This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Immediately after Spiritual Skills, they went to the advanced knowledge for Beast-Tamers course, the last course of the day since all of Wednesdays are for the Wilderness Survival course.

Unfortunately, the old man teaching that course, Professor Wexley, did not have the same philosophy against speeches as Nightingale, and spent the full 2 hours droning on about academic integrity and the expectations for excellence he has.

By 1 in the afternoon, all classes were thankfully over. Likely because they weren't in an academic major, they were given ample time outside of classes to train, cultivate, and go on missions. Tuesdays and Thursdays when Kain has his Planner courses would unfortunately be much longer.

Kain headed back to the dorms immediately. He wasn't able to successfully amplify even one of his senses, much less all 5. He'd need every second before the assessment to practice if he was going to have any hope of passing.

However, upon entering the entryway of his new home he was suddenly faced with a piercing green glare for Soren Lysander.

'What the hell is his issue with me?!'

"Sorry, but I don't swing that way. Maybe that big guy over there will appreciate your flirtatious glances a little more" Kain said while nodding his chin at the largest senior student in the seating area on the first floor.

"Pfftt hahahah! Aaahhh the first years this year are really interesting" Said a freckled red-head boy with a mischievous grin.

Soren, likely not expecting Kain's response, stood there sputtering in shock.

Not waiting for his reply, Kain walked past him up the stairs.

"Wait!"

Kain just continued walking up the stairs.

"I said, WAIT!"

"So? I don't take orders from you."

That comment seemed to set the blonde boy off, his right arm transformed into the shape of a dragon claw and took a swipe at Kain's back

Fortunately, due to his extensive experience in the wild, he was able to dodge in time. After all, the prince couldn't possibly be faster than an orange-grade spiritual beast.

"Ha..wow! I didn't expect you to be so cowardly as to take a cheap shot at someone's back"

"If you get hit with your guard down, that's your own damn fault," He said shamelessly, before taking another swipe at Kain, which he once again dodged.

Kain was now supremely irritated, why exactly does this guy have a grudge against him? If he disagrees so much with the ranking then just wait 3 months to challenge him then.

"Since you clearly don't like using your brain, I don't mind removing it for you," Kain said, stepping towards him now with his spear in hand. 'Bea hasn't eaten in a couple of days, I guess it's dinner time.'

"Enough!" suddenly a tall figure with sandy brown hair appeared between them and intense gold eyes stared sternly at them both. "Fighting is forbidden outside of official duels. Because it's your first offence, I'll let it slide just this once, but any future violations will be punished with a fine in credits."

"Booooooo!"

"So boring captain!"

"Why'd you break up the fight?! The newcomers are so wonderfully feisty this year."

All of the upper-year students that were downstairs started raising a ruckus at having their source of entertainment stopped.

Suddenly the front door of the mansion opened and the Cheat, Serena, stepped in.

Immediately all of the shouts stopped.

'She really does have a face that could stop traffic'

Kain noticed that the idiotic prince also had a foolishly infatuated look.

"You have got to be shitting me! Her?! You're acting like such a damn fool due to her?!"

Kain didn't bother to keep his voice down to spare the oaf's feelings so likely everyone in the foyer heard, especially with their more sensitive hearing due to spiritual power.

Suddenly they were once again the targets of everyone's gazes. And Soren's face turned red from embarrassment.

Kain stepped closer to him and lowered your voice. "You know…if you really want a rank next to her so bad, you'll have it once I push her down to second."

Kain then marched up the stairs to his room. What a joke! He couldn't believe that the other was prepared to fight him just because his room was in the wing of the house next to his crush. Kain didn't even think he could look at the other guy seriously from now on.

'But he was like this since the admissions exam. I thought he just couldn't take being second. But did he already know that she'd be coming here and be first place no less?'

"Whatever. I don't care about that idiot's love life…" Kain muttered before stepping into his bedroom.

Kain had more urgent matters to attend to—passing that spiritual skills assessment in two weeks.

Outside

After Kain left the scene, Soren was the sole bearer of all those stares.

Serena, expression as cold as ever, simply walked up the stairs past everyone, including Soren.

"Serena," He called reaching out to her.

However, she simply gave him a cold glance before continuing upstairs and out of sight.

"Aaawwww. Don't mind it first-year!" yelled out the red-haired boy.

"Fuck off!!!" He yelled before storming up the stairs as well.

The front door once again opened to reveal another first-year, shorter than average with slick-backed black hair and dressed neatly in a fitted casual suit—Kairos Umbrae.

"What?" He called out hesitantly at being suddenly stared at by a lobby full of seniors.

Seeing that he wouldn't be adding to their entertainment they all let out bored sighs before going back to their business.

Kain spent the rest of the day practicing his control over his spiritual skills, only stopping briefly to eat dinner downstairs, not wanting to spend the extra time to go to the common cafeteria and eat with Bridge and the others.

However, he had to stop at night due to a terrible migraine although he hadn't yet made much progress.

Instead, he just spent the majority of the night condensing spiritual power. The events that day had made him realize that there were dozens of talented students all coveting his spot. Even he wasn't fully content with his rank and wanted to be first. Thankfully, the environment here seemed to complement the Planetarium, allowing him to cultivate with even greater ease.