Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Luna was standing, arms relaxed at her sides. Breathing steady. Eyes focused on Ren with seriousness that suggested she’d been preparing for this confrontation.

Her team’s five remaining Silver-rank would go after her. Not dismissed…

But everything about Luna’s posture suggested they wouldn’t be participating. That she’d chosen direct confrontation to finish this by her hand.

Was it perhaps because she didn’t want to use tactics that felt unfair? A preference for direct confrontation over a strategic optimization that could be perceived as cowardly?

Luna had demonstrated during years that she valued certain honor code in how she approached things. Or perhaps it was simply because, as Liora had discovered during her own battle, starting with absorption wasn’t convenient for some specific reason related to mechanics of how the wolf processed stolen energy.

Perhaps there was a limit to how much it could store before battle without creating instability.

The mechanism might not function properly.

Or perhaps timing of absorption mattered more than the technique suggested superficially. Maybe fresh absorption during combat was more efficient than pre-battle stockpiling. Maybe the wolf’s system was optimized for sustained drain during exchanges rather than burst absorption before engagement.

Nobody knew with complete certainty what the true motivation was. Maybe all were wrong and even Luna didn’t know and was just pretending as always…

But honestly it didn’t matter in terms of how Ren needed responding.

The only thing known with absolute certainty was that this would be the year’s last battle. The final confrontation determining the fifth-year exam results and establishing the final hierarchy between the two most remarkable tamers of their generation who were becoming adults by their society’s standards.

Both had just turned 15 within the last few days. Both will legally be considered adults after this rather than adolescents. Both will have responsibilities and privileges that came with that transition.

And this battle would be the first major event the people remembered from their adulthood.

Not just victory but the manner in which victory was pursued.

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Of course, it would be enormously convenient for Ren if Luna used her Lesser Celestial Tiger now instead of the wolf.

The Tiger was an impressive beast certainly. A creature with capabilities exceeding what most Gold 1 could manifest. It was a formidable opponent that shouldn’t be underestimated.

But it didn’t have that extra weird shadow affinity. Didn’t have that mysterious aura that the wolf possessed. That elusive quality making even the sleeping fungus unable to completely identify what made the creature so distinctive.

The Tiger’s capabilities were well-documented. Strong but standard advancement path for its species. Predictable elemental interactions… Ren could plan around it.

The wolf was beatable but weird… Some of the times Ren had faced it, he’d noticed new subtleties that previous observations hadn’t revealed. Small details that accumulated into significant ones.

Only light seemed to work as expected against it, the only conventional weakness…

But tamer order was already established, not beasts.

According to exam rules the tamers were preorganized, yes, but not the specific order of beasts that the small number of multi-beast tamers would use. That flexibility permitted tactical adaptation that had helped Ren but now disadvantaged him.

Min had been able to choose whether the Amphibian or serpent entered first. Had chosen the Amphibian because it provided a chance to eat the mantis.

Similarly, Ren had been able to choose whether Mantis, Hydra, or Wolverine faced the first opponent. Had optimized the sequence to maximize advantages. That flexibility had been useful to his success.

And obviously Luna would deploy her wolf right now. There was no reason for saving her most apt beast to deal with the Wolverine. Ren’s biggest beast in elemental versatility could be countered by the wolf with six-element control that, though lesser in refinement, was a full rank above the Wolverine’s cultivation.

The matchup favored Luna’s wolf better than the disadvantage it would get against the hydra’s light. Yet the Wolverine wasn’t completely defenseless against an opponent favoring darkness.

If Ren played his cards well and didn’t let her absorb too much mana, if he executed with precision permitting no accumulating errors, then victory was possible even under less than ideal conditions.

It was a question of recognizing openings as they appeared and capitalizing without hesitation that would allow Luna establishing irreversible momentum.

A good chance but execution would still matter a lot.

It would be close… Very close.

Probably the closest battle Ren had faced during the entire exam.

Yang raised his hand. “Combatants…!”

Ren took a breath, focused his mind and prepared for what would probably be the most difficult exchange of the year.

Luna’s demeanor showed the quiet confidence of someone who knew their capabilities and trusted their preparation… At least that’s what it looked like for most.

The wolf materialized.

Large and powerful. Shadow wreathing its form in ways that made its exact outline difficult to track.

The final battle was about to begin.

Yang lowered his hand to signal the final battle’s beginning. “Begin!” He declared with a voice bearing the weight of a historical moment. Recognition that this was a confrontation that would be remembered and discussed for years in the academy.

Perhaps more than decades… The battle between two exceptional students who’d been at the top when the new techniques revolutionized cultivation understanding in their generation. Who’d both demonstrated capabilities that normally wouldn’t appear until tamers reached their twenties or thirties. Who represented the absolute peak of what their year could produce.

The stands were completely silent, spectators holding their breath. Waiting… Watching and not wanting to miss a single moment of what promised to be extraordinary.

Both beasts tensed simultaneously. The Wolverine and Luna’s wolf, both radiating a presence making the air feel heavier under the concentrated mana they emanated.

And then, without preliminary exchange of testing blows or cautious evaluation period, both creatures disappeared into darkness almost instantaneously.

Ren sent his beast to merge with the shadows to avoid receiving a quick surprise attack from within them. Submerged in the shadow space, it could sense better those who were near in that realm. Perception functioned differently there, not visual but almost spiritual, mana signatures creating impressions of position and intent rather than optical information about form and color.

And he knew Luna was doing the same with the wolf. Both tamers operated in the place where direct perception was secondary to information flowing through different connections they shared with their creatures.