"... and that is all for today's history lesson." the history teacher of Preparatory Beast Taming Class, Nandini Shah, said as she concluded her lesson.
Rudra smiled and stretched his limbs. He was almost 14 years old now, with his birthday coming up in a few days. All who were 14 years old and above were eligible for receiving a meditation technique and training to become a Beast Tamer.
However, since Beast Tamers would wield a lot of power when they awaken successfully and contract a Beast, all the Human Bases in the world had declared that they needed to join a Preparatory Beast Taming Class and receive basic education about Beast Taming.
That was why he had joined the Preparatory Beast Taming Class of New Horizon School in the Delhi Base, to which he belonged. As soon as he was 14 years old, the preparatory class he belonged to would take an assessment. He would be recommended to get a meditation technique only after he passed.
Without a meditation technique, no one can awaken as a Beast Tamer. If he received a high-Class Rating after he awakened, then he would be able to get even more opportunities by being assigned to a Beast Taming Class in any of the Universities.
If he received a lower rating then he would have to either join Beast Suppressing Forces belonging to his base or get one of the other Beast Tamer-related professions, like the teaching job taken by Miss Nandini.
Nandini was a middle-aged lady who looked like a twenty-year-old thanks to the benefits of her having awakened as a C-Class Beast Tamer and the feedback received from her tamed beast as part of the contract. She was contracted to a Calming Grass Spirit, a hybrid plant-animal type Tamed Beast that looked like a grass puppet.
It could send out calming aroma to calm down agitated beasts and put them to sleep. That was how it survived in the wild despite it having close to zero combat power. Nandini herself had unlocked the specialized power having an inner space where her Tamed Beast could reside.
However, her inner space was too small along with the amount of growth she could provide her Tamed Beast. Therefore, Nandini had never contracted another beast and was fine with only contracting to Calming Grass Spirit. But her low combat power made it so that she could not take most of the jobs made for Beast Tamers.
As such, she applied and got the position of teaching the history of Beast taming to the Preparatory Beast Taming Class of New Horizon High School in the Delhi Base. Her fate always acted as a motivation for Rudra to work hard, get a high evaluation, and become a great Beast Tamer.
However, what Rudra would never admit was that he had an even bigger motivation to become a strong Beast Tamer. That reason was his step-sister Maya, who was an A-Class Beast Tamer belonging to Beast Suppressing Forces of Delhi Base.
Maya was her team's captain and had the special power of having a high affinity for Feline Beasts. She had many tamed beasts, but her most famous one was a huge King-Grade Tamed beast: Nemean Lion.
The name of this species of the tamed beast was a derivative of the Ancient Greek legend about the lion with impenetrable defence and great power that terrorized the common populace before being slain by the Demigod Hero Hercules, who had to choke the lion to kill it as he could not penetrate its defences while it was alive.
Just like its namesake, Nemean Lion Beasts boast of having great defences and power, along with a huge body that made them a hulking mass of pure power. The only thing that differs from the legend is that Nemean Lion Beasts are black in colour. They have silky black skin and fur, combined with occasional silver streaks in their thick mane of silky hair that has steel-like durability.
Maya was extremely rich as a result of her achievements as a Beast tamer and owned an enormous farmhouse on the outskirts of Delhi base, with enough land for even ten Nemean lions to frolic about and play without feeling constrained. She lived there with her Tamed Beasts, while Rudra lived in an apartment, he rented inside the Delhi base from the money he was granted by her.
As a result, Rudra had a slight inferiority complex to her and was secretly motivated to become a powerful tamer to earn her respect and admiration. She was the only family he had left now after all his other relatives died in various beast attacks when he and Maya were small kids.
His thoughts were interrupted by Ms Nandini who reminded them all as usual to register on time for the assessment that took place weekly in case any of them was 14 years old or was close to being 14 years old in the coming week.
Rudra nodded to himself enthusiastically and waited for Ms Nandini to end the class and for them to be allowed to leave. As soon as she did so, he started preparing to leave. On his way, he was greeted by multiple girl students, who took initiative to display their goodwill towards him.
He often received this kind of interaction from the girls, owing to his good looks and the general assumption of the populace that he will be a high-level Awakened Beast Tamer just like his step-sister. Of course, there were just as many boys who were jealous of these facts and some even hated him.
Rudra walked into the registration office and put down his name for the assessment that would take place next weekend, as he would be 14 years old by then. After doing that he went home with a swift run, as he wanted to start preparing as soon as possible so that he could ace the assessment.
-x-x-x-x-
Days pass in a blink and Rudra's birthday arrived. However, there was no special event other than him eating junk food from street stalls that day instead of making healthy food at home like he always did.
Maya didn't come to meet him as she was away on a mission to exterminate a few monstrous beasts. They had arrived from a portal that had opened 100 km away from Delhi's base, making them an immediate threat.
Rudra already expected her not to come for celebrating his birthday. She had only been to one of his birthday celebrations after becoming a Beast Tamer and never after becoming the captain of one of the top three teams in Delhi Base. Therefore, his acceptance of the possibility beforehand made him not mind it much.
As the weekend arrived, Rudra finished his preparation for his assessment. He went in with high enthusiasm and sat for the assessment. Once he began, he could not stop smiling. None of the questions that came in the assessment was unfamiliar to him.
His hard work in preparing for the assessment paid well and he was able to give detailed accurate answers to all the questions that came in the assessment. His speed was so fast that the invigilator thought at one point that he was cheating. But on closer examination, he understood that it was just Rudra's preparation and smiled at Rudra favourably.
As soon as Rudra finished the assessment, his test results were graded on the spot. He passed with flying colours and was even praised by the invigilator. The invigilator personally guided Rudra to the administration office and granted him the coupon that would allow him to go to the Delhi Base's Awakening Center and apply for an Awakening.
Rudra didn't waste any time and took a means of public transport to get to the Awakening Center as soon as possible. He wanted to get Awakened that day itself.
When he reached the Center, it was already twilight and most applicants had gone home by now. He hurriedly stood in line at the counter behind the last few ones that had come for Awakening and waited for his turn.
The counter was being managed by a shaggy bearded man who only had one working arm. The other arm was a prosthetic one that had limited functions, such as gripping the alcohol bottle from which the man was drinking.
"Show your voucher… Okay … Room no. 6 …. Show your voucher… Hmm … Room no. 8 …." the man slurred drunkenly as he watched the vouchers being presented by the applicants and sent them to whichever Awakening room was free.
With each person that was sent to one of the Awakening Rooms, Rudra's heartbeat became faster and faster. Soon his turn will be here, and after that nothing will ever be the same.