Even though I wasn’t comfortable with Anders being present, I did appreciate his ability to make classes not be in that room. Once Teacher had everyone’s attention, he announced that Anders wanted to inspect their crystal beasts – which prompted us to all vacate the premises and head to the all-familiar location of the clearing. Although I relished being in the fresh air, I didn’t enjoy the accompanying chitter-chatter of children as they chortled and chuckled in a cacophony of chatting conversations that all revolved around our venerable visitor.

 

Reaching the clearing, Anders stood in the centre with his arms by his side before asking for someone to volunteer their crystal beast for inspection. The deafening silence permeated the area as I scratched at my ear to check I hadn’t lost my hearing. “Oh, no, I heard someone gulp. My hearing’s fine!” Tilting my head to examine the faces of the pre-teens, I was served a sight of nerves. I mean, I could understand not wanting to offer oneself up, since he was disturbing. Well…at least to me he was.

 

Eventually, Dinara stepped forward with an anxious smile on her not-so-pretty face. I turned to take note of Anders’ reaction and felt doubly disturbed; he had this hunger within his eyes as he stared at Zillah while smiling. I assumed he was overly eager to see how Dinara had developed her Umbral Spider sling which, I must admit, I was also curious about. As she approached with her crystal beast, I caught the man muttering about how wise a choice the sling was.

 

“Ah, an Umbral Spider sling. You made a good choice with this as your first crystal beast, Dinara.” I listened as he gave a mini-lecture on the advantages and disadvantages of an Umbral Spider sling. Most of it I didn’t bother taking in, as Dinara had explained much of it when giving her reasons for choosing it. However, I chose to give Anders my attention in case he gave any information that might prove useful in me defeating Zillah!

 

“The biggest advantages of an Umbral Spider are its manoeuvrability, stealth, and the ability to control the field of battle. If given the proper development, it can become a fantastic scout, an effective crystal beast catcher, a night bodyguard when travelling, or – if you are so inclined – an assassin.”

 

I lay down on the ground beside Teival’s feet as I overheard the sounds of surprise from the other children’s mouths. I didn’t think what Anders had said would help me. If anything, it caused me to wonder how I’d be able to deal with something like that. However, I found myself fortunate in the second half of Anders’ lecture:

 

“Although it has many advantages, it also comes with a fair share of disadvantages the beginner books tend to leave out. For starters, Umbral Spiders can’t cope well with sunlight – or fire for that matter. If the air becomes too dry and hot, then the spider will dry out and become unable to move as effectively. Another disadvantage is its defensive capabilities: it has barely any.”

 

“Ohhh, so Zillah doesn’t do well with fire. Shame I don’t know how to make any…” As Anders rambled on for a bit more, I yawned and rested my head on Teival’s feet. I saw the ire in my master’s eyes but sensed him not really minding as I swished my tail from side to side, expecting much boredom from this ‘inspection’.

 

Anders proceeded with his examination of Dinara’s Zillah by pulling out a few hairs and mentioning how it was dangerous to breathe them in. He went on to ask Dinara to have Zillah perform a few actions like producing silk, running around, jumping, biting onto a stick, etc…After around ten minutes inspecting, he finally gave his verdict on how well Dinara had developed her Umbral Spider sling.

 

“She seems to produce adequate silk, however it’s nowhere near as good as it could be. Saying that, I think it wouldn’t be detrimental for the moment. Zillah’s fangs seem a little dull, so I’d take care to not let them break or wear down too much. A spider’s lifeline could be determined by their fangs; without them, they can’t feed properly and can even end up starving to death because of it, so be careful.”

 

He took a few steps back and walked around the crystal beast before turning to Dinara: “The sheen on her back looks to be in good condition and her manoeuvrability seems okay but could be better. One way of improving that would be to cut down on how much food you’re giving her – it’s too much. If you look at her abdomen, it’s bulging way too much! In other words: she’s overweight.”

 

I laughed at that, as I considered my own weight. After a few moments of ruminating, I concluded with confidence that I was of an optimum weight due to Teival not allowing me too many snacks! Just ignore the snacks I eat when I dig holes, since he doesn’t know about those. Coming out of my thoughts, I caught the final part of Anders’ inspection with him asking Dinara if Zillah had developed any abilities yet.

 

“Zillah can only produce sticky silk balls at the moment…”

 

“Ah, well…I suppose that’s something…Be sure to work on her blood circulation and maintain a constant eye on her diet. Her limbs will move much smoother with a good circulation, allowing better manoeuvrability which I already said was vital for an Umbral Spider. Overall, you have a lot to improve on but you’re making progress. You can go back now.”

 

 Dinara then returned to our group with her crystal beast before Anders called for someone else to come up for inspection. I wasn’t really that bothered by what he had to say about the majority of the crystal beasts since several of them were the same as some others. Of course, I made sure to listen to the pros and cons initially but even Anders didn’t repeat these when another of the same beast came up. One thing that was interesting was how some of the children who’d failed with their spellcasting actually ended up with well-developed crystal beasts. “I suppose they focussed more on their beasts than on themselves…”

 

An unfortunate victim of the inspection was poor Lady Fluffia the First. Anders discarded the idea of her being a successful crystal beast. No, I mean he literally threw the poor Molnir Panther cub at the owner in disgust and shouted at her in a rage. His words were along the lines of saying the girl should quit even considering being a crystal beast tamer due to exhibiting zero talent in both spellcasting and raising a crystal beast.

 

I mean, I agree with the girl not developing her crystal beast as well as everyone else, however I didn’t think it appropriate to shatter her prospects in such a cruel fashion! I felt riled up as I swished my tail angrily – hitting Teival’s leg repeatedly – and began growling in a low rumble. “How dare you say she should quit?! Just give her some encouraging words and advice on how to better raise her crystal beast! Some people need more help than others, that’s no reason to abandon them! Hmm?”

 

My ranting was interrupted by Teival stroking my head soothingly, “Ahhh, that feels nice, master. Ooh, scratch behind my ears like usual! Ah, that’s the spot! A little to the right…” Having completely forgotten my tirade, I stroked Teival’s leg with my fluffy tail before nuzzling his foot contentedly. Once a few more children had their crystal beasts looked at, Tabitha came forward with Mr Stripey.

 

I sat upright for this inspection, since I wanted to know how my sibling had grown. “Which one of us is better? It had better be me! I’ve put in tons of effort since our last fight!” Going through the motions as Anders had done with all the crystal beasts before, he eventually asked if Mr Stripey had an ability. Tabitha commanded Mr Stripey to make a ball, resulting in him forming a wet muddy ball the size of his claw.

 

Anders seemed pleased – from the way I saw it – before commenting on Tabitha’s choice of blue and brown crystals for Mr Stripey. He mentioned something about ensuring that Mr Stripey comprehended his two attributes so he could develop a wider variety of abilities. I don’t know, it kind of flew over my head a little with the talk of attributes and abilities – although it reminded me of Teival’s spells which made me envious of my sibling for being able to do what my master could do.

 

The man then proceeded to share his conclusion over how well Mr Stripey had been raised, with him detailing a few things that needed improving on. Apparently, my sibling had very poor fur, weak claws – although they were still considered sharp – pristine teeth, and very strong muscles. I vaguely caught Anders asking if Tabitha was intending having Mr Stripey being close combat-oriented to which she replied that she only focussed on that for now but intended helping him properly form an ability.

 

The man dismissed Tabitha and Mr Stripey, before Michael went up with his crystal mantis. I didn’t really pay much attention to this one since I’d fought against it fairly recently. However, one change I noticed was how Buggy’s scythes seemed much longer than before – with it able to slice a log into several pieces when performing its wind blade ability. Other than that, I didn’t find the inspection particularly interesting, except for how Buggy was quite weak to fire and water…both of which I couldn’t produce.

 

At some point, I had fallen asleep on Teival’s feet so when I was gently nudged awake, I discovered everyone staring at me before sensing Anders’ eyes on me. I involuntarily shuddered before following Teival to the centre of the clearing. Reaching the man, I found myself staring at him for a length of time – much to the chagrin of my mind due to a throbbing that gradually increased.

 

His features were surprisingly more appealing than the majority of the adults in the village, but the black symbol continuously drew my eyes towards it – resulting in a numbing nausea encroaching. If I had to sum up how best to describe his appearance: a black mountain. His body was sturdily built with thick muscled arms, a square jaw and a firm centre of gravity. He had black hair, black eyes and some more black hair on his chin. “I’m sensing a theme here…”

 

As I analysed the man, he examined me through the already familiar list of exercises and motions he had put the preceding crystal beasts through. At one point, he stroked my back which caused me to shiver in revulsion, before he commented on how soft my fur was. “Of course my fur is soft! I have high standards of cleanliness and fur maintenance! What girl wouldn’t?!”

 

With his inspection almost over, Anders explained how my body was in very good condition with exceptionally sharp claws and an impressive speed for running. He mentioned how Teival needed to work on improving my defence since I could be taken out with very few hits. My master valiantly countered by saying I’d need to be hit first before my defence mattered. Teacher seemed annoyed by this and began admonishing Teival, though Anders simply laughed it off and accepted the response as valid.

 

Eventually, Anders came to the part where he asked if I had an ability. I turned to Teival, expecting him to proudly say I had one – even though I still wasn’t sure if I did actually – but was met with a blank stare and silence. Waiting a few moments, I began hearing the other children giggling as I noticed the smile on the Clan-man’s face recede into a bored expression.

 

“Kia, dig.”

 

“You want me to dig? Then, I shall dig!” Within a few seconds I found myself, Teival and Anders in a deep pit. Proud of my greatest creation, I jumped onto my master and licked his face while wagging my tail. “Did you see? Did you see? I put extra effort into it this time, so be sure to give me tons of treats as a reward! Look at how much I’ve shown Mr Stripey up! I’m clearly the better aardwolf!”

 

After a few moments, my ears twitched as I heard a low chuckle be released from Anders. He then sang a single line of chant, resulting in the soil lifting us back to the top of the hole before closing it up.

 

“Impressive! Impressive! A good show of an ability, however there’s much room for improvement. It would be more beneficial if you got her to learn how to control the soil rather than just dig a big hole. As for her attribute development, I think you’re doing well with feeding her grey and brown crystals. They clearly match with her personality, that’s for sure. Just pay attention to the strength of her attacks and try to work on her defence a bit – just in case.”

 

“Thank you for the advice, Anders.”

 

I watched as Teival lowered his head a little at the man before motioning for me to follow him back to the group of children. As we returned to our place, Teacher clapped his hands together and gave a little speech about hoping the children had all learned a great deal from Anders. After a few minutes of boring talk, he finished with:

 

“We’ll have a lunch break before returning to the class for lessons.”

 

Just then, Anders chuckled as he walked up to Teacher: “Oh, I don’t know about that, Solomon. Let’s make things more exciting for them with something they’ll be sure to remember for a long while.” He then punched Teacher in the stomach.