At the same time that Dorian was approaching the corpses of the dead humans and vampires, his baby lizard form scampering across the cold ground, very far away, an epic battle was about to reach its conclusion.

The Lesser Planet of Tella was sparsely populated, and for good reason. The entire world was dominated by a massive, sweeping desert, with a few large oases spread out. This planet was under the control of the Graal Alliance, a large-scale alliance of beasts and beastlike-humanoids that controlled roughly 6,000 planets.

On this planet, a battle had been raging for days, of such devastating proportions that the weather of the entire globe was affected.

Huge, whirling thunderstorms dominated the sky, crackling with lightning and thunder. Fierce gusts of wind raised sizable sandstorms, throwing the world into chaos.

On the northern side of the planet, there existed a small mountain range, with a few hundred mountains spreading out haphazardly. The Poll Mountains.

This mountain range had radically transformed over the last week.

Enormous, gaping craters spotted the earth, dozens of mountains completely destroyed or carved into. Huge holes could be seen drilled into some mountains, while others had their tops completely sheared off.

A haze of rampant energy covered the area, interacting with the weather and creating lightning storms and dangerous tornadoes.

At the center of this devastated mountain range, a gargantuan beast could be seen, lying on the ground quietly. White essence bled off this huge creature as it shivered, its head slowly rising.

Its body was immense, thousands upon thousands of meters long. It was shaped like a vast, enormous snake, with a white, scaled underbelly, but golden fur covering its upper half. A pair of large, feathered white wings emerged prominently from the top portion of its long body, currently pulled in tightly. The mouth, and face, of this creature were a pale white, and draconic in nature.

A Heavenly Quetzalcoatl.

One that was so badly injured it was unable to move, and slowly dying.

The feathered serpent's eyes twitched as its head turned, focusing on a creature off in the distance.

A 50 meter tall Divine Golden Lion.

The Secondborn, Zero.

The lion's beautiful mane was matted and torn, covered in long tears and burns. Despite that, faint sparks of light flowed comfortably from it, maintaining its majestic air, and it stepped forward with confidence.

A faint, incomplete image of a glassy white Halo could be seen, floating around its head.

"Fourthborn. Your defiance was admirable and lasted for several days. But all things must come to an end."

Zero's voice was calm and collected, booming out and shaking the air itself as he spoke. He began to slowly walk forward, his eyes zeroing in on the legendary creature.

The higher class a Bloodline, the more difficult it was to just absorb it through the blood itself. For Zero to absorb the Heavenly Quetzalcoatl, he would need to absorb the beast en masse after killing it, stealing its Soul Spell Matrix. Some King Class creatures, like the Heavenly Quetzalcoatl, didn't even bleed blood, while others bled blood, but would require so much to form a complete bloodline that it would essentially require their death, or a long, continuous bleeding session.

Even then, many King Class bloodlines would lose their magical properties shortly after leaving the body, becoming useless. The concentration of power and magic was simply too high for their bloodlines to remain self-contained after leaving their body.

The Heavenly Quetzalcoatl didn't respond, remaining silent as it glared at the Divine Golden Lion quietly.

The lion sighed,

"I understand your view on perfection requires silence. I also understand I will not be able to convince you to give your life up to me willingly." He shook his torn mane quietly,

"Nevertheless, I must still absorb you. I cannot reach the culmination of existence if I let even a single one of the bloodlines Father gifted the world slip past me." He sighed again, his voice sincere,

"I am sorry it has to be this way." The lion bowed its head slightly, still walking forward.

It stopped, just a few dozen meters away from the hulking, thousands of meters long feathered serpent.

Just as Zero was about to say something further, something completely unexpected happened.

From out of nowhere, a monkey landed on the ground, between the lion and the dying serpent.

This monkey was about the size of an average human. It had light brown fur, and was wearing a set of simple red pants and dark brown shoes. A large, loose necklace of red beads, each one the size of a small fist, was wrapped around its neck, and it wielded a long red staff, with a quarter of a meter on each end covered in some mystic, glowing gold material.

(Image – https://i.imgur.com/X2tY8ED.jpg)

Zero stared at the monkey, coming to a halt.

The monkey stared back.

The Heavenly Quetzalcoatl tried to stare as well, but fell unconscious instead, its internal injuries forcing it under.

The monkey spoke,

"I'm afraid I can't let you kill this beast, young lion." Its voice was cheerful and sprightly, far belying the serious situation at hand.

"For if I allow that, I will die." The monkey nodded its head solemnly.

Zero closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, they glowed with a powerful white light. The air around Zero began to distort, reality itself twisting as a massive amount of energy covered his body.

"Name thyself, monkey." Zero's voice was cutting, the sense of might and power that rolled off him an unstoppable wave of Aura.

The monkey smiled. A rich, blue Halo formed around his head as he stood strong against the heavy Aura, unmoved.

He returned a sentence with 4 words.

"I am Sun Wukong."

Just by speaking those 4 words, the rampart Aura of the Divine Golden Lion, the devastating thunderstorms and weather that was crashing about, everything abruptly froze, coming to a still. The planet entered a state of deathly stillness, the weather fading.

As Zero faced off against Sun Wukong.

A monkey that fought against the Wizard King, and single-handedly forced him to a draw.

A beast born with a Divine Ability never before seen in the 30,000 Worlds.

The Eyes of God, a power that let him see the best possible course of action in any and every situation, in any moment, and showed him exactly what he needed to do to follow it and succeed, as well as the consequences and results. An Ability that not only manipulated Fate, but allowed Sun Wukong to see through Fate entirely.

Sun Wukong, The Monkey King.

The Almighty Ruler of the Graal Alliance.

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

Dorian tapped a toe against one of the Grakon corpses. The now dead undead was covered in large burns that seared into its body, melting the tough scales that coated it. The corpse was badly mangled, but still very recognizable as a Grakon.

'Ausra, is the Soul Spell Matrix of the Grakon still present?' He mentally queried.

'Scanning…'

'No.'

Dorian blinked at the unexpected answer. Usually, the Soul Spell Matrix of a beast would remain present after its death, at least for twenty or thirty minutes. After that time period, unless it was preserved with magic, the creature would be liable to have their Matrix dissipate.

He looked at the corpse, not understanding.

'Maybe the damage it took was too severe?' If a body was destroyed badly enough, the Soul Spell Matrix could fall away directly, without staying behind.

He checked the rest of the Grakons and got the same odd result. The Soul Spell Matrixes, or the splintered remains of them that should be present, were all gone.

It wasn't a total waste, however. Dorian managed to find several of the magic sword artifacts the Grakons carried, perfectly intact. He found a couple more that were damaged, but most of them were in fine condition. He quickly absorbed the energy from each of these, pleased with the results.

–

Solar Rock Lizard – Growth Stage: (1/5) Baby Lizard –

Growth Progress – 58,842/2,845 –

–

'Not bad.' The energy gains were there. He only had about fifteen more minutes till he could work on Evolving his Solar Rock Lizard form.

Dorian skittered off towards the downed humans and vampires. They were covered in the same type of burn wounds as the Grakons. The injuries were gruesome to look at.

Much like the Grakons, none of their Soul Spell Matrixes remained either, an oddity. However, their bodies still had blood in them, and Dorian absorbed a few of their bloodlines to check.

Their bloodlines were still intact, but Dorian already had the species recorded, True Vampire and Human.

As for artifacts or Spatial Pouches or Rings, anything they had seemed to have been destroyed in the fierce battle. None of their tools were as durable as the magic swords the undead Grakons wielded.

Dorian bowed his head for a moment of silence in respect for their deaths, and then turned back down the road, slinking off towards Icicar.

He moved carefully, not wanting to overtake the group of Shades that had left earlier. Despite that, he once more began to eat up the distance, not catching sight of them as he ran. The undead Grakons paid no attention to a tiny baby lizard like him, giving him essentially free reign as long as he was careful.

His speed now outpaced his speed in his Ifrit form, despite the large gap in size and power. He was able to run at full speed here in his tiny lizard form, unlike his careful prowling as an Ifrit.

Seconds turned to minutes, and soon the last 15 minutes had passed.

'Soul Adaptation period complete.' Ausra helpfully informed him, her voice ringing softly in his mind.

By this point, Dorian had managed to cross the last remaining distance down the Great Road, conveniently skipping over a good two hundred or so wandering Grakons. The closer he got the city, the larger the groups of Grakons moving about.

He didn't find any other expedition teams. Most of the explorers that set off for Blizzaria would stay on the outskirts of the cave systems, exploring the exterior ruins. According to the map Dorian had obtained, there were plenty of villages and towns in the outer portions of the Western Cave System, many of them rife with natural treasure or rare resources, left behind by the fallen race, or spawned in naturally by nature.

'Alright. Don't Evolve me yet.' Dorian ordered as he looked forward. Ausra could hold off on evolving him for at least a minute or two, as long as he didn't switch forms, though any longer than that and he'd need to spend energy points suppressing his growth.

Standing right in front of him was the exit of the Great Road, and the entrance to the Cavern of Ice, where the City Icicar could be found.

The Great Road was a wide, open and long cave passage. It exited into a vast cavern that stretched for dozens of miles into several directions, with long stalagmites and stalactites dispersed throughout, creating a huge, open plain divide by those pillars. Ice and frost covered large portions of the ground, as did the Pourmaline Crystals, lighting the area up.

The exit was just a hole in the wall, albeit a five hundred meters wide and several hundred meters tall hole in the wall. A few Grakons could be seen standing in the middle of the hole, as if on guard.

Dorian snuck out past the hole by climbing the side of the cave, his tiny body virtually undetectable. He scampered forward several hundred meters, and then several thousand meters away from the exit, eventually finding himself a safer location.

A collection of stone ruins, built into the wall of the Cavern of Ice spread out around Dorian as he settled in, sitting atop a small, damaged stone pillar. He took off the Spatial Ring he held, placing it on the ground.

'Evolve me now, Ausra.' Dorian commanded, now that he was out of sight of any potential enemies.

'Evolving to the 2nd Gr-

'Evolving to the 3rd Gro-

'Evolving to the 4th Growth Stage.' Ausra ran through three notifications as she responded.

Dorian's body immediately began to expand, his tiny lizard-like form rapidly growing in size.

His scales gained a rich, green color, reminiscent of his Myyr Dragon form. Small spikes appeared on his spine, pointing outward with sharp edges. Muscles began to pack in on his arms and legs, making him look more like a fierce dragon than a lizard.

His body growth showed the largest change. From a diminutive size barely larger than a hand to a hulking 4 and a half meters, an explosion of growth resulted as he transformed. A long, whip-like tail formed, ending in a sharp spike.

"Raaar." Dorian's throat rumbled as he grunted quietly, a low, guttural sound. He shook out his body, snagging the Spatial Ring he'd set on the ground.

The stone pillar he'd been sitting on collapsed slightly, crumbling to the floor. It wasn't nearly as durable as the Great Road had been.

"Oh, I can speak?" Dorian realized, his smile sharpening as he unintentionally took on a vicious grin. A very human smile on such a large lizard couldn't help but look terrifying.

"Raaaaaaar. I am Reptar. Hear me roooaar!" He mimed quietly, enjoying the new form.

– New Ability Gained –

–

Ability: Hyperion Beam

This rare Ability, found in a very limited number of creatures, allows a being to hypercondense energy in the air into a deadly orb of raw power, and then direct this energy in a concentrated beam. The destructive potential of this Ability is dependent on the strength and power of the user, and can be increased indefinitely as long as the user continues to hypercondense energy from the air.

–

"Snagged it." Dorian grinned in delight as he felt the knowledge of the Ability settle in on him. This was the only powerful Ability the Solar Rock Lizard had, but one that was well worth acquiring.

Ever since he'd seen the mutated Solar Rock Lizard shoot what was essentially a laser beam at him on Taprisha, Dorian had made a mental promise to acquire that power. Partly because he wanted to be able to shoot laser beams too, but also partly because he was impressed by how strong an attack it was.

It matched up evenly with his Emerald Flames, which were a type of dragonfire. His Emerald Flames were limited in scope, however, while the Hyperion Beam could be charged and shot out to incredible heights of power.

–

Solar Rock Lizard – Growth Stage: (4/5) Grown Adult Lizard-

Growth Progress – 4,124/272,123 –

–

Dorian frowned hard when he saw the energy needed to grow the last stage of the Solar Rock Lizard. He remembered, then, that the beast was a Pseudo-Lord Class creature with a bloodline that could naturally reach that level of power.

Dorian had never actually acquired a bloodline on its own that reached that stage. All of his powerful forms were the result of him combining and experimenting with various bloodlines.

When he combined bloodlines, he only needed to spend a few thousand points of energy to merge them. No matter how powerful the Class it resulted in, his form would always be completely maxed out in terms of growth as a result of his unique Soul Spell Matrix.

He shrugged. He would finish maxing it out while he was traveling, it was not a worry. He had already acquired the most important power from the bloodline anyway.

Dorian snapped his fingers, and immediately his body shifted once more, shrinking inward as his Ifrit form reappeared.

His Solar Rock Lizard form was powerful, but ultimately not as strong as his Lord Class Ifrit form. He put his Spatial Ring on his finger, turning his eyes to the west, towards the city he could barely make out in the distance.

BOOOOOOOM

THUD

Just as Dorian was about to set out for it, a resounding shockwave shook the air next to him, blasting into him and throwing him backwards.

Dorian twisted and fell, head over heels as he flew a dozen meters through the stone ruins, smashing into several stone pillars and destroying them. Shards of rock and ice shot into the air, pelting him as he came down.

"What the hell?" Dorian agilely twisted his body as he forced himself to land, digging his right clawed hand into the ground. He tore a small hole in the stone earth as he came to a forcible stop, looking upward in shock.

The ruins Dorian had been resting on were built into the side of the huge cavern, right next to one of the many large passages that led into it.

Standing in this passage was the largest creature Dorian had ever seen.

A one-armed skeleton, covered in ice, stood roughly 220 meters tall, so incredibly gigantic Dorian could not even clearly make out the head of the creature. All he could see were a collection of long, pointed horns, and a strange blue glow that was emanating from the eyes of the creature.

Wielded in its single arm was an extraordinarily large black blade, at least 100 meters long and a half dozen meters wide, that had been thrust into the ground within the ruins. The resulting shockwave from the impact had sent Dorian flying.

(Image – https://i.imgur.com/Ny07Rxs.jpg)

–

Species: Giant-Four Horned Variant (Desiccated)

Class: King Class (Late)

Maximum Energy Level: 2,458,882

–

Dorian's eyes opened wide as he looked at the undead being, his entire body freezing, not daring to move. He drew upon his will, a sheen of sweat covering his Ifrit form's forehead as he put everything he had into becoming as invisible and unnoticeable as possible.

The enormous skeleton had come to a pause. Its head shifted slightly as it turned, glancing down in Dorian's direction. The blue glow from its eyes was clearly visible to Dorian, as were the collection of wide horns on its head, giving it a faintly demonic appearance. The back of the creature seemed to be completely coated in ice, as did parts of its chest, and legs.

Dorian felt his heart seem to seize over as it looked at him.

After a split second, the Giant turned away, its attention focused on the city far in the distance.

It began to step forward, its movements surprisingly quiet for a being so large as it thudded off, stalking forward towards the city in the distance.

.

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