Just before his brain started making sense of what just happened, Rheo felt an itch at the back of his right hand.
He raised his hand to take a look, it was a blue strange symbol, one gotten when a contract was formed with a monster.
Rheo gave it a closer look, the blue symbol resembled a single claw, or more like a talon, given its length, this symbol marked the beginning of one's journey as a monster ranger, these people became Earth's defense against monster threats and guardian of monster pets!
The eyes of the military official caught the symbol, and just like that, everyone's eyes were on his hand.
"He got the contract?"
"That is a unique process, I mean, why did the contract circle light go out?"
"Well, his pet did get absorbed into his soul void and he got the talent mark, which means it was successful"
Murmurings broke out among the crowd, and with the clearing of the military official's throat, the noise seemed to die down.
Right now, Rheo was faced with many questions that he wished someone could answer for him, he tried to calm down and leave the contract circle for the next candidate but the thought kept resurfacing.
In fact, as he walked out and went back into the crowd, he was absent-minded and didn't even know when the ceremony was concluded.
What was the interface, was it a message from his father, Did his contract with Raizen trigger the system? Where did Raizen get absorbed into, was it really his soul void?
After the ceremony was concluded, he went to the restroom.
"Ok, I have got this, I should just focus on linking my consciousness with Raizen, after all, I actually unlocked a class, I'm a player right?"
The word came like a speeding boat, "Wait, what is a player?, the interface said I'm a player that just unlocked the monster ranger class"
Rheo mind swiveled around the haunting thought, he could remember what the interface wrote vividly, all the notifications that were appearing on each monster followed by the error signal.
"Yes, only Raizen was compatible with the system optimization, what system?"
"And how could the system detail every name of the monsters in the hall within seconds"
Rheo was losing his mind, this was the kind of thing one would only find in sci-fi movies hundreds of years into the future, it was like a supercomputer chip was implanted in his head, showing him an interface and providing the monster's name.
He took a look at his right hand where the mark was.
"Raizen"
Rheo tried to call the bird, he spoke out and also tried to call him in his mind, but there was no response.
"Wait a minute, what is a Monster Ranger without a pet monster, how will I resume without Raizen"
Another haunting thought materialized, Rheo found himself between two dilemmas, but he smiled.
If he should go get another pet monster, he would need to contract it before resumption, however, how would he explain this talent mark when asked at school, after all, they would need to get their monster registered.
Rheo left the restroom, the path opened to the spacious hall, almost everyone had left, some could be seen summoning their monster pets and making them do some little trick for show.
"Raizen!! Raizen!" He called multiple times in his mind but there was no response.
"Damn it, our mind should have been linked, where did it get absorbed into?"
Rheo left the hall to board a cab home, right now, he needed to awaken his power fast, perhaps, he could telepath with Raizen after awakening the ability.
The worst case was that there was no ability, with the mark only acting as a sign of a successful contract.
As he reached the outside, Rheo tried to walk for a bit to get some fresh air and settle his mind.
He passed by a small boy whose hand was held by his mother, the boy held a small puppy with silk black furs beside him in chains.
The black puppy was wagging its tail which seemed a little too long for its small body.
"Is that not an electric-type monster?"
Rheo mused, that tail was actually not a tail, but a mutation of a dog and an electric eel"
A symbiotic monster, two in one, there were many monsters like that, where two monsters exist in one organism. He had read about monsters like that in his dad's research book.
Every now and then, there were visible purple sparks of electricity around the black tail.
"Mom, look at a monster ranger, I wanna contract Waggy"
The boy pointed to Rheo while the mother turned to give a cute smile.
[Electric-tailed black puppy: symbiotic monster]
Rheo turned back to continue his stroll, however, he felt like he missed something, something shimmering red atop the puppy monster's head.
"What could that be?" He asked himself and then turned back to check.
There it was, like an interface, projecting the whole details of a monster, never-before-seen data was there for him to see.
[Monster: Electric-tailed puppy]
[Level: 3]
[Grade: Iron (uncontracted)]
[Type: Electric]
[Stats: STR 4 | AGI 6 | END 5 | INT 7 ]
Skills:
[Charge Whip – Stretching, electrified tail whip]
[Electric bolt– Medium-range electric bolt]
[Static Sense – Detects movement via electromagnetic pulses]
[Lightning Beam (locked) (Lv.30+) – High-power electric beam]
[Trait: Conductive Hide – Absorbs ambient energy; resists electric damage]
[Temperament: Loyal, playful, thrives in storms]
"The fuck!"
Rheo almost went crazy.
"What is with these tremendous details, even the government and private monster research team would pay so much for a monster ranger that could provide this level of details"
The black puppy continued wagging its long tail, sizzling with purple electric sparks.
"WHIP!!" Rheo saw it—just now, the monster's tail had whipped down an unfortunate rat.
[Electric-tailed Puppy has used skill: Charge Whip]
The rat convulsed violently on the pavement, purple arcs of electricity crackling across its writhing body—then, silence. It lay still, its body completely scorched!