“All of you stay here for a while; I need to get something before we start,” the sergeant of Arthur’s squad said coldly before leaving their newly formed squad in their training room.

“To think we got her as our sergeant.." Arthur muttered to himself.

Their sergeant was the only sergeant who did not choose from the catalog but already had it on her, Arthur suspected something was up with her but could not guess what.

"Hey, how about we introduce ourselves since we will be in the same squad? I’m Stevan, and this is my bond, Raptor," a boy with an eagle bond said.

"What about you? What is your name?" he turned to the glasses-wearing boy, trying to lead the conversation.

The boy with glasses looked uncomfortable with the attention but decided to answer the question. "I’m Kale, and this is Bumble," he introduced a palm-sized bee beside him.

Arthur looked at Bumble with interest; it was rare to see insect bonds because most attempts to bond with insects turn into failures because of the way insects' minds operate.

"He might have a talent or trait that helps with bonding with insects," he concluded.

"I’m Simon; you guys can call me Big Brother from now on! And this is Little Orange!" one of the boys introduced himself without Stevan asking him to.

Ironically, Simon was the smallest person in the room, barely 140cm tall, while Little Orange was the biggest bond in the room.

"Pfft..." everyone held back their laughter at Simon.

"Why did you name it Little Orange? It's not small and definitely not orange!" a tan-skinned girl couldn't help but remark at Simon's choice of name, which everyone nodded in agreement.

Little Orange was a two-and-a-half-meter-tall panda! Who the hell names a giant panda "Little Orange"?!

"It likes to eat oranges, and even if it already grew bigger, it will always be my little orange!" Simon defended himself while hugging the giant panda.

"Alright, alright, don’t make fun of Little Orange. Let's move to the next person. How about you next?" Stevan tried to smoothen the conversation as he passed the ball to the tan girl.

"Ugh... fine... I just think it's funny..." the girl commented before introducing herself. "I’m Tamara from the Ives family, and this is Tonny."

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"Is that a kangaroo? Can I touch it?" Simon looked at Tonny with admiration as kangaroos' natural habitat is on the other side of the earth.

"You can, but don’t blame me if it kicks you," Tamara smirked at the short guy.

"Ugh... no thank you, I will just hug Little Orange instead," he turned toward the panda, running from Tamara and her bond.

"They don't seem too bad or easily offended," Arthur thought as he observed Simon and Tamara.

"As for him..." he turned toward Stevan, "I don't think I will be comfortable around him."

Arthur did not like how outgoing Stevan was; it just rubbed him the wrong way. "Or I might just not be used to talking to people," he thought.

"How about you? What is your name?" Stevan asked Arthur as he caught Arthur looking at him.

"Ah... uhh... I’m... Arthur, and this is Rat," he stammered as everyone turned toward him.

Arthur could see some of them frowning at his appearance. Arthur had already taken a bath in the river the day before to appear his best, but his unkempt hair and clothes were still the same.

One boy who hadn't introduced himself even snorted at him.

"What is wrong with you? Don't you have any better clothes? And what is with your bond's name? Did you name it at all?" Tamara bombarded him with questions and remarks that made Arthur blush in embarrassment.

"Actually, no, I didn't think it needed a name... I will think of something... I will let you know later," he answered honestly, which earned him another tail whip from Rat before it avoided eye contact with him and crossed its forelegs as if it was sulking.

"As for clothes, this is all I have," he said, which made Tamara lose her tongue. Never in her imagination did she think that anyone would not even have proper clothes.

"Hahaha... it's okay, little Arthur. With Big Brother here, you don't need to worry! Let me see if I have any clothes that I can hand down to you," Simon patted him on the back before going through his bag.

Arthur's mouth twitched as Simon pulled out some clothes from his bag. "Thank you, Simon, but... it's okay, you don't need to give me anything."

"Even if you give me your clothes, I can't wear them since they won't fit!" he cried internally.

"We will get military uniforms after this, don't worry," Stevan said, saving Arthur from Simon's goodwill.

Stevan turned to the last girl in the room as he was about to ask her to introduce herself.

"Athena Lance," she said while pointing to herself before Stevan asked her. "Selena," she continued while pointing at her fluffy bond.

Arthur looked at both Athena and Selena as they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Athena had long black hair and blue eyes contrasting with Selena's white fur and red eyes.

"Arctic Fox!" Tamara exclaimed while looking at Selena with sparkling eyes.

"Can I touch her?" she asked the other girl, only for Athena to wordlessly shake her head.

Things turned awkward as Athena kept her silence; she barely said anything other than her name and her bond's name.

"Nice to know you, Athena and Selena," Stevan said before turning toward the last person in the room.

It was the boy who snorted at Arthur previously. "Don't bother asking; I'm not here to make friends," he cut in.

"If I'm not wrong, his name is Aroon Dusk. Sounds like trouble. I should keep my distance from him," Arthur thought as he remembered their sergeant called Aroon’s name when she chose their squad members.

Tamara looked displeased with the haughty boy's attitude, but before she could confront him, the room door opened.

Arthur turned toward the door to find their Sergeant returning to the room.

"Didn't she say she needed to get something?" he wondered why the veteran soldier did not bring anything back with her.