The next day James woke up late. He wasn't in pain, but he lay there and just felt the constant drain of his mana. Unused to the connection that a tamer had with their pet, James groaned. Of course he had known about this, but actually feeling it for the first time was a different story.
Some people showed off their strength by continuing their normal schedule. Go to work or school the day after a taming was considered the gold standard. He had often envisioned his own debut back at school. But today was the day and he couldn't work up the ambition to go to school.
Anyways, the school allowed students a day of grace after bonding their first beast. Often the first inheritance was the hardest to become used to. Everyone became used to it, though. Most people no longer even noticed after three to five days.
After waking up he looked around his one room apartment. Last night he had been too tired to make any sense of his new apartment. But now he saw that it was completely furnished. A bed area and a bathroom was sectioned off to one side with half walls while the kitchen, dinning room, and living room were all taking up space as well covering the rest of the apartment.
The first thing Jason did was check himself.
"Do I have any more hair? Do I have a tail or something?"
Every time a beast is contracted an exchange of inheritance is made between both sides of the contract. One side is dominant and the other is subservient. That is just the way the contract is set up. Laws had been made and individuals were prosecuted if they used any other method to contract a beast.
Most believe that it is this way so that dangerous beasts become safe. Others believe more esoteric things. Sometimes the contract backfires and the beast becomes the master. When this happens the roles are reversed and the human inherits the beast's fantastic powers. However, in one hundred percent of cases this resulted in the human loosing their humanity. So this type of contract was banned.
For James, he didn't have to worry about a backlash. It usually only happened to the very young or the sick. He knew the mouse was not commanding him, so he was alright. On the other hand he should have gained some mouse inheritance of some type. In return his mouse pup would gain even more from him. First, the mouse would have its life span extended. Second, it would gain to some degree a human's ability to think and reason. Third, a pet would gain fantastic powers if it didn't already have them. Powers came in all shapes and sizes, skills, magic, talents, etc. The list of possible powers was theoretically infinite. And finally, fourth, the pet would gain a single ability from the human.
This last 'ability' was something unique to the human and would be catalyzed by the interaction between the first pet and its master. Thereafter every pet that the master bonded would gain the same exact ability. This ability then became the central pillar upon which all the master's pets would bond and grow together.
The first thing he had to do was go to the local awakening center and have his pup reviewed. Also as embarrassing as it was he needed to be reviewed himself. He couldn't figure out what inheritance the mouse had given him. He didn't have a tail or any extra hair as far as he could tell. He had never used any skills or magic, but it was very rare for a beast to pass on any powers. The beast had to be extremely powerful and when a human gained a beast's powers it was usually extremely weak.
Contracts amplified human traits in the beast while conversely minimizing beast traits in the human. This worked out well for the stability of society.
Once again he loaded the mouse into his front pocket and walked outside his apartment complex. Fortunately their were several bus companies that ran twenty-four seven and he was able hop on a bus within a few minutes. The local awakening center was just down the street so as far as he could see almost every bus had a stop within a few blocks on the center. Most buses stopped right at the corner.
It wasn't too much later when he walked through the doors of the awakening center.
"Welcome to our Awakening Center!"
A welcoming voice rang out when he walked through the doors. It was a recording, but he always felt a little more upbeat whenever he heard these sorts of things.
All awakening centers were the same, so he turned left and walked down a short hall where he was greeted again. This time it was a real person.
"Welcome, have you come to review your pet? My name is Phil."
"Yes, ... , and I need a review as well..."
James confirmed and then hesitantly asked for some help for himself, too.
The lab attendant had already started moving, but then looked back confused.
"You need a review, too? Young man, there are many hospitals in the area, we don't do that ..."
James jumped in quickly,
"No, no, it is just that this is my first pet and well, I can't tell what inheritance I have."
"You can't tell?"
The man asked confused.
"No, I can't tell."
Ashamed, James looked down.
But after confirming his question the man suddenly changed his attitude.
"Sorry, it is pretty rare, but it happens sometimes. Come on, I will fix you up, no problem."
Phil said after making a guess.
Heartened Jason stood up a little straighter when he heard this uncle's response.
Together they went into the examine room and at the uncle's gesture James put his mouse pup on the table and scanned his information into the computer to the side.
"Alright, that's it. Hold on a second while I work."
Then the man confirmed that everything was ready and then proceeded to review Wilbur. Occasionally he looked up at James, but for the most part he focused on the baby mouse. He was so gentle in his ministrations that the pup never woke up. Even as he turned, poked, and prodded.
This was a skill that the man had, probably learned in school or the ability he shared with his pets. Because the powers and abilities gained through contracted pets were fantastical in nature machines could only make predictions or guesses. Instead an individual who generally had to study for years would personally review a new pet to determine what traits, powers, and what their ability was.
After about twenty minutes the uncle wiped his brow,
"Fuu, this was a hard one. Okay, I am done. Wrap him up again and then come sit over here. Let's talk."
Carefully James picked up Wilbur and wrapping him back up in a cloth he put the nuzzling pup back in his front pocket.
A serious atmosphere settled as James sat down across from the inspector.
"Do you need me to do anything?"
James was a little confused, he had asked for a review as well.
"Oh, I did you already, no worries, you have enhanced senses. Mostly hearing. Its very slight, which is why you didn't notice."
This uncle assuaged his feelings and answered the question that had been bugging him.
"As for Wilbur, it looks like this is a pretty open and shut case. Your mouse pup has absolutely nothing wrong with him physically, emotionally, psychically, or spiritually. He is as healthy as can be. Sort of what you might expect from a mouse."
The inspector said nonchalant and then moved to get up.
"Wait, what about his bloodline, his powers, and his ability?"
James had his heart in his throat. This might be a normal day for this uncle, but for him it was the start of his new life.
"Oh, it is all in the report. You can print it up at the front desk on your way out. But, I took extra time to look since this is pretty rare." He paused for a moment and then went on, "Your Wilbur has no bloodline, no powers, and as for his ability it is a slightly increased fertility. Okay, got to go. Come back anytime!"
Quickly, the uncle stood up and walked back to his post just outside the door. It was as if he didn't want to be around to see how James would react.
Instead of showing his emotions, however, James closed his eyes and imagined his Mother's goldfish swimming serenely in her bowl. This calmed him down and without wasting any time he stood up himself and left the awakening center.
Instead of taking the bus back he walked back. It took him two hours, but he needed the time to think. He had already known that his life was over, at least how he had imagined it in the past. But now he was at a new low. Before Wilbur's review he had half hoped that Wilbur would have some type of bloodline, power, or that the ability would be something good. So many jobs these days were dependent on the fantastic. Why employ someone to farm the old fashioned way when you could hire a cultivator who could fill an entire pocket space with crops and grow them within a few weeks instead of a year.
'Well, it looks like it is going to be working for SPAM for us, little guy.'
James put his hand over his heart where Wilbur was sleeping.
Fertility as an ability? For a mouse? Was it was a joke?