The First Legendary Beast Master

Nyan led them down the hallway toward what Karl assumed was the dining hall, but not without giving them some introductory knowledge.

"Alright, you will have it much easier than usual with the Clan. You actually won your first Ranking Duel, which is highly uncommon.

Power is the only thing that anyone respects here, and you've got it.

However, there are still some divides that you will see.

First up, we have Mortal servants in the kitchens. Do not speak to them, it's against the rules for them to speak in public. You can make them bark or meow if it pleases you, but no speaking.

Next, the true-born Immortals are pretty snobbish.

We don't have a lot of them around presently, but you'll notice the cliques right away.

You can try to talk to them if you want. You're powerful, and some of them are beneath you on the rankings. But it will almost certainly cause a fight, where they will call in one of their stronger friends to fight on their behalf.

You're pretty strong, but a lot of the older Trueborn are already Ascendant.

That's where they usually get bottlenecked. The start of Ascension is apparently fairly easy, but once you get past that, it gets harder. Maybe one in a thousand Immortals who ascends can actually make it to Peak Immortal, and few of them live long enough to become Supreme.

The closer they get, the more likely they are to be attacked by an actual Supreme to stop them from becoming a threat.

For that reason, you don't see many Peak Immortals.

They either die, or they retreat to a pocket dimension to finish their cultivation and reach the Supreme Rank. The fact that we have two Peak Immortals here in the Clan Hall is great security for that reason.

If anyone comes for them, they've got backup.

Making friends is important for that reason. Here, we're all nominally on the same team. But outside? That's a whole other thing. I will give you a book with the markings of the Clans and Sects that we're allied to.

You'll need to memorize that before you go outside.

Other than that, I just need to repeat that you can't get all huffy and start fights over the staff. Seriously, the Trueborn especially will get cranky if you stand up for them.

If you like one, you can take them as a pet and help them cultivate."

Karl gave her a startled look, and Nyan nodded.

"Yep, I was brought here as a Mortal, and kept as a pet until I ascended. But it's not bad, the food is pretty good, and even with the whole status thing, not everyone is an asshole."

Karl winked at Dana, who laughed. "Oh, you shouldn't have told him that. He's totally going to adopt someone fluffy, and then give her to the Chaos Badger as a new friend."

"Chaos Badger? Do you know a Chaos Badger? I wouldn't tell people that. They're... trouble."

Dana patted the catgirl on the head, amused by the way that she seemed to melt under the affection.

"She's a bonded partner of Karl's, and she's in the process of advancing right now, but she will come to visit everyone eventually."

Nyan just sighed and led them toward the dining hall, while Geoff tried not to laugh at her.

Geoff pushed the door open, while Nyan led them inside, and the room fell silent with one final clatter of cutlery on dishes. All the Immortals were waiting to see how Karl and Dana would react, what clique they would go join, and how they would treat the other awakened Immortals.

Apparent age meant nothing here, and most who had hundreds or thousands of years of life behind them struggled to adapt to being treated as newbies.

"Bunnies." Dana whispered, as she saw the serving staff scurrying about.

"Lotus is going to go insane." Karl agreed, then turned to face the room.

"Good afternoon everyone. Thank you all for the warm welcome during the duels, and I am looking forward to meeting many of you." He announced.

Dana waved to a few friendly faces, while the Immortals tried to decipher Karl's greeting.

Was he being sarcastic? Was he actually angry about the duels, though they were an important tradition? Or did he enjoy the fight, and honestly want to make friends?

If that was the case, he would definitely fall into the 'weirdo' category.

Did he not know that they were competitors for extremely scarce resources and opportunities? Or did he simply not see them as a threat, and as such saw no reason not to be friendly with them?

They were thinking much more deeply about the sentence than Karl was.

He had just given them the standard issue politically polite greeting.

The room remained silent, much to Karl's dismay. He had been hoping for at least one or two polite greetings in return, but apparently that wasn't the tradition here.

But tradition wasn't the cause of the silence, it was the fact that he was spouting confusing doublespeak while standing next to an absolutely stunning foxkin Immortal, and absently petting one of the bunny servants.

Wasn't that just too much? Far too enviable.

The bunnies usually ran away when anyone got close to them because so many of the Immortals were mean to them. But his very first day here, he got to pet fluffy bunny ears.

The server was just as shocked as everyone else. She had come over to get his order, and suddenly, he was stroking her ears just right and her mind had gone blank.

That had to be a System Skill. But who had a skill for head pats?

He was a dangerous person. But he felt so safe and friendly that she couldn't stay away.

Dana ended up rescuing her so that she could go back to work. Karl didn't even notice that he had her enthralled, it was just an instinctive action and the power of his Class Skills overriding the bunny's survival instincts.

"Let's find a seat. There are plenty of open spots." Geoff suggested.

The looks that he got from the other Immortals were a mix of disgust and pity. He was a born Immortal, being a Divine Lightning Dragon. However, he was crippled, and stuck near the bottom of the power rankings for life.

It was a strange place to be, but his reputation was still better than Nyan's, even if she was much more popular.