"Good morning, everyone."
The man at the front of the classroom spoke in a calm but powerful voice, his tone carrying across the neatly arranged rows of young students.
"Good morning, Teacher!" Yi Ling replied brightly, her cheerful tone leading the others to echo in unison.
The man smiled faintly, then turned toward the board. With a piece of chalk, he drew a simple flow chart.
"Today I will teach you about the basics of beast taming."
His hand moved swiftly, words forming beneath the diagram.
"To become a beast tamer, you need three things. First—a beast. Second—a beast taming space. And third, the most important—resources to upgrade it."
He underlined the last point twice for emphasis before facing the class again.
"There are three main ways to upgrade the beast taming space. The first is meditation. The second is by consuming resources such as body pills and vitality pills. The last… is the most difficult of all: developing your beasts and using their feedback to strengthen yourself."
The students leaned forward in their seats. The man continued, his expression turning serious.
"Remember this well. Meditation is the safest path, though it requires patience. Using resources is faster, but it can backfire—excessive use may damage your current realm or even harm your beast taming space permanently. As for the third method…" His eyes swept across the room. "It is the most rewarding, but also the most dangerous. To develop a beast requires not only concentration, but vast amounts of time and resources to stabilize the growth. A mistake may cost you your beast—or your life."
Yi Ling's expression grew thoughtful, while Yin Fang nodded quietly, already engraving the words in his mind.
The teacher turned back to the board and drew another, more complex diagram.
"As for the cultivation realms, they progress as follows: Junior, Intermediate, Veteran, Expert, King, Lord, Emperor, Transcendent, and finally… God Realm. Each one is stronger than the last."
He paused, the chalk hovering just above the board.
"There is also a theory… that God Realm is not the end, but the beginning of cultivation itself. This was confirmed three hundred years ago, when Yori Nephar, the first disciple of the Beast Saint and a member of the Yori House, broke through to the God Realm—and disappeared from existence."
Gasps filled the room.
"Teacher, wasn't he the strongest?" Yi Ling raised her hand. "How could someone like him simply vanish?"
The teacher's gaze darkened, though his voice remained steady.
"It is believed that our universe is shielded by a force beyond comprehension. To reach God Realm is to touch that boundary—and possibly step beyond it."
He set down the chalk, his smile faint.
"Fifty years ago, this theory became fact."
The class erupted into whispers. Yin Fang furrowed his brows. "How come?" he asked aloud.
The man nodded at him. "Because of a note."
"A… note?" Yin Fang and several others looked bewildered.
"Yes. Fifty years ago, a space rift opened above the market in this very city. From it, a single note descended. But with it came a surge of evil energy that triggered a beast tide, devastating the surroundings. The note was eventually contained and sealed by the government. After decades of research, it was decoded. It contained only four words: The Abyss is Real."
The classroom fell silent.
Yi Ling raised her hand hesitantly. "Teacher… why are you telling us this?"
The man smiled wryly. "Because you are our new elites, the backbone of the future. Whether in a few years or on your first battlefield, you would have learned this truth anyway. Better to plant the seed of awareness now."
He clapped his hands twice. "Ai, open the matrice space!"
A buzzing sound filled the room. The students turned in shock as the pristine marble floor behind them shifted. A square section split open, revealing a wooden floor beneath. From the depths, a raised platform emerged, its surface lined with woven mats.
"This is so advanced…" Yin Fang muttered, eyes widening.
"Alright, everyone, go sit on a mat." The teacher gestured.
The students hurried to take their places. Yi Ling glanced at Yin Fang. "Can I sit here?"
"Sure, I don't mind," Yin Fang replied calmly.
"Damn, Yin Fang is with the school beauty!" Yan Feng whispered loudly, covering his mouth in mock shock.
"Hey hey, how come he gets this kind of luck? Is this the privilege of a genius?" Liu Yan said with envy in his eyes.
"Yeah man, it's unfair," Yan Feng agreed, shaking his head.
Meanwhile, Liu Ling watched Yin Fang with a complicated expression.
"Hey… don't tell me you like him?" Yan Feng whispered teasingly.
"Who cares about him?!" Liu Ling snapped, cheeks red as she looked away.
"Alright, everyone, silence!" the teacher's voice cut through the chatter.
At once, the students grew quiet.
"Now, cross your arms over your chest and begin circulating your breath throughout your body," the man instructed.
Yin Fang obeyed, closing his eyes. He focused inward, visualizing the flow of energy. To his surprise, he felt it—thin, invisible lines threading through his veins. He concentrated harder, visualizing those lines as a single glowing current. Suddenly, the energy surged, expanding within him like a river breaking a dam.
Outside, the teacher observed carefully. His eyes widened. "This child… already cultivated to the first level? He truly is a golden star."
He shifted his gaze toward Yi Ling. She too displayed vein patterns glowing faintly along her arms, though fewer than Yin Fang's. "Not bad. She is also a golden seed."
Hours passed in deep silence.
Then—Boom!
An invisible shockwave erupted from Yin Fang's body, startling everyone. His classmates opened their eyes, staring at him in disbelief. Chains of shimmering energy wrapped around his form, only to melt into liquid light. It condensed into a small crystal that embedded itself in his chest.
A triangular red mark flared to life on his forehead.
"A Blood Mark?!" the teacher exclaimed in shock.
The Blood Mark hadn't appeared in three hundred years, not since the infamous Berserk Tamer reached the first level. But before the teacher could recover, the red triangle shifted—its shape transforming into a pentagon while the color deepened to a dazzling purple.
"Purple Mark… and a pentagon?!" The teacher was stunned speechless.
In the mark system, color and shape denoted rank. Orange was the weakest, followed by red, yellow, blue, violet, brown, black, and finally purple—the rarest and strongest. As for shapes, circles were the weakest, followed by lines, triangles, squares, and pentagons, the strongest of all.
For someone to attain even one rare mark was extraordinary. For Yin Fang to gain both at once? The chance was less than one in a trillion.
"What a monster," Yan Feng muttered, eyes full of envy.
"This guy isn't human anymore…" Liu Yan shook his head.
Liu Ling, meanwhile, stared blankly, her heart sinking.
Before anyone could recover—
Boom!
Another explosion of energy.
Everyone turned in shock—this time it was Yi Ling. Chains dissolved around her, condensing into a black crystal that sank into her chest. On her forehead, a glowing black pentagon appeared.
"A black pentagon?!" Yan Feng was on the verge of collapse. "Two monsters in the same class?!"
Liu Yan hid behind a bench in mock fear. "I'm done. I can't compete."
As for Liu Ling, despair filled her chest. First, a caterpillar beast had defeated the unicorn she once admired. Now, Yin Fang, her rival, awakened as a purple-marked prodigy. And Yi Ling too—her own competitor—was no less monstrous. She wanted to cry, but tears refused to come.
Yin Fang slowly opened his eyes, confusion on his face. "Uh… what happened?"
"You two are monsters!" Yan Feng blurted out. "Stronger than most tamers alive—and maybe even future God Realm experts!"
Yin Fang blinked, then glanced at Yi Ling. The black pentagon glowed faintly on her forehead.
She opened her eyes and caught him staring. "What? Is there something on my face?"
"Yeah," Yin Fang smiled faintly. "A black pentagon mark. You're strong."
Yi Ling chuckled. "Says the one with a purple pentagon mark."