Life on Earth hadn't been kind to Edward, but at least he'd had food and a way to survive. After his immediate family passed, his remaining relatives were little more than strangers who shared his blood.
In this world, however, he had a father. Meeting him a year ago had been a revelation; the man's devotion and his desperate desire to provide reminded Edward deeply of the parents he had lost.
His new father was a man who worked day and night, and though he often sought refuge in a bottle to drown the ghost of Edward's mother, he never neglected his son.
That was why Edward had only one wish: to give his father the life he deserved. To honor the man who gave everything to him.
Edward was the last to approach the strange, shimmering stream flowing from the rock. The water defied physics, spreading exactly thirty meters before stopping.
His two companions were already at the second step, trembling as they faced their final chance.
Edward took his first step and closed his eyes.
A cold surge hit his feet, vibrating through his body like a low-voltage current. In milliseconds, it swept from head to toe... and found nothing.
His heart tightened.
He took the second step without hesitation.
If one step found a void, the next would have to dig deeper. The closer one got to the Rock of Awakening, the more frantic and pressurized the current became. It was harder to move, but the water searched more thoroughly.
He reached his two companions, who were still frozen in fear.
The second step... also found nothing.
'Even with a deeper search...' Edward gritted his teeth, but a small, defiant smile tugged at his lips.
'I don't know why I was sent here, or who pulled the strings. But I don't believe in coincidences. The Law of Causality... it can't be broken.'
Unlike his trembling peers, Edward was filled with a strange, desperate confidence. If he had survived death on Earth only to be reborn here, there had to be a reason. Something happens because something makes it happen.
Even if these were just words to keep his sanity, they gave him a spine of steel.
Without further thought, he took the third step. It was the fastest, most decisive movement in the room.
'Either he's full of determination... or he's simply lost all hope,' the Director thought, sighing.
As the director in charge of all the students at the Provincial Academy, he knew the story of each one of them. Rich or poor, beast masters or not. It had become part of the job even before he was the director, so he had a good understanding of Edward.
Young and poor, when he born, his mother died, and only his father raised him.
He understood the determination he might have, but he also understood if he had lost hope.
Life in this world could be surrounded by misfortune if you didn't awaken; that was a fact. So he decided just to watch... maybe a miracle would happen…
.
The stream slammed into Edward.
Suddenly, the world shifted. He felt as if he were drifting on a cloud, yet a terrifying weight pressed against his shoulders.
'Did I fail? Is it pushing me out?' The thought flickered like a dying candle, but he resisted. His feet felt fused to the ground. Despite the crushing pressure, his breathing remained calm—as still as a mountain lake.
Startled by his own composure, Edward looked up.
Massive clouds swirled around him. Above was a brilliant blue sky; below, an endless sapphire sea.
"I did it!" His heart hammered against his ribs. This was the Spiritual Realm of Summoning.
He reached out, eager to see his destiny. Suddenly, a colossal pillar of fire erupted from the sea, piercing the clouds and vanishing into the heavens.
"Fire?"
Before the thought could settle, a second pillar roared upward.
Wind.
The third followed instantly.
Water.
The fourth was not far behind—a jagged, massive spire of stone.
Earth.
The four Great Elements... Edward's mind spun. 'What the hell did I awaken?'
The pillars stood at the four cardinal points—North, South, East, and West—anchoring his soul. As he stared, something began to move around the pillars, flying toward it at incredible speed.
Meanwhile, back in the hall, the Director was in shock. He had unleashed his full power to contain the water current, which had ruthlessly expelled the other two students and was now thrashing around Edward.
'What is happening? Is the Mother Stone angry?' A strange, ancient aura was radiating from Edward's body. The Director struggled to calm the waters, his eyes wide.
Finally, the turbulence died down. Four distinct sources of energy emerged from Edward, dancing merrily in the air.
The teachers stood frozen. The Director swallowed hard.
'Four summons? A Master of Multiple Beasts?'
It was undeniable. In the worst group the academy had seen in years, a miracle had occurred.
A B-Rank, an A-Rank... and now, a Multiple Beast Master.
This was rarer than Robert's talent, but it was a double-edged sword. A master with four beasts could reach godhood—if they could afford to evolve them all.
But as the Director looked closer, his excitement turned to pity.
'Cultivating a Multiple Beast Master... we aren't capable of it. What an unfortunate fate.' He shook his head. Even with high talent, the resources needed to feed four beasts simultaneously were astronomical. Few forces in the world could cultivate him, even if his talent were high.
Edward looked at the four entities with a frown. He had seen them before... he didn't know what to say about them.
They slowly materialized into four tiny creatures, each only a few centimeters long. Their colors matched the pillars: crimson for fire, green for wind, brown for earth, and blue for water.
They were... miniature. Harmless.
"C-caterpillars?" the Director stammered.
The silence of the room shattered into a roar of mockery.
"He awakened four caterpillars!"
"This guy..."
"It couldn't be more pathetic! Hahaha!" Robert's laughter boomed, while Elizabeth looked on with a sneer of pure ridicule.
Even little William was devastated. 'The Mother Stone truly hates the poor.'
One caterpillar would simply go unnoticed in this group because it meant nothing. They were in the worst group in the Provincial Academy in recent years; it was normal for beasts like caterpillars to appear.
The appearance of a caterpillar was a death sentence. It usually meant E-Rank and Level 1 Evolution Capacity. It couldn't fight, couldn't evolve. They grant very low affinity to magic and a small increase in stats, but they don't have abilities.
But a Multiple Beast Master just got four!
Four!
Could it be any more pathetic? He has four chances to get a mighty beast to add to his own evolution, allowing him to evolve powerfully, but four caterpillars appear!
It was a joke.
It was like winning the lottery, only to find the prize was four pieces of trash.
Edward looked at the tiny creatures and felt the weight of the ridicule. He was forced to sigh.
But then, a cold, mechanical sound echoed in his mind, and a screen flickered to life.
[Welcome to the Evolution System, Edward Lux.]
[You can evolve your Summoned Beasts by leveling them up—the most efficient and perfect method of evolution. Your beasts will never face bottlenecks or stagnation.]