My spirit animal is a F–Rank gecko-Chapter 54: Animal essences study (1)

After screaming at everyone to sit their butts down, everyone scrambled to their chairs.

The teacher sighed heavily, rubbing her temple.

"Just great... Placed in the worst class this year, and having to deal with Ruchina..."

Everyone watched as the woman mumbled to herself. She blinked, then shook her head.

"My apologies." She cleared her throat. "Hello, class. I’m Dahlia Cannister, your homeroom teacher for this year."

Jaster’s eyes shot up at the name.

Dahlia Cannister... I think I’ve heard of her before.

Dahlia rummaged through her bag and pulled out a thick stack of papers.

"Now, I’m going to give you all your class schedules."

Before she could move, Jay raised his hand.

"Excuse me, miss. Aren’t you going to ask us our names?"

Dahlia looked at everyone in the class, then closed her eyes.

"No need. I already know each of your names."

[ Skill Activated — Ruby Statistics Lv. 20 (MAX) ]

She opened her eyes again. The entire classroom turned red in her vision—every student painted in crimson, with words floating above each of their heads.

It was all the information she needed: Name, Spirit animal, Parents, Location, Goals.

She squinted at Jaster’s goal in life.

"Hmm... Interesting."

---

After handing out all the papers, she returned to her desk.

"Take a look at your first class, students."

Reza’s eyes widened at the paper. "Spiritual Essence Studies? What’s that?"

"You’ll find out soon enough. Your first class will take place in the Bondspire Garden near the dormitories. Ms. Melissa is already waiting for you all."

Everyone headed outside. As they crossed the open field, Jaster noticed several students running in circles with their spirit animals.

"Is that their PE class?" Just then, he spotted a familiar black-haired guy.

It was Adrien. He’d stepped aside to catch his breath, wiping sweat from his forehead with his PE uniform. The movement showed off his muscular build, making Jaster immediately looked away.

Damn it. What are these 17-year-olds made of?!

As their class passed Adrien’s, his eyes locked onto Jaster.

"Yo, Adrien, want some water?" His friend Connor offered him a bottle.

Instead of answering, Adrien froze. His gaze stayed fixed on Jaster as he walked past.

Connor waved a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Adrien. You okay buddy?"

Adrien’s expression that was shocked, immediately turned soured. He let out an annoyed tsk.

His chest tightened. He’d been waiting a month for Jaster to call, to text, to anything. And now he just walked past like they were strangers.

He turned around to his brown hair friends, while frowning.

"Why didn’t he even call me after getting discharged?"

Connor’s eyebrows shot up. He’d never seen Adrien like this before. His friend’s face was holding back tears, quietly sniffling.

"Dude... what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you like this before"

"It’s... nothing. Just ignore what I said." Adrien wiped his eyes and went back to running, leaving Connor completely confused.

"What just happened?"

---

Standing before the garden, they were met with a paradise of vegetation.

A huge fountain sat at the center, surrounded by benches for students. A river wound through the space, crossed by a medium-sized bridge. Hedges and lush grass stretched in every direction.

Ivy’s eyes lit up. She summoned her hare and immediately started wandering.

"This is amazing!" She spotted rows of colorful flowers lining the ground perfectly.

"Ivy, be careful. We might get in trouble if you break those." Karina hurried after her.

Jaster was equally amazed, admiring the beautiful hedges.

Annie glanced at him, noting his wonder.

Great. This is my chance to—

Before she could move, Joshua tapped Jaster’s shoulder.

Startled, the white-haired boy looked up, way up at his classmate towering behind him.

"Oh. Hi, Joshua. Sorry I didn’t greet you back there..."

Joshua just stared at him, then finally spoke.

"Are—you feeling alright...?" Though the boy face showed nothing, Jaster could tell he was nervous.

"Oh—yeah, I’m good. Thanks for asking."

"I wanted to talk to you when you first came to the classroom, but you were surrounded by your friends and I got nervous..."

"It’s okay, really, Joshua." Jaster kept reassuring him, patting his shoulder.

After a few more reassurances, Joshua finally relaxed and wandered into the garden.

Jaster rubbed the back of his neck, still confused.

And here I thought I was the socially awkward one...

Annie noticed everyone else had already entered the garden, it was just the two of them remained.

She seized her chance and looped her arm through his.

Jaster looked at her like she was weird. "Annie... you startled me."

"Jaster, let’s check out more of the garden. Do you wanna?"

Though he didn’t really want to explore with anyone, the white boy reluctantly accepted.

They ventured deeper, into the small hedge maze.

"Look, Jas! Those flowers are beautiful!" She pointed at a red lily, shaking his arm with excitement.

But Jaster wasn’t paying attention. He was focused on something else.

He steadied his breath and cleared his mind, concentrating on his connection with Purple.

Then he took a deep sniff. A strong floral scent hit his nose.

Gotcha! He celebrated internally, rubbing his snotty nose.

They reached a fork in the maze.

"Jaster, which way?" Annie leaned closer as Jaster sniffed the air like a cat.

The strong smell came from the right. He pointed.

As they walked, Annie holding his hand tightly, while Purple kept on sneezing making him stop.

"You okay, buddy?" Jaster gently pulled away from Annie’s grip to grab a tissue and wipe Purple’s nose.

Annie watched, fascinated by how carefully he tended to his spirit animal.

"You and Purpleberry are really a great match... too bad I can’t summon mine. He needs water to walk around..."

Jaster looked at her, surprised. "Oh yeah, you have a turtle, right?"

"Yeah." She shrugged. "Though he’s kinda useless on land."

Purple sneezed again.

Jaster chuckled, gently patting the tiny gecko’s head. "Purple isn’t that great either. He just sneezes a lot."

"Hey!" Annie frowned. "You literally stopped everything just to wipe his nose."

Jaster blinked. "Well... yeah."

He said it so simply. Like loving something was the most natural thing in the world.

Annie looked away, crossing her arms.

Must be nice... having someone care about you that much.

Jaster suddenly sniffed the air again. Purple’s nose twitched.

"Oh—wait." He turned toward another path. "The smell is stronger this way."

Annie tilted her head. "Who are you tracking anyway? I’ve noticed you sniffing the air since we got here."

Jaster grinned. "Just trying to earn myself some extra credit. You’ll see soon enough!"

He grabbed Annie’s hand and bolted through the hedge.

"Jaster—wait!" Leaves flew everywhere, sticking to Annie’s hair, mouth, and face.

After a frantic dash, Jaster stopped abruptly. Annie crashed into his back.

"Hey! Why’d you stop?" She finally looked ahead—and her eyes went wide.

A cute tea table sat surrounded by beautiful pink flowers. A woman in a corset and long green Renaissance-style skirt sat gracefully, sipping tea. Flowers decorated her long hair.

She offered her white Persian cat a cup.

"Want tea, Coco?"

"Meowwrrr." Coco nodded elegantly.

As she poured, Jaster finally spoke.

"You... YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SAVED PURPLE LAST TIME!"

Melissa was the myterious woman from Silver City that was wearing a full flower motive in her dress.

She was the one who’d found Purple when he ran away.

Melissa eyes widened. She looked at Jaster, then spotted Purple on his head.

She smiled and waved. "Oh, welcome back, Purple. How I’ve missed you so much!"

"Who is this lady?" Annie whispered.

"This lady... is our teacher..."

The woman smiled and tilted her head.

"Come now, students. Let’s begin your very first class!"