Kain stood under the limited lighting in otherwise complete darkness, sweat already glistening on his skin.
Perhaps moving from one high-stakes mission to another back-to-back had made him so used to being constantly on the go, but he found that he had an excess amount of energy remaining even after all the knowledge-based and practical classes of the day were over with.
Bridge and his other friends had long gone back to their own dorm, but Kain found himself wandering to the campus’s private training fields.
They were quiet this time of night, but not empty—not with him occupying one of the designated high-intensity zones capable of simulating attacks up to blue-grade. Echoes of elemental bursts and the dull thud of impact reverberated across the marble-tiled walls as Aegis’s reinforced arms clashed against bursts of green flame spewing from a cannon embedded in the training center’s wall
A heavy feeling filled the room as Bea practiced her new ability to generate a mental field rather than relying on the threads she’d grown accustomed to. Bea had evolved and advanced to blue-grade now, but mastering her new strength and abilities would take time.
But despite his desire to fully focus on training his contracts, it was not so easy for him to concentrate.
He had an intense feeling of being watched…
It started subtly throughout the last couple of days since returning to the College. A pressure—not malicious, but persistent. That followed him throughout all of his classes.
Kain ignored it at first, focusing on Aegis’s sparring routine and adjusting parameters. But as the moments dragged on, it grew harder and harder to shake. The distracting presence of that person.
His eyes scanned the perimeter of the dimly lit chamber. The illumination crystals were dialled down for dusk-mode training, throwing long shadows across the stone flooring. Finally, giving up the charade of ignoring that person, he looked over pointedly.
They were not hiding. They were simply… there. Standing openly.
‘You have got to be kidding me…’ He thought with some discontent while looking at the pale figure in the corner of the room. In the dark environment, they resembled a colourless, inhumanly beautiful ghost or paranormal entity if not for their vibrant blue eyes—Serena.
The weight of her penetrating gaze was making it extremely difficult for him to concentrate. But he still tried to ignore her.
Next was Queen. Kain summoned the Vespid monarch midair, watching as she practiced coordinating the guards and strengthening them. Some would even intentionally get injured by the equipment in the room so that she could practice high-speed healing from a distance. He refocused on the training, adjusted the frequency of their formations, corrected their symmetry, and even programmed new routines. It helped. The mechanical focus helped keep his mind off…
“Yawn…” A sound from a clearly tired and/or bored individual filled the room.
He paused. Again.
He looked slightly to his left, where the sound came from that also contained the difficult-to-ignore gaze.
Kain turned his head slowly.
Blue eyes. Drowsy and straining to remain wide open.
Serena tilted her head. “Is it really necessary to be here so late? You train like someone possessed.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” he said, brushing sweat from his brow. “Don’t you have your own training schedule?”
“I finished it. I don’t train as inefficiently as you.”
‘Well, I don’t yet have access to the System’s Training Arena… I’m not used to creating my own training plans’
“…Why are you even here?”
“I need to make sure you don’t do something stupid.”
“I’m fine,” he muttered.
“You’re drenched in sweat and muttering to yourself.”
He gave her a side-eye glance, then returned to organizing Vespid formations and combo attacks. “You’ve been watching me for days now.”
“I didn’t hide it,” she replied flatly.
“Yes…openly stalking is much more admirable.”
“You’re the one that said ‘If you’re that worried I’ll snap and go on a rampage… You could always just stick next to me.’ I am simply following your advice.”
There was a pause.
“If you’re going to lose control again… someone should be there.”
His smile faded.
“I’m not going to lose control.”
“You said that before. Then almost killed your only two allies at the time.”
The words cut, not from their harshness, but their accuracy.
Kain sighed. “You could have sent a contract to stalk me, you know. Less judgmental.”
“They don’t care if you die. So if you lose control and I’m not here to restrain them, they may use lethal force”
He looked at her, and for a moment, their usual guarded distance wavered.
Then he chuckled. “Fine. Then train with me. Keep watch however you want—but don’t just stand there. I’ve got Aegis. You’ve got your Guardian. Let’s see if wind beats stone.”
Serena exhaled slowly. Then summoned her Elemental Guardian in its wind-attribute form with a flick of her wrist. The gusts stirred the dust between them. She didn’t smile—but she stepped forward.
The next few days followed a similar pattern: train, reflect, repeat. Kain never stopped training intensely.
Even his downtime was spent reviewing archived footage of past tournaments. The re-ranking trials were less than 2 months away, but he wasn’t too worried about it. His name had hovered in the top two positions since admission, and after becoming a 5-star beast-tamer, there was literally nobody on his level. His main area of concern was the National Tournament. He hoped to represent the school again, not only at his grade level, but as a whole.
Kain sat in an isolated corner of the College’s library while watching more past tournaments, planning out Aegis’ next evolution and thinking about the College-organized event the following day. Suddenly, a faint voice whispered in his thoughts.
Not a voice. A vague thought.
It was Bea.
Her presence fluttered in his mind, the way she did when alerting him—but more uncertain and confused about whether the gaze was from an actual threat.
He turned. Serena, again, was watching him.
She stood in the shadow between two shelves, glancing at him between reading paragraphs of the textbook in her hand.
He gave her a dry look.
“You really are taking this seriously.”
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