Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 552: Chapter 552 - Taming the Fourth Year: Connections - Good Guidance - Time to Apply

The new technique Ren was developing required him to maintain multiple streams of mana flowing simultaneously through different pathways in his body... It was exhausting to maintain.

Each practice session brought incremental improvements, but also reminded him how effortless such complex mana manipulation had been when his fungus handled the underlying coordination. Now every adjustment required conscious decision-making, every element switch demanded deliberate effort.

Still, the hope that this training might eventually help him understand his fungus’s condition gave him motivation to push through the discomfort and frustration of learning to do manually what had once been automatic.

Obviously Ren not only practiced alone.

The battles with Lin continued to be ’brutally educational’. Zhao and Wei had also participated, and Ren felt it was overkill now.

Lin was more than enough, he thought.

Even Wei, who was objectively the worst fighter among his four teacher pairing opponents, proved too much when supporting Lin.

Wei had chosen, like Finch, to have a spore as his second beast ”for science”, so he basically wasn’t a ”real double” in boosts yet, but he was still too effective supporting Lin with his wind control and ranged wind attacks. Ren had tried once to focus his attacks on taking down Wei first, thinking Lin would give him some leeway to face the less skilled professor.

Ren knew that Wei wasn’t Lin’s favorite person, so he thought she might give him perhaps a slight opening.

He had been completely wrong. Lin didn’t give him even a centimeter of leeway in battles, regardless of circumstances...

That harsh training was part of Ren’s routine now. His ”cool, bad guy” shenanigans had ”won” that for him.

’Guess I deserve it huh?’

After controlling energy in his personal training for several hours, he decided to take a break and bathe to be ready for his meeting with Liora. She had set today as the date for her mysterious ”extra apologies” plan... Ren still had no clear idea what to expect.

The communal baths were mostly empty at that hour of the day, which Ren now preferred since being there at normal hours resulted in the other guys always crowding him to ask a lot about cultivation and exercise...

He could take advantage thanks to his classes now being more flexible than most people’s. He liked having space sometimes to process his thoughts without the distraction of casual conversations.

During the bath he couldn’t help thinking long and hard about his fungus and Larissa, the two friends that his different decisions had taken from him and whom he couldn’t help missing.

The solitude gave him space to confront emotions he usually pushed aside during training or social interactions. Tears weren’t visible when water was running through all his body anyway.

The loss of his fungus felt like losing an important ’main limb’ he’d never appreciated until it was gone, while thoughts of Larissa still carried the weight of unresolved guilt and longing.

But time for sorrow was over, he had to keep pushing forward.

♢♢♢♢

As he was leaving the shower refreshed, he found Klein leaving an adjacent one.

Ren was still a bit soppy (sentimental/emotional) and couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for him.

Klein always seemed to be alone now. Astor, Feng, and any of those who commonly surrounded him had been transferred to other schools by their parents years ago, and he was always training alone, striving to the maximum to try to keep up with his peers’ progress.

But without being a dual tamer and with a beast still stuck at Silver 1, Klein had little chance of competing effectively against someone at as high a level as Ren’s. In fact, everyone around seemed to be progressively leaving him behind.

The isolation was visible in Klein’s posture, the way he carried himself with the defeated air of someone who had stopped expecting social interaction to go well.

Ren thought about his own recent performances and the apologies he had had to make to keep his friends. He felt empathetic toward Klein’s situation.

”Klein,” he finally called.

Klein turned, and Ren immediately noticed how his eyes moved, involuntarily comparing their physiques. Ren had developed very marked musculature thanks to these years of intensive training, perhaps too dense for his age, the result of his beasts’ boosts and constant exercise.

Klein looked at himself in the slightly fogged crystals mirror. Although he was slightly taller than Ren, his body couldn’t compare in terms of muscular development.

With a visible tic in his eye, Klein asked him reluctantly:

”What do you want? I haven’t bothered you lately, so I hope you don’t plan to start bothering me now.”

”I can give you the Golden Lion’s line cultivation method up to Gold 1,” Ren said directly. ”Your current cultivation has several errors, and soon you could be close to permanently ruining your development.”

Klein became visibly angry, but then stopped, clearly remembering the time Ren had saved him during the incident with Kassian’s potion years ago.

He sighed heavily.

”I don’t want your pity,” he said with a tense voice. ”Don’t feel superior just because you have better cultivation... more defined abs... and bigger arms. That doesn’t mean anything!”

Ren frowned, genuinely confused by the reaction.

”It’s not about bodies or who’s better,” he approached, insisting. ”I just want to help you a bit. I can see the problems in your technique, and...”

Klein instinctively backed away, feeling uncomfortable. Both were wearing only small towels around their hips, but Ren seemed completely oblivious to any awkwardness of the situation.

Feeling intimidated by the direct approach of Ren’s muscles, Klein kept backing away until he bumped his back against the bathroom door and accidentally opened it.

Several students in the hallway saw them, especially Ren with his developed physique, and several girls let out sharp screams in different tones: some of surprise, others of embarrassment, and some that sounded more like... appreciation?

Klein quickly closed the door and came back inside, putting his hands to his head.

”For all the dragons,” he muttered.

He stood there for a moment, processing the humiliation of the situation.

”Fine,” he said finally, his voice resigned. ”I accept your help. But leave me alone after that, okay? And please, send me the cultivation method to my room when you’re fully dressed.”

Ren scratched his head, still not completely understanding why Klein had reacted so defensively.

”Of course,” he agreed. ”But... is there any specific reason you don’t want to talk about it here?”

Klein looked at him as if he had asked why water was wet.

”Seriously, haven’t you grown in your head? We already have hair there!”

”Grown where... Hair?”

Klein sighed deeply, clearly realizing that Ren was genuinely oblivious to the social dynamics that had made the situation uncomfortable for him.

In reality, Ren had always bathed with his friends in a large tub on the outskirts and the boys in his room had adapted without judgment when they were 10 with little modesty for various reasons, so it didn’t bother them even now.

But it wasn’t a common practice in noble circles, hence the divisions in individual showers with doors and towels always available.

”Nothing,” he said finally. ”Just... send the method later and don’t ever approach me from behind in the changing room, okay?”

”Sure,” Ren nodded, still not fully understanding what the fuss was about. ”And Klein...”

”What!?”

”I don’t pity you. I really think you have potential if you correct some technical errors... You’ve worked hard.”

Klein blushed and studied his expression for a moment, looking for signs of condescension or sarcasm. Apparently he found none.

”Thanks,” he murmured, and headed quickly toward the more distant changing rooms.

As Ren finished changing, he wondered why people always seemed to make social interactions more complicated than necessary. Boys from the outskirts used to say what they thought without beating around the bush.

He had only wanted to help a classmate who was clearly struggling to improve.

But at least Klein had accepted the help, and that was what mattered.

Now he had to prepare for his meeting with Liora, which also remained a complete mystery to him.

The encounter left him reflecting on how different his upbringing had been from his noble classmates. What seemed natural and straightforward to him often created complications he couldn’t predict, while dynamics that felt obvious to others remained completely opaque to his understanding.