‘Damn, kid! You’re in luck! Your backing arrived just in time!’ Alex grinned to himself seeing two particular elders leisurely coming over.

More than anyone else he knew it was great to have a reliable backing, well, at least until you screw their daughters and they curse and kill you.

“Headmaster! Elder Jintoro! I was just …” Elder tried to explain himself, but Jintoro waved him off.

He went towards the desk, picked up the eight beast cores and inspected on by one, and then turned to Reino.

“Looks like you have brought back eight rank four beast cores. Not bad. But you’ll have to tell us how you got them, and honestly. Even my token won’t protect you from punishment if you’re lying … oh right, where is it?”

Reino passed token back to elder and in a shaky voice said, “Elder, we really found them!”

“Oh? You and who else?” Headmaster asked.

Apart from elder Jintoro he was the only one who realized they spoke to a child and not a student.

“Me and my wolf.” Reino looked up at the headmaster and said. Seeing him frown he added, “No, really. And it was him who did the most work!”

“Then if your wolf is so smart, why didn’t you find the lesser cores?” Elder at the desk asked.

“I did find one, but it got stolen away.” Reino said while helplessly spreading his hands. He really had no idea how to explain himself.

“Who stole it?” Elder Jintoro furrowed his brows.

While most likely the kid was making stuff up regarding the rank four cores, stealing from one another or fighting during this test was a serious violation of the rules.

“If I tell you, he’ll only say that I’m lying.” Reino scratched his head and replied, “You don’t believe me already so …”

Before elders could say anything, a slender youth came up to them. In the light of the bonfires for some reason he looked naturally heroic. Alex already earlier noticed him in front of the crowd, because of the majestic silvery snake that was coiled around his left arm and rested its head on the owner’s shoulder.

‘Haha! The other underachiever? Birds of a feather flock together, I guess.’ Alex thought to himself remembering the kid who suffered punishment earlier today on the training grounds, ‘Are you coming to help my owner out? Maybe the old guys will listen to you since you look like you’re from a wealthy family.’

But the newcomer with a serious expression on the face said, “I can help you with that because I saw the incident. The boy found a rank two beast core on a taller rock formation and loudly cheered holding it in hand up high like a dumbass when a spiritbeast snatched it.”

“Hahaha!” The crowd unanimously laughed at the portrayal while Reino blushed in embarrassment.

“Oh? Clinto? Did you recognize the spiritbeast?” The headmaster asked.

Its a common knowledge there were birds who love shiny things, but this was obviously done by a spiritbeast that belonged to someone.

“Of course, that was a rank five silver crow.” Clinto seriously replied.

While the expressions of the present elders turned angry and even furious, the nearby crowd split in an instant leaving the lone Bullco in the middle, him with his silver crow on the shoulder. Realizing the situation, the wide grin on his face quickly disappeared.

“They are obviously lying!” Was the only thing he could shout out.

“Hahaha!” Elder Jintoro suddenly began to laugh, “Even a ten year old kid knew he’ll say that!”

But the headmaster didn’t find it funny, “Bullco Deriva! It is your third strike this year! During the next meeting of the Elder council we will discuss your punishment. For now, please leave!”

‘Damn, kiddo! This was a mistake! Even if your underachiever buddy spoke out for you, that stealing motherf*cker will later take it out on you!’ Alex was angry, but could only curse to himself, ‘It’s not like you needed to have nine! The one bubble wouldn’t make a difference! Nine is also very little compared to what the others found, but now you made a mess!’

Bullco clenched his fists and then one last time glared at Reino before leaving. While the latter remained clueless, Alex already know what the look meant.

“Can you comment on the rank four beast cores as well?” Headmaster turned to Clinto and asked.

“No. In fact, as the head of the disciplinary division I’d like to know how he got them as well.” Clinto said and sternly looked at Reino who for some reason even took a step back. The elders around him felt harmless compared to this guy.

“None of you have had any children, have you?” A tall, slender lady with short, black hair, around the age of thirty, maybe forty came out from the crowd and reprimanded the gathered elders while poking Clinto’s forehead. The latter even lost his heroic composure and blushed while stealing a glance at her ample breasts and most of the young men did the same.

‘F*ck! Why the hell was I born as a dog in this life! She is a real man-eater! If there are more like her in this world I would’ve felt like home!’ Alex thought while loudly gulping. In fact, many of the surrounding males made similar sound.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But apparently she was long used to everyone reacting around her this way and didn’t care at all.

“From what I recall, you don’t have any children either, Fata” Elder Jintoro snorted, but she ignored him and squatted in front of Reino.

“I’m elder Fata.” She said in a gentle voice while heartily smiling, “These eight rank four beast cores hold a big importance to the academy, that is why everyone is taking this so seriously. I need you to tell me everything that happened, step by step. Even the slightest detail may help.”

‘Ok, kid. Looks like you’re in luck. She seems to like younger boys and this could be your ticket out of trouble. Don’t blow it!’ Alex thought.

“Well. We wondered woods for a while and after my core was stolen I wanted to come back, but my wolf made me bring him up the tree to take a look.” Reino did his best to explain.

“Wait!” Elder Fata said, “What do you mean?”

“He was behaving a bit weird and at first I though he found a beast core on a tree. I climbed it, but there was nothing. When I got down, he refused to leave until I carried him to the top.” Reino said.

“And then?” Elder Fata asked.

“Then he made me follow him to a spot where we found … Oh! Right” Reino’s eyes lit up, “We met Gustavo there! Gustavo is my brother’s friend, but I don’t know his family name, sorry.”

“You want to tell me you found the beast cores where you met this Gustavo guy?” Elder Fata asked with a smile, but seeing Reino nod, she suddenly shouted, “Gustavo! Get the hell over here!”

Headmaster and the rest facepalmed in unison at her behavior. But while she was a very ‘special’ character, she was an expert and her position as an elder of the academy was well deserved.

Soon a couple guys came forward and one of them, Danilo’s friend, said to the other, “Sorry man, she’s probably looking for me.”

The latter sighed with a relief and disappeared in the crowd in an instant.

“Damn right, I am! Alright. Where did you meet him?” She barked at him.

Gustavo went over to the registration table where the cores lie. On it was a map of the woods, drawn on a large piece of leather.

He pointed at it and said, “Right here, elder!”

“So he found the mechanism and you helped him get the cores?” Headmaster inquired. Even though giving all cores to the kid was kind of an overkill, at least it sounded reasonable.

“No. We already cleared that area when Reino arrived and we left right after. I have no clue how he got those cores.” Gustavo earnestly replied.

Lying to the elders was extremely foolish thing to do. Especially to the headmaster – there were rumors he had real magical abilities.

“Alright, then back to you.” Elder Fata said to Reino, “Remember – step by step. Don’t leave anything out!”

Reino nodded and for the next few minutes told the story how the wolf made him find the beast cores while the crowd listened with open mouths. If one ignored the parts where he told in detail what he had scratched, where he fell and what he thought about, the story was quite impressive.

When Reino finished, the crowd remained silent as if afraid of disturbing the elders who for some reason all as one fell deep in thoughts.

Finally the headmaster was the one who spoke first. Not really spoke, but shouted to the sky, “Neo!”

A split second later everyone witnessed a meteor plummeting to the earth, but before it hit the ground it slowed down by spreading its wings and raising a large cloud of dust.

After sneezing a couple of times, Alex could discern a huge, truck sized silhouette of a creature that looked very much like a dragon standing twenty or so meters away and next to it was the headmaster holding his hand on dragon’s head, probably communicating with it.

Only elder Fata, who was closest to Reino, noticed how the puny rank two wolf pup was curiously inspecting the headmaster’s majestic rank seven spiritbeast, thunder draco, while the rest of the beasts, with few exceptions, tried to hide, peed themselves or even passed out.

A moment later thunder draco waved its wings and disappeared above the treetops.

“Sorry about that.” Headmaster apologized to the elders around him who could only shrug helplessly, “You guys know Neo is kind of a showoff.”

The crowd of students and their families on the hill slope barely managed to begin to discuss the headmaster’s legendary spiritbeast, when it returned as fast as it left.

Headmaster put his hand of the beasts head, and after a moment whispered, “Go!”

“It looks like our little friend is telling the truth.” He said in confusion.

“F*ck!” Elder Jintoro cursed out loud, but noticing the disapproving glances from other elders, he said, “Don’t look at me like that! Now we can’t put them back. The kids will easily figure it out next time.”

Seeing previously amicable elder Jintoro cursing, Reino asked elder Fata, “Did I do something bad? Did we break something?”

“Hahaha! No, don’t worry, you guys did great!” She said.

But headmaster could only sigh, “Alright, wrap things up here and give me the results. Let’s finish the formal part so the kids can start the celebration.”

While most elders got busy, elder Fata brought Reino to the side.

“Can I check your spiritbeast, please?” She said.

“Sure!” Reino shrugged and picked his wolf pup up.

He didn’t have any secrets and was not afraid the elder would harm the wolf pup.

Alex, on the other hand, was still in shock from the earlier events.

‘A f*cking dragon? They tame dragons as if they were chickens or gooses! What the hell is this world?’

While he observed the many different animals in the ‘circus’ he was born in, on the streets and later here at this weird school, he already guessed his current world was heavily focused on taming and using different species of beasts. Sometimes, with how animals behaved, it even seemed as if humans had the ability to enslave them to bind to their wills.

It was an extremely scary prospect! Now Alex also had a good guess that the ritual earlier today was somehow related to enslaving the animals students had. No wonder everyone received a pet! Luckily his owner was an underachiever and was not allowed to join, otherwise he’d be slave by now! What chances did he have if even a dragon became a slave?!

Suddenly Alex saw the pretty, busty lady stretching her hand towards him and the picture of the old guy touching the dragon’s head sprung in his mind.

‘Hell, no!’ He inwardly shouted and tried to bite her, but even though she was caught by surprise, she reacted fast enough and pulled her hand back.

“Oh?” Elder Fata exclamed, “Does he bite you when you try to touch his head?”

“Sometimes.” Reino said, “Sometimes he also bites me when I don’t understand what he wants.”

“Interesting.” She said and observed the wolf pup, “Very peculiar.”