Kain's encounter with Pheneos served as a huge reminder to him. Not only would students be competing during the exam in terms of talent, but also money and background.
Not only high-quality and expensive contracts but also expensive weapons and armor.
Heck, students with beast-tamer family members would just benefit greatly from the combat knowledge and survival tips provided to them, while Kain had to fumble through the dos and don't for survival on his own.
Some students with more of a background may even be taught spiritual power techniques, which others would only get a chance to learn once in college.
Obviously, not only spiritual creatures can utilize their spiritual power to perform skills. There are a variety of skills that humans can also use to amplify their contracts' strengths or fight alongside them.
Unfortunately, those skills are not taught in high school classrooms. One can only learn them in a beast-taming major at a university.
The quality of the skills one can learn also differs by the library catalogue of each school.
This is just one of the reasons why Kain is so desperate to enter both majors at a top 5 college, rather than just testing into the Planner major.
Someone with no background like him, and an affinity as unique as his, needs to get 10x out of his college experience than a legacy would need to.
'I can't afford to take it easy. I need to make up for the gap in combat knowledge by myself out there.'
'I have a decent soft armor and weapon now, but I'm sure others will have much better.'
'If I completely clear my savings after hunting a few more times I could probably get an enchanted armor as well. It is rare for 1-stars to be able to support the spiritual power drainage of 2 enchanted equipment, but by the time of the exam I should be able to become a 2-star beast tamer with red spiritual power.'
'Although it is unlikely I could find a suitable contract before the exam to improve my odds even more'
'However, if I hurry to upgrade the System maybe I can find something that will help me pass the exam.'
'With only 3 weeks left until the academic exam and 4 weeks until the Dark Moon beast-tamer exam, it is crunch time!'
Kain immediately started to jog home, wanting to even save the few minutes it'd take to walk home for something more important—like studying or training.
Thankfully, he arrived back home in time for dinner.
However, he was surprised to not find Bridge anywhere.
"Where is Bridge, he never misses dinner?" Kain asked while sitting down. This time nobody made a fuss over his return, seeming to have grown accustomed to it.
"One of the trainers at the Wolfblood Dojo took a liking to him and has been helping him train. Apparently, it's been a couple of years since a student in the city with a B-rated or higher affinity that can bind wolves has appeared" The director said.
"He seems even more passionate about getting Bridge into one of the top 5 colleges and spreading their Dojo's name than even Bridge himself."
Kain felt immediate relief. With his current training plan he really didn't have any time to spare to help Bridge train, nor could he provide guidance as well as a training center meant specifically for those contracted to wolves.
Despite Bridge never saying so directly, he's not unaware of Bridge's desire to enter the same college as him, and he also would love the same.
With Bridge receiving professional guidance, Kain could now focus solely on his own training.
Stomach full, he went upstairs to lay in bed.
'Let's take a look at my current progress'