In an unknown place, a bunch of important looking figures are seen gathered around a table.

“So you’re saying that it’s coming?” One of the figures asked, seemingly distressed.

“I don’t want to believe it either, but denial won't help us.” A female figure responded. “We need to start preparing before it’s too late.”

Everyone at the table nodded, and they began leaving the room one by one.

…

Alex got up from his bed and started preparing himself for school, as today was the day he fought a magic beast for the first time. Although he would only be fighting an entry level Rank 1 Beast, it would still be a tough task. Only 1 in every 50 kids show magic potential, and half of those kids don't ever make it past peak soldier tier. A Rank 1 Beast is by default, stronger than 90% of people. When Alex arrived at school there was a tense atmosphere, especially among the weaker kids. Although you wouldn’t die due to the teachers, who are peak corporals, standing guard, you could still be heavily injured. Alex went to his classroom, and along the way noticed Brodin. The two glanced at each other and went to their classroom.

“Alright everyone, let me explain to you how this is going to work,” Mrs. Bates said. “Each student will have 5 minutes to fight the beast, the damage done to the beast will determine your score,” she continued. “Before we leave, you will have to pick out your beast gear. They are all of similar quality so don’t worry about that, and if you have your own beast gear you can use that as well. Do your best, as your score here will greatly impact your chances to enter certain highschools.”

After Mrs. Bates finished explaining everything, she brought the class to a shelf where a bunch of beast gear was seen. Alex, because of classes, had a baseline understanding of how to use every weapon shown. From his experience, the sword was best for someone like him, and thus he went to where the swords were. However, as he was walking past the gauntlets, the black orb began pulsating. The pulsating would get worse the closer Alex was to the gauntlets, so Alex quickly went past the gauntlets and got to the swords. Alex, having more experience with short swords, immediately grabbed one. But when he grabbed the short sword, something about it felt off. The orb had also dimmed slightly, it seemed as if his body was telling him not to use a short sword.

Alex, listening to his body, decided to look around at other weapons. Due to the pain he had experienced while with the gauntlets, he decided to check those out last in hopes that maybe there were other weapons that he could use. After grabbing nearly every weapon, none of them elicited any reaction from the orb. Alex decided to head back to the gauntlets. As he approached, the pulsating got worse and worse. He began walking closer and closer to the gauntlets, and the pain became almost unbearable. However, when he was right in front of a pair of chained gauntlets, the pain went away and his orb was glowing brighter than ever before. He grabbed the chained gauntlets and went to a training area to get a feel for them.

Alex put the gloves on and began throwing some punches. After a while of throwing the punches, he decided that it was time to practice with the chains. Seeing as the gauntlets were a beast weapon, he could feed his mana into the chains to control them.

When Alex fed his mana into the chains, the orb began pulsating, so he quickly stopped feeding mana. He had already decided to listen to his orb, so he fed the black mana into the chains. When the black mana entered the chains, the gauntlets and Alexs’ blue eyes began glowing slightly. Alex launched the tip of the chain to a training dummy located a few meters away from him. When the chain collided with the training dummy, there was a loud bang, and the training dummy was destroyed.