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 was a small, white lizard that looked like it was overfed.
"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, intelligence, or vitality boosts and ability to control certain elements, the Bloat Lizard gave 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 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 fusion 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.
The mockery didn't stop.
"My bet was right!"
"Hey, I think lamps are getting expensive! You don't mind becoming one, right?"
"Maybe his beast is pregnant! It'll probably birth a dragon in the future!"
Another wave of laughter rolled in the hall.
"Silence!" The Master ordered. "The ceremony continues. Next, Kai Tringard!"
Another boy with a gray egg. The same boy from Elio's village. The son of Elio's neighbors.
"Oh, no! Another failure!"
"I'm afraid they might jinx us," one whispered.
Kai moved with slow steps. He passed by Elio and a flicker of trepidation crossed his face. He truly felt bad for Elio, but he was seriously hoping he wouldn't be unlucky like Elio.
His parents were also counting on him as the only child.
He soon reached the podium and placed his gray egg on the stone slab, his hands trembling with fear and hope.
The grey egg cracked with a howl that resonated through the shell, the shells scattering off with a powerful gust of wind.
Out came a Gale Wolf, a small, white furred beast with sharp snout and light body.
"Impressive, knowing the egg it originated from. Gale Wolf. Silver Rank potential with proper cultivation."
Kai's face immediately lit up. His fingers fumbled with excitement.
He stretched his hand boldly to bond with the beast and relished its brilliant manifestation afterwards.
When he left the stage, he even imitated the poise of nobles who had contracted powerful beasts.
"Suddenly pompous, eh?"
"Lucky bastard!"
"Pfft! He only got a nice beast. Attaining such rank is impossible for the plebeian!"
"At least, this one won't be taming a pregnant beast."
Kai didn't listen to the background noise. He could already feel the agility boost his beast granted immediately.
His movement became fluid, the wolf ears appearing by the sides of his head twitching with excitement.
He could also feel the air currents moving around him. His beast had an affinity for wind, and Kai had received that too.
As he went back to the stands, he crossed eyes with Elio and his bubble of excitement immediately disappeared.
Elio feigned a smile and turned away, his chest heavy with emotions he couldn't name.
"Always me." He muttered.
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 levels up to the Middle before attaining the Final level of 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 had hoped for something better with the egg. If he had gotten something similar to Kai's, his chances of attaining Silver Rank were high since he was enrolled into the kingdom's best academy.
But his ill-luck destroyed all chances. Now, he was stuck with a beast that was infamously known to have no progression in cultivation.
Iron Rank for eternity.
Protocol demanded that all must wait till the end of the Contract Ceremony, but Elio was already thinking otherwise. Also, he was supposed to wait for the carriage to take him back home, but sadly, the word 'home' extincted when he watched his parents burn alive in that small building.
He couldn't bear it anymore. His emotions were twirling, and he could swear that something was also twirling 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.
He was only few meters ahead of the hall when he started having a strange feeling in his body.
Elio paused. He suddenly became rigid.
Something strange was happening. He could feel his skin crawling with 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 completed.]
[Sacred bond with the Dark Entity successfully severed.]
[Nexus position is still active.]
[Neural connections successfully established.]
[Synchronization completed.]
[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.]