After they had all eaten, the four of them sat down at the edge looking below where the stony terrain stretched far and wide, almost endless. Some distances away, multiple creatures of the same species were migrating to another territory, as was the way of every beast to conquer as many territories as they could. The small mountain's cave they were in was about 100m above the ground.

‎Adela had a weary look on her face as if she had fought a thousand battles in one day. While the beautiful stranger and Orion seemed very tired, to the point they were not even certain of being able to move well.

‎Kyle, on the other hand, still had a broken bone in his arm, which was slowly healing and would take about five to seven days to completely heal, not to mention the deep wound on his shoulder caused by the horseman's great sword and multiple other scars along his back and head, adding three or four more days to the recovery.

‎Naturally, a normal human would have been dealing with those wounds for twenty to thirty weeks, as each was severe and, in truth, would have killed any ordinary person.

‎At this point, Kyle knew he wouldn't be able to properly wield the Twin Daggers, especially with the heavily damaged arm. However, there was another great news; it remained only a day or two to reach the Citadel, if they struggled to move right now, they would be there by the next day.

‎Thus, a journey of almost two weeks was about to end, of which many things that should have killed them both from human body nature and external factors, they survived.

‎Although Kyle was still genuinely curious about the bright white light he had seen... And when he asked about it, he was shocked by the answer. Adela explained her part, of which her sword had a special enhancement to it, and this special enhancement delivers a great destructive strike that could even take down a Sovereign rank, but the cost was too lethal for it to be used.

‎...However, the grey-haired beauty didn't hesitate one bit to use it to save Orion and Na-Ri from being scorched to black, at the cost of a fragment of her memory and her life force was drained a bit, which explained her current condition. What she didn't remember... He didn't know, but could tell it was something very important to her.

‎ 'Thank you, Ad. I will pay you back for this.'

‎If not for her, the two would have lost their lives finally and even Kyle would have died, because without aid, as he fell into slumber, obviously beasts would come up to feast on his body.

‎Some while later, the four of them were quite in need of water as they were drained, but... the little gift that Orven had given them was now lost days ago, and even if not so, there wasn't a place around here in the stony terrain that they had seen which contained water. Thus, they had to hold on, and luckily they could, for they had surpassed human limits and even the human body nature, despite still having a strong hold on them, wasn't as deadly as it would have normally been.

‎The party sat in quiet silence for a long while, using that moment to rest, and for that reason their Stamina was slowly rising up and so was their Vitality, as the more they healed, the more it rose. Then, they consumed the Essence Cores, sharing them amongst themselves as evenly as always, gaining back some of the Spiritual energy they had lost and also gaining a bit more in addition.

‎Lost in thought, Kyle suddenly remembered the two notifications he had received from the Manual. He was particularly delighted about the first one, whereby he had finally reached the required percentage that would now enable him to tame creatures of the ruin, as his body would now be capable of synchronising with theirs.

‎However, he was especially intrigued by the new skill he had acquired. Unlike every ordinary individual with beast affinity, who could only tame beasts, not demons, humans, dragons, or any other species, and who were further constrained to capturing such creatures whilst they were still alive and limited moreover by rank, this skill permitted the exact opposite, rendering it exceedingly overpowered.

‎He could tame any creature, of any species, and irrespective of rank. That meant he could even tame an Extinction rank, the most formidable of all, powerful enough to annihilate an entire continent and to vanquish dozens upon dozens of Tier Eight hunters.

‎The condition, however, was strict. They must perish by his blade. Slaughtering them by hand, such as crushing their skulls, would be impossible, and even if it were, he could not achieve such a feat upon a mere Feral rank at his current level. Only once they had fallen to his blades could he claim them.

‎This was heavily reminiscent of Necromancy... and when this revelation arrived, so too did an entreaty. The horseman, whose name was Bask the Fallen, implored that it be tamed, or so the Manual relayed.

‎And of course, even though he loathed the bastard for having almost claimed his life, he was not so foolish as to reject the chance of taming such an absurdly overpowered being — one that he had only managed to defeat through sheer fortune. This was the same being that had even shattered his Abyssal Orb. At present, unbeknownst to the other three, the bound soul of this creature now resided within his Manual.

‎He grinned faintly, his expression shadowed by both triumph and irony, as his eyes shut and a rune-like screen unfolded within the depths of his mind.

‎***

‎Name: Bask, the Fallen

‎Rank: Unranked

‎Race: Unknown

‎Title: [Battle Lord]

‎(Information: This Title grants your creature the advantage of an upper hand in every battle)

‎Spiritual Energy: 0/1000

‎(Information: Allocate your Spiritual Energy to your creature of the ruin, or allow it to feed by hunting, thereby enabling it to grow stronger)

‎Weapon: Fallen Blade

‎***

‎'Oh yes! This is my time to shine like... umm... what's the brightest thing again? Meh, maybe like that bright light from Ad's sword.'

‎Kyle's eyes gleamed with delight. Everything displayed positioned this being as a true Battle Lord, exactly as the Title declared. The only lingering regret was not taming the horse, but that thought quickly waned as he realised that with this creature at his command, he could slay even the strongest of beasts. Of course, he would have to put it to the test.

‎The next concern was how to strengthen it. He had no desire to allocate his own Spiritual Energy, for he, too, longed to become stronger than even the creature he had subdued. Yet he also could not allow the others to discover Bask's allegiance. One way or another, the beast had to grow, and so Kyle resolved to occasionally release it to hunt and develop by itself. In that way, he could also observe its true capacity.

‎Because deep within, he knew… Bask had not fought him seriously. It had not even tapped into a quarter of its strength. Had it done so, he would have been dead in less than a second.

‎And beyond all else, with this being under his command, he realised there was the possibility of using it to hone his own battle skills to mastery. Its martial ability and swordsmanship far surpassed even Na-Ri's, or anyone he had ever faced. Though in archery... he could not help but wonder why it missed that first shot at them.

‎As he was assessing everything he had gained from the battle and everything, Na-Ri's voice broke the silence as she stood up very slowly, weary in every part of her body, holding her side where she had a deep and wide injury. Kyle was astonished to find the armour... recovering itself just like the wound.

‎The beautiful stranger clenched her fist, her eyes radiating with a dangerous intent for more power, blue light danced in her eyes as she said:

‎"We should plan out our next move and this time, avoid all unnecessary dangers. And finally, the three of you, I will make sure you all reach Tier 3 before today runs out."

‎

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