Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 131

Ren leaned back against the pillows, a small smile tugging at his bruised lips. "Though that first hit... Klein's face when he went down... no one's going to forget that anytime soon."

Min laughed softly, letting his shoulders relax. "Especially after all that speech about crushing victories and great differences?"

"Exactly," Ren nodded. "And in the final battle of the semester..." his mushrooms pulsed stronger, their light carrying a promise, "we'll have our rematch."

"You're right... and it was pretty satisfying seeing his expression at the end," Min sat down, his fingers finally releasing their anxious grip on his tunic. "Ren... do you think you could...?" he stopped, biting his lips.

"Yes?"

"Could you teach me the correct cultivation for my snake?" the words tumbled out in a rush. "I know I should have accepted the offer before, I'm sorry, it's just that..."

"Just bring me a fruit drink as an apology," Ren interrupted with a smile. "I'm quite thirsty."

Min blinked in surprise before breaking into a grin. "I'll be right back!"

When his footsteps faded down the hallway, Ren's smile faltered.

His mushrooms pulsed while his hand clenched into a fist beneath the sheets.

So close to taking him down and...

"It was a shame."

Ren startled at the girl's voice.

Luna was leaning against the doorframe, her wolf barely visible as a shadow at her feet, its presence making the light bend strangely around her.

"Can you tell me how you avoided the roar's paralysis?"

Ren sighed, a slight smile returning to his face.

"We put some bread in our ears," he explained. "We could barely hear anything, but that way the effect can't take hold. It needs to reach a high volume in the opponent's ears to work, though with your beast's mana level..."

"Thank you," she looked down, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"The hits you landed on Klein were... satisfying," she continued, her eyes still avoiding meeting Ren's. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to beat him in the finals. It's time he stops feeling so important and stops bothering me."

Her fingers played with the edge of her sleeve. "And you know... I don't need you to defend my freedom. He can't force me into anything if he doesn't manage to..."

"I defended you?" Ren frowned. Then he remembered the conversation with Klein...

"How do you know about that...?"

Luna visibly tensed, a soft pink coloring her cheeks. Without another word, she vanished into the shadows just as Min's footsteps returned down the hallway.

"Got your drink!" Min entered holding a glass. "I brought one for Taro too when he wak…" he stopped, noticing Ren's confused expression. "Did something happen?"

"I'm not sure," Ren responded while his mushrooms pulsed with curiosity. "But I think I just had a conversation with my shadow."

In the adjacent bed, Taro mumbled something about invincible shells in his dreams.

♢♢♢♢

Klein slammed his fist against the wall of his private room, ignoring the protest of his bruised knuckles. His golden lion stirred beneath his skin, rippling with agitation. The beast's unease only fueled his anger.

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The question gnawed at him like poison. If someone with a mere spore could land such a blow, what chance did he truly have against Luna's shadow wolf?

His father's words echoed: "The Goldcrest name must be elevated. The Starweaver's... Luna's power will be ours, one way or another."

Klein had been so certain. The arranged marriage would be simple, demonstrate overwhelming strength, prove himself worthy of first place and claim what was promised. But now...

He caught his reflection in the window and froze. A bruise was darkening along his jaw where Ren had struck him. Where a commoner had marked the face of a Goldcrest heir.

"Damn you," he whispered, but the fury felt hollow. Something else crept in, an emotion he refused to name. "If you could do this with just a spore..."

The thought trailed off as his golden lion stirred again, almost nervously. The beast that was supposed to represent his noble breeding, generations of careful cultivation. Yet today it had barely been enough.

No. He couldn't think like this.

He was a Goldcrest. His beast was superior by divine right.

This was just... just...

"A fluke," he tried to convince himself, but the words rang false even in his own ears. "It has to be."

The sun was setting outside his window, painting the academy grounds in shades of amber and gold. Somewhere out there, Luna was probably watching the same sunset. Had her opinion of him changed after today? Did she now see him as...

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He was meant to be untouchable, invincible.

"I won't lose," he declared to his empty room, trying to recapture his usual confidence. "Not to him. Not to her. Not to anyone."

But as night fell over the academy, Klein found himself standing at his window for a long time, watching shadows lengthen across the grounds. And for the first time in his life, deep in his core where even his lion's light couldn't reach, a seed of doubt had taken root.