“W-what just happened?” I wanted to scream at them, curse the Zerog family for not helping earlier. If they had been a quarter of a second later, I would have been falcon food! Still, I was alive, and that was all that mattered. For now, depending on the answers I’d receive, I may… or may not risk losing their sponsorship for ripping them a new one.
Although I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that—after all, I wasn’t exactly confident in lecturing them.
Interestingly, it was Mr. Zerog who answered my question. “You used your Soulkin’s trait, and it nearly cost your life.”
Huh? That wasn’t what I’d expected.
“Since your World is small, your core doesn’t contain much ether. If not for your physique, you would have died trying to paralyse the Shadowing. The trait sucked you dry, trying to stop the Shadowing—and that is excellent.”
First, he made a hidden jab at my World for being small, and then he sounded overly excited talking about my near-death experience, which was weird, to say the least. Why was it great that Aureus’ trait nearly killed me?
Mr. Zerog must have noticed the look on my face, and he turned to point at the Awakened beast, which disappeared in violet arcs a moment later.
“You just paralysed an Awakened beast. As a Novice, using the trait of a 2-Star Wild—3-Star if we ignore your Soulkin’s detrimental physique. Do you understand what that means?”
Not really, but I didn’t want to sound stupid in front of Daniel’s parents.
Mr. Zerog sighed, and I was certain I caught a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Fortunately, Mrs. Zerog and Daniel joined us.
“You should ask questions when you don’t know something. Even if you think you’ll look stupid. It is worse if you don’t ask any questions for whatever reason,” Mrs. Zerog offered me a kind smile. “There is no need to be embarrassed. We have to evaluate your current level of education if we want to bring you up to standard either way.”
I was still hesitant, but I asked anyway, “I’m not sure what you were talking about, Mr. Zerog. It probably means Aureus has a powerful trait?”
“My name is Peter. You don’t have to force yourself with all those formalities.” Mr. Zerog—Peter—waved dismissively, earning surprised looks from his wife and son. “Regardless, you are partially right. Your Soulkin’s trait is indeed powerful—so strong that it allows you to freeze an Awakened beast with the right amount of ether.” He regarded me with a faint smile. “It also means that your little mutant will be stronger than its peers. The mutation increased the Soilback’s potential, and it will likely grow past a 3-Star Wild.”
Peter turned to his wife. “We should call Bert to examine Aureus thoroughly. He’ll be happy to expand on his research of Soilbacks. If Aureus can naturally grow to a 4-Star Wild, it won’t be a problem to concoct the serums needed to push him to 5-Star. And with an Awakened trait as a Wild, the Soilback will most likely evolve—as long as we nurture it properly, that is.”
My heart skipped a beat at the implication. Evolving Aureus to an Awakened beast was a big deal. However, at the same time, Mrs. Zerog and Daniel seemed to consider Peter’s re-introduction as an even greater deal.
Mrs. Zerog was delighted as she tore her gaze away from her husband to look at me. “You don’t have to call me Mrs. Zerog. Since you’ll be around us for the next few months, I hope we can get used to each other. And once you’re comfortable around us, you can call me Chloe.”
Chloe Zerog turned back to her husband and engaged in a fierce discussion about… me and Aureus. Our strengths, weaknesses, how to push us to grow fast enough to avoid drowning in the camp. It was a lot of back and forth, and I barely understood half of what they said, but I could tell that they cared. As odd as the Zerog family was, they weren’t bad people.
“It looks like my parents accepted you.” Daniel appeared beside me with a shit-eating grin on his face.
He turned to look at me and drew me into a quick hug. “You were amazing! Sure, I was worried a few times, but you managed well. Did you know you’d be able to freeze the Shadowing? No, of course you didn’t. I’m pretty sure you were as surprised as we were!”
Daniel defended his title as a chatterbox against himself… gracefully. I let him speak and smiled. He looked even happier than I did.
“Now we can train together, spar with each other, go out to hunt, and wreak havoc in the Camp! We will bulldoze everyone!” He snickered, looking like an excited child as he daydreamed about our lives in the Camp, and it was infectious.
***
On the way back to the Bastion, I finally found out why Daniel’s teacher didn’t sponsor me. Surprisingly enough, Chloe apologized to me. She revealed that she had stopped Bert from sponsoring me.
“It was crucial. Bert wanted to invest heavily in you, and we were worried you’d grow complacent. We wanted to see how hard you would work when the information drive and the incentive of earning Credits through hunting were the only things you could use to repay your family’s debts,” Chloe said, looking genuinely sorry.
But as sorry as Daniel’s mother might have been, I didn’t like what she and Peter had done. However, as much as I wanted to dislike them for intervening, I couldn’t. Chloe was probably right. If a heavy investment had meant I could repay our debts in full and cover our bills for a few months, I wouldn’t have worked this hard. I certainly wouldn’t have been strong enough to fight ten 3-Star Wilds. My stamina would have run out after the second battle, or I would have been injured in one of the first two fights.
“We can message Bert and ask him if he wants to sponsor you again. However, I’d advise against it,” Peter Zerog said from the driver’s seat.
Was there a problem with the Beaster? If not, why wouldn’t I want to accept his sponsorship? I frowned, confused. The questions lingering in my mind must have been written all over my face, because Chloe added,
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“By accepting his sponsorship, you’ll essentially be in his shop for extended periods of time for examinations. Knowing Bert, he’ll test you daily. Considering the amount of Credits he was willing to spend on someone recently awakened from an unBlessed family, we figured he would want to test you for several hours daily, or several times a day. Both of those aren’t compatible with our schedule.”
Chloe turned back from the passenger seat with a grim smile. “We’re already in a time crunch with a 24-hour day. It would be best if our days were 36 or even 48 hours long. That way, we wouldn’t have any issues training you until the start of the Camp. If you accept Bert’s sponsorship… to be honest, I think we would halt our plans. We’d retrieve our invitation to become Daniel’s retinue and consider today’s outing a one-time thing.”
That was when it hit me just how serious this was. If I accepted Bert’s sponsorship, Daniel’s parents wouldn’t train me to join the Camp. It would be a waste of their precious time to train someone who wasn’t committed to the task. I understood that much. I really did. As far as I remembered, one had to be between 16 and 18 years old to join the Camp. There might be exceptions to the rule, but it was a hard fact that I was only 15 and would enter the Camp mere weeks after turning 16. That was already enough to put me at a disadvantage compared to my fellow cadets.
Adding the fact that I had only just awakened as a Blessed…the gap in strength only widened.
“Daniel…” I turned to my friend. “How strong are you? And how do you think you’ll fare in the Camp? Like… how high do you think you will rank?”
Daniel looked visibly uncomfortable with the questions and glanced at his parents in the front for help, but Peter was focused on the cruiser as we arrived at the Bastion. We phased through the dome, and Chloe nodded at Daniel. Daniel groaned and looked like someone had punched him as he turned back to me.
“I’m a Journeyman with one Soulkin. You remember Coco, right?” he asked, looking hopeful. Sure, I remembered the calf, but that didn’t mean I’d change the subject to the bull. Daniel seemed to realize that much fairly quickly. “I heard the competition would be tough this year, but I shouldn’t have a problem making it into the top five percent in the Camp, since I will reach the threshold of an Expert once Coco evolves.”
“Or you bind a second Soulkin,” Peter Zerog chimed in.
Daniel nodded reluctantly. “Or I’ll accept a second Soulkin. Regardless, the weakest cadets—the ones most likely to get thrown out, or to quit—are all Adepts who could have made it big in most universities or academies.” He let out a deep sigh and pointed at me. “If you want to sit comfortably in the middle ranks, which you should if you plan to use the Camp’s resources efficiently, you need to be a Journeyman.”
“Or an Adept with a unique trait, preferably multiple traits, and extensive knowledge,” Chloe Zerog added, offering me a faint smile. “I don’t think you should worry too much. Everything will be alright as long as you keep working hard. Advancing to a Journeyman before the start of the Camp will be difficult, but we have a few tricks up our sleeves.”
I was unsure what to make of that, but I was hoping for the best.
In the worst case, they could revoke their right to invite me to the Camp. In that case, their investment would have failed, whereas I would retain the techniques, power, and knowledge Aureus and I would acquire in the next few months. That was already a lot more than I’d hoped for when I decided to bind Aureus to my World. It was enough to push me to do my utmost.
My gaze drifted to the Bastion unfolding beneath us. Countless thoughts—mixtures of worries and hopes—flashed through my mind, yet it didn’t look like Daniel was willing to leave me alone with them.
“Can you check something for me, Adam?” I looked up to see Daniel staring at me. “Did the transaction go through?”
Transaction? I cocked an eyebrow, which prompted Daniel to jump into an explanation.
“Did you think we wouldn’t pay you for the carcasses?” He clicked his tongue, but the playful look never left his eyes. “The beasts you’ve killed are not that rare, but the Griphs’ wings are quite valuable. Soilbacks are also quite valuable. Sure, their meat is tough and not that tasty, but it’s still relatively valuable once minced and added to the diet of certain Soulkins. It contains a great deal of nutrients and is infused with ether. As for…”
I pulled out my phone while Daniel continued to chatter. Tuning out his voice, I checked my bank account as it updated in real time.
Finances: 3169 Credits
That was an increase of 3,000 Credits—exactly 300 Credits for every 3-Star Wild.
My lips curled into a smile. Earning more than seven times my mother’s monthly earnings in a single day was definitely not something I would get used to. I’d earned a lot in the last few weeks, but 3,000 was a new record.
“I need a storage unit,” I murmured helplessly, staring at the balance in awe. Running out of the Bastion with various corpse bags and dragging them back to Sergey to sell for a pretty penny had been a mess. It was torture and wasted so much precious time—time I could have used to hunt more beasts. But at the time, it hadn’t been worth renting a storage unit from Sergey’s shop.
Maybe… that had to change.
If I wanted to keep earning like this, I would have to change something.
Looking up at Daniel, an idea formed in my mind.
Or I could use him as my pack mule.
“I don’t like how you’re looking at me!” Daniel exclaimed, pointing fingers.
I just smiled at him, my eyes drifting to the front, where I caught a reflection of Peter Zerog’s lips curling into a thin smile.
After bickering with Daniel a little, the cruiser slowed. We were nowhere near the main sector, but we descended and landed in front of a very, very familiar place.
“We’re in the ninth sector,” I muttered.
“Is that not where you live? Did we get your address wrong?” Chloe turned back to me once more in confusion.
“No… we’re in the right place.”
Not only were we in the right sector, we were on the right street and in front of the right house. The Zerogs had landed right in front of our apartment, and… it attracted quite some attention.
Dozens of windows opened to the commotion caused by the cruiser’s descent, and it wasn’t long before the first neighbors stepped outside to look at the flying vehicle—which probably cost more than the entire street.
I scrambled to my feet and pushed out of the cruiser the moment the doors flipped open. The curious eyes of dozens lingered on me, and I didn’t think for a second that I could keep today’s events hidden from my parents. Not that I would have lied to them either way.
But being pushed straight into my parents’ claws was cruel nonetheless.
“Thanks for everything. I—”
Peter Zerog waved dismissively before I could say more.
“We expect you to work even harder from now onward. Our timing is a little unfortunate. It would have been best if we had a few months longer, preferably years, but we will make it work.” He looked sternly at me. “As long as you meet our expectations.”
Chloe pushed her husband back against the seat as she pulled forward. “But before anything, talk to your parents. I’m sure they’re worried about you. As for your training, you should rest for tomorrow. Using your Soulkin’s trait puts a heavy strain on your body, especially when you overcharge it. So no hunting for tomorrow, okay?”
Daniel leaned forward from the backseat, pointing more fingers at me. “No training either!”
I grimaced and didn’t answer right away, though the look on the Zerogs’ faces broke me. Albeit forced, I relented.
“I got it. I will do something else tomorrow…”