The First King of Beasts

Even though John had received confirmation to sleep peacefully throughout the night, the weird feeling of being in an unknown place didn't let him. A little after midnight, John found himself awake, but still very sleepy. He was going to return to his sweet sleep, but how could he leave his saviour to stand guard alone while he was here sleeping?

He turned to his left to check Aria. She was sleeping quite well, and the oversized beginner clothes made sure she didn't catch a terrible cold. She seemed to be sleeping better than the first night, a good sign. John thought as the moonlight barely filtered through the forest covering.

John had thought of forest beasts around the vicinity paying them a visit, after they had shamelessly prepared such sweet roasted meat and let the enticing smell spread around, but so far, so good, nothing happened.

"Alright, gotta pick myself up." He said, as he pushed himself off the ground.

The area they were sleeping in was a sort of clearing where the ground vegetation was at its smallest, so it made the surrounding look like some kind of haven. He walked towards the grasses and shrubs in front of him, where Dustin was supposed to be after every patrol.

"Hey, Dustin. Are yo..." John paused in his tracks, as he was greeted by the sight of a familiar creature. And it was certainly not Dustin.

"Go-goblins..." John muttered to himself, as several faint glowing set of eyes turned to face him.

The goblins slowly turned, making him feel even more uneasy. All together, the pair of eyes were close to five, so if they were to attack, it would be fatal.

He didn't want to scream for help either, as it would only alert other nearby monsters. John was a frequent visitor to the wild. John knew many survival skills and the Dos & DON'Ts of it. Making too much noise in the night would only alert nearby predators, and that was something he did not even want to think of.

'Will fighting them by myself be enough? After I engage them, I'll shout for Dustin to take Aria away. That way, the monsters nearby would only get drawn to my voice. It's worth a shot. But Dustin isn't here. What if something had happened to him and he is unable to get to her in time, or even at all?'

"We'll think about the next step from there. There's no better option now." John said, as he concluded on his plan of action.

Just as he was about to move, after drawing his sword, a hand gently place itself on his shoulder. "Think about what next step?"

..

Moments earlier.

"Yeah, goodnight."

'Now, let's get to business, shall we?'

'It seems like monsters have reduced in these areas. They seem to reduce the more I advance. Maybe there's a safe area close by.' Dustin thought to himself as he activated his taming skill.

He could immediately sense all the monsters in the vicinity without needing to make use of the radar map.

Maybe it was because he was already quite conversant with his gift of controlling animals, which had honed for years. Using his new skills came to him naturally. Although a ton of information on the skills were given to him upon acquisition, his development still seemed too fast.

Dustin could sense some goblins, carnivorous rats, and carnivorous plants in the vicinity. Even after expanding his search area, the number of monsters was still nothing compared to the other places he passed behind.

'This makes things easier.'

Dustin called towards himself all the goblins he could sense within a relatively wide area. After about ten minutes of waiting, all the goblins appeared before him. All together, they were about 25 in number.

"Great. I don't think I have to do this individually, do I?" Dustin said as he watched the goblins.

Stretching his hand towards the group of goblins, "Tame," Said Dustin as he attempted to tame them all at once.

[Tame Successful. Tamed 25 goblins]

Dustin ignored the system notification and instead gave orders to the goblins before him.

Since they were 25 in number, Dustin put them at five different sides around their resting place, where he and the other two would be sleeping in for the night.

"Now that it's done. Yawwwnn. I can go and get some rest."

Mentally, Dustin could once again see his brother looking at him with eyes of pity. 'OH poor soul.. He can't even fight the urge to be lazy.' The voice said with fake tears falling from Sil's eyes as they shook with pity. "Get out of my head, you scrawny kid." Dustin cursed out loud. With his current vitality, nothing he had done today was enough to tire him out, not even a little bit. If he really wanted, he could stay awake through the entire night, easy.

If Sil were to see how he had changed, now wearing a skin with muscles underneath that made him look like more of an obsessed gym freak that can gain large muscle mass, Sil would totally freak out and curse his terrible luck for remaining the only scrawny one in the house. The thought of this put a silly smile on Dustin's face.

After putting the goblins in their position, Dustin went to bed with the others. He only woke up because he needed to take a leak, but to his surprise, he couldn't find John where he last saw him, sleeping opposite him.

Dustin could clearly figure out what had happened, so he just headed towards the spot he was supposed to be resting, if he was keeping watch.

..

"We'll think about the next step from there." John said, as he was about to attack.

"Think about what next step?" Dustin said, as he placed a hand on John's shoulder.

Thrown into a state of shock by the sudden touch, John didn't know when he swung his sword at the strange voice behind his back without even thinking much about it. His heart was pounding against his chest so hard and fast that it would make one question who the master of Kamasutra was.

"Calm down my gee. It's me, Dustin. The goblins are also mine." Dustin said from a squatting pose he had taken while ducking, avoiding the sword.

"Du-Dustin? You're alright, and these goblins are yours?.. What?"

"Yeah, you saw how I could control the big boar, right? That's my power, controlling monsters." Dustin explained, still in his squatting position, as John's sword was still extended.

"My God." John exhaled the ball of air he had taken in unknowingly. He lowered his sword and placed it on the ground, while he himself sat on it. He did a sequence of deep breathing to stabilize his heart rate and calm down. The whole thing was too much of a shock.

"I'll be right back. Let me go take a leak." Dustin said as he walked up forward towards a tree.

When he was done, he returned and sat with John for a while before they returned to sleep.

"No need to be so scared anymore, fatty. They won't attack." Dustin said.

"Uh, huh? Oh, yeah. It's fine. But, why did you call me fatty?"

"Because you're fat... Didn't you know?"

"No.. Well, to be honest, no one has ever called me that. You are the first."

"Huhhh?? Does everyone you know suffer from blindness?"

"No. Actually, I think it's because you're scrawny. That's why look fat to you." John said.

'What?! Scrawny?! I still look scrawny?' Dustin cried in his mind, while still maintaining a normal expression.

"Don't worry. You just need to add some weight. That'll do it." John said, again.

'This death bitch.. Fucking dead!'