{Welcome back to the Tower of Beasts!}
{Floor One: Rocky Plains (E)}
Like always, the world slammed back into place.
The heat was always the first thing he felt, as he blinked repeatedly, adjusting to the sudden brightness and shit.
Then he slowly exhaled.
"Back again…"
He stood exactly where he had left the day before, but this time, he was in a completely different condition.
His shoulders straightened slightly, and his eyes hardened with resolve as he looked out across the endless rocky landscape.
"This is it."
He rolled his neck once, loosening his body and easing his nerves.
"I'm finding that boss today."
His lips curved into a small grin.
"And I'm killing it."
The thought alone sent a spark of excitement through his chest.
'The quicker I climb these floors… the sooner I rank up.'
That was the real goal: to become stronger and stand among the powerful Titled that people revered.
His fingers flexed slightly.
'I can't waste this opportunity.'
But before charging off across the plains like an idiot, Ethan paused.
Despite how reckless he sometimes appeared, he wasn't actually stupid - most of the risks he took weren't blind gambles.
They were calculated and measured.
And now that he was on the verge of facing it, he thought back over everything the System had told him.
'Boss beasts are usually a rank higher than the floor…'
Which meant the creature ruling this Rocky Plains was most likely...
'A D Rank beast.'
Ethan let out a quiet whistle.
"Yeah… that's not exactly comforting."
He rubbed the back of his neck as his thoughts continued running.
From what he had gathered so far, the difference between ranks wasn't small.
E Rank beasts?
They were dangerous, sure.
But most of them were basically just enhanced animals, or something odd that resembled one. Stronger, tougher, sometimes with strange abilities, they still weren't anything extraordinary.
D Rank beasts though?
That was where things started to shift.
"They're basically superanimals…"
Creatures that pushed far beyond the limits of what normal biology should allow.
But raw numbers never told the full story.
Ethan had noticed something important - even when his stats were similar to a beast's, it often still felt more powerful and dangerous.
'Probably because they're literally built for it.'
Their bodies, instincts, and natural weapons were designed for survival and killing.
Meanwhile, Ethan was still just… a guy borrowing the power of his spirit-like beasts that seemed attached to his very soul.
He sighed.
"And that's not even the worst part."
Even among creatures of the same rank, the difference in power could be enormous, just like with Titled.
Matchups, abilities, experience, environment - there was an endless list of variables that could tilt a fight in either direction.
Some of them you could gauge and control, but many you absolutely couldn't.
And sometimes? You just got unlucky.
Ethan grimaced slightly as one particular memory surfaced in his mind.
The only D Rank beast he had encountered so far was that monster on Floor Zero.
His expression darkened.
"The Graveback Bear…"
Even now, just remembering it sent a chill through him.
That beast had been a nightmare.
A massive wall of fur and muscle that had fought off an entire pack of fully grown Ulfens like they were nothing more than annoying pests. It was massively outnumbered by seasoned predators, yet it nearly killed them all.
And Ethan wasn't even sure they had actually finished the thing off.
He rubbed his chin slowly.
"Compared to that pack…"
He glanced toward the Beast tab of the System Interface in thought.
"I've got an infant ulfen and an infant hawk."
He chuckled dryly.
"Fantastic."
Wolfy and Talon were strong for their growth stage and rank, sure, but they were still very young.
And to make things even better?
They barely cooperated - the two beasts rarely synced up and seemed to dislike each other on principle alone.
Ethan sighed.
"It's not like I can do anything about their team chemistry now."
His thoughts returned to the bear again.
He couldn't remember the exact numbers from its Beast Status anymore, but he remembered enough.
"Its stats were insane."
If he had to guess, the Graveback Bear's stats were probably around three times his own at the time, and that thing had only been a Juvenile.
He shook his head.
"And even if our stats were equal…"
He looked down at his own human hands.
"…it was still a giant fucking bear."
A bear with claws the size of knives, teeth that could crush bone, and enough mass to turn a human body into paste.
Not to mention that terrifying skill it used.
The Bear Hug.
That lunging grab, fueled by MP, almost crushed him to death, even when it was only toying with him.
"Yeah… that was fun."
The scariest part was that he now had to face a beast of that same rank that was likely fully grown.
"I might be fucked here."
Ethan exhaled slowly as his mind shifted back toward the numbers for each rank the System had adjusted according to the Association's Guidelines.
'Average total base stats for E Rank was 50, right?'
Which meant a strong E-Rank could easily exceed that.
The Skyrend Hawk he had fought earlier had probably been the weakest of the Elite beasts in terms of raw stats.
The others?
They were definitely over sixty in total, not that Ethan was complaining - the hawk's insane speed, eyesight, and ability to fly made it incredibly valuable.
Maybe he was just coping and trying to make himself feel better, but that didn't matter.
What mattered was the next number that he recalled...
'D Rank average stats was 100.'
He stared at the rocky horizon.
"All the System said was that boss beasts were usually the rank above…"
Which meant there was technically a chance the boss was just a very strong E Rank, since it didn't confirm the rank with certainty.
Ethan snorted.
"Yeah… sure."
He highly doubted he'd get that lucky, and if anything, it might end up being a C Rank Beast, then he was royally fucked. So he decided to plan with the assumption that it was just an average D Rank, which seemed most probable.
'If it has around 100 stats…'
And if those stats were evenly distributed?
'That's around 33 each.'
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"That means it could be as fast as Talon, as strong as that damn bear, and have enough stamina to fight me three times over."
And that calculation didn't even include natural weapons or any possible skills fueled by MP.
Ethan let out a long breath.
For a brief moment, he couldn't help but begin to doubt himself before firmly shaking his head.
"Don't be a pussy now."
He had dealt with every beast so far; he just had to do the same.
"I'll just figure it out."
That was the extent of his plan as he headed off to face whatever Boss Beast the Rocky Plains had in store for him...