Novel Full Chapter 813: First Day Jitters (2)
Chapter 813: Chapter 813: First Day Jitters (2)
But Gabriel didn’t notice their fear. He wrapped his arms around Xuanwu’s neck, its presence grounding him as he buried his face in its warmth.
Kain had told Gabriel a story about Xuanwu the mythical tortoise which was the origin of his contract’s name. According to Kain, his Xuanwu was related to that mythical tortoise and was one of the first 4 beings on the planet created by the most supreme ’Golden Dragon’.
The Black Tortoise, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, and Azure Dragon, were each responsible for governing a portion of the planet in the Golden Dragon’s stead, and Xuanwu held supreme dominion over the Water element (with some secondary earth elemental control) and was responsible for creating the Winter Season.
Gabriel didn’t know how much of the story Kain told it was true, but he felt happy and proud to know that Xuanwu was so special.
A rustle broke his reverie. Gabriel glanced back, Xuanwu’s calm demeanour reassuring him it wasn’t a threat.
Kain approached, his familiar figure cutting through the morning mist, brown hair slightly mussed, eyes surrounded by dark circles, indicating that he likely hadn’t slept in quite a while.
Gabriel’s heart settled as he was calmed by his presence—although he’d never admit it to Kain!
Kain, along with Serena, had rescued him from the Black Dawn’s lab, turning his darkest days into light. He’d defied the impossible, allowing Gabriel to become a beast tamer when even the Black Dawn failed, saving him from a death sentence as a non-awakened implanted with a strange artificial spiritual core.
Gabriel teased Kain sometimes and rarely expressed his thanks to him, their bond growing in the time he lived in Kain’s lab, but deep down, Kain was his hero—the one he admired most.
He straightened his slumped shoulders, not wanting Kain to see his weakness. But Kain’s gaze softened, catching the glint of a tear at the corner of Gabriel’s eye. Before Gabriel could wipe it away, Kain stepped closer, raising a hand to gently brush the tear free.
Gabriel froze, mortification flooding him. His face burned, rage and embarrassment screaming inside as Kain’s mouth quirked into a teasing smirk. “Nervous, huh?” Kain said, voice light but warm. Gabriel wanted to sink into the lake, but Kain’s hand lingered on his shoulder, steadying him.
“Hold up,” Kain added, his tone shifting to something softer, more serious. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a necklace that thrummed with subtle spiritual power, its silver chain glinting in the dawn light. A small, oval pendant, etched with a faint rune resembling a coiled tortoise, pulsed faintly with blue and green energy. “I wanted to give you this before your first day.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened, his anxiety momentarily forgotten. The necklace hummed with a gentle warmth, its spiritual aura promising both defense and offense—a shield to deflect attacks, a spark to strike back if needed. He’d seen something similar on each of Kain’s siblings in the past but hadn’t paid it much attention in the past, thinking that it was maybe a piece of matching jewellery for all of the Newman siblings…which, although he would never admit it, was making him feel a little left out.
“All my siblings have something like this,” Kain said, his smirk returning.
Gabriel tried to hide his happiness and the rising corners of his mouth and instead accepted it with feigned reluctance, “Isn’t this a bit flashy for a kid to be wearing around to just go to school?”
“Enchanted gear’s standard for kids of nobles and the wealthy at that school. You’ll fit right in. If anything, those without any enchanted gear would most likely stand out instead.”
At those words, Gabriel ran his fingers over the pendant, feeling its subtle vibrations. Gabriel’s actually had an additional subtle difference from the enchanted equipment of the other children. It wasn’t just defensive and offensive—it had an extra layer, a cloaking effect to further conceal his spiritual power.
Once might ask, why not just have this equipment be used from the beginning…but it’s because it was pretty much useless in a school setting except for as an auxiliary to further conceal any spiritual power leaks if Gabriel accidentally loses control.
Although not super common, there were spiritual skills that looked directly into another’s star space to measure their strength, rather than just sensing the spiritual power they emit. And in such cases, any equipment with a cloaking effect would be useless. To fool the users of such skills, the spiritual power would need to be restrained and concealed within the body itself and is truly undetectable.
Fortunately, spiritual skills that can look directly into another’s star space are difficult to learn, so most don’t bother learning such a skill since it doesn’t at all contribute to one’s strength and most people don’t even bother concealing their spiritual power.
Unfortunately, the few people that tend to learn spiritual skills that look into star spaces are pretty much all educators…
The one place that Kain wanted Gabriel to be able to go to.
Teachers usually learned such skills since they needed them to track the progress (or lack thereof) of their students in cultivation and also to look at their star spaces and guide them through any issues they may have.
However, with since Gabriel learned Veil of the Hidden Star, even teachers with a knack for probing star spaces would only see him as an exceptionally talented 12-year-old who’d condensed his first star but hadn’t awakened an affinity for beast-taming yet—a rare but not impossible case.
Gabriel slipped it on, the pendant settling against his chest, its weight reassuring despite its flaws.
“Thanks,” Gabriel mumbled, his voice barely audible, cheeks still flushed from embarrassment. Kain ruffled his hair, ignoring his indignant squawk. “The biggest issue you’ll have will probably be putting up with Cherry talking your ear off all day. Before you’d get a few hours of break while she was off at school, but now…” Kain trailed off while looking at Gabriel with faux pity.
Gabriel managed a shaky grin, clutching the necklace as Xuanwu nudged his side, its calm presence bolstering his resolve. First days were scary, but with Kain’s gift and Xuanwu by his side, he felt ready to face whatever came.