Tian Lang dragged his blurry eyes open and sat upright.

That, was weird.

Too weird, in fact. After all, the instances of Tian Lang dreaming anything other than fleshy mounds and Dragon Crystals were less than zero.

Golden sphere, black dagger, and what-not weird-colored crystals made no sense.

Yawn~, that was a...

Tian Lang froze.

W-wha? Some weird noise came out!

Now that Tian Lang realized, many things didn’t make sense. Why was he not on the tree? Why did his point of view look so high? Plus, this natural, breezy sensation as if he was liberated from everything in the universe...

Tian Lang called his paw in front of him.

Gasp!

He was so afraid that he jumped back on the Ancient Oak Tree.

“Thi-this inelegant paws. Who is it?! Who dared to replace my mighty paws!”

Tian Lang was probably the first intelligent beast in the whole Tong Tian Tower who thought about his paws after taking complete human form.

It was then, a realization dawned upon the former foolish pup, Tian Lang.

“Could it be three years already passed, and I became a Holy Beast?!” Tian Lang gasped once again, but his last bit of sanity said otherwise. No matter how little three years were, it shouldn’t be so short.

No, was that even important?

Tian Lang quickly grabbed where his fleshy mounds should be and took a fill.

Hm, this feeling is...

Rather unsatisfactory.

What he imagined to be a pair of soft fleshy mounds was hard. Even the size was extremely questionable. This didn’t express the level of his powers at all!

Crystals!

Questionable size, type-hard, Tian Lang saw stars in the sky.

Refund! Tian Lang needed a refund! He was given a faulty product! Whoever gave him these fleshy mounds must be found out and punished for such disrespect!

Tian Lang’s saddened eyes fell below. It seems his donger was doing well and good. At least this guy didn’t come in an injured state.

Hmm, I must find a way to make my fleshy mounds soft! Right, my donger must be protected as well!

After all, Tian Lang had seen more than one instance where humans lacked a donger. They must’ve been injured. Since this spot was so easily damaged. He had to take special care!

Then Tian Lang noticed the floating objects near his head. Curious, he took the one that looked like his previous nameplate.

The black hide fell into pieces revealing a letter.

While opening the letter, Tian Lang tore it from here and there. Thankfully it was only corners. The content remained intact.

“Congrats on becoming a Holy Beast~

“If you are reading this letter, that means either you became a Holy Beast, or some accident happened, and you broke your collar. Bad. Bad Tian.

“Did you become a kid or an adult? Holy Beast evolution mostly depends on the level, but you were somewhat irregular, so you get what I mean.

“All aside, this letter is to explain some things to you. The crystal card is an identity card. Usually, beasts don’t get one. But I’ve given and set the race to Human so you won’t get in any trouble within the Tong Tian Tower. So, try to hide your real identity. Don’t forget, I’m your referrer, so you have to do a mission for me every year.

“And I would recommend you not to live in the Tong Tian Tower for long. No matter how much human you look like, your behavior will make others suspicious. Get used to your body. If you can’t control your power fight in your wolf form. Also, get out of the Tong Tian Tower, search for an academy called Ivy Academy. I’ve asked someone to make you more human. Just go there, you can learn a lot of things. Keep your identity hidden from them too.

“Until next time, Little Tian~”

Tian Lang tore apart the letter and made a grumpy expression. This human, it broke the promise! They were supposed to meet when he became a holy beast. Where was his Dragon Crystal? And fleshy mounds!

Tian Lang rubbed his chest.

What was the reason to become a Holy Beast? Wasn’t the whole ordeal just so he would have his own fleshy mounds?

But what now? Everything, everything he did was useless!

No! Not everything was lost!

He had to get stronger, so his mounds could get bigger. Also, find the secret of soft fleshy mounds. Maybe he failed to notice some profound mystery of the fleshy mounds. Else how could they remain so smooth and soft? There must be something those scheming humans hid from him!

Ivy Academy!

Maybe humans hid the secret of soft fleshy mounds in the academies? Extremely possible! He must make haste. After all, the priority of fleshy mounds was beyond anything!

Tian Lang jumped down from the tree. But the habit of his wild life wasn’t so easy to get rid of. His hand landed on the ground first and then his legs. Even then, he lost balance.

Frowning, Tian Lang contemplated. Controlling this body seemed much harder. If he had to fight, fighting in his wolfish body seemed much better.

With that, he waited.

One minute...

Two minutes...

Five minutes...

This... how do I transform again?

Maybe I have to shout the name out?

Well, many humans did. Maybe that was the secret.

Yeah, I seem to remember myself talking?

“Cough cough, I’m Tian, the mightiest beast of this world! No, I can’t reveal that. I’m Tian Lang, the mightiest Human of this world. Hm, much better.”

Then Tian Lang spread his arms upward and shouted in a dignified manner.

“Now, Transform!”

...

That turned out as fruitless as any sane human would expect.

But this troubled Tian Lang. He had no claws, probably not his fangs either. Killing monsters just got ten times harder.

Anyway, he decided to stop ignoring the unconscious human. Yue Bing looked as if someone swatted it away. Since he couldn’t find anyone other than him and the leopard, he naturally labeled the leopard as the culprit.

Tian Lang didn’t know. When he was unconscious, Yue Bing tried multiple methods to wake him up. In the end, it followed the famous fairy tale of the Cursed Prince and decided to wake Tian Lang up from a female [Summoner]’s kiss.

The female [Summoner] being Yue Bing, who was extremely shy, but it couldn’t back out now. It lacked the option to. Tian Lang brought it here for this reason and this reason alone! So, Yue Bing took a deep breath and pressed its lips against his.

But Tian Lang showed no signs of waking up.

The oblivious Yue Bing thought it had to wait.

As Yue Bing persisted, it got conscious of Tian Lang’s newfound identity. He wasn’t a cute pup anymore. He was human. A human from the higher floors...

How could the innocent Yue Bing bear such a shameful act? It got even more conscious of his appearance. How his skin felt so smooth and firm to touch. Yue Bing blushed furiously, and when it saw Tian Lang’s eyes slowly open, it fainted out of shame.

Before fainting, Yue Bing only had one thought, beautiful.

It was then Tian Lang swatted Yue Bing, who fainted above his body. The culprit wasn’t the leopard, but him! Not that he would ever admit it.

As Tian Lang was deliberating over how to wake this human up, Yue Bing woke up. It looked at Tian Lang with both pride and embarrassment. It was successful at waking Tian Lang up... but the method left an ambiguous feeling in its heart.

Then Yue Bing’s gaze fell down, and the innocent human was no longer innocent. Yue Bing found a scene being burned in its memory. With both shame and helplessness, Yue Bing turned around and said in respect, “Tian, uh, Sir Tian, you should get dressed.”

“Get dressed?” Tian Lang murmured. He inspected his body and only now did he where this strange sense of liberation came from.

The human body lacked furs. They had to wear external clothes. Unlike his previous self, Tian Lang had to follow humans. He signaled the leopard, who was patiently waiting for his attention, to take out everything from the shadows.

The curious Yue Bing felt ashamed but couldn’t help itself from taking a peek, and when it saw the leopard taking things out of the ground, it was amazed. Even an unassuming leopard was so cool!

Tian Lang checked on Yue Bing, who immediately straightened its neck. Where would Tian Lang get clothes from? The answer naturally came from his previous hunt–the dead humans. And Yue Bing might not like seeing a deceased human body.

They wore plenty of useful things, such as leather armor, plate armor, chain mail, etc. etc. They were useless to him before, but now, Tian Lang could make use of them. Indeed, the original Yue Yang’s teaching said it all. Killing and looting was the easiest path to get rich.

And when it came to fashion sense, no one could beat Tian Lang. Disregarding the orange color pant torn in the process, he wore a blue t-shirt smeared with red blood around the neck region and a green pant along with a makeshift white cotton cap.

Storing everything unneeded, Tian Lang coughed to attract Yue Bing’s attention.

When Yue Bing saw Tian Lang, it stared wide-eyed.

A dark-silver haired handsome human. Like a lion’s mane, his dense, messy hairs fell down to his shoulders. His tall build made him appear strong-headed. Coupled with a face whose single smirk could make a child cry back to its mama, his whole existence screamed with, “I’m the perfect villain” aura.

Naturally, such a grand appearance would attract attention anywhere, but if they took a look at his overall appearance, they wouldn’t spare more than a glance.

Blue, red, green, and white. Four colors that perfectly contrasted each other. Along with the worn out dress, his profession could be described with a single word: Thief—a lousy one at that.

No matter how grand a thief looked, it was a thief in the end.

Yue Bing was disappointed. The princely appearance it imagined didn’t happen, but it suddenly understood Tian Lang’s reason for such a peculiar dress-up. Tian Lang was cursed to become a pup for such a long time. He had many powerful foes waiting in ambush. If he didn’t hide, wouldn’t they come out to kill him?

Yue Bing’s reaction satisfied Tian Lang’s vanity. As expected, there was nothing the mighty Tian Lang was terrible at.

Now Tian Lang fell into a dilemma. This human learned his greatest secret he wished to hide. If this was a normal situation he would’ve killed the human and keep his secret safe forever.

However, Tian Lang deduced the reason for his fast evolution might be the presence of this human. When he woke up, Yue Bing was unconscious.

Yes, Yue Bing must’ve done something that was draining for it. I should ask it.

If one needed something to clarify, the best way was naturally to ask for it.

Not used to talking, Tian Lang cleared his throat, “Ehem, Yue Bing, did you help with my evolution?”

Yue Bing looked troubled, “Um, I can’t understand what you are saying. I’m not familiar with languages from the upper floors.”

“Huh, what upper flo...”

Only then Tian Lang realized he had been speaking a different language the whole time. It was the language from his dream. Strangely, everything from that time remained vivid to his mind. True Balance Art, Unquenchable Mystic Body, those were written in a completely different language. A language that was similar to those wriggly characters.

That didn’t matter. He had to speak Human Language.

“Ee– Did you, help with my, transformation?” Since Tian Lang spoke in Human Language for the first time, his wording came out pretty weird.

Yue Bing’s gaze fell on Tian Lang’s lips. A scene flashed on Yue Bing’s mind where it kissed Tian Lang. It blushed furiously and replied in a meek tone, “I-I did.”

“Donut worry. I will never silence you to safe-keep my secret! But do not reveal it to anyone, ok?” Tian Lang grabbed and shook Yue Bing’s hand to assure his will. Yue Bing’s mind was too preoccupied to understand Tian Lang. It just nodded dazedly while drifting to some endless fantasy.

That being said that Tian Lang refused to believe a human so easily.

His experience alone indicated how unpredictable they were. He had to stay with it to make sure his secret remained safe.

“So, Yue Bing? Let’s go.”

Pulled out of its fantasy, Yue Bing hurried to keep up with Tian Lang, “Uh, wha-? Yes, um, Sir Tian, you might want to take a look at yourself. Your hiding might not work well if you don’t hide your eyes.”

“Sir? You don’t need to add, sir, just call me Tian, Tian Lang. And what do you mean by my eyes?” Tian Lang was used to casual speech. No one spoke respectfully to him, err if you ignore the humans pursuing him. And he found formal speech more bothersome.

Yue Bing blushed. It couldn’t help but feel that it met its dream prince. Rummaging through the bag, it passed a hand mirror to Tian Lang.

Tian Lang got to know his newfound appearance. His hairs changed to a darker shade of his furs. Long and messy, little fluffy. For the first time, he found the Human face a bit more discernible. But out of all these details, his eyes definitely stood out. It was like a universe hidden within them. Whenever he moved, the views inside the stars changed too.

Tian Lang had never seen any human with eyes like this. And it was much more noticeable.

“Maybe like your hair, your eyes will turn back to normal too?”

While Tian Lang was troubled, Yue Bing showed him the path to hope. If it wasn’t because Tian Lang couldn’t voice out his thoughts, he would’ve definitely called it an Angel.

“So, my hair was like that too?”

“Yeah, they tingled a bit when I touched. Ah, I’m sorry for touching you without permission.”

Tian Lang scoffed. Just which part of me was spared?

“It’s fine. Don’t be so formal. I’m still thankful to you for helping me. I don’t know how long it would’ve taken me without your help.” Tian Lang added a bit inwardly, After all, I still don’t know how long a year is.

“Um, Sir... sorry, Tian, no I can’t call you that. You’re much older than me. How about I call you Brother Tian?”

“It is fine. Besides, I’m not that old either.”

Tian Lang’s persistence troubled Yue Bing.

Is he saying that we shouldn’t leave space between us since we already skipped a step? Yue Bing felt its head spinning in embarrassment. Just how could it do such a shameful action? Anyway, he didn’t give her an option!

“Thank you, Brother Tian. So, are you free from now on? Do you have to hide from others?” Yue Bing was worried that this might not be the end of the curse, and Tian Lang only recovered for a limited time with a part of his power.

“Of course,” Tian Lang replied as a matter of fact. He suddenly realized Yue Bing’s underlying tone and added, “I’ll stay with you and protect you.”

Huh, you thought it’s easy to get rid of me? I’ll not let you spread my secret!

Tian Lang’s strong tone sent Yue Bing into another dreamy haze. If this went like this, Yue Bing doubted it could go on for much longer.

“Yue Bing, do you know Ivy Academy?”

“Ivy Academy? Yes. It’s just opposite to our Shang Jing Academy. Ah, your eyes turned normal.”

Tian Lang checked with the mirror and found his eyes deep blue in color. He grabbed Yue Bing’s hands and dragged it outside of the Ancient Oak Tree’s safe-zone, “Alright, we are going to the Ivy Academy!”

“W-wait. We can return to the Mercenary Guild with a teleportation scroll.”

“Hoh, teleportation scroll. Sure, let’s go.”

Yue Bing took out a precious scroll. Every scroll cost a gold coin, so it was reluctant to use it under normal circumstances. But Tian Lang had an emergency. The elements in the atmosphere churned as they returned to the Warriors’ Guild.

It was like space was torn open and connected to another location. Similar to how the teleportation portals worked, but a scroll was portable and more accessible. Tian Lang was fascinated by their usability. However, Tian Lang found it confusing as to why Humans used such a cumbersome method. Since they were manipulating elements from the atmosphere, couldn’t they do the same without a scroll? That should be easier too.

“Brother Tian, I have to report the completion of my Refining. We can head to Ivy Academy right after that.”

Helpless, Tian Lang followed Yue Bing. But before they could walk further, a group of humans blocked their paths.