Initiation

Rowan has been waiting for this day since the time he was born - oh..correction! Since the day he has transmigrated. 

Are you wondering what's so special about today ? 

Today is the day they choose beast tamers at the academy !!!

Hmm..!!! you ask what's so special about beast tamers ? … To answer that question, we need a brief history lesson. 

The nation was besieged with mana and beasts twenty years ago. 

Heroes emerged through the crisis, and they established bases. 

However, mana ghosts and demon beasts are as numerous as water drops in the ocean. Bases are like islands waiting to drown in the chaotic sea of rampant beasts and demons. 

During this time, hope has arisen once more. 

That hope is 'B.E.A.S.T. T.A.M.E.R'...

Ten years ago, an extraordinary scientist in Base A created the beast tamer profession. 

Some humans could bond with beasts through a beast crystal. 

These beast owners are the only ones who are capable of traveling from base to base, opening up trade, technology exchange and all sorts of cool things. 

They brought civilization from the dark age to the electric bulb in terms of the effect they have on society. 

Ofcourse, these beast tamers earn well. 

It's the coolest profession in this post-apocalyptic world, far cooler than Astronaut or Fighter pilot… 

Overtime, the beast crystal's price soared into the sky. 

Out of necessity, bases raised beast tamers. So, the school provided fees for the first initialization to become a beast master.

If he missed this chance, Rowan might never get another one in his life. 

Rowan held the crystal excitedly, and walked towards the beasts eagerly.

Only, None of the beasts looked at him. 

Worse yet, all the beasts here seem to be too basic. 

The horses are the size of donkeys, the transporter dragons the size of horses .. all of the beasts looked a bit under the weather. 

What's happening here? 

He should have gotten a prompt by now, asking whether he wants to bond with a certain beast by now. At least so, if he remembered what was said by the teacher correctly. 

A prompt, which only he should see. 

Yet, there's no prompt. 

Rowan smelled foul play. After all, isn't that how all the stories go ? the protagonist must be wronged for a talentless canon fodder. 

He paused for a second as he gave back the crystal, and watched the expressions of the teachers .

The teacher on the right side with notepad looked like he could barely hold his laughter in. 

He looked like he had known this is the expected result, almost like he was laughing at an insider's joke; Not an ounce of pity in his gaze. 

"Rowan Pendragon , Ordinary." he said, putting the crystal back. 

Rowan kept his sight on the man. The teacher's shoulder twitched, a minute tremor, which only happens when one of the fingers is bearing too much weight. 

Strange ! Too strange ! The teacher's emotional response is strange. Even if he held no love for the student, the teacher at least should have been concerned about his own performance record. As such, this smug half smile is strange. 

On top of it, his physical micromovements while taking the orb are also strange. 

A man can do a hand sleight perfectly, but they can not control the twitch of their shoulder blade. 

Rowan had a feeling the crystal he held to get the beast had a problem from the beginning, due to deception of the teacher in front of him. 

This is the kind of event only a main character or protagonist gets. 

Am I a protagonist? He wondered. 

This world, he recognized because it resembled the intro he read in the book before he transmigrated.

Only, he did not read it past the first chapter. He did not know the main character's name, and he did not think it's himself. 

If it is a teacher stealing a student's resource, what would he do? 

Rowan forced himself to remember. 

Ah! 

The crystals are kept in a tray, and given to each student as they come by. 

Till then, they are kept under extreme security, 

Think .. Think ! Where does the switch happen? 

Then, a person came out of the teachers room, holding a tray.

The used up crystal was placed in the tray. 

It was only then it struck Rowan. 

All the crystal holding devices are made of weight pressure alarms. 

All one would have to do is place the real skill orb on the tray used for discarding empty orbs. 

Then bring back the same empty skill orb to him. 

The Orbs will probably be checked by someone before they are fed to the destroyer. However, security around them is lax. 

After all, empty skill orbs are like discarded syringes. They are not monitored at all. So, taking or replacing an orb then will be a piece of cake. 

"Pssh … Psssh..Edy! Do you know where the orb destroyer is? " he asked his friend. 

"Hey ! What mischief are you planning now ? Orb destroyers are very expensive equipment. You can't play pranks on it. " 

"Come on, man! Tell me. I promise I am not doing any mischief. " Rowan promised. 

Edy is the city lord's son. 

He always knows all sorts of information, no matter how small or big. 

"Fine. It's in the east wing." Edy told him. 

"If anything happens there, It's not related to me." Edy said, answering him.

"Thanks man." Rowan told him, before sneaking out of the room carefully. 

East wing is guarded by guards, but they were relaxed, as they were guarding only the empty orbs. 

Rowan hid behind a drum, slowly opened a window into the room orb destroyer is placed in. 

He watched the guards to make sure they were still immersed in their card game. 

Seems the corrupt teacher is acting alone. 

With a single jump, Rowan entered the room. 

After all, jumping walls is his speciality. 

He walked over to the place where orbs are stored in a basket. 

The unused Orb is all too easy to notice, as it's the only one glowing golden. 

Rowan placed his hand on the orb. 

He did not remove it from the basket. 

Almost all orb placement devices have weight triggers. If he removes the orb, he will alert the whole school. 

As expected, the prompt showed up this time. 

[ Shepherd system ready to integrate. ] 

[ Begin Integrating ] ( yes ) ( no ) 

Rowan said Yes without further ado. 

[ Integrating system ] 

[ 01 %] 

…

…

Footsteps sounded outside. 

Rowan hid behind the orb destroyer as much as possible, keeping his hand inside the basket. 

The orb destroyer is in a half walled room. People could see the general state of things from one side, but not all. 

Thankfully, this person did not seem interested in peeking inside. 

Sweat gathered on Rowan's forehead. 

This system is taking far too long to load. 

The guard put the empty orbs in the socket at the end of a stick. They push the rod towards the basket holding orbs through a special hole in the window, turning the stick with the socket upside down throwing the orb in the basket meant for empty orbs. The room stays locked. 

The solid glass orbs almost a kg in weight fell right atop Rowan's fingers touching the orb.

Rowan bit his free hand to stop himself from making sound. 

Even with that, his eyes watered from pain as the glass orb dropped straight onto his fingers from the top. 

Rowan held onto the glass orb through sheer dumb will at this point, as orb after orb dropped on his hand. 

Finally, after an hour, he saw the end of the system loading. 

[ 100 % ] 

[ Detected spirit less copies of various beast systems. ] 

[ Read the beast systems ? ] (yes) ( no) 

Rowan chose yes. 

His head felt like it was splitting as the knowledge started flowing in. 

Afraid he will make a sound and attract the attention of the guards, Rowan stuffed himself into the cupboard. He removed his vest and stuffed it in his mouth, preventing himself from making noise.

He screamed and screamed silently in pain before passing out . 

What he didn't know was that the cupboard he jumped into belonged to the orb destroyer. 

Before the destruction began, the machine lifted the cup board, emptied it out into the garbage truck. 

Due to this, he missed a great deal of drama. 

Rowan woke up in the middle of night, in the stinky garbage truck. 

Thankfully, the school did not have any garbage to throw today, or he would be covered in filth from top to bottom, while waiting for death in the incinerator. 

Even if not for the generic trash, it looked like his own body excreted a lot of filth. 

Rowan climbed up holding the garbage dump's wall. He jumped out. He was able to land barely on after spraining his knees. 

He stank to seventh hell. 

It was only when his eyes fell on the road did he realize. 

He could see clearly now. 

He had spectacles. He was short sighted. Not in the 'need glasses to read' way, but 'had to grope in the day without glasses' kind of way. 

His own appearance of moderate height, chestnut curls, dimpled cheeks and brown eyes, Rowan figured he was probably a canon fodder. 

Even his academics are average, and he has a sister, lived in the slums of the H base. 

By all the clues, he has the makings of a filler quest character if it were a game, and a random artisan who sells the needed potions to hero or heroine when time comes. That is when considering the best circumstances. 

The worst circumstances are like right now; Died in a garbage dump without anyone knowing. So that his death could be used as a belated plot point if needed. 

As he walked his body felt too light, his eyes could see too clearly even in the night. It's almost protagonist level !

The sounds of the night are so clear and distinctive in his ears, it is unbearable. 

" Status. " Rowan said aloud. 

[ Name: Rowan Pendragon ] 

[ Occupation : Shepherd (S) ] 

[ Associated animal systems : 223 ] 

[ All five senses currently active. ] 

What ?! 

Shepherd is a 'S' level system? 

Why? 

He did not want to be the protagonist of the story. He only wanted to be the happy golden finger side character, who can adventure as he pleases in his own time. 

He thought the teacher was just trying to make quick money by stealing an orb, but looking at his stats, he might have stumbled on something amazing. 

"Show active senses." He said. 

[ Night Vision : On ] 

[ Vision correction : On ] 

[ Radar Hearing : On ] 

…

..

There were few more like that, including smell, taste and sixth sense. 

"Turn everything off, save for vision senses and sixth sense." Rowan ordered.

He walked home from the garbage dump, sticking to small dirty alleyways. 

By the time he reached home, it's almost dawn. 

His little sister was sleeping on the sofa. 

She must have cried herself to sleep, Rowan could tell. 

He taught her again and again that if one fine day, he did not come home, she could not go outside searching for him. 

She must wait for him inside the home, all windows locked, doors locked. 

As long as he did not come, she must check all locks when she leaves home, when she comes back home. 

She learned well. 

All the windows are locked. The door's three locks are locked. 

Thankfully, the bathroom is communal. 

It's connected to a well, and the bucket is tied well to prevent people from stealing it. 

He fetched water for himself, and washed himself from head to toe. 

It is only after he made sure he did not stink at all even with the smelling sense that he stopped washing. 

He knocked on the door gently, waking his sister. 

She jumped up on the second knock. 

When she saw his face through the window, she rushed to open the door. 

Rowan thought he would get a hug, but he got a kick in the shins instead. 

"You bastard! You made me worry so much for nothing." his sister said, glaring at him.