The First King of Beasts

'Why don't I use that? It's been a while.' Dustin said in his mind as he dashed forward straight at the orc.

The orc saw Dustin coming from a good distance, and had already made good move to negate his attack. Just when Dustin's axe was about to hit the orc, the orc felt a sharp pain from its back, but since it couldn't take it's eyes off Dustin who was before it, it resisted the urge to turn behind and take a look.

The moment Dustin's axe met with the orc's mace, it let out a loud collision sound that travelled throughout the surrounding aea. Both parties kept fighting for some few seconds more-

'Isn't this going to be too easy? He doesn't even know he's fighting an illusion. Is it that real?' Dustin said in his head.

He knew the illusion skill he had had ranked up, but he didn't know it was capable of creating tangible illusions. Surely, it was stronger than what Dustin thought originally. If it was like this, then he could already see a wide range of use for it in the future.

Though Dustin used the illusion to distract the orc at first, he took it down moments later, as using it made the entire fight too easy, while he wanted t gain some battle experience from this.

Dustin engaged the orc this time with his own body, though to the orc nothing had changed. ƒ𝚛𝐞𝚎𝑤𝘦𝚋𝓷o𝚟e𝘭.c𝐨𝙢

The orc really was a strong monster, as it could hold its own against Dustin, being only a little bit weaker. If Dustin was to use his level system, he would say that the orc was close in level to him, at least. One of the things going against the orc in this fight though, was its size. Even though it could still move fast, its small size difference made it a tad bit slower than Dustin, making it easier for him to manoeuvre his body around it, and the constant appearance and disappearance of Dustin's weapon contributed a little bit.

The fight between both sides continued for a while longer, well, at least until something happened.

Dustin jumped over the orc's mace in attempt to dodge its attack, and as he did he jumped towards a near by tree. Using that tree, he climbed to a higher point by jumping around the trees, then when he had reached a favourable distance, he shot his body downwards towards the orc, and at that moment, the orc hesitated a bit before it moved its mace in the way to bock, though, it was already too late.

Dustin's axe sunk right into the orc's left shoulder, going further a bit. Though Dustin didn't cut off its hand completely, he was sure it wouldn't be able to use that hand again. But then again, that was not its dominant hand, and it had been wielding its giant mace with a single hand from the start.

Dustin who wondered for a second why the monster lagged just then got his answer quite immediately. Though he didn't notice it immediately, a little murderous aura had leaked from him just then, and his bloodlust was out for some seconds.

'To think it will also be able to subdue an orc. I need to gain control sooner.'

Dustin had no idea how exactly his bloodlust was activated. He had gotten a clue sometime ago and even managed to gain a little insight on how to use it, but then for waht ever reason he just went back to not knowing how. Maybe it was because that wasn't the actual way, or maybe he forgot, he wasn't sure. In the end, he still couldn't make good use of the skill voluntarily.

'Maybe that's why it's called a passive skill. The user can't control it fully. Either that or it just activates automatically.'

Dustin had chosen to go with the second analogy, since it seemed more realistic and also brought himself hope.

He continued onward with his fight that was right before him, keeping the issue with his skill for later. This time however, he was through playing around with the orc and was going to take the fight a little bit seriously.

Right from the start, this entire fight had been like a duel for Dustin, and he just used it to gain some experience in fighting, but now there was nothing new to gain. Maybe he could learn something else if he kept fighting, maybe the behaviour of a monster that was about to die would be different, he knew the behaviour of one that was injured would change for sure. But, there was no time for all that, this wasn't some science experiment.

Dustin rushed forward, this time using his illusionary skill, he leaped into the air, and adding a spin to his attack, he dug into the orc's skull after striking with his full strength.

'Poor guy.' "He would wonder why he died from a head injury while I attacked his stomach." Dustin said.

Looking at the orc's body, Dustin couldn't help but feel that it was going to be useful after he returned to the town, but the problem was how to transport its corpse. He could probably drag it along, but that in it self would be a waste and utter abuse of his strength if it turns out to be useless.

"In every fantasy shit I've ever seen, monster corpses are always useful..." Dustin stood up and walked away from the corpse silently. There was no need to be greedy, no need to be greedy.

Even though others looking at him saw him as an absolute monster, Dustin would like to be a dignified Progenitor in future. Others just couldn't see the future. 'I have to act dignified and amicable right? As is befitting of a good leader, right?' Dustin consoled himself while walking away.

Looking at the map, Dustin could see some other places that he could visit to grind for experience points, but the day was already late, and there was no reason to go all out like there was no tomorrow, since there was, so he headed back to the village.

On his way out of the orc's territory, Dustin noticed two Beast Cattle roaming about. The first thought that came to his mind was to just leave them be as he had finished for the day... 'No need to be amicable in such a situation, right?' Dustin said in his mind while approaching the two.

He made quick work of them, as usual, even easier now that he used his illusion skill. In the end, their deaths turned out to be a blessing for Dustin.

[Killed Beast Cattle]

+21

[Killed Beast Cattle]

+21

.

[You have levelled up]

<Status>

Level: 17 (10/8,960)

Name: Dustin

Title: Progenitor, Slaughterer

Class:

Nature: Cold-Blooded

Hp: 1,080 >> 1,130

Mp: 1000 >> 1050

[Stat]

Strength: 26 >> 27 𝙛𝐫e𝚎wℯ𝗯𝒏𝗼ѵ𝙚l.𝒄o𝚖

Agility: 32 >> 34

Sense: 26

Vitality: 26 >> 27

Intelligence: 21

Unallocated stat point: 51 >> 54

[Skill tab]

Passive: Bloodlust (A)

Active: Taming Master (A), Reality Manipulation (A)

..

"Hmm, I finally levelled up. But these stats..."

Looking at the status window, Dustin could swear that the system was trying to turn him into a speedster little by little, but thank god he had extra stat points to use for balancing the equation. Dustin headed back to town after that, leaving every other juicy place for later.

Just when he was about to exit the forested area, Dustin spotted what seemed to be two men, one young while the other was older. Behind them were three other people, and those three looked like they were already dead as they just laid on the floor. It was clear that they needed help, even though there was no blood around, there was no one with straight thinking that would head back into the forest this soon, so this only meant one think.

They were people who had yet to complete the first quest.

Dustin stopped momentarily and looked at them, but then, it was none of his business, so he just continued on without saying anything or even casting his sight towards them.

He noticed that he had been spotted by the young man who was holding the older one in his arms, much like you would hold a dying person, but it didn't matter. Just before he left the forest, he could faintly hear the young man calling out to him to help them, but Dustin still ignored it.

For the voice to be so faint, it would mean the young man was not even voicing out loud enough, as with his enhanced hearing, he would be able to hear several metres away easily.

'Damn it.' Dustin cursed in his mind.

"I said I had to be amicable, but that was just an excuse not to carry along the monster corpse, but now-" Dustin said as he stopped for a moment.

Saving these guys was completely up to him, and it wasn't as if he would feel any guilt if he left them there, maybe for some hours, at most a day, but nothing more..

"Whatever. Maybe not taking the corpse was not just a coincidence after all."