Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution

Gale

Osho prepared himself a simple breakfast of bacon and eggs with some orange juice. The perks of living alone were that he didn't need to buy a huge amount of food for other people. So he could survive well enough even with his meager earnings.

Another perk was that he didn't have anyone to judge him on his eating preferences and habits. For instance, when one thought of bacon and eggs, they usually imagined the eggs to be Sunnyside up, but as it turned out, Osho detested anything like runny yolk and always made sure that everything was whisked together evenly and fried properly, not leaving anything undercooked.

He ate his food at a leisurely pace, not bothering to rush, and when he finished and set everything down, he decided to check on the egg.

"Woah." He exclaimed a little.

By now, the water had changed completely. Before it looked like a sky with clouds, but now, it looked like mud water as it was brown and difficult to see through. When he glanced at it, he instinctively knew that the evolution process had been completed.

As for the egg itself looked different. Not a drastic change, but certainly noticeable.

For starters, it had increased its size by about two centimeters in diameter. Other than that, the wavy patterns on its surface changed and now resemble great clouds. There were also speckles of sky blue across its surface.

Osho carefully took the egg out of the liquid, careful not to touch it, and cleaned the egg with some paper towels. He disposed of the water, brought the egg to his room, sat down cross-legged on his bed, and set it down in front of him.

He took a deep breath to stabilize his mental state. The following process would either be very quick or time-consuming.

After making sure his mind was set, he opened his eyes and gently placed his palm on the egg.

When he did so, he visualized the Mana within his body, and slowly, he moved it towards his hand.

When it reached, he calmly injected it into the egg, and upon doing so, something interesting happened. He felt a 'tug'.

He felt a surge of excitement in his heart, but he quickly purged it and focused on the task ahead.

He urged his Mana to interact with whatever was causing this tug, and gradually, he felt something else, and this sensation wasn't brought about by him, but by the creature in the egg.

He felt an intense amount of curiosity and innocence from it, and Osho did his best to express warmth and care through his Mana. It seemed like he did it properly, as the creature within the egg responded with a wave of happiness.

Then it was as though something clicked.

It happened so fast that he almost didn't catch it, but he felt a sort of 'link' form between himself and the beast in the egg. Osho blinked a few times at how quickly it happened, but more than that, he was amazed by how it felt.

It just felt... natural. Like this connection had been a part of him his entire life, and no matter what, he would do everything he could to preserve this bond as well as protect the other side of it, the beast in the egg.

He also felt a wave of excitement, but like before, it wasn't his, and instead, it came from the creature within the egg.

Then the egg shook.

Oshi was usually cool-headed, but seeing the egg shake like that out of nowhere caused him to feel worried, which surprised him as he wasn't one to let his emotions go haywire so easily.

However, he quickly calmed down and grinned when he realized what was happening. The egg was hatching.

Gradually, cracks formed on the surface of the egg, and Osho watched with bated breath as whatever was inside started to break out. Then, whatever was inside gathered its strength and struck hard, and a hole was made with a beak passing through.

The rest was quick from there, and soon, the entire egg fell apart, revealing what was inside.

Osho's surprised eyes reflected the curious eyes of a small baby bird. Well, it didn't look like a normal baby as its feathers looked like they had developed already, and it was the size of a pigeon, and it strongly resembled a Goshawk. Moreover, it didn't have the normal color scheme of any bird Osho had seen, but that was a given considering that this was a new world with new laws.

The bird was a very light shade of grey, almost white, and just like its egg, it had grey patterns strewn across its body that resembled clouds, and its eyes were of a beautiful sky blue along with its talons. However, that wasn't the strangest thing about it. What was the strangest thing, was the fact that it possessed two pairs of wings instead of one.

Yes, the bird had four wings, and Osho was already trying to figure out the biology behind that as the two of them locked eyes. As they stared into each other's eyes, a glint of familiarity flashed between them, even though this was the first time they were meeting, it felt as though they had known each other for a long time.

However, the staring didn't last long as the bird suddenly turned to its shattered shell, and without hesitation, it started eating it.

The sight broke Osho out of his reverie.

'Right, beasts get their first nutrients by eating the egg they hatched from.' He remembered as one of the lessons he'd had reverberated in his mind.

Apparently, the same way the eggshells prevented people from properly observing what was going on in the egg they also served as a great source of nutrients for the beast when it first hatched. This is because the egg helped with the formation of the beast within and was considered an item that carried the beast's attribute. As such, it was extremely important that a beast consumed its egg after it hatched, or there would be complications in its infancy.

Osho watched as the bird devoured its egg with alarming speed, not leaving even a small fragment behind.

When it finished, it burped and slowly went over to Osho and lazily flopped down on his lap.

"You're a cute little guy." He murmured, somehow already knowing its gender. He reached down and slowly rubbed between the bird's wings, causing it to let out a satisfied trill.

'I should probably give him a name.' He noted and thought for a while. It didn't take a genius to know the bird had an Affinity related to wind, and Osho wanted to name it in that same vein.

After a while, he said quietly.

"Gale. Your name is Gale." The bird... Gale seemed to understand the intent behind Osho's action and looked up at him with his sky-blue eyes. At the same time, Osho felt a wave of joy from the little guy and felt happy as well.

Satisfied, Osho picked up the bird, held him close to his chest, and carried him to the bathroom.

Gale looked around curiously at the small bathroom. However, when Osho turned on the tap at the sink, Gale suddenly had a bad feeling. Osho noticed and rubbed between his wings again to calm him down.

"Sorry little guy, but you kinda stink." He said lightly. He blocked the drain of the sink and let it fill up by an inch or two before placing Gale inside gently, just up to the bird's feet.

He started to gently pour some of the water over his feathers, not moving too quickly to allow Gale to get used to the water, which happened quickly.

He couldn't help but smile to himself as he grabbed some soap and started washing Gale's feathers, he found himself enjoying the process. He immediately felt dissatisfaction from the bird, but he reassured him again and calmed him down as it was necessary. Gale indeed stank.

Soon, Gale looked like... well, a wet bird, and there was an obvious look of unhappiness in his eyes. But other than that, he was surprisingly well-behaved.

Osho attributed this to the high compatibility rate between himself and Gale as again, the higher the compatibility, the easier it would be for the beast and the tamer to function together, and that meant following instructions.

Christopher chuckled at the sight and drained the water before rinsing Gale. He didn't have something like a hairdryer so he just used a towel to smother the bird, which caused another wave of dissatisfaction.

By the time this was done, Osho opened the window and set Gale next to it to allow him to dry properly. Then he sat down and started to ponder.

He had no idea how high Gale's potential would be currently, and he was curious to see what Gale was capable of. However, he doubted he'd be able to do much as he only had a single day of which he spent a few hours doing everything to help Gale evolve and then hatch him. After the shower, it was well into the afternoon and the sun was already showing signs of dipping.

Osho watched Gale as he thought, and the bird stared back at him with equal curiosity.

After a while, Osho just chuckled.

"You hungry?" He doubted Gale could understand his words, but he let his intent be known through their bond, and when Gale realized what he meant, he let out an excited chirp. Then to his surprise, a surge of wind suddenly came through the window and engulfed Gale for a few seconds. When the wind faded, Gale had become totally dry.

He flapped his four wings and settled on Osho's shoulder and chirped again, urging him to bring the food.

Osho was a bit stunned, he knew beasts could use their abilities instinctively, but Gake was still just a hatchling. So to calmly and expertly use his wind like that.

Osho grinned and reached for his shoulder and rubbed between Gale's wings again, earning another happy trill from the bird.

"You're a pretty talented little guy aren't you?" He mumbled before walking to the kitchen. If Gale wanted to eat, then he would eat.

Osho prepared himself a simple meal of rice and vegetable sauce while he gave Gale a bowl of the beast food he had bought which looked similar to the kibble sold back on earth, but naturally it was vastly different from kibble.

It seemed like the high price was worth it as when Gale started eating, the bird ate with fervor and Osho sensed deep enjoyment from him. However, he became slightly concerned at the rate he ate.

He fed the bird until he was satisfied, and he ran some calculations in his mind.

'At this rate, I can keep feeding him for three weeks or so.' The thought wasn't exactly welcome, as Osho didn't just have thousands of dollars lying around to buy beast food.

'Then again, the school is going to provide beast food for us up until the college entrance exam, so I should be good in that area. For now anyway.' He sighed and watched as Gale came to perch on his shoulder after his meal, the beast radiated satisfaction.

Osho shrugged his free shoulder and finished eating as well.

He looked at the time and saw that it was just four minutes after 5.

"Alright, big guy, let's get to exercising." He said, and Gale tilted his head in curiosity.

Osho went to his room and changed into a dark blue track suit. It was old but clean.

Osho headed out with Gale on his shoulder and started jogging on the sidewalk.

He made sure to regulate his breathing as he jogged and moved in a set manner to make the exercise as effective as possible.

He jogged for about 20 minutes before he reached a park, which was his destination.

He jogged into the park and continued jogging for about an hour before he finally stopped. By now, he had worked up a decent sweat.

He picked up Gale and set him on the floor before he began doing push-ups, then sit-ups, and a bunch of other exercises. All the while, Gale just watched him curiously.

When he finished, he was panting slightly, but that was all.

He stood up and looked at Gale with a small smile.

"Alright, what do you think about showing me what you can do huh?" Again, Gale couldn't understand him, but he expressed his intent clearly through their bond, and Gale let out a happy chirp.

Then before Osho's eyes, the bird flapped his four wings and shot into the air like a bullet, and Osho shielded his face as a strong wind was released which startled him.

He put his arm down and his eyes darted around before he spotted a fast-moving dot that was Gale. He flew above the park in a wide circle, when Osho caught sight of him, he was startled.

That's because the speed at which Gale was flying around the park was astounding.

Osho had done the research and the park was about a thousand acres large. However, it took Gale roughly 30 seconds to fly around its outer areas.

He got his phone out and did the math, and his jaw dropped.

"H-He's moving at 471 Miles Per Hour?!"