224 CHPT 224: Branching the Beasts. A Hero's guide to Survival in the Wild.

Claude's once perceived image of the frozen class at the start of the lesson had permeated from his own mind and grown into an abrupt reality.

Prof. Alvis stood at the head of the class-- just as silent as everyone else. The beads of sweat usually found on his forehead had returned, along with the twitch of his fingers and holding of his midsection. The once charming and outwardly spoken teacher faded back out of existence. The visual representation of his passion, had faded out of existence with the ending of his retelling of the world. And just like his secondary nature had partially extinguished, so too had the students immersion.

Claude could sense it. Something he didn't need the inhuman senses of a Lupine to perceive. The way they slumped back into their chairs, fiddled with their papers and let their eyes wander. He was sure some of them were bored. But most of them now had new things to worry about. Things concerning their placement as some of the weakest newly Reborn students on a global ranking.

Claude would be lying if he too wasn't worrying-- the thoughts just led to other things-- things more violent with more dire consequences.

"[Use this as motivation.]" Arne whispered in his mind.

"I can't do anything else with it." Claude replied with a shrug while he fiddled with his Tiers of the Wild-born pamphlet.

"Well, n-now that the history lesson is over with. How ab-bout we discuss these Tiers...haha." Prof. Alvis suddenly said with a nod before picking up a piece of chalk and beginning to write on the board.

His handwriting was shaky and erratic mess that fit his personality about as well as a glove. But, it was legible and he was able to fluidly explain his thoughts over each subject he wrote.

"O-Ok everyone. The m-mmost important part-t of these Tiers...isn't the actual Tiers themselves, but instead the categories....we'll call them branches." He explained, concluding his words with the finishing of his title. He paused only for a moment before continuing to multi-task with writing and speaking.

"You s-see. These subd--...no, branches!..haha... These branches w-will allow you to rrecognize and place different groups of creatures i-into categories that allow y-you or any Infested Area focused Hero to know whether to run or fight. T-these branches work based on a....a sort of median level a-and show how certain groups a-are naturally more powerful than others....allow me to explain." He said before beginning to write the first branch on the board.

After he was finished writing, he clumsily hobbled away from the board and let the students see the large chalky white lettering.

Claude let his pencil hover over his pamphlet, on the ready to scribble his thoughts and details over the paper as he went.

"First....and weakest-- usuallly, is; The Earthen Branch. A-a rather simple name for a simple branch i'd say...hehe. T-this branch could be seen as normal, only housing animals of both predators and prey that are born and populate on earth. These animals on average tend to be the least developed in terms of intellect, have the lowest potential and lowest relative power. But!....hehe...any of you B-Beast Tamers in here, try not to get discouraged. A high level creature belonging to any branch is v-viable in batttle.." Prof. Alvis said.

Claude raised his hand, finding his mind working due to being easily immersed in the lesson-- much unlike the rest.

"Y-yes, Claude?"

"What about the prehistoric creatures? I know they're originally from the Tangents, but they've been here long enough to populate on earth for some time now. Could they be considered as members of the Earthen Branch?" Claude asked.

Prof. Alvis smiled excitedly and rushed over to the board where he began scribbling away at the next Branch.

"G-great qquestion, Claude! You have brought up our next B-branch with your question. These prehistoric creatures you speak of have their own title and subdivision called; The Primal Branch. This branch is h-home to everything prehistoric and metaphhorically steamrolls everything from the Earthen Branch at the same level for two reasons. W-would anyone l-like to tell the rrrest of the class these two key differences..?" Prof. Alvis explained, nervously ending his speech with a question.

Claude was ready to raise his hand again, but another Beast Tamer beat him to it.

"S-stacy." Prof. Alvis beckoned her to explain.

The blond haired feline Beast Tamer finished sharpening her nails and ogled them as she replied. "The two differences between Primals and...Earthen Branch animals is their physical stats and...skills. I read that a lot of prehistoric felines have cloaking abilities."

"[Sounds like your Glorian Monstrosity...]" Arne interjected.

"Glorian Lion. And yes, I agree." Claude corrected.

"Yes! Very good. Primals often have much higher physical stats and pose a greater threat to humans than their equal level Earthen counterpart. Also the skills they have cannot go unnoticed. Now lets c-continue....hehe..."

***

As Prof. Alvis suggested, they continued. Claude listened intently as he ran down the list of the Earthen, Primal, Tangent-Crossed, PreyBorn and Tangent-Born Branches. Those were rather simple and self explanatory and the only confusion came from the fact that Primals could also be classified as Tangent-Born for obvious reasons-- they were simply both. The one thing he did find interesting was that Shape-Shifters and all forms and types of Vampires were apart of the Tangent-Crossed branch. The realization made him feel less human than before because realistically-- if the world knew what he was, he'd be on the list too.

Aside from that, he thought the class and lesson was rather tame in nature-- until he flipped the page of his sleek black pamphlet. There were two things that stuck out to him and one that completely drew his attention.

***

The Demonic Branch..

The DracoKin Division..

***

"[I take it thats for all things Dragon based?]"

"Yep.." Claude replied.

He never really liked Dragons. Not in the same way he did other creatures. The stories he read on them were almost always chilling in a way that made him scared to even move. Stories of mountains that were never mountains-- but instead, Dragons that would one day take to the skies and reduce cities to rubble where they'd place their steaming hot eggs in the ashen remains. Or unnaturally long sky serpents that posed as rivers only to one day rise and do what all Dragons do. Destroy. The stories he'd read followed this path often, the Dragons slept like no other and to survive while doing so required them to blend in and become entire landscapes. These stories weren't a fantasy either, they were based off real events.

Claude's father would often tell him and Frosty stories of cities charred by flames as hot as the sun, while others were encased in glistening white ice or drowned and morphed into rotted renditions of Atlantis. The idea was always so unsettling to Claude. Something so large being able to go unseen for so long.

"SO!....hheh...sorry. So, any questions?" Prof. Alvis suddenly asked, startling everyone with his initial shout.

A student at the front raised his hand.

"Hmm?"

"So. You're telling me, Primals come before the Tangent-born.....so Primal is a weaker branch. Does that mean a Goblin can kill....a sabertooth? That doesn't make any sense." The student questioned.

Prof. Alvis nodded in understanding. "Yes, yes. I believe it does present to be a bit....w-wonky hhehe...but thats not how the Tiers of the Wild-born are made. Think about the ranking from worst to best. Earthen, Primal, Cross, PreyBorn, Tangent-born, Demonic and DracoKin. These placements are based off of raw power as an average as well as the immediate threat and destructive power they hold over humans. I know you're told about the importance of slaying members that belong to the Tangent-born branch....but the D-Dracokin and Demons are much m-more severe in m-my eyes....hehehe.....much more...." Prov. Alvis explained.

A silence followed, his words were chilling....and his undeniably creepy laugh didn't help. When the bell suddenly rang out like an explosion in their ears, everyone jumped and headed for the doors. They'd had enough information for the day.

"Remember! The true tiers of Monsters and animals corresponds with Hero rankings.....and we'll talk PreyBorn Origins and evolution tomorrow!" The Professor yelled as the students rushed out of the classroom like a human stampede.

Claude hung behind, calmly packing his bags and making sure the wrapped up Lunar Artifact wasn't exposed in his bag-- can't have him accidentally transforming in public.

His mind ran through all the new information while he sorted his things and prepared for Training.

"Dragons and Demons...the most severe of the Branches."

"[I saw a Dragon once...]" Arne said in a distant tone.

"Really? Did you find it when you were a Lupine? Did you end up killing it?" Claude asked.

"[Yea-- no. I think I shit myself.]"

Claude made a facial expression that accurately conveyed his disappointment. "How brave...and warrior-like."

"[Ah, Claude. You'll do something similar. Dragons are horrifying.]" Arne said, unfazed by revealing what could be categorized as an embarrassing moment.

"Right." Claude replied before closing up his bag and heading out of the class. He was sure Frosty was more than ready for some action by now.

"Erhm, h-how did you l-like the lesson today, Claude?" Prof. Alvis asked while tidying up his desk. The roller-coaster of a period left the professor looking exhausted, yet happy.

Claude stopped at the doorway, "It was good. Very.....eyeopening. Have a good day, Professor."

"Y-yes, you too!"