Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 856 - Taming the Fifth Year - Pieces of the Board

POV Orion

Orion held in his hands objects representing years of meticulous planning and sacrifices that would have made men with less determination step back.

11 strange crystals rested on his desk, 4 of them floated on top of his palms, each pulsing with energy that slightly distorted the air around their surfaces.

Two were dark purple, absorbing light rather than reflecting it, pulling it inward like small mouths feeding on illumination. Even in a well-lit room they appeared as dark voids, surfaces refusing to acknowledge the existence of brightness.

One was completely black…

It emanated a sensation of void, uncomfortable to hold for extended periods. The kind of discomfort that started in the fingers and crept up the wrist like cold water. But this one the one Orion liked the most.

And the last was white…

It glowed with soft but persistent luminescence, quiet and constant in a way that reminded Orion of the moon on cloudless nights.

Together, the 4 stones in his hands vibrated with energy that shouldnʼt coexist peacefully. And somehow they rotated inches apart without conflict, held in equilibrium by the arrangement heʼd spent 3 years perfecting.

The other 7 stones sat in specially prepared containers across the desk.

11 stones total. 11 pieces of a puzzle that had been separated deliberately, scattered across centuries of history by someone who understood exactly what they did together.

Someone who may have been afraid of what happened when all 14 were reunited.

Orion intended to find out why.

Seiya, Aldricʼs son, stood beside him watching those stones with nervousness he couldnʼt completely hide no matter how much training heʼd received to maintain composure under pressure.

The young man was competent. That was the right word, competent. Not brilliant, not a prodigy, but reliable in the ways that mattered most for work. He followed instructions precisely, he stated accurately and he didnʼt ask questions that might reveal how much he understood about operations he participated in.

Aldric had trained him well for that specific purpose.

But the energy those objects controlled was palpable even for someone without particularly refined elemental sensitivity. Seiya could feel it pressing against his consciousness like sound pressure from a bass drum, not loud enough to hurt but present enough to make concentration difficult.

They were artifacts that together could control power on a scale exceeding anything ordinary cultivation could achieve.

Not beasts.

Power itself… The fundamental force underlying everything from elemental manipulation to spiritual cultivation to the very structure of mana as tamers understood it.

Seiya shifted his weight slightly. His hands moved toward his front then stopped, recognizing the gesture was instinctive rather than useful. You couldnʼt fight these stones with your body.

He was here only because heʼd received a message from one of his father Aldricʼs intelligence units, an urgent communication delivered by a fast bird that had traveled from the position where Aldric and his allies proceeded monitoring the academy situation.

The message contained details about the final battle between Ren and Liora, description of new abilities both had revealed during the confrontation that had pushed limits far beyond what 5th-year students should be able to manifest.

Seiya had read the report twice. Then once more to make sure he hadnʼt misunderstood.

The capabilities sounded completely insane when articulated as a list.

Complete elemental control over the 7 elements without apparent restriction. Fusion of elements into advanced combinations like ice that few old masters dominated appropriately. Curses unlocking prematurely in beasts that shouldnʼt have access to those legendary techniques for additional years.

And that was only what theyʼd shown publicly. Aldric speculated they had additional capabilities they hadnʼt wanted to reveal.

Which meant the list was incomplete. Which meant the real numbers were worse than what intelligence had confirmed.

”Can we really win in the end against so many new powers?” Seiya inquired with a voice carrying genuine doubt beyond simple nervousness.

It was a reasonable concern considering the full context.

Not only were they facing prodigy tamers like Ren Patinder, his friends, and the ”princesses” Larissa, Liora, and Luna with capabilities defying conventional understanding, but also veterans like Julius, Zhao, and Selphira whose experience and power accumulated over decades made them formidable adversaries in their own.

The math was brutal when you tallied everything honestly.

Ren alone, operating at the level of his battle with Liora, could probably neutralize 10-15 normal Gold 1 tamers. At full strength, maybe 20… If whatever his actual ceiling was, wasnʼt too far, because Aldricʼs reports suggested he hadnʼt shown everything, the number could be significantly higher.

Add doubles like Luna, whose abilities remained largely uncharacterized because she hadnʼt fought too hard yet. Add Larissa with her light jumps manipulation. Add Liora, clearly possessing techniques that could reshape battlefield dynamics.

Then add Julius as another double fuser. Zhao with his aerial superiority and insane precision. Selphira with 4 centuries of experience and power that placed her among the kingdomʼs top 1 or 2 combatants regardless of current rank limitations.

And the army. Yanoʼs military force distributed throughout the region, more than double their own numbers.

Against all that… What did Orionʼs faction actually have?

The stones.

11 stones and whatever they could unlock.

”As long as we donʼt give more time to that Patinder kid… Everything is still functioning within acceptable parameters,” Orion responded with a tone communicating confidence that came from knowledge Seiya didnʼt yet fully possess.

Not blind arrogance but cold evaluation of the situation based on information Aldric had apparently kept hidden even from his own son until this moment.

There was a reason for that compartmentalization. Intelligence operations worked best when minimal people understood the full picture. Seiya knew his role… He didnʼt need to understand everything to execute it effectively.

”Although we were informed that Julius and his search group finally found ʼthe brainʼ in Yinoʼs depths,” Orion continued, allowing a small smile to touch his lips.

Not humor exactly but satisfaction at confirmation of his predictions.

”They canʼt do absolutely anything with it without the 7 ʼactivatorsʼ.”

He indicated the 2 purple stones he held alongside the black and white ones, then gestured toward the sealed containers holding the remaining purple pieces.

”And those 7 are here. Under our control. Theyʼve been here for almost 3 years, removed from their original location long before Julius began the search that would eventually lead him to that useless discovery.”