Chapter 2 - Supernatural
Below the title, the author wrote:
[So here’s the situation.
About a day ago, I suddenly got a mysterious black card. At the same time, a row of text appeared in front of my eyes, and I suddenly heard a voice. It asked me to use this card to contract and capture an animal as a familiar, which would allow me to become a beastmaster.
At first, I felt like an anime protagonist being sent on an adventure.
But things were not that simple. Following the card’s instructions, I completed the beginner mission. Afterward, I was suddenly teleported to a very dangerous place filled with wild animals. I almost died!
My familiar was severely injured while protecting me. The doctor says the wounds are critical and there’s not much they can do. What should I do now?
I get the feeling that our fates are bound together. If my familiar dies, something bad will also happen to me…]
Attached to the post was a photo of a large cat that appeared to be petrified. Its eyes were gouged out, and one of its legs was missing. It looked miserable, covered in gray blood and strange injuries.
With a serious expression, Fang Lan asked, “Did you read the entire thing?”
Lu Ran nodded. “Yeah.”
Fang Lan raged. “There’s something wrong with those injuries! The picture must have been photoshopped. He’s probably some kind of sadistic animal abuser!”
This seemingly lame, third-rate story had to be some sort of clickbait. It was so obviously fake! Or did that guy think he was some kind of “chosen one”?
“Right,” Lu Ran agreed. Such people were common.
His eyes were still glued to the screen, though. At first glance, the post did seem like something an animal abuser would post to attract attention. However, Lu Ran was quite interested in articles that appeared to be fake on the surface.
Supernatural phenomena…
A scene suddenly appeared in front of his eyes—a city being invaded by countless monsters…
That dream again… Lu Ran sighed inwardly.
He had been paying special attention to news about the supernatural due to his secret: he could hear the “inner voices” of animals. He had the ability to understand animals and communicate with them telepathically.
He gained this ability two years ago.
He hadn’t been proficient at first. With practice, however, he could now hear the voices of many species. This ability was the reason he could predict the weather and dominate Green Sea City’s Insect Fighting tournament.
But with this superpower came a strange dream. He would occasionally dream that the city was being invaded by various monsters and that he died tragically, only to suddenly wake up and realize it had been a dream.
Lu Ran had tried going to a doctor, but they couldn’t find anything wrong with him at all. Still, there was no doubt in his mind that something was wrong with him. Consequently, he felt that something must be off with the world at large too.
Eventually, though, he realized that he was the only abnormal one.
Scouring through the internet, it was easy to come across some weird stories or odd rumors, but most of them were ultimately unconfirmable or fake.
For that reason, despite taking the article seriously for a moment, he still ended up shaking his head and dismissing it as another fake story. He had seen so many of these random pranks that he no longer fell for them.
This world was fundamentally rooted in science.
Just then, the waiter finally served them their food. Lu Ran put down his phone and turned to Fang Lan.
“Let’s eat,” he said.
Fang Lan nodded. “Okay.”
The picture attached to the post was quite gruesome, yet Fang Lan didn’t lose her appetite over it—as expected of someone born into a family of veterinarians.
As they started to eat, Lu Ran paused for a moment and asked, “Are you going to take your pets to the city with you?”
“Of course,” Fang Lan replied. “I still have to update my blog every week or else my fans will miss me.”
Fang Lan ran a cute pet blog where she anonymously posted about her pets. However, Lu Ran always criticized her for calling herself a cute pet blogger. After all, her pets consisted of snakes, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and the sort. How were any of those even close to being considered cute?
Lu Ran shrugged. “Looks like you’ll have to find a place to live by yourself.”
If Fang Lan were to sneak into the dorms with these “cute pets” and one of them got loose, then even if the resident assistants didn’t care, her roommate would strangle her in her sleep.
Would anyone be ok with their roommate keeping a pet in the dorm? Specifically a scorpion, centipede, or snake?
“So what? I can live alone just fine,” Fang Lan muttered apathetically. “Make sure you pass the exam and get in so we can move in together and split the rent.”
Appalled, Lu Ran replied, “You make it sound like I adore your pets. I’m scared of them too!”
He wasn’t a fearful person, but when he was just seven or eight years old, Fang Lan used to torment him with arachnids and reptiles. The experience gave him deep-seated traumas.
Why can’t she be more ladylike? She hasn’t changed at all.
Wouldn’t cats and dogs be cuter?
The two continued chatting as they finished up their meal. Eventually, the rain stopped.
Since Fang Lan was going out with her best friend later, she paid and left ahead, leaving Lu Ran to pack up the leftovers.
Lu Ran knew that Fang Lan’s family cared about him a lot. She even looked for him specifically just to check on him.
“How lame~”
A moment later, Lu Ran also left the restaurant. As he walked through the door, he felt the moist air on his skin and saw a rainbow in the sky. His mood kept changing.
High school is so boring. I don’t even have a lot of free time…
He couldn’t wait to graduate and get into college.
Before he could walk far, a voice made him stop in his tracks.
Lu Ran raised his hand and stared at it. A black card had suddenly appeared on his palm.
The card was the size of a playing card and felt like it was made of plastic. It wasn’t a punch card from the restaurant or some random flier from a marketer, though. It just magically appeared in his hand.
Lu Ran felt like he was starting to hallucinate. Moreover, everything seemed muffled as if he was underwater.
Along with the voice, lines of text started scrolling before his eyes. Lu Ran’s expression became more and more incredulous.
[Potential detected. You have the qualifications to be a beastmaster.]
[The contract card has been materialized.]
[Beginner’s Mission: Use the contract card to capture an animal as a familiar and become a beastmaster!]
[Tip 1: Beastmaster is a profession that contracts, trains, and controls familiars to work and fight!]
[Tip 2: A contract card is a tool that strengthens the user’s mental power and captures familiars. It also contains a pocket dimension where familiars can rest]
[Tip 3: Contract cards cannot be used on humans.]
[Tip 4: The success rate of capturing a creature depends on the user’s mental strength and the quality of the contract card. Don’t capture creatures that you cannot control. Otherwise, the contract card may be damaged or the familiar may retaliate.]
…
“What’s this?”
People walked past Lu Ran, who remained standing on the side of the street. He was sure that the voice he had heard was not an animal’s. It felt different from when he used his ability to telepathically talk to animals.
Lu Ran took a deep breath.
Black contract card, familiar, beastmaster…
He immediately recalled the post that Fan Lan had sent him. The author’s story was exactly the same as what was going on with him now! Could the article be true?!
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