Chapter 2 - Evaluation Result

Jamie started looking towards the source of the voice. Seeing it was the red headed female, he started walking towards her, following her as she led the way to the portable booth. Once inside, he saw a 6 feet foldable table, with two foldable black chairs. On the table, there was a bunch of paper, in three different sleeves, pinned to the table with by a plastic bag, a clipboard was sitting on the table next to it, along with a laptop and a plastic black container. In the center of the area, there was a black mat, inlaid with what looks like blue gemstones around the sides. Gesturing towards one of the chairs, the women said, "please take a seat."

After Jamie was seated, she took a seat and the large white stripped tiger followed her, laying down at her feet. She cocked her head to the side, and after scrutinizing him for a moment, she said "you look eerily similar to your brother. Except he's much bulkier."

Jamie's eyes widen slightly in surprise at that. He then asked "Are you a friend of my brother?"

"Yep, we met when we had to guard a portal. Sorry, forgive my manners. My names Sarah."

They shook hands, and then Sarah reached for the clipboard, and pulling out a pen. She then said "Now, I first need to ask you some questions. Try to be as precise as possible."

"Okay"

"How long have you been strengthening your Astral Body for?"

"10 years."

"Have you ever changed methods at different times of your life?"

"Once, after 3 months of training, when I was 7."

"How often have you spent approximately, on average, strengthened your soul since you started?"

"2 hours each day."

Sarah's eyes widened at that. "That's impressive. The process is as boring as hell. Next, I need you to sit on that mat and strengthen your Astral Body for 30 minutes. The mat helps gather energy, and makes it easier to process. As you go through the method, I'll be observing the process, to see how much of an effect it has had on you. As you go through the process you may feel something....intrusive, as I observe. I want you to try and ignore it. When the time is up, you'll feel a small nudge. Reduce the flow of energy safety, before stopping."

Jamie got up and sat on the mat. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, and cleared his mind. First he focused inwards, 'seeing' an illusionary, glowing, blue slim male with a miniaturized size. It was standing straight and the left hand was hanging down by his side, and the right hand was holding it's arm forward, with it's palm facing up. On the palm, was a glowing, transparent blue ball slightly brighter then the illusionary body. Basically, it looked like a glowing, transparent miniature version of Jamie, except the hands. It was missing fingers, on both hands, with only two thumbs present.

"Here it goes" Jamie thought.

Jamie focused on pulling the energy outside towards the figure, directing it towards the left hand. The golden stream of light entered the illusionary Astral Body, completing a circuit throughout the body, before moving towards the ball in the palm., As the light flowed throughout the body, the color gradually changed, eventually turning into the same blue light that composed of the illusionary Astral Body.

Jamie lost track of the time, immersed in the technique. During the process, the blue ball started shimmering, dulling one moment, becoming more radiant the next, before eventually a burst of lift flashed, and the ball stabilized, becoming more dazzling then previously, with the illusionary body gradually turning brighter, matching the blue balls color. He paid no attention to that, continuing as usual. Eventually, he felt a small nudge in his conscious. Slowly, he reduced the quantity of energy that was moving towards his left hand. When it reached a trickle, he stopped, before withdrawing, and opening his eyes.

"Your method is working fine. Next, we will test the three soul areas. One the table, you can see three Astralsticks

Which are used to test Astral Body links, Astral Body purity and Astral Body size respectively. Start from the left to right, and hold each stick in your palm for 5 minutes. You don't need to do anything else, I'll let you know when the time is up."

Jamie got up, and stepped towards the table. On the table, next to the laptop, was three black rectangle objects, with large white bold writing written along the left side of each. In the middle of the objects was a glass circle at the bottom, with some golden liquid in it, with the a rectangle line prodding straight up from the middle of the circle, nearly reaching the top. On the side was a was a line marked marked to the side of the class line at certain intervals, marked with number 1 at the bottom, with the top mark with a 6.

Jamie grabbed the one on the left with Astral Body links written on the side in bold white, just standing there bored, for 5 minutes.

"Times up. Show me the Astralstick."

Jamie rotated his body to the left, opening, extending his right hand holding the Astralstick with his palm up while opening his hand. On it, the one and two gauges were golden. Sarah made a with a pen on the paper on her clipboard.

"Okay, grab the next Astralstick, and place that one in the black container. And you can take a seat, while waiting for the 5 minutes."

Jamie flustered, embarrassed, before putting the soulstick away and grabbing the next one labeled soul Astral Body purity. When time was up, he grabbed showed the soulstick to Sarah, with 3 marks being lit up. He then then grabbed the last one labeled Astral Body size.

"Okay, the important one" Jamie thought nervously.

As he sat through the last 5 minutes, his hands started to shake slightly. He knew this was the one that would dictate whether he had a future as a Battlepet master. There was a noticeable difference in power and abilities between each stage, with the gap being more pronounced between the stages the higher they were.

"Times up. Show me the Astralstick."

As showed Sarah the Astralstick, he could not help but take a glance. What he saw made his heart sink.

One.

Sarah looked at it without comment, and made a note on her clipboard. She then said "put it away. You can take the container when you leave. "

Jamie put the Astralstick away, in a slight daze. Sarah continued when he was done.

"Congratulations, you exceed the requirements for being a Beastamer trainee. The requirements to be a Beastamer trainee is a Astral Body purity stage of 2, and you broke through to stage 3 when you were training earlier. Soul purity at stage 3 gives you the ability to project your thoughts to anyone, whether it be humans or beasts, which is a necessary requirement if you want to be a Beastmaster. Keep in mind, that communicating with humans and creatures using this method takes Astral energy so try not to do it too long. Take a rest or meditate after you do it. Also,You it can be blocked by anyone much stronger. You can increase the duration you can do it by improving your Astral Body purity and Astral Body size.

"And what about being a Beastmaster trainee?"

Sarah then let out a sigh, before answering. "Your Astral Body links are impressive. I, myself, could only contract one creature at your age, which is the bare minimum requirement on Astral Body links. But your Astral Body size is lacking, with the requirement of a soul size of at least at stage 2 at 17 to be a trainee Battlepet Master. Generally speaking, most people have become a Martial Warrior, being at stage one or higher. The creatures that come out of the portals are often higher then stage one as well. The method your using to strengthen your Astral Body is quite suitable for you, so it's hard to improve your speed by using another method. Even if you can contract two stage one battlepets, they will serve as nothing but cannon fodder. You have been quite diligent as well, so simply spending more time will not help enough, even if you have the time to spare. Your simply not improving fast enough to go into that profession."

Jamie clenched his hand into a fist before asking bitterly "Is there no other way to improve my Astral Body size growth speed?"

"There is...but it's not something I would recommend chasing after. As Battlepets evolve and improve stages when contracted to a human, the human often gets a boost. It could improve your Astral Body size, physical strength or something else. The studies on this have not been particularly consistent, so it's a matter of pure luck more then anything else."

"...Okay, thanks."

Sarah smiled. "No need to be so glum. Tamers can make a lot of money. I'll set up an account for you to access the Tamernet so you can have a look online at some of the Beast Tamers experiences and perks. It will give you easy access to Trainee Trainer job opportunities too, if you grow interested.

With that, Sarah angled her chair towards the table, then opened the laptop before entering the relevant information while Jaime just sat there, spacing out, his mind adrift after finding out he couldn't be a Battlepet Master. Once she was done, she grabbed a card out of the bag, writing on it before passing it to him along with some paper stapled together.

"Here. A Trainee Tamer ID will be sent to you mail 3 days from now. And when you see your brother, tell him he still owns me a drink."

Jamie perked up at that. His brother was required to enter portals, and he captured all manner of alien creatures. Perhaps he could capture a pet that can help him.

His brother had promised to visit tomorrow, he could ask him then.