“One, two, action!” A middle-aged kitsune’s voice called out as lights erupted in the dark room. The stone walls seemed to fade away, replaced by a boundless blue sky and a long mountain range. Two figures stood atop two different mountain peaks, their eyes staring at one another.

One of the figures was an elven woman with fiery red hair. Her body was wrapped in the crimson glow of fire ki while her eyes stared hatefully at the man across from her. She wore neither weapons nor armor, simply a black dress with an open back that showed numerous bloody cuts.

Across from her, the black-haired human held a bastard sword in one hand, his eyes gleaming ferociously. He wore light, silver armor dented in numerous places. As the sun began to set over the horizon, his grip on his sword tightened, the earthen light of pure ki shrouding it.

At the final moment of daylight, the two figures seemed to vanish from their peaks, moving at a speed beyond mortal men. In less than a second, they crossed hundreds of meters to clash in midair, the light of their energies illuminating the scene. They exchanged a dozen strikes almost immediately before they were each launched back to the mountaintops. Only, this time they were sent to the opposing peaks from where they started.

The elven woman panted in exhaustion, a new cut forming in the stomach of her dress. Her health bar seemed to be a notch lower than when she left her mountain. Meanwhile, the man staggered to his feet, a hole punched through the chest of his armor. From their recent exchange, it was clear that the woman had come out with the upper hand, but neither side was willing to back down.

“And, that’s enough!” The voice of the kitsune called again, causing the scene to darken and replace with mundane stone walls once again. Nearby, seated within a large folding chair, was the kitsune himself with auburn hair. Though his voice suggested a more advanced age, his face appeared incredibly youthful.

Nearby, sitting atop two circular platforms, were the man and woman that had just been fighting atop the mountains. However, at this time neither of them showed their hateful expressions, giving a content smile. “You’ve really outdone yourself this time, Galahan.” The woman praised as she rose to her feet.

Shaking her shoulders, she used a bit of ki to wipe away the ‘wounds’ on her back, revealing them to be illusory makeup. Similarly, the man stood as well, taking off the dented armor and setting aside his sword. “I concur!” He gave a raucous laugh as he said that, stepping forward and clapping a hand on the kitsune’s shoulder.

“I’m glad you both approve.” The kitsune, Galahan, smiled at the two of them. “I take it that you were able to adjust properly, and there wasn’t any discomfort?”

The elven woman thought about that for a moment. “I must admit, it was strange for me to wield fire ki. Is there really no way for my character to have earth ki instead? It wasn’t uncomfortable as far as the power itself went, just not what I’m used to handling in terms of fighting.”

“Unfortunately, the plot of the story requires the abilities of fire ki.” The kitsune shook his head, feeling somewhat helpless himself. “I can arrange for you to train under a fire ki user if it helps you adjust better.”

“No, that will be fine.” The elven woman smiled. “I’ll get used to it with a couple more sessions.” As she said that, her eyes swept to the platform that she had just been sitting on. “I really don’t know how you created such a realistic scene for us, though. Is it a trade secret, or can you enlighten us?”

“No need to fret, dear.” Galahan let out a light laugh. “It’s not some magic item or the like, but rather a technique I’ve been devising. We live in the age of gods, so naturally we must give a performance befitting the gods themselves!”

While the woman seemed not to completely understand his words, the man’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really? You have stepped on the path?” When Galahan nodded, the human inhaled sharply. “You should value your own life more, Galahan. You know how dangerous it can be.”

“To get the best results, risks must naturally be taken. How many others can claim that they have walked the path of godhood to further a craft?” Galahan asked proudly, allowing the elven woman to catch on to their conversation.

“The domain you pursue, then…” She hesitated, looking at the platforms again.

“Correct, my dear! You are looking at the future God of the Stage!”

As he watched the newly crowned Goddess of Ki leaving with Tsubaki, Fafnir let out a long sigh. His body had been heavily injured in the ambush previously, and he could feel a trace of malicious power remaining in the wounds.

This power could be felt gradually consuming the energy around it, preventing him from recovering naturally. If he did not already possess a perfect body, these wounds would be life-threatening. Even in his current state, he would be unable to tend to himself while fighting.

In order to resolve the problem, Fafnir willingly broke off sections of his body surrounding the wounds, carrying the malicious energy away from his body. This should be the power of Ruin. He thought to himself, studying how the energy ate away at the discarded portions of his body. Meanwhile, he began redistributing his energy to patch up the wounds.

Now that Fafnir had completed his divine soul, it was time for him to begin thinking about what domain he wished to pursue himself. For mortals, this was a very serious issue. He had seen many that were ‘testing the waters’ with various options, and those individuals were never able to display the same level of power as the ones who had set their goal from the start.

What do I want? He asked himself. What domains would befit the mighty Fafnir, the Keeper’s Dragon? He could be the God of Dragons, but what power would that grant him, aside from the ability to command his kin?

Numerous scenes flashed in his mind, all of the half-ascended individuals he had seen over the years coming to the front of his thoughts. There were so many that perished along their path, unable to handle the pain that came with ascension. Each of them had their own ideal of what they wanted to be as a god. Even for those that chose the same domain, the way that they approached it was different.

As he thought about that, he recalled the very first time he had encountered the gods. The day that he had met the Keeper, and the girl that showed the power to talk with him even at his most feral state. The Goddess of Wind, one who would be praised by any flying beast. Thinking about her caused Fafnir to feel the sensation of a breeze passing beneath his wings, the boundless sky above his head.

...That is my choice. My domain shall be the sky itself. As he thought that, he carved that will into his divine energy, standing proudly atop his mountain peak and staring into the great blue expanse above. Dragons were always meant to be the lords of the sky, this much was known to everyone. And now, Fafnir knew that he would claim what could be considered his birthright.

I clicked my tongue as I saw Fafnir’s decision. In truth, I was planning to make him the God of Seals if I had the chance. It would take advantage of his magical talent and allow him to put it to good use. However, I knew that it was best to allow him to pursue his own path, so I had no intention to turn him away from what he had chosen.

“Aha! I’ve found it!” James’ voice echoed out in his research lab, startling his assistants. One of the kitsune twins, Nora, approached from behind curiously.

“Have you finished the scanning formula?” She asked, knowing that he seemed a bit too excited for that to be the answer. Their current research project was to find a way to create a device which could scan a living creature, determine the magic cards it is compatible with, and analyze the formula for those cards.

This seemed to be a bit redundant for research, as they could simply kill the creature after doing a basic scan and get the cards themselves. However, the rampant hunting of beasts within Deckan has begun to impact their ecosystem. The laws of the world would spawn new monsters whenever there were insufficient ones in an area… but those new monsters would not always be the same as the old ones.

The main reason that beasts were hunted in Deckan wasn’t actually for the meat, or even for training combat classes. Rather, it was to harvest the magic cards that would drop on their death. Some of these cards were quite valuable, even more so than the meat of the beast they came from.

First and second tier cards had long since been fully analyzed, and could be synthesized in any major Card Synthesis factory. There were numerous third tier cards that had yet to be perfected, however. And very few fourth tier had been through the process, as it grew more challenging with each level.

This meant that people were still hunting third and fourth tier beasts en masse, with the latter having a greater chance of killing the hunter. It didn’t help that with the growth of the world’s power, fourth tier monsters were more commonly spawning and pushing out the weaker monsters.

According to some scholars, it was only a matter of time before there were fourth tier beasts appearing in low level hunting grounds, unable to sate themselves with the local resources. When that happened, those creatures would naturally leave their territory and attack nearby settlements. As such, this research was given a high priority by the queen.

“Huh?” James blinked, looking back towards Nora. “Oh, that? I finished it a few hours ago. It’s over there.” He pointed towards a stack of papers nearby.

“Dare I ask, sir… what is it that has you so excited, then?” Nora gulped nervously, feeling that she shouldn’t have asked that question. However, as the one that had stepped forward, she could feel the gazes of the other assistants on her back, even that of her own sister.

“Heheh, I’m glad you asked!” James grinned, looking towards Nora, and then her sister Thea behind her. “I found a monster that recently began appearing on the twenty-third layer of Fyor. The Crystal Salamander is able to sever its own tail, which acts as a bomb, and then grow a new one by infusing energy into the stump.”

Nora let out a meek yelp, instinctively clutching her own tail as she realized where this was going. “You’re… not going to ask us to cut off our tails, are you sir?”

“Oh, of course not!” He laughed, shaking his head. “Cutting the tail off is only the method an unintelligent monster would use to access this kind of power. The important factor here is that they are not a creature with an energy body, and thus carry a genetic code. Although their outer layer has been crystallized, they still bleed if you cut deep enough. Combine that with the fact that they are able to grow a physical tail simply by infusing their energy into it… and the evolutionary factor I’ve been looking for is complete!”

As Nora backed away nervously, James seemed lost in his own thoughts. “All I have to do is use the growth ability of this salamander, setting the growth points to be hair follicles in the tail, as well as the tails themselves. With that, the beastkin races will be able to grow additional tails that act as reserve energy batteries.”

“Drawing on those batteries will cause the hairs to lose their luster, and eventually fall off before the tails themselves convert into energy and fade. However, that would require excessive consumption, meaning the difference between a life and death battle.”

The door to the lab opened, and a young kitsune girl walked in. Seeing the nervous states of the beastkin girls present, and how James was muttering to himself, she rolled her eyes. “Let me handle this, girls.” She said, before grabbing a large wrench off one of the tables, testing its weight.

Seemingly satisfied, she walked over towards James, pulling her body up onto the desk beside him. Then, under the mortified gazes of everyone present, she lifted the wrench above her head, and slammed it down against his skull.

A loud thud echoed throughout the room, causing James to abruptly stop his rambling. His eyes slowly turned to look at the girl who struck him, before letting out a bitter chuckle. “Sorry, did I get carried away again?”

“Tsk… I need a better wrench. You could at least pretend like it hurt.” Chelsea teased, dropping the wrench to her side and sticking her tongue out playfully. She knew that there was no way she could possibly injure him with her physical strength, even if she used an energy-dispelling wrench forged by Tubrock himself. That was why she had no hesitation, and struck with her full power.