Beast Will

"What do you mean Beast Tamer?" Arthur asks with confusion visible on his face.

Yeah, the hells a beast tamer?

"Lets go somewhere else and talk" Virion said as he led us to a living room with couches and a fireplace.

He sat down on a couch before he continued, "Lets start from the beginning shall we? I'm assuming that both of you know that mana beasts possess mana cores, same as humans, elves and dwarves."

We both nodded at this.

"Alright, just as mana beasts, humans,  elves  and  dwarves  possess  qualities  in  their mana cores that  are  distinct to  their  own  race."

He picked up a piece if paper and drew a chart.

Water  -  Ice

    o  Plant

Earth  -  Gravity

    o  Magma, Metal

Fire  -  Lightning

Wind - Sound

"These  are  the  four  basic  elements  and  their  higher  forms.  The  higher  forms—Ice, Metal,  Lightning,  and  Sound—can  only  be  controlled  by  mages  especially  adept  at  a particular  basic  element,  i.e.  a  deviant.  This  is  where the  distinct  racial  qualities  lie..." he wrote each race with and recited a brief description.

Humans

"Human  mages  possess  the  ability  to  manipulate  all  four  basic  elements  and  are  the only  race  capable  of  having  deviants  that  can  control  the  higher  form  of  their  adept element.  They also have deviants  that  can even transcend the  four basic elements,  like healers  (emitters),  making  their mana  cores the  most  diverse."

Elves

"Elven  mages  can  only  manipulate  water,  wind,  and  earth,  but  with  much  higher affinity.  We also  have a  special  trait  distinct  to our  race that  allows  very  pure-blooded mages to  control  plants.  However,  elves don't  have  deviants that  can  manipulate water, wind,  and earth  into their  higher  forms"

Dwarves

"Dwarven  mages  can  only  manipulate  earth  and  fire  but,  like  elves,  they  possess  a much  higher  affinity  to  those  two  elements.  Their  distinct  trait  lies  in  the  fact  that  all dwarves  are  able  to  mold  and  bend  metal,  while  some  deviants  possess  the  special ability  to  manipulate  both  earth  and  fire  into  magma,  something  even  human deviants are  not  able  to  do,  much  less  elves.  However,  they  can  only  manipulate  those  two  basic elements  and,  like  elves,  do  not  possess  the  ability  to  control  the  higher  form  of  the basic elements."

"Wait, wait, wait, if that is the case then why can't human mages manipulate plant or magma?" Arthur asked while reading the chart.

Exactly, if humans have affinity for all four elements why can't they manipulate plant or magma?

"Good  question.  Only  elves  can  manipulate  plant, the  only  form  of  nature  that is  alive, because  of  our  lineage  being  highly  affinitive  to  the  nurturing  elements. And only the  Dwarf  race  can  manipulate  magma  and  metal  because,  like  us  elves,  their  lineage makes them  highly  adept  to the  constructing  elements."

I see.

"Okay. I get it now, but what does that have to do with me apparently being a beast tamer? What is a beast tamer anyways."

"I'm getting to it!" Virion barked out.

"Mana  beasts  are  different  from  the  three  humanoid  races  because  each  species  has their  own  special  characteristics.  Listing  all  of  them  would  be  endless  so  I'll  give  you a  simple  example.  Mages,  adventurers or  not,  are  classified:  E,  D,  C,  B,  A,  AA,  S,  SS  class. This  classification  is  the  same  for  mana  beasts  as  well.  Take  the  sonic  hawk.  They  are B  Class  beasts  that  possess  incredible  speed  while  in  flight.  They  all  have  to  affinity  for wind  and  sound.  These  attributes  are  innate  in  their  mana  cores.  Regardless  of  their affinity,  if  these  mana  cores  are  taken  out  and  given  to  a  human  or  elf  mage  that specialize  in  the  wind  element,  their  training  will  go  by  much  faster  than  just cultivating  mana from  their  surroundings,  but  that's  it"

He stopped his explanation as he drunk a glass of water.

"...However!  When a mana beast reaches A class or higher, they have  the  ability  to  pass on  their  'will',  or  ability  to  be  more  precise,  to  one  person.  I  called  you  a  beast  tamer earlier  because  you  have  a  mana  beast's  will  in  your  mana  core  and  from  my estimation,  not  just  any  will  but  an  S  class  mana  beast's  will,  if  not  an  SS  class  will.  I'm only  able  to  sense  this  because  I'm  a  beast  tamer  as  well,  although  the  beast's  will  that I tamed  was an  AA  class beast,  the  Shadow  Panther. And yes I could only bully you that badly due to my Shadow Panther's will, even then that was only 50% of my speed" he adds the last part with a wink.

That was only half of his speed?

How fast can he go?

Anyways so that's what Noctis did, he passed his beast will to me. He did say I would need it survive something that's going to happen.

"Judging by the look on your face its safe to assume you have a beast will as well don't you?" He asked seeing my enlightened expression.

I gave him a nod in response.

He came towards me and extended his arm, "May I?"

"Sure"

He put his palm on my sternum, right above my mana core, just to pull it away almost instantly. He was sweating bullets now.

"That's a very dark beast will, even with my Shadow Panther's will protecting me I almost went insane"

"Um, I'm sorry?" as if you weren't insane already.

"Don't be, but I can't help but wonder what exactly gave you that will. You can chose not to answer if you want in case it brings up any bad memories" he replies.

"No, no, its okay. But I still can't answer your question because I don't know

what kind of mana beast he is myself, all I know is that he's a massive 20 foot tall wolf with red eyes and jet black fur which seemed to turn to smoke when he gave me his will." I answer him with a shrug.

"I see, could it be? No its just a myth anyways, it seems like he was a Shadow  Wolf. Thats good for you, I can train you better than Arthur. But its urgent for me to guide you, you two don't have much time." He replies in a stern voice.

"What do you mean?" Arthur sniffled, seems like he has some bad memories about that. We'll compare notes later.

"The power from  your mana cores is too strong  for  your immature bodies to handle.  Let me  ask  you  this.  Have   any of you  recently  felt  a  burning  pain  coming  from  your  mana core?"

What the- is this something every beast tamer experiences?

He must have read our face cause he continued, "If you don't learn to control your new mana cores it will destroy your bodies."

Wait, WHAT?