Unbeknownst to Nikolas, there was a double-sided mirror at the end of the ceremony hall, and behind it were the people observing and taking notes of each summoning ceremony. When he burst in, they were in the middle of discussing today's ceremony.
"We should stop him—" one of the younger faculty members began, but he was quickly cut off.
"Wait." An elderly man with short grey hair raised his arm. "Let's see what happens."
They watched as Nikolas burst through the door, walked hurriedly toward the summoning altar, and placed his hand on the array.
There were four faculty members in total. Three gasped as a golden beam of light burst from the array toward the sky, while one—the man with short grey hair who was in fact the academy's director, narrowed his gaze.
"It can't be! He's that failure from earlier! There is no way he could summon a legendary beast!"
"Legendary?" another faculty member questioned. "It didn't look like the ones depicted in textbooks."
"We need to take him in for questioning. He broke the rules. How dare he just burst in and—"
"Quiet down, everyone." The director's voice cut through the chatter. "What was his name?"
"It's um…" The faculty member who was in charge of today's ceremony flipped through his file of pages until he finally found the one he was looking for. "Nikolas. He never attended the academy and failed to summon a beast twice earlier today."
"Nikolas…" The director murmured the name. "Let's keep an eye on him."
"You mean… we're going to let him go?"
"Yes. Let's see how things turn out."
***
[Monkey King]
[True Rank: Divine (Locked)]
[Current Rank: Legendary – First Stage]
[Tier: One]
[Attributes: Seven Layers of Immortality, Heavenbreaking Will]
[Skills: Stone Skin, Nimbus Step, A Thousandfold Mockery]
Nikolas stared wide-eyed at the translucent window before him. He had previously dismissed the smaller window during the summoning as something not worth debating, but this one… as far as his knowledge went, no one could see a detailed description of their beast like this.
But seeing the details wasn't the only thing that shocked him.
"True Rank… Divine?" He murmured the words under his breath.
He knew all the possible ranks. Everyone did. They started with Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and ended at Mythical.
But there was something else even more confusing than that non-existent rank.
This beast apparently had two ranks. A true one and a current one. Nikolas had never heard of such a thing before, but he didn't have to dwell long about what that truly meant. As when he narrowed his focus on the Limited tag next to the Divine Rank, a new, smaller window appeared.
[Locked Condition: Celestial Shackles (3/3)]
[Celestial Shackles Release Requirement: Can only be broken through battle.]
"Celestial Shackles...?" he muttered the words under his breath.
It appeared that the beast had some type of condition which could be broken to unlock a new rank. But even with the locked condition active, the monkey king was still a Legendary Rank.
Nikolas' heart raced as he reread the information a couple of times.
Receiving a legendary rank beast would be cause for celebration for the whole city.
Nikolas took a few slow breaths, trying to calm his racing heart and mind, and continued reading through the list.
He focused on the attributes list, and two descriptions appeared.
[Attribute: Seven Layers of Immortality]
[Description: Monkey King cannot die. Upon death, he will enter an inactive state for 12 hours.]
[Attribute: Heavenbreaking Will]
[Description: With a will strong enough to defy the heavens, the Monkey King yields to no one. He cannot be controlled.]
"W-What?"
A wave of shock washed over Nikolas's features as he reread the descriptions of the two attributes. Immortality was one thing, an insane attribute that he had never heard of before, but the second one? The Heavenbreaker's Will?
The whole idea of beast taming was that a person could tame and command a beast. What use would a beast be that couldn't be controlled?
Nikolas's gaze lifted to the monkey before him, and the moment it did—
"What are you staring at, you monkey?" The Monkey King's finger pointed straight at Nikolas.
"It speaks? Wait—" he just realised what the beast had said. "Monkey? Who are you talking to?"
"You're the weirdest monkey I have ever seen." The Monkey King cut in, his finger still pointing toward Nikolas. "What do they call you?"
"Nikolas, I'm your master—"
"You shall bow before me! You are in the presence of none other than the Monkey King himself!" He pointed toward himself with a prideful grin.
"Does the locked condition extend to his brain or something?" Nikolas wondered, staring at the Monkey King with a perplexed expression.
But at that moment, Nikolas realized something. He had broken into the ceremony hall. If he got caught, his punishment would be severe.
He took a step back, looking around the ceremony hall.
"I need to get out of here before someone sees me."
"Ha! You foolish mortal!" The Monkey King suddenly spoke up. "Do not fear. I don't bully the weak." He added, thinking the reason Nikolas stepped back was out of fear.
"We don't have time for your nonsense, you damn monkey." Nikolas' voice was sharp. "We need to get out of here."