Void.
Empty.
Serenity.
That was what Hadrian felt as he welcome his death.
There was nothing he can do about it anyway.
Only he felt immense regret for not fulfilling his dreams.
To be a zoologist. Just like his parents who specialized in marine zoology but died because of a typhoon at one of their job destinations.
Because of it, he was an orphan. Grow up in foster care. He was not talented, to begin with. So he could only work part-time jobs to cover his expenses and tuition fee. And just as the last year of his college hits, a virus outbreak happens to put the entire country on lockdown.
And as unfortunate as he was, he is one of the people that got infected. And he died because there was still no antidote.
As Hadrian's soul was going aimlessly at a vast darkness.
A creature whose body is glittering with silver haze appears.
"This life aura..." A gentle voice sounded that confused Hadrian.
Where am I? Why is there a voice? Am I in the afterlife?
"This presence..." The voice continues talking, its voice trembling.
"Unlike the previous version of that man... you are transcendent at least. Perhaps, you can make a difference." The voice rang again.
"My power is slowly deteriorating in this river of time. I need to do this now. You may be confused once this process is over, but I need to recuperate so I won't have time to talk to you right now." The voice sounded again, shaking Hadrian to his core.
Confusion welling up in his head as all he knows is he's already dead. Questions continue piling up in his inner core. Where am I? What do you mean by that? Who are you? Recuperate? Power? What do you need to do? Those thoughts are riding on Hadrian's head.
"There will be a time your questions will be answered, Hadrian." The voice said as if replying to his inner turmoil.
Mysterious sounds echo to him next and all that followed was the endless light.
"Ah!" Hadrian gasped as he abruptly sat up. His eyes were wide open as he did not know what happened.
He looks around him and lifts his hand. He can't believe he's alive. How did that happen? Could it be because of that person? Who is it? A God? Questions flow in his mind.
Just as he was calming down himself, information flooded his mind like a torrent.
Memories of a person whose name is like his but not his surge over.
Hadrian Ace Ziegler, seventeen-year-old at the present, an orphan since three. The Azurite Planet is identical to Earth. Futuristic technology is so high-tech that Earth's technology pales to this. The advent of Chaos leads to the era of Beasts. And the rise of Beast Master.
All things that are only fantasy fiction and myth flow in his mind.
'Could it be? That person, maybe he was the one who transmigrated me here to this parallel world? To my parallel self?' That's the thoughts circulating in his mind.
And that was true, for some reason, he who should be dead is suddenly alive and well in the body of his parallel self.
'Power? Make a difference? Don't tell me that person wants me to save the world or something. And what's with the previous version of that man talk? Could it be there also another version of me in another universe?' Hadrian continues thinking.
He sigh and said. 'Forget it. It's complicated. Anyway, that person said there will be a time when we will talk to each other. For now, I should familiarize myself first.'
He stood up from the bed and walk up in front of a large mirror that is the size of a human.
He looks and confirms it. It's just like him. A parallel version of him. Black hair with white strands, wide hazel brown eyes, lightly tanned skin, and a lean build.
He sighed as he continues to process everything and the memory that flooded his mind.
This version was unfortunate just like him. Because he was an orphan, he awaken very late. And when he awakened, he is superhuman, but with a very common innate talent, Extrasensory Perception.
In this world, when they are awakened, they can be classified into different types; bio-human, superhuman, and odd-human.
The bio-human is when they don't have innate mana themselves that they can't circulate, instead, there are parts of their body that has innate mana and are mutated. Like their hands or legs that have gained super strength. Or their minds that mutated that enable them to memorize a lot of things and process things faster than average humans. Or eyes that can see forty kilometers away... which is quite interesting, to say the least.
As for superhumans, they have innate mana that they can circulate and materialize with a specific type. For example, their power is Materialization (fire type), in this case, they can manifest fire outside in the form of mana they have. And because they have innate mana, they can open a subspace, or what they called Mana Oasis, inside their minds which is for taming beasts.
And last, the odd-human is the case humans who don't have innate mana, and don't have mutated body parts cause of mana, but instead have Mana Oasis. But the thing is because they don't circulate mana to expand their taming subspace, they can only tame beasts in fixed numbers. Some odd humans can only tame one beast or three beasts.
As for his parallel self, he's superhuman. And his talent is Extrasensory Perception. This talent is too common. It was to circulate their mana into their five senses so they could feel beyond human perception. For example, their sense of touch, by extending their mana into their hands, they can feel even the smallest particle inside an object. Or by extending their mana into their nose so they can have a keen smell.
Those are just what this talent can do. Of course, there are limitations, but what they can do still depends on their realm. This realm pertains to the growth of not only their talents but also their tamed beast subspace. It ranges from the primary realm to the eighth realm. Of course, that range is only the confirmed realm, but according to the archeological discovery of this world, the ninth to the tenth realm exists. But no evidence is found.
This talent of Extrasensory Perception is no different from the other talents in terms of growing in different realms. But apart from expanding their senses beyond common perception, this talent has no combat uses.
But still, the innate talent of Extrasensory Perception is useful. Especially in the field of science, medicine, and technology.
As for his counterpart, he is an intern at Nightbourne Hospital. He was training here to be a doctor and also working so he can buy a pet that can help him in the future despite his talent and shortcomings.
But that's not what Hadrian is more curious about. It's the fact that aside from the talent of his parallel self, he seems to have another talent.
In the entire Azurite era of beasts, there seems to be no precedent of humans having two talents or more.
But he is not a normal human. He's a transmigrator.
He did what people to tap into their innate talent. Which is to close their eyes, meditate and enter their subconsciousness.
Upon entering his mind, it was full of mist. And in front of him, there are three illuminating symbols.
First is an eye that seems to glow blue. And he immediately understood what it is. Extrasensory Perception. It is what the former Hadrian sees when he first awakened.
Aside from that, there is also the second symbol. It's a book with intricate writing that seems otherworldly, glowing golden lights.
As if in a trance, Hadrian's hand in the mind realm extended and touch the book. And he can't help but tremble when he understood what it is.
★ Tome of Beasts Taming:
• Description: [It contains the ancient power and laws of taming beasts.]
[Skills Archive]: The host can analyze and record the skills of the beast that is being shown in front of it. Upon recording, the host may choose to document it permanently and imprint this knowledge on other beasts so they can learn the skills. Imprinting more knowledge can increase the skill proficiency of the beast subjected to teaching. The upper limit of the pages that may be used to record will be lifted as the host break through to realms.
[???]
[???]
...
!!!!!
This innate talent is just... insane!
Tome of Beasts Taming... a talent that assists the user to tame beasts? Moreover, judging from the info he received, Skills Archive is just a function of it.
If the Tome of Beasts Taming is like the normal talent of a superhuman, that means upon breakthrough upper limit will be lifted.
It may be a second, minutes, or an hour, but when he calms down, he thinks again. It's not easy to use, he needs to watch a beast use a skill before he can record and document it properly. So what if he wants to record a relatively powerful skill but the beast is deadly, won't that mean his life is in danger?
And imprinting knowledge, can't be that easy either. Perhaps it also has consumption for the host, like mana depletion that happens at every superhuman every time they use their innate talent.
Even so, Hadrian felt this skill if used cautiously and carefully, the effect will be tremendous.
After calming himself, he looks at the third symbol. And it was clear, that not only did he has a second talent, but also a third talent.
People with two talents are already a bit against common sense. Because since the advent of chaos, there has been no precedent of an individual having two innate talents.
Now a person, him, has three innate talents? How could that be? Shaking his inner thoughts, Hadrian looked at the third symbol.
Its shape is very strange. It looks like an hourglass with orbitals around it. Its color exudes black most like rolling waves.
Upon touching it, Hadrian's soul trembled. Wide-eyed, as if not believing what it was.
★ Space-Time Power
• Description: [The ability to alter the course or flow of space and time continuum. It is an absolute power of space and time.]
!!!
In an instant, countless images of fantasy movies, animes, and stories from his past life appear in his mind. The ability to alter the flow of space and time.
Meaning to say teleportation? Maybe slow down the flow of time!? He can do all of that!? For a moment, Hadrian didn't know what to say. Although he felt that it is difficult to use, he also knows this power is strong.
Because even in the awakening stage of humans, there are only a few individuals awakening space and time-related innate talent. And sometimes their power is only a sub-category.
But it is still strong compared to other talents. In different fields, especially battle, space and time attribute dominates most of the other attributes. It just shows that space and time attribute innate talents are extremely rare. And now he has dual-type space-time power as innate talent!
After calming down, Hadrian left his consciousness and exit the meditative state, and suddenly felt weary.
He contemplates everything that has just happened and thinks about what he should do.
Perhaps here, he could fulfill his dream, to be a zoologist. 'A zoologist of magical beasts huh? Sounds fun to me.' Hadrian thinks.
Setting his goals and gradually accepting his second life as his parallel self, Hadrian stand up and began to prepare for his work today. And perhaps prepare for his journey here to this world of magical beasts!
———
Little did he know, his arrival here alarmed three powerful beings. Although they can't know Hadrian's origin, they felt the source from him that they can be sure.
On the Northern Continent, Yukiosjvetra, deep in the mountains of Niathal, a feathered creature size of a football exudes an icy majestic aura that did not match its size. Cold blue eyes gleam as they look towards the west. "This power..."
In the forest of Akuji in the Southeast Continent of Iveshkourne, a white tree with purple leaves that exudes an ancient aura suddenly opens its eyes that mirror a thousand-year-old journey. It gazes at a distance and spoke in an otherworldly voice. "This source... A transcendent. In a body of a human too..."
And on the Western Continent of Esphrytagnia, there is a floating palace. Deep inside it, there is a silvery furry creature with golden lightning sparkling all over it. Its eyes seemed to reflect something as it muttered. "A transcendent at this times of chaos. What could this mean? Will it be an enemy or an ally?"