(Zrudread University- Biology Department)
(Forest Lord Kingdom Park)
The red sun shone brightly in the sky as Sophie checked the map on her communicator carefully and headed to her next class.
Pilot training had just ended, and the girls were now headed to the different courses required by their specializations.
Sophie was taking a double major in poison cultivation and combat beast training, so her workload was heavier than her friends with maybe the exception of poor Astrid.
Astrid had messaged each girl repeatedly about the suffering she was enduring having been locked up in a mage tower and forced to study.
The pet training class was to be held in the Forest Lord Kingdom Park which was a nice change of pace from the traditional classroom setting.
Sophie had always felt a strong connection to nature and loved to be surrounded by wildflowers and trees.
This connection had only gotten stronger when her body had transformed but now, she preferred walking through the shadowy areas on the forest floor.
It was only a pity that the air smelled quite foul from the animal dung excreted from the larger combat beast pets in the enclosures.
Naturally, there were robots that would clean the pens regularly, but it still did not erase the faint traces of the odours that caused Sophie's nose to wrinkle.
Sophie was not travelling by herself as she had headed back to the dorms after the pilot class ended to pick up her partner for the training session.
Squeak! Squeak!
"Come on Moon… don't ignore me," Sophie pouted as she gave her little bat a few pats on his head.
Moon was now the size of her palm and his fur became a lighter shade of blue while his long ears remained white.
He was now a few months old and it would not be long before he could handle some light training exercises to control his special abilities.
Moon was fully capable of using his ability Frozen Domain whenever his emotional mood fluctuated but he had yet to use the iconic ability of the bat combat beast pets which was echolocation.
Squeak! Squeak!
Moon bared his tiny fangs and buried himself in Sophie's hair as the temperature around his body started to drop.
For some reason ever since Cleo and her started to live together, Moon had become naughtier and naughtier.
He would often stare at the princess who stole his mommy with a fierce glint in his eyes which went unnoticed.
Sophie was utterly bewildered as she could not understand what had brought on these changes in her once relatively obedient pet.
This was to be expected as the hybrid girl had underestimated how sharp the hearing of a frostwing bat was when it came to noises in its immediate surroundings.
Although one would have to be deaf not to hear the loud screams of pleasure coming from the bedroom 'study sessions' that were now occurring on a regular basis.
Really, the only reason for breaks was when Cleo's body could not longer handle such intense physical exercise.
Moon was determined to win back his mommy's affection by monopolising her full attention at all times.
The first step of his master plan was to ignore his mommy and make her worried about him. Then for the next step…. well he had not thought so far ahead.
Anyways that wasn't a problem!
It was time for the first step of his plan!
No matter what action his mommy took…. he would not respond.
"Hmm…. how about a snack?" Sophie reached into her storage bag and pulled out a small treat.
Chomp!
Moon's determination vanished just as quickly as it had formed as the bat hungrily stole the treat from Sophie's hand and munched down with happiness.
Okay maybe the plan would start from tomorrow.
Sophie could not hear the thoughts of her pet through the blood bond just yet, but she could see the look of joy on his face.
"That's a cute pet you have," Sophie turned around to see a Servie boy smiling at her while fluttering his wings in the air.
"Thank you!" Sophie replied with a friendly grin.
The Servie boy must be part of the regular class as he was not wearing a uniform but rather a plain white dress that covered his body with two slits on the back for his wings.
Sophie thought it looked a bit strange, but it would be pretty impolite to inquire about his choice of clothes, so she just held back her curiosity.
"Are you a freshman as well?" she asked.
"Yep! I want to one day be a beast tide controller," the boy declared proudly.
"Impressive goal," Sophie whistled in admiration.
Cultivators were generally put into different groupings such as sword, poison, or medicine but there were numerous subtypes within each group.
There were sword cultivators who preferred rapiers over broadswords. The fighting style used for each weapon would naturally be completely different.
Another example would be poison cultivators, some specialized in creating toxic substances with unique formulas while others used secret techniques to enhance the power of poisons bought on the virtual net.
Ordinary pet trainers would only choose to have one or two combat beasts and spend their time and energy pouring all their resources into them.
It was quite expensive to raise a combat beast pet to a high level so most could not afford raising a personal army of animals.
Beast tide controllers were different. Unlike regular pet trainers, they focused more on quantity rather than quality.
One method was not inherently stronger than the other but certainly at lower cultivation levels, the ability to summon and command multiple allies was an overwhelming advantage.
The requirements for this subtype were very harsh. The minimum requirement was an above average mental force and being able to pass a psychological evaluation.
Beast tide controllers had to split their consciousness and act as the head of a hivemind to often thousands of different animals each with a will of their own.
It was a dangerous profession as many were driven completely mad.
Comments