Pantheon of Mythical Beasts [3]

Terra's expression turned somber, and her voice was laced with a hint of sorrow. "Gustavo's legacy was too powerful, and the gods feared his ability, so they conspired against him, and…"

The scenery shifted, and Nox witnessed a gruesome battle. Gustavo, surrounded by his loyal beasts, fought against an army of gods. The skies were filled with the cries of clashing dragons, and the earth shook beneath the feet of the ancient leviathans.

Nox's eyes widened as he saw Gustavo, his body battered and scarred yet still standing tall. The warrior's aura flared brighter, and he unleashed a mighty roar that sent the gods stumbling back.

"The god magic, god of war, god of hunt, or Swords. However you name it, they're all a bunch of selfish bastards," Terra spat out venomously.

For the first time in this dream world, Nox felt anger radiating from the beautiful feline goddess; even her face was twisted to a sneer at the mention of the gods.

'This feeling…it's very similar to talking about those who murdered your parents or those who took something very important from you,' Nox noted; this was the only thought that came to his mind as he watched the unfolding battle.

"After battling for 20 days and nights, those hypocrites finally defeated Gustavo and his loyal companions."

"Why do they want to get rid of him so bad?" The boy tilted his head to the goddess. "Of course I know, it's because the Beast Taming class is strong, but still…"

Before he could continue rambling any further, Terra interrupted.

"It was because he tamed the Dragon Goddess, Tiamant."

Silence!

Absolute silence fell over this mysterious realm for a long time as Nox sucked in his breath.

Without Terra explaining, he instinctively knew the reason why the gods were so adamant about getting rid of Gustavo…

They were simply insecure!

With such power, the gods feared that if they allowed Gustavo to continue growing stronger, he would eventually enslave them all and reduce them to nothing more than loyal servants, or even worse, turn them into literal dogs, forcing them to obey his every command.

And if there was one thing the gods despised most…it was serving another god!

"After defeating my vassal," Terra continued, her fist clenched, "they decided to annihilate him along with all the beast tamers on Eos and erased the Beast Taming class from existence."

The scenery changed once again, and Nox and Terra found themselves in the grand hall where the rest of the beings with animalistic features were still seated.

"This brings us to the reason for you being here," Terra, now seated on her grand throne, spoke. "How would you like to continue Gustavo's legacy and be my new vassal?"

Nox pondered for a while then looked up at the beautiful goddess. "How about no!"

Gasp! Gasp!

Several gasps escaped the lips of the beings as they held each other even tighter.

"We're doomed. He's the 1,000th person who has rejected the offer now."

"Tsk, she should have just sent him to Eos; why show him Gustavo's fate? Of course, any sane person would refuse."

"Mommy, what is the human saying? Are we going to die?"

"No, we won't. A worthy vassal will finally appear," a mother said to her child as she muttered in a low voice, 'I hope so.'

'I thought he was different; was I wrong?' Even Terra had a solemn expression. She had high hopes for this one after seeing his fearless personality, but did she judge too early? At this rate, after 1,000 rejections, would they even find a worthy vassal?

The reason they were so hellbent on finding a vassal was their will to continue living. All the beings here were the gods that made up the pantheon of Beast Taming.

But for these gods to thrive, they needed Celestial Energy, which was supplied only by followers of their Pantheon—Beast Tamers.

Because of the annihilation of all the Beast Tamers, the Pantheon of Mythical Beasts lacked followers. This was the reason Terra had only a little amount of Celestial Energy…according to her estimate, it would be exhausted by the time she summoned one more soul.

Previously, their numbers were in the millions just like the other Pantheons, but because of the lacking Celestial energy required for them to continue living, most of the members had no choice but to sacrifice themselves so that their goddess could summon a vassal, but from the look of things, their sacrifice would be wasted.

"If we don't find a worthy Beast Tamer soon, our pantheon will fade into oblivion. We'll be nothing more than a forgotten myth. All of their sacrifice would be for naught," Terra thought about this as she clenched her fist to the point blood was dripping from her hands.

She looked at all the members of her Pantheon who were looking at her with hopeful eyes, but how would she tell them that she could only summon one more soul?

"Ptff!!! Hahahahaha!" While the hall was covered in gloominess, a loud laughter burst out from the center of the hall.

'So he's still here?'

For a moment, the gods had forgotten about Nox's existence and were deliberating about their fate, but now that they saw him laughing manically at their situation, they were suddenly enraged and wanted to torture his soul to death here and there.

But before they could do anything, Terra's face suddenly lit up as she gestured for them to remain in their positions.

"Don't tell me." A small smile twitched at the corner of her lips. 'I knew I didn't choose wrong; this little rascal was just pulling our legs all this while.'

"Of course, I accept!" Nox screamed at the top of his voice. "It would be stupid of me to waste this opportunity! Who wouldn't want to stand on the shoulders of giants?"

Although it was a dream, Nox couldn't help but say this because this was how he felt after witnessing Gustavo's battle against the gods. With his powerful beast companions, he was almost invincible!

Hearing him, every being present on the grandstand erupted into boisterous cheers of joy…with renewed hope, they hugged each other while sharing tears of joy and snot.

Gunri, although he didn't want to show this cocky human that he was happy, couldn't stop his hand from trembling in excitement.

"I, the god of Wolves, grant you the cunning and loyalty of my pack!"

Out of excitement, one by one the gods began to bestow their good wishes on the one who had rekindled the hope in their hearts.

"I, the god of Horses, give you the speed and endurance of my galloping herd!"

"I, the god of Bears, give you the strength and resilience of my mighty kin!"

"I, the god of Snakes, bestow upon you the agility and stealth of my slithering companions!" the beautiful python, who initially thought Nox would disrupt the peace of Eos, hissed with a subtle smile.

Listening to their good wishes, Nox didn't think too much, but little did he know that each of the gods' blessings was strengthening his soul.

With a radiant smile, Terra silenced everyone and said in a serious voice, "With the blessings of all the gods, you are now ready to begin your journey, but before that, there is one last thing you'll need to aid you in your mission."

Following her words, a roulette with names of different talents scribbled on it appeared, but for some reason, all these talents were blurred out.

"Spin it," Terra beckoned, the beautiful smile still on her face.

With a nod of his head, Nox spun the roulette, and after what felt like a minute, it came to a stop.

"A dual talent. Good, it seems even lady luck is on your side. For some reason, the smile on Terra's face bloomed. The same could be said for the rest of the gods, and they were whispering among themselves in hushed, excited tones.

It seemed that whatever talent Nox chose was pretty good.

After instructing Nox on what to do, the feline Goddess spoke. "We will meet again when you unlock your job Profession. For now, you're dismissed."

"Sigh, am I finally waking up now?" Nox thought as he felt his body turning into particles before he faded into nothing. As he finally disappeared, his words lingered.

"This dream took longer unlike the others…such a shame I didn't court the cat woman."

"Huh?" The gods looked at each other confusedly.

Cough! Cough!

Terra coughed lightly, her cheeks turning red. This was the first time someone had dared to say such brazen words to her face.

And what did he mean by dream?

The feline goddess decided to stop thinking about it and change the topic. "Shall we see what talent our vassal selected?"

""Yes""

From the angle they could tell it was two powerful talents, but still, they couldn't stop themselves from looking at it.

With a wave of the goddess's hand, the talent Nox selected shone in the grand hall for all the gods and goddesses present.

…

<Mimicry (Passive Talent)> Allows the user to mimic the nature of any ability that exists as long as he has seen it or come in contact with the original owner. +1 skill per level.

<10x Upgrade (Active Talent)> Automatically evolves any mimicked skills by 10x its original power, allowing the user to exponentially surpass the original owners' abilities.

…

Example

The skill "Mimicry" activated! - Target: Cosmic Entity Arkea - Successfully copied Skill "Gravity Manipulation"!

Description: Gravity Manipulation Creates a localized gravity field, slowing enemies within a 5-meter radius by 20% for 5 seconds.

<10x upgrade detected new Skill>

<Upgrade skill 10x>

Description: Gravitational Singularity Creates a singularity that pulls in enemies within a 20-meter radius, dealing 5,000 damage and stunning them for 5 seconds. Allies within the area gain a 30% damage boost for 10 seconds.

…

"Holy moly!"

All the gods simultaneously jumped to their feet when they saw the skills.

They were all shocked!

How was something like this even possible!

"H-he's an anomaly! He shouldn't exist!" Gunri pointed out with trembling hands.

With this talent, Nox was bound to disrupt the universal laws and balance of Eos!

"Hehehehe, if those bastards thought Gustavo was overpowered, then they should prepare for a rude awakening," Terra tried hard to control her reaction but in the end, she couldn't help but let out a cold smirk as she looked forward to her vassal's journey in the world of Eos.