In the wilderness, beasts rarely lived alone. Most of them formed groups, sometimes small packs, sometimes large herds. But when groups became large, conflict was inevitable.
Beasts of the same species would fight for food, for territory, and for dominance. These battles were brutal and often ended with death. Eventually, out of all that chaos and fighting, a single beast would rise above the rest. This one would be stronger, more cunning, and more ruthless than the others. That beast became the leader of the group.
Such a leader was called a Beast King.
A Beast King was not an ordinary creature. It carried with it the weight of countless battles, every scar carved into its body proof of its survival. And because it ruled over others, its strength grew in proportion to the number of beasts that obeyed it. The larger its group, the more powerful it became.
This was something Aldric had learned through the Heart Engraving Artifact.
The information engraved into his very being explained that the rise of a Beast King was a natural process. Chaos among beasts created competition. Competition created pressure. Pressure forced growth. The strongest emerged, and once a Beast King appeared, the surrounding area would often be reshaped by its rule. Weaker beasts would submit, territories would be consolidated, and hunting grounds would be tightly controlled.
Aldric couldn't help but reflect on that.
It wasn't only beasts who followed this law.
Humans were the same.
War, strife, and struggle had always been the driving forces behind progress. Peace brought comfort, but peace also encouraged stagnation. In peaceful times, there was little reason to push boundaries or strive for more. People became content with what they had.
But when danger loomed, when lives were threatened, when survival was uncertain—people were forced to adapt.
Hardship revealed weakness. And once weakness was exposed, people either perished or overcame it. Muscles grew through strain. Skills sharpened through repetition under pressure. Determination was forged through countless failures and the refusal to give up.
This was true for individuals, and it was true for societies as a whole.
History was filled with examples. When kingdoms went to war, they invented new weapons and strategies. When cities struggled against famine, they discovered better methods of farming and storage. When people faced disaster, they learned to rebuild stronger than before.
War destroyed, but it also revealed who could endure.
Strife wounded, but it also built resilience.
Struggle broke many, but it forced the survivors to transform.
Growth—whether physical, mental, or societal—rarely came in times of comfort. True growth was born in challenge, in resistance, in the fight to survive.
Aldric understood this in a way he never had before.
His own life was proof of it.
He had been born powerless, despised for his background, and treated as nothing more than a slave. His days had been filled with humiliation, pain, and hardship. Yet all of that had shaped him. If he had been born into comfort, he might have never grasped the chest in the river with the desperation he had. He might never have appreciated the chance it gave him.
If his life had been easy, he would have died as an ordinary mortal without power or recognition.
It was precisely because of the endless cruelty he suffered that he now valued strength above everything else.
The Heart Engraving Artifact hadn't simply given him knowledge. It had opened his eyes to truths he might never have understood otherwise.
Even now, as he sat quietly in the caravan wagon with the wheels creaking beneath him and the mountains stretching endlessly into the distance, these thoughts lingered in his mind.
The world was cruel. The beasts that fought among themselves to crown a Beast King were no different from humans warring for power, territory, and supremacy. In both cases, only the strongest thrived.
And Aldric knew one thing for certain.
He could never allow himself to be weak again.
Struggle would come for him, whether he wanted it or not. But instead of fearing it, he would embrace it. He would let the pressure forge him, just as chaos forged the Beast Kings of the wilderness.
For in this world, strength was the only thing that truly mattered.
And Aldric intended to become strong enough that no one would ever trample him again.
The caravan wheels rolled on, the sound steady and unchanging, as if echoing the constant truth of the world—endless struggle, endless progress.