This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The evaluation of Kain's performance during the recent beast tide was surprisingly thorough considering he hadn't felt as though he was being examined the entire time.

The assessment contained notes from nearby professors and high-ranking guards, they meticulously reviewed the actions of every student and guard involved in the crisis.

Kain's contributions were highlighted in detail and were fortunately mostly commendatory, reflecting his resilience and ability to work well in a team.

Some of the comments provided by the professors and guard captains were as follows:

"Kain's performance was marked by his effective management of the defensive line, particularly in the absence of critical reinforcements. His use of a poisonous fog to control and weaken the enemy forces proved crucial in stabilizing the frontline. Such control abilities will be useful in future endeavours representing the school.

Further investment from the college into strengthening his abilities will not be wasted."

"As a guard, I commend his ability to maintain composure and drive under duress, which played a significant role in preventing breaches and minimizing civilian casualties."

"As a leader myself, I commend his burgeoning leadership qualities, especially his efforts in rallying and encouraging his fellow first-years during the most desperate moments. His quick adaptation to the shifting battlefield dynamics, including the successful coordination with second-year students to address the green-grade spider threat, was exemplary."

The average grade they gave Kain was an overall evaluation of 92 out of 100.

Kain was pleased with the largely positive feedback, however… 'Why 92? None of them even mentioned any critiques. Are they all just like one of those annoying teachers who don't believe in handing out grades of 100 because nobody is perfect?!'

Regardless of his gripes, he was happy with the large reward. 2000 credits were worth dozens of normal missions, and even several challenging Black Missions. He now had more than enough to get Bea's evolutionary materials. Not to mention that it didn't even include all of the credits he could obtain from exchanging the materials he'd collect tomorrow.

Adding the credits rewarded from his previous Black Mission, smaller group and solo missions he'd taken up since then, and materials he'd exchanged from said missions, Kain now had over 3000 credits.

'I've never felt so rich!' Kain thought with moved tears in his eyes.

Looking at the System Kain was also pleasantly surprised by how much GP he'd managed to raise after 3 days of mass killings. He currently had 13 550 GP. Well over the 10 000 GP, he needed to upgrade the System.

Although it was a little short of what he needed to exchange for the B-level spiritual skill tome (800 GP), Wheel of Fortune ticket for lab equipment (2000 GP), and the Enhancement Elixir (1500 GP) after upgrading, he could still buy any combination of two of them.

He chose to make the purchase now since the last System upgrade lasted 2 days and he wasn't sure how long this one would be. What if the System Shop had already refreshed by the time he had access again?

After thinking only for a short while he decided to exchange for the skill tome and Wheel of Fortune ticket.

He eliminated the Enhancement Elixir for two reasons:

Firstly, unlike the skill tome that would be a permanent boost to his skills and help him in the re-ranking, the elixir was a one-time use item that Kain wouldn't even be able to use during the re-ranking due to elixirs being banned.

Secondly, the enhancement elixir is a huge boost to Kain's spiritual power and physical abilities, but since he hasn't awoken any powerful gift yet, nor does he have any particularly powerful offensive spiritual skills, most of Kain's combat strength relies on his contracts. In fact, Kain's main usage of spiritual power is in driving the Bea mist.

Even if his spiritual power is boosted, it likely wouldn't have a huge impact on his combat abilities.

After making the exchange for both items, Kain didn't immediately use the Wheel of Fortune ticket in case this upgrade also rewards him with lab equipment for free.

He'd be pissed if he spent 2000 GP on a ticket and won a piece of lab equipment that would have been rewarded for free in the upgrade. At least after the upgrade, hopefully any redundant items will be removed as options from the wheel.

*Ding. Sensing the Host's intention to consume 10 000 GP to upgrade the system. In order to complete the upgrade, the System will be unavailable for 7 days. Do you still wish to proceed?*

'Proceed'

After completing all he'd wanted for the night, Kain closed his eyes and went to sleep. He would have another influx of income after exchanging his materials for school credits and Celestial Dollars in the next few days. Then he could put some of his long-awaited plans into motion.

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The next day…

Kain went to the Exchange Hall and sold many of the materials he collected from orange-grade and yellow-grade spiritual creatures. The total income was an astonishing additional 5000 credits. And that's without exchanging some of the materials, like the colourless crystal from the Whisper Wisp that he had killed with Kairos, that he hadn't yet identified.

Or exchanging items like the Sanguine Purity Crystal that he could see coming into use in the future. He also retained many materials from orange-grade spiritual creatures that he planned to exchange for actual money. After all, it costs a lot of money in order to start a business.

With over 7000 credits to spend, Kain immediately exchanged a little more than 1000 for Bea's evolutionary materials. He also found in the item inventory of the Exchange hall a sparkling white crystal that, according to the description, was obtained from the Green-grade mental-attribute spider that the second-years killed. The one that had Kain envious of its abilities.

According to the description, this crystal was the source of those mental threads that allowed it to turn hundreds of spiritual creatures and guards into puppets instantly.

It cost 2000 credits, a steep jump in price compared to the other materials considering that it was sourced from a more powerful creature.

It could also serve as an evolutionary material for Bea, one even more powerful than his current plan. Unfortunately with the System out of commission, he couldn't run a Simulation.

However, given his excess of school credits he still chose to be safe rather than sorry later. If he waited until the System upgrade was completed to make the exchange and it was already gone, he'd regret it deeply. Not to mention, if the material didn't result in a good evolution, he could still return it back to the school for credits.

He probably won't get a full refund, only around 70-80% back, but it was still better to secure the item from now.

Kain then went to the spiritual plant section of the inventory and purchased a multitude of orange-grade spiritual plants and seeds. He was going to put his previous plans of growing his own spiritual plant field into action.

Finally, Kain went to a section containing an item that he'd long wanted to buy but had been unable to afford. Not to mention that he'd only know how to buy this item from the school, seeing as how he'd never seen it for purchase elsewhere. There were probably channels, but he didn't have them. Not to mention that the quality of this item coming from the school would be guaranteed.

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