This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Time passed quickly.

After returning to the College, Kain barely had a moment to breathe before the days blurred into a routine of strategy meetings, Top 5 drills, and managing his newest workforce.

The dwarves, once little more than wide-eyed children in adult bodies, had adapted with terrifying speed.

Kain had asked Collin to purchase the best equipment for mining, and although confused, the reliable business manager fulfilled his request perfectly and within 24 hours.

The moment Kain delivered the mining equipment—spiritual drills, refined alloy chisels, enchanted carts with mass-compression functions—they pounced on them like old friends. He didn’t even have to explain how they worked. Apparently, mining really was instinctive for dwarves.

He’d only made the trip to the ore site once more; after that, he left it in their capable hands. Each day, more shimmering red ore was delivered to a growing stockpile beneath the World Tree. Kain used his System storage to periodically ferry the materials off Pangea, and then, using Collin again, he began sending small shipments of the ore to Halreth—although he still had a long way to go until the 20 billion was completely paid off.

Halreth, thankfully, didn’t send a hit squad, impatient with the time it took for Kain to deliver more ore.

Instead, he sent gifts.

A lot of them.

Wrapped in velvet-lined crates and sealed with his personal sigil, the delivery was enough to make even Kain blink twice.

A full set of personalized equipment. All five-star quality. Each piece was refined using a portion of the other ore types that Kain had delivered previously—some ore that had even been bought out completely by Serena’s father, leading Kain to believe the man had softened to him slightly. Maybe…hopefully.

Every item carried six synergistic sigils, making them the absolute best among 5-star weapons, that interlinked with the rest of the set, granting compounded bonuses when worn together.

Dragon Fire Carapace (Chestplate): Forged with layered Crimson Steel and Moltenscale fibers. Provides active resistance against elemental surges and sharp damage, as well as passive spiritual insulation to stabilize mental attacks. Two of its sigils were dedicated to reinforcing energy circulation, improving Kain’s regeneration while minimizing spiritual leakage.

Firewalk Bracers: Slightly curved to better handle spear recoil. The bracers passively improved precision and speed during thrusting motions. One of the sigils added a short-burst weight acceleration function—turning a standard stab into a kinetic death spike. And another sigil eased the movement of Kain’s spiritual power through his body and any weapon he holds, making him achieve twice the result with half the effort when using spiritual skills.

Lance of Returning Flame: A blood-red spear with a jagged tip and swirling sigils down the shaft. It was capable of producing a special flame with fire and fate-type spiritual power when Kain injected his own energy into it. The special flame, due to the Fate element, was unable to be extinguished by water or ice, and instead required the one being burned to use up their own spiritual power to stamp it out from inside. Another sigil on the spear also created a link between spear and owner—if thrown, it would return to Kain’s grip with the pull of a thought. Another sigil, again capitalizing on the fire and fate elements of the spear, ‘burned’ the enemy’s spiritual circuits when stabbed and prevented them from regenerating spiritual power until healed.

Strider Greaves: Form-fitting greaves that completely covered his calves that suppressed sounds of his movement, and allowed for smoother high-speed movement across uneven terrain. When worn with the Carapace and Bracers, the greaves activated a resonance sigil that reduced the cost to use spiritual skills during combat by 20%.

Halo Crown Ring: A thin, barely visible ring on Kain’s left hand that increased passive mental defence and automatically triggered a short burst of clarity if mental destabilization occurred. Also improved contract clarity—making communication with his spiritual creatures smoother in battle and allowing him to more smoothly transmit spiritual power to his contracts during battle.

All of it had been adjusted to match his exact measurements, combat style and aesthetic preferences—although Kain was unsure how he managed to get all of that information.

Halreth’s attached note had been short.

“Satisfactory start. I expect more.”

Kain didn’t know whether to feel praised or threatened. Probably both.

Still, the equipment was undeniably powerful. With it, he felt… complete. Not invincible, but no longer someone scraping by on mismatched armour and outdated weapons. Now, he looked like someone who was meant to stand on the national stage.

And Vauleth…

Roughly two weeks after the integration of the Dragon God Core, the red dragon had convulsed again within the System Lab. This time, the process didn’t seem painful—it was silent, gradual, almost reverent.

And when it ended, his System profile changed again:

Quality: Diamond

Spiritual Power Grade: Blue

Note: Refinement of bloodline is still ongoing. Combat parameters expanded. Latent attribute potential unlocked.

New Skill Gained:

X-Draconic Apex – While active, grants domain authority within a fixed radius. Enemy dragons and fire-attribute spiritual creatures suffer reduced resonance and speed. Allies with dragon-type or fire attributes gain boosted morale and regeneration.

Vauleth was now his third blue-grade contract. The Domain alone would be an incredible asset in the upcoming tournament—especially since, while dragon-types are rare, the fire attribute is one of the most common attributes people bond with, assuming their affinity does not limit them to a certain attribute.

Not to be outdone, Serena had completed Prismarin’s evolution just two days after Kain returned to the College.

She hadn’t summoned it once during training.

Kain wasn’t sure if she was being strategic or just stubborn, but it annoyed him in equal measure. He was curious. Lustral Veil Hare wasn’t just elegant—it was dangerously deceptive. He wanted to see it in action. But each time he teased her about hiding it, she only smiled and said, “You’ll see when it matters.”

He had no choice but to wait.

Aside from training preparations, Kain had also made a few visits to the orphanage.

It wasn’t anything dramatic. Just a few quiet afternoons spent sitting with the kids, helping out with food distribution, and bringing small gifts from the city—books, toys, even some basic spiritual supplements for the older teens who were going to try and awaken their affinities within the next couple of years..

They always lit up when they saw him.

And every time he left, he felt steadier.

Grounded.

Now, as the calendar struck the official day of departure, Kain found himself standing in front of the main transportation array that would return him to the Capital, where the National Tournament would take place.

The Top 5 were gathered behind him. Dressed in formal, matching uniforms, their expressions tense with anticipation.

Even Serena had her serious face on.

The National Tournament wasn’t just another school event.

It was the proving ground.

The spotlight.

And this year… all eyes would be on them.

Kain tugged the tight collar of his uniform awkwardly, as the tension settled into his bones, and glanced at the glowing glyphs beneath his feet as the array began to light up.

“It’s time,” he said quietly.

The world flashed white.

And they were gone.

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