Gathering. The association. The ceremony.

While Anon was once again rereading the beginner's guide to beast tamer, a notification came to his smartphone.

Anon packed his things in a hurry, then looked at the time on his smartphone and read the message sent by the school administration, left the library and headed to the assembly hall.

The message was addressed to all students who turned 16 this year. In the message, they were all asked to gather in the assembly hall.

Every year at this time, all the high schools cooperated with the Beast Tamer Association and organized all the students fit for the awakening ceremony.

After going down to the first floor, Anon quickly reached the entrance to the school hall. There were already a lot of people. This year, almost all of the first-year students turned 16, and everyone was looking forward to the moment when they could become beast tamers.

Becoming a beast tamer can dramatically change your life. Everyone will notice you right away. You'll be famous right away. For guys, this is a chance to become popular among girls. And for girls to become popular among their peers and the opportunity to change their school.

Everyone benefited. The students themselves, their parents, and even the school. The more their students can become tamers, the more famous the school will become and the more support it will receive.

Speaking of schools, Anon's school was one of the public schools for ordinary people. It was mainly attended by children who had not yet undergone the awakening ceremony and those who had not been able to awaken.

There were separate schools for those who became beast tamers and Contractors. More advanced and highly focused.

Upon entering the school hall, Anon quickly found a corner where his classmates from Class 1C were gathered and joined the crowd unnoticed by everyone. Everyone was sharing their excitement and whispering among themselves.

Soon, several adults entered the hall, attracting the eyes of all the students.

"It's the director!" someone from the crowd said, recognizing a middle–aged man with gray hair and stubble among them.

The headmaster, along with other teachers, quickly walked onto the stage and onto the podium under the eyes of all the students.

"Greetings, dear students. I think you've all received notifications from the school and already know why you're all gathered in this school hall today. Although what I'm saying, you all know very well what kind of day it is today. The day that all of you have been waiting for. So, I won't keep you too long."

After which, after saying a few parting words, the director looked towards the teachers, who simply nodded to the director and began to disperse and begin the roll call for classes.

The roll call didn't take long. Everyone who was on the list has already gathered in the school hall. Of course, Anon was on the list of Class 1C students. Because of the curse, the teacher who held the roll call called him once and, after clarifying his presence, immediately turned his attention to the next student.

Although Anon's school was an ordinary school, there were some favorites and leaders among the students. Each class had its own leaders and outstanding students. Two students have been popular in the class since the beginning of the school year. One of them is a tall young guy with attractive appearance, white hair. His name was Jimmy Rykon.

The idol of almost all the girls in the class. While the guys couldn't help but envy him. Even Anon was secretly jealous of his popularity. After all, he was the exact opposite of Jimmy. Even if Anon wanted to, he couldn't compete with him. Although Anon's appearance is not that bad. At least in his opinion.

The second was the beautiful class leader, activist, cheerful and ready to help everyone, and just smart Saria Hall. She had an attractive appearance, all the volumes were in place. Long black hair and a beautiful face without makeup.

Everyone in the class unknowingly considered Jimmy and Saria to be the perfect couple. In reality, the two of them considered each other almost their sworn enemies. It wasn't that they hated each other. They were just both equally popular and smart. From the moment they enrolled, they immediately realized that his other rival.

As an outsider, Anon could roughly understand the characters of these two. They were not bad, purposeful and decent, and not those characters from the stories who would only pretend to be in public, but inside they were still bastards, full of intrigue and cruelty.

Although Anon couldn't absolutely say that. But at least he trusted his intuition.

"I wonder if one of these two will be able to wake up?" thought Anon.

After the roll call of all the students, they were all led out of the assembly hall to the parking lot in an orderly manner and put on buses. The students quickly took their seats and the buses started moving towards the association of beast tamers.

The Beast Tamers Association was located in the center of the city in a large multi-storey building. All floors of this multi-storey building belonged to the association. This building housed all the structures responsible for overseeing the activities of the beast tamers and Contractors in this city.

Because of today, many beast tamers and Contractors have been recalled and drafted to ensure the safety of the students. The government was very careful about protecting the students on the day of the ceremony.

Many years ago, evil Beast tamers and Contractors staged mass attacks on students in many cities of humanity. The protection at that time was not as thorough as it is now. As a result of the terror, many newly minted tamers died. Among them were those who were able to awaken the talent of a beast tamer.

This day was called a Black Day. And every year at this time, before the awakening ceremony began, all of humanity held a minute of silence to honor the memory of those who died that day.

The whole day at the Beast tamer Association was scheduled by the hour. Today, students from many schools came to participate in the awakening ceremony. In addition to high school students, there were participants from private schools, guilds, and closed families.

There were so many participants that it was simply impossible to fit them all at the same time in one building. Therefore, the ceremony is conducted in groups.

Anon High School was included in the group of participants hosting afternoon classes.

Upon arrival at the association, the group before them was already finishing, and Anon's group was quickly escorted off the buses and inside. Upon entering the building, everyone was identified by checking their status cards to prevent unwanted intruders.

Time was running out and there were several more such groups to be held today. Anon didn't understand all the hype. Why couldn't the ceremony have been held in a few days, but you have to do it all in one day? And those who are not yet sixteen years old have to wait another four months before the next awakening session begins. After all, the ceremony is held once a quarter. Only four times in one year.

Everyone was quickly checked, and as soon as the previous group was finished, they were led out of the large room prepared for the ceremony, and the group with Anon was led there. The room was large enough to accommodate all the participants who arrived. In the middle of the room was a small empty stage in the shape of a circle.

Once inside, everyone sat down in prepared places on the floor around this stage, and while waiting for further events, everyone felt a strong pressure and felt an inexplicable beast fear. Under confident footsteps, a young man walked onto the stage in front of everyone.

His very presence was different from the rest of the people in the room. Although the appearance was not much different from the rest. He was attractive, young, with short black hair, eyes as black as the abyss, and wearing a long black raincoat.

Every single one of them realized that this was not just a young man, but a high-level beast tamer from the association. This is the person who will conduct the awakening ceremony.

"Greetings to all. My name is Kalfrid Blackheart," the young man introduced himself.

"I'm a level 7 beast tamer!" - as soon as Kalfrid said this, the hall was filled with gasps of surprise and bulging eyes.

It became difficult for everyone to breathe. A real level 7 beast tamer. No one could have imagined that a Level 7 tamer himself would hold an awakening ceremony. Usually, the ceremony was conducted by a maximum of level 5 beast tamers.