When Jonah and Vanessa reappeared on the teleportation platform, the supervising teachers stared at them as if they'd seen ghosts.

"You're… back?" one of the instructors stammered, looking from their clean, untroubled faces to the clock on the wall. They had been gone for less than five hours. The exam was supposed to last for twenty-four hours.

"Mission complete," Vanessa said, her voice cool. She placed their collection bag on the table. Inside were the metallic woodpecker feathers, a softly glowing clump of moss, and the huge, still-warm heart of the Raging Boar

The whole room went quiet. A few other groups had dragged themselves back, scuffed up and grumbling, with barely one item to show for all their effort.

Jonah and Vanessa were not just the first to finish; they had completed the entire test in record-breaking time, and without a single scratch on them.

They were an impossibility.

The instructors were whispering, stealing glances at Jonah and Vanessa like they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Then a sharp, familiar voice broke through the murmurs.

"Excellent work."

Sergeant Seraph waited at the edge of the platform, and for the first time ever, Jonah saw what might have been a smile. Not a full one – just the barest softening of her iron-hard face. To anyone else, she would have looked as stern as ever. To Jonah, it looked like she was about to throw a party.

She marched straight past the other teachers like they weren't even there. She fixed Jonah with that piercing stare of hers. "Report?"

"Two new essences acquired, ma'am," Jonah said, his voice steady. "The woodpecker and the boar. As ordered."

Seraph's smile widened by the barest fraction. It was somehow more intimidating than comforting. "Well done," she said, pressing a small, velvet-lined box into his palm. "A reward from the Headmaster. For a successful field test."

Jonah opened it. Inside, resting on a bed of silk, was a small, brilliant blue crystal. It hummed with a clean, potent energy that made the mana in his own body tingle.

"A Mana Crystal," Seraph explained quietly, for his ears only. "It will help you recover your energy after a draining synthesis. Make sure you use it wisely."

She gave him a final, sharp nod – more meaningful than any words, then turned and walked away.

As the instructors dismissed them, the whispers started. Students pointed and stared, their voices hushed. How had they done it? Who was that quiet kid with the White Badge? No one had ever seen him in a combat class. The Tamer theory was the most popular one, but it didn't make sense. What kind of Tamer could take down a Raging Boar that fast?

Jonah tried to disappear into himself, wishing he could melt away from all the sudden stares. But Vanessa was having none of it. The moment they were out of the main hall, she grabbed his arm and pulled him into an empty side corridor.

She spun him around, her dark eyes blazing with an intensity that was even more intimidating than Seraph's.

"Alright. No more silly games," she said, her voice low and demanding. "I've been your partner. I've been your study buddy. And I have watched you do things that are flat-out impossible. No Tamer in the world can command three different, unnatural creatures with a single mind. They are not your pets. They are your limbs. They work together because they are you."

She took a step closer, poking him in the chest with her finger. "That coordinated attack in the canyon… that wasn't a Tamer and his beasts. That was a general commanding an army. My mind. Now you are going to use yours and tell me the truth."

Jonah looked at her – at her quick mind, her steady eyes, and how she'd trusted him completely back in The Preserve. She hadn't doubted him for a moment. She hadn't questioned him. She'd pulled off her side of the plan without a hitch. He couldn't keep feeding her half-truths. She'd earned the real story

He let out a long breath, like he was blowing out every hidden fear and lie he'd kept bottled up.

"You're right," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "I'm not a Tamer."

Vanessa waited, her expression unreadable.

"I don't find them," Jonah said, meeting her eyes. "I create them." He thought back to the name he'd come up with, a name for his unique craft. It felt right. "I'm a Beast Weaver."

The revelation hung in the air between them. Vanessa's eyes widened as all the puzzle pieces in her brilliant mind – the weird dorm room, the strange creatures, the impossible teamwork, his secret training with Seraph, slammed into place. It formed a picture that was more incredible than anything she could have imagined.

She didn't flinch. She didn't feel jealous, either. Instead, this big, amazed smile started to bloom on her face. Her earlier excitement about their academic partnership was nothing compared to this. This was the discovery of a lifetime.

"Beast Weaver," she whispered, testing the words, the sound full of awe. "A new class of Elite. One that isn't in any textbook in the entire world." She looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. "My god, Jonah. We have so much to study."

In that moment, Jonah felt a deep wave of relief flow through him. The secret he'd been carrying since the Awakening felt lighter now, as if the weight had finally been lifted. He wasn't just some anomaly anymore. He wasn't a mistake. He was a Beast Weaver.

He had a name for what he was.

And standing right in front of him, her eyes sparkling with the thrill of a thousand unanswered questions, he had his first true ally. His journey at the Academy was no longer a solo mission in the shadows. A new path was opening up before him, and for the first time, he wouldn't be walking it alone.