His eyes widened slightly when he realised that his 401,525 AC amounted to nearly 160 gold coins.

He sucked in a breath.

The month-long trial had truly been a golden opportunity to earn credits. Even so, it still hurt when he remembered that he had lost almost double this amount due to his metal plate breaking.

When it was his turn to receive the bracelets, Leo calmly spoke up.

"I'll take four more."

The sophomore distributing them froze. His eyes widened when he realized Leo had four beasts—and that he was about to throw away 40,000 AC in one go. The student himself only commanded a single combat beast; the rest were weak and never used in battle, so they didn't even have bracelets.

"Are you sure…?" the student blurted out, then quickly corrected himself.

"I-I mean, you only need to put a bracelet on the beast that fights for you. Not all of them."

Leo frowned slightly.

"Fight for me?"

A brief thought crossed his mind.

Don't all of my beasts fight for me? Isn't it the same for everyone?

He shook the thought away.

"I need four for insurance. I have the credits."

The sophomore nodded, saying nothing more, and handed over the bracelets as Leo completed the transaction.

Leo watched bitterly as 40,000 AC vanished from his balance in an instant.

My sixteen gold coins! NO!

He had already been short on money thanks to feeding his beasts during their holidays. Their preference was at least peak 2-star beast meat, which cost around 1.5 gold coins per quintal(100 Kgs) of any common beast. In just fifteen days, they had devoured nearly 8 quintals in total—most of it by Shyra alone, who had eaten nearly 350 kilograms by herself, and even then, for their size, it was a minimal amount of food required.

That much was evident just by looking at her ever-growing size.

Thankfully, Colossus never required any extra food from Leo during its rest. The Titanbreath Lotus growing on its back had somehow expanded to an astounding size in a short period of time, generating enough energy and sustenance to keep it fully nourished. In fact, the Colossus had even begun stockpiling reserve energy—preparing for situations where Leo might push it intensely, like during the time it had been tamed.

Surprisingly, walking long distances barely consumed any energy at all; only actual combat demanded significant expenditure.

Lily, on the other hand, took only a single bracelet, since her beasts were already undying. Being spirits bound directly to her soul, death was not something they truly faced.

After everything was settled, Brant spoke again.

"Now that a few days remain before your official term begins," he said evenly, "I suggest you all take the time to roam around the academy and familiarize yourselves with it. There are many things you need to understand before your inauguration ceremony, and all the relevant details have already been uploaded to your smartphones."

He paused briefly before continuing, his tone turning serious.

"But the most important thing you need to know is Territories. They have the power to change your life—for better or worse. I warn you, some territories operate under horrendous rules that only benefit their leaders while leaving the members to rot in forgotten corners."

A faint chill crept into the crowd as he went on.

"And as you may have already guessed, the academy does not control territories. Our responsibility lies solely in keeping you alive after you've joined us and also providing resources to those who prove themselves. So if your luck is bad—which I prefer to call poor decision-making and observational skill, since joining a territory is entirely your choice—then don't be surprised if you find yourselves slaving away in some dark room for the entire session."

Brant folded his arms.

"Any questions?"

Just then, a fresher raised his hand. Leo recognised him immediately—it was the student from Kendru with the Iron Body talent. Notably, he didn't seem fazed at all by Zolton's death.

"Professor," the fresher asked, "what happens to territories after we complete our session?"

Hearing that, Brant chuckled.

"Kid," he said, shaking his head, "do you really think a territory governed by students can last for twenty years in a beast-infested forest? Not to mention the fact that students themselves often charge into territories just to destroy them."

He sighed, then added,

"That said, I won't say it's impossible. In the entire four hundred years of Aurelius Beast Academy's history, one person has managed to maintain a territory for the full twenty years."

Murmurs broke out.

"So let's say," Brant continued, "you actually succeed in building a formidable territory over those twenty years. By then, it would likely develop into a small-scale city. In that case—congratulations. You'll be recognised by the Emperor himself."

The crowd leaned in.

"That recognition comes with tremendous rewards: gold, treasures, titles, being directly appointed to lead a high-tier city and even Noble or Royal beasts. Moreover, the academy will officially protect that territory by establishing a facility over it—in your name."

At the mention of noble and royal beasts, the fresher's ears practically perked up. After all, even a person with a low-ranked soul could compensate for that weakness with a high-bloodline beast. In the world of tamers, noble and royal bloodlines were equivalent to Legendary or higher soul ranks in humans.

Another student quickly raised his hand.

"Who was the person who managed to maintain a territory for that long?"

Brant smiled faintly.

"The Emperor himself."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"B-but then," someone blurted out, "why isn't our academy ranked first if the Emperor himself graduated from here?"

Brant only offered a mysterious smile, saying nothing. The silence made it clear—this was an internal matter, not meant for discussion.

Just before leaving, Brant added one final note.

"The forest surrounding the academy—within a radius of about two kilometres—is relatively safe. Only low to mid-1-star beasts roam there. I recommend you explore that area; while you can't claim territories within this zone, it's a good place for freshers to earn a few Credits."

Then, a smirk crept onto his face.

"If you're confident, you're free to venture beyond that zone—at your own risk. Just make sure you don't accidentally wander into a claimed territory. Otherwise, don't come crying to the academy after getting killed on your very first day.(Transported to temple)"

The warning was clearly directed at Leo, who was already contemplating leaving the safe zone.

With that, Brant turned and walked away, leaving the freshmen(1st term) and sophomores(2nd term) to themselves.

---

A/N: There is an electricity outage today in my area, and I haven't been able to write chapters. But I will try to publish them as soon as possible.

I am typing with my smartphone(╥﹏╥)

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.