Chapter 1: Ugly Claws

Chapter 1

The whispers were muffled and swept across the large square.

"Shi An is here too."

"Isn't he missing?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised the demons didn't tear him up?"

"Retrieved, seems to have fallen into a cave and passed out."

"Snort, not bad for a punk."

......

At the center of public opinion is a teenager.

He stood alone at the edge of the crowd, forlorn, an unoccupied vacuum deliberately carved out around him.

The gossip seemed half to have entered his ears; the black raven eyelashes hung low, and his face, white to the point of transparency, showed little excess of expression, and looked as if it were lost in thought, with a touch of detachment and vulnerability far from the world.

At that moment, a majestic voice rang out from not far away:

"Number 2087, Shi An, please come forward."

There are a total of 2087 students waiting here, and the school numbers are organized in order of magic value, and being at the very end only proves ...... that his magic value is scarce and almost negligible.

Such a person would have been ineligible to enter the academy, but it was the Toki family's alleged donation of a building to the school that hardened Shi An into the waiting list.

This is the third year he has come in for testing.

If they still couldn't detect any magic value, even if the Shi family donated more money, Shi An would be forced to withdraw from the list and would never be able to have the qualification to enroll in school again.

Upon hearing his name, the teenager raised his eyes with a flutter of his eyelashes.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but took a step in the direction of the front desk.

There was a silence in the square.

Sight came from all directions and fell upon him.

There wasn't much goodwill in those lines of sight, more taunts and mockery, more all waiting to see the joke.

Shi An walked into the room.

The one in charge of overseeing the magic power testing was a teacher with a tired face, he lifted his eyelids with a lackluster nature, his eyes swept over Shi An's body, as if he had already decided that the other party was already familiar with the process, "Go ahead."

But Shi An didn't move.

He gave a puzzled look at the oddly shaped apparatus in front of him, then turned his head to the teacher and asked sincerely, "Where to?"

Teacher: "...... "It's not the first time, what's the point of pretending?

But thinking that this was the last time he'd see it anyway, he patiently pointed to the dim silver orb on the instrument and said, "Put your hand on it."

Shi An nodded and let out a quiet "oh".

He stepped forward, lifted his hand and pressed it against the orb, then took a deep breath and sidestepped his gaze as if he couldn't bear to look at it.

Seeing this, even the teacher who already knew the ending could not help but be moved to compassion.

--As the only son of a recently risen family, but without any magical value, he must have borne more pressure than the onlookers could have imagined, which is why he took this test concerning his qualifications for enrollment so seriously.

It was at this moment that a strange voice rang out:

"Drip-drip-drip--"

The voice was excessively sharp, pulling the teacher directly out of his own thoughts, and with a start, he looked in the direction from which the voice had come.

That hemispherical instrument was so brightly lit at the moment that it stung one's eyes, and the pointer on the table to one side fluctuated wildly without stopping at any number, and a piercing alarm sounded through the wall.

The students looked at each other, seeing the same look of disbelief in each other's eyes.

-What's going on in there?

No one knows.

What, what's going on here?

The teacher's eyes widened in shock and she jumped out of her chair.

Shi An was similarly startled and subconsciously flinched her hand back.

The sound stopped immediately.

The bright light dimmed.

The teacher rushed forward in a few steps and began testing the apparatus.

No problem.

Could it be that ...... was tampered with, the

He snapped his head around to look at Shi An, and the other man looked back at him with an innocent look on his face, seemingly oblivious to it.

The possibility was quickly scratched from his mind.

Even if the Toki family was rich, it was impossible for them to manipulate the entrance examination of the Ability Master Academy, they didn't have that much energy yet.

And Shi An himself is even less likely.

It was well known that he was a loser with almost 0 magic value, and it was completely impossible for him to get his hands under his nose.

The teacher hid the doubt in her heart.

He pulled out another spare instrument and turned his head to Shi An:

"Try it with this."

Shi An said "Oh" again.

He put his hand up-"Drip-drip-drip-drip!"

The mechanical sound was loud and sharp, as if it could pierce the eardrums.

And as soon as Shi An withdrew her hand, the sound stopped.

How come?

The teacher was puzzled.

This is only supposed to happen if the detector's magical power is much higher than the instrument's threshold, and while the instrument's value isn't high, it's more than enough for a beginner - not to mention the famous Shi An!

After several repeated attempts, the teacher felt like she was on the verge of not being able to feel it in her ears.

Shi An innocently raised his hand and asked:

"That ......"

"What?" The teacher frowned, his face a masked grump.

Shi An asked with an innocent expression as she pointed to the instrument in front of her:

"Is it of lesser quality?"

Teacher: "......"

Grass.

So hot.

After a long stalemate between the two.

Shi An asked, blinking with hindsight:

"I remember, like, I passed when the ...... instrument lit up, so, I passed?"

The teacher's face was a mess, his forehead was covered in sweat, and the carelessness of a moment ago was long gone.

He stammered for a long time, and finally replied, "That ...... you go home first, when the results come out someone will notify you."

Shi An nodded, "Oh."

He turned to walk out the door, when suddenly, a thunderous sound came from behind him, "Wait! Stop!"

Before Shi An could regain her senses, her hand, which was hanging at her side, was clutched hard.

In that instant, his pitch-black pupils narrowed to a narrow slit, and a scorched dark red color burned silently in the depths of his vertical pupils, carrying an inhumanly treacherous and demonic quality.

Shi An blinked, and it was business as usual.

He whipped his head around to look at the teacher clutching his hand, "What's wrong?"

The teacher examined the palm of the teenager in front of him over and over, carefully, the tip of his nose almost touching the other's palm, so carefully that it was as if he was trying to break open each palm print to see it clearly.

But three minutes passed, and he found nothing.

The teacher looked up in exasperation and questioned aggressively, "Did you do something to your hands, you cheated didn't you?"

The look on Shi An's face suddenly became a bit difficult.

Feeling that she had caught the other person in the act, the teacher pressed, "Why did you just take your eyes off your hands during the test, tell me!"

Shi An's eyes drifted for a moment.

He was silent for a few seconds and whispered, "...... It's so ugly."

The teacher froze, "What?"

Shi An : "I think my hands are too ugly."

The teacher subconsciously looked down.

The other's fingers were slightly curled, the five knuckles were long and even, the fingertips were slender, the fingertips were soft, the thin flesh was delicate and white, and the neatly trimmed nails were flushed with a little healthy powder.

The backs of his hands still bore red marks from the hard, tight clenching.

It's a beautiful hand, no matter which way you look at it.

Teacher: "......"

What the fuck kind of odd reason is that?

In the end, Shi An was released due to lack of evidence.

He stood in the doorway and looked down at his hands.

Fingers that were very pretty for humans closed and opened sluggishly.

Gathered and opened again.

Indeed, it's right on its own.

As if an eggplant had been struck by frost, Shi An's whole body wilted.

It's ugly. It's really ugly.

Really good-looking claws should be covered with dark, hard scales, with sharp tips that split mountains and break rocks, not like now, where they are ugly pink and white everywhere, soft and thin, as if they could be poked by even a thorn.

Shi An once again averted her eyes in disbelief at the thought.

He now missed beyond measure his mighty, majestic body, his big, black, slender tail, and--

A cave full of treasure.

Shi An sighed.

Fifty thousand years ago, due to too much boredom, he fell into a deep sleep lying on his pile of treasures, not realizing that when he opened his eyes, he was not only trapped in a weak and strange human form, but all of his treasures had also disappeared!

After tens of thousands of years of hard work, it's back to before liberation overnight.

-Body and treasure are fucking gone!

Nope!

In order to understand what had happened, he followed the humans who had come to search for him back to the Toki family.

Seemingly afraid that he would run away again, the Toki family watched him to the death, and Shi An was forced to remain trapped in the midst of human society, having to continue to play the role of this human body he was now in.

...... was also sent to touch this inexplicable orb today.

So annoying.

Steeped in her own thoughts, Shi An kept her head down and headed out of the plaza on her own.

The students outside looked different, but their eyes all fell on him - they didn't know what had just happened, but the shrill siren was heard by all, and very few knew what it meant.

But the tester's magic value is much greater than the instrument threshold?

How can that be! There must be a malfunction somewhere.

Shi An was oblivious to the sights around her.

As if he had long been accustomed to basking in the sight of the crowd, he walked outward in a natural manner, leaving the square full of people behind.

There was little expression on his face, but Shi An's heart leapt at the thought of going home and having dinner.

Though he doesn't like humans much, humans make the food ......

It really is irresistible.

Outside the square, the car was already guarding the door.

As soon as Shi An got in, old Butler's eager eyes looked over in the rearview mirror, "How's it going, young master?"

His vision was bright and hot with urgent expectation.

Shi An thought for a moment and said, "The ball is lit."

Old Butler stared, then went into a stupor, as if he couldn't believe his ears, and his whole body froze.

Shi An : "...... Are you okay?"

In the few months he'd been back in the Toki family, he'd learned a good deal about himself as an identity.

The human named Shi An was not close to his family, and even though he had been retrieved a short time ago, he had never met any of his nominal relatives, and had been cared for by the old Butler.

He was also the one who brought himself all kinds of delicious food every day.

So Shi An is still willing to unleash a little goodwill on him.

Seemingly awakened by Shi An's words, the old Butler finally reacted to what the other man had just said.

He couldn't help but burst into tears and was incoherent, "Too, great, so the Master will be happy, I, I'll go tell him right now!"

Old Butler was overjoyed and rambled on:

"His Lordship said before that if you can pass the test, then he will reintroduce you into the consideration of the heir and will hold an entrance banquet for you according to the usual practice ......"

A party?

Eat?

"...... And it's going to be grand ......"

Lots and lots of food!

Shi An's eyes lit up and she nodded her head obediently, "Okay."

Butler swept back through the rearview mirror.

The teenager sat squarely in the back seat, still expressionless but with a palpable happy vibe on his face.

He couldn't help but secretly wipe another tear from his eye.

Alas! What a know-it-all kid!