1 Initializing

In a world where might is right, humankind lived alongside their beasts to plow the fields, to defend honor and territories, and for some, to travel the world. However, all was not safe. Beasts came in all shapes and sizes, with different primordial affinities. Some beasts were innately aloof, where humankind would never get the opportunity to interact with, save for a rare few. Others were imbued with demonic instincts and followed the rule of the Demonic Beast Emperor to reject human companionship and establish their rule over the world. But of course, there were also beasts that sought out human relationships to bear a bond of oath out of instinct. These beasts would accompany their partners to the death.

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Roman stared blankly out into the open fields. He observed the blades of grass and the leaves of crops bending to the will of the wind. Somehow, it gave him refuge and respite. After his mother's passing, he often repeated this.

Roman lost his mother a year ago, a week before his fourth birthday. Although he had only spent four years with her, she had left a lasting impact upon his development. Roman, unlike the other children in Branch Village, was a transmigrator. He lived his previous life as an orphan, who had to rely on himself to survive. In the past, he struggled at school, barely making it into college before realizing he did not have the funds for the school fees. Roman worked a simple job at a convenience store to save up cash for school. But he never knew familial love until he came into his new life. His father and mother in this life introduced him to this new world with all the love and care in the world. Even though they led a simple life, they tried their best to provide for him.

Roman's mother taught him to be honest, kind, and honorable – principles he vowed to live by. But as a result of his mother's teachings, coupled with his mental age from his previous life as a college graduate on Earth, Roman was often picked on by the other village children.

In Roman's opinion, it was just not worth it squabbling with the children. He believed that their youth and naivety permitted them to make these mistakes. But from the point of view of the village children, Roman was a weak pushover worthy of picking on.

Roman came to the fields to get away from the other children, but also to contemplate what his father had mentioned to him that morning.

According to his father, tomorrow would be the day of the Egg Hunt. In this world, Aeon, the year that children turned five, they had to participate in the Egg Hunt in hopes to discover the egg of their future life companions.

The children would then learn from their parents how to tend to the egg till it hatched, forming an unbreakable life bond. This would be the first bond formed by each individual, spearheading them into a lifetime of beast taming. For most people, this would be the only partner they meet for their lifetimes. However, a lucky few would venture the world and amass companions and loyal partners to achieve whatever it was they had set out to do.

Naturally, with success there would also be failure – but this was merely one possibility.

Roman was concerned about the Egg Hunt. He knew that there was a time window where beasts laid eggs and were too exhausted to respond to humans taking away their young. Roman intended to capitalize on the time allocated before the beast recovered to capture his egg and return home before dusk.

Roman knew that success in capturing an egg within this window was imperative for his life, but he wasn't sure how he was going to go about it. The quality of the pet determined his starting point, and since he embarked on this new life, he swore upon his mother's grave that he would see all he could see and do all he could do. Maybe he could even one day become a taming king, he thought.

"Many kids die from merely searching for their egg," Roman thought.

Sometimes children encountered herd members of the mother beast, whose sole goal during the Egg Hunt was to protect the egg while the mother remained incapacitated. These children often assumed that they would be able to outsmart the herd but resulted in complete failure and inevitable death.

Naturally, there was a simpler solution. Branch Village, like many other villages in Aeon, was a farming town. They would simply adopt eggs from the livestock reared by the townsfolk, or if they were wealthy enough, paid a few hundred credits for the offspring of the beast companions of stronger townsfolk.

But the key problem lay in the stature of Branch Village. It was a mere village with little to no resources. The strength of the strongest beast in the village was only at bronze grade, and its offspring's grade would likely not permit these children to fulfill their dreams of explore the land and seas of Aeon. These children were destined to remain in Branch Village forever alongside their copper and bronze grade beasts.

The children were, therefore, encouraged to venture into the plains and forests around the village till dusk in hopes to capture a beast egg worthy of their aspirations.

As the sun set across the horizon behind the fields, Roman stood from the spot he had remained at for the past few hours. His brown hair swayed with the wind, almost matching his small and seemingly weak frame which was as if indicative of his abilities. However, his eyes showed conviction. He decided that he was going to succeed on this hunt. He was going to the mountains for his egg, and maybe would come out with at least a silver grade beast egg.

For now, only time would tell.

Roman began his hike back home to his father, but at the back of his mind a faint whisper he could barely hear over the wind chimed.

[Supreme Taming System Initializing at 99%…]