[INITIATE THE BEAST BONDING RITUAL TO TAME YOUR FIRST EVER BEAST?]

[YES / NO]

Kale’s mind was hazy as the System whispered the words to him.

It took a moment for him to recollect his thoughts and understand the implications of what he had just heard, or the notification flashing at the corner of his eyes.

Kale’s eyes widened in shock, enough to make him sober. As his thoughts cleared, he realized that the blurry state of his mind was when a Tamer was on the verge of initiating a bonding ritual.

That state was akin to the souls of a man and a beast on the verge of overlapping.

With a mental command, Kale brought up the description of the Dragon’s Curse that had been imposed upon him.

[World Dragon’s Seal: All Native Beasts of Nergal are inherently repulsed by the Host, due to the Curse.

Thus, it is impossible to initiate any bonding ritual to tame any Beasts. Taming itself is not barred by the Curse.

But even if the Host manages to tame a Beast, the effects of the Curse will remain, and the creature will constantly try to kill the Host.]

Kale’s mind spun rapidly, as he grinned once more, looking at the description; it was just as he thought: the keyword used here was Native Beasts.

That was the restriction of the Curse: that only Native Creatures would be repulsed by his existence. But newly created Chimera’s would pass under the radar of this Curse.

His heart raced in boundless excitement, and a rush of relief that he had not felt ever since leaving Dagan village rose in his heart.

He had finally arrived at the doorstep of Salvation.

But there were still problems, as he wore a thoughtful look.

Eventually, he prompted the System about it.

’System, the Winged Feline Cat I just created?’

’This can’t be considered a true Chimera, can it?

’It was just an implantation of wings, not truly the creation of a completely new species.’

’In that sense, there is a possibility that the Curse might still come to effect after I bond with it, right?’ Kale questioned.

The System responded curtly.

[Host is correct; there is a 90% probability of it happening.]

Kale sighed; that was not the only problem.

There was another key factor in the Tamer path that Kale had to abide by.

The first-ever tamed Beast would largely dictate the future potential of a Beast Tamer.

For example, if a Tamer bonds with a water-type Beast as his first one. That Tamer would never be able to tame a pure fire-type Beast.

In fact, in most cases, the Tamer would have to only tame Beasts that were somewhat compatible with the water element to a certain extent.

At the same time, the Tamer would never be able to tame a species that has a higher rank than the species rank of his first ever Beast.

So, in that sense, accepting the Winged Feline Cat as his first ever Beast was never really a choice for Kale. No matter how much he wanted to get rid of the doomclock hanging above his head.

He could not sacrifice his long-term advantage for a short-term gain.

He never intended to do so either; this was merely an experiment to see if what he theorized about being able to tame Chimeric Beasts would be true or not.

And Kale made the right bet. He found his path to Salvation.

Kale’s gaze turned cold, since the first-ever Beast of a Tamer dictates their potential, and his destined adversary was the strongest creature in this world.

Then he had no other choice but to create something even more monstrous; he would have to make a species that would be powerful and filled with such potential that even the invincible dragons would pale in comparison.

It would not be easy, heck...

That would be nearly impossible to do...

No, it was more than impossible, one might say.

This would be the real challenge for him...

Something he would have to do within the 30 days remaining in his life force.

Besides, with each day remaining on his lifespan, Kale could feel himself grow weaker and weaker. There was no time; he could not waste a single second.

It was possible that he would become immobile even weeks before the deadline.

Kale whispered to the System, "NO...."

[The Host has rejected the Beast bonding ritual.]

Kale slowly removed his hand; both his and the Beast’s eye colors returned to normal. The Cat did not understand what was happening... tilting its head in confusion.

Meowww!!

Kale smiled and patted the winged Cat’s head. He said, "You still need to recover; go to sleep."

The Cat seemed to hesitate for a moment, and meowed once more, but it was indeed tired.

So, without much resistance, the Beast went to sleep. It obeyed his words as if it were the most natural thing.

Kale’s eyes shone, so that’s how it was. Since Chimeric Beasts did not fall under the compulsion of the Curse, his previous natural harmony with Beasts would still work, but only on the Chimeras.

Kale composed himself and eventually turned away from the experiment table; he saw his master looking at him with a smile.

Lazek chuckled, "Good disciple, so you finally found the loophole to your Curse, it seems."

Kale nodded with some hesitation.

His master said, "This is a piece of information that you don’t know yet. But I will tell you." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"From what the Association has observed throughout the years, the more powerful a curse is, the more often than not, there exists a great loophole in it. Almost like a balancing act in and of itself."

Kale frowned, but he was surprised by the information beneath the surface; he asked, "Why didn’t you tell me sooner?"

Lazek chuckled, "Because you already seem to know that fact, though I don’t know how."

Kale’s eyes glinted, but he did not answer.

Seeing his silent state, Lazek then emphasized in a serious tone, "But you do know that the Church prohibits the creation of any powerful Chemera, and taming them is also forbidden."

Kale remained composed, already knowing that fact; he looked at his master in the eye and rebutted, "So what?"

Lazek was surprised by his response and then let out a hearty laugh, "You’re right, so what if It’s forbidden? You’re a certified Fleshcrafter of the Association. Not to mention, you are my disciple."

The Fleshcraft Grandmaster looked at Kale deeply and added, "Do what you have to do, Kale, and I know that you don’t trust me, which is quite normal."

"But if you need any help. No matter how small or big it is, just say the word," he promised.

Kale had complicated emotions in his eyes, just as his master had said, but he couldn’t simply trust the man, despite his kind words.

The Cursed Tamer still gave a grateful nod towards his master as he left the Fleshcraft tower.

Kale’s mind quickly focused on the main agenda at hand.

In the remaining time of one month, he had to accomplish the unattainable feat of creating a new chimeric species from complete scratch.

A species that would have the potential just as great if not greater than the very Dragon race itself, and with qualities that directly counter that near-invincible race that ruled this world from the shadows.

Kale had absolutely no doubt that the Dragon Church was not merely a religious organization.

According to the various books he read in the Association’s libraries, the Church’s sheer power and scale throughout the Human Empire, and the extent to which it controlled so many of the Empire’s public sectors, were disturbing.

Kale recalled that the System addressed the priest-level members of the Dragon church as ’Users of Dragon Authority’.

So, the Dragons were definitely behind the religious Organization. Manipulating and controlling things from the darkness for reasons unknown.

Kale then thought of the divine lightning that struck down the Tyrant Rank Dragon when it attacked the Dagan village for the first time, before the Temporal Soul Regression.

That lightning seemed to be a kind of backlash from the Nergal’s Will itself. So, by that logic, the World Will was restricting this overly gifted species from interfering with the world too much.

Kale hypothesized the various matters in his mind, but he couldn’t be sure. It was all just theory of his own mind, after all.