During his life on Earth, things weren't great, but at least he had food and could always find a way to get by. His immediate family died, and he couldn't even consider the rest of his relatives, who shared his blood, to be friends, because they weren't.
In this life, at least he has his father. He met him a year ago, and his manner and behavior toward him, plus his desire to give him everything he could, reminded him a lot of his parents on Earth.
He is a loving father who works day and night for him. Although he usually drowns himself in alcohol because of memories of his mother, he never neglects him and tries to do so behind Edward's back.
That's why... he only has one wish right now: he wants to give him what he never had. As a son, he wants to honor him by giving him the life he perhaps longs for.
He was the last to step onto the strange stream of water flowing from the rock, which, despite being able to spread further, stopped 30 meters away from it.
The other two had already moved on to step 2 and were trembling with fear as they took that last step.
Meanwhile, he took his first step and closed his eyes.
He felt a stream of water hit his feet hard, but it didn't destabilize him. This stream was transmitted through his body as electricity and, in milliseconds, ran from head to toe... but found nothing.
His heart tightened, but he took another step. He didn't need to think too much. If one step didn't wake anything up, then the other would.
The closer you get to the rock without awakening your summoned beast, the more frantic the water current becomes, making each step more difficult. Even so, thanks to that, you can search more deeply each time.
In the second step, which took the least time to take, he found the two who were still hesitating to take the third step.
This second step... also found nothing.
'Even though it searched more deeply.' Edward gritted his teeth, but smiled.
'I don't know why I came to this world, I don't even know if someone sent me here. But, I don't think you brought me here by pure chance... Right? The law of causality... How could it be broken?'
Unlike his companions beside him, who were suffering from mistrust and a lack of courage to take the third step, Edward was filled with confidence. He firmly believed that if he had come here after dying on earth, it was because something really had to happen.
It is the pure Law of Causality. Something happens because something made it happen!
And although he didn't know what that "something" was that had caused him to transmigrate to this world, he must have a plan for him... He had to be.
Even though they were just words he said to himself to have something to hold on to, they gave him more confidence. More faith. More determination.
And without thinking too much about it, he took the third step. It was the fastest one.
'Either he's full of determination... or he's simply lost hope,' thought the principal, shaking his head.
As the headmaster in charge of all the students at the Provincial Academy, he knew the story of each one of them, rich or poor, beast masters or not. It had become part of the job even before he was appointed headmaster, so he had a good understanding of this young man standing before him.
Young and poor, when he was born, his mother died, and only his father was left to raise him.
He understood the determination he might have, but he also understood if he had lost hope.
Life in this world could be surrounded by misfortune if you didn't wake up; that was a fact. So he decided just to watch... maybe a miracle would happen…
.
The stream of water hit him and ran through his whole body in an instant. He suddenly felt as if he were on a cloud, bearing a vast, terrifying weight on his shoulders and back.
'Did I fail? Is it expelling me?' A fleeting thought crossed his mind, but he tried to resist it as much as he could. His body seemed to be stuck to the ground like gum.
His breathing... despite the enormous weight he felt on his shoulders, was calm. As calm as a lake. There was no rippling whatsoever.
That surprised him, so he looked up.
Suddenly, massive clouds were around him. Above, a blue sky; below, a blue sea... in between, he is next to a bunch of clouds.
"I woke up!" His heart raced. This was the Spiritual World of Summoning he had heard so much about!
A sense of accomplishment hit him, but he wanted to see what he had awakened to.
Suddenly, a massive pillar of fire rose from a region of the blue sea beneath him and rose to the clouds, striking and piercing them until it was lost in the immensity of the blue sky.
"Fire?" He hadn't finished thinking when another huge pillar rose from another side.
Wind!
The third came quickly after the second...
Water!
The fourth was not long in coming either; it was a huge pillar of powerful rocks.
Earth!
'The four great elements...' His mind was filled with confusion. 'What the hell did I wake up?' he thought, confused.
If he looked closely, the four pillars rose above four different regions: north, south, east, and west, but he didn't understand what that could mean.
While he was confused, his eyes caught a strange movement around the four pillars, and suddenly, something flew towards him...
'This is...' His mind was filled with astonishment.
Meanwhile, the principal was in shock, with all his power unleashed, trying to contain the stream of water that had mercilessly expelled two of the three trying to wake up, and even to push the third...
'What the hell? Is the Mother Stone angry? What's going on?' He sensed a strange aura emerging from Edward's body.
'Did he awaken? And what is this strange aura?' Although in shock, he did not lose sight of his goal and continued to try to calm the waters.
It didn't take long for them to calm down when four sources of energy emerged from Edward's body and began to surround him, dancing merrily around him.
The fact that there were four, not one, left all the teachers around him stunned, including the principal.
'Four summons?' thought the principal. 'A Master of Multiple Beasts?' He swallowed hard...
There was no way he could be mistaken, but no one could have guessed that such talented individuals would emerge from the worst group in the last three years on their final attempt.
A Level 2 and Rank B. A Level 4 and Rank A... And now a Master of Multiple Beasts.
This type of master is even rarer than Robert, although that doesn't necessarily mean he's more talented; however, he will have greater power if he manages to evolve all his beasts.
In this case, there were four... an amazing number.
But even though being a Multiple Beast Master was something incredible and even rarer to see than a Level 5 Rank S, the director didn't feel excited.
Instead, his expression fell.
'Cultivating a Multiple Beast Master... I'm afraid we are not capable. Aigh. You have an unfortunate fate, little one.' He shook his head.
Although he thought that if he turned out to have low talent, at least he wouldn't feel so bad. After all, even with extraordinary talent, he would have to cultivate four beasts at the same time!
Few forces in the world could cultivate him, even if his talent were high.
Edward looked at the four things with a frown. He had seen them before... he didn't know what to say about them.
They slowly materialized, forming four little things a few centimeters long, each in a different color, indicating different attributes: crimson for fire. Green for wind. Brown for earth and blue for water.
But they were... miniature and harmless.
"C-caterpillars?" Even the principal stuttered when he saw them, and suddenly a burst of murmurs rose among the students.
"He's awakened four caterpillars..."
"This guy..."
"It couldn't be more pathetic, hahahaha." The burst of laughter came from Robert, while Elizabeth shook her head as if looking at something ridiculous.
Even little William was in shock. 'Really... the mother stone hates us poor people.'
One caterpillar would simply go unnoticed in this group because it meant nothing. After all, they were in the worst group in the Provincial Academy in recent years; it was normal for beasts like caterpillars, which could not evolve, to appear.
The appearance of a caterpillar was practically a sentence that you would have an E-rank Talent and a Level 1 Evolution Ability, meaning nothing at all.
Caterpillars don't even have power; at most, they grant affinity to a magic and a small increase in stats, but they themselves have no abilities.
But a Multiple Beast Master just got four!
Four!
Could it be any more pathetic? He has four chances to get a mighty beast to add to his own evolution, allowing him to evolve powerfully, but four caterpillars appear!
It was laughable and pathetic at the same time.
Edward thought so too when he saw it inside. He thought it couldn't be any more pathetic... but something made him think differently.
[Welcome to the Evolution System, Edward Lux.]
[You can evolve your Summoned Beasts by leveling them up, an easier and more perfect way to evolve them. They will not face bottlenecks or unnecessary stagnation.]