《Hail the King》 Tears of regret (1) A long time past, there stood a kingdom so great and rich that no man nor woman ever had to fear not having enough to buy the next day''s meal. The populace was happy, they had everything they could ask for. A good military based from only volunteers, fertile lands, great dungeons full of treasures, beautiful cities and the best of cuisine. Although everybody was happy and led fullfilled lives, one man in the kingdom had to bear the greatest of burdens. This man led a miserable existance, one of constant toiling and regret. This man was the head of the state, the so-called Heavenly King. He had to make decisions capable of tearing apart millions of lives every single day, had to secretly eradicate various factions vying for power in the shadows, had to kill his own blood with his own hands. He still remembered his wife''s hateful eyes as he ordered her execution in secret. He remembered his son''s wrath when he learned of it, and he remembered his order by the letter ''Kill him at any cost, and leave no witnesses.'' Every day he clutches a necklace of no value, yet to him it is the greatest treasure. It was gifted to him by his wife, the same wife he executed. Every night he cries tears of regret and self-loathing. Every night he leaves no guards around the castle, hoping, praying for an assassin to come and deliver a righteous death. Every night he checks to have left a proper will of succession, making sure his successor is capable and loyal to the people. And yet, no assassin ever came. No paladin of justice seeks his head, for to the people he is a saint. No necromancer wants his corpse, for he fought for their rights. No elf, dwarf, demon or beastman wants his head on a stick, for he gave them a place they could call home. No noble wants his position, for they have all been given a life worth living by him. And so, every day passess like the previous. Wake up after a sleepless night, put makeup on, finish all paperwork, check with his subordinates for problems, eat the bare minimum and then go straight back to refining construction plans, laws or trade agreements. After that, fall into bed and spend the night crying, only to rinse and repeat the next morning.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. When the monster army appeared, he immediately reacted and summoned heroes. They agreed to help him, minus one of them. He trained them, aided them, watched them grow. When the fateful day came, they fought like one-man armies. They destroyed the monsters, but not without casualties. Out of the 5 heroes who helped him, 3 died. The day after the battle, he called a mourning day and spent the entirety of it crying in his room. He erected statues in their honor and treated the remaining two like his sons, praying they wouldn''t make the same mistake his family made. And yet, his prayers went uncalled. He caught notice of their ever-growing arrogance and lust for more power. When he found of their schemes, he had no choice but to lead them into a trap. Their deaths were received poorly by the last hero, who decided to create a group that would take over the kingdom. This time, he did not have the luck to find out of their schemes until it was too late. The day of the attack, troops of rebels stormed in like tidal waves, aided by the abilities of the hero and his harem. The city burned, the army was shattered, the peace was broken. They were eventually driven out by the army, but the losses were too great. During the siege, the combined armies of all the neighboring kingdoms came. They slaughtered the hero''s army and then took over the capital. He had to sit down and watch from his safe location in the court that had been moved out of the capital, powerless to save his people. Decades of sweat and blood were gone, just like that. The day the capital finally fell, he gave in under the conditions that his people be spared total annihilation. However, that did not stop the conquerors from raping the women, enslaving the men and slaying the non-humans. The day before his execution, he cried one last time. Tears of regret, tears of self-loathing, tears of mourning and even tears of happiness. Happiness that it would finally end, the neverending nightmares that forever haunted him would finally end. Maybe he could meet up with his family in death and apologize. Not once did he condemn the conquerors. He had done far, far worst then them to get his people to where they were. He never once hated the cell he was locked in, nor did he hate the betraying hero. All he hated was right inside of him, he hated his very existance. And so, when he was dragged out of his cell and placed under the guillotine, the executioner asked him: "Do you have any last words?" "No. My time has finally come to an end, may the gods grant me the punishment I deserve." And so, the guillotine came down, and a head rolled. Blood spurted from the headless shoulders, and the people cheered and threw insults his way. However, he could not hear them anymore. If one was to examine his head at hislast moments, one could find a smile full of emotions. It is a shame that he could nobody bothered, as his body was burned on a pire the next day and his ashes thrown to the wind. That day, a man died and a demonwas born. Tears of regret (2) He slowly opened his eyes once again, only to immediately shut them the next moment. Terror, confusion, despair... All of these emotions clouded his mind, however, one question destroyed any and all others. Why am I still alive!? "Well, what do we have here? Oh, yes. A headache, that''s what I fucking have." Said a voice that sent shivers down his spine. He had never heard a voice like this, the sole sound of it literally made him tremble in fear. He now had yet another reason to not open his eyes. "Stop it, Lucy. You''re scaring it..." Another voice resounded from about the same place he heard the evil voice, and he unconsciously relaxed. He still couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation, but at the moment he honestly didn''t care. He only wished for death, and it disappointed him. Now, what else could suprise him? "Shut it, Micheal. Little one, you caused us quite the trouble, so don''t expect me to be gentle with you." He trembled but didn''t run, as he could already guess he was in hell. He personally wasn''t a religious person, nor did his people believe in hell, but he understood the concept from the heroes. He never liked the idea, as it sounded biased, but now he was doubting his doubts. "Hahhh... Yes, Lucifer is right, little one. The God herself sent us to deal with you. She said that your situation is rather unique, and I agree." Said the gentle voice, turning a bit cold at the end. "Hahahaha!! Unique!? This soul killed millions of people, although inderectly. That would be a ticket straight to the 10th circle of hell, but you also saved millions and made yet other millions able to lead happy and danger-free lives." Said the Lucifer guy. Gathering his courage, he slowly opened his eyes. What greeted him was a room that resembled a reception room inside of the grandest of palaces. He was sitting on a couch facing another couch where two people sat. One of them resembled the devil itself whilst the other seemed like the highest-class beauty, an angel. He pursued his lips and looked down, not daring to look at the two deities straight. "Lucifer, don''t make the little one uncomfortable. It''s probably pretty scared, you know? Now, banter aside, you have a choice little one." Said the angel. The devil snickered and silently added "Here she comes..." He looked up at the angel, who was flashing a beautiful smile at him. Unperturbed, he waited for her to add to her sentence. Seeing his non-existant arousal, she slightly pouted. The devil at the angel''s side rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You see, little one. You can either reincarnate in a world or remain here..." She said with a small smile. Just as he was about to say that he wanted to remain here, the words got stuck in his souly throat. He had lived as a ruler for half a century, and he was abviously very, very good at reading people''s experessions or finding loops in what people say. And this loop was rather obvious. "... I will die if I remain here... right?"This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The angel''s smile furthered into a cleshire, sadistic smile that made the devil beside her look like a harmless puppy. "Oh? Smart one aren''t we? Unfortunatly, we have already decided your punishment. We just need to find the reward now." He couldn''t understand what she meant, so he simply stayed silent. Seeing this, the devil spoke out before the angel could "What we mean is that based off of your fears, we have found a suitable punishment. You have been seeking death ever since you were betrayed, and were actually happy when you found it. This doesn''t give us much room for finding something to punish you with, as phisical torture and direct mental torture is not allowed by divine laws. So, we found a curse perfect for you." The devil and the angel both flashed grins that made him almost lose his sanity out of fear, and although it sounds like an exxageration, the situation had set his emotions into a rollercoaster, making him much more susceptible to fear. "What Lucifer is trying to say is that you have just been granted a blessing that even we crave for! Aren''t you a happy-go-lucky?" The angel said with a slightly jealous expression, confusing him. "Angelica means that you actually received the blessing of immortality! Aren''t you a lucky one? Whenver you die, you will simply start anew as a different being." Said Lucifer with amazed eyes. "God is truly a wonderful being, He is just that powerful!" However, time had almost frozen for the little soul. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and his whole body was trembling. This time, however, was not in fright. No, this was the purest of hatred. "What... What... What do you mean... immortality... me?" He said, trying to form cohersive sentences. His mind was like a tornado, his emotions a tsunami and his heart an earthquake, breaking his whole being apart. "It''s just as Lucifer said, you actually got such a lucky reward. Ahn~, how I wish I could have it..." She said in a seductive tone. Lucifer slightly slapped her on the head, making her pout adoranly. None of this registered into the soul''s consciousness. He was too busy processing the meaning. When it finally did, a dam-like block broke and he roared out in pure anger "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN''T DIE!? ISN''T IT A PRIVILEGE OF THE LIVING TO BE ABLE TO REST WHEN THEIR TIME IS DONE?!?" The roar caught both the devil and the angel in suprise, making them unconsciously raise their guard. The devil felt a slight pity for the poor soul, as what it was saying was true. Even immortals like them can die, only God cannot. And this soul, apparently. "Yeah, sorry ''bout that. It''s not like it was our decision. Anyway, I think I came up with some ideas for your rewards. You will be sent in a gigantic cultivation world, and since you possess the reincarnation-immortality ability, let''s make it that every time you die you will arise as a different species and you get to keep one ability of your previous species as well as your previous cultivation. Not only that, but you get an incredible affinity for darkness and illusion cultivation since... well, it seems like it will fit you." The devil said smugly at the end. The soul was too filled with anger to really understand what was going on, but it managed to redirect the anger at God, thus finally allowing it to calm down enough. It was still angry though. Very angry. "That''s a good idea, Lucifer, but it sounds kida underwhelming considering everything our little one''s done. I''ll add in my share, you will gain an innate ability that allows you to grow faster then your peers as well as undefined lifespan, no metter your race. Hm? Considering it, won''t it get killed off by it''s own parents like this though, Lucifer?" The angel said, refering to the devil. "Certainly, it is a possibility, but what can we do? It''s a part of it''s punishment after all. Well, I think we''re done here. Good luck kiddo, maybe one day you''ll join our ranks in the divines!" The soul was about to retort when it suddently disappeared, and the next moment a huge pain made it cry out. It felt something licking it, and only then did it finally truly realize the situation. And like this, the legend of the Hell King was born. A legend that would shake the core of this world down to it''s foundation, but first, it will throughtly tear the poor soul into little pieces, digest it, burn it, bleed it out, drown it, poison it, freeze it, starve it... Wolfs may cry (1) And so, I discovered that being born is painful. Very painful. Especially when you''re conscious and have a working brain, since a normal baby normally wouldn''t, and usually it forgets after a week. I also discovered that, being born as awolf is just as painful as being born human. Actually, it might be even more so. And, just like a normal human, the gestation period for a wolf is just as boring. Whimper when you''re hungry, suck on the mother''s breasts, crawl around and occasionally bite the occasional sibling. Oh, and did I mention I''m completely blind, 3/4 deaf and possess an overly sensitive nose? Like this, an entire month passed. So far, I''ve always been stuck in a cave. I was able to open my eyes when I reached 2 weeks of age, but due to the absence of light it''s not very useful. I did, however, discover that I have 5 other siblings of unknown genders. Hell, even my own gender is still a mistery. Luckily, today, our mother finally brought us useless bite-happy hyperactive puppies outside. The light was a bit overwhelming at first, but I got used to it. What was more important, however, was that I could finallykill something. I never forgot the anger, the hatred, the repressed emotions I felt after discovering I was still alive. No, far from it. They crept inside my heart like a chill, eating away at any happiness my instincts of a wolf allow me. The hatred towards that bastard of a God never dissipated. Instead, it is just like a living entity. It silently sits in the dephts of my heart, cultivating itself, taking roots into my core. It might sound philosophical or even stupid, but that is honestly what it feels like. I have a sneaking suspicion this might be the ''killing intent'' that some very accomplished assassins or warriors sometimes develop. I obviously felt it multiple times before, but I never possessed any, so it''s normal I am confused about it. I think. Returning my concentration back to my mother, I silently observed my surroundings as opposed to my siblings whom simply jump around played with each other, biting and capovolting each other.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. After our little excursion, our mother returned us to the little cavern we stayed in for our entire lives, well, this life. It took us yet another 3 months for us to finally be allowed to freely enter and leave the cavern on our own without mother having to bring us out. Naturally, we could only leave till a certain area, then mother would ferry us back and punish us with a small bite. As a side note, based off of comparisons from trees or other things, mother is technically a 4-meter long, 1.5 meter tall wolf with a shining grey fur. Most of my siblings are grey-furred as well, with one of them being a ruby red. Unsuprisingly, I''m a pitch-black color. I was expecting something of the sorts considering I had a lot of time to go over what those two devil/angel bastards said. If I have a darkness and illusion affinity, it''s only natural my colors would match, so my suprise was nonexistent. Apart from that, when we were two months, we met another wolf. Said wolf is surely our father, considering how affectionate he seemed. He probably was the one to bring food for mother, so I won''t complain about him. His fur is a nice maroon color, close to the ruby wolf''s red but not quite s red. I would describe out days, but each and every one essentially goes like this: Wake up, suck milk (and later on eat whatever father and mother bring back), play around for a couple hours, rest a little, explore the area, play some more, eat, explore and finally sleep. Then, rinse and repeat for a 5 whole months and you have a perfect overview of my depressingly disgusting life. I never tried to get close to my siblings, and neither did they. I played when I wanted, never asserted dominance but neither did I let others dominate me. In a wolf''s mind, dominance is crucial. A pack cannot function without a stable hiearchy. Therefore, I simply placed myself as a self-proclaimed ''indipendent dick/bitch''. I never bothered to understand how to recognize my own gender, nor did I care to. For all I care, all my reincarnations can be females or all of them can be male, I won''t give a shit. But not everything is too bleak. I have been having less and less trouble with my nightmares and I have been growing up extremely fast, quickly surpassing my siblings in size and strenght. The only problem that brings is, as expected, an increased hunger. It''s not like we have a convenient shop at the corner we can simply buy from after all. Like so, we finally reached 8 months. That was the day we were finally allowed to go hunt out on our own or with our siblings. Naturally, I went alone. Wolfs may cry (2) I would be lying if I said that I was excited to go hunting. I''d also be lying if I said I felt any emotion other then the bone-chilling hatred ever since my rebirth, so I''m not suprised. That said, I am interested in knowing how it feels like to hunt down and kill something. From what I can logically discern from my previous world, cultivation should be very similar to mana, but it has different principles. One of them being that it doesn''t really rely on pure knowledge alone, instead, the ''resource'' pool has a much bigger impact. And where do you get this pool as a beast? You eat other beasts. How do I know this? Instincts of a beast. I think. So far, us pups are just basic wolves. We have no energy in us, unlike our grown-up counterparts, who even they barely pass the ''normal'' treshold. Normally, a normal beast that doesn''t directly start out as a cheat race would never pass beyond being a normal, due to them dying way before gathering enough energy. However, if I can mantain my level even after death, then I can simply spend a couple lifetimes simply growing, and then I can finally get started on a way to get rid of this curse and kill myself once and for all. It''s a shit plan without foresight, but what can a 8-months old heartless pup do!? Thinking so, I continued my hunt. Today, we were all sent out by mother to go and get our own experience. She did show us how to do it a couple times, but I don''t think anyone was paying attention except for the ruby wolf and me. The other pups had formed 3 groups of 2 each, with only me and the ruby wolf going alone. We weren''t exactly discriminated, but in the minds of the little grey pups we were ''different'', which leads to them not being as eager in staying with us. As I tried to scuttle around as silently as my clumsy body could allow me. The surroundings of our cave are just trees, trees and more trees along with a small stream a couple hundred meters from said cave, and considering I never lived in the woods before, I have no advantage here. Soon, I finally found what I was looking for. A small squirrel-like animal was hopping around, nibbling on some nuts. Biting my lower lips in a strangely humanoid manner, I silently circled the animal, getting behind it. I had to be careful not to step on any leaves, else they make noise that could potentially alert my prey. I prepared myself in a pounce position and simply waited. The small squirrel continued it''s nibbling undisturbed, not even registering my presence. After a couple minutes, I slowly took a couple steps forward and when I was just in the right position, I pounced.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Only then did the squirrel finally understand the danger, and it quickly bolted away. Unfortunately, it''s not called ''right position'' without reason. I was merely 5 meters from it, and considering my already faster speed and initial charge, I quickly caught up with it and bit it. My baby teeth did not really hurt it much, but some had already fallen and were replaced with sharper teeth, and those did hurt. Furthermore, once I had it in mouth, I shook my head ferociously up and down, slamming it into the ground and ripping it apart. After I was finally done, I suppressed the feeling of satisfaction in my chest and quickly got to ripping it into pieces. People might be disgusted at how savage I seem, but I honestly couldn''t care less. I want death, and for that I need power. I need something able to destroy my very soul, and that''s not easy. In my old world, souls were considered indestructible entities, and I doubt it changed much in this world. Still, that didn''t change the fact that eating it raw felt... raw? I won''t complain, but if I had a fire it would certainly help, considering that cooked meat does give more nutrition and it also aids digestion, if I do get my hands/paws on a fire I definetly will use it. Not that that''s planned for anytime soon. Satisfied with my first prey, I let out a small howl, focusing as much of my hatred it in as possible. It came out as a hateful shriek, making every sound around me abruptly stop for a couple seconds. In that time, I had already quickly bolted away. I am not dumb enough to let myself be discovered and, subsequentially, eaten. After that, I spent yet more hours searching for prey. However, just as I was doing so, I abruptly felt goosebumps spread all over my body. Fear gripped my very core and I quickly bolted away. Not a second later, the spot I was just standing on was breached by a brown figure. Not even turning around, I bolted towards our cave, taking sharp turns and using my small figure to pass through small points. I felt something chasing me, and that something could definetly kill me. Despite me being stronger then my siblings by a wide margin, I am still weak in the big picture. Very weak. After 5 minutes that felt like 5 eternities, I eventually reached our cave and swiftly cried out. I know I''m a hypocrite for fearing death like this, but instincts and reason tell me that I need to preserve this life. I had luck being born in such a luck spot, and I absolutely won''t waste this chance. Just as the brown figure was about to catch up to me, mother intervened and rammed the figure down with her massive size. The creature didn''t even stand a chance as it was ferociously bitten and clawed. Finally, I took a look at my enemy. It was a rather big eagle, and it was fiercely struggling against mother, but it was useless considering how it was fully pinned down. I had a titanic stroke of luck this time. By all means, I should have died. I was arrogant to even think that I was an apex and could simply stroll around like that. I was stupid, and I almost paid a huge price. This was the first lesson I learned as a hunter that lived several lifetimes: You are never at the top, there is always someone stronger or more numerous then you. Wolfs may cry (3) Stalking through the trees, one could find a black blur silently creeping around in search of prey. Examining it closely would reveal a pure-black wolf around 2 meters in lenght, and although the wolf was not particularly strong, it was almost invisible to the naked eye. Obviously, that''s me. 2 years had passed ever since my first hunt. I won''t go into detail, since you know, all a wolf really does is hunt and sleep. I barely even sleep anymore due to my constant hunger. As I said before, I already reached 2 meters in lenght in almost 3 years. My siblings are all only 1 meter in lenght, and they have way less trouble then me in finding food. Size doesn''t always help after all. Life has not been easy at all on us poor little innocent squirrel-eating puppies. Around 4 months ago, our mother went out on a hunt and never returned. After that, our father didn''t bother bringing us anything, leaving us to starve. Me and the ruby wolf were especially in a tricky bind. That guy doesn''t grow as fast as me, but in turn eats as much. I suspect he is developing his inner pool or something, else where does all of the food that glutton go? Out of the starting 8 of us, only 4 remain. Me, the ruby wolf and two grey ones. When mother didn''t return, they all spent a night howling and weeping as wolf''s would. It was incredibly dumb, as we had to run away real fast from the spot to avoid predators. I considered simply abandoning them, but decided against it. They could serve as good bait or cannon fodder, so why waste them? To survive, I had to slowly rank up from simply hunting squirrels onto bigger preys, like the occasional bird. One time, the ruby guy found a deer and we all came together for the first time to hunt it down. That day, we lost two grey wolves. One got his skull caved in by the deer''s legs and the other one had a horn rammed down his throat. We did take it down though, and that day I had a huge breakthrough. I have been thinking about ''the pool'' for as long as I have been a wolf, but I never truly knew what it actually was. When I ate that deer, I felt it. I could feel the strange feeling where my heart is, almost as if I had a single droplet of water there, just hanging out. It''s honestly a mystical feeling, very different from mana. However, no matter what I did I couldn''t use it, but that wasn''t particularly disappointing since the next day, I found myself a little bit stronger and faster then before, so I didn''t mind. From what I discerned from the ruby''s intentions, he probably felt it too since he immediately wanted to go out and hunt other deers. I considered joining him, but decided that we weren''t ready and made my intentions clear. Luckily, he agreed with me and didn''t go and waste my fodd... siblings. That was a month ago, and now I finally decided that we were ready. I hadn''t been idle these 2 years, and I have been in many life-or-death situations. I once fought against a small boar and almost killed it, but it''s pack arrived making me run away with my tail between my legs, one of which was broken. Luckily, as a wild beast, we recuperate rather fast. It didn''t take longer then a week for me to heal, and although I was starved, I survived and learned a lot. By now, I''m confident I could kill the past me with ease if I didn''t use any magic. However, killing a real, seasoned warrior is another matter. Mother probably could, but I expect the ''seasoned warriors'' of this world to be much stronger then my other world, so don''t quote me. Now, I was returning to our small cavern. Once I got there, I howled out, signaling to my siblings to return. Normally, we would all separate and each go in a different direction in order to not steal each other''s food, but now, I had found a group of deers, and we would all benefit from taking one or two out. Thus, I waited. I knew that making noise in the forest isn''t a good idea, but by now, we were big and strong enough to contend against hunters in this region. Naturally, if we were to go further and further in the forest, stronger and stronger beasts appear. I had even found the exit to the forest, and it''s quite close. I imagine that at the center of the forest there should be some pretty god damn strong animals, so we kinda have to avoid it. After a dozen or so minutes of waiting, the first siblings began to appear. We rubbed noses a little to make sure we recognized each other and waited for everyone else to appear. After 20 minutes, everyone was here with the ruby guy coming in last. Although wolves don''t talk, we can still make our intentions known to others. Be it growling, movements of the tail, how we act or simply nudging each other, it''s not impossible.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Ruby was the first to understand what I tried to tell them, and his tail quickly began to shake happily. Although it was cute, the idea that he would be happy about killing animals still was somewhat strange, but by now I had rid myself of all human ideals. I am no longer human, so why bother even trying to maintain the idea of me being one? If I was to meet a human, I would no doubt tear it apart and eat it. That''s just how life goes. I may sound crazy, but consider this. I''m a wolf now, and I think I''m still human. I see a human going around and I approach it. There is a 90% chance the human will instantly attack me and a 10% chance it will flee. Then, if it attacks me, I will not attack it back, which will either end with me being killed or the human getting more friends to come over, which will kill me. It''s dumb. I need to kill to survive both as a human and as a beast, and humans are animals too, so why even classify them in different categories? It''s outright hipocritical, why would I feel more remorse killing a human then killing a squirrel? They both have lives and both have families, so just why is it wrong to kill a human but it''s okay to treat other animals like dirt? I can understand if I was still a human, but as a wolf, it''s just dumb to continue to think like that. It simply will lead me to death, thus making my eternal death still further away then it already is. Grumbling internally, I lead the pack over to where I last saw the deers. Since I am the biggest of them by quite a margin, I plan on first getting them to lead a single deer to my direction then pouncing on it, followed by the others quickly tearing it into pieces. It''s a decent plan, but it''s not perfect. I only accept perfect plans... usually. When we finally found our prey, we quickly split up and surrounded them. They all sort of understood what to do based on instincts: Split them up and hunt the old and weak. Lead them into a trap, then profit. It''s simple really, but it''s much, much harder then it sounds if the prey actually defend. Luckily for us, the pack only consisted of 8 deers, 2 of which children. This time though, we weren''t going for children, no. We were going for the biggest and strongest of them, which will in turn provide a much better nourishment then the children. Since I stayed where the ambush will be laid, I couldn''t see most of the action. However, I knew that they had succeded since the deer were all running and one of them was coming my way. The other 3 wolves were on it''s tail and all of them were running after it, but not actually catching up to it on purpose. They knew of my plan. Abusing my natural color, I was very hard to see, especially in the shadows like I was. So, when the deer passed right in front of me, I pounced on it''s sides, tearing my claws onto it''s side and grabbing it''s neck in my mouth. The deer is stil bigger then me by a bit though, but the momentum made it lose balance and slam into the ground. Just as planned, the others all jumped onto it. Ruby grabbed one of it''s legs and the other two helped me finish it off. Ultimately, we only got a couple of injuries from the final moments of it''s struggle, but we were otherwise fine and with a bountiful harvest. Honestly, running away was the dumbest thing it could possibly do, considering that we as wolves do not particularly rely on strenght, but on speed, numbers and cunning, a strange combination but deadly effective. When it finally died, I had a small idea. I quickly tore onto it''s chest and ate the heart whilst the others ate whatever they found. I searched and searched until I found a miniscule, almost liquid thingie. I somehow knew that this was it''s core, not still fully formed. A flood of information somehow invaded my mind. I have no idea why I didn''t gain this knowledge before, but later is still better then never. [Forgive me for infodump, but I have no idea how else to introduce this to a non-speaking beast other then through random instincts... I''m a bad writer] The liquid thingie is indeed the core of every beast, only humans don''t posses one. For a beast to be classified as a rank 1 beast, it will need a core. Some creatures will slowly create their own even without doing anything, some will even reach the final rank 10 without doing anything, others will never develop. It''s all a matter of race. There are 10 ranks for beasts, and it naturally goes 1-10. Humans give names to these ranks, but it''s easier to understand if kept simple. The difference between each rank is huge, especially as you progress further and further. A rank 7 can easily kill 100 rank 6''s, not to speak about a rank 8. Each rank also has low, middle and high subclasses, but they are less defined and easier to overcome. Only rank 1 beasts can actually use techniques based on their attribute, and even then, they are quite weak. Only rank 3 beasts can truly use techniques and rank 4''s can manifest their Qi outside of their bodies. Qi is the resource I always referred to as ''pool'', so there''s that. For a beast to grow in rank, they can do so in different ways. By simply living, they can slowly gather Qi in themselves or they can eat other beasts and take their Qi. Naturally, only a miniscule part of what a beast eats can be taken as theirs due to compatability. There is also the last method, which is to siphon Qi off of a master, but this requires the beast to be a ''contracted beast'', which is not fun sometimes, especially if you have an abusive master. With this revelation, I felt as if a whole world was opened to me. I was so blind before, only hunting small and weak preys. That''s not how one grows fast in this world. I was wrong, but I can fix myself now. No longer will I hunt the weak, I will hunt those on par with me. Only then will I truly grow. Oh, don''t give me the bullshit about hunting those stronger then me, I''ll just die! There''s a fine line between stupidity and courage after all. But now, I shall dine on tis fine meat. Maybe working as a pack isn''t such a bad idea after all? Probably isn''t, but the idea of sharing doesn''t sit well with me. I take a look at my companions. The grey wolves are both quite weak, and whilst the ruby wolf is stronger then them, he''s still a lot weaker then me. However, if we can grow together, it''ll be much easier in the future. I don''t expect the two grey ones to survive, but making sure the ruby one lives should be a priority. Yes, a good slave would do good. Wolfs may cry (4) After our second deer hunt, our miniscule pack started working together much more. I admit it, I was blinded by my own desires and greed. The thought that wolves usually hunt together for a reason never came to my mind, but now my eyes have finally been opened. 5 months have passed by now, and we have essentially become the kings of this section of the forest. Since we now work together much more, we have more difficulties mantaining the same expanse of territory as before, but it doesn''t really matter since the forest is extremely prosperous anyway. I''ve grown to be around 2.5 meters in lenght and a little more then a meter tall whilst the ruby wolf is 3/4 my size, which is still quite big considering he''s only around 3 years old. The two grey wolves are only half my size and both don''t even have a cultivation yet. Another improvement I received is the ability to finally detect cultivation levels. It''s not a radar though since I need to be aware of the target and I need to feel for their Qi release... it''s hard to explain, but it''s there so that''s that. Like this, we have been hunting down every and all animals that are worth our time, which usually consists of deers, boars, giant eagles, snakes that are 4 meter long and even panthers. We did come close to death a couple times, but we somehow all made it through. Some of the animals I can recognize from my old world, like the deers, but the others are really strange. The snakes for example are extremely long and somehow aren''t poisonous, but when ruby attacked it, it coiled around him and almost killed him. We had to smash it''s head to kill it and save that retard, which was not fun considering it''s bites hurt. A lot. But that''s all in the past. Today, we''re moving onto a giant target. We''ve actually managed to find a rank 1 beast a couple days ago, and I''ve been trailing it ever since. Now, I''ve finally managed to get a rough idea of it''s patterns. Whilst rank 1 is still the absolute lowest in the mythical scale, it''s still leagues ahead of normal beasts like us. Fortunately though, I can feel that it has only recently advanced, and me and ruby are already halfway through to stepping into the 1st rank whilst the two grey wolves barely even began forming it, but it still should be enough, especially considering my plan. We head out from our cave towards the location our ambush will be laid. It''s essentially a narrow passage between two hills with trees covering it''s sides. It''s especially good as an ambush place due to the marshy nature of the mini valley, and prey will constantly trickle in due to the bountiful grass. I hide on one of the hills, carefully placing myself in the bushes, essentially turning invisible. Ruby is on the other side of the hill doing the same thing, whilst the two grey wolves understood that they need to be the bait. Our communications skills are still shit, but we can roughly understand a basic plan. It''s hard to explain the way us wolves communicate, as the smallest of hints sort of comes automatic to us, but even I have trouble understanding the language despite speaking it myself. I lay in wait for 10 minutes, which turn into 30 minutes, which turns into an hour. After finally waiting around an hour and twenty minutes, I finally see the grey baits running towards the valley. Behind them, a giant grey bear is trailing behind them. I can sense that it is indeed far, far more powerful then I am, but I''m confident that even if these three have to die, killing it is possible. Eating it''s core should give a huge aid in my current cultivation, I might even consider keeping it for the breakthrough, but it''s probably too low rank for it to really matter.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The two grey wolves ran like their lives depended on it, which it did, and swiftly ran through the narrowest point. The bear, being a retard, kept roaring and followed them right into the trap. Just as it passed by a bush, Ruby swiftly pounced on it, making it lose balance and capitulate to the sides. He bit down on it''s neck, barely piercing the skin but still hitting the carotid. The bear was swift to react and swiped it''s paws at him, but he managed to jump away in time, only getting a slight scratch at his hind leg. Then, the two grey wolves, whom had hurried back during the exchange, both jumped at the bear from behind and bit it at the belly area. They barely did anything however, and one of them was crushed mercilessly by the bear whilst the other ran away, followed by the ruby wolf. Enraged beyond reason, the wolf charged after them. He barely managed to run 20 meters before I pounced on it from behind, it didn''t even notice me due to how focused it was on my siblings. I bit down on it''s throat as well, piercing right were the ruby wolf had bitten before. Considering my stronger constitution, I completely perforated the already-hurt vein and even managed to do some damage to the wind pipe, although slight. I swiftly jumped away the moment I felt that the bear had registered what happened, and I swiftly ran after over to my two remaining siblings. This was the plan we had decided upon, a two-way ambush. First ruby, who will deal some minor damage, then I will deal the killing blow. At least, that was the plan, but I didn''t hold much faith in it considering I strongly doubted that for as weak as a rank 1 is, it still is leagues away of us. When I reached the other wolves, I turned and took a look at the spasming bear. The thing had bloodshot eyes and blood was oozing out from it''s throat, it also seemed to have difficulties breathing. I pondered wether to attack it again, since the damage was still more then expected, but the thing got up and once again charged at us. I signaled a retreat and we all ran away with the bear chasing after our tails, a trail of blood following after it. As we took a turn, I swiftly climbed up a small cliff and hid there as my siblings kept running for a bit. Then, as the bear arrived and was about to once again charge, I jumped down and smashed it onto it''s sides and ferociously bit down on it''s neck, only to quickly jump away. However, I felt something hitting my sides and I was launched away. It hurt a lot, but I had long since gotten used to pain so I persisted. It wasn''t a mortal wound, but a bone or two probably still broke. A good fact about beasts is that they heal much faster then humans and we have far superior health, making us almost immune to infections or disease. This time, the bear didn''t give chase and simply stood there, panting and moaning in pain. My siblings had returned by now and we all slowly surrounded it, still cautios. However, said caution was unnecessary. Life is very fleeting, and it''s extremely easy to loose no matter how strong you are. The bear was bleeding out too much by now and it''s breathing was extremely rough. Just like it crushed the grey wolf in a single hit, we could easily kill it in a single hit too if we have position, number and hitspot advantage. And so, we waited around an hour for the bear to finally draw it''s last breath. A huge pool of blood was under it, and we still hesitated to approach it. Tactics had won us the battle this time, but the enemy was obviously far superior to us. Strenght would be needed to win next time, as intellect only brings you so far. Like this, weunceremoniously dug in and tore the bear to pieces. It''s fur was very hard to pierce, but it was still managable. I shivered in fear at the mere thought of what would happened had this bear been mid or even high 1st rank. I swiftly tore into it''s chest and ripped out a nail-sized brown gem. The moment I saw it, my instincts screamed at me to devour it, and I quickly did so. It felt like nectar flowing down my throat, and I immediately felt myself advancing towards the 1st rank. I felt myself make a small breakthrough, and I internally smiled at the idea of my finally being a high-rank normal beast. We dragged the carcass of both our brother and the bear back to the cave for later consumption. There was no mercy in death even for our sibling, since we all knew that there was the possibility for one us was going to die, or even all of us. He was merely unlucky Thus, we had a meal secured for the next couple days or so. We always stuffed ourself as much as possible considering the amount of Qi it contained, and we were content.