CHAPTER 152: 5 REALITIES

5 Realities

Everyone soon took a seat on the chairs in the living room, with Mateo and Veronica taking a single armchair each. Indo just sat on the rug while the group all took one large sofa, their beasts at their feet.

Except for Gale, Osho’s head was his nest.

"Right, so this is the real conversation I suppose?" Osho asked rhetorically, and the two Masters just nodded.

"What we spoke about on our way here was pretty much just us bringing the two of you up to speed. There’s a lot more you need to know that’ll be important to your stay in this college." Mateo started, and the group listened intently as he raised three fingers.

"5 things. There are non-negotiable. Not exactly rules, but truths you will need to learn, understand, and apply if you don’t just wanna survive, but thrive here." He began, and Veronica leaned forward in her armchair.

"And we truly mean survive. This college isn’t something safe, quaint little training camp, but I’m sure some of you already figured that out by now." She said with a smile. And the group glanced at each other before nodding. Indo looked like he wanted to say something but held himself, and Osho felt Gale adjust himself on his head, paying attention as well.

"First of all," Mateo started, tapping his thumb against the armrest. "As per the terms provided during your admission, you guys will periodically receive training from fully-fledged Legendary Rank Tamers. Not assistants, not washed-up veterans, not guest lecturers. Real Legends who are still active, still dangerous, and still often partake in missions you only hear about in stories, and I’m sure you guys think that sounds incredible."

"It is." Indo chimed in, his voice a deep rumble. Mateo cast the dinosaur-turned-humanoid a glance before continuing.

"Which is good, and if you’re excited about it, keep it that way. But you also need to understand what that means. A Legendary Tamer doesn’t think like an Expert, Elite, Master, or even Grandmaster-Rank Tamer. Even if they had the potential, they needed to get through hell to reach that point. So if they tell you to spar, they expect you to fight like your life is on the line. If they tell you to summon your beasts, chances are that they will ensure YOU take damage and not the beast. They won’t hold your hand, they won’t care about your comfort zones. No, they only care about your ability to keep up." As he said this, Veronica crossed one leg over the other, the fabric of her pants highlighting her thighs tantalizingly.

"Some of them won’t care about your feelings. Heck, some might not even bother to remember your names, unless you prove yourselves worthy of being remembered. What they will remember is how you perform. If you collapse during a session, don’t expect pity, expect a foot nudging you to get back up, and if you’d beast gives out?" She gave a shrug, a dry smile on her face. "That’s on you."

Osho nodded, as he vaguely remembered an old saying he’d come across a while ago.

"Legends teach through pressure. The pressure that cracks coal and makes diamonds." He mumbled

"Or dust." Veronica added.

The room was silent for a moment, the group digesting the weight of the warning. Then, Mateo lifted his second finger.

"Second, you aren’t prisoners here. You’ll have freedom to explore the campus and even certain other zones. Within reason, of course." This made everyone perk up, with Gale tilting his head in a silent question.

"Outer zones?" Irene inquired.

"That’s right," Mateo nodded. "The College controls massive pieces of land. Training fields, restricted forests, artificial environments, and even pocket dimensions that are way more dangerous than where this area is." He gestured around them. "Most students never see half of it. But you guys will. In fact, chances are that you’ll be spurred to check them out." Veronice nodded in agreement.

"I’m sure the importance of knowing how to traverse the wilderness has been hammered into your brains constantly. You learn more about your beast when you’re out of controlled environments and face real danger. You might encounter other Tamers practicing and learn new things. If they don’t kill you, that is. You may even come across opportunities you’d never get sitting in a lecture hall."

"But," Mateo cut in. "Don’t mistake freedom for safety. The college won’t wrap you in a weighted blanket and whisper sweet words. Like Veronica said, you can get killed, both by beasts and tamers alike. It’s rare, but it happens, and I won’t pretend like this college is some perfect paradise, because we never said it was. If you stray too far without any proper preparation, you might get severely injured, or just not return." Indo finally looked up at the group.

"To summarize, you can go anywhere as long as you aren’t stupid about it." He said.

"Well, no." Veronica shook her head and put her hand on Indo’s head. "You can go there your access level allows. You guys have a pretty high access level by default due to your potential, but it’s not absolute, and you can still improve it, depending on your performance. Do well? Restrictions lift. Do badly? Doors get slammed in your face."

"Sounds fair." Ellie shrugged. "Natural selection style."

There was a brief silence.

"Third." Mateo raised his third finger and looked straight at Osho. "As per the agreement, Osho has special clearance to run his little... projects." Everyone glanced at Osho who smiled slightly.

"We know you don’t know the full details of what was granted so allow us to enlighten you," Veronica said with unmasked amusement. "Most students caught performing unauthorized experiments, usually ones involving beasts, either get put on probation or expelled. But Osho here has been granted permission." Then her smile turned sharp.

"However, while we may not know what your experiments entail, do know that whatever it may be might echo, and if we sniff out that what you’re doing is crossing a line, then, well, you better hope your potential is enough to warrant you keeping your head on your shoulders." The big sister aura around Veronica faded slightly to reveal something that was undoubtedly terrifying, and Osho felt Gale bristle through their bond while the eyes of his friends narrowed, but he just smiled.

"That’s fair." He just nodded, finding no need to contend with them.

"Good." Mateo nodded with satisfaction before raising a fourth finger. "Fourth, this college will test your bonds with your beasts constantly. I don’t just mean battle drills or response testing. I mean psychological evaluations, field trials, endurance tests, trust exercises, and so on. You’re gonna learn real fast whether your beast will die for you or if you’re willing to die for your beast. Or if both of you will bolt at the first sign of trouble." Hearing this, Osho felt the impulse to say that such a thing wasn’t a worry with how much stuff he and Gale had been through despite how brief they’d been together, and he was sure the others held a similar sentiment.

However, he held himself.

’Our bond is strong, but it can be stronger.’ He thought, sadly, Gale didn’t agree with the insinuation.

"Ree!" He screeched and flapped his wings in obvious displeasure, and Veronica gave a slightly amused look at the bird but didn’t address his reaction. Sugil let out a low hiss, and Clyde growled while Blackie and Inagi narrowed their eyes.

"Feisty. Hopefully you can back up that defiance when the time comes." She said lightly before continuing seriously.

"We’ve seen students with incredible power and potential fail because they treated their beasts like tools. If your bond is too shallow, it will crack under pressure. But if it’s strong, the benefits will simply be too good to let go of."

"Some of these tests are brutal," Mateo admitted. "You might have to order your beastbinto danger it doesn’t understand. You might have to follow ITS instincts over yours. Failure to communicate means you both fail." He shrugged.

"So it’s a test of character." Kurt said dryly.

"Yup." Veronica nodded.

"Fifth," Mateo said, his tone darkening. "Nonone tells freshers this, but this college isn’t united."

Everyone blinked.

"There are factions," He continued. "Some are official. Tied to different combat divisions, research branches, political sponsors, etc. Some, though, are unofficial. Cliques of students with their own agendas. You’ll hear terms like ’Dynasty Program’, ’The Crest Initiative’, or ’The Wardens’. Some of these groups may try to recruit or sabotage you, depending on if your intentions align with theirs..."

"Or simply get in the way." Veronica finished as she looked them over.

"You’re talented, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. However, that means you’re already on someone’s radar. Watch who you trust. Some students will approach you with a smile while thinking about how to cripple you behind your back." She shrugged.

"So politics?" Samantha offered.

"Mhm." Mateo confirmed. "The real sort. The sort where favors may be more important than grades. You’ll see people rise faster than they deserve because they have the right name or sponsor. And you’ll see people being penalized for being in the wrong place at the wrong time." Kurt leaned back with a sour expression.

"Sounds less like a college and more like a den of snakes." He grumbled.

"Welcome to higher education." Osho said dryly. At this, Veronica’s tone softened a little.

"It’s not all bad. There are people here who genuinely you to see you grow. But you need to learn quickly who’s helping you and who’s playing you, because it goes without saying what might happen if you don’t." She let the words hang, and everyone frowned.

"So," Mateo clapped. "Legendary instructors, freedom to explore that may or may not get you killed, Osho’s little science corner, bond-testing, and politics. Those are your 5 realities. Get used to them, because pretending they’re not true won’t save you later." Then he tilted his head before saying frankly.

"And this is just my opinion, but make use of every means at your disposal. All the benefits you have due to your potential, use them, and use them well. Your ultimate goal is to get stronger and graduate. Do that, and nothing else matters." He finished, and the group was silent for a moment as they digested everything.

After a minute, Veronica smiled.

"Now, who wants to get their new beast eggs?"