Her shadow wolf stirred restlessly, feeding on her growing agitation. The darkness around her deepened, tendrils of shadow extending unconsciously from her feet as her emotions intensified. Now, in this clandestine situation... a pang of something she didn't want to acknowledge pierced through her. She was about to jump to emerge from the shadows inside the room when the memory of an embarrassing moment stopped her. That time when she had entered without announcing herself to the dormitory and had found Ren shirtless, engaged in some strange ritual. The embarrassment had been monumental in the end, amplified by the reactions of the bat boy, Min, and Taro. 'I won't make the same mistake twice,' she thought, hesitating on how to proceed. "Luna? Are you acquiring a taste for the art of spying?" Liora's whispered voice came from behind in the hallway, startling her. Luna quickly returned to her normal form and covered Liora's mouth. "Shhh," she warned, pulling Liora into the recess of a nearby staircase. "How did you find me?" "I saw you following a trail after the Ren and Larissa fun escape thing," Liora responded. "It wasn't easy to lose the others. I can't openly 'jump' between shadows like you... Grandmother should give me permission to reveal my beast already..." Luna nodded distractedly, her attention divided between her cousin and the door of this dormitory of the gray wing. "Are they in there? What are they doing?" Liora asked, trying to listen but failing due to Liu's sound control. The innocent question triggered a sequence of images in Luna's mind. Memories of shirtless Ren again, his skin covered by those strange luminescent patterns. Larissa's complicit expression when being "kidnapped." The stuff about "taking responsibility"... Luna stopped thinking coherently and did something uncharacteristic of her practiced "persona". A shadow jump right inside the room she remembered well. But with a very different goal than last time… "You can't!" she suddenly exclaimed, jumping from the shadows. "You're too young for THAT!" Four pairs of eyes looked at her with absolute confusion. Ren, fully dressed, was standing next to the egg cabinet, holding what appeared to be a thin notebook. Larissa was calmly stroking her new white lynx. Min and Liu, positioned like sentinels on either side of the door, seemed more surprised by the dramatic entrance than by the accusation. "Too young for what exactly?" Larissa asked, arching an eyebrow. "For... for..." Luna stammered, suddenly aware of how ridiculous her conclusion had been. Liora entered right behind her, hastily closing the door. "Hehe, it was open," Liora added, shrugging her shoulders while Min and Liu smacked their foreheads... Then she looked at her cousin. "Luna! What are you doing?" she whispered furiously. "We were supposed to be discreet spies." "I... thought..." Luna tried to explain, her face gradually turning the same color as Ren's hair. "Oh," Larissa began to laugh as she understood, "you thought Ren and I were...?" "No!" Luna protested too quickly. "I just... rumors were starting to..." "What rumors?" Ren asked, genuinely confused. Liu smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand again. "Ren, you're brilliant at understanding beasts, but completely dense about these things." "I think Luna believed you were repeating your 'naked beast' exhibition but with Larissa this time," Min explained with a malicious smile, earning a withering look from Luna. "Naked beast?" Larissa repeated, her eyes widening with delight. "This sounds fascinating. Please, tell me more." "Nothing like that happened!" Luna exclaimed, mortified. "I just entered without warning because for a moment I thought he was a spy and he was... he was..." "Cultivating my mushrooms," Ren completed naturally. "It requires direct skin contact for maximum control of mana channels." "Oh, Luna," Larissa shook her head with feigned disappointment. "And I thought you were the calmest of us. Look at you misinterpreting such an innocent situation..." "I didn't misinterpret," Luna protested weakly. "I was just... concerned." "About what, exactly?" Larissa pressed, clearly enjoying the moment. "What did you think Ren and I would be doing alone in his dormitory?" "Technically they weren't alone," Liora intervened, pointing to Min and Liu, who seemed to be greatly enjoying the Patinder player spectacle. "We are humble servants, continue imagining we don't exist," Min solemnly declared, before becoming transparent and laughing along with Liu. Luna wished the floor would open up and swallow her. Her shadow wolf, sensing her embarrassment, began to create a small dark whirlpool at her feet. "If it's any consolation," said Ren, somewhat oblivious to the comedy unfolding around him, "your eggs are also ready. Yours and Liora's." "Eggs?" Luna looked up, momentarily forgetting her embarrassment. "You mean...?" "Secondary beasts," Ren confirmed. "Like the lynx Larissa is holding... You're doubles now, aren't you?" "That's why I 'kidnapped' her," he continued, making air quotes with his fingers. "To give her her wind lynx without anyone knowing she was acquiring a second beast." The revelation fell like a bucket of cold water on Luna, replacing her embarrassment with surprise. "Wait," she said, trying to process the information, "this whole secret affair was to give her a beast? Not because you two were...?" She stopped, unable to complete the sentence. Larissa, who had been trying to contain her laughter, finally gave in and burst into laughter so loud that her lynx jumped in alarm. "This," she declared between laughs, "is the funniest thing that's happened to me this semester. It's just... perfect." "It's not funny," Luna muttered. "Anyway," Ren said when the laughter finally began to subside, "as I was saying before this unnecessary confusion, your eggs are ready for bonding if you want to proceed at once." He returned to the special cabinet where he kept his creations. "Though I must warn you that being real double tamers puts you at risk of being discovered, if that matters to you as it does to Larissa." "About that," Larissa intervened, her lynx still curiously exploring the room, "I have some additional pairs of earrings like mine. They should help hide the nature of your cores if you use them." Ren handed Larissa a book bound in black leather with silver symbols engraved on the cover. "This is for you. It contains everything you need to know to bring your lynx to gold level." "Gold level?" Liora let out an exclamation of surprise. "If that's true, that book is worth a fortune. I knew you were doing research with Professor Wei to correct cultivations, but I didn't imagine you were actually aiming to bring beasts without potential to gold. I thought Taro was exaggerating to annoy Jin and Klein's groups. That would easily be worth from a million crystals upward, depending on the beast." "All beasts should be worth the same," Ren responded with simplicity. "One day you'll understand." Larissa browsed through the book with growing interest, occasionally nodding. "I think I understand what you mean," she commented, looking up. "Are you saying that all can reach gold level with the correct method?" She looked at Liora and added: "You're right about the value, but for now Ren can only be paid for the living tunnel method. The payment will be considerable when it advances to silver, but to obtain rewards proportional to the real value of his methods, these must first be officially verified." She closed the book decisively. "For my part, I will personally endorse his method for the lynx. I trust that the truth I see in his eyes is not mere delusion." "I'm willing too," Liora joined in, approaching the eggs Ren had extracted. "I'll take whatever beast you recommend."