Drake Brand.

“Are those Beast Souls?”

“Beast souls?”

I couldn’t help repeating after Rollo as we both stared at the contents of the strange little box. 

Inside were three fist sized orbs glowing with different colors; one blue, one red and one black. They looked like balls of flames pulsating and quivering and from the looks of it they were floating slightly above the bottom of the box.

“Drake…” shifting my way, Rollo placed his hands on my shoulders and said with an extremely serious look “Let’s eat them!”

“… What?”

I glanced over at the strange will-o’-wisp like object then looked back to the red haired guy.

“You know what those things are?”

Upon hearing my question his look turned from excited seriousness to that of bewilderment. 

“Drake, you never saw a Beast Soul before?” He asked with a mocking smile. 

“I don’t even what you’re talking about…”

What beast souls? Don’t tell me those are the literal souls of dead beasts… am I supposed to believe...

“You don’t know? What? Were you living under a rock this entire time?”

Reaching out with my right hand I grabbed the idiot’s face forcing him to shut his mouth.

“Just explain already!”

Nodding furiously Rollo begged for me to release him. He then went on to give me what I could only call a description of an item that could only be found in fantasy works.

“A Beast Soul is the most important part in a magical beast. It contains all of its essence and by consuming it one can gain access to that beast’s powers and skills!”

I mean, the name alone gave it away but to think that the beasts he’s talking about are actually magical. 

Once again I found myself wondering if I really was in a completely different world. I’m being presented with more proofs one after the other yet I still don’t want to believe it. 

Rollo began reaching out for one with a smile full of excitement. 

“If we eat those we would definitely gain the power to fight when the time comes!”

I grabbed his wrist and stopped him before he could touch the glowing orbs.

“What are you doing? Do you even know if it’s safe?”

Blinking at me for a moment, he shook my hand off and shrugged.

“What do you mean safe? Everyone gets their first once they reach adulthood. And we’re both over fifteen.”

Fifteen? Isn’t that a bit early for adulthood?

“So… you already have one?” I asked.

“Nope.” The read head replied. “I… I ran away from home, you see… Haha…”

That nervous laugh was a dead giveaway that he’s hiding something, and I don’t really understand what running away from home had to do with this. But that didn’t really matter.

I stared at him for a moment then looked back at the box. According to him the glowing orbs are items that grant power to those who consume them. They’re also common enough that they’re given to kids as a coming of age gift so they shouldn’t be anything dangerous.

Even so, is it really safe to take them? They belong to those cultists, you know? There is no way it would be that simple.

Staring at one of the orbs as I thought it through a new window suddenly popped up.

[Beast Soul (S): Snow Tiger cub]

“Snow Tiger?” I murmured with a raised eyebrow. 

A snow tiger… cub? Are you telling me that’s what this soul belonged to?

“Did you say Snow Tiger!? Which one!?” 

Breaking out of his momentary depression, Rollo looked at me with sparkling eyes. 

“The… the blue one…” I said. Now that I think about it since this System thing isn’t something people would normally have does that mean others are unable to see those blue floating windows?

“Snow Tigers are SS tier Magical Beasts!” he exclaimed. “This is huge! This Beast Soul is a literal treasure! If we sell it we can feed an entire village for years!!!”

“Keep your voice down.” I said, then I noticed something. “It’s just an S though. Is it because this is from a cub?”

“Wait… are you telling me this is the soul of a Snow Tiger cub?” 

Rollo’s face went pale for a moment as his smile disappeared. I didn’t understand the sudden change of expression but thankfully I didn’t have to wait long for him to provide me with an explanation. 

“Magical beasts are ranked based on the difficulty to obtain their Souls.” He said. “Fully matured beasts or ones in their final forms are very powerful so their souls are valuable. However in terms of rarity, the soul of an infant beast from a powerful specie is much more difficult to come by which increases their value by many folds!”

“I see…”

“If the soul is that of a cub the one who consumes it will be able to optimize its growth which would make it much more powerful than the soul of a fully matured beast!”

Taking a moment think his words through I soon understood what he meant. Basically this is the same as in those pokemon games where the ones in the wild always seem to be weaker than the ones player trains even if they’re on the same level. The logic is a bit faulty since animals in their natural environments would be stronger and more ferocious, but it’s also true that a human level intellect can recognize the better growth path that would lead to the best results.

With that said, if the other two are the same as the Snow Tiger cub we would have what could be three of the rarest and most valuable Beast Souls you can ever hope to find, according to Rollo at least. This sounds like a once in a life time opportunity, but I still felt a bit hesitant.