Akata quickly and silently came to the palace that was in the center of the island. It wasn’t a true palace like one’s that mortals built, but more like a large dome shaped building. At the entrance of the palace there were two guards, one from the Scarlet Tiger race and the other was an ape-like beast like the one he saw previously. Akata walked up to the guards.

“A mortal?” The ape-like beast said disbelievingly. He stepped forward and called out. “Ahahaha! I didn’t expect to see a mortal walking around here. And to think you would approach this spot of all places. Well I haven’t ever eaten a mortal before but I heard they were pretty tasty.” The beast licked its lips and then reached out a hand toward Akata.

The Scarlet Tiger wasn’t paying any attention until he heard the beast beside him speak about a mortal. ‘A mortal? The only one I know about is…’ At this thought, the Scarlet Tiger’s face immediately filled with fear and anger. “What do you think you’re doing?! Get away from him this instant!” His voice echoed out, drawing attention to the entrance of the palace.

The Scarlet Tiger instantly charged to try and stand in the way of the beast and Akata but he had been too slow to react. The beast had already reached out toward Akata. Akata tried to evade but how could he? This beast was in the Beast Rank after all. He was grabbed a hold of and started to be squeezed as he was dragged back.

It was then that the ape-like beast heard the Scarlet Tiger’s words and came to a stop. “What do you mean what am I doing? I’m about to kill this mortal for coming into our territory. Is that a problem?” He said rather irritated.

“Is that a problem? Of course it’s a problem!” The Scarlet Tiger yelled out. By now a crowd was beginning to form around the entrance of the palace. When they saw the scene all of them were surprised but some for different reasons.

“Let go of our savior!”

“What is a mortal doing here?”

“Kill him! What are y’all waiting for?”

“Release him this instant!”

Cries and yells rang out. Clearly the crowd was divided. The Scarlet Tigers on one side and the rest of the beasts on the other. Some people, however, could see this division and thought it was really strange.

The only reason the ape-like beast didn’t disregard the Scarlet Tiger and immediately kill Akata was because the Scarlet Tiger’s were the rulers of this island. Their word held much more sway than any other beast here. When he looked out into the crowd and heard the various Scarlet Tigers cursing him, he immediately got a bad feeling.

In fact the other beasts that were yelling for him to kill the mortal slowly lowered their voices as they realised the Scarlet Tiger’s were defending the mortal. Although it was weird, for now they wouldn’t do anything to him. The ape-like beast released Akata and looked at him weirdly, as did the other beasts.

The Scarlet Tigers on the other hand, bowed down and said, “Welcome back savior!” This scene caused the minds of all the beasts to reel in shock and confusion. Even Akata was lost. He didn’t think that the Scarlet Tiger’s thought that benevolent of him.

The Scarlet Tiger guard took a step forward and said directly to Akata, “Young Lord Tabet has been waiting for your secluded training to end. He has asked that you see him immediately after you finish. I will call someone to lead the way.” With that he gestured Akata over and told him to stand inside of the palace.

All of the beasts thought that this was crazy and that they were hallucinating. They had never ever treated a mortal this well before. Yet, the leading tribe of this place was actually welcoming this mortal with open arms and even calling him savior?

Akata dusted off his clothes and nodded his head. In truth he was actually very scared that he would have lost his life just then. He didn’t even qualify to resist that ape-like beast just then. His life was literally in the hands of that beast.

‘I definitely need to get stronger. There are way too many people who could effortlessly kill me as I am right now.’ Akata thought to himself, still shaken. He walked through the entrance and into the palace.

Most of the beasts looked at him strangely. In the Scarlet Tiger’s eyes could be seen praise, but in the other beast’s eyes could be seen confusion.

Once Akata entered he saw that the inside of the palace was simply huge. It was covered with golden walls and floors and had many places to rest. There was a stage and even a place to eat. The palace looked to have many rooms within it and Akata could even see a place that led downwards, clearly that went to the cave that was under this palace.

As soon as Akata walked in, a Scarlet Tiger greeted him. “Hello savior, my name is Lawou, one of the servants here. I will now lead you to where Young Lord Tabet is.” She spoke softly and with devotion.

To Akata, it seemed as if since the announcement that changes would be happening, the Scarlet Tiger’s were filled with much more happiness and hope for the future. It was a great fundamental change for them on a whole.

Akata nodded his head in agreement and followed behind Lawou. Everywhere he passed there was gold. However, he knew that this wasn’t normal gold but rather, the Outer Element of Holy blessing the various areas of the palace.

Soon, Akata arrived at a room that was filled with gold. Inside of the room he saw a young Scarlet Tiger sitting there with his eyes closed and two runes circling around him. There was a purple rune and a green rune. Each rune held all of his insights into the elements they corresponded to. Purple was the Inner Element of Illusions while green was the Inner Element of Wood.

The two runes slowly grew closer to each other, until they overlapped. The runes attempted to superimpose on each other and gradually they started to look like one rune. Colors flashed and an intense pressure started to radiate out from the runes as the combining process started. If it was successful, Tabet would be able to wield those two elements together. But if it failed, it would mean his insights into the two elements were lacking and he would have to spend more time learning.

Akata simply waited there as he watched Tabet attempt to combine the two different runes. Balance was one of the most hardest things to achieve in nature. But if balance was achieved then, overwhelming changes would occur, whether positive or negative.

After roughly a half an hour the two runes finally became one and Tabet opened his eyes. Lawou had long since left to attend to other matters, but Akata was still there. He laughed heartily and said, “Congratulations Tabet on fusing two different runes.” Akata smiled genuinely toward Tabet and walked forward.

Tabet saw Akata standing there and immediately called out, “Akata! I’m glad to see you.” Tabet was about to get up when Akata stopped him.

“No no no. You need to focus on remembering this feeling before you forget and have to try all over again.” Akata said sternly.

It was only then did Tabet remember what he was doing. “Ah!” He closed his eyes and began to focus his mind on the fusion of the two runes. After a bit of time he let out a breath and waved his hand, dispersing the rune. He opened his eyes and smiled merrily as he got up. “Hahaha. It seems like it’s been forever since I last saw you.” Tabet said happily.

“It’s only been three weeks at most.” Akata replied.

“Yeah, but a lot has happened in these three weeks. I’m sure you’ve noticed that right. You’ve probably just gotten out of secluded training so let me show you around. I’m sure you’ll be surprised.” Tabet laughed.

“Sure why not? We can catch up while we walk around also. Let’s go.” Akata laughed as well.

The two then set off out of the palace and walked around the island. Tabet showed the trading areas, the hunting groups, and the villages. He told Akata about the various tribes that were brought in and what they could do.

“All in all, I say about ten different tribes have been brought in and tens of different beasts. The most notable tribes would be the Meteor Wolf Star Tribe controlled by the Star Wolves, the Earthen Beast Tribe controlled by the Gatorapes, and the Flying Dragon Snake Tribe controlled by the Wyrms. They are the top tribes besides my own Scarlet Rune Tribe.

Those three tribes are considered top tribes because of only one thing, each of them have an expert who has reached the Temporal Rank. However, my grandfather is the strongest and also one of the youngest so he has the most power and influence. If Great Priest Bayou didn’t betray the tribe, then we would have two experts in the Temporal Rank, but alas…

Anyways, that’s most of what has happened so far. Pretty much just growing and expanding our power and influence. Soon, we’ll be able to grow to even higher heights. All of these beasts were just like us, cast from the mainland and forced to live by ourselves, so it was pretty easy getting them to join us.

Ah! I almost forgot. Hehe. Grandfather let me pick a name for this place and guess what I call it… Great Aka Tribe! My father said it wouldn’t be good to use your whole name so I just used a piece of it. Hehe.” Tabet laughed.

Akata just looked on helplessly and laughed alongside him. But their laughter was soon interrupted by an abrupt snort.

“So it seems as if that mortal dares to show his face around here… Eh? What are you doing with him Tabet?” A savage voice called out.

Tabet and Akata both turned around to see three beasts behind them. In the middle they saw a black wolf with fur that looked like the galaxy coldly looking at them.