Even after having hunted the beast, he didn't relax; his body was still tensed as he looked around. The disturbance that alerted the elephant was caused by somebody he was sure of.
He looked into the bushes and the trees as his mental energy was being consumed at a rapid pace.
"No need to look for me so much, Little Lizard."
A hazy voice was heard as a completely black tiger appeared before him. Hearing the voice, his eyes widened. After all, the only beast that can talk in a common language and most languages are Beast Lords.
The tigers glowed with a purple glow as he stood at a height of five meters, a very small existence for a beast lord.
"Not bad, I thought it would be a mutual destruction situation."
He muttered as he looked at Nexus with a sly grin. Hearing his words, anger surged in his heart, but he suppressed it.
"Oh, are you angry at me, little lizard?"
His voice became majestic as his paws pressed his head to the ground, his heart skipped a beat as a feeling of death surrounded his body.
"Don't worry, little lizard, I won't kill you. Though you must understand, little lizard, this time you managed to live not because of your strength but because of the mercy shown by the strong."
A distant voice echoed as Nexus etched them in his heart. It seems that due to his easy life, he had become somewhat arrogant. No matter how good his talent is, no matter how high his potential may be, if he loses his life they it will also disappear like smoke.
"Thanks for your teaching, I shall pay you back by giving you a little beating in the future."
He softly muttered to himself as he bit down on the dead body of the elephant. Just as he was about to move, he heard a laugh from the distance. He recognized the voice; it was the voice of the black tiger.
His heart turned cold as his body tensed, but after a while, only silence followed. He cursed his self-talking habit and quickly moved the body with full force.
"Not bad, it's good to have some backbone for a beast."
The Black tiger, also called the Night Tiger, muttered as he watched Nexus's disappearing figure. According to his lord's command, he had been testing all the strong among the intelligent beasts.
They had done some investigation and found that it wasn't the work of some mage or Abyss Gods' servants. So it was either natural or the work of a higher existence, in both cases they didn't dare investigate further.
It was also due to this that they chose not to slaughter all the intelligent beasts; if they are natural, they carry the words luck, and if it was artificial, they are a piece of some giant plan.
They instead chose to test them, after all, the thing a beast values most is strength. They will choose the strongest among them and give them a test.
The overall result will determine if they will be driven out of the forest or be allowed to stay.
"Roarrrrrrrr!!!!"
Hearing the victorious roar in the distance, a smile appeared on his face; that little tiger didn't disappoint his expectations.
He had given the tiger, who had just ascended to Eilte Beast rank, one of the most difficult challenges. To survive the attack of the lord of this park in the forest.
He was quite happy, after all, as a tiger-type beast, he would naturally favor a genius among their race.
After five hours of cutting the meat and digging the pit, Nexus finally managed to put all the food inside his cave. He put the elephant's heart in his inventory after all, it contained quite a decent bit of earth elemental energy.
"I need to reach adulthood."
He muttered to himself as he started to feast; the only sound heard in the cave was chewing and slurping.
The forest wasn't as quiet as his cave. Time continued to pass as the top players faced various challenges; some perished, but most overcame them, be it through strength or wisdom.
One of the most famous being Raymond, the Burial Tiger, yes, he managed to evolve in these seven days. Not only that, by pure luck, his earth and dark elements began to break down, producing a specialized element known as the Death Element.
Although a specialized element isn't necessarily stronger than normal elements or combination elements, they get their name because they specialize in one aspect.
The specialized aspect of the death element is its overwhelming lethality. It is said that among all existing and known elements, the death element has one of the greatest killing powers.
Plus, the fact that the future potential of the death element is very high, the King of this region gave him special attention.
He was forced to survive the attack of the entire forest wolf pack of the eastern winding forest. One must know that the one leading the pack is a Peak Elite Beast, and it has more than ten other elite beasts under it.
Thus, if not for the mutual cooperation of the Heavenly Tiger Alliance and the Mutual Aid Alliance, he might have died today.
Though it was a matter of the past, after all, he managed to survive a full three hours under such an attack before the wolves withdrew.
The information about the test also spread among the players due to the publication of the White Feathered Eagle. The players also breathed a sigh of relief as they had unknowingly survived a crisis.
Though a sense of danger still lingers in their hearts, especially for the top players. They understood even more that without power, their lives would be left to the whims of others.
Just like that, a month passed since the players came to this world, and the situation and power dynamic among them had more or less stabilized.
Each alliance had carved out a territory for itself, as most top players had already reached the rank of Elite Beast. Though only the Burial Tiger had done its evolution, as even with his enviable bloodline, his upper limit was the lowest among them.
In fact, his upper limit was equal to most of the common players; if not for his having great strength in the early stage, he wouldn't have reached today's height.
Inside the cave, Nexus woke from his long slumber, his four-meter-tall body almost touching the cave ceiling as his ten-meter-long body could coil around the pond.
He had finally reached adulthood, also known as the peak of Initial Beast Rank. His eyes opened as he looked toward the center of the pond.
The three poisonous lotuses floating in its middle were releasing an intense wave of poison element, so much so that even he felt a wave of discomfort.
One can understand through this just how poisonous these three lotuses are, though his body also hungered for them. Tearing his face away from the three lotuses, he looked at his system panel.