Golden Forest King

The King is 3 meters tall with a Treant-like form covered with bark skin. It has thin limbs and its legs end with ivory claws. Its hands are made of the ivory bones. Its face is covered with a flat wooden mask with only two holes for the eyes. A web of entangled thorns on the top of its head shape to form a crown.

After he is reborn as the Golden Forest King,"golden veins spread from the mask and onto the new body of the Fallen King. And as it reached the hands and feet, the bark of the wooden body began to split open as bone-like features grew out."^[1]

The King originated on a different planet of the 93rd Universe. After his total domination of the population of his planet, The System sent the King to the Tutorial to defeat anyone attempting to complete the final quest. In exchange, he would be granted a territory on the integrated Earth.

After completing the Beast lords quest, Jake was teleported directly to the King. Jake was offered the opportunity to simply leave the tutorial, but decided that fleeing a fight went against his Path. He instead convinces the King to allow him a test shot, which he hopes will heavily tilt the battle in his favor. After tanking the hit, The King changed his mind and the battle started in truth.

Initially outclassed by the King, Jake used the items he got from slaying the Beast Lords. They were effective in wounding the King but not enough to kill him. The greatly weakened King, realizing that he had underestimated his opponent, deployed a soul attack, rendering Jake unconscious. However, the loss of consciousness in a battle triggered Moment of the Primal Hunter. Jake's Bloodline of the Primal Hunter took over and powered him through enough attacks until he killed the King.

Jake was the only resident of Earth to defeat the final D-grade boss in the tutorial, earning him the titles Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty and Kingslayer as well as the item Mask of the Fallen King (Legendary). At the conclusion of the tutorial, Jake received the title Progenitor of the 93rd Universe due to his astounding feat of slaying a strong D-grade whilst not yet a D-grade himself.

Upon returning to Earth, there are multiple indicator that the slain King might not be irrevocably deceased. After Jake's D-grade Race Evolution, the Mask's description changed to include the phrase "King slumbers within."

During the Treasure Hunt, after slaying the Blood Monarch, Jake hears a mental message from The King urging patience. With Eron’s help, Jake confirmed the existence of the soul in the mask and helped Jake connect to the King. During the auction to sell items acquired in the Treasure Hunt, a vial of Soul Renewal was offered. The King requested this item, swearing on his honor that it would benefit Jake. Agreeing, Jake used it on the mask. The King of the Forest was reborn as the Fallen King, signifying both his loss of station and the soul-bound connection he shared with Jake.

Although revived, his soul was still linked with Jake's.

The King arrived unexpectedly at the second world congress. He announced that he'd claimed a pylon and expressed his intention to be the Leader of Earth. As a system recognized King, he was allotted more votes than any other member group of the Congress, including Jake and Haven, but abstained from influencing the vote as he believed it was a matter best left to the humans, as they were more heavily affected by the outcome.

When Ell’Hakan invaded Earth, the Nahoom was accompanied by his own Unique Lifeform, the Ashen Phantom Devourer, who he'd brought specifically to render the King unavailable to aid Jake or the Sword Saint in repelling the invaders. The Fallen King confronted the rival Unique Lifeform, and the two engaged in a prolonged battle with neither gaining the upper hand.

When Jake finally made his way back to the invaded territory, he offered to help in the fight and the Fallen King reluctantly accepted. Together, they defeated the Ashen Phantom Devourer, repelling the invaders and securing Earth.

Following the invasion, the Fallen King was invited to join the World Council, representing the monster races of Earth who largely served him. Once Jake reached C-grade, the Fallen King also advanced. Recognizing The King's strength, Jake chose him as a party member for Nevermore, alongside Noboru Miyamoto, Sylphie, Dinaldria, and Jake himself.

Within Nevermore, the King performed exceptionally well, primarily serving as mid-range damage dealer and support through barriers. However, as a Unique Lifeform, he struggled with Challenge Dungeons, which favored more varied Paths that Unique Lifeforms typically lack. Even so, he earned a total bonus of 45% and contributed significantly in other areas, placing within the top 100 on the Universe Leaderboards and top 250 on the Era Leaderboards.

After fifty years in Nevermore, the Fallen King grew much closer to his party members, especially Jake and Sylphie.

He later took part in the Prima Guardian System Event. During Earth’s efforts to aid other planets in this event, both Sylphie and the Fallen King fell into a trap, facing the Desolate Child of Loss. Already suffering from soul desolation, the Fallen King sacrificed himself to protect Sylphie. However, due to his nature as a Unique Lifeform, he managed to preserve his true soul and records within Jake’s mask once again.

While on a diplomatic visit to the Pantheon of Life, Jake is offered a favor from Yggdrasil and Nature's Attendant. He requested Yggdrasil’s aid in reviving the Fallen King. The Primordial agrees, although she insists that Jake use his favor for something he personally wanted.

Eventually, Yggdrasil is successful in reviving the King. However, she is aware of his manipulation of Jake and calls him out on it. After admitting that he had purposefully sacrificed himself, both to prompt Jake to seek his revival and to sever their soul bond connection, Yggdrasil agreed to his rebirth on the condition that he never again show such reckless disregard for life. Thus, he was reborn once more, this time as the Golden Forest King. With a vessel made from the Mother tree herself.

In his new form, the King spent several years in Jake’s palace within the Pantheon of Life, recovering and adapting to his strengthened body and his enhanced dominion over “Gold.” He was present to welcome the rest of Jake’s Nevermore party upon their arrival and expressed joy at their reunion.

As a Unique Lifeform, The King has four forms of magic: Force, Gold, Soul, and King (Nobility). Force is power. Gold is stability of form. Soul is what bridges the gap and binds them together. King is his authority over the mana in his surroundings.^[2] His issue with what he called Gold magic in D-grade was the amount of power required to use it. Gold magic was not actually related to metal, merely named for the color. In reality, it was closer to an arcane affinity, but Unique Lifeforms could not possess arcane affinities. They were born with inborn magical powers, and that was all they had and would ever have. He also struggled with King because of his tie to Jake. How can he be a true King when his existence is at the whim of another?

In C-grade, his energy spiked. He had far more mana, and using his golden magic was finally more feasible. Following his resurrection and evolution to B-grade, he was able to embrace the full concept of his nobility title and actualize the authority granted by his title.

In early B-grade, The King was stated to already have over 5,000,000 mana. However this is his only resouce.^[3]

• The average final tutorial boss for Earth tutorials was a level 102 monster or weak beast variant. The King of the Forest clocked in as a level 130+ unique lifeform.^[4]
• Unlike other Monster races, as a Unique Lifeform the King was born with the Lord Title, a distinction usually reserved for members of the Enlightened races. As such at the time he was known as the Lord of the Forest.
• After conquering his weak world and acquiring the King Title, he adopted the moniker of King of the Forest.^[5]
• The King's appearance was inspired by Leshen from the Witcher.