Maroon tapped Drew’s shoulder, harder with each passing second, forcing him out of his cultivation.

She had found his secret spot—not surprising. It was hidden from the students, not the teachers.

"When are you going to get a monster?" she asked.

"Yeah, about that," Drew replied. "I should be done with the vessel in... some days."

Miss Maroon. "You now have a deadline. Get your monster in three days, or you’ll lose nine points."

Which meant he'd be at minus six. Miss Maroon left, leaving Drew to mutter some rude stuff about her.

Either way, he didn't have much choice, so he had to act as fast as possible.

Drew headed to the classroom where the instructor always was and slept. It was the one place Jiman wouldn't try to mess with him, and it even had a toilet.

Eating wasn’t a problem either. Instead of going for breakfast in the morning, he went at night.

Work on the vessel, sleep, eat, repeat.

He spent twelve hours a day working on the vessel. The other twelve was spent sleeping—he knew he'd need it.

Maroon knew about the incident and Bein's family's involvement. They weren’t exactly discreet about it. It almost seemed like they wanted people to know.

Any regular kid would’ve been anxious or afraid. Drew wasn’t—or if he was, he didn’t show it. He remained focused on creating his vessel for absurd stretches of time.

But Maroon doubted he was actually working the whole time. She assumed he was probably sleeping for half of it.

Then on day three—the deadline—Drew went out for breakfast early in the morning but didn’t return to the classroom.

Instead, he appeared at the monster pen, alone. An attendant let him in.

The rare ice monster was still there. Others must have tried to take it and failed miserably. In Drew's alternate future, many had spat blood and tugged at their hair after just a few seconds of having it inside them.

One or two students had almost died. If it weren’t for the manager pulling the monster out, they would have died.

Drew pointed at the ice-turtle monster. "I’ll take this one."

The attendant barely reacted. "Give it a try."

Drew approached and touched its head. It was already subdued, so it was easy to force it into his mind space.

It transformed into pure Ferna and entered through his core area. It reached the vessel and was shoved inside. Now he had to hold it for three hours. If his life was in danger, the manager would pull it out from his body.

The monster's body was subdued, but its mind was strong.

The igloo-shaped vessel was cracking!

Drew sat on the ground and entered his mind space, repairing the vessel as fast as he could.

It was a struggle—the vessel was deteriorating faster than he could fix it—but all he had to do was hold on for three hours.

Then the monster's Ferna hit him full force.

Its desire for carnage was overwhelming. It was like a madman, brutal and inhumane, killing and destroying for pleasure. Enough to drive someone insane, making them either expel the monster or kill themselves.

Unlucky for it, Future Drew vivid memories were like stimulations. So the present Drew had experienced vessel-ing legendary monsters before, enduring their carnage for years. Desires that could poison entire dynasties—he had withstood them alone.

It was during this time the memories felt like nightmares. Nightmares he couldn't escape, nightmares that felt very real.

The first time, Future Drew had failed to vessel a legendary monster. The second time, too. Even the tenth. But by the thirteenth, he had done it.

So to this present Drew, this rare monster was like an insect trying to poison a dinosaur with a weak bite.

Three hours passed, and the monster’s Ferna grew weaker.

Drew opened his eyes and stood, drenched in sweat—not from fighting the monster’s urges, but from keeping his vessel intact.

The manager was speechless.

Drew asked, "Everything good?"

She kept her cool and said, "...It seems so. Just give me a second."

She went into an office, which was located above the monster pen, and then came back down with a legal paper, confirming Drew owned the 'Ice Turtle Monster'.

Drew made his way out of the building. While walking, he was leaning against the wall, barely keeping his composure. His Ferna level was down to 2%. The constant vessel cracking had drained him.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

If he had been at level four, he would have failed.

Even if Drew had a strong vessel, he would’ve been reduced to 9% Ferna.

And the monster wasn’t dumb. It was resting, but soon it would start consuming Drew’s already low Ferna to try breaking free.

He had about thirty minutes before that happened.

----------------------------------------

Drew hurried into the classroom. "Miss, I’ve done it!"

Maroon glanced at him. "Nice. What mons—"

He cut her off. "Ice Turtle monster."

"The hell?!"

He handed her the legal paper, confirming it.

She was baffled. "How?"

"I hit level five, so my Ferna was good enough."

While everyone else was stuck at level three…

She didn’t believe him, but the fact he was holding a rare monster was proof enough.

Still, level five wasn’t strong enough. Sooner or later, it would drain him dry, break the vessel, and either kill him or take over his mind.

But the fact it hadn’t already was... unbelievable. At the very least, he shouldn’t be functioning normally.

"What do you feel like doing right now?" she asked, eyeing him carefully. "Be honest."

"Like I want to shit, miss."

His mind wasn’t poisoned. Even kids that vesseled common monsters experienced minor mind poisoning and got into a lot of violent fights. Some even tried to bite others' necks like wild beasts, despite not being fully mind-broken.

Maroon took his ID and awarded him 20 points—the maximum score for an assignment. With that, he could leave campus for an hour, have lunch, receive a weekly allowance of five white marbles, and gain access to the item shop.

Drew thanked her and ran off. She wanted to relax, but fifteen minutes later, she felt compelled to check on him—just in case. She’d have to save his ass if he was getting eaten from the inside out.

She tapped the ground with her foot, sending a vibration across the entire campus. She felt everything within its boundaries… except Drew.

----------------------------------------

Drew first trip was to the item shop. It was a tall white and silver building with a glass door. His visit was rather quick.

He used 25 white marbles to buy a Ferna bottle—a small one, barely enough to replenish 40% of his depleted reserves.

Now he was outside the school, running at top speed. He flipped open his notebook, the one he used to record the vital information his future obtained. The book of memories.

He turned the pages until he reached the section marked with key trading spots.

He took several sharp turns, refusing to rest. He couldn’t afford to stop. In just fifteen more minutes, the monster inside would become active again. And he couldn’t enter his mind space while moving! Repairing the vessel while stationary would take thirty minutes.

So he had to move fast, his life depended on it.

After a short while, he arrived at a shady wooden building guarded by two burly men.

Drew approached them. "Fallen waters know no boundaries."

The guards exchanged glances, then opened the door. Drew entered.

The building appeared small from the outside, but inside it was a mansion—probably an effect of some monster’s spatial-expansion ability.

There was loud music, and bright flashing colors coming from every part of the building. The floor, ceiling, walls.

Drew remained composed as he walked past gambling men and women. Some were drunk, kissing. Others looked too young to be dressed in such revealing clothing.

But this was a black market. Expecting morality or ethics here was a joke.

Drew stopped at the bar counter. "Blackwater—I like it when I can’t see my drink at night."

The bartender frowned. He didn’t recognize the kid… but he thought if the kid knew the passwords, he must have been an important client.

"One coming right up," the bartender replied, playing along. In an instant, an invisible veil colored the world, and illusions replaced Drew and the bartender.

The bartender lifted the counter and nodded for Drew to follow, opening a door that was invisible to the others.

Drew stepped through, and the door closed behind him. There were no lights at first.

Slowly, dim lights appeared from the ceiling and slowly grew brighter, revealing a muscular, blonde-haired man tossing chunks of meat into a cage filled with monsters.

The area looked like a massive iron prison cell. There was nothing but that one cage, the monster, the man, Drew, iron walls, and the light that came from special gravity-defying candles on the roof

The man, Lau Gaji, turned to face Drew. "Who the heck are you, and what do you want?"

"I’ve got an Ice Turtle monster," Drew said. "I want to trade it."

Lau’s gaze narrowed. "And why should I do business with you?"

"Because you can breed it with a Burning Candle monster, and using a Human Life monster as a conduit, you’ll have a 100% chance of getting a monster that can reverse brain damage. There are six possible outcomes, but all are guaranteed to have healing abilities."

Lau stared at him. "How do you know…"

"The brain damage? I used an X-ray monster to see it a few days ago while I was on break. Figured you’d want to know."

"And you knew all the passwords?"

"I have a source."

"Who?"

"If you kill me, you’ll never get this monster," Drew replied calmly. "An ice-type nowhere near this beach region we live in? Sure, you can buy it off the market, but there’s always a shortage. And if I die, the school’s emergency system will trace me to here."

Lau scrutinized Drew, sizing him up. Finally, he sighed. "...What do you want in exchange?"

"Two Whirlwind Hand monsters and the rest in white marbles. That’s about 300."

"Done."

A veil was lifted, revealing rows upon rows of cages filled with monsters.

So many veils!

Drew found an empty one, opened it, and forcefully ejected the Ice Turtle monster. He quickly shut the cage. It fend on the monster's ferna, so breaking it was almost impossible.

"You should know," Lau remarked, "I’ve got the All-Seeing Eye monster. I could see the monster inside you."

"I wouldn't have dared to scam you," Drew replied nonchalantly.\

Drew then looked for the Whirlwind Hand monster. It was in one of the last rows, but finding it was somewhat easy. The sound of a very small whirlwind was too unique to miss.

Drew stood in front of it. The pair were made up of wind spinning in a spiral but in the shape of an inhumanly large muscular arm.

Drew asked, "Can I come back for the other one later?"

"You’ll have to pay rent," Lau warned. "And aren’t you afraid I might kill you next time?"

"No," Drew answered with a smirk. "Because the source would be mad. And you know anyone with those passwords is one of your big buyers."

Lau didn’t deny it. "Thirty white marbles a month. Most of it’s for feeding."

Feeding a Whirlwind Hand was cheap; it only needed air. Maintaining the Ice Turtle monster would’ve been way too expensive for Drew, even if his vessel could handle it.

Ice. Where was he going to find ice in this region? If he lived on a mountain, maybe—or near the chilling flowers that produced pearl-shaped ice. But that wasn't the case.

It didn’t matter anymore. It was no longer his problem.

Drew looked back at Lau. "One more favor?"

"And what would that be?"

"Let me fix my vessel."

"Make it quick."

Drew sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes. If he didn’t look serious, Lau would think he was wasting time.

Inside his mind space, Drew inspected his vessel and his Ferna. Some impurities from the Ice Turtle monster had tainted his energy, slightly setting back his level.

It didn’t matter. He could clear it out in about six hours. The vessel, on the other hand, was 50% shattered.

Drew spent the next hour repairing it. Most of the work involved joining the cracks with his Ferna and binding them together.

A rare monster was four times more powerful than an uncommon one. For an uncommon monster, his vessel wouldn’t need to be nearly as reinforced.

After the hour was up, Drew stood and walked over to the cage containing the Whirlwind Hand. Just like the monsters at the monster pen, their bodies were subdued so they wouldn't attack Drew.

Drew opened the cage, reached in, and with a flash of light, the hands were sucked into his vessel.