Galaxy's First Ruler

Aldrich… was gobsmacked.

How could this be possible?

He could accept the abnormality of contract. These abnormalities had been happening around him since the beginning of Dream Initiation. It wasn't a big deal to him. Up to that point, he could put those abnormalities by naming them unknown variables.

But the event taking place in front of him was unprecedented.

Never had he read of a magical beast having a Record. And never had he read of the yellow color of notifications. The only yellow he had seen remotely related to the RECORD was the muddy yellow pillar of light around the Bosses' statues. With all that was happening around him, even Aldrich had never tried to look behind the color of these pillars.

He only knew that whenever Dreamers entered a Random-Dungeon, this yellow pillar of light turned red. Otherwise, it turned green. Pretty clear and not something to look over many times. But after looking at yellow words materializing over Shu's head, Aldrich doubted that was the only purpose of those light pillars.

'Have I… Have I overlooked something?!'

Aldrich clenched his fist in anger and regret. He had thought the only time he had overlooked something was when he had lost Sha. But it seemed it wasn't his first time. Even with the mind of a scholar, and with Class Generalist, Aldrich demanded too much from himself.

None could know everything in the galaxy. A fact that he would come to know soon enough.

Aldrich didn't take his eyes off the filthy yellow words that kept appearing one after the other.

[…

Record of "Abomination No. 9"

Description: Abomination No. 9 can replicate the DNA of all magical beasts in the universe. Once given the blood of a magical beast, it can turn itself into the original creature's embryonic image. It can also turn back to its previous forms, but only momentarily. It is cursed to achieve no form of maturity. If before reaching the mature stage, Abomination No. 9 doesn't transform itself into a new form, it will perish.

Current Form: Humbaba "The Terror"

…]

'This… No wonder I couldn't recognize it…'

Aldrich's breathing would have already gone rough if he wasn't apprehensive of the Pain it would cause him.

Even if he were to dismiss the strange format of the beast's Record, the words written in front of the description were enough to give him a shock. He had never heard of any beast named Abominations followed by some number, let alone the ability which could cause a galaxy-wide bloodbath.

The sheer reason for modern scholars to confirm many ancient magical beasts' presence was the discovery of their frozen blood. And if he could make Shu devour that blood, then…

There was a brilliant spark in Aldrich's eyes. It wasn't devilish, and it wasn't greed. It was a look from thinking of the prospects and having a guarantee of success. Even if Shu could never reach maturity, Aldrich knew maturity signified not only abilities but also an increase in the life span.

If he could procure rare and ancient DNA, then Shu would never perish. Aldrich had always known that there were secrets about Shu. But even he had never thought that this small beast was the closest to the word Immortal he would find first in the material world.

And then there was the mention of the current form, Humbaba "the Terror". It was the sole reason that even after going through text after text, Aldrich couldn't recognize the beast.

Humbaba was a monstrous beast of immemorial age in Ancient Mesopotamian religion. This beast was raised by God himself and was the guardian of the forest where the Gods lived. It was literally the terror for all human beings in the world.

But despite its obvious presence in the Barren Earth's history, none had seen this creature before, much like the serpent Falak. There was no one true reference to its appearance, and all figures differed too much from each other.

As Aldrich's mind chewed on this fresh data, he formed a theory behind Shu's presence.

'Hmm… He must have devoured a drop of Humbaba's blood from somewhere. But got attacked during transformation into the embryonic stage. No wonder he was on the brink of death when I found him.'

Grrrr!!!

A grunt came out of Shu, bringing Aldrich out of his thoughts. But this grunt lacked any ferociousness of before. Aldrich looked at the beast and found him sitting on his hind legs and licking its paws. It didn't look like this was the same beast who was just about to die under Aldrich's hands.

Shu's six yellow eyes stared at Aldrich. There was no subservience in those eyes but nor was there any defiance. It was as if Shu was asking "So, what next?". The corners of Aldrich's lips twitched seeing this nonchalant attitude.

But Aldrich didn't care how Shu behaved or what kind of Abomination he was. Aldrich only cared for his abilities. Aldrich had already formed many plans related to the next potential magical beast whose DNA he would let Shu replicate. For now, he knew nothing of Shu's current form.

Without knowing what this kitten-like Humbaba could do, "the Terror" was nothing but a pile of empty words to him.

Unlike the sharing of thoughts with his undeads and Sha, Aldrich knew Dreamers couldn't talk with the magical beasts. But the magical beasts weren't mindless idiots. They had intelligence, and it was another thing that this intelligence was tuned to their respective environment.

Aldrich glanced at Shu and spoke out.

-"What are the abilities of your current form?"-

Shu tilted his head from left to right as Aldrich's words rang in his small ears. He flapped his bat-like wings and, in the next moment, landed on Aldrich's right shoulder. The two snake-headed tails of the grey-furred beast went towards either side of Aldrich's neck, but Aldrich didn't stop it.

The contract had clarified that Shu could do nothing to betray Aldrich or Aldrich's will.

'Is this some way of communication unique to Humbaba's race?'

Hisss!!!

As Aldrich was just thinking of this question, the two snakes opened their mouths wide and lunged at Aldrich's neck from left and right.

Ripp!!! Crack-click-Crack!!!

Aldrich's skin got torn apart, his spine fractured, but he didn't have the sense to let out any painful laugh even if he wanted to. Scenes after scenes kept flashing through his mind like a video reel. Some were blurry, and some were entirely blank. By the time this video stopped, Shu had already jumped off Aldrich's shoulder and had gone to sleep.

Aldrich's dazed eyes returned to reality, and the first thing that came to him was Pain. Unbearable and terrifying intensities of Pain. But no grunt came out of his mouth, and no blood came out of his body. All things got masked under the Mass Illusion cast by the Cuff-links.

Aldrich gazed at the sleeping beast and muttered inwardly.

'A Terror indeed…'

Aldrich didn't know if it was because of Shu's newborn state or something else, but he could make out only two abilities through the shared information.

The first was the GAZE OF TERRORS.

Shu could instill the terror of death in any being he looked at. There was no avoiding this skill, and there was no counter to it. The fate of all those under the influence of Gaze of Terrors was death and only death. But this seemingly powerful skill had a major flaw.

If one had a strong will to not fear death or had an understanding of the Law of Death, then this skill was nothing but an empty threat. It could be said that Shu was just unlucky that he ran into two beings who neither feared death nor they lacked an understanding of the Law of Death.

These two beings were Aldrich and the undead El Cid.

Even though Aldrich didn't have a full mastery of the Law of Death, he had a preliminary insight. And that was enough to make Shu understand he was already knee-deep in water in front of Aldrich.

The second was the LISTENER OF FEAR.

After seeing the use of this second ability, Aldrich got to know the reason behind the exclusive mention of the second point in the terms of the contract.

'Contractee will need to provide the Contractor with necessities… So these were the necessities.'

Aldrich thought to himself as he remembered the effect of this skill. Unlike other magical beasts, Shu needed more than just contemporary meat and bones to fill his appetite. Through the use of Listener of Fear, Shu could feed on the concept of fear itself. And every such feeding on fear brought unimaginable benefits to Shu, which no material food could compare.

Aldrich noticed how these two abilities seemed to complement each other. It was as if those two were deliberately attuned to allow the newborn Humbaba to speed up his growth.

But…

This ability also had a grave flaw. A flaw that was even bigger than the first one.

Non-living things couldn't feel fear, and less intelligent beings couldn't let out fear enough to satiate Shu's hunger. This meant that Aldrich would need to provide Shu's food, according to the contract.

And none in the galaxy knew how to shit their pants in fear better than the humans.

'… So I will have to hunt many Dreamers?! Haha!'

As Aldrich let out a laugh in his mind, concluding his theory, a hint of a smile came upon his face. Suddenly, a rustling sound originated to Aldrich's left, and he saw Meuric's towering figure approaching him.

But that wasn't all. On his shoulders, there was a burnt magical beast of the same race, which had almost killed him if it weren't for Aldrich's intrusion.

Even before he could come near, Meuric let out a shout.

"Haha!!! Master, you wouldn't believe it. I killed this beast in one punch, too. But somehow I burnt it, even though I can't use fire based Skill. Is this also a reward? Haha! I even produced ice here and there…"

Sigh!