The pet master

One year later.

In a dark alley, a 5-year-old child in shabby clothes sat there, seemingly deep in thought. Bags filled with fast food junk lay next to him.

4 months ago, he successfully escaped home.

Taking advantage of his useless nanny, he pretended to be sleeping, then jumped out of the window.

With his acting skills, he was able to leave the city through the train, although honestly it doesn't have anything to do with acting skills.

He picked a target, someone who is too distracted, or in this case completely engrossed in his phone screen, and kept following him, pretending to be his child, and because younger kids didn't need to pay for the journey that guy didn't notice him.

One could say he was quite lucky, and honestly, max didn't think he would succeed in his first time, but things just worked out.

the city he chose is still considered a safe zone, but is way closer to the danger zone.

this place is quite chaotic, more importantly this place has a lot of orphans, since a lot of people are killed in the danger zone, ranging from soldiers, to commoners, and professionals, their kids get pulled from the danger zone, and moved to the safer locations.

This city takes most of them.

With the money he stole from home, and some begging here and there, he could survive relatively well on his own, however it's about time he joined an orphanage.

The reason he waited this long is simply to not be found out.

After a child is reported to be missing, multiple places will be informed. If he joined an orphanage at the same time, there is a high chance he would be found out.

Plus, after 4 months of living like a street kid, his appearance has changed a little.

Unlike the cute chubby boy, now he is a skinny, disheveled boy.

.....

Standing in front of an orphanage called sunlight .

Max walked inside.

The caretaker looked at him.

Another orphan huh, her heart pained slightly, but she smiled and asked in a gentle voice, hey there little guy, where are your parents?

She didn't want to ask. But she had to.

Max shook his head. I don't have.

He kept his words as emotionless as he could, showing the image of a child that closed all roads to his heart.

The caretaker's smile stiffened for a moment. Obviously, she is still new to this.

Well, do you have someone to take care of you?. And where do you live ? .

I am all alone. I saw a lot of kids here, so I thought maybe I can stay here with the other kids.

Of course you can. Come inside sweet, let's give you a bath first.

One can only admire Max's acting skills.

He didn't a specially give a pitiful appearance, but he kept to himself. A hint of loneliness in his eyes, with a little bit of anticipation and the right amount of childish hope.

In fact. Max didn't even need to act. The reason he did so is that he didn't want them to doubt anything. Just being careful.

...

Time passed quickly. Max started his school life, but it wasn't a big deal for him. He simply ignored school, doing just the bare minimum to pass the year.

while he invested his time, and energy in reading informations about different pets, and research subject.

evolution paths and solid proven pet technology weren't available online, at least not for free.

But the free knowledge was more than enough for him to digest for the next 20 to 30 years.

On the 4th year after joining the orphanage, he was found out, and his parents came. Of course, no one suspected that he escaped, and planned to stay away from his parents, although their thought process didn't matter to him.

Actually, Max thought they would find him sooner, but it no longer matter.

He simply refused to recognize them, even with the persuasion of the caretakers and slightly older kids around.

Max insisted that his parents are dead, refusing the blood test, and even getting super violent when they tried to take him out of the orphanage, even harming himself in the process.

Helpless, the couple decided to leave him there for the time being, in till he calm down or they figure something out.

Over the years, the couple kept trying, but max didn't give them the slightest hope.

When max was 13 years old, the couple seemed to have finally given up on him, and moved onwards with their lives.

He was sincerely happy for them.

Now that this entire ordeal is done, Max focused his mind to perfect his plans for his future, especially for his talent. He already had a vague idea about how to best make use of it.

...

Years passed in the blink of an eye.

Glory High school, third year class 3.

Inside, max sat excitedly waiting.

However, the surrounding students, wasn't surprised at his sudden change in mood, although this guy is cold all year round, can he still be calm today, no one can because today isn't only the first day of their last year in high school, but also the day their talents gets awakened.

And unlike max who had a simulator and can check his talent, others can't. Today is a life-changing event for them.

However, max wasn't excited because of the talent Awakening. His talent is useless for him now and will be for some time, because he had big plans for his talent, but that's all for later time.

For now the reason for his excitement, is that today is the day he will become a pet master, he already planned this, because his talent is so powerful as long as he get the talent certificate, a huge loan can be taken from the bank.

With that money, his plans can start moving.

Ah finally after today I won't have to keep coming to school.

Freedom at last. seriously school took so much time from him, in a normal world school, college, and academes are important, but in this world it's an enormous waste of time.

Instead of spending so much time and energy in school, it's better to invest his time in pet study, and learning about different superpowers systems.

Thankfully, today is his last day.

Sigh.. If not for the cheap gene Talent Awakening serum, I wouldn't of joined school at all.

In the past year max tried his best to make money, at first he thought it would be an easy job, after all in his previous life he enjoyed reading books, listening to classical music, and watching movies, if he publish all of his knowledge slowly, won't he make a fortune.

But he seems to miss judge something. Earth can have countless geniuses in different art fields over the years. Why can't this world be the same? Are all the humans here a bunch of retarded idiots?

No, they are not. This world had its own geniuses.

When max tried to publish his stolen classics, it was like throwing a cup of water in the ocean.

He made some money but not much, as for modern art max didn't even think about it, it's not because modern artist on earth are useless compared to the ones here, but it's because a few people here can awaken some random weird talents related to art, for example, there is a certain singer with a related talent, let's just say he almost cried multiple times, in one sad song, but you have to understand that max can't even understand the language she sings in.

... Some time later, a man in a doctor outfit walked in with the teacher, and a few men in black suits, one woman and 3 men to be exact. They should be here to protect the doctor and guard the resources used for awakening .

Alright, everyone should be here.

The doctor spoke I believe everyone is aware of today's matters, but just in case I will explain one last time, those who can pay for the talent Awakening serum will be injected Directly, while those who can't will either sign a contract with the star Union, or give up on the talent Awakening. Friendly reminder you should know that the talent awakening serum is only worth 30,000 credit for students like you, but this is the only chance you can buy it at this price, this is a kind of help provided buy the star Union to the young blood of the continent.

If you try to buy it from elsewhere, then currently the lowest market price is 150,000 credit, that's of course if you have a channel to buy from, after all this isn't common goods provided for everyone .

Alright now that we are done with that, let's get to business.

We will start with the one with the highest marks last year and keep going down.

First Jhon Smith.

Sigh... I didn't have the time to change my name, although max didn't accept the couple. Over the years, it was confirmed he was indeed their son, thus his name.

You didn't pay for the serum, so I assume you would like to sign the contract. Of course you don't have to do it now, you can read it in your free time, and make a decision within this week.

No thank you, I would like to pay now. Spoke max as he took a thick stack of deep blue paper currency and handing it over.

The doctor lifted his eyebrow.

May I ask why didn't you pay earlier?

I didn't have the entire amount in till a few days earlier, sir. School was closed by then.

The only woman in the group, checked a few paper works then looked at max, from your files you don't have any source of income, nor do you have someone who can provide such an amount, I have to ask where did you obtain it.

Where did max get the money?.

Part of it came from the art classics, and part of it was from illegal work for the local gangs, selling drugs, stealing, you name it, as long as he can do it..

even so, he still had to borrow the last 5k from loan sharks, because he was well known as a little gangster in the local underground.

They let him borrow money even if he is just a student.

I got it from publishing different types of art online, sir. Answered max innocently. Of course, max will never admit it, moreover, he got the perfect excuse.

As he showed the woman his phone, on it a lot of books, song lyrics, and even movie scripts were over for sale, some even free to read with a donation marker on the side,

While she was stunned, the doctor was impatient. He didn't care about Max's art nor about the woman's suspicion of max.

Alright since you paid, all is good. Come here and sit.

Taking his phone back, max sat in front of the doctor.

The guy didn't stand on ceremony, taking an injection filled with fluorescent blue liquid, directly giving max an injection.

After it, he placed a black bracelet over his hand while using his tablet to monitor some parameters.

Max was kind of waiting for a painful experience, maybe even some unnatural heat, that run allover the body, but he felt nothing.

Is this thing fake?

But at this moment, the doctor's eyes widened. Max still felt nothing, though.

An S rank talent, no it's a new S rank talent, one never recorded before.

Max was kind of surprised honestly, his talent is so strong yet it's just S rank. On what basis do they rank them?

If his is just an S rank talent, then what would an SSS rank talent be like?

Although max didn't react much, the others were all stunned in disbelief.

You have to understand that the strongest talent record up to date is just of SS rank, and only a few people awakened such talent. As for S rank, well, it wasn't as rare as the SS rank, but at the very least, Glory High School never had an S rank talent holder who graduated from it.

The students looked at max with envy and loss.

wouldn't it be good if it was them who awakened an S rank talent, or to be more realistic wouldn't it be good if they had a good relationship with such a future big shot, but it seems it wasn't them who didn't want to befriend him, but he who ignored them completely.

The man's eyes widened, S rank talent.

The woman guard wasn't much different, although a bit more composed.

but even so, the man in black didn't attempt to recruit him now, such a thing will be left to the school, they are the ones to guide him.

Although the woman felt a pity that max payed the money and didn't sign the contract, if he did he would've joined the secret guards, which is under her father's management.

Alright, you can go down now. The details about your talent will be ready with the certificate.

..... Time passed student after student went up, but there were no more surprises like max, the highs talent rank after max was B rank.