Inside the peaceful room, there was a boy with closed eyes. He was in the lotus position, sitting right next to the pond. Stream, birds, and fish, living here have long ago forgotten about him and continued their usual life, paying no attention to the boy. If not for his chest moving, he could replace a statue now. It was already the nth hour since he started his meditation session.

‘Focus, feel the energy, let it flow through your veins.’

Instructure from the Purple Tide meditation manual flashed through his mind when Nero kept controlling his inner energy. Thanks to his previous effort, right now he could send small buds of his inner energy across whole his body in both directions unlike before. Besides, the useful effects of the alchemic procedure haven’t ended yet, and it brought many advantages to him.

Unlike before, Nero could control more buds of energy and with each new hour, more and more energy passed through his source and flowed through the veins. As that energy-rich with medical effects passed through them, small particles stayed on them, slightly strengthening and widening them.

Even though it was painful, and felt like his body was ready to burst from pain, Nero bit his teeth and continued, bearing the pain. His goal wasn’t to storm his next wall, the next rank, but to improve his control over the inner energy he already had and try to increase his reserves. So, now he continued to send and return one bud of energy after another, sending them into different parts of the body and experimentation with them.

To enter the next rank, Nero needed to gather as much inner energy as possible and storm his source with them, launching a change. Fortunately, his reserves increased with each new day. His breakthrough was inevitable, but the spoils which he could get from the natural one, doing nothing and the effort-taking one, differed. In the first case scenario, Nero would just increase his reserves, make his source pass through the change, becoming bigger, but for his Purple Tide meditation manual and its Strengthening of Veins, he already needed to pour bits of his energy on his veins. So, partial control over his inner energy was a necessity for this technique.

Besides, Nero needed to be careful because he had only one chance during the breakthrough, the only period when his veins and body will be much easier to impact. That’s why now, he kept training his control while hours slowly passed outside.

When Nero finally opened his eyes, it was already the middle of the night. Sweat covered his whole body, but there was no fatigue, but easiness all over his body and mind. Stretching his body, Nero smiled, satisfied with the meditation session before leaving his meditation room. He made it, he increased his reserves, using the impact from the procedure and improved his control. It was another small step towards the next rank.

...

..

.

‘Doggone! What type of training is this?’

These were Nero’s thoughts when he kept holding a sole log on his small shoulders while he kept running across the training ground. Even though it was just a training replica with decreased weight; it was his first time bringing anything so heavy in his life. Beads of sweat kept appearing on his face, and fatigue slowly crawled into his body.

“Don’t slow down.”

“Increase your pace.”

“Your log is your wounded comrade. You can’t let it fall.”

“Enemies give a damn about how hard it is for you, they will just shoot you in the back.”

Thanks to his constant urges Nero kept pushing, moving forward, and half an hour later when he made his last lap across the training ground, he threw a log from his shoulders with satisfaction on his face. He already wanted to ask about his next exercise when Primus appeared and caught his arm before a familiar rope appeared there.

Following that, it didn’t take long before all his limbs had similar ropes, adding additional weight for him to carry.

“You know what to do. Let’s see how many push-ups you will make this time,” said Primus, folding his arms while Nero started making push-ups.

...

..

.

“This time I want to see how long you can keep using your inner energy,” said Primus, taking a wooden sword and adjusting his stance. “Imprint small buds of inner energy both into your thrust and hit.”

Following his words, Primus made a clear and fast thrust with his left arm and hit an imaginary opponent with his right. A faded line of the indescribable color followed his every hit.

Soon, with those ropes on his limbs, Nero raised his sword and repeated after him. Only a weak shade of blue followed each his move.

At first, it wasn’t hard, but with each new extra set of thrusts and hits, more sweat beads appeared on his forehead while a small tinge of pain appeared on his limbs. Besides, Nero also used his inner energy in his training and half an hour later a feeling of inner fatigue joined the rest when he started running out of energy.

Only when an hour later since the start of the training, Nero fell without reaching the ground, caught by the Primus.

“Enough, rest a bit, Young Master. Inner energy depletion is not a joke. Here, take it, it will help,” said Primus, giving Nero a bottle with a green liquid.

Nero, who felt a strong thirst, just quickly gulped a portion of the liquid before realizing that it wasn’t water when something hot passed through his throat.

“What’s that?” asked Nero, putting away the bottle, making Primus grin at him.

“You don’t know?” asked Primus with a clear interest in his eyes.

Nero’s answer made him release a short laugh before he gulped the rest of the bottle.

“That’s alcohol, Young Master. A unique one which can restore inner energy reserves in hours,” said Primus as he put away the bottle with a satisfied expression on his face. “Congratulations on your first time, how is it?”

“Bitter and burning,” said Nero as he coughed while Primus started laughing at his words.

Following his words, Nero spent the next hours completing different exercises and when their intensive training session ended, he could barely walk, heavily relying on his maid.

...

..

.

Trapped inside two soft, but strong arms, Ethel had no choice except for watching. Right now, he, his master, and his maid were in the garden together with a familiar small scoundrel who tried to trespass on his territory. So, Ethel could only glare at that cub with no chance to tear it and he informed his master what he would do with that piece of bright fur.

‘I will tear apart.’

“Will tear apart.’

‘Tear apart.’

Regardless of all his efforts, his master ignored him and kept talking with his maid.

“So, what should I do?” asked Nero, looking at the calm tiger cub which was now licking his arm, paying no attention to the trapped and enraged griffon. It should have realized that Ethel could do nothing to him.

“Take it, Young Master,” said Clara, giving an ordinary-looking scroll to him.

“What is that?” asked Nero with a clear curiosity on his face.

“A standard taming pact. An experienced tamer imprinted part of his aura inside this small piece of paper. Even though you can’t feel it, all beasts and monsters can,” said Clara, pointing at the cub which distanced a bit from Nero and now looked at him with caution in his eyes.

“You want me to use it?” asked Nero with a certain realization as he looked at the small cub.

“Yes,” said Clara, supporting his deduction. “Just imprint cubs and your droplet of blood on the paper and the scroll will finish the rest.”

“Alright,” said Nero, imprinting his blood and turning at the cub, watching how strongly its reaction changed this time. Unlike before, when it was just wary of him, now that small cub jumped back even further from him. It started growling, showing its small fangs and claws as if Nero was its mortal enemy.

Of course, such behavior puzzled Nero, and he turned to Clara, looking for an explanation.

“This is what I wanted to show you, Young Master,” said Clara.

“A display of the ancient instincts passed through the bloodline,” said Clara, raising her arm and pointing at the cub. “In the beast world, the bloodline and its rarity play a huge role. The rarer it is, the stronger the beast is. Besides, they pass certain knowledge, hidden in their blood to their cubs, and pass it through the generations. This what makes these tigers stronger than other wild beasts.”

The small cub considered her gesture as an unknown signal and also started growling at her while Nero touched his thin, pondering about her words. Now, many things which looked weird for him in Ethel started forming certain puzzles.

“This cub was born here. It never left the complex and grew together with other cubs, but it still knows about the danger of losing freedom, holding inside that scroll. Fascinating, right?” asked Clara as she turned to Nero.

“Indeed,” said Nero.

“That’s why, Young Master, remember this scene and remember the fact that there will always be something which might be much more important for the beast,” said Clara as she made a certain gesture after which the cub stopped growling and calmed down, sitting on his place. Here, the beast is too small. He is not used to relying on instincts and he is well-trained, but in other cases, it’s even possible to lose control over the beast.”

While Clara kept explaining that, Nero listened attentively to her words.

“That’s why we-tamers make so many efforts to develop our talent, improve it and learn different techniques and manuals to increase our control. Be it forced or a voluntary one, it is a constant battle against instincts. So, if you want to enter this world, you should be ready to oppose them to keep control, Young Master,” said Clara, commanding the cub to approach Nero and raise his limb.

“Now, you can continue,” said Clara.

This time, there was no resistance from the cub, and it was easy for Nero to get its blood with a help of a small needle and imprint it on the scroll. As soon as the blood landed on the paper, words written on the paper started glowing and the process began.

With each new moment, Nero felt how something invisible was connecting him and that cub, forming an invisible bond.

Even though the cub showed no resistance on the physical level, Nero felt how he struggled with all his force against that invisible power, only to fail moments later and become Nero’s pet through the taming pact.

“You felt it, right?” asked Clara while Ethel in her hands stopped resisting and threw a marking glance at the maid. He also felt that the procedure was over and his master got another pet.

“He tried to resist,” said Nero, describing the emotions which he felt during the procedure.

Clara only nodded with a smile on her lips.

“This is a practical part of the lesson I gave you today,” said Clara. “This tiger cub is your partner for learning to tame skills. She will live with you, starting from today. She is your responsibility, Young Master,” said Clara while Nero took that small cub into his arms.

After spending several moments, Nero smiled.

“You will be Azreya,” said Nero as he caressed the bright fur of the tiger cub while Ethel threw a dissatisfied glance at Nero and the cub.

In such a manner, a second beast joined his ranks and the shadow of many future conflicts sowed.