While the cook prepared his meal, Leo closed his eyes and focused inward, reaching for the strange new space in his mind. The result wasn't a voice or text, but a detailed impression of the hawk's status. He had to interpret the raw feeling himself, but the information it conveyed was straightforward. [Beast Space Activated] 1 occupant [Name] Swiftwing Hawk [Claw] [Rend] [Super Vision] As the connection settled, Leo felt an unfamiliar power suffuse his body. A second wave of information washed over him, more personal this time. [Beast Skill] Super Vision [Beast Attack Skill] Rend This wasn't quite what the booklet had led him to expect. Wasn't he supposed to receive some innate guidance on how to progress? Some sort of feedback on his training? "How does the power rating system work?" he asked the two older men. "Is there some sort of level or grade? How can we tell who has real power and who's a greenhorn like me, still waiting on his skills?" Older was a relative term; they likely weren't much older than twenty, but they were graduates of the Academy and more experienced than him. "That's the tricky part," the cook said. "You don't. Not unless they tell you outright, or you have a special skill for sensing energy like some mages do. Otherwise, you're left with gut feelings and the public rankings. The problem with the rankings is that they're completely subjective. See, I'm a Wand Class Mage, which means I use the Fire Element. If I were an Orb Class Mage, I could use two elements, but that still doesn't tell you how strong I am. The truth is, I never made it past the first level in my spellbook—just don't have the knack for it. But our friend the Druid here, his power works on a completely different system." The guard nodded. "I'm a level six mortal grade Druid. My grade itself has never changed, but the nature magic I can wield is far more powerful than when I first started school. I can even transform into a bear. Because everyone's internal measurements are so different, we use the same scale for everyone, the one used for magical beasts. We rank people from Common to Mythical based on what they can defeat in battle, or how their support skills compare to beasts of the same level." "So, while the cook here is still considered Common Grade, I've made it up to Awakened Grade. I can fight Awakened magical beasts on my own, at least in limited numbers. But I was near the bottom of my class the whole way through. My skills are varied—I can heal, fight, transform, even help plants grow—but I'm not particularly good at any of them, so I'm stuck at the Awakened Grade." Leo nodded, grasping the concept, if not the specific power levels. Focusing on too many things meant you never mastered any of them. He'd known a man like that back home, a jack-of-all-trades. He could mend your fence, patch your roof, or fix a broken cart wheel, but only for the most common problems. Anything seriously wrong, and he'd send you to a true specialist. "I think I follow," Leo said. "How powerful were the top students in your class?" "Have you heard of Archmage Mia, the famous idol spellcaster? She was in our class. She reached Awakened Rank in her first year. By the end of the second, she could defeat Ascended beasts with ease, and by the time we graduated, she was already a Commander Grade Mage. A few years after that, she acquired some rare and powerful resource from a mission, and it pushed her all the way to Royal Rank. That's when she earned the title 'Archmage,' and the fame started to go to her head. She doesn't answer our messages anymore, but we can still brag that we went to school with someone famous." The thought of a Royal Grade monster was terrifying. A single one could level his mining hometown without breaking a sweat. The strongest person in town was likely the Mayor, a Commander Grade Warrior, and in Leo's opinion, he was getting on in years for picking fights with monsters. Besides, the town had no real armed guard, just a handful of police. If a real fight broke out, the old Mayor would have a hell of a time proving he still deserved his rank. Leo ate in silence for a moment, then smiled at the two graduates. "Well, I suppose I should get back to my room and see what I can do about awakening a skill or two," he said. "Otherwise, we'll all be left off our famous classmate's list of people worth talking to." The cook laughed. "I like your thinking. A little motivation goes a long way when you're trying to push through the most grueling parts of training." Leo thought about that as he walked back to his room. The hardest part of any task was seeing it through to the end. It was always easy at the beginning, fueled by excitement, but somewhere in the middle, it became a dreadful, dull grind. The reward felt distant and progress seemed to stall. That was when you lost sight of the goal and started to slack off. If you were lucky, you'd find your way back. If not, you'd fall behind, maybe even fail entirely. Even the Mine Foreman had said as much when he came for career day. Not that any of the students had truly listened, with the divine injection only days away. But for those who had to return to a normal life afterward, their dreams of power suddenly out of reach, the Foreman's words probably held a new and bitter weight. Once the door closed behind him, Leo stared out the window and decided to try one of the skills. [Super Vision] grants the Beast Tamer the sight of the contracted Swiftwing Hawk. The distant forests snapped into crystal-clear focus, and the world at the edges of his sight became as sharp as what lay directly before him. A flicker of movement caught his eye, and Leo spotted a Quill beast moving through the grasslands over a kilometer away. It was incredible. The world was so much more vivid, painted in colors he didn't even have names for. He recalled that the Swiftwing Hawk could see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums. They were also expert nocturnal hunters with superb night vision. While [Rend] was undoubtedly the cooler combat skill, [Super Vision] seemed incredibly overpowered to Leo. Just being able to see perfectly at night would give him a huge advantage over other students in any practical tests. It would be useful in written tests, too. He could easily read another student's paper from across the room without moving his head or even looking directly at it. Cheating on an exam would be simple, if he wasn't already certain none of the other students from the Mines had answers worth copying.

Chapter 4: Power Without Measure