"Hey, Raiven..."
A soft, feminine voice drifted into Raiven's ears.
He turned back quickly, his brows furrowed.
Her red hair swayed lightly, and her blue eyes were unfocused.
It was Ava.
Raiven came down from the staircase, approaching Ava, who was standing in front of a tree.
He stopped in front of her, but not too close.
He still kept his distance.
"Hey, Ava," he said as he ruffled his hair. "What brings you here?"
Ava clasped her hands together, though Raiven didn't fail to notice the way she was playing with her fingers.
Apart from that, she hadn't looked directly at him ever since he stopped in front of her.
'Her social anxiety is that bad,' Raiven thought. 'The author wasn't joking...'
Before Raiven could say anything else, Ava suddenly spoke.
"I don't want to waste too much of your time, so I'll just go straight to the point," she said as she brushed a strand of her hair from her face.
"What Beast can you summon?" she asked, her hands clasped together again. "I'm just curious, that's all."
Raiven raised a brow.
The next second, he scoffed as he whispered, "Just curious, huh?"
His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh shit..." Ava muttered under her breath as she closed her eyes.
It was obvious that she had been busted.
Ava opened her eyes, and this time, she looked at Raiven directly.
Her blue eyes stared into his.
"Okay," she began. "I'll come out clean. The truth is, my mother asked me to find out what Beast you can summon."
Raiven nodded.
"Now, you're being honest..."
Raiven knew that this was the real reason why she wanted to know.
It was to be expected, after all.
In Thrylak Kingdom, Beast summoning wasn't a rare Soul Ability, but there were only two families in the kingdom whose Beast Summoning Soul Abilities were Disaster Rank.
The Draka Family and the Flamesworth Family.
Now, Raiven had awakened a Disaster Rank Beast Summoning Soul Ability.
Of course, it would pique the interest of the two families.
Raiven's Soul Ability meant one thing for the two families:
Competition.
So, they wanted to know the major thing about him, which was the Beast he could summon.
Raiven exhaled.
'Principal Klein must have told them about the Blue-Tongue Tiger by now,' he thought.
Because of this, there was no point hiding it anymore.
They would find out sooner or later.
A small smile formed on Raiven's face.
"The Flamesworth Family sees me as a threat, huh?"
Ava shook her head, realizing the impression her request had given.
She stepped closer.
"No, Raiven, it's not like that."
Raiven just shrugged.
He didn't have anything else to say to her.
He stepped backwards a bit, stretched out his hand, and the next second, a Blue-Tongue Tiger appeared.
Ava's eyes were fixated on the Tiger.
"Blue-Tongue Tiger..." she muttered.
She averted her gaze back to Raiven.
"Thank you..."
Raiven nodded as he unsummoned the Tiger.
'She didn't ask about its Rank,' Raiven thought.
'Either she doesn't care about that, or she could detect that it wasn't that strong just by looking at it.'
"I'll take my leave now," Ava said.
She turned around and walked away.
She continued walking, and her pace grew faster with each second.
Her breathing became ragged as she increased her pace once again.
Eventually, she stopped beside a tree.
She held it and leaned downwards.
"Ahh... ahhh..."
She placed her hand on her chest as she began muttering,
"Calm down... calm down..."
She had to fake confidence when she was speaking with Raiven, and now that it was over, she could feel the impact.
That was how bad social anxiety could get.
Meanwhile, Raiven had already entered his house.
Lily prepared food for him, which he quickly ate before entering his room.
After freshening up, he sat on the bed and summoned Tongue.
Tongue stared directly into Raiven's eyes.
Raiven couldn't help but remember how Tongue had brutally killed those three boys.
With a sigh, he summoned the system screen.
[Progress: 20% into Tier 3]
He brought out the ten Soul Shards from his inventory and dropped them on the floor.
Tongue quickly began swallowing them.
As for Raiven, he had already begun spacing out.
"I'm still not strong enough for the harshness this world brings with it..."
Armageddon was fast approaching, and the Team Hole Entry was just two days away.
"The Team Hole Entry..."
Raiven exhaled deeply, his eyes focused.
"That'll be my next chance to grow stronger."
--------------
The next day, Raiven quickly freshened up and went to his first class of the day.
Beast Discipline.
"It should be here..." Raiven muttered as he stopped in front of a door.
'Beast Summoning Aspect' was written boldly on the door.
Raiven entered the classroom.
There were already a few students inside, including Muriel.
As Raiven walked past him, he smiled and nodded at Raiven.
Raiven nodded back at him before making his way to the end of the classroom.
Raiven found the fact that Muriel nodded at him weird, but he decided not to give it too much thought.
"It's large..." Raiven muttered, his eyes moving around as he scanned the classroom.
It was big enough for the students to summon their Beasts without worrying too much about space.
Within minutes, more students had entered the classroom, and eventually...
"Good morning, students!" Lena stood in front of the students, her arms folded.
"Let's get into today's lecture," she added.
"Hmm, straightforward," Raiven muttered.
"Today," she began, walking around the classroom with slow, calculated steps, "I'll be teaching you all how to effectively communicate with your Beast."
"For today's lesson, you won't have to summon your Beast."
She arrived in front of the class again.
"Alright, sit!"
There were no chairs in the classroom, so it was obvious that she was talking about the floor.
The students sat on the floor, after which she also sat on the floor.
They all sat in a lotus position, waiting for her next instruction.
"Alright, now close your eyes. You all have a special connection with your Beast, and I'm sure you all already know how to access that connection."
"Try to speak with your Beast through that connection."
Raiven closed his eyes.
He accessed the connection he had with Tongue.
And then...
WHOOSH!
He suddenly felt a sharp pull.
Before he could even react or say anything, he found himself in a different place.
"What the hell...?" Raiven muttered as he looked around.
Darkness.
Everywhere he looked.
Suddenly, Tongue emerged in front of him.
The Tiger still had that same bloody look it had that morning when it killed the boys.
Raiven furrowed his brows as he walked forward slowly.
"Hey... Tongue."
Tongue suddenly turned and began walking into the darkness.
But Raiven could feel it...
The Tiger wanted him to come along.
"What could it possibly want to show me?"
Raiven began following Tongue slowly through the darkness.
They continued walking for minutes.
But then, Tongue suddenly stopped.
Raiven was about to question it, but as he looked ahead, he saw something...
He squinted his eyes.
"Are those..."
He leaned forward a bit.
"...dark clouds?"
He could see thick, dark clouds ahead.
Lightning kept moving within the clouds, flashing rapidly.
It was as if there was a great storm ahead.
But the next second, Raiven suddenly sensed something.
His eyes widened as he began stepping backward.
He could see dark humanoid creatures coming from ahead.
They were running towards him at full speed, and he wasn't planning on staying to see what they were.
"Shit!"
Instantly, he turned and took off.
His breathing became ragged as he ran at full speed.
He didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't going to just stand there.
His heart hammered in his chest as he continued running.
'What the fuck are those thin—'
Before he could finish the thought, a hand suddenly grabbed his leg from below.
"What the fuck?!!"
He tried to free himself, but more hands appeared from below, dragging him.
He could feel himself sinking, going into the abyss below.
He tried to scream, but it was almost as if he had lost his voice.
His body was already halfway into whatever was below, and within seconds, only his head was left.
The last thing he saw were Tongue's eyes in front of him before his head was dragged by the hands below.
"Ahh..."
Raiven's eyes snapped open.
"Alright, students! That'll be all for today," Lena said before exiting the classroom.
Raiven's shirt was soaked with sweat, and he kept looking around.
"I'm back in the classroom...?" he muttered.
He watched as the students began exiting the classroom slowly.
"And the class is over...?"
He stood up, his brows furrowed.
'Just how long was I in that darkness?'