The club members were waiting quietly within the main building.
They were informed yesterday that a potentially new recruit may join their club and it was a handsome young man who ranked ninth among the first year students during the entrance test. It got them curious and eager to meet this guy who was able to gain praises from their prickly club advisor. They didn't have to wait long as two figures entered shortly.
With a dazzling smile the young man greeted them,
"It's a pleasure to meet all the club members. My name is Blue. I am very much looking forward to the club tour."
".... Teacher, you really brought a handsome guy? I thought you were half-joking yesterday. Ah! Where's my manners? It is also a pleasure, I am Cristy, the club leader. All of you quickly introduce yourself, stop gawking!"
"Ahem! Who's gawking? Watch your words. Hello, Blue. I am the club manager Nicky. I will be the one to give you the tour today."
"Huh? Who decided that? You have very important work to do so let me do this menial task. There's no need for the manager to waste her precious time. Ah, Blue is your name, right? Very unique name. I am Becky by the way. I have the club treasurer role as I look after the finances here. I will also look after you today so let's get along well, okay?"
"All of you, behave yourself! What have I taught you? First impressions are significant to get new recruits…"
At that moment Nicole rebuked them and started a long session of lecture.
°°°°
After Blue saw the members of the club he was dumbfounded inside.
"Is this a girls only club? Did Nicole really think about making me join here? Does she take me for a naive guy happy to be in a club full of girls while thinking that he's the king with his harem all around him? Now I have to navigate through all these hungry wolves looking at me like a delicious piece of meat. What a hassle!"
He grumbled inwardly as he greeted them.
There were seven members in this club. Club leader Cristy, club manager Nicky, club treasurer Becky and four other members who he deemed as insignificant laborers. The three important members were all in their fifth year. While the four laborers ranged from third to fourth year. There were no second year or other first year students in the club.
"This club seems to be unpopular, huh?"
He concluded inwardly as he kept exchanging pleasantries with them before it was somehow decided that all seven members would accompany him on the tour of their club much to Nicole's dismay. So they left the main building and went to the habitats of the beasts they raised here.
"There sure are a variety of them. But none of it caught my interest."
He said in his mind with a tinge of disappointment. There were many aether beasts, or an aura beast as the players called, throughout the clubhouse beast habitats. The main purpose of this club was literally on its name. It was to raise aether beasts, groom them as steeds and showcase their speciality in a race during the two festivals.
"Club leader, what was the result of the last competition against the other academy?"
He asked to which club members' faces became gloomy and a bit embarrassed. Even Nicole, who's face had been a picture of calmness, showed an awkward expression. From their reaction he could already guess why this club was so unpopular among students.
"Well, we had some accidents at that time so the results aren't much to mention. Don't worry about it. Next time we are bound to win. All of our chosen steeds are the finest. You will understand when you see them. Club manager, quickly lead us to their place."
Cristy dodged giving a proper answer in a roundabout way as she changed the topic.
"It is alright now. Teacher Nicole, I have made my decision."
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
He interjected so he could start working on his designs for this club swiftly. His Premonition ability kicked in way earlier so he had been maintaining a calm facade to not give away any clue but inwardly he was feeling restless to follow the ability's direction quickly.
"Blue, don't be in a hurry. Though the results were not splendid, at least take a look at the steeds. I am sure you will change your mind when—"
"I am not prejudiced because of past results, teacher. I will join the club. I believe that as long as enough effort and sincerity was invested then past results could be turned into a stepping stone for your success. I will naturally work hard to bring this club to its peak. Uh, can I also bring Karla here later? I will convince her to join too."
"... You will join? Haha, that's good. Trust me, this club will definitely shine in the upcoming festivals with you around. Of course, definitely bring her here. More members the better."
Nicole replied in a happy tone while the club members' previous gloomy face brightened. They also wondered who this Karla was. Regardless, as long as their club was saved from discontinuing then they were more than happy. With Blue joining and a girl named Karla expected to follow suit they now needed just one more member to fill the quota of minimum ten members per club. Because of the previous festival's result four of their members left the club thus bringing them on the verge of destruction.
If they couldn't get one before the festival then the club wouldn't get any funding.
"Can I look around freely? I want to get a good feel for this place."
He asked them in a curious tone. They agreed instantly and left quickly while saying that they will prepare the official documents for joining the club for him to sign later. Nicole also informed him about some peculiar habitats and what not to do there lest the aura beasts get agitated. She also left with a happy pace after that.
"Finally some privacy."
He said as he waited five more minutes strolling around before heading to the place his Premonition had been screaming at. He got to a pond with mists perpetually wafting from its black water. He followed the directions where his Premonition was the strongest and soon got to a particular side of the pond before he took out a shovel from the inventory and started digging down.
Earlier when he entered the beast habitats with them his Premonition ability instantly activated and told him that there's a fortuitous encounter here which would be very crucial for his new life. After learning about such an opportunity just waiting for him to grab he felt extremely restless as he feared those girls would end up discovering it when dragging him all over the place so he sent them away as naturally as breathing without letting them sense any oddity.
He had much experience when it involved stealing a fortuitous encounter from under others' noses.
He dug until a meter before being hit by an intense aether fluctuation coming from the ground. He activated an item he took out earlier to conceal the disturbance promptly. He was expecting such a situation. He stored away the shovel back in the inventory, which had been chosen by him to keep all the unimportant stuff in, as he used a brush from subspace to gently remove the remaining dirt away before the source of the aether fluctuation appeared before his eyes. It was a wooden box.
He didn't touch it but instead took a distance for any unexpected surprise as he appraised it.
The appraisal result left him surprised. The box itself was just a container for what's inside of it. His Premonition ability was also telling him to take the contents inside it. He decided to be swift lest a variable appeared at the last moment. He dug up the wooden box and then opened it.
"Huh? An egg?"
It was an egg with ink-black shell which was as big as an ostrich egg. He appraised it to glean more information out of it.
[Existence Level: 0.01]
[Vitality: 0.01
Aether: 0.01
Threat Level: 0]
[Behavioral Trait: ??
Current Emotion: Pleasant
Favorability Point: 0 (Unaware)]
This was the first time he appraised a fertile egg. It seemed the system couldn't determine its behavioral trait since it would probably be decided after it hatched? He was surprised that 0 point of favorability was dubbed by the system as being unaware of his existence instead of something like being a sworn enemy. However what grabbed his attention the most was its existence level.
"This fragile egg is actually at the same existence level as me when I checked the [Host Stats] for the first time? Could it be that existence level isn't sorely determined by strength but also… potential? That must be the case or it doesn't make much sense to me. This egg's fetus was shown to be in a pleasant mood instead of blank emotion so it already gained consciousness and was now close to hatching. First, let's take it away from here."
He didn't put it in the subspace as that would freeze its time and instantly kill its consciousness. The inventory was also a no go as the egg was constantly absorbing aether from the surrounding to help its hatching process. That dilapidated space was devoid of aether so its hatching process will be stunted.
Thus the only option was [Clan Manor]. He naturally wouldn't let Laura inside know of its existence so he put the egg in a faraway place from the mansion as he set some concealing and barring arrangements all around it.
He got rid of all the traces before he set off for the main building to sign up for joining.