Chapter 3: Finding the Beat
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The Problem with Being a Nobody
The next morning, Axel woke up to the sound of something tapping.
Rhythmic. Persistent. Annoying.
He cracked one eye open. Tempo was perched on the edge of his desk, tapping his tiny fingers against a coffee mug in perfect sync.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Axel groaned. “Dude. It’s too early for this.”
Tempo grinned. Then he sped up the beat.
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP—
Axel shot up. “Alright, alright, I’m up! Just—stop before I lose my mind.”
Tempo flipped off the desk, landing with a flourish. He gave Axel an exaggerated bow, like a street performer soaking in applause.
Axel just stared at him.
For someone who was supposed to be a Cipher Beast, Tempo had a lot of personality.
Most Cipher Beasts acted like extensions of their partner’s instincts—intelligent, sure, but ultimately driven by battle instincts or programmed directives. Even the rare sentient ones still felt like warriors at their core.
But Tempo?
Tempo felt like a hyperactive little gremlin who just happened to be bonded to him.
“Alright,” Axel sighed, rolling out of bed. “If I have to be awake, I might as well figure out what to do with you.”
Tempo clapped his hands together. “Whoo!”
Axel paused. “…Did you just—was that a word?”
Tempo winked.
Axel rubbed his temples. “Nope. Not thinking about it. Too early.”
<hr>
Cipher Class: Dropout Edition
An hour later, Axel found himself in Basic Cipher Theory, sitting in the back row while Professor Elias Greaves droned on about evolution pathways.
"All Cipher Beasts follow a predetermined evolutionary trajectory based on their genetic affinity," the professor said, adjusting his ridiculously expensive jacket. "This allows their growth to be tracked, measured, and—"
Axel tuned him out.
Instead, he opened his tablet display and scrolled back to Tempo’s file.
<hr>
<blockquote>
Cipher Beast: Tempo (Primal Virtuoso)
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Class: Unorthodox / Support Hybrid
Primary Affinity: Sound & Rhythm
Status: Unranked (Unassessed Battle Potential)
Evolution: Unknown / Undiscovered Pathway
</blockquote>
<hr>
The "Unassessed Battle Potential" part still bugged him.
Every Cipher Beast at Helix Academy had a combat classification—Striker, Tank, Assassin, Elemental. But Tempo? The system didn’t even know what to call him.
Axel frowned.
"Mr. Mercer."
He looked up. Professor Greaves was staring directly at him.
"Perhaps you’d like to share with the class why you seem so deeply engaged in your own world instead of mine?"
Axel grinned. "Sorry, professor, I was just wondering if you’d covered ‘getting completely screwed over by the bonding system’ yet."
A few students snickered.
Jace, sitting near the front, rolled his eyes. "Give it up, Mercer. No amount of studying is gonna fix your joke of a Cipher Beast."
Axel forced himself to stay relaxed.
Jace was baiting him. If Axel lost his cool, he’d just be proving the guy right.
Professor Greaves sighed. "Well, since you’re so curious, Mr. Mercer, let’s talk about your… unique situation."
A holographic display of Tempo appeared above the professor’s hand.
"By all current data, your Cipher Beast lacks a proper combat specialization," Greaves said smoothly. "No enhanced physical traits, no known elemental affinity, and—most critically—no viable evolution pathway."
Axel clenched his jaw.
Greaves smiled faintly. "This is, of course, an unfortunate reality of the Cipher Bonding System. Not all students receive high-tier partners. Some of you will have to accept… other roles."
Other roles.
Everyone knew what that meant.
Support jobs. Mechanics. Field assistants. The kind of careers reserved for people who weren’t good enough to be front-line fighters.
Axel gritted his teeth.
He hadn’t come here to be a damn glorified sidekick.
Tempo, meanwhile, was completely unbothered.
He yawned dramatically, stretched, then made a fart noise with his mouth.
The class erupted into laughter.
Even Ryder, sitting a few seats away, looked like he was barely holding it together.
Professor Greaves pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Mr. Mercer," he said tightly, "if your Cipher Beast insists on making a mockery of my class—"
Tempo stood up on Axel’s desk and did a little dance.
More laughter.
Axel sighed. “Dude. You’re not helping.”
Tempo winked.
Jace leaned back in his chair. "Man, that thing really is useless."
Axel’s grip tightened on his desk.
He was starting to wonder if maybe he had, in fact, been completely screwed.
<hr>
Testing the Limits
After class, Axel and Ryder made their way to one of the training fields, an open area where students could test their Cipher Beasts.
Axel crossed his arms. “Alright, Tempo. Let’s see what you’ve actually got.”
Tempo tilted his head.
Axel sighed. "Just… do something. Anything. Show me what you can actually do in a fight."
Tempo scratched his ear. Then, after a long pause—
He beatboxed.
Axel’s eye twitched. "That’s not an attack, man."
Tempo just kept going, drumming his hands against his chest, his feet tapping in rhythm.
Ryder snorted. "Well. He’s got style, at least."
Axel dragged a hand down his face. “I’m doomed.”
Then—something strange happened.
As Tempo continued, the air around him started to shift. The soundwaves vibrated in a way that wasn’t just noise—it was energy.
Axel felt it in his bones.
The rhythm wasn’t just random.
It was affecting the space around them.
Ryder frowned. "Uh… dude? Is it just me, or—"
Tempo suddenly clapped his hands together—
—And the air in front of him rippled like a shockwave.
Axel and Ryder stumbled backward.
"What the hell was that?" Axel gasped.
Tempo blinked, then grinned.
Axel stared.
Maybe—just maybe—this little guy wasn’t as useless as everyone thought.