"Valon! I've come to assist you-" Vargan cut himself off as he landed next to me in a huff, pausing as he stared at Tiamat's unconscious form. He was wearing his repaired set of armor, and his huge hammer was in his hands.
"Ah… it would seem ya don't need my help," He nodded approvingly, and I looked over at him dryly.
"Would've been nice if you got here a few minutes ago," I deadpanned, though I actually preferred that he had shown up late. Tiamat's final technique only didn't work against me because of LUK, but Vargan didn't have that same protection.
I wouldn't have been able to protect him in the chaos, and he probably would've been a burnt corpse right now.
"I came as soon as I heard who ya were fighting!" Vargan defended himself, but then looked away sheepishly, "I, ah… got a bit lost though."
"Lost?" I deadpanned again. How hard was it to find the giant mountain on the edge of the forest? He had even been up here numerous times already!
"Well, I climbed up the mountain to help ya, but ya weren't there!" Vargan said defensively, "I had to look around for ya!"
I slowly looked from the Dwarven King down to the hundred-foot massive dragon, then back to him. Tiamat was pretty hard to miss.
But it had worked out better this way, so I wouldn't be too pissed.
"Ta think ya really did it…" Vargan trailed off, turning back to Tiamat's unconscious body with wide eyes, "All alone, too, and you don't even look tired! I'm really glad yur on my side, y'know that? Yur damn scary…"
I simply nodded at his words. I could barely believe I had done it either. The fight had been tough, and I had to rely on running while abusing my skills to get it done, but I had won.
"So… are ya gonna kill her?" Vargan asked, glancing over at me again, "This would certainly be the time ta do it."
"Nope," I shook my head negatively, "She's my familiar now."
Vargan blinked rapidly, shaking his head lightly, "Sorry, I musta misheard you. I thought you just said she was your familiar…"
"I did," I replied bluntly, "Because she is. She's my familiar now."
"W-What…" Vargan stared with a mixture of awe and shock at me, "In all my years… you made a dragon like her into yur familiar?!"
"I did."
As I nodded, he just shook his head and sighed lightly, "I never thought so much could change so quickly… just a couple moons ago I was doing everything I could ta stay away from her, and ya just made her yur familiar like that? Hah!"
I could relate to what he was saying a bit - before the war, I had also been steering clear of Tiamat's territory. The dragon had been a figure looming over my head, acting as the final boss for the tutorial that I wasn't sure I could ever beat.
"Call off whoever is headed here to help," I ordered him, crouching down and placing my palm Tiamat. I used a quick [Light Heal] on her, and her wounds started to close slightly.
The skill was a lot more successful than before since its level had been boosted to 25 from completing the Meadow of Love quest, and as a result managed to heal the dragon pretty well. Both of her wounds stopped bleeding, and the flesh around the hole in her leg reformed into a bloody scab instead of a hole.
Overall, I was certain she wouldn't die now, though she wasn't completely healed. I wasn't sure how fast dragons healed naturally, but I figured I'd need to call in some fairies to help with the healing if I wanted her in peak condition within a couple of months.
"I'll take her up," I told Vargan as I walked to the side of Tiamat, crouching down and awkwardly crawling under her limp body, "Don't let anyone bother me for a bit."
"Got it," Vargan nodded, not asking any more questions.
I stood up under Tiamat, hoisting part of the massive creature on my shoulders. I was more than strong enough to carry her, but it would be difficult because of the size difference between us. Luckily, Tiamat was powerful as hell, so I doubt she'd even get injured if she bumped into a few trees or dragged on the ground partially as I carried her up the mountain.
I started my trek up the mountain, which took a bit longer than usual as I was carrying the huge dragon on my shoulders. It still only took a few minutes, and I laid her down gently in front of my palace.
She was way too large to fit inside it, so she'd have to wait out here for now. It would've been nice if she had transformed into her human form before she was knocked out, but she probably didn't have enough strength left to maintain it.
I walked over to the front of the palace, casually leaning my back against the outside wall instead of going inside. While I doubt anyone in the forest could finish off Tiamat even in her exhausted and unconscious state, I still wasn't going to leave my new familiar alone in that state.
Finally, I was given a chance to look at the notifications that had been sitting in the corner of my vision.
[Quest Complete!]
Conquer the Land of the Blue One
Make the [LEGENDARY] Dragon: Tiamat into your familiar
Rewards:
All [Territory] owned by Tiamat
All [Subordinate]'s owned by Tiamat
+25,000 STR
+25,000 END
+25,000 AGI
+25,000 INT
+25,000 CHA
+25,000 LUK
+25,000 HREG
+25,000 MREG
As I tapped the quest to accept the rewards, I felt a huge influx of strength flow through me. Most of my stats had nearly doubled from the rewards, excluding the three main combat ones - STR, AGI, and END - which were already so high that the boost only increased them by roughly 50%.
While the stat boost was nice - really nice - I was more focused on the second notification.
[Quest Complete!]
Conquer the Familiar Forest
Rewards:
[Beast King] Title
[Tutorial] Completion
It had taken me a lot longer than I imagined at first, and I was far stronger than I thought I'd be when I completed it, but the tutorial was done. I tapped on the quest reward, causing a flurry of notifications to replace it.
[Title] has been unlocked!
[Title] - A title that describes the user!
Multiple [Title]'s can be equipped at the same time, and they'll give the user buffs (or debuffs) depending on the title!
More titles can be unlocked by making presence-increasing achievements!
[Beast King] [Title] has been unlocked!
[Beast King] - A title fit for the King of All Beasts. While this title is equipped, the following buffs will be applied to the user:
+100% increase to all stats!
+Raise [Presence] by two stages!
+10 LVL to all skills!
+20 LVL to [Devour]!
+500% increase to all stats when facing a [Beast] opponent!
+Raise [Presence] by twenty stages when interacting with [Beast]'s!
+100% increase to all stats when facing a [Monarch] opponent!
+Increased reputation with all [Beast]'s!
+Unlimited [Territory] slots!
+10% stat increase when in a non-owned [Territory]
+100% stat increase when in an owned [Territory]
I grinned as I took in the buffs, nodding approvingly. The casual doubling of my stats was, frankly, insane. The stat increasing buffs on my armor were part of the reason I could even keep up with someone like Tiamat, and I'd essentially just become twice as strong just from completing the quest.
The increase to the level of my skills was certainly nice, as it was tedious to try and increase the level of all my many skills on my own. A base increase to the levels of all my skills was great and a huge time-saver.
Beyond that, I wasn't sure what counted as a [Beast], but I hoped it applied to a lot of races. The insane 500% stat boost while fighting one meant that I was pretty much guaranteed to win. It would be nice if it at least applied to dragons.
The rest of the rewards were nice too, especially the unlimited [Territory] slots. Considering I planned to take over the whole underworld eventually, I'd need a shit ton of [Territory] to cover it all.
That notification quickly vanished, and another took its place.
[Tutorial] has been completed!
The rest of the basic game system has been unlocked!
+Gacha system!
Obtain [Gacha Pull]'s from quests and use them to roll the Gacha!
Your LUK stat will influence your odds in the Gacha System!
+Reputation System!
By looking at someone, you will be able to see your reputation level with them!
Your actions can increase or decrease your reputation level!
+Faction System!
Form your own faction or join someone else's!
As a faction levels up, its members will gain buffs depending on their involvement in the faction!
Other aspects of the game system can be unlocked by exploring the game!
I hummed lightly as I took in the wave of new information. It had been so long since I first used the [Low Gacha Pull] to obtain the [Guide Book] that I had almost forgotten about it.
Considering my rather high LUK, which had only been boosted even higher through my fight with Tiamat, I was more than happy about obtaining the gacha system. I suspected that it'd be pretty generous to me.
The reputation system was nice too, as it was pretty much a cheat code to ensure no one was planning to betray me. If one of my subordinates randomly dropped to a low reputation, then I'd know something fishy was up.
The most interesting system gained was the faction one, as I had already planned to form a faction in the DxD-World sense anyway. It was nice that the game would give me buffs for doing something I was already planning to do, and it'd help to make subordinates stronger.
Even if Raya wasn't that powerful, by having a highly involved role in my faction she'd probably get some serious buffs.
I blinked as the screen disappeared again and another appeared.
For completing the [Tutorial], you have unlocked [Mainline] quests!
[Quest Alert!]
Conquer the [Underworld]
Rewards:
[Underworld Monarch] Title
Obtain access to the [World Gate]!
Failure:
Death.
I stared blankly at the new quest.
What the hell was a World Gate?
At that moment, I had no way of knowing just how small the Familiar Forest was and just how large the outside world was. I had no way of knowing that even the entire underworld was just a speck of dust in this universe.
I had no way of knowing that the trajectory of my life had changed.
In that moment, the trajectory of not just this world but of a thousand others changed as well.
On this day, the origin of a Great Ruler's story came to a close.
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AN: Thank you for reading! You read the title right, the prologue, 'The Origin of the Beast King' is officially over. The wider world of DxD and beyond will be opened up now!
The next chapter will out tomorrow! You can also read up to chapter 51 on Patreon.com/Koyon !