First Evolution
Osho woke up around 7 pm and yawned. He stretched a bit before doing a light training regimen for thirty minutes. He took a shower afterward and did the basics.
That's when he finally checked his phone and sighed with exasperation. As he thought, he had thirty messages from Ellie, most of which were about how he couldn't simply say "thanks" after being sent so much money, and then slowly realizing that he had no intention of responding, and ultimately giving up with a less than appropriate string of curses at him.
'She's as sweet as a kitten, but I swear she's a keyboard warrior.' He shook his head and sent another text.
[I went to sleep early. Seriously, thank you. It means a lot.] Almost immediately after he sent the text, he saw that Ellie was typing.
[... That's better.] That's all she said.
Osho just shrugged and pocketed his phone before turning his attention to the egg on his desk.
"Let's got it over with, I suppose." He mumbled. He put the egg inside a duffel bag and made sure it was adequately protected.
He then changed into the best clothes he had and set out with the duffel bag, once more calling a taxi to help him get to his destination.
Soon enough, a taxi appeared, and he was on his way.
Osho took in the sights of the city and sighed. One would expect to see flying beasts here and there as they were a thing, and people had them. However, there were strict protocols in place that prevented any beasts with the ability to leave the ground from flying higher than ten meters. The reason was that such things were distracting and dangerous. There was more to it than that, but Osho couldn't be bothered to remember the details.
Right now, he is focused on accomplishing his task. As for where he was going?
"We are here, sir." The driver said lightly, and Osho nodded, paid the driver, and stepped out.
The moment he did, Osho felt like he'd entered another world... again.
As opposed to the part of town he lived in, which was dirty, lacking security, and overall just a poor environment, this place was neat and tidy. There were no cracks in the road, and the pavement was free of scraps and dirt. The people that moved around were noticeably cleaner and well-to-do. In short, this was the more prosperous part of the city, as opposed to where he lived.
Even while putting on his best clothes, Osho stuck out like a sore thumb, so it was odd that he attracted a few stares. He ignored it, though, and exhaled.
He quietly slipped his hand into his duffle bag and touched his egg, and the instant he did so, his vision changed.
Within his line of sight, several strange lines appeared in the air. Each line defied gravity and was a translucent grey color, and they had shapes reminiscent of ribbons. Moreover, they were as intangible as they were translucent as each line passed through objects and people.
Not to mention, no one else was capable of seeing these lines besides Osho, and when he followed them, he noticed that they started from the egg that was in the duffle bag and stretched from it towards another direction.
As for where they went, Osho had an idea.
Without wasting any time, he followed the lines for a few minutes, and soon, he found himself in front of a large building.
It had a sign that read "Beast Emporium," and it was an extravagant building. It was large with wide windows that allowed one to see the many goods inside.
Osho felt a bit intimidated, but he didn't let it get to him as he stepped inside, and immediately, he was hit with a variety of smells from different herbs here and there.
"Good day sir, how may we help you today?" A man wearing a suit came up to Osho and said respectfully, not an ounce of disdain in his tone despite Osho's appearance.
Osho just nodded at him.
"I'm here to pick out a few things. I'm not sure what they are called, but I know what they look like." Hearing this, the man tilted his head slightly before nodding.
"Hm, that can be arranged, though, we will have to move around for a bit before we can find what you are looking for. Do you perhaps have the pictures?" He inquired, but Osho shook his head.
"Follow me." He said simply and started to follow one of the ribbons that was closest to him. The man was surprised but decided to say nothing and simply followed Osho.
Osho was glad that the man didn't cause any issues for him. He was prepared for more than a few obstacles today, but so far, things had been smooth.
He followed the line until he reached a set of display cases with various items inside of them, and his attention was immediately drawn by a silver-grey rock. Below, it was a sign that read "Sky-Dancing Rock."
"This is one of them," Osho said immediately as the invisible ribbon directly connected to the rock.
Sensing his lack of hesitation, the man was sure Osho wasn't trying to lie or anything of the sort, so he simply nodded and opened the display case to take the rock out.
What followed was Osho following the lines to collect other items with the employee following him quietly.
The man was still a bit skeptical about Osho, but the boy moved with such purpose and surety that he gradually became sure that Osho simply didn't know the names of the items he was looking for.
That in itself was strange, and the employee then had a slight suspicion that Osho wanted to rob the place. However, he simply brought everything to the counter and waited for his total.
The employee watched the cashier calculate everything and watched Osho pay, and then everything he bought was carried into a special delivery vehicle that was exceptionally durable.
Watching it drive off, the employee couldn't help but think.
'How strange.'
___
Osho didn't know that if he had expressed even the slightest indication of causing trouble in the store, he would have either died or experienced injuries that would have crippled him.
Instead, he let himself feel excited for what was to come.
Due to the high-end vehicle that was transporting his goods, he unsurprisingly drew attention to himself, especially since this was the less privileged part of the city.
He didn't care, though, and simply directed the people carrying the goods towards his apartment.
By now, one would be wondering where most of the beasts were. After all, everyone had tamed a beast, so how come they hadn't been described thus far?
Essentially, one of the most basic techniques beast tamers had was the Beast Space technique. This allowed owners to put their beasts in a separate space for a certain period. The period was set because the beast would still need to come out and eat and do other things. But it was convenient enough, and people opted to keep their beasts inside their Beast Spaces unless they needed to bring them out.
This was of no consequence to Osho, though, as the moment everything had been set before him, he locked his apartment door and exhaled.
He calmly set down the duffle bag containing the egg and placed all the items he'd bought on the ground, and went to the kitchen to get a few things.
He quickly returned with a few items. A small Mortar and Pestle, a decent-sized bowl half filled with water and a sieve.
He set the items down and looked at the three items before him. Besides the Sky-Dancing Rock, there was also a vial of a grey liquid, the size of his finger called Cloud Tears and a small bottle containing sky-blue dust called Sky's Edge
Osho couldn't help but sigh. All these items seemed small, yet they cost him about 35,000 credits. He used the remaining 5,000 to buy food for the beast that would emerge from the egg.
Just like that, Osho had spent all the money Ellie had given him, which stung a bit, but it was money well spent.
Now that he was looking at all the things before him, his ability acted up again as it somehow detected that he had acquired everything he needed.
He didn't know how it did this, but whenever he got the materials needed, the information on how to use them would be miraculously transmitted into his brain. As for how he experimented to figure this out, it took a lot of persuading and pestering on his part, but he managed to make his teacher indulge him. That's why he knew how it worked.
'Enough, random thoughts, let's get to business.' With that settled, he opened the vial and poured it into the bowl of water, causing it to diffuse and turn the water a soft silver-grey color.
After that, he opened the small bottle and poured exactly half of the dust into the water.
Without bothering to look at the following reaction, he carried the Pestle and started to hit the rock. It was surprisingly easy to break, and soon, Osho had ground it down to a fine powder.
He then poured the other half of the Sky's Edge powder into the powder and mixed it a bit before pouring everything into the water.
When he did this, he was a bit startled when his apartment suddenly became windy as the water started to spin. It wasn't a dangerous amount of wind, enough to flip a few books at best, but it was definitely startling.
When the wind died down, Osho took a moment to gather himself, and when he did, he looked into the bowl, and his eyes widened.
The mixture looked... like the sky.
It had turned a light blue color, with specks of grey here and there that looked like clouds. Osho couldn't help but marvel at the sight.
He admired it for a few more moments before remembering his original task. He brought the egg out of the duffle bag and gently placed it inside, making sure to not have the mixture touch him. His ability said nothing about him touching it, so he didn't feel inclined to do so.
After that, his ability went silent, so he simply shrugged and guessed that the process was going to take time. As such, he carried everything else he used and washed what needed to be washed. Then he cleaned up the places the wind scattered, then settled on his bed, and checked his phone. Unsurprisingly, there were a few messages from Ellie.
[Hey, have you hatched your beast?]
[You're spending the money I gave you well right? You better not be squandering it.]
[Oh my- WHY DO YOU TAKE SO LONG TO RESPOND TO TEXT?! I SEND A TEXT EXPECTING A REPLY IN A FEW MINUTES! NOT SEVERAL BUSINESS DAYS!]
[I swear I'm better off just sending a messenger bird or something.]
[Osho answer meeeeee! I wanna gloat.] Seeing the barrage of texts, Osho couldn't help but feel a bit bad. His inability to respond to texts quickly was a bit of an issue, but he was simply busy, so he couldn't reply.
[Sorry, I was doing stuff related to my beasts. Running a few errands basically.] He sent the text, and a minute later, a reply came back.
[You have an excuse for everything! Haven't you heard that you shouldn't keep a lady waiting? (￣^￣)] Osho blinked and sent a reply.
[But I was actually busy, though.] When he sent the reply, it said Ellie was typing for a while, then it suddenly stopped, then it said she was typing again for a shorter period and the text came in.
[Dense mf.] Osho's lip twitched, but he didn't complain as he knew that he was dense. Moreover, something told him that Ellie had spared him of a less-than-ladylike from something a lot worse than simply being called dense, so he left it.
The two of them continued to chat for a while, but that's when Osho remembered he hadn't had breakfast.
As such, he slowly let her know that he was ending the conversation, and she didn't complain much, so soon, their chat came to an end.