The festival of transcendence had gone by as it always did. A few of their more reckless second awakening beastmen died due to their arrogance or greed, while a few others struggling to make that leap finally stepped past it, replacing those that were lost. Plenty of valuable material had been acquired though, making the net total a positive. Just as it had happened a year ago, and a year before it, and so on and on.

  Their scouts had been dispatched to scour the outer regions not too long after that. Tracing and tracking the movement of the humanoid tribes too slow or unprepared to run away in time. There always were such tribes, and in the nigh improbable case there were none, the raiders would just push further in- not the usual way things were done, but they would get their desired fights and slaves. Never had it not been so and this year would not be first.

  Not all was festivities and abundance of joy however. Quite a number of clan spokespersons or diplomats were hard at work, feeling out what other clans might be a good fit to cooperate with this time. Sure, a clan could go out all on its own, acquiring everything they managed to get their hands on, but one had to always be aware that luck might not be on their side. Plenty of clans had stepped on that particular rake over the years, ending up in quite the sad and pitiful situation during the next season of peace. The solution was clear- cooperate with another clan or two and split your acquisitions. Such treaties allowed for the participating parties not only to comb a wider area but also to create a much more effective force as well. Beastmen came in many forms and shapes and as such had roles better suited for them. There was a stark difference between average bear beastmen bruiser and a rabbit beastmen bruiser.

  Inner steppe. A certain beastmen clan's tavern.

  An elder of owl beastmen race walked back and forth with slightly hurried steps, his claws scraping against the worn out magical clay floor.

  "Sheesh, who stepped on your tail? Sit down, have a drink and relax. The season of conflict will not arrive any faster no matter how much you itch for a fight!" another beastman- this one of bear beastmen race- laughed, downing a large few gulps from his own mug before adding "And besides, shouldn't someone of your age be done with raiding? Pick up a book and teach the youngsters patience or something along those lines?"

  The table around the bear beastman erupted in laughter, his companions rising their own mugs in response to the good joke after their own cackling subsided.

  In response, the owl beastman's head turned almost unnaturally, finishing a full one hundred and eighty degree turn as he stared at the bear beastman in question. Two large eyes locked on the speaker, half glaring half pitying.

  "It should be you who's more worried. Not the other way around." the owl beatman replied a moment later.

  "What, you still hung up on that rumor of a human second awakening mercenary that appeared near Avalente? Fairy tales I tell you. A bunch of pups got drunk, got their asses handed to them by some random small time human merc and then blew it out of proportion to hide their shameful performance. Not the first time, and definitely not the last."

  "Listen, is your kind only good at swinging oversized weapons? Or do you sometimes use that admittedly small brain of yours for thinking as well?" the owl beastman scoffed. "I have contacts in there, and they speak of the mercenary's existence. Furthermore, if my spies are correct, said same mercenary was supposed to appear at the dungeon festival as well. Now tell me, what must happen for someone like you to not arrive for such a golden opportunity to level up? And never forget that humans are like pests- where there is one, there will soon be a bunch more. I do not believe there is a need to explain how the existence of such an entity is a problem, do I?"

  "Bah! So what if a single second awakening human mercenary appeared. That's what? A probability of one in tens or hundreds of millions? We will take care of this one just as we did with the few that came before him." the same bear beastmen replied, clear dismissal and arrogance overflowing from his tone. Most beastmen around would say that it came well earned, for the bear beastman in question was closing in on level thirty himself- a rare achievement within the steppe.

  "It's pointless to argue with you. You would not understand anyhows." the owl beastman threw his arms in the air, dismissing the conversation and turning away, his pace not changing one bit. It was quite clear that his worries had not lessened one bit. It was even possible that he was even more worried than before.

  "Is it just a hunch? Or is your third eye warning you?" suddenly, a low and rumbling voice filled the tavern, as though a sea of growling dogs and purring cats had somehow joined together and managed to form human words through said cooperation.

  "Hell Speaker." The owl beastman immediately bowed deeply, fear, respect and admiration flickering in his large eyes "I am not entirely sure." he replied a moment later, immediately explaining further "It feels as though it is a mix of both. I feel uneasy in my bones, my hunch doing its thing, but there is also a strange resonance with my eye, as though there should be something threatening out there, though for whatever reason it cannot be picked up and perceived."

  "Could it be an issue of distance?" Hell Speaker questioned, his voice conveying his thoughtfulness.

  "It had never been the case. The third eye either warns me or not. There had never been an in between." the owl beastman explained.

  "There is not much we can do for now then. Do not suppress that feeling and tell me immediately if there is a change." Hell Speaker ordered, receiving another bow of reverence from the owl beastman as he immediately agreed. "And do not dismiss the gut feeling of an owl beastman. It might very well save your life one day." Hell Speaker then addressed the bear beastman, his tone calm, but it carried with it a profound sense of wisdom. "They might not the best of fighters, but their ability to sense danger is about as good as it gets."

  "Yes, Hell Speaker." replied the bear beastman, his fists cupped as he too bowed respectfully towards the beastman.

  It had suddenly turned deadly silent within the tavern, Hell Speaker's presence alone drawing the attention of every single customer within.

  "I will leave you to your celebration then. Carry on as you were." Hell Speaker added a moment later still, turning around and heading out, as though in search of something, or someone.

  "Now do you believe me?" the owl beastman turned his gaze towards the bear beastman, though his expression lacked even the slightest hint of pride or victory. How could he if even Hell Speaker himself was apparently sensing some greater disturbance forming within the steppe. The bear beastman did not grace him with response, his own mind also replaying the words spoken to him by Hell Speaker. It seemed that something large was brewing after all.

  ----------------------

  "Damn nosy pests!" Jack huffed as yet another destiny skill activation had tried to divine a possible development of events, only to fail as it touched his presence. A fancy name that- destiny skills. Jack would call them nothing more than probability calculations at its finest. A metaphysical entity of utmost curiosity would sometimes, somehow manage to enter a contract with a living entity. Then, through this contract the living being would be granted a limited future reading abilities, based on pattern recognition that said metaphysical entity could read from any object, be it inanimate or alive. Unfortunately, like all such things, powerful spirit is the only actual way to block and disrupt such information gathering.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Jack stopped whatever he had been doing for now- he had been annoyed several times already by the poking around said entity was performing, so Jack decided to respond in the only way appropriate. He cleared his mind, calmed down and waited. A minute. Two. Five. At ten minute mark it happened again. The entity was back, attempting yet another probe into Jack's information. This time however, it had bitten off more than it could chew, picking the wrong person do tangle with.

  Upon contact, Jack's spirit flared, a translucent light undetectable by mortal means exploding from his being, scorching the nosy entity into nothingness. Jack knew better than to assume he had killed the origin of the irritation, though the feedback of his response would put it out of commision for quite some time. Time long enough for his current plans to truly kick into motion. By the time the diviner would be able to once again do their thing, Jack's initiated little rebellion would already be in full swing, its momentum unstoppable.

  And so, time slowly passed by. Day after day, week after week. Jack tinkered with his creation aspect, making equipment for kids, his maids and Selin's people, all while experience kept trickling his way point by point. No truly significant events occured, the decision Selin had made in regards to sharing her tribes bounty still traveling back to the rest of the tribes, all while beastmen scouts began their own search through the outer regions. The game of cat and mouse was about to begin in earnest. It was yet to be determined however- who would be the cat, and who would play the part of the mouse.

  -----------------------------

  A month. It had taken a month for the remaining tribes to send their chosen people back here, each accompanied by a rather sizable and capable party of warriors. None of the chiefs had been willing to risk an accident happening with their chosen ones. Whether it was because a loss of their chosen elite would no doubt cripple their future strength or for the sole reason most of those chosen were their own children or relatives in most cases mattered little. The response Selin gave them all was the same- My tribe is not taking care of those escorts of yours. Nor will we be taking care of you either. If you need supplies- bargain for them. Everything you earn within the dungeon is yours to keep and thus use to survive here.

  The only exception were the healers. Those tribes that had made a deal with her in regards of giving up a healer in exchange for a direct combatant slot- and that just so happened to be every tribe that had ended up with a slot of one- were called over. Once separated from the rest of the pack, Selin chose carefully. Thankfully, she was not alone when doing so. For the first time ever, Jack himself had taken direct part in anything related to the remaining tribes. With his outright broken appraise he could weed out any less than ideal candidates among those presented, ensuring Selin would acquire untainted and quite honestly desirable individuals.

  Of course, not taking any sort of precautions would indeed be foolish, thus Jack came in clutch once again. This time however, he had enlisted the aid of one of his kids. While they could not be brought over directly, Jack had access to their skills and abilities to a certain extent. For this particular case, he requested Emi's assistance, utilizing a skill she had acquired after her second awakening.

  No longer was she a simple Contractor(rare). After a lot of grinding and hard work, and with a little bit of assistance from Jack in the form of a class advancement token, she had become something much more. Now she was a Grand Lawmaker(unique epic). A class that was a clear upgrade over the previous version. Not only could she make simple contracts, as well as dish out debuffs in the form of curses, now she could do so in the form of localized laws. What had previously needed a target in mind, now could simply be applied to an entire area, differentiating between friends, foes and independants. Buffs for friendlies, debuffs for enemies and no effect for independants. One's status also changed based on the parameters set beforehand- take action against a friendly and become a hostile immediately.

  The laws were not only useful in combat situations however. She could imbue certain objects with the same laws, creating a much stronger contract than what she could before. It was this precise ability that Jack was borrowing the power of. In his hands was a book of quite considerable size- some eighty centimeters in length, sixty centimeters in width and thirty centimeters in thickness. It was bound in a thick leather, adorned with dark silver runes of unrecognizable origin.

  Jack placed the sizable book on a table in front of the chosen healer girls who would call Selin's reibe their own from this day onward. He calmly looked towards the girls in question and spoke "This here is the book of Oath. As the name implies, you will each take an oath that will bind you to this tribe. There are of course restrictions that will be placed on each one of you, though so long as you do not betray your new family or intentionally plan to harm it, there should be no problems whatsoever."

  Jack looked at the clearly nervous girls, continuing on "To get the most glaring question out of the way first then. Many of you are no doubt wondering why you were chosen. Neither of you were the best of your respective groups by a long shot. And do not take that for a mistake, for it was not one. Your superior sisters in vocation might have had better skills right now, but in comparison to your potential, as well as the purity of your hearts, they were inferior. And so here you all are. The rest of the questions you no doubt may still have will be answered with time. Now, come forth one by one and place your hand on the book. Once done, the system will take care of the rest."

  Jack gestured towards the book he had placed on the table, calling forth the first girl in the line. With slow and nervous steps she stepped forward, timidly sneaking glances back towards the rest of the girls.

  "It does not bite. Nor do I for the moment. Go on then." Jack joked as he tried to ease the tension in the room, succeeding just barely.

  A few short moments later, the girl was in front of the Book of Oath, her hand slightly trembling as she slowly reached out, both worried and slightly excited about what was to come. Back home she had never even dreamed of reaching a second awakening. Now, it was all but promised. There was not a single person living in the outer regions of the steppe- nor was there any in the inner one either- who would refuse the chance to attain second awakening.

  Her fingers lightly brushed against the books leathery cover, its cool cover slightly startling her. "Full palm contact girl." Jack mentioned, noticing the girl stuck there as if waiting for it to begin. With his instruction, she took another small step forward, inching her fingers further along the books cover until she could rest the entirety of her palm on it. Then her eyes seemed to gloss over, her mind drawn to the screens of the system manifesting before her.

  It was clear the girl was reading real careful now, not willing to sell her soul or anything like that. Slavery was something everyone was doing their best to avoid after all. Some five minutes later, her eyes regained clarity, though no obvious changes had occured that others could discern.

  "Feel free to share what you just experienced with the rest of the girls here. You might be assigned to different teams, but at the end of the day, you are all now a family. Never forget that. And no matter what, never allow your temporary teammates to bring you down." Jack added, not speaking further for the time being as he allowed the girl to share her experience.

  Encouraged by Jack's words, the girl explained her experience, her voice shy at the start but slowly gaining clarity with each word spoken. It was clear the rest of her future sisters were just as worried as she had been, and since she knew there were no traps- at least as far as she could tell- she believed it was her duty to explain.

  The following girls were a bit more surefooted, the recount of the first to try calming their nerves just a little bit. Still, the chance that the girl in question was actually a plant placed there to fool them was not entirely out of the question, a few warnings of their elders still lingering in their minds. Thankfully, those warnings had not etched too deeply in their psyches, the subconscious conditioning to always remain a part of their original home not sunk too deeply. It was precisely this reason Jack had picked the girls that he did.

  The second girl took almost as long as the first one, her actions a bit steadier than the first however. She did smile a bit once back to her senses, nodding approvingly towards the first girl- clearly she had not found any inconsistencies with the recount. The third one was about as fast as the previous two, with even more surety in her steps. She too nodded towards the first girl once done.

  Another few girls maintained the same pace as the first three, each repeating the same nod of approval as the second and third. Eventually, the girls became faster in their actions, having decided that the contract they signed was fair enough until all of them were done. Once the contracts signing was over, Mina Ast was called over and the girls sent away with her to their new homes- all built of mana reinforced bricks.

  "The book is yours to keep. As will be the dungeon once I depart. I will make something that will give you control over its difficulty scale. As well as acquire an elf to operate it for you. I have just the place in mind where I will get one." Jack smirked conspiratorially, a certain maid of his and her unfair exile surfacing in his mind.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 33

  Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)

  Stats unassigned: +14

  Attributes:

  Strength- 34 (14+7+13(gear))

  Vitality- 28 (12+8+8(gear))

  Dexterity- 29 (15+6+8(gear))

  Intelligence-20(15+ 5(gear)

  Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX). Destroyers presence(unique legendary).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster, Eldritch garbage disposal(legendary).

  Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.