《A Void Spirit's Slightly Psychotic Tale》
Prologue - Hello World
There were many wondrous sights to see in the world ofAecledolon; gorgeous, untouched valleys, towering mountain ranges, and deep ocean trenches. One would certainly appreciate the exotic red color of the seas or the blighted plants in the forests. Indeed,Aecledolon was a well-known tourist trap and visitors were welcomed with open arms. Though they weren''t likely to leave.
It was in one such famous tourism location known as the Voidlands that a battle was occurring, as a tall humanoid figure clad entirely in black armor swung its sword at a fleshy monstrosity, only for it to ignore the damage entirely slamming its appendage into the armored figure''s chest throwing it back and into the ground. It stood again and swung again at the monstrosity and suddenly it seemed to give out, falling apart into a pile of oily flesh. The figure slowly fell down, exhausted. It tried to get up, holding itself up with an arm but falling back down as its arm gave out. Perhaps accepting its end it looked at the sky...and died. There was no amazing comeback or reinforcements for this figure and so it died, alone. However, it was not the only one to fall, in the surroundings similar scenes played out, though mostly the armored figures seemed to be winning, though their opponents weren''t all fleshy monsters. Some struggled against skeletons, others against flaming humanoids. Regardless, the corpses accumulated rapidly, until at some unseen signal...it ended.
The armored figures retreated south, cutting down stragglers and pursuers as they went and the rest of the things on the battlefield vanished or just collapsed. Others still, froze, and then wandered off, disappearing into the freshly bloodied mists of the Voidlands. That was not all though, as all the corpses now gave off mana as they decayed, even the ones that didn''t typically decay such as bones. The sheer concentration of normal mana contadicted the void mana always present in the Voidlands and under these conditions a small pocket of mana where the void mana and regular mana mixed formed, just above an armored figure''s corpse.
The result was the miracle of a spirit being born in the Voidlands and its intelligence was nothing special. As was typical of a newborn spirit it floated there. Doing nothing. There was more than enough mana from the corpse for the spirit to feed itself and even its instincts that would have otherwise motivated it to find food were thus dormant. After all, a spirit of its age and power was not exactly known for needing large amounts of mana. Thus, that was where the spirit stayed, content to float there doing nothing. And perhaps that was where it was going to stay forever, or at least a long time, as the surrounding corpses released enough mana for it to live.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
*47 years later*
The corpse had by now rotted and lost most of its mana, yet there was still some left. Truly, in life, the corpse would have likely been an impressive figure, though now it had been reduced to a food source for a spirit with as much intelligence as a regular plant. None, basically. The spirit had never been threatened in the Voidlands, and so the vibrations that shook it now finally awakened some of the its instincts.
It floated a couple millimetres away from the corpse and then stopped, satisfied with its preperations. The vibrations, seemed only to get stronger and the spirit was flung around like a leaf in a tornado, and if not for it lacking the necessary senses or feelings it would have vomited. As it was though it flew around unable to attempt any resistance nor feel anything towards its situation. Around it though the source or the sources of the vibrations revealed themselves as hordes of monsters, ranging from wolf looking things to grotesque combinations of body parts, met in battle. One from the west and one from the east, though fortunately none seemed to take any interest in the spirit that was even now but an extremely pale ball of whitish light that threatened to blink out of existence at any moment.
It, of course, was unable to understand the scene that was unfolding in its vicinity, as the hordes collided against each other splattering blood everywhere as they mindlessly tore each other apart. There was no semblance of order to their ranks, even pouncing on each other. Despite the fact that they were all dying they showed no particular interest in stopping, continuing to tear into each other with reckless abandon until finally there were only corpses and it had returned to silence. This made no difference to the spirit as its hunger, if it could be called such, overrode any sense of fear its instincts may give it, for to it this scene of carnage was just another food source. It was not wrong in feeling so, as while none of the beasts had the intelligence to intentionally cast magic, they still possessed mana...and more.
Unintionally perhaps, but the spirit was absorbing the lingering souls and memories of the beasts, and so, after 47 years of existence the spirit passed an important milestone that the earlier batch of corpses had been unable to provide; their souls and wills having faded before the spirit was born.
Intelligence +1
Your intelligence has reached the necessary requirements.
Granting access to the system.
Chapter 1 - Tutorial, Start!
The message from the system hung there in the spirit''s view. And hung. And continued to hang there. In the end, getting one intelligence did nothing for the spirit''s actual intelligence. Unfortunately, it was not going to suddenly gain new knowledge and become capable of navigating the system. Similarly, the system wasn''t about to run out of patience any time soon and so the stalemate between the system and the spirit persisted.
Intelligence +1
It didn''t help much that the Voidlands were such a peaceful place. Aside from the occasional mass slaughter. It just wasn''t a particularly educational environment for a newborn that lacked even a basic capacity for learning. Two intelligence just wasn''t an awe inspiring number and the spirit was not getting any input from its surroundings. So it stayed there for another 26 years, until the corpses around it finished decaying. Any remnant mana in the corpses wasn''t something the spirit possessed the ability to extract, and so for the first time since its birth it was forced to move in search of a food source.
Intelligence +1
Realistically, a normal environment would be able to sustain a small spirit, even if it wasn''t capable of birthing one. The Voidlands only naturally contained void mana, something the spirit had no ability to absorb, while the corpses that could provide other mana produced incompatible mana or had stopped leaking excess. Luckily for the spirit the mana that escaped from other corpses around the battlefield didn''t manage to spread far, hampered by the void mana, and so the spirit evcentually settled in a nice little pocket of mana...and stayed there.
Intelligence +1
In the background, more intelligence increase notifications piled up, unread by the spirit, that through consistent consumption had managed to turn from a flickering wisp of light to a slighly larger flickering wisp of light. The unconscious growth of a spirit was slow and unhurried without predators, and no creature in the Voidlands would bother attacking a flickering wisp of light.
*56 years later*
More time having passed, a wave occurred again, this time the hordes were composed entirely of smallish humanoids with red-orange skin, larger versions of this creatures interspersed throughout the hordes. This time there were seven hordes in total, the humanoids started fighting the moment they touched the members of another horde. Even at first glance this fight was different from the scatterred combat that had birthed the spirit or the mindless violence that had fed it for so long. No, this time, the hordes stuck together, as the larger ones acted somewhat like leaders. There were no tactics in the common meaning of the word, but the humanoids stuck in groups rather than scatterring randomly, allowing them to fight with less casualties than an idiotic charge.
The larger ones smashed through the small ones, sending them flying through the air with throws or punches, wrenching them apart on the spot, curshing them underfoot, or simply tossing them backwards where they were swarmed and shredded by the following humanoids. A headbutt from one large creature crushed the skull of another large creature, yet the big one was soon pulled down and ripped apart by the horde.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
As organized as they were compared to the previous hordes, they threw themselves into the meat grinders that existed everywhere a horde met another. Yet, the occasional backward glances by some indicated that they were less than happy to do so. Though any that dared turn around were torn apart gleefully by their former allies. All in all, it was shaping up to be just the bloodbath as the previous hordes.
However, as the battle dragged on, powerful individuals started to emerge, larger, faster, or even just smarter creatures survived as the battle dragged on, until suddenly the survivors of each horde turned and ran the way they came.
The dead had been left behind, and returned this stretch of the Voidlands to the bountiful harvest it was for the spirit. It had been floating above the carnage below, instinctually absorbing all the food around it and in the process...
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Intelligence...
Intelligence +1
A miracle occurred.
Wisdom +1
All of a sudden, the spirit''s intelligence had increased and now so too had its mental complexity. So it had its first thought: "........(?!@#$^)!"
That was to be expected. The spirit could indeed retain information properly now and start actual learning. So the first thought had been...incomprehensible. There had been only a primitive form of intention to express contentment. True sapience or even sentience was a long way to go.
A larger stretch of time had passed by now, and the spirit was starting to understand good and not good. Having food was ''good.'' Not having food was...''not good.'' It was a start though, as two default thoughts were likely still better than just one.
Floating around to locate better mana pockets tende to do that to a spirit. Of course, disliking the moving itself was beyond the little spirit''s abilities for now, but it had come a long way from being the weak wisp of light it had been to the ball it now was. Its brightness had dimmed and the size was still small, perhaps the size of a small pebble.
Now slightly disappointing IQ aside, the little one was making rather rapid progress for a spirit with its intelligence, not falling too far behind a wild spirit in other environments, because void mana aside, one massacre of the scale that occurred in the Voidlands provided a large amount of mana that was highly concentrated as a result of the void mana''s compression. This was a goldmine for a young spirit, because the slaughtering in the Voidlands never really ended.
And so it was, that the spirit rapidly grew in intelligence, filling out the more than ample mental capacity, taking only 149 years to grasp basic emotions. Thankfully, this was all it needed to start using the system. Helpfully, the system prompt appeared:
Start Tutorial? Yes/No.
Chapter 2 - The Good, the Bad, and the Goodbad
The spirit ''blinked'' at the new thing in front of it. The older messages had been dismissed over time, more by luck really, because as the spirit gained primitive sentience an accidental glance at the blue boxes conveyed the information. Not that the spirit understood what ''blue'' was or what exactly it had gained, only that it seemed to fall under ''good'' and ''happy.''
For the spirit ''happy'' was not hard to achieve. Happiness to it was simply not starving. Whereas ''not good'' had been dervived to ''bad,'' and neutral didn''t exist for the spirit yet. So it was that when the spirit ''looked'' at the blue boxes, ''Yes'' seemed to feel like ''happy,'' and ''No'' felt like ''bad.'' So it was that the spirit came to its decision, that ''happy'' was the best, floating towards ''Yes.'' But, nothing happened as the box stayed in front of the spirit no matter where it looked. Perhaps it would have felt frustration were it more intelligent, but seeing as the box promised more ''happy,'' floating after it seemed like a fine plan to the spirit.
So it did. Innocently chasing after the box, until it left its mana pocket. Then, it was as if the world had come crashing down and everything turned ''bad.'' It was too complicated yet to figure out directions for the young spirit, and its natural senses for mana didn''t work properly in the Voidlands. The only option to the spirit to get ''happy'' again was the ''Yes,'' so under desperation it managed to do the mental press it needed to to select an option.
Step 1: Say ''Open Status''
More desperate mental flailing ensued for the spirit, because suddenly the ''happy'' was gone! The world had become a dark, and utterly ''bad'' place. The utterly hysterical spirit eventually chanced upon another pocket of mana, and instantly settled down. The box which had betrayed it so was given the stink eye - the spirit''s equivalent anyway - as the spirit learned a truth of the world early on - don''t trust anything.
Wisdom +1
The new realization was enough to give the spirit another point in wisdom. However, it glared at the new ''bad thing'' until it felt something ''happy'' from it. The experience was new stimulation for the spirit as something it knew was the same for sure, was being ''bad'' and ''happy'' all at the same time! In reality, the functional intelligence the spirit had by now was less than even regular animals in the wild, and its sensory input was far too limited by its environment, but it didn''t change that it had space for things in its ''head'' by now. Now, for the first time, itreally,consciously remembered something. The memory of the box''s ''bad'' and ''happy'' was kept at the forefront of its mind as it stared at the box.
The box, as if prompted, once again appeared:
Step 1: Say ''Open Status''
The thing wasn''t ''happy,'' and it didn''t seem like the ''bad'' it had felt before. So it was forced to create a third category, a neutral section, ''goodbad.'' The spirit saw no prompt to select, only information that it was incapable of properly understanding. Luckily for the spirit, the system was usable even by monsters, which weren''t always known for their intelligence, so an alternative existed in such cases;
User sentience too low, engaging automatic mode
The spirit observed that the box had changed, and was still solidly goodbad, but not goodbad, because it was definitely not the thing from before. Like a snowball, the initial thoughts and stimulus from the system was starting to aid in its mental development, and now the spirit could understand that things changed.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 0
Age: 278 years
Titles:
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 3/3
Intelligence
9
Wisdom
2
The spirit ''jumped'' when a wave of information hit it as the box changed again! It was starting to see a trend here. The box changed much, and this time it had been bad for sure, why else would it feel so...bad? Yet after the information was slowly sorted out, the spirit retracted its assessment again; now the box was goodbad again. The box followed in front of the spirit as it slowly movedaway from the ''thing of many changes,'' and soon it had repeated the bad thing again.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
However, this time the box changed again and the spirit noticed something different.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 0
Age: 278 years
Titles:
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): ~3/3
Intelligence
9
Wisdom
2
The thing in theotherbox had changed! After that, more from accident than anything else, it repeated the accident repeatedly, and every timethatbox changed. Now, the spiritknew, that the bad happened when the box changed. The box changed when the spirit changed! After all, it had changed towards the box and it became bad, and when it changedaway, then it was also bad. Therefore, the change was bad! With all its will, the spirit determined that itwould not change no matter what. Absolutely.
* 32 years later *
The spirit had done its best to not change. It really had. But then, thebad, it had comeagain! Even not changing made the bad come! Not to mention, whenever the bad happened over the last couple decades, the spirit had been able to stop the bad by finding more mana pockets. To the spirit that meant change made happy happen! Nothing made anysense! Change was bad, and that was happy, because it knew something for once. But now, change was goodbad! It was too different! Why!?
Emotional turmoil was a very fast way to develop mentally, even if not the healthiest. As it was the spirit was too simple to really go mad or damage its sanity with the mental trauma it underwent constantly, so that it was practically without cons. In fact, it was all pros as it allowed the spirit to really identify the environment through how it felt about it, and by doing so grow further by understanding and sorting through its emotions.
As the spirit started flailing and throwing a tantrum like a small child it discovered ''frustration'' and ''anger.'' Neither were particularly ''happy,'' so the spirit was sure that they were probably ''bad.'' Probably. Itreallydidn''t feel ''happy'' about the recent events, creating ''dislike.''
It was a series of milestones for the spirit, yet they passed unnoticed; too minor for the system to care, and no friends or fellow spirits to care about its growth. It would have been a crushing sense of loneliness had the spirit any experience of company. The hordes didn''t really count, since to the spirit they were quite simply ''bad.'' Maybe ''goodbad.'' Regardless, they didn''t warrant the further investigation of ''happy.''
To a young impressionable mind, bad things were better avoided and memories suppressed. It wanted nothing to do with them, and they with it. Yet the spirits desires were not capable of influencing the world around it, so the time came when another horde descended on the Voidlands.
This one was a disappointment compared to the imps. More like the horde that had first fed the spirit, it was crazed hordes of twisted beasts, from towering skinless bears to rats with ugly, swelling tumours all over them. They ravaged each other even as they continued to charge past where the spirit was and headed south.
Nothing changed for the spirit, aside from a nice supply of fresh mana; which it wouldn''t even notice as being more than before. Nor would it realize that without these willing sacrifices every now and then, it would feel ''bad,'' - very bad in fact - before dying from mana deprivation.
The spirit would likely stay blissfully unware of its precarious situation for some time. For now though, it was happy to see, well, ''happy.''
Max Mana +1
Fresh corpses always brought ''happy'' to the spirit. Perhaps not the best revelation to have for an impressionable mind. Not a problem for the spirit though. It would be fine, since it lacked the ability or intention to add more bodies to the stacks.
Chapter 3 - WORDS!
In the aftermath of the fresh tide of bodies, the spirit paused to seriously consider something important. It had done...something and came up with ''good,'' ''bad,'' ''happy,'' and all those other things. Yet. What were those things called. Whenever those very fast ''changing'' things passed by they left behind some things that stopped ''changing.'' Aside from seeming very ''tasty.'' Yes, this was another thought the spirit had had. The box gave it ''happy,'' but the places that gave it ''happy'' were a different kind of ''happy.'' Then, the place ''happy'' must be different, right? So, the spirit had come up with ''tasty.''
The things that stopped ''changing'' and stayed were...things, yes. But, what was over there? How did the things appear? The spirit vaguely understood that it had appeared almost exactly where it was now. It certainly hadn''t done that much ''changing.'' So then where were the things coming from? Could it ''change'' all the way there and get even more ''tasty?'' But, whenever it ''changed,'' the ''bad'' came. Did the things not feel ''bad?''
Wisdom +1
Most of all, why was the ''tasty'' becoming harder to find, and the ''bad'' becoming...more. Did the things do that? If the box ''changed,'' then something else usually followed, so if the things were like boxes, maybe they ''changed'' it too? They certainly seemed ''tasty'' though, so if it got more it could probably get more ''tasty'' and make the ''bad'' go away. The real problem was how to make more of the things stop ''changing.''
Wisdom +1
For now, the spirit paused in its intense thinking to float down towards the corpses and stopped right on top of the corpse of a grotesque wolf. It looked like it had been smashed by something, and its remains splattered out over the black, rocky ground.
Soon the spirit started to pulse, brightening and fading, brightening and fading, in a continuous cycle. After a while, the spirit''s size seemed to have increased from small peblle to - medium pebble! As if full, it lazily floated down and passed into the splattered remains, stopped by the ground. There it stayed, and settled into a semi-active mode. It had overstuffed itself and was in a mana rich environment - for its relative needs anyway - and could not stay fully active as stuffed as it was.
Normally, the mana dissipated and thinned in concentration by the time it reached the spirit''s altitudes, fighting through the void mana. Moreover, the spirit knew no restraint, determined to get as much of the mana as possible. All of that being the case, it would stay there until the corpse ran out of excess mana.
*16 years later*
The spirit ''blinked'' and floated up instinctually in response to waking up in...something. Whatever the thing around it was, the spirit wanted no part in it, having taken all the ''tasty'' it could. Joyfully, it floated staright up and after the now routine panicking after encountering ''bad'' stumbled into ''tasty.''
It had just settled down when ''frustration'' suddenly came. The spirit had just realized it could have tried to find another one of the stopped things. Actually, it paused, and then looked all around itself, like really looked around. It had noticed those things because they did so much ''changing,'' but even around it there were things, many, many things, that were...things. They didn''t seem to ''change'' but they were there for sure. In fact, sometimes, the very weird, big thing out there changed, turning a different form. The things down also ''changed'' form when they got ''changed'' by other things, spraying a weird looking something onto the...thing? Just like that, the big thing ''changed,'' becoming small and hitting the thing the other things were on, then going into the other thing.
The spirit didn''t know what any of these things it had were good or not, but it knew it needed to be able to know what each thing was. Somehow. Everything was a thing, just that maybe something more...thing! It was thing again! Why!? Why was it so hard to do...!? No! NONONONONONONONONONO...(much, much later)
* 54 years later *
The spirit had rather ridiculous levels of patience and single mindedness, so it had been trapped in denial until the mana pocket emptied out. Then it reset almost the moment the ''bad'' came to it, and the only benefit to it after its suffering was that this time it went straight for a corpse. It was starting to figure out food sources, even if it didn''t know the word for it.
It was then not a surprise that while immersed in gorging itself again it didn''t take any notice of the army that marched past, lined up in clean rows of soldiers. Each humanoid was covered in a full body suit of armor and they marched in ordered columns, heading south. Soon enough they stopped to set up camp, moving around to check out the corpses scatterred everywhere. Some even poked around the bones and scribbled around in little books, while others tried out the bones to see if they had any worth as materials in weapons. They tested their hardness and mana retention, even as yet others tested to check out if they were useful in alchemy.
Gathering information in a new land was of paramount importance in a new land, and they, the army would be damned if they didn''t do their job right. That did not however, prevent them from chattering to each other, and so for the first time, the spirit heard ''talking.''
It had been shocked awake when a soldier stepped on it by accident, though the foot had passed through harmlessly, the spirit had almost ran straight up. That it didn''t was because it sensed more mana from the soldiers and had excitedly floated all over, sticking to one soldier, then another. All over the camp it went, its glee wearing down when it found that it didn''t actually seem to be able to get mana from the soldiers. Only after it had settled down had it noticed the soldiers talking.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Naturally it didn''t understand them. Nor did it understand the hand gestures or body language they made. It did however, see a soldier point somewhere and say something as its mouth moved and the other soldier had actually moved that way!
So in the spirit''s head, it had made a rather logical jump in thinking - were the weird new things that these other things seemed to be doing telling each other what they thought!? It felt excitement, because while it could care less about the strange new things, the things that they were doing were an entirely different matter. Could it do that and think with them? Would they finally be able to tell the spirit what everything was?
Wisdom +1
Intelligence +1
Passion ignited it once again went soldier to soldier, yet again its attempts were foiled and dreams brutally crushed. The soldiers simply didn''t notice it.
Soon enough though, the spirit decided that it could certainly still ''look'' at them and remember the things they did. And remember it did. Something like "ground" for the...well, the ground. There was also "rock" and "rocks," but they were also apparently the ground, so that didn''t make much sense to the spirit. And what was the "s" for? Nevertheless, it picked up many useful things. "I" was weird (another new thing) and they seemed to use it for "myself," with a myself being a, well a thing. "A" was new too! It was "one" thing. "One" was...one. OH! Was "s" for "more" than a "one?"
Wisdom +1
Moreover, the huge thing at the "up," which was going up (it felt rather happy using all these new things) and then "down" was a "the sun." Even other "sides" existed! There was "left" and "right." Though those were confusing. The ground was on the down and the sun was at the up. However, left and right didn''t seem to have anything special. What was a "the mountain" anyway? They "moved" their "hands" somewhere, but wasn''t it just a rock? What was the difference. Was it size? How big could a rock get before being a the mountain? Also what was this "wolf" they spoke of? They had pointed at a "dead" (this meant it had stopped changing) thing and called it a wolf. An "ugly" "monster" and "freak" as well. Though why not just pick one? They called other things like "boars" and "rats" all of those things as well so maybe it was like how a the mountain was a rock and also a the mountain. "Big" was just more than a thing. Weirdly (its new "favorite" thing) enough, it had discovered that when "night" "fell (moving down fast since the thing that fell called it that)," it became "dark" and the "moon (the weird big thing)" came out. Also, a big wolf was a "dire" wolf. Why dire, it had no idea. Also, the "steel" "weapons," like "swords," "spears," "axes," and "shields" were used to "fight (making other things "get" die)" and "armor" was used to "stop injury (getting die)." Why not say used to stop fights, it didn''t know either. Actually, it found that its knowing things were a lot "less" than the knowing things. Which was sad.
Wisdom +1
Soon enough though, as "morning" came, and the things "broke camp (the many "tents")," the spirit felt the change before it saw it. While the things had been very "functional (this meant good, a very functional thing and so another favorite thing)" the spirit had no desire to get stepped on again and new things always came eventually.
Merrily, it floated up, up, and away.
The soldiers on the other hand were unaware of the oncoming danger and formed ranks as they marched further south. They intended to leave the Voidlands within the week; surely such disgusting lands wouldn''t extend that far, right? So they went south, where they knew their target was.
Before that could happen though they would have to get through the Voidlands, and soon enough the residents came to show their guests some hospitality. From every which direction came the hordes of imps, undead, and twisted abominations, seeking the target that announced itself. Every living thing in the Voidlands, and most around them, sought violence and blood, and the new humanoids had made themselves a target for literally everything at once. Their impressive looking lines crumbled fast when their enemies simply threw themselves onto their weapons to get even a little bit closer to the tasty meals. Then, the poor saps hanging off of weapons were torn apart by their own comrades, who happily took their places on the pikes and swords and spears.
This made sure the menagerie of monsters killed each other more than the soldiers, but that didn''t mean there weren''t those that made it to the soldiers and so the soldiers lost people fast. They weren''t just killed as they would be when fighting each other; no, they were shredded as they were eaten alive by the endless hordes of monsters. They were an army, yes, but not one that had fought insanity.
And there was only so much insanity that a common creature was okay with before it turned tail and ran, so soon enough the humanoids broke ranks and ran for their lives. Some small pockets here and there as well as those soldiers gathered around important looking people retained some semblance of order as they fell back, but fall back they did. No one in that army wanted to stay in this land of death anymore, however the hordes begged to differ, tearing down soldiers as they chased; relentlessly continuing the hunt.
Up above the world so high, the spirit twinkled, feeling some strange sense of enjoyment at the carnage below. More "food" was always welcome.
Max Mana +1
Spoiler: Spoiler
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 0
Age: 380 years
Titles:
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 5/5
Intelligence
10
Wisdom
7
Chapter 4 - New Words!
The spirit floated from corpse to corpse to get the tas - no, the "food" as it was pretty sure it was called - and felt...well, it wasn''t sure what it felt. Whatever it was though, it felt like it would be more if the strange things from...from...the things were to be there again. Yes, that would be more. Much more. To get more, the things were needed.
Thinking intensely, the spirit started to float in circles, the equivalent of pacing around. It was completely unconscious of course and came from its previous experiences of moving away from anything bad or challenging such as the boxes at first. Since thinking was hard for it, its natural response was to try and escape it, which was impossible for it now. Suddenly, the spirit that had been starting to move steadily faster froze having followed a rather convoluted train of thought.
If the things were more. And the things could move to where the spirit was. And make more for the spirit. And even move away. They were even weird enough to drag themselves against the ground, and also moved around rocks. Why would they do that? In fact, even other things it saw in the past dragged themselves on the ground. So weird. It was so-so-what was the thing for this? It didn''t know! It very very...again! This was why the things must be found! How could it just move around only fooding (if move was moving then doing something with food must be fooding, right?) anymore now when it didn''t know the thing for so many things! For moring, it would move out! But first...how to not get ''bad?'' But if food was things and things were food and the things were everywhere that way...could it just move over the things?
Convinced it had come up with a truly brilliant plan the spirit floated as far as it dared having gotten a sense for where the food ran out over the years. It couldn''t of course tell where the ''bad'' was, but it had found that the if it''s not food, it''s bad rule had yet to fail it. The not food must be ''bad.'' The soldiers had been food - even if they were likely to vehemently oppose that sentiment - to the spirit and the spirit had found them to be very functional indeed. So, for now its rule had indeed managed to hold true. It had by now identified a soldier''s mutilated remains near the edge of its mana pocket.
Had it not been for its newfound desire for knowledge it would have never wanted to willingly touch the void mana, yet now it did. Mentally screaming and crying all the while it steadfastly continued onwards to the soldier''s corpse. Then it alighted there and replenished its reserves. And paused.
The things had been a lot easier to spot from up and now they didn''t seem so near. Rather...weren''t they very...over there? It couldn''t understand how something so...small and close from up could be so...not close when on the ground. Even the place before didn''t seem too reachable now.
Shuddering slightly it compressed itself, the spirit''s equivalent of the fetal position. Had it a thumb it would likely be sucking it now. Then it jerked slightly, a terrible realization having struck.
If the food become not food...by thing. Then...would this thing also become not food if it didn''t move to more food? Would it also...stop moving? It...didn''t want to stop moving. There were too many things to thing! The big more out there with all the things doing things was there for it to thing! The boxes! It still didn''t understand them! If it became not moving now...would it move again? The things didn''t move after they stopped moving. They changed...but didn''t move. It had ''seen'' so many things stop moving that it couldn''t care less if any more decided to be boring and stop moving (though some had been very weird to watch move weirdly while moving all that not black stuff out of themselves and then stoping) but it had never...maybe the things also thinged? Did they? They had all the things for things...maybe they did. Then...would they thing the same right now? NO! It would know these things and more! If food was not close, then it would move more! That was all it was! Yes, for more!
Enlivened, it charged away from the soldier, braving new frontiers to find more food! Though the journey wasn''t nearly as perilous as the innocent spirit had presumed. The soldiers had been shredded not slain, their remains painting the ground red, and every bit gave off some mana since it had not been long since they died. Each bit could cover its mana needs and so it was panicking for nothing. It certainly didn''t know that however, and so with courage in its...heart(?).... it forged on towards the nearest corpse. Then stopped and proceeded to repeat its whole thought process from before to ready itself...before moving to the next corpse. It screamed frantically in its head all the while, immediately calming when it reached a corpse. Like using stones to cross a river, the spirit skipped across corpses to cross the Voidlands. Soon, the glorious hero (in its mind; even if it really only imagined a similar concept) stood triumphant, having found more things. Just...not the right things.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
* 247 years later *
It had been "very" "long" now. Much "time" had "passed" since it had discovered these "new" things. It "loved" and "liked" "using" all these "words." Yep. It had "learned" many, many new words. And how to, "Bash head in! Use! Hit! More! Harder!" Indeed, these things were perhaps even better than the other things! Sure, they had a strange way of saying the same things, "but" they used less words! It was "faster" and they even said new things like how to make other things "commit" "die." When it would use such knowledge it wasn''t sure, but all knowledge was good knowledge right? At the very least, next time it "picked up" a "club," something would definitely have a head bashed in. When it got these "arms" that most moving things seemed to have anyway.
Lately however, the spirit had been feeling more and more like maybe, just maybe, these things weren''t the "same" as the things it had first learned words from. It couldn''t point out what exactly, but they just seemed..."different." For one, they "I evolve now! Stronger! Kill you!" a lot. "Evolving" seemed to be when a thing became another thing...but "how" did they evolve? Could it evolve? And kill you everything? It sure seemed like "fun." The things definitely did it a lot. Whatever it was, they must be doing something better than it, since they evolved and it didn''t and kill you happened a lot. Wondering what to do, it settled back down in its hiding place. The massive "cave" that the things were in was fun, but it had found a "small" cave to hide in. Moreover, the cave even made lots of food for it. From its spot in the cave it got plenty of new words too, since it could listen to everything around it, and other things didn''t like to come near the small cave. Which was weird. It was such a "good" place! Over its stay here it also heard "status" a lot. Its boxes were also called that, it remembered something like that way back...could it say status? The boxes had appeared a couple times while it had learned too.
It jumped in shock when a familiar box came to view.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 0
Age: 627 years
Titles:
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 8/8
Intelligence
13
Wisdom
11
Congratulations! User has displayed sufficient intelligence to return to normal mode!
Resuming tutorial...
Step 2: Navigate status window.
It stared at the new boxes. It already didn''t like them. They were using words it didn''t know! There wasn''t even something else happening like with the things that could tell it what the words meant! It was better before when it got the "feeling" with every word.
...! The feeling was there! As soon as it "thinked" it! So navigate was move? Why didn''t it just say so!? "Stupid" box. Angrily the spirit spent a good bit of time doing this moving "around" the status bo- if the box moved, did that mean it was a thing like these things! It used words too...so it wasn''t a rock...could it be a special thing too!? The more it learned the more everything seemed like "lying!" Nono, the box said move so it should move first, do as the things do right? As it ''moved'' to each word in the box with smaller boxes, they ''felt'' in its "head (the things had heads where they seemed to indicate thinking happened, so it must have a head too since it could do much thinking!)!" The first box in the box was not use, it told it nothing! The second was just confusing, and it felt like the first one! The third was like time and it didn''t know what the thing inside was but it felt like something bigger than one. Maybe even "three...." The fourth was like the first and second! The fifth made its head "hurt" very much so it quickly ''looked'' away from the box and it disappeared.
It could come back later...when the box didn''t want to hurt it. It knew how to make it "become" so it didn''t feel too "bad."
Then it turned back to the very many weird things...what were they up to now...? Why were they all leaving the big cave? That had never happened "before." Usually they -
A large boom shook the cave and everyone in it, even the little spirit, interrupting its thoughts.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 0
Age: 627 years
Titles:
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 8/8
Intelligence
13
Wisdom
11
Chapter 5 - Battle of the Bones
The spirit was fine with staying in its cave. The cave would do the work for it and follow after the things.
Sure enough, the cave went up and then towards the other things. They were making "loud noises" and "shouting" at some other things. The new things looked very strange. They were lots "bones," like what moving things turned into when they stopped moving and what the things it stayed with sometimes "chewed" on.
The only difference was that these bones were moving, and it seemed to recall seeing such bones before too. It hated them, because they kept confusing it. Other bones didn''t move. They just stayed there. It was pretty sure it would have remembered seeing bones getting up and moving if it had happened before. Whatever the reason these bones were moving. And fighting the things it was with. The things angrily swung their arms or clubs around and made the bones make crunch sounds. If they got hit in the place with small glowey things then they stopped moving.
The spirit could afford to relax as it watched the bones and things fight each other, because its cave was very useful. The arms attached to it swung around and smashed the bones easily. The things were "winning" and the spirit was developing a taste for fighting (even if it was just watching), as the crunch noises were very fun to listen to. That all changed when the sun attacked.
Then the boom from before happened and suddenly there were things and bones going up and then down, making the expected crunch noises but also snap''s and even splat''s. Happily it glowed and turned to look at the weird bones that had somehow made the sun become and then boomed the things and other bones. Though it wondered why the bones would boom the other bones, they were together weren''t they? When things were together they were supposed to...be together right? The things it was with hit each other but didn''t do that.
Also, the sun was up, so how had it come down? It didn''t have time to continue that thought anymore, because all of a sudden its cave went towards the weird bones! Was the cave dumb? It had had many caves over, and the first time it changed it had decided, but after that one of the things apparently became a "shaman" and moved it to a new cave when the old one stopped moving. It could move itself, but why bother? It had a good spot to watch and listen, and the caves were generally very good at not becoming dead.
Now this cave was going to fight the weird bones? It was pretty sure the cave would becomed dead when it tried to fight the sun. And-the sun! It was coming! It wanted to move far away from the sun, but the cave went towards it! It was going to die!
XFGHOJLCFGUHKNVGHK!
...?
The...cave was still moving towards the bones? How? The sun had hit the cave...and not made the cave go boom? Well. That changed things. KILL THE BONES! NO BONES OR THINGS TRIED TO KILL IT AND DIDN''T BECOME CRUNCH!
Left right, right left! Hit it with the arms! Make it crunch!
The spirit gleefully watched its cave carrier hit the bones over and over from its perch, until it saw it make a the sun. It was using food to do it! And was going to break its cave! As if it was going to let it waste food like that!
Its gluttony reared its head once again as the spirit flew into the bones and pulled at the food, happily taking it away.
Max Mana +5
The bones raised its hand to hit the cave...and nothing happened. It felt disdain at the way the bones seemed to pause and stare at its hand...right before the cave hit the bones in the head one last time. After the expected crunch it fell.
Level Up +5
What was-If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 6/10
Species: Corrupt Fragment (G)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 627 years
Titles:
Size: 19 lems
Status Points: 6
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 19/19
Intelligence
13
Wisdom
11
It stared at the new things. The box was bigger and had more things. But when it wanted to see it felt something whiz through it. Annoyed it turned to look at the disturbance. The cave carrier was trying to grab it. Then again. It could try to navigate the status thing while relaxing in the cave. So it lazily floated back in.
By now the other things had dealt with the bones and were trying to eat them already. As all the things, including its cave carrier, went back into the big cave, the spirit considered several points. The first was that the bones dying had made it more strong. It had heard the things talking about getting stronger like this and now it too had done so. Why had it never gotten a... "level up" before? What was "status points?" Why did status points feel like become strong? They didn''t seem to have done anything yet? The "mana points" felt like food. So did that mean how hungry it was? Or how much it could eat? "Intelligence" was...good? So was "wisdom" apparently. That left "size" and "species." Both made no sense to it. Done. Navigated.
Step 3: Check Skills
Check skills? How was it supposed to do that? There wasn''t any "skills" box. How confusing.
It decided to look around, and saw that without it noticing the things had moved again. Now they were eating some other things. They had four "legs." The things it was with only had two. Were its things worse? But then those eaten things didn''t have arms. And were dead. Its things were better then.
Now that it thinked it. Why was it that these things killing things didn''t make it level up again? Did it have to eat other things for it to work? It had eaten the bones. Kind of. But it had never level up when eating before. Was it because the bones had been moving? Next time, it would try to eat from a moving thing.
Right now, it was wondering what the things were doing. They had moved its cave onto the ground and the cave carrier and other things were...what was the shaman saying - "sacrifice?" Was this bad?
* 36 years later *
The things made a point of doing a sacrifice to its cave everytime they killed other things. Its cave carrier seemed to make a point of it. It had heard it tell the other things to "respect the magic helmet, or else." Respect wasn''t food or a thing like it, that much it could tell. Other than that? Did it matter? If it wasn''t food or telling it more things it was useless. A "chieftain" was a thing that could tell other things what to do. That it could tell. The cave carrier had been the chieftain and the new chieftain got its cave. Why they were calling it a "magic helmet" or whatever it didn''t know. Wasn''t it just some random bones it had saw a thing putting on its head once and decided to sit inside? It had had a hole where the bones didn''t cover at the top and space inside so it had gone into it. How was it supposed to know it wasn''t supposed to go into it! The one time it had left the shaman had come after it with the other things!
Now after that time with the bones it was special. They ''respected'' it. The chieftain was always talking to it. About "friends" and "enemies" and...more. It told it "stories." About how there were "blue" "skies" in "distant" "lands," where there was lots of food and none of those "abominations." That there was a thing called a "rift" where the "outsiders" came from. That they invaded" this "world." That its "tribe" had been here before the "calamity" that "tainted" this land. It had learned lots of things from the chieftain, so it wondered if that meant they were friends.
And for the first time it wondered...if it could "talk" too, then would the chieftain tell it more? Would the other things tell it stories too? Would it ever see what a "star" was? Blue?
It looked up, unable to see the sky from the cave. Were there more stories outside? With other things?
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 6/10
Species: Corrupt Fragment (G)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 19 lems
Status Points: 6
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 19/19
Intelligence
13
Wisdom
11
Chapter 6 - Wisp!
The spirit had contemplated the notion of blue until the chieftain woke up. After all, it had no reference for what blue may be. In fact, the only color it had actually learned was black. The sky on the other hand clearly referred to the up, so as long as it knew what blue was, imagining a blue sky wouldn''t be hard. Not for the first time it consdered moving around to find more things. And with the new added goal of finding not just blue, but blue skies too.
When the chieftain started moving again, the spirit remembered what it had decided on during the night. It would seriously pay attention to what was happening around it now and see what the things and chieftain talked about.
The first thing the chieftain said was actually addressed to nothing, "Good morning."
Oh! Was it talking to it? That was...not new probably. Maybe it just never payed attention before. It felt kind of bad, but the chieftain probably didn''t know that it didn''t know. It couldn''t talk so it had never said anything that might reveal its guilt.
Right now it was seriously considering how talking worked and if it could learn to do it. Maybe first it should learn to throw the sun so it could help its new friend. Even if that friend didn''t know it was a friend yet. Not that the friend''s decision mattered. It said so and so it was.
It quickly snapped back into focus as it realized it had done it again. It had gone off thinking and not noticed what was going on. Again. It really had to work on that.
"Are the food reserves still fine?"
"Yes, chieftain! Three moons. Can beat others, make listen, become four moons."
"No need. We can go hunting again by then. This place isn''t as dangerous as the old one. You can go back to training."
The thing didn''t respond, just moved its head up and down and left. Why were they talking about moons? There was only one moon, right? Unless there were more and it couldn''t see them...were even its eyes useless!? Also, the other things didn''t sound as...good at talking as the chieftain. Why was that? Was bigger better? The chieftain was bigger than the other things it knew that much. Was it very evolved? It was a different color too.
When it once again came to, it was in the middle of an argument again. But, they seemed to be talking about it?
"Hert not listen! Helmet spirit need blood!"
"No you! Dumb! Spirit need bones! Good strong monster bones!"
"Calm down."
Yes, the chieftain was the reasona-
"Blood and bones, both will be sacrificed to the spirit! We will make it stronger and use it to slaughter our enemies!"
""RAAAAAAAH!""
Reasonable. Very reasonable. If that was what the chieftain said, it was probably right. Only, it didn''t have arms or a club so it didn''t think it could kill enemies yet. It was fun to think about killing things. It could already see itself, hiding in the most bluest hat and throwing suns and bones at the enemies. Indeed. The bones would throw more suns and bones, and those bones would also throw suns, indeed. It was an excellent plan. The enemies would be slaughtered (whatever that meant; was it like splat or more like crunch killing?)!
"The time for a wave is coming. We will go hunting for more food now, all of you over there, come."
Then the chieftain walked out with the things following. Where were they going, it didn''t know. What a wave was, it didn''t know. What it did know was the outside was fun, even if it wasn''t blue. Sadly.
Everything seemed to move around as the chieftain slowly took off the ''helmet'' it was in (it was still a cave in its opinion, but if that was what the chieftain said...) and held it out in front. It turned and moved around in every direction. Finally, it was moved back to the chieftain''s head and it looked in the...direction.
"The spirit is glowing more when we go this way," was all it said and then started walking that way, and the others didn''t even say anything different!
The chieftain was using it to choose? Why? And it was glowing? What was glowing and why was the everything so dumb? No, its friend was ok. And blue skies. And blue. But it couldn''t see itself! The things could at least look at their arms and legs! Still, it glowed when food was around? How come it never noticed it did that? Then again, it did feel like food was that way. Whatever it was, its friend was probably better at this than it, so it wouldn''t think too hard.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Relaxing, it observed the land (was it using that right?) around it. There were still many black rocks (it hadn''t ever seen those things again), but there were deep caves in the ground, and they went straight down instead of to the sides. They were very small too, the chieftain''s foot wouldn''t even fit in it.
Yet, when the things went close, many small black things came out of the small ground caves and two of the others were covered very fast. The chieftain "RAAAAAAH"''ed and moved fast, but away from the small things. The others moved even faster than the chieftain and made weird noises loudly.
The spirit felt somewhat betrayed, as the chieftain who had crunch''ed the bones with suns was not winning! It had never seen the chieftain lose! Why was it not winning!? It was like the sun turned black instead of whatever color it was now! No, its friend knew better than it surely, so was not winning ok? They weren''t dead...so, sometimes not winning was also okay?When it did get around to moving itself, it would have to be careful of the small black things. Unless it could throw the sun. Then it would come back and kill the small enemies.
It malovently glowed dark purple even if it hadn''t noticed and the chieftain looked up briefly before taking off the helmet. The chieftain silently repeated the thing with its helmet and then went off again.
This time there were no small black things and only the four legs things.
"Corrupt wolves. You, you, you, you, you, you, and you. Go around and attack there. Lead towards us. Rest of you, wait silently, attack when they pass by."
These wolves or whatever were dead now that its friend said so. It had never made a bad decision yet in the spirits opinion. Not to mention, now would be a good time to practice the eating thing. If it could eat the wolves it could level up and get stronger and then evolve and then talk and then walk and then blue!
As the spirit silently hyped itself up, the others "attacked" and the wolves made loud noises before heading towards them.
It didn''t want to wait but remembered the orders and when they were passing by it attacked! It went and stuck to its side and ate desperately, like it had never eaten before! It pulled on the food, but it didn''t seem to work, until an other hit it with a rock. The wolf howl''ed and a cave appeared in its side that the spirit felt the food start to come out from. Inspired it threw itself into the hole and pulled the food to itself.
At first the wolf and the imp looked at each other, waiting for one to make the move. It would likely be the imp who seemed very worried about the chieftain saying the helmet spirit was in the wolf. Just as it seemed to resign itself to leap at the wolf, the wolf angrily snarled and threw itself onto the ground, scraping its side against the ground. Its snarl turned higher pitch as the blood flowing out increased and the horrible itch, now a burn, continued unabated. It focused back on the wolf just in time to see an angry chieftain slamming a fist down towards it. There was a wet squelch and the wolf died.
Level Up +4
The spirit on the inside of the wolf was internally celebrating seeing the level up box. Now then, it was time to find another wol-
Max Level Achieved. Evolution possible.
Evolve? It could evolve now? Well. The other wolves needed killing too, so it could deal with that first, right?
Satisfied with its level, and now more for fun it went and did the same thing to four more wolves before the battle ended. It had gotten another two to "mana points" and had fun. Moreover now it could evolve. Overall, a productive day.
After the wolves, the chieftain had gotten some of the others to go back for more others and bring them back to carry the wolves. The spirit wondered why they didn''t just bring everyone everywhere everytime. Still, it wasn''t the chieftain, and now it could evolve!
Possible Evolution(s):
Corrupt Wisp (E):
The corrupted version of a wisp. These spirits tend to live and form in places of violence and bloodshed, possessing an increased affinity to darkness and death. Not to be confused with lifeforms subjected to corruption, these are a fairly normal type of spirit and do not have any ability to propogate or control corruption.
It didn'' know what a "corrupt" was, and its status already told it it was a species and a spirit. This box was not however telling it whether a "wisp" could club things to death or not. Since it couldn''t pick anything else it happily picked the only option there. Then, everything seemed to go black. It''s last thought was whether this would might make it miss a story or not.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Corrupt Fragment (G)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 25 lems
Status Points: 10
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 25/25
Intelligence
13
Wisdom
11
Chapter 7 - Waves are bad...
The spirit ''woke up'' feeling...good. Like it had just eaten lots of food and was relaxing while listening to a story good. Perhaps it should do this evolving stuff more often. First things first, it should -
"The Helmet Spirit has finished evolved!"
Why was the shaman so loud? Why were all the things gathered around it? Not to mention, while this wasn''t the first time it had noticed, none of them except the shaman and the chieftain even actually looked at it. The others just stared at the helmet. Could they not see it?
Regardless of what it was the others were all talking amongst themselves and staring fixedly at its helmet, while the shaman and chieftain seemed excited.
And why wouldn''t they be? It was now a wisp! Even if it couldn''t actually see itself and tell what a wisp was, it must be good right? Now it could slaughter enemies even faster! With the power of eating! That brought it another more important question: could it kill something on its own now? It could check its status. But first it wanted to go back to its spot. Being stared at was...not good.
It wouldn''t feel safe until it was back inside the helmet, but something told it wouldn''t fit. How would it get smaller? The first time it had done so, it had just tried to...become smaller. Now, it tried but still didn''t seem small enough. Not to be comfortable in there. Frustrated it tried to pull in further, feeling pain as it did so.
Intelligence +1
Wisdom +1
This evolution stuff better be worth it, or else all it had managed was getting too big to enjoy its old cave. And now being small hurt. It was not usless now though. It would not run away from bad anymore. No, it was better than that now. A little hurt didn''t scare it anymore. Not after...not after that time where it went looking for the things. It still shuddered remembering that. It had been horrible.
It dismissed the bad...stories? Were those stories? What did you call things that were inside and happened...before? The chieftain would know. Too bad it could only wait until words came up when they were all talking to learn them. Not being able to ask was...bad.
The chieftain had put the helmet back on and now, it could check its status.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 1/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 30 lems
Status Points: 10
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 30/30
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
That was it? The mana points didn''t even get bigger by a lot. It couldn''t tell how much since it hadn''t appeared one by one in boxes, but it was fairly sure it wasn''t a lot. Shouldn''t a wisp be stonger? It had evolved after all. It had been under the impression that evolving was very better? Then again, it had gotten more of something without leveling up even, so maybe it wasn''t all that bad?
Would the next evolution be better? It sure hoped so. What now though? The chieftain was apparently not going to kill many wolves again, and nothing was happening. The others were all being not loud. Or not talking. Had it missed something? Now that it looked. Why was the cave outside so black? It was not very good at knowing things like the chieftain, but it was pretty sure it didn''t usually get that black outside. In fact, it felt like it was very bad out there.
ThumpReading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
What was that?
Thump
That didn''t sound like anything it had ever heard before. Maybe the sound when things legs hit the ground. But that sound wasn''t this...loud.
Thump
That last one sounded a lot...closer? The others were all standing now.
THUMP
Why had the cave outside changed colors? It wasn''t black anymore. Something that looked like rock was there instead. What was that?
Thump
It was getting not louder now. Even the outside was very black again.
Thump
Now that it thinked about it, wasn''t that rock like a big down leg thing?
Thump
It would have liked to see that better. Too bad. The others looked...not happy? Why? If they didn''t like the big leg, then it was gone, so why -
"AROOOOOOO!"
Loud sounds were everywhere. After the wolves it had been more wolves and sometimes other sounds too. Many, many sounds. Always, loud. It didn''t feel too bad, since it was new, but the others looked weird. They were on the ground now and silent, looking with the things on their heads up. They had been for a while now, even if it had no exact undestanding of time. Even the chieftain and shaman were looking at the black and just...silent.
It didn''t like that. How was it supposed to learn more if they weren''t talking!? Even if silence was also new. And fun. Not as fun as learning. But fun.
Could it have eaten the big leg and gotten more levels? Probably not. It would need one of the others to make a attack first. It also hadn''t gotten anywhere with making the suns. Was this the wave? Could you kill it? Would it give levels? Important questions all, and none were getting answered.
A thing! It had come in! Would this be fun! The others would finally move! The chieftain was already moving and had hit the thing with it!
"Bear! Shaman, its eyes! Now!"
It wasn''t too sure what the shaman was going to do, other than maybe talk loudly at the "bear." But, now it knew what the things for seeing were! "Eyes!"
WAIT! What was that!? The shaman made rocks go into the bear''s eyes! Without using its arms! How!? And why could everyone, even the shaman, do weird things and it couldn''t? Stupid bear. It was all the bear''s fault. It should die or something.
Crunch
Oh, it was dead....it...couldn''t bring itself to care. The suns, rocks, and next what? Even wolves would be doing weird things. Like making bones attack them or something.
Had it called them here? Now bones were coming into the cave...could it make them do things!? Bones! Hit yourself!...nothing happened.
No! It would eat! Eat for vengence!
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Any bones it ate were hitted by the chieftain and died.
Level Up +2
It wasn''t leveling up as much? Why?
No matter. It would just have to eat even more!
The "wave" was gone. And many others were dead. It had done its best, eating everything it could. Many things had been died here.
It had gotten five levels. And eaten from bones. Mostly bones. These other things seemed pretty useless, since they were hard to eat from.
Now the chieftain and shaman were talking about stuff. As usual it didn''t really understand.
"We lost most of the tribe. This wave was much worse than before. And we haven''t even checked to see how many monsters there are outside yet. We can''t move safely either. Do your skills say anything helpful?"
"Power not so useful here. Maybe in better land. Here? Lacks spirits to draw from. Lucky have found one. Maybe tribe dies. Us two, find new one. Can probably do."
"We cannot. This is our tribe, not as members, but leaders. Maybe he survive, I stay."
"Fine. Stay. I stay too. If bad, can send him out with helmet. Maybe live, find new tribe."
That wasn''t good. Not good at all. What was this about the chieftain and - yes, and the shaman, it didn''t really not like the shaman - becoming dead? And what was a ''he?''
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 8/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 37 lems
Status Points: 17
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 37/37
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 8 - Alone Again
After some rather strenuous thinking on the spirit''s part it had decided to accept that the chieftain and the shaman were discussing their own deaths. And that it did NOT like that. And that it would go and put an end to such dumbness one way or another.
The most obvious solution to it appeared to be going away from the many, many, things on the outside that could kill its friends. Which was seeming more and more...not happening the more it thinked about it. For one, its friends could not go up like it could, and were also apparently seeable when it...wasn''t. Secondly...they were also very become deadable. Even now, it had yet to really fight something that could hit it. Except the sun. That would have hurt it, it had been able to tell that back then. It didn''t though so it was fine. And it knew how to eat bones now. A dumb bones would never kill it now.
The last and most important thing was that...well, it didn''t know how they did it, but the other things like wolves sometimes found the things on their own! Like they knew where they were already. But then other times they didn''t. Like at the attacking of the wolves that one time. Maybe they were - no of course they were, they were dumb, like all things. Except its friends. They were ok.
Also what was this "he?" It had never seen a "he" here before. They did talk to an other a lot. Weird things. Like calling it a "sun." How was it a sun? It wasn''t big, or the right color. Perhaps it was like "training." What even was training anyway. They did it to get better at fighting apparently, but it was quite sure it shouldn''t be that hard to hit stuff. It would probably be able to do it when it had arms. If it had arms...
But it was still an other. An other was not a sun or a he. So confusing. Why wasn''t everything in life like food? At least food had never talked to it before. Or changed. Much. Even eating bones and wolves was like eating food from...not in the things. When it came outside. Still, a friend of its friends was also its friend, right?
So it had to also find and help this unfindable friend. The things it had to do...
For now, it would see if the chieftain had any way to do this.
"...and so I think if we have any chances it''s back North. We know the monsters and land around there. Better than here in any case."
"And how do you suggest we..."
No. This time the chieftain was useless. But that was new. Things could change to useless or useful. Things to remember. Still, one thing it knew was that the food, and so the monsters, were everywhere. No ''North'' or borth or whatever was good. It could still find a way without monsters. How to tell them was the bad thing.
First, it tried flying out of the helmet and going over to the chieftain. Then floating towards the outside.
"The spirit is leaving! Quick! Follow it!"
It didn- it worked? It could come up with ways to do things like chieftain too? Of course it could. Yes, it was a wisp after all. It had a word for itself. What couldn''t it do? Noth-it couldn''t hit things with clubs. The newfound ''confidence'' was gone as fast as it came. Indeed. It wasn''t the same without arms to pick up and use clubs with.
Right, whatever. Everyone was following and so it should move. Faster? Faster.
"Spirit wait! Wait!"
What was that?
"We need to rest!"
"Rest?" What was rest? Oh. They stopped moving. Well that was...fine. There were no monsters around.
"It stopped. Thank Azaraath."
The shaman was making weird noises. Was it fi-it fell! It was dead! How!?
"You need to go out more. That was pathetic."You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Yes! "Pathetic!" The shaman had scared it!
"Really? The imps look half-dead too. I''m just a shaman. You''re the weird one."
"Imps?" Was that what they were called? Why did it not call them others now?
"Well, anyway. The Spirit seems to have avoided any monsters so far. We may actually make it."
Yes. Of course they - why was the food everywhere becoming...weird? There was a lot of it. The sky was crunch''ing?
"Run. Run. RUN!"
The imps started "running" and the sky was becoming more...crunch.
"Listen. Take this. And go. We can hold them for a while."
Why was the chieftain giving away its helmet?
"NO! I refuse to run from enemies! I can fight too!"
So this was ''he'' then. Since it was getting the helmet.
"Not anything that comes through a rift. Go, son. Don''t forget the creed."
"Rift?" The sky crunch? It wasn''t making the sound though...go!? Go where!? AND WHAT WAS A "CREED!"
"It''s all that damn spirit''s fault! You would have been fine if we didn''t follow it!"
"It was just bad luck. Don''t blame the Spirit. Go. Take it with you. It can help find food and avoid monsters. Just follow it."
Yes, the chieftain was right. Follow it. Just...follow it. So why-why weren''t they following it. Why weren''t they coming? Why were they trying to die? It didn''t care about the imps! Imps died! Others died! Things died! But chieftains and shamans didn''t die! Friends didn''t die! THAT WASN''T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO WORK!
FRIENDS WEREN''T SUPPOSED TO DIE! FOLLOW! THE RIFT DIDN''T DO ANYTHING! RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN-!
Swish
"Hurry up you stupid bastard!"
What was this dumb thing doing? Running away from friends? Why would it do that? They had to-!
"Please run Spirit. Watch over our son like you did us."
This shaman was also dumb! Why were its only friends trying to kill themselves? Why were they...leaving it alone?
"@#$%! $^&* &*^&!"
Things were coming out. The chieftain looked at it. It didn''t know why...but it moved. It went into the helmet. Somehow the helmet went onto the sun''s head. The sun was running. When did it start doing that?
The imps were back. It hadn''t seen them.
"Go, run. Chief''s son. Best. Survive for us. For the tribe!"
"""RAAAAAAAAAH!"""
The imps were going into the fight. The things were fighting. They looked like the things from back then. An imp fell. A thing fell. A club hit a thing in the head. It grabbed the imp and crunch''ed it. The imp fell. The thing fell. An imp was behind it with a long club-thing. A thing hit it with a big club thing. The imp fell.
The chieftain was hitting. And hitting. Things went up and down. They were loud. And...dumb. It didn''t like them. Surely, it could just rip their words out somehow right? It didn''t need to watch them.Oh, now they were hitting the chieftain. It didn''t work. Their clubs broke. They died. A different looking thing threw a sun. And died. The shaman used rocks. They were useful. Now the things were attacking the shaman. The imps came and surrounded it, and hit everything. The things hit everyone. There were dead things and imps everywhere. A big thing with colorful thingies on its head fell down. The chieftain took off the colorful thingies. Head attached. The chieftain was becoming smaller. Its ''head'' hurt.
A thing was coming. It was behind the chieftain, and it couldn''t see it. A club went forwards. Through. And out. Then pulled back. What was that color in the sky? It looked strange. So small. Oh, it was falling back down. It was from the chieftain. The chieftain was saying a "battlecry." The shaman was falling. A sun hit it. The chieftain was trying to hit the thing that threw the sun. The thing with the club was still there. Behind the chieftain. Hitting it over and over again. The imps were dying. There were enough for it to count now. One and one and one and one and...no that was all. Another one fell.
The sun was making weird noises. There was something coming out of its eyes. The sun in the up looked darker. It didn''t wonder why. The things from down probably just went up to the sun. Since the ground back there was definitely darker. There was too much of the things from inside on the outside. Like what was coming out of the sun''s eyes, but darker. Or like rocks, but different colors.
The chieftain probably fell down too. It didn''t manage to see. They were too far away now, and its ''head'' hurt. Everything was...getting darker?
It ''hated'' everything. Now, it wanted to rest...
The spirit fell. Deeper into the darkness. Of rest and mind.
The boy, now orphan, ran. Further into the night.
Spoiler: Status (Before battle. Can''t show full with edits yet. That would be actual spoiler.)
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 8/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 37 lems
Status Points: 17
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 37/37
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 9 - Food and bugs
In the depths of its mind the spirit ''sat.'' It had no desire in particular to move anytime soon. Though it was still paying attention to the outside.
The sun had stopped running sometime and was currently laying down. Resting. It was of course going to help the sun. Just because the world was stupid and should die wasn''t any reason to not help its friends...friend? It had nothing else to do or look forward to anyway.
The sky had no stars like always, and for the first time the spirit hated that. Its friends would have liked stars, but they were dead. This sky had never given them the chance to see stars.
The sun was making sounds in its sleep. Was the sun thinking about everything like it was? Probably. Its friends were the sun''s friends too. It must be hurt too.
One thing was for sure. It wouldn''t make friends again. Friends just died. Not like it. It was always alone. Always different. They couldn''t talk to it. Not really. Maybe they weren''t even friends. It hadn''t went and fighted with them. Even the imps did that.
The sun up was there now. The sun was still resting. It could explore. Maybe kill something. Level up. Do something. Bones would probably be best. The sun would be alone then.
It would wait. It would never run out of time anyway.
The sun was up. He was looking at it. He was talking.
"I don''t like you. But, my parents said to. So. Which way?"
The "way?" It did not know the way. It could find a way though. So it floated that way; and the sun followed.
"Hey. I know you can''t talk. But I think you understand. So listen ok?"
"I don''t like you, but I know it''s not your fault. I just need something to hate. I can''t keep going without it. I was never a good demon. I couldn''t not care when another imp died. Especially when I knew him. Or her. I couldn''t just listen to what the stronger imps said. They always seemed dumber to me; they died fighting. I''m still alive, and I don''t know why."
It was talking a lot. Couldn''t it just learn from it and not talk?
"Do you think my talking is going to attract a monster? Is that why you''re glowing more? Are you mad? Well, I think I would rather a monster came. It''s hardly like I have much left now. Maybe I want a monster to show up."
Well. If that was what he wanted.
"If I was a little better back then. If I was half as strong as Azaraath from father''s stories, everyone wouldn''t have-"
Chuff
"That''s...not good."
No, really? Was he sure?
The bear. A monster with big arms and legs. It was also not capable of hurting it. It could still eat it though. Also the sun needed to eat. That was part of the needs of imps. That much it had learned. The bear was big, which meant it was lots of food. He wouldn''t be able to help much. That it knew. It was fine so long as it didn''t die though.
It opened its mouth to roar...and choked as he threw rocks in it. Now, why had it done that?
"Go. I know how you kill things."
Ah. That would explain it. Yes. Also it felt smarter recently. Strange.
Into the bear and down the food way. Then, eat. Much eating. The rocks were in there, and upwards it could see a weird thing. It looked like the head''s inside. Would that be better? It felt like it was important. Things without heads usually died.
The bear wheezed in pain. Slammed its head in the ground. Trying to dislodge the rocks and the horrible itch. Bucking and roaring seemed to accomplish nothing. Other than making it hurt more.
The spirit didn''t know what the bear was doing, except changing color. The insides were turning black. Especially the weird thing in its head. It turned black fast. Soon, the bear stopped moving.
Level Up +2
Max Level Reached. Evolve?
Yes/No
Evolve? It didn''t seem as...''exciting'' as before. Not to mention if it was evolving it would be resting and if it was resting it wasn''t "taking care of."
Right. The sun. Was that useless thing still not dead? Good.
"Ugh. That''s still creepy no matter how many times I see it. And I was there for the wolves."
So? What was a "creepy" anyway? Could he eat it? No? Then maybe he should be happy for food. Useless thing.
"Still thanks. For the free food I mean."
Well. "Thanks?" Maybe it wasn''t completely useless. It was the friends'' sun.
"I mean those are supposed to be pretty strong. I''m impressed you killed a Grotesque Bear. Even if it took a while."
Shouldn''t it eat? Yes it should.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
It was just touching the ground. What idiot things was it doing now?
"Ah, finally. There we go."
There we go?
"The one good thing about this place. Lots of fire starter rocks."
What was a fire starter rock? How was it different from a rock?
"The growths on these things are disgusting, but they catch fire easily. They burn out fast, but the insides at least taste slightly better that way."
Oh. Just one question. What was "fire?"
"See?"
The sun hit the rocks and then something happened, and then...a sun! A weird form sun! That was also not like food! How strange. What was "taste" anyway? Was that important? Food was food.
"Can you warn me if something is coming?"
Was the sun''s intelligence too low? How was it supposed to do that?
"Uh, just come in front of my eyes and start moving if something''s coming to close."
Ok.
Nomnomnom crunchnomnomcrunch nomnomnom
How close was too close?
Crunchnomnom chewchewchew
That one thing seemed to be getting close. Of course, it wasn''t sure if that counted. It would have to find food again if the sun didn''t manage to eat enough this time.
Nomnomnom
If it was too close though, then the sun would die. Probably. What to do.
"Alright, can''t stay too long. Let''s go."
Well that helped.
If they stopped would it have time to evolve?
"Is that a scout!? Run!"
No. It was a wolf. Get the name right. Did it have to remind the sun that he had to follow it? Not the other way around. Suns. They were everywhere now; each worse than the last.
"AWOOOOOOOO!"
Why were far away foods getting closer now? Wolf sounds were used to call other wolves? It never noticed since they never seemed to do anything any other time it had seen them making that sound.
The sun was running, because he couldn''t kill the thing trying to kill him and because it couldn''t kill the thing trying to kill him either. Not fast enough anyway.
That evolution may have come in useful. If it had the time to do it. Which it didn''t. Time was hard to find more of...
Next time, it wanted to be the one things ran away fr-no, that would make finding food harder for the sun. Then! It wanted to be the thing that killed things easily. Like the chieftain did to wolves. Or make the sun able to do that. Actually, could it level up more without evolving? It was pretty sure it couldn''t, so if it couldn''t evolve yet, maybe the sun could?
At least, the sun would become better if it leveled up. So, should it just help kill something the next time it found a thing? It could try.
Now, though, it just needed to run faster than the sun. And try to lead it to not die.
Blargh
WHAT WAS HE DOING!? It was wasting food! Perfectly fine food!
"Ugh. I can''t. I can''t run anymore."
What a lie. It had only falled after the wolves stopped running after it. If it couldn''t run it would have been eaten by wolves.
Were all suns like this? It sure hoped not. That would make not dying very hard for the things that had to deal with such suns. Making no sense.
"If I was stronger..."
Obviously. If any of them were stronger they wouldn''t be here now would they?
"Hey. You. Next time, could you leave your...prey alive? So I can kill it? Also, I can probably handle a single wolf on my own."
Not a problem. It had probably thinked this before he. Since it had of course it would be fine with it.
The problem was the sun seemed too...not strong. He didn''t even have a club. How strong could you be without a club? Clubs were the best attacking thing. It was obvious.
"Karxide. It''s a bug. If there''s one of those there''ll be more! Come on, quietly!"
The small black things were bugs? Could it eat them? There were more in the down cave nearby. If the sun killed all of them would it evolve? Only one way to know. Also, it was pretty sure it couldn''t make sounds. That was part of the problem.
It floated over to the bug...and covered it. The bug was smaller than it was at full size, and things it was bigger than were eaten easily. In fact, sometimes they actually seemed to get smaller. Like being eaten the way other things eat.
It only had time to try that with small things that came from big things during fighting.
Now that it was doing that to a bug, it found it wasn''t all that different. The bug tried to move away, but it just moved around after it. Eventually, the bug stopped moving. Nothing else happened. The level up didn''t happen. Maybe it needed to kill more bugs. Or it was right, and it couldn''t level up anymore.
Also, the bugs were hard to tell if they were near dead or not. It would have to be careful and maybe some bugs would not die.
Carefully, it floated onto the ground cave...and then down. Seeing as the first bug tried to run away, the others would too. So, it just had to start from the bottom where the bugs couldn''t run away. It had found long ago things couldn''t just ignore other things like it could. It bothered it to go through but it wasn''t not doable.
There was a big bug at the bottom, one that it was sure would not die. Not too fast anyway. It moved and hit the other bugs but couldn''t move away and went still after a while. Then, it went up slowly. It was starting to feel...not able to eat, but the feeling went away when it made itself bigger.
Max Mana +1
Was this good for it too? Maybe. Food went into suns and it was starting to become decently suspicious that food and "mana" were the same thing. Not to mention...things on the status getting bigger were always good right? Since bigger was better. A wolf would become dead by a bear, and a bear would become dead by the chieftain and the chieftain was bigger than an imp. Except the shaman. The shaman was bigger than imps, but smaller than the chieftain. The shaman was always weird. It - was dead.
The fun went away and it ignored the other Max Mana things. It was only another three anyway.
The sun was waiting when it came up. It had realized it was starting to get better at knowing ''how much time.'' The bad in the everywhere seemed to change when the sun was up compared to when it was down. There was change with how the sun moved and it was only a little but it had seeed long enough to know. After all, it had plenty of time and not much to do other than become know and eat.
It had been careful to look for other things coming close to the sun too. Maybe the "Age" in its status was also a good thing. It certainly became...just better at everything the more its age was.
"Where were you!? I thought that - I mean not like I need you, but being alone is...well, you know right?"
No. But, it understood "alone." The sun was right there, alone was bad. Or better. It wouldn''t feel so bad if it never became friends with the two before right?
Now, how to get the sun to...attack the bugs? It followed so...it floated from the sun to the cave and back. Over and over.
"W-what do you-oh, there''s a bug coming up! RU-oh, it looks half-dead."
"Half-dead?" Was that near dead? It liked the sound of that, a nice wolf-like noise.
"Wait, did you leave them alive...? Oh. Well...thanks."
Good that it understood. Not good that it was slow.
Crunch
The sun was eating it.
"What? It''s food."
Good. It was learning.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 43 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 43/43
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 10 - Insults!
Cruuuu-"Ugh."
What?
"Hey. Not saying I don''t appreciate what you''ve done, really. But. I-I think I''m full."
"Full?" It could understand that. More or less. However, it wasn''t as if it expected the sun to eat all of the bugs. Couldn''t it just kill the bugs without eating them?
The sun was looking at the other bugs that were still down. The sun had gone into the down cave when he couldn''t get his arms to the bugs. It looked...uncomfortable.
"Ugh. My stomach hurts."
Well. If a "stomach" was where food went, it would probably hurt. However, he said that already, so why was it repeating itself?
"Uuuuuugggghhhhh."
Now he was just being weird.
"I think...they''re coming back up. Wait but! NO! NOT IN HERE! IT''LL GET ALL OV-blargh."
What was that? It had small bug parts in it. It was coming out of the sun''s mouth. Was that what happened when the food fighted back? How unpleasent. It was a good thing it couldn''t do that.
"...I''m done. I want out of here. Just geh, my mouth tastes horrible. They taste even worse the second time through..."
It wasn''t as if the food was gone right? Couldn''t he just...eat the thing again? Or no, he could eat more bugs now! He could just repeat this whenever he was full! As expected of the chieftain''s sun. To find a way to fix the problem this fast.
It was a bad thing that the bugs were getting back up. They seemed to have filled with mana again. All it meant though was...more eating!
Eating, eating, eating, eating, eati-graaaah. What, was, that? It hurt. Whatever it was...made it become hurt. How? That hadn''t happened before...
GYAAAAAAA
Again. Again! It was hurt again! But this time it saw. It was the big bug. It cut it. When it closed the long mouth thing, it was hurt. How though? That had never...
Crunch
"Hey! Silent disappearing spirit guy! I''m here! Where did yo-oh. I uh, I was just leaving. Have fun or something! By-geh!"
The sun had come in after killing the bugs to...follow it? Why? Also, what was the point of it coming here if he was just running away? Well, he didn''t look like he was having fun dodging the bug mouth thing.
"DO! SOME! THING! THIS! IS! NOT! OKAY!"
No, it was talking loudly. Was it actually having fun like this? Weird. It didn''t matter. The bug was only big compared to other bugs and the sun was not getting hit, so it could take its time eating the bug. More importantly...eating the bug was hard when it kept moving after the sun, who was moving away from the bug very fast. How was it supposed to help if the sun wasn''t doing its part? It needed the bug to stop moving or move slowly or else it would be unable to eat it!
"HEY! I''M! NOT! JOKING! I''M! GONNA! DIE!"
DIE!? Was it that bad? It looked like the sun was not becoming dead very well. Still, it wasn''t a fighting thing. It was a eating thing. Eating bugs specially. Since they were easier to eat. Right now the bug was moving faster than it. Also the hurting from before had also had mana lost with it. It could tell since it felt smaller than before. Now, the best way to eat the bug was to follow it exactly.
Which was hard since the bug went everywhere and so did the sun. Why was the down cave bigger inside as it went down anyway? Well, whatever it was, somehow it would have to just know how to do this.
As it looked at the fight, it saw the sun standing. The bug went towards it, and the sun went...some way and the bug went after it! It went past the two as it hadn''t changed directions when the bug did. Again, it followed the bug and when they went towards a wall, the sun went back towards it. However before it could eat it the bug went through it.
Now this was...so annoying! It had never felt like this before! Except the time its friends died! Why wouldn''t the bug! Make! This! Easier! It swooshed around, back and forth trying to eat the bug, but the bug barely went the way it thinked it would.
Of course, not big eats every time it did reach the bug made it slower and weaker, until it stopped. As soon as it did, the sun moved to the bug and raised its leg.
"I WILL KILL THIS STUPID BUG! I''LL-No. I''ll eat it."
He picked up the bug andcrunch.
"Wanted to eat me, huh? Thought you could eat me, huh!? Now who''s the prey? Who''s getting eaten, huh!? That''s right! You! Hah! Stupid bug!"
Crunch
"This is for my leg!"
Crunch
"And this is for my other leg!"
Crunch
"And this is for my arm!"
Crunch
"My other arm!"
Crunch
"For making me tired!"
CrunchIf you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"And for emotionally hurting me, leader of my tribe!"
Crunch
"The only member of my tribe...but the best! Actually, you, spirit. Join my tribe! I''ll give you half the world! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
What would it want with a world? World''s were stupid. As was mostly everything. It had learned this recently but felt it true enough, not to mention did the sun even have half the world?
"Then, I''ll burn the stupid wolves and bears in piles! An all-you-can-eat buffet of my enemies! HAHAHAHA! Then, I''ll make an army, and you, I''ll let you follow me around and carry my flag, right behind me. Yeah, we''ll burn my name into this world''s history! EVEN IF I DON''T HAVE ONE YET!"
What was an "all-you-can-eat buffet?" Was it different from a regualr buffet? How would it even carry a flag, whatever that was, and...what was a "history?" Also what was the sun sad about? It didn''t have a "name" either and it wasn''t sad. What was a name anyway? A word? It knew plenty of words. That''s why it didn''t need a name.
Was the sun done yet?
"And also!"
Nope.
"I willfind tasty food! Somewhere out there, the good food is waiting for me to discover and devour it!"
Why would the food be "waiting" to be "devoured." That would be stupid. Ifit was ever considered food it would try to learn to kill everything else.
"Anyway, I think I can get some rest down here, compared to up there, it''s still safer. Hey, next time let''s do this again. I can get some levels from these things too. And eat them. If I have to. I would really rather not, but I can."
Rest? He could rest. It would have to go attack anything that tried to come into the down cave.
Like other bugs. Already, it could feel small bugs that were in smaller places in the walls and ground coming into the down cave. This would be a annoying night.
Max Mana +1
It was not the first time, but also not that much. It had only came once before this time. Also, the sun was getting up.
"Good morning."
No. Not good morning. Just move!
"Rela-wait, what. I...felt that?"
Felt what?
"That. Are you thinking what I''m thinking?"
No?
"We can communicate now!"
"We?" "Communicate?" The stupid sun was being weird once again.
"Hey! That''s rude!"
Why? It''s true.
"..."
Why was the stupid one not talking now?
"I was better of not knowing..."
Not knowing what?
"That we could communicate, but now...I regret that. You''re not a kind and experienced spirit at all!"
Was too.
"Was not."
Was too.
"Was not!"
Was too!
"Whatever. Anyway I just checked my skills list. Looks like it''s true. We can talk now."
REALLY? IT HAD SO MUCH TO SAY! SO FIRST-!
"STOP! MY HEAD!"
Fine, it would go not faster!
"That doesn''t even make sense. Well, I mean it does in your head but like, it doesn''t really."
No. He was the one not making any sense. What did that even mean?
"No, well, you see, gramatically-"
Oh. They needed to go.
"Go? Go where?"
Not here.
"What''s coming?"
Why would it know?
"You just said-I mean thought, that-"
It felt something coming, so it told he, why was he being annoying now?
"We can talk about your...horrible grammer later. If something''s really coming I suppose we should go now."
No. No it wouldn''t work. It may be better to stay down here.
"What? You just sai-I mean thought- darn, this is annoying. Shouldn''t we be leaving?"
It was fast. Very fast. They couldn''t move faster. Then, the down cave hiding would be better. Plus, it could always leave on its own.
"Hey!"
It was starting to dislike being able to communicate. If it had to get somebody to talk too, couldn''t it be a more...intelligence thing? The sun certainly wasn''t the most...intelligence thing that came to mind when it "thought" about intelligence.
"I hate you. You know that?"
Whatever.
"You-!"
Silent.
...
"...is it go-XCDGVHJBQWDN!"
Squelch
The fast thing had stopped above the down cave and stopped. However the sun talked. The stupid thing talked. The thing had immediately pushed its head down into the cave and looked at them. It had been too big for the down cave near the up, so it had...broken inwards when the thing pushed past the not big place. Its head was nothing like a normal head, even before thesquelch and had too many eyes and teeth. A skinny neck attached to a body it couldn''t see from its place. Even if the eyes were broken and not seeing anymore, the mouth was open towards the sun and was moving closer very very not fastly.
It did not like the looks of its teeth, because the bug had hurt it with its long mouth part too. If a bug could do it, a big not good thing could too. That was no reason to be afraid though as the thing couldn''t see. Not anymore. As long as the sun didn''t make any noises they were fine.
Maybe the sun felt its thoughts, because it held still as the mouth came closer and paused there. The eyes places were already starting to look like eyes again, but not fastly, the thing pulled its head back out as ahooooooowwwwl came from the up.
Squelch
After the head was out, the thing suddenly moved very fast towards the soon-dead wolf and the sun fell down.
"...Hey. This stays between us, yeah?"
What does?
"Good attitude."
No, what? Was it about how it had so much fear in it? It could feel that through what it thought was probably the talking-not-talking way. But, what was the problem? Wasn''t fear normal for things?
"Thanks."
?
"So. I think we should stay here. Because whatever that was is not here. Any place that that thing isn''t is where I want to be."
What if that place was worse? What if it had many manyotherthose things but notthat thing? Would that really be better?
"Shut up. I don''t need your technicalities! Plus, this is not the time for that!"
Again. Whatever.
"So arrogant for a wisp. You''re so wispy, you''re-you''re, uh, weak. And stupid. Hah. Take that."
It really didn''t care. At all.
"You''re no fun."
You are not intelligence.
"Dumb."
Stupid.
"...good night."
It wasn''t night though?
"Just remember you''re the one who rejected the truce."
What "truce?"
"So that''s how you wanna play it, huh? Fine by me."
What?
"You better be ready! I was the third best at insults! I hope you knew what you were starting. Heh. Poor fool. Ye shall suffer!"
What, what, and what?
"Good morning."
Ok.
"So lets go looking for stuff to eat, eh?"
Well, it was fine right now. But the sun had a point. The mana from the bugs was gone and the bad was everywhere still. It could feel some mana from the ground, probably how bugs got any, since it wasn''t from the bad as far as it could tell.
How the wolves and bears got mana was a mystery to it though. Still, it meant that now it also had to worry about food. Annoying. Not the worst, but annoying.
As it was, the sun seemed to get mana from eating things too, so if it took too much mana the sun would also have problems. Strangely, it had noticed that when it wasn''ttrying to eat mana, it didn''t need too much. Probably why even after so long in the tribe place, none of the imps or the chieftain had been hurt.
Still, unlike when it had been in the very before, it could feel out where the mana was and use that to hunt, rather than the chance it had to use before. Looking back, would it have died if even one of those big fights didn''t happen? Probably.
Another thing to look into. It remembered seeing other imps before. Maybe it should find them for its useless friend-not-friend. Whatever it was going to do later, and very later, now it had to lead the sun inthat way to reach the food.
It just hoped it wasn''t that thing from before. That would bevery...unpleasent.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 45 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 45/45
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 11 - Shattered...
Well. Though it had no idea what a jinx was...
"You jinxed it! You caused this! I blame yo-nfbjkaec!"
Whish
The sun suddenly threw his head down and barely avoided the thing''s arm.
"I! Will! Have! My! Revenge!"
Wouldn''t it have to live past this first? Silly sun.
"Do something!"
It am. It was moving with him. See?
"...I will learn magic! Just to kill you! Traitor!"
Traitor? No. It was a learned spirit.
"Graaaaaaaaaaagh!"
Desperately the sun threw himself to the side again. Why he had to scream though, it could not understand. This was also not its fault. No, it was the sun''s fault.
"No you!"
What? It wasn''t the one who wanted to hunt.
"You agreed!"
Actually it just didn''t say no.
"Same thing."
No it wasn''t.
"GCKFJGKH! So help me. I will tear you to..."
Good. The sun was talking to itself now. It was proably coming up with a plan to kill the thing chasing them. Probably.
It looked again at the weird thing. It made no sound as it chased them. Even when it used its arms to attack or mouth to attack it didn''t make any sound, the sun was the one who made sound when he moved.
Which was weird. Things made sound when they moved. Even the bugs. This thing was even bigger than a wolf but it made no sound? It didn''t even do that growl sound like wolves did when they attacked. Worst of all, it could feel some kind of bad mana in that thing. Like the bad that hurt it but different. Weaker. It would still hurt that much it could tell, but not as bad as the real bad.
So would it be better to try and eat it? Since it needed to eat sooner or later too. Not to mention if the thing did hit it then it would probably die. Its arms and whole body had the probably bad all over it. Then the only reasonable thing to do was to take the first attack!
DDDDDIIIIIIIEEEEE-
BJbfjvrc35tgj! That hurt! A lot! But now it was in! The probably bad! Would be killed by it! Die thing! DIE!
"Helloooooooo! aRe yOu aLiVe?"
Ye-ouch-s. Why ouch did it ouch sound ouch so weird ouch?
"I cAn''T rEAcH yOU pRoPErLy. THiS iS tHe bEsT yOu aRE gOiNG tO gEt. sO wHaTeVEr it Is ThAT yOU ArE dOiNg, iT''s wOrKiNg. I tRIeD tO sEe If i cOuLd kILL iT. I tHiNK i cAn. jUSt hOlD oN."
Do or ouch don''t. Trying w-ouch-on''t help ouch. Well it ouch kind of ouch did.
The thing ouch struggled every now and then and now it could guess that was the sun''s fault. Which was good. Thanks to that it had forced itself deeper into the thing. Here, the probably bad was less. The probably bad probably hurt it too. So it was ok now. Kind of. Not really actually. But fine. As it was though, the probably bad was moving in too. Was the thing also getting ready to fight properly? A the sun was made with mana. So, if it was making so much probably bad which was probably mana become a lot, was it like a probably bad the sun, that would be bad for the sun outside? The sun. Was that funny? Sun. Sun. Lots of suns.
The question now was to hurt or not to hurt. Hurting hurt. Not hurting didn''t hurt. However, not hurting might mean dead sun, and next it too, if the thing tried. Which it probably would. Then, much hurt it was.
It carefully moved closer to the probably bad. Closer. Closer. It was right next ouch to ouch it ouch now. Much ouch pro-ouch-bably ouch bad ouch was a-ouch-ll near ouch it. It ouch ouch hurt ouch a ouch lot. ouch Near ouch it ouch even.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
It was going to eat that? Maybe not the best plan...but it was too late. It had moved into the probably bad sun thing. Then everything went black.
Next time. It would have to plan better. Very much better.
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Shattered Corrupt Wisp (E-)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 5 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 5/5
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
That was...bad. Probably. Also, the thing had died. The sun evolved.
"Uh, are you ok?"
Oh no. It was fine. Not depressed at all. As if losing mana hurt it. Oh not at all. It was perfect. So good that words couldn''t even be used to explain. It was still a wisp after all. And it had another "affinities." Yes. Good. Very good.
"O-ok. I''m just going to uh, yeah. Do something."
The sun ran away fast. Back to the thing it killed. After everything went black the sun had used the helmet to bring it back to the old cave and leave it there.
Now it was alone. Weaker than it had ever known. Or remembered to be exact. It vaguely understood it had been weaker than even this. But couldn''t really remember. Not that that made it feel better. Though...it had been weaker than this before right? Then in only 663 years (whatever that was) it went from whatever it was before to "E-!" In other words, this just meant another 663 years! Probably faster this time even.
Yes. Everything was ok after all. Now it could wait. Its mana need even lower than before and full from the thing thanks to that, it could wait. Until the sun came back. Until he came back.
It wasn''t sure how long it had been. The sun still wasn''t back. Was it dead? Oh well. Maybe it could find another sun after another 663 years.
"Don''t just kill me off randomly!"
The sun was alive!?
"Don''t sound shocked!"
A moving weirdo thing!
"That''s just mean!?"
It was happy now!
"Well tha-"
How was it going to eat things without the sun to fight them!
"...what did I even expect. Sorry though. I got lost."
Useless.
"Yeah yeah. Anyway. So the thing that I killed. Yeah uh, there''s more of them. Like a lot more."
Oh no.
"That would be a lot more convincing if the link didn''t also tell me you could care less."
No, it cared very much. Very very much. He could trust it.
"Suuuuure."
"Also we gotta run. Those things were all over the dead one''s corpse. They probably came looking for it and if they decide to find the killer...we gotta move now."
Makes sense. Moving!
"If only I had your stup-enthusiasm. I meant enthusiasm."
Was that good?
"Yes."
Ok. Which way?
"Isn''t that your job?"
The sun was giving it a ''look.'' Something it had discovered recently. Non talking things also meant things. Right now it was the ''is something wrong with you'' look. Or that was how it understood it anyway.
"Look, don''t you usually say which way is safer?"
Well, right now every way is not safe so the sun could choose.
"Wait, what. None safe? And you only thought to tell me this now!? Ok, ok. No. I got this. Uh. Right! Go, trusty and rusty sword! Point to the best direction!"
The sun threw the "sword" up and then it came down.
Thud
"Ok, we go north."
That was where the things were if what the sun said was true.
"Ok, south it is."
What about the-
"South. It. Is."
Sure. Ok. The south. But wouldn''t the things also come straight south?
"Did you have to point it out? You had to didn''t you? Jerk. But no. I don''t care. We go south. If something hapens. I stab it in the face. I don''t even care anymore. Hah! We killed one thing we can kill mo-"
Oh, the things are movi-
"GOGOGOGOOOOOO!"
Don''t run! Wait! It was still not moving properly after the everything turned black time!
"Get in!"
The sun thrust the helmet in front of it, bottom up, and it slid in. Now small enough to fit easier.
"If I survive this. I will hunt those things. Their grandchildren - no, their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren will be told stories about how I killed them and why they shouldn''t even enter in 100 - no, within 1000000 terons of me. They will have myths of me and stay silent, wait they already do that, oh, they''ll cry loudly at the mere mention of my name! They will...learn....explosions!...lightning...rainbows!...death!....."
The sun was talking to itself again. And what was this about stories? If there were stories it should be in them. It liked stories. It would be a story thing too! Known and, what was it? Feared? All over the world! It was learning so much from the sun!
They were running away from things that wanted to kill and eat them, and maybe not in that order. It was the same as before almost. Running away that is. This time though, they were talking, not it listening to the sun talk. Proper talking. Or well good enough talking. And they hadn''t left any friends to die. Not this time.
Which was easier when they didn''t have any other friends with them.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Shattered Corrupt Wisp (E-)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 5 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 5/5
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 12 - New Demons!
Maybe they would have been better off hiding in a very not easy to get into cave.
"I! HATE! MY! LIFE!"
Same sun. Same. Well not really. That was a lie.
"I HATE YOU TOO!"
Rude.
"Do something!"
This feels like it happened before...? Somewhat familiar?
"YES! KINDA! BUT!! NOT!!!! WITH!!!! 30!!!!!!!"
No need to be so happy.
"I''M NOT HAPPY!"
Maybe if you yell at them instead, they will go away?
"DIE! GO AWAY! SHOO! LOOK! A GIANT PILE OF FREE MEA-NOT ME! NOT THE FACE!"
Yes, it was natural to protect the face. That was where the head was. Also, it was thinking that maybe, just maybe, the things didn''t understand them?
"YA THINK!?"
Or just really wanted to kill them. Either or worked.
"NO! I WANT TO LIIIIIIIIIVE!"
Just give up. It''s less effort. Make them suffer with you! Share your fear!
"SHUT UP! IF YOU DON''T HAVE ANYTHI-oh wow, I''m running out of air..."
True. How unfortunate though. For the sun. Not it. It didn''t have to breathe.
"Jerk."
That sounds like a new word! Thank you.
"I can''t even."
CrackI
A nearby rock became...many rocks after a thing hit it while running. It was bigger than the other things too. There was also a mana thing on its head before. It ate that. Since it was outside it was fair. And easy. Not very tasty though. Tasted like bugs, if the sun''s words were to be used. Yes, that would be the new standard. One bug was bug. Two bugs was better than bugs. Three bugs was...better than two bugs. Or something. Some more thinking was required. Still, seemed like a solid plan to it.
"I can talk mentally now! No wasting air! Hah, take that sir ''I don''t need to breathe!'' Also...is this really the time for bugs!?"
It was always bug time.
"You''re useless ok. Not me."
What!? That was an insult! An insult! To it! A good one too! Not his usual stupid ones!
"Hey!"
Well it couldn''t help though.
"What happened to the motivation!?"
It disappeared. Obviously.
"I SWEAR IT AGAIN, IF I SURVIVE THIS, THERE WILL BE A RECKONING!"
Sure. As if that was happening. Both points. No things were going to suddenly appear to save them from stupid sun. He was the one who ran instead of walking. And got tired. Then fell and hit a rock with his face. Which fell far. And made a loud noise. That the things somehow heard.
"Now you''re just making me sound bad."
He was though? Oh, also if he made it further there was another thing near. A very big one.
"I''m risking it al-GEH, what in Karxide!?"
A big thing in black rock-like thing cover hit the ground and the other things went boom and splurch, like splat and crunch at the same time! It was already liking this thing! So new with sounds! And looking like!
"Language brat."
What was a brat? Was the sun a brat? Wasn''t it an imp? But, the evolution did make it not imp like. It was bigger and different color. It wasn''t that different though? Well, other things probably knowed better than it for this kind of thing. So the sun was a brat. It would have to remember this!
"I''ll deal with you later."
Jerk.
"No you!"
"Hm? That''s rude too? Vocabulary and that too?"
"No no! I wasn''t talking to you!"
Don''t believe it! The sun was a rude and jerk brat!
"Traitor!"
"Ah, so it''s a spirit. Still, talking to it? Doesn''t it seem a bit...weak for that intelligence?"
"...!? U-uh, it broke. It got bit by some bug and just kind of...broke."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
"Ah. That explains some of it. Why is a spirit in the Voidlands though...?"
WHO WHEN WHAT WHERE HOW? That thing just...appeared! Appeared! No mana! But not dead! More importantly, could many things do that? That would be bad. What if a big bug did that? It would die. It would need not-not-see-things things. WHY COULD IT SEE - well that one wasn''t too new. Whatever the new thing was, it had some thing all over it. It was black and looked not rock.
"Uh. I dunno?"
"So. What are we doing with the brat? Kill ''im?"
"I don''t see why though? As you say it''s just a brat. Not planted either from what I can see. Wouldn''t have a spirit from this place with him if he was."
"So then what?"
"Well...the spirit he has is interesting."
It didn''t really know what was happening but the sun was showing very much not like and fear. Mostly not like though.
"As if I would be scared of some regular looking guys after surviving those things."
Makes sense. Oh, the weird no mana thing was moving towards the sun.
"Alright. We''ll take you back with us. If nothing else, you might know what was going on further in. Plus, that spirit is more likely to cooperate this way."
"Whatever."
"Thank you...?"
"Got a name, brat?"
"Uh, no. Never got one. They died before..."
"Huh. Well. Just don''t fall too far behind brat. The spirit should be able to follow us well enough."
"Sure jerk."
If he wanted to insult it, why not just...talk to it?
"That would be not sma-I mean stupid. Now you''re making me do it. Ugh. And they did still help us so it''s...tolerable."
Ok. Whatever.
"Done talking to your spirit?"
"!"
"Yes it is pretty obvious. Hurry up. Argin doesn''t like waiting."
"Oh, uh."
"By the way, I''m Ralvath."
"No name. Nice to meet you."
"Haha. Very funny. Move it along now. Before I get bored."
"This one''s crazy toooooooo!"
Hahahaha. Stupid sun. Now you would suffer for your dumbness! Esca-
"You too fartcloud."
Fartcloud!? FARTCLOUD!?
"Ha, now you-"
It had a naaaaame! From now on, it was-
"NO!"
"This better be-"
"It just almost named itself fartcloud!"
"Oh. Well. Wouldn''t be the worst name I heard. But, yeah not a name I want to saddle on a kid...thing...I''m notthat bad. Naming isn''t my thing though, so maybe wait until it picks its own. It''s already smart enough anyway. Not a bad one of course. That would be..."
Both were just not moving and looked like they were thinking a lot. Eventually, Ralvath moved and the sun followed.
They got loud talked to by Argin when they got there. After that they moved faster, and the sun was slower. Very slow. Luckily, he had it. Otherwise...a stupid sun like that might even get "lost" again.
"...Not going to grace that with a response."
It winned the insult war. Foolish sun. A spiritnever forgets.
"!?"
The sun was also not talking for a lot time.
The time they were moving it saw much. Argin and Ralvath made many, many things become die. Very useful. Unlike the sun.
"That''s so true its sad..."
!? The sun was sayinghe was bad? Not fighting? The twowere very not sun-like after all.
"At least I''m a unit for measurement..."
It however.
"Hey, you feel anything else?"
It moved slightly towards the way many things were and Ralvath was disappear again. It happened very often. The there and not there. Argin also came. It was even called ''useful.'' A good time.
"Traitor!Bought out by praise!"
Praise? Was that what it was? Yes, it liked praise. After all, itwas useful.
"Narcissist."
Of course it was. Only the most good for it.
"Heh."
"Alright."
Ralvath!? It was still weird.
"We''re going to teleport now. Since we''re far enough out of the Voidlands."
"Wait, what''s a tele-"
Everything became black. Then...blacker black. Then black. Then everything was - not normal! Too much color! Its eyes!!!! If it had any eyes!!!
"Ugh. Now we have to write a report. Good job Ral."
"We? I think you meanyou have to write a report.I have to go report this personally to the Cap."
Argin did not look happy. There wasn''t a face, but it could tell if itcould see one it would be a not happy one. The sun also did not look happy. Since, Argin was looking at it. Then, it turned to it.
"Alright cya ''round."
Yes. It was "round."
"What? How are you so liked!?"
That was just how the world was. He should just accept it. Foolish sun.
"This conversation is not-"
They were there? It had just followed Ralvath. It hadn''t even gotten to look at the things everywhere! The sun was - was, not letting it see!
"Ralvath."
The Cap was bigger than Ral. With a big club. It already liked it. Things that used big clubs were useful generally.
"Captain."
What was that weird moving? Ralvath was making its leg move weird and become close to the ground?
"I have come to report these two. A spirit and a greater imp that were travelling together."
"That''s new. A spirit? Here?"
"Yes, and it seems to be intelligent too."
"Lost?"
"Unlikely. Probably an old newborn."
"Strange. But why the imp? Surely it wasn''t needed?"
"The spirit was more likely to cooperate this way. Since it would be a waste of time to try and form a bond with it. And the imp survived on its own in the Voidlands, so it could be used."
"Perhaps. You, tell me what of recent events, you know the wave, yes?"
"After it, we decided to move the tribe, and then we had some humans just drop out of the sky. I was told to run with the helmet and...after that we just went around. It helped me find food and hunt."
"Are the humans still around...? No, why would they even come? Surely they aren''t stupid enough to pop in during a wave? No. I will look into this. And, the helmet. You mean that badly made one on your head?"
"...yes."
"I see. Anything else?"
"Why were you being chased by those things?"
"Things, Ralvath?"
"Yes. Likely some necromancer''s creations. But, they had some kind of corrosive mana on them. It was annoying to deal with."
"Uh, we got attacked by one while I was hunting. We killed it. Then, the rest kind of came looking for us..."
"Does the spirit have anything to say?"
The things had a mana thing it ate. Also, it tasted like one bug.
"Uh, it says one of the things had a...mana it ate? That tasted bad? It''s kind of stupid."
Hey!
"Then theywere a necromancer''s creations. Not too bad yet, but if that corrosive mana is used elsewhere...alright, Ralvath, you and Argin will go back out with the rest of your team and investigate these occurences. Including the humans if you can. And you, imp, you and the spirit will be put to work here for now. Odo, take this imp and put it to work. The spirit...can watch."
Another big thing came into the weird cave-type thing and did the weird one leg thing too.
"Yessir. Alright, let''s go."
The sun moved quickly and so the spirit followed, looking back at the cave-thing. The two looked back before starting to talk again.
"I will contact the city to report this once you have some proper results. It is vital that you return immediately should..."
Then they were too far. Now, what were these things it was supposed to watch? And were they new?
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Shattered Corrupt Wisp (E-)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 5 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 5/5
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 13 - In the dirt!
The things were new. New, and apparently also very much hurt for the sun. He had been saying how much it hurt for the past...time? Even now, he was still going.
"I''m going to die. My hands are going to just pop off. I hate laundry. I mean it''s hardly the worst thing that I could be doing. Like scooping horse poo. Or being dead. But, I still hate laundry. My hands are throbbing. They''re raw! They burn!"
How could they burn though? Wasn''t burn with fire? Was laundry like fire? Laundry. How scary.
"What? No. It''s just...a description of the pain. It''s like it was on fire."
But it''s not on fire.
"Don''t question it."
The sun wasn''t very good at learn-moving to others. He wasn''t even answering questions!
"I answer questions. I just don''t answer stupid questions. Also from now on known as stuques."
What? Why was the sun making words? That made no "sense." He was too stupid to make words. It could make words of course. Since it was a narcissist.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-"
"Something you''d like to share?"
"Geh, uh, no."
"Talking to the spirit huh."
"So, can everyone see spirits here? In my tribe barely anyone saw it."
"No. Back to work."
"Yes sir. Would it hurt them to answer a question?"
It could ask the same to him.
"You and your logic."
Yes. "Logic." As in it made sense. Much sense. Fool-thing.
"That''s not even a word."
It is, yes. Because it so-says. Hey, this fun-was!
"Stopping messing up the word ordeeeeeer."
No. Heh.
"That was just weird. An emotionless ''heh'' just sounds so...weird."
No. It sounded like him. Close enough anyway.
"No! It''s not! Sir, is there any more? I''m done."
The sun was putting the laundry on to the thing.
"It''s a rope. And yes, laundry and laundry are different."
"Hmm. You finished faster than expected. Well, this is just to show you the ropes."
The ropes? Were they...normal-not?
"Now, you can learn how basic fortifications are set-up."
Odo was already moving when the sun moved after it quickly. They went past many caves-but-not-caves that had four weird-look things in each. Then, they stopped where the more that way was just rock. Many things were already here, hitting club-like things into the ground, then moving the ground away with other things. A big ground was already there and was still being up-grounded. Odo picked up a club-thing and made it move fast through the up-down space where the sun made it stop.
"Start digging."
Then, Odo left. The other things looked at them as soon as Odo left. Some of them were as big-not as the sun. Some were big more and some were even more big-not than the sun. One thing that was the same almost as the sun moved close.
"The name''s Stix. Not to be confused with Styx. That guy''s scary. Hahaha, well you are?"
"Uh, no name."
"I see. Orphan? Or feral?"
"I''m an orphan. By the way, what''s a feral?"
"Us demons don''t just throw kids out like that. Not without a name at least. So they''re either orphans or feral. Ferals are rare, but not as much as you''d think. Though they were more common before the Voidlands happened. Anyway, it''s when a demon is just born without parents. Like just ''poof.'' Not exactly it, but well, I never went to school. Too much competition. Others just can''t afford it."
"First, what do you mean the Voidlands happened? I''m from there by the way. And two... what''s a school?"
"Oh wow. That does explain you not knowing such common knowledge. Not that I''m calling you stupid."
Stix moved closer, and said more loud-not, "I am by the way."
The sun was making a ''I don''t know what to say'' face. Fun. This Stix knew how to do things.
"So. The Voidlands just appeared one day. I don''t know the technical explanation, they just did. Personally, I''m with the cultists. It''s definitely the humans fault. If anything bad happens, blame the humans. They''re always messing things up. We do too, but if one of us messed up that place, which the Voidlands did, they''d get lynched publicly. And violently. Schools are...where you go if you want to learn more than what I know about random things. Or something. I think. Well, schools are schools."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"What''s-"
"No more questions! We''re gonna get yelled at for any more than this. Or worse if Odo checks in."
See? He asked just as many questions as it. More, even. Still, it learned either way. Heh.
"Still weird."
Still stupid.
"Nice talking to you."
Too.
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
The club-thing made weird noises when it hit the ground. Then the ground went up and away to a many grounds. Each thing had many grounds near it. Then each thing put more ground on the many grounds.
"So, how is this basic fortifications."
"Grunt well, this is still grunt a fortification."
"How? It''s a wide, shallow, and long hole in the ground."
"It''s a trench. And we use it to stab stuff from below. Easier that way. And breaks charges. Usually."
"Oh. Why is it useful for me to know?"
"I dunno. Why is it useful to know how many teeth a wolf has in its mouth?"
"How many?"
"That wasn''t the point you should be focusing on..."
"It''s not?"
"No."
"Oh."
What an intelligence "conversation."
"Was that sarcastic?"
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
Depends. What was a sarcastic?
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"Right."
Hey! What was a sarcastic!
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"You wouldn''t get it even if I told you."
Fooun. Of course it would.
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"Did you just combine my fake name and fool!?"
Yes. "Combine!"
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"Hey. You''ve been making a difficult expression for a while now. Are you ok? If your stomach hurts get that checked out."
"Oh, well thanks for-"
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"Wouldn''t want another ''monsters exploding out of random people'' incident."
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"What!?"
Thunk. Whi-thud.
The sun dropped his club-thing.
"Oh, don''t worry. It''s pretty rare. Usually only happens every three months or so."
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"That''s not very comforting."
"Pfft. Just a couple deaths usually. I mean we lose like five-ish at most. Not like the first time. That was horrible. Anyway, unless you''re unlucky they don''t even kill you. The normal ones are only big enough to pop out half your torso. Since they don''t usualy try to mangle it coming out, it''s actually survivable. Painful, but survivable. Also why you don''t eat random-woah."
The sun was blaarghing again.
"I ate lots of things! I''m gonna dieeeee!"
"Relax. It''s like one in twenty. Plus they die inside most of the time. Then they''re just normal food."
"Karxide. You guys are all crazy."
"Hahahaha. Funny guy, eh? Toughen up. You''re from the Voidlands, shoulda seen worse than this!"
"NO! We never had chest-bursting monsters! Well, back-bursting yes, but that''s different."
"...how is that any different?"
"It just is. Chest bursting is scary. Back bursters are lame."
"Ok then. Whatever floats your boat kid. Crazy."
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish.
"So. Is this all we do?"
"Unless you wanna carry the dirt away, yeah."
"Dirt!" New!
"How big is this gonna be?"
Stix was making sun''s ''are you stupid'' face. It looked more normal on Stix''s face. Since the sun was the stupid one, not the stupid-say-others one.
"Enough for the camp, and then some. Since, we gotta construct another fortress here."
"What!? A fortress! I wanna see! DIG STIX! DIG!"
And he called it the weird one.
"Uh sure."
Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish. Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish. Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish. Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish. Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish. Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish. Thunk. Whish. Crunch. Whish. Thunk. Whish.
When the sun that was high in the before-dig became close to the ground, the digging stopped. Many things, more than it had numbers for were all moving out of the "trench" and towards the "camp." Soon, they pulled out the "dinner," as the many things called it. It was just food though. Why not call it food?
"My arms are dead."
"Meh. You need more excercise. How exactly were you alive in the Voidlands...?"
"Hey! I hit things! Not...this!"
The sun''s hands moved everywhere and it went up, and went back down. It was eating a "dinner" that a big thing was giving to everything. It wasn''t sure what it was, but didn''t care, since it had all the mana it could ever want from the things. It didn''t try to eat more though, since it wasn''t sure if it would be good to do so. It had done so with the sun once and he told all about how that wasn''t good. It generally didn''t care, but it could care just a little about what the sun said sometimes. When it felt like it. And the things that were everywhere and made monsters become dead were very logic-strong.
"Strength and no stamina? That''s weird and weak."
"Yeah, I guess. It''s never been a problem before..."
"Well, that''s probably why you got put on little tasks instead of the fun ones. Like hunting parties."
"Ugh."
"Just keep working and eventually it will build up, no? Demons have plenty of time. Not to mention, you can go to school afterwards."
"I thought you said you didn''t go?"
"Well, it''s not a bad option. Plus I have a library at home. That I just choose not to use. You probably don''t. So I can skip school, you might want to try though. Even I have to attend at some point, but that''s for a different kind of school."
"Oh. I mean, aren''t I stuck here?"
"Nah. If you''re not dead, then you can probably just leave. Whether you make it to a city or not though..."
"Ah. I see."
"I mean, this place is pretty good. You have some senior military officers here, so you can kill stuff to level up in relative safety. And learn from other people who actually know what they''re doing."
"So like an apprenticeship."
"Yea."
Ring. Ring. RING.
There was a big thing hitting a...weird thing with a small club. It made a noise whenever it hit. Every other thing was already moving. The ones from the digging went to camp and others from camp came out, towards the many manas coming from a way.
"Another horde. So annoying."
"Wait, what?"
"Don''t worry. You only have a slight chance of dying even if you stay here. If you go back to camp with the others it''s even lower."
Stix was running towards the manas, and "yelled" back, "I got fighting to do!"
"Wait, I''m coming too!"
What? The sun was trying to die?
"I can do this."
That''s what he said with the thing. He still almost died. And it was a ''shattered'' now.
"But that was with two of us. There''s like a thousand now."
Sure. Whatever. Not like it was the one that would be hurt. It could see and eat to its happiness as it looked at the battle. Since fighting was fun to watch. Also, it was pretty sure he could find a way to die in a thousand too. The one in a thousand.
"Hey!"
Meh. Too bad it couldn''t yell at them while looking. Like telling the one getting bit to die faster so the one behind it with the fun looking mana could fight instead. Also so it could eat the mana-fun when that one died. Priorities.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Shattered Corrupt Wisp (E-)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 5 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 5/5
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 14 - Many Wolves. Many.
"Wait we don''t have weapons on us right now."
The sun was right. No clubs with Stix. Not even the club-like thing the sun getted from the trench when they runned past it.
"You have your shovel don''t you? And I don''t need a weapon. Didn''t I tell you? I''m, from a Duke family. What kind of noble needs a weapon to harvest some food?" Stix very easy-like made it sound. The spirit wasn''t sure what a "Duke" was and why they thought something as strong as a "shovel" was useless, but this Stix thing was right. Why worry about that? It had seeed the chieftain kill things without a "weapon." The sun was a good-not compared to that.
"Yeah, go Stix! Violence!" Another thing said loudly as it went past Stix. Except it was big-more than Stix. Were all demons better than the sun? See sun, why couldn''t he be that good. Useless.
"Yeah dude! See ya there!" Stix also sounded loud, probably to make the other demon sound-find.
"Yes. And what about you? You''re basically dead-weight here! WORSE than useless."
But it could move through the up. And was called good by Ralvath.
"Uh, should we really be so happy for this? Isn''t normal hunting better?"
"That''s boring!" Stix seeed like it wanted to go fight when it started to run faster, but the sun also went faster. Why? Wasn''t he fine on his own?
The sun had sounded very ready when he told it he would be fine. Right now, he was trying to stay with Stix, who was stronger - something it could think, as Stix was fine after the digging and the sun was like dead.
"Hey, so, uh let''s stick together okay?" The sun looked around before turning back to Stix as he runned near again.
"Yeah yeah. Though, I have my own underlings to worry about." Stix was running before-of the sun and faster too. It wondered what would happen if the club-thing it was moving around was not in its hand. How far would it fly?
"Wait, what? Come on, we''re friends right?"
"Yeah, but this is a fight and I am a leader. I have to stick with my minions. So, just follow my group and you''ll be fine. Don''t get stranded though. Or else," Stix did not fast-not for the sun and hit a wolf with its leg as it moved straight into the monsters. The wolf it kicked went splurch and fell back into the other wolves, which as it seeed, ate the dead wolf, then went straight for Stix.
"Or else?" The sun also hit down with the shovel, making a bang and the wolf dropped.
"You die." Stix hit a wolf with its hand and it splat, going everywhere. "See ya." More splats and splurchs were sounded as Stix killed his way through the monsters, moving towards a lot of demons it could see further ahead.
"Wait-!" The sun sounded very loud and hit another wolf with a shovel, but still wasn''t fast enough. He was behind but not dead. Other demons kept coming from the camp and hitting into wolves, moving for the big "group." It was scary how good they killed the wolves. And fun. As the sun was slow and it did want to see, it went up, leaving the sun where it was.
As far as it could see - which was almost the whole fight thanks to it going up - the demons were hitting the wolves and making many corpses. It found the whole fight mostly boring, because the dying were mostly the monsters. It was no fun with monsters as they didn''t really have the same...fear, that the demons showed when being killed. Admittedly, the sun was weird as he showed more fear than most of the other demons. Even now, he was trying - and not killing - a big-not wolf. Just one. And he was not able to. Instead, he was even getting scared.
When he hit to one side, it went to the other side. And when he hit the other side, it went back to the first side. Except it was very faster than the sun. But, it kept trying to run away instead of just killing him. Which was dumb in it''s opinion. If it was the small wolf it would have hitted the sun''s throat by now. It was too obvious.
"Do you want me to die!?"
What was bad about seeing? Since it could see, it could say what the wolf should do. Better than the sun anyway.
"Help me then!"
"Help" how? The sun was not fast enough.
"Do the thing!"
Couldn''t. It didn''t really have the ability to do that now. It was big-not and weak. Very die-able. A level-up would be good of course, but not for becoming dead.
"Evolve!"
It could do that!? Since when? ''Status.''
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Shattered Corrupt Wisp (E-)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 5 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 5/5
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Oh. It could. When had that happened? Oh. Right. Before. Somewhere. Wait, but it said no then, so while it couldn''t fully remember why...it must have been important? So it shouldn''t evolve? But, evolving was fun. And it couldn''t level-up until it evolved. But it was a ''shattered.'' Would that change anything? It had had more mana when it evolved before.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
"Hurry up," the sun said loudly, barely running back up to the not big wolf, hitting other wolves away with his shovel.
It didn''t want to evolve right now. Not enough mana. But, if it could get more by eating, there was many wolves here. It may not have tried when it was big-not in the very-before time, but maybe now...?
For the killing! It went down, seeing Stix at the front of the big demon group as it did, making one big wolf become two by moving its hands in different ways. It didnt know wolves could do that! Next time, it would get the sun to do it so it could see better. The big-not wolf with the sun could work!
The sun! Make it become two!
"What are you on about? Hurry up and attack this one!"
But! The two!
"I don''t know what you''re on about, but if you kill this I''ll make sure to do whatever, ok? Deal?"
Yes! Kill! "Dealing!" DIE WOLF!
It was of course weird-feel when the big-not-wolf''s mana was not-many where it was normally for a wolf. Instead, it finded the mana in the legs. Why? Still. It only had to eat.
As the mana went towards it, it realized that it could eat the mana even from outside easy-more. Why? It didn''t really know, but it made it easy-more and it ate more and more mana. The wolf had a lot of mana for how big it was. Weird. Much weird.
Max Mana +1
Max Mana +1
Max Mana...
Max Mana +1
The wolf became not fast and stopped. It looked up, at the weird called the moon, and then fell when the sun''s shovel finally hit it with a loud crunch.
He moved the shovel out of the wolf''s head and talked, "That was a pain. I thought I would never-"
AWOOOOOOOOOOOO!
All of the wolves became more-die and hit into the demons. Not to kill, but to make a way for other wolves to get to...the sun. Run! NOT-DIE!
It movedup, enough so the wolves couldn''t go, and then moved after the sun. He was already hitting wolves everywhere and moving towards not-wolves space, but it could feel the wolves movingaround the demon group and towards the space. The sun would not not-wolf if he went that way, so it told him to move to the group.
"There are even more of them that way though!"
There were more demons that way too. And, it could see. He should do it.
"Alright, just like usual."
"Usual?" They didn''t fight wolves like this. Before-ever. And "usual," wasn''titthe one fighting.
"Details details. Don''t stress the details, just cooperate ok?"
Ok. Kill stuff. Maked sense.
There were only five wolf spaces to the group.
"Fifteen."
Same thing.
It just had to eat wolf. If many mana in legs was in fast wolf, was no mana in legs for not-fast wolf? There was also the head-inside, but it didn''t think it had time for that. The sun could kill these wolves-
"No I can''t!"
And it could make them not-fast. Probably.
"I don''t like probably!"
Dealed!
"Alright wolves. Move it or else. I''ll uh, kill you like that guy!" The sun moved his hand towards the fast wolf.
AWOOOOOOOOOO
"That didn''t work atall."
The wolves went towards the sun, and it went to the wolves behind, eating mana from the legs. It could only eat one at a time, but the first wolf went down after the mana-leg eat and other wolves hit it. So it could just eat the first wolves and the behinds would hit the firsts! A good plan.
Splat. Splat. Splat. Crunch. Snap.
It could hear the sun killing wolves and its wolves becoming down.
Thump. Thump. Thud.
Not winning was easy-not now. Unless the sun not-winned. Which was very happen-able.
"Oh come on! Why am I always getting insulted! Even when you''re thinking to yourself!"
For fun. And hewas useless.
SPLAT!The sun hit a wolf head and it down went.
"For the last time-!"
CRUNCH!Another wolf was hit in the not leg or arm or head place and side went.
Only two wolves. It made many more become down.
"I killed them! You only dropped them!"
It was weaker and not-bigger. It could still same to him. The sun was really weak. Also, there were still many wolf spaces to go.
"Hey! It''s Stix! We''re saved!"
"We?"It was always fine. Now, to eat.
Max Mana +1
Max Mana +1
...
"Nice, you killed the alpha''s pup!"
Wham. Stix''s hand hit the sun''s "back" and he "dropped."
"Oops. Uh. Are you alive? If you''re dead I''ll sell your corpse to a good necromancer. Not a bad one. I have that much respect for a friend at least." Stix was moving the sun by moving his arm.
"...I''m alive. I think."
"Good enough." Stix maked the sunup and moved him after it.
Drag. Drag.
"How''s your level looking?"
"Good." The sun moved his head to look at the wolves.
The other demons comed with Stix and killed the wolves that moved after Stix. They were all moving back to the group.
Stix looked back at the sun. "How did you kill it anyway? Last I saw, you were struggling to even graze it."
"I had help," the sun looked at Stix. "You ditched me out there."
Stix looked at the sun and then moved his hand towards the group, "You''re not more than them though are you?"
The sun looked at the group too, and it could see the demons still killing. The demons looking like Ralvath and Argin were very easy to see. They maked many wolves die with one hits, and were fighting bigger wolves too. The bigger-not and weak demons killed wolves too, but even as it seeed, one got hit in the arm by a wolf mouth. It moved the arm down and the wolf became nearer and then the other arm hit, and the wolf dropped.
"...No," the sun moved his head side to side, "I suppose not."
It seeed the sun move into the group with Stix and then started to move wolf to wolf, away from the group, killing wolves and getting more mana. It would be a fun time.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Shattered Corrupt Wisp (E-)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 20 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 20/20
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 15 - What to evolve...
As much as the learning and seeing new things was good, it liked eating - and growing stronger by doing so - just as much. So it didn''t feel any problem with going from wolf to wolf - without any wolves ever seeing or doing anything to it - and eating. Just repeating the same thing over and over. It did that all the time. The very-before, the bugs, and now the wolves.
And that was fine. Except the sun was being annoying. He kept ''saying'' things, like:
"I''m bored."
"Think something more interesting to listen to."
"Hey, hitting the occasional wolf that gets past the line is boring, but I''m too tired and stupid to do anything else."
"Oi, I never said that! Stop adding stupid to any descriptions of me!"
That last one in particular.
"I literally said all of those once each! Except maybe that first one. And the last one was literally right now!"
Well, it was basically the same thing. In that case, even the other oneswere ''right nows'' at a different time.
"That''s a horrible argument!"
Just because he couldn''t come up with a better one?
"Your heads so messed up that there''s no point in reasoning with you is there?"
No there was much reason in it. Like eating, because it made it stronger and not dead. That was a reason. Silly sun.
"...."
And now it was silent again. The sun was bad at "argumenting" too. He was always useless. Now he was silent because he couldn''t argument properly. That was just sad. Like not killing the wolves without its help.
Now as it looked at the wolves, it wondered which one to eat. There were only so many it could eat before the battle ended, and just going to the nearest wolf seemed...boring.
"What, now you''re a wolf-taste expert? Struggling to decide between ash, ash, and also ash?"
As if he knew. The mana didn''t "taste" much different usual. The big-not wolf had, but the other wolves didn''t really. Just, a big wolf was better than a big-not wolf right? It was...morethan taste.
"Do you even realize how weird that sounds?"
No, he was weird. He just thought it was weird because he was weird and thought he was normal. Silly sun. He was stupid for not getting it.
"You just have to slip stupid in somewhere don''t you? Do you have some grudge against me or something?"
"Slip in" stupid? Stupid sun, it didn''t have to ''slip in'' stupid, because stupid was just there when it came to him, like how the moon was there at night. It was just how itwas. Like black was black and a mountain was just a big rock.
"Nope. I''m taking my chances with the wolves. Talking to you too much is bad for my sanity."
Just because he couldn''t reason the for-sure thing. The wolves were better. At least they getted it mana by becoming dead or dropped by it.
It kept getting the mana. And dropping wolves. And when it looked for another wolf, it seeed that there weren''t any. The wolves were dead. No wolf runned away from what it seeed. Weird. It would just run away if it was near-dead.
It was thinking the fight was weird though. The strong demons, like Ralvath-level were around and could have killed the wolves easily. They hadn''t moved. Then again, wolves were levels. More stronger demons was good for all the demons. Just one demon getting stronger wouldn''t be as good. Since in the tribe the small imps killed wolves too. With more.
Now it had to go back to where the sun was. Oh, there he was. He was in the group with Stix and many demons, and it couldn''t see him either. But it could tell where he was. How? Was it that the sun''s stupid was so strong it became like mana? Mana that it could feel? Weird.
"NO! IT''S THE LINK! THE LINK! HOW DO YOU EVEN COME TO THAT CONCLUSION!?"
The sun should become normal. It was a "fair" "conclusion" thinking of everything about the sun.
"HOW!?"
It not-fast went up to see the group and follow.
Like black was black. It had said it before too. Was he also too stupid to even remember things? It would be sad to be him.
From here, it could see Stix looking at the sun and moving towards him slowly and it went down to find out what it was saying.
It moved a hand over to his arm-up, "Is it because you almost died? Don''t worry, although very few, there are demons who act like that after their first fight too. Don''t feel too bad that you''re a weirdo." Stix moved his head up and down.
"W-what, no that''s not-"
Stix moved his hand towards the up, "No need to worry. Plenty of weirdos are successful. Most demons have a weird quirk or three. Not like you, but hey, that means you''re unique! Kinda. I mean look at Duke Mortimer, he was weird too. But he became a Duke! Too bad he died though. He got poisoned. But, that''s not the point you should focus on! It means you too, might be able to become something other than food for some monster or a corpse in a necromancer''s army! Maybe. Wouldn''t bet on it, but you can! As long as you believe!"Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The sun looked at Stix, "Was that supposed to help? Because it didn''t."
The sun was so rude. Stix was getting the sun good thinking. The sun didn''t even get it though. As expected of him.
"Thanks for the encouragement. Really."
Of course. It would always do so. Thiswas something it should do as his friend.
"I feel so warm and fuzzy inside."
Really? Was he okay? Was he going to become fire and become theup sun? For a time. Then die. Which might actually be good for it. Go sun, be the sun! Bemore than he could ever otherwise be!
"Yeah. Sure."
Where was his happy? "Weirdo" was right. Weirdo.
Now, his usual stupid other, it had more important things to think of: whether or not to evolve. ''Status.''
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 50 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 50/50
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
It wasn''t sure, but this was more mana than before? Maybe? So, should it evolve?
"Wait. Get back to camp first. We should get a sleeping spot. Evolve while I sleep."
Ok. It could wait. It was evolution, but that was all. Not like eating wolves. Nowthat was fun.
"I will never understand you."
Same sun, same. He was weird and usual crazy. Sometimes it was worried for him. He was like the thing who would become dead by something stupid.
"Now then. Everyone here can take a short break. The ones who didn''t fight, keep digging."
Oh! It was Odo! Hey Odo! Too bad it couldn''t sound-find it.
"Alright," and Stix again moving before the sun, "the beds are this way."
"Ooooh beds!" The sun moved both hands fast up.
Why? Was a "bed" good? Was it a type of club?
It followed after and then they found a down cave. Many down caves.
"Pick one."
"...this?" The sun moved a hand towards the down cave. No, bed, right?
"Huh? Yeah? I mean, what''d you expect? It''s a sleeping spot. Monster furs can be used for other things. Plus, not my fault you didn''t grab a few corpses to stuff the hole with. Furs do make it softer."
Stix was right. It was the sun''s "fault." It always was. See sun? It maked bad a normal bed. Weirdo.
"Even my old bed was better...." The sun was looking down, at the bed.
Was it that happy for its new bed? A down cave was a good bed. Since monsters couldn''t hit you in the sides. And it was very black at the bottom and silent. A good bed. Yes, it would use this to evolve.
It moved to the very down and over to a side. Then, it tried to evolve. A thing came to say evolution after that.
Possible Evolution(s):
Corrupt Wayward Wisp (E+)
Not particularly strong, however these spirits are known to intentionally lead others to their deaths, often indirectly and by interfering at crucial moments. They are considered malicious. While laughed off by stronger individuals, these spirits have been known to sometimes even suicidaly jump into a battle and self-destruct. While the trigger is unknown, many rookies succumb to these spirits when they underestimate them or don''t pay attention to their surroundings.
Corrupt Greater Wisp (E+)
It is still just a wisp, usually having somehow amassed more mana than should be possible for it under normal conditions. No special qualities except naturally greater mana.
Pseudo-void Fragment (F+)
An abnormality.Aspirit that has somehow formed a pseudo-void affinity. It has interacted with pseudo-void, intentionally, and lived. Whether it''s sane or not, this type of spirit is rare.
Corrupt Living Mist (D-)
A corrupt mist''s ranking often betrays its real danger. It is able to camoflauge into the normal air like a regular mist, but unlike a regular living mist, it is innately able to poison those who inhale it. Older living mists can release concentrated bursts of posion gas that have even been known to be colorless or odorless. Even a stronger individual may be in danger against one of these.
Oh it liked this. More evolutions were good. It''s just, why was the last one a different looking thing in the ''()?'' Also why was the color different? Was that good? Itwas a different color.
Sun.
"I, am living in a hole."
Sun.
"A hole. When I was told there would be a bed."
Sun.
"I''ve seen beds. With furs or soft soil."
Sun. Sun.
"I''ve slept without a bed. On ground.Underthe ground though?"
Sun. Sun. Sun.
"That''s like. So weird it''s not even funny. I mean, everyone else here has clothes better put together than mine. They have good weapons, materials, training. From a city at least. I expect-I expected more. At least soft furs. Or a warm place. Instead, I get a cold hole in the ground."
SUN!
"WHAT! I''m ranting, don''t disturb me."
It could evolv and didn''t know what to evolve.
"Really? Tell me about it."
It could be a "self-destruct" and "suicidal-"
"No. No self-destruct. Remember, no random explosions ok?"
Well, it didn''t know what a "explosion" was, but ok.
It could become bigger.
"And?"
That''s it. It said "no special qualities."
"Ok, no."
It could be different color.
"What?"
The thingy in the evolution was a different color.
"Uh, what''s it called."
"Abnormality." Whatever that meant.
"Huh. Is that all?"
It could also become "poison" and "danger" to strong.
"Oh hey, that last one sounds kinda cool. The third one was...well, I don''t know. Though if it''s abnormal it''s probably good."
What to evolve? The different color or the last one. The last onewas last. Which meant it was bigger. Since the up and down were always bigger. The most one way. And self-destruct was no, so the last seemed to be a good evolution. Third was a fragment. What it had been in the before time. What should it evolve?
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 50 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 50/50
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 16
Choosing was hard. And painful. Not actually. But almost. Something it was learning quickly. Really, to it, they all sounded good. Since they were evolutions. And evolutions were always better. Which meant that from the two options it had, both were good.
Fragment was new-not. But it was "abnormal." Why that was important it didn''t know, but-
"Abnormals are usually good. Since they''re rare. And rare things are usually good. See?"
Maked sense. Also, "mist" felt...big. If it became bigger it couldn''t stay in its helmet. Which would be sad. But fragment was big-not. And new-not. And, and - evolution. Evolution was good. So even if it was fragment, it would be better.
With that out of the way.
"Only took you a trip''s worth of time."
"Trip?" What was a trip?
"How long it usually took the tribe to kill an average wolf pack."
Maked sense. Why not bears though? And why was the sun still here then?
The sun just looked at it. It was good-not at this, but he looked happy-not. Not sad though. Whatever.
"I sleep here. And haven''t been able to since you''re still TALKING IN MY HEAD!!!"
He needed to learn how to relax. ''Status.''
Unnamed Corrupted Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Corrupt Wisp (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 50 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 50/50
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
That was just the status. Where was evolution?
"Really? Ignoring again?"
Oh. Maybe. ''Evolution.''
Possible Evolution(s):
Corrupt Wayward Wisp (E+)
Not particularly strong, however these spirits are known to intentionally lead others to their deaths, often indirectly and by interfering at crucial moments. They are considered malicious. While laughed off by stronger individuals, these spirits have been known to sometimes even suicidaly jump into a battle and self-destruct. While the trigger is unknown, many rookies succumb to these spirits when they underestimate them or don''t pay attention to their surroundings.
Corrupt Greater Wisp (E+)
It is still just a wisp, usually having somehow amassed more mana than should be possible for it under normal conditions. No special qualities except naturally greater mana.
Pseudo-void Fragment (F+)
An abnormality. A spirit that has somehow formed a pseudo-void affinity. It has interacted with pseudo-void, intentionally, and lived. Whether it''s sane or not, this type of spirit is rare.
Corrupt Living Mist (D-)
A corrupt mist''s ranking often betrays its real danger. It is able to camoflauge into the normal air like a regular mist, but unlike a regular living mist, it is innately able to poison those who inhale it. Older living mists can release concentrated bursts of posion gas that have even been known to be colorless or odorless. Even a stronger individual may be in danger against one of these.
Oh. So that was how to bring it up. It had come up again after that battle but it just went away when it didn''t pick right away. Annoying, but then again, it would have been stuck thinking about evolution for time-long back then. Whatever.
''Pseudo-void Fragment (F+).'' It wasn''t sure if it was going to take long or-
"Care to listen to my complaints?"
When did he ever ask?
"Ok, look. I don''t know what you evolved into. But you''re gonna wanna tone it down. A lot. It might have even been good this is a hole or we would have been noticed for sure."
Why? What did it do?
"Well, the color change is fine-"
OH! OH! COLOR! I WANT TO-it wanted to know.
"Wow. Using ''I?'' I always wondered why you used ''it'' even though you know what ''I'' is. Care to-"
COLORCOLORCOLORCOLORCOLORCOLORCOL-
"Black."
YAY...just normal black? Or abnormal black.
"You''re not funny. And yes. REALLY deep black. Like not black-black but deeper black. Kinda like what the inside of a rift looks like. Minus the small splashes of color in the background. Now that''s all fine and dandy, but look at what you''re doing right now."
Doing? It wasn''t doing anything.
"Exactly."This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
What did he mean? The sun was being weird again.
"Just look around you. And my arm."
The ground was...blacker. And the sun''s arm was...also blacker? Wait, what was he-
"See, when I pick at it, small bits of...ash? Dust? Float off. And that spot feels numb. Like it''s not there anymore. Your...body? Extra whip things? Do that to stuff. My arm and the soil. By the way, could you turn that off or something?"
What "whip" things. It was nor-oh. There were thingies coming off its body. They were its body. It could feel that. But they were very big-not and looked like the weird thing around the up-sun when it was up. All around it, going long everywhere.
"That and the air near you also feels...stagnant. It''s breathable but unpleasent. Smells horrible. And hurts after a while. Probably killing my insides. All in all, you have become a monstrosity."
Was that bad?
"NO! GOOD JOB! I''m proud of you. Now you can be a little killing machine too. You were too safe before. Now though, now you can pile up the corpses just by being around! You can probably do even better if you try! Really, good job."
Yes. It did do a good job. Now it should evolve again. ''Status!''
Unnamed Pseudo-void Spirit
Level: 1/10
Species: Pseudo-void Fragment (F+)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 50 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 50/50
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
"Uh, the...arms?"
Oh, right. It tried to make the ar-arms!? Could it use clubs! SUN! GIVE THE SHOVEL! GIVE!
"You''ll do the thing to it remember? Also, seeing as those ''arms'' of yours just pass through stuff like my arm, I don''t think they can pick anything up."
No! It could! It would try!
"And ruin a shovel."
Reasons, reasons. No details worry! The slaughter would be its!
"Or you could find out how to control the arms first."
Of course it could move the arms. It didn''t need to "find out how to control" them, they were its. They could go up, and down, and left, and right. Why didn''t the mana go more?
"That sides left, that sides right. And probably because evolution doesn''t always mean stat increases? I mean you could lose stats too."
"Lose stats?" Ever-not to it. It was too good for that. Sides were also whatever. Like that sun, this sun, same thing.
"Uh, those actually are not the same things."
Reasons, reasons. It said be-
"Hey, look just-"
It had arms. That could make dust the sun''s arms. So he should relax. It moved an arm near the sun and then away.
"H-he''s learning! They grow up so fast!"
Why was he happy? Weird.
"No self-respecting young demon would just listen that calmly like you. Be more assertive! I''m teaching you life skills like I taught - nevermind."
Also, it was not he.
"I-I just assumed-"
It was it. Not he. Done.
"Sure."
"Assertive" was good. With the sun since he was stupid. Ralvath and Argin were stupid-not though and assertive would not be needed.
"Hey, that''s just-"
Stupid.
"Hey, that''s not what-"
Stupid.
"That''s not what-"
Stupid.
"I meant."
Stu-what? That was, that was not ok! He wasn''t doing it right!
"Meh. You much to learn young one."
Bleh.
"Not enough. Put more emotion into it!"
This sun was not fun to fight anymore. It had arms to use and no things to use it on here! Sun, where was the shovels!
"You were only out for, oh I don''t know. Most of the night? During which I couldn''t sleep because YOU woke me up with the arm injury and then KEPT WAVING THOSE AROUND RANDOMLY! I HAD TO CURL UP IN THE CORNER! Now, if you don''t mind. I''d rather catch what little sleep I can before I have to get up and work myself to exhaustion. AGAIN."
Oh. Well, if it maked him felt any better. It had evolved. So the stupid sun was dead probably-not! Since it could kill stuff better now.
"Right. Thanks. Go away for a bit or shut up please. Goodnight."
Goodnight.
Now, what to do? The shovels were there. Or there was random monsters to kill. If it could go away from the camp where the normal mana was anyway. The here-not had more bad mana. Maybe the shovels were a better option? Except it also was evolved. Some bad mana couldn''t still hurt it? It at least had to do the find out for when it was here-not ever.
The sun would get up, but it didn''t have to be here so that wasn''t a problem. And it would be in the shovels space when it was with the sun some time anyway. So. Killing monsters. If it could find them. Or hurt-not from the bad mana. And find enough normal mana to eat and keep going.Yes, this was looking bad-more by every more time.
Without it seeing it was already out of the "hole" and moving to the here-not. The here-not was where the wolves were right? Though, it wondered what the here-not in the other ways of the here was worded. Since the new-not place was only where Ralvath and Argin went from. Which was weird since the bad mana was in every way.
As it moved up and over the big here, it could see many demons moving around. It saw Stix and went down, finding it talking to another demon.
The other demon moved closer to Stix, "Master expects your presence by the next Storm. Well, around there."
"Storm?" "Master?" What?
Stix looked happy-not and moved close to the other demon, making it move away, "Father does know that I have things to do here?"
Master was "father?"
The demon went away again, "Yes. Master knows. And He expects your attendance for your own birthday at least."
What was a "birthday?" WHAT WERE THEY EVEN TALKING ABOUT!
Stix moved away, the demon didn''t. "Tell him it depends. Depends on if the fortress here is built by then or not."
That maked sense. Seemed like a good way to do in its head. The "fortress" sounded important from what the sun said back at that time.
The demon started moving again, but it couldn''t know what the two were talking about and had monster killing to do, moving away again.
From up, the whole here seeed big-not. More-not big-not anyway. But it could see new demons everywhere. One looked like a wolf, but with two down legs. It was with another demon. It looked like a moving bones. Where were all the new demons before?
And what was that thing in the other way? A many rocks-like thing. It was big up and to the sides. There were demons on up of it and more demons putting weird rocks on up each other or on sides and making the big thing more big.
Even more to the other side it could see many weird caves with fires inside. The demons were taking clubs out of them.
It would do more find out from the sun after. Also, after touching the bad mana, it hurt less. Still hurt. But less. That was good. It still hurt. That was bad. It tried eating the bad mana like the other mana but runned away when the pain suddenly became more. So very more. It could still feel the pain. So it would not be eating bad mana anytime near again. Unless it remembered-not.
PAIN! Ok. Time didn''t make different the eating bad mana. Maybe evolution? So killing. Killing was starting to look more and more like the thing when not getting what to do. It had ever-not not did before. This would be different-not.
WOLVES! COME DIE!
...They weren''t coming...
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Pseudo-void Spirit
Level: 1/10
Species: Pseudo-void Fragment (F+)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 50 lems
Status Points: 19
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 50/50
Intelligence
14
Wisdom
12
Chapter 17
It would have to rethink this whole ''hunting'' thing. Why? Well, wolves were...bad. It didn''t like them. What kind of monster didn''t come running towards it so it could eat it? And that was before. Now, it was a evolved. More monsters should be coming to become levels, not not-more. That and it couldn''t feel any wolves around either.
Wolves...were bad. Not killing when it wanted to was also bad. Not as bad. But bad. Its arms were here to kill stuff! To slaughter! Not...move around and make rocks black. More black anyway. The sun already here was, there in the up. It was not there when it became not-here. Well that here. Not this here. This was a different here. Like the new-not tribe place.
Were all the wolves dead? Maybe the wolves that runned at the demons and got killed were just all of the wolves. And now the wolves were not here anymore. Maybe if it went up, then-
WHUMPH
Suddenly everything was everywhere. The up and down became down and up and then up and down and then left and right and more. It wasn''t sure where it was now. Or what had just become done. Except that it was somewhere. Somewhere weird and new. Not-not-new, a place where it would be...not know where to go back to the here.
Whatever the weird sound was, it was ok. Since now there were many things to kill. There was a wolf - oh, it was dead already. There were some bugs - dead-like. T-there was...there was a...bones thing? It was like moving bones but, it had more on it. It was moving, so it could kill it though, right?
Yes, after all. As long as it was moving, then it could kill it. No moving thing had ever not died before. Except the times they hadn''t. That was different though. Very different. Like the sun and moon. Now, to see in the now time what its arms could do to a moving thing.
Grooooan
Ok. So. The sound was annoying. Meaning, this thing should die.
Not-fast, very not-fast, it could see its arms slowly moving towards the the thing. Not-fast it moved all the arms at its head part, because the sounds in a moving thing usually came from there and it didn''t like the sound this thing was making. It would become not-sound. One way or another.
The black-becoming was not-fast. It could see the things head become black very, very not-fast. At first, only the places it had arms became black and more black. Then even other places on its head near the arms became black. The thing was still moving though. And groaning. What even was that sound. Like making all monsters know it was there. Dumb. Very dumb. It saw a small thing inside the sound-hole and when that became black the sound became not.
It started to move its arms away when it seeed two things. First, its level did not become more. That was not very weird. It happened before too, when it killed but didn''t have a more level. Second, the thing was still moving. It would not say that it was very knowing about what dead was like, but it was pretty sure that dead things didn''t move. And this thing was still moving. The first was weird too, really. The bugs were big-not and did not always make levels. But wolves were big and usually getted it levels. Then, this thing was big and new, and it didn''t give levels? And it was a fragment. Fragment was before, and that became level more with more easy.
All of the things made it pretty sure that even though the thing''s head was black now, it was not dead. So, how did this thing die? It wasn''t sure what to do at this point, and it could feel its own mana becoming not when it did the become black thing. Should it keep making black and try to kill it? Or run away? Though, it could also just eat it. Like it did with most things. It was just...not killing it after so much time and its first attack with its new arms...
Ok. It would kill it. If the head wasn''t enough, then making black the rest of it would be. First, the legs. Without legs it wouldn''t move and be more easy to kill.
Intelligence +1
Ok. So itwas a good thing to do? Good a reason as any, really. First it would have to move down andblack its leg. Which so far was going - why was it becoming not-more? The moving made black things come from the leg and go away. Why did its head notdo the same? Weird. Annoying weird. Well. Something was more than not something?
As time happened, the leg became more and more not-more, until it maked asnap. Then the thing dropped and with athud the leg and head became weird black big-not-not things everywhere. When the things were gone it could see the head-bone part still there. And the thing still moving. Was this why?
Seeing this thing it could remember moving bones becoming dead when the head part became not one. Maybe the black just didn''t do the black to this head-bone and that was why it didn''t die? It looked like a moving bones from here too.
Wisdom +1
Ok. That? That was help. That was good. It actually maked it know it was was-not good. Now. This could probably take time. But itcould kill it.
So it waited, with its arms on the thing''s head-bone. It moved around, probably trying to become up again, but dropping when the leg was not there. The head-bone was actually faster to become black than it thought and so soon enough it was black. When the thing dropped down again, the head-bone became the big-not-not things and some big-not mores of it stayed in big-not groups.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Level Up +3
A thing went up out of it, but feeling the mana, it moved its arms to get it. And moved it back to it, eating it.Trying anyway. The thing went in and out again, going back up. It could use its arms to get it, but not eat it. Were the arms different from the rest of it? Whatever. The thing got not-faster every time and finally it stayed inside.
Max Mana +4
Soul Eaten. Prepare.
What? What was a-
Hurt. Hurt, hurt, and more hurt. That was what a "prepare" was. Next time it was sounded to be prepare, it would be ready for hurt.
After the first hurt, the hurt...did not become more-not. Itdid become more-not after a time, but not fast. It was not-fast and hurt. Something it would do again though.
Soul Assimilated
It was not knowingwhat that did. But it made the thing appear, and even was the usual color. Usual color things were usual good. So, this was good. That, and max mana was good. It hurt, but after the hurts it had so many times, this wasn''tthat bad.
If it ever had to fight the things that made it shattered again, it would have to hurt again too. Eating bad maked it hurt. Getting hit sometimes hurt. Not eating hurt. Friends becoming dead was hurt. Most things hurt. The world was a place where it got hurt. But, it felt more-not to be still thinking the now-times getting the bad than the before getting bad.
Hurt was everywhere, and getting more hurt maked it more-not hurt. This was hurt too, but it was max mana more. This wasgoodhurt. As weird as that was. Then, more hurt would be good. So that bad hurt would hurt more-not too.
Those other things it could see coming towards it? They would become die. And it would eat their "souls." All four souls.
It would be a long time, but it could and so it would. That and it was fun. The thing dropping, getting up and dropping again was fun. Wouldn''t the other things be just as fun? And what if their arms or both legs or both arms or one leg and one arm or body things were became black? What would the things do? It had ever-not thought killing was so fun.
So. Killing was fun. Yes.
Making the things be fun was also fun. Yes.
Long time happening was also ok.
Level uping? That was good too. All three of them.
Max mana moring? Also good. "16" mana was like more than four, right? So that was good. But.
Remembering-not that it had to go back? That was bad.
Remembering-nothow to go back? Also bad.
So it was, that in the now-time, the things were all becomed dead. More hurt and many souls, and head-bones becomed more. It had be fun. Until the things were no more and the things to do were also no more. Then it remembered that it should go back when it thought of something fun to do. The sun wasn''talways fun, but sometimes was and most of the new things were there while following the sun. Also the new-not here place was new. The two-leg wolves and fires inside caves were still there to be knowed.
Which could not happen if it was not in the place. Which could not happen if it was not knowinghow to go back and thewhumpthing making it very not-here. Which was why it was thinking all of these things now.
When not knowing what to do, doing whatever usual was good. Thatwas how it maked it to here. Or even killed the weird thing that shattered it in the new-not time. It didn''tknow what to do, it just did and it was good. Then, this time would be the same. And the sun would come looking for it. Some time. Probably. Hewas useless without it, so of course he would.
The up was no. That was not-new. Down was not happening. No holes or down caves here. The sides were...well, the things it killed came fromthat way. So maybe it could find and kill more of them while it waited?
Also thatwhump was happening again. More more-not-not-not, but it could feel it. And now that it wasn''t going everywhere it could know thewhump wasthat way. The way where many moving not-bones-but-bones were coming from. The wayfood was coming from. More souls was always good.
Now, this time there were three of the things and one moving bones (usual things were good, less weird). Too bad for these things they didn''t know how good it was now. The things dropped when the legs became attacked. But, when it happened to black-make a place on the leg, near the place where a leg becomes two, the thing just dropped. It didn''t have to black-make the leg. Just the place on the leg, and it would dropped.
Wisdom +1
This was good. More stats was good. So, with that knowing it dropped the one thing andthen tried to black-make the head. Not just like before though. Sometimes the things had more-not thing on top of the head-bone and it could go to the head-bone instead of also the thing on top. Like this thing, near the back of its head, there was a place like that. First, move the arms into the place, move around the arms, and let the place become not there. Then, move more arms in and black-make the head-bone from the inside. The arms were long enough. Sure enough the thing wentup, anddown.
The next thing was weird, it had a thing on it. Not like the ones before. Though it had that too. It was different. Like what some clubs were like but not in its hands to hit things with. It was also not black-making thing. When it tried, the mana became very not there. So it had to just not black-make the weird thing. Not too easy-not. Except the thing was looking at it.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Pseudo-void Spirit
Level: 7/10
Species: Pseudo-void Fragment (F+)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 76 lems
Status Points: 25
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 63/76
Intelligence
15
Wisdom
14
Chapter 18
Now there were many things it didn''t know. Like how to eat colors. It saw other things eating foods of different colors. It did not know the words for all the colors, but it could see them and that annoyed it. Mana was only two things. Bad or good. There weren''t colors. Sure after becoming the now-thing it could see one mana some different from what it had before, but that was it.
It did not feel as if it was doing anything different and there was the problem. The demons and even monsters probably ate more different foods than it did. It just had two manas, and the bad one was not-eat. So really just one.
That was still ok. It had getted these things and become ok with them. Then this happened.
The thing with the other things was not just different in what it had on it, but also, it could see a different color mana going into its mouth...thing. Was it still a mouth if it was just bone? It wasn''t too sure, but that wasn''t the problem.
How come that thing getted different mana and all it had was one mana? It could see the thing had the one mana it had, but was also making the other mana! That was two! Two! One more than one! That was not ok!
If anything should get more manas it should be it, not a stupid bones! Bones! Not even demons! BONES! It was-it was, well, it didn''t know how to word-out this feeling, this-this dislike, but it was not ok. There were only two ways it could see to fix this. Get more mana and kill the thing. OR, kill the thing and get more mana. It was a easy-not thing to do one only, but it couldn''t do both...right? Right. Probably. For now. One day...
No, right now what was to do was killing this thing. Which was easy-not because the thing on it was very mana-more to black-make. Which would be easy still, but the thing was on its legs and a lot of the head. That maked the head do-able, but it felt like that would be bad. Why? Because the thing was seeing at. It wasn''t sure how, except it was, and really, if the sun and Ralvath and more could see it, why couldn''t some bones? They were all moving things. Even the bug could do it. All of that still wouldn''t be a problem but the thing was actually trying to hit it with the club. That was also where the new mana was and why it knew this was bad.
The new mana could hurt it. Not hurt-hurt, but the club could hit it because of the mana. Not a good way to find out but better than finding out by actually getting hit. As it was, it only hurt a big-not when the arm was maked not on it.
All in all, a bad place. It also needed to eat and the mana from the thing could food it, but not hurt the thing. It was too big-not of a mana take. Though, it could feel the bones would become no more mana before it, that would mean time. Time it would not let a dumb bones that was for sure doing something to annoy it have.
No, wait. There was a way. What if it maked itself big-not enough to gointo the bones? There was places to do that. The eyes, and from down the on-thing-thing go up. All it had to do was become big-not and not get hit. A very easy thing. Since it was the killing of things.
Wisdom +1
True, it ever-not before becomed this big-not or moved that fast before, but that was then and this was now. The normal couldn''t make it not happen. Yes, first, do the in-become and then move faster.
In-become. In-become. In-become. In-become. In-becom- oh it was getting not ok feeling. But it was still too big. In-become. In-become. In-become. IIIIIIIIINNNNNN-BEEEECCCCCOOOOOMMMMMEEEEEE!
IIIIIIIIINNNNNN-BEEEECCCCCOOOOOMMMMMEEEE-ok, this was good.
Good. Very good. Hehehehehehehehehe. Yes, yessssss, now, the stupid bones would die! DIE AND HURT! HURT FOR DOING BAD TO IT! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE. Yes, even its good-things-happen sound was becoming gooder.
Now. Now it just had to go into the eye. Ready. Good. Gooder...good! GOOD! NOW!
It felt the club go just near it, passing by the side and going down as it went towards one of the thing''s eye holes and with after a big-not feel-not-forwards-anymore it was in. Now then. It looked at the soul in the head. Time to eat.
The stupid soul didn''t even move and it very easy maked it go inside. Here, it finded, the soul didn''t try to move and go running. Instead, here, the soul stayed still and it could eat it very more easy. Even the mana in the thing, it could make come up into the head and eat. A good eat.
Soon, the same thing happened as before.
Soul Assimilated
Max Mana +10
Level Up x 3This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Good.
Max Level Achieved
Evolve? Y/N
Also good. Good things happened when it killed things. EVOLVE! But. Before, the sun maked it know what to evolve? And itwas looking good so far? Then again, it had also evolved before and that wasn''t so bad. Right. The other evolutions were good too probably, so now too, it just had to do it whatever.
''Yes.''
Possible Evolution(s):
Pseudo-void Wisp (E)
Not particularly strong, however these spiritsfollow the traditional evolutionary path of a spirit.
Pseudo-void Greater Wisp (E+)
It is still just a wisp, usually having somehow amassed more mana than should be possible for it under normal conditions. Naturally greater mana and pseudo-void affinity.
Lesser Pseudo-void Many-Armed Burrower (D-)
A spirit with many arms that specializes in corroding enemies from the inside, with each arm concentrating the natural corrosion to cause greater damage and a small size to get into enemies through small openings.
Pseudo-void Shadow Creeper(E-)
A low threat-rating in exchange for a higher latent potential. The shadow creepers do not have the ability to submerge themselves in shadows as their names may suggest, but they possess a natural tendency to hide in darker places and attack unsuspecting prey. They go straight for the vitals and if allowed to grow, can become highly dangerous.
Pseudo-void Soul Nipper (E-)
These are a special branch of spirits that have gotten a taste for souls. They do not typically inflict large amounts of damage on a soul, however can easily eat an undefended soul, especially if given the time to wear it down.
Pseudo-void Soul Nipping Helm Spirit(E)
For some inexplicable reason, these are soul nippers who mainpulate their shape to look as if they wear a helmet. While it has no effect to those spirits just doing it for fun, those who are of this species can infuse and compact mana to the ''helmet'' to let it function much like an actual helmet. Though why a spirit would evenhave a helmet is questionable.
Well. Wisp was no. It did that already.
A "greater" wisp? Also no. The sun had maked it know that it was a bad one, because it was useless.
The arms one though, well it liked arms. It also liked eating from inside. That maked everything so more easy. In fact, it was thinking of doing this for other things too now. It was also more easy to eat the soul that way.
"Shadow creeper" was no. What even was a shadow? And "hide?" It didn''t need to hide! It killed things easy anyway it did! This thing? It went from the there to here! Moving away from the club! It didn''t even need to hide! Also, it didn''t know what a vital was. If it was something useless like the hands, then it would be bad right?
Soul "nipper?" It liked eating souls. This-this was a good one.
The last one...seemed kinda stupi-helmet!? HELMET!? HELMET! HELMETHELMETHELMETHELMET! YES! THIS ONE! NOW! NO WAITING! HELMETS! HEL-
Ok. So. It wasn''t sure how much time happened. It wasn''t sure what the sun was doing. But. BUT!
HELMETHELMETHELMETHELMETHELMETHELMETHELMETHELMET!
Yes. Everything was good. Happy even. Because now? Now it had a helmet. Not even the Chieftain''s helmet,it''s helmet. One that would be the gooder killing thing ever. Right. Now. If only it could see. It could feel the helmet and know what it looked like, but it wasn''t the same. The same as actually seeing it. Like the way it seeed the things. It couldn''t just tell that. It just seeed it.
Like right now. There were many, many, many of the bones here. As far as it could see, there were bones. And things too. But they were away. Where it was, there were bones more. Also, it was good. Good that it had not become killed while not seeing. Because now that it thinked. That was very happenable. Maybe more thinking next time. Just a more-some.
Still. It was evolved. Evolved and in a many bones. Bones that were souls. There was only one thing to do in this place. Kill and eat. Kill the bones and eat the souls and mana too. Oh, and level up.
As it went up, there was atick and it couldn''t go up. Looking it seeed that its helmet getted hit. How? When the thing was moving the mana maked it not go throughable but now it should be able to? And the eyes were also looking up with the way the thing dropped, going out should have becomed easy? No.
No, it wasn''t. It couldn''t be. Was it helmet. Actually able to hit things!? That would be very good. But it could feel a lot less mana. The mana use was big for hitting with the helmet. For now, it would make the mana in the helmet more-not so it could go through and out.
As soon as it was out, it went to the next thing and into the eye, eating the soul. Something it finded went even faster and more easy now. Weird. Was it the soul nibbler thing? Was that why? If the down of evolutions things were actually useful, then it would have to be more look at it next time too. This soul nibblering was useful after all, and souls were also good. And it was big-not. Like an eye-size. This was good.
With the big-not size it could easy go into the heads of bones and with the soul nibbler it could eat the souls faster. This maked killing very fast, and the bones were killed in what it feeled was maybe same as killing some more bones and it would be the same time as killing a thing? Actually, maybe that was because it maked them dropped and fun before.
Actually. Why wasn''t it doing that now? Just because it could kill faster didn''t mean ithad to? Funwas fun after all. This bones everywhere? It would make them into a bone-color ground. All of them. If doable, all black too. To look good.
Since it was starting to like this black color. And the look of dead bodies everywhere. Very good feeling.
Spoiler: Status
Unnamed Pseudo-void Spirit
Level: 1/10
Species: Pseudo-voidSoul Nipping Helm Spirit (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 28 lems
Status Points: 28
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 77/79
Intelligence
16
Wisdom
16
Chapter 19
There were many things it had seeed in its time. Many. Mostly dead or not-moving things. But this? This was the most goodest.
The bones were everywhere. It was only three before. But. When it ate them, they were near each other and dropped, becoming all over the ground and making it level up. The near-bones also dropped, and they were not dead, but they were dropped. Then, more bones comed and dropped. Their legs hit the other bones that were moving their arms and legs everywhere and dropped. Maybe they would have become up fast if it wasn''t here, but it black-maked the legs of any bones who actually almost becomed up.
Now, it was not sure how many bones there were on the ground, except that they were all very fun moving their arms and legs to try and become up. Which wasn''t working at all, because some of their arms and legs were weird and with other arms and legs and maked it easy-not for those arms and legs to move. In other words, without any happen-maybe of them becoming up, they were still trying. Which was fun. Fun to see them not-work.
It could kill them very easy from here. But it was more fun to see this. And it did kill them. Every time and time. So far it had leveled up two times again. There was a problem. The max mana was not as much more from eating souls. Sometimes the souls only getted two or three max mana. Even one. Then again, the bugs were many before the max mana was more, so this was fine. It just had to eat more souls, right? Not a problem. The bones were many.
"...el...th...h...?"
What was that? The sun maybe sounded? That was annoying. It had many bones to kill. So. It could not have fun more. Now it had to kill more fast and move fast. There were too many bones that needed it to kill them and eat their souls. After all, for the happy of its new fun-things, it would have to kill them and let them become eating by it. Even if they could sound, they would be happy right? To be useful to it as uselesses. As fun and food. Both words even sounded almost same!
Right. First this one.
Then this one.
The this one.
Then this. This. This. This. This. This.
Souls Assimilated x 27
Max Mana + 71
Level Up x 8
Max Level Reached.
Evolve? Y/N
Yes. Good.
It looked again at the many bones it had maked dead, all over the ground. The bones on the sides were moving away while it had fun, so this big-not group''s bodies were not over the whole ground. But it still looked good. It would keep this thing remembered so that it could try to do the same thing with enemies in the after-now.
Now, though.
"I...kn.w...t..at...y....ca..n....hear....m....so...wa....th..r..."
No. Very no. It had many bones to kill. Which it could come back to this place after going back with the sun to do, but it didn''t...didn''t feel good about it. It felt like killing right now. And there was no reason not to, since the sun was also not about to die and it had many time to do things with.
Like moving away from the sun, so it couldn''t sound him and to kill more things after evolving.
"T.e....ne....m....cer.......da...e...us!"
NAHNAHNAHNAH
CAN''T SOUND YOU!
"...n....us.....''y....!?"
There were many things to do and not enough time to do them. First, it would become very away, evolve, then kill more, and evolve again maybe, then find the sun. Probably. If there were no more bones to kill.
First, to the way of the sometimes whump! Since that was where many bones were coming from.
Yes, this was the way. For sure. Because no other reason to have so many bones.
If it moved more, would it find not-more-ever-not bones to kill? To evolve for ever-and-ever? Now that it was probably away enough, it would evolve.
''Evolve.''
Possible Evolution(s):
Pseudo-void Helmeted Lesser Soul Biter (D)
Not too strong, however these spirits follow the traditional evolutionary path of a spirit. And wear a helmet. Safety first? Also eat souls. Better than soul nibblers.
Pseudo-void Helmeted Shadow Crawling Soul Biter (D+)
The evolved version of a shadow creeper who has also chosen to wear a helmet. This evolution is far more terrifying than a creeper, possessing sharpened appendages on a small body to rip things with. There is no fixed shape or number of limbs to identify them by except that they will overall have no more volume than an adult cat. With pointy leg-things all over it. They possess the power to merge somewhat with shadows making them hard to detect and they can often proliferate undetected in a town until they start killing. Then everyone dies in their sleep. Prey is often left with small holes in their body as these creatures try to dig out the soul.
Lesser Pseudo-void Helmeted Sickle-Armed Soul Bewitcher (D)
A spirit with many sicke-like arms that rip and tear apart prey that is attracted near by their soothing aura. They are invisible to the naked eyes of most beings, but will instead, undetected by the individual, lure them towards themselves and then make quick work of unsuspecting prey. Naturally vitimized prey will have their souls deprived and devoured. Also wear a helmet for style.
Pseudo-void Shuddering Helmeted Shadow Soul Bewitcher(D)Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
These spirits make themselves into self-contained zones that can put prey to sleep and then pull them into an illusion. Prey are slowly drained of their vitality and soul, withering away and disappearing unnoticed in the spirit''s personal hunting grounds. Further evolutions will have larger and more realistic zones with higher draining speed. Can add rules to own zones. However, at this stage, the zones are unstable and usually only made when attacking prey rather than constantly active.
Pseudo-void Living Armor Soul Biter (D)
These are a special branch of spirits that have gotten a taste for souls and hunt actively. To that end, they wear a solid set of armor that can be strengthened by adding mana as well as regenerated. They can get more and more elaborate as they grow stronger and often exert a gravitational pressure in their surroundings when fighting, as well as a spiritual pressure that pulls nearby souls towards themselves, fueling the war machine that is a living armor.
Pseudo-void Soul Stealing Helmeted Ripper(D-)
These are spirits who take a different approach to eating souls. Rather than fighting head-on, these spirits act more like their shadow cousins and adopt an assasin''s approach. Creeping up undetected on prey and pulling the soul out of their bodies to be eaten at their leisure. They usually possess sickle-like or pointed appendages to impale a soul on and pull it out with, as well as holding it on the appendage to be comfortably nibbled and chewed on. They develop a pseudo-mouth that can solidify somewhat to bite with. Souls they like can be kept as chew toys.
Well. All of those sounded pretty good, the first one was too not-many words. Since they all had helmets. Except that "living armor" thing. Why was that? Or was armor another word for helmet?
Still. This...maybe wasn''t the good thing to do.
Running away from the sun. At least, he could have said about the evolutions...
Right. Then, see what was more that way and go back to think with the sun?
It had really, really, felt like just evolving and evolving before, but all this thinking maked the feeling go away. Now it was thinking right. Now that it thought about it, it had said it would be back. It maybe had becomed away for more time than it thought?
And, maybe, just maybe, it should have at least a big-not sounded what the sun was talking before making a what to do?
Right. For next time. Now, it had to go and see what all this was about.
So, that way?
Now having thought on what to do it felt more happy, and moved towards the whump.
It could feel the whump more the more it moved nearer to it, was it getting near?
More and more bones were here, but so were new and different things.
It seeed a very,very, big moving inside-of-wolves-looking mountain. There were even more than one of those, and around them it could see many, many, bones and things. There were even bone-wolves and bone-bears!
It could see a very big, weird looking cave, and the whump comed from in it. One side of the big cave was open, and things were going in to fight the weird-looking things fighting the...human! It was a human! It was kind of bone-like and making more of a fight than the other humans who killed the chieftain, but it was a human! Or close enough. So were the things fighting it. They were like humans. Somewhat. Well, the weird color of them was very different and well, demons were kind of human-like too, but they weren''t humans so it would be rude to think they were. The bones thing was human for sure though. Probably.
Actually. Maybe not? It wasn''t entirely sure what was going on, but - why was that human-thing moving its hand towards it?
"HAHAHA EVEN THE GODS SEEK TO HELP ME! Bind to my will, spirit of darkness-!" Something black went out of the human-thing (maybe?)''s hand and into it before it could move.
WHAT!? WHAT WAS THIS BAD BAD FEELING? NO! GO AWAY!
"...ld....on!"
GO AWAY GO AWAY GO AWAY! KILL! KILL! KILL THAT HUMAN THING! KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL-
"Give me your mana! And gather more for me!"
What? NO! EVER-NOT! DIE! GO AW-WHY WAS IT DOING WHAT IT SAID!
"Uehehehehehehehe, die!
Unnamed Pseudo-void Spirit
Level: 10/10
Species: Pseudo-void Soul Nipping Helm Spirit (E)
Affinities: Darkness, Death, Pseudo-void
Age: 663 years
Titles:
Size: 56 lems
Status Points: 37
Health Points (HP): NA
Mana Points (MP): 103/159
Intelligence
16
Wisdom
16
Chapter 20
Crack
That was the sound a big cave side maked when it became black-maked and dropped. It had been a time. The body of the thing had already been black-maked. After that it had moved to the sides, and this was only the first side. Of this place. The cave was a lot bigger than this, and it would be a while before it became dropped. But this was still something. Time, at least, didn''t feel like something it had to worry about. Not here where there was still much mana.
No, this was something it had to do. It didn''t know what this feeling was, what this strong feeling to hurt really was, the word for it, but it knowed that it had to do something about it.
The one who did it was dead already, so there was nothing to do but this. That was all. Levels? Max Mana? That was not important right now. It would definitely go back an evolution to kill the thing again. Many, many, many times. Then, then it would feel ok. Maybe.
First, it would go ground up, it was going good so far. The sound had been from a thing on the side dropping when the side behind it became not there. After this whole big-not cave-inside-cave was happen, the other places would be next. And if it didn''t feel ok after that? Then, the other things like the bones. Most of the things were already dead. They dropped when the thing died. But there were also many still moving. It was too bad this place couldn''t just become not here all at now.
This would be as good a reason as any to become strong. To come back and make this place not here. With enough mana, it would be possible. Right, one part at a time.
Thud
Everything in here.
Crash
It would make become not here. It would become not here ever-more.
Crunch
A thing from the side dropped on a thing from outside, making it become dead. All those souls outside, would make it stronger...right? More mana was good. More mana meant more killing. More killing was the same as more not thereing.
Was there something to make this not here faster? Gooder?
"HEY! IDIOT!"
The other things like that one would be after this too. All of them.
"HEY! WE WASTED LIKE A MONTH ON THIS!"
Then, then it would have to...well, it wasn''t sure what - oh right, finding that thing''s soul. That too. Other than that-
"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN!? YOU HAVE BEEN GONE FOR A MONTH! A MONTH!"
WHAT!? WHO IS SO SOUNDING! WHILE IT WAS THINKING! SHUT UP!
"YOU SHUT UP! YOU SAID YOU''D BE BACK SOON! THIS IS NOT SOON! AND ON TOP OF THAT YOU WERE FAR AWAY AND ARE NOW IN THE MIDDLE OF HOSTILE TERRITORY!"
SO!? HOW WAS IT SUPPOSED TO KNOW SO MUCH TIME HAPPENED! FAR WAS WHATEVER! WHAT WAS "HOSTILE!"
"No. Just no. I''m not getting into that. Looks like whoever else was here did a number on the castle. Don''t know what you''re trying to do."
Weird humans. They killed the other thing in here. It did a bad thing so it killed this..."castle." Next was the thing''s other things like the bones and then its soul.
"Sure. Ok. Now. How''s about you come over to me."
Why?
"Because the castle is structurally unsound right now and there''s an army of undead around it. I''m not suicidal."
No. It had things to do.
"Well, it couldn''t have been that-"
YESYESITWASANDITWANTEDTOKILLANDKILLANDKILLANDMOREBUTTHETHINGWASDEAD!
"Ok. Ok. Huh? What? Ok. Yeah. Hey, you do whatever you want, ''kay? How about you come over when you''re done with the castle. We can help with the undead~"
NO! KILL!
"Sure, sure. But they scattered all over the place when the necromancer died. Or do you want to let some of them escape?"
EVER-NOT!
"See? Just come back to the camp, that place with the uh, weird clubs."
Just because it was "listening" didn''t mean it was listening. Itwould kill, but the whole no "escape" thing sounded nice. Which way was the "camp?"
"Oh no. You wouldn''t know. What a serious problem! Maybe you could get the undead before the castle? Just saying."
It said it would do the castle first so it would. No change. BUT! The suncould tell it about evolution.
"Wait, already? No, I suppose you are a spirit...ok, sure. What d''ya got."
All have helmets. One is "shadow crawler." One is soul "bewitcher" with arms. One is soul bewitcher with big. One is Living Armor. And one is soul "stealing," with arms.
"That...doesn''t tell me much. But you want to break the castle right? Go with the soul bewitcher that''s big or the armor. The big bewitcher to spread that black stuff faster or armor to just punch the stuff. Actually, yeah, go with big bewitcher. I doubt you can punch apart a castle that early on. That black stuff is your best bet."
FOR THE CASTLE!
"I don''t think it counts as for it if you''re trying to break it..."
''Evolve.''
Possible Evolution(s):
Pseudo-void Helmeted Lesser Soul Biter (D)If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Not too strong, however these spirits follow the traditional evolutionary path of a spirit. And wear a helmet. Safety first? Also eat souls. Better than soul nibblers.
Pseudo-void Helmeted Shadow Crawling Soul Biter (D+)
The evolved version of a shadow creeper who has also chosen to wear a helmet. This evolution is far more terrifying than a creeper, possessing sharpened appendages on a small body to rip things with. There is no fixed shape or number of limbs to identify them by except that they will overall have no more volume than an adult cat. With pointy leg-things all over it. They possess the power to merge somewhat with shadows making them hard to detect and they can often proliferate undetected in a town until they start killing. Then everyone dies in their sleep. Prey is often left with small holes in their body as these creatures try to dig out the soul.
Lesser Pseudo-void Helmeted Sickle-Armed Soul Bewitcher (D)
A spirit with many sicke-like arms that rip and tear apart prey that is attracted near by their soothing aura. They are invisible to the naked eyes of most beings, but will instead, undetected by the individual, lure them towards themselves and then make quick work of unsuspecting prey. Naturally vitimized prey will have their souls deprived and devoured. Also wear a helmet for style.
Pseudo-void Shuddering Helmeted Shadow Soul Bewitcher(D)
These spirits make themselves into self-contained zones that can put prey to sleep and then pull them into an illusion. Prey are slowly drained of their vitality and soul, withering away and disappearing unnoticed in the spirit''s personal hunting grounds. Further evolutions will have larger and more realistic zones with higher draining speed. Can add rules to own zones. However, at this stage, the zones are unstable and usually only made when attacking prey rather than constantly active.
Pseudo-void Living Armor Soul Biter (D)
These are a special branch of spirits that have gotten a taste for souls and hunt actively. To that end, they wear a solid set of armor that can be strengthened by adding mana as well as regenerated. They can get more and more elaborate as they grow stronger and often exert a gravitational pressure in their surroundings when fighting, as well as a spiritual pressure that pulls nearby souls towards themselves, fueling the war machine that is a living armor.
Pseudo-void Soul Stealing Helmeted Ripper(D-)
These are spirits who take a different approach to eating souls. Rather than fighting head-on, these spirits act more like their shadow cousins and adopt an assasin''s approach. Creeping up undetected on prey and pulling the soul out of their bodies to be eaten at their leisure. They usually possess sickle-like or pointed appendages to impale a soul on and pull it out with, as well as holding it on the appendage to be comfortably nibbled and chewed on. They develop a pseudo-mouth that can solidify somewhat to bite with. Souls they like can be kept as chew toys.
Pseudo-void Shuddering Helmeted Shadow Soul Bewitcher.
"...this should be fine? Don''t wake it up. Angry spirits are even more unstable than happy ones."
What? Who was talking? What was this? Sounded like Ralvath.
"I thought we weren''t going in here? You just-"
Sun?
"Shhh! Thwack. It''s up."
"Oh. Hi. What''s up. The undead moved and we just happened to come in here to check on you. We''ll be going now, don''t mind us! Bye!" The sun fastly moved towards the out, but was stilled when Ralvath put his hand on his head. He looked at it, and talked more.
"Hold up. Hey, friend, heard you went missing. Yourfriend here, came by and told me because he wasvery worried. I wasalso worried so we came to find you. And uh,everyone was worried so they''refriends too, ok?"
That sounded good. Right it would talk more after it was done here. And say things. So bye.
"YES! BYE," the sun said loudly, hitting Ralvath with his arm after, "Right, Ralvath old buddy, old friend, old pal?"
Ralvath picked up the sun and throwed him out, then moved his hand to his body, hitting it not-strongly, "See yousoon, rightfriend?"
Sure. Castle "breaking" first.
When, Ralvath didn''t say anything else it moved to the side and started black-making it. Ralvath also started moving when it did, going out.
Tap tap tap tap.Ralvath was not-here.
The first thing it finded, was that castle breaking now was a lot more easy. It could be from its evolution but something felt wrong. Regardless, the castle dropped in parts, then more parts. Sometimes, a little bit would make may parts drop. Which was weird, but it did help. The sides becomed much easyer to break when they were in less big parts.
Intelligence +1
Was it the mana in them? The mana in the sides it had seeed from the start, but now that it looked at the many parts, the mana moved differently in the parts that were not sides than the sides, and even more different the less big they were.
What did that do? What did that mean? It could make breaking the castle faster and easyer, so why wouldn''t it? This was a good way.
First, would be trying to move the mana in the sides. It had just black-maked it before, and eated the mana as it black-maked the side. But now it tried to move the mana in the wall, without black-making it. The mana was very annoying. It didn''t move they way it wanted it to. Which was...weird. That didn''t usually happen. Maybe if it...looked at less mana than it could do?
After evolving it was bigger, very bigger, and finded that the whole of it could become very big and eat a lot of side at the same time. But, that was easy-not too. More mana was more thinking. This hurt its head.
Intelligence +1
Becoming not-bigger again was also easy-not. Much more so than it was before it evolved. It was...hurting.
Intelligence +1
Hurting in a way different than what the human thing did to it, different from the bad mana, and different from feeling hungry. Different even from when it first tried becoming not-big too, it hurt more than that time. Like it was easy-notter.
Intelligence +1
Mental Strain: Low
But. It could still do it. For this way to break the castle easyer. Even bad mana hurt would be ok. Actually, even the human thing giving hurt would be ok as long as it was just the hurt and it was doing it itself, not any other thing doing that to it. Because, to break the castle, and hurt that human thing back...even in a big-not way...this was very ok. Very good even.
Where else would it get a deal like this?
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Mental Strain: Low -> Medium
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Mental Strain: Medium -> High
Oh, that...really didn''t feel good. Like its head was going to break and drop like the sides...but. It was almost there. Just a big-not more-!
Chapter 21
.........wheeeerreeee waaaasss iiiittt? Wwwass iitt nneeeaar thhhee caasstttlllee...? Eeeevveeerryyyyttthhhhhiiiinnnngggg. HHhHhhhuUUuRrttTT! BBUUUTTT! TTHHHHEEEE CAAAAAAASSSTTTTLLLLEEEEEE-!
Wheeerreee. Nnooowww...? Lleeessss hhhuuurrrtt...? CAAAASSSSTTTTLLLEEEEEE! CAAASSSTTTTLLLEEEE MMMUUUUUSSSSTTT DDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE-!
Ok. Iiit wouuld waaait. SSooooon....
That felt...fine. Yes. It was fine now. And still in the castle. It was more breaked than before everything happened so it could think maybe in those think-not-think times itdid do something, so that was good. But for now, it had to become not-bigger. Even if it happened like before...it would just have to wait again. But the castle would become easier to break. That was all that it needed right now.
At first, it didn''t see much different from before, but it could feel that becoming not-bigger until a certain point was a lot easyer. Until it went to a size that maked it hurt before...but it was ok...more ok, still easy-not, but at least for a less time it could still in a big-not size.
Right now, it had to do many things, first of them was seeing if what it thinked was good or not. If it was...well, then this castle should become ready to die. And break. Break until it can''t break more.
Yes, not-fastly, move the mana in the part, different from the side, make it...different. Anyway was fine...and it...worked?
As soon as it moved the mana, the moving mana in the side, became stronger and hit the part where it was on the side and maked the mana move like before again. Which hurt.
Mental Strain: Low
Well.Thatwasn''t good. Probably. It wasn''t even more intelligence...well, what if it black-maked the part on the sidebefore the side maked it like before? Would that work?
No way to find out but to try, right? Not-fastly. Very, very not-stupidly...almost...NOW! BECOME BLACK-MAKED!
Almost as it black-maked it, the mana came, but it maked the part break. The black-make became more as the side mana went into it and the part of the side it black-maked maked apuff sound and went everywhere in very, very,very, not-big parts.
Well then.That was good. For sure. It wasn''t even easy-not now...well, what if it did the same thing on bigger parts of the side? It didn''t even have to black-make as much, because after black-making, the mana from the side breaked the black-maked part itself.
Which was only normal.It was the mana-eater. Not some stupid castle. As if a castle could fight it with mana. Heh. Stupid castle.
Now, become a bigger and then try again.
Not-fastly, just like before, this would work. Ithad to, because it was the most good at this now. It was one thing when it didn''t know, but now that it knowed, wouldn''tit be the stupid and useless one if itstill couldn''t do this? No way. Ever-not.
Even if it hurt, even if it took a lot of time...it would do this, and ever-not feelthat ever again. If itdid, that would be that it was useless and should die. No other reason would be. Ever-not.
So, this part was just the way to become the goodest, that no one ever was. To win them was its try, and to kill them was its want. All the parts, then the sides, then the other places in the castle, then the castle. An easy plan. Even a stupid could think of it.
Then. Why was this part not...breaking? Or moving even? The mana was too much to move for it. But. Couldn''t it become not-bigger to make more mana moving easyer? It could, right? It didn''t have to be big enough to be on the whole part, just enough to touch the sides of the part that were next to the rest of the side. What if it maked its body, like its arms? Long and not-big? Then around like a mountain on the part, but the inside would be empty?
Yes, this could work. Just a moving the body. It was...easy-not. The head was hurting. It hurt more when it became arms.
Intelligence +1
Mental Strain: Low -> Medium
And it hurt even more when it became a empty mountain.
Mental Strain: Medium -> High
But it did it. And it wasn''t at the bad "mental strain" yet. So, it could keep going. The head was hurting it, very much, but that was it. The actual doing wasn''t too much easy-notter.
Now. It wasn''t sure if trying to move mana like this would make the bad mental strain happen, but the big hit with mana if it didn''t work definitely would make the bad mental strain happen.
But so what? It was just hurt. Not like thebad bad feeling from then. And it would just have to wait before continuing the trying. Like before. After that, didn''t the thing work? It finded a way to break parts easyer. So this was fine. A not-big hurt for this? Not a problem.
Yes, just move - and oh. That hit...should have happened so fast? It didn''t even have time to-
Mental Strain: High -> Crippling
CCCAAAAAASSSTTTTTLLLLLEEEEEEE-!If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
CCCCAAAAAAAASSSSTTTTTLLLEEEEEEE-!
CCCCAAAAAAAASSSSTTTTTLLLEEEEEEE-!
Ok. Now. Just try to move the mana. This time, it could try with more, since this time its mental strain was starting lesser. Yes. This would work. This time...again!? Really?
Mental Strain: High -> Crippling
HHHAAAAAATTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
TTTHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
CCCAAAASSSTTTTLLLEEEEE!
Ok. So. Maybe the castle big parts were...stronger than it thought. By a not-big amount. Just a not-big-part. No problem. That just...it just had to try more. That was all. There was no-things wrong with the way it was trying, this was normal. The problem was that making itself look like that was...easy-not. It maked its head hurt. But when its head hurt, its intelligence was more! So, it could see this as a good thing. Hurt was also the same as stronger! What didn''t kill it would only make it stronger. Yes. No fear, no fear at all.
Just, not-fastly...very not-easy-not move the arm thing onto the part. Move the other arm thing onto the part. Make itself a mountain...yes, this was all easy. More than before.
Intelligence +1
Make the mana move, and then...BLACK-MAKE! HAH! NOT THIS TIME! HAHAHAHAHAHA STUPID SIDE! Yes, yes! Wait. Why was there...more mana coming? Why was the this much black part still not breaking? It was almost, it could feel it...but not yet! And the mana was coming! The black was becoming not-there and the part was going back to normal! It was not-fast, but a big mana hit was coming! BUT! BUT! If it stopped now-!
All the work this time would be-! But! BUT! Oh. Right. It was too long. Well, at least -
Mental Strain: High -> Crippling
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
-oooooo. NNNooooottt eeevvveeeennnn ggggoooooiiiiinnnnggg tttooooo ttthhhiiinnnkkkk. Wwwaaaaiiitttiiiinnnngggg.
Sssssstttiiiiiiiiilllllll wwwwaaaaaiiiitttiiiiinnngg.
Ok. It was back. Again! Yes.
This time. This time! Ok. Not-fast. Not-fast! This time. This time, it would kill this part. And if it didn''t...well, it would try again. After this many times, it didn''t feel any different even if it did not work many, many more times. It would wait. If it couldn''t be stronger, than it would win in time. That was always work. Just eat the mana in the around more, and fight the mana, move it faster in the part, and hit the hit back. That was all. Easy, right?
Ok. Same as before. Like when italmost worked. Just like that, it would do it, but fight too. And see how it worked. It could change again if it felt like the not-good way, but if it was just the head-hurt stopping it, then intelligencing maked the head hurt less, so if it keeped doing this and making more intelligence, its work would be easyer. Then, after time, it would win.
Aaaand, there it was. Hit it back, and well, it worked as well as it thought it would. It didn''t. And the mana it moved breaked, and the head hurt came. And there it was, as usually.
Mental Strain: High -> Crippling
Intelligence +1
Intelligence +1
Wwwooowwww, sssoooo nneeewww.
...............
Well, it came back faster than it thought. Maybe not thinking maked getting less hurt faster? Which maked sense since the hurt came from too much thinking. That was good to know. It should think only when it had to, and not else.
Like this part-killing didn''t need as much thinking. Now it did it so many times, that it was easier to do it when it did it.
Aaaannnd there. It worked.
...IT WORKED!? YES! YES!
The part became not-there when the mana hit came. And that was that.
Next part!
Who was the stupid who said it worked? Who was it? It wasn''t it, that was for sure. No way. It wasn''tthatstupid. Not now anyway.
It had learned. Learned what real trying was.
After it breaked that one part, it went to another...and the castle didn''t break. At all. Instead the hurt happened again. Why? What was different? It didn''t know, but it tryed a different part and it worked. It tryed a different part again...and it didn''t work. Now, it wasn''t sure, but maybe...random? Was its happen...only a random?
That would make sense though. It had already done that "crippled" thing like, many times now. Probably more than "10" times. Which was...not hurting?
It didn''t really feel as much from it now. Maybe it would have if it was just doing it, but this was for the castle. Some hurt was fine, if it helped to kill the castle. It was hurting, but also becoming gooder. It getted 6 intelligences more. That was a lot. So, it was fine. Since it maked it nearer to the thing it was trying for.
Now, time to do it again.
Three more intelligence, but this time only many trys!
Seven! Wasn''t sure about the trys...
Ok. There. Done. It could break parts now. Very good. Bigger parts!
...or not. Maybe after. At least, break all of this place? Time was fine. Not-fast. Even the things outside were almost there. Most. Some dead. No more mana. But still many. It wasn''t sure why, but there was a big mana side-thing around the whole place so the things couldn''t go more away. Sometimes, the mana from out was put in. Who, why, it didn''t know, or even what time that happened. But. It was fine. If it had the things here, it woud be easyer to find and kill them all when it was done with the castle. Like the - no that didn''t important yet. The castle, then things. Its food...was ok.
That out mana maked the things keep moving too, and maked it eat too. That was good. Having to find food while doing this too would be annoying.
Ok. The place was breaked. Everything was black-maked. But. After it did that, from up, things came dropping down. Was the castle breaking on its own? Were the places like what happened when the bug hit it?
Good. It should know hurt too. Well, now it couldn''t go to another place. It had to black-make all the things here first.
This was going good. The place was almost done. Almost.
This place was did. More things dropped when it was working, but not-fastly, when time happened, no more things dropped from up. So, the next place. This time...that side. That was where the human thing probably came from? It remembered where the body was, and where it had been before it became dead. When it was fighting, the side-down way was that way. So, that way.
Break everything of its, and feel gooder. That was all that was important.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 22
The side-way was annoying. It had to break everything of course, but every time it did, random parts dropped from everywhere! It was annoying! The stupid castle wouldn''t even break right.
It was going place by place, so each castle place should be breaked one at a time. Not random parts from other places dropping in! That was not...not grouped right! That was dumb! An-and weird! That maked no sense!
Stupid castle.
Oh, what was this? Very good looking?
Break.
What was this? A look-still of the human thing?
Break.
This thing that looked like dead body with weird over-things?
Break.
That random weird thing that dropped?
Bre-
Why were there words on it? What was this?
This was - this was like the boxes!
Words on not talking! Learn! Learn! Learn!
It wasn''t working. Why? The boxes told it what the words were. It didn''t always know what the words were for, but it could...listen them. In a weird way. Like when the sun talked weird to it.
So, why was this thing with words everywhere not...telling? It wasn''t telling it the words! What did the words mean! They even looked different than the box words!
Fine. Stupid thing also wasn''t working right? And was that things - right! It was that thing''s thing! Words or not -
It black-maked the stupid thing, not even moving as its body was bigger now and easy-very was on the all the sides and things in the side-way. Even the word-thing.
- thing''s things would die and break. Right. That was the...deal with...''I?''
Right. With I, it decided to do the things like that, it shouldn''t get not thinking like that so easy. It had to still its mind to the thing it was doing now, so that even something as goodest as word-things for learning would not make it change its thinking.
No change. No changes. No changes!
The sound the castle maked and the things maked when they dropped to the ground?
Not even that sound to remember, even if it sounded a big-not good to listen to. No thing''s things were good. They were all bad. Needing to be becomed not-there from the world.
This stupid-looking club? With the weird color-big-not things in it? Breaked!
It looked to the out from the holes that were there - there were many, because it breaked a lot of the castle. And the mana was still there. Maybe, killing some things and evolving again would be good? To break things again? Faster?
It was important to do things useful to what it was doing now if it could. And evolution would be good...yes, after this up and down until the other side. That wouldn''t be a lot. At least not longer than now.
In the first place, that place still had weird mana in the sides, but after it, the more it went away from there, the less mana moving in the sides. And it was weird too. Not just weird that there wasn''t that mana moving everywhere - because if it was it, then it would do it everywhere so that its things were very easy-not to break - but that the mana moving felt changed. Changed in a way that maked it like this, and not just normal like this.
Which was weird. Had the human thing did this? It could have. That maked a lot of sense. Since, human thing choosed to fight with it after all, and was stupid and dumb and stupid. So maybe it also maked the castle become bad. For some stupid reason. Yes, that maked sense. More and more sense the more it thought actually. After all, it was the most intelligence.
It could break this castle decided on easyer than it thought. Soon, it would have the deal with I dided, and would then evolve after killing more things, and then break more of the castle. And maybe evolve again. If it could. Maybe. To break the castle even more gooder! Also to go on and kill the other things. Those would be annoying if it wasn''t good enough.
Time would still help it. Probably. But the easy more it would be to kill the things if it was stronger and it didn''t want to not use time good. This was one thing. Not evolving and making itself not faster because no reason would be stupid. Killing was killing when it was fast and good. Or fun. Not dumb and not-fast. Any stupid could kill a bones, but only it killed them with such...good-look and fun. And it was still faster than it was when it was not-stronger. Yes, it could still kill fast and be fun as long as it was strong enough to be ok with not-using time good.
So, getting stronger would make it easyer to have fun! Also, evolution maked things fun too. The how big it was now, it could go and eat and see so much more and faster too. Plus eat souls easyer, kill things easyer, black-make easyer...when it learned how...after many hurts with the parts...and even, look gooder. The arms, the big and not-not-strong-looking, was all evolution. It was good. Soon, even clubs and over-things would be its! Like that bones! The very annoying one!This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Oh, and bigger. It could go up and try eating the sun! The up-sun, not the sun, that one would probably be useless anyway. And if it went very up, wouldn''t it be able to see more of the world? To see and feel more, wasn''t that the goodest? Except bad things. Those weren''t ok. Like what the - that thing did.
Oh. When had that happened? The castle sides breaked and had weird place in it. There were weird looking things on the ground and sides and up, they had mana going through them. Like the sides. But the feeling was that they were different.
Like this thing here...it felt like a...not...here...? Weird. Well, the only thing to do was break it like a part!
First, mana mov - why was it changing? What was happen-mana! Its mana was becoming into the ground-thing! That was not-good! Bad! Very bad! Mana! Stop!
Oh, actually not it wasn''t that bad. It felt bad, but not a lot of mana was eated by the thing. The Max Mana in the status still said 288/313. That was...more than zero? That was good. Very good actually. The parts learning usually went until mental crippling or even all the way to zero. Which was...a bad feeling. It was like hungry but badder. Hungry maked it not-fastly mana go bye, but the hungry felt badder and badder the more mana it was not-having.
Not fun. But! This was still 288/313. It wasn''t sure, but that was probably very more than zero. At least more than 16. That was a lot.
Also, mana not-having to the mind-side, the thing on the ground eated its mana and...maked a bone appear.
That was...weird. Weird...and fun. It had its own bones! And it could feel it! Like another body! Which was hurting because it was new and weird, and doing many things right now...
For one, this stupid bones was eating its mana. Only a big-not, but it was going to the bones, and that was...well, not bad...the thing''s things were bad...but this bone was its, right? Sure, the ground thing was - well, even the ground thing could be from before. The human thing could be too stupid to do it on its own. So, this was fine. Yes, not that it wanted its own bones to make do funny things.
First, would be a very funny thing.
Hit head on side.
This wasn''t just for fun. This was to see how good bones were to sides. If bones could break sides too, they could make the sides into lesser parts for it, and make the actual breaking faster! Yes, not for fun. This was...learning. Learningand fun.
This wasn''t no using time good. This was learning to break things gooder, so this was fine. Very good.
Thu-crunch
Well, that was a no.
The bones head breaked and it dropped. Which hurt. Because it felt the bones hitting the side and becoming dead. But, it wasn''t all that badder feeling than the mental crippling and other hurts.
So, instead it was fun. Because looking at a bones hitting its head on a side so much and than becoming dead because of its own stupid was funny.
Now. It was gone. Weird. When it deaded, it didn''t just go still, and stay there like other things. It became not-there. Some mana was there too. Not a lot. It came back to it.
...Could it use the ground thing again...?
The answer: yes. Yes it could.
The new bones was told to go and go up, with the weird things in the wall. To see if it could see when it went away.
And it could. Except not very far. Because the bones couldn''t move its legs like it told it to and dropped down the weird thing and hit the ground with acrunch.
It was dead.
Next.
This one also dropped. With acrack, and the head went up and around. Which was fun to look at.
So it maked the next bones do the same.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
They didn''t always drop or become dead the same way, but it was fun to look at every way.
So it just maked a bones come and drop, over and over and over.
Maybe if they stayed, it would have to black-make them to make space for more dropping, but they even became not-there on their own.
They were the goodest fun things!
Right now, it was thinking of making notone, buttwo bones. Then making them kill each other.
Now the problem was if that worked. It hadn''t tried yet, but if it worked...then, there would be more fun.
Also, it had learned how legs moved gooder after all the fun. If it wanted, it could make the bones go up the weird thing without becoming dead, but that wouldn''t be fun. Killing them was.
But what about making a bone go up to the uppest, and then making another bones make it drop. Like with a hit.
Go go bones things!
Hit! Kill! Dead! And again!
Right, but first, try the two.
It would first have one bone. Then, make more mana into the ground thing...and itworked! Too good. The new bones was looking different from the other bonesand it. Two looks were one thing. Three was...weirder.
It was used to looking with all its body if it tried, but this was just weird.
And stupid. The bones had to use their eye-holes to look. What was the reason for that?
It could seemuch gooder. But theywere just bones. Too bad. Not sad.
Now. FIGHT!
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Smack. Thud.
...Was thatall? The fighting was usually fun. But when it maked the bones fight, it had to tell them what to do. Each one. One at a time. So one hit, then the other. Not...not like...hit and hit. It was...not fun like this.
And it wasn''t the bones...it couldn''t tell fast enough. So it had to do this a lot and get gooder, keeping the hitting.
And, the bones used mana, but like this it eated back more mana than it used, so it could keep having fu-learning. Learning. Not fun. Learning. Using time good, not bad.
The bones being funny was just a...not important part, not the actually thing. Just a side-thing.
Hit and hit and hit and hit. That was all it had to do and then after time it could do it good! Probably. Maybe.
Well, hitting each other faster was at least easy. It just had to think faster. Which was easyer than the parts black-making. At least it wasn''t mental crippled. Probably.
Unless it used more bones. And maked them all move at the same time.
But, many bones dropping and becoming dead andcrunched would be more fun-learning. Very learning. And mental crippling wasn''tthat bad. So. For fu-learning. Many bones. Yes. Many bones.
It moved much mana into the thing, and then a new bones came. It was one. But it was black and big and very clubby.
Well,thatwas a good drop. It didn''t even become dead from one. It did ittwo times.
Yes. Dropping would always be funny. Every time.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 23
Now. Now was the time. It had learned with bones long enough. Very long actually. Until the mental crippling happened again. Turns out ten bones at the same time was not ok.
After that it also tried the other ground-things, but none of them seemed to do anything. Sure they maked a weird black mist thing that it eated, but it just maked it get some mana, less than it used. So that was useless.
Then, it was just a breaking of the castle. And making bones go out and fight the other things around. They died almost every time, but it was still fun to look at. Even from their eyes, when it could see and feel the dead. Was still fun. More fun actually, than just looking from where it was. And it did win. Kind of. When it used many bones for one other thing.
Which actually got it some levels. It killed many bones, enough that it couldn''t find a number for it, but still only got three levels. And the souls weren''t even eated. They just went away. The bones it used didn''t get souls for it. Which was dumb. But it could break the castle while still killing things so it was ok.
That last part with the ground things could wait until it was dided with the castle and things.
BOOM
With a loud sound, the last side went on to the ground, and as it eated the side, it looked around at the many things around it. Mostly its own.
All the bones appearing and not appearing and killing maked its Max Mana increase a lot. And intelligence. As the boxes told it, it got another +23 intelligence. The bones many now, and used less mana when it maked them come. Even the level was already for evolution good. But it hadn''t yet because it still had things to do. With this castle side dided, then an evolution. Next would be killing the things and then finding the sun. There was still many things to do. Now that it thought about it, where was the sun? It hadn''t thought about him much while it was having fun. Maybe he was dead?
It sure hoped not. That would be bad. It had been talked to by the Chieftain to keep him not-dead...and he was stupid. It would need to go faster.
Clack clack clack
The bones was trying to talk again. It wasn''t sure when, but some of the bones were more intelligence. They just became that way. Probably. It didn''t really notice before. Even now, it couldn''t really tell how intelligence they were, or they could just have learned to make those clacking sounds and thought it was fun.
It could know that. Black-making was also fun.
Clack clack clack
Yes. Sure. No. All of them.
Clack
Clack Clack
What? Were they intelligence after all? Could making them fight all of the things and seeing so many other bones die have maked them more intelligence? Were they reall? The seeing and moving them didn''t tell much. It could feel a weirdness there but that could just be them being weird. Nothing new. One time, it seeed a bones hitting the going up thing with a club. It stopped when it looked though so it could have just been a one time thing. It never seeed another bones doing it again.
The one who did it died. It was hit by the very big thing and went crunch and went everywhere. As expected of a weak bones.
Well, it probably got new bones every time it used the thing, so maybe this was normal? It just sometimes got more intelligence ones.
Though even when moving them it couldn''t feel anything. Weird. Even the sun had that annoying feeling when he talked.
It could tell somewhat what he was thinking, even not the words he was talking. Like a fortress. It wasn''t sure if that was what a fortress looked like but it was weird alright.
It looked like a castle, but since it was a fortress it was probably different so no need to kill it.
Aaaaand dided. Right evolution.
Possible Evolution(s):
Helmeted Pseudo-void Soul Crunching Spirit Fog (C )
Just your regular every-day soul-eating pseudo-void spirit that wears a helmet. Nothing to see here. Except that it is a giant patch of moving fog that devours the souls that get caught inside it. These are considered major threats to public safety due to high intelligence and the fact that soul damage is hard to resist, leading to even stronger individuals falling uncoscious and losing their souls in their sleep.
Helmeted Pseudo-void Zone Soul Vortex (C-)
A special kind of crazy; a long-dead archmage thought it would be a good idea to force an intelligent, soul-eating, mini-sub-realm spirit to forcibly pull in surrounding souls and strengthen its power as a realm. Said archmage succeeded, creating this monstrosity, and promptly had his soul eaten by it. These things have lost the ability to call themselves spirits - losing much of their sentience - in exchange for becoming what are essentially moving space pockets that eat souls. Genius. Oh and this one wears a helmet. For style. Why or how? Nobody knows.
Helmeted Pseudo-void Spirit Bewitching Shadow Lake of Souls (C-)
A moving lake made up of shadows. It can hide itself in shadows, even smaller ones, and then flow out and engulf prey. They capture souls and let them be slowly corroded by the waves, and are able to enslave souls that fall in. The first stories of evil sirens likely originate from here, as the enslaved souls evolved seperately to attract more food into the lake, for their master and themselves. The lake on its own also has a strange attractive force. For some inexplicable reason, there is a shaodwy helmet floating in the middle of the lake.
Helmeted Pseudo-void Soul Bewitching Shadow Unholy Fort Spirit (C+)This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
A creepy-looking fort constructed of only shadow, it possesses the ability to attract prey into itself, to be killed by the undead inside. It can passively and actively create undead, even from scratch and - though slowly - move. It is rated highly as - especially with age - these are essentially mobile fortresses with tireless and fearless soldiers manning the walls. And a dilapidated-looking helmet in place of a flag on the flagpole.
Helmeted Pseudo-void Soul Stealing Territory Spirit (C )
A spirit that decides to take the guise of a noble by laying claim to the land. No particular tendencies, except that it likes to collect taxes in the form of souls. The largest and only known successful one of these is The Grand Bazaar. The massive inter-dimensional marketplace is a highly evolved territory spirit, that is paid by the merchants who use it in souls.
Baldness? Hearing loss? Spontaneous combustion when using magic? Sounds familiar? Well look no further! I, Zezzal, have made a cure that will work even for all kinds of illnesses and diseases! To order, come to The Grand Bazaar, stall #34512454550785966705H3T6K05394574930 (Brought to you by: The Inter-Dimensional Bazaar Company. There is no place out of our reach! Use our products now! We''re watching you...Sponsored by: Death God''s Amusement Park of Doom. Come here now. Or else.)
Helmeted Pseudo-void Wandering Reaper''s Will Spirit (C )
The name of this species is largely inaccurate, coming to be known as ''Reaper''s Will'' as a result of its natural tendencies and abilities. These spirits act much like soul bewitchers in their pursuit of souls, however they can detect souls, even from large distances, and track them down. While their shapes vary, the default form is generally a cloud. Rather obvious in general as it is a cloud floating along on the ground, but you can never escape on of these. Not if they are intent on you. Short of killing them or moving to a different world, these spirits will mark their prey and track their soul to eat it. They may take time to accomplish this if you can run far enough as they can easily change targets when they come across new prey. That''s why they are not more infamous, however even so, these spirits are not called reaper''s for no reason. They possess the ability to drain vitality and mana in a domain effect in addition to their ability to pull souls.
Pseudo-void Armor Avatar of Soul Bewitching Shadow Domain Spirit (C-)
These spirits take a halfway compromise and do not become too impressive as far as domain abilities go, but instead, as a result of a strong desire for the ability to interfere physically with the world, they build armored avatars for themselves. They are disposable and can be remade from scratch over time, but the spirit needs to spend considerable time training to accomplish detailed control and maneuvering of the body. As well, the body is unable to fool anyone, as it is an empty, moving suit of armor. The spirit can compress itself to fit inside of the armor - like flesh - in order to protect itself better.
Pseudo-void Wandering Spirit Avatar of Gluttonous Consumption (C+)
A massive spirit, these soul-eaters move around devouring souls, and can end worlds if not stopped in time. Their gluttony is endless and they possess a heightened ability to absorb mana, and memories from souls they devour, even devouring solid materials over time to further enhance themselves and fuel their rampage.
Pseudo-void Wandering Spirit Avatar of Wrathful Consumption (C+)
Fueled by rage and an enjoyment for destruction, these spirits tend to float along while happily crushing anything that gets in their way and devouring it. Once started, these war machines kill and eat every enemy they see. They are known to prefer having a physical organ (that looks and functions like a normal living body) to truly enjoy the sensation of bones breaking under their fists. A fatal miscalculation most make when fighting one of these is relaxing once they destroy the physical component, not knowing that the true body is the blackish fog that lingers around the body.
Hm. That was all good, but what was with the weird color thing in there?
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Ah. Well, that told it nothing. As expected of a not very talking box-thing.
Oh well. Now, the real issue would be what to pick...it had many things to kill.
But all of these evolutions sounded like they were ok with killing...
Ok. It would have to find the sun. It should see how he was doing anyway.
It moved to the sides of mana that were all around the place and found that it could go through easy. The side tried to move it to the way it came from, but it moved the other way and the feeling went away when it was far enough away from the big sides.
"Hey! Long time no see."
Yes. So he was not dead. Very good, especially since it was the sun.
"We''re already back to that? Really? Well, I''m assuming you''re done with the you-know-what?"
You-know-what?
"I assumed you wouldn''t want to be reminded."
Oh, well that was...good of him...? Where was he, anyway? It looked around and could see many, many nothing.
"Other side of the mountain."
Mountain?
"Are you serious right now."
Oh. That mountain. Since when was that there?
"Since General Vogras decided he wanted some shade."
...Was every "general" doing that? And why did they even need a fortress then?
"Oh, that was for fun. And for people other than Generals. Y''know weaklings like us. Also, for character building. Got to admit, nothing builds comradery like fighting off waves of monsters and breaking your back making a menaingless fortress."
Sounded fun to look at. It was almost there, moving through the mountain. Some of its mana was getted by the mountain, but it could feel a lot of mana in the mountain. Was this how the monsters got mana? The mana was in the ground? Where the bad didn''t go?
"Well, we have things to catch on. Also, sadly, not everyone is as straight-forward and honest, even if crazy, like you are. You have no idea how much I missed you. Styx is my only other friend."
WHAT!? That meaned...if the sun had it and Styx, that was two. It had the Chieftain and Shaman. That was two. HE HAD THE SAME NUMBER OF FRIENDS AS IT! NO WAY!
"Heh. Wait what do you mean ''if'' I counted you."
Obviously. It didn''t see him as a friend. Heh, useless.
"Go die. Hahahaha."
Heh. The talking after so long wasn''t bad.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 24
Ok. It was now there. Where the sun was. And well, it was...a lot...? Very lot.
Many, many things. And sides. Like the castle, but bigger. They went into the mountain too. Which was...was that normal?
This side of the mountain was like if a castle was maked on the mountain but on its side. There were things maked starting at the down and going up the side of the mountain. With random sides at some places up the side of the mountain and around big space at the ground and around the things not on the mountain.
"Hey, head down to the ground. I''m on gate duty today. Which is fun as heck by the way!"
Ground? Ok. "Gate?" Not ok. What was a gate?
"Oh, uh...see the one place with like...um, really big doo - er things? Like where people are going in and out?"
Ohhhhhhh. Well, now it knowed. So that was a gate. The castle also had one.
"Right, well, hurry up, you''re probably gonna get interviewed later too."
What? Ok. Down first. More thinking could wait. The sun talked faster when there.
Down. Down. Oh, that was weird. What was that weird thing? It had...many over things? And they were not even all overing. Some were too big-not to over everything. And why was that demon calling the other demon a "fraud?"
What even was a fraud? Whatever. It could ask the sun later. Also it still had to ask what the thing that came out of things when they got hit was.
Oh. And there was the gate. And Styx?
"Hel-oh wow. You look...different. I mean you evolved but you didn''t look too different then...darker color and a creepy feeling. Like you''re gonna eat me. I feel distinctly uncomfortable...cool! Now that''s what it should be!"The sun was looking at it from on the up of the side, on the side of the gate.
Hmmm. So it was cool? Well, of course it was. Cool was good right?
"Yes. Very good."The sun was making a hand hit Styx and move towards it.
Alright. Yes, well then it was obvious. It was the coolest thing, that no one ever was.
"Yes, I''m sure you are. Damn narcissist."
"What?" Styx was also looking at it now. Not really, though, like the sides of it more.
"Eh, it''s proud of how cool it is."
"...ok?" Styx looked very worked. Like the sun when it was half-dead.
"No, it''s called tired." Oh, the sun was talking to it again. Hmmm, so it was "tired," that was good.
"And learn some language or something! Your grammer and horrible naming sense hurts me! At my soul! I, a genius, aknowledged by as many as five people, feel pain when seeing your horrific language skills!" What was the sun talking about?
"Hey, would you stop bragging? It''s like five people. And they''re your...intellectually lacking lackies. They failed like every class except physical. Shut up ok?" Styx had a weird expression.
"It''s annoyed. See, observe my impressive language skills. This is proud by the way. My expression and posture. Learn from the best." The sun had a we - proud expression. Styx looked...more annoyed?
"Right. Whatever. Can we get it the projector or whatever? Or teach it telepathy? Or something? This is obvious and yet confusing to follow. Also, hello, I believe we haven''t met, I''m Styx." Styx moved his head up and down once while looking in the place it was when the sun first moved his hand at it. Too bad he was looking the not-right way.
"Eh? Who cares?" The sun moved his head a less to a side, but Styx hit him.
"Gefuh!? Ok, go! Sic''em!" The sun moved his hand at Styx, "Well, not really, but sic-"
What? No. Styx was more intelligence then him, and also it "cared." No one was talking it what a "telepathy" or "projector" was!
"Oh. Telepathy is the talking we do. Kinda. Ours is from the partial contract we got. Regular one works in general. Kinda. A projector is...some technical stuff. I wasn''t really paying attention. Too much work. And making magic circles and stuff is more fun. After all, isn''t it cool to blow things up? Especially from far away so you can relax and watch them run in terror. Kuhahahahaha." The sun looked happier and happier as he talked and then started laughing, clearly finding this "blowing things up" very fun. It wanted to know how to do that too. Most things the sun liked were fun to know. Or at least new.
"Ugh. I don''t know why they even let you in the research club. You''re a crazy arsonist! Who set the dorms on fire! Multiple times!" Styx looked very happy. Why else would he very fast move his arms up.
"It was for science! And magic! Both! They both demand sacrifice!" The sun fastly moved away from Styx and went in the other side of where it was. "I have a spirit and I''m not afraid to use it! Come at me!"
"Sacrifice? Sacrifice!? You ratted out the peeping incident! It was just one peep! Why!? Traitor! You''re just a selfish bastard!" Styx looked very happy now!
"So!? That one is mine! No one gets to it before me!"
"No one? You blew her up! We both got suspended!" Styx came closer and the sun went away again.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
"Look. That magic circle was just asking to be used! I agree. But. There''s no way I would let your plan to use it before me succeed! If I can''t have it, you definitely can''t have it! HehehehehahahahaBWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sucker!"
"Hey! Come back! I won''t hurt you! I promise!" Styx fastly moved after the sun who started running after talking.
Wait, what about it? Well, it looked fun so after them?
As they runned through the many caves, there was other talking too from random demons, "Oh, did that idiot piss off Styx again?"
"Magic circles, intelligence, or horn length."
"I bet it was intelligence. There''s no way he was stupid enough to be bring upthat incident."
"Heh. You underestimate the joy he derives from watching other people explode. Sometimes literally."
"Hahaha, yeah, what a funny kid."
Sounded fun"ny" indeed. It was true that looking at angry Styx was fun. This sun might actually be onto something! What was this way of doing knowed as!?
"Hey! Slow down! The faster I catch you, the less I will hu-educate you!"
"You''ll never catch me alive deadbeat! NEVER!" Sun was going faster!? How!? Since when could he move faster than the fastness of ''oh no dead is almost near!'' That was just...how much had changed!? Before he could barely go faster than things trying to hurt it! Now-! Times changed indeed.
"Hey, so this might take a while. By the way, I''ll tell you the full story some other day. It''s hilarious. I even blew up part of the school. It''s already put me into considerations for the Hall of Infamy! Someday, many years from now, demons will know me as the legend who blew up part of the school. They may try to copy me, but they won''t be able to! I did it as a first year!"
Yes. Sure. But it had no idea what he was talking about.
"Damn. I need to get you educated so you can fully comprehend my achievements. Also because I''m a good friend. There''s no way to get considered for a good secondary education option if you can''t even at least commit arson on the scale of one classroom.That''ll be hard to do without some planning ability. I mean if you get caught in the act, you''ll just get violently beat up by the student council. Though, the president is cool. She even threatened to murder me if I get caught next time! As expected of a noble. Truly refined in the ways of persuasion."
Hmmm. Sounds like a fun people. Though what was a "murder?"
"Well, basically, school is fun. And there was this one time-"
"Got you!" Styx used his leg to hit the sun and dropped him. Then stilled with a leg on the sun.
What? One time what!?
"I''ll tell ya later. Alright. Styx. Buddy. Let''s talk about this?" The sun stopped talking when Styx maked him up.
"Look. I''d fight you again for old times sake. But. This can wait until after we drop off our buddy here at the General''s. Yes?"
The sun did the head up and down thing and talked, "Yeah you''re right. Annoying you more can wait."
"You''re not helping your case." Styx looked at sun again.
"So? I have fun and fun''s fun. I learned this from the spirit. He''s myspirit guide. Get it? Eh, eh?"
"...I...let''s just go. And not talk about that joke. Ever." Styx didn''t look at sun and just moved away.
"Guess he doesn''t appreciate my comedic genius. Right spirit?" Sun was looking at it.
It didn''t know. What was a "joke" anyway.
"Ok, yep. School for you. Or a library. Or tutor. Something. This hurts. Can''t brag about my exploits like this." The sun moved his head side to side and moved after Styx too.
Sure. New was usual good. It also moved after them.
The two did not talk for a time after and then Styx talked again.
"So, how much does it understand anyway?"
Who? It-it?
"Eh. Partially. Lots of words missing and no context. It doesn''t even understand my jokes."
"That''s normal I''d say. So, wanna like, translate?"
"What? Sure?"
"So. First question. What does it think about killing things."
"Ok, this is you, go." The sun looked at it.
Fun.
"Fun."
"Hmmm. How about magic?"
What''s a magic?
"Oh, I see where you''re going with this...alright, answer this seriously. It''s very important. Magic is like the uh, suns from hands stuff."
Oh. Yes. Magic is fun and that thing - cool.
"Magic is fun and cool."
"Alright, last question. What do you think is the fate of couples?"
"He means....uhhhhh. Oh! What do we do with people we don''t like."
What? Wasn''t that obvious? Make them hurt!
"Make them suffer!"
"Ah, I see you are a kindred soul. Or can become one. Alright you''re in. Welcome to the Order of the Inquisition. You can learn more when we initiate you. Which will be after we get you a tutor or something."
Hmmm. It didn''t know what that was...but ok!
"It says it is elated. Welcome brother."
"Welcome brother. And we''re here. Time for more questions, but worry not. As a comrade, I will assist you." Styx sounded very useful. Indeed. Even the sun did. What was a "brother" though? It would need to find this out. And the evolution.
"Ah. You two. Who are you hiding from this time?" The new demon was less up than them, but also more strong feeling. The mana was a lot.
"Actually, we brought the spirit." Sun sounded happy.
"Huh? So we can stop wasting mana on that barrier? Finally. It''s damn tiring to maintain." The new demon...was also happy? It was easy-not since it was new. "Alright come on up. The General wants to meeeeet - you? Right there?"
Yes.
"Yes. It said." The sun was being useful for once."Wow. You don''t change do you."
No. It went up with them, using the - weird up-thing! So itwas for this. They went up a lot easier than the bones...where did it go bad?
Bang
The new demon hit the door with a leg and moved in, "General, interview now."
"Bleh!?" The general looked up from where his head was down and then looked around for a time. "Wha? What''s happening? Why am I awake? Why am I here? What''s my purpose!? What''s the-guh!"
The new demon went there and hit the General with a hand and then walked back to where they were, "Sir. Irespectfully remind you to be on your best behaviour."
"I just woke up! Don''t blame me! Or rather, why would you ruin someone''s nap!? You wouldn''t like it ifI did that toyou now would you? Hmmmmmmmmmm!?" The General looked (probably) happy-not at the new demon.
"Sir.Do you want me to report you again? The Grand Duke does not like being annoyed though so I wonder if being disturbed by another report about you wouldn''t be...a problem...?" The new demon looked back, with no change in expression.
"Right. Uh. Anyway. Back to work. Ta ta. Bye. I unsummon you evil god. Secretary, I don''t choose you~. Goodbye. Go aw-"
"Sir."
The General went still. Very still.
"I will go get the projector."
The General was still still.
Tap Tap Tap
And then, the new demon moved away.
What a fun people. What a fun place! Indeed. Finding the sun was very intelligence of it.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 25
"So, uh. Nice weather we''re having huh?" The General was the first to talk again.
"Oh. Yes." The sun was not very good at talking.
"I dunno what to say!"
"Indeed, sir. It''s excellent weather outside today. How has your day been?"
See? Styx knowed what to do.
"Good. And, I heard the spirit is fairly strong? Do you know its rank...new guy?" The General looked to the sun again, in what it was thinking was a bad try to keep talking. Obviously, it was very strong.
"...Hey! What rank are you!"
What was a rank?
"It''s uh, probably C. Since it evolved four times...?"
"That sounds...wrong. It doesn''t feel like a rank C. It would be better if it''s not actually. The weaker it is, the less damage it can cause when it gets mad. Which it will. This isn''t my first time handling a spirit. Especially one as...bright as this one." The General moved a hand onto its head front, and moved the head down. "I do hope it''s not C...that was...ugh."
"Is C really that bad, sir? It''s not too high?" Styx here was talking the right questions. What was a rank anyway.
The General looked at it first before talking, "Well. Rank is quite vague. And its significance varies. Ultimately, the main problem is that not many are equipped to handle a spirit. Rank C or not, a spirit is a pain to deal with. You have to use magic or something enchanted to even see them, and then same thing for hitting them. And unlike a typical slime, they have no core to hit."
"Isn''t that what mages are for though? And I can''t see a demon not being able to use at least basic magic at some point." Well, sun, it didn''t see him using magic?
"I can! I''ll show you later. Oh! And I can teach you! In turn, teach me how to do that weird tentacles thing! I could use those so well in dark places! Or if I could apply it to dark magic..."
"Hah! A spirit is more magical than a demon. More magical than most things and you''d do well to remember that! Magics that are too weak will just be absorbed without doing anything. Well, if it''s smart enough. That, and even if you''re a stronger mage, if it steals your mana before you can cast, or just eats the damn magic circle, you can''t do anything. Instead, the higher ranking a spirit, typically the older and smarter. You see the problem? Didn''t you learn in school what catastrophes spirits have historically caused?"
"With all due respect sir," Styx moved a hand to his head, "we got suspended. Have been since two cycles ago."
The sun coughed, and also talked, "It was sir, very unfair, as we were not officially proven guilty."
"Yeah? Well, new guy, I''d appreciate some respect where respect is due? Those sirs don''t feel nearly as natural as Manners over there." The General moved his head up and down once in Styx''s way, and then looked back to it.
"Hey. How much of this is it following anyway? I''m not gonna have to listen to some random noises and sounds or banshee screams when, that-which-must-not-be-named gets back here am I?"
"Oh no...sir. It''s...somewhat coherent. With horrible grammer. But, so is a kid right? Hahahaha-"
"I don''t do kids, kid. Ugh, this one better pay off...unlike that one." The General moved his head side to side, and then looked back to Styx.
"As I was saying, in multiple worlds, pretty much all really, spirits have always been...problems. Oh sure, there''s vampires and the oh so evil demons, or fae, or other humans. Monsters. Really, lots of things. Spirits, however, are almost universal, and grow very easily. In number and power. We can evolve, unlike some other races, but spirits are just mana. They have no structure they have to adhere to, and can grow much easier. No constraints on size, or shape, or whatever. They may develop subconscious restrictions, or goals. Like wanting to looklike something, but that''s about it. We, and most other races can''tdo that. In 120-"
"Sir. Here''s the projector." The weird one was back! More fun! It maked the General get the weird looking thing. It was kind of like a head. But more...in two ways?
"Right, here you go." The General maked the "projector" move in two ways andcrack, it became two. He getted one to the sun, and stilled the other with him. "Now, just...tell it to goinside the catcher."
"You heard him. Go inside the...catcher. The one I''m holding in my hand. See?"
What? Why? Sounded weird. Ithad wanted to talk, but going insidethat felt kind of weird.
"It doesn''t want to, sir." The sun telled them.
"Ok. Look, it''s nothing bad. We just want to talk to you. We can wait. Not as long as you I suppose, but...we can. You can go in and out as you wish. It won''t stop you. You could try with a small bit of yourself?" The General holded the "catcher" from the sun and moved it nearer to him moved it around.
It didn''t like going in,but, moving an arm in and out to see could be ok. Right, here, and then back. And it was what happened. The arm didn''t stop. But it was too big to go in the catcher.
"It says it''s too small to fit." Yes! Good sun, do the talking!
"Eh, uh, it doesn''t really matter too much. I can compress it forcefully - but I doubt that would be a pleasent experience. Well, good thing we have you, right? Hahahaha. So, uh...may I request your assistance?"
"Fine.Sir.Let me do it," the weird one holded the catcher from the General and came to it, moving a hand to it. "This will feel...nasty or weird. Please don''t freak out. We''re going to try with a weak link first."
As soon as the weird one said that, it felt a weird feeling. It wasn''t like the ok feeling from the sun, but...it wasn''t bad. It only now thought of if it maybe could have been like that bad feeling from that time in the castle. It had wanted to think it wouldn''t happen again, but if that kind of feeling was so easy now, maybe thebad kind was also easy? It said start starting weak so was this weak? If this was weak, was the bad one when it was strong? Was it going to have to-Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"This will be fine. It''s rather bad at hiding its thoughts. To the point where it''s prattling. I''m connecting it now. The voice will sound creepy by the way. It seems to be emulating what it has heard before."
"Wait, what voice? I never heard it''s voice before?" The sun hadn''t? Really?
"The sun hadn''t really? Oh! That was its "voice" in the projector now! It could hear its thinking! SO WEIRD! But this was fun! It could hearitself talking, but now it could hear itselfalso talking! There were like more than one of it now! And its voice sounded good! Like it always thought it would! It was very good! What it said was what it was-"
"OK. Calm down there. I want to ask you some questions."
"Oh! The General was talking!"
"Yes. I am. Ok. First question. Do you have a name?"
"What? A name? Why would it need a name? It was spirit. Spirit was spirit. Names were names and names were not always needed, because General was General, but also you or he, so why was names names? Names were weird because-"
"Ok. Second question. What is your intelligence."
"''Status! Ok. Intelligence. Intelligence. Intelligence was...more than sixteen! It didn''t know how to say that thing there, but-"
"Right. Thought not. Can you read your titles?"
"Titles! Titles! Developed Spirit!"
"Ok. Not bad. That means it should have at least enough intelligence to memorize all the things it has to for communication easier. And enough mana to spend a decent length of time training. Ok, next-"
"Helmeted Thing (Literally)!"
"Uh. Well, itdoes have a helmet but I don''t see what-"
"Stylishly Insane! The General didn''t make much sense!"
"...what?"
"Whatever Goes?"
"Oh no. Not-"
"The General hit its hand with its head and then looked back to it. It said the things, no, the titles again. Develop-"
"No. Just. Keep going ok? Don''t repeat. I-"
"Highly Vindictive!"
"What? That''s not comfor-"
"Castle Crusher!"
"Well, I suppose that''s expect-"
"The General stopped talking again and then it said more, but then the sun talked!"
"Could you wait for him to finish? And talk slower? And quieter? Please?"
"The sun maked sense! Waiting! Waiting! Waiting! Wait-"
"OK! SO! You''re insane. I see that now. Whimsical. Horrible combo. And vindictive! Even worse! But castle crusher is normal. Ok, go on."
"Ok. Now it was more talking going! Sadis-"
cough cough cough
"The allcoughing and making the sound weird because they were and looked at it! Even the weird one that wasn''t talking before! And now they werecoughing again! And it was waiting! It looked at the General so he could talk and then it could talk again! Looking!"
"Yes. Uh. So. I''m just going to pretent that last bit didn''t happen. You don''t have that title ok? Yes? Done? Good? Let''s continue. Also, it''s Ecromina, not...er, that name. Clear?"
"Yes! The weird o-Ecromina was looking weird at it and General thing! It didn''t forget the title! And it was talking! Also being like this was too much work. No more happy voice. Ok. Skeleton Deathmatch Director!"
"...I''m sorry, what? Could you run that by me again? I don''t think I heard that properly."
"Skeleton Deathmatch Director!"
"Right. That''s what I thought. Care to explain?"
"Yes! It would talk abo-"explain" the title. It didn''t know. That was what it knowed."
"Uh. DId you do something with skeletons? Talk about that?"
"OH! ECROMINA TALKED! WEIRD! IT WASN''T TALKING FOR SO LONG IT BECAME NOT-KNOW IT WAS THERE! Well. It didn''t have these "skeletons," but if it was things it did in the castle. Well, it didn''t have the title before the castle. It had it later when it was done. Near the end, it breaked the castle and played with bones! It used a ground thing to get them, and the bones came out! They used mana, and were funny. They fell off of a weird going up thing and died! And it had fun making them fight each other. They were easy-not to use for fighting, because they moved differently all of them, but they were fun to make die. And died. A lot. It maked many skeletons come and kill each other. Good times. Fun times."
"I can see where sadist came from...alright. But director? So, you were using them with detailed instructions? Impressive. Next."
"What was an "impressive?" Also, it was a skeleton puppeteer. The General went over from where it was and became down on a weird thing and then holded his head with his hands and now sun and Styx and Ecromina were laughing and looking at it and the General. And it still didn''t know what was so funny. It was not knowing. Sun! Tell! Tell! Tell!"
"Ah, uh, so, we''re laughing because you made the General tired."
"The sun telled it, why. Now it was not knowing. General, was it ok? Was he too tired? He wasn''t going to become dead right? It still had titles to talk about."
"No. No. Ok. So. A puppeteer? I don''t even want to know how you managed to figure out how to make skeletons fight deathmatches while moving each of them seperately and detailed enough to be a puppeteer and then still making them different enough for it to be a deathmatch. Your intelligence should be pretty high. Otherwise, you wouldn''t be able to handle that information, but...alright.Any other weird titles you got?"
"Yes! It was of course intelligence high, because it was it, and it was intelligence. That was obvious. Like rocks were black. It was always. And-"
"Actually. Rocksaren''t always black."
"WHAT!? SUN! YOU TELL THE NOT TRUE THINGS! THAT WAS...that was...maybe? But no right? If rocks weren''t black, then up could be down or side, and side could be up or down orother sides, and down could be up or side and black and not-black and sky or world or word or name or it - it''s intelligence!It could be not true! It just said that rocks were always black like its intelligence so if rocks weren''t black then it wasn''t intelligence! If it wasn''t intelligence, theneverythingit knowed could be not true! What if it wasn''t even a spirit and it was a demon andthey were spirits or this was all actually one really long and many things in it thinking thought!? What if- ew! What was that! Weird feeling! No! Stop! Go away!"
"Calm down. And focus. It''s not that big a deal, right? Brea - uh, think slowly."
"Yes, Ecromina was not not true here, but this was important! Its intelligence and being able to learn was all that it could use! And now it knowed from sun from before that intelligence was like how much it knowed, so if its intelligence was not true, then-"
"That''s fine. Nobody knows everything. And I''m sorry if that''s disappointing, but that''s how it is. You have seen other colors, right? Rocks can be other colors like demons too. How about, you calm down, and I will teach you colors after? Ok? And you, shut up for the rest of this. I don''t know how you two deal with it on your own - wait what do you usually do?"
"Well, sometimes, it did those things where it was thinking on its own, and I just ignore it usually. Y''know leave it...to...do...it''s own thing...?"
"The sun was talking less faster as Ecromina looked at him and was now not talking but Ecromina was still looking at him, and Styx was also and the General. Also it was ok now. Colors sounded like fun. Next thing!"
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 26
"Retarded Tactician!"
"...I''m sorry? What did you just say? Because. I think I just heard you say you were labeled retarded?"
"Yay!"
"NO! NOT YAY! WHAT...ugh."
"cough. Right. Well. That''s...my condolences."
"That''s...not the worst title you could get...?"
"Ecromina and Styx telled it weird things and Styx used a word it did not know. Ok. Also, it wasn''t...badde-worst. It was just a title. Title was title."
"Hahahaha! I knew it! You even have a title for it! I''m dying! Hahaha. Oh. Uh."
"The sun was laughing a lot even thpugh he was the stupid, and stilled when Styx started laughing at him too. The General went down and holded his head with his hands again. He was doing that a lot. Was he ok? He wasn''t going to die right? Then, Ecromina moved it over and hitted the General with a leg. He dropped and looked back at it."
"Ok. Yes. You''re indeed...special. Anyway. So. I''m gonna assume that one is also because of the skeletons. Or how you used them I should say. Right. How about you just drop the next couple together. I''m...tired."
"That was ok. It was In the Eye of the Storm, Brother of the Order of the Inquisition, and a Verbal Diarrhea Possessor."
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! VERBAL DIARRHEA POSSESSOR I''M DONE! I''VE HEARD MAGIC EYE POSSESSOR AND FORBIDDEN MAGIC POSSESSOR, BUT VERBAL DIARRHEA! AS IF THAT''S SOME SPECIAL SKILL! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"The sun was laughing a lot for someone who probably didn''t even have a lot of titles. Heh. Also, so? At least it was a "possessor" of something. He probably didn''t have the other two titles, so he didn''t possess anything. Heh. Loser. Also, Styx was laughing again. Maybe the sun''s being a loser was funny. It laughed before too, but now more and when the sun talked too but when it talked more. And General was also laughing a little. It didn''t know about Ecromina. That one was just still. Still. When was he telling more? The General moved himself back to his down place and looked at it."
"The first one is whatever. Doesn''t matter. I can see why you got it, but pretty much everyone here has it. That second one...I know these two idiots are in it and I don''t even want to know more. That last one...well, you''re talking a lot. Literally everything you''re thinking. Which is...less effort to understand than the nonsense and sophistry from the representatives of other worlds. Thankfully. Anyway, until you learn numbers, I can say the rest of your status can wait. How about the race?"
"Pseudo-void Shuddering Helmeted Shadow Soul Bewitcher, Duh."
"Duh? What do you mean duh?"
"Duh."
"Ok. Ecromina...?"
"Probably, its trying to say D. But as a word."
"Ah. Well. That race name has several questionable points...but, HOW are you pseudo-void?"
"Because...it evolved?"
"So you got that after evolving?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Sure. Soul eaters are nothing new I suppose. Though a pesudo-void soul eater...alright, you''ve certainly redeemed yourself there. Ok. Wait, shuddering shadow? Darkness? I don''t know, I haven''t heard of that one. Alright. Ok. All is well. I''m not stressed at all. So, I will apply to have the suspension lifted, go there with this thing-"
"The General moved a weird looking thing onto the thing in front of it and started moving another thing he was holding on the thing."
"It''s a letter, and it''s for your admission and their...suspension. Come back when you can hold a proper conversation. And, Ecromina turn that off please, it''s commentary is...horrendous."
"Yes sir."
"What about the colors!"
"...may I."
"Eh, whatever, I''m writing anyway."
"Thank you. Though it wasn''t a question. Now. These, clothes I am wearing are black and purple. Styx''s helmet-"
"THAT WAS A HELMET!? THAT WEIRD LOOKING THING!?"
"-is silver. And yes. It is. Anyway. This desk is brown. The carpet on the floor is red. Yes? Styx''s hair, this stuff, is grey. Mine is silver. His is purple. And the General''s is dark red. If it was...less...of it? Like grey is to black, that''s light black or whatever. That different color on the General''s clothes is dark orange. Ok?"
"Yes! The words - thank you for colors!"
Then, Ecromina moved away and the weird feeling from the thing it was doing went away.
"That''s fine. Alright then, sir, would you hand me the projector. I have work to do."
"Right, right, here you go. And here you go Styx. I don''t trust that one with it. Now, I would like to wish you well, but I will likely see you suspended and back here again soon enough. Unless - Styx, you keep the spirit and yourself out of that idiot''s nonsense ok? Farewell. Mm, back to sleep."
The projector was getted to Ecromina and it went, and Styx got the "letter" and then the General went back down.
"Sir! I will do my best!"
"Yeah~"Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
After saying their things, the sun and Styx went back too and it followed. It was happy right now since it had fun. Doing all that was fun. And colors! Ecromina was nice. It telled it about colors. And "desks" and "clothes" and "hair!"
Right. And it was going to school to learn more and be able to talk like everyone else talked! Fun!
Though the whole weird thing about titles and numbers was weird. And it getted many titles from the bones! That was fun too.
The only thing left now was to go to school. But. It was not sure how this letter was going to help. He said let it into "admission" into school, right? Maybe it had to go into the letter? But that wouldn''t work for sun and stuff?
The sun did not still and was still moving when he telled it the not-question for its question.
"That''s uh, not how it works buddy. You just go to the school and show them the letter. Just watch ok?"
"What he means is, the letter is in fact a meaningless piece of paper that can be used to write on, and what matters is that it was the General who wrote on it, and thus when we show it-" Styx was also telling, but...it wasn''t very...helping.
"Hold up there. It hasabsolutely no clue what you''re on about."
Yes. That.
"Paper?" "Meaningless?" "Write?" "Wrote?" "Fact?" What is...what? What is word? What is thought? What even was its intelligence...nothing. It knowed nothing. Yes. It was meaning nothing. Ah, so that was meaningless. To be less of meaning. It all made sense now. It too, was meaningless. Indeed.
"You broke its fragile little ego! It''s ok! Not everybody is as smart as me! Calm down! It''s just a couple words! That''s what school is for! Learning from people who are temporarily smarter than you! You become better than them after anyway!"
Oh. Sun maked sense.
"What? That''s not-"
"Shhh! It''s working!"
Yes. Yes! He was...making a lot of sense. Right. Right now, all of them were smarter than it and so "better" than it. So it should listen when they are talking and learn. But after it would be better and then be able to crush them!
"I''m a spirit whisperer. Is there anything Ican''t do? As expected of me. I''m such an excellent role model too! Look at how fast it bounced back and gave a response befitting of me.Umu. I am impressive. The be-thwack!"
The sun was going up, up and side, after Styx hit it with a hand. Well, it was wrong. Just because itcould crush them didn''t mean it had to. Styx and Ecromina and General and sun were ok. They would not becrunched. But well, others...it would see.
"Eh. I''m slightly concerned. Meh. Not my problem though. I''m safe either way, heh heh." Sun was talking about...crunch?
"What?"
To Styx''s question, the sun only said, "Don''t worry about it."
Actually, why was sun listening to everything it said? Could it turn him off?
"What? Uh, I suppose? I don''t think we could communicate anymore then though."
"What? It wants privacy?" Styx asked the sun and the sun talked back after.
"Yeah."
Did Styx have a thought?
"Well, you have a provisional contract right now, right? Just limit it even more. Make it a standby contract instead."
A what?
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh-" Sun didn''t know.
"You have no clue what I''m talking about do you." But Styx knowed!
"Nope. I wasn''t paying attention during race studies." Sun was talking weird again.
"Whatever. You''re able to talk mentally and all that because you have either a contract or a special skill. Clearly, you at least, don''t have such a skill or mind magic. So it can only be a contract. If it was a legit contract then you wouldn''t be so casual around each other, and so it can only be a provisional contract. So with that, just change it to a standby."
Styx didn''t know how to tell did he?
"Hm. Yeah. Sure."
"Just...tell it to push the connection away from itself, and...you do the magic. Just, try to keep the link solid and established while it pushes on it."
Would that still let it talk though?
"Hey, yeah, will it still be able to talk?"
"Yeah. Only if it wants to though."
That sounded fine. So find the feeling - the "connection" and "push." Easy. Since it could feel the sun''s stupid coming from it.
"Hey!"
And away.
"Eh, is that it? Wasn''t it too easy?"
"Well, in the first place, how did you even make a contract with it? Provisional or not, it''s not smart enough to do that. If you didn''t do it either...well, whatever. Doesn''t matter much now, does it? How is it? Working?"
"Sa-think something."
Sun was talking weird. He should say something instead.
"Ok. Yep. It''s working." Sun? How could he tell? It didn''t think much yet?
"How can you tell?" Styx stilled when moving and looked at the sun.
The sun stilled too, and looked at Styx, "Well, usually I have to listen to it think. It can describe a rock as black but it will actually be like, ''oh! A thing! It''s a rock? It''s a rock! Oh, this is black right? I think? It saw a black rock.'' It''s painful for me to deal with. Can''t help naturally ignoring it to protect my poor, vulnerable mind. That I didn''t hear that means it''s working."
Styx not-fastly started moving again and then looked at the sun once before looking in front again, "Ouch. That''s...well, good for you?"
"Yes. Yes it is." The sun also runned a bit and went near Styx before becoming normal moving.
How to go to school?
"We''re walking.Allll the way." Sun maked the all sound weird. Weird. "Walking" wasn''t bad. It just had to keep moving anyway. "You''re no fun." What did the sun mean?
"Well, actually, we''ll have to tell the Commander first and then wait for a group to travel with since it would still be risky to make the trip even as we are now. That, and we have to stock up on supplies, since otherwise we might be in trouble just casually trying to trek that way."
Styx''s explains were better. Sun, learn from Styx. Useless.
"Hey, it was supposed to be a joke, not my fault you don''t have a sense of humour."
It did too! It hadall the sense!
"Heh."
"Boy, you finally went loopy huh? Talking to air. Tsk tsk tsk-" A new demon was talking to the sun, and also they were back at the gate. Weird. It didn''t feel it.
"I assure you I am perfectl-" Sun was trying to talk, but went still after hearing the next part.
"-alright you''re done for the day."
"Never mind. I am gravely, seriously mentally ill and must therefore take paid leave. Bye and thanks in adv-geh!"
The sun tried to walk away but Styx holded the back of its clothes and pulled him back, telling the demon different.
"He''s just talking to his spirit. He''s certainly mentally ill in several ways, but no, he''s fine right now."
"What? No! I''m insane! Look at me! Ugagagagaga-thud." The sun tried to get out of the hold, but Styx dropped him and then talked again instead.
"We''ll finish today''s shift but after that, on the General''s orders we must return to school with the spirit and so will be leaving within the week. After we find a group to go with we will inform you."
The new demon looked from sun to Styx and back, then did the side to side head thing. "Sure, Styx. You do what you need to. No problems on my side. As foryou...really? Sad. I wentway further than that when I was pretending to be crazy. Amateur."
Saying what he needed to, the new demon walked back up the up-thing and went to another demon on the up of the side and started talking to it.
"So. That went well?" The sun said.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 27
"Went well? No thanks to you." Styx maked a annoyed look to the sun. Then, Styx turned and went up the up thing.
It looked at the sun, and then went up after Styx. The sun would follow on his own anyway.
"Am I a joke to you?"
Yes. Oh yes. It just remembered. Should it evolve?
"You can? Already? Well yeah go for it."
What to pick? Crunchy Spirit fog, eating souls while moving around. Soul vortex, eating souls by making them come to it. "Lake" of souls, where it would do some weird eating or something and make souls come to it also. "Unholy fort," and make the bones to kill things. "Territory," and make things give "taxes." "Reaper''s will," and make "prey" run from it but go after it and then find other prey. "Shadow domain," and make body for itself to go in and fight with. "Gluttonous," eat lots. Then also "wrathful," and get a "physical" to kill things more fun way.
"Wrath. Go for wrath! Always sins! The other ones sound cool, but wrath! Wrath is cool you know. Well, I wouldn''t trust you with wrath-wrath, but wrathful isn''t legit wrath right? So yea. Also gluttony is hard to feed. Also because again...wrath!"
Sure. It would get a "physical component."
"But wait! The shadow domain one. It also makes a body right? And its not wrath...so not psychotic. As much. Urgh, wrath or shadow. So difficult."
The shadow domain can be "remade" and the wrath probably can too.
"Well, that doesn''t help much. Honestly, they all sound pretty good. Especially the fort. And territory. I mean being a independent but also match for many is cool. I mean they all kinda are. Damn. Evolutions are hard. Mine are usually much easier."
How?
"Well, the standard ones I just ignore. Then, I pick the one with the most appealing name and description. Like last time. I had to pick between Greater Ice Demon, Hellfire Demonling, Dragon Blood Demonling, Demonling of Whispered Death, Demonling of Uproarius Death or Darkstalker Demonling Champion. It was obvious what to pick."
The one with death in the name? Because...death? And then between the two...the first one because first. It would pick that.
"No! Well yes, but no. The other ones were cool, but the Whispered Death was best. Why? Because Styx got a champion option as well and because the other ones didn''t fit me that well. If Styx picks his champion option, he gets to be at the front killing stuff as a leader. I shouldn''t get something overlapping since then the usefulness is limited. I usually go headhunting for leaders or special types in the battle. I also want to keep my magic option. The Darkstalker Champion would have me wading through my enemies and killing them physically. Which I can, obviously, or else the option wouldn''t be there. But I want to keep my magic. Uproarious and Whispered are the types of magic. Uproarious would mean loud and noisy, like dropping explosions and really obvious magic like that. Now that''s fun and all, but impractical in battle. In my opinion anyway. I would rather quietly kill them off with wind blades and physical enchants plus actual assasination skills than make myself a target. That''s Styx''s job."
Wow. So much thinking. For something that should be easy.
"It was easy though. It really boiled down to me wanting to have fun. Pretty much any option except the Greater Ice Demon was fine since that was just boring. But I wanted magic and being an assasin. Doing something that makes you happy is important too. But well, you seem fine regardless of what you pick huh?"
Well, the physical fighting was sounding fun.
"Eh, well how about the shadow domain. That way you can keep developing the domain as well and don''t have to give up entirely on territory type stuff. Also because you as a berserk war machine sounds scary. I would rather you not be motivated by your wrath because you sure as heck aren''t going to keep a leash on it."
Ok. So, the shadow domain one. Go!
"Wait, what? You''re doing that here? Hold o-!"
EEEEEEVVVVVVOOOOOLLLLVVIIIIIINNG.
Well. That felt better.
"Hahahahaha. Oh wow. I don''t know what I expected. Physical component indeed! Hilarious!"
What? What was so funny? Was it not cool?
"COOL! Hahahahaha. Well. I mean I guess. Eventually. Not now though! Your ''body'' is literally just a floating head! A creepy head, but still."
Hmmmm. Indeed. Its head was now here. It was...easy-not. To make up and to move. The mana use was a lot. It was in a weird cave and Styx was doing the down and not talking thing.
"Our shift ended and you were still evolving, so we were wondering what to do. Also because you were messing up the mana around you and I mean, even if you''re small a random head slowly forming in midair is rather...noticeable. So I suggested we carry your head back to our tent. Styx said it would never work but not only were you touchable - kind of, I had to use mana to protect my hands - but your actual body floated after your head! So we brought you here and left you. Styx and I did some looking around for fellow travellers and then he went to sleep. I was waiting for you since I felt like you were kind of thinking again from the connection."The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Oh. It looked down at the sun who was still on the ground and looking at it as he think-talked. Then, what was it supposed to do now?
"For one, I would appreciate you learning to control that crazy corrosion of yours first. Otherwise you won''t be able to touch anything without corroding it away. Maybe really good materials but even they will probably lose durability. So go smack your head into the ground and practice not corroding the ground while the rest of your body grows...in? Out? Whatever. See you in the morning, I''m going to sleep now. Oh also. DON''T randomly wander around even if your body grows...in or out while we''re asleep. Wait until we wake up."
Ok. Whatever. After all, he did give it something useful to do. Kind of. It had learned how not to do the black-making, or "corrosion" a long time ago. But, it wasn''t really working with this body. For one, it felt different and was harder to control. When it moved around it was very unfast or very fast. When it was very fast it almost hit the side of the "tent" and breaked it. It used a lot of mana but it stilled itself before it actually hit.
This whole body actually felt like part of itself. Which it should. Itwas its body. But what that meaned was also that itwas the corrosion. The body corroded anything it "touched." It didn''t have to try to do it. It just did. Which was bad. It had to make itselfnot do that, or it would not be able to do this school "stuff" probably!
The first try was making the mana not corrode.
Try...and not work. It just maked the helmet change look. Very unfastly, but it did. That was a no. Also changing the helmet/body/head thing maked it feel bad. Very bad. Like it should not do it. So that trying was a no then.
The next try was making the thing it touched not corrode.
It was sounding the same, but it knowed this was different. Very different. Making the mana do something different was easy. Making the thing it touched do something different was very uneasy. When it touched the thing, the thing itself changed and corroded. It didn''t really just happen. Something else in it changed. So then what could it do to change what the thing did when it was touched?
That was obvious. It just changed what happened when the mana went into the thing. If changing the mana before the corrosion didn''t work, maybe during-before it would? So that was what it did.
It still didn''t work like it wanted it to.But, the corrosion taked longer to happen now. It made the mana...not corrode. Which was easy-not. Because the mana wanted to corrode. Or at least that was what it felt like. It wasn''t like the mana was a thing that was...was it? It moved kinda, and itdid rest. For it anyway. When it used mana it went away and had to wait to get more.Was it a not-dead thing? Well, as long as it was doable it was fine, right?
It was very easy-not but if itcould make the corrosion unfaster, than it just had to keep making it unfast every bit of time and the corrosion wouldn''t happen. Which was easier to talk about than do.
It tried, it really did, but, the best it could do was make the corrosion much unfaster to happen. But then its head got tired - the actual one, not the physical one - and it couldn''t make the mana not corrode anymore. Then it would corrode the ground and it would have to take over again after a unbig rest time. Very bitty rest time, but still enough to corrode the ground.
A good thing though was that while it was trying to do the not corroding, the body was becoming more! Its head was now on a body that was very unfastly also getting arms and legs. Well, the arms were becoming but the legs under were not there yet. First it had to get the down part of the body also.
The bad thing was that now it had to try to still more of itself all the time so the time it could go without corroding actually got lesser instead of longer by many tryings. There was more of the ground it was corroding each time too and it was starting to get a bit, just a bit, bad. Because the tent sides were moving around and looked like they would drop. But it also couldn''t just go out, because it was telled to wait here. So, for now, it could keep trying by using its actual body to move the physical one and make it in the up but down way so the head up was the only part touching the ground. That was what it started with anyway.
So, instead of making the hole bigger side ways, only in the one place it was going more down. That also had a bad part though. It had to very much think to make its actual body move the phsyical one and with also trying the corrosion still, it used a lot of thinkingness. And mana. Especially the moving the physical body part. That was easy-not.
Itwas ok kind of, but it was going to be annoying that was for sure. Since it could already hear the sun talking and talking about making such a big hole in his tent. Since it looked like the sun was going to drop over the side of the ground and into the hole in a soon time. Since...well, since it was so much bad anyway, maybe just keep going? It was going to get talked at by the sun anyway, so a bigger hole wouldn''t change anything. Just like how a bitty hole in a demons head, or a big one, or even the whole head becomingsplat, still killed the demon. The bigness of the hole didn''t matter after it was made, right? Yes, that was probably right.
Corroding, corroding. Corroding holes in the grouuuund, corroding, corroding, making many big holes in the ground. Making the tent move, and sun talk loudly, corroding, corroding, holes in the ground. Making the sun angry, and all for the school~
Hm. This was fun. It could get used to this too.
Corroding~
Spoiler: Status
Body Status:
Missing arms, legs, and lower abdomen
Status Points: 46
Health Points (HP): 233/467
Mana Points (MP): 467/467
Intelligence
74
Wisdom
16
Strength
10
Dexterity
5
Endurance
15
Chapter 28
Now corroding was fun. This was a true thing. But so was having a body. It never really knowed before, even when it used the bones, it was still different. It could see through the bones eyes, and kind of hear, and it could even feel their bodies and used that to move them.
Even its actual body could hear and see. But the touch? No. It could kind of feel touch, sometimes. But not really. Hard to description. A body though? With a body, the touch was so much more...touchy.
The ground on its head, and even the...whatever that feeling was touching the rest of its body. Was that whatits body felt like? Somehow, that didn''t feel right. So then, what was this other thing it couldn''t see or hear that was touching it and felt weird? Whatever it was, it was weird...but good!
Good, because it was newand wasn''t making it hurt!
Oh yes, feeling touch at first was hurting. Very hurting. It didn''t know what the many feelings from touch were and they felt bad.
Now though, it could be happy with touch since it could now find and know more about the world in more ways! Not just see and hear, but also touch now!
Oh right, and that touch did feel kind of bad sometimes.
Once, it let its body go instead of holding it and the body started to drop side way. But that wasn''t what hurt. No, when it let go, at that time, it felt like something was hitting its head down and the body hurt before it felt less when it went side way. Still, it fastly used its actual body to hold the body again and ut it like it was before. This time remembering not to let go again.
One of the new things with its phsyical body though was also that the seeing was different. It could still see, but there was more color and the eyes didn''t actually look every way. Its actual body could, but this body''s eyes only looked the way they were at and where there wasn''t anything in front. It couldn''t see behind it with its body since the helmet covered that part.
Oh right. And it had a mouth. Kind of. It didn''t do anything with it so it wasn''t sure how to use it, or what for. Hope was that it could talk maybe and not have to use the projector or talk from sun to talk to other demons.
Still, when its body was there full, and not just the body, and head, but arms and legs too, then it stilled. Not to corrode or think, but to feel. Just feeling the thing''s around it. The unseeable thing, the ground under it and to the sides, and even its own body. Just having a body felt weird.
It all of a time-not-before-but-now had arms and legs. Moving them different from its actual body didn''t take too long to learn. Moving them in a differentway did.
Its actual body just moved however. This body, the arms would not go around it from the back. Its legs could not turn around to walk sideways or back. It was...new. Kind of not letting it do everything it wanted...but, it had touch and that was what it wanted to it was whatever. It still had its actual body anyway.
Stilling and feeling the feelings would be fun too, but after all, it could feel more and better if it didn''t corrode everyhting it touched, right? So it went back to corroding and not corroding. It was only when it looked back to corroding though that it realized it wasn''t not corroding while it was feeling and thinking so its hole was now much more down than it was before. This was...a more than it thought would happen. Oh well. More feeling was ok!
Since after all, sometimes while corroding it finded rocks in the ground that felt different than the ground.
It could hear sounds out, as the every thing became not asleep and started doing things. They were doing things at night too, like talking about how many "flagons of beer" they could "drink." That and fighting each other. Fun stuff basically.
Soon, enough it could hear the sun also move around and get up.
"Styx," the sun less strong hit Styx with a leg, "get up. It''s morning. Time to pratice more magic!"
Styx didn''t get up though and instead moved away, saying, "Go away."
"Styxxxxx!" The sun moved and hit Styx with an arm this time, making Styx move around, "I can''t practice fireballs as well without a moving target!"
"Go away, or I will gut you." Styx didn''t move away again, but turned his face to the sun when he said that. Its eyes were still closed though.
"Ok then. Sooooo, spirit let''s - what the - what did you do!?" The sun moved up a bit and his legs weren''t touching the ground when he did the up. However, he didn''t drop back down.
Styx holded his head with a hand and very unfastly moved side to side on the spot, with his head dropped down, "This better be important, ok, because otherwise, I am going to...hm. So? Wasthis what you interrupted my sleep for? Hm?"
"Wait, wait! Isn''t my reaction more normal here!? He dug up the ground! Our tent is half-collapsed! And the hole is deeper than the damn walls are high! And it''s balancing on its head! What more could youpossibly want!? I''m innocent here!" The sun moved around his arms and legs fastly to try and get down, but Styx only dropped him after a time.
Stilling again, Styx looked like he was thinking again, before finally getting opening his eyes a bit. "Ugh. Sunlight." And that was it.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The sun looked at Styx for a bit with a weird look and then turned to look at it, "What exactly are you doing?"
"Practicing" the school stuff.
"How is this school stuff?How!?"
It just is.
"What the - alright. Look. I''m not going to question that. Seeing as the only thing that can do this among your abilities - unless you suddenly learned Earth magic - is that corrosion or whatever, I''m gonna guess you were trying to control that. I can even understand why you''re doing a headstand. Sure. But.Why did you keep going until the hole was this deep? Are youtrying to cause my death by dropping me into this hole?" The sun walked closer to the hole and looked down at it as he talked.
Eh. He said not to go out. It didn''t go out. Still angry? What a weirdo. Unreasonable.
"Whatever. Not gonna argue that. I''m moving out soon, so this is whatever. Who cares. I don''t. Nope. Not my problem. You do whatever, I''m going to go practice magic. Oh right. Now that you have a body, you should have physical stats too, right? Well, what do they look like?" The sun unfastly moved around the hole to get to the going out way.
5 "Dexterity!"
"That''s...that''s uh, that''s pretty terrible. I have seen crude stone golems with more dexterity." The sun stilled where he was and turned to it to talk, with a weird expression. Though it looked like the laughing expression almost.
What? What was a "golem?" And this was a less?
"Yes. I mean, evenI have like 67 dexterity. Then again, I suppose Ido use a lot of flexibility related skills. And drawing a good magic circle takes effort...so maybe not a fair comparison. But, Styx is like a standard knight kind of guy, and I''m pretty sure he''s got dexterity somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30 to 40. With only five you are going to get destroyed by literally anyone in melee combat. At school anyway. You could probably kill an unintelligent monster as long as your other stats are ok..." The sun had a very bored expression now and was walking away.
10 "strength!" Wasthis good?
"Uh, kind of? I mean even the average imp usually hits that with some training. I have 46 by the way. Heh. That''s 36 more than you!" He put both hands at its head behind and walked out.
It also maked itself try to move up and out the tent but the mana use was a lot so instead it tried to use the legs it had now - after first turning itself back so that the legs touched the ground and not its head.
Using legs was hard as the bones showed it all that time before, but since it always used them from inside it could kind of move its legs. The problem was its legs didn''t work the same as the bones and that the thing it was trying to go up with keeped breaking under it and sending it back down. That and it couldn''t put a leg up higher than its head, but the sides went up and had no...side thing to move up with unfastly.
So instead, it just moved and walked in the same way the sun went and unfastly corroded the ground in front of it tomake it have that side to walk along. It would have to be careful not to corrode too much but it easy made a way under and coming up from the actual going out way of the tent. When its head finally came out of the ground, covered in ground since while it was corroding the ground around it keeped breaking, it seeed the sun making more suns from his hands.
What was that, and how to do it!
"Die!"
The sun maked a sun come at it and it hit very easy not, making it drop.
"Whoa, wait how did you get up!? I thought you were Styx! Are you ok!? You''re not dead right?" The sun runned to it and touched the part where the fireball hit, where it made a hole.
Well, it was fine since it wasn''t on the thinking to kill it, since it only hurt a little. There was a hole in its body but it wasn''t all the way. And it was unfastly becoming not there on its own anyway as mana went into the around the hole. Still, that was interesting. So that was what a fireball felt like. It was...weird?
"Your body is pretty fragile for something that looks like a suit of armor...is it made of cheap iron or something? A fireball shouldn''t have done so much damage to a good suit of armor, I mean mine aren''t all that hot or explosive...wait, what''s your endurance?" The sun moved back again while he talked and then made another fireball. He looked at it for a bit and then dropped it on the ground, looking back at it.
Bang
The sun looked more at the ground after the fireball sound came and then said, "Ah, never mind. Mine seem to have more piercing power. I suppose I unconsciously concentrated it. Still, shouldn''t have madethat big a hole. And your armor''s still smouldering a bit..." The sun walked side to side while thinking, and stilled when it told him its endurance.
15.
"That''s...low? Not low at all for a starting endurance if you were a fleshy thing, but I mean if that''s what counts as your armor''s defensive ability that''s really low. That''s only 3 higher than the highest endurance I saw on an untrained imp. It''s still better than a human''s endurance haha. But yeah that''s uh. Youcan increase it right? A punch from me could probably break your chestplate or head. Not that you''re likely to die from that but still, I would recommend you focus you time on endurance training. Your health pool may also be tiny if your other''s stats are that bad." The sun looked around for a while as it talked, then stilled, thinking about something.
Alright. That sounded good. Not breaking was good and breaking was bad. More endurance was less breaking and that was also good.So it should try to make more endurance. Ok. Maked sense. Very much sense actually. Only how did a thing get more endurance? Did it just make more mana go into its body?
"While it would be interesting to test that, how about instead, - I know I''m going to regret this - I give you a couple of magic lessons as repayment?"
MAGIC!
"That''s what I thought..." The sun put a hand to its head up part and then looked at it again. "So you wanna be a mage, huh?"
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 29
"Well, first. Let me explain magic. Abridged. Basically. You take mana right? And then, you make it do stuff. Make sense to you?"
The sun was talking to it in a big place that had only some other demons around. They were fighting each other or doing weird things like running around for no reason. No demon really looked at it much, a look or two and that was it. Back to their own thing. Which was weird in its opinion. Why weren''t they looking longer at the amazing and cool thing that it was?
"The trick to it, is that first, you convert regular mana into a type - or not if you are using neutral - and then arrange the shape of it as well as the magic circle you want to use. When you''re done, you fire it. You can also just brute force it, like you do. That''s what your corrosion is. It''s not like you''re using magic. You''re just literally applying the properties of your mana. Makes sense right?"
Sure.
"Magic in the traditional sense would be...shaping it? Like the difference between say, having a lot of muscle and then just punching the enemy, versus using technique. I mean with ice attribute mana, I could just release it randomly and freeze my surroundings. I don''t have to make it into say, a spike or something to attack with it." The sun maked some mana come from its hand and become weird stuff in the...up-space to show it before stilling the mana going out.
Oh, so then magic would be like, instead of just corroding, it would make the corrosion into a sun and go at something?
"Yeah, basically. In your case though, you have pseudo-void. Which I read up on because I''m a good friend. Unlike a certain poison-tongued, er, person. Anyway. You''re unstable. If you were a normal living thing you would either be a twisted abomination or dead." The sun walked around while talking and pointed at it with the last part.
Well. That sounded kind of bad. Maybe. What was an "abomination?" And was it bad?
"An abomination is...uh, a really, really, messed up thing. That is typically considered a kill on sight or run away type thing. And yes, typically that''s bad."
Oh. Well. Then it was definitely bad things. And good that that didn''t happen. Ok. All was well. Since it didn''t happen.
"As it is, while your initial affinities are likely intact, void is an aggresive attribute and you went and made the incomplete - and so, very unstable - version of it your main body composition."
Hmmm. Well, at the time it seemed like a good thing. Also, he was the one who telled it to do that. So not its problem.
"Uh. Ahem. Anyway, that''s also why you can''t control your corrosion properly. In order to do that, all you have to is become an actual void spirit. You know how easy that is?" The sun was looking at it again. Like he thought it could tell.
No? Also...sun was talking very intelligence. And that was...new. Since he was being helping, it could think more on being insulting to it. Just a bit.
"Obviously. Well, how did you get pseudo-void?"
Evoluti - oh, so it would just have to evolve again? That didn''t sound bad.
"What? No. That would be a waste. You''re lucky switching to pseudo-void also ranked you down. You would have cut off some nice opportunities otherwise. Well, evolution is actually a relatively natural phenomenon, the system is more of a crutch. So, you don''t need it to evolve, as in, you can do at least small changes on your own y''know. Unless you''re completely incompetent." The sun walked over to it and looked down on it.
Wait, what? How? Wasn''t he less up then it? When did that happen? Oh, no he just made the weird color stuff he made with the mana on the ground and was on it.
"That''s what you''re worried about? Ok. I''ll guide you through this. Now, normally, this would be a long and complicated procedure. But, there''s a simpler way. If you already have the pseudo version, then to get the full thing, just needs a push! Ready?"
That didn''t sound good. What was he doing? What? Stay away! NO! Stop that!
The sun moved it towards a place in the open place where there was only the bad mana.
"This is void mana. We contained some here for training purposes. Now, take a shower in it ok? If you start dying I''ll pull you out, so don''t worry."
Wait! This didn''t sound like a good -
HURT! IT HURT!
The sun holded it by the back of its head and pushed it into the badness. "What doesn''t kill you, makes you slightly less likely to die from it later! Sometimes...."
WHY? No, wait actually this wasn''t that bad. Also, thatdid seem pretty true...
"Are you messed up in the - actually no, this makes things easier. Now just do your best to eat the void mana around you. Feel it, and make your own mana like it. Or just replace your body with it. Once it takes root, it should devour the pseudo-void mana and replace it."
That sounded kind of bad...but! It was true that being "incomplete" sounded bad. Hmmm. Wait, could the sun do that too?This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"What? No! I would die if I started replacing parts of my body like that."
What? That was boring. Oh right. Also.
"Yeah?"
Well, it wasn''t sure if this was important or not.
"What? You''ve never cared before anyway. Just say it. Can''t be dumber than your made up words."
Well, it seemed like it was dying and should be pulled out now.
"Oh, well - WHY DIDN''T YOU SAY THAT BEFORE!"
The sun fastly pulled it back with the hand and dropped it on the ground.
It could know why too. The bad mana and its own mana went all around and fastly corroded the ground. The bad mana didn''t usually do that, but it was fighting the mana from it. Also, since that mana was its body it was unfastly being corrroded too. Which was hurt. But, well, it was kind of boring. Since, it could just look and not do anything. It had more mana like this so it would be the winner.
"Aren''t you too casual about this...? Eh, whatever works. So, try to recover before we go for round two. Remember to try to adapt to the void mana."
"Adapt" he says. How to do that? Eat, right? But that seemed not good?
It was trying and all that, but it didn''t work all that well. The void mana and pseudo-void just hit each other and made its body feel weird. Like hurt, but also a new feeling.
"That''s heat. You''re burning up. Not literally."
Oh. How did he know that?
"You''re sending the feeling through the link. Because it''s intense. Good thing you don''t have normal pain reception."
The sun was just looking from a not near place and making his mana do weird things while looking. Like changing the "shape."
It looked up from the ground where it was dropped down on and turned the head of its body to see when it heared the walking sounds.
Styx was coming here too, probabaly having awaked.
He walked over to it and hit it a bit with his foot, the mana going to his foot but not corroding. "So, you''re going with this plan? Looks painful. And ineffective."
The sun looked at Styx and then away again, "I doubt it''s smart enough to do the other way. The brute force method is best for it. I mean it''ll take like, a month almost to get there again right? Even if it''s slow it can keep doing that on its own until it works. I mean, there''s nothing stopping it."
"Yeah. Except the debilitating pain and lack of void mana outside of here. Well, I have sword training to do." Styx then walked away a bit and started moving around the sword he had.
It looked up, just at the sun up above and waited. Its own body, the physical one, was also corroded, just like its actual body, and as it waited it could feel it unfastly becoming like before again. The actual body was unfaster, but it defintely felt different.
It looked at the sun moving his mana around into shapes, and making it do weird things. What was the point of that thing he did though? The part where before the magic happened, he made a shape which was...not around and filled, and when the mana went into it, some weird thing happened before the mana became a new thing. The new thing looked like a small club, and the sun holded it and then throwed it at Styx.
"I''m bored. Let''s fight!"
Styx hit the thing and made it drop, "You''re going to lose again." Then he runned at the sun and tried to hit him with the sword.
The sun wentunder it and then hit Styx with the up part of his arm, making him go back a bit, then tried to hit him with another small club he made at some point.
Styx hit it away fastly with his other hand, then actually moved the sword...away?
No! It went away, then turned and came back faster!
The sun fastly made another thing with his mana that looked like a rock and hit the sword with it, making it go up; BUT THEN Styx used a leg to hit the sun in his body and made him drop back.
He dropped but then did a weird moving way that made him go even more back and the sword Styx hit back down hit the ground instead. Before Styx pulled the sword out of the ground again, the sun made many clubs go throwing at Styx.
BUT! Styx pushed the swordmore into the ground and holded it with both hands, and then made his whole body go up, with his head almost on his sword not-hitting side. Then he dropped back down the other side and pulled the sword out while dropping, hitting down at the sun.
The sun fastly movedat the sword and turned so it went down along his body and made a big magic club to hit Styx with. At the same time, Styx''s body changed color and the sword that hit it just went off, and then Styx''s sword was at the sun''s head.
"I win." Styx said while still holding the sword to the sun''s head. "You can''t even cut me anyway."
"Heh. We''ll see. That was just an experiment. Look again." The sun had a happy face when saying that, so Styx looked down where the sword hit on his body.
"Ah. You''re improving. Not a bad plan."
There was a place there the same color as the weird stuff the sun made with his mana on Styx''s body. But it still didn''t cut so did it take away mana like it did?
It wanted to do that kind of thing too. It looked fun. And its body wasn''t the same as before...but the void mana was gone. And if it was just the same as before...
It getted up and went over to the void mana place. And walked into it.
The sun and Styx were looking at it since it getted up and when they seeed it go into the place, the sun laughed. "Yeah, you were that type huh. Hey, Styx, let''s keep practicing. I''ll stick with only dodging now, since I need to work on my proficiency. A dodge a day keeps the next hit away."
Styx also moved back to where he was before the fight and pointed the sword at the sun. "Sure, I needed a target dummy to work on my sword skills too."
While they fighted it felt the void mana start making it "heat up" again. There was the pain it now knowed was "burning" and the usual pain that the bad gave. But, instead of waiting, fighting with the void mana this time, might be better?
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 30
Well, looking back. This may have been a bad idea. Just a bit.
"Run away! It''s surging again!"
"Wait! We have to grab that idiot somehow! It''s dying!"
"How!? The thing''s erupting! There''s void mana everywhere!"
It was funny to see Styx running around while sun thought about how to get it out of here. Which was also funny since it was fine. Really. Sure, it was slowly becoming lesser, and the burning was more bad than ever before. This all started when it tried to do the whole, trying out ideas thing.
First, it went into the void mana. That was fine. Everything ok. Normal.
Then, it pushed some of its mana out. Like when it actually tried to corrode something. That was also ok. The mana going out that is. That, it could still do.
But then. Then the mistake happened. As expected, the mana it pushed out started pushing back the void mana. But the void mana didn''t like that. Or it did? Whatever the reason, it started corroding back. Now, in its thoughts, the obvious thing to do here was to hit it back then. No bones getted away with that without dieing and no void mana would either.
So that worked just fine also. But there was a little not good that it did. There was more void mana than there was its mana. Also, the pseudo-void was less than void. It was eated by the void mana more easy. So then, it needed more mana to fight it. Where was the mana? In the stopping thing at the sides. So, it ate that. When it did...the things happened.
Void mana went everywhere. And that was what the sun was running around for. In other words, normal. It thought this was fine.
But. Hey, it was working more. This time it could really feel the void mana becoming part of it. Or it was just its soul burning. That was a possibility. But it could always hope!
Soul Corroding
What? Why now? It was even thinking about how good everything was going. Then this shows up with its stupid explaining. There went hope. Since it didn''t feel like it was too much pain it was probably fine.
"No! No it''s not! Get out of there!"
Later. This was kind of nice. The burning actually felt good when you getted used to it.
"It''s gone loopy! Styx it''s up - Styx?" The sun looked at Styx.
He was throwing mana at some void mana going far out. "I have to contain this! Or we''ll get in even more trouble than we already are! Also that''s your problem.I''m not sticking my hand in there. Actually as the mage type guy, this is on you. Go, I believe in you!"
Sun just looked at Styx. "Nice. Big help."
Haha. Funny. Also funny was the demons far away running around. Oh some of them were coming nearer and doing more to stop the void mana.
Well, either way this wasn''tits problem. Not the void mana out there and not the start of this. The sun should have telled it about this. Right. How wasit to know that pushing and pulling the void mana and maybe a little bit eating the mana that was around the void mana and stopping it would do this. It was a normal problem. Anything could have done this. And the stopping part was too unstrong right? Just a bit of eating and it breaked? No, this was the problem of whoever made it.
"Yeah right! Also Ecromina made it."
Uh, well, then, it still wasn''t its problem. It was sunand Ecromina''s problem. Ecromina probably made it good, but Ecromina should have thought more about it. It was just too unstrong for this. The thing itself was good. Right.
"Say that to her face. No wait, I will. Hahahahaha."
Wait what? That, felt like it would be bad. Since the General looked so in fear. Maybe a angry Ecromina wasn''t the best idea...right, then, this was sun''s problem. He did it. If anyone asked, he did it.
"What!? Hey! Why is that the kind of skills you''re learning from me!"
His problem.
"Wha - ok, fine. Get out of there yourself." The sun walked away.
Well,he would be the one who getted talked to by the General...
"I hate you."
It''s ok sun. Someone had to be the voice of reason. And here that one was.
"...I...just...just try to pull back the void mana. Somehow. I can maybe repair the sealing bit."
Ohhhhh. Ok. Sure. It could try. It''s body was kind of mostly not there. But sure. Yes. It could do this.
"...yeah, you do that." The sun said that but then went away and started helping Styx and the other demons push the void mana.
Now, how to do this. In the castle, the breaking was done by moving mana around in the sides. If it could movethat mana, then this mana should also work? After all...when the void mana went everywhere, some parts of its actual bodyalso went everywhere. It could maybe pull those back and move the void mana on them back with them.Stolen novel; please report.
The problem withthat was the body parts were corroding. And not close. Or on it actually. And body parts not on it didn''t usually work. Too bad it didn''t have spirit bones. Then the bones could touch mana and do this stuff for it...
Or did it? Just think about the bones. If bones were bones, but they were bones even when away. It did not see them moving the bones...but, maybe that was because they were stupid? The bones didn''t even always touch so they could do that, why couldn''t it? Then, by that reasoning,its body was its body even when not on it right? Right.
Then it could move around the bones by being in them. Even if they weren''t it. Whycouldn''t it do that with its actual body? That was kind of stupid right? The only reason it couldn''t was because it didn''t try it. Since it was too intelligence to not do it.
"That logic..."
It heared that! Silent sun! It was thinking things too intelligence for a not very intelligence thing to think.
"...You''re right about it being beyond me; that''s for sure."
Styx looked at the sun who keeped talking, "So, is it still alive? Because it would suck if it died. It''s, the fourth member of our Order."
"It''s alive..." The sun didn''t even look at Styx when he said that.
Styx did look at sun though, "Why do you sound disappointed then?"
Sun looked at Styx once, "I have created a monster. It''s like me but minus the good looks and genius."
"You''re not much better..." Styx looked away when he said that and sun just looked at Styx with a ''angry'' expression.
It wasn''t not thinking about working or anything. It was just that. This putting itself in body parts thing was hard. So it was looking at the sun and Styx while trying this.
It didn''t work. Very not worked. Which was annoying. And bad. And hurting. Because the void mana was still eating it.
Sun. This wasn''t working as good as it thought it would.
"You''re useless! Uselessssssss!"
Useless!? It was? No, right? It could think of this and the sun couldn''t! It was more intelligence.It was more use.Sun didn''t break a castle, right? Right?
So it could do this! Breaking castles also made much time go by. This was the same. Right. Since it''s not like there were many of it. But therecould be. If it could do this. Then there could be. Then, it could break castles...faster! And have many bodies to hit things with! And get a new club! This body didn''t actually make one.
So. First, try to move the body. Like it was still on it. Like...like it was still its. But how? No, wait. Wasn''t that it? The bones did it like that. They had a mana so the bones could be not touching but still not dropping. Some touched, but not all. The ones where there were breaks or parts not there. They unfastly sometimes closed the breaks.
It could close breaks too, so all it needed was mana. Which it also had. Just making the mana go out and touch the other parts of it. How hard could that be?
Move the mana out. Unfastly. Unfastly. And then, it will touch the body parts. The actual body was already not there though. It would have to wait again. So bad.
Ok, it was there. Much mana...but there.
Then to other parts. And other parts. And other parts. And other parts.
And there. Done. Now it had many little mana parts going out and touching other body parts. All that was not done. Was pulling it...back...?
Why wasn''t it working? The mana was definitely its. It was...but was it only like that because the void mana made it close? Was it not part of it no more? No, but it was its mana. It could always move mana, and its own should be easy.
Part or not, mana was mana, and this wasits mana. So, just move more mana, and pull. Make that mana come to it. Come back to the place it should be. Eaten by it.
And make the void mana come with it.
Somehow. Because there were places where there was no body, the void mana did not become pulled. But what if there was?
If it was just mana, then putting more into the bodies far away, and making them make going out arms to cover the places. Would work? Right?
And it did. It was almost no mana, but it felt weird. Like it was getting more mana from a thing. The void mana also felt less bad. But still bad.
It was fine though, since with the pull, the void mana came back, and the demons and sun pushed back the other void manas.
"You look like one of those slimes. Tentacles everywhere. Nice job though. Or more like, that idiotic reasoning led you to this? That''s...strangely skilled mana manipulation." The sun moved around his hands on the stopping thing while talking.
Obviosuly. It was still corroding though so, shouldn''t the sun...do something?
"Oh, don''t worry I''m not that cruel. Casting a temporary seal is easy, I don''t need to focus on it until I do the final touches. Being careless too much is bad after all."
So. Waiting.
"Hold on. Hey, Styx, add some mana here. You guys, add mana to the parts that look like this, ok?" It could see now more better, that while the sun talked he was putting mana in weird moving ways. And after he said it, so were the other demons and Styx.
"Ok done. Hey come out."
It would have done that before if it could. Did itlook like it wanted to corrode that much? Just because it wasn''t that bad didn''t make it a good idea. Also soul corrosion was more hurting than regular. New learning.
"I can''t touch you. I don''t have the mana hand spell figured out. Or more like, it''s actually kinda hard."
Well, it was actually corroding faster now that the all void mana was back so he should think faster.
"So. This may hurt, but if magic is the only thing that touches you, I''ll just hit you with a spell. If I put ice enchant on my hands...and then...yeah. So this will hurt. Likely. Styx, guys, send me some mana?"
The other demons did a weird thing and mana went out of them, towards the sun, and the sun pulled it in. Then he put his hand into the void mana. It tried corroding his hand, but he used more mana and fighted it away, then touched it.
It hurt in a new way. Like burning but different. Then, his hand was moved back and it was out.
It was lesser than before, and it was felt much hurt, and was maybe a little bit of a problem. But it learned more things. Which was fun.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 31
"So. Let''s run away before Ecromina shows up?" Sun, that was a good thought. Even if he was already running without waiting for Styx.
"Agreed."
And that was it. Styx and sun runned away from the place, because they were feared of Ecromina. It went after them. Not because it was in fear. It didn''t do anything not good. It was all sun. It was just going with them because it was fun, new.
It wasn''t in fear of anything. That wasn''t what it did. It did good things only. Nothing to be in fear of. Even castles became breaked when it was there.
"I''m going to go meet some guys I found yestarday. Go buy some ropes and a...I don''t know. Just arm the spirit. Might as well make use of any war potential we can get. No matter how...much of a rookie it is." Saying that, Styx went down a side way between the many caves.
"Buildings. They''re buildings. Caves are different from buildings."
It went after the sun who went a different way than Styx.
How are caves and buildings different? If a buildings is made from rock, since that was definitely rock there on that ''building,'' how was a cave and building different? It was the same thing.
"Just call it one. That''s confusing."
No. A cave and building, were both a cave. He wasn''t giving a good explain.
"A building is smaller than a cave, yes?"
Ok. The buildings.
"Well, as long as we''re clear...what weapon do you want to use then."
"Weapon," it was club. Use the right word.
"A club is actually one kind of weapon. Weapons are not all called clubs."
So he says...but then what was a sword.
"...What do you mean? A sword is a sword."
But a sword is just a club that goes whish instead of crunch.
"What, but a sword is a sword. A club is a club."
No. A sword is a whish club. A club is a club.
"We''re not agreeing on this are we?"
No. Clubs. Are. Clubs. There was nothing to agree on. This was true. No thinking was needed.
"Sure. Well, bows are out for sure. I don''t see that happening. Swords are -"
No swords if he didn''t agree that swords were just clubs that wentwhish.
"Fine. Whatever. No swords. I''m not calling it a club. Ok. Uh. So, do you want to just use a club."
Sure. That sounded fun. It could -
"Crush. Just say crush. I don''t need to hear multiple crunching sounds in my head everytime you say that."
Oh. So it was crushing. Yes. Crushing was fun.
"Swords are considered cooler though..."
Cool-! But. Clubs. Swords. Which one. Cool. Or club. Was there a sword club?
"A greatsword?"
Was that crushing? And cool?
"More than a lame club."
What if it just getted both? A club and a sword? It had two hands. See?
"What kind of...look. You don''t wield a club and sword together. It looks stupid and its harder than dual sword wielding."
It looked around. They were already in a different place than before. There were more demons around and lots of that fire stuff. Now that it knew the feeling, this was heat. It could feel it here.
Well, it wanted both.
"Might as well grab a greatswordtoo. I bet you''ll just grow another pair of arms for it or something..."
Oh right. Its actual body could hold things.Could it do that?
"That''s super mana intensive. I wouldn''t recommend it."
So? It just needed more mana. That wasn''t hard.
"Yeah. For you. Soul eating isn''t normal. It''s suicidal. Actually, even that stupid fast mana growth from meditation is...damn spirits."
Heh.
"Right. So first. Let''s find some ropes. Uh, Kralzar''s sounds good." The sun pushed away demons and went towards a big building that had many demons going in and out.
"Hey Krax."
After going into the building through the gates, sun talked to a demon that was talking to another demon, and the demon said something before that demon runned away to some place after. It walked over to the sun.
"Greetings. When are you planning to get named, this is quite inconvenient."
"Eh. After I do a fitting achievement. I want to name myself something appropriate. By the way, I wanted some ropes. And weapons if you have any."
Krax looked a little, than went towards one way and the sun walked after, "Lets look at the weapons. I''ll get somebody to grab - what? How many ropes?"This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The sun thought a little, "Three. Three is fine."
"Alright. Hey Braz, bring me three of our rock eater waste ropes." Krax turned and said something to a this Braz demon, who was near and doing something with many small rock looking things.
Braz didn''t say anything, just went after putting down the weird thing with many rocks in it.
"So, why us for weapons? You must know we don''t stock good weapons. That would put us at odds withthose guys."
By now, the things around them were different. Before, it was just many weird looking things, but now there were armors and clubs - weapons as the weirdo said - put everywhere.
"Well, I don''t need a good one. It''s just for training purposes. It''s probably gonna get ruined anyway." The sun stilled in a place with a lot of swords and started holding them up, then putting them back down.
Krax also holded some swords, "What kind of sword are you looking for? Training aside, how tall, how heavy, and what are you planning on hitting with it."
Sun stilled with one sword and looked at it nearer, "Eh, he''s like, what, a little under two ulems? Not a ulem and a half, closer to two, but...not two? About?"
"Why does that sound like a question? If you don''t even know why didn''t you just bring the guy." Krax put down the sword and looked at sun.
"Er. Heis here. Like. Right there. See the floating partial helmet?" Sun pointed at it.
Some of its was becoming back after all. It wouldn''t just stay as a not there.
Krax looked where the sun was pointing, "Ah, is it a spirit? I assumed you just had an imaginary friend. Wouldn''t be the first time. Nor the strangest use of mana hands I''ve seen."
Sun looked angry at Krax, "Well, anyway, it''s still regenerating. So."
"So you were the cause of that incident earlier?" Krax looked at sun and he looked away.
"Stuff happened. Not my fault. Anyway, I want a sword, a club, and a greatsword. Maybe not that last one."
"Whatever. Not my problem either way. So, I suppose an average length sword will be fine until you get one custom made?" Krax moved over to a different thing with swords on it.
At some time, Braz came back holding some weird looking things and holded them towards the sun, who holded them, and then Braz went.
Krax looked once, "Thanks," and then looked back at sun.
The sun talked without saying anything. "Weight-wise, it''s at 15 strength. Probably can''t apply half of it, but yeah. A random one should be fine. I don''t plan on making him hit rocks. Just make sure its hard. Don''t bother with the sharpness.It will probably just be used in sparring with us."
Krax moved its hand over some swords and then pulled one up, putting it in sun''s hand. "That''s one."
Then, Krax moved around many things with other things on them, and went to a side with many clubs on it. "Here''s what we got. Solid rock will be heavy, but how about this? It''s just wood with some rock over the outside. It''s not much of a product, so I''ll just throw that in for free. You come here next time too, eh?"
Krax stopped after. "So, am I finding a greatsword too, or not?"
Sun thought. And thought. "Hey, I don''t think that we need one anyway right? How about no?"
It thought. That that made sense. Ok. It could get one when it wanted later, right?
"Right. Ok, yeah, we''ll pay for that then." Sun holded the sword and "ropes" and went towards a place, and Krax went after him holding the club.
Krax moved in the other side of the weird thing. "That''s one big silver and three small silvers. And yes, you can pay in Bits."
Sun laughed, "No, I have the regular stuff this time. Here, that''s exact. Thanks for the discount."
Krax also laughed, "No, it''s fine. We''re friends, no? Alright, then. See you around."
"Yeah, see you." Sun put the ropes over a arm up and then holded the sword in one hand and the club in another.
He walked out, and then looked at it, "You owe me for this. I look stupid carrying these. Especially the club."
"Owe?" What was an owe?
"Help me back sometime." The other demons didn''t look before, but now they looked. At sun.
Oh. Was that all. Didn''t it have to do that anyway? It did kind of say it would before once.
How come the demons were looking now though? Why not before? Was he that different now?
"Talking to nothing is normal. Plenty of people around here who do that. Why varies, but its not weird. Carrying around such a garbage weapon, is not."
Clubs were not "garbage." He was. In the first place, what was a garbage weapon? Did it really do anything? As long as it killed things it was good right?
"I suppose."
Bad answer. But it was whatever.
Now what were they going to do?
"I was thinking of just going back and waiting for Styx, but I''d rather he get back - and yelled at - first, so how about I show you the fun stuff?"
Like?
The sun stopped in a big space with many demons around a hole in the ground. "Well, first stop, right here. This, is the Pit."
And?
"That''s about it. It was dug as a well, but then monsters burrowed in and it turned out to be a whole lot deeper. There''s apparently a cavern down there, underneath the whole city. If it were to be collapsed we''d all fall and maybe die."
Ohhhh. Sounded fun to watch. Breaking things was always fun to watch. Wait, but wasn''t that bad? Like, really bad?
"Eh. I don''t know the specifics, and didn''t bother trying to find out, but there''s measures in place. Anyway, since having more monsters coming out of there would be annoying but is great for training, they left it open."
Ah, that made sense. "Training" seemed to be important after all. And what better way to do it then fighing? Fighting and breaking helped to do many problems.
"See those guys?" The sun pointed at some demons that were wearing armor and had clubs andwhish clubs with them. They were around the hole and looking into it.
"They''re going down to train. It''s mostly weak monsters, but since they''re insect type, there''s a whole lot of them. It''s a good place to learn how to deal with superior numbers. Best of all, the casualty rate''s only two for every five for this week. That''s pretty good right?"
Well, if he said so.
The demons about to go down looked back at sun and moved around their hands. Then, they did the same to the other demons. "We will return with minimal deaths!"
Hey, sun, would they?
"I predict, out of the twenty-three of them, maybe six come back. That''s gonna bomb the rate. Too bad. We were going for a record too. Ah well."
Oh, so most were going to die?
"Yeah. Well, maybe not." The sun started walking away from the place, going around more buildings towards another way, "Next is the Haunted Mansion!"
Ohhh that sounded fun!
As the Pit unfastly became not seeable, it thought about the ones going in. About how many would die, and how little would come back, and felt sad.
Since, it was going to not see such a fun thing. Monsters, and demons. Many would be dying and it couldn''t see them throwing around that nice red. Boring.
"Hey, don''t say that. Purple is a better color than red."
They could go back and back about which color was better the all time, but it would still say red was better. Maybe if purple was a more...dark color. Red was much darker.
"I think you meant deeper. And that''s only fresh blood. Not everything even bleeds red."
What? What?
"Now who''s stupid?"
No, it knowed "blood" became less good looking after time. It just didn''t know the word for the fun thing and was happy to know it now.
"Tch."
What?
"Nothing."
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 32
"See this? This is the Haunted Mansion!" The sun just was there in front of the building and moved hands to the sides, showing the "Haunted Mansion."
The sun had taked it around many buildings after the Pit and now showed it a weird looking building. It was also in a big place, with no buildings near it. Here too, many demons walked around.
"Obviosuly, it''s not really haunted as in like, some random people died with grievances or something. No, this is a special training facility that must be built in every settlement with a population larger than 5000, by law."
What is a "law?"
"It''s a rule - a thing that everyone has to do or listen to. Very important. Anyway-"
Laws. Important. Listen to "rules." Ok.
"-the house is an undead and corpses from monsters and demons are tossed in there so that it raises them as undead. Then, you go in and wait for an hour. After that, it becomes a maze and you have to fight your way out. There''s lots of ways of doing it, but the main point is getting experience with undead."
It looked at some demons going in. When the gates opened, it could hear many loud sounds like graaaahhhhh in it. The Mansion moved around a bit after the demons went in and the gates closed. There were some parts of the house that dropped and made thud or crack noises when they hit the ground.
"Of course, plenty of us go for fun. That, and you can get experience with mazes and traps in the process. It''s actually really fun. Mainly when you see friends get humiliated." Saying that sun seemed to think of something and started laughing loudly.
"I remember one time, a Patchwork Fleshwalker exploded and Styx was covered in its innards. Good times." Sun started laughing again, "And this other time-"
"-When this guy here fell through the floor into a pit of centipedes and freaked out. Haha. Right?" Styx hit sun''s arm top again and laughed.
Sun was still. "S-so, Styx, what brings you here? I was just showing it around y''know, being a good host, see? I think that you should first relax while I give you a detailed-"
"So, while I was wondering where you went you were enjoying yourself walking around showing, it the sights. I almost got set on fire by those crazies, and here you are, without a care in the world."
"I, uh, how did you find me?"
Styx let go of sun and moved in front. "I mean, a guard walking around with a sword in one hand and a club in the other and ropes over his back. Is quite noticeable, don''t you think?"
Sun laughed and moved a bit away, "Well, as you can see, I did do my share of the work. It''s not like I was slacking persay. I was, uh, taking the liberty to spend my leisure time effectively. I mean, we have another couple hours until it''s our turn on the walls."
"Really now? You did your job, is it?"
Sun nodded, "Yeah."
Styx laughed, "Then, why does that sword not have a sheath. Or strap to hang it with?"
Sun stopped and looked at the sword, then fastly back at Styx, "I mean. Um. Right, it''s just a practice sword."
"Ah huh. And you didn''t bother trying to find me and see if there''s anything else you could do, seeing as I handle a bulk of the work?"
"Ok. Styx." Sun moved up and hit Styx''s arm top, "Let''s just agree that we both made some mistakes today. I''ll help you tomorrow. So now, if there''s nothing else to do, how about we continue the tour?"
"Really? Are you serious right now?That''s all you have to say? You better get over yourself." Styx walked away.
"Eh, he''ll be fine. Right? Right. Ok. So, where was I..." Sun stopped and started thinking.
Was that ok though? Styx sounded unhappy. It wasn''t too sure, but usually, wasn''t it good to keepStyx happy? So that he could keep getting Styx to do things for him?
"That''s...not exactly why you''re supposed to maintain friendships...you know. If nothing else, your shock treatment is quite effective." Sun moved his hands side to side.
"Shock treatment?" What was that? It was just saying the true. Styx wasn''t its friend, so he was there to be used, right? Since he did stuff for him, that was why he was there, right?
"That''s not how friends treat friends ok. Friends are - should be - more important than that. You can''t just see them as tools. So, I guess I should go apologize. You''re right." Sun said that and then started running the way Styx went.
What? That wasn''t what it was saying at all though...well, whatever. This "tools" and not tools thing was too weird for it to understand. But then, were things just tools or not tools? Was that how it worked? Only not tools were harder to know right?
"Well as long as you''re not seeingeveryone as tools it''s fine I guess...I mean, not like another psycho''s gonna make a big difference. What''s one more psycho to this place?" Sun dropped and went under a big thing two demons were carrying.
It wasn''t sure how he didn''t hit the sword or club on anything. Really weird. Well, it just had to follow under right? It was more now after some time, but still "small" enough to go under like sun.
"So, anyways. Do you have any particular likes or dislikes? Something you think you see yourself doing in the future?"Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Killing things. It was fun. Or doing nothing. Or learning. Hurt was ok now.
The badbad feeling the weird thing from the castle did was a no. For sure that was a "dislike."
"Eh, so you''re fine with my personality?"
What?
"It''s not like I don''t get it you know. That I''m not exactly the best to be around. Styx and me became friends when Stix and I went to his birthday. It was after you left. Anyway, remember Styx? The guy who Stix mentioned? It was his younger brother. We ended up hitting it off. So since we were both going to school, we went together. Stix is cool too, but we''re more like good acquaintances than friends."
Oh. Well, it just thought he was using a different name.
"You couldn''t see the differences? I mean come on, Styx looks totally different from Stix!"
Wel they all looked kind of same to it. A bear and a wolf were different. A demon and a demon were only sometimes different.
"That''s...really. Uh. Can you at least tell apart me and Krax?"
Obviously. Why would it be hard to tell which was sun and which was Krax. They were very different.
"Uh. Sure. Oh, hey, there''s Styx! Ok. I just have to say I regret my previous actions. Not that hard. Right?"
Sure.
"Ok." Sun stopped and then fastly walked up to Styx.
He turned around. "What? Done already? Ok, let''s go."
"Huh?"
What?
Sun looked just as not sure as it was.
"Look, I''m not that mad. I mean, I get that you''re not a people person. Relax." Styx hit the sun''s arm top once, and then turned around. "Right, so ready to die? Ecromina''s gonna kill us."
"Ugh. Let''s hope it''s not the same punishment as last time. Cleaning the walls is stupid, and very, very tedious. Especially the arrow slits." Sun looked scared when he thought about it.
Was it really that bad?
"You''re right! Styx! The spirit can just use that corrosion to clean everything! We don''t have to struggle and figure out how to clean the arrow slits!" Sun looked very happy and after hearing it so did Styx.
But, was it really that bad? Even if taked lots of time, time was never not enough anyway. Why feel bad about it?
"You''re the abnormal one here, ok? Please don''t assume you''re the standard."
Itshould be though.
"You seem to be enjoying yourselves?"
"Yea - no, no. We''re actually very busy. And uh, crushed under the weight of our workload."
Ecromina was there somehow, it didn''t see when it came, and sun tried to look very sad. Styx actually unfastly started moving away, towards one of the sideways through the buildings.
"We," sun holded one of Styx''s arms, "were just looking for you! Really! No lie! We wanted to take responsibility for our actions and...apologize. Of course, we are willing to do chores to make up for it, such as, say, last time''s punishment."
Styx also did the head up and down, "We''re very serious about this. As well, it was a complete accident as a result of the spirit''s, er, curiosity. It was responsible for the accident. We, actually, didn''t cause it, and instead participated in containment."
Sun fastly added, "It could have been a lot worse. We may have even lost the spirit, but thanks to our timely actions, we were able to save it."
Ecromina just was there not talking until then and then after moving its head up and down once, it talked. "It''s not a major loss. Since even the seal only costs mana rather than material resources. It''s no loss. Unlike our weaker brethren, I''m not handicapped here nearly as much."
Sun and Styx looked happy to hear this, and started to talk, but then Ecromina continued, louder now. The other demons around had become not there at some point. It could still see some of them looking from away though, from behind buildings.
"But. But! Do you know, how long it takes to make that stupid sealing circle? Do you know how much paperwork and other nonsense I have to deal with in this stupid town?I have to file the reports for the daily deceased,I have to do the finances,Ihave to deal with negotiations with other bases, merchants, towns, and theidiots who rule them. Do youreally think, I have the time, to deal with some stupid sealing circleon top of everything else?"
Styx and sun looked around. Down, up, sides, and then just down, but not at Ecromina. Though it could feel it wa smore fear than bored.
Which it could get. Ecromina had a really scary feeling right now. Not thatit felt that bad. Since,it wasn''t the one being talked to here, and well, it was pretty sure Ecromina couldn''t hurt it. Or wait...sun could. Ecromina...could?
"The spirit''s fault? Of course it''s stupid. You were there! It''s yourjob to make sure it doesn''t do anything stupid. Not mine."
Eh. Stupid? It was? Well, it was true that it did something without knowing what would happen, but that was no reason to say it was stupid. No, it was intelligence. Very intelligence. And maybe a little scared of Ecromina now too. A little.
So. Maybe asking sun before doing things with void mana. Yes.
"The walls? You think I don''t know what you''re planning? No, the spirit will clean the walls under the supervision of the Vice Commander. You two, are going to learn how to do paperwork. Come come, you can even put it as a skill in the future. I''m sure most places would be glad to employ demons skilled with paperwork."
Sun and Styx looked like they were going to die. Nice knowing them. It, on the other hand, was just going to clean walls, which sun said it could do easy. Good. Now who was this "Vice Commander?"
"You. Head to the walls. Follow this."
Ecromina moved its hand and a red thing started moving towards a way.
It didn''t think more, and fastly went after it. It didn''t feel like making Ecromina talk more, since it seemed like it would be bad.
It''s body was srill mostly not there, and moving it that far up seemed like it would use too much mana. The easy way was to let its body go along the ground and pull it instead of move the whole thing.
It started pulling its body along the ground, using its actual body, and its arms, which didn''t have hands but already had parts of the up arms back. Hitting them on the ground and pulling itself forward was actually also kind of fun.
As it went along after the red thing, it moved unfaster so it could stay after it, and other demons moved around it. Some stopped to look at it before going where they were going.
They were obviously thinking of its too intelligence moving way and why they weren''t doing it. After all, compared to that walking up thing, going along the ground seemed to take less work. It would have to remember this for when it had to go to a place next time.
Spoiler: Status
Body Status:
Missing hands
Missing abdomen
Missing legs
Status Points: 46
Health Points (HP): 0/467
Mana Points (MP): 123/343
Intelligence
74
Wisdom
16
Strength
10(5)
Dexterity
5(0)
Endurance
15(4)
Chapter 33
It was a long way to go. Maybe. It couldn''t be too sure, but it felt like this was a long bit of time. It was times like this that it felt annoyed about not knowing time and how to number it better. It didn''t feel right not knowing how to.
In the first place. It made it hard to understand things like, "in whatever hours." Still. It had to say. This whole moving along the ground thing wasn''t bad. It was kind of fun. By now its legs were also kind of back but they didn''t work as well with small bits so for now it let them come along behind it.
The red thing looked like it got smaller though and that would be bad. Because if it went it wouldn''t know how to get to the walls. And it couldn''t talk.
The red thing seemed to think of a better way though. It went into a way that went down. It could see some demons pushing things onto it and letting them go down on their own. They actually got faster as they went down. The red thing...wanted it to do that? Sounded good. Looked fast too. Ok!
Just, how did it start - oh, there it was. It shouldn''t have thought too much. It could feel itself dropping forwards a little already. Once it stopped stopping itself...and there!
It felt itself start moving, side over side, and because its shape was different, when it hit the ground with a side, it went up and around instead of just moving like some of the other things.
Bang
Bang
Bang
Some demons turned to look at it and then looked away. Did they not want to know? What it was doing? Or was that it? A look?
Bang
Bang
Bang
Well, whatever. It hurt when it hit the ground and its "health" was going less. But-! It was fast. And that was fine. The red thing moved around even on this way so it had to keep moving its physical body around to go after it. It could kind of see why. There were weird things made along the way where some things went and hit. But as they went towards it, they become unfaster and stopped when they hit the thing. Then demons came and holded the things.
There were some demons that looked at some weird thing on the things and then put them back out into the way. The red thing was making it move so that it didn''t go to the things. Which was ok. But. The problem was, the phsyical body wasn''t very good at moving when moving so fast. So-
Bang
Clang clang
Bang clang
Bang
Oh. There went one leg. The up part of a leg was still there, but the down part where the leg could turn came off. Even the up part of that leg was less on now and went all over whenever it hit the ground.
This wasn''t the best, but since the parts just came back, it was fine.
As time passed, its health went less and less, but it stopped. There was a weird thing here. It got less fast as it went and stopped when it hit a thing, that changed shape when it hit instead of hurting. Weird. But whatever.
Now where?
The red thing was already moving to another side. It was already at the "wall" now though. A different place then last time, but still the wall. What was happening now? Was this where the Vice Commander was?
As it went behind the red thing, other demons looked at it. But this time, they didn''t just look away. They looked more and some touched their weapons. Or at least it thought those were weapons. They were point-thing-for-hitting enough. And these demons had armor.
Well, it didn''t mean much though. Since, it just had to go behind the red thing. They weren''t its problem.
"So. You''re the spirit? Alright, come on. Follow me."
Somehow, when it wasn''t looking a demon came? From where? How? And, why was this demon holding it up by a leg?
Still, when this demon said that, the other demons stopped looking and went away.
Still. "Follow?" How was it going to do that? Why did it even say it, if it was just going to hold it and bring it with it anyway?
Oh, it was doing something.
It moved a hand on a place and showed it its hand.
"Do you see this? This is dust. See what the wall looks like underneath? That''s what it should be. Now, get rid of the dust on this door."
Ok. The "dust." Right. Very little corrosion. One actual body arm only. Only little. Eh. Good enough.
"Good enough. Well, that''s why you''re here."
The demon moved its hand to hold something on the door and pulled it. The door came out and it went in. Only now did it see the red thing was actually still there. It thought it went on to the Vice Commander.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Inside the door, there was more dark, and less light. Everything seemed darker. The sun wasn''t here. Since this was...inside the wall. There were also demons. Many demons. They were doing things to the wall-insides.
They stopped when they seeed the demon that was holding it and said nothing. One came forward and its head went up and down, "Sir, is this the...aid?"
The demon holding it, moved its head up and down too. "This one''s better too. It can eat the dust and grime. Even in places you can''t reach. Make sure to direct it closely and specifically though. Or it might take bites out of the walls."
"Understood." The demon talking holded it too, after the demon that was holding it before put it out.
Then that demon walked back out and moved the door back. And then it was full black. Some places had a little less dark where the holes to outside were. But it was dark now, with the door not pulled out.
The demon holding it walked over to a spot where three demons were doing something on the ground. Hitting it.
"Eat this slime." Then it was dropped on the thing, the "slime."
Eat the slime? Well, did they mean corrode? Ok. That was - wait. Was this slime...eating it? It could feel the slime doing something to its body.
"Alright, maybe only dust - huh?" The demon that dropped it went to hold it again but went back.
Something else was eating it? No, it ate. Not some slime.
So it corroded strong for the first time in a while. And the slime was corroded. Done. No soul. But.
Max Mana +2
Were many slimes here? It would show them who was the real eater. And get mana too. A good deal.
"Well, it works. And mess free. No one likes cleaning that mucus. Well, ''cept those guys. Bleh. Don''t know how they eat it. Alright. Let''s have it clean the most annoying spots. Wonder if it works on spiders..."
Oh, more food to eat? Mana to get? All was good.
The demon walked towards it and holded it again. What was next? This inside place was fun!
Even the demons here were different!
The ones in the walls right now, were all colored darker. They were also smaller and all had longer arms. It wasn''t sure why, but they also had darker armor. The ones that had any anyway. Many didn''t have armor. And almost all were doing this away-dust-grim-slimes stuff.
There were some weird ones though. There were some looking out of the holes and holding weird looking things. Others were pushing some weird looking clothes into the holes.
Then, there were the weirdest. Demons doing something with mana to make weird mana movings on the walls insides. They were probably like the ones in the castle, but these looked different.
"Here we are." Then, the demon throwed it into a thing. There were many small...bugs? Some were bigger too.
Still, whatever they were, if it was put here, it should corrode them? Then, that was it? Still. This was fun. To have things to corrode. Even if it usually had to stop itself from corroding. And, doing only the things and not the walls, was good...what was the word? Training? Yes, that.
The bugs started running around when it dropped on them, and some went inside of it. Which felt...bad. It didn''t like this.
So it corroded them. The ones that went almost outside of what it could corrode? It corroded them before the ones that were nearer. And when they were all corroded. The moving things, that is. Then, it was done. So it waited. For the demon to take it to the next place. But it didn''t. The demon also waited there.
"Is it broken? Hurry it up."
What? It killed all the bugs. Now what? Oh, wait did that mean this thing here was also to be corroded?
That would be why it was waiting. That was annoying though. Why didn''t it tell it properly? Did it just think it knowed everything? It was intelligence, yes, but it was definitely sure it didn''t know everything. Stupids. Stupids everywhere.
Whatever. It had a thing to corrode. And corrode it did. But, what was weird, was that, there were more bugs inside some of the bigger things.
Still, after it corroded the thing - and a bit of the wall, since it was still learning - the demon holded it. And taked it to another place. This one was...what was it?
"Here''s the trash pit. Eat all that."
The hole in the ground, to one side of the ground, was full of many things. Some were food it remembered seeing sun eating here. Some were...monsters? Bones? There was also other weird things. Like a dead demon. Oh, wait it wasn''t dead. It was moving a bit. It was the same as the ones here. Was it to corrode that one too? Well, if it wasn''t sure it could wait and see what the demon did, like last time.
So it did. And the demon dropped when the "trash" around it and obviosuly under it, went away. The demon up didn''t do anything. It made much sound in the "pit" while corroding so that was normal. Since instead of just corroding what it touched like it would have to with a wall, in a pit, it could full it with its actual body and corrode everything in it. Some things corroded faster than others so the trash moved around a lot. Still, it wouldn''t have to wait too much. The demon didn''t seem as ok with time as it was.
"Slow. But well, it''s certainly faster than doing it myself...hmm, how much''s left?" The demon looked into the pit and stopped when he seeed the demon.
"What the - HEY! YOU ALIVE!" The demon dropped into the pit and holded the demon. The demon put some mana into the demon and it opened its eyes, looking at the other demon.
"Wha-? Ring the alarm! We have a spy! Set it on lockdown!"
As soon as the demon said that, the one holding it, dropped it with athud and went out of the pit. It moved the mana weird and put it into one of the weird mana things on the wall. Then, a loud sound started. No, it wasn''t a sound. It was...mana sound?
The mana went out of the thing and hit other of the ones on the walls, and those put out more, and it happened again and again. The demons started running here and the demon telled them the thing. And then those started running too.
What was happening? What was a spy? Was thisits cause? Because it was sure this was its cause. And that was...did it do bad? Because this seemed bad. Was it going to get more wall "cleaning" now from Ecromina? Maybe it should have just corroded the demon...
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 34
So. Seeing as the demons were now acting different. Every place but also to it, it was going to take a little thought and say that maybe what it did was good?
They didn''t seem to be trying to kill it. Or hurt it. By its thoughts that was already very good. That the demon that holded it now put it down and back up after and before doing something much less harder was probably a good thing. It didn''t really mind even if it was hit harder since it got to the places and back faster, but, whatever right?
After that whole spy thing, the demons were more. They were walking around and talking to each other. Well, the ones with armor were. They asked things like, "Where were you at something something" and "When did you last see Garc?"
Actually, right after the mana thing, there were many demons. They were everywhere. Looking everywhere. There was also much mana moving in the walls, and its cleaning was stopped. Instead, it was moved to the side of the place and waited with the demon as other demons runned around. The moving to the side was probably to make more place for the running demons. While it was there, it did nothing. There wasn''t anything to do anyway. It did hit its physical body''s arms and legs on the walls a bit for fun, but that was all.
Which was weird. But, it was going to say Garc was probably the spy. Why?
"That Garc was actually a spy huh. And he killed Timi too. If I ever see that traitor again-!"
"Yeah, but I mean he was pretty good huh? I never suspected a thing!"
"Oh he''s definitely an admirable spy. Still gonna strangle him with his own intestines, but hey. Give respect where respect is due."
Two demons were walking by while talking about this Garc demon. Whoever that was, he was respect-getting and also to be killed. Weird. But was that how it worked? To say what you liked about the other before killing? Should it do that too?
The demon holding it also seemed to listen to the two others but didn''t say anything and was still walking. He made it go into another pit.
It eated here too, but this time, even though it looked a lot and many times, there was not another demon to find. Too bad. It wanted to find more of these spy demons. Seemed like fun. It could make this a side thing. Cleaning and find many spys while cleaning! Then it could go and tell sun how much better it was and how many spys it finded. And why stop there? If it seeed Garc it would also kill him!
It would have to find out what "strangle" was and where Garc put his "intestines" but it would do it. If it finded Garc. Now if only it knowed what Garc looked like. Then it could just move around with its actual body and find him. Oh, but it couldn''t stop cleaning. If only that many bodys thing from that time worked. It would be so betterer right now.
The demon pulled it out of the pit again. By now it had its own hands and full legs but the demon still holded it. Well, this one was kind of bigger than the other demons in here. Not bigger than the ones outside though. Still. It could walk on its own. But after the hitting on the walls the demon started holding it even though before that it would look at its legs every time before moving it. What was different? It didn''t mean much though.
If the demon wanted to do the work, then why not? It had no reason to be more try.
"So. Can''t use those legs of yours?"
Yes. It could.
"...Right. Can''t talk. Or get leading questions apparently..."
Yes.
"The next one will probably take longer. We''ll be heading into the Southern Walls now, and those are gonna have blood to be cleaned out. It always flows in through the arrow slits and pools on the floor. Slippery. And smelly."
Well, if it was blood, it didn''t like it when time passed. But it shouldn''t be hard, blood was just...a little usually. What was - it would see when the demon opened the door here.
It stopped in front of the door and did something with its mana before opening the door. As soon as it did...it seeed what the demon meaned.
There was dark red all over the sides, top and bottom. It was kind of more up than the ground than before too. Were the wall inside grounds made different here? Or was that really that much blood?
"It would be worse, but the floors are slanted so it flowed into the pits. Those smell terrible...it fermented with the trash."
Well, that did sound bad. And a lot of blood. The arrow slits were small and up though, so did the monsters come one by one to put all their blood into the holes or something? That was a lot.
It was sad that it didn''t see the actual thing when it was all light red. Well, still dark but lighter than now.
"Could you clean up around the door first? Especially the bits stuck to it and spilling out into the corridor."The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The demon sure was talking more now. Was it now that much better for helping with the spy thing?
It did as the demon said and after it was done, the demon closed the door.
While it was cleaning it finded that the blood on the ground was a lot, but not as much as it thought. The ground here was actually a bit more up.
Then, it moved to cleaning the rest of the "corridor" and when it did, it moved its physical body too, to get nearer. It didn''t need to have its physical body so near but it did feel weird without it. Though for some reason the demon looked really hard at it while it was moving.
What? What was it looking at? Did he not-ever see a not-full armor move before?
Well, it wasn''t here to do all the time just looking at things. It could do that while it worked after all. Unlike some demons. Just there without doing anything.
It tried cleaning with its physical body to see what happened, but other than the corrosion, its physical body made the blood make crack sounds and become very small and go every place. It was annoying more to clean up and looked bad. The blood this way also did not look good, but it liked it in its place like this. Fulling in the ground and having sides where the wall could be seeed as it cleaned the blood. Not these dumb small parts going onto the clean side. That looked bad.
So, it let the actual body do it. It was better for cleaning.
As it did, more and more weird things were there. There were bones, and also weird parts.
It was going to just not eat those but, the demon said.
"You can eat the organ bits and bones that popped in. The stuff we wanted was mostly already retrieved."
Oh. Ok. Then it would eat these "organ bits." But did that mean there were full organs? Now it wanted to see those.
Oh and the other weird thing. There were places in the blood which looked like big things were in the blood but moved out and making the blood bits go every place. But since they were there from before it was whatever. It didn''t make that looking bad place.
There were also some dead demons it finded. It was asked to eat those too. Or to just clean off the blood.
It did it one time, and even did a good thing by taking out the blood and organs - yes! Organs! It finded them inside the demon body! It eated those too. But after seeing the weird dropping in body, the demon looking telled it to just eat them all. Unless it could feel blood moving in them. Then it should let the demon know. Or something.
Did that mean only not-dead things had moving blood? Where did it come from though? If they had less blood every time they were hurt, how did they not become no more blood and die? Or maybe they did? That was why they were so not ok with being hurt?
If that was how it was, it sounded bad. It was a good thing it could have the same touch and things like them but not have bad things like becoming dead if its blood or body became too less. It didn''t even have blood.
Then again, if it did then it could always hurt itself to see blood...there were good things and bad things to everything it was starting to think. Why couldn''t something just be all good and all bad? Why was everything so everywhere?
As it was thinking, it did not stop cleaning, so at some time it came to a pit.
Here was a thing. It was full though. When its actual body went in, there was blood at the up and the whole pit, but the bottom was more things and not blood. There was blood in places where things weren''t but the things taked more space.
The weirdest part was probably that there were dead demons here too, at the bottom of the pit, under the things, but it probably didn''t mean anything. They weren''t not dead and it was telled to eat dead demons so whatever.
The pit looked kind of nice though. The blood there made a nice look. Better than the other places it seeed until now.
When it was done, it walked more. It still hadn''t finded a place done cleaning so the demon would hold it and take it to the next place when it was done the corridor probably.
The demon was still there. It went after it and looked from back. It was nearer before but after it made the blood crack it stopped and just looked at it for a bit so the demon probably knowed what it meaned. That that was not ok. So from then it looked from more away.
The annoying part though was even after all the working there wasn''t much to find. This corridor was almost the same as the corridor from before. What was the point of that? Why wasn''t there anything different and new to see?
Oh. No, there was.
It seeed this new thing after much cleaning. It didn''t feel how long the corridors were before, because now that it thought, the last corridor had demons doing most of the cleaning. Here it was doing the whole corridor. And now it felt long. After almost three more pits. Maybe more, but it wasn''t very good at numbers. Not yet. It didn''t feel like finding numbers when it didn''t even know that many. It made it feel bad.
Still. This new thing was...a not dead demon! This demon was actually very good. It didn''t seem hurt and had food with it down in the pit. On top was still blood. It made a stopping point. It looked nice. But, it could see that that place, the blood was very nicely made into a different part. One that was moved from what it could see. Probably the demon in there. Well, it just had to clean so whatever.
And it did. But as soon as it did the cleaning, the demon inside started moving. Still, it was not dead so the demon outside would do what it did. It was just the cleaning spirit. The not cleaning or killing things were not its problem. Or in what it knowed. Yet.
It also ate the food the demon had. It didn''t need it now right? And when it did, the demon fastly came out of the pit.
But when the demon outside seeed the demon that came out of the pit it stopped and then started running at the wall. What was it doing now?
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 35
The demon that was running for the wall didn''t seem like it would make it. Why? Because the other demon, the enemy probably, was moving very fast in its way too. Too bad it was in front though. This might be bad. An enemy could try to kill it too.
It wasn''t sure what was happening but whatever it was, it wouldn''t be able to do whatever the demon going for the wall wanted to do, so instead it could just stop this other maybe spy demon. Which waas easy since its physical body was there in the way and wouldn''t be a problem to be breaked.
The spy-maybe didn''t seem like it thought it would do that so it hit it. And it felt bad. It went back and hit the wall, almost hitting the demon, but it used its actual body to move the physical body a bit and not hit. Still, the spy wasn''t hurt by it, and started moving again, fastly.
It was a good thing the other demon wasn''t useless and already did whatever. The spy hit the demon once and it dropped. Was it dead? It was hit in the not-head-but-not-body. Then, the spy did something and its physical body''s arms dropped. Its actual body was also hit by a mana and pushed back. After that the spy runned.
But it seemed like this spy was more important than it thought. There were demons coming in from both sides of the corridor. Even the one that was Vice-Commander. The one that holded it and put it inside this wall. Also the red thing was here. What was happening?
Still, it seemed to have not knowed how strong a spy was, because the spy hit demons everywhere. Some were hit in the body, others just holded and throwed at other demons. Even when hit they went hitting into other demons. The spy went all over almost without being hit, even going and walking on their heads fastly whenever it was looking not able to do anything.
Soon enough the demons went away from the spy, but still making it so the corridor was full on both ways. The Vice Commander walked out and pulled out a...thing? It looked like a sword but bigger on one side.
"Vice Commander. Give up. You cannot run away from your duties just because you don''t like working."
What? Vice Commander!? Then who was the big demon!? Why were the Vice Commander and demons fighting! And more importantly...then where was the actual spy! Who was who!? It didn''t know anymore! Also now that it thought about it...even the General was like this...were all demons that were in these places weird? Then was this big demon the ''Ecromina'' of here? That was kind of scary to think of. One Ecromina was a lot. That also did make sense.
Since the red thing was still here all the time from when it went into the wall and only went away now. Well. That was definitely a...not what it thought.
Thespy Vice Commander, did something and a big mana hit the demons on one side, the one behind it where the pseudo-Ecromina was not and made them all go throwing around.
The Vice Commander started running, saying something as the demons with the pseudo-Ecromina started running after it, "You''ll never catch me alive! Never! I refuse to meet that creep! Go do it yourself! You think I don''t know that she''s still here!? I can tell! I have been stal - checking in occasionally! Don''t underestimate meeeeeee!"
The demons in the way were hit to the side by the Vice Commander or walked on. Though it didn''t seem like it hurt. The big demon and its demons had to move around the demons in the wa - no. No they didn''t. They just holded them up and passed them back to the demons behind them who passed them more back and more back until they were dropped on the ground. Some got up and also started running at the back of the big group and others who got up went back the other way. If the whole walls were like probably trying to come in front of the Vice Commander.
One demon was doing something on the wall again. Oh, it was the demon that was with it. There were also demons in front of the Vice Commander who got up but they were throwed away again and the ones who tried to hold the Vice Commander''s leg were walked on.
After the loud group was away, the demon walked back over to it and put its hand on the back of that not-head-but-not-body part.
"Ok, let''s keep cleaning. That''s not our problem anymore."
Cleaning...? Oh. Right.
It looked around and seeed that there were bits of the blood everywhere. Everywhere.
Even all the way back where it cleaned already. The amount of blood didn''t change much. Only some of the demons that came started blooding.
But it still had to go back and clean those bits now and also it looked bad.
Vice Commander or not, it would definitely get this demon dropped and then holded by the other demons if it seeed it again...well, the demon was right though. It was not their problem anymore. Not that it was ever really a problem of it anyway, but it had cleaning to do. And finish fast, since then it had to go to sun and Styx and tell them about this fun first time working at something.
Well, as with all things, it finded that wanting to do it fast and actually doing it fast were different things.It wanted to become able to run faster than the sun but it wasn''t able to. Itcould eat faster when it tried though. Which was also ok since it was useable for killing.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
It gave the demon who was now on the ground and doing something weird with its mana an annoyed look. Not that it was sure if this was something it could see or know was an annoyed look. It didn''t really have a eyes and mouth on its physical body. Ithad them but they were just there. Noton something like demons eyes and mouths were. Its eyes and mouth just were there in the place its head would go if it had one in the helmet-head. They also didn''t look as...much things in it.
Demons eyes and even wolves and bears, had the eye, but the eye had weird bits on top and under. There was a part that moved up and down to cover the eye. There was a part of the eye that was one color on the outest part. Then one that was another color on the more inside. Then another. And then black. The black part was weird since it became different sometimes.
Its eyes weren''t like that. Its eyes were just one color. Was it weird? It didn''t think so, butother than the bones, everything seemed to have different eyes then it. Then again, everything looked a little different. Wolves were different from bears. And demons from those. And bones were all same but also not same. To other bones and also the wolves and bears and demons. The bugs were definitely the weirdest. Them and spiders. Slimes were also different. Actually, maybe there wasn''t anything weird about it.
Of course it was more intelligence then them all, but seeing as there were only more different things the more it knowed, then it was actually probably really normal. Maybe. And -
"Hey, don''t slack off, just because we''re done the corridor doesn''t mean you can stop now."
What? Corridor? Oh. It was thinking while cleaning so it didn''t really feel the time. After all, there were so many different things for bones even. The way the bones for each part looked, their heads were one of these parts, and the way they moved. The way they kind of acted. And the bones that had the same bones were also different. The colors of the bones and sometimes the bones looked like there parts that should be there not there.
Well. Things like that. It was a good thing that it knowed how to do something easy like corroding and moving without thinking on it too much. Though it wasn''t sure how or why. But it had this since from when it could remember...something. There was definitely something it did before it finded and watched and listened to sun''s place with the Chieftain and what they did. Something...but it couldn''t remember what it was. There were things before that too. Something about a place with many bodies.
As it was though, this thinking about random things didn''t do anything and it was almost at the door. Those things it couldn''t remember couldn''t be that important or mean anything anyway. If it were important it would remember. It was too intelligence to just not remember important things.
Such as...killing all the bones! It almost didn''t remember! Those bones! THOSE BONES!
Oh the door was opening. It could finish this thought some other time. What was next? Was this place also all done?
"This is the Eastern Corridor. It hasn''t really been used since it''s basically just built into the mountain. Also because its tiring to use. It curls up along the mountain and back down on the other side. Even if the town''s built up along the mountain we can''t not have walls up at the top right? Or something. I mean we just do whatever Ecro - the General says."
Hmmm. So this was the mountain side wall. Also Ecro-General? Not a bad idea. By putting the names like this it didn''t have to say them differently and could be used to remember many demons names. Also talking to them as a group. It was so much less work!
It would have to go tell this whole way to the sun. Why didn''t he already use it? It was like its words! Which it would say didn''t really have much use after it knowed the actual words for things but still, this was names, and names were always there wherever it went. This way was much better anyway and would definitely be a good idea!
Also, so the two, Ecro-General did this thinking as a two. Really? It had been thinking that from the way they did, with the General acting like sun, that Ecromina actually did most of the work, like Styx and the General was just the random person there like sun with Styx. Sun was also kind of scared of Styx and General was scared of Ecromina. It worked out. It was so same.
But it seemed General wasn''t useless after all! Good for it. Being useless was definitely the badest thing. It didn''t mean much to who, but being useable was good. Since then it wouldn''t have to be dead.
There wasn''t a lot of blood or dead demons here. The Vice Commander and other demons were also not here. The wall was actually also not here in front. The demon didn''t see it yet since it was still walking up after its physical body while its actual body went in front and cleaned the dirt and things it had cleaned already many times.
There was a place where the wall was breaked. It was just big enough for a group of demons or the big demon and some less demons to go through. It was almost definitely sure that the Vice Commander and other demons went and made this hole. Probably the Vice Commander. Why? Because it could see more demons dropped around like dead bodies outside.
As the demon after it came over and seeed the hole it just walked.
"Not our problem remember? I''ve had enough action for today. Crazy good cleaning tools and spies and bodies and-"
The demon was still talking but getting less loud as it talked andthen stopped. It moved its head side to side and then keeped walking. Well that was fine. They had work to do. No more of this not-cleaning stuff. Though it had arms to get back too. It corroded the ones it dropped. Since that was definitely trash right?
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 36
It was walking back to the same place it came in now. The Southern Corridor full of blood and the Eastern Corridor having weird up and down and a hole outside with many demons dropped. Oh, and whatever that other corridor was from the first time with the demon that helped everyone know that there was a spy in the place. In a big way, it felt like not much happened but it was fun so it wouldn''t feel bad coming back again.
The last corridor it was almost done and moving back to the first from, was the same almost as the first corridor. Just normal spiders and slimes and dust. No spys or blood this time. There was a "master key" it finded that had been "lost" for "ages" because it was covered in so much dust and slime that it became like rock. That part of the corridor went down a bit so when it fulled over and became rock-like, no demons felt anything weird. It did though, and the demon seeed the master key when it was trying to eat it.
It was corroding very unfastly so it seeed it. Which was another learning point for it. That being, it should not think for sure because when it thought something was for sure it usually wasn''t. It thought it already knowed now anything it could find and what was or wasn''t to be corroded but, it didn''t. It was intelligence but not much it could do about things it just didn''t know.
Yep. That was all. It was not unintelligence though.
As it had seeed many - kind of many - times by now, the door at the end of the corridor was opened and they went in. Soon, they were there, in front of the same door as it came in from.
"Well, I didn''t think I would say this, but you''ve been a big help. That, and unlike some idiots you''re not a pain to be around. You get the job done. If you ever need a job, I''d welcome you back anytime!"
The demon said something that it thought sounded good to remember and then opened the door here again. And then it walked out.
The first thing that hit it when it walked out was definitely the light. The Eastern Corridor had the hole, but not much light. The mountain kind of covered it. But here, there was more light and it was very weird. Very very weird. Because it almost felt used to dark light when now when it came out it was light light.
When it walked out a bit, one of the demons started running towards it and saying something.
"Watch out for the cart!"
The second thing that hit it was another one of the things coming down from the same place it came down from. There was a loud bang it heared since it was near its physical body when it got hit, so it went heared that before the demon''s talking. Though it could still hear the demon talking fully. Because its not like it needed the physical body to hear. That was for touch.
Which it felt much of when the "cart" hit it. It went up and back, hitting the wall and dropping. The "cart," the wall, and even the little weird things inside the cart that hit it, all felt different. Touch was really useable.
It could see some demons talking about how if it was dead they would have to go and clean it up. Then others calling them stupid since it didn''t put out anything for them to clean up.
Well, it looked like they wanted to talk to it, and usually they did that with their heads looking at each other, so first it had to move its head back to the right way. Right now, its head was looking the wrong way.
So it moved its hands and pulled the head back into place with a screech and then got up.
The demons all looked it up and down and then walked away, with only one demon being there to talk to it. That same demon also holded its arm and moved it back to a place where the things wouldn''t come and hit. Not that it had to. It could see now, and wouldn''t make the same wrong again. That wasn''t its problem either. It just didn''t think about having to look for random things hitting it from that way.
Yes things came down from there but the idea that they could hit it didn''t really happen to come to it. This was the problem it seeed. It usually only knowed what it knowed. It couldn''t know what it knowed but didn''t know. Yes things could hit it and yes that place had things coming down from it, but it''s not actually like it knowed that they could hit it...
"Er, sir, now that I see your...face, I can see that you...do not possess flesh. But, your helmet is dented and uh, we were wondering if you want to perhaps try to get repair money. Because if you do...it wasn''t realy our fault so...yes? You get it right?"
It wasn''t sure what this demon was talking about. "Repair money?" What was that? And "dented?" Well, true it was a little hurt, but it was nothing to feel bad about. It got hurt like this so much that there was no way it wasn''t normal. This small a hurt couldn''t even be thought of as a real hurt anymore. Plus it had things to do and suns to tell to.
How to tell the demon here this though...normally it just walked around and demons seemed to know what it meaned. Or. Kind of knowed. So, the same thing would be fine here then.
And it walked off.
The demon watched it for a bit but after it went back to moving around near the wall. Or started to.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Until it thought of something. Was the sun at the walls right now? Now that it thought about it, it wasn''t sure what time the St-un went to the wall, but since the connection was also changed they couldn''t talk the same either...no wait they could. It did change the connection so it kind of not remembered and it had not talked from far away yet, but it had not not talked from far away yet either. It worked before the change...it should still work now right? It only changed the conection a bit it thought.
So it tried. To thinktowards the sun, towards the stupid. Yes, feel out the place where stupid came from...like when it first felt and chanegd the connection. It shouldn''t be hard. If it could do it once, it should be able to do it again. Thatwas how it worked after all. There was no reason to not be able to do something again if it happened once.
And it did. There it was. The stupid. Now to send a talk to the sun...oh. Easy.
Stupid. Tell me where sun is.
"...you''re still alive? I heard the Vice went on a killing spree again. The guards dropped like wolves I heard. And saw. Arnoth looked terrible when he dragged the Vice back in. He had dents all over hahahaha. I thought you got mangled and shredded in the crossfire or something."
Well if anyone was going to die, then it would be more possible for the dead to be the sun. He was stupid after all.
"Anyway. We''re at the gates again. We always are. Just come there again."
That would work for the actual body. Not it. It could not see the gates from here. Itcould without the physical body but going far from it felt bad...
Well. It could now fight void mana which before was just much hurt, so some weird couldn''t be bad.
Just go up and up and oh. The physical body dropped with aclankand thud. The demons around looked at it while it looked at the gate. When it could see it it came back down and tried to move its physical body...but it wouldn''t move.
That was annoying. Was this what happened when it moved too far from its physical body? This was probably the reason it got a weird feeling when moving away from its physical body. It couldn''t keep moving it when it became too far. Now it wasn''t moving back easy.
But! It had done this back then. When it was fighting the void mana in the time when it wasn''t its problem. Then, it made its not body anymore but still body move as it wanted. It could so it again now right? This was just its body. Not breaked and no void mana trying to eat it either.
There was no reason it couldn''t.
So it pushed in its actual body to the physical body, like it did that time. Making small going out parts that went onto the physical body.
As it went back in, it felt something and the physical body was there.
Not fully. The physical body felt a lot harder to move, but as more of it moved in the body felt less harder to move and became easier to move. The demons that were around started walking again when they seeed it get up.
Soon, it felt maybe like it did before. Well, not really. But ok enough. This was harder but hard didn''t stop it before and wouldn''t now.
It would go back to before at some time.
For now, it just had to move...well. This might take a bit.
From up, it looked a lot different then from down.
After one turn it wasn''t sure where to go anymore.
So. This...might take a while.
After many, many times dropping its physical body and then going back into it, it got to the gates. It actually felt like maybe this was what dying was like.
Every time the physical body dropped it felt hurt. But since it had already been through that one time with the void mana it didn''t seem as bad though, and after so many drops too, it was starting to think less and less of hurt. It was now just there to tell it what happened. It was just touch now. It shouldn''t even say it was hurt anymore actually. It could just say what happened.
See? Everything was useful. Even though finding the gates was hard, and felt bad. And annoying. Very annoying. It didn''t stop and moved. Because of that, now it was still here. It made it. Even the times where it would come back to the body but not remember the turn because of how many turns there were or the demons that were around changing and having to find the same turn again and felt like hitting something. Or all the times it had to take its body back and push away the demons that went to look at it every time it died-not.
It didn''t stop. Now it was here at the gates. And feeling like hitting sun. But. This was learning too. It was now, just a bit better at telling what up looked like when back down.
When it did this again, which it almost definitelywould if it didn''t have someone around to tell it where to go, now it would take maybe one or two less dead-nots.
So it walked up to the wall and looked to the side. Finding that it could have just walked from where it came out in a one way and came all the way here.
No, it wasn''t annoyed. But it knowed something else now.
When looking for how to get to a place, it didn''t mean that it always had to look for one way. There were probably other ways that were maybe easier.
That and next time it should make sun come get it.
Or break the buildings that were in the way and just go all the way to the gates.
Actually both of those two ways were easier than finding the way itself. It would have to talk to sun about this.
It was thinking of this that it telled the sun to come down and get it and waited.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 37
The sun came down and hit it on the arm top.
"What took you so long! It''s been hours since I told you to come!"
Really? It didn''t know that. It almost thought that it had been a very little time, and it hadn''t been trying to find the way here for a long time.
"Well it was. You took forever." Sun moved his head side to side. "Oh, by the way, how was cleaning duty."
It just looked at sun.
"Was it that bad? Well anyway, you can come up the wall if you want. Should be fine." Then the sun walked up the up-thing and onto the wall.
It wasn''t sure if the sun was being actual right now or not, but...it had some hitting to do. If it said it would, then it would. As long as it had a reason.
So it walked up after the sun fastly, then behind, and then put its hand into the back of his head.
Sun walked weird for a bit but didn''t drop.
"Hah, nice."
Then he was still walking.
They stopped where Styx was. And he looked over at them once, then turned back to looking at everything outside of the walls.
"Are you sure that was a good idea? If he gets in the way up here, we''ll be in for it."
"Uh. It''ll be fine! I mean, all he has to do is make way for people patrolling." Sun moved around his hand.
Make way? As in make a way for them? Easy.
It knowed it could do that at least, because when it was cleaning at first, there were many demons around! The demons moved around each other though and didn''t make each other stop much.
They just were always moving, going to where they needed to without getting in each other''s way. After it had to walk on its own, it also had to move out of the way of demons some times. There would be no problems. No problems at all.
"So, how was it? Our job was terrible. Documents suck. A lot. I''d feel bad for Ecromina but I mean, she''s too scary to feel sympathy for...you know she''s almost as strong as the General right? The only reason she''s just an aide is because she wanted to get some experience first." Sun looked at it, and so did Styx. He looked like he wanted to know too.
So Ecromina was strong? Not weird. It had knowed that from the start. There was no way anyone that it thought was ok could be weak. Though, how strong was the General?
"I mean. He made the mountain here." Sun pointed at the mountain behind them.
Ah, right. Yes, that is pretty strong.
"...anyway. How was yours?"
Ok. It was very normal though. Theirs sounded fun. First it went around the place with a new and better way of walking that it finded and seeed some things on the way. Then after that it went down a weird place and lost a leg while trying to make it to the walls. After that, it was holded and made to do things by a demon that gave it to another demon that made it eat random things. It also finded a demon that telled of a spy, and finded the Vice Commander, seeed them fight, and after that, finded the master key.
"Oh, yeah sounds - wait, that doesn''t sound normal at all. Or more like, just what were you doing, to lose a leg on the way?" Sun was looking weirdly at it and the Styx started laughing.
It was getting to the walls of course. What else would it be doing? Unlike a certain sun, it actually did work, and didn''t try to run away from doing what it was to do.
"Right. So." After thinking for a bit, sun turned to Styx, and telled him what happened.
"It went and somehow lost a leg while probably crawling through the streets and then got tossed around and discovered a spy plot as well as the master key and Vice Commander that went missing."
"That sounds almost as eventful as our school experience..." Styx moved his head side to side.
Then sun laughed, "Yeah that was...plus, we uncovered three spies. I mean they were technically together but still. Not to mention all the other crazy stuff we did. I mean, I even found one of my senior''s long lost pets! It was dead already though."
What? Three spies? That was...so spies were actually normal? It would explain why it sounded like having many of them and finding many of them was normal. Maybe it could have finded some more if it were to keep looking back there.
"I...don''t think that''s how it works."
Clank clank clank clank
A demon was coming.
"Alright, now move out of the - ouch." Sun started telling it what to do but it was already ready. It moved to the side of the demon that was coming so that it could move passing it. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
It did not remember it was on a wall though. So, it dropped almost but sun holded one of its legs. Instead of dropping it just came around and hit itself into the wall once, went back and then back down and hit the wall again, and then again.
After that it just was there for a bit until sun pulled it up and back onto the wall. The demon that was passing by gave it a weird look and then unfastly nodded to it before then walking away faster.
So it did a good thing then? Nice. Also, why were these walls made this way? What if someone dropped of a side?
"I don''t think you could normally fall over the wall though...or rather, there''s plenty of space the other way."
Yes, but that was not as near as this side of the wall. Not to add, it''s not like it actually dropped. And the biggest thing was that even if it did drop, it wouldn''t die. If it wouldn''t die from it, then what did some hurt and a little bit work getting back onto the wall mean?
I was fine to take things more easy. There was no reason to be so fear of little things that didn''t mean much. Right?
Sun didn''t say anything more and looked at it for a bit and then also became not talking, looking out instead, like Styx.
...Was it something it said?
After that, for a time, they were just there. It wasn''t sure what it was that they were doing here, but aside from moving out of the way of demons many more times - though, after the first three times it didn''t do anything wrong anymore - not much happened. The second wrong was when it hit into sun who then dropped. Styx holded him that time. Sun also hit the wall a few times like it did and after coming back up holded his head.
He also moved a bit away from it. The third time wasn''t as bad. It was holding a sword which after much annoying sun, it got, and then when moving out of the way, it almost hit sun with the sword. The sword was taked away from it after that one and sun moved even more away.
Both times the passing demons runned away faster and when later it seeed them coming back around they runned passing it instead of even walking first.
After that though no more bad things happened. They just were there, looking out at the outside. There were monsters, but was there any need to remember them? They were normal, and their only point of being there was to die anyway.
They did, of course. The demons on the wall killed them. So did sun and Styx. Both used magic to kill them. Sun with his weird things and Styx with even weirder things.
It wanted to kill monsters too, but they didn''t make it very near before being killed so there was that. Too bad. Maybe it could try that Pit sometime. Seemed like fun. Not like it could die that easy anyway. Some killing place like that sounded like fun to fight in.
They were still not talking while they walked back - probably to the same place as last time, where they were while it was night.
Sun had been not talking ever since that one time with the sword. It could really know why though. It''s not like he got hit, and even if he did, it probably wouldn''t kill him right? He was the one who said his stats are higher. He shouldn''t die from a little hit to the body with a sword. Who died from that? Not it.
Styx just didn''t talk much anyway.
So it was like that that they went back towards the place when it had a very good idea. It was an idea it just had but it had it even better this time. What if, they went to the Pit right now. Or it just stayed there. As it was, its body corroded things too much when it was in one place, right? And it wanted to go to the Pit. So, what if it just had fun in the Pit for now?
"That, is an excellent idea. HehehehehehahahahahaAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sun started laughing loudly and Styx looked at him like there was a bad thing. Then at it.
"What''s happening?"
"We''re taking it to the Pit. It said it wants to have fun there." Sun looked very happy at Styx and Styx also nodded.
"It can get some fighting experience. Not like it''ll die from having its body shredded anyway."
With both of them thinking its idea was good - which it had to say, was good even by its normal very high intelligence normals - they taked it to the Pit.
The way was different again this time around, just like it had newly learned. That there were different ways to the same place and just remembering one way didn''t work. Not to add, usually remembering even one way was hard.
Still, they were here now.
"We''ll pick you up in the morning for some void mana acclimation again. Have fun~. HAHAHAHAHA!"
Sun laughed very loudly and runned away, while Styx turned to it. "Remember to think while you fight. Look for ways to kill your enemies. Learn to move, and don''t just run at them or something. Well, getting a taste of what actual fighting feels like should be enough for now. Good luck. If it ever feels like too much just annoy the idiot through your contract. Despite what he says he''ll probably come back for you."
And then Styx was gone too.
It felt kind of weird. After all, now it was alone. Before that with the cleaning there was the red thing and that demon to tell it what to do. For a time after a while, it was doing things on its own again, but they were things it had no idea of. After all, what happened if it became lost like the keys? But no, it could just use its actual body and the contract then. No problems. Yes, no problems.
It wasn''t thinking about this too much because of all the demons looking at it right now or the loud noises coming from the Pit right now. No, it was much different. It was because it was pretty sure this was going to be a lot more times having to go back to its physical body then with the finding its way to the gates.
Was it really a good idea? If its physical body was too hurt, then it taked time for it to come back and it could be training in other ways instead. Was having to take so much time for its body to come back the most intelligence thing? Was it?
Well, then again. It didn''t want to ask sun to bring it back now. It felt annoying. It couldn''t go to the void mana place on its own fast anyway. So this was better. Right. Into the Pit.
And so, looking back at the demons that looked at it, it walked over to and then dropped, into the Pit.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 38
Its first think of the Pit inside was that it was like the walls. It was dark, and there were rock walls around it. Basically the same.
Oh sure, this time there were more bugs coming out to fight it, but then there were slimes and spiders in the walls too.
So. All said, aside from this place being pretty big, and obviously not the walls, it was actually not all that different from the walls.
It was almost the same.
The bugs weren''t really a problem anyway. These many small ones would be annoying, but it could corrode them all. And get back mana while corroding, so it wouldn''t really be using much mana.
No, the problem was going to be these next ones. They were also bugs. But these were bigger. They had parts that looked like armor on the outsides, and then long hitting bits on their...heads? Mouths? It was harder to see on the small bugs, since it didn''t usually look that close at them, but bugs had weird...mouth parts.
Even aside from the sword things, their actual mouths looked weird. Something about the weird way they were moving while obviously coming to try and eat it...scared it? No. Annoyed it.
It wanted to corrode or crunch that bugs head. Tell it what acting like it was going to win against it really meaned. Not to add, some more bugs with it.
Good, good. It would kill them all. That would show sun. Also, what about this could be bad? They were just bugs. How did demons - which were almost all strong it thinked, at least when it looked at itself - killed by bugs? These things?
It seeed them kill back then with the Chieftain once, but, these weren''t that many. They could come through the way over there yes, but not a lot at a time.
Oh, the first one was here. How hard could this be?
Just move like the Chieftain. Yes, yes, that''s right, and hit the hand down onto its head!
Hah, die!
Thud
It hit the head as it wanted to.
It didn''t do much.
Then, the same bug that it hit moved its head up and hit its arm, and it dropped off.
Thump
The bugs covered the dropped arm fastly, but didn''t do anything else to it. Though it still now had only one arm.
This...was not going like it thought it would. Why didn''t the bug die? Why did its hit make such a unloud sound. It was not even close to the crunch it wanted to hear.
And why were they coming so fast? It didn''t seem that fast when looking, and its actual body was fine too. This with its physical body though...unfast! Bugs shouldn''t move that fast!
Bugs are just bugs! There was nothing on it for them to eat so they couldn''t do anything! Shouldn''t be able to!
But they could make it become many. Just hit with those sword things.
It used hand hit, and it was not very good.
Kacha
There went another arm.
Well. This was not going good at all.
Ok. No. It still had legs. It could hit with those. And it was still corroding them. See? One bug died.
No level for some reason, but at least it got some more mana back. Right, this could work.
It was just...the corroding didn''t seem to work as fast or as good against big things. Not unless it made sure to corrode a part like the head. So it changed its corroding to the heads. It was already looking better.
Just that, aside from the legs not working - it did try to hit them, but its leg also got dropped - the bugs were only becoming more instead of less.
It wasn''t sure about numbers anymore, but there were more bugs in here then before. It killed one here and there, and then more came. It was like...definitely not becoming less.
The problem with leg hitting was that after the one leg dropped, it dropped too, and, well...that didn''t go well. It got hit many, many times. There were now little bits of it all over the ground. But the bugs didn''t stop. They were hitting each other now.
It couldn''t know why, but it could be because they wanted to get more levels. Maybe.
Still. It''s not like it was dead. Being breaked into smaller and smaller parts hurt too. But, it''s actual body was actually fine. It was still corroding them. The bugs couldn''t do anything about that.
It was also not getting another physical body. It was coming unfaster anyway, because the mana here was starting to be weird, like the bugs and ways were making it different, and so it didn''t make another body like normal.
Also, since it was sure that the body would just get breaked again. So the better thing to do now was to act like normal. When things didn''t seem to be ok, corrode.
That always worked. If there was enough time.
So then the other thing was, maybe doing that whole body parts thing. Seeing as actually making a body was becoming unfaster and weird, why not just move those parts back and make them into the body?
It always thought it was weird that it started making a new body instead of just pulling the old one back.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
There wasn''t anything to less by that. It was better that way, less mana and faster than making a new one, right?
This could be a good place to try. Seeing as it wasn''t doing anything anyway. The corroding actually taked more work to not do then it did to do.
So here it could kill bugs while training for a body back thing.
First. To move its actual body out in little things. Just like when going back into a body.
That was mostly easy. It did it a lot by now. So, then the next part...well, it could use its actual body to move things. It always thought it only worked with its physical body, because that was the first place where it did it, but it finded that that was actually more because it didn''t know before how touch worked
Now that it did...and had time and mana - since the bugs were just mana and mana, even without being dead - it could try this. It did it with small bugs of course. Big ones would likely use much mana and work to do. Small ones though, small ones were much smaller than its physical body and it could move that easy so for a first try with not physical body, should go fine like this.
Which it did. Moving small bugs was fine. Then, it just had to move its body parts back. The hard part was...the bugs seemed to get even more moving when it started moving things around. It was almost sure they didn''t like that, if their moving all over the walls and top, and even on top of each other was anything. Actually they were getting to the Pit top, where it came in from now. Was this bad?
Oh, no it was fine.
The bugs died from something when they tried to go to the Pit in. It was ok.
Right, so the moving. Since everything was full of bugs and there was no way to move the parts, then it just had to make way. Easy.
Just corrode all the bugs in the way.
If it was just killing them, it was easy. Since its actual body was really good. The hard part was doing anything with a physical body.
It didn''t get how demons got anything done with such useless bodies. Its actual body seemed much better if it was really thinking about it. But well, that was what they did and not its problem. So it didn''t mean much.
Soon enough, it had its arms and legs and body back. But the arms and legs and body were back, but only as arms and legs and body. They were not actually back as all yet.
It left the head since it was still getting the new one back anyway, and that always started with the head.
What was annoying was that the bugs hit and breaked the body parts it used so much mana and work to put back. It had to keep backing them again. So it also just keeped corroding the bugs that were being annoying.
It had finded that bugs heads were still good places to kill them from. Kind of. They sometimes still moved after their heads were corroded. And it was weird.
Once, it thought it had its arm and even corroded a bug before it could hit its arm, but then its legs still moved and it went over to and dropped onto its arm. So it had to corrode its way out. It tried moving the arm which was away from its body - it worked of course - but the arm was not able to move good under the bug so it still had to corrode its way out.
Ok, ok. Now it had its parts all close. They weren''t actually back though. The arms, and legs, and body, and head, were all still different, and the legs, and arms, and body were actually also still different. They weren''t back full, instead it just holded the parts with each other. And moved the head into place.
It wasn''t sure what to do now though. The only idea it could think of was to somehow do what it did to make a new body on this body to put it back. Somehow.
The only thing that it really felt itself doing was moving mana. In a weird way. So, probably, maybe, just putting mana into the body would put it back?
But it couldn''t do that right now.
The bugs were all dead now, from killing each other, and it corroding them. But, it only got this.
Level Up x 2
Just two? After all that?
This rank thing felt annoying. But what could it do. That was how it was. At least its max mana went up a bit. Most mana it got was used before it could become more though, so it didn''t get much. Maybe that was also why it didn''t level much?
The moving the parts around, moving bugs, and corroding that fast all used a lot of mana. So with no more bugs to unfastly corrode and get mana from, the only mana it had was in this place, but it could only eat it unfastly. It didn''t actually eat that fast. Not when it was using it all.
Ok. So then.
Oh wait, no this might be ok. The bugs were already becoming more. It was corroding many, the small ones also were very fast to corrode, but the good part was that the bugs on the out, were eating and taking away the dead bugs. What this meaned was that it could still get more bugs!
Yes, it would get its physical body back and then it would fight and learn to fight good!
Definitely!
"Hey, Genius. Just wanted to let you know we''re waiting outside the Pit."
What. But. But, it just got its physical body back! After all that fighting!
All that trying and working! And this was all it got?
It didn''t even kill any bugs with its physical body! The only crunchs it heared were ones the bugs made when other bugs hit them!
This was, this was stupid!
"I mean, did you really not realize how long that took you? Not to mention most of those bugs killed each other. Probably trying to kill you. The invisible invader."
Oh. But, but no! The physical body was finally almost ready to fight! It finally got it back!
"It probably got scattered so many times. And you had to individually move each piece back, while whatever you weren''t focusing on got scattered again."
...stupid bugs.
"HAHAHAHA. Yeah. You suck. You got bit into pieces within minutes of entering! I could hear you yelling about it before I even got home! HAHAHAHAHAHA! ''Seemed like fun,'' it said! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Fine, whatever, so it didn''t do that good. That was normal for a first time.
"For someone of your intelligence!? To fail so horrifically!?"
Fine, fine. Whatever. Silence sun. It had better things to do.
"Like digging yourself out of insect guts?"
Yes. Because it killed a lot.
"I could literally kill the same number in like, an eighth of the time at most."
It didn''t know what that was, so hah.
"Alright, alright. I mean, you atleast did a good job managing to clog the whole cavern down there. At least this section''ll be quieter for a bit. Come on out."
It...was under too many bugs. And not much mana.
"I''m not touching that mess. I''m not. I refuse."
So? It was fine. It could be just fine under here. It didn''t need help at all. Actually, it was just going to ask, that it could wait here, and put its body back, and kill some more bugs. So go, it was fine. This was still normal working.
"...uh, we were going to take you to kill some wolves..."
So why wasn''t it out already?
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 39
"What kind of unreasonable demand is that?"
Unreasonable? No, it was very reasonable. One does not just tell that there are wolves to kill, and then not let the one that was telled kill them. That is just unreasonable. More than whatever it said.
And what was wrong with telling sun to get it out? It was here because sun didn''t tell it right. That there were so many bugs and that it would be hit into parts so easy.
"I assumed you would retreat. Not somehow get stuck in there. It''s not like you can''t just grow a new body."
Well, it was true that it could, but it couldn''t. It maybe, just maybe, did something wrong. And put the back mana into the already breaked body instead. That maybe didn''t work like it thought it would. Instead of helping it come back and fight the bugs, it taked much time just to put the body parts back and it didn''t come back like it thought, but instead got under this stuff.
It was also not getting a new body, because what little mana it was letting out was going into the breaked body. It was of course, stopping most of its mana from going out, because it was not good with mana right now.
"So, basically, you almost killed yourself. Despite the ants not being able to even see your actual body. Or rather, how did your body, even if it''s a low 15 endurance, get chopped up by these guys?"
So it was even weaker than 15 even though that was what it had?
"Somehow yeah."
Well. It could think about this after, first, it was already corroding. A little bit still got more mana than it used. But it was unfast. So, sun had to do something too. Some more mana would be nice.
"Yeah yeah. I mean, we can probably sell these for something. I''ll start hauling up the bodies. Just do your thing. Actually, try to fix that body situation. It won''t take long on my end so you better have that figured out soon."
What? How? But, if it didn''t corrode it also didn''t get much more mana...it could eat the other mana obviously, but if it remembered right, then its mana getting was faster before it was pseudo-void. The mana use was also less.
But, well, how could it make its mana getting faster? It had tried moving mana around before, but trying to push the mana into itself and eat more usually just made it get hard. It would start to feel like too much and then the mana would be like hitting something and stop coming in as fast.
Like there was a amount of mana that it coud have and no more pulled in at the same time. So, it could try to somehow know how to "fix" that. Or it could just do the easy thing. The get out of the breaked body and get a new one.
It didn''t want to though, since if it stopped here and instead went for a new body, it felt like it wouldn''t have the same try again. It could of course, try to have sun break it and then learn it less fast. Maybe some other time.
But, it could probably get out of the body easy, with some try, less time. Then it would be doing nothing for a while and trying to get a new body. Or, it could stay here and try to do this. And then, go for a new body if it didn''t work. Not to add, it did feel like something was happening.
The mana that went into the body, went into the body parts and then out. It touched the other parts but didn''t stop and just went back outside. But what if that was all the problem was? Just making the mana that went into the body, stop in the body?
It could just hold the mana there, and push it back onto the next body part.
Did it do anything?
Kind of. It went into the body part that was next. And then back out. But the mana after that, that it wasn''t holding? That just went out.
Ok. But! It did stop in the next body part for a bit. Something changed. The two body parts looked different. Just a little. Something.
But if it could change them with mana, then this was probably what it had to do.
If the sun didn''t come, it would have had to first be in fear of the bugs, as in, it couldn''t get out. It would have to get them done and also get more mana first. But since sun was doing the work now, it could use all its mana for random things now.
So, this was no problem. The mana being let out and used like that without doing anything? It was fine. Seeing as it didn''t know how to fix it, then this was only normal. Instead, it had used it to get a little better at this. So it could be thought of as ok.
Once it knowed how to do this though, then it would not be ok to have this not used right mana.
Still, the problem now was its body that was breaked. That was what it had to do now, so thinking other things was bad. Yes, stop.
Think back on things that need to be done. No other thoughts yet. Right. Ok. Now all it had to do was -
"Done."
Oh. Well, that made it feel annoyed. Coming after so long and then not even letting it have time to do what it was doing.
"I told you though. I mean, if you take that long to do something so simple...I was wondering what you were messing around with. But it''s just a normal self-repair. It''s just like normal healing but easier." The sun was already there, next to it. The bugs around it were not there anymore, and sun just dropped into the Pit, walking over to it.
It could see Styx throwing a many bugs up the Pit. Somehow, sun''s weird thing was on them and making them stop as one part, so they didn''t become many like they actually were. So weird. But useable.
It being easier than normal healing was fine. How about he tell it how to do normal healing then?
"Well, I uh, don''t know how to do a repair spell. But, I can heal myself. A-and, I know the theory. Just use the mana to stitch yourself back together. You know, move the mana through every body part until it''s one continuous flow. Probably. It''s not even a proper healing spell because you don''t have to fill in much missing parts."
Ok, so it was doing it right. This "stitch" and "continuous" aside, moving mana through all the body parts? That was what it thought. So it could do this pretty easy.
It worked before. A bit.
"That''s fine. Another time. I mean, I don''t want to waste time..." Sun didn''t look like he wanted to wait but Styx came back and looked at the bugs that were starting to open the way.
They let the bugs there stop where they were, but the bugs still had it easier with all the other dead ones moved away. So they were already breaking through. And there looked to be new bugs there. Many of them. They were all hitting into the dead bugs wall and throwing parts every where towards the place where St-un was.
Styx nodded to himself once and then turned to them, "This may be good too. If we have to teach it, this many targets to show the basics is fine too. Not to mention, looks like the theory is correct. There''s likely a Broodmother here. It wasn''t attacked by just ants."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Sun looked annoyed. "Well, yeah, but it''s nothing new. I mean we have been encountering groups of bugs and they usually don''t group like that. I mean, regular Botow ants and Rimors don''t just not kill each other. But, again, how''s that our problem. Ecromina will just blow them all up if it ever becomes a problem."
Styx looked at sun, "But a good massacre every now and then is fun."
Sun thought and then nodded. "True. Ok, as warm-up."
Well, as that was fine now...it had some things to do too. Actually, as much as St-un got annoyed at it, it was now sure that they were only fighting now since they were ok with waiting for it. So, it could remember this.
It made sense though. If it could also become strong, then three had a better fighting and killing than just two. So this was like, a after some time getting something. It had not thought about it before, but sometimes it looked like things that were just a not good use of time could also be useable after some time. Like this right now.
This was...
"An investment."
Yes. Yes it was.
It could see them fight and use the time to "heal" itself, so first of course would be putting the mana moving right. From the head, to the body, to the other body...or to the arm? It could also go to another body on the side and then down or to the side again and to an arm...but there was many manas so maybe all of them?
Yes, just make more mana ways and put them through all the body parts. That was more than likely what it had to do. Or else, after coming from the arm top back down to the hands it had to turn it around and back to the arm top and into the body.
One of those. But, it seemed like doing many ways could make this whole thing done faster. That was true. So, first it would try that.
If it could even...well, from the head and down was one. Then another to each side. That was two. And...three? Then that same ways to the sides could keep going into the arms. But from the other body sides, it had to go down again. So, two again. And in there, it''s arms were also breaked and legs, and body into smaller parts in here and there so there were more and more ways to different the mana into.
This was...not going to work as well as it thought it would...
But. As long as it had the mana moving into the body parts still, the parts did start to become back into each other. So it was possible that it could just, not move the mana more. And let the parts come back part by part.
That...would be better. Since it felt like if it did more it could become not able to hold the mana any more and after that it would have to do all of it again.
Ok, for now, since all it had to do was hold the mana in place...it could look back to what St-un was - oh. That was...faster than it, yes.
They were making the bugs smaller and smaller parts or even using mana to kill the small one and then throwing the parts back. the ones they didn''t throw were eated by the bugs around, and then came throwing out when the bugs that ate were killed and breaked. Then those already eaten and new parts, would also still have some be eated. Then, again. And again.
It seemed like that was bad though, since St-un both tried to not let the parts touch them, and also looked weird with those expressions whenever a part touched them.
In the back, there were some other demons that were taking the parts and making them together like how sun did and throwing them back again. Then, more demons moved those parts into bigger groups and then even more demons put those parts out of the Pit.
There were many demons in weird clothes that throwed weird looking things here and there, some dropping into the Pit, and taked the parts. Why, or what the weird things were, it didn''t know, but it was thinking it was like the money that sun used before.
So, these bugs were good for money? Well, if the bugs it killed were also money, and money was something it could get, then it also wanted some money. That seemed a good a reason as any to get to killing even more bugs. After all, having something that was actually its, not just let to have like the sword sun got for it, or the projector that wasn''t actually its.
The money would be its. And could be used to get more things that were its. All the demons had things. Like clothes. Buildings. Weapons. They were theres. All it had was a body. And it was itself so it didn''t mean the same.
What it wanted, was things that were really its. Its, and only its. But not actually it. It didn''t need more bodies. Though they would be good for fighting and stuff. So, it wanted them. But, not for having things.
By now, the body parts using mana were almost back. Kind of. Not really. But kind of. Good enough.
It was like. Two mana for one health. That was what it looked like. It was almost sure. Its health went up one when its mana was less two. Its body was less breaked with that too.
The problem was then that it didn''t have a lot of mana right now. The mana coming in helped a lot. But it seemed like it was less than what it was using. Somehow. Was that less or a lot? It wasn''t sure.
Its not like it was full though for the amount of mana it could pull in at the same time though. It was only eating enough mana right now that it could get. Holding in the mana fixing it, and also corroding what little it was, and even pushing its mana into its body the right way, was all using much of its thinking. To add pulling in more mana to that...was hard.
The only thing it could think of was somehow getting more thinking. Or using less thinking on something.
"Just let loose with the corrosion. Point it at the little bugs. The ones getting past us. The workers have to stomp those out. This will be useful and easier for you than trying not to corrode. Go for it. And have some mana. I want to be done with this and out."
Sun didn''t even look away from the fight. Was his thinking also actually a lot? He was just hitting around his small sword thing, but he did it so that it killed in one or two hits and didn''t get stopped inside a bug like Styx seemed to sometimes. This was...probably important. They were fighting different.
And not bad. Styx got stopped sometimes but he could then do somehting that pushed back the bugs and move the sword again. Not to add, the sword usually hit many bugs at once before getting stopped in one.
But, it still got stopped. Sun''s way looked better. Just that Styx was not bad. In its thought it was sure, that if they asked it, it could get this right. Styx was definitely fighting badder than sun here right? Even though Styx could beat sun, he wasn''t good here. It was different than normal.
As it was though, ever since sun last think-talked, it had been getting mana somehow. Not a lot. It stopped soon. But it was a good amount. With this much, it could corrode better.
The mana use when little used more mana than when it was a lot. It was kind of weird. But when the corrosion was big and started, then after that it was less mana than making it big first.
It had a feel for mana, so this was something it was sure of. Now all it had to do, was corrode enough bugs to get back enough mana to full its health. That looked like more or less like what its body was like.
So more mana, was better body.
An easy thing to do.
Just push past Styx, since he looked like he was fighting harder. And corrode. It was corroding the bugs already, the small ones that sun telled it to, but the bigs ones now were more mana. Styx looked back at it once and nodded, before hitting harder.
It couldn''t corrode some of the bugs as fast normally, but when Styx hit them into smaller parts, they corroded faster.
As it corroded faster, it used less mana. As it used less mana, it got more mana. And this made the mana even more and more.
And put the body back even faster. The last problem was just that its mana was now coming back faster, but still not like it had a lot. So this was time.
Time which it wasn''t sure it had.
St-un couldn''t just get up if they got hitted into parts right?
They cou - SUN! DON''T DIE!
Sun got hit in one part of his arm and blood came out. While the bug was then killed by sun right after, and the blood was still nice to look at - even if it was from sun - it was pretty sure it would be in a problem if sun died.
It couldn''t talk right without sun and also needed him to go to school. Also, the first friend Chieftain said to help sun or something. Kind of. For some reason, even though usually it remembered everything, some things were harder to remember. But, well, it was something like that. So sun couldn''t die here.
"Hey."
Sun, don''t die! Just, just get better at healing!
"Hey!"
WHAT? It was thinking, don''t be annoying.
"I healed it already."
Oh.
"Yeah."
Well whatever.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 40
Now that that was done. It was also almost done healing.
This now needed some thinking. If last time it got hit into parts. What did it need to do different?
What could it do to kill the bugs, but not die? Corrosion was easy.
But, seeing as it wasn''t sure about physical fighting...maybe the better thing to do here was to not fight the bugs and just help with the demons moving things around. As it was, looking at the St-un was helping it learn much.
While the pseudo-void didn''t do much when put into the same ways as what the sun and Styx did with their mana, it was definitely useable.
The way it was done on the sword, made it better for going through little parts and breaking them into smaller bits.
The way it was done with throwing, made it better for hitting things with corrosion. Something it did try with the small bugs it was killing.
When hit by the throwed mana, they were killed easy.
Better actually, than trying to cover the whole place with corrosion mana to get just one bug. Fighting like this was, let it have more mana left over to use for other things or more killing.
But that was also all. They didn''t do much different, so for now, it would wait. Until it was healed.
It was healed. Done. All good.
Next was...money. It could use this to see what bugs were for. Maybe.
Or, well, it tried. But when it went over and started moving bugs to them, they didn''t look at it much. And even when the money dropped in, they taked all the money and didn''t give any to it.
But there were also other working demons that got no money. Instead, other times, they pushed away other demons to get money. So the money that dropped in was probably for who ever got it. Which meaned it could just take it. Did it even have to work then? They didn''t say anything so this was their problem.
It was taking that money.
The first time went well. Three things dropped near it. The other demons turned to look, but before they could get it, it runned and throwed itself over them.
That was three...and as for where to put them...it didn''t want to put them on the ground. That meaned they could take it. Money on the ground was for taking after all.
No, but where could it - oh. Inside itself. It didn''t have anything else in there anyway. So there. Money.
The demons looked at it weird when it went for more money. After some time they even started coming in groups to push it away and let other demons take it.
How dumb though. It was using their way before, but it had its actual body. Did they really think they could get money when it was there?
That, and covering the money by throwing itself at it seemed to also work well. And if it didn''t work, unlike the other demons who got talked to loudly by the ones up top, it could just look from the side and throw itself at any money that came. Yes, by the time St-un came, it would have much money. Much, much, money.
Ah, they were back.
It walked over with its legs making jingle sounds when it moved. They first looked down at its legs and then at the demons around. They were not looking too happy, probably because there were no more bugs for them to kill.
Styx looked over and around and then back at it, "We''re very sorry for our friends actions...so we''ll recompense two coppers to everybody present. I apologize again and hope everyone can forgive my friend here."
Sun also walked in front of Styx, "Actually, our friend here was responsible for catching any stragglers that got past us and aided in combat with magic so, I hope you can overlook its actions."
The demons looked at each other before going and taking some money from Styx, and walking away fast.
"It''s a good thing we''re guardsmen or that could''ve gotten nasty. You, don''t just dive for money like that. Especially if you aren''t doing anything." Styx went down to its side and put the sword out on his legs. They were one under the other.
Sun also walked over to its other side. "Yup. By the way, how much did you make?"
"Don''t encourage it!"
Styx should be less angry. They didn''t tell it to work so that was their problem. It seeed money, it taked money. Very easy.
Anyway, taking out the money was easier now. Having moved around its body that much it knowed that there was actually a way to take its body parts off without using a weapon or getting hurt.
It just had to touch them and take them off in a certain way. After some mana changes of course. Though, its body was put in place using almost the same way the healing thing did, so it just had to un do it.
Turning over both legs it let the money drop. Sun looked it over and nodded. "37 coppers. Not bad. Except we''ll have to give 34 coppers to the workers. Oh well. Remember that miserliness. It''ll serve you well in the adult world..."
"Oh shut up. Well, that was a long wave. We wasted two hours already. If it wasn''t for those training drills being just as bad we would''ve run out of stamina first." Styx got up and then walked over to a weird thing coming down from up top.
Sun also got up and moved over to the weird thing, "I wouldn''t say it was a complete waste. I mean, the experience is terrible but theexperience is fine."
It was...not very big but very long. Styx holded it and started going up...was it to do that some how too? Because, it didn''t think it could...that moving way seemed weird.
"You''re gonna have to, because I am not carrying you - oh. Yeah, we''ll just pull you up with the rope." Then sun also went up.
Well, that probably meaned it was to stop here and be pulled up after sun was also at the top. Which wouldn''t take too long from - ok. Hold the rope. They were up.
Soon, it was also up. It only banged into the side of the Pit and other than that it was good.
But now what?
"We leave in about, two hours. We already got our stuff - not that we have much - and so, for now, we''ll just have you fight a wolf or two so you don''t embarrass yourself later."
Styx also moved in and passed it something. Its club. "Get used to the weight."
Then he moved up and walked faster. So did sun. Did they mean for it to move faster too? Because it could. It wasn''t like it couldn''t. It didn''t have problems moving its legs that fast. They had problems moving their legs that fast. It could just use the way from before!
"Hey, don''t go that way. That''s the Fast Track. It''s not for people." Sun holded an arm and pulled it back before it could go into the "Fast Track."
Sun didn''t know what he was talking about. Sure, it could get a leg or arm dropping off, but it could just hold it and put it back on with its actual body now. There were no problems at all.
"But it''s illegal. Stop that."
What? Why?
"You''ll be put in jail where there''s bad food. And we''ll leave you behind. And because no one likes cleaning up the messes that people splatting leave."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Ok, yes, it would just try to walk faster normally. Though it wouldn''t splat so it was sure that that wasn''t much of a problem.
"No. And if you''re going to listen anyway why not listen thefirst time?"
Because, it had to think for itself. It wasn''t a rock or something.
"Eh. Well, I suppose that''s true. A rock would be smarter than you."
Really? So rocks are actually very "smart?" Then, wouldthat mean sun was actually even lower? First was people who were actually smart. Like Ecromina. Then was rocks apparently. Then it. Then smart demons like Styx. Then not smart demons. Andthen sun. Below that was things like bugs and wolves though so it wasn''t much of a good thing...well, it was a place that was good for sun. At least he was now higher than wolves. He used to be in the same place as them.
"...says the guy puttingrocks higher than himself...pfft hahahaha."
Styx seemed to have heared what sun said and also let out one laugh. Like ahah. Styx was weird sometimes.
...the buildings looked very different from each other. They may look like they were almost the same from far, like bones, but actually they had different looking colors and parts. Or things they were for. Some had demons eating in front, and others had weapons and even others had things withreally weird colors.
"Those are plants. They''re normally green in most worlds anyway. Our blue and red plants are the weird ones..."
What!?
So...well, it seemed, that it needed to go to other worlds even more now...
"You wanted to?"
If one world is there, then it would be ok to learn everything there. But if there were more, then it had to learn there too obviously. There were too many things it heared that it needed to see for itself.
"Sure I guess. Though that''ll be after your kinda mandatory job."
"Mandatory job?" What was a mandatory job? And why did it not know it had one?
"...you''ll find out when you''re ready. That''s all I can say. Just realize that my position was first gained through my connection to you and raised by my own efforts."
That...sounded like it was important. Sun say more!
"Can''t. General''s orders."
What? Ok, so General was also part of this...fine. It would find out itself. If sun didn''t want it to know it wanted to know even more. That was what learning was after all.
Sun? Sun? Not talking? Fine. Whatever.
In the end, sun didn''t talk again about it. Not even when it called sun stupid for a long time.
Though they were outside the walls now. Out in the outside. After so long. It felt so weird. So...big.
But still no one talked. St-un just walked more away from the walls and looked for...wolves probably.
But no wolves were that near yet. It could feel them coming though. Void mana moved differently when something was moving through it. That could tell it when something was coming. After all, it was out here so long, it was normal to know these things about the mana. If there was one thing it could say it knowed better than sun, even if not more, then it was the mana here.
It felt different now though. Now, it didn''t need to stay in a place with normal mana in it. Though St-un helped with that too.
No, it could push away the void mana itself. Not for too long but it could. Though it didn''t try fighting it again. The one time it did had went bad enough with so less void mana and this much would be very bad.
Oh, the wolves were here. Styx seeed them first.
"Got it. Alright, kill the one in the front. The other one...idiot, freeze it."
So Styx wasn''t doing anything? This...it could do it. It had a club this time and the enemy was just one. There was no way this could end as badly as the bugs. There was no way at all.
Wait, wait, then hit!
Oh, it hit. It didn''t work very well though...it just moved the club from its side to the wolf when it was right on top of it, but the hit just made it fall back. It sounded more like awhumph then athud.
Then the wolf jumped at it again, and it hit it again. This time though it just pointed and pushed the club in front of it. Since that seemed the fastest way to -
"No. Don''t just only try to hit it! If you don''t swing it properly there won''t be any force behind it!"
Sun was apparently already done "freezing" the wolf. Its legs were covered in the weird stuff and stopped where it was. It tried to hit the stuff with its mouth but sun looked happy to look at it hurt itself as blood started coming out of its mouth. Now he was looking at it.
Styx also moved his head from side to side, "Like this." Then, he moved his sword around. Was that a "swing?"
Oh. So. Ithad to do that whole thing others did? That whole, from one side around andbang? It always thought it looked stupid since it made space for the enemy to come in and hit you before you hit it, but if that was needed then that made more sense then its reason. They probably weren''t doing it to look cool after all. The imps always called...that guy...?...cool when he did the big swings.
It thought that was just their strength stat though, not the swing.
Well, in that case...it looked at the wolf that was going around and around it. There was some blood in its mouth from where it hit it.
It swinged, but it didn''t hit. The wolf just moved to the side and then hit its arm.
Its arm made sounds and went in, but seeing as the wolf was close now, it just needed to hold it, right?
So it used its other hand to hold the wolf. Now it could corrode it easy, but it was supposed to -
"Kill it. However, you like. But physically." Styx knowed what it was thinking? How? It didn''t have a connection to him like sun right? Right? Maybe?
But, that was fine then. It knowed heads were important to normal things. The mouth of this wolf was blooding now. So, with its hand, it could hurt the head more.
First, the spot that was...no actually, putting its hand into the mouth anymore seemed a bad idea. It could get hit...but if it stopped holding it...oh, it had legs.
Just like the money.
It throwed itself onto the wolf and pulled its armaround the wolf''s mouth. Now, its hand was...kind of able?
It could reach the...weird part coming out of its head from here so it pulled that with its hand, and then started hitting its head into the wolf''s head over and over.
RIGHT HERE
Its own head started to come in, but it healed it and then hit the wolf again. It was starting to blood more now.
That was a good thing, it meaned the wolf would die if it were to keep doing this.
But to do it faster...well, the wolf was throwing it around by moving like this. It was stronger than it.
Even when it was holding it, it was only stopped because it also had its arm in its mouth and looked to be waiting for it to break...oh actually.
It let go of the club from that hand and then holded it with its other hand, and then started hitting the wolf with that instead. But not by hitting it on its head. It needed to swing better right?
So it hit the mouth. From behind its head, around, and then hitting the mouth, again and again.
The things in its mouth madecracking sounds and more blood came out.
The club also looked good now. It had blood and some other stuff it didn''t know on it. Parts of the white things in its mouth also dropped whenever it hit.
Since it couldn''t hold it down anyway, it was using its legs to hit it too, and the arm in its mouth was looking like a sword with its points now so it moved it back and forward. It could feel the wolf''s mouth letting it move more as it did it, parts of its mouth coming out when it did.
Soon, the wolf stopped moving. Its arm was also almost out now. It was in a weird look from all the breaking to it, but that could be healed.
Styx pulled its mouth open, and it pulled its arm out.
"That was...violent. You have some nice killer instinct, even if not the stats or skills to support it. I see much potential...well, you''ve certainly got better with this than before you fought, right?"
Sun also walked over and laughed. "Slow, but, I thought it was over once it got your arm. To be honest we didn''t expect you to win that. Though I suppose having a body made of...whatever that stuff is and no blood to lose...yeah. Ok, now, pratice your swings on this one."
That sounded like a good idea. Though it had a better idea of it after breaking the wolf''s mouth. It was sure of that. But, yes, having a place to try it, without the wolf moving was also good.
It pulled up the club and looked at the wolf.
St-un moved away and sun laughed a bit. "I mean. It''s still kinda disturbing to watch...and it splashes a lot. So. Don''t worry, it won''t melt."
It wasn''t sure what he was talking about but sure. It moved over to the wolf.
Styx telled it to look over.
He was holding his sword over his head. Then he dropped it.
"That''s an overhead. Try it. It usually has more power, though it leaves a bigger opening."
Ok. Up.
It looked into the wolf''s eyes. It could see itself. What nice eyes. It wanted to take them out and keep them after. If they didn''t break...oh, it could just not hit the head. Right.
Down.
Crunch
The wolf let out what sounded like a normal sound wolves made but not really. Was it because its back was breaked? Whatever.
DONE
It had...many trainings to do.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 41
After the overhead swings, it had also tried the normal swings from its side but a bit more back to the forwards and even from down to up.
That was "underhand" apparently. It didn''t work so well on the wolf - which didn''t look much like a wolf at this point - but well, that was all fine and good. Styx had said that it was better to know it at least, since it worked better than other swings in some "situations." Like if the club was already below, than instead of moving it to the side or up for a swing, it was faster to just swing up.
Though in its thought, that seemed pretty obvious. The overhead might not have come to it until the situation happened, but it already knowed when it needed to get the hit down fast or not.
But, it had more...choice in that. It could let an enemy come in and hit it if it helped to hit them good. It wouldn''t die and at the most would feel some hurt or have its physical body needing to be healed again. Not something that taked a whole lot of time. Not now that it was better at it.
That did still make it think of what to do with its level still not going up. And actually, it didn''t feel like training anymore with hitting with a club seeming to do nothing. What was even the point of that?
If it knowed how to hit now, then wouldn''t having more stats be better than so many swings anyway?
"Yeah, but I mean, for us, training like that also increases your stats...I don''t know why yours aren''t going up at all. It''s like they''re fixed, and I would be lying if I said I knew why. You''d think that would have gone up one or two points at least. If I had to say though, it''s probably to do with your physical body being disposable." Sun made some good points there.
Why wasn''t its stats going up now? The intelligence and wisdom didn''t seem to do anything, but seeing as it actually used its physical body now, having more physical stats would help it a lot. It had thought about it a lot, because even the wolves here were too strong to deal with easily.
Oh yes, it could kill them a lot, but that was in like one at a time. Maybe two. Not, just one. It could still remember being swinged around by that wolf it killed. Though, it could just get up again even if it was breaked into parts, and it didn''t use its corrosion so actually, it could probably be fine even with lots and lots of wolves. That didn''t mean it liked that though.
It felt annoyed that it, still couldn''t easily kill wolves. Not in those numbers. It would take time. It was the same reason why it wasn''t actually ok with being just a head when it had to walk to some place. Just because it could didn''t mean it wanted to take so much time on it.
That would be...dumb. If it could, then doing it faster was better. If it was the body that was the problem then it couldn''t do much about it now. Waiting would be for the best.
So, anyway. When could it stop?
The wolf was already just...some red thing. It didn''t look like a once moving thing at all. It was almost fully just...down.
It felt itself hit rock instead of wolf now.
"Just go hit the other wolf."
It did. This was it.
"Oh. Styx. Do something." Sun turned to Styx and hit his leg with his own leg.
Styx turned and hit sun''s head with one hand, and then nodded while looking at it. "Check your skills. There should be some interesting things there. The other wolves were probably scared off by the wolves here. They were making some uh, sad sounds. Though they''ll probably come rushing as soon as they forget. The wolves here aren''t very smart."
Skills? And why weren''t wolves here smart, as in, were other wolves smart? Did it need to be said? But...''skills?'' Like what was -
Skill(s):
- Basic Blunt Weapon Use ( F ): Possesses the basic knowledge of the use of blunt weapons
- Mana Absorbtion ( Racial - B ): Able to absorb mana at a significant rate and efficiency. Loss at 30%
- Mana Weaving ( C ): Able to manipulate mana to a greater degree than just manipulation, weaving it into more complex shapes and structures
- Pseudo-void Consumption ( Racial - C ): The void devours all, and the pseudo-void possesses similer characteristics. Unrestrained consumption of surrounding mana and matter, all eaten is converted to mana. More mana is used than contained in object
- Self-Repair ( Racial - D ): Able to repair self given time. Efficiency is 50% and can only put together existing components
- Reconstruction ( Racial - C ): Able to slowly repair self given enough mana. Missing components can be created, but requires detailed knowledge of materials to make new ones. Efficiency is 33.3333(Redacted)%
- Limited Self-Contained Domain ( Racial - C ): The body possesses an ability to restrain and rapidly digest those inside itself. Unable to expand domain to size larger than body or pull in substances without significant decrease in strength
- Mana Connection ( E ): Mana connections can be formed in limited situations to attach to surfaces
- Soul Digestion ( Racial - D ): Captured souls placed in appropriate location, can be broken down and absorbed as mana. Components other than mana are lost and digestion can take time based on size and quality of soul
- Soul Attraction ( E ): To a limited extent, detached souls will slowly be drawn in
- Mana Hands ( D ): Hands of mana can be used to grab objects. Mana consumption may vary
- Mana Compression: Mana can be compressed into a higher concentration and density
- Sense Mana (Racial - A): Able to percieve mana to high degree, and substitute for hearing
- Mana Sight (Racial): Substitutes for sight
- Split Input (D): Accept information from multiple sources
Ah, so that was what skills were. Though most of the words didn''t make all that much sense to it, from what it could see, these were everything it could do.
"Never everything. Never think that. A summary, yes, but not everything. Mentally limiting yourself is always a bad idea."
Sure sun. Ok. But then what was even the use of skills? This was just things it could do?
"Only certain things actually. Cooking isn''t a skill. Well, it doesn''t have a rating anyway. Not all skills will be given ratings. Ratings help you tell if there''s still easy ways to grow the skill. Cooking can''t really be calculated with a rating because of that. I mean most people only care about combat related stuff anwyay."
Well, wasn''t that obvious? Cooking or...walking. Right, that, was also not a skill. Those two things were just there. But...actually, its point didn''t make sense. it was going to say only "combat" skills were useful, but it couldn''t fight if it couldn''t walk to the place and around during the fight. That would be weird. It could move differently with its actual body though, but...that didn''t look like it was a skill also.
No, it wasn''t going to think about things it didn''t know that well so much. It wouldn''t help and just used time...
Styx started walking away. Why? No wolves and sword trai - oh he was talking.
"It''s getting late. Sword training can wait, but it''s not polite to be late to a meeting."Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Sun also followed Styx after taking a look at the sun - the other one - and it went after while looking at the new thing.
Step Four: Open the shop!
Sun. What was a...shop? What did it do? Or mean?
"Don''t open that scam! Forget it exists. You never saw that box okay?"
...well, that made it want to open it more though.
An annoyed sun was fun for it. But this "polite" sounded important too. Was it like those legal and illegal things? Would it get put in a place on its own without food? Dying slowly without food didn''t sound fun. Not bad, but definitely something to be away from if it could.
Ok. So. This would need to be remembered. Be polite. The first one was to not be...too much time after the time that it was supposed to be for a "meeting."
Now it wouldn''t be "late." Not to a meeting. But was it fine in other places? Not to "mention," what if it was unpolite without trying to be?
Or what if it was eated by a group of bugs and had to first fight them off and heal so that was why it was late. But if late was bad...for a reason like that it would be killed?
Polite was scary.
They were almost back at the walls when it seeed them. These meeting demons. The ones who could kill it slowly for being late.
Were they late? Would now be the time it and St-un died?
"Ah, nice to see you again Styx! These are the friends you mentioned?"
A small but big demon walked over to Styx and after the demon gave a fast look and nod to each of them, it turned back to Styx. Apparently, they weren''t important enough.
"Indeed, and so I presume we are ready to set off then? We have all our belongings with us of course."
Well, it looked like in talking with each other, a demon was only supposed to talk to the important ones who were important for whatever they were talking about. Or else, they could just act like they weren''t there. Good to know.
These kinds of things were probably not meant to be asked about. Learning on its own was definitely better than being unpolite somehow. St-un could do this. So long as it went along with whatever they did, nothing bad would happen.
The Pit was its idea after all.
Whatever it was though, it could tell sun was trying to stop his expression from changing though. He was moving a bit while standing there. The mana around him was being pushed around. Was he dying or hurting?
Its thought was done though when it finded out the problem though.
"Of course, of course! I''ll go ahead then." The demon left and as soon as he did, sun started laughing very unloudly.
"You certainly sound like a noble. The same Styx who gets drunk under the table acting all prim and proper haha. Oh, I wish I could see their faces if they ever found out." Styx made a fast moving with his hands, probably...telling him to stop?
Seeing as he wasn''t saying anything it was to make sure the demon didn''t hear or look over. Was it important? Could it be that...sun was being unpolite!?
SUN STOP RIGHT NOW. OR ELSE! IT WOULD DEFINITELY MAKE HIS DAY BAD!
Sun stopped and looked over at it.
Sun could go and die on his own if he wanted to. It couldn''t help stupid minds after all. But taking it with him was not ok. The words the Chieftain said only worked while it was fair. Any pushing there and it would hit the sun and hide the body before it went to this "jail."
"W-what?"
If sun was put to sleep and the body was in its body, no one would ever know and he couldn''t be unpolite!
"Oh, ok, I was worried for a second."
Well, killing was a bit much after all. It didn''t say it wouldn''t listen to Chieftain''s words at all sun.
It looked out. They were all moving towards a new way. The school was in this way, a place with many new things to see, and hear, and learn.
Would there be new monsters too? New things to kill?
For now though...this group was slow. They were at the back right now, but were slowly moving up.
Well, St-un were. It was still back here...
Moving fast was hard. Were they already going away, now that they had a bigger, better group?
"You can''t move fast anyway, so be the rearguard. I doubt you''ll have much trouble. Try practicing when you can, but your job now is to protect the rest of the people here, ok? Don''t let any monsters attack them. You only have to watch for monsters from behind us, but that means if you need to you can use all your abilities." Styx! It was Styx! Hm, ok, new job? Yes, it would do this. But, really, sun didn''t come back. Styx was much more useful than sun. Sun was smart sometimes though...but no. Job!
No monsters would hurt the people. Even if it had to lose body parts for it.
It didn''t get why so many words for the same thing were a thing though. Like pratice, train, and learn. They were for the same thing as a whole. What even was the point of having different words for that?
Oh. Bug! It was under the ground and too near the demons!
Die! Wait, no, it couldn''t hit it there...fine, it would have to watch it for now. To make sure it didn''t do anything weird...hm?
Was it moving away? Yes, that''s right bug. Move away. Nothing to do here, not for you.
It seemed that the bug knowed it was there and what was good for it. Knowing to go away from it.
It was already doing a bad job though. The bug had almost come close to it, and after that, when it died, it would have only been a small run to the rest of the group!
If it could stop them for a bit, St-un could probably fix it though. So long as it did it while ready to die.
A bug would not kill it that easy. Not agai -
What was that!? A rock! Why was it moving though?
That was maybe an enemy! Normal rocks didn''t just move like that!
Die rock!
It hit the rock with the club. Not much happened, but if it were to keep hitting it - a demon from the group looked back at it and then a rock its leg was about to hit.
So. It was...not a monster. Ok. But. It would still do it again. Every hit was important, and getting the first hit could be the thing that made sure who winned. Like if it put a sword through sun''s head when he didn''t move, it could win in one attack.
No possible enemies could be...what about the ground? It somewhat remembered a demon moving rocks around with mana. Like the fire they could throw around.
Couldn''t the ground become its enemy too, if a demon moved it? Like the General made the mountain right?
Wasn''t that...really dangerous?
Was its group stupid?
Without even bringing the General with them, they were coming out to a place where they could die so easily...it would be fine normally anyway.
But this group? Well, no, St-un were also strong. They were maybe fine...ok, it couldn''t be that bad, right?
It hadn''t had too many...dangerous things...outside...
Way back was them dying.
Then sun almost dying and becoming shattered.
Then there was the weird humans and necromancer the next time it went out.
...It wouldn''t fight something weird again now, right?
Maybe being in the walls all the time was better...no, no, it couldn''t get strong without going out, and also couldn''t have new things without going out.
If it got stronger, than even if something bad did happen, it would be ok. General seemed strong enough. Getting at least that strong seemed to be a good way to go about -
ROCK!
Oh. Rock.
Right.
Well. This whole going to school thing was being boring. Therewere wolves. But St-un killed them. It didn''t get much to do at the back.
That was not to say there was nothing though. Three wolves it killed.
They came as a group, all around their group, and it killed three. St-un were fighting the others so it didn''t see a need to use corrosion more.
The three it killed were a hard fight. The first one was stopped in place with its actual body and then an overhead to the place behind the head made acrack and killed it.
The second one was corroded fast while it then did the way it had used before when training on the third one.
Hitting each other many times.
It throwed itself onto the wolf to stop it from moving while the other was corroded and then after it was dead it corroded the one it was holding, even as it hit it.
The demon group also did some fighting actually. They made weird looking things come out of still more weird looking things that madethunk sounds when hitting wolves.
They were throwing those things from not just the ground but also their places on top of these big things that they were pulling behind them.
The big things were pulled by weird looking monsters but seeing as St-un didn''t try to kill them it also left them as is.
Other than that though it was sure now that talking rules were around who was important to the thing being talked about.
That small and big demon acted important then, but during the fight, it just stayed inside the big thing and ate something.
It was useless in fighting. That was its thought on the point. It was what it was though.
It killed three wolves, and that was good. Better than it would have thought.
At least, it felt like it was getting stronger. More useful.
Aside from killing rocks that is. They were a real problem. The big things and monsters pulling them also throwed around rocks as they moved. It had attacked more than 10 rocks already.
At least for now that was done though. Night was coming and the demons were doing something weird now.
Spoiler: Status
Side Chapter: Just another day
It started as any other day.
I got out of my bed, and my bodyguard passed me the wash basin. A quick wash and then I was out. On to the main part of my day.
"Come Araxas, we have work to do." I gestured to him to move faster as I happily went for the stairs.
"We always do, sir..."
"Hurry, hurry. Don''t drag your feet!"
A good merchant did not waste time after all. I had already bathed yesterday night, and mornings were always especially busy in this city.
Not that it could be called much of a city yet. It was decently large of course, but the rather barren landscape around prevented it from becoming particularly profitable. It was more of a waste of money, and the people knew it. The population was far less than the size would suggest. Perhaps a few thousand at most.
The only reason it could even operate was the funds from the Kingdom. Why they bothered was as obvious to me as any other demon that knew some history. I didn''t see the point though. There was no way that they could ever fix what had occurred.
They should have been glad that it was contained even. But no! They still wanted to mess with the place! Well, today at least, I would be out of here. Some junior from my company could manage the place now. I sure wasn''t risking my neck out here any longer.
"You seem happy sir."
"Of course! We''re finally leaving the damned place after all! Come, come. Just one more shift!"
There were some groaning noises downstairs as the heavy front door was opened. It had been expensive to install but it would hold out a good bit if anybody - or anything for that matter - tried to break it down.
I carefully went down the staircase. As should always be in places like this, it was efficient. Just a regular slope down to the first floor. None of that spiralling that I normally used. The shop was small enough as is without wasting space like that. It felt bigger with the light colors though; shades of white and yellow.
I had always enjoyed light colors. Far easier on the eyes than the harsh reds that I had to deal with on a daily basis.
"Light colors are nice aren''t they?"
"I''m sure they are sir."
"Tsk tsk tsk. You don''t understand interior design do you? You poor poor brute you."
"As you say..."
Ah well. I could bother him later as well.
Not to mention, I had found that with the Voidlands being a drab and depressing place anyway, some light colors added more to the store''s appeal than the products.
Bright colors and light hurt the eyes after getting used to the constant darkness here, and dark colors were just depressing.
Yes indeed, white and yellow were pretty colors indeed. If there was one thing I could thank those crazy idiots in the North for, it was bringing these paints and dyes to my life.
The items inside the shop were boring and normal though. Clay bottles for potions and the like, and dull metallic colors for the weapons.
There was no cheer to speak of there. Nor from my employees.
Tall, brutish, and covered head-to-toe in dark steel armor.
Their smiles would likely be scarier than just staying expressionless.
"""Good morning master."""
"Good morning. Let''s have a profitable last day, yes?"
"""Yes master."""
No, what brought customers to me was brand name. The Arclight company was a big name after all. But if it was just general goods, even other companies were here for those. Likethatone.
No, what I had to offer was specialty goods. Refined magic crystals were always bought from me. Nobody else had the same quantity. Or variety. The local stores could never compete. I could bring in things like Ice and Thunder crystals, but the local monsters were only of the void or pseudo-void, or death. None of those elements were particularly profitable as magic crystals.
I practically skipped through the aisles, heading for the storefront. The dry, cold air hit me like a wall as I reached it.
I looked out at the sun, the dim ball of light was still just rising. It would be a long day until I left...
I looked back once at my employees and did a quick stroll around the store; nitpicking with the items on display I moved them around until I heard the sound of footsteps.
Turning around, I bowed to the many customers already filing in, "Welcome dear customers!"
"Haha good morning sir. I''d like the usual again."
"Ah Bret. Nice to see you again," an employee passed him his crate of fire crystals, "you take it easy with that now. Take a break every now and then! Wouldn''t want to have one of my regulars disappearing on me."
Bret chuckled as he paid, "No no, I wouldn''t dare disappear on you sir. Ah, have a good day!"
"You too."
His spot was filled as soon as he left. I didn''t know these ones though.
A tall Rejuman at the lead and a small party of imps.
"May I help you?"
"Ah, some ice crystals."
Hardly surprised, I picked up a nearby crate and passed it, accepting the coins. "Have a good day."
Not very friendly. Ah well. Every day had a mix.
The sun was starting to fall back down. It was almost time to leave.
The preparations were already done. Three carriages with Corrupt Horses to pull them. Out of my employees, only ten were coming with me. The remaining thirteen would handle the store.
They would be fine. No, I was more worried about myself. I had heard many a story of the Voidlands. In its long history, many an army had been swallowed. Even the travellers died half the time crossing the place.
Hopefully, nothing would happen though. My own employees were strong, and we were travelling with Styx and his sidekick after all.
"Alright, let us depart. Those staying, good luck. I entrust the store to you, and remember to teach your juniors well when thet arrive."
"""We will do our best master! Safe travels!"""
They certainly had the enthusiasm.
I walked out, into the narrow streets, and my team came with me.
"To the main gate."
Crowding around me, they made a buffer and pushed their way through the passerby.
This was one of the busier streets after all. There had been talks of reorganizing the streets to ease the congestion, but no one wanted to have their home or store demolished.
Actually, that was partially our fault, since our presence caused the place to become a marketplace.
There was not much to see, and no one talked as they quietly moved around each other on their business.
The ever-present black fog made it hard to see too far though, so no one rushed.
I didn''t bother trying to navigate the labyrinthine city. Almost every building looked the same; grey blocks with doors in them. The streets too were just paths in between rows and columns of blocks; a cold, organized layout.
They were finely textured and even had bricks and everything, but they weretooimmaculate in design, looking instead like featureless cubes and floors.
Even my own store had looked thus until I had it renovated.
The carriages would be waiting down by the main gate, as would the Duke''s son.
...I dislike the natural silence in this city. I really do. No animal noises. No loud sounds of conversation. No sounds of somebody opening their window to call out to a neighbour. None of that. The entire city was silent and business-like.
Ah, being back home would be nice...
"Sir, I''m moving the carriages over. We''re blocking the road."
"Peh. Hardly much of a road."
I pinched my nose and waved off Araxas. "Do as you wish."
We''d made it to the main gate as expected but the boy was late.
An annoying matter.
However, soon, a shape became clear and I could see the Duke''s son followed by the sidekick and...another one. Likely the weird friend I had been warned about.
It - for there was no way to tell if it had a gender, though I would bet it didn''t - was a clumsily made, walking hunk of...something. It wasn''t metal, whatever it was. Perhaps stone? Yet, it reminded me of hardened tree bark as well.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Not normal trees of course, but...it was definitely strange. Stranger still was that despite looking like a child''s poor attempt at making a demon with clay, it walked quite smoothly. Slowly, but not jerkily.
The head was shaped poorly as well, but it seemed to be like a regular helmet, the kind that covered just the top of one''s head, and yet it floated slightly above the torso section. Too low to look...normal. And too high to go unnoticed.
From the gap between the torso and helmet, two purplish...tears peeked out. They were roughly shaped, with tendrils branching out everywhere.
Slowly, they pulsated with a purple, sickly glow.
There also looked to be a mouth. A wider, horizontal tear with the corners just peeking out, and a club dragged along behind it.
Somehow, I felt like that thing was watching me, even if they eyes stayed focused straight ahead. It stopped where it was when the other two stopped walking, remaining slightly tilted away from me and a leg placed behind the other.
An awkward pose, but it seemed fine.
Maybe it was. After all, I couldn''t imagine there being a proper body there, so bending like that must not have been uncomfortable to it.
What really stuck out though, were the red stains on the club, and small bits of bone that had dried onto it.
However, I couldn''t show anything on my face. Not before a Duke''s son. Composure was key. Even if the tag-along was struggling not to laugh behind him.
"Ah, nice to see you again Styx! These are the friends you mentioned?"
Smile. Bow slightly. But intimacy, just a bit, to ingratiate myself. It was no secret that the Duke''s sons were already trying to detach themselves from him. His name, not his position, was best used here, and a good contact like him was hard to come by in such coincidental circumstances.
"Indeed, and so I presume we are ready to set off then? We have all our belongings with us of course."
Belongings? Just two bags it seemed. Those did not appear to be a lot; perhaps their weapons and a change of clothes or two looked to be all that could fit. And the Duke''s son as carrying the tent too.
Well, the tag-along seemed to be the agile type. It was...understandable.
The...armor, did not have anything either. Wouldn''t it have been the better choice for carrying luggage then?
"Of course, of course! I''ll go ahead then."
It was time to go though. Bonding could wait until they set up camp somewhere. The trip would take a good week even if they travelled with the monster carriages.
First, I walked over to where the carriages were and called out to my employees.
"It''s time to leave. Get the carriages moving."
That was all I needed to say. As soon as I finished, they were moving to follow my orders. Competence was something I could always appreciate.
I walked off and took a seat in my own carriage; my bodyguard following me in.
He passed me some chilly sweet called iced milk as we started moving.
"A snack, sir."
It was delightful, if annoying to preserve. It was a sign of wealth on its own though.
"Thank you Araxas."
This kind of milk was hard to acquire in my world. The only beasts that gave milk here were monsters with strange tasting milk.
I had enough of regular milk to be sick of it, but it sold well in other worlds. Such was trade though. Something I was sick of was a rare treat in another world. And their milk sold well here. Funny, really.
I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. If there was anything to see, Araxas could wake me.
Araxas had woken me, so naturally I expected something interesting. What I saw though was the armor brutally bashing a wolf even as it somehow dissolved. The other two looked to be in various stages of...disappearing.
"Araxas, are those corpses...melting? It certainly looks like they are..."
"Actually sir," Araxas pointed out at the dead ones, "if you look closer, it''s not exactly melting. There''s no...run-off. They''re simply...not there."
I could tell I had guessed wrong when I looked closer at the other corpses. They weren''t dissolving, but rather pieces of them were simply disappearing slowly. Like melting ice but without the water remaining.
It was only three though, so it was no feat of strength, but certainly interesting enough. My own men and the other two made quick work of the rest of the pack.
After that, though I kept an eye on it, it did nothing impressive. Aside from reacting to anything that moved too much. The rocks kicked around by everyone''s feet as they walked or thrown by the carriage''s wheels as they moved were all smashed with that club.
"What do you suppose it''s doing?" I leaned back in my seat and turned towards him.
"I believe, sir, that it is simply hitting anything it assumes may be a threat. I do recall seeing the boy telling it something as we started moving." Araxas was still watching from the other window.
"That doesn''t sound much like a demon would do..."
"It may be a golem sir."
It was indeed seeming more like a golem with that behaviour. Taking something so literally, was certainly not something any intelligent being would do. It could probably be ignored then, but the creator of it was another matter.
Whoever it was that made it, the ability to eat through the wolves so easily would be very useful against most monsters. Or demons for that matter. I wouldn''t mind buying a couple of those myself...
"Hm. That was certainly interesting. Thank you." I inclined my head towards Araxas, who simply nodded silently.
Well, if that was all...back to sleep.
I woke the instant the carriage stopped moving. My sleeping habits were carried over from my previous career. And they had served me well as a merchant as well. Many skills seemed to carry over between careers I''d found.
Which was why my regular employees included plenty of former mercenaries and soldiers.
"Araxas? Were there any other incidents?"
"No sir. We just stopped now to set up camp. As you can see they''re already on it."
The tents were unloaded and set up from the carriages and a gathering formed at the center.
It was safer that way.
Naturally, a couple men took places around the camp while the armor stopped where it was and looked backwards. It probably planned on staying there...
The Duke''s son and his tag-along set up a tent as well.
"Three pieces!"
One of them called out and three of my men walked away from the small line near the second carriage.
They were distributing the food. It was the meat harvested from the wolves.
There was no particular need to specially pack much food, since the monsters would come to you on their own, so like the rest of my men, I settled down to eat some wolf meat.
Araxas had went to the line for me, but they''d moved over to send him to the front. Ah, if only they would drop such formalities...
A quick heating with the fire mage''s magic and that was it for preperation. No spices or salt, or side dishes. My men had been reluctant to let me eat with them like this other times as well, but they had given up quickly when I refused to dine seperately.
Some cold meat was many times better than an empty stomach, and I wanted all the space in the carriages for more of the good loot. The necromancer that had been killed recently had been looted by the tag-along and that officer, and I had bought most of it.
Especially the few personal diaries and experiment logs were quite valuable. As was his hoard of course. All those who had been killed by him had had their equipment taken too!
It was a bargain really. The only reason this place made any notable profit. The hermits and other invaders that were killed here always had some loot. Sometimes made up for in quantity instead of quality. Or ransom.
Like that one run away prince from the Egratlee Empire. He''d run away from an engagement but after being captured by the army while hiding out - through me - we''d sold him back for a good three million gold coins. A fair price. Though he''d probably be tormented for the rest of his life by his fianc¨¦.
Well, if we didn''t get them, the other monsters in the Voidlands did. The corrupted Guardians especially. Ifthoseweren''t there, we could have retaken the place years ago.
"Here sir."
Araxas brought me a piece of meat. We were only served with the bearest of cutlery. Regular copper plates. I ate silently.
Everyone was eating silently. It was boring, and frankly, a missed opportunity.
I had been waiting for one of them to take a stab at it, but it seemed it was too early for them. I would have to do it. A lively campfire gathering!
"The mood is excellent for some storytelling! Would anyone like to share a story?"
Yet, as soon as I said that, I felt a gaze on my back.
"Araxas. Serve us some wine."
Without showing I had noticed I casually stood up and gestured to Araxas. A glass or two for everybody would be sufficient. And he could check the presence I felt. Whatever it was had only shown up recently.
Araxas shook his head as he came back and passed a stack of simple metal cups out and poured a mouthful or two of strong wine for everyone. They could add water and such on their own.
Finally, I was brought a glass cup and served.
As I took a sip, I slowly turned to sideways. Whatever the thing was, it wasn''t moving. Yes, with this, I would see...the armor?
It had turned around to stare at me. The eyes seemed to have shrank some, with more of those thin, fibrous looking cracks extending over the rest of its face.
It did nothing though. Simply stared. Why?
But seeing as it was with the Duke''s son and wasn''t moving, it was likely fine. Whatever it was, was of no threat...though I would ask after they had dispersed. Showing trust by inquiring privately was a simple, but effective tactic after all.
While I would have liked to have had a simple story telling, the moment the last one put down his glass, they all started looking at each other, expecting one to start. The armor had crept closer while I wasn''t looking too.
It seemed they had noticed as well, as they turned to communicate with each other, but the tag-along shrugged and Styx nodded.
Whatever they had shared meant it was safe, right?
Ah, this may have been a bad idea. Nevertheless...a good story...I could start.
I strode confidently into the center as I spoke, attracting their attention. "Ahem. This a story back from my days as a mercenary. It''s also what caused me to retire."
Thathad certainly grabbed their attention.
"We had just gotten a request to explore a mysterious ruins they had uncovered in Higliph." I took a small sip from my glass before continuing. The suspense was best when built slowly. Even if they already knew the end.
Oh, now they were looking interested. Especially the tag along.
"You mean the ones which became a political issue after?"
It seemed he''d heard of it as well.
"Yes, it wasthatplace. Actually, it wasn''t so much mysterious as it was old. Just old. Really old in fact. We weren''t the only group hired, but we were the only ones sent in. The rest stayed outside. You know, there were lots of odd things about the place, especially looking back."
Another sip.
"Like what, sir?" The tag along looked to have his interest piqued. Not childish innocence though, no, it was the look of a curious researcher. I''d met many of his type. They could be scary when they wanted to be. More so when they didn''t. Innocent smiles while experimenting on some poor fool. I would never forget the first time I saw it. I had made a point to be careful around such people after that. But, he was no threat. Right now, it was just a story he wanted.
"It was eerily silent. Clean too. No dust or webs. And, why were there no traps? Usually there were traps in ruins - more often than not they were broken or too old to work - but this place was bereft of them. And yet there were corpses. Old corpses, from the way they had become just bones. Young and old, big and small. But only one race was present. The main demon tribe."
The armor was almost right behind me now. It had snuck over to one of the carriages and was poking its head out the side to peek. Silently.
It didn''t make much noise walking either. Or should I say, my own voice muffled it. This thing was scaring me more than the ruins ever did...
"What killed them though?" This time it was one of my own employees. Good, good! They were joining in now too! It seemed having the tag along - who was definitely not important like the Duke''s son - take the initiative - and the wine - had loosened them up some.
"I''ll tell you what killed them. In general of course. There wasn''t only one culprit."
"You don''t mean!" Ah, this time it was Garsel. An honorable, if naive soldier. Hard to understand how he even lasted that long as a soldier. But he seemed to have already guessed just what went on in those ruins, sealed away as they were.
"Yes, it''s as you think. We found an old diary that was more or less preserved. It was clutched in the hands of one of the younger ones. From it, and the consistent evidence, we concluded it was a shelter of some sort. The ones inside likely starved to death, but started killing each other towards the end....That is, if the bite marks on the bones weren''t from some other monster."
Some of the kinder ones among my employees set down their glasses. The boy and ''researcher'' leaned in. Araxas was still watching the armor for me. Reassuring.
"The worst was yet to come though."
"Is this about what killed all those people?" The boy this time.
"Yeah, I heard it was a curse or something. That everyone that violated some taboo died." The ''researcher'' was wrong. Dead wrong.
"Iheard it was some undeground monster that made the ruins its home." The boy was also wrong.
"...I heard that most of the people were actually killed by the city to prevent some news from spreading." Lexar pitched in from his place on top of the third carriage. As an archer he was impressive, but his aim was off this time.
"What killed us was what lurked in those ruins. Hunting in the dark; silently, emotionlessly. And we delivered ourselves to it."
Scary it was. The armor that is.
Those eyes seemed to get smaller and less...collected the more interest it felt. Golem? No, that was definitely something alive. And what was happening with its shadow...? It was rippling and changing. The Duke''s son brought strange company indeed...
Ah, but even I disliked remembering the next bit...what happened after was fitting for a horror story.Araxas would bring me the diary. A souvenir of that time. Plus, it wasn''t nearly as good a story without it.
I cleared my throat, and continued.
42
"You see. What first gave us hints about its presence was the diary. It was fairly normal, from what we could still read. It went like this - do realize, we had to infer some words."
The demon was still talking. This story was different from the ones it normally heard...normally, the stories were...not ones where the person telling it was actually there. But it seemed this demon was there for this story...
It hadn''t stopped doing its job. Its actual body was there. So this was not wrong. There was nothing wrong with it coming over to look at the demon as he talked more closely. Nothing at all. Even if the demon did look like he thought something was wrong. He kept looking back at it after all.
The demon next to the small one gave him a weird looking thing, and the smaller demon opened it. It was looking into the thing as it talked.
"Day one. I changed my titles because I''m in a new game now. Mom said we''re playing hide and seek with the people outside. That''s why I have to stay quiet and can''t practice my war cries. Or fight with the other kids. We have to purserve our strength and stuff. It''s really loud outside. I mean, I can still feel the ground shaking. Some of the kids are crying. Indecipherable. I''m not alone right now. I was kinda annoyed when we only got a little food though. They pulled it out of some storage room or whatever. There wasn''t a lot of water either. The grown ups look worried. They''re all murmuring in a corner and made me go sit with the other kids. They keep bugging me while I write. Indecipherable."
There were no sounds right now, and the demon was also not talking. Now seemed like a good time to move. Since it was sure talking when someone else was talking was bad polietness; it even waited. It carefully walked over...and hit the ground. A bug that had been slowly coming over was killed.
It had to let them see it working right.
The demon made a weird noise, and then went on.
"Day two. We didn''t get a whole lot of food today either. The sounds are still there but now they sound quieter. I heard dad say that they moved past us. They won''t tell us what they''re doing though. But I''m not stupid like these kids. I know what they''re doing out there. They''re doing a big fight, and leaving us out of the fun. Then they''ll come find us for hide and seek. Who leaves the hiders alone for a day? That''s just stupid. Indecipherable. My stomach hurts. I think everyones'' does. They''re saying there wasn''t enough time to stock the place for so many people. Does that mean there''s extra people? Indecipherable. My head hurts too. The cold ground is hard to sleep on. And it''s dark. I don''t like it here. When, indecipherable."
Quiet again. They were all looking very closely at the talking demon. So was it. This was some story. It even lasted days!
"Day three. I can''t write much because I got dragged around by the other kids to play. The grown ups stopped telling us to purserve our strength. They were doing something with the door before. I don''t know why they''re trying to open it though. We can''t let the seekers know we''re here? The game must have just started. The sounds only stopped a while ago. Indecipherable. We didn''t want to do it. It just happened."
What happened? And what was all this "indecipherable?" Why did the word keep being used. Should it do that? Indecipherable. WHAT NEXT?
It felt like the demon gave a fast back look but it wasn''t sure.
"Day four. The adults are asking us. Asking us what happened to Rax. But that''s okay, because indecipherable. No one will ever know. I''m hungry too. I''ve noticed some of the adults acting weird too. I don''t feel too well today."
Who''s Rax? Why was this not said before? AND, WHY WAS THIS ONE SO SHORT?
"Day five. Indecipherable. Day six. Somebody ate Lert. They won''t say, but I know. I can see the blood stains on those two. Those are bite marks on Lert''s body, and ain''t nobody indecipherable."
Oh, so not only did the person not say who Rax was, talker in thing one even added a Lert now?
"Day seven. We''re completely out of food now. The corpses are going missing too. Rax''s body was one of the first to go. Everyone is acting weird now. Indecipherable. Mom and father are telling me to hide. I am to stay in this room. Isn''t this becoming too long for a game?"
So a "game" was where you killed and ate each other? While inside a place you couldn''t get out of? The small demons in the city sometimes talked about "playing" too. Could it be that this was what they were doing? That was some training. Even killing off friends?
"Day eight. They''re dead. I peeked out. I hear chewing. I can see somebody crouched over the corpse. I don''t know who they are, but they''re eating - there''s copious blood stains here. More so than other parts."
Why though?
"Day nine. I did it. I''m going to keep doing it. I don''t want to die yet. So, they''ll go first. Diary, you''re listening right? You understand me right? I''m not...the wrong one."
It wasn''t sure. Was it? This was fun. It was like it could talk to the one that was talking.
"Day ten. I won. I - the rest of the page is torn out. There''s bite marks here where some pages are missing."
Won what? Did the talking one kill everyone else?
"Ay sming. Sil aive. I dot nw h. Hp."
What?
"Translation. Day something. Still alive. I don''t know why...help."
Ohhhh, that made a lot more sense. But what does all this have to do with the ruins? That wasn''t to say it wasn''t a good story though.
"We heard it y''know. We heard it coming. We laughed it off at first. A voice."
If you "heard" it coming, why didn''t you just kill it first? Like throwing lots of magic at it. No more questions. Or running away. Both were good choices. They almost always worked in its remembers.
"''hElLo? aRe YoU tHeRe?'' it asked. ''peEK a BOO!'' it screamed. And then it was there. Right in front of us. It crawled out of that corridor. It wasn''t alive that was for sure. We could see its brain clearly after all. It''s head was normal sized, but the body was massive. Easily as large as the passageway, and long like a worm. Squeezed in it was, thanks to its size. A blessing in a way."
Ohhh. Sounds fun. But if they could see the "brain," which was apparently not to be seen, why not hit it with lots of magic? Sometimes these stories didn''t make sense to it. What was the point of having more people and having magic if not to kill everything without questions? To hit it so many times in first hit that it died before it could attack back.
"That was when we noticed all the voices. One just repeated that ''hello'' over and over. The others, children from the sounds, like the main one, said ''peek a boo'' or ''surprise!'' It wasn''t a monster unheard of. Some variant of an undead abomination. Then, as it came out of the passageway, there were the heads. More heads and eyes and arms and legs, jutting out here and there, along its length. The children were the only ones present though. The arms and legs were of adults from what I saw. The heads of children. His friends in life, and now in unlife as well."
It heard aswallow sound from one of the demons sitting in the listening group. Sun kept looking behind it now and the other demons too, were either looking around or moving closer to their friends. Itwas dark after all. Since it was night.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The only light came from the fire on the ground and on the weird clubs that the demons on top of the weird things were holding.
Why had it never thought of that? Fire and clubs would be even better than either on their own.
"The main one looked right at me. I still remember locking gazes with that one rotted eye. Preserved by whatever magic kept the thing together. ''hY dID yOu TaKe So LoNG tO sEeK uS? bUt i cAn sTiLl tAg YoU!''"
That didn''t sound good. Run! Run demon, RUN! Also it wasn''t liking this. How come Styx was fastly doing something to his sword with a rock? It was looking nicer now. Somehow the sound it made when he moved it around was better...why was no one making it hit with that rock? Wouldn''t it also become stronger then? Cut better? With...its arms. Or something. Where was that demon going?
"It grabbed one of my friends and ate him. Not with that head, no. A tear opened in it. A flap fell out with a wet thud, spraying some vile fluid everywhere, and inside, I could see more heads. There was a small cavity there, but it closed as soon as he was stuffed in. Another arm came out of its side right after. Trase, the fool, ran forwards and slashed it hard. Nothing happened but more of that vile fluid splashing out of the tear. It didn''t heal, but it simply grabbed Trase and pushed him in through the cut, as he choked and fell from the touch of the fiend''s blood. New flesh sealed it soon after."
Seeing as demons with names were dying now, one would think this would be a good point to run. Though it felt like it wasn''t that bad. This thing wouldn''t be able to touch its actual body. All was well. Also what were those things one of the demons was giving to everyone? The one who went before was now handing out weird looking things to everyone. Everyone. And they put them around themselves, covering up. Even the demons on the weird things got them. This was not ok. If everyone got one, then it wanted one too!
"The weapons and armor just disappeared. It was hit with fire and ice, lightning, acid, even holy, but nothing worked. The affected flesh would just fall off. And all the while the heads kept talking. There was no way we could run either. Ghosts of some kind were blocking the door. ''Join us,'' I remember them saying. When Jarx ran for it, they pulled out his soul and pulled it apart. Ate it. ''Join us?'' In their stomachs or something probably. I couldn''t understand why they hadn''t just come at us from the start. Why they waited until we read the diary. Why that freak smiled and sang as it killed us. The heads cackled in glee, singing some butchered nursery rhyme. Ah, how I regretted signing up. I thought right then, that I was dead."
Well, considering what was happening it was pretty sure it should be dead too. But he was here right? Wasn''t it obvious it didn''t die? And it still didn''t get one of those things.
But Styx was moving his head in, holding the weird thing that the demon gave everyone up to his mouth but not doing thatswallowthing with it. Sun on the other hand made the weird thing''s bottom point up and fastly ate all of what was inside.
"But then, the other teams came in. They lost men to the ghosts too, but pushed through with numbers. Unlike us, they had an organized attack. I at the time, hadn''t even realized that I wasn''t moving properly. Fear? I had thought so at first, but I looked down and realized there were some...things sprouting from my shadow, curling gently along my legs. And some...thing, on my neck. I noticed it when one of them shot an arrow at my neck. The new teams weren''t bound yet and quickly shredded the ghosts and...things from the shadows. Many fell in the push. People I remembered talking to on the way to the site, ones I remembered fighting with and laughing with. Then they metthat thing. That monstrosity."
Then they died. But so. The demon was alive because of other people? It would not lie, it thought the demon would do something. Like. Some magic or whatever. Not other demons coming. Well, whatever worked.
"It grabbed and ate many of them. Still more were crushed and suffocated by it as it pushed itself into the chamber. But, there we stopped it. We hit it, over and over. Stabbed and smashed and burned it. Fire, was really a useful one. Every now and then, it would grab someone, and they would die. Sometimes we managed to cut the arms and free them. Other times...but we couldn''t let it push us back. Trapped in the corridor, we could steadily wear it down. Any more bulk into the chamber and we''d be pushed into the corridor and unable to hit it nearly as much."
Sun was making and breaking some fire in his hands. Was he getting ready to fight it? Heh. Styx was touching his sword.
All the demons were closer to the fire now.
"Ouch," came from one demon who touched the fire. But it stayed there and pulled out a fire club. The others did the same, holding them close. Even if they said ''ouch'' or ''ow'' every now and then.
"With the supply line from the city, we burned it down. We killed it, but at the cost of most of the mercenaries at the site. My own team was practically wiped out. Even the support that came afterwards actually had serious casualties. And what did we get as loot? Nothing. It was just an emergency shelter from long ago, where the undead had festered for Azaraath knows how long. I took my pay, and the diary, and left. Not that it was worth enough to cover the damages. Not nearly enough..."
The demon took a long time eating from that weird thing.
Wow. A nice story. Very fun. Especially the parts with the ''day'' whatever! Ok. Next!
"So," sun started, "was it really, the owner of the diary?"
"Was it? Perhaps the main head. Perhaps at first. But at that time? No, that was an amalgamation of all those damned souls."
Styx took a longsigh, "Then, what happened after?"
"Nothing." The demon shook its head. "We were told to keep it secret to the residents for whatever reason and paid. That was all."
It waited for more talking but there was none. Everyone just was there, silent, and looking around. Sun even throwed a little fire out into the night.
"Anybody else?" Yes demon. Good. More stories.
"If not, we''ll go to bed."
Ohhhhhh....
"I! I, have a story." Sun fastly went up and said loudly.
Oh, sun? You were talking now? What story could you have?
"It was a dark and stormy night."
That already sounded stupid sun. Get off that place. Just because the story demon moved for him didn''t mean he should just go there. He was not a story demon. Get out.
"I uh, I don''t really have a good normal story. This one is still about ghosts and undead."
Ohhhh, ghosts. What was a ghost anyway?
"We all know ghosts sometimes can''t be seen. That they float around and mess with you. Watching you silently all the time."
That sounded scary. Was there a ghost watching it too? It sure hoped not. It might even be worried if that happened.
"One day, I was outside late. It was after curfew because I was busy finishing up some experiments in the lab. I mean, you can''t just leave something like that in the middle, right? And so, I stayed late to finish up. It was when I went outside that I realized something was wrong. There was blood all over the ground and walls of the school too. I could hear a weak call for help, ''help, oh please help!'' I walked faster. I wouldn''t be caught dead in some creepy stuff. Like. You never know right? But then the voice got louder."
Oh no. RUN! RUN FASTER! This was the same as the demon in the story! Why did they never run! Come on sun, you run when you see anything strong! Like back when they first came to the camp! Why didn''t you run then!?
"It got louder and I could hear a dragging sound behind me. Then, something grabbed my leg. I turned around to see a zombie clutching my leg. Quickly I kicked my leg free, but its arm came with me."
Good job sun. Well done.
"''That''s not nice,'' I heard a voice say from above me. Some bloody corpse was hung from one of the flagpoles. It still dripped, but it was see through. Then, the one on the ground came and bear hugged me from behind while the one that was hanging started laughing."
Styxsighed, but one of the other demons moved in. "Then what? What happened? How did you survive?"
Sun nodded. "That, was my first encounter with the undead dormitories students. Chad and Jeff were pranking me for fun. I reflexively killed Chad with a fireball when he caught me though. Jeff picked a fight with me later but I killed him too. You have no idea how scared I was. Not to mention, my dorm supervisor lectured me a lot for being late afterwards and killing students without a licence. I got fined."
"How horrible," one of the other demons said, shaking his head.
"Horrible" indeed. To think he broke the "curfew." Whatever that was.
"Thanks for listening. So. Anyone else wanna give one?"
Well, it wasn''t sure. Was there? It would be ok with it for sure. Stories were fun.
But even after a while it looked like no one was coming up.
Spoiler: Status
43
"I suppose that marks the end of this then. Alright, good night. I hope to wake up and continue early morning tomorow."
With that, the demon moved away, towards the weird thing. It went in and so did the other demon who was always with him.
The rest of the demons fastly finished whatever food was left and then walked in small groups to the tents. It wasn''t too good at reading expressions for new demons but, it was fairly sure that none of them looked too happy about the dark. Something it couldn''t say it got.
The dark was a good time. It felt...bigger. Like there was more things to see and find, even in the same place. That, and the light kind of...annoyed it. It had been getting slightly lighter over time as they moved. Just a little at a time, but still an amount it could know. It felt bad. For whatever reason, the light felt bad.
Oh right, but where would it go? Could it stay here?
Sun. It didn''t need to sleep. So could it stay here? It had to be a guard and watch the back. Since it didn''t to sleep this was smarter!
Well sun and Styx didn''t say anything and went for their tents, so it was thinking that meant that it was good now. That it could do as it said. Good.
It walked away from where it was before to listen to the stories to go back and away from the group. Here, it had space to stop the enemy before they got too close.
Yet it hadn''t been there for long before it heard something.
"...hey..."
It already knowed what it was. The person came in slowly, watching their feet.
"...hey."
Yes, it was sun, holding a fire in his hand to see. He swung it around to put light in the dark.
"You''ll tell me if any monsters or whatever show up right? Wake me up if you''re not sure about fighting it on your own. But, there won''t be any monsters that sneak up on us right?"
There could be. It couldn''t say things for sure when it wasn''t sure.
"That''s not what I wanted to hear..." sun said less loudly as he looked around more. "Alright, just, just, wake me up if it gets bad. Especially if something big is coming. Even from - especially from - the ground. Ok? Ok? Uh, see you."
Then sun went away, looking around all over, even down as he walked. Was he bad with the dark?
Oh well. It just had to do as normal.
Hm. Did this count as big?
It did right? Whatever it was was bigger than a weird thing. But smaller than a mountain. Or the city for that. It wasn''t too sure but it was probably - oh? This was bad. It was fa - it was here. Right on top of it.
"What a weird thing I found here! A horrific golem that can see me! How fun! Hey, take me to your leader, or owner! I desire to ask where you''re from!"
This big...wolf? Wolf. Yes it was probably a wolf. It looked close enough. And what did one do with big wolves? Tell sun and hit them with a club. See? It was so smart. It wasn''t sure about the talking though. Did that make them ok? Oh well.
SUN SUN IT''S A BIG MONSTER COMING TO EAT YOU!
And hit it with the club.
It didn''t seem to do anything but well, it tried.
Then the wolf hit it. It breaked and fell into parts, with the parts nearer to the hit being throwed more away.
"Oops." The wolf thing stopped and looked at its own...hand thing. "Did I hit it that hard...?"
Uh, corrosion it was.
But that didn''t seem to do much either. The mana on the wolf thing pushed away its own and then - AND THEN WAS HITTTING ITS ACTUAL BODY OH THAT WASN''T GOOD AT ALL!
RUN AWAY! SUN YOU''RE ON YOUR OWN! IT WASN''T SOME STORY PERSON TO FIGHT HERE!
"Can''t have that."
Then the mana around it holded it, stopping it where it was. This...may be bad. More bad than ever.
Uh. SUN MORE FASTER COME TO KILL IT WITH MANY CLUBS AND SWORDS!
KILL IT WITH FIRE! BURN IT! BUUUUUURRRRRRNNNNN IIIIT!
"Whoa calm down. Stop struggling. I''m not going to kill you."
Really? Well sure then it was fine.
EXCEPT FOR BEING CLOSED UP BY MANA LIKE THIS! THIS FELT WRONG! SO WRONG! HATE! HATE! HATE!
"STYX THERE IT IS, FIRE EVERYTHING! FIRE FIRE FIRE FI - oh it''s just you. Hey calm down. Also, professor please let it go. It''s freaking out."
SUN! Oh, what, they knowed each other? SUN YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL IT TOO!
"What? No!"
Oh right no he helped it. Right. Think normally. Normal. Yes.
Ok. All was well. It was not holded by other mana and not about to be killed. Ok.
Styx who was ready to attack when he came was also not throwing around mana. The demons that were looking from a far place also put down their weird things that throwed more things and went down. It could tell the demon with the story demon telled them to go down. It could see it after all.
"How unlikely for us all to meet again so soon! Not that I would have come if I didn''t feel a certain someone''s gaze. Hahaha."
"Professor. What are you doing out here?" Styx moved up to where sun was and kept the sword out.
The "professor" watched Styx and then laughed. "Caution? Good! Well, you''d still die if I wanted to kill you so relax. Anyway. I was just out here watching the scenery for inspiration. Were you two heading back to the Academy already? While I admire your enthusiasm but..."
Sun shook his head, "No, we have a letter from the General for -"
The professor wolf started talking before sun finished. "Education for that one, hm?" It was pointing at it with its head.
It knowed already? But how?
"Yes. Well, it''s not too inte - I mean, bright."
Yes it wasn''t. It was dark!
Styx looked side to side. "I still don''t see why a literature teacher would come all the way out here..."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The professor showed the things in its mouth, "That isn''t really for you to ask, now is it?"
Everyone was silent for a bit and then the professor continued. "A joke, but what''s wrong with me taking a break for a bit? I''m not confined to the place likesome people, yes?"
"I suppose." Styx said it less loudly and then looked away. Was he scared? Probably. It was starting to see that looking away could be fear. Not always, but sometimes. Like at the story telling. When people were in fear, they went away from the thing. Good to know.
Then there was more not talking. Everyone seemed to be thinking like it sometimes did. A good silent. It liked silent.
"Nevertheless, I''m surprised. That you found something so interesting while you were out. Goes to show, you can''t just stay cooped up in a building now can you?"
The professor didn''t look at any of them when it talked, looking up at something else instead. The moon? No, it didn''t seem to be. What was it looking at, out there in the up?
"Ahhh, I''m inspired again! Farewell, I have poems to write!"
With that, the professor started running. Very weird running. It was just hitting the ground with its legs once and it seemed to disappear and then appear even more away. It could only kind of tell where it started and where it stopped to hit the ground again. Not where it went in the not start and not end.
Sun looked in the way the professor wolf went and talked, "I still find him weird."
Styx nodded. "Yeah."
Then sun continued. "I mean, who makes those huge desks for him?"
"That''s what you''re worried about!?" Styx fastly turned around to look at sun. "Seriously? I mean, you don''t find it weird that a giant wolf is our literature teacher!?"
Sun shook his head. "I mean, my room mate is a talking cat from another world. My room''s washroom is stained with blood from the one time some students got murdered in it. My clothes were robbed from a corpse. I don''t know what you''re talking about with a wolf as a literature teacher."
Styx stopped and looked down. "...That''s...probably true....I guess you''re right...?"
It also went a bit behind them before it remembered it was to be rear-guarding. Guarding the rear. Watching. Watching.
"See you in the morning," sun said back at it as he left.
Yes. But, what were those things the demon gave after?
This time sun stopped and laughed weirdly, "H-ha-hahaha-a. Those weren''t security blankets. Those were just for the cold you know?"
But, why didn''t it get any then?
"You don''t need blankets."
Oh. But. They got to keep their "security blankets." It wanted to have things too.
"N-no! I need mine!" Then, sun runned away.
Fine. Fine then. It would not take a blanket now even if they gave it one. Acting like that even though it was just one blanket. All the other ones got one. Everyone. It "saw" the other blankets too! The more! Fine.
Watching.
Watching.
It was still night because the sun wasn''t up at the same place it usually was in its thought, but apparently this was what "early morning" was. Good. It learned something more about time.
The tents were made smaller and put back onto the weird things and then they started moving. In the night, some of the demons went to sleep and others left the tents to watch instead.
As before, when they started moving it followed behind, at its own moving speed.
As was normal, monsters came and attacked. Not in large groups like the wolves. Or just large like the professor wolf. But just in small groups.
Like bears. They came as twos and threes. Somehow, it was thinking that was bad, until sun and Styx easily one hitted the bears.
Right. It was the weak one here.
Some weird things came down from above to attack but the ones with the throwing things hit them and made them fall out of the up. Others came down to attack and got hit and killed by clubs and swords by the demons on the ground.
Apparently, it was useless to move above like that if you couldn''t attack from there, because when you came down you still just died like an enemy from the ground would.
That was kind of bad. It thought being up above would be more useable.
It was looking bad for its usefulness...
They stopped again for the night.
They did the same thing again as the last time. Putting the tents and then eating. This time seemed to be bear.
And this time no stories. Why?
Why were there none? It wanted more stories!
But instead, this time, all the demons talked to each other. Sun and Styx too, started talking to the other demons. Apparently, this was actual more normal than stories.
It certainly had seen many demons talking with each other all the time, and not a lot of stories...but then other times, the talks sounded like stories too.
Like right now, one demon was telling Styx about the one time it saw a chimera or whatever.
"It was hideous! The weirdo who made it was parading it around like it wassome genius though. I mean, I didn''t really get it. Looked hideous! I say it twice because it''s true. I mean, there''s ugly and then hideous. And that was hideous! I swear it traumatized some of the kids it did!"
Styx was nodding as he listened, slowly moving his mouth to eat the bear in his mouth. He covered his mouth with his hand and then talked, "But how hideous is hideous? I mean, what did it really look like?"
The demon who was talking turned his head up and stopped to think. Then looked back at Styx as he continued. "It was...I don''t really know what went into it. It was too messed up for me to tell. But it oozed greenish slime and yellow pus. Not to mention it was a ball of tentacles and mouths and claws all stuffed on haphazardly!"
Sounds bad. If it was "oozing" everywhere wasn''t that bad? It had to clean up a lot so it knowed just fine what was or wasn''t ok when talking about cleaning.
Being so...unclean, was weird. Indeed, "hideous."
Sun was telling some other demons about how he did in the Pit.
Other demons were talking to each other...well, it was...not really as fun as the day before.
Then same as the day before, they put away the things and went to sleep.
This time though, it didn''t see another giant monster that was actually a professor. Literature or other.
And they were moving again.
And it guarded again.
And they killed a very big amount of wolves. And even bears. Also the ones from above. There were a lot of monsters.
Nothing to show for it but a level though.
And they stopped again.
Same normal talking. Some bad stories.
Like how the Duke of whatever and something was having another "child."
That the Grendot world''s God died in some war and the Lenden''s took over Grendot.
Also some stupid stuff about how three cities were destroyed after some enemy world''s necormancer raised an undead army in the civilized areas.
Basically, useless stuff. Not fun and long stories like the first day''s story demon. It was sad.
This day was the same as well. Get up, move, fight, whatever.
But then it changed. A big amount of light hit it. It was very ungood.
The demons also stopped here and covered their eyes. Then they slowly put their hands down and kept moving. Was this normal? This light? This very undark light?
But that was not the end of it. The light got better as they moved.
Hideous was the word for this right?
And the monsters became less here too. They were the same still, but weaker somehow. The amount too, was less.
The random monster here and there that did attack, was killed even more easily than before. There was nothing weirder than that. Weren''t they going to even stronger enemies? Or were all monsters just that weak?
Most importantly. Why was it that the ground seemed...lighter.
As the other days, they stopped here for the night. With tents and everything.
But everyone seemed happy now. Like they felt good to be out of the dark. Weird. It wanted to be anywherebut here. The dark was the better place to be. It didn''t know light could be this bad before. Now it did.
As the everyone finished eating and went for their sleep, the story demon came up.
"We have left the outer zone now. And made a good distance from it. Likely, after this point, we are much safer. So, with that in mind, we will set out at the same time.But, we will have a rest day if we make enough distance."
Wait, it had questions. Many questions. Mostly about light.
But sun was going to sleep. And it still had to rearguard. Also the light didn''t even hurt, just felt bad. If hurt couldn''t make it have fear, then should feeling bad?
And it didn''t want to act like that time with the wolf professor...fine. No, it could take this.
It would just be happier in the dark...
While everyone else in the place looked happy, only it looked up in dislike for the hideous light.
Wouldn''t it be nice, to be back in the dark...? It seemed that, for learning, some hurt and bad was normal too...
Spoiler: Status
44
It was now the day...five. Yes. See? It could do this. As long as the numbers didn''t get too big...
They were moving again.
Now the place was starting to look even weirder. Just as little the light was during the night now, it was even more when the morning came.
The light change was a lot basically.
Not something it liked, but something it would have to get used to.
That being said, the walking itself didn''t change much, but the feeling sure did. Aside from the light, the ground under its feet felt different too, when its feet came down on the ground, the ground went down a little and felt...like when it stopped on the bloody parts of a moving thing. Less like rock and more like for example the body of a wolf.
The color became lighter, closer to brown.
Even the sun seemed a different color here. Lighter.
Before, the light seemed blackish. Now though...it was more like it was whiter.
Where before walking was easy, now it felt like...like hard work. Like it was already ready for it to just end.
It would be happy if it did.
This was no fun to do for a long time...even hurt usually ended faster. At worst, it would hurt just when it was hit...this? This was much longer. It would have to feel like this until night. Even during the night actually.
Just less bad.
There were still only a few monsters, but this time, it throwed itself at them with much more happiness.
It wasn''t just for being a guard now. At least in that small time when it hit those monsters, when they throwed blood around where it hurt them, when they let out sounds as they fell and hurt. At least then, it could stop thinking about the light. bout how it didn''t like it.
At least when those monsters hit it back, when its hands and legs, when its body and head broke, they light wasn''t the biggest thing it felt.
Hideous. That was what light was.
The ground broke when it hit it now. A little. Just a little. But that felt good too.
Yes it could definitely find fun in killing. That was something it was sure of now...since even though everything was bad, it made it to the end of the day.
It did it once. So it could do it again, something it was sure of now. No more worry at all.
If before it was still not sure, now it was. Light was fine too. It wouldn''t die from it.
If one day could work then more would work too.
It did decide to move closer to the weird things though. This wasn''t a not win from the light. This was just smarter. If it didn''t have to be out in the light...
Its actual body was also moved into the cover of the weird thing. Where it was darker near it for some reason. The light couldn''t come through it as far as it could tell.
This time it didn''t care enough to go out and listen to what the demons were doing.
It would instead just stay here. Where it was dark.
It was the morning. But they weren''t moving...the rest day? Did it happen?
It didn''t hear them talking about it.
Also the weird thing it was outside of was actually the one the story demon used. Which was funny because when the story demon first came back at night to rest, it looked at it and then very slowly went around it to the door of the weird thing.
The other demon who was always with the story one also had its sword out and went around.
Then that sword demon stayed outside the weird thing, in front of the door, and watched it.
It watched until the morning came, where it was still here.
The story demon also opened the door and looked out slowly at it some times before going back inside and then using the door on the other side of the weird thing.
It wondered what they were doing as it waited in the nice dark.
Yes yes. On this rest day...it would get used to the light. The light it could walk around in. Just...as soon as...it moved one of its legs out.
Just...one. Or an arm. Actually yes, a hand. One hand could be used, right?
It slowly put a hand out. As it knowed it didn''t feel like anything. But, just being in the light felt...wrong.
This...would be a long - oh, Styx.
"Hey, idiot says calm down. And go kill that herd of deer or something."
Deer? What? A new monster? That it could kill?
"It''s right there. Go have fun."
YES, THIS, THIS WOULD WORK!
DIE DEERS!
And as it thought, as long as it was for killing, something that felt good, being out in the light was ok.
Deers, it would see and kill them for the first time today.
Even if they were strong, it would fight. It needed to.
...Actually. What was a deer? What did a deer look like? What was a herd of them?
Well. It would probably know when it saw them, just, which way was that?
Even the mana here...there was still void mana around but, it was so less, that it didn''t feel like it would be attacked by it.
There was more normal mana here. The kind it liked eating.
The void mana...was also eatable here. It didn''t have enough to fight back.
Not well anyway. Not nearly as bad as that one time...
Here was good.
And were those deers? It couldn''t feel the mana as well here, but there were something like...hideous wolves the color of bears over there. They were even in a group just like wolves. These were deers probably. Something to kill.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
It started running towards them, but after some time, when the sun was going down and it still hadn''t even gotten nearer to the deer, it thought there was probably a problem here.
The deer were faster than it. By a lot. Instead of getting closer, they were actually getting more away from it.
It would have to run faster even just to be at the same speed...and this was...bad...how to kill something faster than it?
Yet even as it worried it saw that one of the deers was slowing down. It was...behind the other deers.
That''s right. Other things...got tired. They couldn''t just keep running, keep moving. They couldn''t just keep fighting like it could.
It was fine as long as there was mana, and mana there was. Here, there was normal mana. Not enough for forever...but. For a long time, yes.
Wasn''t this good.
Laughing to itself, it started running again, keeping after the deer. Right. It had time, and since it did, it could just wait until they were tired. It didn''t have to be faster or stronger. Just better.
Here, it was better. So it would win. With time.
It was after some time that it finally made it to the slowest deer. It tried hitting it with its head, but it stopped that easily. Just a light hit to the legs with its club and it dropped.
Then a hit to the head and it was dead.
It couldn''t just stop to eat it or something though. The other deer were still moving. Towards it actually. The ones that couldn''t run anymore were coming to fight it.
They came and hit it hard, sending parts dropping, but only its head and body.
Its arm was still ok. Stupid deer. Its body did not need a head to move.
A good hit with the club and they died.
It was the same for all deer.
With that done, it put itself back into one, and then while still eating the deer, broke off parts and throwed them inside itself to eat as it runned after the other deer. They couldn''t rest or else they would just run again, right?
More deer slowed down. They died too. Just like before, some were big and some small, some had different colors too. These deers were more different from each other then wolves had been.
There were still other deers but after running for a bit they were coming back around to attack it.
Did they finally think that they weren''t going to get away? It would never let them go. These deer were coming to fight though. Something that was both funny, and boring. Boring, because making them slow down and killing them one by one was more fun. Funny, because killing was killing and killing was fun.
So that.
There was one thing it saw though, with all this trying.
The killing of enemies, the blood, the way its club felt when hitting things. The mana it ate. All these things were still the same. At least a bit.
Just because it was in a very different place then it was used to, didn''t change the fact that its club could kill stuff. That it like killing. That blood was nice. Or that mana could be eaten; that mana moved when it moved it.
Some things were different but...it was nothing to be in fe - no worr - no, thinking too much about.
Yes. All, was well.
It was running back the way it came. It could tell because there were dead deer on the way. It could at least find its way to the dead deer.
There were some wolves and other weird looking monsters but it killed them when it could and didn''t run after the ones that runned. The deers were done, and now was back to the guarding. Now that it...felt better.
It didn''t want to say, but sun had helped a lot. Even if he didn''t actually mean to. If he did...well, it would try to do something to help sun as well.
It still took parts of the deers inside itself though. They were good for mana as they were slowly eaten.
It was a smart way of being in its thought. It could run and eat at the same time. What could be better than this? A way to carry more dead ones with it to eat.
Like on of those weird things. If it had one of those...
It was back to the first dead deers.
That was good. It did not know which way was back though from here. That was...bad.
What to do now?
...well, the connection was kinda of good for this.
Good thing it had one...or else it would have been lost like the master key. Then it would have walked around before getting covered in dust and then being found by another spirit or cleaner somewhere.
What weirdness that would be.
So it started its slow run back.
It had lots of blood on it, which was maybe why monsters kept coming to it. All of the deer was slowly eaten, but, still, as it was, wolves and some other weird monsters kept attacking it. The weird monsters were actually small and hard to hit, but died easily.
Once it stopped them with its actual body, then even one hit made their whole body go splat.
The wolves, well, it was good at killing them now.
And, the wolves were usually going in the same way it was, in other words, if it had to say what it was...it would think that maybe these were the same wolves that went and attacked the weird things normally. If it was fighting them then it was going the right way!
So it was going the right way. It was sure now, because now, it was already near the weird things. It could feel the manas again. There were already some demons sleeping. Others were sitting down and eating as they talked.
They were definitely resting. Though if it was resting, instead of talking, wouldn''t be better to just eat and then sleep only? Talking also could make you tired maybe? And it was time they could be sleeping. If sleeping was good, then more sleep was even better!
So why were they not sleeping but talking instead on a rest day?
Still. Maybe they knowed better? Maybe for them, this was enough rest?
As it was, it would just have to guard as usual and make it to...the...what was that? Up high above?
What was this weird thing that fell on it?
What was...this nice thing? It didn''t hurt it or feel wrong, instead, it felt...ok. It looked nice too. Small things falling from the above,pit patting on the ground.
It was weird. Weird and new...but very good.
Sun was walking over. "Feeling better now? The rain''s nice isn''t it? Even if it''s a pathetic amount like this."
What was that? This amount of rain was...pathetic?
This was...little?
"Oh yeah. When it really rains, there''s larger droplets, you know each of those, and a lot of them. So many that you can''t even see properly. So many that the water starts to pool around your feet and flood if you''re in a valley."
Valleys...floods...rain. Rain was...nice.
It was so...quiet. Cold. So...color.
"Watch it while you can. It will end soon."
End...soon? Why? Why did this end?
It was better than light. It was dark when it rained, and it looked nice...yes, it would watch while it could.
It DIDN''T WANT IT TO END! But, it could still know that feeling bad about it wouldn''t help. That now, it could watch.
So it didn''t really know when sun left. It didn''t really know when the other demons went to sleep. It just looked up, and watched it rain.
Slowly.
Listened to the sound it made.
Pit pat. Pit pat. Pit pat.
It was with much surprise that it stopped thinking.
The rain had stopped some time after night. But it still watched the above, waiting for the rain to come again.
Because it would, right? The way sun said it, it would definitely come.
And when it did, it would be just as quiet, just as...not bad as it was today. So it would watch now, for the day it rained again.
It didn''t come again that night but it hit lightly by sun to stop thinking. The weird things were starting to move.
"Let''s go. There''s more things like that to see you know?"
Sun started running, moving back to where Styx was. "Hurry up! You haven''t even seen a lake yet!"
Yes, that was right. That was why it left.
This was what it wanted.
It started running after the weird things. Maybe it wasn''t that fast, but, that didn''t mean much.
Yes, because it still kept up, and that was enough to get where it was going.
A place with new things. That was what it wanted, right? To learn? And it didn''t feel bad about the choice yet. Maybe one day.
But now, at least. With St-un, stories, and now rain, the choice was definitely, a good one.
The light didn''t feel as bad now. The light meant...new things. The light was...not as bad as it thought before.
Spoiler: Status
45
It was now the...seven day.
Would they be reaching the -
WHAT WAS THIS THING!?
DIE MONSTER!
It fastly runned over to it and started hitting it with the club, and cracking sounds came from it with each hit.
Slowly, it fell over, throwing around little bits and weird blood. There. It was probably dead now. Whatever it was. Before it even got to attack this time.
Oh sun was here?
Sun should relax now. It killed it already.
"That. Was a sapling." Sun put a hand on his face and looked down as talked.
So?
"That''s...well, this one at least, was not a monster." Sun laughed a bit.
Oh.
"Yes, that''s a harmless plant. Normal plants are indeed dangerous but this one was harmless." Sun was looking up now, but still covering his face. Only the mouth though.
Well. It didn''t know. Now it did.
"Just, be careful in the future. Harmless plants like this are worth a lot, ok? They are very good for the land."
Eh.
"Actually, we''ll start to see more plants from here on out." Sun had taken the hand off and was looking at it.
"If it doesn''t attack you, or anybody here, leave it alone, ok?"
Fine.
It got that.
"Thanks. By the way, they can look really good, like rain, if you leave them alone."
LIKE RAIN!? Ok. Yes. It would not hurt them if it didn''t have to.
It still came before them though.
Then sun left.
Ok. So. Plants were...monsters that weren''t really monsters and could be good.
That was...a lot of things.
But, while that was fine...what was this weird stuff on the ground? It had eaten and hit it as it walked but therre was much of it.
In fact, there was almost more of it than there was bugs in numbers from what it saw.
The more they moved, the more of this stuff was on the ground. There was even some of it in the ground from what it could feel.
That was...really weird.
It of course also killed the stuff under the ground, since it was part of the enemy stuff, but...maybe it shouldn''t?
The others weren''t attacking it...but this wasn''t a plant, right?
It looked nothing like a sapling.
So. Was it, just, not a plant and not a monster? Maybe it was like rocks. No one cared if it hit those.
Whatever it was...it still hadn''t done anything so...yes, maybe it would leave it alone.
Killing everything wasn''t maybe the best thing to do...it wouldn''t want to kill rain was one.
And maybe this stuff would be good...well, the color was n..i...ce?
They had a weird spot here.
The ground went up and over and down.
Here when it looked down, it could see....color.
It was the stuff from back there, but not in little little bits. Not spaced out.
Just...lots of it...and all at once, it looked...nice.
There were also some small saplings and even big saplings with weird things on them here.
There were also some small things with colored parts at the tops.
It was...nice. Though it would still look better with some red.
Orange or this was ok. Brown saplings were eh. But, some blood would add nice color to this all.
Yet, even though this place was kind of nice, sun and the others just...kept going. They didn''t even look much at it.
Why?
Why did they not care about this?
Wasn''t this good looking?
But it could only keep running after them. It couldn''t stop to look just because it wanted to.
All things said, it didn''t feel too bad about not stopping at that old place.
This place was even better. There was water here, in a big hole in the ground. Some deer were eating the water from the hole when wolves attacked and ate them instead.
Blood covered the nice stuff on the ground and the big and small saplings with their brown parts and other color tops looked very nice near the water.
The wolves attacked them when they came but they killed them and kept going.
Yes, such was how it went after all.
The deer ate water, wolves ate deer, and then they all got killed by it.
Very nice.
But they did not even stop at the water.
They want away from there too.
It was almost night.
And by now, aside from the normal ground, there was now actually normally a lot of the weird stuff on the ground too.
Even saplings were much normaller here!
Because these ones even sometimes attacked!
Yes, that was normal. Very normal actually.
It would have felt weird if there wasn''t something new trying to kill it even though it was in another different place.
Wasn''t that how it worked? There was never an end to the things trying to kill it.
Which was fine.
It was normal and fun.
The enemy sapling was weird though. It had the part normally under the ground come and try to hit it, but it just ate it.
Then hit the brown part a lot as was also normal.
And it...died?
It was hard to tell with these. They didn''t really have a head for it to hit or whatever.
Or even a lot of blood.
Most of what came out was water from what its eating told it.
Too weird.
But did that mean these things ate the rain?This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
That was not ok!
So it was now trying to kill the saplings everytime.
Except, the sapling number three it tried to kill after that time was not ok sun said.
And told it to stop.
Also that apparently, killing many saplings wouldn''t actually help it rain more.
And that eating water, and so rain, was something everyone did.
So.
That was...really...it couldn''t say it cared too much about the water but the rain was...
Well, as it was, it couldn''t stop them from eating rain. It would wait until it was strong and then make it illegal to eat rain.
Yes, now it had a reason to become the strongest.
Now it really was night. As usual, they stopped and did stuff.
But this time the story demon was taking the talking spot again.
There wasn''t really a spot, but there was this spot where the demons moved away from and looked at when the story demon came.
Somehow, it wasn''t sure if the spot was magic or not.
The story demon talked loudly, "We are very close to our destination. That is, we should arrive before night falls tomorrow. That being said, as this may be our last campfire together with our travelling companions, a toast."
The demon moved a weird thing in his hand with hideous water in it up to the sky, and so did the other demons. Then it ate it and so did all the other demons.
"I thank you for travelling with us, and it has indeed been wonderful getting to know you. We appreciate greatly your ever aware friend there as well."
The demon opened his arms to the sides, "For now though, let us all relax and enjoy another night of life. And let us part as friends when the time comes."
Then the demon left the spot and went over to St-un. They were talking. The other demons also went there and now everyone was talking.
Weird things.
Like, "remember us later when you''re big shots, eh?"
But it couldn''t hear more, because it had to look at other things.
Namely, the demons here.
Some were coming to it instead of to where St-un was.
"""Thanks."""
"Thanks for always being the look out!"
They were thanking it for doing guarding? Really?
Was it that...thank needing?
It was told to guard and it guarded.
It didn''t do anything...good. Like teach.
Or tell a story.
But they thanked it.
So, did that mean it was to say thanks for everything?
Ok, it would do that.
Thanks for thanking.
But, of course, it couldn''t talk, and so the demons didn''t hear that.
They seemed to know it couldn''t talk though, because after saying what they wanted they would nod to it and leave.
When one went, another one came.
Until, even the story demon came over.
"I do believe I misunderstood you a lot. I apologize for that, and thank you for performing your duties so excellently. I hope to meet again."
With a nod, the story demon left, and the demon with it, always there, also just nodded.
But even though the big demon said nothing, it felt like it understood what this big one was saying better.
Weird.
Very weird.
It wasn''t bad though.
As the demons talked and talked and talked, and then slowly went to sleep; it looked up at the things in the above.
Very, very, very, very, very high up from what it could tell.
Those stars, which looked nice and better than what it had seen before in stories.
They were nice.
The many stars out there, could it number them, even after it went to school?
For that point, could it even number all the little things on the ground?
The world as it felt now more than ever, was a very, very big place.
It was sure now. The up was dangerous.
"What are you on about now."
Sun had come to it in the morning now, to get it to move.
Also, it really did like night better. The stars were better looking at night.
Sun. There was a wolf like star in the up. It''s dangerous because it can''t kill it yet.
Sun started laughing.
"You idiot. That''s not an actual wolf. It''s just shapes in the stars. They''re not going to come attacking or something."
But. But, it was a wolf.
"That''s not how it works okay? Relax. Anyway, today, we''re going to see the Academy. Are you ready? Well, the entry will probably work...hopefully. The letter will get you in for the first year at least."
First year?
"Yeah. It goes from first years to eighth years. It''s...not bad. You don''t have to worry about the other requirements yet. Just focus on learning what you can. Oh yeah. And don''t evolve. When you reach level ten again, tell me. But don''t evolve again." Sun looked at it properly this time, which meant this was important.
Ok. It would do so.
"Anyway. It''ll be fun. I''ll experime - I mean, we''ll do science experiments together, and then you can go beat up the people who pick a fight with me instead of me...yeah. Good times." Sun was nodding over and over as he talked.
Sure whatever. Fighting was fun.
"Alright let''s go. Prepare to be surprised though! Compared to that drab city from before, Ragzar''s End is amazing! The Academy at Ragzar Point is even better!" What was sun looking at? Ragzar''s End or not, that was definitely just a weird shaped rock over there.
Sure whatever. It wouldn''t really know until it saw it though, right?
So. Stop talking, and move.
Sun laughed and then runned up to the front.
As he did, the weird things started moving again.
The rest of the demons were waiting for sun apparently.
He was always such a...useless for others. Oh well. If they didn''t care, then it shouldn''t too.
Now though...here, the feeling was very different. For some reason...there didn''t seem to be too many monsters. Even from before.
It had only killed like...three monsters so far. Just small weird ones like from before.Two of those. And one deer...
There it was. The reason.
There were...other demons.
They were...on the monsters that were pulling the weird things in its group.
What was this?
New demons after so long? And even on these monsters?
This was...weird.
St-un looked like they were talking to them from here.
The demon on the monster was nodding. Then it nodded again and left.
The other demons that stopped when that one did also left.
That was...weird. But the blood on their weapons told it that they were the reason there were less monsters. They killed the monsters around, so of couse there would be less monsters.
It wasn''t like the monsters could just come out of nothing...or could they?
Actually, it needed to ask sun where little demons came from too.
How did that even work?
Where did more monsters come from? Or maybe they didn''t...?
Maybe there were just a lot of monsters?
This was very weird.
But as they kept moving, it seemed those monster demons weren''t the only demons around.
There was other demons on monsters, some different from other monsters.
There were also demons that went on their legs.
They walked and runned. Very fast too.
There was even a demon it saw that was fighting other demons.
Except...it was killing them.
This wasn''t the first time it saw demons fight each other but...demons killed each other too?
The one in the diary did...but. This was...it was really weird to see.
Something about it felt too weird. It would be like if it saw normal wolves around and then they started killing each other, even though they were always in groups, it would find it weird.
This was the same. It was new.
What was also new was that the demons it was with seemed to not like the fighting demon.
They took out their weapons and St-un actually runned towards the fight.
Sun pointed his hand and magic went out and then hit the fighting demon''s sword thing before it could hit and kill this other demon.
Then Styx was swinging his sword at it, and sun was already throwing around more magic at its legs.
The other demons around pulled away the dead demons...and the not dead demons.
Though they looked dead, they started healing the almost dead demons while the demons in its group went and helped them.
It was now that it saw there were other dead demons around too.
They were all like the fighting demon more than the running demons.
The running demons were one color and the fighting demon was three. Red, brown, and something else.
Even though Styx was swinging around his sword, he didn''t actually go close to the demon and stayed away.
Sun was also just throwing magic at it and stopping any attacks that went for Styx by hitting the weapon or hands and legs of the demon with magic.
Couldn''t they just...it was behind by a bit so it couldn''t do anything then, but by now it was almost there.
It probably also wouldn''t be able to do much, but at least, it could stop its attacks as well.
By getting hit.
It would probably be fine, and this way, maybe they could win.
Yet even as it runned at that demon, the big one that was usually with the story demon was there.
It runned past it easily and then with one swing had the fighting demon''s sword go out of its hands.
Then it hit the fighting demon with its leg and dropped it, before swinging the sword down on its arm.
With that, it fell off. Then, when the demon tried to do something, the big one hit it with its leg again and then took off the other arm.
Then it put a hand into the fighting demons mouth and pulled something out, before pulling along the fighting demon by its head behind it towards the story demon who was already waiting there.
It was...somewhat weirded by this.
Wasn''t this where it would...do something?
It was almost there too...but the big one already almost killed it.
Why weren''t they actually killing it though?
It was blooding from the hits, but not dead yet.
Did the story demon want the levels or something?
But it didn''t kill it also. Instead it went down and moved its head closer to the now not fighting demon.
"I do think that''s quite enough, don''t you?"
This, this was definitely useable. The big one and story demon...
But it was still talking. "Don''t worry. You won''t die, though I do apologize for any discomfort my bodyguard may have caused. He''s quite...thorough in what he does."
So "apologize" after almost killing someone. Yes. This, it could do.
"I believe my friends here would like you to tell them just what you''re up to, so when you wake up...do talk."
With that the near-dead demon dropped its head and the running demons from before walked over instead.
It seemed they had things they wanted to say.
What could this be though? This first time seeing demons kill each other...something about this...it was weird, but.
Was it weird that it was fun?
Seeing the demons fight each other was different from monsters.
They used weapons and were smart. They did their fighting as groups. But better groups then the wolves.
Seeing them kill each other, even if this time it was only a group fighting the one demon by the time it saw...this was fun too...
Maybe that was all the reason was for fighting?
Did killing demons also give levels? Then, if they did, why not kill each other, right?
It was weird at first, but...at some points, it did make sense.
Spoiler: Status
46
The group nodded as one and all the demons except one went down to a leg.
The not down demon walked forwards and hit its weird bone things on the head on the story demon''s head.
He didn''t have bone things, but the story demon also moved its head a bit.
"We would like to thank you for your aid. Unfortunately, we have not much money with us to reward you with, so instead we will do so at Ragzar''s End. If you would come with us..."
The one who was talking looked down, maybe not sure, but the story demon laughed.
"Of course, we were heading that way anyway! The more the merrier! However, if we could know some more...?"
The talking one looked up fast when the story demon said the first part and down with the next. Thinking.
Then it looked back up.
"Thank you. And as for information...they''re unlikely to attack again now. We are the Royal Tutor of the Syntrax, Alersa von Trexan. They''re just rebels attempting to assassinate us. They will not send anymore that fast though. As we''re from off-world so...the risk to you all is low after we part ways."
OHHHH! THESE DEMONS WERE FROM A DIFFERENT WORLD!
Or well, a different place at least...it was pretty sure off the world didn''t just mean not touching the ground of this world...right?
...It didn''t, right?
Anyway, whatever it was, this was new and fun!
So was that touching heads because they were different?
Was that how different places worked?
That made sense. It definitely thought differently than sun did, and sun seemed to be different from Styx. Actually, most people seemed to be so...different.
Even with wolves...some had different teeth. Just a little.
It was fun that even just the same wolves could have new looks sometimes.
But what were rebels? Or an assassinate. Well, assassinate probably just meant kill. But rebels...so, enemies?
Something like that?
Good enough.
Still. This demon looked very different from the ones it usually saw.
The head was shaped differently. The bone things it had seen before; even sun had some. No, it was different. The head shape was just...different.
That said though, it could still tell it was a demon.
They still ''looked'' the same.
St-un were off to the side but the demon walked over to them and touched heads with both.
"Thank you both for stalling our attacker."
St-un acted a bit weird and fastly nodded silently.
Sun made a weird noise from his mouth and then talked. "I-it was our pleasure. Really."
Was it because they were being thanked? If so, it would have been able to understand, but it felt like it was something else...
The demon laughed a bit.
"You may relax. I do not mind a relaxing of protocol from outsiders."
Wait, what was protocol? Was this like...being polite?
Still. It wasn''t sure if - oh?
This one was looking at it.
It saw that many demons did that. But usually they looked away when it looked back. This one didn''t.
Even sun didn''t look into its...eyes.
However it didn''t talk to it and looked away after a while.
It walked some before saying to their group, "We must attend to our wounded now. We apologize again for making you wait."
Styx went up and talked before story demon could this time.
"That''s only natural. If you need some help, please feel free to ask."
Styx looked to something behind the demon while talking instead of actually looking at it though, which was also weird.
The story demon laughed but only with the mouth changing shape and no sound while watching.
Some of the demons behind were also laughing a bit.
Sun moved away slowly and into the group while Styx looked at the same spot.
The new demon also did the mouth shape for laughing and then went to its group, which was healing the downed demons.
So. Were they going to just stop here like this?
And then move when those ones were ready...?
Well until then, the demon on the ground was being watched by the big - oh?
Wasn''t the downed demons mana moving...weirdly?
It fastly moved over to the now probably never fighting again demon and hit its leg, but it made no sound.
Then it pushed the mana that was moving back into the normal way it moved for this demon and it let out a sound.
A small pop came from its body and blood came from the open parts of it.
The big one looked for a while and then hit its arm top lightly.
"Good job."
Thank you.
It nodded back at the big one and then walked back to its place at the rear.
This was fun.
Now it was guarding even more demons!
Something about that felt fun.
Bigger numbers and things were better. This, it was sure of.
So it was with having more demons to guard.
Still. Now it had to put more focus on demons too.
Since even other demons could be enemies now.
It couldn''t be too sure anymore.
Well, it wasn''t sure what that weird demon was doing with its mana but letting it do anything would have been bad...maybe it should look at other people''s mana more and all the time.
Oh now that it thought about it...wasn''t that one''s mana getting weird again?
Wait that was - and then it changed.
It looked different now, with a deer like head but then big one just hit it back down the same as before again.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
...Well. That was that?
There was some sounds from some demons, mostly ones from the other group, but then they just looked at the big one who still easily hit that one down.
It was actually kinda sad...but if it was being annoying...it had an easy way of fixing this.
It once again came over to the big one...and then ate its insides.
There were some parts it was sure were not needed.
It knowed this because of all the dead bodies it had saw, and losing these parts never killed them.
The blood leaving maybe was bad, but they could heal that.
Sun looked weirded out and covered his mouth.
So did some other demons.
It didn''t get it.
The demon it was eating was having its body change shape and move up and down where bits were eaten, but, it wasn''t going to go out to them too or anything.
There was no need to cover their mouths.
But still, they could do whatever they wanted. It wasn''t like it should be telling them what to do.
"Did you just...remove his abs?"
Then sun pointed and hit lightly with a hand and then went back fast.
"And his bones!?"
What? He wasn''t dead.
It didn''t even take out all the bones. Just the ones in the legs. And the leg insides for that point, but well, that didn''t mean anything, right?
Just, now it couldn''t run or do anything annoying again. And the abs or whatever was just because it knowed this part wasn''t needed.
It saw a demon get it hit by a monster in the camp and then walk away like nothing happened, though that demon was walking with its head lower.
Still, it was things it was sure were ok. There were still too many parts it didn''t know if they were important or not though, so it wasn''t able to do too good a job.
Styx slowly walked over but behind sun.
"...thatdoes help I suppose. Er, don''t do that randomly though. It''s...creepy."
Ok.
Oh right it could just take his mana too. So it did.
There. It couldn''t eat the mana that fast, but moving what mana was still in it, out, was easy.
It made the legs let out more blood, but the mana was pulled out too.
Then the legs just dropped and turned like...not big?
Sun nodded now. He looked okay?
"It''s just skin now so that''s fine. Having the flesh without bones was creepy since it would be all...squishy. But, just skin is ok."
Well was that it? Was it because they found it weird that they acted like that? Not because they were worried about the bits going out and hitting their faces?
Because it knowed that was also bad.
Most demons didn''t seem to like being covered with blood. Especially the mouth and eyes.
It wasn''t something it could feel, but that said, it could get it.
So this was something that shouldn''t be done a lot in front of lots of people.
Well they would be ok with it probably. Even now, it wasn''t like they told it to stop...
Still, they were also looking at sun now.
After some silence, everyone went back to what they were doing before.
They were done again. The group that needed to heal their demons was now ready to move. Well, really, the demons that were healed didn''t all walk and instead were pulled along by other demons in different ways. Some could walk though.
The Tutor person was asked if it wanted to sit in the weird thing by the story demon, but it said no and was walking with the other demons.
They weren''t moving too much slower though.
Actually, could they move faster if it helped?
No. After a fast look, they were moving at the speed for the three demons at the back. They were the most blooded.
To make them all move faster, it would at least have to help those three, which it could but it would use lots of mana to pull them all with it, which might make fighting harder.
That was also maybe why St-un weren''t helping. They were moving at the front and needed to fight after all...
Almost all of the other demons were helping though.
So every guard was important now...right, they could walk slower. Not a problem.
Some more demons had come by, but after a look, none of them came to help their group.
Instead there were some that asked if it was still dangerous.
To which the ones said no.
It wasn''t really sure if they could get to the place at this speed. What the story demon said was probably on that speed not this, right?
And that probably didn''t mean stopping to rest while the demons healed.
It wasn''t all the annoyed by it. Because it would probably be doing the same walking even when they did get to the city so some more walking wasn''t too bad.
Most importantly...it wasn''t the one who choosed. The story demon and St-un were doing that, so it would just do what they did.
Easy.
Just like it trained everyday.
Not good training. But it still swinged around the club randomly when it wasn''t doing much in the mornings. That was because it remembered that when it saw Styx moving around the sword once in the morning.
And it was always slowly eating and using the void mana with its actual body. It had been since it knowed it could do things with it.
It hadn''t really changed much yet, but it''s eyes on the body definitely looked better. The little bits of them were almost all over its body now.
Its actual body...was now...still the same, really.
Some mana went out, some void mana came in.
It felt easier every time it happened though.
It wanted to have void mana so that it wouldn''t run out of food even in the place from before with too much void mana.
Then, it would be even harder to die.
It was just, in the city there wasn''t much except for that one place and there also wasn''t much now.
Changing its body was slow.
Well, its body was always being eaten and put back.
Slowly, the actual body was getting smaller but the mana didn''t change much.
And that was why it felt Tutor looking.
St-un had seen the swinging, but not the void mana eating slowly. The Tutor did. It could tell. Because the Tutor was looking at its actual body.
So there were others who could see? - And that was why it was having fun right now.
Moving the mana around randomly and seeing if the Tutor was watching.
Once it put it into the shape of the bone things and had them hit sun like a sword.
The Tutor''s face made very small movements but nothing else.
That was enough to tell it was watching though.
It was when they stopped for a bit as usual to change around who was on the monsters and weird things that the Tutot went over to St-un. They were talking about something and St-un was looking at it.
Styx was laughing and sun was looking very hard at it.
Sun said something with his mouth moving fastly but the Tutor moved around its hand in a ''whatever'' way and said something back.
Then after lots of nodding and then all of them laughing, the Tutor went away to its group when they started moving again.
Somehow, it was sure that sun was going to come get angry later.
Oh well.
Then it kept doing things with the mana but the Tutor didn''t look this time so it also went back to normal void mana eating.
The demon without arms was in the same thing as the story demon, and now it was pulled out.
They were at the city.
Or probably the city anyway.
It was kind of...small to be a city though.
Some demons that were probably guards were talking to them and then gave them a weird looking thing, which they put onto the armless demon.
After that, they were moving again.
So that was...probably not the city? It had walls and everything though...
No, it was wrong. That place really could not be thought of as a city.
Not when there was something like this here.
The walls were big. Very big. Bigger then the walls at that city.
There were more guards too.
Even outside the gate this time.
They were in a group now with some other demons. There weren''t a lot here.
But when it looked over onto another side, there were many, many, many demons outside of other...were those more gates?
Yes, there were more.
It was just this side with less.
They went into the city slowly, and gave some things, and money, to the demons at the gates.
They gave the thing and sometimes money back and then the group would go into the city.
Theirs did the same, but the Tutor''s group went in just by a thing.
When they went there, they even had many more guards come from the inside.
At first it thought they were in danger and about to be killed, but they helped the demons walk in and took them somewhere.
The Tutor talked to them some more and then after the guard went into the walls and got some money, they gave it over to the story demon.
Even as they kept talking, the story demon gave some more over to St-un.
The Tutor touched heads with all four of them - the big one too.
That was funny because the big one had to bring its head down to touch.
Then the Tutor also left.
Their group went in a little after the Tutor''s group.
It was really wondering what they talked about that long but after all...it was just here, alone in the back as the rear guard.
After they were in, it started walking after them again, but St-un came back and pulled it over.
What were they doing!
Why weren''t they at the front!
And it was in the back still so it was kind of better, but they were being left behind!
St-un this wasn''t funny!
Sun laughed, "We''re done now. We''re splitting up since that was all y''know? Come on, we have things to do."
...Oh. It didn''t have to guard now? Well why didn''t they say so then!
Sun was silent for a bit, then shook his head. "I thought you would be more...hung up over it. Hahaha."
Styx watched silently and then started walking. "First, we''ll need to go and have some maintenance done on our stuff. Or, idiot''s stuff anyway. Your club''s fine though. Then, we''ll have a good meal before heading to the Academy. I mean, it''s better to go in at night since...well."
Sun nodded fast. "Yeah, at night is best."
It looked around. They were in a mostly empty place here, but around...
There were many demons. Much more than it had ever seen before. All walking through the streets with all the colors everywhere...
Those weird things in the front doors of buildings that had very...coming out colors on them.
The demons with different coverings on them.
That one weird demon that had a thing behind it.
It was really -
"Oi."
Yes?
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47
"Don''t blank out just because no one''s talking to you. That''s rude. Plus, you could get assassinated with that carelessness of yours." Styx was already waiting again. Sun was talking though.
Really? Well, wouldn''t that person have to be pretty good to do that?
It was feeling the mana enough to feel that coming, and if it couldn''t feel them coming, then not ''blanking out'' wouldn''t change much...but rude was...ok.
"I''m going to go to the blacksmith''s place, you go with Styx."
But, sun wasn''t eating?
"We''re going to eat as we walk anyway. You''re just buying it."
Then sun walked off fast, and it went after Styx.
It was good that it could feel them out with mana, because in all these demons, in just eyes, Styx was already not here.
Still, it wasn''t sure how to do this...it was walking when it could, but it was actually in the same place.
It went forwards when the demons around it did, but then more would come going the other way and push it around.
It was...not moving much. Styx was...already going on.
...This was...kind of bad. Also because it wasn''t even monsters or anything but that it couldn''t walk here...what could it do?
It wasn''t sure about pushing them around, since that would be rude, but they were pushing it...but then not really.
They weren''t actually pushing it. Just that, when their bodies went by, it was pushed back by them. It just didn''t know how...
The group moved away from it though as a demon in armor came towards it, "Ki - er, I mean, sir, do you...need help there?"
Yes that would be nice.
"Sir?...Madam?" The demon was just waiting there.
What was this demon waiting for? Where was that help?
"...w-where would you like to go?...then, is this someone''s golem...?"
Now the demon was looking down and talking to itself. It was not even looking at it anymore.
...It was times like this that talking would be really nice to have. Or just smarter group people. That didn''t just leave it when it wasn''t able to do anything.
The guard was just pulling it away somewhere when Styx came back.
He pointed his hand at it, "That''s with me."
"Oh," the guard nodded. "...Any proof?"
Styx seemed to be thinking but it shook off the guard''s hand, who didn''t hold it very hard at that point and then went over to Styx.
"Ah, carry on then. But, don''t leave it around like that, it inconveniences your fellow pedestrians."
Styx nodded and then pulled it along. The small hole that was made in the street was full of demons again the moment the guard left.
Everyone was really trying to get where they needed to go huh?
Was it that important?
Well, now Styx was pulling it along and through all the people.
This way, it wouldn''t be getting lost again.
So it just walked after Styx.
But now that it thought about it, how would sun find them?
Did St-un also have a connection or something that would let them find each other?
They turned and went through many big and small streets before coming to a building that was on the next side of the walls.
It was near a gate and had many demons sitting outside on things and eating, more inside, and even more just outside the door, waiting to get in.
Styx nodded to himself after looking and pushed it forwards a bit.
He pointed at the end of that long group.
"Stand there and move forwards when other people do. I''ll be back."
Saying that Styx walked over to some other place and went into the group of people.
It also walked over and into the end of the long group.
Here, it would do what he said. There was no way for this to...why was Styx still here?
He said he was leaving but he was actually just watching from another place.
...He did know that it could see him right?
Ah, but it couldn''t leave this spot except to go forwards...or else these other people would go there. That would make Styx get annoyed again.
And it couldn''t talk and ask anyway...
Oh well. Maybe he was doing something else.
Oh, yes, now he was talking to another armored demon.
See? He was doing something something else after all.
Oh the line was moving up!
But what was this?
There were sometimes demons who just...went into the line. Not from the back, but from closer to the door. This was...was that ok?
...Styx said to only move forwards when people in front of it went forwards though...so it would not do that.
It would wait - is what it thought.
But then someone else came into a place right in front of it. Just pushed in.
"Sorry sorry."
It nodded to the person in front and it and then stayed there.
The demons behind it were saying things, and then one went forwards to fight the new one, but the new one just put up its arms.
"Guards, guards!"
The demon moved back, but another demon from behind walked up instead.
"And what about the guards? Cheating like that doesn''t work here, not in my city!"
The demon hit the sorry demon and dropped it. When it dropped, the other demon who stopped before walked over and also hit the sorry demon.
Then they pulled it out of the group and pushed it away.
The second demon who came laughed, "Those stupid tricks won''t work here. We''re not domesticated rats."
At that the dropped demon also got up, "Domesticated? You wanna fight?"
The first demon started to walk forwards but then sorry demon made some magic on its hands instead. It went biri biri.
The two stopped and looked hard at each other. Definitely they were thinking about this, when a guard actually came.
He pulled sorry demon over and then nodded to the other two as well.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Alright that''s enough. If you want to kill each other do it outside. Hey you, no cutting in lines here. Them''s the rules."
The two demons went back to their spots but the guard looked at them. They then looked very angry at the sorry demon and went back to the end of the line.
Sorry demon laughed but also looked angry.
Though it looked at the guard and left, talking loudly. "Hah! I don''t need this. I doubt this garbage-"
Every demon turned to look at it. It stopped talking and left fast.
Oh it was slow...and Styx was back.
He said nothing though. Just walked in and was there.
There were demons looking angry but then Styx lightly hit the top of its head, so it turned to look.
When it turned back after a while Styx said, "I''m with this one."
Then the demons turned back to normal.
After they finally got in the door, Styx walked up to the weird thing behind which a demon was standing. It nodded as they talked and then said something loudly back.
After Styx passed it some money, another demon passed up something else that Styx took and then walked out another door with.
It went after.
They were going towards the gate, but when it turned to look at Styx he just kept walking.
Well it wanted to know how sun was going to find them but...
Oh, why was he outside already?
"Hey."
Styx nodded, and then pulled something out of the thing and throwed it over to sun.
Sun started eating it as they walked. Then he started talking even though no one asked.
"The repairs," sun ate some more, "will take, swallow, a day or so. I''ll grab it tomorrow."
They were walking out away from the city already.
There were lots of people outside of this gate though. They looked over as they waited but then away. It looked like they didn''t really care much.
They were going back out already? Were they not going to see more of...the city?
The many things like the different buildings and the demons that were taking things out of other demons clothes as they walked, and even the weird clothes that it saw on some other demons that were calling over other demons.
Styx had nodded at them as they passed though. One of them had nodded back and showed the weapon they were holding.
Oh, but now would be the school place where it would learn more, right?
Also what was this sound it was hearing now? It was really loud...and different from anything it heard before...
As they kept walking, the trees became more and more. So many that they had to walk around them and rocks and other things.
There were a few times it fell and then had to get up after its leg bottoms hit into things and were not able to move.
Or when it had to keep lowering itself so it wouldn''t hit into the tree''s arms.
St-un were still eating normally as they walked through though.
They also moved carefully in some places, but didn''t fall or have to stop like it did, which felt kind of bad.
It kept dropping...it was this one part on its body that was especially annoying...could it lose that part? It wasn''t needed and just made it harder.
What if it...took it off?
That was what it did. It ate it. But then, after it fell off, the sides started going back, and so it stopped that and made them come back together without going out to become the bigger shape.
With that, it was probably -
Dexterity +1
Oh?
Wasn''t that nice.
So then, maybe the other side too?
Dexterity +1
Yes. That was it.
Ok, this was good. Really good. So, it just had to drop parts off and put them back...but, better?
It had lost and gotten back arms many times but that didn''t seem to make its strength go up...
This was working fine though. Maybe after it tried out some other changes, it could guess how it worked...
Though, one way was maybe bringing the shape closer to a normal demon.
Right now, though it hadn''t really cared much before, it was kind of...all over the place.
There were bits that were more out or in than others. Making those more...normal, would maybe be part of it.
It made sense though. If dexterity was moving, then it got the parts that made it hard to move gone so it moved better.
That meant it got more dexterity. It was kinda making sense. At least, it wasn''t running faster or anything.
Just had better moving.
St-un were still moving through and then slowly they came out onto a long normal ground. It was just that weird stuff on the ground here...and then a long drop down on the side.
There was the sound - water.
Lots and lots of water was what it was hearing before. The loud way the water came and hit other water and the ground. It was coming up out of the rest of the water.
Then there were the big walls and gates of the...small city?
It wasn''t much smaller than the city down there actually...it was almost just another big city.
The sun was almost down here but...it could still see out that the water went...very very out there.
So much water...
"See? I told you! Surprised aren''t you?"
Yes. That was true. It would not lie about that.
But, wasn''t this...all the water in the world? Did demons come here to get water?
Sun started laughing very loudly, making it stop thinking about water and look over as well as some other demons that were around. And Styx. He looked angry.
"All of the water in the world? This is just a lake. There''s oceans which are even bigger you know? And deeper. Plus there''s still other worlds. Do you know how little this actually is?"
...No? It didn''t even ever go out of the old place and see a lake? Oceans sounded stupid but...if they were real...how much water would that be?
And what if it came out?
"Relax relax. That''s nothing to worry about. I mean we could always sacrifice Styx to the God of the Sea or something."
It almost thought sun was being for real here but then he started laughing really hard and holding his body. Until Styx came over and hit him hard on the head before pulling him along by the back of his clothes.
Haha indeed. Sun had just made itself get in a problem because it was laughing at it.
That was funny.
The Academy was really very big though. Many demons were just walking around or sitting and talking. Inside the gates, which were open and only looked at a thing St-un pulled out, there were even more demons sitting around on more weird stuff on the ground.
Many demons were just walking around here and going into the big buildings. Next to it, the ground changed.
It was black and had lots of fire.
There were different looking demons here but the same big buildings.
It could feel different feelings from them.
The black ground was hot, but the weird stuff was normal. Here, Styx also dropped the weird thing and it very fast became on fire. They left it there.
From somewhere else it could feel cold though.
It seemed the middle was the weirdest though. One very big building but small when looking at all the other ones was here.
It went all the way up and had demons doing something at the top of it.
There were also rocks that looked like demons here and there.
There was one that looked a lot like Styx but bigger.
Styx also looked at that one for a bit. Was it because it was looking like it? Did that mean that...Styx was actually from another group of demons that all looked the same? Or could it be that Styx changed his face to look like that? Because it could change its head at least.
That was creepy to think of. Demons that looked so...same.
There was no way that was normal right?
...Right?
But no, they were moving towards the building in the middle.
When they went in, the feeling suddenly became...normal.
There were other doors in and the air was still cold and hot and cold.
So this still had the different places to make the feeling different?
St-un went over to another demon that was behind a thing.
It laughed when it saw them and hit sun''s head lightly but for a longer time than a normal hit and then the same to Styx.
Did they know it? For sure. St-un were looking very happy and so was the demon who looked very weird.
There was normal black clothing, but it had more of those bone things on its head and weird things on its back!
They looked like the things that the weird monsters that moved around in the up had.
Whatever it was, it seemed ok though and was talking normally with them.
"It''s been so long! I''m happy to see the Voidlands didn''t claim you."
Sun made himself look bigger. "Obviously. I lived there for almost all my life."
Styxsnorted. "Not alone."
Sun didn''t seem to care though. "So? Still did."
The back things demon laughed, "Still the same you two. It''s nice to see how well you two get along."
Sun and Styx both looked each other up and down, then nodded.
""Hah. This loser?""
"This idiot doesn''t even have a name yet."
"He''s just the watered down version of Stix."
The back things demon started laughing again as they went on.
"So? The person himself say''s I''m scary."
"That''s just to make you feel better. And I''ll have you know, that''s just because I haven''t decided on a suitable name for my greatness yet. I mean, I want to do it the old way."
They were still looking at each other hard when the back things demon made aclap by hitting its hands together.
"Alright alright. While it''s nice to see you two again, but we can talk off hours. What''re you here for now? You''re suspended, remember?"
Styx shook his head. "Not anymore," and pulled out the letter, "we''re off of that according to this and also get this one admission."
The back things demon finally looked at it. "Ah, I thought it was just behind you in line."
"No, it''s our newest club member," sun said happily. But, when he did, the back things demon seemed to look...weird?
"That''s...that''s real nice. A-anyway, fill out this form and pass it back to me ok? There''s nobody behind you so take your time."
With that, the back things demon passed over some letter looking thing.
Styx nodded, "Thanks Excern."
"Yeah, thanks Excern." Sun said that after fast too.
Excern nodded and went back to doing something with many letter looking things on the...thing in front of it.
St-un put the letter thing onto another weird thing put near the door they came into and moved its hand to tell it to come over.
When it did it looked at the...black things on the letter.
What was it to do here?
"First, your name."
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48
...name?
"Oh, right...well, do you want to pick one later then?"
Ok.
"Uh...species...spirit. Gender. Er. Asexual-Asexual. World...Aecledolon. Let''s see...what else. Residence...dorms. Hm. Oh right, this one...well, you don''t really have a Patron...no Affiliation yet...oh. Club. Order of the Inquisition. There done."
Sun walked over to Excern and gave the form.
It looked over it and then nodded.
"Good enough," it said, and then put out a hand, "that''s the standard fee. 1 black gold coin."
Styx pulled out and gave a rock looking coin to Excern, and then it passed over a weird looking thing.
Sun took it and passed it over to it, "Don''t lose that and keep it with you. Styx''s room isn''t full yet so I wrote it in there."
It nodded and then looked at Excern. And nodded again. Thank you couldn''t be said, so this was ok...?
Excern laughed, "Alright, see you around."
Then they walked back out.
Sun nodded to Styx and walked towards the black rock looking side, and Styx pulled it over towards the colder side.
Well, it was cold, but only kind of cold. The place next to it was white. And colder.
Styx was walking fast now.
It wasn''t sure why. It wanted to stop and look at it the weirdly colored things around, like the trees.
But it couldn''t since it also had to follow after Styx.
Soon they went towards one of the big buildings with demons all around.
Styx was taking it in through the door and then after nodding and showing its weird thing to the demon behind the same thing Excern was behind, took it up the going up bit.
Then it went up two more and brought it over to the weird thing.
He walked over to another demon and showed its weird thing.
"I want some elementary language books?"
The weird looking demon, with its very different face pointed over to one place here.
There were these books on every time they came up one, but this had less books.
They were placed in random mountains.
Styx walked over to the place the demon pointed at and took out a book, before putting it to the side.
Then he did it with another and put them to the side again.
Then again, but this time he put the book to a different place.
He did that over and over again, until the whole mountain of books looked like it moved. And got smaller.
He pulled out four books into a different group, which he then holded and brought over to it.
"Hold these."
He pushed them into its arms.
Then he went over and gave the demon some weird coins and gave it its weird thing that Styx took as he gave it the books. Again. He also showed it his own weird thing.
The demon looked at something on them and put some things onto another form looking thing.
Then it just stopped and Styx walked back down the thing.
It went down too, but holding the books with both hands to be careful.
Unlike St-un, and it looked like demons in general, it wasn''t very good at keeping the things like this from moving around without its actual body...maybe it should make more arms or something?
They went back out the door and towards another building that was also even bigger!
Styx took it in and was walking when a demon walked up.
"Hey, you''re suspended. You shouldn''t be in here~. Go die in that crappy city Styx~."
It was...smaller than Styx but looked different. It also had the same clothes as everyone around...no, as some demons did. Except this one was wearing some weird looking thing on its head. It looked like a clothing helmet.
Another big demon was also walking over.
"Styx. You''re only on a yellow suspension so I''m not going to penalize you...but you''re not allowed into the dorms either."
Styx nodded to the big one and didn''t even look at the other demon, "Actually, I''ve been relieved of it. You can check my badge''s color."
The big demon took a look and then hit Styx on the back, making Styx walk forwards a bit.
"Hahaha, welcome back then. Alright head on up. With, your new friend? Its badge?"
Styx was still holding its badge and showed the big one. It took it and then looked at a weird thing. It put the badge on it and then it changed color to red and showed a...number?
"Alright, all clear."
Styx nodded to the big one and went up, with it following.
"Hey wait, don''t you - wha?"
The other one that was not cared about looked over very angry and tried to hold its arm, but it used its actual body to move its arm away and then run forwards to Styx instead.
Styx laughed and changed his face to the normal one after that.
"Good job there. Wexel is always trying to pick fights. The losers dad is a Duke too. Well, if he wasn''t, his brat here wouldn''t have the nerve to pick a fight anyway. Spineless trash that he is though, he might come after you though, so it''s fine to kill him."This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Ok. It would remember that.
They went to another up thing, but this one went down and up.
Styx took the way down and went down, down, down.
Five times they went down and then stopped before coming out of the up-down rocks and going out onto this one instead, before walking over to another door and going in.
Styx went over to one of the weird things and opened it, before taking out the black clothes that many demons had and put them on after taking off his old ones.
It looked around this new place, at the clothes dropped all over and then the clean, but dusty side that Styx was on.
After doing something to the clothes he was wearing before, he put them into the place the new ones were and closed it, before falling onto another weird thing that made a whumph when he did.
He then got back into a sitting way and moved his hand to tell it to come over, hitting the thing''s side.
It put down the books there and then he moved both arms up in a ''whatever.''
He also got off and sitted down on the ground instead, before pushing its legs from where they turned and making it drop.
"Sit. Now, we''re going to first teach you some basic language, alright?"
It fastly moved into the same way Styx was sitting and waited.
Styx holded a book and opened it.
"This, is the first lesson. Look at this letter. It is said as Ahk. It looks like this when written, meaning...uh, well, like this. This one is said as uit, and looks like this."
Styx just kept moving over the forms and showing it new letters. A new so new to it...like...a lake when it didn''t even see anything more watery than rain before.
And it remembered. Remembering everything he said and showed.
"Ok. There. That''s what is called the alphabet...can''t believe I have to read kiddy books at this age..."
Silence Styx. If he wasn''t reading then it didn''t want to hear it. Or explanationing something it read. Anything else was a bad use of time.
"Uh, so. I can''t tell how much you''ve learned, but uh, here''s the next book. This one is about punctuation and grammar ok? So, this sign means? Oh, right..."
"Alright. Now, the next book."
Styx put away the first book, but it holded it and brought it closer to itself. This book, it wanted it. Even if it already remembered what was inside of it.
Styx looked for a bit then did a ''whatever,'' and opened the new book.
This one didn''t have the same...look as the first one. It looked like a demon killing someone.
"This is reading practice. So. Once upon a time, there was a young demon named Terxim. He lived in the forest in a small cottage with his parents. He really loved adventuring and his parents always told him lots of fun stories of their travels. So when he grew up, he decided to travel the lands as well!"
Styx was turning the forms as he read, but it moved over to be behind Styx and become up so that it could then turn over to look over from behind Styx. Yes, this was better than seeing from the side.
"...He went out and met a goblin. Like any young demon knows, he had of course brought his trusty weapon with him and hacked open its skull."
Ohhhh, good job Terxim!
"After that, he then went out further, ignoring his parent''s warnings not to venture far enough from the cottage that he couldn''t see it anymore. But he did, and became lost. He met and slew some more goblins but eventually got tired and was killed by a goblin spearing him through the back."
Ohhhh...bad job Terxim!
"After that he was eaten by the goblins."
...Well, this was why Terxim should have listened then. Or been stronger. Or like it. It wouldn''t die from being speared through the back.
"Alright, next story."
This was a good book. It even had more than one story!
"Once upon a time. There was a demon named Marcel."
Ohh, Marcel! Hopefully he would be smarter than Terxim. Or stronger.
"He wasn''t strong or smart."
Oh...well, then go to a better story. It could already see the ending.
"However."
Ohhhhhh, there was a however!
"He was very talented at making things. Not potions, but he could forge very good swords for his friends to play with."
Well that sounded nice. But, so, swords were made too? By forging? How did one forge? And were clubs also forged?
"One day, while he was fixing his father''s sword, he realized that there was mana moving through it!"
OHHHHHHH!
"And when he tried to hit the metal, he felt the difference in strength, the potential!"
YES! POTENTIAL!
"He put his broke his back messing around with that sword for days. When his father came to see him on the first day, he was turned away by an invested Marcel. Marcel, who was actually very bad with magic was stuck here. Even though he tried everything he could think of, the most he could do was slowly spread the mana throughout the sword by hammering it. Yet even as he did so, he had no control over what kind of strike would move the mana and how or why. Instead, he desperately sought to understand how it worked so that he could make a magic sword! A dream he''d just felt when he saw the mana in the sword!"
OHHHH! A MAGIC SWORD! BUT NOOO! MARCEL DIDN''T HAVE MANA CONTROL!
"It was when he was despairing over his dream, that hope appeared!"
HOPE!
"It was his friend, Irecer. She was always very good at magic, but had tried to learn forging from Marcel as well. Unfortunately, she didn''t have much of a talent for making swords, but instead with using them and magic. Yet, when she saw her friend in despair and asked what was wrong, she was struck by a brilliant idea. While her forging skill wasn''t very good, she could make up for Marcel''s lack of skill with magic and he her lack of forging skill!"
OHHH! So groups were useful like this...
"Together, they laboured for many days on the project. The original sword was already warped from its original shape and looked like just a flat piece of metal than a sword. Yet they kept at it. For their goal was to first see if they could spread mana through the material. And they did. Eventually, a month after they started, they were able to imbue the metal with mana!"
OHHHHH! Good job Marcel and Irecer.
"Misfortune struck again when the metal broke apart once they stopped tending to it."
Oh....
"After that, they had many more trials and created a magic sword."
OHHHH - wait what?
Styx also stopped and looked at the book for a bit. He turned the form back anf forwards, looking very closely as he did and then looking hard at the last form of the story...it could see the words there. Hear them in its head again too.
This was definitely the last form. The next form had "once upon a time" on it again.
That was...that was STUPID!
Where was the rest?
What about what they did next? Or how? What was this stupid!
Styx looked over the book carefully and then snorted.
"This is diagnostic. It''s just to see your reading level. The first one was a common children''s story, this one was...more complicated. Then the next one is...normal again? Oh wait, this author...this was just an ad to make you buy the actual one.... Alright, let''s see the next one...once upon a time, there was a demon named Lierta. She very much enjoyed every night of her life, for it was at night that a strange friend met her. Every night, under her bed, there would be an eye that appeared."
WHAT? THAT WAS SO DUMB! GIVE THE FULL STORY THEN! IT WANTED TO HEAR A FULL STORY! Also...why was there just an eye appearing under Lierta''s bed every - oh, so the thing the books were on was bed.
"The first time, she was very frightened and called her parents. The eye was gone when they came to check however and so her parents told her to go to bed and stop imagining things. Being an optimistic girl, she of course thought that it would be nice if her parents were right, however, she also thought that the eye was real, for she knew what she saw."
Well, if she saw an eye, then she saw an eye. Lierta was much better than her parents. Since it didn''t see her parents. Also because the story was on Lierta. Stupid parents. It knew there was an eye too. It saw too!
"So she watched under her bed and when she blinked, it was there again. She watched it silently for a long while, but never once saw it blink. Nor did it do anything else. It didn''t move to look at her either."
Ohh...wait, she was going to somehow die now or make a magic sword. See, it already knew. So smart...unless there were more ways for book stories to end...
That eye looked weird though...and what was it even looking at?
Spoiler: Status
49
"Then Lierta fell asleep from exhaustion. The next morning the eye was gone."
Oh. So then, it was ok?
"That night however, the eye returned."
Oh no! Or oh yes?
"This time, it looked at her when she waved her hand near it. The rest was the same as the last night. Then, the next day, there were two eyes. And both watched her now. The next day, the eyes were still there in the morning. They did not change more, and by the next week, she was used to its presence."
That was...good?
"Then one day, she heard something...shifting under her bed. The bed creaked and groaned as it was forced to move to accommodate the thing underneath. Lierta, feeling scared tried to run, but a mass of hands grabbed her and lifted her up, so that she could see down into the reddish maw of the thing. Then, it ate her."
Hmmmm. These stories ended in death a lot. Even before, like the story demon''s stories. Or even sun''s dumb one.
"After that, it disappeared, leaving the family fearful of the thing. Word was spread and they learned its name - The Watcher. It came to its prey and watched them, slowly moving its body to the prey. Until one day, it would eat it. Lierta was just another of its victims."
Wait so the Watcher could be under Styx''s bed right now? Or even some other place with a bed, right now, getting ready to eat someone?
It already looked with its actual body, but just to be sure, it looked with its physical one too. As it thought - no, knew - there was no weird eye under the bed.
"That''s why, if you see an eye under your bed, you throw it out. Or go to a new room, possibly house if the eye doesn''t stop following you."
That sounded very bad. Styx was laughing though. Why?
"You know it''s just a story right? I mean, the odds of that thing picking you out of the millions of choices is really low right?"
Wait so the Watcher was real?
"Alright, next one! Hey you know, these stories really are actually quite educational if you''re a kid."
No wait, before that - Styx what was that about the Watcher?
"Once upon a time there was -"
Styx was stopped when the door opened again and a new demon walked in. This one looked like...an orange sun. Which was actually closer to the actual sun...hmmmm. Sun should get a name faster...also. So. The Watcher was real.
An enemy it wasn''t sure it could kill. How did it come under the bed? If it was it doing that - it wouldn''t have stayed under the bed for that long and just killed the demon. That was if there was even any reason for it, when really, it could probably get better experience from killing a group of wolves then just one demon every now and then. Why would the Watcher act like that?
That it couldn''t know how or why it did that annoyed it. And that it could just come under its bed without it knowing was worse.
"- there was -" Styx went to just continue but the other demon who had been just there and looking at Styx started talking loudly when Styx didn''t talk to it.
"Don''t just ignore me! Say hi or something! Also, you just got back and already deepened your enmity with good l'' what''s his name. Nice."
The demon closed the door and then put his back on it, but Styx didn''t seem to care about the orange one and went back to the book, so it did too. If Styx who was definitely more usable for talking to other people type things than sun didn''t care about orange one then it didn''t have to either.
"Yes. Hello. Ah, there was a giant -"
"So. Who''s the new guy? DO WE HAVE A NEW DORMIE!?"
The orange one looked really happy at that but, well, not caring and all, so it looked at Styx and waited for him to continue.
As it thought, Styx also looked annoyed as he turned back to the orange one, "Yes. It probably won''t need a bunk. Though it would be better if we had some cloth to pad it with so it doesn''t damage the floor too much, but don''t touch it unless you want to die."
What? It wouldn''t killthat fast...though, the cloth idea was probably real since it was true that it slowly ate into the things around it still. Which hadn''t been that bad, aside from making holes in the ground when it was in one place too long out back, but here...it didn''t have a lot of space to move around on...
Well, the floor wouldn''t be eaten through from the feel of it. There was mana in it that made it very hard to eat into. So. Probably it would be fine, as long as it wasn''t properly trying to eat through. Which was why it was fine after sitting with the books for so long.
Though, looking back, it hadn''t remembered until just now when Styx talked...this could be bad. It didn''t always remember everything all at once...or keep it remembered at all. The bit about it eating into the ground wasn''t remembered when the stories were started.
Orange looked at it and then slowly went around it while staying at the wall before getting to the bed with many clothes dropped around it and generally looking less put together than Styx''s bed.
At first it thought it would stay quiet now, but then it started talking again. Apparently, it wasn''t very scared of it...maybe trying to do the eye thing?
"So, what are the books for?"
"Reading."
"No, I mean - you know what I mean!"
Orange was obviously not going to be fun...go away orange. Die.
Too bad it couldn''t do that though...wait, could it?
No. That one was for Wexel. Not demons in general...so no, it couldn''t.
"This one here, no name and mute, wanted to. I will be reading to it and would appreciate no interruptions from you. Good? Ok. Right. So, there was a giant foot - by the way, these guys are common in the deeper areas of the Voidlands - that stepped into a clearing, waking the small demon sleeping there."
Oh, yes, it could see that. The small demon didn''t look very dangerous next to the giant foot though...the foot was way bigger than the demon after all. Obviously, it was going to die.
"The giant looked down, spotting him and went crouched down to look at him."
And thensplatted it with a hand or just ate it right?
"''I am bored. Puny one, you shall entertain me today. If you answer my question right, I will spare you, and if not then I will eat you,'' it said."
Eh, so more or less what it thought. Eating was eating.
"The demon stood, nodding once the only indication of his attention. The giant, arrogant as it was, went on to speak its question, ''What am I going to do to you? If you guess correctly then I will let you go, if you guess wrong then...well, we''ve already been over that.'' The giant threw back its enormous head and laughed, confident that it would win."
That was fine and all, but...was it normal to take so much time to do something? It just didn''t seem very smart to do, when the giant could kill it anyway...Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Styx looked its way, "Guess. I''ll give you a minute. Just in your head obviously."
The orange one behind it talked before it could. "Isn''t it obvious? He''ll eat him!"
Actually, that was obvious, and the orange one was probably right.
Styx looked at the orange one hard for a bit and then moved his hand around, "The point of this was to let it think.It, not you."
"Yeah, yeah. I mean, I can''t sleep while you''re talking now can I? What do you expect me to do?"
The orange one was already lying down like he was going to sleep, but it was true that he was not asleep. And it wasn''t sure it got why. If it wanted to not listen to something it could. And did. A lot. Usually without actually meaning to.
Like thinking really hard...
"I can hit you over the head really hard if you''d like? Anyway,ahem, the small demon answered, ''eat me.'' The giant laughed, ''Wrong. I don''t eat people!'' And with that he left. The giant never had any intention of carrying out its threat."
...That was...not what it thought would have happened. But, looking at it another way...there hadn''t actually been anything to say that itwould really do that. Other than him saying it...but, then, what about the part about eating him if he got it wrong? Didn''t that mean the question was...useless?
"There are giants who eat demons and the like though. Just so we''re clear. By the way, the demon in this story was kept unnamed, because it''s like, a way so that you can think that you''re like him. Get it?"
No. But ok.
"Uh, next is -"
The orange one got up from where it was to look at Styx. "You know. If you''re trying to make it learn...uh, smarter? Then you might as well just teach it to read so it can do that on its own, without having to have you read the book to it."
That was also true. And would be nice.
"That''s...doable. Except that it can''t talk so I wouldn''t know if it can or can''t...well, not without checking each word separately."
"Which is doable. Like this," the orange one got up and walked over while taking the book from Styx, opening it to a random form and putting it in front of it, "try to read this first word, and then nod when you think you know what it would sound like."
It looked hard at the first word. It looked like ''once.'' It had seen that enough times in the book where Styx was reading from to know that it was ''once.'' So it nodded at orange one, who was now obviously much better than it thought it was.
"Once. Is that what you got?"
It nodded.
Orange also nodded and moved his hand to a different word. "Same thing."
That was...''upon.'' Again. This book really liked that word. It also had words it used a lot though so it wasn''t like that was bad or it didn''t really understand.
It nodded and orange one continued, "Upon. Well, whatever I''m too lazy for this, but just let it flip through the thing itself and come ask you when it gets stuck on a word. That saves us time and effort. Also probably better than just reading to it."
Styx nodded slowly. He had been watching that part so he seemed to think the way orange did. So did it. It wasn''t against this idea. It seemed ok, seeing as it could still ask whenever it didn''t know anything, so it nodded at Styx.
He hit it lightly on the arm top, "Alright. I''m gonna try to sleep so ask orange if you need help. You can flip through whatever book you want so yeah. Ok. I''m out."
He walked over and dropped onto the bed, falling asleep as he did. Lierta helped.
Orange got up and started talking loudly about how dumb and stupid and evil and retarded Styx was but then someone hit the door lightly and orange went quiet. It then just went to the bed and held its head.
"I regret everything."
That''s fine. Just say the word when it asked.
So it looked at the book.
''the time. There was a...giant?'' That sounded right.
''He was a very...scary?'' It had heard the word before and the sounds of the letters here were...maybe it was scary?
It went over to orange and hit it lightly on the arm top.
It looked over to where its hand was and said the word before holding its head again, "Scary."
''Big and...bad. He would go down from the...mountain and kill many things just for fun, to have a...good fight. One day, he came down from the mountain...and saw a demon...(walling? Walking? Probably.) walking by and went to kill it as...'' Again? Another word it didn''t know.
It hit the orange one the same way again. He looked over and thensighed after looking. "Per usual."
Ok.
The orange one was lying down now, but not asleep. It couldn''t be sure since it hadn''t seen the orange one asleep before so it had nothing to check with, but the orange one''s eyes being open meant it was awake for sure...probably. So it had time.
''per usual...and to...make it more fun, it...made loud...''
Orange.
"Noises..."
Ok.
''noises as it walked over. But the demon didn''t look scared and it...asked him why. The demon looked up at the giant and...''
Orange!
"Laughed."
''laughed. He told the giant, "That''s because, you''re already dead!" The giant looked very...''
"Angry."
''angry at that, but when it...tried to move its...arm? It...''
"Realized..."
''realized that it couldn''t. The giant...slowly...''
"Toppled."
''toppled over from where it was with...bloody...''
"Froth."
''coming from its mouth. The demon had...''
"Poisoned...oh, this one."
Orange readed this one before?
''poisoned...(Not ''oh, this one'' next, right? Probably not.) the...''
"Air."
''air...(Are. Und? Areund?...The place...around! Around it!) around it and killed the giant with it. Then the demon...''
"Disappeared off into the sunset..."
OK! Next!
It was on the third story that the orange one touched its arm top lightly, but actually held it hard.
"Look. I need to sleep. II''m not going to survive tomorrow without at least five hours of sleep to stay conscious. Just. Read on your own. You can skip words you don''t know and from the sound and what words youdo know, just guess what would fit into the sentence, ok? Or, better yet -"
The orange started looking for something under its bed and pulled out a book, giving it over to it.
"This is dictionary. Ugh. I mean, this is a dictionary. There are pictures and useful words. Read this if you don''t want to finish that one or can''t. Ok? Bye."
Then the orange was also asleep.
Leaving it alone to sit there and read. Which was ok. The problem was that whatever the orange did when he went down also turned the light off.
Somehow. It didn''t know lightwas something that could really be turned off anyway but then this wasn''t under the sun and still had light so maybe that was not what it should be looking at? Whatever it was, for a bit, it couldn''t read and was worried but then it remembered that it didn''t need the light to see.
But, it couldn''t see as well here. The letters in the book were not in mana and that made it hard to see properly.
It could kind of see when it put the book very close to its eyes though. They made some light. A little bit.
Something that it was happy for since it seemed that it couldn''t actually read in no light. Well, that was definitely making the light harder to find too hideous, though it definitely was.
That didn''t matter much though so it looked hard at the next ''Once upon a time.''
It made it through the book. Badly. It had some words that it couldn''t read. It could kind of feel it though.
It knew a lot of the words that came up a lot. Words like of, were, are, is, probably, kill, all that came up a lot.
The new ones like poisoned - which it didn''t understand even if it could read it when it saw it now - were also useful, but just like poisoned it didn''t really always understand the word.
What did poisoning mean? How did that kill the giant when the demon didn''t even do anything? Whatever it was would be useful to be able to do as well, since if it could kill people through just the air around it, it would probably be very dangerous.
More than it was now. And alsoin danger, because if poison worked on it, then it could die without knowing. Unless it was - actually that would make a lot of sense - magic. If poison was a magic though then it was fine.
It would at least see it coming. Though that didn''t mean it could stop it.
Like the fireball. That would have killed it if it hit when it was...before wisp. Even as a wisp.
Now? A fireball wouldn''t really make it lose too much of its actual body. Though it might still do a lot of damage to its physical one.
But what about void mana? The place with lots of it almost killed it when it tried to fight all the void mana together.
That is, if the poison mana was strong or a lot like that, then it would die. So, basically, what it was learning was that the world was even more dangerous then it thought.
Giants for one, seemed to be pretty dangerous. If bigger meant stronger, and it was pretty sure it did...though demons were weird, then a giant could hitvery hard.
The stories themselves were pretty fun too though.
Except that there were more things like the Watcher around.
Like this one that was a black hole that would slowly eat everything. That was something it would definitely have to fight then.
Then there was this thing where it would just come out of the ground and eat you.
The worst was this one where there was a giant moving through the up monster that could make fire and kill many demons.
Basically the world was full of things that could kill it.
It could die right now if there happened to be - it fastly looked under both beds - the Watcher around.
What an easy-to-die-in world.
Spoiler: Status
50
The next thing it did was actually to go to the book orange left for it and start reading.
It had, as orange said, many useful words, which would probably have been more helpful if it had before, but didn''t need all that much right about now.
Though it did at least know the things that were in a building. The roof, floor, cyeling, walls, doors, doorcunobs, windowns, and even kicchens and rooms. Also sovas and chaires.
The body had fingers and foots.
And many unreadable words. Shoulder was kind of boulder but read more...different.
Still. It was good to have. Even if it knew that many of the words it read wrong, but it was close enough, right? Though in this building, this room was not the kicchen.
See? Using new words already.
Heh.
Ok. That was enough from this book.
Most of what it could read it read, and what it couldn''t it kind of knew but probably wouldn''t be able to say the word right.
Kicchen was ''kitchen'' but it wasn''t sure how to read it.
Still, it would have Styx and Orange tell it sometime.
The other books would almost definitely have the same problems but it could still try to read.
But the next book was about polite.
It could see ''Don''t talk when someone else is talking.''
That was polite stuff.
But the next one?
There was a picture of a demon hitting another demon while they were talking.
''Don''t...attack others while talking?''
Ok. Though it would think that was kind of an obvious thing.
The next one...there was a demon that had a thing between it and another demon.
''Don''t...invide?''
What is invide? And what does it mean to invide another person''s...something space?
Whatever.
If it didn''t know, it didn''t know. It would need Styx or orange to for sure tell it these ones once it found some time though.
This was important in a way that other words weren''t. Polite was good, and not polite was very bad.
Ok. This one was...a demon putting something into another demon''s something thing for eating.
''Don''t...oh, poison. Don''t poison...other people''s...food? When in...something talks.''
Well. It didn''t even know what poison was so it wasn''t in any danger of doing that. Though again, this seemed weird. If it was poison, that killed people right?
If you were killing someone, they were an enemy, and so why would you even be talking to an enemy instead of killing them normally in the first place? It was weird things like this that made it annoyed at not knowing enough.
If it was more...knowing, like sun or Styx, this would definitely make sense to it. More than now at least.
Oh well.
''Don''t...something something?''
This one was weird. Touch?
What was that one demon doing, touching the other one.
What did that even mean?
Oh. No magic attacks either.
The next form, the touched demon had its head missing.
There was bad colored blood everywhere. Real blood looked better, but well, a book had its bad sides too, didn''t it? Real blood would have looked much better,
Ok. That aside, it now had other things to worry about.
This book was too hard for it and seemed to just mean, in general, stay away from other people and don''t kill them randomly.
Something like that.
The next book was the same. It also had many things it said not to do.
But was this polite or...oh, there it was. This word was probably legal.
Well that answered that question.
It fastly looked under both beds again. There was another two beds but it hadn''t looked because it didn''t see other demons around, but it should check those to - OH NO IT WAS ALREADY TWO EYES!
ATTACK! DIE! DIE WATCHER!
It used its actual body to push Styx off his bed and make him not asleep along with orange after and runned at the bed with eyes with its physical body, club picked up and held high.
""WHAT!?""
Styx and orange became not asleep and said the same thing almost at the same time, both picking up their weapons and moving fast to look everywhere before seeing it and then following it.
They then saw where it was running and both hit it hard.
"That''s just Lexoy. He''s not the Watcher, he just looks naturally creepy."
Styx was pulling it back.
"That''s what you woke me up for? Ugh. Don''t do that again. I''m pretty sure we''ll have to fight the other room''s guys if they wake up from this."
Orange just dropped its weapon and went over to the bed.
After Styx pushed it down and made it sit, he picked up the book it was reading and threw it over.
"Relax. But I wonder when we he got back..."
Styx was holding his head as he went and went back to sleep.
That Lexoy or whatever was still watching it though...and what was that Styx said after? He was the one who said it was Lexoy, but he wasn''t even sure where he came from?
That wasn''t ok. It was really not ok. It was not liking this. Looking with its actual body didn''t tell it anything either, it couldn''t see under the bed no matter what it tried.
So, it slowly pulled its club near it and held it close while slowly turning the form.
It wasn''t going to read. Just act like it was, so that when Lexoy thought it wasn''t looking and came to attack, it would kill him with a sudden attack!A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It watched this Lexoy carefully, waiting.
Waiting for him to attack.
To move.
Waiting for the time to attack...
The time to attack never came.
Orange and Styx both got up and Lexoy was still there.
Slowly, he also came out. Then it got why it couldn''t see. Lexoy was the reason.
When it came out, it still couldn''t see Lexoy with its actual body. It could feel it out though, because not feeling it there was enough to tell it Lexoy was there.
Good enough. Even its physical body couldn''t see very well. There was only the eye seeable, the rest was...unseeable.
Styx and orange looked over and nodded at Lexoy.
Styx went up before both of them.
"I didn''t feel up to it yesterday, but let''s do basic introductions. Ok. So. He''s Lexoy, and he''s Retoz. Lexoy, Retoz, this is...well, it didn''t pick a name yet. It''s our new roommate starting yesterday."
"Yeah yeah. Hey. As you already know now, I am Retoz. Blah blah blah. Ok bye."
With that, Retoz walked out and left.
It tried to tell Retoz to stay and fight but Retoz just went around it and then left.
Lexoy just looked at it.
Finally, he talked.
"I''m...Lexoy...nice to...meet? You. Bye."
Lexoy also went out. Apparently being a moving eye with unseeable around it was fine.
Styx moved around his hands.
"Retoz is...well, you had enough time with him I guess? He''s a fairly...generally ok guy. Lexoy is...well, I think he''s a vampire? Anyway, he has his cloak''s ability active almost all the time. He''s shy."
Oh. So was that all? Well, then Lexoy was an ok guy.
Justeyeswere kind of cool. After all, it could unsee the rest of itself using...a cloak? That was probably what the cloak''s ability was anyway. Unless Styx was talking about something else.
What was a vampire though?
Styx didn''t seem like he was going to explanation though as he also walked over to his bed and started doing things.
Soon the bed looked like it did before he came and became asleep in it the day before.
Then he moved his hand over at it.
"You''re joining mid-year so you might have to re-take the first year again but I think the rest of the year will still be beneficial for you to attend. I mean, you''re not too...er, knowledgable about a lot of things yet."
He opened the door.
"I''ll drop you off at your room. As soon as I," he opened something on the door and looked in it, "check your schedule."
He stopped and read the thing.
"Alright. So. After I drop you off, it''s a class with some other special needs students so you shouldn''t stick outtoo much, but just try to listen to what everybody is doing and follow what the professor - and that''s like the General of the classroom so listen properly - says. When going between classes, I''ll come for you at the end of this one, the fourth one to take you to the next one and here, at the last one to pick you up, ok? So at the end of the fourth and fifth, wait outside the room. The other ones will be the same as your other classmates so follow them, ok? Don''t go into any dark streets or corners, don''t take food from strangers - people you don''t know - and don''t accidentally kill yourself. Don''t show anybody too many of your abilities and try to keep your ability to survive without your physical body a secret. Don''t - well, this could go on forever, so just be careful and use your head, ok? Ok. Let''s go."
Well that was a lot of talking. Styx talked fast this time too.
He looked very worried.
"Don''t take - no wait, I said that...oh yeah! NEVER sign anything without me around to check it ok?"
He was pulling it along.
"Shoot, I forgot your club! Well, it''ll be fine, can''t go back now."
They were back on the first one, where Wexel was before.
He was here now too.
He walked up to Styx, "Hah, you better watch your -"
"Don''t get infected by stupid, ok? Learn and copy smart people or people who do good. Don''t try to copy what the stupid ones do."
Styx pulled it past Wexel without even looking.
As they left other demons looked at Wexel and then Styx.
Soon, they were out of that too.
It was all it could do to keep up with Styx. He was moving by places very fast, and it had to put more work into putting its legs down right so that it didn''t fall.
One time it did fall and Styx just pulled it up.
Soon they were heading into another building.
Styx went down and down with the demons looking over less and less.
Then he stopped in front of a room.
He passed it the thing he read.
"Show this to the professor if they ask when you go in. Good luck, I gotta run too."
Then Styx was gone, leaving it in front of the door.
He said to open it? It was...opening...the door.
As soon as it did, inside it could see some demons turn to look at it. There were still demons walking around, opening doors, and going in, so it was sure this wasn''t bad, and there didn''t seem to be a professor around.
If there was, then it was thinking it would probably sit at that big table (YES!) that was alone. There were some other big tables too, but they were with other tables.
Some of the tables didn''t have chaires either. There were demons sitting here and there, watching it.
It slowly walked over to the nearest chaire and went to sit down when one of the bigger demons walked over.
"That''s my seat."
Oh.
It went over to another one but the big one followed.
"That''s mine too."
Some other demons laughed. Was this funny? Oh, because the big one was stupid?
That was obvious. Unless this demon had two bottoms then it didn''t need two chaires. So it didn''t listen and sat down.
At that it heard some loud breaths and saw the other demons watching.
Some were laughing more, others looked worried, and then there were some that were getting up and coming over.
Then it felt the big one hold its arm and pull it up.
It hurt a bit as the shoulder went in from the strong hold.
It looked up at the big red demon. It moved its head down to look at it, and then said quietly.
"Was that a joke to you? Picking a fight? Huh?"
Well. A fight? It didn''t think it would get a fight in school, but...
It hit the big one in the eye.
It said something loudly and held the eye, moving back, but it went in and hit its leg. It didn''t seem to do much as the red looked at it with one now also red eye.
It went to hit it, but it went in close and hit the other eye.
Then it pulled out the nice club in the demon''s side and went to hit its neck, but this time a different demon pulled its arm away.
Now the red one had two reddish eyes and looked very angry.
The two demons behind it were also looking angry, and the one that stopped it from killing red and winning the fight was holding its arm very hard.
It kind of hurt.
Just as it got ready to fight properly, the door opened and another demon came in.
The others turned to look just a bit and in that time, it used the not held hand to hit the hand holder also in the eye.
This time, it also tried to use a finger and pull out the eye but the hand holder let go and went back when it did.
Apparently, they were not good with pain and also didn''t like having their head attacked.
So obviously it was only attacking the head.
It held out the club that looked kind of like a sword but not really and got ready to attack red and finish it when the door opened again and a small demon walked in.
At that everyone went to their seats to sit down and even red left after a look at it but then stopped and held out a hand.
"My knife."
It looked at it and then the...knife.
It wasn''t sure of the point of this.
Why would it give it back?
It runned forwards and went to ''give'' the knife into the red''s neck but then felt the small one look at it and make a fireball so it stopped and gave the knife to red.
It could finish this later.
The small one was still looking so it wondered what was wrong and then remembered it needed a seat so it sat down at the seat the fight was started by.
The other seats were soon full as more demons came in. Red looked very angry at it, sitting at the first seat.
There were demons who stopped and gave seats to other demons as they came in. As was possibly normal.
Still, no one asked it so it didn''t have to.
There were many demons around. The red one wasn''tthe biggest, but it was definitely one of the bigger ones.
There were really small ones and going up ones and down. Most though, were just...different from what demons looked like generally.
Well whatever. There was one that no one was talking to, even though some of the others were talking to each other while the professor - the small one, as no one else went over to behind the table it was sure was only for the professor - read something.
The red one''s friends also looked over at it while talking about something.
It was kind of annoyed that the fight ended before it could kill one of them and see if it levelled but then at the same time, Styx said to keep its abilities secret which they wouldn''t be if it was to fight properly. Like corrosion. It was sure that was its best ability.
Oh well. As long as it didn''t get into a fight again, or at least, not with a whole group again, then it could ask Styx kind of or hopefully sun about it in more information.
Then it could come at the same time tomorrow and finish red one.
Easy.
The small professor hit the ground with a tree''s arm that it didn''t remember seeing it bring in.
"My name is Professor Sarefin, and I will be your teacher for most every subject. No one is to be fighting each other like today again. Since it was the first day for the new one, I''ll let you off with a warning, but Rexat, you should know better. Now then, let''s begin."
Oh this should be good.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 51 - The Joys of Learning
"For new students," it was pretty sure that was just it, "we were learning about the political climate of our world in regards to the rest of the Abyss. That is, what our world is, in the grand scheme of things. As we''ve already covered what the Abyss is, and the residents of it, we have not talked about how we can possibly survive in the hostile environment that is the Abyss. This does, of course, lead to our alliance."
The small one started making things on the wall behind it.
There were circles and circles and then one of the circles the professor hit.
"As I''m sure most of you know, being from our allied worlds, we are surrounded by both unilaterally agreed upon threats, and few coherent allies. Now, most of them are sealed off. For example, the dead world, Portuk, that neighbours us. There are as of yet, no undead intelligent enough to find ways into other worlds...yet. The Hive and Overmind. The Butcher. These are merely some of the threats that have been exiled down here, into the Abyss. Our manpower is valuable, for we need it to stand any chance against major threats. That is, conflict between us is largely ill advised. Yet, we will inevitably have conflicts of interest. And that is why we have alliances."
It wasn''t really liking this whole...many threats thing. Why wasn''t anybody going and killing them all?
"The main purpose of one, is to collaborate in the normal ways, but also to pool our resources and find measures to crush the enemies around us, before their timers hit zero. Our lives, or existence as individuals in the case of the Overmind, is at risk. Again, we must not pointlessly engage in petty squabbles with one another when we have not the men to spare."
That certainly made sense.
"It is important, then, in politics, to learn to recognize your own biases and barriers to proper cooperation and work around them for the sake of the greater good. Never is one to act like a brute. Foolish violence is not always the answer, and if you think it is, then take that to a combat class. What we are learning now is politics, in a general education class. If you don''t like that, you may leave. Now. Can anyone tell me the major powers in the Abyss?"
A demon that was near the back put up its hand.
"Yes?"
"The demons, the Fae, and the humans. Most other races ally with, or fall under the three main subdivisions."
The professor nodded once and the demon put its hand down, looking happy.
But then the professor continued.
"Those preconceptions are something that you must throw out the window. The powers are not truly split according to that. That is only on the surface. Underneath the surface, one must realize that there are factions even within a small group of, say, five people. That''s if they''re from the same place, the same species, the same upbringing, and they can still end up with differing opinions - even a smaller group of two, say - then what about on the scale of, say, a town? A country? An empire? A continent? A world? And then not the Abyss, but just a group of worlds. A larger group. So on, so forth. To attempt and group such exchanges between groups as based on their species is the height of foolishness."
Hahahaha. That demon didn''t look too happy now.
"The fae have their own courts, and not just one or two as scattered knowledge might have you believe. Naturally, they have ''general'' alignments, such as the Seelie and Unseelie, but neither are an acurate indicator of character. Or motive. Demons, are split against each other. Our community groups are inherently localized and only united by show of force. Our old king created this kingdom by beating the local leaders across the land into submission or simply usurping their lands. Then, there''s the humans, who while the most populous, also have the most internal conflict. Like us, they also unite under a banner, usually by show of force, but unlike us, they don''t have the same reproductive options available. Still, we demons and humans are likely closer to each other than either to the Fae. That''s without even including the many other species that exist, such as vampires."
Ah, there was vampires. Actually, did spirits count in that whole...thing?
"Our own systems, are so...behind in this world, because we must develop our own to keep our sovereignty from the other demon worlds that would offer to share theirs. We cannot even use our system to advance past rank B for information concerns. That, then puts us at a disadvantage to the rest of the demons that have better systems avaliable to them. That''s not to count in the simple advantages and disadvanatages that come simply from being a certain species. Do you think the humans like being so weak compared to demons? Or that demons like being so helpless without mana? That we, as a whole, are disdained by spirits who far outstrip any species'' growth rate?"
Heh. It was a spirit. No loss there.
"Yet, The Butcher could slaughter most anyone. Regardless of your species. Unfairness in individual power can be combated with numbers. Getting people to be those numbers for you, is the most difficult part of being a leader. I, as a mage, could slaughter many imps. Yet in the hundreds, I would eventually be brought down by numbers. I have not infinite mana. The Leper was killed through numbers. Catastrophic casualties of course, but he was slain. Regardless of how powerful you may grow, maintaining relationships with other people is a necessity. In all but a few fringe cases."
Sounded like a pain. But one that made sense. It and St-un were obviously able to kill more wolves together than just one of them. But it could fight forever so it wasn''t sure it agreed with professor...mana running out would only happen if the enemies were not weak enough. Ok nevermind. The professor was right for now.
"A proper war with Akelik would devestate not just both our populations, but further result in a weakness that our ''allies'' would be happy to exploit. That is the next point in politics. Allies to even numbers, but allies can turn on you, and being aware of that, and accounting for it, is the most important part of any relationship. One where all participants benefit in some way is the best kind of relationship. Our situation as an example, were we to respond to Akelik''s provocations, we stand to lose at least 30% of our standing army. That puts us within acceptable range for Lopik, where our fellow demons would be more than happy to devour us."
It slightly heard a demon in the back.
"Propaganda."
However he was quiet and the other demons were slowly talking to each other and adding words to some forms while the professor talked so no one except the ones near it seemed to have heard. That included it, but it wasn''t sure what to do with that so it just looked at the professor. But it did seem like it cared a lot about this working together stuff. The expression on its face was different when talking about this stuff than anything else.
The professor hit the wall where it made circles and then put some words at the top.
"There are several major powers in the Abyss as organizations or alliances. All mixed. The smallest, is the Collection. One individual holds a great sway in the alliance and it is thus named because the alliance is merely the result of that individual collecting worlds that it liked. Officially, the biggest is the Abyss Empire. They are structured as an empire spanning many worlds, with the influential being titled nobles. The worlds participating in it are fewer, however their quality shows an impressive difference in the top brass. Grand Dukes of the Abyss are those that count among the fringe cases I mentioned earlier. There are no particular tensions between these two except on the world level, because the Collector does not care for expansion so much as finding ones it likes. Though it avoids those already owned by major powers and has a tentative partnership with the Empire."
So. The Collection and Abyss Empire are two...world groups? And the Collector and whoever was in the most best sway in the Empire were the two...strongest for...just those groups?
"Between those two are three more. The Fallen Paradise consists of those who actively seek to expand above and out of the Abyss, to return to the Outside. The A''kiloh Ghyt are the blatantly antagonistic alliance formed between the known and unknown Threats. Lastly, are the Exiles. The Exiles are complicated in that they are similar to the A''kiloh Ghyt but less...completely antagonistic, and the unofficial biggest. They are those who are outcasts in the Abyss, for various reasons. Most unaffiliated go there as a...poor person''s ally so to speak. If you recall, I said the Empire is officially the biggest? Well, in reality, the unofffical biggest is the Exiles and second is the A''kiloh Ghyt. The Empire is only third in numbers, and ahead in power only because the Exiles are still young and the A''kiloh Ghyt are not a real group in the sense of working together."
Hmmmmmm. That was...sounding hard. It could remember what was said, word for word. Understanding it was another matter.
Especially because for one, it didn''t know what morals were, and it still didn''t get what a world really looked like, and how big one was, and then what the Abyss was, and what the Outside was.
The rest of that was mostly ok because all it really got from that was the names of groups. Ones that it didn''t know if they were a part of.
"We are, naturally, part of the Abyss Empire. Unfortunately, they don''t hold enough of an advantage for groups like the Exiles to hesitate at harassing smaller, less important worlds like ours, in the far corners of the Abyss."
That didn''t sound good. Though...it felt like maybe becoming a fringe case would be nice. It didn''t seem like a fringe case had much to worry about. Well, when it didn''t have anything to worry about, then it wasn''t sure what else to do. Other than learning. But it was learning only and not getting stronger so...
That was not to say this wasn''t good to know though...
The professor went on and on about what each major power or whatever looked like when ''broken down further,'' as it said, and also what the smaller alliance the world it was on was part of with the other worlds. It seemed to just be that they wouldn''t attack each other and would trade with each other (what was trade?), and most importantly, eliminate the surrounding Threats and repel Exiles.
It got eliminate but not repel. What was a repel? Was it another word for kill?
The professor also added that times change and the Empire was only retaining its name, with all the new blood instead going to the Exiles.
Still, soon enough, the class came to an end. Not too sad actually, because it found that most of what was talked about was not what it could understand properly, making the learning mostly useless for now, but it could look back at what it learned after learning some more so that it would make more sense to it. Hopefully.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The professor stopped talking and then went towards the door.
"Alright, we''ll need to change classrooms for the next one."
As soon as the door was opened and it left, the other demons went after it.
It could feel the red and its friends watching, but they didn''t try anything and followed everyone else.
Soon, they stopped at a room that was only a bit away from the first one and went in.
As before, the people all got seats, but here the tables looked different. There weren''t any.
Just big...floor...things.
It sat down on one just like everyone else.
Here too, there was a wall for the professor to write on, but other than that, it sat on the same thing as them.
"Basic life studies. Look around the room. How many different species can you see? Did you know they existed before this? Were there any you weren''t aware of before today? Like her, in the back corner. Had any of you seen one of the merpeople before this? There are many, many forms that life takes in the vast universe we live in. To dare say you will study life is to say you will study not just the thousands upon tens of hundreds of thousands of species that may exist in a world, but the millions upon billions and trillions that exist in the wider universe. What we are looking at is merely an overview, and even still it will be a full course. Yesterday, we looked at the primary differences between monsters and people. Would anyone like to give a recap?"
The merperson at the back (it already felt smarter) was the one that put up its hand.
The professor pointed at her and she got up as she talked, looking annoyed (then why put the hand up) to be picked.
"Monsters are formed at first when non-sapient animals or regular plants are exposed to mana and mutate. However, second and third generations onwards start stabilizing. The first generation usually suffers from short lifespan. From there, monster species can continue to multiply and develop over time, usually improving considerably from the first generation. Regular animals and plants are rare in most worlds because over time, all existing species are mutating into monsters, thus painting a bleak future as the environment continues to become more hostile to us. We''re all gonna die."
She sat back down once she was done, not waiting for the professor.
"Thank you Cathy. A more pessimistic summary than most would give, but yes. That is indeed what it looks like. Naturally, the definition is somewhat vague in that, a person who experiences the same process is not called a monster but a mutant. It really is a vague definition that conveniently ignores the intelligence monsters are quite capable of. The more modern one would simply be that they are not yet recognized as a ''sapient species,'' and the rights afforded by that."
So, monstersweren''tnormal? And people could become monsters. How did that work.
"Today, we''ll be looking at the regular ecology of lupine monsters. Naturally, their behaviour is the same as a regualr wolf, hunting in packs usually. Only occasionally are there-"
Hmmmm.
The third class was also in the same room.
"Yesterday, we covered the basics of fire magic."
Ohhhhh....
"Today, we''ll be looking at dark magic. Dark magic is hard to acquire for those who do not innately possess the talent in it. Dark magic uses not the light, but as is fairly obvious, the dark. However, then why is there shadow magic? You''ll find that when learning shadow magic, it is unlisted on your skills. That is because, shadow magic is actually just exploring a branch of dark magic and does not need to be listed. Different groups may call it different things, but as with most magics, the limit is what you make it, and your talent."
Hmmm. It was pretty sure it had a darkness affinity. This could be very good. If affinity meant ability to use these things anyway.
"The first step to using dark magic is to feel out the darkness, and form your image of it. What is darkness to you? What does it feel like? Look like? Do? Does it drown your enemies, swallowing them into its depths, forevermore? Does it cloak you, hiding you from everyone who may do you harm? Or does it listen, letting you spy on those who dwell in the dark? The applications of most any magic are practically unlimited, so long as you can discover them, and have the mana to fuel them. Darkness can allow you limited teleportation, just as light magic can."
The professor went on and on as it, and everyone else it was somewhat sure, tried to feel the dark, to make it do something.
Well, all that happened for it was feeling something very wrong and losing its mana. It had darkness affinity and if affinity meant you could use it, how come it couldn''t? This was very...not ok. It didn''t like it all that much.
Though some of the demons seemed to be able to use it...
"Know that having light affinity makes dark magic harder to learn and use, as does the void for everything."
It felt like the professor might have looked its way, but wasn''t sure.
For the rest of the class, the professor just talked about dark magic, and its uses, and also the mana consumption.
Nothing that mattered to it though...
This was the one where it was to wait outside right?
The other demons went past without looking at it, red having run out as soon as class was over. It was waiting and the demons in the outside were becoming less when Styx came, and he said nothing, pulling it along as soon as he came.
"Your next class is combat fundamentals, just regular fighting so relax. Uh, there, go into that room. Ok, bye!"
And Styx was off, running even faster in another way.
Slowly it opened the door and walked in to the new class. It was the same as the last two, so it sat down. Here, most of the other classmates were just demons, and not different like it was used to so far.
The new professor was a big black and red demon.
"Alright, let''s get right to it. Anybody who had magic class before this can take a quick break to recover some mana before they join in."
The sitting things were moved out of the way very fast, and it did the same so as not to be the weird one. No demons went for the break. Obviously it didn''t either.
One of the demons walked over to the big one and started fighting it.
"As usual, pair up. We''ll be doing throws again. Remember, if someone punches you like this, you pull them in, and push them along. It''s not a true throw, but works well for breaking their form. If they try charge you, roll and toss them overhead."
The demon hit the ground with athud, but got up and attacked again.
"Shoulder throws work in the same way, but you don''t have to get on the ground."
Again, the demon was thrown.
"Kicking out their leg to drop them or both to pick them up and throw them."
Thud
Thud
"Over your hip."
Thud
"Those are the basics. Practice throwing and being thrown by your partner. Be mindful of your own strength, and don''t strain any muscles. Alright, let''s go!"
With that the demons started throwing each other. There was no one around for it to pair with.
The professor walked over and pushed forwards the demon it was throwing.
"Pair up with the newbie."
And left.
It looked at the demon.
It looked back at it.
Then it runned at it...and got easily shoulder thrown.
The professor came by a few times after that, but other than random stuff like, don''t run in wildly, and try to counter the throws like this and this, it didn''t really do much other than get thrown around.
Its throws didn''t work at all. It tried, but the demon was too hard to move.
At the end, everyone went to stand and the professor walked out. Then everyone else did too.
As it waited outside, Styx came over, this time fairly fast as there were still classmates leaving its class.
He walked this time and only slowly started running.
"How was it? Well, I guess you can''t talk, and may have had some issues with your strength, but it should have been fine. Your last class is geography. It means, you''re going to learn about what the world looks like! Doesn''t that sound fun?"
It was ok with it, but the fun was less now than before, because it couldn''t understand all of what was said, dark magic was not working, and it failed very badly at throws. Basically, it was bad at everything.
"Here we are."
Gone.
Did Styx also learn all this stuff? Could he help with throws? The mana was one thing. Apparently, that was its own problem, but throws? It was pretty sure that was the pairs problem, it was too strong for it.
This class was more like the first.
The professor was the same one again. Did this one do everything?
"Alright, class. Yesterday, we looked at mountain formation. Today, we''ll talk in more detail about erosion, and how it shapes the land around us."
It listened...but didn''t feel the same...problems with understanding.
At least, the idea that wind and water could slowly break apart rock and all that was something that was new, but made sense since its own corrosion was something that needed time sometimes to break things. It was at least, more...understandable to it then what the push and pull factors in an alliance were.
After the first day, nothing new happened.
Styx told it that sun was similarly busy with his classes and catch up, so ''they wouldn''t be able to meet up for a month or so.''
After the first day, Styx had let it read through like before with Retoz helping.
Lexoy still just watched.
It also kept trying to talk.
Not that it was sure how one trained for that, and time outside was used to slowly change out its body for void mana - something it was actually getting pretty used to. Though there wasn''t any inside the rooms and all, but outside had it, and it had time for that in mornings.
The first week went by fast actually, and though Styx had said sun wouldn''t meet up they did have the normal morning training together. Mostly it failing at hitting one or the other, but never for longer than ''a couple minutes'' as they said.
With its new kind of sense for time, it was sure it was longer than a few minutes, but whatever.
Many things happened in the first week, not least of being that it definitely knew a lot more words.
Remembering them was surprisingly easy, and though reading was still a problem, and understanding, but it knew a lot of words now.
The many classes did a lot.
The first class, was not actually politics and it did remember hearing the professor say general education.
More things were learned. Therewas some politics - which as far as it could tell meant things between people - but there was more too.
Social norms for the big races. Like why being ''casual'' with one of the Fae was not a good idea (except for some, but there were lots of ''excepts''), or why demons didn''t like being ruled by those weaker than them. Why humans had different family structures and also that they died really easily so one had to be conscious about lifespan limitations for inter-species friendship. Or other relationships. Oh right. How robbery and murder were viewed in different cultures. All weird but fun stuff.
What contracts and summoning really meant for true demons, Fae, and spirits. It wasn''t particularly interesting except apparently that they could be very strict and binding, but also interesting, and also that they could not make one with those outside the Abyss.
Trade fundamentals (Apparently, to answer its question from day one, trade was...exchanging...goods. Goods being things that were...good). Free trade and not free trade.
Second class was also fun. Fun but not as...useful.
Though it was good to know that sometimes armored things had vulnerable areas such as their bellies or that flashes of light were great for surprise attack because something about adjusting.
Also very fun stuff. Like there was a species called Kitilops that were some crazy archmage''s fault. They were furry cyclops that looked like two-legged tigers. One-eyed, big, and strong. Also ''meow.'' They meowed very loudly instead of roaring. Strange but it wasn''t about to start questioning what meow sounded like.
Third class...the worst. It never did anything. It knew a lot more now, but not much. They still did dark magic.
It was still bad.
Fourth class was the best and worst at the same time. It couldn''t throw anyone. It was too weak. But it knew a lot more about throwing now.
Fifth was...well. It now knew why plants were important for soil integrity and how they decayed.
It was looking forward to the next month. As soon as it could read properly and understand better though, it wanted to read more books and learn faster and more. It was almost done with the first four after all.
Oh right. And red glared (it finally knew a word for that kind of hard look) at it sometimes but it had heard some demon from the first class telling it not to bother it.
That was nice. It could makereally quiet sounds now. Words were not far. Maybe.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 52 - I, am I
The weeks went by slowly.
It was three and something.
Actually, as it found out, a month was a time unit (units were for...measuring?) but also an actual time.
It had already been part way into a month so a month had already passed by early on, after the first week or so, but then the next few weeks were with the first week, four weeks (pretty sure) and that was a month by a bit.
So. It felt more intelligent, that was for sure.
And it did try to talk more.
It could make loud (like the sounds a wolf makes when scared kind of loud) sounds now. No way to make it sound like anything yet, but sounds were sounds. Better than nothing.
Two quick ones for no, one for yes, which made it easier to talk to others. Though it was one way, really. It couldn''t talk properly, just answer when someone else asked it something.
Classes had been fun.
First class - or first period as it was called, had given it much new knowledge.
It had, to say what professor Aghur said, touched on history and geography in very brief amounts, like the last period, but also learned more for politics.
Bribery was one. Which was illegal.
Also whatmonarchy was and what it meant - though it wondered whether the people trying to take the throne could actually do anything if the other guy was strong enough to just kill them all or at least the one the people were most in favor of. Whichwas a thing apparently, even if they say not to kill each other publicly, privately assassinating each other was allowed.
It was something hard for it to understand.
Still. Politics were interesting, if hard to understand at times. People were weird was all it had to say there.Emotions; were weird. It felt them and all but...understanding them was too much.
Like blackmail or investments that payed back more in social ways than in money; making an orphanage that costs money but getting people to see you as ''good.''Those made much more sense.
History was...interesting, but it didn''t find it as fun to learn. Where would it use that? What would knowing the name of some dead guy who ruled over some now destroyed city thousands of years ago do for it? Well knowing how the place was named after Razgar (some now dead demon) was more interesting. Razgar''s End was where he was executed but he was defeated and captured at Razgar Point.
Geography was still good, both the last period and first period (less so in first period) as it could at least tell now that the air became ''thinner'' and harder breathe for things that needed air at high altitudes, and also how the shape of mountains affected rain. And snow. And wind in general.
Oh right. Knowing what wind and air was was new, and helpful. Wind was moving air. Done. Though not something it knew a month ago.
The second period was the same as it had been in the first week. Interesting and helpful for knowing weaknesses to look for, like cores, or chinks in armor, or the regular head and heart. And that fire and ice and magic didn''t always work. Fire spirits (it knew enough to guess - correctly as the professor talked about them - that spirits that made their attribute fire were fire spirits)didn''t just not take much damage from fire or fire magic, but it could even heal them instead. And interesting things. Like brownies, which were weak among the Fae but very good at housework - though how that could be something in their race instead of just something theydid and what the real difference there was was beyond it.
Third period...no more needed to be said. Void was...really annoying. Not something it could change either as it was still pseudo-void and with how things were going would probably lose at least half its mana before it was done. Not that it seemed to use it for much and while it was interesting to know about body strengthening magic and how it was used in forging or sea travel, it was a painful idea that it couldn''t seem to use any other magic. Even though the affinities said it should.
Fourth period was also very good. It now remembered many types of throws for many different situations and how to ''escape'' a hold (escape had different meanings sometimes. Why even say ''escape'' for a telekinetic hold being broken by killing the user? That was just a win then, right?) or take less damage when hit (dispersing, something it didn''t know how to do at all, only that it could be done). Some normal unarmed fighting. Oh, right. It had also evened out its body to look right and gotten two more dexterity for that. More had made it lose a point instead, so it had put back those changes and kept it as it was.
Fifth period was both useful and not so. It did some in first period, which, it thought was good enough but knowing how volcanic eruptions worked was very interesting indeed. It was apparently not the first to have thought about how it could be used to kill and in earth (just make a way for lava to come up and hope there''s pressure) or lava magic (a mixed form and make the lava) that was a thing. Using lava from volcanoes as a weapon. Truly, there were many possible weapons in the world.
And ''I.'' It didn''t like using I even though it knew what it was from much earlier, because it always felt like it was weird. It was...it. It wasn''t a person really. Then, now, it had seen weirder things that called themselves with ''I,'' and it wasn''t the same useless thing that it had been when the other ones died.
So. From now, it would use I, even if I would never forget my uselessness from then.
A strange feeling though, to be...I.
I had started to really dislike math though.
One plus one was two. That was easy, and I could do that much with counting.
Subtracting was also easy.
But then with big numbers it was much harder (As I found out, there was a number system so I only needed to know certain numbers, up to 100, before I could just use their names and a...large unit like one thousand and whatever to name a number). How would I do 1236 subtract 337?
I could remember what the answer for a question was. Five minus three was two. I just knew that, because that was what St-un said.
Doing it on my own though?
That was...very hard.
There was a ''trick'' as Styx called it, where the numbers were written and then some weird stuff happened, but I could do it in my head after the first few times.
Multiplication and division was impossible for now though.
Whatwas seven divided by three? It wasn''t two. It was two and something. That didn''t...it was too...out there.
How did that even work? Why? If it wasn''t two then why did Styx say to just accept it as two when he also agreed that it waswrong.
Why was that not weird to him?
Well when they told me how to do math, they couldn''t really see whether I was right or not until I write, and they made me do the writing trick too, even though it was faster to only do it in my head...they were apparently surprised that I learned ''fast'' (even though it was so slow and stupid since it couldn''t even do multiplication like Styx could) and then accepted it - but were still surprised - when I finally managed to find out what 74 was.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
I wasn''t sure about how high that was, and the health and mana that it told them made them look at it weird too, but it was at least happy since it could read properly now.
Today was the day we would have a long break (well, St-un would) from all the catching up and talk properly. I did of course look forward to it, because I would be able to talk much better through sun even if it wasn''t directly yet.
A fun little thing. Mostly because it wanted to ask for a better explanation about math. Styx didn''t seem to understand why I was bad at multiplication and division if I learned adding and subtracting so easily (I still didn''t believe it was hard) and sun would be able to answer the weirdness there with numbers better.
Multiplication didn''t actually have those weird numbers like division but it felt like backwards division and that always made me think about the weirdness of weird numbers, which made me confuse (a very good word since it would be used a lot) it and somehow get it wrong. Very weird.
Ah but that should be cleared up today!
We were walking out of the area we were usually in and going for the gates instead of the another area though, so I was thinking that we were maybe heading for a meeting outside instead?
I was right. We found sun outside.
He was eating something while leaning against a tree (Istill hadn''t found out how they got food here, but I was thinking it was probably that time in between periods where they went somewhere that I hadn''t seen yet).
We went through the forest without a word for a short distance before sun spoke up.
"You know. It''s freaky how much smarter it is now. You wouldn''t really understand since you can''t hear what its thinking right now, but the difference is like...a rock and an intellectual but still kid, kid. Its...actually kinda creepy."
Styx walked silently for a while before actually responding, "It wrote out a 74 when I asked for its intelligence."
Sun coughed on whatever he was eating and then looked me over before clearing his throat.
"That''s...actually a lot. Like. Super smart smart. Like. Giant brain smart."
Styx nodded.
"It probably developed easily since it doesn''t have to worry about its skull or having its brain become too big or overloaded or...damn that''s a lot of advantages."
Sun nodded too.
"Wouldn''t be surprising. Giants start with a lot of strength after all...so unfair."
Styx started laughing when he heard that and jumped over a tree...(probably) root.
"Yeah, says the human to the demon, hahaha. At least you have less lifespan disadvantages."
I watched this all silently (not that I could talk, but I could make a random sound), and considered the differences from now and before.
Certainly. I would call what I was before farinferior to this.
Even if I was still inferior to many things. My stats had yet to change much, and only my intelligence (not the stat) had increased.
Wisdom had gone up by three while it tried to do whatever they did in third period though. So that was nice.
Even if I didn''t know what it did.
Intelligence seemed to just make things easier to learn though, and the physical stats were obvious.
All said and done, I was thinking strongly about the math and hoping sun would talk about it.
As I hoped he did indeed. But not in the way I wanted...
"That''s just how it works. I dunno about the decimal value for that, but unless you want to calculate that, which I highly doubt you can, seven divided by three is two with a leftover one. Ok? Ok."
But that wasn''t...right.
I was quite annoyed to find out that sun was also useless -
"Hey!"
- but it was what it was. I would simply need to look into this in more detail somehow.
With books - an item it had come to really like with how helpful they were - it should be doable.
Regardless, there were other things to look into now. One of the biggest being that we had stoppedbut were still in the forest and were heading to a direction I was sure wasn''t towards the city.
Instead, somehow, we were heading...down? It felt like we were heading down.
And soon we were out into a small area that led down into the ground. There were demons here too.
Many.
But they were going down into a weird hole in the ground.
Kinjut''s, the sign read.
Inside, it was dark, and the stairs were of brownish rock. Closer to dark brown, and the walls were of molded stone, smooth and light brown.
There were several tables and chairs, as well as a single counter on the far left, with drinks and food being served.
The right side had another pair of stairs that led down into the dark.
Styx went over to the counter while sun pulled out a chair and sat down at an empty table.
I sat down as seemed appropriate to do and then placed my hands on top of the table like I had been instructed to doby Styx if I did not know where to put my hands when sitting somewhere.
Sun moved and then straightened in his chair. Slowly, he started.
"So...how''s...school?"
Good.
"Er...you''re uh...pretty smart now, huh?"
It would seem so.
"Uh. So. What did you learn?"
Ah, first on the day I came here, Styx took me to the library where he picked out three easy books. The first was titled, ''Letters for kids,'' by Kijnul Pongut and, if the writing on the inside of the cover is to believed, likes to -
"Ok. Yes. Moving on. I mean. Uhhhhh. Actually nevermind."
That was a...strange sentence.
"Oh, look! Styx is here! Ha, ha, ha, let''s eat!"
I do not need to eat though.
Sun was already biting into the leg of some animal that was on the plate, while Styx took a...thing from the table and lightly shook out some...salt? I had seen pictures of salt before. Teghik used it to get rich in that story, but the pictures looked different...they all did. Styx called it drawings, which I had so far learned meant that they were not completely accurate.
Then Styx also bit into his food.
I waited, picking up on the quiet chatter behind me. Voices that were loud or quiet, or clear and...not-so-clear in the case of that strange one talking through some water on its head.
Casual conversation from what I knew now of conversations. ''How are you,'' ''how''s the weather today,'' or ''so how did you lose that arm?''
There were many that I could recognize now.
Alopin bloodline demons, with the standard proportions for their size, but comparatively smaller, ebony horns and lighter skin colors for the same elements than Azaraath bloodline demons, which had longer arms and darker colors, with larger skin-covered horns.
Azaraath bloodline demons were rarer, but generally superior to Alopin bloodline demons, which were originally of a subordinate line to those from Azaraath''s line.
Styx was Alopin, but sun was an Azaraath.
Here, I saw one other of Azaraath''s line in the whole...place, but plenty of Alopin''s line.
There were two merpeople in a corner seat, and some dark dwarves too. They kept their faces obscured with full helmets, removing them only when they had to. It was a cultural thing.
As I focused in on the water-head one and tried to figure out if it matched anything I had learned, I heard noise (other than chewing) from my table and turned my attention back to it.
Styx casually pushed back his plate and then wiped his face with a...cloth looking thing from his pocket.
"Well, now that we''ve eaten, where do you want to go? We have a free weekend for once and I plan to relax a bit."
Sun swallowed the last piece in his mouth and then pushed back his plate before leaning back in his chair.
"Eh, I don''t care too much so long as we''re not working."
"How about the city then? We could walk around and see if there''s anything interesting in one of the stores."
Sun sat up and pushed in his chair, "Sounds good to me."
Styx also got up and so I also pushed in my chair and followed.
The city was still just as fun the second time as it was the first.
I could see the stone walls that loomed far above me, and the guards in full plate that manned each entrance checking the documents for every traveller.
Just like before, we showed our documents (Styx had deemed me responsible enough now, so I kept them inside my torso) and went in.
As soon as we were in, the feeling seemed to change.
Large crowds of people moved around in the streets and crowded...plaza? Plaza.
I looked at the buildings made of light grey stone and strangely colorful roofs, from red to blue to checkers and speckled.
Many houses were built different from each other. I could see one obvious example, with a fallen angel''s house that had a flat landing spot instead of the triangular roof that its neighbours did.
There was the loud voice of some demon who was showing off his magic and some people dropped some coins in a pile for him.
St-un were starting to leave me behind again, and the streets to the gates were all larger main streets, but here, I could see them moving off into a side street.
I lost sight of them for a bit, but then spotted sun again from behind and pushed my way through the crowd to quickly catch up (I had learned later that this was normal so long as you weren''t kicking people down or something) and was somewhat confused when he went down a side street.
Then another. This one looking less...clean than the others.
Then again.
And again.
Until suddenly, he turned around and I realized...that somebody stole sun''s body!
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 53 - My First Day Off
"Who are you?"
I slowly moved my hand to show the club behind my back and show that I meant no harm as I''d been taught, but he seemed to take that the wrong way...I wasn''t sure if this was sun now though, since this demon lacked sun''s (rather stupid in my opinion) black glasses that covered his eyes.
"Boys, we''ve got a tail!"
As soon as the fake sun said that, many demons came from behind and in front of me. I was surrounded.
"I dunno who you are, but I''m sure we''ll find out soon. Drop that club and hold still, or else!"
I would have asked ''or else what,'' because the demon didn''t look like he was going to finish that sentence, but...I couldn''t talk.
More importantly...this seemed...difficult.
I couldn''t fight off this many at once. My club would hit the walls around me probably; I''d had plenty of times with my club just hitting something around me if I wasn''t paying attention (one especially embarassing failure had been hitting another demon who was sparring near me). Even if I wanted to fight, I would be better off with just my hands. At least they couldn''t come in two at a time.
Slowly, I dropped my club before turning and running at the one behind me. It was time for what the instructor had called the greatest tactic known to sapient beings - a tactical withdrawal.
If I could escape, Styx might know what was going on!
Yet, I felt my foot slip on some weird colored water and fell. Then, they were on me, and I felt my arms get pushed against my back, and a rope was slipped around my legs.
I quickly started to corrode the rope, but then realized that I would lose again if I fought now. And corrosion was to be kept hidden I remembered. This was hardly dangerous to me so no reason to panic.
I held still and let them finish tying the ropes, relaxing.
Could I fight them now? No.
Could I kill them one on one? Almost definitely.
Could I do it without them calling for friends? Probably not.
Then, it was...there was really only one thing to do. Wait and see.
I would have plenty of time. A fight didn''t need to be won right away. Not when I could kill them in their sleep. Patience, was what I had learned in my life, and I would be stupid to forget that. Also because less effort was nice. Getting beat up was only fun if you won.
No rush.
Everything was fine. All good. It was all going to go according to plan.
My head smacked against the stone street beneath my head as they dragged me through the dark alleys.
I counted 10 that slipped in and out of view, not including the fake sun who I when looking closer, realized didn''t look much like sun...
I waited for them to stop somewhere, but the few other people I saw, nodded to them or looked away.
One of the attackers, a Lupine, looked my way, but there were no worries. I had gotten a metal mask that filled in the gap between my helmet and torso and stuck it in. It had taken time, but it was now part of me - though I wouldn''t be able to grow it back, it was just stuck in because I had grown my body around it to hold it in place.
No one could tell if I was looking or not like this anyway. I was at least good at pretending to be dead.
It just meant not moving my body at all.
I heard a mutter from the one carrying me.
"Sounds hollow..."
A mistake. I hadn''t realized that one...I would need to find a way to fix this sometime.
Soon, we were in a building that looked weird.
The outside was wood, something that was already different from the normal stone buildings. Then, it was strangely loud, with many people.
It was dragged around to the back though, and then taken down a staircase underneath a section of floor.
Then, I was thrown into one of the stone...jail cells?
I wasn''t sure if this counted as jail though. They weren''t guards.
"Hahahaha, we''ve got another toy for ya Cletus! Come on, let''s strip that armor and see what he''s got!"
Thinking some more, I was now sure that demon...was probably not sun. Just looked a lot like sun. Which was weird. Azaraath line? Probably. But I had seen Azaraath line demons before...and they didn''t always look that similar...but he didn''t have sun''s glasses - or any glasses for that matter - so it was very unlikely that was sun.
Ah, but, if they checked my armor I couldn''t pretend anymore...well, there were only three people down here right now.
Me. Cletus. And the one that dragged it along. That head banging would be avenged.
Yes, this was good enough. One at a time was fine too.
My club was not here, but...
I carefully checked where I was. It was rock, rock, and more rock. The only way out was the rock stairs, and of the five jail cells along the right side, mine was the only one filled. The cell was small.
Maybe for three adult demons at best. I...could do this.
The bars looked...rusty.
They could be used to stab, maybe, if I snapped them or corroding them into shape, but then I could do that with a rock too. Everything is a weapon the instructor said. I don''t know if the others got it, but...that was true.
The door was still open, but I needed to make it one to one first. Either was definitely stronger than me. I was weak physically. Something fourth period made me feel strongly.
But I couldn''t be killed. If I had teeth or claws this would be especially easy...Cletus walked in first.
A large, grey skinned, Alopin. There was a box in his left hand, and his right pushed open the door.
Behind him, the annoying dark dwarf, sword away. Doable.
As soon as the dwarf was part way in, I used my mana to push the back of Cletus'' legs and make him fall (I didn''t have strength but I had mana, which when I realized it, made fourth period bearable) and then ran at the dark dwarf as the ropes fell off.
Since the one wasn''t sun...or in sun''s body...no need to take prisoners for information (courtesy of first period! Also because I wouldn''t be able to ask any questions anyway)!
I tackled the dark dwarf while Cletus quickly got back on his feet and turned around.
Unfortunately, my tackles wasn''t too heavy on its own, but with some mana to add there, the dwarf was pushed back and the door closed.
It would open easily enough, but as the dwarf kicked and punched, and started to push me off, I turned us around and slammed his head on the ground, stopping the door from opening past that in the process. I liked using my hands and the dwarf was luckily still in them so it worked out.
That was just luck. I was just trying not to have my back to Cletus, but...that was still a good thing.
He had a helmet as most dark dwarves did, but, unlike me, that kind of injury was pretty bad for normal people.
So I did it again and again.
There was some noise coming from upstairs, but I...was I making a lot of noise too?
I felt the dwarf''s weakness as a punch went sideways and missed my head.
Fools. My head was not a weakness.
Again and again, I slammed his head down, even as Cletus on hand managed to close around my head from where he''d stuck his arm through the door and wedged it open.
However I let go of my head, and Cletus fell back as he pulled on it. My head was something I protected normally because I''d seen others do it, but when I realized I didn''t get ''concussions'' or the like, I remembered the head was the same as the rest of the body - unimportant.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Both stopped and looked hard at where my head should have been while I, without pausing, continued to slam the dwarf''s head.
I felt the dwarf''s breathing and heart change to less,but I wasn''t sure what that meant except that if he wasn''t dead, he needed to be beat some more. But, Cletus was coming too fast!
In what I recognized as frustration, I quickly threw my body against the door and let Cletus hit me through the gaps in the bars and push the door. My own attacks did nothing. But...right, Idid have attacks that worked.
I had corrosion on my side.
His neck, the back of it, where the spine was (period two!) and as it was eaten through, his body slumped. Dead.
Strength or not, if you died, you died.
Efficiency was the best.
I didn''t want to use more mana though, even if I felt stupid for not remembering to just do it to the dwarf too, as I was slamming his head.
It seemed I still needed experience. Remembering and remembering during a fight, and then remembering how to use it in a fight were very different things.
I slammed the dwarf''s head more, and while blood came out, it would take too long like this. A waste of time since he didn''t even try to fight back. I had seen what was in Cletus'' box though, and after pulling out a suitably long, sharp, rod thing, jabbed it into the dwarf''s eye through the hole in the mask. After some angry swirling with it, I was sure he was dead too. It always felt more satisfying to kill physically then with corrosion.
My head had been aveng - oh right. My head. I needed that. The mask would need to be bought again otherwise. And I already owed money to Styx but had no way to make any.
It was bent out of shape by Cletus, but I placed the head back where it belonged and took the dwarf''s hammer. It was smaller then my club, but metal, and best of all, free.
There wasa lot of stuff here...in fact, the bodies could cover my mana costs for a while if needed...I hadn''t seen many monsters around here yet, so...yes, this was good. Mine. My things.
Still, now I could probably try to just escape again, but there seemed to be many of them. I would just get caught again. Instead, if I kill them off, I''ll have an advantage. And it''s fun.
I dragged the dwarf''s body into the cell and locked the door using the key in Cletus'' pocket, before slightly lifting my head and tossing the key inside.
Carefully, I slid my hand along the rough stone wall to balance myself and slowly crept up the stairs. I had made a lot of noise already, but that was no reason to simply give up stealth yet.
If I could afford to be stealthy, then I would. Why? Because Styx said assassin''s were dangerous, and stealthy, anduseful. And because stealth was useful in general. Styx had told me all about what one person could do and why lookouts were important.
The top would be hard now. While I could push aside the wooden slab easily enough...I quickly peeked with my true body and confirmed that there were indeed two people watching. Both regular, red demons.
Two at once...would be hard. Not quietly...both were unarmed though. Idiots. Too relaxed.
What could I do? I needed to pick them off. Or...right, what if I brought them down here? No, even then, I would lose my physical body in the fight likely...I could...ah.
I pushed the slab up a little, and then laid down on the stairs, releasing my grasp on the hammer, before using my true body to push the one guard''s mouth closed (classic assassin move Styx said) and start corroding his spinal chord before pushing off the stairs and rushing the second.
He''d just turned to check on the one who had started flailing his arms when he heard the clatter of the slab hitting the ground, just in time to see me run at him and wrap both hands around his throat.
He kicked me and struggled desperately, but as soon as the first was down, the second soon followed.
I looked down and kicked the second guard''s body.
I felt quite annoyed as I took the time to survey the room I was now in.
There was no door to close the gap, and the room had no decorations, just shiny wooden walls.
Too bad I couldn''t use fire magic or regular arson would have worked just fine.
Or rather, too bad I was me.
If I could afford to waste more mana, I could have immobilized and killed both without a sound, or if I could actually walk quietly, without making thatting noise with every step, I could have dealt with this more...smoothly.
Or, if I could use ice magic or earth magic, a magic spear through the throat would have worked and still been quiet.
These idiots weren''t equipped with much armor, just leather, so even if they dropped there wouldn''t have been a clatter.
Still. Such was the struggle of one as unskilled as I.
Oh woe. Even my mana stayed disappointing...no increases while I was doing the change. If anything, the change was only making me lose manaand health. I would still do it, of course, because pseudo from what I knew now, was never better than void. And it would only take time to spring back.
It was nice indeed that my true body at least, was quite stealthy in normal circumstances.
The corridor outside was clear.
The wall to the left side was a dead end (unless I slowly broke through the wall) but to the right, I could see doors, and hear loud sounds.
This was...maybe a bar? Inn? I hadn''t been to an actual one before, only read in books, but...I felt like this may be the sounds from one. Shouting, yelling, talking, singing.
Well, I would have to be careful not to kill anyone unrelated. That would be illegal, even if so far I was in the right.
Even if it would be hard.
I let my true body drift off as far as it could from my physical one as I dragged the corpses in and tossed them down the hatch.
I felt like I was forgetting something as I tossed the bodies down the hatch though...
Actually, for some reason, I was really enjoying this whole...collecting bodies thing. There was just something about tossing the bodies and loot into a little place where it was all mine.
I knew for a fact now that bodies rotted, but that wouldn''t affect me anyway...food was food.
Well, even if I didn''t touch the attacker''s friends, so far, I had killed four. Cletus wasn''t part of that original ten. The dwarf was. The two guards, only one was.
That meant...there were eight and also the fake sun to go.
Ah, it was always nice to see all the places where I could use math.
Alright.
I had a good idea of the building now. There was a floor above here and the first floor where I was, was fairly large. I was at the back though, and I had found four of the guys I wanted to kill.
Two were doing something weird in a room with some others.
The other two were also in a room and drinking.
However, I knew I couldn''t deal with that many people.
The two who were drinking though...and Styx said drinking was bad. Everyone drank things though so...it was confusing. Two was easier than...well, more than that though.
That was only...six to go! Plus fake sun.
But, I had to end the fun today it seemed. St-un were here. I could hear Styx yelling something from the front of the place.
Sun''s mana was also clear as it sounded like a fight started.
The doors opened and more people ran out, luckily overlooking me, who had ducked back into the two drinker''s room when the doors started opening. No one paid any attention to the open door until one of the other people who had been with a group came by to check.
He was alone so a hammer to the throat while I grabbed his arm was enough.
It really seemed like these people were weak when I thought about how easy it was to kill one of them.
But I knew they were stronger than me. This was just...skill. Skills made a difference.
Though...my ownwere a bit good.
Nothing like real heroes. Like the Overmind. True he was a threat, but one I''d love to...learn from. Whether he liked it or not.
I''d dragged the three corpses into my new (because I said so) home before a guard came to check the corridor.
There''d been some idiots who tried to run away and hide in my den too, injured and scared, and I made quick work of them.
Well, it seemed St-un had won though, as a blood-covered sun walked over looking pretty mad.
"We getone day off and you manage to get yourself kidnapped by some undercover spy ring! HOW!?"
In my defense. The leader looked like you at first. On that note...I carefully examined sun and confirmed hedid indeed have stupid glasses. All clear.
"I DON''T CARE! STYX JUST TOOK HIS HEAD OFF! AND HE LOOKS NOTHING LIKE ME!"
The other guards who had come with sun looked like they found this funny.
"ARE YOU BLI - oh wait, no, that''s possible. Are you...are you just bad with not just faces, but bodies too?"
...possibly. To be fair, he looked like you in the crowd and then after that it was just normally walking after him. How was I to know he would so rude as to attack me instead of even confirming whether I was or wasn''t after him.
"Ugh. That''s so...I can''t even. Levels?"
Two.
"That''s already pretty good. The experience you get from people of a lower rank, even if their stats are higher, is terrible. Oh well. Consider it a learning experience. Plus we got money and accolades for uncovering a spy ring. Nice."
Wait, really?
"You''ll get the lion''s share, because you, quote, ''risked life and limb to reveal the enemy plot.'' Yeah, as if you were smart enough for that..."
Hey! Also. I have many bodies that are now mine and was wondering if the new possible den could be mine.
"What? Oh, there''s a secret room here?"
I led them into the room and lifted the hatch to show them the place.
It was as glorious the fourth time I saw it again as it was the second.
The plain grey stone had blood and gore spattered all over and five corpses were scattered down and around the stairs.
The guards and sun blinked and looked down at my work.
"Uh...wow, bet they regret that huh..."
"Regret wh - oh." Styx walked in behind us and looked over sun''s shoulder.
I nodded proudly at Styx.
He''d taught me well.
I''d put all his teachings to use.
And my skills.
I was quite impressed with myself.
Sun, this loot is mine.
"Uh sure...hey, it said it wants the bodies and their possessions as loot."
One of the guards, his face covered with a shiny metal mask like mine, cleared his throat.
"Yeah, he can, uh, keep those. We''ll just...check down there once."
Sure whatever. I was already running down the stairs and feasting on the remains by the time his words ended and two guards stepped around me and down the corridor as I ate and piled their belongings.
"Uh...fun!"
Fun indeed.
I should take these...day offs more.
"Eh, I got some live targets. Why not. Let''s do this again next time, eh?" Sun smiled happily as he shook his robes and stretched, while Styx slowly sheathed his sword and nodded.
"Yeah, I think I want to try using an axe next."
Ah, yes. It would also like to be kidnapped again. Looting the kidnappers was fun and a good way to authentically practice certain skills.
Kidnappers...a valuable training resource.
Spoiler: Status
Chapter 54 - Thats Depressing. Fun!
Kidnappers were fun. There was no mana to be had as I still needed to stabilize my change to full void element, but if there was one thing I knew, it was that I was much better at fighting.
Skill(s):
- Basic Blunt Weapon Use ( F -> E ): Possesses basic skill in the use of blunt weapons
- [NEW] Unarmed Combat ( E ): Possesses basic skill in unarmed combat
- Mana Absorbtion ( Racial - B ): Able to absorb mana at a significant rate and efficiency. Loss at 30%
- Mana Weaving ( C ): Able to manipulate mana to a greater degree than just manipulation, weaving it into more complex shapes and structures
- Pseudo-void Consumption ( Racial - C ): The void devours all, and the pseudo-void possesses similer characteristics. Unrestrained consumption of surrounding mana and matter, all eaten is converted to mana. More mana is used than contained in object
- Self-Repair ( Racial - D ): Able to repair self given time. Efficiency is 50% and can only put together existing components
- Reconstruction ( Racial - C ): Able to slowly repair self given enough mana. Missing components can be created, but requires detailed knowledge of materials to make new ones. Efficiency is 33.3333(Redacted)%
- Limited Self-Contained Domain ( Racial - C ): The body possesses an ability to restrain and rapidly digest those inside itself. Unable to expand domain to size larger than body or pull in substances without significant decrease in strength
- Mana Connection ( E ): Mana connections can be formed in limited situations to attach to surfaces
- Soul Digestion ( Racial - D ): Captured souls placed in appropriate location, can be broken down and absorbed as mana. Components other than mana are lost and digestion can take time based on size and quality of soul
- Soul Attraction ( E ): To a limited extent, detached souls will slowly be drawn in
- Mana Hands ( D ): Hands of mana can be used to grab objects. Mana consumption may vary
- Mana Compression: Mana can be compressed into a higher concentration and density
- Sense Mana (Racial - A): Able to percieve mana to high degree, and substitute for hearing
- Mana Sight (Racial): Substitutes for sight
- Split Input (D): Accept information from multiple sources
The fact of the matter was, that after that first time, I had gone back to school.
As usual.
But then one day, I started getting something called homework. Easy stuff. Read this many pages or do this paper about these questions...easy. But, since I still had free time even after that, Styx had said that we could go to the city every now and then when he was free too.
So we had, and I had made use of that to run off into the first side street I found. Styx was there this time and muttering about ''suicidal idiots'' but he didn''t try to stop me and so when I encountered weird people in the alleys now, Styx let me fight and then killed the rest when I was losing.
It was really fun. They had started to recognize me too, apparently. They called me the ''Misshapen Murderer.''
I wasn''t entirely pleased with being called misshapen (even though I would admit I was just slightly...rough around the edges) but I felt better when I killed the ones who did it. It had been added as a title though.
Ah well. Titles weren''t that bad. Though I didn''t like all of them now that I knew what they meant, but apparently they could come off on their own and didn''t actually do anything other than serve as a record of what the person had done or accomplished.
In school, we had done some ''tests'' too.
Naturally, I passed everything in theory.
I failed application for third period and fourth period though.
Void magic users were granted some allowance as it turned out, but it just wasn''t something I could take advantage of because I was still just a pseudo. Also because even after the instructor did check my skill with pseudo he said it was crude.
Fourth period...well, as it turns out, I could use status points to increase my status (how great was that!?). Unfortunately, that increase didn''t seem to apply with my physical stats now because I couldn''t change enough...though apparently I could use status points on my physical components at a 2:1 ratio if I increased the skill rank of reconstruction and a 1:1 ratio if I increased it again.
So, I would wait on that. My other stats seemed good enough for now...
Intelligence was a measure of your memory, and how much information your...well, brain, but I didn''t have one so mind, could process at one time as well as general mental faculties. That was apparently very important for magic because you had to be able to construct a magic spell quickly and also possibly multiple at once. More powerful spells generally also needed more intelligence to even attempt due to complexity while others just needed intelligence if you wanted to use them at short notice.
That said, 74 was very high as it was, since 20 was enough to be an amateur mage. It did not however actually just make you smarter. Naturally, you still had to learn things.
That also said, I couldn''t do much as a pseudo yet. In fact, even what I could do was a result of my innate ability to manipulate mana, high intelligence, and the fact that said pseudo-void mana was my body. Most pseudo users tended to have wild and difficult to control mana and spells. In fact, it was possible to die from the mana blowing up your body. Good thing I was a spirit.
Wisdom had to do with your...affinity to mana? Just general skill with using mana, not those kinds of affinities, as well as the speed of how fast you could regenerate mana.
The mana pool itself was actually an independent stat, like other stats and only it really influenced itself. Though a larger mana pool refilled at a faster rate on just numbers but no proportionally. That also meant, being able to eat souls to grow your own made life a lot easier for me. As to why others didn''t do it...I hadn''t really looked into it yet. Those kinds of books seemed to need higher...clearence or whatever. The normal ones just said not to do it.
But even physically I was conflicted some on what to do with all the points.
Strength was your muscles or whatever and the force you could apply. That seemed straightforward, but I had no muscles. Or flesh for that matter.
Apparently it wasn''t a concern since it was kind of like, just using a strong mana hand to punch instead, if you were a mage, or strength if you...well, had it.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
That was also why I couldn''t just increase my strength and why it wasn''t an accurate measure of my strength. I could use mana and push with it for more strength to an attack instead of just needing my body, but I could go the route of making my body out of better materials.
I don''t know why that would work, but apparently that was just how reality had been warped far back before books were a thing, back when the first of the Threats was tossed into the Abyss by the First. It was done so that people could become stronger faster and easier and then fight the Threats.
That said, you weren''t a god yourself until you could bend reality a bit. It sounded hard to me, since that was just...weird. How do you...bend reality? What does that even mean?
Oh well.
Not my problem right now!
I didn''t even need to become one. I wasn''t some beacon of hope for my world or anything, right? I wasn''t even worried about my lifespan. Though being more powerful would be nice.
Anyway. Following right behind that were endurance and dexterity, which were just as weird.
The same thing where somehow they could apply to me even though I wasn''t made of flesh.
Anyway, endurance was the force you could take, where vitality, if I had it, was the quality of your lifeforce or health.
Endurance was like...wearing armor, but better, and vitality just made it harder to get ill, gave a longer lifespan, and increased the speed of health regeneration. I didn''t have that though, since it seemed my wisdom went for both...for now.
My current health was just health instead of lifeforce because it was just the mana currently stored and fueling my body. It wouldn''t have a vitality of course. If I did get it though...I wasn''t sure if it would be better or worse.
Dexterity was my ability to move well, and skillfully.
I had to wonder why stats that ignored flesh wouldn''t apply to my real body then, but my real body was also actually my soul...which was...strange to find out.
Nevertheless. I had put ten points into wisdom, because of the minimums for power.
Every 20 until 100 was a tier. Stats were hard to push past 40, and basically impossible to hit 100 with. After 100? You could, but they just didn''t bother with putting tiers after that since then you could go around being super dangerous or whatever.
I wasn''t sure if levelling cities was that important for it to be considered a baseline, since anyone should be able to do it if they put in the time and effort, but oh well.
It was true that some things were just beyond my understanding.
As it was, many worlds did stuff like remodeling their bodies to increase their stats more.
It was normal. The demons didn''t, since they liked being slow about it, and not needing to have mithril fillings just to be halfway decent as the instructor called it, but since you could just recycle the mithril after somebody died, lots of people, especially humans, did that.
Though that had disadvantages too. Like certain magics developed just for those kinds of people.
But that was also true for almost everything. Even Threats were usually slowly studied until they decided on a good strategy and put them down.
I was easily capable of being scary if I put all my points into intelligence (points were just...slots? Chances? To slightly adjust your body that the system created space for as you levelled up) but I wanted to crush skulls with clubs. I could already kill many things with just my current mana anyway.
A fireball was only about ten mana if you weren''t skilled at it.
Though an inferno was just 40 for one that could consume a house.
Fire magic sounded fun...but oh well.
Void mana could go through anything if I had enough.
Yes indeed. My future wasn''t looking bad. Stats were only so good. Skills were far more important. A demon with 100 strength could still die if I ate through its throat. That was just how the world worked...though a high enough vitality meant that wouldn''t actually kill them either.
Oh well.
A smart person with the right tools could still be useful compared to an idiot with just lots of strength.
Now, a demon that had a racial skill for lots of regeneration? Like Azaraath, who would come back even if he was a drop of blood.
That was scary.
Even if he was weak, if he could keep attacking you forever, he could still kill you.
And he wasn''t weak. No, he was a god too. Aside from his stats, he had fire that burned. A lot. Forever.
Though he was dead now.
He got eaten by The Watcher. Or, taken anyway. No one knew if he was alive or not.
Skills or ratial traits that were too unfair were what got you labelled as a Threat. That, and being generally hated.
No one wanted to be friends with a creepy Watcher that didn''t talk and only wanted to eat you.
Things like that were just better off dead, as most people said.
Though, I wondered if I wouldn''t become called and treated as a Threat if I became too powerful as a spirit.
Styx had told me that wasn''t all there was to it, so I wouldn''t become one, but...it was something to prepare for.
What I really wanted to do right now was meet that Grand Bazaar from back then though and find out how one could become that...powerful, and stay normal instead of a Threat.
Though, apparently, the Outside put anyone who was too...weird, in the Abyss too.
Not just Threats. Just...weird.
The Fae could usually manipulate reality a bit naturally.
So they were hunted and had to flee down here.
The demons of Azaraath''s line could be ''summoned'' by others.
Many of the humans down here had ancestors or gods that''d done something weird and then gotten tossed down here.
The Outside sounded like a boring place to be to me, but I could care less.
I didn''t feel too strong a need to see the Outside exactly because it sounded boring from what I''d heard.
If there weren''t all these weird things, then what did it have?
No, that wasn''t a place I wanted, or needed to go.
Today though, today I was reading a new book.
I found it in a corner, with dust and some spiderwebs on it.
''There is no Escape.''
With a title like that, I couldn''t imagine why no one had read it, but well, it was probably good?
Right. Who was this author anyway?
''By Lieztche''
Hmmm.
''Before I begin, I know already what my work will be called. Foolish. Stupid. Herectical, even. Yet, I believe this to be true without a doubt, despite what my colleagues may call me. I know it to be true, even if they may shame me for it. That the belief that the Outside is the Outside, is merely evidence. Outside what? The Abyss.''
Didn''t seem particularly smart. I could have said as much.
''If the Outside is outside the Abyss, which is full of monsters such as the Ravagers, then surely it must be a better place then the Abyss. Surely, it must be a safer place then here. That is the belief. That we, should seek to return there, and escape the horrors of the Abyss before we inevitably fall. Yet, how do you know that the escape goes both ways? If the First, who, by all accounts, is so strong, so powerful an existence that it could alter reality, how, and why, would it need to dispose of something by banishing it to the Abyss, and if it did so do, then why would the Abyss be escapable? Why would it go both ways if its intended to hold a thing, whatever it is, that even the First needed to seal off instead of trying to fight it?''
Hmm. That did sound weird.
Still not particularly interesting though...skim, skim, skim...
''...and so, the fact remains, that ultimately, we are doomed. We cannot go back Outside. The First, and all those Outside, have sealed us in here knowing that it would mean our end. Yes, over time, we have been making progress. Moving further and further up, away from the bottom. Yet, I, claim that we will never reach the top, and if we do, we cannot exit...''
''...There are many evidences. In the old tombstone, the one on Certigos, was not the epitaph, ''And here, lie our hopes, and dreams, here, is the monument to our stupidity.'' The world was found devoid of life. In ruins. Aside from several buildings, the entire planet was bare. As if there never was anything there. But, how? All signs point at there once being a civilization there. Even fossils, should have been uncovered after all the digging. Yet there were none. As if, barring certain materials, every living thing, and evidence, had been erased. What could possibly have led to a civilization like the one on Certigos simply...disappearing? Where did they go? How? What hopes and dreams? Did they reach the top, as so many dream, and fail? Did...''
''...The Bitkopi people, simply disappeared along with their world. One day, they were making a final push for the top, and the next? All that came back down were shards of rock...''
''...And what can possibly stand in the way of the Mijin''s horrible experiment? That fungus, which as yet, hasn''t ever been fully destroyed, and has only adapted everything we''ve ever thrown at it? It simply becomes resistant to the flames we burn it with. If we poison it, then it develops resistance to that too. If we try and cut it apart (hardly effective on a fungus) it eats and infects the poor fool''s we send to do the job. And when it was yet young, and could be beaten, there wasn''t enough effort put in, letting it grow into the menace it is now...''
''...The World Eaters, which as yet, rage unchecked, devouring world after world...''
''...The Kin-Killer''s curse, which causes any who visit the world of Anopile to kill their kin...''
''...The Void itself, which merely spreads, consuming and corrupting those that fall into its grasp...''
''...That entity which cannot be named lest it revive once more, but which one you ask? There''s...''
''...And so. In summary? We live on borrowed time. Inevitably, one day, one of the A''kiloh Ghyt, perhaps the very first one, which was never indentified, will finally destroy the last world, extinguish every life except perhaps its own, and silence once more, the Eternal Abyss.''
....Well. They all sounded pretty dead didn''t they?
Chapter 55 - Conscription? Whats that?
Months went by quickly now.
Today was the end of my first year though, even though I actually only attended for five months out of the regular ten months.
There was a two month break before the second year would begin, and apparently, my plans for the break were already decided!
I was conscripted to join the Fourth Battalion in the reclamation of the Voidlands.
Which sounded just fine to me. I had finished my change to void already.
My mana had dropped a lot because of that...but then afterwards I had killed many more street thugs and gotten a badge for good citizenry, so my mana had recovered somewhat.
And because of that I''d passed in third period!
Obviously the void mana was...slow, and heavy, but now, I could make void spears! Which...didn''t really do anything much different than throwing void orbs...well void spears could have some penetrating power, but really, void mana''s whole thing was consumption.
Anyway, I''d graduated with an overall grade of 97 once I was able to use void mana, so I was a certified amateur mage.
Something about ''certified'' and ''amateur'' being in the same...term like that was...strange and off-putting to me but that was what it was and I was hardly one to say anything about it.
Speaking of speaking...I had it!
Barely.
"aH wEh AiR YeT?"
Speaking required vocal chords of some sort or a high skill with vibrating air which required high skill in magic - usually wind magic.
I didn''t have wind magic but I did have vocal chords now. And a mouth.
Naturally, learning how to manipulate the body parts had been hard, but once I had the necessary organs it was just practice. I already had the ability to make limited sound anyway, which as I''d realized was actually me manipulating my internal kind-of-metal parts into grating against each other.
Still, this was why I liked enthusiasm. The kidnapper types came to fight and attack me when I baited them out by walking into their turf and then I killed them and borrowed their organs!
It was so...simple that I didn''t know why it hadn''t occurred to me before to do this.
Well it was still a hassle since the organic parts rotted without being sustained - which I couldn''t do - and so their functionality decreased and then I had to go replace them.
Ah the struggle.
Necromancy could preserve body parts to an extent though so I was thinking of learning it. Keeping an actual body inside myself as a decoy was an idea I''d had for a while. The problem was necromancy wouldn''t make a body that bled and breathed or drowned right so to make the disguise authentic I would have to useother methods.
Keeping a live prisoner inside myself was too risky, and they would just tell anyone who saw to save them or whatever anyway. Also it wasn''t the same for talking through either.
Essentially, it was too much of a hassle for now. I would have to settle with replacing my...equipment regularly.
On that note, the voices that I produced sometimes varied because of the vocal chordstoo.
Sun said it was disturbing to hear a different voice coming out of my mouth every two or three days.
He should appreciate the work I put into this. It made me quite sad whenever one of the voices I decided I like rotted and became useless.
Ireally needed to figure out a way for that to work better.
Ihad tried making organic stuff with reconstruction but it hadn''t worked...though apparently youcould if it was S rank.
So that was a goal. Raising reconstruction higher in order to make live lures.
Theywere very effective. I had stuck my head around a corner once, with the mask off and the thugs had relaxed thinking I was there friend. I used the hand to wave them over and then killed them!
It was hilarious!
I really did enjoy playing around on my days off.
Now we were heading off to the place I''d been born in because I, was important for the reclamation.
Retoz had been there when we were leaving and waved us off though so had the mysterious vampire (he''d just stood there. Or floated. I couldn''t really tell. Everything around him was distorted.
"No. No we''re not. Or rather, now you zone off evenmore!"
No no, I am pondering on the world. This is philosophy, something that requires refinement to understand.
"Refined? You? Pfft hahahahaha."
Sun snorted and started laughing while Styx also let out a chuckle from the side.
"hAHaHahAhA. veWy fUnNy."
That sent sun into hysterics while Styx silently started shaking. Which meant he was laughing, not having a heart attack as I''d thought the first time it happened.
"sIgH. oH WoE iS mEH..."
We didn''t go with a caravan this time either. As it turned out they had done that that time more to enrich my experience rather than truly needing it. Also because I could now detect and warn them of danger more proficiently so a larger group would just make things slower.
This was going to be a long week...
Unlike stories had led me to believe, there weren''t really any special events during our travel.
We talked some, mostly random things like, "What does that rock look like to you (I thought it looked like the victim of a strong fire magic [it fused legs and charred them black])?"
There was fighting of course.
I found that wolves were...simple.
They didn''t use much in the way of tactics like the thugs did. I still remembered that one who''d shot at me with a bow and arrow from a nearby roof. I pulled him off with my actual body of course.
He made an interestingsplat. Not as...splatty as I would have liked, butI''d had to go and finish the job after.
Demons could be quite tough.
The population was very low though. Units of hundred thousands were already pretty big. Millions weren''t possible unless every demon on the planet was called, not to mention having to organize them into a unified force.
Wolves though...well wolves here were stupid. Void mana wasn''t good for the brain apparently. The ancestors of these wolves turned stupid because of that and slowly it became normal.
High intelligence (for a wolf but not for a person) would just lead to absorbing more void mana that would poison and kill the wolf - and same for most living things in the Voidlands - so stupid wolves became stupider over time. The intelligent ones were generally abnormally so and led the wolf hordes (hordes, not packs. It wasreally rare).
Itwas fun to go back to the familiar crushing of skulls. I still had that dwarf''s hammer. It was pretty good and a free upgrade from my old club.
As it was though, I had a lot of money. It was all in the bank, but killing people and taking their money and stuff, and selling what you didn''t need, was apparently a really fast way to make money.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It was only 47 gold coins so far. 53 short of one black gold, which would pay off what I owed for the school admission to Styx.
Coppers were technically all you needed to survive though, people out here were just slightly richer because of all the monsters. Slightly because mining towns or ports had richer people. Merchants madea lot of money.
But money made a satisfyingclink when I poured it into a pile. I could only imagine what a dragon''s hoard looked like.
I would have aspirit''s hoard and then I would buy -
"Hey, does that look like a living armor to you too or is it just me?"
Styx narrowed his eyes at a spot in the fog.
I couldn''t feel anything though. Strange...oh no, now I could. Not where Styx was looking though.
"mOE cOmIN?"
"Ah, so it is a scout. Damn. They''re really such a pain to fight without thunder magic or something."
"Yep. My swords won''t cut that very well. Not cleanly. I''d have to hack at it for a while..."
I was confused by their exchange as vaguely demonoid silhouettes made their way out of the perpetual fog that clouded the Voidlands. Usually that meant reduced visibility for everyone but whatever those things were, they moved in a straight line towards us.
12?
It certainly didn''t look like any living armorI''d ever seen.
Looking like a demon, yes, but...these didn''t seem to be meant for people to be in. They had grey outer skeletons and thick armor all over, with a strange unmagical light in their eyes and the chinks of their armor.
It was...unholy.
So...un living.Undead had mana. These ones...were mostly without. A mana core it seemed but not all around. It was...unnatural. Creepy.
I disliked them immediately. Not to mention, living armor was what I was sometimes mistaken for, not these...fakes.
"TARGET LOCKED."
Nope.You''re locked.
I quickly corroded to the core which should be the important part if they were still following rules. It was muchmuch easier to do now too. Several times easier.
It felt like...steel?
The core was some weird material I couldn''t seem to eat fast but when I ate up the parts around it the thing''s eyes faded and...it exploded.
"Gah what the hell!"
Sun was quickly bending around and dodging the flying pieces while Styx smacked them out of the air if he couldn''t dodge with his sword.
The other armors let the pieces ding off of them while there was afizzle from something in the fog where some pieces had gone.
Well this was annoying. They exploded when they lost?
Styx glanced back at me before quickly closing the distance and jamming his sword into its eye wheresparks flew out of it.
He groaned and pulled back, "Do what you''re doing but try to get the ones in the back first so we don''t get hit."
Sun was being pushed back while the things slowly...died (?) from freezing over.
I did as Styx had asked and the same phenomenon repeated. Whatever these were, I hated them. And, from here I could now see therewas something in there, in the fog. Ignoring the weak lights that hit my body and burned little holes I went straight for the thing, which looked the same as these things did but with lighter armor and weird legs.
It had started running when I had, but since I had a visual it quickly lost use of its legs.
Then it blew up when I went to hit it.
I felt shards of it tear into my body, even as I was thrown back by the force and new things closed in on us from the fog.
This wasn''t working. We were at a disadvantage with how hard they were to kill and only sun had an effective attack measure.
Even for me, the conversion of material to mana was worse for these things and if not for my being in the Voidlands my own mana would have been eaten through rapidly, while sun needed to distill what he wanted out of the fog. We were at not only a disadvantage with the existing numbers but also from the steadily increasing numbers.
I would undoubtedly win but at the cost of St-un.
This was ridiculous. Four days in should not have led to such dangerous areas.
And these were no monster I had heard of. The heads weren''t being destroyed just caused explosions that damaged the body more.
I had stopped wasting mana on regenerating and was just trying to fell more of them.
We were down to six but three more had just joined.
While I was unaffected by the lights they used, St-un got burns whenever they were hit and sun''s ice sometimes made the light come back out even worse.
It was terrible.
Even as I watched, Styx''s sword snapped in half and he was forced to take one out of the scabbard on his left hip, while sun froze two more.
Unfortunately two wasn''t even enough to cancel out the old reinforcements while another sprinted in.
However they were finding us, they were swarming. I could feel 29 more.
A total of 51 then.
We couldn''t take 29 without someone dying like this.
My vocal chords were already torn, but I quickly said my plan.
"UN! UH!"
A highly intellectual tactic known as a tactical withdrawal.
St-un nodded.
Styx exhaled and then there was a flash as the three armors in front of him were chopped horizontally.
Then his sword broke and he pulled out a small dagger from another sheath inside his weird jacket before starting to dance around one of the armors.
"Which way?"
I considered that as I watched sun engage the remaining two while the last two were exploded by me.
Sun easily froze the two and then frosted Styx''s opponent''s legs and kicked it down.
Both ran to me, ignoring the dropped enemy who was slowly crawling over. Lights didn''t work when the things on its arm were frozen though. I was pretty sure it would explode once it was close enough though.
"AK!"
"Alright. We''ll wait near the pond."
Right, that was a ways back...oh, on the way there somewhere.
Then they were gone, and I was alone again.
I killed the last one and idly watched it explode, catching some shrapnel in my head.
My mask was a mess now. It was partially melted and had holes in it too.
The huge group was moving as one, slowly collecting. Probably so that we couldn''t just quickly pick them off like before and would be killed easily by the lights.
A viable strategy. Except that I existed.
I giggled slightly (a voice I picked up from a soul I ate a while ago. On that note, demon souls gave feelings sometimes when I ate them. Random memories I think.Sometimes they were slightly more intact and the memories persisted for a while before disappearing, a perk of void mana I think) in anticipation of the many explosions. Without having the two to worry about, I could just relax and explode them.
They were here.
Judging by how they had gone out of their way to collect instead of closing in as a cirlce like before, I could only assume they could somehow tell how the battle had gone.
Ah, there was another of the ones without a core.
"ANALYZING."
Oh?
"TARGETS NOT FOUND. CONCLUSION."
"RETREAT."
One of them checked where the non-core one had died and picked up a small box thing.
"SCOUT SCAVENGED."
Oh?
They seemed much more...talkative now...should I kill them? It seemed I could learn more if they kept talking and thought I was...uh oh.
They were coming to my ''corpse.''
"COLLECTING SAMPLE."
"SELF DESTRUCTS. REASON UNKNOWN."
"CONFIRM CAUSE OF SELF DESTRUCT."
Oh well that wasn''t good. The sample one had just picked up a piece of my arm.
That was annoying.
A quick corrosion and it exploded.
I was getting better at this. I didn''t need to make large holes for this. I could use smaller holes now, it was just to get the void mana into contact with the thing I needed to corrode.
"ENEMY ATTACK! INITIALIZING RESPONSE."
They looked all around themselves and didn''t even -
"ORGANIC RESPONSE DETECTED."
Oh well there go my vocal chords.
What was that weird light? Hey was that thing eatingmy arm?
Eating me!?
I was the eater, not the eaten!
"UNKNOWN MAT-"
EXPLOSION, FAKE!
EXPLOSION EXPLOSION EXPLOSION EXPLOSION!
They started randomly shooting the light off into the fog and three even peppered my body with more holes.
Jerks.
Then they started running. I targeted the one who scavenged and took out the non-core''s legs too.
As expected they went for the small grey box and the dropped scout, but I kept exploding them.
Finally, when there were only 15 left they abandoned the cube and scout and instead shot them full of holes. Probably to get rid of the boxes. Whatever those were, even if I wanted to block, I couldn''t.
They passed through the mana hands.
A void wall wasn''t something I was capable of either. That was hard.
Making mana manifest like that required considerable skill for me, not like earth where you could just pull up the ground.
Then the surviving 11 were gone.
Without my body parts of course.
Hehe.
The lights were nice to see up close. As well as the sight of their bodies scattering even better than organics did.
This...self destruct seemed quite...fun.
Perhaps I would find more of these...fake armors for fun like the thugs.
Ah, but these did not give experience.
They apparently counted far below me in tier (hah, only natural, I was a high quality spirit armor thing), so the experience was far reduced. It was the same reason kiling so many thugs was only three more levels.
At B the difficult scaled even harder for levelling. Levels were an easy way to power up after all. Said shortcut was naturally harder and harder to progress along since it was basically cheating (except everybody did it).
This was why everyone hated golems in fights. They had numbers but usually garbage tier and just wasted time.
Sad.
Oh well.
They were enjoyable to massacre and didn''t seem too smart. Any normal person whose teammates started exploding would first check for cursed equipment, curses in the area, or pray that it was just some bored wizard in a tower far away and not some eldritch freak. But these idiots? No, they tried to ''analyze'' and retrieve dumb metal boxes.
Hahahaha. That was a win for me.
No vocal chords to laugh though...oh well. A wolf would substitute for now.
I internally complained about stupid no loot trash as I regenerated on the ground.
How was I going to get all of this to a city to sell all of this?
They could have at least come to die closer to the city.
Jerks.
I am surrounded by jerks.
Well, not anymore.
I giggled at my own little ''joke'' (I didn''t understand the other''s jokes and they didn''t get mine) and watched the grey fog slowly shift around me.
Spoiler: Status