Seth turned Celine's words over and over in his mind as he headed back to the academy. The beast-holder and the contract were things any commoners with a sponsor could easily obtain, but now he had to find a plausible explanation for how he'd contracted a Copper beast. According to the administrator, beasts of that Tier couldn't communicate with humans, so forming a contract with one was nearly impossible.

'Tell the truth,' Nightmare said. 'You rescued me when I was just a pup and forced the contract into me.'

'The books at the library say you have to accept it of your own free will. So why the hell would you have done that?'

'I don't know,' the direwolf sighed. 'Let's just say I wasn't the brightest pup. I'd rather people think I was dumb than spend the next three years in this prison, only coming out every few days.'

'People will think I took advantage of a helpless child,' Seth muttered, shouldering his way through the crowd of people in the street.

'But that's exactly what you did,' the direwolf laughed through their bond. 'How can you live with yourself? Monster.'

'Yeah, yeah, I'm the bad guy.' Seth retorted, hiding his smile to avoid looking like a lunatic laughing by himself. 'Next time, I'll just leave you to die.'

'I'd rather be dead than watch your mating dance in front of that noble again.'

'Really? My mating dance? Don't be stupid, I'm not interested in her.'

'Sure,' the direwolf replied with a low chuckle. 'Then why did you keep glancing her way every five minutes after she asked about your tan roommate?'

'Go to hell.'

Arriving at the academy gates, Seth nodded at the two armed guards before striding toward the main entrance. His afternoon class would soon begin.

Seth sat in a cavernous training room with a ceiling so high it vanished in the shadows. Endless racks of weapons lined the walls—axes, spears, swords, daggers, and halberds all glimmered under the soft glow of light-lamps. In the center of the vast room, white circles had been drawn on the wooden floor.

Soft murmurs filled the room as students trickled in. Seth surveyed the room and recognized a few faces from other classes, one of them being Jenna. Maybe I should apologize to her later.

"Ladies and gentlemen!"

All heads turned toward the door, where a short man with a clean-shaven face and short black-and-gray hair strode in. His military uniform, impeccably clean and crisply pressed, contrasted starkly with the rustic training hall. "I'm Lieutenant Crestor," he announced. "I'll be your instructor for Weapon Mastery."

Crestor, Seth thought. One of the Twenty Great Houses—like Ryehill, Vancaws, Surani, and Faertis.

"In this class, you'll learn the basics of every weapon you see around you," the lieutenant continued, pointing at the dozen racks. "You might wonder, why all of them? That's simple. To defend against a weapon, you must first know how to use it."

The man then unsheathed the sword at his hips and held it in front of him, the sunlight streaming through the high windows reflecting off the blade. "Today's focus will be swords. The noblest weapon of all."

The next hour crawled by as the man went through the weapon's history, explaining how crude stone blades from centuries ago had evolved through the years to become today's finely forged implements. After that, he demonstrated different stances, basic attacks, and defense maneuvers. Seth tried his best to absorb everything, but the speed at which the man showed the footwork clearly wasn't intended for a commoner like him with no experience outside of hunting.

"Alright, students!" Lieutenant Crestor exclaimed, clapping once. "Time to spar! Find a partner and practice the move I just showed you."

As people scrambled to pair up, Seth hesitated, trying to spot someone alone. To his surprise, Jenna came straight to him.

"Wanna partner up?" she asked.

"Uh… I've never really fought with a sword," Seth said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm probably not the best for someone like you, since you're pretty good with them."

"It's fine," she answered with a smile. "Almost all commoners start without formal training. Besides, I'd rather spar with someone who has good Agility like you instead of one of those Warriors who only care about Strength and Toughness."

"Alright, but don't complain later."

"I won't."

They both grabbed a sword from the racks and stepped into one of the circles. Having no Protecting Belts this time, they started cautiously, testing each other's defenses. From the outset, they practiced the lieutenant's moves, mirroring the techniques the man had just demonstrated. As their clashes intensified, Seth began relying on his core's instincts, dodging and countering sometimes with raw, primal swings, while Jenna's strikes remained swift and precise, her parries effortless.

Even though neither landed a clean hit, it was clear with the rhythm of their exchanges that Jenna could easily defeat him if she wanted. And when she decided to push herself, Seth felt it. A sudden flurry of quick, unpredictable attacks had him scrambling, his grip tightening in sheer panic. More than once, he thought she was about to cut him down—only for her blade to stop just shy of slicing his neck each time.

After about a dozen minutes, they paused, and Seth let himself fall onto his butt, catching his breath. "Where'd you learn all that?"

"My father's the captain of the Surani guards," she answered, also sitting down. "He taught me a few things here and there."

"Lucky you," Seth sighed. "Those moves are deadly."

"I wouldn't call myself lucky," she replied, a shadow crossing her face. "I rarely saw him because of that. Always on duty. I pretty much ended up being raised by the maids of the House, alongside Elena and Brandon."

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"At least those two geniuses must be better sparring partners than me," Seth said, trying to cheer her up.

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Not at all. Fighting a high-Toughness Guardian like Brandon is a nightmare for someone relying on Agility like me. And Elena has absolutely no interest in close combat. She puts all her energy into practicing her aether management and manipulation, so she can specialize in devastating, long-range spells for her future in the army. The kind of spells that take minutes to cast and are useless in a one-on-one fight. "

"Who did you spar with, then?"

"The House's guards," she answered, before flashing a broad—and obviously fake—smile. "So now that I'm here at the academy, I'm in dire need of a new sparring partner."

"I see," Seth replied, his gaze drifting to the high ceiling. "I can probably help out when I'm not away."

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean when you're 'not away'?"

"I'll be leaving the academy every weekend," Seth explained. "Primalists' attributes increase more in the wild. So, I'll go hunting arcane beasts."

"You hunt arcane beasts?" Jenna exclaimed.

Seth smiled. "Yeah, that's how I progressed the most over the past months."

"That's awesome. I'd love to—"

"Stop chatting and resume sparring!" Lieutenant Crestor barked from behind them.

"Yes, sir!" Seth and Jenna answered in unison, springing to their feet.

They pushed through the rest of the training, testing each other's limits as they worked to refine their strikes and footwork with greater speed and precision—well, Jenna did. Seth mostly focused on just getting the movements right without tripping over his own feet.

By the time class ended, they both were drenched in sweat, but that didn't remove the broad grins stretching across their faces.

As they gathered their things and headed out, Jenna's expression turned serious. "Hey, about what happened at the cafeteria two days ago... I'm sorry for what Elena said."

Seth shrugged. "Don't apologize for her. I had class with her this morning—trust me, she didn't seem sorry at all."

Jenna let out a sigh and wiped sweat from her brow. "She's an amazing person. She just… can't stand criticism about nobles… or the military in general."

"Yeah, I saw that."

As they left the training room together, Seth spotted Devus trudging down the corridor, his shoulders slumped and eyes glued to the floor. His mood seemed just as terrible as it had been the past two days.

"Hey, Devus," Seth said with a wave of his hand.

"Hey," the Guardian answered, looking up from the floor.

Jenna stepped closer, and her forthright nature clearly took over as she spoke up, "You look awful."

Devus frowned. "Thanks."

"What happened?" Jenna asked, not missing a beat.

The Guardian's frown deepened, probably surprised by her bluntness. "Got my ass kicked pretty badly."

"By who?" Jenna pressed.

Devus hesitated for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh. "Brandon Surani."

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "When did that happen?"

"Two days ago," the Guardian answered, still obviously taken aback.

Jenna blinked, then burst into laughter, slapping the young man's shoulder. "And you're still upset over that? Please. Anyone would get their ass handed to them against him. His Double-Tiered spells give him absurd attack power and his Toughness is straight-up monstrous."

"He one-shotted my Protecting Belt five times in a row," Devus muttered, running a hand through his short hair. "I'd say that's a good reason to be pissed."

Jenna's smile twisted into a weird scowl. "Why the hell did the instructor make you fight five times in a row?"

Devus shrugged. "Because he's a Faertis and hates my guts, I guess?"

Jenna looked at Seth, then back at the tanned Guardian. "Is that why you two are friends? Mutual hatred against the Faertis House?"

"Part of it," Seth answered with a smile, remembering how they had bonded by insulting Lucius when they'd first met.

"Then you're both screwed," Jenna said with a chuckle as they descended the stairs. "There are like five or six instructors from the Faertis House in the academy."

"Don't worry," Devus said, flashing a faint smile and elbowing Seth. "I'll crush the Trial Tower's rankings, and then they'll leave us alone."

Jenna's head snapped toward him. "The tower's open?"

"Yeah, it opened this morning. I was—"

"Really?" A gigantic grin spread across the Warrior's face. "We need to go check it out. Come on, Seth!"

Seth watched her sprint down the stairs and sighed. Initially, he had also been thrilled about giving the tower a try, but since he had learned that each attempt after the first one cost an iron coin, his excitement had disappeared. That was basically a hundred awakening stones. With such a price, he would only use his free try—it wasn't worth it to waste it now. Better to wait until he was stronger. The rewards for ranking were only given out at the end of the spring's semester, anyway.

"Alright," Devus said. "Just let me go grab my gear first."

"I'll see both of you there," Jenna shouted over her shoulder, already halfway down the staircase.

Seth and Devus exchanged a quick glance and shrugs before heading to their dorm. Students around them gossiped about the tower's opening and the fierce competition for the first spots of the ranking. Seth was forced to admit that charging an iron coin was a brilliant moneymaking scheme by the academy—arrogant nobles would certainly pay again and again to improve their results.

Once in their room, Seth dropped his bag by his desk and flopped onto his bed while Devus rummaged through the closet.

"Why use your free attempt so early in the semester?" Seth asked, turning to his roommate.

"I'm gonna enter multiple times," Devus answered, pulling out an imposing black shield and a long spear before strapping to his back. "My sponsor's paying for one attempt every month, as long as I keep getting higher each time."

"One iron a month, huh? He must have high expectations for you."

The Guardian chuckled and pointed at his back while turning around. "You haven't Identified my gear yet, have you?"

Seth frowned and pushed aether into Identify's grooves.

Blood Steel Spear

Weapon

Tier: Copper

Grade: Epic

Effects:

- Ignores 15% of Toughness .

- Reduces aether cost by 11% for spells channeled through the spear.

Dark Mountain Shield

Shield

Tier: Copper

Grade: Epic

Effects:

- Increases Toughness by 18%.

- Reduces aether cost by 13% for any defensive spells.

"Holy crap," Seth muttered, unable to take his eyes off the effects. "Does it boost your Toughness at all times, or only when people hit the shield?"

"At all times," the Guardian replied proudly, buckling his leather bracers. "It connects itself to your aether channels and enhances your attributes directly through them. But it only works if you have the matching Tier."

"Hold on." Seth abruptly shot upright in his bed. "So once I move up to Iron, all Copper gear becomes useless?"

"Not useless," Devus replied, working to tighten the straps of his equipment. "But definitely weaker. I don't remember the exact percentage of the reduction, but you still get some benefit. Just not as much as if you had Iron gear."

Seth exhaled heavily. Every damn day, it's something new, he thought, frustration creeping in. No matter what he did, he always seemed to need more money. That was depressing. And watching Devus fight in the tower—if that was even allowed—wouldn't make that any better.

'We'd have more of those coins you are so interested in if we were hunting every night,' Nightmare grumbled from within his teardrop.

'Yeah, yeah, I know.'

As Devus finished gearing up, he gave Seth a thumbs-up. "Alright, I'm ready."

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