It was about the size of a small cat, but a bit bigger. It had scales covering its body and a bit of feathery, metallic structures under it's arm.
The entire body had a rustic red colouring along the sides and a strip of black running down the middle.
It had a small head in proportion to its body, a blunt beak like structure and it stood on its muscular hind legs with its other two limbs stretching 'babyly' like a toddler that woke up from slumber.
'What the fuc...'
It made eye contact with him and gave him a cutesy cooing sound like he was its mother. And he was now the legal and magical parent of this hideous Dinosaur, it would forever be bonded to him due to passing the Binding Vow.
"Haha!" So e cackled like a donkey amongst the failed Hunters, "he hatched a SnatchClaw! What the fuck are you going to do with that, catch rats in the Portals?"
"The hell, bro drew the weakest possible Rank and level within the rank!... Grade Five, level 1?! If this was the lottery you'd have won by being a looser!"
He was frustrated that somehow he had gotten the Dinosaur that wasn't on par with what someone like Darial Makeva hatched or even someone like Shawn Ferrell.
Now the Binding Vow has been forged and the pact that allowed tamers to use the powers gotten from their Dinosaurs and share the magical energy in their cores formed.
Levi felt a strange warm ripple in his head, as if a lit splinter was introduced into his head that was full with oxygen. He somehow knew that the SnatchClaw was feeling the same thing.
He looked at the Velociraptor, it blinked at him once and then twice as if it were asking him "What's up?".
Levi stared at the Dinosaurs, wondering what abilities it had given him, if they were any at all. Somehow he started to imagine himself hunting rats with whatever powers the Dinosaur gave him.
SnatchClaws were o my good for killing rodents and pests in farmlands, but they also had the ability to endure change in temperature, e.i the temperature never affected them, no matter how cold or hot it was.
This would mean that the only power Levi had gotten was the ability to withstand adverse change in temperature and maybe a 10% buff in his durability.
Just looking at that...
"What the hell is a Portal Reaper going to do with that?" He asked himself.
The other Hunters who passed, now certified Dino Tamers has been given extraordinary abilities and buffs by their Dinosaurs, abilities that were suitable for battle.
This was the way Dino Taming worked. Humans tamed these creatures, nurturing and cultivating them ascend through levels and on rare occasions move up the ranks. In exchange, the Dinosaurs granted a certain amount of their powers to their beloved tamers due to the bond from the Binding Vow.
The Binding Vow allows the tamer to tap into the magical energy reserves of the Dinosaur and also transfer attributes.
For better understanding, the Dinosaurs absorbed magical energy from the second meteor that landed. The magical energy was spread through the atmosphere and these Dinosaurs absorbed it, filtered it using their core (Hearts) into a useable form for themselves and their Dino Tamers.
It was in essence, a symbiotic relationship consisting of magic, biology and soul craft.
"What the hell are you waiting for Levi Quinn? You're now a Dino Tamer..." The announcer said, picking away from his thoughts.
"Move along to the New Tamers section before they commence without you."
Levi dropped an open palm at the base of the platform for the Velociraptor to climb into his palms, moving its body for the first time as it settled in his arms.
He turned and descended form the stage and started making his way towards the New Tamers Section while the failed Hunters looked at him with different sets of emotions in their eyes.
"Atleast he got to hatch his egg and he's getting an official Dino Tamer's liscense… we get nothing."
"Oh hell no, id rather wait two more Binding Ceremonies that hatch a Dino with such low ranking."
Levi shot the Velociraptor a look, taking in its features. "Its okay little fella…" he muttered as he crossed the threshold, leaving the ceremony lecutre hall behind.
He was now introduced into a new hall, which was cosiderably smaller than the previous one. It was way slimmer on the length, much like a corridor, with dark alloy poshing the ground. Overhead lights casted soft purple-ish light on the rest of the gathered tamers and their newly hatched Dinosaurs.
There were all standing in other, two columns with their Dinosaurs doing random things beside them like toddlers playing while waiting for dinner. Some where floating, other were perched on the shoulders or cradled in the arms of the New Dino Tamers. The middle aisle was left empty, as though it were some walk way.
As soon as he was noticed, all eyes drifted to him one after the other until the entire content of the New Tamers Section had there two set of eyes glaring at him- both humans and Dinosaurs.
"... is that what I think it is?" someone murmured very much to the audibiliyt of nearly everyone present.
"A SnatchClaw, seriously? They are like the weakest Dinosaurs out there…"
"Arent they usually ranked like Grade 5, Level 1? and only ever reach a peak of Grade 5, Level 3…"
"I think bro is in the wrong room, he should be using that Dinosaur on a farm or a courtyard or something…"
Then much to everyone surprise, or not. Someone yelled from the front row of the either columns.
"Aye SnatchClaw, don't you think youre lost or something… were trying to be Portal Reapers not rodent reapers…"
A huge frenzy of chuckles and laughter erupted from within the section, Levi swept his gaze throough them with a confused eyebrow raised. 'I understand my Velociraptor is basically worthless, but that not grounds for you to mock me… or my snatchclaw.'
The, he heard a loud series of claps.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
It came from the far end of the corridor-like hall casuing the room to fall into total silence within a hundredth of a second.
The New Dino Tamers all snapped to attention, their Dinosaurs reacting instictivele, adjusting posture or settling into formation.
Levi took initiative and fell into the left column, slidingg into the nearest gap between two other tamers. One gave him a glance over the shoulder, then looked forward, uninterested.
The stage was still empty, until the area around it warped unnaturally and a woman appeared out of thin air, causing everyone's eye to widen in surprise.
'Invisibility… teleportation, huh?' Levi thought to himself as he took note of the womans appearance.
She worea high-collard, form fitting porcelain dress, yet moved ellegantly in her steps, like a soldier in unfamiliar clothing. A cloak hung from her shoulders, split open down the front like the wings of some divine flight creature mid-fold.
Strapped to one thigh was a blaster that was infused with a Dinosaur core, locked inside a sheath. Her hair was short and glowed obsidian black, and she had a tiara on as a head piece.
She scanned the new dino tamers with her crimson eyes, tilting her head left to right to see inbetween the columns.
"So, you are the successful tamers from this year's Binding Ceremony?" she said with a practiced political voice, like poison coated apple.