"Look, he's even trembling," mocked the eagle girl. "Isn't he adorable?"
Ren wasn't trembling from fear.
He was trembling from frustration. He could see their beasts' flaws so clearly: the irregular mana pattern in the eagle's feathers, the instability in the other boy's green scales.
Useless knowledge when you're about to be beaten.
But maybe there was something useful in there after all.
Knowledge flowed through Ren's mind as the tiger boy maintained his grip: a spirit tiger at Iron rank granted 30% strength and 10% in all other attributes. At Silver 3 those numbers would multiply, 180% strength, 60% in the rest.
The gap between beasts widened dramatically with each rank.
But now, at Iron, the difference wasn't so overwhelming.
Ren himself, though thin after his latest growth spurt, had a healthy constitution thanks to good nutrition. He wasn't from a rich family, but his parents always put him first and were cooks.
His 10% increase in physical strength wasn't insignificant when it came to moving his light body with ease.
"What do you know about beasts, Rotting Boy?" the tiger boy raised his fist, his feline features accentuated by rage. "Your fungus isn't even a real beast!"
The mushrooms in Ren's hair pulsed. A spirit tiger's attack pattern always started the same way, a direct punch to the face.
Ren could even understand the boy's body positioning before the attack. So he pushed up against the hand holding his shirt.
When the other hand cut through the air trying to punch where his head had been an instant before, Ren couldn't help but smile.
"Is that all?" he mocked, his heart pounding hard.
The boy with green scales, who had been watching silently, narrowed his eyes. "It was just luck Jin. He's just trying to provoke you."
"Can't even manage to hit the weakest one with your 'superior' beast? Maybe mushrooms aren't so pathetic after all."
A tense silence fell over the group. It wasn't just Jin who felt insulted now, everyone who had belittled Ren for his spore looked at him with growing fury.
Was the rotting boy suggesting their beasts weren't better than the miserable spore?
"Shut up!" Jin finally roared, his wounded pride transforming into rage. "I'll show you what a spirit tiger can do!"
Ren moved by pure reflex, recognizing the pattern once again, his lighter body responding with agility that surprised even himself.
"That's enough!" The boy with green scales, who until then had only watched, activated his quick movement ability and put his foot behind Ren. Ren stumbled, losing his precarious balance.
Ren noticed the attack patterns again.
But knowledge only helped if you had time to use it.
This time, there was no time to react. The fist connected with devastating force, Jin's extra 30% translated into a pure impact.
"Who's pathetic now?" Jin growled, but his words sounded more like those of a hurt child than a real threat.
The mushrooms in Ren's hair pulsed weakly. All that knowledge, and still...
The fist rose again. This time Jin was going to use his tiger's real ability. That could seriously hurt Ren.
"You're going to learn to keep your mouth shut, Fungus..."
The carriage door burst open, flooding the interior with bright light.
The carriage had stopped and the driver opened the door for them to get out.
"What's going on here?"
Jin's fist stopped centimeters from Ren's face.
The driver warned them that fighting would cost them points if the teachers saw, but he didn't do more than that.
Though it was enough to prevent the worst.
The group descended and the driver left, but before Ren could get away they surrounded him again.
With nowhere to escape, the tiger boy grabbed his shirt and dragged him toward a hidden side of the building.
"Now then, Rotting Boy," he smiled, his fangs gleaming. "No one's going to interrupt us while we teach you something about respecting your superiors."
His companions formed a circle, blocking any escape route. The mushrooms in Ren's hair flickered nervously.
He would have to use his knowledge to try to get out of this, maybe a good hit could help him escape, this Jin kid didn't have a defensive beast so a punch would hurt him.
The problem was the lizard boy.
"Look how his little mushrooms are trembling again," mocked the eagle girl. "Are they as scared as he is?"
Ren wasn't trembling from fear still. He was trembling from excitement... Could he prove he wasn't so far below them?
"I'm going to teach you why you shouldn't stick your rotting nose in…"
The voice cut through the air like an ice knife. Luna Starweaver emerged from the shadows, her wolf materializing beside her like a nightmare made real. Her blue hair rippled with its own energy, and her blue eyes...
The tiger boy dropped Ren as if he was too hot to touch.
"We were just teaching the Rotting Boy some manners," he muttered, backing away.
"Manners?" Luna arched an eyebrow. "Three beasts with Silver potential against the weakest of all. How... pathetic."
"He started it," protested the eagle girl. "He said things about our beasts..."
"And that makes you feel threatened?" Luna's voice was soft but sharp. "A Silver-rank beast threatened by the weakest of all? That makes you sound more pathetic than him."
The tiger boy straightened, trying to recover some dignity. "It's not fair that you…"
"That I what?" Luna took a step forward. "That I use my advantage against you? Like you were doing a moment ago? Would you feel good if I did?"
The silence that followed made the hierarchy clear.
"Get out of here," Luna ordered. "All of you."