Explosive Changes

Sat inside his quiet restaurant was a man by the name of Seth. He had moved here a few years ago, in an attempt to get away from his family, and was currently playing on his phone. The tall, toned, and grey haired man's attention was snapped away from his game by a loud explosion shaking his residence, followed by the screams of terrified people.

"What the fuck is going on out there?" He asked himself while getting out of his seat. He wanted to check what was going on outside, but a loud, thundering roar shook his home once more, as his instincts kicked in, telling him to run.

He grabbed the baseball bat from under his desk and hid in the large storage room, the safest place due to the cover and safety it provided. At least he didn't have to worry about his employees, because today was their day off. He then grabbed a chain lying around, and steadied himself despite his fear.

And then, his house shook once more, as the entrance and walls were broken by something. Not panicking anymore, he hid behind one of the racks with a view on the door and waited, until he saw the door melt away, and a giant lizard entered the room, causing his pupils to dilate.

'What the hell is that...' He thought as he saw it move around, sniffing around. 'What the FUCK is that?!' He mumbled as it began walking around in the room, while it slowly approached his location.

He gripped his bat tight and waited for it to come close, before throwing the chain to divert its attention. While it turned to check the noise, he ran right towards it, and the moment it turned to check on the noise, he struck its head with all his might, knocking it out as it fell like a log onto the metal floor while he wheezed, due to having put his whole might into that one strike. He felt like his arms and legs were shaking, looking like they were about to give out when suddenly, a message appeared in front of him.

[A few gods take interest in you.]

A message with a golden casing around it. It brought him great confusion, but the first thing that came out of his mouth was "If this thing wakes up the only thing left to take interest in would be my fucking charred corpse. So send me something useful instead of some shitty message." Shortly after that, several red messages appeared in front of him, appearing to be threats as he waved them away, looking at the ones with a different color.

[The king of beasts offers you a gift.]

[The insect of storms laughs and offers you a gift.]

[The harem king smiles and throws you a gift.]

He received three messages in blue and three boxes materialized in front of him. One red, one blue, and one gold. He proceeded to open all three at once.

[You have acquired Skill: Taming (Basic)]

[You have acquired Armor: Crystal ant's shell.]

[You have acquired Weapon: Emerald Fang.]

He rejoiced as he pressed the taming skill's message, hoping for a description or something similar. "Touch a beast's head and speak the skill's name to activate it." He said as he read it out loud, reluctantly touching the giant reptile's head before speaking. "Taming." Following which, a light shone from his hand as a golden chain of light wrapped around the lizard's body.

[Skill successful. Salamander (Earth) tamed.]

Sitting down with shaking hands and a very loud, relieved sigh, he struggled to move while looking at the salamander. It wouldn't attack him once it woke up, right?

Fortunately, he got his answer quite quickly as the creature awoke and stared at him, sniffing him before licking his face. "I guess that's that." He said.

However, before he could properly relax and regain energy, he heard his chairs being knocked over in the other room, before a giant moth showed up at the door to the storage room. Jumping to action, his newly tamed salamander tackled it into the wall as a field of frost exploded around it, freezing everything near it while its opponent retaliated by literally lighting itself ablaze, causing the moth to screech in pain.

"Don't kill it!" Seth yelled at the salamander, unsure if it would understand him, but it did, as it proceeded to assault the opposing moth who fell to the ground after it was continuously beaten.

Seth stood up, the rush of adrenaline and panic finally having gone away. He put his hand on the beast's head and spoke. "Taming."

[Skill succesful. Lunar Frost Moth (Earth) tamed.]

He then carefully stood up, and looked at what was beyond his counter, and saw his own ruined shop while the street beyond lit aflame, alongside parts of his shop as it was teeming with monsters.

He took in a deep breath as he looked for a way to shut the door again, before looking at the moth, thinking it could help. But it couldn't. Not in its current unconscious and battered state.

He didn't dare to drag any racks to the door either, because the noise could attract other monsters.

And while deep in thought, another intruder barged in. This one small and gold in color. "Shit!" Seth cursed as he grabbed onto his baseball bat while he couldn't even see what the being was due to how fast it was moving.

The salamander couldn't keep up either, as it feared making the place go down in flames, only catching the golden blurs of whenever it passed by.

Suddenly, he saw it stop and look right at him. It was a golden eagle, almost looking like it was a robot, rather than a beast.

He held his trusty baseball bat again, waiting for its movements, yet both just stared at each other for a few seconds, just enough time for the ice arrow of the frost moth that had a awakened a split second ago, to pierce its wing.

It fell with a screech, squirming and struggling on the ground as it thrashed around while the salamander gently pressed down on it, to keep it from moving.

Only then did Seth approach, placing his hand on its head. "Taming." He simply said while looking it in the eyes.

[Skill failed.]

He blinked as he looked at the bird, trying it again. "Taming." He spoke while the bird pecked at his hand, tearing off a bit of his exposed flesh due to the armor not covering it as he jumped in pain. "Ow, fu-" He kept himself back from screaming.

The salamander tightened its grip on the bird, who also screamed and squirmed in pain. "Doesn't feel very good, huh?" He mocked it before placing his hand on its head again. "Taming." He spoke, but it didn't feel like it was just him saying it. This was an order.

[Skill successful. Thunderbird (hatchling) (Earth) tamed.]

"Freeze the entrance to this place." He ordered the moth, who managed to do it with relative ease. It seemed like his assumption of its skils' activation was wrong, and it could activate them regardless of its physical state.

But for now, he simply walked to one of the room's corners and laid against it, before his new subordinates followed, laying next to him while he drifted into sleep.