In this world of tamers, beasts were popularly distinguished into seven ranks, namely; Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Mythic, in ascending order.
Iron Rank was the lowest and starting for all beasts. Beasts in the wild also followed this progression.
But in every rank, there were three distinct levels; Beginner, Middle, and Final.
Beginner marks a beast's first level in a rank, and with cultivation, the beast can level up to the Middle before reaching the Final level of the rank and ascending to the next rank.
In Serenum and other kingdoms, respect was earned from the Silver Rank. From Silver Rank, beasts were known to possess powerful and unique traits that made tamers to be revered.
The pathetic Iron Rank and Bronze Rank were nothing to respect. If you got stuck as an Iron Rank tamer, you'd definitely spend the rest of your life as servants, slaves or worse.
Bronze Rank was known as the worker rank. Beasts in this level could have traits that help secure menial jobs to at least earn you a living and live a quite good life.
Silver and Gold meant bigger opportunities, with Gold granting most eligibility to become nobles.
Platinum and the rest upward? Insane ranks with sense defying powers that most never attain.
In fact, in the whole of the seven kingdoms, only three tamers were at Platinum Rank, and those were kings.
Serenum's king was also one of the three.
Now, the inability to get required resources and improper cultivation methods made leveling or ascension hard.
Commoners who got beasts and lacked wealth or capabilities to get required resources mostly got stuck at Iron Rank, with only few ascending to Bronze Rank.
Needless to say, Elio was hoping for something better with the egg in his hand. If he could get something similar to Kai's, his chances of attaining Silver Rank were high since he was enrolled into the kingdom's best academy.
He moved with purpose, clutching the egg tightly.
The whispers started before Elio even reached the steps. He looked like a stray dog that had wandered into a palace. He walked to the pedestal, his movements mechanical. He reached out and placed the dull, grey egg onto the stone slab.
The hall went silent.
Usually, when an egg was placed on the stone, it began to glow or vibrate with the latent mana of the beast inside. Elio's egg did nothing. It just sat there, looking like a discarded piece of gravel.
"Is it dead?" someone yelled from the back. A wave of stifled laughter followed.
Elio closed his eyes. 'Please,' he prayed, though he didn't know who he was praying to. 'Just give me something good. I must be a successful tamer.'
A faint heat began to seep from the pedestal into the egg. Then, a sound.
*Crack.*
It wasn't a thunderclap or a roar. It was a wet, pathetic sound, like a boot stepping into a puddle.
The shell didn't shatter; it just sort of… crumbled. Out tumbled a creature that made the laughter in the room stop, not out of awe, but out of sheer, baffled shock.
It was white. It was swollen. It had skin that looked like wet parchment and huge, bulbous eyes that seemed to be looking at two different walls at the same time. Its belly was so large and translucent that you could trace its internal organs pulsing with a faint, pathetic light.
It sat on the pedestal, let out a soft, gurgling ribbit, and flicked a long, sticky tongue out to catch a stray piece of eggshell.
"A... a Bloat Lizard?" The Ceremony Master's voice was thick with disbelief. "A beast permanently stuck at Iron Rank? In Serenum hall?"
The mockery erupted like a dam breaking.
Julian's laughter was the loudest, pointing and howling. He had completely forgotten noble manners.
The guards shook their heads. Even the other poor kids looked away in shame.
To get a Bloat Lizard was a sign of a soul so barren, so devoid of mana, that it could only support… nothing.
The Bloat Lizard was known as the lowest and weakest of all beasts. It was a beast that had no significant boost to its tamer. Where others would be granted strength, agility, stamina, or vitality boosts and granted affinity to elements, the Bloat Lizard granted nothing else apart from a sickening light affinity that only did one thing… Lighten.
It was even nicknamed the Living Lantern for its uselessness.
Matter of fact, Bloat Lizards, although only found in gray eggs, were known to be very rare to contract. The probability of awakening one was so low that most didn't bother to think about the beast.
Yet, Elio was that unlucky.
Elio stared at the lizard. It looked up at him with those big, stupid eyes, and in that moment, Elio wanted to rip the beast's head off.
Useless.
He knew he was already fated to it. He couldn't change anything about that.
He dejectedly stretched his arm forward for the contract.
The swollen thing stretched too, and established the bond.
It vanished into his chest with a quite brilliant pulse of light. Not that it meant anything by the way. The beast was pathetic regardless and was only exhibiting the stupid characteristic it was known for.
A pathetic, short, luminous tail appeared at Elio's back. Small, white spots that glowed with white light appeared all over his body like a disease, like some kind of luminous measles.
Even the manifestation was pathetic.
Elio hung his head in dejection and slowly left the podium, his head buried so low that you'd think he'd fall.
"Always me," he muttered.
He didn't go back to the stand, he didn't have anyone waiting for him. The mockery was too much to bear. His emotions were heavy, and he could swear that something was stirring in his chest.
Elio left the hall with a trembling body, his lips quivering so bad you'd think he saw a terrible nightmare.
The ceremony was still going on. Powerful beasts were still summoned. Elio could still hear powerful beasts as they emerged from their eggs.
But his pain was real. They didn't stop because of him. No one cared.
Only few meters ahead of the Hall, Elio's body paused.
He became rigid.
Why? Something strange was happening. He could feel his skin crawling like fire. Something else was stirring in his chest.
It wasn't the dark, frightening feeling he was accustomed to. This one was different. It wasn't painful.
Soft, warm, soothing even. It was as if something was blooming in his chest.
Then suddenly, a strange, shimmering screen materialized out of thin air before him, hovering in the air where only he could see it.
It was a combination of gold and white, brilliant as if entrapping the sun and exuding its radiance.
A sudden, sharp, crystalline *ping* sounded in his head.
And words that glowed with golden texts appeared.
[System initialization complete.]
[Sacred bond with the Dark Entity successfully severed.]
[Nexus position is still active.]
[Neural connections successfully established.]
[Synchronization completes.]
[User: Elio Ravina.]
[User has successfully fused with the Bi-Vessel System.]
[Beast bonds detected: Bloat Lizard and Abyssal Wyrmling.]
[Dark Constituent Stability: 25%]
[Your darkness is brewing.]
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