To feed the gods is to nurture gods.

　　Poor aptitude is an innate flaw. Perhaps even your master will regretfully tell you that you will never become a peerless powerhouse like a god in this lifetime.

　　But it doesn't matter. As long as you believe in me, with a wave of my hand, I can make you a level-twenty-something Guardian Beast Warrior: a being akin to a god.

　　God says, those who believe in me shall have eternal life.

　　What's so great about eternal life? Those who believe in me become gods!

　　Henry Bennett's creed: To nurture others into gods, you must first nurture yourself into a god.

Volume One: Conquering Gruya

Chapter 001: Hunting Beasts on the Wasteland

　　The setting sun was like blood, the wild grass like swords.

　　"Rumble rumble rumble..." On the horizon, tens of thousands of beasts the size of elephants, shaped like rhinoceroses, kicked up clouds of dust as they thundered forward, their roar like war drums, their momentum like a flood—unstoppable!

　　The trunk-nosed rhino herd could rampage across this wasteland, even the entire continent, without restraint. Imagine tens of thousands of monsters, each weighing over five tons and running at speeds over a hundred kilometers per hour—what a terrifying force of destruction! Even gods would not dare to face their fury.

　　The trunk-nosed rhino's hide was as tough as a knight's heavy armor. Even the fiercest predator of the wasteland, the wasteland earth dragon, could hardly bite through it in one go.

　　Their main means of attack were their long trunks and the sharp single horn hidden beneath the trunk. The trunk was not only immensely strong but also extremely agile, yet the most lethal weapon was still that single horn.

　　Hidden beneath the trunk, it was impossible to guard against. Under the assault of the trunk, an opponent who could only defend would easily be killed by this sudden "hidden blade."

　　The herd ran freely; this wasteland was their home. In their own home, unless they grew tired, no one could make them stop. Anyone daring to stand in their way—even a pack of earth dragons—would be trampled into pulp.

　　They swept across the wasteland like a flood. Leading them was a rhino king nearly twice the size of the others, charging at the very front. With a casual turn from the rhino king, the entire herd followed, suddenly changing direction like a river bending, making a wide arc and rushing off another way.

　　No one noticed that, in the man-high wild grass beside the stampede, a pair of bright eyes was fixed intently on the herd. Could there really be a creature in this world daring to prey on a herd of trunk-nosed rhinos?

　　As the herd made a sharp turn, the last of the trunk-nosed rhinos fell behind. A few that were slightly thinner couldn't keep up, falling a bit behind the main group.

　　"Slightly thinner" was only relative to the other trunk-nosed rhinos; to any other creature—say, a human—they were still unbeatable giants.

　　Suddenly, a shadow flashed out, grabbing a trunk-nosed rhino like lightning—its speed rivaling the most agile predator of the wasteland, the saber-toothed wolf.

　　Such speed was already astonishing, but even more shocking was that the shadow was actually a human!

　　If it had really been a saber-toothed wolf, that would be easier to understand. A pack of ferocious saber-toothed wolves was on par with rampaging earth dragons as predators of the wasteland. If they hunted a straggling trunk-nosed rhino together, it wouldn't be impossible. But a human, hunting a three-meter-tall, five-ton trunk-nosed rhino barehanded, was surely courting death!

　　Trunk-nosed rhinos were high-level magical beasts. Besides their powerful bodies, they could also use level-three earth magic, "Earth Tremor"—an obscure earth-element spell that even most advanced mages would shake their heads at and give up on. Yet trunk-nosed rhinos, by virtue of their innate gifts, could cast such intermediate earth magic. Ordinary warriors facing them were nothing but cannon fodder.

　　His hands gripped the rhino's trunk tightly, his legs rooted to the ground as if filled with lead. With a loud shout, he yanked the trunk with all his might. The trunk-nosed rhino, in pain, lowered its head and tumbled over!

　　With this commotion, the herd had already run far away. On the wasteland, only the "overconfident" human predator and the dignity-offended, furious magical beast remained.

　　The trunk-nosed rhino snorted three times in a row, stomped its forefoot, and four muffled thuds formed a strange wave. The wave traveled underground—the earth god was enraged! The land within a ten-meter radius began to tremble!

　　This method of controlling magic through waves was like the incantations of human mages. The strange thing was, a human mage might never learn a level-three earth spell in their lifetime, as earth magic was the hardest of all to master. Yet these low-intelligence magical beasts were born able to use it, so some said trunk-nosed rhinos were the pets of the earth god.

　　The earth trembled—who could not fear? Yet the trunk-nosed rhino was completely unaffected by this magic. With a furious roar, it charged at full speed.

　　Its long, powerful trunk swept across like a giant club, aiming right at the human predator.