I was a little disappointed as I waited below the arena floor.

I had left early the day before with the expectation I could watch the exhibition of the C-rankers.

Instead I was waiting with the other new Types to be introduced. We had listened as the headmaster made a nearly identical speech to the previous night. The only difference was not including the introduction of Stuart Drake.

That would wait until after the exhibition match. He would be introduced alongside us, explaining why a General had appeared in the academy.

I was the only one disappointed at not seeing the exhibition match. The others seemed generally unimpressed.

From the brief conversations around me, it was clear that we did not have an exceptionally talented year. Only the Commander and us new Types set this year up as anything but a failure.

That was hard to believe. I didn't know how high their standards were. But to discount the whole year already seemed a little premature.

The only comfort was the creature sitting by my side.

It had been a little surprising when I had woken up to knocking on my door in the early morning.

I had slept far better than I had been expecting. The beds in the academy were of a level of comfort that I was not used to.

I was taken by an attendant of the academy to prepare for the ceremony. They wanted to have all the new Types looking their best.

But first, I had to pick up my monster and my new guards. That was the rule I had to follow while I had my monster out and about in the academy. I had to have two guards capable of killing the monster following me at all times.

Unlike Frank and Olivia, these two were less friendly and weren't inclined to talk. It would also be a rotating shift, something I would have to apply for in advance. Making it so I wouldn't know who would be guarding in the future.

Despite my best attempts at small talk, they were unresponsive even now.

I was wearing clothes that cost far more than anything I had put on in the past few years combined. I couldn't be seen letting down the academy in front of the powerhouses of humanity.

By all accounts of the others, nearly every influential person in the Capital had shown up to see the new types.

Only Emilia was calm in the face of Arthur listing off the names of the elites.

How he had the time to find out, I didn't know. It had been a whirlwind for me to prepare for the morning orientation. He had been there alongside me in the brief rehearsal.

As time went on, hearing the shouting and roaring from the crowd above us, the nerves began to grow.

I was the second to last to appear in front of the crowd. It was only Sarah who would be behind me. She was waiting silently behind me as the others talked in front of us.

I felt too nervous about what was to come to even think of talking to her.

So I was surprised when she came up behind me, looking at the wolf.

"Is it okay if I touch it? Does he have a name?"

It took me a second to get my words in order. The fact that any of them at all, let alone Sarah was talking to me was a shock.

"Yes. Sorry, No, he doesn't have a name; of course, you can touch him. He's on his best behaviour."

She smiled slightly at that and bent down to look more at the monster. I did everything in my power to stop myself from speaking further, knowing that nothing good would come out of my mouth.

"May I try to use shaping on his collar?"

I wasn't sure what that would do. I didn't know if it would remove my control entirely, forcing the guards to kill the monster. However, even against my better judgment, I found myself nodding.

I started to worry once I saw that she already had control of a partial activation. Only her arms were covered in armour, the rest nowhere to be seen.

That was a skill far beyond what I had been expecting. Even second years weren't expected to have control of a partial activation.

I nearly put myself in front of her as she put her hands on the collar. Not even needing vocal activation before her hands began to glow.

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I felt panic begin to mount. I had no idea what I had gotten into. I only felt relief when a slight black force of energy began to repel her hands.

With that, she looked up to the others and shook her head.

"It's the same for him. My skills don't work on any of the new Types."

It took me a second to realise what was going on. She hadn't wanted to look at the monster at all. She wanted to test if she could shape my armour.

The others looked like they expected that answer. I didn't know how to respond to that. The smile on Sarah's face slipped away as she went back to standing in line.

It took a lot of effort to keep my face neutral at what happened. I wouldn't have minded one bit if she had given me more time, but the roundabout way she had gone about it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Before I could begin to make sense of everything that happened, the crowd's roar distracted us all. The exhibition match was over.

The headmaster's voice soon began to reverberate through the arena.

"Congratulations to the Blue team, led by Ivan Alexander. The Commander of your Year with a dominant performance. Usually, this would be the end of the first year's orientation. But this year is different."

The headmaster paused for a few moments.

"For there has been a great change for humanity. To help explain it, I am introducing the new Chief Combat Instructor. Former General Stuart Drake."

There was a resounding silence in response to that. A similar reaction to the night before.

It took a moment, but soon, the deep voice of the former General echoed through the hallways.

"Hello, everybody. I look forward to working with you all in the coming year. I echo every sentiment of the headmaster. But for now, we must focus on something else. For as the headmaster said, the world is now very different."

The people around me finally started to appear on edge. Shifting a little bit, I doubted any of them were as nervous as I was. But the fact they weren't as comfortable as they tried to seem made me feel a little better.

"It has been five years since humanity's last great loss. Since then, we have managed to regroup, but the Sages Will wasn't happy with that result. It decided to change. Today, we will see the result of that change. Today, I will introduce you to the five new Types of soul armours."

Any noise I heard from the crowds was gone instantly. Any whispering about the General fell to the wayside. I could understand why. The General teaching was an incredible change. But it paled in comparison to new Types.

"There is no better way but to show you. The first to appear will be the Vanguard. A combination of both Light and Heavy Types. They will be the masters of the frontline. Please welcome Aaron Stewart, the first Vanguard."

Aaron took a few breaths before he left the corridor into the roaring crowds, excited to see what was in store.

That, more than anything, sent my nerves to the sky. I had to continuously breathe to calm down. I barely heard the roars of the crowd from whatever Aaron's display was.

Before I could even get a grip, Drake was calling for Arthur.

"The second to appear will be the Paladin. A master of defence and support. They will be a beacon of light on the frontlines. Please welcome Arthur Stoneheart, the first Paladin."

Another roar of the crowd welcomed Arthur into the Arena. He went up with confidence, disappearing from sight.

That left the three of us. Emilia seemed very focused on what was to come. She was only facing forward, ignoring the rest of the world, waiting for her time.

I looked at the monster by my side. Unmoving and unflinching. In perfect control. That made me feel a little better. After all, I could see it as the monster being the star of the show.

The Monster would take much of the focus. I couldn't do much myself. I was still only an E-ranker with my stats.

I heard Arthur calling out the name of his skills. With narration from the former General, I was sure it made for a powerful showing.

That was nothing compared to the crowd's roar when Emilia entered the Arena.

"Please welcome to the stage Emilia Roman the Sentry."

I was surprised at the lack of fanfare. But I supposed that her name spoke for itself. Her skills definitely did. I could hear the explosion from where I was underneath the Arena.

She certainly knew how to set herself apart from the others. The roar of the crowd's approval was the loudest I had heard yet.

The only distraction was another tap on my shoulder; I turned to look at Sarah, who, for once, didn't have a neutral expression on her face.

I could almost say she looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry about what happened. That wasn't how I wanted to go about testing my skills. I shouldn't have put you on the spot."

That was not what I had been expecting. Before I could question her, I heard the faithful announcement.

"Second to last. We have an extraordinary new Type. Capable of something long thought impossible. Controlling monsters. Please welcome Kajus Everett, the first Tamer."

I felt my legs nearly give out underneath me. Before I turned, Sarah put her hand on my shoulder, looking me straight in the eye.

"Good Luck."

Despite everything, I felt better about heading out into the arena. With one more deep breath, I called for the Monster to follow behind me.

I walked up through the hidden arena entrance to the arena floor. The three others were in a line to the side. As I walked towards the chief Instructor, I was met with the crowd's roar. Something that grew even further once they saw the monster following behind me.

Only the monster by my side allowed me to continue walking. Everything else in my mind went blank.

I had no idea what I was going to do. I knew what display Emilia had shown. There was no way I could do anything that could compare to that. I didn't even have mental commands.

Reaching the spot beside the Instructor. I managed to nod at him in greeting. One that I was glad to see he reciprocated.

Then I was in front of the crowd. While the crowd were only covering a fraction of the Arena's seating area. It certainly didn't sound like it. The mighty roars from people with greatly increased physical abilites making themselves known.

There were the three thousand students also in attendance at the academy. As well as quite a few other people littered around the Arena. If Arthur had been right, they were some of humanity's most powerful people. Some had even come from the front to see our display.

Silence reigned once I reached my spot. Only a few wordless whispers carried to the arena floor.

Countless thoughts ran through my head. What if everything went wrong at this moment?

I steeled my mind. Making sure the connection between me and the monster was stable.

There wasn't much else for it as I gave my first instruction to the monster.

"Bark!"