The mortal child slammed the door open as he hopped inside the room, laughing wildly. His high-pitched voice carried a sense of innocence that could only be found in the voices of innocent, sheltered children. “I Levelled up!” He laughed. “I am finally Level 10!”

Two heads turned in the direction of the boy as his parents paid attention to their only child. The green-clad woman laughed as she walked up to the boy and scooped him up in her arms. And although the moustached man remained seated, his lips twitched into a soft but conflicted smile.

“I had been wondering about this for a little while now.” The woman ruffled the son's hair with a bright smile. “It had been quite overdue.”

“You should be able to choose your first Spell now, shouldn’t you?” The deep voice of the [Ship Captain] questioned and the [Monster tamer] brought her child to where she had been sitting with her husband previously.

“It should still be a Skill that he would receive even now; walks as he does on my path.” The woman corrected with a smile. “Spells won’t appear until the second Tier.”

“Hmm.” The man nodded at his wife and then smiled encouragingly at his son. “Go on then. What are you waiting for?”

“Yes!” The mortal child announced as he scrunched his little nose and summoned his Status.

“You will not have any choice for this selection.” The woman informed her son as she straightened the wrinkles in the dress with a swipe of hands and sat down. “Just choose the Skill, [Pact]. You can’t walk the path of [Monster Tamer] without it.”

The boy nodded and read the description of the Skill before choosing it.

Ting.

[Allows the user to enter a pact with an unhatched egg or a willing monster. The user offers safety and growth to the monster while the monster offers obedience enforced by the user's Level. The number of pacts available: [Skill Level]/10. Rounded up. Cost: none.]

“Mother! Mother!” The child hopped in glee. He could finally have his own monster! “When will I get my first monster? What will it be? Is it big? Is it powerful? Tell me!”

The woman laughed and the man smothered a smile. “Why are you acting like you don’t already have your own monster?” The raised an eyebrow as her lips twitched into a smile and the child’s brows furrowed. His mouth formed an o as the boy pointed a finger at himself, in confusion. “…I do?”

“Of course.” The [Monster Tamer] bopped the boy on the nose with a finger and the boy blinked. “The Malfae that you have been practising with.” Her son's mouth widened and then his entire face twisted as his nose flared, cheeks puffed up, forehead scrunched and eyes narrowed. “No!” He declared as he crossed his arms. “I don’t want that one. It is ugly. It is small. And it is useless!”

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The woman laughed and picked the boy up before seating him in her lap. “Is that so?”

“Yes!” The boy empathetically replied. “Did you see how long it took to kill that lizard? And that starfish? Singh Raj could have killed them with a single claw swipe! That monster is useless!”

“Oh really?” The moustached man then addressed the boy and the boy jumped out of his mother’s lap to seat himself in his fathers. “Father! You tell mother. I don’t want that useless monster!” The boy whined petulantly and the man chuckled.

“Well, Suryaakaruna.” The man’s deep voice was slow and soft. “Singh Raj is a fourth-Tier monster. While that Malfae is just a second- Tier monster.”

“I don’t care!” The child puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms once again. “And it’s ugly!”

“That’s the main reason, isn’t it?” The woman asked an eyebrow raised at the boy.

“No!” The boy quickly replied. Perhaps, a bit too quickly. “It is not!”

The woman sighed and shifted the boy from her husband’s lap into her own. But the boy squirmed and wiggled to free himself from his mother’s grasp. Her grasp, however, was solid and the child could only whine. She lightly bopped her son’s head with her knuckles and the boy sagged with a pout. “What if I make sure it evolves into a pretty little thing? How about then?”

The mortal child paused to think and his brows furrowed in thought. “It would still be weak.”

“It will grow stronger if you take good care of it.” The man assuaged in his deep voice.

“Your father is right, Surya.” The woman patted her son’s hair. “Monsters grow their entire life. It will grow stronger as you grow up.” The child’s face scrunched in thought before he looked away and asked in a small voice. “…do you promise to make it pretty?”

“Of course.” The woman closed her eyes and pretended to nod sagely. “I will make it extremely pretty.”

“It’s alright then, I guess.”

The [Ship Captain] smiled at the child while the woman smothered her laugh.

“When have you planned for the monster to be tamed?” The moustached man asked as shifted his attention from his son to his wife.

“Not for some time.” The woman answered with a sigh. “That monster is not yet desperate enough to sell its freedom.”

The man’s brows furrowed in thought. “What are waiting for?”

“I am waiting for it to reach its deathbed.” The woman let go of her son and swiped her hands at the wrinkled fabric of her dress. “It would only accept Surya as its Master when it has no other hope.”

The child frowned as he asked. “Why is that?”

“Because that is a second-Tier monster and you are merely Level 10.” The woman answered. “You can enforce obedience on all the Tier 0 monsters and the Tier 1 monsters up to Level 40. But you cannot do the same to this monster. It is a bit above your capability for now.”

The child scowled. “Then how am I supposed to order it around?”

“That is what your mother is here for.” The man said softly in his deep voice. “Why do you think your mother punishes that creature so regularly?” The mortal child’s eyes widened and his mouth seemed to form a circle as he tried to grasp the implications of what his father had just said.

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-