Kanan woke up early the next day. Hearing that the professor was preoccupied, he decided to get a headstart on his Tamer registration, hopefully getting in before it was too busy.
The Tamer Association, where registrations were processed, sat in the heart of the city's Beast Tamer district. The Lab was only a short distance away, and Kanan passed various Taming facilities and shops as he walked through the streets.
The streets opened up, merging into a wide, open plaza. The Association building sat proudly in the center, and even at this time people and beasts could be seen filtering through its doors. Distracted, Kanan jumped in surprise as a lumbering, golem-like beast passed by him from behind, its oversized stony arm brushing against him as it passed.
"Graaaaoohh"
It stopped, turning to look at him and releasing a lethargic, bassy cry. Making sure that Kanan was alright, it bowed its head slightly in apology before continuing on its way.
It seems like there are more beasts than tamers around. I wonder if they're working? Kanan thought to himself as he headed inside.
Thankfully, most of the guests seemed to be headed to other parts of the building. The reception area stood clear, and Kanan approached the receptionist at the desk.
"Excuse me."
The receptionist, a young woman with short, ivy-green hair and a blue pillbox hat, looked up from the documents she was organizing.
"May I help you?" Her voice came out sleepily, evidently still tired.
Kanan nodded. "I'd like to register as a Tamer."
"Alright," she answered, pulling out a tablet-like device. "New registration or updating your information?"
"New, please."
"Name and age?"
"Kanan, and I'm sixteen."
At his words, the woman looked up with a slightly fed-up expression.
"Academy students have their registrations processed through the school. You don't need to do it here."
"Ah, no, I'm not a student," explained Kanan, flustered. "I just arrived in town yesterday."
"Registering at sixteen, but not an Academy student? How rare. Sorry for assuming. Follow me,, please."
She got up, opening a door and leading Kanan to a room further inside. An unfamiliar machine hung from the ceiling, hovering over an electronic floor panel. The receptionist approached a computer that stood at the side. With the press of a button, the panel lit up and the machine hummed to life.
"Can you summon your contracted beast, please? Have it stand on the panel in the center."
Kanan obliged, summoning Poppy into the room. She hopped up on the panel and did a little dance, showing herself off.
A few keystrokes later and a beam of light came down from the machine, sweeping over Poppy several times. Various values and information about Poppy appeared on the computer's screen, though how it was collected Kanan did not know.
The receptionist's eyebrows raised at the results.
"A Bubble Spider, huh? That's a beast I haven't seen before, and I've been doing this for quite a while." She scrolled through the information. "High energy levels, basically the max for a Low-Tier beast, but no known evolution path… That's unfortunate."
"With your talent, you should consider finding another beast," she said, looking at Kanan. "Any other beast and you would have evolved it, breaking into the 2nd Circle by now. Consider switching before you waste any more time."
Her words made Poppy furious, and the little spider stomped its feet in anger. She gathered energy, preparing to spray the nosy receptionist with water, but Kanan sensed her intention and scooped her into his arms, gently knocking her on the head with his knuckles in reprimand.
He was upset too, though. Who did she think she was, looking down on Poppy? But then a mischievous thought crossed his mind.
"Don't you need to check my level as well?" He asked.
The woman shook her head. "Technically we're supposed to, but it's just a formality. There's no need."
"I'd really rather you did. You never know, right?" Kanan pressed, the corner of his lips rising.
"Fine, fine." Seeing that he was insistent, the receptionist sighed, pulling out a small, plastic device. She snapped it around his arm, cranking it tight like a blood pressure cuff.
After checking that it was secure, she plugged it into the computer, and another string of values filled the screen. She clicked through it, bringing up the energy values.
"See for yourself. Energy value: 12,700. That's a 2nd Circle…" her voice trailed off and she looked back at the screen, double checking the value.
"Oh wow!" Kanan exclaimed, smirking. "2nd Circle already! I guess I must have an excellent partner. No need to change, huh?"
Poppy stood up on her back legs, puffing out her chest in pride. The receptionist's face flushed over, sensing the ridicule in Kanan's tone.
"That's…" She started to defend herself but coughed, thinking better of it, instead giving a small bow.
"I apologize. I overstepped."
Kanan didn't press the matter any further, feeling that her apology was genuine. If she had continued to insult Poppy he wouldn't have let it go, but it seems like she really was speaking with his best intentions in mind.
"It's okay," he responded, his anger fading. "But I wouldn't suggest severing contracts so lightly. To many people, their contracted beasts are like family."
The receptionist wasn't so sure. She didn't doubt that Kanan's feelings for his beast were sincere, but as to whether that level of commitment was as common as he made it out to be… she didn't think so. She had been in this industry for a long time, and seen many people leave their beasts behind.
Still, she acknowledged that it wasn't her place to say. Seeing that Kanan already had a well-trained spirit beast at his age, she had gotten ahead of herself. Maybe this was why she still hadn't gotten promoted, she thought with a self-deprecating smile.
She finished entering Kanan's information and a metallic card with his info was printed out, a small hole stamped into one end like a dog tag. She brought out a screened, smartphone-like device and scanned the tag with it.
"This is your Tamer Card" she explained, placing the metal card on the table. "You can use it as an ID, and most Tamer-related facilities will require you to have it to use their services. You also need it to accept missions from the Association."
"And this," she continued, pointing to the electronic device, "is a Tamer Module, though most people call them Terminals. It can be used for communication, and runs on spirit energy so it should be usable even in Beast Territories. You can also use it to access the Tamer Community, or to accept missions from the Association.
The employee gave Kanan a quick demonstration, flipping through the device and explaining each of its features.
"You can pay for the device upfront, or we can deduct the cost from the rewards of your future missions. Please be aware though, if you choose the second option you must accept missions regularly or you will be charged the cost. And a warning: If you break it, the previous one must be paid for in full before we will issue another."
"Is the cost the same?" Kanan asked.
"Yes. There is no difference, it's just a matter of preference. Many members do not take on missions and thus prefer to pay immediately."
"I'll go with the second option, then."
Kanan did have the money — tucked away in his spatial bracelet — but there was no harm in paying it off over time. He wasn't exactly flush with cash, and who knew if there would be an emergency that required all his funds.
Thanking the receptionist, he headed out, aiming for the commercial district. There were still some stalls he hadn't gotten to try.
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Kanan found a small park and took a seat, a bag of skewers in hand. They were spicy and elastic, similar to beef but with a more savory aftertaste.
He wasn't sure what they were called. The monkey-like beast at the stall didn't talk — Kanan simply pointed to the rotating item and paid the displayed amount. It didn't matter though, it was delicious.
Poppy sat nearby, munching on large blue fruit with wavy ridges. According to the vendor it was a Tideberry, a fruit with a small amount of Water energy that was popular in the eastern regions. The man had mentioned that they were actually grown underwater and harvested with the help of aquatic beasts.
Bored, Kanan idly scrolled through the missions board on his terminal. He would have to do at least one mission this month for his terminal payment, and he needed money.
Argana had secretly packed the spatial bracelet with a sizable amount, but he didn't want to spend that recklessly. He had half a mind to send it back to her, but knew she wouldn't accept it anyway.
Being 2nd Circle, the range of missions he could accept was surprisingly wide, but the demand for tasks exceeded the supply so most were snatched up immediately. He was also hesitant to accept 2nd Circle combat tasks. He was confident in Poppy's strength, but a 2nd Circle Tamer could have as many as two evolved beasts, which he still couldn't match.
Realistically that was almost never the case, as evolving two beasts almost always pushed a Tamer's spirit energy into the 3rd Circle, but it didn't hurt to be careful.
None of the tasks caught his eye, most being simple menial labor, deliveries and the like for low pay. Just as he was about to give up and shut off the terminal, though, one entry stood out to him.
[Tier 1 Task - Graveyard Investigation]
Reward: 10,000 credits
Requirements: None
Task: Investigate the noises coming from the cemetery in the northern residential district.
The task seemed straightforward at a glance. It was an investigation request — no need for resolution. As long as the tamer could identify the source of the noise, the task would be accepted as complete.
However, the reward was strange. 10,000 credits was on par with a 3rd Circle mission, far above anything else that Kanan was offered. Normally such a generous mission would be claimed immediately, leading him to believe that something was wrong with it.
Curious, he exited out of the mission board and went to the community forums. He only had to search for a bit before coming across a relevant post on the Redwind City board.
[Title: What's the Deal With the Tier-1 Graveyard Mission?]
[0] - There's a mission worth 10,000 credits that nobody is claiming. What's the deal?
[1] - Don't bother, friend. It's a waste of your time. I tried staking out the graveyard at night, but next thing I knew it was morning and all of my stuff was gone. 5000 credits worth of gear down the drain. No idea what knocked me out.
[2] - Are you sure you didn't just fall asleep?
[3] - #1 is right. A bunch of tamers accepted that mission at first, but the same thing happened to all of them. It's a dead end. Whatever it is, 1st and 2nd Circle Tamers can't deal with it.
[4] - Wouldn't they update the rank, then? If that many people failed it's gotta be a high tier beast or Tamer, right?
[5] - Nope. When missions fail repeatedly they send someone out with an energy reader. If they haven't updated it then that means that only Low-Tier energy was found at the scene.
[6] - So Redwind's Tamers are just incompetent. Got it.
[7] - …..
Kanan closed the forum, deep in thought. He had some confidence when it came to spirit beast investigation. He had spent many days and nights researching the beasts of Melody Forest, especially the Bubble Spiders. Graveyards might not be his forte, but knowledge begets knowledge after all.
It was worth a shot. He'd just leave his valuables at home, and in the worst case scenario he would waste some time. There were penalties for failing too many missions in a row, but one wouldn't hurt.
Re-opening the mission board, he accepted the task and went to prepare.