He turned his attention back to all the candidates his eyes shifting between them all as he continued.

"The beast master system is built upon soul threshold."

No one interrupted since this was the framework of the world they were all born in, the foundation knowledge and its power.

"There are ten recognised beast master ranks," he continued," Each rank represents the soul capacity the beast master was born with. Remember this, the capacity you have awakened today is what you will have for the rest of your life, soul capacity cannot be increased unless there is a miracle which I doubt."

Silver shifted slightly, the pit in his stomach getting bigger.

"Soul capacity determines how many beast tattoos your body and soul can hold safely without rebellion or takeover from the tamed beast souls."

One attendant stepped forward and activated a projector pointed at the wall in front of them. Words and numbers started to form on the wall.

George slightly turned, pointing to the projection on the wall.

"These are not just arbitrary numbers and symbols," he explained, "These are the ranks in which everyone awakens their soul but there is no need for despair for those who awakened the lowest-ranked souls. Beast tattoos can be advanced and with each advancement, it increases your power. The best role model for this was Desmond Cray."

How could anyone not know him? He was one of the few rank 1s that focused on only one beast and managed to evolve it to be strong enough to compete with those other high-ranked masters despite his rank never increasing only the beast’s Tier. Though no one has ever achieved that after.

George continued after a moment. His finger pointed to the first words on the projection.

"Rank one: Intitiate. Everyone will start at this rank regardless of their soul capacity. At this point, your body can barely withstand a single beast tattoo."

A few newly awakened unconsciously touched their chests at that.

"Soul capacity: 1"

"Tattoo limit: 1"

"Expected power manifestation: 1 to 2 abilities or skills."

He calmly continued, unaffected by some of the candidates’ whispers. Nerves were starting to leak into the group. None of them knew their soul rank and the more he spoke the more scared they became.

Except for Cruella and her harem of course.

"At the beginning of this rank, your souls regardless of capacity will be unstable as it adapts to being unawakened. You will understand this when you bind your first beast."

The projection switches to another PowerPoint.

"I will only be explaining this first rank since all of you are Rank 1 at the moment...Anyone with a question?"

Someone raised their arm.

"Yes."

"How about beast tattoos, the correlation with our souls?"

George nodded. The PowerPoint switched again and several pictures of tattoos appeared on the screen.

"Next we’ll talk about tattoos and integration. For your first beast mark, you will all go for a Tier One beast. Every beast soul can evolve, with enough training and dedication"

"The relationship between soul capacity and tattoos is fixed. Soul capacity increases in odd numbers. For example. A rank 1 has a soul capacity of 1 while a rank 2 has a soul capacity of 3 this will increase across all ten ranks."

The projection shifted again, another PowerPoint coming into place. This time only a few words were on the screen showing the progression clearly.

Soul capacity divided by two, rounded up.

"Your soul determines how many beast tattoos you can get. Attempts to exceed your limit result in death or loss of control of the beast’s instincts permanently. I have warned you multiple times but I’m sure someone will go against my will and try to tame a higher-ranked beast. Be my guest if you may."

Silver felt like laughing. In the book, the protagonist had managed to tame a Tier four beast despite being a Rank one tamer. Beasts were also ranked the same way and there were only ten Beast Tiers known to man.

"Remember this," he said, his tone lowered and serious.

"A beast tattoo is not an equipment but a second existence carved into your soul."

The words landed heavy and final. Then his eyes shifted briefly towards all the candidates and rested again on Cruella.

Silver could already guess the results just from the way he acted. She had probably gotten the highest soul capacity out of everyone.

George sighed heavily and turned to the other attendants motioning with his hand. One stepped forward and turned off the projector.

"Only twenty out of the hundred and one candidates have managed to awaken their Soul core this year. I will be calling names from the lowest ranked to the top ranked with your soul capacity on display."

Murmurs filled the room.

"Silence."

The room went quiet as everyone waited. He was just about to speak when the door was pushed open. Everyone turned to see who had caused such a disturbance.

Silver recognised him immediately Martin Ruddington, his tenth uncle, he seemed to have run to the awakening hall.

"The patriarch has requested that the results be read in front of everyone," he said, his voice echoing in the hall.

"What... but that’s..."

"... I thought they said they wouldn’t do that this year..."

"Someone must have proposed it..."

Silver didn’t know whether to be surprised or just to expect it. It was okay to get your results in front of your fellow candidates but before everyone especially his family.

This was clearly one of the many humiliation rituals for Him and give Cruella the chance to comfort the former Silver and reconcile.

"Line up."

They resumed the lineup they had when coming, the lack of the others was jarring.

"Return to the hall," George said, taking the lead.

The walk back was unusually fast. The sounds of overlapping voices and arguments were what welcomed them.

When they re-entered, attention snapped to them immediately.

The patriarch remained seated, his gaze following George as he approached with the tablet at hand. He extended his arm, his eyes ran over the screen then he returned it to George who was now standing beside his chair.

"Report."