A girl sitting on a nearby stone bench looked up from her polished nails. She was dressed in a deep purple tunic embroidered with silver threads, her features sharp and arrogant.
She was clearly from a rich family, her gaze sweeping over Kale with a mixture of mockery and a strange, predatory interest.
"He is quite handsome, though," the girl noted, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. "A bit rough around the edges, but those green eyes are fascinating. It is a pity he is of such a low rank."
The other recruits laughed, their haughty whispers filling the air.
None of them wanted to fight Kale, taking him for a lowly servant who had been brought here to entertain them. To them, an apprentice who had awakened only recently was nothing more than a bug to be crushed beneath their heels.
The girl in purple stood up and walked toward Kale, her crystalline lizard trailing behind her.
It was a peak-feral-rank beast, its scales shimmering with a dangerous elemental light. She stopped a few feet away, her eyes tracing the lines of Kale’s jaw.
"I will fight him," she declared, looking back at her laughing friends.
"But under one condition. If he loses, he must work as my personal butler for the duration of his stay. I have always wanted a boy toy to have fun with, and he fits the aesthetic perfectly."
Kale remained unmoved, his analytical stoicism acting as a shield against the girl’s provocations.
He looked at the crystalline lizard, noting its mana circuits and the density of its scales. It was a decent beast, but it lacked the structural grounding of a creature that had survived the true slaughter of the forest.
"And if I win?" Kale asked, his voice steady and cold.
The girl laughed, a high-pitched sound that carried no genuine warmth. "Win? An apprentice winning against a master tier recruit?
The probability is zero. But for the sake of the bet, if you win, I will give you this mana gem ring. It is worth at least 500,000 accredit."
Kale nodded. "Bring out your beast."
He reached into his shadow, calling for Neo.
The nemesis hydra appeared on the stone floor, its size currently restricted to that of a palm-sized beast.
Its power was sealed at the peak feral rank through the partial transformation trait, its draconic and overpowering bloodline features compressed deep within its marrow.
To the recruits, it looked like a strange, three-headed green lizard with stunted wings.
The girl sneered at the tiny hydra. "That is your beast? It looks like a biological scrap heap. Crystal, end this quickly. Do not kill it, just break a few of its limbs so the boy understands his place."
The crystalline lizard hissed, its body glowing with a sudden burst of light.
It lunged forward, its claws extended to pin the small hydra to the floor. But the moment it drew within three meters of Neo, the lizard’s eyes went wide with a sudden, primal terror.
Neo did not even move. It simply stood there, its six golden eyes staring at the lizard with a cold, monarchal arrogance.
The hydra’s hidden aura, even when sealed, was like a physical hammer against the primitive mind of a feral beast. The crystalline lizard skidded to a halt, its legs buckling as its bloodline recoiled in instinctive horror.
The beast did not fight. Instead, it let out a wretched screech and turned, fleeing like a mouse being chased by a cat.
It scrambled back toward the girl, hiding behind her legs and whimpering with a frantic intensity that shocked everyone in the arena.
"What are you doing!?" the girl screamed, her face turning red with embarrassment. "It is just a lizard! Stand up and fight, you useless coward!"
But the crystalline lizard refused to move, its body trembling so violently that its scales rattled against one another. A confused silence replaced the recruits’ disdain.
They looked at Kale, then at the small, three-headed hydra that was now yawning with its central head.
"Perhaps your beast is more perceptive than you are," Kale noted, his voice flat.
The girl was now shaking with rage, her fingers trembling as she called her second beast, "That was just a fluke! Crystal was startled by your Beast’s ugliness. Face this one instead!"
A burst of orange light filled the arena as a new beast manifested. It was an alpha-rank flame panther, its fur composed of flickering embers, its teeth like glowing charcoal. This was a creature of significant offensive might, one that should have incinerated a feral beast in a heartbeat.
The flame panther roared, its eyes locking onto Neo. It did not feel the same immediate terror as the feral lizard, but its fur was still standing on end. It lunged with a burst of fire, its claws aimed at Neo’s central neck.
Neo did not dodge. The hydra raised its right paw and smacked the incoming panther across the face. The impact sounded like a heavy iron door slamming shut.
The flame panther was sent spinning through the air, its body crashing into the arena’s reinforced stone wall with a sickening thud.
It hit the floor and did not get back up; its eyes rolled back in its head. It had been knocked out in a single, casual strike.
The silence that followed was absolute.
The arrogant recruits were now staring at the unconscious alpha beast with mouths hung open. They looked at Kale, who was still standing with his arms crossed over his chest, as if he had barely done anything at all.
"Who is next?" Kale asked, his gaze sweeping over the group.
One by one, the other recruits were forced to step forward. Their disdain had vanished, replaced by a desperate need to reclaim their pride.
A boy with the bronze feathered hawk attempted an aerial assault, but Neo simply swiped the bird out of the air with its tail, pinning it to the ground until the boy conceded.
Another tamer brought out a heavy-muscled earth bear, an alpha beast with a hide like stone.
Neo did not even use its claws. The hydra walked up to the bear and delivered a forceful headbutt that shattered the bear’s mana armour and sent it collapsing into a heap of unconscious muscle.
The battles were no longer mock sparring sessions; they were a systematic dismantling of the capital’s elite.
Neo moved with a scary efficiency, its movements fluid and precise despite the sealed state of its power. It treated the alpha-rank beasts like cattle in a slaughterhouse, ending every fight within seconds.
Finally, the strongest among the recruits stepped forward. He was a sixteen-year-old named Julian, the son of a high-ranking general. His expression was no longer haughty; it was grim and focused.
He brought out two beasts simultaneously, a feat that only the most talented master tier tamers could accomplish.
Two peak alpha-rank silver wolves appeared, their bodies wreathed in a swirling mist of frost mana. They were perfectly synchronised, moving in a pincer formation that sought to overwhelm Neo from both flanks.
"Go," Julian ordered, his voice tight.
The silver wolves blurred into motion, their speed far exceeding anything Kale had faced in the arena so far. They were masters of teamwork, one lunging for Neo’s sub heads while the other sought to sever the hydra’s legs.
Neo let out a resonant growl, its three heads weaving together in a display of aerial discipline.
The hydra jumped, its wings creating a propulsive blast that sent it spinning over the first wolf’s back. Mid-air, Neo’s central head snapped forward, grabbing the second wolf by the scruff of its neck and slamming it into its partner.
The two wolves tangled together, their frost mana backfiring as they collided.
Before they could recover, Neo landed on top of them, its three heads independent and lethal. One head pinned the first wolf’s throat, while the other two heads snapped the legs of the second.
The battle ended as quickly as it had begun. The two peak alpha beasts lay defeated, their silver fur stained with the dust of the arena. Julian fell to his knees, his mana reserves depleted from the effort of maintaining the dual bond.
He looked at the small hydra in terror, realising that he had never stood a chance.
Neo was too powerful. Even with 90% of its strength hidden behind the facade of a feral lizard, the hydra was an ultimate predator that stood beyond the throne of dragons.
Kale walked toward the centre of the training ground, his boots clicking softly on the stone.
He looked at the group of defeated masters, their arrogance now replaced by a crushing sense of inadequacy. Igor stood by the entrance, a small and satisfied grin on his face.
"I believe the orientation is complete," Kale said, his voice echoing through the silent arena.
The girl in purple was staring at the floor, her kristalline lizard still whimpering at her feet. She did not mention the butler bet again. She did not even dare to look at Kale.
Kale recalled Neo into his shadow, feeling the hydra’s shared satisfaction through the bond. The beast was acting cute again, rubbing its heads against Kale’s mental pathways as it demanded another candy sweet for its efforts.
He turned and walked away from the training ground, his green hair fluttering in the wind. He had a flame chimaera to create, and a blueprint to refine.
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