Make a decision

Summer holidays for students usually lasted two and a half months, but the exact duration depended on the educational institution.

Anon's vacation was exactly like that — two and a half months. Of these, he worked part-time at his aunt's store for a month. A lot of things have happened during this time.

Anon found out that his sister had successfully signed a contract and had already begun to fill her first beast soul. Once she can completely fill and stabilize it with her pet, she can try to create and condense her second beast soul. The formation of a second beast soul is an important milestone for a novice beast tamer. This is their first attempt to advance in level, and at the same time the most difficult.

Usually, the formation of a second soul of a beast takes place quickly — a month or two after its awakening. It is said that the first soul of a beast that a person acquires is special and closely related to the person himself. Therefore, she is more powerful and has a solid foundation upon awakening. Unlike the second and subsequent souls, which are formed from scratch.

After the awakening of the second soul of the beast, time is needed to stabilize it. Then you need to find the right beast to sign the contract. The process of saturating the second soul is different for each person and depends on many factors.

Anon also found out that several educational institutions and guilds were interested in his sister. His sister and mother have held preliminary talks, but have so far refrained from making decisions, deciding to wait for his father. However, they decided during the summer holidays, after the training camp, to check out these guilds and educational institutions for familiarization.

To his surprise, his older sister, Sursa, has already made her way to the 3rd rank thanks to her partner. Although she has not fully stabilized her rank yet, it is rumored that it will take some time. With each increase in rank, it becomes more difficult to stabilize the Contractor's soul.

While beast tamers, with each new soul, the difficulty and pressure increase. From Sarina's explanations, Anon learned that the second and third beast souls are the easiest to form.

After the third soul of the beast is formed, the beast tamer must create a so-called connection between the three souls and form a soul formation known as trinity. Only after creating this connection and strengthening the three souls can you try to create a fourth one. Without this connection and formation, all three beast souls can suffer greatly and even regress during the formation of the fourth. It is because of the creation of this bond that many beast tamers are stuck at the third level for a long time.

Anon's father spent many years trying to establish a strong bond between his first three beast souls. It was only after he succeeded that he was able to reach the fourth level and create the fourth soul of the beast. Now he is actively saturating his fourth soul and developing all four pets.

With each new level, the number of pets that need to be cared for and developed increases, which means that the resource consumption is also growing. Pet ranks increase, and the required resources become more high-quality and rarer.

This is one of the reasons why many cannot even reach the fifth level, let alone the sixth and seventh. That is why there are not so many beast tamers of the sixth and seventh levels.

Over the past month, Anon has gained a lot of experience in caring for various low-ranking pets. He also joined his aunt several times to witness her work promoting pet evolution.

Anon learned that the process of pet evolution is a difficult and painstaking work. To successfully implement it, you need to have in-depth knowledge not only about the type of pet itself, but also about its history.

To do this, it is important to understand which species the pet's parents belonged to, what it ate, what abilities it has, and much more. To identify all these factors, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis that will help determine preferences and directions of evolution.

Only then does the planning of the path of evolution begin. Yes, there are ways, because each type of pet can have several development options. It is in order to determine which one is most suitable for a particular pet that evolution planners were created. They not only identify the preferred path for a particular pet, but can also offer alternative options, taking into account the wishes of the client.

Anon could tell that his Aunt Sarina was completely dedicated to her work. He was so impressed by her enthusiasm that he caught it himself and realized that he, too, was attracted to this activity.

He watched with great pleasure as Sarina identified and helped new pets evolve. In those moments, he could see joy and satisfaction in his aunt's eyes, and it inspired him.

It was then that Anon decided to become a Contractor. Initially, he thought that this activity had many limitations.

First, although the contract is formed by the beast, it can only be concluded with one specific creature.

Secondly, the Contractor is almost completely dependent on the development of his ward. Only the advancement of the beast can lead to an increase in the rank of the Contractor.

Thirdly, there is a subordinate relationship with the ancestor of the beast with whom the contract is concluded.

There are other minor drawbacks to the Contractor's role, but Anon did not consider them as significant as these three main limitations.

He trusted Susu completely, but he couldn't trust his ancestor, the seventh—rank beast lord. Because of the curse and loneliness, Anon became independent, and the idea that in this world you need to rely only on yourself became stronger in his head. However, he understood that he could not always control his actions, because in life there are situations associated with the same forces as his curse, which can confuse and mislead.

In the end, he decided to trust Susu and become a contractor. Sarina showed him that you can enjoy life, even if you don't want to become a beast tamer or a contractor. You just need to find your place in this world and enjoy every day.

Right now, all Anon wanted was to not let Susu down and give her what she so desires. He was ready to sign any of the two possible contracts with her. It would not be a lie to say that on the one hand, he wanted to sign a contract with her as soon as possible, and on the other, he was filled with a bitter sense of loss, because he understood that he would never be able to become a beast tamer.

After finishing his last shift before the weekend, Anon went home and decided to call his mother on the way. However, his call was not immediately accepted.

"Anon?" came the mother's surprised voice.

"Hi, Mom,— Anon said with longing and slight resentment, greeting her.

"..." Sarah didn't answer. She was startled and a little confused. Her thoughts, like everyone else's, were confused by the curse.

"How are you doing?" Anon couldn't resist asking.

"Ah... we're fine. Anna is doing great right now. You should have seen how happy she is!" Sarah exclaimed happily, surprised at first, but then remembering everything that had happened to them lately.

"And you? Are you all right?" she asked uncertainly.

"Well, what could have happened to me? I'm fine," Anon hastened to assure her. He wanted to tell her a lot, but he didn't. He understood that it wasn't their fault, and his words would bring nothing but a little ego satisfaction, because after this call, she would most likely ignore most of their conversation.

"I'm calling you to let you know that I've decided to sign a contract with Susu. I ask you to contact her ancestor," Anon announced without further ado, immediately getting to the point.

"That's how..." Sarah, still not fully aware of what was happening, nevertheless clearly caught Anon's desire to sign a contract with Susu. — Okay, I'll contact my mother and tell her your wish. I'll let you know as soon as I get a response."

"That's great. Then that's it. Mom, say hi to Anna for me," with these words, Anon ended the conversation without waiting for her answer.

Sarah stood in thought for a while, looking at her smartphone. She didn't even have time to say anything before Anon ended the conversation. Then, using her contract with the ice fox, she contacted Aisa.

"Aisa, please contact your ancestor and ask her to contact my mother. Tell her that Anon wants to sign a contract with Raikishi's descendant," Sarah asked.

"Huh? Did the kid decide to sign a contract with this brat?" a melodious and surprised voice sounded in Sarah's head.

"Yes," Sarah replied.

"Good," agreed Aisa the fox.

Less than ten minutes later, Aisa's voice rang in Sarah's head again.:

"Sarah! I just got in touch with my ancestor. She talked to your mother. But..." Aisa paused, trying to find the words to convey her ancestor's message. —But after your mother and my ancestor received this message, they went to look for Raikisha, but they couldn't find her.

" What does it mean? Is she not there?" — Sarah was surprised.

"Yes, the ancestor and your mother couldn't find her. You know that, like that little girl, Raikishi is constantly moving around the continent, not staying in one place. There doesn't seem to be any area she hasn't visited. Usually, when she's not around, you can always guess where she is based on rumors. Everyone got so used to it that they stopped paying attention to it.

They asked others and found out that Rakishi left a few years ago, and since then there have been no rumors or news from her. No one knows where she is. If she had other descendants besides that girl, we would be able to find out where she is. But the girl hasn't awakened yet, has she? And without her, we are powerless to find out where this restless old fox is hiding."

Sarah rubbed her temples, realizing the complexity of the situation.

"And how do I tell him about this?" she didn't know how to break the news to her son Anon.

While Sarah was thinking about what to say to Anon, he talked to his mother and returned home. At the entrance to the dwelling, he was greeted by a hyperactive Susu. She knocked him to the ground and, whimpering, began to lick his face. Anon scratched her head with a smile.

While the two were enjoying a hug, a pair of purple eyes were watching them tenderly from the roof of a nearby house. No one suspected that Raikiri, the Susu ancestor who disappeared a few years ago, had been secretly following them for the past three years.