As the students went to sit at their desks, the twins stood at the front. Mr Carter – a man in his late twenties with hard eyes and an intricate obsidian gem on his left ear – was the homeroom teacher of the beast-tamer class. He was responsible for lessons like pet training and combat involving the pets. The teacher took his time to set his tablet on his desk before looking at the class without sparing a glance at the twins.

“As you know, we are adding two new beast tamers to our class today, putting our number to thirty-four. I won’t waste my time introducing them to you, but we’ll listen to them speak about their CSI, pets, and talents. Surely, since they have always been so outstanding, they’ll amaze us again.”

“What kind of teacher is this?” Lyra blurted, despite suppressing her anger and frustration to keep her casual persona.

Before the twins could react to Mr Carter's sarcasm or Lyra's question, the boy with the Thunder Ship Rat came in.

“Mr Miller, so glad to see you so soon! You didn’t fancy being late today? Or are you finally getting some hold on your [Dash] talent?”

“Never mind, he's just an asshole,” Lyra said airily, but she scowled at the man. She would keep an eye on this teacher, who sounded like a bully. No beast tamer getting chi only for a week could “get a hold” on their talent so soon.

The twins had been dubious about the teacher’s demand, wondering if he was working with the dean to get more information out of them. However, it seemed normal for the students to share their beast tamer’s information.

As such, Galen spoke to the class, beginning with the obvious: their fairies. He kept things simple and quickly went on with the rank of their CSI, which indicated both the kind of features a beast tamer could gain access to and the upper limit of the beast-tamer talent.

When a beast tamer first began to use chi, it was a weak form of energy glowing white. That was why everyone was typically at the common rank in the first few months. As the pet fueled the CSI, who in turn converted this energy to bring chi to the beast tamer, the rank of the talent would evolve. However, it rarely exceeded the rank of the CSI.

Learning that the twins had a rare CSI provoked different reactions from their classmates. Some of them were upset, like the boy with the rat, confirming his own CSI was only at the notable rank. Others, like Amir, looked at the twins with a calculating face. Nevertheless, some did not react much and appeared disinterested, like Larissa, though Sarah looked more dismissive.

As Galen spoke about their first feature, he followed Lyra’s advice to say they both got the “Skills Library” which gave them access to a few rare skills for their pets. This lie allowed the twins to hide that they had the "Warehouse" and deflected the supposition that the Phoenix egg was with them. As they were twins, nobody suspected anything, even though they had the same features. When Ayden and Lucia learned their new rare skills, it would enforce the truth of their claim.

Galen ended with their beast-tamer talents. It made him uncomfortable to share it with the whole class. It was unfair because Mr Carter didn’t make the rest of the class introduce their pets, CSI, and talents to them. They were missing a lot of information that could be essential for exams and competitions. Lyra comforted him by saying she would help them identify everyone's talent and rank. Galen thanked her and made a mental note to ask Lyra later if every CSI could do it.

Nevertheless, Galen decided to try to mislead people by withholding his talent’s name. “I got a talent enhancing my sight.”

“Pervert!” Amir spat from his seat. “Girls, be careful he doesn’t stalk you to look through your clothes!”

Galen paused, waiting for the teacher to intervene since he had no intention of explaining his talent further, but Mr Carter only asked about Artem. Galen had always been a calm boy, but enduring everything was becoming difficult.

Sensing his state, Artem took over and withheld some information too. “My talent allows me to borrow briefly one of my pet’s skills.”

“That’s interesting. Show it to the classroom.”

Artem had no choice but to admit they didn’t have enough chi to use their talent. While most of their classmates threw them scornful glances or ironic smirks, the teacher finally looked at them.

“You expect me to believe that? What are you trying to hide?”

Against his better judgment, Galen couldn’t help answering, “Don’t you know already why we don’t have enough chi? Is it that you missed some gossip or that you forgot how a CSI works?”

Without waiting for the teacher’s reaction, Galen went to one of the last free seats while trying to calm himself. Sensing his upset mood, Lucia fluttered around him. Artem followed him, but he ended up sitting on the other side of the room. The boy wondered if it was a coincidence.

“Boys, don’t worry about your seats. I’ll pass over your secret messages!”

Artem hid his smile while ignoring the teacher’s rant about their rude behavior. He suspected that Lyra was again trying to lift their mood. They were lucky that their CSI was such a nice girl.

Being straightforward and stubborn, Artem didn’t mind his classmates’ scorn and the teacher’s remarks. This was different from Cecelia’s hatred - which affected his parents’ and his Family’s honor - because Artem was confident in his abilities to train and catch up to his classmates. He also firmly believed in his parents so he trusted Ayden and his father’s martial arts. Artem would answer all the scorn with his fists later.

But it went further. Marcus was right to think that Artem was a bit glad and excited that he was at a disadvantage. That way, the competitions would be real challenges for Artem. It had been years since he felt threatened, and he knew it was the best way to improve.

However, Galen was different. He was a mindful type of guy, prone to overthinking. Listening to everything said to him, Galen couldn’t help but have doubts. Since he didn’t want to worry his brother, he confided in Lyra while Artem was far from him. Galen couldn’t understand why his parents sent them common eggs – especially fairy eggs. The fairies matched with the Eos Family’s specialty of light and fire thanks to their spiritual element. However, as members of a high Family, their parents should have prepared eggs of the rare rank at least like the Hut, Jamra, and Pagoni Families did. It was expected of them.

Galen felt bothered by this unexplained fact. Were there some hints in the fairies despite their bad reputation? Or was it the result of another kind of treason or trickery? Did something happen to the first eggs they should have gotten?

“Are you upset, Galen?” Lyra asked in a soft voice.

“I’m more than upset! Didn’t you hear all of them?”

“But you’re not talking about them. You’re talking about your parents.”

Galen suddenly froze. Was he upset at his parents?

“Do you feel that they betrayed you? Or maybe that they abandoned you?”

A turmoil rose in Galen. Lyra was right. Galen was angry at his parents and he felt guilty for such thoughts and feelings. He also felt burdened by the responsibility of deciphering the message left by them, but he was useless because he couldn’t make any progress there. The jeers from his classmates affected him, enhancing his feeling of powerlessness. He was weak. Lucia was weak. He loved her despite her strangeness, no questions about that. But what could he do with her? What could they do? As his doubts were spiraling out of control, he heard Lyra.

“They did abandon you, so it’s normal to feel angry and upset. Nothing’s wrong with that.”

“No, they didn’t!” Galen’s answer to defend his parents rushed out of him.

“Isn’t it the truth? They aren’t with you anymore.”

As Galen’s mind began to work to contradict Lyra, he remembered his mother’s letter. There were traitors: his parents knew that and made preparations. The letter was the proof of that. So Lucia was his mother’s gift, the help she promised them. And if he still had doubts about that, whining wouldn’t clear any of them. He should research precognition skills to understand better the kind of warnings given by his mother’s pets.

And since he couldn’t decipher the code, he should work at his problems from another angle. Like the law. After all, their enemies made use of the law to frame their parents. Did their enemies prepare this trap early on, or was it a rushed job to get access to the villa? His mind working out the possibilities and planning how to get answers, Galen fell into deep thoughts.

Seeing Galen’s thoughts on the right track, Lyra sighed in relief. She feared that he would tear up in the classroom, worsening the bullying, but she managed to bring him back from there. She checked on Artem to see him still oozing calmness and confidence. Next, she quickly checked on the fairies. She couldn’t yet communicate with them, but Lyra could scan their health. Judging everything to be in order, she observed the class.

When the teacher stopped berating the twins, he talked about the first exam scheduled at the end of the month, once most pets would have grown out of their juvenile state. This test was important because it assessed the beast tamers' talents and the pets' power. The results were officially registered at the Beast Tamers Association. Then every three months, another exam would help to measure the beast tamers’ and the pets’ growth. At the end of the school year, the last exam would help to determine the students' future, be it to study at a Beast Tamers University or be recruited by the Triad or a Family. The beast tamers would then get their license from the Beast Tamers Association, with different ranks depending on their results.

Mr Carter also reminded them that although they passed their general knowledge exam last term, they still had to take the remaining general classes seriously. As their homeroom teacher and the teacher for pet training and pet combat, he would do his duty and punish students slacking in mathematics, social studies, or their chosen electives. This warning concluded the homeroom class. Each period lasted one hour and a half, but the homeroom class only took half an hour once a week, usually on Mondays before the first official period.

Mr Carter immediately began his lesson about pet training without letting the students rest. He taught about the best ways to train pets and about the things to avoid to keep the pet from hurt. It was only general knowledge, and each student had to adapt the training to the specific characteristics of their pet. The lesson was a continuation of the last one, leaving the twins in an awkward situation. Still, the boys listened seriously and took detailed notes to review later, during the self-study period.

***

At the end of the class, Mr Carter asked the scholarship students and the twins to wait while the others went to the next class – the practical part of pet training. The teacher first nagged at them about beast tamers’ duties. He was very subtle and careful about it, but the twins were sure Mr Carter was indirectly dissing their parents. When Mr Carter got down to business, he explained to the scholarship students that in addition to their usual duties, one of them had to take care of the made-up lessons for the new students. He then exited the room to get ready for the next lesson, leaving the students to organize themselves.

There were three scholarship students: a girl, and two boys. The twins recognized their neighbor, the one with the Air Butterfly. Being a scholarship student explained how the boy got a Ceremonial Rebirth egg: the scholarship students had no choice but to contract the egg given by the school. The school usually only had common eggs, and if they had notable ones, they were Ceremonial Rebirth ones.

The three scholarship students were looking at their connected bracelets. The olive-skinned girl had her dark brown hair tied in a high ponytail, giving her a serious air. She spoke first, “I’ll take on the duty for all errands for teaching material and students' evaluations. Is that alright with you, Benjiro?”

“I don’t mind,” the twins’ neighbor answered in a neutral tone without looking at any of them. “I’ll handle the maintenance of all the training halls so that Zane can take care of the remedial lessons.”

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The girl nodded in agreement and left the classroom without waiting, her common Blue-Eyed Pony trotting after her. The boy called Benjiro immediately followed her out, leaving the last boy with the twins.

“Wait! Naila! Benjiro! I didn’t agree!”

The boy took several steps toward the door before awkwardly stopping. His fellow scholarship students didn’t seem to hear him at all. He looked like a shy boy with a round face and brown hair. This impression was reinforced by the fact that he was hugging a common White Rabbit. The young beast tamer had a small pearl on his right ear.

“Want to bet that the poor boy is being bullied?”

“I don’t take on losing bet,” Artem answered in his deadpan voice.

“We are sorry to impose on you,” Galen took the initiative to speak with the boy. “Zane, right? Nice to meet you.”

Galen smiled while Artem nodded at the scholarship boy. Zane opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. He looked down at his connected bracelet, clumsily holding his White Rabbit with one hand.

“We’ll try to learn everything as fast as possible to get out of your hair,” Galen tried to reassure the brown-haired boy since he didn’t want to burden him. Zane looked to have enough trouble.

“No, that’s not -” Zane took a deep breath before forcing a smile. “I need to take on duties to pay back my scholarship anyway. Giving you remedial lessons is less tiring than managing the halls or running errands for the teachers. This week is going to be easy on me.”

Galen and Artem didn’t comment on his attempt to ignore how he was left with the distasteful and unwanted task of taking care of the infamous Eos twins. But Lyra added her input. “From what I’m sensing, he has a common CSI so he might be scorned by everyone else because of his status as a scholarship student, his common weak pet, and possibly his common talent. He sure is an unlucky guy.”

“I’m not sure that I like his forced smile. He seems so used to it,” Galen added in a worried tone. “I just hope he won’t be even more bullied because of us.”

“I’ll protect him,” Artem said with a firm voice when Lyra transferred his brother’s worries.“No one will touch him.”

Galen didn’t add anything, but he was determined to protect the boy as well. Galen wasn’t one to repay someone who helped him with indifference.

“Well, we better get moving to the next class,” Zane said, walking toward the door. “As you saw, Mr Carter isn’t a patient teacher. We’ll discuss how to work together later.”

***

The practical pet training class took place in one of the special halls equipped with all kinds of machines. A student had to use credits to rent this hall, so being able to use it during class was crucial for those who didn’t have access to such facilities at home. The Eos Family villa had them, like most Families and some military households. However, most students could only train on such machines at school. Now, the twins were part of them.

Mr Carter directed the students to different machines to train their pets’ bodies. They could train stamina, strength, speed, agility, or resistance. From what Mr Carter had said during class, if the pet circulated its spiritual energy while training its body, it might be able to learn some common skills like [charge], [sprint], [dodge], or [jump]. However, the young beast tamers had to consider it carefully because the pet could only learn a limited number of skills. Without evolution, the limit for a common or notable pet was usually up to three skills, so learning a new skill was never done lightly.

Artem and Galen went to the track for flying pets. It used strong winds against which the pet had to fly to train its speed, stamina, and resistance. As the twins waited for their turn, they took this opportunity to take note of each species of pets.

Around ten pets could fly, be it birds or insects, all of the common or notable rank. Of course, Mr Carter sent Larissa and her epic peacock to a more complex machine. One of the flying pets was the peculiar Fire Wisp. It was of the common rank and considered as weak as the fairies because of its ethereal body, but if it was well trained, it could gain some psychic skills, which were difficult to defend against.

The twins curiously watched Benjiro as it was his butterfly’s turn to use the machine. The boy was lean and tall, with dark, short, straight hair and dark, almond eyes. There were subtle hints of Asian features on his facial structure. Looking at his back while the young beast tamer concentrated on his task allowed the twins to notice the seraphinite gem piercing Benjiro’s nape above the low collar of his training suit. The boy quietly encouraged his pet to use its spiritual energy to resist the wild wind around it.

“Should we ask the fairies to use the breathing technique Artem taught them?” Galen quietly asked Lyra since he knew she would relay his question to his brother.“If they learn a movement skill during training, we won’t have any more free skill spots.”

“When a pet learns a skill by itself, the CSI always asks if the beast tamer wants their pet to memorize it,” Lyra seriously explained. “If there are no more free skill slots, the beast tamer can either let their pet forget the new skill or forget an old one and replace it. Remember: the pet is limited and can’t remember every skill. The only way to keep the skill in reserve is to have a feature for it.”

“Like the ‘Skills Library’?” Galen asked to confirm his concerns.

“Yes, but that’s not the only possibility.” Lyra warned them, “Anyway if you want to keep up the charade about your feature, you can’t avoid learning new skills from training.”

“Well, that answered my question. I’m not sure it’s the best for our fairies.”

“That’s debatable,” Artem intervened once Lyra relayed his brother’s thought. “We can always find ways to evolve or remove the skills later.”

“We don’t have money,” Galen contradicted him after a time. Lyra’s telepathy was helpful to communicate, but this type of delayed conversation was bothersome.“These kinds of things need spirit resources.”

Galen listened to his brother’s opinions when he suggested worrying about their finance later. Anyway, arguing this way was too difficult, and Artem always took training seriously. Galen didn’t want to divide up his brother's attention.

Once it was the twins’ turn, some students suddenly complained. They claimed their training time was cut short with two more students. Some even demanded the twins compensate them. Galen and Artem vaguely recognized the two boys speaking the loudest as members of the minor branch of the Jamra Family.

The minor branch of the Jamra Family was made of illegitimate children more than adopted loyalists like the other Families, and they reproduced like wild rabbits. As such, it was difficult to keep track of all of them. One of the two boys had a common Fire Beetle, and the other had a notable Red Falcon.

The twins let the others’ speech pass over them as they consulted each other. They would exhaust their energy if they fought over everything, so they had to choose worthy fights. With Lyra’s input, they finally decided to use the machine together.

However, they didn’t expect the machine to measure the strength of the two pets together instead of separately. This not only messed up the result of the training and the first record of their pet’s stats on their connected bracelet, but this made the training harder. As each pet had different stats, the machine adapted the strength of the wind to each of them. Their fairies went up courageously, but despite their best effort, they couldn’t resist until the end. Their classmates didn’t miss this opportunity to belittle the fairies and mock their weaknesses.

“Sorry, boys. That was a miscalculation on my part. I didn’t know how the machine worked.”

“It doesn’t matter, they would have found another way to make fun of us,” Galen replied. “I’m more worried about the messed up recording.”

“Stop worrying about everything,” Artem scolded his brother once Lyra repeated his concerns. “Lucia and Ayden’ll be recorded each time they train.”

Waiting for their turn again, the twins saw Zane being bullied as well when the Fire Beetle’s beast tamer decided to switch machines after its second turn on the flying track. Mr Carter had prepared two other machines. The first was for training agility and speed thanks to a moving obstacle track, and the other was for training strength and resistance using a gravitational field. However, the teacher didn’t stay near these two machines: he went to tutor the ones needing special care, like the water pets and some plant pets. So the students were left alone.

Since Zane’s pet was a rabbit, it should have been in the group training speed and agility, but Zane had been chased away to the gravitational field because it was crowded on the obstacle course. Most common and notable pets were from small species, so there were indeed more of them waiting for the obstacle course. The large or medium pets, though still in the juvenile form, were on the gravitational field. The twins could only see a notable Cave Bear, a notable Light Camel, the rare Gray Stone Wallaroo, the rare Magma Tortoise, and the newly arrived common Fire Beetle.

This beast tamer wasn’t the only one switching machines. After their second round on the obstacle course, the beast tamers joined this group with their pets: the common Earth Sheep and the common Long-Tailed Lizard. Cecelia did the same for her notable Earth Mole, who couldn’t train much agility anyway. It was logical because all these pets could choose to train the path of defense or heavy attack.

However, the poor White Rabbit would never be a defensive pet, so it could only suffer. It went out of the machine with some injuries under the jeers of Zane’s classmates.

The twins determinedly stepped out of their waiting line and went to help Zane, secretly blaming themselves for not noticing the situation earlier. Artem directly confronted the bullies. He didn’t waste his breath pointing out the stupidity and falseness of their arguments since their pettiness was obvious with the number of students switching machines. Artem simply challenged them to fight against him in the afternoon, when it would be the beast tamers’ turn to train.

The bullies suddenly went quiet. They had forgotten Artem could still easily get revenge on them this way. It wasn’t a perfect solution. Artem knew they could find other opportunities to bully Zane while he wasn’t there or bully Ayden during pet fights, but it was a start.

Meanwhile, Galen went to take care of Zane and his rabbit. He brought the shy boy further away and told him to hold his injured pet. Galen then asked Lucia to use [small heal] on the rabbit. Zane wanted to refuse, but Galen argued that it was good training for his fairy.

While Lucia seriously took care of the rabbit’s injuries by using her skill several times, Galen talked to Zane. “I can see that you don’t trust us. So, in a gesture of faith, I’ll share a secret with you. What do you think?”

“I don’t… I mean…” Zane stuttered as he tried to deny Galen’s statement.

“Be honest, Zane. Please. We’re not blind, nor stupid.”

Zane averted his eyes in awkwardness and maybe some shame. Galen judged this boy wasn’t one to listen to gossip, but Zane’s situation made him careful of everything.

“We have given names to our fairies. Mine is Lucia, Artem’s is Ayden. I didn’t say it before because the jibes were already hard to endure. I’m telling you to give you something over us.” Galen lowered his voice even though it would be of no help if there was a listening device in his connected bracelet and added, “Though, in truth, we didn’t do it because we are playing house with them, but because of the benefits.”

“What benefits?” Zane asked also lowering his voice.

“It’s easier to show you than to explain,” Galen answered in a whisper. “Why don’t you give an official name to your rabbit? At worst, nothing more will happen, and you have no obligations to use it.”

Zane hesitated but agreed. He fell into thoughts.

“He’s searching for a name? He wants suggestions! Right?”

Galen held back his smile at Lyra’s excitement and kept quiet. The boy finally decided to call his rabbit Finn. As soon as he said it, his eyes widened in surprise. “What-?”

“Let’s keep that as our little secret, alright?” Artem, who had joined them after handling the bullies, interrupted him. He was keeping a lookout and making sure no one came near them. He wasn’t naive enough to believe they could hide this for long or they were the only ones giving names to their pets, but it would be an advantage for now.

“Shouldn’t you answer your CSI?” Galen encouraged the boy to go on.

As soon as Zane confirmed his choice with his CSI, some white lines went into his rabbit, who was still in his arms. Zane teared up and whispered his thanks to them. The twins looked at him with a complicated gaze. They didn’t think they had done much for him.

“When Lucia healed Finn, you gained the entry for the White Rabbit. Want to look at it? It might give you some clue to help Zane train his pet.”

It was only the first-tier entry, so there wasn’t much to learn. However, the twins agreed they should help Zane make a training plan for his rabbit. Galen and Artem began to discuss this with Zane.

The rabbit's innate skill was the common skill [jump]. Artem explained that even though this skill was considered useless to attack, it could become a powerful attack if combined with some other skills. During the discussion, Zane showed his trust in them by explaining his talent was [Empathy]. However, he said it to contradict the twins, wanting to prove his case was hopeless.

“If healing can kill, I’m sure that the talent [Empathy] can kill too,” Galen firmly said.

“How can healing kill? That makes no sense!”

“What do you think over-healing can do to a body? A healer isn’t harmless,” Galen explained in a grim voice. “A healer knows best the human body, so it is much easier for him to kill because he knows exactly where to hit.”

As Galen saw Zane’s eyes widen slightly in fear, he guessed his classmate was thinking about the rumors about his mother misusing her healing and pharmacist knowledge. Galen regretted talking about it, but after exchanging a glance with his brother, he firmed his resolve not to let these rumors change their ways of acting.

“Every skill and talent can be lethal, you just have to find the way to weaponize it,” Artem added. “As for [Empathy], if you can project feelings, that becomes easy: project fears like some of the dark or psychic pets, or some other feelings to distract your opponent. If you can’t project feelings, I might have to think on it some more, but at the least, this talent should allow you to detect killing intent or hidden opponents.”

Zane looked a bit overwhelmed by the twins. However, Galen and Artem were determined to help him, and they tacitly decided this was more important than fighting to get a turn on the machines. They could train in different ways, albeit less efficient ones. First, they asked Zane about his idea for his pet’s evolution since some of them needed specific skills that could change a training plan.

If a White Rabbit could gain air elemental power, it could super-evolve into the rare Nimble Wind Rabbit and later the epic Bolting Ice Hare. However, the most common path for a White Rabbit led to the notable Horned Rabbit, then the rare Giant Horned Rabbit. Zane was attracted to the Nimble Wind Rabbit, but he came from a mundane household and had few ways to get his hands on the evolution materials needed to allow a normal pet to gain elemental power. His scholarship allocated him a fixed number of spirit resources per month, but these resources were of the common or notable ranks. Nothing too expensive or precious.

With no choice, the three boys settled on the notable Horned Rabbit. So Finn’s first objective was to learn the skill [headbutt]. Artem affirmed it was an excellent combination with the skill [jump].

As they were talking about the best way to teach Finn this skill, a furious Mr Carter came over. He immediately scolded the three boys for lazing around instead of training seriously. Galen calmly replied to the teacher, making use of the excuse that the twins had misused the machine and needed an explanation from Zane.

Galen would have liked to talk about the bullying, but it was obvious Mr Carter didn’t care about it. They listened to some more of the teacher’s rant filled with hidden barbs before going back to train. At least, they could now use the teacher’s name to train in some more peace and correct the recording.