For an old man the headmaster had an incredible, thunderous voice. Goosebumps covered Alex’s body from head to toe as it reverberated through the plaza, academy buildings and then dissipated somewhere further in the city. The man of the small stature and the deafening voice was, probably, the most important person not only in Lionsburg, but in the whole region as well. The crowd silently listened to him, faces filled with respect and reverence.

“I would like to thank you all for being with us and witnessing the sacred ritual of awakening. The two hundred and fifty two youths present today are the future of Lionsburg and the pride of Western steppes!” The crowd loudly cheered, but fell silent again when the old man raised his hand to stop them.

“But just because our children got some cute pets, doesn’t mean they can graduate the second year yet!” Everyone giggled, but the headmaster continued. This time he spoke directly to the students, “There is still the final competition, or rather – the test, left. Afterwards the final rankings will be announced and you all will receive your assignments for the next year. You have time to rest until I finish my tea! All dismissed!”

Students picked up their spiritbeasts and most of them rushed to their families for a short celebration while the crowd erupted in laughter again. What made headmaster so revered was not his strength, although he was, probably one of the strongest people on the continent, but his friendliness and open mindedness.

“Dad? What test will they have?” Reino asked after Gregoro put him back on the ground.

“It’s nothing much – they’ll just have to run around the woods behind the academy and gather the beast cores.” Gregoro said and patted his head.

“They are going hunting?” Reino asked in surprise.

It was a common knowledge that beast cores were the essence of the power of spiritbeasts and were used mostly as a currency, but also widely in most different ways from enhancing armor and weapons to fueling runic arrays, just like the one during the ceremony earlier. His father, just like his grandfather, was also a hunter who specialized in hunting the high ranked beasts for their cores.

“No, no. Hunting in our woods is forbidden.” Elder Jintoro replied, “Actually this is not really a test, but an exercise for students to improve the newly acquired soul link with their spiritbeasts. They have to go around the woods and gather beast cores marked by the academy. Since humans can’t sense the cores, they will need the help of their companions and in order to receive it, they will need to practice communication and cooperation.”

“So it’s like that.” Reino nodded in understanding, “But why the headmaster said they will compete?”

“That’s only to keep the things interesting. Student rankings are basically set in stone, well … literally.” Elder Jintoro said and the grinned widely, “Do you also want to take part? I just noticed you also have a spiritbeast. Although it’s only a rank two blackrock wolf.”

“Uhm, elder, it’s not really Reino’s spiritbeast. He won it in a bet earlier today in the morning and it’s more like a pet. He obviously hasn’t awakened it yet and also doesn’t intend to.” Gregoro rushed to explain.

“Then it’s even more interesting! You had a fateful encounter and acquired your first spiritbeast! So, Reino, are you interested?” Elder asked.

“But can I? I’m not a student …” Reino was blushing with excitement and hope.

“Sure you can! If anyone asks anything, tell them to come directly to me. No, wait – show them this thing. But don’t loose it or we both will be in trouble.” Elder Jintoro said and gave Reino a token in a shape of a large coin. It was made from a dark stone and there was a picture of a dragon carved on it, “Alright, go to the slope before the woods where the rest of the students are, otherwise the headmaster will finish his tea and you’ll be too late.”

“Elder, is this really ok?” Gregoro asked when Reino left.

“His grandfather saved my life on multiple occasions. I would be an ungrateful bastard to not help out his grandson, wouldn’t I?” Elder Jintoro laughed back.

“I’m not talking about that. Although we really appreciate.” Gregoro awkwardly scratched his head. His father was quite a character and in a way he was now living his life in the old man’s shadow. Although he didn’t care much about it and was mostly proud of his father, “What I mean is – Reino is only ten and has no chance of finding anything.”

“We will see about that, won’t we?” Elder playfully winked back, “In the worst case he’ll enjoy a walk in the ruins and get acquainted with few older students. Don’t worry.”

‘You see, kiddo? That’s the difference between being a low-key and an underachiever. You only got scolded while others got to hang out away from the grownups, having fun. Although it could have been a blessing since you didn’t have to sit under that weird microwave shield.’ Alex inwardly said when Reino battled his way through the crowd.

He didn’t feel too bad for the owner’s misfortune since it was his own fault, but he needed a plan to make this lazy bum work harder.

With all the carved information stone slates around the academy grounds it was not hard to find the direction. In the worst case scenario, if he got lost, Reino could always ask the directions to others, but this time it was unnecessary. He soon arrived at the hill slope before the woods where the students were gathered.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The view here was breathtaking. Behind the groups of students there were the tall, dark red colored academy buildings, but in front – a wide meadow that stretched down the hill. At the bottom there was a beautiful pond, filled with colorful water flowers and beyond it stretched lush, green woods – the real practice grounds of the academy.

Reino, holding Alex in his hands, slowly walked between the groups of students admiring their new companions. Most of those were rank four with some embarrassed poorer student having a rank three and few richer ones – rank fives. The rarest he saw so far was the golden five-tail fox and it was the target of quite a few envious glances, including Reino’s.

“Reino? You also got your first spiritbeast?” A cheery voice greeted when they approached a larger spot where the students gathered.

“Hi, Bruno. No, it’s just a pet.” Reino recognized one of his brother’s friends, “Have you seen Danilo?”

“He ran off somewhere, probably saw a girl he liked. You know, your brother is quite the ladies man!” Bruno teased, “Just wait for him here with us. Let me introduce you. Guys, this is Reino Sildren, Danilo’s younger brother. These are Alfredo, Ronaldo and Gustavo.”

All four of them were dressed in the same leather uniform Danilo wore and had the token of academy on their chests, in fact, every singe student looked like them, except for the girls who braved to alter their uniforms a bit to stand out more.

Before Reino could respond, a jeering voice interrupted, “Hahaha! Look! Some people have even started taking dogs for their spiritbeasts! Looks like our academy’s standards are really degrading!”

A few steps away stood tall, thin youth proudly carrying a rank five silver crow on his shoulder. He was pointing at Reino and loudly laughing, purposefully drawing attention of the nearby students.

“F*ck off, Bullco! Go and sniff that corner, maybe you’ll learn something. My purpleskin just peed over there.” Bruno immediately retorted and the rest laughed along.

“You …!” Bullco wanted to say something, but seeing he was one against four, turned to leave, “You’ll pay for that!”

“Don’t take it to your heart.” Bruno said to Reino, “He’s at odds with your brother therefore tried to pick on you.”

“It’s fine.” Reino nodded.

Being the youngest brought along some downsides, but there were upsides as well – his brother arrived running as soon as he noticed the commotion.

“What happened? I saw that moron leaving. Did he do anything?” Danilo said while out breath.

“Nah. Don’t worry. You better tell us what and where you were doing.” Bruno grinned back.

“Uhm … later.” Danilo blushed all over and said, “Reino, what are you doing here? Where is mom and dad?”

“They went to grab a bite, probably.” Reino shrugged.

“Ok, but what are you doing here?” Danilo was getting annoyed.

While he usually was patient with his younger brother, he still wanted to arrange something before the competition. This was ‘the magic’ night for the second-years and it would be foolish for him to miss out on it.

“The elder we met told me to come and take part in the competition.” Reino shrugged.

“Seriously?” The five boys looked at each other in confusion. Not only he was a small kid, he wasn’t even a student.

“Ye. Elder Jintoro told me to show this if someone doesn’t believe me.” Reino fished out the token elder gave him and proudly showed in his brother’s face.

“Oh, that would explain a lot.” Bruno said, “That crazy guy always has weird ideas. Still, it’s not normal for any of the elders to lend their tokens.”

“Brother … I … the thing is … I can’t take you with me …” Danilo began to feel desperate. Taking care of his sibling was the last thing he wanted to do, “All of us are separating. This is solo competition, you know?”

“Sure, it’s fine.” Reino nodded, “Elder also said I’ll have to go alone. Just tell me the rules and go meet Neila, I don’t care.”

“Reino …” Danilo facepalmed while his friends collectively giggled.

“The rules are simple – just wander around the woods and find the hidden beast cores with the marking of our academy. After the sunset, come back here and present your findings.” Bruno seeing his friend’s despair jumped in to help.

“The fighting is forbidden and there will be elders present, so you should be safe. In case there is a problem – just shout for help and someone will quickly arrive.” Danilo finally regained ability to speak.

“Alright. Thanks! Good luck to you, guys!” Reino said and waved goodbyes.

“Didn’t we have to explain him about different core ranks? And the scoring system” Gustavo asked after Reino left.

“Nah, although he is smart, I doubt he’ll find a single rank two core. We need the help of our spiritbeasts for that, don’t we?” Danilo said, “But it’s fine. Elder probably wanted him to simply experience the academy’s life. After all, he’ll enroll in two years.”

“I bet he’ll never enjoy it the way you do, hahaha!” Bruno laughed and Danilo blushed again.

But he knew Bruno was not wrong and didn’t really mind the teasing. Reino also understood his big brother had his own life and didn’t want to bother him, but there was someone who misunderstood the situation.

‘Damn, kiddo! Not only you got laughed at by others, even your brother blushed with embarrassment because of you! At least you have enough courtesy to not cling on to him! This will be so much work to make you a decent person … sigh.’ Alex’s mood was at the rock bottom.

He even began to consider letting things be as they were and pray for a luckier ‘restart’. But the tendency for the ‘restarts’ was not good at all – they were becoming increasingly worse, therefore he was reluctant to simply go and die like he did in the last life.

It didn’t take long for the headmaster to finish his tea. Reino barely left his brother’s group when the academy’s bell rang once again and the two hundred fifty two youths accompanied by their spiritbeasts dashed down the hill towards the woods.

The two hundred and fifty third was not in that much of a rush, but to not stand out he did his best to keep up and soon disappeared between the trees behind the pond as well.