The All Powerful Mutt Tamer

Keep your head down and your mouth shut, peasant," Chris drawled, so you don't infect the air with the stench of your family's misfortune. 

His nose twitched with visible irritation, his upper lip curling just enough to show his pure disgust for the air Alex was breathing. 

Behind him, a flock of noble students followed in a tight formation, their quiet snickers stabbing right through Alex's back.

“I didn't expect that you would have the guts to show your face in the awakening all when over the years, your family hasn't awakened so much as a mutt.” 

Laughter echoed through the halls, shaking the building foundations almost to its root.

Alex stopped mid-stride. He didn't look at the floor, though every instinct born from years of poverty screamed at him to do so. 

His family was the wretched bloodline, cursed to be forever be without a beast, in the Naptuna society where your beast wasn't just a sign of power but the horn of your status, and access to certain areas.

Over the years, his family had stopped trying, reduced only to menial jobs just to survive. A life that he could bear, a life that the fear of which had forced him to the Grand awakening hall, even if he was going to die out of shame at the end of the day.

He was tired of being ridiculed. He wasn't going to be like his parents and the ones after them who just accepted fate without putting up a fight. 

He looked directly at Chris, who was draped in a silk cape that cost more than Alex’s entire village. 

"That’s funny, Chris. I thought the smell of garbage was just coming from your mouth. I guess some things never change."

“Besides, if your lazy ass can get a beast, then anyone else can.”

The hall went dead silent. Noble students gasped, clutching their embroidered robes as if Alex’s words were a physical stain. 

Chris’s face twisted, his skin turning a dark, ugly shade of red.

 He stepped forward, his fist glowing with a faint, threatening heat.

"You dare speak to me like that?" Chris hissed, leaning in so close that Alex could smell the expensive wine on his breath.

 "Your parents are shoveling filth in my father’s stables just to pay for that pathetic tunic you're wearing. I should have you whipped for even making eye contact, you unfortunate mull.”

Alex’s hands clenched tightly at his sides, his fingernails digging into his palms until the skin nearly broke. 

He remembered every time these people had pushed him into the mud behind the school, every meal they had swiped off his plate just to see him go hungry. 

He hid the rage behind a mask of cold indifference, but his heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped animal.

“At least I do something with my hands unlike some vegetables that wait for everything to be given to them!”

The hall gasped and Chris' face burned bright red like a tomato. 

“Seems you will not be leaving this place alive!”

His packs of friends surrounded Alex, ready to give him the beating of his life like always. 

But then…

"Enough!" The Ceremony Master struck his staff against the stone floor. The sound echoed like a gunshot through the ancient, high-ceilinged room. 

He glared at Alex with pure disdain boring into his bones.

"Step back, scholarship boy. You are here on a whim of charity. Do not mistake a seat in this hall for equality. Know your place or I will personally toss you into the gutters where you belong."

“And Chris, you should know when someone isn't worth throwing away your future four.”

Alex clamped his jaw shut. He felt the sting of a hundred arrogant eyes, but he didn't look away.

The organizer coughed once again, and instantly the focus drew away from Alex to the glowing globe right before them, one that was going to seal their faces forever.

Their hearts sounded the drums of anxiety, but for someone like Chris who's family had never awakened anything lower than an A tier beast, his face dropped with smiles and swelling pride.

‘The ceremony will now begin!’ The tamer announced.

And once after another, they walked to the stage to contract their beast.

“Dew Walker, awakened a A tier serpent!” Applause echoed through the hall as the student emerged from the stage with warm smiles and a newly found pride.

“Gerald Tuss, F tier Frog!” The announcer echoed with an obvious hint of disdain in his voice and laughter slithered through the hall, as the student ran away through the door from both shame and disappointment.

“And now, Chris Hummer!” The hall instantly fell silent.

Chris could feel the stabs going through his back. Some from envy, others from stalk amazement, but whatever it was, he enjoyed being the center of all their attention. 

"Watch and learn, trash," Chris whispered as he swaggered toward the Awakening Stone. 

"This is what real power looks like."

He placed his hand on the black monolith. A heartbeat later, a pillar of crimson fire blasted toward the ceiling.

 The heat was so intense that the students shrug backwards with fright.

From the flames, a Crimson Salamander emerged, its scales gleaming like living rubies as it spat a perfect sphere of fire that danced above Chris's palm.

"A S tier Crimson Salamander!" the Master shouted, his voice piercing through the temple. "An Iron-rank at its lowest, but with vast potential to reach Silver!" Excitement shook the master's voice. 

But the applause from the students drowned his voice, as they all crawled at Chris like desperate ants, wanting his attention. 

Even if they could not awaken a beast that powerful, having connection with one that dud was also a plus.

However, Chris pushed them all away. 

Chris turned around, the salamander pacing behind him.

 He looked at Elara, the girl Alex had tutored in secret for the last year.

 She wasn't looking at Alex anymore. 

She was staring at Chris with a hunger that made Alex’s stomach turn, already tasting a future of comfort and privilege.

"Incredible," Elara whispered, stepping toward Chris as if Alex had never existed.

It stung his heart but he quickly looked away from their love play.

He should have known that her words were only for the benefits that she could drain from him and nothing more.

"See this, Alex?" Chris mocked, the salamander’s fire casting long, dancing shadows across his face. 

"Some are born to be elite. Others are born to be the dust they walk on. I'll make sure my beast gets the best bedding from your father’s stable."

“Oh that's if you get one!” The crowd followed his laughter… They didn't dare not to.

Alex tightened his grip on his shirt. His parents had sold their last sellable possessions, every scrap of dignity they had left, just for this moment. He couldn't fail them. 

"Next. Alex of the Outer Slums," the Master called out, his voice full of boredom.

The metallic taste of fear flooded Alex’s mouth as he stared at his gray egg on the stone altar.

 While other children held eggs of vibrant greens and deep blues, his was a dull, miserable color—the color of failure. He touched the stone, praying for a spark, but the monolith only gave a pathetic, wet hiss.

A dull, sickly gray mist pooled around Alex’s boots. Out of the fog crawled a creature that made the entire hall fall into a stunned silence. It was a dog, but it looked half-dead. It was hairless, its gray skin stretched tight over its ribs, shivering as if it were dying. It sat on the floor and let out a tiny, high-pitched yelp.

"A mutt?" someone screamed.