"Veil Mortis!" Principal O'Marr boomer thunderously to the crowd. He was at his high point. After showing off to the crowd for several hours without stop, his prize Moonlight Howling Wolf was, well, howling.
Practically nonstop, the two of them were having the time of their lives. Veil rolled his eyes as he walked up to the center of the stage.
To add to the fun, Veil moved his hand over the top of the ball as if he was performing magic… Right before he put both hands on it in a dramatic and serious fashion.
The Stone of Hrmm lit up. Gray as all of the others, but there were flickers of other colors within. Not caring much as he had no plans to be a combat master, Veil threw his hand to the crowd and walked off the stage.
"Unique Talent!" O'Marr boomed.
Veil paused. As the glyph above his head rose, he smiled. Only one person knew the name of his talent- himself.
[Talent: Chaos Reversal]
The Stone used higher tech than humans. After awakening them, they imprinted the ability upon them and showed a glyph marking their traits.
However, human tech was advanced enough to capture photos of the glyphs and cross-reference them with other glyphs of former students.
While it was nice to hide from big brother, few truly ever got a chance. For Veil, he at least had some time before people figured him out. But then again, after seeing the gray light, nobody really cared.
Now awakened, Veil walked out the door. He had been scrimping, and he was finally awakened- he could contract a beast. With his debts nearly paid, he had a little pocket money to buy something that could benefit his shop.
While he could contract a beast, he had little need. His shop was more important.
He walked out the door towards the south side of town. In an abandoned hangar, there was a pseudo-black market. Not truly a black market, per se- but more of a community garage sale.
Of course, some rare and illegal items passed through. But it was rare enough that the authorities turned a blind eye.
Veil had saved 500 Maplecoins (MC). He planned to buy a pair of quick-breeding herbivores, but decided to look around first.
He stopped by several booths, but they had little to offer.
Continuing on the alley, he saw several booths with feed animals such as rats, mice, pigeons, and ants. He had been considering getting into similar business. However, the price was fairly low, and he wouldn't be able to make much off of it.
A friendly face smiled at him. Old Skragg, the homeless purveyor, had been looking through garbage the world over.
Dressed in his typical brown cloak of rags, he managed to show up now and then with his various items. While most of them were pointless, he sometimes had rare stock.
"Check 'em out, boy, I've got nothing good today. Tell ya what, have one free item on the house- for yer sister."
Most men would have given him the side eye, but Veil knew him well. Old Skragg had no evil inclinations.
"Sure, let me see what I can find for her." The fabric mat denoting his stall had several items. Some old pieces of tech, some beast parts, containers, skill books, and random kitchen utensils.
Rummaging through one of the piles, Veil saw something out of the corner of his eye. A triangle within a triangle within a triangle, with the symbol denoting his family tree.
Pulling out the item, it appeared to be a cooking pot. "I'll take this!" He offered, smiling. "How much for that plant?"
"20 MC!" Old Skagg replied. "I may not know my stuff, but I've never seen it before."
"Deal." Shaking his hand, Veil smiled and made the trade. The plant was fairly common- a ginseng. However, the berries were purple instead of red.
While some mutations are strong and helpful, others were not. But in this age of Beast Taming, mutations are one of the quickest ways to make money. You can sell mutated beasts quickly for a profit, or you can breed them for a time to maximize the returns.
As for this one, it depended on the mutation. Only time would tell.