Like sentient beings, monsters are graded into different realms, from the Foundation realm to the Spirit lord realms. Lower realm monsters were common to come across near large gatherings of people while higher monsters could be very rare. It wasn't that they didn't exist, it was just that it was very uncommon to see those types of monsters roaming. Mostly, they just settle down somewhere they'll then make into territories, fighting any trespasser.
Approaching the edge of the Solarian northern jungle, Damien and Keilan reduced their altitude. They drew in their auras tight around themselves, going into stealth mode. Unless someone was actually looking at them, nobody would know they were there.
Coming to this area was always a sour moment for them, but they just couldn't abandon their very own proto–realm.
They flew low over the trees, slowing down and reducing their height as they slowly approached their destination.
As they flew, Damien could hear the sounds of insects, birds, and large wild beasts. Going far into the jungle, though, they then began coming across low-level monsters.
Due to the nature essence saturating the entire jungle, there wasn't any space to land without at least breaking down some trees, but there were still areas where a tree refused to grow. It was in one of these places that they landed.
"God, I hate this place," Keilan said, landing alongside Damien on a patch of grass.
"I hear you, but unless you know somewhere else we can find a hidden proto–realm that hasn't been discovered yet, then we'll just have to endure," Damien replied, to which Keilan could only grimace.
[If you don't like this place, why don't you just use the known proto realms, or better yet, the Redlands.]
Keilan snorted, "Unless you want to have multiple spies and informants tailing you to document your strengths and weaknesses, you'll avoid the known proto–realms. And as for the Redlands, it's always best to avoid them unless necessary, you never know what you'll come across there."
Damien nodded, "What he said. There's an uncommon rule that the known proto-realms are meant for lower realm cultivators or recently ascended spirit lords. Unless it's in their territory, you can't see any veteran spirit lord in a known proto realm. Not to talk of the fact that they don't allow outsiders to use their proto realms, leaving it for their people."
[I'm sure nobody would dare tell you no if you chose to make use of a proto realm.]
Damien snorted, moving around a tree, "You'd be surprised. Despite my fame and strength, there are always people who would still act high and mighty. And besides, I don't want the hassle of trying to deal with people like that."
"You remember that King who told us the only way we could use his proto realm was to become one of the spirit lords under him?" Keilan laughed.
[What? What happened?]
"Don't you know? I thought you like.. had access to his mind or something?" Keilan looked towards Grey who was floating over Damien's shoulder.
[Gahh! Too much work looking for something like that. Do you know how jumbled up his head is? You don't want to know about what goes on in there, blegh.]
Keilan chuckled, "Ok, so this is what happened. It was just after Damien's first battle with Emperor Solar, I mean the young one, not the old one. So Damien's battle was just making waves amongst the Spirit lord community and the Solarians were actively hunting for our heads. We needed a place to lay low, and as per usual, we picked a proto realm to at least sharpen ourselves for a few weeks while we stayed hidden. Due to the risk, we couldn't lead them to this place, so we decided to use one of the few proto-realms on the continent.
"Prior to that moment, we hadn't actually used any other proto realm or tried to; we only had this one, which we mostly spent months in, so we didn't know how other people reacted to an outsider trying to use their proto realms. Approaching the proto realm, we got stopped by a spirit lord– apparently, a lot of Kingdoms usually station at least one spirit lord to monitor who goes in and out of the proto realm.
"We approached this proto realm in which the spirit lord guard immediately appeared, saying all sorts of things about trespassing and stuff. It was one spirit lord against two, so the guy was extremely wary and very alert. We didn't make any threatening motions, but we argued about why someone would bar us from somewhere that they didn't even own; it just happens to be on their land; it's like trying to bar us from entering a river just because it's on their borders. Anyways, while we had been standing there arguing or when he sensed our approach– I don't know, the guard must have already sent word. So while we stood there arguing, the king and some of his spirit lords were already on their way.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"We sensed them before they appeared, but we couldn't just run away; that would be accepting weakness. So we waited, and soon enough, they came. The king, who had been raised with pills, treasures, and curated monster hunting to help grow his potential. Anyways, he appeared in all his diminutive glory, accompanied by a cluster of low-tier spirit lords. Agreed, we were all low-tier spirit lords, so the matchup would have been skewed in their favor. So despite the king knowing of our identities, he was still of the misguided notion that they were all equal to us. So we went on another argument, this time surrounded six to two. At first, It was all harmless arguments about them hijacking natural given proto realms, until the man threatened to forcefully apprehend us and hand us over to the Solarians."
[No way...]
"Yes way. Oh they outnumbered us by a large margin, but they forgot that the difference between us and them was that none of them had ever spent months on end in proto realms battling monsters."
[What did you guys do?]
"Well, in the end, we had to leave 'cause we'd already drawn too much attention to that place."
[Like that? You guys just left like that?] Gray asked, skeptical.
Keilan smiled, a devilish one.
"Since they were mostly curated spirit lords, I'm not sure how they handled the pain of having all their limbs being shattered into tiny pieces–probably the reason i could still hear their screams twenty minutes after we left the area." Keilan shook his head, reminiscing. "Oh, what a wonderful day that was."
Gray turned to Damien, "You've got nothing to say?"
"Trust me, you do not want to hear my thoughts."
Soon enough, they came around a corner, walking up to a cluster of trees. Looking at the place, If anyone got to this location, they'd see nothing other than a cluster of trees, just like the rest of the jungle. Nothing special.
Damien and Keilan walked up in between two trees, with nothing differentiating them from the rest of the ones in the jungle. Approaching, the moment they walked into the middle of both trees, they found themselves in another place.
They were still in the jungle, with the only thing alerting them to their changed location being the spatial movement, and the noise. The place they were coming from was filled with noise of animals and all such of monsters, but this place was different. In this place, the monster population was heightened to a degree that Damien could now hear fights going on all around.
Proto realms were always graded into different domains. This is to help warn people who are training from straying too far into the domains of higher monsters.
Presently, they were in the foundation-level domain, filled with all sorts of foundation level monsters. It was a fairly large space, enough that you could hunt monsters without mistakenly straying into the lord realm domains.
"This is going to take too long. Let's just fly there," Keilan said.
"Sure."
At this level of domain, there wasn't a risk of encountering spirit lord monsters if they flew too high, so they enjoyed the altitude as they moved.
The foundation level domain was a jungle area just like the one on the other side. Filled with greenery and such, it was a very beautiful place, with the only thing stopping him from relaxing here being the large population of monsters who bred like rats and made too much noise. He didn't want to deal with that.
The lord-level domain was a large patch of beautiful green grassland. Damien was always left speechless whenever he saw this place, especially from the sky. Even if he stood on the ground, he would still be able to see unobstructed for miles, with the blue sky giving the place a touch of heavenly glow.
He began to see the monsters, all the way from low lord-level monsters who occupied the spaces bordering the jungle. From there, their tiers gradually increased the closer he flew in, from low to mid to high, and then they eventually flew Into the Monarch realm domain.
This domain was a drastic change from the beautiful grasslands of the previous domain where it suddenly turned into a desert that was spread for miles.
It was a dry, desolate place filled with Monarch-level monsters that could attack you from any position. Stepping into this domain was where you'd eventually learn to train your senses, Because If your senses aren't as sharp as they should be, you could fall into one of the innumerable holes that had been dug up by monsters who would then be waiting not too far away to jump in and finish you. There were monsters that would swoop in from the sky in a flash and carry any unsuspecting victim, while there were some that would shoot poisonous projectiles from miles away or from covers that were had to spot. Those were the ones to fear the most because they always came in groups.
Finally, telling from the energy difference, just like the ones before, they crossed into the Spirit lord's domain. The calamity land.
Heightening their senses, they began monitoring for any monsters. Even though they were still in the low tier domain, it was unwise not to pay attention for monsters that could heavily injure or kill you.
The calamity land was featured with high mountain ranges and such, where some of the monsters set up their domains on the top of the mountains while some others fixed theirs on the ground. Some monsters, on their own, were neither land hunters nor sky hunters; they were somewhere in between.
"ROAAAAAR!!!!"
"Yup, nice to see you again Colosso," Keilan waved cheerfully.