Although the High Human Queen and her followers had been making big moves since the beginning, the other 2 deviant Human races weren’t doing as good when it came to the industry.

The Blood Fiends for example, lived in a rocky valley that contained numerous caves suitable for living. Since they were relatively comfortable, the thought of looking for a better home didn't even cross their primitive minds, talk less of building one.

The Barbarians on the other hand were simply atrocious. There were barely any caves in their territory and only the strongest Warriors were allowed to occupy them. The rest of the Barbarians slept out on the floor or on soft non-poisonous bushes that had not already been taken into the caves. Sometimes, you could even catch someone sleeping on a tree.

At least their powers were making progress and both sides had even started forming battle styles and tactics. However, the Barbarian Chief was in the 2nd Stage of the Core Refinement Realm (Realm 3 for Enlightened Beings) and could in no way compare to the Crying Ghost who was in the 1st Stage of the Soul Refinement Realm (Realm 4 for Enlightened Beings).

It couldn’t be helped. Although the Barbarians didn’t need to absorb Essence from the atmosphere like Humans (In fact they couldn’t. They were more like human shaped Beasts and gained strength the same way Beasts do), the competition around them was way too high and they were unable to secure the majority of the resources. They couldn’t even go after the weaker Herbivores because they were all protected by Dodo, the Guardian of the Eastern Forest.

The Blood Fiends on the other hand shared half of the South Continent and had plenty of resources to go around. Acquiring blood to absorb was extremely easy for the Crying Ghost and he was one of the rare few that immediately entered the 4th Realm when the barrier was released.

Haah… The Barbarians had quite a ways to go.

On a tangent, the Elves that were not too far away from them were doing extremely well. Using their Queen's knowledge, they had been able to create all sorts of things that people from Eridel’s Homeworld would have recognized. A city that had somehow incorporated the giant Trees in the vicinity was being built and there was even the beginnings of a Palace. Surprisingly, there was also a building that looked like a Shrine and it was surrounded by many guards and beautiful maidens dressed in pure white cloth that went in and out, no doubt a product that the Elf Queen had plagiarised from the memories she gained. The Shrine had many carvings and images that seemed to depict water and a giant Tree and it soon became clear what this whole Shrine was about.

The Elves, including their Queen, had taken Ciera Domicus as some kind of Guardian god.

Moving on, the other 2 Hegemons of the Central Eastern Forest were also doing well. Raiko had long since cemented his rule as Beast King of the Southern Region and had even gone outside of the Forest to claim more territories. Nobody dared call him the Pussy of The South now. Other than that, the guy seemed to be… looking for love.

He didn’t even know he was, his whole thought process was to find another Tigress that would make him feel happy and wouldn’t be a burden in his life. He was apparently different from other Beasts who only looked for powerful partners that could provide them the most talented children. But thinking about it, he was in the 6th Stage of Anatomy Refinement and his brain was correspondingly very developed, so maybe that was part of the reason.

In the Northern Region of the Forest, Dodo had been living quite lavishly. With his Stage 1 Seeking Beast strength no one could compete with him and he had all the food and beautiful females that he could ever want. Reindeer, Roe Deer, White-tailed Deer, Chital, Barasingha… They had all experienced his rod! None of them could escape his divine speer (not that they wanted to) and one by one they had all been felled, unable to last more than 1 exchange they had admitted defeat. The guy had even managed to impregnate other female Elks (he hadn’t succeeded with crossbreeding), creating one of the first Divine Beast Families that would enter the records of History as the [Glacial Saint Deer Clan].

Although his name was simple and even moronic, he was one of the most qualified philanderers in the entire World!

But since the topic of philanders had been brought up, the South Continent must once again be brought up! But first let’s talk about Greater Demons. Greater Demons are Monsters who had reached the 4th Realm and had gained Enlightened Forms, enabling them to absorb Magical Energy or whatever Essence from the air to supplement their Killing Essence. But wait, that was not quite true. Because when a Greater Demon came to be; all the Killing Essence within them coalesced into the centre of their chests and formed something called a Demon Nucleus. They also gained Mana Circuits that circulated round their entire bodies no matter what form they were in.

But here’s where it got interesting.

All the Magical Energy that they would begin to absorb and all the Killing Essence that was priorly in their bodies would be converted into something called Demonic Energy. When any kind of Essence was refined in their Demon Nucleus, this was the energy that was formed. It behaved like Mana, yes, but it was not the same Mana that other Lifeforms had at all. It was much more dangerous.

On top of that, Demonic Energy was very corruptive. It had the tendency to convert anything that could withstand it into something more suitable for its purposes. So when a whole bunch of Demon Kings around the Continent enter the 4th Realm, it’s not hard to think of what would happen to the Magical Energy in the vicinity.

Sooner or later, the whole Continents Magical Energy was going to be replaced with Demonic Energy, making the Continent the absolute paradise for Monsters. It could also be said that it might even become one giant Sacred Land.

But back to the topic of Philanderers! Most Greater Demons were sensual and were very enticing to the majority of Enlightened Races and those with Enlightened Forms. Demon Kings and especially the Emperor himself were even more exceptional in this regard and it was very easy for them to seduce people with their looks and charm. On top of that, they had higher libidos than regular Monsters of the first 3 Realms so it wasn’t rare to see orgies taking place out in the open.

On a day to day basis, Greater Demons were either committing bloodbaths or… you know…~ Hahahahaha!

But thinking of all this open sexuality. It would be very interesting to see what would happen when the Monsters met with the Legendary Birds on the West Continent who valued purity more than anyone else.

The Pure Phoenix Clan, the Ice Phoenix Clan and the Purgatory Clan (Purgatory Vermillion Birds). All of them were doing well even though the dynamics of their equality had broken. Although Chad still possessed bottomless hatred for the ‘Honourable Brother’, he had always been kind hearted so he didn’t extend his vengeful claws to the Ice Phoenixes. Instead, he took them under his wing as something of a subsidiary clan, forgiving them for the countless losses that the War has caused. And although they were occasionally bullied by the Pure Phoenixes, they still lived in a state of peace that they had never seen before. They had always been involved in minor Wars before the major one since the day they were born but now it was finally over.

Both Clans combined together were able to achieve enough power to rival the dangerous Purgatory Clan so a ceasefire had been formed once again. It even looked like friendly relations were beyond the horizon.

Everyone around the whole World was making big moves… but there was something that could absolutely not be left out. Something that was more active than anyone else. Something that should never be forgotten.

The System itself.