The First King of Beasts

As someone who lives in this other world, Na'ash, the lady knew that points and monster cores weren't the only rewards one could get. There could be rewards like weapons, potions and many other things. What she was anticipating was that Dustin had received some type of armour or similar, either way, it only shows how talented he is to even receive such a reward.

Dustin reached for the first sack and loosened the rope around the mouth that kept it close. What was revealed was completely unbelievable, that it not only caused the lady's eyes to pop out, she was rendered completely speechless.

'Wha-wh-what!! Just how monster cores are there!' She screamed in her mind as she stared at the bag, and then Dustin, unable to control herself. ｆ𝘳e𝒆w𝗲𝐛𝘯𝐨νe𝚕.cｏ𝓶

The thing was, the size of the sacks these cores were packaged in went up to waist level. It would be able to contain two pieces of upper body armour, but now it was filled with only monster cores. The beasts might have been of the lowest rank, but still, Dustin was also meant to be in the same rank!

Inside the beg, there were countless spherical gems like marbles. One could fit two or three in there palm, and their look was close to a see through glass that was filled with smoke. The colour of each was different, but they were similar and not so diverse.

"Wow. I never thought those things would have cores, and to think the cores from all the monsters I killed would actually be given to me, quite generous. Guess this is how they intend to make us stronger fast, which means those that played dangerously and took more risks get rewarded equally for their hard-work." Dustin muttered to himself.

The lady who had just been unable to bring herself back from the initial shock had regained herself, and swiftly spoke up. "I will get you a storage bag immediately to that you can pack everything." She said calmly, as she tried to compose herself the best she could.

Dustin waited for her, and after a while she returned with side bag that was the size of a hand bag. This bag functioned just like the pouch Dustin and everyone else that was brought from earth was given; only difference was that this one had vastly more space. Dustin had thought about shoving everything into the system inventory, but he had to relinquish the thought. He had already garnered plenty suspicion from the sheer number of monster cores, despite the fact that he was supposed to be a newbie.

"All you have to do is place your blood on the magic circle that will appear on the lock, and the beg will be yours. Unlike the one you have on your waist, this one can't be accessed by any other person except you." The lady said, as Dustin strapped the bag to his waist. It quite flexible, so it felt ok and didn't bother his movement for normal activities.

"This stuff is good." He said as he gently turned to the lady, "hope I won't have to pay for it?" He shamelessly asked.

"Not at all!" She said with a light expression.

Dustin proceeded to suck in the three sacks and a half into the bag, and with that, he was done with collecting his reward, so the lady took him to see the city lord.

She had totally forgotten to show Dustin around the city hall, as that was the original instruction she was given. At this moment, all she wanted to do was share the happenings in the collection centre. They eventually got to a well decorated door, just like the collecting centre after climbing a plight of stairs to the first floor.

"Please, hold on. Let me inform the lord of our arrival." She said as she went into the office. 𝘧𝚛𝗲𝘦𝚠𝙚𝙗𝙣o𝙫𝗲𝚕.𝐜o𝓂

..

After a little while, the lady returned.

"Please, come in."

Dustin went into the office, and even though the attitude of the city lord towards him before wasn't bad, it was quite noticeable that it had improved. They had a relatively short conversation, before he was sent with the lady from earlier that was ordered to show him around, this time, to show him to his quarters.

According to the city lord, Akara, the others would not be treated this way at all. They would be given a tour of the city hall, since that is where most of the official proceedings are carried out, to avoid problems for both parties. After that though, they would be left to fend for themselves. That includes accommodation, feeding, and every other thing. Dustin could only think of thing method as a way to ensure that everyone engages with the missions or other ways to get money, which in turn increases their strength and survivability, ultimately, making them stronger.

'Not a bad way to go about it. Though, there are plenty other ways.' He thought to himself.

The lady from earlier, whose name was revealed to be Elva brought Dustin to his residence. Since they weren't expecting his surprise arrival, they could only provide him with one of the best houses available, though, he wasn't all pleased with it. Dustin was allowed to make a request, so he requested for his to be in a place that is as isolated as possible, and although Akara and Elva were a bit confused as to why he would want this, Akara instantly thought of the perfect place. For now though, he would have to stay in the one originally provided.

The house and everything, that is the special treatment are all part of the reward he was meant to get, that and also the fact that he couldn't just be left like that as the rest will be in the near future. After all, he had picked the interest of the Messenger. And since the messenger was akin to the guardian of the realm of Na'ash, Dustin would naturally enjoy this much.

The house Dustin was brought to was a bit close to the city hall. It wasn't too big, but it definitely wasn't small. Mere looking at it, Dustin felt he would be able to fit his extended family inside with no problems, if he had one. The compound was also a normal sized one, and had beautiful flowers planted around in some areas.

'Was this house's previous owner a princess? What's with the unbearable number of flowers and colours??' Dustin said in this mind.

"This will be your temporary residence. Please, follow me inside."

...

While Dustin was receiving the treatment of a VIP, others weren't doing so good, and as though to assist them and lift a bit of burden off their shoulders, the forest seemed to have gotten some interesting and important developments.

Some weeks back, probably two, Mizu's group had some troubles, as there was shortage of food. They had gotten to a part of the forest that had only goblins and carnivorous plant monsters, nothing that was edible. There were no fruits either, nor were there any small rivers nearby. Majority of the people, both in their group and the rest of the populous had never thought to use their storage pouches to store some food when they had, so there were no reserves. Only Mizu and her sister, Raven, who had been better prepared had actually stored some things.

"This won't be enough to go round, not even a bit. Highest, it would only serve us for two days, then we're out." Mizu said, as he checked the contents in her bag again.

Mizu was not in any particular way a kind person, nor was her sister. In fact, one could say her sister was worse. The people following them had done that out of their own volition, no one compelled them to do so.

When the sisters arrived at the safe area Dustin met them in, they had been attacked by the ones in charge of the place. Well, not attacked, but targeted. It seemed like the guys there were actually gangsters, or maybe a rough group that new each other before getting to this world, and were preying on women. Long story short, they ended up killing the leader of this group and all its affiliates, though, Raven was the one who was responsible. Because of this, they became the new bosses, and when they were leaving, some people tagged along.

The sisters didn't say anything or complain about it, since gaining followers was also part of their plan, so they took them along and drove the bus. But, that also meant that now, though nobody dared to say it, since nobody asked them to tag along, they were all waiting on the sisters to provide, and after a day and two days and a half without food or water, people were beginning to get a bit restless.

Though Mizu wasn't planning to share her food and resources, after all, she had Aria to take care of, Raven thought different, and planned to reveal something that night, on the third day.