I took a deep breath, unsure of myself.

The watchful eyes of the officers were boring into me as I took my place in front of them.

Arthur had seemed so sure of himself only moments before. I was far from feeling the same.

I didn't have any expectation that I would be able to use a mental activation.

While I hadn't stopped my mental training over the years, I knew that my parents had only ever gotten around to teaching me the basics.

They would be nothing compared to the training the others would have.

I could only bring the black gauntlet up to my face.

I admired it for a few moments.

I still hadn't gotten my head around the fact my life had changed completely.

I almost didn't want to activate the soul armour. After that, I couldn't lie to myself that life would ever be the same.

I braced myself with a few breaths. Ignoring the looks I was getting from the General. It was clear that he was a little more impatient with me than he had been for Arthur.

Gathering my courage, I uttered the faithful words.

"Activate"

I watched as the gauntlet began to glow. Golden runes began appearing etched all around the gauntlet.

That was when it began to flow.

A light black scaled chainmail began to grow up my arm. Forming into a light chest plate around my upper body.

Another light chainmail wrapped around my legs. With harder greaves protecting my shins.

My armour was even lighter than that of the Light or Ranged type. I wouldn't be able to survive many attacks at all.

When I thought the armour was finished manifesting came the strangest sight.

The Golden runes flared from the gauntlets on both my hands, glowing as they moved up my arm. Creating two dense circles on both arms. With a golden rune, I didn't recognize shining in the middle.

It wasn't the first time I wished I had my sister's talent for the runic language.

I was also amazed by how the armour felt. It didn't feel like I was wearing anything at all.

It was a difficult thing to get used to.

"You look weak."

That was far from the first thing I wanted to hear about my new soul armour.

But I couldn't argue against the General. I had far less armour than any other type at the same level.

Even the most offensive-focused range type would have more armour than I did.

"Recheck your status and see if there's any difference with the activation."

I didn't see any reason to argue with the General. So, I pulled up my status once again. Hoping this time it was a little different.

There were no changes to my type or rank. The same was true for my special attributes.

My physical attributes hadn't appeared either. But down at the very bottom of my status, there was something new.

Skills:

-Tame

It took everything in my power for me not to jump in joy. It had been weighing on me the entire day that I didn't have any skills to speak of.

No way to show what my new type might be all about.

I was quick to speak the name of my new skill. Wondering what it would be all about.

"Tame."

The second I spoke the skill, the circle closest to my right wrist began to glow. The rune shone far brighter than the others.

I was even more surprised when it began to detach from my armour and float slightly in front of me.

Grabbing it with my hand, It felt strange to feel the manasteel in my hand. Feeling weightless.

Past that point, however, nothing happened.

It only made sense that I would need something to tame.

"Is that it?"

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The General didn't have the patience to see much else from me.

I could only speak up and plead my case.

"I think I need something to tame for my skill to work. Can I have access to some animals or a monster to try and do so?"

The general's glare in response didn't fill me with confidence. But after a few moments, he seemed to relent. Turning to his aide in turn.

"Get the juvenile monsters in here."

I didn't know if everything up to that moment had been a test. But the General had long known what might be needed for my type.

I felt the nerves mounting as the aide brought in two Juvenile monsters.

Two Terror wolf cubs. A very common monster that could grow to B rank given the right situation.

As cubs, they were only E rank.

So, it was an easy fight for anyone else in the room apart from me.

I approached the two wolves with caution. I knew they could deal quite a bit of damage to me.

The aide was doing an excellent job at keeping them behaved. So, I approached with more confidence.

They began to growl a little more as I approached.

I decided to try and tame the smaller one first.

With caution, I placed the circular piece of manasteel on top of the smaller wolf. Waiting to see what would happen.

As soon as the manasteel made contact with the monster, it began to move. Moulding itself into a collar that went around the neck of the wolf. The top was moving over the head of the wolf, where the golden rune rested right above its eyes.

It was going well so far, but as the rune began to activate. I felt what was like a hit to the face.

A force of energy began to attack my mind in turn.

It took everything in my power to regain some semblance of control in my mind.

Centering myself as I did so.

The second I did that, I felt the brunt of the energy melt away.

What had been a giant pressure only moments before began immediately fading away.

Once I had control over my mind, facing the pressure was easy.

The force continued to fight against my mind, growing weaker as time passed.

Finally, I watched as the rune at the top of the wolf's head glowed strongly once more.

I hadn't noticed how dim it had become only moments before.

As the rune began to glow, so did the wolf's eyes. What had once been a black void now had a golden circle glowing within.

Along with that, I now felt a connection to the beast. It was as if now it could understand me.

As soon as I felt the connection in full, I was almost sent to my knees once again.

This time, for a very different reason.

I felt power and strength rush through my body. It was everything I had heard the first bonding was supposed to be.

I had no idea why it had come so late.

"Status"

I was quick to open my status once again to see the change. Ignoring the new bond, I felt with the monster for a moment.

Type: Tamer

Rank: C1

Special Attributes:

-Dominion: C1

-Control: C1

Physical Attributes:

-Strength: E2

-Constitution: E2

-Dexterity: E7

-Spirit: F3

User Attributes:

-Attack: E5

-Defense: E2

Skills:

-Tame (1/4)

That was a huge change from how it had been only moments before. I wasn't sure how to react.

One thing was clear: my attributes were still far from a C-rank soul warrior.

They were far closer to that of an E ranker.

"Incredible. Can you give it orders?"

Rather than focusing on me, the others were entirely focused on the beast.

Even Arthur and Aaron were crowded around, taking a look.

Ignoring the jubilation of my status, I turned my mind back to the connection between the beast and I.

I tried for the easiest command. I was asking it to sit.

It was clear that my mental commands still needed more than a bit of work. Even after ten tries, the beast wouldn't listen to me.

Thus, I was left with saying it out loud.

"Sit."

The beast was quick to listen this time around. Immediately sitting down in front of us.

I couldn't help but feel a mix of emotion.

I could control monsters. Something people had thought impossible.

While it was only an E-rank cub for the moment, who knew how that would change in the future?

For the first time, it was clear that the others shared my opinion.

If Arthur's performance had left everyone in a state of shock. It was even more so for what I had done.

After that, we ran through a few more commands. Awe, still clear in everyone's face.

I went to try and tame the larger of the two Cubs.

Holding the rune in my hand, the other Cub reacted much worse.

It had been whining in the corner since I had tamed the other Cub.

Now, it was quite scared of me.

It even tried to turn around and run away as I approached. The aide kept it tightly under control.

But it struggled even more as I got closer.

The second I touched the manasteel to the back of the Wolfs head. I prepared for the same attack.

This time, however, it was a far calmer affair. There was none of the same violence as in the last attempt at taming.

I could feel the mental strength of the beast erode against my will.

After all, It would be impossible for an E-rank beast to defend against my C-rank skills.

I still needed to figure out what they meant, but even as unskilled as I was, the E-rank cub was far from a match.

With the two under control, I felt far more confident than I had in some time.

I checked my status once again to see if there were any other changes. But other than having two taming slots filled. The rest were the same.

After several more moments of inspecting the beast, the General turned to me.

"What has changed with your status?"

I reported the changes, and that I now had access to my stats. As well as how lacking they were.

The general grew pensive for a few moments before barking another order.

"Lieutenant Winters, report your inspection of the cubs. What are their stats?"

It was clear what the General was thinking after the Lieutenant, the young man who had picked us up from our rooms, listed the stats from both creatures.

The first wolf had the same physical stats that I did.

While the second had better stats in every way.

"It seems the tamer takes the worst stats from each monster they control. That is interesting. Now, try to stop controlling these creatures. Let's see what happens."

That was harder than I expected, it turned out.

No mental or verbal command would work. I had to physically reach out and take the rune from the head of the monster.

The manasteel was quick to respond and returned to its circular form.

The monster, on the other hand, wasn't as pleased. Rather than being scared, it was quick to attack me.

Biting towards me, I felt a newfound strength rush through my body.

My stats adjusted to the stronger beast.

With that, I was fast enough to dance away from the monster. Then, the Lieutenant killed the beast with a single blow. One that I could not follow even with my new stats.

It took a second for me to calm down afterwards.

For the first time, the General seemed to look towards me with some appreciation.

It was clear that he liked what he was seeing from the new types so far.

I was curious if I could keep even one of the monsters. But after assuring everyone that I could keep the beast under control. It began to follow along beside me.

I still found it hard to believe I had tamed my first monster.

I joined Arthur outside of the training area. It was now Aaron's turn to shine.

The first Vanguard stepped out onto the training area—far more purpose in his step.