"Silas! You have to get up early for your psychic test tomorrow, it's time for bed!"
Mom's voice floated from outside the door.
"Okay, Mom!"
Silas replied dutifully, glancing at the time on his screen before closing his laptop.
[11:30 PM]
Silas stretched, then picked up his phone with a clear conscience.
"Staying up late is a talent, not a habit." He gave himself a mental pat on the back.
An elegant yet pretentious cello melody suddenly rang out.
Damn it, it was a call from Jasper.
"Yo, Silas! Tomorrow's the big day! How are you feeling? I'm so excited, it's like I've strapped a rocket to a Skysail Swan! I've been picturing which spirit beast I'll contract. I've rendered about three hundred different combinations!"
Silas silently stared at the ceiling, picturing Jasper posing for the camera with an "ultra-cool + auto-filtered" spirit beast.
Silas shivered.
"…If I'm not mistaken, Jasper, haven't you been up for a full 24 hours?"
"This is strategic all-nighter-ing! I'm worried I'll be too excited to sleep, so I'm getting myself so hyped that I'll just crash. It's high-level self-control, you get it?"
"Sounds like you're holding an empty bottle and calling yourself a champagne master."
Silas yawned. "By the way, I just slept through the 'Spirit Beastology' final exam. Mr. Victor secretly gave me a thumbs-up. You know, a true master's nap."
"…Huh? Right in front of Victor? You're too brave, Silas! Ugh, I'm still so nervous! What if I don't pass? What's the point of my life then, sob sob sob… I want to be a Spirit Beast King, not one of those 'Kings' who sells hot dogs in a corner!"
"Relax, did your dad not give you some black-tech cheating device? Like an 'Initial Confidence +5' from some shady back-alley shop?"
"You think this is an RPG? My dad gave me the 'Life Coach Encouragement Pack.' Its contents: 'Believe in yourself.' Well, now I believe in myself so much I'm about to explode. I feel like my psychological damage is maxed out."
Silas laughed and soothed a half-frantic Jasper, then turned back to his phone, still scrolling through information on Psychic Power. He hit the enter key, and a flood of information filled his screen.
He quickly skimmed, soon finding the most important part:
"Psychic Power Test: A prerequisite for humans to establish a Spirit Pact Space and pact with spirits. It involves using specialized equipment to measure an individual's perception and control over Aether. The test results are presented numerically; anything over 1 point is considered passing, indicating the individual possesses the potential to become a Spirit Beast Master. "
"The higher the score, the greater the potential, the more spirits that can be pact-bound in the future, and the stronger the amplification effect on spirits."
"It's worth noting that a Spirit Beast Master's psychic power is not static; it can continuously increase through shared training with their pact-bound spirits, cooperative combat, and a deeper understanding of Aether."
"1 point? Sounds more stable than my Wi-Fi signal..." Silas muttered softly to himself.
He then flipped through some more data. "Wait, did I transmigrate with just my soul or my whole body? Since I have a system, I should definitely pass this threshold. If not, the system should just pop up a 'refund' button." Silas fell into thought, his fingers tapping on the screen.
The next morning, Silas woke up with sleepy eyes, ate his mom's loving breakfast, and then, like a zombie, he cycled out the door.
In his mind, Silas called up the system panel. In the upper right corner, a prominent number glowed: 15 Deduction Points.
It wasn't a hallucination.
As for its function? For now, it was like an electric razor with no power—highly present, but not something he could rely on.
The Psychic Power test for Mossbell Town was being held at Bittermond Pine High School. The road was as crowded as a Black Friday sale. Silas wove through the traffic on his bike, arriving in ten minutes—ten times faster than taking the school bus and saving himself the embarrassment of "getting talked about for his dark circles."
After parking his bike, Silas walked into the school.
"Silas! Wait up!"
Silas turned around. A sparkling, gold-colored luxury car, the kind that made people instantly jealous, pulled up to the school gate. The window rolled down, and a lightbulb—no, a blond teenager—popped his head out, smiling like a successful person in a commercial who had "leveled up in life."
It was his best friend, Jasper Vanderbilt. His name alone smelled of money.
And Jasper himself was the perfect embodiment of it: he always wore the trendiest clothes, drove the flashiest cars, and his family was rumored to be a titan in a spirit beast technology company.
It was no exaggeration to say he "shone with wealth."
"Morning, Jasper." Silas walked over. Jasper immediately leaped at him like an overexcited cushion, giving him an overly enthusiastic hug.
"Why are your dark circles so heavy? You played games without me?" Jasper rubbed his hands together, visibly nervous.
"I was just looking up some stuff and stayed up a bit late."
"You should know more..." Jasper nodded suspiciously, but his attention was clearly elsewhere.
"Silas! do you think I can hit 1 point in psychic power? I'm destined to be a Grand Master, what if..."
"Relax, relax. Come on, we should get in line." Silas patted his shoulder.
Walking into the designated classroom, Silas found quite a few people already there, many familiar faces among them.
The test was being conducted in ten classrooms at once, with the efficiency of a fast-food self-checkout machine. The line was shrinking quickly.
"Silas Carter, Beastmont Pine High, Class 1! Test Room 5!"
Silas steadied himself and walked in.
The air in the room felt cool and dry. At its heart sat a plush recliner, inviting yet slightly imposing, accompanied by a heavy, high-tech helmet. Next to it, a large, complex display screen pulsed with soft, shifting lights and indecipherable readings.
Two inspectors in white coats stood beside them.
Silas settled into the recliner, the padded headrest cushioning him. He then donned the sleek, metallic helmet, feeling its cool weight as the staff members efficiently connected its various interfaces to the designated points on his temples and wrists.
"Beep!" A soft sound, and the report slip printed out.
"1.85! Presumably you have a talent for mastering spirit beasts! You're a great young man! You're the highest value we've measured so far. Keep it up!"
One of the staff members came forward to remove the equipment, a much brighter smile on their face.
"Thank you!" Silas's heart bloomed with joy. He was mentally prepared for a score of 1.85 as a cheat, but "a talent for mastering spirit beasts"... was that a reference to his system?
Regardless, this was an incredibly lucky start!
Not wanting to hold up the test, Silas nodded goodbye and walked out of the test room with a flourish.
The moment he stepped out, Jasper pounced on him like a golden retriever.
"Silas! I passed! 1.66! 1.66! I knew I was born to be a Spirit Grand Master!"
Jasper was incoherent with excitement, throwing his arms around Silas's neck and shaking him vigorously.
"That's awesome! I passed too!"
"Fantastic! I knew you'd make it!"
Jasper gave a few happy hops.
"Next up is choosing our initial spirit beasts! I've already decided, I'm definitely getting a spirit beast with explosive offense!"
Silas smiled at his friend's enthusiasm, genuinely happy for him.
"By the way, Silas, what was your psychic power score?"
"1.85."
Jasper froze on the spot, his expression like he'd been slapped in the face by a plot twist. "You... did you cheat or are you just a natural genius?! You'll be able to contract a second one right away, won't you?! This isn't walking into a good school, this is like flying in on a helicopter!"
Silas laughed out loud. "Don't write the biography just yet. I haven't even picked a spirit beast."
The reality was brutal:
Jasper had a golden credit card system and political sponsors.
Silas? A pass marked "fueled by genuine hard work and Mom's lunch." And the Federation's spirit beast loan was only for a starting spirit beast. It seemed impossible for Silas to contract two spirit beasts in a row right now.
The two walked out of the school building, chatting shoulder-to-shoulder.
Back home, the house was empty.
Silas pulled out his phone. The class group chat, which had been silent yesterday, was now blowing up.
[Beastmont Pine High - Grade 11 (1)]
[Jasper Vanderbilt]: "I passed! 1.66! I'm so lucky!"
[Lily Anderson]: "Wow! Congrats, Jasper! I passed too! 1.18! What's everyone planning to get for their starter spirits?"
[Emily Gray]: "1.07, barely scraped by~ I'm planning to pick a nimble spirit. It'd be great if I could get a Zephox!"
[Lily Anderson]: "Wow, one of The Six Starter Spirit Beasts! Our town's breeding center probably doesn't even have those! So jealous~"
Silas nodded to himself. The Six Great Starter Spirit Beasts were all "very strong but would make your wallet cry."
[Emily Gray]: "That's right, my dad's planning to take me to the Elkwood City
Breeding Center. We're heading out this afternoon~"
[Lily Anderson]: "I want to pact with a grass-type spirit, maybe a Heali-Fluff would be nice!"
[Emily Gray]: "@Jasper, what spirit are you going to choose?"
[Jasper Vanderbilt]: "Hehe... I'm about to get an super awesome spirit! I'll keep it a surprise for now!"
[Max Brown]: "I only got 0.99! Just barely missed it! Is the universe messing with me?!"
[Emily Gray]: "@Max, that's a borderline score, you definitely have a chance. We can ask the teachers later."
[Max Brown]: "Emily, you're the best! You always bring me hope!"
Silas watched the messages scroll endlessly on his phone, his finger hovering over the input box, but he didn't type.
"This world... it's so much crueler than before I transmigrated..."
Just a simple '1' silently pushed a group of former classmates into two starkly different worlds.
[Jasper Vanderbilt]: "Our hidden big shot is still lurking! 1.85, man! So jealous! @Silas"
[Silas Carter]: "Keep it on the down low, haha."
[Emily Gray]: "That's incredible, Silas! No wonder you dared to sleep in front of Viktor yesterday!"
[Silas Carter]: "@Jasper !!!"
[Emily Gray]: "What spirit are you planning to pact with? With psychic power that high, you can pick anything with explosive potential!"
[Silas Carter]: "Haha, I haven't decided yet. I'll just see what catches my eye."
He put down his phone, feeling both excited and a little uneasy.
"My starter spirit..."
Silas rubbed the smooth screen of his phone, the system's optical screen flashing in his mind's eye.
"It's urgent to learn more about starter spirits and earn Enlightenment Points now."