Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 336: Anostos Bird

Chapter 336: Anostos Bird

The sky overhead, once a bright blue, turned a murky, oppressive grey, and a thick, red fog began to envelop everything in sight.

The fog tasted too thick and before it could seep into him, he reacted.

’Open inventory.’ Kazi pulled out a gray scarf tighter around his face to filter the acrid fumes, his eyes squinting against the stinging air but unaffected.

’The red fog is poisonous. However...’

With Mastered Flow of Mana, the prickly pain disappeared. It wiped out the foreign substance like an ocean taking out a flaw. The quality and quantity of his mana was too great. Fog of this calibre wasn’t going to affect him.

Crossing the threshold into Anostos felt like stepping into another world entirely. The light from Eusebes vanished behind him, leaving him in a perpetual twilight where day and night were indistinguishable. The land was jagged and uneven. The ground was of a rock type that Kazi was unable to identify. Faraway, through the fog, he saw dark bubbles.

’Are those...?’

Lakes? They had to be. Pools of dark, stagnant water dotted the landscape, emitting an eerie, sulfurous smell. They were so far yet felt so close. At that moment, he realized he was standing on a hill or a mountain. Whatever it was, he had to go down.

He walked and walked and walked until his feet felt a hard, flat surface. His mana had materialized into steps. He maintained his gaze downward, focusing and analyzing. He decided to step up higher and reach the skies.

But no matter how much he climbed, it all felt the same. Kazi stopped when the red fog was far, far below him and there was no point in ascending further.

The red fog swirled beneath him. Inhaling, the platform under his feet disappeared. He was falling.

Bam!

Like a meteor, he crashed into the ground, a knee and palm down. He checked his surroundings. The red fog had momentarily been blasted away. The moment by and the red fog returned.

Not that it mattered to Kazi. His stride was as cool and collected as ever. Because unlike any other player, now that he was fully inside, he could see through this fog. His eyes and natural depth in spatial awareness allowed him to detect the living and nonliving. Every rock or monster was perceived by him.

Nothing escaped Kazi Hossain.

The landscape grew more desolate the further he went. Twisted, gnarled trees with blackened branches reached up like skeletal hands, and the ground was littered with bones—human and animal alike. He stopped to inspect one.

’Not fake—real. Old too. Forty years old, I estimate. These must be of players in the previous Heavenly Games.’ He held a skull in his hand. ’Allah willing, I hope you found peace at the end.’

He put the skull down and analyzed his surroundings. The red fog was just that—fog. His eyes could see through it with ease.

"Even without these eyes, this really wouldn’t have been a problem. So I wonder..."

Clang!

"...how strong are you really?"

It was a clash between metal. It was the sound between Kazi’s arm blocking a bronze beak.

"KA-KAW, KA-KAW!"

[ Name: Anostos Birds

Level: 27

Class: Bird ]

’Still overlevelled.’

The Anostos Bird tried to back away. Oh, no, no. He yanked it back by its beak and pointed a finger at its temple. He was right on the cusp of incinerating it. Its wings flapped desperately, unable to escape.

He would have too—if not for the sheer convenience of this encounter.

"Hey, little bird. Do you know the conditions to unlock the Animal Tamer Class? It’s pretty simple, really. You tame an animal. But you’re no animal. You’re a monster." His grip loosened and the trashing went faster. Alas, it still could not leave his grip. "Taming a monster means to unlock the Monster Tamer Class. It’s a well-recorded condition but tough to do in practice. During the war though, it was a common class. That means there’s an easy trick to unlocking it."

Kazi tightened his grip on the Anostos Bird, feeling its frantic heartbeat against his palm. The bird’s eyes were wild with fear, its wings beating furiously but fruitlessly against his hold.

Kazi focused his willpower, channeling it into the bird. He could feel the creature’s resistance, a visceral sensation of defiance that pulsed through its body. But Kazi was relentless. He poured his intent into the bird, his mind becoming a steel trap around its thoughts, crushing its will beneath his own.

The struggle was fierce. The bird’s mind was wild and chaotic, a storm of primal fear and rage. Kazi’s head throbbed with the effort of subduing it, but he gritted his teeth and pushed harder. He visualized his will as a vice, tightening inexorably around the bird’s consciousness, squeezing until there was no room left for resistance.

Gradually, he felt the Anostos Bird’s defiance begin to crumble. Its thrashing grew weaker, its wild eyes dulled, and its wings slowed. Kazi’s willpower flooded into the void left by its surrender.

He could feel the connection solidify, a tether of dominance that bound the monster to him.

A sudden rush of power surged through him as the skill activated.

[ New skill learned: Dominating Will ]

Kazi felt the Anostos Bird go limp in his hand, its will entirely subjugated to his own. He released it, and the bird hovered obediently beside him, its once-wild eyes now filled with a docile darkness. It was a taming full of fear.

[ Congratulations on forcibly taming a monster! Receive the ’Monster Tamer’ class! ]

[ Anostos Bird is tamed! ]

[ Would you like to add Anostos Bird to Slot 1? ]

[ Would you like to nickname Anostos Bird? ]

The system notification flashed before his eyes. Three Class Skills were listed: Dominating Will, which he had unlocked on his own, Slot 1, and Inner World. The latter skill intrigued him and he opened it up.

[ Inner World

Subtype: Support

Rank: A

Cost: -

Description: Creates a personal inner realm where tamed monsters can be housed, trained, and strengthened. Monsters within the Inner World are nurtured by the user’s mana and can be summoned instantly. Ordinarily it takes up to ten years to learn and longer to master. The System circumvents this. ]

Ranks were an indication of rarity and difficulty of acquisition. An S-rank skill, for example, meant a weapon or skill was super rare, roughly one in a hundred thousand or one in a million. An A-rank skill would be rare albeit learnable to the elite.

The Anostos Bird did not land on his shoulder as he had hoped. ’Ah, crud, maybe I should have been nicer?’ He saw the lingering screen asking him if he wanted to immediately store the bird into Slot 1 or if he wanted to nickname it. He rejected the first and accepted the second offer.

"I will call you...Anos. Sorry for not adding you to my slot, I need you to do something for me first."

The Anostos Bird’s response came in the form of a loud cry.

"I’m going to take that as a yes. I need you to take me to your home."