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Crystals Of Tame

Chapter 15

“You failed lord Rey,” a mysterious voice said, as it greeted a cloaked figure that came out of Twinrock cave.

“There was nothing there in the first place,” the cloaked figure said, taking his hood off, and revealing his bald head, he had a scarf that was wrapped around his lower face and was wearing a brown tunic with chains around his neck and brown pants with leather boots.

“ It doesn’t matter, you failed lord Rey, Zach,” the voice repeated, coming into view. She was wearing a purple and black mask with strange markings on it. Her hair was parted to the side with one part black and the other purple and she was wearing a strange attire to Zach that seemed to clash with each other, missing one part of her leg pants and having many straps around her body.

“I don’t care what you think I only care what lord Rey thinks,’ Zach said,

“So, who was the kid?” the woman asked, taking a seat on a rock, being curious as to who was the boy that defeated Zach, one of the leaders in Rey’s bandit group.

“I don’t know, all I know is that he’s going to pay for interfering in my assignment,” Zach said, as he looked at Stonetopolis city from the hill that overlooked it.

“Make sure that you don’t fail this time, or else, “ the women said, laughing maniacally at Zach, one of the monster bandit generals for lord Rey, as she went back into the shadows.

“I won’t,” Zach said,

“Evi,” his monster partner said, as it appeared from the shadows,

“I don’t like her either,” he said, petting its floating black body.

He looked at the night as it was settling in, and made his way toward Stonetopolis City, where he would not fail Lord Rey, king of the Monster bandits.

***

Lex sat at the wooden desk took out a small piece of paper and pen, and began to write to his Aunt and grandmother.

He told them about delivering the bread to Carlos, but leaving certain details out since he knew they would only get worried. He mentioned meeting Julian and the Mayor as well as accompanying Julian to Stonetopolis

City, which he was excited about. He left out the part as to why he was going with Julian. He figured it was best not to worry them.

“All done,” Lex said, as he finished writing to them, he let out a yawn and looked over to his bed, and saw Mirabit already sleeping.

“Good idea partner,” he said, as he made his way to his bed and slept the best night he ever had.

***

Twinrock Town was greeted by an orchestra of small Pigens and other Wind-type monster partners as they greeted the morning light, signaling the start of a new day.

Lex woke up and got ready as fast as he could.

‘Mirabit,” Mirabit said, opening its eyes,

“let’s go partner we have quite the mission to do today,” he said,

“Mirabit” Mirabit said, as it jumped into Lex's leather brown bag, as they made their way toward Julian.

***

“Good morning Julian,” Lex said, as he saw Julian waiting next to a carriage with an old man next to him.

“Good morning Lex,” Julian said, greeting him,

“This is Mr. Wilson, he’s our boss for the day.”

"Is nice to meet you, Lex,” Mr. Wilson said, smiling at Lex.

“We’re going to go with him as he heads toward Stonetopolis city and make sure no monster bandits try and steal any merchandise.

“Sound good,” Lex said.

“Are you ready ?”

"Yes,” Lex nodded, excited for his first non-official tamer job.

He looked at the wagon and recognized the two monsters that were pulling it, they were Rokbuls, and he would sometimes see them around the village. They were bull-like monsters with brown bodies and hoofs and horns made of rocks. They were quite sturdy to use for pulling heavy stuff.

“Hopefully we don’t meet too many troubles along the road,” Mr. Wilson said, as he climbed on top of the wagon, grabbing the reins to the Rokbuls.

"Don’t worry, and if we do, me and Lex are strong enough to take on anyone, isn’t that right Lex,” Julian said, taking a seat next to Mr. Wilson,

“Yes sir,” Lex said, as he was the last one to climb the wagon, sitting next to Julian.

"Shall we boys,” Mr. Wilson said, guiding the Rokbuls toward the exit of Twinrock town.

Lex looked back at Twinrock town and thought about everything that happened, it had been quite the adventurous first town he thought,

making him excited for the things to come.

***

“So I hear you’re on your way to take the monster taming exam,” Mr. Wilson said, as the wagon traveled Turtle Trail, which was a dirt road filled on each side with a sea of trees, bushes, and fields of grass.

“Yes sir,” Lex said,

“Me and my partner Mirabit are ready to become full-fledge tamers.”

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, peeking its head from Lex’s brown bag.

“That’s good.” Mr. Wilson said, smiling at him,

“ I heard from the mayor that you’re quite the strong tamer, even saving some researchers at the research building.”

“I-I was lucky,” Lex said blushing.

“I think he’s going to be a great tamer,” Julian said, tapping his shoulder, and smiling at him.

"Well, if our young master license tamer here says so, then I have a feeling that we are going to hear great things about you which is perfect since most of the tamers from the south aren’t respected that much in the north.”

That was the first time Lex was hearing this, which made him curious as to why.

“Why?” he asked,

“It’s because of the ex-Rock Shield guild,” Julian said,

“What did they do?” Lex asked, curiosity shining on his face, this was the first time he had heard that.

"Back when the association was first created, after the red night,” Mr. Wilson said,

"The red night.”

Lex was familiar with that event, no tamer wasn’t in all of Monsterra. It was the day he lost his mother, and many tamers lost their lives as well.

“Many Rock Shield guild members were against joining the association here in the south, and it didn’t help that the ex-guild leader, Roth, did that unspeakable thing to the king, making things even worse for both sides. ”

‘What did he do?” Lex asked, feeling like he was learning a lot of history he didn’t know, for not even his aunt had told him about this topic.

Mr. Wilson looked at Lex surprised that there was a southern

tamer, let alone any tamer, that didn’t know about the animosity between the South and Traineira that was made worse by Roth.

“Well, the king of Traineria came down to the south to have a talk with Roth and make sure that the association offices were built, but some say Roth hurt the king in a fit of rage. Though some say that it was his monster that attacked the king, either way, It almost caused a war between Traineria and the south, but the director of the association intervened and deemed the incident an accident, and

luckily we managed to divert a war. Either way, Roth was imprisoned, despite it being deemed an accident, though some people in the south say that he was imprisoned to quell the anger of Traneria. It was some intense things back then, especially with the red night still fresh in people’s minds. But luckily the world has been pretty peaceful these past few years.

“Except for the occasional bandit that tries to steal or kidnapped tamers and their monster partners, ”Julian added,

“They kidnapped monsters?” Lex said,

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, diving deeper into Lex's brown bag.

Mr. Wilson let out a chuckle,

“Usually they try and find alpha-level monsters,” Julian said,

“Alpha-level monsters, aren’t those quite rare?” Lex asked,

“They are quite rare, only a few tamers if any, have them,” Julian brushed his dark blue hair to the side.

“ So they settle for enhanced and advanced level monsters.”

“Are the bandits guildless,” Lex asked,

“They are, ” Julian said,

“Though there are rumors that after the incident with the king and Roth, many monster bandits are ex-tamers of the Rock Shield guild I think this is ridiculous since the director wouldn’t create a new guild in the south if he thought that was true, and give its handle to the granddaughter of Roth,” Mr. Wilson added.

Lex took in everything he had heard. From the sound of it, it looked like things were very intense back then, he was glad that they were able to resolve the issues without any bloodshed.

“Rokbul is everything alright,” Mr. Wilson said, as the two Rokbuls stopped.

“Rock, grok,” they said, huffing.

“There’s someone in the woods,” Julian said, jumping off the wagon.

“Mirabit let's go partner,” Lex said getting off the wagon as well.

“Is it a monster bandit?” Mr. Wilson asked,

“I don’t know, but I’m not waiting to find out, go Frigidpup,” Julian said, taking one of his taming crystals and putting it into a taming gauntlet, the most recent taming device that allowed tamers to tap into the power of the crystals. It was the first time Lex had seen it since only licensed tamers had it. A light blue light shot from Julian’s hands as it wrapped around it, and shot out of his hand like a beam, and a dog-like monster came out. It had a black fur that covered its head and paws and a transparent crystal-like body. It had two teeth that were made of ice sticking out of its mouth.

“Frigidpup?” Lex said it was the first time he saw a monster that looked like it.

“Frigidpup use howling ice,” Julian said,

“Frigid, frigid,” Frigidpup said, howling a breeze of wind at the trees in front of them.

“That’s a master license tamer for you.”

“Who’s there?” Lex said,

“Stone gravel.”

A deep voice said, and a barrage of rocks came at them from the trees.

“Frigidpup, ice wall,” Julian said,

“Frigidpup,” Frigidpup said, creating a wall of ice and blocking the rocks coming their way.

A man cloaked in black came out of the forest, and with him, another shorter cloaked figure as well.

“Can’t it be that person from the research building?” Lex said, looking at the cloak figures, and focusing on the shorter one.

“It couldn’t be?” he thought,

But they had one thing in common, they all wore a dark cloak, which only meant one thing, they were up to no good.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Well is not every day you stumble upon an association master license tamer all the way here in the south,” the larger man said, looking at Julian’s vest.

“Come out Rocktick,” he said, and a small insect-like monster covered in a black thick rock armor came out of the ground.

“It’s a Rocktick,” Julian said.

“A Rocktick?” Lex repeated it was the first time seeing one,

“They are a small earth-type monster with hard black armor. Very annoying to fight”

“Get out of here, “ the man said, looking at the shorter cloaked figure next to him.

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t need you to complicate things,” the larger man said, nodding at them.

“I owe you one,” the shorter cloak figure said, running from them.

“No you don’t,” Julian said, trying to stop the shorter cloaked figure but the larger one got in the way,

“Your fight is with me, master tamer,” he said, blocking Julian’s view.

“Rocktick, rock blast,” he commanded, and the small armored insect creature obeyed, shooting rocks at Julian and them.

“I’ll go after them, I won’t let them escape, not this time,” Lex said, running after the shorter cloaked figure.

“Wait, Lex!” Julian said, but he couldn’t afford to take his eyes off the large man in front of him, he was strong, he could tell. Which he did not expect a monster bandit to be.

“Frigidpup howling ice.”

The larger cloak figure man saw the boy and his Mirabit go after his partner, but he was too busy with Julian to stop them.

“They’ll have to deal with him,” he thought, looking at the dark blue-haired boy standing in front of him.

***

“Stop!” Lex said as he ran after the other cloak figure person, going deeper and deeper into the forest.

“What the--” the shorter cloaked figure said as they looked back and saw a young blonde kid running after them.

“Froater, glass blades.”

Small blades of grass came hurling at Lex, which he managed to dodge.

“What the?” Lex said, surprised by the attack.

“You’re not going to escape,” Lex said, not relenting, as he chased after them.

“Great, just what I needed,” the cloaked figure said, as they came to a dead end.

“You don’t have anywhere to run now,” Lex said, as a huge boulder blocked any path out except forward, and Lex wasn’t going to let them escape, not this time.

“Were you the one that attacked Carlos?”

Lex wasn’t sure if that person was the same as the one who attacked the research building, but he was going to find out.

The cloaked figure looked at the blonde-haired boy, puzzled as to what he was talking about.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, kid, but I don’t have time to deal with you,” the cloaked figure said,

“Froeater vine whip.”

A whip came out of their cloak, grabbing a tree branch and propelling the figure upward.

“Wait!” Lex said, but the cloak figured had escaped between the tree branches.

“We could try climbing,” Lex said, looking at the large boulder.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, tilting its head to the side,

“You’re, right, we should probably return to Julian and help him,” Lex said, feeling disappointed that the cloaked figure had managed to escape a second time.

***

“Julian?” Lex said as he returned to the carriage.

“They got away,” Julian said, as he was petting his Frigidpup.

“So did the other one,” Lex said, disappointed.

“That’s too bad, but there’s no point in trying to track them down, we have a job to do, besides, if we leave Mr. Wilson here, he’ll be a sitting duck for other bandits.”

“Our great master tamer, Julian is right,” Mr. Wilson said,

“And I fear that if there’s one bandit then there’s probably more around the area, and is not that I don’t trust your skills as tamers, but getting ambushed is not something I will love.”

“We have a job to do, beating bandits is just a little extra on the side,” Julian said, scanning the area, and finding it odd that they had barely run into any bandits this late in the road. He was sure the mayor had said that the bandits were all over the road.

Lex nodded, even though he wanted to chase after the cloaked figures, he knew that they were right.

Lex looked at Julian’s monster partner and moved closer to it, it was the first time he saw a monster like it.

“Is this the first time you've seen one?” Julian asked,

“Yes,” Lex said, petting the monster.

“Frigid, “ Frigidpup said, licking Lex’s face, it felt freshly cool on his cheek.

“Well he likes you,” Julian said.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, petting Frigidpup’s nose with its nose and feeling the coolness on it as well.

“We should get to moving before any more bandits decide to come,” Mr. Wilson said, not feeling safe just sitting in the middle of the road.

“Let’s get going,” Julian said, calling his Frigidpup back to his blue taming crystal.

The ride to Stonetopolis city was peaceful, with no monster bandits coming for them. Which Lex was glad for, though a bit disappointed since he wanted to battle again.

Julian watched the road with great interest, as he found no monster bandits,

“Odd indeed,” he thought.

“Here we are, Stonetopolis city.” Mr. Wilson said as they all came in view of the city forge out of stone.

***

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Stonetopolis City was built inside a large stone mountain, almost as if the mountain had birthed the city itself. It looked like a kingdom made of stone. As they walked toward the stone entrance of the city, Lex noticed many tamers and non-tamers making their way toward it.

Stonetopolis City was a stark difference from Twinrock town and Woodfield village as well. For starters, it was larger than the two, which Lex found quite intimidating at first.

The streets were filled with people all wearing different styles of clothing, from simple village outfits that the people of Woodfield village wore, as well as the people of Twinrock town, to fancier clothing. The streets, which were lined with stone, were filled with vendors and boisterous laughter and chatter, hassling and bargaining for the best deals.

There were tamers, which Lex was sure of, since they had clothing that was different from the rest, their clothing had big bags to the side. And their faces expressed a certain sense of confidence, and they also had their monster partners by their sides. But those weren’t the only monsters, others were walking and running around the streets, no doubt trying to get a catch of a strangling food or basking in the city's landscape. Some of the monsters Lex recognized,

for they were the same that inhabited the areas where he came from, but others were new to him, which he was eager to get to learn about. The buildings of Stonetopolis city were built from stone and brick, they were bigger than the houses in Twinrock Town and Woodfield Village. All in all, the city looked like a city to Lex, something out of his dreams.

And the one thing he noticed, was the large stone statue in the middle of the city, it almost looked like it would touch the sky itself.

“A tamer’s monument,” Lex thought, recalling the old man’s words back in Twinrock Town.

“Is quite impressive, isn’t it,” Julian said, noticing Lex's expression of awe as he looked at the statue.

“Yes it is,” Lex said.

***

“Thanks for keeping me safe my young tamer friends, “ Mr. Wilson said, thanking both Lex and Julia, as he brought his wagon to a stop.

“It was no hassle, just doing our job, isn’t that right Lex,” Julian said, smiling at Lex and nodding.

“ Just glad we could help,” Lex said,

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, peaking its head from Lex’s brown leather brown bag.

“Well, I’m glad you guys were here, for who knows what would have happened to me if I was traveling Turtle Trail by myself,” Mr. Wilson said, nodding at them.

“You guys helped me out a lot.”

“I guess this is where we part ways, “ Julian said,

“The Association building is just north of here, you can’t miss it, just search for a large association emblem symbol.”

“Thank you,” Lex said,

Julian nodded to the two of them and waved goodbye at them.

“And Lex, “ he said, turning around to Lex one more time,

“I look forward to hearing great things about you as a tamer.”

“I will try my hardest,” Lex said, as he waved goodbye at Julian, not wanting to disappoint him.

“He’s quite the busy tamer, which is to be expected since he’s a master license tamer,” Mr. Wilson said, taking his light brown hat off, his brown hair blowing in the wind.

“Speaking of being busy, I have to take the merchandise to the traders guild in Stonetopolis city.”

Mr. Wilson said, grabbing the reins to the two Rokbulls, ready to direct them to his destination.

“It was nice meeting you, Lex.”

“You too,” Lex said, waving goodbye to Mr. Wilson.

“If you need anything don’t hesitate to visit my shop in Stonetopolis city.”

“I will, thanks,” Lex said, waving goodbye to Mr. Wilson.

He turned to Mirabit and smiled.

“Ready to go become official tamers, partner?” he said, ruffling Mirabit’s soft ears.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, smiling at him.

***

Lex looked around to see the association building, which he was sure he couldn’t miss since it had the association emblem symbol just as Julian had said.

“The Tamers association,” Lex said, coming to a stop in front of it.

[https://i.imgur.com/K9dvib0.jpg]

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, cleaning its face, almost as if it too knew it was about to enter a new world with his partner.

“Ready?” Lex said, looking at Mirabit, its light grey fur blowing from the cool wind of the city.

“Mirabit, bit,” Mirabit said, eager to prove himself.

“Let’s do this partner,” Lex said, taking a step toward the stone door of the building, ready to enter its walls, and ready to take on the next chapter in their life.

Inside the Tamer Association building, Lex noticed that he wasn’t the only tamer, which was to be expected. He saw some were standing by the walls of the building, while others were sitting on the chairs that were scattered around the room.

He noticed a large desk in the center of the building, overlooking the tamers, and walked toward it.

“G-Good afternoon,” he said, feeling nervous,

“How can I help you?” the lady at the desk said, looking up at him, and finding him quite ordinary, in fact, too ordinary that she for sure taught that he was going to be another aspiring tamer to fail this year.

“I’m….” Lex said swallowing his saliva,

“Here to take the Monster taming exam.”

He felt a certain strangeness as he said those words, words that no longer felt distant but close now, words that felt at an arm’s reach now.

The lady inspected him for a few seconds, he was timid and didn’t have the aura that certain tamers had, especially at his age.

“Here,” she said, giving him a piece of paper,

“Write your name and the monster that you are going to use and wait with the rest.”

“Thank you,” he said, taking the piece of paper.

She noticed the small bunny monster that was in his bag,

“It looks weak,” she said, under her breath.

“Name?” Lex read the sheet of paper,

“Lex Greyfield, Birth? Woodfield Village,” he wrote,

“Monster? Mirabit.”

He looked at Mirabit and petted his soft fur,

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, cuddling his hand and smiling.

“Type: Field class. Level: Novice level.”

“That wasn’t so bad,” he said, letting out a faint chuckle, as he walked back to the lady overlooking the room in her giant stone desk.

“If you fail,” she said, though it was more when you fail she thought.

“You will have to wait a whole year to retake the exam, is that understood?”

She looked at him, finally noticing how simply clothed he looked as if he was coming straight from some village here in the south.

Some bumkin kid with big dreams of being a tamer.

"Understood, ma’am,” Lex said, nodding at her, he wasn’t going to fail.

He was going to make his grandmother, aunt, and his late mother proud.

“Wait for the instructor to call,” she said, stamping his sheet of paper.

“Thank you,” Lex said bowing to her.

She dismissed him with a slight hand movement, too busy to care.

Lex walked to one of the empty seats and sat down, placing his brown leather bag next to him,

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said,

“Here I saved this one for you,” he said, giving him some leftover bread,

“Mirabit!” Mirabit said, jumping in excitement, which brought the attention of the other tamers who smirked at him, dismissing him at first glance.

Lex blushed but decided not to pay much attention to them,

“You need to be energized for the exam,” he said,

petting his small bunny monster’s soft fur,

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, as it happily munch on the bread.

Lex looked around and saw some of the other tamers dressed in clothing that seemed fancy compared to his. They had belts that came around their waist, with big pocket bags attached to them. Their clothing had lines that sprouted from each side, making them look quite different from the townspeople. Some looked older than him, while others looked to be about the same age as him. He noticed a tamer who had a cape that was covering their face and wondered if being cloaked in secret was a popular thing to do here, as he remembered the two cloaked figures he had come across on his way to Stonetopolis City.

But what intrigued his interest, was that none had their monster partners by their side, like him. Which he found odd, but he had heard some wealthy tamers were able to buy a single crystal of tame at a very expensive price, since the association regulated them to License tamers. He wondered what kind of monster partners they had, but it didn’t matter, he was confident that he and Mirabit would beat them regardless, just like they had beaten the Ragepanzee, his grandmother’s Maidanda, and that floating eye monster named Eviley.

"Isn’t that right, partner,” he said, petting Mirabit’s soft ears.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, eager to show its fighting spirit.

Lex looked at his hand, which had his birthmark, and figured he should probably not do anything that was out of the ordinary for the tamer exam.

***

Julian walked the hallways of the Tamer Association building, and looked down at the entrance, spotting all the new tamers that had come to take the Taming exam this year.

“I see you made it,” he said, spotting the Lex sitting at a chair.

“Sir?” a man wearing the association uniform, which was white and light blue bowed before Julian.

“Is a rare sight seeing you all the way here in the south.”

“I was in the area, “ Julian said,

“Have you come to judge this year’s aspiring tamers?” the association person asked,

“Not today, maybe some other time, are the Gryphons in use, I need one to fly me to Traineria.”

“For a master licenses tamer such as yourself, I’ll prepare one right this instant.”

“Thank you,” Julian said,

“Who’s administering the field portion of the test this year?” Julian asked as he and the association worker were walking toward where the Gryphon flying zone was.

“I believe is masters tamer Arthur,” he said,

“Oh!” Julian said, intrigued.

“Well, I hope those aspiring tamers of ours are high-spirited enough for him.”

“I hope so too, he fails pretty much ninety-nine percent of all tamers that take the exam,’ the association tamer said, letting out a sigh,

“He causes so much trouble for us by failing so many tamers,” he said.

He looked around the area, almost as if making sure no one was around to hear his next words. ,

“He’s an ex-Rock shield guild member.”

Julian let out a faint chuckle,

"You can say the name.”

“Only a master licensed tamer and a personal guard to

our director can say the name of that traitorous guild name without hesitation.”

“Here we are,” the association worker said, opening a stone door that led to a garden.

The Gryphon's body was adorned with white feathers and the latter half with the black coat of a beast. Half bird and half beast, and swift as lighting. It had an armor plate in its chest with the insignia of the association in it.

“Take care, Master Tamer Julian,” the association worker said, bowing before one of the twelve Master tamers in Monsterra.

“Thanks for the Gryphon. I’ll have it returned once I arrive at the headquarters in Traineria,”

Julian said,

“Take your time, it is at your service.”

***

A door from the lobby of the Tamer Association building opened and a small woman appeared from it. She was wearing round glasses with a white coat and looked very much like a researcher like Carlos to Lex.

“P-Please follow me,” she said, her voice faint yet still audible for the tamers who were waiting in the hall to hear.

“Is time,” Lex said, getting up from his chair, he felt both excitement and nervousness in his stomach, but he was ready for this.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, the expression in its round face ready to take on any challenge that appeared their way.

The tamers followed the short pink-haired timid girl to a great hall. The hall was furnished with rows of desks, all connected by what seemed to be one single piece of stone.

“U-uhm,” she said, fidgeting her fingers like a child,

“P-please take a-a seat.”

As Lex was about to go with the other tamers to take a seat, he felt his shirt being pulled.

He turned around and saw that the short girl with round glasses was pulling at his shirt, and signaling at his bag.

“N-o monster,” she said.

The other tamers looked at them and let out a grin of ridicule as they went to take their seats in the rows of desks in front of them.

"I’m sorry, but Mirabit doesn’t have anywhere to stay,” he said,

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said peeking from the bag.

She looked at the small fluffy monster and her eyes began to glow,

“H-he can stay with me,” she said.

Lex looked at her, despite being timid, she looked like a good person, besides he would be in the same room as him. He handed her his leather brown bag and she took it in her arms, petting the fluffy monster.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, smiling at her as she petted him.

“-U-um,” she said,

“You have half a day t-o complete the t-test,’ she said, taking a seat on the desk that sat at the bottom of the room, facing the rows of elevated stone desks.

She took out a crystal from her coat and a light pink light shot from it, which made a floating pink-eye monster come out of it. It had small wings and its purple eye was half closed.

“C-come out, Magisey.”

“N-no cheating, “ she said,

“Magisey would see if y-ou cheat, -you are disqualified if you do.”

The tamers heard her words and looked at the small booklet that was in front of them.

Lex looked at the strange pink monster, it was the first time he saw one, and wondered what kind of type it was, but right now was not the time for that. He needed to pass whatever this was.

“Basic taming knowledge,” the paper read. Lex took a gulp,

“Let’s do this,” he said, he looked at Mirabit as it sat with the short pink-haired girl, and nodded at Mirabit as if telling him he wasn’t going to fail him.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, nodding back at him.

The time seemed to go slow and fast at the same time.

Lex would read a question about the classes of monsters, their strengths, weaknesses, and their class effectiveness. Some of the questions he knew since Carlos would often talk about his research when he would visit them at Woodfield village, being thankful for Carlos's infatuation with his aunt. Other questions he didn’t know, guessing and hoping it was the right answer. When the tamers were done with their test they would walk toward her desk, she would go over them and stamp them if they passed, or throw them out if they didn’t. The ones that passed would be told to go back to their seat and the ones that didn’t would be told to leave and try next year. If any of them made a fuss she would call guards and they would escort them out. Lex watched as the number of tamers began to decrease, their size being cut in half.

“All done,” he said, coming to the final question in his exam. Luckily it was an easy question that he knew all thanks to his fight with his grandmother,

“There are two class types of attacks a monster does, what are they?” he read,

“Damage dealing and status effect,’ he wrote.

He swallowed his saliva and stood up from his desk this was it, he would find out if he passed or failed. The walk to her desk seemed to be longer than the road to Stonetopolis City. Recalling everything he had gone through, and something in him hoped that it had not been in vain.

“Here it is,” he said, handing her his test.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, looking with anticipation.

“T-thank you,” she said and began to go over it. In a way, Lex found it quite impressive how fast she sped through it, her eyes moving back and forth.

She looked at him and then to Mirabit, petting him.

“Y-ou passed,” she said, stamping the test with the association stamp.

“Yes!’ Lex said as he jumped in excitement, not helping himself.

“Mirabit,” Mirabit said, jumping to him.

‘We’re almost there partner.”

The other tamers looked at him and laughed mocking him, this was a simple test that only a total beginner would fail, the real test was yet to come.