A Divine Beast's Awakening
Wooong!
The instant the divinity touched its body, the kitten gave a thin, full-body shiver, savoring the sensation to its very core.
Its white fur took on a glossy sheen, and before long, light began to ripple across it.
"It seems this little one is having an important moment of awakening as well."
Farahan said, waving his folding fan.
"Yes — this is the moment it finally becomes aware that it is a Divine Beast, ge-ya."
Simon furrowed his brow slightly. It felt as though all of his divinity was being siphoned away, drawn straight toward Byeolya in a single long pull. And then—
Whaaaang!
The kitten floated up into the air, weightless, and was swallowed by a brilliant halo of light.
'There it is!'
Simon's eyes gleamed with anticipation. The cat's form began to warp, its shape distorting as if it were about to transform into something else entirely—
Pop!
The light vanished, and it dropped right back onto the floor, exactly as it had been.
"Huh?"
Simon blinked in confusion.
Nothing had changed at all.
Byeolya hopped in place a few times, then trotted over to Simon and nuzzled against his face, meowing insistently.
'How did you do that? That was fun! Do it again!'
That was what the kitten seemed to be saying.
"P-Professor."
Simon looked up at Farahan.
"The Divine Beast didn't transform. Did I do something wrong?"
But there was, in fact, a deep smile spreading across Farahan's lips.
"Even better!"
"I'm sorry?"
Farahan could hardly contain his excitement.
"This cat is clearly no ordinary Divine Beast! In this old man's judgment, there is a chance it may transform into objects — or even into unknown entities."
"...Objects? But it's an animal. Is that really possible?"
Farahan nodded.
"Have you heard of Akan, said to be the greatest Arch Paladin on the continent? He transforms his Drake into the form of a flying airship and rides it through the skies. An object-transformation like that requires considerable enlightenment from the Divine Beast itself. The reason this cat failed, I suspect, is simply that it's too young and too inexperienced."
Simon tried the same technique on Kkaman, who was sitting right beside him, but the attempt failed just the same. The light flared up, died back down, and the cat dropped to the floor with a thud, unchanged.
"Ngh, this isn't easy. Akalion managed it on the first try."
While he was at it, Simon poured divinity into Akalion as well. The bear, which had looked like a little teddy bear, swelled to several times his size and transformed into a hulking, muscle-bound bear.
—Meow!
The kittens that had been crowding in to pick on Akalion took one look at his new bulk and scattered in fright, hiding behind Simon's legs and trembling.
The newly enlarged Akalion snorted proudly through his nostrils. The tide of battle had completely turned.
'Getting it right after seeing the Divine Beast ignition demonstrated only once is remarkable in itself.'
Farahan gazed at Simon with a contented smile before speaking.
"Though it failed today, the potential of these Divine Beasts has only grown, so don't be impatient. I'd say transformation won't be far off."
"Thank you, Professor!"
Simon bowed his head.
"Then I'll have to adjust the lesson plan a little. From now on, we'll devote more time to Divine Beast Studies, and the cats will get some training as well. We'll keep attempting the transformation until these little ones develop a proper sense of themselves as Divine Beasts."
Simon nodded.
"Yes, sir! I'm in your hands, Professor."
"Then today, let's go over a very simple basic attack technique using Akalion—"
At that point, Farahan glanced at the watch on Simon's wrist.
"I would love to teach you, but time will not permit it."
"Sorry?"
Simon hurriedly checked the time and his face went slack with shock.
He had no idea where the hours had gone. A full two hours had already vanished.
'...Ugh! I wanted to learn a Divine Beast technique before I left!'
It was a shame, but he had to prepare for this morning's Toxicology class. It was performance-assessment season — every single class counted.
"Off you go, then."
Farahan said, already gathering the kittens into his arms. Simon recalled Akalion into his divine subspace.
"Take good care of the kittens! I'll let Kami know too!"
"Of course."
Simon flared his Jet-Black and started running toward the school.
The kittens meowed and tried to chase after Simon, but Farahan held them back in his arms.
"It seems these little ones have already chosen their master."
Farahan smiled contentedly, and the aggrieved kittens bit down on his fingers.
* * *
'Whoa, I got here fast.'
Simon figured that if anyone had been timing his run, it would have shattered the record. He arrived at the lecture hall in the Poisonous Magic Hall with a few minutes to spare before class.
'Is Dick not here yet?'
He was glancing around for Dick's seat, expecting his friend to have arrived first, when he noticed the lecture hall was in an uproar.
"Waaah!"
"So cute!"
There was always at least one student in every class who brought in something bizarre to get attention.
This time, the trend was a pair of event-only rabbit-ear hoods — the kind that covered your whole head. Students kept trying them on each other and dissolving into giggles.
"Wouldn't these look great on Kami too? She should try them!"
"OMG! These were literally made for Kami!"
Suddenly a crowd of students swarmed around Camibarez, trying to force the hood onto her head.
"Y-yes?"
Surrounded all at once, Camibarez flushed crimson in flustered panic. But at the sight of the rabbit ears, her interest was clearly piqued — her little bat wings fluttered.
"Just once! Wear them just once! Pleeease~"
Worn down by the pleading, Camibarez pretended to relent and put the hood on.
"L-like this...?"
When Camibarez tilted her head with the rabbit-ear hood on, piercing squeals of delight erupted from every direction.
"Kami, you're SO cute!"
The girls wailed theatrically and mobbed her with hugs, while the boys stood slack-jawed, leaking goofy uncle-laughs.
"Hey, hey! Back off, you guys! Stop pestering Kami!"
Hearing the commotion, Meilin came running, sky-blue hair whipping behind her. At her arrival, the surrounding girls exchanged guilty looks and hurriedly protested.
"W-we weren't bothering her!"
"Shut it."
Meilin growled.
"You can clearly see she's uncomfortable, and you're still crowding her like this. What is wrong with you?"
"Meilin?"
But the moment Meilin laid eyes on Camibarez in the rabbit-ear hood, she clutched at her heart and crumpled to the floor.
"M-Meilin! What's wrong?!"
"......"
Sh-she couldn't breathe.
This was genuinely lethal cuteness.
"Hmm."
Just then, Jamie, the class president, let out a sly little smile and broached the subject.
"Meilin, wouldn't these look good on you too?"
"She's right, she's right!"
When the arrows suddenly swung her way, Meilin panicked and shouted.
"Hey! Why am I suddenly in this?!"
"Oh my, did you think you could just sit there and watch? Everyone here has tried them on already."
Meilin scooted backward on her rear, inch by inch.
"N-none of your business! And I didn't even see you guys wear them!"
"Aww, come on~"
Seizing the moment, Dick cut in, waggling his eyebrows mischievously.
"You're skipping out NOW? Coward! Where's your honor as a warrior of the martial world?!"
"Not you, you peasant!"
Even Camibarez pulled off the rabbit-ear hood and pressed it into Meilin's hands with both of hers.
"I want to see Meilin's bunny ears too!"
"...Ugh."
Red-faced, Meilin finally took the hood with trembling hands.
She stood there agonizing over the rabbit hood as though she were standing at the great crossroads of her life, when a male student quietly edged closer to the spectating crowd.
"S-Simon!"
When Simon gave a casual little wave, Meilin's face flushed to its absolute limit and she shrieked.
"Y-you, get out of heeere!"
"Huh? Why?"
Jamie leaned in with an impish grin.
"Weren't you just about to put them on? What, you're shy in front of Simon?"
"HEY!!"
Meilin fired a flash of light from her eyes that said shut your mouth, but Jamie breezily ignored it and looked back at the group.
"Then, to be fair, next up is Simon. Okay?"
Simon smiled easily.
"Sure, why not."
"WAAAAAAAH!"
Now he truly had no way out — he simply had to wear them.
Meilin stood clutching the hood, trembling from head to toe, her ears burning red, until Cindy Vivace frowned and beckoned impatiently.
"Quit stalling and put them on already. I need to see Simon in the bunny ears."
Cindy and several of the other girls were already waiting for the next turn.
The instant a mortified Meilin went 'Nngh!' and lifted the rabbit-ear hood over her head—
"Ah!"
"The professor's coming!"
At those words, the students bolted to their seats at blistering speed. Cindy clicked her tongue.
"Aw, just as it was getting good."
"You're dead, Cindy. For real."
"Sore loser, much~"
The students settled into their seats, and right on their heels, the Toxicology professor Byeolya strode in with her hole-riddled coat slung over her shoulder.
"Everyone survive the break alright!"
The students greeted her warmly in return.
She tossed her coat aside with a flick.
"What's this, having fun without me? I could hear you all laughing from clear down the hall."
The students dodged the question with embarrassed chuckles.
Soon the teaching assistants filed in as well and stood at attention in the back.
"Right, right. Playing hard is important too when you play! So — shall we move on to a nice, serious talk about your performance assessment?"
Performance assessment.
At the weight of those words, the students' faces hardened.
'...It's going to be poison-eating, isn't it.'
'Probably whoever downs the strongest poison gets the A+.'
That was the assessment most of them were imagining.
Byeola accepted a document from one of the TAs.
"The previous Toxicology professor barely bothered with performance assessments last semester. So from here on out, expect heavily weighted ones, one after another. Buckle up. Today is the first."
She bared her jagged, triangular teeth in a grin.
"A venomous monster hunt. Worth thirty percent of your assessment!"
Thirty percent!
The students' eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
"If you're thinking this is just an ordinary monster hunt, you're dead wrong. We're only going after the nasty ones — the monsters each territory has all but given up on hunting."
Venomous monsters were known to carry a danger rating a full tier higher than their raw strength would suggest.
Naturally, it was because of the poison. Even a successful kill meant nothing if the hunter caught a faceful of venom — countless hunters had been left fighting for their lives, or worse.
"And the monsters you'll be hunting have all been specifically selected because the venom resistance and antibodies you've built up in class won't work on them. In other words, if you get poisoned, you'll be hovering between life and death just like any ordinary civilian."
'Yep. Nothing at this school is ever easy.'
Simon nodded along to his own grim conclusion.
"There are two evaluation criteria."
Byeola held up two fingers.
"First, whether your hunt succeeds. Second, the quality of your antidote. You'll extract the monster's venom, brew an antidote right there on-site, drink it, and then — only then — bring down the monster."
Click.
As the TA opened a case, an array of colorful ingredients could be seen, each sealed in its own vial.
"We've prepared a basic antidote kit for you. Of course, that alone won't be enough. The rest of the antidote ingredients, you'll have to procure on-site."
Hunting venomous monsters whose existing antibodies wouldn't work, and brewing antidotes in the field on top of it.
True to a thirty-percent assessment, the difficulty was substantial.
"Now, now — don't wet yourselves, don't wet yourselves."
Byeola waved her hands at the students' ashen faces.
"If you just apply everything you've learned so far, you'll pass without any real trouble. Exam time is two hours from now. A teleportation circle will take you straight to the site. You'll have eight hours to bring down your venomous monster and complete its antidote — do both, and you pass. That's all."
At that moment, a hand shot straight up.
"Jamie Victoria, Professor! How many of us are going? ...It seems like we'd need at least four."
The other students quickly nodded along in agreement.
"Four? The nerve of you, trying to coast through a performance assessment!"
Byeola smirked.
"You're going in pairs. Exactly two!"