The Camp would end soon. A few days were all that separated me from home, and I… well, I had just turned in my final assignment.

  “How does it feel? Great, right?” Daniel guffawed.

  I raised an eyebrow at him, quite certain my grades were rock bottom. To be fair, I did not put in half the effort I should have. Though that hardly mattered. The credits were in my pocket, with graduation awaiting me.

  “What exactly should feel great? To leave the Grand Camp and finally see my family again, or to graduate alongside you guys?”

  “Ehm, both, I guess?” Daniel stared at me. “Can you be less of a killjoy please? We worked our butt off to help you graduate. If not for us, you wouldn’t have graduated!”

  I failed to see the issue with that. If it had been last year, I would have worked day and night to graduate with honors, maybe even push into the top 100 of the Grand Camp, but that was no longer my concern. As a graduate of the Grand Camp, I’d have a recommendation for just about every job. It would be much easier to earn a good salary and live a pleasant life. However, I needed more than that. Furthermore, I had Kazriel’s inheritance. The ring alone was enough to feed me and my family for dozens of generations–if mankind survived that long.

  My plans had changed considerably, and I was no longer as interested in the graduation certification as I’d been in the past. Unfortunately, Daniel and the others did not look at it that way. Since I joined the Grand Camp, I had to graduate, or my failure would be noted in the official records. My friends didn’t like that, so they forced me to attend a bunch of extracurricular projects to meet the criteria to graduate.

  My rank plummeted over the months, but not as much as one might think considering I didn’t do more for any of my classes than I had to. Instead, my advancement to the Expert rank, my rapid growth from a small and insignificant Adept to an Expert over the course of a mere year, and the combat analysis from the records of the training rooms were enough to keep my rank high up.

  “Anyway, I’m glad you returned to the regular classes. Joining the last batch of the Advanced Combat course and the Intermediate Beaster Research protocol was just enough to get you the credits needed.” He added, patting my back encouragingly. “I’m proud of you.”

  Proud. I didn’t think there was anything to be proud about. I only returned to the classes when the talks about the Caldera grew distant. It was cowardly to avoid the instructors’ and others’ constant talk about the wards and how evil the Caldera were, but it was still better than fighting them head-on. At least until I had the connections to actually change something. Or until the Grand Camp was over and I could bash some heads.

  Violence. Great!

  Nox praised.

  Ignoring the Ferronox Mantis’ never-ending lust for blood and violence, I couldn’t help but miss Aureus. The Earthheart was still not awake, taking longer than we’d hoped. His Earthen Aspect had grown considerably, and I’d already gained access to the newest trait, but I never used either–afraid to interrupt Aureus.

  “Are you ready to go back to our rooms? There’s something I need you for.” Daniel sounded casual, but he fidgeted with his fingers, his eyes darting away from mine.

  “Sure thing. What do you need me for?” I asked, following my friend back to our rooms.

  Since Wesley had changed rooms with Daniel, life had improved. To be truthful, I had no idea what I would have done with Wesley if I’d seen him again. To both of our fortunes, that never happened.

  “Nothing much,” he waved dismissively. “Don’t be so nosy.”

  I snorted. For Daniel to say something like that…

  Shaking my head, I followed my friend back to our room and watched him grow increasingly nervous.

  Hurried steps and muffled voices caught my attention, but I was only given a second to spread my senses into the room before Daniel swung the door open. He pushed me inside, his hollering voice echoing in my ears.

  “Surprise!”

  A flare of light erupted before me as an ether projection flooded the wall opposite me.

  I took a second to get used to the dazzling lights, my lips curling into a smile as the projected letters connected into two words:

  Happy Birthday

  “Has it been that long already?” A hoarse laugh escaped my lips. My throat tightened, and my dry eyes grew wet as Sophie, Scott, and Fabienne jumped into my view.

  “Happy Birthday, Adam!!”

  ***

  Stunned silence filled the dorm room, only to be shattered as Daniel shuffled to the other side of the space.

  Taking a moment, I absorbed the situation: the party hats, the decoration, and my friends’ bright smiles directed at me.

  Scott was the first to approach. He pulled me into a tight hug, wishing me happy birthday again.

  As I reciprocated the hug, Scott quipped half-jokingly, “Don’t expect any more hugs from me.”

  Next was Fabienne. She was hesitant, but her short arms coiled around me, and a whisper of well-wishes reached me.

  Sophie hugged me tighter than the others. She put enough force into her arms to break a regular citizen’s spine and then didn’t release me for a while.

  “Are you ready for the cake, party boy?” Daniel exclaimed, retrieving a chocolate cake large enough to feed an apartment complex of ordinary people. Good thing we were far from ordinary–and hungry. At least, I was.

  “Chocolate cake? How did you know?” I swallowed the saliva forming in my mouth.

  “Your mother told me. She’s sad they cannot be there for you for your birthday, so she’s been bombarding me with things I have to do to commemorate your first birthday apart,” Daniel explained. A moment later, a projection manifested before him, and a flash flared. “First of a hundred pictures. Done.”

  He laughed through my glare. “What? Your mom gave me the orders. Blame her if you dare.”

  I didn’t dare. Not after all the effort they put into my birthday. Smiling through the pain as a handful of pictures were taken, I focused on the chocolate cake.

  As rarely as I ate sweet things, there were times when I felt like stuffing myself with cake and sweets. It had been a while since I let loose, and my body was already complaining, telling me to go for it. So now that I had the chance and felt like it, I did the only thing I could think of.

  Fetching a plate and fork, I got to work.

  The others chuckled but joined me in silence.

  Only when the first plate was empty did we engage in a light chat. We talked about nothing too serious, which was a pleasant turn of events. The atmosphere was great and life… well, life was better than it had been for a while.

  I miss you, Mom… Dad. I thought, smiling at my friends, wondering how much our lives would change once the Grand Camp ended.

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  Meeting Sophie, Fabienne, and Scott had been my greatest gain from the Grand Camp. They were such beautiful people, and I hated parting ways with them soon. In a few days, everything would be over.

  But as much as it was a shame, I was also happy to return home. My parents were waiting for me. And, as insignificant as it may seem to others, I was happy to show off to Peter and Chloe Zerog. Daniel’s parents had seen something in me, and I wanted to make sure they knew they did the right thing by making me Daniel’s retainer.

  It’d be even better if Daniel got hold of the Species Expansion Aspect, but that was no longer in my hands.

  Bert and his wife will be gobsmacked. There’s so much to tell them.

  Beaster Bert had been incredibly helpful early in my journey as well. He may not be as experienced as the old Master and Grandmaster Beasters, but I owed him greatly as well. And since Daniel would not continue to study under him, he may have some spare time. Time to take another Apprentice under his wing. Maybe…

  The future after the Grand Camp was unknown to me. I had many goals, but the paths leading toward them were hazy. Maybe becoming a Beaster would solve some of them. If I turned out to be half-decent, it wouldn’t be impossible to help less fortunate Blessed with their Soulkins either.

  Thinking about the future, I glanced at Daniel shoveling more chocolate cake onto his plate.

  As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Daniel spun around.

  “What are you looking at?” he snickered, his eyes widening just a little, looking like he’d just recalled something. “Don’t tell me you’re starving for attention? Do you want your birthday presents already? Is that why you’re staring at me with those impatient eyes?”

  “What in the–” I didn’t even get the time to justify myself when Daniel’s plate disappeared. In his hands, a case filled with vials materialized.

  He laughed, placed the first case in the center of the room, and retrieved several more cases.

  We were still seated on the edges of the beds, forks halfway to our mouths, as Daniel continued bringing chaos to the party.

  He snapped his fingers in Fabienne’s direction, bringing the spotlight to the girl who wanted nothing more than to disappear. “This is our birthday gift. We collected the herbs on our own and experimented a little to infuse the power of Fabienne’s Accelerated Regeneration spell into serums.” Daniel exhaled deeply as his worst trait resurfaced–chatterbox Daniel.

  “Can you imagine how difficult it was to modify those damn serums? I had to ask my teacher to help me, but he told me to use that thing between my ears. He mocked my brain and turned me into the laughingstock of his entire workshop for a week, forcing me to work on those ridiculous serums.” He grumbled, but his smile never faltered. “Then again, working on those damn serum recipes under his supervision helped me figure out what we needed to create the first Accelerated Regeneration serum.”

  It was only now that I noticed the dark rings under his eyes.

  He let out a hollow laugh. “Apparently, Heros was impressed. That hell of a teacher was actually impressed with the serum. I don’t know the specifics, but I’m pretty sure Fabienne here is going to become a Beaster as well now that Grandmaster Heros heard about some of her spells.” Glancing at the victim of all of this, he grimaced apologetically. “Sorry for putting you through this. But hey, we got what we wanted: a present for that crazy workout addict.”

  Fabienne looked like she was about to merge with the wall behind her, but Daniel didn’t seem to mind. He was about to go on and probably speak for another half an hour when I let out a scoff.

  Crazy workout addict? Was he serious right now? I liked growing stronger, but I was not that bad… I think.

  Daniel’s head flicked toward me. “Dude, Adam–please! You’re literally a maniac. There’s no better present for you than the means to accelerate your regeneration to train even more. Especially with how well it works with your soul energy recovery.”

  I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, but that would have been a lie. Daniel was probably right, and the caskets were just about the perfect present for me.

  At this point, I could start with the 6th Volume of Blastor Refinery. There was no need to use any trickery either, since my World’s core was durable enough to endure the strain. It was only a matter of time before my World was as large as Daniel’s.

  “Thanks a lot. The serums mean a lot to me.” I smiled, a smug grin crossing my features. “But are you sure about it? Do you really want me to surpass you this much?”

  Daniel lowered his gaze. “That won’t happen. After creating the Accelerated Regeneration serum, Teach Heros was so impressed that he promised to help me evolve Coco and push Filps to a higher Rank before evolving him as well. Once that’s done, I will be back up at the top of the game, towering above you.”

  He laughed almost hysterically as I raised an eyebrow at him, so I ignored him. I thanked Fabienne instead and caught a glimpse of Sophie.

  She nibbled on her lower lip, hesitantly glancing at the casket of serums, her fingers stiffly holding onto a book.

  “What’s that?” I asked, storing the caskets in the onyx ring.

  “Hmm? Oh, that?” Sophie looked aside. “It’s just a book I bought for you. Nothing much, really. Not comparable to the serums or anything.”

  What was going on here?

  Sliding closer to her, I reached for the leatherbound book. She hesitated for a moment, looking like she was going to fight me for it, but released it when our eyes met. Vulnerability and uncertainty shimmered in the emerald sea, making it increasingly more difficult to look away and study the book.

  But real books were a rarity in an era where the Nexus and projections were commonly used. The book looked old, too, and the title drew me in instantaneously.

  [Myths & Legends – The Might of Sacred Beasts]

  It was the first time I had heard about a book like that. Not even Ruler Kazriel’s library had much regarding sacred beasts. Though there had been a few helpful pieces of intel, which helped when we came up with a good plan for Aureus, more information was always welcome.

  This was a book I’d never seen before, and skimming through it showed clearly that Sophie had not just bought a random book on the market. She must have researched thoroughly and invested a considerable fortune to procure Myths & Legends.

  My eyes widened when I saw a glimpse regarding mutating Gates, their effect on weaves, and the manifestation of new elemental Gates. It was written in an archaic way, words I’d never seen before written with lines, circles, and letters that did not seem to make any sense, yet I felt like everything was logical. All I needed was a few dozen hours to decipher the book, to absorb its content and learn all about sacred beasts. After all, my World harbored two of them.

  Overjoyed with the present, I pulled Sophie into a tight hug.

  “See, she gets a hug.” Daniel clicked his tongue in jest.

  My cheeks were already warm, but they burned hot when several flashes filled the room.

  Sophie reciprocated the hug. She smiled beautifully as she released me after a few seconds, relief and happiness flooding her features. Leaning closer, she planted her soft lips on my cheek. “Happy birthday, Adam.”

  “For the record, I am not going to kiss him.” Fabienne’s whispering voice flowed through the room, joining Daniel’s teasing.

  This time, Sophie flushed bright red as well.

  “Neither will I,” Scott snickered when Sophie fled from my arms. She materialized beside Fabienne, trying to merge with the wall like her friend had moments earlier.

  “Did we spread enough love and affection for today?” he asked, turning to me. “I won’t hug you nor do I have anything expensive to give to you. Instead, I spent the last two weeks with Destiny to inspect you–to search your strings of fate, specifically, and to help you.”

  That caught my attention. Jokes aside, Scott’s words sounded terrifying. If he and his Soulkin had been using their traits on me, could it be that they found the Elemental Phoenix? I panicked, but only until the rational part of my brain overwhelmed the emotional part.

  Even if Scott found out about the phoenix… so be it. Scott was not the problem. The problem was that Blessed with similar traits would be able to find the Elemental Phoenix as well… if Scott found out about it.

  “To be frank, it was difficult. It was even more challenging than I feared.” He rubbed the back of his head, lips parting only to snap closed after a second. That phenomenon repeated itself a few times until Scott found the right words to continue.

  “Ever since you defeated Zegrath in the Katrak, I have been unable to see anything about you with my trait.” He sighed deeply, looking defeated for a moment as he admitted the truth. “But strands of those around you are still visible to me.” His eyes turned cold and sharp as the tone shifted. “You will have to kill. That is unavoidable. If you do not strike them down, it won’t only be you suffering. Your family will also be punished, suffering the consequences of your failure–if you hesitate too long.”

  He didn’t seem to know about the Elemental Phoenix, which should have been a relief, but his words cut deep anyway.

  “I didn’t want to bring down the mood,” Scott muttered, sensing the tension hanging in the air. He glanced my way, and his voice echoed in my head when our eyes met. “I know your secret. I have no idea how you did it, but it was a smart decision to keep it secret. Do not tell anyone about it if you can avoid it. It would be even better if you could bind a beast that leaves imprints on your body, concealing the ‘Baptism’ and its modifications, because you have to resume working on the flames within you. If you do not, doom is inevitable.”

  Considering Scott couldn’t see anything about me, he had seen a lot. Too much for my liking, but I nodded anyway. Too stunned to say anything. Not without exposing myself to everyone.

  He knows. I told myself over and over again.

  And if Scott knew, others could too. I just had to hope for the best, a little time, maybe… while expecting the worst.

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