"Might as well help them one more time. This would only bring a disaster to the Lion-kin if they take it with them." Artos thought to himself after taking the green Crystal from Greg.

The green Crystal is a communication device linked to another green Crystal and is known as a Communication Crystal. It always comes in pairs, and you can only use it to contact or track the other Crystal it is linked to. In this case, Greg's Crystal is linked to his boss's Crystal, and his boss is someone the Lion-kin stand no chance against.

Reginald the Slave Master, is one of the seven Kings of Tak. The only Human Empire in the Dana Plane. They have control over the entire Silver Grasslands in the East. Although humans are the most hated species in the Thousand Realms, no one has been able to take them down. Under the protection of the Emperor of Slaughter, the Empire of Tak has stood strong for the past 1 000 years.

Greg was nothing but a pawn that Reginald was grooming. Should the Slave Master learn that the Lion-kin have killed his underlings and taken his merchandise, he would enslave them all. And should Reginald get his hands on them, none of them would die peacefully.

In his past life, Artos was the personal toy of the King. Reginald made sure that whenever he had the time to torture him beyond despair. Saying stuff like "My God wants you dead, but I will make you wish for death." At that time he had no idea what he is talking about, but after his experience with Lightheaven, he had a better understanding of the situation.

Artos might currently be weak, but he would surely pay him back. That is something for the future, but now, he would have to find a way to restore his right arm.

In about half a year from now, he would reach the age of 20 and have his Awakening. Something that almost all the intelligent races of the Thousand Realms experience at some point in their life.

Each race has a different condition for their Awakening, but the harsher the condition, the greater the strength they will gain from it. Some could even change to a different race after their Awakening.

There are even a few special races that could experience more than one Awakening in their lives.

When going through an Awakening, its important for the body to be in its best condition. Otherwise, it might result in a crippling injury or even death.

Lion-kin for example, all Awaken at the age of 16 and can enter their beast from. Due to the simple condition, they only get a small boost in their physical capabilities and gain the ability to transform into their beast form. The only advantage of their beast form is that they can run on all four and are slightly faster. They can't use weapons in that form and their Weapon Skills are rendered useless. Which is why they only use their beast form to travel and use their normal form to fight.

After taking the Communication Crystal, Artos checked Greg's body for anything else that could be useful to him. Unfortunately, the Diamond-ranked cultivator was poorer than he thought. Although his equipment was pretty good, Artos wouldn't be able to use them since they didn't fit him.

As he was looting the corpse, a Lion-kin noticed him.

"You there! What do you think you are doing, you human scum." The Lion-kin screamed out, seeing the one-armed human looting Greg.

"Immediately drop anything that you found on the body. This is rightfully ours since we are the ones that took him down!" The Lion-kin said while eyeing the Communication Crystal in Artos's hand. He didn't know what the Crystal was, but it looked valuable.

Since the fight with the slavers was finished, more and more Lion-kin started circling the one-armed human.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I refuse." Artos answered with a calm and emotionless voice.

"You dare, you filthy trash." Enraged by his response, the Lion-kin used his Greatsword to attack him. Artos didn't even bother making a move and just stared at him with an expressionless look.

"STOP!"Dillion moved in front of Artos and blocked the swing.

"What are you doing Dillion? He is from that filthy outsider race. Why are you helping this human scum?" Angered, the Lion-kin used more force, trying to push Dillion away. However since both of their cultivation were the same, he couldn't get past him.

"Even if he is a human, he helped us out. He took out more than a dozen of the slavers." Their cultivation might have been the same, but Dillion had a higher ranked Skill than the other Lion-kin and was able to disarm him.

"So what? Have you lost your pride in defending a human? They are the enemy! How many brethren have we lost to them? How dare you defend this scum? I should take you down for going against the pride. Come, brothers, let's end those two together." Enraged, the Lion-kin urged the rest to help him out. They all took out their Greatswords and prepared to cut the two down.

"Move aside!" A commanding voice was heard and the Lion-kin split apart to let Gur walk through the group. The two boys that were in a cage with Artos, were sheepishly following behind him.

"Get him Gur! Kill the human!" The Lion-kin were excited to see their commander personally take care of the duo. Seeing his Gur making a move, Dillion was starting to feel desperate. He wanted to help the human, but he couldn't stop his commander.

Gur calmly walked up to Artos, and to the surprise of all of his kin, he bent 90 degrees. "Thank you for helping us! We are in your debt!"

Hearing him, all the Lion-kin surrounding them all froze, unable to understand what happened.

Moments earlier, after the fight had ended. Gur immediately ran to the slave cages. There were seven of them made of normal Steel, with each large enough to carry at around ten people, and one more made of Black-Steel, large enough for five people to fit comfortably. They were all lined up with wheels underneath them and were linked to a carriage with four six-legged horses pulling them.

Not seeing his boys in any of the normal ones, he focused on the smaller cage. The bars were bent enough for someone easily pass through and it was empty. Seeing that, Gur thought that a slaver might have taken them and ran away. Tears were starting to form in his eyes, while he was thinking of the worst scenario.

"Father!" "Father!"Relief washed over him, hearing their voice from underneath the Black-Steel cage. Immediately he ran to them and hugged his boys.

Gur was happy to see them, but after separating from their hug, he asked how they managed to escape. His boys told him about a one-armed human who managed to bent the bars of their cage without even touching them. They also described how a slaver who wanted to stop him, suddenly killed himself with his own sword.

Gur might not be the brightest out there, but he is a genius fighter. And for a fact, he knew that he had no chance of stopping, let alone killing Greg. Hearing that thinks slowly started clicking in his head.

"So we owe our lives to a human, huh?" Humans are hated for a reason in the Thousand Realms. They are known as one of the cruelest races out there. Enslaving all other races and even their own kind as well.

There's also the fact they are an outsider race to the Thousand Realms, and there are also certain special humans that grant a Skill to the one that kills them. They are commonly known as Summoned Heroes, which have been granted a special Skill from an unknown being. Since their existence goes against the nature of the world, those that manage to kill them can obtain the Skill they were granted for themselves.

Of course, not all humans are evil, but meeting one that would willingly help out Beast-kin is like finding a needle in a haystack. Nevertheless, he was grateful to the human that helped them out.

As they finished their story, Gur heard a commotion happening and saw Lion-kin gathering in a wide circle. "Let's go and see if he is still here, we have to thank our benefactor," Gur told his boys and made his way towards the commotion.

When he got closer he saw his kin were encircling the one-armed human his boys told him about. Observing him, he didn't look special. Around 1.85m tall, bald-headed, skinny with no muscles on his body and with a low cultivation. His face was somewhat handsome, but his eyes are what caught his attention. Black as the night, they looked like a gateway to the void.

Despite being surrounded, his face was expressionless and his eyes emotionless. Gur felt a dangerous vibe coming from the one-armed human, so he decided to step up before his kin does something stupid.

Hearing his fellow Lion-kin urging him to kill the human, Gur cursed in his mind. He hoped that they could peacefully resolve the situation. Even though the human had a low cultivation, he didn't dare to underestimate him. After all, he managed to kill a Diamond-ranked cultivator with a single attack. Gur didn't even know what kind of a Skill the human used to achieve that, but he was sure it was something extraordinary.