"I've always heard the statement that life's not fair, but I never knew that life would use me as its scapegoat to explain those words."
My name is Lucas Jeffrey, and this is my life story - what I consider to be the true definition of "life's not fair."
Like I said earlier, my name is Lucas Jeffrey and I have a sister named Maya Jeffery. We are both the only children of Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery. Our parents passed away five years ago in a car accident. I was only twelve back then, and my little sister was just two years old. Now I'm seventeen and my sister is seven.
My parents were successful businesspeople who amassed quite a fortune, which we didn't benefit from because our uncle - my dad's brother - took everything under the pretense that we were too young to handle the property. After taking everything and leaving only the house to us, he wouldn't even look in our direction or ask about our wellbeing.
"Brother, you promised to take me to school to witness your awakening, right?" Maya asked with her mouth full of instant noodles as we sat at the dining table for dinner.
"Stubborn girl, I said no talking with food in your mouth," Lucas said, putting down his empty bowl with a frown.
"Sorry brother," she pouted, noodles still visible in her mouth as she gave him a sad expression.
"You see? You still did it again," he said with a plain face.
She gulped down the noodles. "Sorry brother," she mumbled.
"Alright, no need to be sad. Have I ever promised you something and failed?" He brought his face closer to her's as she sat beside him.
"No," she shook her head.
"Then what are you so worried about when you know you're surely going with me?" He smirked.
"Yay! Brother is the best!!" she screamed as she pulled his head into her arms.
"Hey, stubborn girl, let me go! You're choking me!" he joked. Maya pulled back a little and kissed him on the cheek.
"Ahh, I'm dead," he dramatically slumped on his chair, staying still for a few seconds. Suddenly she put her hand in his armpit and tickled him, making them both burst out laughing.
They played around for some time, laughter filling the house.
"Alright, alright, showtime is over. It's time to go to bed," he told his sister, whose head was currently laying on his lap as they both watched an anime series.
As he looked down at her, a smile formed on his face. Seeing her beautiful sleeping face always made him want to sleep too. He slowly scooped her into his arms, being gentle to avoid waking her, and steadily moved upstairs to her room.
"There you go," he muttered as he tucked her into the bedsheet and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"Good night," he whispered, looking at her short white hair and delicate innocent sleeping face before turning off the light.
"The day is tomorrow," he muttered to himself as he crashed into his bed, already changed into his pajamas.
Yes, tomorrow was the day he would finally become an awakened beast tamer. The Beast Taming Association would be present at his school to help students tame their first beast and identify their beast taming rank, which ranged from F to SSS rank.
They had to pay for the beast they would be given for the awakening, and this money had already been paid about one month ago by all the students. The beasts were also classified in ranks like humans, from F to SSS.
The price for each beast rank was different:
- F rank: 20,000 UTS
- E rank: 40,000 UTS
- D rank: 60,000 UTS
- C rank: 80,000 UTS
- B rank: 110,000 UTS
- A rank: 140,000 UTS
These were the prices for each rank of beast available to awakening students. F rank to C rank beasts were the most abundant, while B and A rank were fewer in number - as were the students who could afford them.
S rank, SS rank and SSS rank beasts were rarely seen. Even if such beasts existed, the Beast Taming Association wouldn't make them available for students as they were too rare.
A beast's rank determined its potential to level up and evolve into something stronger, which was why Lucas had been determined to get at least an E rank beast.
He had gone to his uncle for assistance back then.
"Uncle Mark, please - even if it's just 10,000 UTS, I would really appreciate it. I need to get an E rank beast at least, so I would still have some hope with the beast," he had begged.
Uncle Mark faked a sigh. "Lucas, it's not that I don't want to help, but you know your cousins Leslie and Kendrick are also awakening.
They both insist on getting B rank or A rank beasts. This is already a burden to me - I can't add yours too or I'm going to die from bankruptcy. I know you don't want me to die, son." He lit a cigarette and took a long drag, puffing the smoke in Lucas's face.
Lucas gritted his teeth, his fists clenched. This money... it was all my father's money. He could spend 110,000 UTS and 140,000 UTS from my father's money for his kids, but he can't even spare 10,000 UTS for me with money that isn't even his.
Lucas felt like punching his bastard uncle, but he knew he couldn't. Even if he did, he would be the one ending up on the ground. Looking at his uncle - with his pierced ears, short black hair just like Lucas's, and the tattoo of a hound on his bare chest - reminded Lucas who his uncle really was.
He was a member of a gang called the Dark Hound. Everyone in this gang had to have at least one tamed hound - an aggressive B rank beast with high attack power that sold for at least 210,000 UTS.
The price was astronomical to Lucas. If his uncle could give him even that amount from his father's property right now, he would be grateful and never ask his uncle for anything again.
"Alright, Uncle Mark. Take care with your responsibilities," Lucas said, turning to walk away depressed.
"I will, my boy," Uncle Mark smiled, cigarette smoke curling from his mouth.
"Piece of shit," Lucas mumbled as he walked away, making sure he was loud enough for his uncle to hear. His uncle's laughter echoed behind him.
Lucas later worked two different jobs to gather the money for the awakening. He worked with a construction company on different sites, though the pay wasn't much since beasts and machines handled most of the work - humans were just assistants.
His main job was at a beast store, a place that sold beast food, medicine, and occasionally live beasts. Some people also boarded their beasts there temporarily. They paid him 10,000 UTS per month at this job, while the construction work paid 1,000 to 2,000 UTS per assignment.
If he focused all the money on just paying for his awakening, it might have been enough. But life always had other plans, with problems waiting to pounce on whatever money he managed to save.
When the deadline for the awakening fee payment approached, Lucas only had 15,000 UTS. But his boss's wife, Mrs. Martin - who knew about his situation because her daughter was his friend - persuaded her husband to advance him money from his future salary so he could pay for the awakening. The man agreed grumpily, saving Lucas from being left out.
"Life is really not fair", he sighed as he lay in bed, he was nervous for what tomorrow hold for him but sleep was pulling at him.
"Till tomorrow then,"he muttered, drifting into an exhausted sleep.