Egil thought back to good memories from years back, his first time fishing, when he beat his father in a spar, and his 10th birthday when his mother made him his own armor. But as he thought about all the good times the scene of his parents dying kept replaying in his mind, over and over.
As Egil was lost in his thoughts a tall dark skinned man walked in. He was wearing a long white overcoat and cut his black haircut short, which helped to showcase his very muscular body and angular features.
"Hey kid, how're you feeling?" The man asked Egil, no emotion in his voice.
Hearing someone talk next to him Egil snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at the dark-skinned man before him.
"Who… who are you?" Egil managed to stutter out
"I was going to ask the same thing but no matter, my name is Alexander Cooper, the head doctor of the Roaring Nature Academy," he said, still no hint of emotion in his voice
"The Roaring Nature Academy?" Egil asked confused and a little creeped out
"The Roaring Nature Academy is the premier academy in the entire arctic ocean" Alexander replied
As Egil and Alexander were going to continue their Q & A a woman burst into the room with a frown on her face. The woman was wearing a similar white overcoat to Alexander but hers was pushed tightly against her waist with a belt, which accentuated her waist. She had long black hair that disappeared behind her back and he couldn't help but think she looked similar to Alexander,
"Alek H. Cooper what did I say about creeping out the patients," she said, clearly annoyed at Alek's behavior.
Egil sat on his bed confused as he watched the two bicker. Well… it was more like the girl -who he learned was named Maria- was questioning Alex on everything he had done since he had entered the room as well as occasionally apologizing to Egil for her brother's actions.
"Well, that's enough of that" Maria finally concluded after what felt like an hour of chewing out her brother.
"I am so sorry about him his skill is the real deal but he has no idea how to be nice to a patient," she said, an apologetic tone in her voice
As Egil sat there Maria and Alexander got to work doing a -as they called it- "Mandatory Health and Fitness evaluation" on Egil, which meant they were asking him a bunch of questions and sending a strange cool feeling throughout his body. After almost 20 minutes of this and a momentary freak out as Maria seemed to summon a fist size hummingbird, with a bluish-white coloring, causing Egil to freak out, it was over.
"Well, you are fit as the proverbial fiddle young man" although you could have some mental issues regarding beasts with how you reacted to my [Diamond Heart Hummingbird] she silently added in her head, knowing that the best way to approach mental issues was with a peaceful and slow approach.
Although Egil stumbled a bit he was eventually able to get up off the bed and walk on his own, A small achievement to be sure but an achievement nonetheless.
"Actually you woke up at just the right time… what was your name," she asked, realizing halfway through her sentence that he still hadn't given his name
"Egil"
"Well Egil as I was saying you came at a great time, the school year is actually starting in 2 days meaning you have the opportunity to join the prestigious Roaring Nature Academy!" Maria said
…
It had been almost 2 days since Egil had woken up in the hospital at Roaring Nature Academy and he had learned a lot from Maria, who made it a point to visit as much as she could.
Apparently the Humans in this world -which Maria called Planet Yuleon- had terrible cultivation aptitudes, thankfully, before Egil could curse his life and all Maria continued by saying that Humans had devised a unique method to form a special bond with a young beast, becoming companions linked by life and greatly improving their cultivation speed.
After saying this Maria left Egil to his thoughts, knowing he was struggling with the concept of trusting a beast with his life. After Skalfell Egil wanted nothing to do with beasts, but even above that, he wanted the power to kill the Jellyfish that wiped it out.
Eventually, among the raging debate in Egil's mind he came to a conclusion, he could trust a beast, but it couldn't under any circumstance be a sea creature and he wouldn't get close and personal with it, it would be a tool for him to rise to power and nothing more.
As Egil settled this debate, at least for now, in his mind Maria came in with a leap in her step "It's orientation time!" She said excitedly "Alright Grumpypants get yourself properly dressed and ill take you over there, don't want you to be late after all.
Egil had been given a pair of clothes, more accurately a shirt, shorts, underwear, socks, and shoes. After he put his clothes on he felt like a new man. It wasn't just the different materials of the clothes, he was starting a new chapter in life.
…
Maria pulled Egil Through the crowded streets of the academy, barely giving him any time to appreciate the strange pointed architecture and impressive but strange red stone buildings that made up the academy.
After a few minutes of this Egil found himself standing out front of a massive circular building, it was easily the most massive building Egil had ever seen and the most impressive too. The building had long columns of white material that supported a massive inverted slope structure that hung over Egil's head like an umbrella.
"I know it's impressive but you're going to be late if you continue staring at the main auditorium like that," Maria said evidentially used to the reaction Egil was giving.
Even after Maria's advice, it took a second for Egil to pull himself together and for his eyes to regain his determination. He was ready for whatever this crazy world would throw at him.
…
The Orientation was a spectacle, to say the least. Egil saw countless unique beasts and he saw people performing crazy abilities like breathing fire and creating a tornado. The orientation itself consisted of an old man who rode on top of a gigantic red lion giving a speech about the values of Roaring Nature academy and the principal it was founded on, Protection.
The Man on the Lion, who Egil learned was called Principal Leopold gave a short summary of the path of cultivation. First, there was the [Body Tempering Stage], where you tempered your body to better handle energy. The second was the [Energy Absorption Stage], which was self-explanatory really. Third, [Energy Core], where you used all the energy you stored in the second stage to form a core made of energy inside of you, which could gather energy on its own.
Another interesting thing Egil Learned was that "Energy" was actually a term adopted by the different races, that's right, different races as a show of support and friendship, similar to the 12 stages of cultivation, which are essentially identical in stage 1-3 but vary vastly at stage 4 and beyond. As such, the different Races decided on a Unified name, "Energy" and Unified Stages. The Unified Stages are: [Body Tempering Stage], [Energy Absorption Stage], [Energy Core Stage], and then stages 4-12 which were simply called [Stage (Number)]
The part that Egil was truly looking forward to though only started now.
"Prospective Students of this fine academy" Principal Leopold Began, "It is my Honor and Pleasure as Principal to begin the Spirit ceremony!"
According to what Maria had said the Spirit Ceremony was a unique ritual to determine a person's aptitude toward Energy and their elements. The Aptitude test determined if you could make a contract with a beast and the element(s) that you could manipulate. Apparently, 1 element was the norm, 2 was fairly rare, and only 1 or 2 triple elements were found every 10 years.
As the Principal began to call people up depending on where they were sitting Egil's nerves shot through the roof, this moment determined if he could get revenge. It didn't help that people would cry out in sadness when they were determined to not have an aptitude for beast cultivation. Slowly Egil's turn came and he stepped up onto the stage, his heart pounding in his chest as he slowly reached out and touched the glimmering monolith before him, the strange carvings on its surface offering him a modicum of confidence for some reason.
As strange but cool energy passed through his very being, the monolith began to shine a brilliant light blue mixed with a mesmerizing light purple. The strange energy slowly left his being taking him out of the trance-like state he had unknowingly fallen into and allowing him to observe the brilliant colors of the monolith.
"Ahh, a rare case, you, boy, are a dual Elementalist with the Ice and Sound elements, use them well child" he just barely heard the Principal say.