"You'd do well not to get tangled up in trouble from now on. And frankly, why not keep your Spore separated from your body? Those mushrooms on your head only make you a more visible target."
"I'm not going to do that."
Ren's answer was immediate and firm.
"My Spore isn't weak. And I'm going to prove it."
Luna frowned, then looked at him for a moment as though studying him.
"Interesting." she murmured, more to herself than to him.
Luna remembered that boy from the day of the entrance ceremony.
How could she forget the one child holding an ash-gray egg among all those brilliantly colored eggs, nearly every one of them belonging to the sons and daughters of wealthy and powerful families?
She had not understood why a child who could afford no better egg than that was at this academy.
The terrible result had been even more unexpected.
That day he had looked so bleak, utterly steeped in defeat.
But now there was something different about him.
It was not simply the glowing mushrooms in his hair.
Something in his posture, something in his eyes.
He seemed...... brighter.
And she did not mean the light of the mushrooms on his head.
"Delusion, or courage? Now that is interesting." she murmured to herself again.
She turned to leave, then stopped for a moment.
"I'll watch and see whether that confidence of yours lasts a year. Though I'd bet it won't."
She left the words over her shoulder and vanished into the shadows with her wolf.
Ren watched her disappear without even the chance to ask what she found so 'interesting.' The mushrooms in his hair pulsed gently.
But he did not want her to believe in him.
He needed no one's belief.
Not yet.
***
The Imperial Academy revealed itself in all its majesty, towering before him.
Its spires cast long shadows over the city.
The academy's great hall was magnificent.
Marble pillars engraved with the flow of mana rose toward the arched ceiling, and the Beasts carved upon them seemed to move alive within the shadows.
The new students lined up in orderly rows, and their fused Beasts made a spectacle of color and transformation.
Except for Ren, of course.
The mushrooms in his hair stood out like an 'ash-gray' stain amid all that 'brilliance.' Even though the mushrooms were the only things literally glowing.
"Welcome."
The Headmaster's voice rang out through the hall.
He was a tall, lean man.
A Royal Phoenix, a Gold-grade Beast, was fused with his body, and golden feathers mingled with his white hair.
"Welcome to the Imperial Academy, the foremost authority in the cultivation and evolution of Beasts."
Ren watched, transfixed.
Thanks to his newly gained knowledge he could dimly make out some of that phoenix's mana patterns and the complexity of its evolution.
But everything concerning the cultivation of Gold-grade Beasts remained as hazy as fog in his mind.
"Over the next eight years you will learn not only how to strengthen your Beasts, but the true nature of the word bond between a Tamer and a Beast. Some of you will rise to the Silver grade, and a very few may go beyond it."
His gaze rested on Luna for a moment.
Her Shadow Wolf held the potential to evolve as far as the Gold grade.
And then, so subtly it was almost impossible to notice, it brushed past Ren as well.
"But grade is not everything. History holds many Tamers who achieved the impossible with Beasts that appeared weak. Everything rests on your dedication, your understanding, and above all on your willingness to see beyond the surface."
A murmur rose at once.
Everyone knew those were diplomatic empty words, phrases meant to console those who had not been lucky, like Ren.
The irony of them, of course, sounded different to Ren.
"The faculty will assign your dormitories and your timetables. Classes begin tomorrow morning."
The Headmaster paused.
"One last thing. The academy values contribution to the community as highly as individual growth. Any act of oppressing or tormenting others on the strength of a Beast's grade will be sanctioned severely. Marks here are linked, so a violation brings deductions and discipline, while cooperation and service earn additional marks. Potential exists in everyone. Do not waste it."
This time his gaze came to rest clearly on the group that had threatened Ren in the carriage.
The tiger boy shifted uncomfortably.
As the students began to disperse, Ren noticed something strange.
The mushrooms in his hair pulsed in a different rhythm near one particular section of the great hall.
As though responding to a powerful stimulus beneath the floor.
Knowledge brushed through his mind.
Perhaps the academy really had been built over an ancient ruin.
And in a place like that...... with luck, he might find the runes he needed without having to buy them.
***
"All first-year students, this way! It is time to assign dormitories!"
A professor's voice cut across his thoughts.
Ren followed the crowd, but his mind was already in motion.
The academy held more secrets than it appeared to.
And he had eight years to dig them out.
"Room 15, Gray Wing."
The professor handed Ren a key, a faint pity in his voice.
Gray Wing.
The name sounded fine enough, carrying as it did the meaning of ash-gray wings, but in truth it was a mocking name for the place they sent students of 'limited potential,' students whose wings were too gray to take flight.
And among those, Ren was a special case.
He was the owner of a truly failed ash-gray egg, the first to appear in decades.
The dormitory room was spacious but bleak, designed for four students.
His roommates had already arrived.
Min, a thin boy with a Water Snake; Taro, solidly built, with a Digger Beetle; and Liu, tall and quiet, with a Night Bat.
All of them had Iron-grade Beasts, but they at least had the possibility of evolving to the Bronze grade.
No, that was what they all believed.
But in Ren's eyes, just as with other Beasts, their evolutionary trajectories ran all the way to Silver stage 3.
"Ah, so you're the mushroom boy?"
Min smiled as Ren came in.
There was no malice in his voice, only a resigned sort of camaraderie.
"I see why they put us in the same room."
Ren set his bag down on the last remaining bed.
He could feel the curious looks aimed at the mushrooms in his hair and the bruise around his eye.
"Your Spore...... does it have any other ability besides glowing?"
Taro asked.
Ren hesitated.
After the commotion in the carriage, he did not want any more attention.
"It raises my strength by 10%. And...... it has the advantage that I don't need a lamp." he said simply.
More pitying looks poured over him.
An awkward silence followed his words.
The others exchanged glances.
The kind of look people give someone who cannot accept a painful truth.
"Hey, it isn't that bad."
Min said, making an effort to sound bright.
"Liu's bat has excellent detection. Strength isn't the only thing that matters in this world, is it?"
Taro added.
"He's right, it isn't that bad." said Liu from the corner.
"I'm a second-year, but I failed two courses, so I'm still in this dormitory. What my first year here taught me is that your starting grade isn't everything. My bat looked useless at first too, but once I trained it properly......."
While Liu went on giving advice about life in Gray Wing, Ren quietly studied his companions.
Important information about his dormmates' Beasts welled up in his mind.
That Min's snake needed fresh water rather than seawater in its mana crystals to draw out its real potential.
That Taro's beetle had to be fed crystals processed in time with a particular phase of the moon if it was to avoid early maturation and follow the correct path.
Perhaps once they knew one another better and trust had built up, he could share some of this knowledge.
At least enough of it to help.
While he unpacked, the mushrooms in his hair pulsed again in that strange rhythm.
There was something beneath Gray Wing.
Something ancient.
Perhaps the 'worst' dormitory assignment was not entirely a bad thing.
Especially if what he had sensed was correct, and an ancient ruin stretched directly beneath their feet.
As the others started sorting their belongings, Ren went over to Liu, the second-year.
"Liu, where can I get materials from discarded demon beasts? Things like cores, Beast remains, materials, Bronze-grade crystals."
Liu stopped sorting his trunk and looked at Ren with pity and interest mixed in his eyes.
"Straight to the point, huh?"
He sighed.
"Listen. Only a few years ago, the academy distributed resources fairly. So that hidden training methods and new possibilities for evolution could be found, every student was given all the resources needed to evolve their Beast, regardless of potential grade."
Liu sat down on the edge of his bed.
His Night Bat beat its wings restlessly above his head.
"But everything changed. Now it's a merit system. Students are ranked in ten grades, exactly like Beasts. Well, you don't have to own a Gold-grade Beast to become a Gold-grade student. Otherwise there wouldn't be any Platinum-grade students at all, would there? Either way, you have to prove for yourself that you're worth investing in. The basic support is a miserable level. Even decent Beasts need enormous effort just to barely reach the Bronze grade. Until then, one crystal a day is all you get."
"But I really need those materials. Especially the toxic fungus, Bronze-grade materials, and a rune......."
Ren insisted.
"A rune?"
Liu let out a dry laugh.
"Those are outrageously expensive. They're only issued to elite Beasts with real potential, and only when they're crossing from Silver to Gold! Everyone else has to earn them on ability."
He looked at the mushrooms in Ren's hair.
"Don't take this the wrong way. But nobody's going to waste resources like that on a Spore."
"Why not?"
"Because every experiment in cultivating Spore-line Beasts has failed. Every single one. The academy keeps records of every attempt. The best result was an adult Spore that raised strength by a measly 20%. The resources that went into it would have been more than enough to evolve three ordinary Beasts to the Silver grade."
Ren clenched his fists.
If Liu knew what he knew, if he could only explain the true path of evolution.......
"There is another way to get resource support, though."
Liu murmured.
"There's what they call the credit system. If you pass the final examinations in all five courses this term, they'll promote you from Iron to Bronze stage 1. Then you get ten crystals a day instead of one."
"Ten times as much?"
Ren's eyes widened.
"At Silver stage 1 it's a hundred."
Liu laughed dryly.
"But that takes until the fourth term, and only if you complete every course in every earlier term without a single failure."
He looked at Ren's hair again.
"Frankly, I don't see you putting up much of a result in the combat course. And as for the training......."
He shook his head.
"What happens if I fail?"
"Every three courses you fail earns you one warning. And when three warnings pile up......."
Liu drew a finger across his throat.
"You say goodbye to all support. The best you can do is finish your courses safely and not get thrown out of the academy's support system."
Ren nodded slowly as he processed the information.
The system was cruel, but the rewards were certain.......