'Thank you tattoo, this is my damn lucky day!'
Aldo is looking at the glowing red light in delight as if he just found a treasure chest that will make him the richest man in the world! He holds the glowing light with great care.
In his hand lies a beast core that almost takes the shape of a wolf's head.
For beasts that are already nearing the high-tier realm their beast core will turn into a little figure of themselves, if their beast core turned completely into their own figure then they successfully reach the high-tier realm which their beast core will now turn into Beast Jewel.
Not only does this beast jewel the sign of a high-rank beast but some of them will contain elemental essence, this elemental essence will give a boost to an Ego Fighter's Ego beast which might even evolve an Ego Beast's tier if given enough elemental essence.
But an Ego Fighter can only absorb elemental essence that is compatible with their Ego Beast, if not then they won't be able to absorb it.
Aldo has never seen a beast jewel before but he once heard about it from a visitor of Pendle Village that boast of having this Beast Jewel, it's fascinating to hear about the stories so many of the people in the village listen to this story.
He said that a beast jewel might contain elemental essence and although very rare, a middle-tier beast core might also contain elemental essence but that's a one in a thousand chance.
From the looks of the beast core in Aldo's hand, it has almost taken the full shape of the wolf so it's very near to becoming a Beast Jewel. But what excites him more is the hovering fire inside of the beast jewel that is visible dancing inside.
'It's an elemental essence!', Aldo exclaimed while looking at the beast core.
After realizing that he's holding a beast core that contains elemental essence, Aldo immediately hugs the beast core before he looks around fearing someone might take it from him.
This is something very valuable even for a powerful Ego Fighter.
Upon holding the beast core, his tattoo glows again signing that this is what it's reacting to.
Aldo then put the middle-tier beast core into his pouch before he intends to leave excitedly, he wanted to absorb it as soon as possible. This middle-tier beast core should push him into the first circle if not higher.
But just as he wanted to leave, the tattoo hurts him again.
"What is it now?", Aldo asks the tattoo helplessly, he then looks around before his eyes fall to the Elusive Iron Deer's carcass as a thought comes to mind.
Looking at the carcass, Aldo almost forgot about the deer carcass.
If the wolf died alongside this Elusive Iron Deer then it must be as strong as the wolf, so naturally, it also has the beast core inside its body that is also a middle-tier beast core.
Aldo approach the carcass before his eyes landed on the two fang wound on its neck.
Since the beast is a powerful middle-tier beast then its skin is probably too hard for him to penetrate with his sword, so he decided to use the fang wound on its neck and puts his hand inside trying to locate the beast core.
While rummaging the carcass' insides, Aldo's hands stumble with a warm thing.
The warm thing that he already grabs is circular so he thought that it's certainly the beast core, and true enough it's another yellow middle-tier beast core that is the size of a soccer ball.
Feeling exhilarated, Aldo then puts the beast core inside his pouch before standing up.
'It's a shame that I can't bring their carcasses back, they're probably heavier than the Earth Stripe Cow', Aldo thought in disappointment, he then heard a couple of sounds coming from the bushes before he instantly ran back to the Earth Stripe Cow's carcass.
The wolf and the deer are very powerful, so other beasts will be attracted to their carcass.
If Aldo stayed for long then he will be surrounded by beasts and he will be in trouble then, so he was forced to leave the place leaving the precious two carcasses of middle-tier beasts.
A moment later,
After dragging the Earth Stripe Cow to the house, Aldo didn't sit idle and instantly sit on the ground in front of the house where he usually trains. The sun is already shining bright in the sky at this point. Remembering what Diane taught him to reach the first circle, Aldo decided to train his sword skill and also his hand-to-hand combat skill.
Just like what Diane told him before, to reach the first circle is entirely dependent on the Ego Beast.
But she also told him that usually, an Ego Fighter that wanted to reach the first circle will tire themselves first to the point of exhaustion before trying to break through to the first circle.
The idea behind that is when they're tired, they can feel their Ego Beast more.
So with that in mind, Aldo started to train in front of the house. He puts his all into each swing of his sword, each kick, each punch just to exhaust himself so that he can reach the first circle successfully without any bottlenecks.
After the sun turns golden and started to drown, Aldo falls to the ground in exhaustion.
With his non-stop training every day he can train with little to no rest from morning until the afternoon, but this time he really puts his all into the training resulting in him being drenched in sweat from head to toe.
His heavy breathing coupled with his reddened face shows that he's very tired, he can't even move at all from the intense training he did just to prepare his body.
It took more than half an hour for Aldo to regain his composure.
Aldo then stands up with a bit of difficulty before he took the middle-tier beast core inside the pouch he puts on the chair in front of the house, he took the one that belongs to the wolf beast.
While looking at the beast core, Aldo stopped in thought.
'I don't even know what element is compatible with my Ego Beast, but then again what is my Ego Beast? Let's just try it out', he thought before sitting on the ground and closing his eyes.
With the middle-tier beast core in his right hand, Aldo started to steady his breathing.
In order to absorb the beast core he needs to fully calm his mind and body just like floating on water, he needs to be as calm as possible and feel the raging energy inside the beast core before directing the energy into his body.
On the outside, the red energy inside the middle-tier beast core slowly got absorbed by Aldo's body. Slowly but surely, the red energy started to envelop Aldo's body completely.
Aldo is focusing on absorbing the middle-tier beast core without realizing that the tattoo on his right arm started to glow again, the splashes of fire from the elemental essence inside the beast core started to blaze but all of it got absorbed by the tattoo.
Even with half of his body on fire, Aldo didn't feel anything at all as the tattoo absorb it all.
The tattoo on his right arm is like a hungry black hole that absorbs the blazing fire down to its last speck, nothing was left from the elemental essence of the beast core and after that the right tattoo absorbs the energy coming from the beast core.
It didn't take long before Aldo opens his eyes and look at the beast core in his hand in confusion.
'Hmm? It's finished already?', he thought in confusion.
Usually, when he's absorbing the lower-tier beast core he needs a couple of hours to absorb the energy completely, but this middle-tier beast core got completely absorbed just after about ten minutes or even less.
This confused Aldo, but immediately after that.
Out of nowhere, a surmountable amount of energy bubbled inside of him. Aldo inspects his body in surprise, and before he can do anything a blast of energy exploded from his body.
Boom!
The explosion destroyed the ground around him and even cracks appeared.
Aldo recover from the explosion of energy before he suddenly felt his body start to get filled with power, the tattoo on his right arm glows violently before a subtle red aura started to form around his body just like some sort of cloak.
Upon looking at this, Aldo stands up in shock before he looks at his arms.
But not only his arms but his entire body is surrounded by this red aura, and this red aura looks thicker than Ivor's aura that he saw weeks ago that is only as thick as paper but his red aura is as thick as a brick.
'No way... is this the first circle?', Aldo thought in utter surprise.
Although he already expected that with the middle-tier beast core he will reach the first circle, but he never expected that it only takes him ten minutes just to break through the first circle realm.
He was already prepared to absorb this middle-tier beast core for weeks ahead.
But who would've thought that he managed to break through just like that, it only takes almost a month since he become an Ego Fighter but now he reaches the first circle!
Diane said that some Ego Fighters need years to reach the first circle, and she will be surprised to see him reach the first circle in under a month! It's simply unbelievable!
'Hah! She said that I have a talentless body but look at me now!', Aldo thought excitedly.
After realizing that he has reached the first circle, Aldo looks to the side before he approaches a thick tree that is bigger and thicker compared to the other trees.
Getting into his battle stance, Aldo's eyes blaze with excitement.
He can't wait to test out how much power have now after reaching the first circle.
Diane has told him that an Ego Fighter with a lower-tier Ego Beast will probably be able to break a tree with a punch, and the strength raises according to the Ego Beast's tier and Ego fighter possess.
But as for the incident that happened a couple of days ago, Aldo doesn't know his Ego Beast anymore. At first, he thought that it was still a mesial lower-tier tiger but now he's not sure what his Ego Beast is anymore and also the tattoo on his right arm that seems to be alive.
'Let's see how powerful my Ego Beast really is', Aldo thought.
Aldo positioned his center of gravity better as he lower his stance, he pulls his arm back while taking a deep huge breath. When he's ready, his eyes glisten fiercely before he punches the tree in front of him with all his might.
The tattoo on his right arm glows violently alongside Aldo swinging his fist.
Swoosh!
Boom!!
Under his wide eyes, not only does the tree that he punched got completely obliterated but the force of his punch even completely thrashed three other trees behind the one he punched as they all tumble over.
But that is not what Aldo most surprised about,
There is a splash of fire that appears right after his fist makes contact with the tree, it's not powerful but it created an explosion sound as if his punch is a bomb. Aldo stands there frozen in place while looking at his front that is destroyed by his own punch.
Seeing this, Aldo started to chuckle to himself like a mad man.
He can't hold onto his excitement as he laughs out loud, 'I don't care what Ego Beast I have, as long as it makes me this strong then I'm not complaining', he thought.
Now that he absorbed the beast core and reach the first circle, Aldo got a hint that his Ego Beast is compatible with fire. Since he got a couple of visions regarding fire, he's not surprised by this.
After laughing at his contentment, he turns around before his eyes land on his pouch.
There is one more middle-tier beast core inside that pouch belonging to the Elusive Iron Deer, the smile on his face turns into a smirk as he gets the pouch and takes out the beast core before a bright yellow light filled his vision.
'How strong will I become if I absorb this one too?'