Universal Slave

The great white tiger roared again, its blood flooding the surrounding ground.

Luke observed the situation carefully. Obviously it was the tiger who had invaded the monkeys' territory, and yet now it was about to die. The outcome of the fight was decided, now it was a matter of time.

Luke was preparing to take action. The white tiger finally realized its impending end, but it would not go quietly. Its body began to swell and turn a reddish color. In the sky, black clouds covered the entire firmament.

"It's time for the last attack" said Luke, taking a little distance. He did not want to be caught in a massive attack by a careless act.

The elemental monkey observed the changes in its enemy and began to stir. It began to beat its chest violently and its body began to be covered by what seemed to be a layer of crystal.

With a roar, the clouds began to throw lightning in all directions. The elemental monkeys in the area were slaughtered almost immediately.

Only the large level five elemental monkey remained standing, its body covered in crystals did not seem to have suffered any damage.

The large white tiger collapsed to the ground. It would not get up again.

The elemental monkey saw its entire pack destroyed and let out a scream full of rage and agony. It then pounced on the tiger, who was now lying motionless on the ground.

However, before it could take two steps, a light pierced its neck at high speed. It was the blade of Luke's sword, which had decided to make its move.

The monkey stopped in surprise. It touched its neck and found that it had not suffered any damage. That's right, Luke's attack had not managed to penetrate its defenses.

"Phew, I didn't expect its defense to have increased so much."

On the system screen, the elemental monkey's defense now showed "??" after its crystallization.

The elemental monkey looked at the human standing before him without any fear or reverence, and immediately became enraged.

The human, in his eyes, was no different from an ant.

He attacked at high speed, but Luke disappeared from where he was standing and appeared next to the tiger's body.

The monkey felt that he was being disrespected and prepared to begin a series of elemental attacks that would destroy everything around him.

Suddenly, before he could attack,

several transparent chains made of solidified spiritual energy emerged from the cardinal points and completely restricted its movement. The monkey felt his power evaporate in an instant.

Luke looked at the beast calmly.

"If I were to face you in direct combat of course I would not be your opponent"

Luke began to explain. The monkey seemed to understand his words and had stopped his resistance to listen to him.

"But if you give me enough time to prepare, you obviously won't be my opponent. After all, I haven't lived this long without learning a trick or two."

The monkey stared at him unblinkingly, refusing to lower his gaze in front of a weak human.

Luke sheathed his sword and took out the stick he had obtained as a reward from the system from his inventory.

The sword's blade was very weak, and he had no weapon he could use other than this stick. If he still couldn't destroy the monkey's defenses, Luke would have no choice but to use a large amount of sword energy, which would hurt his body.

He charged the stick with spiritual energy, and despite using almost all of the reserve he

had, the stick seemed to be able to absorb the energy infinitely.

He looked one last time at the elemental monkey, who was the owner of this territory, and using a staff technique he attacked with all his might. The monkey's head broke away from its body and flew a great distance, crashing into an invisible barrier. It was the limit of the formation that Luke had spent hours setting up without the beasts noticing.

From the beginning, it didn't matter who won the fight between the beasts, the only winner would be Luke.

He deactivated the formation, which consumed a great amount of mental power, and exhaled a breath of air. Even though he was always in control of the situation, using all the advanced techniques took a great deal of effort.

Luke looked at the system screen that showed the mission progress 55,780/100,000

"Wow, progress has increased quite a bit!"

He felt that his efforts had not been in vain, now it was time to collect his rewards.

He looked at the white tiger lying on the ground. It was still breathing, although very weakly. It wouldn't last long.

He grabbed his stick and set out to put the poor animal out of its misery, and earn a few points in the process.

But just as he was about to finish it off, a system alarm sounded in his mind, and a transparent screen appeared before his eyes.

*Mission 05 Completed*

*Mount Obtained

Thunder Divine Tiger

Level: Five

Bloodline: Excellent

Potential: Good

*

*Mission Score: 8*

Luke who was about to finish off the tiger immediately stopped.

Mission Completed? But he hadn't made any contract with the beast. What's more, the tiger was unconscious and couldn't initiate a contract.

The damn system was failing again.

Luke stopped his attack, but the tiger's injuries were too severe and it wouldn't survive even if he didn't take action.

Sure enough, the next moment another notification sounded.

*Your mount has died in combat*

*Your mount, who has accompanied you for so long has died after being attacked by a pack of beasts. The Host is still too weak to protect his loved ones. New generated quests*

*Quest 08 - Giant Steps:

How much longer will you have to suffer for your weakness?

Objective: Go to Amu Temple in the Giants' Realm and obtain the god's divine protection"

Reward: Increased cultivation speed, increased innate ability, stick*1.

*

*Quest 09 - A Master's Responsibility:

A mount is an irreplaceable companion, you must ensure its well-being.

Objective: Increase your mount's happiness and well-being up to 100 points

Reward: Random mount box. *

Luke looked at the dead tiger, and at the system messages and felt a great tiredness invade him.

"The system was also malfunctioning in my past lives, but now it's even worse! "

Luke looked through the previous messages, related to mission 05, that he hadn't read and was glad to see that at least the rewards for completion had been distributed.

He took out the core from the tiger's head, and then began to collect some of the materials from its body, which could be sold for a high price.

As he did this work, he noticed a detail that had until then escaped him. This tiger... Was female!

And not only that, she was pregnant.

Luke immediately made an incision in the beast's belly, and removed two small balls of fur. The two little tigers were still alive.

Luke took them in his arms and decided to form a contract with them. If he left them here they would surely die, prey to a more powerful beast.

He cut his finger just enough for a little blood to flow out, then drew a symbol on the little tigers' foreheads, and activated his spiritual power. Within a short moment the contract was complete.

However, after completing the contract, the system did not recognize the little tigers as a "mount" but instead placed them under the label of "pet".

"Is the system bugged again? Why doesn't it recognize the tigers as a mount?"

Luke looked at the information in the system

*Pet:

Thunder Divine Tiger.

Level: 1

Bloodline: Excellent

Potential: Excellent

*

Both tigers had the same description.

"Well, I have to leave this place for now."

Luke was afraid that the people who had been watching him would return to continue following him relentlessly. Now that he had finished his task in this place, it was best to leave as soon as possible.

He picked up the elemental monkey's spiritual core and took some materials from both beasts, then hurriedly left in the direction of the epicenter of the region he was in. He wanted to see which beast occupied the highest place in the food chain of this area.

Along the way he accepted the rewards for mission 05.

To his disappointment all the methods and techniques he received from the system were already known to him. Only a cultivation method tailored for the mount was of any use. Luckily the cultivation method that the system had created specifically for the mother of the little tigers could be used by the cubs due to them sharing the same blood lineage. If Luke had made a contract with any other beast, that reward would have been, like the others, completely useless.

As part of the cultivation method for the divine thunder tiger, there was the consumption and refinement of certain natural treasures. Luke thought of the fruit that both beasts had fought to the death over.

"It's not ripe yet, I'll pick it up later to give it to these little tigers" He thought.

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

Fynn woke up with a tremendous headache

He opened his eyes and looked around. He was inside a dark cave, where the only source of light was some insects that flew around the room, dimly illuminating it.

He tried to move his body but he was paralyzed and couldn't even move his mouth to scream for help.

When his eyes adjusted a little more to the darkness, he could see more clearly the situation inside the large cave. A large number of people were lying on the ground, unconscious. Many others, like him, were motionless but with their eyes open.

There must have been at least fifty people, the vast majority were dressed as hunters, but there were also merchants, monks, and he could even identify a young man who looked like a noble.

Further away, in a corner, there was also a group of ragged children. His brothers.

If only he hadn't dragged them into this situation, they would be in the orphanage right now. They would be starving, but safe, far from all this madness.

How had they gotten into this situation? His confused mind recalled the events of that day.

That day, Flynn met his brother Luca, who had been declared dead by the authorities.

Luca told him how he had gone out into the world outside of Lunaria, how he served a noble, and how his life had improved so much that it seemed like a dream. Flynn felt envious as he thought of how he spent his days at the orphanage, working hard to be able to eat one more piece of bread, always hungry.

That day Luca gave him food, for him and for the other children at the orphanage. Then he left saying that he would see him again the next day. That night was the first and last time in a long time that everyone at the orphanage ate until they were satisfied.

The next day, true to his promise, Luca appeared again. This time he did not bring food, but bad news. According to his sources of information, one of the nobles who was in conflict with the church, planned to launch an attack on the orphanage as a warning method. After all, eliminating a bunch of useless brats wouldn't cause a major conflict, but it would serve to send a message. After all, it was a matter of pride for the noble who ran the orphanage for the church.

Upon hearing the news, Fynn didn't know what to do and began to despair. His first thought was to run away, but where would they go? Without a place to live, without food, how could they survive. Besides, if it was true that someone wanted to harm them to send a message, no matter where a small group of children without connections hid, within the big city they would be found sooner rather than later.

Luca was the one who offered him the solution. According to him, his master lived outside the city, in a village near the city of the Ferali. If they traveled there, his master could give them asylum, and although their lives would not become a bed of roses, and they would still have to work for their food, at least they could avoid the disaster that was coming their way.

Flynn hesitated. He didn't know if he could trust Luca, after all he had appeared so suddenly, it was too convenient.

Luca saw his doubt and didn't get angry with him. Instead, he took him to spy on the orphanage's caretakers, who were having a secret meeting with a hooded person. They were making a transaction. A bag of coins was handed over, and in exchange the figure got the promise that no one would interfere with his plans to wipe out the orphans.

Fynn found himself between a rock and a hard place. Without too many options, he decided to accept Luca's offer.

That same night Fynn and his brothers headed from the orphanage to the east gate of the city, which was the least guarded. Once there Luca shot down the guards using a strange spell, and the children escaped under the cover of night, heading towards the forest.

In the royal palace, at that moment, Queen Zara turned her gaze to where the children were running away from and stood up solemnly. However, she did not continue advancing. She sat down again and an irritated expression was drawn on her face.

"These damn causal knots are annoying me!"

He looked resignedly out the window, the grey sky forecasting an imminent rain.

"I hope those children can survive" She muttered.

The sound of footsteps sounding on the damp floor of the cave brought Fynn back from his memories.

He looked at the approaching figure and no longer felt fear, but a tremendous rejection. It was a rejection that came from deep within his soul, as if the very essence of the being in front of him was blasphemous. It was strange, he had not felt that same rejection when he had interacted with him before.

The figure that had entered the cave and was now approaching him was, of course, Luca.

"Oh? Can you tell the difference? As expected of a child of destiny!"

Fynn looked at Luca carefully and came to the conclusion that this was the first time he had interacted with this person. He was not Luca, and he was not the fake Luca who had captured them and brought them here. He was another entity. Something much worse.

"Who is this person? What is he planning?" Fynn thought tremblingly

"Ooh, so many questions. Young people are curious. Who am I? Nobody, maybe that is why you feel such rejection"

Fynn opened his eyes in surprise. Could this man read his mind?

"Don't be so surprised boy, reality is more complex than you could imagine. As for your second question. That is the right question, what I want is freedom. I don't think it is such a crazy wish, right? I think we all deserve freedom, and I am the messiah who will give freedom to all the people in this miserable world!"

Luca began to speak in an agitated manner, his emotional state was not very stable.

It took a few moments for him to calm down. Flynn watched him unblinkingly.

"Well, it's a shame you can never have freedom, though. After all, the dogs of the universe can only find freedom in death, right?"

Luca extended his hand and a blade made of dark energy formed on his palm.

Just as he prepared to make his move, the blade suddenly vanished. Luca frowned.

"It seems I'm not strong enough to disrupt the causal knots yet."

Then his expression relaxed again and a smile appeared on his face.

"But never mind, it won't be long before I can destroy reality with my own hands. For now, I'll continue playing the game these bastards have designed. They want to use me as a piece on their board? Be careful, because you might end up with your precious board on fire!"

Luca exclaimed and started laughing maniacally.

"See you later, dog. I wonder if your master will manage to save you or if he no longer has enough power to even protect his dogs. I would pray if i were you, because whatever the case, the truth is that you are on the wrong side of the war, boy."

He laughed again, but this time darkly.

The laughter cut off abruptly and Luca collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Fynn watched as an almost transparent thread that seemed to be made of light approached Luca's body that was lying on the ground and embedded itself in the back of his neck.

Immediately Luca's body came back to life. Only this time, Fynn no longer felt that feeling of rejection when looking at him. He had returned to being the old Luca. Not his brother, but the false Luca who had kidnapped them.