Free Web NovelChapter 14: Humans in the Forest
Ren’s eyes flickered a couple of times and then opened. The dim light inside the cage was what greeted him first, followed by the soft warmth that it had inside. It cuddled him like a blanket.
"Nice," he muttered and then let out a yawn, twisting his head to the side a few times to stretch. Then he finally rose to his feet.
"Alright, let’s get the day started," he muttered and then looked up, only to see two figures in front of him that he was most definitely sure he had not seen before. One was a wolf that looked far too similar to the alpha that he had killed, and another was a lizardman that had become far more humanoid and now had wings on his back.
The moment the two of them saw that Ren was awake, they bowed their heads instantly.
"Greetings, Master," he heard both their greetings, filled with respect that seemed close to reverence.
"What the hell is happening here?" Ren asked.
[While you slept, many of your subordinates evolved.]
"Oh?" He looked at the screen a couple more times and then looked at the wolf and the lizardman, and only now did he recall that this wolf was the one that had carried him. He had felt the wolf’s essence when he landed on its back and so could not mistake it. The lizardman was the one that had taken him for the challenge.
Just by looking at them, he could tell that they were far stronger than what they were before. They oozed a stronger aura.
"What did they evolve into?"
[The wolf evolved into an Alpha Grey Wolf with a wind affinity. The lizardman evolved into an Infant Dragonnewt with a flame affinity.]
"Those sound hella good," Ren muttered. He looked at both of them. "You guys are pretty awesome, evolving already, haha," he said and then stepped forward.
"Also, I don’t think either of you has told me your names. I don’t want to refer to you as these guys moving forward," he said, waiting for them to give a response with their names.
"Master, we do not have names," the lizardman said.
"Oh?" Ren muttered. The scene here reminded him of a pretty popular anime that he had watched where a slime named everyone and got drained.
’Hmm, if you think about it, I’m kinda like that dude. Hmph, I’ll be better than him. Hahaha, never gonna be second place,’ Ren declared. He turned his eyes back to the lizardman and wolf.
"Alright, your name will be Remu," he said to the lizardman, fighting the urge to laugh at the name that he had given.
"As for you, you’ll be called Silas."
[Do you wish to name your subordinates Remu and Silas?]
"Yeah, yeah, name them already."
The moment he agreed, he felt energy rush out of his body, and then he saw a glow around those two. When it was done, both of them bowed their heads to him, their heads touching the ground.
"Thank you, Master."
"Yeah, yeah. Since you two are the first two I ever named, you will become the leaders of your respective races for me. Do you understand?" he asked.
"Yes, Master. We would be honored."
"Y’all sound like trained robots," Ren said and started walking toward the outside of the cave, and those two followed. Only now did he notice that not only them, but several, if not all, the wolves and lizardmen had gone through evolution.
Many of them seemed to follow a similar evolutionary path, but he could spot a few deviants that had gone for something seemingly different. He couldn’t lie, it looked cool.
"Wait, how long was I out?" he asked while he walked.
"Two days, Master."
"Two whole days? Damn, I have to be careful with my mana. I can’t even go around naming randomly for now."
As they walked, every wolf and lizardman bowed their heads to Ren, a sign of respect. Well, that’s how he liked to see it. It felt more like worship to him. He made it out of the cave and stood at the edge of the mountainside, looking at the forest around them.
"It’s been four days," he muttered. "I wonder how my siblings are doing. Mum is for sure giving them the best treatment, haha. But for sure, they cannot grow faster than me," he declared with pride.
He had an evolution sitting in his back pocket, which was something that he wanted to do when he went back inside. His evolution was most important. But just before he went back inside, he decided to check out things with Dragon Vision. After his evolution, his depth and length of sight increased drastically as well.
He activated the eyes and looked into the distance, and in only a few seconds, his eyes landed on a camp inside the forest, and it was no small camp. There had to be at least fifty humans there in total.
’Whoa, what’s happening here?’ he muttered. He spotted humans there, mostly young kids that looked no more than sixteen. They had on some sort of uniform, black with golden trims, with the crest of a phoenix on their chest.
He also noticed a few older people there with the kids.
"Students? What the hell are they doing here?" he asked.
"Master, is there an issue?" Remu asked.
"Yeah, something like that. There seem to be humans in the forest," Ren said.
"Humans? It seems that time has come again," Remu said.
"What time, and again?" Ren asked for an explanation immediately, looking at Remu.
"It would be best if you asked the former chief. He understands it better than I do," Remu said.
"Hmm, alright. We are heading back to the swamp. You and Silas will come with me. Tell the rest to be on guard in case of anything. We don’t want anyone getting hurt while we are away."
"Yes, Master."
They both rushed to do what he said. He turned his eyes back to the humans.
"Hello, humans. It’s been a while."
