Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 263

Dawn brought a palpable change to the academy's atmosphere.

The hallways, normally organized with students of the same year maintaining their usual routines on slightly different schedules, now teemed with a mixture of uniforms from all eight different years.

But it wasn't just the year colors that differentiated the students.

Performance levels were also distinguishable by the emblems they wore on their lapels: the simple iron badges of all first-years and some second-years; the bronze emblems in their two variants for the intermediates from the second year onward; and the scarcer but resplendent silver emblems adorning the more advanced students from the third year up.

Gold students were generally surrounded by others, creating small galaxies of admirers. They were exceedingly rare, and it had always been difficult to approach them.

Their emblems caught the light, drawing eyes like beacons. But they were not the best…

Of platinum rank, there were only five students in their final years, engaged in special assignments or work, and they weren't often seen among the common students.

Their presence was so unusual that whispers followed in their wake, their emblems gleaming with an almost otherworldly luminescence.

However, today it was possible to see some of these rare academy members. Today...

Battle Week had begun.

In the corners of the main gardens, external auxiliaries and healers with curative beasts established treatment stations. Their green and blue robes contrasted sharply with the austere black of the academic uniforms as they meticulously organized vials of potions and magical herb bandages.

"Look at that," Taro pointed as they walked toward the central notice board, excitement raising his voice an octave. "They even brought someone with a Medical Mermaid, this year from the start."

Ren followed his gaze to a woman with the lower half of her body transformed into a tail of iridescent scales. Her hands glowed with a blue-green aura as her tamer calibrated instruments.

"Mermaids are rare," Min commented, his eyes wide with wonder. "I heard there are fewer than ten in the entire city."

"And all of them work for the castle," added Liu, his last year experience evident in his knowing tone. "For the academy to have managed to bring one means they're expecting injuries this year... as always."

Min nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his amphibian beast briefly phasing into visibility with his anxiety. "Is it really that intense?"

"You have no idea," Liu replied, a grim smile forming on his lips. There was a certain pride in his voice, the satisfaction of being the veteran among them. "Last year, three high-ranking students lost limbs while facing the fifth-year Silver beasts because a teacher lost control for a second. Of course, they recovered the limbs from the beast's stomach after other professors intervened and killed it, but they spent weeks in recovery to get them reattached."

Taro and Min audibly gulped, exchanging looks of apprehension. Their beasts unconsciously manifested further, responding to their tamers' emotions.

♢♢♢♢

The crowd densified as they approached the main plaza.

Students from all years had gathered, their beasts partially manifested in an unconscious display of intimidation. The air itself seemed charged with mana, the competing energies creating subtle currents that Ren could perceive through his mushrooms' enhanced sensitivity.

A final-year student passed close to them, his skin covered by a pattern of silver feathers that captured the morning light. His eyes, transformed into those of a hawk, scrutinized the crowd with supernatural acuity, seeming to catalog every detail in an instant.

"Tian Xingwu," Liu murmured with reverence, his voice dropping to an awed whisper. "Silver 3, eighth year, everyone wants to know if he's going to be able to evolve until Gold 1 to become the third Gold rank student in the school. His Greater Steel Hawk is legendary. He earned his Platinum student emblem by finding the best materials in gathering for six consecutive years."

Behind Tian walked other advanced students, moving with the casual confidence of apex predators. Among them, Ren noticed a girl whose right arm had completely transformed into a stone claw etched with blue runes.

The murmur of the crowd gradually died down when Director Ignatius ascended the stage in front of the notice board. His phoenix was partially manifested, creating a golden-reddish aura that seemed to emanate heat even at a distance. Despite this, the absence of his left leg was noticeable to Ren, despite the carefully designed clothes to conceal it. _{freewebnoveℓ.com}