Ch 3 : The Odd Situation

Yohan couldn't sleep all night, his mind stuck on what Brian had said.

"I gotta become a beast master if I wanna control my own fate," he kept telling himself.

He recalled what Brian said about the different levels of beast masters:

Iron,

Bronze

Silver.

These are the first three levels of a beast master.

But he wondered how they decided who was what.

They might have some sub levels too, I have so much to learn.

"How did this guy not even know the basics about his own world?" Yohan thought, getting frustrated.

As he thought about it, memories of arriving in this weird world flooded back. When his soul first came to this world and merged with this body there was only the memory of his bizarre name D-31 and that classroom.

"Did I end up in the body of someone who was experimented on?" Yohan wondered,

Thinking about it all.

"Do I have any special powers or something?"

He looked at himself, hoping maybe he'd discover some cool superpower, but nothing happened.

"Man, I really need a full body check-up," he thought,

"But I gotta figure out how to get out of this mess first."

Morning had already arrived, the sun shining brightly in the sky, the soldiers had already left the hall.

My stomach churned with hunger. It had been nearly two days since I'd last eaten.

Frowning, I approached Brian and voiced my concern.

"Aren't they going to give us anything to eat?"

"Hungry already? Well, you're just 12 years old. You can't even absorb the elemental energy in the air," Brian replied.

"Don't worry. They've already started barbecuing the meat. Maybe we'll get some too."

As Brian spoke, I noticed soldiers approaching us, carrying large pots in their hands.

"Let's go before everything's finished," Brian urged.

I joined the line like everyone else and waited for my turn.

Finally, when I reached the soldier, he gave me a scrutinizing look and handed me a very small piece of meat.

Observing the larger portions on others' plates, I frowned and questioned,

"Hey, why is my share so small? I also haven't eaten for several days now."

The soldier shot me a stern look and replied,

"Shut up and keep moving. If our supply wasn't damaged, do you think you'd even get the chance to eat bronze-level meat?"

Then, Brian's voice came from behind me.

"Sorry, sorry. He's just a kid. He didn't even know about the beasts before this."

"Move along, bumpkin," the soldier gruffly commanded.

Grumpily, I moved aside and sat in a corner, and Brian followed suit.

"You should try to keep quiet and not contradict the guards," Brian advised.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, I don't think these are normal guards, you know," Brian replied.

"What's not normal?" I inquired.

"For starters, they're much stronger than the usual guards tasked with transporting prisoners. They handled a surprise attack from a pack of bronze-level Gale wolves with just four casualties. It means most of them are at least bronze level," Brian explained.

"And these prisoners are also not normal. Look at that guy with the bald head; he's a serial killer from District 11. I heard he has silver-level strength. And the guy with the unshaven beard and long hair, He was a guard commander who killed his own subordinate for money. You know you must have silver-level power to be assigned as a guard commander in any city. Most of these prisoners have at least bronze to silver-level strength.

And lastly, you, a 12-year-old with a life sentence.

Something very wrong is going on here," Brian said grimly.

"What about you? If everyone here is abnormal, what did you do to get here?" I questioned.

"Well, I'm very normal. I just killed some people who should have been killed," Brian replied with a smile.

"Normal? If you're normal, then everyone's a saint here," a voice came from behind me.

I turned to see a soldier approaching us.

"Kid, if I were you, I'd stay away from him. This guy butchered a family of four and a whole squad of patrol guards in a single night," the soldier warned.

A shiver ran down my spine at the soldier's words.

I glanced at Brian's smiling face.

"Shit! Why did I forget that everyone here is a criminal?" I thought to myself.

"What's wrong? Scared?" Brian asked me.

I stood up and moved away as far as I could from there.

"I know what you're trying to do, but don't even think about it," the soldier said sternly.

Brian just smiled at him without saying anything.

After distancing himself far away from the other convicts Yohan went near the bodies of the wolves as it was the only place where no one was sitting and sat down with his food.

"I need to calm down and figure out a way to get out of here fast."

Looking at the small piece of meat in my hand, I thought,

"I should eat something first."

Taking a bite, I found it really tough to chew, like rubber.

"Why is this so hard?" I wondered.

But after that one bite, I felt like I'd just chugged two energy drinks.

"Wow, this small piece really fills you up," I thought, feeling energized and satisfied.

As Yohan gazed at the wolf carcasses, a thought struck him:

"If the meat is this tough even after cooking, the bones must be as hard as steel."

I stood up and went near the wolf, carefully reaching out to touch it, I was startled when a transparent panel materialized before me, hovering in the air.

My heart raced with excitement.

"Finally, after nearly a month, my transmigration perk is finally here,"

Yohan thought, his anticipation mounting.

There were three options before him:

[Extract memories]

[Extract genes]

[Extract core](missing core)

With the extract core option being greyed out.

I called out in my mind,

"Extract memories and genes."