The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 994: Unstable Karl

Karl took out his bow and immediately felt his power destabilize.

No matter what skill he tried to activate, his power quality was fluctuating wildly, and his body was surging with power, but not in anything resembling a smooth transition, the way he had every other time he hit a Rank change.

Tian woke up as the power levels in his space became unstable, and looked around for the cause. It appeared that the Karl was advancing, but he didnʼt actually know anything about that, as he had been born at this Rank, and his mother hadnʼt gotten a chance to explain all the little things to him.

Butterfly worked to build a mana barrier around her space, stabilizing the fluctuations that were making her seasick as she floated on the mana currents. But the others were all out for combat, and willing to wait until Karl got his act together.

{Just focus on yourself, weʼve got this.} Remi insisted.

”Thanks. I donʼt think that I could use a skill right now anyhow.

Though, the way that my body is, I might not have to if the goal is just to defeat these things.” Karl replied.

Remi laughed. {You know, that sounds like bragging. Only a Karl would consider taking on enraged monsters with his bare hands and no skills.}

Karl sat down and closed his eyes, focusing on his advancement, while Tian used [Earth Manipulation] to create a dome of stone over him, safe from attackers.

Karl began to purge all the stored mana from his body, moving it into the spaces in preparation to refill himself with Totem Ranked power. In theory, that should be the nudge that he needed to make the transition between Ranks, as long as he hadnʼt hit a bottleneck.

With Tian here, Karl was fairly sure that he wouldnʼt be hitting a bottleneck right now. However, he couldnʼt rule it out. Everyone else had hit one at some point, so he would have to get to one eventually.

Karl focused on growing his power, and felt the moment that it shifted. The unbalanced state was changing, and the influx was beginning to stabilize at Totem Ranked, but there was still something missing from his advancement.

Like Tian, he was Totem Ranked in power control, but that wasnʼt enough to truly complete Karlʼs advancement.

{Totemic Advancement Initiated. Calculating Comprehension.}

[Oh, youʼre so screwed.] Cara laughed.

[Hey, Iʼve got this. We just need to know what itʼs expecting me to have comprehended. If itʼs skills, weʼre miles ahead of the competition.] Karl argued.

Cara paused. The Karl had a point. If it just wanted him to comprehend a skill at the Totem Rank, he had met that standard months ago.

{Verified} [Fundamental Rule Compatibility] Chaos

{Verified} [Fundamental Rule Compatibility] Fire

{Verified} [Fundamental Rule Compatibility] Mana Manipulation

{Path to Immortality initiated. Step 1 Totemic Advancement Successful}

{Totemic Blessing} active

{Totemic Blessing} Reduces all damage done by attacks and skills under Totem Rank by 90%

[Skill Master 5] 1% Rule Bonus

[Ghostfire] 2% Rule Bonus

[Void Blast] 2% Rule Bonus

Hawk smirked as he attacked the monsters. His fire was just as good as Caraʼs Void Blast, even if it hadnʼt gotten a Totem Ranked bonus. Hopefully, the Rule Bonus was something good.

Then power suddenly began to infuse Karlʼs body, pulled from the ambient mana, the Sword of Champions, and the Haint Claw, all at once.

[Oh, the Karl is a big boss.] Tian cheered.

Karl heard a rumbling from outside his stone shell, and then cursing. But he couldnʼt tell what was going on out there, and the influx of power was drowning out even the voices of the beasts.

So, he had no idea that Cara had opened the [Tiny World] and led everyone inside to hide while the world went crazy around them.

From a distance, a half dozen Mythic Ranked powerhouses watched the advancement of the newest Totem on the continent. It had touched off a minor Divine Storm, not nearly as bad as the tribulation that the Immortals went through, but it was likely to send down at least a few lightning strikes to test his durability.

ʼWhy is nobody approaching? The Lightning wonʼt hit anything but the target.ʼ A young Divine Fire Dragon asked the juvenile Phoenix beside him.

The creature had surely been reborn recently, but the Divine Phoenix lineages always knew more than others, as they didnʼt forget just because they were in a new body.

”That one belongs to the Chaos Dragon. Theyʼre in the same Guild. If we all stand over here, she canʼt accuse us of trying to bully her junior.” The Phoenix whispered back.

The Dragon nodded in understanding. She wasnʼt a Divine Dragon lineage, but if she ever left this world for the Immortal Realm, she would almost certainly advance from Supreme to Legendary status the moment that her power stabilized.

At that point, she would be second only to the Demigods. And nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of that.

The mention of Supreme Lady Matilda caught the attention of the other Mythic Rank beings nearby, and many made a warding gesture, using passive skills to attempt to avoid her attention.

Normally, under these circumstances, someone would come to claim him. Every Totem on the continent was under the protection or guidance of someone. Or, at the very least, under the supervision of their home nationʼs leadership.

Once you got far enough up the power structure to matter, it was best to eliminate the real psychopaths from the general population, from a social cohesion standpoint.

That hadnʼt been done in the distant past, and it had come back to haunt them.

A Lightning strike hit the stone shield, and a large black Demon stepped out of a portal next to the Divine Fire Dragon.

”Who is advancing?” Lord Drodh asked.

”Oh, there you are. This one is from your city, I think. His title said he is from the Drodh Branch of the Darklight Host.” The dragon explained.

”Wait... Karl? Is his name Karl?” Lord Drodh asked.

”Yeah, thatʼs the one. Did he come up here looking for stronger enemies to help him break through? Cat Demons are a bit odd like that. They enjoy playing with their food.” The Phoenix asked.

Lord Drodh gave a bitter laugh. ”I donʼt think that even the Cat Demons can account for all that is strange about that man. He only reached Overlord half a year ago. Not even a reborn minor Phoenix grows that fast.”

Tiffani stepped out of a portal beside Lord Drodh and glared at the stone dome.

”That thing isnʼt a Cat Demon at all. It looked like one at first, but I fought him, and there is no doubt that he is a being of the Chaos Plane.” The Vampire insisted.

Lord Drodh did a double take at the Totem Ranked vampire, who was in a black toga, studded with diamonds to emulate the midsummer night sky. But it wasnʼt the dress that caught his attention, it was the conspicuous collar around her neck with a [Property of Matilda] label.

”It seems that you have a long story to tell. Perhaps we can gather for a nice chat after the advancement is over?” Lord Drodh asked.

Tiffani nodded. ”That would be best. He is a resident of your city, after all.”