The following morning, Galen was woken up by Lucia, who was patting his face. Following her pointing hand, he saw Artem doing push-ups in the small space between the bunk bed and the desks. Ayden was imitating him, but it was funny because the fairy was weak and couldn’t do push-ups without using her wings, making the exercise useless to fortify her arm muscles.
Galen held back a chuckle. Bit by bit, he was getting used to the fairies’ otherness. Seeing them acting cute and clumsy helped a lot. The fairies were their first pets. He should cherish them no matter what.
Thinking of his beast-tamer duties, Galen greeted Lyra and asked her about the Phoenix’s egg and the Caladrius Bird. The twins’ inner world "Warehouse" was of the lowest tier, so it didn’t have options such as metastasis. Galen and Artem needed to find a solution to properly care for the egg and the corpse or quickly improve as beast tamers. By leveling up, they could build new features like an incubator for the egg or upgrade the "Warehouse" so that time ran slower inside. However, leveling up would take time - time that Galen wasn’t sure their enemies would give them.
Galen knew that Artem had other exercises to do for his morning routine, so he picked up his pharmaceutical book. Galen believed this book might hold some key to decipher the message left by his mother in Melia’s account book. As he was reading, Lucia sat down next to him to cultivate.
However, Galen was feeling restless and couldn’t concentrate as usual. The youth had already read this book several times while studying pharmacist’s skills, so he couldn’t muster any interest in the book now. Moreover, his attempt to convert the classification of the plants into numbers wasn't working. His gaze went to Lucia.
Cultivating was natural to beasts. It was their way to absorb spiritual power from the world to grow stronger. Accumulating spiritual energy through cultivation to form a core was also one of the requirements for the pet’s evolution. This was what humans were physiologically unable to do. Galen noticed Lucia’s wings fluttering regularly. Intrigued, he quietly observed her as he wondered how cultivating works.
Galen lost any notion of time and only stirred when Artem told him to get ready to go for a run with him. His mind still on the data from his observations, Galen distractedly nodded and changed into his training suit.
On the running track, the two teenagers and their fairies did their laps seriously. Galen was still carefully observing Lucia. The little fairies didn’t have much stamina and often needed to take breaks on the boys’ shoulders since the twins’ pace was too much for them. This left Galen free to ponder on what he discovered. “Artem, did you notice how Ayden uses her spiritual energy?”
Galen theorized that Lucia cultivated through some sort of meditation during which the spiritual energy seemed to circulate through her body in rhythm with the small movements of her wings. When she was flying, the light from her wings seemed to fluctuate.
After a while, Artem gave his opinion. He was as serious as Galen about his duty toward his pet, so he had also been taking notice of her. “The spiritual energy seems to pass through the wings. It looks like a flux. When Ayden is low on energy, her wings are more transparent, like they are weaker.”
“As I thought. Then, wouldn’t Lucia and Ayden better manage their energy and stamina when flying if they try to regulate this flux consciously like when they cultivate?”
Galen had his idea, but he wanted Artem’s input. Artem carefully considered the idea before suggesting teaching the fairies how to better circulate and regulate their energy by modifying a breathing method. It took several tries to make them regard their wings as some sort of lungs. Ayden got it first, but both fairies finally flew a whole lap without stopping, thanks to the breathing method. The four of them were very happy about that, and the boys were thinking of a way to reward their fairies when they were interrupted.
“Boys, we have a bitch alert!” Lyra had kept quiet all this time, content to look over the boys and their pets to see how they grew together. She was displeased to see a girl with obvious bad intentions come over.
This teenager was trying very hard to give herself a mature look with her modified uniform and make-up. She had a rare Gray Stone Wallaroo by her side, and she couldn’t hide her disdain as she looked at the fairies. “Galen, Artem, I’m surprised to see you at school. You won’t believe all the nasty rumors going around about you!”
“No need to take a big breath to tell us,” Artem rudely cut her in a deadpan tone as he vaguely recognized the girl as someone he didn’t like. “We aren’t interested in gossip, and unlike you, we have better things to do.”
“You should change the tone you use to speak to others, Artem!” the girl answered while clenching her fists. She thought the twins would be more humble in their situation and eager to tighten their relationship with her as she had a rare pet, but they didn’t know what was good for them. “You aren’t the school's pride anymore, and people won’t tolerate your arrogant demeanor!”
“Are you saying that they’ll be willing to fight me?” The boy sounded a little eager.
“Are you looking for a beating?” The girl threw a meaningful gaze at the fairies. The common pets looked back at her fixedly. As she noticed their eerie gaze, she became uncomfortable and disgusted. Frustrated, she added, “You might be a good fighter, but fights involve pets now. What do you expect to do with such a weakling as your pet?”
“Want to be the first one to find out?” Artem threw back at her.
“What? And be accused of bullying the weak?” The girl flung her hands around as she spoke, showing off the thin gray labradorite ring on her index finger – surely the gem linking her to her rare pet. “No thanks! You just wait, you will get what you deserve.”
The girl haughtily looked at the twins before leaving.
“What kind of crazy show did this bitch put on?” a bewildered Lyra asked. “What was even her purpose?”
“Don’t mind her. I think she’s still hurt that you rejected her despite her repeated confessions. How many times did you have to tell her no?”
Galen’s voice was loud enough for the girl to hear him as she walked away. Remembering this was how he knew this girl, Artem went with his brother’s intention. He had seen the girl’s contempt for Ayden and Lucia and didn’t mind hurting her feelings. “I don’t remember such useless things. I don’t even know her name.”
Lyra laughed when she heard the twins. She knew they were childish and petty, but the girl deserved it. Because the twins didn’t mind the fairies’ strange look and their rumored weakness, Lyra was confident that the boys would raise Lucia and Ayden to become strong pets. Let this haughty girl be scornful then.
They soon forgot about this incident and went to a training hall to begin training and experimenting with the fairies’ skills. Despite Artem’s protest, Galen used a knife to cut his hand to let Lucia use [small heal].
Artem slapped him behind the head. “At least, don’t cut your hand. How will you defend yourself if you can’t hold a weapon?”
“I trust Lucia! My little fairy will heal me.”
Shaking his head, Artem still waited next to his brother, anxious to see him healed. Lucia raised her hands in front of her. Soon, some warm light energy gathered between her hands, and Lucia guided it to touch Galen’s cut. The wound healed slowly. In the end, only a scar was left.
Reassured, Artem went to the dummies to let Ayden try her [spark] on them while Galen pondered about Lucia’s skill. Galen had several ideas to let her train her proficiency. First, the cut was only on a small part of his hand, but the light energy touched his whole hand, wasting a lot of energy. By concentrating the skill on a smaller surface to only touch the wound, Lucia might save her energy and be more efficient. Second, Galen thought he should teach his fairy some anatomy and healing knowledge. This could allow the fairy to develop her mind and intelligence, but it should also be a way to improve her control. A broken bone or a cut should be treated differently.
However, Lucia should practice a few more times to get used to her skill first. Galen would give her advice and training tips later.
On his side, Artem was experimenting with Ayden’s [spark]. As expected, it didn’t have much attack power, but it had some burst power. The boy wished to increase this aspect, hoping the skill could gain some explosive characteristics. Another interesting fact was that Ayden could create a [spark] from afar. She didn’t need to throw it at her target. When she used the skill, the fire energy gathered where she wished before creating a small fire burst. If the target was flammable, it could catch fire. Of course, if Ayden got closer, the fire damage would be more severe. However, it was a weak attack, so Artem judged it was better to develop the skill's burst power and accuracy. Artem wanted Ayden to learn the skill set of a sharpshooter as he still planned to get his hands on the [fire arrow] skill later. He also noted the need to train Ayden to detonate the skill as fast as possible to limit dodges or counters.
The twins ordered the fairies to use their skill until they had no more energy before letting them cultivate to renew their reserve. They did this cycle several times, allowing the fairies to enhance their spiritual pool bit by bit as they had witnessed their parents do with their pets. While the fairies were cultivating, the teenagers did some weapon training, and Artem began to teach Galen how to use a shield. The four of them trained seriously.
The boys’ minds were full of ideas for their pets’ development. Artem believed that [spark] was a versatile skill Ayden could use to distract enemies with its light and sound effects, even in its weaker form. He hoped to develop its explosive aspect for more power and damage by concentrating and charging the spiritual energy before detonating it. As for Galen, he intended to observe Lucia using [small heal] through his talent later when he would have enough chi. He expected that by combining [Insight] with her skill, they could gain a lot of efficiency.
As for the two new rare skills, they asked Lyra why she didn’t code it in the fairies like their name. The CSI answered that by learning by themselves, the fairies could develop their intelligence, and the skill would be more powerful because it would be truly theirs. So, after some discussion, the twins decided not to go too fast. They should let the fairies master their innate skill before teaching them the rare ones.
Their first training session allowed them to gain a lot, and they returned to their room happily.
***
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On Monday, the twins and the fairies got up to prepare themselves for their first day of school. Their connected bracelet informed them that they needed to present themselves for the first class period. They expected trouble, but they didn’t expect to find it as soon as they tried to use the bathroom in the morning.
Their neighbors were in front of the bathroom. They were two boys that the twins didn’t know. One of them had a notable Air Butterfly as tall as their fairies flying behind him, and he was looking at the twins with doubt and wariness.
The common Green Caterpillar evolved fast, but this butterfly couldn’t have evolved in a week, so the notable Air Butterfly was the pet the boy directly contracted from the egg. It was only possible with Ceremonial Rebirth eggs. These eggs were usually not advised for new beast tamers as the pets obtained were tougher to raise and control. A pet went through the Rebirth ceremony when it had been deadly injured, and its egg only went on the market if its contract with its first beast tamer had been broken. So most of the time, the Rebirth pet had some deep traumas. But maybe the boy had no choice.
The other boy had a rare Thunder Ship Rat sitting on his shoulder. He had messy blond hair and a narrow face. His ametrine nose ring was quite noticeable as if the boy was showing off his contract to a rare pet.
This young beast tamer smiled nastily at the twins. “Shouldn’t you be in prison to pay for your parents’ crimes?” The boy sent a disgusted glance at the two fairies. “Wait, is it that you have no shame at all? I’d rather pretend to be a ‘mundane’ than strut around with the lowest of pets like you’re doing!”
When Galen and Artem ended school last term, they had the status of school princes as they were talented, handsome boys from a high Family. Now, with all the bad rumors circulating about their parents and the low rank of their fairies, they were seen with contempt. However, being called a “mundane” as if they hadn't awakened was the least of their worries. While the girl from the day before had been right about their reputation, the false accusations against their parents hurt the boys each time they heard them.
Their father was accused of killing off soldiers he didn’t like while pretending to send them to attack Abyss monsters. The families of more than a hundred deceased soldiers had filed a complaint, and the case was being investigated by the Investigation Bureau of the Beast Tamers Association and the Army Criminal Investigation Division. Xander Eos had always been seen as a war hero and an excellent general. Many teenagers had looked up to him and used him as a model. These accusations were destroying his reputation, making him look like a petty, corrupted politician with no honor and humaneness.
As for their mother, it was even more wicked. Tana Eos was accused of creating and propagating diseases to make money when helpless people came to ask her to cure them, while the ones who couldn’t pay were left to die. From a benevolent figure working for the Triad, she was now seen as a greedy and dishonest scientist abusing the people’s trust and ignorance. There were no official complaints, but an anonymous denunciation building some of its cases on the fact that the Caladrius Bird was a mysterious pet with unknown and dangerous powers. It was true that the Immaculate Twilight Plover had healing skills specialized toward illness – which was why it was nicknamed the Caladrius Bird – but their mother had surely never thought that this name would have led to the charge of the pet spreading diseases. Moreover, these accusations had been used to freeze the Eos Family assets, under the cover of investigating the origin of all their money. This left the twins without any means to pay for their daily lives, without even speaking about the money needed for evolution materials.
Their parents had already paid for the high school tuition. However, they hadn’t planned to let the boys stay at the dorm, so the expenses for their food and their lodging hadn’t been provided. When the boys asked the school if they could get a scholarship, the school rejected their request, stating that the twins didn’t correspond to their criteria as the main purpose of the scholarship was to finance the carved spirit stone for poor students. Galen wasn’t sure it was the right move, but he still asked about their carved spirit stones that the school should have put in the vault. After all, they were expensive, and pawning them to the school could be a way to pay for their expenses.
With a fake smile, the dean said he would have gladly accepted if the Investigation Bureau hadn’t already seized these carved spirit stones. The twins couldn’t understand what these stones had to do with the investigation, but they were powerless before these official answers.
So the Beast Tamers Association pretended to be kind enough to lend the money needed. After all, since the twins were beast tamers, they had to register at the Association later during their school year. However, they explained that the Association was short on money, and they gave the boys four months to pay them back. The news that the twins were poor and indebted spread as fast as the rumors about their parents and worsened their reputation.
There was only one beast-tamer class among all the third-year classes in Dascalos High School. There were more than three hundred third-year students, but among them, only around one hundred could afford to try for the Awakening ceremony. Nevertheless, doing the ceremony didn’t guarantee that the teenager would become a beast tamer. Only thirty-two of them were judged by the carved spirit stones to have a high enough compatibility and obtained a CSI at the end of the process. These students knew they were the chosen ones. They understood that being recognized by a CSI opened a path full of honor and wealth to them, like the 15% of the population who could become beast tamers. They couldn’t help becoming arrogant.
The boy in front of the twins was the perfect example of that. Because he became a beast tamer, because his parents were lucky enough or rich enough to get him a rare pet, he was throwing his weight around. Galen and Artem chose to stay silent. As long as they couldn’t prove their parents’ innocence, defending them would only lead to more conflicts.
This left the boy unsatisfied. He had always been jealous of the Eos twins. He wanted to see their misery, he wanted to push them down. “Go back to your room and wait for me to finish before going out again. Your sight is polluting my view.”
“On what basis should we listen to you?” Galen didn’t like conflicts, but he wouldn’t let himself be bullied.
This enraged the boy. How could this trashy son of a rotten Family dare to contradict him? “Do you think you still hold the same status as before? Let’s not even debate about your despicable background. You’ll listen to me because I’m stronger than you, and you have fallen to the bottom!”
“What an interesting way to see things,” Artem took over, as was his duty when things leaned toward physical disputes. “Your pet is stronger than my fairy, I won’t argue about that for now. But you are the one using the bathroom, not your pet. And be it now or before, I can still punch you to oblivion.”
Artem wasn’t boasting about his strength. Throughout his school years, he had always been ranked first in all physical activities, be it sports competition or combat training. He had no memory of this teenager ever participating in these. However, before a fight could start, the boy with the butterfly turned around and left.
“Where are you going?” the jealous boy frowned and asked, unwilling to be alone to face the twins.
“Fights are forbidden. I’m here to learn about being a beast tamer, not to get in childish and stupid fights.” The boy didn’t stop walking while answering his roommate.
“You didn’t even use the bathroom!”
“There are bathrooms in the training halls.” The other boy soon turned at the end of the corridor with his butterfly flying after him, and he disappeared from view.
Galen glanced at his brother, who immediately got his meaning. Artem stepped back and followed Galen as they also left for one of the other bathrooms. They ignored the other boy as he called them cowards.
“Well, I don’t like the loud-mouthed bastard, but your other neighbor is alright. If I’m not mistaken, the bastard only has a notable CSI, so his talent shouldn’t be high either. Even if his pet is a rare one, if he isn’t strong himself, you have a chance against him.”
The twins silently acknowledged Lyra’s information. They didn’t wish to fight with their neighbor, but Artem and Galen knew they should still prepare for it.
***
When Galen and Artem got to the beast-tamer classroom for the homeroom class, a heavy silence fell upon the room, and everyone looked at them. The more noticeable gaze was full of hate. Looking over, the twins recognized a girl whose father was a soldier who died fighting Abyss monsters. Her name was Cecelia Caputo, and she had always been friendly to them and respectful toward their father. She obviously believed the rumors and was holding a grudge against the Eos Family.
Under her hateful gaze, Artem wanted to hold his brother’s hand to share some comfort. Aware that such a gesture wouldn’t be well received, he restrained himself, but someone noticed his small movement and commented on it in a nasty voice.
“Don’t restrain yourself because of us.” The boy who spoke was Amir from the Jamra Family. It was a prominent Family with Egyptian roots, mostly dealing with earth and fire pets. “Aren’t you glad your parents are dead? You can now live your love story in peace. We’re used to your disgusting brotherly love, and there are already so much bad rumors about you. What’s another one?”
The twins had always had a bad relationship with Amir. The boy seemed to hate the Eos Family, and when the twins asked their parents about it, they were told it was a silly old misunderstanding with the Jamra Family. The twins didn’t completely believe their parents.
Artem and Galen didn’t answer the boy’s provocation. Amir was a good fighter and had a rare Black Sand Fennec next to him. Fighting wasn’t an option.
“Something feels off about this boy and his pet.” Lyra sounded quite serious. She had been kind of casual before, but now she was observing the boy and his pet in detail. It wasn’t only because something was wrong with them, she also didn’t like how he was making fun of the twins’ relationship. Their closeness wasn’t only due to them being twins, it was because they had spent too much time alone in their Family villa, with only an old servant to accompany them. While the twins weren’t aware of it, Lyra knew it wasn’t the right way to raise children. If their parents weren’t dead, the CSI wouldn’t have let the matter rest so easily.
“He has always felt off to us,” Galen answered Lyra. “He is an old enemy. We’ll explain it to you later.”
“Oh, you aren’t answering today? Did you realize I was telling the truth yesterday? At least, you aren’t so arrogant anymore!” the girl with the Gray Stone Wallaroo intervened. When she saw the twins looking at her, she added, “Look at Larissa! She is a real daughter of a high Family, and she has never boasted about anything like you used to!”
“I think this bitch seriously needs to be checked for mental illness!” Was she auditioning for a villainess role? Lyra found the girl’s behavior erratic at best and unnatural at worst.
The twins were well acquainted with Larissa, the heiress of the Pagoni Family. However, it wasn’t a high Family as the girl said. It was one of the smaller ones with Greek roots. If the girl had wanted to point out a real “princess”, she should have called out Sarah of the Hut Family. But she didn’t dare.
The roots of the Hut Family were Arabian, and it had been the representative of all the Mashriq Families for several generations. This Family specialized in heavy water beasts, and the twins’ parents suspected it to be the protector of the mythic Bahamut. The twins could see Sarah sitting further in the classroom with her mouth set in a scornful grin, playing with the lapis lazuli ring on her finger – a clear sign that she contracted a rare water pet.
“I would rather you leave me out of this, Crystal,” Larissa said in a meek voice as she petted her Fern Heavenly Peacock.
Seeing the epic pet, Galen understood that Crystal was trying to curry favor with Larissa, who seemed to be the only student in the classroom with an epic pet. So he decided to talk back, “Larissa doesn’t need to brag about anything. Aren’t you doing it for her?”
Crystal glared at Galen, aware that he made her look like she was Larissa’s lackey.
“I’m not one to side with the likes of Crystal, but you must admit that you aren’t so strong anymore. Or is it that Artem felt so invincible that you both decided to choose a weak pet?”
The boy who talked was Marcus Mazza, an old rival of Artem. He had broad shoulders, and his stern look was enhanced by the garnet ring piercing his right eyebrow. He was a gifted warrior from a military household and liked to challenge Artem. He was disappointed to see his usual fighting partner with a useless pet. Next to him was a rare Magma Tortoise.
Before the twins could say anything, Amir lazily said as he leaned back on his chair, “What are you talking about, Marcus? They are too busy playing puppets with their creepy little girls to think of anything else. It’s quite normal for perverts, isn’t it?”
The twins stoically withstood the disgusted glances sent their pet’s way and the insulting laughs directed toward them. Even if the boy with the Air Butterfly hadn’t reminded them of it, they knew that fights were forbidden and Amir was doing it on purpose. Under the protection of the mass, some other students added their own jibes at the twins.
All the ruckus only stopped when the homeroom teacher entered the classroom.