On the planet Aegria, the power system was built around a unique bond between humans and beasts.
This bond was the cornerstone of their strength, as individuals could form a connection with a beast and evolve it to become more powerful.
However, the process was far from simple and often involved difficult choices.
Every newborn on Aegria was born with a Meta-Beast, a creature intrinsically tied to their soul. The strength of the Meta-Beast mirrored that of its holder, but these creatures were inherently weaker compared to other beasts with combat capabilities.
This limitation led humans to discover a way to sever the soul bond with their Meta-Beast and replace it with a stronger beast, thereby enhancing their own power.
The key to this evolution lay in understanding how to switch beasts without harming the holder's soul.
If done correctly, replacing the Meta-Beast with a stronger beast of similar affinity could significantly boost the holder's strength.
However, the process of breaking the bond was both complex and cruel, particularly for the Meta-Beast.
To sever the bond, the Meta-Beast had to be weakened through starvation for months.
Once sufficiently weakened, it was abandoned in the Allura Black Arcane Zone, a treacherous area known for its disorienting illusions.
The zone, built on ancient magecraft, distorted the senses of anyone—or anything—within it, making it nearly impossible to escape.
This made it the preferred location for abandoning Meta-Beasts.
A critical aspect of this process was the distance between the holder and the Meta-Beast.
If separated by more than a kilometer, the Meta-Beast would automatically dissolve into starlight and return to its holder's body, where it would heal due to the host's affinity.
To prevent this, the holder had to accompany the weakened beast to the arcane zone, ensuring the separation was maintained until the Meta-Beast perished.
Once inside the arcane zone, the starved and weakened Meta-Beast, unable to sustain itself, would succumb to the illusions and die from exhaustion and hunger.
This death, while tragic, was necessary to break the bond.
If the Meta-Beast were killed by another entity, it would harm the holder as well, given their shared soul connection.
However, by starving the beast and abandoning it in the arcane zone, the holder could minimize the damage, as the stronger the beast that dies, the greater the repercussions on the host. Therefore, weakening the beast before killing it wasn't important; the holder experienced minimal suffering with the aid of medical staff.
Upon the Meta-Beast's death, the bond was severed, allowing the holder to form a new connection with a stronger beast.
This new bond, established through a broker's linkage, replaced the old one and aligned with the holder's affinity, paving the way for greater power and evolution with a new strong beast.
"Don't tell me you've awakened pity for that useless Meta-Beast," the man said, his voice low and threatening, a frown forming on his chin as he taunted, "Y.o.u.n.g M.a.s.t.e.r."
"For a dirty bastard commoner, isn't your voice too loud, Albrian?" Joseph said, looking towards the man, whose frown and sharp glare indicated he was trying to act tough but was also somewhat respectful, given their situation.
Albrian was one of the head knight members of the 3rd Battalion in Earl Bandiac Avriant's second squad, while on the other hand, Joseph was the illegitimate son of Earl Bandiac Avriant.
'!?'
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" Albrian burst out, his hand tightening on the metal gate of the carriage. He was visibly shaken by being called a commoner, lest a bastard by this illegitimate son of the Earl's third wife and mistress, who didn't even have a family background to support her.
"GRRRRWWW!" Even the wolf-hybrid tiger-beast under Albrian's lease roared, clearly sensing its host's anger, glaring with its eyes towards the carriage and emitting a sharp blue aura as a sign of anger.
"Albrian, stop! Don't act up now," halted the woman knight with a masked face, who came forward from the front of the carriage, riding a black horse-like beast with a red glimmer around it, as if burning in red flames.
She stopped him before turning to look at the young master, also unable to believe what she had just heard.
"Don't you all do your job like loyal dogs? Why care if I pity my beast or NOT!" Joseph, aware that he needed to provoke these knights into hating him during this journey that would most likely take another two days, aimed to hit them at their core—not just to have them mock him behind his back, but to incite true hatred.
To be specific, on Joseph's 13th birthday, the Earl gave him a gift—the chance to switch his Meta-Beast—which Joseph's mother warmly accepted, seeing it as an opportunity for him to rise in position and become strong like his other siblings.
Naturally, Joseph's mother, who always received inferior treatment and had a clear understanding of being regarded as someone not at the level of other mistresses, wanted her son to become strong.
So, without a moment's thought, she convinced Joseph to accept this transfer and switch his Meta-Beast.
The Earl himself sent members of the 3rd Battalion as escorts for Joseph to undergo the process.
Normally, this was a very delicate matter for an heir to be escorted, given the dangerous plains from the theocracy to the arcane forest.
So everyone—at least Joseph and his mother—thought that due to the Earl's orders, no one would take any unkind actions.
'Albrian, the one with a loose screw.' But in the first attempt, it happened that he arrived in this position of the game, not having enough time to realize how this was all part of the second mistress's plan to get rid of Joseph, making him fall into a trap due to being unprepared.
Although he was just like wild grass among the evolving trees in the Earl's house, she wanted to uproot his potential, convincing the Earl to give such a birthday gift to Joseph.
According to his last memory, Joseph had already tormented his Meta-Beast until this game point and was eventually about to abandon it in the arcane forest, from where the second mistress's plan began to make Joseph suffer in search of a new beast to replace his now dead Meta-Beast.
Even the Earl, who had promised him a new beast, seemed to have no time to meet the third mistress, leading her to knock on everyone's doors and realize how she had fallen into the trap of the second mistress. In front of her eyes, Joseph lost his potential for beast taming and became crippled for two years due to backlash.
His fiancée, who was to have been arranged by the Earl, betrayed him after seeing how he lost all possibilities of ever becoming strong enough.
It was natural that when Joseph arrived at this scenario, having already been thrown into a body and this time without having time for any preparation or understanding everything, he found himself crippled due to a secret conspiracy orchestrated by the second mistress.
So, he needed to act fast, and that was why there was no need for him to treat these knights with even the slightest bit of respect.
They were simply following the Earl's orders to escort him to the arcane forest, and nothing else.
They were doing their duty without respecting him as the son of the Earl, so he would also follow his path to make full use of them while they were escorting him.
"Y-you basta—" Hearing being called dogs, Albrian was visibly shaken. Considering he had achieved his rank based on his strength, being treated by a half-blood like this, he pulled the carriage toward him due to anger.
It was evident how there was a slight tilt in the carriage due to his body strength, enforced by the beast's fume—an energy enhancing the bodies of holders based on 20% of their beast's strength.
"Stop, Albrian! Young master, I apologize on his behalf, but I request that you do not use such harsh words." The woman with blue eyes came forward from behind her mask, first looking towards Albrian and then towards the young master.
She gave a small bow before visibly grabbing Albrian's hand, which was holding the carriage, tightening her grip while making her request to Joseph.
'....' Joseph, however, could clearly see that the delicate hand she used to grab his was exerting a strength far greater than Albrian's, causing him to loosen his grip and retreat back while massaging it with the other one, evidence of this woman's strength.
"What is your name?" Joseph, having previously after being crippled and trying to find a solution, had never asked about the name of this woman who, in particular, reminded him of the previous chance where she was killed while protecting his mother after a beast rampaged in the palace.
No other knight in the venue had helped a woman without any family support even though she was the third mistress, but this one tried to help, only to be in vain as she offended the second mistress while doing so.
Just three days later, she was found dead due to some mysterious cause.
"It's Ytrisia Miangial, Young Master," the woman gave a straightforward answer, knowing she had most likely offended him by her actions, but uncaring as she stood there.
"Hm, follow a long route to the zone instead of taking a shortcut through the Darkbanes region. I have some trauma from those monsters," Joseph said, folding his hands with his eyes taking a peek towards Albrian, who was so distant with jaws clenched, visibly angered, evident from his beast too, which seemed enraged, mirroring the emotion of its holder.
Joseph just found it the perfect chance to use Albrian's anger against him.
"Oh, we were naturally not about to take that path to begin with—" Ytrisia was about to inform him that the knight order was not going to take that prohibited region belonging to those nightmare monsters, but she was interrupted by Albrian.
"It's impossible; we need to head back. I received a call from the Earl a few hours ago; we are taking the Darkbanes path. It's decided," Albrian stated, looking coldly towards Joseph with a grin as he turned and, without letting Ytrisia stop him again, pulled the leash as his beast sprinted in that direction, taking the detour and causing, indirectly, the other knights to choose that path as he had already left.
"A-Albrian!? Stop—" Ytrisia was clearly taken aback by the sudden, foolish reaction from Albrian, who took such a dangerous path, endangering his own and even the young master's life, but she was once again interrupted.
"No, leave it, Ytrisia; he will enjoy it," Joseph smirked, looking at the back of the rider on the beast, directing towards the turn within the forest, where the color from green, even in the night, was turning into shadow black.
Seated with his hands now folded, Joseph made the carriage take the route towards the area inhabited by the worst monsters one can encounter here. He knew that, because these knights did not respect his decisions, he needed to provoke them and take work from them.
'Huh?', Ytrisia stood there on her beast as the carriage moved forward with other knights also taking the path. She realized that the young master had intentionally provoked her to take that path, so she increased her speed, closed the carriage gates, and took her initial front position to guide the carriage. "Everyone! Move forward with caution, we are entering the Darkbanes area!"