On Artem’s side, Ayden finished her three hours of training with a series of overcharged [sparks]. Artem looked at her as he adjusted his notes with the data he collected from her morning training. His fairy was exhausted but was still giving her all to follow his instructions.
Doing the overcharged training after all the other exercises was a way to make her accustomed to being low on spiritual energy and push her to reach beyond her limits. This also had the secondary effect of guiding her toward the rare skill [explosion]. Artem hadn't completely given up on this skill because he wanted Ayden to be able to make her spiritual energy explode.
The boy turned away from Ayden to work on his footwork as he knew his pet would cultivate to recuperate her spiritual energy without being told to do so. However, he noticed a girl with dark, short, messy hair coming over.
She was only wearing her skirt uniform with a simple gray T-shirt. Her lazy appearance couldn’t hide the sharpness of her hazel eyes enhanced by her high cheekbones. Her gem – a brown snowflake jasper – was visible to the side of her nose, emphasizing the softness of her olive skin.
A notable Cave Bear was following her. Its brown fur was thick and with grayish undertones. It looked as indolent as its master despite being more than 160 cm tall, coming up to the teenager’s shoulders. Such growth in a month was spectacular, making it obvious that Orsella was feeding her pet specific spirit supplements to lead it to the path of gigantism.
Artem greeted Orsella calmly while observing her. The girl hadn’t taken the initiative to look for him since the rumors about his father’s crimes began to circulate. She could be there to use the training hall as Artem’s reservation was over, but the teenager had checked the reservation application on his connected bracelet. He only decided to lengthen Ayden’s training because he saw that the training hall was free for another thirty minutes.
Orsella responded to his greeting with a simple nod. She stopped one meter away from Artem and stared at him. Artem stared back without saying anything. He knew that if she didn’t want to talk, speaking to her was useless.
She suddenly nodded to herself, seeming to come to a decision. “Let’s fight!”
Lyra had been keeping an eye on Artem even if most of her attention was with Galen in the library. She couldn’t help commenting, “That’s blunt!”
“That’s Orsella’s way and that’s how we used to decide to fight.”
Artem was honest enough with himself to admit he was tempted to agree without much thought like he used to before his parents’ death. But he now had to consider the consequences of his actions. “Not now: my fairy is tapped out. Moreover, we’re no match for your bear. I saw your fights yesterday, you’ll crush us like everyone else in no time.”
“Who’s interested in your weak doll?” Orsella paused and looked over to the Fire Fairy, who was cultivating. The girl was usually rude, but she was honest and was impressed with the fairy’s improvement. So she added, “You trained it well, I’ll give you that since you managed to teach it two notable skills in three weeks – one of these skills being unheard of for a fairy – and I’m sure you’re still hiding something. I didn’t forget your inner world feature is the ‘Skills Library’, and that means your pet should know a rare skill since your CSI is of the rare rank. However, your pet is still beneath my attention. It’s you I want to fight.”
Artem valued her explanation as much as he valued her challenge. He knew she usually didn’t bother to explain anything. It showed that despite her apparent scorn, she respected Artem and his fairy. In the same way, she only challenged those that she considered strong.
However, her compliment about how he managed to teach Ayden a skill unheard of for a fairy wasn’t warranted. It was just that Artem stubbornly let his fairy train her innate skill instead of ignoring it as a trash skill like most people.
He wanted to fight Orsella but still asked, “Why now? You’ve been ignoring me for weeks.”
“Is that important? You sound like a sissy,” Orsella idly answered without controlling her words.
“My situation changed: I can’t afford to act recklessly anymore.”
“That’s boring,” the girl announced in a deadpan tone.
Artem just stared at her. Their staring match was interrupted by the vibration of Artem’s connected bracelet. Seeing his brother’s message, Artem replied to Galen that he was busy without going into the details, but he pretended otherwise to provoke Orsella.
“I need to go,” Artem said as he bent over to pick up his jacket.
“Alright, alright,” Orsella relented. “Anyway, I would have told you since that’s my purpose. I want to test myself against your talent. Is your new sense of responsibility satisfied now?”
Artem knew he should refuse, but training his talent by himself had its limits. Fighting with Orsella was a good opportunity to learn more about his own talent and get a better understanding of hers.
“Didn’t you just say that you couldn’t be reckless?”
“That’s for training purposes, and I want to check out Orsella’s strength.”
“As if you hadn’t kept a tight record of it...”
“You want to fight now?” Artem asked as he wanted to finish his fight with her before his brother could worry.
“That would be best. Did you do any chi training this morning?”
“Yes,” Artem answered honestly, even though he knew Orsella might then refuse to fight him.
A disgusted look appeared on Orsella’s face. After a short pause, she said, “Then let’s fight this afternoon.”
“Just to be clear,” Artem added as his instinct was telling him something was wrong with Orsella’s behavior, “we’ll meet for a practice spar, with the both of us using our talent?”
Orsella thought it over. Artem frowned as he didn’t understand how his question was difficult enough to necessitate time to think it over.
Then, the girl sighed and said,“I don’t mind, but I’m afraid it’ll be difficult.”
As Artem looked at her inquisitively, Orsella explained that Crystal had come to see her early in the morning. The future soldier ironically smiled as she said, “I know I look like a knucklehead unable to use my brain, but I’m not stupid. Such pampered girls never talk to me except when they want something.”
Artem shook his head. He knew what Orsella meant: people always thought he was more stupid than Galen just because he spent more time training his fighting skills. As if fighting didn’t require intelligence!
“Crystal talked a lot. I didn’t really listen, but she was congratulating me on my victory while dissing you for your first place in the common fights. She kept saying that even if we were both first we didn’t have the same value.”
Orsella stopped again to throw an ironic stare at Artem. The teenager kept silent as he had an idea of where this was going. The girl continued, “Since I wasn’t reacting as she wanted, she insisted you were arrogant and needed to be taught a lesson. How obvious could she be?”
Artem smiled wryly. He could also easily understand that Crystal wanted to use Orsella to humiliate him in a fight, surely to vent her own frustration and humiliation from the day before.
“Her own fights were such an embarrassment that I took pity on Crystal and didn’t expose her intentions. Anyway, I’ve been thinking your talent was intriguing, and I do want to fight you.”
Artem nodded as he understood Orsella’s reasoning. She was too lazy to bother herself with other people’s purposes, so she didn’t mind if Crystal thought she managed to manipulate her.
“I was hoping to be able to fight immediately to keep ourselves out of Crystal’s scheming. But if we give Crystal time, she’ll gossip about the fight everywhere and transform it into an official match. Otherwise, her big plan will be useless.”
Artem sighed as he knew that Orsella wouldn’t compromise on the quality of their fight just to avoid some petty scheming. Coming to a decision, he said, “If we can’t avoid her publishing about the fight, we might as well use the best facilities in the arena and make it more comfortable for everyone. Moreover, Crystal wants us to fight in dual combat, but you’re not interested in it since the outcome of it is obvious. So by reserving a ring for a single match, we’ll cut off most of her plan.”
“Or you could just refuse to fight Orsella, you know!” Lyra couldn’t help but intervene, even if she was busy helping Galen pinpoint the spying beast.
“I already accepted her challenge: that would be going back on my word. I don’t want my reputation to go down further.”
“From where I stand, I didn’t hear you say clearly that you accepted her challenge,” Lyra replied. “Admit that you just want to fight her.”
“Her talent is interesting,” Artem justified himself with this simple fact.
Orsella agreed with Artem and used her connected bracelet to book a ring in the arena for 3 pm to give Artem ample time to recuperate his chi. They discussed some more details about the organization of the fight. The girl then left the training hall with her Cave Bear.
Once Ayden finished her cultivation, Artem decided to go for a run instead of going to the library to wait for Galen. Artem thought better with his body in movement and he needed to come up with a strategy to fight against Orsella. She had never said what was her talent’s name and only admitted that it was an enhancement talent when Mr Carter insisted. Her usage of it during her matches was subtle, but Artem had observed her with attention and hypothesized Orsella could enhance her instinct or her senses.
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***
When Galen came to pick up Artem, the twins went to the cafeteria for an early lunch. They were careful about their conversation, using Lyra to sound innocent while updating each other on their morning encounters. These made both of them upset. Galen didn’t agree with Artem fighting Orsella because he thought it was a useless risk.
First, Crystal wouldn’t smoothly let go of the dual combat and would find different ways to pressure Artem and Orsella to fight with their pets. Second, he argued that even if Crystal was obvious in her purpose and the twins didn’t mind more humiliation, it didn’t mean that someone else wasn’t manipulating Crystal – who Galen thought of as an airhead – to make Artem show more of his talent. This would align with the spies’ purposes when they used Mrs Bousrani to sound Galen out. Unfortunately, realizing Mrs Bousrani’s situation made Galen even more paranoid.
As for Artem, he was frustrated to have let his brother face such a dangerous situation alone. It was his duty to protect Galen, but instead of calling him over, Galen dealt with it without informing him. Artem admitted that if he had known about the spies’ move on Galen, he would have refused Orsella’s challenge. However, Artem was adamant about fighting Orsella now that they made an appointment, and he argued that since they knew about the spies and were aware of their purposes it was better to face them head-on than to hide.
“Alright, both of you, don’t fight over that! You have more important things to talk about right now.”
“This is important!” Galen snapped in an uncharacteristic fit of temper. “Knowing for sure that some people are using an invisible insect beast to spy on us is crucial information. Just like we can’t ignore that the Third Elder is trying to usurp my authority!”
“I just realized that if they are using a beast to spy on us and coercing people like Mrs Bousrani,” Artem said in an effort to calm down his brother, “this means that there is a very low possibility that our connected bracelet has been tampered with.”
“Don’t you dare act recklessly just because of that!” Galen forced himself to answer in his mind as he threw a warning gaze at his brother when Lyra repeated his remark.
“That’s enough!” Lyra shouted to both of them, keeping Artem from answering his brother’s warning. “I refuse to let you use me to fight each other. And Galen, snap out of it: this isn’t like you at all!”
Realizing that Lyra was right, Galen closed his eyes and lowered his head. Artem silently moved over to sit next to his brother, their shoulders and tights touching as he took Galen’s hand in his own. Sensing her tamer’s mood, Lucia went to sit on Galen’s shoulder and patted his cheek. Ayden joined the three of them by sitting on Artem’s shoulder.
Some students sitting in the twins’ surroundings looked at them and whispered. The twins ignored them. Accepting the comfort offered to him, Galen let his head fall on his brother’s shoulder. The fairies fluttered around them before getting down on the boys’ shoulders again. Galen let out a shaky breath. He knew Artem was waiting for his explanation.
“We’re only seventeen,” Galen finally whispered. “We’re faced with experienced adults, adults who achieved to beat and kill our parents. How can we – youngsters who became beast tamers less than a month ago and contracted common pets – best them when our talented parents couldn’t do it with their legendary pets? That’s hopeless!”
“Do you want me to cancel the fight with Orsella?” Artem asked in a soft voice.
Galen stayed silent. He didn’t know what he wanted. He was aware the fight with Orsella wasn’t the real problem: it was only a catalyst. He felt suffocated by the burden of taking up his parents’ expectations and responsibilities, by the isolation since the death of his parents, by all the schemes around them. Artem didn’t speak either, silently comforting his brother with his physical presence.
Lyra respected their quiet moment while thinking of a solution. There wasn’t much she could do at this point, except encourage them. “Why don’t you return to the library to work on your fairies’ evolution?”
“I don’t feel like it now,” Galen protested weakly.
“What you said to Mrs Bousrani wasn’t a lie, Galen,” Lyra went on in a soft, serious tone uncharacteristic of her. “You love Lucia, and she did fill the void your parents left in your heart. You also love Ayden because they both are the new members of your Family. Besting your enemies isn’t hopeless because your fairies are your hope. They are your hope to become stronger, your hope to surprise your enemies, your hope to find out more about your parents. So be it by searching how to evolve your fairies to get stronger or by learning more about Avalon, I do believe that’s the most important thing right now.”
Artem quietly listened to Lyra’s speech even though he didn’t understand everything she mentioned. Her mindfulness touched him. Artem knew his brother enough to know that it wasn’t the first time Galen felt so overwhelmed even though he tried to hide it from him. Artem was grateful to Lyra’s words because he only knew how to comfort his brother with his presence, and he didn’t know what to tell him to support him.
“You’re right, Lyra,” Galen admitted after a time. “I’m sorry about my breakdown.”
“I’m your CSI, it’s my role to guide you,” Lyra answered in her usual perky voice.
Listening to Lyra, they went back together to the library. On the way, Galen decided not to share his hypotheses that the fairies’ evolution also contained a clue about their parents. He didn’t wish to hide information from Artem, but Galen needed some time to calmly go over these suppositions. Moreover, in an effort to curb his worries, Galen ignored the possibility that there was a listening device in their connected bracelet.
Once the twins were installed in a corner of the library, they gave the fairies their tasks. Lucia returned to her books, and Ayden cultivated to fill up Artem’s chi. Then Galen proceeded to share candidly his morning findings about the feys and Avalon with Artem.
The twins discussed which direction to work on from there. The ingredient revealed in the message left by their parents was important, but before they could leave the school during their winter break, they couldn’t hope to get their hands on it. They needed to find another source of information about this secret path to prepare the fairies for their super-evolution without wasting time.
As the twins worked together to find more information, Lyra suddenly informed them that the encyclopedia had updated the article about each fairy in her usual mechanical voice for official announcements. “Congratulation! By finding secret information about the Fire and Light Fairies, you unlocked the third tier of their encyclopedia article!”
As the twins couldn’t yet read the encyclopedia themselves, Lyra read it aloud to them. Each article could now provide tips about all the fairies’ evolution paths. Such a number of possible paths was unheard of, and the twins took some time to digest this information before going back to analyze the tips from the articles.
The first important point was the confirmation that the fairies were able to evolve into higher-ranked species belonging to the Fey Courts from Avalon. As the Beast Explorers surmised, there were several Courts almost completely unknown by humans. But what these beast tamers couldn’t hope to guess easily was that a fey could evolve differently depending on the Court it chose. Another strange thing was that from the rare rank, it seemed that the name given to a fey didn’t describe its powers or physical characteristics like the other beasts but described its role in the Court. For instance, Ayden could become a rare Puca Trickster of the Summer Court, whereas Lucia could evolve into a rare Sprite Healer of the Spring Court.
The twins discovered from the encyclopedia that Lucia could try for the Spring or the Day Court. Ayden could try for the Summer or the Autumn Court. Moreover, both fairies had several different roles and species possible. All these first bewildered the twins until they thought about how an elemental could evolve very differently depending on the material used. Likewise, the feys should have a lot of versatility linked to the material chosen. Strangely both Lucia and Ayden could also evolve in the same fey like a notable Sun Pixie – but belonging either to the Day Court or the Summer Court – showing that these evolution paths were complicated and full of twists.
This amount of knowledge was overwhelming, and the fact that the twins couldn’t read the articles themselves complicated things. So Galen and Artem chose to concentrate on what they should do to help their fairies super-evolve.
From what was written in the encyclopedia, the fairies first needed the usual requirements: to form a spiritual energy core and to know specific skills of the rare rank. But like their parents hinted at them in the message, they also needed something from a rare-ranked fey as a material among several other ingredients such as spirit acanthuses, stone spirit powder from the spiritual element of the fairy, fairy water, a selection of three spirit plants and – strangely – human blood. Galen would then need to use his pharmacist skills to create an evolution pill. There were other requirements they needed to find out themselves, but the pills were essential.
“Galen, what do you think of this pill recipe?” Lyra asked since she didn’t understand pharmaceutics.
“Well, I’ll need to study the ingredient in more depth,” Galen answered in a low voice, “but I can roughly guess that the stone spirit powder is used like usual to upgrade the spiritual pool and the spiritual quality of the pet. The fairy water should be the basic binding agent. The spirit acanthus is expensive and difficult to find. It is an ingredient known to upgrade a pet’s spiritual quality by a large margin, so it’s almost always used for super-evolution pills.”
There Galen fell silent to ponder over the other ingredients while distractedly flipping through his botanic book.
Meanwhile, Artem thought over the other requirements. Having an idea, he said, “I think the skills are influencing the fey’s role in its Court. That’s in line with what a beast tamer is doing when choosing how he wants its pet to fight.”
“The encyclopedia only gives tips,” Lyra said as she went through the articles again to see if she could confirm his idea. “You have to figure out some things on your own.”
“Well, I don’t really understand how Ayden could become a trickster, though I might have a rough idea,” Artem continued, “but some other roles make no sense. What does it mean for a pet to be a scholar or a wanderer? Which skills should the pet learn?”
“Some roles are quite straightforward. Choosing skills for a healer or a scout is easy,” Galen added his input while still being distracted.
“I do like the idea of training Ayden as a scout, but I thought you didn’t want Lucia to be a healer.”
“I’d rather teach her the skills that suit her than worry about which role that’ll give her.”
“What nonsense are you saying?” Artem berated him. “Don’t take her evolution lightly!”
“Well, you think it over. I got an idea about the other ingredients and want to check some things.”
Without waiting for his brother to agree, Galen left their table to use one of the terminals present in the library. He first looked up the most known evolution requirements for the elementals. Having confirmed his first hypotheses, Galen then looked for materials and ingredients that originated from Pocket Worlds. Using such a large requirement made it a pain to find what he was looking for, but he couldn’t drop all his precautions against the people spying on them.
As soon as Galen returned to sit at his table, Artem argued with him. “You need to consider that some species might not be able to get some roles, so if you mess up Lucia’s skills choice, she might fail her evolution!”
“Well, I think we won’t have as much choice as we thought. If the fairies’ evolution is like the elementals, their form – that’s to say, their species – will depend on the ingredient coming from the species the beast tamer is aiming for. In other words, Lucia’s and Ayden’s species will be determined by the ingredient from a rare-ranked fey prepared for us by our parents.”
“Damn,” Artem whispered as he understood the implications of what his brother was explaining.
“So proceeding by elimination, the ingredients which determined their future Court are the three spirit plants. And there, our choice will be limited by the spirit plants we’ll manage to obtain because the best ones – that’s to say, the ones from Avalon – are inaccessible to us. Don’t ask me what’s the use of the human blood: I can’t begin to guess it.”
“Let’s hope that our parents left us another clue with the rare fey ingredient.”
Accepting the fact that they couldn’t find out much more yet, the twins went back to their usual studies. Artem was reading books about carving stone spirits. Galen was busy with books about law and trials.
The fairies were also studying. Lucia was happily looking at her physics book while Ayden was pouting in front of a book about combustion. Filling up Artem’s chi hadn’t taken her too much time since that wasn’t the focus of Artem’s training in the morning.
Once it was time, they cleaned up their table to prepare for the fight with Orsella.