Solving the Issue

Seeing Jason, the man stood up and introduced himself.

"Hello, my name is James Gray, you must be the young man who made his first soulbond yesterday."

"Hello my name is Jason Stella and it was me who had given you a desperate call this morning. I hope you can help me and my soulbond out."

Jason said with little hope.

"I already read through the file you sent me today and there are different problems the beast has to face. But, I can't be sure without scanning the beast myself as my equipment is more advanced.

If you don't mind, we shall  test your beast right away."

James stood up and Jason followed without hesitation, holding the snowflake owl egg in his jacket's pocket.

3 rooms down the reception hall, was a room with a huge amount of equipment. Jason didn't know what they were used for but they looked highly advanced to him.

One particular machine stood out, as it was the biggest and black in color.

It stood in the center and a cushion was placed on an elevation. It had a hollow dent in the center which signified that many eggs had already been placed on it before.

"Place the egg on the cushion right in front of you, please. The test itself won't take long."

Jason nodded his head and did as instructed.

After placing the egg he stepped back to see that a transparent bell-shaped instrument slowly descended, covering the whole egg.

A small red light was emitted from the top of the bell and a *beep* resounded in the room as it scanned the entire space inside the transparent bell a few times.

The test was done in less than a minute.

The transparent bell was lifted and Jason took his beast egg again before looking at James intently.

Meanwhile, James was looking at the report on his quantum bracelet with eyes that shone with excitement.

"Ohh so it's like that.. Interesting."

After reading through the report for five minutes James noticed Jason who had a  desperate look in his eyes as if he was requesting help. James smiled lightly as he observed the boy standing next to him

His eyes traveled from Jason's head to toe and noticed the boy's small build, and pitiful desperate expression, and couldn't help but feel weird.

'Why is this boy so desperate and going around all alone? Huh, what's with his eyes?"

James shook his head to focus on the reports again and led Jason to the office where they sat down on a couch.

Jason was growing impatient by the minute, so he asked straightforwardly.

"What's wrong with my soulbond and how can I help it?"

James sighed before he replied.

"Right now, our knowledge about beasts, mutations, and evolutions is shallow and we can only form theories about most things.

Reading through both the test files told me that your beast has a mutation.

However, I'm unsure if it really is an adverse mutation, to be honest.

It is definitely true that without any countermeasures it will be hard to prevent birth defects and other issues, however, that does not necessarily have to be the case.

I can't give you a perfect solution for your beast´s problem but both files gave me some clues about the main issue.

But to tell you beforehand, this is only my theory and not something thoroughly tested or acknowledged by the federation at the moment."

Jason's heart felt heavier after listening to the professionals' reply, but he clung to the tiny ray of hope as he heard the theory.

"Even if your soulbond is a one-star wild beast it needs a certain amount of nutrition and mana to survive.

I think you got the beast egg from the Beast Pagoda which means tens of thousand beasts have to share the same amount of mana in a small space.

Due to your beast's mutation, the problem might be that it needs more mana to develop its body and mana core.

One solution could be to provide a large mana supply as it has a deficit. It needs more mana to grow and is so small in size because of the scarcity of mana.

To solve this problem in a short time, you would have to purchase mana stones.

I don't know if you have enough credits to do that, but right now I can't think of any other countermeasures before the beast hatches. I'm still unsure if this solution is 100% helpful.

I´m sorry."

Jason listened to James carefully and he wasn't sure if he should be happy or sad.

It was only a theory and not a 100% solution but it was still better than nothing.

After asking a few additional questions, Jason left an hour later.

He didn't even have to pay anything as Prof. Gray wanted to use the test files for his studies.

He received Professor James Gray´s contact details as the prof was fascinated by the files he had read previously, hoping that Jason´s beast would hatch healthy.

Jason decided to search for mana stones online, but he found out that even the smallest mana stone was extremely expensive.

50,000 Credits for a ping pong ball-sized grade-1 mana stone sounded horrifyingly expensive to Jason. But, after searching for more information he found out that the compressed mana inside such a small stone was around the same amount as that of an unblemished beast.

This surprised Jason but after he gave it a thought, it didn't seem as illogical as he previously thought.

An unblemished beast was comparable to a human Expert rank and to replenish his mana once, a human expert would have to utilize a whole ping pong ball-sized grade-1 mana stone.

It was extremely expensive even for normal Expert ranks as hunting Unblemished beasts often resulted in injuries that had to be treated with expensive medications.

Jason wanted to purchase three small mana stones but he had to set an address where to deliver the goods. Thus, before buying the mana stones Jason contacted the landlord of one of the apartments he had visited earlier that day in order to sign a lease.

The cost was 2500 credits per month and the area around it was safe while everything needed was close by.

After signing the contract on his quantum bracelet he could instantly move in.

There wasn't anything at his old flat as he had carried all the important things with him in his storage space.

The new apartment was 55 square meters big with a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and a small kitchen inside.

It looked small and comfy when Jason had first visited the apartment but he hadn't leased it instantly as he wasn't sure how expensive his beast's treatment would be.

With a little bit less than 150,000 credits left after deducting the price paid for 3 small mana stones, Jason had more than enough left to lease the small apartment for half a year.

Thus, he called for a shuttle to take him to his new home, and reached at 7 pm, when it was already late.

He finally purchased the three small mana stones and added his new address for delivery of the shipment.

Afterward, he wanted to stroll around in order to get to know his new neighborhood which he hadn't done before.

Jason was like a small child who was interested in everything as it wasn't that long since he had regained his eyesight and everything looked special and oddly interesting to him.

His stomach rumbled when the aroma of food drifted through the air and he suddenly felt hungry after a long time. He ordered a large pizza from the nearby food stall and relished it.

He hadn't eaten anything good and savory for years and it was the first time for him to eat pizza and Jason enjoyed eating it.

The beast egg was inside a small sling bag that hung from his shoulders.

After he finished the pizza, Jason's belly was full.

He had never eaten so much before, but he was happy and satisfied with his current life.

It wasn´t that every problem he had was solved, but rather, in the beginning, his biggest issue was his sight.

Afterward, his almost nonexistent soul energy seemed to be a huge problem and now his soulbond beast was having some issues.

Jason hoped that the mana supply from the mana stones would be enough to solve his problems, which would subsequently solve each problem he faced right now.

He wasn't afraid of his new companion being useless as he had seen the dense color that he had never seen before. However, the slightest issue was that the color was feeble which caused him to hesitate when he saw it.

But, getting to know that he could probably solve his issue made him feel excited.

After strolling for an hour, Jason went home to his new apartment where he would continue learning how to write difficult words.

Furthermore, he enjoyed reading the beastarium which was full of beast pictures, with their characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, rank, and much more information.

It was almost midnight when Jason fell asleep with the beastarium holographic screen still open.