This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

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Kain and Serena gave Ferrin a week to think over his decision calmly and be sure that be wished to go through with the experiment. It was also to get his remaining affairs in order in the event that the experiment was not so successful…

During that time they went to classes like normal, concealing their anxious feelings skillfully beneath blank masks of indifference.

During that week they also finally turned over the remaining research notes to the college administration, claiming they'd forgotten they had them stored in other space rings. The administrators, though mildly skeptical, seemed satisfied enough not to press further.

When the week was up, Kain contacted Ferrin, confirming he was still willing to go through with the experiment.

"I've made my peace with it, whether it succeeds or fails," Ferrin said over the phone. "Let's get this over with."

With his confirmation, they smuggled Ferrin onto the college campus late in the evening in a large container typically used for transporting spiritual creatures. While it wasn't the most comfortable ride for him, the container ensured that no one would see what—or who—was inside.

As the container was brought into Kain's lab, Ferrin stepped out, wincing as he stretched his legs.

"Fancy place," he remarked, his eyes scanning the lab. Though he couldn't see much of the campus during his transport, just being here was enough to leave him awestruck. "So, this is where the best of the best train, huh? On the ride over it felt like the quality of the air and even the concentration of spiritual power was different here."

Kain smirked slightly with pride in his school, but didn't answer as he focused on hooking Ferrin up to the various machines in his lab that could monitor his vitals and spiritual power.

The very reason they had chosen to do it in his lab was due to all of this equipment Kain had to better monitor the experiment.

Serena stepped forward once she saw that Kain had stepped away, finished setting up the equipment. "Are you ready?"

Ferrin hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this."

Kain also nodded, although she wasn't asking him, "There's a few things we need to go over first." He said to Ferrin.

Ferrin sat up straighter as he listened attentively. Possibly to prevent him leaking out the details of their research, he hadn't heard in detail about how it would work or what would be done to him.

"Firstly, Serena is going to tattoo this array onto you," Kain said while holding up a piece of paper with the array drawn onto it. "Do you have a preferred location? Ideally, somewhere it won't be easily seen, just in case."

Ferrin thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Back of my right shoulder blade. That should work, right?"

Serena nodded. "That's a good spot. Easy for me to work on, too."

Kain continued. "The process will take some time. To make sure you don't feel anything, I'll use my spiritual contract to temporarily cut off your sense of pain."

Ferrin's eyes widened slightly at the mention of the abilities of Kain's spiritual contract, as an ordinary person he didn't have much contact with spiritual creatures. He was still extremely nervous, but he also couldn't help thinking if after today he would have his own spiritual contract like them?

One of Bea's threads of mental energy darted forward, latching onto Ferrin. The man stiffened momentarily, then relaxed as a split gradually solidified its connection with him.

"You shouldn't feel anything now," Kain said.

Ferrin tested by flexing his fingers, his expression shifting to one of mild surprise. "Huh. Nothing. That's... unsettling."

Serena stepped forward, rolling up her sleeves as she pulled out the enchanted tattoo pen. "Alright. Stay as still as possible. This will take a while."

She began her work, the faint hum of the enchanted pen she was using to tattoo him filled the room.

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The array's design was intricate and hours passed as Serena worked and Kain monitored Ferrin's vitals closely.

Gabriel had briefly shown himself, curious about the new arrival, but quickly left in boredom after nothing had changed after 2 hours.

Ferrin, for his part, remained silent, though his fingers occasionally pinched himself to test the lack of sensation.

Serena's movements were precise, each line of the drawn expertly. The sigils forming the array had a faint lustre as she infused them with spiritual energy, the design gradually coming to life on Ferrin's skin.

Finally, Serena sat back, exhaling deeply. "Done."

The array, now complete, glowed softly on Ferrin's shoulder blade. Its intricate lines and symbols seemed to pulse faintly, as if waiting for activation.

Kain released Bea's influence, restoring Ferrin's sense of feeling.

"How do you feel?" Kain asked.

Ferrin flexed his shoulder experimentally, his brow furrowing. "Feels... fine. A bit tender and warm, but nothing bad. What's next?"

"Now, we see if it works." Kain replied, while instructing Ferrin to control his meagre amount of spiritual power and send it to the array. This is where they ran into another problem…

Serena had been learning how to manipulate her spiritual power since she was young, so it was understandable that she didn't think of this, but…

'How could I have forgotten how difficult it was for me to precisely move my spiritual power where I wanted when I was a first-year?'

If he had remembered this, he could have at the very least spent the past week training Ferrin on how to move his spiritual power. Now they could only watch as their progress was once again delayed due to this oversight.

Ferrin was panting and sweating as he tried to essentially move an extra dead limb he hadn't tried to move or pay attention to in the decade since failing to awaken his affinity. After all, as an ordinary person with barely enough spiritual power to just form his first star, why would he bother practicing the manipulation of spiritual power?

Thankfully, under the attentive dual coaching of Kain and Serena, and even using Bea to transmit some of their memories and experiences while controlling spiritual power to him, they were able to expedite the process.

In only a few more hours, the array on the back of his shoulder began to glow, and Kain was able to sense as something attempted to enter his star space.