Mia never expected her day to end like this.
One second, she was sitting on her couch, watching a beast taming anime with a cup of instant noodles in hand. The next, everything went dark—then blindingly bright. There was no truck, no mystical portal, no ancient prophecy delivered by a talking frog. Just… nothing. And then everything.
When she opened her eyes, she wasn't Mia anymore.
The body she now occupied belonged to a young woman—slim, tired-looking, but with calloused hands and a stubborn set to her jaw. Mia could feel the ache in her limbs, the pounding in her skull, and the weight of exhaustion settled deep in the bones.
She was lying face-first on the forest floor, dirt and damp leaves clinging to her cheek, and her head throbbed like someone had dropped a boulder on it. When she groaned and tried to sit up, she immediately winced.
"Owww… what the hell did I run into?"
As her vision cleared, memories not her own came rushing in—like a dam breaking open.
This girl—no, this body—was an orphan named Lina Greaves, a recent graduate of the Royal Beast Taming Academy. Despite being smart and hardworking, Lina had grown up poor and alone, scraping her way through school on scholarships and hand-me-down scrolls. While others had already contracted their first beasts during their final year, Lina couldn't afford even the most basic companion.
She had planned to save up once she got a job. She had dreams—ambitious ones. Maybe not of glory, but of stability. Safety. Something simple, like opening a little beast-care clinic in a quiet town.
But fate, apparently, had different plans.
Earlier that day—Lina's last day—she had been driving home after a long interview at a remote clinic. She was halfway down a forest road when her old, wheezing car sputtered and died in the middle of nowhere. Classic.
She got out, popped the hood, and tried to tinker with the engine, muttering curses that sounded like they'd been pulled from a textbook on car anatomy and colorful sailor expressions.
Then it happened.
A long, bone-chilling howl cut through the still evening air.
Lina froze.
It wasn't just one wolf. It was a pack.
Heart pounding, she grabbed her bag—just the essentials: wallet, beast theory notebook, half a sandwich—and ran. She didn't know where she was going, only that she needed to get away.
Branches whipped at her face. Her shoes slipped on moss. The sun dipped further below the horizon.
Then, suddenly, she tripped—hard. Her foot caught on something soft and feathery.
A startled screech echoed in the air just as her forehead collided with the thick trunk of an old oak tree.
Everything went black.
And that's when Mia entered her life.
It took a few more minutes for Mia to piece together what had happened. She was no longer in her own world. The stars were wrong, the air was too clean, and her clothes—Lina's clothes—were a patched-up academy uniform with forest mud smeared across the hem.
And next to her?
A disgruntled, half-conscious owl with tattered feathers and a very judgmental stare.
It was large. Larger than any owl Mia had ever seen. Its left wing was clearly injured, and a tiny monocle—yes, a monocle—was cracked on the ground beside it.
She blinked. The owl blinked back.
Then, it spoke.
"You've landed on my wing," it said, voice low and hoarse but unmistakably articulate. "How rude."
Mia let out a strangled squeak and crawled backward, staring.
"Y-you can talk?!"
"Yes," the owl huffed. "And I have a degree. But never mind that. Who… are you? You're not… Lina."
Mia's blood turned to ice.
"You… knew her?"
"We had a deal," the owl said slowly, eyeing her with eerie intelligence. "She helped me. I was going to let her form a contract. Now… I feel something strange."
A warm light glowed between them. Mia gasped as golden threads—light as silk, strong as steel—extended from her chest and wrapped gently around the owl's form.
Words burned into the air before her eyes, glowing bright in an unfamiliar script that her mind somehow understood.
[Contract Formed: Professor Hootsworth – Rare Breed: Gale-Wise Owl]
[Status: Injured, Evolving Potential: Unknown]
[Note: Temperamental and Slightly Snobbish. Likes books and grapes.]
She blinked. "Professor what now?"
The owl fluffed his feathers, one eye still watching her suspiciously. "Hmph. We'll discuss naming conventions later. First, explain yourself, stranger."
"I…" Mia exhaled. "I think… I might've died? And woke up in her body. I don't know how. Or why. I was just trying to eat dinner!"
The owl muttered something about cosmic meddling and transmigrational absurdities.
Then, to her shock, he gave a small nod.
"Well, no use panicking. Lina and I had an agreement. I need a partner. You need a guide. Let's see if we can salvage this arrangement."
"Wait. You're okay with this?"
"Of course not. But complaining won't get us anywhere." The owl's eyes softened just a little. "Besides… she chose to help me. And you carry that choice. That's something."
And just like that, Mia—the ramen-loving, anime-watching girl from Earth—became a rare case: a freshly contracted beast tamer in a world where mythical creatures roamed freely, magic ran through bloodlines, and only the strong survived.
Her first beast?
A snarky, monocle-wearing owl professor with a broken wing and a penchant for sarcasm.
It wasn't what she expected.
But neither was life in this new world.
And this… was only the beginning.
Chapter 2, she discovers more about her cheat ability and meets her second beast—a very dramatic, muscle-flexing squirrel?