We strolled through the market hall, my friends pointing out higher grade weapons, natural treasures and other cultivation resources that meant nothing to me. I was constantly learning that the world I thought I knew was just a small fraction of how far the world has moved from what I knew.

I even saw groups around our age dressed in different uniforms.

“So, what’s the deal with this place? I see other uniforms and the workers don't look like students, even if they aren’t that much older than us.” I asked Mason.

"Who said this place links to only one location? Remember, the academy doesn't want these corporations to know where it is anymore than we truly know where we are." Mason answered.

"Wait what? We flew here, your aunt told me where the academy is though." I questioned.

I heard stifled giggles behind me as my bewildered tone, I turned around to see the other just about falling over from trying to hold in their laughter.

“Dammit guys, I almost had him. These are merchant companies, think of this place as a normal market that connects to certain academies across the continent. The items here have been shipped from all over the galaxy, the stalls take contribution points because the academies have a standard rate they pay for them. We don’t get the top tier products but still better than the common items you can find casually.” Mason explained.

“And the workers?” I prompted.

“They either were or currently are students on an internship.” he responded.

What Mason said had made a fair amount of sense, these businesses get the first rights to buy any products made by the students while also selling a large quantity of mid range items at a premium. It was a good business strategy, the only thing I was unsure of is the cost of transporting the goods across the galaxy. It should be cheap considering the amazing amount of bulk you can fit into a magic, void, spacial bag, whatever they wanted to call it.

Too many different versions ran through my head from fiction I read years ago. Hell some had just referred to it as storage or inventory when game systems were involved, probably safer just to call in a generic term like bag or ring, if those exist, considering mine was also my phone.

As I was looking at a stall full of weapons, not that they had any Karambits, I heard a voice I really didn't want to deal with.

"I don't care if you promised it to someone else, they're not here, I am. I will pay double if I have to!" Rio's voice rang out from an alchemy supply stall.

I turned to see him wildly gesturing as he grew more insistent at the worker, fortunately I was saved from notice as Ivy grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

"Cmon, there is a cheap stall over here that sells Common and Soldier ranked mana cores in bulk." She explained as she dragged me away.

“I thought you all went to lessons Ivy?” I asked as she was pulling me along.

“We were, but decided to follow after Hoshi and Kat finished eating. They are around here somewhere, probably finding Mason and Haru first.” she explained.

We stopped at a small stand tucked in the corner of the building, it was dingier and dirtier than many of the others, almost like the workers didn't care about it.

The twenty-something black haired man sitting behind a small counter, at the front of the otherwise empty stall, looked bored and was focused on something he was reading on his phone.

Ivy and I stood there silently for a moment to see if he would lift his head and acknowledge us, but it started to look like it wouldn't happen.

I cleared my throat, the man apparently completely absorbed in what he had been reading, visibly jumped in surprise.

"Jesus! How long have you two been there? Thought this job would get me at least a little respect from you kids," the worker yelped sounding like a surfer dude.

"Hey how are you? I was just looking for some Nature and Void cores, what are the prices like?" I asked, avoiding his question.

"Common cores are 5 points for basic elements, 10 for rarer ones. 50 and 100 respectively for Soldier-grade." He distractingly answered, once again looking at his phone.

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"Why is there such a leap between the grades?” I questioned.

“Takes money and power to purify them man, we gotta make some profit, you feel me.” he answered.

Ivy, do you need any for yourself?" I asked looking at her.

"Not really, I already have what I need." She responded shyly, looking away from me.

I did some quick maths and decided to spend almost half my contribution points on cores for myself and Clin.

“Ok, so can I get ten common fire cores, four void and four nature soldier-grade thanks.” I ordered.

“Cool man, probably the best sale I'm gonna make all week. You know what, lets round up those Void and Nature cores to an even number and make it five each for one thousand contribution points.” the worker answered perking up for the first time.

He showed me how to use my phone to transfer my points to him and pulled out a small bag he filled with my order. As I put the bag away, a hand fell onto my shoulder. I turned to see it was a grinning Mason.

“Thanks, have a good one.” I said to the worker as I turned around.

“You too dude, come back anytime.” he answered, going back to whatever he had been reading.

“So this is where you two got to. Here Haru and I were hoping it would be something way more fun.” Mason just about crowed with a cheeky grin.

I didn’t have to look at Ivy, the shyest friend in our group by far, to know she was blushing fiercely.

“I was only trying to help, i’ve come here a few times before.” Ivy squeaked.

“Leave the poor girl alone Mason, we both know you are the one who thinks Ivy is adorable.” Hoshi’s voice rang out from behind Mason, causing Ivy to not be the only one blushing anymore.

I really hadn’t picked up on that, Mason was one of those people that you never knew which way his personality would fall that day. I was pretty sure he would be a serious introvert if it wasn’t for how far he was pushed during training by the Royal Guards, it was most likely why he started pranking people.

Wanting to get Mason back a little,

“Actually, you two would be pretty cute together.” I told him with a wink.

Fortunately for him, Haru decided to save them both and just about threw himself into the middle of the group.

“Since no one can afford a weapon or new armour from here, why don’t we go check out the butchers for some meat. Well those of us with familiars anyway.” he announced.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Aspen answered for the rest of us as she too rejoined the group.

It was a few minutes later we were in a cold room literally surrounded by meat from different Manabeasts. I recognised none of it, everything was labelled but I couldn’t read the language.

“I don’t want to sound dumb but, what language are these signs in?” I whispered to Mason.

Before Mason could answer me, a Wolfman came forward from deeper into the cold room and answered my question.

“It is my native tongue. The Children of Remus honour our ancestors by created the language several hundred years ago as we were evolving to what we are now.” he announced.

I noticed he didn’t actually tell me what it was called but I didn’t really want to push the very large werewolf that towered over us, I had heard they could have a temper. I was kinda interested though, but language was never really my thing even when I was younger, plus a magic translator took care of that anyway.

"Oh cool, that's actually really interesting. But we didn't come to talk about language did we, we were looking for meat to feed familiars." Mason interrupted before I could ask any more questions.

"What are the elements and animals? I can tailor the meat for each of you." The wolfman replied.

Since it was Haru, Hoshi, Aspen and me that needed the meat, I thought I'd let them go first. Unfortunately because I was at the front of the group, they were all looking towards me to reply.

"There are four of us. My little friend here is Void and Nature," I started speaking as Clin looked up from my neck.

"Rekka only needs cores actually." Hoshi interrupted.

I chuckled as I continued,

"Make that three of us. We also have Haru over here with Hito, she’s a Poison element Spider, and finally Aspen has her...actually she's never explained what her familiar is." I finished awkwardly.

"Sting is a mutated Golden Royal Scorpion with a poison element." Aspen stated to everyone else's shock.

Looking around, apparently I was the only one that didn't understand the significance of what she said. The butcher looked so excited I thought he was about to jump over to Aspen and hug her.

"I can't believe it exists, we all thought they were extinct." Mason muttered.

"How is it possible? They were purged in the war a hundred years ago, when the Fallen Kings were torn down. The Golden Royal Scorpion nests were razed to the ground during the assault, I saw it myself." The butchers questioned, showing his true age.

"From what my father told me, she was found half the world away, in the Poison Swamps of Tasman. He assumed some were smuggled out before the armies of Terra invaded." Aspen answered.

As the pair continued to talk, an alarm went off for me.

"Shit, lessons are about to end and I forgot I had a meeting with Instructor Yuki afterwards. I earned one on one tutoring for Clin the other week and this was the only time I could get." I announced, looking for the exit.

"Don't want to be late to that. I'll pay for the meat for Clin and you can pay me back later." Mason replied as he pointed, clearly understanding why I was looking around.

I was worried I was going to be late, with Clin wrapped firmly around my neck I activated my combat form and RAN. I was still almost late, being pretty far away, I just about slid into the building barely a minute before my meeting.

Instructor Yuki said she would meet me in her office, so I made my way through the building, almost getting waylaid a few times as different Manabeasts were being moved for various reasons.

My personal favourite was wading through a flock of Thunder Sheep, their yellow fur had an odd static charge that tingled as you stroked them.

Arriving at the door, I gave it a quick knock and heard a quiet "Enter." I pushed the door open to find the most chaotic office I’d ever seen. There were plants everywhere, I couldn’t even tell how big the office as from where I was standing.

My senses and Clin told me there were dozens of different Manabeasts hidden within the foliage around the room. Instructor Yuki was sitting behind a small desk, piles of paperwork were spread across its surface. A single chair was on my side of the desk, I wasn’t sure if she would consider it rude or not so I hesitated in sitting down until Instructor Yuki nodded towards the chair with a smile.

“So Cain, how have you been feeling about your growth so far this year?” she asked.

I truly didn’t know what she meant by the question. My power as a whole? My bond with Clin? Particular Spells? I could think of about a dozen different answers I could give to the question, I just didn’t know which way to direct my answer.

I must have hesitated for too long, because Instructor Yuki started talking again.

"I wasn't trying to confuse you dear boy, it was a general question. How is someone that doesn't belong in our time handling this new world."

I was too shocked to even consider answering, how did she know? Did I need to run away? I knew I couldn't get away from the academy.

Instructor Yuki laughing derailed my runaway thoughts, and confusion flooded through me instead, stopping Clin from tensing on my neck.

"Did you really think no old friends of Essie were here at the academy? Why else would she send you and Mason here." She concluded.

"Ma'am please don't scare me like that, I'm sure even you can sense Clin getting ready to attack you." I answered.

"Please Cain, when we're alone you can call mr Yuki. Truthfully Clin is the major reason that I called you to have this meeting." She replied.

"Sure, is there something I can do better to train him or treat him?" I ask in response, suddenly worried.

"Not quite…" Yuki starts before pausing.

"I'm not entirely sure how to explain this, as it happens so rarely these days." Yuki continued.

"Basically, you HAVE to get another familiar, and soon." Yuki announced.