Chapter 20: Partner
The first official class for the first-year students was The Art of Resonance.
There was no introductory lecture or theory session. The very first thing the instructor did was tell everyone to find their partners.
"Every student in this academy is among the finest of their generation, so don’t feel like you’re wasting one of your baby beast slots. Even if you regret your choice later, you’ll still have other baby beast slots, right?"
Instructor Mercer gave a playful wink after his last sentence, drawing laughter from the class.
Only Shani remained expressionless. After all, she was the only F-Rank student.
A beastman’s beast energy rank determined how many baby beasts they could produce.
An F-Rank beastman could only have one baby beast. An E-Rank could have two. A D-Rank could have three. With every rank increase, the number of baby beast slots increased by one.
Although she could only have one baby beast for now, Shani wasn’t too worried. This was Grand Academy.
She knew the quality of the students here, which was exactly why she had chosen this academy to find her resonance partner.
"Alright. Those of you who already have partners, please go to your partner’s table," Mercer said, clapping his hands.
Each tower admitted exactly one hundred new students every year, consisting of fifty girls and fifty boys. Baby beasts could only be produced through the combination of a female’s and a male’s beast energy.
Shani watched as the students moved toward their partners’ tables.
The longer she watched, the deeper her frown became. ’Everyone’s moving!’
’There are an even number of students in this class. I’ll definitely have a partner,’ she reassured herself.
Then, a second later, realization struck. ’Oh no... Precisely because there’s an even number of students...’
She leaned slightly to look toward the golden-haired young man whose desk was in the front row.
"I’m doomed," she muttered when she realized Jeryon hadn’t moved.
It didn’t take long for everyone to settle into place.
"Wow, looks like I won’t have to assign any partners today. Everyone already has one except..."
Mercer’s gaze shifted between Shani and Jeryon. "Young lady, come over to your partner’s table."
Shani froze. She didn’t even hear Mercer calling her. Her mind was in complete chaos.
"Shani Rowan, what are you waiting for?" Mercer walked over to her desk with his usual charming smile.
Shani finally snapped out of her thoughts.
She forced herself to walk, each step feeling as heavy as if weights had been chained to her legs.
’I’m doomed! I only have twenty beast energy. If Jeryon drains all of it, I could literally die!’
She shot Mercer a sharp glare as he walked ahead of her. ’Doesn’t Instructor Mercer know I am an F-Rank?’
Her question was answered almost immediately.
Mercer mentioned that he had planned to announce the beast energy ranks of any students who hadn’t found partners.
But since everyone had paired up naturally, he hadn’t needed to read the list. Apparently, he hadn’t even looked at it yet.
"That means we can get started right away." Mercer clapped his hands again, visibly excited. "Hazel, bring out the eggs."
Hazel, Mercer’s assistant who had been standing beside the control panel, nodded before pressing a button.
The ten tables occupied by the student pairs split open down the middle. Artificial eggs slowly rose from inside them.
Everyone stared at the eggs with sparkling eyes. Everyone except Shani.
Her thoughts were still spiraling so wildly she felt like her hair was about to fall out strand by strand.
[System detected that the Target Candidate is afflicted with Conscious Abyss Syndrome. To cure it, the target’s energy pool must be completely filled to stabilize it. Alternatively, the consciousness can be temporarily suppressed with a sedative.]
Shani nearly jumped when she heard the System’s voice, which she hadn’t heard in a long time.
The hope that suddenly appeared lit up her previously troubled face.
Out of the System’s lengthy explanation, she only understood one thing.
Jeryon wasn’t cursed. He suffered from some strange syndrome instead. The rest completely flew over her head.
’So... what am I supposed to do?’ she asked.
[To completely fill the Target Candidate’s energy pool, the host requires 10,000 points of beast energy. The host may purchase five Elite-Grade Energy Potions for a total of 75,000 Credits.]
[Alternatively, the host may purchase one Elite-Grade Sedative Potion to suppress the energy pool’s consciousness for twenty-four hours for 40,000 Credits.]
"Huh?!" Shani instinctively jerked backward, unable to hide her shock at the outrageous prices.
"I’ll tell the instructor if you really don’t want to be my partner."
The cold voice of the young man standing before her pulled her back to reality.
Apparently, Jeryon had been watching her anxious behavior the entire time.
At the same moment, the System spoke again.
[The Cashback Shop allows Pay Later purchases for items that will be gifted to a target or target candidate.]
’Pay Later...? Credit?’ Shani pondered.
Meanwhile, Jeryon turned to leave.
Seeing that, Shani hurriedly stopped him. "Wait! I’ll talk to the instructor!"
Jeryon paused for a moment before nodding.
Shani immediately hurried over to Mercer.
"Instructor... may I speak with you in private?" she asked with a pleading expression.
Very few people could resist the pitiful look on a beautiful young girl’s face.
Mercer, especially, had a soft heart. "Sure. Let’s talk outside." He nodded and led Shani out of the classroom.
During those brief moments, Shani had already made her decision. She would accept Jeryon as her partner.
He was quiet and had no friends, which meant she could ask him to keep her beast gene a secret.
She had also observed the rest of the class. None of them seemed like people she could trust to stay silent.
The item she wanted to buy from the Cashback Shop was the Sedative Potion.
At the moment, she only had 11,400 Credits in her savings. If she bought Jeryon a gift worth around 10,000 Credits, she would receive a 50,000 Credit cashback.
She could immediately use 40,000 Credits to pay off the Pay Later balance, leaving her with 10,000 Credits remaining.
...