Aura Control. Beast Plane.

"Ethan, what did you do now?" a Miss Carmen asked. She was seated in front of Ethan and Clara interrogating them. The gym had been thrown into chaos. They had broken the gym rules of not using affinities in the gym. Clara started it and Ethan finished it by using his new skill as self-defense but in the end, Ethan was the one covered in bruises. It was even a miracle that his new glasses were not broken.

"Miss Carmen I was..."

"He stole my first kiss!" Clara said aggressively. Even Ethan was so shocked of this side of hers. He thought she was the calm, sweet girl but this one was vicious.

"I didn't mean to."

"You did. You took advantage of my care for you at the time."

"Miss Carmen. I apologized to her but..."

"But what? We destroyed the gym, and we will have to pay."

"It wasn't my fault!"

"Blah blah blah. My little Ethan. You started it, you end it. And by the way, you took my first kiss so you must take responsibility."

"But... but... Miss..."

"Enough you two! I will take care of the gym. Ethan, you write an apology letter to Clara for kissing her without permission. If you need help, I can help you with that. Both of you will work as cleaners in the gym till you are promoted to the next class." Miss Carmen said.

"B... but Miss Carmen. It was all his fault." Clara exclaimed while pouting. She looked so cute like that.

"No buts. That's final. Ethan you can go. Clara, you wait."

Ethan got up with a hopeless expression and looked at Clara right in the eyes. Miss Carmen was writing something, so she didn't see it, but Ethan swore he saw mockery in Clara's eyes. His expression turned suspicious as Clara stuck out her tongue at him. He had the urge to pinch her cute nose and cheeks, but he couldn't bring himself to it. He couldn't even get angry. Eventually, he got out of the office, limping.

...

"Hahaha! You got him right there. You even stole his first kiss. Good job." Miss Carmen laughed.

"It... it was the only way." Clara said with a red face as she remembered the sensation and feeling of the kiss, even though it was short.

"Now let's move on to business. I have a way to make Ethan propose to you in public; through the apology letter and he will deliver it on a very important occasion." Miss Carmen said.

"When?"

"The day he duels Leon."

"Won't that make Leon go all out and even put targets on his back?"

"Don't worry. I have my ways; Besides, Ethan isn't as simple as he looks." Miss Carmen said mysteriously.

...

Ethan walked out of the school with a crestfallen face. He was nearly on the verge of tears. For as long as he had lived, this was his luckiest day ever. He got attacked by a freaking Zodiac, won himself a duel with a Tyrant, mistakenly kissed Clara, got a punishment of cleaning the gym until he moves to the next class and lastly, had to write an apology letter and read it in front of the whole academy on the day he duels Leon. He couldn't even find his best buddy, Trevor. Either he run away, or he had been summoned by his hypocritical father. He put on his air pods, turned on the music and headed home, hands in his pockets. He was oblivious to his surroundings and with the loud volume, he couldn't hear what people were saying but he could feel their piercing gazes. Some filled with slight killing intent, but most filled with envy and jealousy. He had kissed a campus belle and gotten away easily in their opinion.

"It's him. The guy who awakened two weeks ago."

"He's so handsome..."

"So what? He's not as handsome as my Prince Charming, Leon."

"Meh. You can't even approach you Prince Charming. He even ignores you..."

"Blah blah blah. So, what! He's bound to lose. He just awakened."

"Yeah! It's obvious. He's gonna fight a Tyrant."

...

"Mom! I'm home!"

"Honey boo, mom is meditating in her room, so she won't be out for some time. Go freshen up and let me get you something to eat." Harley rushed towards Ethan and gave him a kiss on his cheek as a welcome.

"Yes. Thank you, Harley."

"Wait! Is there something wrong?"

"Nah. I'm just tired."

Ethan went up to his room, freshened up and came back to the dining hall to eat. Harley schooled in the Holy Saints Academy, an academy purposely for Healers and Light affinity related awakened. Anbord Mage Academy was an all-round academy for mages but there were other academies who trained in specialties unlike Anbord and the Holy Saints Academy was one such school, ranking fourth in the academy rankings with Anbord being first.

Ethan finished his food and went up to his room after kissing Harley good night on her cheek even though it wasn't yet nighttime. He locked his room and entered a meditative mode. Unlike normal mages, Ethan had the system so he meditating, meant talking to the system.

'Zark, can I get my Gift Card now?'

[Yeah. There you go.]

A crystal card appeared in front of Ethan. A notification asking if he wanted to use it appeared which he readily selected Yes.

The card started spinning. It spun to the extent that it became invisible and exploded into bits.

[Gift Card Used! New Skill Gained!]

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Skills""

^ Basic

^ Unique""

^ Weapon

^ Affinity

               * Unique"":

- Aura Control (Low): Use aura in many forms. For attack, defense or utility. With high affinity energy, you can use aura in fights. A very unique power and ancient technique. The higher your rank, the higher the skill usage and number of times you can use it.

At your rank, you can use it for three times a day.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'Damn but that is not enough. I have to get stronger.'

With that, the tired boy unconsciously fell asleep.

...

11:50pm

[Alert! Alert! Alert!]

[Host Has 10 Minutes To Finish Quest Or Be Transported To A Beast Plane For 3 Days!]

Ethan woke up with a start and looked at the blinking red screen. His face was filled with terror. Did he not complete all the quests?

'Zark! What is this?!'

[Oh that. You are yet to complete the last quest. You only have 10 minutes to complete it, which won't change anything.]

'But I did it. I slept a whole three hours. That isn't perversion!'

[You were dreaming of girls in bikinis]

'That also counts?!'

[Yep]

'Then what of when I was working out?'

[You were looking at boobs and butts]

'Then what of when I was walking home?'

[That counts but for 45 minutes. You still had 2 hours and 15 minutes.]

'The fuck! Wh...'

[Alert! Alert! Alert!]

[One Minute More!]

'What of when I came home?'

[Sorry kid. Hehehe]

'What the fuck!'

[3 Seconds More!]

A huge black portal appeared in Ethan's room and sucked him in after the countdown was over. He wanted to scream but he was numbed. With much struggling, Ethan was pulled into the unknown world of beasts and monsters and the portal vanished.

[Countdown Initiated!]

{3 Days!]