Time

Three months have passed since Inian started hunting monsters in the monster lands. "Score!" He yelled as he took down a massive beast with swords for arms. Inian extended his arm out, and it became a sword.

Inian smiled, he had been collecting abilities from different monsters for some time now, and his collection had grown a lot. He could glow, breathe fire, poison his enemies, fly, turn his skin into solid steel, and now he could also turn his arms into swords.

"This is so cool," he said to himself while admiring his sword arm.

He changed it back into his regular arm and figured it was time to try and go into the high-tier stage. 'It doesn't matter how many abilities I acquire if I get blown right away right off the bat.'

He needed to increase his endurance as well as power, and he needed to command higher level monsters as well.

He ran into one high-tier monster over the past couple of months, and it nearly wiped him out. It only stopped because it happened to be a monster that was loyal to the king, and it sensed the heart beating within Inian's chest.

Inian shuddered, if that beast hadn't been a loyal one, he would've died right then and there. He looked up at the cloudy sky and could tell that a storm was coming.

Inian had moved north in the monster lands to a more mountainous area, and there were caves scattered all around, so he decided to go into one.

He didn't have to search long to find one that was not too deep and he could easily fit in it. It started to dump rain outside as soon as he sat down on the cave floor. Inian steadied his breathing as he heard the pitter-patter of rain dancing outside the cave.

He felt his heart pump through his chest and could feel his veins bulging. The steady flow of rain was helping him calm his thoughts, and soon his mind went into a half-asleep dream state.

In this half-asleep dream state, he saw the old wolf king, except the wolf shrunk down to Inian's size.

"I see you have been acquiring more abilities, young king. It is a wise decision to make, but now you are struggling with reaching the high-tier stage?"

Inian replied, "I am. I have been repeating the process of trying to have my heart and body resonate over the past few months, yet I feel like there's no progress. I'm not sure what else to do."

The old wolf king smiled a wolf smile, "I struggled at the same stage you are struggling now. It is easy to go from low-tier to mid-tier because mid-tier has to do with physical manifestations. You grow wings, secrete poison, breathe fire from your body, or change your body composition. But the level of monsters does not always have to do with size. The main difference between a mid-tier and a high-tier monster is the abilities they carry. A high-tier monster has external abilities rather than internal ones."

Inian gave the wolf a questioning look. The wolf king sighed, "for example, a monster may have some telekinesis. They can shoot lasers or clone themselves. These are all external abilities."

Inian nodded, "I see, but how does that get me to the high-tier stage?"

The wolf continued, "to get to the next stage, you need to resonate not your body and heart, but more your mind and heart. You will get an external power, and in addition to having your physical abilities exponentially grow, you will gain an external power. That will be a clear sign that you have gone to the high-tier stage."

The wolf gave him one more toothy smile, "good luck, Inian."

Inian's eyes then shot open as a streak of lightning shot across the sky. Knowing what he had to do, he immediately went back to focusing, except this time, he concentrated entirely on resonating his heart and mind.

He felt his heartbeat and thought back to all those times he encountered monsters. He thought about meeting Janae and watching Marc go back to the Empire. He remembered the old mercenary crew and leaving his adoptive family with Marc.

Suddenly, another streak of lightning passed, and it was much closer than the first streak. Inian continued to focus, and he got a massive headache.

The pain behind his eyes was intense, and he gripped his legs in pain. He continued focusing, however and didn't stop his thoughts.

He looked back on his fight with the high-tier monster and remembered how calm the beast was throughout their entire match. He saw it only look in a direction, and Inian was thrown that way.

Soon, Inian had a breakthrough and a streak of lightning shot into the cave, directly striking him.

"AAAAHHHH!!!" Inian screamed as the energy was coursing through his body, but in that second moment when searing pain was streaking throughout his body, it suddenly stopped.

Inian's breathing evened out as he felt the power course through his veins. "wwwheeewww," Inian breathed out.

His strength felt like it had jumped to a whole new level. He stood up, sensing his surroundings.

He could sense a few more monsters than he could before, and he could tell that they were high-tier monsters.

'I've finally broken through to the high-tier stage!' Inian cheered in his mind. Looking down at his hand, he could see lines of electricity jumping between his fingertips. "So lightning, huh?" Inian asked aloud. His first external power as the king of monsters is lightning.

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

"Congratulations Sergeant Marc for joining his majesty's guard detail. You will go back to your room and await further instructions."

Marc saluted the lieutenant in front of him and walked back to his room. He had been working ridiculous hours to get himself promoted. He volunteered for every dangerous assignment and squashed any rebellion happening in the Trostan Kingdom.

His looks changed drastically over the past few months. He had been allowed to grow a beard due to his new rank, and he obtained a scar down from the back of his head to his chest that he got while fighting a mid-tier monster in a version 2 exosuit.

His eyes were dark with a vengeance; it's all he's had on his mind. Now, his moment had finally come.

He will finally get to see the Emporer and will use Inian's exosuit to kill him. 'It will be justice for both of us,' Marc thought, entering his room for one of the last times.