Beast Taming: My Beasts Grind, Die, and Respawn

Chapter 15: Officially Trash

Chapter 15: Officially Trash

The Beast Registration Office looked like a squat concrete bunker and smelled of disinfectant layered over too many sweating bodies.

It was also full.

The queue folded across the room three times. Every family in it was poor. Fathers held restless Bronze pups against their chests. Mothers tried to calm Iron-tier birds. Children carried cages, crates, and, in one case Jin wouldn’t forget, a bucket.

Everyone had come for the same reason. The pre-exam registration deadline was closing in, and every beast had to be entered into the system before the three-day clock expired.

No wealthy candidates waited with them.

Jin noticed that almost immediately.

Children from the Inner Core didn’t stand in rooms like this. Registration went to them. A clerk arrived at their home, worked in a clean private space, and left without making them wait.

The smell, the crowd, and the three lost hours were reserved for everyone the shelter had already placed on the unimportant side of the line.

That division ran straight through the building.

Ten minutes after the Astors joined the queue, someone started laughing.

Three teenagers lounged near the front. They looked a little older than Jin, and a sleek Bronze wolf-pup rested between them. The tallest had noticed Glitch.

"Hey, look at that," he called loudly. "Someone hatched a charcoal briquette."

The other two laughed.

"No, that’s a burned lizard. They cooked it before it even got out of the egg."

"Iron-tier and ugly too?" The tall boy pretended to wipe away a tear. "That’s the family’s entire savings gone. Tragic, man. Honestly tragic."

Jin ignored them.

He’d heard insults from people with more talent.

Elsa had not developed the same tolerance.

"He’s worth more than that flea-ridden mutt you’re going to fail with," she shot back, stepping out of line with her fists clenched. "Ours isn’t already fat and lazy at six months—"

Arthur put a hand on her shoulder.

"Elsa. Not here. They’re not worth it."

The tall teenager grinned. Getting a reaction had been the whole point.

"Aw, listen to the little sister. She’s protecting the briquette."

Resting in Jin’s arms, Glitch gave the three boys a slow blink.

Then he sneezed.

Ksht.

It was barely a sound, but a warm puff came out with it.

The air shimmered for a few inches before fading, like heat above sun-baked pavement.

There was no flame. It wasn’t even close to fire.

It was only warm breath.

Warm breath from a creature that should have been cold-blooded, moments before official equipment was meant to confirm him as an ordinary lizard.

The teenagers had already lost interest and turned away.

They missed it.

Jin didn’t.

His gaze dropped to Glitch’s small black face.

Something in his expression sharpened.

...Huh.

He stored the detail beside the violet veins and the menu covered in black blocks.

When they finally reached the counter, the clerk waiting there had the grey, exhausted face of a woman who had registered nine hundred beasts that week and wanted the next number to be zero.

"Name."

"Jin Astor."

She pointed at a scarred scanning plate.

"Put the whole beast on there. Keep it still."

Jin lowered Glitch onto the pad.

The hatchling sat down, inspected the unfamiliar surface beneath him, and began sniffing it. A ring of light rose around his body in one slow pulse.

The clerk looked at her display and read the result without interest.

"Grey Rock Lizard variant. Iron quality. Combat Rank One, one-star. Owner, Astor. Candidate status, eligible." Her hand was already moving toward the next stamp. "Congratulations. It’s eligible. Next."

The teenagers behind Jin heard every part that mattered.

Iron.

Rank One.

One-star.

They started laughing again.

"One-star!" The tall boy could barely get the words out. "That’s literally the worst possible everything! Why did they even register it?"

Iron quality.

Rank 1.

One star.

The lowest point the system allowed, now officially measured and stamped.

Exactly what everyone needed to believe.

Inside Jin’s pocket, under the hand resting loosely over his phone, another result covered the public one.

[Public Identification Accepted]

[Dormant Bloodline Below Detection Threshold]

[Bond Synchronization Stable]

[Current Growth: Foundation Stage]

The Registration Office had scanned Glitch with certified Tamer Association equipment.

It had looked at him, through him, and concluded that he was useful as a paperweight.

The Engine hadn’t even needed to fake anything.

Glitch’s dormant bloodline remained compressed under a real Iron-tier foundation. The instruments had found what existed on the surface right now.

A paperweight.

Jin collected the registration chit, lifted Glitch from the pad, and tucked him back into his arms.

"Thanks," he said without emotion.

Then he turned away.

The shoulder hit was intentional.

As Jin passed, the tall teenager slammed into him with a cheap sideways shove. It struck hard enough to jolt Jin’s grip.

Glitch slipped free.

The hatchling fell.

For one heartbeat, the entire entry hall seemed to follow the tiny black body toward the concrete.

Elsa gasped.

Arthur lunged, but his hand was a foot short.

The teenagers were already wearing the beginnings of a smirk, waiting for the helpless Iron-tier beast to hit.

Glitch twisted.

The movement took less than a second.

His overlong tail snapped around to balance him. His body rolled in the air, and all four stubby legs swung underneath.

It was the same motion the digital lizard had practised ten thousand times while slipping around ten thousand slimes.

Glitch landed on all four feet.

Softly.

Without a sound.

Perfectly.

He immediately looked up, blinked at everyone, and chirped as though he couldn’t understand why the room had gone quiet.

The tall teenager’s smirk slipped.

"...Lucky," he muttered.

His furrowed brow said he didn’t fully believe it.

Shock vanished from Elsa’s face and left behind a fierce, victorious grin.

Arthur said nothing.

His outstretched hand still hung in the air while he stared at the one-day-old hatchling that had landed like a trained acrobat.

Jin crouched and offered his arm.

Glitch waddled over, put his front feet on it, and climbed up.

"Good dodge," Jin said under his breath.

Glitch chirped back.

Outside, every public display had switched to the same message.

ACADEMY ENTRANCE EXAMINATION — 3 DAYS

ALL CANDIDATES REPORT FOR PRE-EXAM APTITUDE SORTING.

The announcement vanished.

A promotional reel started in its place, and people across the street slowed down to watch.

A silver-haired boy appeared across the screen. He had a sharp jaw, a spotless Inner Core uniform, and a magnificent falcon perched on one arm. Real arcs of electricity crackled between its feathers.

LUCIAN VALE, the caption read.

A-RANK TALENT.

SILVER-QUALITY THUNDER FALCON.

PROJECTED #1.

A murmur passed through the crowd.

Several people clapped.

One worker standing near Jin breathed the name as though he were speaking a prayer.

"That’s Vale," someone whispered. "His family paid for half the east wall. He’s practically a god already, and he isn’t even licensed."

More candidates followed.

Perfect uniforms. Rare beasts. Bright smiles.

A ranking of projected scores scrolled along the side.

The list kept moving.

Far down near the bottom, visible for barely a second and a half, three lines appeared.

JIN ASTOR — C-RANK TALENT — IRON BEAST — ELIGIBLE.

No one reacted.

Nobody whispered his name.

The list didn’t pause for him.

His entry came and went while every eye stayed fixed on the silver-haired boy at the top.

Jin watched his own name disappear from the screen.

Then he glanced at Glitch.

The small black lizard rested in the bend of his arm, gold eyes half shut. Each breath left the faintest mist in the recycled air.

A slight smile touched Jin’s mouth.

Being ignored is still the best stealth build.

They were halfway home when his phone buzzed against his leg.

The crowd had begun to thin. Arthur and Elsa walked a little ahead, arguing over whether Nightclaw could still be added as Glitch’s registered nickname.

Jin took out the phone, switched off the filter, and stopped in the middle of the grey Outer Ring street.

[Public Registration Complete]

[Ownership Confirmed by Human Authority]

[Real-World Beast Functions Expanded]

[New Feature Available: Training Instance]

The people around him kept moving.

Jin stayed where he was.

Training Instance?

Public registration had completed.

A human authority had officially confirmed ownership.

The second a bored clerk stamped a piece of paper, some hidden condition inside the Engine had been satisfied. It had been waiting for legal paperwork.

Jin lifted his thumb toward the new feature.

Before he touched it, Glitch shifted against his arm.

The hatchling tilted his head all the way back.

Wide, bright gold eyes met Jin’s directly.

It looked almost as though Glitch had heard the message too.

As though he understood what had just opened.

Jin stared down at him.

"...You felt that."

Glitch chirped once.