The sky was still a soft blue-gray when Aston opened his eyes. No alarms, no calls, just his body's anticipation for the day to come.

He rose from his bed and padded to the bathroom. The water was cold at first, then warm enough to chase away the last clinging fragments of sleep. He stepped out of the shower refreshed, his heart calm and mind brimming.

His bag was already packed from the night before. Every piece of clothing was folded and arranged with care. He slung it over one shoulder, did a final glance around the house, and moved to the door.

He paused at the threshold.

"Thank you, and goodbye for now…" he murmured softly to the walls, the floor, the silent roof above.

Gray let out a small meow from his shoulder, as if echoing the sentiment. Mirage flew in slow circles above the house before gliding down to perch on the other shoulder.

The front door closed gently behind him.

—

By the time he reached the northern city gate, the sky had brightened into a pale gold, with streaks of morning clouds stretching like ribbons.

There, parked in an orderly line along the plaza, were transport wagons similar to the ones he and his team had ridden during the final trial, but this time, each wagon was hitched to a powerful spirit beast— a silver horse with manes and tails made of wind, standing proudly in attention.

Spirit-pulled mechanical carriages— a hybrid of tradition and innovation. The spirit beasts offered high speeds and adaptability, navigating through both city streets and wilderness paths, something unmanned constructs can't match.

Each wagon looked like it could fit around ten students comfortably, including their spirit beasts, with cushioned seats and private barriers, unlike the previous counterpart which is about half as large.

A tall attendant in blue robes stood beside the tower, scanning the student's student portal within their devices as they arrived.

"Next," the attendant called.

Aston stepped forward, holding up his device. The projection shimmered as the scan was completed.

"Verified. Assigned to Wagon Three."

Aston nodded, then moved to wait nearby. Gray yawned on his shoulder. Mirage circled once above before perching on a lamp post, watching.

He sent an analysis request to Nova regarding the spirit beast connected to the wagon, and Nova responded.

—

[Spirit Beast: Sylph Wind Equine]

[Type: Bestial]

[Attribute: Wind]

[Genus: Equus]

[Rank: Obsidian Core]

[Potential: Amethyst Core]

[Description: An ethereal horse-like spirit beast with a shimmering, silver-touched coat that rippled like a breeze even when still. Its mane and tail flow endlessly like streams of vapor, composed of concentrated wind essence, and its hooves barely touch the ground when in motion, leaving behind ripples in the dust.]

[Skills:]

[Air Blade: Condenses wind into a crescent-shaped blade that slices through the air at high speeds.]

[Gale Step: Temporarily accelerates movement to near-blinding speed, producing afterimages and wind echoes to confuse enemies.]

[Aero Pulse: Emits a compressed blast of wind in a forward arc, capable of knocking back or staggering enemies. The pulse can also disrupt weak spells and projectiles mid-air.]

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[Aeolian Rush: Bursts forward with a sudden surge of wind, dashing at blinding speed while leaving behind a slicing trail of razor-thin air currents.]

[Wings of the Wind: Manifests ephemeral wings of wind along its sides, granting it limited aerial movement and improved agility. The beast and its rider can glide over obstacles and terrain, granting immunity to ground-based attacks and effects.]

[Passive Skills:]

[Vigil of the Gale: The Sylph Wind Equine naturally generates a low-pressure air current around itself and its rider, increasing movement speed and reducing wind resistance.]

[Zephyr Hooves: The Sylph Wind Equine;s hooves emit soft wind bursts on impact with the ground, making its movements silent and reducing terrain friction. Improves agility and dodging abilities, especially on unstable or shifting surfaces like sand, snow, or water.]

[Innate Skills:]

[Gale Step Mirage: Creates illusory afterimages when sprinting, confusing enemies and allowing the beast to evade attacks or slip past obstacles.]

[Ether Spiral Burst: Releasing stored energy, creating a spiraling vertical blast around itself, launching nearby foes into the air.]

[Windborne Aegis: Forms a temporary wind shielding with the rider, synchronizing reflexes and amplifying the rider's movement and reaction speeds. Also protects the rider from mid-level projectiles.]

[Core Skills:]

[Tempest Veil Gallop: The Sylph Wind Equine becomes a living embodiment of a storm wind. It creates a high-speed slipstream vortex around itself and its rider, allowing for instant traversal of up to 3 kilometers in a blur of gale-force winds. While in motion, it is intangible for a few seconds and cannot be targeted or harmed. When it ends, it releases a concussive blast of wind in a 15-meter radius.]

—

Aston's eyes widened as he reviewed the data again, blinking rapidly.

"Wait… all that for a single beast?" he murmured.

Gray tilted his head from his perch on Aston's shoulder, while Mirage gave a soft hoot from the lamp post, wondering what their master saw. The abilities seemed exaggerated, but Nova's analysis didn't lie.

Curious, Aston inspected the next beast… and the next… and the next.

They were all the same type of beast. Identical in rank, genus, and attribute. But as he delved into each of their innate skills, subtle differences stood out: one had Whirlwind Maneuver which allows tighter aerial control; another had Slipstream Reversal which is capable of momentarily inverting momentum; and Pulse Dancer which allows dodges in midair with flickers of wind. The core and structure were the same, but their combat personalities clearly varied.

Then Aston's gaze caught again on something that made him pause.

Core skills…

"Nova," Aston whispered. "What is this? I know about active, passive, and innate skills, but core skills?"

Letters and words once again flickered in his vision.

[Core skills are advanced techniques tied directly to a spirit beast's soul core. They only awaken once the beast breaks through 9-star rank and begins condensing its spirit cores— typically at the Obsidian Core stage, the Sapphire Core stage, and the Garnet Core stage.]

Aston leaned against the edge of the wagon. "So… they're like ultimate skills?"

[Affirmative. Core Skills consume a significant amount of the beast's internal soul energy. At Obsidian Core, the beast condenses a primary soul core. With the condensation of the core, a Core Skill is generated with it, which can be used once per recovery cycle. When a beast ascends to Amethyst Core, its primary core gets larger, doubling in size, capacity, and skill usage, and changes its color from black to purple.]

[At Lapis Core, it grows another fold, doubling the usage again to four times. The core's color changes from purple to indigo.]

[Upon reaching Sapphire Core, the beast generates a secondary spirit core—allowing a second Core Skill to manifest. The primary core, while maintaining its size, shifts its color from indigo to blue. From there, the core expands and changes colors again with each level: at Emerald Core, both cores change colors to green and the secondary core's usage increases to twice per recovery cycle, at Topaz Core, the core's usage increases to four times, and both the primary and secondary cores shift to yellow.]

[Upon reaching Garnet Core, the beast once again generates another spirit core—tertiary this time, its color progression and usage mirror the first two: once at Garnet Core, the cores' color become orange and can be used once per cycle, at Ruby Core, the core's color shift to red and can be used twice per cycle, then finally, at Diamond Core, the core's color become white, and the Core Skill within the tertiary core can be used four times.]

Aston's brows furrowed deeper. "So, the beast develops cores like nodes? One core for each skill and the number of uses per core increases as the beast matures? How do spirit beasts replenish their soul energy?"

[Affirmative. The host can think of them like orbs in the beast's soul space— one orb per Core Skill. They double in size and capacity as the beast advances. But once depleted, they must be recharged by spirit essence accumulation. It can be natural, which will take one natural day to fill the usage of one skill per core, or artificially injecting the spirit beasts with soul energy or spirit essence. For reference, soul energy is simply a more concentrated form of spirit essence.]

[For visualization purposes, consider spirit essence as air. If air is cooled, compressed, and expanded, it can liquify into liquid air, where 710 liters of gaseous air condenses to just 1 liter of liquid air. The same is true with soul energy, though the actual conversion ratio varies between spirit beasts.]

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