Levi pursed his lips.
Another noise erupted from another angle in quick succession causing him to snap his head to the far front of the lecture hall where the platform was being raised, and that made the entire hall fall silent.
From behind the velvet curtains of the platform, someone emerged. He was tall, had excellent broad shoulders a d draped in a dark navy coat decorated with pulsating thread like filaments.
His boots clicked sharply on the flooring of the platform, his hands crossed at his back as the ends of his coat swept the hovered inches away from the ground. He stopped just before the podium, surveying the crowd with cold black eyes.
"Welcome, hunters!" He spoke into the microphone that amplified his voice ten fold.
"You will be referred to as 'Hunters' because you have been 'hunting' for eggs... Today you stand at the threshold between irrelevance and destiny. There is no sweetening it. Whatever Dinosaur you hatch from those beady, big eggs on your backs today will make or break your future as a Dino Tamer or perhaps as a Portal Reaper... If your egg even decides to harsh at all."
He grabbed the futuristic looking microphone and began pacing to and fro the platform, slowly and deliberately trying as much as he could to initiate eye contact with every single Hunter in their seats.
"Some of you may carry Special Grade, Grade One or even Grade Two Dinosaurs... Of course there's no way to know unless you actually hatch the egg..."
"But you must know, in fact I want it engraved in your medulla oblongata that the rank of the Dinosaur does not make the Tamer. Throughout my illustrious carrier of being a Dino Tamer, I have seen Special Grades fall to Grade One, Upper Grade One down to as low as Upper Grade Three. The tamer makes the Dinosaur. These creatures are not your bodyguards or trophies of any kind, they are responsibilities!"
"Your journey is directly proportional to theirs... Once your name is called, you will step forward, place your egg on the Heavenly Pad, and the Binding Vow process will begin."
"If the Dinosaur within accepts you, the Binding Vow will be established and it will hatch. However, if it rejects you then you have failed the ceremony... "
A sea of murmurs, whispers and hums erupted at the utterance of his last statement. And the speaker allowed the wave to linger on.
Levi looked around, understanding why they were anxious... For some individuals here, this was not their first attempt to forge a Binding Vow with an egg and become a licensed tamer.
They were all wary of the deadline which was five. After the fifth trial and fail, one would be permanently banned from attempting to be a Dino Tamer.
"Now, without further ado..." The speaker's gaze swept the room, "let the Binding Ceremony begin!"
With that, a bursts of applause erupted from the crowd. And the names of the Hunters were being called one by one.
The first name was called and holographic images appeared all over the place, displaying the person's name and face.
"Darial Makeva!"
Whispers started immediately as heads turned once more at the direction of the boy whose name was called. Levi watched just like every other Hunter as Darial walked hunched over with a massive egg on his back.
"Did you know that he didn't hunt for this egg himself?"
"I heard that too, apparently it was given to him by the Sector's Constable"
"Maji!? What sector is that? I'm sure it one of the richer ones. Since they're giving away eggs for free."
"For free? Nahhh I doubt that. I'm sure he did something in exchange for that egg... And for the Sector's governor to have gifted it to him, it's possible that egg is no lower rank... It'll probably be a Special Grade or Grade One for sure!"
Levi overheard the chit chat, watching as Darial reached the Heavenly Pad, which was a raised platform that was swirling with circuit patterns and gently placed his egg in the pads socket.
Looking at Darial Makeva, Levi noticed that he had that typical cool MC look about him and that their was no way he'd hatch a lower rank Dino or let alone his egg refusing to hatch at all.
Darial pressed his hand to the sync port and a mechanical humming sound filled the air. Everyone's focus was fixed at the display on the center stage, those who were far back and could see the stage relied on a huge over holographic screen giving them accurate feedback.
For several moments, nothing absolutely happened, until someone coughed in a weak attempt to make jest of the fact that the egg might not hatch. Before anyone could know it, a sharp crack split through the egg, sounding like a gunshot.
"Whoa!"
"It cracked!"
"Did it crack!?"
Everyone leaned in to see.
From the shattering shell, what appeared to be a webbed wing emerged first, then, cooing sounds like a freshly birth baby, then the rest of the body emerged.
It was the size of a fully grown house cat, maybe a slightly obsessed one.
A Pteranodon
It's body was as black as the night sky, and the wings were leathery wings were glorious. It has talons that curled slightly at the edges, glistening sharply. The obsidian, leathery feathers reflected light of the room while its eyes were as black as its own tough skin.
But the most interesting part of its features was the beak... It was immaculate, sharp and gleamed with a cool metallic luster.
"A Shadow beak!"
Whispers and murmurs of amusement filled the massive lecture hall. Shadowbeaks were evolved Pteranodon Dinosaurs with powers of that include photo-manipulation and their obvious ability to perform aerial support.
Rather than other types of Pteranodon evolved dinosaurs the Shadowbeaks which was their common name was given to them for their most standout feature; which was their black coated beak on the face said to be one of the toughest materials on Earth.
Due to the extreme rarity of this Dinosaur, this hatching was an extraordinary sight to witness.
"Darial Makeva has hatched a Pteranodon Dinosaur — Shadowbeak!"
"Ranking: Special Grade, Level 1!"
More whispers rippled around the hall as Darial Makeva picked up his Dinosaur, cradling the beast against his body in a attempt to sought of keep it warm. The Shadowbeak curled itself into its leathery feathers, cooing away like it fell asleep in its mother's arms.
Without paying any attention to the rest of the Hunters watching in awe, he stepped off the platform and was directed through a shimmering white arch, disappearing into a section known as the New Tamers section.
As Levi watched on, he started to realize how high the stakes were in this event. It was nerve wrecking, the uncertainty... Yet Darial Makeva seemed very sure that he would land a high ranking Dinosaur like a Shadowbeak, most Pteranodon Dinosaurs aren't that powerful, only the Shadowbeaks are, and they are extremely rare.
He looked down at his own egg and swaddled his backpack fittedly.
'Why the hell do I care about whatever is going on here, I obviously don't belong here... All of a sudden I feel so compelled to sit and watch."
The next name was called and it appeared on the holographic screen all around.
"Shawn Ferrell!"
Levi raised an eyebrow, "Shawn?"
A make given name. However, the face that displayed on the screen was that if the female.
From the crowd, a blonde haired girl wearing an expensive looking attire came out, flashing the most diplomatic smile you will ever see on anyone's face. As if she thought she was better than everyone else, and over her back was an egg.
Shawn Ferrell was the daughter of the Constable of Sector E, one of the richest sectors, so it's only natural to assume that they would make sure to get the egg of an already powerful Dinosaur for her.
"Hah! I expect nothing less than Special Grade from the daughter of Sector E's Constable. He would use his influence to go to the end of the Earth to get the egg of a powerful Dinosaur for his beloved daughter..."
"Let's see what Dinosaur she hatches."
Shawn placed her egg on the Heavenly Pad socket and stepped back while the entire hall looked on.
With a status like hers, great potential was assured. However, the question of if the Dinosaur within would accept her and hatch lingered like a fog.
Darial Makeva's Shadowbeak would stop at a Level 4, Special Grade after it's required growth, as that was it's peak inside the rank.
Other Special Grade dinosaurs could reach as high as Level 5, while others didn't cross the Level 1 mark they were hatched with.
It was like this for all Ranks, four different levels in each Grade, a hierarchy of power within each class.
This presented quite the dilemma that Dino Tamer had to deal with, even if you hatched the same Dinosaur for example a Bronchiosaurus, they might not have the same magical powers let alone magical levels... Therefore leading to different common names and Grades of the same type of Dinosaur.
Dinosaur eggs on their own were always encased in a magical protective layer that made it impossible to identify the creature within. You could guess, judging by the size but even that is mostly inaccurate. The only sure way to know was to witness the egg being laid by its parent.
So it makes sense if people like Shawn Ferrell hatched a powerful Dinosaur because her father probably has a Dinosaur at his disposal that could hatch eggs for him.
Even so, what's the use of having that privilege if the Hunter failed to hatch the egg?.
Levi found himself very much entertained by this new found information that offered background knowledge to the otherwise overwhelming scenes before him.
However, there was an issue; it had almost been two minutes since Shawn had arrived at the heavenly pad and her egg hadn't yet hatch!.