The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

The next morning was supposed to be the start of a new life for Evelyn, and it was indeed quite exciting, but not in a way she expected.

'Beast Taming' was not a complicated subject in itself, but that is not to say that it was easy, either. How well someone performed here depended greatly on their innate aptitude as well as how well the professor was able to impart the 'art' to them.

Although she already had a spirit beast companion, Evelyn was not exempt from going through the same process of trying to bond with the 'stray' beasts while the professor scored them.

And therein lay the problem. The professor who had introduced himself as 'Beast Master Dane' was clearly in a bad mood, and was intent on taking it out on the students.

"Trash, absolutely trash! Seems like this year's batch is just full of talentless idiots like you, isn't it?"

It was supposed to be just a preliminary test to check their aptitude, based on which the professor will adapt their teaching methodology, but somehow it had become a platform for roasting the 'talentless' children instead.

Evelyn didn't know just what had put the red haired man in such a bad mood, she just hoped that he wasn't so irrational while scoring them for the exams as he was today.

"Next!"

Even on this wide open ground, the children were all huddled together in fear as they dreaded receiving the professor's harsh criticism.

It was no wonder, since most of them were just barely eight years old, after all. And the giant bird-like beast standing beside the red haired man didn't help at all. None of them dared to step forward anymore.

"Why are you guys dallying?! You, the pink haired girl! Come on up!"

Since she was singled out already, Evelyn could only grit her teeth and step out from the crowd of quivering students.

The red haired man sneered as he looked at her up and down. A spirit physique, quite well raised, but nothing he hadn't seen before. Three others had come up before her, and they were all equally disappointing. "Took you long enough! Anyway, show me what you got."

Evelyn nodded as she stepped in front of the bird beast. Although the professor was clearly biased, she was still determined to try her best.

She had already probed the stats of the bird beast earlier, and it wasn't anything special, nor did it have any exceptional abilities. It was a simple beast that was used as a mount to cover long distances, with looks that were quite similar to an ostrich from her first world.

The only problem was that its low intelligence meant it took a long time for it to 'recognize' a master. And its nature was inherently violent against strangers, which made it a very difficult assignment for newbies like them.

The professor had shown them some basic steps for how they should do things, despite his unprofessional behavior. But that was only for regular beasts, and not this one in particular.

The normal method for beast taming was to approach the target with an offering of food. Once it accepted their offering, they could then move on to a gentle approach to show their 'friendliness', and then follow it up with a few simple instructions. Another method was to simply subjugate it using pure strength until it showed signs of submission.

The reason that most of the students suffered was because not only was this beast more violent than the norm, the professor had also already overfed it. It simply disdained any food offerings from the students.

Of course, the poor children did not know this. Evelyn only discovered it since its status showed the debuff 'Overfed'.

Evelyn fully intended to use the strength method, since the bird beast wasn't particularly strong anyway. Most other students were too weak to attempt this, but she was confident, having already seen its stats. 

But as she got closer, Evelyn realized that it was actually far more receptive of her than the other students. Instead of showing disdain or any signs of attack, it even approached her on its own, circling around her curiously as it made some loud chirping noises.

"Wow, how did she do that?"

"Is it because she didn't try to give him food?"

"But didn't the professor say we should do that?"

The students also discovered that something wasn't quite right, but they knew too little to make anything of it.

But the professor's face was completely dark. "What the hell are you using? External stimulants are strictly prohibited in this course! What will you even learn if you use such things?! Get out of my sight!"

Evelyn couldn't help but furrow her brows, feeling wronged. "I'm not using any 'external stimulant'! I just—"

The red haired man snorted. "Bullshit! Even I could feel a calming aura around you when you came close. Now fuck off, and never come back to my class. If you dare stay any longer, I'll toss you out myself."

The pink haired girl bit her lip, but could only follow the professor's instructions to leave the area regardless of her grievances.

As she passed by the students, she heard them muttering about how they didn't expect she was cheating, and that it was no wonder then that the beast reacted differently to her. She had to hold little Ruru tightly to avoid her from jumping into the crowd and making a mess, but it only made her feel worse.

Evelyn's eyes were red as she walked all the way back to the White Lily Palace, hugging her little fox close as little Ruru tried her best to console her master by gently licking her palm, but it didn't help much. 

As she stood in front of the tall, intricate gates, she couldn't bring herself to go in and face her friends at all.

What would she tell Vivian and Amara if they asked why she was back so soon, that she got expelled from a class on the first day?

The pink haired girl bit her lip and turned away. "I'll have to ask Cecilia what to do about this… but she said she'll only be back by evening today… I don't believe that the academy doesn't have any provisions to protect the students from this kind of unfair treatment! No, even if it doesn't, at the very least I have to prove that he was wrong!"

Evelyn wandered around aimlessly as she waited for the time for her second class, hoping that it didn't go as bad as the first.

Before long, however, she came across a strange, eerie looking lake.

Evelyn didn't know what made her have such a strange feeling, but she felt like if she tried to dive in to explore its depths, she might never be able to come back. "Is this the one Cecilia mentioned, where Aurora usually rests?"

"'Rests'… is not the right word."

"EH?!"

The pink haired girl held her hammering heart as she turned to stare at the little girl who had suddenly appeared behind her. "A-Are you Aurora?"

The platinum blonde nodded. "Mhm… our first meeting… came earlier than expected."

Evelyn tilted her head curiously, having no idea what she was talking about. Aurora wasn't on the list of her 'teachers' in this term, was she?

Aurora gave her a curious look, as if she was trying to figure something out. "Why are you here, little girl?"

Evelyn felt her lips twitch as she stared at the platinum blonde, who was barely any taller than herself. 

It is to be noted that Evelyn is only eight years old and is very much bound to grow!

How can she call anyone else a little girl with a straight face?

Before Evelyn could respond, Aurora hummed as she walked closer to her.

"This is… the time for your beast taming class, is it not? Are you skipping?"

As she got within arm's reach, Evelyn suddenly had the feeling that she'll probably experience one of those punishments that Cecilia mentioned if she didn't explain her situation well enough.

And so she did, leaving nothing out, including all the injustice she felt at professor Dane's assumption of her cheating when she clearly hadn't.

Even after hearing her explanation, however, Aurora's expression didn't change much.

Aurora moved closer to her and sniffed Evelyn's neck, making the girl stiffen in shock. 

"Mhm, if it really is an external stimulant, it has to be grade ten or higher for me to not be able to detect it even now…"

Evelyn rolled her eyes as she got out of her shock in exasperation. "I'm clearly not using any!"

The platinum blonde nodded. "I know. However, it's true indeed that you have a soothing aura around you, which caused professor Dane to make such a blunder."

The pink haired girl frowned. "What? You're saying it was my fault?"

Aurora smiled. "Is it the fault of the outstanding for the incompetent to be unable to comprehend their talent?"