I had been to the Beast Tamer Hall many times, from almost the first day part of my duties was to help with the animals. Every morning for almost a year, I gathered, along with fellow Sect members at the entrance waiting or the morning's assignments. Most days Outer Sect members who had not chosen Beast Taming as a secondary profession with clean-up. I had spent so much time shoveling manure that I had become inured to the smell.

But that had been as a student, nothing more than a glorified servant, but I had enjoyed the work. This was different. I was directed into the portion of the Hall set aside for transactions. I had a clutch of Eoraptor eggs to sell, but that wasn't the reason for my visit.

"How may we help you," the Tamer Hall clerk asked as I approached. The reception foray was empty this early in the morning, most people wanting to do business waiting until at least after breakfast.

"I have some Eoraptor eggs I'd like to sell, and I would like to seek assistance from Tamer Hall to help me hatch and bond with a Roc egg I recently acquired," I said.

"May I see the eggs please?" he said before turning to a young man sitting silently in the corner, "Tiem, run and ask Brother Iliuse if he could spare some of his time to help a young Sect member that hopes to bind a companion. Make sure you mention that she has secured a Roc egg."

"Yes, Honored Darius," Tiem said as he sprung up from his chair, the energy that he had been marshaling while he waited released. He was young, too young to have gained a Spirit root, and his excitement and glee to be out and moving perfectly natural for a young boy.

I had managed to collect five Eoraptor eggs. I hoped I would earn as much as a hundred and fifty contribution points for the lot, but this was the first time I had visited Tamer Hall as a seller so I had no idea how prices compared to the auction house that would usually be responsible for finding a buyer for the eggs.

While we waited for Elder Iliuse to either return with Tiem or send a message refusing to help, the clerk, Darius, motioned for me to follow him over to a processing station. The examination that took place was more than perfunctory.

The attendant pulled out various measuring devices to identify if the eggs had been fertilized, and if the incubating chicks lived, a scraping of the eggshell was taken. The scraping was used to identify what variety of Eoraptor was contained inside each egg.

Each egg was tested, the attendant refusing to assume that just because one egg was identified as Eoraptor, all of them would.

"You had some good luck with this clutch," the clerk informed me. "If you find a clutch with two or three viable eggs you are doing well, but for five to live?

"Rare indeed," Darius concluded.

He turned to the next instrument, that allowed for egg candling. The light would pass through the eggshell and allow the clerk to see inside. This way he was able to certify how close to hatching each specimen was and classify exactly what kind of Eoraptor nest I had raided.

There were a few varieties of Eoraptor, ranging in size and ferocity. The family I had come across was large enough that the chicks could be raised as mounts. A cultivator that was restricted to only one companion would always attempt to bind with a multi-functional animal. The more roles the companion could serve, the more expensive it was to purchase.

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"All eggs are within days of hatching," he proclaimed.

There was no need to not believe him, and even as close to hatching as the animals were, they could be stored in spatial sacks, safely ensconced in a no-time field until someone was willing to buy.

"The Sect is willing to purchase Eoraptor eggs for fifty contribution points each," he informed me only after he was satisfied with his examination and had cleaned and returned his instruments to their appointed spot.

That sum was a hundred more than I'd expected, so I was happy to agree. Once the transaction was complete, I was two hundred and fifty contribution points richer, at least for the moment. There was no telling how much I was going to need to spend to bond with the Roc.

The process to bond a new companion required spirit stones, enchantment, and an array contract. A bit of Qi and blood were injected within the lattice-work of fine metal that was etched in the array. The blood and Qi used to power a formation that the Roc and I would stand-in.

The process was similar to an IV infusion drip. A continuous stream of Qi and drops of my blood would be fed to the Roc until our Qi signatures began to sync. The blood the physical part of the metaphysical binding. At the last step, the array formation would reverse the flow and I would be injected with a tiny amount of Qi and blood from the Roc.

This final step was the determining factor for success. If I wasn't able to harness the energies as they entered my body, if I couldn't add the Roc's DNA profile to my own and adapt my Qi signature to recognize the Roc's as an extension of myself, then the process would fail.

I would reject the bond, my body treating the Roc as a virus and the energy and blood as attacks that my body would create anti-bodies to combat. And like anti-bodies, if I rejected this Roc, I would never be able to bond with another of that species. I would have created an immunity that could not be breached.

There were ways to get around that limitation. If I could find a Roc with a different elemental affinity, or enough of a mutation that the immunity could be circumvented. But the chances of rejection and further increases to immunity were high. Most cultivators wouldn't take the risk, especially considering that each failure meant immunities began to be effective across species. Eventually, enough rejections of bond and blood would make it impossible to form a link with any kind of animal, no matter the species.

Beast tamers were able to ignore these restrictions, and that was also why they were able to bond with more than one animal. They practiced cultivation techniques that allowed them to synchronize their Qi as well as synergize any blood transfer they would make. An interesting side benefit was that they were also able to receive blood transfusions regardless of blood type, in extreme cases, a Dao companion bond could form between people.

"Honorable Iliuse is willing to see you," Tiem said running back to the room where he had left me, it had taken almost a half-hour for him to return, but the clerk had just managed to finish his appraisal so I'd never noticed the passage of time.

"He asked that I show you to his workshop," Tiem informed me.

The journey was short, Tiem's delivery of me to a nondescript room, perfunctory his good mood evaporating once this chore was completed. I thought his change in mood had more to do with the fact that he would have to return to the foyer and sit, containing his boundless energy until his next task. I wondered why they didn't let him help with the animals outside; it seemed like something he would find enjoyable and would allow him to burn off his excess energy.

Iliuse entered the room having forced me to wait for another hour. I wasn't sure if he had left me waiting as a show of authority or if he were truly busy. And honestly, it didn't matter. As long as he was skilled at performing the procedure that would allow me to bond with the Roc, he could be as insulting as he'd like. After all, I wouldn't have to have anything more to do with him if this was successful.

Unless the Roc died, sometime in the future, he would be the only animal companion I could or would nurture.