature''s head had vanished. The Gravitoise''s gargantuan form, already imposing on the battlefield, suddenly seemed iplete.


    Its colossal body remained arge and steady presence firmly rooted to the arena, but now, arge, empty space gaped where its head should have been. Its neck appeared abruptly severed at the portal''s edge and covered in an almost mirror-like rippling substance¡ªthe portal.


    Everyone watching was confused. What use would transferring a head have? However, their questions were solved in the next moment when a gravitational force dozens of times greater than normal suddenly bore down on the flying dragon''s body.


    At the moment the gravity suddenly increased, the Void Lynx quickly shed away, forcing the edges of the portal to begin closing around the head of the Gravitoise.


    However, the gravity increase was enough to cause the Dream dragon to suddenly begin freefalling towards the stage. And before the Dream dragon could steady itself and lift its body higher once again,


    The Gravitoise had already retracted its head from the portal and began to pull on it from below since it was now within range.


    Unable to resist despite attempting to shapeshift into a variety of other forms, the Dream dragon was forcefully brought to the stage, and to prevent it from taking flight again the Gravitoise focused the majority of its attention and energy on keeping it earthbound.


    Unfortunately, while the n to lower the Dream dragon worked ording to n, the Void Lynx caught the undesirable attention of the Nightmare dragon while it was in the middle of its second space jump back in the direction of the stage.


    The Nightmare Dragon''s eyes burned with a malevolent crimson glow, its gaze sweeping across the battlefield. As its eyes locked onto Ezra''s Void Lynx, the surrounding air seemed to tremble with an oppressive force, a wave of dread radiating outward in ripples. The Lynx¡ªnormally elusive and untouchable¡ªpaused mid-stride, its form flickering as if unsure of itself.


    And since it does not have the passive ability of flight, since its form had been forced to pause in midair, it began to freefall to the stage like aet.


    However, the taotie waiting below seemed prepared. As it opened its mouth an invisible force seemed to wrap around its rapidly descending body, slowing down its fall, while also shrinking its body¡ªall in preparation of being "eaten"by the taotie.


    Thankfully, since they were allies, at the direction of its master, the taotie reluctantly spat out its "food" and the lynx reappeared on the stage, but now covered in a disgusting amount of partially digested substances and a strange-smelling liquid.


    Perhaps it''s a blessing that it still seems to have its thoughts impaired by the Nightmare dragon, otherwise it''d probably be freaking out due to the stench and filth covering it.


    Meanwhile, Ezra''s Voidrake darted across the field, simr to the other flying dragons but much smaller in size. yet deadly form an explosive burst of energy, its ws extending to tear through the Nightmare''s scale and make it release its control of its ally.


    However, the Nightmare Dragon retaliated by unleashed a devastating st of shadowy mes in its direction. The mes spread outward, consuming the air with a sickening ck mist. The Voidrake created a ck hole in front of it to consume the mes, but for the first time in its existence, the ck hole it created actually seemed to be reaching some kind of limit on what was being absorbed, forcing the Voidrake to close the hole and begin fleeing from the Nightmare.


    However, its efforts were not useless and its distraction of the dragon served to alleviate some of its control on the Void Lynx and its eyes could be seen opening and closing repeatedly as it fought the mental invasion of the Nightmare dragon.

 Chapter 277 The Battle of the Strongest (3)

    Ezra''s Void Lynx, still reeling from its near-death encounter with the taotie''s digestive system, staggered to its feet, its shimmering eyes flicking back and forth as it struggled to shake off the lingering effects of the Nightmare Dragon''s mental attack.


    The Lynx''s form flickered in and out of space, its movements unsteady and disjointed, as if it were trying to regain its bearings after being pushed to the brink of copse.


    Meanwhile, the Dream Dragon, having been brought crashing down to the stage by the gravitational force of the Gravitoise, had regained itsposure after realizing that it wouldn''t be able to take off again as long as the Gravitoise was around¡ªbetter to get rid of it than keep futilely trying to fly.


    The previously calm and dreamy multicoloured eyes now took on a sharp quality as they turned to the giant tortoise.


    However, Ezra''s other contracts wouldn''t let it easy attack the Gravitoise.


    Due to its currently massive size, the Magnimorph Snake would be even more heavily impacted by the higher gravity in the area with the Dream Dragon, and if it were to instead reduce its size it would also be reducing its threat-level. Therefore, the snake stayed far from the area and instead left the Dream Dragon to the tortoise and taotie duo who were the most used to working together.


    Perhaps due to both having a rxed, sloth-like and gluttonous nature that preferred to have theirrge amounts of food sucked towards themselves using their respective powers. They also happened to be Ezra''s two most recent contracts.


    Therefore, they very naturally developed a close rtionship and their pairing was even affectionately coined T-Squared by Oliver, a name that stuck once it was found that theirbination was more than just the sum of their respective powers¡ªthe boost they provided to each other''s abilities was closer to multiplication.


    Kain had learned on Earth that gravity was able to affect time. However, the strength of the Gravitoise isn''t quite enough to achieve that effect on its own, but whenbined with the Taotie who has a very simr ability, suddenly a time dtion effect significant enough to make a difference in battle is achieved.


    Suddenly, from the audience''s perspective a portion of the arena seemed to be in apletely different world¡ªone in which everything moved at half of the speed.


    Every little blink and movement of the Gravitoise, Taotie, and Dream dragon had slowed to a snails pace.


    Although, from the perspective of the 3 in the time dtion zone, everyone else in the arena suddenly became much faster.


    Sensing something wrong, the Dream Dragon attempted to decrease the effects of the gravity on it by bing smaller. However, the taotie wasn''t only able to decrease the size of targets, it could increase them as well. Therefore, an interesting phenomenon was urring in which the audience was watching the Dream dragon slowly decrease and expand in size repeatedly.


    At the same time, while the Gravitoise was maintaining an even stronger gravitational field with the help of the taotie, the taotie opened its mouth and also began to slowly draw the dragon toward it.


    Although it knew that it would eventually be spat out and not digested, due to this being apetition, thinking of the disgusting situation that the Void Lynx had been in, made the elegant Dream Dragon who loved cleanliness shudder in disgust¡ªAbsolutely not! Never!


    The Dream Dragon stopped resisting the pull and decided to use one of its abilities to bring dreams into the real-world by conjuring some helpers.


    The strength of the creatures conjured by the Dream Dragon could vary greatly, depending on the temte they are basing the summon on. How much of the temte creature''s strength and abilities can be channelled was dependent on various factors.


    Firstly, naturally the strength of the temte can''t exceed the Dream Dragon''s by too much. If the temte is too strong then it''s more likely to end up making a paper tiger that looks ferocious and powerful but has no real strength.


    Secondly, the Dream dragon''s understanding of the temte will allow it to make a more realistic summon of it. Therefore, a high-quality and powerful summon won''t be achieved just off of a textbook description¡ªthe best objects for temtes are creatures it knows and has interacted with many times.


    Prior to being contracted by Cassian, the Dream dragon drifted mostly in the dream realm, hopping from one person''s dream to another. Therefore, the types of spiritual creatures it coulde into contact with was limited.


    However, its current allies were no weaker, and possibly even slightly stronger, than itself. Therefore, the amount of energy it would take to create a summon based off of them would be immense and may not even have half of their strength.


    Therefore, the Dream dragon chose to summon one of the few creatures it had be intimately connected with while traversing the world of dreams¡ªDream Sirens.


    Simr to Dream Dragons, they mostly choose to live in the dream realm and feed on dreams. They also have an instinctive worship for Dream Dragons and will follow them around in the dream realm to sing passionate hymns about the glory of the great Dream Dragon¡ªparticrly about its majestic power, incredible wisdom, and transcendent strength.


    Honestly, being followed around and praised by these noisy little fans had actually annoyed and embarrassed the Dream Dragon greatly and so it wasn''t even resistant to forming a contract with a young human when captured by that powerful woman back then.


    However, due to the many years of being followed around by these loud groupies, they were undoubtedly the spiritual creatures it was most familiar with¡ªeven more familiar than its current allies. And it just so happened that their abilities were perfectly suited for its current predicament¡­


    The Gravitoise and Taotie were working together to create an environment that was advantageous to them, it was time to change the battlefield to its own home court!

 Chapter 278 The Battle of the Strongest (4)

    "O Dream Dragon, your beauty is so dazzling that even the sun hides its face in shame whenever you appear! Your eyes? So radiant, they could make stars cry with jealousy. Your scales shimmer brighter than a thousand gems!"


    "Truly, if we could bottle the essence of your greatness, it would be sold for a price too high for even the richest kings to afford!"


    "When it rains, it''s due to the gods weeping in awe and sorrow, because they know they could never shine as brightly as the glowing wonder that is you!"


    The moment a group of Dream Sirens appeared on the stage, they filled the stage with loud chatter praising the glory of the Dream Dragon, just like their temtes.


    Actually, the time dtion had an even more unfortunate effect at this very moment. Typically, the chatter of the sirens would ur at a speed too fast to be easily understood by ordinary humans. However, every cringey word they were saying was now perfectly slowed down due to the time dtion and broadcast across the empire for all to hear.


    "I didn''t expect the Dream Dragon to have this taste¡­" Kain said aloud what many were thinking. Silently judging the dragon in their hearts.


    After all, these weren''t real creatures summoned from elsewhere, they were born from its mind. Therefore, they could only be saying these things if that is what it wanted to hear¡ªright?


    The Dream Dragon, hearing the muffled judgemental whispers of the audience and feeling the weight of their stares felt very wronged!


    Obviously, in order to conjure a spiritual creature as close in power and ability to its temte, he needed to make it resemble it as much as possible¡ªeven down to the personality! Which is why familiarity is so important!


    Couldn''t they see its own tail curled in shame? Couldn''t they see its ws digging into the stage as it physically recoiled from the verbal bombardment? Couldn''t they see that IT WAS A VICTIM?!


    It had just conjured them as faithfully to its memories as possible, and that happens to include these words that it had had to suffer through hearing for years.


    The Dream Sirens, oblivious to the growing embarrassment of their summoner, continued their hymn at an agonizingly slow pace, their voices rising in pitch as they praised the Dream Dragon''s supposed "wless" grandeur.


    "Your wings are so vast, they could wrap the world in a nket of dreams and warmth!" one siren cooed.


    "Your beauty is like the endless sky, and even the moon envies your radiance!" another chimed in.


    "Your majestic tail¡ªoh, how it sways with such grace, like aet streaking through the heavens!" the third added, her voice dripping with reverence.


    The words, meant to uplift the Dream Dragon, only served to make it look more and more ridiculous.


    The Dream Dragon''s eyes narrowed in mounting frustration. The more they sang, the more it felt its dignity slipping away. Why had it thought summoning these pests was a good idea?


    With a flick of its ws, the Dream Dragon''s body trembled with tension. Its tailshed behind it, the force of its anger sending a ripple through the air.


    "Enough!" it growled under its breath, its voice crackling with irritation.


    The Sirens stopped mid-song, their voices faltering as the Dream Dragon''smand resonated through the space.


    "Shut up and get to work!" it snapped, its voice louder now, the frustration impossible to conceal.


    The Sirens, now silenced, blinked in surprise, momentarily flustered by their summoner''s outburst. They had always taken great pride in their praise-songs, thinking it was the highest honour to sing such ttering words. After all, if even one of their words could leave even the faintest impression of themselves in their Lord''s heart, they could diepletely content.


    Honestly, the fact that the Dream Dragon could create such realistic conjures of them that even seem to have emotions, must mean that their wishes hade true. They had made an undeniably strong impact on the dragon¡ªwhether it liked it or not.


    However, despite their desire to continue praising their Lord. They could never disobey a direct order from him. Their ethereal bodies flickered with energy, and as they weremanded, they began to focus their powers on the surrounding environment.


    When they sang¡ªespecially when their songs were directed with intent¡ªthey had the power to turn reality into a dreamscape where illusions and distortions reigned supreme.


    In the blink of an eye, the bright lights and hard stone of the battlefield began to blur and waver, as if the entire stage had be a brightly coloured painting.


    The Dream Sirens'' chanting transformed into a surreal luby, the melody taking on a strange, hypnotic quality.


    The audience, already struggling to make sense of the slowed-down environment due to the time dtion, now found themselves slipping deeper into an ethereal fog.


    Their perception of reality blurred as dream-like illusions began to manifest before them¡ªphantoms of dragons flying across the sky, gigantic flowers blooming in an instant, and strangendscapes rising up in every direction. The very fabric of the arena seemed to warp, making it almost impossible to tell what was real and what was just an illusion.


    Honestly, had it not been for the powerful song being greatly dulled by the wards surrounding the stage, the majority of the audience probably would have directly fallen asleep without any fight.


    Even with the wards, the song of the sirens was so powerful that at least a third of the audience had their eyes closed.


    To those in the battle, the effects were even more dramatic. The Dream Dragon, aided by the terrain constructed by the Sirens, began to distort the field to its advantage.


    Although the Sirens were annoying, there was a reason he always allowed them to follow him. Although it had supreme control over dreams, the sirens were more adept at drawing individuals into the dream realm with their songs or blurring the line between the dream realm and reality. Although the Dragon could do something simr, it would take a lot more energy, and it would not be as able to exert its power when focused on maintaining this dream-like field.


    Under its machinations, the gravitational field created by the Gravitoise and Taotie now seemed to fluctuate unnaturally as if thews of physics themselves were bending to the Dragon''s whim.


    Time seemed to stutter and warp, creating moments where the battlefield slowed to a crawl before snapping forward at dizzying speeds.


    Ezra''s Void Lynx, still struggling to regain its bearings from its earlier ordeal, flickered unsteadily around the field, its form blinking in and out of reality, even its space-warping abilities were starting to behave strangely against the surreal nature of the field.


    Meanwhile, the Nightmare Dragon, as a close rtive of the Dream Dragon, felt right at home and as though it had been injected by a stimnt, putting greater pressure on its opponent.


    With a powerful beat of its wings, the Dream Dragon surged forward, the ground beneath it warping into andscape like a watercolour painting as it glided above the arena, no longer restricted by the gravity that previously kept it down.


    The Gravitoise was particrly negatively affected by the dream realm, likely due to being the main target of the Dream Dragon. It had always been able to control gravity with precision, but here, in this dream-saturated world, its gravitational maniption was more erratic¡ªsometimes moving exactly as it wanted, other times in the exact opposite manner.


    With the dream realm created by the Dream Dragon spreading, it began to affect all of the ongoing battles.


    The Magnimorph Snake who was in a fierce confrontation against Sr Dragon, was asionally finding its perceptions altered and missing its attacks more frequently.


    The Distortdjinn, who was elected to confront the Nightmare Dragon due to having the highest mental resilience, was having its mental defenses impacted for the first time in thepetition.


    The Void Lynx, who had finally recovered, was assisting the Voidrake against the fourth dragon that, due to its seemingly immaterial nature, Kain was calling the Ethereal Dragon. Therefore, it wasn''t able to y as great a support role across the whole field as it usually could.


    The battle was once again brought to an even ying field¡ªif anything it was tilting slightly in the direction of First Celestial.

 Chapter 279 The End of the Tournament (2 in 1)

    The arena had descended into a chaotic blend of dream and reality, with the Dream Dragon''s influence stretching across every corner of the battlefield.


    Currently, the Dream Dragon, Gravitoise and Taotie were in a standoff with the Dragon continuously bending thews of gravity while sending conjured weapons and skills, many from his allies, at the Gravitoise and Taotie. Thankfully, the conjured skills were merely replicas and not nearly as powerful as the original skills, giving T-squared time to adjust to the strange new environment.


    When the Gravitoise tried to increase gravity, it sometimes decreased or didn''t increase enough; or when it tried to repel it would often attract. However, the tacit understanding it had with the Taotie worked to stabilize the desired effect it wanted.


    While getting ustomed to the current dream field on the arena, they were taking less and less hits from the approaching skills.


    On the other side, the Nightmare Dragon, as a dark counterpart to the Dream Dragon, seemed far more ustomed to the warped battlefield. It had always been a creature of shadows and fear, and now, in this dream-warped reality, it thrived.


    The Distortdjinn, tasked with facing this terror, had never been tested like this before. Its space-shifting abilities were powerful, but even it was beginning to crack under the pressure of the Nightmare Dragon''s overwhelming presence.


    A pulse of power emanated from its eyes¡ªfiery crimson orbs filled with malice. For the first time in the tournament, the Distortdjinn''s ability to warp space seemed to flicker, and it staggered back, its form bending like light through a warped lens.


    With a roar, the Nightmare Dragon dove toward the Distortdjinn, its body a blur of shadow and me. The dragon''s ws stretched toward the Djinn with unnerving speed, intending to slice through its form before it could even react.


    The Distortdjinn, anticipating the attack, bent space around it in a desperate attempt to evade. The air twisted violently, and its body flickered from one point to another.


    However, an unfortunate consequence of the dream field covering the arena was that the Distortdjinn didn''t always teleport to where it had nned. Even worse, due to its sensitivity to changes in said dream field, the Nightmare Dragon was able to urately predict where the djinn would appear¡ªeven better than the djinn itself.


    Therefore, once the Nightmare dragon finally got ustomed to the rhythm of the djinn''s dodges, a massive ck tail was waiting for it at the next teleportation point to knock the wind out of it.


    Before the Distortdjinn could recover, the dragon unleashed a surge of dark, primal energy. A pulse of fear and shadow erupted from its body, expanding outward in a wave of pure terror that cracked the air itself. The wave swept through the arena, bending the very reality around it as it reached the Distortdjinn.


    For the first time in the battle, the Djinn''s control over space faltered. The edges of its form rippled uncontrobly as the boundaries between the physical world and the dream world seemed to blurpletely.


    However, the Distortdjinn wasn''t resigned to its fate of being knocked out of thepetition. Using the remainder of its energy, the djinn twisted the space around the Nightmare Dragon and itself, locking them both in a perfect pocket of distorted reality.


    What fell to the ground of the arena was a small snow globe-like sphere that had the frozen images of them both sealed inside.


    For good measure, the Taotie then swallowed the sphere and kept it in its near imprable space pocket that also doubled as its stomach.


    Now Cassian had only 3 contracts, and Ezra had 5.


    Moreover, among Cassian''s contracts, the most offensively powerful Sr Dragon can''t exert the full extent of its abilities since they chose to arrange their schools'' match in the evening as the finale for the tournament.


    However, although it wasn''t able to draw upon the power of the sun, its inherent abilities were still more than powerful enough.


    The Sr Dragon hovered high above the battlefield, its golden scales gleaming like molten fire. Although it waste in the day, the shining dragon emitting a warm glow made it feel as though the sun had never set.


    Opposite it, on the ground below,y the massive form of Magnimorph Snake, a towering behemoth that coiled and writhed in anticipation¡ªits body stretched across the arena like a vast, serpentine mountain, coiled in a near-perfect circle.


    The Magnimorph Snake suddenly uncoiled its massive body with terrifying speed, its body surging forward like a tidal wave. The ground shook beneath it as itunched itself into the air, its tail a whip of crushing force that aimed straight for the Sr Dragon above.


    The two creatures shed in midair, the Sr Dragon meeting the Magnimorph Snake''s massive form head-on. The dragon''s ws raked through the snake''s scales, leaving trails of white-hot fire in their wake.


    However, despite not losing out in the confrontation once the Sr dragon got close enough to the snake, a suction-like force seemed to draw it in so that its ws were forced to remain in contact with the snake.


    This suction-like quality is a technique the Magnimorph snake usually uses once it captures a target and begins constricting¡ªa double insurance to prevent its prey from escaping. And it wanted to make the Sr dragon its prey.


    But the Sr Dragon was not so easily caught. It pped its wings hard, creating a shockwave of pure sr energy that sent its body upward. Interestingly, due to its ws attached to the snake, it actually managed to carry the massive snake upward with it¡ªshowing just how powerful the force of its wings are.


    Ascending higher into the sky, the Sr Dragon unleashed a concentrated burst of sr me from its mouth. The energy poured out like a river of molten gold, searing everything in its path.


    The Magnimorph Snake now raised higher in the air, wasn''t able to gain purchase on anything and shift to a more defensive posture. And so the searing beam was able tond just below its head on its neck.


    Likely to prevent killing it instantly, the beam was shifted lower. But the piercing heat ray left a giant cauterized hole in its neck that it would need to receive medical treatment for immediately, otherwise it may be one of the few casualties of the tournament.


    Now the number of spiritual creatures on each side are 3 (First Celestial) to 4 (Dark Moon).


    The Sr Dragon, now free, went to join the Dream Dragon and bombard the tortoise and taotie on the stage.


    As it descended toward the Dream Dragon, the two creatures exchanged a nce¡ªa silent agreement passing between them.


    The Gravitoise and Taotie had just grown ustomed to the strange rules of physics in this dream world governed by the Dream dragon, and now there was another powerful enemy! Give them a break!


    The Sr Dragon opened its maw wide, unleashing a barrage of sr res that streaked toward the Gravitoise. Each re burst against the tortoise''s mighty shell, producing shockwaves that cracked the stone beneath it. The Gravitoise groaned, its gravity field fluctuating wildly as it struggled to stabilize against the onught.


    The Dream dragon must have altered the rules again, because then it had tried to repel the mes, it just slowed them down slightly even with the taotie''s help.


    Realizing the growing danger, the Taotie attempted to counter. With a deep roar, it released a wave of bile so corrosive it could melt anything that ended up in its iron stomach and even degrade space itself. As the wave of corrosive force surged toward the two dragons, it left sickening ripples in the air due to the destabilization of the space as it passed. The Sr Dragon, undeterred, red its wings and released a protective shield of sr radiance, neutralizing the attack before it could reach them.


    Knowing that it''d be difficult to significantly damage the tortoise with the shell on its back, the Sr Dragon emitted a blinding light, and under the cover of that light and not much slower than the speed of light itself, it appeared before the Gravitoise before it could react.


    It struck the floating Gravitoise with a ferocious shoulder m, sending the enormous creature hurtling across the battlefield. The tortoise crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact, dazed and vulnerable as ity prone on its back.


    Not wanting to give the taotie a chance to save its ally, the Dream Dragon had the two wrestling spiritual creatures vanish from sight.


    The Sr Dragon, not missing the hard-won opportunity, unleashed another sr beam¡ªthis one aimed directly at the Gravitoise''s neck that it was currently clutching to prevent it from retracting back into its shell.


    The Gravitoise was now eliminated and the numbers on both sides were now equal.


    Sensing that its closest ally was now gone, the taotie screamed in fury and began to rapidly digest everything it had previously eaten to drastically boost its abilities.


    With the boost it practically turned into a sentient ck hole and began to devour everything around it. Even the far-off Void Lynx, Voidrake and Ethereal dragon were being unconsciously sucked over to its side. The Dream dragon, who was the target of the suction, was helpless in the face of the force drawing it.


    However, the Sr Dragon, who was still concealed by the illusions crafted by its ally, released another beam from behind the taotie. The taotie managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, but the residual heat singed it, leaving scorched patches along its sides.


    Taking advantage of it being distracted by the pain, the Dream dragon rapidly rose higher.


    The Dream Dragon, now in the air, unleashed its most disorienting assault yet. It conjured an illusory army of dragons¡ªeach a shimmering, indistinct mirror of itself. Unlike the previous conjures, these were merely realistic illusions of itself with little of thebat power of the original. After all, due to its strength, creating even one perfect replica of itself with all of its abilities would take a significant amount of spiritual power.


    The illusory creatures circled the Taotie, creating a surreal whirlwind of images that confused its senses and forced it to halt its destructive devouring to assess the threat.


    The Sr Dragon, hidden among the illusions, struck again. This time, it unleashed a series of radiant orbs that orbs exploded one after another around the Taotie, each detonation releasing intense waves of light and heat. Due to the ongoing suction, some of the orbs were even swallowed by the taotie while its vision was distorted by the circling Dream dragons and other illusions.


    Thankfully, due to its "iron stomach" the internal explosions didn''t do much harm, but suppressing the internal explosions used up much of its energy and disrupted the Taotie''s digestion boost.


    But the Taotie''s momentum wasn''t fully stopped¡ªit retaliated by generating a gravitational pull so intense that the hidden Sr Dragon was dragged toward it. The beast mped its jaws around one of the Sr Dragon''s hind legs, its mouth glowing with corrosive energy.


    The Sr Dragon roared in pain but summoned a surge of radiant power, sting itself free. The energy tore through the Taotie''s jaw, leaving it dizzy and visibly weakened.


    To ensure its ally''s escape, the Dream Dragon pulled the Taotie into a trap of endless illusions and ever-shifting reality. The Taotieshed out in every direction, but it was unable tond a decisive hit.


    The Sr Dragon ascended again, gathering all its remaining power into a single, blinding beam of sr fire. This time, it aimed not at the Taotie''s body, not wanting it to snap awake from the illusions when sensing the impending danger, but at the arena floor beneath it.


    The searing attack destabilized the ground, causing a massive eruption of molten stone and radiant energy that engulfed the Taotie.


    When the dust and light cleared, the Taotiey motionless, its form battered and its energy spent. The referee dered it eliminated.


    Now only two creatures remained on the Dark Moon side¡ªthe Void Lynx and the Voidrake. Both hovered warily, knowing they were now outnumbered by the Sr Dragon, Dream Dragon, and Ethereal Dragon on the First Celestial side.


    However, although they were outnumbered, the Dark Moon pair was still full of energy, while the Sr Dragon was seriously injured and drained after its fight with the taotie, and the Dream Dragon was also almost out of energy. Therefore, the most the two dragons could do was support their ally.


    However, despite 2 of their 3 opponents being nearly spent, that didn''t mean they''d risk keeping them around any longer.


    The Voidrake shed both of its ws into the air. Before anyone could be confused about why it was seemingly attacking an invisible enemy. Each w respectively appeared elsewhere in the arena by the Void Lynx. One just above the corroded bite mark on the Sr Dragon, and the other at the neck of the Sr Dragon.


    The tired Sr Dragon wasn''t able to block both attacks and chose to protect its next, suffering a painful blow to its already seriously injured leg.


    When the Dream Dragonunched a wave of heat at the Void Lynx, mimicked from its Sr Dragon ally, the Lynx also redirected the attack to the leg of the Sr Dragon.


    Finally, the severity of the injury became too much for it to bear¡ªthey were now 2 against 2.


    Ah no, scratch that! Thest blow had apparently taken out too much of the Dream dragon''s remaining energy, and it was unable to maintain the dream field or its summons. Unable to continue ying a role, it was also retracted back by its master.


    However, despite having only one contract left, Cassian didn''t seem at all worried. The Ethereal Dragon, who was the most unknown variable on the field and hadn''t shown much strength yet, made its move.


    The Ethereal Dragon''s wings red wide, and with a deep, resonant roar that echoed through the arena, a surge of cosmic energy pulsed through its body.


    A blinding beam of pure, white light shot down from the night sky, cutting through the remaining dream-like haze of the field like aet.


    The Void Lynx, sensing the oing attack, attempted to evade, but even hiding in a pocket of space couldn''t protect it. The beamnced through the air, striking the Void Lynx dead center. The creature howled in agony as it was engulfed by the energy, its form beginning to crumble away¡ªthankfully the referee stepped in and a one-time use artifact to halt time was used to save its life. It''d be too unfortunate for such a talented citizen of the empire to be crippled at this tournament. However, the Void Lynx, who Ezra had the longest rtionship with, was still in a precarious situation and a lot of energy and resources would need to be used to heal it. Heck, a healer no weaker than indigo-grade would need to be employed to have a hope of saving its life. Ezra''s face, as well as the faces of many from Dark Moon went pale at the sudden turn in the battle that almost resulted in a contract''s death.


    The Voidrake, caught off-guard by the sudden ferocity of the Ethereal Dragon''s assault, tried to retaliate. But the Ethereal Dragon was already in motion, its wings shifting with unbelievable speed. Another pulse of cosmic energy spiralled out, striking the Voidrake with the force an immense starlit force.


    Thankfully, this time the Voidrake was able to absorb and deflect much of the force using the ck holes it could summon. However, its form was still sted back to the ground and arge crater formed beneath it as the energy tore through its body.


    It let out a final, desperate cry before it was knocked out of thepetition in a terrible state.


    It seemed as though this unknown dragon was Cassian''s trump card, and not the weakest like many had assumed. Rather, the reason it hadn''t made a move until now was likely because it was too strong and afraid of killing the opponents.


    The match was over.


    And the final victory of the tournament belonged to First Celestial Academy.

 Chapter 280: Chapter 281: Closing Ceremony

    "Citizens of our great Empire, the National Tournament has always been an opportunity to witness the brightest talent our nation has to offer. This year, it has been no less than extraordinary." Princess ra Lysander, began her speech, her gaze sweeping over the assembled audience.


    The main arena, now a battlefield no longer, had been transformed into a colourful spectacle of streamers and banners. The colourful d¨¦cor and anticipation in the air gave the whole arena a festival-like atmosphere.


    A wave of apuse rippled through the crowd at her speech and the reminder of the numerous entertaining battles they had gotten to witness over the past couple of weeks since the tournament began.


    "Let us not forget that this tournament is about more than victory. It is a celebration of growth and potential. Each participant has shown us the boundless possibilities that arise when they are pushed to the limit. You are the future of our Empire, and from where I stand, this future shines brighter than ever."


    She paused, the weight of her words settling over the crowd like a warm embrace.


    "And now," she said, her tone softening and her smile deepened as she looked affectionately at her nephew just beneath the stage, "as your princess and your servant, it is my honour to bestow theurels of victory upon the champions of this tournament¡ªFirst Celestial Academy."


    A deafening roar erupted from the stands as Cassian and his team began their walk to the dais. Cassian''s expression was one of pride and a natural arrogance, almost as though this oue was to be expected.


    ra walked over to the approaching group, the ceremonial gold medals in her hands. As she ced it gently on Cassian''s head, her gaze met his.


    "Congrattions, Champion," she said warmly.


    The crowd erupted into cheers once more, this time with some exuberant whistles from the crowd at the tender family moment they were witnessing.


    Kain couldn''t help sneaking a peak at Soren, whose expression was no different from an emotionless statue.


    "Next I would like to call this year''s runner-up, who gave us some of the most riveting matches this year¡ªDark Moon College."


    The members of Dark Moon made their way to the stage where they were all rewarded silver medals.


    The final rankings for all colleges for the rest of the year, and what would determine the resources allocated to each school for the remainder of the year, were as follows:


    First:


    First Celestial Academy


    Second:


    Dark Moon College


    Third:


    Supernova College


    Fourth:


    Frozen Sun College


    Fifth


    : Starfire College


    ...


    Kain and the others, although tired from the long day, were high on the adrenaline of a better ranking, although Ezra and the others who represented them in Phase Two, still looked disappointed about the oue. Therefore, nearly all of the team members decided to gather together at a local bar instead of just heading back to their hotel rooms.


    Additionally, since Ezra''s Void Lynx was so severely injured, he wasn''t exactly in a celebratory mood.


    Watching Oliver and Theo regale everyone with funny and embarrassing stories about one another and the other upper-years, Kain was suddenly interrupted by his phone ringing. Looking down, he saw that the iing call was from Bridge.


    Standing up to leave the noisy ruckus behind and go to a quieter hallway leading to a staff-only area.


    Once in a more secluded area, he quickly answered the phone.


    "Hey, man! Did you guys all watch thepetition? Do you want my autograph? I can give it to you now for cheap, but it''ll definitely cost you more in the future" Kain answered the phone with a teasing voice, expecting to hear the cheers and reciprocal teasing of his siblings.


    However, all that awaited him was silence.


    "Bridge?"


    More silence.


    "C''mon, man! Why call if you''re not going to say something? You''re starting to worry me!"


    This time Kain was able to hear something, it sounded like a muffled whimper and a few stifled cries.


    Kain instantly sobered up from being drunk on the beer he had drank¡ªwhich happened to be his very own beer brand. Not that anyone knew. However, seeing how deeply the brand had managed to prate into the capital, Kain made a mental note to give their operations manager Collin a raise.


    "What''s going on¡­" Kain asked. This time a lot more calm and serious. It was probably the seriousness of his tone, that Bridge was finally able topose himself enough to respond to Kain. Although the sound of muffled cries could still be heard through the phone, likely his siblings.


    "I-it''s Cherry" Bridge began in a quiet voice. "She''s been missing for days now."


    "At first, we weren''t too worried about it. You know she''s so sociable and practically a free spirit. We figured she was just staying over at a friend''s house and forgot to mention it to one of us¡ªit''s happened before."


    Kain nodded in remembrance of his troublesome younger sibling.


    "However, it''s been days now! And she''s still not back!"


    "And I know I wasn''t supposed to¡­but we were so worried¡­so I read her journal. And I''m not 100% sure what happened, but I think something bad happened to her or someone took her."


    "Why would you think that, Bridge?" Kain scrunched his eyebrows together.


    ''Who would want to take a random 10-year-old girl? Actually, 11 now since her birthday recently passed. Could someone have figured out that we have a lot more money now since we send some back every month and chose to hold her for ransom?''


    "It''s not a kidnapping for ransom either," Bridge continued, almost like he could read Kain''s mind. "There''s been no contact made requesting money, and also before she disappeared¡­" Bridge''s voice lowered to a level Kain could barely hear, "And before she disappeared she was investigating something."


    Kain''s eyebrow raised at this revtion. Thankfully, Bridge continued to exin without further prompting.


    "Many local children have gone recently in the past few months¡ªincluding a close friend of Cherry''s. I think she''d been investigating the reason."


    "And one more thing Kain¡­on thest page of her journal, starred and underlined, is Heather Frost''s name!"

 Chapter 281 A Surprising Helper

    Kain didn''t notice that when Bridge''s voice elevated in the loud hallway, the heightened senses of a passing beast-tamer picked up on what was said on the phone.


    Nor did he notice that at the name ''Heather Frost'' the passing person''s cold blue eyes flickered slightly with recognition and some other unnamed emotion before they stopped at the entrance to the hallway to continue listening.


    "I don''t know why. Cherry should never have had an opportunity to make contact with Heather." Bridge continued. "But¡­you know Cherry. There are very few things she loves more than a good secret. If she found out something about Heather that she wasn''t supposed to know and got into trouble¡­ Kain I''m worried. Heather''s parents may not live in Brightstar City, but they are still 6-star beast-tamers, so it''s not easy to investigate her! And if we do cross them, while they can''t do much to us under the protection of the College, especially to you, that wouldn''t prevent them from retaliating against the orphanage once we''re gone."


    The reason Heather Frost, who is supposedly a distant branch of the prestigious Storm family, was sent to a school in a third-tier city, instead of settling into the first-tier Starfire City with her parents, was a longstanding mystery for everyone.


    But considering that she treated all the locals as beneath her, and so never got close with anyone, nobody had any clues as to the reason behind her apparent banishment to the fringes of high-society.


    "Just calm down, Bridge. I''ll head over first thing in the morning and help you look for her. We will definitely find her."


    After appeasing Bridge a little longer, Kain hung up the phone with shaking hands and a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.


    ''God Cherry, just what have you gotten yourself into¡­''


    Storming out of the hallway to go and tell the others that he''d be heading back to the hotel room early¡ªhe obviously could no longer continue celebrating with this weighing him down. But he also couldn''t head back to Brightstar City right this second since there were no trains leaving at this time, and he would need the help of the College staff in the morning to teleport closer to his home since a train ride from the capital may take over a week¡ªa week that he did not have.


    However, once he left the seclusion of the hallway he bumped into an unexpected figure¡ªSerena Storm. However, his mind was too preupied to care about why she was loitering alone outside of the hallway.


    "I will help you," she said coldly.


    However, over the noise of the bar and his own chaotic thoughts, he couldn''t hear her. When a small, pale hand suddenly grabbed his wrist and prevented him from moving forward, surprisingly strong, he finally snapped back to reality in confusion.


    "What?!" He snapped, not in a conversing mood.


    "I said that I will help you," She calmly repeated.


    "Help me with what?" He asked in confusion. Had he asked for her help with something before taking the call? He had had a few beers and now his thoughts were so scattered he couldn''t even remember much of what was said prior to finding out about Cherry.


    "Look for your sister."


    Kain''s eyes snapped open in shock. She had heard! But why would she want to help him? She didn''t seem like the type to meddle in the search for a missing child that had nothing to do with her, and may even just be a misunderstanding.


    Likely seeing the confusion and skepticism on Kain''s face, she continued, "I promise that my skills will be extremely helpful in the search for your sister."


    "And why exactly, would you do that?" Kain asked in suspicion, they weren''t exactly close. Nor did the Storm family live in the Southern region. And with most of their summer vacation spent preparing for the National Tournament, there were only a little more than 2 weeks left before the start of the new semester, so if she were to go to Brightstar City with him, she''d have no time to go see her own family and, depending on how long the search for Cherry took, may even risk returning to the collegete, which will have severe repercussions.


    After biting her lip briefly in hesitation, for the first time Kain saw something remotely resembling fragility on Serena''s face, "I can''t tell you why exactly I need toe. However, I heard you mention the Frost family, as rtives I can definitely help you in your search and also ensure that they won''t retaliate against your family."


    Kain froze, his sharp brown eyes narrowing as he processed Serena''s unexpected deration.


    "You''re saying you want to help me because of Heather Frost," he said, crossing his arms. "Your cousin. If that''s the case, then do you know something and are trying to cover up for your family?"


    Serena hesitated, her icyposure wavering for just a fraction of a second. "Heather and her branch of the family have been... estranged for some time. But if her actions have brought harm or danger to your sister, that''s something I can''t ignore. The Storm family has a reputation to uphold. And despite our estranged rtionship, their action still reflect on our family."


    Serena''s blue eyes met his, and for once, there was something vulnerable in her gaze. "It''s not just about your sister," she admitted quietly. "Heather''s been a problem for years, and her family has ignored it. If she''s involved in this, it''s my chance to address something that should have been dealt with long ago. After all, we also bear responsibility as her rtives for how she turned out."


    There it was¡ªa flicker of truth. Kain wasn''t sure if that was the full story, but he could sense the weight behind her words. Whatever Heather Frost represented, it was deeply personal for Serena.


    "And if Heather''s parents retaliate against the orphanage?" Kain pressed. "You can''t just wave the Storm name around and expect everything to be fine."


    "They won''t," Serena said firmly. "I''ll make sure of it. The Frost family owes the Storm family far more than you realize. They wouldn''t dare jeopardize their positions or risk further estrangement by going against me."


    "Fine," he said finally. "You cane. But this isn''t about settling your family''s issues¡ªit''s about finding Cherry. If you have another agenda, you can leave it behind."


    With a cool nod of agreement, she turned and strode away, her usual indifferent confidence back in ce.


    Kain exhaled heavily, running a hand through his hair. He didn''t know if letting Serena get involved was the right choice, but with so many unknowns, he couldn''t afford to turn down any advantage.

 Chapter 282 Free Advertising

    The next day, the students were given the opportunity to teleport with the staff back to Dark Moon city or to another first-tier city.


    Given that they''d performed so well in the tournament, there would naturally be school credits and other opportunities rewarded to them once they went back to the school, wanting to capitalize on the opportunity to gain some more strength before the start of the school year in a few weeks, majority of the students decided to head to the school first before going back to their respective homes.


    The only exceptions were Kain and Serena, who knew that time was of the essence to find Cherry and decided to immediately take the school up on its offer to teleport them to Starfire City which was only a short train ride away from his hometown.


    After enduring the nauseous feeling thates with teleportation once again, a feeling that is gradually getting less strong the more times he suffers from, it they arrived at the familiar Starfire City and then boarded a train to Brightstar.


    Looking at the familiar scenery passing by Kain, was continuously weighed down by the anxiety of not knowing what had happened to Cherry¡ªor even if she was still alive.


    It would take a couple of hours to arrive at his hometown, and knowing that he needed a distraction, Kain decided to check some of the System notifications he''d received since the end of the tournament.


    The first was the only tournament mission that had not beenpleted after Phase One:


    *Contribute to Dark Moon College increasing in ranking¡ªreward variable based on final ranking of Dark Moon College*


    *The final ranking of Dark Moon College is 2nd for the next year. An increase in one rank will grant the Host 10,000 GP*


    Kain was pleasantly surprised by therge reward, considering that he needed 100,000 GP for the next system upgrade, this single mission gave him a tenth of what he needed.


    There was also another system notification for apleted mission that hadn''t appeared immediately after the tournament ended, but instead right as they were boarding this train, making Kain curious if it was unrted to the tournament.


    *Have 10,000 citizens use an evolutionary form created by you¡ª10,000 points*


    Kain hadn''t expected for the evolutionary form he created to trigger thepletion of a hidden mission. He''d already developed several unique evolutionary forms for his own contracts, but there was never any notification of a mission.


    It looks like the System rewarded him for creating evolutionary forms that have a far-reaching impact more so than it cared about him developing new forms only for his own contracts.


    Just the fact that the required number of citizens using a contract with a form created by him needs to reach a whopping 10,000,shows how much value the System ces on the far-reaching impact of any form he makes.


    Kain was also surprised that the number reached 10,000. Prior to the tournament, when Kain had gotten hisst portion of the dividends from the exchange of the patented evolution n, the number of recorded citizens to use his evolution was only half of that ¨Caround 5300.


    Thergest influx of exchanges for the patent had been right after the press release revealing the new evolution, and things slowed down greatly in the months after.


    However, out of nowhere that number suddenly doubled? Pulling out his phone, Kain decided to investigate online and quickly found the answer.


    It appears like it ispletely due to his good luck that someone took the tournament to advertise the Lumifin''s evolved form, the Gilded Serafin, at the tournament for him for free.


    During Phase One, a second year from a lower-ranked school (ranked in the 40s) actuallypeted in a solo match using the Gilded Serafin.


    Normally the match of a lower-tier school wouldn''t get any coverage, but their opponent was actually a school in the top 20, meaning that they were one of the few lower-ranked schools that would get topete on the main arena''s stage.


    And although this lower-ranked school did ultimately lose the round, that second-year student put up a good fight and actually managed to win their solo battle against the student representative of a top 20 school.


    The Gilded Serafin already got a ton of attention due to its beauty and novelty when it was first released. However, it was really only popr among those who didn''t n to go far on the path of bing a beast-tamer.


    However, this student''s match revealed that the Gilded Serafin, with proper training, could also have decent strength. Therefore, after the match the Gilden Serafin, which was now recognized to have both beauty and strength, ushered in its second spring and its poprity¡ªalong with Kain''s¡ªreach new heights. Although there was no follow-up form, so most students at higher-ranked schools still wouldn''t contract it.


    Kain decided to put his other projects he was currently working on to the side for now. If he could develop the evolutionary pathway of the Lumifin even further, he was sure that the exchanges for his patent would go up drastically. After all, the potential of a creature who will stop at Silver-quality and only reach orange-grade spiritual power was different from one with a known evolutionary form of a higher gold or tinum quality. Of course, to keep its appeal to the masses, the evolutionary materials can''t be too expensive or challenging to find.


    Since the day of the match that the Gilded Serafin took the stage was one of the few days Kain had elected to stay in the hotel room, he was unable to see it in person. He was also curious about the match and, despite being the creator of the evolutionary form, he had never actually seen the species he created inbat. Therefore, he decided to pull up a recording of the match.


    The recording was from the official live broadcast and so the quality was excellent. However, it''s because of the excellent quality that Kain could readily tell the difference in the treatment of matches between schools in the top 5 and outside of the top 5. Since the highest-ranked school in this match barely scraped in at rank 20, the match was able to appear on the main stage and be broadcast. But theck of enthusiasm of thementators and audience, and the high amount of empty seats in the audience showed theck of attention lower-ranked schools get.


    But under these adverse conditions, Kain was wondering how good of a promotional effect this student must have done for him for the sales of the patent to double in a mere week¡ªsurpassing months worth of sales in a matter of days.


    On one side stood a short female beast-tamer with an unassuming appearance. Before her was a Gilded Serafin floating in the air on a cloudposed of mist and light. nking it were two water-attribute fish-like spiritual creatures¡ªhinting at the identity of her affinity.


    A pool of water was gradually spreading under the collective action of the three.


    On the opposing side, a male beast-tamer stood amidst a lineup of fire-attribute spiritual creatures. Although they were at an elemental disadvantage, he didn''t at all appear like he thought he had a chance of losing.


    The male beast-tamer began aggressively, with fire-attribute bird taking to the air andunching a relentless rain of fiery orbs toward the opposing team. The fire-attribute hound charged forward, sending waves of moltenva surging across the arena and disrupting the spread of the water sent out by the opponents.


    The female beast-tamer''s water-based team struggled initially under the oppressive heat. A barrier of water created by a contract that looked like a swordfish absorbed much of the iing damage, but cracks began forming under the relentless assault.


    Meanwhile, a wave of heat produced by a fire-attribute centipede caused the water in the arena to evaporate, creating a rising mist that weakened the water team''s effectiveness.


    However, instead of being discouraged by their ns of creating an advantageous terrain being foiled, it seemed as though they had been nning on using the opponents to create a mist from the beginning.


    The resulting mist not only boosted a Rejuvenating Mist skill produced by one of the girl''s contracts, but it also showcased the Gilded Serafin''s remarkable control abilities using illusions to confuse and disorient the opponents'' senses.


    With thebination of their sight being covered by the mist, and the illusions made to disorient them further, the fire-attribute opponents were consistently unable to respond to iing attacks.


    In the end, the opponents were gradually worn down while not being able to effectively retaliate. However, the moment that probably served as the best advertisement for the Gilded Serafin was when itunched what appeared to be its strongest move towards the end of the battle.


    The skill used by the Gilded Serafin, a massive vortex of golden water and light energy swirled outward, extinguishing the fire skill hurtling towards it, cooling theva on the arena floor, and enveloping all three fire-attribute creatures in its radiant embrace. With that one move all three enemies, although they were already quite exhausted and damaged, were ultimately eliminated¡ªand the credit for that final win happened to fall on the Gilded Serafin.

 Chapter 283: Chaper 283: Home (Bitter)Sweet Home

    Thankfully, Kain didn''t need to distract himself from not being able to take immediate action for Cherry for long.


    After the train arrived at Brightstar City, both Kain and Serena left their respective private cabins and met up.


    Serena followed Kain back to his home inplete silence, he was too anxious to cosy as a good host and tour guide, while she seemed to prefer the silence anyway.


    The streets of Brightstar were rtively narrow, and everything was within an hour''s walk of each other, therefore cars were not verymon.


    Given the strength of their bodies as beast-tamers ,and that the orphanage was only a 30-minute walk for even an ordinary person, they would usually choose to walk the distance, but Kain wanted to get back home as soon as possible. Therefore, he called 2 of his Vespid guards to carry him and Serena at their fastest speed back to the orphanage.


    The winding road to New Beginning''s Orphanage was as familiar to Kain as the lines on his palms. Yet, as they drew closer, an unexpected tightness gripped his chest. Serena rode on the guard beside him, her gaze forward but unreadable, the asional flicker of curiosity crossing her otherwise cold demeanour.


    When they reached the property gate, Kain''s pulse quickened. The orphanage stood there, nestled amid the trees, the same as always¡ªyet subtly transformed due to the increasingly better conditions his and Bridge''s awakening had for the orphanage.


    The fence surrounding the property was no longer the rickety structure he''d grown up with; it was new, freshly painted white, and sturdy enough to keep even the most adventurous children from sneaking out.


    The house itself had undergone a quiet transformation. Much of the chipped and weathered paint he remembered had been reced, the walls now gleaming with a warm, soft yellow hue that seemed to radiatefort.


    The yground he''d requested shortly after entering Dark Moon college, funded by the money he sent home, was no longer just an idea; it stood proudly near the side of the house. Slides, swings, and even a climbing structure glittered in the sunlight filtering through the surrounding fruit trees. Beneath the branches of a pear tree, small benches and pic tables had been ced.


    But the joy and pride he might have felt at these improvements was swallowed by an ominous silence. The usual chorus ofughter, the spirited arguments of children, and Cherry''s unmistakably boisterous voice were absent. The house that was usually a bustle of activity was now dead silent.


    The two stepped into the yard, and the air seemed heavier with each step. Kain''s boots crunched against the gravel path leading to the front door, a sound that felt deafening in the absence of the usual chaos.


    Even though the house looked livelier than ever, it felt lifeless now. The fruit trees bore ripe apples and pears, but there were no tiny hands reaching up to pluck them. No impromptu games were being yed in the yard. Only the rustling of leaves filled the stillness.


    As they reached the steps of the porch, Kain stopped and nced at Serena. Her expression was unreadable, but there was a knowing sadness in her eyes. After all, while caring for Bridge previously she had heard him retell stories about the members of the orphanage and knew that this silence was atypical.


    The front door creaked open before they could knock. A familiar figure stepped out¡ªthe orphanage director. His lined face was etched with exhaustion and warm brown eyes dulled with worry.


    "Kain," the director said, his deep voice cracking. "You''re finally here."


    Kain nodded, swallowing hard. The director''s gaze shifted to Serena, lingering briefly before a flicker of curiosity crossed his face.


    "And this is¡­?"


    "A friend," Kain said quickly. "Someone who wants to help."


    The director''s lips pressed into a tight line, and he nodded. "Come in. We need all the help we can get."


    As they stepped inside, the warm smell of freshly baked bread andvender cleaner filled the air, a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere. The walls were still decorated with the children''s drawings¡ªsomething that hadn''t changed¡ªbut the vibrant interior seemed muted now.


    "I''m d you''re back, all of the children look up to you so much, and watching youpete nationally has filled them all with a sense of pride. You should hear them boasting around town about how their older brother is one of the strongest people in the world." The orphanage director spoke to try and lift the heavy atmosphere, but a deep sadness marred the smile he was forcefully making.


    "With you back, the children will feel more secure and hopeful that we will find Cherry. Her disappearance has shaken all of them. All of


    us


    . The kids are terrified. They barely y anymore. And I¡­"


    The words hung heavily in the air.


    Kain''s jaw tightened as guilt wed at him. He thought sending money had been enough, but given that the strongest individuals in the city were now weaker than him, he hadn''t thought that his family would need any protection¡ªthat was an oversight on his part and something he should have thought about when reporters were previously hounding his family after the reveal of the Gilded Serafin.


    "Where was shest seen?" Serena asked, her tone direct but not unkind.


    "In the middle of the city. In the middle of a crowd, she just suddenly up and vanished when she went travelling in a group with the others."


    Kain clenched his fists. "Did anything strange happen before she went missing? Anyone new around? Anything unusual?"


    The director hesitated, his brows furrowing. "There were rumours," he said slowly. "Some of the kids at Cherry''s school had been going missing, and you know Cherry¡­she can''t have a mystery in front of her and not try to get to the bottom of it."


    Kain couldn''t help gripping his hair in exasperation, having a sinking feeling that she got involved in something that she shouldn''t.


    "If kids are going missing, she should leave it to the adults! What was she hoping to aplish as an 11-year-old with no strength?!" He screamed in anger, but most of it was targeted at himself.


    "Thankfully, Cherry had a habit of writing down anything of interest in her journals¡­we''ll start there," Kain said before leading the way down the familiar hallways to the room shared by the two oldest girls¡ªthe 11-year-old Cherry and the 13-year-old Jasmine.

 Chapter 284 Suspicious Tutor

    Kain pushed open the door to Cherry and Jasmine''s shared room, and the stark contrast between the two halves of the room immediately struck him.


    Jasmine''s side was immacte, reflecting the quiet maturity of a teenager who also has the added responsibility of being the eldest daughter among many children.


    The walls were painted in calming pastel shades¡ªsoftvender and pale peach. A delicate jewelry stand disyed bracelets and nes, most of them likely handmade or gifted by the other children.


    A vanity table stood against the wall, its surface arranged with care: ab, a small mirror, and a bottle of jasmine-scented perfume.


    Her neatly made bed had a quilt of soft blues and pinks, and beside it sat a stack of novels, their spines showing well-loved creases.


    Cherry''s side was its pr opposite. The walls were adorned with vibrant, shing posters of beasts, far offndscapes, and hand-drawn doodles taped haphazardly.


    Her bedspread was a mish-mash of color¡ªbright yellows, greens, and blues¡ªcrumpled and half-falling off the mattress.


    Trinkets of all kinds cluttered her desk: a chipped snow globe, a box of shiny stones, a bird feather tied with a string, and what appeared to be a brokenpass.


    Kain''s eyes locked onto a peculiar item on Cherry''s desk¡ªa glowing spiritual orb. Its soft, pulsating light shifted between hues of blue and green, radiating an energy that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. His brow furrowed. How had she gotten something like that?


    The creatures near Brightstar City were far too weak to create a spiritual orb, and Cherry wasn''t even a beast-tamer.


    "Cherry¡­" he murmured, a mix of pride and exasperation in his voice. Truly out of all the members of the orphanage she was definitely the most resourceful¡­ and worrisome.


    Kain''s attention shifted to the floor near Cherry''s bed. A single wooden board had been pried loose, revealing a hollow space beneath. The edges of the opening were slightly worn, as if this hiding spot had been used frequently.


    Inside were stacks of journals, meticulously organized into two neat piles¡ªone ck, one white. The covers were worn, evidence of countless hours Cherry must have spent writing in them. Two books, one from each pile,y at the edge of the opening, as if someone had set them aside.


    "The other children must have already gone through these," Serena observed, gesturing to the slightly haphazard arrangement of the books around the hole. "They probably left these out, knowing you''d want to read them."


    Kain picked up the white journal first, its cover cool and smooth under his fingers. He opened it, revealing Cherry''s neat but slightly rushed handwriting. Sketches filled the margins, and notes jotted down with enthusiasm covered the pages.


    The first few entries were harmless, detailing school days, yground dramas, and her attempts to convince Jasmine to join her "adventures." But as he flipped further, the tone shifted. Mentions of strange disappearances began to surface.


    [Another kid from school is gone. Third one this month, and the eighth since the school-year started. The teachers aren''t telling us anything, and it doesn''t look like the city guards investigating the incidents have a clue.]


    [Harvey hasn''te to school in 3 days! I''d never wished for someone to just be sick more. But I hope he''s not missing. I went by his home, but the house was empty.]


    [Something is weird. Harvey recently started seeing a tutor, and I found out that Jessica B from the year above us who went missing two months ago had the same tutor. It''s only a connection between 2 of the 8 disappearances, so is it just a coincidence.]


    [I asked around, the tutor''s name is


    Heather Frost


    ]


    Reading this, Kain realized that this must have been the passage that stood out to Bridge. Cherry''s mention of Heather was thest entry before her disappearance. There''s no guarantee that shortly after this entry she didn''t start asking around about Heather or even gone to meet her.


    Not to mention there was something else that stood out to Kain¡­


    "Why would your cousin be a tutor?" Kain turned to Serena interrogatively, "Did her family cut her off?"


    The Heather Frost that Kain knew was not the type of person anyone would expect to volunteer as a tutor¡ªor seed as one. She was the epitome of arrogance, carrying herself with a sense of superiority that bordered on disdain for anyone she deemed beneath her¡ªwhich was everyone in the small Brightstar City.


    Patience and understanding were qualities she seemed tock entirely. If a student struggled, Heather was more likely to roll her eyes or offer a bitingment than to find a new way to exin the material.


    Her self-centered nature only worsened the problem. Heather''s world revolved around herself. If the slightest inconvenience arose, she would abandon any responsibility without a second thought. It was easy to imagine her showing upte¡ªor not at all¡ªfor a session, iming she had "more important things to do"¡ªafter all, she''d acted exactly like that when Kain had had the misfortune of being assigned group projects with her in the past.


    And even if she managed to show up, her attention would drift toward herself! Heather loved to talk, but only about topics that involved her, her aplishments, or her opinions. Any student she was teaching would quickly find themselves sidelined in their own lesson.


    That


    kind of person suddenly wanted to be a tutor for children?!


    Even Serena with what she knew of her cousin wore an uncharacteristically dumbfounded expression.


    "No¡­not to my knowledge. My uncle and aunt spoiled Heather greatly growing up¡ªto a fault. I could never imagine them cutting her off¡­even if she didn''t manage to awaken an affinity." The end of the sentence was finished off much quieter, with a slightly solemn tone, but Kain was to preupied to care about the reason.


    His attention had now shifted to Cherry''s "Little ck Book," which was what Cherry liked to call "the good stuff."

 Chapter 285 100 Reasons to Kill

    Kain set the white journal aside, his chest tightening as he picked up the ck book. Its worn cover seemed heavier in his hands, as if the secrets written inside had a tangible weight.


    Cherry had always been a naturally curious¡ªand remarkably nosy¡ªchild, but the ck journals were infamous within the orphanage.


    Everyone knew they contained more than idle musings or yground drama¡ªno that stuff was for the white journals.


    The ck journals were her treasure troves of secrets, carefully cataloged through her relentless eavesdropping and keen observation.


    He flipped open the book, and the pages immediately revealed her meticulous nature. Each entry was written with precision, every line crisp and legible.


    While the white journals more closely resembled a child''s diary, the ck journals more closely resemble the meticulous notes that a detective would be making on an ongoing case.


    Kain''s eyes skimmed over a few entries, his unease growing with every sentence.


    [A Mrs. H that lives in a nearby red bricked house and runs a local bakery has been living with someone who isn''t her husband whenever her husband leaves to travel for work. I innocently asked about it when I went to visit previously, and I haven''t had to pay for cookies since!]


    The very first entry of the book, which only includes her discoveries of the past year, made Kain slowly close his eyes in shame and resignation. Serena also turned to look at Kain with a deadpan expression¡ªthis was the cute and innocent younger sibling that he''d described to her?


    ''Seriously Cherry! Is this the kind of stuff a child should be investigating?! Not to mention ckmail! And if you were going to use code names to hide Mrs. Hayward''s identity, don''t include so much identifying information!''


    Kain flipped the page that suddenly felt extremely heavy to look at the next entry.


    [A certain Mr. JC is a crook! He parades himself around like he''s a great handyman, but I saw him intentionally break the satellite on a certain family''s roof in order to get their business! Not to mention that he will make up additional stuff being wrong so that he could charge his customers more!]


    Kain''s mind immediately brought up the image of James "Jiffy" Carpenter who had an an approachable, down-to-earth appearance. He always greeted people by name, remembered small details about their lives, and was always prompt in offering his services if someone needed a repair¡­


    Even the orphanage had called him over a few times, but was this his true nature?


    This was exactly why Kain and the others were reluctant to dig through these ck journals.


    One moment they were your most admired teacher who you looked up to greatly, and the next their pristine image in your heart was forever shattered after you found out they regrly partake in illicit orgies with up to a dozen participants at a time¡ªyes, this was a recounting of Kain''s personal experience¡­


    Pretty much everyone in the orphanage goes through a phase where they initially are curious and relish in wanting to find out the secrets in the ck journals, until they read something about someone that they wish they''d never learned. By now, not a single person in the orphanage wished to read these books.


    Kain sighed heavily, closing his eyes briefly before daring to flip to the next entry. As much as he dreaded reading further, he needed to understand the trail Cherry might have followed to her disappearance.


    The secrets she uncovered, scandalous as they were, could hold the key. After all, the hundreds of secrets in these ck books, were hundreds of reasons that someone may want to get rid of her.


    [A certain elementary school principal Mr. B, has been embezzling funds! The school''s budget reports that I borrowed from the staffroom when nobody was around showed there''s money allocated for repairs and new supplies every term, but the leaks in the gym roof are still there, and I overheard him talking about his new boatst week!]


    "Seriously Cherry! Just use the full name if your going to half-ass concealing their identities!" Kain couldn''t help yelling out loud in exasperation.


    Meanwhile, Serena''s lips twitched slightly in amusement. It''s only because she has no chance of someone she knows and likes ending up in these books that she could be so rxed!


    He flipped another page, and this one made him audibly groan.


    [The mayor''s son, W, has been sneaking out at night to meet various female "workers"! One of these "workers" osted him at the mayor''s home in broad daylight with a small bundle wrapped in nkets in her arms, demanding financial support before she was escorted away by security. Unfortunately, she was unaware that there were probably close to 20 such illegitimate children that have unsessfully tried to get recognized by the mayor''s family.]


    Kain rubbed his temples, his frustration mounting. Why did Cherry feel the need to meddle in such things? Their ordinary neighbours were one thing, the mayor, who is one of the strongest beast-tamers in the city, was another!


    [A certain tutor with the initials HC, and whosest name rhymes with ''Lost,'' came to the school yesterday and she was talking to the headmaster, and I swear she slipped him a thick envelope¡ªwas it money?]


    Kain assumed that this entry was about Heather. Her giving money to the top person at an elementary school raised his suspicions of her further.


    [There is someone new in town and he gives me a bad feeling. I had never seen him before, and I should at least recognize everyone that''s local. However, he probably isn''t just passing through since I''ve been asionally catching glimpses of him for weeks now. A glowing blue orb dropped from his pocket one time as we passed each other. It looks expensive! A new addition to add to my collection!]


    Kain turned to look at the spiritual orb on Cherry''s dresser that, based on the colour and spiritual power it was emitting, came from a blue-grade spiritual creature.


    Suddenly Heather was thrown from his mind. Someone with the strength and/or finances to obtain a blue-grade spiritual orb would not typically choose to settle down in Brightstar City. Although it was his home and he was fond of it, Kain had to acknowledge that it was a barren wastnd for beast-tamers above 3-stars, without any valuable resources.


    Probably the biggest advantage of Brightstar City is the trusting and weing nature of its citizens for one another, meaning that children aren''t easily skeptical of a strange adult wanting to talk to them¡­


    Whoever this unidentified man was, he had definitely moved toward the top of Kain''s list.

 Chapter 286 Breakthrough in the Case

    After reading through the rest of Cherry''s books, Kain and Serena met up with the rest of the members of the orphanage for dinner.


    What should have been a celebratory meal in a warm atmosphere due to it being his first time home in a while, instead was full of tension.


    Cherry was the loudest voice in the house, and so the chattering voice that was practically like a constant background hum that they''d all grown used to was now gone.


    Had she been there Kain was certain that he would have been undergoing interrogations about his first year in college, what the National Tournament was like, and probably also a lot of teasing due to bringing home a beautiful girl.


    Instead, the room filled with people had only a crushing silence.


    Serena wasn''t too picky about her living amodations and didn''t mind staying in Cherry and Jasmine''s room. Thankfully, Jasmine also didn''t mind her presence and, since she''d seen her strength at the National Tournament, she imed that she actually felt much safer with her around. In fact, the two youngest girls Sunny and Melody, also seemed to think the same way and somehow all four of them ended up crammed into a single room.


    Simrly, all of the boys had been squeezing into a single room with Bridge to feel safer, but now with Kain around they split into two rooms. Kain was rooming with the eldest Milo and the two youngest boys Parker and Charlie in the room that was originally shared by Milo and Jasmine''s twin Jasper.


    Meanwhile, Bridge, Jasper, and Key had taken over the room Kain shared with Bridge.


    He had heard from the director how difficult it had been to get everyone to sleep immediately after Cherry''s disappearance, so he was pleasantly by the deep breathing and snores he quickly heard. Although he hadn''t found Cherry yet, at least he''d managed to help in some way.


    However, Kain himself was suffering from insomnia. How could he sleep when his younger sister could be being tortured or even killed right now?


    So he instead spent the entire night absorbing spiritual power with the boost provided by the System''sarium. If he''s lucky he may even be able to break through to 4-stars within a couple of months.


    ''Maybe I can even pass Serena,''


    Kain thought with anticipation.


    That was until he woke up to find Serena eating breakfast in the morning with a suddenly increased spiritual power that she was unable to restrain. Bridge was sitting next to her in shock, meanwhile, all of the ordinary members of the orphanage seemed to suddenly find her presence to be pressuring due to the power she kept unconsciously emitting.


    ''Who the hellpletes a breakthrough to 4 stars within a single night?!''


    As the level increases, so does the time it usually takes to breakthrough to the next level. For Kain''s own breakthrough, he was prepared to have to suffer for at least a week. However, she had managed to sessfully breakthrough in only a few hours.


    Kain felt as though he had been hit in the head and even began to fall into an intense self-doubt.


    ''Have I been doing it wrong? No! Everyone takes around that long. The abnormal one is her!''


    However, the secret to her overnight breakthrough needed to be put aside for now. Finding Cherry was the most important thing.


    They had already worked out a n for the next few days on how they were going to gather more information about Cherry¡ªand it was going to start with this corrupt principal of the elementary school that seemed to have some kind of intersection with Heather.


    However, to avoid potentially startling the mastermind behind the scenes by going around and asking questions, they couldn''t exactly interrogate him directly¡ªbut they also didn''t need to.


    Thanks to Bea''s new evolutionary form, they had managed to sneakily infect him with one of Bea''s splits when he stopped by the local coffee shop on his way to work like he always did and that split has been continuously feeding back information to Bea¡ªfrom his memories, to rying his actions in real-time.


    As an ordinary person, the principal had no way of resisting the infiltration.


    While rifling through his memories, although they found many many


    problems


    with this principal. Most of them involved epting bribes, embezzlement and other forms of corruption. He was not directly involved in the kidnapping cases¡ªat least not knowingly.


    However, unable to continue just waiting for more clues to appear, he decided to be proactive and actively control the principal to fish out Heather.


    In his office, Principal Baker adjusted his tie nervously, his thoughts swirling with mundane concerns about budgets and minor disciplinary issues. But, as Bea exerted a subtle nudge, an impulse arose in his mind¡ªa perfectly logical desire to call Heather Frost, disguised as his own initiative.


    He picked up the phone and dialed.


    "Ms. Frost," Baker began, his tone overly amodating, "I''ve been reviewing some of the profiles you asked for. There''s one student I thought might interest you, her grades dipped recently and could definitely use the help of an excellent teacher like you. However, convincing her to ept your help may not be as smooth as previously¡­"


    "Oohhh¡­and why would that be?" Heather asked finally, her tone filled with barely restrained irritation.


    "It seems as though some idiotic student started an unpleasant andpletely untrue rumour about you. It seems as though you were spotted before several of the students disappeared, and you just so happened to tutor two of those students¡­But do not worry Miss Frost, we are in the process of hunting down the source of that horrid rumour!"


    Kain suppressed a smile. The story about a rumour waspletely fabricated¡ªa soft push from Bea to set the stage for the next stage of their n.


    "You damn well better! And when you do find out who is defaming me, make sure to tell me as well!" She screamed through the tone in a venomous voice. Thankfully, their rumour starter waspletely fictional, otherwise he''d be quite concerned about their safety.


    "Oh course! Of course¡­ So I hope you can understand why our exchanges cannot ur at the school during this period, and I was hoping that there was somewhere else off campus that we could meet." This was the true purpose of their call.


    Heather rarely left her home, not finding anything worthy of her attention in the small Brightstar City and due to the strength of her parents, she was probably in the most heavily guarded home in the city. Therefore it was hard for Kain and Serena to get to her. They needed to create a suitable opportunity to infect her with one of Bea''s splits.


    There was a long silence. Kain felt his pulse quicken, waiting for her response.


    "Alright¡­" She finally conceded with obvious reluctance. "I will send you a suitable location where we could meet."


    Shortly after, an email was sent to the Principal containing only an address and a time. At the designated time and location, the Principal went to meet her, with the profile of a fictional student¡ªthey couldn''t put a real student in danger after all.


    The location was a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with barely any customers, so Kain and Serena would have stood out if they were the only other individuals inside.


    Therefore, they sent Bea in alone while carried by the Principal and she finally found a suitable opportunity for infection.


    Heather was wearing several pieces of enchanted equipment, many of which were focused on warding off the invasion of mental attacks. However, the power they could exert was limited since she, as an ordinary person with minimal spiritual power, couldn''t channel any spiritual power into them.


    Therefore, Bea was eventually able to seed in her mission¡ª


    ''Bingo!


    '' Kain and Serena thought almost simultaneously while ncing at each other with slight smirks.

 Chapter 287 Seeds of Resentment

    Heather Frost grew up the apple of her parents'' eyes.


    Anything she wanted, she received. Anything she disliked was swiftly removed from her sight.


    Heather''s whims dictated the atmosphere of the Frost estate. Her parents, as rtives of the prestigious Storm family, had amassed their wealth by capitalizing on this blood rtionship. With the money they garnered through shrewd connections and implied prestige, theyvished Heather with gifts and attention as if she were a rare jewel.


    By the age of seven, Heather was ustomed to the adoration of her tutors, the endlesspliments of family friends, and the envy of other children. She had never once doubted her importance.


    But there was something more insidious beneath her privileged life: the unspoken lesson that she was superior simply because she was a Frost. And so, she felt an added pressure to prove that she was superior not only for herst name.


    When her parents announced they would visit their distant rtives, the Storm family, Heather was curious but indifferent. "Why should I care about them?" she had asked, her voice petnt.


    Her mother''s softugh rang out. "Oh, darling, the Storms are family. Not to mention that much of our current business relies on our rtionship with them. From what I''ve heard, the Storm family has a girl your age¡ªSerena Storm. She''s quite special, Heather. You''ll see."


    It was the first time she heard the name Serena Storm, and though she didn''t realize it then, it marked the beginning of a deep fissure in her carefully curated world.


    The Storm estate was nothing like the Frost manor.


    Where Heather''s home gleamed with polished marble, gilded edges, and opulent disys of wealth, the Storm estate exuded understated power and elegance. It wasn''t loud in its splendor, but the sheer scale of the estate and tasteful additions of rare and significant historical artifacts hinted at their superiority and prestige. For the first time in her life, Heather was forced to interact with someone whose background overshadowed her own.


    Heather, dressed in her finest pastel gown with ribbons in her hair, expected to be the center of attention upon their arrival. But as soon as they stepped into the grand hall, she was overshadowed.


    Serena Storm was the first person she noticed, as though a spotlight followed her around the room. The other girl stood near the adults, her long, silvery-white hair flowing like a cascade of moonlight over her shoulders. Her piercing blue eyes seemed to glow with an ethereal light, a fitting match for her aloof, yet captivating, demeanor.


    Serena''s beauty was striking, but it was her presence that truly set her apart. There was an air of quiet confidence in the way she stood, as if she didn''t need anyone''s approval yet naturally drew it anyway.


    Heather had never seen someone so beautiful¡ªSerena looked like one of the princesses in her storybooks brought to life.


    Heather was used topliments, but when the gathered Storm and Frost rtives turned to look at her, she felt the weight of their indifference.


    Her parents ushered her forward. "Go on, darling, introduce yourself to Serena," her mother whispered.


    Serena turned her bright blue eyes toward Heather and gave an impassive smile. "Hi, I''m Serena." Her voice was calm, polite, but carried a subtle distance, as if she were measuring Heather with her gaze.


    Heather hesitated before taking Serena''s hand. "Heather Frost," she replied.


    That was the beginning of their acquaintance, and at first, Heather found Serena pleasant. The Storm family seemed to adore her, but Serena wasn''t arrogant or dismissive. Her cool demeanor gradually softened as the two girls spent hours exploring the expansive grounds, chatting about their lives, and discoveringmon interests.


    For the first time, Heather enjoyed thepany of someone her age who didn''t seem to envy her.


    But the friendship quickly soured.


    "She''s a good influence on Heather," one of the adults remarked at dinner, loud enough for Heather to hear. "Serena''s strength and discipline might rub off on her."


    Anotherughed softly. "Not everyone can be a prodigy like Serena, but I''m sure Heather will find her way."


    The words, though offhand, nted seeds of resentment. Heather began noticing how Serena effortlessly charmed everyone around her, how the Storm family looked at her with pride and admiration. How no matter what Heather did, Serena always seemed to do better.


    Simple maniptions of her small amount of spiritual power were already an astounding feat for a child. However, Serena had been manipting her spiritual power and even boosting her senses since she was five. She was now learning simple spiritual skills that Heather couldn''t even fathom attempting.


    Even her parents, who had always doted on her, seemed to prefer Serena to her.


    Heather overheard her father speaking to her mother in hushed tones. "The Storms are incredible. Their daughter¡ªdid you see her control during the sparring demonstration? If only Heather had that kind of talent."


    Unable to confront any of the adults around her about their unintentionally hurtful words andparisons, Heather could only grit her teeth and clench her fists in silent resentment.


    Serena, oblivious to Heather''s growing discontent, continued treating her as her only friend of the same age. But everypliment Serena received, everyparison to her strength, intelligence, or looks, gnawed at Heather''s self-worth.


    As the years passed and their families crossed paths more often, Heather''s bitterness deepened. However, she became skilled at hiding her resentment, smiling sweetly at Serena while seething inside.


    Also with age, the pressure from her parents to be more like Serena began to increase. After all, in this world, more than a good business, a powerful beast-tamer in the family was invaluable. They ced much of their family''s hopes of elevating their status on their only daughter.


    "Why don''t you try sparring with Serena? It could be fun, and you could learn from her!" or "Serena says she''s been practicing a new spiritual skill¡ªmaybe you could ask her for tips on improving your control of spiritual power?"


    The idea of asking Serena for help was unbearable. Heather wanted to surpass her, not rely on her!


    What little friendliness Heather had for Serena turned into a deep, burning hatred. Her smiles grew sharper, herpliments more calcted, and her schemes began to take root.


    If Serena Storm was like a princess, Heather Frost was determined to be the one who pulled her down from her throne.

 Chapter 288 The Seed Sprouts

    By the time Serena Storm and Heather Frost reached high school, the rivalry¡ªone-sided as it was¡ªhad be the defining element of Heather''s life.


    They both attended the same elite high school within the Imperial Capital. For Heather, this was both a blessing and a curse. While the Frost name, or more like their rtion to the Storm family, held enough weight to ensure her ce among the school''s upper echelons, she could never escape Serena''s shadow.


    The spotlight on Serena was no less bright at school than it was at the Storm estate. If anything it was brighter. Teachers praised her intellect and her unparalleled control over spiritual power, while the students, although conscious of her talent, mostly praised her beauty.


    Rumors swirled endlessly about Serena, and one in particr made Heather''s blood boil: that one of the Lysander princes, might have a crush on Serena. Heather overheard the whispers in the hallways and the giggles of her ssmates. It wasn''t fair. Serena didn''t even seem interested in the attention, nor did she probably even know that the prince pursuing her existed. Why couldn''t it have been her?


    The pressure only mounted as their final year approached. The uing Awakening Ceremony loomed over them all. The biggest event of their lives that would set the trajectory of their futures. For Heather, the stakes couldn''t have been higher. Her parents made it clear: the Frost family''s continued prestige depended on her results.


    Meanwhile, Serena, who had always been exceptional, seemed entirely unbothered. Her calm face almost seemed to be taunting Heather, like she was sure that even without trying she would definitely be able to obtain an affinity that left Heather in the dust.


    She couldn''t take it anymore!


    That summer before their senior year of high school, Heather reached her breaking point.


    The Frosts'' neighbors, the Harringtons, were preparing for their son''s Awakening Ceremony. As part of this preparation, they had secretly procured a red-grade spiritual creature¡ªa cub of a high-level predator, at least gold-quality¡ªbrought in from beyond the city''s borders.


    When Heather learned of this she concocted a n so reckless it even frightened her¡ª She would get rid of Serena once and for all.


    Using Serena''s trust, Heather invited her for a "private walk" in the sprawling forest bordering the properties of several estates. However, it was a private forest in the center a prestigious gatedmunity, with no wild spiritual creatures in it¡ªand no danger. Therefore, it wasmon for members of themunity to go for rxing walks within the forest since it was a safer version of the wilderness outside of the city.


    Heather guided Serena to a secluded area under the pretense of showing her a hidden stream. Then, making an excuse about fetching something she "forgot," Heather ran off, leaving Serena alone.


    She had already convinced the Harrington''s son to secretly release the cub¡ªwith a bit of flirting, of course. And it just so happened that its favourite food, something irresistible to it, had been left near where Serena was. The creature''s senses would naturally drive it in that direction. And given its inherently vicious nature, it would definitely attack a strange girl that was seemingly standing in between it and its food.


    Heather returned to the Frost mansion, her heart pounding in anticipation. Guilt and fear flickered in the back of her mind, but she pushed them aside. All she could think about was the end of theparisons, the end of being second-best.


    This was her chance to finally step out of Serena''s shadow.


    Hours passed. No news came. Heather paced her room, her stomach twisting with nerves. Had it worked?


    Then, the report arrived¡ªbut it was nothing like she expected.


    Serena had survived. Not only that, but she had


    awakened independently


    .


    Heather''s jaw dropped as the details were exined. Alone in the forest, faced with the danger of the red-grade cub, Serena had instinctively awakened her affinity. This was an extraordinary feat in itself and would surely raise her value and reputation even more, but the shocks didn''t stop there.


    At the moment of her Awakening, Serena also activated her gift, as well¡ªmoreover it was the legendary gift that the founder of the Storm family had once wielded.


    And as if fate itself conspired to elevate Serena further, apparently at the time of her awakening, a suitable contract also just happened to be in the vicinity and immediately submitted to her, allowing her to defeat the red-grade cub without any injuries. Supposedly her first contract, while its identity wasn''t revealed, had an unimaginable potential.


    Heather felt her world crumble.


    The envy bubbling inside her erupted into a hurricane of rage. She smashed mirrors, threw vases, and tore apart her room in a hysterical frenzy. How? How had Serena turned what should have been her death sentence into yet another opportunity to get ahead of her?!


    Her tantrum was interrupted by the Frost family''s steward. "Miss Heather," he said, his voice grave, "the Storms have arrived and are demanding to see you."


    The investigation didn''t take long. The evidence of Heather''s involvement was damning. The Frost family was humiliated, and Heather''s parents¡ªalthough ashamed and furious¡ªstill did everything in their power to protect her.


    By giving up much of their family''s properties and interests, they managed to reduce her punishment to what was, by all rights, a p on the wrist: banishment to a third-tier city in the empire''s southern region.


    But for Heather, it felt like a death sentence.


    She screamed at her parents, begging them to reconsider. "You''re throwing me away!" she cried. "You''re ruining my life!"


    Her mother''s face was pale but resolute. "We''ve done everything we can to help you, Sweetheart. Be should be grateful this isn''t worse."


    Be grateful? Grateful?!


    Her hatred, once directed solely at Serena, now epassed everyone around her. As she boarded the carriage that would take her away from the Imperial Capital, Heather vowed that one day, she would return with immense strength.


    And when she did, she would make them all pay.

 Chapter 289 Greatness Demands Sacrifice

    However, things didn''t go quite ording to n.


    She sucked it up to attend a high school in the middle of nowhere surrounded by plebians.


    After all, she is still of a high bloodline and would definitely be able to awaken a powerful affinity and make aeback, but¡­


    "Where is it? Where the hell is it?!" Heather''s voice cracked as she screamed, herposure shattering.


    She ran through the darkened space of her consciousness, her spiritual senses searching desperately. The vast, empty void mocked her with its emptiness.


    Her heart pounded in her chest as panic set in. She tried to stretch out her senses to see if there was a pull again and again, her hands trembling as if she could physically grasp what wasn''t there.


    This wasn''t how it was supposed to go.


    Every instinct told her that the egg should be here, waiting for her, glowing with the promise of power and greatness. But the space remained empty.


    Heather fell to her knees, her hands wing at the ground. The darkness closed in around her, suffocating and cold. Her breath came in shallow gasps as reality began to sink in.


    She had failed.


    For the first time in her life, Heather Frost, the girl who had always been told she was destined for greatness, felt the sting of being utterly ordinary.


    When she was finally forced to exit the space formed from her unconscious, she stood in front of her peers, trembling and humiliated. The whispers behind her back were deafening.


    "She didn''t find an egg?"


    "How is that possible? She''s a legacy."


    She felt as though every hushed word was taunting her. Even the teacher that had approached tofort her, was merely rubbing in her face her current predicament.


    "Argh! I don''t believe this! I don''t believe this! That bitch! I don''t believe that bitch could awaken as she did and I can''t at this goddamned ceremony!"


    After her temper got her thrown out of the hall where the ceremony was taking ce, Heather was ovee by despair.


    "How could this happen?!" She was a legacy who came from a long line of beast-tamers. Statistically, the chances of her not awakening even the lowest level of affinity was miniscule.


    But this miniscule probability had still fallen on her¡­


    In the months following the disastrous Affinity Ceremony, Heather Frost''s life descended into monotony and bitterness. The ordinary high school felt like a prison.


    She was surrounded by ordinary people whose lives revolved around unremarkable goals. They had no aspirations for greatness, no understanding of what it meant to bear the burden of bringing a family to glory. Heather couldn''t decide if she hated them more for their mediocrity or their contentment.


    Her days blurred together, consumed by thoughts of what could have been.


    One evening, Heather sat at her vanity, staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror. Her fingers absently traced the edge of the polished wood as her mind churned with anger and self-pity. She leaned closer, inspecting her tired, pale face.


    "This is your life now?" she muttered bitterly. Her reflection scowled back, and for a moment, she could almost see the mocking expressions of her former peers in her mind. Former ssmates who had once been beneath her, but were now more powerful than her.


    Suddenly, the reflection in the mirror did something strange¡ªit stopped mirroring her.


    Heather froze. Her hands had stilled on the table, but the image of her in the mirror tilted its head, a sly, knowing smirk creeping across its lips.


    Heather''s heart pounded as a chill snaked down her spine. "What is this?!" she demanded.


    The reflection didn''t answer immediately. Instead, it leaned forward, its eyes gleaming with something unnatural. "I''m here to help you," it said finally, the words dripping with dark amusement.


    Heather''s breaths came in shallow gasps, but her fear was quickly eclipsed by curiosity. "Help me how?"


    The reflection chuckled. "You were meant for greatness, Heather Frost. You were destined to rise above themoners you''re surrounded by. But fate has been cruel to you, hasn''t it? Stripped you of your rightful ce, left you powerless and alone. I can change that. I can give you power, respect, revenge¡ªeverything you desire."


    Heather swallowed hard, her hands gripping the edge of the vanity. This mysterious figure was offering her everything she''d ever wanted, but she didn''t immediately give any indication that she would take up the offer.


    Heather was vain, self-centered, and arrogant, but she wasn''t stupid. She knew that who or whatever this was would want something from her in exchange.


    "What''s in it for you?"


    The reflection''s eyes gleamed with an unnatural light. "Our research is in need of the resources, influence and money you could provide."


    "Research?"


    "Awakening an affinity," the reflection replied smoothly. "The very thing you''ve been denied. The research requires both funding and test subjects. But with your help, we can refine the technique. And once we perfect it... your power will know no bounds."


    Heather frowned, doubt creeping into her mind. "Test subjects?"


    "Ordinary people," the reflection said dismissively. "Or more specifically the offspring of ordinary people. Those who have no real future, no greater purpose. They''ll be able to serve a more noble cause¡ªhelping someone like you reim what''s rightfully yours."


    The words struck a chord in Heather. She thought of the people in this low-ss city¡ªtheir dull lives, their limited aspirations. They didn''t understand greatness, didn''t strive for anything beyond their mundane existence. And she... she was meant for so much more.


    Seeing that she close to agreeing, the reflection made one final push.


    "Think about it, Heather. Do you want to stay here forever, trapped in mediocrity? Or will you seize this opportunity to rise above it all?"


    Heather''s mind filled with visions of Serena Storm¡ªher perfect face, the constantparisons, always being one-upped by her¡ªand the life that had been stolen from her.


    "I''ll do it," she whispered.


    Getting the response it wanted, the figure identical to her in the mirror stretched its mouth into a wide, cruel grin. "Excellent. Let''s begin."

 Chapter 290 The Rescue Operation Begins

    Once the mysterious man in the mirror hadid out his n, she began to act with an almost frightening efficiency.


    Bribing the principal had been surprisingly easy. The man was a greedy opportunist who didn''t ask questions as long as the money was good and the risks were low.


    Heather had spun a convincing story about wanting to help struggling students as a way to rehabilitate her tarnished reputation. The principal, eager to see a prominent name like Frost associated with the school in a positive light, handed over the files without much hesitation.


    The students she targeted were easy to identify¡ªaverage grades, unremarkable family backgrounds, parents who worked long hours and wouldn''t have the time or influence to dig too deeply if something went wrong.


    Heather would approach their families under the guise of being a caring tutor, offering her services at a rate far lower than anyone else of her supposed calibre would charge. The parents, reassured by the principal''s endorsement, readily agreed.


    Once Heather became a fixed feature of the child''s life, she would begin her reconnaissance. She''d note the child''s schedule, their habits, and, most importantly, the gaps in their parents'' attention.


    It was a cold, calcted process, but she justified it to herself as necessary. These children weren''t exceptional¡ªthey wouldn''t achieve greatness in their lifetimes. By helping with their cause research, they''d be contributing to something far more significant.


    When she had all the information she needed, Heather would discreetly pass on the information, including the most suitable times to "retrieve" the test subject, during their regrmunication intervals using the mirror.


    And not long after passing on the information the student would mysteriously go missing.


    Of course, being a tutor for all of the subjects that went missing would raise suspicions against her, so some of the students she tutored were not targets to be kidnapped. And some of the students she gged as targets using the information provided by the principal were not approached by her to be a tutor, but by a proxy paid by her.


    The only other chance to interact with the mysterious man was when she had to provide her "financial donations."


    For the financial transactions, Heather was forced to deal in cash. Large sums were involved, so cash was very inconvenient, but due to the sensitive nature of the man''s identity they also didn''t want to risk leaving a paper trail.


    Instead, she withdrew the money in chunks and stashed it in a space ring that is then brought to an abandoned house on the city''s outskirts at regr intervals¡ªand one of those dates just so happened to being up.


    Completely controlled by one of Bea''s splits, they used the next financial exchange opportunity to nt another split on Heather''s space ring.


    Although, when outside of the brain Bea''s concealment abilities were not as strong and the split could be detected by a vignt 6-star beast-tamer, after repeated tests they confirmed that the likelihood of the split being discovered was low.


    The space ring that they used for the exchange is of high quality and had many added measures to ensure that no unrted individuals could ess what was inside.


    An unintended consequence of that is that the space ring emits stronger fluctuations of spiritual power than the average space ring, and so the presence of the split attached to the inside of the ring band was much more difficult to detect.


    On the night of the scheduled exchange, the controlled Heather followed the routine she had performed many times before, not revealing any abnormality in case someone were to be watching.


    She arrived at the abandoned house under the cover of darkness, her footsteps soft against the cracked pavement. She approached the rusted mailbox, and familiarly slipped the space ring inside.


    She didn''t linger. Once the ring was in ce, she turned and left and continued about her day as usual.


    Not long after her departure, they sensed movement of the ring. However, since the split could sense that the spiritual power fluctuations of the person carrying the ring was at least 2 levels above itself, it did not make any moves to infect them.


    However, there was no need for that. As long as it remained concealed, Kain and Serena would eventually be able to get to where they needed.


    And true to what they thought, after nearly an hour of travel to another area of the city''s outskirts almost on theplete opposite end of the city, the movement of the ring stopped.


    Based on the limited information transmitted by the split, it was arge building¡ªa factory? school?¡ª that waspletely abandoned.


    Serena and Kain headed over there together with only the two of them.


    Bridge desperately also wanted toe, but Kain managed to prevent him from alsoing by stating that since they didn''t know if this man had any other partners, they would need someone to remain at the orphanage in order to be assured of the others'' safety while they were going to get Cherry.


    Finally convinced by the reason given Kain, Bridge agreed to remain at the orphanage¡ªmuch to Kain''s relief.


    Although Bridge was by no means weak, based on the information that they had, their opponent was likely at least a 6-star beast-tamer, and he didn''t want to also have to worry about his brother''s safety while fighting. Taking care of his own safety was challenging enough.


    Fortunately, during the time that they were obtaining information while staying at the orphanage, Serena somehow managed to make all of her contracts also advance to green-grade, so the gap between her and the opponent wasn''t so big.


    By this point Kain wasn''t even shocked at the overnight breakthroughs anymore, and given that these breakthroughs were advantageous to their rescue efforts, he was actually quite happy that his greatest rival suddenly had a huge boost in strength.


    "Based on what we know, at least 8 children have gone missing," Kain said while looking at the silent and dark building in the distance, "hopefully it''s not toote to get them all back¡­"

 Chapter 291 Clinging to Hope

    ''It''s cold''


    Cherry huddled in the corner of an empty, locked room, her knees drawn to her chest. The cold concrete floor sent a chill seeping into her bones.


    She shivered, not just from the cold but from the gnawing fear that had taken root in her heart.


    It had been two days now since she hadst seen Harvey who had previously been kept within the same cramped cell as her.


    But one morning, the door to their cell had creaked open, and a dark figure had taken Harvey away. Cherry had screamed and clung to him, but he had cruelly ripped Harvey from her grasp whileunching a hard kick at her stomach.


    Thankfully, their kidnapper had kept his strength measured and while the kick had been painful and given her a bad bruise, she had no internal injuries.


    After sending her sprawling to the floor in pain however she had not been able to say or do anything as her closest friend was dragged kicking and screaming from the cell.


    He had promised he''de back.


    He hadn''t.


    Now, she was alone.


    She hadn''t seen any of the other kidnapped children aside from Harvey since arriving, so she was unsure if there were any other children in the neighbouring cells. However, she couldn''t stop the sinking feeling that even if they were alive, they would likely be no longer be whole was beginning to press down on her.


    The silence in the building was suffocating, broken only by distant sounds that made Cherry''s skin crawl. There were screams sometimes¡ªraw and agonized, echoing through the empty building like ghosts wailing.


    And asionally there would be the disturbingly jovial whistles of their keeperpletely ipatible with the horror of the current environment.


    As the days ticked by, and she could feel the approach of the day in which she will be brought from the cell, she began to be consumed by a feeling of helplessness.


    When she closed her eyes, she tried to picture family at the orphanage, her friends at school, or even thest rays of sunlight she had seen. But those memories were growing faint, overshadowed by the oppressive darkness around her.


    Harvey''s face shed in her mind, his warm smile now reced by the haunting image of him being dragged away. She bit her lip, refusing to cry.


    The sound of approaching footsteps froze her in ce. Her heart thundered in her chest as she backed away from the door, her small frame pressing against the wall.


    A shadow passed under the crack of the door, lingering for a moment before moving on. Cherry let out a shaky breath, her knees threatening to buckle beneath her.


    Somewhere in the distance, a scream ripped through the air, cutting off abruptly. Cherry squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her hands over her ears. Once again trying to focus on findingfort in the faces of her family.


    In particr, she clung to the memory of her oldest brother who she''d witnessedpeting on a national level just a few days ago. He woulde for her. He had to.


    "Please, Kain," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the distant tortured screams that had started up again. "Please find me."


    After all, aside from her eldest brother, she really wasn''t confident in the local guards even looking for, much less finding, her.


    --------------------------


    Kain looked at Serena, "I know it''s difficult to fully trust one another but, considering the circumstances, I hope that you can trust me enough to rify what abilities you have at your disposal."


    Seeing that she remained silent, Kain continued, "As a show of good faith, I will go first."


    Kain then began to exin what abilities all of his contracts had at their disposal, he even went into detail about the abilities of the sigils on his enchanted equipment.


    "That''s everything¡­I do think that I awakened a gift, but I have no idea what it is yet, and so can''t exactly factor it into any ns we make."


    After a long moment of silence while making eye-contact with Kain. Serena finally opened her mouth¡­


    The exnations about the abilities of the two contracts that had already been revealed were pretty much along the lines of what he expected. The only new information was about some constetion abilities of her third contract that hadn''t been revealed in any of the prior matches with her.


    Her gift was also what Kain expected¡ªa near limitless amount of spiritual power. Even without the use of a relevant spiritual skill to funnel the spiritual power to her contracts, just brute force shoving the excess spiritual power through the contract is still able to fuel all of her contracts for many hours of intense battle, if not days.


    The only new information, and the information that Kain was the most interested in, was the identity and abilities of Serena''s unrevealed contract, which also happened to be her first contract.


    His curiosity about this contract only grew greater after looking at the memories that he received from Heather Frost through Bea''s split.


    How had it just happened to be around to form a contract with Serena when needed? From the Heather''s memories no spiritual creature was frequently around Serena or prepared for her by her family to contract immediately after awakening an affinity.


    Also, why is Serena so averse to exposing it? After all, fighting with one less contract all the time is like voluntarily going into battle with one of her hands tied behind her back.


    Finally, Kain was going to get some answers¡­


    In a sh of light, what appeared to be a bncing scale. However, based on its lifeforce and its movements and animated expressions on the face carved into its central pir which clearly indicates consciousness, Kain knew that it wasn''t a piece of enchanted equipment and was a spiritual creature.


    However, despite its physical appearance, theck of dark-attribute energy radiating off of it indicated that it was also not a cursed construct.


    Therefore, the remaining options on what it could be were limited. But based on the aura it emitted...


    "Is that what I think it is¡­?" Kain asked.


    Serena nodded, "Yes, an Emanascion."

 Chapter 292 The Emanascion

    Beliefs have power. In fact, a far off nation on the western continent supposedly uses beliefs, and the strengths of those beliefs, as their method of cultivation. Unfortunately, this was only briefly mentioned in one of his lectures, and so he was not sure about the details.


    Emanascions are unique spiritual creatures that are actually born from beliefs.


    Unlike cursed constructs that are also spontaneously born due to dark energy giving birth to a consciousness in an item, or the spontaneous birth of elemental spirits in locations with a high density of a certain element, such as the birth of a fire spirit in a volcano, emanascions often have more mystical and unpredictable abilities¡ªthey are also much more rare.


    When arge enough poption shares a singr, powerful belief, feeling, or yearning, their emotions coalesce, giving birth to a sentient being imbued with the characteristics and skills rted to the beliefs that gave birth to it.


    Although, no emanascion had been seen in centuries, one example that Kain had read about in books was from centuries ago when the ss differences between those with and without power led to massive amounts of ordinary people bing enved.


    The generations of oppression eventually gave birth to what is now referred to as the Emanascion of Liberty¡ª a radiant figure d in ethereal light that rallied enved poptions, breaking chains with a single nce and inspiring uprisings that changed the course of history.


    It is unknown if the strength of the Emanascion of Liberty, that appeared to be on par with the highest 9-star beast-tamers from the moment it appeared, was strength it had from birth or if it had kept itself hidden for years until it was strong enough. However, regardless of if emanascions are strong from birth, it is undeniable that they always have high potential.


    Unlike cursed constructs that vary greatly in power depending on the contaminated object they inhabit, Emanascions almost always begin their existence at diamond quality or higher, their potential unmatched among spiritual creatures. Even pure-blood dragon species rarely start at diamond-quality from birth without evolving.


    Another characteristic of emanascions is that, due to essentially being born from the beliefs of arge number of people, they appear to have an innate reluctance to forming contracts with humans. In fact, the only reported time that an emanascion had be a spiritual contract was for one of the empire''s 5 founders¡ªCalista Eyera.


    Serena''s contract evidently did not get released often, since it seemed to be ecstatic and curious about everything around it.


    "You have something so powerful at your disposal. Why have you never summoned it before?" Kain asked in confusion. Kain had to admit that the emanascion had a high enough potential for someone to want to kill her and steal it for themselves, while exhausting as many resources as needed to heal the damage to the creature''s soul from the broken contract.


    However, Serena is a member of the Storm family which means that very few people would be gutsy enough to attempt something like that.


    Moreover, another reason why contracts with emanascions are so rare is due to few people having a suitable affinity to bind one, so even if someone was driven blind by jealousy, they''d unlikely be able to form a contract with it themselves.


    Lastly, even if someone did kill Serena to break her contract with it, its unlikely that the emanascion would be willing to a form a contract afterward, and even the weakest emanascions have unpredictable evasion abiltiies that makes their capture difficult.


    "I c...an''t co...ntr...ol it..." Serena mumbled quietly.


    "Huh? What''d you say?"


    "I said that I can''t control it!" Serena finally blurted out in an uncharacteristic show of emotion.


    Now it was Kain''s turn to be stunned. Serena, who had always served as the target for all of her same-aged peers couldn''t control her own spiritual creature? Even most newbie beast-tamers could control their contract well enough for battle within a couple of weeks.


    After a big sigh, Serena borated, "Balins had followed me around from before we formed a contract, but always kept himself hidden unless we were alone¡ªeven the high-level beast-tamers living in the estate couldn''t sense him. Therefore, its not an issue of tacit understanding or not getting along, his skill is just too unpredictable."


    "Balins has the fate-attribute, and only one skill¡­equivalent exchange. I can make almost any wish so long as my spiritual power is enough to supply it¡ªbut given my gift, that is rarely an issue¡ª and so long as there is even a 0.0001% of it urring naturally by fate. Whatever improbable actions or events are needed for that wish toe true, Balins will make sure that it can happen."


    "However, the desired oue must always have an equivalent price, and while Balins often tries its best to make sure that the price does not negatively impact me¡­it''s impossible to fully control what the price I''d have to pay would be."


    "So how could I ever use Balins in apetition? If I make a simple wish for victory, it may result in irreparable harm to my opponent or even one of my friends or family members not evenpeting¡­"


    "I had already seen first-hand how devastating the consequences of one of my wishes could be¡­and I¡­" Serena choked up, unable to continue.


    "It''s my fault¡­" She whispered. "I am so sorry Kain, but Cherry being kidnapped may be partly my fault. And if she or any of those other children die, then I also have to carry that burden."


    Now Kain was confused. Unless Serena was helping with kidnapping the children in his hometown while far away in another region of the country, he failed to see how Cherry''s kidnapping had anything to do with her¡­


    Likely seeing the confusion on his face, she rified. "Heather released a wild spiritual creature to attack me before I had awakened my affinity, and during the attack I awakened an affinity independently and made a contract with Balins to defeat it," Kain knew all of this, having seen this story from Heather''s perspective using Bea.


    "However, the reason I was able to awaken my affinity at that exact moment was due to making a wish to Balins who was nearby at the time¡­and the price paid was that Heather lost any hope of ever awakening hers¡­"


    "It''s impossible to know the price to be paid until after the wish is granted, and if I could go back in time, I would likely make the same decision. Considering how she''d targeted me, I had even thought that the price falling on her worked out perfectly¡­But if a consequence of her not ever awakening an affinity is the lives of numerous innocent children¡­then I also bear some of that responsibility."

 Chapter 293 Equivalent Exchange

    After a moment of stunned silence, Kain opened his mouth. "So is it possible for you to just wish for Cherry to be released? Or for the powerful beast-tamer running this ce to die?"


    Even before Kain finished talking, Serena was already shaking her head, "I already said that I can''t know the equivalent price to be paid until after the wish is granted, and the most Balins can help me is ensuring that the price doesn''t fall on me directly¡ªmy friends and family are fair game."


    "If I make that wish, are you okay with another child, or even one of your other siblings, being kidnapped by someone else in exchange for Cherry? If I wish to kill that beast-tamer, are you okay with the director of your orphanage suddenly dying from a heart attack or freak ident in exchange?"


    Serena just listed a few examples, but they immediately shut his mouth. He got the point.


    Although the skill of her contract was fantastical and practically bnce-breaking, the potential consequences of it were also terrifying.


    "The exchanges are always equivalent, right? So I''m sure by now you''vee up with a general set of rules to somewhat predict what the price may be. After all, you used it to drastically reduce the breakthrough time for you and your contracts right? That must mean that you weighed the possible price to be paid and considered that it was worth it."


    Serena didn''t deny it, so Kain continued. "What if we just made smaller wishes? Like wishing for the strongest individual in the building to suddenly suffer from intense stomach cramps or have to leave the building due to an emergency? What would be the possible price for that?"


    Serena briefly went silent, thinking.


    "If we have the strongest individual here suddenly fall sick, there are many possibilities for a possible price it considers equal: we or someone close to us may also fall ill, or an important enchanted item may suddenly break or be lost."


    "However, making a wish for an emergency bad enough for him to leave, would mean that emergency would actually need to happen¡­and a simrly severe emergency may also befall one of us or someone close to us in the near future."


    "It''s best to make harmless wishes that don''t actually result in any of them actually being harmed¡­we could make a wish for information instead¡­ but it would likely result in some important knowledge being forgotten by us as well¡­" Serena finished.


    Kain''s jaw tightened as he mulled it over. "What about something else small, then? Like asking Balins to make sure the guards don''t notice us when we move through the hallways?"


    "That could work," she said cautiously. "The price for that might be less severe, something like one of us bing temporarily less perceptive or losing track of time at a critical moment. However, when going into a dangerous environment, being less perceptive may result in the death of one or both of us."


    "I think knowledge is the safest bet¡­ let''s start with something rtively small. The knowledge of Cherry''s exact location within the building? It would save us time from running around looking for her."


    Serena hesitantly nodded. Kain could tell by how reluctant she was to even make such a simple wish that she was very averse to making wishes and would probably not have summoned Balins if the situation were not so dire.


    Making eye-contact with her contract, Kain assumed she wasmunicating the wish to Balins.


    The next moment a very clear 3D blueprint of the building with all rooms shown and Cherry''s location appeared in his mind, avable to be essed whenever he wished.


    A glowing dot, which Kain assumed represented Cherry, was in one of the many rooms in the basement level of the building.


    "Magical¡­" Kain revelled at the information that spontaneously appeared in his mind, "What was the price? I don''t feel like I''m forgetting anything¡­?"


    "You wouldn''t know what you were forgetting anyways, I''ll ask." Serenamunicated with her contract and then answered Kain, "The price did fall on you, and you are going to have a very difficult time navigating the campus when we get back since it seems as though all that information was taken from your mind."


    Kain shrugged, not too worried. Although, now that she mentioned it, several of his memories navigating the campus appeared to be nk. However, having to re-learn his way around campus was a small price to pay for having a better chance of getting Cherry.


    Kain then looked at Serena wondering if they should make another wish, only to receive an eye-roll. "This is also why I don''t often reveal Balins. It''s hard to stop after just one wish, but just because the first price was something you could easily live with, doesn''t mean that the next will be."


    "You said that Balins is able to prevent the consequence from falling on you, can he at all direct it to someone specific."


    "No. I''ve tried it in the past. To direct the price to an enemy or someone I wouldn''t feel too guilty about harming, but it was never sessful in the past¡ª"


    Jingle jingle


    Suddenly the chains attached to its scales jingled as it shook them around trying to get Serena''s attention, causing her to pause in the middle of speaking.


    "It says if it has a target fully willing to bear the price, then it would increase the probability of it falling on them. Likely, subconsciously, you had no resistance to bearing the price for the previous wish, which is why it fell on you¡­but I''ve never had a target fully willing to bear the price before, so I''m not sure exactly how much an ''increase in probability'' means."


    Kain nodded, that had been precisely what he was hinting toward. If the price couldn''t be directed to any enemy of theirs, he had hoped that it could be directed to just him instead, sparing the members of the orphanage from potentially ending up as coteral damage from the wish.


    "I am willing. Let''s make some more wishes¡­"

 Chapter 294 "The Doctor"

    While Cherry was inside of her cold and damp cell alone, the almost constant background noise of screams suddenly stopped.


    ''They''re done early¡­


    '' Usually, the screams wouldst much longer, but from when they began this morning until now, not much time had passed.


    Suddenly she heard the steady rhythm of approaching steps that echoed throughout the corridor, and for the first time, they stopped in front of her room.


    The sound of a chaintch being removed and the door unlocked, echoed ominously in the room, and was still extremely clear over her heavy breathing.


    The cell door creaked open, flooding Cherry''s dim, damp prison with the harsh light of the corridor outside. She instinctively shielded her eyes with a trembling hand, the sudden brightness searing after days ofplete darkness. A cold gust swept in, carrying with it the sharp, metallic scent of blood and harsh chemicals.


    Two figures stepped inside. One was a towering man with a cold expression, his presence alone filling the room with dread. He was the same man that Cherry had been wary of after seeing him around towntely.


    Beside him, a pale man in a pristine white coat exuded an unsettling calmness. his sses reflected the dim light, obscuring his eyes, but the corners of her mouth curved into a slight, predatory smile.


    Cherry scrambled backward, her small, shivering body pressing into the hard stone wall. The man in ck reached down without a word, grabbing her wrist with a grip so tight it felt like her bones might snap.


    "Please¡­ no¡­" Cherry whimpered, tears spilling from her eyes as she tried to resist. Her legs kicked out, but her movements were no match for the man in ck''s strength. He hoisted her up like a rag doll, the restraints tied to wrists and ankles biting into her skin as she struggled.


    However, Cherry''s pleas were ignored as the man dragged her out into the corridor and then up a set of stairs to aboratory.


    Theboratory was starkly different from the dark, grimy cells. As they entered, Cherry''s senses were assaulted by the sterile brightness of the space. White walls gleamed under the harsh re of fluorescent lights, every surface clinically clean yet carrying a lingering chemical smell that stung her nose.


    Inrge containers filled with a mysterious liquid, were 6 children floated¡ªthe local missing children, including Harvey. However, from what she remembered there were 8 children missing, meaning that one was unounted for¡­and possibly already dead.


    At the center of the room was a long examination table, its surface cold and metallic, equipped with heavy restraints.


    Above it hung a morbid chandelier made up of machinery, needles, tubes, and sensors all within the researcher''s easy reach.


    Cherry''s breathing became frantic as the guards dragged her toward the table. Her small cries turned into screams as she kicked and twisted, trying desperately to break free. The sound echoed off the sterile walls but did nothing to deter the emotionless figures in ck carrying her.


    The man mmed her onto the table, and the cold metal sent a shock through her body. She struggled as he fastened new restraints, but the difference in strength was too great and she was strapped down to the examination table against her will no matter how much she fought.


    "Good," the man in the white coat said. "Let''s proceed immediately."


    The machinery above whirred to life, its needles descending slowly, casting long shadows over her pale, terrified face.


    Ring ring ring


    Cherry cried out in pain, as the machine made the first cut into her body.


    Ring ring ring


    "


    Sigh


    . Would you shut up that phone?!" The irritated man in white said while turning off the machine. With the machine no longer on, the loud ringing of the phone became even clearer in the quiet space.


    "My apologies, I will just be a moment¡­" The man stepped to the side to answer the phone call, and for a moment, the only sound aside from the heavy breathing and asional whimpersing from Cherry were the intermittent one-word responses of the guard in ck to whoever he was on the phone with.


    "


    Sigh


    ¡­my apologies Doctor. It''s so hard to get good help these days. It looks like the site in the neighbouring Morningstar City has an emergency that they need me to personally tend to."


    The man in white, the "Doctor," just dismissively waved his hand in annoyance. "Go! I still have some hands to help me manage things around here. Go and help that ipetent Dr. Burrows!"


    The man in ck nodded in relief before leaving the room.


    "He''s a shame to our teacher. God knows why he was so often pampered by teacher when he''s so ipetent¡­" The Doctor grumbled while moving to the side of the examination table next to Cherry to restart the machine.


    In Cherry''s horrified eyes, the machine whirred to life again and restarted its operation on her.


    "


    Ahhhhh


    !"


    --------------------


    "I don''t feel good about this¡­ how much longer do we need to wait for the wish to go into action," Kain said anxiously.


    About half an hour ago, the light representing Cherry''s location began to move to another room, and ever since a feeling of pure fear and panic began to overwhelm him. He just knew that something was wrong with Cherry, and he couldn''t stand just waiting here instead of rushing to her side!


    "Be patient Kain. I know you''re afraid, but we can''t risk barging in too early and then not being able to rescue them. Or worse, them killing all of the kids to conceal their operation before leaving."


    Thankfully, it was only another 5 minutes before they saw a figure in ck rush out of the building. Serena grabbed Kain''s shoulder as he attempted to immediately rush over to the building, "Wait a little longer to be sure that the coast is clear¡­"


    Kain, bit his lip in reluctance, but he had to acknowledge that waiting until he was further away was the safest course of action. After all, their wish is kind of wasted if an rm or signal is sent to him immediately after they enter and they aren''t given enough time to rescue Cherry and the other kids.


    "By the way, Balins said that the price to be paid isn''t clear yet, the time for it to ur is still a bit further into the future. Once it is closer to the time that the ident resulting from the price is closer, it will have a more precise idea and I will be able to warn you."


    Kain nodded absentmindedly, not really caring about the price that he figured would probably fall on him. He was more foused on the current state of Cherry. It took all of Kain''s self-control to remain where he was until they received confirmation from Balins that their wish for him to momentarily leave the city had been fully granted, meaning that even if an rm is set off from their invasion it will take him a while to return.


    ''Cherry, hold on! I''ming¡­''

 Chapter 295 Lights Out, Game On

    Pain


    ¡­


    There were no other thoughts in Cherry''s head except for the intense pain that filled her entire body.


    However, whereas previously the pain had been external due to the knives and needles digging into her skin, now it wasing from within her. She could sense that something had been ced within her and was now subtly controlling the flow of the very limited amount of spiritual power within her body.


    The sterile hum of theboratory lights faltered for a split second, followed by a faint


    pop


    before all of the lights within theboratory went out. The constant humming of the various equipment also stopped, indicating that it was a facility wide power outage.


    However, it wasn''t as simple as the electricity simply being turned off¡­


    Wish 3:


    To prevent the activation of any electronic devices within the vicinity of the building.


    Price: Currently unknown.


    The reason the wish was phrased this way was to prevent a back-up generator from kicking in, thereby rendering the wish useless. Additionally, it would also prevent the activation of any electronic rm systems or phones that could be used to request help.


    Kain and Serena discretely made their way into the building, taking one of the hidden side entrances that led to what appeared to be a discrete corner of the building¡ªat least based on the 3D blueprint of the facility in their minds.


    When they entered, they were pleased to see that there weren''t any guards and if there was an rm at the door, it was currently inactive.


    Kain summoned all of his Vespirae guards and sent them to hunt down the guards. There were 5, and the strongest should only be 5-star beast-tamers. Moreover, all of them should be located at various washrooms, making them much easier to find¡­


    Wish 4: Severe diarrhea for all of the guards present.


    Price: Severe illness befalling an ally.


    Surprisingly the price for this wish did not fall on Kain himself, after all Balins couldn''t guarantee that it would fall on him every time.


    ''Sorry Bridge¡­


    '' Kain thought, trying not to imagine the current poor state that his brother was likely currently in.


    ''Maybe when I get back I can pay to renovate the orphanage''s washroom''


    Kain decided after passing by one of the washrooms on the way to theboratory.


    The washroom presented a grotesque scene. A sharp, gag-inducing stench dominated the air, so thick it seemed to stick to the walls. The sour, acrid smell of bile mixed with the overpowering reek of excrement created a miasma that could turn even the strongest stomach.


    Pools of watery feces were spread in uneven, nauseating sshes across the tiles, some smeared by desperate handprints as though the guard had tried and failed to regain bnce. The toilet itself was a disaster zone: the seat and surrounding wall were streaked with brown, the result of a catastrophic loss of control.


    And there, lying in the middle of the washroom floor, was the unfortunate guard. He was slumped unconscious, his pants bunched around his ankles made a humiliating picture.


    His face was pale and glistening with sweat, his body twisted awkwardly as though he had copsed mid-struggle. There was arge and bloody injury at the back of his head, and the Vespid standing above him had obviously knocked him out while he was vulnerable dealing with his¡­unfortunate situation.


    However, despite the horror of the scene, the guard was still alive, as should the other four guards since he''d need them for information.


    Kain, standing just outside the doorway, pinched his nose and grimaced. "This... is worse than I expected." The stench seemed to w its way into his lungs despite his best efforts. He nced at the Vespid, which clicked its mandibles smugly, as if proud of its efficient work.


    He nted one of Bea''s splits on the guard, and since he was unconscious and unable to put up much of a fight, Kain quickly got the information he wanted and began walking to theboratory while avoiding triggering any of the traps set up that weren''t reliant on electricity.


    As Kain approached theb, the atmosphere grew heavier¡ªas did the metallic scent of blood barely covered by the smell of harsh chemicals.


    The silence within the powerless facility was oppressive, broken only by the faint echoes of dripping water and the asional creak of the old infrastructure settling. He motioned for Serena to follow close behind, her steps careful and precise as they navigated the dim, shadowy corridors.


    Theboratory door was ajar, and the horrifying scene was just barely illuminated by some glowing stones embedded into the walls and various mechanical devices. Clearly not everything in theb was powered by electricity, much of them must have been reliant on spiritual power.


    After quickly taking in the scene of the room, Kain ran forward.


    "Cherry!"


    In the center of theb, strapped to an ominous-looking metal table,y Cherry. Her small frame trembled, her skin slick with sweat and her own blood.


    Kain didn''t notice it in his distress, but Serena who was taking in everything in the room for hidden threats did¡ªthere was faint, unnatural movement beneath her skin. It was unnerving, as though something foreign and alive had been ced inside her. Her breathing was shallow and she seemed to have lost consciousness form the pain.


    Kain quickly got to work unstrapping her and just handed her over to one of the Vespid guards to carry when a slow, deliberate p echoed through the room.


    p. p. p.


    The sound cut through the tense air like a knife, freezing Serena and Kain in ce. Both spun around toward the source, instincts on high alert.


    Standing in the doorway was a tall, gaunt man, hisb coat pristine despite the bloody experiment he had just inflicted upon Cherry.


    A cruel smirk twisted his thin lips as his predatory gaze flicked between the intruders and the pale, bleeding girl on the table.


    "Well, well, well," he drawled, his voice dripping with mockery. "It seems we''ve developed a bit of a pest problem¡­"

 Chapter 296 Chapter 296 Battle With Abominations

    The air thickened with the oppressive aura of spiritual power as the Doctor mobilized his, which was stronger than both Kain''s and Serena''s as a 5-star beast-tamer, to summon his contracts.


    Although, he was only a 5-star beast-tamer, his strength may exceed weaker 6-star beast-tamers with not many blue-grade spiritual creatures, since 4 of his 5 contracts were all blue-grade.


    The green-grade spiritual creature was a snake-like creature but instead of scales, it had a dark-red chitinous exoskeleton and mandibles. It looked kind of like a centipede, but without any legs. Its tail ended in a scorpion-like stinger that was more orange in colour, and didn''t appear to blend in naturally with the rest of the exoskeleton¡­almost as if it were artificially added.


    Of the blue-grade contracts, one was a massive beetle with a reinforced shell and mechanical enhancements that appeared to be fused with its being, rather than just being worn like normal enchanted equipment.


    The third contract looked to be a spider-scorpion hybrid also fitted with mechanical limbs.


    The fourth contract was shaped like a locust, with mechanical attachments fused with its legs and the addition of sword-like forelimbs that resembled those of a praying mantis.


    The final contract looked like a fusion between a giant horsefly and a mosquito, and it immediately filled the vicinity with the stench of rotting corpses upon its appearance.


    Kain''s eyes flickered across the Doctor''s summoned abominations, his mind quickly assessing the threats.


    The grotesque contracts stood as twisted amalgamations of an unnatural fusion between life and machine.


    "Five contracts," Serena muttered beside him, "Four blue-grades. This won''t be easy." So she said, but she didn''t appear to have the slightest bit of tension as she summoned her Elemental Guardian, Starweaver, and even the rarely summoned Emanascion Balin. Experience more content on empire


    Kain nodded, summoning Aegis with a sh of light. The rock golem''s massive frame blocked the containers holding the unconscious children, its arms spread protectively. "Aegis, don''t let anything through to those containers."


    Kain also assigned 12 of his Vespid guards¡ªthankfully after advancing to yellow-grade he now had 24 at his disposal¡ªto guard Cherry and the containers holding the children.


    He didn''t order the guards to take them out of the containers they were suspended in just yet though, since he wasn''t sure what procedures were done to them and if the liquid was needed by them to survive.


    The green-grade snake-like creature slithered forward, its segmented body gleaming under the dim light. Itshed out with its scorpion-like stinger, aiming directly at Kain. Kain immediately felt the difference between matches and real-world battles. In the real-world, it made the most sense to directly target the beast-tamer.


    However, Kain wasn''t weak and helpless. Parrying the attack with his spear, he took the opportunity to also have one of Bea''s splits infect it.


    Although due to the level difference, and some modifications done to it that seemed to make it more resistant to invasion, Bea was eventually able to cause its movements to be slower and more jerky.


    The swarm of remaining Vespids not assigned to guard the containers descended on the creature, their sharp stingers glinting.


    The opponent writhed, its mandibles snapping at the attackers while its stinger flicked back and forth. Though the Vespids had the advantage of numbers, the creature''s hardened exoskeleton made it difficult to inflict serious damage.


    Since it was difficult to inflict serious damage externally, Kain chose to activate his go-to spiritual skill to boost Bea''s abilities and attack the enemy from within.


    Although it was difficult to control its movements and make it attack the enemy¡ªafter all, most spiritual creatures have an instinctive, soul-deep aversion to harming or betraying their beast-tamer.


    However, Bea was able to get the leg-less centipede to lie down prone and not resist as Kain and the Vespids gradually wore down its tough exoskeleton.


    Meanwhile, the locust-mantis hybrid let out an ear-piercing shriek as its wings buzzed furiously, sending gusts of wind through theb and thenunched itself at Serena, its sword-like forelimbs cutting through the air with deadly precision.


    At some point, thin twin swords appeared in her hands, which she used to directly defend against its attack.


    Her twin des met the creature''s in a sh of sparks. The force of the blow sent her skidding back, but she regained her footing quickly, her eyes narrowed with focus.


    At the same time, the beetle lumbered forward, its mechanical enhancements whirring as it released a foul-smelling gas into the air. The gas spread quickly, forcing Kain and his contracts to back away.


    It seemed to want to attack the containers directly, which Kain had feared. Whether it was to destroy any evidence of them being here or to distract Kain and Serena, or both, Kain had to admit that their need to keep the containers safe definitely restricted their actions.


    However, he chose to trust that Aegis, like his name, would serve as the strongest shield for those kids.


    And true to Kain''s faith, Aegis prevented the approach of the beetle while forming solid shields in front of all of the containers.


    The Vespids also tasked with protecting the children remained behind the walls erected by Aegis whileunching their stingers at the beetle. Simr to the other contracts of the Doctor, its exoskeleton was tougher than the average spiritual creature at the same level, and so not much damage was dealt. However, the beetle also didn''t seem to be having much luck with breaching the Aegis'' walls.


    Kain didn''t think he needed to worry about that side for now, and turned his attention to the other opponents.


    The spider-scorpion hybrid clicked its mechanical limbs as it fired acidic silk projectiles toward Kain''s Vespids. The corrosive strands caught several of them, dissolving their exoskeletons with horrifying efficiency.


    As horrifying at the corrosive properties of its silk were, the boost in speed provided to it by the mechanical attachments to its limbs was equally as horrifying.


    Kain finally understood why the Doctor seemed to prefer making these cyborg-like abominations, rather than just outfitting his spiritual creatures with enchanted equipment¡ªKain had never heard of a boost to speed so great being given using enchanted equipment.

 Chapter 297 Chapter 297 Battle With Abominations (2)

    Kain''s mind raced as he assessed the battlefield as the battle raged on.


    The green-grade spiritual creature of the opponenty dead after being bombarded continuously for several minutes by stingers, a small victory amidst the chaos.


    But the four remaining blue-grade contracts, with their enhanced bodies and mechanical augmentations, were much harder to eliminate.


    The beetle was currently deadlocked with Aegis, who was proving surprisingly difficult to deal with despite the level difference between them. Although Kain''s contracts were also unable to harm the beetle, while focusing all of its energy on defence, Aegis seemed to be able to hold out for a little longer. However, the drain from warding off an enemy 2 levels higher was great and Kain already had to use one of the instant refills provided by his equipment to also provide a boost to Aegis after Bea. Once the enhancement provided by the spiritual skill wore off, then it''d only be a matter of time before Aegis'' defences were breached.


    They needed to quickly eliminate the other opponents.


    However, considering that all of the opponents had extremely tough defences, Kain chose to learn from the opponent and instead target the opposing beast-tamer.


    ng


    One of the Vespids'' stingers struck the arm of the dodging figure in white, but instead of a cry of pain or the ssh of blood, instead it sounded as though the stinger thatnded struck a metal te.


    Kain looked closer to see that the covering resembling skin had peeled off where he was hit, revealing that his arm waspletely made of metal¡ªclearly the Doctor didn''t spare even himself from undergoing experimental modifications.


    ''Looks like we''ll have to target him from the inside'' Kain thought before, before directing Bea to encircle the opponent with threads to ensure that he was infected by a split. However, upon infection it became clear that he''d also likely undergone some kind of modification to make himself resistant to mental invasions. It''ll be difficult for Bea''s splits to influence him in any great capacity.


    While Kain focused on the surprisingly tough beast-tamer, Serena dealt with the other 3 blue-grade spiritual creatures.


    The Elemental Guardian shifted into its fire-attribute form resembling a zing phoenix. It screeched as it dove at the Mantis-Locust hybrid, mes licking at its mechanical legs. Serena followed closely behind, her twin swords now glowing to activate the sigils embedded within them.


    The locust hissed, its wings buzzing furiously as it tried to gain altitude to escape the mes. Serena anticipated its movement, leaping into the air with an agility that belied her human frame. Her des met its sword-like forelimbs mid-air, sending sparks and embers flying.


    However, after the activation of the sigils on her swords, they seemed to have increased greatly in sharpness, leading to the metal scythe-like arms of the hybrid to crack.


    Kain saw a shocked expression on the face of the beast-tamer he was focused on. The Doctor knew better than anyone just how hard those mantis des were to damage. They were modified by him using a special allow blend of different metals and were extremely difficult to damage for even the strongest blue-grade spiritual creatures. It should require at least a high-level spiritual creature at indigo-grade or higher to begin to see damage, and yet a mere 4-star beast tamer managed to create cracks in it?!


    Meanwhile, the modified spider-scorpion hybrid that was spitting corrosive silk was being preupied by the Vespids working hard to distract it¡ªalthough by their point there were already several casualties and Kain only had 8 guards left in addition to the 12 guarding the children. Therefore, he was forced to summon 6 more away from the containers to help him distract the spider. They weren''t being too much help to Aegis anyway.


    They also weren''t able to cause too much damage to the spider, but their main role was to distract it, while the real heavy-hitter was the Starweaver.


    The familiar constetion resembling a bow lit up on its wings as a streak of lightnded hard on the spider-hybrid''s abdomen.


    For the first time since they started fighting, a heavy blow wasnded on one of the opponent''s blue-grade spiritual creatures. Unfortunately, it also seemed to have extremely powerful regenerative abilities, and the deep win that was leaking a thick green liquid quickly closed.


    Realizing that the flesh regenerated quickly, the Starweaver chose to target one of the mechanical joints in its next strike¡ªit''d also serve to slow the speedy spider down. Although with its great speed, evennding a strike on one of its mechanical legs proved challenging.


    Suddenly an inconspicuous ringlet on the Starweaver''s header began to glow as its sigils were activated, a glowing ring then appeared around one of the Starweaver''s eyes and a red ring also appeared on one of the legs of the spider at a key joint like a bullseye.


    The next strike didn''t miss.


    The arrow streaked through the air and struck perfectly on the red bullseye, severing one of its mechanical limbs in a shower of sparks and acidic fluid.


    "Good shot!" Kain called, briefly ncing toward her.


    "Focus on the beast-tamer!" Serena snapped back, not unkindly.


    After coughing embarrassedly at being caught getting distracted in the middle of battle, he used his remaining instant refill for spiritual power provided by his equipment to provide another boost to Bea since the previous one had long worn off.


    It was still difficult to control himpletely, but Bea was able to slow him down quite a bit and his movements became much less smooth, allowing for more of the attacks from Kain and his contracts tond.


    The final opponent¡ªthe fly-mosquito hybrid¡ªwas being targeted by Serena''s Emanascion, and this was the first time Kain was getting to see it use its skills for battle.


    Balins'' ability wasn''t a direct attack. A faint, translucent barrier formed around the area, cutting off the creature''s path of retreat.


    Discover hidden tales at empire


    Kain noted that Balins also was entrapped within the field, likely a method it developed to more predictably offset the price of its equivalent exchange skill by choosing to make wishes that would also impact itself as well as the opponent.

 Chapter 298 Chapter 298 Battle With Abominations (3)

    The fly-mosquito hybrid buzzed violently within the translucent barrier, its gray wings struggling to lift its grotesque, bulbous body.


    Its multifaceted eyes glowed with a sickly green light, oozing malice as itunched venomous darts at Balins'' barrier but the barrier formed by an equivalent exchange wasn''t so easily broken, creating a sealed arena where predator and prey would sh.


    "Kain! On the count of 3, I want you to have all of your Vespids target that fly! 1¡­2¡­3!" Serena called out.


    Kain didn''t question how the stingers of his guards were expected to strike the fly through the shield erected by her own contract. Nor did he mention how it was unlikely for the stingers to prate its artificially reinforced body. He figured that she had a n for both issues and chose to trust her.


    As soon as Serena finished counting, stingers from over a dozen Vespids headed towards the fly beyond the translucent barrier.


    However, just before the stingers were about to be blocked, the barrier surrounding the fly and Balins was removed.


    Moreover, the fly hybrid''s exoskeleton shimmered and began to soften, taking on a waxy texture that was far less resistant to damage.


    Clearly, Balins had made another equivalent exchange for this oue.


    But the wish had a price.


    A simr shimmer ran across Aegis, Kain''s contract locked inbat with the beetle. The metallic lustre of its stone exterior dulled, and Kain''s heart sank as he realized what had been sacrificed.


    "Damn it," he muttered, clenching his fists. "We don''t have much time before Aegis and those kids are in serious trouble!"


    Thankfully, they were on their way to eliminating another powerful enemy. The numerous stingers struck the now weakened hybrid.


    Although with its great speed it managed to dodge nearly half of them, each of the ones that did hit caused immense damage to its weakened form.


    Not resigned to its demise, the mosquito began to swell and increase drastically in size. Kain had an ominous premonition and began to prepare to activate any and all defensive equipment that he had.


    However, whatever n was about to be enacted was once again thwarted by the surreal abilities of the Emanascion.


    The fly hybrid that appeared as though it had just taken a stimnt and was about to usher in a grand reversal, suddenly had its stinger droop and its size visibly deted. The buzzing of its wings weakened further, and its strikes became feeble, as though drained of all power.


    However, the cost of this wish sent a chill down Kain''s spine.


    Bea, who had been instrumental in subduing the Doctor, suddenly faltered. Her split drastically decreased in effectiveness and no longer restricted the movements of the opponent.


    When Bea''s control over the Doctor weakened. He took advantage of thepse, wrenching himself free of her mental control and retreating toward the battlefield''s edge. Moreover, he pulled out another piece of equipment from a space ring that appeared to boost his defence¡ªboth physical and mental¡ªeven more.


    However, although the price for Balins''test wish was steep, it was worth it.


    The Rotfly twitched once, theny still, its toxic aura fading into the air.


    Across the field, both Kain and Serena were actively engaged in their own battles, but most of them wereing to a close.


    But likely, sensing that their side was at a disadvantage, the poisonous spider-scorpion hybrid et out a high-pitched screech. Its body convulsed, glowing with an eerie green light.


    "Serena!" Kain shouted. "It''s going to¡ª"


    The hybrid exploded in a violent burst, spraying corrosive acid in every direction.


    The acid rained down like a deadly storm. The remaining Vespid guards screeched as the acid melted through their exoskeletons, leaving only six survivors.


    The Starweaver, too slow to escape, was struck directly. The "stars"posing its body dimmed as it let out a mournful cry.


    Kain watched in horror as a glob of acid hurtled toward him, barreling through a 3-star defensive artifact he had previously bought like it was paper. He raised his arm instinctively, but before the acid could hit, Serena was at his side, pulling a small, intricately-carved amulet from her belt.


    The artifact glowed as she activated it, a shimmering shield forming around them both. The acid sttered against the barrier, sizzling harmlessly.


    When the acid storm subsided, the shield flickered and shattered, the amulet reduced to ash in Serena''s hand. Clearly, it was a powerful defensive item, but only for one-time use.


    Surprisingly, with three of his contracts now dead, the Doctor seemed surprisingly unfazed, not letting out the typical screams due to the soul-deep pain of a connection to a spiritual contract breaking.


    Crash


    At that moment, one of the walls erected by the weakened Aegis crumbled and Kain realized that since the price for one of Balins'' exchanges had fallen onto him, he was probably no longer able to hold on and the kids were in danger.


    "Serena, we need to bring the beetle down now!" Kain shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos.


    Serena turned her attention to the hulking beetle towering over Aegis. Its reinforced shell gleamed like polished steel. It was locked in a physical confrontation with Aegis as it pinned him against with itsrge mandibles while Aegis pummelled its now extremely close face with his fists.


    The sigils on Serena''s twin swords red to life once more, their glow casting an eerie light across the battlefield.


    Her des were a blur of steel, each strike aimed for the joints in the beetle''s thick carapace, exploiting the few vulnerabilities in its otherwise imprable armor.


    The beetle roared, rearing back as Serena''s de found a weak point in one of its legs. But its retaliation was swift. Itshed out with its spiked forelimbs, forcing Serena to dart backward in a hurry.


    However, before it could continue to attack her, it was blocked by a shield of starlight created by the Starweaver.


    Kain''s focus shifted to the mantis-locust hybrid. It had turned its sights on the remaining Vespid guards, tearing through them with terrifying efficiency.


    Even for the extraordinarily fast Vespids, the mantis-locust hybrid with its reinforced limbs was able to catch up to them within moments.


    Kain could sense the spiritual power around Balins activating, and then shortly after the mantis-locust hybrid staggered, its previously blinding speed reduced to a sluggish crawl.


    But the cost was immediate and brutal. Aegis, already weakened, let out a strained hiss as his movements slowed down as well. The creation of new walls to protect the containers also slowed down drastically, leaving a couple of containers defenceless.


    Thankfully, the second strongest defensive contract, the Starweaver, was now also on that side but it wasn''t able to defendpletely against the beetle''s attack and one of the insect''s sharp forelimbs managed to make contact with the container holding Harvey.


    Crash!

 Chapter 299 Chapter 299 The End of the Doctor

    The sound of shattering ss rang out like a thunderp across the battlefield.


    Kain''s heart stopped as the protective container holding Harvey splintered under the beetle''s assault. Sharp shards of enchanted ss scattered in every direction, glittering in the dim light. For a moment, it felt as though time itself had frozen. Then, a frightened wail broke the silence.


    "Harvey!" Cherry, who seemed to have woken up at some point during the battle shouted, her voice raw with panic.


    The beetle''s mandibles clicked, its attention shifting toward the now-exposed child. Its monstrous body surged forward, intent on finishing the job.


    "No, you don''t!" Serena growled, her swords lighting up once more with sigils. She sprinted forward, cing herself between the beetle and Harvey. With a roar of effort, she drove both swords downward into the beetle''s jointed forelimbs. The creature shrieked, the harsh screech of metal being shredded reverberated around theboratory as a thick green liquid spurted from the wounds.


    But the beetle was far from done. It reared back, its spiked legs scraping against Serena''s swords, creating showers of sparks. It swung the massive horn on its head downward in an arc, aiming to stab straight through her.


    Before she could fully retreat, the Starweaver appeared again, weaving a protective wall of light between Serena and the descending horn. The blow struck the barrier, but the force sent both Serena and the Starweaver sprawling to the ground.


    Additionally, the beetle was showing signs of regenerating from the severe wound.


    "Balins!" Kain called out, his voice sharp. "Nullify its ability to regenerate, but only temporarily!"


    Balins hesitated with following the directions of someone other than Serena, but it eventually obeyed after considering that the price of a temporary loss of regeneration rather than a permanent one should not be too steep. To better control the potential consequences, it specified to only impede the beetle''s ability to regenerate for 5 minutes. Hopefully, its allies could finish the beetle off in that time.


    The insect screeched in anger as the shimmering aura of regeneration faded from its body.


    Simrly, Aegis who had already barely been holding on, let out a tortured groan as his stone-like form cracked further. Normally, it could easily reconstruct its form using nearby stone, but it seemed to have lost the ability.


    One of Aegis'' arms shattered and the walls surrounding the remaining children faltered, exposing more containers.


    But despite crumbling Aegis didn''t move from his post. Despite the cracks running through his body, he stood firm, what remained of his body standing in the way of the relentless beetle.


    Serena, taking advantage of the temporary pause in the beetle''s regeneration, charged again. With a cry, she drove both des down in a single, devastating strike.


    The loud screeching of the beetle abruptly cut off as a bloody stab wound was made between its eyes. Its massive body came crashing to the ground with a deafening thud, dead.


    Meanwhile, the mantis-locust hybrid, still sluggish from Balins'' earlier exchange, turned its sights on the exposed children. Its razor-sharp forelimbs glinted menacingly as it crept toward a container holding another child.


    Thankfully, due to its reduced speed, Kain was able to ce himself as well as many of the Vespid guards between it and the children.


    He also ordered one of the guards to quickly carry the child that had gone crashing out of the container¡ªHarvey, ording to Cherry¡ªto Queen, who was treating him with abination of life-attribute energy and the royal jelly.


    Thankfully, the price that had drastically decreased Bea''s strength was only temporary.


    Bea quickly regained control of the splits that had infected the Doctor and the mantis hybrid previously but had been unable to exert much of an effect. She exhausted all of her remaining energy into causing them to freeze momentarily.


    Timed perfectly with the halt in their movements, the Elemental Guardian, who had at some point activated its hybrid form of 2 elements with the help of Starweaver, had finished preparing a grand move.


    Unlike the previous fusion that Kain saw at the National Tournament which was a fusion of its water and earth forms, this time it was a fusion of its water and wind attributes.


    Its translucent serpentine body shimmered with the fluid grace of flowing water, constantly shifting and rippling as though it were alive. A cold mist trailed from its body giving it an appearance both solid and intangible.


    It then encased both the Doctor and the mantis-hybrid in a solid block of ice, although the head of the director was left outside of the ice¡ªafter all, Bea still had to rifle through his memories for information.


    The aftermath of the battle was a grim, chaotic scene. Kain''s breath came in short gasps as he surveyed the battlefield. The beetle and mantis-hybridy still, their monstrous forms reduced to lifeless husks. The Elemental Guardian hovered nearby, its watery and wind-infused form still shimmering faintly before it began to dissipate back into its lone water-attribute form.


    Serena slumped against a nearby wall, her twin swords nted in the ground for support, their sigils flickering weakly.


    Kain turned his attention to the children who were still unconscious but stable. Kain had instructed the Vespids to remove them from the containers after confirming using the Doctor''s memories that it was safe to do so.


    Kain had exhausted everyst scrap of spiritual power that he had to strengthen Bea so that she could break through the Doctor''s mental defences as efficiently as possible.


    She worked with precision, extracting every scrap of useful information. The process left the Doctor groaning faintly, his features contorted in pain even as the ice kept him immobilized.


    After about a half hour, Bea confirmed that she''d stored and made copies of all the memories she considered to be useful.


    Kain wasted no time. "Good. Then we''re done here." With a swift, deliberate motion, he drove the de of his spear de into the Doctor''s forehead. The man''s eyes widened for a moment before dulling as the light of life left him.

 Chapter 300 The E-Series

    Kain retrieved the space ring from the Doctor''s hand after Elemental Guardian, now in its fire-attribute form, melted the ice surrounding his body. Kain''s fingers curled around the small object that, ording to the extracted memories, contained the man''s twisted research notes.


    The guards who were previously knocked unconscious all had a split of Bea in their minds in order to extract their memories, since they were no longer able to resist and had no further value, Kain ordered Bea to simply eliminate all of them by wiping their consciousnesses.


    While the Queen and her guards focused on guarding and healing the children, Kain and Serena swept the rest of the building.


    In one of therger rooms, they stumbled upon a treasure trove of research notes and books about the cultivation methods of other nations as well as less sensitive research resultspared to what was in the space ring that Kain obtained.


    About to leave, they happened upon a small, almost hidden room tucked away in a far corner of the building, and within it they found another child. Kain looked at the child''s face andpared it to those of the missing children''s posters that he''d seen, and confirmed that this was the very first child to have gone missing¡ªall 8 children were now ounted for.


    Unlike the others, this one was not in a container but restrained to a bed, his frail form lying unconscious. The child was pale, his breathing shallow but steady. The colour of his dishevelled hair had changed since the kidnapping from the brown seen in the photos to a light blue-grey. The faint scars lining his wrists where the restraints had bitten into his skin were almost fully healed, showing how much longer he''d been heldpared to the others.


    Serena stepped forward, her face a mixture of relief and pity. "When we only saw seven children in theboratory¡­I honestly thought that we were toote and one had died."


    Kain nodded grimly. "Let''s get him out of here."


    Carefully, he lifted the boy into his arms, his expression softening as he felt how light and thin the child was.


    With the final child secured, they regrouped. Theboratory was silent now, the echoes of battle reced by a heavy, oppressive quiet.


    Before leaving they chose to have Serena''s Elemental Guardian set the entire building aze, not wanting to risk that they identally left behind any clues that would have what happened here getting back to them and the people behind thisb finding trouble with Kain''s family.


    The group moved swiftly, the oppressive silence of the burnedboratory behind them, carrying the unconscious children toward the isted house they had rented before this operation began, just in case they needed a location to heal themselves and/or the children.


    After all, they couldn''t take their time healing the children in theboratory where the 6-star beast-tamer could being back at any time, nor did Kain wish to worry his family with Cherry''s current state by bringing her and the others back to the orphanage.


    Once they reached the house, Kain gestured for the Vespids to set the children down gently in the prepared beds.


    Each child was had a pallid and sicklyplexion, their breathing steady but shallow.


    Cherry, in particr, seemed restless, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Kain frowned, his sharp eyes catching the subtle movements beneath her skin¡ªsmall, disturbing ripples that seemed almost as though something alive was squirming within her. Find your adventure at empire


    "What the hell is this¡­?" Kain muttered, kneeling beside her. His gaze swept over the other children, who showed simr signs, though the movement under their skin was subtler.


    Unlike Cherry, they seemed to have adapted more to whatever was inside them, likely due to the longer limation time, their expressions while asleep did not seem as though they were ufortable.


    Serena joined him, her brow furrowed. "Do you have any idea what could be wrong with them?" After all, between the 2 of them Kain was the only one with some research experience, and due to the nature of his second major he may have been exposed to knowledge not taught to the pure beast-taming students.


    Kain shook his head. "No, but I will in a bit. Give me a moment." He reached into his pocket and retrieved the Doctor''s space ring.


    Although their was a security mechanism on it to prevent anyone from essing its contents, Kain and Serena were already prepared for this before this mission, and Serena had already brought a high-quality one-time use artifact capable of resolving the security mechanism. Kain was once again thankful that he had her help, because to get an artifact at such a high-level would not have been possible within a short time with his current meagre connections.


    After a brief focus of his spiritual energy into the artifact, the contents of the ring were made visible to him: stacks of books and papers, an assortment of peculiar tools, and a variety of valuable spiritual materials that could be used for evolution.


    He retrieved the research notes and began flipping through them, his expression darkening as he pieced together the truth.


    "These children¡­ are part of what they call the E-series experiments," Kain exined, his voice heavy. "The Doctor and his backers were trying to create beast-tamers¡ªallowing those without affinities to develop them by imnting what is called an ''artificial star space.'' It''s supposed to guide their spiritual energy into forming a star space resembling a natural one. This unnatural star space, in theory, should possess the materials within the artificial imnted device that can boost the chance of awakening an affinity."


    Kain continued reading further solemnly, "However, none of the test subjects have survived long enough to prove his theories. ording to these notes, the imnted star spaces tend to destabilize and¡­ well, explode. Cherry and the others are essentially ticking time bombs."


    Kain continued skimming the notes, his gaze sharpening as he searched for clues. "The Doctor was studying cultivation methods from other nations to refine his technique. There''s a chance we can reverse this¡ªor at least stabilize the star spaces¡ªif we act quickly. But I''ll need more time to go through all of this."


    As Kain spoke, Cherry stirred, her eyes fluttering open. She whimpered in pain, her small hands clutching at her stomach. Queen leaned closer, her antennae twitching as she continued to channel life-attribute energy into her.


    Kain looked at his sister with a pained expression, "Thankfully¡­thankfully, it doesn''t seem as though the device they imnted into Cherry has been in her for long and it hasn''t been fully assimted yet. Therefore, it can still be removed. However, we would need to cut her open...and she will need to be awake while we do it."

 Chapter 301 The Cure for Pain is Pain Itself

    It wasn''t only due to the researcher''s sadistic tendencies that he kept Cherry awake throughout the procedure, hearing his subjects scream in pain and terror was just a bonus for him.


    However, ording to the notes that Kain read, the subjects needed to be awake due to the intricate connection to the soul, spiritual power, and consciousness the embedded star space would need to make with its new host. Establishing and breaking these connections is easiest and safest when the subject is awake. However, once the connection has been initially established, the test subject can rest.


    However, unlike the Doctor, Kain had no such sadistic tendencies, and with the help of Bea he was able to keep Cherry awake while removing the object imnted into her.


    As Kain prepared for the procedure, Serena stood by Cherry''s side, holding her small hand gently. Cherry''s breaths were shallow and rapid, her sweat-soaked hair sticking to her pale skin. Even if she wasn''t in pain, it was still a horrifying experience to be cut open.


    From what Kain had read, there were two objects inserted into Cherry, one in the chest and another in her head.


    Locating the small glowing orb located close to her heart was the easy part. However, this glowing orb was mainly responsible for the stabilization and amplification of the connection between the artificial star space and the host.


    The main object needing to be removed was located at the base of Cherry''s brain, close to her brain stem.


    Thankfully, there was a shaved and evidently surgically altered part of Cherry''s skull, practically forming a bullseye to the location where the artificial star space was embedded.


    When Kain finally exposed the artificial star space embedded in Cherry''s head, the sight was both bizarre and horrifying.


    The artificial star space was translucent, its form aplex, etherealwork of faintly glowing threads, as though spun from liquid starlight. The structure pulsed faintly, radiating a weak, otherworldly light that dimly illuminated the surrounding tissue.


    It appeared as if it was being absorbed into her very mind. The edges of thework of threads blurred and shifted, seeping into Cherry''s flesh and merging unnaturally with her brain.


    The veins and tissues near the star space had already started to change, their color taking on a faint luminescent sheen as though infused with its power. The artificial structure was firmly nestled in the center of her head, interwoven with the nerves and pathways that carried spiritual energy through her body.


    The most unsettling part, however, was the movement. The object seemed alive, writhing faintly as though aware of Kain''s desire to remove it, and it was trying to guard against him. asionally, small tendrils of glowing material reached inward, attempting to anchor deeper into Cherry''s brain.


    Kain couldn''t help but be reminded of the invasive nature of many parasites, despite theck of life in the orb. Looking at the artificial star, space Kain couldn''t help but feel as though it was unnatural and evil.


    Kain grit his teeth, steadying his hand as he prepared to extract the artificial star space. With each pulse of light from the object, Cherry''s body twitched involuntarily, her brows furrowing in difort despite Bea''s influence. "Hold on, Cherry," Kain whispered softly, his voice strained but gentle. "I''ll get it out, I promise."


    Thankfully, they caught it early enough, and Kain, after struggling for close to half an hour, was able to fully dig it out, despite it doing its best to fight against him.


    Cherry was then put to the side and watched over by Queen, while sipping on a special rejuvenating cocktail made from Queen''s life-attribute royal jelly.


    Kain then looked to the other unconscious children, most likely Cherry would be the easiest one to remove the foreign objects from¡­


    -------------


    It was exactly as Kain thought. After waking up each child, they would often scream in panic and fear, thinking that he was one of their kidnappers intent on continuing to torture them.


    Read new chapters at empire


    It''s only after a long period of time that Kain would be able to calm them down, with a lot of help from Cherry and Serena¡ªwhose face served to disarm the children.


    After exining what needed to be done and why, he was able to eventually remove all of the artificial cores from the other 6 children that were taken from the containers.


    Although, after calming them down, and severing all of the connections between the artificial star space and its host, a connection that had more time to deepen in the other childrenpared to Cherry, the sun was beginning to rise the next morning.


    The warm golden morning light almost acted as a symbolic halo of hope and healing as it illuminated the faces of the children, now free of the invasive devices that had been tormenting their bodies.


    Though theirplexions remained pale and their bodies weak, the oppressive aura surrounding them had lifted, reced by a sense of peace.


    After performing the first urgent operation on Cherry, while Kain was reading the notes to prepare for the more difficult following procedures, Serena had also contacted her family, Dark Moon College, and the more local Starfire College.


    Therefore, during the period that Kai was urgently operating on the children to remove the devices as swiftly as possible, investigation teams had been sent out by both schools in order to track down any other personnel rted to this horrifying case¡ªparticrly the 6-star beast-tamer that had been lured away by Balins previously.


    However, the news they got back was grim. The mysterious organization responsible for the experiments seemed to have cut all ties to the abandonedboratory. Their trail vanished like smoke, the investigators finding no leads to follow.


    Even more troubling, anotherb was discovered in a neighboring city that had also had several cases of missing children¡ªit waspletely abandoned.


    Unlike their operation, no children were recovered, and the facility had been cleared out so thoroughly that it offered little hope of uncovering further information.


    Kain read the report over Serena''s shoulder, his jaw tightening. "It''s like they''ve sacrificed a limb to save the body."


    Serena nodded, his expression dark. "They''re covering their tracks. Whoever these people are, they''re organized and resourceful. And this isn''t the end of it. Not by a long shot."


    The room fell into a tense silence. Their victory while saving Cherry and the others was only a small one. The children they had saved were lucky, but many more may never return home.

 Chapter 302 Erasing Scars

    Meanwhile, word of Heather Frost''s actions had spread like wildfire.


    The government, alongside the influential Storm family they were affiliated with, acted swiftly and decisively.


    Heather was imprisoned and subjected to a public trial where her role in facilitating the kidnappings and experiments wasid bare.


    It was eventually concluded that after a period of imprisonment, she would be subjected to a public execution. The punishment was severe, as both a warning and a statement: treasonous actions of this magnitude would not be tolerated by the empire.


    The fallout for the Frost n was catastrophic. Once a powerful and influential family, they were entirely severed from the Storms. Their businesses copsed under the weight of the scandal, their allies abandoning them one by one. In a matter of weeks, the Frosts had gone from a position of prestige to the brink of ruin¡ªof course, all of this was in the future.


    Despite the losses, there were glimmers of hope. The children, now free of the invasive devices, were recovering slowly but steadily under thebined care of Queen, Kain, and Serena. Cherry, in particr, had begun to show signs of her old self, her innate resilience shining through.


    She acted as a natural leader to the other children, and was already up and about assisting Kain and the others with caring for the other children¡ªparticrly the grey-haired boy that was kept imprisoned away from the others.


    Surprisingly, despite the fact that several days had passed, there was still no sign of him waking.


    Moreover, when they were contacting the family members of each of the children to let them know that they''d been rescued and would be returning home once fully healed, they realized that the young boy didn''t seem to have any close family.


    His primary guardian was a great-uncle that didn''t even reside in Brightstar City, and simply sent funds to a caretaker for the boy¡ªmost of which were embezzled by said caretaker who provided the bare minimum of care and attention to him.


    It''s no wonder that Heather quickly identified him as the perfect first target, when he went missing, it wasn''t until several days after his kidnapping when the uncle wished to speak to him that the caretaker reluctantly confessed to his disappearance and reported it to the local authorities.


    Once the children were healed physically¡ªwhich didn''t take too long due to thebined efforts of Queen and Eve¡ªit was almost time to send them back home.


    Discover more content at empire


    However, despite their restored health, the memories of the torment they endured hung heavily over them, manifesting in frequent nightmares that Kain and Serena had had to wake andfort them from during their healing periods.


    Therefore, with the consent of all of the children, their memories formed while imprisoned would be scrubbed clean by Bea¡ªeven Cherry''s.


    They all knew logically that they''d been kidnapped, because that''s what they had been told by everyone around them, but the specific memories of the torture and pain they went through werepletely gone¡ªeven from their subconscious.


    Following the erasure, the haunted looks in their eyes were reced with tentative smiles. The memories of the ordeal¡ªthe cries, the cutting, the suffocating fear¡ªwere gone.


    ---------


    The sun shining down seemed to reflect the positive moods of the soon-to-be reunited family members.


    Thankfully, Kain and Serena did not have to escort every child home¡ªthat task was assigned to the local guards.


    Kain walked beside Cherry as they approached the orphanage, her steps quicker than usual. "Do you think they''ll all be waiting?" she asked, her voice a mix of hope and apprehension.


    "They''ve been waiting for you every day since you went missing," Kain said with a reassuring smile. "They''ll be over the moon to see you."


    As they rounded the corner, the orphanage came into view. The front yard was bustling with life, unlike thest time Kain had been there. The children, Bridge, the director, and even their neighbours all stood in a line with nervous anticipation as they waited for Cherry.


    They were all holding small confetti poppers, balloons, or banners with a weing message for Cherry, but whatever exmation they had collectively nned to shout out together went down the drain as soon as Cherry''s siblings spotted her¡ªtheir world seemed to pause.


    "Cherry!" Bridge, the eldest of the group, was the first to shout as heunched his massive body towards her and picked her up in a hug. His cry was a signal for the others to join. Milo and Jasper rushed out next, followed by Jasmine, Key, Parker, Sunny, Charlie, and the youngest, Melody.


    They surrounded Cherry in a flurry of hugs, tears, and ovepping voices.


    "We missed you so much!" "Are you okay?" "You''re really back!"


    Cherryughed, her voice breaking slightly. "I missed all of you too."


    The orphanage director stood on the porch, his face streaked with tears. "Thank you," he whispered to Kain and Serena as they approached. "Thank you for bringing her home."


    After the tearful reunion between Cherry and the others, Kain motioned for one of his Vespids to carefully bring out the unconscious grey-haired boy. The moment drew everyone''s attention, curiosity and concern mingling in their faces.


    "Who''s that?" the director asked gently.


    Kain sighed, his gaze heavy. "His name is Gabriel. He doesn''t have anywhere else to go, and¡­" He paused, choosing his words carefully and keeping his exnation vague to avoid scaring the children. "And he still hasn''t been fully healed¡­therefore he will be staying with me until I can find a solution."


    "We will be staying here for now, but if he still can''t be fully healed by the time we need to head back to college, I will have to take him with me. Thankfully I have my ownb on campus and should be able to provide better care for him there."


    ----------------------


    Kain and Bridge spent the remainder of their vacation at the orphanage bonding with their family, while Serena headed back to the Storm estate with some rtives who hade to the southern region to deal with the Frosts.


    Although he was grateful for her help, he was more relieved to see her leave¡ªCherry had not stopped making suggestive innuendos or teasing remarks about the two of them since they''d returned and he couldn''t stand it anymore!


    It was finally the date for them to leave in order to get back to the college in time for the start of school.


    Thankfully, due to his contribution to the college''s representative team, they arranged for him to teleport back to Dark Moon City, so he could spend an extra few days with his family.


    The children waved goodbye from the porch, theirughter filling the air. Cherry stood beside her siblings, her smile radiant.


    "Come back soon, Kain!" she called out.


    Kain raised a hand in acknowledgment, his heart lighter than it had been since he''d first arrived home, before turning to leave with Bridge and a new small addition to his life in Dark Moon City.

 Chapter 303 The Colleges Rewards

    The teleportation array crackled with energy as Kain, Bridge, and the unconscious Gabriel reappeared on the Dark Moon College campus.


    The familiar sight of towering obsidian spires and the intricate designs of gothic architecture weed them back.


    Despite not getting as much time as he would have liked to spend time with his family, Kain also felt a sense of security in what was now his second home; here, he could have ess to better resources and improve his strength, and also to find out how to help the unconscious Gabriel.


    On the campus, Kain and Bridge separated¡ªBridge to settle in early to his new dorm room, and Kain to settle Gabriel into hisb.


    The college had invested greatly into Kain, since they valued the fame having such a young researcher brought to the college. However, the room was hardly fit for a recovering human.


    Therefore, with the help of the Vespids, he repurposed a section of theb and the spiritual creatures he''d been experimenting on were carefully relocated to the college''s bestiary.


    In their ce, he installed afortable bed on the other side of the ss wall leading to the observation room that previously housed various spiritual creatures.


    Gabriel wasid gently on the bed, still unconscious but stable. His pale face, framed by his blue-gray hair, looked fragile and as though he could die at any moment¡ªwhich is actually possible considering that his body was still in danger of exploding ording to the research notes.


    --------------------


    With Gabriel settled, Kain turned his attention to another pressing matter: his promised reward for representing the college at the National Tournament.


    The next morning, after moving to his new room, now on the third floor of the top 5 residence, Kain was summoned by one of the professors of the beast-taming department, who guided him to a secluded part of the campus.


    After weaving through a maze of buildings and hallways, they arrived at what appeared to be a warehouse¡ªone that many students and staff would likely never be able to enter.


    The warehouse had an imposing appearance: a massive entrance, glowing sigils, and what appeared to be various deadly security measures.


    The doors themselves seemed alive, shifting faintly between solid metal and translucent energy. As they opened, a cool gust of air rushed out, carrying the faint hum of stored power.


    Inside, the warehouse was a sprawling space of seemingly endless rows, each packed with treasures. Shelves stretched into the distance, holding rare spiritual materials¡ªores, divine beast parts, spiritual orbs, vials of glowing liquids, and more.


    In another section, there appeared to be various spiritual skills contained within glowing scrolls and books.


    Next to it was an extensive catalogue of high-quality weapons, artifacts, and even barriers for the visitors to choose from.


    Finally, in a distant corner many multi-coloured spheres were arranged in neat rows with descriptions beneath them. Each sphere contained a spiritual creature that appeared to be frozen in time.


    Meanwhile, an adjacent shelf held many eggs of varying shapes, colours, and sizes with detailed descriptions of what each contained.


    The professor gave a slight smile seeing Kain''s admiration for one of the college''s most exclusive warehouses¡ªa ce many students and staff will never enter in their lives. "For your contribution, you may select three items from this warehouse. Anything you choose will be yours¡ªunconditionally."


    Kain stepped forward, his analytical mind already at work on what he needed most.


    Enjoy more content from empire


    -------------


    It took Kain hours to go through everything avable for exchange within the warehouse. However, he took the time to carefully do so, in order to avoid missing out on something that would be more useful to him.


    The first item that Kain decided on for exchange was the Starlight Bind barrier, his property off campus only has barrier effective for yellow-grade spiritual creatures currently, which isn''t particrly valuable for him, whereas this barrier ispletely effective for beings with up to blue-grade spiritual power.


    If he were to try and by this barrier himself, it''d probably cost millions of school credits or even hundreds of millions of Celestial Dors.


    Not to mention, there is a note that a 3 year''s supply of the pricey materials needed to maintain the barrier would be provided up front after the exchange.


    Another reason that Kain picked this barrier specifically, was because it may also have an improvement effect Gabriel.


    After analyzing Gabriel with the equipment he had in hisb, and finishing going through the Doctor''s research notes, Kain concluded that the spiritual power within the boy following thepleted fusion with the artificial star space was several times greater than his ordinary body could handle. So great that his body is forcefully maintaining his unconscious state to conserve all of its energy as it focuses on not having him implode.


    Therefore, although not a permanent solution, one way to wake the boy up is to restrict the rampant spiritual power in his body. However, things that could do so effectively enough to extend the boy''s time to live are not easy toe by. Even the organization that the Doctor belonged to had few that they could provide¡ªand they were only given to the absolute top researchers, like his teacher.


    However, the Starlight Bind Barrier, was one such method of suppressing the boy''s rampant spiritual power with enough effectiveness to wake him up.


    Most skills, barriers or equipment able to restrict spiritual power would be considered very effective if they could even reduce the strength of the target''s spiritual power by 30% up to the blue-grade. Such an object would probably sell for close to a hundred million CD.


    However, the Starlight Bind Barrier canpletely sever he connection between spiritual energy and its wielder.


    Within the barrier, even blue-grade spiritual creatures¡ªthose capable of reshapingndscapes and wielding devastating abilities¡ªwere reduced to practically ordinary beings stripped of their spiritual power and can only rely on their enhanced physiques to fight.


    As long as Gabriel remained in the barrier, it wouldn''t be a problem for him to live to a normal old age¡ªalthough it''d be a pitiful life spent in confinement.


    But the barrier would reduce the clock ticking down Gabriel''s remaining time and allot Kain to search for a solution with peace of mind.

 Chapter 304 Manipulating Fate

    As Kain paced through the sprawling warehouse, his eyes took in the endless treasures lining the shelves while his mind was constantly makingparisons and weighing the pros and cons of each object.


    With the Starlight Bind Barrier already selected, he now had two choices remaining.


    With Kain''s affinity for microorganisms, he had expected for there not to be a suitable spiritual creature to contract in the warehouse¡ªhe was correct.


    However, despite the fact that he was preparing to form his fourth star space and had no clues on a potential fourth contract, Kain was not discouraged. Instead, he focused on the other objects within the warehouse.


    He also happened to have an inkling already about what his next item for exchange would be.


    When touring all of the shelves briefly upon entering, he felt a slight reaction from the mysterious seed he''d gotten from Mr. Evergreen months ago.


    Once he sent his consciousness into the System''s Laboratory, which he''d taken to using as a storage space for living things or particrly valuable objects, Kain saw that the seed emitted a soft, green glow, reacting subtly to something nearby.


    He took it out of theboratory and was finally able to better identify the source of its abnormal reaction: the Heartwood Catalyst, a fist-sized crystalline sphere encased in roots and faintly glowing with golden light.


    ording to the item''s description, the Heartwood Catalyst was a unique treasure capable of awakening dormant potential in spiritual nts, particrly rare seeds. It could nurture and elerate growth, and unlock hidden abilities. The description alone would have piqued Kain''s interest, but the resonance with the seed sealed his decision.


    Kain had already tried numerous times in various locations to grow the seed, but it never showed any sign of germinating¡ªnot even with the assistance of Queen and Eve.


    Perhaps what it needed was this catalyst.


    With his second choice pretty much confirmed, Kain needed to make his final selection¡ªhowever, this was much more difficult than the previous two selections.


    He moved to the section dedicated to spiritual skills. Most werebat-oriented, their pages described aggressive techniques, elemental strikes, and defensive barriers. Yet, none of them so far aligned with Kain''s needs perfectly.


    Although they would all boost his strength greatly, after all only the best of the best techniques were stored in this warehouse; none were so exceptionally unique that he''d be filled with a lifelong regret for missing out on them¡­


    That was until he finally found that irreceable technique.


    At the far corner of the shelf, tucked away as though forgotten by time itself, he spotted an unassuming, tattered book that he must have missed on his first walk-through of the warehouse. Readtest chapters on empire


    Its cover was worn to the point of illegibility, and the faded bindings barely held the ancient pages together. A faint but strange aura surrounded the book, one that seemed to unconsciously repel the gaze of passersby and reduce its presence, but once it was noticed it seemed to draw him in, daring him toe closer.


    The description te beneath the book was sparse, as though whoever cataloged it had struggled to ssify the skill:


    "Threads of Destiny: An unfathomably rare spiritual skill. Few have ever sessfully learned it." Kain read aloud.


    Kain picked up the book to read it and eventually concluded that the skill granted the user several abilities, each ability unlocked with each level of greater mastery of the skill.


    It was also the only time Kain had seen a skill with the fate-attribute, and considering his recent exposure to Serena''s contract with that same attribute, he was further intrigued by the skill.


    The first level of mastery would allow the user to perceive the threads of fate present around all living and non-living things with the exertion of spiritual power.


    The second level of mastery would allow the user to subtly influence their own strings of fate to slightly improve their luck and increase the likelihood of fortuitous encounters.


    The third level would allow the user to influence the threads of others, affecting the oues and actions of others in subtle yet profound ways. For example, bringing up the time two lovebirds were originally destined to meet or temporarily decreasing the luck of a certain target. Although it can''t prevent inevitable events, like the destined meeting of two individuals, it would allow the user of the skill to bring forward or dy that meeting.


    Supposedly, there are higher levels of the skill as well, but nobody except for the skill''s founder had ever managed to surpass the third level of mastery. In fact, it is considered one of the most difficult spiritual skills in existence. And the idea that it could be fully mastered at all remains as spection.


    Although, the description does say that the sess rate of learning this skill is extremely low, and if Kain can''t learn it then it would be a wasted exchange, Kain couldn''t resist the mystical effects in the skill''s description.


    For most people, attempting to cultivate such a skill would be akin to chasing a mirage in the desert. But for Kain, the challenge itself made the choice all the morepelling. After all, while inferior or different versions of the other skills in the warehouse may exist outside avable for purchase, nothing remotely resembling this skill could probably be obtained without connections to the top individuals within the empire or extreme luck.


    As he reached out to pick up the book, his fingers tingled, and for an instant, his vision blurred. Dimly glowing lines, almost imperceptible, shimmered in the air around him before vanishing. The fleeting vision left his heart pounding and his curiosity burning.


    "This one," Kain murmured. "I''ll take this."


    All of his choices selected, Kain rang the bell by the entrance to report his choices to the escorting professor.


    When the professor saw his choice of skill, a trace of surprise flickering across their face. "An ambitious choice," they said, their voice tinged with a mixture of admiration and caution. "Few would dare to attempt the Threads of Destiny. I hope you understand that the chances of anythinging from exchanging it are quite low."


    "I do," Kain replied. His tone was calm but resolute. After all, if it was amon, easy to learn skill, he wouldn''t have wanted to exchange for it.


    The professor nodded slowly. "Then may fate be kind to you, Kain."

 Chapter 305 A Brewing War

    When Kain returned to hisb on the college campus, he set up the Starlight Bind Barrier, and left Gabriel hooked up to machines that would monitor his vital signs while supplying him with the nutrients he needed using an IV.


    He then went about moving into his new room. The first re-ranking of the school year wouldn''t be for another few months, therefore the rankings everyone ended withst year were carried over to this meaning¡ªmeaning that Kain was still within the top 5 mansion. However, instead of his room being 202, the second-years were ced one floor higher, meaning that he was now in room 302.


    Since Kain had been away for a while, he also chose to check on the progress of the spiritual beer business. Especially, since he had received a call from his operations manager Collin about an emergency¡ªapparently, the construction of an additional factory they were nning to build to meet the greater demand for their beer across the empire, ran into some trouble¡­


    Coincidently, just when Kain was about to arrive at the construction area for their new factory, he received a message from Serena¡ªshe had received a notification that the price for having the 6-star beast-tamer vacate the premises back in Brightstar City, was an emergency befalling some kind of business rted to Kain.


    ''Thanks¡­ but the warning is a littlete''


    Kain thought as he looked at what should have been an almost finished second factory, but was instead more akin to a disaster site.


    Readtest chapters at empire


    The area that should have been bustling with workers putting the finishing touches on the factory was instead littered with debris.


    The skeletal structure of the building had copsed, andrge fissures ran through the foundation. Equipment that had been brought in for instationy twisted and broken, some of it buried under rubble.


    Collin was already at the site, pacing anxiously while speaking to the head of construction. When he saw Kain approaching, he rushed over, his face pale and drawn.


    "Boss, it''s worse than I thought," Collin said, running a hand through his dishevelled hair. "We initially thought it was an ident¡ªsome kind of structural w¡ªbut after investigating further, we found clear signs of sabotage."


    Kain''s expression darkened. "Sabotage? Are you certain?"


    Collin nodded grimly. Then lowered his voice while ncing around to make sure they weren''t overheard, "Positive. The foreman discovered that several load-bearing beams had been tampered with, weakening the structural integrity of the entire building. Not only that, but the foundation cracks¡ªthose weren''t natural, they were likely the result of an earth attribute skill that caused a focused vibration on the floor of the building and took advantage of the weaknesses in the support beams to cause the entire building toe down¡ªthankfully there were no casualties though, since the copse happened early in the morning before the first workers arrived"


    Kain''s jaw tightened. "Do we know who''s behind it?"


    "Not yet," Collin admitted. "But, I do have a guess¡­you may have been too busy to notice, but apetitor had popped up recently. They might''ve realized they couldn''tpete with our product and decided to resort to dirty tactics."


    The mention of thepetitor brought a grim smile to Kain''s lips. That particr issue had practically resolved itself on its own, so while he had heard vague mentions of another spiritual beer hitting the shelves, he hadn''t paid it too much attention.


    When the rivalpany had tried to replicate their spiritual beer, they quickly discovered that the properties of the brew weren''t something that could be copied.


    Thanks to Kain''s foresight, the Aether Brewing Yeast had been gically modified before they went public. This ensured that without also having ess to Queen''s spiritual honey, the standard brewing process couldn''t replicate the unique characteristics of their product.


    Thepetitor''s beer had been a poor imitation, greatlycking the spiritual energy and rich vor profile that had made Kain''s beer a sensation.


    Public bacsh against the knockoff had been severe, and thepetitor had folded within weeks. However, if they were responsible for this sabotage, it meant they weren''t entirely out of the picture.


    "Anything else unusual?" Kain asked.


    "Yes," Collin said, frowning. "The workers mentioned seeing strange spiritual fluctuations around the site a few days ago, but by the time anyone investigated, there was no one there. I''ve already doubled security at our existing factory, just in case."


    Kain nodded, and already put identifying and dealing with the perpetrators on his future agenda for when he had more time. After all, their unsportsmanlike actions were a direct attack on his business, and even jeopardized the safety of his workers.


    "We''ll have to rebuild," Kain said decisively. "But not here. Find another location. Somewhere more secure, where it''ll be easier to monitor for spiritual interference."


    Collin hesitated. "But the cost¡ª"


    "I''ll cover it," Kain interrupted. Thankfully, he received arge influx of funds due to a renewed interest in the Lumifin evolution after the National Tournament. "What matters is keeping the momentum going. This setback won''t stop us."


    Collin''s shoulders rxed slightly, reassured by Kain''s confidence. "Understood. I''ll start scouting new sites immediately."


    "Additionally, we''re going to have to increase our selectivity with staff. Someone willing to go this far, definitely wouldn''t be above bribing a worker to get more detailed information on our brewing process." Although, without ess to the spiritual honey, something only Kain had, all of those efforts would be useless¡ªbut it''s not as if they knew that.


    Kain even decided to have Bea periodically "inspect" the minds of the staff that work at each of the factories in order to identify any potential spies among them.


    In fact, their current factory may already have one or two eyes and ears working on behalf of their enemies¡­


    As Collin left to make the arrangements, Kain lingered at the site, surveying the damage. He would make sure that whoever had dared to sabotage his factory and attack his work woulde begging him for mercy in the future.

 Chapter 306 Series Notes

    Kain returned to hisb after inspecting the disaster site, and hoped that no other consequences for wishes made by Serena would fall on him.


    ''That''s one more incentive to learn that new spiritual skill. At least with it, I should be able to decreased my likelihood of being the target of fate-attribute skills.''


    Kain found sce in the quiet hum of his equipment and the faint glow of the Starlight Bind Barrier covering Gabriel in the observation area.


    Despite the chaos surrounding the factory incident, Kain couldn''t let it consume his focus entirely¡ªthere were other pressing matters demanding his attention.


    Seating himself at his desk, he pulled out the thick stack of research notes he had recovered from the Doctor''sboratory.


    He had already scoured the Doctor''s personal files from his space ring, but found no viable solution to Gabriel''s condition. Now, he turned to the notes from the room adjacent to theboratory¡ªthose detailing experiments from other branches of the organization.


    These experiments, while not directly linked to the E Series that Kain and Cherry were part of, painted a broader picture of the organization''s goals and methods.


    The notes described four primary research paths: Series A, Series B, Series X, and Series E. Each was an attempt to push the boundaries of human potential, often inspired by the unique cultivation methods of other nations.


    The first series, Series A, was based heavily on the cultivation methods of the nation directly west of the Celestial Empire, Karnath Dominion.


    The Karnath Dominion''s cultivation method revolved around individuals'' natural Gifts moreso than an affinity, which were often even more powerful than those that individuals in the Celestial Empire tend to awaken.


    In Karnath, they do not form contracts with spiritual creatures in the same manner that citizens of the Celestial Empire do.


    Instead, they kill spiritual creatures rted to their Gift and by harvesting life essence from these spiritual creatures, Karnathians could integrate the skills of the yed spiritual creature into their Gifts, creating devastatingly versatile warriors.


    Although beast-tamers of the Celestial Empire have a massive numerical advantage when fighting against those from Karnath, while Karnathian''s pursue personal strength, exceptionalbinations of extracted skills that would normally not be seen on the same living creature, means that each Karnathian is usually much strong and more versatile than spiritual creatures at their level.


    Series A''s experiments aimed at forcefully imnting gifts into test subjects without to ideally develop a cultivation style reminiscent of the Karnathians''.


    The result so far have been mostly poor¡ªwhile some gained extraordinary gifts, the majority faced physical copse or violent rejection due to ipatibility or an inability to control the gifts they didn''t awaken naturally.


    Series B''s research direction was inspired by the tribal nations to the south, and focused on hybridization.


    The southern tribes'' affinities stemmed from remnants of ancient spiritual creature bloodlines likely resulting from cross-species rtionships centuries ago between tribal humans and powerful spiritual creatures capable of shifting into a human form. Therefore, modern tribesmen had strong affinities to spiritual creatures that are kin to their dormant bloodline.


    Series B sought to replicate this by introducing spiritual creature DNA into human embryos or grafting it into existing subjects.


    The results were unpredictable. Some subjects developed extraordinary traits, such as heightened senses or elemental control, but most others became grotesque hybrids, unable to survive the transformation for long.


    The third series, Series X, aimed to enhance human Gifts and affinities beyond the affinities inherent to everyone.


    The limited information in the notes suggested that the organization regarded this series as the crown jewel of their research¡ªboth for its high stakes and the immense potential rewards.


    While Series A focused on acquiring abilities externally, Series X sought to amplify what already existed. This series appeared to be the most secretive and crucial to the organization, likely because its sess was tied to the interests of sponsors who were already powerful beast-tamers and wanted to go further.


    The experiments sought to break through the natural limitations of affinities, granting participants the ability to form contracts with whatever they desired¡ªif the research is sessful.


    Finally, Series E, which Cherry and Gabriel belonged to, aimed to turn ordinary individuals with no natural affinity into beast-tamers.


    The methods ranged from artificial star imntation to manipting embryos, spiritual energy infusions and more.


    So far, no cases of sess have emerged from Series E, the casualty rate was staggering, and the possibility of there ever being results remained questionable¡ªalthough the organization will never tell that to the sponsors of Series E, like Heather Frost, who were desperate for results.


    Kain let out a tired sigh and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples due to the rising headache.


    Hours of poring over dense research notes, fragmented ideas, and the scribbled forms of madmen had left his eyes strained and his mind spinning.


    Even with his endurance and background in research, the sheer volume of material was overwhelming¡ªhe had barely made it through a third of the books and notes.


    Kain rubbed his strained eyes, trying to suppress the intense disappointment he felt at not finding a solution or cure within the notes for Gabriel''s condition.


    As Kain lowered his hands, ready to take a short break, a strange sensation prickled at the back of his neck¡ªa sense of being watched. His head snapped up, his heart lurching as his eyes locked onto a pair of pale grey irises staring back at him.


    Gabriel was awake.


    His eyes were unsettlingly pale, their almost transparent quality making it difficult to discern where his irises ended and the whites of his eyes began. They seemed to pierce straight through Kain, holding a mix of wariness, confusion, hatred, and fear.


    ''Oh no¡­does he think I''m one of them?!''


    For a moment, neither of them spoke, the silence in theb growing heavy. Kain opened his mouth to say something reassuring, but Gabriel''s lips parted first, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.


    "...Where am I?"


    The question wasced with suspicion, which confirmed to Kain that Gabriel believed he was still in the clutches of the kidnappers who had experimented on him, just moved to a different location while unconscious. Experience new stories with empire


    "Dark Moon College." Kain exined, "During a rescue mission we brought you back from theb, you''ve been unconscious ever since. The individual that was experimenting on you is dead by the way, and all the other children kidnapped were also released and returned to their families. But unfortunately, you can''t return home¡­"

 Chapter 307 Research Assistant?

    After exining to Gabriel what had happened during the period he was unconscious, his current state, and why he couldn''t leave, Gabriel''s suspicious expression eased slightly and he seemed to reluctantly buy Kain''s story¡­for now.


    However, Gabriel''s pale, piercing eyes¡ªthe eyes of someone who had seen far too much and lost far too much faith in the world¡ªseemed to still indicate that he didn''t have much trust in Kain. Whether that mistrust stemmed from not believing Kain was who he said, or that Kain could actually find a solution, he didn''t know.


    "I know it will be difficult for you to trust someone that you''ve never met before, but if you want to leave this room and confirm for yourself that what I say is true, and get your freedom back, we need you to be stable enough to leave the confines of this barrier. So Gabriel¡­ do you want to help me think of a solution?" Kain said while tentatively holding up some of the research papers that Kain had already gone through¡ªafter all, it always helps to have another look from a different perspective.


    Gabriel''s gaze shifted between Kain''s face and the stack of research papers he was holding. After a long moment, he nodded slowly, his hands trembling slightly as he reached out to take one of the papers.


    "Fine," Gabriel murmured, his voice still hoarse but steadying. "But I doubt I''d be of much help¡­"


    Kain smiled faintly, lowering the stack onto the edge of the cot. "A second set of eyes is all that I need for now. Maybe see if anything triggers a memory about something the Doctor said."


    Kain had already had Bea go through Gabriel''s and the other children''s memories, but it''s not as though significant information is tagged within their minds. Bea needed to go through each memory and use her own judgment to determine if the information was important or not.


    Therefore, a one-offment from the members of the organization that Bea may have discarded as insignificant, might suddenlye to Gabriel''s mind when reading the notes.


    Gabriel picked up a sheet and scanned it, his brow furrowing. Kain noticed his hands were still shaking, whether, from weakness or residual fear, he wasn''t sure. He refrained from offering assistance, giving Gabriel space to assert himself.


    "What exactly am I looking for?" Gabriel asked after a pause, his tone t but his eyes sharp.


    "Anything that may hint at a solution. Your current state could be theoretically solved if you were able to awaken an affinity and bind to a spiritual creature¡ªthe feedback due to the contract should be enough to prevent you from essentially exploding due to the excessive amount of energy in your body that is currently being suppressed.


    "Unfortunately, only artificial star spaces are imnted into people young individuals who have formed their first star space yet have been sessful¡ªthe younger the better. Unfortunately, the younger they are the less likely they are to survive the Awakening Ceremony due to the fragility of their souls¡­there is a reason why the ceremony isn''t conducted until students are at least 17 to 18 years old. Each attempt is a huge strain on the soul, and that is the youngest age where it is considered safe. But after 3 failed attempts the damage to the soul is typically bad enough to instantly cause death.


    "You¡­we can try to have you undergo the Awakening Ceremony, but you are only 11, and likely won''t survive."


    Gabriel nodded in understanding. He remembered overhearing that all of the previous attempts by the organization to have children imnted with the artificial star space awaken an affinity, had ended with their souls, already fragile from prolonged torture, copsing.


    "I vaguely remember something¡­they said at one point that the solution maye from Series X¡­but I''m not sure what that means."


    Kain went silent as he pondered that information. The goal of Series X was to eliminate the restriction of affinities entirely¡­Did they want to bypass the dangers of the Awakening Ceremony by just having the children bind to spiritual creatures without an affinity? But that''s impossible.


    Still, Kain decided to shift much of his focus to the research results from Series X, although the information on this series was quite limited.


    Seeing Kain''s focused and tired expression, clearly having spent all of his free time on finding a solution for him while he was unconscious, Gabriel couldn''t help asking, "Why do you even care? You don''t know me. You''re not one of their victims. Nor can you even benefit from this research, you''re¡­" He trailed off, as though realizing he didn''t know enough about Kain to finish the sentence.


    Kain hesitated before his voice softened. "Because I have a gut feeling that I can help. And because people like you and my sister, another of the victims, didn''t deserve what happened to you." Experience new tales on empire


    Gabriel''s jaw tightened, but he said nothing, his eyes returning to the papers.


    Kain also didn''t mention the less noble reason about the great fame and national power increase to the empire that would result from developing a method capable of allowing all the citizens of the country, most of whom were ordinary, to awaken an affinity. He also wouldn''t have to worry about his own family members not having affinities in the future¡­


    The hours ticked by as they continued to sift through the notes, exchanging the asionalment or observation. Gabriel''s insights, though sparse, proved valuable. His unique perspective¡ªshaped by firsthand experience as a victim of the experiments¡ªhighlighted ws and inconsistencies Kain hadn''t noticed. It seemed like certain information was intentionally left out of the notes to make it difficult for unrted individuals to decipher the true results and intentions of the various experiments.


    At one point, Kain ced a sheet with an intricate diagram of the artificial star space and the human body in front of Gabriel. "This is part of the E-Series. You were subjected to this one, right? Does any of this seem familiar?"


    Gabriel stared at the diagram for a long moment, his pale eyes narrowing. "Some of it... They mentioned things like ''remapping affinity nodes'' and ''stabilizing spiritual influx.'' But¡­" He hesitated, his fingers brushing the edge of the paper. "There was something else. A term they used. ''Heaven''s Will.''"


    "Heaven''s Will¡­" This was the first time that Kain hade across this term and it wasn''t in any of the notes. However, when looking through the Series X, he did see some mention of a "strong will," but he''d thought that they were talking about one of their subjects with a particrly strong willpower.


    "''It was determined that the affinity is based on the strong will of H, which is impossible to resist¡­''"


    Kain had interpreted this sentence to mean that the ultimate affinity that one awakens may be dependent on the strong will of a person¡­but is this "Subject H" actually Heaven? In which case, are all affinities actually dependent on some abstract entity called Heaven? Kain found it difficult to believe.

 Chapter 308 The Eggs Disappearance

    Following that line of logic, Kain re-read most of the notes about Series X in a new light.


    He came to a conclusion, the reason why humans can only form a contract with a limited number of spiritual creatures, known as their affinity, seems to be due to some kind of mysterious restriction. Something that this mysterious organization refers to as Heaven''s Will.


    If one wants to form a contract with a spiritual creature beyond the limitations of their affinity, then they must find some way of oveing this so-called "heaven." Unfortunately, from the moment a living thing is born on this, thews dictated by the''s mysterious will seems to be imprinted into their soul.


    Kain had always thought that the affinity merely dictates the variety of forms one''s star space can take on, therefore someone with a fire-attribute affinity cannot bind to a spiritual creature with a water-attribute affinity because the star space will be an inhospitable environment to the contract and be unconsciously rejected.


    However, it seems like this is only half of the story. Looking at the notes of the Series X experiments, it appears that even when extremely powerful spiritual creatures that should be able to survive an inhospitable environment, for example dragons, attempt to form a contract with someone without the suitable affinity, the souls of both the spiritual creature and the contractor are gradually stomped out of existence within moments.


    It seems that this world is making a conscious effort to prevent the unrestricted formation of contracts. Why that is? Nobody knows.


    Therefore, when possible solution that has been brought up is binding to creatures not born on this¡­ unfortunately, powerful alien spiritual creatures have never been found. And spiritual creatures born in subordinate realms anchored to this one, such as the underworld where infernal creatures reside, seem to have the same restrictions ced upon them.


    However, Kain had ess to something that the researchers at this organization do not¡ªthe System.


    And based on his past experiences with the System, he could confirm the existence of other worlds¡ªwhether contracts with the creatures of these worlds can be formed, he didn''t know. However, at the very least he has a better starting point to explore this hypothesis than they do.


    Making an excuse to Gabriel that he was going to rest his eyes, Kain went to a lounge set up for researchers and staff within the same building.


    Closing his eyes as though to take a nap, Kain entered his System, along with the notes of the Series X experiments.


    "Vera" Kain called out to hisb assistant. After all, his primary help for going through these notes couldn''t just be an eleven-year-old, "I would like you to help me go through these notes and craft suitable treatment ns for Gabriel." Kain then shared the data he''d collected on Gabriel using his equipment outside.


    Vera, hovered closer to receive the notes with a cheerful hum. Therge digital blue eyes, that make up the majority of her "face" flickered slightly as she read through the notes within seconds and tried toplete her master''s request.


    "Processing request," she chirped, her tone light and slightly melodic. "Compiling data on Subject Gabriel. Shall I prioritize physical stability or look for potential long-term solutions first, Boss?"


    "Start with physical stability," Kain replied, distracted as he nced around hisb. "I''ll explore some other avenues in the meantime."


    Vera nodded¡ªor rather tilted slightly in acknowledgment¡ªand began processing the data. She hummed faintly, her "face" lighting up with graphs and equations as she worked.


    As Vera busied herself, Kain took a moment to survey theboratory. While the number of pieces of equipment he currently had, paled inparison to hisb on campus, theb provided by the System was unique in the world in that it had pieces of equipment utilizing technology far more advanced than what currently existed on this. Maybe one of them will help him in his quest to save Gabriel?


    His eyes fell on the Gic Reconstructor, a sleek machine that upied the far corner. It was the only one he felt might be remotely useful, but he doubted that manipting genes could get rid of the restriction of "Heaven''s Will."


    Maybe he could manipte Gabriel''s genes to make him better able to contain the massive amount of spiritual power in his body and not explode? But Kain had never used the Gic Reconstructor on anything more advanced than the single-celled Aether Brewing Yeast, and wasn''t sure how safe it was to use on Gabriel.


    "Best-case scenario, I stabilize him," Kain murmured to himself. "Worst-case¡­he ends up like those abominations from Series B. Not worth the gamble without more data."


    He moved on, cataloging the various things he''d chosen to store in the System''sboratory: microorganisms from the relic he entered to save Bridge, rewards granted to him by the training relic prior to the National Tournament, and various rare spiritual materials he''d collected during missions or were given to him as rewards while acting as an Evolutionary nner for various rich people.


    However, he couldn''t shake the feeling that something was missing¡­


    "Where''s that egg?" he muttered, once again going through his entire collection in case he''d missed it¡ªwhich was unlikely considering its bright golden sheen.


    He''d received it as a reward from Professor Tameridge for tying with Serena in the relic used for training but hadn''t paid it much attention due to it essentially being unhatchable in any environment with spiritual power¡ªan environment practically impossible to create.


    Kain''s brows furrowed as he considered the missing golden egg. He couldn''t shake the unsettling feeling that its absence might be crucial.


    "Vera," Kain said, his tone sharper than before. "Where is the golden egg? The one I collected from Professor Tameridge a couple months ago. Did you move it?"


    Vera paused her work on the Series X notes, her luminous blue eyes flickering as she processed the query. "Golden egg?" she repeated, her voice tinged with confusion. "Cross-referencingboratory inventory logs now¡­ Scanningplete. No object matching that description has ever been registered or entered into the system."


    Kain blinked. "What? That''s impossible. I specifically collected it into theb the day I received it. It vanished right in front of me when I willed it to enter the System''sboratory."


    Vera tilted her head, her expression shifting into what could only be described as robotic concern. "I have no record of such an event. Theb''s collection protocols would have automatically logged any item entering the system, regardless of form or material. If an item was not logged, then it did not enter here."


    Kain went silent, his confusion growing greater by the second. The egg had disappeared right before his eyes when he''d thought about collecting it. That much he was certain of. Yet, if Vera and the system logs showed no trace of it, then where had it gone?


    Kain frowned. "Then where did it go?"


    "That," Vera said, her tone almost apologetic, "is beyond my current database to answer. I suggest expanding your search parameters to external storage objects or re-evaluating the collection process."


    Kain pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to piece the puzzle together. It''s a living thing, despite it not being able to hatch, therefore it couldn''t have been identally collected into his space ring¡­


    ''what else is there?''

 Chapter 309 Life in a Dead World

    Kain stood still, running through possibilities. He definitely knew that the egg had been collected by him, but it was unlikely for the Vera to make a mistake and misce it.


    That left him with one possibility: the egg had ended up somewhere other than in the System.


    As his thoughts churned, his mind drifted toward an overlooked possibility. His star space.


    Queen, when he first contracted her, had brought honey and parts of her old hive into the star space. Therefore, he knew that select objects, especially those created by the spiritual creature, could be brought into the star space.


    "But the egg isn''t rted to any of my spiritual contracts¡­" he muttered. Then his gaze sharpened as he remembered something peculiar that happened when he was forming his third star.


    When forming it, a resembling an ancient Earth had materialized within his star space. It waspletely devoid of spiritual power and at the time, he''d been perplexed by if it even had a purpose, moreover he''d gotten so busy since then that he hadn''t been able to explore it in more detail.


    "The egg couldn''t survive in this world''s spiritual environment," Kain said to himself, pacing. "But my star space¡­ That¡­" His voice grew quieter as a realization took hold. "It''s exactly what the egg needed to hatch."


    The more he thought about it, the more certain he became.


    Likely when he was trying to collect the egg, either the System had instead redirected it to his star space, or the that had formed sensed itspatibility with the egg itself and collected it itself.


    Driven by a mix of urgency and curiosity, Kain closed his eyes and willed his consciousness into his star space.


    ------------------------------


    Inside the boundless dark space of his star space, Kain''s consciousness floated amidst the only four sources of light: three spiritual stars that were the homes of Bea, Queen/Eve, and Aegis respectively; and a fourth that resembled his old Earth but with all of the continents connected.


    Focusing on the green and blue, Kain suddenly appeared on its surface¡ªit was almost as though he''d been transported to apletely separate world, unlike the sense he gets when examining his other spaces which he feel like the inside of intricately designed space rings that are perfectly tailored to each contract, but he is unable to enter himself.


    The air of this "earth" was crisp and untouched, free from any trace of spiritual power.


    The was stark and lifeless, without even the slightest sign of life, including vegetation. Jagged mountain ranges reached toward the sky. teaus and canyons stretched endlessly, their surfaces rough with weathered stone and coarse gravel.


    Rivers of dark, silvery water wove through the destendscape, reflecting the faint glow of 3 different coloured stars on their surface.


    The ground crunched beneath Kain''s feet as he walked, his every step amplified in the oppressive silence.


    Following a faint draw due to his connection with the, which seemed to be directing him towards what he desired, he made his way toward a clearing where thend sloped gently downward into a shallow basin.


    At its center, nestled among a patch of smooth, ss-like stones, was the golden egg.


    Kain''s breath caught as he approached. The egg looked different now. Its surface, once pristine and unblemished, was marked with delicate, glowing cracks that pulsed faintly, casting dim light onto the surrounding stones.


    A subtle warmth emanated from it that he felt as he knelt beside it and touched its surface. It looked as though it would hatch soon.


    "This world¡­ It''s perfect for you, isn''t it?" he murmured, his voice barely audible in the vast emptiness. "Perhaps we were really destined for each other¡­"


    The egg seemed to respond to his words, its glow intensifying for a moment before settling back into its soft, rhythmic pulse. Kain studied it closely, noting how its once-uniform surface now seemed alive, shifting ever so slightly as though something within was preparing to break free and was just waiting for him to do so.


    The warmth radiating from it grew stronger, and a sudden surge of connection jolted through him.


    A contract? But he hadn''t formed his fourth star yet. Moreover, whatever kind of bond this was didn''t feel like his contract with Bea, Eve, or Aegis. Or even like his secondary and tertiary contracts with Queen and the Vespid guards.


    His contracts with them were deep, and equal partnerships. He could sense that they were life-or-death partners and that the end of one would greatly harm the other.


    This was different. It was almost as deep, but the nature of the connection was different.


    The being within the egg felt entirely subordinate to him rather than an equal contract, its lifepletely based on his will. If he desired, he could extinguish it with a thought¡ªan unnerving power that he vowed to never abuse.


    Despite the sudden connection with a creature he hadn''t even seen yet, Kain felt an overwhelming fondness for the spiritual creature inside, as though it were an extension of himself.


    The egg''s surface began to fracture, the cracks spiderwebbing outward with a soft, melodic hum. A faint golden light spilled out, casting long shadows across the rocky terrain. The egg trembled in his hands, and with a final, resonant crack, it shattered.


    The fragments dissolved into shimmering motes of light that scattered into the air, leaving behind a small, golden serpentine figure curled in the basin.


    Looking closer, Kain realized based on the ws it had, that it wasn''t a snake, but it looked like one of the dragons native to the eastern continent.


    Its gold scales shimmered with a faint iridescence, catching the limited light from the stars above. Tiny, delicate antlers were growing from its head, and a pair of round, inquisitive eyes blinked open, locking onto Kain with a teary and innocent gaze.


    Kain couldn''t help but marvel at the creature. Before awakening his affinity, it had been his dream to form a contract with a dragon¡ªand now that dream seems to have been granted in a different way...


    It let out a soft, trilling sound, almost musical, as it rose slightly off of the ground¡ªflying despite theck of any wings.


    He could sense its thoughts, though they were simple and unformed¡ªan overwhelming trust in him, a quiet dependence.


    Kain knelt before the egg, his hand hovering over its golden surface. The warmth radiating from it grew stronger, and as his fingers finally brushed against it, a sudden surge of connection jolted through him.


    This wasn''t like the bonds he had with Bea, Queen, or Aegis. Those connections felt like friendships¡ªequal and cherished partnerships. This was different. It was deeper, more absolute. The being within the egg felt entirely subordinate to him, its life intrinsically tied to his will. If he desired, he could extinguish it with a thought¡ªan unnerving power he knew he''d never abuse.


    Yet, instead of being disturbed by the connection, Kain felt an overwhelming fondness for the creature inside, as though it were an extension of himself. A fragment of his soul.


    His fingers pressed more firmly against the egg''s surface, and the glowing cracks spread rapidly, the faint pulses growing brighter and faster. It was waiting for him¡ªwaiting for his touch, his acknowledgment¡ªto awaken.


    "Alright," Kain whispered, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Come into this world."


    The egg''s surface began to fracture, the cracks spiderwebbing outward with a soft, melodic hum. A faint golden light spilled out, casting long shadows across the rocky terrain. The egg trembled in his hands, and with a final, resonant crack, it shattered.


    The fragments dissolved into shimmering motes of light that scattered into the air, leaving behind a small, serpentine form curled in the basin.


    A golden dragon¡ªsleek and elegant, its body long and sinuous like the dragons of ancient Eastern myths. Its scales shimmered with a faint iridescence, catching the light of the stars above. Tiny, delicate antlers crowned its head, and a pair of sharp, inquisitive eyes blinked open, locking onto Kain''s gaze.


    Kain couldn''t help but marvel at the creature. It was norger than a housecat, its movements deliberate and graceful as it stretched its lithe body for the first time. It let out a soft, trilling sound, almost musical, as it coiled slightly around itself, seemingly testing its new form.


    As the dragon rose, Kain felt their bond solidify further. He could sense its thoughts, though they were simple and unformed¡ªan overwhelming trust in him, a quiet dependence.


    "Wee to the world," Kain murmured, reaching out to gently stroke the dragon''s head. It leaned into his touch, its scales warm and smooth beneath his fingers.


    The ground beneath them pulsed faintly. For the first time since the''s formation, Kain sensed spiritual power on it. It was faint¡ªalmost imperceptible¡ªbut it was there.


    The lifeless terrain seemed to hum with a new energy, as though the dragon''s birth had awakened something dormant within this world.

 Chapter 310 The Worlds Insurance Plan?

    After only flying around for less than a minute, the newborn dragon quickly ran out of energy and curled into a tight coil at the basin''s center, its breathing slow and steady.


    A faint golden aura radiated from its scales, blending seamlessly with the newly awakened spiritual energy in the air.


    With the small amount of spiritual energy now present on the, Kain''s thoughts turned to another item in his possession: the seed that he suspected to be from the Tree of Life.


    Up until now, he''d avoided nting it, unsure of where a treasure at that level would be safe. But now, standing on his own personal, he realized it was perfect¡ªas long as the spiritual power here continues to increase.


    Not to mention, the seed descended from a tree was known to be a source of immense vitality and life, and transformed desertedndscapes into rich fields in the past.


    If nted here, it could elerate this''s transformation from barren to something brimming with life and spiritual energy.


    Careful not to disturb the dragon, Kain rose and walked a few steps away while still in the basin.


    Through his connection with the System''s Laboratory, he withdrew the seed that pulsed faintly like a beating heart. He also summoned, the Heartwood Catalyst to nt alongside it.


    He dug a shallow hole in the stony soil, cing the seed inside before positioning the Heartwood Catalyst above it. The moment the catalyst touched the ground, a faint light spread outward, sinking into the soil.


    Enjoy exclusive content from empire


    The seed began to react almost immediately. Tiny green tendrils sprouted from it, weaving their way into the earth. A delicate sprout emerged from the dirt within moments, its single green leaf shimmering with a faint golden hue.


    After the sprout reached only a few inches high, it stopped growing, but Kain could sense that there was nothing wrong with it¡ªthe meagre amount of spiritual power currently present was simply not enough to support its growth at this time, but as the concentration continues to increase, it will be able to reach its full potential.


    And even as a mere sapling, Kain was able to see subtle changes to the environment.


    The ground closest to the where the seed was nted grew darker, as the coarse, rocky soil gradually taking on a richer, more fertile appearance.


    Moreover, short and delicate des of grass, no taller than a finger, began to sprout in a small ring around the base of the sapling.


    The faint golden glow from the sapling pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat, sending gentle waves of energy into the surrounding area.


    A faint smile touched his lips. Even in this early stage, the Tree of Life''s influence was undeniable. Though the changes were minor, they marked the beginning of the''s evolution.


    Maybe one day soon he''ll have a teeming with life that was his exclusive property. He still wasn''t quite sure what benefits this would bring to him, or if the presence of life on this would be a positive or negative influence in the long run, but still couldn''t resist having his imagination run wild.


    However, he couldn''t dwell on such thoughts for too long¡ª he still had pressing matters to resolve outside of his star space, especially finding a solution for Gabriel.


    As he prepared to leave, his earlier thoughts about the unique nature of this world resurfaced. If spiritual creatures were born here, would they be subject to the same limitations as those tied to the Heaven''s Will of the main world? Is this ce, considered merely a subordinate realm of the main world like the underworld where infernal creatures are born. Or will the creatures born here be free of the influence of Heaven''s Will and allow him to bypass the restrictions of having an affinity?


    "Time will tell," Kain said softly. After all, he''d need to wait until there was more life on this to begin testing this idea.


    With a final nce at the sleeping dragon and the tiny sapling, he willed his consciousness to return to the outside world.


    --------------


    Feeling like the changes to the in his star space may be beneficial to Gabriel, he began to turn his attention to researching the origins of the golden dragon.


    He knew that Professor Tameridge took it from a relic on the eastern continent and following the clue of the identity of the relic, Kain''s attention was brought to some of the fragmented myths and legends on the eastern continent that were supposedly rted to this relic.


    One myth, in particr, caught his eye¡ªan eastern myth detailing how this was supposedly created.


    In the myth, before this world existed, a single egg floated alone in the infinite cosmos.


    From this egg hatched Huanglong, the Golden Dragon. It was said that Huanglong wielded immense power, and with said power was able to form the.


    Moreover, with the remnants of its egg''s shell, Huanglong created four holy beasts: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the ck Tortoise of the North.


    These four powerful beasts, shaped the world''sws and ensured that the elements of the world remained bnced.


    The myth described Huanglong as the leader of the Four, embodying the essence of creation itself. It was the dragon''s duty to reignite life should catastrophe ever erase the world¡ªa being of renewal and rebirth.


    Kain leaned back, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. While the myth was simply a fairy tale, and he didn''t take majority of the information in the story seriously, but certain details of it struck a chord.


    His own golden dragon shared some striking simrities with this Huanglong¡­


    For one, its need to be in a primitive world devoid of spiritual power, may be due to it serving as a catalyst to restart life on the in the event that spiritual power is eliminated in some kind of catastrophe.


    "If the myth has even a grain of truth," Kain murmured, "then this dragon wasn''t meant to just exist¡ªit''s a failsafe, designed to rebuild life after destruction."


    That thought gave him pause. If the dragon was meant to restart life after some catastrophic event, then its presence here, in his star space, meant he had unknowingly taken away this world''s insurance policy.


    "Oh well¡­I''m sure if something like that is ever needed in the future, it''d work itself out¡­"

 Chapter 311 Unwelcome Addition to College Life

    The next month or so, Kain''s life at Dark Moon College settled into its usual rhythm from his first year: attending sses, training, receiving reports on the beer business and going on the asional mission.


    Aside from the addition of Gabriel and the search for a solution to his predicament, life was as usual. With the exception of some new faces¡­


    Though it hadn''t been long since he was a first-year himself, the difference felt stark. The first-years seemed so much younger, their expressions bright and unguarded, their voices carrying a mix of wonder and nervous energy. Compared to them, he felt like a seasoned veteran¡ªa strange thought, considering that there was only a one-year gap in their ages.


    "They''re like a bunch of wide-eyed chicks," he muttered under his breath, smirking as he watched one group of first years practicing enhancing each of their senses for the spiritual skills assessment held not long after school started.


    He too remembered how anxious he was for that test and found their familiarly nervous faces cute, in a way, but also a reminder of how much he''d grown.


    His thoughts were interrupted when he sensed a familiar presence nearby¡­or maybe it was the sudden stunned silence of the first-years practicing nearby that clued him into who was approaching.


    Turning slightly, he spotted Serena approaching at a measured pace, seemingly unaware of all the stares, or more likely just ustomed to it by now.


    "We have another field assessment in a month or so, will Gabriel be okay in your absence?" She asked. Despite appearing cold and aloof, the question showed her concern for the child Kain had hidden away in hisb, that the school was technically not informed about.


    If the college were to know, Kain wasn''t confident that they''d let him continue to be in charge of Gabriel, and with everything Gabriel had been through, he would be unlikely to trust an unfamiliar researcher.


    Moreover, Kain wasn''t sure if anyone else assigned to take care of Gabriel would have his best interests and not resort to turning him into an experimental subject again.


    Therefore, due to the secretive nature of Gabriel''s identity, he''d only allowed Serena, and asionally Bridge, who both already knew about him, to enter into hisboratory.


    Kain replied to Serena''s question, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah¡­simr to when I left one of the Vespids to watch over Bridge when he was sick previously, I will leave one to watch over him as well. Moreover, I''ll be able tomunicate with him at any time using Bea."


    "You''re stilling to thebter, right?" Kain continued, "Gabriel has been asking almost everyday about when you''de again."


    "Of course." Her words were even, almost indifferent, but there was a subtle weight to them that conveyed her reliability. "I don''t understand how you could describe him like a guarded wild animal when he first awoke¡­he seems pretty warm to me."


    Kain rolled his eyes, though he couldn''t hide the faint irritation that red at her words. "Yeah, he seems to prefer you. Despite that I am the one that provides his food and shelter, apanies him everyday, and use all my freetime to pour over research notes


    for him


    ! He prefers


    you


    ! Curse, this cruel looks-based world¡­"


    Stay connected through empire


    Serena, didn''t reply to his grumbling, but the twitching corners of her lips seemed to indicate that she heard him and didn''t sympathize with him in the slightest.


    The conversation on the way toboratory might have continued had they not been interrupted by a haughty voice.


    "Kain!"


    Turning toward the source, Kain inwardly sighed as he saw ina Ashenw striding toward them. Her long blonde hair swayed behind her, and her green eyes gleamed with a mix of arrogance and excitement.


    That was one new unwee addition to Kain''s school-life this year. ina Ashenw, who Kain had helped previously to evolve her Glimmering Smander Yara into the Cinderlight Smander, had sessfully awakened an affinity, formed a contract with Yara, and enrolled at Dark Moon College¡ªwhere she just so happened to keep running into Kain.


    "Fancy seeing you here, I wasn''t expecting you! We keep running into each other by ident!" She said.


    Kain looked around at all of the buildings that were in the section of the university almost exclusively only frequented by professors and staff, since every building was pretty much used to house their personalbs and were not open to students.


    "Yes¡­ what a coincidence¡­"


    Serena''s gaze flicked toward ina briefly before returning to Kain, her expression unreadable.


    ina didn''t seem to notice his lukewarm response, her attention quickly shifting to Serena. Her smile grew sharper. "Oh, Serena. I didn''t see you there. I wasn''t expecting to see you here."


    ''


    Didn''t you just say, you weren''t expecting to see me either¡­?


    '' Kain made the conscious choice to remain silent and not call out her poor lying ability.


    But Serena had no such reservations, "Likewise, it''s interesting how often you end up in unexpected ces, ina. Particrly areas of the university where students are typically not allowed to enter."


    ina faltered for the briefest moment, but her confident smile quickly returned. "Well, I''m sure it''s not off-limits to students¡­"


    ina turned her attention back to Kain, her expression softening into something she likely thought was charming. "Kain, you still haven''t shown me yourb. It''s unfair that Serena gets to see it and not me."


    ''What''s our rtionship that me not allowing you into myb would be considered unfair?!''


    Serena''s expression didn''t shift, but there was an unmistakable sharpness in her gaze as she spoke. "Fair? Theb is restricted and under tight security. It''s not a yground for children with no relevant business to some and tour."


    ina''s smile tightened as she nced at Serena''s chest, and then her own t one, clearly reading too much into the ''childment''. "I wasn''t talking to you!" She snapped.


    Kain stepped in before the tension could escte. "Serena''s right. Theb isn''t open to just anyone¡ªit''s not personal, ina. It''s about keeping things secure."


    "But she gets to enter," ina pressed, her tone sharper now. "Why her and not me?


    Serena tilted her head slightly, her gaze steady. "Because Kain trusts me to help him with his research, and that''s not something you can force."


    ina bristled, but before she could respond, Kain spoke again, his tone firm. "I don''t have time for this, ina. If you''ll excuse us, we will be on our way."


    The dismissal was clear, but ina didn''t move immediately. She looked between Kain and Serena, her jaw tightening. Finally, she huffed a sharp breath and stepped aside, her heels clicking loudly against the pavement as she stalked away.


    Kain let out a low exhale once she was out of earshot. "She''s persistent, I''ll give her that."


    "She''s something," Serena replied dryly.


    Kain shook his head and gestured toward theb. "Come on. Gabriel''s probably already sulking about us beingte."

 Chapter 312 The First Native Spiritual Creature

    In addition to Gabriel''s fondness for Serena, there was another reason that Kain allowed her to be so involved¡ªthe connections that she had through her family, and the wealth of information and resources she had ess to because of it.


    With his business now booming, and the ie provided through his patent and work as an evolutionary nner, Kain had quite a lot of money¡ªbut there were many things that one couldn''t buy just because they had the funds.


    However, with the help of Serena, Kain was able to obtain quite a number of rare and expensive spiritual materials that he felt would be useful in more quickly promoting the " in his star space, the golden dragon, and the tree of life.


    Thanks to emptying out over 90% of his personal funds, the environment of the looked very different from the previous time he had entered.


    Leaving, Serena to care for Gabriel, Kain''s consciousness returned to his personal, that he''d now decided to call Pangaea, as a nod it resembling Earth when it only had the one supercontinent.


    The changes to Pangaea were apparentpared to when Aurem, they name he had decided for the golden dragon, had first hatched.


    The barren, rocky world he had first encountered was almost unrecognizable. des of grass now nketed the once lifelessndscape, their vibrant green hue stretching as far as the eye could see. Interspersed among the grasses were clusters of trees, most not much taller than Kain, but he could already anticipate the towering heights they''d grow to in time.


    In addition to the grass, there were also now delicate flowers in a spectrum of colours that added life to the environment, though all the nts were ordinary,cking any trace of spiritual power.


    Near the basin where Kain had nted the Tree of Life, the transformation was even more pronounced. The sapling he had left behind had grown taller, its trunk now as thick as his waist and green leaves had golden veins that glowed faintly.


    Around it, the soil was rich and dark, supporting an even greater variety of vegetation¡ªincluding several varieties of fruits that Kain had never seen before, but had to admit tasted delicious.


    Originally, he was ecstatic at the prospect of practically having a limitless supply of food for himself. Or, more epically, an army of spiritual creatures born on this that he could summon with a thought. But after several experiments, he confirmed that while he could bring objects onto the Pangaea, nothing born on this, whether it''s the dragon, or even a single berry, could leave this space.


    Moreover, it appears that the dragon egg and seed of the tree of life were rare exceptions to whatever rules governed this ce, since the average living creature, nt, or seed, could not enter¡ªgreatly hampering many of the ns Kain had for the space.


    This also furtherplicated his n of potentially having Gabriel form a contract with a spiritual creature eventually born on Pangaea since he had no method of Gabriel and a creature born in Pangaea being able to establish contact.


    However, although the was devoid of any advanced forms of life aside from Aurem, Kain had full confidence that spiritual creatures and spiritual nts would eventually be born here. And although he won''t be able to bring any of them out, he was sure that the rich resources of an entire will prove useful to him in some manner in the future¡­


    Curled around the base of the juvenile tree of life, was the golden dragon Aurem, loungingzily.


    The once tiny and fragile creature now dwarfed Kain.


    Kain frowned slightly as he observed the dragon. Contrary to the myth of Huanglong, Aurem seemed entirely uninterested in creating new life or influencing the''s development. It appeared content to merely exist, radiating the spiritual energy that nurtured the environment but doing little else.


    "Guess the legends were just that¡ªlegends," Kain muttered to himself, crossing his arms as he surveyed thendscape. "Looks like I''ll have to provide a catalyst myself if I want to see the first spiritual creature born sooner."


    A long time ago, Kain had managed to obtain the Bloom of Ascension, a flower that Kain had never heard existed outside of the System. The function of the flower was that, when consumed in its entirety, it can cause ordinary animals to be the lowest quality ck-iron quality spiritual creature.


    Finally, after a long period of waiting, another one of these had appeared in the newly refreshed System Shop.


    However, given that the flower needed to be consumed, he wasn''t sure how he could make the nts growing around the tree of life consume the flower, therefore he had been waiting until something resembling a sentient creature was born¡ªand finally that time hade.


    Thankfully, Kain had absolute control over the, and was able to sense any and all changes that urred on it. Therefore, not long after something other than a nt had been born, Kain had immediately sensed it¡ªalthough he wasn''t yet sure on what it was.


    However, drawing on that faint connection, one substantially weaker than the one he had to Aurem and the tree of life but stronger than to the various ordinary nts around him, a creature shimmered into existence in front of Kain¡ªa jellyfish.


    Theb jellyfish was only about the length of Kain''s finger, hovered delicately in the air, its translucent body refracting light into a mesmerizing spectrum of colors. It pulsed rhythmically, its tentacles rippling like tiny rainbows as it struggled to orient itself in this strange environment. Despite its simple structure, the jellyfish''s shimmering appearance lent it an otherworldly beauty, as though it had been crafted from liquid starlight.


    Although it was a rtively simple organism, unable to express itself, Kain could faintly sense its anxiety at being pulled from its native habitat to appear somewhere strange next to tworge and powerful creatures.


    Aurem watched Kain''s actionszily through half-lowered lids, its eyes following his movements. Seeing that a small creature, sentient life other than itself, appeared in the palm of Kain''s hand, the dragon stirred from its coiled position at the base of the Tree of Life.


    Kain felt a strange tension in the jellyfish, and it even seemed to be shivering slightly as Aurem''s presence loomed over it.


    Yet, after a moment, the dragon snorted softly, a wisp of golden mist escaping its nostrils, before resting its head back on its forepaws. It appeared uninterested, perhaps deeming the jellyfish too insignificant to warrant its attention.


    Kain used his other hand to pet and sooth the jellyfish. "Don''t worry," he murmured. "I''m not going to hurt you." Thankfully, due to their connection, it seemed to vaguely understand that Kain was not a threat, and the slight shaking in his palm stopped.


    From his inventory, he retrieved the crushed body of the bloom of ascension. Since he was unable to bring in living nts to the, Kain had had to crush the nt and ensure that it was no longer alive, before he could bring its body in to be consumed. Thankfully, although it being fresh was the best, it wasn''t a requirement for the flower to work.


    The jellyfish''s tentacles gripped the body of the flower and drew it towards an opening at the bottom of its body.


    Knowing that the process would take some time, once he saw that the flower was wholly consumed, Kain willed the jellyfish back to its native habitat.


    After a quick nce around, with a faint smirk on his lips at the finally taking shape. Kain''s consciousness left the star space.

 Chapter 313 New Black Mission

    Surprisingly, both Kain and Serena were exempted from the first field assessment of the year¡ªand it wasn''t because the school had found out about Gabriel.


    Rather, it was because, upon going over the debriefing reports provided to the college about their rescue of Cherry and the other children from theboratory, some undisclosed high-up individual took notice of their abilities¡ªspecifically, Bea''s ability to control the mind, and extract information directly from memories.


    For Serena, they took notice of Balens'' ability to deal with any and all manner of situations using the equivalent exchange skill.


    And so, for the second time, Kain was assigned a ck Mission, but this time Serena would be his partner.


    However, neither Kain nor Serena raised any objection or expressed any disagreement with taking the mission, even after knowing that it may take them away from their sses and Gabriel for an unknown amount of time.


    This was because, based on the vague information provided to them before they formally epted the mission, they were able to confirm that it was actually to take down another hiddenboratory in a different city¡ªmore specifically, they suspected it to be theboratory of researchers from the city neighbouring Brightstar that had fled previously.


    Meaning that Kain and Serena may get the opportunity to rescue the kids who had been taken away by them, and it will also give Kain an opportunity to obtain more research notes¡ªand maybe something new will be in them that will help Gabriel.


    After epting the mission, they were both called to a secure, soundproofed briefing room to be informed on more details about the case¡ªof course, they couldn''t actually remove any of the files to risk information leaks.


    The debriefing room was cold, sterile, and lit by a harsh white light that reflected off the polished metal surfaces.


    Kain sat at one end of the table, fingers steepled as he scanned the papers inside of the mission folder. Beside him, Serena flipped through her own file.


    Once they had both finished memorizing the information, they did as instructed and set fire to the leaks as a security measure.


    "Fallingstar City¡­" Kain murmured, his voice low but steady. "It makes sense. The remnants of theb from Morningstar City had to go somewhere, and it was the nearest viable option after Brightstar, which just had one of theirboratories destroyed."


    The new lead in their mission wasn''t just the remnants of theb, though. Roman Silverhart''s name was prominently disyed in their brief, along with a detailed profile.


    Roman Silverhart


    Age: 23


    Status: Eldest grandson of the Silverhart family


    Affinity: None (Failed to awaken)


    Current Position: Former heir, disinherited


    Thinking back to the profile he''d memorized, Kain summarized "Like Heather, he''s a legacy that was unable to awaken and affinity. So, he''s desperate to regain his position as heir."


    Serena nodded, "But despite being ambitious, he isn''t very smart, otherwise the college wouldn''t so easily be able to g him as a person of interest."


    Kain couldn''t help agreeing, "The Silverhart''s are filthy rich. And the Silverhart family is probably among the wealthiest legacy families with a 7-star beast-tamer. Even with his status stripped as an heir, he shouldn''t need to resort to these lengths for money. His remaining inheritance alone could sustain him luxuriously for decades."


    Kain thought back to the papers outlining the former heir''s various illegal activities to raise funds rivalling Kain''s beer business.


    It''s one thing if, using his family''s connections and money, he set up his own business to preupy his time like Kain did.


    But drugs? Facilitating sex work?


    He should have no reason to do that¡­unless he desperately needed a ton of money quickly.


    But why would that be?


    He''s burned through a significant amount of money recently. His expenditures are erratic, bordering on reckless, and much of it is untraceable.


    That''s the first red g that the investigators affiliated with the college noticed, and also the first area they want them to dig into.


    "ssic signs of funding something off the books," Kain remarked, his voice dry. "And that''s where wee in. Find out if Roman''s tied to theb and, if so, bring it down."


    Their mission targets were clear: enter the Southern Region, investigate Roman Silverhart''s connections, locate the remnants of theb, and dismantle the operation.


    The files also noted the inclusion of a third participant in this operation, a student from Starfire College, but their identity hadn''t yet been disclosed, they would meet at a discrete location once they arrived at Fallingstar City.


    Kain and Serena, quickly finalized their arrangement to leave.


    However, the time required for the ck Mission would far exceed the days they had initially nned to be away for the field assessment.


    "I''ve confirmed with Bridge," Kain said as he closed the storage container. "Once his assessment''s done, he''ll check in on Gabriel regrly. I don''t trust leaving him entirely alone, even with the Vespid watching."


    After confirming with Bridge that he''d watch out for Gabriel once he''s finished his own field assessment, leaving a Vespid guard infected with Bea''s split to keep tabs on Gabriel, and enough food tost him for over a month, Serena and Kain left Dark Moon college and teleported to Fallingstar City.


    When they teleported into Fallingstar City, Kain stumbled slightly, catching himself before he could lose his bnce. He straightened, brushing off imaginary dust and shaking his head with a faint smirk.


    "Finally getting used to this," he muttered. "I didn''t even feel like throwing up this time."


    "Congrattions," Serena replied dryly, already moving to the edge of the temporary teleportation circle, without any signs of difort.


    She didn''t wait for Kain, expecting him to follow, and he did, falling in step beside her as they navigated the sparsely popted city streets.


    Fallingstar City was arger city that Brightstar City, but still didn''t have a permanent teleportation center like the first-tier Starfire City. Therefore, it seems as though a temporary teleportation circle was set up in a rtively unpopted area of the city, in a back alley away from prying eyes.


    And not far from their target destination¡ªan isted house on the city''s outskirts that would serve as their base of operations for this mission. And also where their new teammate will be waiting for them.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 314 New Mission Details

    The house was unremarkable, with weathered walls and a modest garden overgrown with ivy. The faint creak of wood greeted them as Serena pushed open the front door. Inside, the furniture was sparse but functional¡ªtwo furnished bedrooms, a couch in the living room, a small dining table, and a kitchte.


    Standing in the dimly lit living room was a girl about their age. She turned at their entrance, her dark eyes assessing them cautiously.


    Sitting in the dimly lit room, she practically fused with the shadows. Her paleplexion, jet-ck hair, and all-ck attire only added to the slightly gloomy air around her.


    Her hair was cut into a short, uneven bob, with strands framing her face in a way that looked both deliberate and careless. She was slender, almost willowy, her posture slightly hunched as she sat on a stool, as if to make herself less noticeable.


    "Hello. I assume you are the students from Dark Moon? I am Lina Crestfall," she said, her voice soft but steady. Although herck of prolonged eye contact seemed to hint that she was feeling uneasy in their presence.


    Kain nodded, stepping forward. "I am Kain," he said pointing to himself and then Serena, "This is Serena. You are Starfire College''s choice for this operation, I presume?"


    "Correct." Lina''s eyes flicked between the two of them before lingering on Serena''s face for a moment longer.


    Serena spoke next, her tone cool. "You''ve been briefed on the mission?"


    "Only the basics," Lina replied, crossing her arms loosely. "Roman Silverhart, theb remnants, and the Southern Region''s undergroundworks. I was told to follow your lead once you arrived."


    Kain raised an eyebrow, exchanging a nce with Serena. That was a relief. Neither Kain nor Serena were keen on taking orders from someone they''d never worked with before, especially since they had a decent understanding of one another''s abilities but knew nothing about hers.


    The three sat around the small dining table, the faint hum of the ceiling fan the only sound breaking the silence. Kain leaned back in his chair, studying Lina with casual curiosity.


    "I can understand why Serena and I were chosen for this mission," Kain began, tapping his fingers against the table. "We''ve taken down one of thesebs before, and our contracts have unique abilities that are tailored for missions like this. But why were you chosen?"


    Lina blinked, surprised at the question. "I wondered the same thing," she admitted. "I''m not even in the top five of my year, so you wouldn''t have seen me at the National Tournament¡ªI saw you bothpete on TV though so I don''t need any convincing on why you were chosen," she said while lowering her head with an embarrassed blush. "And my ability¡­ it''s notbat-focused at all, so I don''t know how much help I''ll be. Even all of my contracts are more focused on healing and support than directbat"


    Kain couldn''t help scrunching his eyebrows in confusion. Did they just assign them a partner as dead weight?


    "Why then, did they say you were chosen?" Serena asked, her voice neutral but direct.


    Lina hesitated for a moment before reaching for her ss of lemonade. "It''s easier to show you," she said.


    Explore more at empiren/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    She lifted the ss and concentrated, her eyes narrowing slightly. After a few moments, Kain and Serena watched as the dissolved sugar in the lemonade began to crystallize, forming tiny white granules that sank to the bottom of the ss.


    "I can separateponents," Lina exined as she set the ss down. "Anything unnaturally mixed orbined, I can break it apart. But it takes time, and it''s¡­ pretty useless in a fight."


    Kain tilted his head thoughtfully, his gaze fixed on the sugar crystals. "That''s an unusual ability."


    "Unusual, but still doesn''t make clear why you are critical to be included in this mission," Serena added, her tone measured.


    "Exactly," Lina said with a self-deprecating shrug. "I was as surprised as anyone to be assigned to a ck Mission. They just told me I''d be ''useful for dealing with the Bees?'' Or Bee-people? It wasn''t clear."


    Kain''s brow furrowed as he exchanged a look with Serena. "Bees¡­" he murmured, before realization struck. "Do you mean the B-series? The B-series of experiments?"


    Lina''s eyes widened slightly. "That sounds familiar. Yes, I think that''s what they said."


    The room grew heavy with an unspoken tension. Kain''s jaw tightened, and Serena''s usuallyposed expression darkened.


    "What?" Lina asked, her voice tinged with unease. "Why do you both look so upset? Sorry that I''m not super helpful or anything, but¡ª"


    "It''s not you," Serena interrupted, her voice unusually sharp. She softened it slightly as she continued. "We''re not upset about you being our partner. But by the fact that theb we will be taking down is part of the B-series of experiments..."


    Kain nodded grimly. "It''s one of the cruelest experimental series for the subjects. They focus on extreme physical and mental modifications by adding animal and mechanical parts to the subject¡ªmost of the time, the procedures cause irreversible damage. The casualty rate is also the highest among all of their experiments."


    Serena folded her arms, her gaze distant. "If theb we''re after specializes in the B-series, our chances of rescuing all the children taken from Morningstar City¡­ they''re much lower than we hoped. It''s been over a month now since they were taken¡­we''d be lucky if even one or two of them are still alive."


    Lina''s face fell as the weight of their words sank in. "I had no idea¡­" she murmured. Her voice wavered slightly. "That''s horrible."


    Kain leaned forward, his tone firm but not unkind. "We''ve seen firsthand what thesebs are capable of. The fact that you''re here means someone likely believes that you can help them. If they''re working on B-series experiments, then being able to separateponents¡ªwhatever that means when ites to people¡ªmight be more useful than you think."


    Serena nodded, her expression softening slightly. "We''ll find out soon enough. For now, get some rest. We start tomorrow."


    Lina hesitated, her lips pressing into a thin line before she nodded. "Alright."


    Serena took the other bedroom, while Kain as the only male was relegated to the couch. However, regardless of the sleeping arrangements, it was difficult for any of them to get a decent night''s rest.

 Chapter 315 Red Magnolia

    It wasn''t difficult for Kain and the to locate their target Roman Silverhart. He apparently spent all of his time at a local club.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The club is situated at the edge of Fallingstar City''s thriving entertainment district, the entrance is hidden behind a dark archway illuminated by flickering red lights and a simple red light-up sign with a red flower its name¡ªthe Red Magnolia.


    The exterior was unassuming, but the muffled bass of music and the faint scent of something floral teased that there was more than met the eye.


    Kain, Serena, and Lina stepped through a pair of heavy velvet curtains, finding themselves bathed in dim red lighting. The atmosphere was suffocating yet hypnotic, the air thick with a faint, sweet haze that seemed to cling to their skin.


    The source of the haze became apparent almost immediately: a towering flower dominating the center of the club that was the club''s signature feature and the source of its name. Explore more adventures at empire


    Its petals glistened as if coated in dew, the deep red was only slightly more vivid and bright than blood. Periodically, it pulsed, releasing another wave of the crimson mist that swirledzily around the room, sinking into the lungs of everyone breathing.


    The moment he stepped in, Kain was immediately able to feel something trying to eat away at his sanity and manipte him mentally, therefore he swiftly directed Bea to infect not only himself, but Serena and Lina with a split.


    Almost immediately, the flower was no longer able to affect them, and they were able to calmly take in the scene of depravity around them.


    The music was an intoxicating blend of bass-heavy beats and sensual melodies, resonating so deeply that it felt like an extension of the flower''s spell. The patrons moved withnguid, sensual movements, many of them without even key private body parts covered.


    Everyone''s faces including Kain and the others were obscured by masks either obtained from the front desk or brought on their own. The masks ranged from elegant to grotesque, but the aesthetics of the mask didn''t matter, they only served to obscure identities. The guarantee of their anonymity encouraged acts they wouldn''t dare do in the daylight.


    Kain''s gaze swept the room, not sure how to feel that among the numerous unidentified liquids and substances, his bottles of spiritual beer were the mostmon beverages being served.


    ''Tsk tsk¡­looks like I''m going to have to deal with one of my most loyal customers¡­''


    In this club, Kain''s spiritual beer was practically used as water, as people used it between breaks of harder liquors. Some that Kain recognized, he knew were only slightly better than directly ingesting poison.


    Tables were lined with exotic fruits and bottles of hard glowing spiritual liquors catered to patrons who lounged carelessly on plush cushions or draped themselves over one another.


    A businessman in a crisp suit reclined with a ss of neon-blue liquid, his tie undone and a woman on each arm.


    Across the way, a celebrity whose face was unmistakable despite the mask, leaned over to whisper something to a local politician, her hand resting far too familiarly on his thigh.


    In the shadows near the back, one particrly round man, his wealth evident in the heavy gold chains and rings he wore, sauntered toward a series of darkened doorways, nked by four young and beautiful women who giggled and clung to him. The door he opened offered a fleeting glimpse of a room bathed in scarlet light, with only a singlerge bed and various interesting "devices" hung up on the wall that Kain had only seen in some 18+ movies back on earth.


    There were over a dozen of doors in that area, and Kain suspected that all of them had a simr setup and were currently home to various¡­" group bonding activities."


    As they ventured further in, the oppressive influence of the red haze became more apparent. Patrons seemed less like individuals and more like animals acting on primal instincts.


    A couple openly embraced on a corner couch, their actions far beyond the bounds of public decency. Nearby, two men argued, their voices growing louder before one of them smashed a ss against the table, shattering it. No one intervened¡ªmost didn''t even notice.


    "This ce is¡­" Lina hesitated, her normally pale face tinged slightly red, whether from embarrassment or the haze itself, Kain couldn''t tell. She stayed close to them, her eyes darting nervously.


    "Disgusting," Serena finished for her, her tone clipped. Her hand rested on her weapon, fingers twitching as though she was considering drawing it if anyone got too close to her.


    "But profitable¡ªboth financially and socially," Kain said. "Roman owns part of this ce and out of all of his business, this is the only one that can somewhat see the light. This is due to it catering to the whims of high-profile patrons. For added insurance, I''m sure many of those backrooms also possess recording devices to film any of the less savoury acts performed by any of the visiting men in power, thus ensuring that none in power would dare shut it down. In case those images leak."


    They moved toward the bar, keeping their heads low as they scanned the room. The bartender, a tall man with sharp eyes, prepared drinks with practiced ease, his movements unhurried despite the chaos around him.


    To avoid standing out too much, they all ordered bottles of Kain''s spiritual beers¡ªmight as well support his own business.


    "Roman Silverhart is over there," Serena said quietly, her eyes following a man seated at a secluded booth near the far end of the room. His features were partially hidden by a mask, but his confident posture and the entourage surrounding him left no doubt.


    Kain nodded slightly, before they as a group tried to seem as though they were just so happening to wander in Roman''s direction.


    However, just when one of Bea''s threads, under the cover of the hazy lighting and inhibited senses of the patrons, was just about to make contact, she realized that there were various high-level pieces of enchanted equipment to prevent their approach.


    ''Looks like they learned from their mistakes with Heather, likely suspecting that her mind was read and/or controlled at some point. Or maybe they just valued Roman more to begin with¡­''


    Kain exined the situation to Serena and Lina via their connection with Bea''s split.


    They would need to find a way to infect him that would bypass the guards of the enchanted equipment. Thankfully, Kain just so happened to have experience with doing just that from his first ck mission.


    ''We will need to get him to ingest one of Bea''s splits in a manner that doesn''t raise his guard¡­'' Kain transmitted this thought to the others.


    ''How do we do that?'' replied Lina mentally.


    Instead of answering, Kain just looked with some guilt and hesitation at the stunning figure who, even despite wearing a mask, stood out like she had her own personal spotlight in this dimly lit club.


    Sensing his gaze, Serena''s blue eyes filled with resistance, looked as though she was contemting how to dispose of Kain''s body after murdering him¡­

 Chapter 316 Beauty Trap

    Serena''s icy gaze pinned Kain in ce, her sharp blue eyes a clear warning: Do not even think about it.


    But Kain held his ground, the faintest flicker of guilt evident in his expression as he transmitted his n mentally through Bea''s connection.


    ''It''s the surest way,'' he reasoned. ''If you just walk close enough to Roman''s table, there''s no way he won''t invite you over. You don''t need to do anything beyond getting close enough to drop Bea''s split into his drink. That''s it.''


    Serena crossed her arms, her posture rigid. ''You''re suggesting I lower myself to¡ª''


    Kain coughed out loud to interrupt her rant that was just beginning and hopefully relieve the atmosphere a bit¡ªnot that it worked.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''I''m not asking you to ''lower yourself'' to anything,'' Kain exined, careful to keep his tone even in the charged atmosphere. ''Just... distract him long enough to get the job done. You''re strong enough to handle it. It''s not ideal, but we don''t have many other options. And the longer we take, the more likely that the kidnapped people will die.''


    That final statement seemed to finally chip away slightly at Serena''s intense resistance.


    Lina fidgeted ufortably, her expression torn. She nced between the two before finally murmuring, ''Serena... I know it''s awful, but it''s the best shot we have. We need a distraction so that Roman won''t notice anything, and you are the best distraction. Even I found it hard ot focus when I first met you because of your face¡­''


    Serena''s lips pressed into a thin line, her jaw clenching in suppressed frustration. After a long moment, she exhaled sharply through her nose and straightened. ''Fine,'' she bit out, her tone clipped. ''But don''t think for a second that I won''t get you back for this, Kain.''


    Kain rubbed the goosebumps that suddenly rose at the back of his neck at the very real threat as Serena strode toward Roman''s table, each step measured and deliberate, her figuremanding attention even amidst the haze-filled chaos of the club.


    Heads turned as she passed, her natural elegance heightened by the low lighting and the mysterious allure of her mask. Kain''s confidence in her ability to seduce Roman was not misced; by the time she reached Roman''s section, the men at the table had already taken notice.


    Roman himself leaned back in his seat, a cocky smirk spreading beneath his borate ck-and-gold mask.


    His entourage of high-profile second-generation rich young men and a smattering of women in slinky dresses watched as Serena approached, the men with intrigue and the women with undisguised envy.


    "Well, well," one of Roman''spanions chuckled, elbowing him. "Looks like Roman''s picked his vor for the night a bit earlier than usual."


    Another man snorted, swirling the drink in his ss. "Can''t me him. She''s leagues above the usual crowd."


    Thement drew softughter from the table, though the women apanying Roman red daggers at Serena, their jealousy palpable. One particrly bold woman in a red dress leaned close to Roman, draping herself over his arm as if to mark her territory. Roman, however, shrugged her off with a dismissive gesture, his focus solely on Serena.


    "Care to join us, darling?" Roman drawled, his voiceced with the kind of arrogance that made Serena''s skin crawl. He patted the seat beside him, his predatory grin widening. "Don''t be shy."


    Serena hesitated for the briefest moment, her body unconsciously stiffening as she approached. She lowered herself onto the plush seat beside him, her movements controlled, her spine as straight as a de.


    Though her lips curved into a polite smile, her eyes betrayed her loathing, a fiery re that could have set Roman aze if he had the sense to notice.


    But Roman, either too inebriated to notice or too arrogant to care, leaned closer. "What''s your name?" he asked, his voice low enough to force intimacy.


    "Lily," Serena replied smoothly, picking a random name off the top of her head¡ªlikely inspired by the giant flower at the heart of the club. "And you must be Roman Silverhart."


    Roman''s grin smugly widened at her recognition. "Ah, I see my reputation precedes me. Tell me, Lily, what you to my club?" He makes sure to emphasize his ownership stake in the business, hoping to impress her. Your journey continues with empire


    "Curiosity," Serena answered, deflecting with practiced ease. Her voice was cool but not cold, the perfect bnce to maintain his interest without encouraging him. "I''ve heard stories about this ce, and I wanted to see for myself."


    Roman chuckled, his hand sliding a little too close to her knee. "You''ve chosen the right guide, then. I''ll make sure you see everything worth seeing."


    Serena resisted the urge to recoil, her fingers tightening into a fist beneath the table. Roman''spanions continued their teasing, making crude jokes about her presence and Roman''s luck, while the women at the table looked as though they might w Serena apart.


    "Tell me, Lily," Roman said, his gaze raking over her, "where are you from? I haven''t seen you around before, and I''m sure I''d notice a woman like you"


    "I travel often," Serena replied, sidestepping his question. "I don''t stay in one ce for too long."


    "Interesting." Roman''s hand grazed hers under the pretense of reaching for his ss. Serena barely resisted the urge to pull away, her nails digging into her palm instead. "A free spirit, then. I like that. I also like to act¡­without any inhibitions." He said while cing one of his arms around her shoulder.


    Serena, lowered her head, but Kain could tell that she was mere seconds away from breaking the hand on her shoulder that was in danger of brushing a little too close to an unwanted area.


    Kain had Bea suppress her negative emotions briefly to prevent her acting out¡ªotherwise all of the effort they''d already made would be wasted.


    As the conversation continued, Roman''s questions grew more invasive and Serena yed along, her responses calcted and sinct. All the while, she bided her time, waiting for the moment she couldplete her task. Finally, Roman grew distracted, turning tough at a joke one of hispanions made and taking his eyes off of her for the first time in a while. His ss, still half-full, sat unattended on the table.


    With a practiced motion, Serena reached for her own drink and brushed her hand against Roman''s ss as she picked up her own. In that brief contact, one of Bea''s splits slipped from her palm and into the liquid, instantly infecting the liquid without a trace.


    Serena leaned back, feigning rxation as the conversation resumed. Inside, her tension didn''t ease until Roman lifted his ss to his lips, taking a long sip without suspicion.


    Making eye contact with her as he drank, Serena gave him a genuine smile for the first time that night¡ªlikely encouraged by the attention, he made sure to quickly finish the ss.

 Chapter 317 - 137: Four-Stars

    Chapter 317 -137: Four-Stars


    With her mission aplished, Serena found an excuse to leave¡ªmuch to the dismay of Roman. He leaned back in his chair, a glint of frustration barely masked by his smirk as she rose gracefully from the table.


    "Leaving already, Lily? The night''s still young," Roman called after her, probably in a tone that he considered charming, but was just irritating to Serena and clearly showed his possessiveness.


    Serena didn''t falter, her mask concealing any hint of difort as she turned slightly, offering a polite but curt smile. "I''ve seen enough for one night. Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Silverhart."


    When it seemed Roman might stoop so low as to gesture for one of the guards to block her path, Kain acted swiftly. Through the split now connected to Roman, he had Bea subtly control the man''s thoughts, redirecting his attention. Roman''s hand, which had been halfway to signalling at a guard, fell back to hisp, his gaze growing momentarily unfocused.


    "Suit yourself," Roman muttered after a beat, brushing off the moment with a slightly slurred voice, as if the various substances avable in the club were finally getting to him.


    The ease with which Roman relented surprised even his entourage, who exchanged confused nces. Kain, watching from a distance, smirked faintly.


    Seeing how surprised his entourage was, Kain and the others could tell that he is not one to typically take no for an answer from women. Although surprised, the members of Roman''s group chose to not mention it to spare his pride.


    Once he and Lina had left the club and met up again with Serena, Kain turned his focus to the information transmitted by Bea.


    Now connected to Roman''s mind, Bea was sifting carefully through memories to uncover anything of value. Scenes flickered past like shards of ss¡ªparties, meetings with other elite figures, ndestine exchanges of information... and then something more significant.


    The image of a polishedboratory shed vividly. Roman had stood in the center of a high-tech room, his usual swagger reced by an almost reserved attentiveness of a student before their professor as a scientist presented their findings to him.


    Apparently, unlike Heather, Roman was offered a "sponsor''s showcase" where theboratory would present its most recent results to Roman. This was enough to confirm what Kain had already thought, for whatever reason this organization seemed to value Roman a lot more than they did Heather. She was a lower-level pawn that never got the opportunity to see anything rted to the research.


    Kain dug deeper. The showcase was an event scheduled two weeks from now, an opportunity for Roman to witness firsthand the results of the research his generous funding had enabled. Therefore, as long as Kain and the others waited for this so-called showcase, they would be directly brought to theboratory.


    When Kain resurfaced from Roman''s thoughts, Bea ryed the new intel to the group. "We have a solid lead," she said. "But the bad news is... we''re stuck waiting for two weeks. Roman has no way to naturally make direct contact with theb until the showcase."


    The team groaned collectively. Two weeks of idle waiting while people could be experimented on and dying was frustrating.


    However, back at their base, Kain was determined not to waste the downtime. "I''m going to use this time to break through to four-stars," he dered, his determination clear.


    Lina perked up and nodded happily. After all, she wasn''t meant to be the mainbat force of this mission, so the stronger her partners were, the better and safer it was for her.


    Seeing her agreement, Kain turned warily toward Serena. Her icy re met his gaze, her crossed arms radiating silent fury. Clearly she had not let go of him using her as bait¡­


    He cleared his throat, opting for diplomacy. "Serena... I''d appreciate it if you refrained from any acts of vengeance while I''m breaking through."


    Her lips quirked into the faintest smirk before she rolled her eyes. "Rx, Kain. I know when it''s the appropriate time to settle personal matters. You''re safe... for now."


    Her response, though not entirely reassuring, was enough to allow Kain to focus.


    He went to the room previously used by Lina, since he would be too easily disturbed if he were to remain in the living room. Lina, likely intimidated by Serena presence, offered to take the couch instead of pushing her way into sharing the other bedroom with Serena.


    Closing his eyes, his consciousness sank into his star space, where the shining light of three stars in a row plus a fourth dimmer were silently suspended in a triangr formation, with the sole acting as the single point far from the baseposed of three stars.


    During his previous breakthrough, the Kain believed to be rted to his gift had formed. He wondered if this breakthrough will also bring any changes to it.


    Steeling his mind, Kain drew in a deep breath and began. The process was familiar but no less daunting, especially due to the much greater amount of spiritual power that surged through his body.


    The spiritual power, now a bright yellow only slightly tinged with orange, was far denser than what he had worked with during his third breakthrough. The strain was immediate, and Kain clenched his teeth as he guided the energy in his star space to a single location to begin the delicate task of condensing it.


    He focused on gathering the energy at an equidistant point from his existing stars, aiming to form a stable fourth. But just as before, resistance emerged.


    The same strange force originating from the that he''d encountered during his third breakthrough pulled spiritual power towards itself,plicating his efforts.


    This time, however, the resistance was more aggressive, likely due to it being fully formed and much greater in power,pared to when it was just being born.


    The spiritual energy he directed seemed to flow backward at times, dispersing chaotically and threatening to destabilize the entire process.


    Kain didn''t panic. He''d been here before. He just needed to stay focused. He adjusted his approach to the one reminiscent of what he''d adopted during the formation of his third star.


    Yet the resistance only grew stronger as spiritual power kept getting drawn to the. The once-silent orb began to emit a faint hum, its surface glowing softly as streaks of spiritual energy coiled around it like tendrils of light.


    ''What now?'' Kain grumbled already exhausted by this strenuous process that had already been going on for who knows how long. His frustration was mounting. But even as he considered ignoring the and focusing solely on the star, an instinctual voice in the back of his mind stopped him.


    The was reacting to the spiritual energy, just as it had during his third breakthrough. This time, though, the reaction felt more deliberate, as if the itself was alive and...hungry.


    Kain shifted his focus. Instead of resisting the pull of the, he allowed a small amount of spiritual energy to flow toward it. The reaction was immediate.


    The absorbed the energy greedily, and its surface grew brighter, the swirling colours of white, green, brown and blue on the grew more vivid. Moreover, the resistance within his star space lessened slightly, enough for him to regain control.


    Kain carefully allocated a portion of the spiritual energy to the while continuing to condense the core of his fourth star. The process was delicate, requiring him to bnce the demands of the and the star simultaneously.


    However, Kain was worried about the''s demands for spiritual power would impact the size and quality of his fourth star. Thankfully, after allowing for a momentaryps in concentration to send a portion of his consciousness to his equipment, he was able to activate the instant refill of his spiritual power.


    It looks like in the future, Kain would need to always have equipment capable of restoring his spiritual power nearby when attempting future breakthroughs due to the in his star space.


    Hours¡ªor perhaps days¡ªpassed in this timeless expanse. Kain''s mind ached from the effort, his concentration was pushed to its limits. Yet as the fourth star began to take shape, the also underwent a transformation. It had almost doubled in size, and now somewhat dwarfed the stars meant to house his spiritual contracts.


    With onest surge of willpower, Kainpressed the spiritual energy into a stable form. The fourth star emitting a brilliant glow finally stabilized, its bright yellow light pulsed rhythmically. The strain in the space vanished, reced by a harmonious bnce as the fourth star settled into ce.


    Exhausted, Kain turned his attention to the. The''s massive size seemed to inadvertently have another effect on the space.


    The smaller stars housing Bea, Eve, Aegis, and soon his fourth contract, orbited the in a synchronized dance, the various colours emanating off of them casting an aurora-like effect on the surface of the.


    Moreover, he could feel a deeper connection to the than ever before. It pulsed faintly, almost as if acknowledging his presence¡­as if it had some slight consciousness.


    For now, though, Kain was far too drained to delve further into its mysteries. His mind left the star space, returning to the physical world. As his eyes fluttered open, he felt the ache of his body from not moving for days. His surroundings were quiet, save for the muffled sounds of hispanions in the living room.


    He reached for a ration from his space ring and ate mechanically, before promptly falling asleep in an exhausted heap.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 318 Massive Changes

    Once Kain slept for¡­ording to his phone nearly 20 straight hours, he immediately sent his consciousness back into his star space, wanting to investigate the changes.


    The familiar sensation of weightlessness enveloped him as his awareness slipped into the star space.


    Immediately, Kain was struck by the huge changes before him, which he hadn''t been able to fully process immediately after his breakthrough due to how exhausted he was.


    The at the center of the star space was colossal now, farrger than it had been before. Its surface radiated a natural brilliance of jewel tones greens, blues, and yellows that seemed almost unreal. It was as though every corner of the pulsed with life.


    Surrounding the, the four stars orbited it in sync. Their light spilled across the surface, casting an aurora-like glow that danced along the clouds, seas, and vastndscapes. It was beautiful.


    Kain focused on the itself, descending his consciousness toward the surface. What he saw made him pause in awe.


    It was no longer a barren sparsely popted ce¡ªit was a paradise untouched by the scars of human civilization.


    Enchanted forests stretched endlessly, their sky-high canopies shimmering under the lights of the stars above. Rivers, so clear they seemed like liquid crystal, snaked gently through emerald-toned valleys.


    But what truly caught Kain''s attention was the sheer abundance of life. For the first time, he could sense the presence of spiritual creatures aside from Aurem.


    Most of them were aquatic, concentrated in the vast oceans that made up the majority of the''s surface.


    The most plentiful spiritual creatures in the ocean were jellyfish, their translucent bodies glowing faintly with the hues of the spiritual power that suffused them.


    Kain couldn''t help but think back to the jellyfish he had fed the Bloom of Ascension. Likely these were its descendants.


    These jellyfish descendants disyed incredible diversity. Some were massive, their bell-shaped bodies spanning several meters, while others had developed long, trailing tendrils that glimmered and shone like cords strung with Christmas lights.


    Although varied, all of them were still at ck-iron quality and had not managed to surpass white-grade spiritual power.


    In fact, Kain could sense that, despite beingters, there were some spiritual creatures and nts in the water that surpassed the jellyfish in quality and level.


    There were other aquatic spiritual creatures, too¡ªsleek fish with scales that shimmered like rainbows, serpentine eels coiling gracefully among coral formations, and even enormous, turtle-like creatures with shells that gleamed like polished onyx.


    Kain''s gaze shifted to thend, where a smaller number of spiritual creatures lived¡ªby far, the majority ofnd creatures were still ordinary.


    He observed agile, fox-like animals with golden fur that shimmered faintly and antelope-like creatures with spiralled horns that pulsed with faint energy.


    Birds with luminescent feathers soared in the skies, their calls resonating with a soft, almost musical tone.


    What truly shocked Kain, however, was the number of spiritual nts onnd. Scattered across the surface, but most dense around the tree of life, they grew in extraordinary abundance, outnumbering the spiritual creatures onnd and in the sea several times over.


    Continue reading at empire


    From glowing ferns to trees with fruits that radiated gentle light, the spiritual nts were all unique species that Kain had never seen before.


    As he observed the nts. He realized that he could instinctively sense their effects due to his control over all creatures on this.


    Most were designed to increase spiritual power, but some had unique properties¡ªnts that exuded calming auras, fruits that sped up healing, and flowers that seemed to give a chance at obtaining a specific elemental attribute if eaten.


    None of these nts or creatures exceeded red-grade spiritual power, but their sheer presence was a remarkable shift from the''s previous deste state.


    Kain was marvelling at the transformation to the when something drew his attention¡ªa connection far greater than the others and only slightly inferior to his connections with Aurem and the Tree of Life.


    It came from a region close to where he had sensed Aurem, but he could confirm that it was not him.


    Kain willed himself toward the source of the pull. He instantly appeared surrounded by a dense forest near the base of a small mountain, not far from the Tree of Life.


    The pull became stronger as he approached, and when he broke through thest line of trees, the sight before him stopped him in his tracks.


    There was Aurem, still bearing its signature radiant, golden form. The dragon now exuded a more overwhelming presence than before, and this time it wasn''t alone.


    Standing nearby was a magnificent azure dragon, its scales shimmering like sapphire gemstones under sunlight.


    The dragon''s lithe, serpentine body moved with an almost regal grace as it carefully gathered various items¡ªberries, roots, spiritual nts, and even the remains of recently hunted creatures¡ªand presented them almost reverently to Aurem who was lounging under the shade of the tree of lifezily.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Finally thiszy dragon took the initiative to form life," Kain thought, as hepared the new blue dragon, the Azure dragon in the eastern myth. But it got harder topare this servile blue dragon to the mighty Azure dragon in the myths the longer Kain watched.


    A dry smirk tugged at his lips, "Figures that you would only take the initiative to create life in order to just be morezy¡­"


    Aurem''s creation clearly wasn''t motivated by a desire to popte the world. No, this dragon wasn''t apanion¡ªit was a servant that Aurem had created to serve its needs.


    Kain''s attention shifted back to Aurem who had noticed Kain''s presence. Its golden aura pulsed faintly and its long tail wagged leisurely back and forth as it raised its chin as if to proudly say: Look at what I''ve done.


    Not wanting to discourage more creation, Kain only pat him on its massive head with a wry smirk while taking out some of the highest quality fruits he''d collected along the way.

 Chapter 319 Sponsor Showcase

    The two weeks leading up to Roman''s sponsor showcase passed quickly.


    Kain spent much of the time training, both alone and with his team, ensuring that they adjusted well to their new increase in strength.


    After his breakthrough, all of his spiritual contracts¡ªBea, Queen/Eve, and Aegis¡ªalso brokethrough to green-grade. Stay tuned to empire


    The location of Roman''s sponsor showcase was an unassuming building on the outskirts of the city, a stark contrast to the opulence he usually surrounded himself with.


    A dirty and shabby exterior, heavily guarded by security teams hidden in concealed locations. If one were to just chance upon theboratory, they probably wouldn''t even notice that they were being watched by numerous guards.


    Kain couldn''t help butpare the security here to the one they previously destroyed. Either the research here was more valued, or they upped their security at all of their locations following thestboratory.


    Roman, dressed in his usual sharp suit, exuded his characteristic arrogance as he arrived. Yet, his movements betrayed a flicker of excitement. Who cares how many people and children need to die during the course of research, as long as they can help him achieve great power.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Roman was not allowed to bring anyone with him into the building, preventing Kain and the others from controlling him to say that they were members of his entourage so that they could enter through the front door with him.


    Once Roman entered the building, Kain continuouslymunicated information obtained from the split inside Roman, to Serena and Lina, building a detailed map of theb and identifying potential points of interest.


    "Second floor, southeast wing¡ªstorage for research records," Kain noted mentally, Bea transmitting the details instantly. "Underground level, heavy guard presence. Likely where they''re keeping test subjects."


    As Roman reached arge conference room, he was greeted by the lead scientist¡ªa gaunt, sharp-featured man with a cold demeanor.


    The room was filled with two other ordinary people¡ªwho Kain assumed were also likely sponsors or rted to the research center in some way. They were all seated around a long table, each bearing an air of wealth and entitlement. Monitors lined the walls, disying diagrams, data charts, and video feeds of theb''s operations.


    "Mr. Silverhart," the scientist began with a thin smile, addressing Roman. "Wee to the showcase. We''ve prepared a presentation tailored to your esteemed status as one of our most generous benefactors." Roman was led to sole chair at the end of the table, that the other two unknown men were nking. The other two men showed clear dissatisfaction at being seated at a position inferior to Roman, but Roman seemed to revel in it.


    Roman grinned cockily, reclining in his chair. "Let''s see if your work is worth the investment."


    The showcase began with a sterile walkthrough of theis scientific achievements since thest showcase. It was all highly technical, meant to impress the wealthy sponsors with talk of "progress" and "revolutionizing humanity."


    But as the presentation progressed, the tone shifted.


    "Now, we''ll introduce you to the results of ourtest human trials," the scientist announced. The casual nature of his words sent a chill through Kain. Roman, however, leaned forward, clearly intrigued.


    The lights dimmed, and arge monitor disyed a series of video clips. The footage was horrific.


    The first clip showed a group of test subjects strapped to tables, their bodies writhing as scientists injected them with glowing green liquid. The substance spread visibly through their veins, turning their skin a sickly hue. The subjects'' screams were muffled, but their pain was evident.


    "Subject B053," the scientist narrated. "A failure. The infusion destabilized cellr structures, resulting in aplete breakdown of biological integrity."


    The video showed the subject convulsing violently before their body seemed to disintegrate into a disgusting flesh-toned puddle of goo.


    "Subject B057," the scientist continued, the footage shifting. This time, the subject survived the process but had undergone grotesque transformations¡ªelongated limbs, distorted facial features, and a constant, twitching motion.


    "These subjects possess enhanced physical abilities but limited cognitive function. They serve as excellent disposable assets for high-risk operations."


    Roman''s expression was one of cold fascination. "Impressive. But surely you''ve produced more... refined results?"


    The scientist nodded. "Indeed. Allow me to introduce Subject B71."


    The screen switched to a live feed from a containment cell. Inside was a figure that appeared almost human¡ªtall, lean, and radiating an unnatural aura. Its eyes glowed faintly, and its movements were smooth and deliberate. But something was chilling about its expression, a soulless malice that sent a shiver down Kain''s spine.


    "This subject has achieved stable integration of the gic materials from a unique species of spiritual creature developed in an affiliatedb, resulting in significant enhancements in strength, speed, and endurance. We''ve also maintained higher cognitive function, making it suitable for advanced operations."


    Arge older man seated to Roman''s left pped slowly, clearly impressed. "Now that is what I''m paying for."


    Kain transmitted this information to Serena and Lina in real time, "I think we''ll need to be mentally prepared," Kain said afterwards. "Not only may we not be able to rescue most of the kidnapped civilians, we may even have to fight and kill them if they''d been turned to mindless abominations used forbat."


    As the scientist continued the presentation, Kain''s attention was drawn to a side monitor disying a live feed from the underground level. Rows of cells lined the walls, each containing a single, haggard individual.


    Kain''s fists clenched in anger. Clearly, it was more than just the children kidnapped from Morningstar City that were being kept here. Probably civilians from multiple nearby cities were kept in the cells at this location. Thisboratory was definitely of a higher level than the one at Brightstar City.


    The showcase''s sterile horror was a jarring juxtaposition to the nonchnce with which the scientist continued. The presentation transitioned seamlessly into a live demonstration as armed guards escorted Subject B71 with thick metal cuffs encasing all of its limbs, onto a stage separated from the meeting room with a ss wall.


    A set of humanoid dummies rose from the floor of the stage area at the side of the room, equipped with defences and equipment meant to simte the average 4-star beast tamer. Without hesitation, the moment its chains released B71 sprang into action.


    Its speed was breathtaking, crossing the space in a blur. One dummy was reduced to fragments with a single swipe of its elongated ws. Another, fortified with a metal frame, crumpled under the force of a powerful kick.


    Roman leaned forward in his seat, enthralled. "Impressive. What would its strength beparable to?"


    "A green-grade spiritual creature, Mr. Silverhart," the scientist replied. "We''ve stabilized its energy output at this level for now, but we believe it has potential for further advancement."


    Roman''s lips curled into a smirk. Even if it took time for the research to reach a level where he could awaken an affinity himself, he should be able to solidify his status and get rid of any obstacles with these humanoid weapons. The other two sponsors also likely had simr thoughts.


    Apuse from the satisfied sponsors rang throughout the room.

 Chapter 320 Sponsor Showcase (2)

    The presentation continued, moving on to more experimental and grotesque disys of humanity''s desperation to transcend its limits and hically obtain power.


    A series of live feeds yed across the monitors, showcasing abominations created in theb''s pursuit of forcing humans to awaken an affinity or gift.


    The next video after the live demonstration showed a subject strapped to a table, their torso bare. Scientists in sterile white coats operated with methodical precision as they opened up his ribcage to expose the still beating heart.


    Next to the metal table that the subject was lying on, was a reptile with all four limbs also chained to a neighbouring table, on its back with its chest also cut open to expose its heart.


    "What you are seeing now is the procedure of subject B083. This subject has been grafted with the heart and bone marrow of a rare Holy me Gecko," the scientist exined, his tone clinical.


    "Historical ounts of this creature describe instances where those exposed to its blood developed rudimentary fire-based gifts. Early tests indicate limited sess in transmitting this potential through heart and bone marrow transntation. However, this subject''s synchronization remains unstable, and his body is deteriorating under the strain."


    Another screen switched to a figure whose legs had been reced with what appeared to be the lower half of an Abyssal Panther. The creature was infamous for its ability to manipte shadows and merge with its surroundings. Unlike the previous subject, this individual had retained some measure of physical capability, pacing the cell in visible agitation.


    "Subject B091," the scientist said. "Leg grafting from an Abyssal Panther. It has been reported in ancient texts that consumption of its raw flesh has led to the awakening of dark-attribute affinities in rare instances. No observable awakening of an affinity yet, though enhanced agility and reflexes have been noted. We''re still analyzing the subject''s exposure to spiritual energy radiating from the graft."


    The monitors cycled through increasingly grotesque attempts: a man with grotesque wing-like appendages fused to his back, an elderly subject whose body had been partially submerged in a solution derived from Spirit Jellyfish. One particrly interesting experiment had them using abination of sigils and materials to form a portal to one of the few realms anchored to their (such as the infernal realm), in order to attempt to form a connection between the test subject and whatever was through the portal. Unfortunately, the attempt was a failure.


    Unlike theboratory in Brightstar City, the subjects in thisboratory were far more numerous and variable in age.


    However, despite the variety of test subjects, the results were uniformly horrifying¡ªgrotesque hybrid transformations, mental degradation, or outright death.


    The rare sess stories seemed as much the product of luck as science, with the recipients showing either iplete or unstable increases in power, with no reported sess stories of a stable means of awakening affinities or gifts.


    However, Kain forced himself to continue watching. Every video provided them with slightly more information. Every new room was to be added to the search agenda. Every time a new guard was caught in the frame of the video, Kain kept track of them to get a more urate count of the total number likely present.


    Kain monitored these broadcasts with grim determination while passing on all of the information obtained to his allies. Big or small, all information was recounted in order to help them with refining their strategy. As always, Serena''s wish-making contract, Balens, was the keystone of their ns.


    "How about something to limit their power?" Lina suggested. "Like making anyone stronger than us unable to fight at full strength."


    "It''s a good option," Kain replied, "but I''m worried about the cost of a wish that strong. We also need intel. A wish to locate all test subjects would let us prioritize our objectives and reduce the likelihood of them taking off with or putting down any subjects they can''t escape with."


    Serena said thoughtfully. "We can split the cost if we limit the duration of the wishes. Say, 90 minutes for suppressing stronger enemies and 60 minutes to reveal the subjects'' locations. That''ll reduce the overall price to be paid but still give us a clear edge."


    Kain nodded in agreement, "Then we need to n when we make the wishes precisely since there will be a time limit."


    "First, we need to figure out how we''ll safely infiltrate the facility," Kain began. "Which will be difficult based on the information collected so far."


    "Based on the security footage we''ve seen, the facility operates under extremely tight surveince," Kain continued, gesturing to a crude map they had drawn from the data gathered so far, marking the approximate locations of the guards, their routes, and any other staff and subjects. "There are multipleyers of defence¡ªpatrolling guards, high-tech cameras, and most likely hidden spiritual wards that''ll alert them to intruders."


    "Not to mention," Serena added coolly, "that they''ve likely installed countermeasures against invaders, especially after what happened in Brightstar City. They are on higher guard than ever against another breach."


    "However," Kain smirked slightly, "Most of their countermeasures won''t matter if Bea can covertly take over some of their guards¡ªwe''d get all the information we needed on their security measures and be able to infiltrate more easily.


    "I think once it''s dark enough, Bea''s threads¡ªwhich are already practically unnoticeable¡ªwould be invisible in the night. Not to mention, all of the guards at the front door so far have been 5-star beast tamers with the same level of spiritual power as the green-grade Bea. Therefore, they wouldn''t be able to sense the threads either, and she would be able to fully control them."


    Kain was thankful that unlike the sponsor Roman, the guards were each equipped with expensive pieces of enchanted equipment to repel mental-attribute attacks and infiltrations¡ªlikely they all lived at the facility and are not expected to frequent anywhere where they''d run into someone other than their co-workers. Stay updated with empiren/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "However, I''m worried about any surveince equipment they have capable of picking up spiritual power fluctuations."


    Serena was about to suggest that they could, unfortunately, make another wish when Line cautiously raised her hand. "I think I will be able to help with that¡­"

 Chapter 321 Rescue Operation Begins

    The operation began as soon as nightpletely fell. Of course, by this point all of the sponsors had already left. However, Kain, Serena, and Lina had already sent the information and names of each of them to their respective colleges¡ªthey would all be paid a visit before the sun rose again.


    One of Lina''s contracts had the ability to obscure spiritual power fluctuations, therefore Bea''s threads were even more difficult to detect in the darkness.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Therefore, contact was sessfully made with all 5 guards on lookout duty outside of the building.


    Once Bea was able to rifle through their memories, a more detailed n was made. Now they had knowledge of all the security measures, rms that could be tripped, and surveince cameras within the video.


    Sketching a map of the building with all surveince measures, rms, and traps marked, Kain and the others noticed that in an obscure area of the wall, there was a brief blind spot¡ªone that they chose to capitalize on.


    All 3 of them discreetly made their way to the spot, and then when the guards passed by the blind spot as though fulfilling their normal duties of making the rounds, Kain quickly controlled them to strip and hand their clothes to him.


    He redressed himself in their uniform, and then, making sure to keep his face slightly lowered, continued on surveilling the outside of the building as though he was the guard¡ªusing the memories obtained from Bea to act as naturally as possible.


    In less than 30 seconds, the figure of the "guard" reappeared back in front of the cameras, with the guards monitoring inside none the wiser.


    Over the course of 20 minutes, Serena and Lina did the same, although they were unhappy at the prospect of wearing the clothes of strange men, they did what was needed.


    They selected the shortest two guards from those on duty, but even still the physique of the guards wasn''t a great match for the 2 women. Therefore, they kept severalyers of their own clothes on underneath to appear bulkier¡ªthis also helped to prevent their skin from touching the fabric of the uniforms.


    They all acted as naturally as possible,municating with one another silently by using Bea as a ry center for their messages.


    Finally, at around 2 in the morning, there was a shift change after a brief break, and they rotated with the guards indoors to switch routes¡ªseamlessly prating into the building.


    During the process of the changeover, noticing that there were no cameras in the staff lounge, Kain had Bea infect every single guard he came across, including those about to take over touring the outside of the building¡ªensuring that they wouldn''t report the corpses of the 3 guards whose bodies were hidden in the camera blind spot.


    Once Kain and the others were alone in the lounge, Kain leaned against the doorframe as they were about to leave "Lina, Serena, you''ve got the map and route assigned to the guard you''re imitating memorized?" Continue your adventure with empire


    Serena adjusted the ill-fitting guard uniform, her voice calm and measured despite her difort. "Every detail."


    Lina also nodded nervously, this was her first mission at such a high difficulty and danger level.


    "Great." Kain continued, "The guards that were just in the lounge won''t notice anything since they''ve been controlled, but inside, there are still higher-ranked personnel. A few are resistant to Bea. We will avoid them if possible and travel together until it''s time to perform more broad searches of specific areas. Let''s go." Kain doubted that Serena would need any help, especially with Balens, this statement was mostly to cate the nervous Lina.


    Thankfully, all of the staff responsible for monitoring the cameras were fairly low-level, and so Bea had easily managed to control most of them during the shift change. He made sure that the ones sessfully controlled selected monitors responsible for monitoring the cameras on the routes of Kain, Serena, and Lina.


    They moved swiftly through the corridors, their stolen uniforms blending them in with the environment. Every time they passed another staff member, Bea also infected any they hadn''t yet had a chance to and subtly adjusted their movements or memories to keep suspicions at bay.


    The facility was abyrinth of cold steel and glowing monitors. Rooms lined with cages held test subjects in various states of experimentation, their muffled cries and rasping breaths filtering through the metal doors.


    Lina flinched as they passed by the rooms. "We''lle back for them," Serena reassured her, "Focus on staying unnoticed for now."


    Finally, they reached the reinforced door leading to the east wing basement where the majority of the researchers, high-level guards, and plete" experiments were being kept. Two guards stood at attention, their spiritual power radiating faintly in the air¡ªa clear sign of their higher level.


    "Hey! Who are you and why have you left your posts? Nobody else should be assigned to this location." One of the guards interrogated them.


    ''Now would be the time to make the wishes, Serena'' Kain transmitted silently to her through the connection with Bea.


    "Hey, you punks! I asked why you¡ª"


    Suddenly the guard felt as though his body became twice as heavy in an instant and his words cut off in shock.


    They could both sense that something was wrong and moved their hands to trigger their own respective rms.


    Kain and the others struck quickly. The wish for the reduced strength of any enemies they came across was only 90 minutes. Thankfully, the weakening effect wasn''t widespread throughout the facility and only came into effect when within attack range of an enemy. Otherwise, even if they did manage to take down these guards, rms still would have been raised.


    Lina had one of her contracts, arge silk worm, create a small wave of shimmering threads that wrapped around the guards'' wrists, immobilizing them further. Her voice trembled slightly, but her resolve didn''t waver. "They''re pinned. Finish it quickly."


    Thankfully, after their strength was reduced, they were unable to break free. Moreover, the weakening effect of the wish was all-round, meaning that Bea was able to take control of them, despite being one level lower. However, it still presented a challenge and strained her connection to the other guards she was controlling. Therefore, unfortunately, Kain was unable to use these guards to attack or ess other areas of the facility. They were both immediately killed after reading their memories without even being able to summon their contracts.


    Kneeling by the guards and rifling through their pockets, Kain pulled out a pair of encryptedmunication devices and a ring with a faintly glowing inscription. Based on the memories of the guards, the door required 3 methods of authentication to open¡ªa retinal scan, a handprint scan, and this ring that acted as a key.


    Once Kain shared this news with the others, Lina looked on with confusion as Kain approached the 2 guards with a dagger now in his hand, before the horrifying realization of what he was about to do dawned on her.


    "I think I''m going to throw up," She mumbled while covering her mouth. Her face now a sickly pale green.

 Chapter 322 Body Disposal

    Kain didn''t know if he should be disturbed or proud that he''d gotten so adept at butchering apart bodies for parts.


    The de in his hand moved with practiced efficiency, slicing cleanly through flesh and bone as he removed the guard''s right hand and eye. His movements were deliberate and controlled, no hesitation slowing him as hepleted this grim task.


    ''No different from obtaining spiritual materials from any other spiritual creature¡­'' Kain thought with a dark sense of humour.


    "Disgusting," Lina muttered, her voice strained as she turned away, pressing a hand to her mouth. She kept her distance, avoiding the metallic tang of blood in the air.


    Serena, remainingposed, stood nearby and on guard of any other guards happening upon this scene her gaze sharp and unwavering. "Just make sure you don''t damage the handprint,"


    "I''m not an amateur," Kain replied curtly, rising to his feet with the severed parts in hand.


    "Any ideas on how to dispose of the bodies?" Kain asked. None of his nor Serena''s contracts quite had that skill. Now more than ever, Kain wished that he had a space-attribute spiritual creature like the captain''s taotie.


    And they couldn''t exactly risk the attention destroying the bodies with fire would bring, it was easiest to stash them away somewhere. And unfortunately, due to their inexperience, all 3 of them had packed their space rings to the brim with all manner of supplies in case of an emergency. Therefore, there was no room for 2rge bodies unless they were willing to leave some of their materials in the hallway¡ªwhich would defeat the purpose of covering their tracks.


    Moreover, Kain had already told the others about his full space ring so he couldn''t even stash the bodies in the System Laboratory, while pretending to put them in the ring.


    Swallowing down the vomit that was about to rise up her throat, Lina shook her head "I have a contract that can swallow up arge volume, but it''s an herbivore."


    "Unfortunately, that doesn''t help us Lina since these men are clearly not nts¡­wait will it eat mushrooms?"


    Kain suddenly remembered the incubator in the System Laboratory where he''d stored all manner of microorganisms when entering a relic previously. One of the microorganisms he stored happened to be a fungus that would rapidly dpose flesh within seconds to quickly grow mushroom shoots.


    Lina nodded hesitantly, "It''s not his preferred meal, but he''ll eat it¡­" Find more to read on empire


    Receiving the confirmation, Kain immediately knelt next to the bodies and sprinkled a handful of the mushroom spores that were stored in the incubator onto the body, making it seem as though he was taking it out of his space ring to not raise any questions in the others.


    Immediately upon the release of the spores, the air grew damp and earthy, carrying a faint, fungal scent as the first signs of activity began to stir.


    From beneath the corpses, thin tendrils¡ªmycelium¡ªsprouted. They were pale white and delicate, quickly threading through the flesh like invasive roots. Within seconds, the threads thickened and multiplied, overtaking skin and muscle with rming speed. Patches of the guards'' uniforms tore as clusters of mushrooms burst forth¡ªsmall at first, then swelling into vibrant caps of red, brown, and ghostly white.


    The bodies shuddered as dposition elerated unnaturally. Skin shrivelled, copsing into a paperyyer that ked away; muscle fibres dissolved into a viscous, ckened mush; even bones softened and cracked as the mycelium wrapped tightly around them, feeding voraciously.


    Lina turned away, horrified, the nauseating sound of soft squelching and crunching filling the air. "You want my precious Silky to eat THAT?" she whispered, her voice shaky. Kain didn''t even bother answering the obvious question.


    Within less than a minute, the guards'' bodies werepletely gone, reduced to a sprawling carpet of plump mushrooms. Kain would actually be tempted to pick some to eat if he was in the wild and didn''t know what they grew on.


    Kain rose to his feet, brushing dust from his hands, "Call out your ''precious Silky'' and let him know it''s dinner time."


    Lina nodded reluctantly and immediately summoned a fat white silkworm and conveyed her intentions to it.


    Thankfully, unlike its owner, the worm didn''t have any resistance to the free meal and put away all of the mushrooms in less than 30 seconds. What remained was a sterile tiled floor without even a speck of blood remaining. ''That''s a heck of a way to clean up a crime scene¡­'' Kain thought, making sure to keep this method in his back pocket.


    With the matter of the dead bodies dealt with, Kain turned to the thick metal door blocking their path.


    He ced the stolen key ring on the ring finger of the decapitated hand and stepped toward the biometric scanners embedded in the door''s frame.


    He read in the guards'' memories that the security system checks for more than just physical matches. It looks for warmth, cirction, and even traces of living energy¡ªlikely to guard against situations like this. But this was nothing to Kain.


    Summoning Queen, after transmitting his thoughts to her, she immediately radiated a soft, green glow that enveloped the hand and eye, and within moments, the hand and eye warmed slightly, their pallor reced by a faint vitality.


    At least temporarily, the hand and eye should read as being attached to a living person. But the effect won''tst long.


    Kain positioned the severed eye against the retinal scanner, after a tense pause, a beep rang out. Kain then pressed the warm guard''s hand wearing the key ring against the scanner, and a soft beep signaled sess.


    The reinforced door hissed and slid open with a mechanical whir, revealing a shadowy staircase leading deeper into the facility.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Let''s move," Kain ordered, ncing back at the others. "No time to waste."


    They descended quickly but made sure to keep their footsteps as silent as possible, Kain summoned some of the Vespid guards to fly in front and behind them to guard against any sudden attacks.


    The staircase led them into a sprawling, dimly lit corridor with caged rooms lining both ends of the sterile hallway. However, all of the rooms they had passed so far appeared empty.


    The way forward was led by the Vespids, however just as they passed one of the seemingly empty barred rooms, a razor-sharp w reached through the bars and tore into Lina''s side.

 Chapter 323 Mercy Kill

    Kain rushed to Lina''s side, cursing under his breath as blood seeped between her trembling fingers. The wound was deep, the rough and jagged edges making any possible stitching of the wound even more difficult¡ªthankfully that was unnecessary for him.


    "Stay still!" Kain ordered, his voice firm as he directed Queen to begin healing Lina.


    Lina gritted her teeth, tears of pain welling in her eyes, but she nodded wordlessly. After all, thest thing they''d need after getting this far would be too be exposed by her screaming out loud.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    A pale green light surrounded the wound, and Kain could see its edges begin to fuse together at a rate visible to the eye.


    Serena, had already summoned all of her contracts and had a sword in each hand, while staring guardedly at the figure inside of the cage-like cell.


    Inside the cell, a hulking hybrid loomed that was almost a solid ck that seemed to fuse with the shadows¡ªexining why its presence wasn''t sensed until it got too close.


    Its body was grotesquely muscr, with patches of ck scaly, reptilian skin stretched taut over bulging muscle.


    Its wed hands gripped the bars, and its feral eyes glowed faintly in the very limited light that reached the cell from the hallway.


    This was definitely a product of the B Series, Kain confirmed upon seeing the fusion of human and spiritual creature.


    Its face retained a vaguely human shape, but the distortion of its features made it clear that whatever it once was, humanity had been stripped from it.


    The hybrid let out a guttural snarl, its ws scraping against the steel bars. It was imprisoned, for now, but the force it exerted made the reinforced metal groan ominously.


    "It''s quite powerful," Kain murmured in contemtion. He could understand why Roman and the others would be so excited upon the proposal of receiving a small personal army of them.


    Kain himself contemted controlling it to fight for him, especially since its reduced intelligence meant it had a lower mental strength than the average green-grade spiritual creature and controlled by Bea with greater ease. After all, they were created to be easy to manipte and control by their masters.


    However, despite its monstrous form, its gaze held a fleeting quality that gave Kain pause¡ªsomething sad, pleading, even as it bared its teeth.


    Kain hesitated in enacting the n that crossed his mind. He knew that hybrids like this were created by forcibly fusing unwilling civilians with spiritual creatures. This wasn''t just a monster; it was a victim.


    ''On the flip side, wouldn''t the victim inside appreciate the opportunity to take down the owners of thisb itself?'' Kain tried to justify to himself.


    But as the hybrid met his eyes, Kain''s resolve faltered. Was that truly sadness, or was he imagining it? His mind shed to the captives described in earlier reports¡ªtheir lives destroyed, turned into tools for others'' gain. Would using this creature be any different than what theb had done to it?


    His jaw tightened. No. This wasn''t right. Assuming that he knew what it wanted to simply continue using it as a weapon for himself, would make him no different from the researchers in thisb.


    It''s better to put it out of its misery.


    Decision made and without consulting his allies he issued amand mentally to the Vespid guards. A few lined up outside of the cell, and proceeded tounch their stingers at the hybrid.


    The creature thrashed violently, its ws raking the air and its tail mming into the cell walls. But as the energy-draining effect of the lodged stingers took effect, its movements slowed.


    It dropped to its knees, chest heaving, its feral snarls fading into weak, rasping breaths. The glowing eyes softened as it sagged forward, its enormous frame trembling under its weight.


    Kain met its gaze one final time. The rage was gone, reced by something quieter, almost peaceful. In the fading light of its eyes, he thought he saw a glimmer of thankfulness, faint but unmistakable. He knew that he had made the correct decision.


    "Let''s move," Serena urged, her voice cutting through the stillness.


    Kain nodded, turning his attention back to Lina. "You okay?" During the time it took to kill the hybrid, she appeared to have been pretty much healed. There was a ton of blood on her uniform now, but she was no longer actively bleeding.


    Lina nodded hesitantly, and Kain saw that, after a round of healing and being fed royal jelly, she didn''t even have a scar remaining.


    The trio pressed onward, and the sterile corridors gave way to a new section of the facility¡ªdimly lit and lined with unmarked doors on either side. The faint sound of muffled breathing and the asional shuffle of footsteps made it clear that they had entered the residential quarters for the facility''s top personnel.


    They crept along the hall, their footsteps light to not make any noise. asionally, the soft snore of a sleeper behind a closed door reassured them that the upants were still unaware of their presence.


    But not everyone was asleep.


    Two doors opened as they passed, each revealing a figure stepping out. The first¡ªa wiry man rubbing his eyes, clearly just awakened¡ªnever had a chance to process what was happening.


    Kain surged forward, his de piercing the researcher''s chest in a swift, calcted motion while Kain''s other hand covered the researcher''s mouth. The man fell silently to the ground, his blood pooling on the pristine tiles.


    The second figure¡ªa woman clutching a steaming mug¡ªmanaged a half-formed scream before Serena''s de arced through the air, silencing her. The two bodies were swiftly dragged back into their respective rooms, out of sight. Kain and Serena exchanged a nce but said nothing.


    They pressed onward, reaching the end of the corridor without further incident. But just as Kain reached for the handle of the next door, a faint click echoed above them.


    His blood ran cold.


    "Freeze," Serena hissed, her eyes darting to the ceiling. A small, nearly imperceptible sensor blinked to life¡ªa red light shing ominously.


    "A pressure-sensitive panel," Kain realized aloud, his voice bitter. "Even the guards we killed didn''t know about it. Dammit!"


    Before they could react, a shrill rm red through the corridor, its deafening wail splitting the silence. Enjoy new stories from empire

 Chapter 324 Outnumbered

    The loud rm red relentlessly through the corridors, an earsplitting ringing that would make sure that everyone in or around the building would hear it.


    The once empty hallway within the sleeping quarters erupted into chaos. Doors burst open, and over a dozen heavily armed guards stormed into the corridor, their expressions ranging from groggy confusion to razor-sharp focus.


    The first wave of spiritual creatures appeared almost instantly. Most of the guards were 5-stars, but due to their higher ranks than those guards without the privilege to enter this level, they mostly all had at least one blue-grade spiritual creatures, one level higher than their masters'' five-star level of strength, not to mention that there were two six-star guards among them


    They werepletely outnumbered.


    Their only saving grace was the wish made by Balens was still active, ensuring that the blue-grade spiritual creatures were not much stronger than their own contracts, while the green-grade spiritual creatures were not much of a threat.


    Kain barely had time to process the overwhelming force before the first wave of attacks came.


    Serena dove into the fray with her twin des, slicing through a water-element beast that lunged at her.


    Lina, now mostly recovered from her previous injury, summoned a light-attribute butterfly, the same species that Leonara contracted, which formed protective barriers around each of them. Along with the walls of stone formed by Aegis, and a shimmering shield of starlight formed by Serena''s Starweaver, they were able to buy precious seconds as Kain began the process of leveling the ying field.


    They were outnumbered, badly. Even with their wish weakening their opponents, the sheer volume of enemies and the presence of the six-star guards tipped the scales against them.


    Thankfully, he had Bea.


    Bea''s spiritual link pulsed, and Kain could feel the ripple of control she exerted on the guards stationed in the less confidential areas of the facility. Momentster, the sound of heavy boots and growls of spiritual creatures approached.


    The controlled guards and their beasts flooded the room, seemingly rushing to assist their supposed allies. But as they entered the battle, Bea issued a silentmand to attack their "allies" from behind.


    Chaos erupted.


    The controlled guards turned on the unsuspecting high-ranking personnel, catching them off guard. The room descended into pandemonium as friends became foes, and confusion spread like wildfire.


    Spiritual creatures turned on individuals who were previously friendly with them, and the air was filled with screams of betrayal and the visceral sounds ofbat.


    One of the six-star guards roared in frustration, rallying the remaining uninfected guards. "They''ve likely controlled them! Focus on the intruders!"


    The distraction bought Kain, Serena, and Lina some breathing room, but it wasn''t enough to turn the tide entirely.


    Therefore, while many of the guards and their contracts were distracted by the betrayal of their former allies, Bea''s barely visible mental threads darted out, seeking targets among the remaining weaker 4 and 5-star guards and any green-grade and lower contracts. Even one more turned guard will greatly ease their pressure.


    Then, amid the chaos, one of the researchers bolted toward a console at the far end of the room. Stay updated with empiren/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Kain''s heart sank. His instincts were telling him to stop him.


    "Stop him!" he shouted, but Serena and Lina were both too preupied to act.


    Kain could only send one of the Vespid guards after him, and it did manage to send its stinger straight into the spine of the running researcher, but not before he hit a button.


    The researcher used thest of his life force to m his hand onto a control panel as he felt his energy and blood being drained from his body.


    A series of metallic nks echoed from the walls. A dozen concealed openings in the ceiling were revealed. They must lead to the cages in the levels above, releasing a variety of hybrids. Who immediately attacked those around them.


    Kain braced himself for an assault, but the hybrids ignored him entirely, their savage eyes locking onto Serena and Lina instead as well as many of the controlled guards.


    He realized the reason in an instant: the key ring that he currently had in his pocket. The hybrids had been trained¡ªor conditioned¡ªto identify some aura emanating from the ring as a marker of authority.


    Serena''s eyes darted to him, her face grim as she deflected a hybrid''s ws. She seemed to have made the same conclusion.


    Fortunately, Serena and Lina weren''t their only targets. Unfortunately for the controlled guards, many of themcked the ring to ess this floor and became instant targets.


    As the hybrids tore through their ranks, Kain took advantage of the confusion to strike at the six-star guards.


    He and Serena''s contracts attacked together.


    One of the blue-grade contracts of the opponents, easily one of the most powerful on the field, was a hulkingva-coated bear.


    Currently, Serena''s Starweaver was using a huge amount of its energy to suspend it in the air like a fish on a hook. Meanwhile, her Elemental Guardian, now in its water-attribute serpentine form was bombarding it alongside many of the Vespid guards.


    Its hide was thick, so most stingers did not prate deeply; however, the ones that did were constantly draining its energy, and the strung-up bear was helpless to remove them.


    Bea''s threads, meanwhile, snaked toward the one green-grade contract of the same 6-star beast-tamer wrapping around his mind. Bea made a conscious decision to not try to control any of the Blue-grade contracts¡ªeven if Kain boosted her abilities with the spiritual skill, it would still take a massive amount of her energy and concentration. While wrestling for control of a 6-star beast-tamer or a blue-grade contract, she may end up losing control of the individuals she already has working for her.


    Indeed, the green-grade contract bound to a 6-star beast-tamer was different. There was a wave of energying through its contract, preventing them from controlling it easily. The resistance was formidable, but Kain activated the spiritual skill and Bea pushed harder.


    With a guttural scream, the spiritual creature, a green-grade fire-attribute serpent sumbed, and turned on its former ally, unleashing a torrent of mes that seared the corridor at the blue-grade spiritual creatures it shared the same master with.


    It didn''t do much harm to them, but it was the most formidable distraction. After all, they couldn''t kill it since the broken contract would cause severe bacsh to their shared beast-tamer.


    Kain had used just one of the beast-tamer''s contracts to limit the movements of his remaining 5 contracts. And not only did Kain not feel bad about ''ying dirty,'' seeing the twisted expression on his opponent''s face, he revelled in it.


    ''It really is true that victory favours the cunning, not the noble¡­''

 Chapter 325 Carnage

    The sound of chaos filled the air¡ªcries of pain, the sh of ws against barriers, and the guttural roars of hybrids tearing through anything in their path¡ªincluding some guards that hade as reinforcements that Kain hadn''t controlled.


    And as the battle worn on, the exhaustion of their group began to show.


    Controlling the minds of so many spiritual creatures and their tamers, including some that were just a hairsbreadth away from blue-grade and stronger than her, was taxing enough, but in this frenzied environment, the pressure mounted. Bea was nearing her limit. And Kain had already used his second instant refill of spiritual power.


    Thankfully, there was no immediate danger to their safety. Aegis mmed its massive stone fists into the ground, summoning a wall that erupted between them and an iing horde of hybrids. The monstrous humanoids wed at the barrier, their sharp talons leaving deep gouges in the stone, but they didn''t get through.


    Serena''s Starweaver unleashed a storm of arrows, each bolt piercing a hybrid or blue-grade spiritual creature at vulnerable areas with pinpoint precision. However, while the mobility of many of them was affected, it still didn''t drastically reduce the threats they had to deal with, especially since hybrids were asionally still falling through the openings in the ceiling.


    However, at least slowed down, the Vespid guards were able to lodge stingers into them that continuously drained their energy.


    Lina, as the weakest stayed further back behind them, her contract worked frantically to keep as many of Kain''s Vespids alive as possible.


    Her light-attribute butterfly hovered behind the line of Vespids, its glowing wings casting a protective armour that absorbed attacks around each of them. A fireball exploded against one Vespid, sending ripples of golden light around its abdominal region, but it held firm.


    Her silk worm spat adhesive threads at a pack of hybrids rushing toward Serena. The threads hardened on contact, tangling their legs and pinning them to the ground.


    But it was her dark-attribute contract the Shadow Veil Moth that made the greatest difference. With a flutter of its ck wings, the moth emitted a dark mist that swallowed the battlefield, plunging it into a disorienting darkness. The guards and their creatures faltered, striking out blindly at shadows.


    However, Bea was able to still sense much of her surroundings using her now even more obscured threads and transmit the locations of certain targets to her splits. Therefore, the darkness hardly affected them.


    Thankfully, the wish from Balens was still in effect, or the sense-dampening effect of her contracts would be nearly so useful. Even now, the blue-grade spiritual creatures were not as affected as the green-grade contracts and were still able to locate and target enemies in the mist.


    Indeed, even with the thick mist a pair of ck wolves, both blue-grade, were still able to locate Kain and the others.


    They impressively managed to jump over the wall created by Aegis and lunged at them. Aegis braced itself, intercepting the attack with its stone arms. The impact sent cracks spidering through his surface, but their trusty shield Aegis held firm.


    Bea''s threads darted toward one of the wolves, but the beast resisted fiercely, snapping and thrashing. Kain cursed under his breath. Controlling a blue-grade creature was nearly impossible without sacrificing the control of the weaker ones already under Bea''s influence.


    Thankfully, Serena''s Elemental Guardian had seen their predicament and doubled back.


    Her Elemental Guardian shifted again, this time into its fire-attribute form. One wolf howled in pain as the intense mes engulfed its fur, forcing it to retreat.


    But the other massive wolf leapt over its fallen ally and the surrounding mes, its jaws snapping at Kain. Aegis intercepted once again, tackling the beast mid-air. The two tumbled across the ground, locked in a brutal struggle.


    Taking advantage of Aegis'' advantage in size, it pinned the wolf down, just long enough for both Kain and Serena to move forward and stab the wolf''s vital areas.


    Not before long, a loud scream rang out as one of the 6-star beast-tamers sensed the loss of his contract. And it was precisely during that moment of vulnerability that Bea struck.


    A thin thread of mental energy waiting nearby, concealed by the mist, sprung forward the moment the beast-tamer screamed in pain. Its mental defences were much easier to prate during this period.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Now, for the first time, Bea was controlling a 6-star beast-tamer. Kain, still a newly advanced 4-star beast-tamer was actually controlling someone 2 ranks higher than himself.


    There was a reason the mental-attribute was so greatly feared by all. Whereas physical and mental defences could be easily established, mental ones are not so easily strengthened naturally or by using equipment. Not to mention any sudden emotional or mental turmoil, such as the loss of a contract, can greatly lower these mental defences and allow an individual weaker than themselves ess.


    The controlled six-star beast-tamer froze for a split second, then turned on his allies. His remaining contracts hesitated briefly, however as blue-grade spiritual creatures, they weren''t foolish. They didn''t immediately start attacking their allies and they were aware that their master seemed to be under some kind of terrible mental influence.


    ''I guess they need a little push¡­'' Kain directed Bea to have the beast-tamer enter the fray directly to attack his allies. And said allies were then forced to attack back in confusion.


    Now, even if his contracts knew that this wasn''t the normal actions of their master, they also couldn''t allow him to be maimed or killed by the other guards who were defending themselves. Although they did their best not to kill the other guards, they were practically out ofmission as they all tried to frantically restrict the movements of their contractor and prevent him from attacking others.


    Kain and the others were immediately able to breathe easier on the battlefield as all of the 6-star beast-tamer''s contract withdrew to guard him.


    With their new reprieve, they took the opportunity to kill the majority of the opposing 4 and 5-star guards not yet under their control, as well as their contracts. For the remaining two 6-star guards, they sent the dozens of controlled guards to encircle and attack them. Despite the difference in level, with the debuff provided by Balens to the 6-star guards, which no longer affected the controlled guards as allies, they would eventually be able to kill them.


    After all, even an army of ants could bite an elephant to death.


    Therefore, Kain and the others focused mostly on cleaning up the numerous hybrids, which had fortunately stopped entering but were still over a dozen in number and ruthlessly attacking the controlled guards.


    The hybrids, feral and seemingly inexhaustible, were still the most immediate threat.


    Kain''s Vespid guards swarmed them, their stingers piercing tough hides and sapping the creatures'' strength.


    Lina''s light-attribute butterfly bolstered the Vespids, its radiant wings forming shields that absorbed heavy blows from the hybrids'' ws. Even so, the tide of battle remained precarious due to their presence alone, with the hybrids tearing through several of the controlled guards and leaving their corpses scattered across the battlefield.


    Kain had Bea attempt to control them, but appears as though, after all their mental strength shouldn''t be very high.


    However, it appears as though, in order to ensure that they did not attack the researchers and obeyedmands, something had been imnted into the brains of these pleted'' humanoid weapons. And so controlling them wasn''t much easier than attempting to control a 6-star beast-tamer.


    Since Bea was ineffective, they moved on to n B


    Discover more stories at empire


    Serena''s Starweaver sent an avnche of starlight arrows, many of which punctured vital points. Her Elemental Guardian, back in its wind form, whipped through the battlefield like a sentient storm. The vortex it created not only immobilized several hybrids but also hurled them into walls and each other with bone-shattering force. Two hybrids collided mid-air, their forms crumpling lifelessly to the ground.


    By now, both of the 6-star beast-tamers had also fallen, despite their resistance, they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers, so the controlled guards also joined the fray against the hybrids.


    Bea directed the controlled guards to deliver coordinated strikes. In a synchronized onught, swords, ws, and stingers descended on the hybrids, leaving no survivors.


    As the opponent crumpled to the ground, a tense silence settled over the room. The mist from Lina''s Shadow Veil Moth began to dissipate, revealing the carnage left behind. Bodies of hybrids and guards alike littered the floor, their blood pooling in the cracks of the stone.


    "Is it over?" Lina asked, her voice trembling as she surveyed the aftermath.


    Kain looked around instead of answering her. Something was unsettling him.


    There were dozens upon dozens of corpses¡ªhuman, animal, in between¡ªbut aside from the two that Kain had discreetly killed when they first entered, all of the dead humans were in guard uniforms.


    Most of the researchers were still atrge.

 Chapter 326 The Summoning Circle

    Their mission was far fromplete as long as those researchers weren''t dealt with.


    Kain and the others looked for them together, while the remaining guards controlled by Bea were used to expand the search. Under Bea''s influence, the controlled guards spread out across the facility, methodically searching each room for any of the remaining researchers.


    Of course, when a kidnapped civilian was located Kain made a mental note of their location and vowed toe back for them once it was safe.


    Finally, good news came from one such controlled guard who transmitted the location of a hidden room.


    Although they couldn''t see into the room, the spiritual contract of this particr guard, which appeared as a ghost-like figure, was apparently extremely sensitive to auras of life¡ªand it happened to sense 5 such auras within this hidden room. Which also happened to be the number of total missing researchers that should still be alive.


    The three headed toward the transmitted location, while Bea also controlled the guards still searching around the building to also head toward this room.


    Upon arrival, they burst into room locked room by forcefully barreling it down¡ªthe massive Aegis ying the main role in destroying the door.


    Inside, the room was as chaotic as the scene of carnage they''d just left.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    One researcher, a wiry man with frantic movements, was collecting notes and materials, stuffing them haphazardly space rings¡ªinterestingly he had one for each finger.


    Another, a stout woman with a grim expression, was methodically destroying equipment and even the living test subjects they couldn''t take with them, shattering ss containers and slitting the throats of tied up kidnapped victims, whose now pale and lifeless faces were frozen into expressions of shock and despair.


    The remaining three researchers were crouched in a circle, their hands glowing with spiritual energy as they worked on activating an array carved into the floor. The sigils glowed with an ominous red light, pulsing like a heartbeat.


    Not knowing what they had nned, but knowing they should stop it, Kain and Serena both ordered their contracts to attack them.


    Unfortunately, before the attacks could be released, the array red to life. The room trembled, and an ear-splitting roar tore through the air. The glow from the array became blinding, and a massive, grotesque figure emerged from the light.


    The creature was a nightmare brought to life¡ªa hulking abomination of mismatched parts. Its body was a patchwork of spiritual creatures fused together, their forms barely recognizable beneath the hideous fusion of them all.


    Multiple heads, each resembling a beast mid-scream, jutted from its torso, while its many limbs were a ranged from humanoid, to wed, to taloned.


    The creature''s roar reverberated through the room, a chilling blend of anguish and fury. The air around it distorted, and an oppressive aura descended, forcing even Kain and Serena to momentarily falter.


    The researchers looked on in twisted satisfaction.


    Kain gritted his teeth, as the numerous pairs of eyes turned in their direction. "You''ve got to be kidding me."


    The creature lunged.


    Aegis moved to intercept, mming its stone fists into the abomination. The impact sent shockwaves through the room, but the creature barely staggered.


    It retaliated with a swipe of its massive w, leaving deep gouges in Aegis''s surface.


    Its immense strength was a shock to Kain and the others, there was still a little less than 10 minutes left in the active time of the debuff, and yet it was proving far stronger than any of the blue-grade spiritual creatures they''d previously faced, although it was technically weakened.


    This thing was probably the closest Kain had evere to an indigo-grade spiritual creature.


    Serena''s Starweaver loosed a barrage of arrows, each one aimed with precision. The bolts struck the creature''s exposed joints, but the abomination seemed almost impervious, shrugging off the attacks like they were insect bites.


    Lina''s Shadow Veil moth unleashed thick dark mist. The researchers cried out in rm as their vision was obscured and they were unable to continue their activities, but the summoned creature was undeterred. It moved with uncanny uracy, its many heads swivelling to track its prey as if its vision waspletely unaffected.


    When its numerous cold eyes locked precisely onto him, a shiver went down Kain''s spine. Thankfully, by this point the controlled guards had arrived, and he immediately had them stream into the room to target the researchers and serve as meat shields.


    With creature''s focus no longer on him, Kain felt as though he could breathe again, and immediately ordered his contracts to focus on killing every researcher present. As long as the people responsible for the horrible research that went on here weren''t alive, then it''d be a horrible blow to the organization. They''d lose much of the knowledge umted here, as well as the brains capable of performing future experiments.


    However, the chaos of theboratory made them challenging to target, since whatever they summoned also seemed to be protecting them, tearing through the controlled guards with brutal efficiency. Each swipe of its mismatched limbs sent bodies flying, the sound of snapping bones and tearing flesh reverberating through the room.


    The wiry man with the rings cursed under his breath as a Vespid guard lunged toward him, its stinger aimed for his throat. He ducked just in time, activating a defensive artifact on one of his wrists. A translucent barrier red to life around him, deflecting the attack.


    "You want these notes?!" he screamed, holding up a bundle of parchment. "I''ll burn them all! Years of research¡ªgone forever unless you let me leave!" Experience more on empire


    Kain wasn''t sure if the man had delusions of grandeur to think anybody would obviously want his research notes¡ªvery few people probably would. But it just so happened that Kain was one of them¡­ However, although he did want any and all notes here to better help Gabriel, that didn''t mean that he''d ever consider letting this guy go.


    "Try it," Kain growled, his voice cold. He directed Bea''s threads toward the man, and before he could react, a split darted past his mental defences,tching onto his mind. The man froze, his hand trembling as he clutched the papers.


    "Good choice," Kain muttered, forcing the man to drop the notes and having Bea rifle through his memories. Once he was sure that there was no. more information to obtain from his mind, he had Bea kill him quickly.


    Meanwhile, the stout woman who had been ruthlessly destroying test materials and subjects abandoned her work. Blood still dripped from the de in her hand as she stepped forward, her face twisted in anger and desperation.


    "You think you can do this without repercussions?" she snarled, brandishing the knife. "Do you have any idea who we work for? If you kill us, you''ll be hunted down like dogs!"


    ''Wow¡­such a clich¨¦ statement'' Kain thought, not the least bit intimidated. Although Lina beside him started to shake like a leaf.


    Serena''s Starweaver sent a single arrowposed of starlight whizzing past her face, embedding itself in the wall behind her. "Spare me the threats," Serena said icily. "You''re not leaving this room alive."


    The woman hesitated, then lunged at Serena in ast-ditch effort. Serena sidestepped with fluid grace, and her Elemental Guardian, now in its fire form, incinerated the woman before she could get close.


    The remaining three researchers abandoned their attempts at bravado, their faces pale with terror.

 Chapter 327 Retribution

    One of them, a tall man with a sharp face, dropped to his knees, raising his hands in surrender. "Wait! Please! We can make a deal!" he cried.


    Not that he truly meant it, he was merely hoping to buy time until the creature they summoned managed to kill the young man and woman in front of them.


    Kain''s eyes narrowed. "A deal?"


    "Yes!" the man said frantically. "You think killing us will stop this? You''re fools! This organization runs deeper than you can imagine. You''re just scratching the surface!


    "However, I can tell you everything¡ªour contacts, our sponsors, even the location of other main research facilities. You''d never get that information otherwise. Just let me live!"


    Kain just looked at him with an eerie smile on his face, "Unfortunately for you, I don''t need you to live to obtain that information."


    Explore more adventures at empire


    Before Kain even finished his statement, threads of mental energy darted through the air, silent and precise,tching onto the remaining researchers. Their eyes widened in unison, their bodies freezing as Bea infiltrated their minds.


    The tall man, who had just been pleading for his life, twitched violently. His sharp features contorted in panic as he realized that Kain had zero intention of negotiating with him. "No... no! Stop! You don''t know what you''re¡ª" His voice cut off as Bea''s control solidified, silencing him mid-sentence.


    Kain''s eerie smile widened. "That''s the wonderful thing about Bea. You''ll tell me everything you know, whether you like it or not."


    Lina looked pale, her gaze flickering between Kain and the now-stiff researchers. She knew Bea was powerful, but seeing the sheer vition of people''s minds left her uneasy. Especially since she currently had one of Bea''s splits inside of her¡­


    Serena remained impassive, her gaze fixed on the controlled researchers. "Focus," she said coldly to Lina, while directing the Starweaver to continue attacking the summoned abomination that still rampaged in the background, held at bay only by thebined efforts of their contracts and the controlled guards. "Kain has the researchers covered, but we only have a few more minutes to deal with that thing."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Kain nodded. His eyes flickered as Bea began extracting memories. The researchers'' thoughts and knowledge flowed into him in fragmented pieces¡ªa tangled web of locations, names, and horrifying experiments.


    Unfortunately, although this man was the highest-ranked individual in this facility, he didn''t know nearly as much information as he''d alluded to.


    Apparently, as a security precaution, all of theboratories affiliated with this organization function in secret, independently of one another.


    Therefore, he knew nothing about otherbs, the organization''s future major actions, or really anything unrted to this facility.


    Instead of information about who they worked for, what Kain mostly received through Bea were glimpsed shes of their memories¡ªgruesome experiments, desperate children, and the cold efficiency with which they''d justified their actions.


    Seeing that Lina seemed to be pitying them, Kain kindly shared the memories obtained with her and Serena through their mental connection with Bea.


    "They''re monsters," Lina whispered, her voice trembling.


    "They''re worse than monsters," Kain corrected, his tone icy. "They knew exactly what they were doing."


    Kain took a step closer to the researchers, his voice low and menacing. "You''ve outlived your usefulness."


    The tall man''s face twisted in terror as Bea forced him to his feet. Kain wanted to make sue this man was conscious and felt every moment of fear and pain as he died¡ªit''s what he deserved.


    "No! You can''t¡ª"


    Kain''s spear pierced his chest, purposely missing his heart by the width of a finger. He couldn''t let this man die quickly. The researcher screamed as his body crumpled to the ground.


    The others met simr fates, their final moments marked by panic and futility. The stout woman attempted to activate a hidden artifact, but Serena''s Starweaver ended her with a single arrow in her spine before she could seed, rendering her immobile. Although they didn''tmunicate it directly, it seemed as though neither of them wished to let them die quick and easy deaths.


    Kain stood over the stout woman, her body twitching as she tried and failed to move. Serena''s arrow had severed her spine with precision, leaving her alive but utterly paralyzed. Her eyes, wide with terror, darted around the room as if searching for salvation.


    Kain crouched down, meeting her gaze. His expression was unreadable, but his voice was low and venomous. "I hope that there is an afterlife, and you receive back the suffering you inflicted on those innocent people a hundred times over."


    He then stood and walked away, leaving her to die a slow and painful death.


    The abomination let out a guttural roar, pulling their attention back to it, breaking through the protective line of controlled guards. Its grotesque form barreled toward them, its heads snapping and its ws destroying everything in its path.


    Serena''s Elemental Guardian shifted into its earth form and as if perfect mirrors of one another, it and Aegis, mmed their massive fists into the ground at the exact same time. The resulting quake was far stronger than what they could achieve individually, sending it sprawling backward for a moment.


    Aegis and Serena''s Elemental Guardian surged forward again, their massive forms coordinating as if they shared one mind. Aegis''s stone fists mmed into the creature''s chest, staggering it, while the Elemental Guardian, shifted into bird made of mes, unleashed a torrent of searing fire.


    The abomination shrieked, its many heads snapping in all directions as itshed out blindly, but it was still not critically injured.


    Kain''s Vespid guards darted in and out of the mist, their stingers striking at the creature''s exposed joints. The stingers seeped into its patchwork flesh and began absorbing its energy, slowing its movements.


    Lina''s light-attribute butterfly hovered over the group, its golden wings casting protective barriers around their contracts. When the abomination''s ws raked against Aegis, the barrier absorbed the brunt of the attack, leaving only shallow cracks in the stone.


    But even with theirbined efforts, the creature refused to fall.


    "It''s not enough!" Serena shouted, her Starweaverunching arrow after arrow into the creature''s vulnerable points. Each bolt struck true, but the wounds seemed to close as quickly as they opened.


    Kain clenched his fists. "Then we hit it harder. Bea, focus everything on controlling the guards still alive. Force them to attack with everything they''ve got!"


    The controlled guards ran forward without regard for their own life or death, their spiritual creatures unleashing what each would consider to be their trump card. Fireballs, icy sts, and piercing winds struck the abomination from all sides. The room trembled under the onught, but the creature held its ground, although now it at least looked visibly fatigued. But even then, it seemed to be recovering its energy at a rate greater than it was drained.


    Serena''s voice cut through the din. "The array! It''s still active! In addition to summoning it, it may also have support effects.


    Kain''s eyes darted to the glowing sigils on the floor. The red light pulsed faintly, possibly feeding a limitless supply of energy into the abomination.


    This time Kain and Serena directed Aegis and the Elemental Guardian to target the array on the floor, while applying every spiritual skill and boost they had avable to them.


    Their efforts paid off, and a small crack appeared in the array¡ªso small it felt as though their boosted attacks were weak; however, considering the precious metal the array wasposed of, it was impressive that anything below indigo-grade could damage it at all.


    Moreover, that small crack was all they needed to make it stop working.


    The abomination faltered as the array''s glow dimmed, its movements growing sluggish


    Kain''s eyes narrowed, realizing that it was now or never. Based on the time they''ve been keeping track of, there was less than a minute left until Balens'' debuff on the enemy would wear off. "No holding back. Everyone, hit it with everything you''ve got!"


    Lina''s light t-attribute butterfly pulsed with golden light, strengthening the protective barriers and granting a faint healing aura that restored some of the surrounding contracts'' stamina.


    The controlled guards, though dwindling in number,unched a final, desperate assault.


    Aegis surged forward, mming its stone fists into the ground once more. Jagged stone spikes erupted from beneath the abomination, piercing its legs and anchoring it in ce. The creature thrashed violently, its many heads roaring in unison as it struggled to break free.


    Previously, Aegis'' and the other contracts'' many attempts at restraining it were ineffective. However, now it could be restrained by him alone. That array did indeed y a crucial role in its overpowered abilities.


    The Starweaver used a skill he''d never seen before, which caused the red mes of the Elemental Guardian to shift into a blinding white.


    The Elemental Guardian unleashed a devastating wave of fire, engulfing the abomination entirely. The creature''s screams pierced the air as its patchwork flesh began to disintegrate.


    Kain and Serena dashed forward, their respective weapons simultaneously hitting the core of its chest. The abomination let out one final, deafening roar. Its massive form convulsed violently before copsing into a heap of smouldering remains.


    The room fell silent, save for the heavy breathing of the three beast-tamers and the faint crackling of the fire as it spread from the monster to the nearby bodies of the researchers, guards, and various spiritual creatures.


    However, they still had a ton of work to do.

 Chapter 328 Survivors

    The room was heavy with the smell of charred flesh and smoke, the remains of the abomination sizzling on the floor in front of them.


    Kain wiped his spear clean on the clothing of one of the fallen researchers as he passed.


    Kain surveyed the room and then said to Serena, his gaze hinting at her. "Let''s start by securing any information we can. Lina¡­would you mind restoring the energy and healing some of the remaining guards and their contracts."


    Kain quickly came up with an excuse to keep Lina preupied while he and Serena collected the research notes.


    Unlike when rescuing Cherry, this was a formal mission. Therefore, Kain knew that they''d likely be required to turn over any of the research materials that they found to the college


    However, Kain and Serena had an ulterior motive for obtaining the research notes here¡ªGabriel. Therefore, they needed to be the ones to collect all of the notes and materials here, and if they dyed for enough time with turning them over, they should be able to make copies of most of them.


    Lina nodded, though her hands shook slightly from exhaustion. Her light-attribute butterfly hovered near her, its wings glowing faintly as it provided what little healing it could. "Thanks, I don''t think I could stomach reading through any of the notes here."


    The three of them separated to perform their respective tasks.


    They moved quickly, knowing that the longer they stayed in the building, the more likely it was that someone¡ªpossibly the organization''s remaining forces¡ªmighte here.


    Kain moved through the room to where the researchers were lying on the ground dead, examining the now-destroyed tables and counters. He kicked over shattered vials and splintered ss containers, most of which had either been smashed in the chaos or destroyed during their fight.


    Once he was next to the lead researcher, he removed all of the space rings on his hands. There were 5 rings and if each was filled, that would mean the amount of information obtained from here would be several times more than in the previousb they took down.


    Serena moved to the far corner of the room, where a set of filing cabs had been upturned to look for any information not yet collected. She quickly sifted through the scattered papers, her sharp eyes scanning for anything of importance. "There''s something here," she said, pulling out a folder filled with hastily scrawled notes and research logs. "But it doesn''t seem directly rted to their research on modifications or strengthening humans and spiritual creatures."


    Kain stepped over to Serena, his interest piqued. "Anything specific?"


    Serena''s fingers traced the notes. "It''ll take time to determine¡­ pretty much the entire document is just filled with sigils. It looks like they were nning to dive further into research on sigils and even began carving them into some of their test subject" She grimaced at the images of various body parts with bloody designs carved into them, before throwing the folder into one of the space rings she''d taken from a guard¡ªone of the few without any security measures and could be used by them immediately.


    Serena nced over her shoulder, having moved back toward the door. "We''ll have to look into itter. Right now, we need to get out of here and rescue anyone still alive."


    Upon leaving the research area, their next stop was where, based on the memories stolen by Bea, the test subjects were held.


    Those in the process of bing mindless hybrids and still retained some of their sense of self, were housed separately from the plete" hybrids that were their perfect little soldiers.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was also why Kain had no reservation about killing the hybrids instead of having Lina try to treat them, mentally they were no longer human and he has no way of restoring someone''s mind¡ªBea specializes in destroying it.


    They moved through the sterile, cold halls, the silence broken only by their footsteps.


    Turning down a dimly lit hallway, they found a row of reinforced cells. Through bars separating them from the cell''s inhabitants, they could see crammed together human shapes curled up inside, some unmoving, others twitching slightly as if still in a state of shock.


    The air was thick with the stench of sweat and despair. Discover hidden stories at empire


    Lina''s face paled even more at the sight, but Kain kept his expression grim. "Check them," he ordered.


    Lina approached the nearest cell, pressing her hand against the metal bars. Inside, a young womany curled on the ground, her skin pale and splotched with bruises. Her eyes were wide open, but unfocused, as if lost in some nightmarish trance. Next to hery 2 small children, weeping as they clutched one another. One of the young boys seemed to have bloody tears leaking through his closed eyes, while the boy he clutched on to was slightly bigger and strangely had 2 bat-like wings sprouting from his back.


    Kain''s gaze hardened as he took in the scene before him. He crouched next to the bars, studying the two boys huddled together. The wings were malformed and unnatural, the skin where they sprouted raw and inmed, Kain couldn''t quite tell if they grew from the boy on their own due to some kind of gic modification, or if they were sewn into him. Either way, it didn''t appear as though they were fully epted by his body yet.


    Lina knelt beside him, her hands trembling as she reached through the bars to brush the older boy''s hair back. "They''re just kids..." she whispered, her voice choked with emotion.


    Serena stood back, her expression unreadable. "We don''t have time to dwell on this. If we''re going to save them, we need to move now. We can''t afford to linger here and risk reinforcements showing up."


    Then with a nce at Balens, all of the locks for the cells containing survivors opened with a soft click.


    Lina immediately stepped inside, kneeling next to the children. "It''s okay," she said softly, her voice soothing. "We''re here to help you."


    The older boy whimpered, his small frame shivering. "It... hurts," he whispered, his voice barely audible.


    Lina''s light-attribute butterfly moved closer, its wings casting a gentle glow over the boy. The healing energy radiated outward, calming his tremors and easing the pain etched into his face.


    However, to truly help him, and even return him back to normal, it will be a much longer and strenuous process.

 Chapter 329 Survivors (2)

    The group moved down the hallway, systematically opening each cell. Some were empty, others held people in varying states of experimentation. Most were too weak to move, their bodies damaged by the various horrors they suffered through.


    Thankfully, Kain had the Vespid guards to help transport the survivor and fortunately, or rather unfortunately, the number of survivors was not greater than the number of Vespids.


    There were 19 survivors in total, and unlike theboratory in Brightstar City that only had children, this one held children and adults.


    Watching as thest survivor was carried outside of the building, Kain turned to Serena.


    "Time to make this house of horrors disappear." He said.


    Despite its massive size, the majority of the building was still made of ordinary construction materials.


    Therefore, thebination of both Kain and Serena''s contracts, specifically Aegis and the Elemental Guardian, was able to turn the majority of the building into rubble within moments, with all of the controlled guards still inside. For good measure, they even burned the remains of the building.


    Carrying the survivors using their contracts, they reached the house on the outskirts and contacted their respective schools. However, help from Starfire College won''t arrive until tomorrow, while Dark Moon College may take even longer.


    In the meantime, Lina finally demonstrated why she was included as the third member of this mission.


    Kain and Serena helped categorize the survivors ording to the severity of their injuries.


    Of the 19 survivors, one girl who appeared to be in her early twenties hadn''t yet been operated on, ording to her she was a waitress at one of the clubs owned by Roman before she was kidnapped. They had had her for less than 48 hours before Kain and the others arrived. Aside from some bruises that were easily treated, and the mental scars from the horrors she witnessed that Bea helped erase, she was fine.


    However, the situations of the other 18 survivors were much worse. Surprisingly, the next "healthiest" survivor was actually the boy that had bat-like wings grafted onto him. Since an important organ or body part of his hadn''t been cut off, his situation was rtively easy to deal with.


    Lina separated all of the tissue from the grafted-on wings from his own using her gift, while Kain provided royal jelly to quickly heal the remaining scars and Bea offered ''mental treatment.''


    There were 4 other survivors with alterations that were almost as easy to fix¡ªone with gills transnted onto their neck, one with feathered wings, and 2 that had additional limbs grafted onto them. Once these foreign body parts werepletely removed, their situations returned to normal.


    The next easiest to deal with were probably those injected with foreign substances¡ªhad Kain and Serena been alone, they would have been helpless to purify their blood.


    However, due to her gift, Lina was easily able to separate theponents of the blood that came from spiritual creatures, the thick ck liquid they''d injected into 8 of the patients was collected into a bucket which they then set aside for the staff from the colleges to analyze when they arrive.


    However, there were 5 survivors that Lina wouldn''t be able to treat alone.¡ª4 of them were like the young boy they had previously found who was crying tears of blood. Once they had gotten him to finally open his eyes, they were greeted by the jarring sight ofrge yellow eyes with horizontal rectangr pupils¡ªresembling a goat.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Like those that had unimportant body parts transnted onto them, Lina could easily separate the goat eyes from the boy, without any harm to his actual body. However, neither Lina nor Kain and Serena had the ability to grow back body parts.


    Therefore, the boy as well as another 3 victims that had more important body parts¡ªa heart, a pair of legs, and a portion of the brain¡ªremoved and reced, couldn''t be treated through Lina''s efforts alone.


    They would need to wait for help from the colleges who would likely have healers capable of regenerating body parts¡ªhopefully, the healers are willing to take the request¡­


    There was only 1 survivor whose situation was drastically different from the others. A boy who appeared to be in his early teens was not injected with any foreign material or had any foreign body parts transnted onto him. In fact, at first nce the boy appeared to be perfectly fine.


    Kain stood over the boy with the sigils carved into his back, his expression dark. The sight of the intricate, blood-red markings made his stomach turn as they seemed to emanate a malevolent aura. The array was borate, its lines and symbols etched with cruel precision, glowing faintly as if it still retained some dormant power.


    Once Lina finished helping the others to the best of her ability, she joined them next to the young teen lying on his stomach shirtless. "Can we help him?" she asked, her voice trembling with concern.


    Kain frowned, his gaze lingering on the markings. "Not here. This isn''t something we can just remove with brute force or healing. If we damage the array the wrong way¡­" He let the thought hang in the air, the implication clear.


    Serena sighed, frustration shing across her face. "We''ll need an expert. Someone who can decipher what these sigils mean and how they''re tied to him."


    This boy was different from Gabriel. Kain knew next to nothing about sigils and wasn''t confident in helping him; however, there were many cksmiths, array masters, and other professionals affiliated with the colleges that were experts in sigils and would better be able to help.


    Meanwhile, Gabriel''s predicament of needing to be a beast-tamer and cultivate to better control the excess power in the artificial core imnted into him was a different problem that Kain knew all of the top researchers in the empire would be just as helpless against. After all, getting ordinary people to reliably awaken an affinity was something all nations had been helpless with since the dawn of time.


    But Kain''s gut told him that he may actually be Gabriel''s best chance.

 Chapter 330 Mystery Array

    The next morning staff from Starfire College came to escort the 14 survivors ready to go, or take care of the remaining 5 who Lina couldn''t treat on her own.


    Knowing that the treatment for the boy carved with sigils may require the notes they took from the library, Kain and Serena didn''t sleep the night before night.


    Instead, after removing the furniture to fill the living, dining, and second bedroom with temporary beds for those recovering, Kain and Serena stayed in the other bedroom to copy as many of the notes rted to sigils as possible¡ªsurprisingly there were far more than expected.


    Even with the 2 of them working all night, and the use of an enchanted artifact they had brought along for this specific purpose, capable of scanning and rewriting a page''s contents, they almost didn''t have enough time to finish scanning them all.


    When the two exited the bedroom the next day, to Lina''s blushing face while giving them strange looks, they handed her over a space ring with all the notes they''d already made copies of¡ªwhich probably only amounted to less than 20% of the total contents.


    Thankfully, neither Lina nor the Starfire staff noticed that the quantity of notes was much less than expected, and it should by them some time to copy the rest. So while nobody was focused on them Kain and Serena headed back to Dark Moon College.


    Upon arriving they immediately went to Kain''sboratory. They hadn''t seen Gabriel in weeks and needed to check up on him, plus it''d give them a private area to make copies of all the remaining notes before they were forced to turn them in¡ªhopefully, requests for the remaining notes slipped through the cracks for a few more days.


    As they stepped into Kain''sboratory, the familiar scent of ink, parchment, and faint alchemical fumes greeted them. The space was cluttered but orderly, with rows of neatlybeled jars and stacks of research notes lining the shelves.


    Gabriel was seated atfortable bed that Kain had installed along with some other furniture to form a makeshift bedroom for him.


    At the sound of the door opening, he nced up, his tired eyes brightening instantly.


    "You''re back," Gabriel said, jumping up from the bed. "I was beginning to think you''d forgotten about me."


    Kain decided to take Gabriel''s happiness at his as an indication that they had grown much closer over this period¡ªnot that he was mostly happy about Serena arriving, or that he''d have some morepany period.


    Kain and Serena recounted the story of how they took down anotherb to the eagerly listening Gabriel.


    "How were they? Do you think they''ll be alright?" Gabriel asked sadly, he could empathize with the terror and pain of being held captive by these people much better than Kain and Serena could.


    "They should be," Kainforted him, "most if not all of their injuries are easier to deal with than yours, so let''s just focus on you. We brought back some more notes that may be helpful. You rest, while we make copies of these." Kain said before going to his workstation in theboratory with Serena.


    Likely because they didn''t arrive back at the college until quitete, it didn''t take long for Gabriel to fall asleep, even though he seemed so eager to apany them as they went through the notes.


    Kain and Serena worked tirelessly in the quiet of theb, copying the remaining notes with the enchanted artifact they had brought from the facility. The device hummed softly as it scanned and rewrote each page.


    Meanwhile, they began to go through the notes already copied in more depth.


    Many of the documents were written in a cryptic shorthand, with diagrams of body parts, sigils, hybrid creatures, and arrays scattered throughout.


    "What do you make of this?" Serena asked, holding up a diagram of arge sigil array carved into what appeared to be the floor of a chamber.


    Kain studied it for a moment. "It looks simr to the one they used to summon the abomination. But this one is... different. It''srger, more intricate."


    "And there''s this one," Serena said, pointing to a line of text written beside another diagram.


    Kain squinted at the words, his brow furrowing. "''Tomune with the divine.'' What the hell does that mean?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Serena shook her head. "I don''t know. But if they were carving these into people, it was likely that their experiments didn''t just n to end at creating those hybrid soldiers¡ªas we already guessed, they may even intersect with some of the research being performed for the other series of experiments."


    Serena leaned closer to him, and a subtly sweet scent immediately filled his senses. Her sharp eyes scanned the intricate web of sigilsposing an array meant to be on a human body. "Look at the center," she said, pointing to a set of ovepping symbols. While Kain forced himself to snap back into focus.


    ''I must be tired from working for so long¡­''


    "This is the focal point of the array. If I''m reading this correctly, and I may not be since many of these sigils are ones I had never seen before, the most important points in this array seem to have the meanings of ''heaven,'' ''destiny'', ''resonance'' and a ''request for blessing.'' Perhaps this organization is affiliated with some kind of religious extremist group?" Serena stated with evident confusion in her voice.


    After all, although other nations may have a major religion, the Celestial Empire isrgely atheistic. And from what they''d seen of the members of this organization, none made mention of acting in service of some kind of ''higher being.''


    However, after being momentarily surprised that Serena was so adept at reading sigils, Kain''s thoughts headed in apletely different direction. Could these arrays be rted to the mysterious Heaven''s Will?


    The one thing that was serving as the major roadblock in both Kain''s ns for Gabriel to begin cultivating and the main goals of both the Series E and Series X experiments?

 Chapter 331 Mystery Array (2)

    "Are you sure? How confident are you in your knowledge of sigils? Why do you even know so much about sigils?" Kain asked. After all, if Serena''s interpretation was wrong, then he''d waste a lot of time researching an array with little importance to him.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I''m confident enough," she replied, her tone carrying an air of certainty. "And as for why I know so much about sigils, it''s not exactly a secret. The Storm family is one of the founding families of the Celestial Empire. Our education was...prehensive, to say the least."


    Kain raised an eyebrow. "Comprehensive how?"


    Serena smirked faintly. "Comprehensive as in ''you don''t get to choose.'' From the moment we''re old enough to hold a book, we''re taught everything deemed important to the family''s legacy¡ªstrategic thinking, spiritual power theory, extinctnguages, and, yes, sigils. They were a significant focus."


    Kain''s skepticism softened as he listened, and couldn''t help butpare her privileged but burdensome life as a Storm, to the humble yet warm childhood afforded to his siblings at the orphanage. ''I never thought a day woulde where I''d consider my siblings and I to be more fortunate than a legacy.''


    "Sounds exhausting," Kain finally said after remaining silent for several seconds.


    Serena''s smiled sadly, "It was. But it''s also why I recognize sigils like these. Many sigils are rted to extinctnguages or ancient systems of belief. My studies covered both extensively."


    Your journey continues at empire


    Deciding to trust her knowledge, Kain decided to confide in her some of the knowledge he''d previously kept hidden.


    Kain hesitated for a moment before speaking, his voice low. "In some of the previous notes we had taken from the Brightstarb, I came across references to something called Heaven''s Will."


    Serena''s expression grew serious. "I''ve heard the term before," she said cautiously. "But only vaguely in very old text. What those ancient schrs even meant by the term is unknown."


    "From what I''ve gathered, Heaven''s Will is described as a kind of governing force¡ªsomething that enforces the naturalws of the world. And more importantly, it''s the reason why beast-tamers have affinity limitations."


    Serena''s eyes narrowed. "Affinity limitations? You''re saying this... Heaven''s Will is what prevents us from contracting beyond our natural affinities?"


    Kain nodded. "That''s how the notes I read describe it. They think of it as a shackle, something that locks each of us into predefined roles with predetermined potential. No matter how hard you wish, Heaven''s Will sets a hard limit on you from the moment of your awakening ceremony. You can''t bypass it."


    "And they''re trying to break that limit," Serena said, piecing it together.


    "Exactly," Kain confirmed. "The hybrids, the sigils, the arrays¡ªthey''re all part of an attempt tomunicate, circumvent or even manipte Heaven''s Will. If they seed..." He trailed off, the implications hanging heavily in the air.


    ''They could probably easily lead a revolution and take over the nation¡­after all, very few people are probably fully satisfied with their affinity''


    Kain frowned, his mind racing. "The question is, can it even be done? If Heaven''s Will is as absolute as they describe, their experiments might be doomed to fail."


    "However,¡­" Serena, began as she continued to read the notes, "it doesn''t yet seem as though they have gotten crazy enough to try and challenge or control Heaven''s Will. Rather, based on the few sigils I can understand, it''s more likely that this array is more so focused on attempting to rewrite one''s affinity.


    "Most ancient civilizations believed that one''s affinity is due to a blessing bestowed upon them based on what is most suitable for their personality and/or a future obstacle they may encounterter in life. This array seems more like an attempt to cajole the Heaven''s Will into giving another suitable affinity as an option instead."


    If that''s the case, then this organization wasn''t as far in their research of eliminating the need for affinities entirely, as they''d expected. However, just the opportunity to reroll the dice and awaken a different affinity was still priceless to many.


    ''I''m sure the infamous student that awoke an F-rated ice-gold fish affinity in my hometown would jump at the opportunity¡­''


    "However, if we really want to fully understand this array, we''d need to carve and activate it. Thankfully, it doesn''t seem as though it''s necessary to do so on human flesh, we could carve it into anything with a semnce of consciousness." Serena finally finished.


    Kain readily agreed to her proposal, and he just so happened to have the perfect candidate.


    There were many researchers at the college that also needed to perform experiments on living creatures¡ªnot everyone focused on developing new evolutionary forms like Kain.


    However, as normalw-abiding citizens, all research was done on spiritual creatures, moreover before their request to be provided a specific spiritual creature is provided, their research proposal is thoroughly reviewed by a board to make sure it wouldn''t result in any unnecessary cruelty or suffering.


    Even with all of those safeguards in ce to make the research as humane as possible, most research also still had to be performed on a specific type of spiritual creature developed many years ago called the Nihilrat. A small spiritual creature that resembles a rat and ispletely devoid of any pain sensors.


    Once the n of action was decided, things moved quickly. Kain had put in a request for a Nihilrat due to his curiosity long ago, and had had one put aside for him months ago that he hadn''t picked up.


    Going back through his approval documents, he finally located the pick-up room number and the ID of his assigned Nihilrat and fetched it back for Serena.


    They began with shaving the majority of the fur on its back before a sharp metal pen emitting a buzz was pulled out of Serena''s space ring.


    It was unnecessary and crude to carve a sigil deeply into flesh for it to work, and more likely was the option selected by those at the organization due to their unique inclinations for cruelty.


    However, tattooing the sigil onto the body''s surface should be almost as effective, without the grim visuals¡­


    For a while, only the faint hum of the vibrating ''pen'' Serena was using to work filled the room. The Nihilrat waited patiently in ce as she worked, without any signs of difort aside from wanting to stretch its legs every couple of minutes.


    Unfortunately, due to the frequent breaks, and the many finite details of the array, it took almost 8 hours in total toplete. Gabriel had long woken up and was now perched on a stool near the workbench, watching intently. His wide eyes were filled with a mix of curiosity and unease as he observed Serena and Kain''s intricate work on the Nihilrat.


    "Is this going to hurt it?" Gabriel asked softly, breaking the silence.


    Serena nced up, her hands still steady as she worked on the final sigil. "No. That''s the reason we''re using a Nihilrat," she said reassuringly. "It doesn''t have any pain sensors. It can''t feel anything from this process."


    Gabriel nodded slowly but didn''t look entirely convinced. "What happens when you activate it?"


    "That''s what we''re here to find out," Kain replied, his tone more matter-of-fact. He gestured toward the array etched onto the rat''s back. "If this array works the way we think it does, we''ll see some kind of reaction¡ªhopefully one that doesn''t involve theb exploding."


    "Comforting," Gabriel muttered, folding his arms as he leaned back on the stool.


    Serena finished thest line of the sigil, sitting back with a satisfied sigh. She ced the pen down and wiped her hands clean with a cloth. "Done," she announced.


    At the same time the final line of the sigil was activated, the entire array on the spiritual creature began to emit a faint glow.


    However, while Serena and Gabriel were watching the rat intently for any changes, Kain was more focused on something else. The array that was supposed tomunicate with Heaven''s Will, strangely seemed to be calling to him.

 Chapter 332 Alternative Contract Method?

    ''Did Serena get it wrong?''


    But looking at Gabriel and Serena, neither of them seemed to feel anything unusual.


    This array was simr to the one carved into the final victim they rescued, but at that time Kain hadn''t felt anything unusual.


    Kain didn''t know enough about sigils and chose to ask Serena about the differences.


    "That one was targeted," She replied, "If you''ll remember, it emanated a red and creepy aura. That array had sigils that pointed to the underworld realm, likely in an attempt to direct the possible awakening of an affinity to infernal creatures¡ªbut clearly it didn''t work. Since I didn''t make this one targeted at anything, it should just be focused onmunicating with Heaven''s Will."


    Kain was still confused. How could it be confusing him with Heaven''s Will? But upon thinking of the currently home to numerous creatures in him star space, perhaps¡­


    Kain''s heart raced as he mulled over the implications.


    ''If my star space is a, does that make me its will?'' he thought, his heart pounding. It wasn''t an idea he had considered before. He had always viewed the star space within him as a unique phenomenon¡ªan isted area, that honestly still wasn''t sure how to fully use since he couldn''t yet figure out how to take out or bring in living things. The creatures born within that world, the environment he had yed a role nurturing¡ªit was more than just a collection of lifeforms. It was an entire system governed by his energy and his influence.


    The thought was staggering. To the creatures of this space, he supposed he was like a god... everything about their lives waspletely subject to his will.


    He recalled the creatures in his star space, from the simplest beings to the mostplex. They moved, lived, and interacted without direct interference from him, yet they were all connected to his energy. He had given them life¡ª and he could also take it away.


    The pull from the array began to make sense. It wasn''t confusing him with Heaven''s Will. It was recognizing a force simr to it¡ªa will that governed another world.


    ''If Heaven''s Will dictates the rules for forming a spiritual contract in the outside world, then... can I do the same for the creatures in my star space?''


    The idea was both thrilling and daunting. If the creatures in his star space could establish contracts to those in this world without being limited by the Heaven''s Will here, it couldpletely revolutionize the current cultivation methods used.


    Those without an affinity would be able to form a contract¡­ as long as he allowed it.


    "Kain," Serena''s voice broke through his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. She was staring at him, her brow furrowed. "You''ve been quiet for a while. Something on your mind?"


    Kain forced a neutral expression. "Just thinking about this arraypared to the other one. How was the sigils targeted at the underworld even determined. Moreover, even if they developed an affinity to infernal creatures, how would they even get a spiritual creature from there? The entrance to the infernal realm had been closed by the ckheart founder long ago."


    Serena answered him. "It''s not impossible to form a contract with a spiritual creature across realms. Rare, but not impossible. There have been several instances in legends, where someone managed to summon a suitable contract for themselves from another lesser realm¡ªsuch as the elemental realm¡ªbut the means of doing so have beenrgely lost. However, in the Western Continent, their resources and variety of wild spiritual creatures is poor, so they pretty much all form contracts with suitable creatures summoned from the ''Holy Realm'' as they call it. Maybe they adapted the method used by them?"


    Kain raised an eyebrow. This was the first he''d heard about such a method. When at a 1-star level, most required the exchange of bodily fluids with the spiritual creature to establish a contract¡ªlike he did with Bea. Discover exclusive tales on empire


    For Even and Aegis, a blood exchange was no longer required, but he had to at least make physical contact.


    Now as a 4-star beast-tamer, he could probably form a contract without touching the target directly, but he was pretty sure that he had to at least be in close proximity¡ªmuch less able to form a contract across separate realms.


    Serena turned her attention back to the notes, rifling through the stack until she pulled out a particrly worn page. The faint traces of a crude array were scrawled across it, with hastily written annotations in the margins.


    "This," she said, tapping the page, "is a prototype array I found among the notes. It''s iplete and poorly designed, but the theory is intriguing. It''s intended to form a spiritual contract across realms¡ªnot the way we normally do through proximity or mutual eptance, but through what those in the West called a ''destined connection.'' Really, it''s leaving the object of your contractpletely up to luck or, ording to some people, ''Heaven''s Will''¡ª simr to when awakening an affinity. The beast-tamer will have no control over the contract, and the contract is automatic, so even if they do not like the spiritual creature chosen for them, they are helpless to refuse."


    "Destined connection?" Kain repeated, practically leaning on her in his eagerness to more closely examine the page.


    Serena''s face shifted slightly, but ultimately decided not to shove him away. After a moment''s hesitation she nodded. "Supposedly, it means that the spiritual creature and the person forming the contract are alreadypatible on some fundamental level. The array facilitates the bond, allowing the spiritual creature to cross realms to join the contractor."


    Kain''s mind buzzed. Could this be the solution he was looking for?


    "But how would the creature physically cross realms? Many realms, like the underworld have been sealed, and so people can''t enter them, and nor can anything in them leave."


    That was also the issue Kain was currently facing with the creatures in his own star space. He had no way of getting them to leave his space.


    "That''s the beauty of the spiritual contract," Serena replied. "Once the contract is established, it''s not about physically crossing realms. The creature is drawn directly into the contractor''s star space, since spiritual contracts are bonds of the soul. Once in the star space, of course, the contractor can naturally release them in our world."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 333 The Language of Heaven

    Find more chapters on empire


    Kain leaned against the edge of the workbench, his thoughts swirling as he studied the prototype array Serena had uncovered.


    "How did humans determine the sigils to locate the other realms?" Kain asked, his curiosity finally breaking the silence. "How could they pinpoint something as intangible as a realm''s existence and define it with a few symbols?"


    Serena, her exhaustion evident but her mind still sharp, nced up from the notes. "It''s not a simple process," she admitted. "But it ties back to the theory that all sub-realms without their own will are connected to Heaven''s Will in some way. In a sense, it''s like they''re subordinate to it. The names we use to reference these realms were likely derived from that connection. In a sense, in the same way that you gave all of your contracts names, Heaven''s Will also has names for its subordinate realms, and corresponding sigils for each."


    Kain frowned. "But how would humans figure out those names in the first ce? It''s not like Heaven''s Will hands out a guidebook."


    "They didn''t exactly stumble upon them overnight. Ancient schrs experimented for centuries. The prevailing theory is that they used lost spiritual techniques to attune themselves to that realm. Through that connection, they isted the symbolic representation¡ªwhat we now call a sigil. That sigil bes the ''name'' of the realm in Heaven''s Will''snguage."


    Kain leaned forward, intrigued. "So sigils are more than just symbols. They''re... words in thenguage of Heaven''s Will?"


    "Exactly," Serena said, her voice steady despite her exhaustion. "Think of sigils as the writtennguage of Heaven''s Will. Each one represents something specific¡ªa realm, an object, a force. But here''s the interesting part: humans sometimes create sigils that Heaven''s Will didn''t originally recognize. If enough intent, belief, or spiritual power is poured into a symbol, Heaven''s Will can adopt it. From that point onward, the sigil bes the universal representation of what it stands for."


    Kain''s thoughts drifted to his star space. "So if I wanted to create a sigil for something new. The symbol just needs to be recognized by the will of the world to gain any real power?"


    Serena nodded. "Exactly. It''s rare, but it happens. And once Heaven''s Will acknowledges a sigil, it bes permanent."


    Serena stretched and yawned, her exhaustion finally catching up with her. "I think I''ve done enough work for one day," she said, packing up her stuff to leave. "I''ll head back to the dorm. Are youing?"


    Kain shook his head, "I''m interested in these sigils. I think I''m going to study them a little more before heading back."


    Serena hesitated, "Many sigils have immense power and unpredictable effects whenbined¡­don''t go crazy with studying them and identally blow up yourb."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Kain smirked faintly. "No promises."


    Shaking her head, Serena left, leaving Kain alone in the quietb.


    His thoughts returned to Pangaea¡ªthe name he had given the in his star space. As the ''Heaven''s Will'' for that, couldn''t he also create a corresponding sigil for it?


    However, if he was going to create a sigil for his, he didn''t want to just make a simple one casually. It would represent the and everything within it, so enough thought should be put into it.


    Kain checked-out a thick book from the library. Thankfully as a researcher, his card had ess to the building even after its opening hours.


    The book''s spine was worn and its pages filled with sketches ofmonly used sigils. He flipped through it slowly, studying the shapes, patterns, and meanings of each one. He needed to ensure his design didn''t ovep with any existing sigils, as that could lead to confusion¡ªor worse, interference when he made an array.


    He set the book aside and pulled out a clean sheet of paper.


    ''It needs to be elegant, but not overlyplex,'' Kain thought. ''I want it to be recognizable, but also practical to carve.''


    He began sketching, his hand moving with careful precision.


    The sound of pen scratching against paper filled the room. asionally, it''d be interrupted by the sound of him crumpling and chucking the paper with the disliked designs to the floor.


    "This is it!" Kain decided after finally creating a design he was rtively satisfied with.


    The base of the sigil came to him quickly: arge circle meant to symbolize the itself.


    Within the circle, Kain added a smaller circle, slightly off-center, representing the single massive supercontinent of Pangaea.


    He then drew a vertical line bisecting the smaller circle. This line, he decided, would symbolize the Tree of Life itself¡ªone of the most important features of the, and what wasrgely responsible for life to develop so quickly.


    Finally, he added four small stars, evenly spaced, ced in the 4 cardinal directions. They could not only represent the 4 creatures supposedly created by the golden dragon Aurem in the legends, each of which was responsible for a direction, but they''d also represent the 4 stars currently orbiting Pangaea.


    The moment, Kain developed a sigil he was satisfied with, the change happened almost instantaneously.


    The parchment began to glow faintly, the lines of the sigil lighting up with a golden hue. Kain felt a pulse of energy radiate from his star space, resonating with the design. It was as if Pangaea itself was acknowledging the sigil, epting it as its own.


    He ced the parchment carefully on the workbench, his mind already racing with possibilities.


    ''Now the real work begins,'' he thought.


    Kain wasn''t confident in being able topletely carve an array while abiding by his desire to not blow up theb¡­


    Therefore, using a simple pen and paper without any spiritual power embued into it, Kain began to draw some drafts of the array carved into the Nihilrat.


    However, referencing the array that targeted the underworld realm, Kain modified it slightly to target Pangaea.


    Once he copied it down, his confidence grew and he decided to attempt carving it for real using one of the enchanted pens Serena had left on the workbench.


    Not wanting to identally kill a living thing, he carved it into a chair in hisb. Within moments, the chair exploded into a shower of splinters that closely resembled a shrapnel bomb.


    Thankfully, Gabriel was far away. Even as a 4-star beast tamer with a strengthened body, the st was strong enough to cause numerous deep cuts to Kain. If an ordinary person were nearby, the result would have been disastrous.


    ''I think I''ll just wait for Serena toe back¡­'' Kain thought, as he set about the painful process of removing the numerous splinters lodged deep into his flesh and healing his open wounds.

 Chapter 334 Amateurs vs Experts

    Looking at the splinters and damaged pieces of furniture caused by the previous explosion, Serena stared at Kain with a deadpan expression, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.


    Gabriel, seated on a stool nearby, mirrored her expression, though his furrowed brows and a faint pout added an extrayer of judgment.


    "You know," Serena said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "when I warned you about not blowing up theb, I didn''t think you''d take it as a challenge."


    "I wasn''t trying to blow it up!" Kain protested, his voice slightly higher-pitched than usual.


    "Could''ve fooled me," Gabriel muttered, wincing slightly as he shifted his weight on the stool and ended up getting pricked by an errant splinter Kain must have missed. "You realize I was asleep in here when you decided to make shrapnel furniture, right?"


    Kain rubbed the back of his neck, guilt written all over his face. "Look, I messed up, okay? But that''s why I''m asking for help. Serena, can you... you know, help me not almost kill myself¡ªand Gabriel¡ªagain?"


    Serena raised a brow, skepticism in on her face. "You''re actually admitting you need my help? This must be serious."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Very funny," Kain grumbled, but his tone softened. "I tried to modify the array to connect to this... realm I came across in a text I read before."


    Serena''s expression shifted from mockery to half curiosity and half skepticism. "What realm? And why?" she asked, stepping closer.


    Kain pulled out the sigil he had created for Pangaea, keeping his face as neutral as possible. "I found this sigil mentioned previously but don''t have the original text. It''s supposed to represent a realm that may allow Gabriel to form contracts without a specific affinity, however, it doesn''t seem to be recorded in many texts and I only saw it mentioned once. I thought the array could help establish a spiritual contract with a creature from there."


    Serena squinted at the sigil, tilting her head. "I just exined to you yesterday that realms also have corresponding sigils, and yet you just so happened to have one memorized?" she looked at him as though she was looking at an idiot. "If you''re going to lie, please do better."


    ''Damn it!''


    Seeing her attitude, he quickly tried to convince her to help him. "I''m sorry! The truth is that I can''t exin to you how I came across this sigil. But I promise you that what I''m saying is true. I think this is the one thing that Gabriel needs to be able to be an official beast-tamer without an affinity."


    Seeing his statement, Serena examined the sigil more closely with interest. "I''ve never seen this before¡­and there''s nothing in these notes or my studies about a realm matching that description. Are you sure this is legitimate?" Find exclusive stories on empire


    Kain nodded to express his certainty while maintaining eye-contact, hoping that she''d be able to feel his confidence in this n. "Even if it''s not the perfect solution we need, I figured it wouldn''t cause any harm and was worth a shot."


    Serena sighed, her gaze drifting to the damaged furniture. "Well, considering the explosion, I''d say your ''shot'' missed. Let''s see what went wrong."


    She grabbed the parchment with Kain''s modified array, her eyes scanning the lines. After a few moments, she clicked her tongue. "You made several mistakes. This is why amateurs shouldn''t think they can just wing it withplex arrays. Sigils aren''t scribbles, Kain."


    Kain winced. "Like?"


    "First, this line here¡ªit''s iplete and doesn''t connect fully. It would have caused the energy flow to escape instead of remaining inside, destabilizing the entire array," Serena exined, tracing the offending line with her finger. "Second, you didn''t ount for the fact that this specific array requires a sentient vessel. A chair wouldn''t have worked even if you''d carved it perfectly."


    Kain groaned, slumping against the workbench. "Of course it wouldn''t. Figures."


    "On the bright side, you didn''t blow up the entireb," Serena added dryly.


    "Not helping."


    Serena smirked faintly. "Fine. Let''s fix this. Do you have another Nihilrat?"


    Kain nodded, quickly retrieving one from the storage area he had fetched the first from previously. Thankfully, is approval for the previous Nihilrat was still valid for another.


    Serena injected spiritual power into the enchanted pen again to tattoo the creature. And while watching her work he realized that even if he had drawn the sigil perfectly, without the expert control of spiritual power during the drawing process, it likely would have failed once he tried ot activate it anyway


    When the final line waspleted, the array began to glow faintly, just as it had before.


    Almost immediately, he felt a connection form between himself and the Nihilrat. It was stronger than the pull he had felt previously with the untargeted array¡ªnow there was an almost tangible presence tugging at the edges of his consciousness.


    Moreover, instead of the connection focusing on pulling his attention like previously, he felt the majority of this connection being established between the Nihilrat''s spirit and the in his star space.


    He also sensed that with a slight thought he couldpletely cut off this connection or evenpletely annihte that portion of its soul. If he chose to do so the Nihilrat would likely end up brain dead.


    Kain closed his eyes, focusing inward. He could sense the fragment of the Nihilrat''s spirit entering Pangaea. It didn''t remain there for long though, though. Almost the moment it arrived, it dispersed back into its body without causing harm to its soul.


    ''It worked,'' Kain thought, his heart racing. Without a beast-tamer on Pangaea to form a contract, the bond couldn''t manifest and so the connection quickly ended. But this was enough to support Kain''s theory. Although, there are no beast-tamers on Pangaea to allow a contract to flow in that direction, there are beast-tamers in this world to form contract with the creatures on Pangaea.


    When he opened his eyes, Serena and Gabriel were both watching him with expectation and confusion, wondering why he''d closed his eyes. After all, the sigil was carved into the Nihilrat not him, and they couldn''t sense the momentary connection that had just urred between the Nihilrat and Kain.


    "It worked," Kain said carefully, suppressing the enthusiasm that threatened to spill over. "The connection formed. No explosions this time."


    Gabriel''s expression softened into one of cautious hope. "Does that mean...?"


    "You may be able to leave soon," Kain interrupted, keeping his tone neutral. "But there''s still more testing to do. We don''t know if it''s safe for humans yet, and I don''t want to risk trying it on you until we''re sure."


    Gabriel nodded his head naively. He also didn''t want to risk being hurt, or even exploding, if the array isn''tpatible with humans. Therefore, he also didn''t pester Kain to try it on him then and there.


    However, when Gabriel went aside to continue reading some stories on theptop Kain had brought back for him, Serena''s apprehensive gaze met Kain''s.


    After all, unlike the young Gabriel, she had quickly realized that the only method they could use to be certain that the array was safe for Gabriel to use would be to test it on another human¡­

 Chapter 335 The Search for a Volunteer

    "How would that make us any different from them?!" She whispered to him harshly while keeping her voice out of earshot of Gabriel.


    Kain winced, ncing over at Gabriel, who was engrossed in theptop.


    "It wouldn''t," Kain admitted quietly. "That''s why we can''t force anyone into this. We need someone willing. Someone who understands the risks."


    Serena folded her arms, her eyes narrowing. "You think anyone in their right mind would agree to this? Even if the reward is bing a beast-tamer, the potential risks¡­ It could kill them, Kain. You know that."


    "I do," Kain said, his tone heavy with guilt. "But we also know there are people out there who would take that risk if it was their only option. Someone like Gabriel¡ªsomeone whose life is likely to end soon if they can''t extend it by cultivating."


    Serena shook her head, pacing the room. "Manipting emotionally vulnerable dying people to get them to agree will definitely not make my conscious feel any better."


    Kain remained silent for a moment, his mind working through the problem. She was right¡ªcoercion through desperation wasn''t much better.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Finally, he sighed. "What if we''re upfront about everything? Lay out the risks, the uncertainty, and the potential rewards? If someone still volunteers after knowing the truth, then it''s their choice. Whether it works or not, I''m not going to have it keep me up at night."


    Serena stopped pacing, her gaze piercing into his soul. "And if no one volunteers? What then?"


    Kain avoided her eyes. "Then the rest is my problem. I will find someone on my own, you don''t have to worry yourself."


    ''Testing on a horrible criminal or even capturing one of the members of that organization to test on are both feasible options,'' but Kain didn''t say those thoughts allowed since she seemed averse to any actions that even remotely resembled what the organization that took Gabriel and Cherry would do¡ªmeaning that involuntary human experiments were a no go in her book.


    ''Sigh¡­''


    Serena''s gaze softened slightly, though the tension in her posture remained. "Fine. But if I think for even a second that you''re crossing a line, Kain, I''m out and you can find someone else to make the array."


    Kain nodded solemnly, grateful for her reluctant agreement. "Fair enough."


    Serena sighed, rubbing her temples as she resumed pacing. "So, what''s your n? How are you going to find someone willing to volunteer for this? I''m pretty sure asking everywhere outright that we want to perform a questionable and dangerous experiment on another person will raise rm bells at the college."


    "Easy¡­ look at the mission boards requesting spiritual nts that can slightly extend the life spans or treat the chronic illnesses of ordinary people."


    There were always such missions on the mission board, not because they were so frequent, but because the eptance rates for such missions were very low.


    The issuer was usually a rtively wealthy ordinary person, but they were unable to offer truly valuable resources as a reward. And the mary rewards often offered in addition to the school credits, while substantial amounts to ordinary people, were rarely enough to move most beast-tamers. Especially since locating rare herbs is usually a long and tedious process. Moreover, since little danger was involved, the school credits rewarded for missions at that level were usually quite low.


    Stay connected via empire


    Kain nodded. "If someone is willing to spend the majority of what they have to extend their life by a few months or years, it means they''re at the end of their rope. Those are the people who might consider this."


    Serena nodded in agreement with the current n.


    Kain continued, "We''ll need to sift through the mission board carefully. Only people with no other options¡ªthose who''ve exhausted all traditional avenues for treatment."


    -------------------


    Kain and Serena found themselves in the Mission Hall sorting the missions for any dedicated to spiritual nts, using one of the touchscreens in the isted mission eptance areas.


    Most were typical requests for herbs to treatmon ailments or support low-level cultivation. But after about fifteen minutes, Kain''s finger paused over a listing among the bronze-level missions.


    "''Seeking Silverblossom Root''


    "''Details: My condition is terminal, and traditional medicine has failed. The root may slow the progression of my illness, but my time is limited. Offering 10 credits in addition to a mary reward.'' I think this could be our guy. He most likely is an unawakened individual to request that spiritual nt, and with a terminal condition he doesn''t have many other options" Kain said.


    This mission had been up for what appears to be months now since the Silverbloosom Root is pretty rare, but only really helpful for ordinary individuals, meaning most beast-tamers would not even bother to pick it if they came across it in the wild. So it was understandable that it was an unpopr mission¡ªhopefully, the requester was still alive¡­


    They used the contact information provided in the request to arrange a meeting with the issuer of the mission at an office Collin had set up for him in the city for thepany, but Kain rarely used. However, now it was the perfect location to get away from prying eyes and ears.


    The person who issued the mission was named Ferrin Voss. He appeared to be in histe twenties, his gaunt frame and paleplexion a testament to the illness ravaging his body. Despite his frail appearance, his gaze was sharp and focused.


    "I appreciate you meeting with me," Ferrin said, his voice steady despite his condition and filled with hope. "I was beginning to think nobody would ever take on my mission."


    ''Well this is awkward¡­''


    "Technically, we aren''t nning to take on your mission." Kain said, trying to appear steady and not suspicious.


    Ferrin''s face twisted in a mix of confusion and anger. "Then why are we even meeting? To mock me for posting a mission nobody wanted? To waste my time?"


    "Not at all," Serena interjected smoothly, her voice calm but firm. "We''re here because we believe we can offer you an alternative. One that, if sessful, could likely eliminate your illness due to strengthening your body and change your lifepletely."


    Ferrin''s frown deepened, his eyes narrowing. "An alternative? You mean a spiritual nt other than Silverblossom Root? Just so you know, I likely won''t be able to afford the price of a spiritual nt at a much higher grade."


    "No," Kain said, waving his hand dismissively at the suggestion. "We''ve been working on an experimental method. One that might not just extend your life but give you the ability to cultivate as a beast-tamer."


    For a moment, there was only silence. Then Ferrin let out a short, bitterugh. "Beast-tamer? Seriously? Why not promise me a royal princess as my wife while you''re at it? That''s more believable than someone without an affinity bing a beast-tamer."


    Kain sighed in annoyance, but he kept his tone even to try and convince him. After all, Serena who was watching from the side wouldn''t exactly tattoo the array on him unless he was fully willing. "We understand how it sounds. It''s unprecedented. Impossible, even. But the research we''ve been conducting suggests it might not be as impossible as people think."


    "And why me?" Ferrin asked, his voice sharp. "Surely, if your results were feasible, plenty of people would jump at the chance. Why pick someone like me?"


    "Because it''s never been tested yet and you have nothing left to lose," Kain said deadpan, meeting his gaze head-on.


    The words hung in the air, heavy and unflinching.


    Ferrin''s expression flickered, a crack forming in his defiance. "What exactly are you proposing?"


    Taking this as the opening he needed, Kain vaguely touched upon how they nned to go about allowing him to form a contract without an affinity. Of course, he also mentioned that there was a very real possibility that he could die immediately¡­


    Ferrin stared at him, his mouth tightening. "So, you want me to gamble my life on an unproven theory? And you expect me to believe this isn''t some scam?"


    "It''s not a scam," Serena said firmly. "But yes, it''s a gamble. We won''t lie to you about that. We don''t know for sure if it will work, and we can''t guarantee your safety. But we''ll take every precaution we can to minimize the risks."


    Ferrin shook his head, leaning back in his chair. "You''re asking a lot. Even if I am dying, this... this sounds insane."


    "Maybe it is," Kain admitted. "But consider this: what are your other options? Even if you manage to get the Silverblossom Root, how much time will it really buy you? A year? Two? This might be your only chance to truly change your fate."


    Ferrin''s fingers drummed on the armrest of his chair as he mulled over their words. His gaze flickered toward Serena who, despite her perpetually cold demeanour, was clearly more hesitant about the whole scenariopared to Kain. "And you? You''re okay with this? With performing a dangerous experiment on someone like me?"


    Serena hesitated for the briefest moment, then nodded. "I''m notfortable with it, no. But I believe in being honest about the risks. And I believe in giving you the choice. If you say no, we''ll walk away, and you''ll never hear from us again."


    The room fell into a heavy silence as Ferrin stared down at his hands, his thoughts clearly racing. Finally, he looked up, his expression a mixture of fear and determination.


    "Alright. Let''s do it." Ferrin said, resolved to not just give in to his current fate.

 Chapter 336 The Experiment Begins

    Read exclusive chapters at empire


    Kain and Serena gave Ferrin a week to think over his decision calmly and be sure that be wished to go through with the experiment. It was also to get his remaining affairs in order in the event that the experiment was not so sessful¡­


    During that time they went to sses like normal, concealing their anxious feelings skillfully beneath nk masks of indifference.


    During that week they also finally turned over the remaining research notes to the college administration, iming they''d forgotten they had them stored in other space rings. The administrators, though mildly skeptical, seemed satisfied enough not to press further.


    When the week was up, Kain contacted Ferrin, confirming he was still willing to go through with the experiment.


    "I''ve made my peace with it, whether it seeds or fails," Ferrin said over the phone. "Let''s get this over with."


    With his confirmation, they smuggled Ferrin onto the college campuste in the evening in arge container typically used for transporting spiritual creatures. While it wasn''t the mostfortable ride for him, the container ensured that no one would see what¡ªor who¡ªwas inside.


    As the container was brought into Kain''sb, Ferrin stepped out, wincing as he stretched his legs.


    "Fancy ce," he remarked, his eyes scanning theb. Though he couldn''t see much of the campus during his transport, just being here was enough to leave him awestruck. "So, this is where the best of the best train, huh? On the ride over it felt like the quality of the air and even the concentration of spiritual power was different here."


    Kain smirked slightly with pride in his school, but didn''t answer as he focused on hooking Ferrin up to the various machines in hisb that could monitor his vitals and spiritual power.


    The very reason they had chosen to do it in hisb was due to all of this equipment Kain had to better monitor the experiment.


    Serena stepped forward once she saw that Kain had stepped away, finished setting up the equipment. "Are you ready?"


    Ferrin hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Let''s do this."


    Kain also nodded, although she wasn''t asking him, "There''s a few things we need to go over first." He said to Ferrin.


    Ferrin sat up straighter as he listened attentively. Possibly to prevent him leaking out the details of their research, he hadn''t heard in detail about how it would work or what would be done to him.


    "Firstly, Serena is going to tattoo this array onto you," Kain said while holding up a piece of paper with the array drawn onto it. "Do you have a preferred location? Ideally, somewhere it won''t be easily seen, just in case."


    Ferrin thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Back of my right shoulder de. That should work, right?"


    Serena nodded. "That''s a good spot. Easy for me to work on, too."


    Kain continued. "The process will take some time. To make sure you don''t feel anything, I''ll use my spiritual contract to temporarily cut off your sense of pain."


    Ferrin''s eyes widened slightly at the mention of the abilities of Kain''s spiritual contract, as an ordinary person he didn''t have much contact with spiritual creatures. He was still extremely nervous, but he also couldn''t help thinking if after today he would have his own spiritual contract like them?


    One of Bea''s threads of mental energy darted forward,tching onto Ferrin. The man stiffened momentarily, then rxed as a split gradually solidified its connection with him.


    "You shouldn''t feel anything now," Kain said.


    Ferrin tested by flexing his fingers, his expression shifting to one of mild surprise. "Huh. Nothing. That''s... unsettling."


    Serena stepped forward, rolling up her sleeves as she pulled out the enchanted tattoo pen. "Alright. Stay as still as possible. This will take a while."


    She began her work, the faint hum of the enchanted pen she was using to tattoo him filled the room.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ---------------------


    The array''s design was intricate and hours passed as Serena worked and Kain monitored Ferrin''s vitals closely.


    Gabriel had briefly shown himself, curious about the new arrival, but quickly left in boredom after nothing had changed after 2 hours.


    Ferrin, for his part, remained silent, though his fingers asionally pinched himself to test theck of sensation.


    Serena''s movements were precise, each line of the drawn expertly. The sigils forming the array had a faint lustre as she infused them with spiritual energy, the design graduallying to life on Ferrin''s skin.


    Finally, Serena sat back, exhaling deeply. "Done."


    The array, nowplete, glowed softly on Ferrin''s shoulder de. Its intricate lines and symbols seemed to pulse faintly, as if waiting for activation.


    Kain released Bea''s influence, restoring Ferrin''s sense of feeling.


    "How do you feel?" Kain asked.


    Ferrin flexed his shoulder experimentally, his brow furrowing. "Feels... fine. A bit tender and warm, but nothing bad. What''s next?"


    "Now, we see if it works." Kain replied, while instructing Ferrin to control his meagre amount of spiritual power and send it to the array. This is where they ran into another problem¡­


    Serena had been learning how to manipte her spiritual power since she was young, so it was understandable that she didn''t think of this, but¡­


    ''How could I have forgotten how difficult it was for me to precisely move my spiritual power where I wanted when I was a first-year?''


    If he had remembered this, he could have at the very least spent the past week training Ferrin on how to move his spiritual power. Now they could only watch as their progress was once again dyed due to this oversight.


    Ferrin was panting and sweating as he tried to essentially move an extra dead limb he hadn''t tried to move or pay attention to in the decade since failing to awaken his affinity. After all, as an ordinary person with barely enough spiritual power to just form his first star, why would he bother practicing the maniption of spiritual power?


    Thankfully, under the attentive dual coaching of Kain and Serena, and even using Bea to transmit some of their memories and experiences while controlling spiritual power to him, they were able to expedite the process.


    In only a few more hours, the array on the back of his shoulder began to glow, and Kain was able to sense as something attempted to enter his star space.

 Chapter 337 Birth of a New Bond

    He felt a faint but distinct presence brushing against his star space¡ªa subtle, alien energy that didn''t belong. It wasn''t threatening; in fact, it was fragile, like a flickering candle caught in the wind that he could snuff out at any time.


    ''This must be it,'' Kain thought.


    He didn''t block its entry, knowing that it was likely a fragment of Ferrin''s soul.


    The foreign energy moved swiftly towards Pangaea once in his star space, as though it is equipped with a homing beacon, and soon entered the small world.


    Pangaea had continued to develop over time. The massive supercontinent was filled lush greenery broken only by winding rivers and towering mountain ranges.


    Massive trees, each brimming with spiritual energy, dotted thend like skyscrapers built by Mother Nature.


    The spiritual creatures that thrived on Pangaea were numerous and diverse, and many did not resemble those seen in the main world.


    Kain''s focus shifted as he tracked the soul fragment, its path winding erratically as though uncertain of its destination. The fragment floated across rivers and meadows, pausing asionally near certain creatures before moving on.


    It loitered briefly around a pack of scaled wolves prowled dense forests, then it flew high above to circle around a shimmering winged serpents swimming through the skies.


    Perhaps tired of staying in the air, the soul fragment dropped to the forest floor to where tiny insects with iridescent shells buzzed around glowing flowers.


    Looking at the busy and variety of creatures, Kain couldn''t help being filled with pride.


    Unfortunately, his pride in the numerous creatures was short-lived once he realized that the fragment''s energy grew weaker with each passing moment, and the glow of the array on Ferrin''s shoulder also began to dim alongside it.


    In theb, Kain''s peripheral senses picked up Ferrin''sbored breathing. Hisplexion had turned pale, beads of sweat dripping from his face. The man''s spiritual power reserves were clearly running dry, and without them, the soul fragment''s connection with Pangaea would sever entirely.


    Kain was about to step in, prepared to guide the fragment manually to a spiritual creature, when it finally stopped.


    It hovered above a small ck fox curled up at the base of a tree. The creature was tiny, its fur as dark as the void of a starless night sky. It slept soundly, its chest rising and falling with slow, rhythmic breaths.


    The moment the soul fragment made contact with the fox, both it and the fox disappeared from Pangaea in an instant.


    At the same moment, Kain felt as though something had been taken from him. Undeniably, whatever connection he''d had with that fox had been severed.


    Kain''s awareness returned to theb, his heart pounding as he looked to see Ferrin''s state.


    Ferrin gasped audibly, clutching his shoulder as the array red brightly for one moment, making it not visible to the naked eye, before it faded. In its ce was a faint white scar, as if from a wound that healed long ago, in the shape of a fox where the array had previously been.


    "Did it... work?" Ferrin asked weakly, his voice trembling.


    Before Kain could answer, a faint glow emanated from the air in front of Ferrin, and with a soft, almost musical hum, the small ck fox materialized at his feet. Its bright silver eyes blinked open, meeting Ferrin''s gaze first before looking around the unfamiliar surroundings.


    Its fur bristled slightly, and its slender body was taut, ready to spring into action at the first sign of danger. The bright, sterile light of theb and the hum of the machinery were a stark contrast to the tranquil forest it had always called home, and its nose twitched as it sniffed the air, searching for any familiar scents. Enemies, friends, its family? But there were none.


    It let out a soft, high-pitched growl, clearly unsettled.


    Ferrin, meanwhile, sat frozen, his wide eyes fixed on the creature before him. He barely dared to breathe as he felt the faint but undeniable connection between himself and the fox. It wasn''t just a presence in front of him; he could feel its emotions¡ªits wariness, its confusion, and its desire to flee.


    "I can feel it," Ferrin whispered, his voice tinged with awe. He extended a hand slowly, his movements careful and deliberate. He truly wanted to scoop it into his arms, but could sense that doing so would not be weed by it.


    The fox didn''t immediately respond to Ferrin''s outstretched hand, its ears swiveling toward him but its body remaining tense.


    "It''s not rejecting you," Serena said softly, observing the interaction with a critical eye. "That''s a good sign. We''ll leave you two alone to get more familiar."


    Kain agreed, and so, although curious, they left the observation area sectioned off by ss walls and Kain even used the controls on the side to make the ss opaque and give them some privacy.


    Gabriel, already waiting outside of the observation area was ecstatic. Doesn''t this mean that he''d soon be able to form a contract? At only 11-years-old, wouldn''t he set a record! Most kids his age didn''t even have their first star condensed yet, but due to the help of the imnted artificial star, he was able to skip that step.


    Thankfully, it didn''t take long for Ferrin to calm the fox down, likely due to the connection they shared, and after calling out, Kain and the others re-entered the room to continue examining Ferrin and his contract.


    Firstly, Kain noticed that although he no longer had the connection and control over the young fox''s life like he did on Pangaea, he did have an instinctive knowledge of the fox''s attributes and abilities.


    -----------------------


    Species: Unnamed


    This dark-attribute fox is naturally cautious, preferring to observe and strategize before taking action. Small and agile, it is highly suited to stealth and ambush tactics, and rarely confronts opponents even weaker than it head-on. The fox''s connection to darkness allows it to manipte shadows, making it a formidable opponent even in low-light conditions.


    Quality: Silver


    Spiritual Power: White-grade


    Type: Fox


    Attribute: Dark


    Skills:


    B-Shadow Meld: The fox can merge seamlessly into shadows, bing nearly invisible in dim environments to creatures even one level higher than it. While in this state, it is harder to detect and gains increased speed. The effect is nullified in brightly lit areas.


    B-Dusk Step: The fox can perform short-range shadow teleports, disappearing from one patch of shadow and reappearing in another within 5 meters. This ability is limited by the avability of nearby shadows.


    D-Nightfang: The fox imbues its bite with dark energy, for additional power.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    F-Moonlit Howl: The fox releases a soft, eerie howl that grants a slight boost to its own speed and attack for a short duration in the presence of moonlight. The effect is diminished in brighter environments.


    ------------------------------


    ''Not bad''


    Kain felt a burst of pride. Although a spiritual creature at this level isn''t particrly appealing to Kain now, it is a decent quality for a newbie beast-tamer, and even arguably stronger than Bridge''s first contract Lady before she evolved.

 Chapter 338 Confidentiality Contract

    After confirming what kind of spiritual creature Ferrin had formed a contract, with, Kain busied himself going through the data from the monitoring equipment around them.


    He activated one machine that was quite hard to get, even via the university, that would allow Kain to visualize the changes to Ferrin''s star space.


    The holographic projection flickered to life, revealing the lone star in Ferrin''s star space.


    Kain''s brow furrowed as he studied the projection, surprised at the appearance it had taken on.


    "It''s not tailored," Kain muttered under his breath, leaning closer to the disy.


    Unlike most star spaces tailored to the specific needs of their contracted spiritual creature, Ferrin''s was different. It was a vibrant and lush forest exactly like the ones on Pangaea.


    One would expect, that since Ferrin''s contract is of the dark-attribute, it would take on the most suitable environment for his affinity, rather than a generic forest setting.


    "What do you mean?" Serena asked, turning her attention from Ferrin and the fox.


    "Since most star spaces are customized environments, designed by the contractor''s affinity to perfectly amodate their spiritual creature and Ferrin doesn''t have an affinity, I think his star space was unable to form a more suitable environment." Kain gestured toward the hologram. "It''s like it took a snapshot of the area in Pang-¡­ahem in the relic where the contract was formed and copied it. That''s why it''s full of forests."


    Gabriel cut in, upon hearing their conversation, looking slightly disappointed that the contract method he would likely have to use in the future was considered inferior. "So the star spaces formed using this method aren''t as good? It can''t provide the perfect environment for the contracted creature?"


    "In a way, yes," Kain said. "A tailored environment would have exactly what the fox needs to thrive. This is more generalized¡ªit''s enough, but it''s not optimal."


    Ferrin, overhearing the conversation, turned his attention away from the fox for a moment. "It might not be as good as a star space created by those with an affinity, but..." He nced back at the ck fox, which was now cautiously sniffing his hand. A tentative smile spread across his face. "...I''m notining. I have a spiritual creature. I''m... a beast-tamer now, right?"


    Kain and Serena exchanged a nce.


    "You are," Kain confirmed, his tone carrying a mixture of satisfaction and relief.


    The fox hesitated for a moment longer before nudging Ferrin''s hand with its nose. The man''s face lit up, his earlier nervousness melting away into pure joy as he gently stroked the fox''s fur.


    "Thank you," Ferrin said, his voice thick with emotion. "I don''t know how you made this possible, but... thank you."


    Kain readily epted the thanks, before awkwardly shifting the topic of conversation, "So¡­ we didn''t bring this up prior to the experiment because of the possibility you''d explode¡ª"


    "I''m sorry what?! You said I could die, not explode!"


    Kain continued as though he''d heard nothing, "We chose not to bring this up. However, now that the experiment has been proven to be a sess, we''re going to need you to sign a little contract¡­"


    Kain finished with an awkward smile while pulling out a thick stack of papers from his star space, under the stunned gaze of Ferrin.


    Thankfully, Ferrin was in a great mood as one of his greatest dreams which he''d thought was impossible¡ªbing a beast-tamer¡ªhade true. So he agreed to sign the contract without harping on the whole ''exploding'' possibility Kain had neglected to mention previously.


    Ferrin skimmed through the dense stack of documents in his hands, his expression ranging from awe to suspicion and back to bewilderment. "This is... extensive," he muttered.


    Serena crossed her arms and leaned against the workbench, her gaze fixed on Ferrin with mild amusement. "You did just survive an experimental process that should''ve been impossible. We can''t have you running off and spilling secrets that bring unnecessary attention to us all¡ªor worse, someone dissecting you to figure out how this happened."


    Ferrin paled visibly. "D-Dissecting?"


    Kain waved a hand dismissively, his tone casual but firm. "It''s a precaution, Ferrin. The details of how this was done are sensitive, and there are people out there who would do far worse to you for that knowledge." He tapped the contract with his finger. "Think of it as insurance¡ªfor you and for us."


    The contract was not a normal one written by awyer, rather it was an extremely expensive contract written by someone with a rare gift that made breaking of the contract have much more harsh consequences than just legal trouble¡­


    "''use One:''" Ferrin nced at the first use, mumbling as he read aloud. "''The sigil and process used to create the spiritual contract shall remain strictly confidential under penalty of... death by star space explosion?''"


    Indeed, if Ferrin were to break any of the uses in the contract, it would spell his immediate doom.


    Some of the additional uses in the contract included: Your journey continues on empire


    use Two: Returning to Kain periodically so that he could monitor any changes in his condition.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Technically, since this contract was the first of its kind, they really couldn''t be sure that there wouldn''t be any adverse effects to Ferrin.


    use Three: Not attempting to recreate the sigils or array used to form the contract from memory.


    use Four: Not concealing unusual changes to his or the fox''s condition from Kain.


    And there were also additional minor uses, but the gist of the very thick document was simple:


    "Okay, so basically shut up and show up¡­" Ferrin sighed, running a hand through his hair and signing his name on the dotted line and handing the thick stack of papers to Kain.


    He felt as though he was signing his life away but¡­


    Petting the small ck fluff ball lying on hisp, and thinking about how his incurable illness should be resolved as his body strengthens due to bing a beast-tamer, he felt as though everything was worth it.

 Chapter 339 The Hidden Trials

    The fox shaped ''scar'' on Ferrin where the array previously was located, was simr in appearance to the tattoos that would spontaneously manifest on the bodies of those from the nomadic tribes south of the Empire. The only difference was the colour, a tattoo for a dark-attribute fox should be much darker in colour.


    Thankfully, there was a special ink to create tattoos indistinguishable from those that naturally manifest among the southerners. Apparently, it was developed when the rtionship between the tribes and the empire was at its worse and they needed to send over spies that could blend in.


    Now they could reap the benefits of their ancestors.


    Serena tattooed over the white fox using ck ink, and they decided that their cover-story would be that Ferrin had spontaneously manifested the tattoo at ate age to be a beast-tamer.


    While the story was improbable, it was not impossible and was definitely a lot more likely in most people''s books than what actually happened.


    After everything was settled, Ferrin was snuck back out of the college, and he''d have no intersection with Kain and the others until the scheduled check-up in a month.


    Instead, Kain and Serena''s attention turned to Gabriel. They had shown that this method worked, and Kain didn''t detect any dangers during the process, meaning that it should be safe for Gabriel.


    However, they still needed to ask Gabriel for his opinion. After all, this method of bing a beast-tamer still has some known, and possibly still unknown, shorings. Perhaps Gabriel would want to try his luck with bing a traditional beast-tamer.


    Additionally, even if Gabriel did elect to use this method, they could do it right away. They should still watch Ferrin for any changes for at least another month.


    Therefore, there was still some time before Gabriel had to decide if he wanted to remain confined to aboratory in the slim hope that he''d awaken an affinity normally, or regain his freedom now using an alternative contract that had some disadvantages.


    At the same time, Kain mind also began to stir at the prospect of what the sess of this experiment meant.


    Gabriel was young, so more thought needed to be put into whether this path was suitable for him or not.


    However, there were still many individuals, approximately two-thirds of the Empire, that had already had the door to being a traditional beast-tamer shut to them¡ªPangaea and Kain would be their only option. And many would give anything to undergo the procedure.


    Perhaps he could put building his own force, one loyal only to him, on the agenda. Of course, though he''d need to spend more time studying Ferrin and gauging the strength and potential of those who be beast-tamers using this method.


    ----------------


    Time passed and over the next couple of months, in addition to the scheduled visit with Ferrin¡ªwhere both he and the fox, now named Nyx, were developing well together¡ªKain and Serena''s lives returned to normal as they attended their sses.


    However, strangely both of them were spending only a fraction of the time of the other students actually in their sses.


    That was because the ck Missions which were supposed to be extremely rare, were suddenly being assigned to the both of them at a high frequency.


    In just two months, Kain and Serena received 2 ck Missions together.


    The first was to assassinate and obtain the information from a high-level member of the parliament who had defected to a nation hostile to the Empire and was attempting to escape across the border with ssified materials.


    While the other joint mission was to obtain proof of a high-ranking noble family suspected of secretly funding a terrorist organization''s anti-Empire activities. The leader of this family was an 8-star beast-tamer, but thankfully they were not required to eliminate him, only to collect evidence.


    Kain also obtained a solo mission in which he was required to infiltrate an underground auction house known for selling and trafficking forbidden items. There had been news that an evil artifact capable of discretely of absorbing the lifespan of a selected target to enhance its own power, was being auctioned. Kain simply needed to retrieve it before it was sold. While tedious, the mission hadn''t been that dangerous.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He didn''t know if Serena also received any solo missions, butbined they''d likelypleted more ck Missions in a couple of months than all the ck Missions that would be received by the rest of the school in a year.


    Kain and Serena were confused by the sudden influx of ck Missions assigned just to them, but perhaps their questions were about to be answered¡­


    ---------------------


    One day, both Kain and Serena were called to the office of the Vice Chancellor of the College¡ªan 8-star beast-tamer only below the 9-star Chancellor.


    The two of them ascended the marble stairs leading to the imposing double doors of the Vice Chancellor''s office. The air here seemed heavier, almost saturated with spiritual energy. Likely due to arrays gathering spiritual energy to this office.


    Kain could also sense faint barriersyered over the structure¡ªmeant to keep prying eyes and ears away.


    A secretary, her face emotionless, led them through a grand hallway to the Vice Chancellor''s door and knocked.


    "Enter," a deep voice resonated from within.


    The doors opened smoothly, revealing the office of Vice Chancellor Darrow. The man himself stood at the far end of the room, his broad frame backlit by the light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Despite his age, Vice Chancellor Darrow radiated an intimidating presence. His dark blue suite trimmed with silver shifted slightly as he turned to face them, his powerful gaze pinning Kain and Serena in ce.


    "Sit."


    Neither of them hesitated, taking their seats in the wooden chairs opposite his massive desk. Kain kept his expression calm, though inwardly his mind raced through all the possible reasons for this meeting.


    Vice Chancellor Darrow''s steely gray eyes moved from Kain to Serena before he finally spoke. "You''ve both been assigned an unusual number of ck Missions recently. I assume you''ve noticed."


    Experience tales at empire


    Serena, sitting straighter, nodded. "We have, Vice Chancellor. But we assumed there was a reason."


    "There is," Darrow said simply, folding his arms behind his back. "And you two may now be privy to it since you''ve passed the tests given to you."

 Chapter 340 Eclipse

    Vice Chancellor Darrow''s fixed his steely gray eyes fixed on Kain and Serena.


    "Your recent influx of ck Missions was not a coincidence," Vice Chancellor Darrow began, his voice deep and deliberate. "You''ve both been under evaluation for membership into an organization that has existed since the founding of the Celestial Empire. Its existence is known to only a small number of the top beast-tamers and government officials."


    Kain''s brows furrowed slightly while Serena maintained herposed demeanor, though her eyes betrayed a flicker of intrigue. Even as a member of a founding family, she''s heard of no such organization.


    "This organization is known as the Eclipse Order," Darrow continued, his tone weighty with significance. "It is the Empire''s most elite force, operating outside the boundaries of conventionalw and governance. Members of the Orderplete missions critical to the survival and prosperity of the Empire¡ªmissions that often take them across borders and into enemy territories. Some of these missions are covert intelligence-gathering operations, while others... require more direct intervention. Compared to the missions you would havepleted recently, the difficulty level would have increased several times over."


    Kain remained silent, though he couldn''t deny the stir of curiosity¡ªand apprehension¡ªbuilding in his chest.


    "The Eclipse has operated for centuries," Darrow continued. "Most of the Empire''s 9-star geniuses have risen through its ranks. It is the nurturing ground for the Empire''s strongest talents, refining unpolished gems, into legends. Captain Ezra, who recently graduated, joined towards thetter half of his second year¡ªin fact, the resources he obtained from joining probably yed thergest role in how he was able to join the College''s representative lineup at the nationals in only his second year. The crown prince and current captain of First Celestial Academy, Cassian Lysander, was also recruited in his second year."


    Likely seeing their calm faces, not realizing the difficulty in sessfully being recruited, he borated. After all, they were recruited in their second-year as well, perhaps in their minds everyone was.


    "It is highly unusual for second-year students to be inducted. Most recruits enter after they''ve already graduated, and a single third or fourth year recruit may not be seen each year. Cassian Lysander and your captain were the only exceptions in recent decades... along with you."


    "However, all of those recruited so early have extraordinary abilities that warrant their early inclusion. While you''ve yet to reach the level of raw power typically required, your respective skills make you uniquely suited for various missions, and your contributions have already set you apart."


    He turned to Serena. "Serena Storm, your independent awakening and the legendary gift inherited from your founding ancestor make you an anomaly even among the Empire''s finest. Few in the Empire''s history have managed to aplish what you have. You are a rare talent."


    Then his attention shifted to Kain, and for a moment, Darrow''s neutral facade wavered, reced by something akin to curiosity and suspicion. "And you, Kain. Are quite unique..." He paused, his gaze sharpening. "Spiritual creatures like yours haven''t been seen since potentially the founding of the Empire."


    Kain met his gaze, his face betraying nothing, though internally his mind was not nearly so calm. The Vice Chancellor, and obviously several other higher-ups who reviews his profile for admittance, clearly had suspicions about his affinity. Thankfully though, it seems that they had no intention of exposing his affinity outright to others.


    "Not to mention, your name had already been proposed the previous year¡ªalthough for a different department," Darrow continued. "Developing a new evolutionary form suitable for mass distribution is impressive enough. But the exclusive evolutionary forms you created for the Ashenw girl''s Smander and your own Vespirae Queen demonstrate your potential as an evolutionary nner of the highest calibre."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Kain couldn''t help but note that while the Vice Chancellor had mentioned the Smander and Queen, he made no mention of Bea evolving. Meaning that they likely didn''t have too much information about her, or really even sense changes in her. ''That''s good¡­''


    He''d gotten used to Bea being his secret weapon unknown to others.


    "Originally," Darrow said, "you were ted to join Eclipse''s research division in a couple more years due to the talent you revealed in evolutionary nning. However, your field performance has far exceeded expectations, prompting us to elerate your recruitment and allow you into thebat division¡ªwhich also has the priority in resource distribution."


    After exining, Darrow fell silent, maybe for the added suspense, to add gravity to his words, or potentially to give them time to digest all of the information¡ªnot that any of it was really needed.


    "And what happens now?" Serena asked, likely impatient at the prolonged silence.


    "Ahem¡­You''ve both passed your initial screening," Darrow replied. "From this moment on, you are provisional members of the Eclipse. Over the next year, you will undergo further evaluation and training. Your development will be prioritized¡ªresources, techniques, and even mentorship opportunities with some of the Empire''s strongest. In return, you will be expected to serve the Empire with absolute loyalty, even putting your life on the line."


    ''Well with it allid out like that, there was no reason to refuse¡­'' Kain had already made his decision after seeing the big cake drawn out by the Vice Chancellor.


    Serena spoke. "What are we expected to aplish during the provisional period?"


    Darrow nodded, pleased with the question. "As provisional members, you are not yet full members, but you will be given more sensitive missions than you''re used to. Your ability toplete these tasks while maintaining the Eclipse''s secrecy will determine if you are granted full membership. However, unlike when you were secretly being assessed, you now will have ess to some of the resources of Eclipse."


    "And if we fail?" Kain asked, his tone casual, though his golden eyes glinted with curiosity.


    "Failure is not tolerated lightly in the Eclipse," Darrow said, his gaze hardening. "But we do not throw away talent carelessly. If you fail due to circumstances beyond your control, you will likely be reassigned to roles more suited to your abilities. However, failure due to negligence or betrayal..." His voice trailed off ominously, the unspoken consequences clear.


    Both nodded their heads in understanding that they would probably be hunted down should they choose to give up or betray their assigned mission.


    "Good," Darrow said. "Now, one final piece of advice. As members of the Eclipse, you will often find yourselves operating in moral gray areas. Decisions made in the field will not always align with your personal ethics. Remember, the Empire''s survival is paramount. You must be prepared to make sacrifices, including sacrificing your humanity if necessary."


    ''That''s ominous¡­'' Kain''s jaw tightened, though he gave no outward sign of difort.


    Likely already sensing that they both had the intention of joining¡ªnot that they had a choice¡ª Darrow quickly finished his exnation. "This meeting is concluded. Take the next month to prepare yourselves. An orientation for thetest recruits will ur in one month at a secret location, we will arrange for your travel at that time."


    As Kain and Serena stood to leave, Darrow added one final remark, his tone almost casual. "Oh, and Kain. Even in Eclipse, it is best to keep the identity of your affinity as concealed as possible. It''s... unique. And such uniqueness often draws attention¡ªboth the kind you want and the kind you don''t."


    Kain nodded, his expression betraying nothing.


    --------------------------


    Not much changed in the month that they were told to prepare for the orientation, an orientation they both felt probably wouldn''t be too simple.


    When they told Gabriel that they may once again have to leave for a while, he immediately protested. He even insisted on forming a contract immediately before they left so that he was no longer bound to the confines of Kain''sboratory and could leave with them.


    After all, Ferrin had been back twice, and there had so far been no issues in him, or his contract Nyx.


    However, after exining that even if he left theboratory, he wouldn''t be able to join them to prevent him from making any rash decisions, he calmed down¡ªalthough his displeasure was still evident.


    Kain made a note to ask Bridge to drop by more frequently in their absence so that the young boy wouldn''t be too lonely.


    Before they knew it, the date of their orientation arrived.


    They weren''t given a specific date, only told that it would be in around "a month," and so they had already prepared themselves and stocked their space rings long in advance, making sure to always be wearing them.


    Good thing to, since one night Kain was suddenly woken from his sleep by a dark figure standing over his bed. However, before he screamed orshed out, his eyes adjusted to the dark to recognize the figure grabbing him¡ªVice Chancellor Darrow.


    Pulled from his room to the hallway, he already saw Serena standing there awake and dressed inbat gear.


    ''Damn it¡­'' Kain thought looking down at his sleep attire that would offer him no protection.


    Unfortunately, Darrow didn''t seem to care in the slightest about his predicament and promptly dragged them both to the college''s teleportation array and shoved them both mercilessly in¡­without any time for them to prepare or equip themselves in preparation for what may be on the other side.

 Chapter 341 The Unknown

    The disorienting feeling of the teleportation array left Kain''s stomach churning, but thankfully his feet quickly met solid ground. He stumbled slightly, cursing under his breath.


    He quickly looked around to catch his bearings, but unfortunately, there was nothing to see¡­


    An oppressive darkness wrapped around Kain like a shroud, and he could barely see his hands in front of his face, much less the environment around him. He could vaguely tell that he was in a forest based on the air which was heavy and damp, carrying the faint scent of decaying leaves. But the thick canopy above him blocked out any lighting from the stars and moon, leaving the forest floor in a pitch-ck gloom.


    "Well, this is just fantastic," Kain muttered under his breath, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the eerie silence.


    After enhancing his eyesight using his spiritual power, he turned in ce, trying to find some sense of direction. But the gnarled, looming trees all looked the same, and he was unable to find a direction using the stars due to them being blocked from his vision.


    He quickly noticed that he was alone.


    "Serena?" Kain called, his voice echoing faintly. No response.


    ''Just great...I honestly should have expected this. Why would I expect a normal orientation in which we sit in chairs while listening to someone on the stage drone on and on for hours?''


    The sudden rustle of leaves to his left made his blood run cold. Without even bothering to look in the direction of the sound, he ducked and rolled away from the direction he felt a movement in the wind.


    Boom!


    Where Kain had been previously standing a dark figure resembling a whip struck the ground, leaving an indentation in the earth several feet deep.


    Kain followed the ''whip'' and realized that it was the tail of what appeared to be a ck snake, almost indistinguishable from the shadows around it, aside from its glowing green eyes.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It didn''t give him a chance to catch his breath and quickly struck again¡ªthis time with its head.


    "Seriously?!" Kain yelped, throwing himself to the side just in time to avoid the snake''s deadly bite. He hit the ground hard, the damp earth soaking into the pajamas he was still wearing.


    Frantically scrambling to his feet, he summoned his contracts, muttering under his breath, "A little warning would''ve been nice, Darrow. Or, you know, a chance to put on actual gear!"


    The snake coiled back, seemingly unfazed by the sudden appearance of many more spiritual creatures. If anything, catching sight of over 20 Vespid guards, all weaker than its blue-grade self, just made it excited. This kind human must havee specially to deliver arge meal to it! It''s cold-blooded heart was almost touched.


    It flicked its tongue, a move that Kain strongly suspected was done due to its appetite being aroused, and lunged forward, this time aiming for Aegis.


    The golem didn''t flinch. Instead, it raised one massive arm, a wall of jagged stone erupting from the ground in an instant. The snake collided with the barrier, its body rebounding with a sickening thud.


    However, its tough body appeared unharmed, although it did seem stunned by a green-grade creature being able to resist so strongly.


    Seizing the opportunity, the Vespid guards swarmed the snake. Their buzzing filled the air as they darted toward the serpent, their stingers glowing faintly as they rotated and stored up wind-attribute energy to increase the pration power of their attacks.


    The snake snapped at the wasps, happy at their approach, but they were too quick. They jabbed at its scales repeatedly, leaving faint indentations, but a stinger had yet to lodge firmly into its flesh to drain its energy¡ªalthough it did seem to cause it a small amount of pain.


    The snake hissed, a low, menacing sound that reverberated through the darkness, and its tail whipped through the air with startling speed. Several Vespid guards narrowly avoided the attack, but one was hit and instantly exploded into a shower of blood and limbs.


    However, while the snake was distracted, Bea was extending ts influence toward the snake. The creature''s movements faltered briefly, its glowing green eyes narrowing in confusion. But it was difficult to exert a strong degree of control in a short time on a creature one level higher.


    Managing to take control of the odd blue-grade creature during the previousboratory mission in which they were weakened by Serena''s contract Balens, almost made him forget how difficult it usually was for Bea to fully control blue-grade spiritual creatures.


    The serpent''s body writhed violently, mming into nearby trees as it tried to shake off the invisible invader. Its thrashing created a loud ruckus, but the moment of vulnerability was all Kain needed. "Aegis, now!"


    Aegis'' massive figure, which even dwarfed the blue-grade spiritual creature, moved with surprising speed for its size. It raised its massive arms high before bringing them down with crushing force¡ªstraight onto the head of the disoriented snake. The ground trembled at the huge force.


    At the same time that its struggles momentarily halted due to the shock of the blow, the ground trembled as jagged spires of rock erupted, forming a cage that pinned the snake in ce.


    Sensing the constriction, its thrashing grew more desperate, but the stone bars held firm.


    Queen''s wings emitted a resonant hum, as a green-tinted wind blew that enhanced the attack power of the guards.


    The wasps formed a tight formation around the cage, and the increased power of their stingers created audible whistling sounds more closely resembling theunch of missiles.


    The serpent let out a final, furious hiss as the wasps'' attacks finally broke through. One stinger embedded itself deep, and with it came the draining surge of energy being siphoned away.


    Once there was the first stinger breaking through, there was a second, a third¡­


    The snake''s struggles weakened, its movements growing sluggish as its vitality was sapped.


    Aegis delivered the finishing blow. With one massive arm, it brought down a crushing strike. With its vitality drained, and the blow urring in the same spot as before, the snake''s skull was shattered. The serpent''s glowing green eyes dimmed, and its body went limp, slumping to the forest floor.


    The forest fell eerily silent once again, save for the faint hum of Queen''s wings and the rustle of Aegis''s movements as it retreated.


    However, Kain knew that this was momentary. He quickly extracted what he could from the corpse before fleeing as far away as possible. He had no idea where he was and there could very well be strong creatures drawn to their location¡ªhungry and drawn by the thick scent of blood.

 Chapter 342 North?

    Using the Vespid guards to scout ahead, Kain eventually found a rtively clear patch of ground encircled by trees. Directing Aegis to construct a makeshift stone barrier around the area, he finally allowed himself a moment to breathe. The barrier wasn''t particrly thick, but it would provide him some measure of protection and made him feel much more secure while changing his attire.


    Stripping out of his damp, dirt-covered pyjamas, he changed his lightweight but durable armour. Finally dressed and feeling more prepared, he let out a breath of relief.


    ''Okay, let''s think.'' Kain rubbed his temples, trying to recall any information the Vice Chancellor had given before unceremoniously shoving him into the teleportation array.


    He barely recalled him stating to "head North." He pulled a standardpass from his space ring, but the dial was spinning wildly the moment he held it up. No matter how he turned it, the needle continued its erratic movements, clearly influenced by something that influenced the maic field in the area.


    "Just my luck¡­," Kain muttered, shoving it back into his space ring with frustration.


    He recalled seeing apass provided in the System Shop that, instead of North, would always point toward the destination the user sought. However, at the time it appeared, he''d been low on points and hadn''t seen the need for it. Now, that decision was biting him in the ass.


    ''Okay, n B.'' Kain directed one of his Vespid guards to carry him toward the treetops. He recalled learning in a lecture about the different constetions that could be used to find direction.


    As they ascended to be among the branches of the massive trees, an oppressive atmosphere grew. Just before his head broke through the canopy, an unsettling instinct from his subconscious tickled his mind.


    "Wait." He halted the Vespid carrying him, choosing to trust his instincts.


    Kain directed another Vespid guard to fly above the canopy. It did so without hesitation, buzzing eagerly, before obeying themand.


    The moment it breached the top of the canopy, a deafening crack split the air, followed by a dull thud as the guard''s lifeless body crashed to the forest floor. Kain''s heart skipped a beat. He hadn''t even seen what had killed it¡ªjust a faint blur of movement, if that.


    "What the...?" His voice trailed off as his blood ran cold. Whatever had attacked was fast, precise, and overwhelmingly powerful. The guard hadn''t stood a chance. In fact, even if all of his spiritual creatures worked together, he doubted they''d stand a chance


    ''That had to be at least Indigo grade.'' The realization sent a shiver down his spine. Even in the best of circumstances, an high-level spiritual creature would be able to easily kill him, and here, in this unfamiliar and hostile forest, it might as well be a death sentence.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The oppressive silence that followed was deafening, and for a moment, Kain stood frozen in shock. ''Where the heck is this ce?!''


    He quickly retreated, ordering his remaining Vespid guards to keep a much lower flight path. The snake earlier had been bad enough, but this? This was on an entirely different level. Whatever was above the canopy wasn''t something he wanted to encounter.


    ''North.'' Kain gritted his teeth, the word echoing in his mind. He would have to find a way to determine the direction without looking at the constetions himself.


    Thinking of Bea, he decided to find a spiritual creature that was¡­expendable.


    In the brief moment before the controlled creature''s inevitable death, Kain hoped to glimpse the night sky through Bea. It wasn''t foolproof, and there was a chance the death would be over too quickly to even see the necessary constetions, but it was the best he could think of under the circumstances.


    He directed the Vespid guards to fan out in search of potential targets, and within minutes, they returned, buzzing softly as they led him toward a creature that appeared to be resting in a small clearing.


    The target was a bird-like spiritual creature with dark plumage that blended seamlessly into the shadows of the forest and was resting on one of the lower branches of the forest, just a few feet above the ground.


    Its ability to fly suggested that it was a suitable target for his n, but its spiritual energy signature was blue-grade. That made it potentially challenging for Bea to control.


    Bea''s tendrils snaked through the air, invisible to the naked eye, andtched onto the bird''s mind. The creature stiffened slightly, its glowing eyes narrowing in confusion as it fought against the foreign presence invading its thoughts.


    The bird twitched and pped its wings once, twice, before finally freezing in ce. Its resistance was strong, but Bea didn''t have much trouble, like with the previous snake, stopping and confusing it briefly.


    "Now, get it airborne," Kainmanded softly.


    The bird''s wings unfurled and gave a brief twitch. But the moment Bea tried to direct it toward the treetops, the creature''s survival instincts kicked in with ferocious intensity.


    It let out a piercing screech, thrashing violently as it resisted Bea''s influence. Despite her best efforts, the bird refused to rise higher than a few feet off the ground.


    "Damn it," Kain hissed under his breath, frustration mounting. Bea''s control was powerful, but survival instincts, especially in ones stronger than her, often made them harder to manipte. The bird broke free of Bea''s hold entirely, pping away into the darkness, instead of choosing to stay and fight them.


    This pattern repeated itself several times. Each creature the Vespid guards located¡ªwhether it was a small mammal, an insect, or another bird¡ªfought tooth and nail against Bea''s attempts to send them skyward. Even with Bea''s abilities stalling their movements, their instincts to avoid rising above the canopy were unshakable.


    Kain was now extremely exhausted from the several battles and had not much results to speak of.


    It''s as though fear of flying above the trees had been engrained into every creature of this forest. But the only way to override these instincts would be to either find a green-grade spiritual creature, which they surprisingly haven''te across yet, or to give Bea a boost, but the amount of refills for spiritual power Kain had was limited, and he didn''t want to use them so quickly in case it took a long time and many battles to reach his needed destination.


    ''Would sacrificing one of the guards be a better payoff?''


    But Kain was reluctant to reduce his strength like that.


    Suddenly a loud rustle appeared close to his side, only a couple feet away form him


    ''Not again¡­''

 Chapter 343 Repeated Danger

    Kain''s heart skipped a beat in his chest as he stared at the rustling bushes, his mind getting ready for yet another battle.


    The oppressive silence of the forest was broken by a low, guttural growl that seemed to reverberate through his very bones. Emerging from the shadows was a massive tiger-like spiritual creature, its fur zing with flickering orange mes. Its piercing amber eyes locked onto Kain, and the ground beneath it left scorched earth in the shape of a paw print with every step.


    Based on the spiritual power and pressure it emitted, it was stronger than the snake Kain had firste across, as well as all of the other creatures he''d fought so far. But it was thankfully still a blue-grade spiritual creature¡ªotherwise this battle would be hopeless.


    "Aegis!" Kain shouted, his golem springing to action. The massive creature mmed its arms into the ground, summoning a barrier of stone between Kain and the tiger. The tiger didn''t even hesitate, its ming ws tearing through the rock that had previously withstood blows form other blue-grade spiritual creatures, with ease; scattering molten shards across the clearing.


    The tiger lunged again, but this time the Vespid guards took action, their formation tightening as they released a flurry of stingers toward the tiger. Though many of the projectiles burned to ash before making contact, a few struck true, forcing the beast to reel back slightly away from Kain.


    He took the opportunity to distance himself and ran in the direction of Aegis, while wals of stone formed behind him as cover.


    Invisible mental threads controlled by Bea snaked toward the tiger, probing its mind. However, the creature''s fiery spiritual energy burned through Bea''s threads with rming speed. Threads that usually couldn''t be touched by most attacks. Indicating that the fire of this tiger is far from normal.


    The Vespid guardsunched a flurry of stingers at it again, and Kain noticed that when boosted by Queen, and wrapped with a thinyer of life-attribute energy, the odd stinger is able to make it through andnd a hit.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    In the next series of attacks, each stinger carried one of Bea''s splits, and thankfully one was able to finally make contact after its body was protected from the heat by the stinger that had shortly disintegrated after it made contact. Unfortunately, Bea could only slow its movements, not control it fully¡ªbut that still helped greatly.


    Aegis mmed its massive fists into the ground, sending shockwaves toward the tiger. The earth trembled as jagged spikes erupted, encircling the beast and briefly pinning it in ce.


    Enraged, the tiger let out another deafening roar, its mes intensifying. With a burst of power, it melted the stone spires and leapt toward Aegis, its ws carving deep gouges into his rock hard body.


    Finally, Kain decided to use one of his boosts of the day, thankful that he hadn''t used any yet today.


    He was about to use the boost on Bea so she could exert better control, but at thest minute instead chose to use it on Queen, allowing her to strengthen all of the guards to an even greater degree. For added measure, Kain intentionally had Queen stand too close to the line of fire during one of the tiger''s attacks to trigger the Berserk state of her guards¡ªa state Kain rarely used due to the decrease in their intelligence and inability to follow orders.


    However, what he needed now was for them to just bombard the tiger crazily¡ªno borate nning needed. With the several boosts stacked on top of one another, the over 20 Vespid guards were now not much different from a weaker blue-grade spiritual creature. While individually they were still much weaker than the tiger, they made up for it in quantity.


    With numerous boosts, the Vespid guards became a relentless force. Their wings buzzed with an almost deafening intensity, and they swarmed the ming tiger with reckless abandon. Stingers, now glowing with enhanced power, peppered the creature''s zing fur, piercing through its defences more effectively than before.


    The tiger snarled, whipping its tail of me through the swarm, but the guards pressed on undeterred. One after another, theyunched their stingers, and even themselves asionally at the tiger with reckless abandon, some sacrificing their lives as the intense heat consumed them.


    ''Sigh. This is why I rarely activate this berserk skill. Themunching their bodies at that tiger is like an egg hitting a rock. Complete suicide.''


    Taking advantage of the chaos, Kain directed Aegis tounch another wave of jagged stone spikes. A series of sharp pirs erupted around the tiger, restricting its movements further.


    The tiger''s mes surged in response, its body radiating an oppressive heat that even Kain, standing a fair distance away, could feel searing his skin. With a guttural roar, it unleashed a devastating shockwave of fire, incinerating several of the guards and shattering the stone prison around it.


    However, it just seemed like a final struggle. Bea, sensing that it was getting drained of energy, was able to exert slightly more control and prevent it from moving around as much¡ªturning the tiger into a sitting duck.


    After a few more rounds of attacks the tiger stumbled, its fiery aura flickering erratically. Then guardsunched their final assault, their attacks hitting with devastating precision at its vital areas.


    The tiger let out onest furious roar before copsing to the ground. Its mes sputtered and dimmed as its life force drained away. Kain quickly approached the corpse upon confirming its death using the system notification and Bea, and began to skin its high quality and take the parts most valuable.


    Kain finally noticed that despite the ever-present darkness, he could see quite well to perform his task.


    The faint scent of charred wood drew his attention, and Kain turned to see that the tiger''s final fiery outburst had set several trees aze¡ªwhich had been providing him with light. Their thick trunks, now weakened, groaned under their weight before copsing to the ground with thunderous crashes.


    Through the newly opened gap in the canopy, Kain finally glimpsed the night sky. The stars shone brightly above, their constetions glimmering like ancient guides. He immediately searched for a familiar pattern and quickly spotted the Northern Shield¡ªa distinct constetionposed of seven stars arranged in a graceful spiral, with a bright star at its core.


    It resembles the spiral of a snail shell, but likely Northern Shell or Northern Snail didn''t have the same ring to it, and so it was named the much more elegant Northern Shield due to its appearance and its ability to act as a marker for the northern direction for travellers.


    "There," he muttered to himself, his eyes locking onto the constetion that always pointed North. "Looks like I don''t have to keep wandering around aimlessly." Relief flooded him, but it was short-lived.


    A sudden, bone-chilling sensation washed over him, freezing him in ce. It was a presence unlike anything he''d encountered before¡ªcold, oppressive, and suffocating. It snaked up his spine, a primal warning that screamed one thing: Run.

 Chapter 344 Threads of Destiny?

    Without hesitation, Kain bolted in a direction his instincts directed, abandoning all thought of heading North. "Guard! Carry me!" he barked, leaping onto one of the surviving Vespids.


    Thankfully, its boosts provided by Queen were still active, and the berserk state had worn off upon the tiger''s defeat, meaning that its mind was restored and able to take direction.


    He recalled Aegis and Bea into his star space and clung tightly to the Vespid guard as it surged forward, its wings beating furiously.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    A deafening roar echoed from behind him, the sound so powerful it shook the trees, the earth¡ªthe very air itself even.


    The crackling sound of mes that had engulfed the small area of the forest suddenly ceased, snuffed out in an instant, and the oppressive presence grew fainter as the Vespid guard carried him farther away.


    Kain didn''t stop until the feelingpletely vanished. Only then did hemand the guard tond, his heart still pounding in his chest.


    He leaned against a tree, trying to steady his breathing.


    However, upon calming down, his thoughts were a whirlwind of confusion and frustration.


    "I went West¡­" he muttered, his eyes narrowing. He''d been so focused on fleeing that he hadn''t noticed until now. "Why didn''t I run North?" Then he could have at least made some progress in heading to his destination.


    He couldn''t even sense where the creature wasing from, heading North should have been as good an option as West. It was strange that his body didn''t move as he''d expected¡­


    As he ruminated over his failure, he caught sight of faint strings of light at the corners of his vision. The threads shimmered and twisted in a way that was both mesmerizing and unsettling, disappearing whenever he tried to focus on them directly.


    His breath hitched. Threads of Destiny.


    The spiritual skill he''d exchanged points for long ago as one of his rewards for representing the school, was finally showing signs of progress.


    It had been months since he''d received the skill, but hadn''t seen any indication that he was close to sess¡ªuntil now.


    The first level of the skill, which allowed the user to sense the threads of fate, was likely finally learned during the outbreak of his potential in this life-or-death situation. Warning him of danger or highlighting opportunities.


    ''That''s why I fled West,'' Kain realized. ''The threads must''ve guided me toward the safest direction. If I''d gone North¡­perhaps I wouldn''t be here now.''


    That aura emitted from it was likely even beyond indigo-grade. He would have had no chance of survival if they were to have met.


    He shuddered, not wanting to dwell on what might have happened. For now, his priority was clear: make his way North. Thankfully, with the spiritual skill Threads of Destiny finally preliminarily learned, that task got a whole lot safer.


    Focusing on the shimmering threads at the edge of his vision, he tried to get a handle on sensing them more urately.


    They flickered in and out of sight like shes of light and were difficult to focus on, weaving an intricate web that seemed to stretch endlessly into the darkness.


    He couldn''t yet make out the full meaning of their colours, but he didn''t need to¡ªhe chose to trust his instincts, which had proven much more reliable thest few minutes since the skill activated.


    Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Kain recalled the location of the Northern Shield constetion he had glimpsed through the canopy earlier.


    Thankfully, since he''d headed West without taking any turns, he was pretty easily able to re-orient himself to the North.


    "Let''s move," he murmured, climbing back onto the Vespid guard and directing it forward. "Fly low, and keep quiet."


    He had only 15 guards remaining after thest attack, but they were still enough to surround the guards carrying him and provide a sense of security.


    The buzzing of the guard''s wings was muted as it skimmed just above the forest floor, weaving between the gnarled roots and dense undergrowth.


    Kain kept his eyes on the threadsing off from the Vespid Guards at the corners of his vision, noticing how they shimmered more brightly when he veered slightly toward a direction that they ultimately didn''t get ambushed on. The only time the threads dimmed was when they were attacked by a massive rodent-like spiritual creature lurking beneath the ground.


    It had managed to instantly kill a guard after leaping from the earth and would have killed more had Kain not seen the rapidly dimming threads and told them to scatter in time.


    It wasn''t a battle as difficult as the tiger, but after defeating it, instead of security, he saw that the light of the threads around him were continuing to dim, indicating thatpany would likely be joining them soon if they continued to stay. Kain didn''t bother to remove any parts from his kill and quickly left the area.


    Thankfully, as they travelled, the threads of the guards grew brighter, indicating that the danger had passed.


    The second test of the skill came not long after. A faint ripple in the threads caught his attention, and he tugged on the guard''s antenna, signalling it to stop. Momentster, a shadow passed silently in front of them, its form obscured by the dense foliage.


    Kain''s breath hitched as he caught a glimpse of the creature¡ªa panther-like spiritual beast with glowing red eyes, its sleek body blending seamlessly with the darkness.


    Its spiritual power was released freely to ward off any creatures from its territory, indicating it was indigo-grade. Not something he could face and survive currently.


    The panther prowled away without noticing them, and the threads shimmered faintly in approval as Kain directed the guard to take a detour.


    As they pressed on, Kain noticed other areas where the threads'' yed a role aside from avoiding spiritual creatures. At one point, the threads dimmed slightly when he veered left, urging him to adjust his course to the right. Momentster, he saw why¡ªa nearly invisible array of spider threads were hidden within the vegetation to his left, a trap that would have been invisible to him in this dim lighting, had he not been warned.


    The journey was slow and fraught with tension, but the threads of light never steered him wrong. When he finally felt safe enough tond and give his Vespid guard a moment''s rest, Kain took stock of his surroundings.


    Using what he''d learned in his Wilderness Survival Course, Kain was able to notice some odd features of the surrounding environment.


    At first nce, it appeared unassuming, but he noticed several points that looked as though it was fraught with human activity and those tracks were being intentionally concealed.


    That gave him hope. If a lot of humans were passing this point¡ªthat meant he was close.

 Chapter 345 Both Paths Lead to Death

    The forest opened up gradually as Kain moved further north, the signs of human activity bing more apparent as he got closer and closer to what he assumed was his destination.


    Broken branches, faintly worn paths, and even asional scraps of fabric snagged on bushes hinted that there were several others who had passed this way before him. The canopy began to thin slightly, allowing slivers of moonlight to illuminate his surroundings until he didn''t even need to exhaust his spiritual power to keep his enhanced sight active, he could see the surroundings clearly without it.


    After what felt like hours of being trapped with enemies all around, Kain finally reached a clearing not filled with only trees¡ªthe edge of arge body of water.


    The stillness of its surface mirrored the night sky above, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he could see the stars and moon above clearly.


    High above, a dense, almost unnaturally white cloud hung in the air above the forest, its edges shimmering faintly in the moonlight. Something about it seemed off¡ªtoo heavy, too opaque to be a normal cloud.


    As Kain squinted at it, he soon saw movement from within it.


    A massive, winged creature suddenly emerged from the cloud, diving toward the forest with incredible speed.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Its form was an uncanny blend of a pterodactyl and a falcon. Its body was sleek and muscr, covered in metallic feathers that glimmered faintly in the moonlight.


    It had a long, pointed beak with serrated edges like shard teeth, and its talons were razor-sharp, designed to shred its prey in seconds.


    A wide wingspan carried it effortlessly through the air, and every time it beat its wings a faint metallic hum like a tuning fork would echo through the trees below.


    The creature flew toward the forest canopy, its sharp eyes scanning the foliage below. Without warning, it struck¡ªsnatching an unfortunate bat-like creature from just above the leaves. It ascended back toward the dense cloud with its prey, disappearing from Kain''s sight.


    That "cloud" clearly wasn''t natural. It was probably a nest, filled with those terrifying creatures. As he watched, more of the feathered predators emerged and repeated the same hunting process, their movements swift and practiced, clearly it was the usual hunting method.


    Most were undoubtedly indigo-grade, though the asional one radiated an overwhelming aura that was likely belonging to a violet-grade spiritual creature.


    "So that''s why flying above the canopy is suicidal," he muttered. Most powerful spiritual creatures take a certain area as their territory. This arrogant n of birds took the entire sky above this forest to be its territory, and any that dared to fly too high would be mercilessly targeted.


    And seeing how quickly they managed to target anything the second it got even slightly close to the tree tops, Kain was suddenly d for meeting that fire-attribute tiger, even though it ended up luring an extremely powerful spiritual creature.


    Even if Kain had managed to find a weaker creature for Bea to control, based on the swift timing in which they hunt anything remotely close to entering their ''territory'' it was entirely possible that whatever creature they controlled would be killed before it could even properly locate the Northern Shield constetion¡ªthen all that time finding a creature for Bea to control would have been wasted.


    A thunderous roar shook the air as a massive, golden-furred bear emerged from the forest, its body crackling with arcs of electricity, as it was carried by an evenrger winged creature. Both the bear and the winged creature were likely violet-grade, equivalent to an 8-star beast-tamer.


    The bear roared in fury, releasing a pulse of electricity that caused the creature holding it to falter, but it was only for a moment, and its grip on the bear did not cken.


    Another of the winged predators dove towards the bear swinging its limbs around in the air, its serrated beak piercing the bear''s neck. Blood sprayed in an arc as the bear''s struggles weakened. Working in perfect coordination, the birds lifted the massive beast into the air, their ws and beaks ripping flesh from bone with a horrifying swiftness.


    Kain could only watch in stunned silence as the once-mighty bear was reduced to a gruesome bloody mist.


    Tearing his gaze from the sky, Kain focused on the massive body of water before him. Far in the distance, he could see what appeared to be a wall, its silhouette faint but unmistakable.


    If he could see it from this distance, it had to be enormous, and the water surrounding it seemed to act as a natural moat.


    "That has to be it," Kain said softly, a flicker of hope sparking in his chest. That was most likely his destination. Now he just had to cross the water.


    Kain finally felt relieved that this trial seemed to be almost over. However, as if to put a damper on his enthusiasm, the water''s surface rippled. The movement was faint at first, then grew more pronounced as something massive shifted beneath the surface. A chill ran down Kain''s spine as an overwhelming sense of danger washed over him.


    He froze mid-step, his instincts and the almost pitch-ck Threads of Destiny at the edges of his vision were signalling danger.


    Kain squinted, his gaze locked on the water. He couldn''t make out the creature beneath, but the faint outlines of a serpentine form, enormous in size, were visible just beneath the surface.


    Just a slight leakage of its aura above the water alone was enough to confirm it was at least indigo-grade, if not higher.


    "Of course," Kain groaned, taking a step back. "Because this orientation wasn''t hard enough already."


    He clenched his fists, frustration bubbling within him. The air above was dominated by predatory flyers, the water below teemed with an unknown aquatic menace, and the only way forward was blocked.


    "How the heck am I supposed to cross this?" Kain muttered, his mind racing for solutions.


    If he flew above the water he''d be a target to those things above with no trees as cover, plus the creatures within the water may just choose to leap up and attack him from below.


    However¡­ looking at the massive shadow swimming beneath the water''s surface. He was also very reluctant to enter the water as well.


    There was no clear path, no easy answer.

 Chapter 346 Battle Between Wings and Fins

    Thinking again of the numerous creatures above and the fate of that bear, Kain ruled out flying above the water.


    If he did so, he''d likely be the target for those flying creatures, as well as whatever was within the water.


    Both of them could easily kill him, but at least within the water he''d only have to worry about one.


    He recalled how ages ago, he''d obtained a spiritual nt that would allow him to breathe underwater for a period of time when he was spinning the Selective Wheel of Fortune provided by the System that exclusively provided spiritual nts and seeds.


    Every week, he''d also make sure to visit the System Shop whenever it refreshed and purchase anything that seemed as though it would be helpful to him in the future.


    Although certain useful objects likely slipped through the cracks¡ªlike the truepass which always pointed to your destination¡ª that would havee in handy now or in the future, he''d also built up quite a stash of unique objects that may help him now.


    Already deciding to use the Aetheric Breath Orchid which he''d kept in storage this entire time, he looked at what other tools he had at his disposal to swim across the water with his head and all of his limbs intact.


    Kain rummaged through his space ring and also asked hisb assistant Vera for a catalogue of all of the objects he''d stored in theb.


    Many of the objects he''d exchanged for from the System had been chosen for their potential usefulness in situations just like this¡ªthough even he couldn''t have predicted something quite as ridiculous as swimming across a predator-infested moat with an indigo-grade monster lurking beneath the surface.


    The Aetheric Breath Orchid was carefully removed first. Its translucent petals glowed faintly in the dark, and its roots still exuded a soft, ethereal mist. Crushing a single petal between his teeth would allow him to breathe underwater for up to an hour. While that didn''t guarantee safety, it at least solved one immediate problem.


    Setting the orchid aside, Kain turned his attention to other listed objects in the catalogue proved by Vera. The description for a small vial caught his eye:


    "Murkveil Oil, capable of temporarily concealing its user''s spiritual presence. Most effective for spiritual creatures at and below indigo-grade."


    He wasn''t sure how effective the oil would be within the water, especially since their may be other spiritual creatures higher than indigo-grade underneath, but anything that reduced the odds of detection was worth trying.


    Finally, his attention turned to a set of Aqua-Fin Bands, lightweight metal rings he had exchanged on a whim.


    Once activated, they would attach to the wrists and ankles, allowing the user to swim much faster than normal. He hadn''t tested them yet, but if they worked as described by the system, they could mean the difference between life and death. Even if something does detect him, if he swims fast enough they wouldn''t be able to catch him.


    When he almost finished going through everything he owned, one final object he''d exchanged from the System came to mind.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Kain removed a small, glowing white fruit encased in a protective crystal shell.


    The Lurefruit emitted an alluring fragrance even through its container. It was said to be irresistible to most spiritual creatures, drawing them in like moths to a me.


    There was always a chance that he''d catch the eye of a spiritual creature beneath the water above indigo-grade. And if he did, then whether it''s the oil to conceal his presence, or the bands to increase his speed¡ªthey''d all be useless.


    Therefore, to increase the safety of his journey, he''d need to make sure that the creatures in the water were distracted by something else.


    Without the fruit even being removed from its casing yet, the water before him began to churn violently, the surface breaking as dark shapes swirled beneath, their movements frantic and aggressive.


    Moreover, activity erupted in the cloud above, which Kain hadn''t expected but weed. The metallic feathered birds shrieked, and one dove sharply toward the water as though hunting prey, only to swoop back up and circle the area after a massive fish-like head filled with thousands of needle-like teeth rose to meet it, they were both clearly stimted by the fruit''s presence, trying to locate its exact location.


    Kain handed the encased fruit to a Vespid guard who would have to act as the sacrifice. The poor creature buzzed solemnly as though sensing its imminent doom¡ªhowever, the fearless guards never shied away from death, even when it was certain.


    Kain smeared some of the Murkveil Oil on the guard to buy it a few extra seconds, and directed it to fly above the water as far from Kain''s location as possible before opening the container and the guard did as Kain directed.


    The guard didn''t hesitate to follow themand, darting toward the designated area with the encased fruit held firmly between four of its six legs.


    It didn''t make it far.


    Even before the Vespid guard neared the center of the water and opened the container, chaos erupted.


    An aquatic monster beneath surged upward, breaking the surface with terrifying speed as it snapped its massive jaws around the fruit and the Vespid in a single bite. Simultaneously, several of the skyborne predators dove toward the water, talons outstretched, shrieking in fury.


    What followed was a storm of violence. Spiritual creatures from the water, and sky met, tearing into each other with wild abandon. Blood sprayed in every direction, staining the water crimson as roars, screeches, and sshes filled the air.


    Kain watched the carnage for a brief moment, a Thread of Destiny at the corner of his vision emitted a soft glow¡ªnot exceptionally bright but a huge improvement over the pitch ck it was before.


    Realizing this signalled that the time hade to take advantage of the opportunity he''d created, without hesitation, he crushed the Aetheric Breath Orchid petal between his teeth, applied the Murkveil Oil, and activated the Aqua-Fin Bands.


    As the creatures tore at each other apart in a berserk frenzy, Kain slipped into the water on the opposite side of the chaos, his form disappearing beneath the surface with barely a ripple.

 Chapter 347 First High-Level Opponent

    As Kain glided through the water, propelled by the Aqua-Fin Bands, he was struck by the surreal beauty surrounding him.


    Luminescent nts in shades of blue, green, and violet swayed gently in the currents, their glow casting an ethereal light over the underwater terrain.


    Long, ribbon-like nts¡ªperhaps algae¡ª spiraled upward from thekebed, their tips adorned with shimmering orbs that pulsed like heartbeats.


    Tower-like structures made of coral formed intricate patterns that looked almost deliberate, as if crafted by some unseen hand.


    Tiny glowing particles emitted from some bioluminescent nts floatedzily in the water, adding to the dreamlike ambiance.


    However, despite the beautiful environment, it waspletely devoid of aquatic spiritual creatures making the surroundings quite dead. The eerie silence broken only by the faint hum of his bands cutting through the water.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The chaos he''d left behind with the lurefruit seemed to have drawn away most of the spiritual creatures in theke, especially now that it had practically devolved into a battle of pride between the spiritual creatures in the sky and those in the water.


    or a brief moment, Kain allowed himself to rx, his focus fixed on the center of theke in the distance that marked his destination.


    Halfway to his goal, the tranquillity shattered. A sudden, oppressive presence surged through the water, sending a chill down Kain''s spine.


    He stopped abruptly, his light brown eyes darting around for the source of the disturbance. The Threads of Destiny at the edge of his vision pulsed weakly, but their dim light offered littlefort. However, they weren''tpletely pitch-ck, indicating that this wasn''t a sure-death situation.


    The creature appeared as a shadow at first, emerging slowly from behind a towering coral spire. It was massive, its serpentine body covered in dark, purple scales that shimmered faintly in the dim light.


    Its head was elongated and angr, with six glowing cyan eyes arranged symmetrically, each one radiating an eerie intelligence. Tendrils extended from its jawline, tipped with glowing light blue orbs.


    Its fins were tattered and torn, trailing ribbons of flesh, but the sharp, jagged spines along its back with chunks of blood and tissue caught between them showed that it didn''t passively take a beating from whatever hurt it.


    Despite its injuries, the sheer pressure of its aura was suffocating.


    ''Definitely indigo-grade and based on the feedback from Bea, it also is of the mental-attribute!'' Kain thought depressedly while ring at the thread he''d been using to guide himself. It still had weak flickers of light despite the desperate situation, like it wasn''t caring about the horrible enemy before him at all!


    However, Kain quickly realized that the pressure it emitted wasn''t as sharp or overbearing as other indigo-grade creatures he had encountered. The creature''s movements were slower, its body carrying a distinct stiffness. It was heavily injured, and likely starving¡ªa dangerousbination.


    Kain''s heart sank as he pieced together its intent. This intelligent predator had likely avoided the chaos of the lurefruit due to its injuries and higher intelligence from the mental-attribute, conserving its strength while waiting for easier prey. And now, it had found Kain, who it clearly saw as a meal that had conveniently delivered itself right to its door.


    "Great. Just my luck," Kain muttered under his breath, the water distorting his voice. His mind raced as the beast moved closer, its unblinking eyes locking onto him.


    Most of his spiritual creatures weren''t effectivebatants under the water, and so he''d recalled all of them, except for Bea. However, the two-level gap in strength between the two sides was enormous, not to mention that the target also having the mental-attribute would make it much more resistant to anything Bea attempted.


    The serpentine creature''s six glowing cyan eyes locked onto Kain, the very water undted as it it unleashed a pulse of mental energy.


    The attack struck with the force of a tidal wave, bypassing the physical defences Kain could muster and targeting his mind directly. A searing painnced through his skull, his vision momentarily blurring as disorienting whispers filled his ears.


    He was practically incapacitated immediately, despite the fact that he has a strong resistance to mental-attribute skills due to the feedback he''s received from Bea over the years. If it were someone without a mental-attribute contract or suitable equipment, they may have be instantly braindead.


    His instincts screamed at him to retreat, but the creature lunged forward, its jagged fins slicing through the water with deceptive speed. Kain barely managed to regain enough of his consciousness to twist out of its path, the sharp edges of its spines grazing his armor and sending him spiralling through the water.


    Thankfully, he wasn''t alone.


    Hundreds, if not thousands of mental energy threads, practically invisible under the water surged from Bea, attempting to influence the creature''s mind in an attempt to slow it down.


    The predator recoiled, its glowing eyes narrowing in annoyance, but the resistance was immediate and intense. Its mental energy surged through its body and surroundings like a tidal wave, cutting through Bea''s threads with ease and also crushing all of the splits that had managed to gain entry into its body.


    Seeing the gap in strength, Kain made a snap decision. He activated his spiritual skill, channelling every drop of his remaining energy into Bea, plus theplete spiritual from the one-and-a-half instant refills he had remaining from his enchanted equipment.


    This was the first time he''d attempted to send over more than a refill''s worth of spiritual energy into Bea to boost her abilities, and the effect was immediate.


    Bea''s presence red with newfound power, making her microscopic presence even faintly detectable by others other than Kain, due to her not being able to restrain all of the energy. Even Bea seemed overwhelmed by the sudden influx.


    Through their bond, Kain was able to detect that while she felt strained and bloated, it was manageable, with no signs of her exploding or suffering permanent irreparable harm.


    ''Game on!'' Kain thought. He''d long wanted to test himself against an indigo-grade spiritual creature, and a heavily injured one would make the perfect opponent.

 Chapter 348 First High-Level Opponent (2)

    Bea''s threads surged forward with renewed strength, more numerous than ever before.


    Theyshed out like ethereal whips,pletely unavoidable, and much more resistant to the cutting of the serpent. Finally, a few managed to make contact, snaking into its mind.


    The creature roared in rage, its body convulsing violently as it thrashed against the intrusion. The water churned around them, sending a shockwave rippling outward.


    This time, Bea''s threads didn''t disintegrate upon entry into its body.


    Bolstered by the massive influx of spiritual energy and the boost it provided to their strength, they wormed their way deeper into the creature''s psyche, seeking to exploit its injuries and momentary disorientation.


    Kain could feel the strain through their bond, Bea''s consciousness pressing against a barrier far stronger than any they had encountered before.


    The creature, however, was far from helpless.


    It retaliated with another pulse of mental energy, the sheer force of which sent Kain reeling backward. His head pounded as disorienting whispers flooded his mind, faint glimpses of the serpent''s memories bleeding into his thoughts¡ªvisions of a brutal fight, its attacker''s visage obscured but its aura unmistakably violet-grade. The serpent''s pain and desperation were overwhelming, but its hunger and rage burned brighter.


    The memories were so vivid, that Kain almost got consumed by them, thinking of himself as this aquatic serpent.


    During the period of Kain''s helplessness, the serpent moved rapidly toward him with its massive, fang-filled jaw stretched open¡ªwanting to swallow him in one bite.


    Seeing Kain''s plight, Bea redoubled her efforts, her threads shifting from direct control to creating a web of confusion. They tugged at the serpent''s instincts, making it hesitate in its movements and misjudge Kain''s position.


    Coming to his senses, Kain kicked his legs and darted to the side, narrowly avoiding a vicious swipe of the serpent''s serrated fins as it passed him by.


    The orbs at the end of the whisker-like tendrilsing off of its face glowed ominously, releasing cyan des that hurtled toward him. Clearly, although the mental-attribute was dominant, it had a sub water-attribute as well.


    Kain twisted and turned, barely avoiding the attack as it passed dangerously close, the residual energy cutting against his armour and into his skin.


    "Damn it," Kain muttered, his breathsing in ragged gasps. Even with Bea''s enhancements, this was far from a fair fight.


    Kain''s mind raced as he dodged ash from the serpent''s tail as it spun around to meet him again. The creature was relentless, its massive form moving with surprising agility despite its injuries. Each attack sent shockwaves through the water, letting Kain know that if his dodging were even a fraction of a second off, he''d probably be dismembered.


    Thankfully, Bea gave up on controlling it and focused on shifting its senses slightly, causing it to inurately gauge Kain''s location several times.


    However, even with the massive boost to her abilities, Kain could feel the strain through their bond, a constant reminder of the massive gap between their efforts and the serpent''s raw power. He needed a strategy to exploit its injuries and end the fight before both he and Bea were overwhelmed.


    The serpent lunged again, its glowing cyan eyes locking onto Kain with predatory intent. He dove downward, narrowly avoiding its snapping jaws as they closed with a deafening crash, sending shards of broken coral scattering through the water.


    Kain noted that, despite the gap in power and it being a mental-attribute spiritual creature, it keeps trying to crush Kain physically, rather than with its skills. As a creature with the mental-attribute, that''s practically giving up its greatest advantage to instead stubbornly try to kill them with its weakness.


    Yes, it''s physically powerful inparison to the squishy Kain and Bea, butpared to most indigo-grade spiritual creatures, its physique isckluster.


    Kain''s gaze darted to the jagged spines along its back where some of the worst of its injuries were. Each spine was pulsing faintly with spiritual energy. An idea began to form in his mind.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He also noticed that the orbs at the end of its whiskers also seemed to flicker unstably.


    Perhaps this creature had a unique energy circuit, that flowed through its spines as well as those orbs, that were damaged in the previous fight? Making it difficult for it to exert any moves that consume spiritual power.


    ''Bea,'' Kain called through their bond, his thoughts sharp and focused. ''See if there''s a way to disrupt the flow of energy to its spines as you disrupted its senses. If we can destabilize it enough, I might have a shot.''


    Bea did as directed, although manipting the flow of spiritual power was a new task for her, she barely managed to aplish it by subtly manipting the serpent''s own control over its energy, gradually having it unconsciously siphon off much of its energy elsewhere in its body.


    The glow of the spine dimmed slightly, and the serpent''s movements faltered, but it retaliated with a flick of its tail that sent Kain tumbling backward¡ªits aim now more urate now that Bea had to focus on redirecting its spiritual energy.


    Kain reached for an object in his space ring which he''d purchased from the college in the event of an emergency¡ªa specially crafted explosive orb infused with spiritual energy.


    It was a single-use item capable of delivering a devastating localized st, that he''d thought about using on theboratories of that organization should their walls prove to be fire-proof.


    He hesitated for only a moment before activating it, the orb glowing with a vibrant orange hue as it charged.


    Kain propelled himself upward, the Aqua-Fin Bands giving him a burst of speed as he positioned himself above the serpent''s head. The creature, seemed surprised by him taking the initiative to approach for the first time. But then under its shocked eyes, with a forceful throw, heunched the glowing orb directly at its damaged back. Before taking off in the direction of the center of theke as swiftly as possible.


    The explosion was almost instantaneous. A blinding light filled the water as the orb detonated, sending a shockwave that rippled through theke. The serpent let out a deafening roar, its body convulsing as the st shattered several of its spines and left a gaping wound along its back.


    The injured serpent that now found it difficult to activate its spiritual power to defend itself due to Bea had needed to weather the st with its body.


    Kain didn''t wait to see if it would recover. He darted away from the st zone, the Aqua-Fin Bands propelling him toward the towering wall in the distance. Behind him, the serpent''s roars grew weaker, and it didn''t seem to n to chase.


    And with the way clear in front of him, and the Threads of Destiny glowing brighter in his vision, Kain was sure that he would arrive at his destination soon.

 Chapter 349 Waiting Room?

    Thankfully the rest of Kain''s journey was uneventful and less than 20 minutester, while making sure to move at max speed and no breaks, he reached the opposite shore.


    Kain exited the water looking like a drowned rat, his clothes ufortable soaked through.


    He pressed a hand to his aching side as he moved, and removed the Aqua-Fin Bands which had burned through most of their charge during his desperate dash across theke. While they''d propelled him forward at incredible speeds, his muscles were still stiff and sore from the effort.


    But despite his physical difort, he was ecstatic.


    He looked at the massive ck wall in front of him. The ck stone shimmered faintly in the moonlight, giving it an otherworldly appearance. Its smooth surface was devoid of seams, cracks, or any discernible entry points.


    Its sheer size dwarfed anything Kain had ever seen, appearing to stretch into the clouds, while the length of one side stretched so far in both directions it may take an hour at full sprint for him to reach another side of the wall.


    "Of course, no obvious entrance," Kain muttered under his breath, running a hand through his still-damp hair. "That would be too easy."


    Using a temporary shelter made by Aegis as cover while he changed, Kain made himself look more presentable before beginning his journey along the wall in search of an entrance.


    After exhaustedly walking along the same side of the wall for what felt like an eternity, he still hadn''t even reached the point of intersection with another wall.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Just as doubt began to creep into his mind if perhaps this was not the correct location, he hadn''t seen any other people either, a low mechanical whirr broke through the still night air, causing him to freeze mid-step.


    From the seamless ck stone, a small rectangr section of the wall suddenly retracted, revealing a doorway norger than a person.


    "What the¡ª?" Kain''s voice trailed off as he stared at the newly-formed opening, his heart pounding.


    The space beyond the doorway was pitch ck, an abyss that seemed to devour any faint source of light that filtered into the clearing. There were no lights, no sound¡ªnothing to indicate whaty beyond that lightless tunnel.


    Kain took a cautious step toward the opening, his instincts and the evident glow of the Threads of Destiny letting him know that at least there should be minimal to no danger to him present within these walls. But the oppressive silence and the imprable darkness set his nerves on edge.


    "Guess there''s no turning back now," Kain muttered, steeling himself as he stepped toward the waiting shadows. After all, if he came all the way here only to turn back because he was scared of the dark, that''d be idiotic.


    Due to the narrow fit of the tunnel, he had to recall Aegis, but still had several of the Vespids in front and behind him, along with Bea, to give him a greater sense of security.


    Kain took slow, cautious steps as he entered the pitch-ck tunnel. The oppressive silence was broken only by the faint buzzing of the Vespid guards nking him, their presence offering some measure of reassurance.


    Bea''s mental threads were also extended all around them, scanning the environment for any potential threats, but the darkness ahead seemedpletely devoid of life.


    Kain''s footsteps echoed faintly off the walls, amplifying the eerie atmosphere. He tried not to dwell on the disorienting feeling of being swallowed by the ckness, focusing instead on the Threads of Destiny that faintly flickered at the corners of his vision, constantly reassuring him that it was safe ahead.


    After several minutes of walking, a faint light appeared at the end of the tunnel, growing steadily brighter with each step. Kain''s pace quickened, relief washing over him as he neared the exit.


    Emerging from the tunnel, Kain found himself in a fluorescently lit sterile room with light grey tiled floors and bare walls and ceilings. The stark contrast between the natural beauty of the forest and what looked like the inside of an empty factory, was jarring.


    However, the room was spacious. Allowing for the dozens of beast-tamers present and their contracts to roam aroundfortably.


    Along the walls were severalrge screens, each disying various scenes of the forest Kain had just been in.


    They would frequently change the location of broadcast, but each one tracked the movements of individuals making their way through the terrain. Kain quickly realized these were the other participants, all fighting their own battles to reach this destination.


    Another screen caught his attention. Instead of broadcasting a contestant, it showed a countdown timer ticking down. Next to the timer, three numbers were disyed in varying colours.


    The green number read 27, which, after a cursory look around at those gathered, Kain immediately associated with the number of people already present in the room.


    The red number was 2, likely indicating those who had failed this final orientation test¡ªeither through death or withdrawal.


    The yellow number, 11, likely represented the remaining participants who had yet to arrive.


    "I guess that means I''m in thetter half of arrivals," Kain muttered under his breath, feeling both slightly disconcerted.


    However, he wasn''t too disappointed. As he assessed the spiritual fluctuations of those around him. The majority were clearly 6-star beast-tamers, with some at 5-stars. It was rare for someone as low as a 4-star beast-tamer, let alone a second-year college student like him to be recruited.


    Kain scanned the room and quickly spotted Serena glowing white hair among those who arrived since she easily stood out. She stood near one of the walls, her posture rxed but her eyes sharp as she observed the screens.


    Seeing her brought a small wave of relief¡ªat least there was someone he was familiar with in this unfamiliar environment.


    Kain moved through the room to stand next to her and as he walked he noticed the quiet conversations taking ce among the participants, each assessing the others as potential allies or rivals.


    ''Looks like everyone is trying to find someone to rely on in this unfamiliar environment, in case there are more tests.''


    But Kain''s attention remained fixed on the screens, particrly the timer that continued to count down, showing that there were less than 5 hours remaining. Even though they were not made aware of any time limit, it appears as though they were expected to arrive within 24 hours.


    On one of the screens, Kain noticed a familiar face, who would likely be the next to arrive after him. The former Vice Captain of the Dark Moon College team¡ªRavi.


    In fact, when Kain more closely examined those around him, he spotted several familiar faces that yed prominent roles in thest National Tournament. Although, unlike Kain and Serena, most were seniors who had just graduated.


    And even they would probably be considered a young minority, since more than half of the arrivals definitely looked as though they hadn''t been a student of a college in years.


    Kain''s gaze lingered on the screen tracking Ravi. The former Vice Captain of Dark Moon College''s team was seated on the forest floor near the edge of theke, his normallymanding demeanour reced with one of fatigue.


    His light-attribute Dawn Butterfly hovered over his shoulder. Pulses of radiant energy flowed from the butterfly into Ravi''s body, clearly working to heal the deep gashes and burns marring his arms and legs. Nearby, his other insect-type spiritual creatures stood on high alert, their eyes scanning the area for potential threats.


    "Looks like he''s injured," Kain murmured. He wasn''t surprised. Kain had run into indigo-grade spiritual creatures, and almost even stronger ones, several times. If he hadn''t had the Threads of Destiny he likely would be an additional tally in the red number of deaths above.


    Momentster, another familiar figure appeared on a different screen. Isolde, the Vice Captain of First Celestial Academy and now a fourth-year, trudged toward Ravi''s location. Her usually pristine silver armour was battered, her movements sluggish as blood seeped from a cut across her forehead. Despite her injuries, her aura was still fierce enough for most to not dare and mess with her.


    As Isolde reached Ravi''s side, the two exchanged a brief nod. Though they had been rivals during the tournament, it appeared they were working together now, likely having met at some point earlier in the forest.


    Kain wondered if they were both injured when they teamed up or if they''d run into something powerful enough to greatly injure the Vice Captains of the top 2 colleges at this past National Tournament while they worked together.


    Kain watched as Ravi gestured toward theke, his expression serious. The camera zoomed in just enough to show Isolde''s furrowed brows as she looked out over the water, likely trying to strategize a way across.


    If Kain remembered correctly, she had an attribute for creatures with an infernal bloodline, none of them would be particrly adept at moving under the water.


    Likewise, Ravi''s lineup of insect-type contracts also didn''t happen to have any with a water-attribute.


    Kain couldn''t hear their conversation, but it was clear that both were struggling toe up with a solution.


    "I wonder how they''ll handle it," Kain thought aloud, his eyes shifting to the timer, hoping that he''d get to see and team up with the formidable former Vice Captain again.


    "Kain." Serena''s voice drew his attention. She was now standing beside him, her sharp gaze fixed on the wall opposite to the one Kain was looking at¡ªa wall that was previously empty but now had pretty much everyone surrounding a newly appeared screen, packed so densely that he couldn''t see through them. "It looks like this room isn''t just for waiting."

 Chapter 350 The Subdivisions

    Serena''s remark immediately drew Kain''s attention from watching the advancement of the former Vice Captain Ravi to the newly appeared screen.


    Unfortunately, the bodies were so packed around the new screen that not even a glimpse of it could be had, even after Kain had one of the Vespid guards carry him slightly higher for a better vantage point.


    Others seemed to have simr ideas, and so therge and flying bodies of other spiritual creatures carrying their masters still blocked his view.


    Finally, he gave up and decided to take the approach of Serena to just patiently wait for the others to leave so that he could take a look.


    An hourter, as expected, the number of individuals surrounding the screen was a lot les dense than it was previously.


    On the screen there was something like an automatic slide show introducing something to the new arrivals.


    Kain unfortunately arrived in the middle of the slideshow and so was unable to understand the point the first time around; however, after waiting for the presentation to restart he gradually understood.


    It appears as though, in addition to the academy branch briefly mentioned by the Vice Chancellor, the Eclipse Order also had numerous other branches, which the Vice Chancellor had previously all lumped together as the bat stream." However, it would be more urate to categorize them as the field personnel, in contrast to those of the academic personnel.


    The academic stream was only briefly glossed over in the presentation, likely because none of those recruited here were eligible for the academic stream.


    To be epted within that stream, they would not be forced to partake in a deadly field exercise like now¡ªsuch a thing would be useless to them.


    Instead, all members of the academic stream were recruited on a probationary basis based on their schrly achievements or original creations.


    This division recruited talents in the fields of cksmiths, alchemy, evolutionary nning, research of ancient civilization and more.


    To be recruited, one must not only be skilled at their trade, but an innovator. Therefore, an extremely high-ranking alchemists would not be recruited over a lower-ranking one, if they show no ability of being able to produce their own potion and alchemical recipes. After all, the Eclipse order would prefer to invest in the talents of a young alchemist capable of innovating than an established stagnant one. The innovator will do more to raise the strength of the entire nation as a whole.


    This was why, despite his fulfillment of many difficult evolutionary nner requests, Kain was only somewhat eligible for this stream after he''d developed a mass-produced evolutionary form that could be used by many citizens¡ªunlike a specialized evolutionary form like Bea''s, Queen''s, and Yara''s that could likely not be replicated. One can increase the collective strength of the empire, whereas the other only benefits his personal strength.


    However, just one such achievement is not enough. Likely, Kain would need to make at least 2 more significant breakthroughs in the field of evolutionary nning in order to be recruited.


    Of course, if Kain disclosed his ability to turn affinity-less individuals into beast-tamers they may immediately recruit¡ªor hold him captive and torture him to control this ability for themselves. But he had no intention of disclosing this ability to anyone to just be recruited.


    Not to mention, he hadn''t given up on researching other evolutionary forms, including a follow-up form for the Gilded Serafin. Therefore, he was confident in gaining ess to this department sooner orter.


    In fact, he had one new research discovery in the works that had been put on hold due to Gabriel, but he could consider expediting publishing those results if the resources provided within the academic department of the Eclipse Order prove lucrative enough.


    Likewise, the field personnel stream of the Eclipse Order, which epassed allbat-focused and active field roles, was further divided into specialized subdivisions, each catering to unique tasks and missions critical to the survival and dominance of the Celestial Empire.


    Kain read the descriptions on the screen with interest, assuming that once the timer went down, a choice or task rted to these subdivisions would appear next.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He also noted that, unlike the academic subdivisions that clearly stated their purpose, such as "the Alchemical Research Division," and were extremely numerous; the subdivisions of thebat stream had more obscure names and were limited to just 6 in number. The presentation went deep into borating upon each of them, as well as providing a brief description on how "contribution points" would be rewarded within each subdivision.


    The first subdivision was called the ''Lunar Veil.'' They focused on espionage and deep-cover missions. More specifically¡­


    "Our members specialize in long-term undercover assignments, infiltrating enemy nations, rogue factions, and even domestic organizations that might harbor traitors or dissenters. Agents of the Lunar Veil are masters of disguise and deception, often spending years or even decades embedded in their roles. Their missions are high-risk, with no guarantee of return, but their workys the foundation for many of the Empire''s strategic victories. As such, due to the importance of our role and extended periods of absence, each of our missions usuallyes with a corresponding reward several times greater than the missions given by the other subdivisions¡­"


    Kain looked at the in-looking man, likely a member of the Veil, as he exined his work.


    Based on the description and the man they used as the representative of this subdivision, Kain could tell that having an easily overlooked and unmemorable appearance was probably an important prerequisite of this department.


    He looked at Serena standing next to him, whose blonde head was practically like a glowing beacon and knew she was unsuitable for this department.


    He also didn''t feel as though he was particrly suited for this stream due to still being a student and having a business and minor family members that could need his attention at any time.


    He had already read that upon joining a subdivision, you did not select your mission, and they assigned whoever they felt could best aplish it. Therefore, joining could end up taking him to a country across the ocean for years.


    Thankfully, although it was suitable for him now, there does appear to be the possibility of transferring between subdivisions within each stream, so he could consider joining in the far future and using it as an opportunity to see the world.

 Chapter 351 The Subdivisions (2)

    Kain continued reading the other descriptions.


    As a pair with the Lunar Veil, are the "Dawnbringers." While the Veil delves into the shadows to obtain information, the Dawnbringers are the ones that shed light on those simrly lurking in the shadows of the Empire.


    The Dawnbringers are the Empire''s counter-intelligence and internal security subdivision. They root out spies and infiltrators, ensuring that the nation remains imprable. They also monitor other members, ensuring loyalty and discipline within the ranks.


    "They must be those paranoid guys I heard about¡­" Kain heard an unfamiliar man next to him mutter. However, the members of this subdivision exhibiting excess paranoia is to be expected¡ªtheir job is to literally look at any and everyone theye across as a potential spy and then root them out.


    Simr, to the Veil, they may also go long periods before a task ispleted. Therefore, each spy or vulnerability in the Empire''s defense that they identify also usuallyes with hefty rewards.


    In summary, the first two divisions can be summarized as being for those better at intelligence gathering than rawbat strength and the payoff for rewards is very slow, however the rewards in both departments are extremely lucrative.


    The third subdivision is the "Night Hunt." The Hunt''s members are the elitebatants of the Eclipse, that specialize in assassinations and hunting down enemies or traitors.


    If someone were to betray the Eclipse Order, a member of the Hunt would be tasked with tracking them down and disposing of them.


    Thankfully, instances of betrayal are rare and most of their targets range from rogue beast-tamers and traitorous officials to high-profile enemies of the Empire. The Hunt often operates solo or in small units, which is why the personalbat strength of the members of the hunt tends to be the highest.


    This is also one of the subdivisions that were apparently the most difficult to gain ess to. The Night Hunt is feared even among other members of the Eclipse, their name synonymous with death. Therefore, only the best of the best could join their ranks.


    In contrast to the Hunt, the fourth subdivision, the "Celestial Vanguard", usually consists of people that shine greatly in teambat or group war-fare.


    They often act in concert with the Empire''s general army as an elitebat division of the military, leadingrge-scale field operations during times of war or crisis.


    The Vanguard is deployed when brute force and overwhelming strength are required to secure the Empire''s interests and their presence alone is said to turn the tide of battles. Every member is a seasoned warrior with extensive field experience.


    However,rge-scale conflicts have been more infrequent in recent years, therefore the turnover of receiving contribution points in this division is likely the lowest during times of peace like now¡ªalthough it could go up exponentially during times of war.


    The final two subdivisions are also somewhat intertwined. The fifth subdivision is the "Pathfinders" which are responsible for the exploration and recovery of ancient relics and unknown territories.


    These individuals are tasked with uncovering and traversing new or forgotten regions, often where the remains of ancient civilizations are or recently found relics filled with unknown danger. They are often the most resourceful, trained to navigate dangerous ruins, decipher ancient texts, disarm traps andbat unknown spiritual creatures that may have not been seen in millennia.


    In summary, like their name they are the pathfinders of the Eclipse, often returning with knowledge, artifacts, subdued relics that can greatly boost the collective power of the Empire.


    The final, and sixth subdivision, is the "Starchaser." Simr to Pathfinders, they also explore unexplored territories, but rather than unexplored territories left by ancient humans that often requires historical knowledge and the ability to decipher ancient text, the specialize in deep- wilderness expeditions to acquire rare spiritual creatures and materials. Unlike the Pathfinders that often bring back important historical knowledge and discoveries, Starchasers tend to travel ces not left by man and are specialists in traversing the uncharted wilderness.


    Starchasers are responsible for capturing rare spiritual creatures and recovering valuable natural resources that are often then supplied to the Order as rewards exchangeable using contribution points. Their missions often ce them in environments dominated by powerful spiritual creatures, requiring extensive knowledge of ecology and survival skills.


    Due to the Pathfinders and Starchasers often being the ones at the forefront of discovering rare materials, their missions usually have much lower contribution points given as a reward, due to them having first ess to the valuables and knowledge that they bring back aspensation.


    Kain mediated on the 6 subdivisions he''d learned about, wondering about the process for joining them.


    Thankfully, the wait to find out wouldn''t be much longer.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The room buzzed with faint conversations and murmurs as more participants trickled in, the fluorescently lit number on the countdown screen decreasing steadily. The timer quickly approached 00:00, and with the exception of 2 more participants that didn''t arrive in time, 36 individuals, including Ravi and Isolde, arrived at the facility just in the nick of time.


    However, before he could properly greet Ravi since he hadn''t wanted to disturb him while he was watching the presentation, the screens around the room flickered simultaneously.


    One by one, each screen went dark, only to be reced by a single massive disy that spanned the wall opposite the entrance. A hush fell over the room as an imposing figure appeared on the screen.


    The man radiated authority, his aura so overwhelming that even through the disy, Kain felt the weight of his presence settle like a heavy stone on his chest. Kain knew instinctively that he must be one of the few 9-star beast-tamers of the empire.


    The man was dressed in a sleek, ck uniform. His face was sharp, with eyes that gleamed like polished obsidian, and his graying hair was tied neatly at the nape of his neck. He stood with an air of absolute confidence, his gaze sweeping over them all. Despite them being separated by the screen, Kain felt the physical weight of his gaze as though he were in the room with them.


    "Wee," the man began, his deep voice reverberating through the room like a drumbeat. "To the Eclipse Order."

 Chapter 352 "Report Card"

    The man didn''t bother to introduce himself, likely feeling as though it was unnecessary to do so to people so much lower than him in strength and status.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "You have proven your worth by making it here. This was the first step¡ªa test not only of your strength but also your resourcefulness, intelligence, and resilience under pressure. But let me be clear: arriving here is no guarantee of sess."


    Kain felt a ripple of tension pass through the crowd. Even those who had been lounging or speaking softly now stood at attention, their focus solely on the screen.


    The man continued. "As you have likely already realized, the Eclipse Order is not a monolithic entity. Within our ranks exist numerous divisions, each with its own purpose, its own challenges, and its own expectations of you. The journey you undertake now will shape the course of your future, should you be deemed worthy of continuing."


    The grey haired man snapped his fingers, and a thin booklet materialized in the hands of each participant.


    Kain nced down at his, his name emzoned in bold letters across the cover. Opening the booklet, he found a detailed profile of himself.


    The first few pages outlined his basic information¡ªhis age, star rank, and what was known about his current contracts and their abilities.


    The descriptions of his contracts were surprisingly thorough, detailing Queen, Aegis, and Bea, although Kain noted with some relief that all of them didn''t seem to have been identified as being microorganisms. Bea was suspected of being one, however it doesn''t seem like whoever wrote this has managed to corrte a Vespid Queen or a giant golem as having anything to do with microscopic creatures.


    Flipping further, he found summaries of his recent aplishments, including his performance in each of the ck Missions he hadpleted over the past few months.


    Each mission was listed with a grade, presumably reflecting the difficulty and his performance as well as brief notes on the skills he disyed whenpleting each of them.


    Kain couldn''t help but smirk slightly at the high scores, the average score was an A, with his lowest rating being an A- rating for taking down thetestboratory, because he apparently showed a "willful oversight in his untimely turning over of confiscatedboratory materials."


    ''That''s fair¡­'' Kain couldn''t argue it, especially since he had intentionally dyed handing over the research notes.


    On the final page was a neatly arranged list of subdivisions.


    Each subdivision was listed followed by a note indicating their degree of interest in recruiting him.


    "Based on your performance during this assessment period, and while observing your performance in person today, representatives from each department have made a decision on whether or not they desire you in their ranks.


    "Some of you may have received offers from multiple subdivisions, while others only one or none."


    Kain looked at a legend included with the list of subdivisions to better understand what each rating meant:


    Optimal Candidate¡ªThe division considers the candidate an ideal match and will ept them without the need for further assessment. Conditional Interest¡ªThe division is open to recruiting the candidate upon sessfulpletion of a closed assessment. Marginally Aligned/Low interest¡ª The division is somewhat aware of the candidate but sees no pressing need to recruit them at this time. Ipatible¡ª The division is not interested and will not consider the candidate


    "If you manage to receive one of the few ''A¡ªOptimal Candidate'' ratings from a division, then congrattions, you can immediately join that subdivision without any further tests.


    "For those of you with B and C ratings, you can consider applying to the division, and they may ept or turn you away upon further assessment.


    "As for the D-rating, any application to that subdivision from you at this time will be unsessful.


    "If you have not received a single A rating, and do not pass the assessments for any of the subdivisions in which you have a B or C rating, then you will not be epted into the Eclipse Order at this time and may reconsidered at ater date.


    "For those of you without an offer from your preferred division, do not worry, your profiles are being constantly updated, and an offer to join another division may present itself at ater date."


    Kain eagerly looked at the offers from each department. He had an average rating of ''A'' across his missions, therefore he should have quite a few offers¡ªright?


    1. Lunar Veils (espionage and infiltration): C¡ªLow Interest


    2. Dawnbringers (counter-intelligence): B¡ªConditional Interest


    3. Night Hunt (assassination): D¡ªIpatible Celestial


    4. Vanguard (military): C¡ªLow Interest


    5. Pathfinders (relic exploration): A¡ªOptimal Candidate


    6.Starchasers (wilderness exploration): D¡ªIpatible


    Kain stared at the list in disbelief.


    "Are you kidding me?" he muttered, his frustration about to overflow.


    Despite his ster performance on the ck Missions that averaged A ratings, the subdivisions had shown lukewarm interest in him.


    Only the Pathfinders seemed to consider him a good match, while most others either expressed little or no interest.


    The Night Hunt, the most elite division, had given him a D, outright dismissing him as ipatible. However, this was expected by Kain. Most of the people the Eclipse Order would set as targets of assassination would likely be high-level beast-tamers at 7-stars at least, or in possession of guards and protectors that strong. Kain was currently far too weak to be recruited by this subdivision. In fact, pretty much all members of the Night Hunt originated in other subdivisions before receiving an offer to join once they were strong enough.


    Simrly, the Starchasers that needed to go deep into the wilderness and probably regrly needed to travel through areas inhabited by high-level spiritual creatures, was also out of depth.


    Therefore, their low ratings for him were understandable.


    However, the militaristic Celestial Vanguard, a division that was low in poprity, and much lower in entry strength requirements, had given him a C-rating. And considering they were supposedly understaffed, this was likely a rating they offered to all entrants to give them at least a chance at joining one subdivision.


    And the Lunar Veils and the Dawnbringers, where intelligence gathering was important, and therefore he thought having a mind-attribute contract would be greatly valued, also didn''t rate him as high as he''d expected.


    "What more do they want?!" He eximed. Sure, he received an A rating form the Pathfinder''s, but his gaze couldn''t help drifting to the other much lower ratings¡ªafter all, it''s true that what one can''t have bes more appealing¡­


    Before he could stew further, he overheard snippets of conversations from the others in the room.


    "Look at this. D for everything except a C in the Vanguard¡­don''t they offer that to everyone? If I can''t pass their assessment I''m doomed¡­."


    "Everywhere gave me a D-rating except for the Vanguard. Oh, and Dawnbringers gave me a C too! Honestly, it''s better than I expected after what happened in the forest at myst assessment mission¡­"


    Kain blinked, his ears perking up. He turned his attention to the nearest group, who were discussing their results openly.


    "...D-ratings for 4 subdivisions. Not surprised, really. But at least they didn''t give me straight Ds, right?" one participant said, trying to sound upbeat.


    Kain nced back at his own report-card with only two D-ratings and suddenly, his frustration ebbed.


    "So, I''m doing better than most," he murmured, before taking a peak at Serena''s report card next to him.


    Her ratings during the missions were simr to his, however aside from a C-rating from the Night Hunt, all other subdivisions had at least a B-rating.


    ''Goddamit!'' The minuscule amount of pride he''d managed to re-establish was once again shattered.

 Chapter 353 Perfect Fit

    Based on thements of his profile, the main limiting factor for not receiving greater recruitment efforts was due to his low level of strength¡ªwhich was insufficient for most subdivisions.


    Despite being at the same level as him, the disadvantage of her star level was offset by the presence of Balens who could even curse or make bad luck befall an individual several levels higher than her as long as she had enough spiritual power to grant the wish. And considering that her gift also just so happened to be limitless spiritual power, this was not a concern for her.


    Meanwhile, the Pathfinders were the most enthusiastic about him joining since it was the only subdivision that required members with a variety of ranks¡ªafter all, many relics had maximum strength requirements for its entrants.


    With his strange and varied spiritual creatures, including a Vespid Queen with two dozen guards at her disposal to serve as scouts in dangerous relics, Kain was extremely desirable to them.


    In fact, the Pathfinders were the only subdivision that ranked Kain higher in desirability than Serena, who only received a B rating from them.


    Moreover, out of all of the subdivision, Kain also was inclined to joining the Pathfinders even prior to receiving the report.


    Due to his level, he would likely only traverse relics and ruins that limit the level of the explorers to his own level. Meaning that out of all the divisions, it was one of the least dangerous to him.


    Moreover, as someone with academic interests, uncovering the secrets present within ancient relics was extremely appealing to him and he''d also have the right to select a certain number of materials he recovered from the relics for himself.


    Finally, in contrast to the extended periods of travel that several of the other subdivisions requires, most relics could be cracked within a week.


    Considering that he was still a student, and also the othermitments that he had, being away for a couple of weeks at the maximum, was far better than being away for months, or even years, at a time.


    It was clear why the Pathfinders wanted him. And, likewise, Kain couldn''t deny that they were truly a perfect fit for one another.


    "Well," he murmured, shoving the folded booklet into his pocket with a faint smile. "At least someone sees my worth."


    Serena nced at him from the corner of her eye, clearly noting the shift in his previously gloomy demeanor. "So, are you going to ept their offer?"


    "I''m considering it," Kain replied, trying to sound nonchnt. "It makes the most sense. Their tasks align with my strengths, and I wouldn''t have to be gone for too long."


    "Hmm," Serena said, flipping her own booklet closed. "It''s a good fit for you. Thankfully, even if you do regret your decision, you can always switch subdivisionster on."


    Kain arched an eyebrow at her. "And what about you? Where are you going?"


    "I haven''t decided yet." Serena''s tone was calm, but her eyes betrayed her contemtion. "Though the Pathfinders definitely seem the most suitable for our current identities as students. But, the Hunt may also suit me¡­"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Kain lips twitched. "The Hunt, huh? Figures you''d aim high."


    Before Serena could reply, the heavy sound of a door unlocking drew everyone''s attention. The massive door to the room creaked open, its weight causing the ground to tremble slightly. A beam of natural light spilled in from the other side, starkly contrasting the sterile glow of the room they were in.


    Kain exchanged a nce with Serena before stepping forward, joining the line of participants as they filed out of the building. What awaited them beyond the door was nothing short of breathtaking.


    The clearing they entered was wide and shone faintly under an otherworldly ethereal glow cast by the moon above as well as some of the faintly glowing nts present.


    The ground beneath their feet sparkled faintly as though it were dusted with crushed gemstones and at the center of the clearing stood a magnificent statue of a flying spiritual creature Kain had never seen before.


    Its wings in the statute were spread wide, and appeared almost alive due to the intricate carvings of its feathers and features. The creature''s eyes, which possessed two glowing gems, seemed to an aura of mystery and power.


    Surrounding the clearing were towering buildings of various architectural styles, each with a sign indicating the subdivision it belonged to.


    The sleek, minimalistic design of the Lunar Veil building stood in stark contrast to the fortress-like structure of the Vanguard.


    Nearby, the Pathfinders headquarters boasted a blend of old and new, with ancient stonework and antique exterior features, such as what appeared to be extremely old sconces, integrated seamlessly with modern materials, hinting at the subdivisions identity of uncovering andbining the old relics of the past to bebined with modern knowledge and technology.


    Aside from the building for each subdivision there were other structures, clearly marked as training facilities or contribution point exchange centers.


    Participants loitered around the currently sparsely popted clearing, most unsure of where to head next since they were undecided about who to join or which subdivisions'' assessments they wished toplete.


    Eventually, some headed toward the buildings bearing their chosen subdivision''s sign, while a few undecided individuals chose to spend some of their time wandering to explore the various facilities.


    Kain''s eyes lingered on the various buildings, his gaze eventually settling on the Pathfinders'' headquarters¡ªa blend of antique and modern.


    Kain didn''t see any point in dragging out a decision when they were currently perfectly suited for one another, and he could switch subdivisionster on anyways. Therefore, after saying his goodbyes, he started toward the Pathfinders'' building.


    The closer he got, the more details he could make out. The sconces embedded in the walls weren''t just decorative; they emitted a soft, steady light that seemed clear the mind and speed up the restoration of spiritual power. Intricate carvings adorned the doorway, depicting constetions and ancient symbols Kain didn''t recognize.


    After briefly hesitating in the massive doorway, he finally stepped through to begin a new journey.

 Chapter 354 The Pathfinders

    Kain stepped into the Pathfinders'' building and immediately felt as though he had travelled back in time or entered another world.


    The very air contributed to the antiquated atmosphere as the scent of various herbs mingled with the scent of aged parchment and something faintly sweet, like the sap of ancient trees.


    The lighting was dim, provided not by modern fixtures but by softly glowing orbs encased in sconces shaped like dragon ws, which looked as though they''d been chiselled from some ck shining metal that faintly pulsed with spiritual power.


    The floor beneath his feet was a patchwork of materials: some tiles gleamed with the sheen of polished stone, while others had the silver and gold speckled coloured reflective quality of a metal Kain had only read about in ancient texts¡ªsolvanium, a legendary alloy said to calm the mind and amplify the spiritual energy of those who stood on it.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Intricate patterns covered the walls, carved in ancient scripts that had long since died out with the nations that created them.


    Their meanings were lost to time, but Kain couldn''t help but feel they seemed to emit a tangible power, only slightly weaker than sigils.


    Interspersed among the carvings were paintings depicting scenes of exploration: adventurers crossing ruggedndscapes, deciphering relics, and battling towering spiritual creatures.


    "The entire building, aside from the murals, isposed of materials brought back by our pathfinders." Kain turned to see a faintly lit individual in what appeared to be a reception area.


    The reception area was marked by an arched entryway nked by two towering statues. These statues depicted figures faintly resembling the almost mythical sirens, women with the upper half of a human and a lower body that could take on the form of a myriad of aquatic creatures.


    The ones depicted in the statues had delicate features, and one had the lower body of what appeared to be an octopus, while the other''s lower body was an elongated fishtail resembling a cross between an aquatic serpent and fish.


    They were both holdingnterns made of what appeared to be pure starlight that pulsed rhythmically. And their vacant gazes somehow seemed to follow Kain as he passed beneath the arch, adding to the building''s sense of pressure and mystery given to the new arrivals.


    The receptionist sat behind a long, polished desk made of a rich, dark wood veined with streaks of silver¡ªlikely harvested from some ancient forest now extinct given the words they''d mentioned before about the source of everything in this building.


    The attire of the receptionist fit in perfectly with the surroundings: he wore a fitted coat of deep blue velvet trimmed with silver thread, paired with bracers made of some kind of an antique, dull bronze alloy.


    Beneath the coat, hints of an embroidered tunic peeked through, with intricate vine-like patterns.


    A silver circlet adorned his forehead, with a small, faintly glowing gem at its center, which seemed to pulse in sync with the starlight in thenterns held by the two statues.


    He had long light-blue hair and a thin, delicate figure that gave him an almost androgynous appearance.


    The receptionist''s eyes, were a piercing gray that shimmered faintly in the dim light, fixed on Kain as he approached. A faint smile curved their lips, and they inclined their head slightly in greeting.


    Kain cleared his throat, trying to match their calm demeanour. "I''m here to join the Pathfinders. I''ve reviewed my profile and decided this subdivision aligns best with my strengths."


    The receptionist extended a gloved hand, and Kain handed over the booklet containing his report card. They opened it carefully, their gloved fingers skimming over the pages with practiced ease.


    Then, in a move that broke the ancient atmosphere of the space, an extremely modern holographic screen appeared before them which he seemed to use to confirm that Kain was indeed a candidate able to instantly join the Pathfinders.


    After confirming, he closed the booklet with a soft snap and met Kain''s gaze. "Your decision is noted, and your report reflects a promising alignment with our subdivision''s needs. If you''re certain, we can begin the formal process of weing you into the Pathfinders. Be advised¡ªthis subdivision is not without its unique challenges and the opportunity to change subdivisions is not avable until you have umted a certain amount of contribution points. However, the rewards and feelings of aplishment granted to Pathfinders are unlike any others."


    "I''m certain," Kain said firmly.


    The receptionist nodded and gestured toward an ornately carved door to the right of the reception desk. "Very well. Through that door lies the Orientation Chamber. It will provide you with the next steps to formally integrate into our ranks since further assessment for you is unnecessary. Take this with you."


    They handed Kain a small medallion, the size of his palm, made from the same silvery-gold alloy that glimmered faintly in the floor tiles. The second itnded in Kain''s hand, he felt a refreshing feeling pass through his mind and the ease with which he could utilize his spiritual power was faintly stronger.


    The center of the medallion was etched with a constetion that Kain had never seen before on any star maps¡ªand he was unsure of its significance.


    It resembled apass rose, with four smaller stars positioned at the cardinal points¡ªnorth, south, east, and west. However, at the center of the constetion was arge, luminescent star, slightly elongated, as if it were stretching to reach each of the cardinal points. Encircling therge central star. And between it and the 4 stars in each cardinal direction was a ring of six smaller stars, arranged in a perfect hexagon.


    It was an extremely distinct constetion, so Kain became even more certain as he examined it that it didn''t represent any constetion that existed. He didn''t even think there was a star close enough to the to appear so muchrger inparison to the others.


    "ce the medallion on the pedestal inside the chamber within the tform in the adjoining room and it will automatically transport you into the orientation room specific to the Pathfinders. Also, make sure to keep the medallion on you at all times, not only does it have tangible benefits and is expensive to rece. It will also be your entry ticket into all areas with restricted ess avable to you in the Eclipse Order," the receptionist instructed. "I wish you luck on your future path."

 Chapter 355 The True Orientation

    As Kain stepped through an ornately carved door in the direction indicated by the receptionist, the grand and ancient atmosphere from the reception area transitioned into a smaller, more in space.


    The room was dimly lit, the unadorned walls a stark contrast to the opulent surroundings he had just left.


    Unlike the rest of the building, this chamber was mostly devoid of decoration, save for a single pedestal in the center that drew his attention.


    The pedestal was made of the same gleaming solvanium alloy as the medallion in his hand, and reached about the height of Kain''s stomach. At its top, there was a circr groove, perfectly matching the size and shape of the medallion Kain had been given.


    As he approached, the groove began to faintly hum with a soft, resonating tone, as though it could sense the medallion''s proximity, and Kain immediately ced the medallion into the groove.


    The moment it made contact, the faint carvings on the pedestal that were previously invisible lit up with a vibrant white glow.


    A soft chime echoed through the room, and a holographic screen materialized before him. It hovered in mid-air, its surface shimmering as though it were woven from threads of starlight.


    In contrast to the holographic screens provided by the system that seem to beposed of advanced technological capabilities, the holographic screens of the order seemed to be created through the use of spiritual power and sigils, and so had a faint shimmering quality as though they''d been dusted with glitter.


    Kain leaned closer, squinting at the names of what he assumed were various floors or sections of the building: the Archives, Training Rooms, Lecture Halls, Artifact Storage, Debriefing Hall, etc.


    But to his disappointment, each name was blurred out, all an unselectable translucent grey colour. As Kain attempted to select one of the sections, a faint red warning shed across the screen: ess Restricted. Orientation Iplete.


    A soft sigh escaped him as he resigned himself to his options¡ªorck thereof. His gaze drifted to the bottom of the list, where a single location stood out, its name glowing a bright white that stood out amongst the other faded options: Neers.


    Realizing that this would be the only location he''d have ess to for now, he reached out and pressed the glowing option with his finger.


    The room''s ambient hum intensified as the medallion in the pedestal seemed to sink slightly into its groove. A stronger ripple of light surged outward from the pedestal to make the markings carved into it even brighter, before spreading to light up more carvings that were also not previously visible on the floor, walls and ceiling, spreading outward in a mesmerizing disy.


    After a faint tug that hinted at some kind of spatial maniption, but was far more stable and less disorienting than using the teleportation gate, Kain was notified that he''d sessfully arrived and the door, in front of him opened¡ªa door that he''d just entered from the receptionist area and now led to apletely new space.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The doorway now led to a circr chamber bathed in the soft glow of light orbs floating above. The room, much like the first floor and the rest of the building, had an antique charm, with intricate carvings running along the walls and a mosaic floor depicting a massive star map. Waiting for him in the center of the room was a man with a seemingly nonchnt attitude, leaning casually against a polished stone pr.


    His posture was rxed, almostzy, but his sharp hazel eyes took in Kain''s arrival with interest.


    He was dressed in attire simr to the receptionist''s. His tailored coat was a deep forest green, trimmed with golden thread that shimmered faintly as he moved. Beneath it, he wore an embroidered tunic marked with constetions, paired with bracers created from a golden alloy.


    A gold circlet adorned his head of short light-brown hair, though itcked the glowing gem of the receptionist''s.


    The man straightened up, giving Kain an easy smile. "You must be Kain, right? Wee to the Pathfinders. I''m Benji, your guide for today."


    Kain blinked, caught off guard by the presence of a personal guide. He''d been expecting arge orientation with all of the neers to the pathfinders. "Uh, yeah, that''s me. Nice to meet you."


    "Nice to meet you too," Benji replied, gesturing toward a nearby archway. "Alright, let''s get started."


    He nodded before following Benji through the archway and down a long hallway lined with murals. Each painting depicted explorers in perilous situations¡ªone deciphering a glowing tablet while surrounded by skeletal remains, another fighting off a towering spiritual creature.


    Benji caught Kain ncing at the murals. "Cool, huh? Those are all based on real missions. Some of these guys are legends. No pressure, though¡ªmost Pathfinders don''t make any lifechanging discoveries, much less multiple, in their lives."


    "Right," Kain muttered, feeling the weight of the murals'' stares as they moved further down the hall.


    They soon arrived at an ornate door carved with the image of an open book surrounded by stars. Benji pushed it open with a dramatic flourish. "Behold, the true site of newbie orientation!"


    Kain stepped inside and froze. It was a library¡ªa massive one.


    The room''s shelves stretching far into the distance. The air smelled of parchment, ink, and faintly metallic tang. But as he took a closer look, he noticed something strange¡ªmost of the shelves were filled with duplicates of the same thirty or so books.


    "Why are there so many copies of the same books?" Kain asked, his brows furrowed.


    Benji grinned and then pped his hands. Numerous golden birds resembling sparrows appeared in Kain''s vision and began to carry the hefty down from the shelves, to a nearby table with a loud thud, clearly demonstrating the weight of each one. Each book was massive, its spine thicker than Kain''s fist.


    "Good question," Benji said, stacking the books into two intimidating towers, each one taller than both him and Kain. "These, my friend, are your first big challenge. Every new recruit has to memorize the contents of these books."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 356 The Tour

    Kain gawked at the twin towers of books. "You''re joking."


    "Wish I was," Benji said with a pained chuckle, seeming to be briefly lost in his own tearful memories. "But nope. This is your bread and butter as a Pathfinder. Ancientnguages, knowledge on extinct spiritual creatures and nts that may reappear in relics, important historical events and figures, sigils, notes from past missions, the works. If you don''t know what you''re dealing with in a relic, you''re toast."


    Kain slumped into a nearby chair, staring at the mountain of knowledge. "This is insane. Why am I having to study more here than ever do in school¡­"


    Kain rubbed his temples as he slumped even lower into the chair, unwilling to even look at the books, already feeling overwhelmed and preferring to stay in denial.


    Benji smirked and gave Kain a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Wee to the Pathfinders, Kain. The relics may be dangerous, but the homework is the real killer."


    Looking at the expression of schadenfreude on Benji''s face as he seemed to subtly revel in someone else sharing in his fate of suffering, Kain suddenly understood why there was no mention of the ''schrly'' requirements of this subdivision prior to joining¡ªyes, it may result in an even lower recruitment rate than the Vanguard. But Kain personally, felt it was more so due to the ''misery lovespany'' mentality of its members.


    Thankfully, unlike when Kain was studying for the college entrance exam, he now had a more potent secret weapon. If he could find an opportunity for Bea to infect another Pathfinder and extract the information, then perhaps she could just transnt everything he''d need to know into his mind.


    Likely, seeing hope begin to dawn on Kain''s face once again, Benji couldn''t resist bursting his bubble with an almost cruel grin.


    "ording to your profile, you have a mental-attribute spiritual creature, correct? Although the profile didn''t go into too much detail on its abilities. However, you wouldn''t be the first newbie with a mental-attribute contract wanting to take a shortcut. Unfortunately for you, the medallions bound to the identity of each Eclipse Order member also have the additional function of resisting mental intrusions. After all, most of us deal with sensitive information. Not to mention, among the current Pathfinders, you are at the lowest level. Therefore, don''t even think of reading the information from our minds. Just be a good boy and study!" He finished with a sly grin and a deprecating pat on Kain''s back.


    Kain groaned and buried his face in his hands.


    Benji leaned casually against the table, his grin widening. "Come on, it''s not all bad. Sure, memorizing these books might take you a few months¡ªor years¡ªbut once you''ve got this stuff down, you''ll feel like a walking encyclopedia. Plus, it really does save your life out there. Trust me, when you''re standing in a relic and a sigil starts glowing, you''ll be d you know whether it''s about to grant you treasure or turn you into ash."


    "That''s supposed to make me feel better?" Kain muttered. He red half-heartedly at Benji, who only shrugged with a mock-innocent expression. "I''m beginning to think you''re enjoying this far too much."


    Benji chuckled and straightened, crossing his arms. "Hey, it builds character. Besides, the faster you start, the faster you''ll finish. And I might even have a few tips to make it less painful¡ªif you ask nicely."


    Kain rolled his eyes but perked up slightly. "What kind of tips?"


    Benji gestured toward the books. "For starters, focus on the basics first. Get a handle on the mostmonly encountered words in eachnguage and sigils. If you run into something too obscure in the field, that''s what the senior Pathfinders are for¡ªyou won''t be alone for your first few missions anyways. Also, you might have mentioned a Lecture Hall in the building, where we''ll asionally have experts from the Academic stream give a relevant lecture. Usually, the best teachers are selected, and their way of exining things is really quite helpful."


    Kain felt slightly better, but couldn''t resist groaning again as he stared at the towering books. "I''m starting to think I should''ve joined the Vanguard instead."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Toote now," Benji teased, pping him on the shoulder again. "Wee to the Pathfinders, rookie. Better get used to it. Collect your study materials and let''s head to the next location of our tour."


    As Benji sauntered off, Kain red at the books once more. "Just great," he muttered. Before collecting them into his space ring.


    He followed Benji back to the small bare room with the podium, but this time Benji''s medallion was used, and Kain could readily see the many more options avable for selection to him.


    "Hmmm¡­ I already exined the Lecture Hall, and there''s nothing really to see there¡ªjust a bunch of rooms¡­How about going to the Archives first!?" Benji said, before making the selection without waiting for Kain to answer.


    A faint hum and the glow of the various sigils filled the room before another subtle sinking feeling filled the pit of Kain''s stomach. Within seconds the single set of doors leading into the room reopened to what Kain assumed was the "Archives."


    The very air in the archives seemed to carry a solemn air that made even Benji''s typically rxed demeanour shift slightly.


    The room stretched out before them in a vastbyrinth of towering shelves, each containing expertly preserved ancient books, scrolls, stone tablets, and other remnants of lost civilizations.


    The soft glow of enchanted lights illuminated the aisles, their golden hue creating an almost sacred atmosphere.


    Kain''s gaze was immediately drawn to the two figures standing at the entrance. They were imposing¡ªtwo 8-star beast-tamers d in matching dark, metallic armor that seemed to shimmer with a faint iridescence. Their faces were obscured by sleek, featureless helmets, and their presence alone was enough to make Kain instinctively straighten his posture.


    On their right chests was a symbol of a shield with ancer in front of it¡ªa logo Kain had recently learned would be on the medallions of the members of the Vanguard. Experience tales with empire


    Clearly, due to their not being a massive war movement at the moment, these members of the Vanguard had elected to take some simple guarding tasks for most contribution points.


    Benji whispered as they walked past, "Those guards don''t just stand there to look intimidating. Try anything funny, and they''ll put you down before you can blink."


    Kain nodded stiffly, keeping his eyes forward and his hands to himself as they entered deeper into the Archives.

 Chapter 357 The Tour (2)

    Alongside the numerous books and scrolls were disy cases holding relics, ancient works of art, and strange devices Kain couldn''t begin to understand.


    Pathfinders and researchers from the Academic Stream of the Eclipse Order moved quietly between the shelves, some wearing the blend of ancient and modern uniforms of Pathfinder subdivision, while those in the academic stream had no uniform but instead had medallions pinned to their chests with the insignia of an open book.


    One schr was carefully inspecting a glowing stone tablet, his gloved hands tracing the etched lines of what appeared to be a long-lost script.


    Kain''s attention was drawn to the rows of bookshelves stretching endlessly. "What''s the deal with this ce? Isn''t it basically the same as the books you just handed me?"


    Benji grinned. "Not even close. Those are just the basics. If you want specific info on a time period, civilization, or relic you''re cracking, you''ll need toe here. Every piece of knowledge we''ve ever recovered is stored in this ce."


    "See those folks?" Benji gestured toward the academic stream staff bustling about. "They''re the brains behind a lot of what we do. And they also don''t take kindly to us touching many of the items ourselves in case we damage them, so if you ever hit a dead end in your studies, it''d be easier to just ask them than to go through the extensive paperwork required to touch these antiques yourself. These guys are like your lifeline. Just make sure to bring coffee or snacks or something¡ªthey''re not known for their patience when ites to human interactions."


    Kain wandered deeper into the Archives, his steps echoing softly against the polished stone floors.


    As he turned a corner, a subtle sensation brushed against his mind. Kain paused in rm, but realized that the sensation didn''t seem to be directed at him, but something within his Star Space¡ªthe Tree of Life.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    A faint sensation, almost like a feather rubbing against the back of his mind, seemed to guide him to a particr disy case nestled near the far end of the room.


    Inside the case was an object that looked like the dried and dead pit of arge fruit, encased in a protective crystal disy case. The pit''s surface was a deep emerald green, but as Kain stared closer, faint golden veins ran across its surface that seemed to be slightly more distinct in Kain''s presence. And the faint aura of life began to emit from it once again. However, it was so faint, that had Kain not been the one in possession of what was causing this reaction, he''d bepletely oblivious to the pit''s changes.


    Surrounding the pit was a tangle of petrified roots and tiny flecks of silver and gold dotted the roots, resembling minerals being embedded within them.


    "Benji," Kain said, his voice lower than usual. He gestured toward the encased dried pit. "What''s this?"


    Benji raised an eyebrow, strolling over to the disy. "Huh. Haven''t paid much attention to this one before. Looks like a fruit pit though¡ªbut the flesh of the fruit was either eaten or decayed long ago." He leaned closer to read the que beneath it but frowned. "Doesn''t say much... just that it was recovered from a relic site in the northern region. Hold on."


    Benji gged down one of the Academic Stream researchers nearby¡ªa short, stout man with graying hair and a perpetually annoyed expression. The researcher wore a heavy set of spectacles perched on his nose and was currently juggling a stack of papers in one hand while examining a scroll with the other.


    "What is it?" the man snapped, his tone impatient. "Can''t you see I''m busy?"


    "Ahem¡­my apologies, Professor Fenwick," Benji said with an easy grin,pletely unbothered by the man''s brusque manner. "What''s the story behind this pit? My friend here''s curious."


    Fenwick let out a huff, muttering something about "field division simpletons," but set his work aside to nce at the disy. His expression softened, if only slightly, as he adjusted his sses and scrutinized the fruit pit.


    "This," he began, his voice taking on a more lecturing tone, "was retrieved from a relic in the northern region about fifty years ago. The site was thought to be part of the remnants of the Verdaris City-State, a civilization long extinct. We suspect it''s one of their unique agricultural items. After all, they were renowned for their vibrant environment that was home to unique nt life not seen before or since the city-state''s extinction."


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat and he became even more certain of his conjecture that this fruit pit was rted to his Tree of Life.


    Verdaris¡ªThe very same city-state that his high school teacher, Mr. Evergreen, had been researching when he had found the Tree of Life pit he''d eventually gifted to Kain.


    Fenwick continued, oblivious to Kain''s inner turmoil. "Unfortunately, its exact properties remain unknown and since its long dried up and died, and whatever fruit tree that produced it seems to be extinct, we may never know its purpose. Now, if you''re done wasting my time¡ª" He turned back to his work with a grumble.


    "Hey Benji," Kain called out, "Is there any way to request the missions we get assigned? I know for the most part they assign the mission to the individuals they feel are most suited and have the best chances at sess, but what if you don''t have another mission assigned to you for a while? Rather than twiddling your thumbs waiting for an assignment, wouldn''t it be better to actively sign up for one?"


    Benji nodded, "Correct. Which is why the degree of freedom for the Pathfinders is only second to the Starchasers. If 3 months go by without you being assigned a task, you can volunteer to join another member''s task. However, there isn''t a guarantee your request would be granted. After all, they can''t send a deadweight teammate into a dangerous relic just because they wanted to join. Therefore, the more you prove yourself and explore more relics, the greater the degree of freedom you''ll eventually enjoy." Find your next read at empire


    Although it wasn''t quite the news Kain wanted, it was still good to know that he''d have some control over the relics he''d get to explore in the future.


    There has been one ''side quest'' he''d left unfulfilled for quite a while he''d be interested inpleting¡ªexploring the origins of the tree of life.

 Chapter 358 The Three Types of Relics

    After touring the archives, Benji took him to the various other areas of the building, including the Resource Exchange Area (which catalogues all of the objects avable for exchange with contribution points from all of the subdivisions), the Lecture Halls, Debriefing Halls, and more.


    The final stop of the tour was the Training Hall, in which they could train in simtions of various relic environments¡ªmostly all based on relics actuallypletely explored by other Pathfinders.


    And it was when exploring these Training Halls that Kain finally learned the origin of the non-existent constetion on the Pathfinder''s medallions.


    Apparently, there are several types of relics:


    The first types were called "Trial Relics" or "Proving Grounds." They were relics with trial spaces that would reward entrants onpletion of each level¡ªsimr to the relics owned by Dark Moon College used during the entrance exam and when they were preparing for the National Tournament.


    The second type of relic were called "Habitat Relics" or "Sanctuary Vaults." These relics are like habitats created for the captivity, preservation and/or care of rare spiritual creatures¡ªalmost like a zoo. Relics that fall into this category are the ck "Pandora''s Box" relic rife with microscopic spiritual creatures Kain had entered previously, or the relic possessed by the ckheart family that contains spiritual creatures with an infernal bloodline descended from those previously captured from the underworld.


    The final type is the most difficult to deal with, they are called "Memory Relics" or "Historical Echoes." And these types of relics were what the Training Hall mostly simted in order to mentally prepare and train Pathfinders.


    "These are what we call Memory Relics," Benji began, his tone uncharacteristically serious as they walked through the expansive Training Hall. The hall itself was filled with people, but most of them appeared solemn or in a daze¡ªnot the filled with the bustle of activity and sparring Kain would have expected of an area used for training.


    "Memory Relics?" Kain asked, his curiosity piqued.


    "Yeah," Benji nodded, leading Kain to a quiet corner where holographic disys showed scenes of explorers living as natives in what appeared to be ancient towns and bustling cities.


    "They''re like a snapshot of a moment in time, left behind by civilizations long gone. When you step into one, it''s as if you''re transported into that time period. You live as one of the residents of that era."


    Kain blinked at the transmitted scenes of towns filled with people, people that did not appear to be Pathfinders. "Wait, so you interact with people? Like, real people?"


    Benji shrugged. "Sort of. They''re not real in the way you or I are. Think of them as echoes, or memory shadows. They''re fully interactive, can hold conversations, and even react to you. But they''re not real humans. Moreover, they are bound by historical events of that era, unable to deviate significantly from what was imprinted in the relic."


    "That sounds¡­" Kain trailed off, searching for the right word.


    "Insane?" Benji offered, a wry smile on his lips. "You''re not wrong. These Memory Relics used to have some of the highest failure rates among explorers. The danger isn''t just from spiritual creatures or traps like in other relics. It''s psychological. When transported into a relic, you are typically assigned the life of a person that lived in that time and rece them, with many of their memories imnted into you. Some people forget they''re in a relic if enough time passes and getpletely absorbed into their new life and identity. They settle down, marry or take up new careers. They start living lives they weren''t meant to live and, well¡­ nevere back."


    Kain shuddered. He was resistant to mental-attribute attacks, but it didn''t sound as though these relics attacked the mind at all. More like after living in an era for long enough, the Pathfinders themselves gradually get confused and think of themselves as natives of that time. Perhaps they even regard their time in the modern era as just a dream¡­


    Could Kain really say he''d never sumb? Now that he thought about it, when he first transmigrated to this world, he didn''t have much resistance or questioning of his new reality¡ªhe readily epted it. What if he just subconsciously epts that he''s transmigrated again inside of the relic?N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ''No. That can''t happen. I readily epted my new reality because I had nothing waiting for me back on Earth, all of my family had already died. But that''s not the case now! I have many people I''d fight to get back to.'' Kain somewhat calmed down with that reasoning, but was still extremely apprehensive.


    "How do you avoid that happening to you?" He asked Benji.


    Benji tapped his medallion. "That''s where this little guyes in. Look at the constetion on your medallion¡ªsee therge central star surrounded by smaller ones?"


    Kain nodded, pulling out his medallion to examine it more closely¡ªthe two rings of smaller stars surrounding therger star in the center.


    "That constetion used to exist in the star map above the a long time ago," Benji exined. "It was known as Auralis'' Eye. But the central star¡ªthe big one¡ªexploded in a supernova and wiped out all the surrounding stars. That happened so long ago that no one alive has ever seen it in the night sky. So, we use it as a marker of sorts: if you ever find yourself in a Memory Relic and you look up at the stars, and see this constetion? You''re in a fake reality."


    Kain frowned, his brow furrowing in thought. "It''s like a totem, then. A way to ground yourself and confirm if what you''re experiencing is real or not." Thinking of the hit movie from back on Earth about people travelling through the dreams of others.


    Continue your journey on empire


    "Sure! Although, I''ve never heard that term used for this before, it fits." Benji said, pping his hands together. "And trust me, it''s a lifesaver. Because when you''re living among those memory shadows, everything feels real. The people, the ces, even the air you breathe. If you''re not careful, you''ll lose yourself in it."


    "Has anyone evere back from that? I mean, once they are consumed by that era?"


    Benji''s smile dimmed. "Rarely. Once someone sumbs to that version of reality, it''s almost impossible to pull them out. After all, they usually now have ties and families within that historical echo¡ªeven if those people aren''t real, they feelpletely real once you''re in there. That''s why this constetion is drilled into every Pathfinder''s mind. You''re not supposed to forget it, no matter what."


    Benji then gestured to the solemn and dazed Pathfinders in the training hall, "Just look at them. This was just training and they all managed to extricate themselves, but none seem particrly thrilled or energetic about it. It''s not easy to reconcile the fact that the people you lived with, befriended, and fought alongside are now all long dead and merely echoes of time."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 359 Easy Training Relics?

    "Before you enter your first relic though, you need to study all of those books I gave you. Therefore, you have a few months leeway before receiving your first mission. Moreover, you also must first practice and sessfullyplete some of the relics we have of each type that have already been brought under the full control of the Eclipse Order." Benji finished his speech as they almostpleted their tour of the Training Hall.


    Kain paused before a screen broadcasting the scene within one of the relics. Due to therge number of individuals in ancient style clothing simr to what many of the Pathfinder''s he''s seen so far wear, Kain assumed that this was a Memory Relic¡ªhe doubted that there were thousands of Pathfinders, much less that they all happened to be in the same relic of the Training Hall.


    The city portrayed was shrouded in the thick haze of fire and ash, with buildings crumbling and crushing fleeing citizens below. Screams of terror mingled with the guttural growls and unholy shrieks of the creatures tearing through the streets.


    Currently, everyone within that relic was running around in terror as the ground cracked open to reveal massive amounts of magma and fire that instantly vaporized anyone that got close.


    The very colour of the sky also changed as it took on an ominous dark red hue.


    Moreover, even if the fleeing civilians somehow avoided instantly burning to death due to the flowing magma and bursts of intense me that spontaneously spurted out of the ground, they may still be killed in a more gruesome and painful fashion by the thousands of chasing creatures that took on a variety of forms.


    Creatures that looked like Imps chased them across the cobblestone roads, their wiry, emaciated bodies barely three feet tall but brimming with malevolent energy. Their skin was a mottled red and ck, their elongated ws leaving deep gouges in the stone as they ran. One leapt onto a fleeing man, its ws slicing through his back in a flurry of sickening, wet sounds. The imp let out a shrill cackle as it tore out his spine and waved it like a grisly banner before leaping onto its next victim.


    A skeletal beast the size of an rhinoceros prowled through the carnage, its ribcage containing a flickering infernal me. Whenever it caught someone, it would mp its jagged teeth around them and hurl them into its chest, which was like a cage made of bones, where they burned alive within seconds. The shrieks of agony were enough to freeze the blood of those still alive, forcing them to run faster in any direction just to escape the sound.


    However, many of those fleeing were still caught by near invisible threads of giant ck spiders, with 3 pairs of glowing red eyes each. Each was asrge as a small house, with long, limbs that gleamed faintly in the fiery glow of the city''s destruction.


    The threads strewn about the fleeing civilians wrapped tightly around them, pulling them together in a grotesque cluster as a spider descended upon them. Its mandibles clicked in anticipation as it approached its helpless prey. One by one, the civilians were pierced by a an elongated tube that emerged from the spider''s mouth, their bodies convulsing as they were drained of all moisture, leaving behind dried husks.


    Further down the street, a desperate man, his face streaked with soot and blood, released a roar of defiance. From his side, he summoned a spiritual creature¡ªa heavily armored boar with tusks that glowed faintly with a bluish hue. The boar charged at one of the imps, tossing it into the air with its tusks before trampling it underfoot.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    For a moment, the man''s actions inspired hope in the other fleeing civilians, but it was short-lived. A skeletal beast turned its attention to the boar, emitting a bone-chilling roar that caused the boar to hesitate.


    Then, with a leap far too quick for its size, the skeletal creaturetched onto the boar, its ribcage opening to envelop the spiritual creature entirely. The boar''s anguished squeals were drowned out by the roaring mes emanating from the skeletal beast as it consumed the summoned creature and its master in a fiery ze.


    Kain''s attention shifted to another corner of the screen, where a young woman, barely out of her teens, managed to summon what appeared to be a massive serpent with shimmering emerald scales. It coiled protectively around her, hissing at the oing horde of imps. The serpentshed out, snapping up an imp in its jaws and flinging it against a wall.


    But even as the serpent fought valiantly, it was overwhelmed by a swarm of smaller spider-like creatures that poured out from the shadows. They climbed over its shimmering scales, biting and tearing until the serpent copsed, its protective shield broken. The young woman barely had time to scream before she, too, was torn apart.


    Kain was surprised to note that aside from those two individuals, and a handful of others, among the thousands of civilians there didn''t seem to be more beast-tamers. However, he quickly identified the reason. This scene was likely far before the founding of the Empire, and so there was no affinity ceremony during that ceremony and everyone could only rely on independent awakenings which were rare and unreliable.


    However, what shocked Kain the most was the behavior of the fleeing civilians. No one, not even the beast-tamers, seemed to spare a thought for those left behind. It was every man for himself. Which is very different from the values and responsibilities engrained in him as a beast-tamer.


    A child tripped and fell, crying out for help, but the adults nearby didn''t even nce back.


    A man desperately clung to a woman''s arm, begging her to wait, but she shoved him away without hesitation, sprinting ahead as he was swarmed by imps.


    Some people even went out of their way to push others down. Almost as though their only chance of survival was to outrun the people around them as their torn apart bodies hopefully dyed their pursuers for a few extra seconds.


    However, soon Kain found the reason.


    Behind the massive tide of horrifying spiritual creatures¡ªwhich Kain strongly suspected were infernal creatures that had somehow managed to escape the underworld¡ªwas a colossus.


    Looming over the city was a giant creature, its form so massive it seemed to stretch into the blood-red sky. It resembled a muscr goat, except that it had four solid ck eyes and its fur was so dark it seemed to absorb the surrounding light. Its mere presence cast an immense shadow that nketed nearly the entire city.


    Kain''s mind reeled at the scale of the creature. Even Aegis, which was rtivelyrge, would be utterly dwarfed by it¡ªperhaps no taller than a strand of this monstrosity''s fur.


    The creature moved slowly but deliberately, its hooves smashing buildings into rubble with every step. Each time it exhaled, a wave of molten ash spread through the city, incinerating anything in its path. The civilians running for their lives knew the truth: there was no fighting that thing.


    Benji walking slightly ahead didn''t notice that Kain had paused to stare at the screen disying the images inside of one of the Training Halls, and continued talking.


    "However, don''t worry about having toplete the training relics! Most of the relics we have for training are quite easy to beat."


    Kain: "¡­"

 Chapter 360 Returned

    After finishing his tour with Benji, which ended on quite a worrying note, Kain returned back to Dark Moon College.


    Serena didn''t seem to be finished yet with her own matters, so Kain went back alone. Thankfully, the Eclipse Order, as the cradle for the talents of the empire, seemed to be rolling in cash, so they didn''t force him to wait for her nor make him travel back to college without the use of teleportation.


    However, he supposed this was to be expected. After all, although short-distance teleportation was much cheaper inparison to long-distance teleportation, they still utilized it for travel between mere floors of a building. Although it likely had more so to do with the medallion + pedestal teleportation mechanism serving as a security checkpoint rather than extremeziness¡ªright?


    Therefore, he was able to teleport immediately back to the college when he wanted. Moreover, now that he was a member of the Eclipse Order, he could also use his medallion to gain ess to the College''s teleportation array toe here at any time.


    Back at Dark Moon College, Kain''s life quickly settled back into its usual rhythm. His days were filled with a mix of studying, receiving business updates, research on new evolutionary forms, and entertaining Gabriel. It was a bnce he''d grown used to, though it now carried an additional task of frantically studying, and memorizing the content of dozens of textbooks. Thankfully, after advancing to 4-stars and also bonding with a powerful mental-attribute spiritual creature, he found his mental strength to be far above the average beast-tamer at, or even slightly above, his level.


    Another new update, and he supposed benefit amidst misfortune, was that Bea had learned a new skill.


    Amidst Bea''s many skills there was an additional feature of one of them, he''d unconsciously overlooked all this time:


    A-Memory Siphon: This ability allows the Sovereign Mindshard to siphon and store the most crucial memories from its victims, transforming them into a reservoir of knowledge and power.


    There is a very small chance of Bea developing new skills based off of these siphoned memories.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    And it just so happened that a few days after their battle with the aquatic injured mental-attribute spiritual during the orientation, Bea reported to Kain that she''d understood a new skill:


    A-Mind Chorus: This skill bombards the target''s mind with a chaotic symphony of phantom voices, disrupting their concentration and decision-making. The mental assault causes confusion and paranoia, rendering the target''s thoughts fragmented and actions clumsy for a short duration. It is extremely effective on spiritual creatures up to one grade higher, and its effectiveness decreases therger the level gap.


    While travelling through the forest for the orientation, Kain had noted that the ability of Bea to control the movements of spiritual creatures greater than her in level was not great, and often relied on him using his spiritual skills to boost her and fill in the gap.


    This skill, while not deadly to higher level opponents, will greatly increase Kain''s ability to control them. Moreover, unlike the aquatic serpent, Bea has many splits that could exert up to 90% of her main body''s strength, meaning that he could potentially perform crowd-control on multiple blue-grade spiritual creatures even if he still finds it difficult to kill them.


    Aside from Bea, Kain also received news that Ferrin¡ªthe man he''d helped to form a contract despitecking an affinity¡ªhad shown a surprising development.


    Ferrin''s spiritual power, originally the bright white characteristic of 1-star tamers, had deepened into a rich red hue, signifying his advancement to a 2-star beast-tamer.


    Ferrin had progressed remarkably quickly, likely due to years of umted effort before this contract was formed.


    However, the real surprise came when Ferrin shared a peculiar sensation: he felt no bottleneck as he continued to absorb spiritual power, and therefore didn''t have the sensation indicating that it was time to form his second star.


    Moreover, Ferrin described the spiritual energy within him beginning to shift toward an orange tinge, indicating that, despite not forming his second star, he was already heading towards orange-grade spiritual power.


    Ferrin was initially confused and worried if there was something wrong, but Kain immediately recognized it as resembling the Southern tribes'' approach to beast-taming¡ªnot something of concern.


    The method of bing a beast-tamer for Southerners only allowed for the formation of a single contract. However, it elerated the growth of both the beast-tamer and their spiritual creature, due to the near absence of a bottle-neck until blue-grade, and the closer bond between the contractor and contracted.


    This also reassured Kain. He''d already nned to have any other affinity-less individuals he helped to form a contract, to pretend to have awakened dormant southern blood, and the development of Ferrin reassured him that upon investigation it would be unlikely to notice something amiss.


    However, when Kain shared these findings with Gabriel, the boy who was constantly mouring to undergo the procedure right away was uncharacteristically quiet.


    "So, this might only let me have one contract, huh?" Gabriel finally said, somewhat despondently.


    As amoner, withmoner parents, he''d always known he''d be unlikely to awaken an affinity. However, despite the low likelihood, every civilian still harbored a little hope that they''d be able to awaken as a beast-tamer¡ªa traditional one with tons of contracts.


    However, Kain didn''t burst his bubble and tell him that even if he did develop an affinity, it could very well be D- or F-grade and he may not advance high enough to have multiple contracts even with an affinity. Plenty of beast-tamers stop at 1 or 2-stars their whole lives.


    In fact, within Kain and Gabriel''s hometown, Brightstar City, most of the adult beast-tamers did stop at 1 or 2 stars, with 3-star beast-tamers taking on prominent roles within the city.


    Perhaps residing at a top 5 college apanied by the talented Serena and Kain, had given the boy unrealistic expectations of how easy it is to increase in strength. But the top 2 students in a year for a top 5 college are definitely not what you''d call the average experience of a beast-tamer¡­

 Chapter 361 FMT

    Kain also continued his research pursuits during this time. Currently finding the next evolutionary form of the Gilded Serafin, the evolved form of the Lumifin, hasn''t shown much progress, however another research idea Kain had had for a while has finally born fruit.


    Kain held up a small brown pill capsule to examine and gently sniffed it. Gabriel, watching from the side recoiled in disgust at his action, while a multitude of bronze-quality River Wolf pups and several of its evolved form, the gold-quality Clear Spring Wolf, were noisily scampering about in the observation area separated from Kain by a ss wall.


    The River Wolf was one of the three initial contract Bridge was considering binding due to its high-potential, however at the time it was too expensive for them to afford.


    Therefore, despite being a rtivelymon species with excellent potential and would meet the requirements for many A, B, and C-grade affinities¡ªwater-type, wolf-type, or canine-type affinities are all not too umon¡ªit is still not a popr choice since usually only wealthy civilians can afford to raise them.


    As a result, most civilians are forced to bond with spiritual creatures of a lower potential that they may not be as satisfied with, and most River Wolf Pups go unimed every year.


    Certain spiritual creatures need to be fed a special diet for a prolonged period in order to sessfully evolve¡ªthe River Wolf is one such creature.


    River Wolf pups need a constant supply of top-quality rare herbs located near rivers inhabited by spiritual creatures with at least orange-grade spiritual power. Making the cost of purchasing said herbs from mercenaries astronomically expensive.


    Therefore, it wasn''t a feasible option for the orphans Bridge and Kain.


    However, not long after Kain realized the nature of his affinity, and his mind was still limited by poverty, he''d long thought about a potential solution to other spiritual creatures that would be costly for him and Bridge to raise.


    He''d wondered, why exactly do certain spiritual creatures need to be consistently fed specific evolutionary materials for a prolonged period in order to evolve? What changes are urring in its body, if any, that makes this prolonged duration necessary?


    One of the first aspects Kain chose to start with, given the nature of his affinity, was the microbiome.


    Kain, under the grossed out and judgemental gaze of Gabriel, collected the poop samples of the pups he''d ordered for his research over a period of time, and checked for changes in the bacteria present in the feces after being fed the specific diet required for the pups to evolve.


    Thankfully, the Gic Reconstructor provided by the system allowed him to also record the DNA he analyzed and extracted.


    Therefore, Kain found that while eating those precious herbs, over time inside of the River Wolf, the poption of the microbiome would greatly shift to favour the presence of certain bacterial species. Of the key ones in this poption Kain decided to name Puribactis, Aquabactis, and ribactis. Kain found that when these guys were alone they didn''t have any impressive effects, however when their poptions grew to be a specific ratio to one another they had the ability to purify and add slight healing properties to water.


    This is why, when fed those spiritual nts, River Pups will exude water of greater and greater purity. Everyone took that purification to be due to the nts¡ªbut it''s actually due to the bacteria that thrive in the presence of those nts.


    In theory, what the River Wolf Pups needed more to evolve is those bacteria rather than the expensive spiritual nts.


    Therefore, Kain tried to grow them in theb, but unfortunately, they don''t seem to grow well when not inside of the River Wolf Pup and in the presence of those expensive spiritual nts.


    Next, Kain used the Gic Reconstructor to alter their DNA and make them grow even without the need for those nts and at a much faster rate¡ªwhich should, in theory, drastically cut down on the spiritual nts and time they''d need to evolve. However, it seems like the ratio of each bacteria is very specific to achieve the desired effect and after gically modifying the ratio got messed up¡ªwhat Kain needed was the ratio present in those that have sessfully evolved into Clear Spring Wolves.


    Thinking of this, Kain was reminded of a procedure done on Earth when you wanted the beneficial bacteria present in one individual to appear in another person¡ªa Fecal Microbiota Transnt.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    And facts proved that Kain''s theory worked. He received one Clear Spring Wolf and several River Wolf Pups, one of which was only slightly away from evolving.


    After performing the fecal microbiota transnts, one of the River Wolf Pups evolved immediately, while the purification of the others has been greatly sped up¡ªthey probably only need a third of the time to evolve now than they did previously if they are still fed those expensive spiritual nts every day. If a beast-tamer can''t afford to feed them those spiritual nts every day, even if they feed it weekly, the pups can still evolve around 20% faster than one not fed this small brown pill.


    Even more, if they can only afford to feed those spiritual nts once a month, the foundation of the pup won''t be harmed and can still eventually evolve, it will just take slightly longer than when fed every day but not given the pill.


    All around the ie threshold for owning the River Pup has decreased several times over. And even those who can afford to raise this pup normally would still want this pill due to its ability to drastically reduce the time it would take to evolve.


    When Kain had first introduced this concept to Gabriel, he looked at Kain as though he was a pervert ying with animal feces and even trying to feed said feces to others¡­


    However, all of Kain''s numerous attempts to exin that most of the ''dirty'' parts will be removed to leave only the bacteria, were just met with a scornful eye.


    ''Sigh¡­the great minds of an era always must face the rejection of those too small-minded to understand their brilliance,'' Kain thought as he gently ced the pill capsule back into its container, ignoring Gabriel''s exaggerated gagging noises.

 Chapter 362 FMT (2)

    Kain''s specialty was research, not business, therefore he called Collin¡ªthe current operations manager for his beer business¡ªover to discuss the sale of these pills.


    Kain had been incredibly impressed by Collin''s business acumen with getting the brewery up and started, and even making its name well known throughout the empire.


    The fact that many establishments in the capital and Southern Region were selling Kain''s beer when he''d visited, definitely filled him with pride¡ªexcept when he saw it in the seedy clubs owned by that deposed heir Roman Silverhart.


    And nothing better reflected the sess of the business than the bnce reflected in his bank ount.


    Therge figure in the millions even grew as he slept, providing him an excellent source of passive ie.


    However, after experiencing that auction in his first ck Mission, he is still not content. Unless he can smash others with billions, or even trillions, of Celestial Dors, then he isn''t a true bigshot.


    And now that the beer business was more stable, aside from the oddpetitor trying to make trouble, Kain thought that he could leave this next venture to Collin.


    Moreover, Collin just so happened to be someone with a water-type affinity. When he''d first met Kain, he''d been stuck at the level of a 3-star beast-tamer for years.


    However, after the business took off, he used much of his funds to exchange for rare materials that would help him break through to 4-stars and now should still have an open contract position¡ªperhaps he could convince him to contract a River Pup to test the effects for himself¡­


    That way he wouldn''t only be the manager for this business, but also like a spokesperson who could speak personally about the ''magical pill''s'' effects.


    Deciding to put his thoughts into action, Kain immediately arranged a meeting with Collin toe visit him at hisboratory and it wasn''t long before. He arrived.


    Collin entered Kain''sboratory, his expression a mix of curiosity and anticipation. His sharp eyes scanned the room, taking in the odd assortment of equipment and the sterile atmosphere beforending on a child lounging in a chair near Kain.


    "Uh¡­ morning, boss," Collin greeted, his toneced with confusion as his gaze darted between Kain and the child. He quickly masked his bewilderment, though, and gave a polite nod toward Gabriel, deciding it was best not to question his boss''s unusualpany. After all, that can''t possibly be his boss''s kid, and the future young master of theirpany, right?


    "I heard you''ve got a new venture in the works?"


    Kain smirked at Collin''s thinly veiled curiosity. "Indeed. Come in. I''ve been working on something that could have quite the impact, not just for business, but potentially for the empire as a whole."


    Collin''s brows arched as he stepped further into the room, his focus now fully on Kain. "That sounds promising."


    Kain gestured toward a small ss case containing a bottle of neatlybelled capsules. "This is the result of mytest research¡ªa pill designed to drastically reduce the cost and difficulty of raising River Wolf Pups, as well as speed up their evolution into the Clear Spring Wolf."


    Collin leaned in, his interest clearly piqued. "River Wolf Pups, huh? Not a bad choice for marketing. They''remon enough to be essible but so expensive that most families can''t afford to raise them properly."


    "Exactly," Kain said, his voice slightly raising due to his enthusiasm. "The Clear Spring Wolf is gold-quality and can heal. It has massive potential for families, mercenary groups, and even lower-level military units. These pills could make the River Pup''s evolution essible to a much broader range of people, which could elevate the lower-level strength of the entire empire."


    Collin nodded slowly, the wheels of his mind already turning. "If it''s as effective as you say, I could see this being a massive hit. And since the Clear Spring Wolf has healing properties, we might¡ªunlike with the beer business¡ªeven gain support from the government."


    "Excellent! But I''ll need your expertise to push it forward. What do you think the prospects in terms of profit are?"


    Collin grinned. "Boss, I think you''ve got another winner here. With the right marketing, we could position this as a revolutionary product, something that could change lives. Most middle and lower-middle ss parents that are surprised and grateful for their child even developing an affinity, will want to invest in their child''s potential as a beast-tamer. Therefore, they would jump at the chance to give their kids a spiritual creature that can heal and protect the life of their child after it evolves. And if we can get even a hint of official backing, it''ll sell itself."


    Kain''s smile widened, pleased with Collin''s analysis. "That''s what I wanted to hear. Now, I was also thinking about a spokesperson¡­"


    He reached into a nearby enclosure and carefully retrieved a squirming, grey-furred River Wolf Pup. The small creature yipped and wriggled in his grasp before settling down, itsrge blue eyes peering curiously at Collin.


    "I remember you recently broke through to 4-stars and have a water affinity. This pup could be your next contract¡ªon the house, of course," Kain offered, holding out the pup.


    Collin blinked, his surprise quickly shifting to misty-eyed gratefulness. His long period of hard work and aplishments must have touched the boss. "Seriously? You''re giving me one of these guys for free?"


    Kain nodded, handing him the pup and then the bottle of pills. "Think of it as a business investment. You''ll not only help manage this venture but also act as its spokesperson. You''ll have firsthand experience with the pill''s effects, which will make your marketing all the more convincing."


    Collin cradled the pup carefully, already bonding with the little creature. "I''ll do my best to live up to the expectations, Boss! I won''t let you down!"


    As Collin happily tucked the pup into his jacket with a bottle of pills and turned to leave, Gabriel, who had been quiet until now, opened his mouth as if to say something. But a warning nce from Kain stopped him in his tracks.


    Once Collin was out of earshot, Gabriel finally burst out. "You''re really going to let him take and sell those pills without telling him they''re made from poop?"


    Kain rolled his eyes. "Does it matter? The pills are sterilized and effective. Besides, some truths are best left unsaid."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Gabriel crossed his arms with a huff, though the corners of his lips twitched upward. "You''re a piece of work, Kain."


    Kain smirked. "I try."

 Chapter 363 New Employee

    Naturally, given the disgust Gabriel had for the wonderful pills, and that most individuals are unaware of and can''t wrap their minds around feces that has been ''cleaned'' to just keep the bacteria, Kain decided it was best if the people of this world just never found out.


    As a result, unlike the beerpany that he could bepletely hands off with and just count the money as it rolls in, he would need to do the bulk of the preparation for the pills.


    Rather, the formation of the pills, and the preparation of a precise mixture of the spiritual nts the bacteria need to survive that''s also inserted into the pill can be prepared by others, and Collin will be arranging the construction of an additional factory for this purpose.


    However, when ites to the ''secret ingredient'' of these pills, Kain will either have to do it himself or find someone he trusts enough or can control well enough not to rat him out¡­


    Kain started the process of collecting the droppings himself, thankfully each piece of poop can be used to make hundreds of pills so Kain doesn''t need to raise too many Clear Spring Wolves, and once the River Pups he currently has evolved, they should fully meet his needs. So it''s not too much work for him alone to do¡ªor so he thought.


    Eventually, by the third time he was scooping up the waste of a Clear Spring Wolf, Kain threw up his hands and decided to hire a worker to do this.


    "The sharpest captains know their value lies in steering the ship, not rowing it." Kain justified. It was not because he was simply disgusted by the wolf shit. After all, he could best demonstrate his value whening up with new ideas, not to mention he''s a busy man, no matter how he looked at it, he would be best suited for another task.


    Thankfully, Kain had just the individual in mind for this task. Someone that Kain already shared a deep secret with, is dissatisfied with their current job, has the strength to manage a group of spiritual creatures, and may even enjoy being around a bunch of River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolfs. Ferrin.


    Kain already has a soul binding contract in ce with him, and an additional term in the contract can just be added to facilitate his employment. Since he already has such a contract with Kain, he''d be less resistant than the average person to signing another.


    Also, Ferrin has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with his current job. Since Ferrin was an ordinary person not long ago, he still had a decent job as a white-cor worker in a rtivelyrge multi-city business.


    However, while his current sry was quite high as an ordinary person, it waspletely insufficient to raise a spiritual creature¡ªespecially not one that advances so quickly.


    Not to mention his office job seemed too mundane inparison to the life he''d always imagined as a beast-tamer.


    Being a care-taker for many spiritual creatures would probably be preferable to him¡ªespecially if Kain could offer a sry that would better meet his needs.


    After contacting Ferrin, Kain arrived at his property on the outskirts of the city. Its rolling fields filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of various spiritual nts that Kain had been adding over time, were broken up by the artificialke Kain had previously used to contain the products from his Lumifin evolution experiments and still contains the first ever Gilded Serafins to sessfully evolve. The artificialke practically glowed due to the dual effects of the sun rays glinting off of its surface, and the light emitted by the Serafin''s swimming beneath its surface.


    Towards the entrance of the massive fields was a small wooden house with three rooms that was previously the rundown shack, but Kain had since renovated¡ªalthough he may likely expand it into arger home in the future.


    It would look like the perfect idyllic country home paradise if it were not surrounded by a shimmering high-grade defensive array that obstructed any peeping eyes and promised no mercy to any intruders.


    Ferrin was led past the barrier looking both intrigued and confused as to why Kain had called him here, while taking in the beautiful scenery and then proceeded to follow Kain down a dirt path he had travelling throughout the property for when he wanted to conveniently walk through the fields.


    As they walked, Kain exined, "You''re familiar with River Wolf Pups, right? High potential, but prohibitively expensive to raise. They''d probably be a default first-choice contract for many if they weren''t so expensive to raise."


    Ferrin nodded. "Yeah, I''ve heard of them. They''re great for water-type or canine-type affinities, but the upkeep is ridiculous. When I was a teenager fantasizing about what my affinity might be, they were one I definitely dreamed about. But the cost of single week of their food is several months of my current sry, not to mention my much poorer parents. It''d have been impossible. What about them?"


    Kain stopped in by a section of the fields not far from the artificialke where several River Wolf Pups frolicked alongside a fewrger majestic Clear Spring Wolves. "I''ve developed something that makes raising them much more affordable. Even for the standards of ordinary families."


    Ferrin''s eyes widened. "You''re serious?"


    Kain pulled out a bottle of brown capsules and held it up. "These pills. They contain a ''secret ingredient'' that drastically reduces the cost and time required for River Wolf Pups to evolve into Clear Spring Wolves. With these, more people will be able to raise them, and the overall strength of beast-tamers in the Empire could increase significantly."


    Ferrin frowned as he studied the pills. "Secret ingredient? What kind of ingredient are we talking about here?"


    Kain hesitated for a moment before answering, "Let''s just say it''s derived from something Clear Spring Wolves produce naturally. It''s perfectly safe, sterilized, and concentrated to maximize effectiveness."


    Ferrin squinted at him suspiciously. "More specifically¡­?"


    "Ahem¡­ it is the purified remnants of the spiritual nt material consumed by Clear Spring Wolves, which is processed by their bodies into a biologically potent output in a natural cycle of purification."


    Ferrin''s eyes went hazy as he tried to decipher the long and convoluted exnation Kain came up with. However, while not one of the top minds in the Empire, he''s a college graduate from a decent university who managed to be recruited to a mid-levelpany upon graduation¡ªhe was far from dumb.


    "You mean¡­you''re selling wolf poop?" He said in astonishment while giving Kain the look one would expect to be given to a shady and immoral con artist.


    Kain coughed shyly, rubbing the bridge of his nose in slight embarassment. "I am not selling poop. I''m selling a carefully extracted and clean material that happens toe from Clear Spring Wolf poop. It''s not dirty and it''s incredibly effective. Don''t reduce my scientific breakthrough to¡­ that."


    "This is insane," Ferrin muttered.


    Seeing that convincing Ferrin didn''t seem to be going as smoothly as he''d expected, Kain pushed on quickly. "Listen, rather than sitting in a dusty cubicle all day with an annoying boss breathing down your neck, you can work here, surrounded by adorable spiritual creatures in a serene natural environment with next to no interference from me.


    "Not to mention this property is perfect for raising the wolves and will take off most of the stress from caring for them. The defensive array will keep them safe and contained, and the spiritual nts they need to be fed have already been transnted and grown by theke here. The River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolves can even graze on the nts they require for their own maintenance without you having to feed them more than once a day with some spiritual beast meat. All I need from you is to manage the wolves, collect their waste, and send it to me for processing.


    "And you don''t even have to pick up all of the poop¡ªonly those from the Clear Spring Wolves. And look here," Kain said holding up a bottle of blue dye for Ferrin to see, "Mix this into the food of the Clear Spring Wolves. It''ll dye their waste blue so you can tell it apart from the others. I only need the waste from the Clear Spring Wolves for the pills. So that also reduces your work load. You could probably even finish all of your work in a couple of hours each day."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Ferrin raised an eyebrow. "You want me to be a glorified poop collector? Although I don''t exactly love my job, I do work for one of thergestpanies in this region with offices in all neighbouring cities. Not to mention I''ve worked my ass off for them for years and am now on track for a promotion within the next couple of years."


    "I will triple your current sry."


    "Deal."

 Chapter 364 Shortcut (2 in 1)

    With the gains Kain received from delegating some of the more menialbor tasks, Kain became more and more determined to find a shortcut for the immense amount of knowledge to be learned as a member of the Pathfinders.


    "An architect builds the vision, not the walls. The conductor waves the baton, he doesn''t¡ª"


    "h, h, h. How many high sounding sayings are you going toe up with just to excuse yourziness." Gabriel interrupted when Kain was in the middle of writing his post.


    This idea came to Kain once he realized that in addition to being a student dual enrolled in both the Beast-Taming and Evolutionary nning faculties, he also had an honorary title of ''Research Professor.''n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    This title was given to him a long with theb andes with absolutely no real power, sry, or right to teach any sses¡ªbut most students wouldn''t know that.


    Combine that with Kain''s immense poprity and while some upper-year and graduate students may be resistant to working for him, many newbie freshmen and even some second-years may not be.


    In fact, when Kain sees the eyes glowing with admiration when he asionally passes a first-year, he bes much more confident in his n.


    Then when he thinks about when he was just starting in College back on Earth and most lower-year students would gratefully do all the tedious low-skill grunge work in theb for free just to be able to put the prestigious sounding moniker of ''research assistant'' on their resumes, Kain was even more confident in his decision.


    He couldn''t extract the necessary information he needed from the minds of his fellow Pathfinder¡ªbut couldn''t he extract it from the minds of some ''assistants.'' Heck, he may not even have to pay them!


    Kain could barely sit still at the idea of this brilliantly crafted shortcut and immediately began to write a post on the College''s public job board, ignoring Gabriel''s snide remarks from the side.


    The ad was simple but intentionally crafted to sound prestigious:


    ----------------------------------------


    Creator of the New Evolutionary Form Kain Newman Seeks Assistants


    Field: Ancient Languages and Histories


    An unparalleled opportunity to work with Kain Newman, Evolutionary nner and Research Professor at Dark Moon College. Applicants must have a strong foundation in ancient scripts, forgotten civilizations, or historical linguistics.


    Requirements:


    -Enrolled in Academic Departments specializing in ancientnguages or history.


    -Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.


    What''s in it for you?


    -Work under one of the youngest and most innovative minds of our time.


    -Exclusive insight into the coborative intersection between history, linguistics, and evolutionary nning.


    -Letters of rmendation for exemry contributions.


    Apply today! Positions are limited.


    -------------------------------------------------


    Satisfied, Kain submitted the ad. He leaned back in his chair, smirking. "There. Let''s see how many bright-eyed underssmen I get to exploit¡ªerr, guide."


    The response was almost instantaneous. Kain''s phone pinged with notifications within the hour, quickly bing overwhelming. He skimmed through the applicants, his eyebrows rising higher with every message.


    First-years? It was to be expected. Second-years? The ideal candidate in his mind, and likely the highest-level he''d be able to recruit.


    But what really startled him were the upper-year students and even graduate students expressing interest. Many of them had already published research papers or contributed to major academic projects. Some messages even included professional portfolios with glowing rmendations from professors.


    Kain tapped his chin in thought, reviewing the unexpectedly high-quality pool of candidates. "What''s going on?" he muttered. "These are way overqualified¡­"


    It didn''t take long for him to discover the truth once he engaged in furthermunication with these high-level applicants.


    The older students weren''t applying out of pure academic interest, or really out of any expectations of Kain making a breakthrough in the field of History and Linguistics.


    However, in him they saw an opportunity. An opportunity to potentially request the services of one of the most notorious, and expensive, Evolutionary nners¡ªa field with enormous demand and limited experts.


    After all, although all of these students were in an Academic Department, many of them were also beast-tamers. They either just had lower-grade affinities, preferred being an academic student, had a strong aversion to the fighting required of enrolling in a beast-taming department, or simply couldn''t afford the resources required to raise a high-quality contract capable of keeping up in the beast-taming department.


    But even if they had no interest in fighting, that didn''t mean they would want their contracts to go further.


    The feedback provided by a stronger contract will also increase their own strength and cultivation speed¡ªextending their lifespan and increasing their mental strength.


    However, for most beast-tamers that would choose to enroll in an Academic department, most of their contracts wouldn''t have the highest potential. Many of them may not even have known evolutionary forms, making seeking the help of most evolutionary nners useless.


    But, Kain was one of the few nners toe up with a widely used evolutionary form¡ªnot to mention the new forms of his own contracts and the story of Yara the mutant lizard which has spread, which all demonstrated that it wasn''t a fluke that he coulde up with new forms.


    Rumours of Kain''s supposed ''gift'' that allows him to more easily sense the hidden evolutionary conditions of a spiritual creature, also increased their hopes in Kain being able to help them.


    However, to seek the services of a nner at Kain''s level toe up with a new evolutionary form would probably bankrupt even a smaller noble family¡ªit waspletely out of the means of these applicants.


    Thinking about it this way, Kain wasn''t sure of who technically would be taking advantage in this arrangement¡­


    Gabriel looked over Kain''s shoulder and remarked, "I didn''t expect the title of ''genius Evolutionary nner'' to be so powerful, nor for them to believe it. What part of you looks like a genius?"


    Kain puffed his chest out slightly in pride, and chose to ignore thetter sentence.


    He didn''t care about the ulterior motives, and he also recognized the potential. These upper-year students would pick up the material far faster than the inexperienced first-years. Not to mention, Kain is nning to just absorb everything that they will learn, and the likelihood of their being errors in the knowledge of these more experienced students was much lower.


    Moreover, even if they came to him with some pretty advanced evolutionary nner requests, Kain had the System to help him and would also benefit greatly if he coulde up with some more widely useable evolutionary forms. And considering he''s about tounch a new product with his identity as a nner, a newly created form and boost to his image as a ''genius'' would be just the publicity he needed for the FMT pills to take off!


    It was a trade-off, but he didn''t see any disadvantages in it for him.


    Over the next few days, Kain interviewed applicants, narrowing down the list. The sparkly-eyed freshmen were enthusiastic butcked the depth of knowledge he needed.


    The older students, meanwhile, were much more knowledgeable and professional, and although they unfortunately didn''t tter and admire him like the freshmen did¡ªthey still held great respect for him as a nner.


    Ultimately, Kain chose three graduate students and two fourth-years. Each had a solid background in different ancientnguages or civilizations, and all had specific requests regarding his potential services as an Evolutionary nner in exchange for their assistance that Kain felt he could meet.


    Many of the students'' requests were even quite interesting to him and lit his enthusiasm for research. In the end the assistants Kain hired, as well as their requests from him were:


    1. Rivian, a graduate student, was a tall man with dark brown hair tied back into a loose ponytail, piercing green eyes, and a constant air of quiet focus. He specialized in Ancient Verdarian and Eldrathic and the Verdant Epoch civilization¡ªa long period of time of rtive peace when the Verdaris City-State was without question the strongest of the time and could have even expanded into an Empire if they''d had the ambition. Meanwhile, in addition to Verdarian, which was spoken by most citizens of Verdaris, Eldrathic was themon tongue spoken by all city-states of that period¡ªboth were must havenguages for Kain to learn.


    Considering that the Tree of Life he currently possessed likely wasst seen in the Verdaris city-state, it was a no-brainer for Kain to hire him.


    As for his request, Rivian was bound to a gold-quality Leafwing Moth, a spiritual creature thought to be a dead end in evolutionary potential. He wants Kain to discover an advanced form for it.


    2. Elera Ash, a female graduate student with short blonde hair and amber eyes specialized in the Celestial Ascension Period, which was an important period for the Celestial Empire because it corresponds to the time period just before the founding of the Empire when the 5 individuals who eventually founded the empire were the most active. Out of interest in the beautiful supposedly extinct elves, she also picked up Ancient Elvish as a hobby, which is one of thenguages Kain must learn.


    Elera has a silver-quality Moonlit Otter that does have a known gold-quality form after evolution, but for some reason it is unable to evolve. Simr to Yara, Kain suspects that it may be a mutant, although he''d need to see it in person to determine the details.


    3. The final Graduate Student was Dravis Norrik, a stocky man with a thick beard and eyes that gleam with intensity. However, despite his intimidating build, his voice is extremely calm and soothing. He specializes in studying the Warring Periods, a chaotic era right before the Celestial Ascension Period marked by fragmented city-states and tribes that were frequently broken by strong wild spiritual creature battles and fights with one another. This period was among the least stable and filled with the most human deaths. He also knows themonnguage of this period, Myrthali, as well as several other lessmonly spokennguages.


    As for his request, he''d actually somehow managed to get a contract from a relic of the Warring Period to a Raging Steel Boar, which was often used as a war mount during the Warring Period. However, the method of its evolution has been lost in time, so he was hoping the receive Kain''s help.


    The two fourth-years consisted of one boy and a girl each, and Kain also made sure that their knowledge did not ovep greatly with any of the graduate students.


    Their knowledge, unfortunately, isn''t as in depth as the graduate students, but thankfully neither of their requests were particrly difficult either and could probably be aplished by nners other than Kain but would cost quite a lot.


    Neither of them required the creation of a new evolutionary form, just a detailed n on how to increase the probability of their contracts evolving into the rarer, less-likely form.


    Both of their requests could probably bepleted by Kain within a couple of days, but he, of course, won''t hand over the finished ns until he also got what he needed.


    "Wee aboard, students. Now, let''s see how much I can squeeze out of you." Kain said with a cruel smirk, already mentally preparing the catalogs of books for each to read. Now that he had helpers, why should he stop at just ''learning'' the introductory knowledge of Pathfinders?

 Chapter 365 A Kind and Caring Boss

    Of course the Kain''s new ''assistants'' couldn''t possibly stay in his usualboratory.


    For one, he had too many secrets there, including the notes and research results based off of those stolen from that evil organization created in their efforts to help Gabriel.


    However, after Kain had notified the university about histest research achievement, the FMT pill, it immediately took the top brass by storm and they readily agreed to any of his requests¡ªincluding an additional research space.


    Of course they were also much more willing to grant him an additionalb once he rified that it didn''t need to be equipped with any expensive equipment, he just needed it to essentially convert it into a shared office space for his research assistants.


    After some simple furnishing, the office space Kain prepared seemed luxurious at first nce¡ªespecially since it would just be used by unpaid assistants.


    Each desk and chair was custom-fitted with sleek, ergonomic designs meant to optimizefort, while the chairs were plush and adjustable with memory foam cushions.


    The assistants looked around in awe, their eyes misty with gratitude. The air even carried a faint scent ofvender, thanks to a discreet spiritual nt Kain had brought in to enhance focus and ease mental exhaustion.


    "This¡­ this is incredible," murmured Rivian, running a hand along the smooth surface of the desk assigned to him.


    "I''ve never seen a setup this good, even in the graduate faculty lounge," Dravis added, his already calming voice, now practically a gentle whisper.


    Elera sighed contentedly, sinking into her seat. "He''s¡­ surprisingly thoughtful."


    The fourth-years, likely intimidated by the presence of more senior students didn''t express their thoughts, but their twitching lips as the felt around their new desks also clearly showed that they were pleased by their new workspace.


    It seems like their new boss was much more thoughtful than they''d expected.


    But their sentimental moment was short-lived.


    Kain smiled gently before stepping forward. With a casual motion, he ced a massive stack of thick, ancient-looking textbooks on Rivian''s desk that he took from his space ring.


    Then another stack on Elera''s. And another for Dravis. And the fourth-years. The piles towered over the assistants, teetering slightly unsteadily due to their significant height.


    Each assistant''s initial gratitude morphed into horror as the stacks kepting.


    "These are handpicked for each of you," Kain said, his kind tone utterly ipatible with the sinister glint in his eye. "I made sure to match them to your specialties. These books represent hundreds of years of recorded knowledge, carefully preserved and a great boost to your current knowledge reserves. Isn''t it wonderful?"


    The assistants exchanged uneasy nces, their earlier happiness evaporating.


    Dravis cleared his throat. "Uh, Kain, these¡­ seem a bit excessive."


    Elera nodded, her fingers gripping the edge of her desk. "Is¡­ is all of this necessary?"


    They could tell that many of the documents Kain pulled out, god knows where he got them from, started to exceed the scope of what the college''s records even contained. Kain had used his newfound ess to the knowledge reserves of the Eclipse Order to create a reading list for each assistant.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Of course!" Kain''s gentle smile widened, his expression terrifyingly serene. "You never know what maye in handy. A book skipped could result in death so I trust you''ll give these your full attention. After all, a solid foundation is crucial for any great schr."


    ''In death?! Isn''t that being melodramatic!''


    Of course, they didn''t know that Kain, as a new member of the Pathfinders was being quite literal. After all, a missed important chapter may mean unnecessary danger or greater time spent in solving a relic.


    Knowing that his request was a bit excessive¡ªespecially since he even wanted to give them a time limit but figured he''d ease into that topicter on lest they revolt¡ªKain just tried to make his smile as gentle and weing as possible.


    However, to the assistants, his smile now looked less like that of a caring mentor and more like a demon relishing their impending suffering.


    "Now then," Kain continued cheerfully, pping his hands together. "Make yourselves at home. If you need anything, let me know. Especially if you need any more books!"


    And with that, he left, leaving his assistants staring at the intimidating towers of books as if they were staring down a death sentence.


    Dravis leaned back in his chair with a resigned sigh. "Well¡­ at least the chairs are nice."


    The assistants exchanged onest nce of shared despair before reluctantly opening their first books. Meanwhile, Kain was already on his way back to his primaryboratory,pletely unconcerned with the chaos he''d left behind.


    The enthusiasm expressed by the higher-ups for the FMT pill had been much greater than anticipated, and rumours that the ''genius nner student'' came up with a new ground-breaking contribution to the field of Evolutionary nning were already circling around.


    Therefore, Kain was having to move up some of his ns.


    The concept of these pills has never been seen before, therefore many would likely doubt their effects, therefore he had nned to use the buzz produced from a new widely applicable evolutionary form to publicize the FMT pills.


    If at the time of theunch of the pills their creator had an even greater ''genius'' aura and they managed to get official backing, it would increase their credibility greatly and he likely wouldn''t even need to spend much on advertising, they''d probably sell out within seconds.


    The droppings collected by Ferrin were kept within a special extremely cold container to preserve their special qualities and Kain would only need to pick them up to make the pills once a week.


    Also, so far Kain already had thousands of pills prepared and wasn''t in a rush to prepare more.


    Therefore, he turned his attention to the most important part of theirunch n¡ªa new evolutionary form.


    And it just so happened that one of the requests he needed to fulfill for his new assistants perfectly met these conditions.

 Chapter 366 Silkworm Evolutions

    Rivian''s gold-quality Leafwing Moth was one of the numerous evolutionary forms of the ck-iron-quality Silkworm, a spiritual creature somon it bordered on mundane.


    But despite its low quality, the Silkworm held a unique position among contracts¡ªthey could meet the contractual needs of over a third of newly awakened individuals, while also being incredibly cheap.


    Actually, cheap isn''t even the correct term for them. They were pretty much free.


    Silkworms could be found in almost any garden or park, their tiny, white plump bodies inching along leaves or spinning fine silk threads among the branches.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They were a creature the poorest of beast-tamers could easily contract by just plucking one from a bush.


    In towns and cities, children yed with them, fascinated by the shimmering silk threads they produced, unaware that this humble creature was also one of the most popr beginner contracts among the underprivileged.


    Moreover, if one couldn''t even afford to feed them with the spiritual nts needed to evolve, letting them just graze on normal nts outdoors will cause it to eventually evolve into its default form¡ªthe ck-iron Silkmoth. However, this form is so low in potential, that even the poorest of individuals would at least attempt to make it evolve into something better.


    What truly set the Silkworm apart wasn''t just its high poption¡ªit was its array of evolutionary forms.


    While most spiritual creatures were limited to one or two evolutionary paths, the Silkworm had known forms that corresponded to nearly every element.


    Feeding a Silkworm a diet rich in spiritual nt materials imbued with a specific element would cause it to spin a cocoon of silk infused with that same element.


    When it emerged from this elemental cocoon, it would take on an evolved form aligned with the element of cocoon it used for its metamorphosis. This unique property made the Silkworm a viable option for tamers of nearly any elemental affinity, even if it wasn''t their ideal choice.


    However, despite this impressive range of evolutions, the Silkworm''sck of poprity among those with even a slightly decent affinity grade. All of its elemental evolutionary paths were dead ends, unable to ascend beyond gold-quality, a ceiling that disqualified it from the considerations of more talented or wealthy tamers.


    However, the resources required to evolve a Silkworm in either of these two directions were too high for most ordinary families, and those that could afford to raise one, or even several, would simply buy more powerful spiritual creatures.


    Nevertheless, despite its disadvantages, the Silkworm was a staple of lower-ss tamers. To the talented, it was a creature ofst resort, its potential for nearly any element was tempting but rarely worth the investment.


    However, to the poor it was a lifeline, a creature that could at least offerpatibility with their affinity and reach the fairly decent gold-level, even if it didn''t promise greatness.


    Rivian''s Leafwing Moth was one of the gold-quality forms that, while aesthetically stunning and moderately useful for reconnaissance, still failed to rise above the Silkworm''s limitations.


    It was often described as a "pretty face" in the world of spiritual creatures¡ªa creature valued more for its elegance than itsbat abilities.


    Yet, Kain saw potential. He didn''t believe that a race as malleable as the Silkworm wouldn''t have more advanced evolutionary forms¡ªthey just haven''t been found yet or all required some special evolutionary condition.


    If he could crack the code to push the Leafwing Moth beyond its known limits, and maybe even find somemonality to push forward other evolutions of the Silkworm, it could reshape the reputation of the Silkworm entirely. A creature dismissed by the talented could be a cornerstone of tamers across all walks of life.


    Kain had already asked to see the contract of all of his assistants in person, so he should be able to call up virtual representations of all of them in the System''s Evolution Simtor.


    Not wanting to waste his very limited amount of time until theunch of his project, Kain mentally entered the System while pretending to take a nap.


    At the center of the room stood a tall sspartment of the Simtor. Within moments of Kain selecting the Leafwing Moth, a shimmering virtual image materialized inside thepartment.


    The Leafwing Moth was as elegant as a butterfly, despite its name. Its delicate, semi-transparent wings shimmered with an iridescent green hue, veins of gold tracing intricate patterns reminiscent of leaves. Its body was slim and silken, with soft tufts of fur around its neck like a fur cor. Long, feathery antennae extended from its head, glowing faintly with spiritual energy.


    Kain swiped his hand along the touch screen of the Simtor, pulling up the creature''s profile.


    Immediately, his eyes caught on a shing exmation mark within its profile that Kain knew indicated a special evolutionary condition.


    "Bingo," Kain muttered under his breath, leaning forward as though the virtual image would yield its secrets faster that way. Clicking on the notification, he opened the detailed exnation of the condition.


    Silken Harmony: The evolutionary form requires the Leafwing Moth to spin its cocoon using silk threads contributed by at least three other Silkworms or their evolved forms, each representing a different elemental attribute. Thebined silk must be woven together with its own threads to form a cocoon infused with harmonized elemental energy.


    Kain''s eyebrows shot up once he read this condition and immediately understood why this condition hadn''t been satisfied before, even by coincidence.


    Silkworms and their evolved forms were naturally solitary creatures. Even in captivity, keeping Silkworms of different elements together was nearly impossible without rigorous effort and training.


    It wasn''t just about putting a few Silkworms in a room and letting them do their thing. The process required a perfect bnce of attributes and cooperation among multiple moths, two things that were fundamentally alien to Silkworms and their evolved forms.


    Even if someone managed to get three Silkworms with different attributes together, getting them to contribute silk for one cocoon? That''s asking for a miracle


    Now with his biggest obstacle identified, Kain took a look at his abundant amount of GP, and immediately got to work simting.

 Chapter 367 Silken Harmony

    Once Kain had an idea, he immediately acted on it.


    He ced an order for all known evolutionary forms of the Silkworm, such as:


    -The natural/nt attribute Leafwing Moth


    -The fire attribute mesilk Moth


    -The water attribute Tidce Butterfly


    -The wind attribute Skythread Butterfly


    -The earth attribute Granitewing Moth


    -The metal attribute dewing Butterfly


    -The light attribute Haloed Butterflyn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    -The dark attribute Obsidian Moth


    Not only did he get an almost excessive amount of each evolutionary form, but the college even allocated to him a private spiritual creature care facility that they could remain in and have staff care for them round the clock.


    Moreover, they''d even assigned several upper-year and graduate students of the "Spiritual Creature Care and Breeding" major to assist him.


    These services, plus the costs for care and food, werepletely covered by the university.


    And all of this was arranged in less than 48 hours


    It seems like after Kain presented his second major research achievement, the enthusiasm and support of the top-brass for his research went up another level¡ªor even several levels.


    Themon care facility was located near the eastern wing of the university, nestled in a quiet section of the campus surrounded by gardens and dense groves of trees. A series of interconnected structures that looked like greenhouses formed the bulk of the facility, with controlled climates and environments tailored to the specific needs of different attributes.


    Naturally, when researchers are working on a project that may need dozens or even hundreds of spiritual creatures, or a project that uses incrediblyrge spiritual creatures, it isn''t feasible to house them all within their ownb.


    Therefore, most of the time majority of the spiritual creatures that a researcher has are housed in themon care facility and cared for by breeders¡ªfor a fee, of course.


    Usually each ''greenhouse'' is used to house the spiritual creatures of multiple researchers with simr attributes. However, Kain was given one all to himself. A fact, naturally not looked at upon too kindly by the older, more senior, researchers of the college. However, since the top-brass had already spoken, there wasn''t much they could do aside from venting their frustrations in silence and excluding Kain from various meetups and social activities among the staff¡ªsomething that Kain was not even aware existed and, even if he did, would likely still not attend.


    But these were all unimportant background events. Currently, Kain was stepping into his private care facility and immediately found himself impressed by its quality.


    The greenhouse was meticulously organized, with separate spacious enclosures for each type of Silkworm evolution. The Tidce Butterflies fluttered over shallow pools of sparkling water, while the mesilk Moths basked near controlled fires that emitted soft, radiant heat and grazed on transnted fire-attribute nts. The Obsidian Butterflies resided in a darker corner of the facility, with artificial shadows cast by carefully designed structures and dimmer lighting.


    The staff, dressed in uniforms with the college''s emblem, greeted him warmly. The graduate students assigned to assist him looked eager at getting a chance to potentially see the formation of a great research achievement up close.


    However, Kain noted that there were quite a few breeders, particrly among the fourth-years and graduate students, that seemed particrly wary and almost afraid of him.


    Unknown to him, all of these wary students were friends with Kain''s new ''research assistants'' and had long heard about Kain''s harsh expectations of his current assistants.


    Since they were ordered by the college to help him with whatever he needed and follow his instructions exactly, they were slightly afraid that he''d pull out a massive tower of textbooks on spiritual creature care and breeding and demand they learn all of the material within a time limit.


    So when Kain arrived and simply waved them off and ordered them to stay outside the facility while he conducted his research, they all breathed silent sighs of relief as they left.


    When he was alone Kain used a button on the wall to remove the screens acting to form separation enclosures for each type of evolutionary form.


    However, just as Kain read, the moths and butterflies didn''t even like to mingle with other of their same ethnic groups, much less the other evolutionary forms.


    The conditions needed for evolution would be practically impossible to achieve in nature.


    But, Kain had a way to force out the behaviour he needed.


    Suddenly dozens, if not hundreds, of threads extended from Kain, or more specifically Bea who was on him, and attached to the flittering spiritual creatures. Any efforts to dodge werepletely rendered useless due to the difference in level andbat experience.


    Within seconds, the dozens of spiritual creatures flying around crazily arranged themselves in neat rows in front of Kain, sorted by attribute.


    Kain couldn''t resist smiling as he observed the orderly rows of moths and butterflies now standing at attention.


    Something about seeing the perfectly spaced creatures, all simr in size and appearance, in neat rows sorted by attribute and wing colour, satisfied sometent OCD tendency he may have possessed.


    "Much better," he murmured, stepping closer to examine the creatures.


    "Alright, little ones," Kain said, crouching to examine them closely. "Time to see if you all can evolve."


    Immediately, a variety of humming, buzzing, and clicking noises echoed in the facility as they seemed to understand what he said.


    Bea didn''t control their minds, only their actions, to hopefully train them to spontaneously work together without her control in the future.


    After all, Bea''s skills, while far reaching, did have a distance limit and, since he may even be entering relics cut off from the world in the future as a Pathfinder, Bea couldnt control them all fo the time.


    Therefore, the best case scenario would be for them all to be able to work together to form the silk needed to evolve on their own.


    Then Kain could once again discuss with Collin about an possible business ventures using these trained moths.


    Although they don''t currently seem amenable to trainingr, based on how enthusiastic they seemed at the prospects of evolving, once they see and understand the benefits of working together, this individualistic group may form a cohesive and powerful workforce.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 368 What Genre Is This?!

    Using Bea, Kain split them into groups, each group containing one of each attribute.


    He instructed Bea to send faint nudges of calm and cooperation through the threads, urging the moths and butterflies to interact. At first, there was resistance; the creatures fluttered their wings irritably, some even attempting to pull away. But Bea''s influence held firm, and gradually, the spiritual creatures began to settle into their groups.


    Due to the over enthusiasm of the higher-ups for Kain, there were over 10 of each types¡ªmeaning that there were over a dozen groups and nearly 100 spiritual creatures in the space in total.


    Kain walked to a nearby group and reached into his space ring and withdrew a bundle of spiritual nts, each corresponding to the elements of the different moths and butterflies. Gently, he ced the nts in front of the creatures, coaxing them to feed and spin their silk.


    However, after a few minutes of them either refusing to do so, or not fully understanding his intentions, Kain had Bea once again take full control of their bodies to begin spinning the silk.


    Part of the reason Kain had selected this group was because he could sense the saturation of energy in their bodies, this group had the members of each ethnic group that were the most ready for evolution.


    Kain removed a spiritual orb and catalyst from his space ring, and waited for a certain amount of silk to be produced.


    Thankfully, for most spiritual creatures like the River Wolf Pup, the Silkworm, and now these moths, their long-term grazing of specific spiritual nts has resulted in them not requiring an additional base evolutionary material¡ªonly a catalyst to trigger the evolution, and the spiritual orb to support the energy needed to evolve.


    Therefore, contracts that don''t need an additional purchase of an expensive and/or rare evolutionary base material to seed in evolving are quite popr among the masses. However, among more talented beast tamers they are still typically not chosen sinceck of a special or particrly potent base material during evolution means that all of them are rtively uniform after evolution, and they tend to be weaker at the same level than other species that need a base material to evolve.


    Kain closely monitored the group of moths as the silk began to umte in soft, shimmering piles. Using Bea''s influence, the creatures produced their threads at a steady pace, each one glowing faintly with the spiritual energy of its respective attribute.


    The vibrant hues of the silk¡ªgreen from the Leafwing Moth, blue from the Tidce Butterfly, silver from the Skythread Butterfly, and golden from the Haloed Butterfly¡ªmade for a mesmerizing sight.


    It''s no wonder that, like the typical Vespirae Queen renowned for its spiritual honey, Silkworm moths and butterflies, while not popr among powerful beast-tamers, are still desired by low-level beast-tamers who don''t like to fight and would like to use the silk produced by their contracts to earn money.


    Seeing the silks of all different attributes and colours made for a stunning sight, and Kain was almost considering entering the fashion industry, but quickly put that thought on hold¡ªits best not to enter a field he knew nothing about.


    Once he felt there was enough silk, Kain carefully collected the threads, cing each type into separate binsbeled with their attributes.


    Then, he selected one Leafwing Moth from the group and gently guided it to begin spinning a cocoon around itself¡ªa necessary condition for it to evolve.


    As the Leafwing Moth began spinning its cocoon, weaving its own silk threads into the mix. Kain gradually added small amounts of the collected silk from the other attributes, observing how they blended into the forming cocoon.@@novelbin@@


    At first, everything seemed to proceed smoothly¡ªthe threads harmonized, creating a multi-hued cocoon that pulsed with spiritual energy.


    However, as the cocoon nearedpletion, Kain''s expression darkened. He could feel the energy within the cocoon bing unstable, the delicate bnce between the elements starting to copse.


    Suddenly, a burst of fiery energy erupted from the cocoon, consuming the nearby threads and overpowering the natural-attribute silk still being produced by the Leafwing Moth, and even beginning to damage the moth which was vulnerable to the fire-element, which was still spinning away inside the cocoon.


    "Stop," Kain ordered sharply, quickly halting the process to prevent further damage. Bea immediately controlled it to stop its movements while Kain used a knife to begin cutting away the now useless threads.


    Kain stepped closer to examine the iplete cocoon, his eyes narrowing. The threads that had been infused with fire-attribute energy were noticeably more potent than the others, the saturation of energy slightly exceeding that of the other attributes.


    Even though he had used equal amounts of silk from each attribute, the imbnce in the spiritual energy levels of the silk threads themselves had caused the cocoon to destabilize.


    "Silken Harmony, huh?" Kain muttered, recalling the description in the Evolution Simtor. "It''s not just about mixing threads¡ªit''s about achieving a perfect bnce of the different attributes."


    He sighed, rubbing his temples. "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."


    Kain would need to perfectly calcte how much of each type of silk to use along with the Leafwing Moth''s own silk in order to achieve a perfect bnce, which is extremely difficult and near impossible for him to do on his own.


    Thankfully, when he was provided with ab it dide with a machine that gave detailed figures on the amount and attributes of spiritual power present in an object or creature, a machine Kain hadn''t used often until now.


    Moving the machine to the care facility with some help, Kain began feeding it samples of the silk from each attribute, using its advanced sensors to measure the precise spiritual energy levels in each thread. The results confirmed his suspicion: the fire-attribute silk had 50% more energy densitypared to the others, with the remaining threads also disying minor differences form one another.


    "If I want this to work, I need to figure out exactly how much silk to use from each type to achieve bnce," Kain realized.


    He then reread the Silken Harmony description. Only three additional attributes were needed for the evolution, not all of them. To simplify the process, Kain decided to limit the attributes he used.


    After running multiple calctions and simtions, he identified a promisingbination: water, wind, and light. These attributes had spiritual energy levels closer to each other and to the natural-attribute energy of the Leafwing Moth''s silk.


    But then a new problem arose¡ªcertain attributes seemed to require their counterparts for bnce. Light could not exist in harmony without dark, and fire required water to offset its intensity. Moreover, all of these elements seemed to interact with one another more or less.


    "F***!"


    Thinking of the Chinese elemental pentagram he''d read about in some Chinese cultivation novels in his past life and his future struggles, Kain wanted to flip a table.


    When had this modern fantasy world shifted into the realm of Chinese Xianxia!!!

 Chapter 369 The Price of Mad Genius?

    "You look like you lost a fight with your rm clock and it got thest punch." Gabriel said to Kain while wincing at his dishevelled appearance.


    Kain''s appearance was nothing short of a disaster, the kind of soulcrushing exhaustion that would cause anyone to confuse Kain with an undead creature rather than a human.


    Dark circles framed his eyes, so deep and shadowed they almost looked like he had dual ck eyes.


    His usually sharp andposed gaze was dulled, the whites of his eyes bloodshot with tiny red veins crisscrossing now yellowed parts of his eyes.


    His normally sunkissed skin was pale, bordering on having a sickly green tint, with a slight sheen of sweat that hinted at the hours of work he''d been putting intely.


    His hair was an unkempt greasy mess, sticking up in random directions and his chapped lips were surrounded by a faint shadow of stubble on his jawline, as though he''dpletely abandoned any form of basic grooming.@@novelbin@@


    His clothes matched the rest of him. They were rumpled and slightly askew, with his shirt untucked on one side and covered in wrinkles.


    The way he moved didn''t help either¡ªsluggish and unsteady, like his limbs were operating on borrowed energy¡ªadding to the illusion of him being undead.


    His shoulders slumped, his posture aplete betrayal of his usual confident demeanor. Even his voice, when he spoke, carried the unmistakable rasp of someone who hadn''t slept properly in days.


    All in all, Kain looked like a walking embodiment of burnout¡ªsomeone who had pushed far beyond their limits and was now paying the price in every visible way.


    However, sleeping was easier said than done. Even with the best spiritual nt teas to soothe his mind, or even stooping to using Bea to forcefully put him to sleep, his sleep was always restless.


    And the reason for his insomnia waspletely the infuriating puzzle that was the different elemental reactions.


    Even if after much training, Kain was barely able to get the spiritual creatures to infuse simr amounts of energy into their silk, he couldn''t add even amounts of each silk.


    All of the elements interacted with more than one other element, and it wasn''t at a 1 to 1 ratio.


    Water could extinguish fire, but when the energy of fire isrge enough it can cause water to evaporate. Therefore, for a perfect bnce between them, more fire-attribute energy is needed.


    However, if only things could be so easy and stop there.


    Kain found that in the presence of the natural/nt attribute, the fire element would receive a slight boost, while the water element present in the silk would be slightly suppressed making bnce between the 3 elements more difficult.


    In fact, the majority of the interactions between the nt, water, fire, metal, and earth attributes almost perfectly matched those described in the Chinese 5-elements pentagram.


    But, unfortunately, Kain wasn''t working with only 5 elements¡ªhe was working with 8.


    And those extra 3 elements¡ªwind, light, and dark¡ªwerepletely screwing with his mind!


    Tossed into the perfectly nice 5 element pentagram, they wreakedplete havoc.


    The wind element at low levels could boost the fire element, but at high levels would suppress it.


    Simrly, thebination of the water and wind attributes are often used in fusion skills to create ice, and so in the presence of the wind attribute, the fire suppressing effect on the fire attribute may strengthen.


    Moreover, achieving bnce between the light and dark attributes, which Kain had hoped would stand alone, was also difficult since Kain noticed that they also interacted with the other elements.


    For example, in the presence of the fire element, the light element in the silk would be slightly boosted.


    Every time Kain thought he''d finally had everything figured out, a new interaction between the elements would be uncovered so that, until now, Kain still hadn''t managed to find a perfect bnce among 4 elements even once.


    ''This is impossible¡­'' Kain thought as tears unconsciously dripped from his face and smeared the words written on his research notes.


    "I think¡­ I might have shot myself in the foot¡­" Kain had employed 5 research assistants to avoid memorizing the necessary knowledge of the Pathfinders on his own, and instead to "cheat" and take a zy" way out.


    But now, in the process of fulfilling his "payment" to the new assistants, he was working so hard he wasn''t sure if just memorizing the content on his own would have been more exhausting.


    "Kain, maybe you should take a break. If your Fanclub members saw you now, they''d probably immediately turn their back on you," Gabriel said with a slight sneer, though the concern in his eyes was evident.


    Kain waved him off, too drained to muster a witty retort. Instead, he buried his head in his hands, his ink-stained fingers rubbing against his temples. "A break won''t solve this, Gabriel, because whenever I do close my eyes, all I see are numbers and equations. I swear these damn elements are conspiring against me!"


    Just when Kain would think he''d perfectly bnced even just the minimum of 4 elements, something else he didn''t expect would pop up and ruin everything!


    However, the more difficult it was to get it to work, the more Kain was determined to seed. Something was telling him that an evolutionary form with such difficult to meet conditions must result in an incredibly special creature.


    ''It definitely must!'' Kain said in determination, otherwise he may kill something if all of his hard work only resulted in a creature with a strength slightly higher than their current forms.


    As he prepared to get back to work and test his next idea, Gabriel watched with a mix of admiration and exasperation. "You''re going to kill yourself with all this overwork, you know."


    "Probably," Kain replied, his voice dry. "But at least I''ll die a genius."


    However, in Kain''s obsession with living up to the "genius" moniker, he was forgetting about something very very important¡ªit was now the time for the first Ranking Tournament of his second year as a College student.

 Chapter 370 The Adventures of Bea

    For as long as Bea could remember, existence had been one long, murky stretch of endless monotony, only broken by the asional arrival of prey.


    Due to her nature of being able to infect her target''s mind, it also allowed her to better understand the world outside of its little hot spring.


    However, for the most part, her life was extremely boring, with her onlypany actually being her own splits.


    Her world was simple. There was no past, no future¡ªonly theforting rhythm of the spring and the asional flicker of prey foolish enough to wander close. But somewhere deep within her essence, there was an unfulfilled yearning, an instinctive drive to grow, to explore, to connect with another living thing.


    The arrival of the human was like a ripple that broke the surface of her calm existence.


    She felt him long before he entered the cavern. A bright spark of spiritual energy¡ªa presence more vibrant than anything she had ever encountered. It was chaotic, raw, and unrefined, but it was enough to draw her attention.


    Unlike the other humans that she would asionallye across, this one had a strange draw to her, almost as if they were connected.


    Bea watched him as he explored the area of the cavern. He seemed to be searching, speaking words she didn''t fully understand, but the intent resonated with her.


    "Hello? I know you''re there. I don''t mean you any harm, I just want to talk with you. Maybe we can even be friends."


    ''¡­what is he looking for? There shouldn''t be another living creature here other than me¡­''


    "I know you''ve probably been alone for a while now, but don''t be scared. I can ensure that you are never alone again."


    Bea still didn''t respond to him, although it''s not as if she could even if she wanted to, shecked a mouth. Shecked eyes as well to see him, at least not as he saw the world. She felt his energy, his movements disturbing the air.


    However, whatever he was looking for, seemed to not be here since he abandoned his search and instead approached her domain, the hot spring.


    His presence disturbed the delicate equilibrium of the waters, and her splits that practically saturated the water surged toward him unseen, but Bea held them in check to prevent them from consuming his mind too soon. She wanted to observe him, to see what he would do.


    The human dipped below the surface, again and again, his movements erratic but persistent. His bright spark flickered each time he re-emerged, growing dimmer as exhaustion set in. Perhaps he didn''t give up, he now seemed to be looking for whatever he needed beneath the water.


    However, Bea was now bored¡­and hungry. So she released the reigns on her splits and they finally began to exert their effects.


    The feedback from the splits was chaotic and fragmented, filled with the vague shape of arge ck feline, simr to ones that would asionally wander into this cavern and emotions. Her splits had stirred something within him¡ªa primal response to their influence. She couldn''t understand what they showed him, but she could feel his reactions: fear, confusion, and an odd determination that burned brighter than his panic.


    Whatever he was seeing made him terrified enough to dive beneath the water to flee. Bea felt some pity for him and stopped her splits from continuing to influence him momentarily.


    She prefers for her prey to be alive as she eats, she couldn''t have him die of fear before she was done.


    The hallucination should have stopped but the human''s panic didn''t subside. He emerged from the water, trembling. Once his heartbeat slowed own a bit she entered him herself and began eating, and his mind began spiraling into another delusion triggered by her. This time, Bea felt an unfamiliar warmth in his emotions¡ªconcern and love, emotions he directed at the figure he was hallucinating.


    Cherry


    She had heard this term before from a previous human she''d infected. It looks like the subject of this next hallucination was a fruit?


    ''He must really like fruit¡­'' she thought.


    The hallucination had shifted his focus entirely, his desperation to protect the illusion overriding his fear of the unknown. But as he reached for the mirage, his already exhausted body suddenly copsed.


    He fell.


    This was her moment to feast!


    Instinct and need drove her forward, but suddenly an overwhelmingly appealing force seemed to be calling to her. It was so appealing that she couldn''t even think about continuing to eat.


    Once she made contact with that bright spot, she and her splits began merging into a single cohesive force as they entered it together. The effect was immediate¡ªa surge of energy and awareness that felt like entering the most perfect hot spring for the first time.


    Star Space. Contract. Beast Tamer.


    All kinds of foreign information instantly appeared in her mind.


    In a few moments the space she entered had finished changing into the form of the hot spring she''d always known. No, it was far superior to the original.


    This space was familiar yet foreign, a sanctuary that promised protection and boundless growth¡ªit was home.


    ---------------------------------


    Since leaving that cavern Bea had seen all kinds of ces and creatures, and even managed topletely change her species.


    As she grew in strength, so did her intelligence. If she were to nowpare it to a human, her intelligence may be close to the level of a 12 or 13 year-old?


    Although sometimes she felt even smarter than her master.


    And as she grew, she gradually was able to understand the words spoken by her master at the beginning.


    ''I can ensure that you are never alone again.''


    And she believes that he''d keep that promise.@@novelbin@@


    They were the closest partners who had been together the longest time, and she was also confident that she knew him the best!


    Which was why, while she pitied his exhausted figure, she knew that her master would be devastated to have missed the re-ranking. She also knew it could result in a drastic cut in the resources given to them.


    Unfortunately, she was the only contract outside of the star space right now, and his body was so exhausted that even when she attempted to control him, his limbs would barely move.


    ''What do I do¡­?''

 Chapter 373 Targeted

    Since Kain had gotten a taste of the sweet life in delegating tasks to others, upon learning what Bea and the others did when he woke up, his first thought was not fear at having almost been disqualified, nor was it self-reproach for failing to get up, but rather¡­


    "That could be done?! Great! We''ll continue like this from now on!"


    For one thing, he would not have to waste his time attending matches in the early group stage, only needing to attend Phase 2 of thepetition where the first ce of each group willpete against one another


    Moreover, Kain had been quite worried about what would happen if he went on a Pathfinder Mission for a prolonged period of time and missed the re-ranking. However, knowing that he doesn''t need to be present means that he could always leave one of contracts stationed at all times at the College to participate. While it may be difficult for that one contract to fight one against many, Kain firmly believed that any one of his contracts could at least maintain a top 5 ranking even ifpeting alone.


    Not to mention that Kain is now a 4-star beast-tamer and needs to find a fourth contract, which would give him even more options to select from.


    Yeah it''d suck being one spiritual creature down within a relic, especially since every one of his contracts can have a practical role in a relic: Bea for obtaining information and controlling spiritual creatures in the relic; Queen is the team''s healer while her guards serve as the best scouts; and Aegis is the team''s shield during unexpected emergencies.


    Every single one is indispensable. But Kain is really not willing to rece Aria as thest ranked student of their year¡­


    There is a possible extended leave option, but during that period he''d have to forfeit all of his resources, room, rank and retake many of his courses¡ªthis was the absolutest choice!


    Over the following days of the group matches, Kain continued to not show up. And while there were many voices of discontent at his choice, Kain wasn''t exactly around to hear it, and even if he did hear their grumblings, he still wouldn''t care.


    He felt as though he was extremely close to making a breakthrough in his research on the Silkworm evolutions, and didn''t even bother to show up during the first couple matches of Phase 2.


    His first match of Phase 2 was against the current rank 8, and Bea and the others were able to defeat her without any issues.


    However, god knows what progress Kairos had made since he''dst fought him, but it had almost caused Kain''s team to capsize in his absence.


    Kairos'' affinity is to cursed constructs, items that had been contaminated by dark-attribute energy for a prolonged period of time and eventually gave birth to a consciousness.


    Due to their manner of birth, they are extremely rare, but their abilities and potential will vary greatly.


    Therefore, a legendary shield may be a powerful spiritual creature with high potential, or you may have a can opener that also opened up its consciousness with extremely low potential.


    This is why, despite being a 3-star beast-tamer for a long time, Kairos still only had 2 contracts. Now Kairos recently advanced to 4-stars, and while he still doesn''t have all his contract positions filled, he did manage to find a third contract that meets his standards¡ªand strangely, this third spiritual contract makes Kain feel like it was targeted at him! Or, more specifically, Bea!


    Kairos'' new contract was a sword that seemed to be capable of precisely cutting only whatever it or Kairos willed.


    Bea shared the scenes of the match directly into his mind, and so he was able to see what happened in the match through what she transmitted and feel her intense feelings of frustration and helplessness.


    The cursed sword exuded an oppressive aura that seemed to sap the light from the surrounding arena. Its de was sleek and pitch-ck, appearing almost liquid.


    Along its edges, faint streaks of crimson pulsed like veins, giving it the illusion of a living animal with a beating heart.


    The hilt was simple, wrapped in what looked like aged leather, but its pommel held a redeye-like gemstone that glowed faintly.


    The sword floated and moved on its own, reminding Kain of those flying swords often described in cultivation novels. However, rather than its creepy appearance, it was its intangible cutting ability that sent shivers down Bea''s metaphorical spine¡ªand, through her, Kain''s.


    The sword''s ability to cut physical objects wasn''t extraordinary. During the match, Aegis blocked its physical attacks with ease, even reiterating to Kain that its cutting ability was not a threat to him. Its de struggled to leave more than surface scratches on his stone body.


    But its true power revealed itself when facing Bea.


    Most attacks werepletely unable to affect Bea''s mental attribute threads¡ªhowever, this sword was able to easily cut through.


    However, that wasn''t the worst part. after all the threads just carry the splits and increase their mobility, while the splits can still exist without the threads. In fact, in the past Kain had employed other strategies of having the split on an ejected stinger or on a surface he knew that target would make contact with, in order to discretely infect them.


    But somehow this sword was even able to "cut" the connection between Bea and her splits.


    Bea could feel the exact moment it happened: a split-second of sharp pain, as though an invisible cord tying her to her extension had been severed, leaving that part of herpletely isted. It wasn''t destroyed, but the bond that allowed her to control and sense through it was gone.


    But the sword wasn''t limited to cutting off the connection between Bea and her splits, it could also precisely destroy the splits themselves.


    When she finally managed to infect Kairos with one of her splits in a desperate bid to eliminate the opponent''s leader, the sword seemed able to urately sense the split''s position once it was inside Kairos¡ªwhich was something Bea had never experienced before, her skills had always ensured that upon infection, even blue-grade spiritual creatures should find it almost impossible to sense her presence unless that have a special skill.


    Kain watched the memory from Bea''s perspective as Kairos, unfazed by the infection, allowed the sword to strike at him directly.


    Bea was shocked at the sword''s action of seemingly turning on its beast-tamer. But the moment the de made contact with Kairos'' head, it didn''t harm him physically. Instead, it struck the split hiding within his brain.


    The infected split dissolved instantly, its presence eradicated so thoroughly that Bea couldn''t even sense a fragment of it remaining.


    The memory continued, showing how the sword disrupted not just Bea''s abilities but the cohesion of their entire team.


    To better coordinate the movements of everyone in the absence of Kain, Bea had always infected Aegis, Queen and the Vespid guards with a split as well so that they couldmunicate in battle mentally.


    However, that infuriating sword upon realizing their connection also made great pains to cut her connections to everyone else as well.


    With her essentially rendered useless, and the others unable to coordinate as well as before, they''d only managed to win by the skin of their teeth.


    However, Goddesss of Victory eventually smiled down on Kain''s team and the sacrifice of several guards was able to take Kairos'' puppet and book out ofmission.


    Meanwhile, due to the sword''sck of physical offensive ability, Aegis was able to imprison it into a stone prison before tossing it off of the stage.


    But in the process of the battle, Queen had lost several of her guards while some kind of corrosive skill emitted by Kairos'' cursed book in its efforts to free the imprisoned sword had managed to erode quite a lot of the stoneposing Aegis.


    Thankfully, Kain always kept suitable stones that Aegis could easily incorporate on hand, so he should be able to restore himself by the next day. However, Kain was definitely not expecting for his spiritual creatures to end up so embarrassed in a fight against peers of the same age. After all, they''d been on challenging ck missions and partaken in battles to the death with beast-tamers and spiritual creatures of a higher level.


    However, it seems like Kain had underestimated the talent and determination of his peers. While he was improving, so were they. Absolutely nobody, aside from Serena that is, was satisfied with their current rank¡ªeveryone was striving for a higher position.


    Kain was a little frustrated upon watching what had transpired through the scenes transmitted by Bea.


    To think that Kairos would contract a spiritual creature that so perfectly counters Bea¡ªdid he actually seek out a spiritual creature for that purpose or was it a happy coincidence?


    Kain was more inclined to the former. After all, while practicing as a team in preparation for nationals they''d all gotten to know one another and each other''s contracts much better.


    Kain was sure that the other members of the top 5 also had simrly targeted strategies against him as well as each other.


    Kain''s mouth couldn''t resist twisting into a sneer. "Should I be honoured that you factored me into the decision of your lifelong contract? But if you guys think you''ve figured us out¡­"


    Kain sat up straight from where he was previously lounging on the couch and smiled, his exhaustionpletely forgotten.


    "¡­we''ll just have to prove you wrong."@@novelbin@@

 Chapter 374 An Upset

    The next day, Kain strolled nonchntly into the arena. His calm andposed demeanor showed none of the turmoil and exhaustion he''d been dealing with recently.


    His steps were steady, his expression neutral, but the moment he entered, a wave of whispers rippled through the crowd.


    "Look who finally decided to show up!"


    "Guess yesterday''s match against Kairos put him in his ce. Must''ve realized he''s not as untouchable as he thinks."


    "Arrogance only gets you so far. Looks like Newman learned that the hard way."


    Kain heard every word, although it didn''t seem as though they had any real intention of not allowing him to hear. They were meant to sting, to provoke.


    But Kain didn''t care. He didn''t flinch, didn''t so much as nce at the murmuring crowd as he made his way through the seating area.


    Instead, he let their words wash over him like rain on stone.


    Perhaps he was a little arrogant¡ªbut so what? He had the capital to be.


    He felt that his time the previous few days could be better spent in research and he wasn''t wrong, he did finally start to see some progress and figured he''d see some new additions to the Silkworm evolutionary pathway.


    As he approached his usual group, his friends greeted him with warmth and familiarity, which was a wee sight after the scathingments of the crowd.


    Bridge''s eyes lit up with a mixture of excitement and relief. His broad, football-yer-like frame towered over most of the other students around him, especially after he stood up.


    "KAIN!" he bellowed, his deep voice booming across the seating area.


    Before Kain could react, Bridge closed the distance between them in just a few strides and scooped him up into a crushing bear hug.@@novelbin@@


    "Where the hell have you been, man?!" Bridge eximed, lifting Kain off the ground like he weighed nothing.


    Kain wheezed, squirming slightly as he tried to speak. "Bridge¡ªcan''t¡ªbreathe!"


    "Oh, right! Sorry!" Bridgeughed as he set Kain down gently but pped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward.


    Kain shot him an exasperated look and slightly confused look while straightening his rumpled clothes.


    Bridge had always been physically strong, but since bing a beast-tamer Kain had thought the gap in strength between them had closed. However, it seems like the Bridge''s physical strength was growing at a terrifying rate, even despite the fact that the feedback from both of his contracts wouldn''t prioritize physical strength.


    However, he does have a third contract now that Kain had never seen, perhaps that third contract favoured physical strength? Unfortunately, Bridge had filled his third contract spot before Kain''s research on elerating the River Wolf evolution had beenpleted, otherwise he''d have given Bridge one of the most talented pups he had in his possession.


    "I''ve been busy with a new project," he said, his voice a little strained. Discover hidden stories at empire


    Addison rolled her eyes, flicking her long blue over her shoulder. "I told you he''s probably been holed up in someb or doing who-knows-what weird experiments. That''s why he looks like he hasn''t slept in a week."


    Aiden chuckled, leaning back in his seat. "She''s not wrong. You look like you''ve been fighting with your research instead, not your opponents."


    Kain smirked faintly as he settled into his seat. "Let''s just say I''ve been busy." And he had been. He found a way to allow affinity-less individuals to form contracts; he will have a new product, the FMT pills, revealed to the public soon; and he was close to finally figuring out several new evolutionary forms for the Silkworm pathway.


    The first achievement could likely never be publicly revealed, but either one of thetter two would bring in a ton of fame and money.


    "Next time, maybe warn us before you disappear into whateverb or cave you''ve been hiding in," Bridge added, his tone softer now. "We were starting to think something happened to you."


    Leonara also nodded in support of Bridge''s statement, "It''s not like you to miss matches, though, Kain. You sure everything''s okay?"


    Before Kain could respond, Finn interjected, his cheerful tone breaking the slight tension. "Don''t mind them, Kain. We''re just d to see you here. We all knew the rumours about you being arrogant were total nonsense."


    ''Well, it wasn''t COMPLETELY untrue¡­'' Kain thought guiltily.


    As the group settled back into their seats, the arena buzzed with anticipation for the next match. Kain leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed on the field as he mentally prepared for the day''s match against Dwayne.


    Kain didn''t underestimate Dwayne despite him not being in the top 5. Dwayne was the only one with an S-rated affinity to not be in the top 5, and that fact had continuously stung at his pride since he entered the college.


    Kain was sure that Dwayne had probably done some intensive training in the past few months in order to stage an upset and boot out one of the members of the top 5.


    However, contrary to Dwayne''s ns, the first major upset of the top 5 was not staged by him¡­


    Ranya, a member of the current top 5 known for her powerful illusion-based contracts, was kneeling on the ground. Her posture was heavy with exhaustion, her head bowed, and her breaths ragged. Surrounding her were her contracts¡ªall of them unconscious, their battered bodies sprawled across the arena floor.


    Standing opposite her was a young woman with brown hair and eyes that wouldn''t stand out in a crowd, and Kain didn''t really recognize her. She stood tall in the center of the arena, her expression calm, betraying none of the strain of battle.


    Kain squinted at her, a faint sense of familiarity nagging at the back of his mind. "Who is that?" he muttered, leaning toward Aiden.


    "I think her name is Mira," Aiden replied, his voiceced with disbelief. "She wasn''t even ranked in the top 20st year. Now she''s taken down Ranya?"


    Kain frowned. Mira? The name rang a faint bell, but he hadn''t paid much attention to anyone outside the top 20 unless absolutely necessary.


    For her to not only finish first in her group but to now defeat one of the top 5? That was incredibly shocking.


    The arena was dead silent, the audience too stunned to even murmur. Then, like a dam breaking, the noise erupted.


    "Unbelievable!"


    "Ranya''s out? Who is this Mira?"


    "Did she really just beat one of the top 5?"


    Kain''s eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the aftermath. Mira''s calm demeanour and the shocked faces in the crowd told him one thing: Mira''s sudden increase in strength was hidden from practically everyone.


    "Looks like there may be some changes in the top 5¡­" Kain muttered.


    This re-ranking had just gotten a lot more interesting.

 Chapter 376 Quick Decision

    Bea''s infiltration of the Noxious Cloudling went unnoticed by Dwayne. The sentient cloud of poisonous gas was supposed to be a trump card.


    Find exclusive stories on empire@@novelbin@@


    It loomed over the battlefield, its dark green and purple mist swirling ominously. Its form constantly shifted, expanding and contracting as if it were breathing. asionally, bright green sparks crackled within the haze, giving it a menacing aura.


    The Cloudling''s primary ability was to control and spread its toxic form, seeping into every crevice and choking out all life within its reach. However, its secondary ability, was to assimte other mists, fogs, or gases, turning them into extensions of itself.


    Dwayne had clearly chosen the Cloudling to counteract Kain''s infamous mist strategies that he''d frequently used in the past, likely assuming Kain needed the mist for some kind of ability of his spiritual creatures¡ªspecifically Bea.


    Kain had long heard the spections of others about whether the mist he used was what was responsible for mentally controlling the targets. Although Serena, Soren, Ranya, and Kairos have more knowledge about him and know that he''s not at all dependant on the mist, most of the remaining student body is not.


    However, considering that Bea used to need the mist to carry herself to the targets, this idea wasn''t 100% unwarranted.


    Unfortunately for Dwayne, Kain''s strategies didn''t rely on anything so trivial, and Bea had already infected the Cloudling''s mind, establishing control with ease.


    The Cloudling does have a true bodyposed of a denser mass of clouds that it can instantly shift in position to anywhere else in the area covered by its mist. However, once Bea''s splits entered the vast majority of the floating water dropletsposing the mist, something Bea was greatly ustomed to doing, it was only a matter of time before one of them made contact with the Cloudling''s true body.


    Meanwhile, the Tidebreaker Leviathan surged forward again, coiling and striking like a massive whip at Aegis. Aegis, solid as a boulder, deflected each strike with his stone arms. asionally, chunks of rock broke off from Aegis'' exterior, but they would almost immediately regenerate as his innate ability to assimte surrounding stone into himself kicked in.


    On the other side of the arena, the Stormstrike Siren continued to sing a haunting melody.


    Her voice seemed to carry a paralyzing effect that made the normally speedy wasps at least 30% slower, as well as the ability to influence the weather. Over time a denser and denser mass of clouds covered the arena in shadows, and the asional streaks of lightning within the gathering cloud could be seen.


    With a low rumble proceeding a massive crack bolt after bolt came hammering down onto Kain''s contracts. Considering that Aegis''s properties made himrgely immune to lightning and electricity, and Bea was invisible to the opponents, pretty much all of the bolts were concentrated on Queen and the guards.


    However, Queen''smand over the swarm was impable. With precise movements, the guards weaved through the bolts of lightning, meanwhile after dodging a couple of bolts herself, she emitted a green healing glow to help those that didn''t sessfully dodge to recover.


    Bea, having taken control of the Cloudling, was already in the process of turning Dwayne''s trump card against him.


    She subtly redirected the poisonous mist, swirling it closer to the Siren. The Siren''s lightning strikes began to falter as the toxic fumes infiltrated her lungs, disrupting her concentration while singing.


    The poison wasn''t deadly due to the level difference, but in order for a yellow-grade spiritual creature to y a role in this battle against the green-grade contracts of Kain and the other top 5, Dwayne had spent a lot of time and money on strengthening its toxins¡ªnow all of his past efforts wereing back to bite him in the ass.


    Dwayne''s eyes narrowed as he realized something was wrong. The Cloudling wasn''t spreading its poison as intended. Before, its movements seemed erratic, as though it were hesitating or confused. And now, it seemed to even be directing its allies. "What the¡ª"


    Before he could finish his thought, Bea made her move. The Cloudling, now fully under her control, expanded its form and moved to surround the Tidebreaker Leviathan. The toxic cloud wrapped around the massive serpent, eliciting a guttural roar of irriation as a faint stinging sensation began to seep through its scales.


    However, the poison was far from the most influential aspect of the mist. Most of these droplets now contained one of Bea''s splits, many of which had taken this opportunity to jump ship in the Leviathan.


    Kain was once again able to take this opportunity to reuse his old strategy¡ªand he wasn''t even the one who had to expend spiritual power to produce the mist!


    Perhaps he should thank Dwayne? But if he did, he may just wee a fist to the face.


    Dwayne gritted his teeth and redirected his focus to his Siren. The Cloudling might bepromised, but the Siren still had fight left in her. She unleashed a desperate, high-pitched wail, summoning a storm of lightning bolts aimed directly at Kain''s spiritual creatures.


    Queen buzzed loudly in fear. Two things that most insects do not like are fire and lightning.


    Sensing the danger to their Queen, the Berserk skill of all the guards activated, and they surged in strength. They used gusts of wind generated by the wings, while Bea-infected Cloudling used the water droplets in its mist, to slightly deviate all of the lightning strikes aimed at Queen. All of the strikes ended up hitting the stage around her and only managed to kick up some rocks that ended up hitting Queen.


    Seeing that a few harmless speckles of rock and dust hit their queen, the guards dank into an enraged frenzy,unching themselves at the siren with wild abandon.


    Dwayne was losing control of the battlefield. The Leviathan was writhing in agony and was practically incapacitated by Bea, the Siren was being made into a pincushion by the Vespids, and the Cloudling hadpletely turned against him.


    It was only a matter of time before the referee raised his hand, dering Kain the victor. The crowd, though stunned by the swift and decisive oue, erupted into cheers and murmurs of disbelief. The battle was much less suspenseful than they''d expected.

 Chapter 379 Mira Vs. Kain

    The whistle to start the match pierced through the buzzing crowd, silencing murmurs and heightening the tension.


    Mira''s contracts sprang into action immediately. The Shadoww Lynx darted forward, its sleek form a blur as it melted into the shadows on the stage. Despite being one-level above it, even Kain''s contracts weren''t able to urately sense its whereabouts. Continue reading at empire


    The Sunre Bobcat also moved forward, its embers glowing brighter with each step. Meanwhile, the Psychat remained near Mira, its unblinking eyes locked onto Kain''s contracts.


    Kain directed Bea to send her nearly invisible mental threads toward the advancing Sunre Bobcat. Since it wanted to offer itself up on the chopping block, Kain would happily oblige.


    However, things didn''t progress as expected.


    Bea''s threads touched the bobcat and her invading splits attempted to exert control, after a few seconds, they found that they werepletely unable to influence the target. Bea''s confusion rippled through her connection with Kain. And Kain shared her confusion. How could this fire-attribute spiritual creature seem to haveplete immunity against Bea.


    Then he realized what had happened¡ªMira''s gift must be sending the full effect of the splits'' mental control toward the Psychat. And as a mental-attribute spiritual creature, with who knows what mental defense skills, Bea''s splits didn''t cause much influence on it.@@novelbin@@


    Kain frowned, his sharp eyes narrowing. "Tsk¡­I see why Ranya overturned" he muttered while clicking his tongue. After all, as someone that specializes in illusions, if all of her illusions have an effect on only one opponent due to the attacks being transferred, then she wouldn''t have many other means of fighting the unaffected opponents.


    The Shadoww Lynx materialized from the shadows,unching a rapid attack toward Queen''s guards. Its ws left faint dark streaks in the air, each imbued with concentrated dark energy. It seems like much of the strength of its allies had been momentarily added to it, because a huge threat was sensed in that w attack and would likely severely injure any guard itnds on.


    The guards scattered, buzzing angrily, but Queen remained unperturbed. With a graceful movement, she directed her guards to surround the lynx, their formations tightening to cut off its escape.


    At the same time, the Sunre Bobcat lunged toward Aegis, its ws glowing with fiery heat. The impact of its strike sent sparks flying, but Aegis barely flinched.


    "Aegis'' defense isn''t so easy to break," Kain muttered calmly, observing the futile attack.


    But just as the words left his mouth, the bobcat''s aura surged. For a fraction of a second, its strength increased exponentially, and its ws gouged deep grooves into Aegis''s stone surface.


    Bea, now aware of the Psychat''s trick, shifted tactics. Instead of trying to control the Sunre Bobcat, she directed her threads toward the Shadoww Lynx as it was dodging to attacks of the guards. Once again, the influence was intercepted by the Psychat, but this time Bea didn''t pull back.


    Instead, she pushed harder, testing the limits of the Psychat''s resistance. The mental energy red between them, creating an almost visible ripple in the air. Kain could feel Bea''s frustration¡ªthis wasn''t a battle she could win quickly.


    Meanwhile, Queen''s guards had sessfully cornered the Shadoww Lynx. With a coordinated attack, they forced the lynx onto the defensive, but Mira''s gift activated again. The lynx''s speed and strength surged momentarily, allowing it to break free from the encirclement and retaliate with a swipe of its ws, scattering several guards.


    "Annoying," Kain muttered under his breath, though his tone was more amused than irritated. Mira''s gift undoubtedly made the match more interesting. This was undoubtedly the most entertaining match he''d had with someone other than his teammates in the top 5 in a while.


    Suddenly, the Sunre Bobcat turned its attention toward Queen, its mes intensifying as it prepared another strike. Kain recognized the familiar buildup of Mira''s gift.


    "Not this time," he said, his voice low but firm.


    Aegis stepped forward, cing himself between the bobcat and Queen. The bobcat struck again, its mes surging, but Aegis raised his massive arms and absorbed the blow. This time, Kain had anticipated the burst of strength. Aegis''s stone form glowed faintly with a reinforcing spiritual energy due to Kain choosing to use his spiritual skill to boost strength on Aegis.


    As the battle continued, the crowd was on the edge of their seats. Mira''s contracts, though smaller and less powerful on paper, were holding their own against Kain''s formidable team. The audience couldn''t tear their eyes away from the back-and-forth exchanges, the rapid shifts in momentum, and the sheer intensity of the fight.


    But Kain knew this couldn''tst. Mira''s gift was powerful, but it came with limits. Redistributing strength and injuries consumed a lot of her spiritual power, and the longer the battle dragged on, the more strain it would cause, and the more anxious she would be.


    Mira clenched her fists, her gaze darting between her contracts as their movements grew increasingly sluggish. The strain of her gift was beginning to show and not all of Bea''s influence was able to be transferred to the Psychat now.


    Mira''s lips pressed into a thin line, and a spark of defiance ignited in her eyes. "I''m not done yet," she muttered under her breath.


    Raising her hand, she channelled a massive wave of spiritual power. A shimmering aura enveloped her and her contracts as a fierce, almost feral, determination spread across her face.


    Kain wasn''t sure if what was happening was a spiritual skill or an effect of her gift, but regardless he felt an immense threat gradually approaching.


    The crowd gasped as the three creatures moved in perfect sync, their individual auras merging into a single, chaotic storm of power.


    A massive vortex of mes, shadows, and mental energy erupted in the center of the arena, its power crackling like a living storm. The heat was palpable, the oppressive weight of the mental energy suffocating, and the darkness obscured all sight save for flickers of glowing embers.


    Thebination of energies was incredibly unstable but the power it contained was well into the strength of a peak blue grade spiritual creature.


    Seeing that dodging wasn''t possible, Kain''s contracts braced themselves, each reacting instinctively to the overwhelming force. Queen''s guards buzzed defensively around her, forming a barrier, while Aegis raised a rock wall to add anotheryer and shield everyone from the initial st of energy.


    Kain could already tell that the damage left to his team after weathering this attack would be immense.


    The crowd held its collective breath as the storm of energy closed in on Aegis'' wall. Would this be the moment Mira toppled one of the top 5?

 Chapter 380 Mira Vs Kain (End)

    The vortex of chaotic energy struck Aegis''s wall with a deafening crash, the collision sending shockwaves throughout the arena. Continue your journey with empire


    Aegis''s wall quickly cracked under the strain, thin lines spiderwebbing across its surface as the stone guardian strained to hold it together. However, after enduring over 50% of the energy from thebined attack it copsed.


    With a thunderous boom, the wall shattered.


    Dust and fragments of stone exploded outward at a speed resembling bullets. Thankfully the barrier surrounding the arena prevented the audience from also getting injured.


    Aegis staggered backward, his massive form now riddled with deep gouges where the attack had broken through. He let out a low rumble of effort as he mmed his stone fists into the ground, anchoring himself to avoid toppling and using his massive body to better shield his allies, while focusing on reinforcing his body and creating more shields that were still swiftly torn through.


    The force of the st reached Queen and her guards next. Queen directed her remaining guards into a tighter formation around her, their buzzing wings creating a faint hum of determination. Seeing that their Queen was in danger, the all were able to boost their strength using the berserk skill.


    However, even despite their boost in strength the queen''s defenders were overwhelmed, scattering several guards into lifeless heaps on the arena floor. Only a small handful remained, circling Queen protectively as they weathered the tail end of the vortex.


    Bea, as the smallest target at the very center of the formation, appeared mostly unscathed but was visibly agitated.


    Bea exhausted the majority of her spiritual power trying to control the enemy with the splits remaining in their bodies.


    Once this skill was used she''d sensed the weakness of the enemy spiritual creatures, and Mira should no longer be able to use her gift either due to running out of spiritual power or having to control the storm.@@novelbin@@


    When the dust finally began to settle, Everyone surveyed the aftermath on the battlefield. His team was still standing, but barely. Aegis had lost nearly a third of his stone body, and more than half of Queen''s guards were gone. Even Queen herself looked slightly drained, her usual elegance marred by her drooping antennae and small chips and holes in her delicate, translucent wings.


    On the other side of the arena, Mira swayed on her feet, visibly drained from channelling such an intensebination of energies. Her contracts were simrly fatigued¡ªthe Shadoww Lynx''s movements were sluggish, the Sunre Bobcat''s embers dimmed, and the Psychat''s twitching ears now drooped slightly.


    But Mira wasn''t finished yet.


    With one final surge of energy, Mira raised her hand, and the Psychat''s eyes glowed with a piercing light. Its mental energy surged outward, a concentrated st aimed directly at Aegis, while the Shadoww Lynx and Sunre Bobcat gathered their remaining strength for onest coordinated strike.


    The audience was on the edge of their seats, the tension in the arena so thick it was almost suffocating.


    This was it. The next few moments would decide the winner. And for those that had been convinced by Elias, they were ecstatic at the current battle situation.


    The Shadoww Lynx and Sunre Bobcat both headed toward Queen.


    Queen directed her remaining guards in ast-ditch effort to intercept them both. Despite their battered state, the guards swarmed with precision, slowing them both just enough for Queen to dodge their lethal ws and retaliate. She released a concentrated green aura that healed her remaining guards instantly while also further boosting their skills.


    Fire and shadow met sharp thorns and more and more dust in debris got kicked up, blocking the audience''s vision.


    Aegis braced himself, his cracked stone form glowing faintly with the remnants of Kain''s reinforcing spiritual energy. Thankfully, the spiritual skill Kain used didn''t seem to be identified by hispetitors yet for its ability to provide an all-round boost to all stats¡ªphysical, mental, spiritual. Therefore, when Mira assumed that Aegis only had a physical reinforcement and chose to attack him mentally, it wasn''t as effective as she''d hoped.


    Unfortunately, even with the boost Aegis wasn''t naturally particrly resistant to the mental attribute. The Psychat''s mental st surged toward him, an invisible force that warped the air around it and Aegis'' spiritual power red as he withstood as much of the impact as possible.


    Eventually, the Psychat''s mental energy wavered, its mental attack weakening and Mira also visibly staggered, her reserves of spiritual power almost entirely drained. However, Aegis wasn''t looking any better.


    The arena was enveloped in a dense mist of dust and energy residue, obscuring the battlefield from view. For a moment, everything was silent.


    Then, as the mist began to clear, the audience erupted into cheers. Mira''s contracts stood¡ªalbeit unsteadily¡ªwhile Kain''s contracts appeared to be motionless on the ground. Those who had bet against Kain shouted triumphantly, their earlier doubts now reced with jubtion.


    But the cheers were premature.


    From within the fading mist, a faint shimmer of threads became visible. Bea emerged, her threads elegantly weaving through the air. The subtle but deliberate movement of the threads was enough to signal to the referee that she was still intact.


    Mira''s triumphant expression faltered as her knees buckled beneath her. At the same moment, all three of her shaking contracts copsed, theirst reserves of energy finally spent. The arena fell silent once more as the realization dawned on the crowd.


    The referee stepped forward, raising a hand. "Winner: Kain Newman!"


    A mix of cheers and groans erupted from the stands. Those who had bet against Kain were left grumbling, while his supporters celebrated his hard-fought victory.


    The audience, including Kain, also began to apud the copsed Mira. This battle was far closer than he''d expected, and if anyone had said before the start of thepetition that a student outside of the top 20 would manage to take down a member of the top 5, and almost defeat the second-ranked Kain, nobody would believe it.


    Despite the difficulty of this match, this was probably the most fun he''d hadpeting in a while.


    Kain exhaled quietly, his gaze sweeping over the battlefield. His contracts were battered and bruised¡ªAegis was missing a third of his stone body, Queen was surrounded by fallen guards and Kain knew that less than half remained, and Bea was incredibly drained despite her outwardposure.


    Yet they had endured. They had won.

 Chapter 384 Unfair

    More closely examining Serena''s contract, Kain was struck by a sense of familiarity, but it took him a while to figure out from where¡­


    Finally with the reminder of Bea, he seemed to vaguely remember that in all of the texts he was asked to memorize as a Pathfinder, there was a brief paragraph during the Warring States Period about one of the stronger city-state being built around a 9-star beast tamer whose strongest contract was¡­ a deceptively weak appearing rabbit made of crystals.


    ''I think it was called a Prismarin¡­damn it! Of course, none of her contracts could be simple!''


    During such a chaotic period of history for a city-state to be builtrgely on the back of this rabbit-like creature and its master, of course it couldn''t be simple.


    Unfortunately, aside from that brief paragraph about that city state, no more in depth information about its attributes or skills were described. Explore more stories with empire


    ''Did she get this contract while fulfilling a mission for the Eclipse order? Or did she exchange for it using points she obtained from the mission?''


    Either way, she couldn''t have had it for long, so Kain hoped that their coordination and tacit understanding would beparatively weak in the next match.


    The Prismarin twitched its crystalline ears, and the battlefield shimmered. It was as though light itself bent around the arena, scattering into dazzling rays that obscured visibility and distorted perception.


    Seeing this effect, Kain didn''t waste any more time.


    He directed Bea to focus on the Prismarin, aiming to either remove this disruptor of his carefullyid ns, or control it to better figure out its abilities.


    At the same time, Queen directed her Vespid guards to harass the Elemental Guardian, which had now shifting into its fire phoenix-like form.


    Meanwhile, sensing that the Prismarin seems to be good a distorting perception or manipting light, Kain directed Aegis to build barriers of rock that would likewise obscure the vision of their enemies and act as additional protection if they somehow manage to sneak up on them.


    The Starweaver reacted quickly, a constetion resembling a bow lit up on its wings and then it fired arrows of starlight that rained down on the Vespids. Several guards were struck mid-air and fell to the ground, while Queen narrowly avoided the assault.


    However, even the struck guards weren''t too badly injured as they managed to move slightly so that only non-vital areas were struck. And despite the arrows of light being nearly as fast as literal light, they had fought against a simted version of the Starweaver at least dozens of times, so by now they had grown ustomed to its tricks.


    Unless it suddenly pulled out a new, never before seen skill, Kain had countermeasures in ce for every other ability it had shown in the past.


    Meanwhile, the fire phoenix shot a wave of mes toward Aegis and his barriers, however he managed to withstand the heat with some straint, and most of his barriers barely stayed in tact as well. In preparation for the rematch against Serena, Kain had been collecting rocks and minerals with a high resistance to heat, just for this moment and Aegis had been steadily absorbing them to make them a natural part of himself for a while.


    If only he hadn''t had some of the stone integrated into him damaged in the previous matches, then he''d have probably been able to effortlessly carry the fire attack.


    On the other side of the arena, Bea''s targeting of the Prismarin has hit a snag. The rabbit didn''t even bother to dodge the threadsing toward it, but once they made contact, it was almost as if nothing was there. Bea waspletely unable infect it with a split.


    ''Is that not it''s real body? Is it an illusion? Or can it form splits like Bea?''


    Still, Kain decided to look on the bright side despite the failed attempt, any information that could be gleaned about this mysterious creature was a positive to him.


    The Vespids surrounded the Starweaver that had finally paused its rain of arrows, however at that moment Serena''s new contract released a burst of refracted light that created dozens of illusions of the Starweaver around the arena. Kain''s team was immediately thrown into disarray, unable to discern the real threats from the false ones.


    Kain''s jaw tightened. The illusions appeared to have no differences from the real thing, so he couldn''t tell which was the real body.


    "Stay alert!" he shouted through his bond to his contracts, his tone sharp.


    Queen and the Vespid guards immediately adjusted their positions, but the confusion was evident. The swarm buzzed around the battlefield, targeting several illusions only for their stingers to pass harmlessly through the projections.


    Kain quickly assessed his options. He couldn''t afford to waste resources on fake targets. Bea, attempted to use her threads to scout for the real Starweaver.


    In the chaos, one of the illusions lunged at a Vespid guard, its glowing palm shing with a faint starlight. However, Kain could tell from the energy it emitted during this so-called ''attack'' that it was not the original body and, like all illusions, wouldn''t have any physical attack power.


    Kain, having dismissed the illusions as harmless, ignored the attack, instead directing Queen to focus on the phoenix-like Elemental Guardian and its fiery barrage. He''d have to wait until the real body revealed a w.


    However, to his shock, the illusion''s strikended.


    The Vespid let out a high-pitched screech as the starlight palm smashed into its side, leaving deep imprint and breaking its left wing. The guard fell, its remaining intact wing struggling to lift its weight.


    Kain''s eyes widened. "They can attack?!" How can the attacks directed at these substance less illusions go straight through them, and yet they can physically attack Kain and his allies?


    That has defied all themon sense he knew about illusions, at least when created by creatures at their level. This shouldn''t be possible!


    He immediately shifted tactics, directing his team to treat the illusions as potential threats.


    But even so, the damage had been done. Losing a Vespid guard was a blow, not just to theirbat strength but also to morale.@@novelbin@@


    Moreover, when they attacked that same Starweaver in retaliation, their stingers went straight through.


    ''What kind of disgusting and unfair ability is this? You can hit me but I can''t hit you?!''

 Chapter 387 Kain Vs Serena (End)

    The tension in the arena was palpable, the air heavy with anticipation as the shimmering projection of the Prismarin began its ominous advance.


    Each step it took refracted light into an array of dazzling patterns, almost mesmerizing, but Kain knew better than to lose focus now. His instincts screamed at him that this was no ordinary move¡ªit was like one of the rabbit-like creature''s strongest abilities, and Serena wouldn''t have revealed it unless she believed it could still turn the tide despite being two spiritual creature down.


    "Bea, stay alert. Queen, prepare the guards for evasive maneuvers," Kainmanded, his tone sharper than usual. Find more chapters on empire


    The projection suddenly felt much more solid¡ªthe true body had finally revealed itself?


    Several crystal pieces fell from it and split into multiple smaller images, each radiating an aura weaker than the original, but definitely at the peak of green-grade.


    ''What kind of monster is this? And how can it exert such a strong feeling of a threat?''


    However, unlike the earlier illusions, these projections didn''t simply have the stingersunched at them as a test fly through them, it was almost as if each body was the true body¡ªwith full or even stronger strength than the original.


    The over a dozen rabbits moved synchronously, surrounding the remaining Vespid guards and Queen. One struck with a swipe of its crystalline paw, forcing the guards to scatter. Another lunged at Bea''s threads, the delicate strands which were usually untouchable shattering upon contact.


    Queen buzzed in a frantic pattern, coordinating the guards into a unified counterattack. They aimed their glowing stingers at the projections,nding several direct hits. Their defense appeared to be weak, each time the construct merely dissolved into a burst of light. However, a new one would almost immediately begin reforming elsewhere on the field.


    Therefore, their numbers never actually reduced. However, Kain did not believe such a strong ability was without cost to it.


    Thergest Prismarin, which Kain suspected to be its true body, suddenly stopped moving, its body glowing brighter as Serena''s spiritual power surged into it, and Kain''s ominous feelinging from his spiritual skill grew stronger with each passing second.


    Moreover, the smaller projections were now surrounding Kain and the others and also beginning to glow¡ªlikely to form a final synchronized attack with the main body.


    As the Prismarin prepared its final surge, Kain''s mind raced. Aegis waspletely out ofmission to help defend against whatever wasing, and he couldn''t think of many other options.


    The battlefield shimmered with refracted light as the Prismarin and its projections unleashed a pulse of energy. The glow intensified, signaling the final attack.


    Supported by Kain, Bea produced tens of thousands of splits threads that spread outward in attice of mental energy.


    Her threads sought to destabilize its focus, interfering with the synchronization of the smaller projections.


    Thankfully, unlike the earlier illusions, all of these appear to actually be splits of the Prismarin with a simple rudimentary consciousness of their own that could be manipted. And after being boost by Kain, it wasn''t difficult for Bea to seize control once a splitnded¡ªactually getting a split to make contact was the more difficult part since the glow they emitted seemed to be able to deflect or shatter approaching threads. But with tens of thousands of splits produced, one eventually got through!


    Meanwhile, Queen directed the remaining Vespid guards to harass the true body. Their glowing stingersnded sessive strikes, siphoning its energy and appearing to slightly slow down the rate at which the light it was emitting grew.@@novelbin@@


    Finally, the Prismarin''s form dimmed, its projections flickering as their synchronization faltered. Kain rxed, although it was close they had managed to seed at thwarting whatever they had nned.


    But suddenly, the Prismarin''s glow spiked, and a beam of refracted light burst forth. The beam wasn''t aimed at a single target or just Kain and his contracts¡ªit spread out like a fan, sweeping across the battlefield.


    "Dammit!" Kain yelled.


    Queen and the remaining Vespids were swallowed by the light. Even Bea, as a microscopic organism, couldn''t avoid the sweeping attack.


    Moreover, the attack was as cruel to its allies as it was to itself. Afterunching the attack that its own body was drowned in, it copsed. But with its copse the attack did not end, drowning Kain, Serena, anything and everything that was location on the stage.


    For nearly a full 10 seconds, the arena was bathed in a light so intense that even majority of the high-level teachers watching couldn''t see what was going on inside.


    The Prismarin''s devastating final attack left the battlefield in eerie silence, the air thick with residual energy. Dust and fragments of stone glittered faintly under the arena''s lights, suspended in the aftermath of the blinding beam. Even the audience, boisterous and rowdy only moments ago, was struck silent, collectively holding their breath as they strained to see through the dissipating light.


    As the light faded, the battlefield was silent. Kain''s vision blurred, his body trembling as he struggled to stay upright. His body felt like it had been through a wringer¡ªhis spiritual power drained, his muscles heavy, and his thoughts were a fuzzy garbled mess. But there was one clear thought in his mind¡ªto be thest one standing.


    Across the battlefield, he could make out Serena, her normally pristine andposed figure hunched over, her breath ragged, with a now much smaller crystalline rabbit perched asleep at her feet.


    They made brief eye-contact, aware that as the only remaining being conscious on the field, the oue of the match with be down to them. Unfortunately, both were far too weak to attack the other and decide the oue.


    "This¡­ isn''t over¡­" he muttered hoarsely, forcing himself to stay standing, though his legs trembled beneath him.


    Serena looked far from her usual elegant state, her piercing blue eyes locking onto his. However, despite the injuries she already had worsening, her expression remained resolute, her pride as the number-one ranked student refusing to allow her to show weakness.


    Then, as though in unison, bothpetitors copsed.


    The crowd erupted into chaos, cheers and gasps mixing into a deafening roar.


    "Who won?!"


    "What about my money?!"


    But there was no answer.


    Even the referee hesitated, their gaze darting between the two unconsciouspetitors. Neither Kain nor Serena stirred, their contracts recalled into their star spaces just before they copsed, the battlefield now devoid of any lingering threats.


    For Kain, the world faded into darkness, the oue of the match unknown.

 Chapter 389 Research Complete

    As time passed Kain reluctantly got over his hang up of still not getting to stay in the Rank 1 room.


    However, rather than him maturely choosing to let it go, rather other more important events preupied his attention.


    Finally, after an extended period of training with the various evolutionary forms of the silkworms to get them to inject only the desired amount of energy into their threads and analyzing the various reactions between the different elements and how they work to counteract and bolster one another, Kain finally felt as though he''d met the bare minimum to sessfully evolve his first test subject.


    In the housing facility assigned to Kain, before him were 8 spiritual creatures resembling moths and butterflies that were floating at Kain''s eye-level in a perfect line¡ªall of different colours.


    These 8 insects were the 8 possible evolutionary forms for the Silkworm and were the 8rgest, strongest, and most ready to evolve. More impressively, these typically disobedient spiritual creatures were lining up straight with military precision without the control of Bea.


    Kain called forward 4 spiritual creatures: a nt attribute Leafwing moth, a fire attribute mesilk Moth, a water attribute Tidce Butterfly, and an earth attribute Granitewing Moth.


    These 4 moths represented the rtionships between the elements that Kain was best able calcte their possible effects on one another.


    He had each of them produce a certain amount of silk, and once a small mountain appeared next to each of them, Kain began to distribute the freshly produced silk to each of the other 4 at previously calcted ratios.


    "Hmm¡­ ording to my calctions, each con using these 3 elements should have nt-attribute energy make up 35% of the cocoon to ount for the massive amount that will end up being used to fuel the fire-attribute energy present in the cocoon. By that reasoning, only 10% of the cocoon should be from the mesilk Moth, 30% from the Tidce Butterfly, and 25% from the Granitewing Moth. Sigh¡­hopefully this works." Kain mumbled as he repeatedly rechecked the data collected from his previous experiments and portioned out the correct amount of threads to be used by each of the spiritual creatures.


    Each of the 4 insects began to form a cocoon while steadily integrating the silk threads of other attributes.


    Read exclusive chapters at empire


    After nearly half an hour of work, when Kain noticed that they were all almost finished forming the cocoons, he tossed a spiritual orb and catalyst into each cocoon (a costly investment of evolutionary research that was thankfully covered by the college).


    Once the cocoon was fully formed, and Kain assume each spiritual creature wrapped inside had taken the initiative to consume the catalyst, he waited for the signature bright white light of evolution to emit from each of the cocoons.


    But after an hour of waiting¡­nothing.


    ''Did it fail?''


    Thankfully before Kain did something rash in his worry, a faint light began to emit from the cocoon containing the water-attribute Tidce Butterfly. Not far behind it, light began to appear on the cocoons of the Leafwing, Granitewing, and mesilk Moths, respectively, and Kain was able to breathe a sigh of relief.


    As the light from the cocoons began to intensify, Kain couldn''t help but lean forward in anticipation. Even the other dozens of moths and butterflies that were ignorning what was happening here, began to gravitate towards where Kain and the 4 cocoons were.


    The steady glow filled the room, shifting in color as it emanated from the cocoons: a deep blue from the Tidce Butterfly, a verdant green from the Leafwing Moth, a rich earthy brown from the Granitewing Moth, and a vibrant red from the mesilk Moth.


    The first cocoon to burst open was the Tidce Butterfly''s. A shimmering, watery light spilled into the room, and out floated a surprising figure.


    ''I never imagined the following evolutionary form to look like this.''


    The revealed creature was humanoid in shaped and resembled a fairy or sprite. However, unlike the typical image of a fairy it possessed a pair of antennae that sprouted from its forehead that hinted at its insect heritage.


    Its skin was a soft blue, while its hair shimmered like deep blue cascading waves, and its eyes gleamed with the rity of pure water. Four delicate butterfly-like wings extended from its back, their translucent surfaces glowing faintly with a blue hue. It donned a shimmering blue dress that sparkled and reflected light like the surface of a still pool of water.


    The sprite tilted its head at Kain, emitting a series of melodic chirps and trills, a sound so delicate and sweet that Kain couldn''t help but smile.


    "Adorable," he muttered under his breath. Kain could already imagine the frenzy this new spiritual creature will set off once revealed to the world. Moreover, he could imagine the boatload of money he''d get from people purchasing the evolutionary form for it.


    Based off of its appearance alone he could tell it was destined for fame, if after further tests it proves to have formidablebat strength, then considering the widespread avability of Silkworms it may very well be the most popr spiritual creature in the near future. Heck, it may even rece dragons as the nation''s mascot.


    Next came the Leafwing Moth''s cocoon. A burst of green light revealed another sprite, this one with light green skin and hair resembling vibrant foliage. Its antennae twitched yfully as it darted around the room, letting out higher-pitched trills. Its every movement was apanied by the rustling of the leave thatposed the ''clothing'' covering its body.


    The Granitewing Moth''s cocoon was next. The sprite that emerged had smooth earthy-brown skin with dark brown hair, while its ''clothes'' appeared to beposed of pieces of stone jigsaw pieced together.


    It chirped excitedly, its voice not as high-pitched as the others but exuding a slightly raspy warmth, and it immediately began inspecting the other sprites, curious about these unfamiliar creatures.


    Finally, the mesilk Moth''s cocoon erupted in a burst of crimson light and heat. The sprite that emerged had pink-tinged skin, with its bright red hair resembling flickering mes. Like its dressposed of me, its wings glowed like embers while its chirping voice crackled like tiny sparks.@@novelbin@@


    As the four sprites floated together in front of Kain, a bright smile gradually appeared on his face.


    However, whether it was due to their endearing appearance or the massive amount of money they represented, one couldn''t be sure.

 Chapter 392 Studies Complete

    Kain had received 5 requests from his new research assistants, 3 of which were rtively simple.


    The other 2 were virtually impossible if one didn''t have the help of a System like Kain: Finding a new evolution form for Rivian''s Leafwing Moth, and rediscovering the lost method of evolving Dravis'' Raging Steel Boar.


    Now Rivian''s Leafwing Moth had evolved into a nt-attribute greater fairy. With Kain''s help, he''d attempted to evolve into a Royal Fairy with 8 elements, but a certain amount of luck was needed to seed and luck was not on his side.


    The 3 other simpler requests were alsopleted by Kain, meaning that all the assistants worked happily and more eagerly than before.


    Only Dravis'' request was unfulfilled, however he did not rush Kain.


    Honestly, the uncovering of a further evolution in the Silkworm evolutionary pathway would have been considered to be impossible by many a few weeks ago¡ªbut Kain made the impossible possible.


    Therefore, although his request also seemingly appeared impossible, he had full faith in Kain and was confident that as long as he diligently did his job as an assistant, he''d also be able to take a leap forward in strength.


    Moreover, with the increased motivation due to the fulfilled requests, Kain finally felt as though they''d grasped all the elementary knowledge of the Pathfinders.


    It was now time to make that knowledge his own.


    "Bea, let''s begin," Kain said, his tone filled with enthusiasm.


    Immediately, Bea extended her mental threads toward the unsuspecting assistants. The process was painless, though the assistants couldn''t help but shiver as the faint, tickling sensation of Bea''s influence brushed their consciousness. One by one, their memories of their recent readings were neatlypiled and transmitted to Kain.


    The knowledge flowed into Kain''s mind like a rushing stream.


    From Rivian, he absorbed a wealth of knowledge about Ancient Verdarian and Eldrathguages spoken during the Verdant Epoch. Snippets of Rivian''s research on the culture, artifacts, and spiritual techniques of the Verdaris City-State shed before Kain''s mind.


    Elera''s memories came next. It mostly included her study of the Celestial Ascension Period which revealed fascinating tidbits about the five founders of the Empire and their legendary spiritual contracts. Her grasp of Ancient Elvish added anotheryer to Kain''s linguistic arsenal.


    Dravis'' knowledge focused on the Warring Periods. Moreover, an intermediate understanding of Myrthali, one of the mostmonnguages of this period, entered Kain''s mind.


    Lastly, the two fourth-year assistants were tasked with learning all of the misceneous knowledge of the Pathfinders that didn''t ovep with the specialties of the others, adding breadth to Kain''s knowledge reserves.


    Part of the reason that Kain had chosen this moment to finally read their memories was because of an unexpected announcement from the Eclipse Order.


    His first excursion opportunity had finally arrived. After reporting to the order that his studies were pleted," using the shortcuts provided by Bea''s mental abilities, Kain was included in the possible candidates for what has been rumoured to be a unique opportunity that would extend to all members of the department under 6-stars.


    "This is cutting it close," Kain muttered, leaning back in his chair. "If I hadn''t decided to ess their memories today, I might have missed this entirely."


    Kain sighed, rubbing his temples as therge influx of knowledge showed signs of causing a headache. His mind felt like an overstuffed library, shelves crammed with information, but it was a worthwhile price to pay.


    It would take a few days to make the knowledgepletely his own, but by the time they arrived at the mission location, it should be fully digested by him.


    Finally, the flow of knowledge ended, showing that the rest of the knowledge in their minds wasn''t considered useful to him by Bea.


    He nced at his assistants, who seemed to be working but if one nced at their eyes they would see that they were nk. However, after Bea released her control they seemed to quickly snap back into focus, unaware that their minds had just been invaded.


    "Keep at it," he said to them, his tone unexpectedly warm. "You''re doing well."


    They looked up, startled but pleased, before returning to their tasks with renewed vigour.


    However, there was no more time to continue processing the new information. A notification from the Eclipse Order pinged on hismunication device. It was time for him to leave.


    Kain headed to the college''s teleportation array, where Serena was already waiting. Her silver hair caught the light of the array''s runes that had already begun to light up. Clearly Kain arrived just in time.


    "You''re cutting it close," she remarked, ncing at him.


    "Still made it," Kain replied casually.


    The array began to hum as the runes activated, glowing faintly before intensifying into a bright circle of light. Serena stepped onto the tform first, and Kain followed.@@novelbin@@


    The journey was disorienting, as teleportation often was¡ªa brief moment of weightlessness, followed by a rush of sensation as they reappeared in the headquarters of the Eclipse Order and headed towards the location indicated on their notification.


    The room they arrived at was massive, its vaulted ceilings supported by dark stone pirs etched with glowing sigils. Hundreds of people were already there, many were grouped in clusters defined by their department uniforms.


    However, although everyone was from a different department, they all had one thing inmon: none of them had exceeded 6-stars, and no one had contracts of indigo-grade or higher.


    An amplified voice echoed through the hall, cutting through the murmurs. "Attention!"


    Experience more on empire


    The crowd stilled as a figure in a dark military uniform stepped onto a raised tform at the front of the room. His voice carried an air of authority.


    "For this mission, the situation and danger level on the other side remain unknown. That is why individuals from all six departments will be chosen. Ten from each department will be selected to ensure a bnce of skills."


    A murmur rippled through the crowd. The uncertainty of the mission''s nature and danger level was unsettling to many, but those who could join the Eclipse Order weren''t easily frightened.


    "The selection process will begin shortly," the speaker continued. "Only those selected will be briefed on the mission details. Prepare yourselves."


    This was not the first mission Kain had anticipated uponpleting his "studies."


    "Well," Kain muttered, cracking a small grin to ease his nerves, "this just got interesting."

 Chapter 394 A Foreign Mission?

    The rhythmic sound of hoofbeats and the asional screech of an avian spiritual creature echoed through the dense forest


    Kain adjusted his position on the broad back of a Midnight Stag, a spiritual creature provided by the Eclipse Order. Its sleek ck coat shimmered faintly under the canopy, and its glowing silver antlers provided valuable illumination under the dense canopy of trees.


    Around him, others in the group rode their own mounts¡ªsome their own contracts, others borrowed like his.


    They had set off not long after being notified that they''d been assigned to this excursion and still didn''t know too many details. Therefore, a tense atmosphere seemed to pervade the group, broken only by the asional rustling of leaves and soft murmurs between members.


    The forest around them was unlike anything Kain had seen before. Ancient trees as tall as building reached toward the sky, their massive trunks would need maybe 10 people to circle them entirely. The air was rich with the scent of damp earth and blooming flowers, and faint glimmers of bioluminescent insects danced in front of them from time to time.


    Their leader, a middle-aged man from the Starchasers named Ashen Voril rode at the front on the back of a Dawnwolf, its silver coat blending seamlessly with the surroundings. His sharp eyes scanned the path ahead to respond to any emergencies at a moment''s notice.


    "Stay alert," Ashen''s deep voice rumbled, breaking the quiet. "We should arrive at our destination soon."


    Kain raised an eyebrow but said nothing, his curiosity piqued. The forest was dense and seemingly untouched, yet there was an unnatural order to it. Each tree was perfectly aligned in neat rows, giving the illusion that they were giant soldiers standing perfectly in line rather than trees.


    Suddenly, the group came to a halt as a figure appeared in their path.


    The young man couldn''t have been older than 20 by human standards. He had shoulder-length light green hair and piercing emerald-green eyes that seemed to shimmer faintly, reflecting the surrounding forest.


    Discover hidden content at empire


    He wore ornate white robs, woven with green and gold patterns of leaves and vines that seemed to shift subtly as he moved.


    On his back was a bow, and at his hip a dagger glinting with emerald light. Despite his youthful appearance, the pressure radiating off of him let Kain know that he was at least equivalent in strength to an 8-star beast-tamer¡ªpossibly even stronger.


    Ashen dismounted smoothly, raising a hand to signal the group to stay put. He approached the young man and inclined his head respectfully. "Guardian Selevan," he greeted, his tone deferential. "It''s an honor."


    Kain frowned, his mind racing. Guardian?


    Kain briefly remembered in the knowledge he "learned" from Elera who had a special interest in the long-disappeared Elvin race.@@novelbin@@


    Elorians, as descendants of elves, have retained many of the traditions of their predecessors. Even thenguage spoken by them today closely resembles Ancient Elvish.


    And the second-highest rank, only beneath the royal family, is what the elves called "Natures Guardians."


    If this young-looking man truly has such a prominent title, and remembering the fact that Elorians age much slower physically than full-blood humans, this ''youth'' could easily be over 100 years old.


    "Wee to Elowen Haven," Selevan said, his voice smooth and calm, with an ent that gave his words a melodic lilt. "The Council has granted you passage, but you must follow me from this point onward."


    The group exchanged nces but quicklyplied, following Selevan as he led them deeper into the forest. Kain noticed how the trees seemed to grow closer together the farther they went, their intertwined branches forming natural archways and bridges that would allow one to easily walk from one canopy to another.


    After an hour of walking, they reached what appeared to be a border town of Elowen Haven.


    The vige seemed to grow out of the trees themselves. Homes were built into the trunks of massive oaks, their curved doorways and windows seamlessly blending with the bark. Bridges of woven vines connected the trees, forming an intricate web of paths above their heads. Lanterns carved from crystals hung along the paths, their gentle green light illuminating the area and adding a dreamy quality to the surroundings.


    The new arrivals couldn''t help marveling at the seamless blend of natural beauty and architectural craftsmanship.


    Before they could take in more, Selevan led them to a central tform surrounded by twisting roots. With a soft hum of magic, the tform lit up, and the group was enveloped in a soft green light. A momentter, the forest vanished, reced by a view that made Kain''s jaw drop.


    They were no longer on the ground in a border town.


    Instead they''d appeared on a massive tform built out of an even more massive tree into what looked like a massive city built within the tree tops.


    The capital of Elowen Haven was a masterpiece of natural majesty. Towering trees, evenrger than those at the border, formed the backbone of the city, keeping the city suspended high above the ground.


    Suspended bridges crafted from glowing vines and branches connected the trees, creating an etherealwork of walkways high above the forest floor.


    Homes and shops nestled into the trunks, their walls seamlessly blending with the bark.


    At the heart of the city stood the royal pce, known as the Pce of the Eldertree. It was a marvel unto itself, seemingly grown from the tree rather than built upon it. The tree''s colossal trunk had been carefully hollowed and shaped, forming grand halls and spires that spiraled upwards like vines reaching for the sun. Massive branches beneath the pce, formed natural terraces adorned with gardens of rare, glowing nts.


    The pce''s walls glistened with veins of luminescent crystals, and intricate carvings depicting scenes of the Elven ancestors¡ªhunters with bows, schrs reading ancient tomes, and warriors standing against fierce spiritual creatures.


    As Selevan led them in the direction of the pce, Kain realized that it was their destination. Kain wasn''t even sure if the mission had officially begun or what kind of gains there would be from this mission, but just this trip alone made the experience worth it.

 Chapter 396 Ghost Town

    The dense forest shifted subtly as Kain and the others approached the boundary of the dragon''s territory. The air grew heavier, charged with an unnatural stillness, as though the forest itself was holding its breath. Even the Midnight Stag beneath Kain seemed uneasy, its glowing antlers dimming slightly.


    Eventually, they reached a point in their journey where any of the mounts borrowed by the Order refused to go further. They bucked and dug their heels in, determined not to take even one more step forward.


    Ashen Voril raised a hand and exuded a powerful pressure far stronger than anyone else present, bringing the group''s momentary chaos to a halt.


    His sharp eyes scanned the treeline ahead, where the faint shimmer of a barrier became visible, stretching like a translucent curtain between the towering trees.


    "They must sense the boundary of the dragons'' territory. This is where we leave you," Ashen said, his voice steady despite the solemnity of the moment. "The ban will reject anyone of my level of strength or age."


    He scanned over the group of over 50 people in their 20s from high above on his Dawnwolf. "Until you return, leadership of this mission will fall to Lieutenant Caelum Ardent of the Celestial Vanguard."


    A man in histe twenties stepped forward. He had sharp features, neatly cropped auburn hair, and wore the distinctive armour of the Celestial Vanguard¡ªsleek, polished tes etched with a variety of sigils that had a resonance effect with other soldiers in their cohort. A sword with a glowing hilt hung at his side, and a shield with the Vanguard''s crest was slung over his back.


    "Thank you, Commander," Caelum said, bowing respectfully. His voice was calm and authoritative, carrying the weight of someone ustomed to leading in high-stakes situations.


    Ashen ced a firm hand on Caelum''s shoulder. "Remember, your priority is the safety of the Elorian citizens. Of secondary importance is to hopefully establish friendly long-term rtions with this dragon colony. Any personal gains made by you all outside of these two objectives are your own and must not conflict with those primary objectives."


    Caelum nodded. "Understood."


    With a final nce at the group, Ashen stepped back. "Good luck. May the stars guide you."


    His Dawnwolf let out a low howl before the two turned and vanished into the forest, leaving the group to face the barrier ahead.


    Caelum wasted no time. "Stay close and move carefully. If the dragons have set this barrier, we''re likely already being watched."


    The group exchanged uneasy nces at that idea but obeyed, following as Caelum stepped through the shimmering boundary. The moment Kain crossed, a wave of energy washed over him¡ªa mix of oppressive heat and chilling cold that left his body tingling.


    The forest on the other side of the boundary looked exactly the same. However, the air definitely felt thicker, and more oppressive. It was only faintly noticeable to him, but his contracts who were stronger than him definitelymunicated that they were experiencing a greater suppressive feeling.


    Kain could only imagine the difort of those in their group who were at the peak of blue-grade spiritual power and close to the limits of what this ban would allow.@@novelbin@@


    And indeed, many of the blue-grade spiritual creatures used by some of the other entrants seemed to get more and more irritable as time went on and the asional small skirmish would break out in their ranks just from two spiritual creatures identally brushing up against one another.


    The oppressive atmosphere and tension of the group were only heightened by the knowledge that they were likely being watched by being far more powerful than them, that they could not sense.


    Every brush of wind, every snap of a twig would cause someone in the group to flinch orunch an attack against an imaginary threat¡ªwhich in turn only increased the number of fights breaking out when some errant attacks hit allied spiritual creatures.


    It took quite a lot of effort for their new leader Caelum to get everyone in line and calmed down.


    The oppressive atmosphere inside the boundary seemed to amplify the unease of the group. Even Kain, who usually found curiosity overshadowing fear, felt a gnawing sensation in the back of his mind that they were being watched.


    The forest around them was eerily silent. No birdsong, no rustling leaves from scurrying animals¡ªjust the rhythmic crunch of boots on the ground and the asional snort of irritation from a spiritual creature. Every so often, Kain noticed shadows flitting through the trees, their forms too indistinct to make out clearly.


    "We''re nearing the vige," Caelum announced, his voice low but carrying an edge of tension. "Stay together. Do not wander off under any circumstances."


    The group murmured their acknowledgment, their formation tightening as they continued forward. After another hour of cautious travel, the forest opened up into a clearing, and the vige came into view.


    Unlike the doomsday scenes that they''d anticipated, the vige lookedpletely untouched.


    The houses, built in the distinctive Elorian style of blending seamlessly with nature, stood perfectly intact. Vines wound up the walls, flowers bloomed in window boxes, and soft green light from hangingnterns still illuminated the area.


    But it was empty.


    The group hesitated at the edge of the clearing, their gazes sweeping over the vige. There were no signs of destruction and no damage to the buildings or the surrounding forest.


    Caelum motioned for them to spread out in small groups. "Search every building. Look for any signs of where they might have gone. Be thorough."


    Kain joined a group of four other Pathfinders and cautiously approached one of therger homes near the center of the vige. Pushing open the wooden door, he was hit with the faint scent of burnt food. Inside, the house was neat and orderly, as though the upants had only just left.


    The dining table was set for a meal, with tes of food still sitting in ce. However, the food was now cold and shrivelled, some of it burned to a crisp, suggesting it had been left on the stove for far too long. A pot of stew had boiled dry, its bottom charred ck.


    They moved to another house and found a simr scene. A half-mended garmenty abandoned on a chair, the needle still half-inserted. A child''s toy rested in the middle of the floor, its owner nowhere to be found. Find exclusive stories on empire


    The pattern repeated in every home they searched. Half-finished tasks, meals left uneaten, tools dropped mid-use. But there was no blood, no signs of a struggle, and no tracks indicating that they''d walked away from here at all.


    It was as though the vigers had simply... vanished.

 Chapter 398 Coloured Dragons

    The group tried to move as swiftly as possible so as not to lose the dragon''s trail. However, they didn''t need to put much effort in when tracking the dragon.


    The ground bore slight scorch marks and massive footprints from where it would asionallynd, and the branches above were bent and snapped, clear evidence that it had passed through the area.


    The trail wound through increasingly treacherous terrain, the once dense and orderly forest giving way to rocky hills and uneven ground. Massive roots jutted out from the soil like ws, creating natural obstacles that slowed their pace.


    Every so often, the dragon would appear far in the distance, its massive shadow briefly visible through gaps in the canopy before it disappeared again. These asional glimpses confirmed they were on the right track.


    The dragon would stop and rest, allowing the group time to close the distance before it took flight again. At first, this reassured them¡ªafter all, a being of its strength had no need to rest so often unless it wanted them to catch up.


    But as the pattern repeated, unease crept back into their ranks.


    Moreover, as they got further and further away from the heart of Elowen Haven to a territory that may be considered no-mansnd, their travelling conditions only got harsher.


    Steep inclines on cliffs forcing them to scramble over loose stones and narrow passes where a single misstep could send them tumbling into ravines.


    Finally, after what felt like days of travel, the group reached the base of a towering mountain range.


    Their jagged peaks stretched so high they disappeared into the clouds, their sheer cliffs glistening with veins of silver and gold that reflected the sunlight and gave the mountains an otherworldly glow.


    The dragon flew high above them and disappeared into the clouds, leaving the group staring in silence.


    "Is this... where the nest is?" someone whispered, their voice barely audible over the harsh winding in from the mountain range.


    "This has to be the nest," Caelum said, breaking the silence. His voice was steady, but the weight of the situation was clear in his tone. "The question now is how we''re going to reach it."


    Climbing the smooth and shiny cliffs seemed impossible without extensive preparation. The peaks were jagged and treacherous, and the higher they went, the more oppressive the aura of the dragons, which would negatively impact their contracts.


    "We could try flying," suggested a Pathfinder hesitantly, their voice uncertain. "Some of us have contracts that can manage it..."


    Kain frowned, ncing at his Vespid Guards. They could carry him, but something told him that it wouldn''t be wise to fly unannounced into a dragon''s territory.


    Caelum shook his head. "Flying is risky. If the dragons consider it an intrusion, they won''t hesitate to attack. And given their strength..." He trailed off, the implication clear.@@novelbin@@


    The group fell silent, their options were limited and none seemed particrly safe.


    Before the debate could continue, a powerful gust of wind rushed through the valley, followed by the sound of massive wings beating against the air.


    A shadow loomed over them,rger and more oppressive than before. A second dragon descended from the clouds, its red scales gleaming like molten metal in the sunlight. Itnded with a resounding thud that shook the ground beneath their feet.


    The dragon was enormous, easily five times the size of Cassian''srgest dragon contract. Its golden eyes scanned them with a predatory intelligence, and the aura it exuded was suffocating.


    The spiritual creatures in the group once again prostrated themselves in submission, their bodies trembling uncontrobly. Even Cassian''s Dream Dragon, though clearly struggling, bowed its head slightly.


    Looking at the trembling spiritual creatures and humans, a clear expression of smugness mixed with disdain shed across its reptilian face.


    Given that its strength seemed even stronger than thest one, Kain was willing to bet that it was at least violet-grade, the equivalent of an 8-star beast-tamer.


    The dragon''s deep, resonant voice broke the silence, reverberating through the valley like thunder. "You have entered the territory of the Colored Dragons."


    The group froze, their breaths caught in their throats.


    "I am here to escort you to the nest," the dragon continued, its golden eyes narrowing. "With my guidance, you are permitted to fly. Without it, any attempt to take to the skies will be met with... death."


    A ripple of relief passed through the group, though it was tinged with lingering anxiety.


    ''Thank the stars we didn''t just start flying after the first dragon,'' many thought after hearing of the death sentence such an action would bring down on them.


    "Prepare yourselves," the dragonmanded, spreading its massive wings. "We leave now."


    The group hurried to mount their flying contracts or mber onto the mounts of those who had them.


    Kain motioned to his Vespid Guards, who hovered around him obediently. Five of themtched onto him and four other members without flying contracts, Each guard was now farrger than an adult human male and could carry the load without issue.


    Serena, meanwhile, summoned her Elemental Guardian, which had taken its wind sprite form. The ethereal figure grasped her hand, lifting her gracefully into the air.


    Once everyone was airborne, the dragon let out a deep, echoing roar andunched itself into the sky. The group followed cautiously, their flying formations tight as they ascended toward the mountains. Stay connected via empire


    The higher they flew, the more breathtaking¡ªand intimidating¡ªthendscape became. The peaks of the mountains shimmered with what looked like solid gold.


    Cave openings dotted the mountainsides, and surrounding each cave opening, interestingly, it looked like the cave owner embedded a variety of glittering gemstones.


    The higher the cave, the more golden the mountain peak, the more gems surrounded the cave opening, and the stronger the pressure that emanated from its upant.


    Looking at the golden and bedazzled homes of the dragons and remembering the introductory statement of their current dragon guide, Kain was reminded of the legends of dragons back on Earth. Particrly, those talking about the greedy and somewhat evil nature of a certain 5-coloured dragon n¡­

 Chapter 402 True Dragons

    Therger red dragon stood up straight, its posture exuding curiosity and slight arrogance.


    After all, although these humans that suddenly appeared were stronger than him, this was still his territory¡ªor rather his father''s.


    Its voice, though tinged with the gravelly timbre characteristic of dragons, still carried a childlike innocence.


    "Humans?" therger dragon asked, tilting its head slightly. Its crimson scales glinted brilliantly as it looked at Kain and Serena.


    "Yes," Kain replied. "We''re part of the group that came to resc¡ªahem¡ªassist the Elorians."


    Therger dragon''s eyes lit up, interest clearly sparked. "Assist the Elorians? Hmm... they''ve been quite useful to us. Will you be joining them?"


    "Uhh¡­ no. We n to trade them for better servants for you all." Kain quickly rified, lest this horrifying idea that they wanted to join the Elorians as ves spread to the rest of the dragon colony.


    The smaller red dragon, meanwhile, bared its teeth slightly and stepped back to stand behind itsrger counterpart. Its hostility was palpable, and its golden eyes seemed to burn holes into Kain specifically.


    Kain couldn''t suppress the slight frown forming on his face. ''Why is it so focused on me? Is it the draw from the affinity? But shouldn''t creatures matching a beast-tamer''s affinity have a naturally more positive impression of them? Did I do something to offend it?''


    Kain addressed therger dragon again, subtly ignoring the smaller one''s aggression. "Might we know your name?"


    Therger dragon puffed up slightly, proud to introduce itself. "I am Gdriel Admonai Von Vulcunthimmorhar, son of the Red Dragon King, Vulcun."


    Kain had learned during his stay with the dragons that true dragon names are very long (and hard to pronounce) and often denoted their lineage. For example, their guide Errol''s full name is Erroldhein Admonai Haurkrecagakk.


    "Ahhhh¡­ Prince Gdriel. We''ve heard so much about you¡­"


    ''Not at all.''


    Gdriel beamed under the praise and puffed out its chest, its tail swinging in happiness behind it.


    "Of course, I am the young genius who will even surpass my father one day!" He gestured to himself with a flourish before turning to the smaller dragon. "This is Vauleth. He''s... my younger brother. Unofficially though."@@novelbin@@


    Vauleth''s re intensified, but he remained silent, his tailshing behind him as if he were ready to strike at any moment.


    "Vauleth doesn''t speak much," Gdriel continued, ncing at the smaller dragon with a mix of fondness and exasperation. "But he''s clever. Perhaps too clever for his own good sometimes."


    Kain''s curiosity deepened. "It''s impressive that you''re able to speak so fluently at such a young age. Most spiritual creatures can''t speak until they''re much stronger."


    All of Kain''s contracts were stronger than Gdriel, but only Aegis could asionally form a short sentence out loud.


    Most spiritual creatures needed to be at least blue-grade, or even indigo-grade to speak humannguages aloud.


    However, Kain noticed that all of the young dragon''s they''de across¡ªincluding the recent hatchlings that were only white or red-grade¡ªcould still speak to some extent.


    Gdriel raised its head proudly. "That''s because we are true dragons. The moment we hatch, our bloodline inheritance gives us knowledge,nguage, and a name from our ancestors¡ªbut only for us true dragons. Not those defective products from marking-less egg."


    Serena''s gaze sharpened with interest. "Bloodline inheritance? Does that mean every true dragon is born with knowledge of its lineage and culture?"


    Enjoy new stories from empire


    "Precisely," Gdriel said with a satisfied nod. "Follow Me." it said before scampering off without stopping to see if they''d follow. With onest re at Kain, Vauleth followed, and after a quick nce at one another, so did Kain and Serena.


    Eventually, they stopped underneath a tree that had a green egg hidden in the underbrush. The egg''s shell wasposed of what looked like emerald-toned dragon scales.


    "This is a defective egg. Usually, our eggs are marked with the sigils of a true dragon. These markings carry the memories of our ancestors, so when we hatch, we already know who we are. And we are born withbat capabilities far exceeding the creatures at the same level."


    Kain frowned thoughtfully. "And if an egg doesn''t have markings?"


    Gdriel''s expression darkened slightly, and its voice lost some of its yfulness. "An egg without markings is defective. No inheritance, no name, no future as a true dragon. They''re cast out to fend for themselves and not acknowledged as members of the same race. Their intelligence is far inferior, no different from a wild animal. Most of the sub-dragon species that exist like drakes or wyverns are actually descendants from these defective dragons. Of course, though, their strength is not as strong as a true dragon''s due to theck of inheritance but they still possess the valuable bloodline of true dragons, so most will be hunted down and not survive until adulthood¡­" it trailed off, its gaze briefly flicking toward Vauleth.


    "But sometimes eggs that could hatch a true dragon are discarded by mistake. Sometimes an originally unmarked egg will have markings appear shortly before hatching. Although dragons born from such eggs are usually a little smaller and weaker physically, they are still true dragons. Vauleth is one such case. Thankfully, he made his way back to the mountain range, with the knowledge from his bloodline inheritance. Unfortunately, we couldn''t trace his lineage based on his true name or his parents, so I''ve taken him under my wing. Us true dragons have got to stick together." Gdriel said while giving Vauleth a hard pat on the back with his front paw.


    Vauleth shot Kain another re, his golden eyes had been watching Kain''s expression throughout the whole conversation. And as Kain and Gdriel continued to converse, the hostility in his eyes only grew stronger, along with what looked like¡­fear?


    "Fascinating," Kain murmured, his voice soft enough that only Serena caught it.


    She nced at him, her expression unreadable but clearly aware of the strange tension between him and the smaller dragon.

 Chapter 404 Luring Attempts Begin

    Back in modern times, Gdriel took on the role of a guide with gusto, pointing out the most beautiful and majestic parts of the dragons'' massive territory.


    The prince exined the significance of certainndmarks, the history of the dragon n, and the shiny mineral resources that the dragons, mostly its father, had ess to mine.


    Vauleth, however, followed begrudgingly, his irritation palpable.


    Kain, intrigued by the connection between them, kept trying to engage Vauleth in conversation.


    "Wow Vauleth!" Kain said casually, brushing aside a branch as they climbed a rocky incline, "for someone your size, you''re surprisingly nimble."


    Vauleth shot him a withering re. "ttery won''t make me like you, human," he snapped.


    "Who said I was trying to make you like me?" Kain grinned, unfazed by the frosty reception. After all, it''s harder to hit a smiling face. "I''m just pointing out facts."


    "Stop talking to me."


    Despite the constant rebuffs, Kain wasn''t discouraged. In fact, the hostility only piqued his interest further. Vauleth''s behavior,bined with the strange resonance he felt through his affinity, made him more certain there was more to this dragon than met the eye.


    Serena, meanwhile, remainedposed, asionally shooting Kain a subtle warning nce when his persistence seemed to push Vauleth to the brink of exploding. After all, they were still in the territory of the dragons and Vauleth seemed to be greatly valued by the young prince of this territory. Pissing either one of them off too much wouldn''t do them any good.


    As the day wore on, the group''s search bore fruit. Serena, with her Starchaser expertise, identified several rare spiritual nts growing under the dragons'' influence.


    Dragon Vein Orchids and Ember Lilies were sessfully found and harvested carefully.


    As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the mountains in hues of gold and crimson, Gdriel stretched its wings and dered it was time to head back.


    "We''ll split up from here," Gdriel announced, tonemanding, which is typical given the little heir''s status, but cheerful.


    In exchange for the information Gdriel had provided, Kain and Serena had also shared a lot of interesting information about life in the empire and even let the dragons look at some of the videos of battles between beast-tamers on their phones.


    Seeing all of the creatures that it could not have even imagined ore into contact with in the dragon''s territory, its eyes began to sparkle out of curiosity and longing for adventure.


    As they split, Kain couldn''t resist ncing back at Vauleth. The smaller red dragon avoided his gaze and seemed quite irritated by Gdriel''s cheerful discussions about life outside of the dragon n as they flew back home.


    ------------------------


    A few days passed without Kain meeting Gdriel or, more importantly, Vauleth again. However, he remained constantly on guard for an opportunity to ambush¡ªahem¡ª bond with Vauleth again.


    And eventually, one such opportunity presented itself. Kain found himself venturing deeper into the forest alone, drawn by the faint tug of his affinity.


    When he entered a secluded clearing, he froze. Standing in the center was Vauleth, who seemed to be in the process of collecting some fireberries¡ªtasty but not particrly valuable fruits that Kain had learned previously that Gdriel was fond of.


    The dragon turned, and his eyes narrowed the moment theynded on Kain.


    "What are you doing here, human?" Vauleth''s voice was sharp, but there was a flicker of unease behind his irritation.


    Kain didn''t respond immediately. Instead, he stepped closer, his gaze steady. "I was wondering when I''d run into you alone."


    Vauleth tensed, his tail flicking in agitation. "Leave. Now."


    Kain stopped a few paces away, arms crossed. "I could do that. But you see¡­I''ve been thinking, and something about you doesn''t seem quite right. Perhaps when I leave from here my tongue will identally slip and bring it up to one of the other dragons..."@@novelbin@@


    The words hung in the air, and for a moment, there was only silence. Then, Vauleth''s lips curled into a snarl. "You don''t know anything."


    "Maybe not," Kain admitted, his tone calm. And indeed, although Kain knew that Vauleth wasn''t a normal red dragon based on his seemingly uncalled for hostility to him and the draw from his affinity, he had no idea whathe was.


    Was he just the host to another microorganism and in a symbiotic rtionship like Eve and Queen? Or was he actually a microorganism that had managed to construct a body for itself like Aegis?


    Even the System couldn''t identify it beyond ''red dragon.'' And considering that the Red Dragon King seems to have not noticed that there was an imposter following his son around for years, it can only further confirm how amazing this creature''s disguise abilities were. And it only made Kain more determined to contract him...


    Vauleth let out a low growl, his ws digging into the earth. "Whatever delusions you''ve cooked up in that human brain of yours, keep them to yourself. I am a red dragon. Nothing more, nothing less."


    "Then why are you so hostile to me?" Kain countered, taking another step forward. "Not to mention that I have no affinity for dragons but can contract you . You feel it too, don''t you? That pull? It''s not normal."


    "That ''pull'' is your death wish," Vauleth hissed, but his voice wavered.


    Kain tilted his head, studying the dragon. "You''re scared," he said, his voice softening. "Not of me, but of what I might uncover. What are you so afraid of, Vauleth?"


    For a moment, Vauleth didn''t respond. His gaze darted to the ground, then back to Kain. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, almost a whisper. "You don''t understand what you''re meddling with. Leave me alone."


    ''Fat chance of that happening. I''d thought my hopes of contracting a dragon were gone, but now it might be possible.''


    "What if I could help make you a true dragon? You may not know this but I am one of the most famous evolutionary nners and researchers in the Empire"


    ''Hey, if Cassian can use his reputation to seduce a contract, why can''t I?''


    The words seemed to strike a nerve. Vauleth''s eyes widened slightly before narrowing again, his defensive mask slipping back into ce. Find adventures on empire


    "I am a true dragon," he muttered, turning away.


    Kain smiled faintly. "Maybe you truly believe that. But if you don''t, and you''re tired of living under this constant fear of exposure, then you know where to find me."


    Vauleth didn''t respond to his statement. Instead, he spread his wings and took off, disappearing into the forest canopy, Kain stood in the clearing watching him seemingly flee in a panic.


    He wasn''t discouraged. He had the patience and the faith that eventually Vauleth would realize that his best option would be to leave with him.

 Chapter 406 : A Familiar Foe?

    Kain barely had time to process the horrific scene before another corrupted spiritual creature¡ªa ckened wolf-like beast¡ªlunged at a group of fleeing Elorians. Aegis intercepted, raising a wall of earth to block its path.


    "Help them get out of here!" Kain barked at the Vespid Guards, his mind racing.


    Serena also did her part, her Elemental Guardian, now in its wind attribute form, helped push the frightened Elorians away from the advancing corrupted creatures with gentle gusts of wind.


    But it wasn''t enough. Experience new tales on empire


    More figures began emerging from the forest. Some were vigers who had likely been out gathering supplies or hunting when the strange phenomenon began. Now, they staggered into view, their bodies twisted and warped, covered in that ominous ck smoke.


    "They''reing from the north!" A nearby member of the Order shouted in panic.


    Kain turned his gaze toward the darkened treeline. The corrupted figures were indeed converging from the north, their numbers steadily growing.


    ''The dragons flew east¡­ but they areing from the North,'' Kain thought, unease wing at him. ''Are there perhaps even more of these things in the East? Or did something else draw their attention away?''


    "Serena, keep them safe!" he yelled, summoning Queen and Bea to help reinforce their defense. Strangely, once Bea tried to control the advancing contaminated creatures, she felt as though her splits had been cut off from her or assimted as well.@@novelbin@@


    However, when by ident dozens of threads made contact with a thrashingrge contaminated spiritual creature resembling a solid ck giant water buffalo, an effect was gradually seen.


    It appears as though they were resistant but not immune to her mental control. But each one would require dozen''s of splits and several times the amount of energy to seize control. Not to mention with each passing second, she could feel some energy withering away the splits that were present in the buffalo''s body.


    Fortunately, the Vespid guards were proving to be much more effective. The energy draining capabilities of their stingers has already led to the copse of several invading creatures. Unfortunately, many of the guards also were preupied with protecting and evacuating the Elorians, so the decrease in the enemies'' numbers wasn''t so severe and seemed to form a strange equilibrium with the quick rate that people and other spiritual creatures were being turned.


    In particr, ordinary Elorians who were scratched or bitten were sumbing almost instantly, their bodies twisting into ckened forms as they joined the ranks of their attackers.


    Kain gritted his teeth as he watched a young Elorian woman copse, her screams cutting off abruptly as her skin turned ck. The speed of the transformation was horrifying.


    However, not everyone was equally affected. A member of the Order¡ªA 6-star beast tamer¡ªwas surrounded by a group of corrupted creatures. Though he managed to fend them off for several minutes, the smoke clinging to his wounds eventually overwhelmed him.


    Kain watched in horror as the man''s body began to change. His contract, arge bear-like spiritual creature, tried to resist the contamination as well but sumbed shortly after its master. Both let out guttural roars as their forms were overtaken by the ck smoke, joining the ranks of the corrupted.


    "Kain!" Serena''s voice cut through his thoughts.


    He turned to see her fending off a corrupted bird-like creature, its ckened feathers shimmering with an unnatural sheen. She managed to push it back with a gust of wind, but her expression was grim. "We can''t keep this up forever!"


    Aegis''s deep voice surprisingly rumbled in Kain''s mind. "This is familiar." Aegis¡ªever the strong and silent type¡ªrarely took the initiative to speak.


    "What?" Kain asked mentally, even as he directed a Vespid guard to intercept a contaminated ck fox rushing at a viger.


    "The aura... the ck smoke. It resembles the creature I once guarded."


    Kain''s blood ran cold. Memories flooded back to the relic filled with microorganisms that had a dark dragon-like entity as the final boss but Kain felt an aura simr to a microorganism emanating off of it. Now that he thought about it, it had been capable of corrupting and creating minions like these. However, he didn''t recall its corruption abilities being so powerful.


    "You think this is connected to that thing?" Kain asked, his chest tightening.


    "I cannot be certain," Aegis admitted, its tone grave. "I was created not long after the relic was formed, with the only instruction being to prevent whatever was being imprisoned from escaping. Therefore, I do not know much about its identity, and abilities. But the resemnce is undeniable."


    Kain clenched his fists as Aegis''s words echoed in his mind. If this ck smoke and the corrupted creatures were connected to the entity Aegis once guarded, then they were partly responsible for these people dying.


    Perhaps there was something they could have done or some sacrifice they could have made to destroy or reseal it. However, after it escaped, not realizing the substantial threat it could pose, none of the higher-ups of the college was even sent to pursue it.


    "Serena," Kain said, his voice low but urgent. He stepped back to where she was holding off another wave of attackers with her Elemental Guardian. "We might have a bigger problem than we thought."


    Serena nced at him, her expression sharp. "What do you mean?"


    "Aegis says this smoke is simr to the one we fought in the college''s relic."


    Serena grew sombre at the memory of the dragon-like creature. It had had its strength suppressed to yellow-grade, but it was practically invincible within the same weight ss.


    "It does appear simr to some of the creatures we fought in the relic¡­ but we can''t be sure. I''m more concerned about the dragons'' response. Notice how the dragons didn''t seem surprised by this?"


    Kain frowned, his gaze flicking between the encroaching creatures and the direction the dragons had flown. "You''re saying they expected this? That our actual mission¡ªor whatever deal they made with the Order¡ªhas something to do with these things?"


    A loud crash interrupted their conversation as a contaminated bear-like creature, likely blue-grade, barreled through a makeshift barricade. Kain quickly directed Aegis to intercept, and walls were raised in its path to slow its advance.


    "Focus on staying alive for now," Serena said, her tone sharp but steady. "We can worry about the purpose of the dragonster."

 Chapter 409 The Orders Stance

    A couple days after the attack Caelum returned, with the vigers ''recements'' in tow.


    Caelum was leading a line of short, reptilian humanoid creatures through the vige. Their scaled bodies were brown and dullpared to the true dragons'', and their expressions were almost disturbingly joyful.


    The vigers, who were being released from their servitude and were giddy with excitement, still paled inparison to the sheer joy on the faces of these scaled creatures taking their ce


    The creatures, which Kain found out were kobolds, chattered excitedly among themselves, theirrge, expressive eyes darting around the vige with undisguised glee.


    "Praise the dragons! Glorious masters of fire and might!" one of them eximed, its voice high-pitched and grating.


    "Finally, we get to serve them directly!" another shouted, practically hopping as it scampered to keep up with the others.


    The Elorians and remaining members of the Order exchanged puzzled nces as the kobolds flooded into the area, their energy filling the previously sombre atmosphere with an odd, chaotic buzz.


    "Caelum," a member of the Order, a tall in-looking woman from the Lunar Veil, responsible for espionage, asked skeptically, "why does the Empire even have kobolds?"


    Caelum, who appeared exhausted after being the sole individual responsible for transporting the Kobolds (after all, it''s not like they''d try to escape), sighed. "They weren''t exactly invited..."


    "What do you mean?"


    "They broke into the dragon housing area for the royal family¡ªrepeatedly," Caelum exined, rubbing his temples. "You know, the area where uncontracted dragons are kept for potential royal contracts."


    Discover exclusive content at empire


    There was a collective intake of breath at the apparent determination of these Kobolds. The dragon housing area was heavily guarded, practically imprable to anyone without clearance.


    "They begged to be caretakers for the young dragons," Caelum continued. "We shooed them away a few times¡ªbecause they''re noisy and annoying¡ªbut they just kepting back. Eventually, the caretakers got fed up and let them stay." He gestured to the kobolds, who were now gleefully scrubbing a nearby green dragon as though it was the greatest honour within several generations of his family. "They''re obsessive, but they''re also surprisingly good at what they do. Dragons don''t seem to mind them either."


    "Convenient excuse to get rid of them," Kain muttered under his breath, earning a smirk from Serena.


    "Exactly," Caelum said, clearly hearing Kain''sment. "This was the perfect opportunity to relocate them somewhere they''d be happy and out of the royal family''s hair."


    ----------------------------


    Later that evening, the remaining members of the Order gathered in arge hall assigned to them within the vige.


    There were originally 51 members of their group, 10 representatives from 5 departments plus the sole representative of the Night Hunt Cassian. But the once-bustling group of 51 had dwindled to 42 after the attack, and the mood was sombre despite the dragons'' victory.


    Conversations buzzed quietly around the room.


    Most of the members had either formed bonds with certain dragons like Kain and Gdriel, or picked up enough from their interactions to piece together the situation. Rumours about the Abyss, the entrance, and the dragons'' role in containing it were spreading like wildfire.


    Kain and Serena sat near the back, observing the others.


    "It seems like we weren''t the only ones who noticed," Kain said softly.


    The door to the hall opened, and Caelum entered, his expression grim. The room fell silent as he moved to the center, standing tall as he addressed the group.


    "I know many of you have questions," he began. "And while I don''t have all the answers, I can confirm some of your questions."


    He paused, letting the weight of his words settle over the room.


    "Firstly, yes, the dragons have been fighting this threat¡ªthe Abyss¡ªfor centuries. Their mountain range is built atop one of the entrances, and their immunity to the corruption makes them the best possible guardians. But even they can''t hold out forever. They''ve been losing groundtely due to their decreasing numbers and the seal weakening."


    Murmurs rippled through the group.


    "And the Order?" one member asked. "Did they know about this?"


    Caelum hesitated. "Those higher up or who have been in the Order for a long time were aware. There''s been... debate among our leaders. Not everyone agrees that aiding the dragons is worth the risk. After all, humans are far more susceptible to Abyssal corruption than they are. But the argument against helping them is short-sighted. If the dragons fall, the corruption will spread unchecked, and we''ll all be in danger."@@novelbin@@


    Another murmur swept through the room, this oneced with unease and tension.


    Caelum''s expression grew darker. "What you might not know is that the Abyss isn''t just affecting this region. Reports have beening in from across the continent. Isted viges¡ªElorian, human, even nomadic tribes in the south¡ªare turning into dead zones filled with the corrupted. Just in the time I was bringing back the agreement of the dragons, there was news that an entire town in the Southern Region had been wiped off the map."


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat. His family lived in the southern region, in a rtively isted city. Honestly, Brightstar City was so tiny, to those from the big cities they may call it a town¡­


    "Was there..." Kain''s voice wavered slightly before he steadied himself. "Was there more specific information on what town it was?"


    Caelum looked at Kain, likely seeing something from his expression, despite Kain''s attempts to hide his unease. "The town was called Starspire Vige."


    Relief flooded through Kain, but it was short-lived as the weight of Caelum''s words settled over him again. His family was safe currently, but the next outbreak of the corrupted could very well be in his hometown.


    He had previously asked the orphanage director to consider moving closer to the college or even to Starfire City, thergest city of the Southern Region, but he''d been reluctant to leave home and all of their neighbours behind. However, now Kain didn''t think he could continue to take no for an answer.

 Chapter 411 A Parents Care

    The Red Dragon King Vulcun reclined on his ''throne'' of shimmering gold and glittering gemstones, his massive frame shiftingfortably against the treasure.


    His fiery eyeszily scanned the collection, gleaming with pride. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for his unparalleled ability to umte such wealth. Truly, no dragon''s hoard couldpare to his. Probably only that detestable king of the metallic dragons who live far to the south would be able topare to his wealth.


    Suddenly Vulcun''s heart skipped a beat, ''In the time that we''d been isted from the other races, I''d heard that stupid lump of fake gold Allmonis had been interacting quite frequently with some tribes to the south¡­Wouldn''t that mean that bastard may be richer than me?! NO! That can''t happen!''


    Scared by his own thoughts, he immediately straightened up in difort and then thought of his heir, Gdriel. Lately, the young one had been spending far too much time with humans. Vulcun snorted. Humans were cunning and weak but they tended to have good stuff¡ªartifacts, rare materials, treasures they didn''t deserve. Was it possible Gdriel had acquired anything of value from them?


    His gaze sharpened as he mused. ''It is my responsibility as a father to ensure that Gdriel wasn''t burdened by the dangers of hoarding too much wealth at a young age. What if someone tried to rob the child''s cave? It wasn''t healthy for a young dragon to keep too many treasures.''


    Of course, Vulcun conveniently ignored the fact that Gdriel, as the sole heir to the Red Dragon King, was practically untouchable. No dragon, no matter how powerful, would dare invade Gdriel''s territory. But Vulcun wasn''t about to let a little thing like logic interfere with his justified, parental concern.


    With a rumbling growl, Vulcun made his decision. He would conduct his routine "parent check" of Gdriel''s cave. He performed these checks every couple of decades, like most coloured dragon parents, for Gdriel''s own good, he assured himself, as a faint spark of greed lit up his eyes.


    Immediately acting on his thought, Vulcun rosepletely from his pile of gold and stretched, shaking loose a cascade of gold coins and jewels from his scales. A beat of his powerful wings sent him soaring toward his offspring''sir just below his own.


    However, when hended at the mouth of the cave, he immediately noticed something that gave him pause: the jewels embedded into the walls¡ªorck thereof.


    This confused him. Hisst inspection had been decades ago, and while he knew Gdriel might not amassed as much wealth as himself, surely enough time had passed for the child to rece at least some of what he had confiscated back then¡­ Could his own child possibly be so poor? Vulcun''s nose twitched in disbelief.


    He moved deeper into the cave, his talons clicking against the stone floor. The silence was almost eerie. No faint echoes of movement, no ambient sounds of a young dragon''s hoard being fussed over.


    When Vulcun reached the main chamber, his frown deepened. The cave was empty. Completely empty. Not only was his only child not here, but there wasn''t a single scrap of treasure to be seen.


    "Unbelievable," Vulcun muttered, his voice a low growl.


    He turned and immediately flew toward the base of the mountain range. He had a feeling about where. Gdriel was, but thankfully the child shouldn''t have gotten too far yet.


    As he flew over the mountain range, it was much noisier than usual¡ª thanks to the new Kobold servants. Vulcun could hear their grating voices from above, praising the dragons as they worked.


    Unlike the Elorians, who had been quiet in their servitude due to their immense fear of them, these creatures took every opportunity to loudly dere their devotion.


    Not that Vulcun minded. His chest puffed out slightly as he flew over them, enjoying their adoration. They might be ugly, but the Kobolds were proving themselves to have other advantages.


    It wasn''t long before Vulcun spotted what he was looking for. Inside the forest close to the base of the mountain, a small, chubby figure waddled forward, struggling under the weight of an enormous bag strapped to its back. Vulcun''s eyes narrowed.


    He gave a loud, rumbling huff. The sound carried through the air and hit the small dragon squarely on its round, red-scaled behind.


    The dragon yelped in surprise, lost its bnce, and went tumbling to the ground, rolling a few times beforeing to a stop in aically dishevelled heap.@@novelbin@@


    Gdriel scrambled upright, eyes zing with indignation. "Who¡ª" The words died in the young dragon''s throat when Gdriel turned and saw Vulcun. The indignation it felt was immediately reced by a sheepish look.


    Vulcun''s lips curled into a cruel smile. "nning to run away with the humans, are we?" he asked, his tone deceptively casual.


    Gdriel''s eyes widenedically, silently asking, How could you possibly know?!


    Vulcun sighed in exasperation, not bothering to answer the unspoken question. "Fine. You may apany them to the border to say goodbye to your little friend, but only to the border. Understand?"


    He raised a w, and a faint leash of red magic appeared around Gdriel''s neck. The leash faded to invisible, but Gdriel stiffened, clearly feeling its effects. Gdriel knew that as long as this leash was in ce, that its dream of leaving the dragons'' territory and swimming in the ocean of treasures the humans promised would only be a dream.


    Before Gdriel could protest, Vulcun leaned down and plucked the massive bag from the smaller dragon''s back. He gave it a cursory nce before slinging it over his own shoulder. "I''ll hold onto this for now," he said with mock sweetness.


    Gdriel''s ws clenched, and a mutteredment about "greedy fathers" escaped under their breath, but Vulcun pretended not to hear.


    With an angry huff, Gdriel took to the air, at a much faster pace without its burden, heading off toward the humans marching away in the distance. Despite the sour mood, there was a determined glint in their eyes.


    Even if Gdriel couldn''t leave with Vauleth as nned. She wanted to say goodbye to her best friend.

 Chapter 412 Dragon Knight?

    Kain felt like he was on top of the world. Literally.


    Sitting atop a dragon¡ªa red dragon, no less¡ªhad been a childhood dream of his, and now that dream hade true.


    He couldn''t resist running his hand along Vauleth''s scales, admiring the way they gleamed like polished rubies in the sunlight.


    ''The kids at the orphanage would probably be shocked if they saw me right now. I must look so handsome,'' Kain thought, a self-satisfied grin spreading across his face. If only there were a mirror¡ªor better yet, an audience. Surely, anyone who saw him would think, Wow, now that''s a dragon knight!


    The wind whipped past him as they soared at a moderate pace through the air, the rescued Elorians and some Order members without flying mounts were travelling below on foot or with their own mounts. It was a slow march for most of the group, but for Kain, it was glorious.


    Well, mostly.


    "Stop squirming," Vauleth growled, his toneced with disdain.


    Kain shifted in his seat, wincing as another sudden jolt rattled through him. Throughout the entire trip, a certain sensitive body part had been made to suffer. "You''re doing this on purpose, aren''t you?"


    Vauleth simply huffed smugly but didn''t answer out loud.


    ''You wanted to ride me like some lowly beast. Consider this your lesson in humility, human.''


    Kain muttered something under his breath, gripping tighter to the reins he''d borrowed form another member of the order.


    Despite the bumpy (and painful) ride, he was determined not to let Vauleth ruin his mood. This was a dragon he was riding¡ªa dragon!


    Still, he couldn''t help but feel a pang of jealousy as he nced ahead at Cassian.


    The crown prince sat on top of his own young red dragon, looking far morefortable. The two of them seemed to be getting along far better than Kain and Vauleth.


    "You really can give me all that treasure, right?" Cassian''s dragon was asking, its voice filled with excitement. "I mean, you are a prince, so you must have vaults full of jewels, right? Riiiight?"


    "Of course," Cassian said smoothly, his tone confident. "I wouldn''t have made those promises if I couldn''t keep them."


    Kain groaned internally. Cassian''s dragon practically radiated excitement, its tone almost giddy as it pressed him for more details on the dragon cave he''d build just for him in the capital that would be filled with as much treasure as the Dragon King''s¡ªthat''s the Dragon King!


    He never imagined he''d be able to match the Dragon King in wealth, and definitely not before even reaching adulthood!


    Meanwhile, Kain''s mount was doing everything in his power to make the ride as ufortable as possible.


    ''Why couldn''t I have gotten a dragon that actually liked me?'' hemented. Forgetting that hecked the necessary affinity, and it was a pleasant surprise that a creature like Vauleth even existed for him to fulfill his dragon knight fantasies.


    Stay updated with empire


    Kain''s grumbling thoughts were interrupted by a sharp, high-pitched roar.


    Kain straightened in his seat, his hand instinctively moving to Vauleth''s neck for stability as the sound echoed across thendscape. It wasn''t like the deep, powerful roars of the older dragons. This one was... lighter, more childlike.


    After living with the dragons for a while he could easily distinguish the roars of the dragons of different ages and even colour.


    Vauleth''s head swiveled toward the source of the sound, his golden eyes narrowing. "It''s Gdriel," he muttered, his tone filled with a mixture of sadness, anxiety, and¡­longing?


    Before Kain could respond, a red blur appeared on the horizon, rapidly closing the distance.


    And soon enough, Gdriel''s familiar form camepletely into view.


    "Vauleth!" Gdriel''s voice carried through the air, clear and bright.


    Vauleth stiffened beneath Kain, his usual aloof demeanor faltering. Kain caught the subtle way his gaze lingered on Gdriel, a fleeting look filled with something... softer.


    Kain tilted his head, curious. Now that he had a contract with Vauleth, he was far more in tune with his emotions and subtle actions that he wouldn''t have noticed before.


    Gdriel hovered beside them and said in sad tone, "I wanted to catch up before you left,"


    Vauleth turned his head toward Galdriel, his expression hard to read. "You didn''t have toe all this way."


    "Yes, I did," Gdriel said firmly, golden eyes meeting Vauleth''s. "You''re my best friend. Do you think I''d let you leave without saying goodbye?"


    Kain sat silently, sensing the tension between the two dragons. It wasn''t the usual kind of tension he''de to expect from Vauleth. This was... different.


    Vauleth''s eyes moved frantically around the surroundings, looking anywhere but at the red dragon opposite, and mumble "Thanks, Gdriel. That means a lot."


    For a moment, there was afortable silence between them, broken only by the wind and the distant sounds of the marching group below. Kain, however, couldn''t stop ncing between the two dragons. There was something in the way Vauleth looked at Gdriel¡­


    ''Wait a second... Does Vauleth... like Gdriel?''


    The thought hit Kain like a lightning bolt. He''d never seen this side of Vauleth before¡ªalmost bashful and shy.


    Through the faint connection of their contract, he could sense a swirl of emotions emanating from the red dragon.


    Finally, their goodbyes finished and Gdriel turned to leave. Vauleth watched as the red figure got smaller and smaller, his gaze lingering far longer than necessary.


    Kain cleared his throat awkwardly, breaking the silence. "Uh... Vauleth?"


    "What?" Vauleth snapped, his usual edge returning.


    "Um¡­uh¡­do you like¡­"


    Vauleth''s golden eyes narrowed. "Spit it out you bumbling human?"


    Kain''s face flushed slightly as he stumbled over his words. "I mean, it''s fine! Really! If you like... um, you know, boys¡ª"


    Vauleth blinked, his expression shifting from confusion to incredulity. "What are you talking about?"


    "I''m just saying I don''t judge!" Kain blurted, his hands raised defensively. "If you like Gdriel, that''s cool! I mean, I can see why you would. He''s strong, confident, has great scales¡ª"


    "Gdriel is a girl, you idiot," Vauleth interrupted, his tone dripping with exasperation.


    Kain froze, his brain grinding to a halt. "...Wait, what?"@@novelbin@@

 Chapter 414 Returning Home (2)

    The notification blinked on Kain''s screen, its contents stark against the backdrop of his unease. He quickly scanned the text, Serena leaning in slightly to read over his shoulder.


    A subtle sweet smell filled his mind briefly, distracting him from the text, but familiar words snapped him back into focus.


    Location: Brightstar City, Southern Region.


    Objective: A relic rted to the Warring States Period has been found. Information about the Abyss and/or Abyssal creatures may be obtained.@@novelbin@@


    Type of Relic: Unknown


    Participants Required: Minimum of 5 Pathfinder members, including at least one 7-star beast-tamer or above.


    Reward: 20,000 credits, additional hazard bonuses depending on the situation.


    Find your next read on empire


    Kain''s heart that was in his throat immediately dropped back down. Seeing the familiar city name, he''d initially thought there was an outbreak of the corrupted or some other life-or-death emergency in his hometown. Thankfully, it was just a new relic.


    He immediately confirmed his participation and then used his newly obtained credits to exchange for some supplies that were rmended by the more senior Pathfinders and woulde in hand during an emergency.


    Although, he wished to buy some rare evolutionary materials, spiritual skills, weapons or even ''special experience opportunities'' (whatever that was) that could greatly bolster his strength, aside from a weapon, the others can''t be converted instantly into strength. Considering that he had an urgent mission hanging over his head, he decided to exchange for other items that would increase his chances of survival.


    Additionally, since Kain wasn''t required to attend a meeting for the mission or enter the relic right away, he had some family matters to take care of.


    Given the chaos from the Abyssal creatures that was just bubbling beneath the surface and could erupt at any time, he wouldn''t feelfortable leaving his family in Brightstar City right now while he went in the relic. After all, he''d heard cases of individuals being trapped in a relic for years. He wouldn''t want to risk that happening to him in these chaotic times.


    He tasked Collin with buying more of thend adjacent to the one he already was raising the Clear Spring Wolves on and to build a new home for his relocating rtives (although they hadn''t agreed to the move yet).


    Of course, Collin grumbled andined the whole time about already being busy managing the new industries Kain now possessed¡ªthe spiritual beer, elemental Silkworm silk, the FMT pills. Kain''s fame had even led to him receiving endorsement requests and requests to attend important events. And all of these tasks and requests were being managed by Collin alone.


    ''I guess I should really hire a personal assistant¡­'' Kain made a mental note.


    After finalizing thend purchase and construction ns with Collin, Kain turned his attention back to his family.


    His family in Brightstar City was rtively small, and the director had always been stubborn about staying put. But with the increasing reports of Abyssal activity, Kain knew he couldn''t afford to let the director and the children stay there unprotected.


    Thankfully, after Kain exined the situation, although still extremely resistant, the director finally agreed to move to Dark Moon City.


    By the time Kain met up with his team at the meeting point designated for the participants of Brightstar City mission, he felt more prepared¡ªboth mentally and physically. Especially, now that he didn''t have to worry about the safety of his loved ones. Collin had texted him that morning to confirm the safe arrival and settlement of his rtives in Dark Moon City.


    Kain, as the rookie, had taken the initiative to arrive early and was the first at the location. It was at least another half an hour before the other team members began trickling in.


    Kain was pleasantly surprised to see that Benji, his guide during the Pathfinder orientation, would be participating. It was nice to have at least one familiar face. The other 2 participants to arrive were both simr-looking women with red hair, likely sisters, named udia and ra.


    After waiting at the designated meeting point for close to one hour, thest member of their five-person team arrived¡ªa tall, stern-looking woman from the Pathfinder branch named Nadia.


    She was a 7-star beast-tamer and their de facto leader for this mission. Her contract beast, a massive indigo-grade spiritual creature that resembles a griffin, stood silently at her side, exuding a menacing aura.


    Nadia wasted no time. "You''ve all read the mission briefing," she said briskly. "Our objective is to explore the relic, assess its connection to the Abyss, and retrieve any information or items of value. This is a priority mission, so no unnecessary risks. Stick together, follow my orders, and we''ll get through this."


    The team nodded in unison, and Nadia signalled for the teleportation array to activate. The air around them hummed with energy as the light from the array grew brighter, enveloping them in a blinding glow.


    When the light faded, the team found themselves standing on the outskirts of Brightstar City. The familiar streets stretched out before Kain, but something felt¡­ off. The air was thick with tension, and the usual hustle and bustle of the city seemed subdued.


    However, thest Kain had heard from his family, who had only evacuated yesterday, the news of the Abyss still hadn''t spread to here. So what was with the strange atmosphere?


    "Did something major happen in the citytely?" Kain asked, as a native he was sensitive to the changes in the city. Although his family had moved, he still knew and cared for many of the locals, and so was concerned about the status of the city.


    "Probably the relic," Nadia said. "It may be a Historical echo. They have a way of affecting the area around them and the people in the surroundings unconsciously."


    Kain''s gaze lingered on the city for a moment before he followed the group.


    As they approached the heart of the city, the streets grew quieter. Shops that were usually bustling with activity were closed, their shutters drawn tight. Only a few people moved about, their expressions wary and their steps hurried.

 Chapter 417 Familar Faces

    Days passed, and Kain settled into a routine that felt strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time.


    As one of the city-state''s prized beast-tamers, Kain''s duties alternated between patrolling the outskirts to keep rogue spiritual creatures at bay and assisting the Vice City-Lord in nning defences against rival states and potential Abyssal threats.


    As time went on, the feelings of unfamiliarity and the ufortable feeling of forgetting something began to fade. He couldn''t help but feel like this had always been his life.


    But sometimes certain events or people will bring up those unsettling feelings again¡­


    One morning, Kain descended from the estate''s main building, his gaze sweeping the training grounds below. A familiar figure caught his eye¡ªa man with a wiry frame and sharp hazel eyes directing a group of junior tamers.


    "Benji," Kain called, descending the steps.


    The man turned, his features lighting up in recognition. "Kain! Done patrolling already?"


    Kain approached, taking in the sight of Benji''s Spirit Mouse perched on his shoulder. The tiny creature twitched its nose, its beady eyes scanning Kain with an unnerving intensity.


    Benji had quickly risen in the ranks since awakening his affinity, bing a trusted scout and analyst for the Vice City-Lord. His Spirit Mouse''s unique ability to sense threats, locate treasures, and more made him an invaluable resource.


    "Finished yesterday''s patrolte, but I have another one in the western sector this afternoon," Kain replied. "What about you?"


    "Preparing the juniors for their first hunt," Benji said with a smirk, gesturing to the sparring pairs before him. "They''ve got potential, but they''re still green."


    One of the junior tamers stumbled mid-swing and was hit hard to the ground by therge tiger-like spiritual creature it was sparring with.


    "If only these newbies could be as worry-free as mentoring you," Benji said with mncholy, while heading over to the newly injured young beast-tamer.


    However, Kain couldn''t help but dwell on Benji''s statement. Kain was brought to thispound and was ced directly under the instruction of the Vice City Lord, he couldn''t actually recall a time when he had actually even been mentored or received any advice form Benji.


    However, despite theck of any such memory involving Benji, Kain instinctively felt like his statement wasn''t false.


    ''Weird¡­'' The annoying feeling that his memories and surroundings weren''t matching came up again.


    -------------------------------


    Later that day, Kain led his patrol along the western edge of Ishvaran''s borders. The terrain was rocky and uneven, with sparse vegetation hanging on stubbornly within the harsh environment.


    He was apanied by two of his contracts, the Vespid Queen (and her guards) and the Earth Golem, nked him, their presence aforting reminder of his strength.


    On one such day, Kain''s patrol brought him to the southern sector, where he encountered two of Ishvaran''s risig stars: ra and udia.


    The two women were sparring in the central training grounds when Kain arrived. Their movements were sharp and fluid, a striking contrast to the more hesitant techniques of the junior tamers nearby. A crowd had gathered, watching in awe as the pair engaged in a fierce battle.


    ra''s contract, a fox-like spiritual creature with crystalline fur emitting light, moved in perfect harmony with hermands, darting in and out of udia''s shadow panther''s range.


    Meanwhile, ra and udia were engaged in a fierce battle with one another.


    After all, during these chaotic times, a beast-tamer without their ownbat power was a dead beast-tamer.


    Currently they were evenly matched, and even their fighting styles were simr. From the current tally of their wins and losses they also had an equal number of wins.


    Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain leaned against a nearby pir, watching with admiration. Despite only joining the patrol recently and supposedly having little practical experience, they exuded the confidence and skill of seasoned warriors. ra and udia quickly became rising stars within the patrol and were both up for a higher-up position.


    The fight ended when ra''s fox leapt over udia''s panther in a dazzling disy of agility,nding on udia''s shoulder and pinning her to the ground with a triumphant growl. The onlookers erupted into cheers and apuse.@@novelbin@@


    ra extended a hand to udia, who epted it with a wry smile. "You''ve gotten faster," udia said, brushing herself off.


    "And you''ve gotten stronger," ra replied, her tone warm but teasing. "If thatst strike hadnded, I''d be in the healer''s ward right now."


    Kain approached as the crowd began to disperse. "Impressive as always," he said, nodding to both women. "You joined the patrols only recently but you two make the rest of us look like amateurs."


    ra turned to him with a smirk. "I don''t know about amateurs¡­ I hear you''ve been holding your own on the eastern patrols, Kain."


    udia crossed her arms, her panther curling at her feet. "Although, you''ve still got a lot to learn if you want to keep up with us."


    Technically, Kain''s position and practical experience should be slightly higher than the other two, but none of the three seemed to see any problem or inconsistency with them taking on a slightly superior and instructional tone with Kain. The two sisters then began to recount various pieces of practical advice to Kain, like usual.


    However, their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger, a young boy out of breath and clutching a scroll. "Tamers Kain, udia, and ra!" he called, his voice urgent. "The Vice City-Lord requests your presence at the strategy hall. ording to her, the need for the presence of the three of you is extremely urgent."


    The three tamers exchanged a nce before heading to the hall together.


    When they arrived, the Vice City-Lord was already waiting. Surprisingly, Benji was also present. The gazes of the both of them swept over the 3 new arrivals.


    Interestingly, despite having just seen Benji that morning Kain couldn''t help but feel something odd in the way he and Nadia were staring at the 3 of them. Something had clearly changed in how he treated Kain in just these couple of hours.


    "See I told you they don''t remember anything."

 Chapter 420 Discovery

    Kain followed behind a small group ofrge grotesque creature as ck as ink except for their armour.


    Their body was covered with glowing bone armor, the right hand was simr to a dragon w, but without scales, and the left arm was a huge bone de.


    There was a huge single horn on their head, no nose, exposed fangs in their mouth, and a golden single eye.


    Behind each one, was a tail that was tens of feet long, also covered in bone armor, and the end was like a sharp spear tip!


    ''Damn its ugly¡­I''ve never seen an Abyssal creature wear armour before though.'' Not to mention this one seems a lot more intelligent than the corrupted spiritual creatures and people Kain had seen in the Dragon''s territory.@@novelbin@@


    The corrupted creatures in the dragons'' territory had been relentless, but ultimately, they had acted on pure instinct¡ªdevouring, spreading, corrupting. But these creatures? They moved like an organized unit. They weren''t just wandering aimlessly or attacking whatever they saw.


    For the past few days, Kain and the others had been following traces of the abyssal creatures in order to get clues about how to leave this relic.


    Moreover, Abyssal creatures hadn''t appeared in the world in centuries, therefore not much was known about them.


    Kain and the others also wanted to take this opportunity to learn about them as possible.


    Do they have arger goal? What are their weaknesses? What exactly is the Abyss?


    Although they likely wouldn''t be able to get all of their questions answered, any bit of information they obtained may end up ying a crucial role in the war against them when they returned back home.


    Currently, based on the pressure they emanated, the group that Kain was responsible for following would be the equivalent of a blue-grade spiritual creatures, or 6-star beast-tamers.


    Therefore, Kain was being extra careful to not be caught and kept his distance from them as much as possible.


    Instead, he''d been monitoring their movements and keeping track of them using birds and other easily ignorable creatures controlled by Bea, and having her feedback what she saw through the splits into his mind.


    Meanwhile, Kain stayed far behind, outside of the creatures'' sensory ranges.


    A spiritual creature resembling a cheetah slowly crept up behind Kain, getting ready to pounce on him.


    However, before it could even reveal itself, its ''prey'' quickly turned around and stuck a spear into its head.


    ''How could a red-grade spiritual creature seriously expect to defeat me?'' Kain thought with a roll of his eyes.


    *Ding. Received 1 GP.*


    After Kain had reached 4-stars, the amount of points received for killing spiritual creatures had drastically decreased.


    He received only 1 GP for red-grade spiritual creatures (he used to receive 5 GP), 10 GP for orange grade (30 GP previously), and 30 GP for yellow grade (100 GP previously). Kain once again realized that once the level difference between him and the spiritual creature was too great, he would get a lesser amount of points, while the reward he''d receive for defeating creatures stronger than him was substantial.


    For example, each blue-grade spiritual creature that Kain had managed to defeat would grant him 500 GP.


    Considering that the upgrade points had been increasing while the items in the store got more expensive as their level increased, the discovery of the decrease in points rewarded hadpletely pissed him off.


    Every time he saw he only got 1 GP per red-grade spiritual creature when he used to receive 5, made him feel like smashing something, and so he''d turned off the system notifications to avoid going crazy with rage.


    Instead, if he needed to check if a powerful spiritual creature was dead, he''d have to open the System menu and look at the recent notifications, which was a bit more of a hassle.


    Unfortunately, since Kain had lost his memories while in this relic, he hadn''t remembered even having a system and so hadn''t checked it.


    Kain couldn''t help but think if he hadn''t silenced the notifications, then he may have been able toe to his senses sooner.


    At the very least he''d begin investigating why a strange Ding and some points would be given every time he''d kill something.


    The System was intimately tied with Kain and his biggest secret, it would have done a far better job at making him remember than the Pathfinder badge.


    Therefore, despite how annoying he found the notifications, he decided to activate them before entering any relics in the future¡ªmaybe even all of the time.


    While continuing the kill various weak creatures that tried to attack him, Kain followed the hulking group of Abyssal creatures from a distance while the birds, mice, and insects infected by Bea got much closer.


    Kain had the various animals follow the creatures for hours before he saw them walk behind a massive boulder.


    However, after almost a minute their figures didn''t reappear on the other side.


    ''The boulder wasn''t that big...not to mention they''re huge! They should have walked past it by now¡­''


    Kain had Bea direct one of the birds to fly around the massive boulder, but the huge figures of their targets were not found. They hadpletely disappeared.


    Bea directed one of the squirrels she controlled to go much closer to the boulder, but nothing outside of the ordinary could be identified. Experience new tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    That was until a massive foot that resembled the wed feet of a giant bird came out from the wall of the boulder and stepped on the investigating squirrel, squishing it into a puddle of flesh and blood.


    After killing the squirrel the foot retracted back inside of the boulder.


    Kain was now certain that there was more than met the eye with this boulder, but no matter what creature he sent to investigate, they''d be quickly discovered and destroyed before they could even touch the boulder.


    Kain clearly didn''t currently have the ability to investigate.


    At least not on his own.

 Chapter 424 Survival of the Fittest

    The tunnel here was different.


    If the previous path had pulsing, vein-like walls, then this one was wrong in an entirely different way.


    The stone here was dark¡ªdarker than natural rock, as though it had been drenched in ck liquid tar.


    The walls exuded an eerie sheen, almost like they were sweating, releasing thick droplets that oozed down their surface.


    The air was damp, humid, and carried an unsettling scent¡ªone that was both cloyingly sweet and rancid at the same time, like honey left to rot in the sun.@@novelbin@@


    Aura scampered forward as quietly as possible, her tiny frame barely making a sound.


    Then, the tunnel widened¡ªinto another chamber.


    And inside was something they couldn''t immediatelyprehend.


    A pit.


    A massive one.


    Almost the entire chamber was taken up by it.


    Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    The surface of it was ck, its shifting mass undting like the surface of a slow, oily tide. It twisted and rippled, forming patterns that seemed to dissolve before they could truly take shape.


    Kain''s gut immediately told him something was wrong.


    His eyes narrowed. The surface of the pit wasn''t water.


    It wasn''t liquid at all.


    No¡ª


    It was moving. Squirming. Wriggling. Pulsating.


    And then Kain saw the true identity of this moving ''liquid''.


    Not waves. Not liquid.


    Worms.


    Microscopic. Squirming, writhing, wriggling over one another in numbers so vast that they blurred together into an endless sea of shifting ck.


    Billions. Possibly even trillions.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat.


    "What¡­ what is this?" udia murmured, voice unsettled.


    Benji frowned. "It looks like¡­ some kind of dark fluid."


    Kain''s eyes flickered. His stomach churned. "You don''t see them?"


    The others turned toward him.


    ra frowned. "See what? It''s just ck water. Right?"


    Kain swallowed hard. To them, it still appeared as a liquid. But possibly due to his affinity, he could tell that this ''water'' was very much alive.


    He could see them. Their tiny, wriggling bodies. Their gtinous, ck-translucent forms, each a hundredth the size of a grain of sand. Their jaws, were filled with hundreds of needle-like teeth arranged in concentric rows like leeches.


    And they were eating each other. Slowly. Deliberately.


    The smallest ones devoured their simrly-sized neighbours whenever they saw an. opportunity.


    Tiny mawstched onto their kin, tearing them apart and absorbing them. Their flesh twisted, hardened, and grew thicker as they consumed more and more. The process was slow, almost imperceptible at first, but as Kain continued watching, the ck mass thickened.


    Over the course of ten minutes, the others finally began to see it.


    What was once indistinct ck sludge became a seething mass of millions of barely visible things.


    They were growing.


    And as they continued to consume one another, they were transforming.


    The creatures started to take form.


    Their bodies convulsed, bulging as they expanded in grotesque bursts. Limbs sprouted¡ªuneven, misshapen as if trying to decide what shape they wanted to be. Their skin was thin and translucent at first, before darkening into a solid ck.


    And what emerged was the lowest tier of Abyssal creatures that Kain or the others had ever seen so far¡ªsmall, hunched, feral-looking things. Their limbs twitched erratically, some dragging themselves forward on malformed arms, others scrambling with multi-jointed legs that bent the wrong way.


    Their bodies were grotesque, their flesh stretched unevenly across their twisted, newly-formed skeletal frames. Some had no eyes. Others had too many. Their mouths gnashed¡ªslits filled with jagged, ovepping rows of razor-sharp teeth.


    Based on the energy they emitted, sensed by Aura, Kain and the others ced them at around red-grade in strength.


    There were thousands of them.


    Then¡ª


    They attacked each other.


    The feral Abyssal creatures lunged, tearing into one another with a savagery that defied reason. Their screeches filled the chamber.


    Some ripped chunks of flesh from their rivals, gnawing on sinew and muscle as they grewrger with each bite. Others were torn apart in seconds, devoured by their stronger kin before they could even fight back.


    ws sliced through bone like butter. Fangs pierced through skulls with sickening crunches.


    One by one, the weak were consumed by the stronger of their kind.


    Over the course of hours, the cycle repeated.


    Thousands of red-grade Abyssal creatures evolved into hundreds of orange-grade ones¡ªthe victors of their respective battles, having consumed nearly a dozen of their peers around them.


    Their bodies began to stabilize, bing more defined. Their limbs solidified, no longer twitching erratically. Their skeletal frames thickened, their muscles coiling with clear strength.


    The hundreds of orange-grade Abyssal creatures fought and fed until only a little over a hundred yellow-grade ones remained.


    Their appearances became more refined¡ªsleeker, deadlier. Their once-emaciated bodies filled out, their movements fluid and calcted rather than wild and erratic.


    The process continued from yellow-grade to green-grade.


    And at the very end¡ª


    A single, monstrous being stood in the now empty arena¡ªall other Abyssal creatures having been made into food.


    Its form was towering, refined, a perfect amalgamation of its predecessors. It stood on two powerful legs, its four arms ending in deadly talons. Its face was devoid of any features except for a gaping maw filled with writhing, barbed tongues that flickered in and out like serpents. Its body was ted in hardened bone-like armour that grew from its flesh.


    Blue-grade.


    ra inhaled sharply. "This is¡ª"


    "A breeding pit," Nadia finished, her expression unreadable. "They''re cultivating their warriors here."


    Kain''s jaw tightened. A sharp pang of horror settled in his chest.


    Blue-grade spiritual creatures were considered the peak of power in many cities. Brightstar City didn''t even have anyone close to that level of strength. Even many first and second-tier cities, aside from the 5 capital cities of each region, typically only had a couple dozen of such elite fighters.


    And yet this pit was being used to mass-produce them.


    Kain and the others watched as the victor let out a guttural snarl, stretching its new limbs as it surveyed its surroundings¡ªthen exited the pit through the only exit in the chamber.


    The pit, now empty, stilled.


    Then, without warning¡ª


    The surface writhed again.


    More ck ''water'' surged upward, filling the pit with another generation of microscopic Abyssal worms, ready to start the cycle anew.


    Before they knew it, they had watched the previous round for around six hours.


    That meant that an Abyssal creature equivalent in strength to a blue-grade spiritual creature could be created around four times each day.


    In one week, that was nearly thirty. In a year¡­ thousands.


    Considering the many years it took for most individuals to raise a blue-grade spiritual creature¡ª


    The sheer number of creatures that must have already been produced here was beyond terrifying.

 Chapter 427 The Price of Power

    Silence.


    Kain folded his arms and let out a slow, judgmental sigh, his gaze sweeping over the more senior members of the Order¡ªBenji, udia, ra, and even Nadia.


    The tension in the air was palpable as they all avoided eye contact, suddenly very interested in admiring the surrounding scenery.


    Benji, looking increasingly ufortable, was the first to break the silence.


    "W-Well, Kain, you see¡­ It''s not that we didn''t want to buy those things, but, uh¡­" He cleared his throat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and desperately trying to shake off the feeling of guilt.


    It wasn''t like they hadn''t wanted the relic supplies. If anything, everyone knew they were essential for Pathfinders operating in relics. But... they were expensive.


    Benji sighed, finally relenting. "Look, Kain, you''re still a 4-star beast-tamer. You don''t understand how astronomical the resource costs be when you reach 6-stars and beyond. Each breakthrough at the higher levels is a life-threatening endeavour. If you don''t have the proper resources, you risk permanently damaging your foundation or dying. The safest way to breakthrough requires a rare elixir worth tens of millions of Celestial Dors or tens of thousands of credits from the Order. And that''s just for one attempt! Let''s not even talk about advancing our contracts to indigo-grade spiritual creatures!" He threw up his hands in exasperation. "The three of us¡ªra, udia, and I¡ªhave been stuck at 6-stars for years because we just don''t have the resources to safely advance! If we ever get a big windfall, do you really think we''d spend it on these so-called essential relic supplies?"


    Kain''s unimpressed stare remained unwavering.


    ra sighed. "We''re not saying the stuff on that list isn''t useful¡ªobviously, it is. It''s just¡­ when we have to choose between making real progress in our cultivation or stocking up on ''just in case'' items, the choice is obvious."


    Kain''s expression darkened. "So you''re saying," he said slowly, "that despite being experienced 6-star beast-tamers, none of you had even a single credit left to buy essentials? Even after insisting that I buy them?"


    Benji hesitated before giving an awkward cough. "It, uh, seemed more reasonable for you to get them, y''know? Since you weren''t breaking through anytime soon¡­"


    Kain inhaled deeply through his nose. "Unbelievable."


    His gaze shifted to Nadia, expecting her to be the voice of reason.


    Surely she had been prepared, right?


    But even she avoided his gaze, suddenly looking¡­ bashful?


    "¡­You too?" Kain asked incredulously.


    "¡­It''s not like the pursuit of strength stops after bing a high-level beast-tamer," Nadia mumbled, visibly ufortable. "Just because I''ve reached 7-stars doesn''t mean I can just stop investing in my own progress. I might be a long way from 8-stars, but my contracts¡­ out of all of them, only one has reached indigo-grade. Naturally, I want the others to break through as well." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "The cost of high-grade resources is insane. Any spare credits I get are immediately funnelled into my contracts. If they don''t improve, even if I one day break through to 8-stars, I wouldn''t be much stronger than the average 7-star beast-tamer, or even the top 6-star beast-tamers."


    Kain stared at them all.


    ''Oh, spare me the sob stories! I am the youngest. I am the lowest-ranked. I am the one with the least resources. And yet, I am the only one who actually followed your own damn advice!''


    He mentally imagined hammering the heads of all four of his teammates.


    Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kain exhaled heavily.


    "¡­Fine. Fine. Whatever. There''s no point arguing about it now¡­"


    ¡­However, for the sake of group harmony, he decided against screaming at them.


    Kain exhaled again, shaking his head. "So, in summary¡ªall of you are broke."


    His pointedly dry words hung in the air.


    The three 6-stars and their 7-star leader all awkwardly coughed and looked away.


    Kain nced at his storage ring, feeling both annoyed and relieved that he had actually followed Benji''s advice.


    "¡­Let''s just focus on the situation at hand," he muttered tiredly. "Which items from the list will actually help here?"


    Kain dug into his storage pouch and withdrew a few items.


    Under the scrutinizing gaze of his more experienced teammates, they narrowed down the selection to two items that could help with the Relic Core''s extraction.


    The first was a Vessel of Purification¡ªa small, unassuming crystal vial that, when activated, would release a concentrated burst of purifying energy. Its main purpose is to purify the mind of ''corruption.''


    Benji''s eyes lit up. "Thank god you managed to get this, Kain!"


    Kain raised an eyebrow. "It''s that useful?" Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire


    Benji nodded. "It''s pure essence from a certain high-grade Light-elemental creature. Typically, it is used to cleanse the minds of Pathfinders who have fallen ''too deep into the act'' of a memory echo and snap them out of it. But it also has a unique side effect: it can reverse control progress on a Relic Core as long as it''s notpletely controlled."


    "Although, this function is rarely used, it''s an invaluable resource to have when entering relics that may have entrants from other nations. After all, in such cases, the final control of the relic was a matter of national pride and could contribute to the country''s strength." Benji finished@@novelbin@@


    "Therefore," Nadia cut in, "when we pour this on the core, it''ll force the Abyssal tendrils to react¡ªthey''ll have to counteract both the purification of their corruption and the weakening of their control.


    Kain nodded. "And the second item?"


    He pulled out the second item¡ªa Space Severing Nail.


    A dark metal spike about the size of his palm, etched with intricate runes pulsing with faint silver light. This unimpressive-looking nail was by far the most expensive item that had been on the list given to him by Benji.


    It was the purchase of this nail that had essentially wiped out so much of his credits he couldn''t even upgrade his equipment.


    ''This nail better be damn important, otherwise, I''m going to nail it through Benji''s head¡­''

 Chapter 431 Clearing Conditions

    "Yes." Nadia said calmly, "The citizens of this Ishvaran werepletely screwed. Hence why they all died with barely a survivor to remember that it ever existed. Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    "However," she continued. "This may just be what we need."


    ''How can an approaching army that resembles a never ending ck tsunami be exactly what we need?'' Kain thinks in confusion. Clearly he and Nadia have very different perspective on what they need.


    Likely seeing Kain''s skepticism, Nadia borated. "Obtaining the Relic Core is only one aspect of clearing a Historical Echo relic. Nobody knows how Historical Echoes are formed, since unlike trial and habitat relics humans are not able to make them, but one thing is for certain¡ªthey all present a unique event in human history."


    Benji, still looking pale but steadying himself, chimed in. "Indeed. Even the most innocuous-looking historical echoes eventually reveal themselves to be a pivotal turning point in human history."


    Taking a breath, he recounted, "A couple of decades ago, another group entered a Historical Echo relic that was set in a small, unassuming vige right before the Celestial Ascension period. It was just a rural settlement, barely worth mentioning. There weren''t even any beast tamers among its people, and for the longest time, there were no clues on the clearing conditions of such a mundane setting. It was frustrating. People were stuck in that relic for months to even years with no progress.".


    "But then, guess what they discovered?," Benji paused for dramatic effect, not really expecting them to answer, "it was discovered that this small vige was the birthce of Calista Eyera, one of the five founders of the Empire."


    udia let out a low whistle. "Damn. That must have been incredible. You could actually meet her?"


    ra nodded eagerly. "Eyera was the only female founder and was famous for her beauty. Imagine how adorable she must have been as a child!"


    Benji shrugged. "She was only twelve or thirteen at the time of the Historical Echo. But despite not even having awakened as a beast tamer yet, she already possessed the gift of prophecy."@@novelbin@@


    Kain raised a brow. "Prophecy? You mean like divination? Those types of abilities are usually vague at best and unreliable at worst."


    "That''s what most thought at first," Benji admitted. "But in her case, it was real. From practically the time she was born, she had innate foresight abilities. The problem was, the things she saw were never good. Every prophecy she made foretold tragedies that could rarely be changed. That kind of thing makes people ufortable. Terrified, even."


    Nadia frowned. "They turned on her." She said as if she already knew the oue with a bitter smile on her face. "People tend to react to the unknown with fear and hatred rather than just trying to understand."


    Kain couldn''t help but give a side nce to her. She seemed as though she was speaking from practical experience.


    Benji nodded. "Some of the vigers spread rumors. That she was a jinx, a demon, or worse¡ªthat she was causing the tragedies herself just to make her ''gift'' seem real. There were even suggestions to cast her out or kill her. She probably would have been if not for the vige chief taking pity on her. He protected her from the shadows, but he couldn''t shield her from the fear, contempt, and istion of the rest of the vigers. So, to survive, she stopped speaking aloud many of her prophecies. Instead, she internalized them."


    "So a bunch of her visions were lost to history," Kain guessed.


    "Exactly," Benji confirmed. "When she suddenly disappeared one day, she took all that knowledge of the future with her. That relic''s clearing condition wasn''t a battle, but rather gaining her trust and retrieving the prophecies she never spoke of to others, or at least the ones she made in her youth. The information they uncovered was so valuable that it changed the trajectory of the Empire, cementing its long reign of power and influence."


    "And what exactly were those prophecies?" udia asked in interest.


    Benji shook his head. "Only the highest-ranked individuals and those who cleared the relic know. It''s ssified."


    Kain scoffed. "Figures."


    Returning to the present matter at hand, Nadia gestured toward the approaching Abyssal horde. "Anyways, what I was trying to say is that this army may not necessarily be a bad thing." Benji said, "Not to mention that this city getting besieged and destroyed¡ªwhether by a tide of Abyssal creatures or spiritual beasts¡ªmust be a fixed plot event. It''s likely the clearing condition of this relic. Therefore, there''s no reason to feel guilty about bringing the abyssal creatures to the city or feel as though you caused this attack-it would have happened regardless. If anything it is probably a little weaker now since the Abyssal creatures also had much less time to prepare too."


    udia furrowed her brows. "So this was always going to happen? Even if we weren''t here?"


    "Yes, since it is likely the clearing condition," Nadia affirmed. "The Abyssal creatures likely nned to use that flesh gate to bypass the clearing condition and im the core without following the relic''s rules. But we don''t have that option. If we can sessfully defend this city against the attack, not only will we clear the relic, but we''ll also gain full control over the Relic Core. If wepletely assimte it with our spiritual power, we take ownership of this Historical Echo relic."


    Kain pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, to summarize: we have to stop a doomsday-level siege, prevent history from repeating itself, and im the core¡­ all before we end up like the original citizens of this ce."


    Nadia smirked. "Now you''re getting it."


    ra exhaled sharply. "No pressure, then."


    Benji let out a dryugh. "We might as well start preparing now. The way that horde is moving, we don''t have much time."


    Kain sighed. "Alright. Since this city is destined to be destroyed, let''s see if we can defy fate."

 Chapter 434 Resistance

    Kain''s breath caught in his throat as he watched the ck corruption spread across Aegis'' massive stone body.


    The earthen texture and sandy colour of the golem darkened, the once sturdy and familiar surface now appearing slick, as though coated in ck oil or tar.


    Fissures broke out along his rocky body that emitted ck smoke, and his massive form trembled. Then, his eyes¡ªhis once unwavering, sandy-yellow eyes¡ªbegan to bleed into a haunting, soulless red.


    "No¡­" Kain whispered, his voice barely audible over the battle''s din, dread settling like a vice around his chest.


    The moment a contracted creature sumbed to corruption, the contract itself would shatter, sending a bacsh of pain deep into the beast tamer''s soul.


    Worse still, the turned contract would immediately be another enemy, no different from the abyssal creatures they had been fighting.


    And Aegis, who had been acting as the final protector for many of the defending guards, was standing mere steps from the defensive line. Now, the position he had taken to better defend his allies would prove to have disastrous consequences once the change waspleted. If he turnedpletely, he would be a huge threat to their already dwindling forces.


    Kain braced himself, his body tense, waiting for the unbearable agony of a severed bond.


    He also recalled his other contracts from their various tasks and told them to focus on guarding his body in the inevitable event that his defenceless body was attacked by the nearby Aegis while he was coping with the bacsh.@@novelbin@@


    But the bacsh never came. His breath remained steady, his mind unpierced by the soul-shattering pain of losing a contract.


    Moreover¡­


    Aegis didn''t move.


    The golem''s massive figure remained still. Save for a faint, almost imperceptible tremor, Kain would have thought that Aegis was a silent statue. His massive fists clenched and unclenched, as if wrestling with something.


    And his eyes that had almost fully shifted to red, were now changing. Between pulses of crimson (the sign of the corrupted), streaks of sandy-yellow flickered desperately, as though waging a battle of their own.


    Stay connected with My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain''s heart pounded. Corrupted creatures didn''t hesitate. They didn''t struggle. They simply turned and attacked their former allies like mindless creatures with no memories of their former selves.


    But Aegis¡­ Aegis wasn''t attacking.


    He wasn''t lunging at Kain or the others, nor did he let out the twisted, otherworldly screeches of the fully turned. Instead, he stood frozen, his entire body wracked with violent tremors.


    The corrupted abyssal energy surged through him like a storm, but something¡ªsome part of Aegis¡ªwas resisting it.


    A spark of hope red in Kain''s chest. "Aegis?" he called out hesitantly, stepping forward, despite every instinct screaming at him to stay back.


    Aegis'' head twitched in his direction, but the motion was sluggish, unnatural. His mouth, which rarely ever moved beyond speaking a few words to Kain asionally, opened slightly as if he wanted to respond. Instead, a deep, guttural sound rumbled from within him, a cross between a groan of pain and a growl of a hungry beast.


    The battlefield continued to rage around them¡ªabyssal creatures swarmed the walls, corrupted humans and beasts alike turned on their formerrades, and Vauleth, as an immune ''True'' dragon, fought tooth and w to hold the line. But for Kain, all of it became background noise. His focus remained entirely on Aegis.


    Aegis let out another strangled sound, his body convulsing as if trying to shake off an unseen force. The corruption on his body pulsed violently, spreading in jagged lines across his stone form, but then¡ª


    A single patch of his body lightened.


    Just slightly. Just barely.


    But Kain saw it.


    The corruption wasn''t advancing as fast as it should have¡ªin fact, it was the opposite. It seemed more like it was losing ground. It was as though Aegis was holding it back, gradually adapting to the invasion and fighting against it, resisting it with every ounce of his being.


    Kain''s mind raced. Could it be possible? Could Aegis¡­ withstand the corruption?


    If Aegis was truly fighting back, then Kain couldn''t just stand there. He had to act.


    He reached out through their bond, pushing past the distortion, searching for any trace of Aegis beneath the abyssal taint. The connection was muddled, unstable, but there¡ªdeep beneathyers of encroaching darkness¡ªKain sensed something familiar. A presence that had not yet been consumed and turned.


    "Aegis," Kain said, his voice carrying over the chaos. "You can fight this."


    The smoke that escaped from the cracks on his body seemed to be escaping from within him, as though being expelled by Aegis himself. With each new fissure, more of his body reimed its original colour and texture.


    The ck spots signifying his corruption were continuing to spread while being simultaneously expelled. Kain now had hope of not losing Aegis.


    But it still wasn''t enough. Aegis'' body was now in a bnced equilibrium that may tilt against them at any time once Aegis lost the energy to resist.


    Kain stepped closer, cing a hand against Aegis'' shaking arm. He poured all of his remaining spiritual power into their bond, reinforcing the connection between them and channelling as much spiritual power as possible to support Aegis'' internal battle. Unfortunately, due to his constant refuels of Bea, he was practically an empty tank.


    Therefore, Kain actually overdrafted his own life force, converting it into spiritual power¡ªast-ditch life-saving means possessed by all beast-tamers but is scarcely used due to the longsting and potentially permanent negative effects doing so could have to their potential.


    Receiving thest of Kain''s energy, a deep tremor ran through Aegis'' body. But before Kain could see the effect, see if Aegis was saved, the side-effects of burning his lifeforce caught up to him.


    His vision blurred, his knees buckling as exhaustion wed at his very core. Aegis'' form flickered between corruption and resistance, the battle waging on inside him far from over. But Kain had no strength left to watch the oue. As darkness overtook his mind, a single thought lingered¡ªhad he done enough?

 Chapter 437 A Dream?

    Kain jolted awake.


    His breath came in shallow, rapid gasps, his body slick with cold sweat.


    His fingers curled instinctively against the rough fabric beneath him, his senses frantically grasping for something¡ªanything¡ªfamiliar.


    Gone was that horrifying city of nightmares. Gone was the monstrous, staring eye. Instead, a dimly lit room greeted him, lined with rows of upied gurneys. The air was thick with the scent of herbs and antiseptic, the low hum of whispered conversations and pained groans surrounded his disoriented mind like an unpleasant background noise.


    ''Was it a dream? But it felt so real¡­ like I was actually there.''


    Kain''s heart pounded against his ribs. The image of that eye¡ªits sheer, overwhelming presence¡ªrefused to get out of his head, lingering in his mind with an intensity far beyond any nightmare. It had felt real. Too real.


    His body ached, a deep soreness settling into his bones. Particrly his back, as though he lied in only one position for days¡ªperhaps he had.


    He attempted to shift, but the effort sent a sharp sting through his side, forcing him to grit his teeth. Only then did he notice the tubes attached to his arms, thin lines connecting him to outdated medical machines injecting various colored liquids into his veins like some kind of primitive I.V. drip.


    His gaze drifted to a bag on the floor, stuffed with his clothes¡ªdirty, sweat-soaked, and clearly changed at least twice. If nothing else, it was clear he''d been here for a while. Likely ever since he copsed on the battlefield.


    ''Then¡­ I never actually left, right? My mind must have been messed up from overdrafting my lifeforce. I must have hallucinated¡­ that horrible ce.'' Kainforted himself, but deep down, he wasn''t sure if he believed it.


    Discover hidden content at My Virtual Library Empire


    A soft rustling interrupted his spiraling thoughts.


    The curtain surrounding his bed shifted, and a woman stepped into his sectioned-off space.


    She wore a healer''s uniform¡ªpractical and somewhat worn, the fabric stained with dried blood from treating the wounded.


    Light brown hair was tied back in a loose bun, stray strands framing her face. In one hand, she held a clipboard filled with what appeared to be his medical records, while the other carried a ss container filled with bright blue liquid.


    Kain''s eyes flicked between the strange-looking container and the tubes in his arms, and he guessed that she must be here to refill this strange looking "I.V. drip"


    Then, she looked up.


    Their eyes met.


    The healer''s breath hitched audibly. A startled yelp escaped her lips. Clearly, she hadn''t expected anyone in this ward to be awake.


    For a moment, neither of them moved.


    Then, without a word, she turned on her heel and bolted.


    The clipboard slipped from her grasp, ttering against the floor, its pages fluttering wildly as she shoved past the curtain and disappeared down the aisle of the ward.


    From beyond the thin fabric walls of his makeshift room, hurried footsteps echoed, fading into the distance.


    Kain blinked.


    ''What?''


    His sluggish mind struggled to catch up.


    ''What kind of bullshit medical care is this?! I''m a patient, how could you just run away?! Zero-star review!''


    But the absurdity of the situation faded quickly as Kain tried to reason her actions. If she had simply been unprofessional, she might have gasped or hesitated. But the way she ran, the sheer urgency of it¡­


    His pulse quickened. Something was wrong.


    And now that he was paying attention¡ªthere was something else. The battle.


    Or rather, theck of it.


    The distant booms of colliding steel and monstrous roars that had be the constant backdrop of the city''s defense were gone. No fresh waves of injured were being brought in.


    What the hell happened while I was unconscious? Did we win? Or did we lose and were forced to flee to a neighbouring city-state?''


    Before he could entertain worse possibilities, the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears¡ªquick, purposeful strides. The curtain was yanked aside.


    A familiar face stood there.


    Nadia.


    Her piercing gaze swept over him, sharp as a de, as if she was assessing whether he was real or some illusion her mind had conjured.


    The moment he saw her, Kain forced himself upright. His muscles screamed in protest, but he ignored them.


    "The battle," he rasped. "What''s happening? Did we lose? Are we prisoners?"


    Nadia''s brow furrowed slightly. "You don''t know?"


    Kain blinked. "Know what?"


    For the first time since she entered, Nadia hesitated. It was brief, but it was there¡ªa flicker of uncertainty. Then she exhaled through her nose, shaking her head before leveling him with a measured stare.


    "We aren''t 100% sure what happened either," she admitted. "We were hoping you could answer our questions. After you copsed, Aegis¡­ changed."


    Kain frowned. "Changed?"


    "Yeah," she said. "Aegis, at first, resisted the abyssal corruption with your help. But shortly after you lost consciousness, he began to change."@@novelbin@@


    Kain''s breath hitched. "Change how?"


    Nadia crossed her arms. "At first, we thought he had sumbed to corruption. His body looked like theirs. His presence felt like theirs. We thought we''d lost him."


    Kain became frantic at this description and tried to check Aegis'' status through their bond. He''d wait to check the System when Nadia left.


    Nadia shook her head. "Don''t worry. He turned on them instead."


    Kain''s mind reeled. Aegis¡­ fought the abyssals?


    "Physically, he now resembles the corrupted, but his intelligence seems intact," Nadia continued. "More importantly, when the healers examined you, they found no signs of a broken contract. Whatever happened to him¡ªit didn''t sever your connection."


    Kain exhaled, trying to process the information. If Aegis had truly been corrupted, their bond should have shattered. That was the natural order of things.


    "But that''s not all," Nadia said, her voice quieter now. "Aegis didn''t just fight. He suppressed them. The moment he awakened¡ªor evolved, or whatever it was¡ªhis presence alone seemed to weigh down the abyssal creatures. It was like¡­ they feared him. Even the few high-level ones couldn''t use their full strength"


    Kain swallowed hard. "And that made them retreat?"


    "We didn''t win," she reminded him. "Not even close. But between his sudden transformation that caught them off guard and the fact that we fought harder than they anticipated, the enemy chose to withdraw. For now."


    Kain could only stare at her, his mind struggling to process everything.


    Aegis had changed. Be something new.


    Whatever had happened on that battlefield, it hadpletely changed Aegis. And, if Kain''s ''dream'' was any indication, may have even extended to him.

 Chapter 439 A Horror Movie Scene

    Kain''s entire body protested with every step as he made his way toward the secured facility, Mira, the guard who had gone to fetch him, walking briskly beside him.


    His body ached, and his bnce was unsteady. But none of that couldpare to the pain deep in his soul that came from overdrafting his lifeforce. If he had suffered the usual injuries, he could have gotten Queen to heal him within moments, unfortunately, the recovery of one''s lifeforce wasn''t so simple.@@novelbin@@


    But none of that mattered right now. He needed to see Aegis.


    Kain could tell they were almost at their destination not by the scenery, but by the loudmotion he could hear from several meters away.


    Voices ovepped in frantic arguments, panic thick in the air. Beast-tamers, guards, and staff crowded around the perimeter, their faces tight with anger and concern.


    "What the hell is that thing?!" someone shouted.


    "How do we even know our contracts are still stafe in there?" said a disgruntled owner.


    "They clearly aren''t! We should have kicked that thing out, not taken care of it and kept it around waiting for it to only get stronger!"


    "That thing may have even been a conspiracy by the Abyssal creatures! You saw how powerful they were! What if they wanted to take us down from the inside using that mutant!"


    ''From what I heard, you all were getting your asses kicked without my Aegis. Did the abyssals even need toe up with some kind of borate n to kill you all? What a joke¡­''


    Kain''s eyes swept across the scene, quickly spotting the source of the unrest. The containment barrier¡ªwhich ording to Mira was originally a translucent energy field designed to allow observation¡ªhad beenpletely reced. In its ce stood a dome of smooth, opaque ck metal.


    Mira inhaled sharply. "It wasn''t like this before," she muttered. "The original barrier was meant to contain and monitor the spiritual creatures inside. This¡­ this was made by Aegis."


    The realization sent a fresh wave of unease rippling through the gathered tamers. Their ability to see their contracts had been stripped away, leaving them in the dark¡ªboth figuratively and literally.


    The shouting grew louder. Tamers shoved forward, their voicesced with desperation and hostility.


    "What if they''re already dead in there?!"


    ''Then you''d feel the broken contract, idiot¡­''


    "This is your contract''s fault, isn''t it?" A woman red at Kain, stepping toward him aggressively. "You need to fix this¡ªnow."


    A few others murmured in agreement, some angry, some hopeful. Kain''s presence brought a measure of expectation. If Aegis was the cause of this, then surely his tamer could make him undo it.


    Kain was honestly fed up with these people. If there was any danger to their contracts in there, they would feel it. He opened his mouth to give them a piece of his mind , but before he could say a word, Mira stepped forward and let out a sharp,manding shout. "Enough!"


    The crowd flinched. The raw authority in her voice cut through the chaos, forcing silence to settle over the gathering.


    Mira turned in a slow circle, her gaze sharp as she addressed them. "I understand you''re scared. I get it. But let me remind you all of something¡ªyou''re still alive because of Aegis. The only reason the abyssals haven''t torn through this camp is because his unique ability to suppress them bought us some more time. We owe it to both Aegis, and Kain, to not just throw them away like discarded trash once we''ve gotten what we needed. Shame on you all!"


    Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Some looked skeptical, others conflicted.


    Mira''s voice remained firm. "Right now, he might be the only reason this camp is still standing. And you think turning against him is the right move?" She folded her arms. "Instead of panicking, maybe try supporting the damn thing that''s keeping us alive."


    A tense silence followed.


    Kain exhaled, stepping up beside her. He could still feel the weight of res on him, but at least the immediate hostility had lessened.


    He turned his attention to the dome, unease curling in his stomach.


    "Aegis," he muttered under his breath. "What the hell are you doing in there?"


    Under the expectant eyes of those around, Kain ced his hand on the ck metal dome. However, unlike the cold metal feeling he expected, all Kain touched was air as he fell straight into the dome without meeting any resistance.


    The moment Kain disappeared, anothermotion arose in the surroundings, but thankfully not as big as before. Since Kain was able to enter, unlike them, that surely meant that Aegis hadn''tpletely lost his mind, right? He should listen to Kain¡­at least they hoped so.


    The moment he crossed the threshold, a suffocating weight settled over him. The air inside was thick with the smell of decay. Not to mention, that Kain wasn''t sure what this facility looked like originally, but he was sure that it couldn''t have looked like this¡­


    The ground, onceid with a smooth white tile was now filled with cracks¡ªjagged veins of ck rock snaked through it, pulsing faintly like living arteries.


    Simrly ck pulsing tendrils climbed up the walls of the facility and the dome, and would pulse rhythmically.


    But the worst part¡ªthe part that sent a sharp chill down Kain''s spine¡ªwas the contracts.


    All around him, the at-risk spiritual creaturesy sprawled across the ground, their bodies twitching and writhing as thick, ck tendrils extended from Aegis andtched onto them like grotesque vines wrapping them up and absorbing their energy.


    Their eyes were flickering between red and their original colours unstably, and their spiritual energy was fluctuating wildly as if struggling against an unseen force. Some let out distorted cries¡ªweak, pained sounds that barely resembled their usual selves.


    And at the very center of it all stood Aegis¡ªlike a tall, looming harbinger of death.


    For a moment, Kain could only stare and blink as he took in the scene. There was only one thought in his mind¡­


    ''Thank god those idiots outside couldn''t see this scene. They definitely would have overreacted.''

 Chapter 442 When Hope Shatters

    The rm bell rang through the city, its sharp, urgent sound echoing off the stone walls, ensuring that all residents heard what, to many of the citizens, was like the urgent warning of their impending doom.


    Soldiers and beast-tamers scrambled to their positions, gripping weapons with white-knuckled hands as they rushed toward the city walls. The air was thick with tension, the scent of sweat, metal, and lingering abyssal rot filling up their lungs.@@novelbin@@


    Kain vaulted up the nearest set of stairs, taking two steps at a time as he reached the top of the city wall.


    From his elevated vantage point, his eyes swept over the battlefield. The Abyssals had regrouped¡ªa seemingly never-ending wave of corrupted spiritual creatures and abyssals moving toward the city like a nightmarish tide. But this time, they weren''t just mindlessly charging.


    Towering at the rear of their ranks were massive war machines, dark and jagged, constructed from what appeared to be bones, metal, and some unidentifiable objects. They loomed like grotesque monuments, pulsating with an eerie red glow as if alive. Strange currents of light ran along their surfaces. The defenders immediately noticed the addition of these monstrosities, but their purpose remained unknown¡ªat least for now.


    However, despite the abyssal seemingly being better prepared tounch an attack this time, the pressure on the defenders was actually much lighter than it was before.


    The defenders unleashed volleys of arrows and spiritual skills, and werergely responsible for cutting down the smaller Abyssals before they reached the walls.


    Meanwhile, the more powerful abyssal creatures were handled by the spiritual creatures. The air shimmered with bursts of me and lightning as various creatures hurled attacks into the fray. Kain''s own spear stabbed straight through a low-level Abyssal drone that had attempted to scale the wall, the creature''s inky-ck blood sttering against the stone before quickly disappearing¡ªthe remnants of its body absorbed.


    Aegis.


    The entire floor of the city wall and the ground just beyond had be a pitch-ck surface, as if tar had seeped into every crevice and hardened. Whenever an injured soldier, beast, or even an Abyssal itselfnded on this surface, writhing tendrils that resembled cilia or sea anemones shot up and coiled around them. But instead of pulling them under or attacking, the tendrils extracted the corruption, draining the abyssal energy and leaving the soldier rejuvenated, their aura stabilizing.


    The moment one of the defenders copsed, gasping and trembling as the corruption threatened to overtake them, the tendrilsshed out andtched onto their body, siphoning the corruption away in thick, oily strands. Secondster, the soldier was back on his feet, grabbing his weapon with renewed strength and charging back into the fray.


    Even the Abyssal creatures were not immune. Those that had fully sumbed to corruption screeched and thrashed as their power was drained, their flesh turning pale and brittle until, eventually, they became nothing more than husks¡ªhollow shells of what they once were.


    Aegis took the siphoned corruption and molded it, the swirling darkness condensing into a massive obsidian wall just beyond the city''s original wall. This new barrier grew thicker with each moment, absorbing more and more energy until it stood as a second line of defense. The corruption that had once threatened them was made to protect them all.


    For the first time in what felt like ages, hope flickered in the hearts of the defenders.


    "We might actually win this," someone muttered breathlessly.


    That hope was shattered in the next instant.


    One of the originally silent Abyssal war machines shuddered to life.


    A deep, resonating hum filled the air, a frequency so low it made Kain''s bones vibrate. Crimson light pulsed along the grotesque artery-like chords around the machine, gathering into a single, blindingly bright core. The defenders barely had time to react before the weapon discharged.


    A beam of pure abyssal energyunched forward, carving through Aegis'' newly formed wall like it was nothing more than paper. The sturdy ckened defense¡ªonce thought imprable¡ªmelted away in an instant, the stone formed from corruption turning into tiny dust-like particles.


    Unfortunately, after destroying a section of Aegis'' wall, the beam did not stop.


    It sliced clean through a section of the city wall behind it, vaporizing stone, steel, and flesh alike. An entire stretch of the defensive line crumbled in an instant, taking the defenders standing there with it.


    Screams filled the air as bodies tumbled from the copsing wall, some lucky enough to merely suffer broken bones, others not surviving the fall at all. Those directly caught in the beam''s path never had the chance to scream¡ªthey were simply gone, erased as if they had never existed.


    Chaos erupted as the city wall trembled under the devastating impact. Dust and debris clouded the air, mixing with the horrible scent of burned stone and flesh. The cries of the wounded mingled with the shrill screeches of the low and mid-level Abyssals pushing forward, sensing the momentarypse in the city''s defenses.


    Kain barely had time to regain his footing before the second war machine roared to life. A deep, pulsating hum reverberated across the battlefield, signaling another impending attack.


    "Move!" Kain barked, alreadyunching himself off the targeted section of the wall. The defenders scattered just in time, the second beam of abyssal energy slicing through another section of the wall not far from where Kain had been standing, reducing it to rubble in mere seconds.


    Then came the third.


    And the fourth.


    The once-sturdy walls of the city, which had held strong despite past invasions and beast-tides for decades, were now filled with holes like swiss cheese.


    Through the gaping wounds in the city''s defenses, low-level and mid-level Abyssal creatures poured in like a relentless tide.


    Stay updated via My Virtual Library Empire


    Aegis attempted to drain the abyssal energy of the infiltrating abyssal to reform the city defenses. However, the quantitative change triggered a qualitative change, and their massive amount of numbers became too much for Aegis to fully drain them all before they infiltrated the city.


    After they scrambled over broken stone, and only had some of their energy siphoned off by Aegis, many of them still surged toward the inner city where civilians were huddled in their homes in fear.

 Chapter 445 Drinking Poison to Quench Thirst

    Suddenly Kain recalled that after Aegis seemed to extract the abyssal energy from the target and reshape it for his own use, Abyssal creatures seemed to have no means of manipting it any more. Perhaps they could make use of that?


    "Aegis," Kain said, his voice steady despite the desperation wing at him. "Instead of draining the energy as ites into the machine, can you let it through, but focus on converting it into your own use? Of course, you don''t need to fully convert the abyssal energy into that stone you''ve been making, start with little changes to its properties and we''ll go from there after seeing the effect.


    Read new adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    Aegis tilted his head, his glowing eyes meeting Kain''s. "I¡­ can try."


    "Do it," Kain urged. "We''ll buy you time."


    Benji and Mira didn''t need to be told twice. Theyunched another barrage of attacks, their contracts unleashing everything they had to keep the machine''s defenses upied. Sera reinforced their weapons once more, though her face was pale with exertion.


    Aegis stepped forward again, his tendrilstching onto the machine''s surface. This time, instead of draining its and taking it away from the machine energy, he focused on just trying to gain control of the energy without redirecting its path.


    Aegis'' tendrils pulsed with a faint, almost imperceptible glow as theytched onto the war machine''s surface. The machine, sensing the suddenck of resistance, eagerly guzzled more energy from its surroundings.


    The veins of abyssal energy running through its structure red brighter, the hum of its core growing louder and more erratic. It was as if the machine was reveling in its newfound freedom, unaware of the poison it was consuming.


    Kain watched with bated breath, his grip tightening on his spear¡ªeither this n worked or they may have just sent the city to its doom with their own hands.


    The air around them crackled with tension, the battlefield momentarily frozen as everyone waited to see what would happen next. Even the Abyssal creatures seemed to pause, their glowing eyes fixed on the war machine as if sensing something was wrong.


    "Is it working?" Mira questioned fearfully as the core''s brightness continued to increase.


    "It must be!" Kain replied firmly, though he wasn''t entirely sure. The machine''s core was glowing brighter than ever, its energy swirling chaotically within. Aegis'' influence was subtle, almost invisible, but Kain could feel it through their bond¡ªa faint, steady pressure as Aegis slowly altered the properties of the energy flowing into the machine. At least visually, while the iing abyssal energy wasn''t made into stone, it definitely took on a more viscous,va-like consistency as it flowed into the machine.


    The machine didn''t seem to notice. It continued to draw in energy, its core pulsing with an almost greedy intensity. The ground beneath it began to tremble, cracks spreading outward as the machine''s power grew unchecked. The air grew heavy, charged with an oppressive energy that made it hard to breathe.


    "What''s happening?" Mira asked, her voice tinged with unease. Her wind contracts circled above her, their movements agitated.


    "I don''t know," Kain admitted, his eyes never leaving the machine. "But if Aegis'' n works, it''s not going to end well for that thing."


    As if on cue, the machine''s core began to flicker, its light shifting from a steady red to a chaotic mix of colors¡ªgold, purple, and ck. The hum of its power grew louder, more discordant, like a symphony falling out of tune.


    The veins of energy running through its surface pulsed erratically, their rhythm breaking down as the machine struggled to maintain control.


    "It''s destabilizing. At least it looks like it is" Benji said, a hint of hope in his voice.


    But the machine wasn''t going down without a fight. Its surface shifted, forming jagged spikes thatshed out at Aegis, trying to destroy the thing it recognized as the cause for its repeated struggles.


    One of the spikes pierced through his obsidian-like body, and Kain felt a sharp pain through their bond. Aegis didn''t falter, his focus unwavering as he continued to manipte the energy flowing into the machine.@@novelbin@@


    The machine''s core began to glow brighter, its light almost blinding. The air around it crackled with power, and Kain sensed through the bond that they were running out of time.


    "Get back!" Kain shouted, grabbing Benji and Sera who were the closest to him, and pulling them away from the machine. Mira followed, her eyes wide with fear.


    Aegis remained where he was, his tendrils stilltched onto the machine. With a final, deafening roar, the war machine''s core exploded, sending a shockwave of energy rippling through the battlefield. The force of the st knocked them off their feet, and Kain hit the ground hard, his ears ringing.


    When the dust settled, the war machine was nothing more than a smoldering wreck, its corepletely destroyed. Aegis stood amidst the debris, his body cracked and scorched, a third of it gone, but still alive. It was moments like this when the advantage Aegis'' core being microscopic and also easily moveable in his body became apparent. As long as a small debris particle containing his microscopic core remained, he could theoretically recover given enough time and resources.


    Aegis had managed to form a shield at thest moment, protecting Kain and the others from the worst of the st.


    Kain let out a shaky breath, his heart still pounding. They had taken down one war machine, but the cost had been high. And as the sound of another war machine discharging its beam echoed across the battlefield, followed by the deafening crash of copsing stone, Kain knew their fight was far from over.


    "We need to take out the others," Kain said, his voice filled with urgency. "Even if we managed to take one down, it won''t count for much if the others are still in operation."


    Benji nodded, his expression grim. "Let''s move. We''ll regroup with the others and take them down one by one."


    As they raced toward the next war machine, Kain couldn''t shake the conflicting feelings of dread and hope that settled in his chest. The Abyssals were relentless, and their war machines were only the beginning¡ªafter all, the true top-levelbat power of each side, the Demigods, still hadn''t appeared.

 Chapter 447 The Demigods

    The battlefield fell into an unnatural stillness, the air thick with tension as the Demigod Abyssal stepped forward. Its golden eyes, flecked with violet, scanned the battlefield with an almost casual indifference as if the carnage around it were nothing more than a trivial spectacle.


    The Abyssal creatures, once frenzied and relentless, now knelt in submission, their grotesque forms trembling under the weight of a presence so far above them in the hierarchy.


    Even the defenders, hardened by hours of brutalbat, felt their resolve waver. The sheer magnitude of the Demigod''s aura was suffocating, a palpable force that pressed down on every living being within its reach.


    Kain''s breath caught in his throat, his fingers trembling as though his body was instinctively rejecting the idea of fighting such an entity.


    He had faced high-level Abyssals before, but this¡­ this was something else entirely. The Demigod''s power was on apletely different level, a force of nature that defiedprehension. His mind raced, searching for a n, a way to counter this overwhelming threat. But deep down, he knew that no strategy they had would be enough. Not against this.


    Just as despair began to creep into the hearts of the defenders, a new presence emerged¡ªone that rivalled the Demigod''s in sheer intensity.@@novelbin@@


    From within the city, a figure rose, his arrival heralded by a surge of spiritual energy that washed over the battlefield like a tidal wave¡ªa spiritual force as radiant as the sun breaking through a storm. The sky above Ishvaran burned with golden-red light, illuminating the battlefield like dawn after an endless night.


    The City-Lord of Ishvaran had finally appeared.


    He descended from the sky, his figure bathed in a radiant golden light. His presence wasmanding, his every movement exuding an air of authority and power.


    He was tall and broad-shouldered, his armour a masterpiece of craftsmanship, adorned with intricate engravings that seemed to shimmer with an inner light. His face was stern, framed by a dishevelled mane of golden hair that flowed like liquid metal. His eyes, a piercing shade of amber, glowed with an intensity that matched the Demigod''s.


    "Lord Valenar Ishvaran," Nadia murmured, her voice filled with a mix of awe and relief. "He''s here."


    Neither the natives nor Kain''s group could resist staring at the City Lord, practically to the point of impoliteness. After all, 9-star beast-tamers were incredibly rare and even despite being members of the Order, neither Benji, Nadia, udia, nor ra, had ever seen one in person before. They weren''t exactly easy to meet.


    In fact, the only reason Kain had seen 9-star beast-tamers was due to his first ck Mission when he infiltrated a high-level auction.


    And even then it wasn''t as though he''d gotten to really see them fight or feel the full extent of their auras, since they''d restrained much of the pressure their bodies would emit during the auction. If they hadn''t, many weaker individuals sitting in the hall may have copsed then and there from their auras alone.


    The Demigod Abyssal tilted its head, its expression unreadable but its gaze fixed on Valenar. For a moment, the two stood facing each other, the battlefield holding its breath as the tension between them reached a breaking point.


    The weight of their auras shed, the battlefield trembling under the sheer force of their existence.


    Then, without warning, the Demigod Abyssal moved. It was a blur of motion, its form shifting and twisting as it closed the distance between them in an instant. Its wed handshed out, aiming to strike Valenar with a force that could shatter mountains.


    But Valenar was faster.


    The City-Lord''s ethereal de intercepted the attack, the sh of their powers sending a shockwave that rippled across the battlefield. The ground beneath them cracked and splintered, the sheer force of their collision creating a crater that swallowed the nearest Abyssals whole.


    In the first confrontation, the City Lord definitely seemed to be on the weaker side, pushed back dozens of meters while deflecting the enemy''s blow. But he wasn''t alone.


    With a single movement, Azar unleashed his contracts. Two titanic figures materialized beside him¡ªtwo more demigod-level beings had appeared on the field.


    One appeared like an eastern dragon, its long serpentine body had red scales burning with divine mes.


    The other was an armoured giant, a colossal warrior wrapped in red and golden energy, its every movement exuding overwhelming strength and heat.


    The moment they appeared, the atmosphere shifted once more. Theirbined presence was enough to counterbnce and even greatly pressure the demigod Abyssal. And then, in a sh, the two sides collided.


    The dragon''s roar shook the battlefield as it lunged, its fiery breath surging forth like an inferno to meet the abyssal demigod''s outstretched hand. The titan followed, raising its massive warhammer and bringing it down with enough force to fracture the very ground beneath them.


    Valenar''s expression remained calm, almost serene, as he fought along his contracts to increase the pressure on the Abyssal. His de red with red-golden light, and with a swift, precise motion, he shed upward, forcing the Demigod to retreat into the path of his contracts'' Warhammer¡ªa devastating blow it was forced to take on with a hastily conjured shield of Abyssal energy.


    The Abyssal hissed, its golden eyes narrowing as it reassessed its opponents.


    The battle between the demigods was unlike anything Kain had ever witnessed¡ªtruly befitting their title as god-like beings.


    Their movements were a blur, their attacks so fast and powerful that they seemed to warp the very fabric of reality. Each sh of their powers sent shockwaves through the air, the ground trembling beneath their feet. The defenders and Abyssals alike were forced to retreat, the sheer intensity of their battle making it impossible to remain close.


    Yet City Lord Valenar Ishvaran was not finished.


    His violet-grade contracts¡ªunable to put up much resistance to the Demigod level figures¡ªspread out across the battlefield to alleviate the pressure on the city guards.


    A radiant phoenix soared overhead, its golden mes searing through abyssal ranks. A twin-headed serpent slithered between enemy lines, wherever it passed a scorched serpentine trail remaining. A lion cloaked in fire charged forward, its thunderous roar sending lesser Abyssals into a panic. And more fire-attribute spiritual creatures that ranged from a couple of indigo-grade ones that appeared to be juveniles, to stronger violet-grade contracts, all rushed into the enemy army and trampled on them easily.


    The defenders of Ishvaran, seeing their City Lord in action for the first time, felt their spirits ignite. The once-despairing soldiers now fought with renewed vigor, pushing back against the tide of Abyssals. The pressure on the city walls lifted, and for the first time since the battle had begun, it felt as if victory was imminent.


    Kain, watching from afar, exhaled a breath he hadn''t realized he''d been holding. "Unbelievable¡­"


    Yet, even with the battlefield shifting in their favor, his unease did not fade.


    Stay updated through My Virtual Library Empire


    The demigod Abyssal, though now engaged in battle with the City Lord and his contracts, did not appear desperate or even slightly concerned. It was as if it had been waiting for something.


    And then, the earth rumbled.


    Kain''s stomach twisted. He turned his head, and what he saw made his blood run cold.


    From the abyssal ranks, a new war machine emerged. It wasrger than the others¡ªeasily towering over the battlefield like a behemoth of ckened metal. Its form pulsed with abyssal energy, its veins glowing not just with the usual golden and red hues, but now streaked with deep violet, an unsettling change.


    Its limbs bore abyssal runes, thrumming with power unlike any of the previous machines.


    The defenders, just regaining their morale, faltered once more at the sight of the monstrous war engine.


    Benji cursed. "You''ve got to be kidding me. Another one?"

 Chapter 449 A Gamble

    The City-Lord''s contracts, though powerful, were struggling to make a dent in the machine''s imprable defenses. The best solution Kain and the others could think of was to deal with it as they did the previous machines¡ªattacking it from the inside.


    "Aegis," Kain said, his voice steady despite the chaos around them. "Can you do it? Can you alter and control its energy?"


    Aegis tilted his head, his glowing eyes meeting Kain''s. "I¡­ can try."


    Kain nodded, his expression grim. "Do it. We''ll cover you."


    With that, Kain turned to the others. "We need to buy Aegis time. Keep the behemoth distracted while he works."


    Benji and Mira nodded, their expressions determined. Sera, though pale and visibly exhausted, stepped forward, her hands glowing with a faint silver light as she prepared to reinforce their weapons once more.


    Their small group moved in the opposite direction of those fleeing, steadily approaching the machine. Around it were still two of the City Lord''s contracts, a violet-grade lion and an indigo-grade three-headed hellhound whose massive heads looked like young puppies.


    Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain''s Vespid guards, Vauleth and the other contracts of their group,unched their assault, their attacks focused on the behemoth''s massive limbs in an attempt to slow it down. Bea, due to previous attempts to affect the machines being ineffective due to them not having a mind, focused on holding off the surrounding abyssal creatures.


    Their team tried their best to coordinate and not interfere with the City Lord''s spiritual creatures. In the beginning, the lion and hellhound looked at them with slight confusion and even disdain, as if questioning what they could possibly hope to contribute if the two of them were struggling so much, but after seeing that they didn''t drag them down, they thankfully didn''t shoo them away. In fact, with Kain and the others acting strategically to assist them, their pressure actually decreased¡ªalbeit slightly.


    But the behemoth was relentless. Its massive limbs swung with terrifying speed, each strike sending defenders flying. The violet runes on its surface pulsed with energy, absorbing the attacks and redirecting them back at the defenders in bursts of abyssal energy.


    Kain gritted his teeth as he dodged another strike, his spear crackling with spiritual energy as heunched a counterattack. The behemoth''s defences were unlike the ones they had faced before. The violet sigils on its surface seemed to be feeding off of their attacks and its core was growing stronger with each strike.@@novelbin@@


    "We''re not making a dent!" Benji shouted, his voice filled with frustration. "This thing''s too strong!"


    Kain didn''t respond, his eyes fixed on Aegis, who had discretely nowtched onto the machine''s surface. ck chords led from Aegis and connected to the key nodes of the machine that the majority of the iing energy needed to travel through. However, even though he hadn''t started his main task yet, his body was already trembling and fissure-like crack broke out on his surface just from the strain of infiltrating the machine. The machine seemed to notice the intrusion, and a massive opening that was originally always aimed at the city wall was now turning toward Aegis with a low, mechanical groan.


    The second it was aimed steadily at Aegis, Kain could sense the all-consuming panic that flooded their connection. Even if Aegis'' survival abilities were far greater than the average golem, Aegis could sense that he would not survive this blow. Thankfully, the core didn''t seem fully charged for firing off a shot yet, but Aegis also could not move from his current location easily¡ªafter all, it had taken much of his energy to even prate the machine in this spot.


    "We need to keep it distracted!" Kain shouted in panic,unching himself at the behemoth with everything he had. Likewise, the others also began to attack the machine frantically.


    Likely realizing that they weren''t just here to be barely helpful, and actually had a n to take down the machine, the City Lord''s contracts also became more proactive in protecting Aegis.


    Annoyed, the machine struck out¡ªdirectly at Kain.


    Kain barely had time to react, diving out of the way just as the limb came crashing down. The ground where he had been standing exploded, the force of the impact sending him flying. He hit the ground hard, his vision swimming as he struggled to get back to his feet.


    But he didn''t have to. Aegis, his tendrils stilltched onto the behemoth, let out a deep, resonating roar. The abyssal energy coursing through the machine began to flicker, the violet runes dimming as Aegis wrestled for control of the abyssal energy and turned it from a gaseous free flowing energy, to one that bordered on solid and began to clog up its ''veins''. The behemoth staggered, its movements slowing as its flow of energy was disrupted..


    "It''s working!" Kain shouted, his voice filled with hope. "Keep it up, Aegis!"


    But the behemoth wasn''t going down without a fight. Its massive limbs swung wildly, its movements erratic as it tried to dislodge Aegis. The golem held on, his body trembling under the strain as he continued to manipte the energy.


    Their team rallied, their attacks focused on the behemoth''s weakened limbs, and their attacks focused on destabilizing the machine.


    Finally, with a deafening roar, the behemoth''s core exploded, sending a shockwave of energy rippling through the battlefield. The force of the st knocked everyone off their feet, the ground trembling as the machine copsed in a smouldering heap that left behind a massive crater.


    Through the ringing in his ears and falling debris, Kain looked around to check on his allies.


    ra was on the floor, screaming from pain, Kain could see that the bottom half of one of her legs was missing and the ground around her was soaked with blood.


    Simrly, Nadia was shivering in pain and throwing up on the floor. At first, Kain couldn''t tell what was wrong with her, but then he spotted the mangled mess of flesh, blood, and fur next to her. Clearly one of her contracts had fallen and she was suffering from the bacsh of the broken contract.


    The others and their contracts only seemed to suffer from mild to moderate injuries.


    But after looking around for a while, Kain realized¡­Aegis was nowhere to be found.

 Chapter 451 Blessed or Cursed?

    Shetched onto one of the struggling low-level abyssals under her control, who would beparable to a stronger red-grade spiritual creature.


    Rather than suppressing orpeting with the abyssal energy, she allowed her split to study it, to sync with it, guiding it, moulding it, and redirecting its flow until it became¡­pliant albeit only slightly.


    And then it happened.


    A rush of knowledge, an instinctual understanding flooded into her being. Bea realized that the process of forming corrupted wasn''t about dominating them¡ªthe energy was assimting them. And she would go a lot further if she could also master this more gentle approach toplete control.


    The creature beneath her influence gradually stopped struggling, its resistance melting away as if it had epted her presence entirely. Its body, still abyssal, still dark and monstrous, now moved with her will, not as a puppet forced into motion, but as something that had its own autonomy but had been rewritten to recognize her as its superior.


    Excitement surged through her as she tested it again. Another abyssal, stronger and closer in strength to a yellow-grade spiritual creature, one that had been resisting her grasp, suddenly stilled as she refined her influence over it. The change was subtle, but it was there. Rather than pushing back, rather than fighting her, the abyssal''s corrupted energy had aligned with her own.


    Abyssal energy, twisted as it was, no longer repelled her as strongly as before. She could shape it, twist it to her advantage, and bend it toward her will with far less strain than before.


    If she had a body, she would be humming with satisfaction right now. If this was the nature of abyssal energy, then she would turn it into her weapon.


    And with this power, she would devour this battlefield.


    Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire


    -------------------------------


    Harris was a new recruit. Speaking of, his luck could be considered to be quite strange.


    On the extremely negative end, on his first of his new job as a city guard, the abyssalsunched a full-scale attack. He may not even be able to collect his first paycheque before dying!


    However, in another sense, Harris could also argue that he was extremely lucky. After all, despite being probably the weakest and least experienced beast-tamer on the field, he was still alive with all of his contracts intact while many of those stronger and better than him had fallen.


    In fact, when those war machines had first appeared on the field and sted the city walls, he had thought he was certainly done for.


    He was certain that the first machine to fire was aimed directly at his section of the wall, and before he could react that attack had already sted a section of the wall and the guards on it into dust¡ªless than a meter to the right of where he was standing.


    Just when he was about to praise his good luck and his pounding heart began to slow, another st also arrived from another machine¡ªthis one even closer but to his left.


    And so, Harris became the only guard remaining on a thin section of the wall still standing¡ªless than a meter widepletely isted from his allies on an ind of crumbling stone.


    And throughout the battle, there were several more instances of near misses. A cat-type corrupt suddenly appeared at his side, face mere inches from his neck, when it suddenly began convulsing and choking while copsing on the floor. Harris, quickly fled the area, but when he nced back he could see the corrupted cat spitting up what appeared to be a massive ck hairball. With the massive ball dislodged from its throat, it returned to normal and began attacking everyone around it, Harris long forgotten.


    And in another instance, Harris was cornered by a charging abyssal beast¡ªsome sort of grotesque, six-limbed wolf hybrid. Harris had braced himself for death, clutching his trembling sword, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a severed abyssal arm¡ªfrom a far-off corner of the battlefield¡ªcame flying through the air and smacked the creature directly in the face.


    It let out a garbled yelp, its many legs tangling beneath it as it tripped over the rogue appendage and tumbled straight into a crater. Before Harris could even process what had happened, an explosion from a spell gone wrong sent a chunk of rubble crashing down, sealing the beast inside its impromptu grave.


    He had stared nkly at the scene for a full five seconds before deciding to just ept it and run in the opposite direction.


    Even just now, Harris was currently without any armour on his upper body due to his uncanny luck happening to strike again.


    When he''d been trying to find cover behind a copsed barricade, he had barely crouched down when a corrupted bird¡ªa horrific vulture-like creature¡ªdescended upon him. Harris had swung his sword wildly in sheer panic, missing entirely, and instead cutting the strap to his own armor.


    His breastte, unbuckled and free, somehow flung itself off his body and directly into the bird''s face, lodging over its beak like a poorly fitted muzzle. The creature iled, smacking itself into a nearby spiked barricade temporarily constructed by an earth golem and skewering itself instantly.


    Harris had stared at the scene, still gripping his sword with both hands in a battle stance, before slowly lowering it with an incredulous look. "¡­Huh."


    But now, standing frozen as the corrupted beast loomed over him, its massive jaw wide open and dripping with corrosive saliva, Harris finally felt like his ridiculous lucky streak had run out.


    His mind nked. His contracts¡ªthough eager and loyal¡ªwere utterly outssed by the abyssal in front of him. This thing was likely green-grade before it turned, and Harris'' strongest contract was only orange-grade and the others all red-grade.


    His fingers twitched on his sword''s hilt, though he knew swinging it would be as effective as pping a mountain.


    Time slowed, and he found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe, he should have taken up his father''s offer to run the family bakery instead. Live life as an ordinary civilian. But it was so rare to have the opportunity to be a beast-tamer that he''d immediately signed up to be a guard in training¡ªreceiving training, resources, and suitable contracts in return.@@novelbin@@


    The entire world slowed down to a crawl was especially torturous, extending the time and anticipation to the inevitable moment of his death.


    But suddenly, the terrifying creature paused after a slight spasm. Its red eyes blinked repeatedly in confusion, before it turned around and began to strike at the nearby abyssal creatures and corrupted with feral aggression.


    Harris blinked.


    Then he slowly, very slowly, stepped backward, putting as much distance between himself and whatever the hell had just happened. He had no idea what had caused the abyssal to switch targets¡ªdivine intervention? A secret guardian angel? Dumb, stupid, stupid luck?¡ªbut he wasn''t going to question it.


    He exhaled, shaking legs carrying him forward as he muttered under his breath, "I should''ve just baked bread."

 Chapter 452 Counter Corruption?

    It wasn''t only Harris who was experiencing this odd phenomenon of their foe suddenly turning and fighting alongside them.


    All across the battlefield, small pockets of corrupted and abyssals¡ªformerly ravenous and relentless¡ªsuddenly halted their assaults. Their glowing red eyes flickered with hesitation before they turned their ws and fangs on their own kind. The effect was slow, almost imperceptible amidst the chaos of war, but the change was undeniable.


    Moreover, while the rate of conversion was nothingpared to the rapid speed of corruption that abyssals inflicted upon humans and spiritual creatures, it did seem as though those abyssals that turned were capable of turning others, although more often than not the other abyssals just died without turning.


    Soldiers who had been on the verge of despair now found themselves with unexpected allies¡ªalbeit monstrous ones.


    Benji, who had been using all of his energy to barely hold the defensive line, wiped the sweat from his brow as he witnessed another abyssal rip into its formerrades.


    "Counter corruption? Anti-abyssal corruption?" He muttered, still trying to process what was happening. He needed a term for this, something that made sense.


    But only Kain knew the true source behind this phenomenon.


    Bea had made a breakthrough in her control abilities under the pressure and inspiration of abyssal energy.


    Somewhere amidst the chaos, she had developed a new ability. Just like Aegis had learned to manipte abyssal energy to strengthen himself, Bea had also found a way to assimte it¡ªaltering some of the weaker abyssals to obey her instead. And now, like a virus in reverse, her influence was spreading, albeit at a fraction of the speed at which abyssals turned others. Kain clenched his fists, his mind racing at the implications, and also curious about the strange reactions all of his contract seemed to have to abyssal energy.


    Unfortunately, while Bea could temporarily change the allegiance of the abyssal and corrupted, Kain didn''t know how long this effect wouldst and it also wasn''t a cure for those that already turned.


    -----------------------


    While the tides of the battle on the ground were constantly shifting back and forth. The battle between demigods raged in the skies above, a sh of titanic power that shook the heavens and sent shockwaves cascading down to the war-torn ground below.


    Unfortunately, even though some had managed to avoid being killed by the opposite side, they would instantly turn into vapor by a stray attackunched by one of the fighting demigods.


    Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to dodge these errant strikes. Blinding arcs of ck and red spiritual energy shed, the sheer magnitude and speed of their battle beyond mortalprehension.


    Yet, amidst their struggle, the abyssal demigods suddenly hesitated, and in that brief moment of distraction, a massive dragon w almost sent one of his arms flying, while he hurriedly snapped back into focus and dodged.


    His piercing, abyssal gaze shifted downward, focusing intently on the battlefield below. Down there was something¡­unpleasant.


    Something that made him even more disgusted than this human demigod in front of him.


    Something that, while he could sense it was physically weak, still gave him a vaguely threatened feeling.


    The presence was subtle, barely detectable. But anything that could even vaguely make him feel a threat needed to be paid attention to. He hadn''t felt rmed in centuries, possibly even millenia.


    Unfortunately, it was difficult to sense the origin of this feeling, its presence seeming to be spread out throughout the battlefield.


    He continued to hurriedly dodge the opponents strikes as he examined the battles going on below and the asional abyssal or corrupted that suddenly changed its allegiance.


    Logically, he should focus on his current battle. After all, the speed of the abyssal below turning was so slow that it hardly made a difference in the grand scheme of things. It was like removing a drop of water from the ocean¡ªthey, the superior Abyssal army, still had the capacity to ''drown'' their opponents.


    But even a drop lost was uneptable. And unheard of. Never before had someone escaped the control of the Great Mother, even temporarily.


    And worse¡ªhe could vaguely sense that the speed of this counter-conversion was increasing.


    The more that turned, the more they seemed capable of spreading this influence further.


    A snarl formed on his lips, his abyssal energy ring as his fury grew.


    "This cannot be allowed."


    He prepared to descend, ready to annihte whatever was responsible for this contamination before it could fester. Whatever force could resist the Great Mother¡ªno, even begin to corrupt the Great Mother''s ''blessing''¡ªneeded to be eradicated at all costs.


    Just as the abyssal demigod began to move, a fiery force intercepted him.


    A shimmering barrier of radiating intense heat erupted in his path, halting his descent with an ear-splitting boom as the abyssal demigod knocked into it.


    The city lord¡ªhis presence like a beacon amidst the darkness¡ªhovered before him, his expression unreadable.


    "Your opponent is right here," the city lord stated calmly, though the authority in his voice left no room for argument.


    Stay connected through My Virtual Library Empire


    The abyssal demigod narrowed his eyes, his form bristling with hostility. The insect, this heathen, who was trying to prevent him from spreading the Great Mother''s benevolent grace and blessings was once again standing in his way!


    The city lord remained silent for a moment, his gaze flickering downward, analyzing the battlefield. He could see it too¡ªthe strange phenomenon spreading ever so slowly. He did not yet know the cause, nor whether it was truly an advantage or a hidden danger, but for now¡­@@novelbin@@


    "As long as it benefits us," the city lord murmured to himself, his expression unchanging, "I will allow it to continue¡­for now"


    The abyssal demigod let out a low growl of frustration. He knew he could not take action without first defeating the demigod opposite.


    Moreover, as he continued to fight the opposing demigod, and even severely wounded the armoured giant on the opposite side, his unease did not fade.


    Something was changing the abyssal below.


    And whatever was causing it¡­ could not be left alive.

 Chapter 454 A Chaotic Battlefield

    The battlefield was filled with chaos and destruction.


    And survival became only more difficult for the average guard due to the constant instability of the allegiances on both sides.


    Imagine how confusing it was! One moment you are fighting alongside yourrade, watching each other''s back when suddenly your good friend bes corrupted and attacks you from behind.


    Moreover, at the same time you are being attacked by a massive abyssal creature right in front of you, caught in a pincer attack you can only wait for death.


    But then suddenly, the abyssal about to bite your head off shifts its target andunches itself at your corrupted ally, saving your life.


    Your friend became an enemy, and in the next second your enemy became an ally.


    This confusing situation was what was being showcased in various corners of the battlefield and began to affect their abilities to differentiate who they should be fighting.


    Some people even hesitated to attack an abyssal, thinking that it had be an ally, and had paid dearly for it with their lives.


    The abyssal demigod, a humanoid figure about double the size of the average adult human, watched the chaos and loomed over the field like a god of annihtion. Its hovering figure over the battlefield casting a shadow on the hearts of all those fighting below.


    Its presence alone was suffocating, the air thick with the stench of decay and the oppressive weight of its abyssal energy.


    The ground it hovered above cracked and splintered, almost as if its very presence emitted a gravitational pressure too great for it to bear.


    Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    The demigod''s glowing gold-violet eyes scanned the battlefield, and for the first time, a flicker of irritation crossed its otherwise impassive expression. Its subordinates were being turned against it, and now even one of its strongest generals had fallen. Something¡ªor someone¡ªwas interfering with its ns.


    The demigod shifted its strategy. Its massive form pulsed with an ominous ck energy, the air around it distorting as if reality itself was bending under its will.


    A low, resonant hum filled the air, vibrating through the bones of everybatant on the battlefield. The abyssals, both corrupted and those under Bea''s control, froze momentarily as if responding to some unseenmand. Then, the horror began.


    Bea felt it first¡ªa sudden, violent tug on the abyssals she had painstakingly turned. Her microscopic form quivered as she sensed the connections she had worked so hard to establish being forcibly severed. The abyssals she controlled began to dissolve, their grotesque bodies twisting and contorting as ck mist poured from their forms. The mist was drawn toward the demigod, swirling into its aura like water spinning down an unclogged drain.


    Each abyssal lost was like a severed thread in Bea''s mind, there was no hope of re-establishing a connection to them.


    Kain''s eyes widened as he watched in horror. The abyssals that had been fighting alongside him, their grotesque forms now writhing in agony, were being consumed by the demigod. Meanwhile, very few of those that Bea hadn''t infected were being consumed. Clearly, this ability was aimed at eliminating Bea''s influence. Moreover, it seemed to even have the added benefit of strengthening the abyssal demigod.


    "Damnit!" he shouted, his voice barely audible over the sounds of battle. Though Bea couldn''t speak, the intense irritation and frustrated screams he picked up through their bond let him know her emotions were even worse than his. She was furious, desperate, and utterly powerless to stop what was happening.


    Bea reached out with her will, trying to reinforce her control, but it was futile. The demigod''s power was too vast, its dominance over the abyssals was absolute. The level difference was insurmountable. The battlefield was being cleared of the creatures she had turned, and the demigod was growing stronger with every abyssal it consumed. As its form swelled, its dark energy intensified, and its oppressive aura crushed the spirits of all who stood against it.


    The City Lord, Ishvaran, and his two contracts¡ªthe dragon, its scales glistening like molten gold, and the armored giant, its massive frame battered and bruised¡ªwere struggling to hold their ground.


    The dragon''s fiery breath, once a zing inferno, sputtered and died under the weight of the demigod''s aura. The armored giant, already wounded, was practically forced to return to the ground and leave the battlefield in the sky under the crushing weight of the demigod''s aura.


    Ishvaran''s face was grim, his usual calm demeanor reced by a look of desperation. He knew they were losing.


    Bea knew she had to act. She couldn''t let the demigod absorb all the abyssals. If it grew any stronger, it would be unstoppable. Her microscopic form quivered as she focused her energy, her splits that were now floating in the ck mist emanating off of the dissolving abyssals. She couldn''t control the abyssals anymore, but her splits were still present in the mist until they were absorbed and destroyed by the demigod.


    With a surge of effort, Bea injected as much of her spiritual power into her splits as she could, causing them to self-detonate. Kain also used all of his means to channel as much spiritual power into her as possible and boost her abilities.


    The force of their detonation wasn''t immense¡ªher splits were too small to hold much energy and cause significant damage¡ªbut it was enough to destabilize the abyssal energy in the mist. The ck mist churned and swirled violently, expanding and growing denser until, with a deafening boom, it exploded. The shockwave rippled across the battlefield, sending abyssals andbatants alike stumbling back. The ground trembled, and the air was filled with the horrible smell of burning abyssal flesh and blood.@@novelbin@@


    The demigod roared in surprise. The explosion hadn''t harmed it¡ªeven if the st had been a hundred times greater, it wouldn''t have been a threat¡ªbut the sudden disorientation disrupted its absorption process. For a brief moment, its oppressive aura wavered.


    The City Lord and his contracts seized the opportunity. Ishvaran''s dragon unleashed an outburst of me, the fire zing brighter and hotter than ever before. The armored giant, though injured, surged forward with a roar, its massive fists mming into the demigod''s form with earth-shaking force. Thebined assault forced the demigod back, its momentarily erged form wavering under the onught.


    Meanwhile, Bea''s energy was spent, her microscopic form trembling from the strain. She had bought them a chance, but the battle was far from over.

 Chapter 456 The Orders Attention

    The world outside the relic was a stark contrast to the chaos they had just left.


    The air was crisp and clean, without the horrid smell of burning flesh.


    The sky was a serene blue, and while the city was quiet, unlike the usual hustle and bustle of Brightstar City, the faint hum of life in the distance was a wee reminder of the world they had fought to protect and a wee change from the constant cries and screams ringing out around them.


    The figures of Kain, Nadia, and the others stumbled out of the mirror that acted as a portal into the relic and returned back to the temple where everything began, their bodies heavy with exhaustion but their spirits lifted by the knowledge that they had seeded in their mission.


    But their relief was short-lived.


    As the portal closed behind them, Kain''s eyes fell on three figures lying unconscious on the ground. They were ordinary civilians¡ªtwo men and a woman¡ªdressed in simple clothing that marked them as locals. Kain frowned, his mind racing. He vaguely recognized them, though he couldn''t quite ce where he''d seen them before. But it was undeniable that, like him, they were native to Brightstar City, and most likely they had not awakened as beast-tamers.


    "Who are they?" Nadia asked, her voice sharp with concern as she knelt beside one of the unconscious figures.


    "Civilians," Kain replied, his tone grim. "They must''ve identally entered the relic when it activated. Most of the others¡­ didn''t make it."


    The memory of the grotesque flesh gate made from the other civilians to identally enter the relic made all of their stomach''s churn.


    The abyssals had sacrificed countless civilians to create that abomination, which Kain and the others assumed was meant to form a stable channel between the Abyss, the relic and Brightstar City. These three had somehow escaped that fate, either by sheer luck or by being assigned identities within the relic that kept them away from the abyssals'' reach.


    Nadia''s expression darkened, but she quicklyposed herself. As the team leader, it was her responsibility to contact the Order and report their sess. She pulled out a smallmunication device used by members of the Order tomunicate on a secure, untappable line, and began speaking in low tones, her voice steady despite the fatigue etched into her features.


    Kain, meanwhile, turned his attention to the unconscious civilians. He summoned his contract, Queen, and delicate wings fluttered as she hovered over the civilians, her antennae twitching as she assessed their condition and fed back the results of her assessment to Kain.


    "No physical injuries," Kain muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. "It''s probably a mental issue. Bea could''ve helped, but¡­"


    He trailed off, his thoughts shifting to the small, silent presence currently resting in his star space. Kain''s chest tightened with worry, but there was nothing he could do for her now. She needed time to recover and to see if there were any longsting effects in her and Aegis due to their continuous intimate contact with the Abyssal energy.


    Queen buzzed softly, her life energy flowing into the civilians in an attempt to stabilize them. But despite her efforts, they remained unconscious. Kain sighed, running a hand through his hair before rying to the others, "It''s not working. Whatever''s wrong with them, it''s not something Queen can fix."


    Nadia finished her call and turned to Kain. "The Order''s sending a team to assist us. They''ll take the civilians for treatment. In the meantime, we need to head back to the headquarters for the debriefing."


    Kain nodded, though his mind was still preupied with Bea and the civilians. He couldn''t shake the feeling that there was more to their condition than simple exhaustion. But without Bea''s mental abilities, he was at a loss. As fellow members of the same city, Kain was extra worried about them. However, knowing the strong abilities of the Order, Kain was confident that they were in good hands.


    ----------------------


    The Order''s team arrived within minutes, their sleek, ck vehicles cutting through the serenendscape like shadows. They moved with practiced efficiency, loading the unconscious civilians onto stretchers and whisking them away for treatment, while others stayed behind in order to continue guarding the entrance to the relic. Although without Nadia''s permission, due to her current control of the core, nobody should be able to enter or exit, in this strange world with all kinds of abilities and gifts, who knows what idents could happen. Kain watched the unconscious civilians go, the knot of unease in his chest slowly unravelling


    "They''ll be fine," Nadia said, cing a reassuring hand on his shoulder after seeing his lingering gaze. "The Order has the best healers in the empire. If anyone can help them, it''s them."


    The team returned to the Order''s headquarters, the journey passing in a blur of exhaustion and quiet reflection on all that urred in the relic and what each of them wished to share (or not) with the Order as they sorted out their stories.


    When they arrived, they were immediately ushered into a debriefing room.


    Kain''s debriefing was thest to ur and was led by a high-ranking member of the Order, an 8-star beast-tamer with sharp features and piercing eyes.


    He introduced himself as Commander Ven and the man exuded an air of authority, his presencemanding respect and caution in equal measure.


    "Your teammates have already given their ounts," Ven began, his voice calm but firm. "Now, I''d like to hear your version of events."


    Kain nodded,unching into a detailed recounting of their mission. He spoke of the extreme mental maniption abilities of the relic that were capable of causing them all to forget their true identities. He spoke of the abyssals'' invasion into the relic via (what they assumed) to be another entrance connected to the relic but were never able to find, the flesh gate, and their desperate battle against the abyssal demigod.


    Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire


    Ven listened intently, his expression unreadable. When Kain finished, themander leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled in front of him.


    "Your story lines up well with your colleagues, but I am more interested in their ounts of your contracts'' abilities," Ven said after a moment. He had already heard the details of everything Kain said from his subordinates. That''s correct, Ven was not responsible for interviewing Kain''s teammates. After all, as a high-level beast-tamer how could he have the time to waste onpleting debriefing interviews. Most interviews arepleted by 5 and 6-star members of the Dawnbringers, the counter-intelligence division of the Order, but when he received the report from his subordinates he was intrigued and decided to speak to Kain himself.


    "Your contracts¡ªAegis and Bea, was it?¡ªseem to possess abilities that defy conventional understanding. Aegis can manipte abyssal energy¡ªpreviously thought to be impossible for non-corrupted creatures¡ª and Bea can control abyssals in a way that even Seraphina Mindshade, the empire''s sole 9-star beast-tamer specializing in the mental-attribute specialist, cannot."


    Ven, as an 8-star beast-tamer and high-ranking figure of the Order, could naturallye into contact with the 9-star Seraphina Mindshade.@@novelbin@@


    He recalled that from his discussions with her it was almost impossible to control abyssal creatures, unless as powerful as her. And even she wasn''t able to control abyssals simr or even slightly weaker than her in strength¡ªlimited to controlling low and mid-level ones and it took a great deal of effort


    She said that this was because she could sense that there was a higher-level being that seemed to be connected to the mind of each abyssal and corrupted. A being that even filled her, as a 9-star beast tamer, with dread. But Bea was able to control those simr in level to her and, from the reports of Kain''s teammates, even spread her influence using the controlled¡ªalmost like a weaker version of the abyss.


    Kain''s heart skipped a beat. He hadn''t expected the conversation to turn so quickly to his contracts and was instantly on guard. He wasn''t dumb, and he knew that his contracts were likely no normal. But until he fully figured out the reasons for their changes he didn''t wish to expose them to such powerful figures in case their abilities were exploited beyond what they could bear.


    "They''re unique," he admitted cautiously. "But they''re heavily damaged and exhausted right now. I can''t showcase their abilities at the moment."


    Ven''s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn''t press the issue, likely also receiving simr information from Nadia and the others. Instead, he leaned forward, his gaze piercing. "Tell me more about them then. How exactly did their abilities ur?"


    Kain hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "I¡­ I am not sure. But both of their abilities are not easy to use. It takes a lot out of them and maye with hidden dangers."


    Seeing Ven''s unhappy expression, Kain immediately continued, "But once they recover their strength and awaken, I will definitely use the full extent of my abilites as a researcher to identify the reasons for the change" He said hoping that that reminder of his second identity as an aplished researcher could give him the opportunity to lead the investigation himself.


    The room fell silent, the weight of Kain''s words hanging heavy in the air. Kain could feel the tension building, the unspoken questions and suspicions lurking just beneath the surface.


    As the debriefing continued, it became clear that Ven''s interest in Kain''s contracts went beyond mere curiosity. Themander''s questions grew more probing, his tone more insistent. Kain did his best to answer honestly, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that his greatest worries maye true.


    "Your contracts are¡­ unusual," Ven said finally, his voice low. "If what you''ve told me is true, they could be invaluable in our fight against the Abyss. But we''ll need to see them in action to confirm their abilities."


    Kain nodded, though his stomach churned with unease. "I understand. But like I said, they''re in no condition to demonstrate anything right now."


    Ven studied him for a long moment before nodding. "Very well. We''ll give them time to recover. But when they''re ready, I expect a full demonstration."


    The debriefing ended shortly after, and Kain was dismissed. As he left the room, he couldn''t shake the feeling that he was being watched. The Order''s interest in his contracts was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it could mean more resources and support for his team. On the other, it could put a target on his back.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 457 Changes in the System Profiles

    Kain didn''t immediately leave the Order. For one, he was too exhausted to return to Dark Moon College. His body ached, his mind was foggy, and the thought of traveling through the treacherous forests surrounding the Order''s headquarters was enough to make him want to collapse on the spot. Besides, he hadn''t yet received the rewards for completing the mission or been reimbursed for his expenses during the mission. Those credits were crucial¡ªnot just for his own growth, but for the recovery of his contracts, especially Aegis and Bea, who were in dire need of resources to heal and evolve.


    Thankfully, the Order had a reimbursement policy in place to prevent its members from stunting their growth due to the high cost of mission-essential items. A certain portion, around 50%, of the cost of rare items purchased from the Order and used during the completion of a mission could be reimbursed. This policy was a lifeline for members like Kain, who often found themselves spending exorbitant amounts on tools and artifacts necessary for survival. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain had used several expensive items during the mission, and he was hopeful that he could get at least half of his credits back. The Cryostasis Nexus, which Benji had taken away for Aura treatment, the Vessel of Purification used to cleanse the Relic Core, and the Space Severing Nail used to extract the Relic Core¡ªall three items had been essential to their success. Their usage was clearly documented, and Kain had made sure to emphasize their importance during the debriefing. He was optimistic that the Order would reimburse him for more than the standard 50%, given the mission''s high stakes and their success in neutralizing the abyssal threat.


    While waiting for the Order to calculate his rewards, Kain rented a temporary living quarter within the headquarters. The room was simple but functional, with a plain double bed, a desk, a chair, and a window that overlooked the dense forests surrounding the compound. The same forests Kain had traversed to enter the Order for the first time now seemed almost peaceful in the fading light of dusk. He sat by the window for a moment, staring out at the treetops and letting the quiet calm his frayed nerves.


    Once he was alone, Kain finally took the time to open the System and check the profiles of his contracts. He needed to assess their conditions and plan for their recovery. The mission had taken a heavy toll on all of them, but Aegis and Bea had borne the brunt of the damage.


    Aegis''s profile was the first Kain opened. The System provided a detailed overview of his condition, and Kain''s heart sank as he read through it. Aegis''s entire body had been essentially destroyed, reduced to nothing more than a small piece of rock that could fit in the palm of Kain''s hand. This fragment contained Aegis''s microscopic core, the essence of his being, but it would take time for him to recover and regain consciousness.


    The System confirmed that there was no immediate threat to Aegis''s life, but the road to recovery would be long and¡­expensive. If Kain wanted to speed up the process, he would need to feed Aegis rare minerals that he could use to rebuild himself. Kain had every intention of helping Aegis recover, but it would need to wait until he returned to Dark Moon City to complete the purchases, he had no plans to use his precious Order credits in order to purchase the metals. He had other channels for acquiring rare metals, ores, and minerals in massive quantities, due to his large amount of elite clientele as an Evolutionary Planner, and an ample supply of Celestial Dollars. The Order credits were better saved for items that couldn''t be bought with money alone.


    Kain made a mental note to reach out to his contacts as soon as he had the chance. For now, though, Aegis was stable, and that was enough. Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire


    Next, Kain opened Bea''s profile. Her condition was less dire than Aegis''s, but she was still unresponsive, her microscopic form trembling faintly as she rested in the palm of his hand. Kain''s chest tightened with worry, but he pushed the feeling aside and focused on the System''s update.


    Two new abilities had been added to Bea''s profile, both related to her newfound connection to the Abyss and her ability to control abyssals. Kain''s eyes widened as he read through the descriptions:


    SS-Abyssal Subjugation: The Apex Mindshard Amoeba can bypass the mental defenses of Abyssals and corrupted creatures, dulling their connection to the "Great Mother" and redirecting their allegiance to itself. This skill is only effective on Abyssals of equal or lower level.


    S-Contagion of Will: The Apex Mindshard Amoeba''s splits can now divide and spread like a mental virus, infecting the minds of nearby targets after repeated contact with a creature already possessing one of the splits.


    Kain''s mind raced as he processed the implications of these new abilities, particularly the fact that she could now spread her influence like a contagious disease, and this wasn''t just limited to abyssals, made her an even more formidable force. Normally, Bea''s splits needed to come directly from her main body and find an opportunity to infiltrate the target. But now, the splits also developed a kind of ability that allowed them to create their own ''splits.''


    Next, Kain opened the profiles of his remaining contracts on the off chance that there were also changes in them that he hadn''t yet detected.


    Opening, the profile of Eve and her symbiotic host Queen, Kain wasn''t surprised to find that there were no changes. Eve/Queen had played mostly a supporting role during the mission, responsible for healing the injured and providing buffs to the Vespid guards when required. Therefore, even if Eve and/or Queen would have had an unusual response to abyssal energy was not able to be determined.


    Lastly, Kain opened up the profile for Vauleth with the same expectations, but was pleasantly surprised to see that his most mysterious contract¡ªwho even the System couldn''t fully see through¡ªalso had a change.

 Chapter 458 Changes in the System Profiles (2)

    Kain had managed to contract Vauleth with the promise that he would help him to become the strongest True Dragon.


    Considering that he was not born as a True Dragon and possessed a congenital defect that made him weaker than other Red Dragon''s of his age, this was something he could only hope to accomplish by following Kain. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain, due to his previous successes discovering new evolutionary forms had been fully confident in being able to complete this task.


    That was until, after he''d seen Vauleth''s profile after initially contracting him, which appeared as follows:


    -------------------


    Nickname: Vauleth


    Species: Red Coloured Dragon (Re%$#vi$&s)


    The Red-Coloured Dragons, also known as the the Crimson Tyrants, are the strongest and leaders of the Chromatic 5-coloured True Dragons and the favourite children descended from the evil dragon goddess of greed Tiamat (&%%& &%&%& $%&$$). Towering in size with massive, armored crimson scales that shimmer like molten metal, these dragons are renowned for their raw power, destructive capabilities, and insatiable greed. Red dragons have been reported to cause immense ruin, death, and destruction due to coveting even ordinary jewels.


    They are the embodiment of arrogance, ruling over their domains with an iron claw and seeing all other creatures as either subjects to be ruled or threats to be annihilated.


    Born with an innate connection to fire and destruction, Red Dragons typically thrive in volcanic regions, although they may choose to dwell in mineral-rich caves and mountains. Their prolonged presence is capable of altering the environment to become more hostile and inhospitable to lesser beings. Their intellect rivals their might, making them cunning tacticians and fearsome foes.(%%&f&% &%& &s% $ &%&g%& $& # #&&$h&$&#&)


    Quality: Platinum (S&$#&&l)


    Spiritual Power Grade: Green


    Type: Dragon


    Attributes: Dragon, Fire (%&$$)


    Skills:


    X-Abs%&ute Mimic&%: Th$%& $&&$ %h%& #&#$& $&f$&$$ &##r&& #&$$&$&$.


    Temporary Skills:


    SSS-Due to the bloodline inheritance of Coloured True Dragons that intimately connects them with their almighty dragon ancestor Tiamat, all True Dragons are immune to Abyssal corruption as long as it is not directly from the ''Great Mother''.


    SS-Dragon''s Breath: It unleashes a torrent of fire hotter than molten lava, capable of reducing fortresses to ash in seconds. This flame burns not just with heat but with abyssal intensity, consuming everything it touches, including magic defenses.


    SS-Draconic Fury: When enraged, the Red Dragon''s physical strength and speed increase exponentially. His claws and fangs become sharper, and his scales harden to near-impenetrable levels. This skill transforms him into a whirlwind of destruction, capable of tearing through even the toughest defenses.


    S-Scorching Barrage: The Red Dragon releases a rapid series of fireballs, each one capable of causing massive explosions on impact. The barrage can be directed at multiple targets or concentrated on a single enemy, making it a versatile offensive skill.


    S-Molten Armor: The Red Dragon''s scales heat up to extreme temperatures, creating a protective layer of molten armor. This armor not only enhances his defense but also damages any enemy that comes into direct contact with him.


    A-Blazing Dominion: Vauleth exerts his dominance over fire, allowing him to manipulate existing flames within a large radius. He can extinguish fires, intensify them, or even redirect them toward his enemies. This skill is particularly useful in environments where fire is already present.


    A-Infernal Roar: Vauleth lets out a deafening roar infused with fire-attribute energy. The roar disorients and terrifies enemies, lowering their morale and causing some to flee in panic. It also has a chance to ignite flammable objects in the vicinity.


    B-Flame Cloak: Vauleth surrounds himself with a cloak of fire, increasing his resistance to fire-attribute attacks and dealing continuous damage to nearby enemies. This skill is ideal for prolonged battles, where sustained damage and defense are crucial.


    B-Wingstorm Inferno: Vauleth takes to the skies, using his massive wings to create a vortex of fire and wind. The vortex pulls enemies toward its center, where they are incinerated by the intense heat. This skill is particularly effective against groups of weaker enemies.


    Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    --------------


    When Kain had first scene Vauleth''s profile he''d been absolutely stunned. This was the first time he''d come across a being that even the System couldn''t fully see through¡ªeven despite him having a contract with it.


    Never before had whole sections of text in the System Profile been concealed in such a manner.


    Moreover, this was also the first time that Kain had come across a skill at an ''X'' level, the highest rating previously being SSS and the fact that most of Vauleth''s skills were categorized as only temporary was surprising. When he''d first seen the profile he''d been left with more questions than answers.


    Had it not been for the draw from his affinity and Vauleth personally sharing his own past experiences and ''reincarnations'' as various other creatures, Kain would almost think that he was a True Dragon¡ªalbeit a strange one.


    All Kain could hope for was that the next System upgrade would provide enough of a boost to the System''s abilities to fully analyze Vauleth.


    However, despite it being the only profile that has obscured content, it was the one that Kain had read the most often recently¡ªtrying to fill in the gaps for himself. Therefore, Kain immediately noticed when there was a slight increase and change in one of Vauleth''s abilities.


    SS-Molten Armor of Corruption: The Red Dragon''s scales heat up to extreme temperatures, creating a protective layer of molten armour. This armour not only enhances his defence but also damages any enemy that comes into direct contact with him. Abyssal Energy can act as fuel for the armour and prolonged fighting with Abyssal creatures will gradually increase the temperature and defensive abilities of the armour.


    Based on the profiles of his contracts, as well as the strange but very lifelike ''dream'' he had while unconscious in the relic, Kain was able to reach the conclusion that his contracts will evolve or awaken new abilities when in contact with Abyssal energy for prolonged periods of time. They all seem to have a strange connection with the Abyss¡ªand so probably did he.

 Chapter 459 Riches and Ruins

    The next morning, Kain received a notification from the Order. His rewards had been calculated, and he was to report to the administrative office to collect them. He made his way through the bustling corridors of the headquarters, his mind still preoccupied with the strange connection he and his contracts seemed to have with the Abyss.


    When he arrived at the office, he was greeted by a stern-faced administrator who handed him a detailed breakdown of his rewards. Kain''s eyes widened as he scanned the document. The Order had been generous, reimbursing him for 60% of the cost of the Cryostasis Nexus, the Vessel of Purification, and the Space Severing Nail. On top of that, he had been awarded a substantial amount of credits for completing the mission and neutralizing the risk of abyssal invasion from Brightstar City.


    Kain couldn''t help but smile as he received the notification about the arrival of the credits into his account. This was more than enough to replenish some of the ''necessities'' that Benji had previously convinced him to buy as well as resources to increase the strength of his contracts.


    However, Kain had heard that the most invaluable opportunity in the order wasn''t the rare items, evolutionary materials, weapons, or spiritual skills for sale. Apparently, the greatest chance to increase their contract''s strength was an "opportunity for realization"¡ªwhatever that meant.


    Unfortunately, nobody felt inclined to explain it to him in detail since it was only useful for blue-grade spiritual creatures about to advance and high-level spiritual creatures. Otherwise, attempting to enter it may do more harm than good.


    Therefore, although Kain suddenly had an abundance of credits he wasn''t in a rush to spend them. With his current financial resources, connections with nobles due to being a top Evolutionary Planner, and his status as a top 5 student at one of the top 5 colleges, he could obtain most rare items without the help of the order. Heck he even had a system that could provide him with many new resources as long as he paid the corresponding amount of GP.


    He planned to save his credits for those opportunities exclusive to the Order that the more senior members kept lamenting not having enough credits for.


    ''Speaking of¡­according to the people that received us when we left the relic, we had been in there for over a month. By now another re-ranking should have occurred, so I guess I''m not a member of the top 5 currently¡­'' Kain lamented the sudden drop in status.


    However, he wasn''t too upset. There would be a final re-ranking before the national tournament and given his current strength he had no doubt that he''d be able to reclaim his spot. He''d consider having someone new enjoy the fruits of being in the top 5 for a few months as his latest act of charity¡­


    Not to mention the current privileges and resources given to the top 5 weren''t particularly valuable to him now since he could receive the majority of them through other channels.


    The main appeal of the top 5 for him was going to the National Tournament and getting to enter one of the college''s resource vaults again that contained resources that he may not even be able to get in the Order, such as that fate-attribute spiritual skill ''Threads of Destiny.'' During his previous walkthrough of the vault, there had been many items that appealed to him, but he had been forced to restrict his selection to only 3 items. To go in again, he had no choice but to make achievements on the College''s behalf at the National Tournament.


    ''I guess I''ll also miss the top 5 dormitory too though¡­'' Kain suddenly recalled one more privilege he supposed he would miss. After all, since he''d missed the latest re-ranking there was a possibility that he had dropped from the top of his year to the very bottom. In which case, he may very well end up in a closet-sized room.


    With his business at the Order concluded, Kain made his way to the teleportation array. The array was a massive, intricate structure carved into the floor of a grand chamber and had connection points to all major colleges and cities of the Empire.


    Kain stepped into the center of the array, feeling the familiar hum of spiritual power as the runes activated. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a flash of light and a brief sensation of weightlessness (thankfully he seemed to be getting accustomed to teleporting), he was standing in the teleportation chamber of Dark Moon College.


    But he immediately sensed that something was wrong.


    The college was eerily silent, the usual hustle and bustle of students and faculty conspicuously absent. As Kain walked through the campus, the grounds were completely empty, and the buildings were pretty much all dark¡ªwith no lights left on to indicate that people were inside.


    Kain quickened his pace in unease, his footsteps echoing through the empty corridors. As he approached the main entrance, he noticed a thick column of smoke rising in the distance, its dark plume staining the otherwise clear sky. His heart sank. Something had happened while he was away.


    He ran through the open, and seemingly unattended, college gates and into the city, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of life. The streets closest to the college were intact but completely lifeless¡ªlike a ghost town.


    But as he moved further toward the outskirts in the direction of the smoke, the damage became more apparent. Buildings were reduced to rubble, their walls blackened by fire. The streets were littered with debris, and the air was thick with the horrifyingly familiar smell of burning flesh mixed with rot¡ªa smell that had practically permeated the entire battlefield during the fight against the abyssals in the relic.


    ''There''s no way¡­''


    The closer he got to the edges of the city, the more people he saw. They were working tirelessly, clearing debris, rebuilding structures, and tending to the wounded. The atmosphere was one of grim determination, the kind that comes after a disaster has passed but its scars remain fresh.


    Kain''s mind raced as he tried to piece together what had happened. He pulled out his phone and dialed Collin''s¡ªthe manager in charge of most of his businesses¡ªnumber. He had noticed that the region of the city that seemed to be affected was where one of their newest factories were being built and, knowing Collin''s professionalism and workaholic nature, he should know best what happened here. After a few tense moments, Collin''s voice crackled through the device.


    "Kain? Are you back!" Collin''s voice was a mix of relief and exhaustion. "Where are you?"


    "I just got back to the college," Kain replied, his tone urgent. "What the hell happened here?"


    There was a pause on the other end before Collin spoke again. "It''s¡­ complicated. While you were gone, there was a sudden outbreak of corrupted in the outskirts of the city. It happened so fast¡ªone moment everything was normal, and the next, people were turning into corrupted and attacking others. The college mobilized immediately to contain the spread, but it was chaos for a while." Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain''s grip tightened on the communication device. "An outbreak? How did it start?"


    "We''re not entirely sure," Collin admitted. "Some people just¡­ turned. No warning, no signs of abyssal creatures beforehand. The college managed to contain the outbreak pretty quickly, and so the casualties were kept low, but the damage was already done. Pretty much the entire city has been focused on rebuilding ever since and all regular events and operations have been significantly delayed."


    Afterwards, Collin began to lament the loss and damage to their factory and workers, reporting the costs, delays, and other business related things to Kain. But Kain''s mind had already flown far away.


    ''If all events were delayed or cancelled, maybe I don''t have to give up my top 5 dorm¡­'' Kain thought, while trying to find a silver lining in this otherwise bleak event.

 Chapter 460 Home Sweet Home

    Kain''s heart pounded as he approached the outskirts of Dark Moon City, but in a different area that the outbreak, his steps quickening with every passing moment.


    The sight of the city in ruins had shaken him.


    Before going into the relic, Kain¡ªknowing that instances of Abyssal attacks were becoming more frequent¡ªhad relocated his family from Brightstar City to Dark Moon City.


    Considering his mission was in Brightstar and there had been risk of an abyssal invasion at that location, he had felt good about his choice. However, not long after he''d left, corrupted were seen in Dark Moon City, one of the most powerful cities in the Empire!


    Due to the city''s strength. it was quickly contained, and although the outbreak wasn''t too close to his family and his family should have wards surrounding the property, Kain was still worried and wouldn''t feel fully relieved until he met them again.


    He still felt as though he had made the right decision to relocate them from Brightstar City to Dark Moon City, and the strength of the city showcased in this attack just reinforced that, but the corrupted outbreak here had been a grim reminder that nowhere was truly safe from the Abyss.


    Gradually, Kain approached the newly expanded property. Originally, Kain had had Collin purchase land neighbouring the property he currently was growing his spiritual plants and River Wolf Pups on, and his new family home would be built on that neighbouring land. However, just before entering the relic Collin called Kain to tell him that the plan had changed.


    Although Ferrin was currently living on the old property, the idyllic scenery filled with what was now probably thousands of spiritual plants, with numerous River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolves frolicking through them immediately captured his siblings'' hearts.


    Not to mention, that in order to help Kain take care of the constantly growing number of spiritual plants in the field, Kain had brought back many of the first batch of elemental fairies evolved from the Silkworm evolutionary pathway¡ªincluding the light-attribute royal fairy, there were dozens of other greater and lesser fairies helping him to manage the property.


    The moment his siblings had seen this fantastical environment, they''d absolutely refused to leave.


    Therefore, the new land Kain had purchased was used to expand the spiritual plant gardens and integrated into being part of the roaming areas for the fairies and wolf pups, while the original home that Ferrin was currently living in, was torn down after the mansion right next to it was almost finished construction.


    As Kain approached the property, he finally saw the massive mansion he''d only ever heard about in reports from Collin.


    And the second he spotted his new home, his anxiety also began to ease. Discover exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    The wards surrounding the property were intact, and the lack of damage in the area reassured him that the outbreak hadn''t extended to here.


    The sprawling land was a stark contrast to the chaos of the city. The air was fresh, filled with the scent of blooming spiritual plants and the distant sound of River Wolf Pups and Clear Spring Wolves playing in the fields amid the bell-like calls of the elemental fairies.


    A massive mansion stood at the center of the property, its design a perfect blend of elegance and practicality. Kain could tell that Collin had taken the opinions of his relatives into account, and the architecture reminded Kain of their old home in Brightstar City¡ª but elevated.


    The walls were adorned with intricate carvings, and the windows were framed by lush vines that seemed to glow faintly in the sunlight. Fruit trees, that weren''t there before, dotted the landscape, their branches heavy with ripe fruits, and a large playground stood nearby that would be loved by any of his youngest siblings.


    Kain paused at the edge of the property, taking in the sight of the River Wolf Pups frolicking in the fields, their playful antics bringing life and joy to the land. He could see that Ferrin, the affinity-less volunteer that Kain had helped to become a beast-tamer, was among them, clearly he had naturally grown accustomed to his role as a caretaker. Kain couldn''t help but smile as he watched Ferrin interact with the pups, knowing that he''d made the correct choice.


    As Kain approached the mansion, the front door swung open, and a chorus of excited voices greeted him. His siblings spilled out onto the porch, their faces lighting up at the sight of him. The youngest, Melody, was the first to reach him, her small arms wrapping around his legs in a tight hug.


    "Kain! You''re back!" she squealed, her voice filled with joy.


    Kain knelt down to her level, ruffling her hair affectionately. "I missed you too, Melody. How have you all been?" He turned to ask the others as they streamed out of the house. He saw that Bridge was also there, likely going to guard them during the attack¡ªonce again reassuring Kain that moving his family closer to both Bridge and himself was for the best.


    The others quickly surrounded him, their questions and laughter filling the air. Kain''s heart swelled with warmth as he greeted each of them, his worries momentarily forgotten.


    The orphanage director stood at the edge of the group, his expression one of quiet relief. He had been unsure about moving, but since Kain had left, sightings of Abyssals and corrupted creatures became more frequent across the empire, and he no longer regretted his decision.


    "It''s good to have you back, Kain," he said, his voice soft but filled with emotion. "We''ve missed you."


    "I''ve missed you too," Kain replied. "It''s good to be home."


    As the initial excitement died down, Kain''s siblings led him inside the mansion, eager to show him around. The interior was just as impressive as the exterior, with spacious rooms, high ceilings, and an abundance of natural light. Each of his siblings had their own room now, a far cry from the cramped living quarters of their old home. The walls were adorned with family photos and mementos from their time in Brightstar City, a subtle reminder of where they had come from.


    Kain''s room was on the second floor, its large windows offering a stunning view of the property. The room was simple and familiar since they chose to move most of his belongings from his old room to here. But there were some welcome changes: there was now a larger bed, a new mahogany desk, and a bookshelf filled with both his old and new books. A small sitting area by the window was the perfect spot to relax and take in the view overlooking the property.


    As Kain settled into his room, Ferrin appeared at the door, his expression one of quiet pride. "Welcome back, Kain. I hope you like what we''ve done with the place."


    Kain smiled, gesturing for Ferrin to come in. "It''s incredible, Ferrin. You''ve done an amazing job. I can''t thank you enough for looking after things here while I was away, Collin told me how invaluable you were to resettling everyone."


    Ferrin shrugged modestly. "It''s been my pleasure. Your family is wonderful, and the land here is a dream to live on. However, there was one thing I feel I should tell you..." He began hesitantly.


    Kain''s heart dropped at the suddenly more serious atmosphere surrounding Ferrin. "I''m afraid that something is wrong with the spiritual creature you helped me to summon." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 461 Shifting Bonds

    Kain''s smile faded as Ferrin''s words hung in the air. The sudden shift in tone was enough to make his stomach twist with unease. He gestured for Ferrin to sit down, his mind already racing with possibilities. "What''s wrong? Is Nyx okay? Is there an issue with the contract."


    Explore hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    Although Kain and Ferrin got along well now, the reason Ferrin was initially recruited was to act as a guinea pig to see if Kain''s new method of creating beast-tamers was safe for Gabriel.


    If Gabriel cannot become a beast-tamer he was at a great risk of dying. Therefore, he had Ferrin try it first and would periodically give Kain updates on how he and his contract are.


    After Kain confirms that it is safe and there are no side-effects later on, he would have Gabriel also undergo the procedure so that he can walk around freely and healthily again.


    So far there had been no side effects. The only con was that Ferrin seems to only be able to contract 1 creature. But he and that creature appear to have very little bottlenecks. This is very similar to the method of cultivation of the southern tribes, which typically can only have one contract, but the growth rate and strength at the same level of that single contract are far superior to those in other nations. Kain was waiting to see if there would be any more discoveries or cons before letting Gabriel do the procedure soon, but now Ferrin was telling him that there was another issue¡­


    Ferrin hesitated, his hands fidgeting nervously in his lap. "I''m not sure. During the outbreak, I¡­ I left the property for a while. Bridge had arrived, and with the wards in place, I thought it would be safe. There was someone I needed to check on."


    Kain raised an eyebrow but didn''t interrupt. Ferrin''s expression was a mix of guilt and worry, and Kain could tell this wasn''t easy for him to admit.


    "There''s a woman," Ferrin continued, his voice barely above a whisper. "She works as a bank teller in the city. We''ve been¡­ talking. When the outbreak happened, her bank was closer to where the chaos started. I couldn''t just sit here knowing she might be in danger. So, I went to check on her."


    Kain''s initial surprise gave way to understanding. He nodded, encouraging Ferrin to continue.


    "When I got there, the bank was overrun by corrupted. Nyx and I fought our way inside, and we found her barricaded in a room with some coworkers. We managed to get them out, but¡­ Nyx was attacked during the escape. She killed the corrupted, but afterward, she started acting strange. She''s been in a coma ever since."


    Ferrin''s voice broke due to the immense guilt he felt, and he looked down at his hands, his shoulders slumping. "I don''t know if she''s just exhausted from fighting off the abyssal energy or if¡­ if she''s still at risk of being corrupted. I''ve tried everything I can think of, but nothing''s worked."


    Kain''s mind raced as he processed the information. Nyx, the black fox Ferrin had contracted through the unique method Kain had invented, was in a coma after being exposed to Abyssal energy. This was uncharted territory. The procedure had been experimental, and while it had worked flawlessly so far, there was always the risk of unforeseen complications.


    "Show her to me," Kain said, his tone firm but reassuring. "I''ll see what I can do."


    Ferrin nodded, relief flickering in his eyes. He led Kain to a small room on the ground floor, where Nyx lay on a soft bed of moss and spiritual plants. The fox''s sleek black fur was dull, her breathing shallow and uneven. Kain knelt beside her, his hand hovering over her body as he activated his System to assess her condition.


    Unlike most spiritual creatures that Kain can only get vague details about their species as a whole or form a replica of them in the Training Arena with the System. Kain found that those that originated from Pangea would have more detail in their System profile¡ªalmost to the levels of his own contracts. Likely due to their unique origins as spiritual creatures born from the planet inside of him.


    The System''s interface flickered to life, displaying Nyx''s status in stark detail. Her spiritual energy was dangerously low, and there were traces of abyssal energy lingering in her system, but the invading abyssal energy was decreasing at a slow rate. Kain''s brow furrowed as he studied the data.


    "She''s fighting it," Kain murmured, more to himself than to Ferrin. "The abyssal energy is trying to take hold, but her body is resisting. Honestly, this isn''t a bad thing. It could even be considered great. Most spiritual creatures would simply become corrupted and not have the ability to fight off the abyssal energy in their bodies."


    Ferrin''s face relaxed slightly, but it was still quite pale. "Can you help her?"


    Kain didn''t answer immediately. He activated his spiritual skill Threads of Destiny, to get any hints of if a solution was around him. If Aegis wasn''t currently out of commission, Kain could simply ask for his help, but Aegis was still recovering, so Kain couldn''t readily think of any more solution.


    Activating the skill, he first focused on the connection between Ferrin and Nyx. The bond was still strong, but it was strained, as if Nyx''s condition was pulling her further away from Ferrin with each passing moment.


    But interestingly, the connection that was only faintly existent between her and Kain after she''d formed a contract with Ferrin, was increasing with each passing second. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kain closed his eyes again to feel if a connection between Pangea and Nyx had been re-established, and did find that, while barely noticeable, the connection that had been previously cut off had been re-established.


    ''What does this mean? If contracts outside are injured badly enough or at risk of becoming corrupted, will they be recalled to Pangea? What does this mean for the contracts they have with their beast-tamer?''

 Chapter 462 The Strength to Protect

    Kain knelt beside Nyx, his mind racing as he processed the implications of the re-established connection between her and Pangea.


    The faint thread of energy linking the black fox to the planet inside him was growing stronger by the second, and Kain could feel the subtle pull of Pangea''s influence. It was as if the planet itself was reaching out to heal one of its own.


    "Ferrin," Kain said, his voice calm but urgent, "step back for a moment. I need to focus."


    Ferrin hesitated, his eyes darting between Kain and Nyx, but he nodded and took a few steps back, giving Kain space to work. Kain closed his eyes, his breathing steady as he tuned into the connection between Pangea and Nyx. The bond was fragile but growing, and Kain could feel the faint pulse of purple energy emanating from Pangea, flowing through the connection and into Nyx.


    The process was slow at first, but as Kain''s proximity to Nyx increased, the rate at which the connection strengthened accelerated. It was as if the two had been attempting to connect for a while but, possibly because the Kain was inside the relic and then at the Order headquarters, the distance had been too great. Now, with Kain right beside her, the link was rapidly solidifying.


    Kain''s System interface flickered to life, displaying real-time data on Nyx''s condition. The abyssal energy in her body was decreasing rapidly with the stronger connection to Pangea. Kain watched in awe as the purple energy surged through Nyx, cleansing her body.


    Soon enough, the abyssal energy in Nyx was completely eradicated, and her breathing steadied. Her fur, once dull and lifeless, began to shimmer with its usual sleek black sheen. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, and she let out a soft whine as she stirred.


    "Nyx!" Ferrin exclaimed, rushing forward to kneel beside her. He gently stroked her fur, his relief palpable. "You''re okay¡­ you''re okay."


    As Kain watched the reunion between the two, he noted that the connection between himself and Nyx, which had grown so strong moments ago, was now fading. He activated his spiritual skill Threads of Destiny once more, observing as the link between Nyx and Ferrin was re-established. The bond between beast-tamer and spiritual creature was intact, and Nyx was once again fully connected to Ferrin.


    Kain couldn''t shake the implications of what he had just witnessed. Spiritual creatures originating from Pangea were not only somewhat resistant to abyssal energy but could also be healed by a strange energy the planet emitted.


    This was a game-changer for the future battle situation against the Abyss!


    But Kain''s excitement soon dampened. Kain immediately noted a slight decrease in Pangea''s spiritual power concentration¡ªonly a fraction of a percent, but it was enough to give him pause.


    If too much of Pangea''s energy was expended, it could harm the planet and, by extension, Kain himself. The idea of creating a massive million-strong army of beast-tamers connected to Pangea to fight the Abyss was tempting, but it was not possible¡ªat least not for now.


    Kain knew he would have to carefully calculate how many individuals Pangea could support, ensuring that the planet''s energy reserves weren''t depleted too much in the process.


    ------------------


    With Nyx stabilized and Ferrin by her side, Kain stepped out of the room to gather his thoughts. The events of the past hour had made him realize that during these chaotic times he could no longer afford to hesitate when it came to strengthening those he cared about.


    Gabriel, the young boy who was practically still a prisoner due to his condition, needed to undergo the procedure to become a beast-tamer. The risks were minimal compared to the potential benefits, and Kain knew he couldn''t delay any longer.


    But Gabriel wasn''t the only one who could benefit from this. The orphanage director, a man Kain trusted with his life, was another perfect candidate.


    Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire


    Although he had never awakened an affinity, he still had a single star space that could be used to form a contract. Most ordinary people were capable of condensing their first star¡ªthe real roadblock to becoming a beast-tamer was awakening an affinity.


    If the orphanage director formed a contract, not only would this give him the ability to protect himself and Kain''s siblings, but it would also extend his lifespan, ensuring that he could continue to guide and support them for many more years.


    Kain found the director in the mansion''s library, quietly reading a book. The older man looked up as Kain entered, his expression softening at the sight of the young man who had quickly become the spiritual pillar and support for the family.


    "Kain," the director said, setting his book aside. "Is everything alright?"


    Kain nodded, taking a seat across from him. "Everything''s fine. But there''s something I need to discuss with you."


    The director''s brow furrowed, but he gestured for Kain to continue. Kain took a deep breath, then explained his unique ability to create beast-tamers, detailing the procedure and its benefits. He also shared Ferrin''s experience, emphasizing the lack of side effects and the incredible potential it offered.


    The director listened in silence, his expression growing more and more stunned as Kain spoke. When Kain finished, the older man leaned back in his chair, his eyes wide with disbelief.


    "This¡­ this is incredible," the director said finally. "But Kain, do you realize how dangerous this ability is? If anyone were to find out, they would stop at nothing to exploit you."


    Kain nodded, his expression serious. "I know. That''s why I''ve been so careful. But the world is becoming more dangerous each day, and I can''t afford to hold back anymore. You''ve always been like a father to me, and I want to give you the chance to become a beast-tamer." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The director hesitated, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I''m an old man, Kain. I''ve lived a good life. Do I really need to become a beast-tamer at my age?"


    Kain leaned forward, his voice earnest. "This isn''t just about you. It''s about the children. Bridge and I won''t always be here to protect you all, and the world is only getting more chaotic. This would give you the strength to protect them, no matter what happens."


    The director was silent for a long moment, his hands clasped tightly in his lap. Finally, he looked up, his eyes filled with determination. "Alright, Kain. If you think this is the right thing to do, then I''ll trust you. But promise me one thing."


    "Anything," Kain said without hesitation.


    "Promise me you''ll be careful. This ability of yours¡­ it''s a gift, but it''s also a burden. Don''t let it consume you."


    Kain smiled, his heart swelling with relief that the director agreed. "I promise."

 Chapter 463 The Second Attempt

    Kain went to the basement of the newly constructed.


    Thoughtfully, due to his current status as an evolutionary planner and researcher, Collin and his family decided to construct a private area in the basement, just for him, meant to double as a private lab and office for himself.


    Naturally, due to all of their lack of knowledge on how lab are typically set up there were many shortcomings when compared to his lab on the college campus, and his lab provided by the System, but it was more than enough to serve as an isolated and soundproof location for the procedure Kain was about to perform.


    Kain had invited his four oldest siblings¡ªBridge, Milo (now 16 years old), and the twins Jasper and Jasmine (14 years old)¡ªto observe the procedure. They stood near the doorway, their eyes wide with curiosity.


    Kain had warned them beforehand that what they were about to witness could never be shared with anyone. This was a secret that, if revealed, could put all of them in danger.


    "Remember," Kain said, his voice firm but calm, "this stays between us. No one outside this room can know what you see here today."


    The siblings nodded solemnly, their excitement slightly dampened by the gravity of Kain''s words. They watched as Kain prepared the tools for the procedure, his movements precise and deliberate.


    Although the more people that knew about Kain''s ability the more dangerous it was, Bridge had been told about Kain''s ability a while ago, so there was no reason to hide it from him¡ªrather Bridge had always wanted to see it for himself and made Kain promise to take him along the next time.


    As for his other siblings, they were all approaching the age where they would awaken an affinity. Kain''s newfound wealth had given them access to better resources that would slightly increase their chances of awakening an affinity, but the chances of awakening normally were still not extremely high if they didn''t have any ancestors that were beast-tamers.


    Kain wanted them to witness this scene so that they could rest assured that even if they failed to awaken an affinity, they could still form a contract of sorts. Who knows, maybe the more relaxed attitude during the affinity ceremony will increase their chances of success?


    Kain approached the director, who was slightly reclined in a plush chair in the center of the room to ensure his comfort, holding a small vial of crushed spiritual plants known for their pain-dulling properties. "This will help, but it won''t completely eliminate the discomfort," he explained. "Bea was able to completely eliminate the sensation of pain for Ferrin, but she''s still recovering. We''ll have to make do."


    The director nodded, his jaw set with resolve. "I''ve dealt with worse in my long life. Let''s get this over with."


    Kain applied the paste to the director''s shoulder, the faint scent of herbs filling the air. He then picked up a thin, needle-like tool infused with spiritual energy and began to etch the array onto the director''s skin. The process was slow and meticulous, each line of the array requiring perfect precision. Thankfully, though Kain had been practicing drawing this array in his free time so that the process wasn''t drawn out longer than it needed to be¡ªafter all, he couldn''t always rely on Serena.


    The director''s eyebrow twitched slightly as the needle moved across his skin, but he otherwise remained perfectly still, his breathing and expression relaxed.


    "You''re doing great," Kain said, his voice calm and reassuring. "Just a little longer."


    The array began to take shape, its intricate lines and symbols glowing faintly as Kain infused them with spiritual energy. The room seemed to hum with power, the air thick with anticipation. Finally, Kain sat back, exhaling deeply. "Done."


    The array, now complete, pulsed softly on the director''s shoulder blade, its glow a testament to the energy flowing through it. Kain stepped back, allowing the director a moment to adjust.


    "How do you feel?" Kain asked.


    The director flexed his shoulder experimentally, "I thought you said it''d hurt. That was nothing. What''s next?"


    "Now, we see if it works," Kain replied. He instructed the director to focus on his meager amount of spiritual power and direct it toward the array. This was the most critical part of the procedure and something Kain would not be able to help him with¡ªwithout precise control, the array would fail.


    -------------------


    Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    The director closed his eyes, his brow furrowed in concentration. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he struggled to manipulate his spiritual power, it had probably been decades since he''d actively tried to manipulate his spiritual power, so activating the array was more difficult for him than it was for Ferrin. Kain watched closely, ready to intervene if necessary.


    "Focus," Kain said, his voice steady. "Imagine your spiritual power as a river. You need to guide it to the array, like diverting water into a channel."


    The director nodded, his breathing becoming more controlled. Slowly, the array began to glow brighter, its light intensifying as the director''s spiritual power flowed into it. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a long wait, Kain could sense a faint presence from the director, like a fragment of his soul, entering his star space.


    Inside Pangea, the soul fragment moved erratically, its path winding through the lush landscapes of the planet. Kain tracked its progress, his heart pounding as he watched it pause near various creatures before moving on.


    Thankfully, unlike Ferrin whose soul fragment took forever to find a suitable contract, a suitable spiritual creature was quickly determined.


    Soon enough, a spiritual creature that had previously been lounging lazily on a rock as it bathed under the starlight emitted from the 4 multicoloured stars perpetually orbiting Pangea, disappeared.


    Back in the workshop, the director gasped, his hand instinctively reaching for his shoulder as he felt it begin to heat up.


    "Did it¡­ work?" he asked, his voice trembling. Bridge and the other siblings also looked on with nervous anticipation at what kind of contract the orphanage director may have formed.


    Kain too was extremely curious. Although the creature disappeared quite quickly, based on the brief glimpse Kain had of the creature, he knew that it didn''t resemble any spiritual creatures he''d ever seen or heard of.

 Chapter 464 A Perfect Match

    The room fell silent as the director''s shoulder, the location Kain had chosen to place the tattooed array for convenience, began to glow faintly, the array''s light intensifying until it was almost blinding.


    The air seemed to hum with energy, and then, with a soft, melodic chime, the light dimmed, and a creature materialized in the center of the room.


    It was unlike anything Kain or his siblings had ever seen or read about. And considering Kain''s second major, that was quite a feat.


    The creature stood about two feet tall, its form a curious blend of humanoid and animal features. Its body was covered in soft, moss-like fur that shimmered with a faint green hue, giving it the appearance of a living, breathing piece of nature. Its face was round and expressive, with large, luminous eyes that glowed like polished amber. Its ears were long and pointed, and tipped by a small green leaf at the end. Its hands and feet were delicate, with tiny, claw-like fingers.


    The creature''s most striking feature was its tail¡ªlong and bushy, with green tufts of fur. Around its neck was a vine string that carried a small, glowing orb, which pulsed gently with a soothing, rhythmic light. The creature''s presence was calming, and it could probably calm down a irritated child by just standing there.


    "What¡­ is it?" Milo whispered, his voice filled with awe.


    Kain activated his System, pulling up the creature''s profile. The information that appeared was unlike anything he had seen before, even among the unique creatures of Pangea.


    ---------------------


    Species: Unnamed


    A rare and nurturing spiritual creature born from the most nurturing of elemental energies on Pangea¡ªnature and light. This creature embodies the essence of care and order and is a natural caretaker, its abilities focused on healing, organizing, and maintaining balance in its environment. It is deeply attuned to the needs of those around it, making it an ideal companion for those who dedicate their lives to protecting and nurturing others. Notably, this spiritual creature cannot stand disorganization and mess and will be unable to rest in an untidy environment.


    Quality: Gold


    Type: Nature Gnome


    Attributes: Nature, Light


    Skills:


    SS-Harmonic Restoration: A powerful healing skill utilizing both natural and light elements. This skill not only heals physical injuries but also restores spiritual energy, making it invaluable in prolonged battles or recovery efforts.


    A-Nature''s Ward: It can summon a protective barrier of vines and moss that shields itself and nearby allies. The barrier absorbs incoming attacks and can convert a small amount of the attacking energy to restore its own spiritual power.


    B-Guiding Bloom: It can release a burst of glowing pollen that illuminates dark areas and reveals hidden dangers. This skill also enhances the senses of those it touches, allowing them to detect threats or resources they might otherwise miss.


    Find more to read at My Virtual Library Empire


    C-Tidying Touch: Using its delicate hands it can repair and organize objects with incredible precision. This skill can sort through cluttered spaces, remove dust/dirt and can even mend broken ordinary items,


    ------------------------


    Reading through the System profile, all Kain could think was that it and the orphanage director were a perfect match. And after sharing the details of the unknown spiritual creature with everyone, clearly they also shared his thoughts


    The unknown spiritual creature looked up at the director, its amber eyes glowing with warmth and understanding. It took a few cautious steps forward, its bushy tail swishing gently behind it. The director knelt down, his expression a mix of awe and curiosity. On his aged and wrinkled face, there was uncharacteristic childlike excitement that Kain had never seen before.


    "Hello there," the director said softly, extending a hand. It tilted its head, studying him for a moment before placing its tiny hand in his. The connection between them was immediate, a bond forged not just by the array but by a shared sense of purpose and care.


    "I can feel it," the director whispered, his voice filled with wonder. "Its thoughts¡­ its emotions¡­ it truly is such a magical connection." Kain and Bridge didn''t feel much, but Milo and the others immediately had an expression of longing after hearing those words. Never before had they longed to become beast tamers more than now.


    The gnome-like creature let out a soft, melodic hum, its glowing orb pulsing gently. It seemed to radiate a sense of calm and reassurance, its presence instantly putting everyone in the room at ease.


    "It''s adorable," Jasmine said, her voice barely above a whisper. The twins nodded in agreement, their eyes wide with amazement. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As the director bonded with his new companion, Kain began the next step of the coverup.


    Although Kain didn''t know if any creature like this was possible to be a mark awoken within the Southern tribes, he still had to continue the plan of concealing all of the individuals he helps as having awoken some kind of dormant southern blood.


    After the contract was formed, similar to Ferrin, the previously intricate array had transformed into a white faded scar that resembled the silhouette of the gnome-like creature.


    Kain changed the ink in the ''pen'' he''d used to tattoo the array to a green one to match the contract''s dominant attribute. The ink was made from a special material meant to be indistinguishable from the ''innate bloodline markings'' that the tribespeople would awaken. And using that ink he began to fill in the white silhouette until it was no different from a natural tattoo.


    After Kain finished, the director stood, his posture more confident than before, and


    turned to the younger siblings watching from the side while holding his new contract. "What you''ve seen today is a should reassure you that thanks to your brother no matter what happens in the future, you can gain the strength to protect yourselves. But remember, this secret must stay with us. The world isn''t ready for this kind of power."


    The siblings nodded, their expressions serious. If anyone knew what Kain was capable of while Kain wasn''t yet able to fully protect himself it may spell his doom. The Empire may even move to eliminate him if they couldn''t control him out of fear of him creating an army of his own outside of their control.

 Chapter 465 A Major Decision

    Kain sat across from Gabriel, the young boy''s expression a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. Serena was beside him, her sharp eyes focused on Kain as he finished explaining the unique features of forming a contract through the summoning array. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The room was quiet, save for the soft hum of the lights that lined the walls of the laboratory that had become Gabriel''s temporary home (and prison).


    "¡­And that''s what happened," Kain concluded, his voice calm but earnest. "The creatures we summon using this method have a natural resistance to abyssal energy. But there are cons, too¡ªso far, as far as we know, those that become beast-tamers in this manner can only form one contract. Therefore, if you are dissatisfied with whatever creature you get, too bad. It can only remain your one and only partner."


    Serena leaned forward, her expression thoughtful. "The resistance to abyssal energy is fascinating. If these creatures can truly resist corruption, it could be a huge advantage." She turned to Gabriel with an almost teacher-like disposition. "You''ve never faced abyssal creatures or the corrupted, Gabriel. Therefore, you have no idea how horrifying their corruptive abilities are. Being immune to such corruption was a huge boon. But Gabriel, this is your decision. You need to think about what you want."


    Gabriel looked down, his brow furrowed in thought. Kain could see the weight of the decision pressing on the young boy''s shoulders. It wasn''t an easy choice¡ªGabriel still had a chance to awaken an affinity naturally, and becoming a beast-tamer through the summoning array would mean giving up that possibility.


    "I thought we decided to just wait?" Gabriel asked finally, his voice small but steady. "If I try to awaken an affinity and it doesn''t work¡­ can''t I still do this later?"


    Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire


    Kain nodded. "You can. The procedure will always be an option for you. Waiting is definitely an option. However, with the current chaotic times, there is no telling what could happen tomorrow, and none of us can guarantee that you will live long enough to undergo the awakening ceremony. The world is changing quickly, Gabriel. Wars are brewing, and chaos is spreading. We have to be realistic about our survival. I know only having one contract wasn''t the future that you imagined, but¡­ "


    Gabriel''s eyes flicked to Serena, seeking reassurance. She gave him a small, encouraging smile. "Whatever you choose, Gabriel, we''ll support you."


    The room fell silent as Gabriel considered his options. Kain could see the conflict in the boy''s eyes¡ªthe desire to follow a traditional path, to have the same opportunities as everyone else, warring with the fear of failure and the allure of getting a massive head start over his peers in becoming a beast-tamer.


    Finally, Gabriel looked up, his expression resolute. "I¡­ I want to form a contract," he said, his voice firm despite its softness. "Ideally I could wait to try to awaken an affinity¡­and if it doesn''t work, then I''ll do the procedure. But, as you said the current state of things is more dangerous, and I want my freedom back. None of my parents or other relatives had been beast-tamers anyway, so the likelihood of awakening an affinity, even after all the experiments those people did on me, probably isn''t too high."


    Kain nodded, a little relieved at Gabriel''s words. Although he loved having Gabriel around, he was forced to essentially share his personal lab space with Gabriel''s living quarters since he couldn''t leave. However, it was Gabriel''s life and he couldn''t enforce such a huge decision on his behalf. But thankfully, Gabriel''s thoughts were in alignment with his. "That''s a brave decision, Gabriel. And whatever happens, we''ll be here for you."


    Serena nodded in agreement. "I have a feeling you''ll do just fine."


    Gabriel smiled, the tension in his shoulders easing. "Thanks, Serena. And thank you, Kain. For doing all of this so that I even have the option."


    This groundbreaking ability to awaken non-beast tamers had been developed by the two as they combed through dense sheets of paper stolen from that secret organization. Although others such as Ferrin have benefitted from the discovery, it had been developed to help Gabriel. Gabriel was not ignorant of all the efforts Kain and Serena had put in for him.


    Kain reached out, ruffling Gabriel''s hair affectionately. "You''re family now, Gabriel. We''ll always make sure you have options."


    --------------


    The touching moment didn''t last long. Once they decided to go ahead with the procedure, they didn''t waste any more time.


    Gabriel shooed away Kain, insisting that Serena must be the one to tattoo the array on him.


    Gabriel chose to have his tattooed on the center of his back, that way it won''t be easily discovered.


    After all, Gabriel wasn''t like the director or Ferrin who could play off themselves as following a different cultivation system due to their bloodline. Gabriel, no matter what nation and method of cultivation used, was far too young to become a beast tamer.


    By his age, no child typically even has their star space fully saturated with spiritual power, much less taken the step to condense their first stars.


    Even among the Southern tribes, people usually only awaken the bloodline markings after the age of 18.


    Serena, who awakened independently less than a year before her peers, was already a massive topic throughout the Empire.


    But Gabriel, who wasn''t even a teenager yet? If word got out, it would send shockwaves through every major power. They''d tear apart his past, search for every possible clue, and draw all the wrong conclusions. Nobody would believe there wasn''t some major secret in him and want to investigate.


    Worse still, if that organization believes that he was able to awaken due to their experiments on him, not only will they try to take him back, but they''ll ramp up their efforts. Kidnappings, forced experiments, breaking more children just to replicate whatever they think worked on Gabriel. After all, Gabriel may give them the false belief that they are on the correct path.


    Therefore, even though Gabriel will have technically become a beast-tamer before the age of 13, he could absolutely never reveal that fact to anyone.