This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The sixth day of Phase Two had been full of surprises. For everyone but Kain and those rooting for him.

He’d been expecting to win. And he had. Against Soren, of all people, he’d never allow himself to lose to him.

Due to their poor relationship, kicking his ass is no less satisfying than beating Serena and taking the first place.

When the match had ended and the results were officially posted, he’d barely reacted. The crowd gasped, the rankings shifted, and Soren walked off stiffly with blood still dripping from his mouth and nose—clearly overdrafted by the spiritual skills he used.

Kain just stood there, watching the scoreboard adjust like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Because it was.

He was tied for #1. Alongside Serena.

But that would change soon. Very soon.

The final match of Phase Two—Serena Storm versus Kain Newman—was set to begin the following day. Just enough time for a breather, a full team heal, and a little psychological warfare.

In the rest area near the medical wing, Kain sat cross-legged on a meditation pad while Queen worked nearby, releasing waves of soft green energy that rolled over their team. One by one, his contracts were restored.

Vauleth stirred first, flexing his wings with a hiss of annoyance.

Aegis let out a low gravel-like grumble of satisfaction after Kain took out some rare minerals from Pangea for him to munch on.

After the recent events, some Source energy-rich resources were born on the planet, including a few minerals. And they were an absolute favourite of Aegis.

Chewy, for his part, was making increasingly unhinged burbling noises as Queen’s energy tickled him. He didn’t need healing. He just wanted to eat the life-attribute energy. Of course though, he then fed that energy to the others to help restore their energy reserves.

But Bea was the one Kain was paying the most attention to. Ever since he’d recalled her to his star space from that dragon’s head, she seems to have entered a dormant state. Not that he was worried. He’d already had Queen take a look at her.

“She has that passive, remember?” Kain murmured aloud, half to the others, half to himself. “The one that lets her develop a new skill based on the memories of what she consumes.”

The others blinked. But Queen nodded, confirming the passive’s activation after giving Bea a quick scan and confirming nothing was wrong with her.

Bea had absorbed fragments of memory and psychic residue from the fused dragons. More importantly, she’d forcibly destabilized the communication links between its heads using corrupted particles—some kind of poisoned memory imitation. And now, her body was adapting.

A pulse of eerie white light passed through her. And then a long-awaited System update:

Ding

*New Skill Acquired: Neural Seepage.*

Kain’s eyes narrowed as the description appeared in Bea’s profile.

SSS-Neural Seepage (Active/Passive Hybrid): Allows the user to leak contaminated thought particles into a target’s mental field without inserting a full split. These particles degrade mental defenses over time. If infiltration of a split is later attempted, success rate is significantly increased. It is extremely effective for spiritual creatures up to indigo grade.

His lips curled into a smile.

Perfect.

This was exactly what he needed against Serena.

He doubted Bea could successfully implant a full split into Serena’s contracts’ minds—Probably not even Serena herself. She probably had the tightest mental defence of anyone in their year, along with rare items and spiritual skills that also improved mental defences.

But now? They didn’t need a full split. Just a little poison. Just a little destabilization.

Even if she or her contracts noticed it, they wouldn’t be able to undo the degradation quickly. They had no mental attribute skills themselves.

Serena might know him well.

But that worked both ways.

“So,” Finn said, flopping down beside him with a packet of orange crackers, he’d just finished his own match and was in the rest area too, waiting for his contracts to be healed, “any nerves?”

“None,” Kain replied without opening his eyes.

“You should be,” Hailey muttered. She had two band aids across her cheek and a slight limp from her match with Dwayne. “You’ve never beaten her before.”

“Emphasis on before,” Kain said flatly. “It is now the present. I’ve got five contracts. She’ll most likely only use three. I’ve got the numerical advantage.”

“And the star level,” Finn added. “You’re officially five stars now, right?”

“Mhm.”

“Showoff.”

Kain cracked an eye open. “Tell that to the scoreboard.”

Nearby, Soren was being bandaged by one of the staff. His glare was palpable, but he said nothing.

Kairos and Finn were chatting in low voices. Addison looked relieved that her match of the day was finally over. Lukas… well, nobody was talking to Lukas.

The current standings had already been posted:

1–2: Kain Newman / Serena Storm (6–0 each)

3: Soren Lysander (4–2)

4: Kairos Umbrae (3–3)

5: Dwayne (3–3)

6: Hailey (1–5)

7: Addison (1–5)

8: Lukas (0–6)

It was pretty much confirmed that Lukas would rank last and finish in 8th place. However, there were still ties between Serena and Kain for 1st and 2nd places; Kairos and Dwayne were tied for 4th and 5th place; Hailey and Addison were tied for 6th and 7th places.

Serena and Kain, as well as Kairos and Dwayne’s final matches, also happened to be against each other, so they would directly be deciding the victor between them.

Conversely, Hailey and Addison had already fought, and Hailey won. Moreover, Hailey’s final match tomorrow was against Lukas who most people think she will beat, while Addison’s remaining match is against Soren who nobody can imagine her defeating (even if he still has some sequelae from his match with Kain).

Therefore, Addison’s final ranking in 7th place and Hailey’s in 6th has been all but confirmed. Not that Addison was disappointed. She was ecstatic! This was a huge improvement over her previous ranking (12)

All that remained to confirm the rankings of the others were tomorrow’s matches.

Serena stood across the prep area, quiet and unreadable. Her hair was braided back, sleeves rolled, one hand resting idly on the hilt of something tucked into her belt.

When their eyes met, she raised a brow.

“You look smug.”

“I feel smug,” Kain answered.

“That’ll pass.”

“Don’t think so. I’ve got five fully healed contracts, two of them blue-grade.” Kain couldn’t resist smirking, confident that tomorrow he would truly be the sole rank 1.

Serena just glanced at his barely concealed smirk coldly, “You shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

“Ahem…well, I wish you the best of luck and hope you can give me a run for my money. An easy victory is no fun. I need to struggle to attain the first-place ranking in order to truly appreciate it.”

“I know. Why do you think I’ve never been as obsessed with this rank as you are?”

Kain blinked in confusion, before realization finally dawned.

“We TIED last time! And you’ve NEVER gotten your rank easily.”

Serena snorted. “Agree to disagree. All I remember from our first match is your contracts helplessly turning into golden statues. Oh, and you’re screaming.”

“For dramatic effect!”

Their friends looked between them like it was a tennis match.

“So what’s your plan, oh mighty future number one?” Hailey asked sarcastically.

Kain stretched. “Win. And then kindly offer to help Serena move her stuff OUT of the Rank 1 room.”

There were scattered laughs. Even Serena cracked a tiny grin that she quickly hid.

“You’re insufferable,” Serena said while turning her face away.

“Thank you,” Kain said cheerfully. “I try.”

“I can’t wait to see you get flattened,” muttered Finn, shaking his head.

“Not happening,” Kain promised.

Addison giggled from the side. “You two have such a… lovely rivalry.”

“It’s not a rivalry,” Serena replied.

“Because you’re losing now,” Kain added, far too quickly.

She didn’t respond. But the sharp look she gave him said plenty.

One by one, the others began to rise and shuffle off. Their contracts had finished healing, and there was still dinner to be had and nerves to be soothed before tomorrow’s final battles. Even Soren eventually left, shoulders stiff, jaw set.

Kain also got ready to leave.

‘Neural Seepage…’ He traced the description again with his eyes. The idea was tempting.

Maybe he should try it out.

Just a little. A quick test

But no. He shook his head. He didn’t want to risk tiring Bea out or impacting her condition. Tomorrow was the real test.

He’d save it for then.

With a low hum, he stood, gave his recovered team one last satisfied look before recalling them all, then stretched with a loud pop of his back.

He walked out of the room with a skip in his step and a low whistle on his lips, already picturing the look on Serena’s face when they announced him as the new Rank 1.

Behind him, Serena lingered in the rest area.

She watched him go, expression unreadable, arms crossed tightly over her chest.

Silent.

But far from her usual indifference.

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