Jayden was walking his way to the school farm now, his thermoregulation technique worked all through the night because of the heated room but now he was outside, he had to consistently engage in activities like holding his breath, thinking of something terrifying or jogging a bit.
Lucky for him, Tyler and Ryan both had Beast anatomy lectures this morning.
Since their beast were low, they already knew their place in society and decided to study 'Beast marketing' as their course.
Selling beast parts was the kinda future that awaited such people, but the reason Jayden had chosen to study beast politics, which only the top ranks gained access to Governmental positions, was a mystery to them.
The school farm was an authorised area for reasons Jayden didn't yet know. He was just a newbie at GTA.
"Hey, kid!" Draco called from Jayden's mind, "Did you grow dragon scales? How are you absorbing mana?"
Jayden smiled, approaching a space behind a lecture block.
"Science nigga. Just science"
Draco kept silent. He was being cultivated 24/,7 and Jayden was also on his way to gather more crystals. He felt happy to be able to surpass other beasts quickly, thanks to Jayden's commitment, but the pride dragon never uttered any words of appreciation.
"Have you been sleeping all this time?" Jayden studied the wire-mesh fence that demarcated the farm from the academy's environment
"Yeah, you've got new friends so I decided not to interrupt you guys," Draco murmured.
Jayden hissed.
He could see how beautiful the trees and plants were from the net-like fence.
From beast ecology classes yesterday, he remembered Mr Williams saying that fetching certain resources from the farm was his test and examination method.
But now Jayden was wondering, why would picking up a couple of things in such a beautiful place be a test?
Nevertheless, he was calculating his jump over the 6.5-foot-tall mesh fence.
A normal human of his age would be able to jump four feet high and Jayden was thinking.
'What would my 100 per cent increase in strength add to that?"
He wasn't going to know if he didn't try.
After ensuring there was no one watching him apart from spiritual beings, he squatted, concentrating pressure in his legs then leapt.
Then he realised he was still learning to control his strength.
Jayden could see the top of the trees, stretching endlessly in the farm and even slowly watch a bird fly past his gaze.
Landing?
He lost his concentration while falling through the branches of trees and eventually landed flat on the ground.
Jayden growled in pain.
"You'd better learn how to control your balance because you'll need that when you start growing wings." Draco purred.
Jayden felt a faster inflow of mana here. Thanks to the abundant trees here which hindered ozone depletion by actively giving off oxygen and taking in carbon dioxide, the mana here was as fresh as the air.
Jayden immediately stood up to one knee at the sound of rumbling bushes.
His eyes fixed in the direction, only to hear a squeak from a distance.
He turned, spotting a red-eyed bunny far away.
Another sight caught him from his peripheral vision.
He turned again, spotting a black headed snake moving through the bushes, only for it to pass by, and there was another head at the tail of the snake.
"A double-headed snake", Jayden whispered. It was becoming clear that something was wrong with this zone.
He felt like the plant vines were watching him, even the orange tree he fell through looked like it was moving closer to him.
"Why the fuck are the oranges red" Jayden muttered, his body had already begun shivering.
It was clear the beauty he saw was a disguise. Beauty was always known to be deceptive but not horrific. This was on another level.
He looked at a set of plants and saw a red rose growing amongst them.
Jayden cautiously drew to inhale its fragrance.
"That's not advisable!" Draco warned.
But it was too late, the rose opened up, revealing sharp incisors and pink, slimy liquid.
It had lunch at Jayden.
Jayden screamed, immediately pushing back and crawling backwards.
At once, the farm stirred to life and vines started crawling at Jayden from all corners, bunnies and even Jayden's greatest enemy—mana rats.
"Gosh..." Jayden rasped, punching back a first set of vines then he jumped to the body of the orange tree, gathered strength in his foot and leapt outside the farm
A vine coiled around his legs, pulling Jayden backwards, but the kid wasn't gonna agree to that.
He twisted mid-air and cut off the vine with a kick
Even when he fell to with his butt first to the ground the farm held more terror than the pain
Jayden crawled backwards until he rested his back on the building behind him, breathing heavily like he had just seen a ghost.
Even ghosts were not as horrific as what he just saw.
He watched the vines and other beasts retreat into the farm and regain its once beautiful background.
"So..., what moral lessons did you learn?" Draco purred.
Jayden took a deep breath.
"Never jump into a mana forest without ecological knowledge."
"And also, I know nothing about mana beast"
Jayden was lucky not to learn the hard way, else the farm was ready to teach him.
Getting these crystals would have to wait unless he's ready to buy them.
First, he would have to attend Mr Williams' classes with full concentration, learn about mana beast, their evolved aspect and their characteristic, or else he wouldn't survive a minute in such a zone.
This was just a glimpse of what his ancestors faced 750years ago, before the government found a way to separate mana beasts from humans.
It was now that Jayden's eyes caught a yellow signboard on the fence, with the writing 'restricted area'.
"Well, well, well, I guess this is what happens when you leap before you look"
He stood up, and shook off the dust,
"I'd better go find the beast technology hall."