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Zephyr stared at the information, his pulse racing. He was a F-rank. The bottom. But now he had something that no one else at Lowmoor Academy had. Or the entire world had.
A system. A chance to become a god level beast tamer. The screen flickered again.
[Host Status Display Available.
Opening Status Window...
Status Window:
Name: Zephyr Valorian
Age: 15
Rank: F (Awakened)
System: Bound Beast System [Activated]
Affinity: Draconic Soul Resonance (Locked)
Current Skill: Beast Feed Cultivation (F-Rank)
Bloodline: Fragmented Dragon Tamer Lineage (Sealed, 3%)
Bonded Beast: None (yet).
Tame beast limit: ???
Base Attributes:
Strength: 8
Agility: 9
Endurance: 10
Mana Capacity: 6
Beast Affinity: 15
Intelligence: 11
Luck: 5
Max attributes limit: 100 ]
He frowned. "Fragmented Dragon Tamer Lineage? Sealed? Only three percent unlocked?" Before he could ponder further, another notification appeared.
[Ding! System notifications-
New Objective: Find First True Beast Bond.
Reward: Bloodline Purity Upgrade + 1% Unlock.]
His heart slammed against his ribs. It was the beginning of his legendary journey.
All of it.
The pieces that had never fit, the weak awakening, the dormant strength, the whispers from the past. They were aligning now, one by one.
He had a system. He had a path. And though the world still saw him as a lowly beast feeder… They had no idea what he would become.
Not yet. But soon they will know. Very soon…
Lowmoor academy's stone walls vanished behind Zephyr in the pale light of dawn as he hiked east along the disused service road that wound through the academy's game reserve.
A chill breeze swept across the frost silvered scrub, carrying the distant cries of winter thrushes and, somewhere far off, the deep boom of an earth bound ursine beast greeting the morning.
He moved at a brisk pace, pack thumping against his spine, thoughts racing faster than his boots. Yesterday the Bound Beast System had issued its first quest, 'Form a true bond; unlock the bloodline' and Zephyr intended to answer it before doubt or bureaucracy could slam another gate in his face.
Getting out had taken a sliver of cunning. Wren's transfer paperwork bought him leniency, but not freedom; caretakers were still expected on shift. Before sunrise he visited Fenna in the north dormitory, tapping lightly on her window until she cracked the shutters and blinked sleepy hazel eyes at him.
"Fenna, I want to go outside the academy." he informed her.
"You're sneaking out," she murmured, pulling a wool shawl tighter around her shoulders. "Tell me you aren't going alone."
"I have to," Zephyr whispered back. "I want to find a beast to tame. Can you cover for me?"
He thinks,"The system's objective won't wait. If I don't bring back a potential bond before inspections tighten again, the chance might slip."
Fenna gnawed her lip, then shoved a canvas pouch through the gap. "Wild care kit. Dried calm leaf, stitched bandages, did you take those with you? I know you are a strong man. So, I won't stop you. But you shouldn't be reckless. Try to tame a small and low rank beast. Promise me you will come back to me without any injuries."
He swore it and managed a faint smile. Her trust was like a boost to him, warmed him as he set out through the frost. "I promise, I won't be reckless."
Beyond the reserve fence a patchwork of winter heath and conifer groves spread toward rolling foothills. The academy leased the land as a controlled hunting ground for mid-rank students, but on rest days it lay quiet, wild beasts roaming unbothered.
Zephyr's caretaker token opened the wooden stile; past it, he stepped onto spongy moss that crackled faintly beneath ice crystals. Dead bracken reached waist-high, brittle fingers snagging his coat, and gray clouds tumbled low overhead, trapping dawn light in pearly gloom.
Time slid by in rhythmic breaths, inhale, exhale, watch, listen… until sunstone beads on his portable compass flared, detecting faint classifications of beast mana nearby.
He crouched in a thicket and watched a pair of antlered Frostback Deer. Rank D chill-affinity herbivores, graze on lichen that sprouted between stones. Beautiful, but unsuitable.
Their temperaments were gentle, unsuited to growth along the perilous road the System hinted at. Farther on, claw marks gouged into pine bark told of a prowling Steel-Barb Lynx. A Rank C, and he spent a wary half hour circling the predator's territory.
"No bond yet," he muttered. The System offered no guidance, merely monitoring.
The terrain sloped downward into a narrow defile choked with thorn. A half-collapsed boundary sign warned students to remain on marked trails; Zephyr hesitated only a heartbeat before sliding past. The quest demanded risk.
As the gully deepened, pale sunlight narrowed to a blue-gray ribbon overhead. Roots protruded from the walls like clutching limbs; icy run-off trickled over slick shale. He picked his way downward, breath puffing white, senses straining for mana signatures. Nothing, only the steady beat of his heart and the hiss of water on stone.
Then the earth gave way. A brittle shelf, hidden under a crust of frost, cracked beneath his heel. He pitched forward in a cascade of shale, claws of thorn ripping his sleeves, gravity tearing the breath from his lungs. The world spun once, then darkness swallowed him.
Consciousness returned as pain, it was sharp, immediate. His left shoulder throbbed, but when he flexed his fingers movement answered. A faint green glow illuminated fractured walls of midnight-black rock: his lantern crystal lay unbroken nearby.
He had fallen into a cavern, its mouth a jagged wound thirty feet overhead where morning light drizzled down. Snowflakes drifted through the hole like white moths, melting in the warm breath of the underworld.
Zephyr pushed upright, testing limbs. Bruised, scraped, but whole. Fenna's down bandage stopped a trickle of blood on his forearm. He lifted the lantern and turned slowly.
The cave was not natural.