As the crocodile fell without life, Silver panted heavily without taking his eyes off the beast. It was only after the beast did not make a single movement that he finally relaxed.
He fell to the ground while releasing a deep sigh of relief.
"I won."
Silver smiled as he looked at the dead beast.
"I fucking won."
His smile widened, and then he laughed.
"I fucking WON."
His laughter increased, and if not for his self-restraint, his laughter would have become so loud that most beasts in the Outskirts would have heard it.
It took him a minute to fully calm down, and with his back on the ground, he released another sigh while looking at the sky.
He recalled the previous battle, his first life and death battle, and he could not believe it. He could not believe he had won. It almost fell surreal to him.
When he first saw the crocodile emerge from the pond, for a moment, he thought he was not going to make it out alive.
The crocodile was not an Animal.
It was a Feral Beast, and not just any Feral Beast, it was a Feral Beast that was close to becoming a Savage Beast.
Normally, if an average Spartan achieved what he did and killed this beast. The beast would become his or her trophy, and the Spartan would no longer need to look for a beast to kill just to successfully pass his or her rite of passage.
He or she could just keep the corpse of the beast in their storage ring and survive for an entire month.
Killing a peak Feral Beast in ones rite of passage was a feat that would grant fame and reputation to the Spartan. And there multiple reasons for this.
The first was that a low percentage of normal humans could kill animals with just a cold weapon like swords, spears, daggers, and so on.
And almost no normal human could kill a Feral Beast. Most humans needed to either have a cultivation base or have a special talent that could grant them the ability to kill a Feral Beast.
But this is not the case for Spartans.
Spartans are not considered humans, and in a way, they are not humans.
Normal humans do not gain powers and abilities through bloodlines unlike Spartans and other North-dwellers do.
The physical capabilities of an average Spartan was much higher than an average human, and for Spartans, killing an Animal with a cold weapon was not an extremely difficult and almost impossible feat.
However, it was still dangerous and if a Spartan underestimated the beast, then the Spartan could lose his or her life.
As for Feral Beasts?
It was extremely dangerous for normal Spartans to battle a Feral Beast since Feral Beasts were known to be at least five times stronger than Animals.
Therefore, for Silver who was not extremely talented nor was he born with a powerful physique to kill a peak Feral Beast, it was enough for him to be acknowledged by other Spartans.
However, he was a Royal.
And the expectations people had of the Morningstars was extremely high.
"Killing a peak Feral Beast is not enough."
Silver muttered, and then he sat straight.
"Gabriel killed a direwolf when he did not have a shred of mystic energy in him." Silver frowned, "I wonder how he was able to do it."
Sigh
"Anyway. It's currently not my business. Something else has been bothering me." Silver glanced at the beast, and then he looked around.
"How come it was able to enter this place? Why did it even enter this place?"
Silver furrowed his brows with a perplexed expression appearing on his face.
"There are a lot of fragrant lilies in this place. So why in the world would the croc choose to stay here. It should have been uncomfortable and disgusting for him even though he was a peak Feral Beast."
As Silver had this thought, he suddenly remembered another irregularity.
"Also, how come the patrol guards did not notice the beast?"
Silver refused to believe that the patrol guards did not know about the glade in the Outskirts. He also refused to believe that he was the only one to know about the glade.
Although it was his rite of passage, he knew that the patrol guards would still not have left a peak Feral Beast in the Outskirts since it could actually cause a lot of harm and death to hunters, adventurers, tourists, and passerbys alike.
The rite of passage was not meant to kill Spartans. It was basically a way of testing a Spartan's survival skills, abilities, luck, and fate.
"Let's just say I was very unlucky and the beast came after the patrol guards patrolled the Outskirts. However, how unlucky must I be for a peak Feral Beast to come here on the day of my rite of passage?"
Although it seemed like Silver was going to attribute the appearance of the beast to bad luck, he didn't know why, but he had a premonition that there was more to it.
He had a feeling that it was like a prelude to something dangerous.
"Is this what is called a Spartan's sixth sense?"
Silver looked at his arms with a slightly surprised expression.
"Well, mother once told me that I have never experienced it because I have actually never been in danger."
His gaze shifted to the croc.
"But why didn't I feel any sort of danger before I was attacked by the croc?"
Silver furrowed his brows with a pondering expression.
"Maybe it's because that was my first time I was in a dangerous situation? Or maybe it's because the beast was not dangerous enough to invoke my sixth sense?"
"Or maybe I don't just know."
Sigh
Silver sighed while scratching the side of his head.
"Hopefully, it's not because the beast was not dangerous enough. Cause if it is…" Silver glanced at his hands. "... That would mean that what invoked my sixth sense, my uneasiness was because of something truly dangerous."
"And the worst part? It's not because a beast is nearby, but because of a suspicion and a situation."
Silver released another sigh, and then he stood. He walked to the corpse of the crocodile and he touched it.
"I hope I don't die. I still have goals I want to accomplish. And…" Silver paused, and he transferred the corpse of the crocodile to his storage ring, "... I don't want to die in case what I heard during grandfather's meeting with the nine family heads come to pass."
Silver looked at the sky.
"I want to at least die fighting while protecting my home."