The Messenger of Death

"We met once, during an event 2 years ago. My name is Camron Avanti."

"Oh the Avanti family, no wonder. Welcome and thank you for coming here. Why don't you guys introduce yourselves and the school you come from?" Jayda suggested.

"Okay. We are the seraphim team from the severance academy, pleased to meet everyone. I am the captain of this team." Camron wasted no time in repeating the obvious.

The female with a peculiar hairpin that was shaped like a snake stepped forward and introduced her school. "We are called Bloom, from the school of Beastals. I am the captain of this team, Tammy."

The female in a silver-colored outfit that smiled at Camron when they were still outside the mansion stepped forward and introduced her team. "We are from Righteous school. In my school teams aren't given names, every team is a division and we are given numbers to differentiate between ourselves. My team is known as the 1032nd division. My name is Sravya, I am the captain of the 1032nd division, pleased to meet everyone."

"You monks are oddballs." A male with a hairpin shaped like that of a cat's head said.

"And you beast tamers are animals," Drake interjected.

"You…" He paused as he didn't have a suitable comeback.

"Ignore the pale vampire, Neko. He is not worth wasting your saliva on." Tammy said.

['Haha, she got him good.'] Al laughed at Drake.

"We should all try to get along during the mission. Their safety depends on our co-operation." Sravya pointed out.

"I Agree." Camron concurred.

"Since we are going to be doing this together, I think it would be of help if we let each other know our strengths," Tammy mentioned.

"Starting with my team. We have 4 late-stage disaster realm cultivators, 4 early-stage disaster realm cultivators, and 2 late-stage nascent realm cultivators." Tammy stated.

"Everyone in my team are late-stage disaster realm cultivators," Sravya said.

-Pheewt

Drake gave a sharp whistle when he heard what Sravvya said.

"Well, 5 of us in my team are mid-stage nascent realm cultivators and 1 is an early-stage nascent realm cultivator," Camron mentioned.

"And who might that person be?" Miriam asked.

"That would be me." Alex raised his hand and identified himself. Now Alex wasn't disturbed or worried about his strength, after he had seen something like the Midas flower he knew that with the skin crawler's help he would be able to find many more.

"The handsome foreigner huh," Miriam uttered.

['I told you that she's already into us. Hmph.'] Al scoffed and resumed his silence.

Alex ignored her comment.

"An extra baggage to carry then." Tammy mocked.

"Even if his cultivation is at the early stages of the nascent realm, Alex shouldn't be under-"

"Yes, I'm extra baggage. But not yours to carry, you can pretend like I don't exist. With so many strong people here I didn't think my help will be needed. Since we are already here we might as well stay till the end of the mission, I need the – sorry we need the merit points from this mission." Alex interrupted Camron before he could finish defending him…

"We should give positions and makeshifts," Sravya said.

"True." Tammy agreed with her.

They gave positions and duties to everyone but Alex, they all agreed he was going to be of no use. Alex didn't mind their decision, he was happy with their decisions. Now he could slack off and do whatever he wanted.

One of the maids showed him to their lodging. "Hey Camron, why did drake call those Beastals student beast tamers?" Alex had been curious about this but chose to keep quiet about it until they were alone. He didn't want to sound like a complete newbie to the rest.

"Because they are beast tamers, I thought the name gave it away already." Camron chuckled.

"Yeah. That was a foolish question, let me rephrase. What kind of beast do they tame? And why haven't I seen any in the academy?"

"Well, most beast tamers are in that profession either because they have a talent for it or they have no affinity with any element. Same with the monks, they don't have an affinity with any element but they are proficient in the use of runes. The beast tamers can use the same element as the beast they have entered a contract with, if they enter a contract with multiple beasts of different elemental attributes then they will be able to use those elements to an extent..." Camron briefly explained.

"So can anyone be a beast tamer?"

"No, not really. You have to be able to communicate with the beast first or suppress them completely before you can initiate a contract with them. Once the contract has been signed by both beast and man they shall become one. If the man dies, the beast dies. I the beast dies, the man will live but with injuries on his soul that might take forever to completely heal. But there are advantages too, beast tamers grow faster than normal cultivators, the stronger they get, the stronger their beast gets, vice versa. Being a beast tamer is not all that fancy though." He replied.

Alex smiled. ['I want to tame a beast. One like a tiger, I have always liked tigers.'] He thought.

['A bird will be awesome.'] Lex mentioned.

['A foxlike creature will be best.'] Al said.

['If I had the opportunity, I would go for an ape.'] Xander chipped in too.

"Is there a limit to how many beasts you can get contracted to?" Alex asked.

"Technically, no. The amount of beasts you can have depends on the limits of the individual."

"Okay. Thanks."

"You are welcome."

***********

IN AN INDEPENDENT ARTIFICIAL SPACE, LOCATED IN THE ORDAIN PLAIN REALM.

"Master." Bram arrived in front of his master and fell on one knee.

"You have returned, where is the life force that you have retrieved?" Bram's master asked.

"Master there… I couldn't retrieve it."

"Hmm, why?" His master asked patiently.

"When I arrived there, everything had been destroyed and the bowl was nowhere to be found."

"Who else knew about their hearts apart from the 2 of us?"

"Nobody, only a skilled runemaster or extremely strong cultivator can end those creatures without destroying their hearts, but it wasn't so. While I was investigating what happened in the forest, some guests from the celestial plain realm showed up."

"Huh, why?" His master got agitated and scared, he thought that they had found a lead to where he was. He calmed down after a moment and waited for Bram to speak.

"I don't know but they were also investigating the whole forest so I had to leave before my investigation was complete."

"Something must have happened, something that affected the celestial realm too. If not they wouldn't be there and I do not believe that they have any tracks that lead to me. Did you at least get anything from your investigation?"

"Yes, I did, I found a peculiar sample of blood. Why I called it that is because the blood seems to have been discharged as impurities but there is nothing impure about the blood. And the blood makes my heart race, not in a good way." Bram explained and brought out a little bottle that he used to store the peculiar blood in. he handed it to his master.

"Hmm, it is indeed peculiar." He opened it and tasted it.

"Bram! Taste this and morph into the owner of this blood. This isn't just a peculiar sample of blood, it is the blood of a Class-1 primordial beast. I'm not sure which though, but I am certain that the person is still in the nascent cultivation realm. The life force from this little drop of blood that I just tasted is incredible, I dare to say that what those prisoners gathered for me wouldn't be up to this."

"Will I be okay if I taste the blood? I mean it is the blood of a primordial being." Bram asked.

"Don't worry about it, it's too weak to harm you. It's not like you are trying to absorb the blood, you are just going to shapeshift into the owner of the blood.

Bram's ability was very rare and unique, shape-shifting. As long as he has a DNA sample of anyone, he can shapeshift into that person.

He put a drop of blood on his tongue and squeezed his face. He felt very uncomfortable tasting this particular blood. Soon his features and height started to morph. He raised his hand and removed the wooden mask that he had on his face.

"The owner of this blood seems to be very young. Head to the lower plain and search for this person for me. Bring him alive, I don't care if you incapacitate him or do anything else to him. I just want him alive."

"Yes, master." Bram walked to a mirror and took a look at who he had turned into. The face in the mirror looked exactly like that of Alex…

-Whoosh!!

Bram left for the lower plain realm once again.