John was sitting on his desk and staring lazily at Joanna. Breaking sound, he heard footsteps coming his way. He turned his head, but to his great surprise his teacher was standing before him. Then he leaped rapidly out of his seat.
"I'm sorry, Teacher! I had no idea that you were here, he burst out", and he was so nervous that he had the most nervous voice.
Miss Julie tightened her fists, and scowled at him. "Oh? You didn't see me walk in?" so, said she, with a sarcasm in her voice. "Ok, then, explain to me, did you manage to tame that cat today?"
John was scanning his head. "Uh... no, ma'am. She bit me again. I don't know why! I even feed her the very best fish, but..."
Before he had quite completed his sentence Miss Julie banged her hand on his table and he flinched.
"If all you had to do to tame a beast was to keep it fed, the wealthy students of this school would have been the greatest beast tamers by now!" she scolded. "Tell me, what have you been doing for the past four years? How in the world did you manage to be admitted here? Four years have you endured in this school, and this is your fifth. But you have not laid one beast across your knee!"
John found his tongue hard to swallow.
"Let me make it clear," she continued. "If you don't tame at least ten beasts within three months, no, cross out that, If you can't even tame one before you depart this school, it will be the greatest disgrace that ever befell us."
John lowered his gaze. He heard all these things previously but this time something in the tone of Miss Julie twisted his stomach.
"Well I want to see your parents", she all at once announced.
John's eyes widened in panic. "Ma'am, I... I don't have parents. I live alone."
Miss Julie did not become any gentler. "I know that. However there has been someone that has been behind you this long. This school could not have retained you otherwise. I want to meet that person."
John clenched his fists. "But nobody, as I insisted."
"Then bring them tomorrow", she said. "Or bother not to go to school at all. Personally I shall file a complaint against you."
John was a frozen man, and his heart beat high. Now had Miss Julie told anything against him he would have no doubt been kicked out.
Some snorting was heard in the classroom. John was being mocked by eyes looking at him. Immediately next to him stood the girl named Joanna, who glared at the class. The laughter was instantaneously cut off.
Miss Julie turned about to John once more. "Tell me something, Do people become like the ones they spend time with?"
John hesitated but nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Individually, people adapt after the environment.
"Good," she said. She then laid hold on his chin and took his face and turned it against Joanna. "You have sat can next her in four years. Have you learned even a single thing from her?"
John didn't know how to answer. It was really the case, he did not even talk to Joanna in an appropriate way. He had only watched her and admired her skills but never dared to ask her anything.
The pupils started muttering.
"Damn, I would have questioned her how she managed to tame her beast (if it had happened that I managed to sit next to her)." one student remarked.
"And look at John. He has nothing to do but sit there with his eyes flushed like a roose!" another laughed.
He thought his face burned with the shame of it.
Joanna, however, didn't laugh. Rather, she stopped in advance. "Enough!" she snapped. "All of you, shut up!"
The room fell silent.
She turned to Miss Julie. "You say that John has not learned anything of me. But has no one thought that he is causing his presence to weaken my beast?"
Everyone gasped. John looked shocked even at her.
Cold and sharp like she continued, and her voice. "My beast has been behaving like a madman. Losing control. And I know it is as a result of John sitting beside me."
John's heart sank. He had been made an outcast already. And now that person who he so much admired was accusing him of being a liability.
Miss Julie sighed. "Alright, John," she said. "I'll give you one last chance. There are two things you can do tomorrow. Either you bring with you your guardman or you execute a full report of the beasts in our land."
John's head snapped up. "A report...?"
"Yes," she confirmed. "I want the names of every master in this city, their level, their beasts, their feeding habits, their habitats, everything. If you can't do that, bring your guardian. Otherwise, do not expect to come to this school again."
He shivered as it chilled John along his spine. It was impossible. This information required, unfortunately, more than one night to be collected, and he was incapable of such work.
Still, he had no choice.
He swallowed hard and nodded. "I... I understand, ma'am."
One more glance Miss Julie made him and he turned his back. She strolled to the centre of the classroom, where there was a button which she pressed on the wall. As a result, a huge replica of the holographic screen was created straight away showing a video.
"Alright, class," she announced. "Today, we shall study about Neuro Cores."
It was as though the tension which had filled the room a moment before, had been taken away and replaced with curiosity. Not even John, with his troubled thoughts, could help paying attention.
Neuro Cores were legendary. They enabled man to elevate himself, to become more than a common fighter to a superior warrior. Neuro Cores would allow them to keep their beasts in them, requiring neither food nor rest. The beasts would be kept concurrently and they would be stronger and stronger in the centre.
Neuro Cores were not something any one could take. In accordance with the world laws, only persons older than twenty could induce one.
Except for one man.
Chris Vance.
The youngest generation who produced a Neuro Core was fifteen years old. The man who had once tamed an army of beasts and led humanity to reclaim their land. A legend so old that no one knew if he was still alive or if he had simply vanished from history.
As the lesson continued, John's mind raced.
Tomorrow would decide everything.
Would he be able to complete the impossible task?
Or would he be forced to leave the only place he had ever called home?