This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange - Chapter 597

Chapter 597: Chapter 597: There’s a Phase Two?
The world reassembled in a burst of fractured light.

Kain blinked, his vision swimming as the relic’s trial chamber dissolved into a vast, circular amphitheatre—its obsidian walls etched with glowing violet runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. The air hummed with dense spiritual energy, thick enough to taste, metallic and sharp.

And he wasn’t alone.

Four others stood scattered across the chamber, all blinking in similar disorientation. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized Serena a few paces away, especially since the memory of her stabbing him in his last relic trial was still so vivid. Thinking about her expression back then, he found it difficult to make eye-contact now…

Her usually well-kept white hair was a tangled mess, and her usual pristine attire torn at the sleeve. She met his gaze briefly before he looked away, her blue eyes widening slightly in surprise before snapping back into her typical blank expression.

Then his attention drifted to the others.

Kyria, the top-ranked third-year, leaned against the wall with forced casualness, her dark braid frayed and her knuckles raw.

She’d been the fourth-ranked second year when Kain had first met her in his first-year, before jumping up to first at the start of this year. All kinds of rumours surrounded her rapid increase in strength. Some said she’d bonded with something monstrous during the summer break. Others said her gift had strengthened. Others said she came across an ancient relic while traversing the wilderness that allowed her to boost her strength.

Not far from Kyria was Jade, the green-haired fourth-year menace— and one of Kain’s least favourite people in the college. Her chatty nature, penchant for invasive questions and relentless teasing about him and Serena made every interaction exhausting. Yet despite her infuriating personality, she was the current Rank 1 fourth-year and the new Team Captain after Ezra’s graduation.

But despite her questionable personality, she was the current Rank 1 fourth-year and the new Team Captain after Ezra graduated.

Kain tried to avoid eye-contact with her, but it was too late. She was already smirking in his direction despite the blood streaking her temple. “Ohhh, look who it is,” she crooned, waggling her fingers at Kain and Serena. “The lovebirds made the cut together. It seems like not even a relic can separate you two.”

Kain ignored her, scanning all the entrants once again and noticed something…

The relic, despite not being privy to the rankings of the students (at least to Kain’s knowledge) had managed to pick out the Rank 1 of each year. If it had the goal of picking one representative of each year, that might also explain why it grew so hostile when it thought Kain was ‘cheating’ before.

‘I guess the top are the top for a reason and will shine no matter the environment,’ Kain thought somewhat smugly upon noticing the absence of Soren Lysander and his other peers in the top 5—aside from Serena.

Except…

He turned to the fifth entrant.

He was a wiry, unfamiliar boy—a first-year, judging by his appearance and Kain’s lack of familiarity with him.

His face was gaunt, his eyes hollow and fidgety, his fingers twitching at his sides like he was still fighting invisible enemies.

Kain surprisingly…didn’t even vaguely recognize him. At all. But he couldn’t be blamed for that!

Between Order missions and his near-constant training, he’d barely set foot on campus this year. Even the top five first-years were little more than passing faces in the dormitory halls.

Still, the boy didn’t match the vague images of any of those first-year students…Nor did he have the typical aura of a student that dominates the other students of their year.

His spiritual presence felt…fragile. Incomplete. Like a clay pot fired too quickly and already riddled with cracks.

Even the way he stood—slouched, on the verge of collapsing—hinted at his lack of confidence and spoke more of just barely surviving in this relic than strength.

Kain was sure that a kid like this would stand out in the top 5 dorms. But even then, this kid looked completely unfamiliar to him. And he knew it wasn’t just him, since Serena, Kyria and Jade were also looking at the newbie curiously, seeming not to recognize him either.

All of the top 5 of each year should at least recognize one another. Kain and Serena, who share the Rank 1 position, Kyria the third-year Rank 1, and Jade the fourth-year Rank 1, in particular, are all familiar faces to one another.

But Kain was beginning to realize that this scrawny and weak-looking boy was not only not the Rank 1 for the first-years…Kain didn’t think this boy was even in the top 5 of the first-years at all?!

That should’ve been impossible, right? Had the relic misjudged him? Or was it seeing something in the boy that neither they nor the professors in the College could see? Something hidden beneath the surface?

A resonant chime interrupted Kain’s thoughts as it echoed through the chamber, and the runes along the walls flared brighter.

[Welcome, Chosen.]

[You have been selected from 1,749 global entrants during Phase One based on the following criteria:

– Talent

– Resilience

– Adaptability

– Compatibility

– Morality]

Jade whistled. “Damn. We’re special.”

But Kain was more preoccupied by one word in the description: ‘global’.

The math didn’t add up.

In Kain’s year alone, there were less than 50 second-years. He wasn’t sure of the populations of other years, but it couldn’t be too different. So at max, there should be 200 people in the relic—Where did the other 1500+ entrants come from?

Is it possible that this relic is connected to other relics around the globe, where other students are similarly being tested? Would there be an opportunity to meet them?

The implications sent a chill down his spine. Whether due to uneasiness or anticipation at the prospect, he wasn’t sure himself.

[The Phase Two trial begins now.]

[Objective: Survive.]

[Reward: Undisclosed.]

The first-year boy made a choked noise. “S-Survive what?”

As if in direct response to his question, the ground trembled.