Chapter 35: The Divine Eye in the Market
The Academy Beast Market was a sprawling neon-lit bazaar located in the heart of the Central Spire district. Usually, the market was a place of orderly transactions, but the midnight arrival of the "Nebula Shipment" had turned it into a hive of frantic energy. Hundreds of students hovered over stalls, their eyes wide with greed and desperation, hoping to find a hidden treasure that would catapult them up the rankings.
Roman arrived at the gates, his white hair gleaming under the violet streetlamps. He felt the weight of the Truth-Seeking Bracelet on his wrist—a relic he had acquired during his final days on Terra, capable of peering through the outer shells of beast eggs and the dormant auras of sealed artifacts.
"Roman! Over here!" Ellen waved frantically from a stall near the center of the square. John and Shane stood beside her, looking overwhelmed by the sheer volume of containers.
"You took your time," Shane muttered, though his relief was visible. "The instructors are starting to move the high-tier eggs to the VIP section. We need to move fast."
Roman didn't respond immediately. Instead, he activated the bracelet. To the outside world, the silver band on his wrist merely pulsed with a faint light, but in Roman's vision, the entire market transformed. The physical world dimmed, replaced by a sea of colored mists representing the latent potential of the beasts within.
His "shrouded" green eyes scanned the thousands of eggs. Through the Truth-Seeking Bracelet, the data was depressing. Seventy percent of the shipment was low-level trash—Grade F to D beasts that would never progress past the initial ranks. Twenty-five percent were decent, ranging from Grade C to B, suitable for common soldiers but not for the elite of Astral Star.
Only five percent are worth the merit points, Roman thought, his gaze cutting through the clutter.
He walked toward a pile of crimson-veined eggs. He didn't hesitate, picking up a warm, vibrating sphere and handing it to Ellen.
"This one," Roman said firmly. "It's a Solar-Core Fire Wolf. Grade A. It has a latent purification flame that perfectly matches your high-affinity fire spirit. It will burn away any impurities in your flux as you rank up."
Ellen gasped, cradling the egg. "Grade A? Are you sure?"
"Pay and don't look back," Roman commanded.
Next, he turned to Shane. He bypassed the flashy spatial-glitch birds that everyone was fighting over and reached into a bargain bin filled with "damaged" livestock. He pulled out a scrawny, sickly-looking bird with feathers the color of bruised twilight. It looked like it was one breath away from death.
"A Void Pecker?" Shane whispered, horrified. "Roman, it's Grade C at best, and it's half-dead."
"It's not dying; it's starving," Roman countered, his eyes flashing behind his mask of calm. "It's a Void Pecker that tried to peck through a spatial barrier too thick for its current rank. Its beak is fractured. Buy it, and the moment you get back, feed it a Space Crystal. Its wounds will heal, and its rank will stabilize. In the void, this bird is a king."
Finally, Roman moved to a section of the market that was almost deserted—the "Antique and Sculpture" remains. These were items found in ancient ruins that the school hadn't yet been able to identify as either biological or mechanical.
In the corner sat a strange, hand-sized stone sculpture of a crouching gargoyle-like creature. It was covered in dust and lacked any visible flux signature. To a normal tamer, it was a paperweight.
Roman's bracelet suddenly burned cold against his skin. The "sculpture" wasn't stone. It was a Time-Locked Chrysalis.
"John, buy this. Now," Roman said, his voice dropping to a low, urgent whisper.
John blinked, looking at the grey rock. "The sculpture? Roman, I need a beast, not a souvenir. My merit points are—"
"John, do not clarify. Do not ask. Just pay the thirty merit points and move," Roman hissed, his eyes darting to the entrance of the market where the Rank 1 and 2 twins had just appeared, their presence causing the air to chill.
The school hadn't appraised these items yet; they were being sold as "bulk discovery lots" for a flat fee. Seeing Roman's intensity, John swallowed his confusion, grabbed the stone, and the group hurried to the payment kiosks. They swiped their IDs, the 30 merit points vanished from their accounts, and they vanished into the darkness of the residential sector just as the twins reached the stalls.
Minutes later, they were standing in the secure living room of Villa 7. The air was thick with tension as Roman locked the jade doors and activated the villa's privacy screens.
"Okay, Roman, talk to us," Shane said, holding his sickly bird. "We just spent our starting merit points on a dying bird and a rock."
Roman stood in the center of the room, the Shroud around his eyes flickering as he allowed a fraction of the Azure Dragon's authority to leak out.
"Ellen, your wolf is Grade A. It will be the backbone of your combat power," Roman began. "Shane, your bird is also Grade A once it consumes the spatial energy it craves. But John..."
Roman pointed to the stone sculpture sitting on the obsidian table.
"That isn't a Grade A. It isn't even Grade S. It is a Grade SS Ancient Antique."
The room went deathly silent. John's hand trembled as he reached toward the stone.
"Because of its ancient life-cycle, this beast has gained a Time Attribute," Roman explained, his voice echoing with the weight of his knowledge. "It has been in a state of 'Stasis-Sleep' for thousands of years. Its power has degraded over the eons, which is why it didn't show up on the school's scanners. Right now, it is at the Early Rank 3 level, but its potential is limitless."
John looked at the stone, his breath hitching. His own innate ability was Chrono-Flash, a time-based speed burst that was notoriously difficult to pair with a beast.
"It's a Time-Attribute beast?" John whispered.
"It is currently in a deep slumber," Roman said, moving with sudden urgency. "But the shock of being moved and the flux in this villa is waking it up. John, you have exactly sixty seconds before its soul-core fully activates. If you don't contract it now while it's groggy, a Rank 3 Ancient will never submit to a student. Contract it now!"
John didn't hesitate. He summoned his Contract Book, a leather-bound tome that hummed with a silver light. He bit his thumb, smeared a drop of blood onto the stone sculpture, and began to chant the binding incantation.
The stone began to crack.
A dull, golden light leaked from the fissures, and the air in the room seemed to slow down. Roman felt the "flow" of time stutter—the falling dust in the air paused mid-flight, and the ticking of the villa's clock became a long, drawn-out groan.
Inside the stone, the beast's soul began to stir. It was an ancient, powerful consciousness that had once roamed the stars before the UHF even existed. As it felt the "leash" of the contract, a wave of immense, drowsy anger radiated from the sculpture.
"It's fighting back!" Shane yelled, his voice sounding distorted as the time-field warped the sound.
"Stay focused, John!" Roman shouted, his green eyes burning through the Shroud. He placed a hand on John's shoulder, subtly channeling a thread of his own "Core" energy to stabilize John's Spirit Sea. "It's too groggy to resist! Force the seal!"
John gritted his teeth, his silver flux flaring to its absolute limit. His Chrono-Flash ability resonated with the beast's aura, creating a bridge of shared time-frequency. The beast, still confused by its long sleep and recognizing a familiar "scent" in John's ability, stopped struggling.
The golden light flared one last time, blinding everyone in the room.
CLICK.
The sound of the soul-seal locking was like a hammer hitting an anvil. The time-distortion snapped back to normal. The dust fell to the floor, and the clock ticked forward.
On the table, the stone sculpture had vanished. In its place was a small, sleek creature that looked like a cross between a feline and a dragon, its fur made of shifting golden sand and its eyes like hourglasses. It blinked sleepily at John, let out a tiny, ancient yawn, and promptly curled up into a ball.
"It's done," John gasped, collapsing into a chair. He looked at his Contract Book. A new page had formed, shimmering with a double-S rank border. "I... I actually have a Time-Attribute beast."
"It's the perfect match for you," Roman said, the light in his eyes fading back to a dull green. "It's a Chronos Drake. At its peak, it can freeze an enemy in place for a heartbeat—and with your speed, a heartbeat is all you need."
Ellen and Shane looked at Roman in awe. They had known he was talented, but to find a Grade SS Ancient hidden in a pile of junk was something else entirely.
"Roman," Ellen said softly. "Who are you, really?"
Roman turned away, looking out the window toward the distant spire where the twins lived.
"I'm just a student who knows how to look for what's hidden," Roman replied. "Now, go back to your villas. We have classes in the morning.
As his friends left, Roman stood alone in the dark. He looked at his own hands, still feeling the hum of the Lightning Stone. The "Seven Eyes" were starting to gather, and with John's new beast, he finally had a piece of the puzzle that could manipulate the one thing even the gods feared: Time.