There you are, young one!!
Enard’s heart leaps in his chest as the dragon draws even closer. Its brimstone breath assaults his nostrils, the power of its very presence threatening to knock him over.
Come young one join the conversation. The dragon blows out purple fire that engulfs Enard’s right shoulder. Fearing his death he tries unsuccessfully to dodge. As the fire hits he closes his eyes resigned to destruction but is shocked when he feels nothing. Sneaking a peek at his shoulder he is dumbfounded to see Peku, now purple with lightning crackling between his ears, sneering and bearing his teeth.
The dragon jerks back roaring in laughter. How did you find this human little one? Human child do you know what you are bonded to? Wha.. well uh.. he is .. uh.. this is Peku.. my .. friend. What do you mean bonded? The dragon is silent for a moment. Enard silently hopes it is contemplating rather than choosing who to eat first. The dragon looks to the king who seemed to be pale and trying to keep composure, then to the elderly scribe who Enard had not realized was in the room. He had seen the older man from time to time in his wanderings but up close the wrinkles in his face were more pronounced. Enard could also see eagerness rather than fear in his eyes.
In a less menacing voice the dragon sighed. How little knowledge this generation has, in Egrads time we uncovered many mysteries of the realms. Exploration and pushing the boundaries of this world was our hope. It seems that it has not transferred as both he and I had hoped. Maybe you boy and Peku the Lycrant can restore that for what is left of the world after this war. That is of course assuming you survive.
WAR?… Enard blurts out looking at Peku who has become invisible again.
One question at a time boy, the dragon said. First you may call me Katamen, I am the Respondent to this realm. Although I do not control this realm I am tasked to respond in times of great change or tragedy that will ripple throughout the realms. I obtained this title since I alone advocated for the preservation of this one, wishing to maintain the birthplace of my friend, first King Egrad. His memory is the ONLY reason I have not decimated this kingdom. It is the reason I am here rather than the others sent by the Great Council. I have yet to meet another like me in any of the other realms, none have any fondness of this place that holds the weakest of the races, humanity.
Your.. friend is what is called a Lycrant. They are beings that until today I thought were extinct. They were once known as the king of beasts and were so powerful and ferocious that they were even a match for us dragons. Just one could decimate the entirety of one of your kingdoms. Enard gasps and looks again to Peku who has made himself seen again and looks back at him unflinchingly. You ,boy, have somehow bonded to one. From what I know that is very rare, these beasts were thought extinct when I was a hatchling. I can see the tether between the two of you symbolizing the bond. Enard looked between himself and Peku with a confused face. Heh, heh Katamen chuckled, Peku meanwhile seemingly rolled his eyes, you do not yet have a high enough rank to see past normal vision. Your friend understands the link and has benefited greatly from it. Be aware and take good care of this beast, unlike dungeon inhabitants free range beasts do not have the option to gain the respawn ability. Peku has a limited number of life tokens and it seems two were very recently used, one on him and the other on you. What?? The king, scribe and Enard blurt out at once. Enard thinks back to his recent potion testing as his face shifts from shocked to sheepish.
I have limited time in this realm and have a feeling that you have not been properly educated! Katamen glares at the King and Scribe who shrink back into themselves. The King and Scribe had been so focused on their own research that sharing their findings with the eleventh in line for the throne went unremembered. The King had actually forgotten he was in the capital as he had mainly been focused on his own mortality. Having primarily neglected increasing his rank in his youth he surprisingly had never grown past peak A. He knew his death was near and called for the scribe to help him with leveling. Katamen continued, although I have limited time I will lay out the basics of this world you find yourself in. I share this again in hopes that you both survive and help bring the world back from the brink of destruction. This would continue the vision of my friend and that would be enough for me.
With a sigh he settles into teaching mode. I do not have the time or patience to instruct you in the intricacies of the inner workings of this life but I will share three things:
Firstly this realm you live in is the primary realm. All in existence once resided here, I myself spent my youth exploring this world. The separation between the realms came when the first great beast broke past the limit of this one. You refer to these beasts as calamity class, just for context they are hatchings. A new realm is created once a being reaches beyond the maximum level of the last. There are currently twenty realms and each one has its own cap. That cap is based on how much drain the level can maintain. Seeing Enard’s confusion he asks, how do you think abilities work? Magic, Enard says confidently, there is magic in the air that we use spells to access. Sneering, Katamen lets out a growl towards the King who pales again. There is no such thing as magic boy, Katamen snaps, each realm has essence that seeps into the beings that inhabit it. Once an individual absorbs enough essence they are given access to the system that catalogs and allows them to interact with the essence both drawing in and expelling it through the use of abilities and skills. The essence is filtered through the body leaving trace amounts and strengthening the individual through use. This is how we rise through the ranks. A rank is a measurement of how much essence an individual’s body can contain.
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Where does the essence come from? Enard asks. No time for the deeper questions I'm afraid, my time is extremely limited here, Katamen said. If I can continue, the reason that there are only a limited number of SS individuals allowed to live on this realm is due to the amount of essence they draw in. The larger drain on the essence in this realm creates a gap between realms which allow the calamity beasts to slip through. These are my wilder brethren who are either not currently or have never been beholden to the dungeon rules. There is currently no governing system for those who are not dungeon inhabitants and whatever control the Great Council holds over them does not extend to this realm. As I mentioned before none of the beasts care what happens here, there are also no humans outside of this realm to argue your case. Before he could be interrupted again Katamen continues.
Secondly, Egrad and I created both the dungeons and the twelve kingdoms with agreement from the Great Council. The dungeon system traverses many of the realms but is capped here as humans cannot survive the higher concentrations of essence on the higher realms. The very youngest of our line take the challenge of the dungeons as a rite of passage, those who have gained the respawn ability. This is not forced on any race so there are wild beasts in your world,they may have life tokens but they do not have the unlimited respawn ability. Before you ask, the difference is an automatic return to life versus a wait in the space below the realm. Those who can respawn are allowed to return to their realm until the timer runs out. Life tokens force isolation, this can drive even the most respected beast mad depending on how long they have to wait. The timeline ranges from minutes to years based on the individual's power rank. The dungeon benefit to us is a training for our young on tactics and fighting as well as the rank increases. The benefit to the realm is the maintaining of the essence levels. When a tear is created and the beast is dealt with, the dungeons expel its excess essence to fill the gaps thereby healing the rift. The kingdoms spread out essence usage in strategic locations on the planet. These kingdoms also allowed for the creation of sovereign seals. Twelve were created and twelve must always be in existence according to the accords.These seals are the agreement maintained through the system between the Great Council and my friend Egrad. This is the promise that they will not destroy this realm, negotiated by ME!
Your people have broken the accords by destroying hatchlings still in their eggs. Helpless beings who were placed here to incubate. They were also a gift, not unlike Peku they could have been bonded to people of your race to bring forth a new renaissance of beast and human relations. Instead we are here, war has come. Ignoring Enard’s increasingly worried face, he continues, the first realm dungeons are being converted to allow for our higher rank young to reside here in larger numbers. These upgrades will also increase the tether radius to allow them to roam more of your lands. I tell you this as there is nothing you can do to stop it. Currently we have allowed two SS and twelve S ranked beasts to reside here. The cap on S rak has been removed and the two SS ranks have been increased to four. To balance the scales and avoid a tear in the realm all but three of the SS ranked humans have been destroyed. If humanity is able to destroy the SS rank beasts the race to level will be on. Only fourteen will be allowed to reside here what that breakdown is we shall see.
Lastly, as I mentioned the system catalogs and allows for essence usage. This system will also level set specific roles such as King. No king or ruler on this or any realm will ever be lower than A rank or its equivalent. There are other professions and positions but that is your scribe’s job. A glare from the dragon was aimed at the scribe. I tell you all this because you will be the next king. No.. no, I am eleventh in line. The king has years left, I don’t even know HOW to lead a kingdom. He gives a panicked look to the king who has gone from a pale expression to being resigned to his fate. Sadly Katamen replied, few of us are ever prepared, besides it has already happened.
System message: WEEP ALL KYREB, KING ROMAN STIVAL TENTH OF HIS NAME. LEADER OF THE BLESSED KINGDOM HAS DIED A NOBLES DEATH. MAY HE LAY WITH HIS FOREFATHERS AND BE REMEMBERED FOR GENERATIONS.
THE KING IS DEAD LONG LIVE KING FREDMON FIRST OF HIS NAME. SON OF MOURNING. MAY HE REIGN LONG AND WISE.
Ten notifications chime, Enard’s body writhes in pain as it is upgraded to handle an influx of essence.
YOU HAVE REACHED RANK B, PLEASE CHOOSE A SPECIALIZATION… SPECIALIZATION CHOSEN: BEAST COMPANION. YOU HAVE REACHED RANK A, YOU HAVE BEEN CROWNED KING OF KYREB
The pain subsides as an ethereal golden crown materializes in front of Enard. It floats and places itself on his head.
SOVEREIGN SKILLS OBTAINED
THE KING IS DEAD LONG LIVE KING ENARD FIRST OF HIS NAME. FRIEND TO BEASTS AND DRAGONS. MAY HE REIGN LONG AND WISE.
As he focuses his eyes quickly search for the dragon only to land on the empty space Katamen previously occupied. Turning to the throne he sees the body of the former king slumped, head without a crown. A tap on his shoulder causes him to turn around, the sight in front of him causes his mouth to open in shock. Standing behind him is a red beast that is close to his standing height. Its teeth sharp as daggers, it has blended black paws and long pointed ears. Its eyes were sharp, black with moving white stars. Its tail is powerful, long and black. This beast looks powerful and swift, fear grips Enard again. Even if the dragon didn’t kill him, this beast surely would. The surprises continued as the beast spoke in a low voice;
Hey Enard, it's me Peku…