"This is just the beginning."
"Once the Little Lion Beast adapts, I'll increase it to twenty, then thirty... Oh, right, the opponents can also be appropriately switched from Little Lion Beasts to War Blood Lion Kings."
Miles almost coughed up blood on the spot.
'Is this supposed to help my Little Lion Beast evolve?'
'This is outright bullying!'
'Just because my Little Lion Beast is strong doesn't mean it can handle an onslaught from ten sixth-rank Little Lion Beasts all at once.'
'It can focus on the front but not the back!'
Asher: (•‿•)
Who told him that the evolution conditions of [War Blood Lion Emperor] were just that... ahem special?
The strongest always received special treatment.
"You and your Little Lion Beast are truly remarkable," Asher's eyes showed slight surprise as he watched the Little Lion Beast, which had adapted to this evolution method, one that strongly resembled bullying, in just a few days. He spoke with admiration.
Miles: "..."
"Thanks."
"But really, there's no need to admire this aspect," As he spoke, Miles looked at his Little Lion Beast with a pained expression.
'Do they even know how we have survived these past few days?'
Beaten. Beaten. And beaten again.
Even if they withstood one wave, they couldn't resist the next. And if they barely survived the next, a new one would come without pause.
Even Miles's face showed exhaustion.
Heh.
He just wanted to know, where did all these Little Lion Beasts and War Blood Lion Kings come from as sparring partners?
Oh.
Turns out they were from the Fourth Legion.
Every Beast Tamer soldier had a Little Lion Beast or a War Blood Lion King.
Miles's mentality had gone through several transformations.
From being slightly angry at first, to consoling himself later, and finally... giving up entirely.
Of course, that didn't mean he did nothing.
He simply emptied his mind, pretending to be a robot. Whatever Asher said, he followed. No questions, no thinking. As long as Asher was satisfied in the end, that was enough.
"Old Miles...", Dominic was the first to notice that Miles was under too much pressure.
The reason? Old Miles hadn't had the energy to mess with him for several days.
Dominic felt both relieved and a little off. Ah! He had gotten used to his daily battles of wits and courage with Old Miles. If Old Miles suddenly stopped bothering him, even being annoying didn't feel as fun anymore.
Miles gave Dominic a bland look and then silently turned away.
Dominic: "!"
"This is serious!"
"I'm practically in his face, yet Old Miles can still hold back?"
Griffith, who was forced to listen to Dominic's dramatic sighed: "..."
"Shut up."
"Oh, okay!"
And then...
On the fifth day.
Asher originally thought that the evolution of the Little Lion Beasts into [Golden-Eyed Lion King] would happen faster.
After all, there were more people assisting.
But what Asher didn't expect—
The first to evolve turned out to be Miles's Little Lion Beast.
After yet another one-on-a-hundred battle, the Little Lion Beast, whose strength had been just shy of breaking from eighth-rank low-tier to eighth-rank mid-tier, well, in truth, it had been stuck at the peak of eighth-rank low-tier, lay exhausted and barely breathing on the ground.
Suddenly, a dazzling white light burst from its body.
Miles, who had been prepared for another round of grueling training after a short rest and recovery: "!"
His eyes widened sharply, and his mouth opened so wide that he could fit an egg inside.
"This... this this this!", Miles stared at the Little Lion Beast roaring inside the white light, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time.
In contrast, Asher, after a moment of surprise, quickly calmed down, showing an expression of appreciation toward the Little Lion Beast.
"Vice Commander Miles, your Little Lion Beast is truly impressive."
It possessed a tenacity that ordinary beasts did not.
It never backed down, never ran away, even when overwhelmed and exhausted. No matter how many times it was knocked down, it stood back up, radiating the unique presence of a king.
Yes.
A king.
During the evolution process, Asher had almost figured out why only Miles's Little Lion Beast was special.
Two keywords: Tribe and Confidence.
A Little Lion Beast born into a massive tribe.
Despite having many outstanding peers, powerful seniors, and even stronger and more imposing War Blood Lion Kings around it, it maintained confidence in its own strength, confidence that radiated from within.
And it wasn't just about confidence.
It had proven itself. Through sheer willpower and persistence, it had raised its strength to the eighth rank without evolving.
For many unevolved beasts, this was an incredibly difficult feat.
But the Little Lion Beast's self-confidence, Miles's unwavering support and love, and the unique tribal environment had forged this one-of-a-kind Little Lion Beast.
While Asher praised Miles and the Little Lion Beast for achieving this together, he also couldn't help but give himself some credit, 'Heh!'
'Good thing I am here.'
'Otherwise, this Little Lion Beast's unique evolutionary path might never have been discovered.'
As Asher recalled his research on the Little Lion Beast over the past few days, its evolution reached its final stage.
"ROAR—"
A massive, heavy paw shattered the white light.
A gigantic [War Blood Lion Emperor], its fur so smooth it gleamed in the sunlight, appeared before everyone.
"Ah...", Miles, eyes dazed, looked up at his newly evolved Little Lion Beast. He gasped and choked on his breath, coughing violently, "COUGH! COUGH COUGH!"
Even as he let out earth-shaking coughs, his eyes never left the evolved lion cub.
Because.
The new evolved form of his Little Lion Beast was just—too cool!
A towering body like a small mountain.
Golden-brown fur tinged with faint traces of black. A closer look revealed subtle gleams of scales beneath certain areas of its coat, not very conspicuous, but enough to indicate its vastly enhanced defense.
Powerful limbs.
A long tail, once seemingly harmless, was now covered in scattered black scales, capable of shattering rocks with a flick.
But the most striking feature of the evolved [War Blood Lion Emperor], its thick, flaring mane, bursting out in all directions yet flowing gracefully.
It was so thick that it made people want to bury their faces in it.
Yet Asher's focus was on something else, the lion's data panel.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Beast: War Blood Lion Emperor]
[Attribute: Combat]
[Breed: High-tier, Low Grade]
[Level: Eighth-Rank, Mid-tier+]
[Skills: Spinning Kick, Rapid Roll, ..., Cross Slash, Lion Emperor's Roar]
[Evolution Complete]
[Bloodline: Suanni¹]
[Bloodline Awakening: 1.1%]
[Special State: Rational Lock]
[Rational Lock: The War Blood Lion Emperor's rationality will remain at a minimum of 80%, preventing berserk states due to excessive power.]
[Innate Skill: Beast Emperor]
[Beast Emperor (Limited Version): Unmatched in battle (able to fight multiple foes without disadvantage), commands the power to lead beasts, primarily lion-type beasts, secondarily ordinary creatures. Other beasts are not within this range (cannot evolve further).]
[Little Lion is moving again! Little Lion can do it! Little Lion can take on ten at once!]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Asher looked at the War Blood Lion Emperor in front of him, and his expression gradually turned into one of surprise.
'Damn!'
'This data…'
'Quite impressive!'
After evolving, not only did it awaken its bloodline and innate skills, but it even gained a special state—[Rationality Lock].
Asher wasn't too surprised when he saw that the evolved bloodline was [Suanni].
Ever since he learned that all beasts with awakened bloodlines had the potential to achieve a mythical breakthrough toward their original bloodline, Asher had already expected, he would see more and more mythical creatures he had encountered before but that either had never been fabricated in this world or had simply never been recorded.
Three-legged Golden Crow.
Kun.
Suanni.
Asher stroked his chin.
'What else will I see?'
Asher restrained himself from delving too deeply into the thought.
Since he didn't have the opportunity to explore this field for now, it was better not to think too much about it. Otherwise, he would only be troubling himself.
All these thoughts flashed through Asher's mind in an instant.
He blinked and then heard the evolved War Blood Lion Emperor let out another roar.
"ROAR!"
For the War Blood Lion Emperor, it might not have been out of anger, perhaps it simply hadn't adjusted to its change in size yet and found that howling at the sky in the same way as before didn't make its once soft, milky voice more majestic.
Instead, it only made its already loud voice even louder.
"Roar—uh…?"
Halfway through the roar, the freshly evolved War Blood Lion Emperor was startled by its own booming voice. Needless to say, the surrounding people were even more shocked.
Miles was the first to react. He quickly stepped forward to soothe the War Blood Lion Emperor, "It's okay, it's okay. Just get used to it."
Miles raised his hand, intending to pet the little lion beast's head and chin as he had before… and then he realized that what had once been an easy task for both of them had suddenly become rather difficult.
The War Blood Lion Emperor immediately understood what Miles wanted to do.
Obediently, it lowered its head, trying to bring it closer so Miles could pet it.
And then—the newly evolved little lion beast once again misjudged its own size.
The moment it lowered its head, it accidentally knocked Miles over.
Miles landed on his butt, looking dazed.
'Wait, what?'
'Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?'
Dominic and Griffith, who had also been drawn over by the commotion of the lion beast's evolution, were greeted with the sight of Miles looking utterly confused, helpless, and extremely disheveled.
Griffith managed to keep himself somewhat composed, only letting out a restrained chuckle.
For the sake of their camaraderie and years of working together, he refrained from laughing too loudly.
But Dominic was different.
"Hahaha!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Dominic clutched his stomach, laughing so hard it hurt, his voice trembling as he spoke, "Brother Miles, you look absolutely hilarious right now!"
Miles quickly regained his composure, got up cleanly from the ground, patted the dust off his pants and clothes, and maintained a calm expression, completely unfazed by Dominic's laughter, "Disheveled?"
Seeing that Dominic was still laughing, Miles cast him a glance before extending his hand to pat the front limb of the newly evolved lion beast, which was now about as thick as a person.
A crisp pat-pat sound rang out.
"Did you see that?"
Dominic: "?"
"My little lion beast has successfully evolved."
Miles smiled, delivering a critical hit: "None of you have one. Only I do."
Then, he added another sentence, "So? Doesn't it look really cool?"
Dominic: "…"
Griffith, who had inadvertently been caught in the crossfire: "…"
Their expressions shifted from amused laughter to twisted jealousy.
'This…'
Hearing this, they couldn't help but shift their gazes toward the newly evolved little lion beast.
A strong body.
Sturdy limbs.
A physique that exuded power.
As for its exact strength… that would require further testing.
But just from its appearance, it had already completely outclassed the War Blood Lion King.
Not to mention, Miles's evolutionary path was the very first in the entire corps.
No one else had the same one as him.
That meant that no matter how the others evolved in the future, including themselves, none of them could develop a lion beast as imposing as Miles's.
"…You'd better sleep with one eye open from now on!", Dominic gritted his teeth.
Miles let out a nonchalant hum, completely unfazed by Dominic's words or attitude.
Just then, Griffith's voice came from the side, laced with an eerie undertone, "Yeah, I also suggest you keep both eyes open while you sleep. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what a jealous, irrational person like me might do."
Miles: "?"
He whipped his head around so fast it was like a sunflower turning toward the sun, his eyes wide as he stared at Griffith.
"Brother Griffith, you?"
Griffith smiled calmly and pushed up his glasses, "Can't help it. It really is envy-inducing."
Unique.
A brand-new evolutionary form.
And ridiculously cool.
Feeling jealous was completely normal, right?
Miles: "…"
Faced with Griffith's gaze, which didn't seem like he was joking at all, Miles suddenly felt a little intimidated.
"Anyway, let's test out the little lion beast's strength now," Dominic abruptly changed the subject, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
Miles felt a bit wary, but he also knew that Dominic's request wasn't unreasonable. Testing its strength after evolution was completely normal.
"Alright," After thinking it over, Miles nodded in agreement.
Dominic let out a chuckle, his face lighting up with triumph.
"Great! I'll go call our entire corps right now!"
With that, Dominic turned to leave.
A massive golden exclamation mark, like something out of an NPC prompt, seemed to appear above Miles's head.
'Wait, wait, wait—'
'Did I just hear the word… "entire"?'
"What kind of joke is this?", Miles was shocked, "The entire corps against just me? Then what's the point of even fighting?"
Dominic halted, turned around, and looked at Miles with an absolutely righteous expression.
"Is that really so outrageous?"
"Brother Miles, your little lion beast was already strong before. It could take on a hundred enemies at once. Now that it's evolved, multiplying that number by ten isn't unreasonable."
As if searching for support, Dominic turned to Asher, who had been silently observing.
"Professor Asher, don't you think I have a point?"
"This isn't me being unfair to Brother Miles, right?"
Asher: "?"
'Huh? Huh? Huh?'
He, the hidden boss, must not be provoked. He was just here to spectate and enjoy the drama, got it?
[[1]Suanni: In Chinese mythology, a "suanni" is a mythical creature, a cross between a dragon and a lion, known as a "devourer of tigers and leopards" and sometimes considered a mount of Buddha. ]
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