Fame, even a little bit of it, was uncomfortable. Jonah learned that the hard way at the official debriefing for The Preserve exam.

All the first-year students were gathered again in the main auditorium. The Head Instructor stood there, both proud and completely stunned.

"While many of you performed admirably," he announced, his voice booming across the hall, "one team has set a new standard for excellence. A new Academy record, in fact."

He paused for dramatic effect.

"Completing all objectives in four hours and fifty-two minutes… please congratulate Jonah and Vanessa!"

The auditorium filled with polite claps, though everyone looked a bit confused. Jonah felt his face turn beet red. He just wanted to sink into the floor. Vanessa stood up and nodded, calm and proud, like she'd always known she'd get this moment.

"In recognition of their remarkable achievement," the instructor went on, "the Academy is awarding both students an extra five thousand Academy Credits.."

This time, the applause was replaced by gasps and loud whispers. Five thousand credits! That was a fortune. It was enough to buy high-grade training materials, private lessons, or even request a dorm room upgrade for an entire semester. It was a life-changing amount of the Academy's internal currency.

The extra attention was like standing alone on a stage, a giant light fixed on Jonah. As they left the auditorium, he could feel the eyes on him. He could hear the questions buzzing just out of earshot.

"Who is that Jonah guy?"

"A Tamer? No way. I heard his beast is just some weird little bird."

"He's a White Badge! How did he beat the Warrior teams?"

"Did you see him with Sergeant Seraph? Maybe he's military intelligence or something…"

The suspicion was a tangible thing, a cloud of curiosity that now followed him everywhere. He'd been so careful to hide it, but now his own victory had put his secret at risk. Later that day, Vanessa showed up at his dorm room. The moment he closed the door to the Vivarium behind her, she got straight to the point.

"This is a problem," she said, pacing back and forth on the mossy floor. "Our success has made you a target for gossip. And gossip leads to questions. Questions lead to investigation. Your secret is too valuable to be discovered because some idiot with a big mouth gets too curious."

Jonah nodded grimly. "So what do we do?"

Vanessa turned to him, eyes sharp and thoughtful, already piecing it all together. Her mind was already working on a solution. "People are gonna ask questions. We can't stop that. So we give them something to believe. Something that sounds real. We need a solid cover story."

"A cover story?"

"Exactly," she said. "We need a legitimate reason to be spending so much time together. Something that explains our magic teamwork and gives us an excuse to be in the library or out near the beast pens without raising alarm."

She started counting on her fingers, her eyes sharp with focus. "First: I'm a top-ranked Mage, and everyone knows I'm obsessed with weird magic theory. Second: You're the 'Tamer' who always got strange, one-of-a-kind beasts. Third: We clearly make a killer team."

"So here's our story: we're working on a joint Research Project. We're studying how rare beasts interact with advanced elemental magic – how their energies mix, clash, or sync up. "It's obscure enough that no one will dig too deep, but official enough to shut down questions. It explains us. It protects us."

Jonah stared at her, amazed. In five minutes, she had constructed a perfectly logical, almost-true narrative that would satisfy even the most nosy instructor. It was brilliant.

"So… we become official research partners?" he asked.

"We already were," she corrected him. "Now we just have a name for it. It will protect your secret while allowing us to continue our work. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Jonah said, a wave of relief washing over him. He wasn't just hiding anymore. He had a strategy. They were co-conspirators now, united against the prying eyes of the Academy.

With their alliance formalized, Jonah felt he could finally show her what he'd been working on. He closed his eyes and focused on his Beast Space. He pulled forth the two new essences he had acquired in The Preserve.

Two motes of light appeared, floating in the air of the Vivarium. One was a sharp, silver-gra light that pulsed with the feeling of piercing wind. The other was a big, furious, blood-red orb, swirling with wild, untamed energy.

[Iron-Billed Woodpecker Essence (Air, Piercing)]

[Raging Boar Essence (Earth, Strength, Fury)]

"Vanessa's eyes lit up, her mind already racing with questions, curiosity drowning out any other thought." She stepped closer, cautiously examining the two floating essences.

"Incredible," she said. "The woodpecker essence… it feels so clean, so focused. A single concept, perfectly expressed." Her gaze then shifted to the furious red orb. She flinched back as if from a physical heat. "But the boar… my goodness. It's not clean at all. It's a mess."

"A mess?" Jonah asked.

"A beautiful, powerful mess," she clarified, her fascination written all over her face. "It's not just 'strength.' I can feel rage in it, stubbornness, a primal will to survive. It's so much more potent than anything else in your collection. The energy it's giving off is on a completely different level."

Jonah nodded. He had felt it too. The Boar essence was a prize, but it was also a wild, untamed thing.

"So, what's next?" Vanessa asked, her gaze shifting between the essences and Jonah. "What's our first project as an official research team?"

Jonah looked at the furious, swirling red orb. He knew what he had to do. His next synthesis wouldn't be an evolution. It wouldn't be a simple combination. He needed to analyze and understand this new, powerful ingredient before he could ever hope to use it.

"Our first project," Jonah said, a spark of determination igniting in his voice, "is to figure out exactly what's inside that ball of fury. We're going to dissect the soul of the Raging Boar."