Lord Of Beasts

{Name: Ethan Crowe

Title: Lord of Beasts

Titled Rank: C

Strength: 30

Speed: 35

Stamina: 31

MP: 75

Beasts: 4/4}

"I mean, it’s pretty good," Ethan murmured while comfortably huddled against Wolfy’s thick black fur, the giant Fenrir serving as both bodyguard and living blanket against the freezing winds of the tundra.

His gaze swept over the numbers.

Compared to when he’d first awakened, they were insane, especially his mana.

However, it wasn’t by chance that it was comfortably his highest attribute. It was the stat he relied on and trained the most by constantly exhausting his mana and pushing himself to the brink, before then using Beast Recovery.

Over...

And over...

And over again.

His mana core almost behaved like a muscle. The more he strained it before allowing it to recover, the stronger it gradually became. Not to mention, every single stat point the System had ever awarded him had gone directly into MP.

But he didn’t regret that decision in the slightest.

’Mana lets me use what actually makes me powerful...’

’My skills.’

Thinking that, Ethan pulled up another familiar window.

{Skills: Beast Link (D), Beast Call (D), Beast Communication (D), Beast Mend (C), Beast Impact (C), Beast Resistance (C), Beast Assimilation (B), Beast Recovery (B), Beast Suppression (B), Beast Summoning (S)}

{Sub-Skills: Minor Assimilation (D), Partial Link (D), Minor Impact (C), Partial Assimilation (B), Absolute Suppression (B)}

"Damn."

Seeing everything laid out like that, even he was surprised.

Ethan had far more skills than he’d realised, and that wasn’t even counting the abilities belonging to each of his beasts.

He’d become something of a walking arsenal.

Yet, his eyes didn’t linger on what he’d already unlocked.

Instead, they drifted toward what was still missing on the giant skill tree.

’I still haven’t unlocked one of the three core skills alongside Beast Summoning and Beast Assimilation. And even among my skills, there are stages that I need to unlock into their own sub-skills.’

He listed them off the top of his head.

"There’s Major Impact, Complete Link, and Complete Assimilation."

Just thinking about those names made his heart race.

He still had plenty of room to grow and expand his skill set, and knowing the System, he was certain countless entirely new skills awaited him in the future as well.

A grin slowly spread across his face.

"I realised pretty early on that skills are everything, and one of mine completely solves the stat problem."

As impressive as his stats were for a C Rank, his physical stats weren’t anything special, nor would he be confident facing even a C Rank relying purely on his body. But he wasn’t alone and had four beasts with varying archetypes to fuse with.

Closing the interface for a moment, Ethan imagined overlaying half each of his beasts’ attributes onto himself. He was too exhausted to repeatedly assimilate with each beast just to compare numbers, but he didn’t need to.

’That math is pretty simple.’

He focused on their standout attributes and concluded that while assimilated with any of his beasts, he was...

"Powerful as fuck."

And this was only Partial Assimilation, which upon unlocking allowed him to fight on an entirely different level. His thoughts drifted toward the next stage of skill he hadn’t unlocked yet.

"I’d be completely overpowered with Complete Assimilation."

He would honestly be a complete monster with that skill, and he was sure that upon unlocking it, his beasts would be even more powerful

And that wasn’t all.

Once every one of his beasts reached B Rank, and once the System officially recognised him as a B Rank Titled, he’d receive another beast slot.

Five beasts, five assimilations, and five sets of skills.

His grin widened.

"At that point, I’d probably be able to take on A Ranks."

His mind instinctively wandered toward the Titled he had closely encountered, not that he planned on fighting any of them. He skipped over every C Rank without a second thought, who weren’t even worth considering anymore.

Instead, he pictured the B Ranks, starting with Darius.

"I’d beat him," he stated confidently.

As experienced, strong, and skilled as the Explosive Spear was, his abilities were too one-dimensional, or at least how he applied them. In his first gate, the man felt unbelievably powerful.

But now he barely felt like competition.

"Even if he could keep up with me, there’s no way he can deal with my four beasts at the same time."

Then there was Rowan, the so-called Verdant Warden.

"Same thing."

He envisioned a much tougher fight, but one he still believed he would win.

And the last B Rank that came to mind was Seraphina.

Ethan smiled.

"The Pink Flash would definitely drag it out longer..."

She was frighteningly fast, talented, and dangerous, but he still liked his chances, and that was against any B Rank.

How could he not with two B Rank Beasts at his disposal?

But the moment he thought about A Ranks, his confidence noticeably faded.

"Honestly, I can’t see myself beating any of those monsters yet."

Of course, if his life depended on it, Ethan would still bet on himself as always.

That was simply who he was.

Maybe he’d pull off another miracle or somehow scrape together another impossible victory. But realistically, Elara, Kaela, Holt, and even the old man felt fundamentally different, like they existed on another level entirely.

Granted, that wasn’t exactly a fair comparison.

Every A Rank he’d met so far was exceptional. Even Liora, who seemed like the weakest out of the lot, had remarkable abilities that Ethan couldn’t imagine defeating directly. As for S Ranks, he didn’t even bother entertaining the thought.

"Guess even with all these skills, I’m still nothing special yet."

The thought didn’t discourage him.

In fact, it did quite the opposite, motivating him.

With a flick of his finger, he closed the Skills Tab and returned to the Beast Tab.

{Evolutionary Shards: 22711}

"I had nearly 30000 before spending 11100 getting Storm to B Rank."

That had dropped him below twenty thousand, so it wasn’t enough to evolve another of his beasts to B Rank. Yet after tearing through three entire floors with four hungry beasts, he’d climbed back above twenty-two thousand.

The Boss Beasts had contributed a massive portion of those shards.

Ethan stared at the total for several long moments, a slow smile spreading across his face.

’Before I leave this Tower, I’m going to evolve...’