Somewhere in Thailand.
A young man with no hair, wearing a yellow robe and an orange vest, walked up to a temple that seemed to be closed off from strangers. As soon as he was in front of the temple, he tightened the red scarf that he wrapped around his waist, reassuring himself with the gesture that he'll be allowed entrance to the place.
Two men clad in full armor stepped forward, holding a spear in front of the young man and creating a cross in front of the entrance. Their grave expressions implied that they meant business, but they didn't faze the young man.
"I'm Yun Zhe... and no, I'm not from Thailand... but I want to join the Black Fog Faction." Yun Zhe said with a confident tone in his voice. He didn't dare take a step back when the two guards came up to him to block his way. When it came down to it, he was confident he'd be able to hold his own against the two.
"Black Fog is not taking disciples at the moment. Please leave; the disciples are busy preparing for the Official Beast Tournament." One of the guards spoke with a strong Thai accent. As he did so, he retracted the spear he pointed to the ground. He didn't want to pressure the young man any further since he seemed to be only in his teens.
With one nod from the other, the other guard also retracted his spear. A smile formed on his face when he realized that they could easily kick the brat out with a ridiculous request.
"But... the Black Fog Faction teaches that they'll accept any disciple as long as they have the talent and are eager to learn, right?" Yun Zhe continued, wearing a doubtful expression on his face as he stared at the two guards. If that's what the Faction Leader teaches, then it is not up to the two guards to block him and deny his request to access the grounds.
"Yes, that is correct... but after the breakthrough that everyone just had during their training under Black Fog, the requirements to being accepted to the faction got updated... and well... we don't think that you'll be able to pass the requirements seeing that you're still a kid.[" One of the guards pointed out, twirling his thumbs in the air as he did so.
"That's right. It's not like we are going against the Faction Leader's orders... it's just that we don't think you have enough talent to be accepted to the faction. I hope you understand; please go home." The other guard continued.
Yun Zhe was not having it, however, and he continued wearing a doubtful expression on his face as he stood in place. Despite the guards' minimal efforts to shoo him away, he didn't budge.
A Chinese baby abandoned on the east coast of Thailand, Yun Zhe was picked up by an old man who is a first-generation superhero. Ever since the old man awakened his superpower, he had had weird dreams about having a disciple. That's why when he found the baby stuck on a rock facing the beach, he immediately picked him up and claimed him as his own. A necklace on the baby showed the name Yun Zhe. Being reasonable, the old man named the baby after what was etched on his wooden necklace.
'Follow current novels on No v elBin.',
The old man was unsure what the wooden necklace's name meant, but he decided to name him after it anyway. He didn't know that the two characters were his parents' surnames.
Since then, the old man has looked after Yun Zhe, taking him in as his son and his disciple and teaching him everything he needed to learn about the world and his superpower. He was a beast tamer and had the innate ability to use the beast tamer's unique ability to integrate with beasts. Even the old man was surprised since he had never seen anyone use beast integration before. At that point in time, there were already beast tamers, but they were nowhere as good as Yun Zhe. Yun Zhe far surpassed them all in terms of pure talent and skill.
When a portal to the beast dimension appeared on Earth, many superheroes started going there to grab a familiar for themselves. As for Yun Zhe, he had already mastered beast taming. His first tamed beasts were Bengal tigers, two of them. They were actually the guardians of the forest where the old man stayed, and Yun Zhe managed to tame them without sparing significant effort.
The change brought about by the Beast Dimension swept the entire world. Official Beast Tournaments were held, but they were only exclusive to the countries with dimensional portals towards the Beast Dimension. America and Thailand were the first ones to have portals appear right by their doorstep... that's why beast tournaments became commonplace in their countries.
On one of Yun Zhe's daily training, he came upon a beast tamer who was also training in the forest. He didn't disclose his name... he only called himself the Black Fog.
...
Back to the present,
The two guards stared at Yun Zhe, and Yun Zhe stared back at them as if he owned the place. He didn't want to show his true power to the guards since he was testing them. He wanted to know whether the guards were actually blocking other people from joining because of their biased views... and such was the case.
"Should we kick him out for real?" One of the guards whispered at the other guard.
"No... we can't really hurt someone... and it's not like he's doing anything wrong." The second guard whispered back. It didn't even occur to them that Yun Zhe could hear them clearly.
Yun Zhe cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the two guards. He closed his eyes, acting as if he was someone important. Well, he was someone important. It's just that the guards didn't know about his real identity. "I want to meet the Faction Leader."
"What are you saying, brat? You can't meet the Faction Leader. He's busy right now, training the disciples for the upcoming Official Beast Tournament happening in America." The first guard didn't have to give out all this information, but even then, he still told Yun Zhe everything he knew. Deep inside, he didn't want to kick the young man out, but he also didn't want to disturb the Faction Leader.
"Then, let me go in, at least. I want to join the Black Fog Faction as a disciple." Yun Zhe continued.
'ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ No(ve) l Bi n',
"Young man, just go home. We don't have time to waste when it comes to the likes of you." The second guard continued.
"Fwip~!" Yun Zhe let out a loud whistle. And to the guards' surprise, two tigers appeared from behind the trees.
The two tigers menacingly approached the two guards. In response, they integrated with their tamed beasts, hoping they could fend for themselves if the tigers attacked. The first guard integrated with a water-type tamed beast, while the second guard integrated with a fire-type.
As for Yun Zhe, he closed his eyes and integrated with the two tigers. Fur appeared on his appendages, and two tiger heads were jaw-locked on his head. It didn't even take him a couple of seconds to use Dual Beast Integration. In a split second, he was already integrated with them.
This surprised the two guards. In terms of talent alone, he far surpassed the two of them. And here they were, judging the young man based on his appearance. But what surprised them even more was that the young man managed to use Dual Beast Integration without the guidance of their Faction Leader. As far as they know, only those who were taught by Black Fog could activate Dual Beast Integration.
"Who are you..." The first guard asked, his question trailing off when he caught a glance of their Faction Leader, who was just exiting the temple.
The second guard also noticed Black Fog walking out of the temple, and he, too, was surprised. Pupils dilated, the two of them locked arms with each other to block Black Fog's view. They didn't want him to misunderstand the situation, so they hid it.
"Ah! Black Fog!" Yun Zhe called out, waving his hand as if he was close to Black Fog. Unbeknownst to the two guards, Yun Zhe and Black Fog were actually close friends.
In fact, it was Yun Zhe who trained Black Fog. He was the one who personally tutored Black Fog so he'd be able to activate Dual Beast Integration.
"Master Yun Zhe!" Black Fog exclaimed as he ran towards the entrance. "You came! I thought you didn't want to come to our faction."
"I changed my mind. I want to join." Yun Zhe declared.
"What?! You're really going to join?!" Black Fog excitedly exclaimed. "Then take my position as Faction Leader. You're the one who taught me the ways of beast taming, after all." Black Fog continued.
"This kid?!" The two guards simultaneously exclaimed. They couldn't quite understand the exchange that was happening between Yun Zhe and their Faction Leader Black Fog right now.