Prepared, School

While there wasn't anything Aura needed to learn at school, after all he had already gone through it, he still planned on going. With the amount of importance the country put on cultivating monster trainers , doing well in the rankings would bring great benefits. Aura didn't care much about the generous rewards, he could obtain any resource he needed. What he did want was to gain access to the people in power. With some of their help, doing certain activities would become much easier.

One thing Aura wanted to do was separate his two identities. Right now, the only link between him and his masked persona was Puppet, but a Leafy Marionette wasn't a particularly rare monster. A small amount have already been found while exploring the Whitewood Forest. In the future, one side of him would be Aura, the talented young monster trainer. The other would be the Mask, someone that would be able to do things inconvenient for a teenager to do and using monsters covered in Misty's Shrouding Mists.

"Aren't your monsters levels too high to be revealed though?" asked Lydian.

"But what if I don't show Puppet? My Puppet Sprout's levels are relatively normal." At ten levels below Puppet's current 17, a level 7 Puppet Sprout won't arouse any suspicion.

[Leafy Marionette - Aura]

Type: Wood/Mystical

Level: 17

Health: 92/92 (Healthy)

Constitution: 32

Strength: 18

Agility: 14

Defense: 14

Mana: 147/147

[Skills]

Leafy Costume...

Puppet Strings...

Puppet Sprout...

"Lyn is too high level too, I'll just show my Shard Feathered Serpent," said Lydian.

Aura contacted Dr. Benedict and asked about the current situation of the laboratory. The potion sales and production were stable. At this point, the sale of experience booster potions has dominated the monster trainer market. No one else was able to provide a similar product, and it would likely be a long time before someone figures out the basics of alchemy.

There were simply too many different types of herbs and materials, all of which had to be tested to see what effects they had. The process of manipulating the ingredients also had to be figured out. With Aura's advantage, it was impossible for Starlight Pharmaceuticals to be overtaken. With time, higher quality potions or different types would also be produced.

With this income, Aura wouldn't have to worry about the expenses necessary for training monsters. Right now he was stockpiling large sums of spirit jade. When the monster training world would be more established, he would invest it in expanding his organization.

The doctor also informed him that some of the Many Eyed Fish eggs were hatching. When the monsters start to mature, they could test the most efficient way to farm them.

With matters regarding the laboratory completed, Aura and Lydian resumed training their four contracted monsters. Lydian was excited about the new changes to school. With the implementation of monster training, focus would be shifted from other subjects. Lydian had never particularly enjoyed school, so being able to work on training monsters, something she loved doing, was the ideal situation for her.

The following day, Aura, Lydian, and Ariel stood in front of the massive school building. A large sign stood in front, displaying the name of the school, "#1 Capital City High School." As the best school in the capital city, many students came here, filling up the square as they ran around, looking for their classrooms.

At the side of the school, construction was still going on. Large machines dug trenches and laid materials in place as they built up the new venues for the monster training classes. The buildings had to be sturdy, having to withstand the aftermath of battles between contracted monsters and students testing their monster's skills.

This year, Aura was in his second year, and Lydian, who was one year younger than him, was in her first year, together with Ariel. Aura told them where their classroom was, then they parted ways.

Aura walked through the buildings, recalling when he had once studied within these brick walls. He remembered trying his best, working hard at training, but with his poor talent, he could never excell. He had performed better than average, but the gap between him and the top would continuously widen, until it reached the point where he could only stare ahead in admiration. He looked around the crowd and saw many familiar faces.

Aura also saw many students who would eventually become famous monster trainers, known across the world. They would be his competition in this life. Aura shook his head and walked into the classroom labeled 201.