"Zett, Zett, wake up!" Taiga gently nudged Zett, who was fast asleep with his head down on the desk, and whispered.
Zett blinked sleepily and opened his eyes. "What is it, Taiga?"
"The teacher is calling on you to answer a question!"
Zett jerked awake and snapped to attention. Up on the platform, Max was looking at him with a half-smile. Zett awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Teacher..."
Max let out a soft chuckle. "Since Zett managed to fall asleep in my class, he must have completely mastered the knowledge I just taught. Come, let me test you on some questions about Monsters and see how many you can get right. If you can't answer, you can just stand up and listen to the lecture for the rest of the class!"
Zett opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and stammer, "Teacher Max, I, I..."
Saize, sitting nearby, couldn't help snickering at the sight.
"Saize, you stand up too!" Max suddenly turned his head toward Saize and said loudly.
The smile on Saize's face froze instantly, and he stood up looking completely baffled.
"First question," Max said, looking at Zett. "What are some of Red King's most prominent features?"
Zett thought nervously. He couldn't just tell the teacher that he had fallen asleep and hadn't heard a thing.
Right then, he suddenly remembered the tutoring session his older brother had given him last night.
"Red King, it, it has very strong muscles and huge fangs!" Zett replied.
Max nodded and followed up with the next question: "And what is its weakness?"
Zett paused, his brain racing at lightning speed.
*Its weakness is the head!* Saize whispered a prompt from the side.
Right, right. The weakness is the head.
Zett hurriedly answered, "The weakness is the head!"
Max nodded with satisfaction. "Mm, not bad. Now Saize, you tell us about Gomora's characteristics and skills."
Saize froze for a moment, then made a wry face and said, "Teacher, I don't know..."
"If you don't know, why were you laughing at others? Stand there and pay proper attention!" Max said sternly.
And so, Zett and Saize had no choice but to stand obediently and listen through the rest of the class.
"Hehe, you two are in for it now. You actually dared to sleep in Teacher Max's class," Taiga said with a grin.
"Oh, we know we were wrong~" Zett and Saize said in unison.
"Still, thank goodness the next class is my favorite beam class~" Zett said happily.
"Yeah, we can finally stretch our limbs," Saize chimed in excitedly.
Chatting as they went, the three of them headed toward the beam training room.
"Today we are going to learn the techniques for using the Spacium Beam," Instructor Ace said.
Zett and Saize immediately perked up, giving it their all as they listened carefully to Ace's explanation.
"Of course, in this class you can also try to condense your own beam."
Instructor Ace began to demonstrate. He crossed his arms into an L-shape, gathered energy, and then fired a powerful white beam of light.
"Whoa! That's amazing!" Zett and Saize exclaimed in awe.
"Now, you two give it a try," Instructor Ace said.
Zett and Saize eagerly imitated Instructor Ace's posture and began trying to gather energy.
However, they found that their beams were extremely faint—almost invisible.
"Don't rush, take it slow. Concentrate your energy and feel the flow of cosmic energy," Instructor Ace encouraged.
Zett and Saize tried again. This time they felt some energy fluctuations, but the beams were still very weak.
"Mm, you're making progress. Keep it up!" Instructor Ace nodded in praise.
After several attempts, the beams of Zett and Saize gradually grew stronger, and they finally succeeded in firing their very own Spacium Beam!
"Awesome! We did it!" Zett and Saize cheered excitedly.
Instructor Ace also broke into a gratified smile.
"However, this is only a preliminary grasp. To truly master beam skills, you still need continuous practice," Instructor Ace reminded them.
Zett and Saize nodded repeatedly, indicating they would keep working hard.
"All right, now try to condense your own unique beam," Instructor Ace said. "Whoever has their own beam can report to me, and then demonstrate it for everyone to see."
At that moment, Saize raised his hand.
"Teacher Ace, I have a beam."
Teacher Ace glanced at him and nodded. "Step up."
Without hesitation, Saize stood firmly in place, crossed his arms over his chest, and then raised them vertically. His arms began to glow, as if gathering pent-up light right into his palms. Immediately afterward, he brought both hands together to form a circle while positioning his hands in front of his color timer. A dazzling golden beam shot forth from his hands like a brilliant, shining star. Carrying immense power, the beam instantly struck the laser target ahead.
Ace looked at Saize and nodded approvingly. "Not bad at all. To be able to produce your own beam skill at such a young age..." Then, Ace turned his head to observe the laser target, only to suddenly notice that the target was turning red. A sense of sure foreboding welled up inside him. Sure enough, the next second, the laser target was pierced clean through by the beam—and the beam even punched straight through the wall behind it. Just then, Saize lowered his hands, and the beam vanished along with them. Everyone stared at Saize in shock, unable to believe what had just happened. The beam he had unleashed was so powerful that it not only pierced the laser target, but also blasted right through the solid wall. How could something like this possibly be achieved by a student at the Ultraman Elementary School?
Next, Zett also raised his hand and said, "Instructor Ace, all these years, my brother has been teaching me how to use this kind of energy." Upon hearing this, Ace nodded once more. He encouraged everyone to keep working hard and said, "Go ahead."
Zett took a deep breath and slowly raised his hands. His movements were slow and steady, as if he were gathering all the strength in his body. Finally, his hands met above his head, forming a special hand gesture. Then, a powerful burst of energy began to gather in his hands, gradually condensing into a slender beam of light.
Ace nodded slightly in recognition. "Not bad. Although its firepower might not match Saize's, its firing speed is faster, and it consumes less energy, allowing you to catch enemies off guard and deal damage unexpectedly," he evaluated.
With a smile, Ace asked, "So, what is the name of this beam?"
Zett shook his head and replied, "I don't know. My brother didn't tell me."
Everyone turned their heads and looked curiously at Saize. Saize explained, "This beam actually belongs to a branch of the Mars Beam. To be precise, the Mars Beam can destroy enemies at the molecular level across any life tier. Therefore, I generally don't use it lightly."
Hearing this, Ace's expression turned serious. He looked intently at Saize and said, "A beam like this must never be used against your companions, lest it cause irreversible consequences."
Saize nodded to show he understood and promised to handle such a powerful beam skill with caution. They knew all too well the danger and destructive power of these beams and realized they had to remain constantly vigilant to ensure safety in battle.
After class, the few of them headed home. Once home, Saize lay down on his bed to converse with the System, while Zett went out to buy food. The Land of Light had energy-based foods that Ultramen could consume.
"System, how is it? What way of earning points are we switching to?" Saize asked.
"As you mentioned before, using energy changes isn't very useful. So from now on, I will award you points based on your combat methods," the System replied.
"For example, healing someone will give you some points, and being brutal toward enemies will also give you some points," the System explained.
"So basically, I'm all gentle and meek with teammates, but I throw heavy punches at enemies?" Saize joked with a smile.
Right at that moment, Zett's voice came from the doorway: "Bro, come out and eat."
Afterward, Saize transformed into his human form and appeared at the dinner table.
"Bro, why do you have to turn into this form every time we eat?" Zett asked curiously.
"Only in this form can I eat food made by humans," Saize explained, picking up a piece of braised pork belly and popping it into his mouth. "Mm, this braised pork belly—fat and lean mixed together—it's so delicious."
"Bro, I want to turn into a human too. Teach me," Zett said impatiently.
"You can have Instructor Ace teach you later," Saize replied with a smile.
"Fine," Zett said, looking a little disappointed, but he nodded anyway.