《Man, Machines and Magics》 Chapter 1: Bawl the Animal The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Chapter 2: Trial By Combat Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. So, Chapter 3: The Royal Judge You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Chapter 4: Scarves & Love Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Chapter 5: 2 Problems, 2 Solutions Belle is sitting on a bench in the park, watching other dogs run around. Then there''s Bawl, who is also running on all fours and playing with the dogs. Everyone is staring at Bawl, who is playing and getting along with the dogs. Some try to ignore it, others'' faces are clearly judgmental, and some are just weirded out by the sight. Bawl ignores this and summons her mirror again; this time it''s slightly modified. ¡°The other one wasn''t that modern, and it never gave me 100% accurate information, this one should be able to provide more information about Bawl. She uses the mirror on Bawl, and it shows information, most of it is the same with a couple of new things that the old mirror didn¡¯t show: Personality Traits [Cannot Access Other Traits, Hidden by Enchantment] Pheromones: Females will feel attraction towards him and will see him as cute and even want to touch, hug, and love him, as well as animals feel more trust and comfort towards him. Animialintics: His eyes glow red and hair changes white, and he gains sharp teeth and fangs as well as increases all his natural skills and gains control over all aspects of his body. Soul Radar: He can sense souls from anywhere, no matter the distance. If he desires, he can think of a person he has seen, and it will reveal the location of that soul. Adaptability: His body can adapt to an opponent''s strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, etc., as well as learn anything extremely fast. Soul Consumption: Consume the souls of anyone and the power of the soul increases. ¡°Holds back 99% of his power, how strong is he? And, LOVE ME LIKE I''M HIS MOM!¡± She feels her soul ache from that, ¡°No, whyyyy, I don¡¯t want to be a mom, I¡¯ll feel so old hearing that, I¡¯m too young for this stress.¡± She also sees something blurred, his physical strength cannot be seen, and the wristbands have been enchanted and labeled as ¡°Chaos Limiters.¡± ¡°Hm? When did that happen? I never requested those armbands enhancements.¡± She looks through the Chaos Limiters'' info and sees they were enchanted when they were created by her friend. ¡°Did the guy I hired enchant them? I didn¡¯t tell him to do that.¡± She taps the wristbands and sees information about them: Chaos Limiters: Wristbands that limit most of the wearer¡¯s physical power and can only be released by unscrewing the bolts by the amount wanting to be released (Last for 5 minutes before the bolts forcefully screws themselves back in). ¡°I didn¡¯t tell my friend about Bawl¡¯s physical power. This is way too specific. I¡¯ll ask him about it when I bring Bawl home.¡± ¡°Hm? The weight?¡± She stares at the weight of the wristbands in shock, ¡±116 BILLION POUNDS! N-no human can carry that much, how is he?¡± She looks towards Bawl and sees him scratching his head with his feet just like the dogs. Belle quickly removes the initial shock to feeling a little embarrassed by the scene since some people keep looking back at her. ¡°They probably think he¡¯s a slave I raised as a dog or something.¡± ¡°Bawl get over here.¡± Bawl looks at Belle and runs to her. ¡°We¡¯re going to go get some cookies, okay.¡± Bawl gives her a thumbs up and they both leave the dog park. Bawl is walking around with a tether leash and people stare at them as they walk. They reach a cookie store, and Belle ties the leash to a pole. ¡°I don¡¯t want to bring you in because I know you¡¯ll destroy the place; I can just tell.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. She walks into the store and every man in the store stares at her in lust. Belle doesn¡¯t seem surprised by this, she is rather proud of her curvy body, she had always taken good care of herself and always wanted to be a thick woman when she grew up and had no shame in showing it off, what she didn¡¯t know was that it was more lewd to freely show off her body to everyone, still an inexperienced adult after all. Bawl is sitting outside where he notices a red ball bouncing in the corner of his sight. He looks towards it and pulls on the tether, which breaks the pole. He goes towards it and the ball bounces away; he chases after it and tries catching it various times. He chases it into a broken-down area in an abandoned area of the city, which isn¡¯t too far from where he was. He finally manages to catch it, but the area becomes surrounded by smoke. Bawl looks around, confused by what''s happening and he smells someone in the distance. From the smoke, comes out a man, the same shirtless man who had his bounty. ¡°Hehe he, too easy.¡± The man¡¯s gauntlets start glowing bright orange and he charges towards Bawl. Bawl gets into a battle stance, for some unknown reason, his jacket changes in style, the sleeves now being dark blue with red cuffs, his pants turning brown and his laces turning dark blue. ¡°Huh?¡± He is momentarily distracted by the out-of-place change of his clothes¡¯ colors. This allows the man to get a good punch in Bawl¡¯s face. Bawl is unfazed, ¡°Rock,¡± and punches the man back. The man gasps for air after that single attack, ¡°Damn, bro knocked the air out my system with that.¡± The Bawl goes for another punch, but the man dodges it just in time. Bawl doesn¡¯t let up however, he rushes towards the man, intending to deliver a punch to his face but the attack is blocked by a wall of smoke. Bawl is confused by this, and he is punched in the face again by the man; he falls back slightly before recovering himself. ¡°Weird, I don¡¯t like this.¡± The man jumps back in and runs towards Bawl, his gauntlets glow even more, and Bawl senses danger. He grabs a stone slab nearby and puts it in front of him just before the attack lands. An explosion erupts from the attack and Bawl falls back and his hair is blown in place from the explosion that occurred. He fixes his hair and looks for the man. The man doesn¡¯t relent and goes in for another attack, but Bawl dodges it, however, he hits a wall of smoke, and the man goes in for the punch, using his skill again but Bawl grabs his hand, and slams it to the ground, this causes another, much smaller explosion. ¡°-huh?¡± He punches the man in the face, which sends the man far back and bleeding from his nose. ¡°Can control strength better.¡± He taps his wristbands, believing they are the cause for it, and he¡¯s actually grateful, smiling at this, he now believes that he doesn¡¯t need to intentionally hold back anymore. ¡°He goes in for an attack, not holding back as much as he was initially and fortunately, this full-powered attack didn¡¯t release as much power as he wanted to. ¡°This is good, I like it.¡± The man hits the smoke wall but is only slightly cushioned due to the smoke softening itself up for him. The man who had the large pipe appeared from the smoke. ¡°Brawn, stop playing around, push him as hard as you can, that woman told us to make sure he uses as much power as possible, you''re being fodder for him.¡± ¡°I know Pantry, I know.¡± ¨CFlashback Begins¨C ¡°So, you gave our target power limiters?¡± Pantry says. ¡°Yes, I did, hopefully, you push him to his limits.¡± The woman says, wearing a black cloak and a mask. ¡°I mean, I¡¯ll make things easier, no?¡± Brawn says. ¡°I¡¯ll have the money on standby until you finish.¡± The woman snaps her fingers, and it reveals a cube with a sum of $100,000,000,000. ¡°Hm? Where did all the extra money come from, it said the bounty was 500,000,000 dollars.¡± Pantry asked. ¡°The extra is if you can push him to his absolute limit.¡± ¡°Is that so, sounds easy enough. You understand that, Brawn.¡± ¡°Loud and clear.¡± ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll push him to his limit and then kill him, how does that sound?¡± ¡°That¡¯s just what I want.¡± ¡°Alright Brawn, let''s get moving.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¨CFlashback Ends¨C ¡°I mean that punch was strong, got me bleeding right now.¡± ¡°I doubt that was the full extent, keep pushing and we¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°Yeah, got it.¡± The man gets up and hits his gauntlets together. ¡°Alright, let''s see if that¡¯s all you got!¡± It cuts to the same woman who appears to be standing on the wall of the city. ¡°Hmmm, they''re doing well, now for the other plan.¡± She turns on a tablet which reveals a map and something moving on that map towards the city. ¡°I¡¯ve distracted Bawl, now I need to distract the security, with a monster feared throughout the nations.¡± A man is running away in a street that''s outside the city when he is struck by an extremely powerful blast of steaming hot water, destroying the man''s body and killing him. The monster that blasted him is revealed to be a giant dark blue and white shark, its teeth and eyes glowing red and red steam coming out of the gills, it has 4 feet as well and it looks incredibly terrifying. It appears to be following the trail which so happens to lead to the very city the mysterious woman is at. It runs towards the city, intent on killing everyone there, it knows that no one there can defeat it, at least that¡¯s what it thinks. Belle finally exits the store and pulls on her crop top, which changes her clothes to a white sweater and a pink mini dress that shows some of her cleavage with white boots and has the scarves remaining around her waist. ¡°I knew this outfit wasn''t right, I should¡¯ve just stuck with this one when leaving.¡± ¡°Hey Bawl, I got the cooki-, Bawl?¡± She looks around and sees the pole is missing, ¡°Did he, oh my gosh.¡± Belle takes out her phone, ¡°Good thing those hair ties were trackers.¡± She turns on her phone but then a loud sound comes from the gate of the city, and a blast of steaming water is unleashed onto the city. Everyone is screaming in a panic, The guards approach the noise and see the large land shark beast. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Monarch of the Sea!¡± The guards, now realizing what they are up against, try to run away, but they too are killed by its blast. Belle runs towards the disturbance, intent on dealing with it herself. Chapter 6: Sisters and Brothers This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Chapter 7: Unscrew This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Chapter 8: Beast vs Abnormal This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 9: Witch Hunt Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Chapter 10: Sadistic Hunt This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Chapter 11: True Face If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 12: Boss Baby Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Chapter 13: Eldritch Stolen story; please report. Chapter 14: Start the Raid Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Chapter 15: Murder Mystery Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Chapter 16: Attempted Murder You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Chapter 17: The Plan Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Chapter 18: Start of The End This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 19: Anti-Climatic Victory Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Chapter 20: Tunnel of Doom Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 21: Wild Card Currently, at a fair, Bawl eats a lot of black-and-white cookies, while Alexander and Eonni eat only a few. The monarch is sleeping on Eonni''s head, comfortable where he is, as opposed to being with the person who beat the ever-living crap out of him. ¡°I finally managed to create my skill. This will be very useful.¡± Eonni looks at her hands, a star appearing on her palm, insinuating her skill is currently active. She looks down at her clothes and is only now realizing that she really needs a wardrobe change. Yes, while the clothes themselves are fine, she really only wore them during her mercenary days and would rather leave that behind. She now has a new sibling to care for. Looking around, she sees a shop that is selling clothes. ¡°Let''s see.¡± Taking out her phone, she sees that she has enough money for a cheap outfit. She wants a simple outfit, while also being able to carry support items for herself and Bawl. She walks to the stand, looking around for what she likes, and sees exactly what she needs. A sleeveless reddish pink qipao dress that would reach her upper thighs with white trimmings, a black obi with multiple pockets coming along with it. Simple torso wear with multiple pockets, just what she needed. She also found black female sports shorts, elbow and knee protectors, and black sneakers. Good for flexibility and protection, just what he needed. And to add some fashion, she gets a black headband with the words "Big Sister," which is perfect for her and rather convenient, too. She used her money to buy them all and went to the bathroom to change. Coming out of the bathroom, now in her new attire. She carries her other clothes and throws them into the woods, not needing them anymore. Walking back to Bawl, she sits down and starts scraping at her nails to get the nail polish off. Alexander notices her change of attire, liking the change. ¡°I see you changed, not bad.¡± ¡°Hm? Yeah, those other clothes weren¡¯t going to be helping me, I had to change into something more simple.¡± ¡°Makes sense.¡± Alexander falls back into his thoughts. He thinks about the real reason why he¡¯s here, and he looks around. It seems he¡¯s expecting someone to be here, but they''re not currently present. ¡°Where are you?¡± whispering to himself. Nicolas and Roth are sitting on a tree, eating some chicken nuggets. Roth has gotten better with her English. In such a short amount of time, using her language book, she was able to speak simple sentences, nothing too crazy yet. ¡°This is good, Nicolas.¡± ¡°SEEMS YOU GOT BETTER AT SPEAKING ENGLISH!¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Everyone looked up in their direction. ¡°Don¡¯t scream.¡± He gave a thumbs up. The next day had come, and everyone was brought to a forest area. The monarch was holding onto Bawl''s head, Eonni was now more confident, and Alexander kept looking around for someone. ¡°Alright, this is the next test. Everyone, take a band.¡± Everyone went to grab a band, Alexander immediately knew exactly what kind of game this was, seeing as there were only three of one color. He decided to take three blue bands extremely quickly and brought them to Bawl and Eonni. ¡°This is definitely a team test, so I got us all the same color.¡± Eonni was impressed that he had immediately figured out the test despite the little information. Bawl wasn''t listening at all and took the band. After everyone took a band, a man walked out of the forest. He was quite tall, he had long dark brown hair with dark pink eyes and pale skin. He wore a white-collar shirt that had baggy sleeves with a black suit vest, black pants, and black shoes. His most prominent feature was the large smile on his face. His presence raided evil and strength, anyone around him could tell at first glance, not to mess with something like him. ¡°Greeting everyone, I am another candidate participating in the test.¡± He takes the single black band that was in the crate and puts it on. ¡°Would one allow me to demonstrate my power?¡± At first, no one volunteered, remaining silent. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. What is this guy''s goal? Is this an intimidation tactic? Eonni thought, nervous for what was to come. ¡°I can volunteer.¡± A random man in the crowd said, stepping forward. ¡°Nice, nice.¡± The random man stood at a distance, waiting for the demonstration. Is this guy going to do it alre-.¡± His train of thought was cut short, feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder. He saw a card stabbed into his shoulder. He tried pulling it out, but that was a foolish mistake. Once he pulled it out, he began disintegrating into butterflies. ¡°HUH! WHA, WHAT!¡± The man screamed, watching as his body slowly changed into butterflies and soon enough, the man was gone, leaving only his clothes left. Wow, that¡¯s dark. Alexander didn¡¯t really care for that man¡¯s life but how brutal his end was. He wondered if it was painful or if the man was only screaming because his body was disappearing. Bawl quickly forgot about the whole scenario. Eonni was terrified by what had transpired but remained determined to get through this test. Everyone else had mixed reactions, some were scared, some indifferent, and some sadistic. ¡°Now that¡¯s over. Time to start the test. In this test, you¡¯ll be forced to survive in these woods for a week. And if you¡¯re wondering what¡¯s the point of this test, it¡¯s to test if you are capable of surviving if you ever get stuck in a dungeon.¡± A man raised his hand. ¡°Why would we get stuck? Isn¡¯t it just kill all the monsters, collect the loot then leave?¡± ¡°I should be yes, but sometimes someone may get stuck for a variety of reasons such as being separated from your group and the portal closing before you can reach it or you fall into an unknown section of the dungeon with no way to get out of it.¡± ¡°I see. But then what¡¯s up with these colored armbands?¡± ¡°Your teammates are the people who have the same-colored armband as you.¡± Just as Alexander predicted, the colors represent your teammates. ¡°Wait, most importantly, how come you are the only black armband?¡± ¡°Simple. While you survive and fight the monsters lying in this forest. I will also be hunting you, killing you off one by one.¡± Everyone was shocked by this. Why was he the only one to have to kill them all? What was his quota to pass? I didn¡¯t make sense to any of them and nobody was happy, minus Alexander and Bawl. ¡°HEY, HOLD ON! WHY IS HE THE ONLY ONE TO KILL US? I THOUGHT HE WAS A PARTICIPANT!¡± ¡°You are correct, he is. He was requested as the perfect person for this task and to pass himself, he has to kill 25 participants.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see you. Hehehehe¡± He was enveloped by pink smoke before disappearing as if he was performing a magic trick. ¡°Now introductions are out the way, please begin.¡± Everyone began running into the forest with their partners. Bawl carried Eonni, the monarch, and Alexander by himself and was ahead of everyone else, disappearing into the woods in front of everyone. ¡°How is that kid so strong and fast?¡± Bawl managed to run to the edge of the other side of the forest and dropped everyone there. ¡°Wow, you really are useful.¡± Alexander said he looked at Bawl stretching on the ground, getting on all fours, and climbing up a tree. He felt nostalgia. Despite not being away from the forest for so long, he felt a home once again, in a familiar environment. Bawl seems very comfortable. How could he be? The forest is so dirty. Eonni didn¡¯t like the forest at all. She wanted this challenge to already be over. Alexander was already getting ready for the night. ¡°Eonni, let''s prepare a text first. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Monarch.¡± The monarch turned towards him, interested in what he had to say. ¡°Hunt for some animals for us to eat.¡± The monarch obeyed his command. Unlike Bawl who he still didn¡¯t like all that much, Alexander was much more friendly, so he was willing to listen. ¡°Bawl.¡± Bawl didn¡¯t hear. ¡°BAWL!¡± Still no response, he climbed up the tree to see Bawl asleep. Seriously, oh my gosh. Annoyed, he decided to leave him alone and with that, their challenge had begun.