Jasper's body shivered as he looked out of his peripheral. He pretended to look intensely at the leaderboard. "I don't know what he looks like." One of them doubted.
A girl with long green hair stepped closer to him. "I don't think it is… Oh, wait, yeah, that's totally him. Look at the scar." Her face was close to his. Her nose was fairly long and straight.
He grimaced and stepped back from her. "Yes, I am Jasper." He smiled,
"Yoooo, I'm meeting a famous person!" The guy who first called him out jumped in front of him with a wild smile. His canines were quite prominent, and his eyebrows were wild. He grasped Jasper's hand and shook it vigorously. "Hey, I always wanted to ask this to one of the Lord's children! What weapon does the Lord use?" He questioned.
Jasper, a little shocked from the suddenness, took a moment to respond. "He's said he doesn't use a single weapon. There are too many weapons he's skilled with to consider one his weapon." He described. The man in front of him seemed intrigued and was about to ask more. "But I'd rather not talk about him. We aren't on good terms right now." Jasper added.
The group seemed to understand what that meant. "Yovich, why don't you leave this sweet tamer alone. Though I have a couple of curious questions of my own, if you don't mind." The girl he presumed to be Ivy said. She was tall, standing at least 5'10, and wore tight combat leggings and a cropped combat vest. Her white skin was exposed at her belly, and her belly button was pierced.
She laid a hand on Jasper's chest. Her luscious red lips and wide hips moved seductively. Her blue eyes scanned Jasper up and down. "Why'd you end up at this clan of all places, and whose group did you end up joining. I know the 6th-place group lost a member recently. It'd make sense for them to pick you up." She said.
Jasper shrugged and looked up at the leaderboards. The big screen only displayed the top 1,000 and cycled through 100 at a time. Jasper was confused about how to see the whole leaderboard. "Uh, who's in my group? Do I get assigned one or do I have to find one?" He said, feeling quite dumb.
"You don't know? If you go over to one of those stands, you can press your badge against it and it'll pull up your group's rankings. Your roommates are your group members. Most people selected their roommates earlier in the year. But a lot of the lower-tier groups are randomized. That's why the top groups can dominate so successfully. They're packed full of high-class tamers who come from wealth. Maybe I shouldn't say that in front of you." Ivy explained.
Jasper shrugged, unbothered, and walked over to a stand. There were 5 podiums to the side of the large leaderboard with screens on them. He pressed his badge to the glass and watched it pull up his group's ranking. His face became horrified as he saw their number. They were ranked at 1,798th place. He clicked on the highlighted place and saw him and his roommates.
Their point total was small in comparison to the teams on the big leaderboard. The top 10 teams all had more than 60 thousand credits. Jaspers had 18 thousand and some. He put his hand to his forehead in stress as he began scrolling through the places above them. He looked at the numbers and saw if there was any pattern to the placement.
The only thing he noticed was that progress seemed pretty even across the board. The people above them in the rankings had only a little more than they did. The people above them had just a little more, all the way up to the top 20ish or so, where there's a solid jump in credit total. "Oh shit. You didn't get a good team." The rowdy-looking guy said.
Jasper sighed. "I see." He squinted at the highlighted ranking one more time before turning to Ivy.
She had a similar face of surprise. "That's for the best. Now the Lord's kid has no way to compete." She smirked and walked away. Her group followed closely behind. Jasper could hear her talking as she walked by a crowd of first years. "99th place. We've come far, but there is more to come." She said to her group. They nodded in agreement as they left Jasper's view.
He smiled in an almost angry way. "Enemy one."
Jasper ended up heading back to his dorm. It was dark outside now, and he was having a hard time finding his way back. As he was walking back, he heard whispers about the Lord and maybe his son being in the clan. Some people were beginning to recognize him on the street.
He kept his head down and walked faster. His thoughts ran as he tried to find his dorm building. How would he possibly get to the top of this clan? It's an upper-middle-class clan that was on the rise. Its influx of talent was high, and his roommates seemed to be average at best. They were in 1,798th place, out of 3,289 groups.
This was an unfortunate reality for Jasper. His roommates were most likely just average housed kids who worked hard to get into the clan and barely made it. That's a common experience. Many in the top 500 were children of active clan members who've been raised inside the clan.
Aristocrats and high-class folks have highly trained children who adapt quickly to the spirit tamer lifestyle. It's possible for poor or middle-class tamers to ascend and become powerful tamers. It happens, it's just really difficult. Jasper squeezed his fist as he approached his dorm door. He'd drag this group behind him if it meant passing every limit he had.
As Jasper entered the room, seven heads turned to look at him. There was a strange tension in the air as he closed the door. No one spoke until he'd reached his bed. "So you're the Lord's son?" Nate said. His tone was not nearly as friendly as it was before.
"Yeah, I am," Jasper replied.
"You didn't think of informing us of that?" Trey jumped in.
Jasper shrugged, "I didn't realize we were sharing our dads' info. Who's your dad, Trey?" Jasper asked innocently.
"You know what I mean. It's significant enough that you should tell your damn roommates." Trey sneered.
"I don't think it is significant. He has nothing to do with what I'll be doing with this group. We are no longer related." Jasper said.
His eyes narrowed, and he felt his blood get hot for a second. His blood spirit was gnawing at the side of his conscience. He took a moment to recompose himself. "So if your dad visits, do you think I can meet him?" Hitch asked.
Oliver snorted, "Are you listening, you buffoon? He said he's no longer related to his father. I'd guess he's been disowned for having a necrotic affinity. The higher class tends to banish their necrotic affinities."
"Thanks for the explanation, Oliver," Nate smirked.
"You're welcome. Although I was explaining that to Hitch." Oliver said as he adjusted his glasses.
Nate rolled his eyes and looked back at Jasper. "If you want to be a part of this group, you can't hide things. I know you're from the Lords' estate, but this place is different. It's hard." He snapped.
Jasper looked around confusedly. "I'm not hiding anything! I just got here!" He exasperated.
There was a pause before Trey talked to Jasper. "How'd you end up getting here? I thought your father would've turned you into a murderous necrotic tamer." He said.
Jasper's eyes narrowed. That is something his father would do, but this was the universe where he'd rather disown Jasper entirely than take that risk. "I've been disowned, so I've started my journey as a tamer without any connection to my family. I'm here as a part of my journey. I was helped out and was allowed to try out at this clan. I passed very recently and have been randomly assigned to this group. I just saw our rank in the leaderboard. I'm ready to work my hardest to reach higher." Jasper finished.
He felt a little anger but pushed it down. He wanted to truly succeed, but he could tell some of his roommates had a problem with him. There was a sudden change in attitude. A little bit of shame permeated the room. Their rank upset them, too. "What'd you have to do to get in? Kiss more ass?" Nate snickered.
"The vice captain had me spar with a girl who's in 10th place. If I won, I was able to join the clan." Jasper explained.
"What? You didn't do that. Every person up there is a specially selected individual paired with other people who're supposed to accentuate their strengths. They're dream teams of elite tamers. Just one of them could wipe out our whole group!" Nate said.
Jasper lifted his shirt, revealing red marks and bruises from the fight he'd had only hours ago. "She had pigtails and was in the 10th-place group. Her grandfather is a higher up." He said to see if they knew. There were some looks of realization around the room.
"He beat her?" Hitch exclaimed