"Woah!" Reivan exclaimed as he stiffened up in shock. He wanted to be a gentleman and close his eyes, but a bigger part of him thought it would be a waste to miss such a sight.

So he naturally peeled his eyes wide open and immediately prepared to capture every detail in vivid memory.

Just like anyone would.

'Eh, wait. She's not naked...'

Reivan bit his lip in frustration. The disappointment in his heart was immeasurable but he did his best to tell himself that this was a better outcome.

What was revealed to have been underneath Chief Mikachi's thick kimono was a simple white tunic and a thick pair of brown pants. Despite their simplicity, Reivan could immediately tell that they were made of good materials and definitely weren't cheap. They managed to hide away some of the warbeast woman's seductive curves and seemed very easy to move around in.

And that's why Reivan went on guard. With her attire, he sensed that the "help" she would give him involved getting physical — and not in an intimate way.

"How sharp." Chief Mikachi giggled but took a step forward with her hands raised in the air. "I mean you no harm, Your Highness."

Reivan eased his stance a little but didn't completely believe her. "Is that so?"

"Yes. Vikt— I mean, Sir Viktor asked me to come since I have lots of experience with helping children when they face difficulties during their first mating season."

"And how will you help me...?"

The woman covered her grin with her hand. "He told me that I should just do it without warning, but I dare not offend the prince of a nation where my people prosper. So I thought it prudent to clarify things to you first."

"I see..." Reivan nodded, noting the lack of notification from his ability. "Please go on then, Chief Mikachi."

"By your leave." She dipped her head before starting her explanation.

The Terracatta chief's method was fairly simple.

If the clan that Vianna and Viktor had belonged to dealt with the first mating season by lighting multiple "fires", the Terracatta clan apparently did what a lot — if not most — other warbeast clans did.

It was stoking one fire until the house burned down.

And Chief Mikachi could apparently accomplish this by merely staying in a male's vicinity during mating season.

"We don't know why," she explained. "but during mating season, females let off a unique odor that only males can pick up. And inhaling this odor intensifies the lust that those men feel."

'What? So it's basically like that hormone thing, huh?'

Reivan's knowledge was shallow, so all he really knew was that some animals released hormones when trying to attract mates — or sometimes, food.

"So you'll be staying with me and letting off this... odor until I break through? Is that it?" he asked while taking a sniff of the air. While there was definitely a pleasant smell, it had little to no effects on him.

"Yes, that's correct." Chief Mikachi placed her hand on her chest and bowed. "I have been told that my scent is particularly potent, so when I was young, I always locked myself up during these times to avoid driving all the men insane. After becoming the leader of my clan though, I thought up a way to weaponize this strange attribute of mine — which I'll be demonstrating soon, once you are ready."

"Will that really work though?"

"I have a hundred percent success rate so far, Your Highness." Mikachi giggled. "All you must do is let yourself go. Sir Viktor has told me that you've remained conscious and self-aware all this time. While this is admirable — especially since the first mating season is always the worst and only adults usually have the composure that you do — this is not the case for our goal."

"You mean..."

"Yes, Your Highness. Your body wishes to evolve right now. And furthermore, it already knows how to do this. However, your brilliant mind is holding it back from doing so. A fool would have succeeded on the first day of the mating season before going off and hunting for a mate."

'Shit, really? I don't want to do that last part though...'

Reivan grimaced as he took it all in. He'd always considered his status as a reincarnator an advantage with little to no disadvantages. Who would have known that it was actually what held him back from unlocking his qi the most?

"You need not worry about losing control." Chief Mikachi assuaged him with a warm smile. "Just let loose, Your Highness. Even if you go berserk, you won't be able to hurt me no matter how hard you try."

"I see..." Reivan's smile was crooked as he nodded. "That's a relief."

'Will I be okay...?'

No matter how he convinced himself that everything would be fine, losing control of one's body would never stop being a terrifying notion for anyone. It was even more so for Reivan since he experienced something similar when he actively used [Glimpse of Eternity] for the first time.

As he hesitated, Chief Mikachi offered a way out for him.

"I can see that you are very hesitant, Your Highness." she nodded understandingly. "Perhaps this is something difficult for you to parse because you were raised by humans? But don't worry, I've been helping boys break through for centuries. Naturally, I've had my own insights on this phenomenon and have thought of a few alternative methods to do things. I have yet to try them on anyone else, but if His Highness is willing—"

"I'm willing! Very willing!" Reivan felt his heart leap with joy. "Tell me about this alternative, please."

"Very well."

Reivan soon found himself in the very awkward position of being hugged to Chief Mikachi's chest. His back felt like it was heaven since it was cushioned by two soft mounds. But he couldn't move his arms in her tight embrace. His feet dangled in the air too, which added an extra layer of discomfort.

'I'm like a fucking stuffed toy or something...'

According to the expert on helping kids unleash their inner selves during mating season, the closer you were to a female, the more intense the heat became for the male.

Reivan assumed that this was most likely due to the source of the hormones being closer. In any case, this was the reason why Reivan was being held so close to her. His arms were also restrained, so he literally wouldn't be able to do anything even if he accidentally went berserk.

And the best part about this method was that he could probably still keep his consciousness intact for the entire process. After all, Mikachi could evidently tailor the experience to fit the needs of whoever she was helping out.

'I hope this goes all according to plan.'

According to the cat chieftain, this method should have been an effective way for any older warbeast female to help a warbeast male out. But it was made more effective with the increased potency of Chief Mikachi's body odor.

'Oh, but I'm not feeling much different. So maybe it'll be less effective than I thought?'

Fearful of the chief's hormones, even his uncle had retreated to watch over him from farther away. Which confused Reivan greatly.

After all, if Reivan was fine, why wasn't he?

Of course, Reivan was still ultra horny, what with being so close to such an attractive woman. And even if he wanted to be the gentleman who tried not to notice them, her breasts felt very nice against his back so he couldn't forget.

The heat was definitely worse than before, but it wasn't as bad as he expected. This gave him a bit more confidence.

Sadly, that confidence didn't last long.

"Are you ready, Your Highness?" Chief Mikachi asked.

"What do you mean? We've already started, no?"

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

Chief Mikachi hesitated for a moment before she shrugged. "Well, since you said you were ready, let's begin."

The next moment, Reivan blacked out.

'Was that too much?'

Mikachi tilted her head as she examined the young pup she was embracing. The moment she partially released the energy field holding back most of her body's scent, Reivan went limp and stopped moving.

This was out of her expectations so she grew flustered, thinking she accidentally killed a prince somehow.

But then she calmed down. There was a very terrifying old man at the top of the mountain in the middle of the city. And that old man was watching her every move and all that happened here.

If the boy was dead, Mikachi wouldn't even get the chance to wonder about it. She would just be erased in an instant.

'Hmm... Well, what should I do now...?'

Hypothetically speaking, Reivan's lust should have grown to overwhelming levels. But since she was physically restraining him, he wouldn't be able to act on that. Furthermore, the boy had been starved by his uncle and toyed with in all sorts of ways so the built-up frustration should be staggering by this point.

And if all went well, the boy would break through in a matter of minutes. The shackles that restrained mana and special abilities would also come off as a sign of his success since they were configured to do so when they came in contact with qi.

But with Reivan knocked out, they were wasting precious time.

A warbeast's mating season didn't last forever. The first one was the most optimal time for them to break through since the seals in one's inner body loosened up greatly.

So Reivan would truly have wasted a great opportunity if he failed here. For normal warbeasts, there were still quite a few days to go but since the prince was only half of a warbeast, it wouldn't surprise Mikachi if he also only had half the time.

"Your Highness~" Mikachi called out to wake him. "Please wake up, we're not done yet..."

Taking care not to use too much force, she also prodded his leg with her tail. But it was to no avail because the prince just wouldn't wake up.

'Oh no, oh no, oh no...'

When she and her clan came to this nation, they intended to take a wait-and-see approach before offering fealty of any kind. But in the short few years that they'd lived here, Mikachi determined that there was no better place to live in. Too bad that the crown had grown somewhat cold after the Terracatta clan rejected their initial proposal. Mikachi had waited and waited for Aizen to make an offer again, but they never did.

That's why lately, Mikachi had been taking every chance she could get to curry favor and make their usefulness shine. She even had some of her young ones enroll as squires. Combat was about the only thing their people were good at after all. This made it hard to shine in other industries, but for the most part, things were going very well for her and the clan.

When Viktor came to her with this task, she didn't hesitate to accept it since it was an excellent opportunity to obtain accomplishments. But now that she was facing some unexpected difficulties, Mikachi realized that she may have been too thoughtless. She hadn't even thought of the possibility of failure because Prince Reivan's excellence had been made known to her by Vianna and Viktor's repeated boastings.

'The ancestors be damned. What have I gotten myself into...?'

Naturally, it would not be ideal for her to be part of the cause for failure. Especially when it came to Reivan — the brat that was doted on by all the people she wished to curry favor with.

'Dammnit, if need be, I'll have to...'

Just as she was starting to think she'd have to do something shameful, Reivan suddenly bolted awake. His limbs burst with tremendous force and she almost let go of him because she'd been trying to hold him with minimal strength. To her, he was like an expensive vase that would get her killed if she returned it with a single scratch.

"Your Highness...?" Mikachi called out once she'd secured her hold. "It seemed that you lost consciousness for a bit there. But are you okay now—"

An ear-piercing roar exploded out of Reivan's mouth before she could finish her sentence. He then began fiercely struggling to break free from Mikachi's grasp. With a ferocious glint in his eyes, he craned his neck to stare into her eyes and bared his sharp fangs — which he definitely did not have earlier.

'What? A beast transformation? They said he already had a different version of our transformation called the [Beast Gate]. He shouldn't be able to transform at all...'

It was a tiny transformation, but a transformation nonetheless.

With her Ascendent senses, Mikachi examined the four fangs that were about two times as long as the prince's other teeth. She thought to examine his body for any other changes, but there didn't seem to be any changes on the outside. When her senses tried to pry deeper inside his body or into certain private areas, a strange force hindered her.

She offered a guilty bow in the direction of the Sword Star's mountain before retracting her senses and thinking about her actions moving forward.

'This is good.'

The second prince was yelling like an absolute lunatic and he looked like he wanted to devour Mikachi in all sorts of ways, but this was par for the course. In fact, this was exactly what they were aiming for from the start. It was only a matter of time before his qi got unleashed.

'This is very good. Heh.'

To top it all off, she had somehow aided in discovering some sort of physical transformation that nobody expected. Even if was small, it could only be described as a good thing.

Thinking about it, Mikachi couldn't help but chuckle in glee. She didn't even mind that the prince's spittle was flying everywhere, even sprinkling some droplets onto her face.

'Here you go, little one. You've made me happy so I'll give you some extra service.'

Mikachi turned the boy around so he was facing toward her then buried his face into her bosom. While he voraciously dug into his meal, Mikachi was lost in visions of her people's rise to greatness and the reclamation of everything that was taken from them.

'Just you wait, you striped bastards. We'll come back and snatch it all back.'

In the dark dungeon filled with nothing but Reivan's growls, Mikachi's smile was radiant.

'With interest.'