I listened carefully to everything Teacher Kendrick was saying. Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous. Becoming a Spiritborn required talent, and if I wanted to grow into a Great Spiritborn, it was necessary for me to enter one of the Spiritborn Academies.
But to enter a decent academy, a student needed a B-level talent or higher.
Teacher Kendrick pulled a white sphere from his bag and placed it on the table. He then began calling students by name.
The first to be called was William, a chubby boy with brown hair. He walked toward the white sphere, and Teacher Kendrick instructed him to place one of his hands on it.
The sphere glowed orange—A-level talent.
The entire class gasped.
No one had expected someone like William to have such a high talent, and instantly, envy filled the room.
Teacher Kendrick then spoke.
"Let me tell you what type of spiritual creature you can bond and fuse with."
He glanced at the screen displayed by the sphere—a screen only he could see, since he was the only Spiritborn in the class.
"Your spiritual creature type is... Tiger," he announced, looking at William with a surprised gaze.
For a moment, William stood frozen.
Then, he jumped into the air and screamed, loud enough for the whole school to hear.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally calmed down and returned to his seat. He then looked at Teacher Kendrick, who continued:
"Your talent is A-level because you are limited to contracting only white tigers. Normally, such a limitation would cause your talent level to drop by two or three ranks. But because tigers possess formidable strength, you still ranked at A-level. So be happy with that."
With that, Teacher Kendrick called the next student to step forward.
You heard that right. If William's spiritual creature type had been anything other than a tiger, his talent level would have been significantly lower. However, the tiger species was known as one of the apex predators of the previous era. And even now, in the Spiritual Era, tigers still held their place among the strongest creatures.
The next student was a girl.
Unfortunately, when she placed her hand on the sphere, nothing happened.
She had no talent.
At first, she just stood there, frozen in place, as if she couldn't process what had just happened. Then, reality set in. Her body trembled, and suddenly, she burst into tears.
She screamed, cursing the world, swearing that she wanted to watch it burn.
I watched her with pity.
It was only natural to be emotionally unstable when your entire future crumbled before your eyes in an instant.
But seeing her break down only made me more nervous.
Could I be next?
Would I be the one standing there, completely devastated, knowing that I would remain weak while all my classmates became extraordinary and mystical?
I clenched my fists.
No.
I had confidence. The confidence of a reincarnator.
After everything I had suffered in my previous life, the universe wouldn't just abandon me like this.
...Right?
But as more and more students were revealed to be talentless, my so-called confidence started to crack.
Then, my name was called.
I took a deep breath. My hands were trembling.
After William, no one had received a talent. Not a single person.
Swallowing my anxiety, I stepped forward and placed my hand on the white sphere.
Seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
My heart sank.
Panic crept into my mind.
Then, suddenly—
A red light shot out from the sphere.
S-level talent.
The room fell dead silent.
Then, in an instant, whispers erupted among the students.
Even I was shocked.
I knew the universe wouldn't leave me with nothing after reincarnating me into this world, but...
This?
Even I hadn't expected this.
The other students stared at me, their eyes filled with mixed emotions—shock, curiosity, and something else.
I had never interacted with any of them. They had always assumed I thought I was better than them. But now, they were all thinking the same thing:
"After all, he was talented."
Teacher Kendrick cleared his throat, coughing a few times to silence the commotion.
Even he hadn't expected an S-level talent to appear in his class.
And yet, here He was.
He had been considering leaving this school to join one of the top Spiritborn Academies—Celestial Academy. The pay here wasn't high, and they couldn't accommodate his needs. As an S-level talent, fused with the Angelic Lion, it would be easy for him to secure a teaching position there.
But for now, his focus returned to the S-level talent student standing before him. He thought about taking this boy to the academy with him. Turning his gaze back to the screen displaying the student's talent information, he paused for a moment.
The boy in front of him could bond with any insect of his choice.
But there was a huge problem with that.
Insect-type spiritual creatures were considered insignificant and weak. Since the emergence of spirit energy in Astrivale, every animal had begun to evolve—insects included. But unlike other creatures, insects faced a major limitation.
Their bloodline.
A creature's bloodline determined how strong it could become in the future and directly limited its potential growth. The problem with insects was that their bloodline was inherently weak. Unlike beasts, whose evolution could lead to dramatic transformations, insects didn't change much from what they were before spirit energy arrived.
In short, they remained as weak as they had always been.
Teacher Kendrick sighed and spoke.
"Your talent level is S. You can bond with any insect of your choice."
The room fell silent. Then, all at once, every student turned to stare at me in disbelief.
There had been cases like mine before—and everyone knew the outcome. No matter how high your talent level was, if your spiritual creature type was an insect, you were doomed.
That was a well-known fact.
I slumped back into my seat, my mind in turmoil. My talent, the one thing that was supposed to change my life, was practically useless. Everything I had dreamed of—everything I had planned for—was now never meant to be.
One by one, the other students took their turn at the talent test. Among them, two students received B-level talents—and what was even more surprising was that they were identical twins.
Finally, it was the turn of Lucy—the most beautiful and talented student in our class.
She had silvery hair and bright crimson eyes, her features so flawless she looked like she had been sculpted by a master sculptor. As she walked gracefully toward the sphere, every student watched with bated breath. Everyone knew—it was practically certain—that she would receive at least an A-level talent.
The moment she placed her hand on the sphere, it shone bright red.
S-level talent.
Teacher Kendrick was stunned. Two S-level talents. One A-level. Two B-level. And all of them from his class.
Even though one of the S-level students had a weak spiritual creature type, Kendrick still believed he had the potential to become strong—if he worked hard enough. That thought solidified his decision. He would apply for a teaching position at Celestial Academy and bring all these talented students with him.
His thoughts were abruptly snapped back to reality by the sudden uproar in the classroom. Of course the students were loud—after all, two S-level talents had emerged in their class!
Then Kendrick looked back at the screen—and his eyes widened in shock.
Lucy could bond with any type of snake she wanted.
This meant she had the potential to evolve her bonded creature along the ancestral bloodline of dragons. While it was still an extremely difficult feat, given enough time and resources, she could eventually evolve her snake into a dragon.
Quickly composing himself, Kendrick smiled broadly before announcing:
"Your talent is S-level. You can contract any type of snake you want."