Chapter 278: A Seat in the Room
Jin reached Lecture Theatre C eleven minutes early and found most of the delegation already there.
He slowed in the doorway. Two groups had gathered near the front, talking across the rows as though this were an ordinary afternoon between training blocks. A girl was checking a satchel of feed supplements while her friend read numbers from a tablet. Someone had saved three seats with a jacket.
Nobody looked at Jin strangely. Somehow, that made him more conscious of not knowing where to sit.
He chose a place near the back and opened the delegation list. Several names were familiar from recordings, but he had never spoken to most of their owners. Looking up somebody’s beast until midnight apparently did not count as an introduction.
The two First-Class representatives sat at the front-left table. Both were fourth-years at peak Rank 1, nine-Star. Jin recognized one from a profile he had checked twice that morning, hoping the second reading might make the matchup less unpleasant.
It hadn’t.
Glitch was at the peak of seven-Star. Jin was proud of that, and of everything they had done to get here. Sitting behind students with two more Stars and years of practice made him tuck his ranking notification out of sight anyway.
At least I didn’t come in wearing it on my forehead.
Coach Marris arrived carrying a tablet and a half-finished drink. She put the drink down, checked the room, and brought up the schedule.
"The League begins in ten days. We leave in eight. Your travel and care instructions are in the packet, and I expect you to read them before asking whether you can bring an extra feed case."
The girl with the satchel quietly lowered her hand.
"First," Marris continued, "you’re delegates. That makes you eligible for selection. It does not guarantee you’ll fight."
The Regional League held separate Rank-1 and Rank-2 divisions. Academies entered small round-robin groups, with the successful teams advancing to knockout rounds. Each tie between two academies was best of five individual bouts; three victories decided it.
"Five students, selected for each opposing academy," Marris said. "The lineup can change between ties."
A boy near the aisle raised his hand. "Does ladder position decide who gets priority?"
"It helps us assess you. It doesn’t choose your opponent." Marris tapped the display. "If their strongest beast is vulnerable to something you do well, I may select you ahead of a stronger student. I may also leave you out against the next academy."
Jin glanced toward the front table. Neither First-Class representative seemed surprised.
"You can help without taking a bout," the coach added. "Useful scouting, useful practice, useful observations. If you see something, bring evidence. I don’t need twenty people telling me a fast beast looks fast."
Jin opened a fresh page on his phone.
That, at least, sounded like work he knew how to do.
The reward slide got everyone’s attention.
There was prize money, followed by access allocations for rare evolution resources through the regional council. The academy received the team rewards. Delegates earned a baseline share, with larger allocations for meaningful contributions.
Jin leaned forward to read the resource conditions.
He had stolen one evolution fruit from beneath a mantis queen and then spent weeks earning the forty-two thousand Coins needed to bring it into the real world. He could still remember looking at Glitch afterward and having to reach higher to scratch his head.
A council allocation would not necessarily offer something equally suitable. It might not offer anything he could use immediately.
He wanted to see the list anyway. Very badly.
Then he looked back at the cash rewards.
His hatchery debt was paid. There was enough for Glitch’s bigger meals and enough left over that an unexpected bill no longer ruined his evening. That was a considerable improvement over calculating whether he could afford an egg and still eat.
At home, his mother still worked twelve-hour rotations underground. His father still had to decide whether discomfort justified spending money on his brace.
Jin pictured telling them there was something coming their way. His mother would ask whether he had kept enough for the beasts. His father would ask the same thing more indirectly, and Elsa would want to know the exact amount before allowing either of them to refuse it.
He smiled down at his phone.
Let me earn it first.
He copied the allocation rules carefully. Attending earned a share, but he wanted to be able to point at something he had actually done.
The competition preview covered opposing academies, known beasts, and a coach who usually fielded his strongest student early. Jin saved the recordings Marris recommended and marked two others to find himself.
Toward the end, she switched divisions.
"The Rank-2 representatives have separate training arrangements. You’ll hear plenty about them before departure, particularly the freshmen."
Several profiles appeared. The conversations around Jin picked up immediately; these were the students people expected to read about after the League.
He found Lucian Vale before Marris reached his name.
[Rank 2 — Ironclad]
[Academy: Meridian]
[Origin: Shelter 7]
Jin stared at the first line.
He could still picture Lucian’s Thunder Falcon during their delegated-protection practice: the turn of its head, the hesitation before it accepted a command that did not come directly from its tamer. That memory felt recent. The new profile made it feel much further away.
You actually did it.
Lucian had completed the First Bond Awakening and formed a Bond Core. Jin still needed Glitch to reach nine-Star before attempting that breakthrough.
For a moment, the distance between them bothered him more than he wanted it to. He had worked hard. Glitch had changed enormously. It would have been nice if everyone else could have slowed down while they caught up.
Then Marris moved to the next profile, and Jin almost raised his hand to ask her to go back.
He wanted to know what had happened to the falcon. What had the awakening changed? How long had Lucian prepared? Had he been frightened when it started?
Jin saved the profile instead. Those were questions for Lucian, if they got a chance to talk, not for a lecture theatre full of people.
Marris stopped him near the exit.
"Astor. Three climbing wins and a successful defense since Rank 30."
"Yes, Coach."
"You’ve made good use of that beast." She glanced at her tablet. "Heavy, grounded, a committed burst, intimidation, and an attack that opens armor. That’s a useful combination in the right bout."
"He’s still two Stars behind the students at the front."
"He is. And they have more experience. Keep that in mind without deciding it makes you useless."
Jin nodded, slightly embarrassed that she had understood him so easily.
Marris shifted the tablet under her arm. "You read Varro’s feints and prepared for the others. Do that with somebody outside this academy. Bring me something specific enough to use."
"I can do that."
"Good. And keep the movement appointment you booked. Talren showed you why."
She went to catch another student, leaving Jin beside the open doors.
He hoped he would get a bout. Even one would be enough to make the journey feel different. But he could already imagine sitting beside the practice floor, watching a beast he had only seen in a recording, and spotting something worth telling the coach.
He reopened the opponent list before heading out. There were plenty of names he didn’t know.
He started with the first.