The difference between magical beasts and aura monsters was that the latter had a life core while the former didn't have one.
The life core was made when a beast fused their vitality, innate skills, and blood qi with all the energy in their body, be it mana or aura.
With the creation of a life core, a beast would evolve to become an aura beast.
Compared to magical beasts, aura beasts weren't only smarter and more powerful, but they have also shed off their innate defective characteristics, such as unnecessary brutality, which causes them to attack any human or meek-looking animal at sight, or the inability to speak the human language and communicate with beasts of other races.
Not to mention, as all the power of an aura beast was concentrated in their life core, a single point, they could tap into their strength unrestrictedly, unleashing a burst of strength at any moment. Energy suppression was a perfect example of what they could do with the help of their life core.
Furthermore, condensing a life core to become an aura monster was a way to power recognized by the king of the great forest, who was worshipped by all.
Although the life core granted many benefits to an aura beast, once it was destroyed, an aura beast would die.
Low-level aura beasts have the weakest life core as they are in the process of refining it. Their life core is so unstable that it shatters and dissipates into nothingness when they die. But aura beasts older than 50 years could drop a life core. It was extremely valuable and useful to aura masters and even grandmasters.
The age of an aura beast wasn't determined by how long they have lived. It was a testament to their strength.
When the twins of the cloud tribe and the volcanic tribe became aura monsters, their strength was equal to the old chieftains, so they were classified as 100 years old.
The most important thing to an aura beast was its core. It was not an exaggeration to say that the Water Celestial gained total control over the life of the two brothers, Ganesha and Kartikeya, when they handed over their cores to him. They would instantly die if he crushed it. But this was the most effective way of showing they didn't have any ill intentions against him.
The Water Celestial told them not to regret it and reluctantly adopted them as his own, but he wasn't one to be swayed by emotions, so he branded their life cores with his mark before returning it to them. Their life core was connected to him telepathically. If they ever went back on their words and tried to harm him, he could crush it with just a thought.
He returned it to them because it was the source of their power. Without the life core, they were powerless and couldn't hold a candle against their peers.
Since that day, they had guarded him like impenetrable fortresses, allowing no foreign forces of great magnitude to disturb his rest or harm him.
Pushing themselves in harm's way, they had protected him for over a hundred years.
Within that time, they defeated the strongest chieftains of their tribes and were crowned as the next person to be in charge of the two realms, which were united through the marriage of their parents and a beneficial deal.
They became the chief of their tribes without a hitch after they defeated the previous chiefs but becoming the lord of their respective realms was another matter.
They needed to gain the acceptance of all the minor tribes that served the two main tribes of which they had become the head of.
As they tried to announce their sovereignty over the two lands, a few local tribes rose to rebel against them. They had immense power, and their words couldn't be taken lightly.
The twins cooked up a plan to bring them to their side.
Those who could be bought with natural treasures were bought, and those who couldn't be bought were beaten black and blue until their mothers couldn't recognize them.
The beasts valued the strong more than the wise. They were kicked out of the two realms if they were weak, and if they were strong, they were given a strong warning to not make any trouble.
Their warning fell on deaf ears.
One week before they were to be coronated as Lords of the Summer and Winter Realms, the head of the 12 strongest minor tribes banded together to oppose them.
But it didn't stop there.
The twins had enemies in and out of their tribes who took this chance to strip them of their position, adding fuel to the raging fire to make sure that they wouldn't become the next generation of lords of the west of the northern region of the great forest and also lose what they currently had, despite the fact that the ancestors had warned the ambitious younger generation to not against Ganesha and Kartikeya.
When the King of the Great Forest heard of this, he passed down an imperial decree stating that Ganesha and Kartikeya must control this situation and subdue the eight minor tribes within a month in order to be bestowed the title of Lord; otherwise, they would lose this chance for another hundred years to come.
Angered, the two brothers resorted to using the most direct and brutal means, beating every monster tribe of the two realms into submission. They didn't pull back any punches.
There weren't many aiding them in their conquest, and the number was especially compared to the beasts who were protesting against them.
It was a hundred against ten thousand, but... they still won in the end.
Only then did everyone realize why the ancestors of the main tribes had warned them not to go against Ganesha and Kartikeya.
They were as strong if not stronger than 100 years old aura monsters!
No one was their match in this distant land, not even their ancestors.
The ancestors have lived for five centuries, but, at their peak, they were only as strong as 100 years old aura beasts. However, by the time Ganesha and Kartikeya came to power, they were old. Because of their old age, their strength has decreased. If they were to fight the twins, they would lose miserable.
In the world of monsters, the one with the biggest fist has the right to speak. The strongest monsters get to decide what's right and wrong. That's why the ancestors didn't participate in the protest and even kindly advised the protestors to submit to their will.
Their advice wasn't heard.
As a result, the twins had to rule with an iron fist.
Under their rule, the two lands have been peaceful for years.
It's only in recent weeks that monsters started migrating to their realms, causing havoc and shamelessly destroying the ecosystem.
The foreign invaders in the summer land were killed by Kartikeya and his fire spirits, while the foreign invaders in the icy, cold land were killed by Ganesha and his parade of demons.
Thus, the peace was restored.
