ã€ŠBook Of Soulã€‹


 Prologue

    Prologue

    As the sky gets brighter a lonely figure can be seen sitting on the bench in the snowy park.

    "Sss.. I should have waited for the snow to clear first"

    The boy wearing cloths seemingly fitted for school holds his sides apparently in pain.

    "Maybe I should go see the doctor today, but that would be a pain, yah it will just go away anyway"The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Standing up the lonely figure sways as if falling over.

    "Are?"

    Just as the boy is about to fall he abruptly pulls himself together after taking a few steps , still holding his sides he recollects himself.

    "I really should have eaten something in the morning and taken my Medicine, sigh, hmm ?"

    Just as he turns his head a soft light can be seen followed be a pushing force ,though not lethal, was enough to knock him off balance, as the boy gets pushed back he tumbled over the fence of the parks man made lake and splashes into the water.

    ''Damn, that hurt, up, I need to swim up''

    But just as the boy moves his arms he seams to stop and hold his side while drowning in the water.

    ''Not now of all times, I can''t move , I just need to swim up a little for a breath ''

    As the boy struggles he swims up ever so slowly with his clearly stiff movement.

    ''Just a little more, just a little, just a...''

    As strength leaves his body in this cold manmade lake, the boy who no one might remember after this, day slowly sank into eternal slumber.

 My End, My beginning

    Within an old two story mansion surrounded by a withered forest, in the main hall, a youth can be seen, though nothing about him seems youthful as life seems to be absent in his body, literary.

    " AHH " (gasp gasp)

    As an exaggerated scream echoes through the hall, the youth who seemed like a dead body a few moments ago, literary, seems to have had life breathed into him, a seen of which would scare the living daylights out of anyone who might witness it.

    "Ah ah , ugh"

    The youth, with a very distressed and desperate look pukes from shock and fear, the puke..... well no need to describe that too.

    "Oh god, I am alive, that was very suffocating I thought I would die, ugh my head still hurts "

    As the youth holds his forehead in pain he turns to look around taking in the surrounding situation, and as his eyes move back and forth through the hall, confusion can be seen on his face, which morphs into shock and even more confusion.

    Registering the surrounding once more the youth tries to get up, but the body seemingly still suffering from after effects of various misshapes, falls right back down onto the wooden chair.

    "I should stay still a little but, where am I ?,  the most reasonable place to be in would be the hospital and the next best place would be either my house or .. the house of the person who hit me..."

    Thinking up to there the youth calls out in a hoarse voice as loud as he can.

    "Sir? If your there can we please talk, it''s ok I won''t sue you or anything it was my fault for slipping onto the road anyway can you please come out for a talk?"

    After a few moments of silence, the boy realizes how silly his actions seem, and so he stops to think about the situation even more, but this time with a clearer head.

    "If I am not in the house of the person who hit me then where am I ?, after all, I should be in bed after that hit, no matter who it is that rescued me they would at least do that and not just put me on a chair"

    As the youth looks around with a clearer head he starts to notice the weird set up of the house, creaked old wooden floor, candles, stacked walls that show no signs of any cement technology whatsoever, all come into view putting the youth¡¯s thoughts back in disarray.

    "The style of this place is really old, it doesn''t look like I''m in the city anymore, what reason am I here for? Hmm? What''s this?"

    An old book lies on the desk in front of the youth, it''s cover looks dull and old.

    Familiar feelings sprouted in the youth when he looks at the book but soon he shakes his head to chase the feeling out.

    "Did the persons leave this for me to read? oh please don''t be some sort of psycho game where I have to find a way to leave this place and I have to solve puzzles for it oh please oh please don''t "

    As the thought lingers a for little more, the youth shakes his head to dismiss it as even of he didn''t want to read it, his current situation forces him to, since his body doesn''t seem to have enough energy to even stand let alone open the big halls door to see what the current situation is outside.

    As the boy chants his absolutely meaningless words he puts his hand on the cover, and at that moment a shine seems to reflect off the book and life seem to come to it as it springs open, chains of transparent like energy coming out of the pages within entangle the youth, inciting a shout of surprise from him, but soon the eyes of the youth seem to lose focus and the chains enter into his body as the book changes even more and the youth with it.

    After an unknown short amount of time passed by, the chains disappear and the book falls down and closes, bringing back focus into the youth¡¯s eyes.

    "Argh, this amount is too much!"

    Again, screaming, the youth who seemed to have gained some energy wastes it on painful grunts, which brings to notice how he exaggerates a lot.

    "I see; I get it but... so I guess it''s one of those right? Unbelievable"

    And as unbelievable as it may sound, the youth who is sitting here is the same one that had drowned, yet he isn''t himself at all rather he is currently another person entirely, in an entirely new unknown world, of which he only came to know little about from the memories of the youth who he is or was in this world.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "So this seems to be the Grimoire that he had? It seems different from what I , umm he remembers "

    Examining the book, the youth tries to recall and summarize his current situation.

    He, Shenai Yu, is the third son of the Shenai house, a well-known house of Grimoire holders in the South Paradise, but apparently this youth who had been raised as an arrogant brat had gotten bitten back after all the deeds he had done, as one the commoners who he had ruined the life of became a Grimoire holder. That of which with extreme talent, bringing forth loss after loss to the youth and finally almost killing all of the youths summons and putting him in his current position, with no support and in a soon to die situation.

    Well the soon to die again situation since the youth seemed to have died already.

    "He didn''t get to bring anything to eat and his soul was hurt so he couldn''t summon anything to hunt food, not that there is anything to hunt here, I guess the hunger is the pain that I''m feeling now, well I already died from drowning I don''t wanna die a lame death again cause I really don''t think I''ll get another chance so I guess I''ll summon for hunting"

    Opining the book, the youth is surprised by its content.

    "I thought he had a different soul skill?, is it because this is my soul, hmm probably, well let''s see here"

    A portrait of an alter with a hexagram circle drawn on it on the left page and the description on the right page.

    Soul Skill: Sacrifice

    Sacrifice Items to a Soul Beast making them onto a Soul Guardian, or purely for strengthening them. Materials affect the strengthening quality; every Soul Beast can only be sacrificed to once.

    Guardian Limit: 0/1

    "This is way more detailed then the skills I know, also I never heard of multiple Guardians for one person, this is unheard of, but there seems to be a limit, how can I raise it, hmm I guess I will have to wait and see, so what is my Soul Guardian"

    Yu flips the page and the next surprises him even more as the portrait of the Soul Guardian is a ... fish.

    Yes, just like a stupefied reader who found out that he might have read the stupidest line ever, Yu rubbed his eyes to make sure he isn''t hallucinating but there it still is, a fish like any other normal fish you might see.

    " It can''t be right? even that guys Soul Guardian was better than this, how can I get a fish? is it because of the Sacrifice skill ?"

    Yu still unbelieving reads the description on the right.

    Soul Guardian: Fish

    Special Ability: Devour: by devouring materials and living beings, Fish can Grow and has a chance to gain special characteristics of the devoured materials.

    "Hmm the description is very confusing but at least I guess it can grow so going according to the description I might be able to get a pretty good Soul Guardian, well I can still have more anyway.

    Now then, let''s see if the others remained or they had gone with the new contents"

    As Yu flips the page yet again, what comes into sight are two portraits on each side, on the left a white python that seems anything but harmful with a posture of a sleeping beauty instead of a prancing venomous predator.

    To the right side a silky silver white spider comes into view, like the other creature it also seems to have no danger with a posture of a hiding beast afraid of everything.

    "Whew it seems the creatures didn''t disappear thank goodness, then the last one should be"

    As the paper flips, this time only a portrait of a ferocious wolf comes into view on the left side, this wolf seemingly angry at any and all that stands before it is in a stance of looking down on everything.

    "Yes, with this one I won''t have to hunt myself, but this one things will be hard"

    This very same wolf that Yu oh so desperately need is the very same wolf that was treated as trash and beaten up by the previous owner, what it holds is more than a grudge and nothing but hate towards its master, and it can''t be blamed for it.

    In fact, the only reason it was tamed was because of the red dots on its fur which led to having the previous owner believe it to be a rare species and taming it just to find it''s just a color variation.

    In fact, all three of these monsters had been tamed by the third master because of his ignorance, the python for example is a creature that he spent so many crystals on just to learn that it is a creature that needs a hundred years just to reach the next stage of its growth of which would still be not at all powerful, and only does it grow in power with many more centuries.

    The spider on the other hand is the Fairy Silk Spider which is a common creature that even normal people wouldn''t want as a summon as it is basically useless for anything other that making silk, but the third young master had bought it with lots of gold believing the spider would grow into the Fairy Silk Queen as advised by the seller, who was off course swindling him.

    "That guys are just, ugh, he really is a perfect example of a wastrel, even I would like to beat him up a little, no scratch that, for putting me in this position I''d like to beat the hell out of him"

    Returning his sight into the wolf''s portrait, Yu looks on with a complicated gaze

    "Sigh, well I have no other choice do I, after all, all my creatures were killed by that guy and only these creatures which the Third young master never dared to talk about got to live"

    After a long sigh Yu started chanting a weird incantation which held many twisted syllables that couldn''t be said by normal means.

    Soon a hexagrams formed at the floor and from it emerged the very same wolf that was in the portrait.

    The wolf without so much as a glance instantly started growling with stance as if it is about to face its mortal enemy.

    Facing the ever growing enmity of the wolf, Yu decided to not back down and instead move next to the wolf and ever so slowly extend his hand so as to pet the wolf.

    Off course this isn''t going to be as simple as a touching moment of bonding, instead what he was met by was a bite that ripped apart his skin and into his bones.

    Enduring the pain with a few grunts, Yu stares down the wolf as if to prove that he wishes to convey that he means no harm.

    After a few moments of nothing but growls and grunts, the wolf let''s go of the hand but still unwilling to be touched with animosity still filling its eyes.

    "Fair enough, that''s about what I expected, well I will deal with this problem after I make you into my Guardian"

    Looking into the pouch on the desk, Yu grabs a bunch of crystals of various colors, and after contemplating for a while he takes three red crystals and two dull yellow crystals and puts them down in a formation then drawing a hexagram with the 5 crystal on each side.

    After finally completing it, Yu beckons towards the wolf to come.

    Off course with such a formation and the lifetimes of suffering from before it easy to guess the wolf''s response.

    "Look I know what you think and how you feel but now isn''t the time for the enmity that you have towards me, if I don''t live you don''t live and vice versa because right now I need you more than anything and I promise this won''t harm you whatsoever"

    The wolf seemingly not convinced keep staring at the formation and at Yu, as if trying to uncover the tricks behind his actions.

    But after a long time with no conclusion, the wolf finally relents and steps on to the formation, off course with high vigilance.

    With the wolf inside the formation Yu starts to chant the sacrificial lines needed for establishing a bond.

    "I, Yu, sacrifice this as means to make a bond of eternity, for thee to become my Soul Guardian and I to become thy Soul Master"

    Yu, again extending his hand as the formation shines, but this time, as if the wolf understood the meaning behind his words, although with reluctance, closes his eyes and allowed Yu to establish the bond.

    As the shine of the formation got brighter the crystals got consumed into it and a dull red light shone through the entire old mansion, signaling the competition of a new bond.

    One that shall be the beginning after an end, one that shall begin the change that dawns upon this new world.

 Steps to Survive

    As the dull red light fades Yu opens his eyes and looks at the wolf before him, which is more than just different, the previous brown fur had taken a slightly red shade, with the red spots on its body intensifying and spreading to becoming noticeable red lines, the wolfs build seems to have taken a better turn after the lack of food provided.

    "Grrr"

    "Well I didn''t except you to forgive and forget just because you became my Soul Guardian anyway"

    As it is to be expected the wolf, though accepting the bond, still harbors much hate for Yu, since to it, it is still the same person that had trapped and tortured it, in fact it can be said that accepting the bond was solely because the Sacrifice gave the wolf the feeling that it would bring unprecedented power to itself, off course Yu is still clueless about this fact.

    As Yu stands up he takes in his surroundings once again. The mansion which seems to have been left untended for a long time, so much so that no one would like to live in this place more than a shack with all the rotten wood and creeping moss.

    Turning his eyes to the book, Yu opens it and flips the first two pages but before he changes to the next page he notices the wolfs portrait and description had already occupied the place where the Python and Spider were.

    "Since the Soul Guardians hold much importance I guess this makes more sense"

    Moving his eyes to the description Yu reads it with hardly any anticipation.

    Soul Guardian: Wailing Wolf Variant

    A Wailing Wolf originally with slight Vermillion Wolf blood had its fire attribute intensified through Sacrifice.

    "So the red spots were indeed not a color variation but a blood one, hmm that¡¯s good but the slight variation won¡¯t open many chances anyway"

    Looking at the frame of the picture which is bronze with 3 stars at its top Yu sighs thinking that expecting a rank up was wrong of him to do with the bad state the wolf was in to begin with.

    As the frame of the portrait refers to the rank of the creature, Bronze is the lowest rank there is, followed by Silver then Gold then Platinum and lastly Diamond.

    The stars at the top refer to the stage at which the creature is at, every rank has five stages with the fifth being the lowest stage and the first being the closest to rank up.

    The Grimoires are ranked similarly.

    In other words, the wolf is at the lowest rank in the exact middle stage.

    "Hmm? Wait, what about my Grimoires rank, did it reset after the owner change or did it remain unaffected like the Soul Beasts?"

    Closing the Grimoire Yu looks at the cover wonderingly as there is no way to tell a Grimoires rank just by looking and he doesn''t know of a way to ascertain it. It would have been easy to check otherwise if he wasn''t in this Dimensional Battle Field.

    Yes, the mansion Yu is in is part of a Dimensional Battle Field, the one he is in is for testing the younger generation of the Southern Paradise every five years, this Dimension is one that can¡¯t have forced entry and upon entering your rank shall be lowered to bronze rank and all the summons above bronze shall be sealed. Yu''s Grimoire just like the rest was sealed to bronze and he can¡¯t tell its rank until he gets out of this Dimension.

    "Well that will have to wait since I don''t even know if i will survive this week"

    Off course testing the younger generation doesn''t mean putting them in a life and death situation but sadly that doesn''t apply to Yu as when he was thrown in the dimension he was informed that the castle core he was protecting didn''t had a life lock negation, implying that if anyone who has a life lock on him got fatally hit in the area of the construct core then the life lock will be termed useless and the person would end up actually dying. Off course all Yu had to do was leave the cores area of affect but then his own life lock would be the cause of his death since his family forbade him from leaving the core without fighting and to make sure he doesn''t, they put a rune on his life lock that activates if 24 hours passed from the rune being in the vicinity of the core''s aura, the 24 hours off course do not reset upon entering the vicinity of the core it just freezes.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Putting it in simple terms, Yu can¡¯t get away from the vicinity of the core for more than a total of 24 hours while staying can cause him to get killed.

    "This is a tricky situation, but first before I think about it I need to get something to eat, and so do you"

    Turning his head to the side Yu looks at the wolf who is also hungry and more so than Yu.

    "There are a few wild Soul Beasts in the wild woods behind the mansion but as I can¡¯t leave here you must hunt on your own, remember, when you fight go for something weaker or slightly close to your strength but don''t attack anything as strong as you or stronger as we have enemies coming at us later"

    The wolf looks at Yu for a little more than goes off to the exit of the mansion, as to whether it understood or not, that is all a mystery since even if it can understand through the connection between it and Yu it can understand only so much and the rest will have to depend on its instincts.

    After the wolf leaves, Yu turns to the inner mansion staring at the old wooden door that looks to be in a little better state than the rest of the house, then starts walking to the door and opining it, what greats him is a shining blue crystal the size of fist floating on a small pillar in the middle of an empty room.

    "Castle Core"

    That is indeed the castle core that Yu is supposed to be protecting for the next week.

    ''If what they said is true and this core negates the life lock then they must have told the others, which means they won¡¯t go for the core directly and instead they will hope to kill me first''

    After staring at the core for a while Yu turns around and goes to the front of the mansion, opening the doors of the mansion Yu sees withered trees with hardly any vegetation and some muddy pathway that stretches from the mansion through the trees to a slightly less withered forest further away from the mansion.

    "A week huh, sigh"

    ''If i have to hold on for a week I can¡¯t last through it all as I won¡¯t be able to take the fatigue and the injuries, not to mention that even if it isn''t there main Soul Beats that there using they would still be powerful, thus I need to make use of home advantage to take them out, today would probably have no one coming here since even if they want easy prey they would still prioritize mapping out their area and preparing themselves.''

    Yu proceeds to take a walk around the road and examine the trees and places that can be used to hide traps. After doing so for half an hour Yu goes back into the mansion and proceeds to organize his equipment and items. Another half an hour passes by when the wolf comes back to the mansion holding a spotted dear in its mouth that is triple its own size. Yu, after staring at it for a while, brings out a knife and cuts a portion to cook for himself leaving the rest for the hungry wolf.

    "This dear is probably a peak rank bronze Beast you shouldn''t have fought it, if it wasn''t that it a none-combat Beast then you wouldn''t have gotten out unscathed if you had gotten out at all"

    The wolf, understanding the meaning implied as it being underestimated grabs the dear and head out the mansion to eat.

    "Sigh, it will be problematic if i don''t make amends with it since this might affect our teamwork later on, which is indeed fatal"

    Starting the old chimney and putting in some dry wood, Yu starts cooking the meat as his stomach rumbles with anticipation.

    An hour later, with a full stomach, Yu grabs his knife that was merely supposed to be for decoration purpose and walks out to the mansion.

    "An ambush is required on this mud road, and with only a day and not many items to use, the only thing i can do is set up the simplest ones i can think of from whatever books I had read"

    Shifting his gaze Yu tells the wolf to dig a two-meter hole, which the wolf does with reluctance and only after Yu helps with the digging himself.

    "Now that this is done Il call you later, since i can only have one summon out you will have to wait"

    Chanting another string of unheard syllables, the same hexagram appears at the feet if the wolf then taking it in and disappearing entirely.

    ''Well with two meters down and no equipment how was I supposed to get it out anyway''

    After taking a breath Yu chants again but this time a different hexagram appears in-front of Yu, a much smaller one at that, which a small fist sized spider comes out of.

    The spider looks around a bit and after spotting Yu starts trembling.

    "Don''t worry I won¡¯t hurt you, but well you wouldn''t believe me anyway so what i need you to do is string a web above this hole, one strong enough to have a layer of dirt placed upon it but week enough that if a person steps on it, it will break apart and the person would fall"

    The spider trembles some more but turns around to make the web, thinking that it would get punished if it didn''t, but after it looks meter square hole, despair fills its eyes as it looks back at Yu.

    "Don''t worry i don''t need you to cover it in one go, you have the whole day to do it so take rests and eat something when you want, the food is the neat behind the mansion"

    Yu walks away after that and enters the mansion, the spider then turns its head to the hole and although it thinks that Yu is just punishing it for no good reason it, the spider complies and starts weaving the web as to evade anymore punishment.

    Inside the mansion Yu writes all the available items he had already sorted and after finishing that he stares at it with a complicated gaze.

    ''I would get the crystals and gold since he thought he would be getting out of this before he was told that the core had its negation ability but... why the large basket of wine why not food or cloths or other necessities? did he think he''s going for a picnic? This guy .....''

    Yu looks at the large basket of wine that he couldn''t finish even after a month of drinking wine as water and a feeling of powerlessness washed over him.

    "Well I might as well make the most of it"

    Grabbing a bottle, he pops it open and starts formulating plans to deal with his soon to come visitors, as to whether or not he would be able to survive that would just depend on his luck.

 Careless Visitors

    Nighttime, within the withered forest, the old mansion had a faint candle light flickering about, with its abandoned look and strangely quite atmosphere a scene like this would send even adults running.

    It was such a place that Yu was trapped in and like anyone else he was full of complaint but as he can only talk to an angry wolf or a scared spider he swallowed his complaints and drank his wine.

    Near to the time the moon was at its brightest and Yu was at his drowsiest, a small spider crept in through the huge door and made its way to him. Yu, noticing the spider, got up, brought some meat and gave it to the small fist sized spider. Though scared at first the spider accepted the meat as it had expanded much energy making the net.

    "Good job, eat up now while i check the trap and hide it, once you¡¯re finished I need you to make one more trap"

    The spider after hearing the last bit, stared at Yu with horror as it thought he was really just punishing it.

    "Don''t worry it¡¯s not as big as this one, just four threads, after making it you can go back to rest"

    Although not sure of its fate the spider quietly eats its food, while Yu strides out of the mansion to look at the net.

    Five meters away from the house a big spider net can be seen, covering a meter wide, and two-meter-deep pit. After sitting down next to it, Yu touches the web examining its strength and elasticity, and while this web was made by a spider it had no sticky feelings at it, it is because all the Fairy Silk Spiders can produce is silk, that is why the only use of these Soul Beasts is making materials for cloths, and the level of the materials depends on the rank of the spider but these silk still fall short compared to many other materials. These Soul Beasts however, have a peculiar thing about them, and that is if they ever evolve to the Fairy Silk Queen then they would be coveted by all, even in the Southern Paradise, as the silk of the queen can even withstand the might of a gold ranked weapon which means that its comparable to gold ranked armor that is easily made and restored.

    But the Queen is just as rare as she is good, and the third master only got the spider because he was blinded by greed, not taking into account that if it was really as the seller had told him then he would keep it to himself rather than selling it.

    "Thankfully the spider is still useful, at least I can make some traps with its help, unlike the python which cannot be of help in any plan."

    Getting up Yu heads to the mansion and takes the blanket that was of the very few sensible items brought and uses it to cover the hole then he proceeds to fill it with little amounts of dirt, just enough so the web doesn''t fall and then levels the dirt with the ground and covers it with light withered branches.

    Finishing all this Yu calls out to the spider, having it make four threads tied on each side of the muddy path leading to the mansion, with them being as thin and low as possible while maintaining enough strength to hold the knife that he would place on one end of the tree.

    "Good job, you can have a rest now"

    Chanting a few syllables again Yu unsummoned the spider and proceeded to summon the wolf.

    "You and I will take shifts as night guards, don''t leave the mansion for any reason and if anyone comes inform me first"

    The wolf growls in response, seemingly annoyed at Yu and enters the mansion after him.

    And so a slow night passed peacefully for the two dwellers of the mansion, as if foretelling a calm before the storm.

    As the darkness retreats and the light is cast upon the old mansion a wolf can be seen standing near the window staring at the withered forest sleepily suddenly the wolf opens its eyes vigilantly and focuses on the end of the muddy road, as the light grows brighter the road becomes clearer and a figure can be seen getting off its mount, heading to the old mansion.

    Seeing this the wolf bares its fangs but remains still for a few seconds, then it retreats to the inner part of the mansion.

    ****************************

    As Rekak Ravi, dismounted his mount he stared at the abandoned shabby looking mansion recalling the encounters he had with Yu for the past years as a mixed feeling of anger and happiness weld up inside him.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Ravi, as a part if the lower nobility households in the Southern Paradise was often seen with Yu bullying people from the noble to the commoner statues but anyone with the slightest knowledge can tell that the only reason Ravi hangs out with Yu was to suck up to him for his status as well as escape the bullying himself, that is to say Ravi was only in it for the benefit and in fact hated Yu for not only having more authority than him but also for being bullied by him occasionally.

    ''At last i get to take my revenge, hehe who would have known that even the battlefield authority would try to suck up to that brat, now that they removed put the negation on the crystal Yu is definitely dead and no one can trace it to me. Being born into a better noble house? Having the power to command the life and death of those around you? Haha I would like to see how you will beg me when your life is in my hands''

    With such thoughts in his mind Ravi unsummons his mount and proceeds to head towards the mansion.

    ''That guy doesn''t even know that his death is nearing, I might as well take him out without a fight even of he doesn''t have any Soul Beasts, and it would be even more fun hehe''

    (K-tch) "huh?"

    With the sound of the thread breaking the knife hidden on the left side of the road launches through the air and embeds itself in Ravi''s neck.

    Not a second later the Grimoire is summoned and a shield surrounds Ravi as he hold his neck and falls to the ground.

    "Guh ugh"

    ''It hurts, how did he attack me, where is my medicine bag ugh, no I can¡¯t heal this and I will lose the .. oh no the core negates the life lock! No I can¡¯t die here''

    Turning his head towards the mansion Ravi sees the door opining, and with the last strands of consciousness leaving his mind he catches a glimpse of a wolf and a youth looking at him in bewilderment.

    And with that Rakak Ravi breaths his last.

    **********************

    Yu stands before the body of Ravi, still not knowing if he should laugh or not as the trap he had set to waste the shield of the enemy had actually killed the target without any resistance. Yes, the traps put forth by Yu were only to force the enemy to use there shield and to trap the Soul Beast so the wolf can easily kill the summoner but who would have known that the enemy didn''t even get the chance summon his shield let alone his Soul Beast. The shield is actually a barrier formed when the Grimoire is summoned, off course you can opt to not summon it and do that later as the shield can¡¯t be resummoned or relocated although it can be entered and exited freely by anyone permitted from the summoner.

    Ravi apparently occupied with his thoughts hadn''t had the time to realize that he was in danger thus he was killed on the spot

    "Hmm is it because he thought I didn''t have any Soul Beasts left or did he not have a fast enough reaction, well either way this victory was just too simple that i don''t know if i should even count it as a first battle"

    Yu then notices a book laying next to Ravi, its color the same as his Grimoire before he had bound it to himself.

    ''Sadly all the Soul Beasts die in the Grimoire when the owner dies, even if i wanted to tame any of them that would be impossible''

    Thinking up to here Yu picks up the Grimoire and hides it in his cloths and asks the wolf to drag the body inside, unexpectedly the wolf sneers and walks back to the mansion leaving Yu to drag the body himself.

    "Really..I hope it won''t do that in a battle"

    After dragging the body inside Yu searches it thoroughly, and only after taking every item on it did he place it in a corner of the mansion and wrap it with a blanket.

    Then he remade the trap and fed every Soul Beast while eating himself while he waited for the new visitor.

    Not to his disappointment, only a few hours later a new figure could be seen walking the muddy path.

    ***********************

    Cranen Kore, younger sister of the wild Cranen Karme, part of the middle class noble household in the Southern Paradise, a timid girl usually seen around her wild courageous   sister that often drags her into trouble.

    "Big sis said this was the place, I wouldn''t have believed that the third young master if the Shenai family would be assigned this old mansion if I didn''t know about the duel that had happened"

    Unsummoning her mount Kore proceeds to summon her Soul Beast which seems like a ferocious wild Puma that us doubled in size.

    "Kill the person in that mansion"

    The puma runs to the mansion at the command of Kore, filled with wild vigor for a new prey.

    ''Though I don''t get why big sis said to kill him first no matter what and only then take the core since the life lock will save him anyway I will just do as she said''

    Suddenly a cracking sound could be heard coming from the puma''s direction and an angered cry could be heard from it but before Kore had the chance to check what had happened the puma that couldn''t stop with the momentum it had fell through the pit, and just at the point the doors of the mansion burst open as a wolf charged at the pit and jumped downward on the puma intending to finish it off.

    ''What¡¯s going on, who''s wolf is that, I thought all his Soul Beasts were dead''

    Hurriedly summoning her shield, Kore glances at the youth coming towards her, after confirming it to be Yu she shouts at him with rage.

    "What do you think you¡¯re doing, have you not learned your lesson, why not accept defeat so you can leave this place with less losses than what you got"

    The youth stops and puts a confused face for a few seconds but then he suddenly smiles which causes chills to run down Kore''s back.

    While keeping that smile the youth looks at her and says.

    "Aren''t you here to end my life? then why should I take it laying down, off course I would fight back"

    ''What¡¯s he thinking'' Kore thought ''Wait'' as she recalled her sister insisting on killing Yu first then taking the core realization dawned upon her

    Seeing her stunned face Yu says "So you get it now right, the core is equipped with a life lock negation, in other words we would be killed for real when near this mansion"

    ''Why would they do that, no, he said we ?!'' Kore''s stunned face turns into horror which intensifies when she feels a pain in her soul followed by the wolf coming out of the pit which reveals the fact that her Soul Beast had been killed.

    Turning around to face Yu she screams at him "Your insane my sister will never let you go, she will kill you if she finds out that you hurt me"

    "Well she intended to kill me from the start so why would I care about it now, and surly she wouldn''t let me go after this so I see no reason not to kill you, and since you had already gotten you soul injured it seems you can only summon one or two more Soul beasts while I can summon more"

    Kore''s face pales hearing Yu and after looking at the mansion and her back she suddenly rushes out of the shield which dissolves intending to escape the parameter of the core.

    The wolf without needing Yu''s command rushes at her and mows her down as a bronze rank would surely not be able to outrun a wolf.

    Thus another careless visitors decides to reside in the mansion eternally.

 Stealth Advantage

    Staring at the wolf dragging the corps with a missing head back Yu sighs heavily thinking about the troubles he had just evaded.

    ''If she had only thought clearly using the time the shield had provided her she could have easily killed me, in fact even facing her puma alone would have put me in a dangerous position had I not gotten the drop on it''

    Just as it sounds the girl blinded by fear chose the worst option, if she had not ran and instead summoned her other soul beasts then she would have had a guaranteed victory.

    "Well, all the better for me, but if this had been her sister ..... I would be the one dying for sure"

    Unlike Kore the older sister is more battle hardened since she had gone through training fitting her age while the recent visitors were all greenhorns when it came to real battles.

    The wolf drags the body to the mansion to Yu''s surprise and proceeds to drag the pumas body behind the mansion.

    "Looks like its getting the difficulty of the situation we were thrown in"

    After checking that the wolf had finished moving the bodies around, Yu covers the bloodstains with dirt and dims the hole with the wolfs help then hides in the mansion lying in wait.

    Off course with his current strength he knows his limit thus he starts making a new trap inside the mansion to avoid being exposed outside.

    Thinking about the problems of the previous trap and acting upon it Yu starts formulating a sure kill trap for the summoner rather than the Soul beasts as he had noticed it would be his loss with a prolonged battle.

    Time goes by as the sun like orb fades from the sky sinking the mansion into darkness.

    The doors open as Yu steps out with the wolf, taking a look at the parchment in his hands he starts running towards the north.

    ''Thankfully they mapped the area to not get lost, with their cores in hand I could have a better chance at surviving, off course if someone takes the core while I''m away that would also be alright''

    With a clear aim the due sprint through the forest.

    *******

    An hour later at a two story villa the forest, two men can be seen of which one is pacing back and forth on the second floor taking glances at the silent forest from time to time.

    "Its already past dark he couldn''t have stayed out this late if something hadn''t happened to him" says the old man.

    Hearing a grunt, he looks to the side to see the man rub his eyes as he had been woken up

    "How can you sleep at a time like this the young master could be in danger and if anything goes wrong we would be the ones to take the blame"

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    The middle aged man takes a look at the old man before drowsily speaking

    "Even if he won''t come back it won''t affect us, we can''t accompany him outside and whether he loses or not nothing can happen to him with the Life Lock so we should wait and see"

    Thinking a bit, the old man realizes that it was just as the man said, as there was no need to worry anymore he turns away to get his own sleep, as to whether anyone comes to claim the core at this time? He couldn''t care less if the owner wasn''t there anymore.

    And so the whole villa except the front gate guards falls into sleep with none aware of the eyes that had been staring at them from the forest, as if waiting for the right moment to strike.

    **********

    Yu had been crouching there for half an hour already waiting for the opportune moment but it never occurred to him that they would merely go to sleep as if they had nothing to do with the missing person.

    "Did they get careless because they don''t think he will be back or are they confident, nonetheless this is good, all I have to do is put out the guards and take away the core"

    Motioning to the snake that had been on his shoulders he points at the guards who can be seen nodding of at the gate.

    With stealthy slithers the snake creeps toward the edge of the forest and stares at the guards who in turn stare back at its eyes with alert, but seeing as its merely a small snake they let down their guard and merely keep an eye on it, but each time they turn to make sure it''s not approaching they feel drowsier than before until the two of the eventually fall asleep.

    Seeing that the two had fallen asleep Yu comes out of the bushes and picks up the snake, after caressing it a bit he unsummons it and proceeds into the mansion.

    Upon entering the villa, he spots a narrow staircase leading towards the second floor, noting that the size would cause some rattle if he gets the wolf to climb it he opts to summon it after climbing.

    Reaching the second floor he walks to the center door sneakily, creaking the door open he peaks in, a room similar to the one in his mansion greats him except that it looks much less worn out than his, with two people sitting near the core, one sleeping with the other drowsily playing with his dagger.

    ''Perfect, this couldn''t have been easier''

    Yu summons the spider, taking out his knife he ties the adhesive thread the spider had just produced around it.

    The spider climbs up and enters through the top of the doors creak, after which it centers itself above the awake guard and uses a sticky thread to sticks the adhesive one without cutting it and goes back to Yu.

    Tieng the end of the thread to its beginning Yu proceeds to pull the line causing the knife to slowly move until it is right above the guard.

    Unsummoning the spider and summoning the wolf Yu cuts the line.

    At the same time the knife plunges into the guard, the wolf bursts into the room with Yu following behind and pounces on the newly woken alarmed guard, while Yu snatches the core of the pedestal causing a small rumble to go through the villa followed by an eerie silence.

    "Haah, that was nerve wrecking"

    Yu falls back to sit on the cold hard floor, though hardly any effort was put into his run he sees to be utterly exhausted.

    ''I just noticed but was I holding my breath all this while? I guess I''m not as courage''s as I thought''

    Looking to the side Yu sees the wolf snort toward him with eyes that hold some ridicule.

    "I haven''t exercised in a while alright?" ''Yah right I''m obviously afraid''

    Fear, to someone who had lived in the modern world with no military experience, fear in battel is common especially if you might have to battel a beast twice your size let alone more than one.

    ''Well just like how I would teleport out of my mansions core was taken so would others, this makes things a lot easier''

    In the battlefield belonging to the South Paradise, assassins among nobles were a minority if there were any, and with the masters being the only ones able to travel out of the cores range, stealthily stealing the core would pose to be hard task, thus security would be lacking inside the mansion.

    "Their pride wouldn''t let them steal it anyway"

    Yu mutters as he gazes into the core. Getting up after a minute or two Yu takes a look at the corps of the daggered man.

    Although he feels nausea after staring for a few seconds Yu still searches the body for any useful items.

    ''The first person I kill with my own hands, well technically speaking''

    "Heh, I still have the mood to retort"

    After slipping his hands into one of the inner pockets touches upon a stone like item, pulling it out he finds himself looking at a round-ish orang rock.

    "Contracted Souls"

    Contracted Souls, when those who cannot contract grimoires need to rise in power they contract Soul Beasts through the use of Soul Stones.

    Off course, the Soul Beasts contracted through this method cannot be strengthened, nor can they have the same freedom as those of the grimoires.

    Generally, only 2 or 3 Soul Beasts can be contracted when using Soul Stones as the souls of the Contractors cannot hold the burden of restraining too many Soul Beasts, yes restraining, since holding the Soul Beasts in the Soul Stones is like imprisoning them as it bars their growth and freedom.

    "I should hold onto these, maybe I can use them in sacrificing, if not the would still fetch a good price... if I ever make it out of here anyway"

    Yu proceeds to pocket the stone and pulls his knife from the dead body with no small amount of disgust and nausea.

    After searching the other guard and pocketing another orange stone from him Yu starts searching through the mansion in a hasty way. Not long after Yu ran out of the mansion with a small bag on his shoulder with the wolf leading the way, the target, Kore''s mansion.

 Infiltration

    Well past midnight, on a manmade clearing next to a small stream, lights can be seen moving around in a three tall white mansion, some lights moving frantically around while some totally still with slight flickers.

    Some ways away from the mansion, a bush can be seen moving along the stream, creeping closer and closer to mansion, and if one had a good hearing then he might hear the muffled grumbles of the bush... err rather the being in the bush.

    "I don''t have much time for this, I need to be back before dawn"

    It''s precisely Yu that had stuck branches and leaves to himself using the spider''s threads, now in a full disguise heading toward the mansion with slow steps.

    ''Sprinting isn''t an option but I guess I can move faster, but I need to make sure they don''t see me first''

    Being bound by the time limit, Yu stares at the mansion in the dark night, with such a bad lightning condition it would be hard to tell apart the mansions rooms let alone if anyone is staying there.

    After staring for a while Yu sighs to himself.

    "I should just give up, if they catch me I don''t think I can make it out alive, and I can still make use of other ways to set traps, with all these lights roaming around I guess there must be quite a number of them awake at this hour.."

    The Cranen house is indeed many volumes better than the Rakak and thus their servants would definitely be more reliable than the useless ones he had met before.

    "Hmm? wait lights! Yes, if those lights refer to the patrolling guards then I might have a chance, ugh why didn''t I think of that earlier."

    With the new found hope Yu starts counting the light with his eyes and noting their positions

    ''If we take into account the height deference I can guess there are about 3 floors with the third being one huge room, a hall or maybe the Core room, 4 guards seem to be staying on the first floor with 2 of them standing still at the gates and 2 patrolling, since they aren''t grimoire holders I believe they don''t have any of their summons out''

    Contracted Souls are hard to control and they put a strain on the soul if used for prolonged duration, thus even if they had their Beasts out then it would be meaningless as they wouldn''t have energy to fight themselves let alone control their Soul Beasts.

    ''4 people are at the second floor, they shouldn''t be guards as maids and butlers are also needed, which means...''

    Looking back up at the stable light on the third floor Yu stares hard at it for a while before closing his eyes in contemplation.

    ''With 3 lights moving around the mansion at the second floor and 1 light still I''m almost sure 4 people are there, and since only 10 people can be brought to the battlefield then there must be only two people at the third floor and going by that logic the third floor should be the core room with two guards in it, the first floor with 4 guards, and the second floor holds 3 maids or butlers and the head of guards...''

    Opining his eyes Yu stares at the mansion once again but this time with slight irritation.

    "I can''t use the same tactic like last time obviously, and I can''t just barge in and rush up unless I want to die quickly. Which means I need to sneak in one way or another."

    Looking around Yu tries to come up with a plan, and while at it he starts creeping toward the mansion again but with a faster pace than last time while keeping in mind the movements of the patrol.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ''Main gate is a big NO. There shouldn''t be a backdoor as the other two mansions didn''t have one and I don''t want to waste my limited time by going all around the mansion based on speculations, so if doors are a no go then the only way is.. windows''

    Thinking up to here Yu starts looking for the windows on the third floor

    "Closed"

    ''Well off course who would open a window at that height in the middle of the cold night, speaking of which I''m shivering.''

    Yu let a shiver go through his body as he lowered his gaze toward the second floor.

    ''Since the third floor doesn''t have an open window and opining one would be too obvious given that its a single room, the second floors windows would have to do, as long as I avoid the lights I can be safe, now I took into account the places they seem to be frequently visiting so the left wing at the back would be the best option.''

    As he was thinking that a light suddenly went out on the right side of the mansion

    "Huh?"

    After which the lights roaming around all started to take positions and remained still before being blown out, all except the light that had been still from the beginning.

    ''Did they... go to sleep? well I guess that''s an option too.. ''

    With some irritation at all the wasted time he put into keeping track of their positions Yu proceeds to get to the back of the mansion and summons the spider, and, after the spider had finished its threading, Yu climbs up cautiously all while keeping an eye on the patrolling guards.

    Upon reaching the slightly open window on the second floor, Yu peeks through the opening before entering the room.

    "Sniff.. this smells so bad"

    Looking around Yu spots a hole in the ground with several pots of water near it, most half filled

    ''Bathroom, I see why they left the window open.''

    Thinking to himself that he had lucked out, Yu starts pulling the threads up, after which he summons the wolf, in case he gets suddenly attacked with no time to cope.

    "Now I just need to sneak to the third floor, and I''ll see what I can do from there on"

    Just as he was thinking of ways to avoid being spotted Yu suddenly hears heel clinking sounds from the hallway outside the door.

    ''!! someone woke up, right I should hide and wait for them to pass.''

    Yu orders the wolf to be silent as he waited. As the heels sound came closer and closer Yu started to realize something

    ''Waking up at night... bathroom... !!!''

    Quickly looking around Yu finds nowhere to hide thus he grabs the thread and hides on one side of the door while the wolf one the other.

    The sound became higher and higher until the door was opened barring Yu from vision, not for long though as he knew that the wolf would be spotted rather quickly, so he held the thread at head height and jumped at the person from the side of the door strangling him with the thread.

    Though surprised the person instantly grabbed Yu''s hands and shoulder threw him at the wolf.

    Atlas, how can a normal combatant be faster than a bronze wolf though, thus although they had managed to shake Yu off the wolf had gotten their neck under its teeth and with a muffled crunch their life ended just like that.

    As for Yu he had dropped on the wolf thus barring any loud sound and with the strangle from earlier, no voice escaped from the victim.

    But although he should be over joyed that he hadn''t been discovered, all that was on Yu''s mind was confusion and fear.

    Getting down and looking back at the corpse Yu sees a young woman, slightly over 16 wearing sleeping pajamas, probably one of the maids that had just gone to sleep.

    ''A maid, no a small girl.. had that much power.. if, if I had been alone...''

    Not daring to think any longer Yu shakes his head and looks at the maid with some lingering fears, all that was going through his mind right now was what if that was a man rather than a woman, and if he would be able to survive if he was alone.

    "Sigh, I need to train after I get out of here, I can''t stay weak like this."

    Muttering so Yu looks into the corridor, and seeing no one coming he sighs again in relief.

    ''Now I need to hide the body and proceed with the earlier plan, but still it would be hard to fight those guards if this is the level that there at''

    Gazing back at the dead body of the made that is getting colder by the second, Yu suddenly has an idea.

    ''Why fight them if I can get them to let me in instead''

    As the idea popped up Yu''s Mood suddenly brightens and gets the wolf to drag the body to the side before getting it to wait in the bathroom, off course not without some slight persuasion as the wolf hated the stink it was in.

    ''She came from the right''

    Thinking so Yu closes the door and takes off his shoes, after which he sneaks toward the maid section with light steps.

    After reaching the rightmost part of the mansion, Yu faces 4 doors, 2 of which he knew didn''t have maids but held the head of guards and an unlit room he believed to be Kore''s room.

    ''That leaves us with these 2.. let''s hope she wasn''t from the shared room''

    Of the 3 maids two had shared a room, and one got her own, if the victim was from the shared room then his plan would be in vain.

    Placing his ears on one of the doors with slight anxiousness Yu strains his ears trying to hear something, but after a while he notices that there wasn''t any sound coming from it and so he heads toward the other room.

    ''Maybe I just can¡¯t hear them, will I have to open a creak to check?''

    He indulges the risky idea a bit before putting his ear on the second rooms, and to his delight he hears slights whispers, which, according to the fast pace, seem to be coming from different individuals rather a single person.

    ''Lucky~''

    With light steps Yu returns to the other room and opens the door, since the maid had left just now and should return there shouldn''t be a problem for there to be some slight noise.

    Thus Yu enters the room in a carefree manner and looks around.

    The room seemed rather big for a servant, but as the entire mansion only held 11 people with the master it isn''t too surprising.

    A simple bed lay near the window with a cabin filled with maid cloth one the side and a small desk on the side. On the desk book and some food lay about. It is very typical of a maid''s room.

    Grabbing one of the outfits and the sweet that was on the desk, Yu closes the door and goes toward the bathroom while eating the sweet.

    ''Wait what?''

    Realizing what he is doing and looking at the sweet in hand, Yu stares for a bit before chuckling to himself lightly, stuffing the sweet in his mouth, and continuing on his way.

    ''Old habits die hard''

 Insignificant Value

    Next to a small stream in which the clearest water that can be found runs through, a clearing that houses a mansion can be seen.

    Within this mansion all but the guards lay asleep. Well, all but one maid walking through the halls carrying a huge plate filled with light snacks and even some of the sweets that would rarely be brought to the Battlefield.

    Taking the stairs toward the third floor the maid arrives before slightly large double doors. Taking a deep breath, the maid then lifts her head... err ''His'' head as he gazes on the door that would be the last hurdle.

    ''I already spent a long time in here, a lot more than what I had in mind. I must take back the core; else I would have wasted all this precious time for nothing.''

    Yes its precisely Yu wearing the maids costume, trailing behind him was the wolf, he had spent a long time sneaking around, especially when getting the food so as to not alert anyone and when putting the body in another unused room.

    His plan, very simple, get them to let down their guard and have the wolf pounce on them as they wouldn''t have any time to react.

    ''Simple but fast''

    Rather than wasting time coming up with solutions he decided to be straightforward

    ''Also I didn''t come up with a better idea in the last hour, but that''s merely a secondary reason, yup''

    With slight confidence Yu knocks on the door and opens it, when he did he lowered his hat so they wouldn''t see his face.

    "Who is.. oh Melis what are you doing at this hour."

    He hears a gruff voice calling out to him, but as he can''t imitate a female''s voice, let alone of one he never heard, he kept silent and continued onward.

    "Oh you got us some snacks nice, hehe you''re so nice to us Melis"

    Hearing the other voice laugh in delight, Yu guesses his trick worked but as cautious as he is he still keeps his slow pace toward them.

    "Wait what''s that behind you? NO MELIS WATCH OUT"

    One of the guards'' screams as he rushes to push Yu out of the way, taking a bite from the wolf to his shoulder in the process, but before the wolf can maul his shoulder the other guard rushes up and slams the wolf with his shield knocking the wolf back a few steps.

    As for Yu, the shout had drained him of all color, but as he saw what the situation turned out to be he suddenly felt an opportunity. Unsheathing his knife, he sneaked toward the nearest guard.

    By this time the guard with the shield was entangled with the wolf, while the other guard had just finished summoning his Contracted Soul and called out to the other guard.

    "Get back and summon your Contracted Soul I alrea.. Kugh..."

    Lowering his gaze, the guard sees a knife plunged into his throat, shock, fear, and anger rush through his mind as he turns back to see a youth backing off to the core before his vision turned dark.

    With a thud the guard fell to the ground while his Contracted Soul had already been summoned, a large size cat stood ferocious gazing at the body of its dead master before furiously starting to thrash it with a vengeful look on its face.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    When the other guard turned to look back at his comrade and saw this scene he madly flew into a rage and charged at the perpetrator, the youth.

    Although he was some distance from the youth, he was nonetheless leagues faster thus reaching him before he reaches the core wouldn''t be out of the question.

    Noting this the wolf was hot in pursuit, and it would definitely reach the guard before he the youth.

    At this time a clamor can be heard at the stairs with several loud shouts, apparently the head guard and the ones from the first floor had all summoned their Contracted Souls and were on their way to up.

    With the reassurance of support coming the guard jumps over the cat and headed straight toward the youth triggering a response from the cat, fortunately for him or unfortunately for the wolf, the cat lashes out on the incoming wolf as it sensed far more danger from it than the guard.

    While describing this might take a while, it only happened in 5 seconds since the fall of the first guard.

    While 5 seconds might seem trivial in our day to day lives, these 5 seconds were a roller coaster of emotions for Yu, who had been running as fast as his feet could take him, from suspense, to anxiousness to relief to pure dread, as the guard got closer and closer.

    Finally, the core was within an arm''s reach, but the guard''s mace was already in front of Yu''s face, even though all he had to do was stretch his arms to save his life he had already ran out of time. Again an insignificant value, barring him from his life.

    ''No, I don''t want to die again, not again!''

    Peng-

    A metal rebound rang out in the hall followed by a low rumble that went through the mansion signaling the end of its visitors stay.

    The hall suddenly quieted down all of a sudden and only the sounds from the wolf and the cats battle could be heard.

    Yu stared in a daze at the dome surrounding him, holding the core in one hand while supporting himself on the pedestal with the other. Suddenly he fell to the ground with a plop, and broke into a fit of laughter.

    "haha ...hahaha..hehehahahaha"

    Tears rolled down his eyes as he rejoiced the fact that he is still alive, the fact that he escaped death, the fact that he wouldn''t have to go through that painful experience called death once again.

    A crash then woke him from his absent minded laugh, turning around he saw the wolf bloodied fighting a slightly less bloodied cat which instantly brought him back to the current situation.

    "Come here and enter the Shield, it will be easier to fight it from here "

    The wolf looked in his direction and after some hesitation decided to forsake the fight and ran toward the shield while the cat scored some hits on the wolfs back.

    "Once you get close dive in and then attack back as fast as you can. trust me on this"

    The wolf flared its nostrils at Yu but still did as he had said. Diving into the shield at the first chance then turning around to see the underbelly of the cat. A gleam flashed through the wolfs eyes as it lunged forward and ripped open the cat''s stomach letting its intestines fall to the floor with a mad howl, followed by an intense banging one the shield.

    But a shield like this can''t even be scratched by Gold rank Soul Beasts let alone a weak bronze rank cat.

    Thus the wolf and the youth stood in the safety of the shield watching the cat slowly lose out its life.

    ''Beasts would jump at others when they present a weakness, thus the moment the wolf landed would be the best timing, that is in instinct and even when their mad they would still take the opportunity.''

    Yu had utilized the Soul Beasts instincts against it which ended in having it showing one of its weakest spots to its enemy when it got sprawled on the shield after the jump.

    Looking over at the body of the wolf Yu noticed the many wounds covering it, if left as it is, it would certainly leave a long injury if it wasn''t a Guardian Beast, but even then it would take some time to recover.

    "Eat the cats body I''ll go look for any herbs they might have left"

    Disabling the shield Yu starts walking out of the hall, passing over the dead man''s body in a nonchalant attitude.

    Upon reaching the second floor he headed straight toward Kore''s room.

    Upon entering the room Yu notices The extravagant setup, a white large sized bed, a mirror table, wardrobe filled with frilly cloth and a cabinet with many items in it.

    Ignoring all the fancy decor Yu heads strait toward the cabinet messily searching around until he found what he was looking for.

    He then returns to the third floor to see the wolf standing in front the cat that was a breath away from death, deliver the life ending strike with pride in its eyes.

    Weng~

    Light shines on both Yu and the wolfs body signaling a rank up, much to Yu''s surprise which doesn''t stem the fact that the wolf ranked up, as indeed it had killed two Soul Beasts outranking it and it already had been through battles before as a 3-star bronze rank.

    What surprised him the most was his own rank up which would mean his grimoire had indeed reset as fights like these counted as nothing toward silver ranks.

    "Well this turns out for the better"

    As the previous owner had his Soul Beasts die on the hands of that genius youth, the pages of the grimoire had been damaged, thus marring any more contracts being made using them, which in return crippled him.

    "This means that I''m 4 starts bronze rank. as for the wolf..."

    Summoning his grimoire Yu takes a look at the wolfs portrait, noting the 2 stars on the top he smiles a bit before proceeding to walk toward the wolf.

    "Il apply this medicine on you, it might hurt but endure it a bit, and drink this supplement while you''re at it."

    as he reached to pet the wolf it suddenly growled and dogged his hand, then with slight anger in its eyes it walks to the cat and starts eating away.

    "Sigh well the rank up healed you a bit anyway so I guess you don''t need this as much"

    Realizing that he still had a long way to go before amending for the past owner¡¯s grievance, he sighed and pocketed the medicine before making his way down stairs to search the rest of the mansion so as to get back to his own as fast as he could.

 Self-Reliance

    After getting down from the third floor Yu decides to continue searching Kore''s room, since he wasn''t paying much attention when he was looking for the medicine with the wolfs injury on his mind

    "But acting like that even after what it had done.. sigh"

    Remembering the wolfs anger, Yu feels some anger of his own, not directed at the wolf though, but at the previous owner as it put him in a difficult situation.

    The wolf may had seemed to be trying to protect Yu in the earlier fight but that was because it would lose its own life without him, not to mention that the previous predicament was caused by the wolf itself.

    "If it hadn''t rushed and just waited a little I wouldn''t have almost.... sigh"

    Yes, the wolf had in fact jumped ahead of schedule, not only throwing Yu''s plan into disarray but also surprising him which made him unable to cope with the situation too well.

    Yu was supposed to place the food a little further from the guards position forcing them to get closer, leaving their heavy weapons behind so by the time wolf was noticed it would be too late for them to summon their Beasts, and if they went back to pick up their weapons then that would be the death of them since they would be leaving their backs exposed, but with the distance between them when the wolf jumped and the fact that he wasn''t well prepared, Yu was instantly frozen not knowing what he could do.

    Thankfully the guards never suspected Yu as an enemy since, as stated before, there was a lack of assassins among the nobles, not to mention no novel would disguise himself as a maid and forsake their pride to attack two crappy guards.

    ''Still I can''t blame it since team work only stems from trust which were sorely lacking''

    In the midst of his thoughts Yu arrived at the room and snapped out of his thoughts.

    Taking a closer look at the room this time, Yu noticed the white bed and sighed to himself

    "Sigh, if only I could take the bed with me I wouldn''t ask for anything else"

    Sleeping while sitting on the chair was extremely uncomfortable, and he wished he had the same luxury as others.

    Moving closer to the bed Yu takes the blanket and ties its ends together then puts the pillows inside, then he starts taking various items from the cabinet and piling them inside the sad excuse of a bag.

    Moving to the wardrobe Yu fully opens it to reveal an outstanding collection of dresses that any princess would kill to have.

    ''Here I am struggling for life and this girl is treating this like a picnic.''

    Thinking that he had enough cosplay for the night Yu moves on to the next room, the head guards room.

    As soon as he entered the room a heavy womanly smell invaded his nose which made his mind buzz for a bit. After a few seconds he snapped out of his daze and look around the room.

    The first thing that caught his eyes were the lingerie that were thrown on the bed, a white bra and a creamy laced pantie. Which more than prove the head guard was a woman.

    Mechanically moving to the bed Yu picks up the lingerie finding it to be still warm to the touch, causing no small pressure at the tip of his nose.

    Shaking his head, he throws it on the bed and tries to focus on finding any useful items in the room.

    ''This isn''t the time to mess around, the more time i stay here the less leeway I have in the future''

    Diverting his attention by looking around Yu spots a huge bag to the side, probably used to hold the items when coming into the Battlefield, after scrutinizing it and then looking back at his own self-made bag a gleam passes through Yu''s eyes

    "Self-reliance is necessary when living on the battlefield I mustn''t be tempted by these luxury tools; I must learn to adapt to the environment"A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    As he says so Yu prepares himself before leaving the mansion with the wolf following behind.

    An hour later Yu could be seen moving through the desolate land of the battlefield while taking laboring breaths every now and then, indicating that he is well past his limit and is pushing himself to get to the mansion before dawn arose.

    "How can someone have so little stamina? if it was my body from before this would have been a pleasant jog rather than a military exercise"

    Irritated by the fact that he is running late, if he is capable of running at all at this point, Yu plops on the ground, taking ragged breaths to calm his mind.

    After a minute he finally manages to regulate his breath before taking a look around.

    What he saw practically blew away any fatigue as he stared at the beautiful sight within his eyes.

    A lush forest lay before him, flowers and trees dotting his vision, even when its deep into the night it was brightly lit by the moon and the stars shining like jewels in the black carpet above.

    "Its.. Beautiful..."

    As a person who likes nature, especially nighttime scenery, a pollution free sight like this dashed away all his worries for a bit, giving him the chance, for the first time he came into this world, to appreciate the beauty that lay before him.

    ''And this is just the battlefield.''

    While the sky may look realistic, this was after all just an illusion to keep the laws of this dimension intact, the world outside would most definitely look leagues better than the current sight.

    ''If I want threatened by death''

    While ruminating over his misfortunate situation Yu suddenly exclaims, loud enough for his shout to spread through the forest.

    "AH, who said I must die? fuck I''m such an idiot"

    Cursing at his own mislight Yu bounds up to his feet, while doing so he notes a shadow jumping back into the forest.

    "Go catch it"

    Before he even finished his sentence the wolf had already giving chase. Going deep into the forest.

    "Don''t Kill It!"

    Shouting toward the wolf he wonders if it had heard him, and if it would listen even if it did.

    "If that''s what I think it is than I''ve struck gold, no Crystal"

    Smiling to himself Yu sets down his Backpack and take out some food to eat.

    Looking at the large bag he had "borrowed" from the women''s room he nods his head in satisfaction and proceeds to eat the readymade food while leaning on a pillow he took from Kore''s room.

    "Ahh It feels good living in luxury~. Self-Reliance can wait until I¡¯m out of here "

    Mumbling to himself he continues happily eating away after his earlier discovery as he waited for the wolfs result.

    **********************

    *Earlier*

    As the wolf was gazing its annoying incompetent master that''s plopped on the ground it was recalling the close call from the fight in the mansion.

    It had indeed jumped in to kill those humans, but it had wanted a bit of a fight instead of readymade food since its despicable master didn''t even give them a chance to fight back thus baring the wolf from the thrill of battel, thus it decided to take things into its own paws and attacked the humans thinking they might worth playing with for a while.

    What it hadn''t expected was for the enemy to be so resilient with their annoying round object they kept slamming it with increasing its rage. And things took a worse turn when the enemy had summoned a cat to help them.

    Off course what surprised the her the most was the fact that its master had infect killed one of the annoying humans that it had she had been struggling with, ''That weak incompetent master also has his uses'' though amazed at first, the wolf instantly retracted its thoughts when she saw him running desperately toward the shining rock when the guard turned around to chase him. But as she knew she might die under the combined force of the human and the cat she gave chase and the shouts that came from the stairs later reinforced her decision.

    But the despicable human used the cat as a distraction to stop her from chasing him and went straight for her master.

    The end result though, was out of her expectation, as the guard and all the threatening feeling from the stairs all disappeared together, and while wondering what could her master have done she gazed toward him and saw him crying under a transparent dome which returned her earlier impression of his uselessness to her again. Though he snapped back and helped her she still didn''t change her impression.

    Now looking at him in the forest raggedly breathing the wolf was in deep thought, which wasn''t something that could have been possible before that weird ceremony her master did, thinking back to that day, she felt like since then he wasn''t the same person from before, more than a change of heart, it was more drastic, more like... a change of soul....

    Her master suddenly jumped up to his feet snapping her out of her daze which happened to be exactly when she heard a rustling, as a shadow ran into the forest.

    Getting a little excited she went after the creature without waiting for any commands from her master, as she wouldn''t listen to them anyway.

    But before she got further she felt his intention of letting the creature live, and while it didn''t sit right with her she felt she might as well give the scheming master a chance since she was full from eating the cat anyway.

    With that in mind the wolf accelerated toward the fleeing creature with glee showing in its eyes

    **********************

    A while later, precisely two pieces of bread and a bottle of water, the wolf had returned with a black creature with white spots and long ears, in its mouth.

    "Yin Yabbit, as I had expected"

    -Yin Yabbit, Beast Branch, Rabbit Sub-Branch, Extreme Dark Attribute, Bronze Rank Exclusive

    "Since this fellow is here then it must have wondered off from its home, which means there should be a dark attribute treasure nearby."

    As Yin Yabbits can almost only be spotted near extreme Dark attribute natural treasures, that lack any predator since they would be the first to be eaten if there were any, then a treasure must be close to the location its spotted since it would die if it strays off too much.

    " I might have been happy if I wasn''t running low on time...  and Yin Yabbits are basically useless as anything but food for other Yin Type Beasts."

    Unlike their Silver rank counterpart, Yin Rabbits, Yin Yabbits are basically a failure that are were unable to absorbed enough Dark Attribute which resulted in them merely accumulating the energy in their body without actually making use of it, so that makes them normal rabbits with a large store of Dark attribute and nothing else at all. And Yu didn''t happen to have any Dark attribute Soul Beasts.

    "Sigh I''m not the type that depends on luck so searching right now might just merely waste my time and the fatigue is getting to me anyway. As for the rabbit."

    Gazing at the rabbit Yu suddenly had an idea and ordered the wolf to put the unconscious wolf on the ground, after which Yu tied it up and headed out once again toward the mansion.

    Unknown to him a gleam passed through the wolf eyes before it followed closely behind him.

 Blessing in Disguise

    As the sun crept from the east it cast shadows upon the withered forest that lay still in silence, with the only sign of life it holds being the two skulking in its newborn shadows of dawn, intently watching the mansion that lay further ahead.

    With careful steps they advanced toward the old mansion before stopping at the side of the gate.

    One of them nods to the other before probingly cracking open the squeaky door, fully knowing that, had there been anyone inside, they would be fully alerted by this move.

    Taking a peak and spotting no one, he opens the door and goes in with slow heavy and tired steps.

    "I''m beat, let''s eat and sleep."

    With a tired voice Yu declares as he goes toward the Core room.

    "First though let''s finish off our security measures"

    Fishing the two cores from his backpack Yu opens the core rooms doors and looks at his own Castle Core. Lifting up his hands he places the other two cores next to his own which instantly absorbs the two, turning their remnants into powder. The core suddenly seems to shine a tad brighter than before.

    Placing his left hand on the Core and closing his eyes, Yu finds himself in a white room merely seconds later.

    "So this is the Castle Core. Plainer than I imagined"

    As his words echo in the room, Yu looks around and find a pedestal in the middle.

    Grabbing hold of the pedestal a white screen pops up, filled with compact symbols.

    "That''s one of the old languages, they did teach it to us since they knew we would enter the battlefield though only the basics."

    Taking a closer look Yu skims through the list searching for his target

    ____________________________________________

    -Regulate Temperature: Increase Ice Attribute: 1-3 Core Units

    -Regulate Temperature: Increase Fire Attribute: 1-3 Core Units

    ...

    Fortify Walls: Increase Metal Attribute: 1-4 Core Units

    Fortify Walls: Increase Earth Attribute: 1-4 Core Units

    ...

    Provide Light: Concentrate Lightning Attribute: 1 Core Unit

    Provide Water Well: Concentrate Water Attribute: 3-5 Core Units

    ...

    ____________________________________________

    Yu Continues to read the hardly understandable symbols with a slight headache forming until he reaches the bottom part of the list.

    "Ah, here it is, if I had known I would have started from the bottom instead"

    Choosing the item and setting it to 2 Core Units, Yu notices the surrounding dim a whole lot before leaving.

    Opining his eyes to the now regular looking core, a smile forms at the tip of his lips with a mocking glint in his eyes.

    "Yawn~ one last thing and I can wrap this up"

    Returning to the hall, he drops his backpack to the ground and takes out the now awake and very frightened Yin Yabbit. He then unties most of the ropes and only leaving one that ties down its feet.

    Drawing a hexagram on the ground and taking out his only two Dark Attribute Crystals, one that he had with him when he entered and the other from Kore''s Dead bod, He places them on two sides of the formation leaving the other three empty.

    "The time and resources it takes to get a Yin Yabbit to become a Yin Rabbit are just as much as it would be to buy two Yin Rabbits. not to mention the success rate is abysmal. My sacrifice however may just be a good way around it"

    Since Soul beasts can''t directly absorb the entire Attribute of a crystal, it would take many crystals for there to be any noticeable difference, not to mention the Soul Beast might not even be able to refine it. Sacrifice, on the other hand, can strengthen the Soul Beast instantly which can be seen form the recent sacrifice to the wolf.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ''Let''s start''

    "I, Yu, Sacrifice this as a means to nourish thou, in body and mind, in hope thou reach thy Zenith"

    Extending his hands Darkness envelops the mansion triggering the wolf to be on guard as it takes a crouching stance. In the middle of the hexagram the Yin Yabbit began to grow in a noticeable rate, while the white spots on its body began to fade into the dark fur that intensified with each passing second. On its belly a white circle seemed to be struggling to form while darkness ate away at its edges.

    By the time the size of the Beast had reached double its original size, deadly black claws had already formed on the rabbit''s paws, while its front teeth formed into sharp fangs that seem to transit between black and white.

    Suddenly it opened its scarlet eyes that contained a hit of madness, and screeched at the top of its lungs. As it did small cracks began to form in the near vicinity indicating the instability of space.

    Yu looked with panic written all over his now pale face as Yin Yabbit.... No the Yin Rabbit turned toward him, with a madness and hostility clearly showing on its face.

    ''Shit, I forgot Yin Rabbits are silver rank, with the laws of this dimension it will either die or break the dimension, and it doesn''t seem like it would let me seal it''

    The Yin Rabbit again issued another screech, this time around it was one of extreme pain as its skin cracked apart and black blood started flowing down from its eyes and ears, while the laws seemed to be cracking down on it as well.

    ''Wait it''s not done yet??''

    While it seemed to be dying, Yu could clearly see the whites of its eyes transit toward black while its fangs seem to dim, as for the white circle on its belly, it was clearly on the verge of disappearing.

    ''No way!!''

    Perhaps sensing the fear from Yu, the creature turned back to lock onto him even though it was in extreme pain. Then, much to Yu''s horror, it pressed on the ground with its long legs and with a crack it shot toward Yu, mouth wide open.

    By the time the mouth was within a step away, Yu suddenly calmed down as a dome like shield enveloped him, while the creature sprawled on the shield, tears in its eyes, while its mouth had been torn open from the sudden impact.

    Crunch

    A huge maw suddenly bit off one of the creature¡¯s legs, ensuing another screech as it jumped away with its remaining leg.

    Seeing the creature escape, the wolf instantly enters the shield, with a leg in its mouth and victory within its grasp.

    Indeed, the creature who had already been under the torment of its own transformation and the laws of the dimension had been pushed to the verge of death with this injury. But clearly not willing to give up, or merely succumbing to madness, it used it one remaining leg and the front paws to rush toward the shield, constantly banging its head on it and scratching with all its might but clearly to no avail.

    Some while later, the scratching had gradually come to a stop while the cracks in space started to mend itself signaling the end of this crazed event.

    "Sigh, Finally"

    Sighing in relief, Yu looks at the dead body and then to the wolf beside him as a smile formed on his mouth.

    "You learn fast, your too smart to be bronze"

    Hearing this wolf lifts its head with pride, while keeping a nonchalant attitude.

    Indeed, the wolf had learned the trick of Poking from inside the shield after doing it once, something that not many beasts could do with their degree of intelligence at the bronze rank.

    While the wolf gloated Yu poked the dead body a few times to make sure it wasn''t playing dead, though the laws retreating were an obvious sign of its departure, then he dissolved the shield and started to clean up the mess. Looking at his torn up bag tears well up in Yu''s eyes.

    "My new bag... my luxury... RIP"

    Turning his head in grief he starts picking up the items scattered across the broken floor and piling them into his old self made bag that was scattered with them.

    After rounding up everything Yu looks at the creature in contemplation.

    ''The signs on its body.. it was defiantly turning into Noble Yin Rabbit''

    -Noble Yin, Beast Branch, Rabbit Sub-Branch, Pure Dark Attribute, Silver-Platinum Rank

    ''While Yin Rabbits hold mostly Dark Attribute they also have a ting of Yang to balance their body, the white circle that was appearing on its belly signifies that. But this one had its circle vanishing which means it was taking the path of pure Yin''

    Extreme Attributes signify the dominance of the element while Pure attribute signify its solitary.

    Beasts and Soul Beasts that take the path of Solitary Attribute take much more time in getting to the next stage while requiring double if not more resources than a Beast of the same rank but they would be twice as powerful, especially since they would have a higher reserve of said Attribute in their body allowing them to pour more into each attack.

    While Yu was in deep thought on whether he should feed it to his Soul Beasts or not, with the spider being the main candidate. a huge maw suddenly bites the body of the creature and swallows it whole in one bite.

    Panicking at the sight Yu suddenly screams at the top of his lungs toward the satisfied wolf.

    "YOUR FIRE ATTRIBUTE WTH"

    Flinching at his scream the wolf turns toward Yu with an unpleasant look on its face.

    Seeing the look Yu calms down knowing that screaming would only make it hostile toward him just when it began opining up to him. So after calming himself and lowering voice Yu proceeds to explain.

    "You have fire attribute which corresponds to Yang, the rabbit on the other hand is Yin and a half pure one at that, so eating it will only harm your body, even if you live through this you may lose that bit of fire attribute you had just gained robbing you of your way upward toward higher ranks."

    With a look of confusion and suspicion the wolf stares at Yu as if signaling him to continue.

    "No need to look so confused, you''ll see the result in a bit"

    Before his words fell the wolf had fallen to the ground wailing painfully while trying to muffle its voice, clearly the Yin had kicked in.

    "Sigh, see I told you, but bear with it, if not you might be crippled"

    While most Soul Beasts would die from these types of scenarios, Guardian Soul Beasts can never die unless the Grimoire holder himself dies, but that doesn''t mean they can''t become useless.

    So with hope Yu looks at the wolf flailing about looking at him with a wronged and blaming look as if to say ''how would I know, you should have said something earlier''.

    The wolf indeed had thought the reason its master had kept the rabbit alive was to make it more delicious, how could it have known that it was poison instead.

    "Well even if you didn''t know, there was still a silver rank crystal in its body, you can''t just swallow something that potent at bronze rank.... don''t wail at me like that Soul Beasts are supposed to know which elements correspond to, them the very fact that you didn''t means there''s something wro.... wait, wailing, Wailing Wolf, damn so that''s why"

    -Wailing Wolf, Beast Branch, Wolf Sub-Branch, Beast Attribute, Dark Attribute, Bronze Rank exclusive.

    Because of the red spots on its body and the slight vermilion blood Yu forgot that the wolf was in fact a Wailing Wolf at base, which means dark attributes are much more beneficial to it.

    With this in mind Yu feels much calmer since it might help it rather than hurt it, after all he didn¡¯t want to depend on the minimal amount of vermilion blood to begin with, he didn''t like depending on luck.

    The dark attribute it was born with was much better. And while advancing like this may not help normal Soul Beasts, in fact in might kill them, Guardian Soul Beasts are different in the fact that their much more susceptible to change.

    "Endure, I''m certain you''ll survive through this, but for now let''s go to the back of the mansion, we don''t want to be attacked unprepared"

    Hearing this the wolf tried to get up but fell down form the pain which just made it feel weaker.

    Seeing this Yu sighs and unsummons the wolf, and after taking everything with him, he leaves to the back of the mansion with his mind heavy with concern.

 A Way Out

    With the sun shining brightly over the battlefield, it marks the third day of the competition. Today would be the day war officially breaks out, as shouts, laughs, and cries of anger can be heard all over the battlefield, bur off course it was merely a game for the sons and daughters of South Paradise.

    Meanwhile, two don''t share this sentiment.

    One of which is riding on a giant dog running through the field with 2 people on his tail, each riding a beast of their own.

    "Adrian, did you think you could beat us just because you beat that trash Yu?"

    "Yah, don''t get arrogant, no matter what you''re just a peasant, stop running like a dog and accept our beating"

    The two loudly laugh as they urge their soul beasts to catch up to boy in front.

    Unknown to them that their merely running toward their own demise.

    **********

    On the other hand, in a place well away from that young boy, within a withered forest, painful wails could be heard coming from an old creepy looking mansion. Wails that would send chills running down any who might witness this eerie situation.

    The second of the two though is residing precisely here, currently feeding the source of the situation.

    "You need to eat to go through this transition, but though I don''t want to rush you, if you stay out too long your voice will ruin the trap"

    Yes, Yu had summoned the wolf back to eat from the puma''s body as to help sooth it rumbling belly that demanded food. While this may reduce the purity of the energy gained, it would make the wolfs advancement easier as it dulls the pain when the energy crashes into the food.

    At the same time a fire crystal had already been fed to the wolf to sooth its pain at critical conjunctions, which in turn, again, lessened the gains from the Dark Crystal.

    "I wouldn''t be surprised if you wasted 60% of the Dark Attribute, but I guess this will guarantee your successful advancement."

    When the wolf finished his meal, Yu unsummoned it and laid back to get some shuteye.

    ''The wolf might get a lot stronger, this will increase my chances of survival.. unless it turns to silver rank which would just put it out of commission.''

    A smile suddenly found its way to Yu''s face.

    ''But so what? I can just force myself out of the dimension''

    The reason Yu had been in a good mood earlier was indeed because he found a way out of his predicament.

    ''Maybe they thought I would be grieving for my life that I wouldn''t notice, or maybe they didn''t even think of this as any sane person wouldn''t have such thoughts''

    "Hahahaha... so what if I can''t die near the mansion nor get away from it for too long? as long as I have a minute of time outside I could kill myself and nothing would happen''

    Indeed, the method Yu had found to save his life, was to end it. After all, if only the Core''s area was a danger zone then that means dying anywhere else would end with the same result as any other noble within the battlefield.

    With such thoughts on his mind Yu happily falls asleep, with a bit of a smug grin on his face.

    Sometime later, after the sun had crept back beyond the horizon, Yu drowsily opens his eyes, yawning and getting to his feet.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "That Rabbit just had to ruin my pillow, my neck aches like hell"

    Though most of the items had been left undamaged or at least functional, there had to be some that were destroyed in the fight, one of which was the newly gained pillows that were apparently of vital importance to Yu.

    ''Since the wolf didn''t wake me up it must be that it decided to bear through the rest, let''s see if a result was reached''

    Summoning his grimoire and turning to the wolfs page, a portrait of a wolf is shown with slight glow emitting from it, signaling the unfinished process of change.

    Sighing to himself Yu picks the items he had deemed necessary for the following step in his plans and goes into the mansion.

    What greeted him upon opining the door is the sight a black blood covering the ground, with organs splashed about while cracks dotted the ground.

    "Ugh the smell is horrible, well maybe it could make a good cover for my plan"

    Scrunching up his nose Yu walks toward the side of the hall where a bunch of small barrels are placed, all holding expensive liquor.

    "To think I would be using liquor that costs god knows how much for a single use trap... sigh my tummy feels bad"

    Begrudgingly he carries the barrels to different spots in the room, once finished he summons the spider and has it make threads that connect to the back of the mansion through cracks in the roof or back wall as he pokes the barrels, causing small leaks which he plugs with the threads.

    After that Yu breaks the already cracked floor and places the barrel in it, while digging out any of the foundation that got in the way with the tools he got from his recent adventure.

    After a while of thorough arrangements, Yu looks at the room with a satisfied but tired face and starts feeding the hard working spider any of the organs he had collected as he moved about in the mansion.

    "Eat up and grow strong and one day you might end up as strong as the legendary spider that''s famous for her "Nai Waa" "

    Imagining his own cute Nai Waa spider while looking at the timid fearful spider Yu laughingly smiles at the thought as he can''t relate it to the adventures spider from his memories, though she also practiced a heavy amount of caution.

    While his thoughts ran about a scene suddenly caught his attention as he gazed wide eyed at the spider scratching its skin seemingly wanting to peel it off which it, must to his surprise, actually succeeded after what seemed like an hour of constant struggling.

    Gazing at the spiders shed skin and then back at the double sized spider itself Yu still had his dumfounded expression.

    "At this rate it might actually turn my dreams into reality"

    Bending down to pet the spider as he smiled happily Yu suddenly finds himself touching the ground awkwardly as the spider had moved around his body with its eight fearful eyes gazing at him.

    "Nope never mind I take back what I just said"

    Standing up in a huff Yu unsummons the spider and returns to the back of the mansion.

    "Today everyone must be very busy with protecting or attacking each other that they surly don''t have much time for poor me, plus they probably think I''m already out one way or another"

    Plopping down and taking out his food Yu starts talking to himself as he eats slowly, which makes many wonder if loneliness had some adverse effects on him.

    "Though I don''t need to take the risks of staying here I''d rather go out fighting than kill myself and make things easier for them. Well fighting then fleeing off course, I wouldn''t get myself killed for real"

    Gazing at the beautiful night sky once again Yu stares, as if trying to see through the illusion and into the outside world.

    "There''s that benefit from surviving too"

    He mutters as he continues to munch his food and stare aimlessly, until a surprised feeling flooded his face.

    "It finished"

    Hurriedly roping his food and chanting, Yu summons the wolf in mere moments.

    A larger smaller than usual hexagram appears this time, from it the wolf sprang out and headed straight toward Yu with fast an incredibly fast pace. But before Yu could process the situation the wolf had already passed by him and dived onto his self-made backpack as it ate whatever meat contained within before it ran into the forest after a mad howl, signaling its dissatisfaction.

    As for Yu, he had his back covered in cold sweat as he gazed at the fleeting wolf with a complex look in his eyes.

    ''Damn I thought I was a goner; I didn''t even have the time to think of putting up a shield by the time it was near my face.''

    Since the wolf was his Guardian Soul Beast it was a fact that it would die with his own death, meaning, it wouldn''t have any reason to attack at all.

    ''But it wouldn''t matter if it went crazy though.''

    Yes, the first thing that passed through Yu''s mind when he got his head around the situation was the fact that the wolf had gone mad like the Rabbit which would make sense since it hated Yu and had been through a painful fast advancement like the Rabbit.

    ''Yu get a grip on yourself, if it had indeed gone mad you would have been dead now, DEAD! don''t mess around just because you got some leeway now.''

    Mentally reprimanding himself Yu calls up the Grimoire to take a look at the wolf.

    What came into his sight was the image of a wolf standing aloofly with a look of arrogance radiating through its eyes, it had black fur covering it from head to toe, even its belly wasnt spared, the only other color that shared its fur was the dark red that had surprisingly taken even more space than before. The other thing worth noting was the fact that it had actually grown a size smaller, either than that there were hardly any other changes.

    "What? smaller? also why did the fire attribute seem to be getting stronger rather than weaker? oh god why is this wolf so controversial."

    Lifting his eyes Yu sees the bronze frame that holds a single star signifying the rank up of the wolf.

    But, as he had expected it, rather he expected even more for that fact, he diverted his attention toward the name instead.

    Soul Guardian: Wailing Flames Wolf

    A Wolf with its Pure Dark Attribute and Fire Attribute Half merged. Unbalanced state. Strengthened through Sacrifice.

    Reading this Yu''s eyes went as wide as saucers as he gazed unblinkingly at the words in disbelief.

    "Half-merged? from one silver crystal? ridicules! even guardians aren''t that susceptible to change, this wolf must have had it in from the start."

    Any Beast or Soul Beast that had merged elements would far outmatch those of its rank, to the point that it can sometimes even cross-rank fight. Let alone one with Pure Dark as one of its Attributes.

    "The Unbalanced state is unnerving though. Need to get it a good fire supplement, not a crystal though, its body can''t take another round with its recent unnatural advancement. Must get something natural."

    With different thoughts swirling through his mind Yu falls into another daze, while the cries of the wolf echoed from the dead forest.

 Impending Danger

    Some hours later that night the wolf came back holding its prey, or whatever was left of it, in its mouth. But by the blood that soaked the wolfs paws and maw Yu could tell that it had its fill and that it actually meant to give him the food, as to whether it was out of guilt from eating his own or because it had started to open up to him, he had no idea.

    ''At least it has a conscious''

    When he looked at the bloody mess of a corps his appetite had dwindled, and with the little meal from earlier on Yu had lost all intent on eating.

    Apparently though the wolf didn''t agree, as after it dropped the prey in front of his feat it kept staring at him with a look of expectation.

    Smiling at the gesture Yu softly declines the wolf

    "A great hunt but I''m very full, Il eat it some other time"

    The wolf, not in the slightest moved, keeps staring at Yu with its eyes as if it''s his job to eat.

    Realizing the situation Yu frowns a bit and looks at the raw meat, and after several seconds of contemplation he sighs and picks up what he thinks to be a rib and takes a decisive bite, spraying blood all over his cloths.

    ''Oh bummers I can''t even make a fire since anyone who might come will see it, or it could even lead someone here and the last thing I need is a screw up in my plans.''

    Directing a painful smile at the wolf as he eats Yu curses the ancestors of the bloody deer for tasting so bitter and chewy, he hated chewy food, it was in fact his second most hated type of food.

    ''But this is good as well, cubs in infancy catch prey for their parents and get them to eat it as to demonstrate filial piety which means things are going rather well.''

    That was in fact the reason Yu ate so willingly, as his life depends on the future cooperation of the wolf he needs to get it to listen to him which would defiantly save him from incidents similar to the one from Kore''s mansion.

    But as he chewed on he spotted a flash that went through the wolfs eyes, which sent shivers down his spine.

    ''What was that just now? isn''t it bringing food to demonstrate loyalty? why did I suddenly feel danger.. wait unless? No  that''s ridicules''

    Shaking the silly thoughts out of his head Yu looks back at the wolf with a smile throwing what happened at the back of his mind and attributing it to the raw meat causing him to imagine things.

    After what seemed like an eternity of nausea to Yu, which was barley a few minutes, he finally finished the rib and looked toward the now satisfied wolf, which soon took its place beside Yu and went to a happy deep sleep, as if they were in a picnic and not the battlefield.

    Its actions stunned Yu for a good few moments before he himself sat down fell into light sleep with his last thought being how great would it be if he was as carefree in his actions.

    ''Right since we will be spending some time together from now on I should name it, after all it wouldn''t be practical calling out to it without a name, but for now... Il..... sleep..''This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    And so he fell asleep, with blood still covering his face, next to the bloodied wolf, creating a dangerous scene that contrast their peaceful sleep.

    **********************

    *On the evening of third day*

    Next to the mansion beside the stream, a figure was making its way toward the doors with a sly grin on her face.

    ''Found another great practice target for lil sis, that cutie must be antsy to prove herself I''m afraid she will want to go right now''

    With wide strides the figure reached the door before a frown suddenly found itself into her beautiful face.

    ''Where are the servants? no one opened the door to greet me, seems like this garbage got too relaxed thinking their important by being here, Il make sure the family gets their low ranks straight when we finish this contest''

    With irritation the girl with vigorous youth enters the quite mansion, at which point she notices the unexpected silence.

    ''Even if their slacking where are the guards? lil sis couldn''t have let them run free this mu... wait it couldn''t have affected her that much right?''

    In the middle of her thought process the girl recalls the fact that she sent her sister to kill that garbage of the Shenai family. Thinking that he would be a good practice target for her hat poses no danger as he was injured and had no soul beasts left.

    ''I knew her first kill would have some effect on her but I didn''t think she would isolate herself this much, if Ide known then I would have gone with her even if it meant her first wouldn''t be a natural''

    The Cranen family is a hunter family, and any hunter family known throughout the history places special importance on the first hunt. Any member of the main family must acquire their first kill by themselves, no tools, no help, just the hunter and the prey.

    Not going by the tradition means tarnishing the families name, which is punishable by death being the minimum sentence.

    "Who cares about tradition, its not like any of those old geezers are here anyway"

    Cranen Karme, true to her wild nature, didn''t care about any of the boring rules, and her concern is only ever occupied by her sweet little delicate sister that can''t seem to be able to do anything on her own, Cranen Kore.

    With a bubbly mood Karme proceeds toward the second floor, confident in her ability to get her sister out of her sour mood.

    ''I brought some cake with me, if that doesn''t get her over it I''m sure I tickling her to death would do it''

    As she smiles from ear to ear while heading toward her sisters room Karme suddenly slips on the stony floor and falls to her butt.

    "awyy, which idiot didn''t clean the ground?!! You all better come out for me to beat you down"

    Letting her tongue loose and yelling at the closed doors Karme finds the situation quite weird. While getting up and rubbing her plump butt she notices the sticky feeling on her hands which to her surprise turned out to be slightly dried blood. Thinking of the silent mansion and connecting the dots Karme suddenly runs toward the third floor, only to see be greeted with a missing Castel Core accompanied by what seems to be a feast of human flesh.

    Frowning with anger coursing through her Karme punches the wall next to her hard enough for her fist to almost bleed out and curses at the beast that ended her sister¡¯s opportunity.

    "When I finish this stupid game Il beat the bastard to a pulp"

    The reason she is confidant in her ability to know of the culprit is because it would be shameful for any of the nobles to steal the core while master was away, thus most fights are done after declaring war, like a mock territory war.

    Going down to her sister''s room while seething in anger Karme find the door open and enters, intending to pick up any item her sister might have left since she wouldn''t be able to take with her any item she didn''t have on her at the time of death. which includes her favored frilly white dress that she defiantly wouldn''t wear to battle. but upon taking a look she finds the room of her beloved sister to be in a mess as if ransacked in a hurry.

    ''Which deprived noble would do such a thing''

    Her feelings from anger turned to disgust, since any of the items found in here would be common even among some of the servants as the Dimensions rules forbid entry of artifacts and the like.

    Ignoring the mess on the floor she opens the closet and takes the clean white dress with her.

    "At least this was left unharmed else.."

    A dangerous gleam flashed through her eyes as she spoke halfway, the meaning very well obvious.

    Since she had nothing to do she set off to her own mansion, while pondering if she should actually participate in the contest as her goal had only been to train her beloved sister and nothing more.

    But, from the moment she saw the mess in her sister''s room she had a vague feeling of uneasiness that she couldn''t wash away which continuously dimmed her mood.

    ''Why do I have this bad feeling that something happened..''

    As she pondered, the image of an arrogant youth suddenly popped up in her head. Thinking it wouldn''t hurt to check, and that the safety of her little sister was more than worth it, Karme turns her mount toward the direction of that youths supposed execution ground with the hope that all her worries were an illusion.

    Yu, on the other hand, was still unaware of the deathly danger heading toward him, if he was however, he would have surprisingly been calm, for he had absolute confidence in his plan.

 Low-Key Genius

    As the sun took off to the sky once again above the battlefield, it announced the beginning of the fourth day which marked the spark of new battels and the restart of olden ones.

    Early in the morning, Yu woke up at the sound of galloping nearing his location, and with the intent of waking up the wolf he turns to the side but is surprised to see the wolf already awake staring at him, seemingly waiting for him to decide on the next course of action.

    Smiling to himself Yu makes a hush sound toward the wolf and creeps closer to the mansions wall behind him as he peeks through the gap that provided near nil vision.

    As the galloping got closer and closer Yu got increasingly nervous thinking of how to best escape if he was found out before he could get his enemy to fall for his trap. While he was almost certain of his ability to get away, it wouldn¡¯t be without sacrifice, which he wasn¡¯t willing to make even though he wont really "lose" it.

    Thankfully, he never had to, since the intruder headed straight toward the doors which were now busted open from the impact.

    Next he heard a jump followed by a few steps and an eerie short silence.

    Before the silence could even began to grow on Yu''s nerves though, an incensed scream rang through the mansion, surprising the living daylights out of Yu before he saw a shadow move toward the inner parts of the mansion. And judging by the voice, it was the top expected visitor on his list, and while the situation should have been beyond hopeless the only feelings that came to Yu were satisfaction and excitement.

    Thus without any further ado, he quickly grinded two highly flammable stones and lit the thread, which quickly created a red streak that shot through various parts of the mansion.

    Some of the threads didn¡¯t manage to burn all the way through but most of them did, resulting in repeated explosions being heard through the mansion, the explosions spread the fire through the mansion which resulted in more explosions seconds later, the flames soared even more as it covered the entire mansion burning every inch of it, all except the core room

    ¡°Sheesh kebab, this alcohol is way more flammable than I thought, whelp guess I can say goodbye to my roof as well¡±

    Laminating at his increasing losses of luxury Yu looks at the burning mansion in relief and sadness, to him this was the first home he had after waking up in this world, it may also have been his intended coffin, but he still placed some sentimental value to it, seeing it burning down to ashes he feels a bout of loss

    ¡°Sigh, at least this will surly kill that unreasonable women¡±

    Yu turns to look at the wolf beside him, surprisingly seeing its eyes a little misty, but when it notices his gaze it turns to look at some of the fire that got near them and growls in irritation, then it moves away and sits further from the mansion with its back to him

    ¡®Was it the fire that hurt its eyes or was it something else? Hmm¡¯

    Yu turns back to the mansion and puts the wolf¡¯s weird behavior aside, what was of importance now was the fate of the enemy he didn¡¯t want to face directly, enough to cause him to burn his while mansion instead

    ¡°I sure hope you kicked the bucket, well, you will even if you won¡¯t burn¡±

    Yu smirks to himself, thinking how much of a low-key genius he was for coming up with this sure kill plan

    A mansion made mostly of wood would definitely burn for more than ten minutes, enough time for the shield to run out, and since the shield can¡¯t move they would be just putting themselves in even more trouble as the fire would only intensify by that time, but this alone might not be able to kill the person, as they could summon something to shield them from the fire, enough for them last through it, so what he relied upon was instead something else, something far worse than burning to death

    ¡°Humph your either gonna be a fried chicken or a smoked one¡±

    Yes, he relied upon the fact the fire eats up all the oxygen in the air, being in the middle of it would cause the person to suffocate to death, the only remaining option would be to charge out of the mansion which they would be hard pressed to do with their Summon type

    ¡°That IF she figures it out before its too late, not everyone has my smarts after all¡±

    While he knew he sounded cocky he also knew that he had the right to be, after all he killed opponents he had no chance of taking head on, and stole two Castle Cores with extreme ease (Except the last one), others would be hard pressed to quickly come up with such plans on the spot as death loomed over them

    A shiver ran up his spine as he recalled the moment the mace almost hit him, his heart still palpitated at the mere thought of it

    ¡°I need to strengthen myself too, not just the Summons¡±

    As he stared at the raging fire he started recalling the methods of which people use to temper themselves as a way to pass time

    ..a bit more than thirty minutes later the fire started going down, until eventually only some embers remained, by that time the wolf was already beside Yu, staring at the ruins of their home, with vigilance this time

    Yu turns to the wolf and nods seeing its current state, then he walks carefully into the mansion, or whatever was left of it. While he was confident in his plan he also didn¡¯t want to die by underestimating the enemy, especially if they were just doing a last ditch effort

    Once the wolf and the boy reached the middle of the mansion they saw a circular area of a different color than the rest of the burning place, it seemed like it fared better than its neighbors, they naturally assumed that this was the area of the shield, but what puzzled Yu was the fact that there was no human body anywhere, not the one he prepared as bait, nor the one he had expected to be added to the latest visitors of hisSupport the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    Well, no human body, because they did see to bodies, one was a large saber tiger looking creator and the other was of a long cheetah that was burned beyond recognition, but even after having the wolf carefully turn them over he didn¡¯t see a sign of the two bodies

    ¡°Did she charge out? No she couldn¡¯t have, plus the space those two seem to have cleared is clearly toward the inside of the mansion¡±

    Yu frowns to himself as he mumbles while turning his gaze toward the center of the mansion, the only place which hadn¡¯t crumbled due to the fire, as he did he a gleam passed through his narrowing eyes once he caught a glimpse of a blue light through the cracks

    ****************************

    The light of dawn shone on the withered forest yet again creating a peaceful yet unnerving image, but that image was shattered by the sound of wild galloping, ensued by a spotted leopard carrying its rider speedily across the land

    ¡®Another sleepless night, and just for a little superstition at that humph, never mind lil sis is worth the trouble¡¯

    The rider was precisely Cranen Karme, heading toward the mansion she had told her sister to head toward to get her first kill, while she felt it was only natural her sister had won she still wanted to check up on the situation

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that scum could have laid a finger on lil sis, but in the abysmal chance that he did.. !!¡±

    To her that creep deserved nothing short of death, he was a useless trash that leeched off his family, now that she thought about it may be sending her sister to kill him wasn¡¯t wise after all

    ¡®Humph we¡¯ll see¡¯

    A while later, just enough for the sun to completely shine upon the battel field, Karme found herself in front of a rundown mansion, doors closed, reeking of a bad smell

    She hopped off her Summon and took wide strides toward the double doors before kicking them wide open, what welcomed her in return was a strong stench of death mixed with rot, her summon started to take a few steps back in response to the nauseas stench

    ¡°God, what has that filth been doing in here¡±

    She covered her face and took a look around. Black smudges of blood were strewn across the center of the hall, a few pieces of broken furniture were scattered here and there, and a backpack or whatever was left of it, were the only things that were left after a seemingly gruesome battel

    ¡®Huh? Wait that.. that¡¯s Rachne¡¯s backpack, why is it..¡¯

    Karme didn¡¯t want to continue that line of thought as she already guessed that it wasn¡¯t her sister that brought it here, in fact, she also figured out the reason her sisters room was ransacked the way it was

    Without a second thought she went to the back pack to examine it, she wanted to get as much information form the backpack as possible before she set out to hunt the ignorant fool

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how he his power back and I don¡¯t care, I will rend his flesh apart when I find him¡±

    She wanted to find him and ask what he did to her sister when she got here and why he ransacked the place, she didn¡¯t think Kore was harmed in any way, no she didn¡¯t want to think that it was a possibility, she tried to occupy her mind with thoughts of her ripping apart that fool instead, to have dared angered her he will pay a hefty price

    But as always, reality strikes you when your most vulnerable, it would be ruthless and without mercy, and exactly what Karme felt the world had turned into when she saw what laid behind the table next to the backpack, those cloth, that cold dead body, it could only be one person, even without a head she could identify the mauled body to be her beloved sister¡¯s, she screamed at the top or her lungs, and rushed to her sister, picking her up, she didn¡¯t know what to do as panic and fear, anger and despair took a hold of her mind, this body here once represented the most important person to her, but now it was nothing a left overs

    Suddenly she heard the faint sound of sizzling, she turned her head in rage as she wanted nothing more than to rip the person responsible to shreds, but all she saw was a little bit of flame going into a barrel, more sizzling sounds made their self known before a huge multitude of blasts erupted, but given the sings she just saw Karme instantly shield herself with her grimoire and started unsummoning the slightly injured ¡­ as it had been a little late getting into her shield

    The fire continued to spread as it engulfed more and more space, she wanted to rush out before it got worse but more explosions rang out as the fire spread, and with most of them being in the only areas fire hadn¡¯t reached, she didn¡¯t dare take the risk, soon enough the fire had reached every corner, trapping her inside

    Her anxious eyes gradually calmed down as she started assessing the situation, her earlier panic started to fade as cold rage forced her into a calm state, this was the mentality of a hunter, to have a calm mind even in the most dangerous moments

    ¡®The fire has already covered every method of retreat, the delayed explosions were meant to make me hesitate enough time for the fire to spread, and this place is the center of the hall which means it¡¯s a good distance from the doors, and there is no way it would only last ten minutes¡¯

    Cracks could be heard above her as parts of the roof started to crumble signaling its eminent fall, after taking a look at it she turned her head to take in the surroundings once again, thoughts racing through her mind

    ¡®I will be trapped if I stay here furthermore... I¡¯m pretty sure Il suffocate to death even if I can withstand the fire and the falling ceiling¡¯

    A toothy smile suddenly found its way to her mouth as she mumbled to herself

    ¡°What a clever rat, putting together so many tricks just to finish me off, you must have thought this through¡±

    Her toothy grin morphed into a savage smile as her words fell

    ¡°But IM the Hunter here¡±

    Strange syllables escaped her mouth as she summoned a large tiger, it barely fit in her shield but that wouldn¡¯t be a problem as she pushed it into the fire, the tiger had a conflicted look on its visage as anger and frustration made their self apparent, but as it was bound to her it couldn¡¯t help but sacrifice itself knowing that they would both die anyway if didn¡¯t do anything

    Thus with an unwilling heart the tiger jumped into the fire and started to rage as it cleared a path to the center of the mansion roaring in pain as it burned to death, half way there the tiger¡¯s fur had already turned into charcoal, it wheezed though breaths, but as it knew this was its last moment it refused to go out without a fight, thus with a last roar it rushed forward smashing away everything in its path

    Even a cornered rat might erupt with power much less a tiger thus the mighty rush seemed like it will definitely make it to the doors it hoped to open, but it seemed fate had it in for this tiger, or maybe its master, but unknowingly a part of the roof had already broken off and headed straight toward the rushing tiger, smashing him dead in his tracks, the literal dead.

    ¡°Hu! Damn only a little was left¡±

    The backlash hit Karme but as she was a silver Rank her soul didn¡¯t suffer much damage; the soul was the only thing the battlefield couldn¡¯t restrict

    But now she might have to suffer another loss as even though only a few steps were left to reach the door a new obstacle barred her path, she would either have to risk it or summon another one to open a path for her

    Cracks and crackles could be heard around her as more parts of the roof started to fall spreading the fire to her new made path, she had to make her choice with haste

    ¡°No choice¡±

    She stringing another chain of unintelligible words, calling a slim cheetah to her side then she told it to rush out and make a way

    The cheetah looked at its master silently for a few seconds before it charged out toward the fallen roof¡­. With Karme in toe

 POWER!

    Smoke filled the sky above the withered forest, the usual eerie silence was replaced with the crackling from the few trees that caught fire, while the woods were sparse with the dead trees they were still very conductive so the fire continued to spread ever so slowly

    The cause of this new disaster was gazing at the middle of the crumbled mansion, his eyes were fixed at the blackened double doors of the only room left standing

    ¡®There is no way she could live right? No no to begin with even if she hid in that room and avoided the fire entirely she would still suffocate to death, especially since she would be in the center of the fire¡¯

    Yu had put a double bait especially for this expected visitor of his, he didn¡¯t need to see her to know that it was Karme who had rushed inside, he had baited her into the mansion with the backpack and then when she got close she would see her sisters dead body and rush to it, by then she would be within the circle of furniture he had made so her sight would be blocked, enough for the fire to reach its destination before she notices it and figures the situation out

    Until that part everything seemed to have gone as planned, but he had no idea what happened during the fire, and seeing that she didn¡¯t barge outside as he thought she would try, nor was her body in here he was starting to think she survived

    ¡®That blue light¡­ it was not this strong before¡¯

    He meant the light that came from the Castle Core room, it was the only place that had endure the fire, but he didn¡¯t understand why she would go there, and not take the Core away to save herself

    ¡°Regardless the only way to know is to open the doors, but if she is indeed alive then I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m her match, even if she is injured from the continues deaths of her summons. I don¡¯t have much time either to plan or lay traps as she would recover more until my traps would be meaningless¡±

    Having thought up to this point Yu decides to have a frontal confrontation with Karme herself so he walks up to the door with light steps, the wolf follows behind him but he tells it to stop a few steps away from the door

    ¡°Karme! I know you¡¯re in there, no need to play games, I know your injured, hell you might be half dead already, so why don¡¯t you come out and talk it out with me like the nobles we are, im sure we can strike a deal one way or another ¡°

    Yu shouted at the closed doors, but was met with silence, he expected this and only wanted to lay the carrot first before swinging the stick

    ¡°Karme don¡¯t be difficult, you know your cornered so why don¡¯t you just give up. Sigh, your just like your sister, she was stubborn to the end, she could have just yielded to me and all would have gone well but she chose to try and run away, and what did she get for her efforts?...¡±

    Before he continued his words Yu motioned to the wolf with his eyes as he positioned himself at the side of the doors, he took a deep breath to ready himself, then, with the saddest tone he could muster, he slowly continued his words

    ¡°¡­only a cold rotten headless corpse¡±

    BAM

    ¡°Yu! You son of a B!tch!!¡±

    The doors were busted open as a spotted leopard head straight toward the wolf with uncanny speed, its mouth wide open. The wolf, not one to take a beating, instantly sprinted from its crouched position as it met the leopard head on

    As for Karme who had just issued an incensed scream, she actually stayed in the room, a calm look plastered on her face

    Yu walked out of the side and was not surprised by the fact that she didn¡¯t fall for the bait, he didn¡¯t think for a second that a seasoned hunter like her would fall for a small provocation even though he also knew she was burning with cold rage

    Karme set her eyes on Yu, looking him up and down, she seemed surprised for a second, then looked at him with suspicion

    ¡°If I didn¡¯t know that this place wouldn¡¯t let anyone but the participants in I would have thought you were a fake¡±

    ¡°Is this how you greet your fellow noble? Can you have more tact than that¡±

    ¡°Humph, I thought someone else was pulling the strings from behind to set a trap for me, but after seeing your attitude it seems I was wrong, I never thought the trash Yu would be able to pull off such a stunt¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Oh your praise flatters me, so does that mean you¡¯re willing to yield now that you have witnessed my true power¡±

    A mocking sneer formed on Karme¡¯s face as she looked at Yu with utter ridicule, like a king looking at a clown

    ¡°Heh, power? All you did was set an outdated trap, if it wasn¡¯t for me underestimating you to an uncanny degree I wouldn¡¯t have fallen for any of your silly traps¡±

    ¡°Oh is that so? Well I¡¯m sorry to inform you that no if¡¯s exist in this world, you had fallen for the trap and your now injured, very much so, so whether or not you had the ability to defeat me before is now irrelevant, what is of importance is your decision¡±

    ¡°Hahahah haha, its really funny how trash like you think they have everything in the bag, injured? Can¡¯t defeat you? You have no idea how cruel reality can be¡±

    Her condensing stare took a savage turn as her face contorted in anger, she unsheathed the blade at her hip and bended her right leg a bit

    ¡°All your tricks have no effect on me, the only mistake that you ever truly made was to harm my little sister, now I will rip you into pieces, I will show you what it really means to have POWER!¡±

    With a scream she bounded of the floor, making a mad sprint toward Yu who was still at the entrance, a look of horror and surprise streaked past Yu¡¯s face, he barely had the time to unsheathe his dagger before she was already within an arm¡¯s reach, her blade swing at him diagonally

    ¡°Die you mongrel!¡±

    ¡°Heh¡±

    His horror stricken face was wiped away, his mouth turning into a sneer, in the face of imminent death all he could think of was how brilliant his acting skills were

    Peng- Stab!

    Once again the metal rebound tickled Yu¡¯s ears, like spring wind it gave him joy, to Karme though it was the screeching winter bellows, freezing her to the bone

    What followed was Yu stabbing at her with a knife, her instincts kicked in when her mind was frozen, she stretched her left arm to deflect the attack off her neck and she managed to take the stab in her hand instead

    But her nightmare had just begun for a looming shadow covered her vision, the large frame of the wolf entered her eyes, its wide maw coming down on her head, she had given her all in the sudden burst of speed earlier so the rebound was so hard she couldn¡¯t dodge and whatever chance she had at striking back was now gone when she used whatever moment left for her to deflect the knife, she was helpless, she didn¡¯t want to be eaten, she had so much she wanted to do, so many adventures she wanted to take her sister on she-

    Crunch!

    Was dead.

    Bang!

    A body slammed into the shield just as the wolf had bitten off Karme¡¯s head, followed by the roars and cries of the leopard, it was enraged with the despicable wolf attacking its master and pained at the same time, not just emotionally, for its soul had suffered the backlash of its master dying, unlike Contracted Souls who would suffer nothing from their master dying, Soul Beasts that are bound to the grimoire holder are linked spiritually, thus they would suffer an injury just as the Summoner would when they got killed except this damage was larger in the short term but would heal with time unlike the Grimoire holder who would lose a page form the Grimoire permanently

    The wolf spat out the head and turned to look at the leopard, it wanted nothing more than to charge out and continue the battel, every fight up until now had a quick end because of the smart master of hers but this time she had been quite at it for a while as her master baited the stupid human to the trap, she had also dragged her battel next to him so she could pounce at her when the opportune moment came, that injured human seemed pretty powerful so even though she wanted to test her new strength she decided to secure victory first

    But now the leopard was at a new low and she wanted to let out her frustration from the painful rank up on it before it got snapped out of its rage and ran away, even so she didn¡¯t attack and instead looked at her dazed master, she respected him enough to ask his permission before initiating a battel

    ¡®¡­ That was too close¡¯

    That was the prominent thought that was on Yu¡¯s mind since Karme had died

    ¡®She was too fast, I almost summoned the shield before she came close out of sheer surprise¡¯

    That burst of speed was faster than even the wolfs top speed, and the power of that strike could have even cleaved him in half

    ¡®And that¡¯s in her injured state too, if it wasn¡¯t for the multiple burns and her soul being injured this would have been a tough battel¡¯

    Yu already knew she was a powerful foe on her own, after all she possessed a skill that made her body stronger, it¡¯s specification was unknown as skills were never revealed but hers definitely fell into the physical category

    The laws of this place had restricted her power too but they had placed her at the border of bronze and silver, making her quite the power to reckon with in this Battlefield, and with the other nobles restricted to one summon she had an advantage two on one

    ¡®Its backfire on the other hand was also great, if she had come at me with a moderate speed then the backlash from the shield wouldn¡¯t be as strong and she would be able to evade the wolf entering a dogfight with it since I blockaded the doors with my shield barring the leopard outside, if she buys enough time for the shield to expire she wins, otherwise she could try and kill the wolf too which is unlikely¡¯

    That was actually Yu¡¯s plan, but he didn¡¯t think she was that powerful, so powerful she ended up killing herself, she had especially emphasized the word power when she attacked him too

    ¡°Heh heh your right, reality is indeed cruel¡±

    ¡°Growl¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Turning to the side Yu saw the wolf looking at him a bit impatiently it seemed like it was about to pounce any minute now

    ¡°What is it ?¡±

    The wolf turned its head toward the leopard, Yu looked at it too and then back at the wolf, he took a few confused glances between them before giving the wolf another questioning gaze

    ¡°Growl!¡±

    The wolf seemed like it was losing its patience more now, thankfully Yu figured out what it was trying to say so he gestured toward the leopard like it was dessert on a food table

    ¡°Rip him apart as you like¡±

    The wolf smiled satisfyingly and then pounced toward the lollipop, err, the leopard ensuing another fight, one way more sided than the last

 Not So Smart

    Seeing as the wolf has no problem dealing with the leopard Yu decides to check on what he thinks the cause of this problem is, so he heads into the room straight toward the Castle Core

    The Core was visibly shining brighter than it used to, other than that Yu felt nothing different so he decided to check the active functions of the Core

    Closing his eyes, he entered the white room again and holds the pedestal promoting the white screen to appear, he chose tab of the screen, and saw 3 active functions on it, reading on he understood that his assumptions were indeed correct

    ____________________________________________

    Provide Air: Increase Wind Attribute 4 Core Units

    Fortify Walls: Increase Earth Attribute: 2 Core Units

    ¡­¡­.

    ____________________________________________

    Karme had indeed put these new functions herself, it wasn¡¯t hard to guess why she did it, clearly she wanted more air to breath and fortified the walls so the fire wouldn¡¯t burn through the earthen walls of the Core room

    It¡¯s easy to understand and once you hear about it you would think that its taken for granted that this would be a logical solution, but when you are put on the spot, with flames surrounding you and a roof falling on top of your head then you would be hard pressed to think that you need oxygen first and then come up with a plan that would lead you more into the fire at a heavy cost none the less

    ¡®Most importantly how did she know that the cores could be used by people other than the owner too, I¡¯ve never heard of that before¡¯

    Sure the bodies former resident didn¡¯t read much but surly he wouldn¡¯t miss such an important detail

    ¡®Hmm maybe she didn¡¯t know maybe she wanted to use the core to get out but after thinking about it for a little she decided to try the idea out¡¯

    Maybe Yu was overestimating Karme¡¯s intelligence, maybe it was a fluke, sadly the dead can¡¯t speak thus it would forever remain a mystery

    ¡°Well if she had then the Units I had used would have been wasted, though I would have gotten six Unites in their place to use on other ideas I had, still though, if she really had the idea to use them form the beginning then doesn¡¯t that make her a lot smarter than I am?¡±

    The question lingered on Yu¡¯s mind for a while. The only thing that set him apart from the others currently was his intelligence and his willingness to use traps and shameless tactics as he had nothing to lose honor-wise, but today proved to him that he wasn¡¯t as smart as he thought he was, at least the others weren¡¯t stupid either, if not because Karme had her mind shaken by her sister¡¯s death she might not have fallen for such a cheap tactic

    ¡°Seems like the only thing that I¡¯ve had on my side all this while was luck, and that¡¯s the one thing I¡¯ve learnt not to rely on as it would definitely bite back whenever it wanted¡±

    The only thing that a person would get when relying on luck is being played with, as even if you got what you wanted at the end the way you got it could have been extremely excruciating

    ¡°I need to be more prudent, take less risks, and plan ahead more, this world isn¡¯t a game nor is it a world that revolves around me, variables exist everywhere and each one is more fatal than the other, if I¡¯m gonna go out then at least I should go out with a flare, two lame deaths would destroy my confidence even if I got another chance at life.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Yu took a deep breath an exited the white room, he checked on the battleto see it had already ended, the wolf was dragging the body of the leopard to the back, Yu decided to stop wasting time and start making good on his new conviction so he set about to create a new stage for his next visitor, since he didn¡¯t expect anyone with a purpose, or at least he thought so, he decided that making it simple would be the way to go

    Merely an hour later he was already done with his plans, so without further ado he went to the back on the now burnt mansion and sat at the edge of the territory, once he sensed danger he would instantly jump outside it and either kill himself or fight it out outside of the death range

    ¡°Hmm now that I think about it maybe I shouldn¡¯t have killed so many people, I could have killed myself and got ejected out of this place, then I would be able to avoid trouble all together, since I¡¯m going to have to go back to the Southern Paradise anyway I¡¯m definitely gonna have to face the consequences of my actions, while the management is to blame for this, and I could feign ignorance of the way to go out the other families would still put pressure on mine to have me killed, especially after the latest incident¡±

    Thinking to the boy who put him in this predicament Yu found it strange that he couldn¡¯t hate him, sure he was annoying and his heaven defying attitude was unnerving to say the least, but the kid was right in what he did, after all the original owner had killed his parents and got his little sister to commit suicide, well the last one he was blamed for although he did not see any reason for him to be the cause of her suicide in the memories but he didn¡¯t dwell on the thought long as it wasn¡¯t important whether it was his fault anymore

    ¡°The question is should I end this already or should I continue fighting, I stand to gain nothing from killing these people, its not like killing them will raise my Rank anyway since im not even fighting them directly nor am I stealthily killing them, setting traps doesn¡¯t help with the rank up as far as I know, maybe a little but that much and more could be done easily if my family allows me to fight some beasts from their arena¡±

    Ranking up wasn¡¯t hard in this world, at least up to gold, as all you had to do was fight your way up, the hard part was getting good beasts, and since you needed beasts to fight then it mean that you had to waste pages on the rank you are at currently, usually nobles form the Southern Paradise didn¡¯t contract bronze rank Soul Beasts but the had to for the Dimensional Battlefield, an upgraded Castle Core was nothing to scoff at, even in this rich region, but since Yu couldn¡¯t get any more Units he is still not benefiting in anyway.

    ¡°I could probably scare the others away with the damage I already caused, sparing them could give me more credibility but¡­¡±

    It just didn¡¯t sit right with him¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m not one that can¡¯t forgive and forget, even if someone came here with the intention of killing me if I can withstand their assault and spare them to gain greater benefit then I can probably gain some benefit, at least Il have one less family breathing down my neck¡±

    Still though, it did not sit right with him, he was thrown here to die if he escaped, to die if he stayed, and with no Soul Beasts, when he was transported he had nothing special about him, there were only tricks and underhanded tactics that he could use

    A tired and resigned breath escaped his lips

    ¡°I can see a grim future if I continue the path of revenge. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. A wise saying indeed¡±

    He took a deep breath and set aside his vengeance, he decided to talk it out with anyone who came, scare them even, run if must, but not to kill them at all costs

    ¡°Hmm actually I could even blame them for each other¡¯s deaths, after all what would you rather believe? Some trash with no Soul Beasts whatsoever suddenly gained supreme power and defeated his foes one after the other, or that they had a conflict and killed each other instead not believing me when I told them about the life negation lock¡±

    People are realistic, they would rather believe in the twisted human heart than miracles, as for the Life Negation Lock? Who would believe the management if they say they already told them about it when they weren¡¯t supposed to use this to begin with, they¡¯d think that their trying to escape punishment but all

    His mind sprang into action as he plot ways to twist the truth, it would be hard but feasible, he wouldn¡¯t get out unscathed but he would definitely get out alive

    Zzzz-TA!

    Suddenly a faint sound could be heard from the distant mansion, it was like an electricity crack much weaker than that of thunder but definitely powerful since it could be heard from this distance

    Yu stared at the mansion in bewilderment, which turned into recognition, after which his eyes portrayed the ridiculousness he felt

    ¡°Crap!!¡±

    He suddenly rushed toward the mansion, hoping whoever came was smart enough to outsmart his plans

 Darkness Descends

    ¡°Hmm guess this is as far a lower noble could come¡±

    Those words came out the mouth a handsome youth, he wore a long bycocket that fit his sleek leather get up, a bow hung on his shoulder, a quiver that held precisely two arrows was seated at his back, the arrows looked especially old with cracks situated here and there, you would think the youth had used all the others on his enemy but once you saw what he was looking at you¡¯d know he had no need to use any arrows

    Beneath the youth was the dead body of a lion, a tiger, and a boar, these bodies had multiple bites covering every inch of their body, the boar especially had chunks of flesh missing from its sides indicating it had a painful long bloody death.

    The perpetrator of this savagery was skulking about the trees as it eyed the three youth huddled together some distance away from the heap of bodies

    ¡°M-M-Mous w-we can ta-talk about this¡±

    The stuttering man was paling with every second, because he lost two of his Soul Beasts on the way here, and out of fear, after all the man that stood before him was more of a monster than that hound hiding in the trees

    ¡°Talk? What right does the prey have to talk to its hunter. You just obediently sit there for me to slaughter you. Hmm or you could struggle a bit more to make it worth my while¡±

    ¡°Fucking lunatic¡±

    One of the others cursed under his breath, but he regretted it instantly as he saw the smile plastered on the man¡¯s face

    ¡°Ehehe, how brave, for that I¡¯ll reward you an especially long death¡±

    Yes, this man, Houk Mous, was a monster that toyed with his prey to their death, and in this battlefield where death merely meant expulsion while the pain remained existent, what else could it turn into other than a playground for his sick games

    Minutes later screams echoed through the woods, as the climax of the game came to an end.

    Mous could be seen walking out of the woods playing with a few cores in his hand, shifting footsteps could be heard around him as his Soul Beast continued to skulk around

    ¡°Only two cores, what a waste of time, what trash lower nobles, they couldn¡¯t get any more than 2 pieces after four days of war ¡°

    He looked at the map he ripped from their possession

    ¡°Their territories are closer than I thought, well this makes it easier to warp everything up for today¡±

    His gaze then turned to the dark plume of smoke in the far distance

    ¡°I might even get to that interesting mansion by sundown¡±

    His smile took a sinister turn

    ¡°Who knows, maybe I¡¯ll get to play a certain trash to real death¡±

    Suddenly his figure vanished before his words fell

    *********************

    On the complete opposite side of the Dimensional Battlefield, within a gloomy dark valley where even sunlight could not be seen, a bitter chase was underway

    ¡°Stop running and face us you coward!¡±

    ¡°Where did all your boasting from earlier go!? Didn¡¯t you say that you would put an end to us nobles huh!? Why don¡¯t you come out and face us then!¡±

    The five shouting had a savage expression on their faces, two of them were seemingly injured, one was unconscious being carried by a slightly disheveled woman, while the last one was an unblemished, serene looking young man, as if he could not be bothered by the world itself

    ¡°Young lord, I apologies for my incompetence, to have troubled you with such a small problem, I have let you down¡±

    The women spoke to the serene looking man, with a tone of servitude, even though everyone who had entered this Dimension is a noble, save for the peasant they were chasing, she did not feel an ounce of shame as she bowed her head to the man

    But when the other men saw this they did not feel it to be out of place, the man they were talking about here was after all the young successor of the Aven family, Aven Arvarth, lower nobility like them certainly had to lower their head before higher nobility, especially when that noble was one of the strongest three noble families in the Southern Paradise

    The young Arvarth didn¡¯t bother giving the women the slightest acknowledgment, he just contained riding on his white horse, which had feathers on its feet and main, this rare Soul Beast was actually a Holy Stallion, the next evolution of the Noble Stallion that the heads of some middle nobility used as a mount, for him to have such a fine ride as his mount proved even more how much his family valued him.

    A bit deeper into the valley a boy could be seen sneaking his way out of the search range of the chasing party

    ¡®They caught up too fast, I have to shake them off in the valley, I can¡¯t let them chase me in an open field¡¯If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    The boy clenched his teeth in frustration, for the past two days he was in a constant cat and mouse game with these nobles, finely he had managed to take two of them down and knocked the third out, but luck had it in for him as when he was finishing off the last two a women and a man showed up, crushing two of his summons before he was able to flee, but not without them hot on his trail

    ¡®If I didn¡¯t have grandpas Cloud Surfing technique then I would have already been expelled from the battlefield¡¯

    Either than being a Grimoire holder he was also a warrior. Well, he only had two techniques but his progression in them could be said to be lightning fast

    His thoughts came to an abrupt halt, as did his body, for in front of him was a deep ravine, running kilometers down into the suffocating darkness

    The barking of hounds was suddenly heard behind him, galloping followed it as it signaled his exposure

    ¡°They found me, I can¡¯t let them catch up, I can¡¯t lose this in here, if I do..¡±

    He thought back to the hopes his little sister placed on him, his grandpa¡¯s dream, his parent¡¯s gruel death¡­

    He couldn¡¯t let them down, No, he wouldn¡¯t let them down! The fire of determination was lit within his eyes as he looked down the ravine, decisively taking a step forward he jumps into the unknown

    *********************

    On the East side of the Battlefield, a decisive difference could be seen from the other areas, there were no ongoing fights, no wars being waged, instead only silence prevailed through a 250 km radius, at the center of this dead circle are four mansions, which belong to none other than the decedents of the Shenai family, these four young men and women are the main cause of the present situation, they were so strong that he combined effort of all the other nobles in the East failed to resist their assault, it was an overwhelming one sided battle

    Currently these four invincible figures of the battlefield were having a peaceful teatime in the middle of a lush clearing next to a small river

    ¡°How goes our probe into the west¡±

    ¡°It seems the Elar family had united all the families there, they are preparing to siege us on the morning of the sixth day, but I¡¯m sure that¡¯s not all their planning¡±

    ¡°They are very tricky, striking head on is not their style, and since they have been preparing for five days then they must have some big plans¡±

    ¡°Whatever they plan they would still fail, for the past century they always ranked on the bottom of the high nobles, their results in the Dimensional Battlefield were subpar a best¡±

    ¡°There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent, remember, that how third brother fell¡±

    ¡°Tch, third brother was a good for nothing, of course he would lose to that kid¡±

    ¡°Fourth brother! You can¡¯t talk like that about your family!¡±

    The one who suddenly stood up was the fifth child of the Shenai family, Shenai Zuku, he was known for his bravery on the battlefield, his unwavering will to never back down, and his straightforward and honest attitude

    But to his family he is known mostly for his compassion, he always treated everyone with care and took on a positive attitude even toward the ones that made mistakes

    The one who complained about Yu on the other hand was the fourth brother, while he was also brave on the battlefield it couldn¡¯t compare to his fifth brother, his smarts weren¡¯t comparable to his second brother, and his talent was not comparable to his first brother, with midcore results he had always been bunched up with his good for nothing third brother even though he always put his best effort into his practice

    The bitter feeling of having his hard work talked down birthed a bitter rivalry with his third brother, even though his third brother never actually slighted him in anyway

    ¡°Yes! big brother Rozis don¡¯t bully big brother Yu, he- he was hurt badly and we sh-should be nice to him when he comes back!¡±

    The teary eyed kid who was timidly berating Shenai Rozis was the third young mistress of the Shenai family, Shenai Ayanna, she was the youngest noble in this Dimensional Battlefield, as well as the youngest in the current generation of the Shenai family, thus she was understandably a little spoiled, and while she didn¡¯t have full knowledge of what happened to her big brother or what he did, she still felt that he was in trouble so naturally she didn¡¯t want to see even her brothers hurt him

    As for the girl sitting on the side sipping her tea peacefully she the second young mistress of the family, Shenai Arisu, she was a very quiet kid who rarely expressed her opinion, but when she did it was usually after careful thought and deliberation, her thoughts on the current matter were unknown, she just continued to sip her tea silently

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Ayanna, it¡¯s not like he¡¯s in any danger, he would at most get kicked out form here without getting the Castle Core, I¡¯m sure when he gets back father wouldn¡¯t treat him too harshly¡±

    ¡°But-But if he doesn¡¯t get his Castle Core then wouldn¡¯t he¡­¡±

    Somehow the mood shifted to a sour discussion, the siblings weren¡¯t worried about his safety, Ayanna didn¡¯t know about the condition the family set and the others knew their brother wasn¡¯t stupid enough to kill himself by staying away form the Core, so the only thing they worried about was the fact that he wouldn¡¯t get a Castle Core, which was of vital importance for his future

    ¡®Though with all his beasts dead he doesn¡¯t have a future¡¯

    Thought Rozis to himself, feeling bitter about his brother¡¯s end. While he didn¡¯t like him that didn¡¯t mean he actually hated him, it could be said that Yu never treated anyone form the family badly, Rozis just never knew why Yu would treat other outside the family with such contempt, he found it illogical as Yu was actually very sweet to his little sisters and younger brothers, himself included

    Suddenly a servant came rushing to the siblings, he hurriedly reported the urgent situation

    ¡°Young masters, an ominous cloud seems to be drifting toward us form the west, we also spotted a horde of beasts rushing under it¡±

    The party frowned, it seemed the Elar family had made their move ahead of time

    ¡°What¡¯s their number¡± Asked Zuku

    ¡°They seem to be in the hundreds¡±

    The answer earned a deeper frown from the party

    ¡°Wild beasts¡± Said Arisu

    Zuku nodded, it was the only logical explanation, as the entire number of the nobles who could join was merely a hundred and forty-three, it was said that a thousand people could join in the past but an accident happened that resulted in the diminish of the Dimensions capacity.

    Zuku didn¡¯t dwell on his thoughts much, the cloud started to become visible from the distance signifying their limited time, Zuku ordered the servant to sound the alarm and prepare the guards, the others equipped their armor and weapons and got ready to enter the fray, hundreds may look to be too much especially since everyone was on the same Rank, but wild beasts, were wild beasts, no matter how many there were they could fend them off as long as they fortified the castles enough, at this rank those beasts couldn¡¯t destroy the walls like tofu, that means only some of them could fight at the same time with the limited entrances

    ¡°But this couldn¡¯t be all the Elar family has up its sleeve, watch out for any stunts they might pull while we are killing the beasts¡±

    True to his reputation as a brave warrior, Zuku took command seamlessly and gave simple and sufficient instructions, the others nodded and headed toward their respective castles, this is going to be a long war of attrition so they had to prepare what they could as fast as they could

    Zuku then turned toward the south, were a plume of smoke covered a worrisome part of the region

    ¡®I hope third brother is okay, he has suffered enough harm¡¯

    He then rode to his own castle, mind laden with heave thoughts

 Crises

    Unaware of the disasters brewing all over the Battlefield, Yu was facing his own crisis, in the form of a charred corps

    ¡°Wuu¡±

    ¡°I know the smell is just unbearable¡±

    He covered his nose while the wolf retreated a few steps, the smell of cooked human meat didn¡¯t seem to sit well with either of them

    ¡®Just as I decided to take an amiable approach trouble came knocking on the door, well it knocked itself out but still¡­¡¯

    Holding the urge to vomit down Yu approached the dead body to try and check for any defining features, first he looked at the black face and decided facial recognition was out of the way, even the mother of this person wouldn¡¯t recognize him, so he pat the body in various places checking for any belongings

    After looking for a bit he found nothing that hinted at the origin of the body so he flipped it as a last effort

    ¡°Hmm? I know this¡±

    What he saw was a quiver, it seemed to be made of ornate jade, it had two wooden arrows that had gone through the pass of time, what surprised him was the fact that while even the metal dagger of this young man had been a little scarred, these two wooden arrows were otherwise okay

    ¡°Hmmm? Wooden arrows, wooden arrows, who had two wooden arrows¡­.¡±

    Yu seemed to be lost in thought as he rummaged through the memories of the former owner

    As he sank deeper into thought a pair of eyes flashed at the entrance before they suddenly accelerated with alarming speed, causing a yellow trail to form on its path, they headed straight toward the thinking youth, by the time Yu sensed something on the periphery of his eyes danger was already in his face, all it took was but a thought to summon the shield, but his dull mind stalled for a part of a second, enough for the attack to land on him

    BITE

    ¡°Ragh!¡±

    ¡°Grr¡±

    Instead though a shadow pushed him away in due time, the wolf took the hit meant for him on its waist side, while Yu started rolling across the floor of the room until he was able to stabilize himself

    As soon as he found some balance he looked toward the enemy to find a rabid looking dog, a huge one at that, biting into the side of the wolf, the dog had a mad glint to its yellow eyes, its black fur that was stained with spots of red gave it a hellish feeling, while its set of sharp teeth proved that it would be one foe you wouldn¡¯t want to get into a melee with

    ¡®This!! Ruinous Blood Hound!!! Isn¡¯t that..¡±

    He didn¡¯t have time to continue his line of thought before the hound started ripping through the side of the wolf, the wolf tried to shake the dog of or bite it but it couldn¡¯t maneuver to do so with the much larger dog circling with it, the hound wasn¡¯t only larger and stringer, it was faster too, in fact speed was its main trait

    ¡°No!!¡±

    Yu got up in a hurry and ran toward the duo, he took out his dagger and aimed at the hound

    The smart hound didn¡¯t let go, nor let it self get hit, it wanted to turn its back to the human so it can kick it with its massive rear feat, the power would be more than enough to kill Yu in one breath. The wolf also knew that so it struggled to shake it head near to the dog, at the expense of its sides starting to spill out

    Seeing the nearing maw, the hound sneered, it maneuvered itself in the opposite direction, so the wolfs maw couldn¡¯t reach it while Yu¡¯s knife faced the wolf now, this had been its plan all along

    ¡°!!¡±

    Seeing as he would hit the wolf if he continued his rush Yu made a low posture and took a dive under the wolfs belly, this added even more momentum to his strike which headed straight toward the hound on the other side, this time the knife struck true to its target electing a small whimper as it let go of the wolf and jumped away from the engagement

    ¡°Haaah haah¡±

    Yu was out of breath as he got to his feet, this high speed change of direction took a toll on his weak body, he was already wheezing for breath after only the first encounter, the wolf to his side had its insides spilling out, its dire state signified its close death if it wasn¡¯t sent to the grimoire

    ¡°GRRR¡±

    The wolf stood up on its feet shakily as it tried to intimidate the hound, but it soon fell back down, its futile efforts had only gotten the blood to run down fasterIf you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡®I need to send it back now, since it¡¯s a Guardian its state wont deteriorate but instead get better unlike normal Soul Beasts¡¯

    Guardians could be revived if they died, otherwise if they were recalled with a fatal injury they would heal back slowly, this would save them from losing strength and just put them out of commission instead

    Yu then glanced at the hound, which was now creeping closer to him, it wanted to wait for the wolf to die out slowly but it seemed to be losing patience for some reason

    While the hound creeped closer slowly Yu started looking around, trying to see a way out, or a way to stall the current situation, while he was at it he started retreating toward the wolf slowly

    ¡°WOOF!¡±

    The hound suddenly barked at him and increased its slow pace, it seemed angry at him for retreating

    ¡®?...¡¯

    Yu looked at the hound confused he didn¡¯t understand why it was suddenly angry, his eyes darted left and right in search of an answer before it settled on the body of the owner

    ¡®Ah!¡¯

    He suddenly took another dive down, this time he aimed it at the charred body as he rushed to grab the arrows, but before he could touch them a grievous bark could be heard behind him before a shadow descended on him

    ¡°Not this time you don¡¯t!¡±

    Yu¡¯s diving body suddenly experienced a painful reversal, it felt like his insides were turning around as he readjusted his body to go up instead of down, with the sudden reversal he was left with little strength to make a small jump successfully evading the bite aimed down

    But the hound continued in its momentum forward, ending under Yu in the process, but it did not relent and instead opened its mouth wide to eat him hole, its teeth threatening to end his existence with one bite

    ¡®Check Mate¡¯

    Instead of feeling fear or dread Yu smiled in triumph at his enemy, he then conjured his shield in midair, just as the moth was closing in on him

    RiiiiiiiiiP-

    ¡°Auuuuuuu¡±

    The Hounds mouth was ripped open as the shield continued to expand, since it was under Yu and not above him it wouldn¡¯t just be rebounded, it would be instead pushed onto the floor, with the pressure from two different solid structures the Hounds mouth continued to rip open as it was being squashed to death. By the time the shield had reached the floor and started pushing the Hound to the side its body had already been split open, ending the cunning enemy¡¯s life in a rather gruesome way, maybe it was karma or maybe realty just wanted to play a sick joke on it, but the hound had received a much worse end than what it gave to others

    Thud.

    The sound of a body falling down followed, the midair Yu finally fell onto the floor, face down, his body was screaming at him in pain, his insides felt like they were churning, two sudden turns within the span of seconds was well beyond his limits, but he ignored it and turned to the wolf instead

    ¡°Hey, ima send you back heal up well and don¡¯t die on me okay ?¡±

    While he knew it would live anyway he couldn¡¯t help but ask it to not die, he didn¡¯t know if the Guardians gained through Sacrifice were the same as the original one, but he sure hoped they were

    Without wasting any more time than needed Yu recited the recalling line as the wolf disappeared into the Grimoire, with a concerned look in its eyes

    ¡°Hahh¡±

    He heaved a relived breath as he sensed the wolfs life through their connection, the instant it went back he felt it stop losing life force, it seemed that it was indeed treated the same as a Guardian, for now at least, he didn¡¯t want it to die for him to find out if it was also able to come back, even though he kinda felt that it would

    ¡°A moment of carelessness almost got us killed, when I saw the body I should have known a beast was summoned, what happened to being prudent and not taking risks? Sigh¡±

    He recalled his earlier promise to himself, now realizing how hard it was going to be, variables existed everywhere and he needed to think of his every move before he did anything if he wanted to avoid danger, even then he wouldn¡¯t be out of the woods yet

    ¡®Still¡­. I have gotten much more on my plate than this little incident now¡¯

    As he turned to look at the dead body of the hound he recalled its owner, more precisely he recalled the owner of the twin arrows

    ¡°Houk Mous¡±

    This is a name that strikes fear into the lower nobles, it would turn the middle nobles silent upon hearing it, and it caused no end of trouble to the three big families

    The Houk Family, a hunter based family which used to be part of the big four that ruled the Southern Paradise, they were ranked second in military might just behind the Shenai¡¯s, their ancient hunting techniques brought them unprecedented glory, and their unique family weapon set made their patriarch almost invincible in a desperate situation

    But all that ended twenty years ago, the family head died at the hands of his own son, and six of the nine elders went down with him, another fled with the son leaving the last two to hold the family up

    But with the only person able to use the family treasure dead and more than half the families strongest dead, the other nobles pounced on them like hungry wolves that found a lam. They robbed and killed many members of the family finding fault after fault with them, until they were standing at their last leg, that was when the Shenia¡¯s stepped in and mediated for them, in the excuse that that the two families were rivals of old the Shenai family managed to barely keep the Houk alive

    Now twenty years later the Houk family had risen once again to the ranks of a middle class nobility, but with so many ancient techniques lost and no one to use their treasure they had no way to rise back and claim the empty fourth seat

    ¡°It just had to be this guy¡±

    But the Houk¡¯s Hope was not all lost, as the second and only remaining son of the last head had shown extreme talent three years after the families¡¯ fall, he continued to master technique after technique, crossing one adversary after the other, until he became one of the most promising talents of the Southern Paradise, some even compared him to the geniuses of the top families

    ¡°What a dumb fucking genius¡±

    This was the same person that fell to Yu¡¯s trap, it was the very same person who had the sole right to hold onto the treasure of the Houk family, Winds of Waste

    ¡®It¡¯s said that each arrow could put an end to one of the top heads of the Southern Paradises leaders, this thing is no joke¡¯

    And now it fell into Yu¡¯s hands, but while it sounded good and all he knew he couldn¡¯t use it as he needed to much more powerful and activate a secrete technique unique to the Houk family

    ¡°Welp, even if I could use it when I get stringer ide still die after I get out of here, killing the last hope of the Houk family is the last straw, the families will definitely unite to kill me¡±

    He could see the grim future ahead, but he could only smile, for the irony of fate was truly too funny.

 Falling Through the Abyss into Paradise

    ¡°Please be a little gentler, I¡¯m quite sensitive right now¡±

    ¡°Xu Xu¡±

    ¡°No no don¡¯t go down there!¡±

    ¡°Xu Xu Xu¡±

    ¡°Is this revenge for how I treated you before? I¡¯ll be more considerate in the future so-OUCH!¡±

    ¡°Xu Xuu¡±

    ¡°You! Wait till I get my hands o-AHH¡±

    An ambiguous conversation could be heard in the silent room, the scene though is actually quite innoc¡­ no it¡¯s a bit traumatic to be honest but the underlying meaning held within the words was not as you would think, its bit worse

    A few bodies laid within the room, two of them were near the Core, one had a knife would on its neck and looked quite old, it was also slightly burnt but not to a large degree it appeared to be the corpse of the deceased Rekak Ravi

    The other one was lying face down, figuratively speaking, as it had no face, in fact it was missing a whole head, it suffered major burns on many parts of its body, while its cloths indicated it to be a member of the Shenai family

    ¡°Hunter family my ass how the hell did you believe my clever trap so easily¡±

    The one talking though was the actual owner of the cloths, Yu, who was currently being wrapped up in a half cocoon by a small spider running its eight feet around his body, the spider had a creepy half smile on its face as it tightened the threads on its victims¡­ owner¡¯s body, while it was instructed to do it like a bandage it seemed to enjoy the process more than it should

    Back to Yu though, he was the one who devised such a sinister trap, he had dressed up the headless Kore as his dead body and made the scene look like he had stabbed Ravi when he had his guard down and then his beast ate Yu¡¯s head and proceeded to scamper away, this would lead the visitor to think the owner had died thus they would just collect the Castle Core, and be on their way, after all who would think that Yu would go through the trouble of dressing up dead bodies for a trap, and even have the time to go collect some Unites to booby trap his Core? None that how many, unless they saw something suspicious about the body the possibility would not even graze their mind

    ¡®I don¡¯t want to do something like this again¡¯

    He was talking about both dressing up dead bodies, and fighting with such suicidal techniques

    He turned his head to look at the fourth human corpse in this room, it belonged to none other than Houk Mous, apparently the ¡°genius¡± had an ill gotten reputation for his cunningness

    ¡°Why did you have to go die like that huh? You could have been a little more carefull you know! Now I¡¯m definitely gonna be killed as soon as the truth is out!¡±

    Yu was not worried about killing the other noble houses kids, but the Houk family was once one of the top four, killing their last successor only spelled death for him, the trash of the Shenai family

    Yu¡¯s mind kept looking for explanations he could fabricate, stories he could make up, schemes he could put into place, but all of them seemed to crumble before the wrath of the Houk family, even without experiencing it he could tell how futile his lies would be

    ¡®I should brood about this later, I need to focus on the now, getting out of here takes priority, lest someone else comes looking for trouble with me¡¯

    In his current state he couldn¡¯t tussle a chicken much less fight, and with his only combatant summon out of commission he could only make camp at the edge of the Cores field to avoid death

    ¡°Ugh even moving is a drag¡±

    He pushed on the ground as he weakly got up, the cocoon ensured everything remained in its place until he got to the medicine in his makeshift bag, but as he made his way to the entrance he suddenly looked back at the dead body of Mous, and after deliberating for a few short seconds, as his body couldn¡¯t afford him many more, he decided to painfully make his way back and pocket the two arrows, then after patting his burnt leather backpack he found eleven cores within, not such a big surprise since this guy was one of the cream of the crop, after pocketing those too and a few items form the backpack, Yu head out once again with slow steps, trudging his way to his small campThe author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ********************

    On the other side of the Battlefield, in a dark raven, a figure could be seen lightly stepping on the heavy dark miasma, it made one wonder if they were still in the Bronze limited Dimension, as such a skill could only be showcased by the powerful few of the Golden Rank

    ¡®I did it! I made it! I succeeded in advancing my rank in the Could Surfing technique¡¯

    The figure in question was that of a boy, his jubilant face was one of quite a young age, the second youngest in the Battlefield, his baby face had a heroic and righteous feel to it, his wide eyes expressed determination that didn¡¯t quite suite his age, his small figure had a mix between masculine and femininity, overall his appearance ensured his popularity among the other gender, that combined with his heroic nature made him quite the women killer

    All that was irrelevant to the current situation though, as the most surprising thing was still the fact that the young boy was stepping on semi clouds, his mastery in the technique passed down by his family had indeed reached an outstanding degree

    ¡®I have achieved the Light Steps On Heavy Clouds stage; this means that as long as there are clouds with good density I could actually use them as a stepping stone! Though that only works if I¡¯m going down not up¡¯

    This suited his current situation greatly, it¡¯s as if it was tailored for getting him out of this tricky situation, which made one wonder if it was pure luck, or fate guiding him along

    This raven had existed since the olden times, way before the current families had risen into fame, it had existed since the time a thousand people could fight in this Dimension without overexerting its capacity, at those blessed times warriors had high attainment in the various techniques known through the ages the decent and ascent of this raven was but a simple task to the weakest of them

    Skip a few thousand years later to the current generation, and you would find it an impassable task to go down such a raven much less climb back up, it proved difficult to even the most prestigious of the geniuses, as even flying beasts would fall to their death upon entering this deep darkness, for the gravity was so heavy even the clouds were sucked in

    But that phenomenon was exactly the reason this young man could go down in such a dashing way, making one once again envy his unprecedented luck

    ¡®But if I don¡¯t reach the bottom soon I will run out of energy¡¯

    Indeed, no matter how much attainment he had in the technique he was still a Bronze Rank through and through, the mind is willing but the flesh is weak, without sufficient energy to operate this technique he would start plummeting in due time

    ¡®How deep is this raven, it can¡¯t be as endless as it seems¡¯

    But the raven continued to go further and further down, as if to mock him, and soon he faced the problem he been hoping to avoid, as his energy got depleted he was thrust into a freefall toward the bottom his speed increasing with every second, if he continued at this speed it would be certain that he was going to be smashed into peace¡¯s

    ¡°No I can¡¯t give up! not after coming this far I need to make it¡±

    The boy yelled into the darkness as he mustered his last bit of energy into making another step, but how could light steps be formed when he was plummeting at such a speed? The only result he got was the burst of the cloud and the exhaust of his energy

    ¡®Am I going to die like this? Will I let down Grandpa and little sis? Am I really useless like those nobles mad me out to be?¡¯

    Regrets, remorse, sorrow, they burrowed into his mind, throwing his emotions into turmoil

    ¡®No I won¡¯t fail, not after coming this far not after everything they did for me!¡¯

    The emotions that plagued his mind turned into fuel for his determination, he couldn¡¯t accept such an end, so he faced the darkness with renewed vigor as he gathered his energy into his feet once again

    ¡®The ground!¡¯

    Within sight was the ground that he longed to see, it was illuminated by a soft light that kept the darkness at bay, this gave him more confidence as he squeezed his body dry of energy to thrust into his next step

    Unknown to him the three Cores that he had snatched form the nobles grasp suddenly lit up, this unheard of as they supposedly only reacted to other Cores after which they turned into Units, but the logic defying miracle had happened none the less, and it didn¡¯t seem to stop there

    The Cores energy soon started seeping out gradually as they started to flow into the boy¡¯s body, this highly concentrated energy that baffled the human race were absorbed into his blood like fish falling into water, it circled his entire blood system three times before it ended in his feet, adding to the accumulating energy whatever it had left after its journey

    ¡°I can make it; I will make it! For everyone I love I WILL SURVIVE¡±

    As the final shout rang in the darkness the boy stepped onto nothingness as if he was willing earth to form under his feet, but what formed were clouds, clouds so white they seemed to come from heaven itself, this was the Each Step a Holy Decent stage of the Cloud Surfing technique, his pure energy pushed him temporarily two stages above his current mastery, stopping his plummet just as he was about to reach the ground

    ¡®Yes! Grandpa, Little sis, Adrian did not disappoint¡­¡¯

    With those final thought the boy¡¯s mind shuts down as he falls lightly onto the soft light situated within the darkness, a smile adorned his sweet face

 Hope at the End of the Line

    Back on the surface, a little ways form the dark valley housing the raven, the party of nobles that had been chasing down Adrian could be see riding back to their Castles, a gloomy atmosphere had taken over the mood

    ¡®Fucking lunatic had to end his own life, couldn¡¯t just lay down and be killed by us after all the trouble he caused¡¯

    The laminating man was one of the two low nobles that had been screaming at Adrian during the chase, they had been reveling in the thought of taking revenge but his actions caused a cold bucket of water to fall on their head

    ¡®When I find his Castle I¡¯m going to play with that aunt of his to death before I take the Castle Core¡¯

    While it wasn¡¯t known who would be chosen to be brought along into the Battlefield everyone knew that Adrian only had his aunt and the maid that he was given by the Shenai family to accompany him

    ¡®Tsk tsk, what a cruel family, to give your sons enemy help while putting shackles on your own. That bastard Yu deserves it though¡¯

    He then turned to the holier than thou riding a bit away form him, as if he would be contaminated if he rode any closer

    ¡®Speaking of high nobles, this guy will definitely end us in a proper war once we all get back to our castles, if we had killed Adrian then it would be possible to let us live if we don¡¯t get in his path when he starts dominating the North¡¯

    Sadly, there were no ifs in this world, he and a few others were the only ones remaining in the North as they had been further from Arvarth¡¯s Castle, if he wasn¡¯t the sole person to enter the Dimension from his family then they would have already been swatted

    Rumble~

    ¡°Waa! What¡¯s this¡±

    ¡°An earthquake!¡±

    The earth suddenly started to heavily shake throwing the party into disarray, but the next second the Rumbling suddenly stopped, and the earth resumed peace like nothing had happened

    ¡°How could there be an earthquake in the Dimensional Battlefield?¡± The women asked as she turned around to look at the young Arvarth beside her, noting that he had a subtle frown marring his usual unperturbed face

    CRACK-

    Suddenly a shattering sound could be heard from the distant valley, the sound was deafening as it caused the eardrums of the party to rattle in recoil, but that was merely the beginning of the coming disaster, as smoke and miasma bellowed out form the raven coloring the sky pitch black, the earth then started to crack open as the raven expanded, seemingly devouring the land into its terrifying darkness

    ¡°Holy Paradise above¡­¡±

    That¡¯s all the women could say in the face of this apocalyptic scene, as only the heavens could help them now

    The sound of galloping woke her from her stupor, she turned to see Arvarth speeding across the land to escape this calamity

    This seemed to knock some sense onto her as she also urged her mount to travel at its fastest speed, following the white trail of the Holy Stallion

    The two nobles behind her didn¡¯t seem as fortunate since their mounts refused to budge from fright, one of them even fainted while its ears bled from its eardrums bursting

    ¡°Fuck Fuck, what did that imbecile do!¡±

    They could only blame Adrian for the disaster as he was the only one he went into the raven, their thoughts were indeed justifiable too, as the raven had spent the last centuries as still as a corpse

    The darkness quickly approached them and soon swallowed them whole, but, just before it wiped them form existence, a white light suddenly shone on their bodies flashing them out of disaster, its job was to transfer them out of the Dimension when they faced death, and heal up most of their wounds, this miracle of the Dimensional Battlefield still seemed to hold up, but could it withstand the emerging darkness that threatens to devour the world?

    ********************Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°We need more reinforcements here¡±

    ¡°The Beasts have breached the east side; we intercept them form here!¡±

    ¡°Young master Zuku we won¡¯t be able to hold on much longer¡±

    The shouts of men and the roars of beast sounded out in the mansion belonging to the fifth young master of the Shenai family, the men and women defending the Core room started falling down like dominos, they were only ten to begin with, but as they used Contracted Beasts instead of Grimoires then they could use two instead of just one, at the cost of the depletion of their mental strength

    ¡°Retire to the last line and shore up defense, I will join you as soon as I¡¯m out of here¡±

    Zuku yelled his orders with confidence but he couldn¡¯t help but laminate inwardly at the despicableness of the Elar family

    While the Shenai¡¯s were defending against the Beast horde the nobles of the West side suddenly showed up and started pouring in their beasts into the fray, initially the young masters and mistresses thought they were trying to exert more pressure, but as soon as the beasts got closer they exploded into dark blood, which covered Zuku and his siblings, it did not end there though as the young masters of the Elar showed up next and used some Dark Runes to congeal and shape the blood into a prison for them, while their Soul Beasts were free to roam the actual strength of the Shenai family came from their own physical prowess, so this action caused them to lose more than half their combat power

    ¡®Should we retreat? Even if I can get out most of the servants would be killed by then, and I won¡¯t be able to defend against all of the enemies alone, furthermore who knows what dirty tricks the Elar¡¯s kept hidden¡¯

    These few servants were loyal to the Shenai family to the point they were willing to give up their life if it meant giving their young masters the chance to a brighter future, thus they defended the Core with all their might, but Zuku didn¡¯t want such faithful servants to die for a lost cause

    Zuku was never one to back down, but that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t know how to way his options, he was brave, not foolish, a good commander knew when it was time to take a step back, and saving his people was definitely one of those times

    Rumble~ Rumble~

    The earth suddenly shook while the sounds of battle suddenly halted as everyone, beast and human, turned to look at the North, they didn¡¯t need to ask where this shaking was coming from as the approaching energy was a big enough indicator, as expected merely seconds later an encroaching darkness shrouded the horizon threatening to devour all that is in its way

    Color seeped from the faces of the human¡¯s attackers and defenders alike, while the beasts regained sanity in their crazed eyes, they finally snapped form the Elar families control with the help of fear, but as the saying goes, out of the pot and into the fire, they woke up finding themselves facing an inescapable danger

    The congealed blood surrounding Zuku suddenly fell apart, maintaining it required a constant energy being fed into the Rune, while the user maintained focus, so naturally the prison evaporated as the Elar¡¯s ran for their dear life

    Zuku turned to look at their fleeting posture, and the nobles that followed them, they had sacrificed a page from their Grimoire for god knows how many benefits, but its seems their efforts bore no fruit. But Zuku had no time to enjoy his victory as he only thought of ways to take his servants away with him, they couldn¡¯t move from the Core¡¯s field so the only thing that awaited them if they stayed would be death

    ¡®Will the Core also be damaged when the darkness approaches? Should we just eject ourselves by letting someone take the Core?¡¯

    Wennn-

    His thought process was once again interrupted as he sensed power surge into his body, his Grimoire suddenly came out with its shining silver lines, the restrictions they had been facing were lifted as they started to regain all their power

    ¡°Young master I feel the restrictions wearing off, we can get out of here¡±

    The servant nearest to him excitedly reported, but his happiness was short lived as he saw the serious frown on Zuku¡¯s face

    ¡°Fifth Brother!¡±

    He turned hearing his second sisters voice, seeing as only she and his third sister were there he hastily asked

    ¡°Rozis?¡±

    ¡°He was sent out with his servants a short while after he was imprisoned¡±

    ¡°Sigh, so he¡¯s safe, good¡±

    ¡°?¡±

    ¡°Il explain on the way, let¡¯s get going¡±

    Zuku turned toward the South and summoned his mount, recognizing the urgency within his voice the others also summon their fastest mount and rushed behind him

    ¡°Big brother Zuku why did you say Big Brother Rozis is safe now?¡±

    It was Ayanna who asked as she held onto the back of her big sister. Ayanna was a Bronze Rank Grimoire holder so the power boost had no effect on her, thus she rode on her sister¡¯s Half Moon Wolf

    ¡°Just now did you see the darkness swallow up part of the ominous black cloud the Elar family brought with them? It seemed that cloud had some dangerous Runes within, so dangerous that when combined with the darkness they managed to destroy the restriction system¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t that a good thing? Now we can fight in full strength¡±

    ¡°The Life Lock is part of the restrictions¡± Arisu suddenly pitched in

    Zuku nodded and followed up by saying ¡° Which means if we die now the system won¡¯t boot us out, instead we will truly die¡±

    Ayanna¡¯s face paled at the revelation, only did she understand why her fourth brother was safe, he had been transferred out before the Life Lock was destroyed

    ¡°Hah, if we hadn¡¯t been so stubborn in staying for the Castle Core we could have avoided this danger¡±

    Zuku laughed wryly at his own stubbornness, had he been less headstrong he wouldn¡¯t have been in such a dire situation

    But quickly he shook his head of these stray thoughts and looked toward the South, they could only run until they came up with a solution, the furthest part of the South would be their best bet at buying time

    ¡®Big Brother it seems we will have to inconvenient you

    The furthest mansion in the south just happened to be the one the third young master Yu was staying at

    Thus, whether they realized it or not, everyone was rushing toward the very place they deemed worthless as their last hope of survival

 Pieces Everywhere

    Hiss~

    ¡°Mmm¡±

    His-Hiis~

    ¡°Just a little more¡±

    Hiissssss~

    ¡°Ugh let me sleep a few more seconds!¡±

    Yu growls at the white snake Hissing at him form the side, but a few seconds later he springs out with a grown

    ¡°Where, where are they coming from¡±

    Hiss-Hiisss

    The snake pointed at the mansions ruins, its heat-sensors range was pretty good, thus alerting him once someone got into the mansion was possible, any further was impossible though or he would be out range

    ¡®I could use it for reckoning when I¡¯m not asleep though¡¯ Thought Yu as he looked at the lovable snake

    ¡°How many?¡±

    Hiss-Hiss

    Yu nodded, two hisses, two creatures

    ¡°You did a great job, now on to the main show¡±

    The snake swayed happily as it started making its way into the woods, preparing for the its instructed role

    Once the snake was out of sight Yu turned his eyes to the ruins, he took a deep breath and pulled his new hood up, then took slow and steady steps to meet his new visitor

    ********************

    ¡°This¡­. Why is this place in such shambles?¡±

    A fat man asked himself as he looked at the burned down mansion in front of him, the place was leveled with the ground, if not for the sole room standing in the center of this mess one wouldn¡¯t be able to tell if a mansion had existed here

    ¡°What in the world is going on with this Dimension, weird disasters keep popping up one after the other¡±

    The fatty was called Bonzo Gongon, part of the lower nobility, Gongon had been running form place to place for the past four days, his Castles starting area was actually not listed in any map and was hard to find, thus armed with a hidden Castle he set about to find some Units for his Core without fear of his base being declared war against, if push comes to shove he was willing to ride his trusty buffalo to run away at a moment¡¯s notice

    ¡°Hah that ought to teach them not to judge by looks, Feifei may look large, but she¡¯s just fluffy, if she sets her mind on it she can outrun any enemy at the Bronze Rank humph humph¡±

    The fatty puffed his chest out arrogantly while patting his trusty mount

    ¡°Wanna give it a try fatso?¡±

    A voice was suddenly heard among the debris, a figure walked out shortly after, each step heavier than the next, the figures face was kept hidden by a hood, but the fatty¡¯s face paled none the less, as he could tell by that coat, and the two arrows dangling off the back, who this figure really was

    ¡°H-H-H-Houk M-Mo-Mous!¡±

    ¡°Ahahaha it seems introductions are not needed¡±

    ¡°W-What d-d-do you w-want!?¡±

    The stuttering fatty called out his grimoire in a hurry

    Seeing as the Grimoire is Silver the figure¡¯s eyes suddenly widen, a gleam then flashes through them as he sinks into thought, but fearing the delay may ruin his disguise he quickly focus back on the fatty, forgoing the his earlier planned scenario they

    ¡°Just a little chat is all, and try not to play any tricks, I don¡¯t think your ¡°fluffy¡± baby could run through the woods just as well as my doggy¡±

    A shuffling sound was suddenly heard from the woods, it sounded like many beasts were running about, but those who knew about Mous would definitely know this sound belonged to none other than his Ruinous Blood Hound, and since the fatty knew that he also got his restrictions lifted he knew whatever Soul Beast he summoned would pose no challenge for the hunter¡¯s own Soul Beasts thus he could only swallow hard and force out the widest smile he could as he buttered up his words

    ¡°W-What would Young Master Mous want of little me, please give your order and I would sail the seas and scour the skies if that¡¯s what you need!¡±

    The figure smiled contentedly at the response, which sent more than a few shivers down Gongon¡¯s spine, he prayed to his ancestor¡¯s ancestors to get out of this devils clutches in one piece

    ¡®Oww my tummy¡¯s turning¡¯

    ********************

    ¡®Hook, line, and sinker¡¯

    The figure was naturally Yu who had borrowed the deceased Mous¡¯s extra garbs, once he saw the visitor was the fatso the previous owner had bullied to tears he knew he could hoodwink the gullible fellow, and sure enough he was already in complete control of the situation

    ¡®Still, it seems something major has happened, I must get as much information as possible¡¯

    Yu narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Silver Grimoire the fatty was holding

    ¡®But how do I go about this without him having suspicions toward me¡¯Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Yu thought hard before he decided to probe riskily

    ¡°Why are you Also able to ignore the restrictions¡±

    He empathized ¡®Also¡¯ to show that he too had the restrictions lifted, if the fatty had actually used an unknown method to achieve this then Yu would be screwed but he was willing to bet on the chance that this was a wide spread phenomenon, at least he didn¡¯t think it was this fatso¡¯s doing, he had always shown incompetence. Of course Yu would not think it was impossible, in that case he was already preparing an excuse

    The fatties face panicked a bit, then he hurriedly explained, stuttering as he did

    ¡°I d-don¡¯t know what h-happened I just regained my power suddenly an hour ago, I r-really don¡¯t know what happened¡±

    Yu knit his eyebrows at the response, that was close to know information at all, but at least now he knew that everyone could have had their power regained, he also reaffirmed his believe in that his Grimoire went back to Bronze

    ¡°Oh Oh¡± The fatty suddenly exclaimed ¡°I think I know what caused this¡±

    ¡°Spill it¡± Yu responded with a forceful tone

    ¡°Ye-Yes! I-it¡¯s just a speculation but I th-think it was the darkness, when it swallowed up that cloud the Elar¡¯s summoned I saw some sort of dark thunder streak through the sky, after some time I regained my power!¡±

    The fatty gulped, he didn¡¯t want to throw in uncertain information but that was better than saying nothing at all

    ¡®Darkness? The Elar¡¯s cloud? What the heck is this guy talking about¡¯

    ¡°Hmm I was playing in the South all along, tell me what happened in the other regions¡±

    As Yu was talking he shifted his body so the fatty could look into the room, he didn¡¯t want to cause any doubts that gave Gongon any funny ideas

    Gongon¡¯s sight fell behind Yu as he peered into the room he didn¡¯t pay much heed, once his eyes adjusted to the dim light they suddenly delated as he saw bodies sprawled in the ruins, a sour taste found its way to his mouth before he pushed it down and calmed himself, people couldn¡¯t die here but it seems the devil before him found a way around that, now he had to play his cards right or he might end up just like them

    ¡°Alright, I will explain everything from the beginning, when I first started I was-¡°

    ¡°Keep it short!¡±

    Gulp!

    The fatty lost all his cool as he stuttered trying to summarize as much as he could

    ¡°W-w-when I was looking for someone I can defeat I found out the West was already united by the Elar family y-young masters and they even invited me, bu-but when I heard that I had to sacrifice my beast for a ritual I r-refuse and ran, after that when the war was waged between them and the Shenai¡¯s in the East I saw darkness approaching form the North, th-then¡­¡±

    The fatty continued to explain for a whole minute, although his story lacked many details but its continent shocked Yu to the core for it was enough for him to piece together the puzzle, the Elar Family¡¯s cloud, the removal of restrictions, and lastly his own dilemma, the Life Negation Lock

    ¡°Argh! Get out of here fatso! Go to the woods if you want to hide! Don¡¯t show yourself in front of me¡±

    ¡°Y-y-y-yesss!¡±

    Even though he didn¡¯t know why ¡°Mous¡± was suddenly so angry he decided to run while he had the chance, so he urged his mount to pump everything it ad into its feet as it he headed to the woods at the back

    A few seconds after the buffalo¡¯s figure couldn¡¯t be seen anymore Yu called out into the woods. A white snake then made it way to his side, he patted its head before it climbed to his shoulder and started flipping its tongue probing the surroundings, it would do its best to alert him when anyone came

    Yu on the other hand sunk into deep thought, he started thinking about the newly uncovered conspiracy, he was sure his siblings hadn¡¯t managed to uncover it as well, for they were missing an important piece of information, the Life Negation Lock!

    The reason he thought this was a conspiracy was because the restrictions put in this Dimension could only collapse if a Rune as powerful as the one in effect was introduced into it, for even if a powerful entity entered the Dimension then it would only trigger self-destruction while the everyone inside would be booted out, the fact that he and Gongon were still here and that the Life Negation Lock was in fact a Rune, just an advanced Rune meant that it was the former explanation

    ¡®Of course they wouldn¡¯t tell Zuku and the rest about it or else they would rush here to protect me, we are, after all, family¡¯

    The management had used the Rune directly on him, while they gave it to the Elar¡¯s to conspire against his siblings, it seemed like the management had it in for the Shenai family

    ¡®Runes¡­ I need to recall everything about them¡¯

    He focused his mind on the memories the former owner, if he wanted to get out of this tricky situation then he needed information, and what better source than the heap of knowledge forced onto the young Yu, while one would be hard pressed to recall everything he learned form childhood the former owner¡¯s memories were actually like an open vault of record to Yu, all he had to do was know what he was looking for, so it only took him a fast minute to gather everything he needed about the situation

    Runes, as a representation of the world¡¯s laws, were divided into 9 Sets: Fire, Water, Earth Wind, Yin, Yang, Void, Chaos, Order. Each set contained the basic Runes that corresponded to the set¡¯s law, the number of Runes yet to be unidentified for it is said no one can learn all the Runes of even one set in a whole lifetime. The people who use Runes are called Runeists, they are divided into three categories: Basic Runeist, Intermediate Runeist, Advanced Runeist

    A Basic Runeist is one who know how to conjure a Rune form the nine sets, thus they are divided into nine ranks, each rank representing the mastery of a Rune from a different set

    An Intermediate Runeist is one who knows how to ¡°Use¡± the Runes together to achieve a magnified affect, why his teacher emphasized the word, use, Yu didn¡¯t know, in any case, Intermediate Runeists are further divided into nine ranks, each rank represents how many Runes he can use together, thus they use up to nine Runes together

    An Advanced Runeist is one that can use from ten to ninety-nine Runes together, an unfathomable existence even in the Southern Paradise

    ¡®Hmmm, so how did you come to be¡¯

    Said Yu as he looked at the Castle Core

    ¡®An advanced Rune like the Life Negation Lock couldn¡¯t have been made by the Elar family, if they were that capable then they wouldn¡¯t have settled with their current position as the third strongest, they must have someone helping them, but why?¡¯

    Yu racked his brains but couldn¡¯t recall anything important, to begin with the Elar family were very secretive, thus not much information was known about their strength, the only thing he knew was that even as nobles they never fought head on and always resorted to tricks, they were despised even though they were the third strongest

    ¡®But can I really only wait for the darkness to devour me?¡¯

    Such a thought didn¡¯t sit right with Yu, but his siblings knew even less than him, and it appeared as though the disaster from the North had nothing to do with the Elar family, as Gongon told him he saw with his own eyes how the second young master, Elar Vracdous, get swallowed up by the darkness. So with none of the people coming having a better idea of the situation the only thing they would accomplish would be prolonging their demise

    ¡®Maybe the management wanted to erase all evidence?¡¯

    Yu thought, but soon he shook the thought away

    ¡®Why would they go through all this trouble, if they wanted to do so that much they had no need to put the Life Negation lock in my Core, nor help the Elar family¡¯

    Sigh

    Yu breathed out in frustration, he didn¡¯t understand why they would employ such a multi-step¡­. multi-step?

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    Everything suddenly fell into place in Yu¡¯s mind

    ¡°Hehehe, what a smart plan, if I didn¡¯t have all the pieces together I would have never figured it out¡±

    A wild cackle escaped Yu¡¯s mouth, with the hood covering his head and the snake hissing at his side he seemed like a true devil

    ¡®Hissing?¡¯

    Hissss-

    ¡°They came already? How many¡±

    Hissssssss!

    ¡°Oh a lot I see, well then I guess we gotta move it, but before that¡­¡±

    Yu looks toward the Core room with a playful gaze

    ¡°We can¡¯t welcome our guests like this now can we.¡±

    He then walks into the room with a spring in his step, even though it¡¯s still painful to walk that fast

 Kameha.. I mean Fairy~ Blast!

    A while ago

    ¡®Where am I?

    Why cant I see?

    How come I don¡¯t feel my body?¡¯

    ¡°Hehehe~¡±

    ¡®Laugh! Someone is here? Show yourself!¡¯

    ¡°Ahahaha~ Come closer¡±

    ¡®Where are you?¡¯

    ¡°I¡¯m next to you silly~ just follow the light¡±

    Shine~

    ¡®Light! I can see again¡­. But should I fellow it? I don¡¯t know what it is or where I am¡¯

    ¡°Just follow your heart¡±

    ¡®My¡­.Heart?..¡¯

    The light got closer and closer, with it the holy women¡¯s voice, until it was within arm¡¯s reach

    ¡®My heart¡­¡¯

    ¡°Listen to what it tells you¡±

    After looking at it for what felt like an eternity Adrian finely stretched his none-existant arms toward the light¡­

    ¡°Hehehe~ enjoy~¡±

    And pressed it toward his heart!

    ¡°What! No! you can¡¯t do that! You will die and nothing will be left behind! I can¡¯t let my chance of escape vanish after all these years!¡±

    The sound seemed to be coming from the light, it no longer sounded joyfull but angry

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for you, let me go right now and follow me, you will only kill yourself if you continue¡±

    Adrian ignored the voice as he continued to forcefully press it into his heart, his feelings proved to be correct as seconds later it absorbed it like it was a delicacy

    ¡°WHAT! NO! How could this be possible? You! YOUR NOT HUMAN! Let me go Let me Go!¡±

    The light¡¯s now childish voice panicked as it started to gain a hint of sobbing to it

    ¡®Maybe¡­ it¡¯s not bad after all?¡¯

    His heart suddenly slowed down, and instead of devouring the last bit of light it instead encompassed it with a glow that was shining more brightly than the light could ever hope to

    ¡°Your *Sob* letting me go? *Sob*¡±

    ¡®Please¡­ save my aunt¡­. And¡­ Ning¡­Rou¡¯

    ¡°*Sob* you eat me and then throw orders at me! Your horrible! See how I punish you when you wake up¡±

    The light gradually gained its vibrant tone although it remained childish

    ¡°Humph! But I¡¯ll do it for you just this once, after all you are¡­.¡±

    The voice trailed off, then the world started to shine brighter and brighter as the light used the power the heart had given it, though it was actually its own power, just a highly purified version of it, it shined until it shattered into pieces

    Crack!

    A sound was heard within the darkness followed by the blooming of the flower that represented the only light within, but what one thought were petals turned out to be wings, wings that unfurled revealing a fairy holding onto the sleeping boy that seemed to fall from heavenEnsure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡°Hahaha I¡¯m finely out! Though my form looks to have regressed a few years, I¡¯m finely able to escape¡±

    Those words escaped the fairy¡¯s lips in one of the most melodious voices you could ever hear

    Then looking down at the sleeping boy the fairy produced a pout, as a little blame tinged those happy eyes

    ¡°Huuu! Brute! Not only have you eaten all my centuries of energy you even shoved such a big responsibility onto me!¡±

    The fairy couldn¡¯t help but complain a second time, even so her actions didn¡¯t seem to hold much hesitation as she suddenly flapped her wings, ripping through the darkness like a hot knife through paper, the raven which took all Adrian¡¯s energy and willpower to cross was actually crossed by her just like that

    She was out within seconds, though the light around her seemed to dim a little

    ¡°Yawn~ it¡¯s good to flex after all these years¡±

    The darkness didn¡¯t seem to agree with her sentiment though as it erupted out in pursuit, it seemed even more eager to keep her in now than it ever was before

    ¡°Tsk pesky brat, you think you can hold I the great Elm Lumiona Phyre Muri - hey hey slow down! Don¡¯t you have the decency to at least let a character fully introduce themselves!? I still had 8 names to go!¡±

    Elm Lumiona Ph¡­. The fairy streaked out as she was interrupted, her speed was much slower than the ones she used as she got out of the darkness, but it was fast none the less, at least the darkness would have a hard time catching up

    ¡°Alright this little guy wanted me to find his aunt and some Ning watcha call her, Hmm I¡¯ll just trace his energy back to his Core, it must be close¡±

    Sure enough she found the location with quite ease, though the light around her seemed to dim yet again, but the fairy didn¡¯t fret

    ¡®Hmm that¡¯s his¡­aunt? She looks so young and her aura is, well, quite familiar? Hmm guess I¡¯ll check into her when were out, by the time I¡¯m done with her I would know everything I need to about this little brute!¡¯

    She unceremoniously carried the two girls without disturbing her flight, the darkness was on its way and she needed to make as much-

    ¡°Oh crap the core!¡±

    She suddenly halted in midair, then went back and brought Adrian¡¯s Castle Core before flying off once again

    ¡®Don¡¯t want that nasty brat locating us through it, I¡¯ll get rid of it once were outside¡¯

    The two in her left arm shouted and squirmed in protest but she ignored them, the land became under their feet, but while it took her some time she managed to reach South most of the Battlefield after putting quite the distance between her and the darkness

    As she slowed down she suddenly spotted a figure running the opposite way everyone was, he seemed to head toward the darkness, what caught her eye was his fluctuating aura of light and darkness, for he was too out of place among this rugged bunch

    ¡®Hmm, no time¡¯

    She moved on to the mansion before dropping all three people on the ground, she didn¡¯t humor the humans in explaining the situation before ascending into the skies once again and hiding herself within her wings

    ¡®Alright the Cores will buy quite some time for me to prepare my technique, let¡¯s just hope it¡¯s enough, if I can¡¯t make it by the time it gets here¡­ well let¡¯s just hope it dosnt¡¯

    She started to circulate the energy that was given to her into her hands, holding it like a ball, continuing to condense the purified energy more and more as she gathered as much as she could for her technique, all while the light around her dimmed more and more until it was barely recognizable

    ¡®Almost there¡¯

    As if on divine que the darkness reared its ugly head out from the distance

    ¡®Huh? It¡¯s already here? No I still need to direct the blast!¡¯

    Realizing she had not put enough distance as she thought she exerted more effort into finishing the technique, but the ball of light started to deform under the pressure

    ¡®Dammit! I can¡¯t rush it or I won¡¯t be certain of the results, even if me and that little guy are fine his precious ones won¡¯t be¡¯

    The darkness came closer and closer, while the ball got more and more out of control, it seemed like the fairy had to make a choice soon, break her promise, or risk her life

    ¡°W-what a stupid brat! aren¡¯t you satisfied with imprisoning me for centuries and now you want to kill me too? You can¡¯t bully people like that!¡±

    Alas her words were thrown into empty wind, while time ticked away quickly

    ¡®It¡­ It seems I have to-¡®

    Wennnnngggg

    It seemed another had made the choice for her as a sudden explosion of energy blew near the edge of darkness, when the fairy looked closer she could barely make out a figure at the center of the explosion, holding up his hands in victory

    ¡®It¡¯s that guy from before! But how did he know how to stop the darkness¡­ no it¡¯s not the time to think about those things, I can¡¯t waste the time he had bought me with his life¡¯

    The deformed ball started to smooth out, thinning down little by little, and by the time the explosion was about to fade away another one came, this time it came from the skies, as the fairy opened her wings once again, and with the same posture as the figure she just saw she threw the light into the darkness

    WENGGGG-¡­..BOOOOOOM!

    The clash shook the earth and ruptured the sky, light and darkness could not be told apart anymore, while space itself cracked down, sucking in everything in the Dimension out, or throwing them into the void

    ¡°Haah~ thank you mysterious stranger, whoever..you¡­.are¡±

    Finely unable to stay awake herself, the fairy barrels down from the sky turning into a small light as she did, and falling into the now wide awake and gaping Adrian, slipping into his body with him none the wiser

 Not Everythingâ€¦.

    Before the explosion

    ¡®We are almost there, but I have yet to come up with a solution¡¯

    Zuku thought to himself as they neared the forest housing his brother¡¯s mansion

    ¡®My only option now is to interrogate the Elar for information about the Rune¡¯s, one of their own was just devoured by the darkness, I refuse to believe they won¡¯t collaborate to get out of this mess¡¯

    ¡°Ash is in the air¡± The quite Arisu broke his line of thought

    ¡®Ash?¡¯

    He noticed that here was indeed the faint smell of ash in the wind, he had been too preoccupied and didn¡¯t notice, furthermore the smell intensified the more they neared the forest

    Zuku frowned and told the rest to speed up

    They were soon at the periphery of the woods, and once the trees barred there vision no more they were met face to face with the burnt remains of the withered forest

    The siblings were stunned, in the distance they could see their brother¡¯s mansion had burnt down with nothing but a room remaining, but their hearts truly lurched when they suddenly saw the Elar family go into the room

    ¡°NO!¡±

    The Half Moon Wolf suddenly burst out as it sped toward the house with the yell or Arisu accompanying it, Zuku woke form his stupor before following with a burst of his own, he would not spare the Elar family if they harmed his brother, even if it meant breaking down any future collaboration

    Arisu seemed even more determined to save her bother as she had already started chanting before she reached the door, she planned to summon her other Soul Beast and dive immediately into battle as soon as it ensued

    Not wanting to leave his sister to battle on her own Zuku also started to summon his own. And by the time the siblings reached the room they had already finished chanting resulting in two hexagrams appearing, as two different creatures came out of them, one was a large red sabretooth, with flames rising out of its mouth, while its claws looks as hot as magma, this was Zuku¡¯s Soul Guardian, the other was a green wolf that had prickles on its back, protruding directly from its spine, which ended with a protrusion at the neck forming a half circle above the head, this was Arisu¡¯s most well-known Soul Beast, Thorn Crown Princess.

    The sudden burst surprised the Elar family which hastily got its beasts to take the front while they summoned their shields

    Their surprise though could not be compared to that of the Shenai siblings, who, upon entering saw the horrifying sight of bodies lying on the cold ground, blood smeared all over the place, with but one glance one could tell a fierce fight had happened here

    Arisu stepped to front and surveyed the surroundings, she looked through the bodies before suddenly spotting a familiar set of cloths among one of them, her usually calm eyes suddenly showed a storm brewing, she leaped off her mount and landed next to the body and holding it close

    Zuku had also spotted the familiar cloths, and anger rushed to his head, his emotions started to boil over as he turned sharply toward the Elar family

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t look at us like were the ones who did it, we just got here like you did, plus look at the bodies, they must be a few days old already¡±

    The one who spoke was a voluptuous young lady, her chest heaved as she yelled at the top of her lungs, while her hips swayed out of habit, she seemed to have just the right curves for her slim yet busty body

    Zuku payed no mind to those details though, but her words had indeed registered through his mind, he then looked back at the body and say that it seemed to have festered a bit, he could tell by the missing wound on the head that it had been a few days, and they had also seen the Elar step into the place just a few seconds before them, so they couldn¡¯t have done anything in the short frame of time

    Arisu on the other hand had already regained her calm eyes, though they had a tint of confusion in them, she then placed the body on the floor before getting up and heading back to her mount, she then looked at the other bodies and noted none of them had her brothers figure

    Zuku looked at his sister¡¯s sudden change puzzled, even if she was over her shock she shouldn¡¯t just leave her brother¡¯s body on the floor right?

    ¡°It¡¯s not him¡± whispered Arisu, she didn¡¯t know why the figure had her brother¡¯s cloths but the soft sensation when she touched the bodies chest alerted her of the truth, she had even slipped her hand down there when nobody was looking, what she found, or rather, what she didn¡¯t find affirmed her thoughts

    Seeing the conviction in her eyes Zuku believed his sister, he didn¡¯t know how she identified the body with a missing head but now wasn¡¯t the time to ask, instead he turned to the Elar family and barked at them in anger

    ¡°Whether it was you or not, out brother is dead, now get out of here, we need to search this place for clues¡±

    Zuku didn¡¯t know what the person who did this had in mind, but he had to find out, his brother was either ejected or killed away, he could also have escaped, though he didn¡¯t like hose chances with the Rune his father had put on him

    ¡°Is that the first thing that you want to do!? The dead is dead now we need to find a way to get out of this Dimension, stop worrying about corpses and start worrying about those sisters of yours¡±

    The words of the young lady, Elar Valza, hit their mark, even though he knew his brothers body wasn¡¯t here, which they didn¡¯t know, her words still rang true as he didn¡¯t know where to even start

    ¡°Bro-bro-brother Y-Yu i-i-i-i-i-i- ¡°

    The voice of a child interrupted the conversation, everyone turned to the source to see a teary eyed Ayanna, everyone had forgotten this child in the heat of the moment, and now it seems she had awoken form her own shock of seeing such a horrid scene, only to hear that her brother was one of the dead corpses on the ground, a headless one at that

    Arisu turned to hug Ayanna, who finely stopped stuttering, and burst into a crying fit, the sound alerted the other families fearing to go into the room, pushing some to take a few peaks inside, which resulted in more than a few screams

    ¡°That is not brother¡± Again Arisu whispered, but this was not Zuku who was tempered by his role as a commander, this was a little girl who had never seen flesh before this instant, thus her words fell on deaf ears as the girl continued to cry in sorrowThis tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Valza frowned at the scene and turned to Zuku saying ¡°Look we lost one of our own as well, but we must find a way to get out of her, brooding will not bring them back to life¡±

    Recalling that they had indeed just lost Vracdous his anger started to recede, in any case he still had his sisters to save, so he had to leave his brother life up to the will of the Paradise above

    ¡°Alright, but first I need you to tell me what those Runes in the clouds were, if you cannot trust you¡±

    True to his reputation Zuku put his foot down from the very beginning, not giving Valza any time to negotiate

    Valza grit her teeth in vexation, it didn¡¯t help that the crying sounds of Ayanna still ran through her ears

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you it¡¯s that these things are a secret of the Elar family, I¡¯m afraid I might get punished to death if I reveal them¡±

    Her argument was met with silence, the opposite party wasn¡¯t a fool, he didn¡¯t believe they would hang the second young mistress of the family for exposing such a secret, even if it was actually true so what if her punishment was death? She would die anyway to the darkness

    Thus the semi-silence continued for almost a minute, with neither side willing to back down, only the cries of Ayanna could be heard in the room, until a sudden youthful voice rang out form the entrance

    ¡°What happened here¡±

    Everyone turned around to see a boy with white smooth skin, a set of determined eyes, and a set of torn down cloths¡­

    A few eyebrows twitched at the inconsistency, but people were overall surprised by the appearance of Adrian, for he looked nothing like the malnourished him from a few days ago

    The young Adrian didn¡¯t pay heed to their feelings though as he surveyed the surroundings, he had heard a young girls cry and rushed here with haste, that was especially since he had met fatty Gon in the woods who had told him that this was Yu¡¯s mansion as they were making their way back

    ¡®He.. doesn¡¯t seem to be here?¡¯

    He was actually searching for Yu since he thought he was the root of the problem once again; he had steeled his heart to kill the erroneous spoiled noble as soon he discovered his new misdeed

    He didn¡¯t spot the corps wearing Yu¡¯s cloths as the beasts were barring sight. Still some of the other bodies were spotted, and the blood all over the place led him to believe a battle had been waged so he turned to the two sides that he believed to be the perpetrators

    Zuku frowned as he saw the judgmental look in the eye of the boy but didn¡¯t dine to explain instead her turned to look back at Valza, expressing his stance once again

    Seeing as there was no change in the situation even with the young Adrian entering the fray Valza bit down on her teeth before explaining with a forceful tone

    ¡°These Runes are part of an ancient mural that we found hidden within one of our castles, the Runes themselves I have no knowledge of¡­¡± She stopped to see Zuku frown before continuing with a laugh ¡°You may not believe me but we actually have no knowledge of what ¡®Spawned¡¯ what we did was merely sacrifice bounded Soul Beasts and used the technique we learned from the mural to summon random Runes among the ones recorded down, I even believe some of the ones that came out were not recoded by the ancients, so even if I want to tell you what they are I can¡¯t, since I don¡¯t know, the only thing I can tell you is that all of these Runes belong to the Yin set, so the only way to beat that darkness is to conjure Runes of the Yang set¡¯

    The more she explained the deeper Zuku frowned, by the end of her speech his face was already black, he knew what she meant by saying all this, but he dared not voice it

    ¡°You want us to Ignite¡± it was Arisu who spoke the words he didn¡¯t want to hear. Yes, this was Valza¡¯s aim all along, she wanted one of the Shenai siblings to use the forbidden technique of the family, Soul Ignite, a technique that used the very Soul of the user to erupt with power, but the consequences didn¡¯t mean just death, it meant the Soul of the person would vanish form existence

    ¡°No, you were the ones who caused this mess, thus you must find a way to solve it, I don¡¯t believe that you are hopeless to deal with your own techniques result¡±

    Zuku protested, he didn¡¯t want to use such a method, as though he didn¡¯t fear death if it was to protect his sisters, he didn¡¯t want it to result to that if there were other ways, plus he sure as hell didn¡¯t want to protect these despicable humans too

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m just wasting time to trick you? If I really had a method then I would have already used it, Vracdous would have used it, I wouldn¡¯t have gambled with my life on your whims!¡±

    She shouted like a mad woman, she was seething form anger on the outside, but on the inside she was rejoicing

    ¡®Hehe I indeed don¡¯t know of a second method and since you would never forgive yourself if your sisters died when you could do something then you will definitely choose to use the forbidden method¡¯

    ¡°Everyone! The darkness is almost here! Run! Run to the woods¡±

    ¡°Run? We¡¯ve already run so far and it keeps catching up, we can¡¯t run anymore, it will catch up anyway and we will. We will¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die¡­waaaaa save me mommy daddy¡±

    ¡°Damn it! Why did I come here, I should have stayed with Malesia back home, I would be in bed now...¡±

    ¡°Wuuu wuuu¡±

    Came the cries and panicked voices from the outside

    The two sides then carefully came out of the room as they watched out for each other, but when they saw the darkness approaching, they lost the will to argue anymore, for the bitter despair was at their doorstep

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it¡± Interjected Arisu but was straight out rejected by Zuku

    ¡°No, if anyone must do it I will, my mastery in fire is higher than yours, I will have a better chance at taking the darkness out¡±

    ¡®Why don¡¯t you both do it¡¯ is what Valza wanted to say but she knew she would be the first to face the might of the technique if she spoke those words

    ¡®Hehe, it seems the stories of our technique have become exaggerated, there is no way I can contend with this darkness with my weak Soul alone, even if me and Arisu both Ignite at the same time we still might not have enough power to take it out¡¯

    Both Zuku and Arisu knew this fact, they looked at each other and nodded, Arisu then started to back up stealthy with Ayanna, she wanted to make some distance while Zuku bursts, then she would use the technique herself and cleave both the Elar¡¯s and the darkness together, they had already used their shield in the room so she was confidante she could take them all out, while their Ignite wasn¡¯t as exaggerated as it was made out to be it was indeed a force to reckon with, for their ancestors use of this technique always turned the tide of battle around, crushing all opposition, but that was only when the person had a strong Soul and a great mastery over fire

    On their level though they didn¡¯t have the capital to erupt with such power, but she and Zuku were willing to bet their very Soul to give Ayanna a chance, of course, they had to take the Elar¡¯s out too since they didn¡¯t want to leave her in their wicked hands, they would definitely kill her to hide the truth of their blunder

    Inhale~ Exhale~

    Zuku took deep breaths, calming his mind in preparation for the activation, once he had reached the prefect state he started to take wide steps toward the darkness, peering into its depth, like a challenger¡­¡­¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    A sound involuntary escaped his lips as he peered into the darkness, or precisely, at the edge of the darkness, for he saw a figure walking ever so slowly, taking leisure steps one after the other, making the darkness at his back seem insignificant

    Seeing Zuku stop and stare the rest looked in the direction he was peering at, they were left breathless from awe at scene

    ¡°Brother!¡±

    The one to scream was Arisu, her eyes showed another turmoil as she seemed hesitating as to whether leave her sister here or leave her brother to the approaching darkness

    Her choice didn¡¯t seem to matter though as the figure came to a halt, his demeanor was playful and mysterious as he surveyed everyone with his green enchanting eyes, eyes that seemed to have all truth revealed before it

    The faces of the people were a sight to behold, some were shocked senseless that he was alive, some were awed by his presence, some were suspicious of his arrival, and one had stopped crying after half a chapter

    After looking everyone through, Yu spread his hands to reveal the Castle Core hovering above them, then the Core started to float up with him guiding it, it continued to ascend until it was high within the sky

    He looked toward the sky and then toward the center of the ruins, and mouthed out, ever so slowly, the words

    ¡°Welcome to Southern Paradise

    Where Not everything is what it seems¡±

    He suddenly raised his heads and spread his arms wide, as if calling for the heavens to affirm his speech, and that they did for the Core burst into light, light that covered the sky, light that made the darkness seeking the Core retreat in fright

    Light¡­. That ended despair

 Bizzz

    Far Far away from the Southern Paradise, among the many small cities of the west, lay the Denatro Forest. Situated north of the Denatro City and south of Calico City, the forest experienced a shortage of beasts as a result of the regular merchants and mercenaries from both cities passing by, thus only small bird type and herbivore beasts occupied this small piece of land, creating a peaceful and harmonious feeling for anyone that passes through

    Bleeeergh

    ¡­Usually creating a peaceful scene

    Hiss

    ¡°Ugh¡±

    Hiss, Hiss

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush me I¡¯m c-bleeergh¡±

    Hisss~

    The young man that shattered the forests charm with every ten steps was in fact Yu, following the white snake that kept a three-meter distance away from its mess of a master

    ¡°How, Uuuu, how are you fine after crossing space? Anyone below gold would have their insides thrown into disorder, human or bea-Bleeargh¡±

    Hiss~

    ¡°Ugh let¡¯s have a little rest, I don¡¯t think I wanna be seen by anyone like this right now¡±

    Said Yu as he found a tree to lean on, he felt much better after he stopped walking, the snake on the other hand seemed to hesitate, but after seeing the hollow part in the tree Yu had leaned on its eyes seemed to shine, it hastily climbed into it, scaring its previous furry occupants away

    ¡®What with it? It hurried me since the point we came and now its hiding, weird¡¯

    His thoughts didn¡¯t linger though as his dizzy mind threw his thoughts back into disarray

    ¡®Crap that was close though, I never thought another explosion would happen¡¯

    His back sweat bullets as he recalled the earlier scene, which had both assisted in his success and almost doomed him

    ¡®Still it was as I thought, it seems this whole ordeal was a plan from the management¡¯

    A smile made its way onto Yu¡¯s face as he recalled his earlier theory

    When he had pieced together the information he obtained he thought of a horrible possibility, that the darkness, cloud, and the Life Negation Lock in his possession were all the management¡¯s doing, they used someone in the north to activate the darkness¡¯s advance, gave the Elar the Runes to make the cloud, and then when those two combined they would follow the trail to the Rune within his possession, leading it straight to the south, thus it would be able to wipe out the entire battlefield

    So what he had done was simple, when a fire lights up in your backyard you must hose it down with water, to fight darkness you must use light! Thus he used the entirety of the elven Units he got from Mous to forcibly activate a Holy Shock on his Core, damaging it in the process, but achieving his goal of blowing up the darkness

    ¡®Light and Darkness are both part of the laws making up the Dimension, if they suddenly cease to exist... the only outcome is for the Dimension to be ripped apart, sending its occupants randomly through space¡¯

    And that¡¯s how Yu escaped the Dimension, well partially

    ¡®But how the hell did that holy shock become so powerful¡¯

    He had activated his shield when he blew the darkness up but then another explosion came ripping his shield apart, he honestly didn¡¯t know how he even survived, all he knew was that the impending feeling of doom he felt vanished as soon as it appeared

    What he also didn¡¯t know was that most of his theory was incorrect as the management had nothing to do with neither the cloud nor the darkness, for his Core wasn¡¯t the target of the darkness as it had only sought to eliminate the Core in its path not devour the Rune it had not known existed within

    As they say ignorance is bliss, the less Yu knew the happier he was with his epic plan

    ¡°Humm, what a nice weather¡±

    He mumbled as he slowly closed his eyes, going into a much needed long sleep, one fret of worries for the first time since he had arrived in this world.

    Bizzz

    ¡°Hmm!¡±

    Well he tried to do that but the buzzing sound swept away all his sleepiness aside

    ¡®This sound, could it be¡¯

    He turned to the left and spotted a rather large bee heading in his direction, how large? Well large enough for a grown adult to scream like a little girl, much less Yu, who actually had a particular fear of bees

    ¡°C-couldn¡¯t have been a spider or a centipede or something like those cool insects, it just had to be a bee¡±

    Every time he saw bees he suddenly recalled that memory form childhood, when he had accidentally scratched his shoulder on a tree housing a bee colony, next thing he knew they were chasing him like he had killed their mother!

    ¡®No no no get a grip on yourself Yu, you are now a Grimoire holder, a little¡­ a slightly large insect like that couldn¡¯t compare to you anymore! you even killed a human sized hound by yourself!¡¯

    He tried to encourage himself with half facts and took deep breaths, he thought about his current state and battle power

    ¡®The wolf is out, still recovering, it might need two or three days, the spider is a nemesis of bees but that little one¡¯s only weapon is the threads, he won¡¯t be able to make one in this short amount of time, the snake¡­¡±

    He lifted his head up and called it a few times, but received no response, and the bee was already half way to his location

    ¡®As I thought it really had something to do, it was acting weird after all¡¯

    And taking into account his current state, his combat power was in fact, Zero

    ¡®You know what, if I had at least fallen asleep it may not even be able to tell that I was alive, maybe just ignore me¡¯

    He joked to himself, and the bee was already in front of his eyes

    Pish Pish

    ¡°Got you~¡±

    The bee started spiraling out of control after getting sprayed at by Yu

    ¡°Introducing to you, Buzz Killer Pink Edition, the bane of all insect beasts, well below silver that is¡±

    The bee didn¡¯t sit through Yu¡¯ introduction to the horribly pink weapon, it had already flown back where it came from

    ¡®Heh, I gotta thank Kore for bringing this stuff to the battlefield, if it just wasn¡¯t pink¡­¡¯

    He set the spray to his side and closed his eyes to get some shut eye, while he won¡¯t be getting any sweet dreams he needed to restEnsure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡®Hmm, I feel like I forgot something¡­¡¯

    He thought as his mind started to wander into the dar- BIZZZ BIZZZZ

    ¡°You gotta be kidding me¡±

    He forced open his eyelids and looked toward where the sound was coming from, seeing six bees coming toward his direction, each larger than the next, led by a smaller one he assumed was the one he sprayed just now, his face paled, and he recalled what he had read from when he was a child in his world

    ¡®When a bee dies it releases pheromones to alert the nearby bees of danger, but it also releases those pheromones if it encounters danger near the hive, dammit we must be close to the hive since this small be is out here¡¯

    He hurriedly garbed his ¡°weapon¡± and sprayed it wildly, filling the area around him with a pink mist

    BIZZ BIZZ

    The bees didn¡¯t come any closer but they didn¡¯t leave either, it seemed that they were determined to kill him or chase him away, Yu knew he could probably outrun them while with the spray in hand, but that¡¯s when his body was in prime condition, right now he could barely take a few steps without throwing up

    Thus the awkward situation where he had to spay every few minutes continued until two entire hours had passed, by that time he had gone through a whole bottle and was halfway through his second

    BIZZ

    ¡°Bizzz¡±

    BIZZ BIZZ

    ¡°Biz Biz Biz!¡±

    Around this time Yu just randomly responded to the bees with buzzes himself so as to kill time while he waited until the bottle had a quarter in it, he hoped to have recovered as much strength as he could before he made a mad sprint in the opposite direction

    BIZZZ! BIZZ BIZZ!

    Suddenly the bees flight went into disarray, their buzzing gained a higher tone as if warning off the danger, after which they flew away at their top speed

    ¡°???¡±

    Rather than saying he was surprised it would be better to say that he was relived, he really didn¡¯t want to sprint away anytime soon

    ¡®Hmm I wonder what happened, I couldn¡¯t have said something to trigger them could I¡¯

    He thought about his random buzzing sounds but shook his head, that would be too good to be true

    Hiss~

    ¡°Hmm? Oh! Your back, you sure took your time, by the way was that you who scared them away¡±

    Hissss- The snake nodded its head

    ¡°Oh? How did you do that?¡±

    The snake¡¯s eyes suddenly shone brightly, it wasn¡¯t any brighter than before but their seemed to be something off about them

    Yu also noticed something different about its scales, but before he got the opportunity to ask he heard another buzzing sound

    ¡°Oh? Already back¡±

    BIZZZZZZBIZZZ

    ¡°Hold up something¡¯s wrong¡±

    Hearing the intensity of the buzzing Yu gets up and squints his eyes beyond the distant trees, then he catches a glimpse of bees, not one or two, not even just ten, no he catches a glimpse of almost a hundred bees

    Boom!

    He ran so hard he left a foot imprint where he had been standing, and it didn¡¯t seem like he was going to slow down anytime soon

    ¡°Hugh, ima hurl¡±

    The snake on his shoulder started glowing while he ran, and the nausea started gradually lessening until he could barely feel it

    ¡°You had something like this too?! Why didn¡¯t you use it earlier¡±?

    Hiss Hiss Hisssss~

    ¡°Well whatever, just keep it coming, with this I can make it without getting stu- ¡°

    The words got stuck in his throat for when he glanced at his back he saw hundreds of half human sized bees coming at him with their eye-poppingly large stingers

    ¡°Mommy!¡±

    Thus the chase between a teary eyed young man and hundreds of bees continued through the forest, it seemed to resemble the memory Yu had in mind, except while his size was merely twice larger, the bees were a few tens of times larger

    ¡­¡­.

    ¡°Haaah haah hah haah, did, hah, we lose, haah them?¡±

    His- The snake weakly nodded while its glow was barely noticeable, whatever energy it had was exhausted by this point and it wanted to go to sleep even more so than Yu

    ¡°Haah, okay you did great, you should take a break now, thanks for the hard work¡±

    He patted the diligent snake before unsummoning it, and while he also wanted to sleep he decided to continue to look for a way out, he didn¡¯t know where he was but if it surly wouldn¡¯t be a safe area with so many bees

    ¡°Though if I meet anything now I would have no way to fight back, but at least it¡¯s better than waiting for death to come to me, I¡¯ll scout before proceed¡±

    So he did, and for the next three hours he went through the forest very carefully, he hardly saw anything dangerous like he had presumed, but he still saw many normal herbivore beasts

    ¡®There are many weak beasts here so it can¡¯t be that there is a dangerous entity that scaring everything from approaching, which means this area is pretty safe¡¯

    He thought but still cautiously made his way in a straight line, finely exiting the forest by sundown

    Once he got out he saw walls, which weren¡¯t very high, manned by patrolling guards here and there

    ¡®I was hoping I would be sent somewhere far from the entrance, at least then I would have a good chance of escaping through the borders, but it seems like I¡¯m pretty far from the Southern Paradise already¡¯

    There were no such ¡°rundown¡± cities in the Southern Paradise, there everything had to be magnificent, even the worst cities belonging to the lower nobilities had to look prim and proper, for everything there had to ¡°look¡± like a paradise

    ¡°Forget about them Yu, focus on the task at hand¡±

    He wanted to waltz in casually but he didn¡¯t know how far he was from the Southern Paradise, and if they sent a warrant for him then it would be troublesome if they knew the places he had appeared at, thus he changed his cloths with some of those he had taken from Mous¡¯s bag, ones that didn¡¯t have an insignia belonging to any family even though it still stood out, after changing he hid all the items in the bag and made his way to the gate

    ¡°Identification please¡±

    The guard there was polite, maybe because of the cloths Yu had on, but Yu naturally denied having it

    ¡°I lost it in a fight just now, also may I ask where we are currently? You see I was chased by some pesky beasts all the way here and got lost¡±

    A sneer flashed on the guard¡¯s face before he hid it, but Yu had caught sight of it

    ¡°You must mean those bees, well if you¡¯re a merchant form the Calico City and you lost your identity then you need to pay a fine to enter the city like anyone else who doesn¡¯t have one¡±

    ¡°And how much is it?¡±

    ¡°Five bronze¡±

    ¡°Alright, but I lost my bags with the identity so I only have three silver on me right now¡±

    ¡°Well I don¡¯t have any change here buddy¡±

    ¡°Hmm, tell you what, how about I give you a whole silver and you give me a suggestion of this city¡¯s best facilities?¡±

    ¡°It would be my pleasure sir!¡±

    Yu took out a silver coin and threw it to the guard, even though he knew he was being cheated he didn¡¯t mind, a silver wasn¡¯t too much anyway, at the same time he didn¡¯t want to stand out too much, if the guard thought he was a merchant who was rich and without an escort then he would not alert anyone and instead follow him sneakily, possibly with some other people, and kill him off to take the money

    ¡®Which means no one from the higher ups would know I even showed up¡¯

    Perfect plan, now he just needed to bait him into a narrow alley

    ¡°The best place to get some rest would be the Denatro inn on second street, you can get to it by taking the third alley to the left straight ahead, if you wanna rent a room you should hurry up now, also Gebzo restaurant at the third street is where you could get the best food, they would probably be closed by now though so you should go tomorrow, if you wanna buy something for your next journey I would suggest you visit old man Rump, just ask around and they will point you to him¡±

    ¡°Alright thanks, guess I¡¯ll go get some sleep first¡±

    ¡°You should, have a good night¡±

    Yu nodded and went into the city, there didn¡¯t seem too much traffic but he noticed the bars were filled to the brim, while the weapon shops also had quite a few people inside

    ¡®I didn¡¯t see that many beasts on the way though? Why does everyone look like their gonna go into war¡¯

    Soon he passed all those stores and entered a scarce area on the first street, coincidently the third alley was precisely in this place, it seemed narrow and dark

    Yu didn¡¯t hesitate and went in, the sound of his steps echoed inside, but soon other footsteps were heard

    ¡°Snort, I didn¡¯t think you would be so stupid brat¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Yu turned around and looked at the two guards approaching, one of which was the one at the gate ¡°Oh hello there, are you also going to the inn? Maybe you wanna spend that silver? I¡¯m sure it was quite the tip when compared to your pay¡±

    ¡°You little shit! I thought we could let you go after you payed us and begged for your life but it seems you want an early death!¡±

    The guard took out his sword and rushed toward Yu, the other one followed behind a tad slower

    Yu snorted and rushed toward the guard with a knife, which gave them a surprise but instead of clashing head on he maneuvered around the right, the guard smiled seeing this and swung his sword to parry the dagger while his partner stabbed at Yu

    ¡°Amateur¡± ¡°Noob¡± said both the guard and Yu at the same time, both certain of the result in their mind

    Sadly, only one side could emerge out of this alley alive, and it happened to be decided the second Yu was situated between the two men and the wall

    ¡°Wha-¡° Squash!

    The guard could only exclaim before getting smashed into the wall by the shield that materialized around Yu, with how narrow the street was the shield not only bashed them into the wall, it even smashed through the walls into the next room, thankfully it was a closed clothing store

    ¡°Greed isn¡¯t good for your health you know? It¡¯s a common cause of death these days¡±

    Yu cheekily smiled, though his smile falter when he looked at the blood seeping out of the two guard¡¯s armor

    ¡®Maybe I overdid it, well whatever, I should hide the bodies¡¯

    He dumped the bodies in the store and took of their equipment, then he wrapped them with some cloths and lit a match, but before he set the place ablaze he looked at the cloths and thought to himself a bit

    ¡®Hmm, well might as well¡¯

    A few minutes later a blue robed person could be seen walking out a dark alley, with smoke rising on the other side

    ¡°I left a few silver coins in the cache, it should be more than enough for the owner¡¯s compensation¡±

    He didn¡¯t use any known weapon, nobody saw him getting through the gate other than the dead guards, so even if they wanted to pin it on someone they needed a face, with a lot of people getting in and out every day they would be hard pressed to single him out

    ¡®Now I just need to choose a boisterous inn that had no logs¡¯

    He didn¡¯t spend much time to get said inn, not everyone knew how to read and write, only those fancy inns had book keepers, so by the time the fire had been put out Yu was already in bed, drifting slowly into a much needed, peaceful, fret of worries, uninterrupted sleep.

    ¡­. Yup nothing woke him up this time, I assure you

 Alias

    ¡°Ngh, mmm¡±

    ¡­.

    ¡± Stop.....please¡±

    ¡­¡­

    ¡°Huwaa! Hah hah¡±

    ¡®Oh a nightmare I thought for sure those bees were about to sting my butt¡¯

    Yu got up from bed and stretched out, packed up his belongings and went to the baths, which he had to pay to use as well

    ¡®Money isn¡¯t a problem now but I will soon find myself penniless if I don¡¯t find a source of income¡¯

    An hour later he could be seen walking in the main street, looking left and right

    ¡®Alright so first things first, I need to figure out where I am, how far this place is from the Southern Paradise, and then look for work¡¯

    As he walked around he started noting people giving him weird glances, specifically toward his back

    ¡®Hmm? What¡¯s wrong, am I wearing something weird or maybe.. could I have been stung for real?!¡¯

    He hastily turned to check his butt, and after seeing nothing there he sighed in relief, then he noticed his makeshift bag

    ¡®Hmm?¡¯ Looking at it again he realized it looked like bed sheets tied together to make a bag, because it was just that

    With a scarlet face full of embarrassment he walks into the nearest equipment shop

    ¡°Hello young man, how may I help you¡±

    ¡°Hello, I would like a plus sized bag, also I would like a tool belt, for weapons and medicine, a map would be great too, also can you tell me about the common jobs in this city¡±

    ¡°Haha young man, one at a time one at a time, how about I tell you about this city while you chose from the stuff behind you, I¡¯ll get you them map once were done¡±

    ¡°Alright¡± Yu started to look through the stuff while the old man explained

    ¡°Well Denatro city doesn¡¯t have that many jobs available to outsiders right now, you see we don¡¯t lack any man force, and while the influx of travelers is great almost all of them are merchants who don¡¯t need any escort, since the Denatro forest has little to no beasts, though lately they had confirmed a Giant Bee beehive forming in it, but that¡¯s nothing to worry about, if you want to cross to Calico city then you just need to hire a few mercenaries, I¡¯m sure they would be more than happy to oblige for a small fee¡±

    ¡®Hmm So this city is called Denatro huh, as for those mercenaries I seem to have some recollection of them, though we didn¡¯t have them back at the Southern Paradise I recall they were mentioned quite a few times in the history books¡¯

    ¡°Okay, I will take this gray backpack, the white tool belt, and this carving knife¡±

    ¡°Very well young man, here is the map too, that will be eighty-seven bronze¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too expensive, these stuff are hardly worth sixty bronze¡±

    ¡°Young man Denatro city doesn¡¯t have any beasts nearby so it¡¯s hard to come by materials too often¡±

    ¡°Humph then what are all the merchants doing? Selling melons? Il buy everything for sixty bronze, no more than that¡±

    ¡°Sigh, fine young man, have it your way, sixty bronze it is¡±

    Yu nodded, handed him the money and left, and although he knew the shopkeeper was feeling smug about himself he didn¡¯t care, for he knew nothing of the stuffs cost, he just didn¡¯t want to look rich and attract any attention, laying low was the way to go

    ¡®I¡¯ve no recollection of using and bronze in my mind, either everything is overpriced in the Southern Paradise or this guy¡¯s been giving everything left as a tip¡¯Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    He needed to get hands on experience to know these stuff, and the best way was to follow someone around to do that, following a merchant would be even better, and his best bet at doing so was to become a mercenary himself

    Asking around he found that the mercenaries building, which turned out to be a branch of the much larger Mercenary Union, was located on the third street

    ¡®Mercenary Union? How come I never heard of them? Just how did the space send me¡­¡¯

    Of course the further he was the better, but he was still weirded out as he had actually not seen a single beast inside the city, it might have been the law of the city that forbade people from summoning them but if it wasn¡¯t¡¯¡­ that possibility frightened Yu for it could mean that he had was sent into another world again, the fact that he found nothing he knew on the map didn¡¯t help either

    ¡®No no no, how could that be possible? There is no way I could be sent into two different worlds within the matter of a week, no time aside, how could it be so easy to get sent from one world to the other? No matter how you look at it, it isn¡¯t possible, else people could be seen popping from and into worlds every second, I must have been sent into a very far land¡¯

    He rationalized his thoughts and decided not to use the summoning in front of anyone, he could credit his achievements to his physical prowess, that would also keep a lot of people of his back

    On his way to the Mercenary Union he bought a half face mask, so only his green eyes were visible

    Arriving at the Mercenary Union he saw a small building that looked like a tavern, it seemed ruffed up and worn, but once you¡¯re in you could see that it was a very tidy place, apparently they kept it neat even though they had not fixed the whole building

    ¡°Hello sir are you here to make an escort request to Calico or Ravengo city?¡± A pretty receptionist said to him while smiling brightly

    ¡°No I¡¯m here to register as a mercenary¡± Her eyes lost a little luster when he answered

    ¡°I see, well please fill out this forum, you can either use your identification card or you could stay anonymous, either way you will have to provide an alias¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to use an ID; can I not answer these questions too?¡± Seeing that there were many questions like age, full name, profession, on the forum he started to have second thoughts about joining this organization

    The receptionist took the paper away and placed an orb in front of him

    ¡°It¡¯s optional, put your hand on this orb here to register yourself¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay¡± ¡®So easy?¡¯

    He thought to himself as he put his hands on the orb, he felt a probing sensation but that disappeared pretty fast, and the receptionist pulled it back before placing a pen like item on it

    ¡°Okay now choose your alias¡±

    ¡°Alright I¡¯ll go with Summoner¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s already taken¡±

    ¡°Taken?  So it is because the holder of the alias is alive?¡±

    ¡°No the alias is held by the first person who uses it forever¡±

    ¡°Oh okay, well let¡¯s go with Exile then¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Darksider?¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Unknown¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Mystery¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Mystique¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Villain?¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Evil¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Undead¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°Zombie!¡±

    ¡°Taken¡±

    ¡°666¡±

    ¡°Numbers aren¡¯t allowed¡±

    ¡°Tch¡±

    ¡°Dear costumer you must hurry; others are waiting for their turn¡±

    Yu glanced at his back and saw the place empty save for a drunk old man sleeping on one of the tables

    ¡°Fine, can I at least add a prefix or suffix¡±

    ¡°Like?¡±

    ¡°Zombie-chan for example¡±

    ¡°Alright¡±

    ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s use Summoner-s-¡± ¡°Here you go, you can use this card at any of the other Mercenary Union branch to take requests, if you lose it you can reissue it, but it will cost you a lot depending on your grading so you better keep it somewhere safe¡±

    ¡°What? But I didn¡¯t give you a name yet?¡±

    ¡°You just did? Zombie-chan¡±

    ¡°Wha! No I refuse to take Zombie-chan as a name change it¡±

    Suddenly the receptionist frowned deeply before answering him with a grave tone

    ¡°Dear costumer every person can only ever have one alias, once it goes into the system one can never change it, attempting to change it or make a new one would be going against the entire Mercenary Union, are you attempting to change your name sir?¡±

    He could feel the eyes of the other receptionists on him, even the old man seemed to lean toward his direction a bit which sent chills down his spine for some unknown reasons

    ¡°Humph whatever¡± He said and grabbed the card rudely then started to walk out the building

    ¡°Have a safe journey, Zombie-Chan~¡± *giggle* *giggle*

    The wide smile of the receptionist and the giggles at her side, and especially the shaking shoulders of the ¡°sleeping¡± old man triggered Yu to no end, but he could only hasten his footsteps to get out of here

    Once he was out the old man burst out in laughter, the building seemed to shake from his laughter, he seemed to be in an amused mood

    ¡°You seem to be enjoying yourself Old Beggar, is the name so amusing¡± the receptionist asked

    ¡°Haha it suits him very well¡±

    ¡°Hmm I guess he did seem very feminine¡±

    ¡®And his Yin aura is very apparent¡¯ The Old Beggar thought to himself ¡®Hmm I¡¯m looking forward to what legend this young¡¯un would create¡¯

    He then suddenly got up and started to walk toward the exit

    ¡°Going to Denatro forest?¡±

    ¡°Yah those rascals told me to investigate that spatial crash¡±

    ¡°I heard it came from the South¡±

    The Old Beggar suddenly stopped

    ¡°I hope not, or we might be facing another invasion from ¡°them¡± ¡°

    His words continued to trail off while he had already vanished

    ¡®Hmm Zombie-chan was very interesting¡¯ the receptionist didn¡¯t seem to mind the upcoming war though as she thought about the new recruit, he seemed to fit her taste fairly well

 Shopping!

    Back on the street Yu was not feeling very amused

    ¡®Zombie-chan? Zombie-chan! Why did it have to be chan why couldn¡¯t I have used san as the example, I blame you anime for my accursed alias!¡¯

    ¡°Humph lousy reception, I rate them zero! No below zero!¡±

    People around him looked at him weirdly, but who could blame, he was wearing rogue like cloths that conveyed his intention of avoiding attention but he carried a plus sized bag that looked pretty new, his stature seemed like he was hiding himself but he gave off a very arrogant feeling, and now he was shouting at the air, if you didn¡¯t take at least one look god would probably strike you for your lack of curiosity

    ¡®Hmm? Oh I seem to have said that out loud, crap, low profile low profile¡¯

    Yu pulled up his hoody and sped toward one of the large inns, once he made sure his stuff were well hidden within the room he started touring the city, picking up a few necessities, and some luxury items, among them was a small crossbow and four sets of mini bolts, each set had 20 bolts in them

    He got himself a light set of blue joint leather armor, leather shoes, and a long black overcoat to go along with the deep blue leather vest, thus making it perfect for both sneaking and fighting

    ¡®Okay all set now I just need a good night sleep and I can get to work tomorrow¡¯

    The sun had gone down while he as shopping, so it was due time he got some sleep, he was no warrior so his body needed a lot of time to recover, but being a Grimoire holder gave him some sort of benefits, so it wasn¡¯t like he was normal human being

    ¡°Hmmm, these guys have been following me for a while, I don¡¯t really want to get into trouble right now, hmm¡±

    Yu suddenly stopped and turned around heading straight toward the three people that were sitting in one of the food stall near the armor shop he just exited from

    ¡°Hey guy! how are you doing?¡±

    The trio seemed surprised for a bit but soon recollected themselves, before they got a chance to speak though Yu continued

    ¡°I was curious about something, when you guys follow someone do you actually try to hide yourself? Also when you see someone buying so many stuff without a care in the world does it not cross your small minds that he may not be a wastrel but did that because he didn¡¯t give a crap about the stupid idiots who try to make trouble for him? You know wastrels don¡¯t walk around without escorts either, whether you could see them or not, and just because someone ¡°looks¡± like a rich second generation kid doesn¡¯t mean he actually is. If you guys want my money you can come with me outside the city, and I¡¯ll show you what a weak looking merchant like me can do¡±

    Finished with his rant he gives the gob smacked trio a final judgmental look and walks away, by the looks of it, it didn¡¯t seem like anyone would following him after such a bold speech let alone those three thieves

    Thus a rather peaceful day passes by, the first that was fret of death for Yu since he had arrived in this world, all the result of a but a few words

    Next Morning

    ¡°Argh! Let me SLEEP!¡±

    The young man with panda eyes shouts at the morning sun seeping throw the window slits, he didn¡¯t seem quite ready for his busy new day

    ¡°Ugh why the hell can¡¯t I sleep; it can¡¯t be that I can¡¯t sleep on a soft bed anymore right?¡±

    He spoke nonsense to himself, he had not been able to catch a glimpse of sleep all night, he tried everything, he tried not thinking, counting Adrian¡¯s in his sleep, working out, but nothing he did made him sleep, even though it did indeed make him sleepy, and annoyed

    ¡°Whatever! I¡¯ll go work, perhaps I just wasn¡¯t tired enough, after all the only thing I did yesterday was shop, compared to my other days it was like taking a nap in a park, maybe my body is still tense from all the fights¡±

    Coming up with a reasonable explanation he packs up everything and heads to the mercenary guild, as much as he wanted to avoid seeing that receptionist for a while he couldn¡¯t help but go there to get a mission, after all it was the only branch within the cityIf you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    As soon as he was inside he felt something quite different, he couldn¡¯t quite put his hand on it but he felt all tingly and it made him want to head back to bed

    ¡®Hmm the fatigue might be catching up but I need to work right now¡¯ He focused his mind and ignored the pleasant feeling then walked up to the receptionist and asked her for any available mission

    She crooked her head to the side for a bit before shrugging and answering him

    ¡°Dear costumer all the missions are taken right now, there are only a few higher rank missions¡¯ that do not fit your ranking¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s my rank?¡±

    ¡°You are ranked low Bronze, that¡¯s the lowest of the low, and the bottom of the Mercenary Union¡±

    Yu knew he just started so he quite naturally had the lowest rank but when she said it somehow ticked her off, still he played it cool

    ¡°Mmm okay, what about killing those bees, I heard their causing quite the trouble so I assume you got some extermination mission for them¡±

    ¡°No we do not have any for the Giant Bees that are in the Denatro Forest¡±

    Yu frowned at her words ¡°But you do issue termination missions right?¡±

    ¡°Yes we do¡±

    ¡°And yet you are leaving the bees out? Is it because the Merchant caravans would deal with them?¡±

    ¡°They make minimal contact with them¡±

    ¡°No one else is dealing with them right now?¡±

    ¡°Not at the moment¡±

    Yu¡¯s frown deepened, he remembered that this city boasted a safe trade rout, that¡¯s why it was traveled to a lot, since no protection fee needed to be paid as such merchants found it quite profitable to¡­

    ¡®No protection fee? I see, what a cunning Union they don¡¯t want to kill off the bees since they would force the merchants to pay protection fees which would result in a long term gains, and as this continues the city would lose merchants slowly forcing the city into issuing the Mercenary union a mission to kill the bees, this way both the Union and the mercenaries would benefit¡¯

    His mouth took a sly shape as he thanks the receptionist and headed out, it was time he gave the little devil a little payback

    ¡°This is perfect, I owe both the receptionist and the bees quite the ¡°favor¡± and it seems I can repay both at the same time¡±

    He smiled evilly as he spoke to himself while heading toward the gate, but he stopped dead in his tracks after smelling something awful from one of the shops on his way

    ¡°What is that horrible smell¡± ¡°It seems the apothecary was making a few concocts and they failed¡± ¡°I told them to move O¡¯l Bethna¡¯s store to second street, she shouldn¡¯t be here in main street scaring away the customers with her horrible toxins!¡± there were quite a few complains among the pedestrians and some shop owners but nobody bothers to go into the store and berate the old apothecary, after all who didn¡¯t get sick? Someday they will need her too

    ¡°Hmm apothecary?¡± Yu didn¡¯t have any need for medicine right now but his shopping addiction led his feet into the store, he couldn¡¯t force himself to pass by an interesting shop just like that

    ¡°If you¡¯re here to complain about the smell don¡¯t waste my time, I¡¯ve lived here for eighty plus years, I am not moving an inch¡± a hoarse yet tender voice came from the old women behind the counter

    ¡°Oh no I¡¯m just here to look around¡±

    ¡°Look all you wish but do not touch¡±

    ¡°Sure¡±

    Yu looked through the large circular hall, there were cabinets, plants, vases, and even small ecospheres that housed plants he had never seen before

    ¡°Did you plant all these?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡±

    ¡°Are they for sale?¡±

    ¡°No¡±

    Yu¡¯s inner shopaholic wanted him to press for it but when he remembered he wouldn¡¯t even be able to carry such a delicate item he gave up

    ¡®Where is spatial storage when you need it sigh¡¯

    Disappointed he turns to head out, but when he saw the old lady working on one of the bee¡¯s stingers he curiously looked at her, then an idea popped up in his head

    ¡°Do you have anything to kill those bees¡±

    ¡°Specifically? No. Broadly? Any poison would do¡±

    ¡°Their stingers have poison too; can it kill them?¡±

    ¡°Of course it can, just because they make it doesn¡¯t mean they are immune to it¡±

    ¡°How long does it take to extract it on the spot?¡±

    ¡°Varies, with proficiency you could do it in less than five seconds, but if you haven¡¯t done it before it would take a few minutes¡±

    ¡°Teach me then! Il pay you for your trouble¡±

    Finely the old women lifted her head from her work to look at Yu

    ¡°Kid this is an apothecary shop, not some civil teaching hall¡±

    ¡°Exactly, those people are talk, if I want to learn something I need some hands on experience, so either an adventurer that knows how to carve out the bee¡¯s poison or an apothecary, and since the bees only recently popped up the former would be very hard to come by¡±

    The old woman gave Yu an appraising look before she turned back to work on the stinger

    ¡®Is it a no go? But I really liked my new plan¡¯

    ¡°Where are you looking, keep your eyes on the stinger, I will extract the poison now¡±

    ¡°! Yes, I¡¯m focusing¡±

    ¡°Shut up and listen quietly, now when do you see this part, this part of the stinger is called the¡­¡±

    The old women continued to explain the stinger and various ways to extract it, the fastest method to cut a bee to get to it, the easiest method to crack open the shell around the stingers base, and many useful tips Yu felt he would take several hundred to thousands of tries alone to figure out on his own

    After more than three hours the lengthy explanation was finely finished, and the old woman took a seat

    ¡°Okay that¡¯s all, you can go now¡±

    ¡°Thank you! That was even better than hands on experience, this is going to help me a lot, how can I repay you¡±

    ¡°By staying alive kid now get out and let me get some rest¡±

    ¡°Okay~ Thanks grandma bye~¡±

    ¡°Just get out¡±

    Yu stepped out of the store with a chuckle, he really liked the old granny and thought he should repay her help one day, but for now he had much bigger plans to execute, one big evil nasty plan

 Gazing into the Night

    Denatro Forest

    Previously Yu had been sent running with a tail between his leg, his snake¡¯s tail, but an abject defeat he suffered nonetheless, and now he was back, mind set on payback

    ¡°Hmm I¡¯m far enough from the roads, this should be a good place to start¡±

    He once again strung those unintelligible words together summoning forth the familiar hexagram from which emerged his companion

    ¡°Wuu¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a while friend¡±

    Yu pats the wolf with a warm smile, one could not forget that it was the wolf that had taken the bite for him that time, even though it could have been because it knew it wouldn¡¯t die from it, or that it knew it would die if he was killed, but Yu could tell that wasn¡¯t the only reason, the wolf¡¯s eyes portrayed an honest desire to protect him, just as he didn¡¯t want I to be hurt, their adventures on deaths edge together had brought them closer

    ¡°Wuu Wuuu¡± ¡°Ahaha sorry, this place is very weird, I haven¡¯t seen anyone with a beast so I was afraid to summon you¡± ¡°Wuuu¡± ¡°How about we have some food and then proceed to kill those pesky bees?¡±

    The wolf shook its head and started walking in front of him, Yu smiled at the wolfs excitement and followed behind, he could partially understand the wolf since it was his Guardian, the Guardians and the Grimoire holders share emotions, and Yu could feel some blame from the wolf probably because it felt bored alone in wherever they go when they enter the Grimoire

    Bizzz

    ¡°! Here comes the first one, lure it away first, we only want one first¡±

    The wolf nodded and ran with Yu to the periphery of the forest, soon the bee started to slow down, this was evidently as far as it was willing to go, it turned back after scaring the danger

    Thunk!

    A rock suddenly hit its head, it didn¡¯t hurt but the bee was angered by the sudden attack, turning to see the perpetrator waving at it, it burst toward him, such a small creature, even if it stung it its stinger wouldn¡¯t dislodge and it wouldn¡¯t die

    ¡°Okay, show me how you fair against it¡±

    ¡°Awuuuuuu!¡±

    The wolf wailed to the sky and then burst with unprecedented speed toward the bee, who in turn deaccelerated and tried to maneuver around the wolf instead of meeting it in a head on collision

    The wolf saw the bee pulling back its stinger as it rotated so it leaped mid run, avoiding the thrust of the bee, using the front paws for landing it pivoted it back feet to the side successfully managing to turn back around to the bee before it managed to adjust its position then it used its now grounded back feet to push itself off the ground and make another leap onto the back of the bee, ending the exchange with a large crunchy bite

    ¡°Wow that was aw-¡° ¡°Pu Pu Pu¡± Yu wanted to complement the wolf for its smart and fluid battle execution but it interrupted him by spitting, seems like those bees weren¡¯t very tasty

    The wolf looked at Yu begrudgingly, as if to say, why didn¡¯t you tell me they taste like crap, but he only smiled wryly and moved to the now dead bee, it¡¯s not like he ate bees before how could he tell it before hand

    ¡°Hmm this is the soft spot that old granny was talking about, two centimeters above the area where the stinger and the body meet, if I cut right into it I should see the stingers shall¡­ Oh here it is, okay now I need to piece it quickly with a small needle like so, okay now I¡¯m supposed to put that huge hollowed needle inside and the poison would come out of the sack just fine¡­. Nothings coming out, seems like I failed, hmm I¡¯ll try from another angle¡±

    Yu mumbled to himself as he tried to extract the poison, seeing him so focused the wolf decided to lure in a few more bees to kill, it had an urge to kill anything since yesterday night, it didn¡¯t know where it came from, but it really wanted to kill as much as she could right now, thus she went ahead into the depths of the forest leaving Yu sticking needles into the lower back of the bee¡­for educational purposes¡­

    It didn¡¯t take long for the wolf to find a bee, this one two friends though, but this excited the wolf more, after all one bee could never pose a challenge

    The bees who spotted the wolf back didn¡¯t waste time and flew toward it, well glided since they can¡¯t really fly with those heavy bodies and small wings

    The wolf didn¡¯t run toward them this time, instead it crouched down and put strength into its back feet again, once the first bee was within a stingers reach it suddenly propelled its feet upward while its front feet were still grounded and it used those to spin its legs to the front, then it used the side of the approaching stinger as a spring board which sent it the bee catering toward its partner while the wolf spun to the opposite side with the help of the kick putting it at the side of the third bee, which it took a bite of much to its own dismay, it really didn¡¯t want to eat this bug, but it swallowed its discontent, and the bite, and turned back toward the two now enraged beesUnlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    The two bees didn¡¯t expect the cunning wolf would use them to jump about they had been preparing to attack it from three sides and so they had sped up to encircle it, but now they would approach it slowly so they can maneuver away if it did something like that again

    Seeing the bees slow down the wolf smirked, it picked the dead body by the head and ran toward the them, it then whipped the dead bees body toward the first, with the extended reach of the body added to the stinger it managed to pierce through the stunned bee and the wolf let go, but the momentum carried the two bodies to crash with the third, the wolfs took a moment to readjust itself and bounded toward the last one finish off the faltering bee with a large crunch

    ¡°Awuuuuuu!¡±

    Wailing to the sky the wolfs takes a movement to look at its flawless victory, bringing down three enemies within the same rank was not something any Soul Beast could do, even though they were probably low on the star end these bees would still pose danger to other first star beasts, as the star rating didn¡¯t make too much of a difference within the Bronze Rank

    It started dragging the dead bodies one by on back to Yu, who was already done fundling about with his first try, having extracted most of the poison within a few minutes

    Seeing three dead bodies in front of him Yu gives the wolf thumbs up, then starts practicing once again, this time the wolf doesn¡¯t leave though as it waited for the bees to follow the pheromones back to these bodies

    And the bees surely didn¡¯t disappoint for only a few minutes later a bee could be seen coming toward them with clear aggression

    ¡°Only one? Hmm we are probably far from the hive right now then, why don¡¯t you go hunt once you finish this one, don¡¯t worry about me I can handle a few on my own¡±

    The wolf gazed at Yu for several long seconds, enough for the approaching bee to get alarmingly close, before nodding its head and making a sudden flex as it swiftly ripped off the bee¡¯s head, spat it, and made its way deeper into the forest

    ¡®Alright, I shouldn¡¯t dally too far behind¡¯

    Yu nodded to himself and continued his work, he would keep working on each bee as swiftly as he could while he learned as much as he could before moving on to the next, once he ran out of bees he would follow the wolf into the forest and work on the bodies in the was

    BIZZ

    ¡°Hmm? Seems like I got company¡±

    Seeing the bee approaching Yu pushes down his rising panic, he lifts his small crossbow, loads an arrow he just dipped with poison, and takes aim

    Wiiin Thunk!

    ¡°That should do it¡±

    Yu smiles to himself, although it lacked any of the cool sophisticated parts of the wolf¡¯s battle style this was the way he liked it, quick and efficient

    BIZZ

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    The bee was getting dangerously close, in a few seconds he had to activate the shield for sure

    ¡®It will fall soon there is no need to panic¡¯

    Closer, it got closer

    ¡®It will fall, it will fall, c¡¯mon fall¡¯

    It was within arm¡¯s reach now, pulling its stinger back to strike

    ¡°Shit! I didn¡¯t ask granny how much time¡±

    Cursed Yu as the shield enveloped him, causing the stinger to stop dead in its tracks, while the bee felt like it was ripped apart from the recoil

    ¡°Tch, the wolf is coming, hmm the wolf? Hmm¡±

    The bee, while in pain, didn¡¯t quite and tried to attack the shield continuously, it was a bug in the end, one belonging to the Bronze Rank, thus part from the minimal intelligence, or instincts, for its job and battle it had no form of thought whatsoever, crazily bashing itself to death while, the movement also caused the poison to spread faster, causing it to die a minute and a half later, seconds before the wolf arrived

    Seeing the dead bee, the wolf looks at Yu questioningly, to which he responds with a snort

    ¡°Did you think I can deal with them forever? I can only defend myself so much, from now on stay with me until I can take the poison out fast enough, then we will move on to the main event¡±

    The wolf replied to his comment with a snort of its own, as if saying ¡®You can¡¯t deal with these bugs alone¡¯ causing no small amount of redness to seep into Yu¡¯s face as he embarrassingly recalled his words just now about being able to take care of himself

    They continued on none the less, killing bees left and right, with their trajectory being half a circle as they closed in on the hives estimated location without leaving any bee at their back

    By sundown, when all the bees had retreated to the hives location, Yu had already mastered the action fast enough to be able to get the poison out in just ten to fifteen seconds, though he had enough poison that he might not need any more, he had placed them in the many jars he bought on his way here

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a bit, once were are sure no bee is coming close I will unsummon you and summon the spider, once the traps set we will take immediate action at dawn, when they still haven¡¯t gotten too far from the hive, that way we can get as many as we can in one fell swoop¡±

    The wolf nodded as it approached Yu, it laid down next to him and closed its eyes

    Yu smiled and sat down leaning on the wolf while he gazed at the starry night sky, it was his first time paying attention to the sky of this world and he noted it was far more beautiful than anything he had ever seen

    ¡°Humm, I could live happily if I could see this sky every night¡±

    Quietly he hummed, gazing at the lovely sky, with the night breeze blowing the sweet scent of the forest, ruffling the wolf¡¯s smooth fur, and taking away all the worry off Yu¡¯s thoughts leaving him with only pleasant feelings to remember

    ¡®The wolf¡­ she needs a name¡¯

    He continued to ponder through the night, not many names came to mind, the one he was naming was his companion, his partner for life, her name had to be something that defined his feelings for the ever-present wolf

    ¡°I hope, for you to be present with me, for whenever we could see the night sky, trace the stars that light up the world¡¯s darkness, while the night¡¯s breeze plays within our ears. Your name, Lyra Lilith, will be¡±

    A faint breath tickled his face, Lyra¡¯s eyes were now gazing into his, a calm see of emotion present within, expressing willingness, eagerness, calmness, and most of all, delight

 A Game of Drones

    The crack of dawn signaled the beginning of another day for the colony, the start of another routine of collecting nectar, making into honey, and storing it in the hive

    The bees got up and headed out, they didn¡¯t need orders, they didn¡¯t ask question, they knew what they had to do, and they didn¡¯t dally about doing it, every bee had a role and it had to fulfill it to its utmost capacity

    One bee in particular was heading toward its usual area, it was one of the areas where they lost contact with a good number of bees, it must mean a predator was near, but that registered to the bee as nothing but a warning, no matter how many bees the hive lost it must continue to store up for winter, they could not be left starving

    The bee continued onward, suddenly a shiver ran through its entire being, it¡¯s sensors were going off like sirens, danger was near!

    It turned all five of its eyes toward the glimmer in the darkness of trees, spotting a pair of shining deadly eyes, they came closer and closer as they seemed bigger and bigger, eventually triggering the bee¡¯s survival instincts to flee back and alert the colony, it had to warn them, warn them of the approaching calamity

    ********************

    ¡°Good job, I¡¯ll send you back now, we will take care of the rest¡±

    The white snake nodded before being unsummoned, its hexagram disappearing was followed by the appearance of another hexagram, from which came the wolf, now named Lyra, full of vigor for the upcoming war

    ¡°Are you ready¡± ¡°WU!¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s time for payback¡±

    Lyra jumped onto a thick branch while Yu hopped on the handmade costume swing/propeller under said branch then they waited¡­

    ¡­zzz¡­zzz¡­. BizzzZZZZZZBIZZZBIZZ BAAM!

    That was their signal, Lyra held a piece of rope in her mouth and leaped over the branches moving from one stringed bunch of branches to the other before finally jumping over the crazy swarm under her

    Yu, wasn¡¯t as fortunate on the other hand, as he was sent flying by the swing/propeller he had made using elastic spider threads, he was sent flying enough just high enough to get past the horrible sight of bee swarm that almost made him cry beyond tears

    ¡®Heights and bees, my favorite¡¯

    The wolf cushioned his fall just in time then they both sped off into the hive in the distance, just now they had alarmed the entire colony to come to them and then got them stuck in the trap the spider set up in the night, it was one massive trap, so massive that it caused the poor spider to look like it had its blood seeped dry, hopefully they wouldn¡¯t need it anymore for a while, it really deserved some rest

    The bees noticed the enemy had gotten behind them thus they turned to chase, but only a minimal part of them did so, since most believed a predator much scarier to be lurking behind the terrible threads

    Yu wasn¡¯t fast but the bees were even slower, their size came at a heavy price, so they didn¡¯t have much trouble outpacing their pursuers, while the wolf made short work of any bee that came their way from the front, soon they would reach the bees that stayed behind by the hive

    ¡°Break through the middle I¡¯ll clear the sides¡±

    Taking out two copper bottles Yu stabbed them and threw them as close as he could to the hive, they made a trail of pink smoke on their way, that was whatever left of the Buzz Killer he had left after being divided into two bottles

    BIZZ BIZZZ

    It kept most of the bees out, not out of fear, but because it messed their sensors too much, some happened to get through and were spinning in circles

    The hives guards came out to confront the duo at the hives entrance, these guards weren¡¯t much different from other bees except that they were a bit larger

    ¡®Only nine? Well this bee hive¡¯s new, they don¡¯t have many older generations¡¯

    Guard bees are typically old worker bees, when their life span is close to an end they become guards, since there is nothing to lose by dying. All bees turn into guards when an emergency is at hand, but the worker bees of this hive were pretty young and easy to fend off, well, if you didn¡¯t get swarmed to death

    BIZZZZZZ!

    A loud buzz came from the guard, which gave Yu a bad feeling, and sure enough when he turned around he saw all the bees rushing back, the guards seemed to have recognized him and Lyra as the priority dangerIf you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Tch, ignore them just blast your way to the entrance, once were inside I¡¯ll keep everyone out¡± He said throwing a rope to Lyra

    Lyra nodded taking the rope and sped up, half the guards blockaded the entrance while the other half dived toward them

    ¡°NOW!¡± Lyra used her momentum to make a massive leap over the coming bees, which Yu flowed by throwing the net he bought from the city, catching the bees in it, who were then swung by the wolf into the barricade breaking it momentarily, enough for Lyra to jump in

    ¡®Shit, there getting up¡¯

    He tried to get in before they reoriented but they were a tad bit faster than he thought, two stingers were heading straight toward him just a few steps away from the entrance

    ¡®Not yet!¡¯ He couldn¡¯t deploy the shield here, he had to get close enough to close it fully. Twisting his body to the left he barely avoided one of them, the other he knew he couldn¡¯t avoid

    Clank-

    The bee¡¯s stinger met his Grimoire midair, it couldn¡¯t pierce through it so he used it to take on the attack although the feedback from it still pushed him back, but the direction was toward the entrance, thus he finely made it, and a shield covered it the next moment, keeping almost all the hives bees at bay for ten minutes

    ¡°Whew that was close¡±

    His back was full of cold sweat, if he had to shield up earlier then both he and Lyra would be in big trouble, but thankfully he thought of the book at the last moment

    ¡®Thankfully a Grimoire is something no one has ever been able to destroy¡¯

    ¡°Wuu¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay I¡¯m not hurt, you go in and kill the queen, I¡¯ll kill as much as I could in here¡±

    Lyra hesitated for a moment, she looked at the sides of the shield that gave some space for some of the smallest bees to get in and looked back at Yu

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can get in the shield and they can¡¯t, but I will only be safe until the shield expires, the sooner you kill the queen and come back the safer I will be¡±

    Finely she consented and rushed deeper into the hive, while Yu turned around and started to load the crossbow with poison arrows

    ¡°It¡¯s time for me to show off a bit, can¡¯t keep asking for help every time right?¡±

    He had a smirk on his face as he let loose his arrows toward the raging bees, need the wolf to come back? No he would finish all of the off before it finished the queen

    Back on the Lyra¡¯s side things weren¡¯t as good, it had taken it three minutes to take care of the bees on the way, which left it plenty of time to kill the queen and go back to help its master, but the situation at the larva area where the queen was residing didn¡¯t look too good

    Buzz Buzz Buzz

    There were four drone bees surrounding the queen, drone bees should have no stingers, they were only there to mate with the queen, they didn¡¯t work nor did they contribute to the hive, they could only mate and then would die after doing so, when intruders came all they could do would be hover above them and buzz to distract them

    But these four drones, they had nothing in common with the aforementioned ones, they were slimmer and longer, much longer than the worker bees outside, their height had clearly reached that of a human, they were entirely black from head to toe, save for one yellow stripe on their back, instead of having four wings on their back they had two sturdy wings which made the drop in agility because of their size disappear, but the most dangerous part of them was their massive stinger that took a quarter of their entire length

    Lyra¡¯s eyes sharpened, this wouldn¡¯t be as easy as she had thought but she had to finish quick, thus she didn¡¯t dally and rushed toward the enemy

    Three of them came to meet her, they made a triangular formation, tight enough to be able to sting her if she entangled one of them, and large enough to have maneuvering space

    Lyra¡¯s usual tricks wouldn¡¯t work here, but she didn¡¯t care, for she never depended on them in a true fight, it was just the cool factor that made them appealing to use

    Once the drones were close enough she made a leap, the two at the side moved to intercept her fall while the one in the middle slowed down to try and stab her

    The corners of Lyra¡¯s mouth rose into a sneer, she didn¡¯t want to leap over them, no she wanted to land on them, normally she would be met with a stinger to her face, but with the extra-long stinger comes and extra weight, centering the weight to the bottom which ended up making lifting the stinger to the top impossible

    CRUNCH!

    ¡°Pu!¡±

    Spitting out the nastier taste of flesh Lyra jumps back off the drone and circles around the last two planning to make the same leap after gaining enough momentum

    Buzz

    The buzzing came from an unexpected direction this time, the drone that was protecting the queen intercepted Lyra from the right forcing her to go left, where the other drone was waiting to which she responded with another steep turn

    She started running again but the drone that didn¡¯t join the interception headed toward her in a suicidal manner, forcing Lyra once again to switch directions

    Thus the game of tag began, with Lyra being faster than the drones she could always maneuver to escape but their numbers and suicidal attacks put her in an awkward position where she too couldn¡¯t kill them

    ¡­¡­..

    While Lyra was in a stalemate Yu had finely run out of bolts, he was now within the shield stabbing his poison coated knife through from time to time, and letting the dead bodies of the bees go through the shield so he could take the bolts out and reuse them, he would also extract the poison since he ran out pretty quickly

    ¡®How many are left? I already killed more than two hundred¡¯

    It took him two and a half seconds to load aim and shoot a bolt, it was already eight minutes since the shield was out, and he could still see more than a hundred bees alive

    He turned to look at the back and saw that all the small ones that passed through were gone, he didn¡¯t worry since they would die from the poison before reaching the queens lair

    ¡°Escape path clear, time for plan B¡±

    Untying the jar at his waist he opens the lid carefully while covering his nose

    ¡°You know what this is? This little jar here has one of the most flammable materials in Denatro city, Hell Hoatzin piss, this jar alone costed me twenty silver¡±

    Yu proceeded to pour the foul smelling flammable piss on the bodies of the bees and the living and dead ones covering the shield before he stepped out of the shield and threw a lit matchstick inside, causing a burst of flames to gush out, swallowing the raging bees whole and spreading out

    ¡®There is enough vegetation around here to keep the fire going¡¯

    He started running through the tunnel, skipping the bodies he encountered after only taking two bolts

    ¡®Heh, guess I¡¯ll be the one to protect you this time¡¯ He smirked as he ran

 Business Cockblocked? Blame The Receptionist!

    Lyra was starting to feel panicky, she had been in this stalemate for five minutes already, she either had to disengage and head back to try and escape with Yu, or she had to risk getting seriously injured to kill the drones

    But the choices were nearly identical, if she tried to run with her master they wouldn¡¯t make it past the huge numbers, if she got a crippling injury here she wouldn¡¯t be able to fend off the incoming bees, either way they would die

    Without noticing it she was steadily cornered into the wall, if she didn¡¯t decide now the drones might decide for her

    The walls here were honeycombs made of wax, they had a dome shape to them that curved upward, if they got near then the drones could use the comb¡¯s dangerously to their advantage

    Suddenly an idea popped in her head, and instead of trying to get away from the wall she headed straight to it

    Seeing her do so the drones gave pursuit, the small distance between them and the wall wouldn¡¯t give her enough momentum to jump, thus they would have cornered her from all sides with her back to the wall

    Lyra seemed stubborn though and ran as fast as she could anyway, she got faster and faster but alas she couldn¡¯t make enough momentum to jump and the wall was already in front of her

    Buzz

    The drones were delighted, the mad wolf won¡¯t be able to slow down and will crash into the wall, they dove with their top speed to sting her to death, they will definitely not give her a chance to run around anymore

    Crash!

    But they were destined to be disappointed, Lyra hadn¡¯t gone mad as they thought, instead she used whatever speed she built to run up the wall, the curve gave her just the right angle to get above the drones taking a big bite of its head while the other one crashed into the wall

    Buzz

    What she didn¡¯t take into account was that the third drone was lagging behind its brothers due to its earlier position to intercept her, thus it gave it the best distance at which Lyra couldn¡¯t dodge when she jumped off the drone¡¯s back

    There was nothing she could do, she had tried her best, she did everything she could do and maybe more, still though, a feeling of regret welled up within her as she thought of the night from before, they would not be able to see the night sky again, nor listen to the breeze, their journey would end he-

    BIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

    A resounding buzz rang through the lair, it rattled the eardrums of both Lyra and the last drone who turned to his head toward the queen only to see a bolt sticking out of its waist, causing the drones instincts to scream at it to go protect the queen

    Lyra was surprised as well but as she had been falling off the dead drone she couldn¡¯t spare the time to remove her sight from the living one, thus when she saw the momentary gap of focus she instantly used it to jump slightly right of the stinger, grazing her fur just enough for some blood to come out, other than that she didn¡¯t suffer any form of poison

    The drone, noticing it missed its chance, tried to make the best of the situation by turning its stinger to toward the Lyra, but that was the worst move it could have made, owing to its rage, as Lyra was already by the stingers side, making impossible to move it back and pierce before she bit the living hell out of the mad bee, which she did

    ¡°Nice job not taking your eyes off it, we would have been goner if you did¡±

    Approached the hero of the day, Yu, with a taunting smile on his face, he really wanted to give the wolf the same taste of its medicine, which she indeed hated if her scrunched up face was any indicator

    ¡°Well I¡¯ll gloat later, the guy that crashed into the wall is getting back up, and that queen is still alive¡±

    The drone managed to slow down enough not to suffer much damage from the crash, but it still left it verbal, and Lyra made short work of it before they headed toward the screeching queenSupport the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Upon getting close enough Yu noticed that the queen hadn¡¯t taken any action other than screeching and glaring at them with its large five eyes

    ¡®Why is it not moving? Even if it can¡¯t fight it can at least run¡¯

    ¡°Be careful, it might have something up its sleeve¡±

    Yu sharpened his sight and so did Lyra, they wanted to know what the queen had hidden for them

    The two opposing partied kept glaring each other down, before an unexpected development occurred¡­

    ¡°Ha hahaha, never mind, this thing isn¡¯t just not dangerous, its particle useless¡±

    Lyra looked at Yu as if he was mad, he was laughing while they were running out of time, did he not know that hundreds of bees were flying outside, waiting to barge in any second now

    ¡°Hmm don¡¯t worry I took care of the bees outside, we got some time, enough for this massive thing to die of poison, so just stay back and wait¡±

    The reason for Yu¡¯s confidence was the fact the he recognized the queen, this was the infamous Wax Womb, a rare and special type of queen bee, while it isn¡¯t the rarest, in which case you could still find some being raised by bee keepers, they were still rare in the wild

    Why you ask? Well that is because the queen is a useless sack of eggs that can¡¯t move until the day dies when a new queen bee emerges to take its place

    -Wax Womb, Insect Branch, Bee Sub-Branch, Silver-Gold Rank

    ¡°An interesting creature, it is clearly laying eggs, but it actually developed a womb to use to nurture special eggs that would hatch a certain variant, if left be I think it would have made tens of those drones, though tens aren¡¯t much if they were just Bronze Rank¡±

    Yu headed back and got a few bolts as he mumbled to himself, shot them at the queen and waited

    It took a bit of time but the silver rank queen was finely dead three minutes later, Lyra could finish her off fast but Yu didn¡¯t want to risk it, he only read the basics of this creature before and nothing more, the creature was almost immobile but maybe it had something to protect itself

    ¡®I don¡¯t recognize the drones though, well it can¡¯t be helped, I read more than thirteen thousand creature names but that still doesn¡¯t cover even half of the beasts in Silver and Bronze Rank¡¯

    Turning his attention back to the dead queen Yu started to open her womb sack up, he need to kill the eggs too lest the cause problems later on

    But the sight that greeted him upon slashing the sack open was nothing like what he had in mind

    There was only one egg inside the womb, it was of golden color, with a shining hue around it, it seemed nothing like an egg that would house those black drones, even the creature sleeping within looked a lot more delicate and slim than those murder bees

    A grim look was plastered across Yu¡¯s face, the fact that this egg was here meant one thing

    ¡®There are two Wax Wombs queens¡¯

    That could be the only explanation, the drones came from a Wax Womb queen, and this one was a new one that rose after the previse queen died

    ¡®No wonder this queen looked a lot smaller than the book said, plus this one was growing a queen bee inside it, a lot of time would be needed for it to actually hatch¡¯

    A Wax Womb queen bee could grow only one variant inside its womb and it was usually either worker bees or drones, then there were those who would grow a single bee, the queen bee, who would replace them on the day of their hatching, for they would tear their way out of their mother¡¯s womb, killing her and taking their position as the rightful queens

    ¡®This queen bee probably became one through normal ways of feeding royal jelly when the former queen bee was making the drones, it was either sent away, or escaped some sort of attack¡¯

    Queen bees would usually be eggs that were selected by the worker bees and nurtured by placing them in a sealed cell and covering them with a lid that they could chew off when they hatched, they would also be fed Royal Jelly exclusively unlike other eggs who only got to taste it once, this made the bee develop it sexual attribute to it can mass produce fertilized eggs after mating

    ¡°Either way I need to decide what to do with the egg fast, I can either take it with me or kill it¡±

    He thought hard about it, if he took it that means he had to take tons of Royal Jelly with him, which would still not be enough, and head to take constant care of it in his travels or else even if it did hatch it wouldn¡¯t make much of a beast if it wasn¡¯t nurtured well during infancy

    ¡®Hmm, well I¡¯ll try, I won¡¯t lose much if I do, if it turns out bad I would only lose the amount of money I would have gained selling the Royal Jelly¡¯

    With his mind made up he started to cut the egg out, then he wrapped it with some of the special wax from the womb, he wrapped it to his back and headed with the wolf to the entrance to prepare for a long and arduous final battle¡­. That never happened

    Indeed, when they had arrived they had seen burned corps upon burned corpses of bees blocking the entrance, one could tell they barged in regardless of their lives, which fed the fire more and more resulting in the horrendous scene in front of them

    ¡°It must have been the queen¡¯s death throes that did this¡±

    Lyra nodded grimly at Yu¡¯s comment, they should be happy now with victory in hand, but seeing living creatures throwing their lives to the wind as if they were possessed gave them a little fright

    ¡°Let¡¯s make haste, we must collect everything before anyone comes after the fire, we can¡¯t let the mercenaries know we cut off their new business¡±

    They moved the corpses out and dealt with a few straggling bees then wen top their camp and used the jars Yu had for poison to store as much honey as possible, while the Royal Jelly was kept for the queen bee¡¯s consumption, after taking looting a bit of the corpse¡¯s martials they headed toward Calico city, leaving behind the mercenaries that arrived at the scene cursing with tears

 I Smell Treasure

    Calico city, one of the many small cities dotting the west, known for its fertile lands and flourishing agriculture, with the Denatro Forest to its south and the White Woodland to its north it made for both a safe area and a good trading hub

    On one of the unnamed roads of said city a cloaked figure entered a rundown building

    ¡°This one¡¯s worse than the last one¡±

    Muttered the figure before heading toward the receptionist

    ¡°I would like to see the quests available for low Bronze¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, hand me your card please¡±

    The figure hesitated a bit before handing her the card

    ¡°Okay Zombie-ch¡­chan? Umm I will give you the low and low-mid Bronze list of missions¡±

    The receptionist said as she handed him the card back, all while barely holding her laughter in

    ¡®Great I¡¯ll have to deal with this for the rest of my life¡¯

    Thought the cloaked Yu to himself, this scenario made him feel like the revenge took against the receptionist seem exceptionally small, sure they lost some business, but that comes and goes, he on the other hand would have to bear with it for the rest of his career as a mercenary

    ¡°Thanks¡± grunted Yu as he took the list, at least there were some missions to be done

    But as soon as he eyed the missions his mood took another dip

    ¡°Why are there only three missions? I heard the White Woodlands beasts are plenty?¡±

    ¡°Yes they are indeed plenty but they don¡¯t get near the Calico city, they only attack the towns on the road to Begaria, and sometimes they make a horde to besiege Begaria itself¡±

    ¡°They would attack a city like Begaria but would not get close to Calico? How is that even possible¡±

    The receptionist shrugged helplessly, many before him had asked the same question but she could only shrug every time, hell even the baron of Calico didn¡¯t know why the beasts didn¡¯t attack them, but he sure as hell liked to brag about it

    Turning back to the list Yu sighed at the content of the three tasks

    ¡°Find the source of the increasing Wushu Rats, track down the ancient vase thieves, kill the Spring Spalax¡¯s that are invading the farm. All these tasks take a lot of time but pay low, I assume that¡¯s why no one takes them?¡±

    ¡°Yes, locating the source of the Wushu Rats is hard since they tent to sneak around all the time, it would also take them days to get back to their nest, killing the Spring Spalax is hard since they remain far underground, as for finding the thieves it¡¯s pretty impossible since the owner has no info whatsoever, and none one in this city has contracted a tracking beast¡±

    The sudden mention of Contracted Souls caught Yu off guard, but he was soon delighted, it seems the chances of this being another world had dwindled a lot, which was a major relief to him

    ¡°Alright, thank you but I be doing any of these, may I ask though how many people are publicly known to own Contracted Souls around here?¡±

    ¡°Sure, only five people own Contracted Souls here, that would be the baron of this city, Mund Secor, his two sons, the head butler of their house, Harma, and a mercenary named Ulv. Ulv travels a lot though so he isn¡¯t in the city right now¡±

    ¡°I see; their beasts should be at the Silver Rank I presume?¡±

    ¡°Hehehe, you¡¯re a funny one aren¡¯t you? Where would this small city gain a decent Soul Stone from? It¡¯s already good the baron got himself four of them, finding a Soul Stone that can house a Silver Ranked beast would be impossible in these parts¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard this was a good trading hub so I thought they could have some Soul Stones for sale, it seems I had set my expectations too high, thank you for your time¡±

    Yu then walked out with a small smile suffused on his lips. Discovering that there were Contracted Souls meant he wouldn¡¯t be chased down for walking about with a creature, though he would be chased for other reasons

    ¡®I gotta be care full who I summon Lyra in front lest someone gets greedy and comes after me to steal the ¡°Soul Stone¡± ¡°Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Yu knew his limits, while taking down an entire colony of similarly ranked beast would give anyone the right to brag Yu knew it was only because he was good at trickery, when he is faced with a direct confrontation against warriors he could only turtle behind the shield and pray for Lyra to take care of them

    ¡®Now back to work, I need to find some decent income or else I will be bankrupt, I already spent too much in Denatro, though I¡¯ve still got ways to go before I spend it all I shouldn¡¯t dally till that day¡¯

    Thinking back to the mercenary list Yu shakes his head, it wasn¡¯t worth wasting so much time for bread crumbs

    ¡®Especially those Spring Spalax, what am I supposed to do? dig till I find the spring?¡¯

    He mockingly shook his head and continued, his next destination would be¡­.

    Suddenly Yu stopped, turned around, and went back into the rundown mercenary building, he went straight to the receptionist and told her

    ¡°On second thought I¡¯ll take the Spring Spalax job, I¡¯m short on money right now¡±

    The receptionist gave Yu ridicules look, one that clearly stated ¡®who are you trying to fool?¡¯, as a mercenary receptionist she knew good equipment when she saw one, and the young man in front of her was covered from head to toe with expensive equipment, now he comes and says he is short on money? Brother if you want the job so bad just take it! No need to spout nonsense

    Although she was puzzled why such a rich person would want to do such a bad mission she still complied and gave him the permitfor the mission, he just needed to give it to the farmland¡¯s owner and he would be led to the mission target

    ¡°Here you go, be careful out there¡±

    ¡°Thanks¡±

    Yu headed to straight toward the address of the client, he wanted to casually do it but when he thought about the profit he could gain out of this he got pretty excited

    ¡®Spring Spalax only appear near bodies of water, the fact that they¡¯re in the farm means there is some sort of large water source there, and since the nearest river is pretty far for it to be connected to the city then that means this must be an underground spring, coming this far into the human lands and proactively protecting the territory means there must be something that makes it worth the risk of fighting humans¡¯

    Sprig Spalax¡¯s were generally quite timid, thus they usual stayed underground and only attacked those who intruded into their tunnel system, they were creatures who were blind mole-rats that used their front teeth to dig instead of their arms which had no power to them, they were also truly blind unlike other mole rodents who can see a semblance of light

    While recalling the information on the beasts Yu had arrived at the farm situated to the west of the city

    ¡°Hurry up and garb the sickles, those moles are back at it again with their ugly teeth, if they so much as harm my crops I will cut your pay by half¡± An old man yelled at the farmers taking a rest, he didn¡¯t seem to care for their tired appearance as he barked at them to fight beasts

    ¡®Hmm? Farmers scaring beasts? Well the Spalaxes are weak so I guess they could shove them away if it¡¯s not a life and death situation, they will get hurt though¡¯

    Indeed, there were some wounds on the farmers, but Yu didn¡¯t concern himself with them, sure it might be unfair how their boss was treating them but he wasn¡¯t a hero that tried to fix every unjust action he saw, if he truly did that he would enter a never ending loop of trouble

    ¡°Are you Henry Mcfield?¡± Yu asked the old man

    ¡°Hmm? Yah and who are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m from the Mercenary Union, here to kill those Spring Spalax¡±

    ¡°Oh? Finely someone took the job, you guy still took your sweet time, it¡¯s been three years since I posted that job! Do you know how much trouble I-¡°

    Before the old man went into a mad spittle lecture Yu raised his hand to stop him

    ¡°If you want the job done quickly lead me to the area of the beasts¡±

    ¡°What? Boy watch your tone with me, I¡¯ll have you know I own three fields in Calico city, one word from me and I¡¯ll have you thrown out!¡±

    ¡°Go ahead, wait another three years for someone to take them job¡± Yu shrugged at the seething old man, he didn¡¯t like haughty people and had no reason to tolerate him, plus he had the advantage in this situation

    Old Henry was now boiling from top to bottom, but when he thought how he could finely get rid of those rodents he calmed himself, it wouldn¡¯t be too late to teach the brat a lesson after he finished the job, though he couldn¡¯t actually get him thrown out he still had some idea¡¯s in his mind

    ¡°Okay follow me¡±

    The old man then led Yu to the outskirts of the fields, where bumps and holes could be seen all over a barren piece of land, it seems the Spalaxes had made this place their home in the past three years

    ¡°This is where those darned beasts live, they usually get out at night to grab my vegetables, damn thieves, I¡¯d whack them back into their mother¡¯s hole if I ever saw them myself¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just call the farmers to deal with them? Its broad daylight how come they were out?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me? I thought you mercenaries knew beasts like your own mothers, why don¡¯t you go figure that out by yourself¡± The old man snorted and headed back toward his house

    Yu ignored the old man¡¯s rude comments and turned to the plants nearby, he inspected the bite marks and sure enough it belonged to newborns

    ¡°Hmm, I didn¡¯t read much on this species but I know they can only reach silver in their entire life, and the beasts don¡¯t have any combat power expect for their ability to shoot out week water jets from their mouth, of course if you let them bite you then you would get your arms ripped clean off but they are slow enough for even me to evade them¡±

    He stepped on the earth and felt its roughness with his hands

    ¡°It¡¯s very soft, must be the constant tilling and the moister coming from the water, which means it can¡¯t be that far deep¡±

    Taking a step back he crunched the numbers in his mind

    ¡®All in all I suppose the spring is pretty close to the ground level, possibly ninety meters deep, the amount of Spalaxes should be around ten considering the amount of food they steal from the field, the new ones do not pose any threat, now what I need is a way to dig down while maintaining the ability to fight¡¯

    He thought about sending the snake down to hypnotize the rodents to sleep, but with how alert they are it wouldn¡¯t work, plus they were blind, so it wouldn¡¯t work anyway. Then he thought about laying nets on the surface of the well he builds so anyone that comes out of the wall would be stuck, but they could bury him instead of fighting directly

    ¡°Lyra won¡¯t be of much help either hmmm¡±

    Yu kept thinking hard, and an idea soon popped into his head

 Smelly Rats

    Old man Henry was sitting on his bench after throwing a mad fit at his workers, he was mad with the attitude of the mercenary that came here and he had to vent some way or the other, he figured his useless workers who couldn¡¯t get rid of the beasts were to blame

    ¡°If that bastard couldn¡¯t kill them I¡¯ll give him a piece of my mind¡±

    Just as he was thinking to himself how to berate him if he suddenly quite he saw Yu walking back into the city

    Stunned the old man rubbed his eyes to check again but the person was indeed the mercenary that had just been back talking him

    ¡°He already gave up?¡± His surprise soon turned to anger, how dare this mercenary talk back to him when he couldn¡¯t even handle a few rats? so he practically ran to Yu screaming in rage

    ¡°You imbecile! How dare you act all high and mighty when you- ¡°Again Yu raised his hands to silence the old man, then he said with a dead cold tone

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get my equipment; you don¡¯t expect me to dig with my nails do you? I was merely scouting the situation¡±

    This made the old man swallow all his words back, and his face turned red from embarrassment, in his anger he forgot Yu had come here with nothing on him, he must have looked stupid to the farmer¡¯s now

    ¡°By the way this is going to take a few days, those moles aren¡¯t coming out so I¡¯ll have to go in, tell your farmers to let me to do my job when I come here¡± The old man nodded at Yu¡¯s words in silence, any other time he would have made things harder for Yu but now he wanted nothing more than to get out of this embarrassing situation

    Thus Yu got the right to come in and out as he wished

    ¡®Great, part one of the plan finished itself on its own, never thought the old man would make things this easy for me¡¯

    Yu had actually needed to make sure nobody was watching when he acted, and now that he gained easy access he could pull of his ridicules plan with no one the wiser

    He went to the city and shopped for an hour and came back with two large bags and a shovel, the farmers thought he brought digging equipment so they let him in without problem, but once Yu was at the place he emptied the bags content on the ground without care, after all they were just rocks

    ¡°Now they think I carry equipment, this would make transporting the treasures out easy, hopefully there is a lot though, I don¡¯t want to carry this many rocks every day¡±

    He summoned Lyra and told her to start rolling or carrying rocks onto the land, and watch out not to get near the holes for they may hide the rats, which she diligently did

    Tak tak tak

    Not long after they started working they heard the sound of rocks being crunched

    ¡°They¡¯re here¡± ¡°Wu Wu¡±

    Tak tak tak Baam

    A blue colored large blind rodent suddenly blasted out of the ground beneath Lyra, but as she was well prepared she instantly leaped off while a bolt headed straight toward the rat, hitting him in his shoulder, the rodent screamed and buried back into the ground

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that thing just now was half a meter long, is it really just a Spring Spalax?¡±

    As far as Yu knew they usually thirty centimeters long, the fact that they are larger by two thirds their original size meant something was very wrong

    ¡°Better keep our distance, Lyra throw the rocks instead of rolling them there, if they come out I¡¯ll shoot them¡±

    So she did, and merely minutes later a Spalax blasted out again and screamed at them

    ¡®Isn¡¯t this the same one? That bolt was poisoned just now how could it still be alive?¡¯

    Noting the wound on the shoulder Yu gets suspicious, so he shot the rodent again, this time in the chest, forcing it back into the ground again

    But merely minutes later the same Spalax popped its ugly head out, provoking Yu who was out of reachThe story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Hmm seems like they have poison immunity, well no matter, they can¡¯t get t me anyway¡±

    The reason Yu was so sure of himself was because the Spalax¡¯s teeth looked weird, they were a lot less jagged like he read, instead they looked sharper, which was indeed more deadly but it also meant it couldn¡¯t dig through tough ground like the one beneath him, only the soft and moist earth above the spring

    So he ignored the screeching rodent and helped Lyra throw rocks on to the soft earth, he wanted to finish this as fast as he could

    Spooooooooo

    A sudden pillar of water shot toward t=Yu as he was bending to carry another rock, it caught him off guard for a moment so he didn¡¯t have time to dodge

    Splash!

    A rock was thrown into the water disrupting its momentum thus when it reached Yu it only threw him back, barely doing any damage

    ¡°WUU¡±

    ¡°No don¡¯t engage, lets retreat a bit¡±

    Lyra seemed like she wanted to give the rat a piece of her mind, but after considering its friends might pop out anytime form under her she decided against it and regrouped with Yu further back

    ¡°These guys¡­ I think their variants¡±

    The soaked Yu shared his opinion with Lyra, he didn¡¯t mind the sudden attack, after getting hit by the weaker version he could tell he would only have a bruise if he had been hit by the real one at this distance

    ¡°These guys shouldn¡¯t have such sharp teeth, nor a water spurt of this power, if this was at close range it would actually do quite the damage, whatever is under this earth had enough energy to actually cause a variation in these creatures, it can¡¯t be that simple¡±

    A variant beast was one that branched out the evolutionary tree of its species, the new route it took could be better or worse than its original evolution, or it could happen to adapt in order to survive, Lyra, as an example was a variant even before Yu used sacrifice, as a Wailing Wolf should never have fire elements in its blood

    ¡°Let¡¯s judge the furthest distance they could shoot strong water form, once we can bare the attack easily or dodge it then you will continue to throw rocks while I shoot them, even if they are immune to poison I don¡¯t think they can actually survive it if I fill them up with it¡±

    Yu got closer to them while lifting a rather large rock, when a water beam came at him he defended with the rock but was again pushed back to the ground, so he got up and took a few steps back, he repeated this action until he judged the right distance at which he could take it head on then Lyra started throwing rocks form that distance while he shot the buggy mole

    ¡°How come he¡¯s dodging? I thought he¡¯s blind? No how can he even see me to shoot¡±

    Although Yu couldn¡¯t see that good from this distance he could still make out a layer of skin over the rodent¡¯s eyes, just like the original Spalax, which meant that the rodent was indeed blind

    ¡°Oh! I got it, when you lose one thing another gets stronger, Lyra make some noise¡±

    Lyra looked at Yu weirdly for a few moments before complying and howling to the sky

    PShhhh thunk!

    A rather large bold flew straight toward the Spalax, hitting it right in the chest, filling its lungs with poison deadlier than the previous one, this was the drones poison that Yu used with his new larger cross bolt

    ¡°As I thought, these guys use sound to discern their surroundings, it seemed though he was surprised rather than confused, they could probably operate even under such high frequency

    It was a lucky shot but the Spalax was dead nonetheless, now they could have some freedom when throwing the rocks

    Such happy thoughts didn¡¯t last though as another head popped out of the dirt, then another, and another, more and more heads popping out until almost twenty Spring Spalaxes could be seen screeching toward their comrade¡¯s killer, with some of the shooting beams of water out

    ¡°Whack a mole advanced addition?¡± Yu dodged whiles cracking a joke, he wouldn¡¯t get hurt but he didn¡¯t wanna be soaked wet with rat water, though it couldn¡¯t be helped that he got splashed a few times

    Lyra on the other hand hadn¡¯t gotten a drop on her as she gracefully danced about

    ¡°Show off¡± Lyra smirked at Yu¡¯s comment and changed her trajectory to him thus even more water came in his direction coloring poor Yu¡¯s body with some stinky water

    ¡°Oh god I think I¡¯ma hurl¡±

    He really wanted to run away now but he instead threw more rocks while he was soaked wet while Lyra started seriously distracting the rodents as she zig zagged to them and back aggroing them further

    ¡®Soon, anytime now it should happen¡¯ Yu stared at the dirt patiently, he was waiting for his sacrifice to bear fruit, and sure enough physics didn¡¯t disappoint as the ground housing the rodents suddenly quaked and fell in, dragging not only the rodents and rocks indie, but even some of the surrounding plants and earth, making it look like a sink hole had appeared

    ¡°Hehe bet you guys didn¡¯t think you would die by your own doing did you? You¡¯ve been digging around here for the past three years, while you guys know how to make the tunnels not collapse on themselves you sure made use of every possible space you could to house more tunnels, but this makes it very brittle to any strong pressure, every Spalax in their right now was probably crushed by the earth caving in on them¡±

    The surviving Spalax could only respond by thrashing around, if they weren¡¯t dead or crippled they would at least be injured for they had half their body inside the dirt and the sudden collapse struck them unprepared, no even if they were they would still be buried

    Lyra didn¡¯t dally much like Yu who was spiting the stinky rodents for soaking him wet, she went ahead and dispatched whatever remaining functional Spalax, making short work of them

    ¡°Great job, now their probably all dead, we just need to dig and get that treasure, hopefully it¡¯s still in one piece though¡±

    Yu knew he would risk causing a cave in but he knew no other way to get them out or go in himself, he thought about smoking them out but they probably had a lot of ventilation systems underground, if he tried washing them out he would need too much water that he couldn¡¯t get in without making it look obvious

    ¡°Guess it¡¯s time to find the truth¡± Said Yu as he stepped into the moist earth ready to unreath- ¡°Wuu Wuuu Wuuuu¡±

    ¡°Hmm, what is it?¡± ¡°Wuu Wuu¡± The wolf started waving its paw in front of its nose as it backed away from Yu

    ¡°¡­...The truth can wait I guess, the shower cannot¡±

 One Is All I Can Give

    Within the empty clearing of earth in the middle of the field a newly dressed and washed Yu was standing with a shovel in hand, Lyra was behind him with a grumpy look on her face dejectedly looking at the dirt in blame

    ¡°Haaa that was a great shower, now it¡¯s time to get to work, this treasure aint gonna dig itself out¡±

    Yu started to shovel the soft dirt out while he hummed about, the wolf growled at her master before hesitantly following suite and digging the sludgy ground

    They used cross shaped wood to keep the dirt from caving in, nine meters wasn¡¯t that long of a distance when you had a plus sized wolf digging down with resentment, thus it only took Yu about ten hours before they hit a smooth rocky surface

    ¡°There was a cave underneath?¡±

    This meant that not all the Spalaxes were dead, they could be staying in the cave

    ¡°Well they are rodents so only some of them may have stayed here, plus the treasure could be down there too¡±

    Yu unsummoned Lyra and climbed up using the rope he had set for bringing up the dirt buckets, digging through rock needed quite the effort and some new equipment, so he covered up the hole and gathered some rocks to fill his bag as a decoy before heading to the cities privet baths after dropping his stuff at the hotel

    ¡°Haaaa¡±

    Yu let out a breath as he submerged himself in hot water, there was nothing more enjoyable than a hot bath after some hard work

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Yu felt a tugging at his mind, it was a weird feeling as if something wanted to get out but at the same time get in, he felt quite confused at first but then the tugging disappeared while some feelings were transmitted to him

    ¡®Just now, was it Lyra that communicated with me?¡¯

    He heard of the strength between a Guardian and the Grimoire holder before but it was the first time he experienced the feelings of his own directly, he didn¡¯t know what caused the sudden spike in his bond but he was happy nonetheless

    Thus he summoned Lyra to celebrate but as soon as the hexagram was complete the emerging wolf jumped right into the bath causing no small amount of water to splash about

    Yu was surprised to see Lyra scrubbing her paws together in water, she seemed pretty upset as she tenaciously rubbed the dirt out of her paws

    ¡®Oh crap I forgot she had been digging all day¡¯ Remembering Lyra¡¯s hard effort and the fact that she dug three quarters of the hole herself made Yu feel quite ashamed of how insensitive he was

    Knowing saying anything would only ignite her held back fury Yu instead grabs a rather large brush from the side of the bath and started brushing the dirt off the fur, at which Lyra paused looking back at him and then continued on with her paws, she rubbed them with a lot less resentment now though

    ¡®Hmm guess I will need some stuff to help her groom her fur in the future¡¯

    Lyra was his partner, he had been taking care of himself only all this time and forgot that all his summons were just like him, beings with emotions, they weren¡¯t tools or characters from a game which he could use to his advantage, they were living breathing entities who were entitled to freedom just as much as he was

    ¡®Which reminds me, I haven¡¯t let the fish out yet¡­¡¯

    He felt guilty about having remembered his original guardian only now, but looking at the hot water he didn¡¯t if the fish would be able to survive this heat, nor did he know if it would fit in the bathtub, the page only showed a picture of the creature, he did not know how that picture translated into reality

    ¡®When we get to the spring underground I should let it out, if the treasure is a water element one, which I¡¯m pretty sure it is, I might as well give it to it at the time¡¯

    Lyra was soon squeaking clean, after which she got out the bath and shook herself dry, then she looked at Yu who was now dirty again and smirked

    ¡°Hehe well guess I deserved that huh, alright sleep well, we will be going through rock tomorrow¡±

    Yu then unsummoned Lyra and proceeded to take another shower, then he went ahead and bought some items from the night market and went to sleep, dreaming of shovels and buckets of dirt

    ¡­.

    The next morning Yu was back with his oversized two bags, went through the farm unhindered, and arrived at the covered hole before making his way down and summoning Lyra

    ¡°There should be four or maybe three Spring Spalax down there, there can¡¯t be that many since they mostly live in the tunnels, and since their new teeth can¡¯t even bite through tough ground they sure can¡¯t bite through rock¡±

    Saying so Yu heaved his pickaxe above his head and struck down, the sound of cracking accompanied his strike

    ¡°I think my shoulder just dislocated¡±

    Yu squeezed the words out of his mouth, he really didn¡¯t put much thought when he swung the pickaxe, now his shoulders and palms were ringing madly from the recoil

    But in order to finish the job he braced himself and started making swing after swing, putting as much force as he could in his arms, but even after tens of swings the ground barely cracked

    ¡®Lyra can¡¯t use tools and she obviously can¡¯t dig through this rock, and I can tell this isn¡¯t going anywhere, I need to crack it open one way or another¡¯

    Yu thought hard about his options, he could use the rocks weight combined with dropping them from the top of the hole to try and break it with blunt force, but if it could withstand the combined weight of the whole dirt above with all the rocks he threw in how could the rock make a dent?

    ¡®No in that scenario the whole rock bed took the brunt force of the fall, now I¡¯m focusing on one point, it¡¯s quite different¡¯The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    That was the only thing that came to mind right now, but just as he was about to usommen Lyra and climb out he suddenly heard the sound of crunching from under him

    ¡®?? Is it the Spalax? But I thought they couldn¡¯t go thro- ¡®

    His thoughts were cut short as the ground beneath him caved, he didn¡¯t have enough time to grasp at the rope before both he and Lyra fell down

    ¡°Ahhh!¡± Splash!

    Yu¡¯s scream as he fell down was soon drowned, literary, as they fell into water

    Yu didn¡¯t know how to swim so he panicked, but when he felt no current he realized it was probably a lake so he started swimming up, he didn¡¯t get far before a huge shadow came up on him, opining its large mouth to eat him whole

    Bum

    He heard the muffled sound of something being hit hard, then another maw was aimed at him but this time it grabbed him and pulled him out of the water

    ¡°Cough cough, cough! Thank you, that was close¡±

    Lyra grunted ins response, gazing at the walls around her

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?....¡± Yu lifted his head to ask but soon realized the mess the they were in. Looking at the walls he could see close to ten Spalaxes clinging to the rock with their front feet that had three long and sharp nails, while their back feet looked to be some sort of fins, their teeth was sharper than any of its brothers on the surface, and in place of its useless eyes there were actually gills

    ¡°These things aren¡¯t even Spring Spalaxes anymore, this is an entire new species¡±

    Yu really wanted to take a closer look at this new species, the fact that he was probably the first to discover this species gave him some weird sort of pride, but his reverie was interrupted by the sound of splashing water, as he turned to the side he saw the huge maw of the creature that had just tried to swallow him, along with the rest of its body come out, it was twice as big as the other ones clinging to the walls, its teeth sharper, only the blood seeping out of its waist toned down its rather dangerous vibe

    ¡°WU!¡± Lyra taunted the huge Spalax, who sharply turned to her, as did all the other on the wall, seeing as she got their attention she gestured to Yu with her eye then sprinted toward the huge beast

    ¡®Get out of here?¡¯ That is what Yu understood from her but when he looked at the hole all the way to the top of the cave, and the slippery round walls he figured he had no way to get out other than summon the spider to make a rope

    ¡®Bet these boys aint letting us go though, they seem to have lost any timidness their original ancestors had¡¯

    The new species of Spalaxes looked ferocious if anything, and seeing the water jets that were spurted at high speed toward Lyra, Yu could tell they were more than a few times stronger than their predecessor as well

    ¡®They don¡¯t seem to be attacking me though, come to think of it they only looked toward Lyra when she made a sound, could it be that they completely switched to a vibration sensory system?¡¯

    Fish that lived in dark waters could sense the vibration in water and the flow to tell apart their surroundings, but this place was only dimly lit as the lake itself had some light shining the place at the bottom

    ¡®Right, the possibly spent more time in the tunnels around the cave, thus instead of taking a route to fix their useless eyes they embraced the new system with the other changes, but instead of just water it could be that they used sound or air to sense the transmitted signals¡¯

    Yu figured he should put the theory to the test, so he slowly took out a bolt and threw it a bit away from him

    Peng , Splash!

    The sound of metal hitting earth was soon followed by a high speed water jet, precisely hitting the bolt and breaking it

    ¡®Whoa that¡¯s some deadly pressure¡¯ Even Lyra at the side saw the result which made her dodge even more carefully

    ¡®Sound it is, the feathers had generated just enough airflow not to make a sound but they didn¡¯t respond to that, but their speed and accuracy was terribly great, though as long as I don¡¯t make enough vibrations they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to sense me¡¯

    Yu tested his dangerous theory by moving his feet across the earth ever so slowly, not lifting them and steeping but rather sliding them forward, sure enough none of the Spalaxes turned to him

    ¡®I must look like a big rock to them or some plant, now I just need to get Lyra out, well unsummoning her would be enough but then I would make a sound¡¯

    Though he could try and chant silently, but that was something he didn¡¯t know how to do before

    ¡®I could only try; I really can¡¯t do anything without alarming everyone one¡¯

    So he tried to chant within his mind, he found it pretty hard and hardly pronounced the words in his own mind, though he could normally say them within his mind but when he imbued the purpose of the summon into them he found it harder to think than it is to talk

    ¡®Ugh, I feel dizzy¡¯ He couldn¡¯t complete the chant as a wave of pressure rang through his brain, his failed attempt gave him even more pain

    ¡°Wu WU!¡± Lyra was dodging and trying to grab as much attention as she could get, she also seems to have figured out that they responded to sound and made more noise to try and cover for Yu, uncaring if she brought even more pressure to herself

    Seeing this Yu gritted his teeth and tried once more, forcing his mind to chant the words in his head as he bore the painful process, as he did a flickering hexagram quietly started taking shape beneath the moving Lyra, its color seemed pale to its original

    ¡°A-¡° ¡°WUUU¡±

    Yu almost grunted loudly but Lyra noticed it before the Spalax as she loudly shouted to cover for him, her quick response saved his ass before he exposed himself

    ¡®Damn it!¡¯ Yu clasped his hands over his mouth and started chanting in his head again, he forced his mind to bear even more pain as he tried to go quickly through the process, his efforts were not in vain as the hexagram once again manifested beneath Lyra, it was more clear this time, but it seemed to flicker harder than before, with each flicker Yu felt his mind being tugged hard on, but the hexagram was already almost complete, just as it was about to unsummon Lyra it suddenly flickered out of existence, followed by a gut wrenching pain assaulting Yu, making him almost faint from the his overloaded mind

    ¡®¡­I can¡¯t..do it..¡¯ Yu could feel that he was at his limit, he knew another bout of this would render him unconscious, to the mercy of the beasts

    ¡®She can¡¯t get near them because that huge one keeps shooting at her from the water edge, with its back to the water like this she could only approach its front, and there is no way she could win against those huge teeth, only by taking out this risk factor would she be able to deal with the rest¡¯

    Yu knew this was the only choice, his poison blots wouldn¡¯t help, his shield would not help either, he could only depend on Lyra, and to do so he would have to give her a chance

    Seeing as he had only this option Yu grit his teeth hard and started chanting again, this time he didn¡¯t rush, nor did he focus on the words too much, he merely chanted just as he would when used his mouth to portray the words, the pain was still as menacing though, it was unbearable, but he grit his teeth through nonetheless, his fingers dug into his palms, eyes turned red from the pressure his brain was going through, every cell in his body was going against him but he only had one goal in mind, to give Lyra one chance, for it was the only thing he could do

    A hexagram materialized beneath Lyra, unlike the previous tries this one had a solid structure and did not flicker, it shifted Lyra out of existence within a second

    ¡®Almost, Almost!¡¯ Not satisfied with just unsummoning Lyra after going through all the pain Yu kept chanting, the words he used this time were ones he had never heard of before, his mind seemed to manifest them on its own, like making a poem on the spot, except in a language he didn¡¯t even know

    The hexagram that had been about to disappear suddenly paused, then slowly, ever so slowly it made its way to the large Spalax, once it was directly above it its stricter took a rapid reverse, with it a silhouette came down with an open maw, ripping the Spalaxes neck out

    ¡®Lyra¡­. This is all I could do¡­ its¡­up ¡­to you¡­...¡¯

    Yu¡¯s mind was soon devoured by darkness as blood seeped through his mouth, he fell onto the ground with a thud, but no sooner did a shield materialize around him, shielding him form the water jets coming toward him

    ¡°AWUU¡± Seeing her master fall down injured Lyra howled to the sky, but didn¡¯t go to help him up, he was safe within the shield for now and she would not waste the chance he had given her, ten minutes, again she was restricted by this time limit, this time though she would not fail, she could not fail, she will not disappoint her master!

    ¡°Awuuuuu¡± Howling again to the sky Lyra burst off the dead body, and started her battle against the odds

 One Is All I Need

    Lyra sped through the water jets being shot at her, nimbly avoiding every one of them, she used her senses and physique to her utmost power

    As she dogged she scouted, one, two, five¡­ Twelve enemies, that¡¯s how many there were, two clinging to the ceiling and ten to the walls

    Locating the lowest of them she changed her direction to it, all while she paid heed to attack coming from all her directions, horizontal and vertical alike

    Within mere seconds she was already next to the roundish wall, the whole cave was like a sphere, only the ground was semi-flat, which was good for Lyra as she used her momentum to jump and run along the walls, she ran up with a slant, thus she reached above the clinging rodent which turned its head to blast her with a water jet

    But Lyra didn¡¯t even give it a chance, as before it even turned its head she had already leaped down, taking the head of the Spalax with her before she ran down the wall and used the new momentum of falling to facilitate her climb of the huge rock on the ground, which she leaped off with unprecedented power, sending her face to face with two of the Spalaxes on the adjacent wall

    The Spalaxes were faster than her though this time as they shot toward her airborne self, alas the attacks were destined to miss as she twisted her body midair, letting the jets fly above and below her while she continued one her way toward the rodents, as soon as the first was within reach she used both her front and back feet to press down on it making a another leap while it was sent catering toward the ground, dying in a horrible fall

    Then before the other could charge up its attack she grabbed it by the neck with her maw and ran across the wall once again heading to the highest point she could reach on which the second highest Spalax was, but he was read with another shot as he blasted the water toward her

    That¡¯s when Lyra threw the one in her mouth toward the water, blocking the shot and sending another one into the ground to die, this gave her the opportunity to swipe at the rodent causing both of them to lose balance, falling to the ground

    As they fell the others shot toward them while the one falling with her charged up to shoot, although its sensors were going high wire, but instead of dogging Lyra kicked the falling Spalax into the water jets trajectory while it shot its own jets randomly hitting two of its own companions, sending one of them to the ground while the other managed to cling to the wall mid-fall

    The kick provided Lyra with enough power to make it to the nearest wall, which she started to descend with as much speed as she could, the other six rodents were on the opposing side of the cave, and she had to get to them before time ran out

    The Spalax had figured her strategy out by now so they started to climb higher, without enough momentum she couldn¡¯t reach them, thus they could blast her until she dies

    When Lyra made it half way through the cave the others had made it up the walls and started bombarding her with shots, but they were much easier to doge as they were only half the amount, but now she had to worry about reaching the rodents high up

    As she ran she saw the holes in the walls that they used as tunnels and her gaze sharpened, when she reached the wall she didn¡¯t start running up, instead she used the holes as footholds, she would put a foot in and use it to propel herself up the wall, this made dodging a lot harder but she had no other way to make it up

    She got closer and closer but it made dodging harder and harder, and soon she was hit with a blast, sending her down the wall

    ¡°WU¡± She thrust her front foot into one of the holes as she was descending, ensuing a bone rattling crack as her foot dislocated, but she ignored the pain and used her other feet to run back up, putting more focus into dodging, once again she made it to the same distance before two shots hit her square in the shoulder, but she thrust the same foot into the wall, preventing her from falling, but twisting her foot more

    The rodents who didn¡¯t expect this sudden sacrifice hadn¡¯t prepared another shot when she quickly sprinted up, grabbing the nearest Spalax with her mouth while kicking another down, causing her to rise up with the rodent in her mouth where she once again threw it, this time in close range at its next companion causing them to fall and take another one who was under them with them, their entanglement with each other prevented them from latching into the wall, causing a triple kill to occur

    But the wolf was not done as she continued her ascent reaching the last Spalax on the wall, and with a mighty swipe she sent it catering to the ground, while she herself fell into the water

    Splash~

    Lyra was submerged in the weird water, ever since they fell the first time she felt something unnerving about it, and she wanted to get out more than anything, but she could feel that while it did make her uncomfortable it still seemed to sooth her injury, but she didn¡¯t linger for there was one more Spalax, and that was the other one clinging to the roof, near the hole

    She popped her head out of the water, but a water jet came toward her direction, she expected it so she instantly submerged herself back, making the water jet lose its momentum when it hit the water, before she jumped out onto the groundThis content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Then there was a period of silence, Lyra gazing at the high up Spalax, while it poked it head toward her direction, then it turned to the direction of the shield housing Yu, and back onto her, a few more seconds passed in silence before the Spalax unexpectedly climbed into the hole which they dug out and continued to climb up. Soon going out of sight

    Lyra breathed in heavily, and let out a triumph howl, signaling her victory, against the odds, against death, and most importantly, against her own failure

    ¡°AWUUUUUUUUUUUUUU¡±

    The cave resounded her howl, echoing it again and again, until it got weaker, and faded the dark tunnels

    As the high feeling of victory started to fade, pain reared its ugly head and assaulted the poor Lyra, causing pitiful wines to escape her mouth, but she grits her sharp teeth and made her way toward Yu, flipping him over

    ¡°Wu wu¡± She tried to wake him up but he did not respond, his tickling breath seemed to be getting weaker with time, his took much internal damage in his forceful attempt at challenging what was beyond his capabilities

    ¡°Wuuu wuuu¡± She continued to nudge him, she wanted him to wake up, she wanted to show him that she didn¡¯t need saving, she wanted to show him that he could depend on her, she really, really¡­ didn¡¯t want to lose him

    ¡°Wu¡­wu¡­¡±

    Her cried were muffled as she gazed at his face, a raging sea of emotions seemed to be brewing within her bright eyes, one that didn¡¯t belong to a beast

    Suddenly she turned her head to the back, peering at the water, she remembered the soothing sensation her wounds had gone through, maybe, just maybe¡­

    She didn¡¯t hesitate any longer as dragged Yu into the underground lake, submerging both of them in

    The annoying feeling of suffocation stung her again, but her wounds seemed to feel better by the second, so she continued to submerge both of them under the water, only going out for a breath when she saw bumbles rise out of Yu¡¯s mouth

    ¡­¡­

    The darkness was not scary as many thought. For me, the darkness was only the other side of light, for they are born from each other, so how could something born out of pure light be evil?

    And how could something evil birth the light into the world?

    No they merely didn¡¯t understand, for darkness was the same as light, they only feared the unknown, the feared what they could not see, only when the light shown in the darkness, when they saw with their own eyes what was beneath its cover, would they accept it

    I wasn¡¯t like them, I didn¡¯t need to see, the mystery kept me guessing, it kept me intrigued, it made me seek to uncover the truth, and if it wasn¡¯t there, if it was unknown, I would not be dismayed, I would not turn my back to it, I would embrace it, embrace the unknown, for it only meant the infinite possibilities that could happen

    ¡­¡­

    ¡°HAAAH COUGH Cough! Cough-ugh, haaah haaah..haa..¡±

    Yu coughed up all the water in his lunges as he wheezed in between breaths trying to breath, it was as if he hadn¡¯t breathed in ages as he took in air greedily

    ¡°Where.. Lyra?¡±

    He quickly surveyed his surroundings and found that he was still in the same cave, he could tell by the nearby lake, but other than that everything else was too dark to make out

    ¡°Wuu?¡±

    Hearing the familiar sound Yu hastily turned his head toward the lovable wolf, seeing that she was okay he felt no small amount of relief, he quickly adopted a smile as he brushed his hand against her fur

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay¡± That¡¯s all he said, he was truly glad she was okay, he didn¡¯t care whether she won or lost, he really only wanted her to live at that second, that second where he thought of nothing but giving her the chance to live

    ¡°Wuu~¡±

    Lyra rubbed her head against his hand while she gazed warmly into his eyes, glad that he too had tided through this

    ¡°Hm?¡± Yu noticed her front foot slightly bruised so he asked her if she was hurt but she shook her head and looked at the lake

    ¡°Did you use the lake to heal it?¡± Following her sight Yu looked at the lake as well, he was slightly puzzled, how could that water heal her, if it did it couldn¡¯t be normal by any means

    Yu wobbly got up and headed toward the lake, he scooped a little and drank it

    ¡°Hmm, it makes me feel energized, come to think of it I feel a lot better than before¡±

    ¡°Wuu¡± ¡°Ahh did you use the lake to heal me? No wonder I¡¯m all wet and was choking with water, smart choice though¡± ¡°Wuu~¡± ¡°Hehe¡±

    Yu smirked at Lyra¡¯s proud face, then he peered into the water, he wanted to see what was shining at the bottom

    ¡°Hmm? Hey isn¡¯t that!¡± Yu¡¯s eyes suddenly widened like saucers, he suddenly dived into the water leaving the surprised Lyra behind

    ¡°Wuu Wuu!¡± She didn¡¯t know what got into him but she didn¡¯t want to go into the water anymore either, of course is he seemed hurt she would dive too but seeing as he had gone in on his own accord she believed he had something to do

    And he didn¡¯t disappoint, emerging seconds later with a shining plant in hand, the plant was white all over, shining brighter than fire, but it was gradually losing that light, and it was happening very quickly

    ¡°As I thought this is the famous Pure Peony, I had never thought I would ever see it with my own eyes, well I didn¡¯t recall its existence until only now so that could be part of the reason, but it should be extinct, it is said that this plant had been hunted down into extinction a few thousand years ago, because once a beast eats it, it may purify its element, giving it a massive boost that could give it the chance to make a leap toward the next Rank, everyone was crazy about this thing¡±

    Naturally something that could make a beast leap toward the next Rank would be sought after by all and any who tamed a beast, of course this plant could not be moved from its place thus it had to be eaten on the spot, nor was it know how it reproduced, so it soon went extinct due to the greed of humanity

    ¡°You should quickly eat it, don¡¯t worry there are five more down there, the others would have their share as well¡±

    Yu held the plant toward Lyra but she refused and shook her head vehemently

    ¡°Why? It¡¯s really good for you¡± Again Lyra shook her head and pointed at the water

    ¡°Hmm?....oh crap, I forgot you had both fire and darkness attribute, this planet had lived in water and it purifies, hmm though I remember even darkness beasts could benefited from it, well maybe the books weren¡¯t so accurate, after all how could such a legendary plant exist¡±

    Shrugging Yu looked at the plant in his hands, it would soon die and he would lose one of the five opportunities

    ¡°Lyra, I¡¯ll have to unsummon you, I think I know who could use this the most¡±

    Lyra nodded at Yu¡¯s word, she also wanted to go back to be healed, and it was about time that one finely made its appearance

    Unsummoning Lyra Yu looked at the water and braced himself, he then started chanting another string of unintelligible words, excitement and intrigue filled him, he would finely summon it for the first time

 Somethingâ€™s Fishy

    Within the underground cave a very small hexagram came into existence above the lake, it instantly dropped something into the water and disappeared, the whole process was overly simple, making it look anticlimactic for the first guardian¡¯s appearance

    Plop

    The creature that plopped into the water was a small deep blue fish, two green round iris¡¯s rest in a silver sclera, a stubby back fin, and two small side fins rest at the side, the fish¡¯s size wasn¡¯t long or slim, nor was it short or fat, it had a medium attribute in all aspects, seemingly an ordinary fish that you could lose sight of pretty quickly once others fish were around

    Yu stared at the normal looking fish for a few seconds, if he didn¡¯t know this was his guardian he would have thought it wasn¡¯t even a beast

    ¡°Erm, Hello, I think I¡¯m terribly late for introduction but I¡¯m Yu¡± Yu introduced himself to the silent fish, while it might not understand he was sure he could convey a thing or two through the connection

    But the fish surprisingly nodded at him, it was like the ¡¯Continue on¡¯ type of nod, perplexing Yu a little

    ¡°Well, I have neglected you by not calling you out sooner so I thought I¡¯d apologize, I also happened to have found something that would be useful to you, here you go, eat this and you might grow really strong, if it isn¡¯t enough there is more down the lake, just make sure you leave two for the others¡±

    Yu put the dying plant into the water as he spoke, he was really excited to see how it would affect the unblemished fish who was in its infancy of a beast, if he purified its element early on that could make its advancement smooth sailing

    The fish didn¡¯t look too anxious though as it stared at the dying peony, it didn¡¯t move toward it but instead looked around the cave with its green eyes, it seemed to be searching around, but after seeing nothing of what it had in mind it looked back at the peony before swimming toward it and swallowing it with one bite

    After the fish ate the flower nothing happened it just stopped moving and did nothing

    ¡°If one isn¡¯t enough you can get more from down there you know; I¡¯m sure it would have an affect soon¡± Yu tried to convince the fish to go eat more but it didn¡¯t seem head his words as it stared at him silently

    ¡®Does it want me to go get them myself? Maybe it can¡¯t swim too far down in this density of elemental water? No that would make no sense¡¯

    Yu didn¡¯t have to ponder too much though as soon a blinding light erupted from the fish, lighting up the entire cave around it

    The light continued to shine for a few more short seconds before receding

    ¡®What was that¡¯

    Yu stared in surprise at the emerged fish, it looked nothing like its previous dull appearance, in fact there was almost nothing related between them if the eyes weren¡¯t taken into consideration

    What appeared when the light receded was a sleek white fish, its whole body radiated a white light on its own, the fin on its back and tail were connected peculiarly closing and opening like a flower blooming, while the ones on its side took a long and thin shape adding to the appeal of the fish, its eyes remained the same though not affected by the drastic change whatsoever

    ¡°Holy¡­just one Pure Peony is enough to do that?¡± Yu now understood why those from the olden days hunted it down to extension, with a huge change like this how could they leave such a treasure alone

    Thinking about all the things he could do with the remaining five Yu started getting giddy, he wanted to summon the others right away and empower them, but he first looked toward the fish, and asked it if it wanted more, after all it really deserved more after his neglecting

    Seeing as it just awkwardly stared at him in silence he smiled and bid farewell to it before unsummoning it and summoning the spider

    ¡°Hey little fella how are you doing¡±

    ¡°Xu Xu!¡±

    The little spider seemed a lot less timid than before, at least it knew now that Yu would not hurt it, thus it didn¡¯t bother with bantering to Yu and berated him instead for squeezing it dry in the war with the beesThis novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°Ahaha, well that was a necessary trap, plus didn¡¯t we get the core of the queen bee just for you? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll thank me once you see the benefit¡±

    ¡°Xuuuu!¡±

    The spider hit Yu¡¯s foot with its small spider feet, it didn¡¯t really understand the benefit Yu was talking about, all it knew was that the bully owner needed to reward it for its hard work or else it would go on strike

    Seeing the cute spider Yu smiled, it was really cute in his perspective as although others might feel like the tapping of four legs on your foot would feel creepy he didn¡¯t mind it too much

    ¡°I got something for your hard work, hold up for a sec¡±

    He jumped into the water again and came back a few seconds later with another Pure Peony, he then presented it to the spider

    The spider looked at the shining plant and poked it a few times, but after examining it a few times over it still didn¡¯t eat it, it only turned to Yu perplexed

    Yu who had been expectantly gazing at the interaction felt puzzled as well, why wouldn¡¯t the spider eat the flower? It didn¡¯t have any opposing element to what he thought the plant had

    ¡°Xu Xu¡± The spider continued to poke the plant, which was now shining a lot less, so Yu told it he would treat it to some tasty food later and unsummoned it

    ¡°Hmm weird, after summoning and summoning so many in a short while I should feel dizzy but I feel just fine¡±

    Using the chants took a toll on the mind, only by strengthening your mind would you be able to handle the power of the mysterious words

    Setting aside the thought for now he presents the dying plant to the emerged snake, he hoped it wasn¡¯t only the fish that could benefit from this miraculous plant

    Before he even had the chance to say anything he felt the weight lift off his hand as a white shadow past by him, it didn¡¯t stop until it had dived deep into the lake

    Yu was left with his hand stretched awkwardly in front of him, he didn¡¯t know if he should berate the snake for its impatient attitude or be happy that someone else could make use of the treasure

    ¡®Come to think of it this one has been doing what it liked ever since we exited the battlefield, maybe I should take on a tougher attitude?¡¯

    Yu contemplated his options as he waited for the snake to emerge, which actually took it a surprising three minutes, he had almost jumped down several times already but seeing it move about energetically he decided to be more patient

    Hiss Hiss

    When the snake was out it only nodded toward Yu and then proceeded to curl itself up and surround a blob of light it took out of all the plants

    ¡°Umm, I¡¯ll sit over there, I guess?¡±

    Yu felt weird about the whole situation, he had a lot of questions by now, why did only the fish and snake want the plant, how could the snake extract the light out of the plants, what even was that light anyway

    But as the snake just curled up and ignored him he could only awkwardly wait for it by the side while trying to piece together theories

    ¡®It could be the elemental affinity of the beasts, with the plants being in water and them giving off light it could be that it has water and light attribute, but then again just because something lives in water doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s aquatic nor would something giving off a light would mean it has light attribute, furthermore the books insisted that the Pure Peony would be usable by any and all beasts as its only ability would be purification, and there was no element to the plant itself¡¯

    The more he pondered the more he felt something was out of place, while he had evidence that the plants had the ability to push the beast to the next level he was also sure it didn¡¯t work on every beast, the contradictions made him doubt what he was taught

    ¡®Right I forgot to check on the fish¡¯s discerption, I wonder what evolutionary line it took¡¯

    Each beast had a set evolution line based on its genetics, it can branch out when it encountered extreme danger, or fortunes treasure, but usually they adhered to one of the main evolutions they could take

    Guardians on the other hand had a lot more freedom in choice, with their susceptibility to change being rather high end one it became much easier for them to emerge with a new evolution. That being said it was still only easier compared to the broad subject of evolution as normally one would take decades to gain an inkling to a new evolutionary line

    Yu pulled out the Grimoire and opened it to his first Guardian¡¯s page

    Soul Guardian: World Purifying Fish

    Special Ability: Devour: by devouring materials and living beings, Fish can Grow and has a chance to gain special characteristics of the devoured materials.

    Purify (World): Can Purify any and all energy into the purest form the occupants¡¯ World Tier could hold

    ¡°¡­¡­.¡±

    Gawking was the only thing Yu could do, he didn¡¯t even know where to start on this ridicules discerption, but what set him off more than anything were the two words World Tier

    ¡°Does this mean each world can hold certain types of energy? Wait, that¡¯s not right the question should be are there more worlds?¡±

    It could be said that Yu had an answer to the last question already as he himself originated form another world, but he felt that the description had more to it than that

    ¡°There is also that (World) next to Purify, I¡¯ve never heard of abilities having anything other than a description next to it, could this be the tier of the skill? I have certainly heard of other purifying abilities but this is the first one with such a ridicules level of power¡±

    He shifted his eye¡¯s to the Devour skill next

    ¡®Then there is this, I forgot about it but could it be that the reason for the evolution wasn¡¯t the Peony but this skill?¡¯

    Eating a Pure Peony and then suddenly gaining a purifying ability, this couldn¡¯t be a coincidence, then didn¡¯t that mean that the evidence he had about the plant¡¯s ability were thus null?

    ¡°But then what are you doing?¡± He pointed his question to the curled snake, he was getting more and more suspicious of the books description on the plants power, while it did indeed have a similar ability to what they stated it didn¡¯t mean eating it would give on a jump in power, otherwise his beasts would have eaten it themselves, only the snake¡¯s actions might give him some clue to the truth

    And so he waited¡­

 Weird

    Light seeped into the cave from the hole in the roof signaling the arrival of morning

    ¡°Yawwwwn~¡±

    Yu got up with a yawn as he stretched his body, even though he had slept on the rocky ground he felt better than he had ever sleeping on any bed in the hotels

    ¡°That¡¯s weird, have I gotten used to sleeping on the ground cause of the week in the mansion? Hmm that couldn¡¯t be it some of the beds were as hard as rock after all¡±

    Looking over to the snake he notices the light that it had been surrounding was almost snuffed out, anytime now it should be finished

    ¡°What is it exactly that it took half a day just to finish absorbing¡±

    He stared at the snake some more before he turned his attention to the walls, since he had some time on his hands he might as well check out the results of Lyra¡¯s battle

    He spotted twelve bodies littering the floor, elven of them were normal and there was the large one he helped kill by the lake

    ¡®Speaking of which didn¡¯t I move that summoning hexagram as I was chanting? I never heard of such a thing being done, I can¡¯t even recall the words that I used, though they seem to vaguely linger in my mind¡¯

    While recalling the chant he also recalled the unbearable pain, causing him to flinch at the memory

    ¡®Whatever let¡¯s check out the spoils¡¯

    He went ahead and carved out the beast crystal from the biggest one, what he got was a three quarter blue crystal and one quarter brown

    ¡°Water and Earth, though it seems their environment was pushing them toward a full water evolution, or could they have retained both elements? Either way it would have been fun to see the end result, but it seems they will never get the opportunity to shine¡±

    Suddenly his Grimoire manifested itself in front of him, then hovered beside his hand that was holding the crystal

    ¡°????¡±

    Yu just had an extremely puzzled look on his face as he looked toward the Grimoire that manifested without his consent

    ¡®What¡¯s going on? A Grimoire can¡¯t manifest on its own, why the hell did it suddenly appear? This doesn¡¯t make any sense¡¯

    Grimoires were tools that bound together the holder and the beasts, they themselves didn¡¯t have a conscious that¡¯s why he couldn¡¯t explain the weird occurrences

    He moved to put the crystal on the ground and inspect the Grimoire but it followed his hand and moved with the crystal, he stooped seeing this and the Grimoire went back to being still

    ¡°You came out for this?¡± Yu waved the crystal at the Grimoire but it only followed his hand and gave no other indication of sentience

    Seeing as he won¡¯t get and answer he stretches his hand holding the crystal toward the Grimoire, this time it remained still and waited for him to put the crystal on its cover, as soon as the crystal touched the cover it was sucked into the Grimoire producing a crisp ring then it vanished on its own

    ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± Yu was again left with hand stretching awkwardly in the air, by then a frown started to form on his face

    ¡°This is happening too often; I really need to start taking a tougher attitude¡±

    Retracting his hands, he summoned the Grimoire which instantly manifested in front of him just like any time before but this time he didn¡¯t treat it as a tool but instead started talking to it

    ¡°What did you do just now? Why did you want that crystal, and how can you manifest on your own?¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    His string of questions seemed to fall on deaf ears, the Grimoire remained floating in the air above him indicating it really was just a tool

    ¡®Could it be that it wasn¡¯t sentient but something any Grimoire would do under certain circumstances? Whatever that was though it certainly wasn¡¯t normal, it seems there is a lot more that is yet to be uncovered about these mysterious objects¡¯

    Slither~

    The sound of slither came from his back, he turned his head toward the snake only to see it shedding its skin having finished the light from before, it continued to make audibly loud sounds as it grazed its old skin against the ground ripping it apart to reveal its new unblemished whiter skin, its size also seemed to have grown a tad bit, but the most notable change was the flickering markings that appeared on its scales as it moved about

    HISSSSSSSSSS~

    A high pitched hiss escaped the snake as it lifted its head toward the sky, like a beast roaring to the heavens, except it was really intimidating with how small the snake still was

    ¡®This, how¡­ second stage? I thought it needed a hundred years to get there, no even the second stage doesn¡¯t have Runes, just how many stages did it jump??¡¯ There was little information Yu could glean on the snake¡¯s evolutionary line as even with the Southern Paradise¡¯s large knowledge base he still didn¡¯t get the name of the snake¡¯s species, he had only found some books describing the creature and its long life span, but it seemed to be from ancient manuscripts

    ¡®Any beast that has Runes can¡¯t be simple, especially one at the bronze rank, it might grow inot something really amazing, still I must take on a tough attitude when it comes here, if I don¡¯t show the line now it would be too late when it does grow powerful and willful¡¯

    Deciding he would take a stance here and now he waited for the snake to finish its blissful moments and approach him, once it got closer and hissed at him he frowned toward it and said with a harsh tone

    ¡°Have you enjoyed your meal? I¡¯m sure eating your brothers share felt quite satisfying¡±

    The snake was puzzled by his attitude, it looked at him perplexed

    ¡°Those flowers could help the others with evolution as well, it was quite selfish of you to eat all of them¡±

    Yu knew it was a lie but he still needed something to find fault with it, after all he couldn¡¯t just berate it without justification, he was reasonable enough not to make problems out of nothing

    Hiissss

    The snake suddenly hissed at him and went to the side of the lake, then it waved it tail at him to follow

    ¡°What is it?¡± Yu followed the snake to check its excuse, he saw it peering toward the bottom of the lake so he followed its line of sight, his eyes widened seeing the plants at the bottom of the clear water

    ¡®Wait what? I clearly saw it take all the light from the plants, how did that not kill them? Did it just extract the power from it? What the hell was the light really¡¯ Yu felt more and more puzzled as he continued to ask himself but a smug hiss woke him up from the loop of questions, turning to the side he saw the snake smugly looking at him as if to say ¡®What¡¯s your excuse now¡¯

    Yu frowned at the sight and responded to it with a dead cold tone

    ¡°I will admit I have no idea what that light was but I will tell you that one of your brothers had also made use of it, with the plant as well, and you had no right whatsoever to take all of them without permission, it¡¯s only fair to ask for permission before you take such valuable treasure, next time you should ask as I won¡¯t be as lenient if you are as rude as you are now¡±

    The snake flinched at Yu¡¯s sudden response but before it had the chance to respond in any way Yu started chanting before sending it back

    ¡°Haah, why did I do that?¡±

    Yu let out a tired breath as he questioned himself, he also felt that he was being unreasonable when he had just said he wouldn¡¯t make problems out of nothing, but when the snake was close to him he felt his skin crawling with discomfort as irritation seeped into his mind, he had suppressed it but seeing the snake¡¯s smug attitude suddenly pushed his discomfort to the extreme

    ¡®Something¡¯s wrong with me, i have been ignoring it for a while but my mood has been shifting due to unknown reasons as of late, back at Denatro city and now here too, it¡¯s like I¡¯m a completely different person, if I don¡¯t get to the bottom of this soon it might be too late when something happens¡¯

    He pondered to himself before setting his eyes back on the book, remembering he had yet to check it he called it closer and started to inspect it inside out, but even after looking through every page thoroughly he still didn¡¯t see anything different, only the portrait of the snake had changed into the new look

    ¡®I¡¯ll keep an eye on it from now on, so many things popping left and right that need explanation these days, I really need to get some of these questions answered or I would be buried with unending theories¡¯

    He sighed and unsummoned the Grimoire, then he called out the spider and had it weave a rope to the top while he carved out the other crystals from the dead beasts, he had tried giving them to the Grimoire but it didn¡¯t respond so he kept them and disassemble the corpses of all twelve beasts, keeping the teeth and nails to be sold as they could be used in forging, but while he wanted to separate the innards to sell them to apothecaries he didn¡¯t know where to start so he just threw them with the rest of the stuff

    By the time he was done the spider had already finished making the rope up, so Yu prepared to hole up everything to the surface in groups

    ¡®Since I will be at it for a while why don¡¯t I let the fish out into the lake, im sure it would enjoy some time out, plus I don¡¯t get to spend much time near bodies of water this clear¡¯

    So he did so and then looked to the top of the cave

    ¡°Time to head out¡±

 The Fish That Laid the Golden Egg

    ¡°Where is that bloody mercenary at huh? How come he didn¡¯t come here today!¡± Yelled old Henry at his workers who had nothing to do with it, but they could only swallow their complains as they endured the old man¡¯s spittle

    ¡°Sir, I don¡¯t think he even went out yesterday¡± One of the women to the side said quietly, she had been working near the gate yesterday and saw him come in but not out

    ¡°Hah! You think that grubber would stay in the field to finish the job? You might as well tell me pigs can fly¡±

    ¡°They can, ever heard of Wind Tusks¡± A blunt retort sounded behind him freezing Old Henry¡¯s mouth in place, he looked toward the fields to see a young man with two large blood stained bags on his shoulders

    ¡°Wh-What are you doing in my field¡±

    ¡°My job, which is almost finished, a day or two should be enough¡±

    ¡°Well, you should hurry then, I don¡¯t want you playing in my fields at night again¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it you who said their nocturne creatures? Or did age already catch up with your memory?¡±

    ¡°You!¡±

    The old man was already red from anger and embarrassment, he really couldn¡¯t retort when he did indeed point out that their nocturne, he felt suffocated by the anger within him, he pointed one last time at Yu with shaky fingers but couldn¡¯t say anything and left after that with a huff

    Once the old man was out of sight the workers turned to Yu

    ¡°Young man you should watch out, old Henry isn¡¯t a good person, while he wouldn¡¯t go out of his way to pay someone to kill you for an insult he might harm you in other ways¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the tip but I don¡¯t see how he can do so; I can take care of myself you should worry about your work¡±

    Yu walked out after giving those harsh replies, his intention wasn¡¯t to insult them but he didn¡¯t want people to interact with him too much, the less others knew the better, he¡¯s not some bumbling fool who would make friends everywhere he went with every class of society, that just left too many trails for someone on the run like him

    With a steady speed Yu made his way through Calico city, he used alleys and unpopulated roads since he didn¡¯t want to attract attention with his bloody bags which were a result of his amateurish disassembling

    ¡®I need to start learning more about survival and hunting skills, I can¡¯t keep on going with my surface knowledge¡¯

    Thinking about skills he remembered the warrior techniques

    ¡®I should also learn some combat techniques or at least some for emergency situations, though finding one would be hard in these backwater regions¡¯

    Even the strongest families in the Southern Paradise had at most ten techniques, half of which were low stage ones, with that being the case how could these small regions ever have techniques available for purchase or teaching

    ¡®Plus I need to get one with the fire attribute since that is the former owners attribute¡¯

    Humans had attributes too just like beasts, no one knew how to measure those attributes but one usually inherited his families attribute, in the Shenai family¡¯s case it was fire

    While Yu recalled this and that about techniques he went back and forth between the hole and the hotel three times, giving enough time between each session as he had told the workers he was bring some traps

    When he went down for the last haul he came to the lake to call back the fish, but he suddenly noticed the water level had gone down

    ¡°??¡±

    The change was notable but not too much so he wondered if he was seeing wrong, he turned to the fish that was swimming near the top to ask about the situation

    ¡°Did anything weird¡­.¡± His words trailed off looking at the scene before him, the fish was taking in water, keeping it in for a short while, then letting out a small bubble of dense water which sank down to the bottom of the lake

    ¡®Is it.. purifying the water?¡¯ That could be the only explanation, since the water that it let out was sinking it meant it had a higher elemental densityStolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    Putting his hand in the water Yu motioned for the fish to come, when it was above his hands he told it to repeat the process after which he fished the new bubble out of the water

    ¡°This is indeed elemental water, it¡¯s even better than the ones I¡¯ve seen before, it must be a little better than the one middle class nobles use to strengthen their beasts¡±

    Seeing the high quality water Yu is filled with joy, seems like his money problems diminished, after all now he could sell this water to people who raise beasts and get¡­.

    ¡®Ahhh shit I forgot that not many people have beasts to begin with and none of them are Grimoire holders, Contracted Beasts can¡¯t grow so this won¡¯t be of any use to them¡¯

    His joy was short lived but he didn¡¯t dwell on the fact for too long, instead he looked toward the fish and asked it if it could use the water, holding some hope that he might still make some use of it

    But to his disappointment the fish shook its head, well it made sense, after all the elemental water was used to strengthen the beasts attribute and affinity but the fish was already at the heights level of purification it could be, according to the Grimoire

    ¡°Hmm I can¡¯t walk about with this much water even if it was all compressed, I need to get it off my hands, if only it was purer than this then people would buy it to sell it off to Grimoire holders, assuming there are any, sadly with this much purity it¡¯s still not enough to catch a buyer without spending too much time, after all you can¡¯t sell this much to big families who probably own a source of it without cutting down on the price, plus the price they can buy it from me would be pretty high in and of itself, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it¡±

    He could also try to contact big families himself and sell it but he didn¡¯t want to risk exposing himself so he crossed the idea off his mind

    Splash

    The sound of water pulled him out of his thoughts as he turned to the fish, it nodded once it caught his attention and started to take in water, a lot of it, and hold it in for a much longer time, which took slightly over a minute before it let out a denser much deeper colored water

    Yu widened his eyes at the sight and immediately fished the bubble out of water, he inspected it and saw that it was not just purer than the last one, it in fact surpassed elemental water and became Elixir Water, no longer being only used to train beasts, but also to treat wounds for both beasts and humans

    ¡°Haha, your full of surprised aren¡¯t you? Then again you are indeed able to purify it to the maximum purity the world can hold and since we have Elixir Water then you can make it, by the way how much can you make of this¡±

    The fish responded by starting the process of purification again, but for some reason it kept staring at the water in his hands

    Yu brought a large vase and dropped the Elixir Water into it then he told the fish to continue on but not tire itself out, he wasn¡¯t in a hurry and he could take a few more days to finish the work

    He proceeded to climb up the hole and hide it, then go back to the hotel with the last batch of materials which he stored for later use

    ¡®Took me a while to get everything, I pretty much did nothing but transport all day long, other than that it¡¯s been a peaceful day¡¯

    Happily humming to himself Yu got into bed and closed his eyes, he had a busy day tomorrow

    ¡­..

    ¡°Please sir sun, can you not shine into my bedroom? I¡¯m trying to get some shut eye¡±

    Yu growled meaninglessly at the suns light coming through the window while he rolled around on the ground, he had not gotten a wink of sleep through the entire night, he even went down to sleep on the floor but it still didn¡¯t help, he couldn¡¯t sleep no matter what thus he could only roll from time to time while he thought out his plan for today

    ¡°Ugh why did this happen again? Clearly when I first came into this city after hunting the bees I was fine, I even slept in this very bed, how come I can¡¯t get a wink of sleep now?¡±

    No matter how much he asked himself he still couldn¡¯t find the answer, it wasn¡¯t the floor nor was it the environment, was he the problem then? If so then what was it that differed from all the other times

    ¡°Whatever! I¡¯ll start my new plan instead of wasting time here¡±

    Grumbly standing up Yu headed toward the cave with bags filled with jars, this time he would transport the water into a storage room he would rent on the way then he would contact various merchants and sell it to them in small amounts

    Once got to his destination and climbed down the cave he found himself facing a half empty lake, it seemed the fish was hard at work while he ¡°slept¡±

    ¡°Hey buddy, you really didn¡¯t take any break did you, seems like your almost done¡­Hmm? I thought you were making the Elixir Water how come this is the normal elemental water¡±

    After taking a scoop from the lake he found out it wasn¡¯t at the grade he wanted it to be, so he turned to the fish for answers but he only saw it nodding toward the vase he had put the Elixir Water in yesterday

    Puzzled he went to check on it only to see the water inside no longer as deep colored as it once was, instead it was the same as the one in the lake, maybe even a little less pure

    ¡°What? How could it have lost its purity? Is it because of the environment it¡¯s in? Or maybe¡­¡±

    A theory popped in his head and he brought out his drinking pack then poured it into another vase and told the fish to try and purify it, it did so but instead of the purity of elemental water it came off as only a slightly cleaner water

    ¡°As I thought, purifying needs the object to have the requirements to be made into the end result, if it doesn¡¯t have enough raw materials inside then it can¡¯t be refined, now can you try making this water elemental?¡±

    The fish obliged and turned the normal water into water that had a trace of elements in it which took longer, but after he waited by its side for a while it turned back into normal water

    ¡°Hmm so it seems forcing it to be refined into a higher purity than it can be makes it unstable and causes it to dissipate, unlike places with naturally high elemental energy which accumulate and refines over time, this forceful process has its limits¡±

    After figuring the flaw the problem became apparent, he couldn¡¯t sell this water to anyone as they would soon figure it was a scam

    ¡°Hmm well if I can¡¯t sell it to ¡®Anyone¡¯ I just need to sell it to ¡®Someone¡¯ ¡°

    Someone with enough capital to buy the whole amount, someone who had enough connections throughout the city that he wouldn¡¯t hold the fear of getting scammed, and he had just the someone in mind

 It All Started with A Fish

    The next day within the busy streets of Calico¡¯s business area the hooded Yu was walking around with wooden barrels over his shoulder, having just completed his purchase from the woodworker he was transporting all the barrels he got into the old hotel room

    ¡°These things are empty and my shoulders are already stiff, once they are filled with water getting them to the next area is gonna be a drag¡±

    He said as he set down the last barrel and got changed he then headed out toward the grandest hotel in the city

    ¡°Welcome Sir, to the Calico Hotel, how may I help you¡±

    As soon as he walked in he was greeted warmly by the receptionist, it was an expected reaction though as he had worn the hunter outfit he took from Mous which was made out of high quality fabric, while it looked plain to the normal eye it was spotted quickly by the receptionist, after all she wouldn¡¯t be working here if she didn¡¯t know how to spot the little things

    ¡°Give me he biggest suite you have¡±

    ¡°Y-yes sir, that would be one gold and twenty silver a night¡±

    ¡°One night is enough keep the rest as a tip¡±

    The hooded Yu casually threw two gold pieces at the receptionist before going out, on the way he stopped for a second and informed her that a worker will come bring some stuff to the room then he left

    ¡®Ugh that¡¯s gonna hurt my finances but I had to look rich¡¯ This was going against all the actions he had taken so far but he need to take a risk if he wanted to maximize his benefit this time

    ¡®Now let¡¯s hurry¡¯

    Back at the old hotel he changed into a shabby outfit and covered it with his mercenary coat, then he carried two barrels in big bags and headed into the farm

    Into the cave he went filling up the barrel with two different waters, one from the jars at the side that the fish had been jumping in from time to time and the other directly from the lake which was already purified into elemental water

    ¡°Ooof this stuffs indeed heavy¡± his back bent a bit from the weight of the water barrels at his bag, if not for the pulley he had installed yesterday he wouldn¡¯t have been able to get these out without wasting a few hours

    Once he was out with the newly filled barrels he made his way toward the hotel, dropping off the mercenary coat and the bags in a corner on the way before entering the hotel with the two barrels on his back while wearing shabby cloths

    ¡°What are you doing here! This is no place for people like you, get out or I¡¯ll throw you out¡± He didn¡¯t even manage to step foot in the hotel this before a sword was pointed his way while the guard shouted at him threating

    ¡°I was instructed to bring this stuff here by the young master, he rented the largest suite for a night¡±

    ¡°Lil beggar you seem like you don¡¯t want to keep your life, who would hire dirt like you if they could rent the largest suite in Calico Hotel?? Il take your dog life for lying¡±

    The guard raised his sword high for a beheading strike, and Yu panicked on the inside, he never expected his thought out plan would meet its end in the preparations steps, what was this crazy dude doing?

    ¡°Halt¡± The sudden shout that came from the hotel froze the guards swing, he turned around to see one of the managers of the hotel at the gate ¡°Let that servant in¡±

    The manager didn¡¯t stick any longer and headed inside, leaving a slightly surprised guard at the gate

    ¡°Humph you heard the manager, get your ass going¡± instead of apologizing the guard instead waved at Yu like he was some bug and turned back to his station

    ¡°???¡± Confusion took over Yu instead of anger or indigestion, he already expected that he wouldn¡¯t be treated well but to try to behead him just like that? Have they no regard for human life?

    Shaking off the feelings from his head he continues into the hotel, there a worker led him to the suite and told him to drop the stuff outside for inspection

    ¡°The young master said they shouldn¡¯t be opened, if they are the young master would be furious¡±

    Yu claimed, he didn¡¯t want to expose his hands early and he sure didn¡¯t want anyone snooping about and ruining his trick

    ¡°Humph do you think that you can bring whatever you want inside? This could be explosives for all we know¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess I can tell exactly what you said to the young master, I¡¯m sure he would understand¡± Yu didn¡¯t want anyone to snoop around and expose his trick so he had to make sure the barrels were off limits until he started

    The workers face paled at the blatant threat, he was just a worker and if he inconvenienced the person who rented the largest suite he would be made into fertilizer

    ¡°A-are you crazy do you want us both to d-die? Just let me inspect the barrel and we will be done with it¡±

    ¡°Hmm, well I don¡¯t want to get on his bad side either, check the content quickly and let me drop them inside, just make sure he doesn¡¯t hear about it¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry don¡¯t worry, he won¡¯t know a thing¡±

    The worker opened the lid of the barrel exposing the deep colored water inside, he was surprised by the content and wanted to scoop out some to test it

    ¡°What are you doing! Do you want to your head to role for thievery!?¡± Yu shouted from behind him startling the worker

    ¡°No no I just wanted to check if it was a poisons liquid¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s clearly water now just close it back fast and let me get the other barrels¡±

    ¡°There are other?¡±

    ¡°Yah a bunch of them now let¡¯s get it done with¡±

    The worker hurriedly nodded and closed the lid then he let Yu carry them into the suite and showed him out

    ¡®What the hell is wrong with these people, I haven¡¯t started doing anything suspicious and they are already making things this hard for me, is my plan really going to work¡¯

    The series of events slightly dampened Yu¡¯s confidence, still he had to carry on or he wouldn¡¯t be able to make much profit

    He went and grabbed the bags and coat from the corner of some alley then he went to the old hotel and repeated his earlier actions, it took him a little while to get all the barrels filled and delivered into the hotel suite, but he minimized the time as much as he could so he would have a little more time for his next step

    ¡°Okay, the real deal starts now¡±

    He grabbed Mous¡¯s cloths and donned them, he made nothing was visible from his face but his eyes, then he went into the heart of the city

    ¡°Halt, what is your business here¡±

    ¡°I come to visit the baron in hopes of conducting important business with him, it¡¯s quite urgent so I hope to meet him immediately¡±

    ¡°The baron doesn¡¯t expect random visits, go back¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he will accept if you show him this¡±

    Pulling a flask out Yu points at the water inside, he then hands it over to the guard and asks him to give it to Baron

    Ten minutes go by and Yu starts getting impatient, he had already hurried the guard several times but he got the same blunt response over and over, to wait

    ¡®What the hell are they doing? Did they really not recognize the water yet? Is the knowledge in here that bad?¡¯

    As Yu thought about the unexpected delay he saw a man coming out, he was wearing a butler¡¯s cloth while he took slow strides toward Yu

    ¡°Are you the man who presented this water to the guard¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The butler asked Yu while lifting the flask

    ¡°No, I¡¯m the man that¡¯s about to leave because of your inhospitable attitude¡±

    Yu¡¯s harsh words stunned the butler, even the guard was left speechless, brother what happened to conducting business? This is butler Harma your talking to here, by being so harsh don¡¯t you fear your entire business would be shut down

    ¡°We apologies for the long delay but we had to make sure this item is real¡±

    ¡®More like trying to figure out what it is¡¯ Yu withheld his comment to himself and asked the butler to lead him in, thus the two made their way into the baron¡¯s hall, there Yu saw an old man with a round belly sitting with a few older man standing by the side

    ¡°Mund Secor?¡±

    ¡°Insolent! How dare you speak to the baron in such a manner, who do you think you are! Just because you have a valuable item in- ¡°

    ¡°Quite Madu. Erm, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit my friend of the Southern Paradise¡±

    This single line silenced the entire room, the old men were shocked to silence, the butler was surprised, but out of all of them it was actually Yu who was surprised the most! They knew of the Southern Paradise

    Thought of all forms and manner started to swirl in Yu¡¯s head, many fears he had faded out while other worries started to pop in their place, but all this was soon shoved to the side as Yu focused his mind on the current situation, he had to answer even more carefully now than before

    ¡®I don¡¯t know if the relationship of the Southern Paradise is amiable with these parts but since my identity was already exposed I¡¯ll roll with it; they know where I am from now so I don¡¯t have to be all too vague like I had planned¡¯

    ¡°Sure enough a baron isn¡¯t as blind as the rest of these fool, I come from the Southern Paradise, as for why I came here it¡¯s to trade off the material you just saw¡±

    ¡°You want to trade Elixir Water? I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m not up to your high standers as I lack the capital to make such a trade¡±

    ¡°Humph of course I know that, how could you hold something that can be traded for six barrels of Elixir Water? Still I¡¯m willing to trade them none the less¡±

    ¡°S-s-s-six barrels!?!?!?¡±

    It was the old man called Madu who yelled by the side, shock plastered all over his face, such an exaggerated amount was enough to buy half of Calico city

    The baron gulped audibly and then asked with as much of a steady tone as he could

    ¡°You are trading six barrels of Elixir Water? May I ask why you would come to this little city to conduct such business?¡±

    Yu smirked, it wasn¡¯t known if it was that he liked the barons tone or because he was laughing at the barons insult to his own city

    ¡°I won¡¯t beat around the bush, about a week ago we got into a fight with an old man as we were transporting our supplies, he got the jump on us and forced us to split, I was left with more baggage than I could hold and I have to trade it off for something lighter, lest that old monster catches up¡±

    Yu gave his prefabricated story that sounded much more convincing now that they thought he was from the Southern Paradise, now he just needed to deal with any questions that might pop up, it will be hard bu-

    ¡°Alright then, we shall bring our treasures out at once, Harma go bring out the special treasures we have¡±

    ¡°Yes my lord¡±

    The butler went to bring the treasures while the barons invited Yu to sit for some tea and sweats, even the old men at the side quieted down and didn¡¯t make a single peep

    ¡®What the hell?¡¯ Seeing them so readily believing in him he got suspicious that they were trying something to fool him, maybe they are calling for reinforcements to kill him? If the Southern Paradise was on hostile relation with them then his story might have triggered them to take action instead of helping him

    Seeing Yu refuse his invitation the baron felt slightly pressured, if even one of those snobby nobles from the south didn¡¯t dare rest a bit then it truly must be that old man that was following them, he knew something was wrong when he heard the infamous Old Beggar had dropped by to drink with Ulv, followed by Ulv leaving the city

    ¡®Those southerners are causing trouble? It¡¯s very unlike them to go out but since they did they must be transporting something very valuable, these are probably the scraps of the real treasure, I might as well be the profitable third party¡¯ The baron laughed within his own mind, he stands to lose nothing and only profits could be made from this deal, after all trade with the south was forbidden or anything

    Soon the butler came with various treasures in hand, five items in total, Yu managed to make out four of them while the last one puzzled him slightly, he seemed to recall it but couldn¡¯t precisely point it out

    ¡°These are the treasures my family had gathered these past few decades, the first one here is something you might be very familiar with, this is a storage ring, it can house three cubic meters inside, I¡¯m sure it would help you a lot with your travel, the second one is a plant that helps a beast absorbs a fire crystal directly, it can give quite the large boost to any fire beast, and we so happen to have this fire crystal from a Silver Ranked beast, thought it has lost some of its energy over the years it still has enough to help with a breakthrough if you have any fire beasts¡±

    The baron paused a bit and looked at Yu as if trying to infer something out of him

    ¡°The crystal is too dull; it won¡¯t help a Bronze Rank much less a Silver¡±

    Yu replied with a sneer, while it was true that the ¡°crystal¡± which he couldn¡¯t identify before held power equal to a Silver Ran beast he still didn¡¯t say it, instead he belittled it proving the assumption that the baron had

    ¡®Indeed it¡¯s as I thought, these cloths that he¡¯s wearing are only given to esteemed hunters in the south, he must have hunted a silver beast on his own to earn them, I¡¯m glad I probed him else I would be dead if I tried to steal the water from him¡¯ The baron thought to himself

    ¡°Well if these didn¡¯t interest you then this will, this is a book that teaches Runes, while we don¡¯t know which set it belongs to or what rank they teach about I am sure it would be of value to you¡±

    Yu just nodded for the baron to continue without commenting

    ¡°This last item is a Cloud Nettle, it has been personally acquired by me in last year¡¯s Kings Feast, getting my hands on it was quite the hard work and I¡¯m sure it¡¯s worth its weight in gold¡±

    ¡°Everything you had shown me still can¡¯t even begin to compare to six barrels of Elixir Water, it would be hard pressed to trade for just one even when someone is in my circumstances, but I¡¯ll be generous enough and give you three barrels if you can provide me with something good in addition to these extra rewards¡±

    ¡°My friend these are my family¡¯s treasures; I had already told you earlier that I do not possess much capital to begin with¡±

    ¡°Stop fooling around and take out your treasure, I have no time to bicker with you!¡±

    The baron grits his teeth at the intolerable attitude of this man who¡¯s not even half his age, but he had to endure both to avoid a fight he probably couldn¡¯t win and to make profit

    ¡°Harma bring that out¡±

    ¡°Yes my lord¡±

    The butler once again went ahead to bring out another item, this time it was a crossbow with etched Runes that seemed to shine in the night

    ¡°This is my family¡¯s heritage item, Dead Silence, it is powerful enough to blow a hole in any unsuspecting Silver Rank beast, my family has owned it for many ages but had been unable to use it due to unknown reasons, I¡¯m sure you would find a way to use this powerful weapon in the Southern Paradise¡±

    ¡°Fair enough, come with me to the Calico Hotel¡±

    Yu unhesitantly led them to the hotel where he put the barrels, showing any secrecy when he was already thought to be the strong side would just make them suspicious so he opted to show his arrogance and give them a false impression of strength

    The baron and the butler hesitated for a bit before they followed, Madu seemed like he couldn¡¯t decide between following them to do his job or staying far away from this dangerous fellow but the old man beside him, who happened to be the captain of guards, made the choice for him as he pulled Madu along to the hotel

    Once they arrived at the hotel they passed by a guard shivering in his boots, this was the same guard that had yelled at Yu earlier but his arrogance was nowhere to be found as he didn¡¯t dare to meet any of the comer¡¯s eyes

    The group continued on without minding the small ant, even Yu didn¡¯t spare him a glance as he didn¡¯t take a fools err to his heart, if he tried to payback every tit for tat he¡¯d be a mad fool

    ¡°These are the six barrels¡±

    Yu pointed at the six barrels in the suite, he waited by the side for them to examine it so he could take his stuff

    ¡°Madu please check them¡±

    Surprisingly it was Madu who specialized in discerning the treasures genuinely, the old man came before the now open barrels and used a dropper to take some of the water, he then proceeded to pull out three different stones and tested the waters reaction when he put it on each one of them

    ¡°This is indeed Elixir Water, a barrel of it, I can¡¯t believe there is so much of this, may I ask how you found such a huge amount of this valuable treasure? If we find clues that would lead us to more the world would be able to enjoy a great burst of power!¡±

    ¡°Of course, get a normal looking fish, as normal as it can get, feed it some extinct treasure herb and viola, you have your great water source¡±

    Madu¡¯s turned black at Yu¡¯s words, who would believe him?! Normal fish? Feed it extinct treasure herb? Feed your mother! If I had such a herb I would eat it myself and never feed it to a god damn fish

    Seeing the old man seething on the inside Yu shrugged helplessly, he was really telling the truth this time, it¡¯s the other parties problem if they didn¡¯t believe him

    ¡°Since were done hand me over the treasures¡±

    ¡°Please wait, three barrels is very cheap for all these treasures I offered you, especially my family¡¯s heritage, I really find it very hard to let go of it¡±

    ¡°Ok give that storage ring and I¡¯ll give you one barrel, I¡¯ll store the other¡±

    ¡°On second thought I sensed the Dead Silence suite you the moment I saw you, it would be very cruel of me to selfishly keep it away from its rightful owner¡¯s hands, I believe it belongs to you just as much as those three barrels belonged to me¡±

    ¡°Whatever hand me the treasures¡±

    The butler gave Yu the six items while the captain of the guards moved the three barrels to the side, he was ready to fight back at a moment¡¯s notice if Yu tried to stow away all the barrels

    Yu wore the ring and stored all the other items except the two plants which he bagged instead, then he went ahead and stowed away three barrels before he made his way out, he didn¡¯t say a word through the whole process and just left

    ¡°Haaah, that man was very dangerous¡± These words were the first words the captin had said since he had met Yu, it was because he was on his toes the entire time, as a man who survived countless battel on his adventures when he was young he knew what it was like to stare death in the eye, meeting this young man brought him back to those moments all those years ago

    ¡°Indeed, I¡¯m afraid the both of us can¡¯t kill him even if we put our lives on the line, plus he probably has summons¡± Butler Harma replied

    ¡°Humph it doesn¡¯t matter how strong he is in the end he is the one that¡¯s being chased like a dog right now¡± It was the indigent Madu who chipped in

    The baron on the other hand remained silent as he gazed at the doors of the suite, he somehow felt like he had been duped in this transaction, the young man could have tried to get two barrels or even two and a half if he really wanted, after all he had both the strength and the goods, did he really lack so much time that he couldn¡¯t argue? Or did he believe it just wasn¡¯t worth it?

    In the end he just shrugged, why should he concern himself with all that nonsense, he had three barrels full of Elixir Water which all his treasures couldn¡¯t buy one of, he really lucked out this time

    ¡°Prepare a feast tonight, we will celebrate this windfall, tomorrow we head out to Begaria, both to inform the viscount of the Southern Paradise¡¯s trip and then travel to Halferg to sell these barrels¡±

    The men nodded at the baron¡¯s words and carried the barrel off, they would enjoy the forutune of today, not knowing tomorrows misery

 Three Evolutions Three Days

    Outside Calico city Yu was rushing toward White Woodland as fast as he could, with the time it took him to transport all the barrels to the hotel and convince the baron to buy it, not much was left before the waters purity starts to dissipate

    ¡°If I had actually filled the whole barrel with purified water it would have already been reverted by the time the fish started on the third one¡±

    Yu hadn¡¯t actually filled them with Elixir Water, only the top, while the barrels he had costume ordered were fitted with a glass divider close to the top so he had filled the rest with elemental water, that¡¯s how he was able to pull this nasty trick off, now the baron would definitely be out for his blood once he finds out the truth, which would be within a few minutes if he was carful enough or a whole day if he stored the barrels now instead

    ¡°Anyway they can¡¯t trace me, I left no evidence¡±

    The reason he had dressed up in many ways and even went through the trouble of carrying the barrels in bags was to leave no witnesses of him bringing them from the farm, and with no one knowing about the underground lake which he closed the entrance to there was no way to link the proud noble to a measly mercenary

    Still Yu had to make it to the White Woodlands as fast as he could, who knew if someone would stick his hand inside the barrel? Very unlikely as they wouldn¡¯t want to dirty the pure water but after seeing the guard¡¯s stupidity he really didn¡¯t trust people to be smart nowadays

    Three hours later Yu finely spotted dense white trees that gave the place its name, no one knew why but the only vegetation that grew in this land were these tough white trees, they were very hard to burn, needed the full blown power of a Silver Ranked beast to be chopped off and provided no substance to the dwellers of these woods, how beasts even lived in this dead land baffled the travelers

    All this proved quite useful to Yu though as he could make use of the endless woods to lose any would be pursuers, so he walked into it without hesitation, zig zagging his way toward Begaria

    ¡°I¡¯m beat¡± he said between short breaths as he stopped his rush with the suns decent, it was dangerous running in the dark, even in these scarcely populated woods, he would make camp here till morning

    ¡°Guess I can make use of this time to put my new treasures to work¡±

    He first took out the Runes book and flipped through it, unlike those ignorant people from the Mund family he had some basic knowledge on Runes and could tell that the book wasn¡¯t really all that

    ¡°Probably explains some of the beginner Runes is all, though I can¡¯t tell which ones these are they certainly don¡¯t belong to the elemental sets, since they belong to the other five sets they must be pretty hard to learn¡±

    He flipped through it a bit before chucking it back into his ring, speaking of the ring he found it to be the third best item out of all his new treasures, this ring would make his life much easier from now on

    As for the first and second they were naturally the ¡°Crystal¡± and the plant that helps absorb the fire elements, those two not only harmoniously worked together to give him the boost he needed, one of them was even the most valuable Vermilion Royal Ruby, a natural crystal born from two different pure flames resonating together, this particular stone had not shown itself on these lands for god knows how many centuries, for it to pop up in a remote and barren land baffled Yu to no end

    ¡°Since it lost so much of its flame someone must have used it for over extended periods of time, otherwise if they used it to the extent it dropped to such low levels in one go it would have broken ¡°

    He felt saddened that the stone had lost much of its grandeur but that was also why he could use it now, along with the plant he could give his loveable companion the final push she needed

    He summoned Lyra and put the stone inside the plant next he presented it to her with both hands, he didn¡¯t know how much pain she would go through but he would be sure to share it with her this timeIf you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°It might hurt a lot, but if you tide through this you might just have control over two elements, plus you can push through your bottleneck, still if you want to go another method we can try that¡±

    While he wanted power he didn¡¯t want to hurt Lyra at the same time so he gave her the option of looking for a less painful alternative

    Lyra didn¡¯t dally like Yu thought though, it just swallowed the plant and its continent with one bite, what followed was a jolt of skin scorching pain that ran through Yu¡¯s whole body his lanky figure bent down as he clenched his teeth as hard as he could to not scream, all while the wolf merely scrunched its face and stood there silently enduring

    ¡°Wha..t. th¡­ fu¡­¡±

    Yu couldn¡¯t even make a full sentence with the heat coursing through his body, he only shared a part of the sensation that Lyra had to go through but he was already paralyzed, how could she who had to take on the full brunt of the pain just stand there while scrunching up her face

    ¡®And I thought I had quite the willpower, what is this wolf made of¡¯ He could only complain to himself inside his mind, furthermore he sweet dropped even more when he recalled this was only the leftover of the Vermilion Royal Ruby, he was really glad now it had been brought down to its current level or else he might have already passed out from the pain

    A few minutes pass by with Yu scrunched up like a ball while the wolf silently stared at him, suddenly fire ignited on Lyra¡¯s body setting her ablaze, this scene caused Yu to clench his teeth harder in preparation for the coming pain, sadly, or rather thankfully, it didn¡¯t come, what he felt instead was sudden relief as all his tension started to melt away

    Lyra on the other hand was already encompassed by blood red flames, flames so hot they set the white trees known for their endurance ablaze with but a touch, the flames expanded and contracted like a heart pulsating, with each beat Yu felt his own heart throb with power as a surge of powerful emotions spread into his body

    His logical senses suppressed those powerful emotions though as he erected a shield to hide him from the flames, sure they wouldn¡¯t hurt Lyra but he knew if they touched him they wouldn¡¯t care if he was the master or not, he would be turned into ashes, if even that was left

    The bloody flames didn¡¯t last long though as they soon burst apart with a large pulse, then they dispersed into the surrounding woods burning everything in their path, in their place was a red and black sleek figure radiating unimaginable heat

    ¡°AWUUUUUU¡± Raising her head the new Lyra howled to the skies, her unique wailing howl reverberated through the silent lands scarring away any and all who thought to come check this phenomenon out, even Silver beasts who were coming from far away decided to retreat as far as they could to avoid the source of these hellish flames

    ¡°Wow¡± That was all Yu could muster from his dry lips, the noble figure of the wolf left him stunned, feelings of pride and joy that came from within him resonated with Lyra¡¯s own feelings, creating a much more powerful emotion that stirred in both of them

    Lyra lowered her head after the howl and sauntered over to Yu, when she entered the shield the flames on her body had already been extinguished, her extremely hot body returned to normal as well, instead a dark hue covered her while she rubbed her head against Yu¡¯s

    ¡°You really did it, you merged two different contradicting elects, I¡¯m really proud to call you my Soul Guardian¡± ¡°Wuuu!¡±

    Lyra nodded happily at Yu¡¯s words, she finely managed to break through bronze tier, signaling the start of her new long journey ahead

    Weng~

    Light shone on both their bodies signaling their rank up, surprising Yu quite a bit, he called out his Grimoire and open it, while there was no indication to its rank he felt it was at three stars, gaining a rank up himself was quite a surprise but after thinking about it he had indeed defeated many foes stronger than him in the last few battels, ranking up his Soul Guardian was the last push he needed for his new rank

    He then flipped to Lyra¡¯s page and read the new discerption

    Soul Guardian: Royal Vermilion Evil

    An incarnation of pure evil in the form of pure flames, the two elements had merged peculiar as one is meant to hide the other. It can wield both flames and darkness to its will alike

    [The First of its kind]

    The decryption poured a bucket of cold water on Yu¡¯s head, he really started to believe that reading the Grimoire only served to give him bad omens. Hide th other? They didn¡¯t merge normally? Pure evil? And what the hell was that First of its kind thing, speak clearly or don¡¯t say anything!

    Yu couldn¡¯t be bothered anymore with the book and he closed it after checking Lyra¡¯s stars which had blown their way into three stars, skipping two stars at once

    ¡°Let¡¯s have some rest here, I dare say whoever comes looking for trouble now would only be digging his own grave¡±

    Yu shoved the questions that popped up to tomorrow since he was really tired and leaned on Lyra to sleep, he really felt tired as it had been two days since he last slept, he couldn¡¯t get a wink of sleep in the hotel and he had gone through hyper tension twice today, some shuteye was what he needed the most right now

    ¡°Wuu Wuu¡± Lyra curled to surround Yu¡¯s body while she also closed her eyes, her other senses were active though as she was ready to enter combat as soon as something approached them

    Thus another night passed for the happy duo

 I Just Said I Canâ€™t Fight Numbers

    Back at Calico city the Mund house partied all the way through the night, only when dawn broke through the sky did they finely settle down, they had not known the full details on the trade but they knew that they would soon be rich thus they didn¡¯t hold back

    ¡°Sir Madu you gotta rest well, we will need your business head when we get to Halferg¡±

    ¡°Hahaha don¡¯t you worry and just count on me, I will make sure to wring them dry¡±

    The drunk Madu smugly proclaimed to his fellow scholars before he went into his chambers, he had received praise for identifying the water that was sung all night, he had never been able to boast so much for the last few years, now that he was finely in the spotlight he had to boast to the best of his ability

    ¡°And it all thanks to you¡± He looked at the crystal container of water he had filled with some of the precious Elixir Water, he got his clutches on this after persuading the baron that he needed to conduct studies on its level of purity, although he actually had no knowledge about that to speak of, he really just wanted to admire it

    ¡°Huh?¡± He could¡¯ve swore that the water looked deeper before, he rubbed his eyes a bit thinking that he was drunk but still the color wasn¡¯t getting any deeper

    Madu was now feeling a little anxious but he didn¡¯t let it get to him, he went ahead and splashed his face with some cold well water and came back, then he opened the bottle and fished out his dropper and stones to test it again

    Clack, roll~

    He soon dropped the first stones when the results came out, panic could be seen on his face as he rushed out to the houses treasury

    ¡°Master Madu, where are you going¡±

    ¡°get away I need to check on the water¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry master Madu we can¡¯t let you in, it was baron¡¯s specific orders not to let anyone in¡±

    ¡°I need to check the water NOW!¡±

    Madu was stopped by the guards at the doors of the treasury, naturally the baron wouldn¡¯t let anyone near this new treasure he gained

    ¡°What is going on, what are you doing here Madu?¡± Soon the ruckus attracted the captain of the guards even the baron and the butler came rushing when they heard the noise near the treasury, seeing the frantic Madu they suddenly felt a bad omen

    ¡°You need to let me through I have to check the water¡±

    ¡°Why? What happened to the water?¡±

    ¡°The one in my room it, it, it¡¯s not Elixir Water anymore!¡±

    ¡°WHAT! Open the doors NOW!¡± The baron suddenly lost his cool, he had already suspected something was amiss about that noble and now the water he had given to Madu wasn¡¯t the same? His heart shuddered in fear at the prospect of all the water having the same fate

    As soon as the doors were open Madu and the rest rushed in, they opened the barrels and Madu took a sample to test it, but the results came back negative again, he couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, so he moved on to the next, and tested again, and the next, but his face only got paler, when the third barrel proved to be useless as well his knees suddenly gave in, it was lost, all lost, they would blame him for not figuring it out sooner, he was doomed doomed!

    Seeing the old Madu despairing the others didn¡¯t need any words to understand the situation, Secor shouted toward the sky in rage ordering his men

    ¡°TRACK THAT NOBLE! GO! NOW!¡±

    His shout reverberated through the residence waking up all the occupants from their sweet dreams, plunging them into the cold and merciless truth, there was no free lunch here, they didn¡¯t even have leftoversIf you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡­¡­¡­..

    While the Mund house was going through crises, the cause of the problem was facing a dilemma on his own

    ¡°Why.Cant.I.Sleep!¡±

    Lyra looked worriedly at the seething Yu, this was his third day in a row, no matter how tired, how relaxed, or how sleepy he was he couldn¡¯t get a second of shut eye, the mental and physical fatigue were driving him mad!

    ¡°Wuuu!¡± ¡°No we can¡¯t stay here any longer, they might have figured it out already, they could be in the forest searching as we speak, since dawn had just risen we need to start moving as well, once we reach Begaria we will research my problem, were strong but not against a whole house¡±

    Yu never thought he was one of those valiant warriors who fought hundreds on their own, especially not when he didn¡¯t even know how to fight himself, Lyra had her own limitation of stamina, even if she could take on the beasts of the Mund house and the elite solders she would still cave in under the hundred men they would certainty bring along

    ¡°Let¡¯s go¡±

    The duo got up and started rushing toward the next city in a straight line, since they made quite the mess by burning the highly resilient trees and their destination could be easily guessed there was no need to try and move in a strange pattern anymore, instead they should put up as much distance as possible

    Awooooo! Awoo!

    Many howls sounded beyond the trees, followed by shadows speeding toward them with high speed, numerus sets of yellow eyes accompanied the shadows

    ¡°Damn! Take to the left! We need slow their momentum¡± Yu and Lyra head a bunch of trees that were a bit too close to each other, this would stop whoever was coming from surrounding them from all sides, the trees would make a good cover

    As they approached the trees Yu finely caught a glimpse of the enemy, it was the Harrowing Hunter Wolves!

    -Harrowing Hunter Wolf, Beast Branch, Wolf Sub-Branch, Beast Attribute, Bronze-Silver Rank

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s these guys, where there are human caravans, hunting beasts would come, relentless bastards¡±

    Humans and beasts weren¡¯t really on good terms, after all more often than not these beasts were either eaten, killed for materials, or imprisoned with Soul Stones, only a minuscule amount would be bound to a Grimoire and even then they may not receive a good treatment, Yu¡¯s body¡¯s previous owner was the best example on that

    ¡°Wuu!¡± Once they got to the dense part of the trees Lyra didn¡¯t waste any time and instantly jumped on one of the trees, using it to jump back the opposite direction she landed on the back of one of the closest wolves, the poor fellow didn¡¯t even get a chance to be surprised before his neck was twisted around with one bite from Lyra

    ¡°Haha you really wanted to flex after ranking didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Yu didn¡¯t sit still either as he brought out his new crossbow out, he had a lot of pent up stress to let out, and these poor wolves would his punching bag

    ¡°Sorry guys but I need to get a move on¡± He let loose a bolt toward the wolf that was circling around Lyra to get to him, the bolt seemed to shine with a deadly glint as it flew silently toward its target, promising absolute death when it came in contact

    Crack-Poof

    That promise could never be fulfilled though as the bolt suddenly broke half way through disappearing into a puff of smoke

    ¡®What?¡¯ Yu didn¡¯t understand why such a strong attack enhanced by Runes vanished for now reason, then he remembered the baron explaining the weapon was defective so he grunted and replaced the Runic crossbow with his normal one

    This time the bolt he sot found purchase, sinking into the coming wolfs thigh, but it hardly flinched and continued its advance toward Yu in a mad bid to bite his head off, this was precisely why they were harrowing, their merciless pursuit and mindless battle left the opposition in horror

    Yu didn¡¯t panic though, instead he lifted his other arm shooting a grapple toward one of the tree¡¯s branches, once the grapple hooked around it he used the mechanism built in to propel himself upward

    The wolf still madly gave pursuit as it tried to climb the tree, of course that would be a hard task normally, not to mention when it had an injured foot

    ¡°Lyra don¡¯t mind me, make as much distance as you like¡± Lyra nodded her head at the now safe Yu and dashed away, if she stayed in place things would get tough as the wolves would corner her sooner or later, she might as well lead them on a blind chase and hit them when they break apart, while she couldn¡¯t wield fire and darkness with as much ease as her current power let her she could still cover her paws with flames, that and her already superior power proved to be a sure one hit kill to any Bronze wolf that took her attack head on

    ¡®Good girl, I shouldn¡¯t lag behind too much either¡¯ Reloading his crossbow he shot one bolt after the other at the wolves trying to climb the tree, his attacks almost always landed, and if they didn¡¯t then the wolf fell as it dogged the attack, once any of them got closer he would use the grapple to move to another branch, these mindless beasts were practically dancing the in palm of his hand

    AWOOOOO

    The loud howl interrupted the flow of the battle causing all the wolves to stop dead in their tracks, but that didn¡¯t last long as they only got madder, the practically clawed their way up to Yu while the ones on Lyra¡¯s side were pushing their bodies beyond the limit crushing their own legs from the exerted pressure

    ¡°When theirs smoke theirs fire, and when theirs a pack of wolves theirs a pack leader, by the sound of it this guy is probably also a Silver Rank¡±

    Turning his head toward the incoming pair of huge eyes Yu felt his back tingle, the real battle was only just about to start

 Mad Wolves

    Recognizing the incoming danger Lyra swiveled out of the wolves chase and headed to Yu¡¯s location, her speed was fast enough to maneuver away from any wolf coming toward her, but that still slowed her down a tad, enough for the Silver ranked wolf to reach Yu before she did

    Grrrr!

    The pack leader growled the airborne Yu before leaping in for the bite

    Yu had just been swinging using the grapple to make it to the other branch but seeing the rather large maw coming up he decided to pull himself up with the mechanism instead, successfully evading the bite

    That move wasn¡¯t the best one to make though as he was swinging mid ascent which put him in an awkward position where he had no branch to land on, he could either swing to the other side or continue to ascend

    Making the decision in a split second he used the tree bark he swung toward to propel him back, at the same time he released the grapple¡¯s mechanism which caused him to start reeling down

    The pack leader which had just set its feet on the ground saw its prey coming back down, it didn¡¯t waste time and made a much smaller jump due to the lack of momentum but still was enough to meet the descending Yu

    ¡°Lyra jump!¡± Yu yelled to the now close Lyra and instantly summoned his shield, while still airborne, the wolf leader which had it maw open crashed into the shield hard causing its jaw to crack, but that wasn¡¯t the end of it

    Yu who was coming in a downward momentum used all the force he could muster to kick the wolf toward Lyra who swung her fiery claws at him

    Swish!

    One swing was more than enough to decapitate the wolf leader, thus putting a quick end to the battle

    Awoooooooo! Awooooooooo!

    ¡®Or not¡¯

    Seeing all the wolves howling aggressively Yu figured they weren¡¯t going to back down just because their leader fell, in fact they seemed a lot more aggressive

    ¡°Lyra, head out of the encirclement!¡±

    He let go of the grappler which sustained too much damage from his descent sudden strain and ran with Lyra to the trees, shooting arrows as he went while Lyra swept any incoming wolf away with her swift slashes

    ¡°Wuu¡± Once they were out of the wolves¡¯ circle and had their back toward the trees Lyra nudged Yu toward the pack leaders body, to his horror Yu saw the other wolves ripping it apart viscously while they fought among each other, biting and clawing away each other flesh they totally ignored their earlier targets

    Yu didn¡¯t know what the hell was going on but he wasn¡¯t going to waste away this opportunity, he and Lyra looked at each other for a second before nodding and dashing away toward the city once again

    Merely five minutes later they heard a loud howl form their back, it sounded just like the previous leader¡¯s howl

    ¡°What the hell is going on with these wolves, did one of them just rank up? How is it possibly that easy?¡±

    Lyra rolled her eyes at Yu while they ran, out of all people he had the least right to say that when he ranked her up thrice within a week, let¡¯s not forget the snake and the fish as well

    Suddenly Lyra¡¯s eyes sharpened and she started to slow down, Yu noticed this and slowed down as well

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Wu Wu¡± Lyra answered by looking toward the back, her eyes narrow toward the distant trees

    Only a few seconds later Yu heard the faint sounds of howls, and soon he saw the approaching enemy, the wolves had actually caught up!

    ¡°They¡¯re actually straining their legs beyond breaking point, that¡¯s just sick!¡±

    The wolves had sprinted beyond their limit, they had a speed faster than Yu to being with and now that they pushed themselves to the limit it wouldn¡¯t take much time to catch up

    ¡°Crap, I¡¯m dragging us down¡± If it was Lyra alone she could easily outrun the wolves¡¯ top speed by a large margin, with a minute¡¯s head start she would already be well beyond their chase range, but with the slow Yu at the side they couldn¡¯t make much of a distanceThis tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Why the hell are they so persistent, I¡¯ve never heard of them going to such an extent¡±

    He couldn¡¯t figure for the life of him what drove them that mad

    ¡°Lyra prepare to intercept and distract, I¡¯ll make a run for it, once I¡¯m far enough I¡¯ll unsummon you¡±

    Lyra nodded and dashed away to meet the wolves head on

    ¡®Someday I will dive into battle with you as well¡¯ He thought as he started running again, he thought since they fought so much for their leader¡¯s body they would definitely try to kill Lyra and eat her, he was assured of Lyra¡¯s speed though and he knew she would be able to keep them at bay with ease

    ¡°AWUUU¡± The sudden wailing howl caused him to snap his head to the back, there he saw the new pack leader and some of the strongest wolves had circled around Lyra or just continued on regardless of their lives, they completely ignored her and head straight toward him, madness had only taken more control over them

    ¡°What the fuck! You gotta be kidding me, I would hardly make a tooth pick for you guys what the hell are you chasing me for!¡±

    He was perplexed beyond belief, he now figured that all they were after was him, evident by the fact that even the last leader had come toward him instead, but he just didn¡¯t know what he did to trigger them so

    ¡°Fuck! You wanna have a piece of me? You better earn it!¡±

    Realizing he couldn¡¯t outrun them he stopped all together and turned to face them, his situation was dire, his shield was on cool down, and Lyra was now in the middle of the pack trying to catch up to the ones that skipped her but the sheer numbers made it useless no matter how many she took down in her way, in the end a lot of them would make it to him

    ¡®Forty? Fifty? About right, let¡¯s see how many of you battered I can take down ¡®

    Once the first wolf approached it pounced on Yu with its jaw wide open with his neck being its target

    Yu bended backwards parallel to the ground shooting a bolt right into the mouth of the wolf, it flew right over him but another two came from the sides. Yu couldn¡¯t bound to the front fast enough so he instead continued his momentum to the back letting his feet leave the ground making a backward flip with his top body as the gravity center, the two wolfs who had been rushing passed right under him

    But his luck seemed to have run out as the next one to arrive was the leader while he was mid air

    ¡°HAA!¡± Yu suddenly whipped his feet forward onto the open jaws of the leader, he let go of his crossbow replacing it with Dead Silence, aiming down the mouth he forced to stay open he shot the unloaded weapon, what came out was a bolt of darkness that tore the insides of the leader to shreds rending it to pieces of blackish flesh

    At this moment Yu felt all his new found strength and flexibility leave him, he felt very empty and couldn¡¯t even muster the strength to push himself off the falling body

    Woosh

    The sound fire rang beside his ears while his body was suddenly dragged away with great speed, Lyra was holding him by the cloak and dragging him away as fast she could while she herself was cloaked with fire to fend off any of the close enemies

    Awooo! Awooo!

    The same scene from before played before Yu again as the wolves ignored them and fought of the leader¡¯s body ripping apart its flesh and eating it as they looked for the crystal

    ¡°Wait Lyra!¡± The frantic Lyra heard Yu yells and slowed down only a bit, she wanted to get away from these wolves even if she meant she had to carry him over through the entire forest

    ¡°Look¡± Yu pointed at the wolfs and Lyra turned her head, there where the wolfs were battling she saw black spots appear on their bodies, the black spots spread fast, so fast that by the time the wolves had reacted to them it had already reached their hearts, lungs, or head, by that time even though they tried to tear their own flesh off they still ended up dying in a few seconds only

    The wolves who didn¡¯t eat form the leaders flesh ate their comrade¡¯s bodies instead in search of the crystal, but the result was the same, it only took a bit more time

    ¡°Crazy bastards¡± Yu made his way back to the dead bodies, but he kept his distance from the flesh pieces, if it could kill a Silver Rank beast and more than forty Bronze Rank ones what stopped it form killing him

    ¡®What the hell just happened¡¯

    Confused couldn¡¯t even begin to describe Yu¡¯s feelings, forget about the black stuff, how the hell did he even muster all that strength, to them him of that moment time had moved ever so slowly, while his body seemed it could move however he wanted it to without suffering injury

    ¡®Adrenalin? Impossible, even if it can hype the brain and remove pain the after effects would still be there, I only feel a little weak and tired right now but nothing hurts, just what the hell is happening to me¡¯

    Tshhh shhh~

    Before he could think of anything else the flesh started to sizzle as black smoke bellowed out of it, the smoke condensed over the bodies of the dead wolfs into a dark cloud

    ¡°What the, Hu-¡°

    The smoke didn¡¯t give Yu a chance to speak as it suddenly tried to force itself into Yu¡¯s body

    ¡°WUU!¡± Blood red flames barred the path of the black cloud, which in turn retreated for less than a sec before throwing caution to the wind and diving through the flames

    But it was instantly sucked up by the ground merely inches away from Yu

    The Woods then sank back into silence, only the heavy breathing of Yu could be heard accompanied by Lyra¡¯s flames

    ¡°I, really can¡¯t deal with this bullshit anymore, can I at least ask my question before I get hit with another mysterious phenomenon?¡± Complaining wasn¡¯t Yu¡¯s style, still if he didn¡¯t get this load off his chest he felt like he would blow up from frustration

    Standing he looked at the now melted flesh, spotting more than a few crystals stuck into it out, one particular crystal was different from the rest as its colors spun widely about between dark and yellow

    Bending down he picked up the crystal and stored it into his ring then he turned to the worried Lyra and extended his hands to carcass her

    ¡°WU¡± Lyra stepped back a bit awkwardly, Yu didn¡¯t understand what¡¯s wrong but when he looked at his bloodied hands he remembered she was a clean freak, so he lowered his hands as his mouth twitched

    ¡°Let¡¯s go¡± Irritation leaking through his voices Yu commanded as they continued their journey onward to the city