“Get out,” Luna ordered. “All of you.”
“This isn’t over, rotting-boy,” Jin growled. “We’ll see you later.”
While the bullies fled from Luna, Ren gently touched the mushrooms in his hair. The knowledge they provided was worth every taunt, every threat.
Though that didn’t make things easier.
As the others hurried to obey, Luna looked at Ren for a moment. There was no sympathy in her gaze, only a kind of calculating curiosity.
Or so Ren thought, still…
“Thank you,” Ren said when the others had left. “For helping me.”
Luna looked at him as if he were a particularly annoying equation she needed to solve.
“I didn’t do it for you,” her voice was cold, practical. “I did it because I dislike those who abuse their power. Three Silver beasts against the weakest of all…” she shook her head. “It’s pathetic.”
Her shadow wolf watched her with its bright eyes, tilting its head as she continued:
“You’d do well to stay away from trouble. And frankly, you should consider keeping your spore separate from your body. Those mushrooms on your head only make you a more visible target.”
“I won’t,” Ren’s response was immediate, firm. “My spore isn’t weak. And I’m going to prove it.”
Luna raised an eyebrow, studied him for a moment…
“Interesting,” she murmured, more to herself than to him.
She remembered this boy from invocation day, how could she forget the only one with a gray egg among so many bright colors, almost all children of rich and powerful families.
Luna hadn’t understood why someone who could only buy that type of egg was at this school. The terrible result was even more unexpected.
He had been so visibly depressed that day, so defeated…
But now there was something different about him.
Not just the luminescent mushrooms in his hair, but something in his posture, in his eyes. He looked more… bright. And she didn’t mean the mushrooms on his head.
“Delusion or courage?” she murmured, more to herself than to him. “Very interesting.”
She turned to leave, but paused for a moment.
“We’ll see if that confidence of yours lasts at least the first year,” she said over her shoulder, her wolf vanishing into the shadows along with her. “Though I doubt it.”
Ren watched her disappear before he could ask what was so ‘interesting’, the mushrooms in his hair pulsing softly… But he didn’t need her to believe in him.
He didn’t need anyone to believe.
Not yet.
♢♢♢♢
The Imperial Academy rose before him, its towers casting long shadows over the city.
The Imperial Academy’s Great Hall was impressive. Marble columns veined with mana lines rose toward a vaulted ceiling where carved beasts seemed to move in the shadows.
The new students gathered in orderly rows, their fused beasts creating a spectacle of colors and transformations.
Except for Ren, of course. The mushrooms in his hair stood out like a ‘gray’ stain amid so much ‘brilliance’.
Though he was the one who glowed… literally.
“Welcome,” the Director’s voice resonated through the hall.
He was a tall, thin man, with a fused Gold beast, a royal phoenix whose golden feathers intertwined with his white hair. “To the most prestigious institution of beast cultivation and evolution.”
Ren watched fascinated. His new knowledge allowed him to see some of the phoenix’s mana patterns, the complexity of its evolution, though everything related to Gold-rank beast cultivation remained nebulous in his mind.
“Over the next eight years, you will learn not only to strengthen your beasts, but to understand the very nature of the bond between tamer and creature. Some of you will reach Silver rank. A few, very few, might go beyond.”
His gaze paused briefly on Luna, whose shadow wolf had Gold potential. Then, almost imperceptibly, on Ren.
“However,” he continued, “rank isn’t everything. History is full of tamers who achieved the impossible with seemingly weak beasts. Everything depends on your dedication, your understanding, and above all, your willingness to see beyond the obvious.”
The whispers began immediately. Everyone knew it was a diplomatic lie, a way to console those who, like Ren, had bad luck in their invocation.
Of course, to Ren the irony of the message sounded different.
“The professors will assign your dormitories and schedules. Classes begin tomorrow at first light.”
The Director paused.
“One last thing: at the Imperial Academy, we value individual progress, but also contribution to society. We don’t reward direct abuse based on beast rank, social levels depend on each other, so you’ll lose points for misbehavior but gain points for contributing. Everyone has potential… Don’t waste it.”
This time, his gaze clearly stopped on the group that had beaten and threatened Ren in the carriage. The tiger boy shifted uncomfortably.
As the students began to disperse, Ren noticed something curious.
The mushrooms in his hair pulsed with a different rhythm near certain areas of the hall, as if responding to a powerful stimulus beneath the floor.
Knowledge flowed through his mind: perhaps the Academy had indeed been built on ancient ruins. Ruins where…
He might find the runes he needed without buying them if he was lucky.
“All first-year students, this way!” A professor’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “It’s time to assign dormitories!”
Ren followed the crowd, but his mind was already working. The Academy held more secrets than it appeared.
And he had eight years to discover them.