"But......."
"Enough."
Professor Wei cut him off again.
"I understand that certain students try to dress up their...... limitations in plausible theory. But in this class we will adhere to proven methods."
Professor Wei frowned.
"Those texts have been verified across generations. On what grounds do you claim they are wrong? Did you learn it from a storybook?"
Laughter filled the classroom.
The tiger boy and his friends could not hide their triumphant faces.
Luna, however, was watching the scene with strong curiosity in her eyes.
Ren clenched his fists under the desk.
Not only had he lost marks before anything had even started, he was on the verge of throwing away his chance at the support he so desperately needed.
Earning full marks in this course by the end of the term had become harder by far.
'Irrefutable proof. Something even Professor Wei could not deny.'
The mushrooms in his hair pulsed gently as he thought.
The answer had to be somewhere.
And he had to find it before his chance at resources disappeared altogether.
Ren sank deep into his chair.
He had not expected mistaken knowledge to be rooted this deeply.
"Let us continue."
Professor Wei turned back to the board.
"As I was saying, basic training follows simple rules......."
This was going to be far harder than Ren had thought.
The rest of the lecture was torture.
Professor Wei passed over his raised hand again and again, and when he finally called on him, all he said was this.
"Did you see? That is how one answers. Speaking from verified fact, not from absurd theory."
Professor Wei pointed at Taro.
"Look at the old records and the Digger Beetle is a textbook example of a Beast with obvious limits. Even in records from five hundred years ago, not a single one ever passed Bronze."
Ren saw Taro's shoulders slump.
His roommate carried a load of books around with him and seemed to have been digging into training methods since before he left home, looking for an exception.
'I thought about telling him what I know, but I decided to wait until we were closer. Now that it has come to this, though.......'
Ren straightened in his seat.
This was his chance.
His dormmate Taro's beetle was exactly the right subject.
A common Beast whose limits everyone believed they knew, yet with the right method it could show its hidden power quickly, within months.
If he could only put it in front of their eyes.......
In the beetle's case, it could well be done within this term.
'Of course, first I'd have to persuade its owner to try.'
he murmured to himself.
'And that is the real obstacle. Who believes a boy with a useless Spore?
Who would follow the Weakest Tamer's advice in training their own precious Beast?'
But...... had he any other choice?
"That isn't true."
Ren rose from his seat.
"A Digger Beetle can reach Silver stage 3 just like any other Beast."
The classroom burst into laughter.
Professor Wei glared at Ren as though at a bothersome fly.
"A moment ago you doubted established training methods, and now you deny the old records as well. Mister Partinder, five more marks deducted."
"There is exactly one thing wrong in the beetle training records you cite. It is the timing of handling the crystals. If the mana crystals are handled in the right way at the right time......."
Ren ignored the sneers and went on.
"Harping about appointed times again? Not once has that sort of harping about exceptions produced the same result."
Professor Wei sneered.
"By your...... fine opinion, then, what would happen if one followed the recorded method and altered that single detail?"
"By your materials the beetle should evolve into a 'Greater Excavator' at the Bronze grade. It will not. Instead, it will become a 'Living Tunnel.'"
Silence settled over the classroom.
Taro looked at Ren with hope and confusion mixed in his eyes.
"A very specific guarantee."
Professor Wei leaned forward.
"Then let us make a wager. If you are right, I will give you one Bronze-grade material of your choosing, and full marks in both of my courses. You need not attend those two courses again. That would make it easier to complete the other courses as well, and to receive Bronze stage 1 support. On condition, of course, that you complete the examinations in all five courses. But if you are wrong......"
He twisted the corner of his mouth into a sneer.
"If it evolves into any form other than the 'Living Tunnel' you named, I will take the whole of your tuition. And you will forfeit every claim to support from this academy."
The terms of the wager were clear.
If Ren was right: one Bronze material, full marks in the professor's two courses, exemption from attendance.
If Ren was wrong: his entire tuition taken, and his eligibility for academy support lost.
The criterion was a single thing, whether the beetle became a 'Living Tunnel.'
"Professor, my beetle is......."
Taro cut in.
"The decision is yours, of course."
Professor Wei went on.
"But I warn you. If you follow Mister Partinder and stray too far from orthodox method, your Beast will remain at the Iron grade and nothing more. Will you stake your future on the wild notions of a boy who cannot even raise his own Spore?"
Ren looked at Taro and read the conflict in his eyes.
Staking the future of his Beast on the word of a roommate he had only just met was far too much to ask.
"Don't worry, Taro. We'll leave the recorded method exactly as it is and change only that one moment. We'll do it at night just as the professor's materials say, and only that timing will be different."
Taro thought for a moment, then nodded.
Now there was no turning back.
"I accept the wager."
Ren said firmly.
"If the beetle evolves into anything other than a 'Living Tunnel,' the victory is yours, Professor."
Professor Wei studied Ren for a moment.
As though gauging whether the boy really was as foolish as he looked.
"Very well."
***
As they left the classroom, the tiger boy's group jeered down the corridor after them.
"Hey, trash! Practicing your begging already? You'll need it when you lose your tuition!"
Taro waited until they had gone, then turned to Ren.
"Look," he said quietly.
"I know you were trying to help...... but this joke went over the line. You should go and apologize to Professor Wei."
"It wasn't a joke."
Ren cut in.
"Taro, I can help you live a better life. There's real, enormous potential hidden in your beetle!"
"Hey, I'm grateful that you want to encourage me, but my mother got me the books the moment I summoned this thing."
Taro shook his head.
"The records are clear. In five hundred years no Digger Beetle has ever passed the Bronze grade. And now you could lose everything because of me......?"
"We're changing exactly one thing."
Ren insisted.
"Everything else will be identical to the recorded method. There's no risk to you at all. Trust me just this once. I'll take responsibility."
Taro hesitated.
He had already bought 100 mana crystals, but he had not yet mixed them with the essence of night, since he meant to buy another 50 before beginning the process.
"My beetle's training method doesn't run to 180 days, luckily, but it's still expensive. Getting 150 mana crystals is hard enough on its own...... and getting another 50 inside the academy is going to be fairly difficult too." he murmured, half to himself.
"The 100 you have is more than enough."
Ren smiled.
"All we have to do is wait for that one particular night a few days from now. That way the crystals won't drink in the wrong moonlight and throw the path of its evolution off course."
Taro looked at Ren for a long while.
The mushrooms in his hair gave off an unwavering light, as though reflecting the certainty in his words.
Reason said no, but Ren's solid conviction lit a small ember in his heart.
"You know what?"
Taro finally smiled.
"I haven't mixed them with the essence of night yet anyway. I was waiting until I'd gathered all the crystals so I could do it in one go. So......."
He shrugged.
"I've got nothing to lose by trying. If the professor's right, five hundred years of records aren't going to change overnight, and even if you get the overcharge wrong, the academy will hand out poisoning antidote at least once. That much support is fair to everyone, isn't it?"
"I told you, there's no need for that."
Ren laughed back at him.
"But even if you're wrong, nothing serious happens. You'd still have time to gather the other 50 and finish it the orthodox way."
***
Walking to their next class, Ren and Taro ran into Min in the corridor.
"Did you hear?"
Min said with a broad grin.
His Water Snake rippled around his neck.
"They say Professor Yang has a Stone Behemoth. Apparently there are only three in this whole city."
Ren, Min, and Taro arrived at the classroom at the end of the corridor where their next class was held.
The combat classroom was unlike the others.
It was an amphitheater, with an arena at its center ringed by tiered seating.
The marks of past battles remained on the walls like scars.
"Silence!"
Professor Yang's voice rang out as though splitting the dome.
He was a tall, muscular man, and the scars all over his body spoke of years of real combat.
The Stone Behemoth pattern on his skin gleamed under the lights.
The lines running along his muscles like the grain of rock looked as though living granite had been carved into him.
"Welcome! This, right here, is the real training ground, the very reason the government sent you all here!"
Professor Yang smiled.
"Before we get to business."
He strode to the board.
"From your faces, I see old Wei kept his mouth shut again. Nobody told you about the academy system, did they? Explaining theory is about all that man can manage. Fine. I will lay out the five courses for you, one by one."
Five circles were drawn in quick strokes.
"The way the academy runs, your academic program, is very simple. Five courses, one point each. Three points is the standard for receiving support. Fail to meet that standard three times in a row and...... you are out."
The first circle.
"Basic general studies. History, economics, daily life. Dull. Required all the same. One point for all three together."
Snickers broke out here and there in the room.
The second circle.
"Theory. Training secrets, crystal processing. One point. It is important, I will grant that."
He clicked his tongue as though he had some complaint, and went on.
"But theory alone will not carry you."
His tone made it clear that this class was only 'slightly' better than general studies.
The third circle.
"External gathering. This one is quite useful. Every two months you go on a two-week expedition into the designated zones for practical work. How to identify useful materials, how to detect demon beasts, and the most important thing of all...... the sense to tell when to fight and when to withdraw."
The fourth circle.
"Practical crystallology. Not mere theory; you mine and appraise crystals yourselves in the caves. This one is also fairly useful. How to judge a crystal's quality and purity. And most important, the safety rules for avoiding mana poisoning in zones of high mana density."
He squared his shoulders and tapped the last circle.
"And finally, combat arts. The most important of all. Literally how to fight. This one I teach myself."