Fuen walked behind his father, Luen, as they entered with a crowd to browse the cheaper outdoor Beast Core markets.
In plain earth-colored robes, the father-son duo trekked down a busy alleyway in between multiple makeshift tents of propped-up coarse sun-bleached fabric that provided some shade to the merchants displaying their wares. However, The teenager focused not on the shabby canopies. The corner of Fuen’s lips arched up into a smile as his large dark brown eyes darted left and right, gleaming with excitement at the many Beast Cores.
Today, Fuen turned fifteen and was old enough to absorb his first Beast Core and obtain the spirit residing in the core along with its abilities. The first core to be absorbed was important as the spirit and its abilities paved the path to one’s future. With a head of short black hair, Fuen was like an elated curious puppy, unable to sit still and constantly turning his head side to side to see all the colorful cores strewn about on the endless temporary display counters.
Beast Cores came in many colors and clarity, representing their rarity and grade. In the marketplace, Fuen only saw five available colors. Plenty of cores in shades of red littered the counters. The common red-colored cores were dug out from the corpses of the lowest ranking, Stage One or Stage Two Beasts—also known as the Blood Stage Beasts.
Sparkles of yellow and orange cores glittered amongst the red, giving the marketplace a fiery glow. Not as common as the red cores, but the yellow and orange cores were many as well—taken from Stage Three to Stage Six Beasts.
The green and blue cores, however, were not displayed so easily within hand's reach. Stage Seven and Stage Eight Beasts with green cores were on the periphery of evolving into Intermediate Beasts, and blue cores came directly from Intermediate Beasts of Stage Nine and Ten.
Fuen did not have hopes for acquiring the green or blue cores. He knew his family’s financial situation well. As poor farmers of the Ardent Valley, Fuen only wanted a decent Beast Core of the orange color that could help his family. He desired the Beast Spirit of a core that could enhance his physical abilities like his father’s.
Unlike his son, Luen looked around with his light brown eyes at the many cores with worry troubling his heart. Blue cores were beyond the budget of the little amount of silver coins in his pocket. Luen and his wife saved enough for a lower-stage green core for their son, but they did not want their son to continue being a farmer. So they desired a core from a more intelligent beast for their son and hoped for him to join one of the Trade Unions, or if possible, part of the bureaucracy in the inner reaches of Ardent City.
“Fuen,” Luen turned around and said as he called his son.
Not paying attention, as Fuen was enthusiastically looking around at the cores, the teenager bumped head-first into his father’s side and nearly fell over. Influenced by the cores he absorbed, Fuen’s father developed into a tall burly man with wavy black hair. The spindly teenage boy walked straight into and bounced off a boulder of bulging muscle that was his father.
“Oof!” Fuen said, rubbing his forehead. “Sorry, Dad.”
Luen chuckled, recalling his excitement during the first time he searched for his initial beast core and acquired his main Beast Spirit, a Blazing Fire Ox. “Haha! That is okay, son. Bringing you here reminds me of good times. I know you are excited. My goal is to get you a green Beast Core. But let me know immediately if anything resonates with you. If not, I will try to find you the core of the Monkeys of High Mountain.”
Fuen froze. “A green Beast Core? That’s too pricey! It’s fine, Dad. I only want an orange core.”
Luen’s heart ached, knowing his financial circumstances made the boy self-conscious of spending money. “It is fine, Fuen. Your mother and I have long planned and saved for a decent core to give you a better start into adulthood. It will not affect us financially in any way. Let us try to find a merchant from the High Mountain.”
“Wait. Are you serious about those specific cores, Dad? Cores from the Monkeys of High Mountain? The weird ones who live like monks?”
“Yes! You are intelligent like your mother, Fuen. Absorbing a core from sage-like Beasts will help you become a government official!”
Fuen went silent with disbelief, but many questions rambled in his head.
A government official? Me? And intelligent? Should I burst Dad’s bubble? I don’t even come close to the geniuses in the Academy. Maybe I should also tell him that the monkeys are not sages.
However, seeing his father’s wide grin that stretched almost ear to ear, Fuen decided not to burst his father’s bubble. Not completely, anyway.
“Dad, I would like to get a Beast Core of the Earth Ox and not the core of the High Mountain Monkey. I could better help you on the farm that way.”
Luen’s eyes widened. He did not expect his son to want to take up his line of work. All the other children of his fellow farmers desired a city life. Luen was shocked by his son’s wish to continue as a farmer. It paid little, barely giving Luen enough to support his family. His only child did not even get any pocket money. Additionally, he sweated under the sweltering sun and worked through howling rain, even asking his family of three for assistance with the fields to make ends meet. It was a hard life, one he did not want for Fuen.
“Fuen. Thank you. I know, son. I know you want to help your mother and me. However, do not worry about us. Think about yourself and about what you want. There are better opportunities for you in the City.”
Fuen hesitated. He was not opposed to working and living in the city. However, he did not mind farming life either. He just wanted to be with his family. And so, Fuen stuck with his plan for now: obtain a Beast Core that could help him become stronger and help his parents.
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Seeing his son’s resolute face, Luen sighed internally. He knew the look on Fuen's face. An unshakable determination that could not be easily altered cemented within the teenager, and Luen knew he could not fully persuade Fuen otherwise. Only time, and maybe some new experiences, could help change his son’s mind.
“Alright, I know that look. Let us keep going for now and see what the markets have for us today. Hopefully, the other cores will sway that stubborn will of yours, Fuen.”
“Don’t you see, Dad? I’m destined for the Mighty Earth Ox! We are super compatible! If I absorb the core of the Earth Ox, plowing our fields would be no problem!”
Luen deadpan looked at Fuen and walked ahead. His body shivered at the thought of his son absorbing the core of the unyielding Earth Ox. The Earth Ox core would further reinforce his son’s already obstinate personality.
I must find a core of the Monkeys of the High Mountain, or else Fuen will turn into a completely headstrong muscle head!
Fuen quickly followed and continued nagging in an attempt to convince his father as they walked alongside the display of colorful Beast Cores.
“Dad, wait up! There are other benefits from the Mighty Earth Ox, too! Think about it! My skin will become stronger than leather, and I will be as strong as seven grown men!”
Luen’s Blazing Fire Ox was strong but not as strong as the Mighty Earth Ox. However, the thought of his son being stronger than him made him realize Fuen was quickly growing up. Thinking about his scrawny son suddenly hulking in size and bursting through the seams of his clothes made Luen laugh.
Seeing his father lighten up, Fuen added, “With that strength, I can help protect our farm and reduce the protection fees to the guards of the Ardent Mercenary Guilds!”
Luen stopped laughing. There was a reason he was willing to pay the extra fees to hire the guilds for added protection while they worked their fields. The Wild Beasts in the nearby Kune Forest were not to be trifled with, especially by those not trained to fight like Luen and his family. It was part of the father’s reasons for having his son stop being a farmer. The dangers were too many for defenseless crop producers, and that was only from Wild Beasts, let alone the more deadly and catastrophic Demonic Beasts.
However, the coming year, when Fuen turned 16, he would be fully recognized as an adult and could do as he pleased. And against Luen’s wishes, his son wanted to continue being a farmer.
The thought made Luen stop in his tracks, forcing Fuen to abruptly halt behind him. Determined to make Fuen not take the core of the Earth Ox, Luen turned to the closest merchant and asked, “Excuse me, Miss. Do you have a core of the High Mountain Monkeys? Preferably one of the Refined Body Stage.”
Fuen’s jaw dropped. He hurried and pulled his father’s thick muscled arm. “Dad! Can we talk about this!? I don’t want the core of the Monkeys. I’m going to help you and Mom farm!”
Fuen then turned to the lady in an unusually fitted black business suit that differed from the typical robes of the locals and said, “Miss! Please ignore my dad! Do you have the core of the Mighty Earth Ox?”
Luen was not going to let his son say whatever he wanted. “I am your father and also the one ultimately buying your core. You should listen to my advice and try to become an official of Ardent City. I only want the best for you, Fuen.”
“And I’m your son, Dad! You just told me earlier to do what I want! And I want the core of the Earth Ox to help you and Mom with the farm!”
The lady merchant swished her head back and forth between the bickering duo, flicking her light brown hair that was tied in a long ponytail—making it sway along with her head from side to side. She decided to interrupt the two after hearing their conversation.
“Excuse me. I may have a solution that will fulfill both your criteria. Would the two of you like to see it?”
Some of the crowd began to stare, and both Luen and Fuen quieted and stopped arguing. The two looked over at the merchant and nodded their heads. The lady blossomed with a charming smile. Her porcelain skin was further enhanced by shades of soft pink on her dimples, contrasting stunningly against the black color of her business suit. She bent down to a pile of small boxes by her side and picked up a small bronze-colored box.
Walking forward, she opened the box and showed the contents inside to the father and son. Immediately, Luen frowned. Fuen tilted his head, confused at the odd beast cores inside the box. The shapes and colors were most unusual, and unusual in a bad way.
Cores were like gems, coming in many geometric shapes and sizes, and the larger, clearer, and more lustrous intensity, the better. However, the two cores being shown to the father-son duo were generally accepted as the worst.
“Is this a joke?” Luen asked while furrowing his eyebrows.
The lady smiled, answering, “Not at all, good customer. This is my solution to your predicament.”
His voice lowered a chilly octave as Luen responded, “Your solution is to give a deformed and tainted Beast Core for my son to absorb as his foundation? Are you trying to cripple his future!?”
Fuen abruptly cut into their conversation. “We’ll take it! How much is it for the weirdly-shaped black one?”
Luen narrowed his eyes and blasted his son, “What are you even saying, Fuen?! I’m not buying anything from this scammer! We’re leaving. Now!”
Grabbing Fuen’s arm, Luen was about to storm off while dragging away his son. Fuen desperately struggled, wriggling and trying to pry himself free from his father’s staunch hold.
“Dad! Wait! Listen to me!” Fuen pulled his father's shoulder down, tiptoeing as he whispered a shout to his father’s ear, “I felt it! A connection! This was meant to be, Dad!”
Luen halted his movements to drag his son away. He jerked around and glared at his son. “If this is some kind of lie to convince me to get you the core of the Earth Ox, then stop. You are destroying your future if you absorb either of the two defective Beast Cores.”
Fuen shook his head. “No, Father, I am not lying.”
His son firmly looked him in the eyes. The strong gaze was unphased by his fierce dark scowl. Hearing his son formally address him as ‘Father,’ Luen understood that his son was serious.
He glanced back at the two oddly shaped Beast Cores, doubtful of the preposterous situation. Resonance from a beast core rarely occurred. But if it did, it would be only from cores of high quality. The two displayed before him were nothing at all of the sort.
One was a muddled black, while the other was a murky white. In terms of color and clarity, they were amongst the worst. Size-wise, the two cores were surprisingly much larger than the average lower grade Beast Cores, each about the size of a man’s fist while the typical red or orange colored core was barely thumb size.
But size did not always matter. The irregular jagged, blobbed-shaped cores looked nothing like the usual precise geometric shapes of a normal core, which implied they were deformed and inherently flawed. Worse, black and white cores were deemed contaminated as it meant the Beast failed to correctly grow into the next stage, thus causing a mixing of colors. Such poor and dead-looking Beast Cores surely would be unable to form a connection and resonate with anyone.
Luen was left baffled by the oddity that defied common knowledge if his son was telling the truth, that is. And there was one way to test it out: having his son touch the core. If he told the truth, then it would instantly react to the touch. However, such occasions were better left secret unless one had the power and backing to protect themselves. The rare occurrence of Resonance drew the attention of many powerful factions.
Looking around to ensure no one was paying close attention, Luen then leaned down and whispered into his son’s ear. “Fine, Fuen. You better not be messing with me, boy. You will regret it later if you do.” Luen firmly stated, still with some skepticism.
Fuen fervently nodded, acknowledging that he only told the truth. However, Luen tapped his chin, lost in thought.
The only way to evade all the prying eyes is to buy the cores and have Fuen try them later. But what if they do not work? Fuen would be stuck with worthless cores as his foundation.
But seeing the determined eyes of his son, who stared deeply at the two irregular cores, Luen took a deep breath and a huge leap of faith.