In a class filled with dozens of students, many of whom were sleeping, a male teacher continued teaching despite their indifferent attitudes. Unbothered, he carried on with his lesson. After a while, he closed the book with a loud bang, startling most of the students awake. He then pointed at a white-haired student closest to him.

"Tell me how the human race was able to escape slavery from the Beast race 10,000 years ago," he demanded.

The student stood there dumbly, clearly clueless about the answer. The teacher sighed and pointed at another student.

The boy stood calmly and answered, "10,000 years ago, the human race had always been under the beast race as slaves and food. That was until a team of elites secretly forged a path to tame beasts to fight back against the beast race. They took their chance when the last two surviving Emperor beasts fought each other to near-death. At that point, the elites, who had been secretly cultivating, seized the opportunity and used their tamed beasts to finish off the Emperor beasts. This led to the Salvation War, where humans fought back with their tamed beasts for a place in the mainland."

After finishing his statement, the boy sat back down.

The teacher nodded in satisfaction. "I know that this class looks very boring to you all, but it was made a compulsory course because, with history, you can better advance in your cultivation journey. and not make mistake our ancestors made." He gave a final glance at the first student before leaving the classroom.

All the students hurriedly packed their things and left. The student who had failed to answer the question stormed toward the one who had answered it.

"Arthur, what am I going to do to you? You embarrassed me today!" he growled.

Arthur looked up at him with his pearl-like eyes, unflinching as the boys approached him.

"I did nothing wrong, Cain."

Cain glared at Arthur, frustrated by his unyielding nature. Arthur had been admitted to Denlack High School just like everyone else, but his petite figure made him a frequent target for bullies, especially Cain. However, Arthur's impressive martial arts talent quickly turned the tables, forcing Cain to gather several allies to intimidate him.

The memory of a past beating Arthur had given him in their first year still haunted Cain. Now, as third-years, he doubted his ability to take Arthur on, even with help.

After a tense standoff, Cain huffed and left with his friends, not wanting to create a scene.

Arthur left the classroom and headed toward the school gate, where he met Lydia. She was one of the most beautiful girls in the school—if not the most beautiful—and shared Arthur's fierce personality. They were both from the same orphanage, and their close relationship often drew unwanted trouble. Lydia had a reputation for fighting back against anyone who tried to bully Arthur, earning her the nickname "Demon Queen."

Lydia smiled at him. "Arthur, how was your day?"

"It was fine. Just the usual boring history stuff."

"Are you excited about today?"

Arthur's smile widened. In this world, everyone was a beast master and could contract their first beasts at age 16. Arthur and Lydia, having recently celebrated their birthdays, were eager to buy beast eggs to awaken their first beasts.

Lydia grabbed Arthur's hand and pulled him along through the bustling streets. They quickly arrived at a nearby beast market, where people walked around with small beasts. City regulations prohibited large beasts on the streets, so most were either shrunk or stored in their owners' beast spaces.

After wandering the market, they found a merchant selling beast eggs.

"Good afternoon, sir. How's your day?" Lydia greeted with a smile.

The merchant returned her smile. "Good afternoon, young lady. What brings you and your little boyfriend here today?"

Lydia and Arthur both blushed. "Sir, we aren't together!" Lydia protested, but the man grinned even wider.

Arthur cleared his throat, eager to change the subject. "Sir, we came to buy beast eggs for our first contracts. Your prices seem fair, and we'd like to look around for suitable eggs."

The merchant chuckled. "Of course! Come right in. Let me introduce you to the little cuties."

Arthur and Lydia followed him into the shop, marveling at the shelves filled with beast eggs of various species and ranks.

"What lineage of beasts would you like?" the merchant asked.

Lydia replied quickly, "I want a beast egg from the Cat lineage, and Arthur would like one from the Avian lineage."

The merchant led Lydia to a section with larger eggs. "These are from the Cat lineage. The eggs are labeled for easy identification," he said, handing her a tablet. "This contains detailed information about each egg."

He then turned to Arthur. "While your friend looks around, let me show you the Avian eggs."

Reluctantly, Arthur followed the merchant to another room. Like Lydia, he was given a tablet to browse through the egg details.

Arthur scanned the shelves until he found the fire-based Avian section. Though there were hundreds of options, he filtered his search to single-element fire affinity beasts. This narrowed the list to about a dozen.

Arthur's gaze landed on one entry: [Mutated Flaming Bird].

It caught his interest as it had a very high fire affinity, exactly what he was looking for. However, its description warned of instability, meaning the taming ritual could fail. He hesitated, knowing the risks. If the ritual failed, the egg—and all his savings—would be lost.

After some contemplation, he decided to take the egg to the inspection room for a scan.

The scanner displayed the results:

[Race: Mutated Flaming Bird]

[Affinity: Fire (80%)]

[Stage: Mortal]

[State: Unstable]

[Warning: This egg is unstable and might produce undesired effects if the taming ritual fails.]

Arthur frowned. This was perfect for his needs, but the risk was high. Before he could decide, the scanner unexpectedly started another scan.

[Race: Mutated Flaming Bird]

[Affinity: Fire (84%)]

[Stage: Mortal]

[State: Unstable]

[Warning: This egg is becoming increasingly unstable and might produce very undesired effects if the taming ritual fails.]

The merchant entered the room, noticing the situation. "Now, boy, this egg will die in a few minutes unless you make a decision. Contract it or choose another—you decide."