The loud voice was painfully familiar, and Ethan let out a soft sigh.
It wasn't that he hadn't anticipated it, he had. After all, that voice made sure to brag about his assimilation in class.
All eyes turned to the middle of the train, and there he was.
Stephen Ashford.
The most arrogant high schooler Eden high had to offer.
He stood before a boy with his hands in his pockets, a mocking grin on his face that clearly said he was superior.
"A bug?" He laughed.
"What do you think you can achieve with a little bug?" He chuckled, causing all gazes to redirect to him and the boy.
The boy whimpered softly, his body trembling as the flaming lion's heart spirit energy poured out of Stephan, pressing down on him like a crushing weight.
"It's not a bug... It's a Cicada." His breath hitched, he felt embarrassed.
After all the train was filled with children of the most wealthy families in New Eden, kids who had assimilated with the spirit wills of C-tier at the very least.
While he barely managed to assimilate with an E-tier Talent Stone.
"What?" Stephan and his boys laughed even louder.
"A Cicada?" One of Stephan's friends said, laughing.
Ethan took a good look at Stephan and his two friends. Out of his gang of five boys, only two managed to assimilate with a Talent Stone.
And those two became his right and left hand men.
And the remaining three? They were tossed asides like trash no doubt.
Ethan took a good look at the right hand man, James Bennett. His slightly pointed ears, glowing ember eyes, and the subtle brown patterns that traced down his arms suggested that he had assimilated the Spirit will of the desert Jackal.
Then he took another glance at the left hand man, Billy Owen. His narrow, slit pupils, smooth, and sharp slightly yellow scaled patches on his arms and legs suggested that he had assimilated the Spirit will of the thunder rattlesnake.
He could already think of several cultivation paths these two Spirit tamers could use, but that was none of his business.
And so was the scene Stephan caused aboard the train.
To him, it was one of those cliche you are weak fantasy tropes. A trope where the weaker tamers are bullied and belittled.
"At least his Cicada doesn't make him a dick." A voice muttered, and then a soft "ooouuu" echoed through the train.
"What did you say?" Stephan snorted, then turned around and traced the voice to a girl seated not far from them.
She had blonde hair, and a soul piercing silver eyes.
She wore a short black skirt and a white cropped top, seated with her legs crossed, and a cultivation technique guide in her hands.
"What did you say?" He asked again.
"I said his Cicada doesn't make him a dick, unlike a much smaller cat speaking to me."
Every eyes turned to Stephan, whispers flew faster than the insects that perched in the train. Even his friends closed their eyes and exhaled sharply.
"Who the hell do you think you are." Stephan stepped closer, and the moment the girl dropped the cultivation guide from her face, his eyes went wide.
She wasn't just any student, she was the daughter of New Eden Corps Ceo, one of the core founders of the industry that dealt with the extraction of resources from the Ethereal forest.
And her father was his dad's boss.
Ariana Leonheart.
The newly awakened who assimilated the spirit will of the ice tiger.
"It's always the... smaller cats that tends to make the loudest noises." She closed her book carefully, then titled her head up at him.
Her icy silver eyes hinted the brilliance of the ice tiger she assimilated with, and her spiritual energy was off the charts.
Just a bit of it alone was enough to freeze Stephan to a spot, and his body trembled, almost as if begging for mercy.
And it became clear to him.
She wasn't just a newly awakened Spirit Tamer, she was one that had trained, and cultivated her talent to become a Grade 5 Bronze Rank Spirit Tamer.
Most of the kids were mostly at Grade 0 of the bronze rank, while she was at the threshold of the Silver Rank.
The train stopped suddenly, and the sharp brake sent Stephan tumbling to his butt.
Ariana stood up from her seat, then scoffed as she looked down at him. "The first rule of spirit taming is to not judge a spirit will by it's appearance, because even dragons start out small."
Her spiritual energy was strong enough, but it was her icy glare that sent a chill down his spine as she warned him.
One by one, the students stepped out of the train.
They had finally arrived at their destination on the Dreyar Continent, the home of the Spirit Tamers Academy.
The Suzana Empire.
The land where legends were born.
The Suzana Empire was a kingdom of immense wealth, now ruled by King Klaus the Second. Its prosperity was built on trade and commerce, which stood as the empire's main profession and greatest source of power.
And it was also the birth land of humanity's strongest tamer.
"The next time you t-"
As the train emptied, Ariana's eyes snapped open as a single figure passed by her. One of the perks of assimilating the Ice Tiger's spirit will was her primal instincts and heightened sensory perception.
She turned to the door of the train, and there he was.
Ethan Kaiser.
He was unbothered by the chaos they created, infact, his mind wasn't on them at all.
What she felt felt wasn't the spiritual energy of his spirit will, or the accumulation of knowledge and experience born from a lifetime of countless battles.
No.
What she felt was something far much darker, much terrifying.
It was the contained fury in his heart that held the strength of countless storms, an anger so terrifying that there was no telling what would happen if he unleashed it.
But that wasn't the scary part.
What made it scary was that it was calculated, all channeled towards a single point.
As he disappeared into the crowds, Ariana didn't take her eyes of the path he followed, then she whispered, more to herself than others.
"Who is that..."