Chapter 329: Not the First Offer

Chapter 329: Not the First Offer

Elsa had been looking at the Breeztail Fox egg for long enough that the attendant offered to bring out its records.

"Yes, please," she said before Jin could answer.

He smiled at her enthusiasm and looked through the glass. The egg was pale gray, streaked with silver, and exactly as healthy as the display claimed.

[Breeztail Fox — Egg]

[Quality: Silver (Middle)]

[Affinity: Wind]

[Condition: Healthy]

The price on the seller’s card was 300,000 Credits.

Jin checked the information beneath the basic appraisal again. There was no unusual hidden potential, no overlooked trait that changed what he was seeing. It was a good egg from a respectable species, offered at a price that reflected it.

Elsa held up the adult illustration on her phone.

"Look at its tail. It steers with it when it jumps."

The fox in the image was slender, pale-furred, and caught in the middle of a wind-assisted leap.

"It suits your talent," Jin said.

"I know." She looked back at the egg, pleased. "That’s why I’ve been standing here."

It was the fifth supplier they had visited over two days.

Elsa had rested after the awakening, completed the clinic’s follow-up checks, and been cleared for ordinary outings. Jin had insisted on breaks between visits, partly for her and partly because he needed them himself.

He had expected to find something by now.

That embarrassed him a little. His first two beasts had taught him the value of looking where other people didn’t. Somewhere along the way, he had started expecting the next overlooked treasure to be waiting if he simply checked enough shelves.

At the second supplier, he had spent several hopeful minutes examining an egg whose markings differed from the catalog image. The variation was harmless and unremarkable. At the third, a seller had explained a weak point in a promising species before Jin even appraised it.

The fourth had shown them healthy stock and nothing more.

His talent was working. There simply wasn’t a hidden prize in every case.

Elsa’s phone had been considerably more active than his search. Schools sent congratulations, requests for information, and introductions to programs she had never heard of. Arthur had started helping her sort the legitimate inquiries from strangers making extravagant promises.

None of that had put the right egg in front of Jin.

Maybe this is what shopping is like when you aren’t absurdly lucky.

The attendant returned with the fox’s records. Jin went through them carefully, hoping for something he had missed.

There wasn’t anything.

"Is it too expensive?" Elsa asked once the attendant moved away.

Jin looked up. She had been watching his face instead of the egg.

"It’s a lot," she added. "You don’t have to pretend it isn’t."

"I’m not pretending. But price alone isn’t why I’m hesitating."

"Then what is?"

He closed the records and turned toward her.

"If I thought this was the right one, I’d work out how to pay for it. If I needed to, I’d consider borrowing in my own name."

Elsa stared at him. "You’d take a loan?"

"For the right beast, yes. Not without looking at the terms, and not by spending the money we need for care." Jin glanced at the case. "It’s your first partner. I don’t want to settle just because something is available today."

"What’s wrong with it?"

"Nothing. It’s healthy. The records match. The seller’s been straightforward." He hesitated, trying to explain without turning his sister’s interest into a mistake. "I just don’t see the extra promise I’m looking for."

Elsa frowned. "Extra?"

"The sort of thing that makes me want to stop looking."

"With Glitch?" she asked.

"And Flicker."

Jin couldn’t tell her everything he had seen in those two. He could tell her that the fox didn’t give him the same confidence.

"I spend a lot of time on this," he said. "Trust me enough to let me compare more."

Elsa returned to the illustration on her phone.

"I like it," she said quietly.

"I know."

"I wasn’t only looking at the tail. The description says they’re curious. They like following their tamer around."

Jin leaned closer while she showed him the section she’d read. She had looked at more than he realized: temperament, feeding, exercise, even how much room the adult would need.

He listened until she finished.

"It could be a good partner," he acknowledged. "I’m not saying you chose badly."

"But you want me to wait."

"A little longer. You’ve got time now. That’s part of why we did the awakening early."

Elsa looked through the glass again. He suspected she had already tried a name on the fox in her head, but he didn’t ask.

"They laughed about Glitch," she said eventually.

Jin waited.

"When we got the egg. People acted as though Mum and Dad had wasted everything." She turned toward him. "You saw something they didn’t."

"I didn’t know everything he’d become."

"But you knew enough to keep going." Elsa let out a breath. "All right. We’ll keep looking."

"You’re sure?"

"No," she said. "I still like the fox. But I trust you."

That made him feel better and considerably more responsible at the same time.

"I’ll look properly," he promised. "I can’t promise another Glitch."

"One Glitch is quite a lot already."

He laughed, relieved that she could still tease him. They thanked the attendant, returned the records, and left without paying a deposit.

Elsa kept the adult illustration on her phone. Jin didn’t ask her to delete it.

They were on the transit back to the guesthouse when the formal request arrived.

Elsa opened it, read the first few lines, and went very still.

"Jin."

He looked over. She held the screen between them.

[Formal Recruitment Request]

[Candidate: Astor, Elsa — Wind Control, Grade S]

[We invite you and your family to a personal meeting to discuss admission.]

[Proposed joining benefits include:]

[Placement in our premier freshman program.]

[A Gold (Low) beast for your first contract, selected for affinity compatibility.]

[Please contact our admissions office to arrange a suitable meeting time.]

Jin recognized the crest. The academy had a stronger reputation than Meridian and facilities he had only seen in recruitment features meant for students with much better prospects than his public record once suggested.

He read the beast provision again.

"A Gold beast," Elsa whispered.

"Yes."

"They’d give me one?"

"As a joining benefit. We’d need to read the full offer."

She looked from the message to him. "Is it real?"

Jin checked the sender against the academy’s official admissions details before answering.

"The address is theirs. We can contact the office directly to confirm the meeting."

Elsa leaned back in her seat.

They had just walked away from a Silver egg costing three hundred thousand. Now a school was offering to provide a higher-Quality beast because of a result she had received only days ago.

For a moment Jin wanted to tell her to accept before someone changed their mind.

Then he read proposed joining benefits again.

"Should I say yes?" Elsa asked.

"To learning more. Not to enrolling yet."

"But this is good, isn’t it?"

"Very good," he said. "It might turn out to be the best choice. We don’t know yet."

He handed the phone back.

"There may be other offers. We should compare the instruction, what support continues after the first year, and what they expect from you. And you’d have to live and study there. You should actually like the place."

Elsa considered that.

"So we don’t refuse them."

"No. We thank them and ask to meet. We just don’t promise anything yet."

At the guesthouse, they showed the message to Arthur and Elena before answering.

His parents reread the Gold-beast provision just as Jin had. Then Arthur agreed that they should hear the details, and Elsa composed the reply herself.

[Thank you for your offer. My family and I would be glad to arrange a meeting. We are still considering my options and aren’t ready to commit, but we would like to learn more about your program.]

She passed the phone around once before sending it.

The academy replied with possible meeting dates for the following week. No impatience, no demand for an immediate answer.

Elsa set the phone on her knee.

"This morning I thought getting the fox would be the biggest thing that happened today."

Jin sat beside her. "I thought I’d have found something by now."

"You will." She nudged his arm, then looked at the message again. "How many offers do you think there’ll be?"

He had no idea. For once, not knowing felt promising.

"Let’s find out," he said.