This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain returned to his lab after inspecting the disaster site, and hoped that no other consequences for wishes made by Serena would fall on him.

'That's one more incentive to learn that new spiritual skill. At least with it, I should be able to decreased my likelihood of being the target of fate-attribute skills.'

Kain found solace in the quiet hum of his equipment and the faint glow of the Starlight Bind Barrier covering Gabriel in the observation area.

Despite the chaos surrounding the factory incident, Kain couldn't let it consume his focus entirely—there were other pressing matters demanding his attention.

Seating himself at his desk, he pulled out the thick stack of research notes he had recovered from the Doctor's laboratory.

He had already scoured the Doctor's personal files from his space ring, but found no viable solution to Gabriel's condition. Now, he turned to the notes from the room adjacent to the laboratory—those detailing experiments from other branches of the organization.

These experiments, while not directly linked to the E Series that Kain and Cherry were part of, painted a broader picture of the organization's goals and methods.

The notes described four primary research paths: Series A, Series B, Series X, and Series E. Each was an attempt to push the boundaries of human potential, often inspired by the unique cultivation methods of other nations.

The first series, Series A, was based heavily on the cultivation methods of the nation directly west of the Celestial Empire, Karnath Dominion.

The Karnath Dominion's cultivation method revolved around individuals' natural Gifts moreso than an affinity, which were often even more powerful than those that individuals in the Celestial Empire tend to awaken.

In Karnath, they do not form contracts with spiritual creatures in the same manner that citizens of the Celestial Empire do.

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Instead, they kill spiritual creatures related to their Gift and by harvesting life essence from these spiritual creatures, Karnathians could integrate the skills of the slayed spiritual creature into their Gifts, creating devastatingly versatile warriors.

Although beast-tamers of the Celestial Empire have a massive numerical advantage when fighting against those from Karnath, while Karnathian's pursue personal strength, exceptional combinations of extracted skills that would normally not be seen on the same living creature, means that each Karnathian is usually much strong and more versatile than spiritual creatures at their level.

Series A's experiments aimed at forcefully implanting gifts into test subjects without to ideally develop a cultivation style reminiscent of the Karnathians'.

The result so far have been mostly poor—while some gained extraordinary gifts, the majority faced physical collapse or violent rejection due to incompatibility or an inability to control the gifts they didn't awaken naturally.

Series B's research direction was inspired by the tribal nations to the south, and focused on hybridization.

The southern tribes' affinities stemmed from remnants of ancient spiritual creature bloodlines likely resulting from cross-species relationships centuries ago between tribal humans and powerful spiritual creatures capable of shifting into a human form. Therefore, modern tribesmen had strong affinities to spiritual creatures that are kin to their dormant bloodline.

Series B sought to replicate this by introducing spiritual creature DNA into human embryos or grafting it into existing subjects.

The results were unpredictable. Some subjects developed extraordinary traits, such as heightened senses or elemental control, but most others became grotesque hybrids, unable to survive the transformation for long.

The third series, Series X, aimed to enhance human Gifts and affinities beyond the affinities inherent to everyone.

The limited information in the notes suggested that the organization regarded this series as the crown jewel of their research—both for its high stakes and the immense potential rewards.

While Series A focused on acquiring abilities externally, Series X sought to amplify what already existed. This series appeared to be the most secretive and crucial to the organization, likely because its success was tied to the interests of sponsors who were already powerful beast-tamers and wanted to go further.

The experiments sought to break through the natural limitations of affinities, granting participants the ability to form contracts with whatever they desired—if the research is successful.

Finally, Series E, which Cherry and Gabriel belonged to, aimed to turn ordinary individuals with no natural affinity into beast-tamers.

The methods ranged from artificial star implantation to manipulating embryos, spiritual energy infusions and more.

So far, no cases of success have emerged from Series E, the casualty rate was staggering, and the possibility of there ever being results remained questionable—although the organization will never tell that to the sponsors of Series E, like Heather Frost, who were desperate for results.

Kain let out a tired sigh and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples due to the rising headache.

Hours of poring over dense research notes, fragmented ideas, and the scribbled formulas of madmen had left his eyes strained and his mind spinning.

Even with his endurance and background in research, the sheer volume of material was overwhelming—he had barely made it through a third of the books and notes.

Kain rubbed his strained eyes, trying to suppress the intense disappointment he felt at not finding a solution or cure within the notes for Gabriel's condition.

As Kain lowered his hands, ready to take a short break, a strange sensation prickled at the back of his neck—a sense of being watched. His head snapped up, his heart lurching as his eyes locked onto a pair of pale grey irises staring back at him.

Gabriel was awake.

His eyes were unsettlingly pale, their almost transparent quality making it difficult to discern where his irises ended and the whites of his eyes began. They seemed to pierce straight through Kain, holding a mix of wariness, confusion, hatred, and fear.

'Oh no…does he think I'm one of them?!'

For a moment, neither of them spoke, the silence in the lab growing heavy. Kain opened his mouth to say something reassuring, but Gabriel's lips parted first, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.

"...Where am I?"

The question was laced with suspicion, which confirmed to Kain that Gabriel believed he was still in the clutches of the kidnappers who had experimented on him, just moved to a different location while unconscious. Experience new stories with empire

"Dark Moon College." Kain explained, "During a rescue mission we brought you back from the lab, you've been unconscious ever since. The individual that was experimenting on you is dead by the way, and all the other children kidnapped were also released and returned to their families. But unfortunately, you can't return home…"