Under the pale, bright moon, within a dense forest,

  I thought my life would end after I died.

  It didn't.

  Instead, I woke in a body other than my own, in a bizarre world - like a safe point loaded with a modded character.

  A world filled with mythical beasts that covered the skies, their power enough to shake continents - the fiments to shudder. A pce where monsters reigned supreme, and mortals awakened divine paths to stand a chance.

  I was reborn. Not just as anyone. But as the bastard son of the most powerful noble houses.

  The Zahara Cn.

  It was a significant starting point.

  Even if I didn't like it…

  I didn't have a choice either!

  "Growl!!"

  The Panther before me let out a fierce grunt. Its fur was blue and bck striped, and a single horn jutting from its skull.

  Magical enchanted chains glowing with an eerie crimson light wrapped around its body.

  The Panther was bonded inside a rapidly spinning contract circle.

  My only shot at becoming a beastmaster.

  Thousands of years ago, Earth shattered. Rifts opened across the sky, spilling monstrous creatures into our world. The legendary mana surged into existence, terraforming the pnet and reshaping humanity.

  People awakened supernatural abilities through something called a 'Path.'

  Paths were roadmaps to power, split into three core csses:

  —Hunter: Assassin, Ranger, Trickster.

  —Warrior: Fighter, Berserker, Magical Swordsman.

  —Magus: Beastmaster, Summoner, Mage.

  It was like selecting a css in a game. Except this wasn't a game.

  To awaken a path, you needed Spirit Veins - mystical channels that allowed mana flow. Only one in a thousand had them, and even fewer could awaken them.

  The higher the number of Spirit Vein, the higher the number of Paths opened to them. Those who successfully awakened Spirit veins and selected a path were known as Awakeners.

  Awakened humans built cns. Cns built nations.

  And the Zahara Cn? They rule the Beastmaster Path.

  And I was their stain, whom they wanted to get rid of.

  The magic circle fred.

  I grabbed the knife beside me and sliced my hand.

  It stung! Pain surged through my hand as blood welled up.

  As an awakened human, I possessed enhanced healing, but the pain of mercilessly slicing my palm open remained.

  I let the blood drip onto the beast and the circle and chanted the rites.

  The Panther thrashed and snarled, but the chains held him in pce.

  The magical circle under the beast was a medium used by low-level beastmasters to contract a magical beast.

  Soon, a second magic circle emerged above the chained Panther and spun rapidly until it shattered, disintegrating and falling upon the beast. Golden shards of light crashed into the Panther's chest, and green shards of light into mine.

  Suddenly, an inexplicable feeling washed over me, and a strange connection was formed between me and the magical beast.

  A bond.

  It had worked.

  I had formed my first contract.

  "Hahaha! I did it!" my voice cracked. After everything I had endured, I had finally awakened a powerful Path.

  The beast's growling slowed. It whispered, pleading for freedom from its bondage.

  How could I be so sure?

  Because I could sense fragments of its emotions.

  The glowing magic circle dimmed.

  Then -

  Ding!

  A blue screen hovered before me.

  [ Initialising system… ]

  I froze.

  Sixteen years.

  I had done everything - ritual, fights, trying to awaken a system - but I was unsuccessful.

  Yet, I wasn't one to give up hope easily, so I waited until my awakening ceremony. I thought that the day I awakened my Spirit Veins would be the day I would activate a system if I had any.

  However, it was all for nought.

  It was as a result of the awakening ceremony that my life spiralled into the mess it is now.

  Who could have guessed that a group of pompous, self-important nobles, each wielding mythical predators at their beck and call, would make life unbearable for a bastard heir in their midst?

  I did!

  But I had hoped that they at least possessed the human consciousness to show pity.

  I was very…very wrong!

  Now, out of nowhere -

  [ Cybernetic Evolution System Activated.]

  [ Note: Talent, and Core Functions are currently in [SEMI-SEALED] status. Functions will unlock progressively based on host performance and growth. ]

  [ System successfully linked. ]

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  [ Name: Ezekiel Zahara ]

  [ Race: Human ]

  [ Age: 19 ]

  ◆ Talent: Cybernetic Evolution (Semi-sealed)

  ┗ Path Traits: Beast Cybernetic Enhancement, Fusion Synchronisation.

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  ◇ Primary Path: Beastmaster Path

  ┗ Path Traits: Beast Affinity, Beastmaster's Contract.

  ┗ Rank: First Rank (0%)

  ◇ Secondary Path: Magical Swordsman Path

  ┗ Path Traits: Bde Synchronisation.

  ┗ Rank: First Rank (66%)

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  ◆ Attributes:

  ┗ Fire: High-Tier

  ┗ Earth: Mid-Tier

  ┗ Metal: Supreme-Tier

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  ◆ Skills:

  ┗ Overclocked Mode - Active

  ┗ Aura Mastery: Apprentice (9%)

  ┗ Weapon Mastery - Sword: Apprentice(35%)

  ◆ Sacred Arts:

  ┗ Mountain Snow Dragon Art - Sky Grade - Beginner (20%)

  ◆ Spells:

  ┗ Fire Spark - Basic Spell (30%)

  ┗ Wind Rush - Basic Spell (66%)

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  ◆ Tamed Beast:

  ┗ Swift-Horned Panther → [Cybernetic Swift-Horned Panther Form]

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  I stared at the status panel before me dumbly.

  Two Paths!

  My previous path, the Magical Swordsman Path, which my family had made me choose to hide my existence, or, in their own words, a dirty smudge on a fwless jewel, from the rest of the world, was now my secondary path.

  Meanwhile, the Beastmaster Path had now become my primary path.

  It was not advisable for humans to choose two paths.

  Those with fewer Spirit Veins would strain under such pressure, unable to bear the brunt of two Paths. For those with abundant spirit veins, it was like pouring water and oil through the same pipe.

  There will be no adverse side effects initially, but as time passes, they will slowly accumute until they can no longer flow through the pipe.

  The pipe would need to be exchanged; each awakener possessed one body in their lifetime. Both sides become crippled, unable to escape the brunt of bearing two paths.

  In the worst case -

  Death.

  Moreover, awakening a second Path was more painful. It wasn't worth the cost.

  So, no one was greedy enough to desire to awaken two Path runes.

  Despite this, I had awakened a second path effortlessly!

  I stretched my right hand forward and circuted my mana.

  Instantly, a rune taking the shape of a mysterious, fearsome beast appeared on my hand.

  The Beastmaster Rune.

  After several seconds, another pattern emerged, radiating a silver-blue glow. Staring at the mysterious golden rune wide-eyed, I gulped.

  This was the Magical Swordsman Rune!

  Huh? My Beastmaster Rune is different!

  It wasn't like the ones I have seen in books. There was no green or gold glow. This one shone with a neon blue and silver glow.

  I wiped both my eyes with my hand to ensure that I was seeing things well. Usually, the colour radiating from a Beastmaster Rune was a golden and green mix hue.

  But mine was different!

  I have never heard of such things before, and neither have I read about them in the library.

  I had never heard about anyone's Path rune radiating a neon blue and silver colour.

  I was more inclined to believe that was the effect of the Cybernetic Evolution System, as it was the only way to expin what was happening.

  Cybernetic Evolution Talent!

  I had never heard of any talent possessing such a name, and looking at the semi-sealed notification at its edge, if anything, my time pying games and reading web novels had taught me that this wasn't an ordinary talent.

  Talents are mysterious phenomena that emerge after an individual has gone through their awakening ceremony.

  If the talent is specially tailored for a path, it will make their selection smoother, allowing them to awaken their path quickly and ascend across the hierarchy of power.

  Most talents appear after an awakened person has selected their path. Sometimes, these talents match the path that they had chosen, and other times, they don't, ruining the awakener's prospect of a better future.

  This was also called a second awakening, which gave meaning to the word: not all are born equal.

  Because of this, talent was not necessarily a good thing, as one could still end up worse than a talentless individual if they chose a path that wasn't proper for their talent.

  But that rarely happened, and such a case could only be described as divine retribution.

  I looked at my talent traits.

  There was an arrow pointing at it from the sides, like a cursor directing a pyer in a digital game to his next course of action.

  I swiftly clicked on it.

  [ Talent Trait: Beast Cybernetic Enhancement.)

  Description: This talent allows the wielder to turn their magical beasts into cybernetic lifeforms, modifying their physiology. ]

  [ Talent Trait: Fusion Synchronisation.

  Description: You can also fuse mechanical enchantments with any lifeform, evolving them beyond their natural limits. ]

  Suddenly, more information about my talent traits surged into my mind.

  Oh my -

  I possess the Midas touch to transform any magical beast into a cybernetic lifeform.

  I could buy a racehorse and enhance its legs with mechanical parts.

  What would happen once my talent fully awakens?

  I moved my attention towards the paths traits.

  It was the next only thing with an arrow pointing towards it.

  Path Traits are unique abilities bestowed upon an awakener when they choose their path and climb the ranks.

  What made them so special was that unlike talent traits, they could be utilised with no mana.

  An individual's ability dictates how powerful their Path traits would be.

  I clicked on them one by one.

  [ Path Trait: Beast Affinity

  Description: Increases favouribility among magical beasts and the likelihood of taming them. ]

  [ Path Trait: Beastmaster's Contract.

  Description: Establishes an unbreakable link with magical beasts, increasing their loyalty and growth speed. ]

  [ Path Trait: Bde Synchronisation

  Description: Increases reflexes and reaction speed when wielding a bded weapon. ]

  While the Beastmaster Path gave out two Path traits upon awakening, the MagicaL Swordsman gave only one, showcasing the disparity between the Magus and Warrior Css.

  As awakeners advanced in strength in their selected path, they naturally unlocked more traits that they could utilise.

  I moved on to the next one.

  Attributes were divided into four tiers - Low, Middle, High, and stly Supreme.

  My fire attribute, which was previously graded as Middle Teir during the awakening ceremony, has now been enhanced to High Teir.

  My earth attribute, which was previously at the Low Teir, had improved to the Middle Tier.

  I saw that I had gained another attribute—metal, and it was Supreme Teir.

  I realised that the attribute had emerged due to my talent awakening, and the others must have been improved through my attribute roots.

  Even in the current world, there is no shortage of awakeners who can obtain another attribute due to the nature of their awakened talents.

  Fortunately, I had taken the steps forward to become a Beastmaster, or else I wouldn't have known where my true capabilities lie.

  I moved on to the next.

  [ Overclocked Mode - Active

  Description: Enhances physical, mental, and combat reaction speed and prediction abilities, temporarily pushing the host beyond normal limits. ]

  I have heard about awakeners who were granted personalised skills from their talents.

  They were blessed individuals.

  Monsters among geniuses.

  But I have never witnessed one.

  Now, I also possessed one.

  From today onwards, I can now be counted as one.

  [ Aura Mastery: Apprentice

  Description: You can continuously speed aura throughout your body, reinforcing your body and gaining minor strength, durability and stamina boost. Basic external aura projection. And limited sensing of others' aura. ]

  [ Weapon Mastery - Sword: Apprentice

  Description: You can effectively use basic sword techniques in battle. You possessed enhanced reaction speed and control with the bde. Simple counterattacks and parries become natural. ]

  [ Sacred Art - Mountain Snow Dragon Art

  The Mountain Snow Dragon Art is a Sky-Grade High-Ranked Sacred Art that fuses the unyielding force of mountains, the fluidity of falling snow, and the ferocity of a dragon's might into a single devastating style.

  ┗ Beginner -

  Description: You have mastered the Frozen Fang Guard, Avanche Breaker, and Drifting Mirage Steps technique to the novice level. You possess basic footwork and strikes of the Mountain Snow Dragon Art. Minor resistance to cold and body strengthened for mountain-like endurance. ]

  Sacred Arts are distinctive techniques that enhance internal energy, specifically the synergy between lifeforce and mana, to improve an awakener's combat abilities.