No, not just yes, he said HE WANTS WHAT I WANT!

That's... that's...!

Her mind accelerated into spiral of dramatic and intense thoughts that would have made her mother feel proud of the emotional intensity.

'IT'S BASICALLY ILLEGAL HOW PERFECT THAT WAS! NO, IT'S BETTER THAN I HOPED! OUR MINDS ARE ALIGNED! THOUGH NOW I FEEL SCARED TOO!'

'MOM, I THINK I FOUND SOMEONE AS INTENSE AS YOU BUT WHO DOES IT BETTER! WITH STYLE!'

Externally, Luna only got redder and nodded once with a small movement that tried seeming controlled but failed completely at hiding the emotions spinning chaotically inside.

"Good," she managed to say, her voice coming out higher-pitched than normal despite attempts to sound composed. "Then... after the final exams. We'll repeat the date… Appropriately."

Ren nodded as well, still on autopilot, still not fully processing what he'd just agreed to with that smooth declaration.

'She needs support. I'm supporting her. That's what I do. That's what friends do for each other.'

Luna pulled back before she could do something embarrassing like launching herself at him to kiss him right there and ruin the 'cool adult mood'.

Because she still had some control left, thank you very much…

'After exams. We'll do the kiss properly. He WANTS to do it properly.'

'He wants to kiss me again!'

'REN PATINDER WANTS TO KISS ME AGAIN!'

Her internal world was fireworks and explosions of happiness she hadn't experienced since before her mother died, pure adolescent joy that couldn't possibly be shown externally without looking insane.

But inside where nobody could see the truth...

Inside Luna Starweaver was having moments of pure teenage elation that she'd thought were lost forever when tragedy had forced her to grow up too fast.

Her mother would have been so happy to see her like this, dramatic and intense and feeling everything too strongly in ways that were uncomfortable but also wonderful.

She practically floated away from the conversation, maintaining some small noble composure on the surface while internally screaming with excitement.

Ren was just able to leave 'coolly', arrive 'coolly' at his dorm, and get knocked out 'cold' for 12 hours straight…

♢♢♢♢

WAR EXAM - BATTLES

The practice field was organized differently from what they had expected based on previous group combat exercises.

Instead of the wide open space used for group battles where numbers could be leveraged, now there was a delimited rectangle that was smaller and more contained.

Arena designed specifically for one-on-one combats.

Ren observed the change with a neutral expression while other students murmured in confusion about the unexpected format shift in the "war" exams...

Professor Zhao stood before the gathered group, his presence commanding immediate attention without needing to raise his voice or make demands.

"The format has changed," he announced without preamble or explanation about why the decision had been made. "After evaluation by the academic council, it was determined that previous group battles weren't allowing appropriate analysis of individual strategic abilities when significant numerical advantages exist for double and triple tamers."

Several students looked toward Ren with glances that weren't subtle at all about who they were referencing.

Because everyone knew exactly who they were talking about when mentioning "numerical advantages" that had dominated the previous group formats.

"Therefore," Zhao continued with a tone that brooked no argument about the decision, "the final battles will be evaluated in teams of 10 students, but in one-on-one beast confrontations. Pre-set turn system. Each team will select the order of their beasts immediately before combat begins. The objective is to evaluate your capacity for cooperation and tactical planning, identifying elemental advantages, anticipating opponent movements, and constructing coherent strategy that adapts to circumstances."

It sounded reasonable on paper when explained like a straightforward pedagogical decision.

In theory, this would force students to think carefully about which beast to use against which opponent. To consider elements, strengths, weaknesses that could be exploited or needed protection. To plan a sequence that maximized the team's elemental advantage while minimizing exposure to counter-strategies.

It was precisely the type of strategic thinking that real military commanders needed when organizing battle formations where positioning and matchups determined victory or defeat.

But there was a fundamental problem with applying this system to Ren Patinder specifically.

They still didn't understand him or his beasts despite months of observation.

They were too special… too different for the common sense of the old world.

Because the system assumed each tamer's beasts had specific elemental strengths and specific elemental weaknesses that could be predicted and planned around.

That you always used a wood beast against a ground beast for advantage. That you avoided using a fire beast against a water beast to prevent disadvantage.

Basic elemental advantage that had been understood as a tactical principle for centuries.

But Ren's beasts didn't function according to those established rules anymore.

Ren's abilities weren't multi-elemental because he possessed multiple beasts with different elements that could be swapped strategically.

They were multi-elemental because thanks to his weird "green mana" each individual beast could use all the elements with proficiency through some strange ancient mechanics…

The mantis, the wolverine and even the hydra… that after absorbing jade mana effects now also had access to the expanded range of elements that made countering them impossible.

Each beast was effectively all elements simultaneously, which meant the careful rock-paper-scissors planning the format was designed to test became meaningless when facing an opponent who could shift elements mid-battle.

Fire advantage? Ren's beast would switch to water.

Wind vulnerability? The element would change to earth for defense.

The strategic planning the exam was supposed to evaluate only worked when opponents played by the same fundamental rules about elemental restrictions.

Ren didn't play by those rules because his beasts had transcended them through ancient laws nobody fully understood yet.

Which meant the format change designed to level the playing field by removing his numerical advantage had accidentally created a different problem… it would make his elemental versatility even more apparent when he couldn't hide it behind the chaos of a group combat.

The council had tried to nerf him and might have accidentally prepared the setting to better showcase exactly how abnormal his abilities were to anyone paying close attention.

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