Before I can leave the house, I get stopped by my foster sister Val.

"Hey, you have that thing going today, don't you?"

"If you mean the tamer course test, then yes I do."

"Can I come to watch, my friends are busy so I don't have anything to do today?"

"I don't think that it wouldn't be allowed for you to come with me, sure you can tag along."

I have to wait for her to get ready, and my thoughts from last night resurfaced. No matter what, I pass the test since I managed to tame a beast that was inside one of the cages. If the grading system is based purely on level and rank, there's nothing I can do. Something arbitrary like combat strength could be measured instead.

Not all tamed creatures are combat-related, the [Lovely Dove] is a perfect example. It has no combat power, it's one of the rare creatures that have healing magic, not just a healing skill. I would love to tame one but they are notorious for dying to anything.

If I want to graduate in a year instead of four to six years, I need to do my absolute best. If it will give me first place, I will go all out.

Val is finally ready, since I'm going with her I can't jog to campus. We take the bus together just like on the first day.

We go straight to the Tamers course, there is a giant sign saying to go to the arena next door. We walk in as I remember that Champion I defeated in my first fracture. Wait, that reminds me… I need to find a translator for that journal I copied in my [Lexicon]

I see a few tamer students stand with their creatures. I spot Jerry and it looks like his [Bearded Dragon] has leveled up quite a bit. It looks slightly fatter and its beard is 'lusher'.

I don't see that one wolf boy who antagonized Rob and me a few days ago outside the gym. Not all the tamer students are here, but it seems like the 'upper classmates' are here to watch as well. They stand out with their bigger and better beasts, but none have anything remotely similar to Flash Gordon.

There is a [Rock Lobster] the size of a washing machine which could be argued that it's similar to Flash Gordon, but that's just nonsense. Looking around, it seems that no one has an undead creature as a tamed beast. My entire entourage of tamed beasts gets a few weird looks from other students. I pay them no mind.

~

It’s around time for the test, I’m standing next to Jerry and his tamed beasts. The new one he tamed for the test is a [Tropical Goldfish]. I have no idea of what this thing is besides just being a fish… even if I don’t do anything special, I probably won’t take last place.

“Jerry, did you find out what the instructor’s name is?”

“Huh? Oh, his name? It was something long and complicated so he told us to call him Instructor Wurm, it’s his first syllable.” Jerry is preoccupied with looking at his fish in a bag.

I look around at my fellow students and their tamed beasts, I want to figure out who has tamed the greatest tamed beast for the test. A group of students tamed a troop of [Howler Monkeys], I didn’t need to look over to hear the loud monkey sounds. They are Rank-E creatures who use sound-based attacks to communicate and fight, all their tamers are wearing sound-proof headphones.

That wolf-boy is holding a [Black Wolf] pup, that probably would have been the best creature here if it wasn’t still an infant. They grow up into Rank-D wolves who commonly evolve into a [Shadow Wolf]. The [Shadow Wolf] is a Rank-C wolf who has innate proficiency with shadow magic.

There are a lot of Rank-F and Rank-E creatures here, I think the [Combat Wombat] has the best chance of getting first place. A Rank-D four-foot bipedal marsupial that is wearing boxing gloves. The trainer must have given him a pair, the trainer stands out amongst his peers since he’s completely bald. The [Combat Wombat] is surprisingly fast and bolsters a decent defense. I use scientific Insight on the wombat to see its level.

{Combat Wombat D lv18]

I think any of my tamed beasts can win a 1v1 against it. If it isn’t a battle to the death then Rob might be knocked out of the fight since he’s so fragile. I whisper to Duchess.

“Is there any creature here that makes you feel nervous about facing?”

[No. All the caged beasts were underneath me in the hierarchy. I earned my spot as the queenpin of the field.]

… I guess I have this in the bag then. Instructor Wurm comes fashionably late to his own test riding a [War Elephant], an absolutely massive grey monstrosity bearing huge tusks and a muscular trunk. The orc takes only one look around before pointing at the wombat.

“He wins.”

That wolf boy speaks up in anger. “For what reasons!? You didn’t even test any of the beasts!”

Instructor Wurm stares down at the boy as he gulps in fear.

“Four requirements. Rank, Combat, Utility, and how hard it was to tame the creature,” Instructor Wurm points at the tamer for the wombat, “Tell me why you won.”

The student speaks, “My beast has the highest rank and level here and he is obviously built for combat, look at those muscles. Utility wise he is lacking, but he is still a great sparring partner for humans since he is bipedal and can use human fighting techniques. I had the beat the Wombat in a fistfight for him to recognize me as his tamer, it took a few attempts but I won with sheer technique.”

“Good, one mistake with your answer. Levels don’t mean anything since fighting those who are higher level than you is a common practice for the strong. Strength before levels.”

I raise my hand and speak up. “Instructor Wurm, I have an issue with the assessment.”

“Speak.”

“If levels don’t matter since strength can overcome them, then ranks don’t matter either. His assessment of Utility is a weak argument since the anatomy of the wombat is still very different from humans, plus anything here can be considered a training partner, humanoids aren’t the only threats we will face. Difficulty-wise, if you look at the taming difficulty, I have tamed a beast that has not been tamed for years, generation after generation of students have tried and failed where I succeeded.”

“What about strength?” he asked back.

“My Duchess is stronger than that Wombat,” I reply while stroking her head.

“Good, then you two will have a fight between your tamed beast.”

The students erupt into whispers, talking amongst themselves about me, someone who they don’t remember from their classes claiming that a [Feathered Boa] of all things will win against a creature with advantages in every field. The students clear the center of the field, as Duchess and the Wombat approach each other.

[Ellis, this wombat won’t surrender no matter what. It would rather die than face humiliation.]

“Just don’t kill it, Duchess.” I don’t need to make enemies by doing something completely avoidable. Only I heard Duchess, so my order to her seemed random. The students start whispering about “ego” or “pride”. Val comes up and whispers in my ear.

“You are the weirdest person I know, are you sure that your little snake friend can win?”

“Jerry seems to support me, why can’t you?”

When I look over and wave at him, he smiles and waves back.

On top of his elephant, the instructor announces to the whole arena, “One of my students believes that his tamed beast is the best! To put that to the test a battle will play out, the battle will end when one of the beasts cannot continue. The tamers cannot interfere physically. If you two are ready then let the battle commence”

“I’m ready.”

“I’m ready!”

My opponent seems to be excited about this, I wonder why. He gains nothing if he wins.

“My name is Stefanos and I will be the victor, now let your beast come at mine, since you are so confident in their strength.”

I nod at Duchess and activate [Empower] since it doesn’t break the rules.

[Empower C lv1

You can empower a single tamed beast for 1 minute. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Mana cost: 50

Buff: 10% to all stats]

With an overall strength increase, Duchess should have 165 mana to deal with this thing. Resilient hide means nothing if your brain stops working. She slithers casually towards the wombat, not caring for the commotion around her, onlookers are confused about her easygoing attitude. Without any trees she is out of her natural terrain, so the straightforward attacks of the [Combat Wombat] should have an advantage.

Stefanos the trainer does some complicated war dance that seems to buff his wombat, I use [Scientific Insight+] on the dance.

[Battle Dance C

You can empower a single target for the duration of the dance.

Mana cost: 50 initial points

Buff: 30% to Might and Agility]

Huh, what a weird ability. It feels like it belongs to a bard class rather than a tamer. The wombat rushes straight at Duchess with his guard up. It seems like it has some boxing training The footwork and the stance gave it away. It starts circling Duchess, and after a while of nothing happening, it rushes from behind the [Feathered Boa]