‘Let's see who'll embarrass who?’
The man's face suddenly turned sour.
“Are you challenging my judgement, young lady?”
I gave a curtsey then said, “I'm very sure I can recognise this beast. It's a rare specie, so you people could most likely have mistaken it for the Copper-winged Eagle, right?”
“This... so you know it's a Copper-winged Eagel?” he asked.
“I know it's NOT a Copper-winged Eagel due to the visible characteristics of this bird. According to ‘Ancient Savage Beasts, Volume II,’ on the 26th shelve, on the first row of the 2-star Book Collection Vault, the 465th chapter, paragraph three, makes mention that the Copper-winged Eagle is widely known for its extremely sharp wings, and soft, or you can say ‘blunt’, claws. Yet, what I see before me is a very normal russet-coloured winged bed, and extremely sharp claws. Just by looking a
My name's Stephanie and I can communicate with animals. Nobody knows about this, not yet, at least. I was only seven years old when I realised this “curse”, so I hid it down to this day. Four months ago, I turned sixteen. At the moment, I'm seated in my bathtub covered breast-length in lathered soap. My brown, curly hair skedaddles above the surface of the bathwater around me. I relaxed, even though I knew I needed to be fast so that I could get dressed and be downstairs right in time. Yesterday, I was told I'd be going to live with my Uncle Ramsey the great. Yeah, I actually think he's wonderful, despite never having to meet him before. Although, mum and dad claimed that he spent a month with us when I was newly born. Uncle Ramsey lived in a far, far away land. Like those types you see in fairytale stories. He has a daughter who — I was told — was just three years older than me. That makes her nineteen.
We had spent a whole day inside the chariots, still heading for my uncle and cousin's home town. The journey was fun with the likes of my cousin. She was so fun to speak with. When I would talk about school, she would listen patiently, and excitedly. She would pose all sorts of questions I'd never have imagined anyone would have loved to hear from my mouth. She asked me if I had any crushes, if there was a boy always poking at me during maths class, or if I drew caricatures of my teachers. We discussed all sorts of girly stuffs and filled ourselves with lots of laughter. At a point I was almost tempted to tell her I could talk with animals, but I restrained myself after second thoughts. Did I remember to mention that Roy had been seated all along on our chariot? It was not until the following morning that I found out. When it was dawn, I began to hear his wonderful morning song, and of course, the whistle was unmistakably Roy's.
Dorothy held my tattooed hand in hers. She smiled warmly at me, like she always does. Then she looked down in my hand. Suddenly, it was as if a thought struck her, then her countenance changed to that of puzzlement. I could tell from her searching eyes that something was really wrong. “Is something wrong?” I finally asked. She raised her eyes and looked into my face, then back at my tattoo. “Stephanie, I've never seen anything like this. How come you have your Arerat symbol inscribed on your palm?” “Huhn?” Could things be any more eccentric? Here I am trying to understand why I have this on my hand, and here you are asking me the same question. I quickly had an idea, so I said, “That reminds me. Let's ask Uncle Ramsey. He should be able to explain this right? His chariot is just right in front of ours.” She nodded. “I'm sure my
Not long after passing through the tax collector, our chariots pulled over before the ones called the Guardians. It just seemed that they were acquainted with my Uncle Ramsey and, hence, wasted no time on him. “For years,” Dorothy explained, “the Guardians have guarded our home from invaders who somehow managed to pass through the tax collector and wished to cross over to the other realms. At such, our world has know peace for as long as we existed, ourselves. Although there were plenty of enemies here, it had, literally, nothing to do with making a coalition with humans. Those of us who decided to live with humans, such as your parents, do so without letting their gifts get discovered.” I nodded my head. It was no wonder I could not, myself, tell if my parents had mystical gifts, and how they could not tell if I'd too. It was just transitive. We seemed to be entering a portal, or something of the kind. The wall on bo
I couldn't make any sense of why this weird old man in a gray robe was acting all frenziedly. Was he trying to act a sarcastic drama or something, just to lighten the air? Even if he had to do so, couldn't he at least give some respect to his reputation? If there was one thing I despised the most, it was a clown! Oh, those horrible fellas! I don't know how he was expecting me to react, but I wasn't going to fall for this. As I watched the old man raise a finger at me, a memory flashed into my head. I remembered when I was just five years old and my school had to go to the circus for an escortion. We had a wonderful time there, but no one expected what would happen next. A clown showed up. Standing some metres from me, he made a quick scream that made everyone's heart skip a beat. He stared at me as though I was a demon and began running. The other kids, seeing this, were so afraid that they had to run away from me. The teachers seemed to have fallen for th
I was surprised about what I'd just learnt from the Acorn Master. To think that that could have been the case — that I seemed to be emitting an aura of animal spirit. ‘Yo man, where I come from, that's an offense,’ I said within me. What sort of joke was this, anyway? Dieing from astonishment, the Acorn Master beckoned to an attendant that stood not too far from him to provide something he'd referred to as “Hall Token”. It was just something I'd compare to a bacon athletes use in racing, only that it was much more beautiful. There was a symbol of a beast on it with terrifying teeth that made me shudder. Stretching it to me, the Acorn Master explained: “This is a Hall Token that could be used only in the Beast Hall. It has my spirit aura in it, so you'd be let in, easily. It is a vouch for you to enter as someone deemed of the privilege.”
Unlike I expected, the kingdom of the Acorn Valley was divided into different smaller villages. It was amazingly beautiful — even more than I'd noticed it from above when I was on Roy. Soon, led by my uncle, we arrived before our apartment. It was nothing like I'd ever imagine. Something like those ancient Chinese compounds in some movies. It had beautiful carvings here and there on the walls of both man and beast. The compound housed several spare rooms that could house ten guests, each. In no time, I was shown the room that I'd be sleeping in. It wasn't luxurious, but was comfortable and pleasing to the eyes, nevertheless. There were empty shelves in the room, a big bed (much bigger than mine back home), and a toilet — gracefully — with a large bathtub. I had pleaded that Roy stayed with me in the same room, of which my uncle concorded with, after much, deep contemplations. I feared that something bad might happen to my Roy; this place
Waking up, I could see some vague figures hanging over my head. Brushing my eyes, I tried to make sense of what was happening. After some quick split-seconds, my memory was in order. I could remember fainting after seeing some hideous ladies in the kitchen. At the thought of this, I quickly surveyed the faces before me. Cousin Dorothy was with a much calmer and concerned expression. In fact, she even looked like she would cry if I continued staying motionless. Seeing my eyes meet hers, she took the moment to mouth ‘Sorry’. I tried smiling, but I was left with a panging feeling in my head. It seems like I'd struck my head hard when I fainted. “Hey, mademoiselle!” said Roy, with a shaky voice. I tried telepathic conversation with him, and it — surprisingly — worked out, without my raising more pain. I said, “Hey, buddy!”; he nodded in reply. Next was Uncle Ramsey. He had a serious, yet concerned, look on his face. &nb
‘Let's see who'll embarrass who?’ The man's face suddenly turned sour. “Are you challenging my judgement, young lady?” I gave a curtsey then said, “I'm very sure I can recognise this beast. It's a rare specie, so you people could most likely have mistaken it for the Copper-winged Eagle, right?” “This... so you know it's a Copper-winged Eagel?” he asked. “I know it's NOT a Copper-winged Eagel due to the visible characteristics of this bird. According to ‘Ancient Savage Beasts, Volume II,’ on the 26th shelve, on the first row of the 2-star Book Collection Vault, the 465th chapter, paragraph three, makes mention that the Copper-winged Eagle is widely known for its extremely sharp wings, and soft, or you can say ‘blunt’, claws. Yet, what I see before me is a very normal russet-coloured winged bed, and extremely sharp claws. Just by looking a
Indeed, in four hours' time, I was able to finish “reading” all three thousand books in the library. In fact, I'd actually used three hours and thirty minutes, while the remaining half an hour was used in digesting my newfound knowledge. “Ah,” I sighed gently, breathing out turbid gas from my lungs. I was seated cross-legged with my arms balance before my chest. If it hadn't been for the United Heavens cultivation method, I doubt I'd have had the energy to last this long. My eyes were crimson and unstable, I had to concentrate all my energy on recuperating. The cultivation method really worked wonders. At least, I'd regained half of my true essence reservoir that had been completely exhausted. Just as I walked towards the door, I met an angry faced girl. I immediately realised it was the girl I'd totally forgotten about when I turned every nook and cranny, touching all the books I could find. “You...”
The Beast Guild was entirely different from how the Beast Hall was. In the Beast Hall, there was only two floor levels. Inside these floors were the different halls with their different purposes. The Book Collection Vault there just contained hard-to-find practical knowledge books. However, the Beast Guild was different. The Beast Guild of the Junior Academy of the Gifted had six floors, and each floor covered everything according to the beast tamers' respective ranks. The first floor had its Main Hall, 1-star Book Collection Vault, Book Tamers' Examination Hall and Hall of Will. The same went with the second floor. In the second floor, there was little to no difference with the first floor. Only that this floor was in line with the 2-star rank. In the past, I'd already visited the first floor and acquired knowledge on beast taming of the 1-star level from every single book there. After my earlier epiphany, I was quite co
Opening my eyes, streaks of insight flashed through my eyes as quickly as it came. It was proof of making a breakthrough in my comprehensive knowledge. I had long expected to see everyone gathered around me, so I wasn't as surprised as I was in the past. My eyes locked with Roy's and I couldn't help but take a step backwards to view this buddy of mine properly. “Your wings...” Though I was surprised, I quickly was able to link the event that'd just happened with the blood essence mutation I'd seen in my spiritual consciousness. “Brilliant!” I heard someone's voice ring into my ear drums. It was Madman Fei's. I smiled at him and couldn't help but bow in reverence, and muttered “thank you”. If it wasn't for those strong thought-provoking words, none of these could have happened. “Hahaha! You're really an elite! Why do I feel you're not a teacher here?” sa
Everyone watched on with heated expressions and clenched fists. With what I was seeing around me, if not for this man's dominative aura and his beast mount, he'd definitely have been given a good round of pummeling. “It is true that from the very prime of your youths, you'd all been thought the orthodox way of beast taming, which is quite mild and cute.” Madman Fei rolled his eyes after saying the last word. He then snickered, and continued, “However, for a true man, we know that there are at times certain circumstances when being mild and... cute, could lead one to one's grave. Take the beast in question, anyway.” Everyone's eyes shifted to the beast by his side. “Bloody Fangs Panther are prideful beasts, and are well acknowledged for this. Due to their pride, it's next to impossible to tame them without proving yourself. They're just like women, in a way.” Some of the men began to giggle wh
‘Yawn!’ I stretched myself, letting out a large yawn, widening my mouth enough to swallow our room. So far, so good, this was the best sleep I'd had. Even the so called unconsciousness was actually not blissful. I'd been training in the Way of Disguise under the tutelage of my Old Ancestor. Firstly, I was made to learn how to disguise my aura, since my bloodline Gift granted me a pure and flexible true essence. I learnt how to perfectly imitate someone else's. If I willed it, I could even make people see me as a Divine realm expert! Secondly, I learnt shape-shifting. This one was very much tortuous! Using his true essence as a guide, I had to go through series of pains as he reworked on my bones to strengthen it, and also to make them much flexible than a normal human's. With this type of body, I could even be a perfect fit for gymnastics, back in my homeworld. My joy knew no boundary! With my ability, I could perfectly el
“Armed robbers!” They were holding long, sharp swords, and gave off very frightening killing intent from their body. Their faces were masked, and a quick headcount told us they numbered fifteen in total. Just when I thought all my classmates would hide quickly beneath the tables, I heard a snicker. Zhangkong said with a bone-piercing smile. “What a coincidence! You're fifteen, we're fifteen too! You're bullying, we bullied some humongous savage beasts some days ago and need to really practice on humans.” Of course, the robbers were immediately attracted to us, since Zhangkong's voice was made loud just enough for everyone to hear, through the use of true essence. “He's right!” Since Zhangkong had already started it, who was I to back down. And by the way, we really hadn't faced real people to test our combat improvement. After all, who'd want to give himself off for a beating. Thus, wouldn't it be a on
Soon, a nice fragrance streamed into our nostrils. “Ah, there it is,” Zhangkong pointed, with a glee in his eyes. Everyone reserved their comments, smiling widely as we strolled into a large restaurant that was big enough to roof fifty people. On the outside of the restaurant was a plaque carrying the following words: “Fu Family's Noodle Restaurant.” Zhangkong swerved through to the front desk where there was a man strolling leisurely and giving orders to the workers, casually. “Uncle Fu!” The old man turned his bulky body to reveal a slightly surprised expression, followed by a very pleased declaration. “Ah, so it's Young Master Zhangkong!” The two embraced one another, leaving everyone in a daze. ‘Young Master Zhangkong? Just what was the family background of this lad?’ It was obvious everyone shared the same questions, but decided against asking a
“She's awake!” an eerie voice was heard over my head, followed by some hurried footsteps. I tried to open my eyes slowly, which worked out effortlessly. “Stand aside.” A masculine spoke, causing my heart to race. It was all too familiar. It was from the last person I saw before I lost consciousness. I quickly raised my eyes to behold the white-robed man. “Teacher Haggz!” His cold eyes stared at me for a moment before he nodded. Then his brows suddenly furrowed as though he was in thoughts. “Stephanie!” the eerie voice came once more. It was none other than Lingxi, and following closely behind her was, on both sides, Jessica and Xueyi. Then there was Blackie, Jaded, Zhangkong, Mingming, Xuan'er, Ruby, Xianxian, Zhaohu, Toby, Tang and, lastly, Chang. My whole classmates! “You guys...” I was startled. Casting my eyes about, I realised I was back in