Wrath's Virtue

Aurelion followed the signs to the Beast Taming section. The building itself was a vast, semi open structure of thick timber and dark iron, more like a fortified barn than an academic hall.

As he entered, he saw a few students of various ages with their beasts.

Two of them passed him without a second glance, their grey furred wolves trotting obediently at their heels as they headed for the open courtyard beyond.

Aurelion scanned his surroundings, observing the different creatures in large cages. A feathered serpent with scales, a boar the size of a carriage, a panthers with a pure black fur...

As he was looking around, he heard a voice.

"Hey, pointy ears!"

Aurelion turned his head with irritation in the direction of the voice and saw an old beastman, his body was full of scars, with ram like horns curling from his head.

"You're one of the newcomers, aren't you?" the old man grunted.

"Here to earn some tokens?"

Aurelion approached the man. "I'm here for the task."

"Aren't they the same thing?" The old man's gaze traveled down Aurelion's lean frame and back up.

He let out a soft, breathy sound like a chuckle, and muttered to himself, "I thought elves loved animals. Suppose this one's just like the other one."

He then turned his back as if the conversation was already over.

Aurelion looked at the man, confused. "The other one?" he thought.

With his hands clasped behind his back, the old beastkin started walking deeper into the building.

"Follow me, boy. I'll show you your task."

The old beastman, led him deeper into the building. They passed rows of cages and entered a large, open processing area.

The air here was thick with the coppery smell of blood, and massive carcasses of strange beasts hung from thick iron hooks. In the center of the room, a massive, scaly lizard like creature was laid out on a stone slab.

A young elf girl with light brown hair was working on the carcass with a large cleaver, slashing the carcass.

Borr stood a few steps away from the girl, careful not to get too close.

"Nyx," he called out.

Aurelion watched from behind as the girl continued her work without responding.

"Hey, Nyx! Look at me," Borr said, his voice was louder this time.

The girl's cleaver stopped mid air. She slowly turned to face Borr.

"I brought someone to help you," he said, gesturing to Aurelion.

The girl peeked her head around the side of the massive carcass.

Aurelion saw an elf girl, likely around twelve years old, her face splattered with blood, smiling cheerfully at him.

"Oh, do you love animals like me too? And you're an elf as well!" she exclaimed.

"Not exactly like you," Borr grunted.

"This one's a High Elf."

The girl stood up and, still holding the bloody cleaver, walked towards Aurelion with a bright smile.

Aurelion remained calm where he stood, a single eyebrow raised.

The girl, while her face beaming, extended a blood covered hand to Aurelion.

"I'm Nyx! Nice to meet you. What's your name?"

Aurelion looked down at her bloody hand, then back up at her smiling face. He extended his own hand and shook hers firmly.

"I'm Aurelion. A pleasure to meet you too," he said, returning her smile.

From a distance, Borr watched the two of them with a straight face. "Yes, this one's cracked just like Nyx too," he thought to himself.

"He'll probably do just fine."

"Nyx, show the newcomer what to do," Borr said, already turning to leave.

"Of course, Uncle Borr! You can leave it to us," Nyx chirped.

When Borr was gone, Nyx turned to Aurelion.

"Let's get started, Aurelion!" she said and took a cleaver from the wall next to the beast.

"Catch," she said, tossing the cleaver to him.

As the cleaver spun through the air, Aurelion snatched it cleanly from its arc.

Nyx's smile widened.

"Great! You have good reflexes. Come on, I'll teach you," she said, gesturing for Aurelion to approach.

Aurelion calmly looked at the cleaver in his hand, then at Nyx.

"That old goat left me with this maniac," he thought.

"He's going to have to give me more than seven tokens for this task."

He walked over to the carcass.

"This is a Scaled Mountain Lizard," Nyx explained.

"It's only a Rank 2 creature, but its scales and bones might be a bit tough for you. What we're going to do now is, I'll dismember it at the joints, and then we'll chop up the meat together."

Nyx then raised her cleaver and began to swing it down toward the lizard's shoulder. As she swung, a faint red glow emanated from the blade.

Aurelion watched Nyx as she use the cleaver. Although her swings seemed unbalanced, each blow opened a clean gash in the creature's thick bones, and she managed to strike the same spot every time.

After two more blows, the creature's scaly arm fell away with a clean cut.

"See? With a clean cut at the same spot, I minimize the waste. Now this arm is ready to be chopped up perfectly."

Aurelion looked at the scaly arm. "Don't you need to skin it?"

"What? Of course not,"

"The best way we can show our respect to these beautiful creatures is by using them in the most efficient way possible."

She then smiled. "Besides, some of them love chewing on these scales, they're so cute."

"I see," Aurelion replied.

Nyx then pointed out different parts of the creature.

"After separating the head, the spine needs to be sliced. The tail needs to be cut where the spine ends. It's a bit hard to see, but you can feel it by touch."

"She must be talking about the tailbone," Aurelion thought to himself, and ran his hand along the bone, searching for the right spot.

"No, not there. Look, it's here," Nyx said while leaning forward.

She took Aurelion's hand, guided it to the correct spot, and pressed down gently. "See? Can you feel it? This is where the spine ends."

Aurelion looked at Nyx. He wasn't annoyed by the physical contact because he could tell she was genuinely passionate about teaching him this job.

"Yes, I feel it," he said.

"Great!" Nyx chirped, stroking the lizard's scaly hide.

"You can best understand these joint and cutting points by touch. Since some of the beasts here can eat the bones of this lizard, we don't need to be too precise when dicing. For some, we can give just meat, for others a mix, and for some, the large bones. So as long as we cut at the right points, the portions are already prepared by themselves."

Aurelion nodded. "So what do you prepare for your bird?

Nyx turned to Aurelion with a bright smile on her face. "My bird? Are you talking about Eris?"

"If Eris is a hawk, then yes," Aurelion replied.

Nyx picked up a small piece of meat from the lizard and held it out to Aurelion.

He took the piece of meat in his hand.

"Toss it in the air, Aurelion," Nyx said.

Aurelion paused and carefully looked around, but he couldn't see anything.

"She'll show herself if you toss it," Nyx said with a simple smile.

Aurelion closed his eyes and entered his state of Void Focus, searching for energy traces in the area.

In a corner, he found a small, dark purple trace. He opened his eyes and looked at the darkness in the corner.

"Come on out, Eris," he said, and tossed the meat into the air.

As the meat flew into the air, an elegant hawk with shimmering, dark purple feathers emerged from where Aurelion was looking.

It snatched the meat and blended back into the shadows.

Nyx approached Aurelion, her face close to his. "You saw Eris. How did you see her? Sometimes even I have trouble finding her."

"I just trusted my feelings," Aurelion said.

"Feelings? Yes, feelings! You can also understand animals and feel their emotions and thoughts, can't you?" she asked, getting more excited.

"Not really," Aurelion replied.

"Then what do you feel?"

She touched the lizard's scales again, closing her eyes and waiting for a moment.

"I can feel the emotions of the beasts, their determination, their endurance, their last moments, and what kind of life they lived. That's how I can get along with them so well."

She turned back to Aurelion. "What do you feel?"

Aurelion looked at where Nyx had disappeared. "I don't feel as much as you do. I can only feel their presence."

"Their presence? You can't feel their emotions without feeling their presence. What you feel... is basic and simple, but it's the most important thing."

"Perhaps," Aurelion said with a shrug.

He stood up and approached the lizard's tail. He channeled his energy into the cleaver, and the tip of the blade began to glow with a faint golden light.

He touched the tailbone with his hand, confirming its location.

Nyx moved behind Aurelion, her expression becoming slightly more serious.

"Remember, Aurelion. We show our respect to these animals by using them in the most efficient way. Make your cut straight and clean. I believe you can do it."

"Don't worry, Nyx. I will honor this lizard,"