Kain returned home in a daze. He felt completely exhausted.
Not because he found the exam significantly harder than the practice tests he took (it wasn't any harder than the one 4 years ago), but probably because it was the real deal, not a practice exam, and so his concentration and focus were dialled up to 110% the entire time.
When he returned home he immediately returned to his room, wanting to collapse on the bed.
However, when he opened the door, he spotted Bridge.
He hadn't seen his best friend and brother in weeks, and he had missed him dearly.
Bridge immediately hopped up once Kain opened the door.
"How did it go?!" He asked anxiously.
"Easy peasy…" Kain laughed. "now I only have to focus on the beast-tamer exam in a week. How are you feeling?"
"Great! Professionals really are different. I don't think I'd ever have a chance at passing the exam if I didn't have the help of the Wolfblood guys. The training was hard, but it paid off"
Bridge held out his hand and then slowly a deep red glow began to appear on his fingers.
"Red spiritual power! You're a 2-star beast-tamer?!"
Bridge's smug face suddenly looked a little embarrassed, "Lady is currently advancing in my star space, but I'm not quite there yet. However, I can't condense any more spiritual power so I'm pretty sure I'm at the point where I can begin condensing my second star. Since we're planning to leave for Dark Moon tomorrow, I was thinking I could advance to 2 stars on the train ride over. The trip will take 3 days anyway, and it's not like there's anything else we can do on there."
Bridge's advancement to 2-stars suddenly reminded Kain of the egg he'd exchanged for him.
"Bridge, by any chance did the trainer that helped you also give you a wolf for your second contract?"
"No…he thought about it but he said the best he could provide is a Bronze-quality contract. I could probably find a contract with a better quality once I'm admitted to college"
"What about a Silver-quality Cyan Searing Wolf?"
"Sure… I'll see if Dark Moon City has one. But aren't they pretty rare outside of the North?"
Bridge never would have known that 3 months ago. It looks like he had read up on wolf-type spiritual creatures once his affinity was confirmed.
"They are…but I happen to have the egg of one" Now it was Kain's turn to act smug.
He pulled out the incubating egg from under his bed.
He'd been monitoring it and changing its incubation liquid every few days.
The colour was now a much deeper blue than when he first obtained it, and the chill was strong enough that if Kain hadn't already been close to 2-stars, he'd need to wear thick gloves while holding the incubator to avoid getting frostbite. It'll probably hatch on the way to Dark Moon College.
"Take this. By the time you form your second star it'll probably hatch and you can contract it then."
Bridge's eyes immediately welled with tears. He had seen the egg Kain brought home previously, but he had no idea that it was for him. He pulled Kain into a hug, "You are THE. BEST. FRIEND. EVER"
"I need to go back to the dojo. They got together to raise enough money to buy me the lowest quality space ring and fill it with enough food for Lady for weeks. But I need to get the food required for a Searing Pup now too"
Bridge practically skipped out of the door.
"Wait…they bought him a space ring?!" Kain was in shock when he thought again about the prices he had seen when looking to buy one of his own.
"Where the heck can I find a higher-level expert to dote on me?" Kain grumbled as he began to pack his things.
Thankfully, he only has to pack for himself, since unlike most contracts Bea didn't require him to pack her food.
The next morning Kain and Bridge were waved off by the members New Beginnings Orphanage along with John and Sally, as they left for the local train station.
Once there, Kain used the ample savings he still had from hunting in the wilderness to upgrade both of their tickets to first-class so that they could have private rooms and focus on their advancement.
Their ticket first stops at Starfire City, the largest city in the southern region and the home of Starfire College.
After stopping for an hour to pick up more travellers and do maintenance, the train will be going non-stop to Dark Moon City, the home of Dark Moon College.
Once they entered the train, they were surprised to find it packed almost exclusively with teens. Most beast-tamer exams were this week, therefore regardless of whether they were planning to take the exam for Starfire College, pretty much everyone looking to enter a beast-taming major was on the train headed towards the major train hub in Starfire City.
Going towards their assigned rooms, Kain was in lucky number 7, while Bridge was right next door in 6.
When he entered the room he was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't at the level of a 5-star hotel but it had a desk, minifridge, a decent-sized comfortable bed, and a wide window that let in tons of natural light.
Technically, it was a nicer room than the one he shared with Bridge at the orphanage.
He sat on the bed and assessed his current condition for the exam.
Bea was currently in the process of advancing in the star space, and she should finish around the same time they arrived at Dark Moon, giving him a red-grade contract.
Due to having to feed Bea continuously and focus on the academic exam, his spiritual power was only at 950 SP. However, if he concentrated day and night solely on cultivating in the Planetarium, he should be able to improve by more than 20 points a day and condense his second star by the time the train arrives at Dark Moon.