Deciding that he was the chosen one, Raiko began to dominate throughout the Forest, subjugating other species and stealing their resources.

{ 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡’𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: In a World where every herb and such were already a resource, the more powerful and essence rich herbs were considered the true resources, natives of this World looked at Low Grade herbs like they looked at grass, and truth be told, there wasn’t much difference. }

Raiko’s actions finally caught the attention of the others in the Forest but they mostly took a wait and see approach, but some of them had greed and ambition control their thoughts.

Whilst the concept of stealing and conquering existed, it wasn’t really conquering, all they did was kill the original owners of the land and take the resources there. The thought of subjugation didn’t occur to their primitive minds at all.

The Elves were especially excited about this new concept of subjugation even if they would never admit to the fact that a ‘mere beast’ had come up with the idea first.

They thought of themselves as the natural rulers of the Forest and ideas to completely rule over every inhabitant began. It couldn’t be helped, every other race around them were completely lacking in comparison.

All they did was eat and sleep, they didn’t even have the ability to create proper homes. Even that other ‘counterfeit race’ that looked like them were barely different from the other beasts. On the other hand, the Elves had developed language, culture, arts and crafts, martial arts and more.

As a result, this gave them a sense of superiority and entitlement to the entire Forest.

But just as the idea of domination was brewing and they were beginning to get excited, Titanya put a stop to the idea completely, banning anyone from subjugating other races and threatening those that still harboured such thoughts with death.

All the Elves were perplexed but they didn’t dare to reject, they all knew that everything they obtained was a result of their Queen’s continuous blessings so they didn’t even feel upset. Whatever their Queen said was more than Law, it was the ‘truths of the universe’.

So they could only watch as that upstart Tiger continued to run around the South conquering all the Beasts and hoarding all sorts of treasures that he divided amongst his upper echelons, namely the Tiger Clan, Wolf Clan, Bear Clan, Monkey Clan and Eagle clan.

It was only after 2 years that he completed his goal. Subjugation over the entire South with all the inhabitants there hailing him as the Beast King!

But of course it wasn’t smooth sailing, there were numerous times that he got jumped by either the Barbarians or the Snake clan. Neither of them wanted to see him become a threat in future so they repeatedly tried to kill him… only to regret it.

Every time they attacked the South, that shameless Tiger would always escape before sneaking into their respective territories and killing whoever he could, causing both the Barbarians and the Snake Clan to feel both wrathful and helpless.

Eventually, they all turned a blind eye to him and pretended he didn’t exist. They couldn’t afford for him to keep killing their younger generations so they could only ignore him and wait for an opportune time.

This allowed for Raiko to smoothly take over the rest of the South and become a 6th Stage Magic Beast, becoming the first Beast King in history. He lorded over various species and possessed boundless treasures… but it wasn’t enough.

That sinister Snake could still easily kill him and he couldn’t obtain his revenge yet. There was something about that Snake that set him different from other Beasts. But even if the difference was incomparable, wasn’t he the same?

Thinking back on what changed his life, Raiko made a firm decision. He needed to improve his secret source of strength, it was the only way. He had been pondering over it over the years but thinking of the pain always frightened him away from making a decision.

But he had already become the Beast King and he was nowhere near strong enough to challenge a single Drako talk less of the Snake clan. If he wanted his revenge, he needed more power.

Raiko travelled to a location he had found on one of his adventures. It was a barren mountain that towered 15km high but one of the strange things about it was that there was no life here at all, no nature and no animals. It was completely empty of life.

Even more strange was the lightning that repeatedly struck the peak with an interval of 5 - 30 minutes. A strange phenomenon that perplexed the Tiger but he didn’t think too much. It was the lightning that was his goal.

He intended to use it as a means to refine his body. He had already brought numerous essence-rich treasures for a long stay here because he wouldn’t leave until his power upgraded.

And like this, Raiko’s Anatomy Refinement once more took place. The tiger was struck over and over again, only managing to survive because of the resources that he brought. But what didn’t know was that each time he was struck by lightning, the remnant lightning essence would be absorbed into his body along with the herbs that he devoured.

Time was fleeting and eventually 10 months passed. It was at this time when Raiko was contemplating giving up, thinking that his secret strength was a one time upgrade that there was a sudden change.

A familiar burst of energy exploded out all over his body, bringing an exquisite feeling of comfort that felt even better than the last time. The previously whimpering Raiko stretched out and let out a tyrannical roar that seemed to demand that all those that didn’t submit must die!

As his body healed, charred black fur fell off his body with new fur that was even more golden and silkier than before replaced the old. His claws and fangs became sharper and more menacing and even his previously green eyes changed, gaining a hint of gold and a king’s dignity.

The Tiger grew another metre and gained denser muscles that made him look like a fledgling behemoth. The final change on the Tiger was the ‘KING’ character on his forehead becoming more pronounced, no longer looking like accidental markings.

Looking at the now twitching Tiger that was undergoing the impurity cleansing part of the breakthrough. One couldn’t help but anticipate his future.