This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The aftermath of Kain's battle against Mira left both competitors utterly spent. While Kain had emerged victorious, it was clear the cost of the battle had been steep. As he walked back to the waiting area, his contracts were recalled into his star space, each suffering from injuries and spiritual exhaustion.

Aegis was particularly concerning. He'd need time to perfectly regenerate his damaged form with reinforced stone, but he was thankfully able to assimilate some high-quality stone Kain had on hand to restore most of his appearance by the next day

Queen's condition was even more disheartening—less than half of her guards remained, and those who had fallen wouldn't simply recover overnight. It would take weeks to regrow their numbers.

Only Bea, with her unique nature, had emerged relatively unscathed, though even she had expended an immense amount of energy in the fight.

Kain entered the care facility provided for competitors, where specialized staff and equipment were available to tend to spiritual creatures. A healer in charge approached, one of the few that were a senior professor and not just a lower level staff or volunteering student. Since Kain would likely have intense matches tomorrow to determine the rankings of the top 5, the senior healer's priority was on his and Mira's contracts.

"Mr. Newman, we'll take care of your contracts immediately, most of them should be like new by tomorrow."

Kain nodded and handed Queen, and the most severely injured guards to her, hoping more could be saved. Aegis and Bea didn't need her help to restore their strength.

A few hours later, Kain checked on his contracts. Aegis was resting in his star space, his regeneration progressing steadily. Queen was similarly healing, though the loss of her guards would require careful planning in the next couple of matches. Thankfully, 3 more guards that Kain thought were done for were able to be restored to fighting strength.

Moreover, Kain was pleased to see that after just some rest Bea was already communicating through her bond with Kain, eager to strategize for tomorrow's match against Soren Lysander.

The next day, the arena was alive with renewed energy. The roster for the next match was announced, and Kain's name appeared opposite Soren Lysander.

Everyone had seen the aftermath of Kain's battle yesterday and many seemed even more confident that there will be a shift in the rankings again—this time between second and third place.

'Fat chance. Like I could ever stomach losing to Soren.' After being part of the team representing the school and training and fighting together, the relationship between the two had eased—but they were definitely not friends. They didn't even like each other and still were extremely competitive.

Soren stood at the opposite end of the arena, his blonde hair catching the sunlight and his sharp green eyes gleaming with confidence. He'd been planning and training for his revenge match against Kain for months, and now after knowing Kain's strength was weakened after yesterday, he was even more sure of victory.

His only regret was that he couldn't pummel a Kain at full strength into the ground.

"Don't expect me to hold back, Newman. And don't try to use sequelae from yesterday as an excuse for your loss" Soren called out to Kain in a mocking tone.

Kain smirked. "You've been dreaming a little too much Lysander if you think you have a chance of winning."

Not giving them any more chances to exchange verbal blows, the whistle blew, signaling the start of the match.

Soren wasted no time. He raised his arm, and a burst of spiritual energy erupted around him. Two familiar figures materialized—his wind-attribute and lightning-attribute dragons.

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The audience cheered loudly at the appearance of Soren's contracts. The power of dragons always drew admiration and awe. Especially since this was the symbol of the royal family and, consequently, the mascots of the empire.

However, the already loud cheers went up a notch at the appearance of a third dragon, this one unfamiliar to the crowd and Kain alike. It was a water-attribute dragon, its shimmering blue scales reflecting the light like a flowing river. It had a serpentine body, sleek and agile, with large gossamer fin-like wings coming from its body and webs between its claws.

Its aura was unstable, a telltale sign that it had recently broken through to green grade. But even so, its presence was daunting, and the audience erupted into murmurs of surprise.

Now, after Kain had summoned his own contracts, both sides possessed only green-grade spiritual creatures.

"A new contract?" Kain muttered, his mind racing. "He's been busy. I should hurry up and find my next contract too, preferably one with overwhelming offensive ability."

Previously Kain hadn't felt the pressure to find a fourth contract. After all, 3 green-grade spiritual creatures would be enough to sweep away all of the competition.

Unfortunately for him, but I guess fortunately for the school, the standards for the top 5 students of each year seem to be getting higher.

The two sides didn't waste any time confronting one another. Soren pointed forward, and the wind-attribute dragon launched itself at Queen with blinding speed, its wings slicing through the air like blades. At the same time, the thunder-attribute dragon released a powerful bolt of lightning aimed directly at Aegis.

Aegis reacted swiftly, raising his stone arms to absorb the brunt of the lightning. He has an inherent resistance to lightning but his body still crackled and smoked, he stood firm, demonstrating the sheer power in each lightning bolt.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Queen directed her guards to intercept the wind dragon, but its speed made it difficult to pin down. The guards buzzed frantically, creating a defensive formation, but its sharp wings tore through their ranks, scattering several of them.

Meanwhile, the water attribute dragon remained near Soren and began to steadily flood the arena floor, by this point the water was already above the soles of Kain's shoes.

The next moment, a trace of alarm blared in Kain's mind. Soren, uncaring about the fact that Kain was also standing in the pool of water and seemingly wanting to perform an area attack on the invisible Bea, actually had his lightning-attribute dragon launch an attack right at the water.

"Aahhhh!"