The First King of Beasts

"Who do you think created that circle to begin with?"

"It was you?"

"Yes, after many trials and errors, having no knowledge in magic, not to even talk about spatial magic, I tried to create one myself and indulge in self tutelage. Of course, the result is what you saw, an obvious failure."

After spending tens of years trying to teach magic to himself, Eir was able to figure out something, but even then nothing worked, and it all led to constant failures. He ended up giving up entirely on using magic as he didn't see himself as gifted enough for it. In the end, the answer he sort came to him in time, and even then he just couldn't leave, as if he did, the demons would invade the earth once again, so he had to remain to keep them sealed.

"The thing is, my talent in magic might not be the best, and this realm we are in right now is a strange one. All the circles led be back here, just in a different location. Apart from you, there have been around ten others that have ever visited this place after my entry of which I am aware of." Eir said, but before Dustin could ask any questions, Eir continued, "they all died of course, and it actually seems like the gods can't come here maybe, if not I should have gotten one for sure coming here to hand me some kind of punishment or something."

"Hmm."

"I'll be direct with you," Eir continued, "you'll have to strengthen yourself if you ever want to leave this place, and be prepared." Eir said. Both of them stayed there a while longer talking, and Dustin just couldn't shake the feeling that he could be swallowed at any moment by the giant monsters behind Eir. But then again, he could, for some reason trust his words, and since he had the same power and at an advanced version at that, Dustin had nothing to worry about.

"Ok! First of all, before we start anything, you will have to first get used to the available food, the meat." Eir said, as Dustin felt him get up and walk away towards the monsters and lied down there. As Eir walked away, two more sizable pieces of the raw meat appeared.

Dustin was quick to ask why Eir didn't just use some fire magic to deal with this issue. If he was able to teach himself something as complex as dimensional or maybe it was space magic, something as basic as fire magic wouldn't be a problem, would it?.. Of course, the answer he received was simple, Eir couldn't. He didn't have the affinity for it, and it wasn't like he hadn't tried.

Dustin, after a moment of resolve, maybe? Picked up the piece of meat from the short table before him and took a big chunk just like he did with the last, but he could immediately feel the difference, as even without knowing, he spit back out the piece within his mouth. 'What the fuck is this? It's not the same as the first.' Dustin cursed in his mind. Of course he asked why the taste was different, and the answer he got...

"Of course it tastes terrible, the one you ate first was the special one, and that one is something of a rare serving." Eir said.

In the end, he couldn't get something better, and had to make due with the one he was provided. It took some time, but after several minutes passed, maybe an hour, Dustin finally managed to finish the two pieces of meat he was given. After that, he approached Eir for what to do next, but all he got as an answer was a mocking chuckle from Eir, then he was told to relax first and sit down, "or you can choose to lie down if that would feel better." Eir said.

Dustin was feeling a little frustrated at Eir's attitude, but then again there wasn't much he could do, so he followed the instruction he was given and sat on the ground. After about an hour had passed, Dustin couldn't sit anymore and slowly lowered his body into a lying positioned, as he placed himself on his back.

Ever since he came to this room, there was something he noticed was off, and it wasn't until he tried talking to his system that he realised what was missing, it was his system. Well, the system was still there, as he could still access his status screen and other parts of the interface, the problem was that he could no longer speak to the system as it would just remain silent no matter how long he called out to it.

For the system to not act up until he got here, or was it after entering the room, Dustin was reassured that whatever the power operating in this realm was, it wasn't something to hold lightly. Looking at his stats, everything was still the same, and nothing had changed. He just put it away and remained there on the ground lying down.

After about another hour or two had passed again, Dustin spoke to Eir about what they were trying to do, and all EIr told him was that it was for his own good, and he should just be patient and trust him. Dustin couldn't do anything but just listen to the man. From time to time they would speak to each other, and it seemed like Eir was most interested in the advancement of humanity than anything else.

It wasn't only till an entire day had passed that Eir called Dustin to the table once again. Dustin had fallen asleep after staying awake for so long without knowing when it was morning or night, and when he came to, he could sense the plate of meat placed on the table, the same as last time, two large chunks of flesh. He was told to eat the meat, and Eir just sat close and watched him? Maybe.

It was just like the last one, bad taste and incredibly disgusting. Maybe it was just Dustin, but the taste was even worse than the ones before. By the time he was done with the first chunk of meat, and was about to take a bite out of the second one, Dustin felt something. At that very moment where he stuck a sizable piece into his mouth, several stabbing pain cursed through his entire body in one motion, and as the pain reached the edges of his body, it started returning to the origin of the pain, his abdomen.

Dustin was able to maintain himself amidst the pain, and resisted the urge to make any embarrassing sound before Eir, which made Eir chuckle again.

"Come on now, you aren't less of a man for expressing a little pain." He said.

Dustin sat still through the entire process as the painful sensation flowed through his entire body. After about a minute, the pain finally returned to his abdomen where it started, and Dustin was able to take a breath. "What the fuck was that just now?" He asked with a grunt.

"Worry not, like I said, the last thoughts I have are of killing or hurting you." Eir said, "well, you may get hurt a little, but I mean good, and you know what they say, the best type of pain is the one that makes you stronger." Eir said.

"What was that? What just happened?" Dustin persisted.

"Oh yeah. The meat before you is raw demonic monster meat, and to put it simply, that meat is a very important part of your foundation, and would ultimately make you stronger." Eir explained, but Dustin on the other hand couldn't exactly say if it was so.

Eir spent some time explaining a portion of why Dustin had to eat the meat, and Dustin shrugged at first, but then agreed. If it meant getting stronger, then he would at least give it a try. He couldn't imagine himself surviving a spatial crack where violent energies continually clashed with each other infinitely. If he stepped into such a place, he would be torn to pieces the moment he stepped foot inside. This also made him wonder just how strong the demons Eir was keeping sealed were. To get here at first, they also had to come through that crack, and they still survived at that.

Dangerous..

"You have to fortify your mind and self. The pain and torture only gets worse from here on, so you will have to fight against all odds." Eir said, his casual tone getting a bit of a serious undertone.

Dustin agreed and picked himself up before dragging himself towards the table a few feet away. He positioned himself before the meat, and with a gallop of saliva passing down his throat, he picked up the meat and bit into it, bracing himself for the coming pain.

This was something he had to do whether he like it or not.