Nature's Touch Perfected, Battle of the Sovereigns

Military district barracks, Defensive Camp 257.

A flash of white light — Lu Yuan materialized in his room.

A faint smile rested on his face.

Once again, his time in the Land of Origin had yielded results that more than satisfied him.

He had spent twenty-five days in the Land of Origin's Gravity Room, consuming over 180,000 Fourth-rank Spirit Crystals. His Nature's Touch gene had been tempered to over seventy percent.

The pace was actually a bit faster than he'd anticipated. By his estimate, the next time he entered the Land of Origin, he would be able to bring Nature's Touch all the way to perfection.

Compared to before, Nature's Touch provided noticeably stronger amplification. As for the Combat Techniques it unlocked — he hadn't yet met an opponent that warranted using them. But with the Beast Tide on the horizon, that might change soon.

After washing up, Lu Yuan left his room.

He found Groat and Ding Wen in the common room, both wearing grim expressions.

He walked over, curious. "What's wrong?"

"Lu Yuan, you're back from the Land of Origin? Word just came down from above — the Beast Tide is about to erupt in full. It's going to cover a massive area. This could shape up to be a brutal fight."

"Already this close to erupting?"

Lu Yuan's eyes widened slightly.

"Yeah. The defensive camp has already issued the notice. Most of the civilian adventurers should be back by now... though a fair number have already abandoned the front line entirely."

Ding Wen scoffed, clearly displeased.

Understandable — the Beast Tide threatened the Red Maple Empire, yet these adventurers were pulling out instead of staying to help. It sat poorly with him.

Groat was more philosophical, his expression unchanged.

"Our workload is going to get heavier," he said, turning to Lu Yuan. "Once the Beast Tide erupts, smaller incursions may punch through the forward positions and into the mid-defensive zone. We in the Scout Unit need to keep a constant grip on any Beast Tide elements entering our sector. The danger level goes up."

"That said, don't let it weigh on you too much," Ding Wen added, his tone a shade more reassuring. "From the reports, even if smaller waves do breach the main front line, it'll take some time before they reach our position."

Lu Yuan gave a serious nod. "Understood."

The following day at noon, Squad 22's patrol rotation came around again.

The six of them made their way through the civilian sector toward the main gate.

Lu Yuan noticed the civilian sector was considerably more empty than before. Gene Warriors had once moved through it in constant, busy streams — now fewer than half remained.

At the gate, a scout squad was filing in. He swept his gaze across them and noted that two members bore wounds that were anything but light.

They'd been hit out there.

Groat and the others glanced over briefly, then looked away.

For them, this kind of thing had long since become routine.

They entered the forest and jogged toward their patrol zone. Before long, a powerful presence closed in fast from somewhere ahead.

The squad tensed, eyes fixed on the direction of that aura.

A jet-black panther.

Over three meters tall, its eyes were a solid crimson — cold, frenzied, and soaked with killing intent. The aura rolling off it was enough to make everyone in the squad subtly tighten.

Groat's expression darkened. He tightened his grip on his battle axe, eyes locked on the creature. "Third-rank, low-level Chief Grade..."

He hadn't finished the sentence before the panther vanished — and reappeared without a sound directly behind Stacie. Its razor-sharp claws swung silently toward her head.

The instant they were about to connect, a blur materialized in front of the panther.

Dark sword-light flashed. Steel met claw.

**Boom!!**

The shockwave sent Stacie tumbling more than ten meters through the air. Ding Wen caught her.

Groat lunged to the panther's flank and swung his axe in a hard downward stroke. The panther made to dodge, winds spiraling into existence around its body — but they were shattered on impact. Even so, the beast locked up for a fraction of a second.

For Lu Yuan, a fraction of a second was more than enough.

White Jade Spirit Body. Black Steel Force. Mechanical Load — all at full burn.

A blade of black light swept through the air and caught the panther across the throat.

Groat stood over the corpse, a ghost of lingering unease on his face. "That thing was dangerous — I can't believe the speed on it! Lucky you caught it in time, Ah Yuan!"

Stacie was still a little shaken. She smiled at Lu Yuan. "Thanks, Ah Yuan."

"It's what squadmates are for."

Lu Yuan felt a quiet wave of relief. *Thankfully the boost to my Nature's Touch sharpened my Spiritual Perception enough to pick up its movement.* Without that edge, he would have been forced to reveal a trump card.

"Still," Yang Qiu said, staring at the panther's still-open eyes as the bloodred light inside them slowly dimmed, "those eyes are seriously off. That kind of creeping red — you almost never see it in Feral Beasts."

The others nodded in agreement.

"I'll file a report when we're back." Groat's voice was flat, businesslike. "Third-rank Feral Beasts are getting more common out here. Everyone stay sharp."

They moved on.

Over the following day and night, Lu Yuan encountered Third-rank Feral Beasts in numbers greater than anything before. At one point, they even crossed paths with a Fourth-rank Feral Beast.

Fortunately, before the squad could blunder into it directly, Lu Yuan's exceptional perception caught it in time — he grabbed his squadmates and hauled them up into the canopy.

From there, they watched a demon bull armored from head to hoof in black scales come crashing through below, splintering trees in its wake. The close call left everyone quietly shaken.

Fortunately, the bull seemed locked in a blind frenzy. It didn't notice them.

A full day and night of patrol — harrowing, but they came through in one piece.

When they returned to the defensive camp, the lingering unease still showed on every face.

Two days later.

The southern front line. The outermost edge.

A countless horde of Feral Beasts poured out of the Endless Mountain Range and bore down on the defensive line.

The thundering footfalls of the mass shook the earth. Bestial roars crashed through the air, rolling deep into the fortifications.

Along a stretch of battle fortresses, rows of Gene Warriors in combat armor stood atop the walls with cool, unreadable expressions, watching the tide approach. These were veterans of the front line. They had faced Feral Beasts by the thousands and weathered multiple Beast Tides. Against the oncoming horde, they felt nothing.

As the tide drew near, a handful of creatures stood out from the mass — colossal beyond anything else in sight. A white elephant. A towering ape. A black serpent of monstrous proportions.

Among those on the walls stood a group set apart from the soldiers — Southern Guard elites and Talent Camp instructors, their auras towering above the rest.

The blond man at their head swept an indifferent gaze across the three colossal creatures, then spoke.

"Peak Beast Sovereigns. Who wants to go?"

A powerfully built man with dark skin stepped forward, both fists fitted with enormous gauntlets. He knocked them together with a dull, grinding crack, a savage grin spreading across his face. "I'll go."

A second volunteer followed: a black-haired middle-aged man of unremarkable appearance, dressed in leather armor, long sword at his side, expression cold and closed. "Count me in."

Finally, from the Talent Camp's group, a man stepped forward — short brown hair, white robes, easy smile. "I'll lend a hand as well."

Three streaks of light blazed into the sky. In an instant they stood before the Beast Tide, and the auras that erupted from them were staggering — immense, crushing, pressing outward in all directions like an ocean tide.

The force of it became a storm.

Across the terrain below, enormous ancient trees shuddered in the gale. Smaller ones bent and toppled.

This was what it meant to be a Battle Sovereign. Their presence alone was a natural disaster.

Throughout the horde, weaker beasts dropped to the ground at the mere touch of that aura, trembling and unable to rise.

Three pairs of blood-red eyes turned on the humans. The Beast Sovereigns roared as one.

Raw, primal fury poured from them. Their wild might crashed against the three human auras, and the collision became a storm within a storm.

Howling winds. Dark clouds churned and massed overhead, blotting out the sun.

Trees were torn from the earth across a wide radius, shredded into splinters by the tempest.

The white elephant was first to speak. Its voice resonated like a great bell.

"Humans! All who stand in my way — *die!!*"

At the Beast Sovereign tier, their intelligence was no longer inferior to a human's. Even at Beast King level they were already roughly comparable.

The man facing the white elephant — gauntleted, dark-skinned, built like a fortress — cracked a wide, savage smirk.

"Who gave you the nerve?"

**BOOM!!!**

With a thunderous roar, all three beasts and all three Battle Sovereigns launched skyward at the same instant.

Their forms were swallowed by the clouds. Explosions rang out overhead, and from time to time bright flashes speared down through the darkness.

On the wall, the blond commander glanced up at the churning sky, then swept his gaze across the surrounding terrain. His eyes narrowed, expression sharp.

"There are more down here. Stop them."

The moment his words fell, several streaks of light shot out toward the Beast Tide. Answering lights surged from within the horde — warriors and beasts collided, locked together, and rose fighting into the clouds.

Roars without end.

The remaining horde threw itself at the walls.

And this was not one fortress alone. Across every stronghold along the entire front line, the same scene played out simultaneously.

More than that — a portion of the beasts had already slipped through gaps in the forward defense and were pushing toward the heart of the defensive network.

Land of Origin. Training Hall.

Lu Yuan spent over 300,000 Fourth-rank Spirit Crystals and finally brought his Nature's Touch gene to perfection.

A perfected Nature's Touch offered modest gains in raw strength and defense, but its enhancement to Spiritual Perception was extraordinary.

Lu Yuan understood exactly what that meant in practice. At the very least, he would always be the first to sense danger.

Satisfied, he pressed on — turning his attention to tempering the Mechanical Control gene.

Eight days later, his time was up. Lu Yuan exited the Land of Origin.

A flash of white light — he was back in his room.

After washing up, he stepped into the common room and found Groat, Yang Qiu, Ding Wen, and Stacie all present. Tang Ji was the only one missing.

At the sight of him, Yang Qiu immediately spoke up. "Ah Yuan, you're out! We've got a mission — and soon."

"A mission? Wasn't it supposed to be tomorrow?"

Lu Yuan blinked.

Ding Wen's expression was grave. "The Beast Tide has erupted. The front line is already engaged. Part of the wave has punched through to the mid-defensive zone. The Scout Unit has a special assignment — intensified patrols across the whole area."

Lu Yuan's gaze sharpened. "It's already started?"

"Yeah. Each sector is doubling its patrol teams. Our southern sector will have twenty squads running simultaneously. And for the foreseeable future, we're on standby around the clock — no entering the Land of Origin."

Lu Yuan nodded. Understood.

Before long, Tang Ji emerged from his room as well.

All six of them sat in the common room, waiting in quiet. A short while later, Groat's communicator buzzed. He checked it and stood.

"We're up. Time to move."

The others were on their feet immediately and headed for the door.

The mood was heavy. No one said much.

Yang Qiu draped an arm over Lu Yuan's shoulder, grinning despite it all. "Ah Yuan, real talk — if I end up dying out there, write something decent on my tombstone. Something like 'fell in the fight for all of humanity,' you know?"

Ding Wen gave him a flat sideways glance. "I'm not going to die."

Groat pulled a lopsided smile. "We've all been through Beast Tides before. Sure, command says this one's large-scale, but we've got the experience. Don't overthink it. We're all walking out of this."

They left the barracks district.

The entire military zone was already in motion — every corner of the Guard Corps stirring with purpose, a grim, electric tension hanging over the camp like a storm front.

Lu Yuan spotted Zhu Zhengyang and Yan Jing.

Both had been assigned to the Garrison Troops — a unit that sat idle under normal conditions, only deploying when the camp came under Beast Tide attack or faced another serious threat. Zhu Zhengyang, who had always carried himself with a certain swaggering confidence, now looked distinctly pale. Yan Jing was no different.

They noticed Lu Yuan. Both paused.

He gave them a nod. Something seemed to pass through them — they straightened slightly, returning a solemn nod of their own.

Beyond the military zone, the civilian sector had emptied even further than before.

The Gene Warriors who remained were already suited up in their Gene Armaments. One of them — tall and imposing, a battle axe resting over his shoulder — let out a rough, cheerful laugh. "Come on then, you Feral Beast bastards! Try hitting our camp again — I'll have your heads on a pike!"

Another called out, "If the line breaks and the beasts pour into the Empire's interior, it's the cities that'll pay! Let's all pitch in and help the Guard Corps hold!"

Off to one side, Guard Corps units were organizing the Gene Warriors into orderly formations along the wall, making sure they wouldn't interfere with the Corps' own defensive operations.

Maige was among them.

He spotted Lu Yuan, paused — then gave a quiet nod. His lips moved without a sound.

Lu Yuan read the shape of it.

*Be careful.*

He nodded back, flashing a relaxed grin.

The squad arrived at the main gate. Three scout teams were filing in at the same moment. Seeing Squad 22, they acknowledged with brief nods.

Ice shot through Lu Yuan's chest.

Not one of the three incoming squads was at full strength. All of them bore wounds — and on some, those wounds were far from light.