by William Hill
Jason as one of the lowest in the chain of society could only dream about learning such a technique at the moment.
Looking at his soulbond, he remembered that the old man said something about the snowflake owl having some problems with its mutation.
Looking at the feeble radiating color of the beast egg he didn't really listen to the old man´s advice, so he began to worry about his soulbond´s health for a moment.
He immediately entered the federation network in order to look out for professional doctors with a specialty for beast illnesses.
While the holographic screen from his bracelet opened, he noticed that he got a message from an unknown number.
Opening the message, he saw that it was the old man's number with the content of the message being a file about his soulbond.
He was happy that he received the file about his soulbond as Jason was pondering if he should write a message to the old man because he needed to know what the exact problem was with his beast.
Looking through the file Jason noticed that he couldn't understand anything at all.
There were some scales and numbers, measuring something but it looked like an alien language to him...
Feeling useless Jason went online in order to continue his search for a professional.
Even if it was Sunday, Jason had to know what's wrong with his soulbond beast before it hatched.
And the main issue was that it wouldn't take long for eggs to hatch once they´re bound.
Jason was told that it would at most take two days from now which wasn't far away.
There were so many things he had to purchase, like beast cub milk, food, training material for himself and his beast, and many more things, as he was completely unaware of what newly hatched owls would eat.
Furthermore, his flat was way too small for a beast, even if it was only a small owl.
The things he wanted to purchase required some space and he would have to lease a new apartment soon.
Placing these thoughts in his mind he had to make a list, what to do first.
The most important thing right now was to figure out how to prevent his soulbond beast to get any disease or other problems.
Looking up a few sites, Jason found a reliable website with a professional that had a few certificates and theory papers about beastology, while most were about beast cubs including theories about birth disease and adverse mutations.
Jason thanked his luck as he dialed the number shown on the website without hesitating for a second, as a young female receptionist answered his call.
Talking with her for a few minutes Jason was feeling more and more frustrated as the receptionist wanted to make an appointment for a month later.
How could he wait a month when the snowflake owl would hatch in two days?!
He wanted to shout out loud, but that wouldn´t help out in his current situation, so Jason calmed down.
Pressuring the receptionist a little bit, Jason sent even the file about his beast through the holographic screen, without waiting for an answer from her.
Jason was about to beg the receptionist to give him five minutes as he heard a middle-aged voice in the background of the receptionist asking her, what's wrong.
The receptionist was still somehow calm as she was probably used to people like Jason when she answered the middle-aged man honestly what was going on.
Jason couldn't hear anything for a few minutes until he heard a quiet.
"Interesting!"
Then the middle-aged voice could be heard closer.
"Young man if you have time you can come over in the afternoon at 5 pm. I will spare some of my time. You can follow the described way at our website in order to find my office. Don't be late. I don't like waiting!"
He ended the call and one could only see the astonished Jason looking at an empty holographic screen.
Then a smile emerged on his face as he was one step closer to his goal.
Jason hoped that this doctor could help him out and he was about to jump around with the soulbond egg in his hand, as he noticed that it might be a bad idea.
**
It was 1 pm when Jason finished replenishing his mana and after eating some small snacks he went out.
Calling a shuttle, Jason wanted to visit a few apartments so he could escape from the filthy room that began to disgust him.
The prices ranged from a few hundred credits to thousands of credits for the outskirts of a C-grade city.
Once one wanted to purchase an apartment closer to the center the price would skyrocket as the center was the safest area with the most and best security.
Jason's district was one of the filthiest and most dangerous with the highest crime rate of the whole city and he didn't want to live there longer than he had to.
To move into a bigger apartment within a safer district, he would have to pay at least a few thousand credits per month.
With around 300.000 Credits left, Jason was pondering what to do, as never knew when he would gain credits once again, or how much he had to purchase in the future.
For most humans with soulbond beasts, their beasts could be considered the most expensive as some needed expensive meat or other nutrition to nurture and train them.
Furthermore, taking combat training, magic classes, learning battle skills and other techniques with knowledgeable instructors was expensive.
However, these expenditures could be avoided by attending a high-school, which was Jason´s goal.
Resources that might increase the chances of an evolution and many more things one needed were also expensive and difficult to obtain without connections
Driving around with a shuttle and looking for new apartment four hours passed in no time and Jason stood now in front of the address written down on the beast professionals website.
Going inside he was greeted by the female receptionist he previously talked to.
She showed him the way to the office and left afterward.
Walking inside with slight hesitation, Jason was greeted by a middle-aged man with blond hair and eyes with a gentle smile.
The man was tall but skinny and he radiated the aura of a neet which Jason didn't mind.
Rather than that, he felt more comfortable around people like that.
Chapter 18: Solving Issue
Seeing Jason, the man stood up, introducing himself first
"Hello my name is James Gray, you must be the young man who made his first soulbond yesterday."
"Hello my name is Jason Stella and it was me who called desperately this morning. I hope you can help me and my soulbond out."
Jason said with little hope.
"I already read through the file you sent me today and there are different problems the beast has to face. But I can't be sure without scanning the beast myself as my equipment is more advanced.
If you don't mind, we shall make a test right away."
James stood up and Jason followed without hesitation, holding the snowflake owl egg in his Jacket´s pocket.
3 rooms further, they entered a room with a huge amount of equipment, Jason didn't know what they were used for.
One particular machine stood out, as it was the biggest and black in color.
It stood in the center and on an elevation was a cushion which was a dent in the middle looking like many eggs were already placed on it before.
"Place the egg inside the cushion right in front of you, please. The test itself won't take long."
Jason did as instructed.
After placing the egg he stepped back to see that a transparent bell-formed instrument slowly descended, covering the whole egg.
A small red light came out of the top of it while a *piep* resounded in the room and it scanned the whole area inside the transparent bell a few times.
Less than a minute passed and the test was already finished.
The transparent bell was lifted and Jason took his beast egg again before looking at James intently
Meanwhile, Ja
mes was looking at the report on his quantum bracelet with shining eyes.
"Ohh so it's like that.. Interesting."
After reading the report for five minutes James noticed Jason's desperate look next to him, before he smiled lightly.
Looking down at Jason's small build, seeing his desperate expression, James felt weird.
'Why is this boy so desperate and going around here alone? Huh, what's with his eyes? "
Shaking his head to focus again James led Jason to the office where they sat down on a couch.
Jason was impatient right now, so he asked straightforwardly.
"What's wrong with my soulbond and how can I help it?
James sighed before he said.
"Right now our knowledge about beasts, mutations, and evolutions is shallow and we can only make theories about most things.
Reading both test files told me that your beast has a mutation.
It´s unsure if it really is an adverse mutation to be honest.
It is definitely true that without any countermeasures it will be hard to prevent birth disease and other issues, however, that does not necessarily have to be the case.
I can't give you a perfect solution for your beast´s problem but both files gave me some clues about the main issue.
But to tell you beforehand, this is only my theory and not something thoroughly tested or acknowledged by the federation at the moment."
Listening to the professionals' reply, Jason´s heart felt heavier but a small rayof hope was still burning in him as he heard the theory.
"Even if your soulbond is a one-star wild beast it needs a certain amount of nutrition and mana to survive.
I think you got the beast egg from the Beast Pagoda which means tens of thousand beasts have to share the same amount of mana in a small space.
Due to your beast's mutation, the problem might be that it needs more mana to develop its body and mana core.
One solution could be a large mana supply as it has a deficit. It needs more mana to grow and is so small in size because of the scarcity of mana.
To solve this problem in a short time you would have to purchase mana stones.
I don't know if you have enough credits to do that but right now I can't think of any other countermeasure before the beast hatches and it´s still unsure if this solution is 100% helpful.
I´m sorry."
Jason listened to James carefully and he wasn't sure if he should be happy or sad.
It was only a theory and not a 100% solution but it was still better than nothing.
After asking a few additional questions, Jason left an hour later.
He didn´t even have to pay something as Prof. Gray wanted to use the test files for his studies.
He got Professor James Gray´s contact details as the prof was fascinated about the files he read previously, hoping that Jason´s beast would hatch healthy.
Searching for mana stones online, he found out that even the smallest mana stone was extremely expensive.
50.000 Credits for a ping pong ball-sized grade-1 mana stone sounded horrifyingly expensive for Jason but after searching for more information he found out that the compressed mana inside such a small stone was already around the same amount as an unblemished beast.
This surprised Jason but thinking about it, it wasn´t as illogical as he previously thought.
An unblemished beast was comparable with a human Expert rank and to replenish his mana once a human expert would have to use up a whole ping pong ball-sized grade-1 mana stone.
It was extremely expensive even for normal Expert ranks as hunting Unblemished beasts resulted often in injuries that had to be treated with expensive medications.
Jason wanted to purchase three small mana stones but he had to set an address where to deliver the goods so before buying the mana stones Jason contacted the landlord from one of the apartments he visited today in order to sign a lease.
The cost was 2500 credits per month and the area around it was safe while everything needed was close by.
Signing the contract on his quantum bracelet he could instantly move in.
There wasn't anything at his old flat as he brought all the important things with him in his storage space.
The new apartment was 55 square meters big with a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and a small kitchen inside.
It looked small and comfy when Jason visited the apartment but he didn't want to lease it instantly as he wasn't sure how expensive his beast's treatment would be.
With a little bit less than 150.000 credits left after deducting 3 small mana stones, Jason had more than enough left to lease the small apartment for half a year.
Calling a shuttle to carry him to his new home, Jason arrived at 7 pm when it was already late.
Finally purchasing the three small mana stones Jason set the destination from the parcel to his new address.
Afterward, he wanted to stroll around in order to get to know his new neighborhood which he hasn´t done before.
Jason was like a small child interested in everything as it wasn´t that long since he regained his eyesight and everything looked special to him.
Smelling nice food from the nearby food stall Jason ordered a big pizza which he relished.
He hadn't eaten anything good and savory for years and it was the first time for him to eat pizza and Jason enjoyed eating it.
The beast egg was inside a small bum bag close to Jason.
After he finished the pizza, Jason's belly was filled to the brim.
He had never eaten so much before but he was happy and satisfied with his current life.
It wasn´t that every problem he had, was solved, but rather in the beginning, his biggest issue was his sight.
Afterward, his almost nonexistent soul energy seemed to be a huge problem and now his soulbond beast was having some issues.
Jason hoped that the mana supply from the mana stones would be enough to solve his problems, which would solve each problem he had right now.
He wasn't scared that his new companion was useless as he had seen the dense color Jason had never seen before but the problem was that the color was feeble which caused him to hesitate when he saw it.
But getting to know that he could probably solve his issue made him excited.
After strolling for an hour Jason went home to his new apartment where he would continue learning how to write difficult words.
Furthermore, he enjoyed reading the beastarium which was full of beast's pictures, with their characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, rank, and many more information.
It was almost midnight when Jason fell asleep with the beastarium holographic screen still open.
Chapter 19: Preparations!
It was 8 am when Jason woke up by a small movement in his hand.
The hand holding his beast-egg shook slightly and Jason's facial expression changed drastically.
He was instantly fully awake and frowned deeply.
"Buddy, can you wait please a day. You'll have some problems when you hatch now. Please... okay?"
Jason said and thought of it at the same time as sincerely as possible.
Due to the connection between their souls the egg somehow understood what Jason said and stopped its movement.
Jason felt the small owl's impatience and desire to break out of its prison but it waited because it knew that once it hatched without getting help beforehand, many problems could occur.
Snowflake owls were in fact not smart but the mutation Jason's snowflake owl underwent was apparent everywhere.
This was something Jason knew and he hoped that his soulbond would listen to him which it luckily did.
Sighing in relief Jason looked on his bracelet if his parcel arrived.
Seeing a notification saying that the parcel was ready to be delivered, Jason immediately requested it.
Only a few minutes later Jason received another notification telling him that his parcel arrived.
Opening the apartment doo
r Jason saw a drone with a small package bound on it.
The drone scanned Jason's ID, loosened the package and flew away.
There was not much time left for his soulbond to hatch and Jason opened the parcel without any delay before noticing the huge amount of mana inside the package.
Jason was previously too focused on his beast but now by looking more concentrated, he saw a huge amount of mana inside the mana stones.
Compared to the natural mana around the city, these three small mana stones were like a huge ocean concentrated in a small area.
It was said that the mana inside cities was extremely thin and weak, whereby the wild zones were categorized by two factors.
One factor was the amount and density of natural mana around the wild zone and another factor was the rank of the majority from the beasts inside the wild zone.
The amount of mana Jason felt from the small three mana stones was roughly as much as the radiating mana from certain materials the Beast Pagoda used, astonishing him.
Picking up the three mana stones Jason immediately felt a tickling sensation.
He was tempted to absorb the Mana to strengthen himself but he resisted the urge, because there was someone who needed it more desperately.
Jason laid the small egg down on a pillow and formed a triangle with the small mana stones around it.
Each mana stone was in touch with the eggshell and Jason saw through his mana eyes that small threads of mana flowed into the egg.
The whole egg was mantled with mana and it flowed inside the egg from all sites, absorbing it slowly.
Considering the slow mana flow and the upcoming hatching, Jason calculated that three mana stones were enough for the time being.
The egg stopped moving and Jason had now some time left to search for more information about snowflake owls and other things he didn´t know.
He was unsure if his soulbonds mutation would change its eating habits or something like that, so he had to prepare all different kinds of food.
Purchasing some vegetables, meat, and milk with different kinds of cub formulas Jason felt prepared.
