“What a boring day.”

Speaking to no one, I find myself sitting on a bench near a fountain. All my other classes are useless too, I learned all this stuff from my dad. Not Simon, but my biological dad.

The system the gods gave us categorize everything into ranks, so naturally, humans started categorizing everything into ranks too. F-rank humans are considered crippled. Mana cannot flow through them properly, when they reach a certain level they will reach a plateau of power, not getting any stronger no matter the means used. Usually, you’re ranked by your skills and levels. Your class is a major factor but as all things do, they can evolve. The average stats for F-ranks, at their bottleneck, is still triple mine. The average for strong E-ranks is quadruple the F-ranks. I have to start working harder.

All the general education studies from now will be skipped. I don't need them.

The last class is the Training Tamers Course, I don't know what to expect from that name but since I’m technically a tamer, I should stick with it.

“Hey, Ellis!”

I know that voice, I look over at my friend Charlie. He flashed his signature smile and comes over to me. Charlie is as tall as I am, standing at 6 feet tall, however, he is significantly skinnier than me. He has hair darker than oil, slicked back with gel. If I remember correctly, the class he awakened was [Spokesman]. His ‘signature smile’ is a passive skill he has that allows others to feel at ease when he is around, it never worked on me.

“So Ellis, where have you been, man? I’ve been trying to reach you over the summer.”

What Charlie’s been trying to do over the summer was get me to invest in some new digital currency. It’s always a scam, but Charlie isn’t to blame. His father is a Grade-A Asshole, tricking his son into another one of his schemes.

“I’m not going to buy Charlie-Coin.” I try to gauge his reaction to my blunt dismissal.

“What? I’m not here for that, when I heard rumors of a student who beat up Arlug and broke his nose with a rock, I thought of you.” Charlie said with genuine concern.

“Why would that make you think of me?”

“Because people are saying that the owner of the rock called it their tamed beast, and I’ll be damned if there is another person that has a pet rock as their tamed beast.”

“I need to head to my next class, Charlie.” His minor slight at Flash Gordon miffed me a bit.

Charlie holds me back with one arm.

“I was just worried, dude. I’ll get out of your hair.” He lets go.

“I’ll talk to you later.”

I watch my friend walk away. Shit. Maybe ignoring him for a few months was the wrong call. I'll make it up to him somehow. If I get spare cash, I’ll invest it into the next scam he comes across on.

~

I’m the last person to reach the Tamer Course. Blame my low luck, I went to the wrong area. The Tamer Course is being held in a field next to an arena where the school holds its tournaments. I see arena gear laying off to the side in crates and racks. My classmates have spread apart, each of them catering to a beast. I see many low-ranked beasts and their masters.

A wolf with a single long horn stares at me as I walk past it and their tamer. Next to them is a girl holding a hamster covered in green reptile scales. [Horned Wolf] and [Scaled Hamster] huh, both are E-rank creatures, but they seem to have been leveled up quite a bit.

The majority of the students are trying to tempt beasts that are being held in cages, probably not tamed yet. One student is even going as far as to bribe a monkey beast with their lunch money.

I manage to find the instructor quite easily, He sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the students.

This is the first time I've seen an orc, I’ve always heard that they were a warrior race that degraded into savagery. The instructor is a tall 7 ½ feet tall with dark green skin. His long hair is tied into a ponytail that hangs down to his shoulder blades. He is wearing shorts and sandals and a vest that is made of leather. A set of large keys hang from his belt, and a coiled whip hangs on the opposite side.

“You’re late.”

“I wa-”

“Don't care.”

Not caring about his blunt dismissal, I ask a question to my instructor.

“What's with all the cages?”

“Test. If you can tame the beast, you can keep the beast.” He gestures to the many cages and the students in front of them, trying to get the beasts willing to accept them as their masters.

“I already have a tamed beast, so do I pass?”

He takes a moment to look at me, then he starts to look at Flash Gordon when he realizes that's what I meant by a tamed beast.

“Tame one that are in the cages.”

That was his final verdict on the matter. I looked through the cages there are few wolf pups, they would be easiest to tame but knowing how dogs don't like me, it will be only time before they turn on me. There are other beasts, but for one reason or another, they are too troublesome to tame.

A [Feather Boa] catches my eye, an emerald snake with a pretty plumage of feathers, its body is about 2 feet long. They are rare since their natural habitat is quite far away. They live in jungles with high canopies and their main diet are songbirds and their eggs. Not only that but they are usually killed for their plumage since the high-quality feathers go for a lot of money.

The snake lazily flickers its tongue as it stares down at the students crowding its cage. Another reason the Feathered Boa is rare is that they don't have skills, getting caught by any other beasts in the jungle would be a death sentence for them. Some tamers have caught the snakes and were disappointed when all their hard work tracking down this Feather Boa went to waste because the snakes were deemed useless.

I really want this snake, its bearing is like that of a king or queen. Its mocking eyes hide no secrets, it believes that it's better than everyone here. Wondering if I'm the next human to offer it a meal, begging this reptile to show signs of affection and approval. It acts like it's not the lowest on the snake totem pole, stuck in a cage for low-level humans to gawk at. I really want this [Feather Boa] to be mine.

“Who’s winning?”

A ginger student snuck up on me, on his shoulder is a fat lizard with facial hair made of flames, slowly flickering.

“Sorry, what do you mean?”

“I thought you were having a staring contest with the Feather Boa.”

“Snakes don't have eyelids, having a staring contest with one would be dumb of me.”

“Huh, I didn't know that,” He reaches his hand out. “I’m Jerry and this is my Bearded Dragon, what's your name.”

“Dragons have wings, at most that is a Drake, my name is Ellis and this is Flash Gordon.”

Due to Flash Gordon's claustrophobia, he can't stay in my bag and has to be carried everywhere. He’s a softy.

“Hello, Flash Gordon, this is Lizzie. She doesn't have her wings yet, but I'm sure they’ll come in soon!”

This is the second person who has ever greeted Flash Gordon, me being the first. I shake his outstretched hand.

“So, what's your level, Ellis?” he looks at me expectantly.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Teach said that anyone who tries to tame the feathered boa should be around level 25 before trying, and if no one tames it, then the snake will be stored for next year’s new tamers.”

“When does the test end?” a single drop of sweat runs down my back, It's hot out, I wouldn't be nervous or anything.

“The end of the week didn't you listen to him at the beginning of class. The person who tames the highest-ranking creature during this week will get a prize, it's a contest that our grade depends on”

Alright, I just have to get twenty-five times stronger before the end of the week to subjugate this snake. It will be an easy task if I can use one of the dimensional pockets (fractures) that the school owns. The Institute was given slivers of the old world that collided with ours, these small environments are fragments of what didn't make it to Iona, our planet.

“Hey Jerry, do you know how I can get into a fragment for some exp?”

“I mean, the school provides some, but they are not open for the students yet.”

Fuck, there goes that plan.

“My family has a fragment you can use, it's pretty low level. It sucks since I have to kill some monsters in there every once in a while or the fragment will collapse. It’s a chore to do.”

I think Jerry might be a saint.

“Why are you willing to help me, we just met?” I question Jerry’s intentions.

“You seem pretty knowledgeable about monsters and beasts, so I wanted to use you to help me with any monster quizzes in the future. It also doesn't hurt to start a friendship on an act of goodwill.”

Yup, he's a saint, or he knows exactly how to manipulate me.

“Can you text me a time and an address for me to visit your family's fragment?”

“Sure, just give me your phone number.”

I pull my phone from my pocket.

“What is that thing?”

“It's my phone.”

“Why is it shaped like that?”

“It flips open, it's portable.”

“All phones are portable, are those buttons? The screen is so small, how do you see anything?”

“I have perfect eyesight.”

After sharing numbers, I ditch the rest of the class. I need to go prepare for my first raid.