The First King of Beasts

'This entire area was marked as the beast cattle's territory, but I guess that's all it is. This is the wild, any beast can invade the other's territory I guess, there's no barrier,' Dustin said in his mind while watching the scenario from behind a bush.

He would jump in there right away and snatch the precious experience points for himself, but he wanted to see how the situation would unfold first.

Dustin laid behind the bushes watching the scene before him, and it seemed like he just arrived at a good time, just before the fight. Seconds into lying down, the tiger pounced on the closest beast cattle and attempted to tear its coat off it, but just as Dustin thought, it seemed to be hard even for the tiger whose teeth would be strong.

The tiger was roughly the same size as the cattle, and just like a ferocious beast, it looked more intimidating than the herbivores. Dustin himself was questioning the sense of this new world himself, and even that of earth. How come animals that ate only grass could gain so much muscle, but he who eats them finds it so hard? 'Are gym instructors that impressive?'

Some distance away from the fight scene, Dustin noticed other animals that seemed to also be watching the fight. They looked just like the beast cattle, except for the fact that they didn't have nearly as much muscle as the beast cattle, and were not as big. If he wasn't mistaken, those were either the beast cattle offspring or a lower rank beast, probably F rank.

Dustin continued to watch the fight for a while, but nothing seemed to progress past that point which he had seen. The tiger sure was strong, and would have done excellently well if it was facing just one beast cattle or two, maybe three, but ten... That seemed to be too much for it. So far it had only managed to kill one, but all it could do to the rest was cause some injuries. The tiger itself had a couple of injuries by now, and still kept fighting.

It was quite clear how large the tiger's pride was, as it could clearly choose to retreat but still remained in the fight, Dustin thought. If it was impossible to fight the things, then just run away and try another time. There was absolutely no need to risk its life.

Dustin had seen all that was for display at this moment, and was about to show himself and attack the beasts, just before another variable he would have never thought of appeared.

From some distance away, Dustin spotted another tiger running towards the location of the fight, and when it got there, it sided with its fellow brother. Since tigers were creatures that hunted alone and not in groups, as they were kind of a solitary type, he hadn't expected there to be one close enough to help. From what he could understand, it would only be possible if they were travelling together to begin with.

Unbeknownst to Dustin, these pair was the same one that terrorized the people who tried to climb the mountain after the last day of the first quest.

When the second one came, it and the one with injuries on its body fused into one, and by the time they were done, their size than increased by at least half of what they looked like before.

'Fusion?'

The new form of the tigers after fusing made a better opponent against the beast cattle that surrounded them. They still couldn't fight and kill the beast cattle easily, but they put up a better fight and even killed a few more.

Finally, Dustin wasn't seeing the fight progressing any faster than how it was, not to mention the fact that he had wasted enough time lying around, so he was going to interfere. He came out of the bush where he was hiding, and without wasting much time launched himself at the beast cattle and using the same strategy as before with the last group he encountered, he made quick work of the beast cattle that were remaining, and left only the tiger.

From Dustin's perspective, the tiger would make a good summon, a term he had decided to use to refer to the beasts and monsters which he had tamed. He was sure that each creature had their own potential, and if the wolves were to advance above the E+ rank, then it would be a miracle. He needed stronger beasts and monsters.

Dustin activated his skill and went on to tame the tiger, or tigers.

..

? [Twin Tiger]

Rank: E

Favourability: Mid

Hp: 60

Mp: 50

[Skill tab]

Passive: Self Regeneration (F)

Active: Fusion (C)

_ _

[Twin Tiger] ƒ𝚛𝐞𝚎𝑤𝘦𝚋𝓷o𝚟e𝘭.c𝐨𝙢

Rank: E

Favourability: Mid

Hp: 60

Mp: 50

[Skill tab]

Passive: Self Regeneration (F) 𝒇𝑟𝐞𝐞w𝐞𝑏𝙣𝑜vℯl.co𝑚

Active: Fusion (C)

..

"So their information appears separately even when they're fused. And these HP and MP, that's because they were in a fight just now right? Hmm.." Said Dustin while going over their information.

Dustin, after taming the tigers, watched them separate from each other as they released their fusion skill. He would use them as a ride, but at that moment he needed to let them rest and recoup, so he did just that and left. The cattle gathered some distance away that had been watching the fight too were left alone by Dustin since he was sure their rank was probably F, so he ignored them and went to other parts to find other beast cattle.

He went around the beast cattle territory for a while, killing anyone he laid his eyes on leaving no one alive. Dustin was actually starting to fear for the ecosystem around the forest after killing the beast cattle.

"What if these beasts don't respawn like they did during the first quest? That was a quest, so it was understandable that they would be able to spawn more monsters, but this wasn't a quest anymore." Dustin said. Not like he cared what happened, but the thought just came.

Dustin, after clearing the beast cattle territory, visited other areas marked on the map where it was said not to go, and sure enough he was rewarded well. Apart from the other areas that housed a specific type of beast, just like the beast cattle area, the forbidden areas also housed beasts, but beasts that were stronger than the beast cattle or even the tiger.

On the map, there were three places that were marked with an x, and these were the places Elsa warned him to stay away at all costs as stronger beasts lived in the area, and sure enough Dustin went there. On the map which he was given, the one in the system, these Xs appeared in three locations of the map.

The first was the one closest to Dustin, so he headed there first. On getting there, Dustin came face to face with what he could only describe as an Orc. The massive creature with a greenish skin sat there on the floor doing nothing, as though it was resting. Though Dustin took a wild guess, he could clearly see the monster's frontal section, and with that sort of nose that remedied with that of a pig, Dustin was sure of it to be an Orc.

Orcs were natural fighters that dominated the battlefield in any game he had played or manga he had read. Though they usually live in tribes like a small settlement of a village, this one was here alone. Dustin could see the free exp, but just how strong this monster was, he did not know. If nothing, it would be at least in the middle parts of a D rank, and the strength would be nothing like he had faced until now.

Of course, killing it was easy if he used his skill. He could just order it to lower its neck, and it would, but Dustin still wanted to build experience for the future to come. He did not want to become the naive young master that was fed elixirs and didn't have the slightest bit of combat experience.

Dustin, picking his weapon, went for the great axe for now. He wanted to use the blade right from the get go, but he still held out on that weapon for the time being.

Dustin found a piece of rock lying around that was half the size of his palm, and using that to get its attention, he threw it at the Orc with great strength while he himself followed from behind. As the rock hit the Orc's skin, it merely did as much as a scratch and nothing more.

Dustin, who was coming, also leaped into the air while bringing out his great axe to attack its head, swinging down on the Orc. The Orc, seeing this also grabbed its own weapon from behind it and used it to block. Its reflexes were fast for its massive body, which threw Dustin off a bit as he hadn't expected it to be that fast.

The collision threw Dustin back some feet, and before he landed, he retrieved the axe back into his inventory. The Orc was also holding a weapon that fit its size, and though Dustin couldn't say where it got such a fine weapon, the Orc wielded its mace before Dustin like a small branch.

'Tough, huh? Let's see who kills who.'

"Though, I already know it's me."