Universal Slave

Luke leaned his back against the trunk of a giant tree. In the depths of the forest all the trees were ancient giants, and if he continued to advance even further he could even find some trees that had entered the path of evolution. In this world, plants could also cultivate spiritual energy. In reality, every living being absorbs the spiritual energy of the universe unconsciously, but the time it takes for this passively absorbed energy to have visible effects on the organism is extremely long. Only after a few thousand years of absorbing energy could these trees mutate. How long would it take for a person who wanted to do the same? It was impossible. That's what spiritual cultivation techniques were for, created to speed up the absorption process.

Luke looked at the wound on his left arm, it wasn't that deep, but it was bleeding quite a bit. He pressed the wound with his right hand and a white light covered his wound. It was a basic healing spell. In his previous life he had studied the branch of medicinal sorcery exhaustively, however with his current mana level he could only use a few basic spells to disinfect the wound. There was no other option, he had been so busy cultivating his spiritual power and training his body that he had not had time to cultivate the mana, which was necessary to perform more powerful spells. Right now he was using the inherent mana of any living being. If his sorcery level was listed on his status panel, it would be zero.

After using the spell he took out a bandage from his backpack and pressed it tightly around his wound.

"I knew it wasn't going to be easy to complete this mission, but the beasts in this forest are even stronger than I expected. I guess there's a reason it's classified as one of the forbidden areas of the continent."

Luke rested for a while drinking water and eating some smoked meat he had prepared the night before.

He looked at the progress of the hunting quest: 1,014/100,000

"It took me a day to complete 1%."

He felt mixed emotions as he thought about his progress. He was certainly advancing quickly considering his current level, but he still felt like he was going too slowly. Perhaps he hadn't mentally gotten used to the fact that he was no longer the almighty Luke from his past life, but just a teenager taking his first steps in the world.

"It doesn't matter, I just have to focus on hunting and not think about anything else."

He took out the map and looked at his current position. He was about to enter one of the territories marked as dangerous. On the map he had bought, there were several areas marked with a symbol indicating danger, these areas were the known territories of powerful beasts.

"So far I have been facing solitary low-level beasts, but if I continue on I will probably encounter packs of beasts. After all, I don't think that high-level solitary beasts are in this area where the spiritual energy is not so dense."

In the forest, the beast territories were formed around the amount of spiritual energy. For example, Lunaria, the city of the Lunaris, had a large amount of spiritual energy, and as one moves away from the city, the energy becomes less dense.

Throughout the forest, the spiritual energy was not uniform, there were epicenters where the energy was very high, and an area of ​​decrease as one moved away from the epicenter. The beast territories were formed in the same way. In the center where the energy was densest, there was usually a single beast, which was the owner of the territory, and then in the subsequent layers, the lower-level beasts were arranged. If these territories were seen on a map, they would look like large circles that overlap each other like a Venn diagram.

Luke's map didn't have the beast territories marked in detail, but it did have a mark indicating the dangerous areas, which were those close to the epicenter.

"Anyway, let's see what I find. I also have to keep an eye out for any decent mounts, although anything worthwhile would have to be at least the ruler of a territory."

Luke set off again.

"This hybrid that his majesty asked us to protect is quite brave, with his cultivation level he dares to enter the territory of the elemental monkeys."

"With the level of combat he has shown so far he shouldn't have any problems unless he faces the primordial pack. After all, the Monkey Patriarch is the most powerful beast in this territory, if we exclude the sovereign who lives in the epicenter, of course."

"In any case, we have to be vigilant. Even if we can't see them, that damn group of Shadows must be lurking nearby waiting for an opportunity to act."

The group of elite royal guards followed Luke from a safe distance. A little further away, the group of Shadows advanced silently, blending into the landscape in an infallible camouflage.

After advancing a few miles, Luke finally sensed the change in the density of spiritual energy. He climbed onto a tree branch and observed his surroundings. Some common animals and low-level beasts were living their usual lives. Despite being the territory of high-level beasts, there was a complete ecosystem, the food chain simply had one more step.

In the distance, he spotted his prey.

*Elemental Monkey (Fire):

Level 3 Spiritual Beast

- Health: 55

- Build: 65

- Strength: 87

- Agility: 75

- Mana: 120

*

These level 3 monkeys should be the most powerful beasts outside the epicenter. The cultivation of beasts was different from that of humans. Beasts did not use cultivation techniques, but were able to absorb spiritual energy using their bloodline. The stronger their bloodline, the faster they could absorb energy. In theory, the cultivation techniques used by humans had been designed from these primal techniques used by beasts in ancient times.

The cultivation levels of humans and beasts, despite cultivating through different methods, maintained a consistency in terms of the amount of power they could exert.

In other words, a level 3 beast was roughly equivalent to a human with a level 3 cultivation.

Luke noticed that the monkey was not alone. Next to it were three other monkeys, two more of fire and one of wind. The wind elemental monkey had much more agility than the others, exceeding 100 points.

"It's a species that moves in packs, if they are small groups like this I shouldn't have a problem getting rid of them" Luke said calculating his next moves.

Without much hesitation he went into action.

He took out his bow and fired four arrows in succession. Each arrow was imbued with wind elemental energy, which increased its power and speed.

One of the arrows hit one of the fire monkeys in the chest, but it only penetrated the skin and did not cause a fatal wound, the other arrows met the same fate.

The monkeys, seeing themselves suddenly attacked, were first surprised since they were used to being at the top of the food chain and then immediately entered a state of frenzy driven by anger. Beasts with cultivation levels have a bit of wisdom and are not simple beasts without thought. They could experience some complex emotions such as pride. And Luke's attack had hurt that pride.

The monkeys quickly located Luke in the distance and immediately launched themselves at him. Luke fired a couple more arrows but they were destroyed in mid-flight by the monkeys, they didn't even need to use their elemental powers to do so, they just had to shake their arms disdainfully to destroy them.

Luke sighed. It was at these moments that the importance of having good equipment was seen. If he had arrows made of a good material, he could have caused great damage with the first shots, and even killed them.

Luke pulled out his short sword and used his movement technique. He immediately disappeared from where he was standing. The monkeys stopped in surprise, not expecting the human to suddenly disappear. The movement technique Luke was using was one he himself had developed in his previous life, from other techniques provided by the system. It was not a common technique, if it weren't for Luke's current body not being able to exert its full power, the elemental monkeys would not have the chance to see even Luke's shadow again before falling dead. But there aren't that many "what ifs" in the world.

Luke appeared behind the wind elemental monkey and with a decisive attack he cut its throat. Taken by surprise, the monkey could do nothing but grab its neck in agony and die reluctantly.

"Well, at least I was able to get rid of the most troublesome one, that speed could have been annoying if the fight drags on" Luke said as he shook the sword, wiping the blood off the blade.

The other three monkeys, seeing their companion die, entered a state of mania and began to spit fireballs at high speed. Luke dodged them as best he could using his normal speed, his movement technique put too much stress on his body.

However, one of the fireballs hit him directly in the chest leaving a black mark on the armor that had also been reinforced with magic.

"Their attacks are stronger than I expected. I can't let them hit me anymore or the armor will be ruined" He continued thinking out loud, reasoning the battle. It was a bad habit he had picked up at the magic academy in his previous life.

He pulled out a dagger and threw it at high speed at one of the monkeys, at the same time he ran towards it with his sword in hand. The monkey dodged the dagger but couldn't avoid the sword slash that decapitated him on the spot.

"One down"

Luke threw his other dagger again, but this time the monkey didn't dodge it, fearing he wouldn't be able to counter his next attack. Luke smiled slightly, and with a movement of his hand, the dagger changed direction and embedded itself in the monkey's throat, taking its life.

Luke pulled the invisible wires in his hands and both daggers returned to him.

"Well, there's still one left"

Seeing all of his companions dead, the remaining elemental monkey felt afraid of the human in front of him for the first time. He turned around trying to run away.

Luke watched him without moving.

"Mmm, let me try something for a moment. Since you're not going to continue fighting, you might as well be the perfect test subject."

He raised his sword to the sky, then swung it down violently.

A visible energy wave emanated from the sword's blade and headed at high speed towards the fleeing monkey. In an instant, the wave pierced the monkey, splitting it in half. Both halves of the monkey fell to the ground in the distance, a bloody scene.

Luke exhaled a breath.

"Ugh, it's still difficult to use in combat. But it could serve as a surprise card. However, it consumes a lot of energy, if I fail to finish off the opponent I will be vulnerable. For now, it's best to leave it as a last resort."

Luke looked at the hunting mission score: 1378

"These four level three monkeys gave me 364 points. It's less than a hundred points each, but it's still quite a lot. It took me more than a day to accumulate a thousand points, but in just a few minutes I was able to get more than a third of that."

However, Luke knew that although it seemed like he had eliminated the four monkeys with ease, he had actually consumed a great deal of power. If there had been one or two more monkeys, he might have had to fight tooth and nail, and would have ended up with injuries. In addition, he could not continue attacking continuously since he had to rest and recover the spiritual energy he had consumed.

Luke looked deep into the forest, thinking that there was still a lot of work ahead of him. He took the stones from the foreheads of the elemental monkeys, checked his equipment, and continued advancing. Out of the corner of his eye, he observed the forest behind him and thought, "Those who are following me, waiting to attack me, will have to recalculate my combat power, right? Perhaps that will make them even more cautious."

Luke was always alert. Although he could not discover their location, he knew that there were people following him. However, he was not worried. If it came to it, he had a few aces up his sleeve to get out of it, although he preferred not to use them if it wasn't necessary, his body wasn't prepared to withstand most of his techniques.

"Now I understand why his majesty asked us to protect this hybrid…"

"Yes, I would never have expected that being so young he could master the sword to that level, he can even generate sword energy!"

"He is certainly a genius. If he is given time to grow, he will surely reach the top of the continent"

"But then, if we take into account the incident of the purity level of his bloodline, do you think his majesty is planning-"

"Silence! Say no more. His majesty gave the explicit order that no one could speak about it. As for whatever plans his majesty may have, it doesn't concern us. All we have to do is do our job well"

The group fell silent. They continued to follow the young boy who was advancing deeper and deeper into the territory of the elemental monkeys. But in their hearts they kept thinking, "It's not possible… Right?"

.............................................

In a village on the outskirts of the Austral Kingdom's territory, bordering the great forest classified as forbidden territory for humanity, a young nobleman dressed in beautiful and ostentatious armor stood with his arms crossed, looking at the scene before him with a sly smile.

In front of him, one of the soldiers under his command was holding a battered-looking old woman by the neck. The old woman was hanging in the air, one of her arms broken and hanging limply at the side of her body. She slowly felt herself running out of air, and her despair was growing. She kicked out trying to hit the robust man who stood like a mountain in front of her, while with her good arm she beat the man's arms with resignation.

The nobleman who was enjoying the scene finally spoke.

"A futile resistance. And I'm not just referring to this moment. From the beginning, from when they decided to escape and hide, everything was nothing but a futile resistance. In the first place, there is nowhere to escape. Or do you think we would let such dangerous enemies free?"

The old woman obviously couldn't answer. But the young nobleman didn't care and continued speaking.

"The Lyriksen lineage must come to an end, only then can we take all their lands without fear of future problems."

The old woman began to urinate as she lost control over her muscles.

The young man showed a gesture of disgust and made a sign to his subordinate.

The breaking sound ended the life of the old woman, who fell to the ground collapsed like a doll after the soldier released her.

The young nobleman continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

"To begin with, we have already eliminated all of their loyal servants, all of the close and distant family has been destroyed, the heir that they managed to save with so much effort must be right now in the stomach of a beast or executed by the Lunaris. And the three remaining children. Well, we could let them follow the same fate as their older brother, but it is always better to be safe, right?"

The young nobleman turned his gaze towards the nearby forest, where three children had fled. He turned around and began walking towards his carriage that was nearby. Meanwhile he gave his orders to the soldiers.

"Track down the three survivors, I want you to bring me their heads, and if not, at least confirm their death."

"Yes! Your Majesty Firis!"

The soldiers responded and immediately headed towards the forest.

But just at that moment, a whistle rang out in the ears of everyone present.

Firis turned around and saw an old man with a mangy appearance, who looked like a vagabond, coming out of the forest, walking with his arms behind his back and whistling a tune.

Firis frowned. He didn't know why, but the old man coming out of the forest made him feel aversion.

He was used to acting haughty, and to his will being the law.

That is why he gave another order without hesitation.

"Kill that filthy old man," he said without hiding his displeasure towards the man.

The soldiers responded affirmatively. The same soldier who had finished off the old woman moments before approached the old man to carry out his young master's orders. However, when he tried to raise his arm, he realized with perplexity that he had no arm to raise. He wanted to scream, but before he could make a sound everything went black, forever drowning out any possible action.

Firis saw it all from a distance. First, his subordinate's arms appeared in the old man's hands. His subordinate was standing there like a statue, without arms. And almost immediately, his subordinate's body turned into ashes that floated away with the wind.

Firis began to tremble, terrified, at the events that unfolded before his eyes.

The old man, without stopping his weary pace, and without stopping whistling, continued walking without paying attention to the soldiers.

The soldiers present began to dissolve into ash one after another. In a matter of seconds only the old man and Firis were left present.

Now it was Firis' turn to urinate on himself. The terror he felt at this moment was indescribable.

The old man walked past him, completely ignoring him, and continued walking while whistling the cheerful tune.

Just when Firis thought that the old man was going to completely ignore him, he heard his raspy voice.

"Hey, shit. Do me a favor, when you see the universal slave, tell him that I will be waiting for him at the magic academy."

Firis felt every hair on his body stand up. He struggled to speak.

"S-Slave? Who is it?"

"The person who is going to kill you. Just remember to give him my message before you die. Don't forget, I'm telling you for your own good, you little shit."

Firis stood frozen, not knowing what to answer. But the old man continued walking, moving further and further away. The wind brought him a few last words, but they weren't directed at him.

"Mmm where should I go now? I guess I should go see the Lord of Chaos, I don't want him to bother the Universal Slave until his system levels up a bit. Mmm, but I don't want to see him, it's so hard to deal with lunatics."

The old man's muttering continued, but Firis couldn't hear him anymore.