Chapter 2: Another World
"So, this world was overrun by magical beasts above five hundred years ago…"
As Leonel was going through the memories flooding his mind, he learned that the original owner of this body was named Leo.
Just Leo.
No surname.
Commoners in this world weren't allowed to have one.
However, if someone awakened the talent of beast taming, they could rise in status and attain nobility. Even the weakest Beast Master would be granted the title of Knight. Only then would they be allowed to adopt a surname from the Beast Hall, usually after he accomplishes a notable or praiseworthy deed.
The world itself was called Skadrial, at least by the humans inhabiting it.
And the strongest human alive was Emperor Louis Von Arvonnon.
But the world hadn't always been like this.
During the apocalypse centuries ago, new races had appeared, especially the Elves and Demons. The two races quickly declared themselves superior to humans, as they were the first to awaken the Beast Taming talents and start fighting back against the magical beasts that had overrun the world back then.
Humans, however, weren't so far behind.
Thanks to their quick adaptability, they too caught up to the other races and began awakening their own talents and joining the fight against the beasts.
Thus began the Dark Age of Apocalypse, an era where the population of every race plummeted drastically.
Billions died.
Cities, kingdoms, and even entire empires collapsed.
The chaos continued for centuries until eventually only three great empires remained.
The Demon Empire Duskir,
The Elven Empire Aeloria,
And finally, the Human Empire Velerath.
But even with all this, the three empires combined had only conquered only about 30% of the world's total landmass, while the rest remained a wild territory, dominated by deadly and monstrous beasts that roamed around them, making the ruling authorities greedy after these habitable and resource-filled territories; however, this greed also created conflicts with other races.
Whenever two factions claimed the same territory, conflict became inevitable, and hostility between the races only grew deeper.
The human emperor eventually passed a strict law in which members of other races were forbidden to roam freely in Velerath. The only exception through which they could be allowed was by being a slave, putting them at an even lower position than commoners.
But that didn't mean common people lived a good life.
In this world, strength defined status and authority.
Since Beast Masters were an extremely rare and valuable resource. They were the ones who helped in the expansion of empires' borders and defended them against magical beasts. Yet every year, out of all the applicants who attempted awakening, barely 1-2% succeeded in awakening a talent.
Because of their scarcity, the empire showered Beast Masters with privileges; they were provided with absolute authority. A Beast Master could literally kill a commoner simply because they were in a 'bad mood', and authorities would not take any actions. Instead, they would twist the narrative and only frame the victim in a bad light.
But that didn't mean that hierarchy didn't exist among Beast Masters themselves.
There were nine ranks, from 1 Star to 9 Star Beast Masters, and each star was further divided into four minor levels:
Low, Intermediate, Advanced and Peak.
Starting from 5 Star rank onward, Beast Tamers were given special titles—
5 Star - Commander
6 Star - General
7 Star - King
8 Star - Emperor
9 Star - Monarch
Emperor Louis himself was an Advanced 8-Star Beast Master.
However, throughout the recorded history since the beginning of the Dark Age, no one had ever achieved 9 Stars. Some even believed such a rank didn't exist at all, dismissing it as nothing more than a myth.
The same ranking system goes for the Beasts too; they are also divided into star ranks, and Beast Masters could only tame beasts that were of equal rank to themselves.
But there is one exception…
10 Star Beasts.
More commonly known as God Beasts.
According to a legend that goes around, the reason the apocalypse started was because two God Beasts fought each other to the death.
And in their battle, their homeland, a world originally said to be unimaginably vast, supposedly even larger than Jupiter, which Leo interpreted, was destroyed and completely disintegrated.
It was a world filled with countless species of beasts across its enormous lands.
And when that world disintegrated, fragments of its land scattered across space and began merging with other planets, including Skadrial, triggering a Beast Apocalypse on them as well.
And the integration still hadn't stopped!
That was the reason why the emperors of the three great empires did everything they could to keep Beast Masters on their side. The dangers of beasts had never subsided, and if they didn't take an aggressive approach, another apocalyptic-like catastrophe could occur again.
After all, in the natural order of this world, the beasts still occupied the top of the food chain.
The three racial nations might call themselves empires, but in truth their territories were crude and unstable.
Cities were built only after powerful beasts in the area had been slain. And once the dangers were cleared, walls were erected around them, and people would begin to settle inside.
How do they come to those cities?
Travel between cities was only made possible thanks to spatial beasts, creatures that possessed the teleportation powers.
And because of this, strange situations often occurred. A city belonging to the Elven Empire might exist deep inside a territory dominated by humans or demons. If discovered, the city would be attacked from every direction, and its inhabitants would inevitably end up as slaves.
And despite the miserable living conditions inside these cities, poor hygiene, almost no maintenance, and absolutely no human rights, people still chose to live there.
Even when ordinary citizens and slaves were treated like livestock, no one dared to leave.
Yes.
Dared.
Because outside such towns and cities, magical beasts roamed freely.
Only capable Beast Tamers could travel freely with the help of their spatial beasts, and such tamers strictly followed the imperial command.
Once they dropped someone off at a city, the rest depended entirely on your luck.
Whether you found a decent overseer… or a tyrant of that place.
But that rarely happened, as 'good' people had nearly become extinct when Beast Masters rose to power.
Nowadays, the definition of a 'good person' has become absurdly low.
If you saw someone being murdered in front of you simply because their face wasn't up to standard of someone, and all you did was sigh and mutter…
"Damn… what a poor soul."
Then congratulations.
You were considered a good person.
Leo was going through all of these memories while sitting in a lotus position. One hand rested on his knees while the other supported his head as he stared at the cracked stone wall before him.
After a long moment, he muttered quietly.
"Damn."
"Looks like people here are made using the general from my previous life as a base… then evolved into worse variants."
Even though his tone sounded light, his expression was completely serious.
"This…"
"…is a problem."
"A huge problem…"