Blinding light.
A blinding light clouded Raiven's vision as soon as he entered the Hole.
Slowly opening his eyes, Raiven took in his surroundings.
"Wow..." he gasped.
Raiven's eyes darted from left to right, scanning the forest in front of him.
The trees were long and had lush green leaves.
He turned back, and the Hole which he entered from was there.
Behind the Hole, the forest continued, stretching as far as the eyes could see.
"Alright, let's do this," Raiven muttered, his eyes focused.
In order to leave the Hole, he'll have to return to this same spot to go through the portal. This was another reason why the Holes were deadly because if one was unable to remember the path to the portal, they would get lost in the Hole, and that was insanely dangerous.
Because of this, as Raiven began walking forward, he brought out his axe from his inventory and began marking the trees he passed.
It was quite stressful, but it was necessary.
With this, he would be able to find his way back to the Portal when he was done with whatever he was going to do in the Hole.
He also brought out his chest plate and wore it, together with a Normal Rank black cloak he took from his room before leaving.
The cloak was really normal, with just the ability to enhance his senses a bit.
Raiven continued walking, his eyes searching the forest intensely.
'It's been about ten minutes now, but I haven't seen any Beast yet,' Raiven thought.
Though, he continued moving.
Suddenly, Raiven heard a sound coming from his right side.
His head snapped in that direction, and he instantly saw the source of the sound.
A 5 foot tall Tiger emerged from behind a tree, its brown eyes locked on Raiven.
It had orange fur with black stripes, but its tongue was blue.
Slowly, it began moving towards Raiven, low growls escaping its mouth.
Raiven furrowed his brows, his demeanor changing.
Quickly, he gripped his two-handed axe and faced the Tiger properly.
"I know this beast, it's quite a popular one," Raiven muttered.
In that same moment, the system screen appeared in front of him.
[Blue-Tongue Tiger]
[Rank: Normal Rank]
[Tier: Tier 2]
Raiven was quite surprised after seeing what was written on the system screen because in the novel, only Avin's system was able to display the name and Tier of Beasts.
'Well, my system is also different.'
Beasts had the same ranking as Soul Abilities; Normal Rank to Disaster Rank, with each rank having three tiers except Disaster Rank, which had nine tiers.
Raiven locked eyes with the Tiger, his focus unwavering.
Even though the Tiger was just a Normal Rank Beast, that didn't mean he would lower his guard.
Because a person having a Disaster Rank Soul Ability didn't automatically mean they were insanely strong. Moreover, some of the students who just entered the Hole didn't have any battle experience.
Raiven gripped his axe tighter once again, and in that same moment, the Tiger moved.
WHOOSH!
It zoomed towards Raiven with incredible speed, twigs snapping underneath its feet as it dashed.
'It's fast.'
In the blink of an eye, the Tiger had already lunged towards Raiven, its claws aiming for his face.
Raiven forced his body to respond quickly as he moved his head to the left.
He managed to avoid the Tiger's deadly claw, but the claw still grazed his right cheek a bit, drawing blood.
The Tiger landed on the ground behind Raiven smoothly, and in that same second, it dashed towards Raiven again.
This time, Raiven was prepared.
He turned, gripped his axe, and also dashed towards the Tiger.
Quickly, he swung his axe towards the Tiger, but the Tiger raised its claws in defense.
CLANG!
Sparks flew, followed by a loud clanging sound as Raiven's axe and the Tiger's claws clashed.
Both Raiven and the Tiger were pushed backward after the crash, but Raiven quickly acted.
He stretched his right hand, which was holding the axe backward, and then...
WHOOSH!
He jerked his hand forward, throwing the axe with full force towards the Tiger who was already dashing towards him.
Seeing this, the Tiger moved to the left while still dashing forward, completely dodging the axe.
But Raiven's goal wasn't to hit the Tiger in the first place.
His goal was to distract the Tiger a bit, and he had already accomplished that.
In a second, a small blue glowing orb, the size of a ping-pong ball formed on his left hand.
It was Soul Blast.
WHOOSH!
He hurled the orb towards the Tiger.
Because the Tiger just moved to the left to avoid Raiven's axe, it still hadn't completely regained its balance.
Seeing that it couldn't move, it raised its claws to block the attack.
BOOM!
The Soul Blast exploded upon contact, hurling the Tiger backward.
Without wasting time, Raiven dashed towards the Tiger, his cloak fluttering wildly behind him.
As he ran, he grabbed his axe that was embedded in the ground as he reached the Tiger who was just regaining balance.
WHOOSH!
He swung his axe, aiming for the Tiger's head.
The Tiger quickly reacted, already raising its claws to defend.
But Raiven already expected this.
A Soul Blast formed once again on his left palm, and with immense precision, he slammed the Soul Blast on the Tiger's claws that were almost raised to block the axe.
BOOM!
The Tiger's claws were blasted backward, and because of this, it was unable to block the axe.
The axe hit the Tiger with force, the blade embedding itself into the Tiger's head, killing it in an instant.
The Tiger fell on the ground...
Dead.
Raiven exhaled deeply.
"That was..."
A smile formed on his face.
"...fun."
"The Soul Blast really helped me, as expected."
Raiven crouched a bit, examining the Tiger's body.
"Now, do I remove its Soul Shard first before raising it, or should I raise it first?" He pondered.
Though he was quite curious and excited about raising the Tiger, he also didn't want to lose the Soul Shard.
'I should remove the Soul Shard first.'
Raiven gripped his axe and got to work.
Removing the Soul Shard of a Beast wasn't the most pleasant thing to do, but one had no choice.
Raiven opened the body of the tiger using the axe. He had a frown on his face, but he continued.
The Soul Shard wasn't hard to find. It was just beside the Heart of the Tiger.
Raiven carefully removed the Soul Shard and the Heart of the Beast. The Soul Shard was just a slightly long glass-like object.
Quickly, he kept them in his inventory, slightly irritated by the Tiger's blood that were all over his hands.
"Now, time for the main event," Raiven muttered, a small smile on his face.
"How do I raise this Tiger as my undead?"
"Maybe I should just will it?"
He tried to ask the system, but he got no response.
With that, he decided to try on his own.
He stretched out his hand towards the Tiger's body, and he had a single thought:
'Get up.'
Immediately he had that thought, Raiven suddenly felt energy leaving his body.
At the same time, the Tiger's eyes suddenly snapped open.
[Congratulations, you have successfully raised your first undead!]
[Quest complete]
"...perfect..."
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[A/N: Please, your power stones will be greatly appreciated, because it'll help boost this novel. Thank you!!!]