Beast Taming At Its Finest

Chase was standing in an open yard. The ground entirely made of dirt pathways with little vegetation. 

He was at the back of a large group of his classmates. His eyes were dry, and tired from all of the nights he had ended up staying up way too late.

It had been two weeks since the day his incomplete affinity had been exposed, at least that's what the other students were calling it.

Chase knew for a fact that he had an affinity, he had used it too slay The Naga for gods sake. 

However, his other classes since had not been all bad. He had learned many things about religions and the noble system in his Social Society class. An example would be- That there was a ranking system even within nobility. 

Strays stood at the bottom for obvious reasons, while Commoners, and labor workers were next in line. Soldiers, Knights, and Scholars, as well as other higher paying jobs were third in the rankings. 

Next came low-born nobles, and Higher class civilians. Then there were the High Nobles, such as Michael of House Everfrost and Equan of House Lightning. 

Royals followed, with Grand Nobles at the very top. Poppy of House Aries although the daughter of the queen, and adopted daughter of The Grand Paladin, she was among the status of a normal Royal. 

Chase kicked the dirt underneath him, waiting patiently for the beast taming teacher to arrive.

She was usually always late to the classes; however, you would expect her to make an early appearance of the most important day so far. 

Chase blinked tiredly, as Gabriel of House Envixity yawned, standing at his right-side.

"I'm about to go back to my dorm."

He said, losing interest in today's class.

Chase just shrugged, and thought of the recent teachings in his combat classes.

On the third day of his first year Professor Barren had, of course began instructing the class on how to form a combat style. 

He went into very little detail, and had answered the student's questions with his own questions, as he wanted them to truly learn their own way around a blade, or at least that is what Chase had assumed he was trying to do. 

Many of his classmates, had actually struggled with forming their own base, and form. Which had shocked the Stray boy. 

He had thought, that he would get to see some in depth sword styles, that he could import into his own; however, the only thing that he had learned was that he was already leagues above most students in that class. 

Of course, Poppy had refused to practice her combat style, as "It was already fully developed." She had told Professor Barren before they had begun. 

Finally, just as Chase was started to get frustrated at the thought of The Ivory Princess- A beautiful-white Griffin descended onto the clearing in front of the students.

Dust flew into every direction, as it flapped its wings violently, causing many students to shutter. 

The Griffin was very old, and was missing its right eye, as a large scar dragged along half of its aged face. 

It made a low grunted noise, as it lowered its back to let its master get down.

The young woman who had landed gracefully onto the dirt, was tall, and had braided black hair.

She had extremely tan skin, and tattoos that made for sleeves, and covered what had looked like her entire body. 

She was wearing a pair of light-armored shorts that shined metallic in the embrace of the sun.

A black sleeveless shirt was rustling in the wind, as she stretched her arms with a sigh.

"Class, uh... You guys already know what were doing so I'll just give some quick insight."

She rubbed her face with both hands, and pointed at a small cage within the lowest floor of the academy's walls that were surrounded by a stone brick foundation. 

Her dark purple eyes scanned the gathered students, and then began to walk over to the iron bars within the walls.

Behind the bars, was only the sight of pitch black shadows. 

"Today, you guys will be attempting to tame your first beast, of course you won't be keeping the beast, but class will end when the first student can maintain a friendly relationship with said beast."

A boy with black hair, and white highlights raised his hand before she could finish speaking. 

She gave him a quick look, and nodded, as she leaned against the stone walls. 

"What kind of beast is in there?"

She sighed, and pulled a lever, that slowly opened the iron gate. 

"A Manticore-"

Suddenly, many students recoiled, and began to panic before the teacher could even continue with what she had been saying.

She frowned, and gave a quick scowl at the students, as a roar echoed from the insides of the barred off cage. 

"Relax, it is a young manticore, and only rated at about five star in terms of its power."

Chase's eyes narrowed, looking through a small opening in-between the group of people in front of him. 

An adult Manticore was rated about eight stars if they are able to live long enough to grow that strong. 

Which was around as strong as The Naga Chase had already killed, so he wasn't necessarily worried; however, something about this trail had worried him.

Suddenly, the ground shook, and two gigantic sets of claws appeared, as they gripped the outside walls of the cage.

Two blue eyes, began to glimmer inside of the shadowy cage, as a low growl escaped the lips of the Manticore. 

The beast then made itself known, as it slowly exited the darkness.

It stood about twice the height of the tall professor, who was wearing an amused expression on her chiseled face. 

It had large patches of fur that covered most of its body, and light-brown skin underneath the golden fur. 

The Manticore, had a massive Lion head, a black scorpion tail, and two sets of frail bat-like wings on its back. 

'Ah.'

Suddenly, Chase could not take his eyes off of the beautiful creature, as he noticed that his fists were clenched together, and his palms had grown sweaty. 

Professor Zelenna smirked, and looked at the students.

"Any volunteers?"