Hello, Lynn

"Host, what are you doing" Sylvie asked.

Akirai scrolled through her phone idly "I`m waiting, that´s what."

"Host, the time of hatching is unknown, shouldn´t you do something more productive?" Sylvie pressed and Akirai shrugged.

"I don´t care, I need a break and Google is far from unproductive, I´ll study and wait at the same time, it´s a win-win, really." She explained as she read through an artical that explained the ranking system of this world a bit better.

It stated, just like Akirai had guessed, that No-rank didn´t have any Void essence, or Vee for short, the Vee was the energy that they used to power their attacks, whether physical or spiritual, and so couldn´t use attacks like the fireball that the commanders Flame eagle had shot.

Bronze-ranks, like the name stated, had Void essence that was Bronze in colour, Silver-ranked Beasts had Silver Void essence, Gold-ranked Beasts had Gold coloured Void essence- and so on.

Beasts from the Bronze-rank and up could learn Skills, these Skills were, taking the commanders Flame Eage as an example again, attacks like Flame Ball, or Blaze.

Some skills can only be learned by Beasts with high Intelligence and Comprehension- and as Beasts get stronger the farther they advance, the easier it is for Beasts to learn skills, in theory.

A similliar concept was used to measure the strength of Humans once they begin Cultivating.

An interesting fact was that the strenght of Beasts doubled every advance from Bronze-rank up, meaning that a Gold-ranked Beast could easely wipe the floor with a Silver-ranked Beast, this isn´t very obvious at the start as Bronze-Beasts still stand somewhat of a chance against Silver-Beasts, but the farther they advance, the bigger the gap becomes.

It was an Interesting concept alltogether, and she absorbed this knowledge with great enthusiasm.

It suprised her that most of the Rankings she found had a simillair concept of ranking- from gear, to plants, to food or even water- there were even relics that could be found in the rifts or in unexplored Zones.

She also found that the livespans of most Beasts was up to at least a year, so her Shadow moth was a rare case of a short livespan- even most "normal" animals- the No-ranks had longer livespans than their earthern counterpart- even No-rank Mayflies lived up to a month, not just a day like on earth.

She also found an interesting phenomenon called Evolution- it was far harder to achieve than Ranking up!

Every Beast-Master wanted their Beasts to evolve as it brought countless new opprotunitys with it, from elonging the Beasts livespan to even giving it a new affinity!

Affinitys were the strongpoints of Beasts, such as the lightning the Thunder Rat produces or the flames a Fire Hound spits.

Most Beasts only have one such affinity, for example fire or water- some affinitys are rarer than others- the common being fire, water, earth and air, some of the more uncommon ones being storm or poison.

The evolution had a chance of giving, or strengthening the affinity of a Beast, and was thus, very sought after.

Shadow moths, for example, were of the darkness element, and while normally, people would swarm areas where one such being was sighted, the Shadow moth, with its short lifespan was not very sought after, many had tried their luck with this being, only the absoloute minority managing to let the moth Rank up or evolve to overcome its miniscule livespan, but even after so much effort, its evolution brought nothing BUT the increased livespan to light, and as such people gave up on the "Candle-Beast" that would die from one gust of wind, no matter how many resources one spent on it.

It just wasn´t worth wasting precious Spirit essence on it, the Spirit essence was used to form contracts, and one had a limited amount of this essence, some having more than others, while some had next to none at all.

And while the Spirit essence recovered if one canceled the contract with their Beast, or it perished, the return of Spirit essence could take months to recover.

"Wow." Akirai breathed. "Sylvie? Did you know all that?" She asked, looking up from her phone with tired eyes, she´d sat on the ground for hours now.

"Yes and No, the System classifies thing a bit differently, but the general Info is correct and acknowledged by the System- me." She said and Akirai nodded, yawning sleepely.

"Wake me if anything happens, Sylvie." Akirai instructed as she layed down on the floor, the straw cushioning the floor, and used her arm as a pillow.

The lights in the stable dimmed and Sylvie gave a "Yes, Host."

----------------------

The day changed to night and the streetlights flickered outside of the small shop in Forest edge.

It was silent in the store, exept for the occasional crack here and there, an egg inside the store swayed from side to side.

"Host, the egg is hatching." Sylvie informed her Host.

Akirai sat up and rubbed her eyes, shook her head and looked to the egg that now had small cracks running through it´s surface, Akirai tilted her head and waited silently.

The egg cracked more and more until the shell broke and a small grey larvea rolled out and onto the straw, it was as big as her forearm and Akirai delightedly picked the small Beast up, and into her arms.

It was a dark grey with scarce, purple glowing dots on it´s body, it had a few hairs on it that stood straight and it was very chubby.

"Congratulations for hatching your first Beast, Quest complete, please collect your rewards." Sylvie chirped, yes chirped.

"Another Quest I missed? How did that happen?" She mused and played with the small Beast in her arms.

"Host wanted to rest." Sylvie replied and Akirai nodded.

"Hey there sweets, nice to meet you." Akirai smiled brightly at the small thing in her arms.

"Would Host like to see the Shadow moth larveas Status?" Sylvie asked.

"Go on, Sylvie." Akirai prompted and not a second later did a small screen pop up in front of her.

[Mutated Shadowmoth larvea]

[Level 0]

[Gender : Female]

[Rank : No-Rank]

[Status : Wild]

[Sate : Healthy (Confused/Happy)]

Akirai laughed "Confused? Understandable... hmm, you need a name, little one, your´re a girl, so how about- Lynna?"

Lynna squirmed in her arms, burrowing herself deeper in the fabric and made no move afterwards.

Akirai chuckled "Well, Lynna it is then."

-----------------------------------

(Omake)

"Hey, Sylvie, I know what the nursery is and the other functions are kind of self explanatory, but whats up with the Realm funciton?"

"The Realm function is a place to strengthen Beast and Host alike, materials can also be aquired there, the Realm is the Systems version of the Rifts, just for the Host, Realm grades available- No-grade, Bronze-grade and Silver-grade, more grades and other Systems functions will be unlocked and improved after Upgrading the System, Host please work hard."

"Oh, Okay, cool."

...

"Wai´... Hol´up-"

...

"SYLVIE?!? WHAT THE FUCK?!?"