On this Friday morning at the end of September, the sun was low but bright in the sky. As the twins were on their way for the homeroom period, they felt the warmth of early autumn.
A strange atmosphere floated in the classroom of the beast tamers. All the students knew it was a crucial time for their lives as beast tamers. They were excited, but the students were trying their best to remain focused for their first exam.
Mr Carter emphasized again the importance of the exam. He reviewed the key points for the day and the exam's organization. The morning was for the basic testing. The class was divided into two groups in alphabetical order. While one group would proceed with the examinations of the pets, the other would sit for the beast tamers’ tests. Each basic test was supposed to take one period. The afternoon would be spent on the fighting performances. In the name of fairness, the class would be divided into three groups depending on the rank of the pets: one group for the common pets, one for the notable pets, and the third one for the rare and epic pets.
With this organization, the twins were in the same group as Zane, Caleb, Naila, Cecelia, Sarah, and the four Jamra boys in the morning. Their group began with the examinations of the pets. The pets had grown a lot since their hatching.
A representative from the Beast Tamers Association branch of the City-State of Olympia was there next to Mrs Bousrani. He was in charge of registering the results. Mrs Bousrani was the one measuring the pet’s strength, both physically and spiritually, and evaluating the pet’s mind by testing its intelligence. The seventeen beast tamers were waiting for their turn to bring their pet to the machine.
The first one to go up was Caleb Ancel. He didn’t show any nerves as he brought his common Green Dog to the machine as instructed by Mrs Bousrani. The machine was a complex one brought by the Beast Tamers Association. It did a comprehensive scan of the pet in one or two minutes. Then, Caleb’s connected bracelet and the Beast Tamers Association representative’s tablet received a detailed report. Mrs Bousrani called out the general assessment, “Physical body: rank E. Spiritual quality: rank F.”
It was excellent results for a common pet who should average around rank F. Mrs Bousrani told Caleb to bring his pet to the other side and began to test the pet’s intelligence. The dog had to recognize colors, forms, or simple images as they were brought up by a computer under Mrs Bousrani’s supervision. The purpose was to evaluate if the pet had begun to develop its mind. The AI choosing the questions adjusted the difficulty depending on the pet’s species and responses. For example, a dog couldn’t see red. The mind development of a pet almost started from the same place for all beasts once they hatched from their egg, but higher-ranked beasts developed faster and were supposed to be more intelligent.
“Mind development: rank E.”
Caleb did a good job with his dog.
After a girl with a common Yellow Bee, it was the turn of Julius Barbieri, whose pet was a common Gray Heron. This beast had its whole plumage in dark gray hues covering a willowy body. The only brightness came from its broad white stripe of plumage running from its beak to the back of its head, above each eye. Its results were all ranked F, so the Jamra boys, under Amir’s lead, began to jeer at him. It was a targeted attack as they said nothing to the girl whose bee got the same rank F results.
Seeing the resigned look on Julius’s face, the twins understood it wasn’t the first time the youth had to bear their bullying. From Amir’s barbs, it sounded like they thought the pet was wasted on Julius and that he should give it up to the Jamra Family. As Galen thought some more about it, he remembered that the heron was a sacred animal of Egypt and wondered if there was a link there. But Galen dismissed the idea as it seemed too far-fetched. The Jamra Family was affluent: why would they try to obtain a common pet from a student from a mundane household?
While Galen was distracted by his thoughts, Moses Bayoumi was called up. His pet was a common Water Elemental. Its body was entirely made of water and looked like a big flabby, shapeless glob. An elemental usually only gains a shape after its first evolution, though this shape could vary a lot depending on the material used. Artem was curious about the Water Elemental because it was a peculiar pet. Like the fairies and the Fire Wisp, elementals differed from normal beasts. The Water Elemental was considered one of the weakest pets of the class because of its innate skill [water bubble], which was a weak and slow water attack. But its results weren’t all ranked F. This pet was ranked E in spiritual quality.
As the tests went on without pause, Artem focused on everyone’s results to estimate how far behind the fairies would be. Because of the alphabetical order, Amir's and Sarah's rare pets would be up near the end, but Artem didn’t lower his guard. The twins still didn’t know everybody’s talents and inner features. Their ignorance could throw off their plans and strategies for the matches in the afternoon. Artem was even frustrated that he couldn’t look at Larissa’s, Marcus’, Orsella’s, Jax’s, or even Crystal’s results as they were in the second group.
“What’s the use?” Lyra complained. “You won’t be fighting against them: they don’t have common pets!”
Artem grunted that a true warrior was always prepared. Lyra muttered that he was a hunter, not a warrior.
After Mavis Dubois’ common Red Robin finished its tests, it was Artem’s turn. Ayden’s general results were the same as Lucia’s, who went up just after her: physical body, rank F; spiritual quality, rank E; mind development, rank E. But the details showed that Ayden’s physical body was better than Lucia’s – though both were at the bottom of the rank – while Lucia’s mind development went further than Ayden’s. Moreover, their spiritual quality was close to the rank F. This was already exceptional since the fairies had hatched later than the other pets.
As the twins were expecting, Amir sneered despite the fairies’ excellent mental results. He led the Jamra boys to mock the fairies’ weakness and the twins’ efforts to make them stronger. “How many sleepless nights did you spend to compensate their weak body with their intellect? What’s the use? Beware, boys, the Eos clowns must have a terrifying strategy depending on the creepy little girls being able to distinguish a blue circle from a red square!”
Artem looked at them with a hooded gaze, but the twins kept calm. It wasn’t the time to respond, and as long as Amir and his goons only threw insults at them and laughed like idiots, they could ignore them. Anyway, the twins were very satisfied with their fairies. Their attention went back to the testing. After them, it was Yanna Geller’s common Short-Tailed Cat’s turn. Her pet results were decent for someone from a mundane household.
Galen was worried for Zane, who went up next as his surname was Hoffman. All his White Rabbit’s ranks were determined as F, but Zane smiled slightly. Galen guessed that the detailed results weren’t so bad. At last, it was Sarah Hut’s turn. The twins had heard that her pet was a rare Deep Blue-Scaled Seahorse, but they had never seen it. This pet couldn’t stay outside water, so Sarah had to have an inner feature allowing her to store her pet in her inner world or an expensive spirit accessory with storage functions.
A normal rare pet should average around the rank D. However, no one was surprised to see Sarah's pet get ranked C for its physical body and spiritual quality. The Hut Family had provided their daughter with quality spirit resources.
What was more surprising was that Amir’s Black Sand Fennec, who went up next, only got determined as having a mind development of rank E. Its physical body was ranked C, and its spiritual quality was ranked D.
“I always said that something was wrong with this fennec. It’s too dull!”
Lyra didn’t add that it was almost to the point that the boy’s CSI should be taking action to rectify the situation. But they weren’t her charges, and she shouldn’t interfere. Nonetheless, she frowned as she witnessed Amir scolding his pet for shaming him. Obtaining the rank E was already good, for a pet only one-month-old. But this fennec was a rare pet raised by a high Family: they had to have ways to stimulate the pet.
After the three other boys from the Jamra Family also did their test, it was the end of the first period, and they changed classrooms to sit for the beast tamers’ test. Mr Carter and another representative from the Beast Tamers Association were taking care of this part of the exam. All the students first checked their chi rank by pouring some of their energy into a device. The machine glowed in the color corresponding to their rank and sent a numerical value to their connected bracelet and the representative’s tablet. Without much surprise, they all had the lowest rank of chi as it was still glowing white, though with slightly different densities. It usually took around four to six months to upgrade chi to the notable rank if one had the capacity for it.
The students then went to sit at the place with their names. The supervisors gave them a comprehensive writing exam about all the courses about their beast tamers classes: beast training, beast caring, chi and beast-tamer talents, pet combat and dual combat. To serious students, it wasn’t much of a hurdle. The real challenge would be the fights in the afternoon.
***
After their meal, the twins and Zane went to the arena. It was a large circular edifice in the center of the four main school buildings, forming a sort of cross. The part of these buildings nearer the arena was narrower than the farthest part, giving them a trapezium shape. The fourth one was for the dormitories, the cafeteria, the library, and the administrative offices.
The arena was built to imitate the architecture of the Old World. But its high, decorated roof enclosed the whole building and hid all the security systems installed to protect the spectators. On the arena floor were one big ring in the middle and nine smaller ones around it.
The fights were dual combats, meaning the beast tamers and their pets had to fight together. One of the purposes of this test was to remind the beast tamers that they all had a duty to stand as the last protection of humanity against the Abyss monsters, even if they chose not to enlist in the Army.
The eighteen students with common pets were fighting first. The teachers and the Beast Tamers Association’s representatives acting as referees would evaluate them.
It wasn't a real tournament because all the students would participate in four matches, no matter if they won or lost. The first opponent was randomly chosen, but afterward, the winners and the losers would be separated to obtain a rough ranking. Each victory gave one point, and staying in the winning group gave a half-point more per match. So, winning the first match was important.
The rest of the class would fight later in the afternoon, so these students could leave to train or sleep. Some stayed to watch the fights with all the other students of the school, who were given a free afternoon to come to the arena. The second group of beast tamers comprising the ten students with notable pets, and the third group including the last six students with epic and rare pets had to fight five matches. The higher-ranked pets should have more spiritual energy, so the school wanted a more precise ranking of the best pets and students.
Soon, the nine first matches were announced on the big screen above the rings. Galen was to fight against Deborah Blum and her common Yellow Bee on the fourth ring, while Artem was to face up to Anan Ruh and his common Earth Sheep on the seventh ring.
Artem turned to his twin, checking if he needed advice. But Galen shook his head and nodded at Zane. The shy boy was the one needing help and maybe a pep talk. His first opponent was Nasir Jamra and his common Fire Beetle. This boy was the only member of the Jamra Family in their class with a common pet, making him meaner and nastier. Moreover, the beetle was a defensive pet slightly larger than the White Rabbit, so Zane’s pet had almost no hopes of beating it.
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The nine matches were taking place simultaneously on the small rings. They had a time limit of fifteen minutes. Between each fight, the beast tamers were only given five minutes to rest because the school didn't want to spend too much time on the common pets.
With this organization, the ones who could finish their match quickly were advantaged. The twins had discussed this point a lot and tried to build their strategies to get fast victories when possible. Artem was confident, but he worried about his brother, who didn’t have Artem’s skills or training.
Deborah wasn’t a good fighter, but she had an advantage: her bee had an offensive innate skill, while Lucia didn’t have one. However, Galen thought the fight was manageable. He equipped his Turkish bow and a Kalkan shield, planning to use the Turkish archery that Artem had researched for him. Galen just had to hit Deborah fast enough to make her surrender.
Galen knew he was still awkward with the shield, but the Kalkan shield was light and very mobile thanks to its small round shape and all its loops. Xander Eos taught his elder son to fight with ranged weapons of all sorts, but he never really spent time to teach him more than the basic defensive moves. Artem had always been supposed to be Galen’s shield. Using this new style would be challenging for Galen, but he had some confidence against Deborah.
The only unknown was Deborah’s talent. Lyra and the twins surmised from the chi practice classes that it was a sort of body buff. These chi beginner classes were infamous in high school for being mostly useless. Actually, that was the very reason why the Beast Tamers Universities decided some decades ago to advance the beast tamers’ Awakening ceremony to a year before going to uni: they didn’t want to take care of such bothersome classes anymore.
The young beast tamers had little chi, so these classes were often seen as a joke. What was the use of such a class when students would empty their chi after one or two uses of their talent? Actually, despite the seven periods of chi practice classes the twins had gotten until now, they didn’t do much. Mr Duval let the students do as they pleased so that those who wanted to accumulate their chi instead of training their talent – or the smart students who wanted to keep their talent secret like most students from a higher background – could do so. For those who didn’t want to waste their time, Mr Duval taught some exercises whose purpose was to prepare the students’ bodies for the changes brought by the chi. So the twins still hadn’t witnessed some of their classmates’ talent or only had a brief glance at it. Since they also hid their talent as much as they could, they couldn’t resent their classmates.
As for his preparations, Artem chose to fight with daggers against Anan to get speed and mobility. The Earth Sheep was a defensive pet with good agility. Moreover, Anan had good combat skills since he was Mahlon Ruh’s partner. In the Ruh Family, each alchemist or pharmacist was assigned a partner who acted as a bodyguard. Anan’s elective wasn’t the professional combat training class. However, the Ruh Family taught Anan the Family’s secret martial arts. Moreover, Anan’s talent was a complete unknown. Anan would be a tough opponent, and Artem was eager to fight him.
Each student went to their assigned ring to face their opponent once they chose their weapons and equipment. They were wearing light armor for protection. The pets didn’t wear any protection. However, Mrs Bousrani was on stand-by with some assistants from the Beast Tamers Association. All of them were Beast Healers. Mrs Bousrani’s pets were next to her. Her rare Light Praying Mantis was idly clapping its forelegs, and the rare Sunset Blooming Marigold was gently swaying its leaves. Both pets had notable and rare healing skills. The marigold was even rumored to have an epic healing skill.
Lyra reassured and encouraged the twins, stating that she would keep an eye on Zane. She knew her boys, so she was aware that they were worried about their friend and for each other. Keeping track of all their fights at the same time would be bothersome, but she was able to do it.
The bell sounded to announce the start of the fights, and the public cheered. As soon as the match began, Galen used his talent [Insight] briefly on Deborah and her bee while moving and drawing his bow. The Turkish bow was quick to draw, and using the thumb release technique allowed Galen to move while keeping the arrow steady.
Lucia knew what she had to do. She used the skill [glow] near the eyes of the bee to blind it and keep it from shooting its skill [sting] accurately. Like Galen, she moved around to be less easy to target. The bee was faster than Lucia, so the fairy had difficulties holding her glowing globe near her opponent's head.
His [Insight] didn’t show Galen anything useful for the bee as his and Lucia’s arsenal was very restrained, but it showed that Deborah had more difficulties defending her left side. Deborah had chosen to fight with a long staff so she could only dodge Galen’s blunt arrows while trying to reduce the distance between Galen and her to attack him. But Galen didn’t let her have her way and kept Deborah on the defensive with fast shots from his Turkish bow.
Unfortunately, the Yellow Bee shook off Lucia and began to attack Galen with its [sting], forcing him to use the Kalkan buckler fixed to his forearm to defend. Frustrated, Lucia decided to overcharge her skill [glow]. She hadn’t been trained yet to use [glow] as a bomb, but she was close to Ayden and had seen the results when her sister tried to overcharge [spark]. Even though Lucia didn’t achieve to make her skill explode, the reinforced light became more of a hindrance.
Angry, the bee forgot its beast tamer’s order and went to chase after the fairy. This allowed Galen to go back on the offensive. It was time as Deborah had taken the opportunity to reduce the distance between them. Galen knew he didn’t have a chance if she managed to force him to fight in close combat.
Nevertheless, Deborah looked tired as Galen led her to run all around the ring while dodging. Just as he thought he could use her fatigue to concentrate his shots on her left side, he saw her whole body glowing white briefly. It was a sure indication that she used her talent. The fact that it shined on her whole body proved that it was a physical buffing talent, which was confirmed as Deborah seemed to be able to push through her lack of stamina.
Galen needed to end this fast. Not only was the bee faster than Lucia, but it was highly probable that the bee had learned a movement skill like the common skill [dash] – a necessary step to get the notable skill [pursuit], which was usually part of the arsenal of flying insect pets. Lucia – who still hadn’t learned any speed buff or movement skill – was disadvantaged, and already, the bee had touched Lucia with its skill [sting] one or two times. But Lucia didn’t stop and stubbornly healed herself before blinding and taunting the bee again. So Galen took a calculated risk and oriented his course towards the two pets. As they came closer and were about to pass between Deborah and him, Galen shouted at Lucia, “Blind her now!”
His shout brought the bee's attention back to him, but he ignored it to draw his bow as fast as he could. He shot three arrows in quick succession, aiming at Deborah’s left side. Blinded by Lucia’s [glow], Deborah was too slow to dodge the attack even though she instinctively stepped back to protect herself. Simultaneously, Galen suffered from the bee’s attacks. But its stings were weaker than his arrows, and Lucia immediately came to his help with her [small heal]. Galen was drawing a fourth arrow when Deborah raised her hands in surrender and called back her bee. The referee, a Beast Tamer Association representative, accorded the victory to Galen.
Galen won, but he felt no satisfaction. He was too weak. He believed Deborah surrendered to keep energy for her three remaining matches. It was a reasonable choice: giving up as soon as she did allow her to have time to heal and rest. As for Galen, he was aware that Lucia and he didn’t have the strength to fight like that in the remaining matches. Lucia used too much spiritual energy, and he didn’t have enough stamina to maintain this rhythm.
***
On Artem’s side, things seemed to go better. Ayden engaged the Earth Sheep without much risk as its main attack – the innate skill [headbutt] – needed its opponent to be near it. Ayden kept flying around to dodge its jumps and used her skill [spark] in quick succession. Like this, the sheep wool caught on fire, making it easier for Ayden to harass the sheep. She used [spark] on its face, under its feet, never two times in the same place to disorient it and keep it busy. Being an earth pet, it had to know an earth skill, but chances were that it was useless against a flying pet. The Ruh Family had a reputation for meticulousness, so Artem was almost sure the sheep knew no other skills. As strange as it looked, Ayden dominated this fight despite the weak power of [spark].
On the beast tamers’ side, Anan was simply equipped with leather vambraces. He was fighting using boxing and wrestling techniques. Artem didn’t hesitate to rush to him. Anan was cleverly defending against Artem’s daggers while trying to disarm him using grappling and lock techniques. Both of them were ambidextrous, and they exchanged blows without pauses. But Artem was too good and evaded all Anan’s attempts to lock him before retaliating in force, only to be blocked again.
Finding an opening, Artem went for it. The daggers were blunt and wouldn’t cut, so Artem attacked with his full force. Without any more choices, Anan used his talent even as he stepped back. His eyes only gained a slight white glow as a dome of chi energy surrounded Anan. This looked like the talent [Barrier]. It was an excellent talent, perfect for a bodyguard. Artem’s daggers couldn’t penetrate Anan’s defenses anymore. But at this stage, the barrier rendered Anan immobile, disadvantaging him. Artem broke the barrier with a flurry of attacks.
Anan calmly admitted his defeat. It wasn’t the first time he fought Artem in a competition, and he knew his value. Anan didn’t feel any shame. He shook hands with Artem and told him he learned a lot in the fight.
Artem wasn’t much more satisfied than Galen about his victory. He knew that this match hadn’t been a real dual combat. Anan had to be aware that his Earth Sheep couldn’t touch Ayden like he had to realize the fairy was too weak to hurt the sheep even if its wool was on fire. As such, Anan should have ordered his sheep to ignore the fairy to help him fight Artem. By fighting together against him, Anan would have had a chance to lock him while Ayden couldn’t do much to help Artem. But Anan chose to fight him one-on-one. Once, Artem would have felt that it was very honorable, but after Mr Tawil’s comments about what was necessary to fight monsters, Artem was looking for another kind of fight.
“Will the both of you stop looking a gift horse in the mouth!” Lyra scolded them. “You won your first match, that was your goal. Now, concentrate on your next fights. For the rest, you still have ten months of school!”
Galen restrained his smile. Lyra was like an elder sister to them. His wish to smile disappeared when he heard what she added, “Compared to Zane’s fight, you both were very lucky.”
Worried, the twins wanted to find Zane, but they also had to rest and let their fairies cultivate to refill their spiritual energy as their matches ended before the time limit.
“What happened?” Galen asked. “Zane isn’t weak. He got his scholarship because he has potential: good grades overall, good physical condition… He is just unlucky.”
“I taught him some tricks to fight these last weeks,” Artem added. “He might still lose against Nasir Jamra, but it shouldn’t be by a large margin.”
“Yes, he is unlucky,” Lyra agreed and went on to tell them what she witnessed, as she soon realized only Zane’s fight was problematic. “The stupid Jamra boy underestimated him, but it back-slashed on Zane. The idiot only sent his Fire Beetle to fight and stayed unguarded on his side of the ring. Zane listened well to your advice, Artem.
"While his rabbit was bravely fighting against the beetle, he approached the stupid Jamra boy. Zane used his talent to share his feelings as you trained him to do to distract the idiot, and immediately after, he attacked with his concealed weapons. Zane scored several hits, but the referee judged it not enough to eliminate his opponent. Instead, this made the Jamra boy furious.
"Since then, he’s madly attacking Zane, who can barely defend himself. Finn achieved to use his skill [headbutt] against the beetle twice, without much effect as it is a defensive pet. I even suspect that the poor rabbit hurt himself. The beetle retaliated with [horn attack] and injured Finn.
"I’m sure that Zane wants to surrender, but the Jamra boy is vicious enough to keep Zane from raising his arms, and he is drowning his voice under his flow of insults. This is just a beating! I hate Mr Carter: he is one of the referees, but he’s just looking over without doing anything!”
As the twins turned toward Zane’s and Nasir’s ring, they saw the White Rabbit jumping to his tamer’s side despite his injuries. The beetle was in pursuit behind him. It was far slower as it didn’t choose to fly and trotted over. The beetle seemed as arrogant as its tamer. Both Zane and his rabbit looked pitiful.
Despite all that, Zane and the White Rabbit attacked Nasir together. Zane used his empathic talent again – though it was too weak to be a real empathic projection, it created an empathic link to his fear and frustration – while Finn used both [jump] and [headbutt] to attack Nasir in the stomach. This was enough to distract Nasir and stop his flow of attacks as he scrambled to block Finn’s headbutt. Zane didn’t waste any time and put his short sword on Nasir’s neck when the boy bent over from the recoil of the rabbit’s attack. On the battlefield, killing the beast tamers was the end, so even if the Fire Beetle could still fight, this was considered Nasir’s loss. The boy was livid with rage.
Zane took Finn in his arms and ignored his injuries to limp out of the ring as soon as his victory was announced. Zane didn’t look back. He won, but he knew that it was his loss as he didn’t have any more chance for the later matches. The students were authorized to have their wounds bandaged if they bled, but healing was reserved for the pets. First, the pets didn’t have protection, and they were still very young. Second, this was to harden the students and remind them that the Abyss monsters wouldn’t let them have any respite. Zane showed his usual bitter smile as he went to Mrs Bousrani’s stand.
The twins wanted to comfort the boy they considered their friend, but they knew they should first take care of themselves. They also had three other matches to fight, so they went to sit on the benches near the rings to rest and let their fairies cultivate despite the noisy atmosphere.